Life

Things that have happened in my life

2010 in review

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Like last year, I’m going to use a few minutes of your time to summarise my year, and what’s in store for 2011.

Bradford in the Snow

January

As I wrote last year, I had two interviews lined up in January. The first one I didn’t get, which I was rather gutted about as I fully expected to get it (and it was well-paid). The second interview was for a temporary job working abroad, which I decided not to follow up in the end.

The weekend after the unsuccessful interview Christine, myself and some other friends had a long weekend in Scotland, near Stirling. It was during some of the snowiest weather that I can remember, but thankfully the Scots are used to snow so it didn’t stop us from doing anything as the roads were clear. We toured the Glengoyne whiskey distillery, ate deep-fried haggis and posed for pictures in front of a highland cow called Morag, amongst other things.

February

In February I went into hospital for an operation to remove what I’ve affectionately called ‘the arselump’ – a pilonidal sinus on my natal cleft. This was also my first time under general anaesthetic. Whilst I was only in hospital for a few hours, I did have to take the next week and a half off work as I couldn’t sit down for long periods – and as I was being paid on a casual basis at the time, I had to take unpaid sick leave, which was a shame. I would like to say the operation was a success but the site of the operation has become infected twice since then and the sinus may be regrowing, so another operation may be necessary in 2011.

In better news, February was when I bought a new computer – a 2009-era Mac Mini. The near-£600 cost of it would have been more difficult to stomach had it not been for a 0% on purchases deal for 3 months on my credit card, allowing me to stagger the payments. I also moved hosts, to one that allows me greater freedom over the site; of course, with power comes responsibility and it’s been a bit of a learning curve, but the experience has been useful.

March

March was a good month job-wise. I was moved to a different department at the university where I work, to cover for two part-time posts which had been recently vacated. Later in the month, I was formally interviewed for the post, and this time, I was successful – so I’m now on a salaried contract (with sick pay and annual leave). Though it’s not a permanent role – the contract is until the end of October 2011 – it is the longest employment contract I’ve had. The pay is also a lot better and allowed me to finally clear my overdraft, and spend £56 on a computer mouse.

Fountain

April

In April, Christine spent Easter with me and my parents, which probably counts as some kind of relationship milestone. I also ran an April Fool’s Day joke about me running for parliament (the UK had a general election in May this year), which some people actually believed, at least for a short while. I’ll have to think of something to top that for April 2011…

Talking of the election, in April I publicly announced my support for the Liberal Democrats. Alas, I didn’t predict what would happen after the election and how the leaders of the LibDems completely sold themselves out; had I known this, I would have probably voted for the Green Party as in 2005.

Also in April we went to the first of two weddings – we’re now at the age when our friends are getting married – and Christine and I went on a day-trip to the Lake District.

May

May was my birthday month, and to celebrate, Christine took me to The Box Tree in Ilkley – a Michelin-starred restaurant. The food was absolutely amazing, but to someone not used to it, the experience was rather intimidating – at least until we’d drank most of a bottle of wine. Not something we’d do regularly but worth it for the food.

June

In June, we went on a day-trip to Morecambe, a seaside town that I’d only fleetingly visited some years ago. We also went to the Bradford Mela, an annual festival of Asian culture; despite having lived in Bradford since 2002 this was the first time I’d been. It was a good day out and we may well go again next year. Finally we spent an evening in Manchester watching the Amateur Transplants in concert – it was partly a combined interest in the comedy duo that brought us together.

July

July brought the first holiday Christine and I had together, which was a weekend in Liverpool followed by a week on the Isle of Man. We had a really good time, despite the crossing from Liverpool to Douglas being delayed a day. We also went to Whitby, which is one of my favourite places – Christine had never been before.

August

Work-wise August was very busy for me; as part of my new job in university admissions I had to oversee Clearing for several courses, which included working 12 days on the trot, sometimes until 7pm. When not at work, we had more days out: to Hull, to visit The Deep; and to The Trafford Centre in Manchester.

September

September was also a busy month, but thankfully not in terms of work. It was Christine’s birthday, and our first ever music festival – Bingley Music Live – which was good fun. Later in the month I finally got myself an iPhone – I’d been waiting until I could find an affordable deal and had the financial stability to see a long contract through. Three months on and it really is one of the best purchases I’ve made – it’s so useful. I’m also impressed at the network coverage I get from 3 – their record in the past was rather poor but it’s rare not to have a signal and most of the time I have 3G internet.

October

October was our first anniversary, which we celebrated with a meal out. Later in the month we went to stay with friends in London, although I ended up spending quite a bit of time ill in bed. Still, we managed to see half of London Zoo and bits of the British Museum, so it wasn’t a wasted trip.

Christine also found herself a new job in Yorkshire, so October was latterly spent making arrangements for moving in together; primarily by me as I was nearest.

November

We moved to a flat in Sowerby Bridge in November. Although we haven’t unpacked everything yet, we’re probably about 90% and the remainder is stuff that can remain in storage like ornaments. November saw the second of the year’s weddings, this time in a lovely country house in the Conwy Valley in Wales; and my grandfather reach the grand old age of 90 with the resultant birthday party. For a nonagenarian he’s not doing badly.

December

And finally to this month. We went back to London, for one night only, for a TV recording at BBC Television Centre. The programme wasn’t broadcast; it was a pilot for 10 O’Clock Live which starts in January on Channel 4, but it was a good opportunity to see Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker, David Mitchell and Lauren Laverne all in one go, and it was funny to watch. Plus, there aren’t many opportunities in life when you get to be in a TV audience – I’ve only managed it twice. And one of those times was on French TV.

We spent Christmas at my parents. It’s the first time I’ve spent Christmas with a significant other and thankfully it was a good experience.

All in all, 2010 has been a good year. Apart from moving house there hasn’t been any major upheavals like in 2009, and my job situation is much improved which has provided some stability.

So, 2011. Potentially I’ve got another operation coming up, but we’ll see. My first trip to Blackpool since November is coming in early January, to visit some of Christine’s former colleagues. In March, we’re going to see the musical Spamalot in Bradford, and hopefully in the summer we may be able to go on holiday abroad.
Hope 2010 has been good for you, and that 2011 is a good year for you too!

Moved

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Unpacking

Things have been a little quiet here due to my house move. Thankfully, Christine and I are now settled in our new place, and mostly unpacked. (the picture above was taken before we started any unpacking)

We’ve opted for a flat, which is in a converted mill just off the main street in Sowerby Bridge. It’s on the fourth floor, which has the benefit of some gorgeous views across the Calder Valley (especially on a sunny day like today with snow on the ground), but the disadvantage that there’s a lot of stairs, and sadly the building doesn’t have a lift. It’s a very recent conversion though, and all of the fixtures and fittings are to a high standard; plus, it’s not that expensive to rent.

Although the unpacking is mostly done, we still need some furniture (namely wardrobes and shelves) to put some stuff away. But the essentials are there.

We don’t have a landline yet, so we’re relying on using tethering through my iPhone for an internet connection. Thankfully, 3 not only allows you to tether your iPhone to the computer to use it as a modem, but includes your usage in your monthly data allowance (1 GB for me), so it doesn’t cost extra. That being said, I’m using it somewhat sparingly until we get the landline enabled sometime in the next couple of weeks. As an aside, Christine’s Android phone lets her use it as a Wireless Access Point but I’m not sure if Vodafone will charge her extra.

We’re also stuck with just three analogue TV channels; Freeview hasn’t made it to this area yet and won’t do until September next year, and there isn’t a strong signal for Channel 4 or Five. Looks like we’re getting a Freesat box for Christmas.

Commuting-wise, the location of the flat is great – we’re within walking distance of Sowerby Bridge station, from which it’s only 20 minutes by train to Bradford direct. The trains are hourly most of the day but some extra services stop at peak times; certainly getting to and from work hasn’t been a problem. For getting around, an £80/month MetroCard ticket gets me on any bus and almost any train within West Yorkshire; it works out at approximately £4/weekday but we’ll be using it at weekends.

As for the town, it’s really nice. Sowerby Bridge is about 40 minutes by train from both Leeds and Manchester; consequently it’s a major commuter town and the local amenities cater for this. There are lots of really nice bars and restaurants, covering a wide variety of tastes and cuisines (Mongolian BBQ, anyone?), as well as the basics like banks, post office and a reasonably-sized Tesco.

Compared to the hustle and bustle of the city, I’m glad we moved here.

Moving out of the city

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Hillside above Todmorden

Next month will see Christine and I move in together. Furthermore, it’ll see me moving out of Bradford, which has been my adopted home city for over 8 years (bar a few gaps).

Right now, we’re looking at moving to Sowerby Bridge, a market town in Calderdale which is around 20 minutes away from Bradford by train. It’s quite a nice little town – it’s in the Calder Valley which is quite picturesque and almost all the buildings are stone-built. We haven’t yet settled on a specific house or apartment but we have some viewings over the next couple of weeks.

Compared with Bradford, Sowerby Bridge is very different. Bradford’s population is around 300,000 – Sowerby Bridge is home to around 10,000 people. I’ll also need to start commuting to work, unlike now where it’s within walking distance; that being said, I don’t expect to have to travel more than an hour each way in total, provided the trains behave themselves.

There’s also the issue of broadband internet. Generally the UK is good at providing fast broadband in cities, and I believe Virgin Media is due to roll out its 100 Mbps service in Bradford shortly, but out in more rural areas the speeds available drop quite a bit. The SamKnows Broadband Checker tells me that ADSL Max is available, and I can expect speeds of up to 6 Mbps, but that I’ll have to go with either TalkTalk, BT, or another ISP that has a package through OpenReach Wholesale. There’s no cable either, so no Virgin Media.

Yeah, I know. Trust me to focus on internet availability.

Still, I’m looking forward to a change of scenery. As much as I like Bradford, it would be nice to move somewhere a bit quieter, but still within easy reach of Leeds, Bradford and Manchester – in fact, Manchester and Leeds would be roughly the same distance away.

2009 in review

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Around this time last year I wrote a somewhat optimistic post about what had happened in 2008 and what I expected to happen in 2009. While I was right about there being a lot of change, 2009 proved to be a very eventful year and not always in the good sense.

January and February

January started well, despite my unemployment – I went to Edinburgh for a job interview and took a few photos while I was there. The interview sadly didn’t lead to a job, but upon my return to Bradford we ended up with a houseful of people – Hari’s little sister and her then boyfriend, and one of our friends from World of Warcraft. As it happens, World of Warcraft would be the thing that would keep me sane for the first few months of the year.

February was when things started going downhill. I was still unemployed, and was struggling to find work, despite being registered with two temping agencies. Then I heard that my grandmother, who had been ill since September 2008, had passed away. While it was somewhat expected, as she has been very ill, the funeral was a big shock. I didn’t write about it publicly at the time but even 9 months on I still miss her. She was 86, and is survived by my grandfather. Also during February, Hari went to Scotland for 2 weeks.

March and April

In March I went on a weekend trip to Dovedale and Sherwood Forest with the University Hiking Club – despite no longer being a student or member of staff there I was still involved, and my parents offered to pay for my place on the trip. As I was still unemployed, the Bank of Mum and Dad came very much into play at this time. To pass the time while unemployed, I started walking more often on my own, and did a couple of canals and disused railway lines near Bradford. Hari was still in Scotland, and eventually came back after 4 weeks. It was then that we agreed that things weren’t working and that the time we had spent apart only came to prove this. On Saturday 21st March, after 3 years and 5 months together, we split up.

April, May and June

During April I tied up the loose ends at the flat Hari and I rented in Bradford, and I moved back in with my parents over the Easter weekend. The loss of independence took a lot of getting used to and I can’t say I enjoyed it a lot, especially as most of my friends were still back in Bradford.

Come May, and things started brightening up. I managed to get a new short-term employment contract back at the University in Bradford, so spent a couple of months staying in people’s spare rooms. I also reached the grand old age of 25, and spent my birthday up a mountain in Wales.

At the end of June I moved to where I live now, in the Undercliffe area of Bradford. While it’s a bit further away from the University, I have good housemates and the house is very nice (and cheap!).

July, August, September and October

The first 2 weeks of July were spent on my first foreign holiday in 6 years, which was in France, around La Rochelle. I really enjoyed the break, which after the ups and downs of the preceding few months was very welcome. There were some really memorable moments, such as riding on a tandem and seeing Fort Boyard.
While my employment contract was initially quite short, it was extended a few times (and now runs until the end of February). August and September proved to be very busy at work, although the latter month resulted in a 23″ screen which I posted about quite a bit.

In October, I visited a friend who had recently moved to Blackpool (she was my travelling partner in France and had been a shoulder to cry on over the preceding months) who introduced me to one of her new friends, Christine. A week later, and Christine and I became an item. We went to see Ash play in Bradford, which was awesome, and have since tried to spend every weekend together.

November and December

A sign that the job market was improving was that I started getting interviews again – one in September and another in November. Despite getting very positive feedback, neither resulted in a job, unfortunately. Also in November I visited Halifax town centre for the first time – not a very interesting event but it’s somewhere I’ve passed through a lot but never really visited.

And finally in December I was diagnosed with an arselump. December was also the first month for several years where I wasn’t overdrawn on my bank account – just in time for my bank to raise the overdraft charges to £1 per day. While I’m not rolling in cash at present, I’m much better off financially than I was in 2008. Christine and I are planning to spend New Year together in Blackpool.

And as for 2010? Well, I’ll be starting it on better footing than last year, with more money and a job. I also have 2 interviews lined up for January, and a weekend break in central Scotland. If all goes to plan, I’ll be getting myself a new computer (probably a Mac Mini again but still not fully decided), and a new mobile phone (probably not an iPhone as they’re expensive, but maybe an Android phone). And hopefully Christine and I may be able to afford a weekend trip somewhere outside the UK, such as Paris, later in the year.

Hope you all have a wonderful new year and that 2010 brings you everything you could ask for.

The benefits of joined-up IT systems

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Today I went to my local GP regarding a lump which I have had at the top of my natal cleft (or ‘arsecrack’ to you and me) for a number of weeks. It turned out to be a pilonidal sinus, a somewhat rare condition affecting 0.026% of the population, but one that is thankfully curable with minor surgery.

Although I have a diagnosis from my GP, it will still be necessary to have an appointment with a consultant at one of our local hospitals (in this case St Luke’s Hospital). Until very recently, arranging an appointment with a hospital consultant involved:

  1. Your GP sending a letter (or sometimes a fax) to the consultant’s secretary
  2. The consultant’s secretary then writes to you asking you to make an appointment
  3. You then telephone the consultant’s secretary to make the appointment

Reliance on the postal services means that this can take a week.

Thankfully we now have the NHS Choose and Book system, part of the much-delayed and massively over-budget NHS National Programme for IT, described as “the world’s biggest civil information technology programme”. All of the backwards and forwards with letters has been replaced with a web site, which allows GPs to book appointments with consultants instantly online, often with the patient present like I was to day.

This is especially welcome at this time of year, where the postal service is recovering from a series of strikes and has the additional burden of Christmas deliveries. Consequently, I was able to choose an appointment before the Christmas Holiday; I also had a choice of hospitals. Furthermore, I also have instructions for accessing a web site which will let me cancel my appointment online, should I need to.

This is a clear example of a change which has reduced the administrative time of both my GP’s practice and of the hospital consultant, and has resulted in the patient being seen more quickly. And it’s exactly the sorts of issues that a good IT system should aim to do.

I’ll let you know how my I get on with my ‘arse lump’.

Tumbleweed

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Looks like I’ve been a bad blogger and not posted here for a while. Oops.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • The slightly cryptic last sentence in my Blackpool post last month refers to the fact that my new girlfriend lives in Blackpool. Her name is Christine (that’s her actual first name, not a pseudonym), we’ve been seeing each other for about 6 weeks and I’ll probably say more about her as time goes on. It’s a distance relationship but we’ve managed to make time to see each other most weekends.
  • In October I went to see Ash when they played a gig at Bradford Gasworks. They were awesome. They’re also releasing a new single every 2 weeks over the next 12 months, the first 3 of which are out. You can buy all 26 for £11 which isn’t bad.
  • I’ve recently bought some noise-cancelling headphones, which actually do seem to work – my walk to work on a morning is now quite tranquil as I don’t have the noise of cars and the rain in the background, and can instead have my iPod at a lower volume. I only bought a relatively cheap Philips unit for £20 – the sound-cancelling unit is almost as big as my iPod nano – and bar some minor sound distortion they’re good for outdoor use.
  • I visited Halifax on Saturday – another local place that I’ve never really been to before. The Piece Hall is well-worth a visit for the small, independent shops. The rest of the town is nice but mostly full of typical high-street shops, so not worth spending much time visiting. And I’m a bit old for Eureka!, even if it is made of wall-to-wall awesomeness.
  • Firefox 3.6 Beta 3 is out. It’s noticably quicker than 3.5, although on my Mac it fails to start if Nightly Tester Tools is enabled. So right now I’m running with barely any extensions enabled.

Back from France

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Although I’ve been back in Britain since Monday, I haven’t yet said publicly that I’m back, so…
I’m back.

There you go.

France was fantastic – we had really good weather for most of the holiday and went to lots of cool places. I’ll write in more detail soon although I’ve managed to return from holiday during a very busy time at work so it’ll probably be at least the weekend before I upload anything. I also have around 300 photos to sort through and upload to Flickr.

Those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter can read what I’ve posted while away as a brief overview of what happened on my travels.

Twenty Five

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Today is my 25th birthday. Hard to think I’ve been alive a quarter of a century, but there you go.
Presents included a new walking rucksack, which is being put to use straight-away as I’m off on a walking holiday in North Wales this afternoon. I’ll therefore be beyond the reach of the internet but may be using good old SMS to update Facebook and Twitter.

See you on Friday.

End of the line

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I’m going to keep this brief, but at the weekend me and Hari made the decision to end our relationship. She’s moving back home to be with her family in the West Midlands, and I’m going to move back to York in a few weeks to stay with my parents while I search for jobs.

We’re hoping to stay friends, but things just weren’t working out between us.

Looking back, looking forward

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In the past I’ve done an end of your quiz (see 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003) but I’ve chosen not to do it this year. Instead, I’ve decided to write a brief entry summing up 2008, and what 2009 has in store for me.

2008 has been mostly a consolidation year after the big changes in 2007. Up until mid-December I was working for the university in Bradford, where I saw my contract move from casual work to a salary, my contract extended, and then subsequently finding in November that it wouldn’t be renewed. I had a couple of job interviews which unfortunately proved fruitless (and with hindsight I wouldn’t have wanted one of the jobs anyway) and I’m now currently unemployed.

Hari and I have also had a good year together. We moved in properly in summer 2007 and have been happy together – for the most part at least – in a rented house that we’re sharing. 2007 was our third year together and while we didn’t pass any other major milestones the future looks reasonably bright for the two of us.

Financially things have been a little hard, as almost everything I have earned has been spent on rent, bills, taxes and groceries leaving little left over for luxuries. Thankfully I have some savings and supporting parents so I’m not drowning in debt. This is why, as much as I’d like to buy a new computer, I’m having to hold off until I have more money left at the end of the month.

2009 is looking to be a year of change, maybe more so than 2007 was. I have already got a job interview mid-January and looking for other work as well, but as I’m not limiting myself to the Bradford area it may well mean moving; the job I have an interview for is in Scotland, for example. Hari is still at university and will be there until the end of May, so it may mean living away from her initially. We have agreed that we want to move away from Bradford – I have been here for over 6 years, she has been here for over 4 – and this would be good time to do it.

Provided I find a new job, and one that isn’t fixed-term and has a decent salary, financially we should be somewhat better off than right now, in spite of the current economic climate.

In terms of how the world will be in 2009, we’re at an interesting point in history. America has elected a (comparatively) young, intelligent, charismatic person as its next president, who is currently “talking the talk” when it comes to sorting out the problems in his country and overseas. This year will prove whether he can “walk the walk”, or whether his bark is weaker than his bite, as it where. We, once again, have unrest in the middle east, due to a minority of idiots with weapons throwing weapons at civilians (I’m talking about both sides here); we have the continuing collapse of Zimbabwe, as well as other ongoing problems in other African nations such as Somalia, Sudan and Congo; and of course there’s the world economies which may well get worse before they get better. For world affairs, it will be an interesting year.

Hope you have a good New Year celebration – I’ll be spending it with a few friends in Bradford – and see you in 2009, whatever it may bring.

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