We have finally made it to the Isle of Mull on the west coast of Scotland and returned to the world of work again, with it's daily routines, tick-lists, customer service and employee banter.
We are lucky, situated in a beautiful location right next to the sea with the Scottish hills beckoning us in the distance. Already we have seen two stag, an owl, a heron and an otter, without even having to leave the site.
Working long and irregular hours, we will have to make the most of any precious time when we can be together. Working again seems familiar, yet not familiar, having had a break for a year and a half.
I say 'we', but Shawn is the one actually earning the money, working on a campsite for the summer. For my part, I have arranged to have some studio time at the island's art centre in Tobermory to make some new artworks. I am also going to help the visual arts officer with gallery installations and other jobs at the centre. I hope to sell some art and very much looking forward to being part of a creative environment again.
We have always been grafters, often the first on site in the morning and the last to leave at night, dedicated, passionate and committed to the job in hand. With years of experience in different fields of industry between us, we have the flexibility of location and hours without the constraints of family and mortgages. This is an exciting time for us.
In the last couple of days I have read Alain de Botton's The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. I've had the book for a while but couldn't pick it up until now. Why do we go to work? Besides money....
de Botton suggests that we work to give ourselves meaning to life and a reason to exist. At the least, work distracts us. Working helps to give us skills and worth, even if small. It is our identity.
Interestingly, de Botton comments on when you meet someone new, one always asks 'What do you do', as in what work do you do? In our society, people are evaluated by what work they do or don't do.
He writes extensively on how we have made the working world and the volume and importance of it so intense. We want 'stuff'. From clothes to furniture to gadgetry and exotic food. We fill our lives with objects and 'stuff'. These things need to be created, manufactured, costed, delivered, consumed. And we always want more. And we have to work in order to make them and then get them.
Then there is the subsections of primary, secondary and tertiary goods that are needed to make up a finished product, and the tools devised by designers and manufacturers to make the 'stuff'. And so it goes on.
And don't forget human resources jobs that support the work system, providing training, people skills and counselling for when your too stressed or depressed.
I make work sound bad. But it is not if you love your job, and I always did love working. I was a slave to the system. It was only through hard work, luck, and savings, that allowed us to take some time out.
Noticeably, de Botton doesn't cover vocational jobs like the caring profession or teachers, although there is one chapter on the job of an artist.
Entering the world of work again, it is going to be an interesting summer, full of new and old surprises. No doubt, people will say "welcome back to reality". We hope it will be a pleasurable experience.
And the money will be good.