Hinba and me in the highlands

Dusk at Ardmaddy

Last day at the office

Today is my last day at the office and so from tomorrow, the real adventures begin. Theoretically I have some freelancing lined up, but I am getting that sinking feeling that an eleventh hour excuse will be made and it's not going to happen. The same feeling I often have before a holiday somewhere distant and tropical, that things will work against me to ensure I miss the plane / the plane is cancelled, and it is always with some bemusement that I find myself stepping out into the humidity and realise I've made it.

I plan now to come back down to London after my wee holiday in the north coast of scotland, to pack my stuff in a white van, and drive all the way up to the middle of Ayrshire at the beginning of July. The scary bit, I suppose, is anticipating the long and treacherous drive across the UK with a van packed with furniture, and only Radio 4 for company. Once unpacked, I think it will hit me what I have done. Will I find myself working in a chippy in Ayr? Perhaps I will be a tour guide in a massive castle somewhere. Perhaps I'll even land an office job (noooo, that's why I've escaped from here!). Who knows. All very terrifying, especially that small issue of not having an income...

Oh and photo above is of the West Coast near Oban...think of that when you're enjoying the cream of someone's sweat on the tube...!

Two working days left, and then it's the big move

So, it's Friday 16th June, four days after my 28th birthday and I have two working days left in London, which leaves me with a mix of absolute joy at the thought of leaving this office, and terror at what lies ahead. My joy is that I am leaving a reasonably well-paid but utterly tedious job in central London where the highlights over the past twelve months can be counted on one hand (and only take 3 fingers) and instead, moving to rural Ayrshire to live with my boyfriend, whose house is so far from the madding crowd, that the chances are I could go mad instead.

My terror can be logically attributed to the fact that as of Wednesday next week, I will have no office to go to, and no pay cheque at the end of the month. As well as the fact that I am going to be so far from my friends and family, that I will probably have to get chickens in order to have an audience. Hence this blog, which will fool me into thinking I do have an audience and people are listening (and will perhaps encourage others who are stuck in my position, to bite the bullet and re-direct their life in the direction they want it to be going). (Not saying the direction I want to be going is talking to chickens when my boyfriend is at work all day, but generally to do what you want to be doing).

And then in January (no jungles in Ayrshire last time I checked, although the concrete jungle of Glasgow lies near enough) in January 07 I will be heading out to Central America to work on an expedition somewhere remote. And jungly.

Reasons why I'm excited about leaving this PR/PA company:

1. No more hours spent hiding in the loo cubicle, counting to a hundred, sighing, and then coming back to my desk.

2. No more trying to hold the tears of frustration at being so bored at my desk, failing and watching in dismay as they splash on my keyboard (why can't I just get cross instead??)

3. No more staring at one of the most unattractive buildings in New Oxford Street and watching the planes coming into land at City airport and dodging the crack addicts who shoot up outside the back door of this building

4. No more meaningless work

5. No more loos that are 40 degrees C as they are overheated all year round

6. No more feeling that I am wasting my life here, and the panic that accompanies this, that I could be stuck here in five years time, equally unhappy, nothing having changed, and now too old to break free, go mad and apply for a staff position on an expedition to the middle of nowhere.

So, here I am, with two working days left and the birth of my blog which could well map my path to glorious happiness, an adventure in central america and a wonderful new career. Not to mention, having a decadently spoilt six months living with my boyfriend.