Brand New Me, Brand New Routine

So, I'm all unsettled.

I get up later. I get up at an almost sensible time. My alarm goes off at 7am; as opposed to 5:30am like it used to. But this doesn't - yet - mean that I have adapted my sleeping pattern to take this into account. I still, regularly, wake at around 5 or 5:30am for no apparent reason (sometimes for a pee).

So, I should be getting more sleep and therefore making more of my weekends? Well, as yet, not yet. But like I say, my daytime sleep is still disturbed. And I've always loved my bed. Hence why this weekend, even despite the weekly sleep issues, I managed to stay in bed until 2pm on each day. Two days almost lost.

But, the new job has had more effects that just what my sleep should be (which I hope will sort itself).

Why did my alarm go off at 5:30am? Because I had to leave the house at 6:30am to get to the train station. I had to walk for around 20mins at my end; and around 30mins from the station to work. And the same back in the evening. So about 1 1/2 hours of brisk walking per day.

That's gone.

I now sit in a car for 1 1/2 hours a day.

So I have to find that exercise from somewhere. At the minute I am making sure I get a good 40min walk on most lunch hours. Then, I went jogging on Tuesday. But this clearly has to increase. Otherwise I'll end up fat.

So yes, the exercise regime has to change. And it may do by adjusting my alarm a couple of days a week to get me up earlier, though still at a decent time (6:30am) to pop out for a jog. I'm still getting the extra half-hour sleep than what I would have in my old job; but a bit of a run on top.

Winter should be fine when I'm not rushing home of an evening to do the gardening. When it's dark I'll either be exercising or doing DIY.

But that's the exercise, which needs developing.

Whilst the lack of exercise can be compensated against the increase in sleep (hopefully); the lack of both tv and 'fitty' watching has been noticeable.

So, on the trains I spent a lot of time watching tv. Well, pretty much an hour every morning and evening. 2 hours a day. That's a lot of time. Now, I spend those hours driving. I can't do anything with those hours. They are dead to me. They are 10 hours a week I have lost. Of tv. So I have to cover that time at home - watch that tv at home.

And then there is the holiday.

At old work I could earn an extra half-day holiday per month by working half an hour of my lunch hour twice a week. So I did that on a Tuesday and Thursday and earned an extra 12 half days a year. 6 full days a year, on top of a generous 28 day holiday meant that I could get 34 days.

Now, I get 23 days. No time-off-in-lieu. Nothing.That said, I often struggled to use my holiday up during the year.

And finally there is the shopping.

At old work, the big supermarket was a five-minute walk away. Perfect for those Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays that I had the time to shop. Now, the closest supermarket is a good ten-minute drive away. And back. Meaning on my lunch hour I would have 40 mins to shop and eat. So I drop in at a supermarket on the home. Which is nice and good and convenient. But it means that on a Monday I get home no earlier than I would do if I were on the train at my old-job.

But then I get paid more. Am I happy with making these sacrifices to my life for more pay? Or would I rather less?

Quite.

Brand New Me

So, do you remember Brand New Year, Brand New Me? Well it has, albeit slightly belatedly, come to fruition.

That’s right – I have a new job. It isn't as though I've tried. And tried.

But it has all turned around very VERY quickly.

Just over three weeks ago - on Tuesday 9^th July - I was informed of the opportunity and submitted my application. I received a phonecall on the Wednesday inviting me for interview the next day and was offered the position on the Friday, handing my in notice on the following Monday. Five days of whirl.

Fortunately my employers were very generous in releasing me early. I neither like nor understand long, drawn-out goodbyes. Once a handover has been effected, is there any point in that person being there? While my old team will suffer from a slightly longer period of reduced capacity, even if I had given my full notice there would have been no opportunity to advertise, interview, recruit and train my replacement to provide absolutely seamless cover, let alone the 'business rule' that forbids paying two salaries for the same role; therefore as the inconvenience already existed I was not applying any greater distress.

It helped therefore that the new opportunity was desperate for me to start, and that it was a considerable bonus for myself over any other candidate that I could commence at very short notice. It also helped that they pay more: I would rather get the two months that I would otherwise have been on 'old pay' notice for at the new, higher wage instead.

So it’s all a massive, massive change. And it started Monday.

But I knew I was going to get the job. How?

Firstly, there are the similarities and coincidences with the recruitment for my current role. Both were desperate for anyone – all I had to do was be more eager to start than anyone else. As such the interview process was more a simple "fit for the role" rather than "absolute best ever". In the latter I have previously suffered as my role hasn't been a 'traditional' solicitor's role, so no-one has quite understood it.

Then they are both on industrial parks, rather than the heart of the town, with little around for entertainment. This may not seem like much, but you'd be surprised for how many people these site are either inaccessible (due to public transport) or unsuitable (due to work-life balance of shopping on a lunch hour. Yes, it's a thing. It's actually a thing that I had to contend with. Well, both of them. I bought a car for the new job as it was just a bit too inconvenient to do by public transport and walking to the local supermarket for my twice-weekly shop).

And then there is the fiver.

On the way back from the interview for my previous, 4 1/2 years established position I found a fiver on the pavement. I took this as a good omen at the time (not that I believe in omens, really). On the train on the way to the new role I found a fiver left on the seat. Mere coincidence, I know, but perhaps – as it was before rather than after – it gave me a certain confidence, a certain optimism which distinguished me.

Then there’s the finishes.

I had literally just used up all the credit on my canteen card for the first time working in my current role. Because you could only top up with 50p or £1, and everything cost 42p or such I always had a remnant, albeit a remnant I wouldn't mind discarding.

I also just finished reading my book (ironically on how randomness dictates our lives and how we see omens and patterns where they do not exist - don't read it, it's a lot of self-indulgent, self-aggrandising waffling).

And then the pub. When I first started in my old role I had to walk past a pub on the way from the station. Within days it had shut down and fell quickly into dereliction. Then they knocked it down and started building a care home. On my last day the care home opened its doors.

Then I had finished the tube of toothpaste. Now, this may sound a silly one, but it isn’t. I bought this tube of toothpaste around four years ago – shortly after starting this job. I went on a date in Birmingham, stayed over and went straight to work the next day; stopping in at the supermarket to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste. Gosh I wish my blog had covered that period - that was the Dishy Doctor David. This toothpaste then rattled around in my drawer for the ensuing years as I was convinced I would get another date and need it. I never did. A couple of months ago I took it home to use it up.

I’ve also had a tidy up round the home. Again, quite what effect any of these actually have on my positive mental attitude I’m unsure, but I have had dozens of concrete animals scattered around my garden that the women who lived there before left. I’ve been gradually getting rid of them, throwing out the last concrete frog in the bin disposal that happened on the day I got my offer. And in the bedroom I had a sort out, getting rid of a couple of plants that have been long expired but that I never quite had the heart to dispose of. 

And finally there was the tempting fate problem.

Total train chaos was to begin around my home city towards the end of July. They basically shut the train station. But I had prepared for this on the basis that I was to stay in my current job: I factored in the ridiculously early rail-replacement bus service that would have left at 06:35 (instead of an 07:10 train had the station not been closed) and bought a lot of packet fruit-juices and breakfast bars that I could have on the go instead of breakfast at home. Enough to cover those journey. And therefore far more than was necessary with the new job. Just nicely tempting fate.

What this does mean, though, is that I expect an impact on my ability to contribute here – for a number of reasons:

Firstly, a lot of the time and effort I have put in here has either been during lull moments at my current workplace; or whilst commuting on the train. I suspect lull moments will be few and far between in my new roll; and I know I will not be commuting but driving.

And my evenings are always busy. I do not get home much earlier than at the minute; and even if I do, as I will not be getting my daily exercise walking to and from the stations I will need to do more or simply get fat. I am currently investigating the possibility of jogging instead of sleeping.

But we shall see. If I am absent for a while, you know why!