Bus Slogan Generator

I saw this on the Sabre forums.

Here's a couple of my efforts:

TR7 Progress

A wee note about progress on the TR7.

• LH Door is reskinned, awaiting fitting and tweaking (which I will do once the floor on the LH side is completed). It also needs seam sealing inside.
• The LH front floor is practically complete. All I need to do is dress the plug welds, and get rid of the remaining surface rust on the interior before giving the bare metal a temporary coat of primer.
• The quarterlight frame for the LH door needs starting again, as there's some surace rust reappearing. It needs stripping, derusting and repainting.
• I have enough parts to repair the LH rear floor.
  
• I have rebuilt the LH rear drum brake, and have some parts to re-build the RH rear drum brake. I only need to rebuild the brakes enough now to ensure the handbrake works, as I plan to pull the rear axle out. This is so I can turn the car round on my slopy drive so I can fix the floor on the RH side.
  
• The bumpers are in the process of being refurbed - they need stripping down, derusting and the plastic parts repainting. I need two new sidelight assemblies - the fixing bolts were seized and broke on both of them, as well as a replacement front centre bumper cover.
  

That'll do for now...

Warning: venting in progress.

I'm seriously getting fed up with looking for a job. I know there's a recession going on, but still. It's just that I've had a couple of knockbacks recently, and it's affecting my confidence.

Knockback one was a phone I had on Monday, the day before I had an interview with a local council. Interview cancelled, due to a recruitment freeze. But it was knockback two that had me in tears of frustration. I saw a job on a well-known recruitment agency's email for an AAT Semi Senior in Leicester. Unusually, this job seemed not to require even the six months experience that trainee accounts positions seem to require. (Why is that? Surely someone looking for a new job with only six months experience is showing a lack of commitment?) So I applied, and unusually for me as I'm not a fan of phones, I phoned the agency to show keenness.

The lady on the other end told me that the client had specific requirements, and that even someone commuting from Loughborough (a town halfway between leicester and Derby, where I live) would not be considered, and so he would not even look at my CV. Apparently he's been burned before by people who commute on the sort of salary a junior accounts trainee would earn.

Well, excuse me, but give me some flaming credit. I know that entry-level accounts positions pay jack all, but we're managing on the mix of NHS student nurse bursary and tax credits we get at the moment, so I'm prepared for the low wages for the right job. I can read, and I do know the relative distances between Derby and Leicester, and I'm prepared for that. Here's the thing. If I wasn't prepared for the commute, I wouldn't have applied!

It's the classic lack-of-experience vicious circle. It has been suggested to me that I write to accountants and offer to do some work experience, or volunteer for charity work. I'm a bit leery of the charity work, as I'm half expecting that once I've done some volunteering that the recruitment agencies will turn round and tell me that the experience is 'the wrong sort of experience'. In addition, there's the question of childcare. If I was being paid child care wouldn't be so much of a problem, as we have got an arrangement kind of set up for if and when I do get a job. But I'm not sure I can get childcare for swanning about like a schoolboy doing work experience with no guarantees at the end of it.

By the way, the study is going fine. In Unit 5, we started overhead absorption. To be honest, I've been told that Intermediate is much harder than Foundation, but that's not my experience. I'm finding it all straightforward and logical. And the same goes for Level 3 payroll. There's another rub. I'm understanding this, and able to do the work. Elsewhere in the class, there's students who are working, and they're struggling. I can do this! Give me a job!

And breathe...

Shock horror!

I've just seen my daughter in a nativity play at her school! And I was allowed to video it (I wasn't the only one neither).

Gavin & The Pumpkin

This year was the last ever Calke Abbey Bonfire. My mate Mark James's father was, until he retired this year, the Gatekeeper at Calke Abbey in Ticknall, Derbyshire. For quite a few years now, Mark, another mate Paul, and in later years Paul's dad and brother have been having quite spectacular bonfire parties, with food, and a Hallowe'en themed 'scary walk'.
As it was the last year, I decided to video it this time, pulling out all the stops. Or, at least, as many as I can with my two old Sony Digital8 camcorders. I also have Adobe Premiere Elements, which I will use to edit the stuff when I get a big enough hard drive for my laptop.
But I've been playing with PE, and used it to edit some footage I took on my N73 last year, involving my mate Gavin and his adventures with a pumpkin. Enjoy...

I've got a new Phone!

The contract on my N73 came up for renewal, and as the phone was beginning to get a bit tired - there were a few scratches, the lens cover was getting loose and causing the camera to switch off randomly and the volume down key was broken - I decided on an upgrade.
The main feature for an upgrade for me was built-in GPS. I've been using TomTom 6 on the N73 quite successfully, but the bluetooth GPS receiver with its separate charging lead and the cigarette lighter doubler required meant there was a fair bit of spaghetti round the dash - not good. I did look at the HTC Touch Diamond, but this would have cost me £60 to upgrade to. So I stuck with Nokia, and got myself a 6220 Classic in Plum (they had no black in stock). I also negotiated a drop in tarriff (from Dolphin 35 to Dolphin 25 - fewer minutes but still unlimited texts) and increased my data from evenings and weekends to all day. Bundle in the £7 a month buyback on my old phone (actually my stepson's old phone - he grabbed the N73), and I'm paying less than before. Bargain.
First impressions are extremely positive. The 6220 is slimmer and appreciably lighter than the N73. The screen seems brighter, if slightly smaller, and the keypad seems slightly larger. I've noticed the keys can move a bit if pushed in the wrong direction, so I'll have to watch that. A good thing for me is the deletion of the extra side key to top left instead of near the camera shutter key. This stops it being pressed when putting the phone in the car mount.
The phone seems much slicker in use too. The camera lens cover slide is much, much smaller, and looks more robust. The S60 operating system finally gets a built-in keylock, and the menu transitions look cool. Also cool is the ability to set the standby wallpaper to a slide show. Coolest of all is the message reader, which will read incoming text messages. The built-in Maps application works well, although the UK maps weren't already on the memory card as I expected them to be. Speaking of memory cards, it won't take the same size as the N73, but it comes with a 1GB card, which will do until I can afford an 8 or even 16GB one.
The 6220 also won't take the same hands-free lead as the N73, which means that until I can get a proper Bluetooth car kit in the Astra, I've had to buy wired lead. The 6220 comes with a stereo headset, which is no good in the car. But I have found a clever feature. The 6220 has a 2.5mm jack socket for the headset and TV-out lead, which will also take headphones, using the phone's built-in mic. So I've bought a 2.5-3.5mm jack plug adapter, which means I can use the tape adapter to route the phone's audio through the car stereo. Seems to work fine for Maps and mp3s, and for the odd phone call I take in the car. The camera seems fine, too.

Ein ganzes Jahr

So it's been a whole year since I posted. Sorry, just haven't been arsed. A quick recap:

• Passed AAT Foundation and Payroll (with an A!). Now on AAT Intermediate and Level 3 Payroll, which takes some juggling as two of the classes clash.
• I've been looking for a job since the summer, but with not much success. I have had a few interviews (where they said I interviewed well, but the job still went to someone with more experience), and I have had a four-week stint temping in an office, which was really good. I'm stuck in the no experience vicious cycle, which will take time and persistence to cure.
• Mrs MnG has started on her student nursing.
  
• The TR7 is moving s-l-o-w-l-y. I've mostly got the LH front floor in, and I have all the parts to do the LH rear floor. Trouble is, I've not much time to work in. I have got hold of a big gas cylinder, though.
• We bought a big family tent, a Vango Colorado 800DLX, and we used it at the TR Drivers Club national weekend in July, and the Suzuki Owners Club AGM in Ashbourne in August. We're not in the SOC, but my in-laws are, so they let us camp, and we took the little ones to a nearby agricultural show.

I've found out how I can send pics and posts to this blog from my phone (both by email and by MMS) so you might see more on here. I've also linked Facebook to the blog, so new postings go on as Facebook notes.

Skillz and stuff

I've been busy practising for my first AAT skills test, and it's going pretty well. The only thing that's really giving me trouble is are the 'pay up or else' letters.

I've also signed up for Facebook, as my Auntie Kirsty (she hates that), post pics of her family in New Zealand on there. I've put a Facebook badge on the right. I've managed to get back in touch with many of the people I used to shout at work with at McDonald's. One of them even asked me to be their friend. Cool.

Skint

I'm short of cash. Not a good situation to be in, I'm sure you'll agree. eBay have suspended Mrs MnG's account for no good reason. She has an arrangement with a caricaturist to put his pictures on items, so she bunged a load on eBay, as her website hasn't got much exposure, as yet. Some of these caricatures are of footballers. Umbro, in their ultimate wisdom, have decided that a T-shirt with a caricature of a footballer on infringes their copyright in some way. So they moaned to eBay, and eBay removed the items.

This was a pain, but there's thousands of images (I've got the job of putting them on the website. Oh joy.). Then eBay removed items for infringing trademark, and suspended her for relisting removed items, or something. But the items in contention were put on at the same time as the Umbro ones, and aren't even Umbro!

So now Mrs MnG can't list the normal items (like T-shirts, bug and stuff that people send their own images to be put on), despite waiting the 7 days eBay insist on, and faxing identification through. So our income is seriously compromised. Earlier in the week I had to pass on some TR7 parts that I need on eBay, that were going for a good price.

And I can't weld, because a connector on my gas regulator is broke, and the company I ordered the replacement from sent the wrong one! Bah!

Some good news

Remember my post about fellow TR7 nut Ally's death? Well, her boyfriend Simon's taken over her Triton Green DHC KBA. As we speak it's in to have it's fuel tank replaced. Read his blog here.

In other news, I've been discharged from the shrink. My college course is going so well, that I've gone full time. At the moment I've more money than time, so for 7 hours extra a week, I get my AAT registration and my textbooks paid for. To make up my hours, I'm working my way through CLAiT certification, and doing payroll.

Some guy I know.

Some guy I know.
Originally uploaded by marknotgeorge.

This is the guy we made for the bonfire at Calke Abbey. Reminds me of someone.

Here be dragons

I survived, although things weren't as raucous as I imagined. We are all that bit older, you see. The plan was to go into Nottingham, but the pub by the station had a load of pool tables, so we got stuck. Jason, who works in the City and is a gadget junkie, showed us his new toy - an iPod Touch. I wanted to dislike it for being too clever, but it really is quite swish. It's something I have no use for, though.
Then we saw the dragons that were parading down St Peters St in Derby as part of the celebrations for the new Westfield Centre. They were impressive. Here's a video:


The chaps and chapesses pedalling them did quite well pedalling down a narrow, pedestrianised, crowded street.

I'm getting old.

The bus driver's younger than me. I'm off out drinking for my mate Paul's birthday. It's just about midday. I wonder how long I'll last.

Another one bites the dust

What is it with my course? I went to college yesterday, to find another guy had died. Very sad. On a brighter note, I learned about trade discounts, cash discounts and VAT. Apparently, if a cash discount (for prompt payment) is offered, it reduces the VAT payable. I always thought a cash discount was there to avoid all that VAT nonsense, ifyouknowwhatimean.

Today, I've been fiddling with the website for my wife's business. I've found out that the 'house font' (Tempus Sans ITC) is available on just under 60% of systems, so a quick tweak of the CSS file, means it's used all round the site. I've also installed a CSS buttons add-in, so no more fiddling with Photoshop. If you haven't got Tempus Sans, then the site will try Verdana, so it will look like it did before.

On the TR7 front, I've managed to secure a deal offered to members of the MIG welding forum for a big bottle of Coogar welding gas. At 1.5m tall and weighing 80kg, it should last a fair while. I just have to buy a new regulator and take my paperwork to my local Air Products distributor. I hope it will fit in the car...

Bad things come in twos

It was a shock to hear when I went to college on Monday that one of my fellow students had died over the weekend. Coupled with Ally's death, it's a bit disquieting. People younger than me aren't meant to die.

Other than that, I'm enjoying my course. I'm getting the hang of double entry, and the health & safety stuff I'm learning is a piece of cake after running the H&S circle at MaccyD's all those years ago. And with accounting, not only do I get the good job with the £££s at the end, but I see the £££s all the way through!

Something I really, really didn't want to know.

I watched the first part of Commando: on the Front Line yesterday (it may be 00:39 on Saturday according to the clock on my laptop, but as I've not gone to bed and got up again yet, it's still Friday night to me. So there). My brother-in-law's a Royal Marine (not to be confused with the United States Flower Arranging Marine Corps), and at the time he was an instructor, albeit recovering from a broken leg he got while on one of those 400-mile-yomps-whilst-carrying-a-rucksack-containing-a-Volkswagen-Beetle things that they do.

Here's a transcript of the textual conversation I had with my sister, shortly after the scene in which one of the instructors was seen giving a demonstration of how to shower.

Me: I'm glad that wasn't [brother-in-law] on the telly just now.

Sis: Why?

Me: I don't think I could cope with my brother in law giving how to shower lessons on national telly.

Sis: You'd b quite impressed his hung alot bigger that that!

Me: [After several minutes just staring at a black N73] That's nice dear.

Death of a friend.

I never got the chance to meet Ally, but I read her posts on the TR7 forum and her TR7 blog. She was only my kid sister's age, and will be sorely missed.

Bargain!

The one problem I've found with my Astra is nowhere to put my mobile. There's nowhere to put a stick on holder within reach of the driver, and the ones that clip on the vent rattle too much. That's why I was pleased to find a Brodit Proclip for 99p + postage on Fleabay (They're normally £20!). These are vehicle specific brackets that fix solidly to the dashboard with no screws, using sticky pads and/or jamming into the gaps between dash panels. Brodit also sell phone specific holders that fit to the proclip, but as Mrs MnG has a different phone to me, I'll fix a universal holder to it. It's in exactly the right position for the satnav on my n73. Lovely.

Oh, and I've also enrolled on my AAT Accounting course at Burton College. I start Monday. I'm a student again!

42 days

So, I've been busy and lazy in updating this blog, so here's a brief rundown:

• SSAFA won, and the planning permission for Headley Court went through, thanks to a concerted effort by ex-servicemen and others. Well done to all involved.
• I went on holiday to Ingoldmells for 2 weeks. The weather was crap, but we managed to find plenty of stuff to do.
• Whilst on holiday, I saw The Bourne Ultimatum. Awesome. Totally rocks.
• We also went to see the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby. That was cool, seeing Spitfires, Hurricanes and the Lancaster alongside the Tornados and Typhoons. We also saw some classic cars in the car park for some reason, and there were quite a few Typhoons in the sky.
• We went to the Nottinghamshire Classic Car show at Thoresby Park. Lovely weather, and some very nice cars. Bought some wire wheels for the TR7 restoration in the autojumble.

That's all, folks.

NIMBY scum

Thanks to Dr Crippen for pointing this out. Apparently, the SSAFA want to modify a six-bedroom house near Headley Court, the world class rehabilitation centre in Surrey for injured service personnel, to allow families to stay near loved ones who have been injured serving their country. All they need to do is add a disabled ramp, but this requires planning permission due to the change of use of the house to a hostel.

Trouble is, NIMBY scum concerned local residents have objected, citing traffic, noise and (here's the real reason) property values. You can read the letters of representation on the Mole Valley District Council website, which you can get to via Dr Crippen's blog. I'd read them myself, but Tesco's had a half price offer on Ben & Jerry's, and I'm not tossing Cookie Dough ice cream on this lot.

In case you didn't know, my brother is in the Royal Navy who served off the coast of Kosovo, and my brother-in-law is a Royal Marine Sergeant who also served in Kosovo, as well as in Iraq. I may not support the war (I note the WMDs still haven't been found) but I support our boys (and girls) who are over there.


Oh, the 10 Downing St petition is here.