The point is that I spent 8 days away from my job and during that time I got to thinking how much better life was not working rather than hauling my sorry ass back and to across London every weekday.
I decided that I too would go travelling. Why not? I was single (albeit sharing a bed with my former girlfriend, we kept each other warm at least) and I realised that I really couldn't continue in the job I was doing. As I mentioned, it was a classic case of the Peter Principle. Wikipedia says: "In an organisational structure, the Peter Principle's practical application allows assessment of the potential of an employee for a promotion based on performance in the current job, i.e. members of a hierarchical organization eventually are promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to incompetence. That level is the employee's "level of incompetence" where the employee has no chance of further promotion, thus reaching his or her career's ceiling in an organization." That sums it up. I was Head of Conveyancing and Contract Services. I'd had no relevant experience at all. I couldn't really do it and didn't really want to. There was nowhere else to go. The next job a person in my position might apply for would have been the Borough Solicitor's job. Nah! That was it for me. Within a few days I had had a chat with with Bill Barton, the Borough Solicitor, and told him that I had decided to chuck it in but that I would stay on for at least 6 months so as not to leave the Legal Section in the lurch. I did explain that it had been a bit of a shock to have been given the promotion in the first place. After all he had assured me that my candidacy was more a question of good form than a genuine view that I might be the best person for the job. He had told me not to worry because there was very little chance that I'd be offered the post.
