Working from home or

"bludgeing"?

 I suppose it is a good question, certainly one posed today by one of the senior editorial staff on the state's newspaper. It is one which has even occurred to me at times when so many people were working from home and are still working from home.

Of course I have worked from home for many years. There has never been any other way to do my job. Until the advent of the internet and the vast amount of material now available on it I did spend at least one day a week in the university library. I would be in and out several times a week tutoring students. I even gave the occasional lecture but I was not a full time member of staff with a desk. It was easier to work from home surrounded by dictionaries, reference books, access to a phone (before the days of mobile phones!) and much more.

People sometimes asked how I managed to do it. The answer was "with difficulty". This was not because I did not want to do the work  but because other people did not see me as "going to work". I was home. If they wanted to knock on the door for any reason I should make myself available. Even if I went to the door with a book in my hand, a sheaf of papers or talking on the phone they did not seem to understand. They would "wait" or "come back later" or "just chat to your father..." and so on. 

It was actually just as frustrating for the Senior Cat at times. When he was still able he was always doing something for someone, often something urgent. He sometimes had a commission to make a piece of apparatus for one of his fellow conjurers or a piece of furniture to repair for the women's shelter or something else to do for a local group.  

We wanted to get on and get things done. It was at times like this that I often felt relieved that I was doing something for someone in a different time zone. It would be the middle of the night in the UK or in North America, early morning in Africa perhaps. I still had to get things done. 

How did I do it? I was sometimes up very early in the morning - at four in the morning there was little chance of people knocking on the door. Once the internet was there, I could - by prior arrangement - "talk" to someone elsewhere in the world, in a place where the time was reasonable for them. I can still do that if absolutely necessary but I have been cutting back. I am past the normal retirement age. It is absolutely essential that other people take over and I have been working to make that happen.

The other thing is that I had to discipline myself. This was not just about saying that there were things which needed to be done. This was about making sure that I had a working life and another life. The other life was all too often limited by the demands of my working life but I would always try to take some time out. There were major incidents when, like everyone else, I went without sleep and without any time out for some days on end but then I would go back to as much of a routine as a job like mine has ever allowed.

Across the street is a man who works for the "tax office". He has been working from home for months now. We discussed this the other day and he told me, "I like it. I can actually get more done. I am more focussed. It suits me but it doesn't suit everyone."  

Yes, it does suit him. At about the time he would break for lunch in the office he takes their dog for a brisk "walk around the block". He picks the two children up from school and starts to prepare the evening meal because his wife works at one of the hospitals. His senior is more than happy with this because the work is being done. His family life has actually improved. They are all seeing more of one another.  

But the downside to all of this is the lack of outside adult companionship and the way he no longer goes at lunch time to buy a "good coffee" in the cafe near the office. We agreed that he is saving money on all this but other people are losing. Some people are out of work and others have lost the businesses they worked so hard to build. 

I know I didn't "buy coffee" or anything else.I didn't have the money to do that but I did travel on the train into the city. I knew some regular commuters. Most of them have retired now but there would perhaps be others.  

In one way any "lockdown" was perhaps easier for me because I am used to working alone but I am aware that working from home is all too often working in isolation. No, we are not islands. We need each other.