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Yeah... I've left Manchester behind for Christmas and
New Year!
Last night I hopped onto a train and travelled up to mum and dad's, where I stayed
overnight. It was a good journey, despite me having a ridiculous amount of luggage
as usual (I really must get a laptop PC!).
Then earlier today I travelled up to the cottage here, a few miles south of the
England/Scotland border.
Regular readers will remember that the new boiler and central heating has been
installed since my last visit. I was here for three months in the summer but that
wasn't enough time to get the work completed. I had fun being without
hot running water for three months.
In fact, by the time I headed back to Manchester, I'd only just got the gas supply
installed. So my dad volunteered to oversee the rest of the work.
Trying to get things done out in the country is, frankly, a complete pain. I started
out by approaching local  businesses.
But, even with £2000+ cash to spend on the installation, I came across the
usual 'if we take this job on, we'll be doing you a big favour' kind of attitude
that is all too common around here unfortunately.
The man from one local heating installation company obviously didn't want to have
to take up any floorboards in the house to put pipes down! Poor dad had his time
wasted when a couple of people didn't turn up at all. Others just didn't know
their stuff (or maybe were on a commission) and were pushing unsuitable systems.
In the end a friend recommended a company in the nearest city and I paid them
a bit extra to come out here.
It was worth it, as they seem to have done a good quality job. I'm sitting here,
snug and warm and experimenting with the buttons on the boiler. Earlier today
I inadvertently set a navigation course for the planet Vulcan...
I'm a little apprehensive when I see lightning symbols (next to the on/off power
switch) on anything to do with this house. Eighteen months ago, lightning destroyed
part of the tower of the village church here and zapped all the fax machines and
'phones in the immediate area. Then, you may remember, this summer my modem was
fried during a storm.
I had to work like crazy to get various stuff finished so I could get away from
Manchester on time. Hence the lack of updates on this website. Now I'm winding
down and just relaxing for a couple of days.
One job I've just finished was designing banner ads for a gay online store. I
thoroughly enjoyed doing them, partly because the company gave me such a great
amount of freedom. I admire and enjoy working for people who have the confidence
to do that and it tends to result in me doing my best work.
That's the way it used to be with my magazine features. I worked for the same
mags for years and sometimes the Editor didn't even know what I was doing until
the finished article arrived. They rarely made any changes.
I finished the magazine work a year past October, after 14 years, as the financial
rewards just weren't there anymore (one company was paying me less than it did
back in 1989 and was trying to get copyright in my work for no extra money).
Fortunately I enjoy the web-related work more and it pays much better!
It's interesting to see so many magazine publishers doing badly these days. My
own opinion is that standards have fallen too much. Journalists earn less and
so can no longer spend the time they used to on research and writing. Readers
see that the quality isn't there any more and stop buying...
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