Light

Sandside, Cumbria.

A uniformly grey day with drizzle, so grey that it seemed to be getting dark at 5 pm. I was beginning to think I'd have to resort to an indoor blip, as the day had yielded nothing of interest.

As I drove home though there was a glimmer of light over the low fells on the other side of the Kent estuary. There was a gap between the land and the cloud, and the sun dropped into this as it went down, bathing the estuary in the most extraordinary light. The blipper's dilemma: this shot of the sun reflecting on the water, or the deeply red reflected sunset that followed.

How symbolic it all was too. For today after months of living under the cloud of uncertainty about job cuts, I finally learned that my job is safe. The dreaded tap on the shoulder never came, and the 1230 deadline came and went. In the afternoon I had a phone call telling me that I has been assigned to a post. It will be a new job, as my old one had disappeared in the loss of our regional structures. I don't know the detail of it yet, but it looks like it may be the one I stated an interest in, I was told that my selection form was very good.

It also seems that my colleagues in our Kendal office are safe too. We don't know yet who had the shoulder tap, we only know of one person, but there will be many others. My own relief is therefore tempered by thoughts of those whose aspirations have been dashed, people with young families, mortgages and other commitments. Now is not a good time to be seeking alternative employment.

Thank you to everyone for your messages of support, your comments and the favourites for yesterday's reflected swan. I can say now that before yesterday, the combined weight of unfolding catastrophic world events and personal anxiety had left me feeling downcast and completely uninspired with blipping, and I really did consider stopping. I know I have expressed doubts before, but this time the mojo did seem to have deserted me. I had to remind myself that this is meant to be a journal and therefore it should reflect the challenging times as well as those when everything works seamlessly.