New jobs, new houses and new years

It’s a trio of new! Well, sort of – the new year has come and gone, and already manages to be over 20 days ago. Time passes so fast nowadays that sometimes I worry it will just rush past until one day I’m 80 and still just as confused about where my life has gone. Actually, I don’t worry about that too much - I’ve resigned myself to the fact that by 80 my brain will have followed the happy family tradition of melting carelessly out of my ears.

So, we’re in 2013, and with it comes a brand new job, at a digital marketing agency in Birmingham. It’s a nice place with nice people, and I think I’m starting to get hold of the reins, but it is strange (after three years at Bluesky!) to suddenly be in a completely unfamiliar work environment. You get very comfortable when you’ve been in a job for years, things come automatically – and to suddenly have to relearn all the habits is quite disconcerting! I think actually it’s good for your brain to get a kick into action, but at the same time you can feel a little afloat and un-anchored.

The main difficulty is the commute – which, thanks to the OMGSNOW (copyrighted by Amber, of course!), has seen roads grind to a complete halt. The commute is technically 45 minutes, but averages 1.5 hours most days – and when it’s snowy that just gets longer and longer. 3.5 hours to get home on Friday when the snow was at its worst, 2.5 hours to get to work today even though the main roads are clear. It hurts.

The commute is what leads me onto the next “new” – new house. We’re still living in Leamington, but much as we love and adore this town the time has come to admit a couple of things. Firstly, that buying a house in Leamington is seriously expensive, and secondly that if we expand our search further afield I will be able to get into work in a reasonable time. So, it’s a no brainer. Still, I have lots of lovely friends in Leamington, so we need to be somewhere that makes it easy to get back!

The house buying/finding/hunting process is one I really enjoy. Being nosy about how other people choose to decorate, judging instantly (I can’t be the only one who thinks a bit of harmless making of assumptions is fun?!), imaging ourselves setting up a home and a life there. The only downside, really, is the world’s failsafe habit of selling the house you were really interested just hours after you looked around. Bugger off, sods law!

Still, as my mother would say, we’ll know the right one when we find it – and if it’s sold then it clearly isn’t meant to be! So… wish us luck!

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