Michael's Meanderings

Delay Repay - due to rail delays and strike action meant my season ticket cost 3/4 it's usual price.
At work we are now using soft VOIP phone, sound quality is poor so getting a better headset helped (a bit)
This month's SF Book Club was on the first Monday this month and the set read was Embassytown by China Miéville - which again I didn't complete. good discussion. P gave directions to his house for party next weekend.
Used GPS on my iphone to find P's house - celebrating his birthday later this month and the summer solstice! food, drink and conversation all very good stayed 2:20-7:20
Went to see doctor about aches and pains and had to go for a fasting blood test (meaning no food for 12 hours before blood taken)
Ballroom Dance classes on Tue, we revised jive (though no new steps). The Saturday Social (last saturday of the month) practiced all the dances as usual (danced rumba one as lady!)
J's birthday on 8th, so I took the day off and we went up to London for the day. First went to Forbidden Planet, just to have a look around - I did buy 1 book! Then we walked to the Prince of Wales Theatre where we had tickets booked to see The Book of Mormon (at a matinee) before this we had lunch at Eds diner. The play was a comic musical, which was fairly respectful of the source material (Life of Brian being similar). After the theatre we walked along the embankment, then to All Bar One opposite Canon Street station where we had a light supper before walking to The Shard (above London Bridge station), After going through airport style security took to lifts up to 68th floor
Stayed until sunset and the lights came on over all London. Magical day.
Mid month my fridge expired and had to order a replacement, this arrived fairly quickly, but had to use ice block to keep the temperature inside cool until it could e replaced.
The new fridge did arrive in a timely manner and all perishable were transferred successfully - though some stuff was binned!
iPhone bricked itself, would not turn back on. Had to reset to factory defaults and restore from cloud backup. worked fine only one app didn't restore. Must remember to sync to iTunes regularly.
Had ben able to use my Fire tablet to keep my diary up to date.
Continuing with Yoga even tough number have been as low as 3 students.
Mum had been in hospital for three weeks after an operation, and once she was home I went to visit.
Last Monday of the month there was a fatality on the line. This delayed trains so much I didn't get home til 9:00 4 hours later than usual!
On the last Wednesday went to the Hawth to see Arrival - The Hits of ABBA , started at 7:30 and finished just before 10:00, with an interval - showing adverts from the 70's. The show used 6 people on stage - but also showed video above the stage - either news reel footage, cover art & music videos reshot with the 4 principle stage characters. Also a lot of audience participation.
And on the last Friday we had a work team building exercise with most of the team enjoying BBQ and cup cakes near the beach of Goring Gap
Last day of the month was the deadline for Hugo award voting - sent my votes in even if I hadn't read all that I should.
Looking back over the month it seems that more happened than usual, from train delays to concerts, faulty phone and fridge, and two birthday adventures

Biggest news was that as of 1st September I am now employed directly by NHS rather than via an agency - as had been the case for the last 2 years! But it's only for 6 months.
However I didn't get paid on the last Friday of the month as expected but had to chase up to get my money on the following Monday!
All month went dance class without a partner (J in Canada) as we started (as a class) to learn the Viennese Waltz - which I have wanted to revise since we learned it in a private lesson.
So most Tuesday's I partnered dance teacher B, though the last week I danced with L (whose partner was unavailable).
J was back from her travels for the last Saturday Social Dance, though as she hadn't danced for over 6 weeks her memory of the steps was a bit dodgy! But I still danced more than the previous month!
I finished listening to The Martian by Andy Weir - I wish I'd read it earlier so I could have nominated it for a Hugo! Have to remember to nominate the Movie instead.
On the 2nd Monday of the month went to the Earth & Stars in Brighton for Discussion of the Left Hand of Darkness - didn't finish this book, We were given inadvertent ARCs of Anima by Brett Davidson, as a Read for next year
I have now used the Amazon Locker (Dimple), at the martlets in town, a number of time and mostly find it very convenient - however, the 4-5 day collection window can sometime be inconvenient! Fortunately it appears to be open 24 hours a day!
I've just ordered a new USB Memory stick to which I have copied Calibre and as many ebooks as I could find, on my desktop and old laptop. I also need to hunt up any other ebook floating around!
I have been watching Dave Gorman: Modern Life is Goodish on TV so when his Live show was advertised at the Hawth I got a ticket, for next month (November)
The weekly, free, yoga class, after work has been extended for a further 8 weeks - my back thanks the powers that be!
Christmas is coming earlier and earlier. Lidl started selling Mince pies and Stollen, with a best before date in November!
Mowed the front lawn at the end of the month, we should soon get to the point where the grass stops growing, but we are not there yet ;-(
Both Doctor Who and Strictly Come Dancing started this month - so thats what my license fee pays for!

On the 1st a special dance event was held at the Drill Hall in Horsham. There were demonstrations and lectures from professional dancers from the far east, including a troupe of youngsters. Followed by general social dancing. Both J my teacher from Crawley college and C my regular partner in the beginners class, were there and I DANCED WITH BOTH.
Mum came to collect me at the end, and I stayed to visit till the following afternoon. Dad took me to Hove as I had booked to see No Fit State Circus, which was in a big top and was standing only. The crowd moved around depending on location of the performance, a sort of Street / Les Mis version of Cirque du Soleil!

Played with my Raspberry Pi and newly installed Debian Mint on the laptop.

Most of this month was spent on a Job Centre sanctioned training course. Run by Elmfield Training in the Arora Hotel in Crawley. This course was 4 weeks long and was billed as:
Route 2: Employment
Four week full time course
Elmfield Training

Had two trainers initially John Durrant and in the later two weeks Peter Cockle. Both did a good job but with differing styles. Despite being required by the Job Centre I still had to sign on every other Tuesday!

06/06/13 to 03/07/13 (QCF Level 1) leading to the three following qualifications:

Award in Principles of Customer Service (Level 1)
Award in Personal and Social Development (Level 1)
Certificate in Developing Employability Skills (Level 1)

However it's mid December as I write and I haven't received any of the above certificates.

Despite this I did find it useful, it allowed me to discover my leadership skills, and team building skills, I learn to work with people of all levels of education/learning.
Also the hotel was very cool! Travel was refunded so I wasn't out of pocket, and i was even slightly better off as I didn't have to pay the travel when I went dancing on Tue and Wed. Continued to also dance on Friday evening with Ray Smith (now in Hassocks).

Went to Rewards took ECDL Advanced (Word 2007) test and finally passed with 91%!!!! (pass was 75%) Had a cream tea at BHS to celebrate!

New advanced dance partner, J arrived in the middle of the month, Eamonn had met her while shopping and asked if she would like to partner me. Went well, since we are still dancing together (in Dec 13).

Saw Man of Steel at the Orion Cinema. Visited Crawley Museum (which is very small only two rooms) for a little while.

Started getting a lift from Haywards Heath to Hassock for Friday dance class with M & J

Last weekend in the month was the Crawley Folk and Beer Festival at the Hawth

I'm now halfway through the year's updates!

It's not been quite as interesting since my last post but..

The Monday after I went to the local cinema to see "Rock of Ages" I think there were only 3 of us in the cinema!, so not popular. However I enjoyed this musical rock and roll story set in 1987 with a mesmerising, if loopy performance by Tom Cruise.

On Wednesday we continued to practice various dances, and also continued to learn (or re-learn) the foxtrot. We finished the last part this week, just in time for tomorrows end of month social dance. I'm still not 100% re the last 12 steps!

I uploaded a few more revision to The Bujold Nexus, and hopefully I won't leave it so long between updates. I also need to overhaul some pages, but that will have to wait for longer spare time.

I've also been visiting a chiropractor twice a week, and I think my back has improved but... I also went to Specsavers as I was having some problems with my new glasses. after some discussion it appears that I can no longer get fully corrected vision even with glasses, so have to settle for a slight fuzz.

Got news at work that an extra 3000 reports will need to be created (that's in addition to the 8000+ we have nearly finished) so I expect to be employed now until Worldcon or even after.

This weekend is the Crawley Beer and Folk Festival at the Hawth. I went after work this evening, not much was happening so I came home after a couple of hours. However if the weather is fair I'll return tomorrow, before going off to dance.

Most important event of the month was that with major help from my parents I was able to pay off my mortgage a year early. This meant that I didn't have to pay over £3000 in interest, it also meant I didn't have to worry about becoming homeless.

The next day was the monthly Book Club the book being "The Believers" by Zoe Heller which I didn't finish either.

Then the next day I saw my dentist for my 6 month check up, my asthma review at the doctors, and the first ITQ module test on Word 2007 which I passed with 97%!

The next weekend was the Crawley Circus Festival at the Hawth including the Kettle of Fish evening performance in the evening. Got a lift home, and on Sunday from I.

On Tue 9th I had to start a Work Programme Insite Appointment at CDG in Crawley, which was supposed to provided more in depth assistance to longer term unemployed. However most of their services have been covered by the Reach Program! But it's a JSA requirement. One good thing, travel expenses are re-embursed so train travel cost are recouped.

Unfortunately I was unable to got to Renovation the Worldcon in Reno, Nevada due to lack of money. but I did try to catch a flavour of the program via twitter, and streamed media.

Mum had to return to hospital again with hip problems

On Thursday 18th I returned to Central Sussex College, Crawley for a Reach workshop leading to "NCFE Award in Job search & Interview skills" this was a day a week for six weeks

I took the second ITQ module Excel 2007 and passed at 94%

At the end of the month I saw an amateur production of "Return to the Forbidden Planet" at the Hawth, which was held in the small Studio, good fun though.

I keep forgetting to post, my last was just before my last visit to London with my Annual season ticket.

On Friday 16th June, first I went to the Science Museum to see something in the iMAX theatre, I then went over the road to the V & A for a quick look, I don't think I'd ever been there before, and I doubt I'll be back ;-) I then left for Hammersmith Apollo where I was meeting some of my ex colleagues first for Pizza then to the theatre to see Penn and Teller. This was a great show, I thought the best was where Teller cut the petals from a rose, but cutting the shadow of the rose!

I managed to fix the leak from my toilet, it wasn't a major one, but I did feel a sense of achievment when the water stopped.

On Sunday I went to Earls Court for the London Film and Comic Con. It was quite cheap but when I there wasn't much of interest I didn't stay long.

On Monday morning first thing I got a visit from Downs Energy to insulate my cavity walls. They blew stuff like cotton wool in through dozens of holes drilled in the walls. Started suffering with hayfever, and got some drugs after seeing my doctor (he diagnosed the problem without me saying a thing!).

I finally started working on a CV and got a refund on my season ticket.

Just a month ago I went to see Toy Story 3, which was great fun. On Monday 26 went out for lunch in Horsham with my parents to celebrate their wedding anniversary. my sister and brother-in-law also joined us. We mostly had steak and chips and finished with an ice cream sundae. There was an issue with the bill, but we got it sorted. Then back to sort out a few issies with PCs, and then back home.

A week later my P45 arrived, an then went to see The A-Team at my local cinema, which was a fun journey down memory lane (after thr credits was worth waiting for).

The first weekend in August was the Crawley Juggling Festival , I got a lift from I and L Had a fun time in the hula hoop workshop so bought a hoop, and I've practiced since then and have managed over 100% improvement since then. On Saturday evening was the semi-pro Kettle of Fish show in the main Hawth theatre, followed by a fire show and then home. Sunday started very grey, but by lunchtime had turned sunny after misc games in the afternoon we left.

Since then nothing much has happened, though I have been checking the local papers and jobseeker website regularly.

The Festival started on Friday, but I was at the Science Museum so missed this part of the week end. Additionally I had to do my weekly shopping so didn't get a chance to try any of the free workshops.

I didn't recognise any of the named bands, but I did enjoy listening to the following:

Southern Nights
The Jemina Price Band
Touchstone (who have been to that last 19 festivals) in the open air Amphitheatre.
The Shee (a six girl band with 2 fiddles, mandolin, flute, harp and accordion - the latter also a clog dancer!) in the main theatre
Stealing Sheep
Bob Hall in the main theatre
and the final act I caught on Saturday
Steven Finn also in the main theatre

On Sunday I got to the Hawth earlier and got to two workshops, the first was a spoons workshop, followed by Rhythmic Fun, which included poi to music. Both these workshops were led by Zoox. saw Hannah James & Sam Sweeney at the Amphitheatre, the latter played the accordion and clog danced too.
Saw Stealing Sheep again, this time in the main theatre
Lastly I saw Zoox perform in a South American / Celtic fusion. I actually bought their CD title 88, which was rather good.

I would have provided more detail but unless I make notes at the time....

After getting my new ADSL router up and running, I've been listening to podcasts, so far I've listened to:
Robert Llewellyn - Carpool Audio
Full Circle Magazine
The Signal (Firefly/Serenity)
I've had an ongoing listen to "The Dave Gorman podcast" going back to it's inception. The others I've picked over here and there.

Last weekend (not the one just gone but the one before) I had a small Babylon 5 TV mini marathon, and saw 4 B5 movies, one of which "The Legend of the Ranger" I don't think I'd ever seen before.

On Tuesday I had a dental appointment, my 6 month checkup, with my new dentist Mike Hunter. This were mostly OK but I have to have a small filling, so I'll be back next week.

On Friday the Science Museum launched two new exhibits "Who an I" and "Antenna" and had a Friends and Family party from 6:15. There were demos and exhibits to look at and free food and vouchers for 2 drinks. I had two beers, a hot dog, a DIY trifle, rum and raisin ice cream, an a number of one bite snacks, including pizza, baked potato, fish and chips, and a few slices of quiche.

This weekend was particularly sunny so I decided that spending the time at the Hawth for the Crawley Folk and Beer Festival would be fun. So I had to get up early to do my weekly shopping first, then on the train to three bridges. It was a very enjoyable weekend, I'm not entirely sure I choose the correct weekend ticket (I could have given the evening a miss without too much loss but never mind). The only downside was I didn't get to watch the final episode of the season of Doctor Who live in HD. Instead I watched it when I got home on Saturday night. Last week I was wondering how the heck would they get out of that, but with a bit of timey wimey goodness and a hey presto! Sorted!

I may give itemised details of who I saw over the weekend later. I only bought one CD from Zoox, they seems to have a celtic/folk vibe with a flavour of South America (pan pipes). Given the bright and shiny sun I was luck to only get a bit pink!

First Friday in the month I took the day off. I spent a selection of the day at the Hawth. First Friday lunch gave a talk on making a documentary on the Hawth. This was followed by an audience with Rachel Caine.

I've also been borrowing books from the library of late. Until recently I'd only borrowed 2 books this year then in the last 2 weeks I'd got 5 books out.

Also over the last few days my wireless ADSL router had started to flake out, So today I went to PC World and got myself a Belkin G Wireless Modem Router for £44.99. I've just finished setting it up, and it was fairly straight forward. Even though I couldn't use the Windows setup program (I'm using linux now). I've setup access limited via WPA2 and MAC Address, so far only my Dell Laptop and iPod Touch have access. I'll have to add D's equipment when he gets back.

Last Saturday week I woke up with a muscle spasm in my left calf muscle. It had tightened to the size of a tennis ball and was very painful for a few minutes. After it finally relaxed I did have some issues with walking, so had to take the train to town, instead of as usual walking.

I had a few deliveries of books, ordered from Amazon since Easter. I've even started reading some of them!

Last Sunday I went to the local cinema to see "How to Train Your Dragon" an animated feature with very odd selections of accents, and some very different dragon designs. This was Followed by "Kick-Ass" an almost real world super hero story, that takes as it's premise why are there no super heroes in the real world. Even so some of the character were almost unbelievable.

On Monday I went to the Hawth to see the movie "Where the Wild Things Are" only to discovered it had been cancelled, as only 4 people had booked to view it!

Yesterday was the monthly Late at the Science Museum with an evening exploring the Science of Beauty. I tried a couple of table top experiments, trying to kebab a balloon, and making coat hangers sound like Big Ben! The main even for me was the Centenary Talk: Beautiful Mind with Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell who discussed her life in Astro-Physics, including the discovery of Pulsars. This was an hour long and made it impossible to get to any of the other talks / workshops. Left earlier than usual.