The Quiet of August

Now that I have the Dell back, I can catch up with all the work that I should have done in the last 2 weeks! Isn't that a wondrous prospect? No? Thought not.

The forecast for East Yorkshire is not good for today, nor indeed for the next few days, which will include the weekend. Not that we have any faith left in the Met Office, of course! I think that their funding should now be cut: after the huge expenditure of the last 10 years, a failure to improve indicates to me that they are not able to. Get rid now and and go back to chalk and board.

Thoughts of purchasing natural daylight bulbs from Amazon and other suppliers were far from mind as the sun streamed in through the gap in the bedroom blind. However, being aware that this is the last Bank Holiday weekend of the year, I am very cognizant that summer, and hence sunlight are fading, FAST. So, off we headed to Planet Coffee on Newland Avenue and ordered several "Obscene" sized drinks. "Ah, the sun!" I thought, relaxing back in my stylish alfresco chair.

Before you know it, October half-term will be upon us, along with Halloween, a sea of deadly hot toddy recipes, small-talk of Christmas Economics, and inane 'conversations' commencing, "What's on'telly, then?" Yes, the Northern Hemisphere is exiting warmth and light, and within mere weeks, we will be lighting up first thing in the morning, and before 18.00 in the evening. No wonder, then, that many take to drink in the winter months. If I do the same, it will be down to informed choice and not solely attributable to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Why? Well, because this year, I am purchasing a pair of full spectrum, daylight light boxes and several of the same light bulbs for both our homes. All of us are affected to some degree by the short days and the grey skies, so this Autumn/ Winter we come prepared and our Pineal glands won't know what's hit them.

Johnnie has gone to Kwik-Fit in order to get his front tyres replaced, since they have about a millimetre of tread above legality - a fact established by Mercedes-Benz when he took the car in for work on the brakes last week. So, I am thinking, do I do a light lunch of chicken and salad for us both, or do we skip and have a substantial eat out this evening? I decide on a bigger meal later this evening with Johnnie, and focus on Frank's dinner.

Found, this afternoon: the Bose iPod SoundDock and Amplifier. After making renewed acquaintance with the (simple) controls, we had a great boogie in the dining room to mainly 70s and 80s heroes of pop (Debbie Harry, you ARE a goddess, STILL) whilst cooking up meatloaf and a steak & kidney casserole with honey & mustard for Frank. Now, that's some choice. Even Patsy Stone benefited from the mood of the afternoon by slipping daintily down a small but quite bloody plate of chopped kidneys. She'll be fast asleep underneath the garage for most of the evening, right now. Better than cruising the streets like a rebel without a cause: "Just what is it you're rebelling against, Patsy Stone?"

Rainy Day

It rained extensively overnight. Sometime between nodding off at 03.15 and 08.30 this morning, I had a BIG nightmare. My Mind conjured up Technicolor images of some strange and twisted neighbour who was out to poison Cat with a sweet paste that he sprayed through the gateposts. In my nightmare the situation was made all the more real as events occurred here, in East Yorks, and not over in Bradford. Even in my sleep, it night, and raining hard, lending the potted begonias a fresh and glistening appeal in the garden lights. Losing the power of coherent speech in the real world above ground, I aimed to shout "Kill Him!" as I chased the culprit around the raised beds. I was doing nothing of the sort, of course, except thrashing in bed, screaming a mumbled jumble of animal noises. I think Johnnie and Cat woke up around 04.00, wondering what the hell I had been drinking?

Anyhow, that was last night, and today, I have loads to do. Number 1 is to ring Mercedes Benz of Hessle and get the car confirmed in. I aim to drop it off at 10.00 and return home in the courtesy car.

My hit list for this week consists of:

1. Forms and paperwork for RB

2. PACE - forms and paperwork to do with TTG Enhancement Fund + costings and budget

3. Speculative bid and business outline for SEM and analytical equipment in Bradford

4. A Units for Johnnie

5. Getting my PC back from DELL and updating the Delius website, amongst other things

Mercedes rang just a little after 12.30 to let me know that they had identified a defect on the car's rear door/ window, and that a whole new unit would have to be ordered. That means that tomorrow! I will have to continue to use the A Class that they have given over to me as a courtesy. No complaints here. What are they going to do with Frank's SMART, then, as it is still booked in for tomorrow morning? It looks like this has the same generic defect? Let's watch this space . . .

I have just been to the local TESCO off Beverley Road, where the self-service checkout queues were almost 12 deep. Note to self - don't go shopping for food at this time, not unless you do Lidl or Aldi. Lots of half-price booze, mainly Australian Shiraz, on display, so I obviously loaded the basket with a couple. I had forgotten that I had a telephone interview scheduled for 17.00 - REED Education had rung earlier to check my availability, and I has said "yes!" So, I was multi-tasking, stocking up with kitty-litter and other essentials as I loafed around the store answering questions as to my suitability for a role in Leeds.

Quite a productive day today, but I need to get more done ASAP in the next 4 weeks: I feel guilty as hell that I am not in work and miss Johnnie whilst he is out at work . . .modern life, eh!

New Projects and Twin Cities

I want to focus on the Delius Centre this coming week by ensuring that I have some meetings and conversations, at the very least with people like Maria Mousawi @ BC,Chris Howson (Delius) and other Directors, Sarah at Interlude, and people in business in the city to pull together some events and a programme of activity for 2009-2010. I will be concentrating in a separate Blog my activities in more detail.

I am putting the finishing touches to my novel, which has already got a publisher. I hope to complete the schedule of work that the publicist has requested. It has been a very changeable and varied four years of life, and I hope to communicate the travels, trials and tribulations of my family, friends, and some colleagues during this time of great change. Although working in Bradford, I must confess that East Yorkshire is a great place to get away from it all: although the journey along the M62 motorway to the Leeds-Bradford conurbation to work and business can be a bit of a pain, I think that we are lucky that we are able to do this: work with fantastic people (you KNOW who you ARE!) and have more choices than we would necessarily by staying in the one city.

Kiss Me Off . . .

I was paid off yesterday, Friday afternoon, at around 1500. I was in HR photocopying and printing, enjoying the extensive and free use of the A3 colour printer that they have in their offices, when the Unit Head, P, came to see me, and asked that we "have a word". We went back to 13H, the office/cubicle/ex-photocopy cupboard, where SI , the HR Officer, was sat.

Without much audiable preamble from P, I was offered a month's salary without the work - instead of working out my notice, given 10 days ago, all I had to do was leave then and there. "Fabulous!!" I replied. "Oh, where do I sign?", I ventured, open eyed with greed and glee. "You'll have to hand in your security pass and any keys, and leave straight away." I gleefully retorted "Of Course!!" Obviously, I was gone in under 4 minutes, as I hardly needed to hear, much less listen, SI saying to me "You're a very lucky boy!". Verily!

Indeed, such was my high, with "nil extra" convincing of this state of affairs being required, even at my great 42 years of age, that unsure that my luck, nor boyish good lucks, would evaporate before I left the table, I bade leave in such an (unseemly) manner, that I virtually chucked these same requested items at R, beamed out "Good luck" at nobody in particular, took the fluffy monkey from my bottom drawer, and said my farewells to MJ in the office opposite.

In fact I went outside with her whilst she acted out digestion of my news over a Lambert in the shadow of the big building. Any sadness I had was reserved for not having been able to say "Bye" to L and A, etc.

I had noticed that attempts had been made to break into my email account in work from my arrival yesterday, so i made sure that I password-protected the Personal PST Outlook Files. You see, when I send myself an email later in the evening, it was not bounced back. So, R must be reading the incoming comms. As I said at the time, good luck . . . EnSu is in the toilet and the people left behind know it.

I dropped my Thermos flask in the back of the SMART and made my way to the YCC, where I caught up with CP, CH (Delius) and CL (Ex-Delius) prepping for a meeting. Obviously, I was just in the nick of time, and was invited to join in.

Later, before I had embarked on the longish drive home to Hull, I rang MM of Community to set up some activities in Delius, and also RSAB to let hom know of the status of my departure - projects involving me would not be unless there was a firm committment from BC, now. Watch this space, as they say.

Down Town . . .

Bradford is looking kinda, well, rough! like a lot of Bradford people, I am tired of the aesthetics and feel of the place. Just look at this, for example, the main thoroughfare into the City, and people, whether they like it or not, zip by in their cars and see this.

This is one of the latest news articles today:

http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=81136

We have a huge hole on the other side of town where the Westfield Shopping complex should have been rising into the sky, and only around the corner, close to the University, is another half-finished, but practically dead, city-centre apartments development. The latter has now been left languishing since last summer.



These signs are not encouraging. How can people be tempted to invest in Bradford when we have such a sight at the iconic and decaying towers, complete with summer foliage, casually greeting visitors. Would it not be better to rip them down or shield them from view until we have a definite way forward???? How much does it cost to keep this rotting shell on an acre of prime city real estate? Opposite this, is the old police station, now virtually derelict, and sporting a 25 foot sign proclaiming that it is "To let". No way, Jose. Not in this economic climate, not without parking, and not looking out onto that view.



I implore people to join in with local projects, talk to their MPs and councillors, and pitch in with ideas against this, this tide of apathy.

DELL . . .

We're posing here on the terrace at Harewood House, as it is a lovely, sunnay day, and Johnnie has never been before. I would highly recommend a visit by anyone, but please be warned, save aside a whole day for appreciating the house and all it has to offer before enjoying the extensive gardens and terrace. Bring a good camera, as you will treasure the pictures for years to come. We used a Canon PowerShot A620 (a great buy from a colleague, Saudagar, in 2008).

My Dell Laptop (Inspiron 1525) was bought last summer in a Kingston-Upon-Hull branch of Tesco. I had to have a new laptop at that time, as I was finishing off a Uni course and needed to get my work done. The ACER Aspire 3630 that I had was good, but had poor capacity on the HDD. The DELL is a VISTA machine - I was suspicious at the time - and altough representing good value for money on paper, gave me huge problems for over three weeks, culminating in a call to Microsoft's VISTA Helpline, and not long thereafter, the machine had to be totally reinstalled and then all my old docs and files restored. That was sooooooooooooo MUCH FUN! I could have thrown it out of the window back then.

The honeymoon period never was - the time frame between payment, and unpacking in the dining room was too narrow to be called a honeymoon - but there was instead a time, between September 08 and December, when the machine behaved in an expected manner. That behavious broke down in the New Year, and the laptop now spends considerable amounts of MY time unexpectedly overheating and shutting off. THIS IS NOT good!

Today I have been on the phone to DELL support (very good), who have decided (quite quickly) to collect the laptop from my home and return it around the 14th August. I am happier, but I am not happy at the prospect of having to go 10 days without my PC. I will probably never buy a DELL again. Let's see what happens re this issue before I pass further comment. I have to backup all of my files today and tonight, and still do the work that I need to do!