Looking back through my blogs so far it seems that “Ok
folks” or something involving “Folks” seems to be a common opening for me so
I’m going to stick with it from now on. So moving on from that, you will see
that I am late in publishing again this month, but January was a bit hectic for
me and coupled with finishing of my new kitchen and arrival of my latest grandson "Ralphie", I didn’t know if I was on my
rear end or my head. But having conquered all I have been able to move into
February with renewed vigour. I hate have a disorganised workshop. I don’t know how people
can effectively operate where you can’t see the workbench for tools, parts and
various bits of rubbish. I think that people who can work in such conditions
must be very bright and able to track positions of tools and parts with some form
of advanced vision and esp. But not me. If I can’t see the medium-flat
screwdriver that’s lurking under a few wood shavings all work must stop and
nobody leave the building until it reappears again (and I might need to resort
to shaking the kids upside down until it does reappear) Not only that, unless
I’m organised I keep going back to Wickes/Homebase/Screwfix and buying the same
part. But I must say, the staff are very kind to me and sometimes even help.
Well, apart from that cross-eyed “team member” who keeps trying to sell me the
deal of the day at the checkout. Anyway, January was a bit of a blur. I spent a couple days
training at University of London in Islington and had a really good group to
work with there. I had one AM2 and two Inspect & Test training assessment
days for JTL at their secret base in Culham, Oxfordshire. I had two very
enjoyable days training at Southampton Airport and a lousy three days training
at a university establishment in the upper-midlands of the United Kingdom. I
say a lousy three days because you had to pay to park on campus – no
exceptions. And the next blow was as a visitor you could only pay and display
in certain areas! So I ended up parking about half a mile from the training
room and having to lug all my equipment across campus every day. On top of this
the restaurants were all closed. This later problem meant that you starved all
day and had to drive to the nearest village supermarket (about 10 miles away)
every evening. I know I could do with losing some weight but this adventure just
made my blood boil.
You will see though that I did have two
enjoyable days at Southampton Airport. This is because although I have crossed
that bridge into my sixties I am still a 14-year boy when it comes to transport
– ships, boats, planes, cars, motorbikes: I love them all. So to paraphrase the
film Apocalypse Now; I just love the smell of Avgas in the morning. |