My first day @giffgaff

Today was the first day of my new job. I've had two weeks off since I've left my job at PayPal so it was strange to get up early and head into a new office with a new commute to figure out. I thought in true blogger style (and in hommage to what others have done today with the Apple announcements), I would live blog the "event."

Yesterday:

9:30 pm - It's the night before I start my new job at giffgaff. So I go to bed to try to sleep. Who am I kidding? Instead I read notes from friends and family, enter the Sheffield Documentary competition and watch Warren the Ape until I fall asleep at 1 am.

Today:

6:52 am - Alarm goes off. I'm dreaming. Think snooze button will let me download another program into my system. That's all I remember. Was I a robot or dreaming of the future?

7:08 am - Out of bed. Stare at closet. What to wear? Important to establish coolness so I can sit at the cool table.

7:30 am - Flatmate vetos outfit. No. I can't wear jeans on the first day. Even black ones? "If you must..." Her tone tells me otherwise.

7:50 am - Settle on dress, leggings, heals and a sweater. Wearing the "Inspire" necklace my sister gave me for luck. Make-up, purse...run back up stairs for my keys, run down and back up again for my sunglasses. No packed lunch. I'll figure it out when I get there.

8:02 am - Bus gets to Clapham Common. Decide to ride it to Brixton so I can get a seat on the Victoria line. Will this save time?

8:03 am - Tweet out my nervousness. Reassured by 140 character comments. Yes, I respond. I am wearing clean underwear.

8:09 am - Arrive at Brixton. Ooo. There's a Starbucks. I can get my coffee fix. Coffee to go!

8:17 am - Finally on a train. Have a seat. Seems not too full. No sweaty, angry people in suits yet. So far so good. Worried that I might have left home too late. Maybe I should've got on at Clapham and crammed onto a carriage to save 5 minutes.

8:25 am - Find a notebook and pen. Realize notebook is nearly full and pen is from the job I just left. Hide pen. It can't be cooth to use branded merchandise from another company on your first day

8:33 am - Change trains. No seats so I'm standing. Discover I can't write while holding coffee, notebook, free paper and the pole so I give up. Would rather not fall over. Only 3 stops til Marylebone.

8:45 am - No queue for ticket. Hoorah! Walk against the commuting hordes to platform 6. Hello commuter train. So we meet again. (Side note: I used to work in Beaconsfield where I'm now working again so it's a familiar sight. As are the film students in ripped t-shirts, flat caps, and hoodies. They ooze cool. Maybe it's their first day too.)

9:20 am - After flipping through my iPad that I bought under the excuse of needing it for my commute, I arrive at Beaconsfield. Hope the walk is no longer than 10 minutes.

9:35 am - Arrive at giffgaff. Yay! Walking time may decrease if I don't text and twitter as I walk. Greeted at the front office by Sheena. Am brought through the office. I shake a lot of hands and forget a lot of names. There are around 20 people working here so I should be able to remember their names sooner or later.

10:30 am - First ever meeting. It's nice that everyone in the office is in one room talking about what's coming up.

11:00 am - My stomach is grumbling. Could get a coffee but instead get everything set up on my computer. Tweet deck installed. Web browser upgraded to IE 8. Anyone want to go for lunch? Me! Me!

12:00 am - Seven of us head to the pub across the road for lunch. It's so peaceful. No traffic or honking horns. Sit in the back garden and get to know part of the team. Everyone is great and we don't talk about work once.

1:00 pm - Back at my desk. Reading, reading, reading. Pivot tables? How do these things work again? Reading, reading, reading.

3:30 pm - Meet with the head of marketing. We read and talk some more. It's all becoming a blur. Suddenly it's almost 5. Need to get all the notes so I can read again. Brain has slightly melted. Have forgotten how hard first days are.

6:35 pm - Get an offer of a ride to a bus stop near Shepherds Bush. Figure I'll get home faster and that it would be great to talk to my new co-worker Claire as we drove. It was. Great I mean.

8:02 pm - Bus, train, bottle of wine, bus, keys, home. 12 hours after I left it, I'm back in my flat. Decide to order chinese (yes, eating out all day. Bad but yet oh so good!) Glass of wine and Project Runway refocuses my brain. Still processing the days events.

Unsure how I was then realize that it's day one. It's OK to go slow. Very against my nature but have lots of time to push ahead. I'll take a couple of days to listen, learn and absorb. Tomorrow I meet the PR agency. Another new day of new things ahead. It's definitely what makes life more interesting.

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