Unemployment, Employment and Housing.

After approximately five weeks it appears I am now all set up and ready to go in Cardiff. Well near enough. I now have a job lined up, starting next Tuesday, after the Easter holiday weekend. All that is left is to find somewhere to live. This morning I got up bright and early for 9am and phoned eleven of the city's finest estate agents and asked them to house both myself and my brother in a two bedroom city centre apartment. Only two obliged, we have a viewing set up tomorrow lunch time and my brother has a viewing set for Wednesday evening at 6pm. By then I will be back in Devon for Easter but if they are good enough I trust his judgement and can look another time myself. All of the others have put me down for alerts when something suitable comes up. Not a bad Monday morning's work if I may say so myself.

The past month has been pretty nail biting, after applying for several roles, initially I turned down one role in which I would be, in title, the manager of a mobile phone shop, but in practice the sole salesman in a mobile shop, then later on was offered two interviews for two more roles, both customer service, one for a nationally known gas and energy supplier, the other for an insurance company, went to both interview and assessment centres, aced the lot and was offered those, which I subsequently turned down. The job I finally took was one in PPI complaints admin, contract work initially for a period of three months with a view to being extended for a further three months, through an agency who then offer further work afterwards if you want it. Sounds pretty promising. This is a bit different to work I have done in the past and if successful could open up other things in the future, so generally seems like the right choice.

So it does seem in my first five weeks here I have accomplished quite a bit and I have certainly, in my eyes, earned a nice 6 day break in North Devon from Wednesday onwards. When I return, that is when the real stuff begins!

The sun is out again today, there are a few errands I need to run before I give myself a good blasting at the gym and can then retire home here and put my feet up in the garden for a few hours, make the most of this unemployment whilst it lasts.