Big Al's Spot (& Annie too)

2010-01-24T22:24:00.000Z

Plenty of Porsches in the area

2009-12-12T15:03:00.006Z

Berkswell has a few independent porsche garages in the locality:

Shirleys are based in Meriden and have a Gulf petrol station on site with the servicing seeming to be a major aspect of their business, the showroom tends to have Porsche as more accessible prices.

Autobahn, always seem to have a lot of late and new porsches and are situated on the A45 and can be accessed on the Coventry side going toward the airport.

On a more tenuous link a little trip to Birmingham International Airport and flight to Belfast will get you to Hollybrook Sportscars who another Independent Porsche based in Northern Ireland. I'm sure they would be more than happy to let you nominate me to drive your Porsche 993 or Porsche 996 on your behalf. Well if you don't ask you don't get, is a motto of mine.

House Husband two days a week

2009-04-14T13:38:00.016+01:00

Well I did once mention to my other half that I would be prepared to be a kept man and look after our children when they came along. In the big scheme of things, I didn't expect for it to be happening quite so soon.

It hasn't exactly worked out as envisaged in that I'm not a fully kept man as I'm still working (but for how much longer in the present climate) 33 odd hours a week, but I do have two free days to look after my daughter.

1st Week Honeymoon

Having scheduled myself for my first week, everything went swimmingly, my daughter managed to go for her afternoon nap both days, with the willing participation of myself (I was knackered just trying to get her asleep) We went out walking with the dog around the fields and to our special fallen tree in the woods, where we can sit on the tree and listen to Turbo chasing the odd rabbit, bird or prompted chase (whats that - whas 'at, was 'at, was 'at! normally does it for him). We went for her Ducklings swimming lesson where for the 1st time she had her lesson without her father. There was another 1st, an unwanted 1st at that - all I'll say is thank god for for swim nappies.

2nd Week

Being Easter holidays our normal Tuesday morning swimming lesson was not scheduled to happen. I rang the leisure centre as the holiday timetable was not up and showed that our normal toddlers session was running and the 1st swimming lesson we could attend was at 1:30pm. Not really what you want given a toddler insisting on "swim swim daddy". So a trawl around the various leisure centres with swimming pools was in order. I decided that the swimming pool in Kenilworth was worth a punt as we could get in for 10am.

The pool was okay if a little cold for a toddler, but free for under 4s and £3.15 for an adult was more than reasonable. The kids playground is probably the best one for toddlers I've visited with plenty of soft areas underfoot. Unfortunately the busted lip was not appreciated, but plucky wee thing that she is, she got up and dusted herself down.

Complacency leads to Comeuppance

On arrival home I got drinks ready and got our lunch out of the fridge (thoughtfully prepared by Anna - Okay I'm an amateur, but I need to get my eye in, before chancing the repercussions) while my daughter came into the living room and proceeded to empty about a pint of purple disinfectant all over the floor. NIGHTMARE.

One quick clean up later and the back window frames and windows got an impromptu clean, a wee sift through the recycling box to get a newspaper (a tip from my earlier life as a weekend valeter) and the windows were polished and cleaned to perfection.

Time for a nap, but no matter what, when you have an obsession with Higgledy House nothing will allow you to go to sleep. Now a toddler with no sleep is a bit of a nightmare for them and their parents, cause nothing is right and nothing is going to be right no matter what you try to do.

"It's Moyne", "moyne", "That's moyne" at first I thought it was an Irish brogue, but it then dawned on me it was brummie for "mine". Where it has come from I don't know, but I guess it is inevitable. That she also has taken to copying one of my sayings "Happy Days" is a bit of a consolation prize.

Devil's Advocate

2008-04-25T22:10:00.003+01:00

I don't want to create work and hassle for Public bodies for the sake of it, but having spent £176 odd on a training course that had a lot to say about how the Freedom of Information (FOI herein) Act 2000 works, I can't help but stick my oar in when I see what is to my mind a method of restricting questions via the FOI Act.

Went to my local NHS trust website and was once again trying to find what questions had already been asked under the FOI Act and all I could see was web form, however the web form was prepared to in such a way that it was asking way too much personal information from me which was mandatory in order to progress a question to them. i.e. more or less who, what, where and why. This is where my £176 comes in, apparently you don't actually have to give anything more than an email address according to FOI Section 8 where:

8 Request for information
(1) In this Act any reference to a “request for information” is a reference to such a request which—
(a) is in writing,
(b) states the name of the applicant and an address for correspondence, and
(c) describes the information requested.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a request is to be treated as made in writing where the text of the request—
(a) is transmitted by electronic means,
(b) is received in legible form, and
(c) is capable of being used for subsequent reference.

So I stated my name and gave my email address, which is fulling compliant with a valid request under Section 8 of the FOI Act 2000.

Playing Devil's Advocate I asked if they had a disclosure log of questions asked and then I asked a few searching questions about re-admissions after being discharged from A&E and whether or not a re-admission within a very short period of time was charged to the PCT at a reduced or higher tariff. i.e. only questions someone with a bit of knowledge would know.

It will be interesting to see if I actually get a comprehensive reply.

Freedom of Information Act - my first request

2008-04-24T21:53:00.004+01:00

Well, I've been reading quite a few articles on the Freedom of Information Act recently and I've found some of the Freedom of Information Disclosure Logs completely fascinating. Not fascinating in the conventional sense like amazing scams being uncovered, news breaking disclosures of significant information, but quite to the contrary, the trivial, the mundane and sometimes the really rather interesting.

For instance on the FOI Disclosure log for HMRC formerly Customs & Excise, someone asked the number of Taxpayers in the UK with a total earned income in of £1 million or more

Number of individuals2 95% confidence interval3
1996/7 1,200 ± 300
1997/8 1,000 ± 300
1998/9 1,800 ± 350
1999/0 2,300 ± 300
2000/1 4,100 ± 450

2001/2 3,400
2002/3 2,800
2003/4 3,000
2004/5 3,600
2005/6 4,100

It is quite amazing just what the dot.com bubble really did for quite a number of people and how long it took to come to similar numbers in 2005/6.

Dangerous Thoughts

This got me to thinking and a tried to see if my local council had a disclosure log handy on their website. Google was certainly not my friend on this occasion and the council website did not have any indication that they publish the questions people ask. I did try my best to find it, but if they have published it I get the impression they are trying to hide it. Plenty of information about it, but is it really in keeping with the spirit of what the FOI Act 200o is all about.

So my first FOI request was of course to "request information about the FOI disclosure log" and to be fair to them my local council has replied very promptly and said they would "try to supply you with the information sought by no later than 23 May 2008." More ominously they said:

"In some circumstances a request may be subject to a) the payment of a fee, or b) an exemption may apply preventing disclosure of the information. If this is the case with your request, I will let you know immediately.

Having had a bit of training about this in my job, I know they have to spend 20 hours on the request completely free of charge.

I wonder will they come up trumps and be open and true to the legislation or just pay lipservice and try to fob me off.

Watch this space.

Social Worker

2008-02-12T20:02:00.000Z

Had the independent social worker around this evening, didn't seem a bad sort, easy to talk to. So at least 6 more meetings and a 4 day workshop before this adoption process goes through.

Been given a bit of homework to complete for the next session.

Thoughts for grace at our wedding

2007-05-08T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well I'm not very religious, but some of our families are, on both mine and Anna's side, so I was thinking of what to do. I got thinking about a short and sweet grace which I've heard a few times.

So here goes:

"May God make us able for all on the table, one, two, three, go....!"

Hmmm.... I wonder.

Not safe to view at work or in front of the sensitive

2007-04-15T11:14:00.000+01:00

Ok this is Not safe to view at work or in front of the sensitive, but this funny link is the funniest thing I've seen for ages.

I'm not very organised

2007-03-29T00:21:00.000+01:00

Well a few days before 30th March 2007 deadline for work and despite working all the hours sent progress could be a lot better.

I've managed to get myself a little subnotebook from capital monies and I sitting working here. WE are always having to send patients to go for blood testing and the nearest placed is quite new and people need loads of time to orientate themselves to the correct place. Unfortunately this takes up loads of my Doctors time and I'm forever hearing him having to explain where it is.

So rather than do this I'm going to print out the directions on our new A3 colour inkjet so that I can save his and my time. http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=51.45245~-0.016281&style=h&lvl=15&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=4271367&rtp=null~null

Not sure it will direct me to the correct place, but if you are not in you don't win

How to fix campaign financing forever for $50 | Salon.com

2007-02-06T00:08:00.000Z

I'm not really a political animal, but I think the ideas espoused in the following article is just amazing:

How to fix campaign financing forever for $50 Salon.com

I'm not sure how easy it would be to implement, but it certainly wound give politicians something to think about and take the thoughts of the electorate seriously.

I could be wrong - but

2007-01-07T23:13:00.000Z

I could be wrong, but I'm nearly sure that I saw the beautiful Nora Jones on the Tube (aka on the underground not the TV show) on Friday night, although I'm not 100% certain that it was really her, having seen a few album covers it is either her or her doppelganger.

All I need is a photo of her tattoos and I can be 100% certain.

I don't believe in hassling celebrities, I've seen a few while in London and they have a life other than in the public, but it is nice to do a bit of spotting now and again.

Christmas findings

2007-01-01T03:37:00.000Z

See the brother over the Crimbo period and he mentioned that the Noble M12 in this clip is the very same one as his, according to his logbook, which apparently has had the same registration plate as the one in the top gear clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNH4SR7LAUQ

His Noble has black wheels these days.

Having had the other car in this clip, a TVR T350C for a year or so he says that while the noise of the TVR is not to be beaten, the Noble is the car for handling and that overall the Noble is the car for him (for now anyway). I might even be able to get into the Noble, roll on Mid-Jan.

2006-12-18T00:24:00.001Z

2006-12-18T00:24:00.000Z

2006-12-18T00:21:00.000Z

Dave & Lou

2006-12-18T00:16:00.000Z

No pictures, I said no pictures.

2006-12-18T00:15:00.000Z

Are you looking at me?

2006-12-18T00:10:00.000Z

Daddys girl

A site feed is now available.

2006-12-18T00:04:00.000Z

I know that I've now got a site feed available at http://berkswell.org.uk/home/atom.xml and how do I know? I managed to get google reader to subcribe. Now whether an atom.xml feed is the same as an RSS I very much doubt, but it does seem to be working.

If I do have a RSS feed I'm as in the dark as ever and I don't seem to have the ability to automatically put one of those nifty orange RSS feed logos via blogger.com. Only time and some one more capable than me will tell.

STOP PRESS

Opps, have now managed a single picture upload, looks like quite a bit of cleaning up of html code will need to be done as the picasa logo has gone walkabout. So I guess a few pictures might get put up in a totally random order. Or in reverse order.

The google reader sees the pictures but feeds via Firefox are not working as far as I can tell for the pictures.

Managed the picture downloading

2006-12-17T23:47:00.000Z

Well having purchased a new camera and made it up to Huddersfield for the weekend I've been instructed to have the pictures up on my blog and to do a Michael Winner on the Lounge 68.

So far I've managed the downloading part, but the uploading using Googles soon to be defunct Hello (well in my household anyway) software with special bloggerbot for picture uploading. Needless to say it has spit the dummy out, much like myself.

I've also tried restarting my RSS feed, but not being a techie and having deminishing memory skills I'm not sure what I'm doing other than doing what is probably wrong. This may or may not work only a new post will allow me to find out. So here goes.

My da tells story of a "tight man"

2006-12-05T16:28:00.000Z

My da is over visiting and was telling me a story about one of his publican friends during his drinking days.

A day in the lift of a "tight man":

On his 81st Birthday John Jess did the following days work:

John drove is lorry down to Belfast early in the morning and loadened half a load of coal and half a load of meal. He then brought it home to the Dromore/Dromara area and delivered it around all of his customer, carrying each bag himself.

A few bags were left over and they were handballed off into his store.

He then served drink in his bar from tea time to 8:30 or 9:00pm when one of his customers arrived with a birthday cake. From about 9:00pm he brought in his bow fiddle and proceded to keep everyone entertained to about 11pm.

Not a bad days work for a man in his 80's.

OK it was funnier when my da was telling the story, but regardless of that I was impressed that someone most people would regard as old and done at 81 could do such a hard days work.

Mental Health Services

2006-11-26T22:49:00.000Z

I despair sometimes at the availability of adequate mental health services.

I'll tell you the story in disguised form, although it must be remembered there are always at least two sides to every story and I haven't heard the one from our local mental health trust.

Very well educated, unemployed, in the closet patient "A" is referred to mental health services. Caseworker from mental health trust tells "A" that he won't be seeing a psychiatrist, despite being referred by his GP. "A" then lets his GP know that he has attempted suicide and been saved by a passer-by.

"A" was pretty agitated and wanted the GP to phone about it, GP said: "I'm not going to phone - I'm going to refer you directly" "A" still wants GP to phone. GP says to "A" "If you come to a brick wall you don't try and knock it down. You try another way".

So "A" is given his referral directly and asked to attend the hospital and speak with the psychiatrists secretary straight away. Having had some contact with the patient when writing his referral letter I tried to reassure the patient that having mental health problems wasn't unusual and that we wanted him to get help and take care of himself.

I have to wonder how many people go to the trouble of asking for help and then get a knock back like patient "A" and go off the rails and kill themselves. I wonder if they realise just how fragile people can be. Just because you are well educated and can talk coherently doesn't mean you don't need help.

Camera Price Buster - D70s Lens Kit (AF-S DX 18-70mm)

2006-10-17T12:45:00.000+01:00

Camera Price Buster - D70s Lens Kit (AF-S DX 18-70mm)

Just a little reminder for when I have enough money for one of these cameras

BBC NEWS | England | Manchester | Profile of a schoolboy killer

2006-10-17T12:43:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS England Manchester Profile of a schoolboy killer

From the outside, there was nothing to suggest Michael Hamer was capable of a brutal killing.......

Hamer had endured being picked on by his peers, bullied for his dinner money and sometimes attacked.
And it was this victimisation he used at first to justify his frenzied attack on Joe Geeling, claiming he "just flipped".

I really have an aversion to jumping on the band wagon in this sort of story, but sometimes I think that aspects of a story are not really picked up, so I make my stand.

Bullying doesn't really hurt people, does it? It is not really that serious a thing, is it?

Well I personally think it can and does destroy peoples lives, either directly or indirectly. I just hope that the next teacher or headmaster who doesn't take it seriously will think again.

Old school mate - Darran (Darren) Lindsay killed this weekend

2006-09-11T13:15:00.000+01:00

BBC SPORT Motorsport Motorbikes Tributes paid to race ace Lindsay

You never think it will happen, but "Links" was killed during practice for a road race this weekend.

Darren was always a bit of a messer, but right from the first time Darren rode my Suzuki RM125 down at the farm (not sure if this was his first ever ride on a motorbike, but it was probably pretty close) and graduating onto riding "Hermie's" big 500cc single cylinder thumper it looked like Darren had what it took to be an excellent racer.

Even riding Tom-bert's (our woodwork teacher) moped round the gravel running track Darren was able get it to go faster than most.

At school "Linx" was Darrens nickname and if I remember correctly his name was spelt with an "en" rather than a "an".

I remember Darren 1st joining my P5 class (Miss Hill was our teacher's name) in the middle of term, after he had spent a lot of time in hospital; not sure what was wrong, you just don't ask that sort of thing when you are 8 and 9 years old.

Being a bit of daredevil Linx had more than a few gravel rash moments in his bicycling career, I guess it gets a bit more serious on a motorcycle.

Having moved away from Northern Ireland to go to University in England in 1990, I didn't see much of Linx motorcycling career except the odd programme of roadracing on the likes of men & motors and reading the odd article on the www.

So long my old mucker.