A funny thing happened on the way to the forum...
Posted on 2007-Oct-11 at 10:52
You know, it's times like these that I wish I had my old blog entries back. Don’t worry, I have asked for them to be returned and am waiting and it is all good - it’s just that this week a funny thing happened and it would be handy to be able to link back to some old ramblings for context.
Anyone who remembers way back to the old Modblog days, right back to when I first started blogging in early 2005, might remember that I used to be a bit of a career girl. I was a marine biologist and had a nice office with an ocean view at the National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour. It all sounds very sun-tanny and dolphin-y and good, but for many years I had felt like I had taken the wrong path and was not cut out for academia. I found myself hating the science and politics and the higher I got on the ol' career ladder, the less I saw of the ocean and the more I saw of infernal statistical spreadsheets and small-willied men with giant chips on their shoulders.
Finally I got the gumption to take a leap of faith and pack it all in. I saw out the end of my contract and decided to move overseas, pushing the button marked idiot to see what came out. It was at about this time I met the handsome Fundinator, love of my life.
I hadn’t been in the UK long when, after a short series of interesting temp and bar jobs, I found myself working for a small family-run plastic moulding company. I was employed as their office manager; however, they soon asked me if I would champion a new product: a plastic imitation seagull egg. This egg was part of a larger project to mediate nuisance seagull populations, first in Gloucestershire and then growing nationwide around the UK and eventually through parts of Europe. I laughed at the cosmos: coastal ecology had found me again and, through a combined effort, the egg was a resounding success.
Fast forward and my lovely Mum is sick. Funds and I were planning to move back to Australia anyway, but the news that she needs help kind of fast-tracked things and the next thing I know I am waving a tearful goodbye to my babe with plans to meet up in Australia in a few months time. I didn't know what I would do to get by when I did get home, all I knew is that I wanted to see my Mum and lend her a hand in her time of need.
Just before leaving the UK, however, there was some unfathomably terrible news. The mother of my oldest and bestest friend (Nat) had had a heart attack while at the wheel of her car and had crashed head-on into a building. She died instantly.
Now I am not going to go into any more details about the accident save to say that the beautiful, funny, generous, unforgettable force of a woman concerned was like my ‘other mother’. Even at 37 years old I still called her ‘Aunty Pat’. But now my Aunty Pat is gone.
Rather than go directly to Mums in New South Wales (who was doing alright), I immediately changed my flight plans to include Perth, Western Australia.
It was all arranged. I would spend a week or so with Nat (crying and hugging and laughing and drinking too many nasty girlie cocktails, as you do) and then I would go on to Mums where I would sort out her medical situation and look after her while she recovers, get some kind of temp work, wait for the Fundinator to join me and just generally start again.
Then the phone rang.
It rang twice, actually.
The first time, a friend of a friend of Nat’s had heard that I was in town and was a qualified biologist and they were desperate for someone to help them with some fieldwork. Could I possibly start immediately?
I apologised and turned it down. I had to get to Mums and had already booked the flight. Besides, I didn’t want to go back to science. As a matter of fact, something pretty damn amazing would have to turn up for me to even think about going back to any of that kind of caper.
*Ahem*
Ring-ring - A couple of days later the phone chimed again. This time it was another of Nat’s friends who had also heard I was in town. She works for a different environmental consulting company - one that has just expanded, leaving them desperate for senior staff. The managing director had sent an email around saying if anyone knew anyone who was available to ask them to make contact.
I sighed, feeling all eyes expectantly on me. Did noone understand that I wasn’t Ecology Girl any more?
Nevertheless, I rang the guy late in the afternoon and left a voice mail saying “Look, I received this interesting call today regarding your company. To be honest, I’m not looking for work but feel free to contact me at this number if you would like to chat”
He rang back at 8 o’clock the next morning.
To cut the rest of the story short, through the power of aloofness and not giving two pebbly poos, I now find myself with what could be my dream job - with what is almost a dream pay-packet! I had the hide to ask for everything ever I wanted - including six figures - and, although I didn’t quite attain my stupidly exorbitant fee, there was no way I could possibly turn it down.
It's a project management position with no direct science involved - I'll have minions for that - and very little politics (though there is always politics in any job). It includes almost the full spectrum of amazing Australian ecosystems and I get a day off in leiu of every day that I am away travelling all over the place. PLUS I have time enough before I start to go and help my Mum AND I also have enough flexibility that I can fly across to see her if/when the need arises.
I squintily agreed (my heart pounding in my chest) to take the position, with the provisio that I would give him 3 months and if the company wasn’t up to scratch, I would be leaving.
Hee hee!
So. it looks like Fundy and I will be starting our next chapter in Perth, Western Australia, place of my birth. And I will get to write plenty of little travel stories as I get mightily paid to see parts of my own country that I have never experienced before. Things are looking interesting… veerrrry interesting… :D
Thank you Aunty Pat. I know this was you.
Anyone who remembers way back to the old Modblog days, right back to when I first started blogging in early 2005, might remember that I used to be a bit of a career girl. I was a marine biologist and had a nice office with an ocean view at the National Marine Science Centre in Coffs Harbour. It all sounds very sun-tanny and dolphin-y and good, but for many years I had felt like I had taken the wrong path and was not cut out for academia. I found myself hating the science and politics and the higher I got on the ol' career ladder, the less I saw of the ocean and the more I saw of infernal statistical spreadsheets and small-willied men with giant chips on their shoulders.
Finally I got the gumption to take a leap of faith and pack it all in. I saw out the end of my contract and decided to move overseas, pushing the button marked idiot to see what came out. It was at about this time I met the handsome Fundinator, love of my life.
I hadn’t been in the UK long when, after a short series of interesting temp and bar jobs, I found myself working for a small family-run plastic moulding company. I was employed as their office manager; however, they soon asked me if I would champion a new product: a plastic imitation seagull egg. This egg was part of a larger project to mediate nuisance seagull populations, first in Gloucestershire and then growing nationwide around the UK and eventually through parts of Europe. I laughed at the cosmos: coastal ecology had found me again and, through a combined effort, the egg was a resounding success.
Fast forward and my lovely Mum is sick. Funds and I were planning to move back to Australia anyway, but the news that she needs help kind of fast-tracked things and the next thing I know I am waving a tearful goodbye to my babe with plans to meet up in Australia in a few months time. I didn't know what I would do to get by when I did get home, all I knew is that I wanted to see my Mum and lend her a hand in her time of need.
Just before leaving the UK, however, there was some unfathomably terrible news. The mother of my oldest and bestest friend (Nat) had had a heart attack while at the wheel of her car and had crashed head-on into a building. She died instantly.
Now I am not going to go into any more details about the accident save to say that the beautiful, funny, generous, unforgettable force of a woman concerned was like my ‘other mother’. Even at 37 years old I still called her ‘Aunty Pat’. But now my Aunty Pat is gone.
Rather than go directly to Mums in New South Wales (who was doing alright), I immediately changed my flight plans to include Perth, Western Australia.
It was all arranged. I would spend a week or so with Nat (crying and hugging and laughing and drinking too many nasty girlie cocktails, as you do) and then I would go on to Mums where I would sort out her medical situation and look after her while she recovers, get some kind of temp work, wait for the Fundinator to join me and just generally start again.
Then the phone rang.
It rang twice, actually.
The first time, a friend of a friend of Nat’s had heard that I was in town and was a qualified biologist and they were desperate for someone to help them with some fieldwork. Could I possibly start immediately?
I apologised and turned it down. I had to get to Mums and had already booked the flight. Besides, I didn’t want to go back to science. As a matter of fact, something pretty damn amazing would have to turn up for me to even think about going back to any of that kind of caper.
*Ahem*
Ring-ring - A couple of days later the phone chimed again. This time it was another of Nat’s friends who had also heard I was in town. She works for a different environmental consulting company - one that has just expanded, leaving them desperate for senior staff. The managing director had sent an email around saying if anyone knew anyone who was available to ask them to make contact.
I sighed, feeling all eyes expectantly on me. Did noone understand that I wasn’t Ecology Girl any more?
Nevertheless, I rang the guy late in the afternoon and left a voice mail saying “Look, I received this interesting call today regarding your company. To be honest, I’m not looking for work but feel free to contact me at this number if you would like to chat”
He rang back at 8 o’clock the next morning.
To cut the rest of the story short, through the power of aloofness and not giving two pebbly poos, I now find myself with what could be my dream job - with what is almost a dream pay-packet! I had the hide to ask for everything ever I wanted - including six figures - and, although I didn’t quite attain my stupidly exorbitant fee, there was no way I could possibly turn it down.
It's a project management position with no direct science involved - I'll have minions for that - and very little politics (though there is always politics in any job). It includes almost the full spectrum of amazing Australian ecosystems and I get a day off in leiu of every day that I am away travelling all over the place. PLUS I have time enough before I start to go and help my Mum AND I also have enough flexibility that I can fly across to see her if/when the need arises.
I squintily agreed (my heart pounding in my chest) to take the position, with the provisio that I would give him 3 months and if the company wasn’t up to scratch, I would be leaving.
Hee hee!
So. it looks like Fundy and I will be starting our next chapter in Perth, Western Australia, place of my birth. And I will get to write plenty of little travel stories as I get mightily paid to see parts of my own country that I have never experienced before. Things are looking interesting… veerrrry interesting… :D
Thank you Aunty Pat. I know this was you.
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