Moving up here turned out to be a bit more stressful than what moving normally is, the agent messed us about with our move in date and in the end we had to come up here on the Saturday of a long weekend, drop our belongings off in the new house and then head back to Hastings as we weren't allowed to be there until the following Tuesday evening. All a bit of a hassle, still we managed to hire a van and it was the first time I have ever driven on British roads. Was pretty good really, a big SWB van, mod cons like radio and air-con. All slightly reminiscent of my across Australia jaunt with Briony too long ago to mention (it makes me feel old!). Mark wanted to drive for most of the time - I don't think he trusts me behind the wheel, but I put my foot down and did nearly all the driving from Hastings to Swindon (aside from the going through London bit - I chickened out at that) and we made it there in no time. Mark drove back though and I reckon I could've beaten his time by at least a quarter of an hour, if not more. It's too tempting to speed when it's not possible to get points on your licence! Maybe it was best that he drove....?
Speaking of which I checked into getting a Brit licence and all I have to do is send them my Australian licence and some moolah. I need to check that I won't need my Australian one when I have to get it renewed in January of next year - yet another thing to ad to the 'to check about & do list'. Seems to be a never-ending story/list at the moment although not nearly as much fun as having a Luck Dragon fly you around places and a world being eaten up by 'The Nothing'.
On the Monday night before we (or rather I) came up here I headed over to my mates place in Brighton to spend the night. We went out on the town (for an early-ish evening) enjoying a couple of pints at our 'usual' and then some Greek food from plastic touristy plates in a typical Greek restaurant. Lovely. Was great to say a proper farewell to Kathrin, even though I will definitely be seeing her again both here and at hers in Brighton. Only thing that wasn't so lovely was having to get up at 4 the next morning to catch a train to Swindon by 8.15am. But I managed to do it, arrived on time and took up my first temping assignment at the Swindon Research Council.
Really lovely people at the Research Council and I enjoyed my time there. Was an easy assignment for my first two weeks here as it finished at 2 in the afternoon leaving me time to organise most of those things that go along with moving into a new place. Everything but the phone... which is due to be connected and working on the 14th - this week (and more than likely the day this blog will actually go up)! Mark finished work in Hastings the first week I was here so there was a some agonising time apart until really early Monday morning when he arrived mightily pissed off at the traffic jam he'd been stuck in in London for about 4 hours. Oh the joys of a huge city! Also a bit pissed off at me for getting jacked at him for not getting to Swindon even vaguely when he said he would. I should be used to his tardiness by now really....
I had an interview for a full time position at a recruitment agency the following week and seemed to impress them enough to have them ring the day after my interview and offer me the position. I said thanks and that I'd get back to them later that day if not early the next after discussing it with 'my partner', which I was told was fine. Strangely enough though, after deliberating about it for a day and deciding to take the safety net option and accept the offer the following day they'd decided I'd taken too long and weren't going to give it to me after all - nice one Randstad
! Ach, not to worry, I can't really see myself hugely enjoying the job anyway or being an ideal recruitment consultant. The reason I went for it was I thought I'd have first pick of all the really good jobs as well as a bit of financial security for Mark and I from a permanent position! Ha ha serves me right I guess. There are other jobs I have thrown my hat in for that are more my kinda thing so fingers crossed for that, I'm sure something will be coming up shortly.On my last day with the Research Council they asked me if I was going to come back the following week and as much as I wanted to I'd already accepted my current assignment with the Council and was heading there that afternoon for the 'hand over' with some woman with the surname 'Goodenough' - weird. So I headed off back across the railway tracks buoyant from the kind words and with my farewell bottle of wine in hand (from the Research Council staff) to meet this Goodenough woman... Well - oh me, oh my! What a completely stuck up woman she turned out to be. The hand over consisted pretty much of watching her type 'very important emails' and be completely rude to the cleaning staff and anyone else she felt was underneath her in her highly regarded position of 'PA to the Chief Executive' (including me as I'm a lowly temp you see). I can't think of anything specific that she said, but the way she looked at people and spoke to them was appalling - unless of course they were Councillors or other management staff. I have never met such a stuck up arse licker in my whole life! Needless to say I arrived home that day in a pretty bad mood so the farewell bottle of wine went a long way towards soothing my temper.
After dinner and finishing off the wine with Mark we headed out to our local to see what it was like. Not too bad - friendly enough definitely, although the walls are covered in warnings about anti-social behaviour getting you barred for life from every pub in the area. Pints were reasonably cheap though and the company as always was good. From there we headed to the town centre (or what Mark and I commonly call the 'New town' as there is an 'Old Town' in most English towns from the looks of it.) and a few bars around there. Went straight past the 'walkabout bar' which is the Australian themed pub, as much as I sometimes miss home I can never bring myself to go into one of those themed bars... Do normal Australian pubs really look that tacky?? I don't think so. Anyway, we avoided that one but checked out a few others, all much the same as the last - big screens with video clips that didn't match to the music playing, loads of scantily clad female punters and insolent looking guys... I think I'm getting old but it wasn't really my cup of tea, although I reckon I probably will end up down that way again at one stage or another. This coming weekend though I'd like to check out the Old Town night life and see what that's like in comparison, it can't be too much worse I wouldn't think and quite possibly it's better.
So that's about it. We've almost settled into our new digs, still need to get some furniture like a couch and a few other bits and bobs, but it'll come and it's beginning to feel like home. A nice light and airy place all our own. Mark starts his Masters next week so that will bring new adventures for him which I think he's more than ready for and has been impatiently anticipating for a while now. I should be in full time work soon, well as soon as I can find something worth ditching the temping for, but for now the temping seems to be going ok and paying the bills! So that's it, until something else exciting or out of the everyday happens. Or even until the guilt of not being in contact gets the better of me and I decide to have a public on-line ramble about nothing!
