Work and an over thinking mind

Andy has started work.  After 6 months of studying and then holidaying sabbatical he has now joined the ranks of the workforce again.  So after 2 days in all is going well.  

Therefore I am 2 days into being a stay at home Mum with our 2 dearly beloved.  So far so good.  Unfortunately it has bucketed down with rain for the last 5 days or so and therefore it has been hard getting out and about.  We have however been to our local library, signed up and and taken some books out already.  Been to the Mall to get some essentials and have checked out a pre-school for Finn.  It was nice but I'm not sure if it is really the right one for us.  It is really more of a long day care arrangement which is fine but not really what we are looking for as it isn't very flexible if I only want 1/2 a day or even 6 hours.  You have to pay for the full 11 or so hours available regardless as to whether they are there that long.  So, I have found another pre-school near us which is 9-3 only during term time which is much more what I am looking for.  Therefore, as we are in the spring break school holidays at the moment it is shut.  I will give them a ring on Monday, I have a good feel about this one so fingers crossed.

I have also found a local Kindergym nearby which runs for an hour 3 days a week and there is a class that I can do with Finn & Isla together which is prefect.  As soon as I have a few pre-school days set for Finn then I will get the swimming lessons sorted.  It's all starting to come together now!

We took a drive up to Palm Beach the other day which is where they film Home & Away.  It is a lovely little beach and Andy and I sat like pensioners in our camp chairs while Finn & Isla played in the sand at our feet.  It was so relaxing!  There were a crew on the beach and some poor model in a bikini jumping around for hours on end.  She must of been freezing, bet they have to do a bit of air brushing on her!

 She did the same pose again and again and again....for hours.  We went to lunch, came back and she was still doing it!

 Miniature furniture for miniature people.

 

 Palm Beach.  A lovely place to visit and we will again.

 Seriously.  This is too cute.  Holding hands at the Sydney Aquarium.  Finn sporting a swanky new hair cut looking like such a big boy.

 Butter wouldn't melt.

 Isla dealing with a bowl of ice cream at Nick's in Darling Harbour like the seasoned professional she is!

 Ditto.

 Isla not getting the joke....

 While in Darling Harbour we stumbled upon a bank holiday Fiesta event.  All Latin style dancing, singing etc on 5 stages around the harbour.  We saw these guys and it immediately reminded me of Moonraker.  I thought F & I would be scared but they so weren't.

Finn catching a ride for a much better view.

Things going through my head at the moment:

• Will we buy a house here
• When will it be, we have been off the property ladder for 9 months now, refreshing as it was at the time I worry about the future and when we will achieve our mortgage settlement
• Sydney is expensive, where will we buy a house, will we buy land and build?  Where is a good affordable place to buy but that offers all we need, what are the schools like.
• What about primary schools and then secondary schools, will be able to get ourselves into the position to be able to afford some private education at secondary level.  Private schools are pretty pricey unless you go for a religion based school.  Would that be best to ensure a good peer group mix?  But then is that teaching them what we want....although we will always encourage them to make their own minds ups.
• What are the long term consequences of the move we have just made.  We have changed our paths so much from the norm.  What about when Finn & Isla are adults and we are still here...
• Have we done the right thing.  I do miss my family.
• Could we have achieved what we wanted in the UK?
• Will I make some life long friends here.  The type that you know for so long that when you are together you can just be.  I miss my 2 best girls.  How do I really do this and move on from the superficial how are you?
• Can I grow old and die here.  Who would come to my funeral.  Does it matter?
• I often think it's not just about the destination it's about the journey as well.  I don't want to always play it safe.  Will I ever be able to "settle" anywhere again, I worry not.
• Will I ever be able to survive going more than 5k in any direction without Tom Tom? 
• I worry about not having a clear cut path and plan which is what I and we have always had.  We are so transient at the moment while we rent and start to make plans for the future.
• Will I be able to do all I want to do with photography as a career, will it be sorted by the time F & I go to school.
• Will be ever find an evening babysitter who we can trust so we can go out again once in a while?

I think too much and would like to be able to switch it off sometimes.   Happy but so many thoughts.....

One door closes...

...but the next one hasn't opened yet.

No, your eyes do not deceive you, I am in fact making a post!  I've not done any recently as, unlike Sarah, I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted to talk about and didn't want to just blether on - perhaps this makes me a bit shallow?  Hmm.

Anyway, even I ought to be able to make something out of leaving my job of the last 9 years, which I did yesterday.  I started at the Avon and Somerset Constabulary in May 2001 as the Exchange Administrator and have been part of the 3rd line Windows Server Team since then, although becoming seconded to SouthWest One mixed things up a bit :-|

When Sarah and I had fully decided to make the move to Australia and were sorting out our timeline, we agreed that I'd stop work a while before we actually leave so I'd have the time to update my IT certifications - there are four that I really need to get done and two more that would be 'nice to haves'. 

I've already talked about the day when I handed my notice in, about three months ago, and yesterday came around pretty quickly but it didn't seem to arrive with a bang - more of a whimper!  I went to bed the night before without any major excitement/concerns about my final day, I got to work at about the same time as usual (albeit with a load of cakes as per tradition), I actually did about three fifths of a days worth of work (final documentation, mostly), had the usual exit tradition of everyone gathering around my desk while a senior manager talks about my history (which was fine) and then watched with the team while my countdown timer (which had been counting down for 31 days on the 40" monitor behind me) ticked down to zero.  A few handshakes and hugs later and I'm out of the door and on my way home.

Would you trust your IT to these people?  Note the countdown!

I don't want to cast aspersions re my relationship with the rest of the team - we all get on really well and I'd certainly count them all as friends rather than colleagues, and I know that at least a couple of them regularly read this blog so I'd better be nice (haha, not really!), and I know I'll be seeing them at least a few times before August but I did think that this fairly major event in my life (this was one of only two major jobs I've had since I was 18, after all) would have more of an impact on me than it apparently has... maybe it's too soon yet to make any assumptions about the medium-term.  The next few weeks will probably feel more like normal time off but as those weeks pass and the social aspect of work gets further and further away I might start to miss/think about my old workplace more... I don't know, perhaps as I said at the beginning I'm basically just a shallow person but I hope not... :-(

The last time we were all together at work

[Phew, this is all a bit bleak, I'd better end on a high note]

But... the good thing about now being an unemployment statistic is that I get to spend more time with the wee ones, Finn and Isla.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays are now going to be spent looking after/entertaining/providing for them as those are the days that Sarah works.  Today was my first day and they and I had a great time!  Isla woke me up at 0615 so we had a bit of a chat and a play before I got Finn up so we could go through the usual (but more prolonged as it's me in charge, not Sarah) ritual of getting washed, dressed and breakfasted. 

Tuesday is one of Finn's nursery days so I drove him there and then went on to Taunton to have some Isla and Daddy time which we don't get to do very often.  It was a lovely sunny (but slightly nippy) day so we went to Vivary Park and spent an hour or so on the swings and climbing frames there, followed by lunch in the local Subway.  I then picked Finn up, went home and put Isla to bed so Isla/Daddy time turned in to Finn/Daddy time and we had a fab time on the farm 'helping' Uncle Steve.  A slightly fraught tea time (with me cooking, urk) was finished off with a nice bit of triking on the patio and that was us all done - good times and I look forward to more of those :-)

Oh, and I washed four work shirts this evening - I guess I won't be needing those for a while...

Andy

Two weeks but no rest for the wicked

Well, I have finished work now for 2 weeks in order to facilitate the shippers (Crown relocations) when they come in next week.  We move to my Mum's this weekend.  Andy asked me last night if I had a list of what needed moving and what we have to leave behind.  I tapped the side of my head in a knowing way and advised that it was "all up here"!  Hmmmm.  I think I know what needs doing.  Well, we will find out on Saturday depending on how the move goes.  I have to say that moving house when you have 2 toddlers is a little daunting.  This will be our first move with Finn & Isla. I am imagining that it will be a little fraught and I will spend a lot of time saying Finn put that down, Finn come here and Finn get off your sister.  Sounds a bit like a normal day actually!

I'm concentrating on firmly looking forward at the moment and not thinking about the actual house sale and the finality of it.  I'm a little sad as I am the third generation of my family to live in Iona, before me it was my Grandfather and Grandma and before that was my Grandfather's parents.  I think my Grandfather is a little sad that the home is going out of the family but he is also quite pragmatic and a very modern thinker considering his advancing years.  He realises that things change and we wish to move on.  This is, however, one of the other decisions that is causing me a little guilt.  I feel that I can almost be at peace with the decision as I feel we are doing what is best for all of us.  Although it still piques a little.

Even though next week is going to be a bit of a slog I still have a couple of nice things planned.  Drinks with a friend, Bronnie, on Wednesday night which should be the calm after the storm as Crown will have left the building.  Bronnie and I have known each other since we were 13 years old, which is quite a long time.  For modesties sake and I won't say how long!  We used to ride our ponies out together every evening and had a whale of a time messing about and galloping around the countryside.  I will be very sad to leave Bronnie behind as we are the best of friends but I hope that she will come out to Sydney for a visit at some stage as her brother lives there aswell.  We have a couple of weekends away planned over the next few months, one in Cheltenham in March visiting the 3rd Musketeer in our group Charms.  Then a weekend in June in Cornwall for some girly chats, rose and good food - just the three of us.  I'm really looking forward to that!

My 2 best girls!  Charms on the left and Bronnie on the right.

I always love Wednesdays because it means that I have finished doing my two long days at work and we can get back to a bit of normality in the house.  Things start to drop off the end a little when I'm at work.  Washing piles up a bit, the children get a little worn out and fractious, the cooking starts to become a bit more speedy and easy rather than nutritious and cooked with care!  Finn & Isla tend to punish me a bit on a Tuesday night for being away so on a Wednesday night I feel better as they will go back to being normal again.  They seem to know on a Wednesday that I am back to stay for a while and always seem happier in themselves for it.  I know Mums who work 5 days a week and I really take my hat off to them as they must be working so hard behind the scenes to make it work.  It's not just the child care it's everything else aswell involved in running a family home.  Washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning etc.  It's bloody hard work and I'm very lucky to only have to do it for two days.

All that chat has made me think of a lovely piccie of the two of them taken in Wagamamas in London when we were there at the beginning of January - they were both very well behaved - I will get Crab girl and boy!

Too cute!

Sarah

End of an era... nearly

We've now told everyone at work our plans... bosses first and then the unwashed masses!

I'm not sure what I expected, exactly.  I've only handed my notice in once before and that was for a job I was only at for two months.  Other than that I've been made redundant or moved around internally so it's a new experience for me :-)

So anyway, it's done now.  It seemed to go OK - no shouting or tears from either party.  I've still got 14½ weeks of work left so it's still business as usual for now.  I expect in the near future there will be discussions with the higher-ups re handovers and whatnot but for now it's still the daily drudge.  Sarah wants me to go out in a blaze of glory, I'm not sure how likely that is!  I moved into management in July but after seven months I already know that my forté is back in the land of the IT engineer so that's what I'll be reverting to in Sydney if all goes to plan - Jobserve and Seek configured as appropriate :-)

Message ends

Andy

Coughs and colds

I think I've picked something up from Finn - I've had a cold and a nasty cough for a couple of weeks and now I've started to lose my voice. That's the problem when your children start going to nursery, they pick up all sorts!

I don't think a generally cold and moderately damp climate agree with me any more. For as long as I can remember I've always had some kind of congestion in my nose... apart from both times we were in Australia, so perhaps I'll be able to kiss that affliction goodbye soon!

Oh, and we'll probably have exchanged contracts on our house by the end of the week (touch wood) so it looks like we'll be letting work know about our plans very soon... :-)

Andy