Week 41 - My Sunday Photo

Last Sunday I had a phone call out the blue. I'd met a woman a month or so back who asked for my CV for the school she worked at. At this point I'd given up looking for employment and was booking my promised trip back to South Africa to work with a couple of charities for a month. I'd sent off endless emails and CV's, knocked on numerous doors and considered returning to the UK for work .

I was invited for an interview on Monday as a Learning mentor, then asked if I'd be interested in shadow teaching. My interview went well and I was told I'd be employed and I'd hear from HR in the week.

I then had another call in the afternoon and was asked to come back in on Tuesday for an interview with the principal and her deputy. I left with a job offer after discussing my involvement in whole school SEN and an idea of a pay scale and my working hours.

I'm off to South Africa on Thursday for 5 weeks to work with a couple of charities and on my return I'll start the job.

It's been almost 5 years since I was in full time paid employment. I've was working as a volunteer for the 4 years I was in South Africa, but volunteering was flexible.

I'm neither excited or nervous about returning to the world of work, for some reason people think I should be one or the other. I'm just aware that this is another huge change for me, a new identity, a new routine that I will have to adjust to.

After giving up work and the kids leaving home and 2 international relocations in the past 5 years, I'd sort of got used to the me I am now, sort of got used to managing my own time, going out when I wanted, cleaning as and when needed, shopping if I felt like it and numerous coffee mornings.

Hopefully we'll start to save some money now with me out the house everyday as it is getting cooler week by week, we'll still need the air con for the cat and dog, but we'll keep them in the conservatory with access to the kitchen during the day and only run the one unit.

Winter is coming in the UK and I'm sure you'll be switching your central heating on soon. Do any of you heat your house to 26c to keep warm? We're battling to cool our house down to this temperature. Our average monthly bill is around £500.