Holiday! Celebrate!

This fairy is having a well earned holiday! I didn't think I'd be getting one of those this annus horribilus!

Sometimes has good news!

It's official people.

I'm am once more pink, sparkly and fluffy. I have a job. No more free government money for me, I'm back paying my dues to support all the remaining wingless fairies out there.

Happy days indeed.

(I'm sure I'll be moaning about it in about a month or so when the shine wears off)

xxxx

RF

Bad Blogger!!

I'm a bad little blogger, aren't I?

Nothing for months, you'd think I was busy or something. Well, I'm not. And anyone who reads my blog will most probably be sick of my continual jobless whining. So readers, I do not have a lot to do.

Managed to secure another few interviews. 3 with the same place and still waiting on a yes or no. Very, very excited about this one, they've been very positive and I did my best. Time will tell.

Other news? I'm still working the lumo every day, sneaking it into the outfit one way or another, even if it's just a snazzy hairband I bought that I wear as a necklace or bracelet. Penneys is still been kept in profit by yours truly, it really just keeps getting cooler and cooler. And I went a mad eBay show buzz, recession or not. A girl's gotta have killer heels...

And Michael Jackson. Well I have to mention it, it has taken the summer news lull period by storm and it really is a baffling level of blankey (excuse the pun) covering. Sad indeed but there's so much smoke, if there's no fire, there's one hell of a smoke machine. The truth will probably never be known, and that kills my curiosity cat.

The Book of Faces

Well I resisted against it for a long time and I eventually signed up because I was trying to apply for a job with them.

So I went to the dark side - social networking.  And what a breath of fresh air it is.  Just doing little catch up with friends and acquaintances from the past and seeing how truly wonderful everyone turned out.

Look at this for example - awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmQ8xeU0J44

And if you want me there you'll find me...

Maybe it didn't make it to the Den...

Saw a teleshopping ad for a solar powered car cooling fan - to stop 'unbearable heat' building up in a parked car on a sunny day.  Truly a useless invention for a problem that didn't exist. Or worse, an encouragement to leave kids/dogs/the elderly/ice cream in the car and not worry about it again.

You'll find it easily if you google it, and you can see the wonder of modern technology at work.  Or watch the hyper-cheery sales driven feature on shopping TV, up in the 600s if you're a Sky slave like me.

I have a feeling it was invented by car thieves who fancied an easier access point than having to jimmy the lock.  Clever them.

Slime Wars

The recession appears to have led to overcrowding. In my garden. With the ground constantly damp from the tears of the many unemployed and overlevied, slugs can now freely roam the globe.

And they are freely roaming my garden and eating about a €1 of plantage a night. I come out every morning to see another sweet little lobelia stripped of its foliage and reduced to a sad little mohican of skinny stalks pointing hopelessly to heaven. Marigolds denuded to an inappropriate state, left only with a perverted veil of slime as a calling card.

Oh sure, there's always been slugs in my garden. There were root consuming moth larvae too before that that stealthily killed my new plants from the ground up 2 years ago. And an annual invasion of aphids on my rosebush that make me wish I could sell honeydew to the masses and become a millionaire.

But this year, the not so adorable, shell-less, be-antlered, slime-slitherers can fly. Or possibly they rent small private jets. Because they are getting past the inch high mound of slug pellets all around the base of the precious posies. Which they are not supposed to do.

Not only that, they are completely nocturnal. Trust me, if ever I laid eyes on one of the voracious gastropods in the light of day, they will experience the full spa treatment of an all over salt scrub that will result in Wicked Witch of the West style melting.

Any suggestions before I resort to a plastic garden?

The Big Three-Oh

Oh noes!

I be thirty in less than a week.

Not cool.

Shut Up and Drive

Well I've just completed another conversation that included the line - "I'm afraid I can't drive".

It's a bigger conversation killer than "I have a contagious flesh eating bacterial infection".

I've had three phone calls all from my b-e-a-utiful CV posting on Monster.ie. All for jobs in the not terribly far-flung corners of Ireland. Places I cannot get to by public transport. Which if you live where I do, is most places except Dublin city centre or some station-centric areas in Kildare if you need adequate services for a 9-5 position.

And what's my excuse for not getting behind the wheel of the beast? I really do not know. A bit of cowardice. I do hate doing anything new for the first time in case I look a fool. And to be honest, if I do start, the thought of spending a few hours thrashing the poor car to get me in and out to work doesn't appeal. Nor do the costs. I support public transport, I'd rather see it than traffic jams but there really is no incentive. At worst, it's prohibitive to my search. And if I do get something, I'll well over €2k a year for the priviledge of buying a better value house. Between myself and my husband, all the train charges will build up into the price of the city centre dwelling such are the extortionate charges.

Forced to live in the outer ring of commuterville by disgraceful over-inflated house prices, I now cannot find work. Sure, it's not the only reason, but it's a contributing factor.

Where's that Theory Test CD-ROM?

Yours,
RF

You can't Budget for this...

Well we had our mini-Budget. That sounds better than Emergency-Budget. Mini-things are usually small cute versions of their fully fledged counterparts.

We didn't get struck down by lightning. They didn't take away my dole - only my Christmas bonus but sure I never had that anyway. The rich didn't really pay, although I hear Bertie Ahern had every reason to look sad on the back benches as his pension got 'trimmed'.

We have a semi-toxic bank too. No deposits of nuclear waste, just dodgy developers and hopeless planned shopping centres that no one can afford to buy anything in.

I don't care. My garden looks like a Christmas tree or an international airport depending on who you talk to thanks to my fab solar lights. Hooray - the Sun's energy is still free!

Yours,
RF

Isn't blogging hard?

Well, what a gap since the last outpouring.

It proves that blogging is tough. The self-doubt or the writer's block sets in and that's that! We'll lack of belief and ideas aside, here goes!

The Numbers game:
Recession Fairy is officially unemployed for 2 months.
Recession Fairy has now applied for 42 jobs.
Recession Fairy has had 4 interviews.
Recession Fairy had 1 2nd interview.
Recession Fairy had a 1 in 3 chance of a job.
Recession Fairy has 0 jobs.

I was never that super at maths but you don't need a degree in fantasanomics to see that's a bit rubbish!

Brighter news. Was out in a terrible local night club - I know, I should be in counting the pennies - and got a compliment, I think.
Was dressed up in an 80's stylee mish-mash of Penney's (tights x 2, leg-warmers, bra) and Bay (top) and Stradivarius (shoes). Don't worry, I was still 50% neon pink.

A lady came over and asked me what I did for living. (Oh the irony.)
She said I looked like an interior designer or something, really cool and individual. Hooray!!

Hooray for neons and recession-in-your-face fluorescent clothing. Bright on the outside is a start...

Yours,
RF

I live in Hope

I live in Hope.

It's a nice town...
Bit uninhabited at the moment.

I only recently moved there from 'Ignorance' in the suburb of "It'll never happen to me". I liked it there but I got evicted. Needless to say I wasn't expecting it.

Hope's not the easiest place to live. Especially when my phone is resolutely doing it's best not to ring. I think it's maliciously reject calls from potential employers to thwart me for slagging it off and saying I want my old Nokia back. The postman in Hope is not my friend either. Bad news always comes with a stamp on the outside and no on the inside I've recently come to learn.

Happily though, there is broadband available in Hope so I can do high-speed Internet searches for the jobs that I'm not going to get.

The sun also shines, particularly in the mornings, so it's a nice walk to the dole office. Or sometimes a cycle to break the monotony.

Now I'm thinking about it, I have the funniest feeling the nasty estate agent sold me a house right on the border. You see Hope borders Despair - and it all depends what side of bed you get out of in the morning as to which place you end up in.

I don't wanna save money ;_;

Lots of supershiny mass media advertising from Bord Gais and some other green efficient crowd saying you can save minimum 10% off your leccy bill by doing the old switcheroo.

How many people do I know that have done it?

Just me and Mr. Fairy.

Excuses as follows:
"It's too good to be true." It's not a pyramid scheme.
"I must call them up, I have a few questions." FAQ on the website, lo-call number, get to it!
"I'd do it if I was gonna get one bill instead of two". Which add up to the same amount anyway?

Seriously people - it's an actual, real, live discount. Money in your pocket instead of someone else's. And you can always switch back, ESB won't blackball you for life. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss the clause when signing up that said I'd given Bord Gais my immortal soul to produce electricity with. I hope I didn't...ah, sure it's still 14% extra for me :D

On the road again...

Well Fairy followers.

My first bit of action in over a month. I had two interviews so far this week. One was a 1st round for a permanent job, one an interview for a temporary position. Obviously I'd love something permanent - if that still means anything these days!! - but I'll take what I get. If I get.

I can't believe how much my confidence has been knocked. I used to stride into interviews like I was born to do them. Like the people were privileged just meeting me. Not any more.

Now I feel like I'm shuffling in, cap in hand, begging for the crumbs from their table. They all gently remind you that there's tons of candidates out there - plenty of juicy fish in the sea all willingly jumping into the nets.

Yesterday was particularly rough, even the heavens having a giggle at my expense, soaking me from head to toe in freezing rain. I got temporarily lost and had to run around the block dodging puddles and working up a nice shiny pink face for my troubles.

The radio goes on now every morning, just so I can be further depressed with 200 redundancies there, pay cuts here, mini-budgets. The only time 'mini' has absolutely no cute effect whatsoever.

And I've realised I don't even need to turn on the radio to hear these bad tidings. Almost everyone I know has been affected, either one or more people in the household. It's really sad, and we're all being very supportive of one another but we can only do so much, be so comforting when our own wallets are being emptied.

So I'm waiting for my phone to ring with good news for a change. I have fingers, toes and wings crossed at this stage. Cross them with me people, for me and possibly for you too.

Oh they can't take that away from me....

A little joy in the Recession Fairy's life.



An old colleague got in touch and reminded me not to worry too much and to remember I am "intelligent, hard working, young and healthy". The "young" bit's very uplifting altogether.



A neighbour running down to me and giving me half a chocolate pancake. Mmmmm.



Making nice roast potatoes.



Getting dressed two days in a row - so far.



Singing in the shower.



A pink and peach spectacular sunset.



Finding a way to put my own DVDs on my iPod for portable pleasure.



See - it's not all bad if you look hard enough. ;)

Left, right, left, right...

Well, your Recession Fairy had to pull on her fluffy marching boots at the weekend.

Not something I've had to do since I was a tax dodger/sponger/layabout or as it is commonly known, a Student. And I wasn't a particularly militant one of them because I just didn't feel very strongly about anything much. Now, however....

Saturday saw the streets of Dublin covered in ICTU trade union members, their families and supporters. Estimates were at between 100,000 and 120,000 people depending on where you read it. No matter where you read it, that's a lot of angry people, angry enough to give up their Saturday afternoon. Angry enough to travel to Dublin from all over the country. Angry enough to miss Premiership matches even. Trust me, that's angry. Angry and hurt and feeling punished in a climate where a lot of others seem to be getting away daylight robbery.

So "people power" in action. It's a bit disheartening when it gets average coverage in the press, small corners of Sunday's front pages, 3 minute sections on the evening news, even a touch of sarcasm on national radio when a journalist doing a vox popli glibly asks 'Do you think some people just like marching?'

Well I didn't see too many ardent marchophiles, getting their kicks from trudging up O'Connell Street mingling with people who've lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts on wages that hardly let them amass fortunes under the mattress for a rainy day.

This country is hurting, little by little, the recession is sneaking up on unsuspecting families and nibbling away at them, so they're cutting back, and the domino effect is starting. A car purchase put on hold, a holiday cancelled, shopping curtailed, subscriptions cancelled - it all adds up to a tightening choke hold on businesses.

Sure, people can argue that some of the march's members, civil servants, have 'safe' jobs and should pay for the privilege - but where on earth do they think these people spend their money?

In the private sector, that's where. These levies will curtail a portion of the nation's spenders and take enough little losses in a business and it'll come tumbling down like a Jenga tower.

So, "What do we want?"
"Solutions."
"When do we want them?"
"Now."

Before this snowballs into a total disaster. We know there's hard decisions to be made, but how about a few creative ones - put a bit of your spinning creativity into problem solving!

I'll keep my marching boots ready for action, I'm sure this isn't over.

In the beginning....

Well you have to start somewhere, don't you?

However, structure was always my downfall in creative writing. I can write and write and spew forth ideas and sarcasm until the cows come home - unfortunately - it's the whole 'beginning, middle and end' planning thing I could never get my head around.

Beginning and middle okay - end not so good. I do hate the end. The end of books, films, parties, jobs...

Ah jobs, that's the whole point of why I started this blog. I am without one. For the first time in a while (don't let the cute fairy face fool ya, I'm kinda old by today's pop culture standards) I do not have a job. The recession that I made fun of before Christmas, came and gave me a big shadowy hug. Redundant, I am. And it's a word that hangs around you like a fog.

Ah the recession. With it's beautiful euphemisms, 'the current climate' or 'these challenging time'. It hasn't managed to pick up a marketable moniker like 'The Celtic Tiger' just yet. Maybe the word alone has such shiver inducing properties it's catchy enough already. Isn't it all we talk about, think about, read about? We could have George Lee just saying it as a ringtone.

It was just an economic notion to me in 2008. Something that happens to other people. I was fine, I could pay the bills, I could regularly relieve Penney's of enough clothes to warrant a wardrobe re-shuffle.

Then it all changed at the end of January. I knew something was coming, we all did. We knew things had slowed, costs were rising, expectations were falling. I can still recall the emotive speech I got and not appreciating it right up until the 'We have no other choice but to let you go'.
Not only are they the last words you want to hear when some one's holding your hand as you dangle off a cliff, they're terribly final. It takes a split second to register, then you realise that the job you moaned to your friends about - you actually really enjoyed. Then you realise you've always lived to work. Work was your whole day. You mattered because you worked. You did things.

And now I don't. So that's the general outline. That's the short road that got me to sitting at my keyboard in a pink dressing gown at nearly 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

So I've started this blog. I'm going to write, because I always said I didn't have enough time to. Now I have all the time in the world so maybe it's time to connect with some of the people like me who are going through this, or the people who think it just happens to other people...