New Year, New Home, New Job, New Start
Happy New Year all. It's been a while since I updated, and it seems like a lot has happened since then so I thought it might be time for an update.
And an experiment in using LJ-cuts while I'm about it.
So... I'm still kind of getting used to lj, and while I've been commenting on other people's stories from time to time, I've not got anywhere with my own. Ultimately I'd like to post a little fiction here, at the moment I seem to be drawing a blank. Mostly, I guess, because so much else has been happening. So, while I try and think of something worth posting, I thought I'd go on a bit about the changes this new year means to me. Feel free to stop reading now, or at any point.
Busy-wise, there's been Christmas and the New Year, of course, although quite honestly, those seem to have slipped by without me really noticing. I went to visit my parents, and while a good time was had by all, I was probably a little on the tense side to relax and enjoy it.
Good news - my purchase of the house I was trying to buy went through on 22nd December, three days after I got the last reports and surveys through, and I now have the keys to a fine, three-bedroom inter-war terraced house in Coventry, UK. Unfortunately, it all went through at such a break-neck pace, and so close to Christmas, that I think it caught the previous owner on the hop, and he left a number of items of furniture behind that I'm pretty sure he was meant to take with him, so now I'm waiting to see if he wants them back or just plans to abandon them, before starting to furnish the place myself.
The house needs a little work - painting and wallpapering, but that gives me DIY-projects to fill my evenings for a while, i guess. I'm kind of looking forward to getting settled in. Meeting the neighbours ought to be interesting, as will working out exactly what I want to do about colour schemes, furniture and the garden. I was watching adverts on television this week for furniture - beds and sofas mostly - and feeling unpleasantly domestic.
However, I need to spend more time there before I really know what I want to do. The close-shave with Christmas, and the unusual amount of snow we've had here in the UK over the last month, also meant that I barely got up to Coventry with a suitcase in time to pick up the keys before spending one night, only to turn the heating on and check the place was locked before heading off for Christmas. I've not had a chance to arrange for a removals firm yet, so I'm feeling kind of up in the air at present. I've got until the end of January to clear the flat I rent in Bristol (where I decided to spend new year), but meanwhile I'm having to start my new job in Coventry with nothing in the house but the former-owner's furniture and whatever I could fit in the case I took up last week, and the one I'm taking with me tomorrow.
My new job is as a university lecturer. Work starts on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday here) and I'll basically be showing up in a university department I've only visited twice, meeting people I don't know, and trying to get up to speed not only with a new linux-based computer (I shudder to think how much software I'll be installing in the next month), but also teaching responsibilities, new people to meet and an awful backlog of work after the last few weeks of house-stress and holidays. In academia, you tend to take most of your work with you from one place to another - projects last years and don't just come and go just because you've changed jobs. On the plus side, I'll still be working a fair bit with my old boss. On the minus side, if I screw up those projects it's now officially more my fault than anyone else's.
It'll be odd being in a city where I know no-one, except - in the case of one new colleague - as a vague occasional acquaintance. It's kind of hard leaving behind my office mate, my boss/mentor and my friends here in Bristol (mostly my very relaxed and friendly writer's group). On the other hand, it's also kind of thrilling to know I'm making a new start as we head into the new decade.
It'll be exciting I know - lecturing, research, new house to fix up, new friends to make, and new evening activities to find. On the one hand I'm pretty excited about the challenge. On the other, I'm kind of nervous. I just need to keep track of all the things I need to do. Removals and Internet connections top of the list!
In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm off to go write some of those lists...
Happy New Year, one and all!
And an experiment in using LJ-cuts while I'm about it.
So... I'm still kind of getting used to lj, and while I've been commenting on other people's stories from time to time, I've not got anywhere with my own. Ultimately I'd like to post a little fiction here, at the moment I seem to be drawing a blank. Mostly, I guess, because so much else has been happening. So, while I try and think of something worth posting, I thought I'd go on a bit about the changes this new year means to me. Feel free to stop reading now, or at any point.
Busy-wise, there's been Christmas and the New Year, of course, although quite honestly, those seem to have slipped by without me really noticing. I went to visit my parents, and while a good time was had by all, I was probably a little on the tense side to relax and enjoy it.
Good news - my purchase of the house I was trying to buy went through on 22nd December, three days after I got the last reports and surveys through, and I now have the keys to a fine, three-bedroom inter-war terraced house in Coventry, UK. Unfortunately, it all went through at such a break-neck pace, and so close to Christmas, that I think it caught the previous owner on the hop, and he left a number of items of furniture behind that I'm pretty sure he was meant to take with him, so now I'm waiting to see if he wants them back or just plans to abandon them, before starting to furnish the place myself.
The house needs a little work - painting and wallpapering, but that gives me DIY-projects to fill my evenings for a while, i guess. I'm kind of looking forward to getting settled in. Meeting the neighbours ought to be interesting, as will working out exactly what I want to do about colour schemes, furniture and the garden. I was watching adverts on television this week for furniture - beds and sofas mostly - and feeling unpleasantly domestic.
However, I need to spend more time there before I really know what I want to do. The close-shave with Christmas, and the unusual amount of snow we've had here in the UK over the last month, also meant that I barely got up to Coventry with a suitcase in time to pick up the keys before spending one night, only to turn the heating on and check the place was locked before heading off for Christmas. I've not had a chance to arrange for a removals firm yet, so I'm feeling kind of up in the air at present. I've got until the end of January to clear the flat I rent in Bristol (where I decided to spend new year), but meanwhile I'm having to start my new job in Coventry with nothing in the house but the former-owner's furniture and whatever I could fit in the case I took up last week, and the one I'm taking with me tomorrow.
My new job is as a university lecturer. Work starts on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday here) and I'll basically be showing up in a university department I've only visited twice, meeting people I don't know, and trying to get up to speed not only with a new linux-based computer (I shudder to think how much software I'll be installing in the next month), but also teaching responsibilities, new people to meet and an awful backlog of work after the last few weeks of house-stress and holidays. In academia, you tend to take most of your work with you from one place to another - projects last years and don't just come and go just because you've changed jobs. On the plus side, I'll still be working a fair bit with my old boss. On the minus side, if I screw up those projects it's now officially more my fault than anyone else's.
It'll be odd being in a city where I know no-one, except - in the case of one new colleague - as a vague occasional acquaintance. It's kind of hard leaving behind my office mate, my boss/mentor and my friends here in Bristol (mostly my very relaxed and friendly writer's group). On the other hand, it's also kind of thrilling to know I'm making a new start as we head into the new decade.
It'll be exciting I know - lecturing, research, new house to fix up, new friends to make, and new evening activities to find. On the one hand I'm pretty excited about the challenge. On the other, I'm kind of nervous. I just need to keep track of all the things I need to do. Removals and Internet connections top of the list!
In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I'm off to go write some of those lists...
Happy New Year, one and all!