Moving on from the last post, got back to St. Albans in the early evening of May 19th... Champions League Final, great match! One of those truly entertaining games of ball, a pleasure to watch! Great comeback by Chelsea!
I wound down over the rest of the weekend to get set for college on Monday morning. I'm studying a work related course which I take a day off a week for and it's coming toward the end of the year. By the weekend we'd gotten the flights and accomodation sorted for Sweden so I just needed to play the charity gig and that would more or less cross those off the list too. Was a great night in aid of a housebuilding and school supply charity in Addo Township in South Africa and a lot of money was raised and we had some good folk music too (and some dodgy folk music aswell) and I should point out that I got a standing ovation and cheers for more after my set :)
Went to college the following day and handed in all of the assignments and work I'd been doing, almost a month early which felt good, a big weight off! That was off the list too... Things were starting to come together, I got the dental appointment booked and then it would be really just the packing and shipping to be sorted and when my licence arrived in the post I could get it photocopied and get the Internation Permit form posted off.
The ball is rolling fast now...
Till my next scrawlings.
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
The Difficult Task of Getting Through 'The List' - Part 2
So I arrived in Dublin nice n'early on the Friday morning with one day to get a load of stuff done...
Luckily I've got a sound little brother who, for the price of the toll bridge fee, came to meet me at Dublin airport at 8am (cheers Bro, much appreciated).
I could see he was tired, apparently 2 toddlers will do that to you! Still though, he didnt mind taking me to two different Garda (police) stations to get my Police Certificate sorted and despite the best efforts of a cranky Bean Garda I managed to get this crossed off the list.
Next up was was to get GP's Medical Report from my family Doctor which I needed to renew my driving licence. (I have Epilepsy and my licence had been suspended for over a year on medical grounds). After a couple of hours waiting around for him to come in, I managed to get that sorted too, all I needed to do now get some passport photos and take all of the relevant documentation and forms etc to the Motor Taxation Office in Nutgrove to reapply for my licence.
This turned out to be not so straight forward... Apparently, as part of the government's 'Austerity Measures' my local Motor Tax office had been shut down (smart move Enda, close a government office that's so busy the queues are usually 1hour long and force the good folk of South Dublin to travel to the other side of the city to tax their car or apply for a licence). So basically I had a choice, try to convince my brother to drive to Clondalkin in West Dublin (bearing in mind he hasnt had breakfast yet and it's now 1pm) or take the bus to North Dublin and hope I can make it by the 3.30 closing time.
Luckily my lovely Mammy happened to show up and by pure chance needed to go to the Motor Tax Office to get a log book re-issued. Things were working in my favour...
So I got to Clondalkin Motor Tax Office and managed to reach the counter at about 3pm. Right away the woman behind the counter made it clear she was gonna make things difficult. Firstly there was a problem with the Certificate the Driving Licence Authority (DVLA) had given me for the date I stopped driving and the relevant driving qualifications on my licence. Secondly, my GP's report was in the wrong format, or on the wrong form (I was getting frustrated and was pretty tired by this point).
Anyway I was about to concede that I wouldnt get it sorted today and that I'd be rushing around right up to the last minute when I had a light bulb moment... I'd been reading Neil Straus' bestseller 'The Game' (I've been recommending this book a lot lately to all red blooded men) so I decided to try apply a little 'Game' to the situation (no harm in trying eh). The woman behind the counter was probably in her late thirties early forties (yes this is relevant) and aside from her obvious boredome with the job, I could tell that behind her Civil Servant 'front', she was quite friendly.
So after displaying an overly peacocked smile and paying some (seemingly unintentional) compliments aswell as applying some witty banter and (indirectly/playfully) making fun of some of her mannerisms she started to warm considerably. Within about ten minutes, she'd gotten her boss to contact the DVLA in Wales to verify my letter and had gone through my file to find an old medical report that she could apply my latest medical to... Then she stamped my application, gave me a receipt, we exchanged pleasantries and I was on my way. Licence renewal crossed from the list...
I decided I deserved some breakfast at this point so myself and my Mam went across the road to McDonalds for a well deserved 3.30pm late breakfast quarter pounder... Thanks Neil Straus :)
All I needed to do now was complete my form for my International Drivers Permit and give it to my Dad to post (I forgot to do this) and look forward to seeing my friends. I hadnt seen most of the lads in a couple of months so it was nice to have a few beers and talk crap for the evening. Pretty therapeutic I must admit.
Till my next scrawlings...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
Luckily I've got a sound little brother who, for the price of the toll bridge fee, came to meet me at Dublin airport at 8am (cheers Bro, much appreciated).
I could see he was tired, apparently 2 toddlers will do that to you! Still though, he didnt mind taking me to two different Garda (police) stations to get my Police Certificate sorted and despite the best efforts of a cranky Bean Garda I managed to get this crossed off the list.
Next up was was to get GP's Medical Report from my family Doctor which I needed to renew my driving licence. (I have Epilepsy and my licence had been suspended for over a year on medical grounds). After a couple of hours waiting around for him to come in, I managed to get that sorted too, all I needed to do now get some passport photos and take all of the relevant documentation and forms etc to the Motor Taxation Office in Nutgrove to reapply for my licence.
This turned out to be not so straight forward... Apparently, as part of the government's 'Austerity Measures' my local Motor Tax office had been shut down (smart move Enda, close a government office that's so busy the queues are usually 1hour long and force the good folk of South Dublin to travel to the other side of the city to tax their car or apply for a licence). So basically I had a choice, try to convince my brother to drive to Clondalkin in West Dublin (bearing in mind he hasnt had breakfast yet and it's now 1pm) or take the bus to North Dublin and hope I can make it by the 3.30 closing time.
Luckily my lovely Mammy happened to show up and by pure chance needed to go to the Motor Tax Office to get a log book re-issued. Things were working in my favour...
So I got to Clondalkin Motor Tax Office and managed to reach the counter at about 3pm. Right away the woman behind the counter made it clear she was gonna make things difficult. Firstly there was a problem with the Certificate the Driving Licence Authority (DVLA) had given me for the date I stopped driving and the relevant driving qualifications on my licence. Secondly, my GP's report was in the wrong format, or on the wrong form (I was getting frustrated and was pretty tired by this point).
Anyway I was about to concede that I wouldnt get it sorted today and that I'd be rushing around right up to the last minute when I had a light bulb moment... I'd been reading Neil Straus' bestseller 'The Game' (I've been recommending this book a lot lately to all red blooded men) so I decided to try apply a little 'Game' to the situation (no harm in trying eh). The woman behind the counter was probably in her late thirties early forties (yes this is relevant) and aside from her obvious boredome with the job, I could tell that behind her Civil Servant 'front', she was quite friendly.
So after displaying an overly peacocked smile and paying some (seemingly unintentional) compliments aswell as applying some witty banter and (indirectly/playfully) making fun of some of her mannerisms she started to warm considerably. Within about ten minutes, she'd gotten her boss to contact the DVLA in Wales to verify my letter and had gone through my file to find an old medical report that she could apply my latest medical to... Then she stamped my application, gave me a receipt, we exchanged pleasantries and I was on my way. Licence renewal crossed from the list...
I decided I deserved some breakfast at this point so myself and my Mam went across the road to McDonalds for a well deserved 3.30pm late breakfast quarter pounder... Thanks Neil Straus :)
All I needed to do now was complete my form for my International Drivers Permit and give it to my Dad to post (I forgot to do this) and look forward to seeing my friends. I hadnt seen most of the lads in a couple of months so it was nice to have a few beers and talk crap for the evening. Pretty therapeutic I must admit.
Till my next scrawlings...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
The Difficult Task of Getting Through 'The List' - Part 1
So I there I was, faced with the logistics of getting everything on 'The List' done and dusted, but like I said, I have a terrible habit of putting things off so I was trying my best not to procrastinate...
The easiest things to get sorted were the e-mail to give my landlord my notice and booking the flights and the hire car. This was done with the help of Michael O'Leary and his no-frills airline (big fan of Ryanair by the way, despite it's obvious annoyances).
Thanks to the Euro 2012 and the fact that my flights were in the same time period but not going anywhere near Poland or the Ukraine, I managed to get my last flight out of the UK and the Sweden flights relatively cheap. The flights back to Dublin to sort the licences and visa requirements were also procured at a reasonable rate and I'd managed to get flights at reasonable hours which would mean no 4am taxi fares to Luton airport... Unfortunately when booking these particular flights, I had forgotten about one of the gigs I was due to play. So without thinking about it, I booked two days off work and booked return flights for Wednesday evening the 17th May, completely forgetting I was due to play support to for Kieran Goss the following night!
After a few hours spent kicking myself I was forced to book a new outgoing flight for the Friday morning, costing me £100 and another £45 for the taxi to the airport! Wasn't pleased at all!!
Anyway, the gig went well and I got a great reception so my level of 'pissedoffedness' was significantly reduced. Home to bed for 4 hours sleep before a 6.30am flight to Dublin - #completelywrecked
Anyway, till my next scrawlings...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
The easiest things to get sorted were the e-mail to give my landlord my notice and booking the flights and the hire car. This was done with the help of Michael O'Leary and his no-frills airline (big fan of Ryanair by the way, despite it's obvious annoyances).
Thanks to the Euro 2012 and the fact that my flights were in the same time period but not going anywhere near Poland or the Ukraine, I managed to get my last flight out of the UK and the Sweden flights relatively cheap. The flights back to Dublin to sort the licences and visa requirements were also procured at a reasonable rate and I'd managed to get flights at reasonable hours which would mean no 4am taxi fares to Luton airport... Unfortunately when booking these particular flights, I had forgotten about one of the gigs I was due to play. So without thinking about it, I booked two days off work and booked return flights for Wednesday evening the 17th May, completely forgetting I was due to play support to for Kieran Goss the following night!
After a few hours spent kicking myself I was forced to book a new outgoing flight for the Friday morning, costing me £100 and another £45 for the taxi to the airport! Wasn't pleased at all!!
Anyway, the gig went well and I got a great reception so my level of 'pissedoffedness' was significantly reduced. Home to bed for 4 hours sleep before a 6.30am flight to Dublin - #completelywrecked
Anyway, till my next scrawlings...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir,
Damien
The List
So notice given, flights booked and a mountain of things that needed to be done!!! Where was I to start???
I made a list of things that needed to be done. Although quite concise, I’m a terrible procrastinator, so I knew I’d be doing well to cover half of this stuff early on. Anyway, it looked something like this (in no particular order and probably in no way interesting):
So that was the challenge, it was around the start of May and there was a lot of organising to be done, forms to be filled, etc etc. The following few weeks would go surprisingly smoothly but I wasn't counting any baby hens!
Till my next scrawling...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir...
Damien
I made a list of things that needed to be done. Although quite concise, I’m a terrible procrastinator, so I knew I’d be doing well to cover half of this stuff early on. Anyway, it looked something like this (in no particular order and probably in no way interesting):
- Get a Police Certificate in Dublin check for my working visa.
- Get my licence renewed in Dublin (which given my situation would be far from easy).
- Book return flights back to Dublin to sort out the above and a final flight back to Dublin from the UK.
- Give my ‘moving out notice’.
- Arrange for my stuff to be shipped back to Ireland from England.
- Book a hire car to get around while trying to sort out all of the necessary stuff before I leave.
- Get the gaping hole in my tooth filled (I’d just broken a big filling).
- Get an international drivers permit sorted out.
- Get three months worth of college work to distinction standard, submitted a month earlier than the submission deadline.
- Pack up my belongings to prepare for shipping (being a bit of a hoarder I’ve amassed quite a bit of stuff in two-and-a-half years).
- Book flights/accommodation to/for Sweden - I’d previously made a commitment to a friend to go see The Stone Roses in Hultsfred. (Three days I could scarcely afford to give up.)
- Put time aside to practice for/play 3 gigs that I’d already made a commitment to play.
- Arrange a bit of a farewell party before I leave the UK.
- Arrange a bit of a farewell party before I leave Dublin.
- Spend as much time as I can with my family and friends and see as much as possible of the newest arrivals (my nephew and neice Kealan and Robyn and my best mates twin girls Aoibha and Caoimhe) cos they'd be substantially bigger next time I saw them.
- Try to get all this done while being massively distracted because Ireland are playing at their first European Championship finals in almost 25 years!
So that was the challenge, it was around the start of May and there was a lot of organising to be done, forms to be filled, etc etc. The following few weeks would go surprisingly smoothly but I wasn't counting any baby hens!
Till my next scrawling...
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir...
Damien
The Job Offer and the Decision
So today is the day I lose my 'Blogging Virginity'... If I'm honest, I know little or nothing about blogging, purely because I've never envisaged myself as the blogging type. I'm not sure if it's because I've never really had any interest or if it's that I've subconsciously thought that I just don't have the time (code for I'm just too lazy)... Either way, this is the start of (hopefully) many updates as I prepare to move to Mauritius to start a new job and more or less a new life .
I suppose the reason I've decided to write the blog is so that friends and family can keep up with how I'm doing and sure if anyone else takes an interest, that's an added bonus... So I'll try to give some information about me along with a bit of background as to how this has all come about.
So about me... I’m a Building Estimator from Dublin, Ireland but have been living and working for the last two-and-a-half years in the UK, in a small city about 20 miles north of London called St. Albans. I transferred here in January 2010 with the company I’ve been working with for the past 5 years or so and like so many others in similar situations to myself, I’ve experienced first-hand, the effect that the economic downturn has had not just on the Construction Industry in Ireland and the UK, but on life as a whole.
Moving away from friends and family was never going to be easy but at the time I was faced with the choice to continue employment with my company’s UK business or join the list of redundancies and remain in Ireland waiting to see what came along. As someone who’s never been out of work for more than a couple of weeks though, the choice for me, although not easy, was obvious and almost two-and-a-half years later, here I am moving even further afield (although arguably to a much more favourable location), who would’ve ‘thunk’ it? Not me!
While I’ve been in England I’ve made a lot of really good friends, some of which I hope will remain lifelong friends and aswell as this I became heavily involved in a relationship with an amazing girl, who for almost two years was more or less my closest friend. Unfortunately that aspect of my time here didn’t work out the way I would have liked and that’s really a story for another time/place so I’ll keep that to myself.
Anyways, at the moment the job I do is in demand so for the last year or so I’ve regularly been contacted by recruitment consultants offering me interviews with various different companies, most of which I respectfully declined.
At the end of February however, I was approached via e-mail by a consultant representing an international infrastructure and civil engineering company with a very interesting proposition that unlike the others, caught my attention straight away. The position was a new role with a company from Johannesburg who had recently merged with an Irish engineering company and were expanding their International team working from their Mauritius offices. As a result they were looking for someone with my qualifications and experience to fill that slot in the Mauritius office.
For those that don’t know too much about Mauritius, it’s a sub-tropical Indian Ocean island off the south eastern coast of Africa (about 870km east of Madagascar) with about 1.2 million people descending from many different places ranging from Africa, India, Britain, France, Netherlands and China, so basically it’s a veritable melting-pot of different cultures and as someone that loves to travel and see new cultures and places, my interest was well and truly tickled!
The reason the job caught my attention was because I had worked with a guy named Joe in Dublin a few years back. He had just moved to Dublin from Mauritius and aside from being extremely friendly, the way he spoke about Mauritius and the pictures he had shown me every time he arrived back after a few weeks at home, always made me want to go there, I’ve not got much more of an explanation but ever since I had laid eyes on those pictures I had always wanted to see the country.
Anyway, after the standard fare of communicating back and forth, I did a Skype interview and was eventually unofficially offered the job and sent for my medical and inoculations etc.
The day after receiving the offer, to say I was in two minds over what to do, would be a massive understatement. The stress of making such a big decision was almost making me physically sick, there were so many pros and although not so many cons, the cons that did exist, were quite substantial. It was a huge step to take and one or two reservations I had about the job and other minor downsides, were eventually blown out of all proportion and I turned the job down...
The following day I received an e-mail from the recruitment consultant with some comments my ‘boss-to-be’ had made regarding my e-mail declining the offer. His comments didn't beat around the bush (him being from Limerick in Ireland that wasn't surprising). Basically he schooled me on why I would be crazy to turn down such an offer, but at the same time put most of my other hesitations to rest and within a day, I got back in touch and asked was the position still available and if so that I’d like to accept.
So this was the middle of April and after signing all of the relevant documentation and going through all of the necessary admin stuff and receiving my flights details etc, that was that, I handed in my notice at work and started working out what I needed to do before the 22nd June, when I would be flying out of Dublin airport to start my new life as an Indian Ocean Islander.
So that’s the guts of how this all came about... I hope you enjoyed my first blog and there’s more to come about the weeks after the job offer and the weeks leading up to my departure date... Oh and sorry if the next 8 or 9 posts lack substance but my intention is to get this onto the ‘Expat Blog’ forum which requires a minimum of 10 posts for new blogs.
Anyhoo, till my next scrawlings.
Do chara, do mhac, do dheartháir...
Damien
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