Category Archives: Living in transit

Happy Jobs

Posted on September 26, 2008 by | 2 Comments

I was offered one job which made me pleased and another that has made me happy. Very fortunate to be in such a position in the current market – all those banks crashing about, thousands losing jobs and possibly much more. Strangely many of my classmates seem to be having similar good luck at the moment, which has got to be good news for the new MBA’s starting in a matter of days.

The happy factor has everything to do with where I will get to live and the people who I will get to work with, opportunity that they then present. I will be working with the Strategy Director on the revamping of a hospital in London. Who knows what that will be like but I am ready to give it a read hot go! So fingers crossed they will hurry up and get that form to me soon – as that I am sign, sealed and delivered.

Really it is all excellent news..there is an end in sight to the terminal job search anxiety and a date when the cash flow will start to trickle back in.

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a fresh new torture

Posted on September 26, 2008 by | 2 Comments

There is a new thorn in my side. Who would have thought that there was something on par with the horror of job hunting. And who would have thought it would find me so quickly!

I am on the share flat circuit and despite the number of helpful websites out there like moveflat and gumtree it is such a nightmare. Trawling through the long lists, learning to guess from the picture how much space there actually is between the wall and the bed, precisely how many people live in the flat and making decisions on whether that person is a well controled sociopath or just delightfully eccentric.

Grim Grim Grim.

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alumni relations

Posted on September 19, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Well last night it was off to the first alumni-grown-up MBA event. Although very clearly, we were the newbies as we descended on the free food and drink the minute we arrived, and on the whole were the last people standing. There were also some new MBA’s from this year’s class.

Part of me is very jealous of what is to come for them and the other part of me is so clearly ready to get going with the next big adventure. And really the thought of having to do another exam or get my head back around accounting would not be very exciting. The tendency to romanticise the experience is probably not unique to me nor I think limited to those recently leaving the MBA.

The drinks were held in the Butcher’s Hook & Cleaver in Smithfield. So plenty of suits getting around as it is just on the edge of the city. Seemed like a fitting place for MBA’s to go!

It was, on the whole, so lovely to hang out with people who had had the same experience regardless of the year of graduation. Proof also that we will all survive and have fun over the next few years! So bring it on!

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funny hand shake clubs

Posted on September 19, 2008 by | Leave a comment

Funny hand shake clubs are what I like to call them. They are strewn about London. Discret doors in heavy set buildings, a porter just inside, then a grand sweeping staircase. All very formal and austere.

This week I had the chance to swan about in my favourite dress in the Brooks’s club. It is 300 odd years old and is described as a gentleman’s club. Which I suppose today has two meanings! You will be pleased to hear that there were no women in anything that went above the knee and there was certainly a lack of bling with the exception of the rather amazing chandelier.

It was an amazing group of people – although not so much in what they had to say more just in the ooze of power. Lots of people from hedge funds and Venture capitalists… as an aside the beauty of the MBA is that now I can actually nod meaningfully and have some concept of what these people do. Rather than my previous state of confusion.

However, the most amazing moment was meeting not only a former Secretary of Health but also a Kennedy. Yep American Royalty.

All very cool.

I was there essentially as the part of an interview process for a job that is unlikely to come to fruition before the end of the year but it was ‘jolly’ good fun to be in such an environment for an evening.

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smoking footpaths

Posted on September 16, 2008 by | Leave a comment

To all those who are smokers in the UK life is probably pretty tough at the moment. You can’t smoke in office buildings, planes, trains, bus stops, pubs and restaurants. Complete bliss for non-smokers who can go home after a night out with friends without having to wash their hair, plus you can get more than one wear out of your jeans. Yippee!

However, there remains one space where you can still happily puff. And boy are they puffing away and then using the footpath as a giant ash tray. Butts everywhere. This is not the only unpleasant footpath habit in London though. There are major stains on the footpath from chewing gum, scrapped off by a bunch of council workers everyday. And just yesterday I narrowly missed someone spitting over their right shoulder as I tried to nip by to get to the tube a tad faster. It was a super close call….not nice!

The hazards of big city living!

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pots on the boil

Posted on September 15, 2008 by | Leave a comment

It does feel like I have lots of pots on the boil. Well some simmering, some have been on the stove top way to long and others have just hit the heat. Sadly all of them are currently refusing to boil – no matter how often I check my email, or stare at my mobile phone they are all stubbonly rufusing to do what I want!

Best go as it has been at least 5 minutes since I have checked my email…….

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parallel?

Posted on September 13, 2008 by | 2 Comments

WANTED: Full time, excitment! Stimulating conversation sought with promise of challenge and variety. A desire to be kind to others and to work toward virtuous goals.

As I sat in a cafe whiling away a few moments, well more than a few, with a fellow MBA job searcher. We hit open the best analogy for the horror of the job search. The whole process… looking for fit, panicing about long term prospects, a need for synergy and that abject feeling of being stuck forever in the current status quo… such feelings are similar to the dating game I find myself in occassionally. Just about every cliche fits for both the job and love search……

‘you’re wonderful, it will happen’ 

‘Don’t worry they will come along in a rush, just like buses’

‘it’s a numbers game’

‘its not you it’s me’ … this one might be a stretch!

There are 100′s and 1000′s of websites telling you what to do, helping you search for that perfect partner or job, bringing you together with other people of similar interests and desires. You can and do, spend hours looking. I am starting to suspect that the real stuff happens on both counts when you start doing, move toward taking risks and move away from your habits, well beaten paths.

So the plan for next week is to take a few risks on the job front…. to do something different. And who knows I may find that allusive romantic entanglement as well!

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Can men & women be friends?

Posted on September 11, 2008 by | 3 Comments

So is it possible for men and women to be friends? It has been something that I have wondered about before, and I guess it is something I am wondering about again. It seems to have been not just a question for me but even for the comic strip Em above.

Having just spent a year in a predominately male environment, I now  have lots of lovely male friends. Some married, some almost married, some with girlfriends and some single just like me. so is it possible that we will stay friends now that we are out of the closeted MBA environment? 

The legendary film ‘When Harry met Sally’ tried to address the question… chick flicks are in fact a wealth of untapped wisdom in my view… Sally of course felt that it was possible, Harry felt, pretty much, that guys always want to sleep with their female friends. And as the film reaches its wonderful and heart felt end I guess Harry was right, as it all ends happily ever after for Harry & Sally! 

So what are the implications of this chick flick wisdom?

Do all my fantastic friends fancy me? I think not…

Does it mean that the friendships will get watered down with time, wives, girlfriends and children?

 I hope not.

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Good press

Posted on September 8, 2008 by | Leave a comment

There are definitely not many good news Tube stories out there. Even a quick look on the Transport for London site warns of tube delays and even the closure of one of the stations in 2009. Although to be fair that is quite a bit of notice but I do suspect that when the day comes and the station is closed everyone will declare that not enough warning was given.

However, I feel that is quite one of the most remarkable systems in the world. Particularly considering that the first tunnels were opened on the 10th January 1863, that it carries a a vast number, some say close to 3 million, people every day and with some lines running up to 23 trains an hour. Quite amazing! 

Anyway, I have two good news stories on the Tube… In the last week I have had a lovely Tube man help carry my suitcases up some 30 odd steps and the other day as I ran for the closing doors of the tube faltering at the last minute unable to throw myself into the narrowing gap. The doors magically opened to let me in! Excellent!

So while sometimes it is a little crowded, and often quite smelly – it is way better than the public transport I have ever experienced in Australia. So yippee to the tube I say.

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loopy

Posted on September 7, 2008 by | Leave a comment

It would seem that there is truly something for everyone in this massive city. This morning I puddled along to ‘I Knit day‘  at the Royal Horticultural Halls just off Vincent square SW1. I do think you need to give these things a shot, who knows maybe there was a knitter hidden within me waiting to be released or better yet a very cool job. Although this was clearly unlikely given my inept attempts at textiles all those years ago at school. But hey always good to be optimistic!

My goodness what a funny gathering of women. Most of whom appeared to be Bridget Jones crossed with your local librarian types and clearly very earnest about their yarns.

So together we witnessed the creation of the worlds largest blanket using the worlds largest knitting needles – now there was a work out – a great big knitted dresser and a side table with wooly cups of tea & fuzzy chocolate eclairs. There was also a women scheduled to speak named the Yarn Harlot who apparently has the hotest knitting blog ever. hmmm. My desire to wait another hour or more was not quite there, despite the prickling of curiosity that her name creates.

It was an intriguing thing to see in London and did reinforce that really there is something for everyone in this city. Just it seems knitting is not for me.

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