This, as the title indicates , is my second attempt to write this post. My first attempt rapidly descended into a trough of negativity sparked by my attempts to describe the political and social climate in England as experienced or viewed by us, after a year here. The sentence alone "after a year here" is significant because it was exactly a year ago, yesterday, that we re-arrived in England. I will re-try to describe the political and social atmosphere, as we experience it, in the following paragraph.
Politics:
England is not a happy place. It is not a country where emphasis is placed on quality of life for the mass of it's populace, and it is not a place where culture, sports (despite the prevalence of sporting franchises) or arts for the people is either valued or supported by it's Government. The main function of the British Government is managing money : "Of course", you may say, "the economy is the most important thing for any modern government. It is what Government is for." This is true, to an extent, but most other Governments also concern themselves, to differing degrees, with additional matters : the French are protective of their language and culture, the Scandinavians are environmentally active, the Germans, Aussies and Canadians do invest in sports and the Italians spend fortunes on architecture, ancient and modern. Not so with the British Government. Every way I look at the British Government, I am left with the impression that it does not care what happens in this country as long as the money supply is protected, as long as inflation is controlled and as long as the City (Stock Market) is happy and active. Successive British Governments just do not consider the well-being of the society they rule as important - as Margaret Thatcher once famously said "There is no such thing as society".
See, I tried again, with no success, just negativity. This is probably because that reflects my own true feelings about England, and why when you discuss England with either new immigrants or its established denizens, the most common sentiment is "Well I know loads of great people, but this country sucks". I'll leave my inept political commentary there, and just say I agree with that sentiment.
Elsewhere, this is the most recent news round-up:
Cats:
Toshack and Calli recently went the vets and had some injections and a full health check. The vet commented that Tosh, at nearly eight kilos was the biggest cat she had seen for some time, but not overweight, just naturally big. I mentioned that he's recently come back from some nocturnal adventures showing signs of having been involved in fights and she said she felt sorry for the other cat(s). I'm ashamed to say that my first reaction was to be proud of him for being a tough cookie : "Thats ma' boy!", but immediately I felt bad because I imagined him beating up some other poor little kitty and hurting it. Once he came back with some minor scratches of his own, but with great big clumps of dark fur between his claws - whatever he'd been fighting had definitely been on the receiving end of a beating. Thankfully, the trend has subsided recently - presumably whatever turf war he was involved in has been resolved. In truth, there's nothing we can do about this anyway.
House Purchase:
A total mess at the moment. The sellers are in Florida and have washed their hands of the sale. referring us to their property manager, an odious individual call Mr Gold who neither answers phone calls or e-mails. We think we still have an accepted offer lodged with the seller, but because Gold will not return calls we do not know what the situation is. The tenants are still resident, and for all we know, Gold could have agreed a sale with other people behind our back. Or decided not to sell to us. We may decide to withdraw from the sale, which would loose us a substantial sum of money that we've already had to pay out, but if the current situation continues, we will have no choice.
Jobs:
We both have the same jobs we had last week. We are continually stressed. I get loads of recognition for my work, but no pay rises. Nel's job is the more pressurized because it is much more of a solo enterprise, but mine is more frustrating because of the people I have to work with. Both jobs are very rewarding. These contradictions are intended - in reality we are both doing work that "engages" us, and if we are frustrated/pressured/stressed a lot of the time it is because we are both lucky enough to care about what we do, but we are both effectively newbies and make newbie mistakes : "Oh, you meant do'nt press the red switch labelled 'Launch thermo-nuclear devices'. Sorry, I'll remember for next time." In reality, work is shaping up nicely for both of us to have a rewarding last 20 years of working life.
Friends:
Later this week, I'll tell you about re-meeting Karl, our friend from Leicester. Suffice to say for now that we've just seen Karl off after an amazing weekend. "Happy Re-union" is an appropriate phrase.
Future:
We plan to get out and about more in the forthcoming year. We have fossilized a bit this year, and apart from meeting an Englishman in Hull, have had no social life at all. That, plus some expeditions I have planned, is something that has to change.
Showing posts with label Quarterly Report. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quarterly Report. Show all posts
Sunday, 13 January 2008
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Quarterly Report (Continued)
Continuing the Quarterly Report, interrupted by the strange UK weather patterns, the subject of what we do in order to purchase cat treats follows.
Work
Nel
Nel might want to add to this, but she's busy so I'll summarize for her, from my perspective. As a lot of you are scientists, you'll be aware that it does take a little while to secure proper laboratory space, but after some wrangling, Nel found the perfect mountaintop, complete with a castle, and essentially of course, fairly regular lightning, and is well settled in.
Nel is loving her job, and experiments and conferences (Edinburgh, Italy) are planned for the summer. She is also visiting London, ON in late summer for some collaboration work with Tutis. I do'nt actually know how the day to day work is going as I have effectively been de-looped from Nel's face recognition work ever since I volunteered to help her out in a face recognition task and did so badly that she had to use a sundial to measure my reaction times.
Nel might post on this later, but she's pretty busy doing scientific things and has just popped out to buy some test-tubes.
Martin.
After a period of "worklessness" (See posts labelled Jobcentre Plus), I embarked on an audacious campaign to become Hull's Leading Freelance Scenic Carpenter (see Work posts). I plied my trade in Scarborough, before expanding my empire to Leeds. And there my career as a Freelancer has ended, because a few days into a gig at Logik, I was offered a full time position by same. After some wrangling, the deal was struck, and I'm now back at what I suppose I've done for most of my working life. Which is best described as "Making Wierd Things". Logical make trade shows, exhibits, events and such like. The work is fun, challenging and the workshop is clean, well-organised and well maintained. The only down side is a daily commute to Leeds, a journey that is enlivened by my war of attrition against Transpennine Express (particularly the 720 Class Turbo Booster) and my continued investigations into all things archaeological,as I get at least a full two hours per day of reading.
Social.
Very little activity here, apart from occasional weekend trips with Mike and Christine who live across the Hall, and are great people. Welcome family visits, of course, as well, and we're off to a wedding tomorrow evening but mainly having an awful lot of "stuff" left to do in Canada, and the finding of work have dominated proceedings.
Work
Nel
Nel might want to add to this, but she's busy so I'll summarize for her, from my perspective. As a lot of you are scientists, you'll be aware that it does take a little while to secure proper laboratory space, but after some wrangling, Nel found the perfect mountaintop, complete with a castle, and essentially of course, fairly regular lightning, and is well settled in.
Nel is loving her job, and experiments and conferences (Edinburgh, Italy) are planned for the summer. She is also visiting London, ON in late summer for some collaboration work with Tutis. I do'nt actually know how the day to day work is going as I have effectively been de-looped from Nel's face recognition work ever since I volunteered to help her out in a face recognition task and did so badly that she had to use a sundial to measure my reaction times.
Nel might post on this later, but she's pretty busy doing scientific things and has just popped out to buy some test-tubes.
Martin.
After a period of "worklessness" (See posts labelled Jobcentre Plus), I embarked on an audacious campaign to become Hull's Leading Freelance Scenic Carpenter (see Work posts). I plied my trade in Scarborough, before expanding my empire to Leeds. And there my career as a Freelancer has ended, because a few days into a gig at Logik, I was offered a full time position by same. After some wrangling, the deal was struck, and I'm now back at what I suppose I've done for most of my working life. Which is best described as "Making Wierd Things". Logical make trade shows, exhibits, events and such like. The work is fun, challenging and the workshop is clean, well-organised and well maintained. The only down side is a daily commute to Leeds, a journey that is enlivened by my war of attrition against Transpennine Express (particularly the 720 Class Turbo Booster) and my continued investigations into all things archaeological,as I get at least a full two hours per day of reading.
Social.
Very little activity here, apart from occasional weekend trips with Mike and Christine who live across the Hall, and are great people. Welcome family visits, of course, as well, and we're off to a wedding tomorrow evening but mainly having an awful lot of "stuff" left to do in Canada, and the finding of work have dominated proceedings.
Sunday, 24 June 2007
Quarterly Report
Six months since we moved here, to 'kin 'Ull, as the locals usually refer to it, so its time for another Quarterly report, this time sub-sectioned for ease of reference. I'll be adding to this post over the next week (June 24th to 30th, 2007).
Hull.
Stalingrad, Rome, Manu Pichu, Babylon or Uruk, Alexandria, Mohenjadoro, Troy,Catalhuyik and New York. A list that, I can predict with complete confidence, Hull will not be joining any time soon. The sign at Hull's Railway station is a little bit overblown, not to mention, optimistic.
A new development is being constructed right next to the station, and already it is outdated, politically, architecturally and environmentally. The new development, intended to be the jewel in Hull's tiara is a glass and concrete monstrosity, a carbuncle(thanks Chaz) ,featuring a rooftop carpark (in an age where other European cities are encouraging bike, bus, ride), a "state of the art" air-conditioning/heating system (which has been properly condemned for being incredibly energy inefficient especially in light of the massive heat sink available 100ft away called the Humber Estuary), massive glass walls (possibly one of the worst insulators), and a sort of 70's shopping centre/mall appearance (where everywhere else is moving towards plazas, coffee shops and pedestrian areas).
The final insult to good taste is that the supermarket chain Tesco's, takes pride of place front and centre of this development. Many people in Britain object to Tesco's because of the effect its chain of "local" stores is having on real local sole trade-owned butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, and I can sympathise with that objection. However, my real objection to Tesco's, is that like Walmarts in the US, or Zellers in Canada, no matter how hard the company tries to force it's brand up-market, a visit to any of these stores always feels to me as if the local trailer-park and penitentiary have both decided to have days out at the store at the exact moment that I need to buy some proscuitto. Slack-jawed youths and pot-bellied ladies in velour track suits sporting the famous "Essex facelift" seem to predominate in Hull's Tesco's. And everyone, but everyone is talking, no, arguing, on their cell phones.
We (more accurately 'I'), probably wo'nt be flocking to the opening ceremony. As for the rest of Hull, we do'nt flock there either. In fact, we have very little interaction with the city. We've been to local pubs no more than five or six times, meals not at all, and the movies once.
The Avenues.
The Avenues/University is the area of Hull we live in, and in contrast to the rest of the city, we know it well, and really like it. It is tree-lined, with old houses, full of character and is a well-defined separation from the rows of hopeless terraces that infest most of Hull. We shop at Pete's Butchers, the campest butcher in England "How do you take your pork loin, sir?", and get our cat's stuff delivered by Ian at Petaqua. The community association is holding an "Avenues Open Gardens" Day on 1st July and it should be great - we get to walk into some of the local private gardens and snoop around. Author's and artists live in this area - Steven Hall, author of Raw Shark Texts lives upstairs, and Philip Larkin lived about 200 metres away.
Just a note on Steven Hall. I met Steven while I was unemployed, and I thought he was unemployed as well - scruffy dressing gown, doing the laundry at 2.00pm on Wednesday, time to stop and chat, that sort of thing. Then he mentioned in one conversation that he'd sold his book. Steven is pretty cool - he likes our cats,and one of the first things he did to celebrate his book's success was to buy a Dalek. Those unfamiliar with what this is should Google it, or check out Steven's blog (http://www.myspace.com/StevenHallBooks) which has a picture. Steven's book is Raw Shark Texts and has been optioned by Hollywood to make into a film with the scriptwriter of The Full Monty on board. Nicole Kidman actually called Steven to ask him to change the main character from a male to a female so she could play the lead in the movie and Steven is being hailed as the next big thing. Like a lot of good artists, Steven, when I infrequently meet him these days seems excited, but is still pretty down to earth.
Hull.
Stalingrad, Rome, Manu Pichu, Babylon or Uruk, Alexandria, Mohenjadoro, Troy,Catalhuyik and New York. A list that, I can predict with complete confidence, Hull will not be joining any time soon. The sign at Hull's Railway station is a little bit overblown, not to mention, optimistic.
A new development is being constructed right next to the station, and already it is outdated, politically, architecturally and environmentally. The new development, intended to be the jewel in Hull's tiara is a glass and concrete monstrosity, a carbuncle(thanks Chaz) ,featuring a rooftop carpark (in an age where other European cities are encouraging bike, bus, ride), a "state of the art" air-conditioning/heating system (which has been properly condemned for being incredibly energy inefficient especially in light of the massive heat sink available 100ft away called the Humber Estuary), massive glass walls (possibly one of the worst insulators), and a sort of 70's shopping centre/mall appearance (where everywhere else is moving towards plazas, coffee shops and pedestrian areas).
The final insult to good taste is that the supermarket chain Tesco's, takes pride of place front and centre of this development. Many people in Britain object to Tesco's because of the effect its chain of "local" stores is having on real local sole trade-owned butchers, bakers and candlestick makers, and I can sympathise with that objection. However, my real objection to Tesco's, is that like Walmarts in the US, or Zellers in Canada, no matter how hard the company tries to force it's brand up-market, a visit to any of these stores always feels to me as if the local trailer-park and penitentiary have both decided to have days out at the store at the exact moment that I need to buy some proscuitto. Slack-jawed youths and pot-bellied ladies in velour track suits sporting the famous "Essex facelift" seem to predominate in Hull's Tesco's. And everyone, but everyone is talking, no, arguing, on their cell phones.We (more accurately 'I'), probably wo'nt be flocking to the opening ceremony. As for the rest of Hull, we do'nt flock there either. In fact, we have very little interaction with the city. We've been to local pubs no more than five or six times, meals not at all, and the movies once.
The Avenues.
The Avenues/University is the area of Hull we live in, and in contrast to the rest of the city, we know it well, and really like it. It is tree-lined, with old houses, full of character and is a well-defined separation from the rows of hopeless terraces that infest most of Hull. We shop at Pete's Butchers, the campest butcher in England "How do you take your pork loin, sir?", and get our cat's stuff delivered by Ian at Petaqua. The community association is holding an "Avenues Open Gardens" Day on 1st July and it should be great - we get to walk into some of the local private gardens and snoop around. Author's and artists live in this area - Steven Hall, author of Raw Shark Texts lives upstairs, and Philip Larkin lived about 200 metres away.
Just a note on Steven Hall. I met Steven while I was unemployed, and I thought he was unemployed as well - scruffy dressing gown, doing the laundry at 2.00pm on Wednesday, time to stop and chat, that sort of thing. Then he mentioned in one conversation that he'd sold his book. Steven is pretty cool - he likes our cats,and one of the first things he did to celebrate his book's success was to buy a Dalek. Those unfamiliar with what this is should Google it, or check out Steven's blog (http://www.myspace.com/StevenHallBooks) which has a picture. Steven's book is Raw Shark Texts and has been optioned by Hollywood to make into a film with the scriptwriter of The Full Monty on board. Nicole Kidman actually called Steven to ask him to change the main character from a male to a female so she could play the lead in the movie and Steven is being hailed as the next big thing. Like a lot of good artists, Steven, when I infrequently meet him these days seems excited, but is still pretty down to earth.
Thursday, 22 March 2007
Quarterly Report
The photo album is a snapshot of some of the stuff that's happened since we arrived here. I won't make this post overlong, so just a quick update on what we're up to and where we are during the year. I've included details I know of some of you guys. Please feel free to post your schedule - maybe a few people's locations will overlap and can hook-up.
Nel: Gave first talk in Liverpool yesterday, went very well. She's off to Edinburgh in July for a conference and off top Italy in late August for ECVP conference, then over to Canada, also in August. In the meantime, she might be going to NOva Scotia to work on our house, but given her work schedule, maybe not.
Martin: Cycle ride Round Cheshire (May 5 - 7th). Nova Scotia early July to fix up house and sell. I'll be in London, Ontario sometime this year, but do'nt know when, for my court case.
Joanie: Marathon in Scotland in August/ September - Joanie maybe can post the correct dates as I'm hoping to hook up with her.
Carl and Tracy : Idaho in July.
Margaret, Sal, Jane and sundry other Large's: Brittany in July.
Nel: Gave first talk in Liverpool yesterday, went very well. She's off to Edinburgh in July for a conference and off top Italy in late August for ECVP conference, then over to Canada, also in August. In the meantime, she might be going to NOva Scotia to work on our house, but given her work schedule, maybe not.
Martin: Cycle ride Round Cheshire (May 5 - 7th). Nova Scotia early July to fix up house and sell. I'll be in London, Ontario sometime this year, but do'nt know when, for my court case.
Joanie: Marathon in Scotland in August/ September - Joanie maybe can post the correct dates as I'm hoping to hook up with her.
Carl and Tracy : Idaho in July.
Margaret, Sal, Jane and sundry other Large's: Brittany in July.
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| Various England March 2007 |
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