Well, actually I've been home for a short while and am about to leave again, but there you go.
So, I've had my first week away on training in London. On the whole, it was good. The work is going well so far, and it's been good to meet some new people and get to know them. It's kinda like uni all over again... except you get paid and you stay in a flash hotel and charge the cost of your meals to someone's expense account. So yeah, it's better than uni.
There's about 25 people on the course, I forget exactly how many. We're from all over the country. 7 of us are far flung enough (Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Southampton) that the firm puts us up in a hotel, the rest have to commute in daily. The first hotel we got put in was pretty naff, and we got moved out of it after the first night because one girl found a mouse in her room. The next hotel was uber flash though, which we figured when the guy in the tail coat asked us if we needed a hand getting our luggage in. Nice. So, that made the whole "away from home" thing a bit more pleasant.
The days are pretty long and busy. The training runs from about 9:30 to 5ish, though we did finish much earlier than that the first couple of days. We've done some basic accounting, and then started studying law, and tax law in particular. We've been given our statute books, which are basically huge books with the actual letter of the law written in them. There's about 20,000 pages, which is not only scary, but also impressive, as the books aren't all that big. Still, you know you're in trouble when the index is the size of a regular paperback in it's own right. So, here's to 3 years learning to find my way around the books!
In the evenings we've been out and about getting our meals and going for drinks and stuff. I'm getting a bit of a reputation for eating a lot, as I'm doing my best to make the most of the expenses policy and the fact that someone else is paying me to eat in a restaurant. I may as well order 3 courses and finish them all, right?
I caught up with my sister on Wednesday night, as she was down in London for a few nights with her boyfriend. I met up with her in Piccadilly Circus, where I'm sure there were no actual Londoners, just tourists. We all had a drink and a chat, which was nice. Good to see her again. On the meeting front, I'm looking forward to getting to see some other people I don't get to see too often, which should add a bit of extra fun to the jaunts to London.
I got back home at about 9 on Friday night, which was pretty good going, but Ali reckons I can get back earlier if I go via Wigan... something to try in the future. We've had a good weekend together, much more relaxed and enjoyable than the last one. It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow, so we had a fancy meal last night (beef bourgignonegenonenegggee) to make up for my absence on the actual day. It's good to be back and see Ali and Beth again, obviously. Beth has grown a bit since I last saw her, and as Ali had told me, is now "talking" like crazy. She makes all kinds of cooing noises and burbles away to herself, looking very pleased. It's well cute.
So, back to London tomorrow. 1 week down, 3 weeks to go. I might try to post during the week, especially as I apparently get free broadband access in the hotel. See you soon.
