Terry (not his real name) was wheeling me along the broad smooth corridors at pace. We were heading for a CT scan and an X ray. “Have you been doing this long?” I asked. “About six months. I love it. I used to be in demolition. Straight from school till the 2008 crash and things changed.”
“What happened then?” “With a friend we started a cleaning company.. It grew and we had big contracts. Ended up doing work for McCarthy and Stone. Then Covid came along and another change. My wife suggested I took life a bit easier. She works in the NHS.
“Unbeknownst to me, she’d filled in an application for this job. I only knew two days before the interview – the first I ever had. In the building trade it’s all word of mouth. So there I am in a white shirt and smart trousers on my way to the interview. A button comes off my shirt and I’m running and sweating a bit, because I’m late.
“I have the interview on Wednesday and they say they will ring me in the next two days. I don’t hear anything. Then at Friday teatime the phone rings. I’ve got the job. I love it. Wish I’d done it years ago!”
St. Paul was pulled kicking and screaming in another direction. For most of us it’s not so dramatic. Winston Churchill’s observation that we stumble over opportunities and simply get up and carry on, is probably more accurate.
Chris Dawson