Wow that was a long time ago!

So the furniture came long ago, we've been enjoying not having to sit on the floor in the lounge. Now that we've got this flat furnished how we like it we are looking for a house to buy!

The housing market is quite depressed here at the moment but is predicted to go up again in the spring, so if we buy carefully we could get a property that will increase in value by 20% or more in a few months with few improvements. We been looking at houses 10,000 pounds above our limit because people are so desperate to sell that they'll take that much less for their properties.

We both have this coming week off of work, and will spend the first half of the week viewing as many properties as we can, and then Ben's parents are coming to visit on Thursday, so hopefully we'll have a short list that we can take them to see.

Its so exciting! It seems like such a grownup thing to do, buying a house!

I am too drained to think of a clever title.

I seem particularly lazy lately, but only towards computers. I think its because I spend all my time at work on the computer, doing the work of two people to sort out the hellish mess that is our database that the thought of looking at a computer when I get home gives me a headache. Aside from that I love my job, its almost like being a detective to track down the root cause of the error, or even sometimes to figure out what exactly is the error in the first place!

Our furniture came last week, its so nice to have a sofa and a chair so we don't have to sit on the floor anymore! We even had people over for the first time since we moved in a month ago. We had a bbq in the back garden and bought far too much food, so we have burgers sausages and other bbqed stuff to eat for at least a week! Speaking of food, I'm hungry so I'm going to go get food!

Ouch that was expensive!

We went and bought furniture for our lounge today. We got a sofa bed and a chair which will be delivered in approximately 6 weeks. We had picked out the one we liked last week but we weren't sure that it would fit, so we had to go home and move things around to make sure it would. We have spend ~1300 pounds on two pieces of furniture, and when I (stupidly) converted it into Canadian dollars I got a shock, its $2780! On a sofa and a chair! A very nice sofa and chair but still! Oh well, it will look nice, its very comfy and we have 4 years 0% financing to pay for it, but it still seems like a ridiculous amount of money to spend on two pieces of furniture! So when it comes no place to stay is no longer an excuse for anyone wanting to visit England.

Officially Moved in!

We officially moved into our new flat on Saturday, but that involved taking two van loads of stuff from the old house, and dumping it on the dining room floor before we left for Ben's parent's to pick up the furniture that they had stored for him. Its a four hour drive so we stayed there Saturday night and left to come back Sunday morning. We dropped of the furniture and went back to the old house to clean it, and did it ever need cleaning! We left at 9 to get a curry, came back to the new flat to shower and sleep, and then went back to finish the old house Monday morning. We turned in the keys to the old house around 11 Monday morning, a full 30 hours before they had to be turned in!

We have started setting up the new flat, the TV and stereo is set up, the kitchen is mostly unpacked, and the bedroom is pretty well done, although we are still living out of suitcases for a while yet. The dining room is still full of boxes and bags of packed stuff (mostly stuff that really should have been thrown out I suspect), but its all at one end of the room because we bought a second hand dining table that should be dropped off within the next hour. I can't wait, two days of eating all meals off of the lounge floor was enough. The last major thing we have to do is buy a sofabed for guests, but where ever we get it from it won't be delivered for at least a month, so I suspect we will be sitting on the floor for a while yet!

New Job!

I was offered the job at the Anglian Group even after I told them about Ben's interview and the possibility that we will be moving to Oxford soon. The were very keen to hire me even knowing I may leave in a month, which is very flattering.

I'm home sick from work for the first time since I've been in England. I was fine until I was about to leave for Rocco's and then I just felt so sick to my stomach, which didn't make them very happy at Rocco's but I stick out my tongue in their general direction.

Congradulations to everyone who is graduating on Sunday!

Well things have changed a little bit...

Ok Jeff, something for you to read at the library...
And Steve, yes the number is still the same, but I'll give you the landline, its cheaper to call it!

I am employed, at a bar and restaurant called Rocco's in Norwich. Its pretty good as far as bars are concerned, we're done by two at the latest, and thats on Saturdays when the people in the clubs are working until 330 or 4 in the morning. I'm not overly keen to work full time in a bar so I am casually looking for something else, but I'm not particularly bothered because...

I moved in officially with Ben as soon as Mom left (she was here for three weeks for a visit, and left the 9th of April) so officially I've been living here for two weeks, unofficially I've been living here since before Mom came to visit. I am thoroughly enjoying it, especially since I don't get kicked out of bed when Ben goes to work anymore, now I turn over and go back to sleep!

Although I had a good interview for a data entry/problem solver position at the Anglian Group focusing on stock control and manufacturing last week, I'm not particularly bothered about looking hard for another job. The reason for this is that Ben is not particularly happy where he is working at the moment, and is looking to ideally get a job working for a f1 team or if not perhaps to do some design work on contract. Either of those would involve moving to another part of England, so I'd rather stick to boring drudgery than get a job I'd really like and then be foreced to choose, especially since he should hear back from the race teams by early next month.

Thats about all thats new, I hope it provided a short break in your studying, although you should be almost done by now.

Well good news and better news!

The good news is that my contract with MEUK was terminated on Saturday, it didn't seem good at the beginning, but now that I've reflected on it, I'm much happier to be looking for work and saving pennies than I was working for them. I have two interview scheduled for this weekend, Friday at a restaurant called Rocco's and Saturday at a bar called Mercy (ironically both owned by the same person and located right next to each other). I also have applied for several office jobs which I am waiting to hear from.

The better news, I've met someone who I really like. We've spent one night apart since we started dating. He is an automotive design engineer and works for all sorts of cool car companies and race teams. So I'm at the cool happy stage and I'm going to enjoy it even if I'm unemployed at the moment.

I've moved in

So I've moved into a shared house with 4 people I don't know, 3 guys and a girl. Its interesting, this is the first time I've ended up living with people I really have no idea about at all, but the house is relatively new (1 year old), clean (which a lot I saw weren't) and close to work (15 minute walk). Its also rent through an agency that manages a pile of houses in this city, and will move you to a new house if it doesn't work out. Here is a picture of the house and the advert.
I'm really excited about the new job, but for now I think I'll go explore the area a bit, and pick up a little something for breakfast.

Positive feedback at last!

Yesterday I went to Norwich for an interview with a sales and marketing firm, and today at 10 o'clock they called me and said they want me to come back for a full day interview on Thursday (they called as I was brushing my teeth of course). While I was in Norwich having lunch, and beer, after my interview I got a call about another position that I had applied for, asking if I could do a telephone interview at 2 o' clock today! So finally I feel as if I atleast have a chance at getting a job, and the sales and marketing one looks like a lot of fun, they only represent top brands, like American Express etc in the following industries:

• Telecommunication and energy industry specific customer acquisition
• Charity subscription building
• Sports, leisure and entertainment customer acquisition
• Event marketing, specialising in the financial services sector

I took a cab from the train station when I went for the interview yesterday, and had a great cabbie, very chatty and full of funny stories, he put me in just the right mood for the interview.

It was a nice early birthday present, probably the only one I'll get until my Mom come over at the end of March (my birthday is tomorrow) so maybe I should write all those thank you cards for xmas that I've been putting off tomorrow.

Sadly this sloppy drunk on a cheap bottle of wine one night is the most recent picture of me I have, maybe it'll scare off the strangers. I'm brunette now for a change though.

So now you tell me...

Today I discovered that people other than Tay and Steve read this, so I guess I should be better about updating it.

So today I got up, took a shower, spent 5 hours searching and applying for jobs, 5 minutes talking to Jon, 50 seconds talking to Jeff, and opened an all time low number of rejections for jobs (1 just in case you care, but it was on nice stationary). Now you know why I don't post very often.

Since I get to say what I want, which is rare, most people who know me probably don't know this, but I rarely say what I want to, I think I care too much for people who used to be important to me. I like the fact that I've remained friends with almost everyone who I used to date, but there is one who means a whole lot more than the others, he found out his girlfriend was cheating on him and confronted her last night. I hate it when he's unhappy, and he's been unhappy since he left X, but there isn't anything I can do about it, I'm not sure I would if I could actually, its his life, his choices. I don't know how it ended up, I just hope he's ok, and that he finally gets out.

Now for fun stuff, the pictures of London that I've been meaning to post since November or so. First Trafalgar Square:
Nelson's statue in Trafalgar Square, he was 5'6", his column is 151', I think he might be overcompensating for more than just his stature.
Fountains around the base of the column.
I think the pigeons can read and the tourists probably can't, the reason this worked to reduce the pigeon population is beacause they all felt unwanted and went to live with the ducks, geese and swans in Hyde Park, where they get fed everyday.
The London Eye, from across the Thames, I didn't go on it, but I did go for a boat tour of the river, which I recommend if you're in London, 6GBP for as many boat trips as you want all day, between Tower Bridge and the Parliament Buildings.
A very unimpressive view of the Tower of London, I think this is the point where my camera batteries ran out. It is really expensive to go in, but worth it. If you go, do so in the morning because there is enough in there to keep you occupied for a week, and definately go look at the crown jewels (no photography allowed though)

Well since I now have internet and power at the same time again ...

I can now post something without fear that my battery will die half way through. I finished my job yesterday. I'd agreed to work for four months and then decide if I wanted to stay, and with the trouble that I'd been having with my wrists and hands I didn't think I should be doing the physical labour anymore. It is a bit of a shame, I'd gotten very close to the ponies and I'm in the best physical shape that I've ever been in, although my body fat is low, I'm not sure what the reading is but my bras don't fit anymore ;-( so I'm guessing 10% or lower, not good, but at least its an excuse to eat lots of full fat yoghurt, chocolate and ice cream! My arms, legs and back are more muscular than they've ever been, even more so than when I was weight lifting three days a week, definately something that I don't want to lose.

I'm back at my cousin's for the moment while I look for a job and a place to live, the disadvantage of living in of course being that when the job goes, so does the accomodation. At least I'm not tied down to a flat where I have no hope of finding a job, but its almost impossible to get a flat without being employed first so the fun begins on Monday when finding a job and a place to live becomes my full time job. I think I'll look around the Peterborough area so I'll be close to my family here.

Mom is coming to visit in the spring, I'm really looking forward to that, I've missed her much more than I ever have before, although this is the longest I've ever gone without seeing her, dad and Tristan too.

To tickle your fancy, a horse in pyjamas.