A few friends and colleagues find themselves between jobs at the moment (evil credit crunch and all that), so I’ve come up with a few things to do whilst unemployed:
- Find a new job - bit obvious really, but should be a priority, even if you’ve got wads of redundancy money. It will run out.
- Don’t just chill out for too long as you’ll end up feeling pressure to do something, or to get a job.
- Don’t think people envy you for having free time. They don’t. Play the pity angle ….
- …. which means people will buy you drinks, thinking you can’t afford it
- Learn something new. You do have free time, so take advantage of it. When I had a few months of at the beginning of this year, I decided to learn PowerShell and blog about it. Stop doing this new thing once you get a new job.
- Buy more lottery tickets.
- Play the latest Wii/XBox/PS3 game to completion. In my case, it was Zelda - Twilight Princess on the Wii.
- If you have a live-in other half, do a higher percentage of the housework.
It is oft observed that there are few women in IT. Certainly, in my experience, there have been a lot more blokes than women, but today, I particularly observed:
- my wife is in IT (and proper development too, I’m rather pleased to say)
- in my team at work, women out-number chaps 2:1
- the big boss of IT is a women
No point to this really, just a happy observation.
So, I did some research (Google is rubbish, by the way) and found a reputable drive-through car wash at the big Sainsbury’s in Greenwich. Bit of a trek, but everything else nearby looks highly dubious.
Went for a “number 2″ program (out of 3) as would seem to be a good first start.
Some observations:
- It’s quite cheap at £4
- You queue for ages.
- You have to type in a code at the entrance to the washer, which is positioned so that if you can reach it from the car, you won’t be in line to actually drive in to the washer.
- Apparently you have to turn the engine off, so no aircon, and obviously, you can’t open windows. Got very hot.
- It didn’t remove all the squished bugs from the windscreen. Can I get a refund?
So not too traumatic first experience, and Herman is mostly clean. I think I’ll probably do it once a month from now on, or more often if any my neighbours’ cars are cleaner.
I’ve had Herman for just over a month now and he’s getting a bit dirty.
I can’t easily clean him myself, as there’s no access to water in the underground car park, nor anywhere convenient outside.
So I’ll probably have to take him to a car wash. Or maybe get him valeted. The latter seems like an expensive habit to get into, but I’ve never been through a car wash before, so that’s a bit traumatic. Do cars get scratched? Does the soap do evil things to brakes? Do wipers get broken off?
And where is my nearest reputable facility? OK, so Google can help with these things.
Let the research begin.
Last weekend, we went to visit my mum and step-dad in Gloucestershire. This was a first longish trip in Herman and a welcome return to the place where I grew up. All very peaceful and rural and all that.
The hills were especially welcome - living in London, and Amsterdam before that, left me feeling like everything is flat.
It was also nice to be driving in my own car - my first car - around the place where I grew up. I recall being driven and driving as a learner way back, but this was different.
Also different was the roads. Being back there after twenty-three years, I felt like I’d never left, until I suddenly came across a mini-roundabout, or a junction where there was none before.
Unlike London, Gloucestershire was very wet last weekend, but there were some dry moments and we got to go for walks in the hills. I even dusted off my old walking boots for the occasion. I made it up some steepish gradients and didn’t die. Bonus.
Some pics of my childhood stomping ground here.
Anyways, we decided to continue the country theme by spending the next bank holiday in the Lake District. Neither of us have been there before so really looking forward to that. Only a few weeks to go
Looks like the clown is going to win. Blimey. I never really thought it would happen. Oh well, should be interesting times.
Partly because I didn’t get enough sleep… and partly because it’s 6.30am and we still don’t know who’s the new London Mayor. Lucky I didn’t stay up.
It’s the London Mayoral Elections today and for the London Assembly - whatever that is.
I registered to vote by post, but of course forget to get it sorted in time. I’m not sure who I’d have voted for anyway. Plenty of candidates that are a joke, and the few sensible ones seem lacking.
Still, a change from Ken might be nice. Results start to come in in a few hours, but I don’t think I’ll be waiting up to see them.
Due to an accident (info here) I’ve had to resurrect my blog, but I’m in two minds as to whether to fully recover all old posts… maybe this can be a new beginning.