WEDNESDAY:
Spent: £5.70 bus fare, £2.70 baked potato for lunch
Hours worked at Waterstones: 8.5
Applications: 0

TODAY:
Spent: £5.70 bus fare, £4.75 grocery top-up
Hours worked at Waterstones: 8.5
Applications: 0
New job leads: 1

I feel kinda contented with my lot today. I left for work at 7am this morning to be greeted by golden sunrise light and a stunning, vibrant rainbow. I came home to a sky lit with fireworks from the myriad back-garden-amateur displays on the surrounding estates. It’s bonfire night here in the UK, when we commemorate Guy Fawkes and his “Gunpowder Plot” to blow up the Houses of Parliament way-back-when in 1605, by building bonfires with stuffed “Guys” on top, and set off bangers and rockets, fountains and Catherine wheels. Guy Fawkes was executed for treason, but not burned at the stake as our tradition suggests. He was hung drawn and quartered. I’m so very relieved we don’t commemorate that part…

I find myself quite exhausted this week, but in the satisfying way that comes from days of running up and down stairs with piles of books. I’m coming in at night and really appreciating just sitting down, but at the same time feeling more energised than I have in months. And I feel triumphant about overcoming some new challenge every day, whether it’s finally working out how to order books on the system without help, authorising my first solo refund (I may have done just a little dance when the refund went through ) – even just finding that the procedure surrounding gift cards has become second nature rather than a trial. With each day I learn more about the stock too, so that I no longer have to check every single query on Phoenix, but can point people in the right direction and tell them if we have their book in stock. The days go so quickly, and I get paid to stand around stickering, for example, kid’s annuals (I can’t believe they’re still doing Rupert Bear annuals!) or re-organising piles of BOGOF books into pyramids. Working in a new or forgotten environment that you really enjoy is such a great confidence builder!

In other news, my phone has broken again. It works sporadically, but cuts out mid conversation and refuses to reconnect until it’s been turned off and on again. If I get me a decent job soon I might seriously splash out on a decent mobile!