All change

For once the 'current economic climate' isn't to blame, it was just bad management that kept Dave waiting 5 weeks (and still counting) for the job in Reading. But as they say everything happens for a reason and it would have been a nightmare if the job had have come off when it was due to. The poor chap has been hurtling up and down the M11 every week for the past 8 weeks helping his brother following the loss of their Mum and in the middle of all this he was offered another contract, this time in Canary Wharf.

As a contractor you are part of quite a small world where your 'name' is literally your calling card so in the normal course of events if you have been offered one contract you wouldn't interview for another one. However the time delay for the Reading job was becoming unacceptable, even for someone who was in no rush to start work, so Dave felt justified in going after the job in Canary Wharf.

Have you ever been to Canary Wharf? It is like a vision of the future, all concrete and glass sky scrapers set around the old London docks on the Isle of Dogs. It is one of the strangest areas of social manipulation ever. On one side of the road are vast areas of social housing while on the other side are million pound apartments. The city gents stick on the whole to their side of the road with it's wine bars and Waitrose while the original islanders have the pubs on the street corners and a 24 hour Asda. I took lots of photos around dockland and will bore you with them in a seperate post.

I went down and stayed in Greenwich with Dave for a couple of days last week before his contract started on the Wednesday. We had a fine time travelling around on the Dockland Light Railway (DLR) and the wizzy Thames river bus looking around for somewhere for him to stay for the next 6 months.

One of the worst things about working away from home is living out of a suitcase and staying in ananymous hotel rooms, so for this contract Dave fancied renting an apartment and while they aren't cheap it's still a damn sight cheaper that forking out for hotels in E14.

Luckily we found a nice clean place about a 15 minute walk from the office so he won't even have to commute and with the hours he will be working that's the last thing he want's to be doing. I am going back to London on Wednesday this week to take the keys for the flat and help him get settled in. He really won't have the time to make a trip to Asda (or Waitrose) after work to buy the essentials he needs (or that's what he's telling me!!) so that's my week sorted...