Interns
There has been a lot of talk lately in how those with power and money have got their children work experience, which is of the highest class and out of the reach of those without privelege and wealth.
It has always been thus.
Take my example.
My father was a successful letterpress printer in Wood Green. He employed half a dozen people and we lived comfortably in the days before letterpress was replaced by offset litho. Much of his work was for a company called Enfield Rolling Mills, that as the name suggests rolled metals into something useful. In their case it was non-ferrous metals, like copper, bronze and aluminium, which were turned into bars, sheets and cables.
So when I got my place at Liverpool University to read electronics, and I needed some work experience, he decided to do something about it. His business wasn’t that healthy too, and he had told me that, he wouldn’t be able to find me work for the summer.
In his usual manner, he started at the top and phoned John Grimston, the Earl of Verulam, who was the boss of his largest customer.
They found me a place in their electronics laboratory, where I had my first lesson in controlling processes. I also learned a lot about industry, health and safety, the various trades and their unions and of course life, which gave me a lot of rich anecdotes I use to this day. Only today, I related to my physio, a story about lady cricketers gleaned from one of my colleagues.
To say that internship, as we’d call it today, changed my life, would be an understatement.
But I got it because my fsther knew someone with influence. And also because he never felt anybody too grand to ask for a favour.
No Shredders in the City
My rather-too-cheap shredder failed a week ago and you’d think being close to the City of London, it would not be difficult to get a new and better one!
Wrong!
After a couple of abortive trips to the nearest PC World and Maplins, where they were out of stock, I decided to take the bull by the horns and go to Staples at Tottenham Hale.
In the end I chose one that just fitted in my large Tesco bag-for-life.
It also fitted the steps of the escalators on the Underground well and I could place it under the seat on one of the new Victoria line trains, so getting it back home wasn’t the hassle I thought it would be.
But why are there no shredders in the City?
Does Public Transport Combat Racism?
I wonder about this, but the masses of different races and nationalities, that use public transport have to get on.
When you swipe your card by the driver on a bus say, you often wave and say thank you and if the bus isn’t busy you’ll often get a cherry reply, whatever the race of the driver. And let’s face it, is there a race not represented amongst London bus drivers.
Often too, you’ll strike up a conversation with the person next to you, about something trivial. Sometimes this will be caused by my apologising for being clumsy because of the stroke and I can’t remember receiving a rude response.
One incident stands out. I was needing to get by a black man of my own age, as I’d rather hidden myself away on a corner seat, at the back of the bus. So I apologised before I hit him with my rucksack. He said not too bother, as he was very happy and after five years as a widower he was going to propse to his girlfriend that day. I said I was a widower too and he said that it’ll all work out. He waved me goodbye as I left the bus. Good luck to him and I hope the lady accepted his proposal.
So when you throw people together and they all get mixed up, does it take the racial tension out of living?
I think the only thing we need to ensure is that when we travel on a bus or train, that we treat everybody in the way we would like to be treated ourselves.
Coal Hole Covers
There are a few coal hole covers still left in Hackney and Islington.
Sadly many of these nice pieces of Victoriana have been collected or stolen and then melted down for the metal.
I don’t have one as my house is new and there are none down the road, as they have the wrong type of cellar.
Homes for Bugs
When I go to Waitrose at the Barbican, I walk through Bunhill Fields from the bus stop, where I get off a 21, 76 or 141 bus.
Just inside the entrance I saw this strange object.
A Home for Bugs
It is actually a home for invetebrates and was the winning entry in a competition organised by the City of London.
A Real Honeymoon from Hell
This is documented in The Times today. A couple called Svanström had to endure.
- The blizzard of the century in Munich
- A monsoon in Bali
- Bushfires in Perth
- Floods in Queensland
- The EArthquake in Christchurch
- The earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
C and I had a dreadful honeymoon and we suvived. according to the report, these Swedes are still getting along well.
Do Sickly Children Make Successful Adults?
I ask this question because of a post on the UK-Coeliac list from a mother, who was worried that her coeliac child might have problems because of days off sick during his GCSEs.
I was always off sick at school, but I got to Grammar School and obtained good O and A levels, went to a good university and by all accounts I have been very successful since. I often wish that I’d been diagnosed with coeliac disease, when my parents and GP, were looking into my childhood health problems, but you can’t change the past.
Was it because of my many days off school, that my father took me to his printing works so often and my mother taught me household skills from cooking to making clothes? Or was it because I was the boy and was favoured by my parents and especially my grandmother, who lived with us?
I also became very reliant on my own company and this served me well, when I was programming, as that can be a very lonely experience.
Now is that self-reliance is my strongest defence against the trials of my life?
I Don’t Need a Garden!
I only have a small sunless place outside the back of the house, but I do have a nice flowering cherry tree opposite.
The Cherry Tree by my Window
It reminds me of my childhood in Cockfosters, where there were loads of flowering cherries at the road side. Sadly, over a period of years all the gas pipes rusted and the gas killed all the trees. I don’t think there is any trees there now!
But at least the one opposite appears to be in good health.
Is This a Must-See Show?
Charlie Sheen’s new one-man show has not had the best of reviews in Detroit.
The Times even gave it no stars.
So is it something that is so bad, it just has to be seen?
Mel Brooks got the story line of The Producers absolutely right, with it’s underlying story of the awful, Springtime for Hitler.
Kidney Transplants
They were talking about this on BBC Breakfast this morning.
A kidney transplant doctor once told me, that a surprising number of us are born with only one kidney and usually survive pretty well.
The Anonymous Widower 