Wednesday 13 August 2008

so long, farewell...


The time has come for me to sign off from the blog, it's been great fun and boy do we have a whole heap of memories to keep us smiling for years to come.

The job that i mentioned in the last post if now mine, the subject matter is far from rock n' roll - i shall be overseeing all things farming...yarp! However it's a good commute and the package ticks all the boxes. However, I have promised myself that i will reassess it all in a years time as i really don't want to get stuck in a rut again, and i have some concerns that might happen.

Yesterday we gained access to the flat and i'm pleased to say that it's all been left ship-shape and tickety-boo. We didn't waste any time in making it ours again by dashing off to buy some new carpets! The hard part will come after the carpets have been laid...the mega un-packing! On the plus side i will find myself a whole new wardrobe not to mention rediscover all my gorgeous shoes!

So to summarise...well that's way too hard as we packed so much in, but i think it's suffice to say that we had a blast and we'd do it all again in a heartbeat. We met some truly amazing new friends and have been overwhelmed by peoples generosity - you know who you are and thank you.

Finally thank you to everyone who read this...until the next time ;)

Friday 18 July 2008

I had a bit of a quandry yesterday, i've been doing the job hunting thing since we've been back and yesterday i got a job offer for a pretty good position for a B2B publisher up in North London.

The company were a good size, the director was funny and pleasant company as was the lady who would have been my direct boss and the salary was not too bad either. I felt i was more than capable of doing the job, though it would have required all of my organisational skills and they are extremely busy at the mo. On paper it did tick all of the boxes, but in my gut it just didn't feel right.

So i took a gamble and said no, first time i have ever done that and it was rather scary! Weirdly not 10 minutes after i'd made the call, my phone rang and it was another company asking me for an interview....spooky but i took it as a good sign that i'd made the right decision.

I had that interview this morning, and i think it went well, although i wasn't so fond of the psycometric tests the HR department put me through afterwards. The general Yes/No questions were okay, but they gave me another paper which i had 12minutes to answer that had an odd mix of questions such as..

Q:the singer is in tune with the piano, the piano is in tune with the cello, is the singer in tune with the cello.
A:true, false or uncertain.

it also had a mix of maths questions (not my strong point) such as..

Q:if you buy 8 crates of apples at £x, and 6 apples bruise how much do you need to sell them for to make a profit.

With a calculator i'm okay at this kind of thing, but in my head and with a clock ticking my brain goes to mush. It also had english questions such as..

Q: what is the opposite of vanquish?

Q: what is the similarity or difference between the saying clear waters run deep and mothers know best or something similar.

I will be curious to see the results, if they let me see them. It should say tends to avoid maths and is happy with english! The job looks good (Group Picture Editor) so fingers crossed.

J.x

Monday 7 July 2008

squatters rights

The boy and I have always hoped one day to move out of London, but it seems that day isn't today. Chats to our refreshingly honest estate agent and lovely mortgage chap have basically told us that we would be mental to try and sell now.

So we had some discussions about whether we should continue renting our flat out (our current tenants have been great) and move elsewhere (renting ourselves) or to move back in. After a bit of too-ing a fro-ing today we told our tenants that they have to heave-ho.

They have two months to vacate, though they can and may move sooner. So at this stage we are looking at a maximum of 8 weeks of homelessness.

Last week the lovely Kim loaned us her air matress in Crystal Palace, and now we are in Mitcham with the host with the most Rudi. Who has not only cleared out his back room for us but told us we can stay as long as we need, so looks like we have the opportunity to put some roots down for a few weeks which is seriously great.

I would like to be a little indulgent and make a big and public thank you to all our pals who have offered us a roof over our heads.

J.x

Friday 4 July 2008

am i home for good?

I know Andy has signed off from this blog, but a the moment it doesn't feel like the right time for me to do so.

At the moment it feels very much like we are just visiting England and will be on our merry way again soon. I suspect this is due to the fact that we don't have a permanent base of our own yet, and potentially won't have for another 2 months. I am still living out of the same rucksack, with the same clothes.

I also don't have a job yet, so my daily routine is well, basically without a routine and that has been highlighted this week by Andy getting up and going to work.

I had a job interview on Wednesday which i am rather excited about, it was with a small photo library specialising in old avertising. Its a small team and exactly the low-key environment i would like to work in.

The six months away was supposed to give us the distance and time to evaluate our chosen career/work paths and i'm able, now that we are home to say that it worked. (i had my doubts when we were away)

I am still keen to one day try something else that would allow me to be outdoors, but for now i am able to look at the industry i work in and say 'yep i like it' but I don't like all the big company politics that one inevitably gets drawn into when working for a big publishing house.

For now though we are packing our bags again and heading to another location for the weekend....

Monday 30 June 2008

The end (well, my end)


Back to work in 12 hours.

This is the end of the road: This is the brick wall to slam into.

And somebody has just redone the pointing.

I have spent the last week in a state of denial, occupying my time with such trivialities as being homeless, having a wedding to organise and investigating whether all my worldly goods which are ensconced in a secret location are still there and spider-free. And yet tonight I know I won't sleep well. Not that that represents much of a problem - I haven't slept properly since we got home.

I can't believe that it's all over. Reality is snapping at my heels and its teeth are glistening like those of the dog which attacked me on the Bolivian pampas a couple of months ago (and there we have it, everything is a reminder of something more comfortable). (P.S. Did I blog about that? Never approach a dog with nursing puppies. Ever! From doe-eyed and motherly to rabid and avenging in a snap! (Literally))

Why do we allow ourselves to get SO bogged down by the "realities" of life: mortgages, commuting, 9-5s, congestion, crowds and stress?

When there is so much more to be experienced:
glaciers, fresh air, dancing at 6am on an island, unintelligible bus timetables, mystery-meat soups.

Fear? Peer? Laziness or blinkers?

These are bigger questions than I can't answer from within the problem, and maybe only with the benefit of hindsight will I be able to see the changes and resolutions of taking so much time out of "the cycle". For now, I have a wall to hit, and for now, this blog for me ends. Some day I may suffix an addendum.

Ciao.
A.

P.P.S. I will keep up the Spanish lessons though!