My Kindle has arrived.

I like gadgets. I like reading.

I recently had a newsletter from the author of 'Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools' which included a note to say that 'Chickens' was now available on Kindle.

I'd never heard of Kindle so, needless to say, I was straight on to Google.

About the same time, there suddenly appeared adverts on the tv for the same gadget. A gadget that is lighter than a paperback, that can store upto 3,500 books and you download them straight to the kindle.

I could tell that they were going to be this years 'hot' Christmas gift so, if I was going to have one for Christmas I needed to order one now.

So, we ordered one at the beginning of September with a delivery date of mid-September.

Then delivery was extended a few days more.

And last week I received a message to say shipment was Oct 2nd.

I was beginning to think this would be the pattern until Christmas, but then on Friday I got the e-mail saying it had been despatched.

And it arrived this morning.

It was already set up and linked to my Amazon account so as soon as I had matched it to our wireless internet connection I could download books. I didn't even have to wait for the battery to charge, as soon as I had connected the mains cable I could use it while it was charging up.

All I have to do now is finish the paperback I am halfway through and I can start my next book on my kindle.

I love gadgets.

This is home

I can't see that I have ever posted photos of our new home, despite LL asking me to, so apologies LL, here are a few especially for you:

And so, we start with the lounge - as you can see, the dogs don't do tidy.



This is my study:


I love the dining area:


And the kitchen



And this is a great place to relax in, a great place for conversation away from the TV.


The guest room has a bit of a colour clash - but hey, you're there to sleep and it does come with it's own bathroom!


And the garden is great for the dogs and totally safe!







And don't they just love it?

Fun and Games

The company I have been temping at had asked me back to do some holiday cover. It's a completely new accounting system to me, I am well versed in Sage, this is Coda. I'd never even heard of Coda before I started here. I've spent 20 years working in the property sector, this company is in logisitics - lorries and stuff.

And so it was decided I would have 2 weeks training before covering the work myself - plenty of time to pick up all the necessary routines to process the weekly accounts info......

..... except nothing ever goes to plan, does it?

The first week I should have been training I was taken back to do more work on the Year End in preparation for the audit, so I missed seeing any of the weekly processes which take place Mon-Wed.

On Thursday!!!! I had a few hours being shown what to do, making copious amounts of notes of which spreadsheet to use and how to upload info to the system, but not actually able to actually do any of it because it had all been done for the week.

Not to worry, we had Mon & Tues of this week for me to actually do the routines before the guy I'm covering for finished for 2 weeks and I'm on my own.

So, Monday morning I arrive at work bright and early, all set for an intense couple of days training when......

....... the said guy is a no-show! And no-one has heard from him. By 10am it is obvious he isn't coming in although no-one knows why?

Once again I am side-tracked onto Year End work while people decide what to do.

Tuesday morning, and still no sign of the chap that should be training me and now the weekly work is getting seriously urgent. I'm told he has a cold!

And I am asked the question I had been expecting............'Do you think you can do it from your notes?'

'Errrrrr....well, I can give it a go.'

And so that is how I spent my Tuesday. I have had good support from the people around me and I have managed to process the main items but whether or not the figures will look as they should when everything is run tonight, who knows.

All I can say is 'I did my best'.

Temping can certainly be a challenge!

Pipped at the post? or stolen from under my nose?

You decide!

I have been applying for a number of jobs and most of them are through agencies, which can be an added difficulty in itself. If you don't gel with the staff at the agency they aren't going to put you forward for any jobs.

I have a couple of agencies that are working well with me and, through one of them, I had an interview for a fulltime role.

There were 5 candidates and we had all been asked to keep the details of the job to ourselves as the agencies are all desperate to find out what vacancies other agencies are handling and trying to get in on the act. The nature of this company's business was so specialised it wouldn't take anyone very long to find out who was recruiting and get in there.

My interview went very well and the feedback was good. The MD liked me and it was looking positive that I would be asked back for a 2nd interview.

And then it all went quiet. The agency wasn't getting any contact and they were having trouble finding out what was going on.

Then this week I had a 'Bad News' phone call from them. The role had been filled...... but not by one of the candidates from the agency.

It turns out that one of the candidates had told another agency where they had been for an interview and that agency had made a phone call at exactly the right time. Someone at the company had unfortunately gone off ill unexpectedly and it was probable they would be off for sometime, leaving the MD with some serious concerns - pick up phone call from said agency who just happened to have someone who could start immediately - and said person walked straight into the role.

How frustrating is that?

So, I have to be grown up about this and believe there is a better job waiting for me elsewhere, but this job really did tick all the boxes in a very exciting company. I'd been honest with them at the interview and told them I had a 3 week assignment and would be able to start on completion of the assignment. I can only assume they decided they couldn't wait.

Hey Ho, back to trawling through the e-mail notifications I get of new vacancy updates!

When was your last pyjama day?

It's not something I do very often but sometimes you just need a pyjama day.

Mine turned out to be on Saturday.

Neil was up and out for golf at some ridiculously early hour and once he's gone I went back to bed, finally emerging to start my day at a much more sensible hour.
I decided I would do my bits and bobs around the house before having a shower and so rather than dressing, I simply donned a large T-shirt dress that I would never venture out of the house wearing or even open the door to a caller.

Normally PJ days and dogs don't go together but on Saturday the pups also seemed disinterested in going out the front door, happy enough to wander about the garden when they would normally be in the entrance hall trying their hardest to show me where their leads are kept.

And so the day progressed.

I pottered about, read my book for a while and then began to tackle the re-arrangement of my books back into some semblance of order so I knew where to find things. (To Do List - item 6).

Before I knew it Neil was home from golf. Now, he's a good hubby, he can spot a PJ day a mile off, and normally before I realise that one has developed and so, having just got back from rising at 5am and walking for 4 hours, he offered to take the pups out for their walk.

I still had no reason to leave our front door.

While sorting out the piles of books I had come across this.

This is a box I have had for more than 20 years. It's a Harrod's stationery box and originally contained 40 sheets of paper and 30 envelopes, and no, my memory isn't that good, the label is still on the underside.

I remember it was too pretty a box to throw away when all the paper had been used and it seemed an ideal box to keep letters I received in.

And that's what I did. It seems to cover a time before we kept in touch with friends by e-mail and is full of letters from friends who lived too far away to see regularly. Reading through them again brings so many memories back, some good, some not so good but all of them to be cherished.

By the time I had looked through and read most of the box's contents the day was almost gone and I started to move my thoughts back to the present day. I realised I has spent a couple of hours transported back to the mid-90's. I had been cast back to the days when friends were popping children as if there was a population shortage, where relationships were changing after many years of stability and one friend was battling cancer treatment, a battle she was ultimately to lose. I have a wonderful letter from my Grandma telling me of a ball she had gone to with her neighbour who was a councillor and that they had a 4 course meal which is why, she deduced, the local rates were so high! That she had worn a red dress to give her colour and that she had still been dancing at 1am when the ball ended - and she must have been in her 80's at the time.

I don't live in the past but I do like to visit now and then.

I just wished I'd been dressed for the occasion!

To-do list update

Earlier than expected, I have an update on my to-do list as any more progress on it this week has come to an abrupt halt.

I had a good couple of days and have completed items 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

I was making good progress........

and then today I received a phone call............

from the company I had been working at for the last few weeks............

'Is it possible you could work tomorrow and Friday and all next week instead of 3 days?' 'Please?'

They have another exercise they are struggling with and need my expertise - how good is that?

And so, my bookcase is still in disarray, my hair is now under serious threat of my fringe being chopped by me if I want to be able to see (but this isn't for the first time) and the nearest I have got to registering with the doctors is to complete our medical cards ready to take with us and to print the directions from Google Maps!

And my Friday game of golf is postponed yet again!

Hey ho!

A week to catch up on all those little jobs.

I find myself with a week of being unemployed and have just been making my 'to do' list for the week.

1. Cleaning
2. Laundry
3. Grocery shopping
4. Recycling
5. Clothes shopping for work
6. Sort bookcase
7. Register with Doctor
8. Find hairdresser

And if all this is done by Thursday

9. Play golf.

First priority is to get the housework done to keep the rest of the week free for me, and so I am about to start on 3 bathrooms!

Then I will do the shopping and take the recycling that they don't collect from the house and later today we are going clothes shopping as I need to add to my winter wardrobe. At the moment all I have are jeans & jumpers, not exactly appropriate work attire for the roles I am applying for.

Once that is all done it leaves me free to book coffee with friends, find a hairdresser and get my hair cut as it hasn't seen any scissors since June, when I was still in Spain. Finding a new hairdresser is always a daunting task so wish me luck.

I also want to sort out my bookshelves as Neil unpacked all my books so they are all muddled up and I cannot find anything, and I have bought some new ones which need to be allocated an appropriate space.

And the final task on my list is registering with the local Doctors. So a busy week but by Friday I hope to have everything crossed off and have a free day to play golf.

And why am I planning to do it all this week?

Well, I start work again on Monday for another 4 weeks. The company I have just done an assignment for have asked me to go back and do some holiday cover. As my brother said, it's always nice to be asked back!

So, I'm off to tackle the bathrooms. I'll be back at the end of the week to show you how much of my 'to do' list is done.

Have a good week.

I'll show you what I've bought.......but don't tell Neil!

Tomorrow is our 5th Wedding Anniversary - our Wooden Anniversary.

We already have a wooden loving spoon

which would have been a perfect present and so I have been on a mission at our local shopping centre. I wanted something a little quirky but useful.

And I think I've found it.

It was handcarved in India by people who are part of a scheme to get people off the streets. The chap did tell me more but I've forgotten what else he said, as I knew I would. I did tell him it would be useful to have a little card or flyer to include and he did agree and may do something in the future, but for now you have to be content with minimal info - sorry. I can't even remember the type of wood!

Anyway, this is the little character.

Any ideas what it is?

Well, see if this photo gives you any hints?

Don't know?,

Well, take a look at this!

Isn't it brilliant? Now that Neil has to have reading glasses he's for ever leaving them lying around, this will stop them getting lost or damaged and is quite an attractive little ornament.

I hope he likes it as much as I do!

But don't tell him about it, I don't want to spoil the surprise!

For the story of our Californian Wedding, read here:

http://relocatetospain.blogspot.com/2009/09/todays-our-wedding-anniversary.html