What a Way to Make a Living

I’ve been at my new job a month now, designing kitchens for a well-known DIY store.

I feel like I’m back in the game. I took my eye off the ball for a while there, getting myself into a situation where my only income was the business I ran with my husband (you know, the one who left in February).

I’d always said that a woman should be able to fend for herself, but I hadn’t followed my own advice. It was fine – until it wasn’t. I was left feeling like a fool for letting it happen, although at the time working in the business with him felt like the right decision.

Anyway, here we are. So much to learn – but I’m enjoying it, and it feels good to be earning my own money.

In my new job, I work shifts.

My shifts follow no pattern at all. I work 5 hours a day, 5 days a week, which sounds simple enough. I’ve never really worked shifts before. When I was a GP’s receptionist (which also happened to be 5 hours a day, 5 days a week), we worked either mornings or afternoons – this is much more complicated! I can start as early as 7am, or finish as late as 9pm, and I can be working (or off) any day of the week. This week it was –

That’s both a typical week, and also unlikely to be repeated!! I love the variety. I love that sometimes I can be finished by lunchtime, or have the whole morning off, or have a day off mid-week. I can plan other things – necessary things like doing the hoovering, or hanging the washing out, or cutting the grass. But also fun stuff like meeting a friend for coffee on a morning.

I finished at 12 the other day, then drove to East Riddlesden Hall and volunteered for the afternoon. I love being able to do that – it means I don’t feel I’ve had to sacrifice absolutely everything on the altar of getting a job because my husband left me.

I do still have a bit of my old life left.

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Photo by Black ice from Pexels