So it's 1.05am on Saturday morning, October 1st. Two days to go until I officially become employed again. Two weeks of hiatus were both welcome and weird - probably unlikely to reappear any time soon. I've been doing some practice cooking to prepare for the full-on catering challenge that is hurtling towards me...let's just say that there's being triumph and disaster. Everything's edible, but I think you'd have to downgrade my jam sponge to an ambiguous riot of cake mixture and icing sugar, finished with a soupcon of kitchen roll.
It's strange seeing your life in boxes, all gathered in half of one room. I've slimmed down as much as possible, as it's going to be a squash-a-rama once I move to Frontier Centre. I've had to let loads of people know about my change of address. With people like the bank and my old workplace, I had to be formal and get the name 'Irthlingborough' across the phone line, but I don't know how long that's going to hold for your average conversation. My Mum's already making do with 'Northampton', and to be honest, that's as good as anything, since it seems like I am about to arrive somewhere next door to the middle of nowhere. Test yourself. What do you know about Northamptonshire?
Me neither. So it's going to be an exploration in many, many ways come Monday (and for the next two years after Monday). Where are the shops? What's the mobile signal like? What about church?
That's something you could pray about, if you're minded to. There's no doubt going to be lots of opportunity to share experiences and mutual help and support once I move on-site. But I think the New Testament is pretty clear that the local body of believers is the best place to be spiritually rooted, grow and develop.
So that means I'm going to have to finish off learning to drive pretty sharpish. I've got most of the way in London - definitely advantageous - but there's the final hurdle to...hurdle. Or drive through.
Most of all, change always makes me revert to a instinctive introversion - that's what I've found in previous big changes in my life, like going to university or moving to London. So I'm going to need God's help to keep that from being too dominant a theme in the next few weeks.
