Hopes Jilli and Jessica don't wander in on the spider talk unawares

Pfft. Outhouses out back of Bourke that haven't seen a toilet brush in the better part of a decade? Maybe. Toilets in suburban Melbourne? Nah.

AAAAAAAActually

I've mentioned it before but I did have a redback under the dunny. Admittedly, it was in Adelaide, and admittedly, it only happened once in 18 years. However, it was a redback spider, and it was under the toilet bowl.

I've mentioned it before but I did have a redback under the dunny. Admittedly, it was in Adelaide, and admittedly, it only happened once in 18 years. However, it was a redback spider, and it was under the toilet bowl.

Ok, you may wanna stay away from Jimi's dunny.

Good point, duly noted.

Mr tea, do I remember rightly that you might be in the UK some time this summer? Or am I on crack?

Mr tea, do I remember rightly that you might be in the UK some time this summer? Or am I on crack?

The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know.

Anyway, I'm hoping so. I haven't sat down to do the math yet, but London is definitely on my wishlist.

oooh. BT, if you stick around long enough, I might see you there.

Hivemind question (crossposted)

I'm looking at teaching jobs,and I (finally) found one that looks possible in the UK. Among the things I don't know, though, is whether the wage they're offering will be enough for me to live on. I'm scouring the Interbunny, but it'll be somewhere 16-17k, living in Watford, Herts.

Anybody know stuff?

Am-chau currently lives in Watford, so you might want to track her down and ask her. But I don't think the cost of living is dramatically high there; it's an hour outside of London.

If you're a qualified teacher working in a "public" (US Speak Public, that is) school, you should really be getting the standard pay scale stuff. Watford falls into Band C (London Fringe) on the pay scale.

Presently the lowest salary on the spine (ie for newly qualified teachers with no previous experience to be taken into account) for Band C is 20,082 sterling. For 2006 I believe it's supposed to be 20,586.

Is the 16K the gross salary? Or the net? Are they providing free accomodation, or other perks that would bulk it up in real terms? Because the cost of living is pretty high in London - outstrips Tokyo now, apparently. Which isn't to say don't do it, though - you could have a really fabulous time. But I'd find it hard to live in London on 16K; I was on that money when I lived in Outer London 6 or 7 years ago, and I enjoyed myself enormously but I was invariably broke by the end of the month.

BUT, if you're interested in teaching jobs in the UK have you tried VIF? My roommate's friend is an American teacher who got her job through them (iirc), and she's in her 5th or 6th year in the UK now, really enjoying it. I'd have thought that an organisation like that would really help to make sure you were being paid an appropriate wage & not screwed over.

Meanwhile, check out www.tesjobs.co.uk for all the teaching jobs available in British schools abroad and in the UK.

I'm in Watford, DebetEsse. If you want to e-mail me (profile addy is good), I probably know the school in question. Cost of living isn't that high here-- we're just on the edge of London, inside the M25 but (as SA says) an hour from the centre. Property prices are relatively high, though.

A quick glance at the ads in the local newspaper revals that £16k pa is fairly average for a local job offer. I'd say that yes, you should be able to live on that. I could find out more if you like-- my father's also a teacher, so I could ask him how it measures up.

ETA: alternatively, listen to Fay, who posted while I was typing and knows much more about teacher's ay than me.