Work

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Hopefully, the Dry Spell’s Over

Other than my room not being dark enough for my tastes, this Airbnb is working out splendidly. The host makes me feel so welcome. I’ve been able to have the slow mornings in bed that I miss, go down to the kitchen and linger over coffee, then come back to work peacefully at the desk in my room, with frequent pauses for tea. I can also cook for myself, so I only went out for lunch today to get a leg stretch.

Work is really picking up. My best and favourite client has barely had any work for me since mid-December. I’ve been taking what I could, but it has been piddly amounts. I was informed yesterday that their dry spell appears to be over and to not be shy asking for more work beyond my normal allotment since work is so good and I’ve never turned a project in late. So that’s how I found myself on a typing marathon today like I haven’t had in ages. But, hey, between my piddly job yesterday and today’s job, I made back what I paid for the Airbnb this week!

Even though tons more work came in due Monday night between all my main clients, I’m taking most of tomorrow off to go explore a nearby town! I had planned to take off at most three days of my six in Brighton, so with Sunday and Monday full, I’ll likely take Tuesday to go explore Brighton proper.

Then, it will be time for my coach to turn back into a pumpkin. *wry grin*

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Routine

One thing I know about puppy raising is the importance of a routine. So I’m making an effort to be lot more regimented while I’m here and it’s paying off with a puppy who is increasingly easy to mind, less stress even when I have a large workload (as I do this weekend), and being able to truly enjoy the experience. Puppy is very affectionate and always up for a cuddle, so I must be doing something right.

Work has been funny. I had a very slow week and I spent quite some time looking and applying for one-off contracts. And then, boom, all my clients apparently came back to life and I have a very full roster through at least Monday. With one of the clients, I’m only allowed to sign out two files at a time. They’ve been really slow since mid-December, so I take what I can get from them and signed out two very small ones that came up. Then, of course, they got a bunch of longer files in. You can’t abandon files just to take others (“cherry picking”) so I was stuck with what I had, disappointing as it was. But then, as we got closer to the end of the work day in California, there were still tons of files in the queue, so I emailed my contact to ask if I could have more work even though I had my quota. Next thing I knew, he’d assigned me as much as I wanted! I’ll have been with this client a year by the time I get settled in Mexico in May, so between that and consistently getting good reviews, I should be in a position to negotiate a bigger allotment.

With my out of the house time being so limited, I continue to like Tesco delivery, even if I have to pay for it now. I had shopping delivered only on Monday and it felt ridiculous to put together another shop today, but I was out of meat and veg. It made more sense to do another order than to take a couple of hours to run to the shops today. I definitely should have just done a bigger shop the first time around since I now have to pay for delivery, but I’m still not very good at gauging how much I should be buying to last me the time of my stay. It ends up being more advantageous to plan about 10 days out. I still have tons left from that first shop, though, but I seriously underestimated how fast some things, like the almond milk (which comes in smaller containers here) would last. Tesco delivery costs depend on the day and time. I would have had to wait till 10PM Tuesday to get a £2 delivery slot. Before then, the cheapest slot was £3.50 on Monday. I was able to get a slot tonight for £4, so I just went for that. The shopping will come between eight and nine, which fits into Puppy’s and my evening routine, but just barely.

Have I mentioned just how cute she is? You should see (and feel!) those floppy ears of hers. 🙂

I can’t believe I’ll be back in Canada this time next month (and hopefully over the jet lag). I really need to start working on the Montreal to Haven to Mexico thing that’s coming up… 🙂

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Smitten

As I suspected, puppy sitting is going to be quite the wonderful challenge! It will definitely get easier once we settle into a routine, just as happened with the dogs in Bulgaria. My charge is so cute, smart, and cuddly and I’m absolutely smitten. 🙂

I actually had quite a lovely first evening with my charge. I was told to expect that she has moments where she’s practically bouncing off the walls and moments where she’s quiet. I took a quiet time to heat up the lasagna my hosts left for me and enjoyed that immensely with a glass of white wine and some olives. I felt rather spoiled! By the time I’d cleaned the kitchen, the puppy was ready for some play, so I tossed her a ball for a while and let her chase it. She’s definitely got the concept down that she needs to give me back the ball for me to toss it again!

I got her to bed around 11PM and then promptly went to sleep myself as I was knackered.

It was not the puppy but a weird rattling that woke me up around four. Gah. I figured that since I was up I might as well take her out for a pee so that I could go back to sleep after. She wasn’t too keen on being rousted out of her warm bed, but she finally went out. I went back to bed and after almost two hours managed to doze off again (I could not find the source of the rattle, augh). I finally got up at nine.

The morning routine is going to be similar to Bulgaria, where I need to exhaust the puppy before being able to settle down with coffee, breakfast, and work.

When the most pressing of the day’s work was done, I headed out, around 11:30, to find the Barclay’s and get my first real taste of Shrewsbury.

I walked along the shores of the River Severn to downtown (about one mile away).

I passed this interesting sculpture.

The downtown core was a warren of tiny streets, some pedestrian only, lined with mostly Tudor-style buildings. It’ll be fun to come back and explore properly.

I enjoyed listening to an accordion player and danced with him for a bit before leaving him a few coins.

This particularly crooked house reminded me of Amsterdam.

I found the Barclay’s easily enough. I like being back in a country, like Spain, where I get free withdrawals because I don’t need to take out as much at one time to reduce the number of $5 foreign ATM withdrawal charges I rack up. It makes it easier to budget and, of course, it’s less risky.

This wasn’t a morning for dawdling since I had a large difficult file left to do, plus it was cold and spitting rain. I popped into a Greggs for a coffee to warm my hands for the long walk home. This was a much bigger one, where you could eat in and there was a stand for folks to add their own milk and sugar. I accepted a coffee card, although I don’t know if I’ll manage to buy 10 to get my free one by the time I get home. It could happen, though, if I end up spending a few days in London before heading back to Canada since Greggs has the best price I’ve seen so far for coffee and it’s really good!

I enjoyed going down this narrow alleyway.

I stopped in at this pub because my hosts told me they do an inexpensive “Sunday lunch.” It sounds like a good deal at £6.95 so I might do that one week. I didn’t realise that you need reservations, so it wasn’t an option for today.

This pretty church is near my house.

I came in and put together a Tesco order. My hosts did a great job directing me to the various supermarkets around here, but I found that I really liked doing the Tesco thing in Hebden for the convenience and how much money I saved versus going out and doing my shopping nearly daily. I had to pay a £3.50 delivery charge this time since my free trial has expired, but that’s worth it to me. It’ll come tomorrow afternoon as will another order that I’ll blog about tomorrow. So tomorrow will be a stay in day.

Then, I managed to get my work done. The puppy is way too interested in the foot pedal cord and my earbuds, so I have to keep them away from her. If I’m at the table with just my computer, she’s happy to lie at my feet and go to sleep, but when I’m transcribing, the cords are too tempting for her and she can’t leave them alone. I go through this with the new cats in my life, so I’m sure she’ll get used to it. Thankfully, there is a very strong possibly that a large non-transcription project is coming down the pipeline at the most perfect timing imaginable.

It’s been a really good first day of puppy sitting. My biggest worry was getting enough sleep (a huge issue in Bulgaria) and if the first night was any indication, that will be fine. I love playing and cuddling with her and watching her sleep after a particularly exhausting play session. Did I mention how cute she is and that I’m smitten? 🙂

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Hebden Bridge Back to Manchester

I can’t believe how quickly the last month has gone by! Hebden Bridge was definitely not a tourist/vacation stop for me as I was able to nearly make up for the very long dry spell I’ve been in with work since since mid-December. But I’m pleased with what I was able to have seen and that I got to enjoy this quaint village for a short time. I really loved the cute little house I was minding and the cat was inordinately affectionate. She’s the only cat I’ve ever known that I could shove off my lap multiple times in an evening and know that she’d come right back and curl up once I sat back down.

My next stop is Shrewsbury, only about two hours total from Hebden Bridge. With the schedule of the hosts there and the fact that I wasn’t in any rush to vacate the Hebden Bridge house since the host was coming in very late, it made sense to stay in Hebden as long as I could, head to Manchester for the night, and go on to Shrewsbury Saturday morning. This way, I was able squeeze in two last jobs for this week’s paycheque with a client who has been going through a very slow phase but was slammed this week.

By three this afternoon, the house was ready for my host’s homecoming. My train was at 4:07. Of course, little last minute things popped up and by the time I was dragging my luggage up those stairs, it was 3:38! I was not pleased with myself as I really had to hoof it to the train station and was not able to get in one last meander through the village. By the time I’d collected my train ticket and crossed to the Manchester-bound platform, I had literally one minute till the train arrived! Phew. I cut it way too close!

Even with the cost of the bus to Levenshulme and back into Manchester, the dump where I stayed in January was still by far the best deal for an overnight. I was not keen to go back there, but needs must. However…

I’ve been doing some testing for a new position that unfortunately did not pan out as I lacked experience for part of the work and there was no time for on the job training. That was a bummer since I spent most of a day doing the tests. Well, to my immense surprise, the testers compensated me for my time! I was shocked! They sent enough to cover an Airbnb in Manchester right by the train station (about 20CAD more a night than the dump) and part of a real dinner out, which I hadn’t planned on doing since I had a meal out in Haworth. There are some really good people out there!

The only flaw in my plan is that my Airbnb host had something come up and the earliest someone could meet me with keys was six, when I was arriving at Manchester Victoria at 4:45. Changing my ticket would have been very £££. So I ended up spending only ££ on a snack at the Starbucks where I could wait in relative warmth and comfort. Slight problem, my host thought I was coming into Piccadilly. It was past six when the hosts’ friend called to ask where I was and then almost 20 minutes to get to Piccadilly and then almost 20 minutes to find the apartment 5 minutes away because Manchester is obviously having fiscal challenges and doesn’t believe in street signage. Yes, I was very grumpy by the time I finally found my room. 🙁

Then, it was time to find dinner. It was past seven by this point and between the lack of signage and my stupid phone misbehaving worse than usual, I didn’t want to go too far. I went back to Piccadilly and wandered looking for a pub, going into the first one I found (Piccadilly Tavern). I liked the set up that I had to find a table, decide what I wanted to eat, then go order and pay at the bar as that meant I wouldn’t have to hunt down the cheque after. I ordered a regular beef burger with a pint of bitter and almost fainted when I was told the price was only £5.69. The pint was free since they were doing a burger and beer deal! So that bonus money 100% covered my stay!

It wasn’t an amazing burger and fries, only a few steps up from McDonald’s, but with the high quality bun and huge pile of veggies, the meal still felt like an incredible deal and was very satisfying. I nursed my pint for a long while, watching the footie on the telly. Can you tell that I’m really struggling with fitting into the UK lifestyle. 😉

I’m back at my Airbnb and going to attempt to get to bed early. I’ve been going to bed past midnight for the last month and I’m pretty sure that won’t be sustainable when I’m responsible for a puppy!

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A Jaunt to Halifax

Just when I thought work was going into a lull, it picked up again. 2016 was all about travel, but 2017 needs to be a bit more work focused. So I’m glad there isn’t too much around here to distract me, just enough to give me a change of scenery if I need it. I haven’t been able to take a full day off, but a half day to run into Halifax was doable. I got up super early compared to what my schedule has been and was able to do three hours of work by 10:30 so that even with a stop at Barclay’s, I was on the 10:47 bus. I was pleased that a day rider is just £4 considering that a single into Halifax is £3.

Halifax was a centre of woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward. There’s really not much there from a touristy point of view, which was confirmed when I stopped in at the visitor centre behind the bus station (it’s in the library). I was irked to learn that the one thing I had planned to do was closed today, which I had not noticed on their website. Augh.

Like everywhere else I’ve seen in the area, Halifax is a modern town fitted into Victorian buildings. Even new construction has to fit into this aesthetic. I’m a fan of the programme “Grand Designs,” so I know how much work it takes to get planning permission to build in a more modern style pretty much anywhere into the UK.

Halifax’s shopping core is compact and has the expected assortment of shops.

I found the Borough Market, dating back to the Victorian era. It had a surprisingly Mexican feel to it.

Here’s a bit of the exterior of the market.

I love pub names…

Just a regular old bank. I am pleased that this architectural style isn’t something I’m used to yet.

Here’s another side of the market.

Halifax town hall.

I decided to go to my closed destination as I suspected there would be enough to do outdoors to make the one-mile trek there worthwhile. First, I stopped for lunch at a decent and very reasonably priced Chinese buffet restaurant. I tried some new things, like Mongolian style beef and duck. I was really impressed by the variety and quality of the food, especially the abundance of veggies and fruits. Then, off I went across the North Bridge.

On the other side, I saw my friend Vicki’s dream car. Can you spot it?

How about now?

Double decker buses aren’t exclusive to London.

I started to climb high above Halifax along a busy motorway. The walk was pedestrian friendly, but not obvious. I would sometimes take what I thought was a footpath and then have to double back to try a different approach as the roadway split many times and I’d find myself on the wrong side with no place to cross.

It had been sunny when I arrived, but the promised rain was rolling in and it was getting colder.

I spotted a church on a hill.

I love this billboard’s message.

The city quickly gave way to a rural landscape filled with sheep.

See the sheep looking straight at me? It was a little unnerving.

And voilà, Shibden Hall!

The earliest parts of this home date all the way back to the 1420s and it was heavily renovated by Anne Lister in the early 1800s to be more like what a proper Tudor home should be. Anne Lister is considered the “first modern lesbian.” I didn’t think I’d heard of her, but now I’m pretty sure I saw a Sue Perkins thing where she talks about her. Yup, I sure did.

I arrived at the West Terraces. From a plaque: “The West Terraces were constructed, along with the South Terrace, by John Harper as part of the improvements he designed for Anne Lister in 1836. Surrounded by mature trees, the Terraces are cut into the natural slope of the landscape and have stone retaining walls.” They held an orchard with all sorts of fruits with different growing seasons so there could be fruit throughout much of the year.

Anne had this Gothic tower added to the house and it became her library.

The gate at the back of the house was open, so I thought surely it would be okay to have a poke around…

I love the giant stone toadstools.

Well, just as I was heading back to wards the gate, a guy came out of the house to tell me they are closed. I apologised and said I was just trying to see as much of the exterior as I could since I hadn’t realised they were closed on Fridays. He sighed and said that he was waiting for a school group to come back, so why didn’t I come in and have a peek at the interior? Just a peek, though! What a nice guy!!!!

He led me into a hallway with dark wood panelled walls and a low ceiling. I was able to see a fairly standard Victorian kitchen. He then told me I could go look at the most interesting room in the house, to him anyway, a formal sitting room off the main hall. It had much higher ceilings. He explained that the original 1420 stuff is all there, but basically buried by Anne’s renovations. He showed me how the old beams were covered with planks to make them seem bigger and how one of the reasons for the lower ceilings was to make the rooms easier to heat. This is where he told me all that stuff about Anne Lister that I recounted above and that the house is only a museum now and there are no residents.

Obviously, he was doing me a huge favour and I didn’t want to take advantage, so I thanked him and headed out. It sucks that I didn’t get to see the whole property, but at least I didn’t go all the way out there for nothing. Some people are so kind!

It was almost two when I got back into Halifax and I was surprisingly rather footsore and tired. I blame all the hills and stairs in this area. It’s really not hard to get a good amount of exercise even when walking a short distance. I thought of maybe getting a coffee, but went down to the bus station to see when my next bus home would be. Well, there was one right there about to pull out, so I decided to get on.

The ride home was a bit faster than the ride in had been since there wasn’t as much traffic, but it was still almost 40 minutes. I didn’t see anything on either ride that I felt I need to go back out and explore.

I can’t believe I have less than a week left here! This time next week, I’ll be back in Manchester and on my way to my next assignment!