This is the penultimate part of my journey around the country. On 29th July 1991 I moved into a house on Filton Avenue in Horfield, a suburb in the north of the city of Bristol. A friend of mine had moved in a short time earlier and let me know there was a letting room available. I didn't know it at the time but I was to be living there for just shy of 9 years.
The house was owned by Cathy who became a tenant there under the previous owner. He died, and having no relatives, bequeathed the house to Cathy. The house was in a dilapidated state at the time, and she spent most of her savings doing the place up. She also worked at Bristol Cathedral and my friend knew her from there.
Shortly after moving in I got a job at South Gloucestershire Council in Thornbury, employed in the housing benefits section. Whilst in Thornbury I had the foresight of registering with an temping agency, and this proved beneficial because the Council decided to concentrate the housing benefits at their offices in Kingswood, and they adopted a policy of "last one in first one out". I was the last one in ....
The agency then secured for me a placement at the Bristol & West Building Society as a legal secretary in the repossession sales department. Thus started a career as a legal secretary in conveyancing. Most of my jobs thereafter were in this role. I also registered with two agencies in the centre of Bristol - namely Office Angels and Law Choice, the latter specialising in legal secretary appointments. From that point on I was hardly ever without work, and my spells out of work were short. There is one big downside to temping though - when its sunny and people want holidays, that's when temps get jobs; so instead of enjoying the sun I would be found in an office, or a typing pool, producing conveyancing or commercial property documents.
When I moved to Horfield I also switched my allegiance from the Salvation Army in Bedminster, to the one in Horfield. Apparently people were talking about this unbeknown to me, and when I walked into the hall in Horfield I was "expected". I was to be involved in the Horfield Salvation Army until 1998. At that point I transferred to the Salvation Army in Staple Hill where I felt very much at home.
I had a number of holidays during my time in Filton Avenue. I had a lovely week in Penzance, staying with former officers from Horfield who I had gotten on well with, and had a day trip to the Battle of the Flowers in Jersey. Since we travelled by coach it was a very very long day!
The next year, however, I booked a week long holiday on Jersey, and had a superb time.
During the Christmas break in 1999, with the Millennium approaching, I really had a hard think about my future. I was in a job I hated, working for an employer that didn't give references as a matter of policy. I arrived in that job because I had temped with them, and after a short while they offered me a permanent place. My boss however was a crude rude woman who used to swear a lot. I decided I would have to quit. On the first day back in 2000 I handed in my month's notice. Quite a rash thing to do when I didn't have a job to go to. However one of my temping agencies proved good and on the Monday after I had left on the Friday I had a short assignment in the north of the city. However because this job "I went to" came to the end of a contract I was not penalised by the social security. I had three places I would like to move to. One was Bournemouth, a town I love and had good employment prospects (and quite often good weather), an other was Edinburgh, another place I love, and the third was Manchester (where I was born).
Over the Easter period I went to Manchester and stayed with some friends, and decided that this would be where I would move to. I made an appointment with a legal temping agency in the city, and went to see them, and they said I was to let them know when I moved up. I put myself on the council waiting list. After six weeks I was offered a council flat. Then followed a whir of goodbyes and packing. On the day I was to sign for new flat my Uncle Ray's funeral was to be held, and I had been offered the day before a permanent position at the firm I was working for at the time. Talk about mixed emotions! However, I signed for my flat, and at the end of June 2000 I moved to Manchester.
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