I am ashamed!

Oooohh...I am very ashamed indeed.

After that list of what I have done so far...I have omitted a very important bullet point.

My inspiration and guidance in setting up this blog!

A certain Amanda Maynard who also known as The WineingWoman.

http://www.thewineingwoman.com/

A wonderful blog by a wonderful lady who after setting up her blog a year or two ago, was successful in getting a job in the wine industry as well as a scholarship at the WineBloggers Conference 2010.  She has been very helpful indeed to me and I want to say a big thank you to you Amanda :-) Keep up the great work.

What I have got up to so far since last September 2010...

What I have done so far since ‘epiphany’ happened and all done with the aim of getting prepared nicely to be able to join the industry with a fairly good grounding of knowledge and understanding about wine:

·      Read. Lots. My home wine book library expands almost weekly…I blame the plethora of good charity shops in my area!

·      Read and watched lots of wineblogs on t’internet.

·      Attended a number of tastings including some of the January trade events in London – local events not so easy to get to though when one doesn’t drive quite yet and currently lives 15+ miles from the nearest town.

·      Attended regular career guidance sessions and consumed further French reds with my dear mentor.

·      Sent off applications and enquiries for work to a number of merchants and businesses.

·      Visited a variety of wine merchants in London and South East and spent time chatting and engaging with staff to find out how they all got into their jobs.

·      Was on JSA after Christmas retail contract ended and was able to focus my time and energies into getting work by constantly reading about wine, preparing for WSET exam and writing job applications.

·      Completed my WSET Intermediate Certificate at West London Wine School…just waiting to hear results now.

·      Learning to drive again! 15 years after I first sat in a driver’s seat. This is a big deal.

·      Application sent, job offer received…start work at the International Wine Challenge 2011 next week at the Barbican Centre. No more JSA!

·      Visited Plumpton College to investigate the Wine Business Foundation Degree.

·      Preparing UCAS application for Wine Business Foundation Degree.

Is there anything else I should be doing to help myself along with my progress and preparations? 

At the beginning...

Ok, so this blog is launching a bit later than I had originally intended it to have started but…let’s start with good news…it is T minus one week until I start work as an assistant at the International Wine Challenge 2011.  Not bad for someone who has no experience of working in the wine industry and only six or so months ago had somewhat of an epiphany about wanting to work in the trade whilst attending a career guidance session which was aimed at getting focus into my life again.

The epiphany, actually I should really call it a reawakening, was after sharing a delicious 2006 Morgon at the session (as you do at these things) and then being leant The Oxford Companion of Wine by the lovely lady whose house I was visiting.  Later that evening back in September 2010, following flicking through the first few pages of the book in bed, it all came flooding back…I knew I had to and want to work in the wine industry!

I had always, since a little kid, wanted to work at the Natural History Museum in London and then after a visit to the Australian Museum in Sydney in 2005, knew I would work there one day too.  Between the ages of 28 to 30, I was successful in gaining employment at both museums in their education departments.  But just before I was offered the NHM job, I was seriously considering taking up studies in wine business.  This fell by the wayside as life dream jobs one and then two happened concurrently but the love and interest in the wine trade never went away.

I came back to the UK early from my Australian trip which a huge and defining mistake and I was unable to then return to complete my second visa (cough…recession…cough…)  To say this buggered me up slightly is an understatement.  As I had focused nearly all my life, training and studies towards getting jobs at these museums and getting to Australia, the shock of being untimely back in England, having pretty much achieved everything I had wanted to do since the age of 4, I was at a loss what to do with myself.  Whilst I did act on ideas about the wine trade since my return, they were the wrong actions to have taken at the time (will explain later).

BUT here we are in March 2011, focus and drive back in force and me happily back on track with my life!  This reawakening of knowing what and where I want to go in life has truly helped find ‘me’ again.  Of course I am annoyed at myself at the lost year or so of directionless confusion but I have learnt from it, have picked myself up, dusted myself off from the fall and am now on a solid path of achievement and positivity.

And ‘me’? Who is that exactly?  An (almost) 33 year old vibrant and enthusiastic individual, full of passion and personality with serious determination to get into the wine industry, with the aim to one day become a successful wine educator and who knows...maybe that elusive return to Australia may follow one day too?  It feels great to be this driven again and getting lost won’t ever happen again either.