Making a Difference

I have a new job in this street:



It's my third this year. I still have job number 1 which is 18 hours a week. Job number 2 lasted two months (no, I wasn't fired, it was meant to be temporary) and now job number 3 is for 20 hours a week which means Wednesday and Friday are job number 1, Tuesday and Thursday are job number 2 and Monday is half of each.

(Just to be clear: some of you thought I was doing three jobs at once - no, I was doing no 1 and no 2 together, and now I am doing no 1 and no 3 together. In both cases, the two jobs add up to a fulltime job which is no more than a lot of others do, but still a shock to the system after fifteen years of fulltime motherhood, a few years of study, and about eight years of working parttime)

Busy, busy. Strangely I don't feel more tired, I feel energised, although I am getting less done outside of work. But the hours I do have are more productive. And I feel useful, as we really really need the money. P. still hasn't found a job, and unfortunately I can't earn nearly the hourly rate that he was earning, but part time accounts jobs are way more abundant than full time IT jobs.

The new job has its compensations. For instance, I get to walk there along the river and through this reserve:



Since it's the middle of winter, I leave home just after sunrise and leave work just before sunset. Sunsets like this one:



Actually, this is Thursday's sunset, which wasn't nearly as spectacular as Tuesday's sunset, but I didn't have my camera with me on Tuesday.

It feels good to be able to walk to work for a number of reasons. Firstly, because it helps the environment. In fact, I've been wanting to make an environmentally friendly change of some sort each week and blog about it. Not to be smug about what I'm doing, but as a way of making myself accountable. Especially since I wrote a couple of weekends back about how the answers are never simple.

I do believe that it's easiest to make changes when there is self-interest involved. I had been enjoying walking on the hills all summer, and now it is too dark to do that after work. And I'm not a great fan of jogging on roads and footpaths, I find it too hard on my knees and heels. The walk to work is just about the right distance - around half an hour each way. That's an hour's walking each day, though only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

So, the title of this post refers to making a difference in a number of ways - making a difference to the environment, making a difference to my weight and fitness (I hope), and making a difference to the family budget. And hopefully, I will see some more spectacular sunsets.