Not Out but not really much about
16th January 2026
The month January has usually been an exceptionally quiet month for relief work, a good time to be on holiday as many of the Chefs seem to do, heading off in the winter to Thailand or Spain, not a bad idea at all.
There have been a couple of relief jobs in but there are upwards of 40 chefs marked available on the relief database so your chances are quite slim of getting work on relief so please do consider other options.
This will change as time moves on through late winter into spring and then into the summer when there will be far more relief jobs than relief chefs available.
There have been times in the last ten years when very good relief chefs well known to CIS with a 100% track record for completion along with excellent feedback via references and finish forms, have been kept in work all year round. That is not currently the case and pitching up and staying the course is not enough, we do actually expect a high quality of work and effort to go with the premium rates for CIS relief work.
Permanent jobs have also been fairly quiet, there are currently just less than 30 permanent and seasonal jobs on the CIS website which compares with 25 this time last year but there were 55 at this time of the year in 2020 before lockdown.
Times do change as all football managers know, poor results can often result in change, although not many chefs will be able to smile quite as much as Amorin at Man United when he was given the heave ho with some huge settlement.
Closer to home in Aberdeen, despite a fantastic cup win for the Dons in 2025 Jimmy Thelin after a blistering start had a pretty shitty track record in the league and off he went to spend more time with his family after a year and a half commuting from Sweden.
The last year I have been to see Nottingham Forrest take on the might Man City in Manchester, further down to Nottingham to watch Everton score in the last minute to win one nil. A long treck.
Carlisle is a bit closer to Moffat and a great atmosphere and some superb football is played, and often my neighbour Dave will drive us to Lockerbie and get the train to Carlisle, a quick mile walk and sometimes a pint of John Smiths for less than a fiver in the Jimmy Glass stand..what is not to like?
So back in Aberdeen I felt that I should pop along to Pittodrie for the first time since the late 1970’s when the Dons played Spurs complete with Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa, 1978 World Cup Winners with Argentina.
I went online and bought a ticket and on the day got the free bus down from Maidencraig with a little apprehension, not much. It took me a while to find where my ticket was for one of the stands, The Merkland Stand.
I was pointed down the front where my seat was and noticed lots of young men with black jackets and balaclavas. I walked in asking them politely to move with my green Superdry jacket and coloured bonnet, there were a few large flag poles which I carefully moved before taking my seat in amongst the lively fans.
The game started and they all stood up and started singing. I thought it best to do likewise, albeit making a decision at half time to head up the back, grab a pie and take the walk back to Union Street for a quick pint in the relative calm of Wetherspoons.
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