Last week at work...

Five more working days to go, and I can honestly say that today is the first time I've started to feel nervous. There's not a scrap of doubt in my mind that I'm doing the right thing, but nevertheless the butterflies are starting.

I said my first goodbyes at the weekend...

at a loose end

My flatmates are showing prospective new housemates around today and tomorrow, so I've done the decent thing and gotten out of their way so that there isn't anyone loitering in the room when people are taking a look around. To pass the time today, I've watched some of the cricket, been to Whole Foods (again), and I'm thinking about going to see Oceans Thirteen in a bit. Not sure yet.

This weekend will also be the time whe I start going through all my stuff and figuring out what stays, goes, is shipped now, or is put into storage at my parents and potentially shipped once I've a bit more settled in Melbourne. My current state of mind is that I might not actually ship anything at all initially, as all my important music will be on my laptop or the external hard drive I'm taking, so it might just be clothes, shoes and a few books. The couple of thousand CDs and the ever-growing collection of cookbooks can wait I think. Or maybe I'll have to limit myself to just two or three of the latter. Depends on how many pairs of Camper shoes I take. I have far too many pairs of shoes for a male. That said, my smart black work shoes are knackered, so I'll run those completely into the ground in the next few weeks, throw them away, and then buy a new pair once I arrive in Australia.

In other news, I'm puzzled as to my tax situation. I'll certainly be able to claim some back for the 2007/8 tax year as I'll only have worked 3 months of it before I become non-resident (Hooray! I get more of my bonus - in your face tax man!) , so will be only just over the lowest earnings threshold. But I'm not sure if this means I can also get off paying some of the tax on the interest I get from my assorted savings. Need to phone and check.

I'm babbling now..

job research - excellent response rates!

I've been doing some research as to possble places I could work in Melbourne given the skills & experience I have. I've sent emails to four places so far, and have had three responses:

1. Your email and CV have made their way to me, and I've had a read through. Your experience and skills are very interesting indeed, and I would be keen to meet you upon your arrival in Melbourne next month to discuss in more detail.
   
2. I have just received your email and resume with interest and I am happy to set up a a preliminary discussion to get a better understanding of your fit to the position description attached.
   
3. Firstly, may I say, an excellent choice of city and by association, clearly an excellent choice of girlfriend. And terribly pro-active of you to track us down and send me an email!
   …Your email is timely and fairly relevant…
   … I’d like to have a chat with you…

That's all pretty positive isn't it - a 75% response rate, and 100% of those are positive. Obviously I know a little bit about Direct Marketing, and they're pretty decent numbers for what is essentially an unsolicited electronic communciation! It just goes to show that if you target your recipient correctly and ensure the communication is relevant, then you're well on your way!

Hopefully I'll be able to speak to a few of these over the phone in the next few weeks, and then meet up with them all in my first full week there to see what the deal is. But it's looking positive, so that's one less thing to worry about!