A Little Job & Olympic Worries

I've had a couple of small jobs come my way this week. A work colleague of my mum-in-law has a laptop with a faulty keyboard. It's a strange one this, as all the keys work except for J,K and L. I've taken the keyboard out and taken a closer look but unlike laptops of old, there is literally nothing that's serviceable. They keys do come off, but that's it apart from the contact sheet underneath. So I've recommended a replacement which to my surprise will cost just £25 to procure. Computer spares must be the only things that have actually decreased in price over the years. The same customer has a tower unit which 'blue screens' on starting which could frankly be a number of different things so I'll be taking a look at it once the laptop is repaired.
So that's all very good. I do love fixing things especially computers and if I can earn a little by doing it, then happy days.

Weather, oh weather. It has been nothing short of horrible for the last two weeks. It all came to a peak last night when we had very heavy rain and strong winds, which persisted well into today and have only really eased in the last hour or so. There are flood warnings almost everywhere at the moment and there are rivers where their banks have already burst, such as in York. Yet we are told we still have a drought. So why not try to collect some of this water, the same way I am in my garden, but on an industrial scale?

In the news we've had the Leveson Inquiry and the furore surrounding the Culture, Media and Sport Minister Jeremy Hunt. I've certainly been glued to the coverage surrounding this and I firmly believe that there remain many questions to be answered and I believe there are rough times ahead for the current government. I could spend an hour or more writing about my thoughts on this subject, but I won't. Suffice to say that I believe not one word of what we are told by our government or Mr Murdoch, regardless of how plausible their explanations and excuses may seem. They may think we were all born yesterday but I for one am not going to be taken in by it, not a single word of it.

Twitter. I've written on numerous occasions regarding the power of Twitter and its influence on our society is clear given the media coverage it has received lately. Admittedly, the coverage has been for the wrong reasons and unfortunately, it is all too often used as a weapon to offend or humiliate.
But I do see it very much as a tool for making comment and observation, and on many occasions over the last week, I have received replies and even had my tweets read out on radio. I already have over 100 followers, to my surprise and how many of these read my tweets, I do not know. But the fact that my tweets regarding electricity providers were picked up by Eon and NPower and my tweet regarding the mis-treatment of Christopher Tappin was read out on-air by LBC, it does make me feel good about using this relatively new medium. What started out just a couple of years ago as an Internet SMS service has grown into perhaps the most powerful tool of communication and opinion in the World today.

No week would be complete without a crisis and this time it was a flat tyre. I had spotted it just before my wife was due to leave for work. Of course it was all too much for her but we managed to get someone to come and collect her. I managed to get some air into the tyre and drove gingerly to the local garage. Within half an hour they had located the puncture and repaired it. Wonderful, and all for just £20. A huge relief given the fact I was expecting to pay £40 for a new tyre. So a major crisis was averted thank goodness.

There is concern at the moment regarding the ability of our immigration control services to cope come the Olympics and the predicted hundreds of thousands of extra visitors. This has arisen after complaints by entering passengers who had to queue for up to 3 hours at Heathrow. Mobile phone footage showed long queues of disgruntled passengers and I can't help but imagine the scene in three months from now when Olympic devotees begin descending on the capital.
We are being assured that the airports are prepared for the influx, buy haven't we heard all thins before? Do they really know how many people are expected? I doubt it. I fully expect to see huge queues at our airports, caused in part by delays in processing passports and in the inability of our transport system to transfer the masses to the Olympic site.
Somewhat amazingly, there is discussion at the moment regarding the siting of ground to air missiles and the surreal suggestion to place missile batteries on top of apartment blocks and other tall buildings. We are being assured a complete no fly zone will be enforced over London during the Games, but mistakes do happen and I could easily see a situation where a plane or other airborne object could stray and a missile be launched in response. The results of this would be catastrophic for anyone below.
And of course there's the hoaxer and the chaos that would ensue following any warning deemed credible.
Of course, there's every possibility the whole thing will pass without incident, and I hope it does. But I do have serious doubts as to whether the current infrastructure will cope under the additional strain and I seriously doubt our preparedness. Time will of course tell.

A Blanket of Whiteness

The snow has finally arrived here and by the Wash here in Lincolnshire, we have woken to a deep covering. We shouldn't be surprised though it's not that common to have heavy snow here, it has been forecast for days and the scenes of freezing white conditions in Europe and the East should have been warning enough.

It was particularly interesting to find that my conservatory has a leak...

In the news, the continuing and worsening violence in Syria is making the headlines and particularly the veto by Russia and China to a UN resolution to denounce President Assad and support the overthrow of his regime. Not surprisingly, the decision has provoked outrage and further soured already tense relations. I suspect this issue will run and run for some time to come.

If the weather hadn't been so bad, we would have visited my parents today with our Little Man. They haven't seen him for more than two weeks now and have lamented the fact. The roads really don't look safe enough to drive so it looks like we'll be staying here.

On the job front, nothing has yet transpired and we continue to struggle on. I've received no response to any of the recent applications I've made. I did yesterday apply for a new role that's appeared very locally. It's for an IT Assistant and the role appears to be pretty basic, but that doesn't bother me at all. The fact that it's so local really appeals to me. I won't be holding my breath though.

Photo of the Day 21, A Light Dusting & Other Stuff

The first snow of the winter overnight and we're being warned of more to come this weekend. Brrrrggghh!

I don't really know what to make of my appointment earlier today. I probably expected to hear something different. For the first time, I was seen by the top guy there. He was sympathetic as I supposed he has to be but seemed to imply that I could control the amount of stress I expose myself to and in a similar way control how I deal with it. The only thing of any real use was a suggestion that my medication could be adjusted. The only problem with this is the fact that I'm either going to be more tired and sedated than normal or not be sedated enough to sleep properly.
I'm pretty certain that diagnosis can vary tremendously from doctor to doctor. I never seem to hear the same thing - it always varies in some way. It's simply impossible to tell someone being treated for depression to 'cheer up' and 'get on with things'. But I suppose that's how I felt about the advice I received this morning. My wife accompanied me this time as she saw first hand how bad things were last week and as normal, she had to endure me in such a terrible state. I'm sure she felt frustrated too at not quite being able to get across the seriousness of my most recent episode. There is I think always a communication issue between patient and doctor. This may be contentious but it's something we're all aware of. When doctors and specialists are of a different ethnicity, this can be a particular problem. The language isn't so much the issue - often their use of English is better than most people I know. It's the nuances and common phrases that aren't often interpreted fully. This can lead to a lack of full understanding and it's exactly that which contributed to my feeling of disappointment with this morning's session.

I applied for another job today. It's for an ICT technician based locally to service schools and businesses in the area. I've heard nothing from the others I've applied for recently, par for the course I'm afraid. It's hugely demoralising and really does begin to get you down after a while. But I'm determined to find something so I'll just carry on until my luck changes. It's pretty obvious to any followers by now that my driving ambition is temporarily on hold while I try to save us from homelessness and possible bankruptcy.

I haven't yet mentioned the outcome of the 'to do' in Sutton St James the other night. Sadly it isn't good and a once peaceful village is now traumatised and shocked. The guy involved in an armed stand-off with police decided to take his own life. A very sad ending and a loss to his family friends and neighbours who knew him.

I'm hoping to get some nice wintry photos over the coming days. It is clear at the moment though we have had the odd flake or two of snow today. It is though very cold and we're expecting a sharp frost overnight. Thankfully we have ample wood and coal.

An Icy Blast

We're being told to prepare for some nasty weather. An icy blast is on its way from the East and from about Wednesday the temperature is set to plummet. There's the real chance of some proper snow too, so it doesn't look as if winter is quite done with us yet. After all, we have had it pretty good so far with one of the warmest winters on record.
We have a new car and my mood has lifted finally. I've actually quite warmed to it. It's a Citroen Saxo, blue and really rather nice. OK it's not the sort of car I would have chosen and it does lack some features such as air conditioning and power steering. But it does have a sunroof and given its tiny engine, it really is quite sprightly. I've driven it a couple of times and it does take a little getting used to, but it's no great hardship.
We've started this week with my wife feeling very poorly. It started last night and she had a very restless sleep waking this morning with aching joints, a temperature and very little energy. As I type this she is lying on the sofa next to me in her Slanket fast asleep. She was to have helped out today at my son's school swimming trip but I had to call them earlier to tell them she was too unwell to attend. There is a nasty sickness and diarrhoea bug doing the rounds at the moment and they've had a lot of children off school because of it.
I'm really hoping I'll hear something this week regarding a couple of jobs I've applied for online. They are local and are both IT Support/Service Desk roles. It's all stuff I've done before so nothing too taxing.
I do feel a lot better than I have done the last few days. I really sank to a very low point and I know it caused my wife a lot of stress and worry. It's hard to explain why it happens and how I feel when it does. It's not something I have any control over though I'm sure people assume it's something I can turn on and off, but I can't. That's not how it works. I wonder sometimes if it would be easier on everyone if I disappear somewhere whenever a bout hits. I know I'm impossible to live with but it's important to me that someone's there for me when I eventually come out the other side. I fear that one day there won't be anyone, and that scares me a bit.
I have my first CBT session tomorrow in Spalding. I don't really know what to expect so I'll keep an open mind. On Thursday, I have an appointment with my doctor. My wife is coming with me this time.

Saving My Tomatoes & Providing Support

I decided to remove the remaining tomatoes from my outdoor plant. Apparently the temperature is set to drop to just above freezing by the end of the week and it's unlikely they will survive in the open. I managed to collect a punnet's worth, so not bad at all.

While I was picking, I was joined by a large Red Admiral butterfly. It looked stunningly beautiful and was a welcome late visitor to the garden and a sign that we're not yet fully in the grip of winter. It lingered long enough for me to take a snap as it sat in the sunshine.

I have mentioned in previous posts my fondness for a You Tube channel, 'Glen1040'. I really enjoyed his videos and I was fascinated by his efforts at self-sufficiency. I notice that his channel has now been closed and I have been unable to discover where he has gone. It's really quite sad and I worry whether something has befallen him.
My watermelons are now the size of small lemons and growing fast. I've had to provide some support for them and being quite high on the plant, I have decided to use tights as suggested previously. For one, I've created a hammock of sorts and for the other, I've supported in from the roof of the conservatory. All very Heath Robinson but it seems to be doing the job.

There will be a degree of despondency from me over the coming weeks as things begin to get difficult. We are lucky to have an insurance policy which protects our mortgage payments, but this claim period will end in February next year. By that time, I need to have found suitable employment and be able to cover the payments. If this doesn't happen then, frankly, the worst will happen. I must admit to trying not to think about it too much. Depression is one of those things that can be triggered very easily and I really don't want to suffer another bout. But as the weeks pass, I (we) will need to start thinking seriously about what we're going to do. I've always said that I never want to return to an IT career, but it is what I know and as I am still unable to complete and achieve my full PCV license due to lack of funds, it may be my only option.
That is the stark reality at the moment...

Brushing-up my French

I have been brushing up my French over the last few days. It's actually a language I like very much and studied it at school many years ago. I do with I paid more attention though. It was one of the few subjects I really enjoyed and to this day, I have retained a few words and phrases. The course I am learning with is from Michel Thomas. It is different to other courses as you are actually the third student - there are two others on the CD and they are learning also, making mistakes so you don't feel you're the only one failing. The system actually works and very well. I have already learnt quite a lot and more importantly, I've retained what I've learnt. One day, I'd really like to visit France again (last time was in 1989) and spend some proper time there. I have suggetsed to my wife that we move there when we retire...

I've heard absolutely nothing from Stagecoach despite two letters, one of them to their head office. I'm convinced now that they don't care and my respect for them has all but disappeared.
I haven't completely given up on my wish to have a PCV career but I am being forced to look for IT-related jobs. I was turned down for the job at the local schoool though I notice they haven't found anyone as their vacancy has been extended. I did though find a vacancy at a components company at Wisbech. I had no idea they existed but a little research threw up the fact that they are one of the UK's largest component suppliers. Quite how I hadn't heard of them I don't know. It just goes to show what's on your doorstep sometimes.
So I've applied for the position of IT Technician looking after the computers and network at their offices. I hope to hear something in the enxt few days. Even if it's a polite 'no thank you' then I still have what's needed for my mortgage insurers to pay out.

I've been able to harvest a few tomatoes which I'm quite pleased about. They taste wonderful - sweet and juicy. There are many more still attached waiting to ripen and I hope that they weather allows for them to turn red before the frosts set in. We are forecast cold temperatures, ice and snow in the coming weeks.

I have been self-pollinating my watermelon plant. The female flowers have a round ovary just beneath the flower and I have been pollinating them by removing the male flowers and bringing the stamen into contact with them. If successful then the ovaries should begin to elongate after a week or so and develop into a water melon. Again I'm hoping the weather doesn't turn too cold as this may affect their growth.





My parents are decorating at the moment. They're currently working on the kitchen and have chosen a greeny-blue colour which frankly I think resembles that of a public convenience. But hey ho I don't have to live there. I visited this morning and was relocated to the front dining room, comfortable and with nice views.
They have a friend coming to visit on the 20th from London, a good friend of the family hence the panic to get everything redecorated in time. I know my father would rather be tinkering in his garden. At 72, he's really too old to be painting ceilings and walls. Well that's my view.
While I sat there with my breakfast, I recorded these images for posterity and it made me realise how we take for granted our location and what's around us.

It struck me that I hadn't really noticed how eleborate the fireplace is...

The view as I sat eating my breakfast and the garden still full of colour...

The view from the front looking out on an almost unspoilt view across the fields toward the Wash...

Besides my French language course, I've been listening to a range of different music types. Music for me is very much like sunshine and has similar effects. It is food for the mind and soul and can alter the way I feel or the way I think. So, I've been feeding my ears with the likes of Rick Wakeman's Myths and Legends of King Arthur how I ever missed this I don't know), Eurovision winning ditties, Gheorghe Zamfir, music from the Soong Sisters and anything else that pushes the right button. I've also added to my already immense MP3 audio book collection - lots of new mysteries and ghost stories, perfect as we approach Hallowe'en.
 Which reminds me, I must ask my father to provide a pumpkin for my little man. I've convinced him we need one so we can scarte away the witches...