Monday, July 1st, 2013

Good afternoon.

And now to clear up the little cliffhanger I left you with last time out.

Like many folks, I am on Linked in, and have had various contacts made from agencies in the past. But since changing my job title a couple of weeks back, its gone crazy. Seems like 'quality engineer' is an industry-wide recognised title and it must flag me up or something. Anyway, the upshot was I get contacted about an interesting opportunity (her words) she would like to talk it over with me.

I told her I was on a course but would call her in a week, thinking that would scare her off or something. She said it was OK, and when I did call she was expecting my call as she had marked it in her diary. She made it sound all rather wonderful, and I ticked all the boxes, so I was left with the feeling she had offered me the job. She said she would send the details over to me to read over, and I would give an answer by Friday.

The details were that I still had to apply for the job, and it became clear that it was at least one step above my experience level, and that if I were being honest, despite it being a great career move for me, if it went well, I would have to lie to get the job. So, I mulled it over, and even talked it over with my boss. He has offered me the chance of doing something similar in a couple of years, which I think it a great idea. He is happy I am staying, I have a pay rise (just) and will stay were I am. I was headhunted once before and that didn't end well.....

So, I packed up at work on Friday, with a happy boss, me happy and a week off to look forward to. Yay!

I drove to Billund, checked in the car, checked in, handed over by bag, went through securityto find all of Denmark heading off to the sun, apparently, and trying to empty the airport of Carlsberg. It is good to know that Danes have a good supply of white hairy legs with knobbley knees just as we do over here. However, I am left with the feeling that if the Danes like the sun so much, maybe living in Denmark isn't the smartest thing....

I went to the gate at half five, and got on the flight only to meet a guy who works at Thanet, and so I at least had someone to talk to for a while. I slept on the flight over, and woke up to find us descending through clouds towards London; rain poured down.

Welcome home.

After collecting my bag, I made my way to the DLR then onto Waterloo on the Jubilee. waterloo? I hear you ask. Yes, I was going there to meet Jools at the Union Jack Club where we would be spending not one, but two nights. As on Saturday, we were off to 'the north' on a steam train and an early start was required.

After checking in, we went to a restaurant opposite, we went over and had a good dinner, sat at a table in the overhang of a roof, so in case it rained again our food, or us, would not get wet. I had asparagus wrapped in ham followed by herb crusted lamb, which was jolly nice. So nice that it seemed the right thing to do just to head to bed ready for our early start in the morning.