Update: The State of Affairs

I have had such a busy week and I still feel I am behind with work! Here is a little of what I have been doing. I am not adding any posts for another week as I am taking a break from blogging to deal with house, family and some personal matters. My life is starting to get hectic again.

I have been to a career thingy at the local adult college. It was called ‘Surviving, how to deal with the recession’. I went to a lecture about looking for work and creating a great CV. There were mainly PR and media people there. I think between us, we could have started our own company. Although most of us were savvy about looking for work, the lecturer did give us information to improve our CV, interview techniques and some other information that was very useful. That means I need to tweak my CV again. I am hoping that this will be the last time I need to revise and that something good will come out of it.

I also learned that I could get either a free course or a major reduction on fees by being on Jobseekers, so I am looking into getting a teaching certificate. I need that in order to teach English as a foreign language. It might come in handy.

The research for Lynn’s Bowel Cancer Campaign is coming along nicely. I should have the list ready to hand over next week. I am amazed and pleased at how well that has been going.

I’ve updated my profile on Linked In. They now have an application where you can stream your blogs to it! Who knows where that will lead?

My daughter has come home for a few days before she heads off to America to visit a friend over spring break. I took the night off from dancing in order to stay home and drink, eat spicy food, and watch a film with her. We are going to go to The Vitality Show at Earls Court today. I got comp tickets and thought it would be fun. Besides, I have to be out of the house this afternoon as the estate agent booked a viewing. I’m keeping fingers crossed.

I have been inundated with questions for Ask Arlene on My Tango Blog. I am wondering though if some people aren’t taking liberties with the questions they are asking me. Hmmm! The readership is now between 150-250 on average every day. I am really pleased about this as Tango is my passion and a lot of people have told me that they found the blog really useful. Now I just need to work out how to make money from that!

This weekend will find me in London. I will be dancing. I am not sure how well I will be dancing as I am having a problem with my right calf at the moment. I had a really bad cramp in it last weekend and I may have strained it with one of my dancers on Wednesday. It is quite painful in the morning even though it eases up by the end of the day. If it turns out I can’t dance, I will just have to socialise and enjoy listening to the music for one evening. Good thing nothing can stop me from talking!

Am off again to the coast next week and should have some more photos and news for you.

Clearing the Clutter

I am taking the day off. ‘From what?’ you may ask, ‘you aren’t working!’ I have been working. I have been working at looking for work. I have been working at it so hard that it is wearing me out and making me lose perspective.

I am not really sure what I am meant to be doing at this second stage in my life. The possibilities may be endless, but I am at a total loss as to how to move forward. Maybe I am meant to be doing something different. I have been following along a path that has worked before and which is no longer working. Maybe it is time to walk along a different path. I have been told that when things aren’t working, it is a good idea to try something different or the opposite of what you had been doing.

So, I am going to take the day off or maybe even a few days off, and do some spring cleaning. I know that it is not officially spring until the 20^th of March, but at least I will have a head start on the cleaning front. I will check my e-mails when I have my morning coffee and then switch the computer off until the house is spotless. That could take a couple of days as I have a big house.

If you don’t already know it, my home is still a work in progress. I had started some building work a few years ago and have run out of money to complete it, which has made selling my home a very challenging project. There is nothing I can do to make my home more appealing except to keep it as clean and tidy as possible.

Since I dropped the price of my home yesterday, I have been feeling that something will happen soon and that I need to be prepared to move. I am downsizing from a 4 bedroom house to a 2/3 bedroom flat. There is a lot of stuff to get rid of. There is no way I will be able to move the contents of my home into a smaller place. I am going to clear the clutter. I am hoping that by clearing my home full of unwanted and unnecessary items, the energy will attract some buyers. Who knows, it might change the energy so much that I might get some work too.

I am going to change my focus for a few days and see what happens. If I put as much energy into cleaning as I have been in sending out my CV and looking for work, I think The Universe might finally give me a break.

Whatever happens, at least the house will be clean.

A Walk Around Seven Sisters and Cuckmere Haven

A friend of mine invited me to spend the weekend on the coast. A change being as good as a rest and needing a break to clear my head from all of this job worry, I agreed to go and visit.

I love the sea. I love the smell of sea air and I love the sound of the waves. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, I can sit and look at the waves for hours. I find it really relaxing and therapeutic. All of my troubles seem to disappear in an instant. It is one of my many forms of meditation.

On Sunday, we went to Seven Sisters Country Park which is in the Sussex Downs and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. The weather was glorious. It was sunny, without a cloud in the sky. It may have been a bit windy and a little chilly, but glorious just the same. The views in this area are breathtaking, with the rolling hills of the Downs dotted around with sheep and their new lambs.

Here is an aerial map of our walk - scroll up a bit and from the centre square, and following the white line from the winding river straight to the sea. For most of the way it is a concrete path, so the walk was flat and gentle. There were many people out with the same idea as us. Did I mention that the weather was glorious? From the car park and back, it took us about an hour and a half, including contemplation of the cliffs and the sea. We would have spent more time in contemplation, but we could see that some dark clouds were starting to roll in.

At the end of the path is Cuckmere Haven, where you can get a really great view of the chalk walls of The Seven Sisters. Apparently, they each have a name and are called Heaven Brow, Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flat Hill, Baily's Hill, and Went Hill.

The beach here is full of pebbles and is very pretty. According to Wikipedia: “The beach was commonly used by smugglers in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. For example, in 1783 two gangs of smugglers (each numbering 200 or 300) overcame officers of the law by weight of numbers and carried away a large quantity of goods.

In the Second World War the site was subject to significant attention from the Luftwaffe as they flew missions to identify potential landing sites for the invasion of the UK mainland. As a result a series of counter-landing constructions remains, including numerous pillboxes, anti-tank obstacles, ditches and tank traps. Cuckmere Haven featured heavily in the war effort: at night lights were placed to confuse bombers into thinking they were above Newhaven and an airfield was set up further inland. As well as the permanent constructions, the river was heavily mined.”

After our walk, we headed off to a lovely pub for our Sunday lunch. We went to The Tiger Inn in East Dean, which has just re-opened after having been closed for refurbishment. The food was excellent. While we had our lunch, it poured with rain outside. It seems we had timed our walk perfectly.

The weekend was all I could have hoped for and more. Now let’s hope the rest of the week follows suit.

If you would like to see more photos of my walk, click here. Or view the slideshow on the sidebar.