Working girl

I feel like all my time has just disappeared now I'm working properly full time. Well, I suppose it has - it's not just that I've lost my early finish, but the commute has added an extra couple of hours on to my day too, so 'm out the house from 8am until gone 6pm each day. Not horendous I know, but a big difference from 8.55-3.05!

Work had been variable so far - as they do not have a permenant place to put me yet, i am working in "support" which means I will help out anyone who needs some help. which is fine, except for the first coupleo f days apparently no-one was feeling under any pressure with work and I had virtually nothing to do! It made the day v e r y long. Today was much better as I picked up quite a few things from various departments, which I mostly sucessfully completed:-) Next week I'm covering holiday in the Agriculture dept (apparently four! people are out - but it's a pretty big team so hopefully there will still be somebody there to elp me do everything as I still don't know how lots of things work), then after that I will be in property for a few months as someone there is off on maternity leave soon, so i doubt the quiet period will last much longer.

Unfortunately, as it is a pretty "old" practise, they are still quite conservative on many things and despite its size and sucecss they do not employ legal execs, so will not assist my college course in any way. I asked if I could leave 15 mins early on Wednesdays to get to college on time and make up the time by having a 15 min shorter lunch break and was told no, which is a bummer. ll just have to be late for class for the next few months, and hope they grasp the idea of flexi-time eventually. With only 12 weeks to go to the end of the course, I don't think it is worth fighting over at the moment!

Hopefully though we will be able to do more interesting things at the weekends and school holidays. Aggie has been doing well with the three of them this week for half term, which is a relief:-) And when I get paid, it should be enough to go to fun places every now and then.

The bike is becoming less and less scary and occasionally quite fun - it would be lots of fun if it wasn't so cold! It's not the most economical of bikes, but I still reckon I'll be paying about 1/4 of what Aggie used to pay for fuel in the car back in the days he commuted. My legs are really achey from all that gripping of big thrusting machinery! Maybe it will tone me up a bit:-)

This weekend is battle practise again, so I expect to ache far more after that! But it will be fun.

Agencies (of hell)

In my quest for work, with a minimal time frame and Christmas in the way of what little time there was, I signed up with a bunch of agencies in the expectation that they might be able to find me something that i hadn't found myself. I didn't really mean to, but when scouring for jobs online, there were quite a few (well, loads) advertised in Bristol on a coupel of known sites, and when I clicked "apply" I was automatically applying through a different agency for each one! I was pretty annoyed tbh, as I had searched agency A and B as they were specialised legal recruiters, and ended up being registered with Agency C through to Z without ever wanting to be!

Anyway, it didn't take long for them to really piss me off. a) because none of them seemed to actually have the jobs they were advertising. b) because they all wanted me to spend at least an hour with them in central Bristol, BEFORE mentioning that they did not actually have said jobs, costing me time and money unecessarily. c) because they were all revoltingly cheerful & enthusiastic about my CV and how it should be easy to get something, while simultaneously saying that they did not have much suitable right now and d) because they then promptly all sent my CV to the same companies, without checking wioth me first if I wanted to work there, or more importantly, had already sent my CV there by myself. Which probably pissed off the companies, and definitely pissed me off, as I am quite capable of sending my own CV out to companies!

Only one actually got me an interview. I'm still waiting on the results of that. I have managed to get three interviews for myself without any professional recruiters involved! Grrrr. Plus, one talked me into doing some temping while I was waiting for a FT post to come up - against my better judgement. then after I had agreed to do it, they mentioned that it wasn't actually legal, but medical "but they need similar skills", even though I had specifically told her I need to work under a lawyer to gain my qualifying experience. But having agreed at 1pm on Friday afternoon, I did not want to back out and let them down. And the money was good, even if it was in the most inaccessable parts of Bristol for me. So off I trot on Monday morning, feeling pretty disgruntled at the 90 minute commute (including getting lost quite a lot). My mood is not lightned by the fact that my mobile starts ringing 30 minutes after I leave and then every 10 minutes for the next hour. I arrive at the venue and spend 10 minute looking for a parking place (having been tld "there's plenty of free parking there") making me a few minutes late. get into reception, pick up the annoying phone message telling me the job has been cancelled! GRrrrrrrrrr. what a waste of my morning!

I've got another interview )mine no- agencies involved) on friday afternoon, so I think i shall not bother with agencies any more. they are just annoying! Plus, what with Mstr A's diagnosis, and LMD's birthday tomorrow, and tons of stuff to do round the house i could do with the time off at the moment.

It did mean I had time to go out for a blast on the bike today. I'm starting to remember how it all works now:-) More thrilling than terrifying this time.

It's NOT a mid-life crises

It was a well thought out, sensible decision, made after discussion with Aggie and for all the right reasons. It will open up numerous work opportunities to me, and allow me to still see the kids each evening. It will mean Aggie will still have use of the car every day.

But, tbh, having collected it today, and made it home, I'm not sure whether to be thrilled or terrified:

This is the 2003 Yamaha Fazer. 600cc, 95hp, top speed 135mph.

I am the proud but terrified new owner of one just like it! I haven't ridden for 7 or 8 years or so. And even then, it was an old 400. *gulp*