New year, new flat, new job

And so begins year two of life in Edinburgh. All settled into my new flat in the lovely neighbourhood of Stockbridge, just north of the New Town. One of these days I want to do a photo tour of the neighbourhood, so I'll save that for another post. Here's a teaser: the view out of my living room windows:


Without gushing too much, I really love our new place. Big windows, big open living/dining room, newly redone kitchen... as much as I loved Mylne's Court, it felt institutional and temporary rather than homey. Now I feel like I live in the whole flat, not just my room. Plus, I don't have to face the daily tourist swarm, nor endure bagpipes blaring for most hours of the day.

I spent most of September frantically handing out CVs and sending off job applications, and finally, following a two week stint temping at a property management company, landed a job doing pretty much exactly what I wanted - working as a fundraiser at a small charity. Take that, recession! So far so good, although I'm still learning the ropes.

My assessment of working life in the UK? Pro: tons of paid holiday - (I think) I get twenty days annual leave plus eleven public holidays. They actually accept that people work more efficiently if they are working towards time off. Con: pay day is once a month, at the end of the month. Which means that even though I've been working for just over two weeks, I won't see a dime (10p coin? is there British slang for coins?) until the 28th. Boo.

So, the upshot is that I really should be blogging more often - at the moment, my bank balance doesn't allow me to do much after work other than surf the web and watch Don't Tell the Bride. Luckily Stockbridge has several well-stocked charity shops, so I've been able to minimally satisfy my shopping urges with some office wear and random housewares. Until I have another chance to hit up Ikea, however, the house-tour-via-blog will have to wait!