Big Apples

I'm off home next week for nine days - off on Friday afternoon and back a couple of Mondays later.

I'm going back to the Island to spend some quality time with my family, and take Dave fishing.

He's never been fishing before, so it'll be fun.

It's Cowes Week this week back on the Island, a time when things are always lively and fun, depending on the weather, and lively, fun and drunken in the evenings, regardless of it. I'll be arriving on Friday evening, which is Fireworks Night - the big finale to the week's sailing...but I don't think I'm going to make that.

Over the weekend just gone I went to Fruitstock in Regents Park, along with The Apparently Shaméd Adrian, Pix, Mark, Acerbia Dave, Steph and a supporting cast of literally thousands. 'Twas good fun.

Anticipated Work
After returning from New York in March I appealed to everyone for help in getting a job. Let me tell you how that's going.

Okay.
I mean, there's an issue in the US at the moment about importing scientific workers. It was apparent after I got back. For a couple of weeks there were a number of jobs where I could have applied, but now most if not all of the new jobs for the NY area come into my inbox from various sites emblazoned with 'Must be eligible to work in the United States'.

So for the last few months I've been biding my time, getting into a position where I have a plan of action. Anything that came along that looked suitable, I enquired after it with the stipulation that I didn't yet have my visa, but I was expecting to be in the country by such-and-such a date. A couple of these companies have been very helpful and asked me to let them know when I arrive, so that they can re-assess matters. One company has even said that they want to interview me regardless of whether or not they have any outstanding roles they need to fill, which is nice.
I've also registered with three of the most relevant recruitment agencies in the City, who have said that they have a number of jobs coming and going in my area of work all the time. All I have to do once I have the work permit is call them and they'll go to work.
Best of all, perhaps, is the side of things which has come about through networking from my current job, which I won't go into too much here.

As we all know, it's who you know.

And you know me. I'll sort something out.

Other Big Apples
I've become marginally addicted to Fiji Apples - the monstrously huge and juicy apples sold by a Chinese Food Shop here in Hatfield.
They're gorgeous.

Why.
Krissa sent me a poem in the post this week. It arrived yesterday morning and I read it, stopped as I was dressed and ready to leave for work. It made me cry with happiness, and led me to stare at the photograph I have of her on my wall before leaving the house.
It is a picture of her standing on the back of the Staten Island Ferry, with a dusky Manhattan skyline behind her. A wisp of hair is curling across her right cheek, her head is leaning slightly forward, and she has a half-smile on her lips. Her eyes...I will not even try to describe.
I stood there, grinning like an idiot as I wiped a tear from my face with the dressing gown on the back of my door, thinking, 'How did I find you? How did I find you?'