Voluntarily Redundant

Over the last decade I've made my living in IT, working at Xerox, Carlsberg and the DWP.

I've had a really great time. Seriously I have. Look - if this is going to work you'll have to trust me, OK?

As I was saying I've had some fun along the way and met a gaggle of diverse and interesting people, some of whom have become friends. I've learned an awful lot and have developed both professionally and personally.

Well that's a heart-warming tale but what place does it have on a food blog?

Hang fire, wait a moment, relax. Good things come...

Whilst I've enjoyed my work IT has never been my passion. My passion since I can remember has always been food and drink. Cooking butterfly buns with my Grandma, picking wild bilberries at Scammonden Dam with my family, eating cheese on toast whilst watching Grandstand with my Dad. Cooking, eating, drinking, reading, chatting - the works. I have immersed myself in cookbooks and television cookery programmes ever since and have spent countless hours in the kitchen and out and about seeking new food and drink experiences.

So why have I worked in IT for the last ten years? Good question. I've always had a 'plan' although, like many others, I've made a habit of deviating from it. I chose to study business at university, full of youthful ambition and mindful that I'd need some business acumen to run my epicurean empire when I turned twenty-one(!)

At twenty-one I was in love, living in Ireland and working in IT at Xerox (who had sponsored my final year of university). I was having fun, earning a good living and time was flying. I could open a delicatessen or a little bistro later in life...

This pattern has pretty much become a blueprint for the past decade with time flying by at ridiculous rate of knots. As a child years are unimaginably long with car journeys that seem to last weeks and school terms that seem to span decades. As an adult I fear a lie-in at a weekend just in case another season slips by whilst I'm sleeping. Three jobs later I find myself working in Warrington in an air conditioned office with windows that don't open.

At Christmas time I decided that it was time to make some changes, to stop being so risk-averse and to start doing more things that were out of my comfort zone. Those who know me are fully aware that I've been procrastinating for some time now and have been urging me to take a leap of faith. Well here goes...

The opportunity for voluntary redundancy then presented itself due to the much publicised budget deficit and the resulting cuts in public services. After ruling out applying because of the unstable job market, escalating living costs and the possibility of a double-dip recession I had a last minute change of heart and submitted my application on the deadline day.

I was accepted onto an exit scheme two weeks later and given a leave date of the end of June. Voluntarily Redundant. Boom.

I now have an excellent opportunity to get the 'plan' back on track, take some control and follow my passion. Quite how this will manifest itself is very much up for grabs - stay tuned for further installments folks. 

At present I don't have a job to go to. I do however have passion, energy and an embryonic plan. I'll be looking to maximise every opportunity that I get.

I'll be doing my best to document how I get on via this blog - it'd be great if you share my journey with me.