And so it begins...Again!!

Hello there, and welcome to another blog post, my second of 2010 to be precise. I’ve worked out that I’m blogging at an average of one post per month at the moment. I’d like to say this has been because I have been fantastically busy over the last few weeks and that I’ve been living life at 100 miles per hour. But the truth is nothing that exciting has actually happened in that time.
I have been reasonable busy with work, but that has now come to an end as I decided a couple of weeks ago to hand in my notice at the clothes store I was working. A more fantastic bunch of work colleagues I couldn’t have asked for, however what I could have asked for, and undeniably needed was more money, more hours and something a bit more local to Frome. Travelling into Bath every day of the week on the bus is not only expensive but very frustrating. As the service is at best unreliable, and at worst a complete shambles! This was made plainly obvious when several inches of snow fell on Somerset in mid January and all the buses were cancelled.
So I decided what I ultimately need is something closer to home and which is full time, not 25 hrs a week like what I was travelling into Bath for. I also need a car, which I now have in the form of a Fiat Punto.

But see, here’s the thing. You’ve probably all read in the papers that the recession is now officially over and that unemployment is falling. Well I can say from personal experience that the job market is still pretty dire at the moment. Most of the jobs which are available around this way are either only part time, or pay so little they are barely worth getting out of bed for. I actually worked out one of the jobs I applied for paid less than being on the dole. So while there are lots of people out there who are technically working, many aren’t earning enough to get by on.

A friend of mine who works as a builder has just started a new temp job in Westbury, a small town just over the border in Wiltshire. I drove him to work this morning, dropped him off and then drove back to Frome. However, when I got back I discovered there were three missed calls from him, telling me that it turned out they had enough brickies on site that day and that he wasn’t needed. Trust me, employers have never had it so good when it comes to hiring, as they know there are thousands upon thousands of people out there looking for work and will do pretty much anything to pay the bills.

So the job hunt begins again really. Still not a lot of radio work out there so what I’m aiming for is a step on the ladder to becoming a retail manager. I’m hoping to do this by getting back to working for one of the supermarkets I worked for when I was a student and trying to get on one of their training schemes. So I will keep you posted.

A short review of 2009

First things first, a very happy new year to you all.
Secondly, I’m fully aware that traditionally you are supposed to do these things before the end of a year, but the fact is that NYE wasn’t a great time to be writing this and before that I was rather busy with work, so I’ve had to wait until the 2nd of January!

2009 was a strange year for me. It started with a very enjoyable holiday in New York City. I returned one day before the infamous Hudson River plane crash, but thanks to Captain Chesley Sullenberger, a major catastrophe was averted. Since that holiday I’ve made it one of my life goals to move to that city at some point in my life, ideally as a traffic reporter, America still believes in pampering their travel news people by sending them up in Helicopters!

The subject of travel news continued to be a major part of my working life as I continued working at Trafficlink. This involved a lot of early starts, reversed sleeping patterns and trips to Starbucks to inject much needed caffeine into my veins. I also got to do some shifts on LBC which were a lot of fun, the highlight of which was probably having Ken Livingstone ask if I’d ever been arrested live on air. I also managed to do a few shifts as a studio producer at BBC Surrey, which was a great experience.

Towards the second half of the year I started to get a bit frustrated with radio, this being partly due to Global swallowing up every local station and turning them into Heart FM clones which featured next to no local content or talent, but a lot of James Blunt, Take That and Will Young on repeat. The lack of regular shifts and low pay also started to take its toll on my bank balance and as I struggled to make ends meet I started to look around for other jobs. I ended up getting a job as a junior salesman for a company in London who sold office equipment to offices in the city.

It was without doubt the toughest job I’ve ever done, and I have maximum respect for anybody who can make a career for themselves in sales. Trust me, those people earn their money! Ultimately I decided that the job wasn’t for me and I ended up leaving after a couple of months. I then decided to do what I said I would NEVER do, and move back in with my parents!

About three weeks after moving home I started a job in retail working as a sales assistant at a high street clothes shop in Bath’s brand new shopping centre. So far I’ve enjoyed helping women shop for Christmas presents for their partners and learning the art of folding piles of T-Shirts, not so much pricking my fingers on security tag pins and tidying up a shop which has been totally trashed by sales shoppers.

Looking into the new year I have a few goals in mind. I really want to save up some money to go travelling with later in the year. Some countries on my list of places to go are Australia, Brazil and Argentina, and if I get the chance, New York again! I’m continuing to apply for Radio jobs when I see them come up, but to be honest I haven’t got a burning urge to get back into the industry at the moment.

I also want to try and be a bit healthier this year, I’ve joined a local running club, which is a start. But I also want to be healthier on the food front, less chocolate and crisps and more fruit and veg.

So all that remains is to wish you all a happy new year and have a successful 2010.

Work Work Work

Evening all, its been nearly a month since I last wrote a piece for this blog, and to be fair few things have happened since then. I am now in full time employment again, this time in retail at a clothes shop in Bath. I won’t reveal which one as if in later posts I feel the need to slag them off, I’ll risk ending up like the girl who ended up getting fired from her job after ridiculing her boss on Facebook!

Work has actually been quite tiring, I’m no stranger to working long hours but being on your feet for ten hours a day with only one break for lunch does take a lot out of you. One of the things I have enjoyed about the job is effectively being a personal shopper for female customers who haven’t got a clue what to buys their boyfriends for Christmas. I think I’ve also become highly skilled in folding jeans, shirts and jumpers to a high standard.

The money isn’t great, not many retail jobs are, and to be fair as I’m spending about an hour’s wages just getting into work every day I can’t see the job being a great money spinner. I’ve been thinking about the whole “work” concept a lot these last couple of weeks. I’ve been saying for a long time that if I had any money saved up I would just do what lots of graduates do and “bugger off” somewhere, maybe to Australia, or South America or maybe fulfil one of my lifelong ambitions which is to go and rent an apartment in New York City for a few months.

I always used to be quite positive about working, and thought that anybody who actively CHOSE not to work was a bit of a bum, but at the moment I really would rather be doing something else rather than working all hours for a very low wage. I can hear the Daily Mail readers out there muttering “bloody idle bugger” and “f***ing students” under their breath, well, frankly, fuck em! I have come to a temporary conclusion that life is just too short to spend working.

Getting back into radio I suppose is a long term goal, but with not a lot of that kind of work about, especially in the west country, it may have to wait until sometime next year. On the plus side I had a couple of friends down from London to stay last weekend, we went and watched Bristol Rovers smash Swindon 3-0 in the afternoon, then went for a meal in Bath in the evening, followed by a night out with some of my new work colleagues. All in all this weekend has been a more laid back affair, I went out running on Saturday morning, then watched football in the afternoon and spent the evening at a friend’s house watching a Bill Hicks DVD and drinking Jack Daniels.

Christmas is just around the corner so I’m planning to buy presents on Wednesday, which is my day off this week. Oh, and Rage Against The Machine are now No.1, which is awesome, I wonder if they’ll let us play it in the shop tomorrow??????

Highlights of the week.

Well, another Sunday evening is upon us and with nothing better to do than wait around for MOTD 2 to come on later, I thought I’d scribble down a few things that have happened since the last time I uploaded a post.

It’s been a week now since I moved back home and there have been a few ups and downs so far. I’ve been out job hunting in Bath this week, armed with freshly photocopied CV’s to hand out to the cities many fine retail establishments. Sadly it seems I may have left it a bit late to apply for Christmas temp work, lots of stores seem to be already staffed up. On the plus side there is a full time position at FCUK going on the menswear section which would be pretty cool. I’ve always liked the look of working in a clothes shop, and whilst I harbour no ambition to be the next Gok Wan, I reckon I could pass on some tips to guys who could do with a bit of style advice.....but that remains to be seen!

I’ve also been researching graduate training schemes in the retail sector, an industry I’m becoming more and more interested in developing a career in. If I want to learn the trade with Asda, a company I spent a lot of time working for whilst a student, then I’ll need to start working for them again, something I’ve been told won’t be possible to do until after Christmas.

There have been two big highlights of the week, one of which being the ABSOLUTELY AWESOME 100th Hospital Records Podcast which I’m listening to as I type. For those unaware of what that is exactly, Hospital Records are a record label routed in the drum and bass genre of music, and for the last two or three years have been producing podcasts hosted by label owner London Elektricity. They feature the labels new upcoming releases, interviews with artists and news on the day to day happenings in and around the label. I’ve been an avid subscriber since Podcast No.54 and No 100 Part 2 is in my opinion the best yet. It features some of the best tracks to come out on the label over the last ten years or so, and having the time to sit down and properly listen to it this week has been truly uplifting. I would seriously recommend that absolutely anybody who has even a slight interest in electronic music to subscribe and give it a go (take note Robin Blamires!)

The other highlight of the week came on Saturday morning when I managed to complete a 6 mile run with the running club I’ve joined. I surprised myself with how well I did, and only really began to seriously struggle on the last hill, where my legs started to feel like lead. During the final ascent I really thought I’d need to stop and spend a few minutes gasping for air, but perseverance paid off and I reached the finishing post in just over an hour.

Some of the things I’m hoping to achieve next week are mainly work related, the main one being to actually get a job!!! It’s been pretty frustrating not having a lot to do during the days this week. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate not being woken by my alarm at 4.30am, struggling out of bed and traipsing to Kilburn tube station to catch the train to work like I did in London, but there is only so much Jeremy Kyle and BBC News 24 that a guy can take in one week! So hopefully my CV blitz on Thursday of last week will bear some fruit and I’ll get invited to an interview soon, as always I’ll keep you posted.

Have a good week and we’ll speak soon.

Well, it’s been two days since I moved back to Frome. I’ve found myself with quite a bit of time on my hands the last couple of days and so have decided it’s time to start up a new hobby. I spent quite a bit of time (and money) on a gym membership whilst living in London, and with that now cancelled I’d like to get into doing some more exercise. So today I googled “Frome Running Club” and was happy to find that there is a running club based not too far from myself at the local rugby club.

I’ve wasted no time in getting in touch and it now looks like I’ll be setting out on an 8 mile cross country run this Saturday morning! Now truth be told, I really should be a much better runner than I actually am. I would have thought that being young, long legged and pretty skinny would be an ideal build to give Paula Radcliff a run for her money. But after attempting a fairly short running route used by lots of locals on Monday afternoon this week, it’s safe to say I’ve got a long way to go before attempting a 4 minute mile!

After looking at the clubs gallery on their website, it also looks like I’ll need to invest in some quality outdoor running wear. Judging by the skin tight leggings and sweat tops worn by the regulars, my baggy Nike t-shirt and shorts just won’t cut it. But then this is cross country running, where surely endurance is the name of the game?

Anyway, I’ve now committed myself to an 8 mile challenge this weekend so I think a serious work out is called for tomorrow to prepare myself. I guess one of the perks of being temporarily out of work is that you have time to focus on other goals that aren’t work related, so I’ll report from the finish line on Saturday!

Back Again.....

Its Sunday night, its 9pm, and with nothing better to do than listen to a live performance from JLS on Radio 1, I have decided that after a two month hiatus from this blog it was time to start contributing to it again.

Quite a lot has happened since my last entry.... Wayne Rooney has become a father, Nick Griffin has hopefully dug his political grave once and for all with a more than dodgy performance on Question Time, the world of F1 has a new British champion in the form of Jenson Button and two Irish twins called John and Edward have split the nations musical opinion down the middle.

There’s also been quite a lot happening with me. Two months ago I started a new job in sales, and on Tuesday of this week I handed in my notice. In the few short weeks I spent in the corporate world there were laughs, tears and lots and lots of cold calls, but ultimately I decided it wasn’t for me and so decided to call it a day. I can safely say it was probably the hardest job I’ve ever done and I have maximum respect for anyone who can carve out a career for themselves in such a tough industry, particularly in the current economic climate.

So with no job and finances dwindling I decided it was time to head back to my West Country roots and have just spent the last couple of hours unpacking my belongings from cardboard boxes into my bedroom where I spent most of my teenage years before heading off to Uni five years ago. For a long time I was very against the idea of moving back home to my home town of Frome in Somerset, which incidentally is where the aforementioned Jenson Button went to school, learnt to drive, and swiftly left to live in Monte Carlo once he had earned enough from his first season in F1.
Having seen the “bright lights” of London I was convinced I’d never move back home, it just seemed like a step backwards. But thinking logically I think I’m now in a position where I can save up some money for myself. I can also take this opportunity to hopefully get in touch with some old school and college friends which I haven’t seen in a long time. I’m also hoping to make some new friends through whatever job I end up getting, which in the immediate future is likely to be some Christmas temp work in the retail sector ( yes I know its only November, but you know you’ll only regret it if you leave it till the last weekend before the 25th!)


From a purely lazy point of view I’m also quite looking forward to having a few home cooked meals, getting some fresh country air inside my lungs as well as getting back in to watching the mighty Bath City FC on a regular basis.
So we’ll see how it all pans out, I’ll keep you posted on how it all goes and hopefully the big move will throw up some new stories for this blog which I’ve shamefully ignored over the last few weeks. Must dash, my dinners on the table........

"Positive Tunes"

With so much talk of economic meltdown, swine flu, unemployment and all things doom and gloom going on in the world at the moment, I thought I would share with you my top 15 “Positive Tunes”. This is a playlist I set up on my I-Tunes to play when things aren’t going too well or I am feeling particularly down for whatever reason. It’s a rather random collection by any stretch of the imagination, and features music from a surprising amount of British Indie bands, a genre I wouldn’t describe myself as a huge fan of. There’s some dance, a bit of rock, and even a rather cheesy song by the man convicted of beating up Rihanna. So listen to them, download them, or just wonder why on earth I picked them! They are in no particular order of preference.

1) Acquiesce - Oasis

2) Generator - The Holloways

3) Whatever - Oasis

4) Away From Here - The Enemy

5) No Matter What - Mistabishi

6) Shiver – Coldplay

7) Fly Away - Lenny Kravitz

8) Forever - Conquest

9) Midnight In A Perfect World – DJ Shadow

10) We Made It – Linkin Park

11) Get Ready – The Temptations

12) Forever – Chris Brown

13) Death Of Auto-Tune – Jay Z

14) Touch The Sky - Kanye West

15) I Remember – Deadmau5