Fête du Travail (en France)

Un détail que j'avais presque oublié pour aujourd'hui, mais que mon employeur m'a rappelé hier: c'est la Fête du Travail en France. Ce qui veut dire que c'est un congé férié, ce qui veut dire que j'ai été en congé, même si ce n'est pas un congé férié ici. J'ai donc une fin de smeaine de quatre jours, puisque le premier lundi de mai est un lundi de congé en Angleterre. Comme je suis à contrat et à temps partiel, le congé d'aujourd'hui ne fait pas vraiment mon affaire: je ne suis pas payé pour les jours de congé. Mais bon, on ne boudera pas son plaisir, ça fait une longue fin de semaine et ça fait plaisir d'être en congé un vendredi. Et puis, c'est pas comme si je suis au chômage.

Eurostar Journeys

 I took this picture last year at the National Railway Museum in York. I am sharing it today as it suits the topic. My wife and I (well, her mostly) are planning our enxt holiday and we were considering Paris. I am not too keen on it, having been there so often in the past, but Wolfie would love to see the city. There is one thing however that I would be looking for, should we settle for Paris: traveling via the Eurostar. It's been long overdue. All train travels are exciting to me, but there is something about going under the sea like this, in the comfort of a train. The Eurostar is a holiday experience in itself.

Guille, c'est moi

Je reviens sur mon sujet de billet de vendredi dernier, sur le prénom Guillermo et son diminutif Guille. Je dois m'y faire: Guille, ou plus précisément sa prononciation de Guiché, façon Argentine, est mon nouveau surnom au travail. En ce qui concerne mes collègues hispanophones. Qui sont à peu près tous originaires d'Amérique du Sud, ce qui j'imagine tombe sous le sens. Bon, ça va, je ne meplains pas, j'en ai eu des pires. Et puis je trouve assez flatteur de partager le même nom qu'un autre Guille/Guiché, lui aussi d'Argentine. Tout ça pour dire que j'aime bien ma nouvelle job et mes collègues.

Guillermo, Guille et moi

J'ai blogué il y a un mois sur une collègue hispanophone qui m'appelle Guille, le diminutif de Guillermo, qui est l'équivalent de Guillaume. La collègue en question est d'Argentine (en fait elle y demeure, nous nous connaissons via Teams) et depuis avant-hier est ma manager pour un projet, alors j'ai pu lui parler plus longtemps. J'ai donc appris une chose ou deux choses sur mon prénom en espagnol, façon Argentine. Guillermo se prononce "Guichchermo/Guichermo" là-bas, les l étant prononcés "ch", en tout cas s'ils sont placés au milieu du mot. Enfin selon ce que j'ai compris. Guille, encore une fois si j'ai bien compris, se prononce également "Guiche". Morale de l'histoire: j'en apprends tous les jours. 

Paddy for Saint Paddy's

 I went to a local pub today for a drink and more to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day. There was only one pub somewhat decorated for the day, so I went in that one. I asked if they had any Irish whiskey to go with my pint of Guinness. They had one: Paddy. The barman was enthusiastic about giving me some, I mean he was surprisingly really happy about it, as if I was the one keeping tradition alive or something. So I had some. End of the story. But I have another anecdote about today: I did really well at work today. Like, really well. So my wife said: "Today you truly had the luck of the Irish." Which deserves to be a great unknown line.

Guille et moi

Petite anecdote à propos de ma nouvelle job et de mon nom. Comme d'habitude, quand j'ai un nouvel employeur, mon nom se fait maganer un peu par mes collègues. Et parfois modifier. Un collègue hispanophone a décidé de m'appeler Guille. Le nom du petit frère de Mafalda. Ce n'est pas farfelu: Guille est le diminutif de Guillermo, l'équivalent espagnol de Guillaume. Et ça me plait bien, car Guille a toujours été mon personnage préféré de la bédé. Je crois que même ma mère m'appelait Guille parfois, quand j'étais jeune. Il partage aussi certains de traits de caractère avec petit loup.

Insomnie maudite

 Bon, je ne sais pas si c'est à cause de ma nouvelle job qui va commencer de manière imminente (en fait oui, je sais, c'st à cause d'elle), mais depuis quelques jours, je souffre d'insomnie. Genre, pas mal. Bon, après le choc du retour au travail, je sais que ça devrait passer. mais sinon, si vous avez des suggestions, veuillez me les donner, parce que le sommeil me fuit sauf si je prends quelque chose avant de me coucher.

Progress on the work front

I have some fairly good news to announce today: if everything goes well (touch wood) I should be starting a new job this Wednesday. I say "fairly good news" as this may not be permanent and it is only part-time, something I was not really aiming at when I started job hunting. But it will provide me an income, it will patch a hole in my CV that was getting a bit too wide for my liking and it is working from home. The job itself is fairly easy, something I have been doing well in the past and it is a decent pay. And it should give me a lot of free time, which is always good. So I am a bit nervous but overall happy with the developments.

Morning TV, Not Morning People

This is an oldie but a goodie, made by YouTuber (and fellow Montrealer) Ryan George. Do you hate morning TV shows? Hate how cheerful these people are, so early in the morning? Cherrful, upbeat and alert? Are you, like me, NOT a morning person? Well, this video is for you. I would unironically watch such morning TV show, if it existed. Anyway, it's Monday, it should cheer you up if you are at work or going to work. I am still unemployed, but this is one aspect of employment I could do without: early mornings.

Black and Blue

 Yesterday, when we picked up Wolfie from school, we saw that the dad of one of his classmate was wearing a suit instead of the usual sloppy dad clothes we dads all wear on school runs. A black suit and a blue shirt, no tie. I said to my wife he probably went to a job interview. I was brave (or reckless?) enough to ask him: "Black suit, blue shirt, that's a dead giveaway that you went to a job interview, am I right?" I was right. Thankfully, I was right and he was not back from a funeral or something else. Anyway, I think that deserves to be a great unknown line. I knew he was wearing a suit for a job interview because I did the exact same thing last week, also a black suit with a blue shirt. It's perfect for interviews ad you appear professional, but the blue is not an agressive colour, so you come off as friendly. It's also perfect for all formal occasions: funerals, weddings, baptisms, first communions, etc. But especially for job interviews. Oh, and for the record, he got the job. I didn't.

"Blue Monday"

As you may know, today is Blue Monday, allegedly the most depressing day of the year, although this is pure hoghwash. Most years, I don't care, for the reasons stated here. There are of course exception, such as last year's Blue Monday, which truly was depressing to me (and, I suspect, others too). But this year, that should not be the case. Because I'm still unemployed, for one. Also, because there is quite a lot of movement on the job front: recruiters and employers are calling me and I have some job prospects. Therefore I am in a fairly good mood. I quite like January, even in this country, I find Mondays more bearable when I don't have to go to work anyway, so... yeah. Happy "Blue Monday" to you, hoping it's not too blue.

Some movement on the work front

 I have read somewhere that January is kind of dead on the job market, but so far I have been happily surprised to see some traction on this front. I had a few interviews in November, which didn't work out. I was not too sure about them to begin with, but accepted interviews to stretch my interview muscles. Well, since the beginning of the month I have been approached by two potential employers. One of them I'm not so sure it's a good fit, but the other I am interested. I had an interview yesterday and it went well. I will know on Monday if I have made the cut for the second round. Fingers crossed, but I am carefully optimistic.

Unemployed again

 Okay, as you guessed it from this post's title, I am suddenly unemployed again. My new job was short lived: I started early June and did not even make it through probation. No, I did not get fired for gross miconduct or insubordination. It was just a bad match from the start. After a few weeks, I could tell that things were not working, even though I got along well with my colleagues and was giving my all. To be honest, I had a nagging feeling this would be a bad match even at the second interview, but I thought this was due to stress. Anyway, they thought I would do good, I needed somehting then and there, so I accepted the offer. Last Friday, my employers and I mutually agreed that this was not working out. I am disappointed, but on the plus side, I should have a good deal of free time in October, when Halloween is coming, in the heart of autumn. I can spend more time outside, when I am not being interviewed or job hunting. There definitely could be worse moments, especially since we are okay financially.

Mafalda et l'ONU

J'ai trouvé ce gag sur la page Facebook de Mafalda hier. Parce que c'était le début de la 80e session de l'Assemblée générale des nations unies. Si vous vous rappelez, Mafalda voulait y travailler comme interprète. Je ne sais pas si elle a pu suivre ses rêves d'enfants. Parfois je me dis que oui, mais à voir l'état du monde, je n'en suis vraiment pas certain: je crois que le monde se porterait mieux si elle travaillait à l'ONU. Quoiqu'elle n'aurait sans doute pas assez d'influence comme interprète, même avec l'éthique de travail espiègle qu'elle projetait d'avoir. Même comme Secrétaire générale des Nations Unies, je pense que son influence aurait hélas été limitée. Cela dit, elle ferait une excellente Secrétaire générale.

Mafalda et la pluie

 J'ai trouvé ce gag sur la page Facebook officielle de Mafalda. Je me sens mélancolique ce soir, alors je partage. Mafalda a le don de nous faire sourire et verser une larme à la fois.

Back to work today

So as the title of this podt states, I am back to work today, after a long holiday break. As it was a bank holiday yesterday, I am starting on a Tuesday and the working week will only have four days. And thankfully, I work from home. So I should not complain, things should go fairly smoothly (touch wood), especially since I had a very long holiday break. As always, I am kind of anxious about what happened in the office while I was gone, I always feel like this. It was the very first holiday I took since I started in my new job and so it is my very first return from leave. Otherwise, I don't go back to work with a feeling of gloom and doom like I was with my previous job, not for now anyway. Which is always in itself a positive sign.

Mafalda siempre

 C'est le temps de l'année où l'on se sent naturellementplus mélancolique: je suis de retour au travail après des vacances, les vacances scolaires achèvent, c'est donc le temps où je lis des Mafalda. Enfin, quand j'en avais à la main, il me faudra les acheter un jour. Dans tous les cas, voici une photo prise sur la page Facebook officielle. En espérant que ça vous guérisse de la mélancolie. Vous sentez-vous comme ça quand vous allez vous coucher, surtout la veille d'une journée de travail? Moi oui. Et c'était le cas quand j'allais à l'école aussi.

Le 31 juillet...

Nous sommes le dernier jour de juillet (je sais, je dis une lapalissade). L'été va commencer à tirer à sa fin à partir de demain, du moins je l'espère. Enfant, je n'étais pas un grand fan de la fin de juillet, parce que ça sonnait le début de la fin des vacances. Plus pantoute maintenant: juillet est le mois que je déteste le plus dans l'année. Surtout qu'ici, ce n'est guère un mois de vacances, alors c'est pire qu'ailleurs. Juillet, c'est l'été à son pire. Heureusement, il a été endorable cette année et il est passé relativement vite. Il faut dire que j'ai été occupé: travail, préparer les vacances, etc. J'ai à peine eu le temps de me plaindre du mois. Et vous?

The Bright Kid

 Yesterday, we went to a family gathering on my wife's side (well, of course on my wife's side, my own side of the family is kind of far). One of her aunts told me that the last time they had all been together like this was on our wedding day. There was one of the people there, the son of my wife's cousin, whom I hadn't seen in a while and was really eager to meet again. You see, when he was like two or three, he had become quite fond of me, a sweet little boy with an inquisitve mind. We always got aong well. Well, the sweet little boy just graduated from the University of Oxford this year and will start his very first real job this September in London. I am really impressed and feel so priviledged that he always liked me. We didn't have time to speak much, but we really enjoyed our catching up. So yeah, long story short, I'm the friend of a really bright kid.

Jack (O'Lantern) in the box

I don't believe in destiny, that said sometimes there are things that create a certain synchronicity, like circumstances match your state of mind. I started my job a month and a half ago or so, I received my computer at the end of May. It was an old box, full of old plastic bags used to protect the cables and everything, and it also had paper and... confettis. Among them, some shining confettis shaped like Jack O'Lanterns. God knows what it was doing there, how it got in the box, but I think like ol' Stingy Jack is telling me that I should start reading horror stories for my Halloween countdown. What do you think?