Metamorphosis

I'm a changed man after yesterday. Not only do I now have internet and the wonders of multichannel TV in my house (although not a landline telephone yet), I am now White Van Man, nothing can stop me. I shall wander the streets of Rugby, purchasing furniture and setting it in a suitable place in my house until I live in a furnished property.

Yesterday began with me calling Virgin Media only to wait on hold for 20mins. This was made worse by the fact that the automated menu seemed to think that it was more important to allow me to choose the sort of music that I wanted to listen to whilst I was on hold than to get me off hold. Then I was told that I needed to speak to a different department and quickly ended up on hold again, but listening to music that made me want to rip my ears off. When connected I was told again that it was the wrong department and I had to go on hold again. When I finally got through to a lady that accepted that her job was to help me, she proceeded to tell me that she couldn't because of a problem with her computer. I expressed a little disappointment and all of a sudden Virgin Media  - The Worst Customer Service I've Had In Years turned into Virgin Media - Who Will Do (Almost) Anything To Please. It was astonishing. No charge for the TV and internet until the phone also works. They will call me back and arrange everything. I was almost impressed.

As soon as all that was done I went out and bought the van. That was easy by comparison. Even the insurance was fairly painless.

The availability of four wheels and the ability to carry 'stuff' rather went to my head and I promptly filled three trolleys at Asda and rather abused my credit card.

Today was rather quiet by comparison. My fridge/freezer and washine machine were delivered and both appear to work. I returned to Asda to fill one and my laudry basket took care of the other.

So I am once again in my house, still without furiture, but several steps closer to a normal life again.

Tomorrow I just have to go to work.

So far, so good.

So, I've been back in the UK for five weeks now. And how's it going I hear you ask? Not bad I think, but still quite a way to go. Here is a summary of what I've done.

Job: Well, I'm back to contracting again and have set up my new company, The Famulus Ltd. I've got myself a six month contract with a bank in London so the money is starting to come in again. I've been working for one week now and it looks like it's going to be a fun time.

Motorbike: I've bought myself another Kawasaki ZZR1100. It's perfect for the long motorway journeys that sit between home and my clients. I'll still be using the trains over the winter, but when the sun is out or at least it's not too cold or raining too hard I'll be on it. For the moment I'm doing 220 miles a day but that will drop to about 190 miles once I move back to Rugby.

House: I'm not quite sorted on the house front. I've found one and the process is underway. If I'm lucky I should have the keys within a week and then I can start moving in.

Four wheels: I'm going to buy myself a van. I'm working on the principle that since I need to collect all of my stuff from Holland and I'll be buying furniture, a van will be much more useful than a car. I don't have much in the way of furniture in Holland but I have more boxes of stuff than I can explain. It's probably going to take two trips. The house I'm renting is unfurnished so I'm going to more or less have to start from scratch. Luckily my parents and sister seem happy to give away half of their furniture to a good cause.

So, I'm hoping to be in a house on my lonesome in a week and to have all of my stuff within the month. Then, mortgage applications and house searches allowing, the plan is to be in my own house within the year.

Wish me luck.