J is for job

I am currently studying with the OU, and recently I took a new direction, I love learning new things and have stayed 'safe' for me in previous courses. This one is more of a challenge and is in sociology. I have been intrigued with how much it has opened my eyes to things going on all around me all the time.

For instance when we meet new people how do we form our ideas about them, one thing by which we identify ourselves is our job, but increasingly it is by what we like in terms of music, movies and books as well as other activities we enjoy.

It made me even wonder about the jobs I choose to include when the subject comes up, I am sometimes reluctant to say I am a writer as people seem to expect me to reel off a list of titles or magazine publications where my work can be found and some are distinctly unimpressed when you say you don't have an agent! I often say I am a full time mum trying to be an author who used to be a teacher, even this doesn't quite fit as I still love all things educational and it struck me that labeling people as clerical, administrative and so on as we are often required to do doesn't do the complexity of many of the jobs we do justice.

Perhaps Matthew summed it up best when he declared ' I am going to be a bin man and drive bin lorries all week except the weekend when I am going to be a racing car driver like Sebastian Vettel.' Now that I'd like to see.