11 June 1999
Shayne
Some of England is really good fun like the day out in London yesterday. But some
of it is just hard work - like trying to get a job. I know I haven't been here long,
so I shouldn't be asking for too much, but you know the pressures everyone puts you
under. I have about 20 job apps live at the moment, so I'll keep pounding at the
door until it breaks!
Money's ok so far, so that's a relief, but you have to watch
VERY carefully because the dollar is 3 to the pound, and they spend pounds here like
we spend dollars in NZ. So far the agencies have been very positive, so I think it's
just a matter of time, and I wish people around me weren't so damned impatient.
I
can't see the point in keeping Waitomo Computers alive, or the name waicomp, or its
web page, or its domain.
I get a few pages on Virgin, so I'll have a look into it.
I don't know about a domain name, yet. I think Virgin supports Frontpage Extensions,
so it won't be too hard to get a web site up and running once I have a house of my
own and a PC that doesn't continually drop off the net, like this @#$*^% little Zenith
laptop does.
Virgin doesn't charge for access.
After asking for the second time, wave
is now sending my email on to me. I still curse long emails, though, because of the
fragility of the link from this PC.
Be cool
I'll keep in touch
16 June 1999
Dear Genevieve
I still think that Mel sticks/gulps far too much useless medicine into her body -
and not enough useful food - so that when some bug arrives in the heighbourhood her
body can't deal with it, or deals with it very slowly.
I watched the cricket. It was
very enjoyable, but when the kiwis couldn't knock over the openers, the writing was
on the wall. Their fast bowler was the difference between the teams. There are at
least three teams - England, India and Sri Lanka - who finished behind us, who are
supposed to be better than were are. I also think that Fleming is not as good - not
as intense -
a one-day captain as Nash. And I reckon we missed Nash. It's probably
not possible to have two different captains, one for tests and one for ODI's.
We won't
see any All Black rugby here. TV is horrible here; 5 channels of bleak desert, and
if they do have cricket on the BBC they swap it from BBC1 to BBC2 during the day,
whenever they feel like it.
Mum's having her second day at school today, in a high
school with 5 classesof English and Geography. She reckons she's going to be SO tired.
I reckon it'll be great fun. She was telling a visitor last night that all last year
she was saying to herself, "I'll tell him tomorrow I'm not going." So far she's enjoying
it here. I think she will end up LOVING it.
The British High Commission is no better
than the Home Office. Better to contact your favourite travel office; they have better
contacts and can get you the info faster than the Brits will bother to do. The Commission
(like the Home Office) is not being paid to service the hoi poloi - so they don't
- the travel company is.
Your fingers are cold? Is it cold in NZ? My, my, it's soooo
nice and warm here. About 25 degrees, I should think ... nice and sunny, too.
I have
another 3 job apps out there (33 in total) and I have two job apps waiting for the
prospective employer to invite me for an appointment, one of which is a co-appointment
with Mum. I also have a list of 4 agencies who I am to ring today - just to keep
up the contact. Looks a bit dismal, doesn't it? Never mind.
Keep banging on the door.
Love
Dad
16 June 1999
Dear Elizabeth and Ross
Elaine will probably send a reply to your letter in due course but here, it's about 25 degrees and sunny, only lightly overcast.
Day 3 of the drought.
Elaine is having her second day of teaching, with two more promised on July 2 and 5. She's at a local high school teaching English and Geography. All day. Six classes. I reckon she'll love it. She really enjoyed her stint on Tues with the year 4s. She doesn't want to continue teaching, but I think this is a good introduction to England and besides, how else is she going to get to a shopping spree in London if she hasn't earned any pounds? When she gets paid, she/we can go to London, if she wants.
We are waiting for a tour company to contact us inviting us to an interview - me to look after their network and Elaine to look after their staff training (3000 of them, although not all at once.) We'll keep you posted. She's also applied for a marketing job with Luton City Council and with Hastings CC, doing almost exactly what she did with WEDA. If she gets one, I'll look for jobs in that area. I have 33 job apps out there and 2 are waiting for invitations for interview.
I watched the cricket, too. The BBC had it for once. It's an odd system, here, because most sport isn't shown live - of course - but if it is, the BBC swap it randomly from BBC1 to BBC2 whenever it suits them throughout the day. Five channels of dismal desert. The government is moving to ban cigarette advertising; the GM debate is hotting up - Paul McCartney is spending 3m POUNDS ensuring that no GM material is in the Linda McCartney branded food products. That's dedication. Someone is cloning human embryos and killing them at 14 days - something to do with their not being human by then - but it's been pointed out that while it's not illegal in the US, it is illegal in the UK. It's disgusting wherever it's done. They're finding bodies and graves by the score in Kosovo, killed by the police amongst others, and sackloads of destroyed passports. Nice one, Slobba. (The headlines here are brilliant.)
I'm still running. Did 40 mins yesterday, about 8km, so my fitness is coming back after a 6-week layoff in NZ.
I'm sorry Elizabeth had to kiss the dummy, what did she expect from a CPR course? Arny? Brad Pitt? You have to make sacrifices in the pursuit new knowledge; it wouldn't be a sacrifice unless it was unpleasant. Next time she goes to the US she can bash Brad Pitt with her brolly and then she can demonstrate her CPR skills. Work doesn't have to be unpleasant.
Be cool
Ewart
19 June 1999
Dear Genevieve
This internet connection is still driving me absolutely NUTS - it is sooooo poor
and so @#$%^ unreliable, I can usually only get a connection ONCE a day. I am pleased
I have got such a wonderful temperament, so calm, so patient, otherwise I'd be outside
torching cars, I tell you.
Love
Dad
20 June 1999
Dear Marlene
Thanks for the letter. The answer to the questions is YES and NO.
No house
No car,
but got a hired one for two days last week and whole week this week(hellishly expensive
to buy or hire)
Job? None for Ewart yet. None for me exactly yet either, except that I am working
- relief teaching. Have been to three schools so far and all want me to go back permanently
so I guess that's something, except as you know it is not teaching work I really
want... But, it is money. Currently I get 85 - 90 punds per day, minus tax, minus
NHS and anything else they want to take out. Haven't had my first pay yet.
I taught
at a primary school in Hitchen Wilshere Dacre - lovely kids, really old buildings,
nice staff, lovely young woman principal - I got on with her really well and I like
this school best so far.
Next I taught at a secondary school - Roundwood Park in Harpenden
- Kidshave rich parents, some classes great, others noisy and quite dependent. I'm
off there again for three days this week. Thursday I get to teach religious eduction
all day - that should be interesting - haven't been to church for about 23 years!
Had to teach it on Friday at a primary school - looked at the sheets and found out
it was all about Moslem religion - know nothing about that, but you know me, I learnt
quick!!!
I taught at Ougthonhead Primary at Hitchen - beautiful buildings, wonderful
friendly staff and supportive lady headteacher - some tricky kids though. One threw
a wobbly but I survived that. Kids are not great at sports period, yell at each other,
sulk etc - not exactly my cup of tea - had two periods of PE that day and I go back
there again on Wednesday.
Tomorrow while I am at school Ewart is dropping me off at
Harpenden then coming back by car to St Albans and canvassing local schools for me
(at my request). Its too darned expensive doing all this commuting. I asked Select
for schols in St Albans but they have sent me everywhere else!!! Nice couple of girls
in there though and I am being sent where I am needed
so I can't complain - at least
I have some work. I have also learnt from other teachers that Select pay teachers
the least so I am looking at other options.
We haven't done anything about a house
yet because which ever way we go it is really expensive so we are holding off until
one of us has permanent work. Ivor and Iris are OK about this so that helps a lot.
We are very happy here.
I sent off two job applications to councils tis afternoon
- at Hastings and Watford. Both are interesting jobs. I ave previously sent off my
CV for these jobs but they sent me an application pack. Had to tick a box to say
I am white again!!! Lots of employers around here specify that they will NOT accept
CVs. It is a damned nuisance because filling in all those forms is
time consuming
and the final product ends up looking like a dog's breakfast. I hope the other applicants'
ones do too. They specify ink and then send a form with paper which smudges ink!!!
I
have also applied for an IT job, referred by an agency Ewart is in contact with.
They have accepted a dual application from Ewart and I so we are waiting to see whether
we have been shortlisted. It is with a very large tour company. The jobs sound quite
interesting. Ewart has a couple of agencies who have asked him to contact them on
Monday so we hope that means
something interesting for him to do.
We watched the full
coverage on TV of Sophie and Edward's wedding yesterday. It was great to be doing
it in England. We are hoping to go down to Madame Tussard's shortly. We are keeping
a pretty low profile at present to use aslittle money as possible - basic things
cost like crazy. We are just contributing to food costs and paying for transport
and try to keep away
from other expenditure at present.
Course I miss you guys!!! Still
having fun though and I am glad I came.
Best of luck for Te Kuiti Have fun. Don't
work too hard.
.
Must go to bed. School in the morning.
Love Elaine
22 June 1999
Dear Genevieve
Golf can be addictive, you know! I must say that 55 over 9 holes is a pretty fair
score. If you are a left-hander, the set of clubs my mum gave Jase are still in the
garage in Whawharua, if they are not under the house, or in the studio.
I'm still
running. On Sunday I went 10km, that's about 6 miles. Whichever way you say it, it's
still along way. I'm still suffering today, but I thought I'd better not let a bit
of suffering put me off, so I have been to the Jolly Sailor and back this morning.
The Jolly Sailor is at the top of the hill just on the outskirts of the city centre,
about 2 miles from here. I reckon the return trip is about 5km, but it's difficult
to tell. Here, they still use the old imperial system of miles and yards, but they
run in kilometres! It's a bit of a trial trying to get some distances that will compute.
I need to track out a 5 mile course (8km exactly) and a 6 mile one (close to 10km).
Any less than that and the conversion is too difficult. The terrain around here is
a bit hard, too. It's not hilly, but there are lots of slopes everywhere I want to
run, and that makes life hard.
I was getting horribly fat, and I am still carrying
weight, but it's beginning to burn off. I dread winter!
Keep up your golf; it gets
you outside having exercise in all weathers and it's a great game for making you
a hero one day and a total loser the next. That's very good for the character.
I'm now waiting on decisions from two more prospective emloyers to interview. So
that's four irons in the pot, and 42 job applications - with CVs - out there. Sheila
said she'd send me the job opportunities mag from Milton Keynes. She says ther are
hunddreds of jobs in it. That'll be interesting. The latest two irons are in Frimley
and Farnsworth - quite
close together.
When Elaine went to Hitchen I took the car and
went to Stanbridge. I went to pay respects to James Tearle, my great-great-grandfather
and to see Lorraine Simons. I didn't have any flowers, so I managed to find some
in Sainsbury's in Leighton Buzzard. I went to see Levi, my great-grandfather, in
Wing, said hello to him and Jase and left some flowers there. His
gravesite is rather
badly overgrown. What a silly notion only to keep clear the grass in the newer portion
of the grounds. For the extra 1/2 hour per week it would take to mow the grass around
the entire grounds ...
I went around to see Thelma for a moment or two, but she wasn't
home, so I left some flowers for her anyway. We're off to LB this Friday, to talk
to the bank again, so we'll put her out of her misery as to who left the flowers.
I
went back to Stanbridge and left the flowers for James and went around to see Lorraine
Simons again. This time she was home and very pleased to see me. She is one of the
church wardens and was so kind and friendly to us when we went to the church the
first time with John L Tearle two years ago. She has been very sick and still looks
like she hasn't got long to go.
She wants Elaine and me to come and see her and her
family one weekend about three weeks hence, so we are making arrangements. The church
expansions are coming along slowly, and they are selling blocks (with your name on
them)
for 10 pounds each. Won't that be nice; Tearle names on the church again. Arthur,
my dad's father, was the last Tearle to be christened in Stanbridge Church. Before
that, we go back in the church records for almost five hundred years - to 1562. Levi
got married in Stanbridge church then moved to Wing on the other side of LB to set
up the smithy, but he came back to
Stanbridge to christen Arthur. All the other children
he and Sarah had were christened in Wing. Arthur was born 12 Dec 1874.
The same day,
once Elaine had finished at the Hitchen school, we went up to Bedford to see Dennis
and Betty. Hitchen is over half way there, from St Albans. Dennis never knew Levi!
Thelma, Jenny Pugh and Alec all remember him, but Dennis was too young. Anyway, he
was brought up in 13 Stewkley Rd, Wing by Harry Tearle, son of Mahlon and Mary nee
Paxton. That address is the rightmost Ebeneezer Cottage when viewed from the road.
Next
time I see Dennis, Alec or Thelma, I'm taking a pen and I'm going to gets some dates
and sequences right about the cottages and when they were owned.
By the way, remember
the Wing School was about to be demolished for houses? It is demolished, but the
developer can't biuld the houses - something about planning permits. Anyway that
beautiful old school is gone, just a wasteland, now. The local historical society
is very concerned that Thelma tells them all about Wing and her family's part in
it, before all that stuff
gets lost, too. Good idea. She does not look good. I said
we're going to LB this Friday to see the bank, so of course we'll drop in to see
Thelma.
Love, Dad
22 June 1999
Ross
Good heavens!
Don't you ever go to bed?
No, you don't; you sent that at 11:42. Well, well.
I've sent another 17 job applications off, and this afternoon I got a call from Scott of Computer Futures. Says he'll send my CV off and try to get me a job asap. I hope so. I hate this being a kept man.
I keep ringin' and emailin' and generally bangin' on the door and I KNOW it will fall in and grant my wish. I have 4 jobs waiting for the prospective employer to decide if I get an interview and I've got 52 job apps that I've emailed to. One of these days, soon, something out there is going to give. I'm extremely lucky that Ivor has this office upstairs. Firstly, it's up out of the way from the very loud TV set downstairs - Ivor is quite deaf - and secondly, it has a desk in it hat I have been able to set up the laptop and attach to the phone and get on-line. Of course this entire trip was predicated on the assumption that I'd have internet access. It's been very difficult because the line is giving me a huge amount of trouble. But I have been able to get out my emails each day (at least once a day) so, however frustrating it has been, I have been able to make progress.
Elaine is teaching again today in Harpendon and we're off to Leighton Buzzard on Friday to use the car. It's 30 pounds per day or 100 pounds for a 7-day week, and no mileage payment except for gas, so we may as well use up the couple of days we have it more or less for nothing. I'll tell you what, though, gas isn't cheap - it's equivalent to $2.50/litre. Can you imagine paying that much for petrol? Good grief.
Hello, Elaine's back. I'll get her to write to you.
Kindest regards
Ewart
23 June 1999
Ross
We've been about a bit. Elaine has hired a car for this week because she's at a school almost every day and none of them is on a bus route. Today it's Hitchen, so that's about an hour away because of how slowly you have to drive to get there. Oh, it's diabolical! Many of the roads here are just two-way, but cars can park on both sides of the road, almost closing it off. One car has to stop and let opposing traffic come past the parked cars, and then on you go for a while again. It's a nonsense having a middle line, because with the cars parked, there is often only the narrowest of single lanes available.
Lovely, lovely little villages; beautiful countryside but the roads are terrible and there's always a car right up your tail-pipe. Like driving in Auckland in that way - no matter what you're trying to do, or which sign-post you want to read - it's always in a strange place, and there's always someone beeping at you to hurry up and make up your mind.
Better go, it's 2:30 and Hitchen is an hour away.
Regards
Ewart
23 June 1999
Dear Genevieve
Mum will reply to this tomorrow but at the moment ...
1. Don't confuse Mum's 90 quid
a day with real money, because it's not. It's no different from $90 per day, and
that's a fair bit less than you're earning. It's only $3 to the pound when it's sent
to NZ. In England, because of the high cost of everything 1 pound is about or even
less than $1 in NZ.
2. Try NOT to drive into things, Dear .... It’s cheaper that way.
3.
Parkinson's Law: "Expenditure rises to exceed income."
4. We're going to LB on Friday
to see the bank and then Thelma.
5. Jenny Pugh rang tonight and we're off to see her
on Saturday in Luton. She doesn't sound all that well, either. Her voice is really
very shakey. It will be nice to see her because she is such a lovely lady.
6. I'm
still running - about 30-40 min 3 to 4 times a week. Since I did 6 miles / 10km on
last Sunday, I'm not going to do 4 runs this week, just the three. This morning I
thought my legs were going to fall off, they were so tired after about 20 min, but
don't worry, I still did 40 min - about 5 miles - and I'm not injured, because I'm
not going very fast, yet.
7. Another 11 job apps tonight. Makes more than 60 all told.
I've got a list of 46 names from 45 agencies I've applied to. SOMETHING is going
to fall over and give me a job - just you wait!!!
Lots of Love
Dad
24 June 1999
Dear Genevieve
There's 100 pounds per WEEK for car hire, then there's tax to come out, then it's
80 pounds, anyway - they only paid the 90 pounds once because of Mum having to hire
the car especially for them for that one day.
Then there's 60 pounds per month for
med insurance - and it won't cover existing conditions, which are the only reasons
Mum goes to the doctor ...
And we're not paying rent, yet, which will be between 350
and 700 pounds per month for some cheap flat somewhere.
But, yes, teaching certainly
is the best paid job around. And from Select, that's only 10 pounds per hour, don't
forget. It seems more of the others pay around 100 pounds per day. We have found
out the schools are paying around 120 pounds per day. Don't worry, we are talking
to other agencies.
As Steve says, "All agents are LIARS." Specially GM'd, you know,
for the task - born to it. Bred for it.
I was not up late - it was about 11:30pm when
I fired off the last note to you. I am not getting tired or sick - that'll come in
winter, you know, just as you have it. I am very fit and very healthy. Mum's got
lots of coughing, but there's plenty of rubbish in the air to cause that.
I have remembered
where the Waicomp CaskLink (my accounting program) files are; they are on the hard
drive I carefully sent wrapped up in one of the Red Boxes. It's here, but I need
to put it into a PC and copy the files onto one of these Zip 100 disks. Maybe John
might help me when we go to LB tomorrow. All I need is a spare PC for a few hours.
I
sent off another 10 or 11 job apps last night, so I'll follow them up today and see
if I can rustle up a job.
I've sent 32 job apps since the weekend! More than 60, all
told, and today is only thu morning. I've just had a ring from Elaine Harding who
is going to put me forward for a job in Frimley - near Farnborough. I sent that job
app out last night. Come on, someone ..........
Be cool
Lots of love
Dad
PS I've applied
for a job with the All Blacks because I can do 3km in under 15 min. I've applied
for Jonah's job, because he can't and because the money's all right.
25 June 1999
Steve
Yeah, it's a bit of a worry, all right.
I have over 60 job apps out now and have about
6 "firm" promises that at least they've sent off my CV. I am ringing them - the ones
I'm hoping for most, but about 7 or eight of them per day - every second day. I hope
the shear pressure of numbers will cause the wall to fall and a couple of interviews
will come my way.
I know I haven't been here very long and none of these people have
had a chance to get to know me, but, a job would be nice .....
Today was the end of
week 3 and the beginning of week 4.
Worry, worry.
Ewart
29 June 1999 (to Dave Hearn, Te Kuiti)
Dave
It’s wet - if you're trying to watch Wimbledon, you'll see how wet. Temperatures
are mild, though. I have applied for more than 60 jobs and 8 are still in the system.
Plenty of hope. Elaine has had lots of teaching, so she's keeping us going in the
meantime. There's no suggestion she'll keep teaching for very long after I get a
job.
The roads - and the traffic - are diabolical. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere,
the roads are crowded. It's like driving in rushour Auckland traffic all day; and
no matter where you are, or what you are trying to do, there's always a car right
up your exhaust pipe. We went to Goffs Oak to take Elaine to the school this morning,
for instance, about 20 min from here, and between 8:00 when we went up the road and
9:00 when I tried to come down it, there was a 2-mile long (20 min in the queue)
traffic jam. The roads are too small and they allow cars to park on both sides of
the road, so that parts of it are one-car only. There's also only one road out of
this town, and that road has two roundabouts, a set of lights and a stop sign at
the top. The town has about 2000 population and they all work in London. Incredible.
The roading system here is almost at a standstill.
Trouble is, there's only a very
poor public transport system that no-one wants to use because it's slow, expensive
and cumbersome. And when there is rain, you get hell of a wet using it.
Otherwise,
it's beautiful here. Absolutely gorgeous little villages and towns; richly textured
landscapes and large fields of commercial crops like wheat, oats, barley and brilliant
yellow swathes of oilseed rape. Everywhere there are huge trees, the landscape is
glorious with them. The fields are all ringed with trees and the roadsides, both
in the country and in the cities are heavily lined with these massive oaks, sycamores
and walnuts. Takes your breath away. England is far more wooded than NZ. There're
way more trees.
I'm glad to see your email is working. Nice to hear from you.
Ewart
30 June 1999
Dad
Did you hear that the Welsh beat the South Africans in the Rugby for the first time ever. I assume that since you haven't mentioned it that you haven't but I would have thought that it would have made the BBC news at least!! Still - I suppose there are other world events going on and rugby isn't everything over there like it is here. Ian Jones is off to play for Gloucester after the World Cup. Was announced on the news last night as a prominent item. Funny the perspective NZers have on news - still I guess the ABs are our Spice Girls!!
Genevieve
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Come back Graham Henry, all is forgiven!
The Welsh victory wasn't exactly scintillating,
but it did have more tries than the Springbox, so it was well deserved. After the
very poor run of results, caused by their very poor playing, it's good to see the
Welsh coming back. It's also good to see a fine NZ coach working his magic. It also
shows just how important good coaching is.
The All Blacks beat a very poor French
side soething like 54-7, but then the French were beaten by the Tongans, too. And
the Aus beat England. Didn't see any of the matches locally. Sky has them all locked
up.. Good news, though, rugby is not renewing its Sky contract. All the GB teams
- I guess except the French - will be shown on BBC. Now that's cool, except that
it's two years away.
Just a note; as soon as you let politics enter sport, your team
starts losing. There's only one way to run a sport and that's on results. Look at
the Windies. Killed by politics. Look at the Welsh - once GH got the politics out
of the sport, they start winning. You don't need a huge population base to select
your team from, and you don't need brilliant individuals, tho you do need very good
ones. You need results-focussed people from the very top all the way down.
Our news
is full of Manchester United pulling out of the FA cup so they can play in a World
Clubs Cup (as apposed to nations.) It's in Brazil thisyear and if Man U don't go,
it's likely that England won't get World Cup 2006. Fifa is behind the Clubs Cup and
if Man U don't go, Verda Bremen will, and they are next most likely to get the World
Cup after England.
Anyway, the FA Cup is worth a few bob to Man U, but the World Club
Cup will be worth millions. That'll make the stockholders happy. It's just that the
locals will miss out on their team playing in front of them. Who cares? It isn't
the locals who pay Man U's wages! It's a funny old world, all right.
Hey! Thinking
of sport. I've been running miles because you can't run km's here. The car only records
miles. So I've measured a 4ml run. It's round the block, so I go uphill all the way
out and downhill all the way back. Going uphill slows down the total trip in comparison
to the whole trip being on flat ground, because you use more energy going uphill
than you make up then you come downhill. Anyway, at the moment it's 4 miles and on
Monday I ran it in 31:27. Today it was 30:22. I checked my maths and that's 6km in
28:28, so I looked up my diary, and my previous best 6km was 27:24. So I'm improving
since arriving here, but still a bit to go. My aim is the whole 4ml in 28 minutes;
that's 7 min per mile. It sounds slow, doesn't it, but it's 4 min 23 sec per km,
for 6.4km, half of it a very bitter uphill drag.
I've just had a look at that target
and it's pretty well on the limit, all right. It would mean I'd have to do 4:23 km's
which means a 3km time of 13:08 ..... ooh (twice).
I told one of my agency people
who rang me just as I got in - that I'd just been for a 4ml run, not what the time
was - and she said, "It's time you got a job." Well, I've got eleven agencies I ring
every morning, something's got to give. Please let it be soon.
Dad
1 July 1999
Greetings from the UK.
All is well and Ewart and I are happy in this English summer. It is hot and everything around here is really pretty.
We have been asked whether we get news about NZ on TV and in the papers here. No, one would think NZ didn't exist at all. The only news we are getting from home is what we are receiving from friends and family and of course the world cup cricket games. When our sports teams aren't over here NZ doesn't exist at all for the English. They do like NZ lamb and anchor butter though, and of course the zesprey is available in all the local markets, along with Cox Orange apples grown in NZ.
All NZ produce over here is a lot smaller than we are used to getting back home. Apparently the English are used to only eating small portions for things like fruit. None of the really nice crisp apple varieties grown at home such as Pacific Rose are available here. At present we are eating rock melons, bananas, cherries (yummy, large & very cheap), strawberries, nectarines & raspberries (grown here on site). It is fun going to the markets on Saturday mornings to buy our supplies.
I am being kept pretty busy teaching now. I start at a new school on Monday (tomorrow). It is Goff's Oak JMI School. I will have 8 & 9 year olds. Their teacher fell off a desk when putting up displays. A little boy moved a chair thinking he was helping her, unfortunately it was just as she went to stand on the chair so she fell breaking ribs and rupturing a lung. She got out of hospital on Friday but the word is that she is still far from well. I will be teaching her class until the end of term (28 July I think). On Friday morning I drove up there to look at the school taking Ewart with me. We had a hang of a job finding it, found ourselves in Potter' s Bar three times!!! Of course we weren't meant to go to that town at all!! When we finally found the village we found that we had been very close early on in the trip. We have now written down the name of the road so I should be Ok on Monday. I'll leave early in the morning just in case. The school is at Goff's Oak which is just beyond Hatfield about 20 mins from St Albans, when you go the right way that is. It took us an hour the way we went!!! We spent a lovely morning there meeting the staff and students and had our first taste of school dinners when they gave us lunch. A two course lunch costs 1.25 pounds per day. (sorry, can't use a pounds sign, this software doesn't have the symbols font installed). I also got to spend time with the current South African supply teacher. He goes off touring in Scotland with his wife for the next two weeks before returning to South Africa after having been here for six months.
After lunch, being my first day off for a few days, Ewart and I travelled up to Leighton Buzzard for the afternoon. We visited the bank, Sheila and George and spent a couple of hours with Thelma at Wing. We also spent a couple of hours with John Wallace (the chap in on the screen saver on our home computer). It was a hot sunny day and everyone was pleased to see us. The countryside is really beautiful through Bedfordshire and we enjoy travelling through it although it plays havoc with my asthma at this time of year, lots of fields in full pollen at the moment. The rape fields are bright yellow and stand out vividly for miles.
We haven't seen any movies over here yet. Adult tickets cost 10 pounds ($30 NZ) so we watch movies on TV. Prices will seem very expensive to us until we start earning AND spending British pounds.
I have decided to ask the supply company I work for to send me to primary school assignments only at least until the end of term. Although a lot of the college kids are really nice and none swear at you, they are REALLY noisy and only stop for teachers who shout at them. I thought it was just my differences to start with but then I started to watch the English women teachers with their classes. They all shout for attention!! B------r that!. By lunchtime you have hardly any voice left, apart from the fact you get sick of the sound of your own voice!! I had some lovely classes but the noisy ones drive me nuts. I'm also getting rather sick of being asked if I am Australian every lesson and hearing the song "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" when I come into a room. At least when we lost the cricket to Pakistan they wanted to talk about cricket. I can live with that. England lost worse than we did.
I don't regret having tried it though because I have met some really nice kids and it has been interesting getting to view England through their eyes.
Yesterday Ewart & I drove up to Luton to visit Jennie Pugh and her sister in law Elsie. We travelled in the little red Ford Fiesta I have hired to get to work. It is lovely to drive. Ewart's cousin Dennis Tearle designed the suspension system. We found out when we travelled in it up to Bedford to see him! Small world!
Jennie is 83 and very active, still does her own gardens, lawns etc and is a beautiful little lady. She was really excited about our visit and rang to tell us this morning. We spent until 4.15pm talking family and history. Her home is filled with beautiful family historical artefacts. She likes talking to us about them because she knows we have a genuine interest. We then took Elsie into town to go to the chemist then headed on to Wing where we had dinner with Thelma and her mother Millicent. Once again we had a lovely time talking family history. Ewart then comes home and writes it up onto the computer so we will have record when we get home.
Thelma is the president of the Wing Historical Society (among other things) and in a place with such deep history gets to learn marvellous stories to tell us. Recently she has been fighting with others to retain the old Wing school which had been built for the village by the Rothschilds - really beautiful stone building. Many of the Tearle family went to this school and they fought ard to keep it. But, the council sold it to a property developer who has pulled it down to build houses. As is usual around here, by law the site then has to be checked by archaelogists before buidling can commence. Sixty graves were found. On further excavation one grave was found to contain an Anglo Saxon coin dating back to 937. This brought in the BBC who interviewed Thelma and others in the village this week. The BBC are now paying to have DNA testing done on some of the bodies in the graves and also test some of the locals to see how long some of the present families have been in the area. Don't we miss exciting things living in a country with such a short history.
The countryside, including here in town, is lovely. There are lots and lots of beautiful big trees. They are valued here and once they reach a certain height become protected even if they are on private property. This week has been sunny and really hot. Not at all what we expected. Much hotter than our last visit. Today it is grey and drizzling but still quite warm. The coolness brought by the rain is very welcome. Everyone's gardens are beginning to fill with flowers and most people go off to the garden centres at weekends to fill in any gaps in the garden that appear now that flowering has begun. On talking with the staff at schools I find that most people change almost all the plants in their gardens every year. Sounds an expensive exercise. No wonder many of the English tend to have quite small back gardens compared with ours.
We rang Joalene and Deirdre Mark and Neil (ex Otorohanga) this morning but they weren't home. We suspect they may have gone to France for the weekend. Thousands of people have gone over this weekend to get cheap duty free goods. The govt has cancelled duty free shopping with the continent, effective on Monday. I think they must have seen Ewart and I coming! We have let a message on their phone with the hope of going down to see them in Neasdon sometime in the next few days. I will write to Jimmy and Dos again once we have seen them. It will be new territory for us to travel in and will take us very close to Central London.
Ewart has applied for over 60 jobs now and is waiting to hear back. We have at least six which we know are definitely live. Like some parts of NZ employment decision making processes are very slow here. He is applying for jobs every day and regularly ringing the agencies so they keep him at the top of the list. He is being very good about it.
Well, love to you all. It’s time for me to go to prepare some school work for the little darlings tomorrow. Hope you are all having a happy and successful year. We look forward to getting some email from you.
Love Elaine
01 July 1999
Dad
Looks like I might be going down to Hamilton this weekend so it will be good to catch up with Grandma and Grandad Pond. Also looks like I will be going to Hahei with Angela at the end of the month so will definitely drop in on the Tearle Grandparents and let you know how they are all keeping. Taking this keeping in touch of the family thing on your behalf as well as mine seriously. Don't want contact to be lost just because you guys aren't here to keep it going.
Genevieve
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I am impressed.
Firstly by your visiting both grandparents. That's a lovely thing
to do. I'm very pleased you're taking this seriously. Mum will talk cricket and rugby
and love you for it. Talk to Dad about his letters to and from England. Thelma and
Clarice love his letters. There may be others.
Not a good idea to do exercise outside
in freezeng conditions. You get very cold air down inside hot lungs. I'm not sure
what I'm going to do once winter arrives here. They eat a lot of fatty stuff here,
so that makes it hard to keep one's weight down without lots of exercise. I was a
growing boy there until I got back on the road again! The waistline is only now down
to a reasonable size, although I've no idea how much I weigh. The belt tells the
story. Now, tho, lots of muscles are beginning to show and there's a good amount
of hardness in my arms and, of course, my legs. It just feels better.
I'm going up
to 6 miles. That's nearly 10km . Wish me luck. Wish I could find a race or two; it
would give all this exercise a bit an edge.
PS: Lunchtime score
Edgebaston Test
NZ 19
for 2
Ye Gods! Please don't make it worse.
Dad
2 July 1999
Bob
I'm hanging out for contract jobs. They pay a lot more and last about 3-6 months,
usually with a rollover or two. Eg they usually pay my skills between 17-20 pounds
per hour, or 25-35k pounds per year. 25 pounds per hour is 51,000 pounds per year,
and there's no way I could get a 51k ppa job. But so far, I am not working. I do
have lots of hope, though, and there
are people I ring nearly every day and hastle
to death. One day ... soon, one of the cages I'm rattling will yield me a job. Fact.
I have more than 60 agencies I'm signed up with and I have 6 jobs where CV's have
been sent out, and I ring about 14 agencies almost every day. Something will give
...
In the meantime, it's summer here, of course. I'm not so dumb as to come here
in winter; that will arrive soon enough. In spite of how things may appear for Wimbledon,
which is not far from here, it's actually very pleasant and so far I'm enjoying it.
I've
been to see many of the family already, but there are a few to go yet, and some new
ones who I wasn't able to meet last time I came.
St Albans is on Watling St. Isn't
that cool? There are Roman ruins and Roman roads all about. It's like looking down
a time tunnel.
By the way, I suppose you know it's July 1999 and Nostradamus says
there's going to be a big fire from the sky that will consume us all. And here I
am in the northern hemisphere ..... Look after yourself, mate. Thanks for writing,
and yes, I'll keep in touch. Lots of love to Linda, I'm very pleased for both of
you. Hope things go
well.
Ewart
02 July 1999
Dear Frances
I have lots of emails I do every day searching for that elusive contract, but I do
have 8 CV's at present being submitted by various IT agencies to prospective employers.
One of them will say yes, soon, don't worry.
If you've been watching Wimbledon, which
isn't far from us, you'll have noticed that the weather is a little changeable and
sometimes showery, but it's quite warm and very pleasant.
Elaine finishes her first
full week at school and this contract goes till the end of term (ie end of July).
During the holidays we hope to find her different work, but so far at least it's
pounds and not kiwis. Have you seen the exchange rate lately - 28.8c Ahhhhhh!
Never
mind .... we'll cope.
Ewart
3 July 1999
Dear Genevieve
We got all enthusiastic and raced off to London on Saturday. Bad move. Talk about
expensive. I'll tell you what, I won't do it again before I'm working and earning
pounds.
But anyway, we went to Madame Tusauds. There's a 50min queue. Yes, it's about
150m long. Once you get in, the whole set is in three sections - modern (with the
royal wedding, lots of prime ministers and movie starsand that sort of thing) The
idea is that you pose with these statues and get your picture taken - photography
is allowed - so it looks like you've met
the real person. The statues are very lifelike.
Then there's the Chamber of Horrors with vistas of the French Revolution and the
guillotine chopping people up, as well as medieval torture chambers and Newgate Prison.
I'll tell you what - if you ever wanted to see man's inhumanity to man, esp in the
name of religion, you won't be able to go past this. Why treat people
like that? Why
not just kill them, if you have to, but they went to so much trouble to torture them!
Why bother? Then there's London Story where you jump into replica of a London Taxi
and get raced through little scenarios of the history of London in about 10 minutes.
The time taken is about two and a half hours. We arrived at 11:00 and, after queuing
for nearly an hour,
left at about 2:30pm. With very sore feet.
Hey, you see the damnedest
things in the most peculiar places. I found some Jane Austin writing paper there.
I'm sending it to you. It is absolutely beautiful. You'll be very reluctant actually
to write on it. Mum found you two neat little tops. When summer arrives, you'll be
THE cool one.
After this we caught the underground and went to Westminster Bridge.
Elaine had her photo taken on Westminster bridge because her mum says one of her
ancestors commissioned its building. She doesn't know which one - ancestor, I mean.
The whole day's train fare from St Albans to London return and anywhere around the
underground is 8 pounds each and it goes until the last train leaves at about 1:00am.
From Westminster Bridge we took a City Sightseeing boat cruise. It can't be much
of a city because the boat only went from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge - about
3 miles! You see what City Cruises means now? Yeah, The City. Not London city, which
one would think at first. Well, the trip cost 4.50 pounds each and then, when we
got to Tower bridge, the crew passed around the Captain's Hat so we could pay for
the commentary! The crew did the commentary because the owners didn't want to make
the fares more expensive by hiring a professional guide. Yeah, right. We took the
return trip, which of course was nearly double the single trip, and they passed the
Captain's Hat around again when they got back to Westminster Bridge. Needless to
say, we didn't put money in either way. We thought the trip would go a lot further
and hoped to see the millennium dome and a few other interesting sights. Most of
London's most interesting sights are hidden from the river behind ghastly modern
glass structures you can see any day in Auckland and even in Hamilton. You wouldn't
want to pay to see those.
We took the underground back to Leicester Square, had a
nice but cheap meal upstairs in a pub where we saw the day's cricket test highlights
on channel 4 (the Kiwis lost) then we had a wander around Leister Square itself.
There was an Australian singer and a Gypsy band we listened to for a while each,
then had an ice cream in the Sanyo centre, took a quick trip through Planet Hollywood,
where Mum bought a T-shirt and went back via underground and train to St Albans.
£100. Please. No more trips to London until I'm earning. There's lots of other things
to do, like Whipsnade Zoo, Woburn Abbey and even lots of the free local attractions
and sights before we have to bust a gut going sightseeing in London again.
That reminds
me - I'm off to London on Tuesday afternoon. One of the IT agencies (ITA) contacted
me and has asked me to sit a test in London at 2:00pm on Tuesday. I said yes, of
course, because if I do well at it then that will be a qualification all by itself.
They are only offering a permanent position, but we'll see how much they are willing
to pay before I say definitely that I won't take the job.. I suppose how much I'm
paid may depend on this test. Wish me luck.
Dad
4 July 1999
Genevieve
Still haven't got a job - this is driving me NUTS. My reserves are under pressure,
but I'm still expected to front up. I've got about 8 CVs being evaluated, and 3 are
quite hot, but none of them is a job, you know, with real cash. It is very frustrating
and I feel under such pressure.
Never mind, today I ran 6 miles. That's 10km. My book
(Bruce Tulloch, a aery good English middle distance racer from my high school days)
says that training at 8min per mile is about right, so my 6 miles at 47:06 is fine
- I don't want to be going any faster. I realised this morning that 8min/ml is about
5min/km, which is the time I've always used as a benchmark. What Bruce says, tho,
is not to go much faster than this in training. Ok. What counts is total miles in
a week, and the length of the longest run. So I shall do 6ml one day, 10ml another
and 4ml another. That's a total of 20 miles. It's not really long enough. It should
be 30ml. Well, not yet. I'll have to do a couple of weeks at 6/6/4 before I go to
6/8/4 and then a couple of weeks at that before 6/10/4. I'm loath to do 4 days of
running, but I'll put in an extra day if I feel good - you know, no muscles under
pressure or any pains. Now, he's also got a thing I haven't heard of called fartleck.
Awful name. It refers to running 50m more or less at a sprint, followed by a 150m
trot. Then you do the 50m again and the trot. 4-5 times in the length of one of the
training runs. I'm going to do it on my 4ml night. I've done one turn so far, and
it leaves you a bit the worse for wear, but not injured. That's why I've left a 4ml
night in the training sched.
So that's how it stands at present. Pretty boring, eh?
As Caroline said, "You should get a job."
Puleese
Dad
5 July 1999
Dear Joni
I have an interview with a Kevin Fordhan at Tech-Aid, 11am on Wed 14 July. His company is Tech-Aid and they recruit fro only the top 500 companies worldwide. His address is 14-16 Lower Regent St, London City. Yeah, in the City.
I go to Picadilly Station and walk 200m from there.
You got goosebumps yet?
The company he's recruiting for is Compaq.
You got goosebumps now?
The job will be based in Reading and pays about 32k pounds, plus benefits etc. I don't know what the bens and etc are, but I'll let you know.
The company I went to see yesterday said I should be applying for IT Managers jobs. This will get me in the door of one of the biggest players in the world, and an IT Manager's job shouldn't be too far away. Go directly to 50k, pick up your bonus on the way.
Now ..... don't get too excited, I'm certainly not .... but it's so nice to see something happening at last.
And don't worry, I'll tell you all about it after the interview.
Dad
7 July 1999
Frances Rawlings, Otorohanga
I'm pleased your mum Frankie is improving. Give her a kiss from me. That will cheer
her up!
I have lots of emails I do every day searching for that elusive contract,
but I do have 8 CV's at present being submitted by various IT agencies to prospective
employers. One of them will say yes, soon, don't worry.
If you've been watching Wimbledon,
which isn't far from us, you'll have noticed that the weather is a little changeable
and sometimes showery, but it's quite warm and very pleasant.
Elaine finishes her
first full week at school and this contract goes till the end of term (ie end of
July). During the holidays we hope to find her different work, but so far at least
it's pounds and not kiwis. Have you seen the exchange rate lately - 28.8c Ahhhhhh!
Never
mind .... we'll cope.
Ewart