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Sunday 1 February
This past week was awful, exciting, stressful and fun, all in one! Stressful and awful because, after attending
two interviews the week before, I attended two more this past week. This was after having been offered a job the Friday before,
only to have the terms of the contract changed drastically on Monday morning - luckily before I had handed in my notice
at Haringey! So, after two more interviews, I was thrilled to be offered another job on Friday morning. In a week I will starting
work as a Social Services Child Protection Lawyer for the London Borough of Havering (I'm making my way around the London
Boroughs of H's!). The only less-than-ideal aspect to the job is that Havering is almost in Essex - zone 6 out east.
It will mean a long and expensive commute, but if the job looks to be going well, I will look at moving closer (but not way
out there!)
The fun part of the week was that it was birthday on Saturday! I went back to Hackney on Friday night for
some drinks with some of my old colleagues. Saturday I had lunch in Clapham Common with Suse, Megan and Christine and then,
after finding a last-minute top to wear, I went into town to my birthday party! I was absolutely delighted and amazed that
more than 20 people joined me to celebrate my birthday at the Texas Embassy Cantina in Trafalger Square. I didn't even think
I knew 20 people in London! It was just fantastic to have so many friends around me and I had a lovely night, even though
the food was disappointing, the service was crap, they stole my dinner and over charged us! A few stayers went out for a drink
afterwards and it was nice not to get completely written off for a change!
Thursday 12 February
It has been a very busy week or so. I have not really recovered
from our weekend in Sweden and have started my new job this week too, as well as getting packed and ready for a week skiing
in the Alpes!
Our weekend in Sweden was lovely. I went with three girlfriends,
Megan, Laura and Jen. Most of Goteborg was closed for the winter but we had a nice time anyway - went on a bus tour,
spent Saturday afternoon in the "universeum", a great museum with an aquarium and heaps of animals. Sunday we went on
a moose hunt and eventually found some in the park, which we were all very excited about. We were a little disappointed
with the night life - we went out on our arrival on Friday night and there didn't seem to be anybody about - they only go
out very late, we assumed. Saturday night we stuffed ourselves silly at a pizza place and, despite our best efforts,
failed to get in anywhere because we didn't have ID! How nice to be mistaken for 17 year olds. There was also
the small matter of the coat tax, but I'll get into the details about that later.
My first week in my new job as Social Services Lawyer has been good.
The woman I am replacing has handed me about seven active files, plus another seven or so to keep an eye on. I have
also got a brand new file which has come in the week, and I am really excited about being able to see a file through right
from the start, so early on. It feels great to be back into the law. I have missed it!
I am mostly packed ready to leave on the 7:45am Gatwick Express
on Saturday. I have a ridiculous commute ahead of me, due to the fact that this week is mid-term break and easyJet flights
to Geneva were £200 one way! I am flying to Strasbourg (£90 return) and then training it down to Switzerland.
I hope I can find my way! I am really excited about my ski trip, and just hope I can remember how to do that too.
Tuesday 24 February
Where to start! Since my last update I've completed my first week at work and started my second
and, in between, been skiing for a week in the Swiss Alps! It was a fabulous week, with perfect snow and great weather four
out of the six days. I spoke French all week and it was great to catch up with my swiss family.
Work is great. I am so excited to be back in the law and looking forward to getting my head around my files and starting
to feel like know what I'm doing.
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Monday 1
March
I am really enjoying my new job although it is sure a rude awakening
into the real world again! I am busy with about eight active files and it is quite a challenge to get my head around
them all. I had great fun going into the central London court in Chancery Lane twice in the last week.
I have felt quite stressed in the last few weeks though and think
I just need a weekend at home with no plans. I think I should have a couple of those lined up for this month.
This weekend Jeff and I went to Oxford for a short get-away.
It was nice to get out of London and see something different. Oxford was a lovely town with a really student feel to
it and some great historical buildings. It was cold though!
And how about those Oscars! Well done Peter Jackson!
Friday 12 March
I have had a tiring couple of weeks, working and not doing much else. Last week was busy with meetings and three Court
hearings - and I appeared in one myself! It was rather interesting - the Court procedure here is quite different to at home
and it is very frustrating not knowing the procedures or even the laws themselves! Still, it is all good stuff.
I've been spending the evenings this week doing my photo scrapbooks - after nearly a year away I have about 32 films that
I thought I needed to start on now! Many metres of double-sided sticky tape later and it's still going well!
I had a reasonably quiet weekend celebrating Suse's birthday with drinks and dinner and spending time with Jeff. He is
leaving London in a couple of weeks to go travelling and might not come back, so we will have to say goodbye soon.
This weekend I am off to Manchester in the train to see Kat and Andy who are living up there now. It will be nice to see
another part of England.
Monday 15 March
I spent this weekend in Manchester with friends Kat and Andy and
had a lovely time. They certainly looked after me, from meeting me off the train to dropping me back there on Sunday
evening. On arriving on Friday night we went to the trendy Canal Street for a drink before heading to Curry Mile to
choose from several neon-signed curry houses for a meal.
On Saturday we had a late breakfast before wandering around the
south Manchest suburb where they live, Chorlton. It wasn't as cold as I expected and Chorlton had a lovely villaage-like
appeal to it. We then went to watch a rugby game! It was the semi-final of the Powergen Cup and local team the
Sale Sharks beat the visitors 33-20 in an exciting game. We spent the remainder of the afternoon playing scrabble which
turned out to have a closer, more exciting finish than the rugby had! (Andy's attempt to cheat triple-backfiring on
him, he later admitted!) I was further spoiled with a devine seafood dinner washed down with some Central Otago pinot.
On Sunday, after a pancake breakfast, Andy and I headed into the
Peak District where I was delighted to see rolling hills, greenery and sheep! In fact, the area was both typically english
and looked just like home too. We stopped in Buxton where we wandered around the town and through the park then found
some tearooms for the compulsory english tea-stop! We also had a wander around Castlefield, the trendy, canal-side area
of Manchester. Before seeing me to the train, Kat and Andy ensured I was well-fed on mexican tortillas - thanks!
The trip home (which took an hour longer than the trip up, apparantly because it was Sunday) was good, on one of Virgin's
flash new trains with comfy seats and music channels, just like on aeroplanes!
Sunday 21 March
I've had a good busy week: Monday; dinner with Jennifer; Tuesday; went to the gym; Wednesday; celebrated
St Patricks Day to excess with some girlfriends! (including Justine N and Mia!); Thursday; gym again; Friday; Wagamamas with
girlfriends then final of Sex and the City!; Saturday; went to the wildlife photography exhibition at the Natural History
Museum with girls from work and then met Jeff for dinner; Sunday; went to the movie 21 Grams, which was excellent. So
there you go! That was my week in one paragraph.
Tuesday 30 March
Had a busy week last week - three nights at the gym, a night out with the girls on Wednesday to a monster-themed pub, a
couple of beers with Ben at Hackney on Friday, three evenings with Jeff at the weekend, a training course for work and much,
much more!
Work is going really well, I am enjoying it and looking forward to going to Court this week. It's nice to be getting my
head around things too.
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