What a weekend

You know when you have everything planned, and you somehow end up on a Sunday evening with a feeling that nothing's been achieved? Well I have had one of those!

I just don't know what I've done with it all. Still, at least it has had a meaningful ending, with Hayley, Claire and I finally finding time to meet up for an extra-long gossip in Salisbury. Rain stopped our walking plans, but we have now thoroughly updated each other on our lives (nice one Hayles), it was so good to be together again, just like old times!

Still some time left to do something constructive...

How times flies passed!

Now in the middle of my fourth week, so much has happened and I've been so busy it's dificult to know where to start!

The late night AGM went really well, and I even got to have a long chat with Chris Packham about the lack of under-25 interest in conservation. Very nice man indeed!

Then I went to Chris from Natural England's birthday do at Jongleurs, which was an amazing night, and so good to see all the old crowd (though Leigh was an exception - naughty!).

Last week saw me continuing to try and keep up with casework, whilst trying to find time to go up to York for the ALGE conference. This was very interesting, and York is beautiful, but the train journey back down was horrendous, as I missed my connection in Bristol and ended up calling my Mum out to collect me as I was stranded! Oh well.

Then on Saturday Jo came back for the weekend, so we all met in town for a good chat and a few drinks. It was cut slightly short, by certain members of the party having a lovers' tiff, but hey!

I've also been going walking with Hayley every Sunday, which is a brilliant chance to exchange gossip. A shame Claire can't join us - she must have so much to talk about - come on Claire!

And so far this week I've been in solid meetings all week, mostly lasting 3 hours and all lasting at least 50% longer than they should. This makes me mad, but I do think that people like meetings, to save them from doing real work - am I alone in this thought?

Finally, it looks fairly likely that I will be getting a Planning Blog for the Trust, so when that's sorted I'll put a link on here for any of you interested. ....Don't all shout at once!

Into my second week already!

Time has gone so quickly, but I'm enjoying every moment. It's so much harder than my previous job, so much more to learn about with the wider remit of the Trust. And because they haven't filled this post for the last 2 months, there is a massive backlog of work to sort out!

The weekend was also busy - on Saturday I went with my family into London for the ICount climate change event in Trafalgar Square. We were actually really disappointed by it- poor publicity from WWF (no big banners with the panda on, though the Trusts had one!), and the presenters were rubbish. The speakers were drowned out by the march, which I have been told was great fun, and it did look amazing, but WWF weren't taking part - again, rubbish!

There were some right weirdos in the crowds though - one woman walking through louding proclaiming the entire event as pointless as God will come along and there will be a second creation, destruction being part of the world apparently. Bizarre.

We got bored and left early, as the power had just cut out (such a shambles) - the lure of retail therapy was too strong I'm afraid! In a way I wished we had stayed, as K T Tunstall and Razorlight were on later, but that's not really the point of the event is it? And only 25000 people turned up, out of a population of 60 million. Hmmm.

So now back to work, with the morning off in preparation for the late night AGM (finishes at 10pm!), and with one of my Childhood idols Chris Packham making a speech, should be an entertaining evening. I am finding myself fitting in here just fine!

First couple of days

So far things have gone well. My boss keeps throwing more stuff at me, which is somewhat overwhelming, but quite a lot of it is really interesting, so I don't really mind!

I've already done one response about the extension of Westbury Quarry, and I'm now going to a meeting in Trowbridge about it next week, which should be cool. Today I've been working on producing some guidance to Local Authorities and Parish Councils on the new NERC Act, and am taking the lead on a big proposal to create a new stretch of canal - not something you find in Hampshire - one of the little differences between the counties!

The people all seem very nice, though there are far too many of them to remember - about 70 in all! I'm also going to the AGM next week, where Chris Packham is the guest speaker - my childhood idol! I know they always wheel him out in Hampshire, but I always miss him, so hopefully this time it will not be the case!

Of course I will keep you posted on all developments re: job!

Last week and new job

My last week at Natural England went very well. I was training up the new RDS people in casework, and getting them to do some responses, and they seemed to enjoy it, though I'm not sure quite how productive they'll be this week!

Friday I went out with Rachel, Val and this RDS person called George to have a look at some casework in action, which was really interesting. Alex had been away all week in the Lakes, so she missed out on the big cake I had bought, which went down a treat when we got back! It was really sad to say goodbye, and some tears were shed, but I will see most of them quite regularly as they are now firm friends.

Friday evening also saw my parents depart for the Cotswolds, so I had the house to myself. I had originally planned a party but no-one could come. Instead, I cooked for Rachel and Grant and Alex, which turned out remarkably well, before watching The Holy Grail - I had carved out a pumpkin as a grail-shaped beacon! It was a thoroughly nice evening and I'm sure we'll do more in the future. I'll see them again in a couple of weeks anyway for Chris's birthday.

So my new job starts tomorrow, and I'm really looking forward to it. How will Wiltshire planning differ from Hampshire? Time will tell...

Update!

Do you remember the WWT malarky? Well the second interview was today, and I felt it didn't go so well. They asked me to prioritise 5 pieces of casework and say what you would include in the response to the top two. I thought I'd done OK until they said that in Wiltshire we do this, here we do this etc etc.

However, despite them saying they would get back to me tomorrow they in fact phoned me at 3pm to say that (fanfare please) I have been offered the post! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So as of the 30th of Oct (1 week notice - one good thing about being on a temporary contract!) I will be the new Planning and Policy Officer for the Trust! I just can't believe it.

Obviously I will be very sad to leave the wonderful people at NE but the call of a permanent job is too strong...

On another note, Mum and I went down to see the deer on Sunday, but alas the rut had finished. Despite this we did see several fallow deer and one young red deer stag madly thrashing the conifers for a hind, so that was nice.

Oh, and though I'm still doing the training for the new people next week, I have lost two members (one has a broken wrist and the other has been seconded to another department until Xmas) so it all feels slightly pointless, but it will look good on my CV!

November?

Tony said yesterday that Nikki (who I am covering maternity leave for) was coming back in November - needless to say, I was a bit taken aback, when she had said she was going to come back after January.

I asked Russell about it today, who denied all knowledge of 'November', saying Nikki was probably coming back in February, and that he'd have a word with Tony. Tony then came in saying I must have misheard and that he had actually said February - they do sound similar don't they??!!!!!!! So he came out of it making me look like I was stupid - very annoying, but I think he is good at getting out of tight spots untarnished.

On another note, I went to see the red deer rut in the Forest yesterday - amazing! Lots of deer around, some stags with huge antlers and roaring heard in the distance, but I had to leave early. The others came in today saying they had seen stags fighting and mating with hinds - how annoying? It's almost the end of the rut, but hopefully I am going to go back Sunday afternoon for a last look, and now know where to look for next year.

I suppose it's good news

After phoning up WWT to ask once more for feedback from the interview, and once again receiving no reply, Mum phoned me up to say a letter from them had arrived. It turned out that they can't make up their minds, and whilst I am shortlisted, I need to go there once again for a 2.5 - 3 hour 'exercise and debrief'. Those are all the details I have, so I am hanging on in there.

On another completely unrelated note, Goodwood was on last night and I forgot to record it - aaarrrggghhh!

Grrrrrrrrr

I still haven't heard from WWT yet, which is really starting to annoy me. I phoned them up today and left a message, but still no reply. Very frustrating but at least I don't have to worry until at least January, possibly later.

I'm so excited! My parents are going away in a few weeks for the weekend, which means party time! I'm having a Monty Python theme, everyone must be dressed up and I'm not sure what else will be going on, but it will be extremely silly. All my friends - consider yourselves invited (28th from 8).

I'm also a bit worried about the responsibility that comes with being asked to train up the other area team's staff in casework law and processing responses over several days. Interesting....

WWT interview

It went ok, and the atmosphere in the interview was much warmer, but I felt I could have done better on the presentation, fluffing up my first line and maybe going a bit too fast. We'll see. It would be a shame if I didn't get it, as there is scope for me to go out with other members of staff and learn about mitigation etc, which would be really interesting. But it is no longer the end of the world if I don't get it, as I have a few more months with Natural England now.

Goodwood Photos

Mustangs and spitfires; Rowan Atkinson's Jaguar n.o 7; The Sprite!; the car auction; glam cabs; Dad's army; Stirling Moss in his Sprite; wwet racing conditions!

Turn up for the books!

You'll never guess....

I was called into my team leader's office today to be told that my contract had been extended! I will have at least another few months at Natural England, as I will be covering maternity leave. So very good news.

The only thing is I was quite looking forward to handing over all my casework, and I had told everyone that I was leaving, so it is mildly annoying but I am of course extremely pleased! Apparently, my fellow casework team buddies Alex and Rachel had been begging the Deputy Team Leader Russell to let me stay, and they had made a formal request to keep me, which panned out in the end. Talk about leaving it to the last minute!

On a sad note Kate, the Polish receptionist, and Leigh, my fellow casework team buddy, both left today, which was really sad. But we'll all keep in touch of course.

Nope...

...didn't get it.

My concerns over my lack of experience of community work were well-founded. I can accept that, though what I can't accept, and has really gutted me, is she then went on to say that I came over a bit abrupt and loud and that I should 'bear this in mind for future interviews, to tone it down a bit". I was realy upset by this, but the girls in the office have been great, saying that it is their loss, and that it didn't sound like the kind of job I wanted. It does annoy me when we make the effort to apply and go to the interviews, only to find out what the job is really about, i.e. this one was a general dogsbody and mainly organising events and working with communities. Grrr.

So I will be off to the hospital to work for Mum on Tuesday - it's that or unemployment.

Interviews a-plenty!

Off I went to Dorchester for an interview with the Dorset Wildlife Trust as an Assistant Conservation Officer. The interview itself seemed to go ok, though I don't think I'll get it because they kept asking stuff about organising events, working with community groups etc, which I don't have much experience of. A bit annoying as I actually want this job!

I was quite worried about it this morning as I was still really tired from Saturday night/Sunday morning (bed = 3am!), but my mind seemed to just about function. I had a great night, when they eventually arrived (night began 10.30pm!), eventually ending up in the Chapel, which I hadn't been to for ages.

Another week down

This last week has gone so quickly, I can't believe only one week to go!

Of course this week was marred by poor old Richard Hammond - I do hope he pulls through and gets back on the show.

Earlier in the week I discovered I have an interview on Monday for an ACO post at the Dorset Wildlife Trust, which I really want. Then, after a two hour journey home due to appalling traffic, I discovered I now have another interview on the 2nd of October for the Planning and Policy Officer for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this one, but as per usual I relish the challenge! I have to do a presentation, which sounds really difficult. Oh well.

And now it appears I am going out tomorrow after all, so once again the weekend will fly by and I will be knackered on Sunday, when I was hoping to go for a nice long walk with Mum and her ramblers. Never mind!

Absolutely knackered

What a weekend! It all started at Alex's on Friday evening. Together with Leigh, it was to celebrate our time with English Nature, and say goodbye to both of us from Alex. An excellent evening, which ended at approx 2am after selecting random German words out of the dictionary to use as insults. Quite amusing!

The next morning I drove back home, feeling very tired, but to try and get ready for the evening. It is Jo's birthday today, so last night we all went out in Salisbury again and had a great time, though I feel very old now - a few years ago I'm sure I wouldn't feel this tired! Happy Birthday Jo!

Anyway, today is recovery day, and then back to work tomorrow- only two weeks left and I still haven't got a job!!!

Sad news

We received some sad news earlier in the week: Ebin Black, Mum's friend Alison's Dad, died. He had had heart problems for some time and was 86.

We are just so thankful we got to see him in NZ before he went. He had such a brilliant sense of humour and manner with us all, and he will be sorely missed.

Goodwood!

This weekend was so knackering but absolutely amazing!

After my interview on Friday, which went very well (I actually enjoyed it!) I then found out at 6pm that I hadn't got it (not enough experience), which I wasn't too gutted about really. It sounded a bit like a glorified librarian.

Anyway, we drove down to Goodwood for the Revival, which we would attend all weekend. It was brilliant, so entertaining with everyone dressed up (the boys did, but us girls would have got a bit cold and wet as it was disgusting on Saturday!), and with Dad's Army and Glamcabs. So surreal.

We watched so many classic cars racing, being raced by Stirling Moss, Rowan Atkinson (he spun his big Jag), Christian Klien and Johnny Herbert to name but a few. And the air displays of spitfires and Mustangs were spectacular.

I will almost certainly be going again in the future - what an experience!

An interview!

Yes, I have an interview on Friday morning for a job with the Hampshire Widlife Trust. It sounds like quite an exciting job, but the pay is worse than I'm on at the moment, and it is based in Botley. I would not relish the M27 commute every morning! But hey, I'm quite pleased really. Hopefully more interviews to come though.

More time in Auckland and then home

We got the bus and then the ferry from Devonport to take us into the city. Once we'd got our bearings, we set off for the Skytower, marketed as the highest manmade structure in the Southern Hemisphere (quite obviously wrong but hey). After a roundabout route, we located it and headed on up to the observation level. The views were spectacular, of the entire city and the Hauraki Gulf. Really beautiful. Of course there was the obligatory piece of glass to stand on. After watching someone on a controlled plummet from the top (euuggh) we headed up to the highest level for more amazing views. We realised we were running out of time, so we quickly went back down.

The reason for our rush was to catch the ferry from the city to Rangitoto, a 600 year old dormant volcano, which dominated the skyline. Our aim was to reach the summit and get back to catch the last boat back.

It really was like another world. You could see how young it was: the path was basically over old lava flows, which also surrounded you. There wasn't much vegetation apart from Pohutukawa trees (the NZ Xmas tree because it flowers bright red then). The climb was an ordeal, and the party quickly fragmented. However, we all made it in the end, and the reward made it all worth it. Beautiful views of the many islands and the city. We were joined by many cute little silvereye birds, which were exceedingly tame indeed. However, we could not dawdle too long, as there was more to do. We stopped off at the crater on the way back, which was surreal, before heading off for the lava caves. These are formed when the lava cools on the outside, so the walk through pitch blackness consisted of negotiating jagged rocks and an uneven floor. Nevertheless, Mum led the way (!) and it was certainly an adventure!

We then went back down the difficult path to catch the ferry, after completing a short mangrove walk. It was here that we had watched a gannet plunge-dive for fish as we got off the boat, but alas it had moved on when we got back. We then went back to be fed at the Halkyards for a satisfying end to a truly knackering day.

The next day we decided to explore the Waitakere Ranges, which are sub-tropical forested hills a short distance away from the city. However, though the views were amazing, and the forest very pretty, we had already seen quite a lot of forest already! The next destination was the wild west coast beach of Piha. This has beautiful sparkling black sand, and is dominated by Lion Rock - a huge outcrop on the shore. We climbed a lookout for lovely views, but the surf was not great enough for the blowholes to be seen.

Tonight we would not be dining at the Halkyards, but be taken to a restaurant with the Halkyards and the Blacks (Alison's parents). We were told it was a Mongolian BBQ, and didn't quite know what to expect, but it turned out to be absolutely unique and delicious. You basically selected your raw ingredients, including sauce and oil of your choice, which were then fried on a large hot plate. You then added side dishes of rice, salad or noodles. Needless to say we all gorged ourselves, especially as there was so much garlic and seafood! It was also really nice to meet the Blacks again after all these years, not looking a day older, and it was as if we met everyday. A wonderful evening indeed.

Our final day of the mammoth trip finally dawned. We had planned to spend the morning packing, have lunch, and then spend the afternoon with the Blacks. The packing was not too bad, and after Dad had finished his final touch-ups to the Van (including subtle use of mascara and toothpaste) we walked the short way to Blockhouse Bay for lunch. The weather was gorgeous, very mild indeed, but time was pressing on. We went to the Blacks, where Dad and Alexander went to dispense of the wretched van in all its stinking, rotting glory. Meanwhile, us girls were taken for a delightful walk around the local park, where we saw a Monarch butterfly and the non-native (and regarded as pests) Rosellas (colourful bird from Oz). Alison then came back and took Mum on a tour of all her old haunts, including her old Intermediate School which was about to be knocked down, so she was lucky! We rounded off the evening with a lovely light meal at the Blacks, before Alison said goodbye to us at the airport.

We found our flight was delayed by an hour, and the shops had closed in the terminal, so there was not much to do. Once on the flight to Singapore, it became clear that we would not get any sleep, thanks to the constantly-chanting Islamic clerics behind us. Arriving in Singapore, the delay had cost us our showers so we were very annoyed indeed. The flight to the UK was long, and a day flight, so of course no sleep. However, the views of Asia and the Middle-East were amazing.

Arriving back in the UK, we were struck by the dryness of the grass, and the heat was simply unbelievable for us! The journey back home was a struggle to stay awake, but it was the end, finally, of all the planning and amazing experiences of the journey of a lifetime. I want to go back!!!