Is that what a career is supposed to be? Upwards? Mine had been sideways, diagonal, in fact a directional mess. Do I mind? I don’t think I do. So there I was, 22 years old with a degree in education and about to marry...

Is that what a career is supposed to be? Upwards? Mine had been sideways, diagonal, in fact a directional mess. Do I mind? I don’t think I do. So there I was, 22 years old with a degree in education and about to marry and be a housekeeper to a Pop Star, the drummer of Queen no less. So what had led me to make such a decision after 4 years of university education? It was the lure of the good life; not wild parties, drugs and sex and rock and roll, rather the quiet rural life of backyarders, just in someone else’s back yard, in fact 20 acres of back yard and with a rather impressive property to look after. I was an intelligent, educated, middle class, well travelled married woman, doing the dusting and polishing the parquet and when I wasn’t doing that the husband and I were gardening and looking after our goats, chickens and ducks.

Occasionally the Rock contingent would roll up and stay but they were tax exiles in the US for most of the year and life was quiet and not too hard. We got £5000 a year and a free house and our food bills were £5 per week and we were saving up to buy a good life of our own. I learned to weave rugs and joined a studio run by a curmudgeonly weaving wonder who taught me everything she knew. It was fun; we learned a lot and occupied that weird marginal world of domestic staff to the stars. After two years the solitude and lack of intellectual stimulus got the better of me and I applied for a teaching job in a secondary school Up North. A long way up north, this time I was travelling by bus, hundreds of miles to a strange place, in my jumble sale dress and pink footless tights. What a sight.  Luckily someone saw the potential beneath the clothes and I competed with 5 other be-suited candidates and got the job. Our escape was assured and the property was cheap. 

Sometimes I am amazed by the cavalier way that I shrugged off one place for another. By the time I was being accused of gross misconduct at work I had been: a bus conductor, run a vegetarian restaurant, a housekeeper, a teacher, a self employed rug weaver, a community development worker, a resource centre manager, an unemployment advisor, an adult educator, a creative writing tutor and an arts project manager. I had lived in 31 houses and was 50 years old. I had bought and sold homes, been married and divorced twice and had a child of 18. How exhausting, exciting and adventurous it had all been. 

Now I found myself being marched off the premises by my employer who claimed that I had put my staff and clients in danger. This was a different challenge, one that involved someone else deciding what was going to happen next. I had managed a large department and had worked in various capacities at the same place for 12 years. I knew that the employer had a reputation for getting rid of people that they did not like or need any more, but me? My area had been the company’s cash cow for years but now they were sending me to the abattoir. At first I did not realise the seriousness of what was happening but after 2 weeks of cloak and dagger procedures I knew that this was the end of my career - regardless of the outcome. This was a defining moment. Ever the realist, I understood that even if I won my case that I would not want to work for this organisation again. So, win or lose, I had lost everything. Some people may have plunged into the slough of despond at this realisation but I didn’t. Bloody minded is my second name and I thought,             ”Right, I may have lost but I am going to win”. And I set about getting the best union representation I could find and I spent every day of the next six months mounting my defence. I did the work and my Rep guided me through the process and tactics. It was exhilarating; I was in my own TV show... Lady Detective fights the multi nationals in order to clear her name and to prove that right can prevail!  

And so, what happened?  After six months on full pay an internal enquiry, despite the reams of evidence to the contrary, they upheld their decision to dismiss me for gross misconduct... unless I wanted another job in the organisation! Conversant as I was in employment law I knew that it was not possible to claim gross negligence and then re employ the person in the same company. I had them. Then followed a nail biting time of financial negotiation. I had nothing, something is better than nothing but I wanted that something to be BIG. And big enough is what I got, and most of it tax free. Phew.

I had been so busy looking at the ground that I had forgotten about the blue sky and now I had to look up. I was blinded, I was sad, I was afraid, I was glad, I was exhausted and I was angry. I didn’t know what to do next. I looked for allied work, but my heart wasn’t in it. I was tired of facilitating other people’s development. I was tired of being a wage slave. I had nothing, except some money and plenty of time, or so I thought. During the previous two years I had been attending a local University studying a foundation certificate in Fine Art. Despite my varied and wayward past I had always wanted to go to Art School but somehow it had never happened. And at the moment that I was unemployed I was awarded a distinction for painting and the tutor, who could also see past the pink footless tights, offered me a place to study for a Fine Art Degree. 

“Oh no, “I cried, I need a full time job”, 

“Why?” He replied and why indeed? The child was off to university and qualified for financial support from the state, my mortgage was minute and I had no car and no expensive habits. So I said “Yes”, and yes is how it has been since. I got a First Class Degree in Fine Art and a scholarship to study for a Masters. I am currently applying for a funded PhD and hope never to be wage slave again. I sell a modest amount of work and do some arts’ project work from time to time. I now live on one fifth of the salary I had when I was employed and manage very well. 

So, is this a new story? No, but I am up and I did it this way. Some people say I am brave, I don’t see it like that. I don’t avoid difficulties, that is true, but ability, luck, happenstance have all played their part. And what if I do not get the funded PhD place, who knows? I shall be frightened and excited in the same way that I always am and no doubt something will happen, as it always does.