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I got so distressed by the state of modern society and the subsequent possibility that I may secretly be middle-aged that I forgot why I'd opened a second window.
Home is good. I'm vaguely worried my brothers are going to give me their nasty cold germs, which I will then bring down to Oxford and spread among people who really don't want to be ill right now, but it's nice to be around familiar people and have someone to talk to during the day. I've done lots of boring, domesticated things (ironing, making rice salads, sorting out my old clothes) but it surprisingly feels quite calming: like I'm getting some sort of semblance of order back in my life after a rather hectic year. Even if I do think that I'm only getting rid of things to house yet more books. My parents have developed an alarming obsession with Frasier and my brother still plays the bass guitar REALLY LOUDLY for HOURS ON END. My mum is finally getting bored with being at home all the time and is already planning for my dad's retirement. (Buying a camper van, going round Europe, turning the dining room into a spare bedroom, getting a new sink. I think his plans involve compost heaps and vegetable patches.) I'm making good progress with my reading list, which is so organised and dedicated it's frankly terrifying and I found several pages of something I wrote over the summer on a floppy disk which pushes the word count up to 1/5 of the average novel! (It's only taken me 2 years to get that far...)
So, yes, generally feeling good about having people I know and like around me, looking forward to throwing things at happy finalists, to having a job I'm enthusiastic about and get paid more than minimum wage for, getting back to my exciting course (knowing full well my enthusiasm will evaporate in 0th week faster than you can say the word 'deadline' ) and possibly, possibly to regaining something approximating sanity.
We can hope.
I have even been head-hunted! After a fashion. This TEFL malarky is fantastic. Not only have I spent all morning being interviewed 'in case we can give you a better offer' and emailing people to get extensions on when I have to let them know about contracts, but I've also had an offer from a language school in Oxford next week. It's teaching a small group of Italian adults, just for a few hours a day, and only for next week, but it'll be great experience and give me a chance to get used to teaching again before the summer. There might even be a possibility of working for them in August and September. I actually have a skill that people want to pay me for, mostly during the summer vacation, when I'm mostly looking for work, mostly in Oxford, where I live, or wouldn't mind coming back to work in once I'm in London. (I am indebted to Daily Info. Thank you.)
I'll be back in Oxford from Monday, very responsibly living a long way down Iffley Road so as not to distract certain people from Very Important Things, and if anyone wants to meet up one afternoon/evening, well, you can call me on my shiny, new phone!
I even know how to set the alarm clock on it now.
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