Paradise Found

It didn't really come as a surprise. We had so little work that we were forced to whit away the hours reciting Milton and reminiscing about those brighter days in Prague. Sweet Prague! Days filled with incense and art, and the lady who brought us the freshly baked cheese that we fed to the children. But not so, gloomy England! Your waters bitter and baguettes stale. On this bleak Friday afternoon, our team leader gathered us around and told us, since it hadn't been as busy as they anticipated, they were not going to ask us to come back next week.

Incidentally, at 11am that morning, they had a two-minute silence for Remembrance Day. And how were the beginning and end of this solemn period of mourning marked? With a lone trumpeter on the green? With the release of two doves? No, not with anything so crude and inappropriate my friend. The commencement and conclusion were indicated with nothing other than the gentle shriek of the klaxon fire alarm.

However, I do have good news. And what is my good news you may ask? And very well you may, for I do have good news. This is my good news, the news which I am about to give, which is mine. In a somewhat ironic development considering that I was just working for a stock broking firm, I have been offered a permanent (which is not to say "eternal") position as a counsellor with a national charity organisation established to provide assistance to people who are unable to escape from debt. Needless to say, I am very excited about this opportunity since I will be able to deepen the counselling experience I gained in Okinawa and help people who are in real need. I feel very fortunate to have been offered the chance to do something I am so passionate about and to earn a living (albeit a meager one) doing it.

The job starts on December 5. I will try to find some temporary work to fill in the three weeks before that date, but even if nothing is available, it is wonderful to know that we have the security of a regular full time job approaching. I wonder where it will lead?

Yours somewhat fictionally,
Ian