Me... part 2

PS Hi to all my readers... Finding it interesting?

After finally getting my head around the fact of where I was going and what I was doing, I had to get some travel plans in order and some accommodation. The travel plans were easy, the accommodation wasn't. Thankfully the Methodist Church, who we as family attended, came to the rescue. They found a local minister in Dagenham who could give me a place for a week or so, until I could arrange something for myself. The day before term started my mother and I travelled down (she'd never been to London either), and we made our way to Dagenham. That was OK, and the following morning, I went to to the Poly, while she travelled home.

I spent the next 9 months studying all aspects of the Estate Agents business, the trade and so on, getting to know people and making friends, exploring London and falling in love with the Underground. That time planted a seed which in the present day is starting to grow substantially. I joined my first astronomical society at this time, the East London Society, based in Wanstead. Its still going now, but I doubt it would remember me nearly 20 years on.

The course was interesting in its way, but I was either subconsciously realising this wasn't for me or I thought I could pass it all without doing as much study as I should. Of course, with there being a much less discipline factor, you being on your own, I had no one to chase me. If the work wasn't done, that was your lookout, and in my confidence of youth, I think I thought I could do it easy.

The first year exams were my biggest hurdle, I needed to pass 6 of the 8 modules from the year to be accepted into the second year of the course. I passed 5. That was a shock to the system, and after I got back home in the June, I was effectively given the silent treatment for failing for a few days. I deserved it and it hurt. So what now? Effectively I was isolated at the cottage, not being able to drive and in the local area, jobs were at a premium outside of working on the farms, which I had no intention of doing.

So I had to go down the JobCentre and register myself. This turned out to be the main event in my daily life for quite a while. During the next few years, I had summer jobs in hotels, assisted at a riding stables - I got to be able to ride quite nicely by the end - and doing some voluntary work in Shropshire, but these were few and far between, in fact I spent more time doing training like getting Admin qualifications, than I did working.

When I returned home in 1990, one of the first things I did was to get in touch with the Scarborough Astronomy Society, and joined. This was the start of an unlikely friendship with the people there, and even more so with the person who would run me home after each meeting, Deirdre. This arrangement was still going in the end of 2007, and I was glad of it.

In late 1997, I started a part-time job, at a weather consultancy business, back in Shropshire, about 7 days a month, expenses paid. I really enjoyed this, but there was no way it would last forever, as there was clearly not enough money in it - my entitlement had dropped because of the work. So in 1999, I had to make a decision. Stay at home, enjoy my life, playing bowls (which I had took up in 1996) 3 or 4 nights a week and spending days messing on the computer or finally make a move towards getting out of that pleasurable rut.

In the May of that year, I applied to East Yorkshire College in Bridlington to do a Higher National Diploma in Business and IT, in July I was accepted. I decided to move out into the town, to be nearer the college. So I was moving out again, this time hopefully wiser and more mature, to try and improve myself, spot the recurring theme....??

More in a week or so.

Me...

Well this blog has been going for a long time now, close on three years, and most of you have shared the trials, the worries, the happy times that I've experienced in that time. You know much about now, so I thought I'd pursue an idea I've been considering for a while, namely, a post or two about me in my younger days. Ready? Sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin..

Early years
I was born in December 1970 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Apparently I couldn't wait, being born a month premature, impatient as ever! Early in January I was finally taken home to my home for the next 10 years, a small farm cottage high on the Yorkshire Wolds. If you were looking for a safe place to bring up children, well you couldn't do much better than that. It had it's downsides though, in that there were no other children to play with, when you've wide open spaces to play in, you soon develop a good imagination. One of the ways I used to do this was to take a tennis ball, and a piece of wood, and play my own cricket matches against the house wall.

In 1973, my sister was born, and things changed a lot. She was completely different to me, in that she was more like my mother in temperament, where I was more like my father. This meant all kinds of escapades, usually for which it was my fault, although I can't believe or remember if that's true. In 1975, I started school in the nearest village, problem was that the previous year, the county boundaries had changed and we were just inside North Yorkshire, when the address was East Yorkshire. Neither authority could make up its mind where I should go, but in the end it was decreed I should go into North Yorkshire. Sometimes over the years I wish it had been different.

Being the outsider in everything didn't help, in a school or place I had never been to before. At least going the other way into East Yorkshire, at least I would have known where I was as the village was the one my father had grown up in. However, trying to fit in wasn't easy, but I did my best, at least I think I did.

Over the next few years, I did well academically, problem was that by 1980, I knew it as well. The following year we moved into the village to be nearer the school and to provide some interaction with kids our age. By this time I was ready to start senior school, while my sister was still in the junior school. I was sent into North Yorkshire and the nearest one was in the small town of Norton. being used to a small village school, being in a bigger one with about 900 people was a bit of a culture shock. I made a few friends and managed to settle in quite well. I almost lived for the games lessons, which for me fed my love of sports. I was never the most able of players but I loved it anyway.

I think it was in the first couple of years I reached my peak, getting good reports and exam results, but they all had an underlying comment, 'has the ability, but could try harder'. I suppose I felt that as I had the ability, I could coast along on that and not work as hard as I might. My mother was sure that I wasn't working as hard as I might because I was always thinking of sport, well that wasn't the case, not that I remember anyhow. Its something that in the present day I regret a lot. The crowning glory of my school years was when taking the old 'O' levels and CSE's (exams before the current GCSE's were brought in). I managed to turn up on the wrong day and the wrong syllabus for my Maths exam, thus ensuring no result or grade. I got into some serious trouble over that one...

Thankfully I managed to get good enough grades in the rest of the exams to be able to go to further education in the neighbouring town of Malton. Because it was only a small college, some of the subjects I wanted to take clashed and I had to change to do only Chemistry and Geography, plus the ubiquitous General Studies (which have been better described with 'Current affairs and Life Skills' I suppose). For whatever reason it was, I can't remember now, I bombed on Chemistry, which was strange cos I'd done fairly well in that subject at a lower level. I think I was OK in practical terms, but the understanding of what I was supposed to be studying never seemed to make sense. geography I was OK with and enjoyed especially when it came to the physical aspect of the subject, meteorology, seismology and vulcanology all fascinated me even then as they do now.

In the end I passed Geography and General Studies (it took real failure to mess the latter up!), so what now? In the end I was accepted into the old Polytechnic of East London, based in Stratford, to study Land Management. First time in London, indeed the furthest I had been from home - barring a two week camping holiday in the Highlands of Scotland - and I was still a typical naive country boy in many respects. How would I take to the change in lifestyle and culture? More later...

Days off and so on

It seems strange now to be at home during the week, Monday was my day of in lieu of working on the 2nd and to still be in the house at 9am, not in my working gear, well it didn't feel right. Thats not to say I don't appreciate the fact, just that its weird. At least I went back refreshed and ready for action and so on. The tasks I had won't be that onerous, at least not for a while. not until the processes as regards fostering gets underway properly. But it was a good weekend. That is always a good thing, isn't it? Saturday was quiet, I suppose you could call that a complete wind-down kind of day. Sunday was busy but fun, as we spent much of the afternoon at the London Mela which is a great day out. The rain didn't help at all, a couple of bad showers meant that we got soaked but apart from that it was good. Admittedly I felt rather conspicuous, as one of small number of non-asians at the event but once that's got over, its just a case of enjoying whats around you, the sights, the music, the food and so on. If you never been to an event like a Mela, then go sample it, you might even like it!

In the evening, both Ally and I were taken out to the local Bollywood movie theatre. Admittedly A had been before, but I hadn't and I wasn't entirely sure of what to expect, but afterwards, I could honestly say that I had enjoyed it quite a lot. Thank goodness for the subtitles or I would have been all at sea. Actually the moral behind the story was one that could be applied the world over, in that money is only good for what it can do for others, and that you should always consider the wider implications of your actions. Its a shame more people don't take these thoughts on board, I'm sure things would be a whole lot different in the world if they did.

Things that bug me (part 1): I spend a lot of time travelling on the buses and I always try to make sure that I don't take up a seat unnecessarily, by standing mostly, if there's just a few spare. What gets up my nose are those people that choose to sit on the inside seat, furthest from the window, and leave the outside seat empty. I mean, why?? It means then if anyone wants that seat, they have to push past, or the other person has to get up. ok perhaps they are just going a few stops, but why not take the window seat?? Makes no sense to me at all.