Warning: Oxygen Level Critical
Outside the sky is a swirl of greys that are turning darker by the minute. The torn bin liners caught on the barbed wire are flapping slightly in the breeze, whereas earlier they were still. I find myself staring out at this mess of corrugated iron, spiked grey fencing and stained brickwork as I drift into another reverie.
The startling truth comes to me all of a sudden and somehow it doesn't seem real – I realise that I could have sat at my desk and gone to sleep for the past hour and nobody would have noticed a damned thing. These thoughts were fuelled by the radiator on full blast and the fact I had failed to switch on the air conditioning, leaving my senses dulled and my eyelids drooping. This is a testament to the old wisdom – if it's warm during the day you can't stay awake, but if it's warm during the night you can barely get to sleep.
There aren't any warm nights this time of the year, though. Just endless days trapped behind bars in a stuffy ground-level office on a grim site regularly looted by crazed trespassers, who come in at night to steal huge chunks of metal from the transfer station from under the noses of the 24 hour security. (A bloke with a torch, it would appear)
But however attractive the idea of being paid to sleep is to me, I could only know that I had this opportunity in hindsight. Besides, chutzpah would only get me so far if they spotted the duvet.
To hell with it. My mood is downbeat and ponderous, something only a stiff drink will dislodge. I spent a pointless day in London yesterday in a state of mild intoxication, and even the train journey was bearable with a hip flask by my side. So I'm counting the minutes now until five, barely able to touch the pile of work in my in-tray.
How many people are thinking the same rotten thing at this precise second? Ye gods, what a thought. Are we all doomed in a job market where there are no more waves to ride…too much competition from too many graduates, too few chances to gain good experience, and too little hope left in a country where nobody in their twenties can buy a house, get a decent job or make their mark in a national media drowning in its own baby-boom smugness?
Yikes. I was fairly happy when I started this. Now I'm feeling spooked. Jesus, what now?
The startling truth comes to me all of a sudden and somehow it doesn't seem real – I realise that I could have sat at my desk and gone to sleep for the past hour and nobody would have noticed a damned thing. These thoughts were fuelled by the radiator on full blast and the fact I had failed to switch on the air conditioning, leaving my senses dulled and my eyelids drooping. This is a testament to the old wisdom – if it's warm during the day you can't stay awake, but if it's warm during the night you can barely get to sleep.
There aren't any warm nights this time of the year, though. Just endless days trapped behind bars in a stuffy ground-level office on a grim site regularly looted by crazed trespassers, who come in at night to steal huge chunks of metal from the transfer station from under the noses of the 24 hour security. (A bloke with a torch, it would appear)
But however attractive the idea of being paid to sleep is to me, I could only know that I had this opportunity in hindsight. Besides, chutzpah would only get me so far if they spotted the duvet.
To hell with it. My mood is downbeat and ponderous, something only a stiff drink will dislodge. I spent a pointless day in London yesterday in a state of mild intoxication, and even the train journey was bearable with a hip flask by my side. So I'm counting the minutes now until five, barely able to touch the pile of work in my in-tray.
How many people are thinking the same rotten thing at this precise second? Ye gods, what a thought. Are we all doomed in a job market where there are no more waves to ride…too much competition from too many graduates, too few chances to gain good experience, and too little hope left in a country where nobody in their twenties can buy a house, get a decent job or make their mark in a national media drowning in its own baby-boom smugness?
Yikes. I was fairly happy when I started this. Now I'm feeling spooked. Jesus, what now?
posted by Jamie at 4:08 PM
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