Gossip and part-time goodness

So since my last post, I’ve been to Bulgaria on a lovely holiday with the hubby.  We had a great time, despite there being no air conditioning in our hotel room, and our room being above a kareoke bar, where the host, who looked a bit like Pat Butcher, insisted on singing Meatloaf and Bonnie Tyler every single night.  Apart from Wednesday, which was apparently her night off.  I used to like Meatloaf before this holiday!

Anyway, even though it had all the ingredients of a disastrous holiday, it was actually a really good week.  We soon got a system going to cool down our oven like room (both in proportion and temperature) which basically involved opening the balcony door and the door onto the corridor of the hotel, which actually created a nice breeze in the evening. 

There was no way of avoiding Meatloaf, but three years working in a gift shop where Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ album was played on repeat have rendered me immune to background music, although this was slightly louder than a shop soundtrack…

We went on a coach trip to The Blue Mountains and met a lovely english couple called Carol Ann and Fulvio – I’ve found Carol Ann on facebook since then, so hopefully we will stay in touch – they had been at the hotel for a couple of days so they were helpful with letting us know the best times to go down for dinner etc.

We also went on a two day coach trip to Sophia, Plovdiv and Rila Monastery.  And on that coach trip we met a lovely young Russian called Jack who said to me and hubby (in broken english) ‘You are very beautiful people’.  He got Chris’s email address because he said he is hoping to travel, so maybe he’ll come and stay with us in the future…

We got back on Sunday at 1am in the morning – and then I was back at work – two days of Inset training in Penrith. 

My biggest news is that I have decided to go part time at work.  I”m now down to four days a week.  I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now, because I want more time for my writing, but I often find it hard to make decisions and usually just end up drifting through life – and I kept telling myself I would ‘just know’ when the time was right. And over the holidays – I don’t know if it was the confidence boost of going to Ireland and being asked to read again next year, or the wonderful week I had at Holland House, or maybe a combination of the two, but something clicked in my belly (which as we all know, is where all the important emotions hide) and I knew it was the right time. 

And luckily for me, it fitted in with work.  So this is the end of my first week back, and for the first time ever, I’m really looking forward to Monday, which is my day off!  It’s a very strange feeling, it feels like I’ve got a Bank Holiday every week. 

I’m hoping as well that this means I can be more flexible so that if any readings come up in the week, I can swap my hours around, but the main thing I’m looking forward to is reading, and writing!