Category Archives: UK

So close but yet so far

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I believe I need to correct one thing from my previous post. I wrote that everybody in the office has a Hollywood smile. Not the case. People, this is England. It’s a dentist’s nightmare. I really needed to clear this up. It’s been bothering me for so long and I apologize for painting a wrong picture.
So! I went to Caroline’s (France) birthday party yesterday. She was the only person I knew at the party and the same thing happened as the other night at my work function. I got to the bowling venue and wasn’t able to find the group. This is a recurring theme. Eventually, I did find them.
Oh and it took me ages to get there. The venue was exactly 3.2 km from my place. It would’ve taken me about 30-40 minutes to get there had I just walked. However, I thought the tube would be quicker. Nope! I had to change train lines 3 times and it took almost an hour (this includes walking as well). I’ll be smarter in the future.
It was the best birthday party I’ve been to all year. It was also the only birthday party I’ve been to this year. As you can see, I’m a social butterfly.
I left a bit early because I had plans for Sunday (today). One guy joined me because we were heading in the same direction. It turns out he lives in the same building as me. What are the odds of that? Small world!

Let’s move on…
I had a marathon run planned for today. I was quite dehydrated when I woke up – the drinks from the party were showing their dark side. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad. Mother Nature was playing ball as well – it was beautiful outside. I knew I’d get a good result.
I was off to a slow start but things got better. I guess I should warm up or something, when I attempt new personal bests. Food for thought!
Just to be clear it wasn’t a race, just a training run, which happened to be a full marathon i.e. 26.2 miles / 42.2 km.
I’m sure you can all guess by now that I got a new personal best. My time was 3:09:50. It’s an improvement of 28 minutes from my last record, which I ran in July a year ago.
I was so tired when I finished – I sort of limped to find some shade under a tree and starfished like a boss. I was in

So.

Much.

Pain.

I stayed there for a good 30-50 minutes and all my sweat dried up – I’m sure I had white salty stripes all over my face. I limped to the pond in Hyde Park and cleaned myself up whilst trying to pet some swans and ducks. There’s so many of them out there.
I was too tired to limp back home but I was prepared – I had my Oyster card with me. Master’s degree after all… Yesterday I cursed the tube but today it was a gift from heaven.
so close
A long time ago I wrote that the goal is to run a marathon faster than my aunt. She did it in 3 hours 8 minutes and some seconds – she was only 2 minutes faster. I think my next attempt might just do the trick and maybe I’ll even break 3 hours. I’m very optimistic about the future!
Oh and. Um, today the most British of all things happened to me. I was at the supermarket and sort of backed into something and said “sorry”. Wait for it………………………… to a shelf! 😀 I’m apologizing to inanimate objects. Oh London, what have you done to me?

With love,
Ivar

Funny accents, hipsters and a rocking boat

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I’ve survived 2 weeks in the fancy office and had to make a few adjustments. It’s a very corporate environment – after all, it is a big company. Everybody is beautiful, wears nice clothes, has a tan and a Hollywood smile. And then there’s me – my idea of fancy is putting on a tie and my crappy shoes, maybe wash my hair.
The office has a fantastic view of London. I have a feeling it won’t get old for quite some time. Here’s a pic:
View from the office
Whenever I get bored I put on my thinking face and look into the distance. I like this place.

I work next to Hipster Dan – he’s got an epic beard which is his pride and glory. He even combs it every morning – that’s a funny sight. Who the hell combs a beard?
Oh, I’m not the new guy anymore. There was a merger in May and a bunch of people started on Monday this week. Today, I met this Italian girl and she has the funniest accent. She’s adorable. I can’t stop smiling when I hear her talking. I know it’s horrible but I can’t help it. She’s my favorite. I think I’ll pretend to not know something. Maybe I’ll ask her how pensions work… 😀 I’ve got it all planned out!

We had a social ping pong evening with a bunch of colleagues on Tuesday. I remember I got to the venue and realized I didn’t know what they looked like. The people I’ve met so far, largely didn’t show up. That was an interesting problem to have. I walked over to a group and sheepishly asked a guy if he was from my company. I’m glad he didn’t hear me because I recognized a colleague in the distance. Handled it like a pro!

I’ve also been doing a lot of dancing, much more so than normally. The highlight was the Zouk Boat Party on the Thames. And it’s exactly what it sounds like – a party on a boat. They had about 200 people and it was a great success. Dancing on a moving ship was very entertaining. I felt like a beginner again because people were bumping into each other all the time. Fun times!
I also liked that it was possible to go on the deck whenever I needed to cool down and/or chat with other people. Normally the music is too loud at a typical dancing venue, and I don’t like to scream at people. The boat ticked a lot of boxes for me.

Things are going great right now. For a while that hasn’t been the case. I remember telling myself that sometimes things need to get worse before they can get better. The grass is green again.

With love,
Ivar

Fancy people

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It was a late Sunday evening about a month ago. I couldn’t sleep and out of boredom went on reed.co.uk to check out what else is there. I guess I was having a crappy day as well.
So I thought I send my resume off to 3 job ads. I quickly updated my resume with my qualifications and job info and a few minutes later it was done.
Somehow I fell asleep.
First thing in the morning I applied to another 4 jobs… mostly because the previous day I thought I wasn’t good enough but in the morning I was happy to apply. Or maybe it’s the case that the morning isn’t as wise as the evening. It’ll remain a mystery.
The first phone call from a recruiter happened at 7:50 AM. I had a quick chat with the guy and then started towards work. It was a 40-50 minute walk to work. During that stroll I received another 4 phone calls from recruiters. Once I got to work I had to put my phone on silent because I was being sneaky and didn’t tell anybody about my plans to jump ship.
Throughout that day I received another 20+ calls, a bunch of texts and emails from recruiters. It felt good to be in demand, very good.
The ones I called back told me that their interest was high mostly because of my quick progression with industry exams. I was glad all that studying was starting to pay off.
My inbox was full of job opportunities. If I was interested I replied “interested”, otherwise “not interested”. Oneliners seemed like douchy replies but I had so many emails to go through.
I had three job interviews that week. I didn’t like the first one – the managing director pretty much insulted me right to my face. He said that I would never be able to advise British clients because I’m Estonian and therefore can only have Estonian clients and there’s not many of them around… I think he didn’t realize what he did so he just continued talking. Anywho, I wasn’t interested in working for that asshole.
The second company seemed nice at first but as the interview progressed I gradually realized how dodgy of a firm they were. For example one of their advisers wasn’t even level 4 (the minimum requirement to legally give financial advice in the UK). Another thing: the list of responsibilities kept getting longer and longer as the interview progressed. Red flags everywhere. No deal.
The third company was a “good” firm. There are a couple of them in London. This Chartered Financial Advisor had a very good reputation in the industry. However, the interview was the shortest in my life. I shared my opinions on financial markets, cashflow forecasting etc and got into a bit of a debate with the director who interviewed me. And then he said “I’m going to stop the interview now.” He said that he doesn’t want people in his office thinking like me. That came as a surprise. A minute later I found myself on the other side of the building’s front door.
I had an exam on the following Monday. This was the R06 (Financial Planning Practice) exam which I failed back in January this year. I had my fourth job interview 2 hours after the exam.
fancy
Now this company was fancy as hell. The interview was on the top floor of the building with a fantastic view over London. Its location was nice and central. It was beautiful.
I had a one hour “structural” interview followed by a 50 question multiple-choice knowledge test. I didn’t even know they were going to test me, so I had no prior preparation. I knew my test wasn’t my best and felt a bit crappy about it when I handed it over. I thought, “oh well, I tried”.
After that interview I had a second interview at the dodgy company. Another guy from the firm wanted to have a chat and I was in the area, so I figured I might as well meet him. The red flags remained. I got a better understanding of how their team worked. It was a small company and I guess you need to cut a few corners when you’re small and growing. Otherwise the interview went really well.
Next day I went to work as usual. I had a crapload of work to do because things just pile up when you’re off work “studying for exams”. I ignored my phone and email throughout the day.
I had a few missed calls but didn’t call back because Tuesday was salsa and bachata day. I was too busy to care and needed a bit of time off from everything.
Wednesday was very similar to Tuesday at work. However on the train onroute to London (Wednesday is zouk day) I got a phone call from the recruiter who got me the interview at the fancy company with the nice view over London. He said that they were very pleased with me and that my test went very well. He wanted to let me know that the fancy people wanted to get me onboard. I accepted. The offer was too good to say no.
Now I’m one of the fancy people and just finished my first week there. I’m required to wear a suit and a tie. Except on Fridays. Fridays are barefoot Fridays 🙂
Here’s a pic of me just being nervous me on my first day (I didn’t know I needed a tie):
First day
My new manager told me that my test score was the highest she’s seen anyone get. Looks like I know a thing or two about financial planning.
Speaking of tests, I passed the R06 exam as well. Now I’m only one exam away from the Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning. However I won’t get the title “chartered” until I get 5 years of industry experience. I think it’s still worth getting the exams out of the way.

Now I’m living and working in London. The first week’s been very busy but good. I’m enjoying it.

Today is a strong day

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These are the words I read from my mug trying to keep my shit together. “Today is a strong day” I repeat. Why is today so much harder than yesterday when I found out about it?
I log in at work hoping to find a shitstorm in my inbox. However, no such luck. Nothing. Nothing to distract my thoughts.
SteveO says “good morning” and I couldn’t. Not a single word. He made all this so much harder. You could cut the awkward silence/tension with a knife. I was still in shock so I didn’t notice it at the time.
I had another sip of my crappy coffee and noticed that I finished it.
“Today is a strong day” – Mr Strong.

image

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.
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Except……..that it isn’t.

Lets timetravel to yesterday.
I had a fairly good day and was on my way to London to dance some zouk. My battery was low, so I had my phone on flight mode.
I got to the dancing venue and for some reason turned my phone on normal mode
.. which is odd because the dancing venue/bar is underground and I had no signal there.
However a FB message made its way to my phone. It was from my brother.
He said he’s got some bad news for me. My father died.
A beginners salsa class was ending at that point as I read the message and you could hear the instructors giving pointers and summaries to the kids about what they learned today.
At the same time I completely froze.
And started shaking. Uncontrollably, but not visibly (maybe it was visible, I’m not sure). An inner tremor of sorts.
The music switched to a zouk beat. I was glad it was dark and nobody saw me… or maybe I wasn’t too concerned whether anybody saw me or not.
I pondered about what I should do and remembered something I read a long time ago. When somebody dies, you shouldn’t make any radical changes to your life. Instead, continue your daily routine as you always do.
I felt the waterworks starting.
I made my way to the toilet to take a piss… you ever wonder why the loo is so busy at the worst possible moment?
I remembered that it’s not possible to feel sad if your body is in a happy/positive posture. So I sucked it up. Chest up, head up, shoulders back and it got better. The initial shock was a thing of the past.
That didn’t last long…
I needed to distract myself before the class started and made some conversation with Phoebe. I think that was the wrong call… She asked me how I was and I said fine… she saw right through me and I gave her some crap about having a stressful day at work in response.
It was a painful conversation but it worked. I kept my shit together.
The class started. Zouk is a fairly engaging thing you know. The fact that I can’t multitask also helped. Only a few times did my thoughts wander and remind me of what had happened. I feel bad for saying this but I was able to enjoy myself throughout the evening. Don’t judge, dealing with death isn’t something they teach you at school.
However, I broke down like a little bitch just a few steps from home. It was too much. I couldn’t hold it in anymore. The distractions were gone and
I fucking cried myself to sleep.

Next day
Next day I went to work, as usual (remember the thing about not doing anything radical…The stupid is strong in me.) The morning was difficult but as I got more involved with work it got better. Much better. I shared the news with one colleague who might have shared it with a few others.
But I wasn’t quite myself. I was very quiet and generally avoided human contact.

Did I mention that my passport expired in March? Well… that’s a bit of a problem if I want to go to the funeral in Estonia. Anywho… I contacted the embassy who came back to me fairly quickly and told me they could issue me a document which will enable me to travel temporarily. However, first I needed to tell them what my travel dates are. At this point where was no date for the funeral… I would contact them again once I know. I was told the Embassy can issue the document in half an hour and all I needed were two passport photos and a date for my flight out of the UK.

I feel the fucking rainbow. I’m sad, then angry, then oddly OK, then depressed, then even happy. I’m all over the place. And it feels like there’s no end in sight. Work helps, a lot. It keeps me focused on other things.

I wrote the above almost two months ago. The funeral was last Saturday. I’d rather keep the details to myself about why it took so long until the funeral. Sorry. Don’t ask. Things are much better now and I’m glad this is all behind me and that I can finally close this chapter.

Ivar

Genius material

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If you guys remember I had a big exam in April. What I didn’t tell you is that I actually took 4 exams and kept quiet about the other 3. I thought that I wouldn’t get much support from the office if they knew I was studying for 4 exams. I thought that if I failed one or more, I would’ve just kept quiet about it.
However the results are in and I passed every single one – 4 out of 4.
genius
After sitting the exams I was sure I failed two because let’s be honest, I didn’t focus on them nearly as much compared to the other two. Turns out I underestimated myself and managed to pass the advanced taxes (AF1), investments (AF4) and pensions (AF3) exams along with the pension income options exam (J05). I am only two exams away from the advanced diploma in financial planning i.e. chartered status if I had 5 years of working experience in the industry. I’m well on track.
My boss was very pleased and said I’ll be getting some client exposure and will move into advising. It’s about time!!!
Next I’ve got Financial Planning Practice (R06) for July 6th – that’s the one I failed in January this year and another one will be in the middle of October. That’s it. All the studying will be over soon and I can stop spending money on exams and study stuff. Looking forward!

Ivar the Nerdacious

I don’t want him to stop

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I’m a little late to the party but here’s something what happened about a month ago. It’s this guy Scott Calum singing a cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on my own” and it’s beautiful.
It’s a very powerful song and it’s one of those magical songs which I don’t want to stop. Listening to it on repeat is just not good enough, I want the guy to keep going and going.
I love it when someone takes something old and makes it his own masterpiece. If you think about it you don’t need to invent the wheel every time, just look at what somebody’s done and tweak it. Scott Calum is proof of that.
I don’t follow the BGT show myself because I find it hard to watch people fail and have their dreams destroyed. Showbiz is a very cut-throat place to be in.
And the moment Simon presses the big buzzer… I’m all smiles every time I watch the video. Enjoy!

Posted in UK

Level 4

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It’s official. I have completed the Diploma in Financial Planning and can now legally give financial advice. However it’ll take some time until that actually happens as I need to transition into that role. Most people who jump into advising after getting the diploma sink and drown. Nobody knows for sure how the process will look like but I’m sure I’ll get there.
Another bonus was getting a raise which is always a good thing. During my appraisal this Wednesday I found out a few things about how I’ve grown as a person at work. That came as news to me because I don’t think I’m any different from when I first started. I was told that my attitude in the beginning was very different – I just wanted to get the work done and never think of it again but now I’m more concerned about doing things right and making sure our clients are happy. I think to a large extent it’s because I’ve moved from a purely admin role (answering the phone, booking client meetings, scanning stuff etc) to a more technical and interesting paraplanning position.
I’m looking forward to the future, things are starting to look good.
That’s it for now.
Ivar

Posted in UK

Every time

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After my zouk classes and social dancing I feel like the world is a little better or a bit less shitty or even almost good. Maybe this is just me trying to be British – polite and humble and all that.

Going on the tube, you start noticing good things all around you. The singing or guitar music of some weird street artist, a girl giving up her seat for an old woman, people giving money to the homeless beggars. On the inside it feels a lot like running a half marathon and noticing that at the 18th kilometer you’re likely to finish in less than 100 minutes. Somehow running becomes so easy and you effortlessly speedup and it feels good to run. And no, you’re not running at that point, you’re flying, nothing can stop you from clocking that sub 100 half.

I go through the same sensations after my zouk classes, every single time – no running required. You’ll also have the added benefits of good music, beautiful and happy people. Based on my experience, the happiest people I know are zouk dancers. Salsa and bachata people are a close second.

I might be too kind with my words, considering that I’ve been deprived of zouk for the last 2 months because of my exams.

I realized that I didn’t mention in my previous post that my R06 (Financial Planning Practice) exam re-mark came back as a fail which was very disappointing. I’ll take it again in July.

exams done

There’s some good news. I had 3 exams this week (multiple choice questions, much easier than the R06 or AF papers) and managed to pass them all. I figured out there are two paths to getting my diploma and if I understood the completion requirements correctly, it means that I should be a diploma qualified financial planner now. I’m waiting for my Level 4 diploma to pop in in the post. It’ll take up to a month to get it, and there’s also the risk of me misinterpreting the diploma completion requirements. So at this point I don’t have a definitive answer whether I’ve made it or not. Stay tuned.

There are more exams planned (AF exams), to progress towards the Advanced Diploma (which is needed for Chartered Status) but these can only be taken in April and October. I’ll have more free time now and can focus on other things.

Ivar

New year, new home

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I had an exam yesterday (R06) and think that it went really well. I’m sure I passed but will find out the results Feb 27th. This was the last exam needed for the diploma in financial planning. So… all I need to do is wait for the diploma to pop in in the post and make it official. Hopefully it’ll make me much more employable and open a few more doors.

The studying and exams don’t end here. I’m going to continue towards chartered status and will do a bunch more this year. I’m glad all the foundation work is done and everything else is a good extra to have.

After smashing my exam I had to pack up all my stuff and move out to my new home. I could’ve moved out earlier but I didn’t want to spend valuable study time on that.

I was surprised how much crap I’ve accumulated in the last 10 months. I remember all I had was one bag of stuff when I first came to England. I think it weighed 8 kg. Now I’ve at least tripled that…Long story short all my stuff is in my new home now.

I am living in a two bedroom flat with Sue. Sue is in her early 50s. Her daughter moved out and she needed someone to help cover the rent and bills. She looked for people for ages but nobody was good enough. Finally, as she said, I rode in like a knight in shining armor to save the day. 😀

On the plus side my room is bigger – it’s got a double bed. By the way this is the first time ever I’ve had the luxury of having a double bed in my room. It’s so big, it’s a monstrosity of a bed and I’m so small. I still have a few issues to deal with. I don’t quite know how I’m going to cope with all this extra room on the bed.

One thing is different though. It’s a bit colder here. I was freezing my ass off during the night and the hot water ran out fairly quickly in the shower. In all fairness it’s -4C outside (the coldest it’s been in the UK since I immigrated on my row boat with Bubba and Malloy… I sometimes still have nightmares and see the massive waves and how they grabbed Bubba… rest his soul in peace).

Now I live twice as far from work compared to what it used to be. A 25 minute stroll (2km) became a solid 50 minutes (4km). I’m probably going to bus it every now and then… until I buy a bike. The bike idea isn’t great anyway because I have nowhere to store it. Luckily our office will move closer to the town center in a few months’ time and I live in that neighborhood. Even if I had to bike or bus it, it would be temporary.

It’s already the 20th January and I’ve only run twice this year. Training isn’t going that well. I’ve never had issues with my shin splints for so long. Normally they’d disappear after taking a few days off. I’m not too worried though. To a big extent I’m glad I can’t run – it’s freezing outside. I feel bad about it, especially when I skip a run on a beautiful sunny day – it’s such a waste.

The best is yet to come

I’m enjoying my Latin dancing classes. I leveled up into the highest level group in zouk and if I get my salsa instructor’s blessing will do the same with her classes.

Remember, I wrote a post about hugs and kisses almost a year ago? How things have changed… I met this French girl – let’s call her Amelie – and last week I did something I’ve never done before. It was a normal zouk social but strangely I danced with Amelie a bit more than usual. Normally I’d max out at 2 dances with the same girl during a social but that time it was 4 or 5. She just seemed to be available every time I finished dancing with somebody else. Anywho she’s fun and I like her and before leaving I kissed her on the cheek… you know like the French do. I know it’s not a big deal but I remember it was a very spontaneous thing – I just said “see ya” and went for the cheek. I’ve never initiated a kiss on the cheek as I’ve always been uncomfortable with the concept. How I’ve grown…

OK boys and girls, I need to go to work now,

Ivar the soon to be level 4 financial planner

I found the one

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In mid-December I decided to take my own advice and move out of my current sharehouse. I gave my 30 day notice and started looking for a new home.

I think I looked at 8 properties until I made my decision.  Actually I said yes to 3 people but I was late with my decision for one of them. Another landlord was very uncommunicative – so I decided to skip that one and as it looks right now all lights are green for my move to the third place I said yes to.

home change for a goldfish to a better place

It’s amazing how quickly rooms are snatched up in Chelmsford. For example I had to cancel two of my viewings because somebody else took the room before I even had the chance of seeing it.

Anywho, I checked out this two bedroom flat yesterday and was very happy with it. It was beautiful, very clean and in a perfect location – next to a park and much more central than my current place. I will be sharing the place with just one more person, which is fantastic. I don’t like to live in a crowded place. Plus I need my quiet to study for my financial adviser/planner exams.

My next and final exam to get my diploma will be on the 19th January – in 10 days. My study marathon will start shortly. I’m glad I found a new home as the last couple of weeks have been rather stressful. Now I don’t have to worry about moving house anymore and can focus on my exam.

Oh…. I was promoted to assistant paraplanner at work. Now I’m doing “research” and writing suitability reports for clients. It’s basically a step closer/transitionary phase to becoming an adviser. The job description is still a bit fuzzy and I don’t quite know what I’ll end up doing. Only time will tell.

Looks like this year started reasonably well. I found a new home, got a promotion at work and will probably get my diploma soon as well. Everything seems to be going well.

Ivar