1. On Being Gainfully Unemployed

As I write this I consider my state of employment – which is to say that I am unemployed. Taking away the thought that I have no idea where my next pay cheque is coming from, it’s really great fun and quite relaxing not to have to be at work and all the stresses that come with that. All I need to do is potter around the flat, make the odd phone call and get my life into order. Add to that the fact that I am going to my beloved Zimbabwe on Saturday to sit on my bum for a month and it’s perfect!

I am going to Zimbabwe for several reasons. Firstly, if I am there I am not spending any money (and sponging off the folks). Secondly, there is nothing to do there at all so I will be forced to kick back and relax. And also I will have a good opportunity to ponder my future and what it really is that I want out of life. It’s a great chance to catch up on my reading – most of which will be recreational but some of which will be to look into what I am planning to do with the rest of my life. Or at least the next five years of it.

Plan A, which was to find a rich husband so that I can have some babies and never have to work again isn’t going so well, given the lack of supply and the crap quality of that supply here in Cape Town, so it’s Plan B that I will be focusing on. If Plan A happens to materialize in that time, fantastic. Plan B involves looking at whether or not I plan to change career direction. Right now, it’s definitely headed that way as I really don’t think I could stomach more of the same and the financial industry is KAK right now. I think I’ve had my fill. Most of us in the industry are always saying “Five years and I’m out of here.” Well, that time has come for me, it’s a bit earlier than most, but I’m out. And now for the rest…

All my life I’ve wanted to fly helicopters. Since I was about two years old in fact. I did look into it but needing R200,000 and trying to get a loan with that amount is nigh impossible when you’re unemployed. Another plan of action is to become an airline pilot, something I am seriously considering. I found out that SAA is offering a 2 year cadet training course in the form of a training bond. What that means is that you train for 2 years and afterwards, if SAA offer you a job and you don’t take it you have to pay back the training costs. It’s the only way to do it without putting up a large cash outlay at the outset. Other airlines I have looked into have discontinued the training programme and are looking for experienced pilots which doesn’t help me much. What is worrying is that all one requires is a matric and needs to be preferably up to 25 years of age. At 33, I am pushing it, but it can’t hurt to try.

Other options I was looking at were becoming a firefighter or training as a paramedic. Firefighting in this country doesn’t pay well and places like New Zealand are not recruiting at the moment so that’s out the window for the time being. Even though I am a volunteer wildfire firefighter it’s only the city and building guys that have paying jobs so I’d need to retrain anyway. Paramedic training is relatively cheap and doesn’t take that long to do but given the strikes that have been going on in this country it doesn’t seem to be a good paying job. My other plan was to train as a paramedic, work in the UK for 2 years, to prove that I have been there and qualify somehow for the EU reduced university rates so I can go to med school and train to be a psychiatrist. I think that might be Plan C if the airline pilot thing doesn’t work out.

As you can see I have a lot to think about and that’s where I stand at the moment. Things do change and maybe some of the reading I will do will shed more light or open more avenues. I am reading a career book called “What Colour is Your Parachute” - the 2009 edition about finding jobs in hard times that looks like it will be a great help. In the meantime, even though we are in the middle of a recession, it’s exciting to be taking this leap into the unknown and embarking on a new adventure. If nothing else, it will provide fodder for for this blog!

Song for the day: Everyone’s At It – Lily Allen। Fantastic lyrics and a seriously catchy tune।