Eric,

Well, lately in my case, and I don't think I am completely alone in 
this, if we had enough work to keep us busy we would not be here. But 
without work there is a desperation to network more than previously, in 
search of any leads for work. Or ideas of directions that we can move in 
and survive. But also to keep connected because without the connections 
the chances of getting work shut down totally. For the work that we have 
had we can't seem to get paid. And you know as well as I that projects 
we have sweated over to be on top of are suddenly lost 'on hold' in a 
silent limbo.

When people are suddenly faced with crisis shifts in their work 
situation one fall-back is re-education. As long as I can keep the 
broadband channel open I am not only getting an education, but also 
mapping out new ways to make a living. My writing a book on estimating 
for hist presto is not a luxury, it is an act of desperation. The PCLS 
Interview Project is not because I have all sorts of spare time and 
could not be doing something else, it is because I know that we all need 
to get out and show that we are not alone, or forgotten, or simply lost 
along the way.

You have not yet called me looking for work [what I did not have the 
time or spirit for was to read the TT annual report that recently arrive 
in the mail], but it does freak me out when our 
architect/engineer/conservator clients call me to find out if we have 
work for them. There are a whole lot of people, many of them in our 
industry, who are waking up day to day feeling paralyzed... I am doing 
my damnedest to make sure that I do not get paralyzed, but at the same 
time to agitate everyone around me to not feel alone and to not find 
themselves paralyzed, alone, forgot or simply lost along the way.

When you don't see me here...

][<en

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