in the nest

[helenic]

Four days and when I lie in bed I'm still surrounded, cocoon-like, by boxes and bags and a half-opened suitcase spilling its guts, which I have to vault over each morning to get to the door. I have no immediate need or inclination to unpack just yet, and so I'm once again letting my inactivity getting the better of me, although I can't similarly escape the need to find a job. I finally hauled myself into town yesterday afternoon; Manpower have told me so many different things they're obviously completely unreliable, and am kicking myself for putting my trust in them at easter. The first agency I went to told me in no uncertain terms I would not find anything for a student as everywhere is flooded, although apparently there is a job fair on Monday with over two hundred temporary vacancies. I bought the paper and decided to try one more agency just in case she was mistaken. It was a tiny, upstairs office called Acclaim, above a sandwich shop, and my first enquiry was received almost immediately with an apologetic "we don't have anything for students, I'm afraid," and then as if it had just occurred to her, she added "unless you have experience in audiotyping?"

I don't, of course, but I have a reasonable typing speed and so I told her I did, although I hadn't done it for a while, probably (I guessed) about 50wpm. I was informed that they had the possibility of openings for audiotypists, and if I was interested I could take their evaluation and see how I did. I pretended to know what I was doing, typed from headphones for the requisite three minutes, and as my results printed out on the other side of the room was received with a gasp of disbelief. Apparently, I can audiotype at 75wpm using a mouse to control the tape; using pedals they estimate you will be 15wpm faster. They were so impressed they registered me straight away, told me to come back tomorrow to take a brief MS Office evaluation, that it was extremely likely they'd find something for me, and sent me away feeling rather pleased with myself.

I'm going back into Leicester today, to do that and to drop Iain's CV into everywhere that'll take it (he's coming up for three weeks or so in July, and we're trying to get him work before he arrives, if possible). I've missed Leicester; the way everything is so cheap (at any rate compared to Cambridge - I found a tiny shoe shop that had beautiful pointy bow shoes in black and white and pink for £20, although I didn't buy them); the shops, just everything. I was standing at the bus stop on my road, as I did every morning before school for about four years - the sun was warm and bright, a woodpigeon was hooting, and I felt home, in a way; a sense of being if not where I belong at least somewhere familiar, somewhere I've got used to.

I've been awaiting my prelims results since Tuesday (they were meant to be released on the 24th) and they still haven't come. Bradley, my DOS, promised to email me the mark breakdown as soon as he got it, but I have no idea why it's taking so long.

Comments

[libellum.livejournal.com]

thankyou :) I seem to be overqualified for this secretarial nonsense, but they don't believe me 'cause I like experience. Still, I'd much rather be doing this than waitressing. x