On an earlier blog post I was ranting on about my dissatisfaction with my current job, and that very much remains the case, but the good news is I only have 3 days left! Hoo hoo!
I have been offered, and accepted a traineeship with British Gas. I am in 3 weeks time going to be a Smart Energy Expert (Trainee)!! my new role will involve replacing gas and electric meters and replacing them with new Smart Meters.
This is the sort of job I have been after for a while because it involves intensive training and therefore will stimulate my mind and challenge me, and it gets me out and about meeting people and covering quite a big area, I get a van, laptop and mobile but basically I will be responsible for my own day and own time.
It was not that easy to get, so I am quite proud of myself. I spent about 6 hours over a couple of nights filling in the long, online application form back in November and I heard nothing at all for several weeks. I decided to email and was told the advertised jobs were coming up all through 2010 and I would hear in due course. Then it all moved pretty fast, I was given a telephone interview in February then a week later I had to go to the British Gas Academy no less and here I had a panel interview with 2 people, a role play exercise, and a wiring exam, as well as filling in various forms. The interview was pretty relaxed and you were able to make notes and were given a list of questions they might ask, prior to it starting.
Then finally, on March 4th they rung me and offered me a place! I was a bit shocked!
Looking back on it and my previous post, this job was meant to be, it was an intensive selection process and i didn't cock it up and it is the only job i have seen advertised that I have got!
I have been wanting to blog about it since I got offered the job but I only resigned last week from my current job due to the long period before starting, but now i have read the post , i think its incredibly boring and for that I apologise!
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Having a laugh!
So where was I?
The Soho Ho Comedy club was like I said a great little venue, it is in a basement and the building is officially called the Arts Theatre Club. It is located on Frith Street in the heart of Soho and is at street level, just a bright red front door, a bit like Notting Hill.
It is incredibly relaxed, although we had pre booked tickets, the seats were jsut a handful of kitchen stools of varying heights scattered about, almost neatly. The stage in the corner of the room was about 3 inches high and the comedians had to come from behind the bar, through the crowd (100 people in a small room is definately a crowd) and do their thing.
The first comedian and the nights compere was a bloke called Simon Happily, he was gay, he was angry, he abused audience members ineffectively and for no reason, and he was terrible. He was of course on stage in a London comedy club, whereas I am sat at home blogging about how i would like to be and so he deserves credit for that, but I thought he could have done so much better than obvious gay references and innuendos and I was surprised he was the compere.
Next was someone called Nick Doody, and at the time I thought he was really good, but now I dont remeber much about his act, he was middle aged and liked to rant, the sort of comnedy i like, a bit like Rhod Gilbert, but not as polished.
Next was a bizzare act, Henning When, a german stand up. His act was based around the differences in German and English cultures and then he sung a German folk song and explained the lyrics. I had seen him once previoulsy on TV on a "Edinburgh and Beyond" sort of programme, it was hosted by Al Murray, Henning's act was virtually the same on both occassions. He was quite funny but I would not have been surprised to find out he is not actually German and it was just an act. I also had the tune to his folk song in my head for about 4 days after, this annoyed me.
Finally was Will Smith, a posh white bloke, not a hollywood superstar, you can probably guess what his first joke was! He has played the Royal Variety Performance and he was clearly the most experienced, and most comfortable performer and was playing such a venue to try out new material and presumably to get paid! I would recommend checking out his website and if you get the chance check him out live!
Maybe one day someone will be blogging about my performance at Soho Ho, or maybe not!
The Soho Ho Comedy club was like I said a great little venue, it is in a basement and the building is officially called the Arts Theatre Club. It is located on Frith Street in the heart of Soho and is at street level, just a bright red front door, a bit like Notting Hill.
It is incredibly relaxed, although we had pre booked tickets, the seats were jsut a handful of kitchen stools of varying heights scattered about, almost neatly. The stage in the corner of the room was about 3 inches high and the comedians had to come from behind the bar, through the crowd (100 people in a small room is definately a crowd) and do their thing.
The first comedian and the nights compere was a bloke called Simon Happily, he was gay, he was angry, he abused audience members ineffectively and for no reason, and he was terrible. He was of course on stage in a London comedy club, whereas I am sat at home blogging about how i would like to be and so he deserves credit for that, but I thought he could have done so much better than obvious gay references and innuendos and I was surprised he was the compere.
Next was someone called Nick Doody, and at the time I thought he was really good, but now I dont remeber much about his act, he was middle aged and liked to rant, the sort of comnedy i like, a bit like Rhod Gilbert, but not as polished.
Next was a bizzare act, Henning When, a german stand up. His act was based around the differences in German and English cultures and then he sung a German folk song and explained the lyrics. I had seen him once previoulsy on TV on a "Edinburgh and Beyond" sort of programme, it was hosted by Al Murray, Henning's act was virtually the same on both occassions. He was quite funny but I would not have been surprised to find out he is not actually German and it was just an act. I also had the tune to his folk song in my head for about 4 days after, this annoyed me.
Finally was Will Smith, a posh white bloke, not a hollywood superstar, you can probably guess what his first joke was! He has played the Royal Variety Performance and he was clearly the most experienced, and most comfortable performer and was playing such a venue to try out new material and presumably to get paid! I would recommend checking out his website and if you get the chance check him out live!
Maybe one day someone will be blogging about my performance at Soho Ho, or maybe not!
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Soho ho
It bugs me how irregular my blog updates are!
I went to London on Saturday for a friends stag and i had a really good time. I dunno if i have mentioned this before but I have 2 very good groups of friends but they dont generally know each other. The first group are my oldest friends who i have known about 16-17 years and are the group i first got drunk with, used to chase girls with and have seen a fair bit of the world with, unforunately as a group we now all live in various parts of the country so dont see each other that often
The other group, i have known well for about 10-12 years and mainly I met them through a shared love of local pubs. Nothing against either group but I kind of like having the 2 seperate groups and whilst i am sure they would all get on great if they mixed, it is nice to have a choice of social options!
Anyway, thats that all cleared up, it was the first group who i went to London with on Saturday.
Having missed the 0955 train, my fault and something I had never done before, we got to London at about 12 and headed by cab to Soho. It was great going in a cab, normally I would get the tube for ease, but I felt like a proper tourist, we went past Buckingham Palace, Traffalger Square and some other places (??) and I really enjoyed seeing them.
After a quick lunch and a few beers (courtesy of the brilliant Samuel Smith) we headed to Urban Golf which is quite a cool place. It is a bit odd because it is in the basement of a very plain looking office building, but once downstairs you soon forget where you are. It is basically a row of large cubicles with a golf simulator in each, so you whack the ball at a projector screen. It has been a few years since I played any sort of golf and i had had a few beers before and during the game but it demonstrated how terrible at golf I am! Awful!
Although rubbish at it, I did enjoy the place but was happy that we only played 2 hours rather than the full 18 holes of St Andrews!
We moved on to a couple more quite "local" sort of pubs which was great considering how busy it was outside, then went for an Indian Tapas meal. I dont like Indian, not even the fact its hot, just dont like the taste, I did have 5 vegetarian dishes though, as i am a bit funny about meat in takeaways, and they were ok, but then I am no expert! If you do happen to be in Soho and like curry however my mates would recommend Imli.
Next stop was Soho Ho Comedy Club, which was really great, as you know i have a great love and admiration for stand up and this was a proper comedy club, tiny, dark and dingy!
There were 4 comedians but I think they deserve another blog post, which I will do, hopefully soon.
Reading this I imagine it is ever so boring if you were not there? Sorry about that!!
I went to London on Saturday for a friends stag and i had a really good time. I dunno if i have mentioned this before but I have 2 very good groups of friends but they dont generally know each other. The first group are my oldest friends who i have known about 16-17 years and are the group i first got drunk with, used to chase girls with and have seen a fair bit of the world with, unforunately as a group we now all live in various parts of the country so dont see each other that often
The other group, i have known well for about 10-12 years and mainly I met them through a shared love of local pubs. Nothing against either group but I kind of like having the 2 seperate groups and whilst i am sure they would all get on great if they mixed, it is nice to have a choice of social options!
Anyway, thats that all cleared up, it was the first group who i went to London with on Saturday.
Having missed the 0955 train, my fault and something I had never done before, we got to London at about 12 and headed by cab to Soho. It was great going in a cab, normally I would get the tube for ease, but I felt like a proper tourist, we went past Buckingham Palace, Traffalger Square and some other places (??) and I really enjoyed seeing them.
After a quick lunch and a few beers (courtesy of the brilliant Samuel Smith) we headed to Urban Golf which is quite a cool place. It is a bit odd because it is in the basement of a very plain looking office building, but once downstairs you soon forget where you are. It is basically a row of large cubicles with a golf simulator in each, so you whack the ball at a projector screen. It has been a few years since I played any sort of golf and i had had a few beers before and during the game but it demonstrated how terrible at golf I am! Awful!
Although rubbish at it, I did enjoy the place but was happy that we only played 2 hours rather than the full 18 holes of St Andrews!
We moved on to a couple more quite "local" sort of pubs which was great considering how busy it was outside, then went for an Indian Tapas meal. I dont like Indian, not even the fact its hot, just dont like the taste, I did have 5 vegetarian dishes though, as i am a bit funny about meat in takeaways, and they were ok, but then I am no expert! If you do happen to be in Soho and like curry however my mates would recommend Imli.
Next stop was Soho Ho Comedy Club, which was really great, as you know i have a great love and admiration for stand up and this was a proper comedy club, tiny, dark and dingy!
There were 4 comedians but I think they deserve another blog post, which I will do, hopefully soon.
Reading this I imagine it is ever so boring if you were not there? Sorry about that!!
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Its hunting season!
Well not hunting as such but it is definatley stag season! I have had 2 quite long email conversations today, one confirming plans for a stag weekend in April and the other bouncing ideas about for another stag weekend in August.
The whole stag thing intriques me really because it just seems odd that a load of grown men will find amusement in dressing up often with other men you may barely know or have never met and more often than not they decide that this has to be done hundreds of miles from home often in the tackiest towns you can imagine.
Very odd really as I am sure that i am not the only one of the "stags" who on the face of it thinks it would sound the weekend from hell but when it comes to it, will happily go along with it all and will, i dare to say thoroughly enjoy it!
My own stag was in france and therefore a long way from home but, whilst very cool and very different for a weekend away, it was still quite low key, as i had wanted but very enjoyable.
The April stag is in London, and only for one night, and i am really looking forward to it as it will be an excuse to meet up with some good friends that live a long way away, and i am also happy knowing there will be no fancy dress, no chain "super clubs" and no mammoth journeys to get there!
I am a cheery old soul at times!
The whole stag thing intriques me really because it just seems odd that a load of grown men will find amusement in dressing up often with other men you may barely know or have never met and more often than not they decide that this has to be done hundreds of miles from home often in the tackiest towns you can imagine.
Very odd really as I am sure that i am not the only one of the "stags" who on the face of it thinks it would sound the weekend from hell but when it comes to it, will happily go along with it all and will, i dare to say thoroughly enjoy it!
My own stag was in france and therefore a long way from home but, whilst very cool and very different for a weekend away, it was still quite low key, as i had wanted but very enjoyable.
The April stag is in London, and only for one night, and i am really looking forward to it as it will be an excuse to meet up with some good friends that live a long way away, and i am also happy knowing there will be no fancy dress, no chain "super clubs" and no mammoth journeys to get there!
I am a cheery old soul at times!
I'm a changing man
Having a baby is of course a life changing experience, not least for the mother but i have been thinking recently how it has changed me as a person.
I think it has definately made me more paitent, which previously was one of my biggest weaknesses. I no longer seem bothered that we occasionally run late and have no eagerness get anywhere until we are completly loaded up.
I am amazed at my ability to operate with very little sleep, obviously this goes with the territory, but since i was about 25 i have really enjoyed and appreciated my sleep and the 1st 3 or 4 weeks without were painful, both physically and emotionally! Nearly 9 months on and she still wakes at night, normally only once now about 4 ish, but sometimes more. I would not say i am used to the lack of sleep at all but i just get on with it and carry on as if i have had a good nights sleep.
I have always liked a good night out and there was a time when i would go out 4 or 5 nights a week. Now we rarely go out because obviously we have to stay in and look after the baby but on the occassional times we have been out since she came along it is just not the same. Whilst I apprecaite a change of scenery and enjoy the time i am out, i am keen to get back home earlier rather than later, i never thought i would say that.
Also, I am definatley less lazy! I love going for long walks with the pushchair and generally i will do things that need doing as soon as they need doing rather than putting them off.
Funny really
I think it has definately made me more paitent, which previously was one of my biggest weaknesses. I no longer seem bothered that we occasionally run late and have no eagerness get anywhere until we are completly loaded up.
I am amazed at my ability to operate with very little sleep, obviously this goes with the territory, but since i was about 25 i have really enjoyed and appreciated my sleep and the 1st 3 or 4 weeks without were painful, both physically and emotionally! Nearly 9 months on and she still wakes at night, normally only once now about 4 ish, but sometimes more. I would not say i am used to the lack of sleep at all but i just get on with it and carry on as if i have had a good nights sleep.
I have always liked a good night out and there was a time when i would go out 4 or 5 nights a week. Now we rarely go out because obviously we have to stay in and look after the baby but on the occassional times we have been out since she came along it is just not the same. Whilst I apprecaite a change of scenery and enjoy the time i am out, i am keen to get back home earlier rather than later, i never thought i would say that.
Also, I am definatley less lazy! I love going for long walks with the pushchair and generally i will do things that need doing as soon as they need doing rather than putting them off.
Funny really
How clean is your house?
I have had quite a productive day today and have been spring cleaning the house like a little trojan. I actually quite like cleaning once i can get the motivation to do it, after all i make the mess most of the time, but it always helps when the wife has left me a list of what she wants done before she gets home!
Although i quite like doing it i dont think i am very good at it, i think there is definatley something in the belief that it is womens work! I dont mean that in a sexist way at all but the wife just seems to get on with it, and have the whole house spotless in an hour or 2. When I do it, it seems to take proper ages, (i dont suppose the internet and twitter help my cause) and no matter how hard i try, i always think it could be better. My glass is always streaky, my stainless always looks stained and i seem to acquire piles of junk everywhere!
Today though, i am quite pleased with my efforts, the newly mopped floors look shiny, the surfaces nicely polished, the bathroom looks as good as new and everything smells nice. I even took the lounge curtains down and washed them, hung them out to dry on the line and put them back up, they appear to have shrunk though!
In about 2 days the wife will decide that it is getting a bit untidy again and like a flash, (or a cif) it will be sparkling again, but least I know i have done my bit!
Although i quite like doing it i dont think i am very good at it, i think there is definatley something in the belief that it is womens work! I dont mean that in a sexist way at all but the wife just seems to get on with it, and have the whole house spotless in an hour or 2. When I do it, it seems to take proper ages, (i dont suppose the internet and twitter help my cause) and no matter how hard i try, i always think it could be better. My glass is always streaky, my stainless always looks stained and i seem to acquire piles of junk everywhere!
Today though, i am quite pleased with my efforts, the newly mopped floors look shiny, the surfaces nicely polished, the bathroom looks as good as new and everything smells nice. I even took the lounge curtains down and washed them, hung them out to dry on the line and put them back up, they appear to have shrunk though!
In about 2 days the wife will decide that it is getting a bit untidy again and like a flash, (or a cif) it will be sparkling again, but least I know i have done my bit!
Friday, 12 March 2010
Stand up and deliver
I have a great love of stand up comedy and have been to several live shows in various size venues, and it is, if i am honest the one thing i really, really would like to try. Some people say they would to love to try a bungee jump or sky dive but for me, to perform live stand up would truly be fulfilling a lifelong ambition. i love the idea of telling stories to get a reaction and to leave yourself completely vunerable and wide open to a room full of strangers!
I dont think i ever will fulfill the ambition because a) i just cannot see myself actually being able to do it, b) i am not anywhere near funny enough, and what i think is funny in my head certainly isnt on paper or when shared with others, c) living in thanet is not a great place to launch such a career as there is nowhere to ply your trade.
of my favourite live comedy shows, i think Rob Brydon at Margate Winter Gardens reigns supreme, he is a true comic genius and a proper showman. I have quite a few live dvd's too and i will always watch them once for the laughs and then watch them again to study the performer and the way they present thier art, all the time picking up ideas and tips, although just storing them in my mind.
I have a book too, essentially it is a text book and it covers the theory to writing and performing comedy, i have also looked into a course associated to the book, designed to teach you the industry, it is, unsurprisingly in London, and over weekends, and also its expensive, so due to finances and work it is not practial for me, but i suppose if i could get a mon-fri job and save some bonus pennies, i might give it a go!
I dont think i ever will fulfill the ambition because a) i just cannot see myself actually being able to do it, b) i am not anywhere near funny enough, and what i think is funny in my head certainly isnt on paper or when shared with others, c) living in thanet is not a great place to launch such a career as there is nowhere to ply your trade.
of my favourite live comedy shows, i think Rob Brydon at Margate Winter Gardens reigns supreme, he is a true comic genius and a proper showman. I have quite a few live dvd's too and i will always watch them once for the laughs and then watch them again to study the performer and the way they present thier art, all the time picking up ideas and tips, although just storing them in my mind.
I have a book too, essentially it is a text book and it covers the theory to writing and performing comedy, i have also looked into a course associated to the book, designed to teach you the industry, it is, unsurprisingly in London, and over weekends, and also its expensive, so due to finances and work it is not practial for me, but i suppose if i could get a mon-fri job and save some bonus pennies, i might give it a go!
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