13th August. A Fundamental Dichotomy Arises.

Met a chap who works in recruitment to the oil and gas industry. He's been tasked with finding twenty people with a Degree in Engineering, like me.

I said, look my CV is completely blank since 1980,

"That's not a problem."

Apparently Mechanical Engineers are so thin on the ground that they're willing to put anyone even a Gerbil with a relevant degree through some kind of conversion process.

Then they pay you Seventy grand a year, that's the rub.

It's a classic case, would you rather be in an office chasing other people up and earn three times as much as present.

Or drive around playing at chimney lining never seeming to make enough?

Other factors include moving to Aberdeen for at least five days a week which isn't good but also being fed up with chimneys.