Anthology Of Interest

Though less than a month has passed, I feel like enough has happened to write another one of my ‘interesting’ blog posts.

It’s Christmas Eve, I’m sat on my bed writing this blog post on my new iPhone. Yes, after having decided to get the wondrous Apple invention, I was finally given the green light to do so – thanks to my job. Having started work on the 28th of November, it soon became apparent to the tax office that I’d payed far too much tax earlier in the year (at the ILF). So to make up for this, I got given a tax refund. Of £400.

Within a few days I was off to the Vodafone store to pick up the phone. I’d decided to get the phone on Pay & Go, with Vodafone being the logical choice due to their superior 3G coverage. I’ve had it for a few weeks now and I’m not disappointed. It’s a step up from the iPhone 3G in so many ways. Better screen, camera, resolution. If I could waste my money on one gadget, there was never any doubt it’d be this. An amazing piece of technology. I do plan at some point to post a sort of blog review of the phone and all it does, but for now I’ll just document how much I love the iPhone 4.

The short term job at Royal Mail is over. The contract was only ever for four weeks, enough for me to decide against coming back there in any other capacity than as a casual. There are some great people who work there, who it’s been an absolute pleasure to see again, but the work is still mind-numbingly boring! And nothing seems to have changed in 18 months! Regardless of all that, I really do appreciate Royal Mail for giving me paid employment for four weeks. Who knows, I could be back there next year…?

Best musical find of the year? A hard one. I made an effort to download and get into new music, which I believe I have, but the best album I’ve heard this year is by a band that have been around for a good few years. I was watching the peculiar sight of Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers cook some food on Sunday morning telly, telling Tim Lovejoy how their latest album was “their last shot at the mainstream”. I like the Manics, a selection of their hits are on my iPhone, never took that any further though. A few quick reviews of their album “Postcards from a Young Man” had the critics in agreement that this was a very fine, blatantly commercial, Manics record – unlike their last, Richey Edwards inspired, effort.

I listened to the album on Spotify and immediately downloaded it off Amazon. Sometimes an album comes along that is so great you can just listen to it all the way through. The last album (in similarly unexpected circumstances) to do that was Graham Coxon’s “Love Travels at Illegal Speeds”, this Manics album is very much the same. Every song is a cracker. “Golden Platitudes”, “Billion Balconies Facing The Sun”, “Postcards from a Young Man” – all amazing tunes. I cannot recommend this album enough. Brilliant!

Lastly in this rambling blog post, something which is probably more significant than all the above, as it is to do with my health – or general ill health that is.

I’ve been getting chronic diarrhoea for a while now (I’m sorry, Internet!) – and the very fact that it was ongoing had me worried. A few months back my aunt told me how my cousin had been suffering from Colitis – something which affects your insides and brings about stomach pains and the above mentioned toilet troubles…

Anyway, I finally get to seeing the doctor, due to a couple of things. Firstly, I’ve lost yet more weight. I got down to 15 and a half stone a long while ago. Finally I broke the 15 stone barrier before I started work and now at Christmas time, I’m 14 stone 6. The weight loss could be explained by my active job, but my toilet habits might play a big part. Diarrhoea means any food I eat isn’t getting properly digested, therefore I’m getting malnourished! As good as losing weight is, it isn’t the way I’d prefer to be doing it.

Internet researching led me to narrow it down to three possible things. Celiac disease (gluten intolerance), Lactose Intolerance or Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Intolerance of food was possible due to certain foods seeming to trigger symptoms. I went to the doctor to talk about all this and he seemed to believe it was IBS. Nevertheless, he got me tested for Celiac disease – thankfully that was negative (can’t be doing with gluten-free food!) which leaves the other two.

There is no proper way to treat IBS, a diet change is necessary to eliminate the trigger foods (worryingly – chocolate, coffee and fizzy drinks!). I might combine this with a lactose free diet, or maybe even a short term gluten free diet, to see if the symptoms subside. All the doctor gave me for the treatment of IBS is a shedload of Immodium, so an altered diet is the next step. By next Christmas I’ll be so skinny.

Alas, that be the end of this huge chapter. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Gizza Job

I seem to have got somewhere in the never-ending story that is my quest for employment. Since I was made unemployed in July, I seem to have got precisely nowhere. I’ve applied for a stupid amount of jobs and most of the companies that I have applied to haven’t even given me the courtesy of a reply. Even a ‘thanks, but no thanks’! It is a true reflection of the desperate nature of todays job market when I don’t get anywhere with even the most basic of jobs (B&M discount retailers anyone?).

The Job Centre up their game after three months, and rightly so. Most people signing on are desperate to get back into work. There is still the percentage of people signing on who either never intend, or aren’t bright enough, to work, and that will never change. Problem I have with the change of tact from the Job Centre is they treat you as you aren’t doing enough to find work. This is despite the ongoing lull of full or even part-time jobs available in not just in Nottingham, but everywhere. To be fair to them, they have thrown all sorts of possible jobs at me, and in the past few weeks this seems to have amounted to a few replies of ‘due to large volume…etc’ rejections, but at least it’s a reply. And the worst case scenario is working back at Royal Mail for four weeks. So there is something, at least.

This past few weeks, I applied for two administration jobs. One of them is at a courier company in the outskirts of Bulwell and the other is a solicitors in the city centre. Living in Radcliffe, the solicitors is obviously the preferred choice due to the location. The one in Bulwell can’t be discounted though. It’s a full-time year-long contract. Money might be spent on buses, but it beats the hours that the solicitors are offering – just 21 – and I have a feeling they’ll beat the wage they’re offering as well. I went to the courier company today for the interview, they told me about the job and it sounds incredibly similar to the one I held at the ILF, and I let them know that. They seemed impressed that I essentially knew the basics of what I’d be doing anyway. I’ve read all manner of online documents on how to present yourself at interviews and I believe I came across well. The only things standing in my way are both location and someone with a larger amount of experience.

The solicitors, in the office district of Nottingham (Regent Street), is a similar office/admin assistant. It involves a little bit more activity, as I’ll be delivering items to nearby offices a lot of the time as well as running around after the various solicitors that work there! It’s a Monday – Wednesday job share, which would work out well for nights out on the piss on Fridays, and being just five minutes from Friar Lane the location is better than I could have hoped. Pay isn’t fantastic (about £6.50 an hour) and, as I mentioned earlier, the hours are less than I want. Both jobs have their plus and minus points. As far as this one is concerned, I received a letter from the office manager there selecting me ‘as a possible candidate’. They sent out an application form and asked me to explain how I fit the criteria they set out. Now, I know I’m good with the words, so this was easy – it’s being good with the words that I’m not amazing at.

So, I’ve yet to get an interview there – whereas I’ve had my interview in Bulwell. It could be a pivotal work in the working life of Peter Collison!

Kind of related, in as much that when I get a wage I can buy these, is the news that Nottingham Forest are selling Half Season Tickets for the end of December onwards – the first game being Derby at home on the 29th. They start at £250 for the relatively rubbish Lower Brian Clough and rise to nearly £270 for the preferred destination of the Upper Bridgford. I’ve enjoyed the games I’ve been to so far this season, and the company in the Globe, so I’m really quite keen on getting a ticket – regardless of how things are going on the pitch.

And a wage will also mean I can get an iPhone 4, after months of pining over it. I’ll be getting the sim-free version, because I have no plans to pay stupid amounts of money for calls and messages I don’t often use. Plus, I’ve grown attached to my mobile phone number, I seem to have had it for years…

Come Back To What You Know

Not a great deal to report, just the few odds & sods.

Firstly, money. I needn’t have saved up £2000 while I was still at the ILF. I thought I’d need it in the months ahead, but the dole I’m receiving sees the £2000 total topped up every two weeks. I’m scared of unnecessary spending, but I really shouldn’t be. Obviously I’d much prefer work, but I never thought I’d be unemployed and financially stable. Hurrah!

It’s this extra bit of money which is leading me to rediscover my inner Forest fan. I’ve let all things Forest take a massive back seat in the past few years. Whether it’s the forum, or actually going to games, I’d let my interest slide. It never helped that for a long period over these past four years I’d been working on a Saturday, but it was a situation that needed rectifying.

I’ve bought a ticket to the Forest v Swansea game at the end of the month. It’s my first game in what I believe is about two seasons! I’ve also managed to buy a Forest top – my first in a good few years. In my time away from the City Ground, the members of Forest Forum Extraordinaire – LTLF – have made the Globe pub on London Road a designated area for members of the forum. This has meant that the few times I’ve been there already this season, I’ve met plenty of people off the forum, as well as a few old faces. It certainly enhances the matchday experience.

I’ve also bought a ticket for the “Audience With…” they periodically have at the Approach in Nottingham. Last month it was Billy Davies, this month it’s former Forest players Gary Birtles, John Robertson and Tony Woodcock. Entry into this gets you a free copy of Gary Birtles new book – exciting! – I’m expecting plenty of Brian Clough inspired anecdotes, as the rest of the crowd is.

So I’m ramping up the Forest fan side of things, making up for lost time! The last LTLF get together I attended was in 2005. Lot of catching up to do…

Lastly, the 4.1 update for the iPhone fixed the speed issue that hampered the 3G when I last updated it. Now it runs at a decent speed, with the added cosmetic adjustments that the iOS4 update brought. I may jailbreak it – once it becomes available – to give the 3G one last hurrah before I no doubt buy an iPhone 4 next year, but I’d have to check on any jailbreaking slowdown issues first.

Midsummer Mundanities

Today, June 21st, is the longest day of the year. I always thinks this comes far too early – before we get chance to enjoy the summer, the nights start slowly getting darker again!

Today is also about one month before I fly away on holiday. It’s a well earned break, I must say. In the past month at work things have changed, duties are different, meaning I no longer have the cushy safe job with my mates and instead have a mind-numbingly boring job. Ho hum. That’s also not to mention the fact that my hours on Saturday have changed. I’m not a fan of working on Saturdays anyway, I finished at six but it’d kinda ruin the day, but now my hours have been shifted from 2-6 to 3-7. Perfect.

I’m all for looking for new work, but the severe lack of any decent jobs (the Nottingham Evening Post doesn’t even have a proper jobs paper anymore!) has led me to look at some sort of training in something else. I think I’ve approached the point of sink or swim. I’m 26, I’ve been at Royal Mail for three years and if i do nothing now, i’ll be there in three years time. Problem is, i’m not entirely sure what I want to do, and what I’d be good at. Certainly needs a few days off work (like a holiday!) to think long and hard about it.

I’ve been to London a good few times recently. Until the other day, my brother Iain and his fiancee Aleks lived in a ‘leafy’ north London suburb called Colindale. I say leafy, but a short walk down Edgware Road is enough to convince you other wise. They moved across the north of the capital last Tuesday, to a much larger and more interesting place called Wood Green – or more precisely Turnpike Lane – which involved me and my dad helping them both in about three car journeys to and fro.

Wood Green is automatically nicer, seeing as the high street is literally minutes away, there is a Wetherspoons serving non-London priced beer and they have the Turnpike Lane tube stop down the end of their road. Shame that they aren’t staying there longer (short term let) as i’d like to get to know the area better, plus it’s a few miles north of Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium – which I’d like to go gawp at.

Elsewhere, the new iPhone and the iPhone update were released the other day. The change between my iPhone 3G and the new 3GS is minimal, certainly not enough to go out and buy it. Besides, the recently released 3.0 jailbreak has seen to it that a lot of new features brought in on the 3GS can be got on my phone.

Incomplete iPhone

The iPhone is a great gadget, absolutely wonderful. The one glaring omission from this otherwise fine phone was a radio tuner. My old N95 came complete with one, something which came in handy when listening to the forest games at work on a Saturday afternoon!

Anyways, I’m not even sure the iPhone has a tuner inside the phone at all, so chances of a firmware update adding a radio feature are zilch. Something worth keeping in mind for the ‘iPhone 2′?

I bought an app a few days back called Wunder Radio. It’s a £3.50 Internet radio tuner. It works on any 3G or WiFi connection, picking up an incredible array of stations. Not just the UK, but worldwide. It also comes with the utterly useless but indeed curious police scanner feature. Basically a means of listening to American emergency services go about their business. Quite odd, but hearing the New York Fire Department attend to a fire – with the siren blazing in the background – was fun!

This radio app is definetly worth the cash, and the best part about it is it’ll play any internet radio station provided you have an URL. So it’s a chance to hear Nuxaq radio and indeed yours truly on your iPhone!!

(just enter www.nuxaq.com:8000 into Wunder Radio and you’re away)