(no subject)
I haven’t posted for so long about anything substantive that now I feel compelled to just blurt out a bunch of random stuff:
The GG Family: Feeling settled back in across the pond, even though it’s not for long, really. I am just trying to make the most of it and enjoy the things I like about being here. I am also trying not to over-commit myself or Miss B because I just want to keep things mellow. I feel sad about leaving but not despondent; I’m interested to see what the next bend in the road brings, and part of me has always been expecting to leave the UK because, frankly, I can’t see how we can afford to live here for good. DP’s job looks as though it will be maximum frustration right up to the end, but that just confirms what a good decision leaving it is.
La famiglia: Had my first phone-in family therapy session last Friday, which involved a lot of listening on my end. Really, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise when we all get talking anyway, and when no one can see that you’ve got something to say it makes it that much harder. Also the communications facilities were not optimal: Sister M’s cell phone on speaker-right up until the battery died at the most important part of the conversation. Hopefully, with a little help from techno wizard
comice, we’ll be able to rectify that for the next session.
Work: I’m feeling less overwhelmed by work, mostly because I have finished a project that I didn’t have time for in the first place, and which got delayed and landed on my desk at an incredibly inconvenient point. But it’s done now and they’re even going to pay me extra money for getting it finished when I did! I still have my regular, extra-heavy workload, but without this project to fit in it actually seems manageable. Also, I am in the process of extricating myself from one other project area, which I should be able to manage by the time I leave the UK at the end of the year. My work goal for 2008 is to say ‘No’ more readily.
Hockey: My extended break continues since I realized that, no matter how things turned out with the team-splitting drama, I just didn’t want to be involved anymore. So I’m also extricating myself from that. I will probably check out what’s available Down Under when I get resettled, and hope to find something that requires less of an emotional investment. It's supposed to be fun, not drama!
Recreation: With more free time on the weekend, I took the opportunity to go car booting with my friend J last weekend. Car booting is the English equivalent of a tag sale, I think; basically it takes place in a big field filled with people selling stuff out of the backs of cars. I got some amazing deals! I went specifically looking for some stuff for Miss B, but came home with goodies of all kinds. Check out a selection of the bargains:
- Pack ‘n’ play (travel bed/playpen): £10.00 ($20.00 US) (new: >$50)
- Car seat: £5.00 ($10.00 US) (new: >$50)
- Stair gate: £3.00 ($6.00 US) (new: >$20)
- 5 glass storage jars: £3.00 ($6.00 US) (new: >$20.00)
- 6 blue & white bowls & 2 covered vegetable dishes & 1 souffle dish (£5.00) ($10.00 US) (new: no idea as the plates are really old!)
- Sabatier bread knife still in packaging (£4.00) ($8.00 US) (new: >$25)
- pale green cotton Jaeger blazer (£2.00) ($4.00 US) (new: >$75)
Plus a few other little goodies, none of which cost more than £1.00. And J got two Le Creuset frying pans for less than $60!