Working for a living has a lot to answer for...

I woke up this morning vaguely aware that the Huguenot kings were kicking off again and that somehow this was because I'd failed to do my job properly and convince them to take my sage advice.

I'm not a diplomat. It's neither my job title nor my general disposition. Nor is this the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. As such, I'm a little surprised to find my subconscious suggesting that I've failed to keep the French Catholics safe following the Wars of Religion. (Something to do with recriminations following Henry IV's assassination.) It's probably one issue that I can safely put on the back burner (or in the "issues carpark") for the next couple of weeks.

I have a few more pressing issues.

I'm work-hunting.

I don't need a job. I already have one, and I'm glad of it, and particularly glad to be working for a company which is still recruiting in spite of the downturn. However, I am coming to the end of my current contract with the customer who're a handy 20 minute walk down the road, and following a failure between my employers and my clients to agree a rate for my services, I'm being promised to a client in Swindon for the rest of eternity (or 9 months in the first instance).

Swindon is a rather longer commute.

I had previously been of the mind to relocate to within a short, and preferably cyclable/walkable, commuting distance of wherever I ended up working, and thus not waste so much life sitting in my car. However, five days a week in Swindon leaves me the option of seven nights a week at home being tired and grumpy, or three nights a week at home being less tired and grumpy. I currently have seven nights a week at home being fairly chipper (Crohn's aside), and am a little peeved at the hit my work/life balance will take if I'm sold to Swindon for any length of time.

My lovely boyfriend doesn't seem too chuffed at the prospect of my being sold to Swindon. I can't possibly imagine why...

That was a lie. I can imagine why. My guess is that it's something to do with the reason why most of my colleagues who've been sold to the wrong end of the M4 find themselves single/breaking off engagements/getting divorced. It would seem that rarely seeing your partner, working long hours on big, stressful projects and thinking/worrying about work in what should be free time is not the best thing for a healthy relationship.

Swindon also screws up rowing. This was fairly well screwed up by the Crohn's anyway, so I've quit for immediate future.

The Swindon job would be good work. As far as my CV goes, I'm not going to be offered anything better. This would be great if my career was important to me. My career? As far as I'm concerned, I have a job. I turn up at work. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm currently paid nicely to do work which is alright, morally defensible, interesting and challenging, but which I'd rather didn't interfere with my leisure time.

So, unless I can find some work to do which keeps me closer to London instead of being away all week in Swindon, I'll probably be looking for a new employer instead of just looking for a new client.