Forms to Fill

2005-04-18

Well, here we are then. A few years ago I very nearly applied for a job in Antarctica, but instead disappeared into commercial research and forgot all about physics. Time passed, I learnt a few things, polished my programming, pepped up my Perl and generally had a good time.

A few years later and that nagging "what if?" feeling had grown and morphed into enthusiasm. Every now and then I checked the BAS website looking for something I could do and eventually the Halley Data Manager job came up. I spent large parts of January filling in the application form. February came with a thundering deadline, I'd tweaked the form as much as would make any difference and sent it off.

I kept my hopes down but was invited to interview. I felt the fear for a bit, but quite enjoyed the day itself. Starting early helped, a decent lunch in Cambridge afterwards calmed me down, a short medical provided some limited amusement in the afternoon, good friends from Oxford entertained me in the evening and I departed feeling dubious but resigned. Next Tuesday I was accepted, a week later I got a letter with thousands of forms to fill in (I suspect this will be a theme, but one I'm used to).

I'm now aware of my hat and glove size, my pupil distance and have signed my name fourteen times. I'm also incredibly excited, let's see if I can keep that up until November...