Blogs: Jack's job log: 11

Jack has just finished his degree. His job hunt is proving a long and difficult road.

Life has a funny way of shaping itself. Lots of minor transgressions, incidents and general everyday life go by without relative incidents, but mould our very fabric. Does that sound too poignant for a blog about a boy who works in a bookie's? I thought so too, but what the hey, we’re in form, and I like it. I seem to be in the very basic format, a ‘form’ person.

I go through patches in life where everything I touch turns to gold, and everything is ‘lovely jubbly’ as my hero and role model in life Derek Trotter would say. The downside of this is that it is usually over quicker than an English summer, and the remaining 10 ½ months of the year I reside in Strugglesville, which is a nice little village just outside Schmucks-on-Trent. One presumes that this happens to each and every single reader. However, due to a more refined and socially acceptable lifestyle, the swings and the highs and lows are that of a much lesser magnitude.

‘Form’ is what accountants would call an ‘Intangible Asset’ - identifiable non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or physically measured, which are created through time and/or effort and that are identifiable as a separate asset. So whereas Coca Cola have the brand name on their balance sheet for about $1 Billion, I calculate the impact of form.

I am aware I have strayed off on a massive tangent, but it is an issue that is important to me and one that is an underappreciated and taboo topic. You know one of those days when you wake up, the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and you know today is going to be a good day? You don’t have those types of days living in Strugglesville! It is cold, wet and dreary, the basic undertone being miserable.

Focusing more on my actual blog, it has been a strange and action packed last month, especially at HQ. We have had the Cheltenham festival, which was a rollercoaster ride for an emotionally unstable fan that had some favourites out there. Denman was the most pleasing, even if he did finish second. National Hunt racing is the only sport where participants that do not win are lauded and praised more than the actual winner, and the feeling of camaraderie is something that could be taken on board from other sports and other sportsmen.

This was followed up with the Aintree Festival, filled with agony and ecstasy. Sixteen year old Willie Twiston-Davies gained much deserved redemption from an agonising fall at Cheltenham, but there was also the widely disproportionate publicity surrounding the two fatalities in the Grand National. Sensationalist headlines covering up the unfortunate circumstances surrounding both demises, with less than ideal ground and an even less ideal pacing of the race. Oh well, why let facts get in the way of a good story, right?

Hopefully this time next month I shall still be steered clear away from my tent in Strugglesville. We live in hope.