Smells Like Teen Spirit

A classic track indeed.

Anyway, last weekend saw the first gig in a run. Erasure at the UEA.
We were quite up for this. I'd been speaking to others and they said that the gig was likely to have a fair gay turn out. So this is what we were expecting.
We turned up in good time and joined the back of a queue. On getting in we grabbed a drink and found a good vantage point. More and more people were flocking and and we had the usual bunch of idiots deciding that they had the right to be at the front, so pushed past everyone else.
By the time that the support band came on, it was pretty full. Certainly fuller than the last time I was there for a Rakes gig. Onetwo were the support act, made up of one half of OMD along with the lead singer of Propaganda and a third member. They were pretty good.
Unfortunately, by the end of their set, H was suffering somewhat from the heat and crowdiness of it all, so we headed for some air and some space.
After Erasure came on, the place was even busier. We secured a vantage point where we could see, just about, but were surrounded by idiots. Instead of gay guys having a fun time, it seemed to be predominantly overweight, drunk, middle-aged women, all shouting and generally being brash (maybe I'm getting old!) It put a bit of a damper on things. Even though the boy's performance was good. The night wasn't enjoyable and we left early.

Bring on The Cribs - 7th Oct.

Discopolis

Okay, back to the usual method of blog titles it is.

Firstly a bit of a note to do with what is where.
This place will still be used as my general ramblings and will include photos from various sources. The Jack-Attack homepage has been down-sized for now. Finally, my .Mac pages are where you'll find all our family and personal photos.
Facebook has all the local and fun pic on it.
Clear? Good.

Going back to last weekend...
On 3rd September 1987 I started my first full time job. This has turned out to be my only full time job. A fact I'm quite pleased and proud of. Long may it continue - well, not that long actually. Early retirement and a hefty pension would be nice. I suspect that the sugar industry has some recovery to go through before we reach that point though.
Where was I? Oh yeah, September. Well those of you with a reasonable maths education will appreciate that this means I've been with my current employer for some 20 years.
I decided that this occasion couldn't pass without without some form of celebration.
When I was taken on, it was as part of a group called BS03. There were eighteen of us in total from all twelve factories (only four left now!). After a couple of days at the factory (mine was Bardney near Lincoln), we all got shipped to a residential college called Eaton Hall, near Retford. We then began a course of 40 weeks, going home at weekends. I have to say that these were some of the most enjoyable days of my life. I think I can say the same for the other guys on the course too.

Here's a photo of us back in the day! No prizes for guessing which one's me. Remember that this was the 80's! Seated in the middle are "Uncle Ted" and Pete Whinfield who were our main tutors on the course.



Now is not the time to go on about a lot of the things that occurred during these times, but there are many stories!
Anyway, I took it upon myself to organise a reunion. Not the easiest of tasks as seven of the guys are no longer with the company.
But I managed to get in touch with all but one. Eleven of us got together around lunchtime at Go Ape in Thetford Forest. Much fun was had (photos on Facebook), then in the evening we popped across to Sprowston Manor hotel near Norwich for a few drinks(!) and a nice meal. It was fantastic seeing everyone again and I have never spent so long reminiscing in my life!
Here's a pic of the nine of us at the hotel...

One Week On

Seems a while ago now, and indeed it is. I'm actually typing this offline now, so can't remember what the last bit that I wrote about Australia was. A couple of things that I meant to write about though involved traffic.
I noticed this first in Bordertown, when staying with Kerynn, but on returning to Perth, saw a couple more examples. They have drive through off-licences! Now I'm not sure what the drink driving laws are in Australia, nor how rigorously that they are enforced, but I can't see the idea going down well in the UK.
The second thing that I noticed was lane discipline. When traveling with Kerynn, I asked her what the ruling was. She said that it was pretty much the same as in the UK i.e. keep left apart from overtaking. However it was pretty much free for all in practice. This was certainly borne out from what I saw. The big difference being that no-one seemed to mind too much about being overtaken etc. Maybe it's down to the lesser volume of traffic, but there didn't seem to be the impatience that you get on British roads, and this was both in the city and the rural areas. Obeying the speed limit was also much more evident. The sort of roads that I drove on were pretty clear and straight, yet everyone seemed to pretty much stick to the limit.
Another point, whilst I'm talking about traffic, is pedestrian crossings. There only seems to be one kind, and this is your standard push button type, with the red man to stop, green man to go. Now, in the UK, if we want to cross a road, we will have a look and pretty much cross at the first available opportunity, whether we've pressed the button or not. In Perth, I noticed that almost always, people stand and wait to be given the green light to cross. They don't go if there's a gap, they will stand and wait. Fascinating stuff for a people-watcher like me.
I'm sure other observations will be thrown in as I think of them.

What else to talk about?

Facebook? Specifically The Jewel Of The East. I'm not going to go into too much detail, but for those who don't know, Facebook is a social networking site on the internet. It facilitates building a group of your friends and interacting online. "Jewel Of The East" is a group that has arisen from there. It is led by a marvelous chap (I have to say that as he has been known to read this blog). Anyway, it's all good fun. We even had a pub crawl last Sunday involving a good handful of the folk from the group. Much fun to be had. Photos are on my Facebook profile (link on the left of this page).

My week off has been spent doing exactly what I planned - not a lot. Much rest and relaxation interspersed with a bit of cycling, running and walking.

I'm still not relishing the thought of a return to work on Monday, mind!