In my new role as a Circuit Rider I shall be attending the National Circuit Riders Conference in
Dinosaurs!
A few years ago the kid's were watching Blue Peter and one of the features was about an exhibition of animatronic dinosaurs that had been on display at the
So one Sunday morning we set off for
We enter the exhibition, pay our entrance fee, wander round the first six tableau, which were OK, quite impressive, and went in search of the remainder of the show... only to find that there was no more to see, that was it. We had traveled 100 miles to look round an exhibition that didn't even take 30 mins to walk round! Ooops!
So we decided that we would find something else to do in Birmingham and came across their natural history museum but that was not due to open for a couple of hours. That was fine as we could have lunch first.
Are You Local?
Now you do remember that car park don't you!Well we looked round for a picnic spot and there really wasn't anywhere so we decided that we would sit in the car park and have our lunch. Let me explain. Part of the car park was coned off so there were no cars. There was a large flat area where we could spread out the picnic blankets etc and it was nice and sunny. So we sat down and tucked in to our food.
We had been there for about half an hour when two people started walking down the car access ramp from the level above and as the legs came clearly in to view it was obvious that they belonged to uniformed people. As the rest of the uniforms came in to view we saw that they belonged to two members of Birminghams Police Force. The Pc and WPc looked over in our direction, did a double take, and then started walking towards us.
Andrew, our friend, and I got up to greet the officers and we walked towards them not sure of the reception we were about to get, (now although this should have no bearing on events at all I should point out that Andrew is 6ft tall, bald (thru choice) and covered in tattoos!
The police officers approached very stoney faced and stopped about 2ft away from us. Looked us up and down and then the Pc broke in to the widest grin I have every seen, and in a thick brummy accent said "You're not from round 'ere are you? !"
We had quite a chat with them. explained why we were where we were and what we were doing next. They wished us a pleasant afternoon and a safe journey home and toddled off to complete the rest of their beat walk. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in the canteen at the station later that afternoon...
Natural Gas or The Curious Incident of the (wet) dog in the night time
Next stop was the Birmingham Museum of Natural History. A pleasant enough diversion. We walked round the various rooms and display cases taking our time and enjoying ourselves. It was whilst we were in the paleontology section that thing took a turn for the worst.
In a nutshell, lunch began to catch up with me. Something I had eaten had given me terrible wind. I was crippled by the most horrendous stomach cramps, beads of sweat appeared on my brow, I needed to find a toilet but was unable to move for fear of ... well, need I say more! I did have a glimmer of hope. If I could release some of the pressure then may be I would be able slip off quietly and sort myself out.
We great cunning and no small measure of skill I managed to execute the aforementioned plan and with no little relief I smiled at my success. No one had even noticed. How smug did I feel. It was then it hit me. Imagine that a dog who is damp and has rolled in something unmentionable is warming itself by a log fire. Fix that aroma in your minds eye and times it by at least ten!
My eyes began to water and I could the tips of my fingers going numb. I suggested in a clear but calm voice that it was time to move to the next room. Howls of complaint met my suggestion. I suggested a second time that we really had over stayed our welcome and it was time to move on. Again mass protest, slowly followed by a sudden silence, stunned looks appeared on the faces of my companions, colour drained from their faces, eyes began to roll and stream and they ran from the room gasping for breath...!!!!
We spent about 20 minutes in the next room and where amused to notice that anyone entering the previous room spent no more than 30 secs in there before moving on! I wonder why?!
Ingredients:
Dear Friends & Family
Another year, another letter, another “this is the latest I have ever sat down to write it” statement – today, by the way, being the 17th December 2006! Apologies for no fancy news letter this year but time really has been against me!
So, we hope all is well with you and yours. We have had yet another interesting year. If I were to detail it all I would be here ‘til the 6th Jan next year so I will give the edited highlights.
The way the year started should have been an indicator of what was to lie ahead.
What of Daniel I hear you cry! Well. He eventually settled in to the Green Box (the area alternative academic unit for children that have missed school long term through illness, injury or bullying). Towards the end of the school year he was starting to do a mixture of Green Box and
The new term started, and Daniel was up ready to go, dressed breakfasted and uniformed by 5.30am!! He loved every minute of it. And promptly had to miss the second day back because he was exhausted through his over excitement! But for the first couple of weeks back he was a model student and back in the flow. Then he hurt his knee tripping over something and damaged the ligaments and was unable to walk, and he had to rest up for a week. Then he had a throat infection and was of school again. He fell down stairs and damaged his knee AGAIN! So this was more time off, and this was followed up by an infection/inflammation of the muscles of the chest wall. So after having managed the first two weeks of the term very well, he missed practically all of the next six weeks. It was at this point that we were due to have follow up meetings with the school to assess how he was doing.
(We have to point out at this point, where we felt we were left dangling in the wind last year in terms of Daniel’s education and anyone wanting to help him/us, this year they have been red hot and on the ball about making sure he has settled back, coping etc and have had strategies in place to aid him). Anyway, after some meetings and delivering the edited version, it was decided that Daniel had missed so much of his new year 10 subjects that it would be an impossible task for him to catch up with all the course work and other stuff and to that end it had been decided that Daniel needed to work to a revised time table with an initial period of catch-up back at the Green Box. This went down like a boiled ham at a bar mitzvah. Daniel did not want to go back to Green Box etc, but after time he realised that this is in fact the best thing. He is currently concentrating on Maths & English with a little bit of science, and as a gesture, they have allowed Daniel to continue with his photography course, as he, like his sister, loves photography and shows a distinct talent for it. So he goes to College on Mondays for the last two lessons of the day, one being Photography and the other he has a session in the resources centre. On Tuesdays he is at Green Box. Wednesdays he is at Green Box in the Morning and College to do photography in the afternoon. Thursdays is a Green Box day and at the moment he has no lessons on a Friday. This will continue until half term (early February 07) when things will be assessed again.
So it is very much watch this space with Daniel John Duncan. Let’s hope we have finally turned a corner. As he said when he finally accepted that he had to go back to Green Box, “I just want to keep my head down and do my time!” (Shades of Norman Stanley Fletcher!). He has not got back to playing hockey, although he keeps making noises that he is interested in doing so. It will be good if he does as he loved playing and it will help get his fitness up. However not so sure about the freezing called Saturday mornings having travelled 100 miles to see him play on the coast at Skegness and watch his team get thrashed 15-0!
He has made a new friend, a young Australian lad called Cameron, who started at college in September. This is good as one of his close friends started to get very funny with him. Through his friendship with Cameron he has discovered a different circle of friends and they go out and about together. The group includes girls and Daniel spends ages in front of a mirror making sure his hair looks OK if he is going out and they are going to be about. He has even been known to take a shower without being prompted!
Lindsay, dear old super glue, has had her work cut out this year trying to keep the family unit together. What with
So, now, Lindsay is at home in the mornings and can help with getting the kids up for school and college etc. As ever Lindsay is still running a taxi service for the kids (although I do my share as well).
Lindsay has just signed up for a jewellery making course (her Christmas present) which she is looking forward too and is still making cards and decorated spoons (for weddings).
However the biggest change of the year as been for me. After 3 years full time with Bridge Partners, ‘we’ parted company in November of this year. Due to all the stress and strain at home over Daniel and school etc plus the normal strains of having two teenage children etc etc, my own health began to suffer and I began to find work very stressful and in short my performance dipped. So, after several discussions, it was decided that in the best interests of both parties my future lay outside of Bridge Partners. This obviously came as a huge shock to Lindsay and the family and not least to me. I was extremely upset at first, but I cannot fault my directors, they bent over backwards to help me through the difficult times, but at the end of the day, I think I knew in my heart that the time was right to move on to something new. So I entered the very scary world of the Jobless on the 1st November 2006. And at the Age of 43 let me tell you it is a very scary place to be! For various reasons the last interview I had to get a job was in November 1993 when I went for job with TSB Bank. Since then I ended up with jobs after a project placement under a government scheme, then because I knew someone, then because that firm got bought out, then I left and worked for myself during which time I was introduced to Bridge Partners who employed me as an associate and then offered me a job fulltime.
So, after a week moping around I started scouring the papers for vacancies. I filled out about half a dozen applications, and ended up with two interviews in the same week.
Now, I have always been a great believer in things happening for a reason – yes I know hind sight is a wonderful and it’s easy to be positive about an outcome when it has happened, but, I always felt that I would find another job! The fact that I left with a financial package meant that the need to find work immediately was not as great as it might have been, but even so, it was still very high up on the importance scale.
One of the interviews was for a new charity lead project called Reboot. The job was to work as a project worker on the Reboot scheme, which, because of the changes in law governing the way electrical and electronic equipment is ‘got rid of’, would offer companies, organisations and individuals an outlet to get rid of old computer equipment, and then upgrading it to meet the requirements of clients looking for cheap PC’s who would buy the kit for a nominal fee. The project would give young people with Aspergers Syndrome a place to learn new skills and obtain work experience. A fascinating project run by Red2Green. I had really good interview and felt that I stood a good chance of getting the job, the only area in which I was weak, was actual experience of working with people with Aspergers, but I felt that this was not in itself an insurmountable problem. Anyway during this interview I was asked had I heard of another project called Cambridgeshire Circuit Riders – which I had as that was where my second interview was that week! Anyway, the day after my interview I received a call to say that I had not got the job, but it was a very close run thing. I was also asked if I had spoken to the chap in charge of the Circuit Rider project, which I had, and explained that I had an interview there the next day or so.
Moving on to the second interview, it was, for a job as a Circuit Rider, (which is a person who gives of their skills, expertise and experience to Voluntary, Charity and Non Profit Making Organisations for the benefit of those concerns and the local community). Again the employer was a charity. I saw the advert in the paper and realised the closing date was the next day, so I phoned up and asked for an application form, went and collected it, filled it in and dropped it off the next day. I took the form in by hand. When I got to the offices where the charity was based, the reception was closed. A chap, who worked at one of the companies in the building, was showing someone out and asked me what or who I was there for and I explained I was there to return an application form. At this point I realised I knew this chap, although he did not recognise me. So when I pointed out that I knew him but he obviously did not remember me. So I jogged his memory, it was from my days as manager of the Wine Shop in Ely, he was working at the local hotel and they were a regular customer of ours. He then remembered me and was very interested in the fact I was now working in IT and had been for about 14 years. Anyway he said he would give me an interview. Which he did!
I had my interview at 9.30am on Thursday 30th November, at 11:45 I received a call to say that the job was mine if I wanted it, and, was there any chance I could pop back down to the office straight away for a meeting with one of the projects I would be working on! Talk about an immediate start!
SO, that’s where I am now. It is early days, and I love every minute. Being based in Ely is a godsend. Although there is travelling involved not to have to travel to
Well that’s it. A rather long and depressing missive lacking in the Joys of The Season! Last year I spouted about the family website but I simply haven’t had time to do much with it, however, I now have a blog which I intend to use to keep you up to date with everything. You can sample my rantings at http://elkmanjeff.blogspot.com
The blog is called An Elk’s Eye View From The Fens. (Due to my current weight and girth, some where between huge and miniature blue whale, my children affectionately refer to me as Moose Man!)
All that remains is for us to wish you, dear reader, the merriest of Christmases and the Happiest, Healthiest and Most Prosperous of New Year’s
With all our love and Best Wishes
Paul, Lindsay, Sian & Daniel x x x x
