2007-12-31

This is about to have been the year that was

Filed under: Editorial — iain @ 21:57:19

As 2007 enters the final straight it’s time to

look back on the year in which I had three employers, two homes and only one flight.

Of course, this time last year was already this year. I spent Christmas and New Year in Hong Kong and was on a plane back to the UK while people here were still looking forward to the party that people there (including me) had already had.

I was met at the airport by the man from Voyager Executive Cars, a company I can wholeheartedly recommend should you find yourself at a London airport at six-thirty in the morning on New Year’s Day. At least, I can recommend them if you are there and would rather be at home; they wouldn’t be much use to you if you were there to catch a flight, though they might have been useful had you previously been at home wanting to get there. On second thoughts I should probably only recommend them if you know in advance that you’re going to find yourself in either situation, as a prior booking is essential.

Luckily for me I had booked so I was met on time as previously discussed. As I relaxed in my Executive Car, the driver asked me what I had planned for the year. The first order of business, I informed him, was to resign from job at CacheLogic. My position there had become basically untenable and I had an offer from Siemens. Truth be told I would have turned it down had CacheLogic come up with a counter offer. They didn’t. Two days later I would hand in my notice and start the month-long wait to see whether I had made the right decision.

I had.

I hadn’t.

Maybe both.

Leaving was the right thing to do. I was soon to find out that going to Siemens was the wrong thing to do. It was too far away; travelling there was unbearable; it nearly bankrupted me to live in Cambridge, where I still rented a flat, and spend weekdays in Maidenhead. I couldn’t even motivate myself to resolve the latter problem since Maidenhead is a depressing place whereas I like Cambridge and I wasn’t massively happy about the job.

After a couple of interviews that went nowhere, a steady decline in my bank balance and the news that the landlord wanted to take possession of the property, I was at rock bottom.

Then salvation.

I got a call from an agency asking if I would be interested in a contract at CSR in Cambridge. Would I ever! I interviewed with them and things went quiet for a few weeks. I thought they weren’t interested. Then on April 27th, ironically after I’d had a face-to-face meeting with my line manager and explained that I wasn’t happy with things, the offer came in. Thus it was that I went back to see the boss, apologised for the sudden news which was as much a surprise to me as it must have been to him, and announced I was off to new(er) pastures.

Even after only four months had already been enough packed into the year as one could reasonably expect to see so I’ll keep the rest brief. Indeed it’s a fairly simple story from there on in. I started the contract, had it renewed a few times and am still there. Rebecca finally moved over from Hong Kong permanently and is still here. I moved into a new flat in Cambridge and am still there. In fact the only thing that isn’t still there – the only downside – is the Curry House. I’ll miss that place.

2 Comments »

  1. And goblin????

    Comment by chloe — 2008-02-13 @ 21:40:40

  2. Goblin, it pains me to say, is missing presumed dead. See http://forums.furryclan.net/index.php/topic,3291.0.html

    Comment by iain — 2008-02-13 @ 23:13:55

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