The Friday Analysis

Started Friday 11th February 2011 0521 GMT
Words 379
S.I. = 75.8%

Going beyond the Seventh Wave

The Seventh Wave is a concept that some may be aware of from the natural world and mythology.  The seventh wave hitting a beach is supposedly the strongest, a phenomenon familiar to some surfers but debunked by scientists. Some Irish traditional stories talk about beyond the seventh year or  going beyond the seventh wave.  Today is day seven of the new adventure into self-employment.

An interesting journey this week has been and for the most part coped with.  The fragility of the net as a virtual factory and office space has been underlined by trojan horse and connectivity issues this week.  The need for backups and alternative workspaces be they internet cafes or a teleworking centre becomes critical  for small businesses as they attempt to maintain their own sustainability.

Change is a constant theme that has been apparent through out the week in the news and talking to retired people in the local pub. A sense of reductionism listening to older members of society suggests that a lot of the change we are seeing has been experienced before often called by a different name.  The repetition of certain events suggests at best a disregard or lack of comprehension for historical cycles at worst cynicism towards the majority of the population that some leaders choose to show ( a bit woolly and sitting on the fence here but I am sure you will identify many stories that fit your own internet surfing).

So more of the same to follow next week.  Continuity planning has already kicked in for Monday.  My Victorian cottage will be taken back to 1896 when it was biult.  The local electricity supply company is servcing or replacing the local transformer between 10 and 4 pm.  Finding non-scented candles just in case they do not replace or repair the fault before dark  has been quite a challenge.  My local Cooperative store was the only place  I could find them. Which brings me to the final thought for this blog today.  I found a very good BBC Wales (probably therefore not available outside the UK) programme on BBC iPlayer about the founding of the Cooperative movement.  Thought provoking as we move further into the Silicon Age and the era of the social networker.

Wednesday and Career Change

Started Wednesday 2nd February 2011 0021 GMT
Words 311
S.I. = 62.2 %

The age of the part-time worker?

The part time worker accounted for nearly 97% of the employment opportunities taken up last year.  The time of the portfolio career is now, it is already happening without consciously or voluntarily being adopted (see previous blogs).

The worrying part of this is that the banking system has become so entrenched in offering mortgage products that rely on full-time employment (usually with both partners workers) over the now relatively short period of 25 years.  People are living longer and will have no legal compunction to retire at 65 very soon.  The state assistance, we had probably better get used to calling it that rather a pension, already does not appear to be given for post Baby Boomers (anybody born after 1962).  Even state sector (now public sector)  pensions are not as attractive a deal to compensate for the "vocational" nature of the job.

Insurance products such Mortgage Protection and Payment Protection Insurance taken out for a rainy day (or months) increasingly do not do what they claim to on the wrapper.  The future may not look so bright for many who are trapped in the house as an investment rather than a home scenario at present.  This dictates how flexible you can be in the choice of what you do to raise your happiness index to a 10.  Many people are doing this and have been doing this for sometime, I am realising that I have been speaking to them as they have been around me for a long time.

So 21st Century Working here I certainly come!  A good starting point for this is the Teleworking Association  (link to blog), a not for profit type organisation of which I became a Director at last weeks' AGM.  So if I do mention it you will know I am only promoting what I preach and practice myself.     

The Thursday musings on being well

Started Thursday 27th January 2011 0238 Google Server Time
Words 488
S.I. = 97.6 %

Central Heating makes you fat?

On the theme of home working I spotted the above headline in the Daily Mail of the 26th January (Kindle Edition).  According to the article the central heating present in nearly homes may also be responsible for some of the obesity found in the general population.  The effect that central heating  has on the body is to make it feel warm and content.  There is therefore no reason to move.  As the body is up to a more than comfortable temperature natural heat generation by burning calories is not necessary.

This has implications for home workers and their overall health and Wellbeing.  The majority of houses have incredibly efficient thermal barriers to insulate their houses.  I have a late Victorian House that is in a conservation area.  When I was teaching I never quite got round to putting in those double glazing units that would have made the house extremely warm as toast.  Now that I am living in the equivalent of a game preserve (I didn't realise I was such an endangered specimen) I am not allowed to have double glazing units under planning regulations.

The consequence of this that I do not have the locally excessive hot spots that may encourage the conditions whereby unintentional torpor occurs.  So maybe what I loose in perceived pleasant conditions (with accompanying heating costs) I might make up in the long term with overall health benefits.  As we experience more cost cutting in pursuit of headline savings my long term heath costs will also be reduced owing to the fact that I have "shivered" the reserves off .  I might also be able to run to the bus quicker when I am unable to afford to run a car as fuel prices take me back 50 years in time to when everybody used Public Transport.

The design  of my house is the original design.  Some neighbouring properties have had their stair well moved form the centre of the house to the side.  The living room and dining room have then been knocked through to form open plan living.  I am not a great fan of this as it often is a temptation to turn the TV on during meal times killing the art of conversation (another stressor on Wellbeing).   However, the movement of air around the house can be aided by adjusting the radiators so that downstairs they pump out more heat than upstairs.   The flow of air up the stairs is naturally encouraged.  High ceilings mean that  a cloud of hot air develops in each  room.  The carpets in the bedrooms insulate the downstairs rooms, while the loft insulation keep the heat in the bedrooms upstairs.  The same chimney principle is also useful for maintaining a cool house in the summer by opening the appropriate windows.  Simples?

 More on this theme of energy management for the home worker and the promised plant lore will feature
in the Blog 2pointfiveageofman.net.