A Bad Start

It began with Fil’s job interview.

 This would be the first of two for which he had passed initial processing back in Australia.

After some frustrated study (swatting two 5000 pages tomes over a few hours) he suited up and was ready to go, having arranged to drop  Flynn and I at our own appointment along the way. This was to a school we had  applied to from Australia. We were aware it was extremely full and had hurriedly sent off our application when told there was only one spot left. Today we would tour the school and having heard nothing to the contrary, I was anxious to get some information of what we needed in order to begin there.

As is so often the case, despite a GPS we managed to get a little lost via a temporary road closure  so Flynn and I hurried out at the school while Fil drove off with some mild concerns of being late.

In the very smart foyer, Flynn and I were smilingly ushered to seats where the lady we had been in correspondence with, would meet us briefly, before heading off on a tour lead by the head boy and a prefect.

 The lady in question arrived and after a few pleasantries announced- “Yes, unfortunately we have to refuse Flynn a position here as there are no places available.”

 Pardon me?

Yes, there had been a place but there was no longer one, and, what we needed to do was apply to other schools in the area then if there was nothing there, apply to the Hampshire County Council who would try and find Flynn some sort of place, possibly out of area. What?!!!
 All our house searching had been in the catchment area for this school. No one had said we hadn’t got in. I was completely dumbfounded. No spots here, nor possibly anywhere in Winchester. WT...? We began our now seemingly pointless tour, my brain rather numb and Flynn rather quiet. The school looked great but what good was that? I  thought to ask at least the boys  thought of other schools in the area. They gave their candid opinions.

 What were we going to do?

Fil meanwhile hurried off , given confidence by his GPS that he still had time, suspected nothing might be amiss until he was instructed to head down a very dodgy looking one lane road between two farms. Unhappy but with no spare time to argue, he set off through the rain, unable to see any oncoming cars with the hedgerows and turns and all too aware that if he didn’t actually run headfirst into anyone, he certainly had no room to let them by. What might that mean? Reversing the way he’s come? He didn’t want to think about it.

 Thankfully he finally popped out the far side into a village and would have experienced great relief had his GPS not then announced with confidence- “You have reached your destination!”

He had not.

 Panicked and now going to be late, Fil tried to use his phone to ring the company “Your credit has expired…”
 There was no time to top it up. Fil screeched the car to a halt at a mad angle outside a pub, dashed in, grabbed the nearest drinker by the elbow, gabbling out his dilemma. Though clearly shocked by the mad Australian with the tie over one shoulder, the good man gave clear instructions as to where to find the company but warned it was tricky to find. Dear God.

 As Fil drove off at speed to find the place his phone went. It was the job angency enquiring to his whereabouts since the company had rung them when he hadn't shown. Fil begged them ring on his behalf and tell them he would be there in five.
 Finally he got through the security gates and given directions. Fil in quite a state by now and dying for a loo went quite the wrong way which meant a rather painful sprint back across the grounds.
Inside at last, sweating and breathless he was given a welcome... and directed to go and sit an exam.

Meanwhile, back at the school we had finished our tour, Flynn refusing to be drawn into any conversation, mostly because they were enquiries about cricket about which he knew nothing. Back in the office I asked for my next procedure to be repeated as I had been unable to take it all in. A different lady helped me this time and she was most illuminating. I enquired to her about whether she knew of private schools having the same processing and explaining our position.  She told me she didn’t think there were any positions available in all Winchester for year 8, however if I was keen (obviously) there were means and ways: dress nicely (I looked down in dismay at my smart casual), cry, make a display of wealth and/or power (hire a jag and pearls?) etc. This woman was genuinely nice and not at all condescending and opened my eyes properly to what we might be dealing with. It was something I’d never really experienced before. I almost had to laugh because otherwise I would have been furious. It was true places were almost non-existent but a few golden tickets must still exist for the right candidates, of which we clearly were not one.

Fil picked us up and told us he thought he’d gone badly. In the state he was in at the exam he’d drawn a blank on things he should know. The verbal interview he thought went okay but he felt the test had really failed him. I couldn’t bring myself to stress him out further as I knew he had another interview next day, so I just told him about the tour and the school looked good.

We viewed more houses, most unsuitable for various reasons. Only one place was available and it was a little further out and we were worried as to why it was vacant.

The next day Fil had a better interview though a negative had been the unexpectedly long distance to reach the company- 40 minutes drive each way- something he’d done on a longer scale in Sydney and something he was keen not to repeat if at all possible. But things had gone well enough for me to break the news about the schools. Since Fil was still suited up, he offered to go by himself and visit the other schools. I went off and looked at a few houses.

When he returned we compared notes. One of the schools had been helpful, though both had no places at present. Fil had noticed the vacant house we'd seen was close to the helpful school and mentioned the possibility of moving there to the school. They said though there were no guarantees it would help Flynn’s place on the waiting list. Based on this vague hope and the fact that the house was largish and had parking and in a nice spot, we ended up applying for it since my hunting had borne no good fruit. We left Winchester wistfully, hoping it would soon officially be home but feeling right now rather battered and overwhelmed.

We were going to stay at my brothers in London a few days to anxiously await news on jobs and houses and schools. Waiting right now was all we felt confident to do and that wasn't going to be much fun either....,