Why Bristol?

I’ve been asked this question quite a lot in the past few months, and thought I should put something down to explain it a bit more. I think I’ve written something similar to this a few months ago, but thought I would write it all down in full whilst I was travelling home on the train on Tuesday night.

As some of you may know, I have been planning to move to Bristol since…well, since June 2006, when I finally finished my degree in Aberystwyth. I had lived in Bristol between July 2004 and June 2005, and had adored living in such an exciting city. However, with all the events that went on in my final year of university, I thought it would be a good idea to first of all raise some money to start me off in Bristol and also to stay with my dad for a few weeks or months as I was quite worried about him. So after a few weeks of looking for jobs, I was placed by an agency at Crest:Pay as an admin temp. The job was really only supposed to be a few weeks, to cover someone’s holiday, but I liked the company, and they seemed to like me and so I stayed on, eventually going permanent in December 2006. It was always my intention to move to Bristol, but I was quite comfortable in the company, and my dad returned to work in 2007, down in Filton, Bristol.

In 2007, there was some legislation that came into place that affected my industry sector. It meant that the company had to change the way they had worked for the past few years in the space of a few months. It was a challenge, but looking back at it now, I loved the experience. It felt good that everyone in the company was coming together, doing whatever it took, and working all the insane hours (4am starts, 12+ hour workdays, etc) to get through the difficult times. If you’ve been reading my LiveJournal over the past year or so, I’m sure you’ve heard the above bits before.

I was perfectly happy in my job, but I found that with my dad down in Bristol, I was quite lonely at home on my own. We were still in the three bedroomed house we moved into in 1985, and when a four person family is in the house, it seemed full enough, but being there on my own, it was too quiet. The thought of moving came back into my head, but I didn’t think about it too much, and the months were passing quite quickly.

On New Years Eve (07/08), I was at a friends flat, and thought about what I had done in the year past. I had finally graduated, and had a pleasant week of celebrations in Aberystwyth and Bristol with some of my favourite people around me. I had been to Amsterdam and Utrecht with my dad and his friends, and had wandered around a foreign city on my own for the first time. I had bought my first d-SLR, taken many photos with it, and looked forward to learning how to use it in more detail. I had expanded my wardrobe, and had begun to wear more fashionable clothes. I had been on a number of nights out (including going to the Races and to an event at the Grosvenor Hotel, both courtesy of Crest), and took the photos to remember it. Other than that, I couldn’t really remember what I had done, besides working. I loved Crest, but it was beginning to wear me out.

One of my friends called me that night before the end of the year, and we chatted for a while about what we had done that year. Somehow Bristol was brought up, and I expressed how I wanted to move still. His response was basically “Why Not?” and that switched something in my mind. Why not indeed. There was not much keeping me in Chester, and just talking about moving wasn’t really the same as doing it. I started to feel like I wasn’t doing anything of importance, that my new post-uni life was on hold for a few years. Something had to change.

I set the date of 5th April to myself to know what I wanted to do, and what I was going to do. Various things went on, and I ended up leaving Crest on the 4th April. I knew I would miss Crest, and the people I have met through it, but I couldn’t help but feel excited about the future.

The past few weeks since leaving Crest have been quite odd. I have travelled up and down between Chester and Bristol (and am in fact writing this now on the train back to Chester) a few times, looking for houses and jobs, and going on a few interviews. My main problem in finding a job is that of course I still have my Chester address on my CV (although I do state that I am expecting to move to Bristol in the coming weeks). Despite applying for Bristol specific jobs, on Bristol specific websites, and with the note on my CV, I am still having recruiters asking if I am aware that the role I have applied for is actually in Bristol!

Things soon will change though. This past weekend, I have been down in Bristol again, but I am pleased to say, I have found a beautiful enormous flat, just a mile from the main train station. I’m looking forward to moving back down there in the next few weeks (perhaps even days!) and can’t wait to begin my new life down there.