A Week Later in Diary

A week after my fight with the wolves and I’m still not enjoying the work. I’m spending all day fighting with large, badly behaved dogs which is tiring me out, three hours a day driving all over the area and trying to avoid being driven off the road by idiots (Seriously, last week someone decided he didn’t want to wait in the rush hour queue like everyone else and decided to overtake a bunch of people then tried to take my place in the queue by pushing my car onto the pavement…), working until 11pm one night then starting again at 6am next day, arguing with customers who agree to quotes then decide it’s too much and ask for a discount AFTER I’ve done the job. And all for around 30% of what I was earning in my boring office job.

It is not the idyllic career I naively imagined, strolling round sunny parks with lovely, well behaved puppies and making lots of friends with lovely customers who pay invoices without question and never cause me any trouble.

Sure, I do have dogs and customers who live up to this ideal, but they are few and far between and don’t balance out the aggro of the trouble makers.

So I’m applying for jobs again. I’ve just applied for two more this afternoon. However, I don’t feel like I’ve made a bad decision leaving my old job, as it was too far away, I was spending too much time and money on travel and always missed out on social events and such things because of the distance. So I’m limiting myself to a 5-10 mile radius this time, and only applying for jobs that pay more than I was earning previously.

It’ll work out for the best! Don’t point and laugh at me too much, at least I gave it a shot, and I’ll keep doing it until I find something better.

It’s Jay’s birthday on Monday so I’m taking him out for a meal this weekend, as is traditional. I feel a bit bad this time around, though, as he took me somewhere nice for my birthday for posh food and cocktails, and I’m taking him to a regular Indian restaurant where I can use my Tastecard and get 2-for-1 meals :-/ Aahhh, he loves Indian though, it’s his favourite. I hope it’s ok, we’ve never been there before.

On Monday, his actual birthday, we’re going to the German Christmas Market in Birmingham, as is also traditional. Honestly it comes round quicker every year…mulled wine, hot toffee cider, weissbier and German sausages, all under the watchful eye of a creepy animatronic moose head called Chris Moose (get it?) which sings Oh Tannenbaum. Mam and dad are coming to visit next weekend so we get to go again! I think they’ll enjoy it :o)

Tonight is my first roller derby training session since I passed my Safe to Skate and also my first session with my new wheels. They’ve promised us lots of real life derby scenarios so I can see myself falling over a lot. Bring it on! excite (Am I strange because I get excited at the thought of hitting, pushing and being hit and pushed over…?)