As predicted in my last offering, I spent most of last weekend, and last week, heid doon, bum up preparing for a job interview at the University of Edinburgh. It felt like a big deal, and as such, I really needed to do my homework. I spoke to various people about their current expereinces: Steph, Donnie, Lynny and a probationer that Donnie put me in touch with. Their knowledge and calming influence helped to steady my nerves after my initial wave of nausea, and I felt like I managed to research and prep to the best of my ability. I submitted my lesson plan on the Tuesday afternoon and after that, it was two days of more reading, questioning and note taking. The interview itself was on Thursday at lunchtime and I felt that it went well. My prep was en pointe with two of their questions almost meeting my own, word-for-word. I also managed a couple of laughs from them so that's always good too. They've said that it's likely to be a week before I hear, so now I'm waiting. Tbh, I'm very nervous that they might actually offer me the job. That will have huge implications on our family, plus Iain also has an interview tee-ed up for a job in Austria and we're both thinking that Salzburg might be a cool place to live for a few years. These are proper grown-up decisions we're facing. Eeeek.
In other news, we've all had another busy week, keeping various appointments, maintaining our commitment to our sports and training, and desperately trying to keep out of the heat as it hit 40°C on Saturday just gone.
Last Saturday, we got to indulge in a little pool time out at the Whitelock Resort. We said we'd look after the place for them while they were on holiday and it was simply glorious heading out for a couple of hours to relax in and around the pool.
On to this week. William got to dog school on Monday morning and I took him to the Prefecture to collect his DCEM card. Finally! I'm a bit disappointed that it isn't an actual travel card but simply a bit of paper with a QR code on it, but at least it's all done and we shouldn't have any more issues crossing borders in the future. In the afternoon, I had an MRI scan on my back and a follow up with the surgeon who did my second back operation, Dr Hoarau. He said that the discs have stayed the same but there looks to be more inflammation in the vertebrae, and that the only reason I'm not in any pain is that I've worked so hard on losing weight and getting strong. So that's it. He said I need to keep looking after myself otherwise I'll be back in. Nothing else for it.
On Wednesday, I finally caught up with Alisha's insurance guy and it looks like he's going to save us something like €300 a year! So a good meeting. In the afternoon, Iain took William to swimming in order to let me study in peace. He was amazed at how much William has come on. The weather was awesome so the coach took them outside:
Iain managed to get William on board with the dinner prep on Wednesday night and let him loose with a proper knife! He made us caprese salad, and it was great! 
After my interview on Thursday, I met Iain in Nomad, where he'd generously escaped to in order to give me the house to myself. I'm delighted to see that they've included "sans gluten" on the menu so I got myself a salmon salad and a much deserved glass of wine. The temperature just kept going up and up all day so we collected William from school and shot straight out to the Whitelock Resort for a much needed dip.
After the school run and the gym, Friday ended up really busy as I caught up on all the chores that had slipped while I was working on my interview. Lots of laundry, gardening, and a trip to Auchan, before making up a picnic and filling the car for another evening at the Whitelock's pool. We've got it down to a fine art now! We also made William work for his entry to the resort ;-)
The temperature continued to climb into Saturday, so much so that the Prefecture announced a ban on all sports training and competitions. So, William's tennis was off. We tried to stay indoors as much as possible and when we'd had enough of the oppressive city centre heat, we went back out to Claire & Luke's place for a swim and a picnic dinner. We honestly couldn't have had the keys at a better time. 40°C isn't fun for anyone.
So that's us. Another week, and I now find myself nervously opening my emails in case there's something from UoE. I'm not ready to make this big decision yet. Watch this space.
Lorna. :-)
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