So, having now told all the people that needed to be told in an official/formal capacity, I think it might be time to share some news...
Bath Spa University Music department from the air
Following a successful interview last week, I am aghast to have been appointed as the new Senior Lecturer in Composition* at the University of Bath Spa, joining Prof. James Saunders and his uncannily creative department. This news comes at a period where the cogs of my life are coming into some kind of alignment - c.5 years at the University of Huddersfield, c.10 years at the Junior RNCM, c.15 years in Manchester. It feels as good a time as any to make a bit of a fresh start in a new home. But I'm still terrified.
BUT BEFORE my Huddersfieldian and Mancunion friends all start leaping with joy that they'll be finally rid of me, I shall be staying around the NW until early April - my start date at Bath Spa is April 18th. And don't think I won't be back after that ;-). Somebody's got to look after the Sand Bar...
Manchester at sunset.
The positives and excitements all shared, the elephant in my room is most certainly that complex system of 15 years' worth of roots that will need to be somewhat brutally dug up and transplanted - roots all forged in a city that I have both long fallen head-over-heals in love with and has been my home for the entirety of my adult life. That's an emotional box that I can't even start to open just yet. There will be plenty of time for tears and leaving parties over the next few months - [A good friend recently had five leaving dos on her recent relocation to Oxford. The third was my favourite] - suffice to say that at this present time I cannot begin to articulate how much I'm going to miss everyone and everything about my life up here - thank you to all the wonderful people I have met along the way...
To put it cheesily - this is not a goodbye, just the beginning of slightly more prolonged hellos.
Oh dear, the tears have started already...
Matthew
[*Legal disclaimer: I will be titled as 'Lecturer in Composition' until the end of my probation period at the institution. Wish me luck.]