An Evenings Entertainment

Last night, my wife and I trundled off to London to see a special private (not a premiere as I had first thought) screening for investors only of the film "The Mortician".

My personal assessment of the film is as follows :-

I found the film was very slow to get started. I found it difficult to work out what was going on, and where the story was leading to.

The 3D effects were very good, although I did notice that when the camera panned along a street following a character, any graffiti writing on the walls went all blurry.

I found that Method Man's character, had very little depth to it. We learn he is a mortician and a taxidermist, but even with the flashbacks of his past, it is difficult to see what makes him tick emotionally.

The baddie in the movie is Dash Mihok's character "Carver". Again, I felt that more could have been done with his character, especially early in the film, showing more of his ruthless methods of keeping rivals and victims down. Then the second half of the film would have been even more tense.

Once the film got going, and the characters had taken on personalities, then it became interesting. I must admit I have never seen a movie where the principle character (Method Man) is shown as a coward, and basically frightened of his own shadow. Even with having to cope with his fears, he still manages to help others stand up for themselves. He eventually arrives at a position to help clear up any loose ends both physically and emotionally, as he comes to terms with his own demons.

There was one part that had me confused. When Method Man goes back to his home town to seek information about his mother, a woman who knew his mother informs him that she was murdered, and he was taken away without ever being given the chance to see her and grieve. So, why then is there a flashback of Method Man as a child looking at an open coffin of a woman, presumably his mother?

As an investor, I sincerely hope that people will go and see this film. In reality, It definitely will not catch on the way films such as "Slumdog Millionaire", "Ghost", and "The Full Monty" did. As the film was completed on a shoestring budget, it is quite an impressive achievement, and perhaps there may be a little profit in it for us, eventually.

Secretly, I was hoping that during the end credits, there would have been a special thanks to all the investors who had contributed to the film. Unfortunately, it looks like we will have to remain anonymous!

We're off to see a premiere!

As I have mentioned previously, I was lucky enough to be able to invest in a movie. This was three years ago. Now, on Monday 13th December, my wife and I have been invited to see the premiere of "The Mortician". We will meet the actors, directors, and other investors, and probably move on after the film to the celebration party afterwards.

I am hoping that I will be able to get an extra ticket, so that my daughter can also come along too!

Deed Poll Disaster

My step-daughter wants to change her name, so she has the same surname (family name) that her mother and I have. To do this in the UK is fairly straight forward, or so I believed!

When I searched the web, there are numerous sites offering a Deed Poll name change service. All of them charge varying amounts from as low as £7.00 up to £35. There also was some information stating that changing your name is actually free!

Now that word "free" got me searching for a way to complete this task without having to pay someone else to do it. So I eventually found a site where you could download a template, fill in the information, and then print off your own copies.

I duly downloaded a pdf file, put the relevant information in, and then printed it. I got a witness to sign the form when my daughter signed it, and merrily printed copies off to take to the banks. That is when I discovered I had a problem.

The banks will only accept original documents, so any kind of seal mark downloaded via a pdf file and subsequently printed will always look like a copy!!! I have now gone through an official site, to get documents that have an official seal or watermark, that the institutions will accept.

Perhaps I could have gone to my local stationary supplier and tried to get specially embossed paper, or had an embossing tool made. I actually have one that belonged to my fathers business, hidden somewhere in the house, but somehow I do not think that the authorities would accept a Deed Poll document for my daughter embossed with "Abbotsbury Laboratories Ltd" on it!

What shall we do with the drunken vagrant!

This morning, as soon as I arrived at work, I had to deal with an intoxicated vagrant totally unable to keep his balance. In fact he sat down in the passageway and refused to budge!

The vagrant sat there, semi conscious, refusing to acknowledge me or any other member of staff. That's when I decided to call the Police to come and evict the vagrant from the Station.

A few minutes later, the Police arrived. They proceeded to search the vagrant and discovered inside his jacket, a bottle of alcohol wash gel. The vagrant had stolen it from the hospital across the road!

This gel is used by hospital staff to clean and disinfect their hands after any contact with a patient, to prevent any cross contamination. The gel is not supposed to be taken internally as it contains toxins to prevent people from considering consuming it for its alcohol content.

The vagrant was so desperate to get his daily fix of alcohol, that he was willing to take the risk of killing himself by drinking poison! He even tried to make the soap gel more palatable by mixing it with ketchup!

The Police requested an ambulance to take the vagrant to hospital. Eventually a paramedic turned up, and with the help of the Police walked the vagrant across the road to the hospital next door.

What has me worried is what are we supposed to do with people who are clearly set on a road to destruction? This vagrant was treated in the hospital, and 6 hours later he is released and comes wandering into my Station again!

In this day and age where the liberal ethos holds so much sway, is it really being humane to allow an alcoholic wander the streets slowly killing themselves drinking anything that has a trace of alcohol in it? These people cannot function on their own. Therefore society needs to make a decision as to what should be done about them.

My views may be considered controversial but I can only think of 2 ways that would prove effective. The first is euthanasia. I know it is drastic, but surely and injection of morphine by a doctor would be better than months of pain and sickness through consuming poisonous substances. I suppose the liberals out there would suggest that we should provide free alcohol to feed their addiction. The question is are we not just providing them with another form of drug that will eventually achieve the same end as morphine would have done, only over a much longer period and probably psychologically more damaging to the victim too.

The other option would be to lock the away inside an institution. As they are alcoholics, they could never be released as they would immediately start drinking again. Would this sort of treatment be considered humane? Gone are the days of special mental hospitals which force addicts to go cold turkey. Now there are varying degrees of alcoholism in present society's eyes. If it is the early stages, maybe help from family or self help groups might be better. What I am on about are the addicts who have not responded to any form of help or treatment. Do we continue to do something that clearly doesn't work, or do we do something potentially cruel to ultimately be kind?

I sometimes wonder that the present "softly, softly" approach does more harm than good in these situations.
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Industrial Action by Underground Workers

Today, the RMT and TSSA unions combined to instigate a withdrawal of labour by Union members working for London Underground. Having seen the propaganda put forward by both the Unions and Management, I feel I need to put my own views across as to why I believe that this dispute is necessary.

The management, quite rightly claim that this dispute is about the 800 job losses in Ticket Offices, and that in fact, no staff will be made redundant. What they have deliberately omitted, is that they have not covered any of the positions left vacant by people leaving the company, or retiring. So they have already reduced the current workforce by the necessary 800.

Instead of employing people to fill these vacancies, management have been covering the duties through overtime. When their budget was exceeded, they tried to cover the duties by relying on the goodwill of the staff to change duties and times at short notice. This is how they have been masking the reduction of workforce already achieved.

Having read the Evening Standard article about the strike yesterday, the way they reported this left me speechless as to the slant of their reporting! I thought that the press were supposed to make unbiased reports about events, not act as a glorified press release for the benefit of management!

Now, I fully understand why management want to reduce the workforce in an effort to reduce the cost of operating the Underground. What I feel aggrieved about is how they are not telling anyone the whole story. This is what I believe this dispute is really about....

London Underground have for the past few years concentrated on driving forward policies to reflect their catchphrase slogan "A World Class Service For A World Class City". With this in mind, they have set targets for customer service as a major priority. Staff are constantly being assessed on the quality of their interaction with the customers. These assessments are conducted through an independent company using mystery shoppers. On the strength of these reports, London Underground then decide whether to pay any bonuses to staff or not.

Last year, London Underground reduced the the frontline workforce by 1000. Customers using the service may have noticed that Ticket Office opening hours had been reduced, and fewer staff around the stations, especially early mornings, late at night, and at weekends. Management have decided to reduce the workforce the the bare minimum allowed to operate the stations. They leave no leeway for any unforeseen problems that arise. Management will tell you that the Oyster Card they have introduced is a runaway success and that is why their is no need for staff to be available in Ticket Offices, as the amount of sales through Ticket Office windows have dropped by over 70%. Of course this has happened. Management deliberately engineered this to happen. Don't believe me? Then think on this -

In the outer zone stations, they are staffed by supervisors who have Ticket Office licences to sell tickets to customers. Before the first round of Ticket Office closures, these Supervisors manned the Ticket Offices from 07:00 to 23:00. At present, management have instructed these same Supervisors to open only during the morning peak hours (07:00 - 10:00), and in some cases the evening peak too (15:30 - 19:30). The rest of the time they just sit in their office monitoring the station! Now this is where I believe the Unions missed a golden opportunity. There were some Supervisor's who tried to keep their ticket offices open as they originally had been. Management then threatened these Supervisor's with disciplinary action if they continued to open the Ticket Office outside the designated times. The Unions should have backed these Supervisor's, and forced a confrontation with management over this. I am sure that the media would have had a field day vilifying management over this ludicrous policy! It's still not too late for Union's to do this, so if any Union member reads this, then perhaps this idea could bear further scrutiny!

Now let's look at how these proposed cuts in Ticket Office staff will affect the customers (passengers) who wish to travel on the Underground. If you are coming to London for the first time, you will have two choices. If you go to a Station where the Ticket Office is closed (almost certain early morning, late at night), then you can buy a full priced ticket (minimum £4.00). You might be lucky to find a newsagent nearby, or possibly an Oyster card dispenser where you can purchase the Oyster card. Then you can use the Oyster Card to get a discounted journey for £1.80. There will be some stations, though, where you will not be able to purchase an Oyster card if the Ticket Office is closed. Management believe it is good customer service to tell the customer they must leave the station and go somewhere else to purchase an Oyster card.

Sorry, from a customers point of view, that is NOT offering a World Class Service!

O.K. You now have your Oyster card and start your journey. You try to "touch in" on the reader and it doesn't work. The staff member at the gateline tries to check your card, and finds that it is faulty. If you are lucky, you can go to the Ticket Office to get a replacement. At this station you entered, the Ticket Office is closed. Either you go and find a Ticket Office that is open, or you have to purchase a full priced paper ticket (£4.00 again), and then have to contact Oyster Card Helpdesk for a refund later. Or you can hope the staff member will let you travel for free (especially if you have no means to purchase another ticket!) to your destination, as at your destination, the Ticket Office there might be open. With the new proposed closures management want to implement, you might find the Ticket Office closed at your destination too! Now you have travelled for free to your destination, the staff there cannot direct you to an open Ticket Office, so they have to let you out of the Station. Result for you! You have just had a free journey, thanks to managements policy of closing Ticket Offices! There are a lot of savvy people out there who now take advantage of travelling very early, or very late, with faulty Oyster cards, knowing that they will get a free journey! I wonder if the customers who have to pay for their journey feel they are getting a World Class Service?

Now let's look at another problem. You have loaded up your Oyster Card with money, expecting it to last for all the journeys you intend to make. For some reason after a couple of journeys, it stops working due to insufficient funds. When a staff member checks your Oyster Card it shows there is unresolved journeys. Basically this means that the card hasn't registered the entry point or exit point on a journey. What a lot of people do not realise is the discounted journey is only given on completed journey's. If the card has not registered a complete journey, £4.60 is deducted instead of the £1.80 you expected. This can easily be resolved though, just go to the Ticket Office, and they can re-credit your card.... er.... sorry, the Ticket Office is closed. You can either add more money at the machine, or try phoning the Oyster help desk, only you will be held in a queue for a very long time before they answer, or even worse, this problem will happen outside their opening hours of 08:00 - 20:00 Monday to Friday only!! Again, do you consider this to be a World Class Service?

I could go on about all the different ticketing issues and problems customers face every day, that an open Ticket Office could quickly and easily resolve. If Management are determined to reduce Ticket Office hours, and ultimately close them eventually, why can't they be honest with the public and staff, and no longer promote their policy of providing a World Class Service. A World Class Service means that we should provide a service that does not inconvenience ANY of our customers AT ANY TIME. Closing Ticket Offices is doing precisely the opposite!

This is why I agree with the Unions fighting these job cuts, as I believe we will be providing a "Worse Class Service" instead of a "World Class Service". If the staff don't make a stand now, who's to say how far Management will go in their reduction of frontline staff in the future?

One busy afternoon

After getting home from work, I decided to cut the grass in the garden. Then I used the electric rake to clear up the cut grass. I was just about to get the strimmer out, when the phone rang...

It was my wife asking me to collect her from work. I said I would be there in 15 minutes. As this was at 16:45, I had a brainwave to prepare for the Mystery shop I had to do near where my wife works. As this survey had to be done between 17:00 and 20:00, it seemed sensible to incorporate this task into my journey across town.

As I was about to get in the car, my daughter decided she wanted to come along with me on the mystery shop. While I was waiting for her to change into different clothing (typical teenage psychology), the dog decided she wanted to come along too!

So after leaving home, collecting the wife from work, conducting a mystery shop, we all ended up at a nearby park and spent the next 90 minutes walking round the lakes in the afternoon sunshine. This was the first time I have visited this park in the 15 years I have lived in this area. There we're Celtic stones, a Peace Pagoda, and a strange maze (just marks in the ground) to wander around and see.

We all arrived back home worn out and hungry!
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Currently Reading... Again!

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Computer Gremlins finally beaten??

After spending nearly a month trying to get my computer to record VHS video, I think I have finally cracked it!

After struggling with problems of no video, then audio clicking noises, and lack of synchronisation between video and audio, I was getting nowhere fast! Every time I managed to sort one problem out, I created two other problems to fix! As you can see, I am not very good with finding a simple solution to my problems!

I finally found what actually works for me. I had to upgrade my sound card, and install a newer version of Pinnacle Studio. By upgrading from version 10 to version 14, I have at last managed to successfully transfer VHS video footage onto my computer, and burn a test DVD from it. It all worked!

My friend Warren has been pestering me, wanting to know when he can have his DVD! I could have simply given him a straight forward video transfer to him, but I decided that I can do better than that! I am now attempting to break the video footage into chapters, and create a menu for the DVD. This I have finally achieved, and as I write this, my other computer is busy preparing to write the video footage to disk.

When the computer has finished processing, I have one final task to complete. I have to create some artwork for the Jewel case inserts! I don't think I should have any major problems doing this, but judging from past experience, you never can tell!

My computer has Gremlins!

Last week, my friend Warren mentioned that he had a video recording that was very special to him and his wife. He had made enquiries about transferring it to DVD, but had discovered that the shops would charge a small fortune to do this, and also would refuse to touch any copyright material. I told Warren that I had a video capture card on my computer at home, and would be happy to transfer his video for him.

That's when the Gremlins came visiting!

Everything started off fine. I installed the software for the card, and connected the video. Picture and sound were showing on the computer, so I started the recording process.

After about 40 minutes, the computer froze. The keyboard and mouse would not respond. So I hit the soft reset button and restarted the computer. Once the computer was up and running again, I discovered that the video capture software had sound but no video!

I then spent hours un installing and re-installing the software numerous times. Eventually, the computer gave a message that essential drivers were corrupted or missing and that I would need to repair Windows!

I dug out my Windows XP disk and started the repair installation. The only problem was that all data would be wiped if I tried to repair Windows! The repair is no different from formatting the drive and starting again! Before I could repair the drive, I had to save all the essential data first.

I have 3 hard drives in my computer. What I did was to replace one hard drive with an old smaller one I had removed a couple of years ago. Install Windows on this temporary drive and then commence transferring data from the original C: drive onto one of the other hard drives. Once this was done, I formated the corrupt drive.

The next day, I started the slow process of re-installing all the software, and transferring the data stored on the other hard drive. I initially had a problem getting the internet to work, until I found I needed to load in some drivers for the motherboard.

This project had taken nearly 6 days to get to this stage (admittedly only 3 or 4 hours each day), but every time I sorted one problem, another took its place. Things were heading in the right direction until yesterday morning.

I had just loaded Microsoft Office onto the computer, and I decided to put the video capture card back into the computer. When I restarted the computer, I was asked to install the drivers. I put the CD into the computer and waited for the drivers to be loaded... And waited... And waited. Then I noticed that the computer had stopped recognising the CD and DVD drives!!!

When I resumed my battle this morning, I eventually found a website that explained what to do. I had to go into the Disk Management section and search for "UpperFilters" and "LowerFilters" and delete them. When I did this I got my CD and DVD drives back... Only to find all my PCI card slots had stopped working!

Next I tried to update the BIOS on the motherboard, only to find the computer crashed halfway through the process. Now I had to reset the BIOS by removing the graphics card to get to the on-board battery, remove the battery and temporarily set a "Jumper" to reset the motherboard. When I put it all back together again I found the video capture card worked... But the sound card didn't!

I tried to reset the BIOS again, only this time the computer refuses to start at all!!!

So its back to the drawing board again.
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Mystery Shopping Again!

This weekend, I have undertaken to do a number of mystery shops. This time it is to visit some Tesco Express outlets.

Since the recession started a couple of years ago, the amount of money I get reimbursed has dropped substantially. Now it is hardly worth the effort any more!

I have been a mystery shopper for over 7 years now. When I first started, we were paid an allowance for the use of our internet (£2), mileage allowance (£3.50 maximum with T.N.S.; unlimited with N.O.P.), an allowance towards the cost of the purchase, and finally, a small payment for actually doing the work!

After about a year, the internet payment stopped. Then N.O.P were amalgamated with GFK. They changed their payment system to a one off payment, varying from as low as £6 up to £26 for the more involved and complex tasks. These prices now include all purchases and travelling expenses! To add insult to injury, I have to pay income tax on it too!

T.N.S have also reduced their payments too, but not quite as drastic as GFK. Now they no longer pay any mileage for the assignments.

So far, I have done 2 surveys, and have another 2 to do in the next few days. The first one I did actually cost me money. I think now with the second survey, I have made a small profit (£2)!

What I normally tend to do is wait until the agencies become desperate to complete a survey within a certain deadline, and they call me to see if I can help them out. That is when I begin to negotiate a better price with them, specifically including mileage allowance. Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they will try and call someone else who might do it for less.

I have never wanted to do this sort of work for peanuts. I don't expect a lot, but I will be dammed if I should be out of pocket for doing the work!
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Day Excursion to Hilbre Island

Today, we decided to take a trip up towards Liverpool, or to be more precise, the Dee Estuary at West Kirby. The aim of our excursion was to visit Hilbre Islands. There are, in fact, actually three separate Islands. The only way to get to them is by either walking, or driving across the mud flats at low tide.




Hilbre Islands Ahoy!



As we walked across the mud flats, we were very glad that we had decided to wear Wellington Boots, as there were areas where we had to splash through water channels on our way to the Islands. Bonnie, our Golden Labrador, at first didn't want to cross the mud flats, and kept turning back heading for the shore. Once she got over her initial hesitation, there was no stopping her adventure!



Bonnie having a mad moment!

On the third and biggest Island is where the houses are, and the derelict lifeboat station, and the old Telegraph Station. The Lifeboat Station was decommissioned in 1938, and now is just the walls standing with no roof, and the slipway has half disintegrated. The house owners have to pay a ground rent to the Wirral Council. As soon as they stop paying the rent, the the Council do not renew the lease and remove the building. The Council's aim is to remove all the buildings eventually.

Largest, occupied Island

Whilst I was wandering around the Island, I got talking with one of the Rangers. The girls merrily went off exploring by themselves, while I chatted with the Ranger. This is where I got the information from above. He also told me that there were grey seals swimming off the end of the Island. I went out beyond the derelict Lifeboat building and had the pleasure of seeing a couple of seals swimming nearby!



Hello there!

Whilst watching for the seals to appear, a grey Heron decided to pay a visit, much to the annoyance of the sea gulls nearby. I managed to get a few interesting pictures of the gulls dive bombing the Heron!




Get out of here!

Finally, about five hours later we finally made it back to the car, exhausted!






Can I sleep now?

I am in BIG Trouble!

This morning, I finally managed to see a doctor. He told me the bad news that my cholesterol level is at a whopping 9.6!! It should be below 5. The doctor told me that if I do nothing then I have a 22% chance of having a heart attack or stroke in the next ten years.

My blood pressure is also too high. It was 134/85. The lower number should much lower. I now have 3 months to try and reduce my cholesterol and blood pressure, otherwise I will have to take medication to reduce the levels.

First I am going to have to change the type of food I eat. The doctor gave me a list of good food and bad food to eat. Next I have to loose weight. The doctor suggested I join a gym, but knowing my own character, I would not go to the gym on a regular basis.

The doctor then suggested I should do a brisk walk for 30 minutes every day. So now I will be walking our dog, Bonnie, every day!

Over the past few weeks I have had a backache in my lower back. Hopefully my daily exercise will help cure this problem too!
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Currently Reading

Synopsis:

With the American rebellion growing in intensity all around them, Jamie and Claire know they must navigate a difficult course to survive. For not only is being on the winning side no guarantee of safety; Jamie would also rather die than face his illegitimate son, William, a young lieutenant in the British Army, across the barrel of a gun - even as the chances of war conspire to bring them together.


Making their way back to Lallybroch with Jamie's nephew, Young Ian, to fulfil a family promise, might seem one way of thwarting fate. But in the chaos of war every avenue of escape is bristling with danger, and even the time-travelling Claire cannot foresee the tragedy that could tear her and Jamie apart forever.


Meanwhile, in the apparent safety of the 20th Century, their daughter Brianna and her husband Roger read Jamie and Claire's letters, breathlessly watching the unfolding of Brianna's parents' story - even as the past is sneaking up behind their own family to threaten them in the present.



This is the Seventh book in the series. I bought this book in January, and I have been steadily working my way through the series reminding myself of the story so far. The list of the books in chronological order are as follows -

• Outlander (American title) / Cross Stitch (British title)
• Dragonfly In Amber
• Voyager
• Drums Of Autumn
• The Fiery Cross
• A Breath Of Snow And Ashes

I have found that it is always better to read the first book in these sort of series and read them in chronological order, otherwise it spoils the adventure. Nowadays, some authors tend to write their story over a series of books, rather than in one self contained novel. The trouble is, if you like the story in one book, you want to read more adventures about the characters in that book!

The reason I am making this point is that the critics gave a poor review of "An Echo In The Bone" on the grounds that it was not a self contained novel, rather a continuation of the story told in the previous 6 books! That is exactly what this book was meant to be!

I always think of critics as frustrated artists, who do not have the inspiration or ability to produce something original themselves. Instead they can only write derogatory remarks in the hope that the more vicious the report, the more publicity they will receive, and thus give them the impression of increasing their own self importance.

Currently Listening to

One of my favourite Billy Joel tracks. What I found interesting about this video, is the authors attention to the timing of changing the pictures and writing!

Home Accounts

This afternoon, my wife asked me to find out how much money we spent on groceries for the last two years. This is quite an easy task as I have a Home accounts programme that I have been using for years.

I first started using an accounts programme back in the 1980's when I had a Commodore Amiga. When I eventually bought a PC, I started to use the Quicken accounts program.

Over the years I upgraded the program until 2003 when Quicken no longer supported the British market and just concentrated on their own American market. I then gave Microsoft Money a try, but having got used to the Quicken layout, I struggled to adapt to the Microsoft version. One aspect in particular was the facility to have the account show exactly how much money I would have in my account on any particular day in the future. Extremely useful if you get paid every 4 weeks and have standing orders spread throughout the month.

I could check this with ease using Quicken. All I had to do was check the scheduled transaction page and the information I wanted was immediately visible. The Microsoft version had a more complicated process to obtain this information. Consequently I have continued to use the Quicken program.

What I did discover today though is that it is not a good idea to delete old accounts that have been closed. I discovered hundreds of transactions from my live accounts that had originally gone to another account, such as credit card payments or mortgage payments, suddenly had no account to send the money to, so the transactions were no longer categorised as they had originally been.

I just spent the last 4 hours re categorising these transactions so that I can now produce accurate reports of where I've actually spent my money!

In case your wondering, our grocery bill increased by nearly £1000 between 2008 and 2009!
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Cherry Tree

This afternoon, we purchased a Cherry Tree. Not the ornamental flowering kind, but the type that will produce juicy red cherries to eat! Now all I have to do is hope that it survives my ministrations and bears fruit one day! Admittedly, I was ably assisted in the planting by my wife and daughter.

I freely admit that I do not have any green fingers! 9 times out of 10 whatever I try to grow just wilts and dies. Though on the odd occasion something flourishes, despite what I do to it!

Gardening is not something I enjoy doing. I consider it a necessary chore that must be done. Maybe one day I will be in a position to pay someone else to do my gardening for me! Or better yet, leave it for my wife and daughter to do instead!

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Easter is not going to be fun this year!

When I came home from work today, I discovered I had a letter from my doctors! Now last week I had gone for a blood test to check that I was still healthy. The doctors letter stated

"Please could you contact the surgery at your earliest convenience to discuss a message which has been left on the computer system for you".

Receiving a letter like this basically scared the living daylights out of me! Visions of me having some major health scare looming, crossed my mind. When I got through to the receptionist and asked what it was all about, she told me the doctor wants to see me about my cholesterol. There is no hurry, I can make the appointment in the next 2-3 weeks!

When I told my wife, she immediately told me that I will have to cut back on fatty foods. For some reason she has decided that it includes fizzy drinks and chocolate. So the nice Easter egg I was looking forward to eat on Sunday will now sit forlornly in the cupboard, while its mates get greedily consumed by the girls!

Upgrades to my local Station

For the past eight years the Station where I work has been a partial building site, where we are supposed to get a new entrance with lift access from street level to platform level.

Originally, we were supposed to have lift access to both platforms before the Olympics come to London in 2012. Now we will only have access to one side of the Station, and only one platform.

The delays are a direct result of the Governments wonderful idea of instigating PPP (Public, Private Partnership) to London Underground. They decided to foist this scheme only on the maintenance and repair sections, leaving the operational side alone.

Ten years later, the private contractors have paid their shareholders massive dividends, and the directors have syphoned off money into their bonus accounts. Suddenly they realise that they don't have enough finance available to deliver the maintenance they were contracted to do. So they have the audacity to ask the Government and London Underground for more money to do the work!

When their request was refused, they craftily decided to go Bankrupt! They left millions of pounds of debt and forced London Underground to pay off their debts with money that was to be used in refurbishing the Stations in time for the Olympics.

That was one of the maintenance companies. The other has just failed a court action to get more money from the Government/Underground. No guesses as to what they are likely to do next! This time when the maintenance company goes bankrupt, London Underground will not be able to pay off the debts and being the maintenance back under its own umbrella. They have no money left!

Unless the Government dig deep into their coffers and pour more money into this fiasco (with all parties claiming massive cutbacks, this seems unlikely), you can expect a rapid decline in the reliability and safety of the underground through lack of maintenance.

I have been at my present Station for over 8 years. For the last 7 years a new exit has very slowly been built. Even now we still have no idea if and when it will ever be completed! During those 7 years the gas been built a massive office block above the station, and they have completely rebuilt the Hospital next door!

I managed to have a little look around the building site and took a couple of pictures. I apologise for the poor quality of them as they were taken on my mobile phone which doesn't have a high powered camera feature.
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The Mortician

Nearly two years ago, I was approached to invest in a movie called the Mortician. Just before Christmas they commenced filming in 3D over in New Orleans. They also did a documentary "The Making of" program that will be included on the DVD release later. I was sent a link to a few clips uploaded onto YouTube. It doesn't show very much about the plot, just some of the actors and production crew. You can see the clips below -




Sometime in the summer the film will be premiered on London, and I will be invited to attend, and meet all the actors! I may have to hire a dinner jacket and bow tie for the occasion! I think I had better have a word with my wife, as she will also need to have a special dress for the occasion!

Just had one fantastic motivational day!

This year, I have set myself some targets to achieve in one of my business ventures. It is a business I joined a few years ago, but I have never treated it seriously enough. I have always lacked the motivation to put in the effort to build the business rapidly, as others have done since I joined.

I have noticed that I am more focused and enthusiastic after I have attended one of the company meetings, as I get to meet so many positive, happy people. Some of it rubs off on me!

Today was the second major meeting I have gone to this year. The seminar was an all day event, but what really made me sit up and think that I make too many excuses why I fail was this video clip that was shown at the end :-



Nick Vujicic, Inspirational - The most amazing bloopers are here

I have been given a whole raft of ideas and skills to develop my abilities, to push forward my business at a far greater rate than I have ever done before.

There was one section of the seminar that made me smile. It was because it is also used in my main employment for London Underground.

In both aspects they use a mnemonic (S.M.A.R.T.) which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible. This is the benchmark to assess your progress.

I now have to put an enormous amount of effort to build up a daily habit of working consistently on freedom from the Rat Race ticket! It is this part time business venture that will eventually give me the financial security and time freedom that all of us wish we had long before we become aware that that is what we subconsciously have craved all our working lives.

As one speaker said today - "Don't wait to dig your well until you are thirsty!" And as his wife chipped in "He dug the well, but I drink from it!"

All you need is to focus on your destination, the journey will take care of itself! I hope 2010 will be a more fulfilling and profitable year for you than last year. I know it will be for me!

European Laws are sometimes more hindrance than help.

Yesterday, I had a Seminar to go to for my business. It was called a FAB Seminar (Focus, Action, Belief), it was about two and a half hours journey time away. I was excited about going to this Seminar as it would help increase my motivation to do more with my business.

To achieve my goal of attending this meeting, I had to work for 16 hours the day before, to enable me to obtain the day off I required. I felt a sense of achievement in the efforts I had made to realise my goal.

So the day started off well. First I picked up my colleague 6 miles away. Then we travelled to another part of town to collect another colleague, only he was not motivated enough to get up at 6 am to go to the seminar. So at 7 am only 2 of us travelled in my car to Runcorn, in Cheshire (142 miles, 229 km away).

Everything was fine until I came off the motorway onto the side roads on the approach to our venue, that was when the problems began. When I changed gear, I noticed the gear lever was very stiff and sluggish. I could also smell the aroma of hot gearbox oil. Then I discovered I no longer had 5th gear!

Five minutes later I managed to lump in to the car park of our venue. I had to negotiate a very tight corner that involved me having to reverse the car, that was when I discovered that my reverse gear no longer worked either. I then called the breakdown service (RAC) for assistance.

They arrived just as the seminar started, and very quickly diagnosed that one of the shafts inside the gearbox had broken (the one with 5th and reverse) and I would need to have the car towed back home. I arranged to have the recovery vehicle arrive at 5 pm after the seminar had finished (I might as well enjoy the meeting I had come all this way to see).

After the seminar finished, I had to wait I until 17:30 before the recovery vehicle arrived and loaded it up onto its back. That was when I discovered that the Brussels bureaucrats had changed the laws concerning the working practice of the breakdown and recovery service vehicles hours and conditions.

When I first joined a motoring organisation 26 years ago, my choice between either the AA (Automobile Association), and the RAC (Royal Automobile Association) was down to only one different point. The RAC would transport your vehicle from A to B with one vehicle, no matter the distance. Whereas, the AA would only do it in stages, greatly increasing the time and inconvenience to me.

I discovered that 2 years ago, the recovery drivers are not allowed to drive outside a 100km radius of their base. So my journey home would involve at least one change of vehicle to get me home.

Because of the cold weather over Christmas, the breakdown services were at full stretch. Consequently instead of having only one transfer change, I had to endure 4 of them! Each time a transfer took place, there was a further delay of at least 30 minutes before the next vehicle arrived to carry my car on the next part of my journey home. So what should have been a simple two 2 hour 30 minute journey, ended up as an 8 hour nightmare!

Tomorrow, I will discover the painful cost of repairing the car. Then I will have to make a choice of either selling the car quickly, and hope that the next car doesn't come with new and unknown problems. Or having fixed this problem, keep the car, knowing that this kind of problem should not happen again for a very long time.

My wife will have a few choice words to say about my ability to choose a problem free car! Having had this setback so early in the year, bodes well for me, as things can only get better!
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