On Shortly Returning To The Working World.

I've got a job! (Well I have subject to references and all that palaver). I shall soon be working out a six month contract as part of the special planning team responsible for overseeing the planning application for the redevelopment of the Stonehenge site.

Which is exciting.

It's appalling money - even less than I am getting on benefit (I can't quite work out how that's legally possible, but still) because it's part funded by English Heritage.

So part of my job will be to field all the complaints, enquiries, comments and general kerfuffle from local residents, druids, politicians, environmental groups and basically everyone with a point that a project application like the Stonehenge one generates.

I'm really looking forward to it, not in the least because there is no ideal solution to the current problem which is as follows:

The visitor centre and welcome area is basically completely shit, the current A303 road runs directly to past side of the site and another local road runs directly past the other. This is not good for the monument itself or for the visitors who come to see it. The idea is to re-route the A303 underground (and widen it in the process) rebuild the visitor centre 3 miles away, close off the local road and bus visitors to the site itself. But some people say all the land around the site is sacred and shouldn't be interefered with, some people say re-routing the road is just a sneaky way of beginning the process of building a motorway to the South West, some people will object to the new location of the visitor centre and some will object to the closure of the local road. Some will object to the cost, some will object to the noise and upset and some will object just because they like writing stroppy letters to governmental bodies.

Currently, I have no definite opinion on it. I am just glad to be part of the team who is working on deciding about it, because it's a site that really, really matters to me.

So Yay for me. I feel very proud of myself for getting it.