2nd February 2011, 06:36 PM
Have you thought about getting out to stay in?
I guess you're about the same vintage as me. I'm currently coming to terms with there not being a niche for me in archaeology and as this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do it's breaking my heart. My joints have packed it in (still have my back though), I'm stranded in the wrong end of the country and I am too poor to move, too poor to retrain, and with the incoming changes to housing benefit rules getting stuck between jobs whilst living on hand-to-mouth wages will literally put me on the street. So, with a heavy heart I have to bid archaeology adieu shortly, though I secretly hope it's au revoir.
What really saddens me is that I've spent 18 years trying to become the best possible excavator (I started young) and it's really only in the last five years that I feel that I really understand archaeology and I want to pass the torch on... and amn't in a position to do so. I actually feel guilty.
I suppose you need to ask yourself what you want to be doing five years hence. I'd settle for being able to fully open my hands and not living in fear of being chucked out. Sorry, now I'm starting to whine too. Back to being up beat. How about doing something new and keeping your hand in on a voluntary basis? Archaeology always needs ambassadors and benefactors and just about anything else pays better to give you a chance of being one of those. Do you see a future in community archaeology? Or, you could be one of those eccentrics who write up ancient archives in their spare time. Just a thought. Those are the thoughts that keep me going.
I guess you're about the same vintage as me. I'm currently coming to terms with there not being a niche for me in archaeology and as this is the only thing I've ever wanted to do it's breaking my heart. My joints have packed it in (still have my back though), I'm stranded in the wrong end of the country and I am too poor to move, too poor to retrain, and with the incoming changes to housing benefit rules getting stuck between jobs whilst living on hand-to-mouth wages will literally put me on the street. So, with a heavy heart I have to bid archaeology adieu shortly, though I secretly hope it's au revoir.
What really saddens me is that I've spent 18 years trying to become the best possible excavator (I started young) and it's really only in the last five years that I feel that I really understand archaeology and I want to pass the torch on... and amn't in a position to do so. I actually feel guilty.
I suppose you need to ask yourself what you want to be doing five years hence. I'd settle for being able to fully open my hands and not living in fear of being chucked out. Sorry, now I'm starting to whine too. Back to being up beat. How about doing something new and keeping your hand in on a voluntary basis? Archaeology always needs ambassadors and benefactors and just about anything else pays better to give you a chance of being one of those. Do you see a future in community archaeology? Or, you could be one of those eccentrics who write up ancient archives in their spare time. Just a thought. Those are the thoughts that keep me going.