Found A Job

Or maybe the job found me.

Well the job lead that Jacky gave me turned out to be a good one. I got a call late Saturday afternoon from the posh restaurant/bar in the Lace Market area, asking if I would be interested in coming in for a 6:00 trial shift. After waiting for callbacks on jobs for a week, I was in no position to say no. So I headed down there, got the quick tour and then dove in head first. The job title was kitchen porter, which is a euphemism for dishwasher and general lackey. I was working with a Polish guy who spoke very little English. So not only was there a language barrier, but I had to learn the names of things and where they went during the busiest night of the week. It was quite an experience. The time actually went by very quickly and in the end, the general manager and chef decided that I was prep chef material.

So I started yesterday as prep chef, learning as the chef put it "not just knife skills but life skills." Things were pretty easy-going on a Tuesday afternoon. I made some risotto, Thai curry base, onion puree, and some lovely dessert dishes. There will be more of that kind of thing today. I work between thirty and forty hours this week, so it will make up for the lack of work in the last couple weeks. Of course now that I have a job, the job offers are coming in, just as I had suspected.

I went to the Museum of Nottingham Life the other day, which is free for library card holders on weekdays (as is Nottingham Castle). There was a fascinating portion about the air raid shelters during the War. Nottingham is a city of caves. There is an extensive network of caves beneath the sandstone cliffs of Castle Rock. This museum, a collection of cottages in the Brewhouse Yard area, is at the base of Castle Rock (next to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn). During World War II, or perhaps before, the dwellers of these cottages, broke open their back walls and extended their space into the existing caves in the rock. The caves themselves are very old, perhaps dating back to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribal leader Snot. The caves I saw at this museum are only a small portion of this larger network. I look forward to further exploring this in future excursions. Much like Moose Jaw and its tunnels, Nottingham has turned the Caves of Nottingham into a tourist attraction.

My experience of the air raid shelter was made more intriguing by earlier conversations I had had with the Holmeses, about life during the War. Nottingham and Derby were both hit by Nazi bombs, and there was, across the country, efforts made to hide cities by blacking them out. People covered their windows with black cloth, all electric light was shut off. In some cases they built decoys for the Nazis to bomb. One example is the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby. Evidently it worked, as the factory is still in operation. The display also explained the different types of personal air raid shelters for households. The Anderson Shelter was the most common.

Exploring will be less frequent with this recent development on the emplyment front, but I'll make the most of it. I am looking forward to working in the kitchen though. Hard work though it may be, it sort of feels like I'm being paid to go to cooking school. Good gig.

Cheers.