Two weeks and counting…

So, I’ve begun my new job, I’m still in the awkward first few days when you don’t know quite enough to actually do anything but when you’ve read absolutely every piece of literature even somewhat related to the organisation and can’t stuff any more annual figures into your head.

I’ve been acclimating to the sheer concept of not being unemployed, not being able to spend 24 hours a day with Sinead, and going through some serious www-surfing withdrawal.

I get to take the train in the morning. For better or worse, I can’t seem to make myself leave the house late enough to cut my waiting time below ten minutes. I stand against the wall, shivering and huddling under my bent pink umbrella waiting for the train, only to be pushed aside by the horde of passengers who manage to arrive exactly one minute before the train is scheduled to depart, even when it’s been delayed. There must either be some sort of text or email update system available (which I doubt, I mean, this is Britain) or else there’s some sort of morphic resonance for commuters that I haven’t tapped into yet.

The office is comfortable enough, less than a ten minute walk from the train station, which means that I am, in general, carried along in the streams of humanity watching carefully not to miss my jump out and into Park Square. I match the general spec of a commuter these days, given the dress code which not only prohibits bare feet and Bermuda short (hail Mark Lothar Gunther) but jeans, khakis, and non-posh looking tops as well!

It’s an open plan office, but newly so. Apparently walls have recently come down (there still being some debate as to whether they were supporting walls or not) and people have still not been educated about the difference between “open plan office” voices and “running from a lion” voices. It is on my list of things to do to ask my manager whether or not I can wear ear plugs at work. Unlike Oxfam, there are no little break away study rooms where one can go to concentrate if one needs to. Having spoken about this to some of the people (the quieter ones) in my general environs I’ve realized that one does not get used to the insane amount of noise that ricochets around the building.

The kitchens are sufficient, if small, and there’s always a vague odour of cologne and toast lingering in the hallways. Except for one floor down where, I suspect, the plumbing needs a little help. Let it be said only that I hold my breath when making my way to the colour copier on the 1st floor.

I’ve been given some objectives, one being partial responsibility in planning the team’s environmental day out (we get two days of environmental leave in addition to our 25 days of holiday) and another being to put together position papers on the State of the Environment for our region and areas. So it’s diverse, so far interesting, and I get to learn to play with GIS. For the moment, it’s a good place to be. And once I’ve won over the team with my winning smile, delightful charm, and occasional biscuits, I reckon I’ll feel quite as home.

Related Links:
Environment Agency
What is GIS?

Home

I guess I'm home. Really, truly home.

Having returned from a trip back from the States, I find myself more than content to imagine being in this cozy little house for awhile longer. I might have looked quickly online to see if there were cheap flights to the Barbados... and I may have surreptitiously scanned various train options to the Highlands, but, overall, I'm quite satisfied with my little home and my little wife and, it would seem, being in Yorkshire is part of all that. So here I am, for the first time in a long time, realizing that I'm exactly where I want to be.