Spring cleaning

Have revisited the blog for the first time since June last year. Plenty of water under the bridge since then.

Item one; first visit to the UK since I left in 2007. Amazed by the plethora of health and safety inspired signs all over the UK. Amusing and disappointing visits with old friends. I do miss them sometimes, but not so much as to want to return to the UK. Some walked past me without recognising my face. Have I really changed that much?

Item two; have got my permanent residency, so no more work permits.

Item three; novel length MSS completed. Second in series almost so. First readers are already asking when the second will be ready. Another month if all goes well.

Item four; new job. Part time, which suits my current lifestyle.

Item five; am thinking about self publication more and more, and the possibility of using social media to draw attention to my work. Facebook might not be the best way forward, but Twitter sounds like a worthwhile even money bet. See if I can put together my own Audio versions, and donate some eBook copies and sound files to VIRL. I've been told I have a pleasant reading voice, and my dulcet tones can be heard booming out from the Coal Mine exhibit at Nanaimo District Museum. Feels rather spooky to hear my own voice sometimes when passing by the entrance and someone is listening to one of the brief passages I'm narrating. It's nice to think my drama training finally found a venue.

Item six; planning another visit to the UK in July 2011. Laura and Joanna will be graduating from their respective Universities, and Angie and I will be there to celebrate their success. Side trips to France are in the mix, as is a possible stop off in Dublin, one of the few European capitals I've yet to visit.

Item seven; Completed new Tampions for our two Cannon at the Museum, also the display stand for the Sculling outboard. Looking forward to seeing them in place. The Nanaimo Bastion reopens this May after a significant refurbishment. Displays have to be reorganised and put in situ, or as David the curator says with one of his gamine little grins, that will be another little job I can help them with.

Have done a little spring cleaning on the blog, and am debating whether to begin afresh for the novel marketing, or use this one.

Bang

Today I got to load and fire a cannon. A real live six pounder cannon. I prepared the charge (Under supervision), I cleaned out the bore with a swab / rammer and set the fuse before igniting it. Thus I can state truthfully that I am one of the few people who has blown their wad all over Nanaimo Harbour. I'm completely tickled by the whole thing.

For the past few weeks I've been making replacement Tampions / Muzzle caps for the two six pounder cannon at the Bastion, Nanaimo; taking a mould from the original bronze and iron cap, casting replica's in resin, making a muzzle plug which is bound to the back of the cap to make a water resistant seal, painting and fitting them. Due to a distortion in the mould the new muzzle caps look more in keeping with the cannon than the old ones, which I still think looked smarter, but someone stole one and David, the Museum curator asked me to make a new set. This has been done.

Tetra are just finishing a really cool project, which is the construction of a voice activated switch. A couple of my volunteers are making a new microphone mount to cut down extraneous noise, whilst at the same time allowing the switch to activate the LifeLine service. Everyone is dead chuffed, as am I.

Literally dreamed a really cool idea for a new science fantasy show last night; even right down to the title. Have written a three sentence outline and done a few web searches. I think I've found an original and exciting idea which I think I can get really pumped about. Who knows, I might be able to work it up into a pitch to a studio.

One thing; I keep on getting emails from some blogging service who want me to give them my blog details. No. I've decided not to. I called this blog the 'best kept secret on the internet' for a reason; I don't do links or the whole blogging thing. I just can't devote the time to blogging when I should be writing seriously. There is a little message I'd like to share; guys, if you want blogs to add to your list, please include me out.

Reasons to be cheerful - and not

Ups;

Reason 1: The voice activated switch my Tetra volunteers made worked beautifully first time. It allows the lady we made it for to call for help and also answer her phone. LifeLine are dead chuffed and so am I.

Reason 2: Angie won an award for her work at the museum, and I managed to make two new lightweight tampions for the Bastion display cannon out of resin. Because of problems with getting the right mould release material (Detergent & other mould release agents reacted with the resin) there was a lot of finishing work to do. However, good result.

Reason 3: We've been bumped up the queue for our permanent residency processing by a staggering 18 months! My jaw hit the floor, and Angie and I did a little dance of joy.

Reason 4: Bought a new fishing rod, and now have both Fresh and Salt water permits for all of BC, which should be useful for when Brothers in Law are over this summer. The girls can do their thing (Shopping), while we load up the Bronc with beer and sandwiches and go off and do ours. Yeah.

Downs

Reason 1: My current work contract has not arrived for signing which means no money until it is returned. We've been having a number of late deliveries recently, especially since all the post was re-routed via Victoria.

Reason 2: I have to find my old school and college certificates going back over the last 30 years. This is not much fun as we have to get them a.s.a.p. Also I have to pass a test in French. This is not much fun as although I can get by quite admirably in France, Quebec left me tongue tied and embarrassed at my paucity of fluency.

Reason 3: Immigration Lawyers seem to be incapable of answering a simple question in plain English and getting documents from the BCCT to support Angie's application looks like a real Everest of a task.

Reason 4: Mother in Law is here for the next few months starting Monday; and while Lily is a decent old stick she does tend to turn on the old waterworks at the first hint of trouble. All I can say is that Doctor Who would have signed her up as his 'assistant' in a picosecond as she would fall and twist her heel forcing all the men to get massacred by the nearest Dalek.

Well, the scores on the doors look about even, and I'm inclined to think that none of the reasons not to be cheerful can't be adeptly turned about to our advantage.

On the 'down' front; Reason 1 means I get three paychecks together when my contract documents are finally signed and sealed. Reason 2 means I just have to do some French revision between now and May 30th. Reason 3 is just a matter of asking the right question, and reason 4 isn't so bad as Mother in law will be living at Sister in Laws place in town.

I can always go fishing.

Brainstorming meeting over coffee this weekend for my Tetra guys to work out some solutions to a few problems that have been thrown our way. I have to write some 500 word pieces for the local press so we can get some much needed publicity. Time to get on with it.

Autumn

Fall has begun, the Maple and Birch are turning, and the time has come around to restart hawking my 130,000 word manuscript around the publishers. Not a prospect I care to face, but an unsold manuscript is just so much wasted time. So sell I must.

While the long wait for publisher replies continues, the realities of life intrude, and a day job must be found. To this end I have enlisted on a month long programme which I hope will help me land a full time job in this new land. Have spent the past week simply on establishing what kind of career I am truly suited for. Four separate personality assessments have been completed; Myers-Briggs and three others. The supreme irony is that they all said more or less the same thing, I'm a Computer Technician who has an aptitude for Technical Writing. Which is more or less how I used to make gainful employment in the UK before the ageism kicked in and younger and much cheaper people got hired way ahead of me. Ended up scraping the bottom of the barrel fixing Printers and working cheap. Financially, it was getting pretty desperate. I can only shudder when I think of those times.

Now after a massive leap of faith, both Angie and I are enjoying life here in Canada. We have made our mark locally and hope to continue to do so.

The new Museum is up and running, and as soon as David the Curator comes back from a three week lecture tour in Alaska of all places, I'm sure we'll be getting phone calls to help out with further reconditioning and cataloguing artefacts. Angie has acted as an informal educational consultant for the new schoolroom exhibit, and I think my next project will be on the Coal mine or First Nations displays.

The Diver hanging up in the rafters is my latest contribution, and seems to work quite well, although if I'm asked to do another 300 shelf liners I might be tempted to demur.

Pleased to say I have just bagged a new project for the Tetra Society to adapt a controller for a clients mechanised bed, and am told by my Red Cross friends that they want to hire me, although I have to wait for another five days for the vacancy to be pushed my way. Apparently my application has needed to be okayed at National level because I only have a temporary and limited Work Permit at present, such are the complications that immigration throws into your lap. Am thoroughly delighted that Angie has been hired as a Teacher on Call for a local Private School. When all the work permit hoops are finally jumped through we can both take on things that previously were forbidden to us. I will be legally able to take on all the occasional paid jobs that keep getting nudged my way, and Angie can do some freelance home schooling work which one lady has been determinedly chasing her to do.

Summer has been pretty busy. My Mother came over for two weeks and we took her to see where my cousin lives on Saltsping Island, introduced her to some of Angie's old family friends over here and showed her around Victoria. Got a letter a week after she had returned to England to the effect that had she known about Canada forty plus years ago, I would already be a Canadian Citizen. I'm just pleased that she approves of our move. God bless you Mum. Two weeks after Mum's visit Angie went back to the UK to see Jo and Laura established in University, returning via Air Canada and Harbour Air in the Rain. Verdict; England is an interesting place to visit, but you wouldn't like to live there. She was glad to get back to British Columbia.

Went fly fishing with one of my visiting Brothers in Law and caught not a sausage, nor a fish for that matter. Saw hundreds of the things, but they just weren't biting for some reason. By Ian's intent expression you can see the frustration with which he was viewing the situation. Poor guy, he was so determined, but after we'd both lost a couple of lures each, at five we reluctantly called it a day. I'm more of a sea fisherman myself, and like a boat kicking under my feet and the taste of salt spray on my lips.

Amos, my dog, had found what the Bears do in the woods and much to my disgust rolled in it like it was body lotion. I scolded him thoroughly and towelled him down as best I could before consigning my disgraced mutt to the back of the Van with all the windows open. Angie has mooted getting another dog, possibly a Beagle in a couple of years, so Amos can have regular company while we are increasingly not at home.

Regarding communication with our hyperextended family, what with one time zone and another, we have nothing but good to say about Skype. This morning we were talking to Jo on a Skype call and it's a wonderful thing for setting your mind at rest. You get to see the body language, and the microphone picked up Jo's conversation with friends in the corridor when they dropped by. I have a feeling she's enjoying Manchester University a lot, especially if the kissing noises I heard were anything to go by when a dashing young male caller knocked on her door while we were talking. In the short time she's been there, she's fallen in with a terrific crowd by the sound of things, and I'm truly pleased for her. Voice over IP connections allow this kind of detail, and to do it for free, well, a big virtual clap on the shoulders for all the guys who make it possible. Thank you.

Name check

Well, another little bit of local recognition. Tonight is the gala opening of the brand spanking new Nanaimo Museum.

A lot of hard work has gone into getting everything where it is, and tonight the local dignitaries come round to make speeches and have a look at the result of all the sheer graft put in by the volunteers and staff. Angie and I have been pitching in where we can, and I am mightily pleased to see several of the items I've helped restore on display. Am also dead chuffed to see both our names up on the dedication board just inside the museum door, as well as the Powers Cameragraph I worked on in its brand new home.

It's not quite the same buzz as seeing your hard wrought phrases in print and on sale in a bookshop, but it's getting there.

Tonight I shall be donning my best and only Marks and Spencers travel suit, best shirt and shades. I shall sip a spritzer or Ginger ale in a champagne glass because I'm driving, and maybe do a bit of hob-nobbing, or its Canadian equivalent.

Now all I have to do is translate this into a bit of publicity for the Tetra Society. Get my guys some new projects for Fall, raise some public awareness and money for my pet cause.

What I do when not writing

Well, there's the day job, and then there's restoring stuff like this for the new Nanaimo Museum. The top picture is of a 1909 hand cranked and much modified Powers Cameragraph No 5. The filaments in the hand blown Edison manufactured lamp look sound, and the lenses are in the main intact. Having spent some fourteen or so hours on this machine, I think with the addition of some electric cable and replacement reel mechanism, it would function perfectly.

As for the Columbia wind up gramophone. After a little spit and polish it worked perfectly, and in the photo is playing an old 78 record of 'It's a long way to Tipparary'
I love old technology like this when it works first time round. What else is good? Oh yes, Angie passed her BC driving test first time. The sun is shining. Wonderful.

Big month

What with one thing and another, early July 2008 has been quite intense. The best news of all is that I passed my British Columbia class five driving test first time. Written exam was Tuesday, the actual driving test this morning.

The test centre is a far cry from the miserable, dour experience of an English Driving test as I recall them. The staff smile. They chat, they banter, they celebrate your good news and commiserate with your bad.

I can understand the principle, Canadians like to be happy while they work because there's no percentage in being a sourpuss. Their business is to check your competence as a driver, not put you in a pressure cooker and send you through the whole bloody business several times because your nerves got in the way of your driving. They go out of their way to ensure you are relaxed and paying attention to the job in hand, which is driving a vehicle on the road. A big thank you to Elizabeth one of the counter clerks, Ken the examiner, and the irrepressible and very much larger than life Kat at the Nanaimo Drivers center.

In addition, the Tetra Society of North America, the disabled charity for whom I am Nanaimo's area co-ordinator undertook and completed their first project recently to help a little girl with a long term degenerative disease of her nervous system. All we did was fit some additional bannisters in her home so she could get up and downstairs more easily, but that's the way things work here. People give of themselves because they want to. I just wish we could find a few more projects for the local volunteers. There's a lot of legwork involved, and being new to Vancouver Island just drives home how personal everything is. Stuff is arranged through contacts, and to be honest, I'm struggling a little at present. However, nil desperandum and I'm putting my other talents to good use for the local Red Cross and the shortly to re-open Nanaimo museum.

The Local branch of the Canadian Red Cross has moved, and all the volunteers put their shoulders to the wheel. I helped out with a bit of computer wiring and some of the decoration, and everyone else has just pitched in and worked wonders.

As for the museum, Dave the curator handed me an ancient piece of movie technology and asked me what I could do with it. The Powers Cameragraph Model 5 was in pretty fair condition for a hundred year old hand cranked projector, so I've cleaned it up as best I can and it goes on display shortly, sponsored by the Shaw, the local cable company. Dave has intimated that he has another piece of kit he wants me to perform the 'laying on of hands', (A very useful talent for the IT support engineer as I once was) on an ancient phonograph.

I really feel like we're beginning to belong here.

Update: I got an award from my friends at the Red Cross last night! Totally bowled over, chuffed to bits and generally speaking quite pleased with myself.

Busy

Kind of lost track on this blog. I'd almost forgotten about it because there was so little time to post, and not much to post about. I've had a little run in with Canadian immigration when I went to apply for a work permit and 'leave to remain'. The guys at the border didn't like the look of the job I've been given, and told me to go away and try again. We went back to get some guidance from our local immigration office in Nanaimo, who have may I say, been absolute diamond, and they are advising us.

I'm taking on a job with a charity called the Tetra Society of North America. The guys at the Red Cross told me about the advert; I applied, and wonder of wonders, was offered the job. The only hang up is that I need a work permit, as this is paid employment. Thereby hangs the tale.

At the moment of writing, I need to persuade my perspective employers to redraft a copy of my offer of employment (Which I drafted for them), fax a copy to the immigration office for formal approval, get my employers to send me a signed and dated copy of the letter which I then take to the border. However, I have been told to let the immigration office people know the time and date of my application so they can phone the guys at the border post and ensure everything gets done properly. If this sounds a bit of a headache it has been.

Never mind. Money is not a problem for the forseeable future. We sold our house and are living frugally but well. Had a terrific Christmas with the kids coming over, although it was a bit crowded for a while. Have started a blog of unpublished short stories, just to see if anyone likes them. Lets face it, my hard drive is crammed with the outpourings of my fevered imagination, and I just want to see what anyone else thinks.

Volunteering

Since I left the UK, just to help me get settled over here in BC. I volunteered to help out once a week at the Canadian Red Cross. It’s quite common over here to do voluntary work, and in many circles it’s rather expected of you at some stage. Angie helps children who are having trouble learning to read, write and do sums, and I help fix aids for the disabled and similar. If asked why I do it I can say this; it lightens my soul. Better than any religion, better than any drug (Legal or not), volunteering with an open heart gives you a sense of, well I suppose you’d call it fulfilment, satisfaction. That and I work with a happy crew. A good mob, you might say.

Last week we were out on a ‘run’ delivering and fitting stuff, but I arrived early and found myself regaling the office with a few ‘war stories’ from when I worked in a UK hospital. Strange now that the memories of that time no longer bother me as they once did. The heartbreak and frustration of losing a patient, getting told off repeatedly for honestly answering patients questions, dealing with (Often violent) drunks in casualty, calming them with a soft word or two (Much to the surprise of the coppers who brought them in). Amusing anecdotes from operating theatre. Getting told repeatedly that I was ‘gay’ (Strangely enough I’m not, never was – didn’t know I had to be).

As I was telling my tales, I had a minor internal revelation. I began to realise that the memory of all the bad things that happened no longer hurt after all these years. The voluntary work I’ve been doing has given me a sound perspective to look back on why the hospital job was a bad career move, but a useful source of knowledge (and amusing anecdotes).

Voluntary work teaches you things about yourself; what you feel comfortable with, what you like and dislike. It’s a great confidence builder. Gives you a bit more character. What a pity that ‘elf & safety’ culture in the UK is killing some sectors. Although in the UK ‘government statistics’ will disagree with this view, and we all know how reliable those are.

Over here in Canada, at least where I live, voluntary work is part of the culture. You help out because you feel more confident that in your time of need someone will come to your assistance. It’s very comforting. I like it. Can I stay please?

Hunkering down

So my last post was August 5th? Wow. A lot has happened since then. I've driven coast to coast with Angie and the dog, sleeping in a slightly superannuated Minivan most of the trip, getting eaten alive by the local insect population, and generally testing my marriage to near destruction in the process.

The good news is that Angie and I have now found a place, hopefully sold our old house in England, put ourselves on the immigration merry go round which is more like a rotating door than anything else. One wrong move spits you back out onto the street. Never mind, the novel proceeds well if slowly, but I'm going to have to go back to my old IT career if anyone will have me, as we're trying to regulate the hemorrhaging of our available capital.

When the house is finally disposed of we can pay off the mortgage, which will leave us with a moderate sum to build a new home with; once we have sorted out all the immigration issues that is. For the moment we're hunkering down and conserving our resources. We have rented a small place on Vancouver Island near a village called Cedar, which is nice and with terrific views. Every mornings sunrise is a treat.

All we have to do is navigate the employment maze and perhaps we can stay a little longer.

The next leap forward

Our house goes on the market this week. We’ve been inviting valuations and listening to the ‘spin’ from those traditionally greatest at it – Estate Agents. We invited three of them in to talk to us and give us some ball park figures. Two quoted what I call ‘silly money’’ prices at us, and another was almost spot on our own estimate.

Subject to the aforementioned, Angie and I have elected to go with the first estate agent at a price we think is reasonable for the property and location. We could ask for more, but somehow that feels greedy and might possibly end up self defeating.

What with one thing and another, work on my MSS has ground to a complete standstill. I’ve been looking at the fragments and decided it needs a bit of a restructure. What I have is good solid stuff, but needs a move around rather than another rewrite. Use the old ‘flashback’ gag a bit more. The whole story feels like Icebergs drifting around the Arctic as winter sets in. Everything is there, but it just needs to cool a little more so that the story becomes a whole navigable mass.

Up a bit, down a bit

Almost collapsed on Wednesday whilst doing my day job. I had been suffering with a mild cough and ended up almost needing to be carried home. Well, considering I’m just short of 18 stone, they would have had a job, but I managed to get transported to my front door before collapsing onto the front room sofa for a couple of hours. Very light headed and woozy, very unstable on my feet. Went to the Doctors today, which I didn’t do me much good as he concluded I’ve got a viral infection which antibiotics or other medications won’t touch. Water, lots of, fresh air when I feel up to it, paracetomol for the fevers. Oh yes and rest.

On the writing front I’ve managed a few hundred words on the upstairs laptop, but nothing I take any real pride in. My head is all wrong ways round at the moment and I’m having difficulty thinking straight for more than fifteen minutes at a stretch.

Never mind; on the plus front an old mate who has asked to remain nameless says he has been passing copies of one of my old patented inventions around. On any number of occasions I must have bored the poor sod senseless with just how good it was for taking the edge off road and rail congestion. Poor sod. Never mind, it never did me any real good; but then I’m good at finding solutions, but not so wonderful at persuading the people who matter of their merits. More often than not; whenever I’ve put these ideas forward they’ve been dismissed as ‘crank’ stuff without a proper hearing from the money men.

The invention we were talking about was my part solution to congestion; quite an elegant bridging solution between roads, foot or rail. Well at least I thought so (But then I would, wouldn’t I?). The overhead Minitram system is a simple solution to a complex problem. I got the idea for the switching system one day in London whilst doing a job near Oxford Circus in November 2003. After that, everything just slotted into place. Routing systems, rail switching, the whole enchilada.
There have been similar solutions in the past, but none have ever been lightweight enough or flexible enough to provide the extra layer of public transport with the privacy and security that a car provides for example.
This one for example looks good, but how are the disabled to use it? You need to go up a flight of stairs to get to a boarding point for crying out loud. The same for all the other lightweight overhead monorail systems. They all end up being too heavy or too inflexible and complex.

You get round all the stability and switching complexity issues with a simple fixed lightweight primary & secondary rail system and cantilever arm like the one I came up with in 2004. Simple, proven technology that is both practical and cheap. Most of it comes in a ‘bolt together’ package that uses existing devices to deliver. Sensor packages which have been available since the 1990’s. Proven lightweight material technologies.

Is trundling along 4-5 metres above the street safe? Well let me think; the door interlock only opens if the sensors confirm it is on the ground in a stop, or a special override is used. If the power fails, the cab trundles to the next stop under battery power and shuts down there using the same kind of shutdown routine as a UPS does with a computer system. All the safety aspects have been thought through. About the only thing I was never sure of was the bending moment of the rail section.

All that and it’s scalable; you build it in loops, one to a street. You want a new interchange, you stick on a new secondary rail loop which can’t be accessed until the Wi-Fi guidance points go in. Want to add a street to the system? You stick in a new primary loop and download the upgrades to every autonomous cab unit. The day to day working of the system is, saving the passengers getting on and off, a mostly people free affair. Which is what you want from public transport. The cab software will even choose an alternate route if the loops between it and it’s destination is too congested, or even shut down because of an accident.

Oh bloody hell, I’m pontificating again. Must be the fever.

Birthday

My dear lovely wife Angela surprised me beyond measure yesterday by taking me first to a very nice lunch at the Golden Cross at Ardens Grafton, thence to a very pleasant health spa at a place that was once part of the timeshare boom.

Walton Hall is currently undergoing a £23 million makeover to Hotel and Health Spa. The Health Spa is only a Gym with a small pool and associated Sauna and Steam room facility at present, but once all the rough edges on the site are ironed out and a few more services offered should be very nice indeed. Our bedroom had not just a shower, but a ‘wet room’ facility, which I never used, as I took all my showers over at the Gym. We had a large flat screen wall mounted digital TV where I discovered that despite all the extra channel choices, all television broadcasting is still pretty lowbrow. The room was air conditioned and spacious and the bed a very comfy king sized affair. The room had patio style doors which opened out onto a small lawned area where we sat this morning, reading the Sunday Telegraph. Very civilised. All for £139 for the pair of us. Comfy chairs too.

We drank some mini bottles of champagne that we’d brought along with us, fooled around and generally misbehaved together. We ate well, did I mention that the food was good, although I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to try some of the starters on the evenings menu and ended up with an omelette instead.

Although I didn’t do any writing, but read a lot instead, I feel I could get used to this. As Angie observed; my big wide schoolboy grin was back after too long an absence. Don’t know what I’d do without her.

Fifty

On the 12th of March this year (2007) I attain the age of fifty. This means I have lived for five decades. Fifty rotations of the Earth around the sun. Two hundred seasons. Fifty Springs, Summers, Autumns and Winters. Six hundred calendar months. Two thousand, six hundred weeks. More depressingly; two thousand, six hundred Monday mornings. Over Eighteen thousand rotations of the planet. Wow.

A lot has happened in that time; space travel, digital technology, the Internet. A lot of bad stuff has happened as well; Wars, Famines, plagues; but the good news is that humanity is still going strong. People still think it’s worth the effort and time to raise a family (Although for others, children are the unforeseen consequence of unprotected sex). Trees are still growing; the tide still comes in twice a day. The world is not dying; it’s thriving. Despite all the doomsayers and apocalypse addicts. Life adapts, it is a wonderful thing.

My downside is that writing success has so far eluded me, but I console myself it’s only a matter of time before the break happens and I make the transition from dilettante to professional. I’m still breathing and reasonably healthy; which is better than many of my contemporaries.

Of course I hate my day job; but doesn’t every writer? It’s just a means to an end even if my employers want me to treat it as the whole reason for my existence. Employers for me are simply a temporary resource; a meal ticket for which I have to pay the penance of hard graft and occasional physical discomfort. It’s also occasionally a source of humiliation, but again; it won’t be for much longer. I’ll either quit and go contracting for the last few months, or swallow my pride and carry on until July, when we pack up and try to make a new life overseas.

My raison d’etre sits in the next room and has intimated that she is going to treat me to ‘something very nice’ for my fiftieth birthday. Bless all of her tiny toes. I do so love that woman. Sometimes I wonder why she loves me, but she seems to.