New job, new beginnings.

Skint_but_Optimistic

Its the opposite of a slow cooker then!

patman99

Time to celebrate. I passed my FLT (counter balance) certificate and am now allowed to drive a Counter balance FLT up to 5 tonnes.
The test was in 2 parts. Part one was a written theory test. I got 100% (the highest of the 3 of us on the 'novice' course). The 2nd part was a practical which consisted of 4 'lifts' and 2 journeys through a chicane with a load on.
Every error has a points tally (there is also a time limit of 30 minutes + an extra 30 minutes 'free time', but for every minute you exceed the 30 initial minutes by, you get a 1 point penalty) & I had to keep below 40 points to pass.
I managed 26 points and a time of 35 minutes on my mock run, but got 23 points & dis it in 30 minutes dead on the real rest run.

Well chuffed.

patman99

I decided to switch from Sky (21Mb connection) to Plusnet in order to save some cash.
Telephone & BB both switched without issues on Tuesday.

Surfing the net is ok, but watching catch-up TV is a nightmare. Apparently Plusnet use traffic shaping to maintain a good general use speed. This seems to interfere with any kind of streaming media from Youtube to 4OD.

Tried watching 'The Hoarder Next Door' on my wireless-N equiped laptop and it stuttered and buffered to the point at which it was un-watchable. So I switched to a wired connection, but saw no improvement at all.

Today I tried watching something on Youtube on my PC (wired connection) and it was a nightmare.
Now, I know there is nothing wrong with the router as it is the same one I pressed into service for the last month I had Demon as my ISP and can safely say that even when streaming media on my 8Mb Demon connection, I never had any issues with buffering and stuttering.

patman99

Update-

Have finally got around to fixing my hot water system. It would not heat up on E7, so I got out my multimeter and set about checking both the element and the thermostat.
5 minutes of probing revealed that the thermostat was the problem, so a quick stroll to my local plumbers merchant and the handing-over of £7.49 and within 20 minutes of starting, job was finished. Had to wait until the morning to see if the water had heated and bingo, one working E7 element.

Other successes this week included re-programing my in-laws central heating controller from 'manual - 21 deg. C, 24/7' to a cost-saving timed program with the temp going from 17 deg C at 07:00 to 21 at 8:00 then back to 13 at 2100 and finally 9 from 2300 through to 0700 again.
Should reduce their gas bill somewhat.

Made use of all the free listings days on Ebay as well, which makes a change.

patman99

JFTW -
Interview on Monday
Phone Dr re telephone consult
Finish fitting parking sensors
Take son to view Council flat
List more stuff on ebay & ebid.

Today was a NSD.

patman99

patman99 wrote: »

JFTW -
[STRIKE]Interview on Monday[/STRIKE]
Phone Dr re telephone consult
[STRIKE]Finish fitting parking sensors[/STRIKE]
Take son to view Council flat
List more stuff on ebay & ebid.

2 Jobs down.

Interviewed for a job this morning but didn't get it (at least they phoned me up to let me know.

Parking sensors now fitted thanks to my friend's assistance. We spent an hour trying to thread a cable from the sensor before having a brainwave and actually removing the rear bumper (well, not fully due to the towbar, but enough to be able to 'see-saw' the thing as we fitted each sensor and thread the cables up to the top of the bumper).

Was hoping for another NSD (to follow on from yesterday), but had to spend out £3.50 on a drill bit.

The laptop that I sold on ebay was picked-up by the courier whilst I was out at the interview, so I will expect some positive feedback by the end of the week.

patman99

Not sure where yesterday's posting went, so will try to remember what I wrote and include it in today's.

16/04/14-
Went out for a meal last night with a group I am a member of. Took my spouse and we had a good time. The meal was well worth the £17-a-head I paid.

Interview on Monday went well-enough, but I didn't get the job.

Took son to view the Council flat today and it is really huge for a 1 bedroom place. Even though he was only no. 2 on the list, he was offered the flat as the Council couldn't contact the person at no. 1.
He has booked his mate to do the task of moving him, so that is less hassle for me.

Upside to where he is moving to - nice quiet place in the heart of Constable Country with plenty of village activities to keep him occupied.

Downside - buses only run until 5:45 weekdays (but strangely, the Sunday bus runs to 8:40)
Nearest supermarket is 4 miles away, but there is a pharmacy, Post Office and mini-mart with ATM so He can still get his money out.

Have another job interview Thursday and the poss. of another next week to boot.

Things are looking-up at the moment.

17/04/14 -

Got offered the job. Only one problem. It is monthly-paid and I don't have enough money (or even access to loans or credit cards thanks to my credit history) to actually survive one month to the next as the wages are not good enough to build-up a surplus to bridge the gap.

Luckily I have yet another interview next Thursday to look forward to.

Went out to see the local Gang Show tonight. Superb as always.

patman99

Been busy today. Played a game of 'top shelf trumps' and found something to ebay.
Also added a few pennies to the loose change bag ready for banking-up.

Also had to make a hard decision job-wise. I have been offered a job starting on Tuesday. The only problem is that it is monthly-paid and I don't have enough spare money to actually survive through to pay day. I even enquired about loans and credit cards but got turned-down flat for everything.

Still, I have another interview next Thursday for a job that I would have still taken even if I had had the money to actually take the offered position.

Today has been a NSD, so pleased about that.

patman99

No update yesterday as to busy to get near computer.

Wife managed to block the toilet, so being a Sunday & being that I couldn't get hold of my plumber mate to borrow his unblocker, I had to improvise.
Turns-out that a 3ft length of hose is flexible enough to go round the u-bend and clear the blockage.

Jobs for this week -

Remove, repair & refix the toilet seat which has come loose.
Empty/clean/refill parents fishpond
Job interview Thursday
Help son move

Today was my 3rd NSD on the trot.

Magsnoodle

Hey all looks good. Really interesting diary. Thank you for posting.

Good luck with job interview - never thought before about the difficulties of going to a job which is paid monthly...

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