wednesday, it gets worse

sungod

'ning

waiting in the lounge for eurostar to paris

three hours travel
three hours hanging around as the trains are all rammed so had to take an early one
two hour meeting
three hours hanging around, see above
three hours travel

deep joy

at least i'll get a couple of meals out of it

Wheelspinner

Glorious day. This is what winter should be like. 18 deg C not a cloud to be seen and almost no breeze whatsoever.

Toughest decision of the day: which bike to ride for the pootle up along the bay. Stopped on way home for the best BLT in town and a bowl of chips, plus a couple of coffees while topping up the suntan on the legs.

seanoconn

Wheelspinner wrote:

Glorious day. This is what winter should be like. 18 deg C not a cloud to be seen and almost no breeze whatsoever.

Toughest decision of the day: which bike to ride for the pootle up along the bay. Stopped on way home for the best BLT in town and a bowl of chips, plus a couple of coffees while topping up the suntan on the legs.

I'll swap you your winter for our summer? High of 17, rain moving in for the afternoon

sungod

politely asked the cabin manager when i got on and once boarding was complete he moved me to one of the wheelchair 'companion' seats, private single seat with huuuuuuge space

he even kicked out someone else who'd sat in it without asking, must confess i felt no guilt/regret at all

feeling a bit more cheerful now, wonder if i can manage it on the train back too

veronese68

seanoconn wrote:

Wheelspinner wrote:

Glorious day. This is what winter should be like. 18 deg C not a cloud to be seen and almost no breeze whatsoever.

I'll swap you your winter for our summer? High of 17, rain moving in for the afternoon

I agree. That reminds me, must phone my customer in Oz. Back in a bit.

haydenm

Morning, trying to sort out a problem with a certain immensely bureaucratic energy company who are involved on one of our sites.

I've been considering getting my NZ passport and moving out there in the next year or two, I came home yesterday and the GF has suddenly been doing tonnes of research into it and want's to go. It's refreshing as usually I have plenty of drastic and potentially stupid ideas and she vetoes most of them (to our benefit mostly) so I'm a little shocked to say the least. Will I regret leaving a very generous company (who are definitely on the up) to jump into the unknown? It's tough

pinno

If NZ falls through, move to Wales if that's your thing.

Morning. Another round of Pinno vs Council heavyweight* championship of SW Scotland today. Should/could be fun.

*Insert popular biblical metaphor.

Someone get V68 a cup of tea FFS.

Laters.

veronese68

Morning all,
Sorted a couple of customers from the far side of the world. Makes me laugh that even they are saying "Are you crazy, what have you lot done?" But they are enjoying buying stuff cheap for now. Had to drive in this morning as I have to take the girl to physio this afternoon. Boy was happy last night, he got made a house captain at school. I'd like to say he's a chip off the old block, but that's clearly not true.
Presumably you're a fair bit younger than me HM, if you're going to do a move like that I reckon it would be a lot easier when you're young.
ETA: 3rd cup of tea on the go thanks Piña. They keep me topped up when I'm busy.

tlw1

In Solihull today so out of the house before 6 = mid morning lull

Later is unplanned, but may involve testing the new pain room for the rollers

pinno

TLW1 wrote:

In Solihull today so out of the house before 6 = mid morning lull

Later is unplanned, but may involve testing the new pain room for the rollers

'Free rolling' - i.e: no T bar or chainsaw harness nailed to a roof beam?

Solihull = Jacket Potato ?

pottssteve

HaydenM wrote:

Morning, trying to sort out a problem with a certain immensely bureaucratic energy company who are involved on one of our sites.

I've been considering getting my NZ passport and moving out there in the next year or two, I came home yesterday and the GF has suddenly been doing tonnes of research into it and want's to go. It's refreshing as usually I have plenty of drastic and potentially stupid ideas and she vetoes most of them (to our benefit mostly) so I'm a little shocked to say the least. Will I regret leaving a very generous company (who are definitely on the up) to jump into the unknown? It's tough

I moved to NZ in 2003. It's a beautiful country, if a little rough around the edges. My advice is to make sure that you have an excellent salary, especially if living in Auckland or Wellington, as they are not cheap.

Steve

pinno

pottssteve wrote:

HaydenM wrote:

Morning...tough

I moved to NZ in 2003. It's a beautiful country, if a little rough around the edges. My advice is to make sure that you have an excellent salary, especially if living in Auckland or Wellington, as they are not cheap.

Steve

My two pence worth: My brother moved there in '88. Since then. he's had 3 girlfriends and 4 sheep. Not a bad ratio if you ask me. He's 5'11" has a beard, has gone very native and he's very rough around the edges. Avoid him like the plague. Before you go, PM me and i'll send you a pic.

Flâneur

Morning all, early start with gym then walking the hounds in the rain. Also a wet ride last night.

Hayden, I'd gamble even just for the experience, but then again i've been looking at running again for awhile but the Date wasn't always too keen (multiple of reasons) however now she is open to Australia and maybe the Far East in general so I have started looking again.

Helps as a secondary English teacher she is on the shortage list for a bunch of countries and is also overpaid.

May open my lunch box soon

haydenm

Veronese68 wrote:

Morning all,

Presumably you're a fair bit younger than me HM, if you're going to do a move like that I reckon it would be a lot easier when you're young.

That was our thinking, if we are going to go we should do it now. Mrs is struggling to get another graduate job here after her 9 month contract straight out of uni finished but I'm quite happy in my job, it would make sense to go early on in our careers.

pottssteve wrote:

I moved to NZ in 2003. It's a beautiful country, if a little rough around the edges. My advice is to make sure that you have an excellent salary, especially if living in Auckland or Wellington, as they are not cheap.

The interweb tells me that a graduate forest manager with 2 years experience (me, I'll have more by the time we leave) will usually earn $41k- $52k (£22k- £27.5k) which is roughly similar to here although I think it starts as low as £18k depending on where you go. It might involve a step down in pay for me potentially but that's not really what we would be going for. In terms of where we go, I want to live somewhere with proper mountain biking close by and preferably some people our own age around (unlike where I live in Scotland now), we aren't fussy!

pottssteve

HaydenM wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Morning all,

Presumably you're a fair bit younger than me HM, if you're going to do a move like that I reckon it would be a lot easier when you're young.

That was our thinking, if we are going to go we should do it now. Mrs is struggling to get another graduate job here after her 9 month contract straight out of uni finished but I'm quite happy in my job, it would make sense to go early on in our careers.

pottssteve wrote:

I moved to NZ in 2003. It's a beautiful country, if a little rough around the edges. My advice is to make sure that you have an excellent salary, especially if living in Auckland or Wellington, as they are not cheap.

The interweb tells me that a graduate forest manager with 2 years experience (me, I'll have more by the time we leave) will usually earn $41k- $52k (£22k- £27.5k) which is roughly similar to here although I think it starts as low as £18k depending on where you go. It might involve a step down in pay for me potentially but that's not really what we would be going for. In terms of where we go, I want to live somewhere with proper mountain biking close by and preferably some people our own age around (unlike where I live in Scotland now), we aren't fussy!

Hayden,

Good that you are doing your research. I moved there with a family and couldn't pay the bills in Auckland on my teacher's salary. If there are 2 of you earning, and no kids, it should be easier. Check out house prices where you are going and keep an eye on the mortgage interest rates, if you plan on buying. They were up near 10% when we were there, which also made things difficult. As a lot of stuff is imported, prices can be higher than back home. Silly basic stuff like furniture - there's no Ikea and less choice. We did a lot of shopping at The Warehouse. (www.thewarehouse.co.nz). Depending where you live the weather can be challenging - down south is cold and wet ( like Scotland, so do you really want to travel 12,000 miles for the same climate?). Up round Auckland is warmer and can get quite sticky. Is your profession on the shortage list of occupations?
I love NZ and would live there again in an instant, though my wife found the distance from her family a challenge. However, I know I couldn't afford a decent quality of life there. If you want more info (though I am a bit out of date), feel free to PM me.

All the best,
Steve

haydenm

Thanks for the help, much appreciated. We have only just started looking at it seriously rather than as a nice idea. Things might not seem so tempting in a year and a half time when the GF has a great job but we shall see, I might send you a PM if not!

pottssteve

HaydenM wrote:

Thanks for the help, much appreciated. We have only just started looking at it seriously rather than as a nice idea. Things might not seem so tempting in a year and a half time when the GF has a great job but we shall see, I might send you a PM if not!

No worries. If you are applying for citizenship through something like the Work to Residence scheme the application process can take a while. we were quite straightforward and had acceptance in about 8 months....

Cheers,
Steve

haydenm

My dad was born there, moved back here when he was 2 but he did have an NZ passport years ago so we are still working out exactly what I need to do but I think it shouldn't be too much of an issue. It might be worse for the GF but her degree is on the list

pottssteve

Sweet, it might speed things up a bit for you. Good luck.
Steve

specialized_nick

Another day another dollar but working in IT is starting to feel more and more like this each day...

homers_double

(some) Customers = Dicks...

Contractors = Dicks...

Weather = Dick...

French Air Traffic Control = Dicks...

Components = Dicks...

keef66

My sister-in-law moved to NZ with her family over 10 years ago. Sunk the proceeds of UK house sale into a share in a construction business. Stitched up / swindled by business partner and lost the lot. Now in rented accommodation and husband working miles away and living in a caravan midweek. They do enjoy the lifestyle though.

We'll likely go and visit when the dog dies. Ours, not theirs.

veronese68

Agree with most of that list HD. Did you miss politicians off because they are just too far off the scale?
just had a coffee to wake myself up, proper coffee not a pint of warm milk with coffee flavour added.

pottssteve

FYI, Clutha is recruiting...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06 ... obs-seeks/


Mmmmmmmm, cheese.

homers_double

Veronese68 wrote:

Agree with most of that list HD. Did you miss politicians off because they are just too far off the scale?

I only included things which have affected me since about 11pm last night.

tlw1

Pinno wrote:

TLW1 wrote:

In Solihull today so out of the house before 6 = mid morning lull

Later is unplanned, but may involve testing the new pain room for the rollers

'Free rolling' - i.e: no T bar or chainsaw harness nailed to a roof beam?

Solihull = Jacket Potato ?

No - meeting went on too long so ended up with a couple of bags of crisps, very hungry now

darkhairedlord

rain didn't start until i got to work, i'm now leaving and its stopped raining. 8)

Matthewfalle

In since 6, home for a couple of hours then back in indefinitely. Bugger.

As I'm here though, I'll take the opportunity to type "Nigel Farage is a bell end" before I depart.

Ciao.

sungod

turned into miserable day

good friend has been hurt crashing car, now gf having massive troubles from council nazis, she's already on verge of cracking due to some family troubles, bugger

Stevo_666

sungod wrote:

turned into miserable day

good friend has been hurt crashing car, now gf having massive troubles from council nazis, she's already on verge of cracking due to some family troubles, bugger

Sorry to hear that SG, hope they both turn out OK.

Not a bad day today as no meetings to speak of and bosses out so managed to do a bit of catching up on stuff. Might treat myself to a cider or two tonight.

homers_double

FFS, tropical downpours at 5pm, clear blue skies now...

I blame some random unelected European bureaucrat.