Rewind
It was around this time a year ago that my friend Danielle informed me she had been offered a job at the OECD in Paris, and that (of course) she was going to accept (seems they need a web designer...Danielle).
I kind of let the whole Australian ritual of going to work in the UK for a few years slip by me somehow—seems I was otherwise engaged here—so when Danielle told me her news, it occurred to me that maybe Europe was something I should try for after all. I figured that maybe it was worth a shot, applying for a job via the internet, and getting recruited from afar. Maybe I didn’t have to go over there and come back empty handed at the end of it, poor and bitter about the whole process.
Evidently that didn’t go to plan, and not only did I end up back in Australia, I ended up back in Canberra, and everything has been just a little topsy-turvy this time around. I got recruited for a job in a department I had ethical issues with, then diverted to another role I wasn’t qualified for, nor interested in, and have spent the last four months working on the very focal point of my issues with the department. In a few weeks, I’m finally being routed back to the role I thought I was initially going into. I’m living in the centre of town but working in the suburbs, and not getting any regular contact with the elements of the city I love. When I worked at the ATO I found Garema Place a little mundane, but it’s a hive of activity when compared with the ’burbs of Canberra.
I am missing my morning walk across ANZAC Parade, where I used to look at the War Memorial and Mount Ainslie at one end, and the houses of parliament at the other. I’m missing the walk through Glebe Park each day, where I noticed just recently, the Elms and Poplars have tinged yellow in recent weeks to herald the approach of winter. I’ve not been doing my early morning runs around Lake Burley Griffin in temperatures that at this time of year, make your balls chatter and your teeth shrink. I’m missing it all, even though I’m here.
The reason for it is I’m not expecting to stay here too long this time (yes I know I said that last time), and so settling in and taking the time to enjoy my surroundings again seems a little pointless. One thing Spain has given me, is a keen sense to keep moving. This time around I have a plan to be in Peru by October, and should my finances support that goal, I envisage it being a reality. This trip will be a long term one if I can wangle it, and I’ve been applying for jobs there on the off chance I can curry some interest.
I had a video interview via Skype last week with a company in Lima, after some enthusiastic early discussions with the owner of the company. It seemed to go quite well, and they said they’d get back to me with an answer by the end of the week. By Tuesday they’d emailed me to tell me they decided not to proceed any further. That bares a striking resemblance to some of my experiences in Spain, whereby after an initially enthusiastic response, they changed their minds. At least these guys gave me a fair crack, and I’ve no doubt they gave me due consideration, unlike others who simply don’t respond.
As a child of the eighties, I remember the days of the audio cassette, whereby replaying a song repeatedly meant the progressive degradation of the sound quality, until eventually it shredded itself or wrapped itself around the playback head. Although there are some subtle differences in my second assignment to Canberra, and some of the experiences I’ve had this time have degraded my overall feeling about the place, for the most part it is the same. It just feels like it’s being played from rewind, and sooner or later, the tape is going to break, or get chewed up.