The Irish Times, my reading habits and Irish psychological depression

I picked up the Irish Times today and was driven to reminisce about how my reading habits had changed over the years. 

My trip down memory lane was triggered by inadvertently opening the Appointments pages - yes, inadvertently because I haven't done that deliberately for many, many, years.   Age 55, not likely to be many open positions, and more critically might I have the shock of finding my own job advertised there?   I glanced over the open positions - Public Appointments Service; DCU; UCC and not a job in sight for an accountant or lawyer anywhere.  Oh how things have changed -  in my younger days I even looked at the Financial Times on a Thursday to see if there were any opportunities overseas which might "tempt me".  Now all I plan is how many years I need to stay in situ here until they pay me off, and how much spondoolicks they'll offer to get me out.

Another path once trodden was the Property pages on a Thursday.  A few years ago you reviewed these intently to see how much your location had appreciated since last Thursday, now we're afraid to look to see how much your assets, or potential legacy, has dwindled in value since last Thursday.  Perversely we actually hope for evidence of a lower value to present to our lords and masters www.reveneuecommissioners.ie as part of their property tax "initiative".   Where once we sought to live in mansions, we now like to be seen to be living in hovels.   And by the way, now is the time to buy, the banks tell us.

But one thing is common - the first port of call always - the glorious Sports pages.  Never mind we can't kick snow off a rope in football; that we're gunning for the wooden spoon in ruggerbee; and that the GAA boys are still beating the living shite out of each other in the name of our heritage - it's still appreciably better than reading about the Troika and Ming Flanagan and occasionally, just occasionally it actually gives me hope for the future.

And that's it for today - sorry, must rush, work to be done.