Reading

Many years ago I went to the University of Reading (in the UK).

I used to say its full name was the University of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic but no-one got the joke.

Today I went to Reading for an interview. It took a four hour journey on several trains and a five minute walk to get there.

Whilst I was crossing London for the connecting train my phone indicated I had a voice-mail message.

I had to wait a while until I had proper signal before I could access it. (Unlike the Helsinki underground mobile phones in London don't work in the tunnels and subterrainian stations).

The message was from the company I saw in London on Monday. They had decided to offer me a fixed term contract for seven months rather than a pesky daily rate. Also the salary they were offering me was rather good. In fact it was a no-brainer so I verbally accepted.

In English law a verbal acceptance is sufficient for a contract to exist.

I once went to a then very large company for a series of interviews. At the end of the sessions they told me that they couldn't afford not to employ me.

They later changed their minds, they could afford not to employ me after all. Where are they now? They no longer exist.

So I asked this company to send me a summary of their offer by email (I can pick up emails using my Palm Pilot combined with my mobile).

I then settled back and carried on with my journey to Reading (well, I carried on because I was on a train going there, I didn't really have a choice).

Unusually for the UK all the trains and connections were on time so I arrived very early for the interview. Their office was in a business park. A very standard business park with trees, a lake, fountains, swans and ducks.

You can't really turn up at an office for an interivew more than 10 minutes ahead of schedule, even if you do call it a meeting.

It was a cold day and the seats in the park were all wet. So I stood, for 45 minutes, in the cold, wishing there weren't fountains within earshot and trying not to think about going to the toilet.

The interview went well I think. It lasted over the alloted hour. Unfortunately I was the first person they've seen and they will be seeing others next week.

Before I left their office, before signing out I asked for the "restroom". Great North American term. I learnt to use it when I was in Vancouver a couple of years ago. In fact I was in a Safeway there one evening and asked an assistant for the restroom. "Go down aisle eight" he said.

I'm too English to urinate down an aisle of a supermarket but I eventually found the toilet. As far as I could guess, not having been in those social circles, it was mainly used for shooting up heroin. I must have been the first person to use it for its original purposes for a long time.

Today, having used the company's restroom I then checked my mobile phone. It indicated that I had emails (my service provider sends me SMS messages every time I receive an email, for free). One was from the company I'd spoken to today. They had sent the confirmation details. I replied with an acceptance. I start on Monday.

On the way home I tried to debrief the recruitment agent who had arranged today's interview. His phone was engaged so I sent him an email and will advise him of the change in circumstances tomorrow.