kingandy | Quandary

I have been saying that I am looking for work in the Manchester area. This is not entirely true, as I have in fact been sitting on my arse and thinking about asking for a raise. However, today a woman from a job agency rang and asked me if I would like to apply for a job. All hail the majestic workings of serendipity!

It's in Leeds (apparently close to the station, so good for public transport), which is slightly further away from Manchester. However, the reported salary is approximately 1.5 times my current income.

Ooooh.

Thinking logistically ... I could probably operate similar to my current pattern. Drive to Leeds and back to Bolton on Monday (maybe), and then take the train to Leeds and sleep in Ilkley the rest of the week ... it would mean setting out at about 7AM (30-45 minutes earlier than I am right now) or 8AM from Ilkley. Not so bad, as commutes go, really. I might have to think seriously about ditching the Monday night game since I really don't want to be driving into Leeds in the morning. Which would obviously be a bad thing.

But it would be such a lot of money.

It is a thorny decision and no mistake. Maybe I will go to an interview just so I can say to my boss "I've been offered X elsewhere." If only it was in Manchester I would be jumping up and down on it...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Go to the interview anyway. Nothing says you have to accept the job, but its always good to practice (and find out if your still employable ;-)

Trust serendipity. She's done pretty well for me, but last time she popped up I smacked her in the mouth and told her to fuck off and she's not been back since then. Such a big mistake.

Of course I'd far rather you got a job in Manchester, but that's just me being selfish.

And if it's near the station, it's only a 45min to an hour train ride from Manchester to Leeds (train reliability permitting), so it would even be possible to public transport it from Manc if you needed to. The airport train only stops at Huddersfield (huzzah!) so it's normally pretty fast. And it goes past my mum's garden. (I believe my family are the only ones in the world that bought a house because it IS next to a railway line).

Don't forget the train ride in to Manchester from Levenshulme ... admittedly that's only about 5 minutes, but add 15 mins walktime and say 10 for connection.

Alright, so it's only an hour and a quarter from my home, but it's not much fun compared to the 20 minute drive from my Mum's house.

That said, I would be training instead of driving, so I could get to reading and playing GBA games again. Hmmmmm ... Oh decisions.

Go for the interview.

Then decide.

I meant more in an if you needed to kind of a way, rather than as an every-day thing. It would be a bit much to have to do every day, but the options there should you 'accidentally' get very drunk one night and are unable to drive back over to your mums.

Where's Woodrun? Giant Spiders aint him, you say? Nooooooo!!!!

OK, selfishness over...

I agree with Alex and Sam. Go to the interview first. Go with the aim of getting the job (but also with the air of someone whose interested but doesn't need the job, per se). Make your decisions after they offer you the job. Then you'll know the full facts - after all, do you know if you can really trust the agency woman? Agency people lie and companies lie to agency people. Find facts first, make decisions later. If you get the job, either take it or use it to wheedle a pay rise out of your current bosses.

You can always ask about flexitime - they might be willing to let you start early or late to miss rush hour if they know you've got a shitty commute.

You'd also be near to a major city, rather than a small town.
Plus you could buy things from Travelling Man, and pick up your comic orders with regularity and speed.

The train does average an hour, and is a nice easy commute.
You can probably buy a leeds/Manchester discount pass.

And the drive is, like, an hour and a bit anyway.

Having thought about the train times it probably wouldn't take much extra time (mostly because the train to Ilkley is a bit longer than driving to Skipton) - and what extra cost there would be would be more than balanced out by the extra wage. I might even spend more time in Manchester, on account of not having to drive home. An hour's train ride is much more enjoyable than the equivalent drive.

I think I'm going to go for the interview. The only complication would be the Monday night games - it's not just going to affect me, there's Arwel to consider too. I'd have to either sleep over or get the train back to Levenshulme (preferable), either way Arwel has to make his own way home too ... the evenings would certainly be curtailed slightly.

On the plus side, there would be alcohol.

If the game finishes at 10:30pm(ish), then I could drop Arwel off at the train station to catch a train - this of course depends on whether he wants to catch a train late at night...
Soon, my contract is up. It may be renewed. It may not. If not, Arwel will have to find his own way to Bolton in any case.
All roads lead to Arwel learning to drive ;-)

Good luck for your interview Andy! Remember:
1) You're the man
2) Everybody loves you

Driving is on the cards for the new year as soon as the remortgageing comes through and I can actually use my salary for stuff other than paying off loans. I guess my last excuse has gone now. Ideally I'd do a crash course, but the wedding and associated honey moon have already swallowed up all but four of next years holidays. Those four days will all probably be used up going to various LRP events.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha crash course.

Whatever you decide, if it doesn't take you over 1000 lessons and 9 tests spread over a 7 year period - then you've beat me! :-)

Quandary

Go to the interview

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trains

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Don't leave us Andy, we love you!

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Leeds

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