Career Advice

The list of jobs I have wanted to do in my life is extensive. Always a dancer, but if not that maybe a nurse? And when I got more ambitious and over-confident, a doctor. I had a tiny doctors kit and everything, cmplete with plastic stethoscope. Then there was the phase where I wanted to be an astronaut, but when I discovered I'd been beaten to the first woman in space by Valentina Tereshkova by thirty-something years, I lost interest.

When I settled on vet for a summer, my best friend and I phoned the RSPCA to ask if they could advise us on how to open a vetinary practice in the wendy house in her back garden. The man on the phone very patiently told the eight-year-old me that I'd have to qualify first and that he'd send me an information pack. I don't know that I ever received it.

Then there were possibilities of marine biology, ornithology, zoo keeper, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, midwife, teacher, lawyer, author, journalist, librarian, archaeologist, museum curator, actress, costume designer, and I forget...

The trouble is, I was one of those annoying children at school who was good at a lot. And was interested in a lot. So nothing stuck for long before I became focused on something else. Then I somehow ended up going to dance school at 17 and promptly forgot how to think. Sure we did some academic lessons there but dance on paper is the most horrendously dull subject. Maybe there were some glimmers of interest when we had to study the ballet Onegin, or when I discovered the link between Martha Graham and psychoanalysis, but really I was more interested in Pushkin and Jung than choreography.

So what to do?

Obviously my best bet is a lottery win. Then I can just indulge my curiousity in whatever shiny new idea pops into my head. But this is a tad unlikely, especially as I very rarely feel like wasting my money on a ticket.

Rich husband is also out. I'm very anti-relying on anybody.

So if anyone has any ideas, here's my ideal job description: I would like the option to work from home in my pyjamas or in some sunny office with brightly coloured wall where no one wears shoes. I don't want to see the general public, but I do want to be surrounded by creative, clever and/or funny people. I would like my job to involve travel, or be paid well enough (and have enough time off) to go on holiday a lot. I'd like to spend my time reading interesting things, writing whatever I desire, doodling, making small art. I don't like technology so I don't want too much to do with computers beyond Word and the internet. The less I have to talk on the phone the better. I do not want to lift anything except pens and pencils

So. Does this job exist? If so, let me know. I'm perfect for it.

Until then I'm off to study one thing or other until I alight on something that sticks. Maybe the Italian conditional next: vorrei un lavoro interessante per favore.