This weekend has turned into a little bit of a social whirl. On Saturday, after market shopping in the sunshine for once (we actually had four whole days of summer this week - a nice treat for the kids before they go back to school - the summer holidays end tomorrow), I made up some cheese scones (I *love* having my food mixer back!), and we then headed out in the evening for a Phoenix Sci-Fi social. This is a "Bring a Plate" social (and the interpretation of it is that you bring something *on* the plate, rather than just an empty one!) Unfortunately, as we are a bit out of touch (despite reading the local paper, and therefore knowing all about the 94 year old who has just hit his first hole in one in golf, a year after suffering a stroke...), we hadn't twigged that, in addition to the very important Sci-fi event, there were also two other events in the area.
The Trentham Races (The Wellington Cup), which is the equivalent of the Cheltenham Races, in Upper Hutt, which is at one end of our train track, and an AC/DC gig, which was held at the Wellington Stadium, right by Wellington Station. (some unsung genius designed it so that the far end of the platform (at the opposite end to the station) actually leads up into the Stadium itself. On major event days (particularly rugby and football), the fans can just pour out of the stadium and onto a waiting train (obviously getting the right train for their destination!) - when the train is full, then it leaves, and the next one pulls in.
The combined events meant that, rather than the two-carriage train being half empty, as it has been every other time we have used it, there were eight carriages, and we still stood all the way to Wellington. However (despite the heat and the fact that the AC/DC fans next to us needed a little bit of education in the use of deodorant), it wasn't an unpleasant journey - the fans standing by us were from Hastings, and didn't often come down to "the big city"!
The bonus was that as the guard couldn't get down the train through the crush, we didn't have to pay for our journey! (I had my wallet out ready to pay - we weren't fare dodging!)
The Sci-Fi meeting, which was on the hills overlooking the Stadium, was good fun. It was a lot busier than the other meetings that we'd been to, and a lot of new faces. It was a little bit intimidating at times - having thought that I'd got to know most of the Phoenix members, I suddenly realised that there were a lot more than I'd already met, and I was going to have to remember a lot more names (I'm not good at names at the best of times!). But it was still good fun, and we got to have some very interesting discussions. We had to leave a little earlier than we would have liked, but had been warned that we would want to get the train *before* the gig finished for obvious reasons!
Then yesterday (Monday), we had our first orchestra rehearsal. Having been to their Christmas concert, and then had to wait all summer whilst they were on holiday, I've been really missing playing in a group. I will admit that I was a little bit nervous when we arrived at the school where the orchestra rehearses. Already knowing that they had two oboes, I was a bit worried about being a "spare wheel", but I needn't have been concerned. Everyone was incredibly friendly - the two oboes insisting that I sit between them so that I could look at both of their music and choose which one I wanted to play (I did opt for second all the way through - I didn't want to get landed with an unexpected solo, particularly given that I've not really played for three months!). We were all sight-reading, which was very nice, if a bit brain aching - it is a lot harder to come into something when everyone else knows what they are doing! The pieces weren't too difficult, but were taxing enough that I'm looking forward to having my own copy so that I can do some practice. Afterwards we stayed behind to have a bit of a chat, and ended up nearly being the last to leave (no change there, then!) The lady who is in charge of the sheet music also plays the accordion, and is going to get me the contact details of her teacher so that, when I've been paid (oh, this pay is going to be stretched out a bit!), I can actually have some lessons before I pick up too many bad habits.
I've started doing some background reading ready for work next week - I'm happy to see that, on the surface, the procurement rules in NZ are very similar to those in the UK, so it won't be quite the feeling of being thrown in the deep end. Maybe just up to my chin...
Another lovely thing is that Kerry, the chap who interviewed me, emailed me to say that he is the president of the Upper Hutt hockey club. He'd noticed that I'd put hockey down as an interest on my CV, and has asked me if I would like to join! So the weekend after next (the one after I start work), I'm heading up to the astro-turf for registration and a couple of warm up games. I'm rather hoping that they will need a goalie - I think I may be a little bit unfit for running around on the pitch!
So, when I start up TKD after pay day (probably mid-March now), I will be back to a full after work schedule!
Showing posts with label Job Hunting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job Hunting. Show all posts
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Happiness...
I always knew that emigrating would bring mood swings, and it hasn't all been me bouncing around like a little puppy. There have been moments where I have wondered whether it was all worth it, and what we were really doing so far away from friends and family.
Fortunately, those moods don't tend to last very long...
Yesterday was really a euphoria day :-D I got into town ready to meet up with my new colleagues. Whilst I'm not going to be starting until the 8th Feb, Kerry is leaving on Friday, and wanted to introduce me to Kevin, my new boss, who started on Tuesday, and also the lady who is doing my job at the moment, and who will be moving on on the 18th to study in Oz. I also had to meet up with my HR rep, who needed to get some paperwork from me, and also get me to correct a mistake I'd made on my tax form (it really is confusing until you've had it explained to you!)
I arrived a tad early, and so had a bit of a chat with the receptionist whilst I waited for Fiona to come downstairs. She's just finished learning level one of the NZ sign language, so it will be interesting to see if we can get together and find out what the differences between OzLang and BSL are. Then I headed into the break-room with Fiona to go through my paperwork. This was the first "bounce" point. Most break rooms have a kettle and toaster, a microwave if you are lucky. This one, with a floorprint of at least three quarters of our house, not only had the above, but two huge fridges, a dishwasher, a toasted sandwich maker, an oven and an outside patio with a BBQ! One of the team was about to get married, so they were going to have a celebration morning tea for him, and someone was making scones - the smell was amazing! I'm actually going to be working on the twelfth floor, and this was on the second, so I think I will need the exercise on the stairs just to work off all the extra goodies I'm going to be eating! (plans already afoot to take pre-mixed cookie dough in...)
There were a number of conversations regarding the fire drill that they had just had, and I was able to talk about the Innogistic fire drill which had actually included a real fire... Cue being jumped on with excitement at the thought of another fire warden on the team, so I might have accidentally put my hand up for that... But only if I get paid to go on the First Aid at Work course - the receptionist is also about to go on one, so I might get to sneak on that with her (I am missing my First Aid qualification - it lapsed in October, and I don't like the fact that I'm not longer qualified). Not even started yet, and they are going to pay for my training!
Then the next major bounce point - Fiona had talked to the payroll team, and had got me a definitive statement of how much I am going to be paid, both for my first week, and then on a fortnightly basis. There was a little bit of confusion on my part; I had got the fortnightly one almost bang on (not bad given that I was working with last year's tax figures), but the first week was quite a way out. Then Fiona pointed out that I'd miscalculated the number of days, and I'm actually going to be paid for two more days than I had anticipated. So we are going to be nearly $400 better off in that first pay packet! It still doesn't get us out of Challenge 3 (below), as we are still going to get quite close to the bottom of our bank account before I get paid, but it does mean that we shouldn't ever hit the red.
Then Kerry, Kevin, Julia and I went out for a coffee, and we just yacked in the coffee shop for an hour. We did occasionally touch on work (in particular, some of the team building and social events that happen on a regular basis - the last one was that each floor had to create their own golf hole - my team won the best overall, with a map of New Zealand, which included a (full) paddling pool as Lake Taupo; the testing team used some of the computer equipment to rig up a mechanical device which randomly spat the ball out in a number of different directions! I'm waiting to be sent over some links to information that I need to read over the next week so that I'm not going into it completely blind on the 8th.
After we'd finished, and they'd all gone back to work, I took advantage of being in Wellington to go over to the Central Library. Now that I have an employer here, and have my offer letter to prove it, I can have a library account that I don't have to pay for. And I got out two books on playing the accordion - whilst I'm having fun footling around, and am starting to get the hang of some of the key jumps, I'm also aware that I could be picking up some very bad habits, and I want to see if I can stop those before I start.
By the time I got home, I was almost bouncing through the ceiling, and, as it was a glorious day, I decided after lunch that I wasn't going to stay indoors, and instead went off for a little walk up the Hutt Valley River. Well, little. It ended up being about ten miles and took just under four hours. But it was brilliant!
The flowers were out,
the butterflies were flying, and occasionally landing long enough for me to get a decent shot of them
and the view down the river was amazing!
Sadly, I didn't get very far along the river, just between the Kennedy Good Bridge and the Pomare Rail Bridge - the two lines above where it says "Lower Hutt".
Next time I do the walk, I will definitely make it an all day, and probably catch the bus to the start of the river.
It's not as peaceful as the scenic reserve or the hills, mainly because the trail runs between the river and the main road into Wellington! It's also more densely populated; not only are there housing estates dotted along the first part, but also people are naturally taking advantage of the gorgeous weather to go for a swim. But it was very enjoyable for all that, and had the distinct advantage of being pretty much flat all the way!
My legs are punishing me today, though, so I've been a bit quieter, getting some writing done (an attempt to get a short story written before a competition deadline on Sunday), and I may even get the third Maori lesson done :-)
Fortunately, those moods don't tend to last very long...
Yesterday was really a euphoria day :-D I got into town ready to meet up with my new colleagues. Whilst I'm not going to be starting until the 8th Feb, Kerry is leaving on Friday, and wanted to introduce me to Kevin, my new boss, who started on Tuesday, and also the lady who is doing my job at the moment, and who will be moving on on the 18th to study in Oz. I also had to meet up with my HR rep, who needed to get some paperwork from me, and also get me to correct a mistake I'd made on my tax form (it really is confusing until you've had it explained to you!)
I arrived a tad early, and so had a bit of a chat with the receptionist whilst I waited for Fiona to come downstairs. She's just finished learning level one of the NZ sign language, so it will be interesting to see if we can get together and find out what the differences between OzLang and BSL are. Then I headed into the break-room with Fiona to go through my paperwork. This was the first "bounce" point. Most break rooms have a kettle and toaster, a microwave if you are lucky. This one, with a floorprint of at least three quarters of our house, not only had the above, but two huge fridges, a dishwasher, a toasted sandwich maker, an oven and an outside patio with a BBQ! One of the team was about to get married, so they were going to have a celebration morning tea for him, and someone was making scones - the smell was amazing! I'm actually going to be working on the twelfth floor, and this was on the second, so I think I will need the exercise on the stairs just to work off all the extra goodies I'm going to be eating! (plans already afoot to take pre-mixed cookie dough in...)
There were a number of conversations regarding the fire drill that they had just had, and I was able to talk about the Innogistic fire drill which had actually included a real fire... Cue being jumped on with excitement at the thought of another fire warden on the team, so I might have accidentally put my hand up for that... But only if I get paid to go on the First Aid at Work course - the receptionist is also about to go on one, so I might get to sneak on that with her (I am missing my First Aid qualification - it lapsed in October, and I don't like the fact that I'm not longer qualified). Not even started yet, and they are going to pay for my training!
Then the next major bounce point - Fiona had talked to the payroll team, and had got me a definitive statement of how much I am going to be paid, both for my first week, and then on a fortnightly basis. There was a little bit of confusion on my part; I had got the fortnightly one almost bang on (not bad given that I was working with last year's tax figures), but the first week was quite a way out. Then Fiona pointed out that I'd miscalculated the number of days, and I'm actually going to be paid for two more days than I had anticipated. So we are going to be nearly $400 better off in that first pay packet! It still doesn't get us out of Challenge 3 (below), as we are still going to get quite close to the bottom of our bank account before I get paid, but it does mean that we shouldn't ever hit the red.
Then Kerry, Kevin, Julia and I went out for a coffee, and we just yacked in the coffee shop for an hour. We did occasionally touch on work (in particular, some of the team building and social events that happen on a regular basis - the last one was that each floor had to create their own golf hole - my team won the best overall, with a map of New Zealand, which included a (full) paddling pool as Lake Taupo; the testing team used some of the computer equipment to rig up a mechanical device which randomly spat the ball out in a number of different directions! I'm waiting to be sent over some links to information that I need to read over the next week so that I'm not going into it completely blind on the 8th.
After we'd finished, and they'd all gone back to work, I took advantage of being in Wellington to go over to the Central Library. Now that I have an employer here, and have my offer letter to prove it, I can have a library account that I don't have to pay for. And I got out two books on playing the accordion - whilst I'm having fun footling around, and am starting to get the hang of some of the key jumps, I'm also aware that I could be picking up some very bad habits, and I want to see if I can stop those before I start.
By the time I got home, I was almost bouncing through the ceiling, and, as it was a glorious day, I decided after lunch that I wasn't going to stay indoors, and instead went off for a little walk up the Hutt Valley River. Well, little. It ended up being about ten miles and took just under four hours. But it was brilliant!
The flowers were out,
the butterflies were flying, and occasionally landing long enough for me to get a decent shot of them
and the view down the river was amazing!
Sadly, I didn't get very far along the river, just between the Kennedy Good Bridge and the Pomare Rail Bridge - the two lines above where it says "Lower Hutt".
Next time I do the walk, I will definitely make it an all day, and probably catch the bus to the start of the river.
It's not as peaceful as the scenic reserve or the hills, mainly because the trail runs between the river and the main road into Wellington! It's also more densely populated; not only are there housing estates dotted along the first part, but also people are naturally taking advantage of the gorgeous weather to go for a swim. But it was very enjoyable for all that, and had the distinct advantage of being pretty much flat all the way!
My legs are punishing me today, though, so I've been a bit quieter, getting some writing done (an attempt to get a short story written before a competition deadline on Sunday), and I may even get the third Maori lesson done :-)
Monday, 25 January 2010
Challenges
Well, the job offer has come through the post, and the acceptance (along with a whole ream of paperwork) signed and sent back. The last hurdle, which I was only told about Thursday afternoon, is that the notice of appointment has to go up on their intranet for five working days in order for anyone internally to challenge if they felt that they were treated unfairly. However, I've not been told that that will be a possibility, so I'm not going to worry about it!
We have a few challenges to sustain us over the coming weeks:
1) Saving money
Whilst the first pay day comes at the right point to stop us running out of money in our NZ bank account, it is only going to be eight days' pay at the most, as I will be starting midway through a pay run. By the end of the next fortnight, we will be ever so slightly in the red... (by less than $100) I would still like to avoid transferring any money over, so we have a challenge to save ourselves that $100 over the next five weeks. It can be done, I'm not stressing about it, and it is going to be interesting to see what we can cut out of our lives without too much trouble!
2) Learning Maori
One of the clauses of the Treaty of Waitangi gives the Maori "exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties." The word on the Maori version for "properties" more properly is translated as "treasures" or "precious things", and this includes language. The upshot for us is that a number of places will offer beginners' Maori courses for free, and my home learning kit (with 20 20 minute lessons on CD and a workbook with nice pretty pictures) arrived in the post on Friday. It is designed to cover over 4 weeks - a lesson a day. I think the first two weeks will be easy, whilst I'm not working, but it will be interesting to see if I can keep it up once I'm at work.
3) Learning the accordion
As it made the sea-voyage without any problems, I am determined to have a good go at playing the accordion. I think the fact that I have a reasonable understanding of music (particularly keyboard) will help, but it is still going to be a challenge to get everything moving correctly (after about 20 minutes' playing, my arms start going numb!) Fortunately, once I start work, I am allowed to join the Wellington library; at the moment, we can join as outside members and pay a fee for every item borrowed, because we aren't living in the Wellington district area. However, having an employer with an address in the Wellington area gets round this rule, and the Wellington library has a number of "learn to play accordion" books.
This last weekend was a very Sci-fi orientated weekend - on Friday, we went into Wellington to meet up with a friend who was introduced to us (through Facebook) by a couple of sci-fi friends in the UK. It turns out that we have a lot in common as well as Sci-fi, and it was a very pleasant evening. I will definitely be looking forward to doing that again!
Then on Saturday, we had our next Board meeting of the Wellington Phoenix Sci-Fi group. As it was actually our side of the Bay, we decided that it wouldn't be too much trouble to walk over (thus saving us bus fare). The first fifty minutes or so were really pleasant, and included the discovery of a walk along the Hutt River, which I will do if the sun ever deigns to show its face again! The last thirty minutes were a bit more interesting - whilst it was only a short distance on the map (and we thought that we were going to be very early), it was almost all uphill! We definitely got our exercise for the day (particularly as we had already done an hour or so walk up and round the market and shops - fortunately, as it was throwing it down, our neighbour was also up at the shops and offered us a lift home), and so didn't feel too bad about snacking on chippies (crisps), chocolate and wine! A very good evening was had - lots of laughter and fun, and very generously were given a lift home as well.
Once again, I was able to reflect on how lucky we are to have the Sci-Fi community - I think that this has helped us to avoid some of the bigger issues that other people have found in emigrating; we have a social group that is instantly welcoming, and who I feel that I have known for years, rather than a matter of months.
We have a few challenges to sustain us over the coming weeks:
1) Saving money
Whilst the first pay day comes at the right point to stop us running out of money in our NZ bank account, it is only going to be eight days' pay at the most, as I will be starting midway through a pay run. By the end of the next fortnight, we will be ever so slightly in the red... (by less than $100) I would still like to avoid transferring any money over, so we have a challenge to save ourselves that $100 over the next five weeks. It can be done, I'm not stressing about it, and it is going to be interesting to see what we can cut out of our lives without too much trouble!
2) Learning Maori
One of the clauses of the Treaty of Waitangi gives the Maori "exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties." The word on the Maori version for "properties" more properly is translated as "treasures" or "precious things", and this includes language. The upshot for us is that a number of places will offer beginners' Maori courses for free, and my home learning kit (with 20 20 minute lessons on CD and a workbook with nice pretty pictures) arrived in the post on Friday. It is designed to cover over 4 weeks - a lesson a day. I think the first two weeks will be easy, whilst I'm not working, but it will be interesting to see if I can keep it up once I'm at work.
3) Learning the accordion
As it made the sea-voyage without any problems, I am determined to have a good go at playing the accordion. I think the fact that I have a reasonable understanding of music (particularly keyboard) will help, but it is still going to be a challenge to get everything moving correctly (after about 20 minutes' playing, my arms start going numb!) Fortunately, once I start work, I am allowed to join the Wellington library; at the moment, we can join as outside members and pay a fee for every item borrowed, because we aren't living in the Wellington district area. However, having an employer with an address in the Wellington area gets round this rule, and the Wellington library has a number of "learn to play accordion" books.
This last weekend was a very Sci-fi orientated weekend - on Friday, we went into Wellington to meet up with a friend who was introduced to us (through Facebook) by a couple of sci-fi friends in the UK. It turns out that we have a lot in common as well as Sci-fi, and it was a very pleasant evening. I will definitely be looking forward to doing that again!
Then on Saturday, we had our next Board meeting of the Wellington Phoenix Sci-Fi group. As it was actually our side of the Bay, we decided that it wouldn't be too much trouble to walk over (thus saving us bus fare). The first fifty minutes or so were really pleasant, and included the discovery of a walk along the Hutt River, which I will do if the sun ever deigns to show its face again! The last thirty minutes were a bit more interesting - whilst it was only a short distance on the map (and we thought that we were going to be very early), it was almost all uphill! We definitely got our exercise for the day (particularly as we had already done an hour or so walk up and round the market and shops - fortunately, as it was throwing it down, our neighbour was also up at the shops and offered us a lift home), and so didn't feel too bad about snacking on chippies (crisps), chocolate and wine! A very good evening was had - lots of laughter and fun, and very generously were given a lift home as well.
Once again, I was able to reflect on how lucky we are to have the Sci-Fi community - I think that this has helped us to avoid some of the bigger issues that other people have found in emigrating; we have a social group that is instantly welcoming, and who I feel that I have known for years, rather than a matter of months.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Huzzah!
Sorry for the silence over the last few days - I didn't want to jinx things when they seemed to be going so well (having heard of people who had got to reference stage and then been told that the interviewer hadn't actually got approval for the job!)
I had a few problems with taking the tests for the Ministry job; the outsourced company did not believe that Linux was a valid operating system; whilst I could take their practice tests without a problem, as soon as I tried to start the real thing, I got a splash screen telling me that as I wasn't using Windows or a Mac, I couldn't proceed. Unfortunately, all the library internet computers are also Linux as it is a free system which has a much lower virus risk than either Windows or a Mac (and is therefore preferable for a system where anyone could download anything!). However, when I talked to the HR lady, she did not have a problem with them setting up the tests for me to do in their offices.
So on Monday, I headed into Wellington to take the online tests. This was in a different building to the one where I had had the interview, which is a good job, as the interview building was right in the middle of the area where Prince William was visiting and the crowds were heaving! The tests themselves were a lot nicer than the practice ones, and, although I didn't finish the numerical one, I was a lot happier with how they went (and, despite what I had been told at interview, they were just numerical and reasoning, there wasn't a psychometric test there at all). I left the offices in glorious sunshine about an hour and a half later, and the crowds for William were still there (his flight had been delayed due to fog at Wellington airport). However, I decided not to hang around - I'm not the best person in a crush, and it's not as though I'm that fanatical about the royal family!
By the time I got home, the test results were waiting for me - I got 54/60 for the verbal reasoning (and all six were ones which I wasn't sure about on the check-through), 37/40 for the numeracy (but I ran out of time after doing question 37...). When I spoke to Kerry on Tuesday (he'd been off sick on Monday), he actually opened the email with the results in whilst on the phone; his reaction - "54 out of 60? That's good. Numeracy? Well now, that's just showing off!"
He's been talking to my references (both of them were from my previous company - it's been quite tricky having two references from the same job, but as that was over 5 1/2 years, and I've not the foggiest where to direct people for Sure Start (particularly as the DfES has significantly changed over the last few years!), I didn't have much choice...), and then had to get final sign off for the job. Which is why I've been waiting to let everyone know how it was all going!
But I got a phone call from Kerry this morning - the formal offer letter is now in the post. I'm not going to start until the 9th Feb (or that week), but I'll be meeting up with Kerry and Kevin, who is taking over Kerry's role and who will be my boss, for coffee next week. The icing on the cake is that he has got a significant increase on the salary - his reasoning is that no-one in the department was allowed a pay rise last year due to the recession, and so he wanted to get the raise in early in case it was the same situation next year! It's far over and above what I was expecting, even after he said that he was going to try to get me a bit more, and will definitely allow us some significant spending and saving money on a monthly basis. The joy is that my first payday (they pay fortnightly) will be just before the money runs out in our NZ bank, meaning that I won't have to transfer the rest over from the UK until the exchange rate is back in my favour (it seems to be getting better, but then it's had little rises over the last couple of months, and then slumped back down again!)
In other news, we have also had the delivery of our goods from the UK - the delivery men arrived half an hour early, and, even with having to turn the lorry round and come back as they'd missed the house the first time, they were still gone in 40 minutes! So far (touch wood) we've only had three significant damages, and all were mildew related - one of my coats, John's leather boots and one of our holdalls. We've still got a couple more things to check, but *touch wood* we should be all right. We're still unpacking - I thought we'd packed a lot more coat hangers than we did, so we are going to have to go and find some more. We've also got to earthquake proof our big book-cases before we can load them up (just bracket them to the wall), and probably pick up a few more cases to replace the ones we couldn't ship. The one little bummer is that the mattress that we had borrowed (and were going to buy off of our friend) is actually about half a foot too big for the bed! So we are going to be heading to the Salvation Army to get a second hand one to tide us over (a little bit icky, I know, but even with the higher pay, we'll have to wait a few months before we can afford a new one - I hadn't appreciated how expensive they are!)
I also had another walk yesterday; with some glorious sunshine instead of our promised rain, I wanted to see if I could get a bit of ridge-walking done. This walk was definitely one for appreciating colour. The sunshine filtered through the trees, highlighting particular details, like the huge buttresses on this tree, which I had to scramble over to avoid falling off the edge of the path on the other side
The tree did need the buttresses - it seemed to go upwards forever
When I got out to the ridge, I headed back towards the radio masts, and took one of the paths that headed down the other side of the hill. The contrast between the two sides was amazing, even in just a short space of time; the air was cooler, and the breeze that little bit stronger. Rather than the scrubland on top of the ridge, or the dense forest of the reserve, this road had a mixture of trees,
including this amazing manuka tree in full bloom,
bushes and flowers
I also came across a phenomenon that I have never seen before. Whilst heading up the hill back towards the ridge, the sun was eclipsed by a particularly bushy tree
Now, what isn't particularly visible in this photograph, and I believe that I only really saw it because I was wearing my sunglasses, which have a dark green tint to them, is that along the high cloud, the light was refracting off the crystals, and the cloud was striped electric blue and pink. I've tried to crop the photo down to the specific area of the cloud and then had a bit of a play with it to try to get the same effect as if you were looking through my glasses:
It isn't quite the same (the colours that I saw were more delineated and crisp), but I hope that you can get an idea of the vision, and can understand why I was standing there for about five minutes with my jaw hanging open! I haven't been able to find anything similar to it on the Google images, so if anyone can tell me what causes this phenomenon (and therefore whether I'm ever going to see it again!), I would be very grateful!
Back up on the ridge, and as the clouds passed overhead, they cast their shadows on the hillside, deepening and emphasising the folds in the land:
The route back home was interesting to say the least. I had spotted a path that I'd wanted to follow (at the up or down decision on the walk I did on the 4th Jan), and so happily took it this time. The path forked a few more times, and I started to get a little bit concerned that I'd gone wrong (I wasn't lost. Just directionally challenged...), particularly when every path that I tried to take to get me back to the entrance did an Alice through the Looking Glass and just led me further and further away, on the wrong side of the "V" shape of the reserve. Any sensible person would have retraced their steps at this point and gone back along the familiar path, but I never make any claims for being sensible! I was getting a bit more worried when I started going through land that was obviously being used for logging; had I strayed onto private property without realising it? Fortunately, I bumped into an elderly Scottish gentleman who was taking his English pointer for a walk. He asked me if I knew where I was going, and I confessed that I thought I'd taken a wrong turning. He very kindly directed me to his garden, and said that I could get out to the main road that way. After startling his wife (who obviously wasn't expecting to see a rambler appear!), I was out on the main road, and headed home. Lesson obviously learnt - I shall be a bit more careful next time I'm exploring!
I had a few problems with taking the tests for the Ministry job; the outsourced company did not believe that Linux was a valid operating system; whilst I could take their practice tests without a problem, as soon as I tried to start the real thing, I got a splash screen telling me that as I wasn't using Windows or a Mac, I couldn't proceed. Unfortunately, all the library internet computers are also Linux as it is a free system which has a much lower virus risk than either Windows or a Mac (and is therefore preferable for a system where anyone could download anything!). However, when I talked to the HR lady, she did not have a problem with them setting up the tests for me to do in their offices.
So on Monday, I headed into Wellington to take the online tests. This was in a different building to the one where I had had the interview, which is a good job, as the interview building was right in the middle of the area where Prince William was visiting and the crowds were heaving! The tests themselves were a lot nicer than the practice ones, and, although I didn't finish the numerical one, I was a lot happier with how they went (and, despite what I had been told at interview, they were just numerical and reasoning, there wasn't a psychometric test there at all). I left the offices in glorious sunshine about an hour and a half later, and the crowds for William were still there (his flight had been delayed due to fog at Wellington airport). However, I decided not to hang around - I'm not the best person in a crush, and it's not as though I'm that fanatical about the royal family!
By the time I got home, the test results were waiting for me - I got 54/60 for the verbal reasoning (and all six were ones which I wasn't sure about on the check-through), 37/40 for the numeracy (but I ran out of time after doing question 37...). When I spoke to Kerry on Tuesday (he'd been off sick on Monday), he actually opened the email with the results in whilst on the phone; his reaction - "54 out of 60? That's good. Numeracy? Well now, that's just showing off!"
He's been talking to my references (both of them were from my previous company - it's been quite tricky having two references from the same job, but as that was over 5 1/2 years, and I've not the foggiest where to direct people for Sure Start (particularly as the DfES has significantly changed over the last few years!), I didn't have much choice...), and then had to get final sign off for the job. Which is why I've been waiting to let everyone know how it was all going!
But I got a phone call from Kerry this morning - the formal offer letter is now in the post. I'm not going to start until the 9th Feb (or that week), but I'll be meeting up with Kerry and Kevin, who is taking over Kerry's role and who will be my boss, for coffee next week. The icing on the cake is that he has got a significant increase on the salary - his reasoning is that no-one in the department was allowed a pay rise last year due to the recession, and so he wanted to get the raise in early in case it was the same situation next year! It's far over and above what I was expecting, even after he said that he was going to try to get me a bit more, and will definitely allow us some significant spending and saving money on a monthly basis. The joy is that my first payday (they pay fortnightly) will be just before the money runs out in our NZ bank, meaning that I won't have to transfer the rest over from the UK until the exchange rate is back in my favour (it seems to be getting better, but then it's had little rises over the last couple of months, and then slumped back down again!)
In other news, we have also had the delivery of our goods from the UK - the delivery men arrived half an hour early, and, even with having to turn the lorry round and come back as they'd missed the house the first time, they were still gone in 40 minutes! So far (touch wood) we've only had three significant damages, and all were mildew related - one of my coats, John's leather boots and one of our holdalls. We've still got a couple more things to check, but *touch wood* we should be all right. We're still unpacking - I thought we'd packed a lot more coat hangers than we did, so we are going to have to go and find some more. We've also got to earthquake proof our big book-cases before we can load them up (just bracket them to the wall), and probably pick up a few more cases to replace the ones we couldn't ship. The one little bummer is that the mattress that we had borrowed (and were going to buy off of our friend) is actually about half a foot too big for the bed! So we are going to be heading to the Salvation Army to get a second hand one to tide us over (a little bit icky, I know, but even with the higher pay, we'll have to wait a few months before we can afford a new one - I hadn't appreciated how expensive they are!)
I also had another walk yesterday; with some glorious sunshine instead of our promised rain, I wanted to see if I could get a bit of ridge-walking done. This walk was definitely one for appreciating colour. The sunshine filtered through the trees, highlighting particular details, like the huge buttresses on this tree, which I had to scramble over to avoid falling off the edge of the path on the other side
The tree did need the buttresses - it seemed to go upwards forever
When I got out to the ridge, I headed back towards the radio masts, and took one of the paths that headed down the other side of the hill. The contrast between the two sides was amazing, even in just a short space of time; the air was cooler, and the breeze that little bit stronger. Rather than the scrubland on top of the ridge, or the dense forest of the reserve, this road had a mixture of trees,
including this amazing manuka tree in full bloom,
bushes and flowers
I also came across a phenomenon that I have never seen before. Whilst heading up the hill back towards the ridge, the sun was eclipsed by a particularly bushy tree
Now, what isn't particularly visible in this photograph, and I believe that I only really saw it because I was wearing my sunglasses, which have a dark green tint to them, is that along the high cloud, the light was refracting off the crystals, and the cloud was striped electric blue and pink. I've tried to crop the photo down to the specific area of the cloud and then had a bit of a play with it to try to get the same effect as if you were looking through my glasses:
It isn't quite the same (the colours that I saw were more delineated and crisp), but I hope that you can get an idea of the vision, and can understand why I was standing there for about five minutes with my jaw hanging open! I haven't been able to find anything similar to it on the Google images, so if anyone can tell me what causes this phenomenon (and therefore whether I'm ever going to see it again!), I would be very grateful!
Back up on the ridge, and as the clouds passed overhead, they cast their shadows on the hillside, deepening and emphasising the folds in the land:
The route back home was interesting to say the least. I had spotted a path that I'd wanted to follow (at the up or down decision on the walk I did on the 4th Jan), and so happily took it this time. The path forked a few more times, and I started to get a little bit concerned that I'd gone wrong (I wasn't lost. Just directionally challenged...), particularly when every path that I tried to take to get me back to the entrance did an Alice through the Looking Glass and just led me further and further away, on the wrong side of the "V" shape of the reserve. Any sensible person would have retraced their steps at this point and gone back along the familiar path, but I never make any claims for being sensible! I was getting a bit more worried when I started going through land that was obviously being used for logging; had I strayed onto private property without realising it? Fortunately, I bumped into an elderly Scottish gentleman who was taking his English pointer for a walk. He asked me if I knew where I was going, and I confessed that I thought I'd taken a wrong turning. He very kindly directed me to his garden, and said that I could get out to the main road that way. After startling his wife (who obviously wasn't expecting to see a rambler appear!), I was out on the main road, and headed home. Lesson obviously learnt - I shall be a bit more careful next time I'm exploring!
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Little happy dance!
Well, thank you everyone for your good luck wishes - they meant so much :-)
I had a bit of a rush in the morning - on top of it being an evilly early start (well, given that we are used to waking up at 7 and then dozing till 9, having to be out of the house at 7.45 was nasty!), the train then ended up running about five minutes late, and, as it was packed with commuters, it took me five minutes to get out of the station. Unfortunately, as I'd only left 15 minutes to get to the interview, I therefore only had 5 minutes, and it was exactly 5 minutes walk away! So I was a bit out of breath when I got in; fortunately, they weren't waiting for me, and I was able to sit and chat a bit with the receptionist to regain my composure (she lives up the line from us, so I was able to get a bit of information about the train services).
The interview itself went ok - nothing "zingy" - I was able to answer all of the questions, using examples from my previous job (which is the way they like doing things here). I liked the two interviewers, Kerry, who is doing both this role and the managerial one, and Dion, who is one of the key internal customers of the role - we were able to chat as well as be more formal. However, I didn't really walk away with the feeling that the job was in the bag. It also didn't help that I wasn't coming from a government background, and, early on in the interview, they said that Kerry's position was also being replaced, and the person that they'd got in came from a similar background to me; a private IT position, rather than within government. As the position includes providing advice and support around procurement policies and practice, I didn't think that they would want two people who didn't have that much internal knowledge of the policies!
As I left, I was told that they had a number of other people to see that day, and they would let me know on Monday (Kerry was going to South Island for a long weekend on Thursday morning).
So, I wasn't overly hopeful. I did perk up when I got to the station, and popped into the supermarket there to find that they are doing instant coffee at about half the price of our local supermarket. As we were down to our last cup, I picked up a packet of very good Espresso!
We were going out in the evening to our next Sci-fi meeting, so I made us a cooked lunch, rather waiting for an evening meal, and generally bimbled round the afternoon. (Scrabble on Facebook is a very good way of passing time, particularly if you are playing with someone in the same room as you...)
Then, just as we were thinking of having a little something for tea (we picked up a *very* nice coffee and walnut cake at the farmers' market this week), the phone rang.
It was Kerry, and as I wasn't anticipating being called before Monday, I presumed that it was bad news.
However...
They have decided to offer me the job! Apparently I gave them the confidence that I could do the job, and I also learnt the value of being friendly to everyone - they had asked the receptionist to do an informal opinion on the candidates - and she liked me, too!
It's not a formal job offer yet, as I have to do an online psychometric test and they have to talk to my references first, which won't happen until Kerry gets back from holiday. However, all being well, I will start work as a Contracts Adviser for a government ministry at the beginning of February. The pay is good, and will cover our outgoings with a little bit left over for fun stuff. And, even better, they get paid fortnightly, which means that I will get paid before the money runs out (well, until I'd have to organise the next transfer over from the UK). Just. (we will have less than $400 in the bank - we'd run out 4 days later!)
The Sci-fi meeting was therefore especially good - we were at a new pub for a "what I did on my holidays" chat, and I've found a *very* nice brand of cider!
And to make the week even better, our belongings have now arrived in New Zealand, and have been checked by MAF, with nothing needing to be cleaned. So all we have to do is wait for Customs to clear them, and then we will have all of our stuff to play with, too!
So huge smiles all round - it really takes away the stress. We still have to be careful financially until I get paid, but once that has happened, we can really relax and enjoy our new home!
I had a bit of a rush in the morning - on top of it being an evilly early start (well, given that we are used to waking up at 7 and then dozing till 9, having to be out of the house at 7.45 was nasty!), the train then ended up running about five minutes late, and, as it was packed with commuters, it took me five minutes to get out of the station. Unfortunately, as I'd only left 15 minutes to get to the interview, I therefore only had 5 minutes, and it was exactly 5 minutes walk away! So I was a bit out of breath when I got in; fortunately, they weren't waiting for me, and I was able to sit and chat a bit with the receptionist to regain my composure (she lives up the line from us, so I was able to get a bit of information about the train services).
The interview itself went ok - nothing "zingy" - I was able to answer all of the questions, using examples from my previous job (which is the way they like doing things here). I liked the two interviewers, Kerry, who is doing both this role and the managerial one, and Dion, who is one of the key internal customers of the role - we were able to chat as well as be more formal. However, I didn't really walk away with the feeling that the job was in the bag. It also didn't help that I wasn't coming from a government background, and, early on in the interview, they said that Kerry's position was also being replaced, and the person that they'd got in came from a similar background to me; a private IT position, rather than within government. As the position includes providing advice and support around procurement policies and practice, I didn't think that they would want two people who didn't have that much internal knowledge of the policies!
As I left, I was told that they had a number of other people to see that day, and they would let me know on Monday (Kerry was going to South Island for a long weekend on Thursday morning).
So, I wasn't overly hopeful. I did perk up when I got to the station, and popped into the supermarket there to find that they are doing instant coffee at about half the price of our local supermarket. As we were down to our last cup, I picked up a packet of very good Espresso!
We were going out in the evening to our next Sci-fi meeting, so I made us a cooked lunch, rather waiting for an evening meal, and generally bimbled round the afternoon. (Scrabble on Facebook is a very good way of passing time, particularly if you are playing with someone in the same room as you...)
Then, just as we were thinking of having a little something for tea (we picked up a *very* nice coffee and walnut cake at the farmers' market this week), the phone rang.
It was Kerry, and as I wasn't anticipating being called before Monday, I presumed that it was bad news.
However...
They have decided to offer me the job! Apparently I gave them the confidence that I could do the job, and I also learnt the value of being friendly to everyone - they had asked the receptionist to do an informal opinion on the candidates - and she liked me, too!
It's not a formal job offer yet, as I have to do an online psychometric test and they have to talk to my references first, which won't happen until Kerry gets back from holiday. However, all being well, I will start work as a Contracts Adviser for a government ministry at the beginning of February. The pay is good, and will cover our outgoings with a little bit left over for fun stuff. And, even better, they get paid fortnightly, which means that I will get paid before the money runs out (well, until I'd have to organise the next transfer over from the UK). Just. (we will have less than $400 in the bank - we'd run out 4 days later!)
The Sci-fi meeting was therefore especially good - we were at a new pub for a "what I did on my holidays" chat, and I've found a *very* nice brand of cider!
And to make the week even better, our belongings have now arrived in New Zealand, and have been checked by MAF, with nothing needing to be cleaned. So all we have to do is wait for Customs to clear them, and then we will have all of our stuff to play with, too!
So huge smiles all round - it really takes away the stress. We still have to be careful financially until I get paid, but once that has happened, we can really relax and enjoy our new home!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Fingers crossed, please...
Well, the offices are slowly coming back after the Christmas holidays, and I had a phone call today from a government ministry who would like me to go in for an interview at O Dark o'clock on Wednesday. (I didn't think that government departments opened before 9!!) It's for a job that I'd love to do - essentially working on the "other side of the fence" to the role that I had in the UK, assisting with the creation of tenders and contracts within the Ministry, and then monitoring the suppliers once they have won the contract. I know that I can do it, and do it well - the trick is now to convince the interviewers!
So, please keep your fingers crossed very tightly for me at 7.30pm GMT on Tuesday (8.30 am Wednesday New Zealand time) - now I need to go and actually read what I put on my CV and application form! ;-)
In other news, we have had a great couple of days with Judy and Scott who came down from Auckland for a Wellington visit. They came over for Sunday lunch - my first bit of formal entertaining in the new house, and, even with a couple of minor issues (the stuffed chicken breasts took an hour to cook instead of 20 minutes - lesson learned that they shouldn't be piled on top of each other, and we had mismatching cutlery and crockery (particularly glasses and pudding dishes - I had my pudding on a pyrex lid!), I think it all went very well - we had a really great time. Then John and I went into Wellington today to meet up with them, and we spent the day strolling round the Te Papa museum, and chatting a lot more! (Scott and John didn't get much of a word in edgeways with Judy and me chattering away :-) ) We also went up the Cable car and had a little bit of a wander in the Botanical Gardens, with a very friendly young sparrow, who had obviously only just been pushed out of the nest - he came up to us whilst we were on a bench, hopped to our feet and opened his mouth! Unfortunately, by the time I could slip past and get some seeds from the grass to feed him, he had flown away and only came back to bother some other tourists. I'm sure he will do very well if he learns to target the workers when they are out eating their sandwiches!
So, please keep your fingers crossed very tightly for me at 7.30pm GMT on Tuesday (8.30 am Wednesday New Zealand time) - now I need to go and actually read what I put on my CV and application form! ;-)
In other news, we have had a great couple of days with Judy and Scott who came down from Auckland for a Wellington visit. They came over for Sunday lunch - my first bit of formal entertaining in the new house, and, even with a couple of minor issues (the stuffed chicken breasts took an hour to cook instead of 20 minutes - lesson learned that they shouldn't be piled on top of each other, and we had mismatching cutlery and crockery (particularly glasses and pudding dishes - I had my pudding on a pyrex lid!), I think it all went very well - we had a really great time. Then John and I went into Wellington today to meet up with them, and we spent the day strolling round the Te Papa museum, and chatting a lot more! (Scott and John didn't get much of a word in edgeways with Judy and me chattering away :-) ) We also went up the Cable car and had a little bit of a wander in the Botanical Gardens, with a very friendly young sparrow, who had obviously only just been pushed out of the nest - he came up to us whilst we were on a bench, hopped to our feet and opened his mouth! Unfortunately, by the time I could slip past and get some seeds from the grass to feed him, he had flown away and only came back to bother some other tourists. I'm sure he will do very well if he learns to target the workers when they are out eating their sandwiches!
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Job hunting is full time work...
In the last week or so, I've applied for thirteen jobs (well, nine advertised roles, and four calling for general "send us your CV and we may deign to acknowledge your presence..." applications). Today's marathon was three applications, which took me just about six hours (not counting an hour or so's break; half an hour at lunchtime and half an hour mid afternoon while my brain dribbled out of my ears!) Most of that was spent on two of the applications, both of which had forms to fill in as well as the CV and cover letter requirement.
But I am reasonably hopeful on both of the bigger applications - they are both more of the level of what I was doing in my previous role (meaning that I'm unlikely to have with them the phone call that I did this morning for the Administrative Assistant role where I had to explain to the recruiter why I was looking at basic admin roles when I had been in a managerial capacity - blunt answer, we need the money, and the application was in the right cash bracket! I did also talk about the ability to progress within the civil service and the benefits of them hiring someone who would be able to hit the ground running, and not have to have any handholding, but I'm not sure whether that would be enough to get me to interview stage over the top of the school leavers who can be moulded into the team shape...) Still, none of the three have a pre-January closing date, so I'm not likely to hear for a while (though January is next week, which is a little bit scary!)
I then spent the remainder of the "working day" playing with a new toy... Well, more of a new website - I sent some feedback in on a website I was browsing, and, after a little bit of an exchange with the contact, they asked me if I'd like to look over the new website that they will be launching in the New Year. So I had a little play on that and wrote a fairly major essay on areas for improvement - and I only got to look at one section - more playing tomorrow! (well, if they ask for open and honest feedback, that is what they will get!) I just wish that there was a way of doing this sort of thing professionally, as I really do enjoy it (I get to use my technical skills and my love of nit-picking in equal quantities!)
After spending pretty much all day indoors, aside from a little trip out to weed in the greenhouse and to see how my plants are doing (I still think I'm going to lose the battle between me and the leaf-eating pest, but the garlic is doing well...), I then went out for a short walk - I ended up half an hour and two train stations away (and discovered that the local TKD group is twenty minutes away) - an absolutely lovely walk in the sunshine.
And joy of joys, we have discovered that the local train service, and a couple of the buses are running limited, FREE services on Christmas Day. Absolutely no excuse not to get to the beach (even if it rains) and to do a bit of exploring! (maybe fitting in some presents and a little bit of turkey - we finally found something resembling turkey that won't break the bank...)
But I am reasonably hopeful on both of the bigger applications - they are both more of the level of what I was doing in my previous role (meaning that I'm unlikely to have with them the phone call that I did this morning for the Administrative Assistant role where I had to explain to the recruiter why I was looking at basic admin roles when I had been in a managerial capacity - blunt answer, we need the money, and the application was in the right cash bracket! I did also talk about the ability to progress within the civil service and the benefits of them hiring someone who would be able to hit the ground running, and not have to have any handholding, but I'm not sure whether that would be enough to get me to interview stage over the top of the school leavers who can be moulded into the team shape...) Still, none of the three have a pre-January closing date, so I'm not likely to hear for a while (though January is next week, which is a little bit scary!)
I then spent the remainder of the "working day" playing with a new toy... Well, more of a new website - I sent some feedback in on a website I was browsing, and, after a little bit of an exchange with the contact, they asked me if I'd like to look over the new website that they will be launching in the New Year. So I had a little play on that and wrote a fairly major essay on areas for improvement - and I only got to look at one section - more playing tomorrow! (well, if they ask for open and honest feedback, that is what they will get!) I just wish that there was a way of doing this sort of thing professionally, as I really do enjoy it (I get to use my technical skills and my love of nit-picking in equal quantities!)
After spending pretty much all day indoors, aside from a little trip out to weed in the greenhouse and to see how my plants are doing (I still think I'm going to lose the battle between me and the leaf-eating pest, but the garlic is doing well...), I then went out for a short walk - I ended up half an hour and two train stations away (and discovered that the local TKD group is twenty minutes away) - an absolutely lovely walk in the sunshine.
And joy of joys, we have discovered that the local train service, and a couple of the buses are running limited, FREE services on Christmas Day. Absolutely no excuse not to get to the beach (even if it rains) and to do a bit of exploring! (maybe fitting in some presents and a little bit of turkey - we finally found something resembling turkey that won't break the bank...)
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Bits 'n' Pieces week...
This week I have mostly been filling job application forms...
The good news is that there are still jobs being advertised, the bad news is that I expect to get most of them returned with the metaphorical "overqualified" stamp on them. Still - no harm in trying, and even if I only get a couple of interviews out of it, it's worth the time spent!
Other than that, I have completed my Christmas shopping (huzzah for Amazon!), and we have also taken a trip down to Ngauranga to meet the NZ side of our shippers, who are a lot more professional and courteous than the UK side!
It was a lovely day, so I took the opportunity to grab a few more pics:
These two are shots of the New Zealand Christmas Tree (also known as Pohutakawa) - they really are glorious, and even just a couple of blooms brightens up the whole tree. This is the view from Waterloo station (on the going into Wellington side of the tracks) - the first picture was taken from the station platform...
These are the shots from Ngauranga station - the station itself is pretty much a lump of concrete (with a rain shelter) in the middle of the tracks - but the views are incredible. We get to see this (though not always in the nice weather!) every time we head into Wellington. Because the trains are all powered by overhead lines, there isn't a live rail on the tracks, which means that, whilst it is still illegal, it isn't dangerous to cross the tracks (particularly with trains only every 20 mins or so, and a lovely long straight track to spot them on) - there was a group of teenage boys who had crossed the tracks and who were sat on the rocks fishing.
Yesterday, I had an interview with a volunteer agency - rather than just sit at home all day, I thought that it would be quite nice to be able to get out and do something even if it is only for a couple of hours a week. I've come away with a few contact details - a charity for refugees needs a committee secretary (which is only 5 times a year, and pretty much what I did for the FCDC, so I'll definitely give that a go), there is a tree planting project out in Eastbourne to try to save some of the sand dunes, again, that is only one off, and they weren't sure whether it was still ongoing, but I can call them. The most interesting one was for a museum down in Petone (a couple of minutes on the train / bus, or a half hour or so walk), but I'll need to pop down there as, again, they weren't sure whether the position was still open. So a few leads and something to get stuck into on Monday!
We've also had a couple of chats with our neighbour, Shirley. She's nearly 80, and a bit befuddled by technology, so as well as John helping her to change a kitchen lightbulb, I've also popped in to help her with her house alarm (so loud that it woke us up as well!) and also to fix her cooker after a power cut (she was having difficulty with the fact that the clock had reset itself and was flashing "auto" - she just wanted the cooker back on manual!). It's lovely to be able to have a chat with her (the 2 minutes to reset her clock then became about an hour of chatting) - she has done so much and seen so many changes in her life - moving from pre and post war Bradford ("A busy, modern industrial city - we did lots with the wool, you know...") to a laid back New Zealand, where phone calls home cost £1 a minute (and in the early 60s, that was ouchy!), and the pace of life was just so much slower.
It did mean, however, that we were a bit late in getting to the market today (which, given that we didn't have anything here for lunch, either, meant that my stomach was growling all the way round!). This was a mixed blessing - whilst we certainly lost some of the choice (I ended up paying nearly a dollar more for eggs...), we also got ourselves a couple of bargains - a nice cheap bag of fresh peas which will last us for three meals (they've gone in the freezer now), and a lovely conversation with our cake man - he tried to persuade us to buy a bigger cake (for double the price), but when I said that we were on a budget, and this was our weekly treat, he gave us a bag of his home-made sweets for free! Very touched by his generosity, and he has definitely ensured that we will remain customers of his!
I also got IDd at the supermarket today buying some beer for John - I took it as a compliment that I don't yet look 21!
The good news is that there are still jobs being advertised, the bad news is that I expect to get most of them returned with the metaphorical "overqualified" stamp on them. Still - no harm in trying, and even if I only get a couple of interviews out of it, it's worth the time spent!
Other than that, I have completed my Christmas shopping (huzzah for Amazon!), and we have also taken a trip down to Ngauranga to meet the NZ side of our shippers, who are a lot more professional and courteous than the UK side!
It was a lovely day, so I took the opportunity to grab a few more pics:
These two are shots of the New Zealand Christmas Tree (also known as Pohutakawa) - they really are glorious, and even just a couple of blooms brightens up the whole tree. This is the view from Waterloo station (on the going into Wellington side of the tracks) - the first picture was taken from the station platform...
These are the shots from Ngauranga station - the station itself is pretty much a lump of concrete (with a rain shelter) in the middle of the tracks - but the views are incredible. We get to see this (though not always in the nice weather!) every time we head into Wellington. Because the trains are all powered by overhead lines, there isn't a live rail on the tracks, which means that, whilst it is still illegal, it isn't dangerous to cross the tracks (particularly with trains only every 20 mins or so, and a lovely long straight track to spot them on) - there was a group of teenage boys who had crossed the tracks and who were sat on the rocks fishing.
Yesterday, I had an interview with a volunteer agency - rather than just sit at home all day, I thought that it would be quite nice to be able to get out and do something even if it is only for a couple of hours a week. I've come away with a few contact details - a charity for refugees needs a committee secretary (which is only 5 times a year, and pretty much what I did for the FCDC, so I'll definitely give that a go), there is a tree planting project out in Eastbourne to try to save some of the sand dunes, again, that is only one off, and they weren't sure whether it was still ongoing, but I can call them. The most interesting one was for a museum down in Petone (a couple of minutes on the train / bus, or a half hour or so walk), but I'll need to pop down there as, again, they weren't sure whether the position was still open. So a few leads and something to get stuck into on Monday!
We've also had a couple of chats with our neighbour, Shirley. She's nearly 80, and a bit befuddled by technology, so as well as John helping her to change a kitchen lightbulb, I've also popped in to help her with her house alarm (so loud that it woke us up as well!) and also to fix her cooker after a power cut (she was having difficulty with the fact that the clock had reset itself and was flashing "auto" - she just wanted the cooker back on manual!). It's lovely to be able to have a chat with her (the 2 minutes to reset her clock then became about an hour of chatting) - she has done so much and seen so many changes in her life - moving from pre and post war Bradford ("A busy, modern industrial city - we did lots with the wool, you know...") to a laid back New Zealand, where phone calls home cost £1 a minute (and in the early 60s, that was ouchy!), and the pace of life was just so much slower.
It did mean, however, that we were a bit late in getting to the market today (which, given that we didn't have anything here for lunch, either, meant that my stomach was growling all the way round!). This was a mixed blessing - whilst we certainly lost some of the choice (I ended up paying nearly a dollar more for eggs...), we also got ourselves a couple of bargains - a nice cheap bag of fresh peas which will last us for three meals (they've gone in the freezer now), and a lovely conversation with our cake man - he tried to persuade us to buy a bigger cake (for double the price), but when I said that we were on a budget, and this was our weekly treat, he gave us a bag of his home-made sweets for free! Very touched by his generosity, and he has definitely ensured that we will remain customers of his!
I also got IDd at the supermarket today buying some beer for John - I took it as a compliment that I don't yet look 21!
Monday, 14 December 2009
There's nothing like good news on a Monday...
And that was nothing like good news on a Monday...
Unfortunately, I took a call from James this afternoon (after chasing him again on the job front); you know a company needs a good administrator when they miss that they have been underbilled for $18,000 of goods. Unfortunately, they now need the money that would have been the administrator's salary to pay the outstanding invoice...
He hasn't said that the job is canned outright, but they now don't have the money to pay me until February (he is also using the money that would have taken him to the football world cup next year, where NZ have got through for the first time since 1982, so he is gutted on a personal level as well, particularly as if they had spotted that they hadn't been invoiced for the full amount when it happened about six months ago, then they wouldn't be in the situation they are now)
So we have left it that I will reapply for jobs (I've already contacted the GIS company!) and if I get offered anything, then I'll let him know, but if I have no luck, then they will talk to me when they can reopen the position again.
In better news, I did get a free knife today for going to a knife demonstration at our local Warehouse (a sort of all-purpose store that sells DIY stuff / garden centre / clothes / toys / craft stuff / kitchen goods - we like it!). Looking at the number of cuts that I have on my hands at the moment, I'm not sure that I should be allowed to take it out of the box though! (I do believe that I have a knife in the drawer that was deliberately designed to cut in a curve - perfect "C" shapes in the kumera, and in my finger...)
Unfortunately, I took a call from James this afternoon (after chasing him again on the job front); you know a company needs a good administrator when they miss that they have been underbilled for $18,000 of goods. Unfortunately, they now need the money that would have been the administrator's salary to pay the outstanding invoice...
He hasn't said that the job is canned outright, but they now don't have the money to pay me until February (he is also using the money that would have taken him to the football world cup next year, where NZ have got through for the first time since 1982, so he is gutted on a personal level as well, particularly as if they had spotted that they hadn't been invoiced for the full amount when it happened about six months ago, then they wouldn't be in the situation they are now)
So we have left it that I will reapply for jobs (I've already contacted the GIS company!) and if I get offered anything, then I'll let him know, but if I have no luck, then they will talk to me when they can reopen the position again.
In better news, I did get a free knife today for going to a knife demonstration at our local Warehouse (a sort of all-purpose store that sells DIY stuff / garden centre / clothes / toys / craft stuff / kitchen goods - we like it!). Looking at the number of cuts that I have on my hands at the moment, I'm not sure that I should be allowed to take it out of the box though! (I do believe that I have a knife in the drawer that was deliberately designed to cut in a curve - perfect "C" shapes in the kumera, and in my finger...)
Monday, 30 November 2009
Huzzah!
Whoops! I hadn't realised that it was nearly a week since I last posted - sorry! I had been waiting for some good news to post...
Things moved very quickly last week after I last posted...
The GIS interview went really well. I had a bit of a trek out (the offices are two train rides away, and the office manager was very kind to give me a lift to and from the station, otherwise I would have had a bus journey, too!), to a glorious office in the middle of a suburb (my impressions might have been coloured by the fact that it was a beautiful day!). I got on brilliantly with the directors (they are a husband and wife partnership, and the wife is also a TKD teacher...), and it ended up with them saying that although they didn't have a role for me at the moment (and they had made that clear from the start, so I wasn't going there under false impressions), they were looking at a positive restructure (i.e. they had just won two major contracts, and the company was going to have to change radically to cope with them), and a role similar to the one that I had been doing with Innogistic was needed. However, because they hadn't worked out the exact details of the restructure as yet, they couldn't offer me anything. So I had to give them a call before I accepted any other offer... This did therefore leave me in a bit of a dilemma, as both companies had pros and cons, and if I ended up with job offers from them both, I would be having a couple of sleepless nights trying to work out what would be the best course of action to take!
I then had on Thursday my fourth interview with Heat 'n' Click, this time with Steven, the new sales manager (so new, that he hadn't actually started at the at point!). It was more of a chat than an interview - we are going to be working closely together, so it was vital that we weren't going to annoy each other. We got on brilliantly - totally on the same wavelength (a good chat about what processes were needed, and then a discussion as to why Gandalf didn't just get the eagles to take Frodo to Mount Doom and short cut all that mucking about on the ground... ;-) )
They then left me hanging for the whole weekend, which got a bit nerve wracking - by this afternoon, I was wondering whether they were just trying to work out how to tell me to stuff off! But James called just at the end of office hours to say that they would like to offer me the job - yays!
Rather sadly, when I called up today (post offer from James) to speak to the managing director of the GIS company, he said that they hadn't had the restructure meeting yet, and therefore wouldn't be in a position to offer me a formal interview until after Christmas. A bit of a shame, but it does mean that if the Heat 'n' Click does fall over, or if I realise that I really can't work with them, I do have a fall back company to go to! And he has said that he will keep my details on file and get in touch with me (though he would understand if I said that I wasn't interested any more). So I didn't have two companies fighting over me, but it would have been nice ;-)
The role that I am going to be doing is essentially a general administrative one; the company is new and doesn't have any processes or procedures in place, so initially, I am going to be working on setting those up (getting a stock management system in place, for example, including building an Excel based one for short term use, though I hope that they will be buying in a sturdier one for long term usage!), and looking after accounts management (sorting out their GST (equivalent to VAT) returns etc). When the Christmas period is over, I'll also be helping out with the website and doing some back office sales (i.e. taking calls in etc). There will also be some marketing work (helping design their pop-ups and literature for trade shows, actually arranging the trade show stands etc) (I'm also going to be doing a bit of short term work on their "Calendar Club" stand until that contract is finished in January)
The exact nature of the role beyond that is actually a bit nebulous - a lot of it will depend on how the Christmas sales go, and how much interest they pick up on the Green Biz side of things (they've had a couple of trade shows where they hoped to get some good leads; I expect that some of my early role will possibly be processing those leads, though that hasn't been talked about yet!)
I've got to wait for him to talk to my references before I get the job offer in writing, but as I know they will be good, all I need to find out now is where I'm going to be working from (they don't actually have an office as such, so I might possibly be working from home for a while, either that, or in the shopping mall waiting for my shift on the CC stand!), and when they want me to start...
In other news, we have also found ourselves an orchestra! The Hutt Valley Orchestra rehearses about 20 minutes walk away from us, and we went to their final concert of the year (they are now having a break until Feb). Their repertoire is very similar to that of Longwell Green, and the sense of humour is the same. I've just got to get myself some sheet music from the library so that I can keep my eye in until I'm next playing properly (unfortunately, news from the shipping company is that our belongings have only just left, and we can't expect them to reach NZ before the first week in Jan. Total pain!)
Things moved very quickly last week after I last posted...
The GIS interview went really well. I had a bit of a trek out (the offices are two train rides away, and the office manager was very kind to give me a lift to and from the station, otherwise I would have had a bus journey, too!), to a glorious office in the middle of a suburb (my impressions might have been coloured by the fact that it was a beautiful day!). I got on brilliantly with the directors (they are a husband and wife partnership, and the wife is also a TKD teacher...), and it ended up with them saying that although they didn't have a role for me at the moment (and they had made that clear from the start, so I wasn't going there under false impressions), they were looking at a positive restructure (i.e. they had just won two major contracts, and the company was going to have to change radically to cope with them), and a role similar to the one that I had been doing with Innogistic was needed. However, because they hadn't worked out the exact details of the restructure as yet, they couldn't offer me anything. So I had to give them a call before I accepted any other offer... This did therefore leave me in a bit of a dilemma, as both companies had pros and cons, and if I ended up with job offers from them both, I would be having a couple of sleepless nights trying to work out what would be the best course of action to take!
I then had on Thursday my fourth interview with Heat 'n' Click, this time with Steven, the new sales manager (so new, that he hadn't actually started at the at point!). It was more of a chat than an interview - we are going to be working closely together, so it was vital that we weren't going to annoy each other. We got on brilliantly - totally on the same wavelength (a good chat about what processes were needed, and then a discussion as to why Gandalf didn't just get the eagles to take Frodo to Mount Doom and short cut all that mucking about on the ground... ;-) )
They then left me hanging for the whole weekend, which got a bit nerve wracking - by this afternoon, I was wondering whether they were just trying to work out how to tell me to stuff off! But James called just at the end of office hours to say that they would like to offer me the job - yays!
Rather sadly, when I called up today (post offer from James) to speak to the managing director of the GIS company, he said that they hadn't had the restructure meeting yet, and therefore wouldn't be in a position to offer me a formal interview until after Christmas. A bit of a shame, but it does mean that if the Heat 'n' Click does fall over, or if I realise that I really can't work with them, I do have a fall back company to go to! And he has said that he will keep my details on file and get in touch with me (though he would understand if I said that I wasn't interested any more). So I didn't have two companies fighting over me, but it would have been nice ;-)
The role that I am going to be doing is essentially a general administrative one; the company is new and doesn't have any processes or procedures in place, so initially, I am going to be working on setting those up (getting a stock management system in place, for example, including building an Excel based one for short term use, though I hope that they will be buying in a sturdier one for long term usage!), and looking after accounts management (sorting out their GST (equivalent to VAT) returns etc). When the Christmas period is over, I'll also be helping out with the website and doing some back office sales (i.e. taking calls in etc). There will also be some marketing work (helping design their pop-ups and literature for trade shows, actually arranging the trade show stands etc) (I'm also going to be doing a bit of short term work on their "Calendar Club" stand until that contract is finished in January)
The exact nature of the role beyond that is actually a bit nebulous - a lot of it will depend on how the Christmas sales go, and how much interest they pick up on the Green Biz side of things (they've had a couple of trade shows where they hoped to get some good leads; I expect that some of my early role will possibly be processing those leads, though that hasn't been talked about yet!)
I've got to wait for him to talk to my references before I get the job offer in writing, but as I know they will be good, all I need to find out now is where I'm going to be working from (they don't actually have an office as such, so I might possibly be working from home for a while, either that, or in the shopping mall waiting for my shift on the CC stand!), and when they want me to start...
In other news, we have also found ourselves an orchestra! The Hutt Valley Orchestra rehearses about 20 minutes walk away from us, and we went to their final concert of the year (they are now having a break until Feb). Their repertoire is very similar to that of Longwell Green, and the sense of humour is the same. I've just got to get myself some sheet music from the library so that I can keep my eye in until I'm next playing properly (unfortunately, news from the shipping company is that our belongings have only just left, and we can't expect them to reach NZ before the first week in Jan. Total pain!)
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Lord of the Rings Locations
Our leaving present from the orchestra was a Movies-Trip, a guided tour of some of the film locations around Wellington, mainly, of course, Lord of the Rings, but we did get a bit of Kong as well...
It was a really fun trip; most of the location spotting was done up in Mount Victoria, and included Dunharrow and Weathertop:
(just imagine Aragorn surveying his army, or the Nazgul slinking through the mists towards the hobbits)
the tree where Frodo and Sam cooked the first night:
with maybe a couple of hobbits?
There was also the shortcut to the mushrooms, which was the first scene filmed of anything (just over 10 years ago...), and where one of the stunt men dislocated his shoulder falling down the hill (good job they weren't letting the stars do their own stunts at this point! They only did the last tumble down the bank)
This was also half of the "Get off the Road" location (the other half was another point in the woods)
Unfortunately, the tree they hid under was actually a fake one (as they needed the flat road for the horse to be able to walk on), but the hollow was still there:
We also went to the hill that the Nazgul looked down on before the race to the Ferry:
Looks more like a donkey to me!
A couple that weren't actually Hobbiton woods, but are still nice shots of the woods (and did feel vaguely familiar - possible setting up shots?)
We then headed over to the Mirimar area of Wellington (also known as Wellywood due to the number of studios there) to have a drive round the various factory sheds that are hidden studios (due to the secrecy around a lot of the projects, they don't advertise that they are filming studios etc to avoid having too many people trying to nose in!). We did pass the ship that was used in King Kong, but didn't stop for a picture (it was starting to rain at that point); we will have to try to get out there at some point. Once the ship had been used for filming, it was no longer sea-worthy, and so the studios sold it to a businessman for $1. He had planned to sink it outside of Wellington harbour to make an artificial reef, but has been held up with various issues (Ted didn't say what they were...), and so he is stuck with a non-seaworthy boat on his hands in the meanwhile!
We then went to the Weta cave, parking round the corner from the studios
We saw Peter Lyon's car; the chief swordsmith for Weta drives a baby blue tiny Nissan with Swordz as his numberplate - some of the swords that he makes would not fit in that car!
All in all, a good fun afternoon - well worth doing!
In other updates, I'm now not going to hear about the Heat 'n' Click job until Thursday, as they now want me to meet the new sales manager (which I see as positive as if they were going to reject me, they wouldn't go to all that trouble). I've also got an 'informal meeting' tomorrow (Weds) with the directors of a GIS company; I sent them my CV on spec, and, whilst they don't have any vacancies now, they would still like to meet me. Not bad for a bit of networking, but I'm not going to bank anything on it. It's also a bit of a yomp out - I've got to get two trains. Fortunately, the office manager is going to pick me up from the station, otherwise it would be a bus ride as well!
I've started work in the greenhouse; cleared out the top layer of the soil (which was covered in a leafy-mossy plant) and dug up a load of mini-bulbs (a plant with clover-like leaves, but grown from bulbs - unchecked, they have spread throughout the soil in the greenhouse!). I've also planted some seedlings in starter-pots (not put them in the soil yet; I'll wait for them to sprout first as I want them to have a bit of size before putting them up against whatever weeds are left in the greenhouse soil!), so, fingers crossed, I'll have chillis, capsicum peppers, broccoli, spinach and basil over the coming months.
I also had a long walk this afternoon (felt I needed some air), and went back down to the river (trying to find my way into one of two reserves which are marked on the map, but I am beginning to suspect that they are only reserves because there is no way a house could be built on the steep sides of the hills!). There I discovered that the duck mafia has produced the next generation, and spent about ten minutes watching the ducklings.
It was a really fun trip; most of the location spotting was done up in Mount Victoria, and included Dunharrow and Weathertop:
(just imagine Aragorn surveying his army, or the Nazgul slinking through the mists towards the hobbits)
the tree where Frodo and Sam cooked the first night:
with maybe a couple of hobbits?
There was also the shortcut to the mushrooms, which was the first scene filmed of anything (just over 10 years ago...), and where one of the stunt men dislocated his shoulder falling down the hill (good job they weren't letting the stars do their own stunts at this point! They only did the last tumble down the bank)
This was also half of the "Get off the Road" location (the other half was another point in the woods)
Unfortunately, the tree they hid under was actually a fake one (as they needed the flat road for the horse to be able to walk on), but the hollow was still there:
We also went to the hill that the Nazgul looked down on before the race to the Ferry:
Looks more like a donkey to me!
A couple that weren't actually Hobbiton woods, but are still nice shots of the woods (and did feel vaguely familiar - possible setting up shots?)
We then headed over to the Mirimar area of Wellington (also known as Wellywood due to the number of studios there) to have a drive round the various factory sheds that are hidden studios (due to the secrecy around a lot of the projects, they don't advertise that they are filming studios etc to avoid having too many people trying to nose in!). We did pass the ship that was used in King Kong, but didn't stop for a picture (it was starting to rain at that point); we will have to try to get out there at some point. Once the ship had been used for filming, it was no longer sea-worthy, and so the studios sold it to a businessman for $1. He had planned to sink it outside of Wellington harbour to make an artificial reef, but has been held up with various issues (Ted didn't say what they were...), and so he is stuck with a non-seaworthy boat on his hands in the meanwhile!
We then went to the Weta cave, parking round the corner from the studios
We saw Peter Lyon's car; the chief swordsmith for Weta drives a baby blue tiny Nissan with Swordz as his numberplate - some of the swords that he makes would not fit in that car!
All in all, a good fun afternoon - well worth doing!
In other updates, I'm now not going to hear about the Heat 'n' Click job until Thursday, as they now want me to meet the new sales manager (which I see as positive as if they were going to reject me, they wouldn't go to all that trouble). I've also got an 'informal meeting' tomorrow (Weds) with the directors of a GIS company; I sent them my CV on spec, and, whilst they don't have any vacancies now, they would still like to meet me. Not bad for a bit of networking, but I'm not going to bank anything on it. It's also a bit of a yomp out - I've got to get two trains. Fortunately, the office manager is going to pick me up from the station, otherwise it would be a bus ride as well!
I've started work in the greenhouse; cleared out the top layer of the soil (which was covered in a leafy-mossy plant) and dug up a load of mini-bulbs (a plant with clover-like leaves, but grown from bulbs - unchecked, they have spread throughout the soil in the greenhouse!). I've also planted some seedlings in starter-pots (not put them in the soil yet; I'll wait for them to sprout first as I want them to have a bit of size before putting them up against whatever weeds are left in the greenhouse soil!), so, fingers crossed, I'll have chillis, capsicum peppers, broccoli, spinach and basil over the coming months.
I also had a long walk this afternoon (felt I needed some air), and went back down to the river (trying to find my way into one of two reserves which are marked on the map, but I am beginning to suspect that they are only reserves because there is no way a house could be built on the steep sides of the hills!). There I discovered that the duck mafia has produced the next generation, and spent about ten minutes watching the ducklings.
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