Mental!

There is not a huge amount to report from this week.  Following on from the previous week the majority of my efforts have gone into trying to secure gainful employment.  Before I come to the job interview saga I'll round up on the rest of the weeks events.

The house is slowly filling up with furniture.  Wednesday our lounge suite arrived and on Saturday we received a washing machine and an unexpected television (given to us free by a colleague of the better half who had upgraded).  This, of course, means we can now waste our evenings, slumped on the sofa, watching re-runs of naff English and American TV shows. (This is marginally better than watching the TV made in NZ which makes Hollyoaks and Channel 5 feel sophisticated.)  It also means we will have a choice of clean clothes again.  The, admittedly limited, number of items we packed had dwindled to very few clothing choices and partial nudity was looking a real possibility by the middle of next week.

In amongst all this I was offered an interview for a job as an Environmental Protection Officer for Greater Wellington Regional Council.  They called me to tell me this on Wednesday and the interview was on Friday.  Cue a hectic Thursday of a) tidying up my appearance, b) getting my head in gear for an interview, c) checking, re-checking and triple checking the bus timetable, d) frantically wracking my poor brain for good examples to back up the skills and experience I claimed to possess on my CV.

It all worked out, I made the interview on time (actually I made it early and went to a cafe for a soothing green tea to calm my nerves),  the panel were very friendly and I remembered most of what I had revised to say.  I actually quite enjoyed the experience (I'm really not a masochist).  My only moment of slight panic was when I opened my mouth without first thinking and answered the question, "How would your former colleagues describe you in one word?", with "Mental!".  Thankfully, the interviewers laughed and I did get a chance to explain that this was due to my predilection for hanging off the side of mountains.  They seemed generally impressed (not just with the fact I was mental) and promised me a call next week.  Fingers firmly crossed.

         

After the excitement for me on Friday, and a busy week at work for the better half, we have had a very relaxing weekend.  Saturday was spent chilling out, enjoying our balcony and  a good book (there may have been a few bottles of beer as well).  Today we went for a short walk through the Tawa Tawa Reserve and up to the Powhenua (Maori boundary marker).  We had planned something slightly longer but the onset of a sore throat and sniffles for the other half meant we chose a shorter route.  We enjoyed the sun, fresh air and some good bird watching.  Now we are relaxing with yet more time on the balcony and maybe another beer in the sun.