Nearly Jobless (again...)

I've nearly come to the end of yet another contract. At this point I have about another 5 weeks left ahead of me before I am once again an unemployed bum. Although, technically, I won't be unemployed because I'm still casually employed doing stocktaking so I can start accepting shifts doing that again once my fulltime work has dried up. I would rather be working for National Parks than counting bottles of shampoo, but any employment is infinitely superior to homelessness. I even sort of enjoyed turning my brain off and robotically counting things when I was doing it last year.

I definitely won't miss the long drive to and from the caves when my contract finishes. I might miss spending the occasional quiet night in the secluded staff house at King Solomon Cave, though. I don't think I have blogged about staying at the staff house at King Sol yet. One reason for that is that when I am staying there I have no internet access. I also have no phone signal. That is both one of the best and one of the worst things about staying there - having nothing to distract you means you can have a nice early night, but after a couple of nights in seclusion I feel pretty out of the loop. The best thing about staying at the King Sol house is that it is only 2 min to work at King Sol and 10min to work at Marakoopa so I can have a nice relaxed morning and still be on time for work. Sometimes, though, the effort of packing and organising myself to stay there is more than its worth, so I haven't been staying there as often as I could be. The problem with staying there is that you have to take everything with you - food, water, bedding, work stuff, and something to keep you entertained. The kitchen is well stocked with cooking utensils and there is a bed and mattress to sleep on, but anything else you want you need to take with you. When I first started staying there it felt very isolated and creepy, but I'm getting used to it now and I usually quite enjoy my trips there.

The aforementioned King Sol House in its majestic surroundings.

What I am definitely going to miss most of all is the caves themselves. I'm going to miss being allowed to wander through them all the time, and I'm going to miss showing them to other people. I'm not going to miss some types of tourist, but 99.5% are lovely (sometimes 0.5% can really ruin your day) and I'm going to miss the exclamations when they enter King Solomon's Cave, or the spontaneous "Ooooh" you get when the lights go out and they see the glow worms, and the round of applause at the end of a tour that lets you know you've done your job well. I plan to really enjoy the next month or so at work and make the most of the time I have remaining to enjoy the caves in.

And then I intend to enjoy a little bit of unemployment, sleeping in, and slobbing around the house in my pjs ;)