Do you know what that line is? That’s a line I won’t miss in this business. This was the opening conversation to one of the phone calls I received this past week. It seems by the very nature of this occupation that (some) men seem to forget that I’m a human being first, a prostitute second. This is not who I am, it’s what I do. And as such I object to being spoken to in this manner and that just because of this job I should somehow be accustomed, no, strike that, accept it as part and parcel of the job. This is not so. With all the wonderful clients I’ve met over the years, none of them have needed to come out with such vulgarity when first speaking to me. And that some men think it’s okay to talk to a woman like that just leaves me speechless. Another call I received at just about 10pm another night, asking if I was available within the hour? It wasn’t so much asking me that, as it’s an ordinary question asked by many gents over the years who cannot be bothered to read my website. On this occassion it was the touch of incredulity that crept into the caller’s voice because I couldn’t see him within an hour. There was even an uncomfortable silence on the other end, like the caller was stumped and didn’t know what else to say. Or maybe he was waiting for me to say, “just kidding. Let me leap out of bed and go warm up the invisible jet (if you’re a long time reader you’ll know what I’m on about). I’ll be showered, scrubbed, shaved and with you in two wobbles of my arse.” It didn’t happen so I just hung up. Nope, some things I won’t miss.

I’ll be glad to be leaving these types of wonderful calls behind. In fact, I don’t think I’ll keep this phone number after next week. It’s going to be weird after having it for over ten years to be finally getting rid of it. Although I would like to keep hold of a few special clients that I could maybe get to see once in a while on a weekend, I really don’t want to use this phone number. I’ll get people who will call me after about a year’s absence, not bother to check the website, and assume I’ll be available to see them. Or I’ll get the usual timewaster where the passage of time means nothing to them and thinks that they haven’t bugged me in a while and maybe it’s about time they do. Believe me, it happens. So I’ve sent off for a PAYG sim card, one of those free thingies with a new number. The old work phone is still going so it’d be a waste to get rid of it. I’ll pass the new number on to the clients I’d like to keep in touch with and this way I wouldn’t have to worry about switching on my phone after a week of working to a barrage of missed calls/texts asking me why am I not answering my calls because they haven’t noticed I’ve actually retired and my website’s gone missing.

Anyway, that’s enough moaning for the week from me. I’ve got a week until I start New Job and I’m very much looking forward to it, albeit with a little trepidation. I’ll be spending my last week enjoying the freedom that came with this job. On the studying front my registration is complete and has been sent to the OU after walking around all day with the bloomin’ registration papers in my bag. They’ve emailed me to say welcome to the new course, so I can rest easy that level 2′s been sorted and I start again at the end of September. With that I’m also enjoying the freedom of no more studying for the next four and a half months, yippee. I’ve completed the first level of my degree by finally submitting my last assignment last Monday afternoon. If you remember I was supposed to be going to the Foodies Festival that day. Yeahhh, that didn’t happen. I was being a tad ambitious thinking I could spend the day out, plus write my assignment in the same weekend. There’s another Foodies Festival in Brighton later on in the month, failing that the one in August at Battersea Park, which is a lot nearer to me and maybe with it being in August, the weather will be better too, because I must admit, the idea of walking around Hampton Court in the rain after just getting over a bad cold did not appeal to me at all. So it wasn’t hard choosing to stay in and finish off my essay. It’s not like the sun tempted me out.

So with all that done, I have one more week of frivolity until I buckle down from next Monday. Friday gone I was at my favourite market (c’mon, you know where that is by now) and I only went a little bit crazy. It was a lovely warm sunny day and what with Borough Market being open an hour and a bit before I got there it wasn’t too crazy busy. I had half a mind to catch the bus over to Waterloo to the Real Food Market by the Royal Festival Hall by the South Bank but to be honest, I couldn’t be arsed. It looks like I’ve time to maybe go this week instead. I was supposed to have a two hour booking with my Newcastle Brown chap next Friday as a last goodbye but he’ll be going out of the country for work, which means at this moment in time I have nothing else planned work-wise for the week yet. I’m meeting some family members for lunch on Wednesday to help me celebrate, so I’ve got the rest of the week to go a little crazy. I only hope the weather holds up. I think I’ve had enough of this rain to last me a couple of lifetimes.

My next entry will most likely be my last until the website goes. It’s going to be a bit weird saying goodbye.

Well, despite the cold I developed over the weekend the interview went well on Tuesday. In fact, it went so well that I received a phone call the next day offering me the job, to which I said bloody hell yes!

So that’s it, after over 10 years and a large chunk of my life I’m done here. The letter formally offering me the job came in the mail this morning. To say I’m a bit nervous is an understatement, which didn’t kick in until after Warrior Amy asked me if I was nervous. But seriously, I’m getting a bit too old to deal with the uncertainty that this job is synonymous with. At this time in my life I need a bit more stability and consistency.

I’m a bit sad writing this because I know I’m going to miss some of the loveliest clients I’ve had the good fortune to cross paths with, like my lovely Twiggy up there in the sticks and my Newcastle Brown. I’ll have great memories. A client asked me last week if I would continue to see him when I’ve retired. Him I would, because he’s lovely and his favourite time to visit is at the weekend. I’d keep my schedule free for a few favourites sure. But the website, the pictures, everything, will be gone. My webmistress has been notified.

I met my girl Amy for lunch yesterday as she was passing through London after a busy tour of the Channel Islands and on her way back home. She suprised me with a lovely bouquet which is absolutely gorgeous and is now sitting amongst my family photos so I can look at it every day. I absolutely love flowers, I used to buy them all the time for the dining table, now it’s just covered in school books. We had a fabulous lunch at Dim t in Victoria and as usual we rabitted like two hens (see what I did there?) catching up since the last time I saw her at Heathrow Airport after our trip to New York. She looks even more fabulous after dropping over a stone following the Weightwatchers plan but somehow managing not to lose her gorgeous curves. I hate her. Or at least I would hate her more if I wasn’t doing too badly myself in the weight loss stakes. Although I haven’t weighed myself as such, I can tell you that since embarking on this current keep fit plan with fervour I’ve lost two inches up top, 3 and a half in the middle and nearly three inches around the hips. That’s about 9 inches all over. I’ve dropped a jeans size and I’ve had to poke another notch in my belt. My tops now sit funny and some are literally sliding off my shoulders. I feel a shopping trip coming on (just kidding, not quite there yet). I’ve had to buy a pilates dvd because the one I originally bought turned out to be a bit too strenuous for me. My right knee started playing up. Remember the knee where I tore a ligament three years ago? So forget low impact, more like no impact.

You have two weeks left in which to make a booking if you’re one of those ‘I’ve always wanted to but couldn’t quite manage the time’ kinda guys. Because I have to give notice at my Other Job, my start date isn’t until 21st May, which means you have until 19th.

Out with the old and in with the new.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at home so please excuse the late entry.
The first part of my final assignment is complete and I’m about to make a start on my essay, submission date next week Tuesday (8th). This upcoming week bookings are going to be tight depending on my progress. I do have a 2pm this Friday at Gloucester Rd so if anybody would like to make a booking between 3.30 and 6pm and is in the area do drop me a line or give me a call, you know the number. I’m looking forward to lunch with Warrior Amy next Thursday afternoon who has now become my BFF as she informs me that she is a Tate member and she can get me into the Picasso exhibition free of charge. Brilliant! And she’s back down south the weekend of my birthday so I can get to have birthday lunch with her as well as see the exhibition. What a lovely weekend that will be, she timed that well. I’ve toyed with the idea of becoming a Tate member but I wasn’t sure if I would visit the various Tates enough times in the year to warrant the membership. But see, I got connections, *sniff*. Also next Thursday I have to go and cast my vote for the next mayor of London. I know who I’d like to win after reading his manifesto, whether or not he does is a another matter. But still, I’d like my vote to count for something.

Do you remember my mentioning wanting to go to the Foodies Festival at Hampton Court that I found on the Wowcher website? Well, after I blogged about it I had a Google and found a post on MoneySavingExpert.com with a link to an Evening Standard competition to win free tickets to the festival. I entered and I won! So I’m off to that next weekend with a friend. I’ll take pictures.

I’ve also got my first job interview this coming Tuesday at 10am. Apart from the one I had for my volunteer job nearly two and a half years ago I haven’t had a proper imterview in must be about 10yrs. Last week I met SJ for dinner and she prepped me as best she could. She pretended to be my interviewer and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. But I think I mustered enough seriousness to answer any questions she had. Wish me luck for Tuesday. Interviews are very hard to come by these days so I was dead chuffed to get this one. So as you can see the upcoming week is looking busy. You probably won’t hear from me until I have the whole assignment completed, but I will keep you updated on the outcome of the interview.

Yesterday I had a couple of bookings in London Bridge, but it was an absolute bloody nightmare to get there. On what should’ve been a half hour journey on the train took me nearly two hours door to door and I was half an hour late for my client. Even though I got there by the skin of my teeth, check-in took ages and I had to shower again, simply because I was sweating (sorry, glistening, women don’t sweat, remember?) from the exertion of getting there. I’d seen this gent before at the same hotel and I was 15mins late then for the same reasons, the bloomin’ trains. Thank goodness he was a perfect gent and totally understood. Usually there are direct trains from Croydon to London Bridge and for some reason I still don’t know about there weren’t any yesterday. Not only did I have to find another way to get to London Bridge, but when I got there the footpath outside the market and the mainline station was closed and I had go through Borough Market to get to the other end. Have you ever tried to push your way through a throng of people at a market on a Saturday afternoon? In the pouring rain? With umbrellas poking your eyes out? Yeah, it was like that. The appointment at least went well and afterwards my lovely gent even bought me a sarnie to keep me going, I think he felt a little sorry for me. I hung around the hotel after he left and I managed to snag a quickie nookie session for half an hour. A cute lovely chap who says he was supposed to be in a meeting. At least that part of my day went well, then it was the fight to get back home. It was so cold and wet and miserable, I was in no way tempted to lurk around Borough Market, the mission was to just get home.

Anyway, that’s enough moaning from me. Wish me luck for Tuesday.

…but if you happen to be in the London Bridge area this afternoon give me a call. I have a booking at 12pm for an hour so will be free between 2 and 5pm. Somebody keep me away from the market please.

On my way home from London Bridge yesterday I saw a poster for an exhibition of Picasso’s work at the Tate Britain. I had no idea that it had been going since February. But unlike the Da Vinci exhibition that went on for only a couple of months, Picasso’s exhibition runs on until July, so I’ve got plenty of time to choose a date. Although I’m leaning towards going on my birthday, which is in June. Even if I’m lucky enough to be in full-time employment by then, I’ll just have to take the day off anyway. Is anybody else like me where they hate working on their birthday? It’s on a Monday this year so I can have a long weekend. Tickets aren’t as cheap as they were at the Da Vinci Experience at the National Gallery, I’m going to have to plead poor student again. By the looks of the website though, there really isn’t that much of a difference between student price and full price. Either way I’m there, not a chance I’ll miss that. There is a Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern, but it’s a bit too contemporary for me. It seems I like the old classics from the Renaissance and Impressionists kind of era. I’m just an old fashioned bird, me. I still have to squeeze in a visit to the Courtauld Gallery at some point as they house some of the finest Impressionist and post-Impressionists works we’ll ever see.

Meanwhile, on SJ’s recommendation I’ve signed up to bargain sites of the moment for penny-watchers (yes, I said watchers, not pinchers) like me, Groupon, KGB Deals and Wowcher and I have to say, there’s some pretty good deals to be had. The way it works is that companies sign up to these sites and sell their goods, wares and services at a heavily discounted rate. If enough people sign up to a particular deal, it’s on; if not enough interest then it’s withdrawn. So far I’ve bagged myself a Thai lunch at a new restaurant in Notting Hill, a three course meal for £9 instead of £35. Deal or what? I’ve also signed up for a body scrub and massage for £15 at The Elysium London near Liverpool Street, instead of their usual price of £55. And this morning I received an email alert for a Foodies Festival that’ll be going on around the Greater London area in the Spring and Summer. Ideally the most convenient one for me to get to would be the one in Battersea in South London. But that’s aaaages away in August and I’m too impatient to wait until then. So I’m digging out my map and trekking over to Hampton Court Palace Green for the event there on May Bank Holiday. I’ve never been to Hampton Court before so it ought to be good.

Seems to be no more work for me this week so far. Yorksire P finally made it to London yesterday and he was as horny as a toad. Let’s just say it’s a good thing I have a huge arse, it served well as a cushion. Even though I advertised everywhere that I’d be at London Bridge for the afternoon, typically the phone didn’t ring until after I got home, asking me if I’m still free. It’s still the holidays so I don’t expect too much. Hopefully it’s back to normal next week. There was just one call today from a twit wanting to sell me advertising space in their magazine, “free for a trial period”. I was so not interested I didn’t even get the name of the supposed magazine. I say “supposed”, because when I Googled the landline number that called me I found a website called Easy Roommate, which offers to help you “find that perfect flatshare”. Hmmm, curiouser and curiouser.

Anyway, my studies are now complete, it’s just the online quiz I mentioned to you earlier and my last assignment the week after and that’s that. I still have to skim back through the chapters I’m going to feature in my essay, and I have a tutorial to attend next week Saturday in Central London, which’ll be nice. I hopefully get to meet some of the other students I’ve been chatting to on the OU forums. I’ve already received my registration form for my next course which as I mentioned, doesn’t start until the end of September. Now normally I don’t register until a month or so before the course starts but, as predicted, because of high tuition fees, the Open University have been inundated with people registering to study. I knew this would happen. Remember I mentioned how much cheaper it was studying with the OU than going to university? Well, people have cottoned on and now they want a piece of the OU. Quelle suprise! And yes, I know. Even though my course is a Level 2 course, which means ideally you should’ve studied and passed Level 1 to get there, I’m taking no chances. So it looks like I’m going to have to register my interest early, just so it’s one less thing to worry about. Tell you what, after I’m done I’m defintely going to be needing that massage. It’s been a hard 6 months, what with the course, the job search and stuff. Roll on May.

After the disappointment of not getting very far with a job that I would’ve dearly loved, I’m back on my horse and have filled out one application yesterday with hours to spare as the deadline was for midnight last night. Talk about close shave. I’m in the midst of filling out another application, with yet a third one to be completed and sent by the 16th. No resting on my laurels, no sir. It’s funny that after all the time I’ve taken to write my CV that all the vacancies I’ve gone for require you to fill out an application. Well, not really funny, ‘cos I’m not laughing at having to spend hours on each occassion making sure each application is bespoke to the vacancy to which I’m applying, whilst my CV collects virtual dust on my hard drive. C’est la vie.
I’m really hoping to be back on civvy street by the time the Olympics come around. I know ladies down here in London are smacking their lips and relishing the thought of all that extra business that may or may not come their way. I don’t know what the case may be, never having experienced the Olympics in London in my lifetime. It’ll be an interesting experience, that’s for sure.

Meanwhile the second part of the Level 1 course soon comes to an end. Can you believe it’s been a year and a half since I first started studying? The psychology part, the part I’m studying now, I’ve found to be absolutely fascinating and I’m sorry to see the end of it. I have an on-line quiz to complete as well as an assignment this time so you’ll see even less of me blog-wise these next few weeks, ‘though I will try my best to pop on and say hi, even if it’s to moan about something that irks me. But it won’t be too bad as I have a week to complete it and it’s something to be done in my own time. We’ve been given a couple of quizzes to do in our weekly activities so I know what to expect. Then two weeks after that at the beginning of May is the final assignment and the course itself ends shortly thereafter. Then it’s a long break of about 4 months as Level 2 doesn’t start until the end of September this year, which’ll be nice as it means I don’t have to study during the summer.

I managed to squeeze in a couple of jobs this week, two bookings yesterday at London Bridge, which isn’t too bad considering it’s the Easter holidays. Traditionally I write off the holidays, especially Easter and Christmas, because not much goes on. I could’ve had a booking today with a regular client had he text or called this morning instead of emailing me at 9.20am whilst I was shopping for a large (Easter) bird at Tesco’s. Not seeing the email until I sat down to lunch at around 1pm I mentally kicked him for not contacting me via phone. If I had known he was free today I would’ve been in and out of that store so fast the cashier would’ve still been chomping at my dust. He’s one of my favourites that I always think “phwoar!” whenever I know I’m going to see him. I call him Clark Kent in my diary, because he’s the horniest toad I’ve ever met but you wouldn’t believe it looking at him. It’s always the quiet ones isnt’ it? I’ve admonished him accordingly and I’m hoping next time he’ll call or text. Strangers I don’t like texts from, regular lovelies I mind not a jot.

Yorkshire P’s trying his luck again next Wednesday afternoon. Remember he was thwarted by the trains on his last attempt to make it “dahn sarf” back in March just before I left for New York. Fingers crossed all goes well this time. My booking with him is around 2…something, (crap, must check diary) for an hour, so if anybody’s free either before or after, drop me a line or give me a call. Remember it has to be before 5pm.

Happy Easter.

Meanwhile, here are a few more pics from New York. It was a situation where I forgot my phone and I really, really wanted the images and Amy was kind enough to take some with her phone for me and she kindly emailed them over to me. There were a few more but you all are probably fed-up hearing what a great city New York is and how we had such a wonderful time. Hope you like them.
x

Okay, hands up. I admit my timewaster radar went into overdrive last week and I read a situation wrong. It didn’t help that it was fueled by the fact that my booking turned up late.

My appointment made a booking on the Monday for late afternoon Wednesday. He confirmed in the morning as requested but I got the vibe from him that he wasn’t fully commited. I don’t know, sounded like he was having second thoughts. Anyway, he had taken the time to confirm so I made my way to the hotel and got ready as per usual. The top of the hour came and went and nothing. I just started spouting all sorts of expletives when the phone rang at 5 past the hour – my booking was at the tube station and awaiting further directions. All in all it turned out well and we had an enjoyable time. I apologised to him for all the curses I wished on his head and he was pretty forgiving. He thought it was funny knowing I was sitting on the bed cursing him into oblivion whilst he was on his way. Apparently it’s his usual demeanor so I need to bear that in mind if there’s ever a next time. I would still prefer to listen to my radar though. It may have been wrong on the odd occassion but it’s not something that happens very often. At the end of the day it’s all we ladies can rely on in this job.

The rest of the week went by without any other bookings. There were the usual last minute calls but I switched my phone off on Friday and took advantage of the current lovely Spring weather and went out. First of all I went to the South Bank and found that market I went to with Warrior Amy a few weeks ago. Apparently it’s called the The Real Food Market, by Real Food Festivals. They have events all over London and hold various food festivals. According to their website they have a Taste of India Festival in April which sounds like something I might want to visit. There was a mango and ginger chutney I had bought that was just gawwjuss and wanted to see if I could get it again. I found the stall that sold it and bought two jars of chutneys and a jar of rasberry curd for a tenner. Scrumptious, never had rasberry curd before. I did find that they have a website where they’re sold a wee bit cheaper but I’d still have to pay for delivery, so it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. I also bought a slice of cheesecake which turned out to be awful. I never thought I’d ever say those two words together in a sentence. It was supposed to taste like Bailey’s Liqueur, so a bit of Irish Cream I thought. I couldn’t be more wrong. I managed to get through two-thirds of it later on that night at home before I gave up and binned the rest. What a waste. I had had plain cheesecake from this particular stall before so I just assumed that all their food was lovely. From now on I’ll stay away from Bailey’s flavoured cheesecake, methinks.

Then instead of jumping on the tube and as I had time to kill, I got the bus from just outside Waterloo Stn to London Bridge and enjoyed the sights along the way. It beats a sweaty old tube any day. I ended up at my favourite place, Borough Market, and went a little bit crazy. Not too much, just a little. Picked up a few delicacies and made my way back home for around 4pm, which was just about perfect as I avoided the evening rush hour. The rest of the weekend was spent studying and doing the housework, which was why I wanted to enjoy Friday.

The sun is back out and gents are getting a little horny. Last minute horny which doesn’t help me. I’d be happy to make a couple of bookings for next week; as always a little notice would be brilliant. Meanwhile the job search continues.

Yes, I know, it’s been a while.
I’ve been home since Tuesday morning and I’m afraid it’s taken me this long to get back to normal. I’ve been catching up on my studying, plus I had a couple of bookings yesterday and Thursday, including my lovely regular in Shepherd’s Bush I didn’t get to see before I left as work called him away Up North. Thank God for him who had contacted me the night before. Although I had taken another booking the day before that for approx. the same time, I somehow didn’t think it would come to fruition. When the chap started going on about his 11′ member and if I could handle it, it was all I could do to stop my eyes rolling up to the heavens. Something told me this wasn’t going to happen so I told Shepherd’s Bush chap that I would check in with him on Friday morning at 9am, when the 11′ at 11am was supposed to confirm. There was no suprise on my part when he didn’t, so off to Shepherd’s Bush I went yesterday. I had a booking at London Bridge on Thursday and I managed to avoid Borough Market and (literally) stay on the straight and narrow (road) back to London Bridge Overground, instead of veering off across the road toward the market. You’d have been proud of my display of such restraint. And the little Italian market wasn’t on at Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush, so no temptation there either.

I stayed overnight at Heathrow with Amy as she had come down from Scarborough earlier in the day. We had seperate rooms and both had clients the night before which was handy for me as it paid for the room with a bit of spare cash for duty free the next day. The flight over was wonderful and New York was brilliant. I could’ve done with a few more clients but c’est la vie. If you’re going to have a time where for some reason or other all your clients don’t come to fruition, New York is the place. I was out one place or another during the 5 and a half days we were there. My girl Amy was a bit more fortuitous and during the times she was keeping the men of New York happy I was out making myself happy. During one day, the Thursday I think, whilst Amy was holed up at our hotel and I had a couple of cancellations, I took advantage of the unseasonable 70 degree spring sunshine and went for a walk. We were situated near Times Square so I made my way down towards 42nd St. and 5th Ave. I did a recon of some reading tablets for my supervisor at The Other Job at Best Buy (open for all of a year and bit here in the UK before they closed all their stores down) and also had a look at the Nook in Barnes & Noble. He was thinking of treating himself to something. They were so gorgeous I nearly bought one myself. The fact that they were manufactured for the American market wouldn’t have stopped me, such is the techy wiz that my supervisor is, he would’ve tweaked it every which way to make it more UK-friendly. But again, my willpower came into play and I told myself that I really didn’t need it, my Kindle was enough. And in the end he decided not to get anything. Anyway, after that I walked further down to Grand Central Stn. and the Chrysler Building and snapped a few shots there. I then walked across 42nd to the New York Public Library where I sat for half an hour to rest my feet. It actually felt a little blasphemous taking my Kindle into the Reading Room but nobody batted an eyelid so neither did I. After that I did want to do some more walking but by then my feet was beginning to hurt me and I needed to pee. So I made my way back up to Times Square, stopping to replenish my Clinique skin care regimen at Sephora (these stores are worldwide and why there isn’t one in the UK I’m truly baffled) and finding Crumbs. I bought a couple of rather large cupcakes for myself and Ms. Vergnes which went rather well with a glass of milk later on that evening.

Inbetween work we also went down to Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park. There wasn’t as much going on as there normally was still being a bit wintery in weather but we did happen upon a chap playing classical music on a baby grand piano (see Amy’s blog for more pics). A wee bit surreal in the middle of the park outdoors, but that’s New York for you. I also showed Amy the red townhouse where Will Smith “lived” in I Am Legend (if you’ve seen it, you know where I mean). We then walked up to Union Square where to my delight the market I’d encountered a couple of years ago was there in full swing. They had such delicacies as ostrich eggs and their bones – it looked like a tibia, imagine trying to get one of those in your suitcase. We then caught a bus up to 34th St. where we went to one of our favourite stores, Old Navy, where I could’ve easily spent a ton of money and again, I had to call on Will Power to hold me back (although I did go back a couple of days later and bought a maxi dress for the summer, approx £30 for something that would’ve cost me £45 here). That was the Saturday.

Sunday we went to Harlem. I was dying to take Amy to one of my old haunts from way back in the 80s and it was wonderful to see it had transformed in the past 20 years. I wanted to try Sylvia’s Restaurant where they sold proper Southern home-cooked food, but the queue to wait was just ridiculous. With it being a Sunday afternoon I thought that might’ve been the case. Harlem consists of a lot of African-American Christians and I figured they’d be going out to lunch after Sunday Service. We tried another restaurant that wasn’t quite as popular but still had a wait time of about 20mins or so and we had to put our name down on a list and wait to be called. It was called Amy Ruth’s and the food was just scrumptious. There Amy had her first taste of cornbread and catfish and she loved it, which I thought she might. We were too stuffed to have dessert so we doggy-bagged the rest of our food and caught the bus downtown back to our hotel.

Although Monday was our day to go home, we couldn’t help but squeeze in a bit more shopping. Amy bought herself an MP3 player at a store called B&H Photovideo. The name is slightly misleading as they sold everything electronic under the sun. Everything I tell you, including telescopes, surveillance equipment to studio lighting. The store covers a whole block and is one of the very few city stores that also offers free parking to its customers. It was absolutely massive. It’s owned and run by Hasidic Jews so they’re not open on a Saturday (Sabbath), which is why we had to wait until the Monday. We just saw a tiny corner of the store, if you’re a techy geek this place would’ve been Nirvana to you. Although at one time I did want a laptop, I kind of changed my mind when I saw that one of my sprogs bought themselves a refurbished Dell not too long ago for less than £300 which looked like new. So I know when this one kicks the bucket I can just go to the Dell Outlet website. It’s brilliant when you know a techy nerd, you find out so many things you otherwise wouldn’t have a clue about.

Anyway, inbetween rushing back to the hotel to check-out and meeting the surly countenance of the guy at reception when I asked him to give me another half an hour as we got carried away shopping, we dumped our cases in the hotel storeroom and resumed our mission to shop some more. I had had one last booking on the Monday morning, I really
should’ve packed the night before. We went a little crazy in Fossil on 5th Ave, where I bought a messenger bag and a vintage watch which, on checking the UK websites, I saved approx. £55 between them by buying them there. Remember our VAT’s what? 20%! In New York City their sales tax is 8 1/2%, so you can see where I’ve saved.

By this time my feet were beginning to go. Apart from the Friday I had done quite a bit of walking the whole time I was there and I reckon the working-out I did at home paid off. I think I did pretty well keeping up with Warrior Amy, although I know a lot of the time she slowed her pace to suit mine, but OMG can that girl walk! There was an instance where I had to tell her to go on without me, the heels of my feet were just excrutiatingly painful. When I got home Tuesday morning and went for a nap, having not slept at all on the plane, I got up about 1pm to get some food for the house and I nearly fell out of bed, my legs had just seized up under me! I swear I’ve never done so much walking. But it was brilliant. The weather was lovely, I had great company in Amy which I knew I would and I’m happy with my spoils. I’d go to New York again. Not to work, I’m done with that, but maybe for a long weekend, maybe do some shopping and this time catch a show, which we didn’t get to do this time around.

Back home to normality. I got a 79% on my latest assignment, I still have a week’s studying to catch up on and the job search continues. Work has already commenced as you’ve read and the usual rules apply. Please don’t call me on the same day asking for a booking for later as a chap has just done whilst writing this. A chap who has been in contact in the past (I recognised his voice) and should really know better. As I say, back to normality.

It’s been a battle of mental proportions trying to get everything done. A funny few days, with a few ups and downs. More downs than ups. I was so determined to get my assignment done before the start of the weekend I hadn’t read the question properly and ended up having to rewrite quite a bit of it. Luckily at least the gist of it was there, it just needed a bit of restructuring. By Saturday it was done and I exhaled a huge breath of relief as I put the finishing touches to my essay and submitted it for marking. Tell you what, I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard on one, even when I was at school. The bloomin’ thing took me 3 days all in all.

The bad news for me is that after a month, no, make that five weeks, of waiting for a response (after I was informed that hearing nothing was a good sign) I received an email for the latest job I was going for – remember? the one where I had to do the aptitude test (which, ironically, I passed so I was told) as soon as I submitted my application – to be told thanks but no thanks. To say I was deflated at not reaching the interview stage is putting it a little mildly. If this was before the recession I know I would’ve been in there based on my volunteer background. But things are a lot tougher out there now, that’s for sure. I’ll just have to keep on going.

I’m almost packed and ready to go. Behave yourselves whilst I’m away and I’ll see you when I get back.x