Mark has volume

After a chat with ex-colleague and drinking pal Dave in Loughborough we have a consensus that the amplifier is unlikely to be at fault and that it must be either the connecting cable or the pick-up on the guitar that means Mark’s electro-acoustic guitar is not playing through the Amplifier.

Marks Swift 40” electro-acoustic guitar and Stagg 20W amplifier


So Sunday morning I take Mark into the guys at Rattle & Drum in Derby where is was quickly proved to be the cable that was wrong (thanks Maplins) and a replacement was purchased there and then. Even though we’d not bought the gear from them they were most helpful and got us sorted. It’s been years since Andy learnt to play the drums there and the main faces have changed but the service is still first class.

So now Mark can play through the amplifier, and his playing sounds very good considering it’s all self taught (with some help from his mate Sonny).

Missed ride-out

Through my involvement with the UK Deauville Owners ( see DeauvilleUK.org I was looking forward to a ride out on Saturday 27th with some other owners taking in the infamous Snake Pass. This was due to take place over a route that I’d planned, but, after a chat with my old mate Don I was left with a dilemma, to ride and miss a visit by him and Liz, or stay home and see them but miss the ride-out I’d organised. In the end I shot off to the start point at Trowell Services on the M1 for just after 10am and rode the first 5 miles with the guys before peeling off back home while they carried on without me.

Arriving back home around 11am I waited for Don, knowing that they were leaving Stranraer around 10am and heading back for Essex, I figured they’d be with us around 13:00, so when they didn’t show I gave them a call. They were on the A66, which meant that they weren’t coming down the M6/A50 but down the A1 which misses us. Ah well. That’s life and just about sums up 2008 for us. I got some photos of the ride from Allan & Jane, so here they are as an illustration of what I missed out on.

This first one was taken outside Grindleford Café, close by Grindleford railway station…


And this one at The Café in Glosssop, a favourite with bikers visiting the town.


Never mind, there's always 2009, just round the corner....

Christmas

With Dad in hospital at the City Hospital we invited mum to join us for Christmas Day dinner, which meant that we were hosts to 3 of the boys’ 4 grandparents. After the meal mother, Andy and I set off and visited Dad while the others stayed home and played board games.

Boxing Day -- again, mother and I visited Dad. On Wednesday’s visit he hadn’t appeared too bad, but on subsequent visits it was obvious that he was hallucinating and talking rubbish. Andy took his Gran to visit on Sunday and it seems that he is now responding to the antibiotics they have him plugged into, so he appears to have turned the corner again and is looking as if he’ll recover.

Boxing Day saw both boys and their girlfriends keeping us company together with Dave, Carole, Giuseppe and Danny. Not as flamboyant a “party” as we usually put on but good none the less. Sufficient food and drink, board and fun games, light music, karaoke and a sing-along with Mark playing his acoustic guitar (without amplifier as we’d omitted to buy the essential lead to connect guitar to amp). Enjoyable, yes, very enjoyable.

Tuesday night

The other thing that marked Tuesday night was that while we were out, Dad got admitted to hospital again. The carers turned up to put him to bed and Cath (an ex-SRN) said his temperature was up and he wasn’t well. Mother rang me but as Andy wasn’t doing anything special that evening he stood in for me and ferried mum first to the DRI and then to the City Hospital, chasing the ambulance.

As a result mother got to spend Christmas dinner with us and Sue’s parents before I took her to visit dad and then drop her back home. That visit dad seemed to be making good improvement and it looked like his stay would be a short one, but that changed.

Tuesday night out

Tuesday night out was the annual badminton club Christmas event, this year at The Spot in Derby for the 3rd year running. In short it was a nice venue, with friends, good food and drink, a charade type game and then disco dancing and an enjoyable night out. Until time to go home. We’d booked a taxi, which turned up late and got surrounded by a group who decided they were going to have it, and while I’m talking on my mobile I get thumped 3 times in quick succession by some young thug who decides that they ARE going home in THAT taxi. Taxi goes off round the block, we spot it on the other side of The Spot (where it should have been in the first place) and we dive in and make off.

As I write this the side of my head is still bruised and sore. The taxi driver told us that he recognised the lad, he’s know for fighting when boozed up, and he’s not even local (from over Lincoln way). Still, that aside we had a great night out.

A nice day for a walk

Makes a change to have a mild and dry day on any day in 2008, let alone a Sunday. So, to make the most of it Sue & I called in on my mum & dad and took Sheba off their hands for a trip down to Darley Park in Derby where we did a complete circuit round the park. Being let off the leash for most of the walk, Sheba had a good run and sniff session. Mother had been very glad to see us as she was very tired and didn't feel like walking the dog anyway. So we were all happy!

Suzie is the only one who is going to work this week (Monday & Tuesday only). Mark has finished at Uni for 3 weeks, Andy is using up his annual leave and is off until the new year, and I'm....

Mark & I put up the Christmas decorations and hung the cards on Saturday, so the place at last looks like Christmas is upon us. Sue and Mark put the tree in the bay window earlier in the month, but on it's own it just didn't work.

I had a nice newsy email from Susan in Denby updating me on her family situation. Her dad recently passed away and this is the first Christmas for her and her mother on their own. It's going to be both strange and hard for them both but they are planning for next year already. Remember them and say a little prayer for the two of them that they will have the strength they need right now as we go into Christmas week.

Family news round-up 2008

I've added a Family news round-up 2008 to the family web site along with some photos and links to external photos. Enjoy!

And this morning's post

Only one item of mail in the post for me this morning, but, it's more good news -- I have an interview for another role. So that's 2 first round interviews on the 6th January, one 2nd round interview in Sheffield (date and time to be confirmed) and submitted to recruiter by agency after 1st round interview with them for consideration for a 2nd round interview for a role in Burton on Trent.

After the year we have had in 2008, all i can say is... 2009, Bring it on!

Against all odds

The week ends on a high. Wednesday’s trip to register with a local agency has resulted in them putting me forward for 2 positions. Thursday’s trip to Burton on Trent to register with a Manchester based agency and 1st line interview for a role in Burton (long story, don’t ask) has resulted in me being put forward for the 2nd round interview early in 2009. And today, I had a 1st round telephone interview for a job in Sheffield and have got through to the next round, again in early January. So added to the interview already arranged (for a job in Leicester) I will hopefully be having 3 interviews in the first week of the new year.

Now surely I can convert one of those to into a job offer… can’t I?

Reasons to be cheerful

Monday starts the week very quietly. Out of some 30 email alerts I find only one role where I meet the essential criteria, so I apply on-line. Then I start phoning the agency contacts for the roles I applied for last week. Nobody is available (probably out to office parties) and I give up trying and put some gloss paint on the door frames in the hall.

Tuesday morning is a morning of nothing but negative news. I’m either not being put forward for roles, or, I’ve been unsuccessful with my application. Then after lunch all hell breaks loose, and it’s all positive stuff. I end the day with a confirmed interview for registration with a local agency after applying on-line for a role in Nottingham through another of their offices. Also confirmed, a first round interview in Burton on Trent for a job there with a Manchester based agency. On top of that I have a provisional booking for a telephone interview booked via a Leeds based agency for a role in Sheffield. All told I speak to 7 agencies through the afternoon and apply for or get put forward for 4 positions.

Wednesday morning, and I attend the registration interview in Derby, and get the promise of being submitted for 2 positions (one that I’d originally applied for and one I hadn’t). Through the afternoon I trawl through around 30 email alerts and apply on-line for a further 4 roles. This week is proving to be the opposite to what I’d expected.

Winter is here

There’s one advantage to being out of work -- with the onset of winter I don’t have to leave the house unless I want to. As a result I spend hours trawling the internet and banging out applications, responding to email alerts, replying to agency enquiries for more information. And it is paying off. Thursday I hear that I didn’t get a job out of Monday’s interview. Friday I get an invite to another interview, not until 6th January 2009, but at least I have another interview to look forward to and I’m finding that to be very important. Having that glimmer of hope that there is another interview and that it could be the one that turns into a job offer.

Just as important is having ride-outs on the bike. Wednesday I take the bike down into Derby. I have to visit the Job Seeker Office at the Wardwick because I’m still waiting on payment of some of the TIS claims I’ve made and as I can’t get through on the phone I decide to get down there on the bike. It was chilly but it made me smile. And I think we got to the bottom of the issues with my claims, so hopefully that’ll be a few quid into the bank account (not a lot but it all counts at the moment).

Friday should have been a day of riding out on the bike with a new found mate Phil who lives nearby on Oakwood and is also a Deauville rider. However, Friday starts cold and damp. Last night had started with a frost and then light rain had blown in, resulting in treacherous roads and the local radio is reporting loads of accidents due to car drivers not realising just how slippery it is out there. Phil phones and we agree to call off our ride out, which turns out to be the right decision. The day turns into a day of phone calls with agencies and ends with me getting an interview in Leicester (see above). Realistically, that’s better that I had a right to expect because it’s the wrong time of year for most firms to recruit, many are already thinking of the Christmas shut down and their staff parties and the UK (and world) economy isn’t helping my cause right now.

What a waste of time

Monday, 2pm, another reception waiting area waiting for another interview. I was early, now he’s late. Just before 2:30 I’m collected and taken through to an inner office and interviewed. Unusually I’m quite relaxed and I feel that it goes well. The interviewer Adam would be my reporting manager and we appear to hit it off so I leave feeling buoyant, but, not getting my hopes up too high. But could this be the time I get a job offer?

In a word – No!

Thursday I get the feedback. The agency has been informed that of the 4 candidates put forward (I was the only one by that agency) that I was the best of the 4 and the one that Adam felt he could have best worked with. However, as a result of the interviews he has decided that a good working knowledge of Sequel Server is now a must have attribute so all 4 candidates have been rejected and the recruitment process starts again. For me it means my ordeal of searching out that one opportunity I need goes on.

How was Venice?

Good! Quite simply the girls loved it. No flooding, or evidence it had ever happened. Nice, bright and sunny, though quite cool. They loved the shopping opportunities. But it was VERY EXPENSIVE – a diet coke was €7. The hotel was lovely and plush. They walked, took gondola rides and shot loads of photographs. But most importantly they relaxed and came back refreshed.

Did Suzie like it? Better than Amsterdam, her previous favourite.

NEC Bike show 2008

Saturday. £17 entrance fee (each) paid, Mark and I entered the lower hall where most of the manufacturer stands were laid out. Mark is (sort of) interested in replacing his 400 Suzuki Burgman scooter, so maxi scooters were the focus of our attention, but we gave most road bikes at least a quick once over. So what were our impressions….

Suzuki’s current 400 is very tacky and plasticy, well appointed (in Executive specification) and the show bike had an MRA Vario touring screen (like that fitted to my Deauville) which was a point of interest -- manufacturer endorsement, recognising that the standard screen leave something to be desired.

The 650 Burgman (again Executive spec) met with Mark’s approval, mainly due to the powered folding mirrors (very car like). However, Mark noted that (based on his experiences with the 400) it would be nice to see larger diameter wheels on the 650.

Honda’s 600 Silver Wing wasn’t flattered by the choice of black for the show bike. I saw it the year it was launched and it looked fabulous (then) in silver. Mark’s comment wasn’t too favourable, as he felt instantly at home and in his view all Honda did was copy the 400 Burgman and give it a bigger engine. Not enough to tempt him to buy one.
Yamaha’s Majesty got the thumbs down for the same reason, but the bigger T-Max got the thumbs up and when the time comes, will be subject to a road test evaluation. But on the day, at the show, it passed inspection.

As for the other bikes on show? Well we ignored off-road bikes and pocket rockets as both are totally and irrelevant in today’s Britain (off roaders offend and the wrist down, bum up stance should be reserved for either the bedroom or the race track). The spin-offs from the off-roaders, the soft roaders and would be adventurers steeds like the BMW 1200 GS were interesting. There was a Charlie Boorman’s Bikes stand, without any sign of the man himself. Nick Sanders was there (with current girlfriend) promoting his latest book Parallel World and the DVD.

Kawasaki GTR1400 is lovely, not much bigger (physically) than the Deauville and goes like…. They had one kitted out in Police spec, on which I noticed some really nice “crash” bars, emulating the Deauville wings. Talking of which, I heard several positive comments on the Deauville on Honda’s stand – seems like people are wising up to the bike for real world riding. Mark sat on a couple of Kawa cruisers while we were on their stand, he couldn’t believe that people actually ride them – so heavy.

So what else was there to see? Ducati were there ( enough said, they leave me cold). Liked the Aprilia/Cagiva/Benelli stand, nice to see them there, but only with their big bikes. What about all their scooters? Don’t they want to sell any in the UK? Triumph and Victory stands were popular but getting on the Harley stand was nigh on impossible at times.

Then there was the upstairs hall(s) filled with accessory and gear sellers trying to shift old season stock in large numbers at low prices. More like a village jumble sale than a national bike show. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve bought at the show other years and it’s no different to what it usually is, but… perhaps it was just because the place was heaving with people all wanting to bag a bargain.

So in summary. We got there at about 10:15, ate a packed lunch that we’d taken with us and were on our way home by 15:45. I’ve never stayed at the show for so short a visit. It was just DULL and left us both feeling cold. Tacky plastic scooters. Race track refugees in abundance (just as sales take a dive in the UK) and not enough “real world” and “adventure” motorbikes (which are selling like hot cakes). The British motorcycle industry died because the manufacturers stuck their head in the sand. Looks like it could happen all over again, only this time it will be China and Korea that end up with the spoils as they produce affordable machines that can be ridden and not cost a fortune to buy or need a mortgage at service time.

The show is moving to London. I just hope the organisers have a better idea of what the UK motorcycling scene is doing. It’s changing and Birmingham totally ignored that fact and deserves to die as a result. I certainly won’t be going to any NEC motorbike show in the future.

For photos of this show visit go have a look at my web site.

Venice

Well, despite the efforts of the media to scare the 3 ladies into cancelling their planned trip to Venice, over-hyping the extent of the floods that hit St Mark’s Square in Venice on Monday, they caught the 10:00 train from Derby that was to start their journey to Venice via Gatwick. Everything appears to have gone smoothly and they duly arrived at their destination hotel to find that it had been unaffected by the flooding, being on one of the hills in Venice, and on venturing out this morning to St Mark’s Square -- guess what? That’s right, no flooding to be seen. Carol, being fluent in Italian (she’s married to one) asked the local’s about it, and their response was to shrug and say “it came up quick, it go down quick”. Don’t you just love the way the press and TV media make mountains out of molehills?

NEC Bike Show - on now

Last year I attended the Motorcycle and Scooter Show at the NEC, Birmingham and made my comments, these can be seen at 2007 bike show .

Well, it’s that time of year again and with Suzie (hopefully) enjoying a girlie trip to Venice it looks like I’ll be able to treat myself to a visit to the Bike Show again this coming Saturday. With a bit of luck Mark will accompany me, weather conditions and family circumstances permitting.

Will I write up my experiences here after the event? You can bet on it!

It has to change sometime

Luck. It plays a major part in our everyday life and sometimes you get a good streak without even noticing it, and then you get the flip side. Well this year seems to have dealt us more of the flip side than usual, but, at least that gives us time to reflect and realise that by all accounts we’ve had a pretty good run up until now.

After the collapse of zeda and while I was employed by TESL, Suzie booked to go to Copenhagen with 2 girlfriends in early December. Then TESL decided to dispense with my services just days before our family holiday to Lanzarotte. We went anyway, and just as well because we really needed that thinking time away from our normal surroundings. We’d not been back long when XL Airlines went bust, notable because we’d flown with them and thought very highly of them and their service.

Some time later Suzie got a notification that the airline she’d booked the Copenhagen trip with would cease flying from East Midlands Airport but they offered her an alternative flight from Gatwick. So the girls duly switched to that flight and purchased rail tickets to Gatwick. Then that operator too went bust. Travel insurance and credit card provider were contacted and the former paid out their bit and the latter has promised to pay out their bit (but have yet to do so).

The girls got their heads together and found a weekend break to Venice for the same dates and roughly the same cost per head. They are due to fly out on Friday this week, but, what was the national news about 2 nights ago? Flooding in Venice. The hotel they are due to stay in has been contacted and they report no flooding and business as usual. So the girls are still going but packing welly boots “just in case”.

Do this mean our luck is changing for the better? I’ll hold back judgement on that until after the girls return from their mini adventure.

A strange week unfolds

The general consensus I’m getting from talking to recruitment agencies is that over the last couple of weeks there has been a marked drop in the number of vacancies being placed for jobs across all industries, and IT, while performing better than most other industries, is reflecting that downturn.

So I find it just more than a bit surprising that this week (so far) I’ve found ten roles worthy of my time in applying. More surprising still is that I have an interview (1st of 3) lined up for Monday and that after meeting with a recruitment agency yesterday for registration and evaluation, that I may well be called for interview by a company who have already interviewed me once despite the fact that I completely blew it last time out -- and I nearly didn’t bother to make the journey to the agency due to the weather blowing up a snow storm at the time.

I have a good, old fashioned, printed job application form to fill in and return for a job at a local county council after a tip-off from an ex-zeda colleague – thanks Dave. I should have done it today, and would have, except that I found 5 to apply for on-line and the deadline for this printed one is December 12th. So that’s tomorrow’s task.

Recruitment agencies

Like anybody/everybody else that’s unemployed and looking for work, I’m finding that there is a whole load of difference between the quality of the best and the worst recruitment agencies. Finding jobs via email alerts or simply searching the web sites invariably throws up an opportunity to apply online using a web link or an email link. So that’s what you have to do. It’s the first of the hoops a job seeker has to jump through. But, and it’s a big BUT, all this does is put your interest into somebody’s electronic In Tray. And if they are busy, that’s where it stays. Yes, you will probably get an automated receipt for your application, but, it will state that if you haven’t here by a specified date then you are to assume your application has been unsuccessful.

But, if they can be bothered then the application may be quickly browsed and assessed. If like me you don’t possess a degree (no matter how obscure the subject) then there’s a good chance your application will go straight into the recycle bin. Basically they will be looking for essential criteria, and if lady luck is smiling on you then you may find yourself on the receiving end of a phone call for “further information” which may result in them submitting your CV to the recruiting employer.

And then they will repeat the whole exercise to arrive a t a decision as to whether or not they will test and/or interview you. Then, you have an opportunity to present yourself and respond to their questioning, which is sometimes quite easy, but, sometimes it isn’t. I find that gut instinct is usually a reliable guide and if you think it went badly then there’s a good probability that it did. However, if you think it went well you stand a good chance of finding out that their perception of the event isn’t in line with yours. Then there’s the recurring situation that I am currently finding where you think you did well, they think you did well, but, somebody else did better.

Of course, all of the above is written on the basis that you actually get feedback of the interview event via the agency. Like everything else in life, some recruitment agencies are better than others, and it’s not until you find that you can’t get any feedback on your performance that you find out which are the good ones and which are the also rans. I’m starting to compile quite a list now and the good can be counted on the fingers of one hand, then not too bad take all your fingers ( but not your toes) and the really terrible…. like flies on a dead carcass, too many for comfort.