Job, no job

I had a second interview yesterday for a permanent, full-time job. It went well, so well that I didn't get the job. It seems it was a close call but they were worried that they couldn't make the post interesting enough to keep me there in the long term. So they're going to take on someone less experienced and train him up in the post. I was too good for them.

The two day a week maternity contract is still scheduled to start next week, although now on Thursday rather than Monday. All the HR people have been on leave and so no-one has prepared my contract. The girl will be back from maternity leave before I get there at this rate.

Some highlights this week, though in the middle of all this nonsense. Megawomble and his girlfriend came round for lunch on Wednesday. So sweet. She's nice but it made me feel very old. I went for a runette with Miniwomble this evening. She needs to get fitter but she wants to do it. I haven't hassled her once, there is no point. We did 1.72 miles, nice and flat, local to my house (Beary will know the recreation ground). She cycled further than that in total to get to my place and back. So some useful exercise.

Last weekend, we did the annual thinning out of all the pond plants. We also tried to count how many fish we have. You'd think we'd know, but actually we saw some baby fish in the Autumn so wanted to see how many had survived. We've scooped out two dead'uns this year, but after gazing and more gazing and re-counting we now think we've got 8 babies and our three big fish. Woo hoo, that's probably our best ever crop of fishlets.

I ran on my own on Sunday. It was a lovely day and the park was absolutely heaving. Despite that, I enjoyed it. The red deer were looking wonderful. I heard my first woodpecker of the year. The trees are blooming.

I am a bit gloomy about the job. Hey ho, I'll scrape by for the time being on the 2 day/week contract, it's more than Job Seekers Allowance, that's for sure.

Oh, how could I forget? One of my best friends has gotten engaged. I am so pleased for her.