h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The last couple of weeks have been pretty manic. I’ve been to interviews in Reading, Middlesbrough, Southampton, Middlesbrough again, Harlow and even one in West Bromwich for the company I used to work for before I started my PhD. If you add up the approximate distances (including Dublin and Cambridge in August) I could have got to Reykjavik and back! But that’s all; hopefully I won’t have to go for any more because yesterday I accepted a job working for Johnson Matthey near Reading. In the end everything happened really quickly and they actually want me to start on Monday. I’m a bit apprehensive about moving to a new city (especially on such short notice) and the job is a bit of a new direction for me as well which is only adding to my trepidation, but I have to admit I’m very excited as well.

I’m dividing my remaining time in West Bromwich between packing things to take with me to Reading and looking for places to live when I get there. And I’m hoping to spend Friday in Reading looking around and seeing a few flats. The company have kindly offered to pay for bed and breakfast accommodation for me for up to four weeks which takes a lot of the pressure off, but I’m really looking forward to having my own space again and want to get things sorted out as soon as I can.

Meanwhile my brother got himself married on Saturday. They had a nice little registry office ceremony with all the family invited. My girlfriend and I earned some serious brownie points by driving my parents and all my grandparents to Stafford (where my brother lives) and then bringing them back again before taking my parents back again in the evening for the “reception,” which was just perfect for the happy couple being a hog roast and barn dance at the local campsite. There was loads of food, loads of drink and loads of people to eat and drink it all. My girlfriend and I had a go at barn dancing in the dance tent, which was rather complicated by muddy, sloping ground and the odd tent pole, but we had fun. I danced briefly with the mother in law, but my unfortunate dad got roped into a whole dance with her, poor soul.

Anyway I think I’ll leave it at that. I’m going to continue to be a bit busy for a couple of weeks until I’m settled in Reading and I might not get chance to write again for a while. I’m going to drive to Bath on Thursday and from there to Reading on Friday to spend the afternoon looking round. I’m still hopeful of running Cardiff Marathon on Sunday, but it depends how tiring the next few days are. Moving house and starting a new job are far from ideal preparation for a marathon and when you factor in my negligent levels of training over the last few months you can see why I’m having some serious thoughts about whether it’s a good idea to run or not. I’ll try to post a quick entry sometime next week saying what I decided to do about the race and obviously saying how my first few days in my new job are going.