The first in another occasional series... this time it's interviews with
other folks who have eschewed the rat race in favour of a life of tea
drinking and talking bollocks. First up, it's Tim. Say hello, Tim...
Tim: Hi, I'm Tim. I'm one of four members of The Band With No Name, along with Slacker here.
S: So what do you avoid doing for a living then?
Tim: I'm currently a supply teacher. I got made redundant a couple of
years ago when my old school converted to academy status, and all the
staff's employment rights co-incidentally got thrown out of the window. I
don't suppose being the Union rep helped my case any... I currently
work in a complete shithole of a school whose catchment area is the sink
estate from hell. Not the greatest prospect, I know, but then
expectations are conveniently low. I gave up on any notion of actially
teaching a long time ago - what I do now begins and ends with crowd
control.
S: Sounds fucking awful.
Tim: It is. Things are set to get even worse though, as it's now
possible to get a job teaching in a school with no qualifications. So
nowadays the latest fad is to get anyone who isn't actually dead and
call them a Cover Supervisor, paying them about half what a qualified
supply teacher would cost. So pretty soon I won't have any work at all.
S: Any idea what you're gonna do next?
Tim: The school system is pretty much finished for me. I'm going to keep
doing the supply stuff as long as I can stand it and look for something
working outside. I do some volunteering with the RSPB at a local
reserve, conservation stuff and I'm thinking of re-training to get into
that sort of work.
S: Sounds good... hard work though?
Tim: Well, yeah but if it's something you enjoy... I can only stand teaching because of the holidays, I've long since stopped seeing them as a great bonus or anything.
S: Do you have any strategies to share for getting through the stress of having a shitty job like that?
Tim: The biggest one for me is the band! (laughs) It means a lot to be
able to hang out with a group of like-minded people and make a sound
that's exactly how we want it to be. It's the idea of having something
that's completely under our control, you know? There's no-one to censor
it, we can do whatever we like.
Agen poker
S: I know what you mean. I even think it would be a compromise to
release recordings or play gigs, because that would be an
acknowledgement that the sounds we create are for the benefit of someone
other than us.
Tim: You just don't want to lug the equipment about! (laughs)
S: Busted. Anyway... for the benefit of anyone thinking of doing supply
work, how do you manage to cover the bills when you may not have regular
work?
Tim: Well, you either need an understanding landlord - and good luck
finding one of those - or you need some sort of alternative
accommodation. About 10 years ago, when I was a bit more flush than I am
now, I bought a canal boat. It needed a fair bit of interior work, and
10 years on it's nearly done. So now I just have mooring fees, bottled
gas and food to pay for. Boat dwellers are generally liable for Council
Tax, but if they don't know where you are...
If I don't get any work for a couple of weeks or so I sign on. There's
no problem with short periods of unemployment like this, as you're not
on the dole long enough for them to hassle you, and when the money
eventually arrives it's a handy bonus. They make it as hard as possible,
naturally, but once you've done it a couple of times you'll know the
procedure better than the drones themselves!
S: Any thoughts for the future?
Tim: It's a tricky one that, I try not to think about it too much as
today is what's important. Today is the only day we're sure we going to
have. At the same time I know a lot of people in my situation (i.e.
without a decent pension) may face an uncertain future. That said... if I
do have to work on into my dotage, at least if I'm doing something I
enjoy then it could be worse. A full-on teaching career would probably
see me dead long before retiring age anyway!
