All is well - 'talented blonde' got a job

Just when she thought London had something against her, Alex Hazlehurst found employment. Photo / iStock

I awoke Monday to the happy news that Alex Hazlehurst had finally secured a job in London befitting her qualifications and experience.

For those who missed her article, Hazlehurst described her recent trials and tribulations to warn us it's no longer easy for Kiwis to score the plum jobs in London.

She had decided she must head for the big city when she discovered she couldn't walk down Ponsonby Rd without meeting someone she knew. Auckland had become just too small.

But then London proved not all it's cracked up to be. She had to struggle for some months as a receptionist despite being a "professional" with a degree in broadcasting and having "experienced" a couple of years as a producer at Newstalk ZB and Breakfast TV.

It appears the news the internet has driven broadcasting world-wide into a deep slump had unfortunately passed her by.

But no matter. By her own lights she's more than just qualified and experienced.

"I'm talented. I'm hard-working. I'm blonde. And I can charm the pants off the 60-something-year-old Italian who makes me my daily coffee."

What's not to like? She sounds perfect for broadcasting. She is just what's needed: another 25-year-old, talented blonde able to flirt with elderly men.

Amazingly, with her Kiwi accent she didn't just walk into a top job.

Goodness knows how talentless brunettes survive. Or the not-so-charming women who can't secure the come-hither from the elderly Italian selling coffee. I can't imagine how they afford to eat. Or house themselves.

Oh, don't start Hazlehurst on the housing. Turns out we don't know what a housing crisis is. She knows of nine people living in a four-bedroom London flat. The horror.

Not surprisingly, given her experience, Hazlehurst started to feel the city hated her. How else to explain her plight? The entire London megalopolis must be against her. It was London's fault. "I was angry, broke, drinking a lot."

She was in a desperate, downward spiral. She didn't have a decent job. She drank. She was broke. She drank more. She was more broke.

London was chewing her up. She was in danger of becoming just another statistic. Then a lucky break saved her from the gutter.

She scored a proper, professional job. At last. It was a close-run thing. She, I guess, is one of the lucky ones.

We have a marvellous education system. It pumps our young brimful of self-esteem and confidence and leaves them utterly bereft of worldly understanding or knowledge of how an economy works.

It teaches them how to voice their problems and frustrations without a touch of personal responsibility or hint of resilience. Yup. Things are hard these days. Oh how easy it all was in years gone by.