Settling into new job
That’s been three months in my new job now — I know this because today I passed my probation and became a “proper” employee.
I have settled into the daily work, which is doing embedded development for the Attero network impairment device. It’s a device for letting you fake failure in a network, so you can design a system that will be able to cope with different types of failure. (Talk to a sales representative now!)
The trials of embedded development are the same as ever — in order to recreate a problem or test a fix you have to spend an extraordinary amount of time looking for cables.
The commute is less stressful than my old one. I don’t do much travelling on the roads any more. As the day gets longer I will probably do even less as cycling to Linlithgow train station around the loch will be a viable alternative to the main road through the town. Linlithgow is a nice little place but it’s total madness on the roads. The route through the town is not much wider than two cars in places but that doesn’t stop full-sized lorries and coaches travelling through. The whole town is a 20MPH zone though I’m doubtful many vehicles pay attention to that either.
If I don’t get to work via the loch I can get to an accessible supermarket on Monday morning to buy fruit and breakfast cereal for the week. Though somehow the Linlithgow Sainsburys has managed to find a design of bike rack that is slightly too fat for the standard Kryptonite D-lock.
I’ve been out a few times at lunch for a short cycle but the path round the loch gets busy with dog walkers during the day. When the weather gets warmer still I hope to get out there properly. Many people go to the gym or the pool at lunch so getting out for a ride seems very reasonable. And maybe one day I’ll cycle a bit further on my commute — somewhere along the canal to the Falkirk Wheel maybe — before hopping on a train for home.