Driving to Distraction

OK, now I’m going to come clean and admit that I am probably not the worlds best driver.  Clearly as I’m not a current, or ex F1 star there are people out there that are better drivers.  I would though, like to think I’m a considerate driver and know what I’m doing on the road and how to handle most of the conditions we have in the UK.  I do have 20 plus years under my belt now, and I suspect that time has tempered my driving.  I know the desire not to get penalty points certainly helps!

Anyways, over the years I have noticed that people seem less able to ‘cope’ with what I would consider fairly standard conditions for the UK.

The first time I noticed this was after quite a bit of rain.  Now in the UK, we get a lot of rain.  This is therefore something one would think people could cope with.  Ten years ago or so, if there was a large pool of water that stretched out along the road, not deep, people would drive through it.  Most would know to take their foot off the accelerator and not to brake so as to avoid aquaplaning, and that would be it.  However what I witnessed recently was traffic on a 70mph stretch of road come to a total standstill because people were stopping to move into the other lane which was clear of water (that alone should give an idea the water wasn’t deep).

Today, I saw a similar performance.  There had been snow.  Now the sort of level of snow I’m talking about was a ‘dusting’ on walls and grass.  Little more than a heavy frost.  The roads themselves were fine.  No snow settling, no risk of ice.  However other drivers were ‘skittish’ shall we say with brakes being put on, again on a 70mph stretch of road.  This brought the traffic to a standstill when it wasn’t necessary.

I realise this comes over as a bit of a rant, but people not knowing how to drive in these conditions is a concern.  We face them (particularly the rain) all the time in the UK.

There are other things that worry me with driving, but these are not weather related, they seem to revolve around indicating.  There seems to be a common belief that indicating gives a right to pull out into another lane, rather than an indication that you want to and will look for a gap.  Roundabouts seem to be either for indicating to turn off all the way around, or not bothering to indicate at all.

I cycle as well as drive, but please don’t think this is with a cyclists ‘hat’ on.  Those who know me know I’m equally critical of other cyclists as well.  I suspect in time I’ll put something up about cyclists on the roads as well, but that’s for another time!

Personal Forth Brigdes

Well it’s probably one of the coldest days of the year so far.  It’s about 2C outside (that’s about 35F in old money for those who are unsure) and I’ve chosen this day to do a spot of gardening.  Wrapping up warm means that it’s not too bad and I know that people go out and garden in much colder climes, however it’s not the weather that is the main purpose of the post.

I’ve been working on my garden for over 8 years now, and compared to what it was like when I moved in (an overgrown wilderness at best), it is incomparable.  However this doesn’t happen by magic.  As all gardeners will know, it takes time and energy to keep a garden maintained.

I don’t mind this.  I find it great to plan things, see them come to fruition and to keep things going so that they continue to look good.  I am always wondering about how to change things and what I can do to make things easier to maintain (short of concrete which would defeat the point of a garden).

I often think of a garden in the same way as George Lucas thinks of films (something clearly shown in the different releases of Star Wars).  He once said that a film is never finished, merely abandoned for a variety of reasons.  I often wonder whether my garden will ever ‘be finished’.  I know the work on it will continue year in, year out, but in terms of it’s design, well possibly one day.

Until then, my garden will continue to be a bit like the project of painting the Forth Bridge used to be, with work always needing to be done.

However, I will enjoy it in the summer!

Muscle Memory

Well as a number of people know, I’m once more taking to the streets to train for another marathon.  (Honestly this will be my last).

One of the things that we hear a lot about is muscle memory.  It’s even been mentioned in ballroom dancing circles.  Well currently at the moment, the only muscle memory I’ve got is aches and pains from the training.  Obviously this will fade over time (it always does and as this is my 3rd marathon I know what my body is like).

Similarly I have picked up a minor case of tendinitis.  It seems to be something that happens each year and once it does, things are ok.  I suppose it’s just because I’m not a runner in terms of using the muscles in that way.  I do plenty of sport, just not constant running.  Similar things have happened with skiing where the calves are stretched for long periods of time.  (For those who don’t know, you are typically leaning forwards when skiing, not standing upright, at least if you’re doing it right).  The marathon training eliminated this last year so hoping for the same this year.

I’m sure that I’ll get into the swing of things soon enough, and in due course I’ll be setting up a donations page etc, that I’ll advertise.  In the meantime I’ve an unexpected rest day and hoping that I’ll be able to go out again soon.

Facebook Generation

I recently came off of Facebook (totally), deleting all photo albums, untagging, the whole deal!  The main reason was that it was taking/wasting too much of my time, plus I knew that changes were coming again and I couldn’t be bothered with a load of resets.  Finally it’s been the increase in advertising and how everything you now do on it is logged for targeted advertising and I don’t need or want to be ‘sold’ something every day!

Anyway, that’s partly an aside to the post, but also has lead to it’s reason.

Over the festive period I was discussing with my brother-in-law (also an IT person) about my decision, and how a number of organisations claim ‘membership’ by forcing people to have their email addresses etc.  This then led onto the question of whether, at least in the short term, it is possible to ‘survive’ without Facebook.

Now before anyone shouts out saying ‘of course you can, I’ve never had Facebook’, clearly it’s possible and I’m doing a load more useful stuff since ditching it (like this), but that wasn’t really the focus of the discussion.  It was more aimed at how ‘invasive’ Facebook has become.  For instance, there are some things now that you need to be on Facebook to participate in.  I had a survey that I wanted to do the other day to see what my ‘carbon footprint’ was like.  The easiest way of doing it was for me to have been a Facebook user.  Not being so meant that I had to either scrap it, or go though a lengthy registration process.  Now I know that’s not quite the same as needing to be on Facebook, but how long will be it be before that does start happening?  The fact that organisations now divide the world into Facebook users and ‘the rest’ is telling.

I won’t be going back, I’ve far more time and am enjoying the freedom too much.  Does that mean I’ll get ‘left out’ of some things.  Well time will tell I suppose.

Christmas Spirit

So there are less than 24 hours left before Christmas, and taking advantage of the fact that I have the day off on what is still a working day for the majority of the population, I popped to the supermarkets to get some last minute things.  It was quieter that it would have been at the weekend, but still very busy.

That said, what was pleasant was that no one seemed to be getting to irate with others.  Lots seemed to be pushing their trolleys in a bit of a daze, but those that were a bit more ‘aware’ seemed in good spirits.  I had a number of conversations at the tills, something that doesn’t normally happen, but was due, I suspect, to the fact that Christmas can bring out peoples more social side.  You see the same when we have lots of snowfall (at least we do in the south where it’s not so common), where people you meet out and about are more willing to nod, say hello and chat.  For me it’s a glimpse of what we lost as a national in terms of community.

I have to say though, that I did feel that there was a less palatable side to my trips out, and again, it was something observed in the supermarkets.  Something that really hit home to me, walking down the isles, was the amount of alcohol that was looking to be ‘shipped’ today.  The normal shelf space was clearly deemed insufficient, even when combined with the extra offers near the entrances.  Down one isle, there were extra crates of beers two or three deep, narrowing the isle considerably, but clearly indicating that it was felt to be necessary to keep the sales going.

Often people will enjoy extra drinks at Christmas (I’m driving so won’t be!) but I found the sheer level at which this was being pushed was disturbing, and wonder what it says about us as a nation and possibly the feeling that we need to have considerable amounts to drink.  Possibly people feel they need it to enjoy themselves, possibly they feel it’s needed to survive the relatives.  Probably there are a myriad of other reasons as well.

Will this continue in the future, especially if the government puts on a tax per unit, I don’t know.  The sheer amounts of alcohol being sold can’t be good though, unless it’s being bought for the whole year, which I somehow doubt.
Personally I’ll be enjoying the first part of this post’s Christmas spirit and hoping that it can last longer than Christmas.

Restarting the Old Engine

Well I have once again spent well over a year without posting anything.

I could make up a load of excuses, but like most things, its a question of getting out of the habit and being somewhat lazy. I was looking though a load of old 'favourites' from an old back up that I was looking at. What was amazing was how many of the blogs I used to follow are now dead, or at least have been left for over two years, and I suspect will remain left untended now. 

I can't remember what the stats are for blogs started and then abandoned, but I know it's pretty high and I'm determined not to become one of those stats. I'm therefore going to attempt to get this up and running in a more regular way. 

There's lots that has happened that I can post about, so I have no excuses really. I've recently given up Facebook (that should be a posting on it's own) so I've got fewer distractions. 

So, here's to the future of this blog and it not becoming just another statistic!

Its Been Too Long

OK, so it's been a bit of a long time since I last posted. 3 years plus if I'm counting.

There have been many changes since Hong Kong, though no major trips, so nothing has been missed out in that respect. Main changes have been in respect to 'normal' everyday life, whatever that means.

Main one is work having left teaching. Wondering what my next step is. Got a decent enough temping assignment, pay isn't great, but it's better than JSA and I know they want me to go perm, if only I could convince them to pay the upper end of the salary range, it would make such a difference in terms of both my mindset and how I spend my free time.

Currently most evenings involve searching through job sites to see if there is anything new that I can apply for. If you leave it too long, then some jobs just disappear (some overnight!) and the job sites that grabs jobs from all the other sites get too long to go through if you leave it too long. The other annoyance with them is that they advertise the same jobs as new that day even when they aren't.

Anyways, I'll post musings about recruitment agencies etc in another post another time. Just wanted to say in the best Jack Nicholson way possible "I'm Back"