Scale

Throughout my life I have always tried to have attainable goals. There is no point setting yourself extraordinary tasks that you are unlikely to complete and I am not much one for setting myself up for a fall. When I think about it, it seems the only sensible path through life. Any ambitions I have had have been tempered by what I thought was possible and achievable.

When I formulated my tent plan I realised it was pretty ambitious, there will be considerable hardships along the way but the rewards dramatically outweigh them. In many ways, the scale and silliness of the plan serves to increase the likelihood of success.

For a start, I doubt that the land is reaching tent saturation point. Farmers and camp-sites, to my knowledge,don't have to worry about constantly fighting off requests for medium term pitches from people in tents. I will be a novelty and I hope this will increase the chance of success.

Secondly, I will have sold nearly all of my worldly possessions. It would be most embarrassing to have to come home with my tail between my legs and start from scratch. That would be a failure I am not prepared to accept whereas if I put all of my stuff in storage I will have considerably less to lose. It could even be argued that very sensibly storing my worldly stuff would diminish my chances of success

I am starting to realise that the plans most destined for success are the big ones. There are problems with sensible planning and achievable aims that are not immediately clear but upon scrutiny reveal themselves to be blindingly obvious. When your ambitions are tempered, they are not as important and are thus more likely to fail. Big plans usually have larger rewards to ensure continued motivation and there is much less competition for occupancy of the niche into which only the very ambitious and the slightly barking venture.

Bargains for All

I now have lists for things to keep, store, sell, give away, throw away, return to rightful owners, buy, do and remember. The longest of these lists is things to sell. So, for your viewing pleasure and opening to all enquiries here is the list...

1 Blue comfy chair - Would suit old lady with low standards. - £30
1 Small Bookshelf - Hardwood, 3 shelves, 4". - £30
1 Coffee table - Tough enough to do the nasty on. - £30
1 Crap mattress - Brand new. - Free
1 Djembe Drum - Barely played, much coveted. Someone please put it to good use. - £100
1 Film collection - Loads of good. Hardly any dross. About 400 thereof. - £3 each
1 Freezer - It's cool. - £50
1 HiFi - Nad amp paired to very capable pair of Hitatchi speakers. - £100
1 Large Bookshelf - 200cm*160cm*60cm, stained pine. Damn heavy. - £50
1 HP Laser Printer - mostly used for complaining. - £50
Snorkelling equipment - 2 of everything in a bag. - £50
1 Sofa - 3 seater in red. Very experienced. - Free
1 Padded Chest - Gross green colour, bought for re-upholstering (as if). - £30
1 Sharks Jaw - I killed it myself. - £5
1 Airsoft Gun - Not for sale to minors or Tim Boorman. - £20
1 Wall mounted cork screw - doesn't work, never has, chic rustique. - £400
1 Alarm Clock - plays CD's to a fashion. - Free
1 40" Sony Bravia LCDTV - Awesome. - £500
1 Playstation3 + 5 Games - *sobs gently* - £250
1 Set of Jumping Stilts - Insanely dangerous. - £100
1 19" LCD Xerox Glassfront Monitor - Big and shiny. - £100

I shall add more things as they come up which I am sure they will. If you think you may want any of this stuff let me know or it'll be on ebay next week. I can send photos and am happy to haggle.

Sorry...

I would just like to apologise to the bean counters whose judgement I maligned. They have managed to secure me an internal transfer to a horribly technical role which will keep me very much on my toes. It would appear that finding employment is one less challenge I have to face and this does somewhat assure an easy transition into my tent. This has really made my day so I will keep this short as I still have lots of celebratory dancing to do.

Woo hoo.

Jobhunting

As a salve to my job problems, I was angling for an internal transfer. That now seems to be unlikely because the bean counters can't be trusted with anything but beans. I have spent some time hunting for jobs and have lined up a few interviews. It would seem that the likelihood of starting work on the 4th August is dwindling and in some ways this could be a very good thing. In some ways it could be considered very bad.

I now have the option of spending a bit of August sorting out my house to ensure that I get my deposit returned, will be on hand to deal with ebay enquiries and can gradually wind down my house based existence. At the end of the month, I shall up sticks and move into the tent. Worst case: I could run out of money pretty sharpish if I do not find work. Ah well, I am sure it will all come out in the wash.

How others have done it...

Type 'living in a tent' into google. The top responses are here, here, here, and here. I think we may have a little social stigma to overcome along the way...

Priorities

It looks like a lot of people are going to have to give up driving before long. It is already reported that fuel sales have dropped by 20% following a doubling in crude prices in the last year. On the other hand, a budget holiday company reported growth this year, despite the inclement economic weather.

What would you be prepared to give up first when the budget gets too tight? Holidays? Fuel? Luxury food? Smoking? Your house? I was reading about the Darwin family whose 'canoeing' father did a runner to avoid £250k of debt. At what point does it become more favourable to tell your children that their dad is dead than to deal with your debts? I could give up expensive food, try to drive less or fake my own death but these attempts to economise would pale into comparison next to the saving that could be made by abandoning my house and setting up within tent.

Quitting smoking would pay health dividends I am sure but would save me a meagre £50 per month. A holiday habit may cost you as little as £85 per month but a car, with servicing, insurance, fuel and maintenance can cost £400 per month easily. My house currently costs me at least £1300 per month. It should be far more effective to make a massive change and reward myself with a nice holiday and a pack of fags.

I remember as a child hearing a grown up remarking on the number of cheap houses with satellite dishes and the crazy priorities of their inhabitants. I remember being amazed by the statistics that show that the poorest elements (god forbid we actually talk about people!) of society are more likely to smoke and play the lottery, even though they have the least amount of money to waste. Could it be that in the face of the economic hard times, we find ourselves more inclined to flick on the TV and eat crisps rather than sell the TV and start peeling spuds?

I have done so for a long time but no more, I am actually going to sell the TV.

Monday progress...

I have had a second interview for a technical role within the group I am already working for, they seem to like me. The problem is that they have no recruitment currently under way. I am sat in one corner of the building with not very much to do and another team has a desperate need for more programmers not 100 metres away. It costs as much as £15k to recruit a new programmer and they are quibbling over head counts and internal transfers.

This happened to me once before, my department was closed at a former employer and I ended up getting made redundant because the management would not authorise a move to a parallel department. I am hoping that I have managed to highlight the madness to the powers that be and that I will be the beneficiary of a seamless and hassle free transfer, I know I have a few allies in the human resources dept so all I can do is sit tight and wait. I would very much like to stay where I am but I have an offer for another job that I do not wish to take. There is only so long I can hedge my bets and I am hoping to have this all resolved within the next few hours.

Once I know my fate, I will be able to start planning where I am going to stay.

The most daunting task on my horizon still remains the disposal of all of my worldly goods, the vast majority of which I have now resolved to sell. So, if you know anyone who wants a 40" TV, a playstation3, a drum, a huge collection of cables and computer peripherals, a freezer, a collection of snorkelling gear or any number of other very nice but effectively useless items, please drop me a line.