I just don’t know what to do with myself

I’m feeling a bit guilty because I had to turn down a job offer today. Friends of ours own a ‘Pick Your Own’ farm, and the asparagus season will be starting very soon, closely followed by strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries, loganberries and currants, and I was asked if I could run it for them. I feel really bad about having to say no, because they were amazing last year when they took me on for the last few weeks of the season. Okay, so it was helpful both ways, because the woman who used to pretty much run it had had enough, and my asking for a job came at exactly the right time for all of us. It was one less worry for them, and kept our heads above water because at that time Ned hadn’t been paid for three months, despite working his usual hours, and money was incredibly tight. The few quid I earned there (and it wasn’t difficult work, just time-consuming, and in the height of the heatwave I was being paid to sit in the shade and read a book) saved our sanity.

It was after that seasonal work stopped I managed to land the job I have now (well done Ned for spotting the small ad tucked away in the local paper), and when Ned’s been paid the money he is still owed we should be on a more even keel. I really love this job, and it’s going well, the company is thriving, we’re landing contracts with major companies and things are busy, busy, busy. Although I’m on holiday now I may have to go in if things get too hectic, so right now I can’t promise our friends that I can help them out even part-time because I don’t know if I’ll be able to. Besides, I see little enough of Ned as it is.

Yet they were our lifesavers last year and I feel honour-bound to help them.