Midge bytes

So, no luck with Majestic…I asked for feedback, apparently I ‘didn’t display passion for retail’ and ‘didn’t display management potential’.  What this tells me is that next time I have an interview I need to big up all my leadership experience more than I did this time, I rather think I assumed the facts of what I got up to on Camp America etc. would prove that for me, but maybe I didn’t hammer the point home hard enough that teaching ten small children to ride big dangerous animals actually involves a degree of management as well as a ruthless efficiency of course!  Passion for retail I don’t think I’ll ever be able to display sincerely, customer care and enjoyment of shopping I can manage but they’re right, I aint a shop girl!  Thus maybe I went for the wrong job, oops!

I shook this setback off fairly quickly as is my wont and went out into the mild Exeter winter with my CVs to stop all the silliness and get a job.  I seem to have done this, The Nobody Inn in Doddiscoomsleigh seemed quite keen on the idea of having a Sarah to keep on top of their enormous wine list and help run their new wine company website.  Assuming all goes well and they actually do call me (I’ll try not to get too excited for fear of more disappointment) I will be starting next week.  Will also be helping with food prep, waitressing, bar work.  Should be quite varied and a good place to learn how to run my vineyard plus restaurant in future.  We had a nice lunch there and perused their weekend wine sale, came back with a load of bottles.

I had planned to drag my dad out for a walk before this lunch, but as he stepped out of the car his (very old) trainers entirely delaminated and lost their soles in messy lumps of dessicated rubber.  He didn’t have any spare shoes in the car so I had to go and have an informal interview after we had lunch with him walking around with trainers first-aided with micro pore tape.  This must be the medical equivalent of techie gaffa tape!  If we hadn’t turned up to the pub in the MG this might have helped me get the job through pity, as it is I’m far too old to be embarrassed about such trifles any more (she lies!)

I’m going to spend five days at the beginning of March doing the WSET intermediate course to allow me to apply for a winemaking course for next year.  Should be a fun week, wine tasing, nice lunch cooked by the school chef (it’s at a cookery school), free tasting glasses and a professional qualification after a one hour exam at the end of the week.  It’s a hard life!

Manchester was lots of fun.  Good party and lovely seeing a good chunk of my friends who I miss very much!  Had fun being touristy in Manchester on Sunday, I went to the MEN gallery (finally) and found it nicely varied and not too large, which is important if a gallery is going to hold my attention.  Also looked around the new bit of the Arndale centre, Hotel du Chocolat is rather lovely!  (Apparently one is coming to Exeter!)

I made a promise to myself and some other instrumental people in my life that my new shiny blog would not involve emo outpourings or anything about my love life or personal life so on these subjects, if you know me and don’t hear anything, assume all is great thanks! 

Having said I wouldn’t mention my love life, I do feel compelled to tell you that I’m going to the EUSOG 45th anniversary ball, in Edinburgh.  I reckon that counts as travel blogging   I haven’t been to a ball this winter (ok, not exactly grounds for sympathy seeing where I’ve been) and I’m really excited!

On Monday my posh new suit and I went to Watford for my interview with Majestic.  I thought it went really well, but haven’t yet heard from them whether they want me to have a second interview or not.  Bit worried, I know I’m a well rounded individual (no sniggering, ’tis what my father tells me!) but part of me still has not much confidence and the further away from the interview I get the worse it looks in hindsight!  This is getting perilously close to aforementioned emo outpouring…feel free to throw stuff at me!

On the train back from Watford to Euston I got chatting to a lovely Kenyan chap called Albert who works for the Fairtrade coffee people (I actually got the impression he either runs it or owns a coffee company!)  He very kindly escorted me all the way to Paddington, which made the day very easy as I was worried I’d get lost on the way across London, (bumpkin that I am!)  I love randomly talking to people, I hope I never grow out of it!   

Trying to decide whether to arrange to spend show week in Mancland, I’d love to help crew, but I feel like I should really earn some money before messing around away from home any more…on the other hand, if I do get this job, I may be about to be working hard and not having much time off for quite some time, so maybe I should grab this last potential week of freedom…suggestions anyone?

Must go back to telephone watching, or maybe I’ll bake a cake…stress baking here I come!

I haven’t done very much for a week.  It’s been rather nice.  I’ve mostly just messed around on the computer, played with Pekoe (the kitten), ridden Scampi (the horse), played with Pekoe, been swimming, played with Pekoe, played my saxophone, calmed Pekoe…

The flights home were fine.  I slept for nearly all of the second one so I missed out on jetlag pretty neatly.

I did meet up with Kate and Liz (and Tim, who was on leave very briefly) and drive into the wilds of Devon to Drewsteignton at the weekend to go to a tiny pub called The Drew Arms.  We had a very funny evening, all consumed a very tiny amount of Otter Bright beer, for various excuses such as driving home and working in the morning (we must stop doing that, should go to pubs on Saturday night and not drive!)  The pub only holds about ten people and was way under capacity, so the landlord got out a pub quiz game he was given for Christmas and we all played that with him and his wife for the rest of the night.  Lots of fun!

I have an interview with Majestic Wine Warehouse on Monday in Watford.  I’m going there straight from Manchester, where I’ll be for Emma’s birthday party.  Looking forward to it lots (the party anyway…not sure about the interview, I expect it’ll be fine!)

Today Louisa and I went to Valery Trails for a ride through the Sam Burke national park, which is rainforest. I rode a very sweet but nervy mare called Maggie and Louisa rode a nice big gelding called Charlie. We had a fun ride, although the feeling of paying to be handed a ready tacked up horse, riding it and handing it back was rather odd after having my own for thirteen years! It was combination style riding, with Western saddles, but English bridles and English signals, rather comfortable…might have to buy Scampi a Western saddle one of these days!

No koalas in sight but we saw lots of pretty butterflies, a few birds and Louisa saw a skink. I have now ridden in four different continents; Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. I suspect Antarctica might prove an unlikely riding destination but I’ll be aiming to ride in South America and Africa in future. Might assist next time I’m trying to decide where to go! (As if I ever have trouble thinking up an excuse to travel!) (Counts the continents mentioned to make sure there are seven…checks wikipedia to make sure that is the correct number…my brain is mush, time to get a real job!)

Tomorrow is my last proper day in Australia as I leave Coffs in the morning on Wednesday and am flying out of Sydney that afternoon. I’m quite excited about going home, I’d love that to be general joie de vivre, but it’s mostly because my parents have a new kitten! She’s called Pekoe and looks incredibly cute, I had a skype conversation with her earlier. I am a pretty happy bunny though, I don’t really have any excuse not to be, lucky me, la la la!

XXX Sarah

Happy New Year!

I just returned from New Years on Fraser Island. It was great fun although settled a little uncomfortably with my conservationist tendencies as the place is a 4x4 adventure park set in a rainforest. It is very carefully managed though and the wildlife doesn’t seem to mind the occasional car.

I enjoyed 4x4 driving far more than I expected too, I’m usually a very careful driver (really, I am!) but the second I got behind the wheel of the landrover we hired I got a manic grin and drove for hours over the very rough tracks and along the beach. The eastern beach on the island is very beautiful but feels like a motorway, lots of cars and the occasional aeroplane threatening to land on your head. Driving on hard sand is easy, driving on soft sand is rather more complicated! Saw lots of jelly fish and a few dingoes on the beach and lots of goannas in the forest. There were also lovely lakes and sand dunes scattered around the island. We swam in many different creeks and lakes but not the sea on account of rough currents, sharks and jelly fish.

New Years eve was fairly quiet but we had a nice family meal out and listened to some rather awful live music. The New Year started while we were down by the main resort pool with some champagne, then we retired to our villas hot tub up in the tree canopy on our balcony, not a bad start to 2007!

On the way to Fraser we stopped off first in Byron Bay then in Noosa, both were lovely, Byron is very much beardy central with lots of crystals and chilled out surfers, Noosa is more like the Knightsbridge of Australia, very nice restaurants and family oriented beaches. We watched dolphins swimming from a hill in Noosa.

On the way back from Fraser we stopped off in Brisbane, stayed in a very nice hotel (Marriott) but didn’t see much of the area as it was raining very heavily the next day. We continued our journey stopping at Corumbin wildlife sanctuary, where I finally saw koalas and wombats (so cute!) I also got punched in the face by a rogue kangaroo, I’m not sure if it liked me or hated me but it decided it wanted to be a whole lot closer than I was expecting….no harm done though, I’m glad it bounced at me rather than one of the small children around at the time! My caring mother took a great photo of it attacking me, charming!

Did you know the hairy nosed wombat has a heavily reinforced bottom which it uses to crush the head of any large animal who tries to enter its burrow!

Six days left in Australia, will probably be doing a bit more lying on the beach, some surfing, maybe some cycling, it’s a tough life!

X Sarah