Heatwaves and job hunting

The UK is now on the 6th week of a heatwave that has only weakened once with thunderstorms, flooding and train chaos. Yes the British summer continues to be as everyone expects it to be, changeable and unpredictable. It reached 34c somewhere near London in the last week of July and it reached 29c inside my apartment, another record. I've made it to the beach a few times this summer, certainly more than last year and I stupidly booked my summer holiday in Australia where they were having their winter and now all the flights to places I could visit (and be hosted by friends) are crazy high.  £300 return to Barcelona from London is silly. I flew to Australia for £702 on a far better airline than Easyjet. But I guess Barcelona is the place people want to fly to in July and August much to the chagrin of the locals who are increasingly unhappy with the crowds of tourists who are swamping the city and making some neighbourhoods unlivable for locals. My friends in Spain are telling me how hot it is there, especially in places like Seville and inland Catalonia so maybe not being able to afford a flight is not a bad thing right now. 

My other reason for not booking the flight is I am currently job hunting and have applied for over 50+ jobs since mid May 2018, out of that I've received 35 rejections, 10 no responses, 3 interviews and a few chats on the phone with very eager recruitment consultants who are just as interested in my contacts as they are in my CV.  It is cut-throat out there.  I do object to receiving a linkedin request from an agency who have received my CV for a job but haven't called me or emailed me.  I know some of my friends work in recruitment and I know how pressured it can be but without honesty and integrity many of them are little better than Estate Agents or 2nd hand car dealers. The summer is slowing things up I am sure but last week I had an interview only 3 days after applying for the job, it was almost an identical job to the one I did at Southwark Council for 8 years and I didn't get it, and the feedback was I didn't have the experience. I have to laugh at that but onwards and upwards. I also became a student again in July, I am now doing a Foundation course in Company Secretarial (Governance) to bring together all the different threads on my CV into something that is a professional qualification and my first exam is in November and it will be the first exam I have taken since the summer of 2004. 

This week is the week I finally accept it and get my reading glasses. I had my eyes tested a few months ago and they recommended reading glasses and I have my fighting it since then and my justification for not having them is I cannot find suitable frames as I want to look mega fashionable like these guys ..

But I feel I am going to look like this...

After trying many many pairs on I have finally found a pair that is acceptable and I don't feel shy about wearing in public or at work so from next week I will have face furniture for the first time in my life.

21 people from Russia looked at my blog this week yet I don't know anyone from Russia or in Russia.  Weird.  Maybe they mistook me for a US election official?

So back to my coffee and cake and music until next time.

August 4, 2018