Redundancy a lifesaver!

While some people may get all bitter and twisted about being made redundant, I have never felt this way. And this has become even more obvious after reading this morning’s newspaper!
In fact, when it became apparent - a couple of months back - that I would not be offered a position with the new Auckland Council, I was quite philosophical about this situation. There was even a sense of relief that I would not be tied to an organisation that is likely to have numerous teething problems – due to its vast size and complex nature of its business.
Meanwhile, any thoughts of resentment about not having a job have now been replaced with gratitude after reading the following in today’s paper: ‘Tens of thousands of Kiwis are at risk of a potentially fatal "21st-century disease" from sitting at their desks for long periods each day, new research shows.’
According to this report, a study by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand suggests that people who sit without moving for 10 hours a day – and for at least two hours without getting up – are three times more at risk of an embolism or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than those who do not!
Ipso facto not getting a job at Auckland Council has actually saved my life!
So I owe a big thank you to Mark Ford and the Auckland Transition Agency (ATA) for caring so much about my personal welfare, that they did not give me a job at the new Auckland Council. There is little doubt that any role at Council would have consisted of a fair amount of sitting around on my chuff for long periods of time, which would have only encouraged and enticed DVT to shorten my lifespan.
According to lead researcher, Richard Beasley, the risks were potentially higher than for those who took long-haul flights because though the absolute risk was lower; more people were sedentary at work more often.
My thorough read of this article (after all, I do have the time since I don’t have a job!) explained that embolisms and DVT are potentially life-threatening blood clots where slow-flowing blood returning to the heart can clot, break away, and travel to the lungs, where it can prove fatal.
The ACC-funded study, which took two years, compared 197 people who had suffered veinous thromboembolism with 197 controls, and checked for stationary behaviour within the month before the embolism. Other risk factors include age, obesity, gender (females are more at risk), and a personal or family history of veinous thromboembolism.
So, as well as the huge debt of gratitude I owe to those who chose to extend my life by not employing me, all I need to do to ensure I keep DVT at bay and a long life is, not get too fat or undertake a sudden sex change operation and I should be sweet.
I think I can manage that.