Brruuumm ... brrruuuummmm ... beeep ... beeep

Another step closer. Yesterday afternoon I got the confirmation of Joy's 'ticket' to England. Unfortunately the invoice said 'Live Dog' ... ha, ha ... it's being sorted! By the end of this week there will only be two weeks until we arrive in our new homeland. My job search continues and much to the dismay of my wife I'm looking at driving jobs (which Joanna won't let me do in a million years anyway) and warehouse jobs ... I always liked working at Nói-Síríus. Part-time nights ... or just something to fit in with school ... as somebody said: 'How the mighty have fallen'. I'm struggling a bit with the emotional side of having to take such a big step down. The part time thing doesn't bother me and in fact I see that as a positive. A chance to spend more time with my boys. It's just that going from a regional manager of 12 Supported Housing schemes and a team of 24 people, back to the floor ... applying for night time care assisstant posts, is a big chunk of pride to swallow ... such is life ... look forward not backward.

Me and Joanna were discussing this yesterday and she planted the seed of doing something more with my time, such as some studying. An NVQ assessors course was her idea and that sounds good and sensible ... I'll definately look into where I can fit that round the routine. My own slightly different idea was to do something I've wanted to do for years but never did ... automotive mechanics. Problem is, the courses that tend to be NVQ's which means you need to be working in the industry ... and I'm not ... in fact, by the end of this month I won't be working in any industry ... Looking into City and Guilds but can't work out if that is workplace based assessments or not ... or if it is just for teenagers as the websites imply ... time for some phonecalls when I get to England, me thinks!

Things are plodding along nicely here ... movers have finally decided how best to shift our stuff, they'll be here from Monday to Friday the last week of November and then we're sorted. Now all we need is a mortgage, house, job, nursery, second car, friends for kids, band ... oh, okay ... we're not quite sorted yet :-) ... oh, and I desperately need a motorbike, a chopper with a 550 engine will do ... no, it's not a dream, it's a necessity ... helloooooo ... birthday next month ... Joanna? ... hello? ... you still there? ...