1064: First Days

It was Andie’s first day at her new job today. I don’t know how it went yet because she’s not back yet as I type this, but I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing her the best, particularly as it was her getting that job that allowed us to move back to Southampton. Woo!

With Andie out of the way, this means that it’s been my first real day on my own in the new flat getting some work done and it’s gone quite well, even with the many boxes that are still behind me, taunting me to unpack them. (I will do it when I get back here on a more permanent basis later this week!)

In other words, I’m feeling pretty good. I took a drive into town earlier on and got the headlamp bulb replaced on my car before I got pulled over for it — there’s going to be a lot of driving in the dark over the next few days so I figured better safe than sorry — and grabbed a coffee. My car’s decided that it doesn’t like the cold again, so is mocking me with its generic “engine warning light” once again just like it did the last time it got really cold. It’s a little unnerving, as when it’s really cold it gets a bit juddery while sitting still, but once it warms up a bit it runs just fine — it just doesn’t like the cold. I mean, who does?

I’m probably going to get rid of my car once I’m settled in this new place. Now I’m in the middle (ish) of a city, I really don’t need it that much. While I was two hours away from my friends? Yes, it was a necessity, even if I didn’t manage to get away to see them quite as often as I would have liked to. Now, though? It’s a fairly long walk, but I can feasibly walk over to my friend Tim, who lives down near the waterfront, and I can very easily walk to the station and catch a train to go and see my friend Sam, who lives in the next town over. I will probably be quite sorry to give up the freedom a car provides, but I will not miss the constant feeling that “I should probably get that [thing that rattles/broken headlamp/light that keeps coming on/brakes that make funny noises] looked at” which inevitably leads to a significant amount of money being extracted from my bank account. I will also not miss paying exorbitant amounts of money for car insurance and tax — instead, I’ll contribute to the running costs of Andie’s car, which I’m insured to drive and is much nicer than my leaky old banger. (Seriously, sometimes you’ll get in after a particularly wet patch and there’s a puddle of water on the floor in the footwell. I’m yet to determine where it’s actually getting in from, because nothing else seems to be wet.)

I’m off to a hotel later this evening so I can sleep in a proper bed ahead of having to spend the day in sunny Swindon tomorrow — as opposed to sleeping on the floor of my empty previous residence. Then there’s things to pack up and load up and pick up to ensure the house is clean and empty and ready for us to give our keys back and everything on Friday. Hopefully my accursed civic duties will be done with by then — if they’re not, I literally have no idea what I’m supposed to do. More nights in a hotel, I guess. That or vagrancy in Swindon town centre.

Anyway, as I’ve said already, once this week is over and done with I can relax. Hopefully. That will be nice. For you lot, too, as it means you won’t have to read me moaning about how stressful these last couple of weeks have been.