First impressions

Coming Friday it will be three weeks already. Three weeks since I arrived here. Three weeks in my new home and in my new job. Although I have to admit that I have not yet done much work in those three weeks. Everyone is started off by three weeks of training during which you see a lot of insurance policies, learn to work with the computer systems and take a look underneath the hood of a car. Very interesting stuff. With three weeks almost over though I have to say I do want to start the real thing. Familiarity you only get by doing the same thing again and again and again. Most insurance policies you will have to check anyway and I learnt how to look things up and then to use the relevant information a while ago. Still, I am not the only one.

As it happens, the other three people doing the training with me are pretty much fresh out of secondary school and sometimes seem to find it rather challenging to listen all day long to someone explaining things and to deal with a lot of information. Then again, these are not the only tasks they find challenging. Being relatively far away from everything is difficult, having to take the bus to work every day is annoying and not having internet access for a day which prevents them from chatting to their friends is a life-threatening situation. Apart from the bus-issue which is a problem of course, I find it rather challenging to work up some understanding every day. I don’t know if it is me, but I just want to put them in the ‘spoiled brats’ file and tell them to go and try living in Bradford. Try sharing a flat or worse, a room, with other people for seven years. One of them was surprised to find out today that this is the first time in my life that I have my own kitchen block and bathroom. I am surprised they don’t have a clue. The guy seems to think my mum’s Little Green Micra runs on horse manure, one of the girls that having to walk to everything for at least 20 minutes is a big deal.

In the meantime I try and remain friendly. When appropriate I give a hint, although writing a book “Halls for Dummies” might be a better idea. For people like this, such an insight in house sharing might be an eye-opening affair and consequently an excellent gift for when they leave the nest. No the fridge does not fill itself, yes going shopping takes a lot of time, yes you are completely dependent on public transport and your own feet and no there is not internet everywhere. And that is only the start of it. About half-way through the book people should find out that walking to the supermarket is a laugh compared to challenges ranging from filth in various categories to deranged flatmates, also in various categories. Where a book is concerned though, it is particularly the filth and the deranged flatmates that result in interesting, moving, funny and disgusting stories. Especially where the latter is concerned, it is pretty much a never ending story as I found out virtually upon arrival.

Despite the enormous fun one has with these stories on birthday parties and the like, this does not want me to spend more years in flatshare though. Quite the contrary. It is unknown luxury to be able to enjoy having your very own kitchen and bathroom. I can leave the door unlocked when showering, I can put nice desserts in the fridge without them getting stolen and I can put my stuff everywhere without feeling guilty for taking up a lot of space. I do not care about having only two electric plates. They’re mine and that is all that counts. The dirty dishes in the sink are mine too as are the three towels in the bathroom. I like it all so much that I’m a little worried I’ll get used to it. That I will forget what it was like to share and that wherever I go next that is exactly what I will have to do. Again. And yet, I am here now and I am here for the next four months at least. Better enjoy it while it lasts. I should know by now that four months flies by and that before you know it, you’re back in the cold and the rain.