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.
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.
posted by Rob at 10:11 am
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