World 2.6 million USA 840K+ Germany 150K+
Neil still has plenty of work. In fact his billable hours have increased since he’s been working from home. His job primarily involves establishing best practice in a range of industries to prevent industrial explosions. He works for a large engineering consultancy and his clients are from both the private and public sector. Oil and gas are some of the industries that consult him, but a range of other seemingly harmless substances can potentially explode when stored in large quantities, including sugar and many grains. He recently offered to change to a four day week should that be required, but at this stage he has enough work to continue full time from home.
In addition to his regular work, Neil manages and edits incredibly complex international standards documents that pass through many hands across the globe and take years and years to bring together.
Part of this work takes him overseas twice a year to large conferences that manage electrical safety standards. He chairs one of the many committees. He was meant to be in Chicago this month, but naturally that conference has been cancelled. The next conference was scheduled for October in Germany, but that conference has been relocated to Chicago. I have told him that under no circumstances will I allow him to go to the US ever again, even if international travel is back on by October, which is highly doubtful.
Sometimes I tag along on his trips overseas. I went with him to Singapore, Seattle and Norway and Neil came with me when I spoke at an astrology conference in Florida in 2017. On that trip we spent a lovely week in Hawaii on the way back.
When Neil attends these conferences, he generally sits in meetings all day, writes reports and confers with colleagues over dinner, so there’s not much time for enjoying things together. I’m not that keen on long haul flights in any case. I have trouble unblocking my ears during descent and I get grumpy sitting in an uncomfortable seat for hours on end. I can’t sleep on planes either, though Neil has it down to a fine art.
In the past, I’ve asked Neil why these meetings can’t be held online, but there are so many delegates, many different languages, and interpreters, which makes it unworkable. But now they are going to have to come up with some kind of arrangement to get this work done online. I can’t imagine that these conferences will start up again for a long time to come.
A few years ago Neil was asked to make a presentation to the United Nations. This came about because the UN has mandated the global phasing out hydrofluorocarbons in refrigeration, because they are greenhouse gases and contribute to climate change.
But the gases that are being suggested as replacements are highly flammable and can potentially cause fridges to explode. Neil presented a paper to the UN outlining the safety requirements that will be needed to manage the changeover.