NORMAL LIFE: Oz Countdown - 1 week to go!

I thought that, by now, I would start feeling a little bit nervous at least, but the lack of anxiety might indicate that I have convinced myself I am doing the right thing.

Lately, I have been selling stuff that I don't need. The online sales forum at work has proved most useful - in one week, I sold two cameras, my bright winter lamp, some DVDs and books, pocketing more than €400. Extra dosh for Down Under!

One night, I was relaxing on the sofa and I suddenly had a brainwave. I was thinking about the last seven years in Finland, my arrival, the people I had met, the extreme summers and the winters. Somehow, I managed to combined all of the key things into forty-two lines of poetry.

After my bike accident from last week (which I still have a huge bruise on my left hip to remind me of), I still consider myself lucky enough to be getting on that flight next Sunday night. Read about the accident here - it really could have been so much worse!

Recently, I had put an advert on the internet, offering photographic services; it would be so cool to indulge my one true hobby by finding some good models to shoot and the first (of many, I have to admit) message was from a guy whose birthday is on the day I arrive! How weird is that? He was gay, and we joked that I will be in good spirits on that Tuesday so how about I come to your office and kiss you in full view of all of your colleagues, just to let them know that I have arrived?! We had a right giggle and he is considering the idea!

Work has been rather comical. While notice periods generally do suck, I never thought I would be ignored this much. I have lunch on my own most days, I have been banned from attending any meetings (company policy, apparently). Based on people's behaviour generally, I had no choice but to deduce that they are all jealous. I asked Bree one night why they might be jealous. After all, I have effectively made myself unemployed. He explained that people don't envy the fact that I am moving to Australia, they envy the fact that I was brave enought to take such a bold move! For someone who has spent his childhood profoundly deaf, his teenage years covered in Acne and seven years in Finland, moving to another English-speaking country to find work will be a doddle!

And it was amusing when, dining with an Engineer one lunch time, I was asked where I will be working in Australia. With no job offers as yet, I shrugged my shoulders, revealing that I hadn't got a job yet. The Engineer, in his fifties, gave me a funny look, his eyes shifting quickly from left to right, telling me I was stupid for taking such a risk without actually saying it. Get a grip people: I am only 31! Bree explained that what I have done is something a Finn just would not do!

And since my resignation at the beginning of this month, Human Resources has been a constant pain in the backside. I haven't heard from them since I joined the company more than two years ago and now they want me to fill in countless forms which, as far as I can see, are the same. When I received the fourth form, I returned the form to them unfilled, claiming that this was tantamount to harrassment. I am pleased to say that I haven't heard from them since!

Then, last Friday, my long-time acting supervisor (an Engineer, not a marketer) called me to remind me that he has still to write the reference letter for my time at the firm. He was unsure what to write, however, given that he was not involved in any marketing whatsoever. I suggested that my new boss - located in the US - wrote it. He suggested we avoid overloading him and I was thinking that, as a manager, he is paid to do this. I was backed into a corner and, here I am, drafting the reference letter for my own time in the firm. Leaving was so the right decision because this is just bordering on ridiculous now. I mean, you couldn't make all this up!

Looking ahead, I am pleased to report that the agencies in Sydney have started calling me! With just one week to go, it's much more realistic to start discussions now, given that my arrival is imminent. I have an tele-interview on Monday which, the Agency tells me, only two candidates (myself included) are being considered for! Fantastic, or what?! Other than that, I have arranged three Agency meetings on the Thursday and plan to do a CV-drop in Sydney's CBD (City Business District) on the Friday!

Other news: I found out last week that my parents have finally split up, after thirty-seven years of marriage. My mother has been a bit tearful, my father has been a right bastard, but men are, aren't they? Most of the time, women are the innocent party and my mother has been an angel. What crappy timing, though, but my mother said that it's so important that I do this otherwise I will regret it. We even joked about smuggling her in as an illegal immigrant, should I end up staying on in Oz.

The Olympics in Beijing came to a fitting end this afternoon, with Team GB coming in as the fourth most successful country in terms of medal haul, our greatest haul in more than a Century (19 Golds, 13 silver and 15 bronze). What is funny, however, is how the British media seems to have abandoned the issue of human rights abuses in favour of this athelete winning this gold or that athlete winning that silver. I mean, are human rights an issue or not? I am confused! The BBC's Correspondent in Sydney has been stirring up matters too, claiming that the Australian's are so pissed off with Team GBs success that the Republican movement has renewed it's campaign to remove the Queen as head of state.

I asked my friend Bruce if there was any truth in this. He claimed that he didn't know anyone who felt this way, but reverted back to the good old per capita / population argument which, ironically, the BBC's correspondent had written that Aussie's are spouting out in defence. "We have a population a third of the size of the UK!", Bruce declared. I am sorry, but the Australians are so much better prepared than the Brits are for such an event in a country as humid as China! Personally, I couldn't give a shit, but is does bode well for Britain as host of the Olympics on 2012.

And so I have been saying goodbye to people recently: Red at the Millenium Dome after the Kylie concert; Nick in Soho Square when Bree and I were in London; Fred over the telephone because the infrastructure between Liverpool and Betys-y-Coed was ridiculous; Sweetpea over Sunday lunch in Caernarvon; Blue in Belge amid a deluge of tears; Mama Savolainen at our place in Helsinki, just after she had spilt ice-cream all over herself in the park; Miss Knight on the dancefloor in Hercules, after stealing the Tom of Finland poster; the Swedish Finn after a hilarious night learning how to disco in Finnish sixties-style: LS in Fazer, after refusing to taste to lakritsi! I love you all, guys (and girls), come over when you're good and ready!

On a sad note, Bree buried his Aunt yesterday. Well into her eighties, she had suffered for many years with Alzheimers. But this isn't just any old woman - there's a wonderful story to tell here. As a general rule, anyone older than fifty in Finland may not speak any English at all other than the basic 'hello', 'goodbye', 'yes' and 'no'. Rather skillfully, however, they understand most of what we say. In the case of this woman, Bree paid a visit to her about three years ago on her birthday. Accompanying him to the old folks home, I was astonished when this frail woman sat on the edge of her bed and started speaking to me in English. Meanwhile, she had no idea who the other man - Bree, her own nephew - in the room was.

Even thought I wasn't at the funeral yesterday (because of intolerance towards Bree's sexuality), I'll never forget that woman. When I left the old folks home that day, I shed a tear and it's a shame that I never got to go to the funeral for it would have been a great way to tell people how she had touched this particular stranger.

But life goes on. And I will be heading to Australia next Sunday, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning. My head is just swimming with things that have already happened, what is happening right now and what I hope to happen over the next year. For the purpose of the latter, I have set up a new blog, the One Amazing Year Down Under, which will act as a diary for the year ahead.

Keep reading, peoples - there's loads coming up! I can feel it in my waters, Kimmy!