Have I been suddenly spirited away to the frozen wastes of the arctic circle while I slept? If so, why wasn't I given advanced warning! I demand compensation for the inconvenience of waking up yesterday morning to find a blanket of white just begging me to marr its perfection by going out and tramping all over it. I had a job interview in Hereford yesterday. Yes, yes, yes, I know I didn't tell you about it, I know! I do have a good excuse though (yes, occasionally they can be reasonably believable). Hereford sent me a letter on Friday telling me I had an interview on Monday. Don't you just love the heaps of time they give you to prepare? Luckily enough, i'd planned to go up there anyway this week as i'd told you, so it wasn't too much hassle to arrange to arrive there 2 days earlier than i'd planned to... Or was it? For mr snow had other ideas. The snow started falling on Sunday evening, right as I was leaving the house to travel. "No problem," thought foolish I, "For the trains will still be running. The snow's only light." Thankfully, JP's mum had offered to give me, the dog, and a huge monster of a rucksack which had interview clothes and stuff for the rest of the week in it, a lift to the train station. We arrived in plenty of time for the train, and waited for it to arrive. And waited, and waited. Then we waited some more. The waiting was so exciting that finally we just couldn't contain ourselves any more and got out of the frigidly cold car, into the biting teeth of the even colder wind to look at the board. The train was cancelled. "Problem," was my initial thought, because this was the last train of the day, but the only direct which I could have travelled on hence my not going earlier. So what do I do? Well, I went back to the car and put my self-righteous, unnecessarily wronged head on before I phoned the train company who informed me that all was not lost, for another service would come to replace the cancelled one in an hour. Let's hear the fanfares to herald the arrival of the heroic rescue party!
So we waited, and waited, and waited. Then, once more, it overcame us. This time when we looked at the board, the train had been delayed for a further 45 minutes. Given that it was now 10 at night, that the train took 2 and a half hours once I was on it to get to Hereford, and that Tony, who would have to drive a round trip of about 30 miles to come pick me up had work at 8 in the morning, I thought it wise to cut my losses and go home. The snow was falling heavier now, but still, in my naivity, I thought, or more accurately hoped furiously, that it would have cleared by the morning. Yes i'd be late for my interview, but I was sure they would accommodate that if I called to explain what had happened. It was with ssinking heart therefore that my slippered feet found rather a lot of snow as they wearily trod the gauntlet of the garden path at 6 in the morning to encourage a sleepy Molly to go pee, and show her that no, really it doesn't kill you to go outside 2 hours earlier than normal. Just on a tangent here, a new reader to the blog pointed out that I very rarely say anything positive about my old mutt, and seemed rather concerned about her. I feel obliged to point out that my comments regarding Molly are made mainly for the sake of engendering a slight smile and a tolerant, polite laugh in my other readers. No, I do not hate my dog. Of course I don't. I love her to bits, but soppy musings aren't nearly as amusing as the usual trend that my writings take when discussing the dog who was, at this point, still sleepy. That soon disappeared though when she realised that peeing early was rewarded very well by a big bowl of food; also early. Dog molified, I thought I would check the news, just before I got dressed. Only to assure myself that trains weren't too badly delayed, you understand. Newscaster: We would like to report that all trains in the southeast and south of England are severely disrupted today, with many services cancelled. When I called the hotline, I discovered to my horror (oh that sounds dramatic, doesn't it?) that every single train to Hereford was cancelled. I couldn't get there. I'd missed the interview. Well, I ended up calling them to arrange a telephone interview which thankfully, they accommodated me by doing. Surprisingly, only one other person had cancelled due to bad weather. I was expecting nobody at all to turn up, given that Hereford had a lot of snow as well. As usual, the interview went very well indeed, but only time will tell if I get the job or not. I'm also still waiting on feedback from Orpington, who are stalwartly refusing to answer their telephones whenever I call them up, which I have been doing with frightening regularity and persistency since 9 yesterday morning. It's really cheeky of them not to tell me, given that we're now 4 days past the deadline they gave. So i'll keep hounding them I suppose, until they give me an answer either way. In the meantime, I have a meeting on Thursday with the folks who will hopefully be able to secure my funding for Hereford. On Friday I get to go to the gym hopefully, and then to a meeting with the MSG group which i'm involved in. I'm not sure if I mentioned them before, but if not, they're a special interest group who are carrying out research on neurological conditions such as MS and Parkinsons, and how exercise impacts on them. It's good from a physio point of view, and a job one, to be involved in something like this. It also holds personal interest because they're trying to develop a truely inclusive gym environment. That's important for people like me, as well as neuros and those with heart and BP problems. I don't usually go to gyms unless i'm with something, because the loud music that's normally played in those environments completely warps my spatial awareness and makes it almost impossible for me to navigate the environment on my own. I can use the Clear Unit (the MSG gym) because those types of restrictions don't apply. So, as well as being involved in the managerial side of the project, i'm also going to start using from a user's point of view, so that my feedback and approach to furthering the Clear Unit's existence is approached from an end user's perspective. How many times did I say user in that sentence? Forgive? Anyway, i'm rambling, but i've finished my nonsensical wafflings. I'll go to Hereford next week now probably, instead of this week. If there's anything of worth to tell you before then, i'll update. Until then, be good, stay safe, and if the cops find you, disguise yourself as a fat snowman, complete with carrot nose. I guarantee they won't be able to pick you out of a line up.
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Tuesday 27 January 2009
Another year, another blog post
Looks as though you'll only be getting one a year from now on, if my shocking lack of updating this thing is anything to go by.
I did try and update about a month ago to tell you how the birthday went, but the blasted website deleted my post. It was a really good one, and had taken me ages to write, so I kinda lost heart a little after that and didn't want to go through and do it again. The sarcasm I commit to electronic paper only looks good when I write it the first time, you see. Yes, I do understand why you cringe as you read my pitiful attempts at humor.
So, what's been happening in the life of Carly then? Not a lot, to be brutally honest with you. The job situation's still the same, and is unlikely to change. The only difference is that we're a further 3 or 4 interviews down the line now. I'm currently waiting on the verdict from Orpington, Kent. Anyone care to place a bet on the outcome?
I've also had a bit of a change of heart regarding law. Yes yes, I know i'm fickle, ever changing. But i'm mercurial, dahling, it's kule. I got looking into it, really looking into it, and thought to research the job market this time before I just jumped blindly in. Like what I did there? Huh? oh, i'm just so witty I even crack myself up!
The course was gonna cost £20000 just to qualify. The job market has stiff competition, and apparently is getting worse every month. I don't have £20000 and can't get it from anywhere that won't charge me an awful lot of interest. As much as i'd love to do law, I just can't justify that kind of a cash output when it leaves me in a similar situation to where I am now. So i've changed yet again. This month, i will be exploring the possibility of teaching in post compulsory education. I love teaching, and already do it, what with doing my Hot Stone Massage courses and all. I really loved teaching the other students when I was doing physio as well, so if I did end up being a teacher, I don't think i'd be desperately unhappy or anything. Notice how i've neatly avoided the potential of teaching snotty nosed primary school kids and screaming, moody teens? Now that, would drive me truely nuts, or more so than I am already.
That's not the only thing opening up for me at the moment though. The CSP, which is the union for physios in the UK, has lifted the restrictions on junior physios. That means that I can now set up in private practice, if I wish to. Sad really that I don't have much of an interest in musculoskeletal physio, but if I don't get work soon, i think I am gonna have to try this route. Because of this possibility, i've arranged to go back to college for a 6 week course. It's called a 'work prep' course, but it teaches you things like how to be self employed, keep books, etc etc. It's in Hereford, which means that, if my fight for funding for the specialist education they provide pays off, i'll get to catch up with a lot of my old friends.
There's more reason than that though to go to Hereford. I have a lot of contacts down there, and they're currently just finishing off a massive multi milion pound sports centre which is proposed to be used in the 2012 olympics as an athlete centre. Physio, physio, physio! Chant with me folks. The more of us there are, the quicker they'll sit up and take notice. I've sent an email to the vice principle of the college, who happens to be a rather good friend of mine... Oh, the coincidence! No really, it was coincidence. You do believe me, right?
The biology teacher, oh, who just happens to be another good friend of mine (coincidence I tell you), will be retiring soon as well. This work prep course can be customised to meet the needs of the specific person, and i'm going to make quite sure that work experience is one of my identified needs. Tony is happy enough to let me play around with his class, and when the college see how good I am, it gives me an extra chunk of something to bludgeon them with when they're interviewing to fill his post. Oops, wait. No, college people, I really don't have my eye on the post. No, I swear i'm not using the course to help me get closer to getting a job with you.
But that's not all. Another friend, ahem, I mean colleague of course, that was a typo that's all. Yes, where were we? Another colleague spotted me last time I was down there and asked if i'd be interested in getting on board with a project he's currently running, looking at violence towards blinks. Put the clubs away. That is not the excuse you've been waiting for to come and beat me senseless. Honestly, picking on a defenseless blink? You should be ashamed of yourself! So I get to travel to Poland and Bulgaria potentially, if he gets back to me with the details, that is.
So there's a lot of possibilities floating around at the minute. But what about the stuff you've missed?
Mum's birthday was good. I can't really remember much about it though other than that the Bavarian Beerhouse where we ate was one of the noisiest places I have ever been in. Yes, it's even noisier than the screams of agony that are regularly ripped from the raw throats of my poor, long suffering patients. Bearing in mind that most of the volume was generated through drunken singing however, the comparison of tortured screams is a pretty apt one.
Christmas? Well, that was good. I got some really lovely stuff, and went home as well. Granny wasn't too bad this time. She's still pretty sick, but we did manage to get her to eat Christmas dinner, which is an improvement on last year which was spent in bed. Molly didn't come home with me. Did she huff? Well, of course not! I think the traitorous old bitch was glad to see me get on the train. "Oh, she's left me with JP. That means spoiling, belly rubs on demand, and, if I cry enough, I know he's soft, so he'll stop whatever he's doing and play with me until I decide i've had enough and flop down in a heap in some random, and very in the way, location of the house." Heh, she seemed a little disappointed when I came back and she realised that it was back to the way things used to be. That's when she huffed, oh yes.
Speaking of Molly, let's have some Molly adventures, shall we? I say Molly adventures because, when you go on an adventure, you have fun! Just ask good old Enid Blyton if you don't believe me. Molly had fun all right, oh, she had a whale of a time. Carly? Well, Carly hung onto the harness for dear life, prayed an awful lot, cursed the dog, and got thoroughly lost.
Adventure 1: There's now a new route to the train station. We found it by accident, but a fortuitous one at that. Now, instead of crossing those four awful roads, I only have to cross 1, and a small side road. Then it's up a path and onto a footbridge which takes you most of the way to the train station. Only problem is that, where we turn onto the bridge, if I go too far right, or turn too soon, I fall down a flight of steps, gracefully and stylishly of course, and end up sprawled, broken and bloodied but still graceful and stylish you understand, in the bottom of a subway. So, on to the adventure.
It was raining. As we know by now, old Molly doesn't much like the rain. Well, it was heavy, and she likes heavy rain even less than light rain. There was wind too. Oh, a recipe for disaster if ever i'd seen one. She avoided the harness, and my suspicions were confirmed. "Uh oh," thought I as I wrestled the stubborn animal into the harness, then cajoled her to take those first hard steps out of the warmth and into the wet. I made it to the bus in good time and accident free. "This might not be so bad," I thought as I stood waiting for it, trying to shelter her with my umbrella as well as keep myself dry. But I made a fatal mistake. I forgot to cover her rump. Carly, Carly, Carly, how could you be so stupid! As soon as she started walking to the bus when it arrived, I knew the domestic bliss was over. The walk was a flounce, a stiff legged, huffy flounce. Oh the bus driver got an enthusiastic enough wag and lick, but did I? Most certainly not! I got a loud sigh and the cold shoulder, together with a spray of dog hair and water when she shook off all over me.
When we got to the train station, I had to bully her into crossing the roads, but then she picked up her pace. Ah, so she knew where she was going then. She always gets excited when she does a new route for the first time, so as she sped ahead, I just let her go, all huffing forgotten. Suddenly, I found a face full of bushes. odd, I thought as I sampled the local flora (mmmm, tasty!), because I knew I was on the right path, and hadn't remembered bushes walling it off. Had they put this well entrenched hedge here over night just to confuse me? I just bet they had! But no, I thought, we must have missed the turn. I took her all the way back, encouraging her to find it, but nothing, no deviation from course to indicate there might be something there, nothing. I got back to the road, and just couldn't understand it. I knew I was on the right path. I got worried then, and called up a friend to ask for directions, but he couldn't help me. He told me the turn was on that path; it had to be! 20 minutes it took me. 20 minutes in the pouring rain walking back and forward, back and forward. I heard heels on the footbridge, and gladly grabbed the woman for help. As she showed me the turn, I had to physically drag that blasted dog off the path and onto the bridge. Once she was on it? Well, I gave her a right talking to and suddenly, as if by magic, she had the route memory back, and knew exactly where she needed to go. I turned up for my train sopping wet, speechless with rage and 15 minutes too late to catch it. Molly? Well, her work was done, so why waste any more energy on huffing?
There was another adventure, but it escapes my mind right now, so will have to wait for another post I think.
Oh, i'm also a year older. Yes folks, that sad day came on the 12th of January. I kept as quiet about it as I dared, but some still found out, and of course, spread the word. Guilty parties, you know who you are. Feel the shame as I shun you!
So, what else? Well, I can't really think of much else to tell. I had a clever little thing all planned to round this post off nicely, but I simply can't remember it. How many memory lapses is that now, in the space of writing this post? I swear they multiply every day. Before I embarrass myself further, i'm shutting up now. Expect an update... Well, just don't expect one and then you'll be pleasantly surprised when one arrives in 6 months from now instead of the promised 'tomorrow'. Cheerio.
I did try and update about a month ago to tell you how the birthday went, but the blasted website deleted my post. It was a really good one, and had taken me ages to write, so I kinda lost heart a little after that and didn't want to go through and do it again. The sarcasm I commit to electronic paper only looks good when I write it the first time, you see. Yes, I do understand why you cringe as you read my pitiful attempts at humor.
So, what's been happening in the life of Carly then? Not a lot, to be brutally honest with you. The job situation's still the same, and is unlikely to change. The only difference is that we're a further 3 or 4 interviews down the line now. I'm currently waiting on the verdict from Orpington, Kent. Anyone care to place a bet on the outcome?
I've also had a bit of a change of heart regarding law. Yes yes, I know i'm fickle, ever changing. But i'm mercurial, dahling, it's kule. I got looking into it, really looking into it, and thought to research the job market this time before I just jumped blindly in. Like what I did there? Huh? oh, i'm just so witty I even crack myself up!
The course was gonna cost £20000 just to qualify. The job market has stiff competition, and apparently is getting worse every month. I don't have £20000 and can't get it from anywhere that won't charge me an awful lot of interest. As much as i'd love to do law, I just can't justify that kind of a cash output when it leaves me in a similar situation to where I am now. So i've changed yet again. This month, i will be exploring the possibility of teaching in post compulsory education. I love teaching, and already do it, what with doing my Hot Stone Massage courses and all. I really loved teaching the other students when I was doing physio as well, so if I did end up being a teacher, I don't think i'd be desperately unhappy or anything. Notice how i've neatly avoided the potential of teaching snotty nosed primary school kids and screaming, moody teens? Now that, would drive me truely nuts, or more so than I am already.
That's not the only thing opening up for me at the moment though. The CSP, which is the union for physios in the UK, has lifted the restrictions on junior physios. That means that I can now set up in private practice, if I wish to. Sad really that I don't have much of an interest in musculoskeletal physio, but if I don't get work soon, i think I am gonna have to try this route. Because of this possibility, i've arranged to go back to college for a 6 week course. It's called a 'work prep' course, but it teaches you things like how to be self employed, keep books, etc etc. It's in Hereford, which means that, if my fight for funding for the specialist education they provide pays off, i'll get to catch up with a lot of my old friends.
There's more reason than that though to go to Hereford. I have a lot of contacts down there, and they're currently just finishing off a massive multi milion pound sports centre which is proposed to be used in the 2012 olympics as an athlete centre. Physio, physio, physio! Chant with me folks. The more of us there are, the quicker they'll sit up and take notice. I've sent an email to the vice principle of the college, who happens to be a rather good friend of mine... Oh, the coincidence! No really, it was coincidence. You do believe me, right?
The biology teacher, oh, who just happens to be another good friend of mine (coincidence I tell you), will be retiring soon as well. This work prep course can be customised to meet the needs of the specific person, and i'm going to make quite sure that work experience is one of my identified needs. Tony is happy enough to let me play around with his class, and when the college see how good I am, it gives me an extra chunk of something to bludgeon them with when they're interviewing to fill his post. Oops, wait. No, college people, I really don't have my eye on the post. No, I swear i'm not using the course to help me get closer to getting a job with you.
But that's not all. Another friend, ahem, I mean colleague of course, that was a typo that's all. Yes, where were we? Another colleague spotted me last time I was down there and asked if i'd be interested in getting on board with a project he's currently running, looking at violence towards blinks. Put the clubs away. That is not the excuse you've been waiting for to come and beat me senseless. Honestly, picking on a defenseless blink? You should be ashamed of yourself! So I get to travel to Poland and Bulgaria potentially, if he gets back to me with the details, that is.
So there's a lot of possibilities floating around at the minute. But what about the stuff you've missed?
Mum's birthday was good. I can't really remember much about it though other than that the Bavarian Beerhouse where we ate was one of the noisiest places I have ever been in. Yes, it's even noisier than the screams of agony that are regularly ripped from the raw throats of my poor, long suffering patients. Bearing in mind that most of the volume was generated through drunken singing however, the comparison of tortured screams is a pretty apt one.
Christmas? Well, that was good. I got some really lovely stuff, and went home as well. Granny wasn't too bad this time. She's still pretty sick, but we did manage to get her to eat Christmas dinner, which is an improvement on last year which was spent in bed. Molly didn't come home with me. Did she huff? Well, of course not! I think the traitorous old bitch was glad to see me get on the train. "Oh, she's left me with JP. That means spoiling, belly rubs on demand, and, if I cry enough, I know he's soft, so he'll stop whatever he's doing and play with me until I decide i've had enough and flop down in a heap in some random, and very in the way, location of the house." Heh, she seemed a little disappointed when I came back and she realised that it was back to the way things used to be. That's when she huffed, oh yes.
Speaking of Molly, let's have some Molly adventures, shall we? I say Molly adventures because, when you go on an adventure, you have fun! Just ask good old Enid Blyton if you don't believe me. Molly had fun all right, oh, she had a whale of a time. Carly? Well, Carly hung onto the harness for dear life, prayed an awful lot, cursed the dog, and got thoroughly lost.
Adventure 1: There's now a new route to the train station. We found it by accident, but a fortuitous one at that. Now, instead of crossing those four awful roads, I only have to cross 1, and a small side road. Then it's up a path and onto a footbridge which takes you most of the way to the train station. Only problem is that, where we turn onto the bridge, if I go too far right, or turn too soon, I fall down a flight of steps, gracefully and stylishly of course, and end up sprawled, broken and bloodied but still graceful and stylish you understand, in the bottom of a subway. So, on to the adventure.
It was raining. As we know by now, old Molly doesn't much like the rain. Well, it was heavy, and she likes heavy rain even less than light rain. There was wind too. Oh, a recipe for disaster if ever i'd seen one. She avoided the harness, and my suspicions were confirmed. "Uh oh," thought I as I wrestled the stubborn animal into the harness, then cajoled her to take those first hard steps out of the warmth and into the wet. I made it to the bus in good time and accident free. "This might not be so bad," I thought as I stood waiting for it, trying to shelter her with my umbrella as well as keep myself dry. But I made a fatal mistake. I forgot to cover her rump. Carly, Carly, Carly, how could you be so stupid! As soon as she started walking to the bus when it arrived, I knew the domestic bliss was over. The walk was a flounce, a stiff legged, huffy flounce. Oh the bus driver got an enthusiastic enough wag and lick, but did I? Most certainly not! I got a loud sigh and the cold shoulder, together with a spray of dog hair and water when she shook off all over me.
When we got to the train station, I had to bully her into crossing the roads, but then she picked up her pace. Ah, so she knew where she was going then. She always gets excited when she does a new route for the first time, so as she sped ahead, I just let her go, all huffing forgotten. Suddenly, I found a face full of bushes. odd, I thought as I sampled the local flora (mmmm, tasty!), because I knew I was on the right path, and hadn't remembered bushes walling it off. Had they put this well entrenched hedge here over night just to confuse me? I just bet they had! But no, I thought, we must have missed the turn. I took her all the way back, encouraging her to find it, but nothing, no deviation from course to indicate there might be something there, nothing. I got back to the road, and just couldn't understand it. I knew I was on the right path. I got worried then, and called up a friend to ask for directions, but he couldn't help me. He told me the turn was on that path; it had to be! 20 minutes it took me. 20 minutes in the pouring rain walking back and forward, back and forward. I heard heels on the footbridge, and gladly grabbed the woman for help. As she showed me the turn, I had to physically drag that blasted dog off the path and onto the bridge. Once she was on it? Well, I gave her a right talking to and suddenly, as if by magic, she had the route memory back, and knew exactly where she needed to go. I turned up for my train sopping wet, speechless with rage and 15 minutes too late to catch it. Molly? Well, her work was done, so why waste any more energy on huffing?
There was another adventure, but it escapes my mind right now, so will have to wait for another post I think.
Oh, i'm also a year older. Yes folks, that sad day came on the 12th of January. I kept as quiet about it as I dared, but some still found out, and of course, spread the word. Guilty parties, you know who you are. Feel the shame as I shun you!
So, what else? Well, I can't really think of much else to tell. I had a clever little thing all planned to round this post off nicely, but I simply can't remember it. How many memory lapses is that now, in the space of writing this post? I swear they multiply every day. Before I embarrass myself further, i'm shutting up now. Expect an update... Well, just don't expect one and then you'll be pleasantly surprised when one arrives in 6 months from now instead of the promised 'tomorrow'. Cheerio.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)