Posh

At work today (car-parts factory, cleaning glue off shafts, boring) I was chatting to a guy who asked if I was a student. Been getting that a lot these last few weeks probably due to the influx of real students this summer. I denied it and he asked where I was from with that posh accent. Not in a malicious way (the other guy there was from the Congo and we got talking about languages and origins – he was born in Romania but held Congolese nationality which caused all sorts of ID issues) but it did take me aback. I usually take chameleon approach with my voice, adopting the accent of the person I’m talking to but here I obviously wasn’t. I thought it might have been that he was 2nd generation Jamaican, but listening closely the Brummie twang was overpowering any residual patois from his parents. Maybe I just wasn’t bothering to fit in anymore and so my relatively “posh” accent (being brought up by a classically trained singer and then working in bookshops will do that) was coming through.

You’ll have noticed I’ve stopped writing about the temp jobs and I think, barring some incredible fortune, I won’t be writing about them again. It’s been nearly a year and it’s now become a tediously normal part of my life. This might explain the blocks I’ve been having this last month or so. Last summer I wrote about the farm, then I wrote about temping. Now I’m at a loss. I know it doesn’t really matter what I write about and that it’s not really that important from the blogging point of view, but I was really starting to get my teeth into something good, even describing myself as a writer in moments of unleashed ego. (And looking back at posts from two years ago I think I’m definitely a better writer if nothing else.) What now…

Work wise I’m just plodding along. It’s been a quiet summer – I can’t remember when I last worked a full week – so I haven’t felt too pressured or cooped up. If anything I’ve had too much free time and have had to give myself jobs to do. That said, I’m encroaching quite heavily into my savings for the first time which isn’t a major problem but is rather annoying (the wifi network I have planned for the house will have to go on hold, as will those new socks I was thinking about…). I’m thinking full time again, and I’m thinking bookshop. Chum Andy was bemoaning how it’s all just till monkey work these days and while I would have resented that a year or so back it doesn’t seem so bad these days. Most importantly I’d be working with interesting people I can relate to.

Anyway, I’ve got a couple of cash-in-hand jobs lined up and some web projects to finalise before I do anything rash and become a Christmas temp. After that there’s always the option of doing 4 day weeks which would probably bring in as much cash as I’m getting now. Something to ponder.