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| Friday, February 16, 2007 |
| Itchy Feet |
Ata has itchy feet. Where did she first learn that expression? Nevertheless, Ata recalls describing herself by it at different times over her entire life. A restlessness, an eagerness to be off and away and doing something new.
In part, it is the job search. Ata is a little picky about what she applies for - so over the last two and a half weeks, she has submitted a grand total of four applications. Two of which have come to nothing, one produced an interview but no job offer, and one... who knows. Still waiting. Anyway. It has, helpfully, resulted in Ata meeting a couple of recruitment agents, one of whom seems particularly eager to place Ata in SOMETHING (although I managed to slither out of the threat of becoming an insurance underwriter).
In other part... that doesn't sound right... other parts? The other part? Anyway. The other cause of the itchy feet is the prospect of going OS. Mr Ata, having decided that "if we're not having children then we'd better do something interesting so we've got things to talk about when we're 60", has finally come around to the idea of moving, although he still baulks at moving to Korea. Or Hong Kong. Or Kuala Lumpur. However, he is keen to go to the UK. AND - glee of glees - he is eligible for approval under the Highly Skilled Migrant Program, provided the application is submitted before his 32nd birthday. Mr Ata turns 32 in July, so we have a timetable. The application must be submitted in June at the latest, and takes 4-12 weeks for approval. After that, we have 6 months to apply for entry. So this would have us travelling in November (at the earliest - that is when Mr Ata's contract finishes) or March (at the very latest). Ata is suitably nervous about the prospect of arriving in the UK in the middle of winter, but - well, if it has to be, it has to be. Other people survive it. We will buy Very Warm Clothes. In the meantime, there are a number of decisions to be made. Do we sell the house? If so, when do we put it on the market? Houses in our area take around 5 weeks to sell, according to my research, but our house has a LOT of cracks - even for Adelaide, where cracks are expected. The roof needs repair, the bathroom is Crap, the airconditioner is broken. What things do we fix? The garden is now on a timetable - Ata has been approaching tasks with a mindset of putting it on the market in September/October, and stepping outside saying - what do I need to do to make this look nice in 8 months time? The backyard is still largely mounds of dirt. When the weather cools off a little (regular 40 degree days are no good for new plants), Ata will plant Things. What will grow sufficiently to make the garden look nice by September? What should we do with the stretch of garden bed by the driveway that has nothing in it? One of the hebes out the front is dying - can it be resurrected, or should I try to buy a suitably advanced plant to replace it with?
Indoors, the potential for movage has motivated Ata to begin emptying cupboards. The linen cupboard has never looked so tidy, the process of overhauling cupboard contents to remove Junk has begun, and plans for the purchase of a laptop to take with us are underway. Mostly this is a reaction to the fact that, for now, we are completely unable to do anything very useful - the application does not need to go in for several months, travel can't be arranged for nearly a year, there's no point engaging a real estate agent just yet... so Ata begins cleaning and tidying and gardening instead.
And, of course, closely examining Hobbling pictures of snow and trying to decide whether she can cope with it. |
posted by Ata @ 8:47 am  |
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| 6 Comments: |
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What things do we fix?
The cracks and the roof. Next would be bathroom, if you can make it look good for relatively little, it would be attractive.
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Wow, it's still very sudden even if it seems a long way off. How excitement.
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Eee! Ata coming to the UK? Wow.
If you move to the southwest, there will be hardly any snow. This is something that I hate about the southwest, although the rest of it is lovely. We occasionally get an inch or two (at least we have for the past couple of years), but it never amounts to much, sadly.
And if you move to the southwest, you will already have at least one friend fairly nearby. :) Two, if you're close enough to Bristol to count Indy in.
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No snow? Somehow I feel vaguely disappointed. And relieved. Surely if there's no snow, I'm not completely insane to contemplate moving there in... say, January, am I?
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Three friends, as Blue (a fellow Aussie) is here too!
The winter isn't *that* cold down here. Fairly Warm But Waterproof clothes would be better for you ;)
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Well, regardless of whereabouts in the UK we end up, it will be good to know there are Friendly People about. :)
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What things do we fix?
The cracks and the roof. Next would be bathroom, if you can make it look good for relatively little, it would be attractive.