The non-working-people

It is a rather fascinating experience to be unemployed (for a while). All of a sudden you discover the world of the non-working people. Yesterday I went for a jog in the beautiful sunny winter weather along the water here. As the track was covered in snow and hence rather slippery I could not run all the way but had to thread carefully every now and then, which made me more aware of my fellow pedestrians. There were mostly old persons and parents with prams. Funnily I met more fathers than mothers, which made me think of one area where I think Sweden is still on top; Parental leave. Not that this really is any of my main concerns and I don’t really know that much about it, but as more and more of my friends have children and as I was recently talking about it with some non- Swedish parents-to-be I realised that Swedish parents have reason to be happy. (Of course you often hear them complain anyway but… ).
Listening to two of the men with prams that I met, I also realised something else. These men looked like very city smart professionals, but what I heard from their conversation they were not talking about the stock market or the latest merger but about sitting in a café and eating big cakes and buns. In Stockholm we have the expression “caffe latte mums” but there are obviously also “caffe latte dads”. I thought that’s soo cool! It must be so nice also for men to stay at home with their babies and spend time together with other dads, it must mean they discover new sides of themselves too. I feel sorry for those dads that don’t have that opportunity and maybe even more sad for those who have it but don’t take it.

Another category of non-working people are of course other unemployed, or those “in-between-jobs”. As I have never been unemployed before I found it really hard to somehow identify myself with the average image of being unemployed, but now I have met other peoples who temporarily don’t work, but still are so busy. There are so many creative and imaginative people who make a good living without being employed. I whish I was more creative and innovative and had more entrepreneurial skill myself. But I think I will have to settle for finding another employment. Until then I will continue to enjoy sitting in a café chatting away a couple of hours on a Tuesday afternoon! :-)