Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
sunrise in front of you with all this white, it's beautiful. Or you could be in England, you
could be walking round your local home town, everything's grey and people are scraping
their knuckles on the fl oor - why would I want to do that? Well you could be sat in a job
which you're working your entire life and you get to the top of the job and you've got your
fl ash television and you've got an amazing sofa and stuff but you don't really like your job
and once every year you've got a two week holiday where you go away for two weeks to
have the time of your life. I'm having it every day.
(Andrew, ski hire, new this year to Cardrona)
Andrew uses direct comparison to his possible life back in England to frame his under-
standing of traditional work concepts such as poor rates of pay, lack of fi nancial security and
the fi nancial necessity of working two jobs (one at the ski area and busking). His personal
values see these traditionally negative aspects as directly compensated by the beautiful aesthetics
of his surroundings and his ability to ride during his lunch break. His analysis concludes
that being able to ride for the short duration of his lunch break and his geographical location
of living in a holiday resort outweigh any perceived disadvantages. Andrew's appreciation
of his style of life can only be made with knowledge of the 'other'; characterized by the
'greyness' of England and recognition that a majority of the population can only stay at
Cardrona for a couple of week compared to his three month work contract, despite the
work he feels he is on holiday. Andrew's analysis is very simplistic with little inherent
tension expressed. This lack of tension between work and style of life was characteristic of
many informants. They were almost evangelical in their attitude towards the work aspect
of their combined work and leisure lifestyle, despite the hardships that the work entails
as described by Iain:
Even when it's absolutely shitting it down with snow, and it's freezing, and my fi ngers are
cold and I've got my parka off, and my goggles are all skew wiff and I'm getting blown
everywhere, still love it, just cause you're teaching, you're helping these people - just being
able to do what you are passionate about! I don't know, I can't describe it but, you can see
my voice goes different when I talk about something I enjoy. I like . . . I love it, yeah
I honestly love giving people the poma lift. I've had people say 'you're really good with
people' and I say 'ah just doing my job' and it's great. I love it yeah.
(Iain, lift operator on the beginner slopes, new to Cardrona)
Iain's love of his work is obvious from this quote; he receives enormous enjoyment and
satisfaction from his interaction with customers. He is not alone. The 'love of work' was
described by many informants. The 'love' is always framed by the negatives of the work
often focusing on poor pay and somehow this is perceived as a positive, representing a
more simplifi ed life:
Every single thing about my job I love and even the salary because when I fi rst left school
I stacked shelves in the supermarket, and now I earn less than I did then. And fucking hell
it is 23 years later on and I'm still earning less than that. But I still have enough for food;
I still have enough for rent. I don't need anything else. And what I've generally found is the
more I earn, the more I spent. And I just had bigger and better toys, which were owned by
the bank invariably. It was just nuts.
(Paul, ski school, third year at Cardrona)
