Re: OT: Climate Change

On Apr 15, 11:34 am, Tony Williams <t...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <1176627381.717786.157...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Bill Sloman <bill.slo...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

In fact - despite Jim Thompson's unfounded claims about my
competence - the real problem is my age (I'm 64) and the endemic
Dutch ageism. They don't think that anybody over 55 ought to be
working. I did manage to get temporary work in June 2000, with
Haffmans BV in Venlo and hung onto the job until the end of May
2003, but if they'd kept me on any longer, I'd have had a
permanent position (under current Dutch law, anybody who works
for a company for more than three years has a permanent job) and
I'd have automatically become a member f the pension fund, which
would have cost the company 67% of my salary in pension
contributions, which they weren't prepared to pay.

You forgot to mention why you ended up at this point Bill.

AIUI some years ago, (whilst still in the UK), you made
the unusual (and relatively brave) decision to support
your wife in the advancement of her career, at the
probable expense of yours. This meant uprooting from
the UK, moving to Holland, learning a new language, and
then trying to restart your career there, a little too
late in life. An almost impossible task.

AFAICS though you have not regretted that choice, except
that you do have to put up with some of the ignorant oinks
around here who see your employment difficulties as
something to make snide remarks about.

It certainly isn't a choice I regret - my wife did extremely well out
of it, and the two of us have done a lot better than we would have
done if I'd dug my heels in and we'd stayed in England.

Another option at the time was for her to move to the U.S.A. where she
would probably have done just as well, and I might have done better.
Unfortunately, the university involved wasn't in a safe part of town
and neither of us fancied living in what was effectively a gated
community with armed guards on the gates.

--
Bill Sloman, Nijmegen

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