Winning the sack race

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As has become the norm, I had a few days in London as a buffer between the ordered existence of home life and the randomness of a new trip. I chose a seat in the "quiet" car of the train down to King's Cross, with the advertised silence rent by the spoiled bleatings of an unruly child, cellphones going off, laptop noises, and a lengthy laughter-filled conversation conducted by a nearby group of ladies. I guess I must have entered the "quiet if you have earplugs" car by mistake.

Of the 6 people I met up with on my nights in the capital, 2 had recently been fired and there were further stories of mutual friends who were now unemployed. That's more jobless friends than I can remember having since I left university. But I see such events as providential. It can be a stressful, painful, lying-awake-at-night-for-weeks decision to quit your job and do something different - at least that's how it was for me - and to have someone take that decision out of your hands by firing you, and then giving you a severance package into the bargain, is surely a sign. When you know the coming months, maybe years, will see depressed salaries, low morale, and an increase in "keeping the lights on" activities, what better time to be out?

So do it, Chris. Make a change. You won't regret it.

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Photos

Sculpture
Hippodrome

Attack of the red lanterns
Chinatown

Building
Leicester Square

Building
Leicester Square

Church of St Martin in the Fields
Trafalgar Square

Church of St Martin in the Fields
Trafalgar Square

Fountain
Trafalgar Square

Church of St Martin in the Fields
Trafalgar Square

Chandos pub
Trafalgar Square