Average Speed Cameras

My trip to work takes me down the A127 in Essex, over the last year average speed cameras have been installed from Southend to the outskirts of Basildon reducing the speed limit from 70mph to 50mph.
Without going into the rights and wrongs of that decision the one thing I'm always amused with is the amount of people who don't understand the concept of "average speed", every day I see drivers slowing down for the cameras then speeding up between them and slowing when they approach the next one.
I guess they're all bemused when the fine drops through their letterbox informing them they'd averaged 65mph.

The Good Book?

Facebook Campaigns

I'm sure you all knew about the Facebook campaign to get Rage against the Machine to number one ahead of the latest X-factor winner Joe somebody for the Christmas number one.
As it turns out enough people bought the download and it made it, but it obviously wasn't thought out too well as rather than give Simon Cowell the "bloody nose" it's actually just made him a pile more money as both "artists" are on Sony/BMG.

A more worthy campaign doing the rounds is one to get the legend that is Jimmy Bullard onto the cover of the latest FIFA game.
Undoubted skill and personality but lacking a bit in the looks department, although Ronaldinho was on a recent one so that shouldn't matter.

Hopefully the great British public will get this one done too :)

Happy New Year

A happy new year to anyone passing :)
My own hope is that the new year is going to be better than last year which rated as one of the shittest ones of my life.

On the upside I've been back at work for 6 weeks and the job although not paying well is pleasant enough and is giving me the opportunity to work my way out of the financial mire I've got myself into.
My wife's diability claim which had been turned down throughout my period of unemployment was finally approved after several appeals as they finally spoke to the doctors at the hospital who confirmed all we had written.
So despite the fact I'm working she qualifies for a disability living allowance which is nearly equal to our combined unemployment benefits we had been receiving for the last year? maybe they only approved it now as if we'd received it when I was out of work it would have made a living wage and discouraged me from finding employment.
So things financially at least are looking positive for 2010.

Today Was A Good Day (Or Not)

So today started well, I find out I've got the job I applied for, then it all went downhill fast.
The job as explained in the previous post was even worse than I anticipated.
Then the bleeper goes off on the electric meter telling me that there is less than 50p left on the emergency so I need to get myself to town to top up.
My jobseekers allowance should be in the bank as it usually goes in on a Friday, I hadn't checked yesterday as we didn't need anything.
Wait for the bus due at 10.22 it doesn't turn up, the 10.42 also fails to appear, finally one arrives at 10.55.
Get to the town and go into the bank to draw enough money to get my electric, gas and pay a few other bills and leave some for food etc.
Check my account and it says £10.11, nothing has been paid in so I check with the bank who say nothing is outstanding, I draw the remaining tenner as I have to get electric or risk losing what food we do have as it's mainly frozen stuff at the moment.
The jobcentre is closed so there is no one I can talk to, I get home and ring them up but the office is closed for the weekend, so it looks like chips, roast potatoes and brussel sprouts for Sunday lunch as that's about all we've got left.

At least I got one smile this afternoon, watching the football on ITV featuring village side Paulton against Norwich, the effects microphone was far too close to the crowd and picked up a nice "you fat cunt" taunt at Norwich striker Grant Holt followed by a hasty apology from the commentator.

The Job Hunt

"I was looking for a job, and then I found a job, and heaven knows I'm miserable now".

There always seems to be a line in Smiths songs to describe my mood, and this one fits well today.
Nearly 11 months after signing on I got my first interview, I'll admit it's only the last few months I've been sending applications and CV's to any suitable companies without being as picky as I was at first.
One of these random applications was to a healthcare company for a stock controller position, the money although not great (the same rate I was on in the early nineties) was better than most jobs being advertised so I applied.
I get a letter a week or so later telling me I'd missed out, but then got a phone call asking me to come for an interview for a different job they had going.
I turn up and they seem impressed and the interviewer gives me the news that the wages are about a pound an hour less than the job I originally applied for, I make the decision that as I'm currently unemployed and needing money I might as well take it if offered as it's always easier to get a better job if you're employed at the time.
I was told I would hear by next Wednesday so was surprised to find a contract dropped through my letterbox this morning.
I should be happy but then I read the wages in the contract and it says they are 53p and hour less than the interviewer said and no mention of the unsociable hours bonus which he told me I'd receive for working shifts.
Sadly I'm in no position to turn anything down as the vultures are at the door for unpaid bills, but it's a bitter pill to swallow doing a job for £4 and hour less than I was earning 3 years ago.

Dying for a Burger

Now I remember

Thanks to Mr Minger for the abuse, as it was the first comment on this blog in over 4 months I'll look at the positives - at least someone still reads this shit :)
Also it actually reminded me that I have this blog, which I'm sad to say had been forgotten or more truthfully neglected.
Not a lot of positives in my life at the moment so writing of despair and despondency doesn't make for happy reading so I didn't bother.
But now I'm here I'll try and give you something worth reading ... well when I can tear myself away from the catalogue of excellent music blogs out there :)

If there is a God, he's an evil Bastard

Just when you think life has punched you to the floor, given you a good kicking and spat on your unconscious body, it comes back for another go.
The missus has not been the same since one of her many botched operations about 4 years ago, slowly losing mobility, although still walking she struggles with stairs and has become pretty weak, we came to the conclusion that the op may have caused nerve damage or similar?
So after several months of tests ECG, EEG, MRI, EMG and various other letter combinations she has been diagnosed with something called Myotonic Distrophy :(
An incurable progressive muscle wasting disease, so the future looks far from bright.
A complete loss of mobility in the future seems to be a cert and it's just a matter of sooner or later, hopefully later.
I'm always amazed that we've never won the lottery as she seems to regularly pick all those longshots, one in ten for a hospital infection (she's managed 3 of those), the many baby problems ranging from one in a hundred to one in a million, and this one which is just a one in eight thousand chance.
Some people have all the luck ........ she's had none.

Name that Toon

Springwatch

Every Spring and Autumn (Fall for Americans) the BBC broadcast a nature programme which keeps an eye on a variety of British wildlife during the breeding seasons. It has always been interesting but I tended to watch it rarely because I couldn't abide one of the presenters former "Goodie" Bill Oddie who just came across as one grumpy old git most of the time.

Luckily he has left (various reasons quoted) and been replaced with Jools Holland lookalike (and soundalike) Chris Packham.
The "action" was of the same standard as usual and other presenters Kate Humble and Simon King were as watchable as always, but Packham got me tuning in every night for a non nature related reason.
There was an "in joke" or private bet going on, to see how many Smiths song titles he could cram in without people noticing, which being a sad old Smiths fan made me listen to everything he had to say :)
Last night was the final episode and he didn't let us down as in reply to a congratulation message from the aforementioned Bill Oddie he replied "William it was really nothing", then a close up of a messy nest saw him comment "paint a vulgar picture" and so on he was managing about 6 a night at the end.
As they say little things please little minds ........

Outlook

The Job Hunt

All getting a bit depressing at the moment, I've sent of dozens of CV's but it seems that the old fashioned "sorry" letter has gone out of fashion.
I've only had one reply in nearly six months and that was when I applied to work in the job centre!, even that turned into a farce as I was invited to a numeracy and literacy test which I did but was told I hadn't got through to the interview stages then a month later I received a letter from them telling me I had passed the tests and that I should keep the letter in case I applied again in the future?
Obviously my face didn't fit then so why would it in future.

Maybe I'm setting my standards too high, especially my wage expectations?
Probably 95% of the jobs seen that I would be qualified for offer wages that I couldn't live on in 1995, and the only jobs offering the wages I was taking home 2 years ago tend to be managerial or degree standard health service jobs which I really don't have a chance of.
Oh well something will come along soon hopefully.

The Economy

I read that illegal downloads are costing the British economy £12 billion a year?
Apart from the obvious fact that the majority of illegal downloads are of songs, films, games that you wouldn't buy anyway, it seems to assume that the money you save isn't being spent on anything else.
Surely most of us use the money we save from downloading illegaly to buy life's little luxuries like food, rent, gas, electric, council tax, mortgages etc which as far as I know contributes to the British economy doesn't it?

Whinges (Part 99)

Double Standards

People that complain about Anti-Social behaviour and then go and get rat-arsed at the weekend and claim it's only kids.

People that complain about other people Smoking damaging their health and then light up barbecues and ruin the entire neighbourhoods summer evenings.

People that point out that they only buy environmentally friendly products while still driving the kids to the local school in a gaz guzzler and take at least one air travel holiday every year.

Politicians of all parties who despite the indisputable facts that alcohol is the major cause of anti social behaviour and the biggest drain on the health service refuse to back any call for an increase in prices in case they lose a few votes.

Bright Idea

Fair play to Morrisons at the moment, they are selling their "energy saving" 20W (100W) lightbulbs for 29p for a pack of 2 and you get 4 free, so 29p for 6 or less than 5p each.
Surely this is the best way to promote us to change to the energy savers, rather than trying to make us all feel guilty.
Nice to see that these have come down in price even in the big DIY retailers who were selling them at about £3 each about a year ago but have now been forced by the supermarkets to drop the prices.

Sadly they're still not a patch on old fashioned lightbulbs, I tried one in my bedside "touch" lamp and it just made a strange hissing noise and refused to dim or turn off, and my hall light only has room for a smaller lamp so that when you answer the door in the dark it's really gloomy unless you can keep the person at the door talking for 5 minutes until it's bright enough to see them.

Boot Sale Tales

Well I'm a few more boot sales down the line, some good some bad but the old instincts are returning.
Repackaging crap for profit (works on the high street, why not in a field).
You soon learn that image is most important thing these days, stick an old 45rpm single in a box and try to sell it for 10p you don't get any takers, yet put it in a new 5p plastic sleeve and label it "rare only £3" and someone will try and knock you down to £2.50 and think they've got a bargain? it's a crazy world.

Politicians

Politicians are crooks shock!!
The only shock is that it until it's front page news most of the British public didn't seem to know or care? Even now only 48% of the country think they're dishonest?

I think I've spent most of my life in the knowledge that MP's are parasites living off the public, so I struggle to believe anyone thought they were honest.

Quote
Politics (pronounced "sc-um-ba-gs"): noun; from the Latin words Poli meaning "many" and Tics meaning "bloodsuckers".

Back Again

Oh well time's come to update this blog now I'm back with the cyber crowd.
Still got no money and no job but life continues (with a struggle).
I hear things are looking up? although my own family are now all in the same boat as me.
The wife's 2 brothers have both lost their jobs with large companies recently (one with Virgin who are not my favourite people at the moment), my eldest son has been laid off from his job (replaced by someone who was willing to work for half his pay).
Even the mother-in-laws ironing business has collapsed as people have started ironing their own clothes (or don't bother like me).
Still coping well though as me and the wife have lived just above poverty for most of our married life apart from the last 5 years where things went very well, so it's just a return to a lifestyle we're used to, unkike the rest of the family who seem to close to breakdown.
Anyway here's a few things that have been on my mind recently :)

Back To The Basics

A lack of money has forced me back into a hobby I had given up for over 12 years - Boot sales.
When you're earning ok the thought of getting up at 5am on a cold frosty Sunday morning doesn't really appeal but faced with a lack of basic necessities like food and electric it sort of forces the hand.
Something that I'd forgotten was how much I actually enjoyed the experience, not the getting up in the dark, or loading my car full of stuff, or the standing around in the freezing cold, and especially not the fact you have to hand over £8-£9 before you've taken a penny to just be there, no it's the meeting people I enjoy talking to complete strangers about everything and anything and seeing people I hadn't met in years.
When I used to do them before I mainly sold vinyl records and assorted junk that I'd polished up and presented in a way that made it appealing to the bargain hunters, this time it seemed like a good way of clearing those hundreds of videos I seem to have collected and never watch plus a large selection of CD's that I never play (most music gets played through the PC these days).
Thought of pricing the vids at 50p each but soon found out the going rate was 10-20p each (they were going for £2-£3 when I was selling before).
The CD's have held their price usually £2-£3 each so as I've ripped them all to my computer and they're not likely to be played again this seems reasonable.
I've been slowly going through my loft for some of the old junk that was left from years back plus being someone that hates to throw anything out if I feel I could make a few pence for it I have a lot to choose from.
Anyway I did my first one just after Christmas on a frost covered car park locally and despite a lack of people I ended up making a profit of just under a hundred quid :)
Back to the same place the following week and the weather was better and more people turned up but this time it was a bit of a disaster as I only made about £30 profit, so the following week it was off to a different place which backfired again as the icy cold morning saw most people staying in bed and I was lucky to make £25 and most of that was after the other 10 sellers had all given up and gone home early.
Last Sunday started out bad as snow was threatened and it was bitterly cold, one of the better boot sales about 20 miles away had advertised they were open so I headed off to get their early but when I arrived I found an empty field, I came back passing all the old boot sale sites I knew and all were closed so I end up back at the local place, so I'm a fivers worth of petrol down and the pitch money as well.
Luckily the few people who'd come out were buying and I made about £25 in the first hour to make it worthwhile but a few snow flurries and a biting wind soon had everyone leaving.
The guy next to me had piles of videos which after I showed an interest he offered to me for a tenner the lot, maybe later I told him.
About eleven and the buyers had all disappeared so he offers me the films again for a fiver and I offer him £3 which he accepts, 50p buys me two large trays full of paperbacks he's struggling to sell and I get a set of golf clubs and some other stuff thrown in.
This little deal has got me right back into the swing and I'm confident that weather permitting things will improve over the coming weeks, I've come home with £30 more than if I'd stayed in bed and twice as much stuff than I'd taken, the additional items although not of a high value tend to attract the punters.