This is getting a bit silly - my life is lurching between periods of mind-numbing dullarity (I made up some new words in my spare time) and periods of bounding around trying to get millions of things done at once. Such things might include:
Sorting out a new house (I move in 2 days!) and where everyone is going to be
Attempting some sort of coordination for everyone giving me their deposit so we only have to write out (and pay for) one banker's draft
Trying to find furniture for new house
Moving gas, electricity, phone etc. to new house
Getting broadband for new house on phone line that doesn't exist yet
Getting a new phone
Wrapping up all my work projects as I move on to something completely different next week
Buying books
Edinburgh
A pretty busy time, I think.
Of all those things: (1) isn't really done yet. It's probably going to be done on Saturday, the day we move. (2) is dragging it's feet a little seeing as I need a banker's draft of about £5k in my hand by tomorrow. Hmmmm. (3) I'm getting someone else to do, which is a good thing indeed as they have better taste than me.
This brings us nicely to (4). This is being an interesting time, as I can never quite trust these companies to move my account nicely and not sneak extra charges in amongst all of the confusion. (5) Was proving a little troublesome (I'm moving to PlusNet from Pipex because they're faster and cheaper) but then I spoke to the BT guy who gave me my new phone number before the line even exists. So I've ordered broadband on a non-existant phone line. This is just going to go wrong, badly.
(6) was another fun one. After spending 10 mins listening to the o2 music, I cleverly and shrewdly beat down the person on the other end from charging me £180 for a new phone (mmmmm, xda IIi, mmmmm) to a lot less than that with the argument "It's a lot less than that if I cancel and just get a new contract". Apparently they relented because I'm a "long-term customer" and I've "never missed a payment". Pffffft. "Amazing negotiating skills" and "Insurmountable charm" is more like it.
(7) is something I'm just going to have to live with. (8) I can't do because I don't know which house to post them to, and (9) actually finished last weekend. It was a good success :-)
I think that's all for the time being. I've got to go see how much money I have...
Due to lack of internet, I've not really had a chance to do any updates here. I moved house and am currently trying to get everything working. So far, I have only really Suceeded with my new phone (ooooooo!) which is very exciting. Anyway, must dash.
Well, here I am, new house and everything. It's actually fairly cool, what with all the floors (4) and rooms (millions) that we have between us (6). The moving process was an interesting one. It started with the usual "Argh, the bills, the bills" process which involved me trying to convince about 17 different companies that I was moving house. This was an interesting project. It's still not done actually, about 13 days after I've moved in, British Gas have no idea how much to bill me as I've not told them any meter readings yet. Should really do that at some point. Yes. Hmm...
Following that, there was the wonderful stage of "moving stuff". Now for me, this is easy. I accumulate very little stuff, and so one smallish car-load was sufficient to get most of the stuff I wanted from the old house (Stratford) to the new one (Greenwich). However, my adorable people-I-live-with decided that I should take the stuff I didn't want to take as well (fair enough) and some of the furniture I had inadvertently bought over the past year (again, fair enough). And so another 2 trips resulted because of this. This was made more interesting by the closure of the Blackwall tunnel at some point during this sunny Saturday afternoon. Anyway, with everything in the house, there came the usual 'discussions' about who was going to sleep where, but that was sorted out fairly quickly.
So now, I just have to wait for the entire thing to be finished off. Which involves waiting until about October 21st for the bed and all the bedroom furniture to be delivered. I'm currently living on a sofa-like thing and keep my clothes either in bags, or on make-shift hangers. On the flip side, I'm living in a great place with an economy that seems to be supported entirely by tourist shops, clothes shops and restaurants.
Joy at work too. I finished my unofficial placement and have moved into training which lasts about 4 weeks. Currently about one and a half weeks in, and so far I've learned to count to ten in Japanese without even realising it which is quite impressive. Aside from that, I think I'm being taught how to be both a project manager and a business analyst (possibly at the same time?) and it's something I've yet to decide whether I'm enjoying it or not. The free restaurant lunches provided by the training centre are currently swinging it towards the 'Aye'.
Annoyingly I have to keep a workbook of everything I've learned each bright and sunny day. Like that's going to be useful...
I'm currently sitting outside my house. On the wall. You may be wandering why. Well, I'll tell you.
I'm locked out. I've come home from a hard day at the office and everyone seems to have buggered off. So I'm left with the internet and my mp3 player waiting for 'them with keys' to return. Still, it could be worse. I could be naked.