One year on

It's a year since I left my job and leapt into the unknown. This time last year I was probably walking home from the pub contemplating what life had in store for me, or maybe just hiccuping and bumping into cars . I haven't done an update since April, mostly because I'm lazy but also because I've been dead busy. Since then I've been to three festivals (Sunrise, which was flooded, Glastonbury and Square festival), done four assignments, been on two CAT courses, had two visitors and had one massive party, last night. I've also moved house.

The house move happened two weeks ago. At the moment I'm staying with my friend John, in Machynlleth, which is really nice. His house is halfway up a hill and looks out over a lovely valley. He's got a beautiful red labrador puppy called Tosh and is a really nice bloke. I'm moving again in a week's time, which will hopefully be permanent. Or at least as permanent as things can be until I get a long-term job.

Friday was the last day for all the Long Term Volunteers at CAT. It was all a bit emotional. I actually cried when I did a speech which was a bit embarrassing but I guess I should have expected it because I've been pretty sad about going all week. I think I'll be back for various projects though, and in the meantime I've got some work in Membership - it's only data input but at least it's paid and will keep things turning over until I figure out what I'm doing. At the moment what I'm doing could be any one of the following:
- get casual work around here helping various local businesses do renewables installations. I've met loads of people that are involved in this since I've been here, and it would be great experience
- get a job with Dulas, which is the engineering spin-off from CAT, based in Machynlleth. I've sent them a speculative application, but was told that I should just keep an eye on their web site
- start my own business, helping people sort out their computers, similar to the sort of work I did with ITCH (IT Can Help) when I was in Cambridge
- get a job in renewables somewhere else, like Sheffield
I haven't decided yet which is best - hopefully that will become clear this week, now I've got a bit of time to think.

Talking of Sheffield, today was the end of an era:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7561179.stm
I went past those towers every time I went up to uni and back. I'm glad they're gone, even if they were iconic. They were pretty horrible.

We had a massive party last night, in fancy dress (Circus under the Sea - worked out brilliantly, lots of weird costumes), with bands, DJs, dancing and drinking. Ooh and the piece de resistance, some naked hippy sauna action at about 5am, at the CAT reservoir and homemade sauna. Yep, me included. Thankfully, it was pretty dark :)

I'm very tired now, and am planning to sleep for the next two days. I'm starting work in Membership on Wednesday.