garden fence - well, part of a fence, the gate

ah, you really are an animal saint.

it's my neighbors - i'm one lucky person. lots of beauty, no work! ha!! (always belated) HFF to you as well.

ah, and i'm always off of Fridays for some reason, so no worries about belated - obviously i'm only seeing this now... i'm curious now what you teach and where. in Spain? i was meant to be a teacher, but never have done it formally except in small groups.

Hi Laura,
Well, here goes:

I was a Financial Adviser in London for 30 years and had my own business but it went pear-shaped at the start of this recession (many causes of this and many ramifications from this) so I had to do something else and anyway I needed a change big time!
Therefore I looked at what I could do and the only demand for me at my age was Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). I did an immersion TEFL course in Cornwall and then went to Madrid where I have family connections who helped me get going!
So I am freelance and teach Business English to adults, both in companies and privately to individuals. I obtain my students from a number of academies and from advertising and LinkedIn, etc.
The hours are long (typically classes start in companies at 7:30 to about 10 - before work, then at lunch-times 1:00 to 5:00 - this is the land of the late lunch - and after working hours in the evenings from 7:00 to 10:00 - these would normally be private classes in peoples' homes) and the pay is poor because you are only paid for the hours you teach so no travel time is allowed for (and I probably take between eight and ten trips on public transport every day as well as walking about 5 miles a day getting between classes all round Madrid), no holiday pay,etc. The breaks for summer are long, often 3 months so teachers are effectively paid for only 8 months of the year. That is the greatest problem but apart from that, I wish that I had made the change years before!

You did ask!

Best wishes,
Andy