A week without wheels

So, I am still without a car, and I will admit that I have mixed emotions about this situation.

I will say that I think walking to work is doing me some good, although you never quite realise how far places are when you're driving.  The blister plasters will attest to this fact I assure you.  Not so bad when it's a normal sit down job, but when walking is also a requirement on the site I work, then it really does make a difference, especially considering the weight I carry in the rucksack on my back, which includes the obligatory laptop and cables, as well as food, some reading material (Jules Verne's Around The World In Eighty Days at the moment), and my "work boots" while I am bedding them in (thanks to Louise's mum for buying me them as an early present for my birthday in November).  The previous pair had lasted me a good three or so years I think, so they've had a good life considering all the walking around sites (and Morrison's stores) that they have done.

I've said that I have brought a copy of Around The World In Eighty Days with me, but I haven't started reading it yet.  Perhaps I should not bring the laptop with me to work some time and just read all night like I used to when I was younger.  I know some people may say, "you're still young", but I mean more than twenty years ago when I could read a book in one sitting.  Admittedly, it was a riveting read such as The Hobbit, which I couldn't put down.  That book I did literally read from beginning to end in one sitting, only taking breaks when I found my mouth to be absolutely bone dry.

Nowadays I am too distracted by technology when I go to work - I take a laptop, and I have my Nintendo DS Lite in my inside jacket pocket just in case, although I haven't done any brain training or the likes for so look that I wouldn't be surprised if Professor Kawashima in it has passed on to a virtual higher plain - I foresee a script for a Tron spin-off there somewhere maybe?

With all that I carry in the rucksack, it does mean that I don't bring an instrument with me to work, which is a shame because that was such fun for me.  Oh well.  I suppose people were probably getting a bit sick of me writing songs on the ukulele anyway.  I was however toying with the idea of taking a mandolin to work instead for a little while.  I am sure that most people know that I love a variety of musical instruments, and that I really do find intense joy from playing different instruments.  I am one of those people who will shake the coffee jar to get a rhythm, or anything like that - I have it bad!  Ha ha ha!!!

At present I am lucky enough to be getting asked to work in Newark where I work, but I am almost certain that that situation will change.  I am merely a cover guard that basically covers for times when the regular people are on days off or on holiday.  At present the latter is the case with one of the sites that I have been covering over the past few weeks, but they are back off their holidays soon, which will mean a change again.

Sometimes that change can be very interesting, but in some ways it has almost gone beyond that because I have sort of worked everywhere for them for now - apart from two sites I think!  They are only a small company with a handful of sites, but in that lies the charm really.  Because of this, they are closer in a way to their employees, so there is less, erm, politics for want of a better word.

Some companies that I have worked for, it's almost as if you aren't even a person as such.  I have very few bad words to say about any of my different ex-employers, and I am one of those lucky people who holds on to employment for long periods of time (most of the time).

The company I worked for before these, Cardinal, were a big company where in truth they didn't really know their employees as such, because there was a distance there.  That's not a bad thing.  They treated me really well, apart from the occasional irritation, which everyone has from time to time.  The only reason I jumped ship and moved to my present job is because with Cardinal I was doing an awful lot of travelling, and the company I work for now have work mostly based in Newark, with the most distant being Retford, which is less than half an hour away using the A1.

In fact, I am still friends with some people from companies I have worked for before now, including a couple of friends on Facebook who were managers for two previous companies that I worked for.

There are other negatives to not having a car, with the main one being that I can't visit people who I want to. In a way I am glad that I am working this Tuesday because even if I was off and able to use public transport to get to my friend Matt's and then get a lift back, it would just remind me of how tight money is and how I just can't afford to replace the car yet.  It would also remind me of how insignificant I am in the shape of things.  Yes, I know that we are all different people, but it still doesn't stop me from having moments where I think, "Where am I?  What am I doing?  Why am I stuck here?"  I get past those feelings though, and come out as the optimistic "yes" man.  I'm just saying that now I have constant reminders showing me that I am small in comparison;

1. I walk to work and back now, and I have blisters to prove it.
2. I can't visit people now, because public transport takes too long and is far too expensive for saying the government want people to use it more.
3. I have a council garage without a car in it, but can't get rid of it because firstly I have a ton of my things in there, and secondly I wouldn't have anywhere to park my car when I do eventually buy another one.

They are just three reminders from the top of my head.

So that is where I am at the moment.  In saying that though, I may carry on walking to and from work even when I have a car because it saves fuel and it is exercise, especially with that bloody heavy rucksack that I carry around.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

October 1st 2012 (41 years, 10 months, and 5 days old)

PS Now that it has become October 1st - Happy birthday to my sweet sunshine back at home. I won't tell you her age.  I love her so much. xxx

It's a new week, it's a new... Yeah, not feeling that good

So here we are then on the turn of a week, it is early Monday morning here in the UK anyway.  I for one am hoping that this week will be a lot better than the one that preceded it!

I suppose there was only one bad thing to be honest, but that was the fact that I no longer have a car.  For someone who likes visiting his family (when I have the time), it is tough because I can't do that now.  This is probably mainly due to the cost and length of travel when it comes to public transport.

Let's face it, nearly two hours to get to Mansfield is appalling when you consider that I can drive it in about half an hour most of the time.  And if I want to visit my family in Shirebrook, that is a whole different kettle of fish that either means two trains (Newark to Worksop, and then Worksop to Shirebrook) or two buses (Newark to Mansfield, and then Mansfield to Shirebrook), which is probably a forty-five minute trip by car.

It is also incredibly expensive to travel, and those forms of transport are few and far between.  In a lot of cases, it is actually cheaper to pay the cost of fuel to drive yourself somewhere than it is to but the tickets.

As a relative outsider, I can't really see the logic in all of this.  I am sure that the government want people to use public transport more now, but have given the system no aid in this hopeful idea.  It is a hopeful idea as well, because without the fund help, then the already low amount of buses and trains in the system depletes, and people are then unable to get anywhere at all, except if they utilise the many taxi firms on offer.  After Friday that is a subject I am not happy with too because I fancied getting a taxi to work on Friday and there were none available until after the time I needed to be starting work.  I then decided to work it to work and added to my damaged blisters - a side-effect of not having a car I guess?

As it is though I have been thinking lately, "do I really need a car just yet?"  Can I make do using the two feet that I have?  The answer I suppose could be a yes, because for the most part I seem to be just working sort of local to myself (admittedly a half hour's walk perhaps, but even still).

As it stands though, I could probably get a sort of cheap car if I wanted to, but I could also quite easily carry on as I am for a little while.  I have seen vehicles, but should I just go for something cheap and keep driving, or should I wait it out and see what I can get later?  As Neil Peart wrote, "Tough times demand tough talk demand tough hearts demand tough songs".  I know the last bit isn't particularly fitting, but I think the song in question is relevant.  We all go through tough times, but we can fight through them with our tough hearts.

Thank you for reading, please take care.

24 September 2012 (41 years, 8 months, and 29 days old).

Thoughts, things, and generalisings.

Hello to all those reading my epistles.  I do hope that this one finds you okay?  Are you?  We don't talk much and I do wonder how you all are.

This finds me at work (again), and looking forward to getting to bed when a lot of people are getting up for work - what a strange world it is.  Also, I could be going to bed when people in other countries are going to bed as well, but they could be going to bed after a day shift rather than a night shift.  As I said, a strange world if you think about it.

This past weekend I had Saturday off, but obviously that didn't include the going to bed after a Friday night shift, so I got in a little before six in the morning, and then slept too late to write some cards in time for the last post, cards I had got a long time before then (about three days truth be told, but still plenty of time).  In hindsight I should have just written the cards out as soon as I bought them, and then posted them off, but I was a fool.

This meant that I got into the car and drove to Mansfield to drop them off in person, of which I am glad that I did.  It made a change to go out, and it was nice to see everyone.  I miss everyone in my family, and it is always nice to catch up.  A sort of flying visit though, but worthwhile.

I've been looking at some of the blogs that I follow, and have found no updates to them, which made me think of writing another one myself, but I hadn't prepared, so this is the outcome of that bright idea.  One of many that I have I know.

I've done some more work on the other blog series that I do - I know, it's been so long that you're not sure if I had given up or something, but no I haven't.  It's just that I have slightly changed the way that I am working on it, and to be honest I like having some private time when I am trying to learn songs, and that has been in very short supply recently, plus the neighbours are so noisy that it is hard to work in that kind of atmosphere.  So there are a multitude of reasons for the delay.

I noticed that there is an incredibly small amount of information available online about Ringo's album Beaucoups of Blues, so I have altered the rule of not discussing songs written by non-Beatles, and am instead learning the songs so that I can discuss them more, but not in as much information I would the songs written by ex-Beatles.  That is something that is taking time, because I therefore need to learn the material myself, and that is of course being done by ear.  I have information on the first two songs finished, and have started writing about the third song.

I will no doubt have the guitar out on Thursday when Louise is out that afternoon.  The fact that the only thing that plays CDs is in the kitchen makes it slightly more irritating, because then I have to be in the kitchen to keep on pausing the CD and then going back to listen to bits again, so that I can learn the songs properly.  I say learn them, I'm actually just skimming through them and taking notes, rather than actually learning them parse.

I can't really think of what else to talk about so I will leave it right there and stick the theoretical pin in it.  Where that saying came from who knows?

Thank you for reading.  Please take care and we will chat soon.

19 September 2012 (41 years, 9 months, and 24 days old).

Merry Summer and a happy new Autumn, plus a short message on 9-11

How are you?  I hope you are well.

My how time is flying lately.  It doesn't seem so long since I was last driving around like a loony taking Christmas presents to people.  But here we are in September, and all of the shops now have displays up where they are suggesting things that you buy people for Christmas, packs of Greeting Cards are out there for anyone to buy if they have run out of all the millions that they bought in packs the previous few years, or who will buy them just because they put all of them away from the previous years, but can't seem to find them.

In my eyes it is still Summer, even though my thoughts have already been looking towards that time and wondering whether I should actually start the shopping now.  Money is tight, but would it be tighter then if I leave it all until the end of November or beginning of December?

It is always such a tough thing to decide.  I used to have absolutely no qualms about starting in September with a few little things, but then I was buying not because I was necessarily wanting to buy for Christmas, but just because I saw things while I was out and about and found myself seeing something and thinking that someone would like that very much.  Then I would buy it, and it would be added to the box wherein presents are left (usually with a post-it attached to remind me who it is for).

Since then though things have changed incredibly.  The recession continues, and the government still hasn't realised that if they add one percent to the higher earners' income tax, then it wouldn't be noticed and would sort the problem out a lot quicker.  Instead, the government thinks that upping low earners' income tax as well as putting up VAT (and introducing it on items such as food) will solve the problem.  How wrong they are!  In fact, as an article in the Daily Mail (thank you Aunty Ann x) adequately reported, more people seem to be committing suicide because the financial situation has left them with no other choice.  They can't afford to pay everything that needs paying, so they just can't carry on.  That is the government's fault, and I am sorry if people think I am being too opinionated in that comment, but they are!

Anyway, as I said, in my mind it is still Summertime, and approaching Autumn (coming very soon if the weather is anything to go by), so I am tempted to wait it out a little longer.  However, who knows what I might find while I am doing the rounds shopping wise?  I have noticed some great diaries, which are one of my regular presents to people.  I used to buy them for so many people, but unfortunately because of the fact that the government are now taking 20% income tax rather than the 10% they used to take, this has depleted my funds incredibly, so I have to be more selective with who I buy presents for, which really does piss me off, because I actually love buying presents for my friends as well as my relations.

Oh hell, as Victor Meldrew would say - "I don't believe it!!!"  Damn you corporate Britain, I am talking about that time of the year already!!!  You've done it haven't you, we're talking about it, and that is precisely the point.  They want us to be talking about it, to be thinking about it.  And they have caught me in that trip!  Damn it. :(

Here is a link someone sent me that explains this Christmas malarkey so well - Tesco launches Christmas in August.

It's a strange thing really, because yes it makes those who want to stretch the shopping period out realise that it is coming, but it also irritates one hell of a lot of the population.  So I suppose I could be really early and just wish you all a very happy Easter, and here's to the next Olympics!

Thank you for reading, and please take care.

September 12 2012 (41 years, 9 months, and 17 days old).

PS - I did think of posting a blog on 9-11, but resisted it because it is a difficult thing to talk about.  So many people lost their lives in that appalling event, and so many other people's lives were devastated and changed forever because of the consequences.  To all those who have been affected, I can think of nothing to say except to think of the beauty of those you have lost, think of the person they were and not of the event that ended it all.  Remember them.  To those who caused it and those who planned it, I hope you rot in hell for being the pieces of shit that you are, because people like you don't deserve forgiveness!

What's the 411?

I can't honestly remember the last time that I wrote a blog.  I suppose it was probably a little over a week ago when I was on a site somewhere supposedly working, because there was internet capability there, which I haven't had with my own internet.

That was an irritation to say the least.  When eventually I did find myself able to get online again, I had so many withered crops on Farmville that I'm sure those farms would have been shut down if they were real and not virtual.  Whatever, they are just games to keep me occupied at work for the most part, and a good job they do too.

Here I am again then on a site, ahem, working...  Yes really.  I have even been out and cordoned off an area for something important that I can't really talk about because that is site business and I try not to discuss work, too much.

Over this past week I have done some more song writing, learning more on the ukulele, and have come up with something for the other blog, which you will soon see back with a fresh piece on Ringo's second solo album Beaucoups of Blues.  It's a tough one because when I originally started the blog I said that I would look at the songwriting of the four ex-Beatles after the split of that band, but after seeing how scantily represented this good album by Ringo was, I have placed into a position that I was trying to avoid because I feel that it needs looking at somewhere, and there isn't music available anywhere online for the album, so against my better judgement I am going to force myself to learn the album.  It won't get as much attention of material written by the ex-Beatles themselves (none of that ended up on Beaucoups was written by any of them, even Ringo himself, whose own Coochy Coochy surely should have been on there).  Watch this space, because I say I have started it, but I need to learn more than just the opening track, which is all I have done thus far.

I've been looking at potential songs for a set list, and have come up with some interesting ideas.  I've been looking at my own songs from all over the place time wise, especially some very new ones that aren't even from the forthcoming One Day set, but from something else entirely.  If you follow what I post up on Soundcloud, then you'll see what I mean.  If you go there quickly then you will find for a very limited time that there are two FREE downloads available of songs from the A New World Order set, mainly because I have sent them to the podcast It's A Frog's Life, which is a podcast that plays acoustic based music (for the most part).  The shows I have listened to I have really enjoyed, and he sometimes throws in a "curve ball", as in something you wouldn't expect.  I won't tell you what I mean by that, but if you listen to the show then you will see what I mean.

It is one of many podcasts that I listen to, which also include my friends' Paul & Tony on Punky Radio, Filmsack, Autopilot, FabFourum (rest in peace), Fab 4 Free 4 All, and others (yes including Desert Island Discs as well recently because I hadn't heard it until recently when I wanted something to listen to and sometimes it is fascinating).

Actually, I've spending that much time on the ukulele and mandolin lately, that when I went to play the guitar the other day to transpose the chords of something I wrote on the ukulele, it felt so strange trying to get my hand around the neck of the guitar, which is enormous in comparison.  I've also started TRYING to write out some music on manuscript for one of the songs entitled Sweet Precious Desire, of which there is a very rough demo on the aforementioned Soundcloud page.  Who does Myspace now I ask you?  Some out there may not be old enough even to remember what Myspace is!

I'm hoping that people will listen to It's A Frog's Life and buy A New World Order, as well as hopefully look and find Colours album and the Good Morning World single.  Here's hoping.  The sales will hopefully add to the Christmas spending money for presents for people.  Like I said, here's hoping hey.

Other than that not that much has happened really.  I'm happy with the material I am writing lately, but sad that I have missed the most recent First Tuesday Songwriting Group, because that was great last month (my first time going, but certainly not my last if I can help it).  I'm sure that when I eventually get to the stage where I whittle down what material I have, it will most likely diminish because when I have a wealth of songs to choose from, then it gives me the ability to pick what songs to use, and which I can toss by the wayside - always a good thing.

For now I will keep on writing the tunes, writing the blogs, writing out potential set lists, and writing whatever else needs writing.  I'll keep on doing the do, and getting on with it!

Thank you for reading.  I'm not completely sure what I was on about there because it's taken me a few hours to come up with it, and my memory isn't great.  Take care.

September 5 2012 (41 years, 9 months, and 10 days old).