Iraq Now Redux

My best mate is heading back to Iraq for another year. I am not surprised about his decision, and I think I understand some of the motivations behind it. I do hope that he is able to do some of what he hopes to, and is not disappointed by how hard - if the reports and egrams are to be believed - it is to interact with ordinary Iraqis.

Coalition forces control areas by day, but insurgents rule at night, and the people the US and UK interact with are by their nature the small elite. Ordinary Iraqis don't support the insurgency, but I am not sure that they particularly favour the coalition personel either.

If he pulls off his mission, and I hope he does, then a small part of Iraq will be a better place.

Faststream Part 3

Just wanted to let my blog know that I found out yesterday evening that I had successfully passed the second round of internal fast stream assessments at the Home Office. Next stage is in the fall, and if I pass I am then a fast streamer!!

The really good news is that all four of us from the Agency got through, and there are only 8 other internal Home Office candidates - so we are an elite crew within an elite group.

Will keep you'all posted.

Exhange!

I have exchanged contracts on the apartment, and will be moving in on 29 August. Yippeeee!

Now I can go and buy my TV and king size bed :)

More soon.

Middle East Blues

The news from the Middle East is not good this evening. Israel and Lebanon seem to have found themselves in a terrible place, and with no real idea of how to move on and out of the hole they are now in together.

Amongst the many tragic elements in this farce is that the men of violence on both sides have gained the upper hand and are once again showing that they don't want peace, are able to set the agenda, and are quite willing to kill more and more inoccent people on all sides.

Alongside this, it is clear the Hamas and Hizbollah have a very good grasp of the American polictical dynamic and have guessed that Washington DC is not in a position to act until after the November mid-term elections.

I haven't been this depressed about events in the Mid East for a long time.

Apartment Purchase Update pt something

All being well I will be exchanging contracts on the apartment tomorrow, with a completion date of five weeks Friday.

If the weather carries on as it is, I will think about getting AC installed in the flat.

More soon once I have news...

Coffee Shop & Parents

I had another great weekend with S. Yesterday evening we were at L & T's for a bbq. This was great fun, but L did enjoy winding me up by introducing us to some friends of his as Mr F and soon to be Mrs F! Cheeky chap.

L & T were, as always, very generous hosts and there was an awful lot of food. There were only six of us for the bbq but enough food for 16. Needless to say I did not go hungry, but unfortunately could not manage much of the desert of bbq pineapple :(

After we left the bbq we headed over to Notting Hill Gate to meet some of S's friends at the Electric. Fun and enjoyable, although one of them was a little bit hypo.

Today was great - weather was awesome and we are set for the same heat wave as in the US for the rest of this week. London is forecast to hit 35 degrees on Wednesday - smokin'. Thank goodness for air conditioned cars and coffee shop, but I am just hoping that the office ac has not packed in again!

Mummy and Daddy came by the coffee shop this afternoon to meet S and her mother. Went very well and the parents hit if off, so we will all be going to a prom at the Albert Hall in August.

The Apartment

I have signed my mortgage papers and contract, and my solicitor is now waiting to hear from the other side on completion dates. I would like to complete in four weeks time, but someone else in the chain is interested in a six week completion - something that I am not interested in doing at the moment. May have to give on this, but for now am holding out on four weeks.

It is begining to feel real and exciting, and I can now start thinking about what I am going to buy for the apartment. I think I know what LCD television will be purchased, but will discuss this with the sales people in John Lewis. I have, however, found my dishwasher, washer dryer and fridge freezer. Not the sexiest things I will be buying, but they are important.

S has mentioned that she is happy to come and buy the bed with me - I wonder why that is ;)

Timing of the purchase has actually worked out rather well (fingers crossed) as I am taking four weeks off work this summer so it will mean that by the time I go back to work the entire flat will be done. Yipppee!!

Relationships

Regular readers will have noted that my posting frequency has been a little erractic of late, but my excuse is that I am now in happily a relationship and am therefore not so wedded to my laptop as I once was.

S understands my need to blog and GIMP so once I have moved a more regular stream of postings will occur on both sites.

Things are going well with S, we both seem to have fallen for the other and I am happy.

More soon.

Faststream Part 2

I sat the second round of the FastStream selection process yesterday. The day was split in two three parts - a group discussion in which we had to role play a scenario, a presentation - again in role, and a competency interview.

With my two co-workers we feel the pannel discussion went well, and that we all got the balance right in terms of speaking, listening, pushing for our points and being prepared to compromise. The presentation role saw me having to assume the position of marketing director in a supermarket chain which had received bad publicity within a local community and decide from 3 options and make a recommendation to the board.

I think the presentation went well. My introductory bit lasted 9 minutes so was within the 10 minutes allowed, and I feel that I was able to handle the questions well and not fall in to any bear traps.

The competency interview was the last session, and followed straight on from the presentation exercise. Not so sure how I did in this, as it was the toughest interview I have yet faced. Of the three competencies they were testing, I think I answered well on two, and gave a slightly weeker answer to how I demonstrate constructive thinking.

The thing I took from yesterday is that I am as good as anyone else in the Home Office at this stage of the process - there are only 19 of us (4 of whom from my outfit) - and that irrespective of what happens I will get very helpful feedback.

I really want to get on to this scheme, and am reassured to know that of all the Home Office candidates that made it through the internal selection procedure only 1 did not get through the open competition last year.

Three weeks until the results - so not long at all.

In the mean time I am going to be busy with the flat, as all being well I will be exchanging contracts today. Yipppeee!!!

I am about to push off down to Southampton for a meeting with my lawyer to finalise all the bits and bobs.

More soon on the apartment purchase.

Heatwave

The UK is set for a heat wave this week with temperatures in the South East in the low 30oCs - the weekend was a scorcher, but I spent most of it inside S's coffee shop where the ac kept things a very nice 19oCs!

We were at a friend for Friday night and S got to meet some of close friends. If truth be told I was a tad nervous before hand, but the evening went well and everyone had a good time. They all told me how lovely S was and that is seemed as if we had been together for more than 2 months.

The host and his girl friend popped by the coffee shop on Sunday, and really liked it so am sure we will see them there again.