Today is a significant day.  Look, it even says it in the title of this post.  “Today,” it says, “is a significant day!”  Note the exclamation mark for emphasis. If I could use italics in the title I would, because today isn’t just a significant day, it’s a significant day.

What is it about this day that’s so significant?  What is it that sets is apart from those days of lesser importance on either side?  Put simply, it’s this:

I quit my job.

Unless you’re doing fabulously well, writing for children isn’t going to make you rich.  There are perhaps a handful of children’s authors each year who find themselves able to live on their earnings from writing alone.  I, alas, am not one of them, largely due to my debauched and excessive social life, which alone costs me upwards of sixty or seventy pounds a year.  Or twenty, if you don’t count DVD rentals.

While I have in the past managed to live almost comfortably on various writing earnings, for the last year I have been working with my local Environmental Health office, helping keep the world a safe place for all you good folks out there.  It’s been without question the best ‘proper job’ I’ve ever had, and I’ll be sorry to leave.  But leave I shall, because if you’ll remember:

I quit my job.

Why the resignation?  It’s because my family and I are upping sticks and moving to the Republic of Ireland in the summer.  In a complete and utter leap of faith we’re relocating to an area we’ve never been to, to live in a town we’ve never heard of, and mingle with people we’ve never met.  Adventure has a new name, and that name is Barry-and-family-are-moving-to-Ireland. 

I never said it was a catchy name.

We don’t have jobs in place over there.  We don’t even currently have anywhere to live.  All we’ve got are some slim savings, a lot of cardboard boxes, and matching expressions of determination on our faces.  Hopefully that’ll be enough to get us set up in a foreign country.  Okay, not that foreign, but technically it is, even if they do speak the same language, shop in Tesco, and drive on the correct side of the road.

So that’s that.  We’re moving in early August, so we have about six weeks to dismantle our lives in Scotland, then reassemble them in Ireland.  I’m toying with the idea of taking on an entirely new persona when I arrive there – perhaps a cynical private eye type, or an over-zealous French chef – but I’ll decide that nearer the time.

So now you see why today is a significant day.  It should not pass without celebration.  Check back later, when I’ll have found something suitably celebratory to post.