I’ve just returned from a short holiday in the Devon countryside. Living in London I tend to lust after the peace and quiet of remote countryside. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to be quite as ‘remote’ from my work as I’d hoped. I hadn’t quite managed to complete all of my translation jobs before going away, so I had to face the grim reality of backing my trusty laptop and allocating precious fun and relaxation time to work whilst away.

I actually didn’t mind this too much, and was in some weird way treating it as an experiment in remote working. By the way, when I say remote working I mean working that takes place outside of my normal office (even though my normal office is basically our spare room). I personally see being able to work remotely with, hopefully, no discernable compromise to work quality and efficiency as one of the major bonuses of being freelance. Until now, I’ve been too afraid to put this into practice. I still feel relatively new to the whole freelance lifestyle and have felt more secure chained to my home office, as if my whole business would collapse if I left it even for a minute. I’m pleased to say, however, I managed to let go of these fears and the ‘experiment’ was successful. With the powers of my laptop and Blackberry combined, I was able to remain contactable and reliable in the same way as I would if I was in my home office.

Of course, before I decided to do this, I had to check whether the cottage we were staying in had wireless internet available. Yes, even in deepest darkest Devon it is still possible to access the internet if your laptop has a wireless card.  Long-term, I’m also looking into the possibility of a dongle so that I can work remotely more often without having to worry about finding wireless internet access. In the city, however, I am lucky to have access to several free Wi-fi networks in cafes, libraries, and public spaces.

The future of Wi-fi and what it spells for our working practices featured recently in an article by the Western Mail on WalesOnline, with reference to the city of Cardiff (incidentally the seat of my old university):

Microsoft’s experts, working with the Future Laboratory, say that traditional fixed-location workplaces will move to a mosaic pattern of working as 70% of UK office workers say that work in the 21st century is increasingly about work/life balance and the death of nine-to-five.

I’m still not sure if work/life balance can truly exist when you’re freelance, or whether it’s just that your life and your work become intertwined, but this article paints a very different vision of the future of the way we work. The futurologists cited in the article also apparently claim that remote working encourages greater creativity - I’m not convinced of this but having a beautiful view to look out on certainly helps