Daily musings

Today is Wednesday 7th of July 2021.

Like other millions of employees, I woke up at the ring of my 5 am alarm, brushed my teeth, and prepared to leave to catch the bus. This has been my routine ever since I began working.

Working conditions in the United Kingdom are not the best, but not the worst either. There is however one thing that really bothers me about the way we live, and the way we work.

Let me explain. When I was growing up in Greece, I used to live in a small village, with the nearest city being approximately sixty kilometers away. At the time of course I was a student, but my parents would be working most of the time, and yet I still had the opportunity to have late lunch at 3pm with them, and dinner at 6pm.

Fast-forward in London, you could only sit at the dinner table with your family around 7–8pm, that is if they are not fast asleep by then.

This is not an issue about ‘work being more difficult in London’. My parents were immigrants that fled the collapse of the communist bloc in search of a lifestyle. They worked two jobs, one morning shift, and one evening shift, and still had the time to spend with us.

Time in London flies faster, your commute to work eats away precious time, your 9am–5pm, or 8am–5pm or 5am–1pm, or 10pm to 6am, not only leaves you in a drained mental state where your only need is food and sleep, but also deprives you of the time to spend precious time with your family and loved ones.

Work is supremely important to our social and personal wellbeing. But there are sometimes boundaries, and unfortunately, most, if not all of us have to work to sustain ourselves. Especially if you live in London where rent eats away 70% of your payslip every month, followed by the much-dreaded council tax and utility bills.

It is unfortunately how our society works, and it has improved drastically over the last few centuries, but I believe we can still do better. For many this may sound like a wishful advice, or thinking, detached from their daily struggles for survival.

To that I raise you, with our time being limited we trade it for pennies please make sure you spend those five minutes to catch up with a loved one, or take a look at the sunset and heal your soul.

These small things can make life a little bit more bearable, at least I think.

Well, that’s me for today. Back to my office cubicle.

Best,

Chapter1King.