Well, had my interviews. Mon was at our local hospital 5 min drive away, quite informal – more of a chat really. They seemed really happy and offered me a position, saying they would ensure I had a consistent ward placement with a preceptorship, and I believe they have actually requested references already ( unlike the district nurses who are still dragging their feet!). Tue I went to a hospital just off the beach road in Brighton, lovely hospital with a great atmosphere. The nursing officer was lovely and found time to give me a guided tour. It is quite new with the older part recently renovated, mostly single rooms, with a few double rooms only. The rooms were large, LCD  TV’s and all ensuite, each had a fully electronic bed with memory foam mattress, really lovely. Here comes the best bit – for every 4-5 patients there is one nurse!!!  Bit better than the one nurse to 10+ patients in the UK. Seems like a nice place to work, the charge nurse was Irish and really impressed with my portfolio etc and they offered me a position to! Once references come back, I should be able to start working. The charge nurse told me that there is also a specialist leg ulcer service in Mentone, 5 min away, so may investigate that also.

Ellie has just found out that she has been offered a place at Mentone Girls Grammar School, one of the top performing schools in the area. She sat a test 2 weeks ago, got called back for interview on Tue, then got offered a place! It is a part scholarship which covers 50% of the fees, which makes it too good an offer to turn down really. The maximum class size is 13 children, but she will have to wear a bright red blazer though! We have to give them an answer by next Tue so have to have a good look at the finances.

Been to the estate agents this morning to discuss our options about the house. The weather has been cold lately and the heating just isn’t warming the house, despite the $400 dollar electricity bill we have just received for the past 6 weeks!! They have suggested that we complete a form giving the landlord 14 days to correct the problems, then it goes further if not rectified, so we went for a coffee, completed the form and gave it to the agent. Like all the Aussies have said (who know how hot the summers get) if it is not heating, then it isn’t going to cool either in summer, and we will be roasting. The agent let slip that the unit isn’t powerful enough to heat a house this size. The lighting still does it’s own thing, still no broadband/phone/TV,  just 7 channels to choose from, freeview TV is rubbish here, so that’s to name just a few of the problems. The agent said she felt the best way forward was to ask the landlord to release us from the contract so we can find somewhere new, but cant see him doing that, he is a financial adviser and wont be happy seeing his income reduced. Funny though, I have taken 3 phone calls in the last hour from repair men wanting to arrange visits including the heating people, so he is obviously rattled now.

Thank you all for your best wishes for our silver wedding anniversary, it was really nice receiving all the cards from the UK, makes you a little sad also though. Looking forward to our weekend away, the weather is forecast to be sunny and 19.0c, first day of spring on Sept 1st – yippee!!