Whisky

Up to now I have steered clear of detailing or expanding on my fondness for whisky, which extends to whiskey and bourbon. What's the difference I hear you ask? Well whisky (without the 'e') is produce of Scotland while whiskey (with the 'e') is produced anywhere outside of Scotland while bourbon is distilled from rye not barley.

Dalwhinnie 15yo and Aberlour 10yo

One thing I will make clear - I am not a whisky snob! I simply enjoy whisky, some more than others. All Scotch whisky has to have been aged in the cask for a minimum of 3 years and after the oil industry whicky production and sales are Scotlands biggest cash earner.

On the left, Auchentoshan American Oak - interestingly, no years aged data.

The pictures above show some of the brands currently on my shelves and which will be on the receiving end of my attentions over the next few months.

End of March, another milestone

How cool is this? Suzie treated me to a week in Pitlochry with the family in a rented bungalow which we used as a base for walking, touring, distillery visits and plenty of good eating to celebrate my 60th birthday.

Back home she then treats me to a birthday meal with friends and family, after which we go back home for the final celebration, birthday cake and champagne. On the top of the cake is a picture of me taken while tasting the whisky in the Blair Athol Bells whisky distillery in Pitlochry...

My photo on top of my birthday cake - that's cool!

Time to cut my birthday cake and share with friends and family...



This birthday was totally unlike my 50th birthday - I did not want to be 50, I was a bear with a sore head for the 6 months up to my birthday. Suzie treating me to a Fly-Drive dream holiday on the west coast of the USA did sweeten it and of course, I survived, thoroughly enjoying our trip across the west side of America (Pheonix to San Francisco the long way round). However, I didn't have any issues with being 60 and enjoyed every minute of the week with the family and the time with our friends.

After the shed

The next project has come and gone. Our ensuite bathroom has been deconstructed, remodelled and rebuilt by professional plumber and bathroom fitter Craig Smith. As agreed, to keep the cost down, the final touches, painting and fitting of accessories were left to me to do. Might publish pictures later.

Next up is to finish painting the kitchen as I have done the ceiling and gloss work (that is matt white ceiling and gloss white doors, frames and skirting boards. I've also done most of the walls with just the area around the window and the bit behind the radiator left to do.

Next up was to be the utility room. Then it would have been the rockery as that needs serious attention but last night a reversing lorry demolished part of the garden wall out the front so that will probably take priority over both of those projects. It never ends.

Shed electrics - update

Three months after of successful running the power to the shed died. With the cable buried under the new path there was no way I was going to dig it up to investigate.

The result was a proper security power cable getting buried across the garden and a visit from an electrician to connect the two ends so that (for a change) it was all done properly.

And it works!

First ride

Monday saw me get the bike out of the shed and off for a first ride since early November last year. My destination was an office in Manchester to deliver some papers. The outbound ride was mostly up the A52 / A523 on the route that does Ashbourne, Leek, Macclesfield, Stockport. As a result of not setting out on schedule I was left with a blast back via the M6 / A500 / A50. Boring! But what a chilly ride and a bright clear day resulting in a massive grin and an hour of trying to get warm on returning home.

My drives

A couple of pictures of what I've been driving:


One of my regular drives which I refer to as 'Big Bus' - A12UOD is a 17 seater VW Crafter


Another of my drives - a 15 seater Ford Transit

The VW Crafter is one of several vehicles owned by the University, all identified by their 'private' number plates. The rest are on short term lease by manufacturers (or their main dealers). A12UOD is 5 years old and has done 84k miles. The engine is strong, the gearbox is a rough old dog and it is prone to electrical failures, mostly down to faulty diagnostics reporting faults that do not exist. The Fords (I've driven several) have lovely gearboxes but the engines are weak and lacking the BHP of the VW which means that driving requires a whole load of gear changes. The VW also has a tow hitch which results in interesting reverses to park up the bus at the end of the day, ploughing the university verges where reversed in (as can be seen in the photo).

One thing that is taking some getting used to is driving on the digital tachograph. Getting the damned thing in the unit is a trial as it never wants to accept the card. Then the unit location, very low down, makes it very difficult to see what it says you are doing. Then remembering to to switch to rest period, sticking to driving hours and remembering to remove the card at the end of a shift. But I am getting there and staying inside the law.

Then there are the cars, the small stuff. Ford Fiestas, Focuses, Kugas and S-Maxes, Vauxhall Zafiras and Vivaro 9 seater minibuses with the most recent addition being a Fiat 500. The Vauxhalls are a pleasant surprise and way better than the models that preceeded them. All of the cars listed have their quirks but the one thing they have in common is factory fitted GPS satelite navigation which is virtually incomprehsible to use. Why? Because it is incorporated into the sound system (a mixture of AM/FM/DAB) and buttons have a dual use for the 2 seperate functions that results in making changing radio channel a time consuming hit and miss affair. My solution is to use those units for sounds only and use my personal sat nav for navigation as it is a purpose built tool and not a dual purpose piece of electrickery. I like the manual Kuga but not so keen on the automatic one, so overall the Vauxhalls get my vote over the Fords which (on past experiences) surprises me.

So far, so good

Well so far 2016 has been quite good to me in my new driving job. Ferrying students to sports events including volleyball, netball, basketball, 6-a-side FutSal and football (11-a-side), dodgeball to name a few. Then there have been educational events where I've taken students to venues where they have been having off-site learning or providing younger college students with educational experiences that are aimed at bringing them into Derby University. Then there has been University Open Days and Graduation days where we just shuttle back and forth between locations across Derby. This semester I've taken on a regular Tuesday night run from the University picking up young riders (mostly female, the lads prefer to drive themselves) and taking them out to an Equestrian centre near Etwall for 2 hours with the horses before I do the return run, dropping them off on the way.

Airport runs are a big feature in my working life which involves fetching and carrying UoD staff between their home locations to various airport locations. So far Birmingham International Airport, London Heathrow and Manchester have been the most frequently visited, but already booked are London Stanstead, Liverpool and East Midlands Airport. These runs can be the most informative as the staff usually like to converse for a portion of the ride - 2.5 to 3 hours in the case of LHR. These conversations often revolve around travel and that has made me realise just how well travelled Sue & I are considering that our travels have all been self funded and not been paid for business trips like those the UoD staff are experiencing. One suggestion has been that I create a travel blog and record our travels. Some trips have appeared in this blog and some on my website so I can understand the suggestion to put them all in one place. Makes sense but time is the issue, decision deferred....

So that was Christmas

Christmas has been and gone. A very enjoyable time with the family. Too much food as usual but plenty of fun and games.

Something different

Walking out of my Business Analyst role at UoD was made all that much easier by walking straight into a casual driving job right there, ferrying lecturers, students and important people about between the various campus locations, other universities and doing airport runs (so far just collections from Heathrow and Birmingham).

And I am enjoying it. There is no routine, jobs are offered by email for me to accept or decline. There is no stress, all I have to do is turn up at the pre-booked time, check over and sign out the vehicle and drive. I love the longer runs because I get to just hang around waiting for the return run which is frequently when the match/game has been played or the plane has landed, and then drive back. Simples. I am free to fill my time in between outbound and return runs as I please, and I get days without work, so more "me time". OK, so I'm not earning at anywhere near the same level but importantly, I am happier and have time to work out what I want to do longer term.

That didn't last long

Got so fed up with the hostile working environment that I quit on 30th October, so...

Started.: 30th September
Finished: 30th October

Yes, I just quit, with immediate effect and walked out. Never done it before and no desire to do it again but it had to be done.

C'est la vie!

Re-employed - 3 weeks in...

Well that was a hectic few weeks. My stats this time around:
Jobs applied for . . . : 54
1st round interviews: 12
2nd round interviews: 02

One job offer: Senior Business Analyst quickly revised to Principal Business Analyst

Made redundant 11th August
Commenced employment 30th September

So that's 7 weeks unemployed drawing job seekers allowance of £73.10 per week. Now my commute is just under 6 miles each way and flexible hours on a 37hr week. But big expectations and short timescales to deliver in, and a need to bring about a real culture change.

No preasure there then!

Nearly there...

So the guys from Bestcrete have been and done their thing, poured, stamped, coloured and sealed the 3 phase creation of drive, patio and garden path is now complete and all that remains is the bit that I will term 'landscaping'. Basically a flower garden to the right of the path and building up the level of the soil on the left and then either seeding it with grass seed or the laying of turf. So this last weekend we got started on it and this is the current state of play...

Path poured, pattern imprinted, coloured and sealed...

The new path blends almost seamlessly into the patio just as we wished....

View from patio to back door and the start of the path...

Flowerbed on the right planted out with an initial selection of flora.

Environmental maste management system in place, away from the back door.


View from the side access.