The Way The Old World Changes (January 2013)


J had always said, "You're not going to be managing a HMV when you're sixty."

I'm getting closer to that mark by the day. She was right. This is how it started to happen.

14/01/13

I had a blog ready to go tonight, a frivolous little thing about some shit bands that I'd lumped together into a vague movement of forgettability.

But then the world changed.

Halfway through making tea for myself and the kids (J away training overnight) I received a phone call that pushed me toward Sky News and the revelation that the company that I've loved working for for the last quarter of a century will enter administration tomorrow.

Barring any miracles there's every chance we are going to go the way of all flesh (and I base that purely on the way it's panned out for every other company in this position, not from any inside knowledge, if I had inside knowledge I wouldn't have had to turn the news on)

It's an interesting experience having the rug suddenly pulled from under you and I genuinely have no idea how I feel at the moment but i can tell you that tea didnt taste that great. 

I'm sure when the dust settles I will have an opinion on all this but for the moment all I can say is that it's been a pleasure, I really wouldn't have wanted to do anything else. I've worked with some incredible people and they're all in my thoughts tonight.

Normal service tomorrow with a bit of luck.

Might just have a little glass of wine now. For a change.




15/1/13

So, I've woken early this morning,  no need for an alarm on a day when I'd expected to find it difficult to rise; last night wasn't an early night and wine may well have been involved

And I'm aching. Every inch of me is aching, as though each moment of the work I've done in the last 26 years has finally decided to show up and remind me that I'm 50 and I've been doing this a long time.

And the TV keeps talking about me. Well, not me, my job and the way it could affect 4350 of us. And they've brought in their regular paper reviewers to talk about us. They can work out some of the reasons for whats happening but its just a 'thing' to them, something they're expected to put forward an opinion on and I can't begrudge them that; somebody unqualified to comment making comments? It's what I'm doing every day. I'm sure they're nice people, they seem to care, I wish them well, I'd like their job.

The positive this morning comes from the sheer weight of activity on Facebook and Twitter last night, the weight of support from friends. There's a lot of people out there who care about their friends; you find the best in people in your own adversity (and let's not overstate the case, nobody is losing their life here)

And from this end?  It's all about attitude. The future is wide open. Anything can happen now.

Good morning everybody.




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