Thursday, July 21, 2011

Dong dispatch: My first post from Wodonga

New Contact Info:

Bart Beswick
36 Dalton Avenue
Wodonga Victoria 3690

Telephone: (02) 6059 8102
Texts: 0407 962 774

Mobile Calls: My mobile is unchanged, but please use a text in the first instance if possible. Reception is patchy around our house. I'm still me, and will call you back as soon as possible. It may simply be on the home phone from here.  


What is going on? Wodonga? 

Adelle has finished her Engineering degree with Second Class honours. The army have posted her to Latchford barracks, and we have a house in Wodonga. Adelle does like the army way. She is finding it a gentle period of absorbing everything, which is just the ticket after the intensity of the thesis experience.

What about your old job?

I have just finished my paid leave from ABS, and am on long term leave without pay for a year, with a possible extension of that period. We can just get along on one wage, but I want work to make things a lot smoother. 

The job I was keen on has been slow about responding. I called their office - they been very busy with other very justifiable work with a higher priority than running a recruiting process. I wish I was there to help. With that slower response, I have been watching the local papers, and will put in a few applications. I got proper broadband internet back last night, and intend to properly scan the internet and place my resume everywhere appropriate, and will register with job agencies etc Monday.

Why so quiet over the last month? 

Regional internets = very ordinary. The 3g USB wifi modem was vaguely usable, but unsatisfying in our gap week. Like the iphone, it was very low coverage in most rooms of the house. I'll be posting my home phone number as the suggested line to use from here on in. Texts are perfect, calls are not worth the dropout rate unless we are in town. 

Good bits?

Lots of stuff I like doing is much cheaper here. My golf clubs is $50 a month, squash is $2 an hour instead of $15- $20. The heated pool with spa and sauna is $6. Eventually I will get a spouse card. Cool thing there is access to a full gym and pool. Adelle and I are enjoying access to the Bandiana army cinema. The cinema seems very similar to the ANU cinema club - films roll along and you get set movies very cheap - $2. Shopping is a breeze - "All the shops you want with much better parking" is my quote.

How was moving?

I had a blah time after the movers came in and emptied the boxes on 'any flat surface' and a couple of the days seemed like all I was doing was moving things to put other things in their spot. That part is over, and seven of the ten major areas are working - only the garage, gaming room and office to go. The house is great, heaps of room, and our mantra has been "don't buy stuff to fill it." While we have a big house here regionally, it may be a lot smaller if we end up in a big city.

What about people - you are such a have-a-chat, what has the new town been like?

We had our first visitors "Jiss", who had bub and mum and dad along, and we took them to my golf club for dinner. Golf has been good. I'm still a very poor golfer, but I love it, and there is already signs of improvement. I did a competition round with some fine gents on Saturday, and one of them was a officer in the local cricket team. On the strength of our chat  round he is keen to offer me a Captaincy of C grade, where I would be the steady hand for the younger members, train them, and select the best to go through to B grade. It would suit me to the ground, and I hope it comes through. I'm pretty likely to be setting up a website for the team as well.

What about armoured combat and other SCA stuff?

It's all good. There are a couple of cool heavy fighters, Magnus and the recently knighted Sir Jon. Magnus is off to Darwin for a couple of months, so my house is the training venue for fighter practice on Tuesday night. Both guys are keen to recruit. I think i'll just get to know the guys over winter and settle in, and run a 10 week newcomer course in early spring.  We also went to the monthly bash, which was a Saturday event, with fighting followed by a pot luck feast. I caught up with lots of lovely folk i had met at border war, and have been signed up to quote for their storage area. Plenty to be done! I've also been talking to a few small business owners - there are some cute possibilities for feasts at small cafe's in town. Watch this space!


No comments: