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Why We Can’t Have a Green Economy Without Well-Paid Bus Drivers

Friday 15 March 2024

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This article was first written in November 2023, commissioned by a publication to discuss the connection between the Go North East bus strike and a sustainable economy. In the end it wasn’t published due to the strike ending earlier than expected (which is a win!). Although the strike ended some issues resolved – including and importantly a backdated pay rise for bus drivers – there are still larger systemic issues existing. For this piece I went down to my local picket line and talked with some amazing workers. They were so open to discussion, sharing their experiences, hearing mine and sharing ideas for change. It’s those guys who know how to make transport work for everyone, not the people at the top.

 

All names have been changed for anonymity.


Workers in this image gave their permission to be photographed. They are not the workers quoted in this piece.
 

                                                        ---------------------------------------

 

We all know the feeling of waiting on the side of the road in the freezing cold for a bus that should have turned up 20 minutes ago. Checking your watch, late for work, late to meet a friend. It would have been so much easier if we’d driven, got a lift, or even walked. But that’s not possible for so many of us. Maybe we can’t afford a car, can’t drive, or have disabilities that mean public transport is our only option.

 

Our public transport system - whether bus, rail, tube or local metro networks– is crumbling. You only have to look at the extortionate prices of train tickets, unreliable and cancelled services, and seemingly constant strikes to see that. This is not only damaging to the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, but is also a huge barrier to a truly sustainable economy.

 

From October to early December 2023, more than 1,300 bus drivers operating Go North East routes have been on indefinite strike over pay and working conditions. The strike has brought the North East to a standstill and prompted questions over the state of our public services and the treatment of the North East in comparison to other areas of the country. I live in Gateshead and work at a pub in the East End of Newcastle. Since I moved to Gateshead, I’ve been reliant on the buses getting me to and from work, often leaving much earlier than should be necessary to compensate for late or missing buses to make sure I get to work on time. During the strike, I cycled as much as I could, walked, or used the metro and taxis when that’s not possible. It was frustrating but is manageable. However, for many people further away from the city and in more rural areas, the lack of buses left them isolated.

 

If anything, the level of disruption caused by this strike proves how important bus drivers and other public transport workers are to our daily lives. During lockdown, bus drivers were classed as ‘key workers’ and now, according to Andrew, a striking driver, “many are reliant on food banks.” From being viewed as vital to our society, bus drivers have now come to be seen as dispensable. Thom Campion, councillor for Castle in Newcastle City Council and Transport Spokesperson for Newcastle Liberal Democrats, says that “almost a third of [his] ward is solely reliant on one Great North East service, [and the strike] has occupied a lot of [his] work as a local councillor.” He tells me that “residents in Newcastle Great Park only have one bus service and that was a Great North East service. [The strike] completely cut them off and has a huge impact.” However, Campion emphasises his support for the workers, highlighting how “public transport workers are the lifeblood of our network across both [Newcastle] and the country.” According to Campion, the immense disruption caused by this bus driver strike has led to residents having “a greater understanding of why the bus drivers are so important and why they should be supported.”

 

In order to achieve a truly green economy, we need a shift of focus from the individual to the collective. That means drastically reducing the number of cars on the road in favour of public transport that can carry large groups of people at a time. In other words, we need effective, reliable and cheap buses, trains, trams and metros. Simple, right? Barry, another striking bus driver, told me how, across the sector, the problems all come back to the same root cause: “It’s all the same, it’s all about the profit. We need a massive restructure of all public transport. It’s not just us, that’s why the train drivers are upset [too].” Chris, a colleague of Andrew and Barry, told me how the pursuit of profit has decimated bus services in the North East – “they have stripped all the meat from the bone.”


 

One of the reasons why Go North East bus drivers were striking was over pay. The striking drivers were paid £12.83 an hour, while bus drivers at Go North West are paid £15.53 an hour for the same job. Andrew said “it’s only a couple of pound here and there but a couple of pound on 40 hours a week is a substantial amount.” However, as much as the he would “like a decent pay rise”, for Andrew “money isn’t everything, it’s about the conditions” too. The end deal of the strike results in a rise to £14.27 per hour from January to July, rising to £14.84 from July and a 10.5% pay rise backdated from July 2023.

 

One of the most pressing issues bus drivers face is toilet breaks. Barry recalls that they “used to have a sitting time every time we got to a terminus, where you could get out and stretch your legs and [go to the toilet]” but these have been cut to reduce the time between bus stops, create a quicker service and increase profit. Additionally, to save money more bus stations have been closed or reduced and bus stops without facilities prioritised. This lack of ability to take toilet breaks is tougher on the increasing number of women drivers. The drivers I spoke to were all men, and said they “could nip behind the bus” to relieve themselves if they needed. This in itself is degrading and something they shouldn’t have to do. However, for people with periods and who can’t stand up to go to the toilet, even this option is not available – and it only gets worse if the workers are already disabled or have bowel issues. The drivers briefly suggested the lack of breaks or sitting time causes water infections and bowel problems.

 

After hours and hours on the road, with little breaks in the cold and often in the dark, bus drivers only have a minimum 8.5 hours between shifts, compared to the usual mandatory 11 hours. So, according to Cheis, “you could finish at midnight and be back in at 8:45am and that doesn’t include your travelling time.” If you live 30 minutes’ drive from the depot, you could have closer to 7.5 hours of so-called rest. In that time, you need to eat, sleep, check in with or take care of family and friends, do housework and allow for relaxation. As Chris put it: “I cannot go home, take my coat off and go to bed. I’ve got to unwind. There’s not time for that.” Sleep-deprived and burned out drivers ultimately leads to less safe journeys, at no fault of the drivers themselves. The combination of low pay and damaging working conditions has led to an exodus of bus drivers from the sector and meant difficulty recruiting. The shortage of drivers adds further to pressures with fewer buses on the roads.

 

Increased pressure is being added to drivers as the time between stops is being shortened and is taking a great mental toll on the drivers. This shortening of timetables means there is no time to wait for stragglers (remember that time the bus pulled away while you were running), there’s no time for regular safety checks of the bus, and there’s little time to assist disabled or elderly passengers, all because, as Andrew says, “there’s always the panic in [the driver’s] head of ‘I’m going to get wrong if I’m late, I don’t like to be late’.”

 

Time pressures also reduce the drivers’ capacity for another crucial part of their job: community care. Each of the drivers I spoke to had attended the funeral of a passenger. They share stories of regular passengers who use the buses “like clockwork” to go get a pint of milk from the shop. Bus drivers are sometimes the only other person that passenger might speak to that day. Drivers look out for school kids and young women making sure they get off safely. Drivers are the first port of call for those in danger or with medical issues. That’s “the other side of the job, the actual side of the job that we all do as drivers is looking after people,” Andrew tells me - “it’s never reflected by the hierarchy of the businesses cause all they want is the money. It’s more than just driving a bus.” A crucial part of bus drivers’ jobs is keeping us safe.

 

While some people may say that the strike is environmentally damaging by forcing more people to drive or use taxis (what about those of us who are cycling too?), however, strikes like these are necessary if we are going to achieve a sustainable public transport system in the long-term. People drive because there is no other option. Because buses are few and far between, because they don’t know when the buses will arrive. To make the sustainable economy we all know is desperately needed, we need more than just a few electric buses. We need, as Barry said, “a massive restructure of all public transport.” It’s striking bus drivers who are “trying to fight back by having people back on the [public] transport.”

 

If we had functioning public transport in all areas, including and especially in rural areas, cars could become obsolete. Bus drivers know this better than anyone else. “Even in Gateshead,” Chris shares, “if you live somewhere like Chopwell, where it’s pretty rural, there’s next to no bus services because it’s not bringing in profit.” Similarly, in places like Jarrow and Hebburn elsewhere in South Tyneside, there used to be “nine bus services [but] now has only got two because the heavy industry isn’t there [anymore] but people are still there. They close the shipyards down and build houses, surely [the residents] need to be travelling [to work]. It’s been a knock on effect from quite a few years.” As Andrew says, “if you want people to travel on public transport you need to have that link working properly.” These transport links in the North East have been taken away with the shutdown of the region’s heavy industry. The needs of the people left behind have been forgotten. These areas deprived of public transport also have high levels of poverty. For instance, in Jarrow 34.3 per cent of children are living in poverty. The reason rural communities are struggling as a result of the strike is not because of the bus drivers, but because private transport companies like Go North East don’t see them as profitable enough to bother with – as a consequence, communities are left isolated.

 

The drivers tell me how Go North East “under-estimates how much support the public have for [the strike]. Because they’ve realised we’re fed up with the way [the bus network’s] being run [too]. They know how bad it is when that bus doesn’t turn up, the reason the bus doesn’t turn up is because they can’t get drivers because they’re not paying a good enough wage to keep drivers.” Andrew believes that “the travelling public are on [their] side because they don’t want change. People don’t like change. They want a bus that comes every day at that [same] time.” Ben, 24 from Sunderland, echoes those sentiments. He says “most of the people [he’s] spoken to feel similarly in terms of siding with the drivers on this. We interact with them in our daily lives and can relate to them more than Go North East as a faceless company in charge. The frustration [of late and cancelled bus services] is definitely directed at the company.”

 

Ultimately, we need a public transport system that is sustainable for both our communities and our planet. Regular, reliable bus services that we can count on to get us safely where we need to go without requiring a car. A world with few cars, cheap and reliable buses driven by people who are well-rested, happy and are able to chat and even wait for you when you’re running late is not a fanciful dream. It’s a reality that is entirely within our reach. However, it’s only possible when workers have decent pay and working conditions. Without the worker, there is no public transport system at all.


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This blog has been neglected somewhat while I completed my Master’s, but now I have so many ideas for blog posts I would love to share with you and I hope to post more regularly in 2024. To help me have more time to spend on this blog, it would be amazing if you could buy me a cuppa or two to keep me going! It would mean the world to have your support and would also help keep my cat warm. 


If you liked this post you might like: AD | Is Hemp a Sustainable Fabric?







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My Top 10 Non-Fiction Reads of 2023

Friday 19 January 2024

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A new year is upon us and you know what that means?! MORE BOOKS! Okay I should calm down. I’ve already shared my top 10 fiction books of 2023, and you can see what those were here. However, I also love a good non-fiction read. Whether that’s a book on climate justice, a personal story or memoir, or a deep dive into a particular topic, I love getting stuck in. Here are some of my favourites from this year! I’d love to know your recommendation too. 



An Extra Pair of Hands: A story of caring and everyday acts of love by Kate Mosse


Kate Mosse’s portrayal of care and love is deeply touching. My heart ached when I finished this book, it was beautiful. Mosse shares her experiences living with and caring for her parents and her mother-in-law in their elderly years and of losing both her mother and father. In some ways this is a sad book, and I did get teary every now and again, but wow it’s so full of hope and joy. I especially loved when Mosse discussed the close friendship between her mother and mother-in-law developed particularly after her father died, and of the companionship her and her mother-in-law found in each other in lockdown. It’s a truly gorgeous look at love and connection. But Mosse doesn’t view her experiences in isolation. The Covid-19 pandemic looms large in the background of this book, as it still does in many if not all of our lives. When looking at the concept of caring, Mosse highlights the systemic inequalities that face paid and unpaid carers in the UK, including working conditions and exposure to disease. 



“No Offence But…”: How to have difficult conversations for meaningful change by Gina Martin & co.


“No Offence But…” is one of the most useful books I’ve read this year. Gina Martin highlights the importance of individual conversations in social change and equips us as readers in how to undertake them in an impactful way. Each chapter begins with a problematic phrase such as “Boys Will Be Boys”, “To Play Devil’s Advocate”, “Men Aren’t Doing Anything to Help Feminism”, “I Don’t See Colour” and “It Was a Different Time”, which are subsequently unpicked and debunked it such as a way that you can never see them as valid ever again. Gina and her guest writers are incredible at doing this. In Martin’s chapters, she shares experiences from her own life, such as her first memory of experiencing misogyny as a child or a friend’s sexist behaviour. The situations described by Martin (and her guest contributors) are so every day and really share the frustrations of regular and normalized discrimination. However each chapter highlights the exact arguments that can be used to counter this kind of behaviour, certain key facts to remember and tips on how to challenge these situations. “No Offence But…” is a crucial read for anyone wanting to make the world a better place.


 

Strong Female Character by Fern Brady

 

This copy of Strong Female has gone through many different hands as it has been passed around a friendship group and beyond. Strong Female Character has many reviews saying that it’s incredibly funny and has been marketed in that way too, which makes sense as Brady is a well-known comedian. However, (and I know friends of mine who’ve also read the book agree with me) that is not the word I would use to describe this book. Of course there are moments of humour, but oh my god this book is heartbreaking and intense and stressful. There is so much trauma in this book I don’t think it’s really fair to call it funny. It is, though, a brilliant portrayal of undiagnosed neurodivergence, poverty, mental illness, addiction, and harmful relationships. It’s a lot and I would through a ton of trigger warnings in there. But it’s so incredibly raw and honest – perhaps one of the most open memoirs I’ve ever read.   


 

A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar by Harry Nicholas


A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar is a beautifully written story of self (and sexual) discovery. Harry Nicholas charts his experiences figuring out his gender and sexuality (or as he puts it ‘The Lesbian to Straight Man to Gay Man Timeline’), navigating Grindr and the gay dating scene as a trans man as well as figuring out the rest of life. Nicholas states at the beginning that this is not in any way a guidebook or ‘how-to’ of being trans or gay (not that there is any one way of being either those things anyway) but that he wanted his story to be out there as he had only seen memoirs or accounts of being either gay or trans, very rarely being both gay and trans. This book is intimate and tender, with Nicholas showing amazing vulnerability and openness. It shows the duality of the difficulties that come with being trans in a transphobic society and trans joy. I loved it. 


 

Mad Girl by Bryony Gordon


As I’ve been trying to understand my own brain and mental illness, I’ve been trying to read more stories about OCD and people’s experiences with living with it. Bryony Gordon’s experiences with OCD are intense. It’s a lot. But it also felt like she was not holding back and was being very raw in bearing her all – the good, the bad and the ugly. I want to widen my perspective and read the experiences of other people with OCD and also those with other mental illnesses. A good and interesting read, but a lot. 

 

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit


This is potentially my favourite non-fiction books of the year. It’s one of those books where I feel like I grunt with enthusiasm when I try to describe it rather than using my words. However, that’s not really helpful when I’m trying to describe it to you using the written word. But rest assured if I’ve already made some strange noises trying to figure out how to tell you how much I loved this book.

 

In a sentence, this book is a biography of George Orwell, centring on his relationship to nature. But it’s so much more than that.  Solnit uses Orwell as a springboard to discuss a whole range of topics including beauty, joy, aestheticism, workers’ rights, the rise to fascism, our connection to nature, Stalin’s lemons, colonialism, slavery and gender inequality. There’s so much in this book it feels like it spills from the pages. I read this as I was studying nature and power in Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier for my Master’s dissertation, and although she focusses on a completely different author, so much of Solnit’s writing here felt relevant. Orwell’s Roses heavily influenced my dissertation and brilliantly highlights the connection to human action, nature and systemic power structures. To say I adored it would be an understatement. 



Radical Intimacy by Sophie K. Rosa


This book was everywhere on my social media at the beginning of the year, and it looked fascinating so of course I crumbled to the inevitability of advertising. It was worth it though. Radical Intimacy looks at the relationship between capitalism and well, our relationships, of all kinds, our physical and mental health and our outlook on social connections. I have made notes, underlines and scribbles all over this book, which is always a good sign. Sophie K. Rosa covers all sorts of relationships in this book - from friendships, romantic and sexual relationships, family, and even our relationships with strangers, all of our interactions are impacted by capitalist ideology, which separates and isolates us from each other. Rosa breaks this down brilliantly. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.


 

Tell Me the Truth About Love: 13 Tales from the Therapist’s Couch by Susanna Abse


I love books about love, relationships and human connection. I also love books that analyse the way our brains work and how we think. Tell Me the Truth About Love is a combination of all of those things. Abse’s laid back writing style draws you in and the compelling stories keep you there. Each chapter plays on a fairy tale and shares a different story of a couple Abse has worked with (with names changed and other identifying characteristics removed). Let’s admit it, it’s entertaining reading about other people’s struggles, but it’s also fascinating delving into understanding behaviour.  

 


Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit


Rebecca Solnit is a theme on this list. I absolutely adore her work. It really resonates with me and gets my mind whirring. 

 

Hope in the Dark should be mandatory reading for anyone involved with climate activism, anyone who deals with eco-anxiety or climate doomism – basically anyone who is worried about the climate crisis and wants to make the world better. So much of this book also applies to so many other social justice movements too – basically anywhere that we need hope. Solnit characterises hope not as a passive feeling that happens to us but an active one which needs effort and action to sustain it. This book helped me feel so much better about the world, about climate activism and really informs a lot of what I do. Where there is no action, there is no hope. 


 

Life in the City of Dirty Water: A Memoir of Healing by Clayton Thomas-Müller


I read Life in the City of Dirty Water at the beginning of the year as part of Shado Mag’s Book Club. Thomas-Müller came to speak to us as part of our book club and it was amazing to hear him speak. His words and his story is beautiful and touching and I’m so grateful that he took the time to speak to us.

 

A Life in the City of Dirty Water is Clayton’s memoir, following him throughout his childhood in Winnpeg and the systemic discrimination facing indigenous people in the land colonially known as Canada. At times, this book is difficult to read as we look back at Clayton’s experiences. He covers incidents of sexual assault and rape, domestic abuse, intimate partner violence, drug use, gang violence, suicide and suicidal ideation and environmental racism. Heavy as the subject matter might be, it is also profound and raw, yet inspirational and comforting. It is a warning against burnout and hustle culture as is so prevalent in activist spaces. It is a lesson that we are all part of one ecosystem. It is a reminder to reconnect to the earth, to ourselves, and our heritage, in whatever that may mean to us. It is also reminder that if we are fuelled purely by anger we will burn up ourselves and those around us - that when hatred drives your work, you eventually turn into the thing you’re fighting against. 


 


This blog has been neglected somewhat while I completed my Master’s, but now I have so many ideas for blog posts I would love to share with you and I hope to post more regularly in 2024. To help me have more time to spend on this blog, it would be amazing if you could buy me a cuppa or two to keep me going! It would mean the world to have your support and would also help keep my cat warm. 

 

See you soon,

Jemima

If you liked this post you might like: My Top 10 Non-Fiction Books of 2022


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My Top 10 Fiction Books of 2023

Friday 12 January 2024

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Happy 2024! I’m so excited about what this year could bring. It’s my first full year outside of education, having finished my Master’s back in September, and I’m just now fully getting into the swing of reading whatever I want to for fun. Despite completing my dissertation last year, I still managed to have some good non-uni-related reads (although several books I mention here are uni-related, but I really loved them otherwise they wouldn’t be included). I also ended up revisiting a lot of old favourites, particularly in the second half of the year. I decided not to include these in my top reads of this year, just to include books that were new to me. Some of these books have also appeared on previous editions of these lists before and kind of thought it was unfair to include established faves amongst new ones. 


 

I reread all of The Hunger Games series and rewatched the films about a week during the summer and fully returned to my 13/14-year-old obsessive state. This series never gets old and still has so much for us today. Seeing parallels between the Capitol and Israel at the moment has been chilling. 

 

I also reread The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein whilst I was ill with Covid, and just before Christmas, Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern (also known as Where Rainbows End). All of these books are so comforting to me – the characters just feel like coming home. Something I want to prioritise when it comes to reading this year is fun and ease. I don’t need to be reading hard-hitting serious things all the time. I want silly and fluffy love stories in with discussions about justice and power. I’ve already read 2 books this year and I’m just so excited about stories again.


Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

 

An Agatha Christie classic. I have seen the most recent film adaption of this book several times and I love it. The story is so intriguing and complicated. There’s so much about human desires, connections and power in there. Ugh I love it. I got so into this book. I read it while I was in Sweden in October and ended up reading most of it whilst I had an evening to myself. I love it when I completely get fully absorbed in a story. 


 

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

 

God this book healed my heart and then broke it again. This novel focuses on the romantic relationship between two young Black British people in South East London trying to make their way in creative industries. I won’t say anymore otherwise I will discuss the whole plot. It is gorgeous and raw. I don’t really know how else to describe it to be quite honest with you, but wow Caleb Azumah Nelson is just such a brilliant writer. I know he’s written a few other things as well and I would love to read more of his work.


 
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

 

Hamnet made me baby cry. It follows the story of Shakespeare’s wife, Anne, and his children. It is, afterall, named after his only son. I love any book that flips perspective to lift up the voices of the most marginalised in history and Maggie O’Farrell did this beautifully. A loving tale of family, care, isolation and grief. 

 


Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

 

Parable of the Sower is THE climate novel. I’d been meaning to read it for ages but had got prompted to do so by studying ecocriticism at uni. I really enjoyed it and think it feels like a much more contemporary novel than it is, having been published in 1993. A post-apocalyptic world (starting in 2024, lol), we follow Lauren, a 16-year-old girl, as she navigates family, religion, and survival in a world and society that is crumbling into chaos.

 

I’d also add trigger warnings for sexual assault and murder. 


 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

 

As self-proclaimed Hunger Games girlie, I was very nervous about reading the prequel in case it didn’t live up to the original trilogy. However, after my re-read of the series I decided it was time to finally give President Snow’s story a crack. And I did really enjoy it. I loved the way she built up and hinted at how different elements of the society had progressed and become more extreme. I also thought the characters were really interesting too. Don’t get me wrong though, I do still prefer the originals. 


 

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

 

I spent a lot of time with Rebecca this year, mostly due to the fact I wrote about it for my dissertation. The title of my dissertation was “For Manderley was ours no longer”: power, control and the natural world in Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca” and I absolutely loved working on it. Despite spending around nine months of the year with this book, I still love it. There’s so much nuance, the characters are so interesting, and the world descriptions for fascinating. It’s a tale of intrigue, murder, deception, patriarchy, class and power struggles.



Weyward by Emilia Hart

 

Weyward was actually the first book I read last year, and I started the year off very well indeed. The story follows three women across three different time periods: 1619, 1942 and 2019. However, each of these women has some connection to nature they can’t quite explain. Emilia Hart completely sucked me in and made me feel involved in these women’s experiences. It’s a powerful story of female solidarity, women’s power, connecting to nature and our history. 

 

There are however several trigger warnings I would bear in mind before you read. These are for domestic violence and abuse, sexual assault, pregnancy loss and suicidal ideation. 

 

Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence 

 

Lady Chatterly’s Lover is known as a smutty book, as controversial and as, well, post-WW1 porn. I didn’t exactly think it was the smut-fest history and popular culture has made it out to be. It does however have a fair bit of problematic language and that can’t be excused. There’s a lot that I think is still so valuable about this this book however, particularly by looking at this novel as climate fiction. In fact, there’s more discussion and depiction of nature than there is of sex. I very nearly wrote about this book while at uni but didn’t end up doing so. There’s so much to say about capitalism, class, gender and the environment in this book. I think it’s fascinating. 


 

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie 

 

Another Agatha Christie! Her books are so easy to read and plots so gripping. I read The Body in the Library very quickly. I was absorbed and didn’t figure out whodunit. I just enjoy a good Christie murder story. This is probably lower down on my faves rankings, closer to 10 to be honest. It didn't blow my mind or make me feel incredible things but it was fun and engaging.


 

Variations by Juliet Jacques

 

In this beautiful collection of short stories, Juliet Jacques tells stories of trans people in Britain throughout history. I nearly went to put this book in my non-fiction faves post but remembered partway through that it’s actually fiction. The characters feel so real, I guess because they’re based on real people and are supposed to portray real experiences. Each story uses a different form, such as blog posts, diary entry, film script, and is set in different areas of the UK in different time periods. Each is brilliant and I love Jacques’ way of writing. She is so skilled. If you want brilliant well-written stories to dip into, Variations is for you. 


 

I am so excited about reading more novels this year. I’d love to hear your recommendations and your favourite reads of 2023!

 

This blog has been neglected somewhat while I completed my Master’s, but now I have so many ideas for blog posts I would love to share with you and I hope to post more regularly in 2024. To help me have more time to spend on this blog, it would be amazing if you could buy me a cuppa or two to keep me going! It would mean the world to have your support and would also help keep my cat warm. 

 

See you soon and Happy New Year!

Jemima


If you liked this post you might like: Me at 23

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Me at 24

Monday 23 October 2023

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As I child, I would have thought that I’d have my life much more together aged 24 than is my reality. Don’t get me wrong, I think that kid would still be really proud of who am now and maybe slightly in awe of my life now. I mean, I get paid to write about things I care about and live with a cat – what could be better than that?! 



24-year-old me is tired. I did just finish my Master’s, so I have good reason to be. I think everyone I know is exhausted at the moment. The state of the world has been a lot (understatement of the year) and has been grinding us down slowly. I’ve been trying to prioritise rest after handing in my dissertation, but that’s easier said than done. Capitalism also has a handy habit of making us feel incredibly guilty about resting and not working constantly. That’s super fun, thanks to whoever came up with that system! In such a system, actually resting becomes an act of resistance. And we can do our best to prevent harm to ourselves by reminding each other of that.

 

I finished my Master’s on 1st September, meaning that, at the time of writing, I have been uni-free for 7 weeks. It’s still early days and I’m trying to relax into some kind of routine. At the moment, that’s a lot of figuring out an organising system for my new flat (more on that in a bit), trying to figure out how I can survive (i.e. earn money to pay my bills and rent) while doing want I want and care about (i.e. campaigning, educating, writing). I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how I want to expand and continue my freelance work – whether that’s journalism, campaign projects, workshops, social media, research or other community engagement. I have so many ideas for things I want to do and be a part of, but I know a lot of them take time and slow work to achieve. I’ve got time and am not rushing anything, and staying at my hospitality job post-Master’s is definitely keeping some sense of continuity in a very disjointed time. 

 

I moved house just after submitting my diss. This involved very stressful few days of frenzied packing, sorting, redistributing and cleaning before I moved into my flat. This has been the first time I’ve lived somewhere that came fully unfurnished. Although buying a fair chunk of furniture and appliances is expensive, I had a lot of fun finding cute and cheap secondhand items. There are still a couple of non-essentials on my list (mostly more shelving. I have a lot of books…), but the flat has come together really well. My flatmate and I (and our cat Mayonnaise!) have made it such a cosy space. 

 

At 24, I feel much more secure and comfort in myself. In my values, my friends, my knowledge, my sexuality, my skills, even my fashion sense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still an incredibly anxious bean (I have spent almost all of being 23 monitoring the regrowth of a chunk of my hair after I pulled it out as a result of my trichotillomania) and I get panicky, uncertain and paranoid on a regular basis. But I’m now much more aware of my brain and how it behaves and (some of the time) when it’s lying to me. 

 

I’m still religiously watching Strictly after nearly two decades of fandom, but I’m also bawling at the Ghosts Christmas specials and getting inspired by Alaska Daily. Quiz shows like House of Games and The Wheel are my go-to happy shows. I read books that inspired me, informed how I think and make me reassess the world around me. I also read books that are silly, frivolous, entertaining and have very little impact on my behaviour. Some of these books may be shit but they give me comfort, provide fun, laughter and escapism. And boy do I love them for that!

 

I feel incredibly lucky to have the pals that I do, even if I don’t see most of them as often as I would like. So many people from so many different areas of my life give me such joy and hope in people. Because if there’s one thing I believe in, it’s people. I feel like I have a genuine support network around me, and I’m so grateful for that. There’s nothing like feeling genuinely safe with the people around you. 

 

I may be tired, but this newly-24-year-old is excited about the future and what it will bring. More cats and more books I say! 



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