Update

It's been forever since I've updated this so I'll attempt to bring you up to speed on what I've been up to.

The shoe shop is now closed which is sad but I've been in my new job about a month and a half and I'm pleased to say I'm loving it. Lots of varied things to do, flexi time and weekends off - what's not to love.

The new car is great and is coming in very handy for the 25 minute drive to work and back every day.

I graduated from Leicester in July with my PhD in astrophysics. It was a lovely day and lots of friends were graduating too. Here's a photie of us in our silly gowns:


I had a great girly weekend in Manchester and a girly week in Rhodes with my sister Charlotte. We just got back from Rhodes last Thursday and had a brilliant time. Even the 15 hour delay on the way back was quite fun since they put us in a 5* hotel while we waited!

I'm absolutely loving having every weekend off. Much as I loved the shoe shop it was not fun working weekends and not having much time with Ben. Now its brilliant - 2 whole days together every week :)

I think that brings us broadly up to date. I'll make the obligatory promise to update more often and not leave it so long in future but you know what I'm like...

Exciting news!

So I went for the big interview last Friday. I spent the whole week preparing. I'd been told to expect a short Excel test and then a formal 45 minute interview so I spent ages refreshing my Excel memory, thinking of answers to obvious interview questions, reading up on the council and the department I was applying for etc. Turned up to the interview and was told I had half an hour before the interview. I had the Excel test to do and could also look at the interview questions and write some notes. The questions were pretty interesting - a few standard 'what skills will you bring to this position?' style ones and then more interesting stuff like 'what is the role of research in the local council?'. Anyway cutting to the chase, I nailed it! All the way through they were scribbling stuff down and saying things like 'great answer'. At the end I asked how long it would be before I heard and was delighted to hear 'within the hour'. I was buzzing when I got out! I knew I'd done the best I could and figured if I didn't get it then there was someone better for it and fair enough. At least I could be sure that I'd done my best.

I drove back to work to give my boss the lowdown on what happened. Just as I was telling her they said they'd ring within the hour, the phone rang. I got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo woo!!!!!! I was so excited! It was the best feeling - to know that when the store closes I'm not going to be unemployed and that I'd actually managed to get a better job! I didn't come down from my high for the whole weekend (which made sleeping rather difficult!). So I'm finally going to be using some skills from my PhD, earning a decent wage and not spending weekends at work. I can't wait to get started!!

Busy B

Things have been a little crazy since the last post. On the job front, I got a phone call the other week from one of the local councils. I'd applied for a job with them way back in April and hadn't heard a thing. It said on the application form that if you don't hear anything within 2 weeks then you've been unsuccessful so I'd put it out of my mind. Anywho, they rang the other week to see if I was still interested and, of course, I said yes please! My interview is next Friday so fingers crossed please. Later that week I had another out of the blue phone call about another job that I'd applied to ages ago and thought I'd lost out on. This time it was a shoe company who wanted to see me on Monday about a management position. This call caught me a little off guard so I stupidly said I couldn't make it (my family were coming to visit and we had plans for that day). I got into work and the first thing my boss said to me was 'What's wrong?'. I sheepishly told her I'd turned down an interview for a decent job and she swiftly kicked my ass for doing that when we have only 7(!) weeks of employment left. She sent me upstairs to ring the company back and tell them I'd changed my plans and grovel for the interview. Thank god she's there to keep me right! The interview went well although I've not heard anything back. At least if I don't get the council job I won't be kicking myself for not going to that one and wondering about what could have been. I've got some more applications to put in tomorrow so I'll keep you posted on what happens but please please please keep those fingers crossed next Friday because I really really really want that job!

As I mentioned above my family came to visit last week and even that turned into a bit of a fiasco. It was supposed to be my mum, dad and sister all coming but at the last minute their pet rabbit Minnie was ill. They had to book him in for an operation so one of them had to stay behind to look after him. My sister chose to stay and booked some train tickets so she could join us on Tuesday. When she arrived at the vets on Monday morning it turned out that they couldn't operate because Minnie wasn't pooing. Can't think of a nice way to put that so there you have it. He was given some injections and medicine to take and told to come back Tuesday. So Charlotte wasn't on her train on Tuesday and by the time Minnie got himself going it turned out he didn't need an operation after all but it was too late to make it worthwhile for her to come visit. Mum and Dad had a great time though so it wasn't all bad.

Finally my faithful old car Mog went in for her MOT last week. The news was not good. It was going to cost roughly twice what she's worth to get her through it so we decided to take advantage of the government scrappage scheme (thankfully I got the MOT a little early so the old one still covers her) and buy a new one. Ben flies to Singapore today and of course the family were staying last week so its been a hectic few days - visiting dealerships, entertaining the parents, packing suitcases, going to work and finally committing to a 'finance package'. Eek! I go pick up my brand shiny new Hyundai i30 next Tuesday though. Very exciting!!

Time to go to work for a rest now I think!

Abattoir adventures

Until about a month or so ago I was a vegetarian. Not a very dedicated one (I still ate seafood and I bought leather shoes and handbags) but a vegetarian all the same and I had been for about 10 years. Boredom at work led me to decide that my decision to not eat meat did not prevent any animals from being killed and also made life difficult for people who had to cook for me (many many apologies to my mum, the boy and also his mum who always pulled out the stops to make me yummy veggie options). To be honest I was also pretty curious about what certain different meats tasted like. I'd never had things like duck and I can't even remember eating much pork or lamb as a kid either. My meat eating education is coming on a treat but last week I took it a step too far I think.

You will recall that I'm currently job hunting as my lovely shoe shop is closing at the beginning of August? Well I answered an advert last week for a trainee secretary in what I thought was a food factory. I got an email back to say they wanted to see me and at the bottom of the email I noted, with horror, that the company was actually an abattoir. I decided that if I was going to eat meat, I should be able to deal with this and so I decided to go for the interview, much to the bemusement of everyone around me.

As I entered the building, the gentleman I was supposed to be being interviewed by came running down the stairs, pulling on a white coat streaked with blood and told me 'You've arrived in the middle of a disaster. Would you mind waiting? Watch the blood on the stairs'. I did as I was told, all the while wondering what on earth I was doing there.

The interview actually went ok and I was called back to meet the head of the company for a second interview but between them they talked me out of the job telling me I would be bored and it was a very junior position. I turned the job down much to the relief of friends and family who thought I was mad for even turning up in the first place. So far the job hunt is not going so well!

Bye Bye Siany

That leaving do I mentioned I was at the other week was for my good friend Sian who's leaving lovely North Wales for a stint in Scotland. We've only been friends for a year or so but she's been there for me since I moved here, while I was finishing off the dreaded thesis and she's been a really good friend. I'm going to miss her lots :( Good luck Sian!! Don't be a stranger!

The job hunt continues

I was just about to write that things have been fairly quiet here recently but thinking about it that's not really true. Last week I think we were out every night: Welsh lessons, a cinema trip, a leaving do (more about that in a future post), Megaweek at Debenhams (i.e. working till 9 on a Friday night) and finally a curry/Eurovision party round our house on Saturday. All good fun (apart from the working on a Friday night - I love my job but not that much!).

I also managed to fit in a job interview on Saturday. I'm going to rant about that on my other blog, Moosings (www.mymoosings.blogspot.com), but suffice it to say that I was offered the job but I'm not taking it. Today is my day off so I've been trawling the web for other opportunities. Fun fun!

This weekend we're off to see my friends Hannah and Paul get married which I'm very excited about. We don't catch up as often as we'd all like so it'll be great to see them again. Fingers crossed for some decent weather!

All good things must come to an end

On Tuesday, after going to an emergency area meeting, my boss called an emergency staff meeting to tell us that our concession is being closed in the next few months and we'd therefore be made redundant. Even though it's only a part time sales assistant position in a shoe shop I love my job so I'm pretty gutted to lose it (no more discount!!). I'm trying to be positive about things though - this could be my chance to find my dream job. If only I knew what that is! Since leaving the world of astrophysics I've struggled to decide what it is that I actually want to do. I've toyed with ideas of owning my own shop, being a writer, making some money from my knitting but to be perfectly honest I just don't know and have no idea what I would have to do to achieve any of these dreams. Time to put those research skills I keep telling myself I have from my PhD to good use I think! If anyone has any advice for me on the great career conundrum or any ideas of what I'd be good at then please comment. I'll keep you posted on how the job hunt goes.