{"id":12263,"date":"2022-03-11T01:29:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T08:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/?page_id=12263"},"modified":"2022-03-11T01:30:30","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T08:30:30","slug":"12263-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/tec-news\/production-2\/12263-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Working from home"},"content":{"rendered":"

STANDARD PROCEDURE \u2013 FOR THE LAST 45 YEARS\u2028<\/strong>
\n\"\"Working from home remains a hot topic and everyone has an opinion to share, lauding the benefits, lamenting the disadvantages, longing to be back in the office or dreading the return to commuter life. Some profess to be excited about meeting colleagues in person once more, others sad to say goodbye to the days when dressing for business meant a smart top over loungewear. Inevitably there is disagreement: different people are affected in different ways and in any case, some people just like an argument and some people just can’t stomach change. I have heard it advocated that we should simply go with the flow, that we should take the path of least resistance for an easy ride through life, but not everyone does find it easy to spend their days ducking and diving, nodding meekly and tugging the forelock. It seems expediency is often the golden rule today \u2013 expediency in the sense that when you discover something good, you keep it close to your chest to avoid throwing fuel on the fire of envy and weakening the fabric of society. Too far-fetched? I feel the ghost of a smile crossing my face; does it show?
\n\"\"A flight of 20 steps, each 20\u00a0centimetres high, separates the white-collar world from the blue at Windpilot. Upstairs means intellectual labour, downstairs manual, and the four-metre height difference that separates the two means a change of focus (and a moment of exercise) every time I move between them \u2013 just as it has done for the last 47 years.
\nThe decision to combine work and sleep under one roof back in 1978 didn’t feel especially momentous at the time. The arrangement certainly has its benefits in a business operated by life partners. I have noticed some downsides as well (including experiencing just about every variety of close combat there is over the years), but believe me when I say I can most often be found grinning from ear to ear about it.\u2028
\n\"\"We still had proper winters in those days too, which made the long commute in my cold and clunky 2CV (an hour or two every day, more if I forgot something and had to double back) even harder to enjoy. My brain prefers not to calculate exactly how much time I have saved over the decades but I feel I must have gained years. Actually I think I’d rather look at it this way: not having to travel to work every day has simply enabled me to make better use of my life. It came as quite a shock to realise this during a reflective moment in mid-December last year!\u2028
\n\"\"\"\"Ich wurde damals in meinem Bekanntenkreis ringsum f\u00fcr verr\u00fcckt erkl\u00e4rt: \u201ewie kann man nur so dumm sein, Wohn- und Arbeitsleben so eng zu verkn\u00fcpfen?\u201c<\/em>I was roundly ridiculed when I first told my friends what I had in mind. “Are you mad? Why would anyone want to put their home and business under the same roof?” Of course soon enough those same friends thought nothing of dropping by to visit me in the workshop for help with this or that essential of the sailing life since \u2013 oh how very practical \u2013 I was almost certain to be at home.
\n\"\"Here a pulpit “You must have a bit of spare 25\u00a0mill tube here somewhere<\/em>“, there a fitting, Maybe a HeliCoil for the cylinder head as well<\/em>I just need to borrow a couple of tools for a moment… Did all of this help or hinder the cause of friendship? My thoughts on the matter today run as clear as the mountain stream.
\nDisposing of the by-products was always my job: old containers full of used engine oil, defunct car bumpers and all the other waste materials produced were always left to me with a mumbled You’ll be able to sell that on won’t you?<\/em> And as for the poor toilet and the abuse it took, well, it’s best not to think about it. Time and again I heard those famous words: And if you need a hand with anything just give me a call.<\/em>”<\/p>\n

When the building works were under way in earnest during the 1980s and 1990s however, to my great surprise (as if), I was largely left to my own devices. There were professionals on site for the serious structural work of course though \u2013 and come to think of it my forklift truck was always there when I needed it too. As usual it is all about give and take. Perhaps some of us just have more to give and others have … (fill in the blank). Sharp elbows and a very short memory for favours: it’s enough (so the mirror tells me) to turn one’s hair grey.<\/p>\n

M\u00e4nnerspielzeug<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n