Life

So much seems to have been going on lately - personally, professionally and in society in general - that its kind of hard to know where to begin!

Personally, I think we're finally settled in to UK life, and are starting to tentatively find our "social" footing as well. So much time is spent each week just moving backwards and forwards to work, that there really isn't all that much time left over! Having said that, the rugby world cup has led to a number of opportunities to get out and go watch a game, that we've been out with friends nearly every weekend. At the same time, we've FINALLY managed to get our Internet sorted out at home, and can now be in more regular contact with friends and family back home, which is definitely a good thing!

Professionally, well, things were just rumbling along for a while there. The job I found not long after we first arrived (which was supposed to be a temp - perm role) turned into an ongoing temp role (of the "stay however long you like" variety) - which is great in terms of money coming in, but rather poor in terms of job security, holidays etc etc. So, the last couple of weeks has seen me jump strongly back on the job-hunting bandwagon, and it looks like it may finally have paid off! I've got so very many things to say about some members of the recruitment industry, and their attitudes - but I've also been lucky enough to find a couple of really good, pleasant, clued-in recruiters as well. Hopefully my permanent job search is now over, and I should be all set to start my new role Monday week.

There has been so much going on in the world that it's hard to know where to start. From the Monks protesting in Burma, to political campaigns in Australia, Britain & the US, the world seems to be picking and choosing so many of the social battles based on the $. I kept waiting for there to be more outrage, more uproar, over the situation in Burma - but then I guess there's any number of people who have been waiting for that for a seemingly incredibly long time. The only reason I can come up with for why the Western world has left this nation to suffer at the hands of the junta for so long is simply that the nation does not possess any natural resources that big business wants to get its hands on. I just can't buy the idea that the people of Burma are any less repressed that the people of Iraq were - and yet the Western powers were awfully quick to find a pretext to invade Iraq when their oil interests were threatened, weren't they?

Politically, the various elections (or, proposed elections that are yet to materialise as actual elections, as is the case in the UK) are also fascinating - not only for what they are talking about, but also for what they aren't. As an Australian living overseas, I know that despite reading a number of the Aussie papers each day, I'm still missing being bombarded each day with the political backstabbing that appears to have become the norm - there seems to be very little positive campaigning going on! The big issues seem to be shaping up as health care (as always), IR reform (again, always going to be an issue when your two major political party's are labour an liberal!) and what I'm going to dub "its time for a change - ism". There seems to be a big swing along the lines of "Howard's been in for so long, its just time for a change" - but not much about what a change would really mean. I'm not sure who should win - I'm not yet convinced that either party has successfully outlined how they are going to address the social, economic or global issues that are going to continue to develop in the next four years. I guess (as always!) its a case of wait and see!

The US elections are shaping up to be historic. With Hilary Clinton leading one race to get the nomination, and the other race still appearing wide open, it's shaping up to be a very interesting campaign. Many US political commentators had never expected HC to get this far ahead in the polls, primarily because it was expected that she would always be in her husbands presidency's shadow. With Barak Obama running a strong second, it will be very interesting to see who ultimately ends up with the two party nominations.

Anyways - time for me to get a move on!

Hopefully, more soon!

Dee xxx