The first week in my new job and the rain was back, just when I thought we might have seen the last of it. Ironically, as I was now working for a bus company, there were no busses passing my new office. It was too wet to walk the whole one and three quarter miles though so I used my shiny new bus pass for the first time to get across the Big Bridge. At least that was the coldest, wettest part out of the way. Continue reading A rainy start and a golden finish – first published 27 March 2014
My first day at my new job didn’t start off so well. I left home in plenty of time, there was lunch in my bag and a full water bottle. It wasn’t even raining. Half way down the road, just past the bus stop, I realised I’d forgotten to pick up the passport photos from Friday. They were for my pass card. Should I go back or carry on? After a bit of dithering I decided to go back, meaning the rest of the walk to work was a rushed affair, filled with panic about being late on my first day. I’m always early for everything, how could this happen? Why do I always forget something? Continue reading Being the new girl again – first published 24 March 2014
March 2014, the last weekend before I began my new job, and I didn’t even manage to fit in a lie in. Saturday had been all about Care For A Walk and Sunday, when I probably should have been sitting around with my feet up, we were up extra early for the Eastleigh 10K. Continue reading Eastleigh 10K – first published 23 March 2014
The Care For A Walk fifteen mile hike in 2014 had begun with mud and fallen trees. There were blisters too, thankfully not on my feet. It was drizzly and wet, not the best weather for walking and we’d stopped to let some of the tail walkers catch up. At this point, we still had the hard miles ahead but everyone was still in surprisingly good spirits.
Continue reading Care For A Walk, mud, pubs and sunshine – first published 22 March 2014
Starting the day with a seven thirty pub visit is not a normal Saturday morning for me. In 2014 this was exactly what I was doing though because it was the day of the annual Care For A Walk hike through the New Forest in aid of MacMillan Cancer Care. Of course there was no actual alcohol involved, at least not for me, although some of the more hard core in the group did have pints of beer. Ok, so I did have a bacon sandwich but I didn’t have the coffee on offer, mainly because there are only so many trees in the forest to pee behind. Continue reading Fifteen miles with Care For A Walk – first published 22 March 2014
The first official day of spring 2014 and, as I walked in the bright chill of the morning, there were songs going through my head. These were songs I haven’t listened to for real for a long time, from an album by reggae band UB40. In fact they were songs from their very first album. You may be wondering why songs about, among other things, Gary Tyler, languishing in a Louisiana gaol for thirty odd years, or Martin Luther King, were going through my head. The reason is the name of the album, Signing Off, named because the band were all on the dole until that album was released. This was the day I was going to sign off myself. Continue reading Signing off – first published 21 March 2014
Mid March 2014, and the last week before I started my new job. There seemed to be an awful lot of loose ends to tie up. Then injuries started rearing their ugly heads. Commando had a twinge in his knee and, despite RICE (not the stuff you cook in boiling water, it’s an acronym for rest, ice, compression and elevation), he had to cut his final twenty mile run short when it had barely started. It all felt very familiar. The last weeks of my Moonwalk training were beset with knee problems and I only finished the marathon with the help of pain killers and a knee support. Continue reading Monday, Monday and a pain in the knee – First published 17 March 2014
With just a week of leisure left to me before I start my new job I was desperately trying to get prepared and tick off all those little jobs that had been waiting in the wings. The first thing I had to do was make a doctor’s appointment for an epilepsy review. I’ve had epilepsy for twenty odd years now, thankfully fully controlled by medication and these yearly reviews are one of the few reminders that my brain is not quite like everyone else’s. You would think getting an appointment with the practice nurse would be fairly simple, especially as I had a whole week absolutely free and it takes all of five minutes. You’d think it would be easy to get through to the surgery in the first place. You’d be wrong on both counts. Continue reading Bad Service Good Service and a world bursting with life – first published 14 March 2014
Early March 2014 and I’d been offered a job. It wasn’t quite the job I wanted but any port in a storm and all that. There was also the small matter of a medical and some paperwork before the job offer was officially confirmed. The paperwork and a copy of my passport to prove I’m a UK resident is fairly standard these days but the medical was something new. Mostly it seemed to involve a drug and alcohol test, both of which i was sure I’d pass. Then again, as the appointment got nearer I began to wonder… Continue reading A medical, a cat, a butterfly and a trip down memory lane – first published 13 March 2014
Interviews and post interview disappointment had been a regular feature of early 2014. So much so, that I’d become quite blasé about them. In early March I got a call asking me to an interview for a customer service job. To be honest, I didn’t even remember applying for it but it was within easy walking distance and I figured I probably wouldn’t get the job anyway so I went along. Continue reading Interviews and butterflies – first published 12 March 2014