Blimey what a hectic Thursday. Didn’t go to work today - to be honest I probably would have done if I’d felt up to it but I still felt pretty lousy when the alarm went off at 8.30 so I called in sick, rolled over and went back to sleep. I ignored the phone ringing a couple of hours later. If my boss wanted to speak to me, I’d call her when I got up. Finally crawled out of bed at midday and listened to my answerphone message. It was Vince from the agency. “The job is yours. End of story.” - Of course it wasn’t end of story - you don’t expect anything to run smoothly do you? As well as wanting to know when I can start, they can’t get me any written offer until Monday when the MD is back in the office. So there’s no way I’m risking handing in my notice until then! That’s fair enough though - they knew at the interview I’d have to give 30 days notice. I’ve a strong feeling that ntl won’t want me to work my 30 days, but if they do, then so be it. What was more alarming was that apparently neither of my referees were contactable. Dan, my first referee, has apparently just sodded off on a skiing holiday for two weeks. Great. On the bright side, the agency did get to speak to him earlier in the week, so he is going to tell Raven that he would have given me a good reference! Vince also told me that the contact information for my second referee, Dave, was out of date, and his telephone number was invalid. Great! So an afternoon of scrabbling about trying to contact Dave ensued. I had the mobile number of one of his friends who I hadn’t spoken to in years, and an old, probably dead, email address. To cut a long story short, I did manage to get in touch with him, so I passed his new details on to Vince. Of course Vince can’t get hold of Steve (the guy who interviewed me at Raven) now. This could just run and run... The landlord didn’t drop the tenancy agreement in as promised so I gave him a call. He told me that he’s been busy over the other side of Leeds so won’t get chance to drop it off until Friday (fortunately not a problem as it turns out). He decided to take the opportunity to tell me we were “due for a rent increase” as well. Marvellous. I knew we’d end up paying for that new boiler sooner or later. As it happens he’s only putting it up an extra £10 per week so I don’t know why he bothered! I was more upset that he suddenly had a go at me about the state of the garden. Now while I admit it’s not going to win any awards, it’s relatively tidy considering. I took particular umbrage when he said I’d “done nothing to the garden in two years”. Now I’m sorry - but for the past two summers I’ve hauled a lawn mower round, weeded and dug the borders, and trimmed the hedge! I managed to wear out one lawnmower on the huge back garden in fact. There’s a bit of crap at the back from when I last trimmed the hedge which I’ve not taken to the tip yet, but it’s January for God’s sake! Hardly optimum gardening weather! And I don’t get that much opportunity to do the gardening when I’m not working. I mean, really! Kevina called round for tea tonight. I was feeling a little more human by late-afternoon so I cooked. We did the belated Christmas present exchange, and she announced that it was less than a month to her birthday so she’d soon be opening presents all over again! Sake... We’ve arranged to go out again for some valentine’s day club night next month, which should be good. I used to regularly go out on a Thursday night with Kevina so I’m looking forward to starting again. Looks like I’m back at work tomorrow. I was guilt-tripped into it slightly when my boss called me to ask the likelihood of my return, as she’d have to cancel someone’s day off if I wasn’t back, we’re so short staffed. Oh dear... they’re gonna be stuffed when I quit! So a day of discreetly clearing out my desk and getting my things in order tomorrow then...!