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November 14th, 2006

Working from home

how to be a cartoonistFirst of all, a huge thank you to everyone who has submitted cartoon ideas. I will be printing them all off later and making notes on them and hopefully some drawings will result. Seriously, it makes a big difference, so thank you.

Today’s subject: working from home. Excuse the old cartoon (post with larger version), but it seemed to fit.

I find working from home difficult. People tell me how wonderful it must be not to have to commute, but I find that sitting in the house on my own all day every day not seeing or talking to a human being is not as idyllic as it first appears. I am not intending to sound as if I am complaining in a complaining sort of way though, as I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to be doing what I am doing.

Going out to different places (such as the Wetherspoons day centre for cartoonists and the elderly) helps a bit but not that much. The amount of human interaction in these day centres is minimal.

I am currently on the lookout for somewhere to go and work, but so far have not found anywhere. It needs to be in south east Essex or even possibly London. I do not have a huge amount of money to spend on such a thing, but I do have some. The thing I do have is the ability to draw pictures and make websites and I would be very happy to help out any individual or organisation willing to give me a small corner of a table to do drawings on.

Questions for study groups:
1) Do you work from home? If not do you wish that you could?
2) If you work from home how do you stay sane?
3) People in the Bible often worked from home, or didn’t. What does this teach us about things, or not? Discuss.

15 Comments »



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15 Responses to “Working from home”


  1. joe says:

    1) yes.

    2) Well two ways really: a) I’ve got myself into a bit of a routine and b) I don’t expect too much of myself. Sometimes I manage to get quite a lot done, other times I don’t. Sometimes when I’m feeling really low I give up altogether – and nobody really notices. I try not to beat myself over the head when I don’t do much, and to treat each day like a new day. On the other hand, I am pretty inefficient at what I do.

    3) Not a lot. I think we tend to think of biblical characters as people with DRIVE and ENTHUSIASM – ready to get stuck into the job they’ve been given without having an off-day. But I doubt it was actually like that. Then I remind myself of my favourite character Jonah, who despite being the worst possible person to do the job he was given still managed to do it.

    November 14th, 2006 at 10:59 am
  2. Graham Doel says:

    You can have a desk in my study, only it’s in the north west so the travelling might put you off.

    November 14th, 2006 at 11:42 am
  3. lanark says:

    There’ve been two periods in my life when I’ve been working from home, both lasting under a year, and both seriously challenged my sanity. And the first time was the first year of my married life, and in a town I’d never lived in before (so didn’t know many people). So you definitely have my sympathies. I don’t think I discovered any useful coping strategies, but I guess if I’d known a few people nearby in a similar position and, say, met up with them for lunch each day it would have helped. Virtual contact is nice, but just not the same.

    November 14th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
  4. Karin says:

    This is an increasing problem for people who don’t spend all day at work and even people who do might find they have very few decent conversations or relatioships.

    Small shops and old fashioned high streets can be a place to meet people but these are dying out.

    If you walk around your neighbourhood you might meet people to chat to, or they might be in too much of a hurry or simply drive past in their cars.

    Our habits and the way society is developing make it harder to meet people.

    I work part-time in a library as much for the social interaction as for the money. Also being on a couple of committees and going to church and housegroup enhance my social life – although that can’t be guaranteed. It depends on the church and the committee etc.

    Self-displine in getting tasks done and not being sidetracked is another problem again.

    November 14th, 2006 at 12:25 pm
  5. Tom says:

    I often think that the top three things about being a vicar are: 1. not having to commute 2. not having to wear a suit and tie and 3. being able to eat what and when I want. (There may be a fourth but it depends on having a wife who works from home.) But there’s no doubting it, the solitary life does have its difficulties and is one reason I left my last job. If I was still there (in Essex) I would gladly offer you a corner of a desk. All I can do now is go into the garage and saw a bit off an old one we’ve got stored and post it to you.

    On the subject of new ideas for drawings, I often look at your cartoon in the Church Times at the same time as I read John Pridmore’s comments on the readings for the forthcoming Sunday. Sometimes I wonder what the results would be if you did his job. Seriously, you should think about it, we all know there’s humour in them Jesus stories!

    Better go, it’s lunchtime!

    November 14th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
  6. Carolyn says:

    Do you have the equivalent of Starbucks coffee shops in your area. Here in the US they are everywhere and have nice tables to sit at for hours if you like as long as you buy a coffee now and then. You would definitely meet people that way and get out of the house now and then.

    November 14th, 2006 at 3:00 pm
  7. Chris Clark says:

    Answers

    1a) Yes
    1b) Typically ill thought out question which will divide the group
    2) Ber wer wer wer werrr
    3) It teaches us that 1st century Greco-Roman world was very different or the same as today

    November 14th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
  8. Michelle says:

    1) Yes
    2) I wander off! Sometimes as far as the kitchen to make a nice cup of tea. I make nice cups of tea a lot during the day. My job has the added bonus of requiring a bit of pastoral visiting, so if I’m fed up of my own company I wander off and visit someone – of course this is purely for their sake and doesn’t benefit me in the least. Sometimes, when I’ve got to the point of talking to myself, I wander to the Ship of Fools and ramble with some other Fool somewhere in the world. I do this about as often as I make nice cups of tea.
    And then sometimes I wander off to my blog and ramble a load of twaddle there too. I find that all this keeps me just about as sane as I ever get, and allows for a little work to get done too.
    3) I’m sorry but I’m currently having a tea break and so I can’t formulate an answer to this question until I start back again at about 4.57pm.

    November 14th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
  9. Rob says:

    1) No, but sometimes I think I live at work, except for the times I work away from the office
    2) My colleagues who work at home are without exception saner than the office-based ones
    3) Was Jonah the worst? Gideon comes pretty close.

    November 14th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
  10. Paul says:

    dave, come on down to the coffee house! junction 19/20 of the m25.

    you won’t find the napkins yet :( but you’ll see your cards and book, and best of all there’s free wireless broadband (own laptop required).

    i worked from home for a bit and was often lacking the discipline required to not stare out of the window. but now i’d love to work one or two days a week from home cos i’d get more done.

    grass is always greener i guess.

    November 14th, 2006 at 10:18 pm
  11. John Davies says:

    a) I do
    b) I don’t
    c) It doesn’t

    November 15th, 2006 at 12:01 am
  12. SteveT says:

    I go to the same cafe in Blackheath often enough that other regulars know me and like have a chat. This annoys me and disrupts my work, so I try to avoid them.

    Also I have a number of fellow housemonkeys in the London area whom I meet up with for the sake of human interaction. Sometimes we pretend it’s to do with work. So if you ever find yourself with a reason to come into London, let me know and we can exchange notes on walking to the fridge and back.

    November 15th, 2006 at 9:28 am
  13. Emma says:

    a) I’m unemployed. I wish I could work anywhere but home.
    b) I go to Asda. The experience is quite refreshing.
    c) Somthing profound, maybe.

    November 15th, 2006 at 10:46 am
  14. Steve says:

    I sometimes find that I stay at home rather than go to my place of employment, precisely because of issues relating to my sanity. Sometimes I do work at one or the other of these places.

    One of the problems with people in the Bible is that they commute. Either God is calling them from one place/state of mind to another, or they are running after other gods etc. If they had stayed where they were supposed to be, there would have been fewer problems. On the other hand Jesus was specifically against working from home

    November 16th, 2006 at 8:49 am
  15. peggy says:

    Yes, I work at home, and also outside the home. Easy to get distracted, especially with a new website. Not easy to get noticed in this large web. I am in the united states. Shameless plug for myself, http://www.portraitsbypeggylee.com I believe this is what the lord wants me to be doing. According to me, the business is not growing fast enough…but there are links to create, and toilets to be scrubbed haha alas the real problem on working at home, you’re in charge of everything!

    June 17th, 2007 at 9:03 pm