Interview with the author - part 1

Interviewer (henceforth "Int"): Good morning.

astonysh (henceforth "me"): Good morning, Guten Morgen, bonjour, goede morgen ....

Int: ever the show-off?!

me: well it's nice to have summat left to show off!

Int: you haven't been on here much lately.

me: well I had run out of inspiration, and I needed some new ideas. So I took a break.

Int: so what have you been up to?

me: working (not much come in in the last couple of weeks), preparing all the documentation to get the small claims procedures in place so I can try to get back the €2,794 that companies in France and Belgium owe me. And not sleeping as ever. And trying to work out whether the permament job that looked a distinct possibility in December might still happen - though it appears less and less likely by the day.

Int: how come?

me: the PR management interviewed me, liked me, agreed with my assessment that age = experience (and talent), not senility. Looked good. Passed the information onto their technical management who should have interviewed me (and that should have been a foregone conclusion). No interview, no further contact, nowt!

Int: why?

me: you tell me. If the PR personnel did not seem ageist, the technical management looks like it is. In an industry where nobody is supposed ever to get over 35, that is not that surprising. Stupid, but not that surprising. Then there may be the crap that they don't want to give me a position "below my status", wharrever that is.

Int: crap?

me: Of course it is. I am not earning much as a translator, the lack of income and unreliability of certain companies (Juristraduction in Paris, 2BTranslated in Belgium - see the small claims stuff earlier) is destroying what is left of my life. I need an income which equals a living wage. If the job isn't quite where I should be career-wise, that does not bother me. I will still enjoy working in IT on EDI projects. I will still enjoy working in IT and learning other skills. Status is not that important to me these days as it was 20-25 years ago. Getting paid and staying out of debt is.

Int: so it is up at 0415 having breakfast and giving this interview?

me: yes, that's about the size of it. My wife being on morning shifts for the past four days means that the house wakes up early. She cannot understand my insomnia though and seems to like the idea of simple solutions to complex problems, but she is also not stupid. And to use my German word of the moment she is "stur"!

Int: OK, more after the advert break.

Exit to commercials on cars, beer and insurance companies (Willkommen in Deutschland!). More in Part 2.