Its amazing you know, you start talking about rats and drain pipes and a mouse appears and I mean actually appears in the lounge. Now our new tenancy agreement is very clear about not harbouring animals so I duelly rang the landlord to notify them of the new occupant and felt they should come and do something about it when Jenny screamed the house down. I thought someone was being murdered in the lounge ( couldn't be Jenny she was still screaming..) so I told the landlord to hold and went to find out that Jenny had actually just seen the mouse...( she had seen it before and not screamed, because she saw it in her periferal vision and thought she was imagining it, so i gave her loads of grief prior to this because it only appeared when I wasn't there. So I said it was her guardian angel) but then it got braver...( and maybe a bit deaf) it didn't care if we were in the lounge and we started to see it or them or whatever daily. we saw it in the dining room too, and the the pest control person appeared. He is a nice chap he keeps snakes he furnished the house with some fetching white boxes and trays of blue mouse sweets. Typically we didn't see it for three days, but then before the mouse man was due to show up again it appeared again, the mouse had tried to fill its hole with a cake wrapper from the bin.so that was removed.
When the mouse man came back he said the mouse or something had partaken in the free mouse sweets in the buffet but the white boxes were untouched. We haven't seen it since that last mouse man visit, so fingers crossed....I thought it had died under the fridge because of the smell, but then I found a rotten potato.So the elusive Scouse mouse ( so called as we are on Mersey streeet) Saga continues....
I will get better at this blogging malarky soon as I will start taking some pictures..why not eh? Mice are a bit fast tho lol
Wednesday, 2 December 2015
Christmas approaches
Here we are 3 months in and whilst I feel supported, by the excellent Barkers Breakfast club and the Hull veterans work club, I had my CV professionally reviewed and basically they tore it to shreds, which is maybe why I havent heard from any of my 50 applications, but then part of me says they were a professional company and they want me to pay for them to rewrite it.
So my mission here is to prove that not all ex military people are alcoholic fighters that are only fit for military service. It has kind of hit me for six, I have a wealth of skills and feel desperately old and overlooked. the last interview I went to I wasnt the oldest however...in fact as I Know I will never work for that particular company like ever , here is the story...
I applied for a job with this company ( despite knowing i will never work for them I'm not completely stupid in naming them lol) , they made me go thru several hoops to get to this particular stage, including an online customer service test which i scored 93% in, a typing test 6241 key depressions per hour, ( 90%) and another test which was role related and I got 100% in that one. This got me thru to a video interview, well I say interview there was nobody there , the questions popped up o nscreen and I answered them, it was horrible but necessary. This got me thru to a group discussion which was like going for RAF Selection all over again. This group discussion was split into three parts. The first part was an ice breaker where we introduced ourselves and said some other interesting things, this then went into a communication exercise, where we were given a laminate to describe for the rest of the group to draw and everyone drew what I described. What followed was a cave rescue scenario where we decided as an individual who in the party we would rescue. Then we had to decide as a group, no one came forward to present their ideas, as we sat there for 5 minutes. So I stepped in and chaired the meeting getting my own opinions across but taking everybody elses opinions into account to come up with a definitive order for the party to come out. The final list looked nothing like I had written down but we all presented why that person should be in that order, and that was the final decision.
I got an email 3 days later saying thanks but no thanks and that detailed feedback was available and so I emailed them and im still waiting.....I guess they wanted a sheep rather than a shepherd.....
I took it as a postive experience and when I went to the Hull veterans work club and they said that was common for this particular company. So undeterred I have applied for another 5 positions at this company with different Cvs and whilst ( in my head) they give me due consideration..(NOT!) they probably just laugh and chuck my application in the bin. Don't fear tho readers they haven't posted a new job in a while but as soon as they do..I'll be in there like a rat up a drain pipe...( do rats run up drain pipes btw? )
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
geographical attitudes
Its been just over a year and we are still coming to terms with the Paris attacks.
On a personal front its time to bring you up to date, the good news is that Kit Us Out continues to go from strength to strength and our athletes got a good bunch of medals at the IPC world athletics championship.
Over the last 12 months I worked for a company that was mainly ex military. for professional reasons i wont go into too much detail, except that they had a number of financial issues and this meant I wasnt paid on time 8 times out of 11. This lead to some difficulties especially when we were paid 18 days late at one stage. They told me in July that the company was going into voluntary liquidation
this was a lie.They were still discussing it, and we finally got paid 22 days later. in the meantime I had gone to the job centre,and informed the landlord of the companies state, he served with a section 21 despite not being in arrears with our rent. With no money and no food in the house I put it as my status on facebook and all of a suddden i had three people contact me with food and some cash, to ease the problem. We were amazed. But my mother in laws health was deteriorating and with the landlord being difficult we asked the Royal British Legion for assistance. They were very quick, and whilst they would have sorted the landlord out, once they heard that my mother in law wasnt well, and we sort of planned to move to Hull they made it happen...and 34 days later we had moved...
Noiw Hull may have been featured in the worse places to live a couple of times in the last few years, but I have to tell you, the assistance for veterans is staggering. There is an Ex forces advisor in the CAB, there is a Hull Veterans Support Centre, there is a Hull Veterans work group, and of the course the orignal Breakfast club at Barkers. Whilst my wife has family and friends in Hull, so whilst feeling the pressure of not being employed again, I set off to find my brethren.
The breakfast club is awesome, everyone knows a guy that knows a guy and thats how I discovered the Hull Veterans Work group. There were 70 veterans attend that breakfast club, a good mix of Army Navy and 4 RAF ( including me lol). We pass the time of day, have a butty and then thin out.
they meet twice a week, and it gave me a lift. In these times of austerity, the state cant support veterans and some companies cant hire them either.Since I have moved to Hull, I have currently applied for over 30 Jobs for 1 interview, but as the job centre will tell you its early days yet....its never early days when you have no money.....well till next time, it will be more regular now , i have tome on my hands lol
Wednesday, 19 November 2014
A year in the life..
Ok readers, its that time of the year again, but in many terms things have changed massively, With this post I aim to bring you up to date with life as a veteran and some of the issues that people like me are facing.
So this time last year I was still a man of leisure enjoying my retirement, but on about this day, it became apparent that I would need a job. I had applied for several but hadnt had any interviews.
I spent a week revising my CV and that didnt work either.
Now fellow ex military its all about the trivial things that we do that we take for granted that are really valued. Self discipline, work ethic, loyalty and other military traits that nly we can offer a civil employer.
It was February before I got a telephone interview for an ex military programme in London. I passed the telephone interview and was invited down for a. assessment. This was with a company called FDM. They are a recruitment agency with a difference, in that they recruit the people with the personality traits they like and then provide them with the skills that then are marketed through their sales department. I passed the assessment, and subsequent final interview and started "work" on Mar 17th.
In a slight break,i need to tell you a story.
Once upon a time a great king asked his followers to get him all of the knowledge of the world, many tried and came back with great tomes. The king whilst impressed said that whilst this was indeed impressive he wanted something shorter, and his followers compressed all the knowledge into one book. the king was impressed but said it still needed compressing, his followers got all the knowledge down to three chapters, the king required it to be compressed further and eventually one of his followers got it down to one phrase......"There's no such thing as a free lunch"
This is true about FDM. The way it works is that you undergo a period of training depending on what FDM think your specialisation is better suited. Because I was already a qualified project manager, it was decided that I was better suited to a test analyst specialisation. My total training period was 16 weeks. the Majority of which was a 60 -70 hour week to get the project work and revision done. I as lucky and able to stay with my aunt. this is all on the basis that you will be placed with a client at the end of your training. My mother in law is very ill and DM were desperate to place people in Yorkshire ( which suited us). Whilst it would be unprofessional to add personal feelings or comments, all I will say is that I was given some bad advice and the extra pressure ( on top of everything else) made me become a different person and the placement didnt work out. I was released by FDM without any contractual penalties and an amazing sense of relief swept over me. I have made some terrific friends and I will never forget some of the sacrifices they were willing to make to help me.I was sad but elated that I didnt have to get up at 0445 to make a 160 mile journey to park and then catch a tube to get to work for 0745, and then look forward to the return journey at 1700.
I could have cheered.
Networking is key, its not what you know, its who you know ( and who they know). I posted on facebook that I had been made redundant and was instantly offered a casual bird control position at the RAF bases in Lincolnshire. I loved this job aircraft annd birds in one day result! the only down side is that I only got paid for the hours I worked, which is Ok when the hours are regular.n a zero hours contract I could have good weeks and bad weeks and finally it became apparent that irrespective of how many hours I worked the money didnt go up, so I consulted my resettlement advisor. He knew of a job in my local area, that needed ex military staff. I applied and got the job. Its nice to get a salary and not have to worry about hours per week.
I am an Emergency Response Controller working for a company in Boston. providing assistance when required for Loan workers,Gap year students and School trips, that are customers of the GapTrac, Locuro or other related products. I find the work interesting and every day is different mostly driven by current affairs. The important thing though is that all of my Emergency response controller colleagues are all ex military and we share good banter. ( the coffee is awesome too...)
I apologise for the mass text posting that this will appear as but this is the end of the beginning...and a new blogging chapter starts here.....
So this time last year I was still a man of leisure enjoying my retirement, but on about this day, it became apparent that I would need a job. I had applied for several but hadnt had any interviews.
I spent a week revising my CV and that didnt work either.
Now fellow ex military its all about the trivial things that we do that we take for granted that are really valued. Self discipline, work ethic, loyalty and other military traits that nly we can offer a civil employer.
It was February before I got a telephone interview for an ex military programme in London. I passed the telephone interview and was invited down for a. assessment. This was with a company called FDM. They are a recruitment agency with a difference, in that they recruit the people with the personality traits they like and then provide them with the skills that then are marketed through their sales department. I passed the assessment, and subsequent final interview and started "work" on Mar 17th.
In a slight break,i need to tell you a story.
Once upon a time a great king asked his followers to get him all of the knowledge of the world, many tried and came back with great tomes. The king whilst impressed said that whilst this was indeed impressive he wanted something shorter, and his followers compressed all the knowledge into one book. the king was impressed but said it still needed compressing, his followers got all the knowledge down to three chapters, the king required it to be compressed further and eventually one of his followers got it down to one phrase......"There's no such thing as a free lunch"
This is true about FDM. The way it works is that you undergo a period of training depending on what FDM think your specialisation is better suited. Because I was already a qualified project manager, it was decided that I was better suited to a test analyst specialisation. My total training period was 16 weeks. the Majority of which was a 60 -70 hour week to get the project work and revision done. I as lucky and able to stay with my aunt. this is all on the basis that you will be placed with a client at the end of your training. My mother in law is very ill and DM were desperate to place people in Yorkshire ( which suited us). Whilst it would be unprofessional to add personal feelings or comments, all I will say is that I was given some bad advice and the extra pressure ( on top of everything else) made me become a different person and the placement didnt work out. I was released by FDM without any contractual penalties and an amazing sense of relief swept over me. I have made some terrific friends and I will never forget some of the sacrifices they were willing to make to help me.I was sad but elated that I didnt have to get up at 0445 to make a 160 mile journey to park and then catch a tube to get to work for 0745, and then look forward to the return journey at 1700.
I could have cheered.
Networking is key, its not what you know, its who you know ( and who they know). I posted on facebook that I had been made redundant and was instantly offered a casual bird control position at the RAF bases in Lincolnshire. I loved this job aircraft annd birds in one day result! the only down side is that I only got paid for the hours I worked, which is Ok when the hours are regular.n a zero hours contract I could have good weeks and bad weeks and finally it became apparent that irrespective of how many hours I worked the money didnt go up, so I consulted my resettlement advisor. He knew of a job in my local area, that needed ex military staff. I applied and got the job. Its nice to get a salary and not have to worry about hours per week.
I am an Emergency Response Controller working for a company in Boston. providing assistance when required for Loan workers,Gap year students and School trips, that are customers of the GapTrac, Locuro or other related products. I find the work interesting and every day is different mostly driven by current affairs. The important thing though is that all of my Emergency response controller colleagues are all ex military and we share good banter. ( the coffee is awesome too...)
I apologise for the mass text posting that this will appear as but this is the end of the beginning...and a new blogging chapter starts here.....
Monday, 11 November 2013
Lest we Forget
As the guns fell silent on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we all sit here in quiet reflection, but what do you readers think about?
As a member of the Military I reflect on all my friends that didn't make it, the ones that are mentally scarred that could never come to terms with what they saw, the ones with injuries that serve as a constant reminder of the times they served, the ones that are serving a different kind of her Majesty's pleasure, but most of all the families of these men and women.
For them another date on the calendar, an empty seat at the dinner table and a missing presence at Christmas. The family that buying a poppy has extra significance, they are the unlucky ones...yet the one thing they all have in common is that their family member died doing what he enjoyed the most. When it comes down to it, the bond that Forces personnel have with their friends is deeper than you can imagine, and whilst its a factor that you could die, in reality its just another day eating crap food, having some good banter with your mates and doing a job. The fact the locals don't like you very much, only really enters your thoughts when they turn their rockets on you as you die for cover,and wait for the all clear.
I found out today one of the dambusters that I had met Sqn Ldr Tony Iveson had died today. He was an amazing gentleman and he inspired me on the two occasions I met him. The Bomber boys were a different class, they got into an aircraft everyday knowing full well it could be their last and that they were only expected to live for 9 missions. Some defied this destiny of course mostly down to the skill of their crew, the weather and in some cases luck. It doesnt detract from the fact that Bomber command were the largest loss of life for any unit of the war, and yet it was their efforts that really brought the war home to the enemy.
My last thoughts of today actually derive from my rememberance service from yesterday. I met a man yesterday and he wore his grandfathers German Iron cross, and for the first time you realise that we are remembering them too, at the end of the day they too were having just another day of crap food, good banter with their mates and doing a job.
I will close with the inscription from Headley Court:
" Its about the blokes,our men and women of the Armed forces. Its about Derek, a rugby player that has lost both of his legs. Its about Carl, whose jaw is wired up, so he has been drinking through a straw. Its about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on a stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. Its about Ben,Its about Steven and Andy and Mark. Its about them all.They are just blokes, but they are our blokes, they are our heroes and we want to help our heroes...."
But its also about the blokes that didnt come back....Rest in Peace
As a member of the Military I reflect on all my friends that didn't make it, the ones that are mentally scarred that could never come to terms with what they saw, the ones with injuries that serve as a constant reminder of the times they served, the ones that are serving a different kind of her Majesty's pleasure, but most of all the families of these men and women.
For them another date on the calendar, an empty seat at the dinner table and a missing presence at Christmas. The family that buying a poppy has extra significance, they are the unlucky ones...yet the one thing they all have in common is that their family member died doing what he enjoyed the most. When it comes down to it, the bond that Forces personnel have with their friends is deeper than you can imagine, and whilst its a factor that you could die, in reality its just another day eating crap food, having some good banter with your mates and doing a job. The fact the locals don't like you very much, only really enters your thoughts when they turn their rockets on you as you die for cover,and wait for the all clear.
I found out today one of the dambusters that I had met Sqn Ldr Tony Iveson had died today. He was an amazing gentleman and he inspired me on the two occasions I met him. The Bomber boys were a different class, they got into an aircraft everyday knowing full well it could be their last and that they were only expected to live for 9 missions. Some defied this destiny of course mostly down to the skill of their crew, the weather and in some cases luck. It doesnt detract from the fact that Bomber command were the largest loss of life for any unit of the war, and yet it was their efforts that really brought the war home to the enemy.
My last thoughts of today actually derive from my rememberance service from yesterday. I met a man yesterday and he wore his grandfathers German Iron cross, and for the first time you realise that we are remembering them too, at the end of the day they too were having just another day of crap food, good banter with their mates and doing a job.
I will close with the inscription from Headley Court:
" Its about the blokes,our men and women of the Armed forces. Its about Derek, a rugby player that has lost both of his legs. Its about Carl, whose jaw is wired up, so he has been drinking through a straw. Its about Richard who was handed a mobile phone as he lay on a stretcher so he could say goodbye to his wife. Its about Ben,Its about Steven and Andy and Mark. Its about them all.They are just blokes, but they are our blokes, they are our heroes and we want to help our heroes...."
But its also about the blokes that didnt come back....Rest in Peace
Lest we forget
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