Seaside

*Listens to Seaside by the Ordinary Boys*

Reminds me of Wednesday. I went to the seaside at Southwold with Mike.

Southwold is such a lovely place, and with good company you can't really beat it. Even if you are getting extremely sand-burnt by high long-shore winds. I'm still finding sand in my car and on my person.

We set off about lunchtime, and had a very picturesque drive over, down the little country roads that Suffolk has in abundance. Lots of really pretty old houses that we were both somewhat drooling over. Managed to confuse the sat-nav a bit, but eventually we got there. Parked to the south of the town, behind the dunes, and walked along the seafront to the pier for chips.

I could probably fill a whole post just talking about the awesomeness that is Southwold Pier. It has several quirky little shops, cafes and exhibits. The best of which being the room full of unique hand made arcade machines that do amazingly unlikely things. If we'd had the money, Mike and I would probably have been in there some time. Contraptions like the Autofrisk machine, Gene Forecaster, Rent-a-dog, and Whack A Banker. You can see more of them here.

After exploring the pier, we walked back along the beach, stopping to buy a super-duper spade from a stall on the way, and picked a spot to build our fortifications. We laid out the blanket we'd brought with some difficulty (wind), and had to weigh it down on the upwind side with sand so it didn't blow away. Within very little time it had acquired a thin layer of sand across the whole thing. We were worried we'd end up losing it! After a lesson from Mike on skimming stones with mixed success, we got to work.

We initially wanted to try and build a maze, with trenches and walls, and an epic entrance with bridges and archways, however after I'd been trying to build the maze itself for a bit, we realised that the first bits I'd done were already being eroded and filled in by the strong sand-burning wind . Since Mike had got some way with the entrance we decided to change plan and build a hill fort.


Contractor Mike reports works complete. Given the working conditions I feel he has achieved quite impressive results. He gets points.... then runs off with them.

 Next time... and we hope there will be a next time... I think we'll allow more time for fortification building and try to find a less windy day. That way our castle might not look pebble dashed, and the blanket wouldn't be lost in sand.

The journey home was, if anything more scenic than the outward journey, as the sun was getting low in the sky and drizzling everything in treacle coloured light. I love that time of day. Everything seems just that little bit more magical. If I hadn't been driving, I might have taken more pictures.

Anyway, I think this makes a change from my usual job/angst related burblings. I hope you enjoyed it anywhere near as much as I enjoyed the day itself.

A less cryptic event

I said I'd update on the latest interview after I'd had it, so here goes.

I'm quite glad I waited, because my opinion of it is rather different than it was when I set off. It was with a complete start-up in Essex, that are trying to find suitable sites for pumped storage in the UK. It's very low paid, and if I got/took it, I'd be living on a shoestring for the duration, but a bit of me is thinking it might be worth it.

The work looks really interesting to  me. It would be a chance to combine my sustainability interest with my surveying skills. The office, while currently unfurnished, seems like it'll be a fairly nice place to be once it's up and running. The guy who interviewed me was a lot younger and less cynical than I had expected, and in general it seems like it'll be a young and exciting company. There might be a better paid position for me at the end of it if I show potential.

The location is Witham, which is pretty much half way between home and London. This would put some (much needed) distance between me and the family home without putting it completely out of reach, and it would be fairly easy to get into London to see people.

My interviewer mentioned, without prompting, that he knew the pay was low, and that given my suitability for the job, they might try to increase the offer to me, though he didnt mention any figures. To me this seems a pretty strong indication that he'd quite like to employ me.

I still think a London job would be preferable for a year or two at least, but I haven't yet heard from either of the London interviews, and don't want to make any assumptions. The waiting is starting to get to me.