I know what you did last summer

“What have you been doing since you were made redundant?”

It’s a succinct and powerful question to which the answer should never be “Sitting around drinking coffee and watching Jeremy Kyle.”.  Fortunately, only half of that answer is true and, I can faithfully say, I have never voluntarily watched Jeremy Kyle (surely it doesn’t count that it was being broadcast in the plumbers merchants this morning next to the counter?).

I have undertaken some voluntary work, I have run, I have had a couple of short holidays, I have read a significant number of books, virtually all of which are totally unmemorable.  I have applied for jobs, I have attended interviews, I have sat on trains to get to interviews (which takes up an interminable amount of time in itself). I have baked, I have cooked, I have cleaned and considered my future.  I haven’t as it happens, done any gardening, because that’s not my domain, but I have enjoyed the fruits of his labour.

I did, finally, relax over the summer and gave myself a break and, apart from a couple of interviews and one or two applications, I did pretty much take the summer off.  After all, that old adage is true – no one is going to wish they’d worked more on their death bed.

It has meant that I’ve spent time with the kids, naturally spending more time chauffeuring them to their friends’ houses, town, station, shops, dinner, clubs, activities and all the other social accompaniments to being a 21st century teenager than anything else, but also had time to speak with them and, it has to be said, enjoy their company.   When they could get up out of bed.

But tomorrow, they go back to school.

So, what’s next?  Well, I (almost certainly) have an interview this week, I’ve applied for a couple of jobs and I have a some interviews to chase or follow up on.  But maybe I need to take a leaf out of my summer-self’s book and be less tough on me and learn to enjoy my own company?