Our latest dispatch was from gay Paree, where we blissfully ignored our lack of employment and touristed away. One thing I didn't mention is that we didn't buy a singel thing - and Mon is a female! Amaaaaazing. So the whole jobless thing has hit home in a big way. After realising that post-taxes, we were worth all of 12 euros (about 300 quid), austerity measures were put in place. Our draconian budget involves cutting out all food-related outings. It really works! Not only do you save money, you lose weight! Seriously, look at your bank balance and you'll see that [View Full Entry]

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It's wonderful, it really is. Go there at once. The food, the people, le doggy-poop... But wait. Before we start on the place itself, I deem it necessary to engage in a little transport wheeze, as I have been prone to doing. This time we focus on the Eurostar. The whole shemozzle really started when we saw ads for 59 quid return tickets (NZ$67 given current pound downfall) and thought 'we're unemployed, what else are we gonna do?'. A cursory look at airfares for the same dates revealed that this was in fact cheaper than anything from Heathrow (we don't do [View Full Entry]

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We are both bums at the moment - Mon finished her contract on the 22nd, and I've been unemployed since November. Christmas was wonderful - Mum made a super-special effort to make the house feel festive, and food was superb and plentiful. Presents were followed by coffee and croissants - memorable loot included a Denby teapot for Mon and rugby tickets for me, among other things. Our South African friends came over for lunch, a walk and charades, all punctuated with uproarious laughter and good cheer. We were given a day to recover before piling into what has turned into a [View Full Entry]

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Not... I'm back in the UK after the 20 day mission around the home country. The wedding went splendidly, I successfully handed over the rings and was not overly drunk during my speech. This blog is more of an excuse to post the few measly pictures I took during the trip. I am currently 'in-between jobs', which means that I am unconvincingly looking for work, half resigned to the idea that finding anything before Xmas will be a challenge. Spirits are high, however - Mon still has work and thus we won't starve just yet. So enjoy the piccies, and keep [View Full Entry]

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...hits the ground running, buys some football boots, gets buried by jetlag, zaps to the south, a zoom to the north... Yep, it's the obligatory tripbackforamateswedding. Almost an essential part of any self-respecting OE, this involves a return to the land of one's fathers for a manic 2 to 3 weeks of frantically seeing everyone followed by a wedding. I, however, chose to avoid all this and go on a 15 day meditation session, which has saved me a lot of rushing. I am, of course, not being serious. The trip has been a bit of a whirlwind, and I haven't [View Full Entry]

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Well, we try again. The UK, mark II. We have now moved into a lovely flat 5 minutes from the center of Ealing Broadway, which has the right mix of nice bars and eclecticism. Mon has a new job. I've quit mine. We got engaged. I'm returning to NZ for 3 weeks or so. It's all on! We are still marvelling at the awesomeness of our new place - it's cosy, homely and has a giant attic for Lego storage (as well as other lesser items like boxes and clothes etc). There is a strange sense of vulnerability that accompanies a [View Full Entry]

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Well, it's been something silly like 6 months, almost, and we're still not quite there, but it's coming, I can feel it. We hope to move out in a month or so, to Ealing Broadway. Mon has a job! You probably all know this, but it's big and we like it. She's right in town, big commute but it's worth it because it's a job where she'll learn a heck of a lot. It's in procurement analysis, whatever that is. I have resigned from my job, as you may know - to put it in a nutshell, it's boring and repetitive. [View Full Entry]

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Well, more or less. It's taken 6 weeks, but I'm finally feeling human again, ie not exhausted at 10 pm every night. Work is beginning to make sense - about time, really. The complete lack of blogs (or communication, for that matter) is entirely due to this imposition on my time and energy, motivated by my compulsive greed. I joke - if I were motivated by greed, I would be doing umm... something where I can make lots of money. Like charge for this blog. Ahem. That's me for now - I want more music! Mon is well - she has [View Full Entry]

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... since I wrote anything, so here is an entry off the cuff. I am working, and as you know learning a new job is tiring and quite sucky. So my last few weeks have been tiring and sucky. Meanwhile, Mon has no job - I have money but no time, and Mon has time but no money, except that she could choose to spend my money if she so desired. I had a few weeks in Glasgow, punctuated by a quick visit to Edinburgh. It's quite a long time ago now though, and it's late, so I'm failing to summon [View Full Entry]

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At the interview, they said they should be able to let me know by the end of the week. The next day I had the job! We decided that despite the icky forecast, we should embark on a little jaunt somewhere to take advantage of my soon-to-be-curtailed freedom. The aforementioned employment is with a company of 10 people that imports dairy products from Germany and Poland. I'll be in charge of keeping things moving, or to give me the full title, a Supply Chain Controller. The managers have vast experience in the industry, so it should be a good opportunity to [View Full Entry]

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