A bit too exciting
Sep. 19th, 2009 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livHappy new year, peeps! I spent the last couple of weeks of the old year something like this:
Last Tuesday I interviewed for my dream job. Returning from the other side of England, I spent the evening withhatam_soferet (taking the opportunity to see her before she returned to the US), jack and pseudomonas, who made us tasty curry. I spent Wednesday biting my nails and convincing myself that I was aiming too high and would never get the job, and Thursday morning I got the phonecall saying that they were planning to offer me the job but were having a hard time getting hold of my referees to confirm it. So all of Thursday was playing phone tag trying to get hold of three professors, one of whom was en route to New York, one at his mother's funeral, and one doing 15 things at once and accidentally deleting important emails. But I made it in the end and at 6 that evening I got the confirmation that I definitely have the job (though I still don't have the official paperwork). And they casually suggest that it's easier for their bookkeeping if I start at the beginning of the month... October, that is.
I was over the moon, my parents possibly even more so! They wanted to have a fancy dinner to celebrate, but I already had plans for the evening. What we managed to arrange at the last minute was to order an extravagant takeaway from Spice Merchant, and drink fizzy wine with the meal, which we cut short to allow me to get to the Carlton. I spent the evening in the pub squeeing madly at everyone.
That left me some time on Friday to make a start on organizing my life to move up to Stoke-on-Trent. Saturday I went tojack's from shul, and we invited ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sonicdrift, mobbsy and pseudomonas to dinner at The Anchor. Driving practice for jack, and we determined that I can navigate for him and deal with getting slightly lost without quarrelling. (In my defence, I was navigating from an invisible map, we didn't get lost because I'm completely clueless!) We worked up an appetite by walking along the dike, and then went into the lovely pub to sit in a fireplace, and eat lovely lovely food, leaving the veggies and carnivores equally satisfied. And completed a gorgeous evening with some stargazing; once out of the light cast by the pub itself, the Fenland sky is amazingly dark; we could even see the Milky Way, and too many normally invisible stars to identify constellations well.
That was the last of the good weather; Sunday was blowy and damp and we abandoned plans to go for a walk around Ninewells. Instead, I met up withblue_mai to see the current exhibition at Kettles Yard. They have moved some of the paintings from the house to exhibit them in a "normal" way in the gallery, with the usual placards explaining the background behind the paintings. And added a few new pieces to the house, consisting of artists' responses to the permanent collection there. I learned new information about some of my favourite pieces from the house, and at least some of the response pieces were clever and thought-provoking, though others seemed a bit gimmicky. Also visiting exhibitions with someone properly knowledgeable about art is always great.
In the afternoonjack taught me the rudiments of Magic (don't say it!), and then generously drove me home after I managed to get confused and miss the last bus back to Shelford. So he ended up getting invited for dinner, which was companionable.
I took a complicated and expensive train up to Stoke-on-Trent Tuesday evening, staying in the same slightly depressing but friendly hotel where I spent the night before the interview. That gave me two days to wander round Stoke / Newcastle getting a feel for the area and taking preliminary steps towards finding somewhere to live. After much debate about whether I am technically eligible according to the letter of the law, I managed to secure a temporary place in a doctors' flat just outside the hospital. This is a bit grim, just a notch above student rooms, and likely to be shared with a succession of junior doctors on short-term placements, but the advantage is that it's available immediately and the rent is charged by the night, and I can leave with 24 hours' notice when I have somewhere long-term to go to.jack regaled me with tea, pizza and general relaxation when I came home exhausted.
Annnnnd now it is Rosh HaShana (Jewish New Year). P'tite Soeur came home for the festival, so we had a good natter. Shul last night and this morning, which was generally lovely. It wins two awards for the shortest ever, though: both the rabbi and the service!
Last Tuesday I interviewed for my dream job. Returning from the other side of England, I spent the evening with
hatam_soferet (taking the opportunity to see her before she returned to the US), jack and pseudomonas, who made us tasty curry. I spent Wednesday biting my nails and convincing myself that I was aiming too high and would never get the job, and Thursday morning I got the phonecall saying that they were planning to offer me the job but were having a hard time getting hold of my referees to confirm it. So all of Thursday was playing phone tag trying to get hold of three professors, one of whom was en route to New York, one at his mother's funeral, and one doing 15 things at once and accidentally deleting important emails. But I made it in the end and at 6 that evening I got the confirmation that I definitely have the job (though I still don't have the official paperwork). And they casually suggest that it's easier for their bookkeeping if I start at the beginning of the month... October, that is. I was over the moon, my parents possibly even more so! They wanted to have a fancy dinner to celebrate, but I already had plans for the evening. What we managed to arrange at the last minute was to order an extravagant takeaway from Spice Merchant, and drink fizzy wine with the meal, which we cut short to allow me to get to the Carlton. I spent the evening in the pub squeeing madly at everyone.
That left me some time on Friday to make a start on organizing my life to move up to Stoke-on-Trent. Saturday I went to
jack's from shul, and we invited sonicdrift, mobbsy and pseudomonas to dinner at The Anchor. Driving practice for jack, and we determined that I can navigate for him and deal with getting slightly lost without quarrelling. (In my defence, I was navigating from an invisible map, we didn't get lost because I'm completely clueless!) We worked up an appetite by walking along the dike, and then went into the lovely pub to sit in a fireplace, and eat lovely lovely food, leaving the veggies and carnivores equally satisfied. And completed a gorgeous evening with some stargazing; once out of the light cast by the pub itself, the Fenland sky is amazingly dark; we could even see the Milky Way, and too many normally invisible stars to identify constellations well.That was the last of the good weather; Sunday was blowy and damp and we abandoned plans to go for a walk around Ninewells. Instead, I met up with
blue_mai to see the current exhibition at Kettles Yard. They have moved some of the paintings from the house to exhibit them in a "normal" way in the gallery, with the usual placards explaining the background behind the paintings. And added a few new pieces to the house, consisting of artists' responses to the permanent collection there. I learned new information about some of my favourite pieces from the house, and at least some of the response pieces were clever and thought-provoking, though others seemed a bit gimmicky. Also visiting exhibitions with someone properly knowledgeable about art is always great. In the afternoon
jack taught me the rudiments of Magic (don't say it!), and then generously drove me home after I managed to get confused and miss the last bus back to Shelford. So he ended up getting invited for dinner, which was companionable. I took a complicated and expensive train up to Stoke-on-Trent Tuesday evening, staying in the same slightly depressing but friendly hotel where I spent the night before the interview. That gave me two days to wander round Stoke / Newcastle getting a feel for the area and taking preliminary steps towards finding somewhere to live. After much debate about whether I am technically eligible according to the letter of the law, I managed to secure a temporary place in a doctors' flat just outside the hospital. This is a bit grim, just a notch above student rooms, and likely to be shared with a succession of junior doctors on short-term placements, but the advantage is that it's available immediately and the rent is charged by the night, and I can leave with 24 hours' notice when I have somewhere long-term to go to.
jack regaled me with tea, pizza and general relaxation when I came home exhausted.Annnnnd now it is Rosh HaShana (Jewish New Year). P'tite Soeur came home for the festival, so we had a good natter. Shul last night and this morning, which was generally lovely. It wins two awards for the shortest ever, though: both the rabbi and the service!
