Sunday 12 June

Work is becoming more challenging and interesting everyday.  I feel very comfortable with the job but at the same time I have never been put into so many situations that are difficult for me to handle/keep quiet!  All sounds very typical for me.... keeping quiet - challenging!

This week alone I was standing at the copier when the guys I work with started to discuss the fact that the owner of the estate had killed 4 fox cubs the night before but 1 had manage to get away so he was describing in great detail where the gamekeeper would find him in order to kill him.  I really do like foxes and the position that they are put in is really so unfair.  The estates like the one I work at (btw I didn't know all this stuff until now) create an unnatural situation by raising hundreds if not thousands of pheasants and partridge in order to shoot them.  The foxes then breed at a rapid rate due to the abundance of food available to them.  The gamekeepers also spend huge amounts of time killing rabbits another source of food for foxes so the whole thing is a fuck up!


So I stood and kept quiet!  You would have been proud of me.  I had to question myself though but this is the new me I have to attend the Annual Shoot BBQ in a week or two where I will get to mingle with over hundred 'shooters' I refuse to call them hunters - they shoot bunnies and birds for goodness sake.  They all seem like very nice guys though, it is a way of life for them, bought up on it and if they knew my real feelings on what they do it could jeopardize my position.


I got to work in the bar last night for the first time in my life - I have never pulled a pint!  It was a lot of fun and keeping busy certainly made the evening go quickly.

Monday 23 May 2011

We have been in the UK for 17 months now and I am really beginning to feel at home.  Talking of home our little blackbird has given us another chance and laid 4 eggs this time (one to make up for the one murdered by Mollie) and they babies hopped out of the nest yesterday and sunned themselves about a metre off the ground.  Kamakaze birds I tell you, we had to keep Mollie all day.


I have also been in my new job for a week and loving it although I have slight panic attacks every now and again at the thought of all the work I have ahead of me but they are very happy with me so I should relax and get some confidence (talking to myself again..) I think the managing of people will always be a problem for me and I am in the damned if you do and damned if you dont area at the moment, should I help or shouldn't I - manage from the sides or just delegate and let them get on with it, ask them or tell them?  

Serious Catch-up!

Okay so this is my new office!  Yep it is absolutely breathtakingly stunning and I reckon I am going to be tweeting on about it for sometime.  I am feeling really blessed at this moment and for once I am thinking 'now it's my turn'.  The job as the Events Manager initially seemed that it may be more than I would be able to cope with but once I put in my 'thorough application minus a C.V. they wouldn't accept a C.V.' and got a call a couple of hours later and then an invitation to a 2nd interview before the first one ended I started to relax about my abilities.  (My ex-boss has also just text me and said 'perfect for you and you will manage it with your eyes closed' OMG that is something).   I started yesterday and arrived home last night able to remember each and every member of staff that I was introduced to and what they were responsible for - not bad for me considering that I had only expected to remember a handful.


I will basically be responsible for 'selling' the estate, the grounds, the park, the garden, the grand halls and the main money spinner the marquee.  At present they are just sitting around waiting for the phones to ring - and they do, but not enough so I will be putting it on the map so to speak.  It is all so exciting I can hardly breathe, Monday morning I have a photo shoot there with 11 models and photographers from the capital of the country next door to Norway (that is an attempt to confuse google let me know if you think it will work?) and a sculpture display starting Tuesday and a wedding on Saturday...........

Week 9

• Firstly, I am feeling a lot more upbeat maybe it's the flower buds all over the place that are about to burst into flower I even have lots in my own garden that have popped up from nowhere and  I still have 3 roses in a vase from my valentines flowers that I got from Scott (DH gave me perfume).
• There is a near half page article about me in the paper this morning including a picture (I SERIOUSLY need an eyelid lift) if you are really bored here's the link  Hopefully the above article will bring in loads of business ;)http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/woodbridge_cold_caller_in_dramatic_doorstep_rescue_1_815387
• We were invited out by some friends to the most charming pub in a neighbouring village, it was absolutely gorgeous but there were probably 3 other people in the pub - very sad!  So all my visitors will be going for a visit to this pub from now on.
• The people we were with have bought a near derelict property in France with 3 homes on it for the price of an ordinary car back in South Africa.  Very exciting and one day maybe something we would look at doing.  We now know 2 couples that are doing the same thing so their experience will be invaluable.
• Sunday we were invited out for Sunday late lunch/dinner at my ex boss (I know, I know I called her lots of things whilst I was working for her!) and we had a ball we get on with them so well.  After dinner we played a new version of balderdash, it seems really popular here to play games after dinner.   We all felt very nostalgic on the way home for friends back in South Africa.
• Oh and my really BIG news - I have started a OCR CLAit I.C.T. course, sounds very fancy doesn't it? With some divine intervention I found a place available in walking distance from the house!!!!!! I mean how does that happen??  It is everything I have needed to learn for ages and ages about I.C.T. I think it will do wonders for my confidence and the best part is I only have to pay for each exam (12).  I would still like to get a good half day job outside of the house sometime soon.  I have realised that I am just not disciplined enough to work from home (I am still in my p.js).
• Erin is writing her first GCSE maths exam today, poor soul but she has taken it very seriously and even went in an hour early for a revision class so keep your fingers crossed.

Today

I have been feeling really old and useless lately and inspired by Mels post yesterday to mention it here.  I don't know whether I am just have an after mid life crisis because things seem to make me very anxious lately.  I seem to be taking big breaths whenever I think of 'stuff' I would like to do or achieve as if I wont have enough time or energy or good health or even money. 

My hearing is not what it should be but I am not considered to really need a hearing aid - I know I can see you think 'old' at the mention of hearing aid, that's one of my dilemmas people just shove you onto the past sell by date shelf.

 I can't do a thing without my so called reading glasses.  DH, Scott and I went out to one of the neighbouring villages to a popular coffee outlet on Saturday morning and I put salt in all the coffees!! talk about a advert for specsavers, fortunately the owner was most understanding and replaced the coffees but did put the correct sachets on the table with the fresh coffees.

 I went to movies last week with a friend to see The Black Swan, brilliant but we were the youngest people there!  I think I need a job that gets me out and about more I am not sure this SAHM or work from home Mum is the answer for me I am just not disciplined enough.

Last week - 46

• Well the first night in the hotel was dreadful note to self: Never stay in a hotel that is frequented by business men (that pay their own bills) and when asked what they think of the hotel they reply - 'its fine'. Men are just so not discerning about these things. Lumpy mattress - ' didn't notice!!!' Must have been pissed!
• Got lost on my way to the head office on Monday morning, my Tom Tom was telling me to turn into houses that had seen a couple of changes in centuries. Final got there late, I hate being late especially for something like this. Spent 4 days of training on animal nutrition and hey presto - I can't believe there was so much to learn.
• The company took us out for a slap up meal on the Tuesday night, had a absolutely ball - I am beginning to feel human again.
• Driving home on Thursday night made me realise how blessed we are to live in Suffolk, it is such a beautiful part of the UK. I reckon that this sleepy, peaceful way of life has made our transition just so much easier. The area we live in is officially entitled 'an area of outstanding natural beauty' - it certainly is.
• I went out 'canvassing' with DH on Friday and it was no- where near as difficult as I thought it would be, I didn't do too well though but it didn't put me off.
• Scott has got himself a job as a waiter at the very posh hotel in village. He believed he would get a job in the village and he did - I have to hand it to him, jobs for teens are hard to come by and one paying tips as well as the minimum wage even more sought after. He walked in with his CV and asked to see the owner and a couple of calls later he pulled it off.
• Scott was also invited by a friends family to watch rugby at Twickenham on Saturday, he is really settling in well and even bought himself an England scarf but said he would be very torn when England play South Africa, I think we will find him in the SA camp.
• Erin and I went shopping for clothes for her at Primark (bit like Mr. Price) on Sunday, she got loads of stuff including a gorgeous pair of sexy lace up ankle boots. She wore them straight away but really struggled with the amount of attention she seemed to attract, she is so used to walking around in jodphurs and flat horsey boots. She sure scrubs up well and given time I am sure she will get used to it.