Sat 11/07/09 – 02:07

Pretentious and nonsensical title chosen, I thus begin my long-plotted blog. I apologise in advance for being dull, but I decided that a blog would be the best way to keep people updated with what I'm up to – I imagine the coming year may be somewhat chaotic. Apologies also for not using LiveJournal to those with accounts there, but I've used it before and never much cared for it, I'm afraid.

It's pretty early in the morning as I write, though I may not get round to posting this until tomorrow morning when I rise once more. I've been attempting (and failing) to remove wall decorations whilst watching the last episode of Torchwood (which I quite enjoyed in a mindless way) for the last hour, trying to use my fingernails to prise the many pins out of the walls. I gave up on that, though, and opted to lever them out with a throwing knife instead. Useful things. The state of packing is not great, though, to be honest. I'm getting there, but I always forget just how much stuff I have and thus never have enough boxes to move all the tat, which is why I've stopped. Nonetheless, almost everything is sorted for London tomorrow, bar a few bits and pieces, which is the important part. The rest will likely wait until Wednesday afternoon, or possibly the 25th/26th, when I'm back for Tom's birthday and the final clean-up of 339. Joy.

So, London. Meeting Maddy's parents (who are kindly letting me rent their 3-bed flat remarkably cheaply at four days notice) at the flat at 4pm tomorrow. It's in Highgate, which is as convenient as could be expected, and looks very pleasant indeed. The only issue is that there's nothing in the flat except, I am told, a microwave, a television, a cooker, pans and curtains. The fridge arrives on Monday, the carpets on Tuesday, the Internet on Thursday and the beds...some time. Thus, I am taking a beanbag in lieu of a sofa, and today went on a voyage to buy an Ikea futon mattress thing (the actual futon was expensive and not really necessary) to sleep on. Lovely. Still, I can't complain considering how little hassle this all is to me. I am very grateful indeed!

The purpose of hauling myself down there at such short notice is for unpaid work experience, alas. The job interview I went to on Tuesday yielded good feedback (“We'll be keeping your details, and we may call you if one of the others turns out to be unsuitable.”), but no actual job. Considering my abject lack of experience as a runner (a media monkey, not an athlete), however, I think it went pretty well, especially when I know that over 130 people applied for just two positions. Welcome to the media, baby. Fortunately, a company rang me up out of the blue to offer me this work experience doing basically the same job later that day, and whilst it's unpaid for about three weeks, it does give me experience that could make the difference next time round. Companies like runners who have experience, so it's a bit of a vicious, exclusive circle for newcomers. We'll see how it goes. I'm appallingly optimistic.

That'll do for bringing you up to speed. I'm going to sleep. If the Deathmobile car doesn't explode tomorrow on the way down, I'll endeavour to find an internet cafe or something in the next few days to let you know how the futon is working out. Also the Tube. The sweaty, sweaty Tube. I may remove the jumpers from my luggage.