Hospitality

I ended up in deepest Kent last night, and I'm back here again this evening, the grateful recipient of the kind hospitality of my brother and his family. My search for any sort of realistically affordable accommodation within a reasonable distance of my new workplace has been an abject failure so far, so I'm onto Plan B, at least temporarily, of a very long commute instead. There's going to have to be a Plan C at some stage, something more permanent, if there's any chance of making this return to working away from home practicable, but quite what form Plan C will take remains to be seen. My new manager has arranged for me to go on a briefing day on Friday, which is in a relatively user-friendly location from my perspective, and starts late enough to make it accessible by train from home, so I'm going to get to go back to sunny Cornwall a day early this week, which, needless to say, has cheered me up considerably - I'll be home, given a fair wind, at around 5:00 tomorrow evening, and about the same time, all being well, after my day trip by train on Friday.
In our adult lives, I've always got on very well with my brother - we had the commonplace sibling rivalry as kids and teens, but luckily soon grew out of it - but I still count myself very lucky that he's put his spare room at my disposal at such short notice (about 2 hours notice last night). I hope I'll be able to reciprocate in some way - I know he's giving without expectation of a 'reward', but it would be nice if I can find some suitable means of repaying him before too long.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

The new chapter

Well, here I am sitting at Newlands Corner on the North Downs enjoying the view by way of helping to fill in time between shifts in my new job. The job itself is fine, I've set about some serious training already, the new work colleagues (at least those I've met so far) and the working environment are fine, but, there is, needless to say, the elephant in the room - the 16 hours a day on my own during which I need to occupy myself. The laptop helps, but the battery doesn't hold a vast amount of charge, so the most I can manage online is 90 minutes or so before I have to find a way of charging it up again - mostly with the in-car adapter so far.
I know 2 days is probably a bit premature to make a judgment, but I've got a feeling that this move is going to be quite tough for me on a personal level - all in all, I'd much rather be at home. It would probably be an exaggeration to say that I was homesick, but initial impressions seem to be that it's worse this time around than on my previous move 'up country' in 2002. It's probably not helping that the accommodation situation doesn't seem to want to come together at the moment - I can't find anywhere affordable that wouldn't mean commuting ridiculous distances, the cost of which would more than counterbalance the savings made on the accommodation. I'll keep looking out, though, and hope for the best.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Ready, but not ready

In practical terms, I'm pretty much ready to head up to London and my new job tomorrow - there are clothes and the like still to pack, but that's a quick job, given my years of experience of working away in the past. On a personal level, though, I'm not at all enthusiastic about the prospect of being away from my home and family, to the extent I've actually been quite down over the weekend, particularly today. I know, rationally, that I've had little choice other than to follow this course of action, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. No doubt it will all become routine after a few weeks, assuming nothing unforeseen intervenes to complicate matters. It's going to be an early start for me in the morning, as well - I don't need to be at my new workplace until 10:00, and I was originally planning to leave at 5:00, but, on reflection, leaving at that time, I'll get to Greater London right in the throes of the worst of the rush hour, so I'm going to leave an hour earlier, and perhaps use the extra time at the other end to treat myself to a leisurely breakfast.
Cutie of the day was undoubtedly the pretty, dimply, brown-haired boy spotted with his family at the supermarket at lunchtime - they seemed be going down every aisle we were going up, and vice versa, so I saw quite a bit of the boy, which was a little oasis of sweetness on an otherwise rather downbeat day.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Preparations

I spent this morning in doing some bits and pieces preparatory to my relocation to London on Monday. I can't claim to have vast amounts to do to be ready for my new situation. so spreading it out over the weekend seems reasonable, rather than rushing about madly on Sunday. Amongst other things, I finally bit the bullet and went to the barbers' - I really, really dislike having my hair cut, and have since I was primary school age, but someone of my age wandering about with wild hair just looks ridiculous, so I have to submerge my qualms every now and again and force myself to be shorn.
It was one of those days where activity was counterpointed with relaxation - after a fairly busy morning, I had a very laid back afternoon, before regaling the family with one of my mix and match evening meals which seemed to go down reasonably well, and then heading back to chillout mode by forcing myself to drink some nice Chardonnay that just happened to be in the fridge. Much better than the late shift in my old job that I would've been doing had my circumstances not changed. It's a tough life, but someone's got to do it!

Love & best wishes
Sammy B

Escapology

After four years and eight months, to the day - I started on January 23rd 2006, as I confirmed this morning - I've finally escaped from my imprisonment in my current job. The sense of a weight lifting from my shoulders as I drove away from the place for the last time just after 1:30 this afternoon was almost palpable. The new job will have its pressures and less than ideal aspects, of course, not least the time I'm going to be spending away from home, but at least I'm not going to be making my way into work, especially for late shifts, with a sense of foreboding about what might happen.
The day wasn't without its bittersweet elements - driving close to DBJ's house early this morning and knowing that it would almost certainly the last time I'd be anywhere near him was a sad moment, while seeing one of the younger local cuties, who's now graduated to senior school ranks, looking very grown up and even more attractive in his nice new school uniform, was at least a minor consolation prize.
I'm not sure whether it's because they wanted to wish me well, or make sure I was definitely going, but not only my manager but my manager's manager turned up within a few minutes of each other towards the end of my shift. We parted on reasonable terms - I don't want to burn all my bridges, after all - but they were left in no doubt of my disenchantment about having wasted almost two years waiting for what they knew to be a non-existent vacancy, as well as the extra 3 months I've been kept hanging about waiting to be released. I suppose I should take the charitable stance and acknowledge that neither of them actually needed to come and see me today - there was no paperwork or other formalities to be completed, with my moving on an internal promotion - so the fact that they appeared is at least some sort of recognition of my contribution over the last few years.
So, it's time to look forward. In terms of the job I'll be doing, there's far more interest in my new job - it's one of the busiest in my line of work anywhere in the country, with remuneration to match - but the domestic side of things could be problematic, though, as I've said before, we'll have to find a way of making it work, for financial reasons, if not for any other. From a personal standpoint, I've got the opportunity to take advantage of the many interesting cultural experiences that the London area has to offer, many of them without the need to spend too much money, and, unlike my last spell of working away from home, I've got reliable access to the internet to allow me to keep in touch with my family and the wider world without breaking the bank on mobile phone tariffs. I have no expectation of getting involved in any wild social whirl, because that really isn't my style, but knowing that just about any kind of food, drink and entertainment anyone could imagine is available in the area, albeit some of it at prohibitive prices, is another element of metropolitan spice which isn't unwelcome, especially if I can find ways of involving my family in the fun from time to time. A new chapter, certainly - I just hope it's going to be a happy one.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Intolerance

There seems to be a lot of it about at the moment. It certainly doesn't seem to be a good time to be anywhere outside of the 'mainstream'. Atheists are 'parasites', elements of the Republican party in the US (and doubtless their fellow travellers in this country) want to recriminalise homosexuality, the head of a major world religious sect has been in this country espousing his organisation's bigoted, misogynistic creed, even voters in proverbially tolerant and liberal Sweden have voted for a racist, nationalist party in significant numbers. When are people going to realise that there's only one hominid species on this planet, of which diversity is a intrinsic characteristic, and that we've got to learn to live together or we'll surely die together. There's plenty of talk about looking for intelligent life out in the wider universe, perhaps we should start by trying to foster a bit of intelligence on this planet first.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Autumnal

I know it's still officially summer for another day or two, but there's a distinct tinge of autumn in the air today. It's quite bright and sunny, but it's substantially cooler outside than it appears from the comfort of the great indoors. Winter has never been my favourite time of year, so this little reminder that it's on its way is less than welcome. Perhaps it's a sign of impending old age that the prospect of months of dark evenings and indifferent weather makes my heart sink - a reminder of my own mortality, maybe, given that I'm more or less two-thirds of the way to the average life expectancy for a man in this country. It's a bit bizarre, really, thinking of being in the latter half of my life, because, psychologically, I still feel quite young. I've retained a good deal of intellectual curiosity, I'm still pretty good at learning new things, I'm an inveterate game player - I've even still got a streak of almost juvenile irresponsibility, although I do manage to keep it under control most of the time. Knowing there will come a time, though, where everything that I am, everything I've done and all my memories of those events will be extinguished forever is a disconcerting prospect. It's the same for us all, of course, but the 'so much to do, so little time' dichotomy is one from which there's no chance of escape. I guess the answer is to make the most of the time you've got, and to try to make a positive contribution in some way, even if it's only in looking after your family in the best way you can.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B