The 9 to 5

Well, I'm starting work on Monday 9am-5pm in Westminster, North West London! It's a temporary job in intermediate care (a new term for me), which means I help folks who are in frail health hopefully return home or be placed in care instead of going into the big public hospitals. The man I spoke to on the phone was very friendly and has an Aussie accent and I'll be working under a Kiwi physio. I had a bit of a chuckle that my job starts the latest of any I've had yet, maybe they've heard that I'm not much of a morning person?

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes! You are great!!

This morning I stayed in to field job calls and also take delivery of Clare's and my jointly-owned spare bed bought from the catalogue shop Argos. You leaf through catalogues instore, write what you want on an order form and take it up to the desk, be it a new kitchen or a new watch. Unfortunately one of the zippers on the mattress is broken but I am hoping that through Clare's connection with the world of zippers, or failing that one of us being around for a collect-and-replace we'll end up with a decent guest bed. Denise will likely be my first guest, next month.

I'm off to Earl's Court via the Piccadilly line tonight to GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen, founded by Kiwis) with the lovely Hilary to catch up on how she's been handling her schoolkids and her new flat. I haven't seen her since I stayed with her in Hammersmith 2 months ago and helped out with the mammoth move.

I inspected my button collection after seeing Tiff's new treasures. Clare gave me the new ones, the spades on the far left. My favourite buttons I've seen in London so far are at the V&A museum. They are porcelain and hand-stamped so each one is unique. Time to work hard and save hard!