Skip to main content

Taking an exit

It seemed as if my previous post was out-of-date five minutes after I'd written it. We pretty much immediately made the decision to stay in Texas for a few more years - most likely about two more, depending on Graham's job (which will have a definite end point at some time) and how long we can cope with the heat. Graham's company still haven't made a firm decision about how they'll arrange everything, but it was easier to go ahead and decide. We aren't likely to be worse off than we would be in England, either way.

That decision out of the way, I felt like I could move forward with career ideas. Believe it or not, I'm applying for chemistry jobs. Or at least I am when I'm not procrastinating by writing blog entries. (I did four applications yesterday; I'm sure being run over by a steamroller is a less draining experience.) Whether anyone wants to hire a not-so-recent chemistry graduate with a lot of cake decorating experience remains to be seen - I'm sure they don't see many! But there seem to be a fair number of jobs around so I'm reasonably confident of finding something.

So, now you know we're staying a little longer, come on and book your Texas vacation! Our rates are very reasonable... plus you can buy yourself some genuine cowboy boots, get up close and personal with a giant cactus, and eat all the meat you ever wanted to stuff your face with! Just to assure you this isn't the complete back of beyond, here's a nice photo of Fort Worth downtown from the Trinity River.


See those clouds moving in from the left? That, my friends, is a cold front. We set out for that particular walk in T-shirts and beautiful warm sunshine, and finished up keeping our body heat up by an act of the will, as the sky clouded over and the air temperature dropped like a stone. I think I mentioned the dramatic effects of a cold front before, but it's even worse when you forgot to bring a jumper.

Comments

Sally said…
Like this one we had last weekend?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3443374/Southerly-buster-hits-Wellington

Popular posts from this blog

Where am I going now? The Portway

I should probably explain why I am pottering around Nottingham and its western suburbs, rather than roaming the Derbyshire countryside. It's not just the abundance of paved paths, although that certainly helps - I recently went on a country walk across a cow field and found myself tiptoeing gingerly across boggy mud cratered with six-inch deep hoof holes. Then I was confronted by a sign which said: Private Property, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. I congratulated myself on being on a public right of way, then, a few steps on, consulted the map and realised I wasn't. The path was across a completely different field. nice scenery, though I digress. Apart from the absence of cows and angry landowners, the reason I am walking around Nottingham is that it's the start of the Portway. There is a blog called The Old Roads of Derbyshire , written by a man named Stephen Bailey, who has also published a book of the same name. I can't remember now whether I came across the book fir...

The Portway: Lenton to the Bramcote Hills

It was cold. My fingers were cold, and my phone was cold too. The OS map was totally failing to find my location, and the more I prodded it the less feeling I had in my fingers, so I gave up, shoved both my phone and my chilly hands into my pockets, and set off. After all, I knew where I was. This was Wollaton Park. And the path was very obvious. Just follow the avenue of trees... ...past the deer... ...and out through the fancy gates. Crossing a busy road brought me into a neat little housing estate with unusual round street signs. This was built when Wollaton Park was sold to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The old gatehouse, Lenton Lodge, is now estranged from the rest of the park, and stands by itself next to Derby Road. The bridge used to go over the Nottingham Canal, which has now been turned back into the River Leen. The unfortunate river got shoved out of the way whenever someone came up with a new building project. This is not its original course. My hands were warming up sli...

Portway: Bramcote Hills to Stanton-by-Dale

I parked in the free car park at Bramcote Hills Park and set off, naturally enough, in the direction of where I'd last been. Up some steps through the woods, along the edge with marvellous views northwards, and down past a school to pick up Moor Lane again. At that point I realised I was supposed to be walking this route in the opposite direction. Oops. Well, it didn't make much difference. It just meant that the Hemlock Stone would come at the end rather than the start. Also, I was doing a figure of eight, so I could switch paths in the middle. That sorted, I pressed on along the disused Nottingham Canal. This had varying amounts of water in it. There were good views back up to the double hump of the Bramcote Hills. Nottingham Canal Also Nottingham Canal Just before I got to Trowell garden centre, I crossed a bridge and walked across a green space to a partly built housing estate. The Boundary Brook had been aggressively re-wiggled. I'm sure it will look better in a year...