Glenn's Blog

How Many Timrs

2011-08-05T18:09:00.001Z

How many accidents, shunts or collisions, deaths or cuts and bruises will it take to make people realise that driving whilst on the phone is dangerous. What's more, texting or emailing whilst driving is simply daft but deadly stupid.For a long time I have resisted the urge to name and shame but I am at my wits end. Up until most recently I spent a significant proportion of time travelling in a car. I have a poor memory so I rarely recalled registration numbers of the offensive drivers. But thanks to my wife, who is currently driving, I am in a position to record them! YJ57OYM Red van, 7pm 5 Aug 11, M6 northMy question is, will the police have the ability to prosecute?

Travelling the Extra Mile

2011-05-26T21:30:00.000Z

I read an article recently that suggested you should try to amaze yourself every day; do something that stretches you. Well this week I have been amazed by Transport for London, TFl, you know the people who maintain our London rail network and buses and the bikes too!

So park your scepticism and sarcasm and open your mind to possibility that there is kindness and honesty in the General Public and that systems actually work.

Who would have thought that a Nintendo DS left on the seat of an underground train at 930pm on a Saturday would be returned to its owner 3 months later after completing a simple online form. It's true, quite amazingly within 48 hours of completing a TFL lost property form, the very nice people at TFL emailed to say they had my Nintendo DS. A short telephone call and it was confirmed.

Whether it was the kind soul who cleaned the train or a fellow passenger who handed it in, I am genuinely astonished that it was collected. I am even more amazed that it could be tracked and identified from me filling in the form that TFL put on their web. In honesty I am also embarrassingly surprised that it wasn't picked up and taken rather than returned to lost property.

To add to my amazement it was only a £4 fee to get the Nintendo back. I am over the moon although I am told by my lovely wife that the people who work at the lost property office need to be a little better at interaction. Sounds like not many people visit them. Perhaps we should try to loose things more often!

New Driving Rules

2011-05-13T17:31:00.000Z

So yesterday, our legal friends have enabled police to take greater action against dangerous drivers. They are now allowed to issue fixed penalties to anyone caught tail gating, undertaking or cutting you up. The boos and jeers from the crowd of poor drivers are, unmistakenly overwhelmed by the cheers of those who have been affected.

So here is my question: Will they also add to this list of poor driving habits the following:

CLODs (please refer to previous post)
Drivers who think cruising in the outside line when the centre lane (at least and often more) is clearly vacant and there is a clear road ahead and someone behind who is clearly in a hurry and wanting to collect some extra points on their license wants to over take them
Drivers who fail to indicate properly
Taxi Drivers (tempting to say in general but in fairness there are a few exceptions) who think that parking on a double yellow line to drop off is acceptable
People who park on the roadside within 10 yards of a free car park that clearly has spaces

Oh yes, and do the motorcyclists who squeeze between the lanes of a motorway in all sorts of traffic count as undertakers or is that simply where they might head if they fail to realise it is probably one of the most dangerous things they could do after riding without full protective gear!

Lost in Translation

2011-05-13T17:18:00.000Z

I found myself looking for jobs recently and particularly liked this one. Something got lost in translation I think - either that or German relations really don't have any time for HR and are on a mission to do them down?!

Some Wise Words

2011-04-10T20:01:00.000Z

A recent post on LinkedIn was having a real dig at employment agencies. Whilst I am not the worlds greatest advocate of agencies (it's such a shame that text and blogging doesn't have a way of showing sarcasm!) I would suggest the following words of wisdom might be worth considering:

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

Very few people in the world set out to mess it up for everyone else.

Just thoughts!

Glenn's Theory No. 2 - Professional Ambiguity

2010-09-29T07:57:00.003Z

This is a little trickier to grasp than Theory No. 1 but here goes!

In order to be successful you need to be able to cope with a greater level of ambiguity. That is not to say that you aren't clear or direct and to the point with your direct reports; rather that you need to be able to sleep at night knowing that the way that you think the business you own is being conducted may not be quite right.

Take the example of a supervisor. As the name suggests they supervise. It is not difficult to see that they have very close control over their reports on the basis that they are close to watching almost every move they make (something they will probably do until they are confident the report is doing it correctly.

Compare this to the example of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO). They spend most of their time in meetings or City Offices and most rarely get to see what is actually happening at the coal face. (That is not a criticism - the share holders would be concerned if they supervised the workers personally!). They entrust (or empower) their reports to control how the work gets done.

As organisations get bigger, the gap between who actually does the work and who is the one "at the top" being considered to be successful becomes larger. With this gap comes a whole combination of empowerment entrusting and chinese whispers and interpretation and translation etc. This relinquishing of the controls means that there will naturally be ambiguity between how the CEO thinks business gets done and how it actually gets done.

Recently there has been a series of "backt to the floor" type programmes. The ones where a CEO or MD has returned to the coal face of their company to see how work actually gets done. Fortunately the disguises used have been convincing and they have not suffered from the "let's show them how what we think they would like to see" routine. Instead the ambiguity between what they thought happened and what actually happens has been revealed.

The challenge, therefore, is for a CEO to stay close enough to the coal face to see what happens but far enough away that they don't get their hands dirty. Or is it?

Rubber Necking

2010-09-29T07:30:00.000Z

Oh please tell me what the morbid fascination is with looking at accidents on the other side of the carriageway?

Apart from the delay that it causes to the one part of that road that was running freely until the rubber necking clan decided to take a look at the accident, it is really rather daft. Perhaps that isn't strong enough... It is no less than stupid.

Not so long ago, I observed a person deliberately indicate from the inside lane to the outside lane of a Motorway to take a look at an accident on the other side of the carriage way. I kid you not, as soon as he had taken a look he indicated to get back into the inside lane!

If we (as a human race) can't break this inhumane addiction to looking at road accidents we will turn the M25 into a Stock Car circuit.

Google Predictions

2009-09-29T21:11:00.003Z

I think I have actually done it. I don't think that Google has thought of this but I truly think they will soon. The engineers at Google have done amazing things with search, incredible things with email and simple things with documents. They have even done clever things with Fusion. So what could they do next?

I think the next great addition to the Google Family would be a Google on line mind mapping software!

Watch that Google space and remember you saw it here first!

Considerate Browsing

2008-12-21T17:18:00.002Z

In so many ways, this is very similar to the escalator blog I posted previously but hey, if they are failing to pay attention to one, I am sure that they will ignore this one!

I was minding my own business yesterday, browsing for a gift. (I am sure that you are all far too aware that it is Christmas, that time of the year when shops manage to find the ability to convince the unsuspecting shopper that anything useless is actual useful if given as a gift! - see htaylesbury.blogspot.com for what Christmas is really about!). I stood back, politely to let 3 ladies pass between me and the shelf I was looking at because there was clearly not enough room behind me for them to pass! Quite amazingly they stopped in front of me to have a chat - preventing me from seeing anything on the shelf I was looking at.

I genuinely believe that they had been quite oblivious to my browsing; I can't possibly believe that they did it purposefully. On the off chance that they did.... a simply sorry might have been nice but as a gesture of good will to all men (and women) please rest assured that I didn't hold it against you!

I Know It Has Been A While

2008-12-09T22:16:00.002Z

OK, so I know it has been a while but that isn't to say I haven't been thinking about a load of things that I would like to put up on the blog. I could go on for hours about CLOD's (see previous posts) or Escalator virgins (again see previous posts) but the reality is I am writing to find the answer to a single question: Who was the author of the following quote:

"Security is found not in the absence of danger but in the presence of Jesus"

Googling it returns a whole host of people, blogs and books saying things like "It has been said that", "someone once said", "I heard that" etc. but I really would like to find out who actually said it. I genuinely believe it was divine inspiration and I know that I heard it on a radio broadcast about 4 years ago. I am sure that even then it was quoted!

So please, if anyone can let me know who quoted this, I'd really like to know!

Stopping at the Top (or the bottom as the case may be!)

2007-10-16T20:29:00.002Z

Some people say there is a glass ceiling, others have taken to being the glass ceiling only failing to be transparent!

Have you noticed that one of the greatest things about escalators (or calculators as my mother proudly tells me I called them when I was small) is that they don't stop. OK so maybe they break down or have to be stopped every now again for routine maintenance or possibly stopped by a prankster (or an inquisitive is young engineer in the making). But generally speaking they don't stop.

Because they don't stop they can move hundreds of people up, down and along routes that need to stay moving where a normal staircase or corridor. Well it would be if the people didn't stop at the end of them!

I can completely accept that some poeple are genuinely afraid of the teethed plate at the end. But what I can't understand is people's inability to comprehend that if they stop after getting off the excalator everyone behind them has to stop too - only they can't because the escalator is mechanically forcing them to carry on!

I am reminded of a song that I so desperately want to sing to them all (and yes my singing is so bad they would get the message!) ... Keep on moving do do do do dobedo ...

Have you seen a CLOD?

2007-10-16T20:06:00.000Z

Oh yes they are out there. They are still alive and well. Hundreds if not thousands of them. The facts of the matter are clear. CLODS (Centre Lane Only Drivers for the unfamiliar) are
getting ever more prevalent. A BOFPC (Back of Fag Packet Calculation) tells me that I spot around 2,500 a year in driving 10,000 miles and I suspect that is simply scratching the tip of traffic jam!

It's a shame really. The poor old Highways Agency are subject of a large amount of negative publicity as a result of long traffic delays caused by the roadworks designed to minimise or alleviate the very thing they are designed to avoid. I'd suggest that if we could eliminate CLODS then many of the traffic jams would dissapear!

So I think there is a choice:

a) Provide a suitable method of removing CLODS
b) Legalise "undertaking" - clearly we will need to start training drivers to understand that they will start to use the things on the side of their cars - often called wing mirrors!

Of course they could do nothing and watch people like me to go slowly go insane watching people drive in the centre lane with complete disregard for any other road users. Isn't that prosecuable under current law?!

The Journey of Self discovery

2007-01-21T18:40:00.001Z

It's really quite amazing what comes out in the heat of a moment or the simple passing of conversation to make laughter or joy out of a tricky situation....

This particular phrase came about when we were holidaying with friends in Centre Parcs. The youngest member of our group seemed to be spending a rather long time in the bathroom (in his defence, his sister was desperate to use the facility that he had managed to have the forethought to use before her!). The usual moan of "come on, hurry up etc." came about and to make light of the situation I added "leave him alone, he is on a journey of self discovery".

I am sure that the mind will wander into all sorts of things but I must assure you it was harmless and completely innocent.

The Year in a Flash

2006-12-22T15:47:00.000Z

Well we think that 2006 has been a bit of a whirl wind. It has literally flown by.
January was Glenn’s birthday. We went to New York and had a great time seeing all of the sites. The snow made it feel special although it made the open top bus tour very cold!
February was Anne-Marie’s birthday and Glenn’s Dad’s. Retired and 65 he is now struggling only to find time to do less! We celebrated with a meal out. Being a short month it went by quicker than the others!
March was the month that Anne-Marie received the results of her studies. She is now officially a Master of Laws and was asked to teach on the course!
April saw us decorate the hall stairs and landing. You probably won’t believe us if we told you it was the first decorating we have done since we moved here!
May was the month that we started to really gear up for Camp. CRB checks were taking a long time to come through and we were still looking for leaders!
June was like February and seemed to go far too quickly. The building project for our Church started to really take shape.
July saw Anne-Marie graduate for a second time to receive her Masters in Law.
August was the month of Porthpean, the Children’s camp that we organise. It was a little hairy at times but God looked over the site all week and provided safety and guidance in abundance to all.
September was busy for us both at work, so we made sure that we socialised with friends at the weekend. This included Jay and Chrissie’s wedding.
October saw the annual Harvest celebrations at Church. Great fun and food with friends! We also sold the mini and helped our homegroup give a garden makeover to a local care home.
November is normally cold and filled with fireworks but alas we missed both. The weather is still to change and Anne-Marie was teaching on Bonfire Night.
December has crept up on us far too quickly. We are still in Aylesbury and feel it is right to be here. We will be spending Christmas with Glenn’s family and then New Year with Anne-Marie’s Dad.
We hope you have had a great year and would love to catch up with you in 2007.

2006 in a Flash

2006-12-09T20:48:00.001Z

2006 in a Flash

Life is a Peach

2006-09-26T12:37:00.000Z

Until it becomes a plum and people start blowing raspberries!

Anne-Marie gets qualified!

2006-07-28T20:31:00.000Z

It's official Anne-Marie has both a traditional degree and a masters degree in law as well.

You Have to Play to Win!

2006-03-17T22:56:00.000Z

Indeed you do. I don't recall ever winning anything particularly grand in my life. In fact I seem to recall persuading the Readers Digest to withdraw the prize that I was eligible for because I was too young to accept it! To that end it was quite an amazing shock to discover that I was a winner today.

It feels so good to have won something though. It kind of lifts you; makes you feel as though it was worth entering; worth spending the 5 minutes to answer a few questions (which at the time seem so random and completely irrelevant to the service you have just trialled that you wonder how the providers will make any sense of the statistics created by the response!)

So I am a winner and regardless of whether or not it was a fix (surely if only one person enters then only one person can win! - I was, of course, assured that I was not a lonely entrant - it just felt like it at the time!), I am a winner.

And further more it is incredibly tempting to not share with you what I won.... You might have to ask!

PS A word to the wise - it is great fun deliberately trying to see how extreme you can make your comments so that the statistics really do end up being completely balanced.

PPS A word to the very wise - I failed statistics at A-Level.

PPPS A word to those who are still reading - I proved that you can learn by parrot fashion and passed Statistics at University with flying colours but now can't remember a thing!

Sniffing the Dirt

2006-03-05T20:43:00.000Z

I was clearing through some old photos (2002?) and came across this one. Clearly he had sniffed out the dirt on me and was set to tell a porky!

Christmas "E" Cards - Economy or Charity?

2006-02-20T09:04:00.000Z

Jerry MaGuire is a bible of wisdom for people aspiring to challenge the management practices of todays world. The phrase show me the money is just one element of the infinite wisdom that can be gleaned from the tale of Mr MaGuire and his attempt to change the way that a cut throat industry goes about its business.

You might be wondering what this has got to do with Christmas Cards. Well actually I am specifically targeting electronic Christmas Cards sent out my numerous companies to replace the traditional paper ones that use to be sent.

Last Christmas I received a few of these and as I hit the send button to return the gesture I paused to consider the content. Most of those I received had indicated that they were sending them in place of the traditional cards and the money saved in doing this was to be given to a charity. This is where the punch is:

WHAT CHARITY AND HOW MUCH?

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Did they simply consider the cost of purchasing the traditional Christmas cards against the cost of developing a web based, moving image with sound e-card? (If they did then given the rate that most design houses charge I suspect that the charities didnt do too well this year!)

Did they calculate the savings they made by not overloading Post Man Pat with hundreds of cards that usually get filed under b (for bin) in next to no time at all? If so then they might have missed a trick in the loss of rebate from the post office due to a reduction in the postage bill last year! Ooooops!

Did they calculate the cost of time it takes the staff to personally write a message and sign all of the cards that get sent (not to mention the cost of the CEOs time as it is usually their signature that appears in the centre of each card!). I am intending to investigate this one as clearly it would show up as an unusually large donation in the accounts of any Charity.

Notwithstanding this I would still like to say SHOW ME THE MONEY. Not one of the e-cards I received indicated how much they gave to their nominated charity. Only one of them actually indicated which charity they were going to give it to. So to all the others (and to any companies I didnt receive an e-card from) I would simply like to say:

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

PS I did send an email to a number of colleagues and I can personally assure you that the Diabetic Charity of the UK benefited by £100.

Glenn's Theory No.1 - Email

2006-02-20T09:03:00.000Z

Mr Bill Gates and his technocrat colleagues, associates and competitors certainly created a rod for every living soles back when they invented email (before the comments come flooding in am aware that our friend (!) Mr Gates nor his Microsoft empire are the inventors of email but I am figuring that the mention of his name might get me a few more hits! – at least I am honest!).

OK so maybe I am setting out to offend in order to get attention (and I am really hoping that as a result of this entry people might start to read this blog!) and I accept that for the most part I am a supporter of email however I am also a concerned onlooker who is becoming increasingly aware that it is a cause of considerable stress, anguish and confusion whilst proclaiming to be quite the opposite!

I have a theory: (amongst many others by the same name) Glenn’s Theory No.1 – A successful day can be measured by measuring the number of emails you have received, the number you have sent and the number you have deleted. That is to say that a successful day is when the number you have deleted exceeds the combined sum of the number you have received and the number you have sent.

The objective of this theory (assuming theories are supposed to have objectives!) is to reduce the number of emails received by everyone.

Assuming the we all aim to have a successful day and my theory is correct then we will be able to eliminate the need to use email and return to methods of communication that are much more civilised such as talking to each other! To go one step further we could actually meet up with each other face to face! Let’s face it, whilst local transport may have got more expensive, long distance travel has got cheaper. (If I am right on this one and you pursue my logic, it might mean that you start to phone the person sitting adjacent to you but fly to see someone 1000 miles away just to say hello! Maybe I’ll consider that for a different blog entry!)

Restrictions on Standing and Litter

2006-01-20T21:16:00.000Z

I am intrigued by the indication that trucks can sit or stand here. Presumabley it helps make lifting loads easier. I was also intrigued by the time restriction on "Don't Litter"!

Liberty, Ellis and Blue Hats

2006-01-19T21:44:00.000Z

We made it to Ellis Island

Things are getting smaller

2006-01-18T21:13:00.001Z

We did notice that NY was a little more technologically advanced. Even their emergency services have been condensed. Mini ambulances?...

Teaching has it's perks

2006-01-18T21:13:00.000Z

I've decided that if I takeup teaching I'm heading for New York. It seems that you can pick your company car right off the shelf. Any of these would do.

Metro Flushing - Part 2

2006-01-18T21:11:00.001Z

It was a bit trickier avoiding the flush. Fortunately we heard it coming and followed the crowed out!

Metro Flushing - Part 1

2006-01-18T21:11:00.000Z

Believe it or not they expect their No. 7 Purple Metro to be flushed. We managed to avoid getting wet.

A Girl's Best Friend or a Man's worst Enemy?

2006-01-17T21:44:00.000Z

Whilst browsing a friend send me a text telling me that Tiffany's was a girl's best friend. She failed to warn me it was a man's worst enemy. I missed breakfast and think I might have been taken to the cleaners!

You can't keep an Old Dog New Tricks (or curb the old tricks)

2006-01-17T21:05:00.000Z

I saw many dogs being walked by their owners, many walking their owners, others being walked by people paid by their owners. Fortunately (I think) I didn't get to see a dog being curbed!

New York, New York

2006-01-16T21:36:00.000Z

Our New Year resolution was to take a holiday. So on January 1st we booked a trip to New York. We flew out on the 14th of January and saw all that we could in a week. Sight seeing to make our soles soar for seven days. It was great...

Loosing and Finding Restrooms

2006-01-16T21:06:00.000Z

I apologise for the poor image quality. Notwithstanding this I wasn't sure what the difference between a lost restroom and a found restroom. So I went to investigate...

Smiles, Gritted Teeth, Central Park in New York

2006-01-15T21:47:00.001Z

On our first day we woke up to snow. This was taken looking out onto the reservoir in Central Park. Our teeth were clenched because it was so cold!

Do I Still Pass as an Engineer

2006-01-15T21:47:00.000Z

This is for Dad, the question is will they let me in?! - "last yere I cudnt evn spel engineer now I am 1!" - well kinda!

Thoughts on canine etiquette

2006-01-15T21:12:00.000Z

I wasn't thinking about that at all. I don't even have a dog. It is clear that Big Brother had ESP...

Signs Language and the Interpreter

2006-01-15T07:01:00.000Z

Language is a funny thing - I do accept this. I also accept that American English is a stones throw from the Queens English (and I do believe it is only a stones throw). However on Anne-Marie and my recent trip to New York I couldn't resist thinking about alternative interpretation to the streeet signs we saw.

The following few posts are illustrations of my point. They range from time restrictions on littering the streets to flushing mains on the Metro system. many of them caused me significant ammusement. Some caused Anne-Marie significant frustration (waiting for me to get a good shot). For all of them I blame (and thank) Jon Roper for starting this whole affair!

Ground Transportation

2006-01-14T21:08:00.000Z

I can't remember the last time ground transprotation waited for anybody! Sorry!

2005 Review in a Blog

2005-12-15T22:10:00.000Z

2005 has been full ofchange following a year of energy in 2004…
We started the year with Anne-Marie still travelling to Leicester and Glenn still trying to be a HR Manager! In January 2005 Glenn got a year older but other than grey hairs hasn’t gained much more! In February Anne-Marie also gained a year but managed to miss the grey hair increase! (Glenn’s dad retired shortly followed by mum!) In March we had a really good time with friends in Aylesbury at Easter building a Holy Space as part of our Church’s Easter Celebrations. With the exception of a friends wedding, we struggled through April knowing that we had a holiday planned and that many parts of our Camp planning had gone relatively smoothly. In May we joined our friends the Edwards in the Lakes for a week at Centre Parcs on Holiday! It was a great week filled with fresh air and fun in the middle of a forest. Glenn also resigned from Costain as he had accepted a new job with Rok. We went to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in London in June whilst July saw us complete final preparations for Porthpean and go to another Wedding whilst Glenn worked out his notice with a little garden leave! Anne-Marie was still working hard on her studies. The camp in August went amazingly smoothly with next to no hiccups. We had fun and shared amazing fellowship with new and old friends and 84 young people. Glenn started his new job on our return from Cornwall. In September Martha (our cat) was diagnosed with diabetes and we attended another wedding. We went to see Mary Poppins in London and decided to take up golf. Since then time has flown -not through playing golf! We have committed to running Porthpean again next year and made a concerted effort to start planning for this in October. Anne-Marie made significant headway with the last parts of her Master’s degree in November whilst Glenn has taken up reading Leadership Development books! As December makes the days shorter, we are looking forward to an end to Anne-Marie’s studies (hopefully gaining her LLM) and decorating the house in the new year! We will have attended our 4th wedding before the year ends!
And to sun it all up in a pictre or two:

Watching Over London

2005-11-27T18:10:00.000Z

So we went to London and looked over London... at night... on the Eye and here is the result!

Defining Bright and Funny

2005-11-25T14:17:00.001Z

A banter of emails caused me to question who was being described as bright and funny. On reflection I have now learnt that suggesting girls couldn’t be bright and funny was a mistake. I have indeed paid for it several times and apologise significantly more (but it won’t be over until the fat lady sings)!

Notwithstanding this, I do think it would be pertinent if not essential to make clear the definitions of “bright” and “funny” in relation to people in general. From the lesson I have learnt it would appear that there are 2 views: One held by females and one held by males.

If, at this point you are lost, I would suggest that you click on a picture, link, advertisement or another page. Perhaps this one! If not then I would just like to say that having set out on this journey (to suggest definitions of “bright” and “funny” in relation to people), I have opted to hold my own view and keep you guessing!

I would have been able to put this into context but sadly my Windows profile has recently been found to be corrupt (no reflection of my mental state before you ask) and as a result I have lost all record of the email banter!

Sorry.

Sleep and Things

2005-11-08T12:10:00.000Z

I have just read an article that suggests the larger the animal the less sleep it needs. The extremes given are that of a Hamster - that needs a huge amount of sleep and an Elephant - that needs next to nothing. Ok so that may not seem so daft when you think about the old heart rate and size theory (whereby the smaller the animal the faster the heart beat and hence the shorter life span etc.) because a smaller animal has clearly got to fit more sleep into their shorter life time. However if this applies to human beings then I think we should head towards the European Court of Justice and raise a case on grounds of equality! Just a thought!

As with all things there are exceptions (or incredible extremes) that break the rules: Dolphins are so clever that they can sleep whilst being awake... They can alternate which side of the brain they use to think whilst resting the other side in a form of sleep. It is notable that whilst they do this one eye closes. My father suggests he can do the same but doesn't have independent control of his eye lids!

A Saturday in September

2005-09-17T20:36:00.000Z

Rob and Wendy's Wedding - A really great day that was enjoyed by all the quests (particuarly the blossoming work colleagues!)

I've Started so I'll Finish

2005-09-09T11:39:00.000Z

Three weeks ago my neighbour asked me if there was any chance that I was going to do any work some day soon! - I started work 4 days later!

Indeed I started work with a very different employer and after a bumpy start things are settling down and I am slowly establishing a place - well actually a number of places.... We have a hot desking policy whcih means I have a different desk every time I arrive at work!

It's great actually! The clear desk policy applies every night so you have a clear desk in the morning; you have an excuse to call IT lots because we advocate a paperless office making IT essential!

Adding to the luxury of a clean desk each morning I have halved my journey time into work. I am struggling to be late to work - even if I have a lie in I can still be at my desk before 9am! As with everything there are exceptions: The other day I had a 3 hour journey to work (but that was because I travelled 200 miles to get to the office I was working for that day!

So life is peachy! (To coin a dated phrase that probably provides you with an indication of my age!)

Porthpean 3 - The End - 2005

2005-08-14T20:08:00.000Z

And these were all of the peple that made Porthpean 3 2005 completely successful and rewarding.

Porthpean 3 - The Middle - 2005

2005-08-10T20:08:00.000Z

Everything at Porthpean 3, 2005 was attributed to God.

Porthpean 3 - The Beginning - 2005

2005-08-08T20:01:00.000Z

Camping and Boats at Porthpean 3 2005

Has it been quiet?

2005-08-05T10:24:00.000Z

Not really! I guess I should have expected that being owned by one company (still under contract) but committed to joining another (contract signed and waiting to join!) wasn't going to be as easy as "garden leave".

I can understand the principle of Garden Leave and to be honest it has been a great pportunity for me to relax an have some time out but has it had the desired affect?

For the answer to that you would need to ask the question "What was the desired affect?" or at least "What was the objective?". I suspect the answer is no - but don't tell anyone because it would be a waste of time and money to find out!

A Wedding in July!

2005-07-23T20:49:00.000Z

Tracy and Alex's Wedding - The weather was amazing (much like the bride); the groom hansome and the boys and girls played and enjoyed; Jack stayed up late!

Singapore to London Return!

2005-07-18T20:57:00.000Z

A meeting with a (tempting to say old - sorry Willin!) University friend in London. WIllin studied Law at Nottingham and has just opened a restaurant in Singapore! (See the links.)

A Typical English Garden Party?

2005-07-17T21:34:00.000Z

A fatastic Sunday afternoon was had by all when we celebrated Rupert and Maria's move to pastures new with a glorious barbecue in Martin and Julia's back garden.

Guilty but Not Responsible

2005-07-11T11:36:00.000Z

To say that the last few weeks have been manic would be a slight understatement. They have been furious!

The other day someone asked me how I was.... "Winding Down?" they asked.... "You have to be kidding" I joked!

I then queried why on earth I wasn't winding down and the line "Guilty but not responsible" from a film called "The Contender" came to mind.

For the few months leading up to my resignation I felt a little guilty. Whether it was because of the meetings I was having (not all in work time!) or because I was struggling to keep on the mask that everything was fine and dandy I'm not sure. Nonetheless I did have a feeling of guilt.

I don't recall the guilt dissapearing but I am certain that the furiousity I am now exepriencing is now responsibility driven! I am still contributing to new ideas and working for the onward progress of the company; keeping up the day job with no one to hand over to!

Ho Hum!

And now the Main Board

2005-07-01T09:51:00.000Z

So there I was making pleasantries with the chairman of the main board and he proceeds to ask me why I am leaving.

He was more than concerned and genuinely interested.

I had this theory once that basically made you feel worthless....

something about water in a bucket, put your hand in and take it out. The space / hole left in the water is relative to the hole you will leave should you leave a place.

Perhaps I was wrong......

In hind sight he might have been fishing for gossip or dirt on my superiors?! Who knows.

Leaving one Place to Join Another

2005-06-10T09:53:00.000Z

In the last 3 weeks, maongst many other things, I have been called a "Sod" and and "B*****d" by two very close colleagues whom I would and still do consider close friends...

I have to admit I was surprised. And all because I said I was leaving!

News travels faster than you can consider. OUr facilities manager knew before most and possibly even before me! Apart from the outburst, I have been genuinely surprised by the response peope have had to me handing in my notice.

I maintain that noone is really indespensible and that no sooner are you gone as someone better and braver and more appropriate fills the void. So leaving is just a part of life. You leave one place to join another - probably because someone left the place you are going to!

Out of all of the comments and actions taken since handing in my notice I was most surprised to find out that the news was tabled at the board meeting..... gulp..... for me.... but I am lowest of the low.... someone who is often overlooked and rarely thought to have the answer to anything but admin questions!....

It would appear that I have an amount of knowledge that the business want to squeeze from me. Sadly I am not convinced that they know what it is!

Ho Hummmm

Life Must Go One

2005-05-21T12:07:00.000Z

It really must. Eras come to an end but life still goes on. Yesterday is the past, Today is now and who knows what Tomorrow may bring.

Colleagues and acquaintances I have many. Friends just one or two. Those I know well I can count on one hand. Those who know me are few. And the only reason why is because we don't tell them!!!!!

I am in the process of leaving one job to move onto pastures new. I fully accept that the grass is greener on the otherside of the fence only if you water or nurture it. I have spent a number of months trying to water the grass I am faced with each morning with my current job and have decided that I'm not in the right field. So I am off to graze elsewhere!

Another Tiring Day

2005-05-03T12:08:00.000Z

Find something that you like doing and then get someone to pay you for doing it.

I am not sure who said it - and they probably became famous after saying it! - but it is the best career advice out there!

Today has been one going from here to there and back again without actually leaving the floor of my work building! I have advised, managed, concluded and listened to 2 ends of a spectrum of issues relating to people and whilst accepting that there is "nought so queer as folk" I still can't fathom why they are still employing me!