- and then our rather sad journey back to the UK for interviews - one week apart from each other, so we crossed in midair somewhere above the Pacific - in which we spent approximately 1.7% of the time attending interviews, approximately 45% of the time travelling, and approximately 100% of the time feeling jet-lagged, grumpy, and generally unhappy -
- and then coming back to NZ (magically, the jet lag did indeed reverse itself, which was a relief after a week of waking up at 3am. I drank more warm milk than you could possibly imagine. To no avail.) Our beautiful friends Rich'n'Kiri had just moved to Auckland so I spent a happy weekend helping them unpack, lubricated by a trip to Waiheke island and of course, some more wine at their notable vineyards.
Lunch with Kiri.
Rich'n'Kiri's glorious Deck overlooking Auckland harbour
All this was very pleasant of course but it could not truly distract me from the horror that was my interview. Dear folks, I will keep you out of suspense (and you probably know anyway) by telling you straight off that both Tim and I got our first choices so we will be back in Oxford this coming summer. This is such unbelievably wonderful news that it hasn't quite sunk in for either of us. We got our notifications on the same day, at 3am NZ time. We were, of course, fast asleep, despite Tim suggesting that I might not be able to sleep:
Me: "I think I'll sleep fine tonight."
Tim: Good. Do you think you'll be able to get to sleep ok?"
Me: "Yes."
Tim: "That's great! I think I'd probably stay awake worrying if I were you. Like, not forever. Just for maybe an hour. And I'd probably check my email a few times in that time. But just for an hour. And you think you'll sleep through?"
Me: "Yeah probably."
Tim: "Good! No, that's good for you. But if I were you I'd probably be waking up every half an hour or so just to check my email. And then if there wasn't any news I probably wouldn't be able to get to sleep for another half an hour or so. These are approximate timings. And I'd probably wake up maybe 3 or 4 times. Probably. Max, anyway. Anyway I'm glad you think you'll be able to sleep well."
Me: "!!!"
Generally I do sleep well, as I am of a fatalistic bent. My well sleepingness, however, has no relation to how complacent I felt about the upcoming revelations. I have bored everyone stiff with just how awfully I thought I'd done in the interviews so I will not recount it here. Suffice to say, I had spent most of the preceding weeks googling 'ophthalmology masters' 'volunteering in malawi' and 'things to do if you don't have a job but all you're really interested in is eyes HELP' with mixed results.
So when the results came through it was very, very exciting and now we can at last relax and start making plans about our future! The wedding! The honeymoon! Buying a house! All sorts of grown up things!
Getting the news also meant we were able to kick back and really enjoy our weekend in Napier. It was Art Deco weekend, and I have never seen so many people dressed up and thoroughly enjoying themselves. It was blisteringly hot and absolutely beautiful and we spent it with people that we love. And ended it with a particularly camp performance of the Marriage of Figaro. Which was wonderful. We stayed over at Sarah's wonderful parents' vineyard again. I run out of superlatives.
The view through their living room window
I love this little man
Wine tasting with Rick
So many options
Insanely hot
Frolicks in the fountain
Cheese goes well with wine eh?
Serious peach eating faces.
These people make me happy. As do peaches.
So in summary:
we will all be seeing you back in Oxford in August.
Can't wait, but also sad our NZ adventure is slowly drawing to its inevitable close. Graham offered me another year in Gisborne as ophthal reg if I didn't get the Oxford job, and that would have been the sweet silver lining on a very bitter pill, to thoroughly mix my metaphors. Still, Oxford!
There isn't anywhere quite like it.
