"Mine!" ... "Mine!"

On Sunday, I packed up my car (and my sister's) with most of my household items, left home at 5.00am and headed off to set up a stall at our local market. This was the first time I have ever done a market...and I was not prepared for the "feeding frenzy" that occured.

We pulled up at the car park of the train station that is home to the market every Sunday. The sun was not even out and the cars not even unloaded, when the "seagulls" arrived! Out of nowhere, we were suddenly surrounded by shoppers we could barely make out in the dark dawn. All of a sudden, my boxes were unpacked at the speed of light and we had already sold about $40 worth of stuff by the time I had everything out of the car. Just as quick as they arrived, they disappeared. It reminded me of all the seagulls in Finding Nemo (hence the title of this blog! If you haven't seen the movie, where on Earth have you been??).

To say the least, I was overwhelmed. Even my sister, who is a market veteran, had never seen anything like it. I am happy to say, that although we stayed busy throughout the day and I made over $800, we didn't have a repeat of the first half hour.

So apart from the sunburn (yes...again!) and the emotional breakdown in the middle of the car park at the end of the morning, it was a good day! I had been so good at seperating myself from all the stuff that I had to sell before I move overseas, telling myself that "it's only stuff", and "I can't take it with me", but once most of it had been sold and I was packing away the remaining few things that I could give away, it hit me that, yes, it is only stuff, but it's my stuff. It all has a story, memories that make up my story. So, looking around my place at the moment, it looks a bit bare, but then to cheer myself up, I look at my bank balance and start to feel a bit better!

It was a full-on weekend. On Saturday, I woke up at 4.30am to call the family that I'll be working for in London, then I couldn't get back to sleep. The night before, I was babysitting my niece until about 12.30am and I had her all day Saturday as well. We went shopping to look for a dress for me to wear to my best friend's wedding in Sydney next month and came home with a pair of jeans and a jumper...as you do! I can justify the purchase...I had jeans and a jumper on my list of stuff to buy before I move to the UK, so I've just bought them a little earlier than planned! I actually wanted to go and see Trinny and Susannah who I thought were appearing at Westfield that day, but they'll actually be there next saturday...maybe they can help me find something to wear...or what not to wear!

And to today...today I may just have done something crazy! I have accepted an extension to my contract at the Government call centre until 1 May - 5 weeks away! Can I do it? I hope so. Before I accepted, I called all my recruitment companies just to see if they had anything else for me and sadly, they did not! On the upside, it's guaranteed work until I leave, I have made friends there and I know the job, so i'm pretty sure I can last another 5 weeks. But in this "Current Financial Crisis" (sorry to have to use the tired, old cliche!), it seems that beggars cannot be choosers!

So it looks like I'll be a Call Centre Customer Service Agent for a little bit longer. I can handle that. Soon it will all be behind me. I'll be a nanny. I'll be living the dream.

I'll be in London!

P.S Update on whereabouts of British Ancestry Visa...who knows?? I am getting a bit nervous, but I still have plenty of time yet. I just need to stop checking the tracking page on the Australia Post website EVERY...SINGLE...DAY!!