ink marks on a blank page - Friday Oct 10

Here in OZ there is a saying-TGIF - which I think is also in other western countries similar to mine.Translated of course it means Thank God It's Friday. As I am no longer working in a paid capacity and have not done so for I think three years, so sue me for not counting, then I should no longer use that acronym. However, it remains more firmly entrenched in my mindset than it ever did. Whilst at my daily work I was never an adherent to that TGIF culture as my job required me to be available at the ring of a phone and also I actually loved what I did. Not that I hated leaving each day or was first out of the unit, nope none of the above, but I was just very glad to actually like what I did and who I worked with and for.

Getting back to TGIF, and it is a mindset that has crept into the OZ workplace over years where I think people feel obligated to say and live by that credo whether or not they actually believe it. Here we have the very best of working conditions anywhere. For instance, long service leave and very generous sick leave (which accrues) , also 5 weeks paid annual holidays and on top of that 17.5% loading on the holiday pay. Pay rates are pretty good by international standards and as are conditions of employment.As well this is a great country to live in. But I would say that wouldn't I?

We do suffer from the tyranny of distance from where the centre of the universe is but that also keeps us out of a bit of trouble both political and on the rabble rousing front, although we have some homegrown idjits for that. Yes we do also import some of the worst excesses of US (culture?) product as well , hopefully some good sense and quiet heads prevail to keep us more aligned with our British heritage and I try my very best to do that by visiting the old dart frequently.

Life changes so very rapidly now, all good too I might add, change mostly for the better most times as well. Just this little exercise is a case in point and long I have been an advocate for the 'peoplising' of the web. Even this monetary crisis that has grabbed the world so quickly I think has some positives. That it gets world leaders together and working in concert might just be a good thing, perhaps a little more positive than Bono being on the short list for a Nobel Peace prize.

Yes Hortense, just what would I know. Oh but that is a moot point as although I am not Methuselah I have been around for a while and been there and done a bit, just like you Hortense.
Not quite as lucratively as that fellow from Lehman bros. but I dare say with a little more care for my fellow man. Obscene is possibly a word one could use, not as eloquent in the matter as some four letter ones I dare say but printable on the pages of a family blog. Something about Karma did I hear you mutter? And okay Hortense I will get back to talking about things I really do know, like the price of a Lehman brother perhaps?