Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night has come round again, it’s on Tuesday but there will be fireworks displays this weekend which is a pity because the weather is having another go at trying to flatten the UK. A deep depression is heading for Scotland pulling in wind from the Atlantic which means it’s going to be cold, wet and very windy from some time on Saturday afternoon for 48 hours. Fortunately the tradition of building bonfires seems to have died down a bit in recent years because high wind and big raging fires on street corners is not the best of combinations.

Phone hacking is in the news at the moment and with the trial set to last 6 months I have a feeling we will all be pig sick of hearing who hacked who’s phone and why and who knew the hacking was going on and who was having a love affair with whom. They, the lovers, must have never left messages on each other’s phones, probably because they knew how easy it was to have their private thoughts spread over the front page of a rival newspaper. The big question at the moment is why don’t they just plead guilty and save a lot of time and money. You get a reduced sentence if you plead guilty and we won’t have to listen to all the grubby details for the next 6 months.

Another story that caught some peoples eye was the tactics used by the Unite Union. I have been a member of 4 unions in my working life and been crapped on by all four of them so after the last lump a crap landed on my head I decided not to join another union again but I almost wish I was a Unite member so I could have the pleasure of showing my disgust by quitting.

And on a lighter note A former bank manager has claimed to have broken the blind water speed world record by travelling at more than 93mph.

The 52-year-old, from Manchester, sped across Torquay harbour in a Formula 1 powerboat.

If confirmed, it would mean Mike Newman holds the blind land and water speed records simultaneously.

I always thought there was a 4 mph speed limit in Torquay harbour.

But well done anyway, Mr Newman.

 

PS I got on Stagecoach Gold again at Victoria Park and tried to get connected. At the Grand the wifi was still looking for a I.P. Address so I gave up and switched off

 

 

A few things been happening over the last two weeks. First there were wild fires sweeping through New South Wales. They were so bad that Sydney, where my sister lives was covered with a thick blanket of smoke and people were warned to stay indoors with the windows and doors closed. The temperature has been up in the thirties and it is still early spring so it is really hot for the time of year and the new prime minister of Australia says climate change is crap. He is also busily dismantling the system put in place by the previous government to work to reduce carbon emissions in Australia. The moral of this little story is politicians can not be trusted to save the world, just to win votes.

One of my nephews is a member of The Rural Fire Service and he has been out fighting the fires over the last few days.

Then we were warned by the Met Office to expect a major storm to hit us on Sunday night. From what I have seen the storm missed Torquay. Other places weren't so lucky.

It's Halloween tomorrow and there is a party at The Pad in Paignton where I work. I'm not a

great believer in Halloween but a party is a party.

I caught the Gold service home from work today and tried to connect to the internet with my tablet. Didn't work for some reason. Shame.

Odds and Ends from Torquay.

The building to replace the Palm Court Hotel is beginning to take shape. Looks like the back end of a ship.

The shark, not a real one is part of an exhibition being held at the Spanish Barn here in Torquay. Here is a little extract from Torbay's publicity for the event:-

Afloat is a FREE exhibition at Torre Abbey Spanish Barn open until 18 October. By the end of last month over 2500 people had been to see the exhibition, and it is open from 10am to 5pm every day except Monday and Tuesday.

Afloat is the culmination of the Arts Council funded visit to Torbay by Lone Twin's Collective Spirit, a beautifully crafted sailing boat made from people's wooden memorabilia.

Collective Spirit is the centerpiece of the water-themed exhibition, which also features work by some of the region’s best artists, including Paul Riley, Alan Cotton, and Bob Grimson, and includes art from a range of disciplines including painting, ceramics and sculpture. 
Well it looked interesting enough for me to make my way over to The Spanish Barn to have a look. Sorry to say but the fish, made of fibre glass and priced at £3000, was the only thing that was even remotely interesting there.

Dumb Bird

Not quite sure why this seagull was trying to eat this guy's fleece jacket. It must have the same nutritional qualities as a Big Mac.

Autumn Has Arrived at Hollicomb Beach

Hollicombe Beach, on the boundary between Torquay and Paignton. No one out there swimming or sunbathing, just a few people walking their dogs on the beach. Something they can only do once September is out of the way.

And one of those badgers who moved the goalposts and got away.

The badger cull being held in Somerset is said to have only shot half the badgers needed to stop the spread of bovine TB from the badgers to cattle. Some scientists, those working for the government, say killing badgers is the only way. Others, who don't depend on the government pay cheque have other ideas. Personally I believe culls on this scale are a waste of time, effort, money and a lot of badgers because all that will happen is those badgers around the edge of the cull area will notice a lack of badgers over the hill as it were, Hay, that's prime badger territory they will say and move in, bringing or not bringing bovine TB. (Depends on who you believe.) 

Gold, the bus not the metal

Since the Gold started I have been taking my tablet to work, not to use it there. I have 5 computers to play with at work. No, I want to try out the free Wi-Fi system the Stagecoach boast about on their new service. Now I don't get the Gold to work. It leaves the Harbour at either 15 minutes past the hour or 15 minutes to the hour. So the 09:15 is too early for me, I would have to pay and the 09:45 would get me to work a bit late. I start at 10:00 at Eat The Frog, opposite Victoria Park in Paignton.

It's coming home that I am interested in. But the 12 and 12A go past 10 times an hour and the Gold only twice an hour so it's a good chance the first bus along won't be the Gold. Then on Wednesday the first bus along was a Gold. Guess what, for the first time in two weeks I hadn't taken my tablet to work so no chance to check the Wi-Fi.

 One thing I did notice though, people all the way into Torquay were getting on and off the bus, using it just like a 12 or 12A. There were a number of pupils from Paignton Community College on the bus as well. It looks like the Gold service will pick up passengers along that route in a way the X80 never did. Anyway FirstBus are stopping running the X80/X81 at the end of the month, on the 27th I hear.

The Gold has just the same ticket machine and prices at the other Stagecoach buses and one added attraction, you can use a Torbay Day Rider (cost £5.10. Please have a ten pence coin handy if you pay with a note) as far as Totnes and onto Dartmouth. Going to Plymouth is extra unless you have a "free bus pass".

Bloody cold yesterday morning, looks like autumn is finally on it's way.

There was an item in the Herald Express during the week. Our wonderful mayor (elected) wants to give Torbay to Devon County Council. Good idea or bad idea?

Visit from the Police

At work the other day in Paignton’s Eat That Frog we were slightly disturbed by a helicopter hovering overhead. It wasn’t visible out the window but it was there for a while making the usual noise a hovering helicopter makes. Looking for bad guys one assumes.

Then in walked a policeman and asked if he could have a look round just to make sure none of the above mentioned bad guys were taking refuge in our workshop.

Fortunately no arrests were made.

Later on I was just about to leave, at 3:15 so I could catch the Stagecoach Gold service when someone asked me if I knew what the police wanted. By the time I had answered that question plus the discussion that followed The Gold bus had left Paignton Bus Station on time, mostly empty, and was just going past the stop at Victoria Park, too late, missed it again. So I caught the Hop 12 instead. Which was full, standing room only 

Working For Your Benefits Not Mentioned Here

So The Tory Party have had their little get to gether up there in Manchester. A couple of items that came out of this little junked at the old central railway station that may at some time in the future affect me. The first was the tax break for couples where if one partner is earning less than their personal tax allowance then up to a £1000 can be added to other partner’s personal allowance. The maximum benefit this arrangement will bring is £3.85 per week. If only one partner is working and earning £10400 then that will be a 1.9% increase in their combined income. For a low income family that could be welcome. But for most couples whose income is probably higher than the increase becomes less noticeable. My partner and I will benefit but only by a good deal less than 0.5% increase in income.

Am I against or for this idea? Dead against. Why? It will cost almost 1 billion pounds to implement. Do you live in a medium sized town that needs a new hospital? A billion pounds would get you your new hospital. Fewer people will benefit but the benefit will be much greater if we built a new hospital somewhere in the country every year for the rest of eternity.

Second item was the added number of job applications out of work people have to make every week to continue getting their benefits. Sounds good, make sure the lazy bastards are looking for work. But hang on. I spend 3 days a week at a place in Paignton called Eat That Frog. I help people who are not familiar with computers get familiar with computers. What that means is I help people negotiate their way through the complexities of creating a CV, setting up an email address, setting up a Government Gateway account and showing people who have never used a computer look for work on the Gateway site.

Most of the people who come in are regulars, one guy told me the other day that he had applied for 45 jobs in the last 3 months and he hasn’t had a single job offer. He hasn’t had a single invitation to attend an interview. Actually he hasn’t had a single reply from any of the 45 people he has emailed his CV to. Not one prospective employer has had the curtsey to even email him back with the sad news that someone else has got the job.

But hang on a second before you say, “Miserable bastards.” for not emailing back. As well as the guy above sending the prospective employer an email with CV attached, so are other unemployed people in Torbay sending emails with CV attached because Government rules say unemployed people have to apply for 3 jobs a week. Sad to say there aren’t all that many jobs out here in Torbay but there are hundreds of unemployed people all trying to find 3 jobs a week to apply for. The poor prospective employer must be snowed under with emails with attached CVs. Sorry guys, it’s going to get worst when the number of jobs applied for goes up to 5 a week.

We only have 5 computers at Eat That Frog, trying to find 5 jobs to apply for will take longer so we could end up with a queue of people right round the Milk Bottle.

 

Gold

This is the 09:45 Gold service to Plymouth from Torquay. I went down to the Harbour to have a look and take a few photo at this time because it was the first bus out of Torquay that us free bus pass holders could get on without being pestered for cash. I, like one or two other people expected it to be full but when I got there at 09:30 there were only 5 people waiting. True one gentleman had been there since 09:00 to make sure he got a place but it looks like the opening day sale didn't attract the crowds everyone was expecting. Mind you the weather was dull, low mist every where which may have put a few people off.

Looks nice inside, empty but everyone had gone upstairs. When it left, on time, there were 10 people on board, not counting the driver.

Bus Stop

The buses aren't going up Abbey Road from Fleet St so The two stops near the Central Cinema are presently out of use. You either have to walk up to the top of Abbey Rd or down to Cary Parade or the Harbour.

Stagecoach have put notices on these stops warning passengers of this temporary change but there are some people who pull down these notices and think it a fun thing to do.

Well it isn't. Standing at a bus stop waiting for a bus on a Sunday is never a fun thing to do. Standing waiting at a bus stop that won't see a bus stop there for the next 4 weeks can get kind of frustrating and dull. And a waste of time.

Hopefully Stagecoach will act quickly and get new notices up ASAP.

Something else that isn't fun are these two children busking in Fleet St. I wouldn't mind too much if they were any good.

Thunder and Lightning over Torquay

At 05:45 this morning (Sat) I was woken by an extremely loud bang that didn’t know when to stop. Thunder. A minute later the bedroom was lit up by a flash of lightning and 4 seconds later and other clap of thunder. After 10 minutes of thunder and lightning I decided to get my camera and see if I could get a photo of the lightning.

I soon realised that the light show was at the back of the house which is not much use to me given that there is a great big cliff face at the back that cuts of the view to the south where all the lightning appeared to be coming from.

I persevered with the camera and the two pictures shown here were taken a minute apart. Remember, it was 06:41 and still dark.

I don't like using a flash light to take photos but this is an exception.

PS in 4 seconds sound travels 760 miles and light 752000 miles. Some simple arithmetic and I worked out the flash was about 1500 yards away. Bright wasn't it?

Bus Stop in Fleet St

Stagecoach acted quickly and covered over the out of use bus stop going up Fleet St. Mind you, the contractors have only erected one bus stop where there used to be two. New arrangement? Could be, 12,  12a, 31, 32, 34 and Local Link passengers all standing at one bus stop, could get crowded.

 
If it isn't raining I shall be on the Strand at nine thirty on Monday morning, not to catch the Gold Bus, not on the first day but to see how many other people do try to get on. As there is more leg room there must be fewer seats and I don't expect that standing all the way to Plymouth would be encouraged, not for a 1hour 50 min trip. Difficult to work on your laptop while standing up.

PS If you want to read the timetable on Stagecoach's web page then click on Torbay as your location and GOLD as the route number though I am sure GOLD isn't actually a number.

Stagecoach's new bus

Soon, Monday, to be running between Torquay and Plymouth with a side trip to Dartmouth.

I never drove a bus between Totnes and Dartmouth, just a coach and that was bad enough. How long before there are a few dents in those shinny body panels?

Free wi fi so bring your laptop or tablet to while away the time on your trip.

And now for something slightly different.
It would appear from the notice on this bus stop in Fleet St that buses will not be stopping here between 19 Feb 2013 and 19 March 2013. Actually they won't be stopping here until the end of November.

PS. If there is nothing new posted here you can always try my Facebook Page.
PPS. Long time since I posted, sorry but a bit of writers block.

Fleet St Closed on Sat 27 July but for a good reason

TOWER TO THE PEOPLE AT TORQUAY FESTIVAL 2013 - SAT JULY 27

15 July 2013 at 11:45

Glastonbury Festival hit The People’s Tower is centrepiece for Torquay Festival 2013:

Saturday 27th July 2013 - 11am-7.30pm 

 

An art installation that was a hit at this year’s Glastonbury Festival and which featured in a national newspaper is at the centre of this year’s Torquay Festival, at the end of this month (July).

 

The People’s Tower – a giant cardboard version of Torquay’s Clock Tower made by the public from cardboard and tape – will be erected in the middle of the town as part of the Festival, happening on Saturday July 27th.

 

It’s just one of the highlights of the third Torquay Festival and created by Born Hectic Events, in conjunction with Torbay Town Centres Company, bringing international showmanship, street theatre, children’s activities, free family fun and high quality entertainment to the town’s shopping streets.

 

Torquay Festival 2013 will feature two open air street stages, presenting international comedy street performers together with high quality jazz, swing, samba and folk music.

 

One stage will be at the top of Fleet Street (which will be closed to all traffic), with a programme of free entertainments running from 11.30am to 4.30pm. The other stage will be at The Harbour, running from 11.30am until 7.30pm.

 

Quirky, funny street entertainers will be on patrol in the streets all day. Look out for Musical Ruth and her piano and a few more besides. Plus art experts Urban Canvas will be drawing a large pavement picture with the public's help at The Harbour.

 

The entire extravaganza will add to the vibrancy of Torquay’s busy town centre in a memorable and entertaining manner, says Born Hectic’s director Rick Worthy: “This will be a really exciting event for Torquay – it’s packed with funny entertainers and good music to ensure that we put the town on the map as an events destination.

 

“By having international artists performing here, it really raises everyone’s game. And we’ve chosen artists that really connect with people and children – we want everyone to get involved here and go away with great memories of Torquay Festival 2013.

 

“The main objective of The Torquay Festival is to raise the national and international profile of the town by putting it on the map as a ‘must-visit’ destination, whilst royally entertaining visitors and residents alike.”

 

The People’s Tower

A smash-hit at this year’s Glastonbury Festival will appear at Torquay Festival – and it needs the people of Torquay to help build it.

 

International artist Olivier Grossetete, from Marseille, France, is working with local people to create a breath-taking art-piece from cardboard and parcel tape that will be at the centre of this year’s Festival programme.

 

A futuristic version of the Torquay Clocktower has been designed by Olivier and, with the assistance of passers-by and participants, will be erected in Fleet Walk.

 

Starting at noon, and ending at 5pm, Torquay people will make the tower from cardboard building blocks, getting it as high as possible – at least 15 metres tall.

 

After it is built, hopefully by 5pm, the structure is pushed over, jumped on – and then sent for recycling.

 

“This is really fun art that everyone can get involved in,” says Born Hectic’s Rick Worthy, who oversaw the building of a Glastonbury Festival tower this summer. “It’s inclusive, it’s participatory and there’s a sense of community spirit when we all build this thing together. Yes, it’s contemporary art, but it’s not freaky nor does it leave people out in the cold. This is fun stuff to get involved in.”

 

The People’s Tower is produced by Born Hectic Events and supported through Arts Council England’s National Lottery-funded Grants for the Arts scheme, in partnership with UZ Arts and In-situ. 

 

Nick Green, Combined Arts Relationship Manager South West, Arts Council England said: “Born Hectic produced a similar tower replica for Glastonbury with amazing results, and we're sure that Torbay residents of all ages will be equally delighted with the hands-on experience. 

 

“The arts are an incredible way to bring communities together, spark creativity and drive income to the local economy. We hope as many as people possible get involved in this fun project!”

 

Children’s activities at Torquay Festival

Free children’s activities will be at the Town Hall from 12noon to 5pm. Performance, karaoke and a talent show with craft and clay workshops will be available, as well as a magician/storyteller. There will be a really big bouncy castle there too.

 

The Acts

 

BIG BEAT – High energy junk percussion band

 

2TONIC – Foot-tapping musical duo performing fun covers and classics on jaws harp, mouth-bow, harmonica, drums and guitar.

JONAH’S LIFT - 6-piece eclectic celtic-folk-rock band from Cornwall known for their musical arrangements, humour and ability to get any crowd dancing.

 

LE NAVET BETE - Brilliant 5-man comedy clown group with a series of high energy, spectacular and hilarious routines. Their name means The Stupid Turnip in French, by the way.

 

KIKI AND PASCAL - Comedy circus duo that brings all the frustration of married life to the stage engaging and entertaining all ages with acrobatics, singing, juggling, contortion and magic.

 

BREAD AND BUTTER THEATRE - A street-theatre company with a cast of characters that bring instant, improvised and interactive entertainment to the streets.

MUSICAL RUTH AND THE AMAZING MAGICAL MOBILE PIANO – Musical Ruth has performed at countless venues and events throughout the UK and Europe. She’s fun, daft, and side-splittingly funny, with comic dance moves, facial contortions, crazy sound effects, many styles of music and hilarious banter, making sure that nobody will forget meeting the singing nun.

 

HAGGIS AND CHARLIE - two of the funniest and most skilful jugglers you can imagine.

 

THE GASLIGHTS - Endlessly entertaining and amusing trio of street musicians giving all they’ve got and raising a smile wherever they go.

 

STREET HEAT – samba band that will be starting the day at the top of Union Street and will lead off the celebrations to give the whole day a joyous and rousing beginning.

 

URBAN CANVAS - a team of visual artists led by artists Anthony Donnelly and Peter Barber, who will be leading the street art intiative in Victoria Parade by The Harbour and asking people to join in and get creative with chalks to help decorate the street for just one day.

 

Who are Born Hectic?

Torquay Festival organisers Born Hectic Events are the premier organisers of arts, entertainment and commercial events in Devon and Cornwall. 

 

They work on the Glastonbury Festival, Port Eliot Festival as well as the Torquay Festival and the John Betjeman Cornish Birthday Party. They have produced many theatre shows, public events, poetry and cabaret shows.

 

 

Editor’s notes:

• Born Hectic Events organises the Torquay Festival. Visit the website here: www.bornhecticevents.co.uk 
• Visit the Torquay Festival’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/TorquayFestival 
• Follow Torquay Festival on Twitter @TorquayFestival and @BornHecticEvent
• The Torquay Festival has been made possible through the Torquay Business Improvement District and with funding from Arts Council England. 
• For further press and picture enquiries, email Katie Thompson at katie@tokus.tv  

 

 

Bert Trautmann, Soldier, Footballer, Gentleman. RIP

Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper who won the FA Cup with Manchester City in 1956, has died at the age of 89.

Bert was one of the mid 20th century greats in English football. A German soldier who was captured by the Russians on the Eastern Front and escaped. Then on the Western Front was captured by the French Resistance and escaped and then captured by British soldiers and didn't escape. After the war he stayed in England and joined Man City in 1949, there was still strong anti German feeling in Manchester, but his skill, bravery and the fact that he was simply a really nice guy won the hearts of not only the City fans but us Man U fans as well.

In 1956 he played in the Cup Final against Birmingham City, a game I watched on TV. City won 3 - 1 and with 17 mins to go he dived at the feet of a Birmingham play to save a goal when Birmingham were coming back into the game. Unknown to us all Bert broke his neck in that save but he played on despite being in pain, no subs back then. While he is best remembered for this game he was a great goalkeeper and was proud of the fact that a year before he became the first German player to play in a Cup Final, even though they lost 3 - 1 to Newcastle United.

He made a full recovery and played over 500 games for Man City.

A true hero and a true gentleman.

The Cassini space satellite  which is travelling round Saturn taking photos of that planet and it's moons will attempt to take a photo of us all whether we like it or not. Don't worry, your human rights aren't going to be infringed because Cassini will be a billion miles away and no one will be shown in enough detail to be recognised even if you are coming out of the local sex shop. This isn't Google Street View having a nosey around, but an ambitious plan by NASA to take only the third such photo of Earth from such a distance. Enjoy, go out at the times below and wave.

Cassini's images of Earth to be included in the mosaic - both wide angle and narrow angle - will be acquired between 21:27 and 21:42 GMT (17:27 and 17:42 EDT) on 19 July. During these times, North America and part of the Atlantic Ocean will be in sunlight. The illuminated parts of the Earth and the Moon will each be no more than one pixel across in the final image

For full story and photos Click here

Stupid Email Address

bartholomewchristepheranderson@gmail.com

If you had an email address this long would you want to change it to something shorter? Imagine having to type this out every time you wanted to logon in to read your emails. Now think what it would be like having to type this email address if you had never used a computer in your life and had no idea where all the keys on a keyboard were. It would take you so long you would probably give up half way through.

Forty key strokes. Who would make up an email address that long?

Well someone in a job centre did for a customer who told them he didn’t have an email address because he had never used a computer in his life. Did they do it to make life even more difficult for someone who was out of work and needed to register on the Direct Gov. Job site. I would point out that to register on the site the owner of this email address would have to type it out 5 times all together. And it didn’t help having a spelling mistake in the middle of it.

The reluctant owner of the address came to see me looking for help. I took one look at it, well I wasn’t having any of that and made a new email address, shorter and easier to type and remember. It’s what I do.

PS I changed the names in the address to protect the innocent.

Need Help With a Computer?

As well as being baffled by Fleet St other things occasionally come along to make me wonder if there are some people in this world who sit in an office somewhere and work out how to make things harder for us mere mortals.

I am doing some work at The Pad in Paignton, two and a half days a weeks showing people how to use a computer. Now it is an urban myth that everyone under 25 can use a computer because a good proportion of those I help are under that age. Maybe they can tweet or network on Facebook but that isn’t all you can do on a computer. In the past I have like lots of people had periods where I have been out of work. The first time was back in the mid-sixties and I was one of 165 thousand, that’s right, 165 000 who were out of work. Basically the rules for getting the dole were the same, sign on and prove you have been looking for work. Back then you just went in, signed the bit of paper and when the guy behind the desk asked had you been looking for a job you would grunt and slowly nod your head. Money would then be handed over. I have to admit now, 49 years later that I wasn’t actually looking very hard. I had some money saved and it was a long hot summer and I knew when I needed to I would find a job no problem. That at least has changed.

What else that has changed is the looking for a job bit. Now when you sign on the government expect you to look for work and be able to prove you have been. So what happens now is you have to register on the DirectGov Job Seekers web site. This involves getting an email address and creating a CV. The CV is then downloaded to the DirectGov Job Seekers web site and when you apply for a job the CV is sent to the employer advertising the job you are, or maybe not interested in. Doing all this electronically saves hundreds of thousands of sheets of A4 paper that would have otherwise been produced by cutting down large chunks of the rain forest. Do we want to breath? Yes. Don’t cut down the rain forests then.

The other thing it does is produce an electronic record the dole office can check to see if you are actually applying for work. Handy for all. But if you haven’t used a computer it can, at first be a bit scary. And if you haven’t got as computer plus an internet service provider a bit of a problem. And that is where we at The Pad come in. We have a computer, more than one actually, and an internet service provider and a highly trained staff willing and able to help you make that first step to getting to grips with the modern way of looking for a job. Please note, if you just want to come in and learn how to use a computer, well we are just as ready and willing to help.

Actually the DirectGov Job search site is fairly straight forward once you have created your email address, registered, downloaded your CV and had 10 or 12 goes at it. You just click on the job you feel like applying for, remember the dole office want you to apply for lots of jobs, and basically 1 of 3 options occur. First is a phone number to ring. No problem there. Not everyone has a computer but most have a mobile. Second option is a box that says Apply. Click on that and your CV gets sent to the employer advertising the job. Easy. Third option gives an email address which can be copied. Then you open your email account and create a new message. Paste the address in the to Box, type the name of the job in the Subject box, type a short covering letter in the message box, attach your CV to the email and click send. The second option is recorded in your application history the third option is recorded in your Sent emails box. Dole office happy.

Then, in the last week I have come across a fourth option. Click on Apply and you occasionally end up on an agency web site. There you are instructed to Register, state your email address (so the web site can pester you with unsolicited emails to their hearts content), repeat email address, make up a user name, repeat user name, make up a password, repeat password and then go back to your email account to validate your email before being asked to Log on. Once into the site you will wander around for 5 minutes before discovering the original job you want to apply for requires you to log on to yet another site and then download an application form because the job advertiser will not accept you CV. This application form, which you then have to print out, fill in and post off, is inevitably nine pages long and full of fancy colours. Waste of paper and ink. It also asks daft questions like what university you went to and what professional bodies you belong to and what salary you expect and have you ever had sex with the principal?

Was the person I was helping looking a job with M16 or a senior lecturer at a top Oxford college or maybe assistant to the bastard still running the NHS?

No, not a chance. It was for a part time, 16 hours a week, job as a cleaner in a school.

 

Why aren't buses using Fleet St?

All the contractor stuff has gone, well almost al, the bus stops are there, white line in place so does any one know why buses are still going round the diversion?

I expect there is a good reason but for the world, I can not imagine what it is. Do you know?

Does anyone know or did somebody in a council office somewhere just tick Monday 1 July in his diary without the least idea why?

Fleet St

Will be open from Saturday morning, or even earlier but buses will not be using it until Monday. That could change if Stagecoach decide they are fed up going round the houses for no apparent reason.

From The Herald Express

Here is a story from the local paper, just in case you missed it.

Last Thursday afternoon a number 12 heading to Newton departed Cary Parade stop. 10 metres up the road it stopped at a set of red traffic lights. Stagecoach encourage their drivers to stop at red traffic lights. While the bus was waiting a 'lady' approached the bus door hoping the nice bus driver would let her on the bus. The driver quiet rightly refused, you can not have people getting on buses at traffic lights, it's dangerous and if you let one on you would be expected to let everyone on. (Why not, do any with bus stops).

Anyway the female person, having watch protesters lying down in the road in front of riot police decided to try that trick with the bus and lay down in the road in front of the bus. Me; I would have sat there all day sooner than let her on the bus on the grounds that if she got away with this stupid behaviour then other might try the same trick.

But, as the Herald Express put it, in order to defuse the situation the driver opened the door and let her on the bus.

Full story here

Fleet Street should, correction will be open to buses both ways some time today, Friday 28 June.

Final layer going down

Work is going on putting the final layer down in Fleet St. Hopefully by weekend all should be finished and buses will once again be terrorising pedestrians in Fleet St.