|
Saturday, April 21, 2001 14:52 Oh my word. This doesn't seem real. Later. Crumbs.
Friday, April 20, 2001 23:51 Yesterday's interview was something of a trial. I was very tired, and the train journey down, involving much standing at depressing stations drinking nasty coffee in an effort to stay warm, did not help. Then, of course, it was the same "oral exam" format that the previous one had been. I came out of the interview knowing I had only a slim chance of getting the job. Apparently one of the other candidates came all the way over from Belfast for the interview. I'm suspecting that competition is fierce. I just didn't have the head for spotting the obvious answers to the questions they asked, and made the mistake of getting caught up in the interesting answers. When you start explaining how long hepatitis C can survive in sea water and how oysters can accumulate pathogens because they are bottom feeders, when all they want is for you to mention the EC Bathing Waters legislation and the Shellfisheries legislation, you're probably not doing very well. When you start discussing physicochemical parameters and nutrient loadings, when they are waiting for you to say "volume" things just aren't going to plan. Oh well. No point in having regrets. They won't change anything. Put it in the file and try to do better next time. Still terribly disappointed about not getting the Investigations Officer post, and it doesn't help that the rejection letter hasn't come through yet. Percival, AKA Mr Big Pink Lovely (I have a picture somewhere and was going to scan it in but I can't find it) has suddenly developed a problem with the bearings in the rear hub. This will necessitate a trip to the bike shop, either for me to get cone spanners, more grease and new bearings, or just to hand over the wheel and ask them to fix it. I can't get the freehub off. He's sitting upside down in the conservatory now, whinging about the fact I don't have a proper toolkit, a decent bike stand and far more brute force to apply. I don't have a chain whip either, which isn't helping very much. That bike is pampered. Dreams have been very strange. And now Frood has started having them too, to the point of mentioning them to me and pondering as to whether or not the world of weird is descending upon him. As he is a being of eternally oscillating equilibrium (my word that's slow to download today. Is it always this bad? Didn't used to be that bad, I'm sure), I'm not overly worried. I'm sure he can handle it. He has been practising with Flash, you know. Be afraid, be very afraid. I will write up the dreams. Just not right now. Too hungry, even though I haven't been to the gym today. It feels like that there world of weird is definitely hotting up again, even though the mailing lists have been relatively quiet the last few days.
Wednesday, April 18, 2001 12:41 Having another interview with the EA tomorrow, as I do, I just phoned to inquire as to when I am likely to hear about the last interview. I was put through to the investigations team and told that the decision had been made, the letters were due to go out and if the head of the team hadn't contacted me already it was best to assume I hadn't got the job. I'm feeling really rather miserable right now. Forlorn, really. I feel like I've let Frood down in some way because he has spent so much time being the wage-earner while I've been studying and everything else, and we both really want to move out of Oxford and have a serious change of direction. Getting that job would have been, in a way, not just the culmination of all these years of studying and working to get the qualifications, and all the stress and hardship that we've been through for me to get them. Not just finally getting to do what I really want to do, but also my way of making up to Frood all the time he has spent being the main wage earner. It was my chance to give him the opportunity perhaps to change what he does, without having to worry too much about how we get food on the table. I know that it is unrealistic to expect to get the first job one applies for in 5 years, and that getting two interviews out of the application form should at least tell me that I am employable, with a valuable set of skills and experience. Perhaps it was unfortunate that the first job I applied for was one that I wanted so badly. I can imagine it would seem very strange to some people to be that keen on a job that only pays £14-16k, but it was as an investigations officer and that is basically exactly what I want to do. Job satisfaction is far more important to me than high earnings. We don't have an extravagant lifestyle, nor do we want one. It's just, I suppose, that I really want to be involved in environmental protection enforcement, and that involves working for the EA or for SEPA. Nothing relevant has come up at SEPA recently, and the EA tends to recruit in batches. As they are undergoing some restructuring at the moment, I suspect that the next relevant recruitment session for the EA won't be for 6 months or so. I suppose I had better start getting my head together for tomorrow.
|