>>Just this morning I was sitting and thinking, "Is there any future in IT for me? Nowt's come up for ages. I need to get a job. Do I take anything, even low wage, or do I hold out for a proper IT job? No I think I need to continue and not give up on it just yet." The unemployment service have started to try to bully me into taking, say, a driver/deliveryman type job. I have been thinking of other outlets, esp. since working on my "mini farm", and of getting into garden development (I have a friend who does it occasionally and, if business picks up ...)
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>>Anyway 10 mins later my phone rings: an agency with some VFP work. DAN - DAN - DAHHHHN!
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>>Anyway, the down-side: It's in the City of London (1.5 hrs commute - once I've got to the train - each way - and something I've always abhorred), the travelling would cost a bomb, it's only for 3 months, then I'm back as I was.
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>>The upside: In that 3 mths I can earn up to nearly half of my last yearly salary (dep on what rate the agent can blag me). The role is as the VFP guru in a team that is converting a VFP suite to C# and .NET - sort of front-ending the developers. So there's the opportunity for me to absorb that side of the business and get it under my belt for my CV.
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>>What dya think? Sound like a good move? Useful experience? Who knows, I might even get to like the "high-life" in the City.
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>>Anyways, the agent was sounding me out as to whether it's worth submitting my CV to the employer, and a telephone interview would need to be passed first. So I'm not cock-a-hoop with paroxysms of expectation just yet
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>I hate driving long distances, and there is no such thing as public transport out here, so I generally stay near the client site on weeknights in order to skip a major commute if the client is more than an hour or 2 away. I'm pretty good at picking up inexpensive hotels (usually mini suites with kitchens so I can save on meals) - I use priceline or hotels.com or whatever. Now with the price of fuel around here that makes an even better deal.

I have some friends in London who might be able to put up with me a few days. Train from here, plenty and frequent in the am, though expensive, easily cheaper than a hotel in London, and probably take not much more time to get home cf traveling across London to a cheap hotel.
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>OTOH if your train service is reasonably comfortable, timely, and affordable, it would be a nice place to catch up on reading or studying or whatever.
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>Basically don't let distance stop you!

i have applied for the job :-0