Alls Changed, Changed Utterly

I have a cheque book. This is weird. Nothing else to say about that; I just wanted to get it out of my system.

Soon... Soon I will have internet access AND a fancy tv service. By then I’ll have finally gotten my phone and my moving in period will be officially over. Soon is Friday by the way. Hopefully it’ll mean I’ll have the time to analyse my fantasy football team properly and recover from a disastrous start.

It’s amazing the difference a couple years makes. From a messy, lazy, hairy student to a considerably less messy, less hairy, employed productive member of society in a few short years. Stranger things have happened though; the flag waving communist that was a 16 year old Ross Frenett is now working for the man, in a suit, and in that most capitalistic of endeavours that is management consultancy.

Those are the only changes though. Even in the last couple weeks many things have changed. For one, my past nemesis of coeliac disease has reared its ugly head again and it picked the night before my first day at work to do so. Fair enough I had only eaten a baguette the day before, but having to make several midnight trips to the loo didn’t help the nerves before the start. I’ve become a lot more conscious of what I’ve been eating and as a result I’ve had to tighten my belt (literally).

Right now, it’s hard not to be optimistic about the future. So much more now seems possible over here and my life is on the move again after an extended hiatus. There are a lot of things I miss about Cork but I already know that it’ll be a good while before I ever move back. That thought alone makes me sad, without even counting in that feeling of coming back home and seeing that everything has changed while you were gone.

I’m really looking forward to people visiting though! Even though I’ve only been here three weeks, my sister Eva has already been here and I’ve a couple more visitors due in the next couple weeks. Funtimes! So, come on over and visit me! I’m talking to you Laura O’Neill or whoever you happen to be (Laura gets a mention as she asked for/demanded it).

So ends this message on that note of optimism. Hopefully there’ll be another post soon showing off my shiny new gadgets... mmm.... gadgets...

I find my lack of internet annoying.

Well, here I am at my desk ready to start day no.2 at le job. My lack of itnernet at home means I have to do this from work which will limit the amount I can write. Suffice to say, everything is going well apart from a small few glitches with the flat (the shower specifically) but having an awesome TV makes up for it and will do even more so when I get a fancy Sky connection in or something. Hopefully that'll be sooner rather than later, but alas, I'm still waiting for my bank account to be cleared which is holding everything up. On the upside I am now registered to vote, so Boris Johnson, you have been warned.

My Sundown

So this is it. Tomorrow is move day. The next post will be from the incredibly huge schmoke that is London town. Unfortunately, today is incredibly busy so there's not much time to be taking it all in. Not for a while anyway. It's going to be weird. Cork has been my home for over 25 years and I've always felt an extraordinary attachment to the place. To say that I've had some great times here is an understatement. So, in the spirit of the cold, calculating and clinical science student I have become; I've decided that my best memories are best expressed in the form of lists.

Best Cork Moments

1. Cork Worlds 2009 - Headwrecking, exhausting, awesome.
2. Éire Óg winning the Junior County Football Championship - The club means more to me than life itself (nearly) and so this was very, very special.
3. All-Ireland Hurling Final 2005 - Cork beat Galway. Savage cabbage.
4. Heineken Cup Final 2006 final - While this wasn't the Heineken Cup final I was at, the outpouring of joy and relief that came with the 2006 win was unparalleled.
5. Urban Family Christmas Party 2007 - The Gilabbey St. one. Epic. 
6. Philosoph AGM, 157th Session - John's minutes, some minor personal redemption and just a lot of fun.
7. ISDA 2010 - It was in Dublin sure, but it was the Cork crew that made it. The Raftery's build was just so intense and so satisfying.
8. Grand Slam Match; Ireland v Wales 2008 - Watched it with some good friends while there was much screaming at the TV.

Top Things I'll Miss About Cork

1. UCC in March/April - Chillin' out, maxing, relaxing all cool, studying some calculus outside of the Boole. (Yeah, I went there. I'm very tempted to do the whole song...)
2. Christmas time around Cork - Christmas time in general is just an amazing time to be around Cork.
3. GAA - Nothing in the world comes close to the local passion and pride that is the GAA. I miss being  a part of it.
4. Philosoph & Dramat - Two great bunches of people that have brought me so much enjoyment and free holidays!
5. The Farm - It sounds trite, but the farm at home is part of me. It's been in my family for seven generations and now I leave it. It's sad. Boo.

Things I Won't Miss About Cork

1. The unemployment. It sucks
2. The rain. Though I suppose London has it's fair share of that too.

One thing that I'll miss is also something I won't miss; I love that I know Cork. I know where things are, I know the general placement of all streets, I just know the city. At the same time too I'm looking forward to having a new place to explore.

So mixed feelings. This is going to be an interesting day.

My Life in Five Boxes

This is it. The first big step in the whole moving process. I've packed up all my worldly possessions into five very ordinary looking boxes. I'm up at 7 to send them off to London ahead of me. This is becoming very real very quickly.

You Want the Bad News or the Good News?

Well, the past day has seen me get some good news and some bad news.

Firstly, the good news. One of my main worries moving over was the physical act of moving all my crap from Cork to London. It was looking like it was going to cost me at least two hundred euro. That's two hundred euro that this destitute could do without spending. Then lo and behold a solution appeared. In conversation with my uncle, my mother mentioned these problems and he very kindly offered space in a van his company has going over to London. All I need to do is buy the cardboard boxes and pack the stuff. The minor downside is that I have to do all my packing by Thursday. Still though that's the price of a TV that I've saved there.

Now for the bad news. I booked my one way flight over last week under the assumption that my siblings that are currently inter-railing would be back in Cork by the 2nd of August. My flight over is flight FR902 from Cork to Stansted at 8:10am on the 4th of August. I found out later in the week that Siobhán is not home until the afternoon of the 3rd and John not until the 4th. So I'm not going to see John until late September now at the earliest. Dose.

Speaking of family, just as I write this, we're about to start the mother of all card games here at home. 110; it's like the more familiar game of 45 on crack. It'll take at least a couple hours before we have a victor. It's more of a game of stamina than skill really. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Quite the Character (Reference)

I suppose it's one of the things needed when you decide to let a flat to someone from a foreign land, who's never been there before and thus no traceable record you can access that character references are required. That led me to the puzzling question of who to ask to be my character referee. The person had to be a non-relative that I have known for more than three years and they suggested a previous employer or landlord. The problem here is that I tend not to keep in contact with previous employers and even at that I've never known any of my previous employers for longer than three years.

So that leaves asking one of my friends to either pretend to be a previous employer or give a really weak character reference. Another problem with this plan would be that I'm not sure if I trust most of my friends not to have a laugh and claim that I'm a serial arsonist or something like that. I could also use one of my family members and just claim they're not related to me, but then I'd need to construct some convoluted story about how this random person knows me so well.

I eventually decided to take the risk of asking a friend to do it for me; one Ross Frenett. Not only have I lived with Ross, but Ross was a supervisor in a call centre I used to work in last year. Admittedly, he actually supervised me very rarely due our different timetables, but it's the closest I can come to a previous employer who's known me more than three years. When I asked Ross if he would let his name go forward on the form; his response was positive, adding 

"You're a sexual deviant who steals things and has an unhealthy interest in fire"

I'm screwed.

So, How Does One Move?

Ever since I got the call with the job offer, the enormity of the task of moving began to hit me. Aside from the relatively simple matter of accommodation,  I'd need a new bank account, new national insurance number, new phone number, some new clothes, and I also now need a new laptop as my old HP one packed up at just a most inconvenient and expensive time. Practically everything that defines me will be new. Add to that the physical act of moving all my stuff over to London, and this adds up to be a very expensive couple of weeks for Dan.

I've my living quarters for the next year sorted (well, I'm waiting on them to email a copy of the contract and no money has changed hands yet, but there is a gentleman's agreement in place). The next thing is the actual move. This is proving more challenging than I thought, mainly due to a series of different events which are dictating when I move. I have siblings criss-crossing the continent at the moment who will not be back until the second of August, and my parents are leaving on their holidays on the fourth. The parents want to be there when I leave, and I would like to see John and Siobhán again before I go; which essentially forces me to leave on the third or the morning of the fourth. I'll leave on the fourth then to give me a full day with my whole family.

Of course, there should be some going away party or something for me to say good bye to my so called friends. This is complicated by the tickets I bought for a rugby match in Dublin on the 31st of July. Add into the mix my large non-Cork based group of friends and my girlfriend stuck in Tralee, and you can see that it's going to be a rather hectic last few days.

At some point in the middle of that I need to send my luggage to London too. This is a task of which I am crying out for help, as DHL and FedEx seem to be quite expensive. Any advice anyone may have is more than welcome.

Anyone feel like driving me to London?

Anyone?

Please?