The EU referendum fallout continues to rumble on with the Labour party in turmoil as almost 40 shadow cabinet ministers have resigned and Jeremy Corbyn faces a vote of no confidence in his leadership. The pound has fallen to its lowest levels in about 30 years and Britain has had all of its Triple A ratings taken away...are dark days ahead for us? Fortunately, some experts have advised that all this financial doom and gloom is a temporary blip and the best thing to do is not panic!
I had an interview this morning at the Citizens Advice Bureau office in Northampton and when Sophie asked if I was nervous, I said not at all. The email I'd received from the lady I was seeing had said we were just going to have an informal chat about my past work life and why I wanted to volunteer.
We all went into town as, while I was having my interview, the kids were going to get various bits of their bodies pierced...Sophie was having the tops of her ears pierced while Mike wanted a stud in his nose. I was very early so I walked half way down Bridge Street with them and then went back to the offices where I sat and read a magazine for a few minutes.
The lady I saw, Penny, seemed very nice and she took me to a small room and explained that I would have to do a numeracy test and then perform a role play about a faulty car at the end of our interview! She said she'd warned me of this in her email but she definitely hadn't! To be honest, I was a bit annoyed as the role I was going for was just for an assessor, which simply involves meeting people or talking to them over the telephone and referring them to the correct advisor!
Maths is definitely not my strong point and I was a bit dismayed to see the question - what is 37% of £209? Anyway, I gamely worked my way through the questions (most of which were straightforward) and then read the four page advice on dealing with a faulty car purchase. Penny came back into the room and we most certainly did not have an informal chat! She asked me lots of searching questions and then we did the role play which made me very nervous!
I was in the interview for about an hour and my poor family had to wait outside for almost that length of time as their appointment to be pierced hadn't taken very long at all. When I re-joined them I think I looked a bit shell-shocked and was most certainly in need of a cold Leffe!
We walked down to The Malt Shovel and enjoyed a drink and a hearty lunch. Sophie's new ear-rings looked great although she had had a fair bit of bleeding, Mike had a very small stud in his nose which looked much better than I'd imagined. They now have to keep them clean for the next six weeks which I will help them with.
After our lovely lunch Sophie and I walked back to where we'd parked the car and that was not a pleasant experience. Today has been warm and sunny and it was a fair slog back to the car park, especially with a full tummy! It's been ages since I went shopping in Northampton and I certainly won't be rushing back any time soon. It seems to be such a different town to when we first moved here and I much prefer going to Milton Keynes or Market Harborough.
Sophie had a nail appointment at 4pm so we just had enough time to go home, change and drive back to Northampton where I sat in the car and waited for her. It was lovely to sit and read the paper and watch various men stagger off down the road with cases of beer as England are playing Iceland tonight in the football!
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