Saturday 29 July 2017

The Cost of Living: 22nd-28th July 2017



On Tuesday I woke up and after physically having to shake myself out of some exceptionally bizarre dreams I said to myself, "I'll go to work today".  I didn't have to go to work that day.  I chose to.  A strange but mostly satisfactory arrangement exists between my employer and I these days where I am contracted to work at least 15 hours per week on a flexible basis: a basis so flexible, in fact, that nobody seems to want to know in advance which hours, or even which days, I'm actually going to be there.  Last week I was on annual leave, so didn't have to go in at all, although they still paid me - an even more satisfactory arrangement - and I had not intended to return until Wednesday but as I said, I chose to go in on Tuesday.  I could have stayed in bed.

I don't enjoy my work.  I don't not enjoy it either.  It just is.  My colleagues are pleasant, and the work is simple, if frustrating.  For 15 hours a week it is more than tolerable, and it pays the bills.  So I could have stayed in bed on Tuesday but I did not.  I was feeling out of sorts on Monday, unable to concentrate on anything much at all, and waking from the dreams that rippled through my mind overnight I felt another day in that mental state on the cards again.  So I went to work.  Some bureaucracy and ordinariness might help, I thought. 

I was right.  I actually got quite a lot done.  I have never in my employed existence worked the standard 9 to 5, Monday to Friday grind, and have great sympathy for anyone who has no other option.  Eight hours a day is far too many to spend at work.  The same for five days a week.  It is insane.  Sweden recently experimented with six-hour working days, and initially saw some positive results in terms of employee wellbeing, reduced absences, and even a better quality of work (including in hospitals, where patient care quality improved - an area where high quality work actually matters).  However, since employers continued to pay workers for a "full" day, this proved to be too expensive in the longer term.  Good on Sweden for trying though.  Hard to imagine the UK even considering such a thing.

Six hours a day, for me, is plenty.  I have to really push myself to get anything more done in eight hours than I would in six.  I wonder how much work, on average, actually gets done relative to the length of a person's working day, here in the UK or anywhere else.  Work smart, not hard.  Of course this is a luxury, I know.  I just enjoy speculating about these things.

I mention this because on Wednesday, when I might otherwise have gone to work and come home, I found myself out of my mind again and did what I had promised at the beginning of the month I wouldn't do: I ate a takeaway and got drunk.  Or rather, I got drunk, at which point getting a takeaway seemed like a great idea.  I don't know what any of this tells you, psychologically, about me.  Perhaps nothing.  It happened, though, and that is that.

Here are this week's numbers.


Saturday 22nd
Breakfast:  Coffee and mung bean microgreens.
Lunch: Fried rice and red onion
Tea: Roasted chick peas

Food shopping: £3.89

Day total: £3.89

Sunday 23rd
Breakfast: Adzuki bean microgreens and coffee
Lunch: Nothing.  Snacked on other microgreens until mid-afternoon.  They are surprisingly filling, which is an excellent sign.
Tea: Tortilla chips, bread and hummus

Gardening supplies - trays for more microgreens, and fleece covers: £6.75
Food shopping: £4.95

Day total: £11.70

Monday 24th
Breakfast: Pea shoot sandwiches
Lunch: Lentils and celery with brown bread and pickled spinach
Tea: Nothing.  Went to bed quite early, didn't feel that hungry.  Must be all the brown bread.

Didn't spend any money today.  Day total: £0.00

Tuesday 25th
Breakfast: Coffee and soup
Lunch: Soup
Tea: Vegan burrito at Barburrito in Piccadilly Gardens.  Noteworthy is that as well as having satisfactory vegan options, here's a fast food outlet in a city centre that also has 'zero waste' options: you can order a 'naked' burrito, which comes in a reusable bowl, without any wrapping.  Avoid napkins and there you have a zero waste vegan meal.  Impressive.   £9.35

Day total: £9.35

Wednesday 26th

Breakfast: Pea shoots and bread.  Already by 10:00am my mind was whirring, and now that I wasn't going to work, when initially I was, I wandered off for some fresh air.  Found myself in Ground Up in Bury for
Brunch: Coffee and sourdough with vegan peanut butter and a banana: £5.25  While I was there I noticed someone come in with several tins of obviously homemade cakes, which she exchanged for cash.  I wonder if they might be interested in buying some of my microgreens if I get to the point where I'm growing more than I can eat myself.
Tea: Sweet potato, spring onions, garlic

The I bought a bottle of wine, and drank it.  It felt good.  Then I ordered a takeaway, which did not.  Ate about half of it and fell asleep.  Do I actually hate work?  Is this why?  Does it matter?

Plant pots: £29.99
Food shopping: £5.03
Postage for book sold on amazon: £1.58
Food shopping: £2.74
Wine: £4.99
Takeaway: £16.60

Day total: £66.18

Thursday 27th
Breakfast: Coffee
Lunch: Sweet potato and broccoli
Tea: Toast with pea shoots and mustard

Food shopping: £2.79

Friday 28th
Breakfast: Coffee
Lunch: Sweet potato and broccoli
Tea: Pea shoot and pickle sandwiches

Coffee and vegan cherry brownie at Fig and Sparrow in Manchester: £5.25

Salary: £188.99  This is my base rate for 15 hours work/annual leave.  I something like 23p in tax on this, and nothing from my student loan, something that I will probably never pay off, which amuses me.

Day total: £5.25

Total spent this week:  £99.16

WEEK END BALANCE: +£89.83

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