Swing Time

This is just a brief post - my first in months. Since February I have been through quite a whirl with work, property renovation and our new (less so now) baby. Miri. is well - having cut teeth and started to stamp her mark on the world in a pretty jolly fashion. We have renovated our flats in Prague and London successfully and I enjoyed an incredibly busy and enjoyable period of learning a new job and sector (head-hunting fund managers in London) which drew to a close on Friday when I was sacked (for not making enough money).

The plan going forward is to follow the sage counsel of Fred Astaire - issued during that other major 'credit crunch' of the 1930's - and 'pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again'.

In the short term at least I intend to work alone - as I doubt any of the reputable head-hunters will hire me until the markets improve (especially as I did not bill well over the last few months) and all I have to do to be relatively prosperous is beat the 'dole'. In an odd way this moment is liberating - as it has re-defined my horizons (by reducing the downside of lost salary). Moreover, assuming that we are not witnessing the demise of Western capitalism (even if a shift in the geographical locus of power towards the East), the pendulum will swing back again and there will be better times ahead.

However, the decision is also daunting. My resources will be my time, the contacts I have and a few ideas about how to improve client service. I will be up against bigger, more established firms. Consequently, this is going to be a heck of a challenging time - especially while the markets are turbulent - so please remember me and my family in your prayers.

The next post will revert to my usual rant against modernity - next weekend (I hope)...