Happy Friday!

I've had a lovely one :-)

Usual, rubbish day at work. I'm really loathing my job at the moment, and have mostly decided that a) I no longer wish to do teaching, and b) I want to find a better paid job in central London.

Well, at least that's the idea at the moment ;-) I worked an extra year (petty, ridiculous reasons) than others at the same level as me to move to the next pay scale. I've had a 3k pay rise, and yet, when I opened up my pay check yesterday, it works out to be barely more than £100. WTF. I had my session with A straight after school, and somehow money came up, and I got a bit choked up and teary telling her about it! Just very disappointing. My dad was right- if I stick at this, I'll be a poor teacher.

Anyhoo, plan to try and change that is in motion. At least in my head anyway. The problem is, I have no idea exactly what I want to do. Well, I picture myself in a swanky office in London with professional people, earning a higher salary, but hold on, reality check, I'm only trained to do teaching!!!!! So if anybody reading this has some advice/suggestions about what I could do and where to start, it would be much appreciated :-)

Now on to more cheerful things! I went into London tonight for a technically-first-date with a guy I met last weekend. I was a little bit nervous, but it was really nice to know you're going to meet somebody that you already know, and enjoy their company, so you know it's not going to be a total bust.

We had plans to go for burgers. He and his work colleagues are currently on a mission to try out every burger restaurant in London, and seek out the best one! Apparently they take this bi-weekly project very seriously, and have criteria to judge it by and everything! We took the tube to Leicester Square, and went to a place in a quiet street just off Shaftesbury Avenue, not far from my regular haunt. The only problem is I can't remember what it was called...

We had to wait for a table, so we wandered off to find somewhere to stop for a drink. Everywhere seemed to be food as well, but we managed to find a little place and had a drink until our table was ready.

It was a really lovely evening, and he was so easy to talk to. We had amazing burgers, and some cocktail made with apple, cucumber and lime, and talked for ages. But by 10pm, with the lights down low, I was hitting the wall on the tiredness scale. We decided to go for a walk to wake up, and find a bar. In the end we took the tube and decided to find somewhere along Southbank, so I was close to Waterloo.

We saw a little bar being constructed. Kind of like a Cabana for summer, but with a viewing platform to see the river. They told us they weren't open yet, but we could go have a look.

In the end we headed to Ping Pong, where we had another drink. I knew then, enjoying our conversation, that I was going to take the later train :-) We eventually got chucked out of the restaurant, then headed back to the station. He bravely decided to try an Earl Grey tea which I got to warm up, while we waited for the train. We chatted on the train, and when he left, he kissed me.

We've made plans to see each other soon. I had such a good night. The only snag in the plan was that the train terminated one stop earlier than mine, which meant the joys of something called the 'night bus'! Argh! I actually ended up chatting to a guy close to my dad's age, who gave me some career advice, and also bumped into a father of a child I used to teach! We finally arrived back at 2:30am, and by the time I went to be it was getting on for 4am. Oopsie. I've got to be up at 8am, so I think I'm going to struggle tomorrow, as I out tomorrow night as well.

I've decided just to live in the present as far as the date. He's a bit younger than me (4 years). If it's just a bit of fun then that's ok, if it turns into more, then even better. I'm definitely not going to stress myself out and get my heart broken again. I hope...!