Okay...here's a good pic of Mr G and our neighbour at the yummy BBQ last night.. lol. I didn't manage to get one of Mr D because he was inside the house mopping the conservatory between bites....

Oh he looks really sweet. Love the flowers in the border, beautiful. I am just so very happy for you. Hopefully you will get the job and you'll be all set. You have done so very well. Hope the blisters are healing up now and not as painful. Maybe one day you'll get to meet your relatives, that would be wonderful. Take care. xx

They're both sweethearts! They really do love their garden and they're busy planting all sorts of colourful flowers and an assortment of herbs.

Well I am shattered!!! Talk about a BUSY day! I've ended up catching 7 buses today and I am so tired my eyes keep crossing..

To start it all off there was a 6 car pileup on the Motorway so all the buses were delayed in one way shape or form, or didn't turn up at all. Naturally I only found this out when i was chatting to a lad at the bus stop. Normally the buses run every 10 minutes where I am, so once I heard about the accident I realised that was why I'd been standing at the bus stop for 40 minutes... So an hour later the bus finally showed up and I was on my way....

First off I went into Oldham (first bus) because I had an appointment at the job centre and I wanted to update them of my change of address at the same time. So i get there, only to be told that my advisor had written the date down wrong and my appointment is for next week. So then we get onto the change of address and they tell me I'm no longer covered by their office, and that I have to go into the Rochdale Job Centre, tell them my new address and all my records need transferring over.

Next I go to the bank and tell THEM of my new address and that one was easy..they just changed it over on the computer and I was all done.

So then I go into the Dr's office to tell THEM my new address and they hand me a form to fill in and tell me to bring it back with something that shows my name and new address (such as a bank statement, utility bill etc etc). If I had known I could have got something from the bank while I was in there, and I couldn't be bothered walking all the way back as I wanted to get into Rochdale.

I walked back to the bus station and caught bus number 2 to Rochdale. I manage to negotiate Rochdale and find myself at the Job Centre, where I tell them who I am and what I need to do. I end up speaking to an advisor who tells me they have to set me an appointment to be re-assessed and brought into the Rochdale sysem. So we set an appointment for Thursday at 11.00am because I already have an appointment there for 10.00am for my job interview. By that time I am literally dragging myself back to the bus station to catch bus number 3 and head home.

No sooner do I walk in the door, get smothered in kisses by the doggies and say Hi to the guys than my phone rings. It's a lady at a cafe in Diggle where I had applied for a job. This was before I even knew the guys and even thought about moving. She wanted to meet me and have an informal chat about a supervisory position she has available and could I get there for 4.30pm? So i said yes and then quickly went to speak to Mr G! I asked his opinion about what I should do and he said it always helps to have a fallback plan just in case this job I'm interviewing for on Thursday doesn't need me to start straight away, and this way if I got the job at the cafe I could at least be bringing in some money while I wait. He mentioned that I should tell them I couldn't start until late next week and that way I could have the interview on Thursday and know more about how soon I'd be required to start work with Mr G's place of work. Which seemed like a good idea!

So then I raced out the door and caught bus number 4 heading back to Oldham. Then I caught bus number 5 in Oldham, heading for Diggle and back in my old stomping grounds.

Apparently the position at the cafe is only for between 16-20 hours per week, helping with the cooking, the opening and/or the closing of the place and rotating between the kitchen and serving the customers. They've only just opened up, so once things start to pick up business wise they'll re-evaluate the number of hours and possibly turn it into full time. As the Diggle buses only run every hour and there is a bus at 5.28pm and then nothing until the very last bus at 11.20pm I asked about the latest they work and luckily they close at 5.00pm so that would give me plenty of time to catch the bus. They said they'd also work with me for opening hours to help me catch the morning buses too.

The only drawback, is saying the responsibility that is required, they're only paying £6.75 per hour, which is just over minimum wage, so by the time you consider tax, NI, bus fare etc etc, I'm wondering just how much would me left? Probably just enough to pay the rent I should think, but not leave much left over. Plus they were hoping to have someone start early next week so they could spend a couple of weeks training, unless the owners wanted to do a second interview which would mean the person they hire would technically start mid to late next week. Which worked according to Mr G's plan..

Then I caught bus number 6 back into Oldham and bus number 7 home! Don't forget that each bus takes me between 30-40 minutes to get where I need to go...so home to Oldham (40 min), Oldham to Rochdale (35 min), Oldham to Diggle (30 min) Rochdale to home (only 15 min at the most). So I've spent a fair amount of time on a bus today.. Good job I got the £13 weekly ticket and that's unlimited bus travel for a whole week, so long as it's on a 'First Manchester' bus!

I finally walked back in the door at 6.45pm roughly! To think I left the house at 9.00am this morning. Mr G asked how it all had gone and I told him everything about the job, the hours etc etc and even he said the pay was low considering they're calling it a 'supervisory' position. But he also said that after the interview on Thursday I should hear something by Friday because he's under the impression they'd want someone to start right away. So....

That was my day! Now it's time for a shower, some dinner, some TV and then BED !!!!!

Good luck with the job interviews

If it useful - here is a calculator (there are others around) which should give you an idea of take home pay - just plug in the gross amount. I should imagine part time earnings on that hourly rate would leave you under the threshold for tax & NI.

I've posted this one before, but you can mess about with this calculator using different incomes and hours worked to check your benefit entitlements ...

http://www.entitledto.co.uk/calculator/

Thanks rebs, that was very helpful.... Gave me a rough idea anyway and definitely something handy to keep around ..

Oh my, looks like you'd be better off with a car after all - except then you would have to deal with traffic and pile-ups on the motorway Good luck with the interview Looks like that job may suit you better, but good to know you have other irons in the fire, eh? Your roomie looks like a real sweetie We'll have to have a photo of the other now

Loved the photo!

I was exhausted just reading about your day! I think its great that you went to the interview at the cafe because its always good to keep your options open but I do think it sounds like the other job is going to be a better set up for you certainly its better hours (more of them I mean) and a much better location for you, obviously you'll know more after the interview.

Amazing what you have accomplished in such a short time. Fingers crossed for Thursday's interview!

They look really, really nice!!

What a busy, busy day you have had! No wonder you are tired!!! Still, with buses you can sit back and relax, although it's still very tiring.

That's TWO job opportunities you have under your belt in under three weeks. Good going!!!!

you've probably lost another 5lbs with all the walking and bus trips and general rushing about

Thank god for those all week bus passes eh?

Blimey I am knackered and short of breath just reading about your day lol! Fab pics, thanks for posting - loved the ducks and the daffodils

Well I have only 18 days to go and I'm miserable as all hell, I'm in your shoes as of a month ago doing all the cooking, washing and cleaning here and its making me so ratty - have put up a post on the 'troppo' thread to rant and get it out of my system ha ha!

Currently stuck in my room not wanting to go into the kitchen and face the mountain of washing up OR my damn lazy boss. If he says one word about 'whats for dinner' or 'are you making a pot of coffee love' I swear I will throw whatever comes to hand at his head - grrrrrrrrrr!!!

Right I'm going out for a walk and lunch - he can get his own today cos I am making a stand and no, I am NOT doing the poxy washing up either!

Keep the updates coming love, really enjoying reading about all your adventures x

Yes I read your rant ! I know I said too that I wouldn't do anything, but I ended up doing it anyway...but that's just me. You stick to your guns and if nothing gets done just throw the lot away If he asks 'what's for dinner?' just say 'I dont know - what are YOU making??' If he says 'are you making a pot of coffee' reply 'I hadn't thought of it, but thanks -I'll take my white with two sugars'

Men, you can't love em, you can't shoot em !

Lol

Today I finished updating my address at the Dr's office, after first going back to the bank to get a letter from them to show the new address. Amazing how you always need to provide PROOF of something. Oh sure I just moved in on Saturday and you expect me to have a bank statement, phone bill, utility bill already? Really???

I also popped into O2 and asked about their monthly plans. At the moment I'm with 'talk mobile' athough it comes up Vodafone UK when I turn the phone on, so I hope that's not because I used a pre-paid SIM when I was in London last year because that was with Vodafone. Anyway, the plan I'm on at the moment has good talk rates, but I pay 25p per text message and no data package, but with O2 they gave me a good deal for £20 per month, with unlimited UK calls to both mobile and landlines, unlimited texts and 1GB of data, plus free WiFi when in an O2 area. That's roughly what I am paying with the current SIM, so it seemed to make more sense to go with an unlimited plan. I just have to go back into tomorrow when my account has been fully integrated into the system and they're going to 'port' my number over from the Vodafone (Talk Mobile) service, so that way I don't have to change my phone number with absolutely EVERYONE ! Plus I was amazed that I passed the credit check...

Naturally I popped into Gregg's on the way to the bus station and picked up a couple of sausage, egg and bacon sausage rolls I like how dogs are allowed on the buses (at the driver's discretion of course.) and I can sit there on the way home and eat my sausage roll !

So all I need to do now is get tomorrow over and done with, pop into Rochdale Council while I'm there and ask about the electoral roll and then wait the required number of days to change my drivers license over, go back into Oldham and get the mobile phone number ported over and I'm almost done! lol Oh and next on the list is contacting BA and cancelling the return portion of my ticket..lol. Hopefully I can get a partial refund of the taxes and charges portion of the ticket ! Every little bit helps, especially as the taxes were more expensive than the actual cost of the fare.

It's bye bye sunshine and hello rain clouds and rain! I could swear i even saw a snowflake this morning..lol, but possibly wishful thinking. Two days of sunshine...not bad - must be a record