Wednesday: A walk to Shoeburyness

I thought I'd take a last walk from Southend to Shoeburyness today, as with starting the new job next week I might not get the chance for a while. Unfortunately, in what seemed like a bad omen, the train line was shut down between Chalkwell and Leigh-on-Sea, due to a faulty power line, and there was a replacement bus service.

The light was very good and I took a few photos. There's been some building work going on, on the sea front all year and I noticed these:



They've got lights on the inside, angled to shine down onto the promenade.

At Southend, I visited a Victorian-style sweet shop, all very steampunk, and bought a packet of Victory V's and some cough candy (do Goths eat Goth Candy, K.T.?). It was a very nice shop and had gob stoppers about the size of my fist. They've even got a Facebook page.

Friday: Signing off

There's a Judge Dredd story called "Sunday Night Fever", (2000 AD, Prog 416). In Mega City One, there's a gazzillion percent unemployed and jobs are quite rare, so instead of Sunday night being quiet, with most people preparing for the following work day, it all kicks off like a bad night in Bas-Vegas. The story concerns a guy in a bar. He says that he's lost his job as a human canary at the local Munce factory (Mega City One's equivalent of Soylent Green). Somehow, he mistakes someone at the bar for the guy who took his job and kills him in a fight. "You know what this means", says someone. "There's a job going at the Munce factory!!". The resulting job riot results in a chemical explosion at the factory, wiping out half the sector.

With that thought, I signed off at the job centre today. I got a job, starting on the 15th for a software company in Camden. The Job Centre is the only place in the world where you can say "I hope I never see you again", and get a smile.