North of the Stupid Line

The Robster is back in town! Yep, I’ve returned to London and to work. Whoopee (!). I don’t mind really, just back to the daily grind of commuting and casework, and back to missing Rachel and now missing our home as well. Ah well, it’s only until spring 2007, then got the rest of me life with Rachie.

I left Llwynon Road at 6.30am and was at Brixton about 9.45am, so it took 3 hours and 15 minutes to get here from Oakdale. It’s not very often I go back to London on a Tuesday morning though; usually I would go to Royal Oak on Mondays. It was worth it just to spend one more night in the house with Rachel.

You can see what Steve’s been busy doing in my absence during the last three weeks. Bless him, he’s transformed my bedroom from this to what you can see on the left and right. Massive difference, innit? This is my pad in London now until April 2007 when I qualify as a solicitor. I’ve had enough of moving around London, so will stay here (unless Steve chucks me out!).

I’m happy with the room at the moment; it’s nice and cosy and will be nice to come back to after a hard day at work in the law centre in Croydon (it’s only about 10 mins away!). It’s gonna be heaven having such a brief commute. Can’t wait.

It took me 55 mins to get to the flat from Brixton, which is an improvement on the 1 hour 30 mins it takes to get to Brixton from Hornchurch! I’m off to Romford tomorrow though, which should take 1 hour 15 mins. We’ll see!

It’s been a busy week this week with my return to work, albeit from home. I’m rather pleased with myself for having almost caught up on all my casework. As you can see on the right, I’ve had the pleasure of working in a really funky office. Anyway, my hard work this week means that I can return to London and the 13 client appointments booked for next week with a clean slate.

So, after three weeks of living life in a quiet Welsh Valleys village, I will be returning to London on Tuesday fully refreshed, and raring to go, particularly for when I start my training contract. I do have a busy few months ahead:

1st October – volunteering for a BSL Week event that RAD is holding at Meadows Shopping Centre, Chelmsford.
29th October – speaking (in BSL) at the Deaf Clubs Conference, Acton, about deeds and their legal implications, particularly with regard to ownership.
5th November – another LLM weekend up in Leicester
12th November – the Remark! TV and Film Awards

Anyway, this is a boring post so will shut up…

I really enjoyed our visit to IKEA today, simply because it’s the first time I’ve ever had the full IKEA experience. What do I mean by that? Well, all my previous visits to IKEA have been tag-alongs with other people who have been going through the “full IKEA experience”. This time, however, as I was going in with a generous budget, a house to put things in, and my fiancée in tow, I was able to enjoy myself and buy what ever took my fancy. We ended up spending almost £150, but have sorted out two rooms in the process!

Definition

Full IKEA experience: a person enters IKEA with a sizeable budget and an open canvas, and leaves the store with little or no room left in his car on account of all the goods he has purchased.

I’m already looking forward to my next visit!

Well, well. I’ve succumbed to the pressure of surviving in a world of hearies and had a digital hearing aid fitted. To be honest, I only had it cos it was free and thought I may as well!

It’s certainly different from my trusty analogue hearing aid. The limited hearing I have always seemed “clear” with analogue. In contrast, the digital is more “echoey”, in terms of sounds reverberating in my ear canal rather than just a straightforward sound. What I do like is the fact that you can change the programme so that it cuts out background noise – this feature could come in handy, although switching the aid off completely usually solved the background noise problem anyway.

I digress. The digital aid is potentially useful. I’ll give it a try and see how I get on with it. I was joking with Rachel when I saw her after it was fitted: “your fiancé is hearie now, babes!”. LMAO.

If you don’t think I’ve explained it all clearly, then piss off. What do you expect from a deafie ffs?!

Isn’t it funny how time seems to go quickly when you’re not working? It really annoys me. I’ve got two weeks off work, and I’m already into the second week. Pah. Just as well I’ve got a third week doing catch-up work at home – I won’t be leaving our new house so soon.

I wouldn’t say I’m missing work, but I am missing my colleagues. Funny how when you see people every day you get so used to them being around, that when they’re not around, it feels like something’s missing. Never mind me, I’m just being sentimental. When I do return to work, nonetheless, things will change a lot as I will be starting my training contract and getting settled into my new role as a trainee solicitor.

Some people would call me crazy: not content with the house, I’ve also moved to Croydon, and changing job roles next month. No rest for the wicked, eh?