This week...

This week, I only work two days, which when you're temping in a call centre, is always great news. Not so great for the old bank balance, but in my new "thinking positive" phase, I'm choosing not to focus on that point.

It's Easter weekend and so far I have dismantled my bed (ready for collection by the lady who will be purchasing it...if she ever gets in touch with me, that is (think positive, think positive!), polished and buffed my car to within an inch of it's life and managed to restore it back to (almost) it's former red glory, ready for sale...to my dad. I've sorted through my wardrobe and collected four large bags of clothes that I'll be donating to charity (and about four more bags to throw out that no one would seriously want!), packed a second suitcase to ship to myself in London and still found time to eat a few Easter eggs along the way!

After all that, I need a holiday! Good thing I'm off to Sydney on Thursday for my best friend's wedding. It'll be so great to catch up with her and her family and also our other family, the Clayton's (you know who you are!). I better sort out what I'm going to take for that - packing, packing, endless packing!

Tomorrow, it's movie day with the girls and we're off to see 17 Again with Zac Efron (oh, to be 17 again....), then work on Tuesday and Wednesday...12 days to go!

"I'm off to Paris for the weekend"

I've just read my last few posts and I want to apologise.

Yes, while this is a huge move for me, packing up my life and changing everything to live my dream, I've been focusing way too much on the negative. From now on, I am determined to be excited...and positive!

I'm moving to London. I get to live in one of the most amazing cities in the world, full of more experiences just waiting for me than I can possibly imagine. I have the opportunity to get a start into a new career as a nanny. I'll be living and working in the area that has always been my first choice. My visa is approved. I'll be able to say things like, "I'm off to Paris for the weekend" - a sentence that I have never said in my whole life! And, I'll be stopping over in Abu Dhabi to visit one of my best friends for 5 days on my way over.

So what if I don't have every single thing I need in my suitcase? They do have shops in London.

Let The Countdown Begin...I'm Ready (I Think!)

A lovely e-mail arrived today, containing the very message that I have been waiting (and not very patiently) for...my Ancestry Visa has been approved.

Yes, I know I've done it all the wrong way round and I really should have had my visa approved and in my hot, little hand before I booked and paid for my flights, before I accepted a job and definitely before I shipped a box of my stuff over to London (OK, I haven't actually sent the box yet, but it is packed!).

Now that that last hurdle is out of the way, my official countdown can begin. As of today, there 45 sleeps until I move to London. 45!! Is that all??

Now that it's almost here, and as much as I know I'll be ready (packed, shipped and queueing at the airport), will I really be READY? I have been planning this trip for over two years now and here I am in the final days, feeling scared and sad and out of control. This is the big one - the BIG move. This is the change of the country, the change of the career and most certainly, the change of myself. While I know it's normal to have these feeling when facing such a life-changing move, I want to spend these last few weeks making the most of my time left with friends and family, and that means leaving behind all the worry and the stress.

I'm just not too sure how to do that. Maybe there is something to be said for the whole "one day at a time" thing...I should give that a go.

Donald Duck, Tea Cups and Other Dreams

Ever since I can remember, I have wanted to go to Disneyland to ride the spinning tea cups and have my photo taken with Donald Duck. That's all. Just going all that way to do those two things would have made me happy.

I was lucky enough in 2004 to make the trip from Manchester, England to Orlando, Florida and onwards to Disneyworld (I wasn't too fussed that it wasn't Disneyland - beggars can't be choosers!).

If you've ever been there, you'll know all about the piped music that is constantly playing around the park and after even 20 minutes, you believe that all your wishes and dreams really do come true.

So when Dream Number One, riding the spinning tea cups, was accomplished, I then lined up for an hour and a half to have my photo taken with the duck himself...The Donald! (Mention must be made of my flatmate, Lisa, who braved the line-up with me - by far the oldest two people without children in the whole line!).

Photo taken and Dream Number Two completed, what was I to do now? Come up with another dream? Something I have always wanted to do but have put off for whatever reason?

It wasn't until a few years later, after returning home from the UK and moving to Queensland, after years of the 9-5 office job, I found a new dream.

I wanted to be a nanny in London.

I had the training but had never worked as a nanny. Regardless, I pursued this dream and am pleased to report that as of today, I have a job...starting in May...in London...as a nanny! That's right. Another dream is close to coming true. The job is exactly what I have been looking for and in the area of London that I have always wanted to live.

So, thanks to you, Donald Duck and the Spinning Tea Cups. I now know that dreams can come true and I'll keep on dreaming.

What can I dream of next...?

Where Have I Been?

Locked up inside a large, Government call-centre, solving the endless problems of the world's (or Australia's, at least!) unemployed and generally bringing hope and sunshine to the masses.

OK. So that's just a little bit of an exaggeration. I am actually working in a call-centre, but as to the hope and sunshine, I can only try.

Since I left my last job, and after surviving my week of training, I have been on the phones for just over a week now and I am actually enjoying it. For the first time in ages, I am working as part of a team, rather than being isolated on reception, and every call I take has been different. Some have been VERY different!

There have been plenty of things to keep us all entertained - phone calls being diverted to wherever they feel like, resulting in a flood of calls coming in that I am not trained to handle. Electrical storms that shut us down for half an hour, turning a normally quiet call centre into a hive of activity with people actually having the chance to talk to one another.

It's good to feel busy at work again and the days are flying by. I have been neglecting my blog and my e-mail inbox is overflowing. The last thing I want to do when I get home is spend more time in front of the computer.

In other news, my niece turned 10 on the weekend and we had a roller skating party with ten of her friends on Sunday. Where have the years gone? Wasn't it just the other day that I went to the hospital after my shift at The Mansions Apartments and held her for the first time when she was less than ten hours old?

Update on the London plans: I am sending off my application for my ancestry visa on Friday after my appointment to have all my biometric data recorded (retina scanned, fingerprints taken, DNA analysed, blood tested, MRI, CATSCAN, kidney donated...!).

Wish me luck!

What if...

Today I booked and paid for my flight to London.

Instead of feelings of excitement, I felt an acute attack of the "what if's". What if I couldn't get any temp work after the end of February? What if my visa application wasn't approved? What if I couldn't get a job in London? What if, after I have sold everything, I had to come back home to nothing? What if no one bought my stuff?

I could go on...and I did. Most of the afternoon. In my head, luckily, for those who had to work with me.

As it turns out, I left work early today as the train lines were down on my route home and they were shuttling everyone home by bus, and on my two hour bus journey home, the temp agency I am registered with called and they have a job for six weeks...starting Wednesday! The job is not what I would have normally chosen, but the pay is really good, so I have accepted it. Which means, my last day at my current job is tomorrow! Of course, they don't know this yet. That takes care of one of my "what if's".

Then, even before I got home, I got a call from a friend who wants to buy my treadmill! This treadmill has pretty much sat unused since I moved back into my place after Christmas (so much for New Years Resolutions!). So it looks like my stuff will be purchased and I'm worrying over nothing.

But you know the best thing? I hadn't got around to that testing the recruitment agency gave me to do yet ... and it looks like I won't need to after all!

My two-finger typing skills live to see another day.

...and then to the travel agent

Managed to avoid the test at the the recruiter today...ran out of time in the end! Now I get to do it online in the comfort of my own home.

After my interview there, I stopped in at Flight Centre and made a tentative booking for a flight to London! SCARY!!

Hoping for a stopover in Abu Dhabi to visit my friend Kirstie and then onwards to London.

The tentative date has been set for May...

The Great Big Job Hunt

Being happily redundant, this has now forced me back into the world of CV's, agency registrations and the dreaded interviews. Not fun, but a means to an end. At least for the next few months anyway!

I have my second agency registration interview today, including all the "fun" elements such as breaking down each and every job I have ever had (and believe me, there have been a lot!) and the test. Ah...the test.

Now, I have worked as a receptionist, in some capacity, for the past 10 years. From the frontline of hotel check-ins, here and overseas, to the being the face of major corporations (not too sure how THAT happened!!) and, yes, I am ashamed to admit...I still type with only two fingers...that's one on each hand! Which is really quite amazing when you think about it. How did I get to be a receptionist with 10 years international experience without being a touch-typer? Who knows! "George just lucky, I guess!"*

I can type quite fast with my trusty two fingers so this has never been too much of a problem for me. Until I am required to take typing speed tests. Like today.

Just hoping they put me in a room, with no CCTV, and let me get on with it. It's the end result that counts, right?

OK, back to the Great Big Job Hunt. I need to find a temp job, for exactly two months, that will pay me more than I make here, will have enough work to keep me busy and be easy to get to. Does such a job exist?

I hope to avoid the whole day to day temping here and there scenario, if I can, but at the moment, I'll take whatever I can get.

Oh, I did actually apply for a temp nanny job here in Brisbane for the next 2 months, so I'll keep you posted on how that works out!


* from "George of the Jungle"

Out of the Blue

I have to apologise to anyone who read my last post and is interested in my job...because it no longer exists.

Yes. That's right. My job was made redundant today. And my first reaction...

WOO-HOO!!!

Oh, it's such a relief! I can't tell you how excited I am. Not only is there now a definite finish date but they are going to pay me to leave! Being a receptionist, I never thought that they would make the position redundant, but I hoped they would. It seems they were able to do without me while I was on holidays after all. Now I will be finishing up at the end of February and on top of my February pay, I will now receive another month and a half of wages, which can go straight into the bank and possibly bring my move to London a whole lot closer.

Is that a crazy reaction? Probably.

But now I can shout it from the highest hill - I'm moving to London!!

Progress

I got a phone call today that could change everything.

It turns out that a job I am very interested in in London, needs me to start a lot sooner than I had planned, which of course, is amazing! But also a little bit scary.

The job is my ideal job. It will be a combination of a nanny / PA role which actually suits me to a tee. Even though I am looking to change careers and jump head first into the whole nanny thing, a role where I can still use the skills I have gained over the past 10 years would be perfect.

Now, before I get ahead of myself, the final plans are still up in the air and I have no definite dates, but my dream is starting to look clearer. If all goes to plan, I could be off in the next couple of months. The next couple of months....!!

For the impatient side of myself, that is great news. For the planning side of me, not so much! My brain has been working overtime thinking of all the things left to do and those horrible bills that need paying off. I am selling all my furniture and stuff in my mind at the moment and finding it very hard to concentrate on work.

So, in the spirit of not getting my hopes up....

I'm off to London, I'm off to London, I'm off to London!!!!!!!!! WOO-HOO!!

(Sorry - couldn't resist!)

The waiting is the hardest part

I haven't blogged too much about how my plans for moving to the UK are going and that's because not much is happening...at all!

I am in the stage of saving like mad and waiting to apply for my Visa, so on the outside it looks like nothing is happening. Very frustrating.

I have never had much patience and those who know me will whole-heartedly agree. So it comes as no surprise that I am finding this particular stage of my journey difficult. Add to that, a job that does not require much of me at all (read as: extremely boring and monotonous!) and it all works to drag the time out longer and longer.

That doesn't mean my mind hasn't been racing ahead with all the stuff I need to do before I go, and all the stuff I want to do when I get there. I have done it all before - it should be easy, right? This time feels different for whatever reason.

Little things like when I was at the hairdresser on the weekend, she talked me into a new shampoo and my first thought was, 'Will they sell that brand in the UK?'. I mean, why get used to a new shampoo if you just have to change again? It's these sort of things that are going through my head at the moment and at the oddest times.

But my plans are coming along, albeit slowly. It's like the old saying, "Lord, give me patience, but give it to me now"!

So those of you hoping to read about an Aussie girl braving new frontiers, starting over in a far away land, you'll have to wait a bit longer yet. Hey, if I can wait, then anyone can!! I promise to keep you updated on my progress and hopefully find some interesting things to post along the way.

Until then....



...here's one for the road!