Happiness Is...The Simple Things In Life

We like to spend sunny, lazy Sunday afternoons in the park amongst the bluebells, watching the ducks gossip.









Well, we have to make the most of our Sundays since so many of them aren't sunny. Even in Summer.

We sit on the grass or a bench eating our M&S sandwiches, sharing our diet coke and crisps, just happy to be together.



The last time we were there, a photographer came along with a newly wed Asian bride and groom. We watched as he got them to pose by the water and took portraits shots of them.

We thought, that'll be us (in a similar situation) in just a few weeks!

And we were happy....

A Change Is As Good As A Rest

I've settled in nicely in my new job. Though still early days to know whether the job or company are right for me (an attitude which I'm now adopting after having been made redundant three times) things are going well so far. It's only a small company and obviously has it's quirks but also has more than enough business to keep me busy. Days are racing by at the moment.

As a new challenge, it's a job with more authority and responsibility, something that I have no problems dealing with, and I now realise with hindsight that career progression-wise, things had pretty much plateaued at my last job and were even going downhill in some respects. I wish it had been different as I did very much like it there. I'll certainly miss the people for sure.

I'm guess that I'm glad it happened whilst I'm still young and able to adapt rather than years down the line things might have made it very hard for me to move elsewhere.

And yes, two months is more than enough time between jobs.

Okay, so I think that in all that time that I probably had less than a week of actual relaxation (mainly spent playing Grand Theft Auto IV), the rest spent looking for jobs, sorting out the wedding and then when I did get a job, reading up on it to make sure that I got off to a running start. House hunting had to be put on hold but we hope to get that up-and-running soon again.

So I didn't feel all that rusty when I did start and the main challenge that I'm facing at the moment is learning the business. It's a company that does a lot of work for the education sector and the number of initial and acronymns used for everything is just silly!

Anyhow, as I've said, so far so good...but I'll carry on crossing my fingers for a bit more, just in case.

It had to happen eventually....

Yes, after almost seven weeks of being a man of leisure, a sense of worth has been restored.

Someone has employed me!

It was very much like buses. I waited ages (an under-statement if there ever was one) in-between interviews and then three positions came up at once. Three different sized companies and three different roles. I basically had my pick.

Two didn't pan out as what I was looking for or progressed too slowly but the third did.

So, starting June 4th and for the foreseeable future I'll be commuting off to the South side of the river to "lovely" Clapham (or Cl'am to the locals.)


Hoo-rah!

It's funny the things you see when having lunch in London

Fingers Crossed

As of tomorrow, I'll have been unemployed for one month.

One month and just a single interview in all that time.

It's not quite what I expected. I apply for IT management or team leader jobs all over the place and my CV (which everyone says is excellent) doesn't even get me to the interview stage. It feels as if there are so many people out-qualifying or out-specialising me out there that I can't even get my foot in the proverbial door.

Giving up programming six years ago and hoping that my career would progress in another direction at my last job was the worst career move I've ever made.

It's hard not to feel down but I am keeping myself busy, learning to program all over again (which is more exciting than I thought it'd be) and of course sorting out lots of wedding stuff.

Something now gets booked or arranged for the wedding every few days now.
It's project management at its finest and I'm actually enjoying sorting everything out.

Photographer sorted, DJ sorted, transport sorted.... Oh, just another 50 things left to sort now!

Plus in between all this stuff I'm actually keeping fit by doing regular runs on my old treadmill and as of Monday, using the Wii-Fit to strain all those muscles that I didn't even know that I had through the wonder that is Yoga!

See? Life does go on, though I do hope that my holiday doesn't go on for too much longer.

Fingers crossed...

In Suspended Animation

Hello peeps,
I've been unemployed for almost a working week now with no luck even getting an interview as yet. I'm wondering if it'll be like the last time when I suddenly got a load of interviews out of the blue in a huge flurry and got offered three jobs on the same day?! I can only hope.

Although the last week has actually gone very fast and I'm not sure at all where it all went?

The wedding countdown still ticks on. The other half is on the verge of getting a wedding dress (4 months before the wedding is actually cutting it very fine apparently) and I'm sorting out the formal wear for myself and the best men along with finding somewhere romantic to honeymoon that isn't in the middle of its monsoon or hurricane season.

Once again, I've been told that someone may be interested in buying my flat but to be honest I'm not so fussed if it falls through as until I get a job I'd be better off staying put. However if an offer is made I'm afraid with the impending predictions of house price falls, I may not be able to refuse.

But then I'll cross that bridge when I need to.

Free?

So, my last day of current employment was on Monday.

Today was technically my first day of 'freedom.'

I plan on keeping myself busy looking for a new job but today I gave myself the day off. It was the RAF's 90th anniversary today so there was to be a fly past over the Thames that I headed down to see.

It was just the Red Arrows and some Typhoons and it was over in a flash. Impressive but it caught a lot of people (me included) off guard. I was on Westminster bridge in a spot I'd acquired thirty minutes previously. We waited expectantly, looking over the horizon for them to appear but they didn't come along the river as we all expected but cut across the bend and appeared from behind the old city town hall and flew right to left above us.

Luckily my camera was at the ready and I managed 2 shots before they were gone, though both required editing to salvage what were essentially rushed shots.

I rushed off afterwards to meet the other half for lunch but noticed that most of the people on the bridge were staying; expecting more, so I reckon after a while, there were probably a few disappointed people out there. They'll probably have to wait for the 100th anniversary for the full monty.

Lunch was a nice two meal special jobbie at the local Wetherspoons establishment which I then walked off through Mayfair popping into the church in which we plan to get married for a bit of peace and quiet and then onto the cinema for a bit of light entertainment-based escapism in the form of 10,000 BC.

Finally, thanks to a nice bit of retail therapy over the weekend, I'd also acquired an iPod Touch, the Wi-Fi abilities of which I managed to give a good test around London after having signed up to a provider called The Cloud.

Essentially, some places with advertised hotspots didn't work, whilst those in all McDonalds I passed did. I managed to review a proof of our wedding invitations, forward to the other half and approve it with the suppliers alternatively from Westminster Bridge (where a free provider allowed me 5 mins of access if I watched an advert for 30 secs), a park bench in Mayfair (some random connection) and from outside McD's on Shaftesbury Avenue.

It's amazing how Wi-Fi is omni-present though the number of unsecured connections is just silly!

Can I have a napkin please?

In shock

I got made redundant from my job of eight and a half years yesterday.
To say that it came as a bit of a surprise is an understatement.

I know there's no such thing as a job for life but I was busy in my last job and looking forward to the future.

I'm still in a state of shock today but have started to look to see what the market has to offer comparable to what I currently do. And the answer is not a lot. Not that I have a CV anywhere anyway. That's long gone on some old PC.

Since my financial stability is now up the creek the marriage arrangements, honeymoon and house moving have now been put on hold. Great timing, eh?

If it wasn't for the support that my other half has given me I'd be in such a state right now, though I'm sat here at home alone now, still shaking and so sad.

*sob*

A Date With Destiny

Things are slowly ticking ahead with the wedding preparations. We've heard back from the church (pictured) and been given a number of dates in August.

So far, all being well, Saturday 16th looks to be the ONE.

It all becomes a lot more real now that we have a date. It's as if a countdown clock has started and now we have to get everything sorted before it hits zero!

Next steps are to meet up with the priest next week and to start visiting possible venues around the area this weekend that won't break the bank. (Not so easy when the church is in Mayfair!)

We've set ourselves a budget and in a flurry of organisational genius I've come up with a long list of eveything that is likely to cost us something and estimates for how much each is likely to be.

It's not going to be a big wedding, mind, with 50 being the maximum number of people. This could fall further to as low as 35 depending on if people are around in the middle of the holiday season. But then less people equals less cost (we hope!)

I've chosen two best men as I've two best mates and it wouldn't be fair to choose between them. One can sort the speeches etc and the other is a good organiser so I hope that as a team they can get all their bits sorted. Not that I know what their bits to sort out yet as I've yet to look that up!

On the flat selling front, I continue to have viewings and one "very interested" buyer but no offers as yet. Similarly we've yet to find a house we like either so that's a big flat blank.

If nothing else it allows me to concentrate more on the wedding arrangements and there are a lot of those to get through!

163 days to go!

Progress report

Yes, it's an exciting random picture of a building!
This one's right by London Bridge.

No progress on the moving front at all, despite the price drop.

I'll have to see if I get any viewings at all on the weekend. As it stands the woman above me has decided to keep her flat at the same price that mine was just lowered from, so I can only see that that will make my flat look more attractive. Until she sees sense and changes her mind, that is!

On the wedding front, we've written off a letter to the church where we'd like to get married. It's in Mayfair (very posh, I know!) but it is a beautiful church with a hugh stained glass window behind the altar. The other half loves stained glass windows! It also excudes a certain spiritual calmness, so I very much like it. I got a call back from them to confirm receipt of our wedding request and apparently someone will be back in contact with me next week.

I am a bit worried that at this rate we'll be married but not living together!

The Long(er) Road To Work

As mentioned in a previous post, ever since we've moved offices from Baker Street to Marble Arch, my journey into work has become a lot quicker and a lot more pleasant. I worked out that I now saved myself a working week each year in time that I could spend longer in bed.

This is what my old (45-50 mins) main journey options were in the morning:
Acton Town -> Green Park (Piccadilly Line)
Green Park -> Baker Street (Jubilee Line)
or
Acton Town -> Hammersmith (Piccadilly Line)
Hammersmith -> Baker Street (Hammersmith & City Line)

Of course there were many other routes I could have taken but these would turn out to be the best for consistency and giving me an idea of what time I can leave the house in the morning to get in by a certain time.

Ever since the office move, my new route (35 mins) became a simpler one:
Acton High Street -> Shepherds Bush (Bus 207/607)
Shepherds Bush -> Marble Arch

But, alas, the good times are no more. Ever since Shepherds Bush station was closed with barely 4 weeks notice for the next 8 months, my journey in is more complicated and definitely a lot less comfortable.

My average journey time is now between 45-60 mins! And all because of one station closure! *sigh*

I now get a tiny no 70 bus with an unreliable timetable to East Acton station and then onto Marble Arch from there. However they have just decided to spend the next few months digging up the main road that the bus runs along so, thanks to the traffic, on some days, just the bus route portion of my journey takes almost as long as my entire journey used to be... Argh!

And it is a tiny bus. The few seats are cramped so close together that unless I sit at the back, I'd rather stand to be more comfortable. By the time the bus has gone two stops it's packed full with people standing and all the seats occupied.

The number 70 is supposed to run every 10 mins but that's just wishful thinking. I've a feeling that the rushed closure of Shepherds Bush has meant that they've not even considered the impact on travel links around the area.

On the way home, I now get off at Holland Park and do a very brisk 10 min walk to Shepherds Bush to catch a bus back from there. So far, so good as I've yet to hit a rainy day during that part of the journey home.

There are still other routes that I'm investigating but so far they all come in at around the same journey time.

I am rather annoyed by the way that the station closed. Apparently it's a first for such a busy station to close when escalators are being replaced and it's not even having a lift put in to make it more accessible or having anything to expand its capacity before the White City Shopping centre opens right next door to it! It certainly beggars belief that they may have to do this in a few years time anyway to meet the Mayor's targets for accessibility on public transport.

But I guess money speaks louder than any words of complaint (and with less than 4 weeks notice, how much can someone complain?) and the Australian property developer "Westfield" responsible for the new shopping centre has won the day. I feel sorry for all the small shops around the Green which will now close because of the lack of custom and that's before they get bulldozed away by the impact on their business of a major shopping centre with large corporate stores competing on their doorsteps.

Complications

So, the merry-go-round that is the sale of my flat is still going on.

It's been 5 weeks and the viewings have pretty much dried up as the prices in my area have gone down, so it looks as if 10k will have to come off just to see if that improves things.

Granted we're not in such a rush to sell as we've yet to see anything that we fancy but when 2 bedroom flats and larger 1 bedroom flats in the same area come in at the same price as mine, I know I'm in trouble.

Still, every night before I go to bed, I tidy up the flat and every morning before I head off to work I make the bed so that it looks nice and tucked in like something in a nice hotel, just on the off chance that someone will do a viewing that day. It does get you down a bit though.

On a more positive note, we've started to push things forward a bit on the getting hitched front. We're sorting out a church and have found a nice one in Mayfair (not far from work) that we both agree that we really like. The thing is with her family East of London and my friends to the West, we thought it'd be a good compromise. Apparently we now have to write a letter to sort a formal meeting to discuss things further which I'm in the process of doing.

We've both met with my local parish priest, something that needs to be done in the Catholic Church to sort out a formal parish letter of freedom to prove I'm not already married. Solicitors get involved for a small fee too *sigh* And we're even going to attend a marriage course (another Catholic requirement, though one which probably isn't really that bad an idea.)

It all sounds so complicated, doesn't it?
And that's all before we've even got a confirmed venue or date!



The pic is yet another from the "Switched On London" series and is of London Bridge all lit up.

HMS Belfast last night

Part of something called "Switched On London". Worth checking out for some good night shots of London Bridge, Tower Bridge and bits 'tween all lit up.

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy 4706!

Taken rather hurriedly with my compact camera as the battery was about to die on me...
London's Chinatown tonight. It's the year of the rat which according to the Chinese calendar, I am.

Thankfully it's not as bad as it sounds:
"Ambitious, clever and devoted to their family. Hard-working and imaginative. Not always sure of themselves and do not always plan for the future. Will always stand by their friends."

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(which literally means, "congratulations, may you be prosperous" so winning the Euromillions rollover this week would be a good start.)