Well I got the official nod from the new company a couple of days ago so my resignation is now official (I had to pass the company medical exam as well as get some references in). So the 8th if May is my final day of work with my current employer, who I've been with just shy of two years now. I don't regret my time with them at all really, even though I've been working in a trade which was never going to hold long term prospects for me. I think the biggest reason that I've enjoyed my time with them is that the nature of the work I've been doing has enabled me to move around England a fair old bit and live in different areas, and experience those areas through the eye's of a resident rather than those of a day-tripper.

So in the last 2 years I can add to my list of experiences: Living in a village with a population of less that 400 and being bored for the greater part of 6 months; going beating on a pheasant shoot; skinning and cooking pheasants; plucking and cooking pheasants; seeing the gathering of a fox hunt; roasting chestnuts on an open hearth; living in the English countryside through spring, summer, autumn, and winter; being in my first real snow; living in a town with a population of a few thousand (I think); watching the V-twin/Moto Guzzi rally come through the town; seeing the Shaftesbury carnival; seeing Stonehenge; seeing the Avebury stone circle; seeing a good few churches; seeing one castle (where they filmed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves); dating one English girl; seeing the madness of Bournemouth and Poole in the summer; being ditched by said English girl; and finally moving to London. There's definitely a whole horde of other experiences missing from there, but all of the ones which I've mentioned have stuck in my head as things I'm happy to have experienced.

With the new job starting in mid July I feel that I'm embarking on a new era in my life. I feel it's more career orientated, which is what I've spent the last 6 months looking for in London, and I'm happier for that. I also see it as an opportunity to do the day-tripper thing for a while now. I'd like to do some travelling a bit further abroad in the coming months, but we'll have to see how all of that pans out.

In the mean time I'm trying to get through the slog of my final three weeks of work before my holiday, and then new job... and it's proving damn hard. There's just something about knowing this is my last few weeks before I start with the new company that's making every single day a mission to get through.