Blue like water, blue like heaven is all of the time
Actual exchange two of the regulars had last night:
R: "M, Where did you do bird?" [Bird is cockney rhyming slang. Bird-lime = time, as in a prison sentence]
M: "I did two months in Pentonville."
R: "Pentonville? That's a nancy boys prison. It's full of homos. I was in Belmarsh, mate."
Yes, there really are people who base their self-esteem on how tough their prison was, and many of them drink in my pub. I've really got to get out of this place.
Which kind of brings me back to the whole 'leaving London' thing. Moving to Campbeltown is probably a bad idea. Lovely though it seems, it will be nigh-on impossible to find work there. And although my website is back in Google's good books and earning me money, and I have several other websites to build up, I'm not confident enough in my own abilities to rely on that earning me a living wage. That lack of confidence is probably a large part of the reason it isn't earning me a living wage, but there you go.
But not moving to Campbeltown doesn't have to mean staying in London. Places like Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Plymouth, etc. are all a great deal cheaper than London, but have a lot more work available than Campbeltown. Bar/Retail work should be relatively easy to get in any city. And will pay me pretty much the same as I'm getting in London.
A ten second glance at Gumtree Birmingham unveils a "Quiet Large Double Room" with all bills and 50MB broadband included for £280pcm. An equally quick glance at Gumtree London unveils "ONE DOUBLE BED TO SHARE IN A DOUBLE BEDROOM(MALE ONLY)." for £216pcm. It doesn't specify whether one would be sharing the double bed with a gorgeous young woman, but the chances seem slim. £50 a week to share a bed with a strange man. That's fucked up.
So, given that I can stay in this room for a month or so (they said there's no time limit, but recent experience has made me wary of such statements), and ideally I'd like to leave the job at the same time as leaving the room, there's little point to staying in London.
It is definitely a nice city (there was a feature in yesterday's Guardian about London being one of the greenest 'mega-cities' in the world. There are apparently so many trees here that it technically counts as one of the country's largest privately-owned forests.), and I like living here. But I don't think I can justify the premium I'm paying for it.
I realise I'm vacillating terribly on this issue, because I'm an emotional cripple who is shit at making decisions. But the practical choice is to go.
Marcy Playground's debut album is still amazing. It's a shame that, aside from Sex & Candy, they never made much of an impact.
R: "M, Where did you do bird?" [Bird is cockney rhyming slang. Bird-lime = time, as in a prison sentence]
M: "I did two months in Pentonville."
R: "Pentonville? That's a nancy boys prison. It's full of homos. I was in Belmarsh, mate."
Yes, there really are people who base their self-esteem on how tough their prison was, and many of them drink in my pub. I've really got to get out of this place.
Which kind of brings me back to the whole 'leaving London' thing. Moving to Campbeltown is probably a bad idea. Lovely though it seems, it will be nigh-on impossible to find work there. And although my website is back in Google's good books and earning me money, and I have several other websites to build up, I'm not confident enough in my own abilities to rely on that earning me a living wage. That lack of confidence is probably a large part of the reason it isn't earning me a living wage, but there you go.
But not moving to Campbeltown doesn't have to mean staying in London. Places like Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Plymouth, etc. are all a great deal cheaper than London, but have a lot more work available than Campbeltown. Bar/Retail work should be relatively easy to get in any city. And will pay me pretty much the same as I'm getting in London.
A ten second glance at Gumtree Birmingham unveils a "Quiet Large Double Room" with all bills and 50MB broadband included for £280pcm. An equally quick glance at Gumtree London unveils "ONE DOUBLE BED TO SHARE IN A DOUBLE BEDROOM(MALE ONLY)." for £216pcm. It doesn't specify whether one would be sharing the double bed with a gorgeous young woman, but the chances seem slim. £50 a week to share a bed with a strange man. That's fucked up.
So, given that I can stay in this room for a month or so (they said there's no time limit, but recent experience has made me wary of such statements), and ideally I'd like to leave the job at the same time as leaving the room, there's little point to staying in London.
It is definitely a nice city (there was a feature in yesterday's Guardian about London being one of the greenest 'mega-cities' in the world. There are apparently so many trees here that it technically counts as one of the country's largest privately-owned forests.), and I like living here. But I don't think I can justify the premium I'm paying for it.
I realise I'm vacillating terribly on this issue, because I'm an emotional cripple who is shit at making decisions. But the practical choice is to go.
Marcy Playground's debut album is still amazing. It's a shame that, aside from Sex & Candy, they never made much of an impact.