when the tough goes shopping

Many happy Monday returns.

Life is bonny; I have just purchased 500mls of Jojoba oil on eBay - the apple blossom scarf is nearly finished, and I am moving on to the exciting world of creating mildly scented moisturizing oils.

In other news, work is settling in well. Lots to take in, and even more to eat. To get to work I have to walk through Borough Markets. This is a little like saying to a paedophile that their new route to work is via the swing set at their local kindy-garten, only not as disturbing. I frolic* across cobbled ally ways, past cheese stalls, barrels brimming with early season English apples, mounds of imported fresh figs and stacks of oven hot bread. Then under London Bridge, along the river bank for a bit, before arriving at work feeling very much like the Londoner that I am becoming. From my desk I can see the arse end of St Paul’s.

It is nice being around the river – even though you can never look at the same river twice, you do feel a lot more connected with the London of yore when you are next to the Thames then, say, The Cucumber**. Although there doesn’t seem to be much of a riverside culture in London, as compared to water frontage in Sydney or Melbourne. This may be because in the past the Thames wasn’t exactly something that you wanted to be around, but I could be wrong.

* May not be true. May actually stride along looking down and frowning like usual (but frolicing on the inside)


** The Cucumber in most of its glory....

Poll results and so much more!

Hello Internet. Since we last spoke, so much has happened. I feel like I am a conductor to my life and my pew is the couch. I sit here emailing off this, phoning that, and generally taking life by the preverbials all with a cup of tea.

I have been officially offered the position at Ofcom, though, the little dears that they are, it is still provisional contingent on a references and a medical appraisal. Why is this whole process reminding me so much of my application with Antarctica? Is it just because the proposed work location gets bloody cold and dark through winter? Who knows. The other nice little similarity is that they both are very kind to the wallet and, since I have been so awful to my wallet of late, it does deserve a bit of TLC.

However, because I have not yet had the final word on the final word from my dear new best friends at Ofcom, I have held off from making decisions regarding study. This hiatus will very soonly end with the cuttoff day and enrollments happening on Monday or, as I like to call it, "Shit-hits-the-fan-day".

So, as I am want to do, I am going to enlist the power of Internet readership diversity and put the question to you in the form of a user friendly poll. The question is; Should Tangles continue with part time Masters enrollment this year at the same time as taking on a new and very awesome job.

Pros (as I see them) : I want to do this masters and it will really help with progressing with the job. Maybe it is best to just jump in and start swimming like buggery? The job has flexible benefits, which means I could take extra holidays up to around 35 day (including my Birthday! I get my birthday off!), and I could put this leave towards study... plus nights and weekends of course. The first semester there will only be one really full on subject - the other one is maths and with a bit of swatting (away flies!! shoo!!) I should be fine with fairly little actual effort.

Cons (as I see them) : I have just moved to a new country and am finding my feet. This job is really really awesome and I want to do a very good job and impress everyone with how wonderful I am - not treat them to a Tangles Meltdown due to overload. I have indicated to them that it is evening study only - this is not true. It is actually 2 - 8pm Thursday. For the first semester it is just silly maths and I could skip the first lecture and go to the economics one in the arvo (fairly confident about this, I have done it before), and I am hoping that in the future they will be flexible - but would it be better to test the water and get them to love me first?

Previous poll results: How long will Tangles be stuck in the UK?

Results: I will stay in the UK for an average of 1.8 years. Intermesting! We will see. I tend to think that I will be here a bit longer than that, but there is no knowing what will happen, or, as the saying goes, "worse thing happen at sea". Not sure about the relevance, but I have always found the plight of sailors comforting.

This is where I am not

Two shots that my Dad just sent my of spring at my folks house.






Meanwhile in London I have seen the first couple of leaves turn on some fruit trees around the place, and the air is getting a nice freshness to it. I am all for winter now - it is a totally good idea. I bought a new long creamy coloured swishy woolen coat last week and a pair of choclatey rich woolen trousers and so I am going to hit winter with aplomb and fists swinging.

Yesterday I went for a wander around Portabello markets. This is no mean feat. The markets stretch for about five blocks or so and are just crammed to brimming with all sorts of stuff. I got a bit overwhelmed and called it a day at about 2.30pm. Then the Gods of Public Transport decided to have a bit of fun with me and I didn't get home until 5.15pm (this is for a trip that had taken 30mins to get there and should just be two short tube rides). I actually at one point had tears of frustration in my eyes and I kicked an inanimate object which is just so very very not like me at all. Lines were down, my ticket ran out in the middle of the journey and I had to go refresh, bus tickets screwed up, and every thing that could go wrong did. It was horrendous!

On the job front, I still haven't heard back with a final written offer, although the recruitment lady has been very helpful with lots of phone calls. So I am sitting on my hands waiting... A bit painful, but I am trying to savour the calm before the storm.

In other entirely unrelated news, there was a naked man on Effra Road last week when I was walking out for a run around the park. Just standing there, willy to the breeze. This is a pretty busy road, mind, not some back street, and people were just walking around him or driving past and he just carried on with his standing. Hmmm. Also on the way back a man was laying down outside a pub on his back with an ambulance pulled up beside him yelling at the top of his lungs and shaking his fist at the ambulance man. Brixton is like a carnival always. I have never lived anywhere like it. I am coming to really love the bizarreness. It is so reliably bizarre, that I breath a sigh of relief when I get back here, like, "Ahhhhh.... back to the insanity. Thank God."

I can't hold back

... I just won my eBay bid on "hand dyed alpaca/merino apple blossom knitting yarn"!!!

Oh wait. No that wasn't my good news (though boy, is it good)....


..... I just got offered a job! ... No .. not "A" job, but "THE" job. Yes, the one that I thought I really balls-ed up the interview for the first time and the subsequently thought that I really balls-ed up the second interview after they bizarrely asked me back. I have been holding out on telling the internet for a whole 24 hours because there people are still talking to my people and stupid little things like money and, well, mainly money, and I am a dotted line type person which means that I don't like talking about things until I have signed on one, not that I only colour within them, and hence I have been trying to keep a lid on things.

Those who have been closely following my progress in sunny London may ask, "Is this the job that you were talking about ... ooooh... 2 months ago"? To which I reply, "It surely is .. these people demonstrate the HR skills only matched by a certain HR department for the Australian Antarctic division who, knowing how much fun interview process are, like to drag theirs out over a period of six months or more".


So what is it that I will be doing? Well! I am so glad that you arse-ked. I will be working for an office type organization of communications for the United Kingdom. This means that I will be working on telecoms regulation policy for the United Kingdom, so when you hear in the news, ".. In an unusual policy twist, the United Kingdom has just moved to introduce compulsory porn screenings in kindergartens", you know who to ask about it. And I will say, "No, no, I am in the telecoms division, you want the porn department down the hall". Or some such thing.

Anyway. I shouldn't be getting all excited about this before signing stuff, but I was bored and wanted to fill everyone in.

Oh - and I also hear you shout, "SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THE FACT THAT YOU ARE CURRENTLY SIGNED UP FOR FULL TIME STUDY?!!!". To which I reply, "He- hey!!! Calm down..! I will work something out. Somehow. Not sure what, but I'll sort it out, I may just be 15-20 different kinds of busy soon".


But back to the headline news. This apple blossom alpaca merino scarf is going to be something else!!! Or, people may wish it was something else. One of the two.

Now for some memories. This song has particular poignancy for me. It was on one of the few albums that I had when driving around Europe...

Arcade Fire!!

I tried to find a good version of White Stripes Red Rain, which pulled me around many a hairpin corner a little too fast in the French Alps, and came up with THIS which is at least twenty different kinds of god awful. Actually, what am I even doing linking to it?

Anyway grab a baguette, get in your own little speed buggy of fury, and enjoy!!

________________ further update
Sorry about the white stripes clip. Hopefully this will make up for it.

randoms...

just thought I would give you some random recent shots of my stuff. The bits that are not from city scapes are in Germany. There is also a shot of me in my new room!!

funny ad in German airport on the way onto the plane.


working flour mill near Weimar


spring in weimar..


the Jewish memorial in Berlin


my new room!! with authentic "sorry you are going" card stuff... and Birthday cards!