Time

Time - he flexes like a whore
Falls wanking to the floor

I wish I could remember when, and how old I was, but at some stage, many moons ago, my uncle, aunt and cousins bought me the book Time, by Alexander Waugh.¹ The 24 hour day, 60 second minute, 12 month year and 7 day week all betray a cornucopia of influences. Our reckoning of time was forged in the cradle of civilization, the Sumerians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans and Jews all played a role. Bede was capable of discussing the second, a period of time he can have had no way of measuring.


The chapters are arranged largely by forms of measurement, e.g. Second, Minute, Decade etc. Each chapter discusses the origins of the form, and usually includes some interesting diversions, and into this rather elegant scheme discussions of e.g. the calendar, the technology of time telling, creation etc are inserted. The book makes no claim to academic rigour (which is a good job as we shall see), and does not contain any academic apparatus, as with all such books it would be nice if there was at the very least an annotated bibliography/further reading section at the end. Some reviews on Amazon suggest that the structure is a little too chaotic, but in the main I think that meandering nature is quite pleasant. - Like a long conversation with a learned friend.

The book is not without its flaws, a fine line divides the interesting diversion and the irrelevant digression. A slightly broader gap separates these from the rant, of which there are a few. Despite the occasional admonishments against it, Waugh does indulge in a little chauvinism, especially were God is involved, and the credulity of the medieval man, and the control of the medieval church. This is coupled with a few editing and factual issues. A good editor should surely make sure that when an author says "As I have said", that he has, and that the information does not, in fact, come later. A good editor should also check in which year Caesar invaded Britain, which way round Einstein's theories go, the difference between an arc minute and a degree etc. Anyone who is researching such things should be able to correctly discuss a 'spherical' universe. Most of all he should not get the Venerable Bede (Saint, Doctor of the Church, medieval monk of Wearmouth-Jarrow etc) and Adam Bede (Carpenter, eighteenth century, fictional character from the pen of George Eliot).

Perhaps his chauvinism blinded him to an interesting area of discussion, and that is of Church time. The way the church, along with many other religions, keeps its own calendar, of seasons, (Lent, Epiphany etc), and festivals. The way in which to the catholic mind, not only the seasons, but also the days of the year, the days of the week and the hours of the day are imbued with a sacred significance. Observant adherents of several religions count both secular and sacred time.

The most interesting thing about time, at least as revealed in this book, is the arbitrary nature in which we cut it up. In fact I find that we do cut it up pretty interesting in itself. The human urge to measure, divide and identify is fascinating, and yet so primal that it is almost impossible to think about. On one level the division of time is a practical thing, we need to know when to get up, when to go to bed, when to work etc. Alfred the Great wanted to make sure he spent as much time praying as ruling, and as we have seen, time is cut up for sacred purposes. In many ways the way we count time seems both arbitrary and archaic. The second is a pointless unit of time, the minute is a bit better, but most of the time I divide time in chunks of five minutes. For planning purposes I use chunks of ten minimum, usually chunks of half an hour. Half an hour traveling time, half an hour to make tea etc.

On the internet one can find advocates for pretty much anything, including temporal reform. The last time anyone seriously attempted to change the way we measure time was the french revolution. The French indulged their fetish for the metric by giving us a ten day 'week', and a metric system of hours (etc). Whilst for scientific, and many technical purposes the metric system is admirable, for many practical purposes it is useless, although not as useless as a system when every day of the year has its own name. Nonetheless metric time has some enthusiastic proponents. There are other people who suggest time to be told in binary or hexadecimal format.

I must admit to being fascinated by alternative ways of measuring time, partly because they destabilise cosy notions of regularity and order, but mainly because they seem so damn sci-fi. If we take man into space, it doesn't matter how long his day is, never mind how it is divided. Kim Stanley Robinson's otherwise excellent Mars books, deal with martian time by sticking 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds, onto the end of a day, which seems an unimaginative way of doing things. Surely there could be better solutions? I like the idea of returning to our Sumerian heritage and dividing the day into 360 equal portions (of four minutes), and (orbit of the earth be damned), cutting the year into 360 days.

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1 Who is indeed related, being grandson, to a Much More Famous Waugh. Whose Brideshead I found most enjoyable. The rest of the less famous Waugh's output is an interesting mix. Classical Music, Wittgenstein, his family, and God.

Employment

Thankyou for attending the recent interview. I am pleased to inform you that we are now in a position to offer you an appointment as a Administrative Support Assistant

This, of course, is the news I have been waiting for, for some time.

On one level there is very little to say, right now it changes very little. I do not know when the post starts, because to be formally given the role I have to submit my disclosure etc. This is exciting enough nonetheless.

I don't actually know what I will be doing, but whatever it is, it is unlikely to be the kind of job to put in one's epitaph. On the other hand it is an in, an entrance to the civil service, and a way of obtaining the much needed experience in a rigorous environment. Since I have (sort of) chosen the route of entering at the bottom and climbing, I intend to be fairly aggressive in my own advancement, seeking opportunities to learn and advance wherever they arise.

The main change is a fairly abstract one, for some time now all the elements of my life have been in place. I live in a fine flat in a wonderful city. I live with my fiancée, an ambition which I had been holding for some time until, finally, it could happen. We manage a fairly comfortable lifestyle, and see enough of our fine friends to keep us very happy indeed in that respect. However, there has been a force which has been dragging my happiness back. My failure, for some time, to find employment, has been a terrible burden to carry.


Job Seeking (as opposed to leisurely unemployment, which I am sure I could enjoy) is a depressing purpose. Firstly it forces one to prostitute oneself far and wide. I have filled in countless applications, pouring in as much enthusiasm as possible into each one. For many of these applications several hours of work was not even met with courtesy reply. In some cases I would spend yet more time, preparing for, and then attending, an interview. The interview process was emotionally taxing every time. In order to come across well at interview I would work up the maximum enthusiasm for a post, leading to inevitable crushing disappointment when, again, I heard nothing. Secondly the process makes one question ones value, in a world where people define, and value themselves, in relation to their employment a failure to find employment can leave one very cold. Finally the guilt is all consuming, I felt I should be looking for work at every minute, felt every time I watched TV that I was cheating the system. I tried to avoid reading news stories about unemployment, so as not to encounter the inevitable driveling "what I reckon", about scrounging JSA scum.

Throughout this process I was "supported" by the Job Centre "Plus". I feel having finally gotten a job I can confidently say that the Job Centre has made life much more difficult than it needed to. Firstly in treating me like a feckless cheat. For instance in making me attend punishment interviews twice in a week at nine o'clock in the morning because I "missed" an appointment. What actually happened is that I had an interview at my signing on time, I rang, and asked to re-arrange to a different time, I was given another appointment. Only when I got to this rearranged appointment did I discover that this was not to perform the usual signing on, but to provide evidence of my interview, evidence which I did not know to bring. As such I had to attend a second appointment with this evidence. In the first appointment I received what can only be described as a ticking off. Being treated as a truanting child does not do wonders for the self esteem.

The Job Centre claims to help the seeker find work, this help was not only not offered, but not given even when it was requested. I needed help, I had to find it elsewhere. When I first came to the Centre I did so full of naive enthusiasm, on entering a Job Centre you are met by burly security guards who wish to know why you are there. I stated the obvious, and was admitted as far as the "welcome desk". At the welcome desk I explained to a grumpy woman that I was looking for help finding a job. She looked at me blankly for some time before asking if I would like to claim benefits. These two anecdotes are representative of the whole Job Centre system, as I have experienced it.

I have to thank everyone who has been supportive through the process especially the patience of my family, and my Natasha. I have no illusions about the job, I am sure it will be at times difficult, at times dull. But I will feel a lot happier for doing it.

[b]addendum[/b]

What I managed not to mention above are some of the more stupid regulations.

It is right and proper that a condition of receiving JSA is that one actively seeks work, to this end one is supposed to perform three job seeking tasks a week. This is woefully low, and I did far more. However they also expect you to not be doing anything else. Which is stupid. In order to keep myself sane, and improve my employability, I started volunteering, first at a small building preservation charity, and I was later accepted as an intern with the Church of Scotland. One of the regulations was that I was only permitted to do a maximum of 12 hours of voluntary work. This prevented me from taking up the full internship at the Church of Scotland. If I had not gotten that I would have been unable to take more voluntary work.

Correct me if I am wrong, but shouldn't the Job Centre be encouraging people to improve their prospects, and give back to society, by volunteering?

In addition, one cannot claim JSA if ones partner works for more than 20 hours a week. Paid or otherwise. It is not based on money or income. Your partner can be a part time banker, or a jobbing cleaner, and it has the same effect. If your partner is working on the minimum wage that is not enough to support you both, it is probably not really enough to support em. - Stupid.

The amounts paid in JSA assume that a 24 year old needs significantly less money than a 25 year old. Under-25s are also not eligible for working tax credits, presumably their are some shops I don't know about that sell food to u25s at a massively discounted price.

Finally, for no reason I can discern, one receives no JSA for the first two days on which one is actively job seeking. - A tiny, petty complaint, but the pettiness is what makes it annoying.