On My Way
Posted: Fri 29 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »Travelling home from Week the First.
It’s been good, but I really do hope that the trains aren’t delayed or anything. I do want to just get home…
Day Five
Posted: Fri 29 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Travel, Work-related | 3 Comments »So, that’s the first week over and done with. And so far it’s all gone pretty well, I’m pleased to say.
No, the entire situation isn’t ideal – I’m not a great fan of the entire “being away for five days” thing, for a start – but it’s a means to an end, and it has to be done. I’m sure I’ll settle into things a bit more from here on, but the first week was always going to be a bit of a weird one, what with one thing and another.
On the plus side, I’ve worked for the last week of the month. Because of the way Parasol works, I now need to send in my timesheet for “the month”, as well as my expenses. (which I have to photocopy first, so I’ve a copy in case Inland Revenue decide they want a word with me at some later as-yet-unspecified date) But it means that effectively I’m going to be getting paid twice for this week, once by Parasol and once by my now-ex employers, who paid me to the end of the month. (and the same is true of October, effectively, as I also got paid off with a month’s pay in lieu of notice)
Not a bad way to start, is it?
Along the way I’ve started learning more about the layout of Cambridge, signed up at the local library, sorted out a different place for me to stay next week, and generally just getting things more figured out. I think next week will actually be a better week than this one.
Hallelujah
Posted: Tue 26 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Work-related | Leave a comment »Following on from Saturday’s depressing piece of information I have also got a nice piece of post from the Inland Revenue themselves.
After more than two years of hassle, they’ve finally acknowledged – in writing – that they won’t be sending me a tax return for 2006/7 next year. Hallelujah and saints be praised, I think we’ve finally come to the end of that little farce.
Mind you, I’ll be keeping a) the letter, and b) the phone number of the only person in the tax office who I found to be at all useful or competent…
Starting Off
Posted: Mon 25 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Getting Organised, Travel, Work-related | 2 Comments »By the time this post goes live, I’ll be on a train to Cambridge, starting off my new job.
In lots of ways I’m really looking forward to it. Although the Monday morning start is going to be a bastard for a while. Ah well.
In others, it’s going to be weird. Being away from home for four nights a week, for instance, isn’t something I’m overly looking forward to. (And, in fairness, neither is Herself) But it’s a means to an end. It’s the start of getting us up to Norfolk and so on.
I suspect I’ll be doing this for at least the next month, possibly even two months. Once we’ve moved I’ll still be commuting to work, but it’ll be a daily thing, rather than up on Monday and back on Friday.
Of course, there will be benefits to being away too. It means that I’ve the time – and most likely the inclination too – to get a couple more websites written and sorted out, including the one for my own photography. Yeah, the ImageKind gallery is OK, but it’s only a stepping-stone towards where I want to be with it all. So that’s likely to be Site No 1 on the list, with a couple of others clinging on tightly behind. It also means I’m going to be doing a lot more writing work in general of an evening, which should also be good, and might even let my brain cool down a bit, if it doesn’t have to remember every bloody thing all the time.
But anyway, it’s the start of a new chapter, and I’m looking forward to it. Obviously there’ll be more posts as and when I get chance (and remember any necessary relevant passwords!)
Carry-On
Posted: Sun 24 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Getting Organised, Own Business, Photography, Work-related | Leave a comment »While I’m more than pleased with the Canon DSLR I’ve got – and I’m still learning more about the damn thing every time I use it – it does have one fairly major downside. And that is that it’s bloody heavy, and bulky. It’s not something for an instant photo – of course, it’s all OK once it’s been put together, and I can carry it about with me easily at that point, but all the same, that instant photo thing just isn’t there.
And also it’s a pain in the arse when it comes to concerts and the like – it definitely qualifies as a “professional” camera, and pretty much every venue I use calls it a no-no.
So I’m looking around at what’s available. Something fairly compact, with a decent amunt of pixels, and a good zoom level. I was considering the FujiFilm F30, which does look like an excellent bit of kit, but only has a 3x optical zoom, which is a bit lower than I was hoping for. Obviously I realise that for the things I want there may be some compromises, but still a 3x zoom is on the low end. But then I saw the Ricoh Caplio R5 which is very tempting. 7.1x optical zoom, and 7Mp resolution. Sounds pretty good so far…
Depressing
Posted: Sat 23 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Depression, Getting Organised, Work-related | Leave a comment »Well, the now-ex workplace is being disturbingly efficient. My final pay packet from them arrived in the bank this morning, and the payslip arrived today in the post. Along with my P45. Almost like they’re just pleased to see me go. *grin*
The payslip had it’s own depressing piece of news in it, though. Two month’s pay (one month, plus one month in lieu of notice) and 11 days accrued holiday pay. A very healthy gross sum. Then you look at the PAYE tax. Fuck. £2,700. Yeah, that’s right – over two and a half thousand pounds. In tax.
I hope I never see another tax amount like that. It’s just too depressing for words.
All done
Posted: Sat 23 September, 2006 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Travel, Work-related | Leave a comment »So yes, my final visit to the London office of my now-ex employer came yesterday. It was only a fairly brief visit – a couple of hours to hand over passwords and the like, and discuss how my final piece of work had gone (migrating one of the sites Arsehole Boss had ‘created’ over to the company webserver set-up, instead of the shonky stuff he was using) along with some other small discussions and so on. And then lunch with the (also leaving) Finance guy.
All went well. The project I’d been involved in had gone fairly smoothly – and more importantly, on schedule – with only a couple of problems along the way. And those have been sorted, and documented for when someone else has to do something similar. But when all’s said and done, it went well.
And now I just need to prepare myself for Monday…