Madeira March 07

I tried and failed in March to get one of the senior roles at EC1 and now await for the next phase of the restructure. Am I sad? A bit. That’s to do with getting older and these opportunities likely to become less frequent. Apparently I came top by miles in the test, but was deemed to not really understand the leap necessary to make Director level as was another, current, older colleague. The good news is I still have a job at the moment.

Luckily FP and I went off for our week in Madeira at the end of all this which was nice, though I was very aware that Madeira is full of old people. Imagine being in a queue to buy tickets for something and everyone having grey hair, walking sticks etc. They don’t buy in to ‘youff’ or Easy Jet in Madeira. The plus side is that it is very pretty and very safe. Wonderful fruit and vegetables which you don’t get to access via restaurants. They boil these wonderful veg to death – no concept of al dente. The fish is varied. I ate limpets for the first time washed down with garlic and lemon sauce. I didn’t puke, but I am not sure that sort of food really does it for me. We got buses all over the island, sun bathed, walked the levadas, saw everything in the guide book. It was good.

We seem to be quite busy at home. Stuff keeps breaking and needs mending like hinges on door cupboards and garden gates rotting off their hinges. This is because I have not had the finances or the skills to keep up to date with maintenance in the house. FP’s stuff has been finally integrated leaving a smallish pile of furniture to offload to recycling /charity. It’s likely that we will spend a lot of the summer months redecorating the external paintwork that is not the new doors/windows that were put in last year. The pond needs fixing and I’ve been thinking of a small, raised vegetable bed now I watch so many cookery programmes by default from Bear, J2 and FP’s passionate interest. Cerebrally I can feel the need for a further Project X developing that will absorb my other energies and interests.

A* is back briefly over Easter and to celebrate her 21st. J1 will probably remain in London and J2 is buckling down to revision and trying to get a Saturday job. It feels strangely like a period of treading water/reprioritising finances before I enter a different phase in my life. Quite exciting really. I hope I am seeing the end of the tunnel of putting my own needs last that I faced when FH first left.