Monthly Archives: October 2009

All Moved In

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Well finally on Saturday moving day came around, and we are now in our new house as of Saturday night.

The weather forecast was as predicted for once - rain all day!   Just the day that you really don’t want it to rain, it does!   Thursday, Friday and even Sunday were nice, but no, Saturday had to be wet didn’t it!

We got up early, grabbed a bite to eat, then set about dismantling the bed.  That’s when we hit snag number one, as several bolts would not undo, so we couldn’t take the bed apart.   Debbie suggested to wait for her daughter’s husband, who was helping us move, as he had assembled and dis-assembled the bed before several times.

So, we sorted out everything else that we could, and at 9am went to pick up the truck that we had rented to do the move.   I have to admit that this was the biggest truck I have ever driven, which was a bit intimidating, especially as I was going to have to drive it down some of the narrowest roads that I have ever driven down as well.   But I managed ok, and got the truck to the house, and started to load some of the smaller items while Debbie went to pick up her son-in-law.  She turned up about 30 minutes later with her son as well, which was handy, as another set of hands made moving a lot easier.   Only 3 days before, she had to take her son to the hospital as he was really sick, and diagnosed with swine flu, but once they managed to hydrate him enough, he bounced back, and seemed right as rain on Saturday, and insisted on helping us move.

We pretty soon finished taking the bed apart, loaded up the van, which unfortunately wouldn’t hold everything, meaning that we would have to make a second trip, and set off for the new house.

The drive is only about a mile, but the last stage involves a very tight 90 degree turn into a narrow service road, a sharp right turn into our road, which goes steeply up a hill, then at the top a right turn at a t-junction, and driving in reverse the 200 yards or so to get as close as you can to the front of the house, which itself is about 50 yards beyond the end of the road.   Fortunately there are only cars parked on one side of the road, so I was able to reverse up without any problems, other than getting a stiff neck and slight diziness from having to look behind me while driving.

Everything got unloaded ok, but we had to then make a second trip, as not everything would fit into the van the first time around.   So we set off back to our old house to find two large vans parked on opposite sides of our road as you turn to start going down the steep hill.  Taking it very slowly around the sharp turn, I managed to clear the vans with about 2 inches each side.   I don’t think I want to take up truck driving for a living!

Back to the house, we loaded up the last of the things, back to the house, where we took a quick break, then Debbie and I took the truck hack, while the guys put the bed together.    We got back as Debbie’s daughter arrived with the new grandson, and took a well needed break while she made some bacon sandwiches, which really hit the spot.   I ought to add that all the while we were loading and unloading the truck, both trips, the rain just came down heavier, but fortunately the worst we had was heavy drizzle, not monsoon rain, and no wind either, because then everything would have been horribly soaked through.  As it was, we were just dripping wet, but it probably helped cool us down a bit too.

We had a bit of a drama trying to put the wardrobe back together, as these things are really only meant to be put together once and once only, and the connectors are not as solid as they once were, plus some fo the wooden dowel plugs were broken.  However, realising that the reason that the unit was not solid, and was swaying from side to side was that we needed to put the backing on it, we proceeded to use my new toy, a staple gun, and quickly fixed that in place.   It still seems amazing to me though, that the only reason the wardrobe is standing upright is that there is a thin piece of hardboard stapled to the back of it.  It makes me want to be rather careful when I get things in and out of it, but so far, touch wood |(or should that be chipboard?) it’s holding together ok.

Having eaten and rested for a bit, and sorted out a few more things, the others headed back home, while Debbie and I started to sort things out, making the bed, putting things away etc.

The previous tenant (or tenants) did things a very strange way, since none of the curtain poles were screwed in properly for a start.  Brackets were not fixed tightly to the wall, and the poles were not fixed into place on the brackets, so that every time you opened or closed the curtains, the pole moved.  Well that was one of the first tasks I was assigned, and pretty easy to fix fortunately.   

Next came the towel rail in the bathroom, which was loose and actually fell off.   Neither of the brackets were screwed into the wall tightly either, and when I tried to fix it, there were 3 types of screw used for 4 holes, 3 of these were horribly bent and the 4th had a stripped head.   They were bent because they would not go deep enough into the wall, which was not drilled properly, and there were no plugs either.   Rather than try and fix this over the weekend, I thought that we might look around for a better rail, since it would be good to have one that tolds more than one towel, and we also need a toilet roll holder on the same section of wall.   That will be a job for one evening this week I am sure.

There was a doorbell button on the outside of the door, which didn’t work, and we couldn’t see a bell anywhere.  So I tool the front off the bell push to find that a rather corroded battery fell out, and there was no clip to hold it in place in any case.   I pulled that off the door frame, and we went and got a new doorbell, just a cheap one that works remotely, no need to wire it into place, and of course it didn’t include any sticky pads, so that task will have to wait until we buy some.   The nice thing is that you don’t need to fit the bell anywhere, you could in fact attach it to your belt, nice if you were out the back doing work in the garden I suppose.

We managed to get the Freeview box for the television working on Saturday, so we could watch television until the Sky engineer came to fit the satellite dish, but he came this morning (Monday) promptly at 8am and we now have full satellite service back again.

The telephone and internet are going to be a bigger problem, but with luck we will have that sorted out by next weekend.   When the BT (British Telecom) engineer came last week to check the phone line, since there hadn’t been a landline with them in the house for a few years, all he did was to check the line quality, and to fit a new socket in the hallway.   Unfortunately, the phone socket is in a gap between the kitchen and bathroom, and at least six feet from the nearest power point.   It’s not only one of the worst locations that you could think of for putting a phone, without running power to a phone you can only use a basic old phone, not a cordless one, let alone a router etc for the broadband service.   I managed to rig up an extension lead from the nearest socket, which is right next to the front door, with the cable going under the carpet protectors that are down right now, and at least we are able to plug in our cordless phone and the wireless router, but it’s far from convenient.    At the weekend I am hoping that Debbie’s son, who is a pc technician will help me to relocate the phone cable from where it now comes into the house, to the third bedroom upstairs, which is where we want our office to be.   There is a socket already there in the wall, in the perfect place, and a cable running to the outside.  It should just be a matter of pulling the old telephone cable away from the wall on the outside of the house and getting it into the office.   “Should be” is the operative phrase however, as knowing my luck something always either goes wrong, or turns out more complicated than it ought to be.  In this case, I think the difficulty might be in pulling the cable away from the wall.   We do need to get a stepladder to be able to reach the cable, however if we need to run a new cable instead, that will require a ladder instead.  Wish us luck.

My worldy posessions that I had shipped from Florida were due to be delivered this afternoon, but Pickfords called me mid morning to see how early they could deliver.  The good news is that everything arrived by midday and is now in the spare bedroom.  The bad news is that there was far more there than Debbie imagined, and I am sure it will take us months to go through some of it.  Of course not having seen the boxes since mid July when I shipped them, I now don’t remember exactly what I packed where, so it’s more than likely that things I want to find more quickly will elude me and probably only turn up when we finally get round to opening everything.

The next thing for us is the delivery of the new cooker on Wednesday, and then to try and get the attic floored over, so we can store things up there.  That is going to cost a bit of money, so it might have to wait a couple of months before we do that unfortunately.    Stay tuned for the next installment of our ongoing saga, and don’t forget to subscribe to Off The Record to get notified of new posts by email.

Withdrawal Symptoms And Moving

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As the weekend fast approaches (it’s Friday lunchtime as I write this), the time is drawing close to when we move and I lose my internet connection for possibly up to a week.  I wonder if Debbie and I will both cope with not being able to check emails, do web searches, or play our favourite games (we are both currently hooked on Evony).

The other thing with changing your internet connection is wondering how well it will perform.  Since this is an old house (1950′s), will the phone wiring be too old to give us a good speed, or will our location alone determine that?  Will we get a faster speed than before, or be forced to suffer slow downs and disconnects?   The speed and reliability does concern me somewhat, since it affects webcam calls to my daughters in Florida, and it’s so much nicer when I can see them with a good quality picture.

Tonight when I get home from work, it’s going to be a case of getting changed, then loading up both cars for hopefully one, but possibly two trips to the house, to take the rest of the smaller items, and to leave just the larger ones and furniture for tomorrow.

That means by the time I get to sit down tonight, the house is going to be even more of a bombshell than it was last night, plus it’s going to be late and I have a busy day tomorrow, so chances are not a lot of time will be spent online tonight.

Tomorrow we are renting a van to move all the furniture, so we will be up early, and out to pick that up, so almost certainly, tonight will be my last chance to get online until the new connection is established.  How will I cope with not knowing what’s going on in the world?

The weather this week started off grey, gloomy and wet.  The forecast was for rain all week up to Saturday night, but as the week went on, the forecast got better – except for Saturday!  Right now the forecast is for today and Sunday to be dry with sunny spells, while Saturday is still expected to be wet.  I hope that’s not so, and the forecast is so often wrong, but I don’t much relish loading a van with furniture while it’s pouring with heavy rain, then having to reverse up a narrow road in the rain at the new house, and unload everything again.    The house is past the end of the road we are moving to, to even if you park as close as you can to the front door, you still have a good 50 yards to carry everything.  I am just looking forward to having everything in one place, and then we can move forward with settling in and making this new place feel like home.

I will try and post updates during the week from work, until we get connected back home.   Wish us luck with the move…

Reverse Culture Shock

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I have to admit that moving back to the UK after having lived in the USA for the last fifteen years is a bit of a reverse culture shock for me in many ways.   Fifteen years is long enough to get past most of the pangs of missing things from where you came and also to become well adjusted to where you moved to, however even after that length of time, there were still some words or customs I came across that were different in the USA that I wasn’t aware of before.

So having moved back to the UK and now having started back to work, albeit after almost three months of trying to find a job and spending much of my time at home, I am not back in the real world of living in England.

Working for a family owned company here is very different to working in Corporate America, where there are so many rules and regulations as to what you can and can’t do, and many of the traditions that might have been have long since gone.   Here for example, people in the department take it in turns to get tea/coffee for everyone, something that I haven’t seen in years.   The boss took us all down the pub for lunch on the first day, and it’s still acceptable to have a drink at lunchtime, whereas the mere mention of alcohol at work in the USA is a big “no no”.   Companies don’t necessarily have microwaves and water coolers here for the employees, in fact ours has neither, but there is a good supply of hot water to make a decent cup of tea as you would expect!

Driving to work is also very different to what it was in the USA, and for me it’s a step backwards.  No more driving 25 miles down the highway for me, or like in my last job 45 miles, which I could do in about 45 minutes.  Now it’s just over 8 miles to work, but it takes me between 40 minutes to an hour.   Only 1/4 mile of that is using a road that has 2 lanes each way, the rest is on just regular roads, and of course much of it is just one big traffic jam.

I guess this is just one of the downsides to living in the UK again, having to deal with the traffic, whereas in both Indiana and Florida where I was living in the USA, the traffic levels were much lighter.  Not only that, once I got out of the residential areas, the rest of the journey was on main highways with at least 2 lanes in each direction.  The traffic in the UK has always been terrible and it gets worse every year, but I am grateful at least that I am not working in London.  Most people working in London have to take public transport to get to work, and that just seems to get more unreliable every year too, so all in all I am pretty lucky to just have a 30 minute journey every day.

My next task, having moved house this weekend, is to sort out a food system for work.   In Florida I used to make myself oatmeal for breakfast in the office, and could bring in leftovers at any time to heat up in the microwave.  I also used to drink a lot of water, and kept bottles that I would fill up from the water cooler.  Now without either a water cooler or a microwave I am looking at alternative options, so will have to bring in my own water from home (since I object to paying an arm and a leg for bottled water), and will probably have cold cereal in the office, since there is a fridge that I can keep milk in.   We don’t have enough money for me to splash out on buying sandwiches etc more than once a week, and besides that, I prefer to know what I am eating, trying to eat healthy as much as I can.  Having lost more than 20lbs in weight over the last two years, I am determined to not put it all on again, as I feel so much better these days.

Well enough rambling for now… Please feel free to leave a comment…

New Job New House

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I started my new job today, and all went very well.  I am hoping this is the right job to see me through until retirement.

The day started with my getting up before Debbie, which is unusual since we have been getting up based on when she needed to go to work.

As I didn’t have to go in until 9am today instead of the normal 8:30am, I left the house about 8:15, to give myself plenty of time.  Drove out of our road, around the roundabout, got 100 yards down the road and then sat in bumper to bumper traffic for the next 2 miles.  It took me close to 30 minutes to do that part of the 8 mile journey, the rest at least was a bit easier, and I got there on time.

The department was in a bit of a flap, since they installed a new computer over the weekend, and as always happens in IT, things go wrong.  I learned years ago to expect the unexpected, and this morning there were a few problems, but when you have good people who have been there a few years and know the systems, it doesn’t take too much to fix them.

The boss took us all out to the pub for lunch, which was a nice change, since in the USA drinking during working hours is frowned upon.  But this place is a lot more relaxed, and everyone works together very well in the team.  I managed to make a simple change to one program today and put that into production, learned some introductory things about the software I will be working with, and hopefully by the end of the week I will be well on my way.

Sunday Debbie and I went to see the house that we are going to move into.  Debbie had seen it a few years ago, but couldn’t really remember it.  I hadn’t seen it at all, and it’s really unusual to be moving into a house that you haven’t seen before isn’t it.   Well the house was ok, not perfect, they never are, but it sits close to the top of a hill and gets a lot of sunshine both in the morning and the afternoon.     Well it looked ok on Sunday, so we went back home, packed up the cars, moved a lot of smaller stuff in, and began cleaning up.

Tonight after work we went over again with a car full of things, and will continue until the end of the week.   Saturday we are renting a truck to take the bigger stuff over (chairs, bed, wardrobe etc), so by the end of the weekend we should be moved in.

It’s going to be awkward for a few days until the internet is connected, but then we should be close to being straight and comfy.   It’s amazing how just not having an internet connection can make a big difference to your life.  We rely on the internet so much these days, well at least WE do!  Still, by the end of October I hope we are both cozy in our new home.   Life is gradually beginning to take shape.

I Think I Can Fly

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Li Wei is a contemporary artist who comes from Beijing.

His artistry often depicts him in what appear to be gravity-defying situations.

His work is a mixture of photography and performance art, creating the illusion of a sometimes dangerous reality.

Click on the image above to see many more of his amazing stunts.  I guarantee you will be amazed.

Washing Day Blues

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So a couple of weeks ago Debbie noticed that there was a large puddle on the kitchen floor after we did the washing.   We had seen the odd small puddle before, but thought nothing of it, and even a smell of damp in the kitchen we thought was coming from a cupboard, not the washer.

Investigation (namely pulling the washer out) revealed that there was a leak inside, which had obviously been going on for some time, since the flooring underneath was completely waterlogged and going rotten.

Well, since the washer/drier is a good few years old, it’s probably not worth repairing, and since I don’t know much about washing machines, we would have to get someone in, and that’s usually expensive.  Debbie only gave the previous tenant a small amount for it when she moved in, and we are moving in a few weeks to another house that already has a washer, so there is no point in buying another one.

We decided therefore to try and make do without one until we move, but how to get rid off the old one?   The city charges about £30 (US$50) to collect items like washing machines, and it won’t fit in the back of my car, so Debbie had a brainwave and we advertised it on Gumtree (a UK equivalent of Craigslist).   That worked well, so several days later someone came and picked it up for free, and since they know what they are doing and it’s mechanically sound as far as we know, we both got a good deal out of it.   What did surprise us actually was the number of responses that we had to our advert.  It seems like everybody wants an old washing machine for free these days.

Since we don’t have a washing machine until we move, we have two alternatives, either wash by hand or go to the laundrette.    We decided to wash by hand for two reasons, firstly with my not having a job the laundrette works out rather expensive, especially to dry the clothes, and secondly you do meet some rather “special” people in places like that! It’s boring and dirty as well, especially over here, so washing by hand in the kitchen sink it is.

The last time I saw clothes being washed in the kitchen sink I was a small boy, and my Gran was the proud owner of a Mangle at the time, a gadget that was capable of squashing fingers flat if they somehow got between the rollers, however a Mangle did squeeze an amazing amount of water out of the laundry, and I assume the inventor was mentioned in a number of women’s nightly prayers and did also earn a fortune if he ever patented the idea.

But a Mangle we do not have unfortunately, so it’s necessary to try and wring as much water as possible out of each item of clothing, one at a time, and this doesn’t half make your arms ache.   I do assume the inventor of the twin tub had a patent for his device, and was also included in a lot of women’s prayers as well, but sadly for us right now it’s back to the old way of washing.

I do have a lot of sympathy and also praise for women who had to do the washing years ago.  Without a mangle or spin drier, it’s impossible to get most of the water out of the clothing, and I think most of us forget just how much water actually weighs.   When I think that years ago women used to carry their clothing down to the river to wash, then lay them out on the rocks to dry, and carry them home, I have no doubt that their arm muscles must have been pretty powerful.  No wonder husbands were quick to buy them washing machines, or whatever device became available.  I can quite imagine that this wasn’t just because the women wanted them, it was because no husband wanted to have to live with a wife who had more strength in her arms than him.  I wonder just how many poor husbands got a severe beating over the years from those washer woman’s arms?

So, this morning, like a few others in the last two weeks, we have had to do our washing by hand.  This morning Debbie did the washing, while I grew extra muscles from just carrying the laundry basket outside to the washing line.  I then had to wring as much water out of each item as I could by hand, then hang them up to dry.  By the end of just one basket, and that doesn’t include sheets etc, my arms were aching pretty bad, and it took me a good half hour when I got back on here before I could bend my fingers properly to type again.   Of course with it being October, although it’s sunny outside, we don’t get enough sunshine and warmth to fully dry the clothes, so they will have to be brought in to dry on the airer and on the radiators overnight.

I do find it curious coming back to England where we still hang our washing out on the line to dry, whereas in many places in the USA people just use a tumble drier.   It does seem a shame that especially in Florida where you have so much lovely sunshine that you can’t hang your washing up outside, but despite the talk about being green and saving energy, people with washing hanging on the line to dry would spoil the look of the community… Seems a pity that appearance is a lot more important than helping save the planet!

Well I will bring this to a close before it becomes an epic and goes on to a second volume… and if I had a glass in my hand right now, I would raise it up and give a toast to those washer women of days gone by who worked really hard just to keep our clothing clean!  I bet they had their fair share of Washing Day Blues…

I Got The Job!

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I had two job interviews earlier this week, and I knew that it was down to just me and another person at the second interview.

Well, having waited all yesterday for official notification, I had a call this morning to let me know that I did get the job.   I am over the moon, since jobs for people with my skills and experience are so scarce these days, especially in the UK.

The money will not be as good as I have been earning in the USA, but aside from salaries in the UK being a bit lower in general than the USA, we are in a recession, and I also have some new skills to learn in this job.   I am pleased to finally have a chance to learn some more up to date computing skills, and this also gives me the incentive to really prove myself, and if I can do that well, then the long term benefits will follow.

At this point in my life (I will turn 55 this weekend), I am not looking for a quick way to earn a bit more and to move on, I am looking for a job that I enjoy, working with a good group of people, and where I can hopefully stay until I am ready to retire.  So really, if I do my bit, with luck this will see me through.

Debbie and I are off to Warwickshire (in the heart of England) this weekend.  My cousin’s daughter is getting married, so a chance to celebrate, for Debbie to meet more of my family, and for us to have a couple of nights away in a 17th century Bed & Breakfast place.    Photos and more stories to follow…

How To Get What You Want In Your Life by Oscar Del Ben

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Do you believe you can get anything you want in your life?

Do you believe that our mind can produce astonishing results if we really want to?

It may surprise you to know that the answer to these questions is YES!

We, as human beings, have the extraordinary ability to achieve phenomenal results in life if we really want to, and we see examples of this everyday.

Let me tell you a story…

There was a guy who grew up in a foreign county where he didn’t speak English.

He left school at age 16 to go to work to put some money aside.

After two years, he took the money he saved and went to America searching for opportunities.

He didn’t know a single word of English, but he was determined to learn it and he did.

He went from work to work while learning how to live in America and he met a lot of people.

He finally found an opportunity one day and he was able to start a small business with the limited knowledge he had.   Eventually the business went well and he sold it.   Now he is a happy guy enjoying life and living his life at the best every single day.

What was the secret of this success?

Experts say that when people are totally committed to something, they’ll almost certainly find a way to have it.   That was the secret of that guy and it is the secret of other millions of people in America.

So how do you actually get what you want in your life?

The first step is always to clarify what your goal is.

Do you want more money?

Why?

Do you want it to go on vacation with your partner, or to buy a new car?

Make a plan to get what you really want and do something every day to realize that goal.

Don’t be afraid of asking too much if you are really committed to it.

On the other side, don’t ask too many things when you can realistically accomplish only a few of them.

This is a powerful technique to achieve what you want in your life and many successful people are using it every day.   It doesn’t matter if what you want is double your income, visit a foreign country or have a new car.   Everything is possible if you can focus your energies on it and you do something every day to have it.

Oscar Del Ben is a professional writer, entrepreneur and programmer. He writes about personal development at www.freestylemind.com

Why Is It So Hard To Get Benefits In The UK?

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It was back in the early 80′s when a colleague said to me “there is only one way to get anywhere in this world, and that’s to be a one legged black Jewish lesbian!“.

He was right of course! It’s the minorities that are eligible for benefits in the UK, not the ordinary people like you and me, who do everything the ethical way, but qualify for nothing.

Two weeks ago, having waited eight weeks to find out that I wasn’t eligible to receive job seekers allowance (unemployment benefit) since I hadn’t worked in the UK since I moved to the USA 15 years ago, I was advised to apply for Income Based Benefits instead. Well, since Debbie works full time, we don’t qualify for that either as I found out today! It doesn’t matter that she doesn’t earn enough to support us both, and barely managed to support herself on her own, the fact that she has a full time job pretty much nullifies our request. The online form did say that we might qualify for £103 ($150) between now and the beginning of April!  That’s about £4/week which is ridiculous.

It just seems really wrong, when on Debbie’s income we are forced to shop for the lowest prices and to live very frugally just to not run out of money at the end of the month, when there are so many thousands of people in this country who haven’t done a day’s work in their lives.   There are whole families now where the kids have no interest in studying for their exams at school.  Why?  Because nobody in their family works or has ever worked.  Their brother and sisters don’t work, neither do their parents, grandparents, uncles aunts or cousins.  They all live off benefits, and are doing much better financially than those who do in lower paid jobs, so why study at school if you have no intention of working either.

This country was no different 20 or more years ago when satellite television first came out.  Who were the first people to get the service?  The ones that were living in council houses, property owned for by the government and with their rents paid for by the government.  So, living for free, with unemployment benefits and free this and that, you could see the proliferation of satellite dishes growing weekly, whereas if you looked at other properties that were owned or rented by people that actually worked, it took years before they could justify buying the service.

The same is true now as well, who do you think buys most of the large high definition televisions in this country and a lot of other expensive items?

The UK benefits system is also geared up to provide support for immigrants and refugees.  If you come to this country with nothing, that’s ok, the government will provide you with a new house or apartment, money for food and other benefits, but the citizens and tax payers of the country qualify for pretty much nothing at all.   It’s downright disgusting, and while I don’t like the idea of having to claim benefits, both Debbie and I have worked hard all our lives, and when it comes to whether we qualify or not, I think we deserve something at least!

I know it’s a lot different in the USA, you get paid more in benefits, but it stops after 6 months (or 12 at the moment under some conditions).

I think the people over here who don’t do a day’s work ought to at least do something to earn the right to get benefits.  Maybe then some of them would want to find a job.  I don’t see why they can’t be made to do a number of hours of community service, cleaning the parks, trimming bushes, stopping cemeteries from getting overgrown, removing graffiti etc, all things that need doing and that the local authorities don’t have the money for.

Well over to you, what is your opinion on the benefits situation in the UK?  We would both be interested to hear other opinions.

The Job Situation Is Looking Up

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I had a call on Friday afternoon from a recruiter who has been looking after me really well since before I moved from Florida, and he managed to get me an interview for Monday morning with a large local company that is still family owned, and has been in the area for many years.

The interview went really well, and although I don’t have experience in everything that the company uses in their IT department, they seemed to like the way that i would fit in with the company, since almost everyone there has been there for a number of years, and they like to operate as a friendly unit rather than a corporation where your existence there depends on the whim of shareholders and budgets etc.

Well I guess I must have done ok, as I got called back for a second interview yesterday afternoon, and I think I did pretty well. Got to meet the rest of the small IT department, who are really nice people, all around my age, give or take 10 years, and it seems like a great place to work, especially as I am hoping to find somewhere that I can stay until I retire.

It’s now down to either me, or another applicant, who is due for their second interview in right about the time I hit the publish button on this article, so wish me luck, and hopefully sometime tomorrow I will have a job offer…