This campaign is now live, so I can post these Flintstone ads at last. This is the last branch campaign I worked on before leaving Xerox. But it's not really been a case of putting my feet up and chilling out (even when there has been a bit of sun). You can't really relax when you're not sure where the next job is, when the next pay check will be arriving.
So far I've had just the three interviews mentioned previously, although on the back of that I did manage a single day of freelance work, and the suggestion that they'll get me in for other work, when they need someone. I've had to sign on, just to ensure I have got some money coming in, and I've continued to apply for jobs I find online, which isn't easy given the small number of artworker roles that seem to be advertised (I keep finding the same roles on different sites). I've just had a call back from one of those applications though, with a follow up phone call promised in the next day or two, so in a wilderness of no news that brief contact with a potential employer is a brief parting of the rain clouds and a glimmer of sun light.
I did, after asking various people for advise, manage to update my phone to a Google Nexus 5X. After my old phone kept dying on me, I had to pick something up to ensure I could remain easy to contact whilst I'm looking for work (and relying on Gmail and Google Calendar as much as I now do, a Google phone made sense). It's been pretty handy, apart from the time I needed it most - having set it to silent during work hours last Wednesday, I then missed a phonecall, and two messages, on the Thursday during those same hours. That was pretty frustrating.
To be fair the last week or so has been pretty chaotic, after learning at the eleventh hour that the whole flat was going to be refloored, and that we'd have to move all our stuff out of our bedroom in order to camp out in the living room. So, most of our stuff is now in storage, much of our stuff was chucked altogether (but then it needed to be), and the rest of our belongings are piled up around the bed. It's been hectic and time consuming just to get to this stage, although, having done all the heavy lifting and transporting of things around London by suitcase it's nice to, for a few days at least, not have to worry about it. Not until we have to move everything back in. To a degree it feels a little like 'earned the right' to relax. In practice though that's easier said than done, when I still need to find work, and my poor wife is having her own difficulties at work with people having days off sick and belligerent management criticising her whilst she's keeping the place afloat, it's pretty damn hard to relax.
I've no doubt things will improve at some stage. It's just not a great deal of fun having to endure the downswing until things get better again. Watch this space.