Wim van der Poel ‘I’m not very keen on working at home. My two sons of 21 and 22 are both at home too. One is studying History and Politics at Utrecht University, where lectures have been suspended until the end of the academic year. The other one has a zero-hour contract with an organization that manages charging stations for electric cars, and they have closed. I feel like we get in each other’s way now and then. One of my sons has exams coming up, so he’s studying hard, but the other doesn’t have much to do and has thrown himself into gaming.
I miss being close to the lab, because I normally pop in there every day.
My wife still works a few days a week, because she works at a crèche. I go to the lab now and then because we can’t just stop our experiments. I miss being close to the lab, because I normally pop in there every day. I feel less involved now. I also go to the university to record lectures – a very strange experience, in an empty classroom. I can talk to students on an online discussion platform. I hadn’t had much experience with that so that is new.’
This is the ninth part of a series on working from home during the corona crisis. The editorial staff calls a WUR colleague every day to find out how things are going. The illustration is (of course) a selfie or a snapshot taken by a housemate. Would you like to participate? Mail resource@wur.nl or share via #WURkfromHOME.
