"thank you for holding...*

... your call is important to us..."

I know I know, I'm sorry: I've managed to go three weeks now without mentioning my big news and lots of you will have been checking in looking for news of how it's going - sorry for keeping you hanging.

So... in case the news has somehow missed you, that "right job" I've been looking for finally showed up. At the end of April I started working for a really cool little marketing solutions agency called Gecko. The company's based back in Yorkshire (Otley actually, but not a million miles from my old stomping grounds) but no, I haven't moved: At the end of last year they opened a second office in Scotland with a view to expanding the company, and as part of that plan I've joined the Edinburgh office as its second member. It's all still quite new, but so far I'm loving it!

Why's it taken me so long to post this news then? (which by now isn't actually news to many of you.) Well for one thing I've been busy making the lifestyle transition from layabout/backpacker to busy office person, Happily the commute is pretty easy (it's a pleasant 3min walk to the office, stark contrast to the hour and a half drives in I used to do) but on top of being kept very busy at work my social life has gone into one of its busier phases too, so finding the time to sit down and share this has been a challenge.

Also one of the good signs from my interview has been making me a little self conscious... while interviewing for this post I found that for (as far as I know) the first time in my long and varied interview history, someone had actually read my web page! I mean read it too, not just glanced at it but actually had a good look around at all the junk on here... a very good sign I thought, (means that a: they were interested in getting to know me and b: what they read on here held their attention) but since getting the job, that knowledge has made me a teensy bit self conscious. I don't mean self conscious out of any fear of consequences from blog entries, for one thing because this is a refreshingly crap-free company: what matters is how well you do your job, and the emphasis is on having fun while you do that (again, stark contrast to some of my previous working environments... no specifics but certain people reading this will know exactly what I mean). I don't mean I was worried about any of the cliché blog pitfalls, I was just conscious of not wanting to seem too much of a bright-eyed eager new guy - stupid eh? Especially since my boss knows how happy I am, because she keeps asking me and getting a big goofy grin in reply!

So life in Patrickland is good right now, and the embargo on asking me about work is well and truly lifted... in fact (as most of my nearby friends will attest to) it's become almost impossible to shut me up about it!

*This post's title comes to you courtesy of Virgin Trains whose convoluted booking systems (both online and phone) have seen me log a total of 1 hour 20mins hold-time so far this evening (at five past ten), I'm on hold to their online booking support as I type after the online booking that mysteriously vanished (causing me to resort to their phone system) sent me a confirmation for itself two hours later! - grrr - it just struck me as also appropriate to what I'm writing...