Well it’s proving a good week for us. Wendy had her interview today, passed with flying colours, and is back to being a (part-time) wages slave as of next week! When she was last with the C.A.B. she worked on a project called G.P. Outreach as a sort of independent advisor. She would go to doctors surgeries and deal with people the doctor referred, such as people with debts, housing issues, benefits problems etc. The idea was that she could then deal with people who were too loony or simple to just attend the regular bureau. Then, in dealing with the some of the causes of stress and misery in their lives it would let the doctor offer a more holistic package whilst freeing the doctor up to just deal with the medical issues. I only mention that to explain that in her last role Wendy had to take on a whole lot of issues then deal with most of them herself as the clients weren’t capable, and keep on dealing with every little issue that arose in their lives. She was constantly having ongoing clients calling her and then she was worrying over every thing in their sad lives. Although on the one hand rewarding, it was emotionally draining and too much of a burden for her. Which brings us to her present job; trainee debt specialist. In this capacity she is specialising in her favourite subject (debt), she is part of a team, and because of the massive (and inevitably increasing) workload in that field that the bureau faces, it is her boss’s policy to deal with all of the clients problems in one, or at the most two interviews. Then case closed. These are going to be compos mentis clients so there is no need to hand-hold and take over their cases. It’s sort everything out, tell them what to do, or arrange it, then let them get on with it. Also it is one very short bus ride away from where we live, her previous job entailed two buses, or a bus and a train, or if I happened to be off, an hour’s drive in rush hour traffic (to cover about seven miles!) So, old job bad in all sorts of ways, new job better in just as many, and having the added bonus of letting Wendy specialise in her favourite subject. Also she’s lost the best part of another stone since we returned from Scotland, so everything is peachy in the world of the Wendster. I have made a decision about my martial arts. I went to a Karate class the other day to try it out. It was weird, but I expect it was good if you stuck at it. The only reason I went is, as I’ve mentioned previously, Taekwondo more or less ignores the fact you have hands. They are just handy (as it were) counterbalances for when you are kicking. This is fine in a competition where your opponent won’t […]
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Hot. Damn hot!
Hi there. This beastly weather we are suffering is killing me. Work, though better than being in de-kit, is still a non-stop sweat-fest. I put in four hours overtime on Monday. The manager asked me if I could do any overtime quite early on in the shift. I’d just had the weekend off and was feeling fresh and lively, so I said I would. By 1pm I was done-in, soaked in sweat, had no food, and another five hours in front of me. That was fun. Sweatier yet is Taekwondo. Sah bum nimh reckons she’s joined flab-fighters, so were are all getting exercised to death (as misery loves company). The last two nights have been so humid, then on top of that having Sah bum nim cracking the whip. You could literally wring my dobok (gi, fighting suit) out. She had us all lined up doing one kick, step, one kick. Then one kick, foot down, straight into second kick. Then three kicks, then five, then ten. This wasn’t three kicks, rest. It was kick, kick, kick, again! Kick, kick, kick, faster! etc. Then doing mad kicks backwards across the hall. Then we were split into groups (I was with the black belts/ one below black belts, and me! Yeah, see my trumpet. Observe me blowing.) Doing turning kick, into 360 degree kick, into spinning back kick. Not easy, but I was 80% there. One chick who was the grade below black belt (red belt with black tag) and was obviously surprised at my attempts, said I shouldn’t worry about not getting it dead right as this was an advanced exercise for her grade and that I was excellent. Yeah, she wants me. In other news the Warrington coppers show an alarming alacrity in dealing with motoring offences. An indecent haste some might say, given their response time to real crimes. Anywho, Wendy posted that confirmation of details thingy back to them on Sunday, I had the reply on Tuesday! £60 fine and three points. Bastards. The Wendster is moaning about me typing so I’d better sign off while I dig a shallow grave in the garden. Later, Buck.
Continue readingYin and yang
I once heard a simple description of the yin and yang that said that even in the heart of darkness there is a little light (as a metaphor. I would suggest a sealed box in a coal mine would be pretty dark, but without observation who can tell? Discuss.) Well that’s how today has been. I was knackered before I started work yesterday due to poor sleeping, then I had a sweaty 2-10 shift, home, shower, wind-down, then bed for midnight. Back up at ungodly O’ clock, (six am) quick brew, then to Manchester to start my pre-test drive at seven. Did all right on my drive to the test centre, and all apart from one hideous and frankly impossible, turn had a good drive. I wasn’t stressed, just focused. However that one turn was enough. It was impossible. There was no way you could make it round and stay in your own lane. You had to hog two lanes into the corner (which I didn’t do, it looked deceptively easy) and then sit half around the bend and wait for the oncoming traffic to stop and let you have their lane as well. I ran over the pavement with my trailer trying to make it. Balls. That was it, my one serious mistake. Fail! I came home and had to go straight out to do the big shop, have a quick dinner, then charge in to work. I was knackered as I said, it was boiling hot, and my heart just wasn’t in it. Then I overheard the manager asking if one of the lads wanted to have half a day’s holiday, so I said "I will!" That cheered me up, coming home early, only to find the letter off Cheshire Constabulary had arrived. Cheshire coppers have kindly asked me to fund their next Freemasons piss-up (under the pretence of a speeding ticket). I felt it my civic duty to oblige. So I was down again. That’s almost certainly going to be three points. Seven attempts at my license, probably won’t be able to get a job if I ever do pass if I do pick up six points. Pretty damn miffed. At the last minute I decided to go to my TKD club (as Wendy was watching Wimbledon) and that has cheered me up again. I had a good lesson, but more importantly, got my grading results: ‘A’ grade pass, certificate, yellow belt, (and Bully’s star prize) a T.K. Loh (the name of the grandmaster) Tae Kwon Do badge! I don’t know of anyone else who has one. I shall wear it with pride. I may have to buy some pyjama’s so I can wear it to bed! That is the spot of light in the pitch blackness of today. Soldier on, all things must pass. Later, Buck.
Continue readingIrony. Bitter ain’t it?
Goddamn it! I have a grading at Taekwondo tomorrow so I went to my club last night to get in some much needed practise. I found, by chance, something of a short cut on the way there. On the return journey I was knackered (it’s a 6-2 week and it was about ten at night), stressing about my grading tomorrow, looking for the new found short cut, and though I saw the speed camera I just didn’t register it until I suddenly had FLASH! FLASH! in my mirror. Bloody, bloody hell! I was reading that new drivers now have a probationary period of two years on their license, within which time amassing six points or above automatically leads to disqualification. From what I can gather it is new drivers per se. I became a driver (well, rider) back in ’85, and passed my car test in ’05, so I’m hoping one of those will be the one that it is reckoned from. I only passed my class II in January though (gulp) and am still striving for my artic license. If I can’t get a job for the three years that (I think) the points stay on my license I am going to be gutted. If they take away my HGV license (and I’ve wasted the worst part of five grand) I am going to be suicidal. This time tomorrow the grading will be over and I’ll be a lot less stressed. Then I can work up to a new fever of stresed-ness for my next test, then sit around waiting to see if I have picked up the points and the fines and how that will bugger my job prospects. I have no idea how long the fines take to come through, so I’ll be on tender hooks whenever the post arrives, for as long as it takes. Balls! Buck. 🙁 PS, Day after, done my grading. I made one embarrassing mistake. Grand Master Loh (the head of the whole of the U.K., eighth dan, so, no pressure) told me to go into sitting stance with a punch. Those were not his exact words (his accent makes understanding him difficult, and I flap under pressure so I’m not sure exactly what he did say) but instead of widening my stance and dropping down a little, I stepped back into a fighting stance. I knew I’d done something wrong but couldn’t think what I should be doing. Sah bum nim Caroline (who was standing next to Grand master Loh at the front of the hall) had to say it again and do it herself before I got over my flap and carried on. Also I went down onto my knuckles for press-ups, but had my hands in a vertical plane not the horizontal. Like my knuckles cared. Hey ho, done now for another few months. Seventeenth of October to be precise. Hopefully I will have passed. My poomse (kata in Karate; a sequence of set moves) was right, and showed […]
Continue readingIndomitable spirit
Hi and let me start by saying "OW!" I have been making excuses for not going to Taekwondo for a few weeks, there was the illness, the headaches, my stupid shifts, etc. Last week I didn’t go on the Wednesday because I’d failed my HGV driving test and was incredibly gutted. Anywho, yesterday I decided there would be no more excuses, back to it. Come the hour, come the man. Yesterday I trotted to the local school for the lesson only to find it all locked up because the kids are on another bleeding holiday. D’oh! Not to be beaten, I came home and got down to a serious work-out, with loads of kicking exercises, starting at breaking knee height, up to knockout head kicks. I finished off with a load of stretching exercises. This is the first time in a good while I’ve actually got around to doing that. It was, and should be, several times a week or more. So, though I missed the class I was still feeling good about myself. Tonight was another class, at St Helens, (about nine miles away) so I made the effort and went to that one. They have a fight coming up soon, so we spent the whole hour sparring and fighting. I was drenched in sweat, as was most everyone else, and exhausted. Fighting in those chest protectors is like going for a run in a sauna, wearing a basque (don’t ask me how I know!) Loads of people were picking up minor injuries; clashing shins, toes bent back, one lad copped a kick to groin and several people had painful knee collisions. I was no exception, I had a few incidents where I kicked at the same time as my opponent and our shins collided, also kicking at someone’s body protector and caught their elbow instead. What amazed me though was people were getting upset about it! Admittedly one or two of them were only kids so were excused, but the adults were whining as well! What part of the concept of ‘martial art’ or ‘fight’ don’t you understand? You fight and keep going until it’s over. There is no middle ground. At times it will hurt, but if you don’t keep fighting you can guarantee it will quickly hurt a lot more! So I’m stiff and bruised and have drunk two and a half pints of pop since I got in to try and rehydrate. That’s all the ‘go me’ side of it. The down side is, apart from a more realistic expectation of what martial arts entails, I was crap. My kicks weren’t too bad, but I couldn’t get my foot down quick enough after each one to put me back in a fighting position for a counter attack, and I just couldn’t seem to get outside of peoples range. It was a good lesson for that. It showed me how bad I am, how much I need to improve, and in what basic areas. Well, all […]
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