WOT? NO STRONGBOW?: My trip to Taunton for an interview

This is what cider is supposed to look like...

I travelled down to Taunton last night, so that I would wake up refreshed and ready for an interview. The interview was for a job I have been trying to land for a few years now, and this was the 6^th Interview I have had in the last 18 months. This might sound like I am wasting my time but I have actually done the job on a temporary basis for ten months and know I can do it.

I regularly travel down to the ‘South West’ but some how in all the years I have been going down there I have never been to Taunton. I did the journey in not much over an hour, which was quite good but I was thinking to myself that if I were doing this on a regular basis I would soon loose my licence. I bombed down a reasonably clear ‘post rush hour’ M5 with my new Hayseed Dixie album blasting out and the wind in me hair (actually, that is a bit of poetic licence, I do not have a convertible and I had the windows up, but I did have cold air blowing). Wandering around on the Thursday night it seemed like quite a nice town, although it did seem quite ‘middle class’ and ‘civilised’. It took me ages to find a chip shop, it is mostly restaurants, and all the pubs seemed to be what we in the valleys call ‘posh’. The one thing I did spot on my wander was a half decent looking record shop (Am I showing my age? There were no records to be seen, it was all CDs).

I did call into one pub for a pint, ‘The Moat House’, a cool sophisticated little joint playing cool funky jazzy type stuff and serving rather appetising looking food. The first thing I noticed was that they were selling Dry Blackthorn cider, which I suppose was inevitable in Taunton, given that Blackthorn is made there. It is nice, but Strongbow it aint. They had a selection of the day’s broadsheets (no tabloids) so I sat there and read the Independent from cover to cover. Then I headed back to the B+B early to have a final read up on things that might have come up in the interview.

I was up early and did a bit more reading before going for breakfast. The manager had got some veggie sausage in for me specially, which was good, he also pointed out that I had a puncture on my car, which was bad. At least it happened down there rather than back home with 85 miles to travel in rush hour traffic and me already in me suit. I changed the tyre in record time, I think I should be applying for a job with a Formula One pit crew.

I then strolled the two streets over to the office for the interview (aint the Internet great, I had managed to find a B+B at a decent price near where I was going with very little effort) and got on with it. I thought it went quite well and was quite pleased with my performance.

After the interview I walked down to Martian Records and purchased another Hayseed Dixie Album ‘Let there be Rockgrass’ and the latest Transplants album ‘Haunted Cities’, then headed home.

The journey home was not quite as quick, the traffic was a lot heavier and I had to avoid the usual crashes… why does the M5 have more than its fair share of rubbish drivers?

Eventually at about 7:30pm, I had the phone call telling me I did not get the job. Part of me was totally gutted, but part of me was relieved that I did not have to go through the hassle of moving to Taunton.

I think the bit of me that was gutted was thinking ‘what the hell have I got to do to get this job? Can I actually do any better than I did today?’ The answer of course is a resounding YES. All I have to do is learn from this experience, I will give them a ring next week and get a debrief. Onward and upward! At least i wont have to put up with Dry Blackthorn!!!

Photo taken by me at the Shambala festival, Devon, August 2005