On furlough with Andy Clarke

Andy Clarke shares what it has been like to be on furlough for the past 3months.


Introduce yourself
Hi there. I’m Andy, I live in Warwick and have been going to Myton church for 18 years. Sorry - that sounds terribly cliché doesn’t it? The sort of thing you’d say in an awkward meeting where you have to introduce yourself to a small group of strangers. Let’s try again.
I’m Andy, happily married to Naomi and proud Dad to Josiah (14) and Malachi (12). Naomi and I moved to Warwick to be closer to our jobs 18 years ago. Three different people recommended Myton (two of which didn’t go themselves), we went on our first Sunday here and never tried anywhere else.
I now work in Leamington at Bravissimo (cue polite surprise – when I tell people where I work I get ‘oh really?’ or a wry smile) in the IT Project Management Team. I’m a Business Analyst which means I help people to define what they want from a project and how we will know it works. Prior to this I had mostly worked in the energy industry with a year in logistics too.
What impact has the current lockdown had on your work and company?
Bravissimo’s shops closed one Saturday at the end of March and any other staff (including me) were furloughed from 1 April; like most places it seemed to happen very quickly. We closed the main office a couple of weeks before that and I had been working from home. As a result, I’ve not been doing any paid employment since April and it is likely that this will extend through July too but this doesn’t mean I’ve not been keeping busy.
There has also been the prospect of redundancy but I have just found out that I’m not at risk. When I go back to work the company is going to feel very different but that will be the case for many organisations.
How would you describe the experience of being placed on furlough?
The prospect, and then the reality, of being furloughed has been a roller coaster of emotion. People talk about the change curve, but I imagine mine to be a change scribble of acceptance, anger, boredom, low self-esteem, enjoyment, getting on with it etc. I was quite upset about being furloughed at first and my biggest concern was not knowing what my income would be at the end of the month. Until I got my first furlough salary to know how much I’d be paid I was on edge because I was unable to budget properly.
Sometimes I think I’d rather be at work, other days I feel blessed to be able to have so long off work to do different things and spend so much time as a family which we wouldn’t have the opportunity to do otherwise.
What does your ‘normal day’ now look like?
I’ve kept a week/weekend routine and in the week I usually get up at around 7:30 – Naomi has been working again for three days a week since half term (she works in a pre-school and had been furloughed for a couple of months) so the alarm still goes off. I have breakfast and listen to ‘The Bible in One Year’ (an app on my phone with daily bible readings and commentary) whilst I have a cup of tea. I really noticed that I feel better on the days I do this than when something happens preventing me from listening first thing.
I started making a to-do list before I finished work so I could plan my time and so I usually spend my week-day mornings doing DIY, housework or gardening. I’ve done some big projects but mostly I’ve been doing a lot of niggly jobs – the sort that need doing but there’s never quite time.
The boys are doing their schoolwork in the morning and they can usually get on with it but I help occasionally either to help with understanding of something like maths or science or to act as a sounding board for ideas in English, drama, tech etc. I’m quite capable but have recently been stumped by the nth term for quadratic equations (Josiah’s GCSE maths)!
In the afternoons Naomi is home and we relax or plan and prepare something for church. We are one of the couples doing the “Myton Kids” Sunday School videos so we plan that and start filming about two weeks before it’s due.
I’ve also been doing some studying online using the free courses from the Open University.
I keep the weekends as ‘days off’ but I’m not very good at doing nothing and it’s taken me a long time to be able to chill on a Saturday and Sunday.
Tell us one encouragement you’ve experienced whilst being on lockdown.
I am encouraged that I have been able to keep busy – when being furloughed was on the cards I knew that the worst thing that could happen would be to have nothing to do, especially when we were in full lockdown.
Being asked to do Myton Kids as well as being a Let’s Go leader has also kept me busy in a way I didn’t imagine at first. These ministries mean that I am doing something worthwhile for other people and not wasting my time on frivolous or unimportant things.
Tell us one thing you are finding challenging about lockdown
I find the lack of certainty challenging; I like structure, dates and so I can plan - not knowing when we are going to be able to do things makes me unsettled.  I don’t have a date when I can return to work and we have only recently had some dates for Josiah to go into school. Our parents and siblings all live miles away, (Naomi’s are in Wales so different rules apply) and so we haven’t seen them for six months.
Any funny moments you are willing to share?
The first time I went shopping after lockdown began, I hadn’t been anywhere except for a daily walk for three weeks. Naomi normally shops in Tesco or we have online deliveries but on this occasion I was doing ‘The Big Tesco Shop’. It was the first time I had experienced a one-way system in a supermarket and this, as well as being unfamiliar with the layout, I got to the last aisle and was missing a significant number of items from the list. I nearly gave up and wanted to leave the trolley behind and run outside – but getting home without anything would have been worse!
Another occasion was when we were waiting for housegroup to start on Zoom one Tuesday and the host was late. A few of us could see ‘waiting for the host to start the meeting’. The host HAD started the meeting – just not the right one! It was quickly sorted after an exchange of Whatsapp messages!
What aspect of God’s character or work have you been enjoying?
Lots of different ones. The Bible In One Year readings and subjects have been so appropriate and this shows God has ways of providing encouragement. I think the one which has stuck with me most is knowing that I have no need to worry and that God has a plan.
We have all been quite peaceful and are really blessed by the nature of our boys. There have been very few arguments - probably fewer than normal.
Give us something we can pray for you.
I have been quite anxious about different things – sometimes about things which don’t normally bother me, so please pray that I can feel more at peace.

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