From my desk looking out onto the Thames
Okay, so the desk isn’t mine and I’m only here for half a day, but the view is pretty darn amazing anyway. Another day, another job. Today finds me working for a charity called Wateraid, a group that works to bring water to the world’s poorest countries so that children who spend half their days fetching dirty water for their families can instead spend their time going to school. After a sob story like that I can’t very well feel sorry for myself about my current situation.
The house situation is still on hold. We met with the people the other night and looked over the house again and put down our deposit. The landlady, for whatever reason, is being a royal pain in the butt and is insisting on all sorts of random documentation before she can get back to us on whether or not we can move in. We’ve been dancing around trying to get everything in order, but we still haven’t heard any firm answer. She’s just an intermediary between us and the real landlord, who lives somewhere else and so can’t meet with us, so that slows things down a bit as well.
The job situation is still grey. I have a job today, but tomorrow, who knows? Certainly not I. The secretary job fell through, but I did get a lead on another Web/tech job that should start soon and I went in for an interview for that yesterday. That would be perfect, as it’s a copywriting job as well, which would give me so much experience for future editorial-type jobs. Fingers crossed, fingers crossed, fingers crossed. I should hear back on that today. Another long-shot option that I don’t dare even entertain as the least possibility of getting, is an internship for In Style magazine. The editor of Practical Parenting lives nextdoor to Jim’s family in Wimbledon and she took my CV in and found that there was a six month paid internship for In Style and she sent me an e-mail about it right away. It’s been posted for a while, so it may be filled already, but Mara (Jim’s editor neighbor) asked me to send her my CV through e-mail so she could distribute it to the 2,000 people who work at her company. So maybe I can make tea, sharpen pencils, dust computers, whatever–as long as it’s in publishing, I don’t care; I’m their woman.
But for today, I am a receptionist. Oh, the many hats I wear. This job is actually perfect, really. I came in, everyone was really nice, and they sat me at a computer and told me to answer the phone if it rings. When the phone isn’t ringing, which is most of the time, I get to mess around online and update my blog–fantastic! I can so do this. Emma, from the recruiting agency who sent me here, called and said I may be able to come back here next week, which would just make my day! It’s a great area in Vauxhall, just down from the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, a stones throw from the River Thames, and I love it.
So that is pretty much life. It has been weird being here not as a tourist for once. In fact, I haven’t done a single touristy thing since I’ve been here. My other job was just off Piccadilly Circus, and it felt so odd to walk past all the tourists clicking pictures and not whip out my camera as well. It is really nice. London isn’t really like anywhere else I’ve been to, and it suits me quite well I’d say. I know I’ve still got months and months left to be here, but it is sad to know the countdown has already begun and I’ll have to be leaving when March 7th rolls around.
I hope that my next post brings news of moving into our house and a nice little house warming party. Kelly and I got to meet Becky, our third roommate, this week and we love her already. We are going to have a blast, assuming we ever actually get into this house! Oh, I’m trying to think happy thoughts…happy thoughts. I’ve never had a panic attack before, but I think I had one the other day. It’s been so stressful having to deal with everything that’s going on, but at last I think things are finally going to smooth themselves out. Either that or I’m going to walk down to the nearest hospital and get some Prozac courtesy of the NHS. 🙂
Tags: house, job, London, work, Working
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