Glad to hear you're all happy and grand now, Val.
NF: Grand!
I finally got a job. I've been on a waiting list for one particular job for over 6 months now, and this week I went to the job centre and found the very same job being advertised, but through an employment agency rather than directly from the company. The only difference is that this is "temporary" (minimum of 3 months, but I was told that this temporary contract will effectively be renewed constantly unless I want to leave or turn out to be shit), and pays 15p per hour more.
I rang the agency up yesterday, went to apply this morning, and I'll be starting on Monday - unless the chap finds out that I have a criminal record which doesn't exist, or something. Also I get to wear a bright orange fluorescent jacket which will make me look all important.
The money from this will help pay for a TEFL course which I will probably do in April. I eventually told my parents that I was thinking about having a working holiday abroad, teaching English, and they were/are most supportive. I expected them to give me a lecture about how hard it would be and what a big step it is, but mum's words were basically "well if that's what you want to do, you go for it", which is what I would expect from a typical parent (so now I'm wondering exactly when and why I decided that my parents
wouldn't support me
). So now the teaching English abroad is looking more likely - even if I'm still not sure about it, at least I'm more confident about it happening should I choose to do it.