It was 33 degrees here yesterday, the kind of weather that has London's elderly residents dropping like flies. (If only they could be persuaded to go out without their overcoats, so many lives could be spared...)
We got a day travel pass and went exploring to see if we could find somewhere other than Clapham where we'd like to live. First stop was Ladbroke Grove, on the basis that it's close to Paddington and Baker St, if Jules gets the job at British Land (which he is having a second interview for tomorrow). But we didn't take to it - it was like a concrete jungle, treeless and without charm. So we walked up the canal to Warwick Avenue (much nicer, but possibly out of our price range) and got the tube to Maida Vale. Now, Maida Vale I liked - lovely old red-brick houses and quiet tree-lined streets and there's a proper park to include in your run, the Paddington Recreation Ground, complete with tennis courts. After a brief rehydration (aka icecream) stop, we continued down to London Bridge and wandered around Shad Thames and further back towards Bermondsey. Some potential there, but pricey. And finally, Canary Wharf, where we sat outside at a pub alongside the canal and had dinner - all very pleasant.
It was too hot to sleep much in the boxroom last night. The boxroom is just bigger than the airbed - you have to squeeze around the edge of the door to get in.
Jules had an interview with Credit Suisse at Canary Wharf this morning (hence the visit to Docklands yesterday). Not a riproaring success by the sound of things - he had forgotten to turn off his mobile and it rang about 2 minutes into the interview - not the best start! But the British Land one looks quite promising - there are 3 positions and 3 people being interviewed for the second time.
I had an interview with an IT consultancy in the West End on Friday. An agent found my CV on one of the jobsites and rang me about the job, which was essentially a Bid Writer or Proposal Writer job (although the agent made it sound much more varied and interesting than that). Anyway, I went along but it sounded boring AND stressful (not a good combo) and I don't think they were convinced I was committed to a career in an IT consultancy (strangely enough). So they are thinking about it and wondering whether to risk a trial contract for no money at all (all right, I may be exaggerating) and I am hoping they decide not to.
Meanwhile, this week I have been put forward to Visa and Google, which would both be excellent being large and international and having good holidays and benefits. The job interview process at Google is a bit like joining the secret service - you get interviewed by a total of 8 people, on 3 separate occasions. Then they have to send off to the US for approval to hire you. I was gutted to discover that Google wouldn't consider me for a "creative maximiser" role (don't ask because I don't know) because my degree was not from one of the UK's top five universities. So I looked up Otago online to see where it ranked worldwide but unfortunately it is between 200 and 300 so not particularly stellar. Hmf.
Ah well, time to trot off to the bottle store as it is just the sort of evening on which a pink pinot grigio would go down a treat with the tennis.
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