After a long and arduous journey, I finally won the battle for my new contract which started today. See my previous blog for the tedious details, but I'm calling it a TKO in the 3rd round!
For my wife Pip and I, today marks a new chapter in our lives with the most certainty we've had for several years. We can plan ahead for the rest of the year now that my work is guaranteed until April 2010.
First up on the wish list is a trip to New Zealand for 4 weeks in August. We last visited in 2005 and the kids (now 7 & 5) will be able to enjoy it far more. They will get to see both sets of cousins (one lot visiting from France & one lot resident in Auckland), as well as one set of much-missed grandparents.
We are also planning to get into camping in the UK, although we will need to get a roofrack and roofbox added to our little Honda Civic first, since the budget for a new family car is now going on the NZ trip. With a warm summer predicted, we will hopefully be able to make the most of it before subjecting ourselves to a NZ winter for 4 weeks.
Other than that, some more small home improvements are required but the major work is now completed. Despite the doom and gloom in the economy and the world at large, we are very lucky to find ourselves in a safe haven for the timebeing, and able to think big thoughts about where we are in life and what we want out of it.
It feels like it has been a very, very long time since we've been able to do that .... and it feels good.
For my wife Pip and I, today marks a new chapter in our lives with the most certainty we've had for several years. We can plan ahead for the rest of the year now that my work is guaranteed until April 2010.
First up on the wish list is a trip to New Zealand for 4 weeks in August. We last visited in 2005 and the kids (now 7 & 5) will be able to enjoy it far more. They will get to see both sets of cousins (one lot visiting from France & one lot resident in Auckland), as well as one set of much-missed grandparents.
We are also planning to get into camping in the UK, although we will need to get a roofrack and roofbox added to our little Honda Civic first, since the budget for a new family car is now going on the NZ trip. With a warm summer predicted, we will hopefully be able to make the most of it before subjecting ourselves to a NZ winter for 4 weeks.
Other than that, some more small home improvements are required but the major work is now completed. Despite the doom and gloom in the economy and the world at large, we are very lucky to find ourselves in a safe haven for the timebeing, and able to think big thoughts about where we are in life and what we want out of it.
It feels like it has been a very, very long time since we've been able to do that .... and it feels good.
