As promised I’d like to share my good news with you all, Hewlett Packard in Newcastle have indeed offered me a job starting a week on Monday. I can’t wait to get back into work again. It will mean that I can soon afford to go on holiday, as long as I can renew my passport in time.
With the battery about to die I shall leave this now and update things later.
How would you react to that announcement if there were people in front of you and a raging fire behind? Faced with that scenario most people would be panicking fighting to get out of the building but what firefighters are trained to do is get in, fight the fire and get people out safely. I can keep my head in a crisis and have run into gunfire and explosions to see if I can keep at least one other person safe. The result of this means that if you’re scared by the situation, I can and will do my best to settle your nerves and get you out, uninjured if possible, but certainly alive. You can count on me.
While all that is true of me I look around and I see suicide bombers, IED’s on dirt roads, people being killed for no sensible reason. I have to ask WHY? Is it impossible for human beings to treat each other with respect and dignity? I have never been guilty of racism, or of disliking anyone based on their religious beliefs. I keep hearing “Nigga” on the radio and in clubs when I do go out. Some people still find it offensive but it’s just a word, okay it was used as a derogatory name for black slaves back in the day. But it is just a word.
Why do we get so upset by words? As soon as you do that you give that word power. It doesn’t deserve power because it’s just a word. Whoever takes offence at any word gives that word power to cause distress. It’s only words, the most commonly used word in English describes exactly what English (the language) is, a bastardisation. I use that word to describe things not to describe a person because it no longer has a meaning in the modern world.
I would describe myself as a geek, even though most of us think of academics as geeks. Why? Because I’m a philologist and I like to use words out of context. Has anyone seen Dustin Hoffman in Lenny? Lenny Bruce used to antagonise his audiences and then explain that words only have power, to antagonise, if we choose to give them power.
If someone calls you a pig turn it back on them by saying thank you for noticing. If they are willing to try and abuse you verbally it’s because they want a standard response so give them something they couldn’t possibly take offence at, or make a joke out of it. It’s surprising how calm someone becomes if you whisper at them when they’re shouting at you.
Today’s thought for the week ahead: try giving a random act of kindness, a compliment or buy a coffee for a stranger, you will be surprised how brightening up someone’s day can brighten your own. Till the next time we meet, Shazbat, nano nano Mork out!
Where to start today, do I begin in the middle then take you back to the beginning? Or maybe just offer you a teaser to tempt you? Or start at the very beginning and bring you up to date?
The latter seems the most logical therefore I won’t do that. A teaser to whet the appetite could backfire as you might not be as gripped as I would like and not come back. That just leaves me with the first option which, as clever as it might sound now, I may not be able to achieve the desired result. So I will start somewhere around the middle, on 23 May, I had an interview at HP, everyone there was (as they say up here) dead canny. Anyway, at the end of the interview I was told I’d hear back within 2 weeks, which came and went ever so quickly. When I’d not heard anything I assumed I’d been unsuccessful until last week when I was asked to take in proof of my National Insurance number. I did and was told I’d hear back within the next two weeks regardless of the outcome.
This week I’ve been asked to take over further proof of id so they can proceed with my application. Does this mean I will be offered a position, or are they just seeing how many hoops I will jump through before telling me sorry? At the moment I’m not sure but I am trying to keep positive. Of course I will let you know dear friends whatever the outcome.
Why do people get so emotional these days?
Over what is, essentially, a test of skill home and away
Win or lose it is not the end of your life
Stay in or get knocked out makes no difference
The competition will be back again in 4 years
With the same thrills and spills, fears
And expectations, no doubt and no wonder
We, who see it for what it really is, the best in the world
But only for the next few weeks, whose to say
That the overall winners won’t be beaten next day?
Look at 1966, England won but lost in the Home Championship
To a Scotland that hadn’t qualified.
Is it worth the fights the death, the fear and pain?
Time and time again
We know England won’t win no matter what
So why kid ourselves the outcome will change?
Suck it up, there’s never a good time to exit
But surely sooner is better than later?
We can analyse the play till the cows come home but
The truth is our team don’t play together like they need
Against the best in the world they should play like a club
Team, pulling together, knowing strengths and weaknesses
Not thinking where is Joe gonna be but passing instinctively
And finding the net with every shot
Well it’s been a busy couple of weeks at College, passed my finals with 3 days to spare so I can wait for another training course or stay unemployed and looking for work. Employers don’t want to employ someone my age because I will be retiring in just over 5 years.
I did find my ideal job, with Proctor and Gamble, prior to Y2K but the contract was only temporary and I knew they were going to let me go at some point. Also when I worked for BT I did enjoy that job, mostly, some people complained because the service we were providing had gone wrong in their area. That was when I found out that flashing street lights, torrential rain and even Xmas tree lights could affect a broadband connection. When I worked at BT it used to annoy me when calls were transferred through cold and the customer had spoken to a few advisors before landing with me. I was able to empathise with these customers as I do not consider that to be anything like the service big multinational companies should provide.
While I worked in the Head Office of the AA, in Basingstoke, the telephone bill showed a spike just after I started but, and this was a huge plus for me, the number of complaints fell just as rapidly. The one outweighed the other, and I had a manager who appreciated the steps I took for my customers.
Anyway, bottom line is I found my niche, IT support in a service environment. One thing I can’t do, unfortunately, is achieve sales targets so I will not apply for any sales job as I don’t see the point of signing off one week to sign back on the following week. I just need to make the DWP and Government aware of that fact and I’ll be sorted.
Any road up, as the actress said to the bishop, it’s early doors, I’ve got lots to do tomorrow so it’s up with the sun in 4 hours time… Off to bed I will have to go or I won’t get everything finished before my boy comes over on Saturday. Until the next time, go carefully and may your God go with you.
As most of my regulars must be aware by now, I am heavily (pun intended) into rock music. I do object, however, when listening to a beginner play the violin for the first time. Something about that sound sets my teeth on edge as well as making me wish I was completely deaf.
I was listening to my playlist (on random so I didn’t know what was coming next) when Ace of Base were followed by Cat’s in the cradle. 2 polar opposites back to back neither of which I have heard for about a decade. Shocking to think as well that the massacre in Tiannenmen Square China was 25 years ago. Troops opening up on unarmed civilians. That couldn’t happen today, could it?
It still is, all over the world. Terrorists in the Middle East and Ulster find themselves unlikely bedfellows as part of peace talks with those who were hunting them down. Can there be peace on this planet? Anyway, busy day at college tomorrow (or today) so I’m off to bed… To be continued…
barclaydave 