Adrian working at a Topaz Promotional Stand

We have only five weeks left on the boat before we return home for good.  We have had a great adventure and year off. The year has flown and now it’s back to reality so I spent this week polishing up my C.V. and starting to look for a job.

I know all of you at home working away every day are saying “Pity about them”! Adrian and Nuala have had a great year, while we have been slaving away here.

In truth, we have mixed emotions about going back as in many ways we are glad to go home. We have very much enjoyed the boating life in Europe. It’s a great way of seeing the cities and countryside and meeting likeminded people, but we also miss our family and friends and the wider community at home.

With Friends-  Card Game at the Mc Gonagle’s House

In some ways travelling around on a boat, makes you quite cut off and isolated from life. Although while you make many new friends, they are really acquaintances as they and you are always moving on and everybody knows that. Nothing is of a lasting nature.

When we were travelling on the boat across the summer, I had plenty of challenges to occupy me. Now that we have been moored in Chalon for three months, I have more time on my hands. So I have to admit I miss the challenge of work and interacting and working with people.

I have always enjoyed building up a team of people to improve a company’s product and services and watching their skills and confidence growing, along with my own and of course, the company profits improving. I think I have learned a lot on the Gap Year about communicating with people and getting them to help you (you get very good at making sure you are speaking clearly and simply when you are trying to communicate with someone with my limited French language skills!) Another Gap Year lesson!

Nuala and Adrian visit the SVP International Paris Office

Nuala also loves her job and is looking forward to returning to her role in Saint Vincent de Paul. As she says “she gets paid to work at her hobby” as she was a volunteer with SVP long before she started to work there. She starts back to work on the 2^nd March.

We have checked our finances and like most people, we need to work for a number of years yet. Long term we would love to buy another boat and come back and travel the waterways of France for four months each summer but spend the rest of the year in Ireland.

That’s the plan and I am sure we will get there.

So if you get an email from me asking you to keep me in mind if you hear of any job opportunities, you will know why. I will also put my polished up C.V up on the blog so you can find it.

So its Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s back to work we go!

President Andea Molloy give donation towards Gap Year SVP appeal- Adrian Rotary Club