Well, life is never dull. I called the recruitment agency this morning and was advised that the person who was supposed to sign off on the appointment is on sick leave but was anticipated to be back in the office today.

So I headed down to Hobart to look at this secondhand stihl chainsaw. It was rather heavy (which probably means it was really good mechanically, but not much use if I couldn't lift it freely), so I looked at their new stock and for fifty dollars more bought a brand new chainsaw with a smaller bar but which is rather more within my comfort range for use. It is presently dripping oil on top of the freezer awaiting a more permanent home.

From there i headed over to the Eastern Shore to pick up some dog food and a new charger cable for the mobile and was driving home when Hannah, from the recruitment agency phoned to tell me they had decided not to appoint me at all!!! She has no idea what their reasons were so I have fired off an email to the person who has been pursuing me for over a year now to apply when it came up to see if he can fill me in on the lowdown. I suspect they have either been forced to make an internal appointment or not to backfill the post at all, but it would be nice to be sure so I don't have to worry about dodgy referees or something.

Getting home not so long ago, I was wondering if I should try out the new chainsaw, but discovered that someone had dropped off some short bits of wood for me anyway. So I can now sit back, and read the manual thoroughly before starting to play with the machine. The manual is huge - 463 pages of it. Fortunately only the first 21 pages are in English and the rest repeats it in all languages known to humankind.

I always wanted a new Husqvarna, and now I own one. Problem is it's a chainsaw, not a sewing machine ... lol.