Still in one piece

I completed my driving assessment this morning. I arrived in good time and met a fellow trainee driver who had recently joined and was learning to be a PCV driver. He came with me together with the guy from HR and the driving instructor. We took the coach to the outskirts of Peterborough, my new (soon to be) colleague driving. Near to the A1, we parked up and it was my turn to take the controls. The size of the vehicle was daunting at first, but I soon found my confidence and managed a good hour's driving without any major problems. I did clip the curb a few times and managed to select the wrong lane using a roundabout, but on the whole I was quite pleased with my performance. I didn't hit anything and no harm came to my passengers - all three of them. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is certainly the biggest vehicle I have driven to date - a Volvo B10M coach, but it handled much like a large car but not as fast of course.
I was told I would hear about my start date as soon as my medical is complete. I'm really looking forward to starting and knowing there is someone else learning to drive, I don't feel too bad.
I did try to get a photo but my phone had run out of memory. There'll be plenty more opportunities I'm sure
So the medical is next on my checklist. Get through this and my new career awaits...

Assessment

I took a call yesterday from my (soon to be) employer in Peterborough. They have asked me to take an assessment drive tomorrow. I believe they use a coach for their training and this will involve driving it around Peterborough to assess how much training I will need and how confidently I handle the vehicle. They also told me my medical will take place on 8th August in Peterborough. Assuming this goes OK, I hope to hear from them soon after to let me know my start date. At last things seem to be coming together. I can finally begin the see the culmination of two year's effort to get where I want to be. I can't wait to post an entry of my first day and a photo of me with my bus. But first thing's first. Get the assessment and the medical done.

Worries? I have a few, but the thing I'm most worried about is my rather patchy knowledge of Peterborough and its maze of roads. I know I am going to need a good knowledge so I am using Google Maps to navigate the roads from the depot and around the city centre. It's an invaluable tool and very effective, providing an all round view of each route. I will certainly be making good use of it as I suspect the use of a Sat Nav will be somewhat frowned upon...
I need to be at the depot for 9am so I will be leaving around 7.30 to ensure I get there on time. Everyone else will be travelling in the same direction at that time so the roads will be very busy. I have a worry too about the car, it got a little hot earlier (I had to drive to Spalding to sign-on), and the engine fan was running constantly. The coolant is certainly low and I suspect there may be a leak somewhere, possibly in the radiator. I've topped it up and we'll see how it is tomorrow.
So, provided I don't prang their coach tomorrow, I should be able to post some good news very soon.
Mirrors, mirrors, mirrors & MSM...

Play quietly

Living as I do quite close to a bombing range at RAF Holbeach, it is quite normal to expect a degree of noise from various fighter jets, helicopters and the like. This morning however, they must have some new toy to play with for it is far louder than anything I have heard before. Double glazing, normally an adequate defence to their antics is absolutely ineffective and the sound seems to pervade every wall and ceiling. I have nothing against what they do in principle but I do wish they'd do it a little more quietly. There! My Monday moan.

Micro self-sufficiency update, roofing & the news

I've been a busy bunny today. It's funny how you wake up wondering what you're going to get up to and resign yourself to doing little or absolutely nothing. The Sunday blues as I knew them...
Well I've actually done rather a lot on my vegetable plot and it's nearly ready for planting my first crop.

I needed to move an enormous pampas grass from the plot which had taken root. It used to be home to a particularly lively swarm of bees but other than that has served no practical use whatsoever.

I managed to uproot it after some considerable effort and I've simply rolled it out of the way until I can decide what to do with it.
My seedlings are also doing very well indeed. The rocket is shooting up and my other herbs are also beginning to sprout small shoots.

I was very surprised to see three shoots in my honeydew melon propagator appear this morning. They look strong and healthy so I'm hoping I will producing my own melons in a few months time. I will have to give serious thought to a frame for supporting the plants and fruit though I will continue to grow them in the conservatory as the temperature is ideal.

In separate news, we've had the roof to the model railway cabin re-done, and very nice it is too. You'll recall from previous posts that it was prone to leaking. Thankfully this has now been fixed and it is fully water-tight.

Finally, in the last week, we have seen what can only be described as 'news overload'. There have been local and international events which have angered us, amazed us, shocked us and saddened us. I do hope we can return to some level of normality, whatever that is. But it will certainly be a week remembered for all sorts of different reasons.

A sad week

This week will I think be remembered for all the wrong reasons. We had the phone hacking scandal hearings at the beginning of the week, we’ve seen evil at its very worst in Norway and now one of the finest singers of our generation has been found dead. Amy Winehouse, Rest In Peace. What a terrible waste of life and talent…

A special day for my Son

Today was my son's final day at Playgroup. I hadn't really prepared for the emotion of the event. Parents were invited along at lunchtime for an indoor picnic and for a short ceremony where each child was presented with a record of their time with the group and a gift of a pencil case which of course is symbolic of their early school years. As each child was presented with their gift,  they gave the head teacher a hug. As we sat watching, I could see eyes filling up with tears and a lump gradually rose in my throat as it dawned on me the significance of the occasion. Of course this was lost on my son who saw it simply as a slightly unusual day when parents were allowed in school. But for my wife and I, this was an enormously significant occasion. I began to realise just how long he had spent attending the playgroup and how much of his early development was due, almost entirely to his time there. I realised also the dedication and professionalism of the teaching staff and particularly the very special relationships that had been built between them and the children. For one of the staff, this day had particular poignancy as she had looked after our son since he was about a year old, before joining the group as a full-time member of staff. This was reflected in her face as tears began to stream down her cheeks, the emotion of the moment clearly too much to contain. We hugged and promised to keep in touch.
For my son, it will be many years before he is able to understand how special today has been. We have an excellent paper record of his time there, with many photographs charting his development. I am indebted to the staff for producing this and shows the enormous amount of effort that the staff put into their work and the level of care and attention afforded the children who attend.

It is very odd to think that my son won't be attending playgroup ever again. He has six weeks between now and when he begins 'big school'. I will certainly make the most of it as I know that when I start work again, my hours will mean that I will see far less of him than I do now. This I know is going to be difficult for him as he has become so used to me being around. I know for sure that it will be very difficult for me also. I will miss him dearly though I hope there will be times when my wife can bring him to meet me from work or to even ride with me during the day on one of my buses. He'll love that. We'll see what happens...

A very important period of my son's life ended today. Where did all the time go? He's too young to understand why his Mummy and Daddy were so upset... I hope that one day, he will discover for himself

Another step forward

Today I received a letter from the bus company I'm soon hoping to be working for. It asked for me to sign a copy and return which I did straight away. It also said that they would be in touch to let me know the date and time of my medical. Provided I pass this, then they look forward to welcoming me to a 'rewarding and enjoyable' career. Little do they know that this has been my career of choice since I was old enough to speak. So I'll wait now for the appointment details for my medical. As I mentioned previously, I am on a strict diet in the hope that I can get my weight down. I'm not starving myself but I am cutting out all the snacks I used to eat during the day and the evening. I've actually managed to supplement them with carrots, which I do enjoy and also find quite filling.

In other news, my parents today received a letter from their bank telling them they had credited their account with the money paid to those crooks at First Class Trucking Ltd, who recently went into administration whilst owing tens of thousands of pounds to many unfortunate people. What I do find ridiculous though is the fact that having credited the money they also threaten to take the money back if it's found that the course was made available. I would have thought common sense would dictate that the money should be credited once the investigation was complete and the bank had no doubts whatsoever that the vendor was at fault...
Call me Mr Picky but surely that's normal practice?
So I'll be writing a further letter to them pointing out the error of their ways.
Some good news then and certainly a significant step forward in my grand plan but an erroneous outcome with the bank...

On the vegetable garden, birds have been eating my seedlings so I have deployed garden netting in the hope that I can prevent them from getting close to my plants.

Having blamed the birds, I have just caught a slug on its way to munch through another of my seedlings. Luckily I was able to stop the bugger and deploy him swiftly to next door's garden...