Long time no volunteer...

OK, so, admittedly it has been a super long time since my last post. Things kind of got forgotten about.
So shall we have an update in a nutshell?

My year in Devon came to a rather abrupt end after an angry parental confrontation ended in tears and me packing my bags on the spot. Within two weeks I had secured myself a room in a fab-looking house, a position at my old job, and a voluntary job on an education team in East London.

Goodbyes were said to all at home, at Stover, and I resigned my position with the Wildlife Watch, left the RSPB people engagement group and got on a bus to London with two very full suitcases. Gala kindly put me up for a couple of weeks while I waited for my room to be vacated (and for the rest of my belongings to arrive), and I started work as a Mobile Manager at the beginning of August. I was inducted into the world of environmental education at the Waterworks Nature Reserve with the Wild Place Your Space team (a joint project between RSPB and Lee Valley Park Authority) and moved into my new house on 7th August. Mum came up to bring my stuff, and we were treated to a full on house party on the first night - some of which I remember well, some not so well, and some I'd rather forget! Those kind of parties are always fun.

I spent a couple of weeks visiting all the shops and re-merchandising their displays and windows ready for "back-to-school" in a few weeks. At the end of August I went to work in Ireland for a week at our shop in Dundrum, where I met some lovely people at work who took me out to Dublin and the seaside - it was a long busy week but a lot of fun! I returned to London to catch the end of our busiest time of year where everybody was stressed out and I had to apologise to WPYS for not being able to do any voluntary work - I was so exhausted! I did, however, manage to squeeze in a day at Waterworks to help with the family learning course day about birds. Once work had quietened down I spent a couple of days helping out on Walthamstow Marshes at Countryside Live - like a miniature country show. It was a four day event, our two days in the week were a private day for schools to visit. We had pond water to show them some critters and played some games - a great couple of days all in all with over 500 kids coming through our tent over the two days. The weekend was a public event and they managed to double those figures!

September came and went, October seeing my application to be manager of our Notting Hill branch.
I can happily say now that the application was successful! I'm excited to be working just off Portobello Road, especially on Friday's and Saturday's when the market is all a hustle and bustle of antiques, vintage clothes and local produce.

So things are doing pretty good, hoping to get booked in for a bit more volunteering soon - will be going in to do primary school assemblies over the next few months! For now I'm just content to know I have a permanent job and can still fit into my size 12 black skinny jeans after losing over 3 stone.

Good times, thanks London.

That was a very big nutshell.