Thread: Back in harness again

Hello All,

After my last work contract finished back in September 2024, I took time off to follow the concept of "happy wife equals happy life" and I commenced extensive renovations to our home's kitchen. Extensive involving gutting and rebuilding the kitchen. I had been buying and stockpiling solid timber Bali furniture and the odd solid timber study benches from people's home offices from the local auction house. These pieces were normally bought far - far cheaper than buying solid timber from chain hardware stores. Plus, each piece had its own patina. To use the swank lingo - I repurposed the timber and made bespoke cabinetry. With zero MDF or similar particleboard content. After making significant headway on the kitchen I started applying for employment opportunities that were of real interest and offered meaningful work.

I soon found out that being over 60 years of age and having a PhD does not rate as attractive benefits for prospective employers. I had one recruitment person literally screech down the telephone that "we do not have pay-scales for people with PhDs!!!!" Then they slammed the phone down. There you go - lesson learnt.

After what seemed to be an ever increasing round of knock backs, I applied for a job that came up locally. I started my induction last Monday. Add to that another day of induction today and another tomorrow ... on Thursday I show up for work at the local office. It is good to be back in harness and also to change the direction of money away from the outward direction normally associated with home renovations. Of course - the are murmurings from the bathroom that it requires attention. Old weatherboard, timber framed and timber floored Queenslander houses - they are just like working on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. By the time you finish working on one end - you have to start working on the other end - joy.

Oh - return to work means becoming reacquainted with the alarm setting on my bedside clock.

As my past work involved time specific work contracts, I have developed the habit of linking each contract with meeting a specific goal. Contract 1 was getting my shed wired for mains power including dedicated 20 amp circuits for welding. Plus, nice bright lights that can chase the dark away at the flick of a switch. Contract 2 was getting the chassis repairs done on Snowy my 110 Defender ute. Lesson learnt from this exercise. Do not buy farm vehicles on site which have their chassis covered with a decade or two of cow dung and bulldust. Evil surprises can lurk underneath the muck once you get the vehicle home for its first bath. Evil and expensive surprises. Anyway, my hope for the current session of work is to get Snowy roadworthy so I get to experience driving a Land Rover on the road that is fully registered. Fingers crossed that all Snowy's surprises have been revealed already. Okay - there could be the space for a metal work lathe on the list of goals too.

Of note - while I own multiple Land Rovers they were either bought as projects, bought as parts vehicles, or they only had non-transferable club registration. None of my Land Rovers were bought fully registered or roadworthy. This can be directly attributed to my employment seeming to feature only limited short-term work contracts being available locally. With frequent extensive gaps between contracts being all too common. No - do not check the date when I first joined this forum and how during this time I have never driven my own registered Land Rover. During my membership I have been building up experience working on various vehicles - you know, experience counts! I really hope that the goal of getting Snowy registered is not too onerous to achieve - well, fingers crossed and wish me luck.

Kind regards
Lionel

Originally Posted by Saitch

Pardon my cynicism, Lionel, but both the ABC and Australian Human Rights Commission supplying statistics?

Hmmm.

Hello Saitch,

Well, I did leave out the fact that the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) also contributed to the report! What higher level of proof do you need? Tee-hee!

Kind regards
Lionel