My life at present

I'm me. Nothing more, nothing less.  Nothing special.  Grew up on a council estate. Went to school, went to college, went to university, went to work (not necessarily in the order). I wasn't bad at school. Got reasonable GCSEs, scraped through A levels (literally), got an ok degree (2:2 in music isn't to be sniffed at).  Didn't have a difficult childhood but didn't have it easy either (I'm sure I'll talk about that at some point but not today)

So what makes me think that I deserve your readership.

Well, I'm passionate. I'm passionate about music. I'm passionate about helping people. I'm passionate about football. I'm passionate about education and educating others. 

I have quite strong values and try to avoid those who go against those values. (Not always easy but these things were meant to try us).

So that's me in a nutshell.

One thing I failed to mention......... I am currently unemployed.

This isn't a desperate attempt to get a job.  I have some plans that I'm currently working on and hopefully will have some news on that soon. 

The reason I mention I'm unemployed is simple........ Society's opinion of me.

Here's the first of my strong values.......

If you're capable of working you should work, unless you can afford not to.  

I grew up in a family where both my parents worked from 15 years old.  When my mum had me and my brother she went straight back to work (although when she had me she worked for home). When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987 she had 3 weeks off work.  Yes, 3 weeks!!!! 

My dad started working for United Counties in April 1966. He worked for them until the day he died in February 2012. 

My brother has also worked since he was 16. 

So what about me? Well I worked whilst in the 6th form, left school and got a job whilst completely my NVQs. I have had a lot of jobs but then I did work for agencies for a while.  However, I was rarely out of work.  I went to university when I was 26 but continued working on my days off and throughout the holidays.  When I left uni I signed on for about a week and then got my last job at the local FE college.  

So as you can see we're workers not shirkers.  

As I have said I'm currently unemployed.  I make my fortnightly trip to the job centre to sign on.  When I signed on when I left university I was ashamed.  This time I'm not.  I'm older, wiser and also very cynical (you'll notice that a lot during the blogs).  You see, it's like this, ultimately I aim to go selfs played and the job centre have put me on a scheme to help with this.  This is great because it means I no longer have to fill in 18 job searches a fortnight to show that I'm looking for a job.  Believe me, I'm pretty certain nobody whilst looking for a job thinks "oh I've sent my cv off, I must fill in my form". 

Anyway before I get on a big rant about the processes of the job centre (and believe me as an unemployed qualified teacher I have lots of opinions on the subject) I want to say this.  The reason I'm not ashamed is because this is my time not to work.

As I mentioned I have worked since I was 16. I have paid national insurance and income tax since 18 at least.  That's at least 14 years.  When you consider that you only have to work 30 years to be entitled to your state pension at the good rate (and let's be honest that's pretty much the only reason we go to work) I've worked almost half that time already.  Then throw into the pot that as it stands I won't retire until I'm 67 (I say as it stands because I'm sure by the time I get there you'll have to work until your 150) I've got another 34 years to make up the rest. 

  I don't plan to have children.  I'm not saying I won't. Who knows what Mother Nature has in store for us.  I just don't plan to have any,  therefore I don't plan to have time off looking after the children.

So bearing all that in mind, I think I'm entitled to a bit of time off.  

I know there are people out there who have never worked a day in their life, expect everything to be given to them and have no intention of working.  I also know that because I've paid my national insurance contributions that they will still get a state pension because actually everyone gets one (at the moment). They might not get as much as me but they haven't paid towards it.  They get access to the same medical care as I do, they also get access to nhs dentists and opticians (and probably don't pay depending on their benefits) but haven't paid into the system.

For the past 4 years I've been on a fairly good salary so I've paid a lot in tax and national insurance.  Is my state pension going to be determined by this.... No it isn't.   Do I get better healthcare because I ay more in.... No I do not.

So before you all label me as a Jeremy Kyle watching shirker, think about how much I've paid into the pot and what I actually get out of it at the end.  

This is my time for some leave (but without the children)