A friend of mine has a blog which has no specific focus, but I find interesting to dip into. He draws (very well), he writes (tho' I have read none of his stories), and is great in conversation. A recent post talked about mapping out the landscape in which a story exists, and that it is a common practise to get your world straight before embarking on telling a story in it. It would appear that his way of working differs from this, and I thought I would respond. Go read his post, then report back; I'll put the kettle on.
You done? Good, here's a cup of hot water, infuse it with what you please, and I'll begin:
I have a similar, but different, situation to Tom's with song writing. Some folk get words and engineer a melody to go with it; others write numerous melodies, then words are found, and one of the those tunes is appropriately married to it. Others collect a bunch of chords and bang them about until words and tune appear out of thin air.
Whilst I have done each of these, I have noticed through time that, overall, I work best doing none of them.
I frequently start with a line or phrase or couplet, which its internal rhythm, pace & sense will suggest a melodic fragment to me, which I use as a starting place - rather like Tom's imagining of a scene. Occasionally a complete verse will come in one go, but normally it's just a beginning.
This happened recently with a phrase 'When I try to talk to you alone/ It's like talking to an answerphone' which formed in my mind fairly spontaneously, words and the melody to support it (even with backing vocal part!).
I will then, from what has been said, tease out what comes next, both lyrically and melodically, at the same time getting some harmony together (the chords). Once I have a verse, I have a structure to follow for other verses, and an idea of what the thing might be saying or expressing - I finally have my map, and I can trace out the course of lyrical discourse from that point. I'm not saying any of what I write is any good, but it's the process I frequently go through.
That phrase above about an answerphone has, unusually for me, become the chorus. I have seen through the years that I don't often use choruses. Generally I find they interrupt the emotional narrative - when you're talking to someone, you don't normally hang your point around a constant refrain, unless it's for a specific purpose to accentuate a point, etc. In the same way I appear to have unconsciously been doing this in my songs. I will only use a chorus when it benefits what is being said. Maybe this is why I'll never get a job in Tin Pan Alley or the Brill Building, who always want something to hang the song on, and give the folk something to whistle on the way home.
Maybe choruses are my deciduous trees.
Thursday 26 August 2010
Other Interests
I had a couple of meetings at the DHSS, as I used to know it, today - it had had logos of 'Job Centre', but they're not fooling anyone. It was pleasant and efficient. I was as well, except for the latter; Sheffield has two Job Centres about 5min walk from each other. I went to the wrong one and was consequently late (tho seeing ex-colleague Rich on the way to the wrong place made me pleasurably late to start with). They were good humoured about it all.
I had been asked to take various artefacts and proofs that I was who I said, and that I had a legitimate claim to not being employed, as one would expect. I had also been asked to take a CV with me for them to check that I was giving myself a reasonable chance in the rough and tumble world of the job market. I did as I was asked, and updating my CV caused me to reflect upon them & their nature.
In various provinces they are known as a Resumé, the etymology of which I must look up one day, but here in the U of K we use the abbreviated Latin for 'List of Life.' It is a curiosity. As I recall, my life has been rather more than just desk space that I have occupied for the last 15+years..
I wrote my first CV at the Win3.11 powered PC of a then (and still) ex-girlfriend. I filled it with all that I could - a degree, 18months of temping at Proctor & Gamble, musicking, shop work.. to be honest, I hadn't done much that should get me a job. It was effectively nepotism that got me the first proper job I went for, rather than anything I had typed. My friend Abi had been working at a place in Chertsey, and they needed a data inputter. I was interviewed and started shortly thereafter. The database system Access 2 was the new kid on the block, and I started to find my way around it.
<BackStory>I started with a Sinclair Spectrum in the early 80s, and enjoyed the company of RML 380Z & original black 480Zs at school. I got through BASIC very quickly & took to writing stuff in Z80 machine language not long after. As time progressed, the challenges before me dwindled, not that I was some great whizz, but that opportunities to go further were not as apparent - I could do all that was asked of me at school; I had taken books about COBOL, FORTRAN, ComAL, Algol, Pascal, C, and some others out from the library and learned a great deal from them, but had nowhere to try out what I had learned. For various reasons I didn't do CS at A-level, taking Maths, Physics and English, which made me a scientist who could write essays. I had got interested in Psychology, so went to the fabulous Royal Holloway and Bedford New College to study it, got bored and drifted back towards computer courses and very music orientated things for my final year.</BackStory>
So I worked at this place, and over the next nearly 18 months gradually took on more responsibility in the database upkeep, and expanded it as required. The company were a subcontractor to a contractor to Thames Water. The contractor didn't get continuation of work, so I was made redundant (first time of three), but a chat with the boss of the contractors secured me more work, and a little more to put on my CV. The majority of the next 10years work came from that chat. I wrote databases & job management systems for utilities contractors. I kept my CV up to date, but word of mouth, occasional chats and doing a good job got me work, rather than anything formal, and no-one was the slightest bit interested in my CV. Finally, it did dry up, and I actually needed that list to get me work, but now it looked a rather more substantial affair, such that when the accounting software firm Sage (UK) Ltd saw it, they were interested in talking to me, which was nice.
I must confess - I don't like CVs that much. Conversations with both prospective employers and employees over the years have suggested to me that in many ways they are a necessary, but largely useless annoyance. Many seek to sell themselves as the best thing ever on their CV, that they can be the panacea that a company needs, that they will be that missing cog that will keep the wheels of industry running that bit more smoothly. All sorts of airbrushing, exaggerations, deep breaths and pulled in tummies are employed to project that perfect, employable, image.
I'm more interested in how I word the 'Other Interests.'
A CV is an entrée, a foot in the door, no more no less. It is a way to start a conversation, but for me it's the nature of that conversation that is paramount in working out what jobs to take and which to question.
It should be assumed, in any sensible world, that folk would only apply for a job if they consider that they have the skills to do the task [for the moment, we will skip the fact that neither the world is sensible, nor do folk always apply for what they are able to do]; in which case, the job history and skills section of a CV would be something of a null contest, since all the participants can do what is to be asked of them. It then comes to what the folk are like.
After a certain level of job, if a company is only interested in whether or not you can do a job, they probably aren't the sort of people worth working for. I want a company to be interested in me, in the same way that I want to be interested in them. This isn't an egotistical thing, it's industrial self-preservation on my part and that of the employer - I need to know that my employer is willing to take me on, invest time and energy in me, nurture, whatever, such that I can be the best that I can be and contribute to their bottom line within the extent of my (hopefully growing) abilities. If I can't see that they are interested in me as more than just a cog, I'm never terribly sure I want to be there. Thus, their response to 'Other interests' is more important to me than any code test I have to pass.
When I lived in Watford, I discovered Dunstable Downs. This is a fantastic place, somewhere that attracts a lot of wind, and consequently a lot of kite flyers. I kinda became one, really liked it too. I wasn't very good, and with small children to look after not something I could hone my skills with, but it touched my heart sufficiently to make it into 'Other Interests.' We also kept three bunnies, until the charming foxes of Chorleywood decided they liked them more than we did. So having bunnies was on the CV. It was part of my life at that time.
The places that happened to mention, even in passing, the items that I had listed at the end of my CV are the places I ended up working. Those that didn't, either didn't offer me the job, or I passed them over in favour of the ones that did.
At one time, my previous employer had taken each employee's CV in turn and condensed them down to a single page each. They did a good job of it too, I was very pleased with how mine turned out (thanks Sue!) In getting my CV together for the DHSS today, I put aside my 15+ year old CV that had done its job as required through the years, and used this newer version. However - 'Other interests,' or 'who is this guy?' was missing. I know why it was done, the purpose of the CV rewrites wasn't for a charm offensive, it was to prove that the company could deliver what it claimed it could; but it was still a sad thing that perhaps the most pertinent section (so far as I can tell) had been left on the cutting room floor.
So I put one on. I no longer live near a decent kite flying place, and we no longer have bunnies. Those items are replaced with my audio coding and that I have started making cuddly toys.
The agent looked over my CV and was very happy with it in content, structure and presentation. What was the thing they wanted to talk about first?
Postscript
I know this is a long post, but I wanted to pick up about not having needed a CV for many years early on. I realise how blessed I was to have had that situation, and have it perpetuated for so long. For the work I actually want to do (and it looks like I will be doing it too) my traditional CV is no longer relevant. Yesterday I was offered work based on more important matters than anything a 'list of life' can ever show. In less than a week I have had emails from two people asking for drum lessons, coming from recommendations of others, rather than a piece of paper which might or might not have any 'Other Interests' listed.
It feels like I have taken a step back a few hundred years, and I like it. I can't be the only one for whom this happens. Maybe places like Monster and JobSite wouldn't exist if it happened more.
I had been asked to take various artefacts and proofs that I was who I said, and that I had a legitimate claim to not being employed, as one would expect. I had also been asked to take a CV with me for them to check that I was giving myself a reasonable chance in the rough and tumble world of the job market. I did as I was asked, and updating my CV caused me to reflect upon them & their nature.
In various provinces they are known as a Resumé, the etymology of which I must look up one day, but here in the U of K we use the abbreviated Latin for 'List of Life.' It is a curiosity. As I recall, my life has been rather more than just desk space that I have occupied for the last 15+years..
I wrote my first CV at the Win3.11 powered PC of a then (and still) ex-girlfriend. I filled it with all that I could - a degree, 18months of temping at Proctor & Gamble, musicking, shop work.. to be honest, I hadn't done much that should get me a job. It was effectively nepotism that got me the first proper job I went for, rather than anything I had typed. My friend Abi had been working at a place in Chertsey, and they needed a data inputter. I was interviewed and started shortly thereafter. The database system Access 2 was the new kid on the block, and I started to find my way around it.
<BackStory>I started with a Sinclair Spectrum in the early 80s, and enjoyed the company of RML 380Z & original black 480Zs at school. I got through BASIC very quickly & took to writing stuff in Z80 machine language not long after. As time progressed, the challenges before me dwindled, not that I was some great whizz, but that opportunities to go further were not as apparent - I could do all that was asked of me at school; I had taken books about COBOL, FORTRAN, ComAL, Algol, Pascal, C, and some others out from the library and learned a great deal from them, but had nowhere to try out what I had learned. For various reasons I didn't do CS at A-level, taking Maths, Physics and English, which made me a scientist who could write essays. I had got interested in Psychology, so went to the fabulous Royal Holloway and Bedford New College to study it, got bored and drifted back towards computer courses and very music orientated things for my final year.</BackStory>
So I worked at this place, and over the next nearly 18 months gradually took on more responsibility in the database upkeep, and expanded it as required. The company were a subcontractor to a contractor to Thames Water. The contractor didn't get continuation of work, so I was made redundant (first time of three), but a chat with the boss of the contractors secured me more work, and a little more to put on my CV. The majority of the next 10years work came from that chat. I wrote databases & job management systems for utilities contractors. I kept my CV up to date, but word of mouth, occasional chats and doing a good job got me work, rather than anything formal, and no-one was the slightest bit interested in my CV. Finally, it did dry up, and I actually needed that list to get me work, but now it looked a rather more substantial affair, such that when the accounting software firm Sage (UK) Ltd saw it, they were interested in talking to me, which was nice.
I must confess - I don't like CVs that much. Conversations with both prospective employers and employees over the years have suggested to me that in many ways they are a necessary, but largely useless annoyance. Many seek to sell themselves as the best thing ever on their CV, that they can be the panacea that a company needs, that they will be that missing cog that will keep the wheels of industry running that bit more smoothly. All sorts of airbrushing, exaggerations, deep breaths and pulled in tummies are employed to project that perfect, employable, image.
I'm more interested in how I word the 'Other Interests.'
A CV is an entrée, a foot in the door, no more no less. It is a way to start a conversation, but for me it's the nature of that conversation that is paramount in working out what jobs to take and which to question.
It should be assumed, in any sensible world, that folk would only apply for a job if they consider that they have the skills to do the task [for the moment, we will skip the fact that neither the world is sensible, nor do folk always apply for what they are able to do]; in which case, the job history and skills section of a CV would be something of a null contest, since all the participants can do what is to be asked of them. It then comes to what the folk are like.
After a certain level of job, if a company is only interested in whether or not you can do a job, they probably aren't the sort of people worth working for. I want a company to be interested in me, in the same way that I want to be interested in them. This isn't an egotistical thing, it's industrial self-preservation on my part and that of the employer - I need to know that my employer is willing to take me on, invest time and energy in me, nurture, whatever, such that I can be the best that I can be and contribute to their bottom line within the extent of my (hopefully growing) abilities. If I can't see that they are interested in me as more than just a cog, I'm never terribly sure I want to be there. Thus, their response to 'Other interests' is more important to me than any code test I have to pass.
When I lived in Watford, I discovered Dunstable Downs. This is a fantastic place, somewhere that attracts a lot of wind, and consequently a lot of kite flyers. I kinda became one, really liked it too. I wasn't very good, and with small children to look after not something I could hone my skills with, but it touched my heart sufficiently to make it into 'Other Interests.' We also kept three bunnies, until the charming foxes of Chorleywood decided they liked them more than we did. So having bunnies was on the CV. It was part of my life at that time.
The places that happened to mention, even in passing, the items that I had listed at the end of my CV are the places I ended up working. Those that didn't, either didn't offer me the job, or I passed them over in favour of the ones that did.
At one time, my previous employer had taken each employee's CV in turn and condensed them down to a single page each. They did a good job of it too, I was very pleased with how mine turned out (thanks Sue!) In getting my CV together for the DHSS today, I put aside my 15+ year old CV that had done its job as required through the years, and used this newer version. However - 'Other interests,' or 'who is this guy?' was missing. I know why it was done, the purpose of the CV rewrites wasn't for a charm offensive, it was to prove that the company could deliver what it claimed it could; but it was still a sad thing that perhaps the most pertinent section (so far as I can tell) had been left on the cutting room floor.
So I put one on. I no longer live near a decent kite flying place, and we no longer have bunnies. Those items are replaced with my audio coding and that I have started making cuddly toys.
The agent looked over my CV and was very happy with it in content, structure and presentation. What was the thing they wanted to talk about first?
Postscript
I know this is a long post, but I wanted to pick up about not having needed a CV for many years early on. I realise how blessed I was to have had that situation, and have it perpetuated for so long. For the work I actually want to do (and it looks like I will be doing it too) my traditional CV is no longer relevant. Yesterday I was offered work based on more important matters than anything a 'list of life' can ever show. In less than a week I have had emails from two people asking for drum lessons, coming from recommendations of others, rather than a piece of paper which might or might not have any 'Other Interests' listed.
It feels like I have taken a step back a few hundred years, and I like it. I can't be the only one for whom this happens. Maybe places like Monster and JobSite wouldn't exist if it happened more.
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Reading week
Today (well, yesterday, it's actually tomorrow now), I had a very nice time sitting on a train reading (book, magazine, newspaper, in that order) & doing some listening. I will write about some of my recent listening in another post.
In between journeys I met up with some very pleasant gentlemen in Reading. I was hoping to meet Tiny & Keyop, especially Princess.. even 7zark7, but alas no, they weren't there. The very fine fellows have asked me to do some work with them. At the moment it will be a week a month, but it's exactly what I want to be doing. I know that not everyone who reads this will share my views, but I see this as an answer to prayer, and I feel very blessed by the day, the attitudes of the chaps, and that very nice lunch they took me for. Oh and the chance to fiddle about with some fantastic and rare old gear :-)
Tomorrow (today - see above) I meet with my local Job Centre. They will, no doubt, ask what I will be doing the other three weeks of a month.
In between journeys I met up with some very pleasant gentlemen in Reading. I was hoping to meet Tiny & Keyop, especially Princess.. even 7zark7, but alas no, they weren't there. The very fine fellows have asked me to do some work with them. At the moment it will be a week a month, but it's exactly what I want to be doing. I know that not everyone who reads this will share my views, but I see this as an answer to prayer, and I feel very blessed by the day, the attitudes of the chaps, and that very nice lunch they took me for. Oh and the chance to fiddle about with some fantastic and rare old gear :-)
Tomorrow (today - see above) I meet with my local Job Centre. They will, no doubt, ask what I will be doing the other three weeks of a month.
Friday 20 August 2010
..of cabbages and things..
I find it a peculiar thing just what one can accumulate - physically, mentally, emotionally...
Today has not been an easy day. The laptop at which I currently type is a pleasant thing, 17" screen, good keyboard with numeric pad (tho' CTRL is not always where I expect it); plus it has a collexion of software I like - AVAST for anti-virus, Agnitum Outpost for firewall, VMWare Server for sandboxed development work, plus various other juicy bits of kit. But all is not entirely well.
I like Outpost, I was one of the first adopters, buying my license within a year of the product coming out. I liked the way it presented itself, the way the rules worked, etc. But most of all I liked the way it was extensible - one could write one's own plug-ins for it. Being a coder, this was very appealing. However, I could never work out what I would want a firewall plug-in to do, since everything seemed to do what it needed via the rules. One chap wrote a plug-in which showed network traffic in a task-tray icon, which was very good - but since he'd done it, there was no need for me to. Oh well. After trialling ZoneAlarm, Symantec and a number of others at the time (this was 2001/2), I went with Outpost and have stayed with it for the last 8 or more years.
However, it has an issue with this laptop that I've never been able to get to the bottom of, and it appears neither did Agnitum. I was not the only one to report it - sudden, unexplained BSODs. I use the past tense, since I am using version 4. Agnitum are upto version 7. So, why don't I just upgrade? Well, as previously stated, I use VMWare products, and Outpost blocked all the VM network traffic in version 5 & 6, something reported on both Agnitum & VMWare forae, but never adequate resolved. Version 4 doesn't have this problem.
In the last week I have had upto 3 BSODs a day, and today I have downloaded the latest version having it in mind to try it out. However, I have a lot invested in this harddisk (both in terms of data & installed programs), and don't want issues of having to start over - so I thought I'd get my BART disk (Backup And Recovery Tools to the initiated) with a trusty copy of Drive SnapShot on it, and image the disk for safety, then try out Outpost 7.
I then go to find the disk - ha! Where did I put it? I knew it had come back from where I had been working sometime ago, so it must be in the flat. For reasons best explained elsewhere, for almost 2 years I have been living away from my family, the last 16months in this flat. I have various items with me that I have procured from where my family are, plus items I have gained since being here. I hadn't realised quite how much was here! There is a bedroom and a living area - two rooms.. shouldn't be too hard to find a disk in a clear red jewel case, surely..
And this is where I find what I have accumulated. Since being here I have been given a bookcase & have a set of shelves, plus a desk and some drawers. This furniture houses many things - I have my DSP library (as in Digital Signal Processing, not some documentation of an ego trip) culled from countless websites & PDF printouts; I have home-burned CDs & DVDs; I have books; I have artefacts of my life.
In looking for the disk I have ended up wading through things that need filing... I have found that in the time passed since printing of various bits of DSP papers, my knowledge has accumulated to the point where some things I remember struggling with in the past seem that much more readily accessible... and I have found various bits of art & craft and such that the children have made for me whilst I have been out of the house, even a father's day card that my eldest made for me when she was about 5 (7 years ago).
It's a curious thing that, in a relatively short time, a person can accumulate such a wealth of 'things' that occupy space, mind and soul, and the effects that they can have on one's being. Having to hawk through the stuff was a fairly tedious chore (and not finished - filing still needs to be done...); finding that one has progressed in the field in which one endeavours to create is gratifying; and being presented with emotionally significant artefacts can hamper one's desire and ability to remain focussed...
With this somewhat draining task, along with various other duties in the administration of my welfare today, I haven't done much dev work, which I know I should have done. I'd be interested to here folk's views on the extent to which I should feel guilty about that! [I did some useful work the last 3 days, in my defence]
Did the disk turn up? Well, yes it did.. I had given up & was going to settle down with a beer & watch 'Gonks Go Beat' whilst having some Llama pie I made yesterday, and idly looked in a pile of things on the desk where my DevPC is. Bottom of the pile. I think I saw it wink at me.
Today has not been an easy day. The laptop at which I currently type is a pleasant thing, 17" screen, good keyboard with numeric pad (tho' CTRL is not always where I expect it); plus it has a collexion of software I like - AVAST for anti-virus, Agnitum Outpost for firewall, VMWare Server for sandboxed development work, plus various other juicy bits of kit. But all is not entirely well.
I like Outpost, I was one of the first adopters, buying my license within a year of the product coming out. I liked the way it presented itself, the way the rules worked, etc. But most of all I liked the way it was extensible - one could write one's own plug-ins for it. Being a coder, this was very appealing. However, I could never work out what I would want a firewall plug-in to do, since everything seemed to do what it needed via the rules. One chap wrote a plug-in which showed network traffic in a task-tray icon, which was very good - but since he'd done it, there was no need for me to. Oh well. After trialling ZoneAlarm, Symantec and a number of others at the time (this was 2001/2), I went with Outpost and have stayed with it for the last 8 or more years.
However, it has an issue with this laptop that I've never been able to get to the bottom of, and it appears neither did Agnitum. I was not the only one to report it - sudden, unexplained BSODs. I use the past tense, since I am using version 4. Agnitum are upto version 7. So, why don't I just upgrade? Well, as previously stated, I use VMWare products, and Outpost blocked all the VM network traffic in version 5 & 6, something reported on both Agnitum & VMWare forae, but never adequate resolved. Version 4 doesn't have this problem.
In the last week I have had upto 3 BSODs a day, and today I have downloaded the latest version having it in mind to try it out. However, I have a lot invested in this harddisk (both in terms of data & installed programs), and don't want issues of having to start over - so I thought I'd get my BART disk (Backup And Recovery Tools to the initiated) with a trusty copy of Drive SnapShot on it, and image the disk for safety, then try out Outpost 7.
I then go to find the disk - ha! Where did I put it? I knew it had come back from where I had been working sometime ago, so it must be in the flat. For reasons best explained elsewhere, for almost 2 years I have been living away from my family, the last 16months in this flat. I have various items with me that I have procured from where my family are, plus items I have gained since being here. I hadn't realised quite how much was here! There is a bedroom and a living area - two rooms.. shouldn't be too hard to find a disk in a clear red jewel case, surely..
And this is where I find what I have accumulated. Since being here I have been given a bookcase & have a set of shelves, plus a desk and some drawers. This furniture houses many things - I have my DSP library (as in Digital Signal Processing, not some documentation of an ego trip) culled from countless websites & PDF printouts; I have home-burned CDs & DVDs; I have books; I have artefacts of my life.
In looking for the disk I have ended up wading through things that need filing... I have found that in the time passed since printing of various bits of DSP papers, my knowledge has accumulated to the point where some things I remember struggling with in the past seem that much more readily accessible... and I have found various bits of art & craft and such that the children have made for me whilst I have been out of the house, even a father's day card that my eldest made for me when she was about 5 (7 years ago).
It's a curious thing that, in a relatively short time, a person can accumulate such a wealth of 'things' that occupy space, mind and soul, and the effects that they can have on one's being. Having to hawk through the stuff was a fairly tedious chore (and not finished - filing still needs to be done...); finding that one has progressed in the field in which one endeavours to create is gratifying; and being presented with emotionally significant artefacts can hamper one's desire and ability to remain focussed...
With this somewhat draining task, along with various other duties in the administration of my welfare today, I haven't done much dev work, which I know I should have done. I'd be interested to here folk's views on the extent to which I should feel guilty about that! [I did some useful work the last 3 days, in my defence]
Did the disk turn up? Well, yes it did.. I had given up & was going to settle down with a beer & watch 'Gonks Go Beat' whilst having some Llama pie I made yesterday, and idly looked in a pile of things on the desk where my DevPC is. Bottom of the pile. I think I saw it wink at me.
Wednesday 18 August 2010
For the Benefit of Mr..
Well, Mr Kite might have had a show, but my experience this morning was more of a 'no show'..
My redundancy communiqué had suggested I sign on with the local Job Centre, just to make sure that, if nothing else, someone knows about NI contributions. The one in West Street seemed to fit the bill, I walk in and they wonder why I'm there.. Apparently it's all changed.
In the early/mid 90's I used to sign on, and the computer system they had then was OS/2 consoles onto the IBM system behind, followed later by a Win 3[point-11 ;-)] front-end. It worked, I declared when I worked, I got paid, they had the satisfaction of helping someone who was trying to help themselves (not so sure about that last bit).
Today, I walked in to see a solitary welcome 'hot-desk' - no chairs, just floating receptionists to lead you to your appointment; and a collection of flat screen terminals mounted as little table-top islands dotted about a sea of carpet (which was even blue as I recall). You don't just walk in anymore, I'll need to make a phone call which forms the initial application, and then have an appointment as get back to West Street for another floating greet. It wasn't a wasted trip - I got the phone number I needed.
From there I wanted to visit a Citizens Advice Bureau, mainly to ask about any benefits I may be entitled to. I have no intention of being reviled as a sponger (or whatever the Daily Mail is choosing to call such folk today), but if there is help available in what ever form (Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, etc), then I would like to know about it.
Sheffield is blessed with many CABs it turns out, but checking the website it seems the majority of them are specialist ones. It seemed that a visit to the library was in order to find out where I should go. Word on the street is that CABs are now a regional institution - you go where your local one is, which is fair enough. I live in S11, for which there is no officially recognised CAB. humph. On advice from the very helpful librarian [must visit the Central Library more, they are very nice folk :-)] I set out for the Sharrow CAB on London Road. It seems the other few that I could visit are open long enough for one get there just as they are closing, whereas Sharrow are open for upto 5 hours at a time most days.
Got there, got my number, got a seat. Waited about 45 min (seat was fairly comfy, thankfully) then had a 10 minute interview where they asked what I wanted to know. I have an appointment in 10 days time when I will get an answer; in the meantime, they suggested I do what I thought would be a sensible things to do anyway.
Overall, It was a pleasant 5 or 6 mile walk around the city. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and those clouds over there looked less grey than they do now..
My redundancy communiqué had suggested I sign on with the local Job Centre, just to make sure that, if nothing else, someone knows about NI contributions. The one in West Street seemed to fit the bill, I walk in and they wonder why I'm there.. Apparently it's all changed.
In the early/mid 90's I used to sign on, and the computer system they had then was OS/2 consoles onto the IBM system behind, followed later by a Win 3[point-11 ;-)] front-end. It worked, I declared when I worked, I got paid, they had the satisfaction of helping someone who was trying to help themselves (not so sure about that last bit).
Today, I walked in to see a solitary welcome 'hot-desk' - no chairs, just floating receptionists to lead you to your appointment; and a collection of flat screen terminals mounted as little table-top islands dotted about a sea of carpet (which was even blue as I recall). You don't just walk in anymore, I'll need to make a phone call which forms the initial application, and then have an appointment as get back to West Street for another floating greet. It wasn't a wasted trip - I got the phone number I needed.
From there I wanted to visit a Citizens Advice Bureau, mainly to ask about any benefits I may be entitled to. I have no intention of being reviled as a sponger (or whatever the Daily Mail is choosing to call such folk today), but if there is help available in what ever form (Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, etc), then I would like to know about it.
Sheffield is blessed with many CABs it turns out, but checking the website it seems the majority of them are specialist ones. It seemed that a visit to the library was in order to find out where I should go. Word on the street is that CABs are now a regional institution - you go where your local one is, which is fair enough. I live in S11, for which there is no officially recognised CAB. humph. On advice from the very helpful librarian [must visit the Central Library more, they are very nice folk :-)] I set out for the Sharrow CAB on London Road. It seems the other few that I could visit are open long enough for one get there just as they are closing, whereas Sharrow are open for upto 5 hours at a time most days.
Got there, got my number, got a seat. Waited about 45 min (seat was fairly comfy, thankfully) then had a 10 minute interview where they asked what I wanted to know. I have an appointment in 10 days time when I will get an answer; in the meantime, they suggested I do what I thought would be a sensible things to do anyway.
Overall, It was a pleasant 5 or 6 mile walk around the city. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and those clouds over there looked less grey than they do now..
Count de Monet
'Moe-nae, Count de Moe-nae' as the Mel Brooks sketch in 'History of the World (Part 1)' insists..
So I got my first post-redundancy pay-cheque on the day of being let go. I have been involved with a producer in Italy who has been commissioned to put together an album of the first 10 Psalms, to be sold in to the Indian market. I contributed composition, guitar & some keyboard parts to Ps7 & Ps10. Some of it has a slightly Doobie Brothers feel, and there's a hefty dose of 7/4 & 5/8 elsewhere, with a kinda proggy groove (quel surprise..) I've heard back some of the mixes, and they're very good; I'll post details when it's released.
It's nice to be a paid muso again!
So I got my first post-redundancy pay-cheque on the day of being let go. I have been involved with a producer in Italy who has been commissioned to put together an album of the first 10 Psalms, to be sold in to the Indian market. I contributed composition, guitar & some keyboard parts to Ps7 & Ps10. Some of it has a slightly Doobie Brothers feel, and there's a hefty dose of 7/4 & 5/8 elsewhere, with a kinda proggy groove (quel surprise..) I've heard back some of the mixes, and they're very good; I'll post details when it's released.
It's nice to be a paid muso again!
Tuesday 17 August 2010
Start where the start is
Yesterday I worked for a small company in Sheffield, until about 15:30 whereupon I found myself made redundant, in common with 7 others who have exited over the last week. I harbour no hard feelings about this, and wish the company well - I see it as a God given opportunity to pursue some things that have been on my heart for, well, quite some time!
This blog will trace what happens to me.
Me? I'm Duncan, a musician and a coder. Well, other things too; but for the purposes of this we'll focus on those two, but other subjects may creep in as time goes on (never let it be said I'm not a creative chap..).
This blog will trace what happens to me.
Me? I'm Duncan, a musician and a coder. Well, other things too; but for the purposes of this we'll focus on those two, but other subjects may creep in as time goes on (never let it be said I'm not a creative chap..).
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