The next chapter

I haven't been the new girl for quite some time now '“ to be precise it's more than five and a half years since I started at my last firm. My move this week is therefore simultaneously exciting and a little unnerving. Practically speaking, there are a pile of new names to learn and I need to find my bearings so that I may easily access important amenities such as the toilets and the flash coffee machine. Most of that should be slotting into place by the end of day one, but it will of course take rather longer to assess the various personalities and learn how they all interact with each other.

I did my research pre-interview of course, and I thus know that the national team is of mind-blowing proportions, having more than 50 partners and 80 solicitors across five UK offices. I've worked in some big national firms before, but my team has never been on anything like on that scale. They are also a very sociable bunch, having already invited me to a couple of evenings out. The one I was able to go to started in a nice Manchester bar and then segued into a delicious curry. I couldn't have scripted it better myself.

I have also popped into the London office to meet the national head of professional indemnity. Unfortunately I chose a day when our capital was swept by a monsoon. I had determined to walk there but had unfortunately left both my coat and my umbrella back in sunny Manchester so had to resort to hailing a cab, the driver of which was fairly unimpressed when I let a huge pool of water in as I struggled to haul my case out of the puddles.

I then suffered another drenching as I stepped out of the taxi and crossed the wide pavement to Kennedys' office. The receptionist was a consummate professional, hardly blinking as she suggested that I may like to use the bathroom to dry off a little before ascending to the meeting room. I had to giggle (I would have sobbed otherwise) when I realised that there was in fact no hand dryer in the bathroom, so I did the best I could mopping at my face and arms with paper towels before taking a deep breath and heading for my appointment. Luckily for me, the team head seems to have a sense of humour. He put me at ease from the outset, saying that I already had the job and should thus not fret that my drowned rat appearance may adversely affect my prospects. I'm not sure he has a lot of faith in my common sense, however, and I will endeavour to take all manner of weatherproof clothes with me when I journey to London next week.

Frantic but fun

I had another bizarre London experience last month, when one of my clients faced a disciplinary hearing before the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. At the end of the day's proceedings, the tribunal chairman looked at his watch and announced that they would not be able to reach and deliver their decision today. I was not overly surprised by that, as it was approaching 5pm, and I opened my diary in preparation for a hearing date a few weeks hence. I was quite amazed when they announced that they would reconvene at 9.30am tomorrow. Both my client and I hail from Manchester, and he was represented by a barrister regarding whose availability tomorrow I knew nothing, as we had never been told that there was a possibility of a two-day hearing. This revelation caused a great deal of consternation, and, after a mumbled apology from the chairman who acknowledged that we had only ever received notice of a one-day event, my client embarked upon juggling his many commitments and diary fixtures to accommodate a continuation of the hearing the next afternoon. Counsel was luckily available, and after a quick call to my flummoxed-sounding husband I was relieved of all domestic and childcare responsibilities until the following evening. So far, so good.

I then had to find accommodation. What a nightmare. I first put emergency calls out to my two sisters-in-law who live in London, but got their voicemails. I resorted to first walking and then riding a taxi around London in the hope of finding a room somewhere, anywhere really, as I don't have a smartphone and thus could not try to source numbers and call ahead in a logical fashion. The five hotels I tried were full. As despair started to set in, the younger sister-in-law rang back and came to my rescue. I ended up having a rather bohemian but very enjoyable evening playing petanque (or boules) in London Fields Park, eating bread and cheese and drinking wine from plastic cups with her friends. She then kindly vacated her bed and told me to help myself to her wardrobe and make-up bag contents in the morning.

I have never before had an impromptu stay in London in my 15-year career to date and I wouldn't rush to repeat the experience for the sake of my blood pressure, but it all turned out to be rather good fun.

Hopefully when I report in next month I'll be able to tell you that it's all going well in my new job, and also how the shiny coffee machine's produce tastes.