London: Redemption

Today London started to redeem itself (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous post).

First off, Rob arrives tonight - Yipeeee! - and so I was prepared for it to be the longest day of waiting EVER (I have been waiting anxiously all weekend for today to arrive). So I thought I would make myself busy by job-searching to occupy my time.

I called the agencies that had forwarded my CVs to Japanese companies, and although the first two ended up fruitless, the third more than made up for them --- I got an interview for later in the day at the job that was (so far) as close to the top of the list as I could get. Double-Yipeeeee!

I still had some time, and so I headed out to do some minor 99P store shopping with Stu for some household goods, and on my way out - more "Yipeeeeee", I got a letter from the bank saying I had been approved!! Triple-Yipeee!! However, my bank card won't arrive for another while "for security purposes". Way to take the fun out of good news, London!

So I got myself looking professional (quite stylish, if I do say so myself) and had my very first UK interview today at 3:00pm at a company near Baker Street - that's where Sherlock Holmes' fictional office is, for those of you unfamiliar with the area. The interviewer was very nice, and the interview went well, but I won't find out until Wednesday morning if I will get the job that starts on Thursday morning!! Argh - again with taking the fun out of it! The long wait takes most of the wind out of my sails for now... but the agency says they had some very good feedback about me, so everyone out there - send me your "get a job" vibes!!

But all is well - Rob is on his way and... what's that? An announcement in the tube station says that the Piccadilly Line is experiencing "severe delays" -- that's the line I need to take to pick up Rob this evening. And when I get home, Stu informs me that, in fact, there will be a strike on all but a few lines tonight on the tube!! Luckily, the Piccadilly is still running, but instead of roughly an hour, a station attendant informed me that I should budget for 3 and a 1/2 hours to get to the airport (one way!!!) --- way to take the fun out of meeting lovers at the airport! I'll be Stinky and Grumpy and any number of other dwarves by the time I meet Rob! (I guess "Stinky" isn't an official dwarf, but he should be!)

But in the end - as long as we get home tonight, today has been a good day - a triple-yipeee day. And I guess all of the difficulties about London serve to highlight the good things. If there weren't any strike, or a wait for my bank card or to hear about the job, life would be too easy and the exciting things like getting an interview or picking up your partner at the airport would get to be routine... Right??