Weird, Emotional One: Part 2

And part two, which is really part one, because this all came before. My sleep has been so out of kilter; today, for example, I'm running on one hour's sleep. The stress of the last three weeks or so, bloody hell. I wasn't falling asleep until 5 am, which is my usual getting up time. Mr G wasn't sleeping, not only because of job interviews falling during his shift pattern, but because he was stressed to the hilt. So he must have really been running on empty. 

We had the week of interviews, I think the last time I posted he was going for two more that week. His evening interview went well, we think he had it in the bag, unfortunately the hours weren't what he was looking for, and it hadn't stated this on the job advertisement. A potential of overtime, but not guaranteed. Unless he was interested in working nights to make up the hours... *facepalm*. 

He had another interview on the Friday, which was the same day that he was told he would hear about the job that he had video interviewed for. He didn't hear anything back from that, and he found out on Monday that he hadn't been successful at the Friday interview.

He was so disheartened, and to add to the pressure, things took a turn for the worse at work. I was so worried about his mental health, and I told him that if he stayed there any longer, he would either end up having a breakdown, or it would end up impacting on our marriage. I continued with the job applications, constantly filling in forms, uploading CVs. One afternoon, he couldn't sleep, even though he had to work that night. He came through to the living room and said 'I'm going to email video interview company. It says if you have any questions, to contact them. It doesn't seem right that they said they would let me know, whether or not, for them to then not so much as send me an email telling me I hadn't had the job.' So he did this, and got no reply. Not even an automated acknowledgement of the email. And this is a big national company too, so we thought it a bit odd.

Last Thursday, no sooner had he gone to bed, than he had a phone call and was offered the job that he had video interviewed for. They apologised and said that they had been up against it, the start date was a month later than they had anticipated, but that he had really impressed at interview and they would like him to join their team! He accepted the offer straight away, he has a start date, ordered his uniform and boots, and been given his hours for the first week. He went straight into work, handed his written notice in, and then he went to his new workplace to give them his ID to be photocopied and sent to Head Office, and he met his new manager face to face. She recognised him from the interview, too. The Gods were smiling as he only had to give a week's notice, and having worked one of his four, this meant that he only had to spend three more nights at his old job, the final four were his days off!

He had more interviews lined up, including one for last Friday which he had to cancel, and other ones that he had progressed through to the next round of interviews, that he had to withdraw from, so it looks like something might have come up soon anyway. But this job, out of all of them, was the one he really wanted. He's also very excited about the perks of the job. Me, not so. It's going to be a brand new team, they're all going to be starting on the same day, so he won't have to worry about navigating any existing cliques.  

It's like a cloud has lifted from him. It will be lovely to have him back on days, to be able to spend some quality time with him again. It'll be great to be able to blitz the house during the day, while he is at work, and for him to come home to a clean and tidy house and a home cooked meal. It'll be lovely to go out for walks together in the summer, instead of him having to sleep and me festering in the living room, alone and in silence. The only downside to it, is that I'll no longer be able to starfish alone in bed at night. But it's a small price to pay for normality, and to have my happy husband back.   

After this good news, we relaxed at the weekend, after the sheer relief of it all being over, finally. But on Monday, we were up bright and early for Slimming World. I managed to pull off a maintain. The rest of this week we have been up even earlier, out for walks at 7.30 am, while there aren't so many tourists out and about. We've both eaten three meals a day, at the correct meal times. We've got some gardening done, he invested in a pair of telescopic hedge cutters with his Covid bonus from work, and we managed to cut the hedges between us and the neighbours down finally. We even went round and did their side for them too, and cleared it all. They're a lovely couple, have been great neighbours for the past 12 years and they're in their late seventies now and not in the best of health. That was our good deed for the day. We're smashing our June challenges on Strava. It's all good.

He starts his new job on the 28th of June, so it's given him a clear month to relax and de-stress, do all that he wants to do in the garden, go for some days out together, and get some nice long walks in.

Hopefully if this glorious weather holds, then we can get out next week. I've got a couple of places on my list, and a few new additions too. A change of scenery, even if it is only a few miles down the road.