What is it with America?
I am not here considering their foreign policy or their cultural insularity, but a more important question: what happens to nice English girls when they go to America?
I remember Amy Winehouse as a nice polite middle-class Jewish girl from North London. A few hits in America and now she looks like a drug-crazed guttersnipe and talks with an accent that can only be natural to a black New Yorker. Nice West Country schoolgirl Joss Stone has undergone a similar transformation, affecting an American drawl and attracting criticism for “sleeping around”. Are there black schoolgirls in New York putting on fake West Country accents?
I do hope this is all just some deep and complex form of post modernist irony for young women. If not, what on earth is happening?
Sue’s last day
Today began with a chat to Sue about succession arrangements. I really am very sorry to lose Sue. Thankfully Sha-Lee has agreed to work extra hours for the next three weeks, but we need to start recruiting soon.
At lunchtime, I met representatives of a local group who are looking to become a registered charity, but who also have to rectify their employment practices. Many employers think they can escape employment responsibilities by designating staff as “self employed”. It wont work. No matter how tightly the contract is drawn up.
In the afternoon I caught up with staff and dealt with correspondence. I also had another group call for advice on setting up a charity. Sue left late afternoon. I’ll miss her.
World Forum for Watford?
In the evening, WCVS hosted the final meeting of the Watford Minority Ethnic Forum. Moreen and Kate attended from the Minority Ethnic Network for the East of England Region and made a useful presentation.
The meeting was well attended and there was a very positive discussion: the group will relaunch itself in a more streamlined format, better knitted in to other developments in Hertfordshire and the East of England region.
The inaugural meeting of the new group will be held on 16 May – meanwhile there is a lot of work to do drawing up constitutions etc. .
I finally got the leave the office at about 10:00 am and arrived home to find Jackie fast asleep. I must crack this work life balance thing soon: I'm getting married next week.
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
This morning began with a brief survey of my e-mail in-box, which contains dozens of un-read e-mails and there are dozens of red flags indicating that mails need answers: if I half close my eyes, my screen looks like it has measles.
But at 10:00 we started our staff meeting. And there was so much to discuss: changes in staffing, major project initiatives, accommodation issues, security, quality assurance standards (we are now tackling both IiP and NAVCA standards), new systems, training programmes, sick leave.
There were good constructive discussions around all these issues. We had one comfort break and finished at 1:00 to take Sue Tilbury out to “143” for her leaving lunch, during which Farzana and I discussed our reading habits. After lunch I had further meetings with colleagues, and then managed to respond to half a dozen of the more urgent e-mails before leaving the office at about 7:00.
In the evening, I read through the Quality Mark pack sent us by NAVCA. This was reassuringly straight-forward and simple. And then Jackie and I enjoyed a crossword together.
But at 10:00 we started our staff meeting. And there was so much to discuss: changes in staffing, major project initiatives, accommodation issues, security, quality assurance standards (we are now tackling both IiP and NAVCA standards), new systems, training programmes, sick leave.
There were good constructive discussions around all these issues. We had one comfort break and finished at 1:00 to take Sue Tilbury out to “143” for her leaving lunch, during which Farzana and I discussed our reading habits. After lunch I had further meetings with colleagues, and then managed to respond to half a dozen of the more urgent e-mails before leaving the office at about 7:00.
In the evening, I read through the Quality Mark pack sent us by NAVCA. This was reassuringly straight-forward and simple. And then Jackie and I enjoyed a crossword together.
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
Watford Football Club
After a quick visit to the office, I met Saud outside Watford Football Club at 10:00. We met with Rob Smith of the Watford Community Sports and Education Trust to discuss their Positive Futures project. This is focused on Holywell and there looks to be a lot of scope for joint working: I promised to write to Rob with some ideas / suggestions.
Sunflower
From Watford Football Club I went straight to the Town Hall for a meeting of the Strategic Board of the Sunflower Project. At an operational level, there has been some good progress with the Sunflower Centre working well with voluntary groups. I agreed to find someone from the voluntary sector to sit on the interview panel for the recruitment of a manager for the Sunflower Centre. But at a political level, there is still rancour and suspicion. For example, minutes of a recent meeting of the “Perpetrators Sub Group” of the Domestic Violence forum were largely devoted to criticisms of the Sunflower Centre. Whether or not these criticisms are justified, this sort of thing is most damaging in undermining trust and credibility.
We agreed that the way forward was through practical service-led collaboration. There will be two further meetings: one with a focus on domestic violence and one with a focus on hate crime.
Hunting in Packs
After the Sunflower meeting, I met with Anne Clark (the “temporary” Sunflower Centre manager) and Sarah Pinnock (of WBC) to discuss forums. The Sunflower Centre has been asked to try and establish a “Hate Crimes” forum locally. But what would this be? If it focuses simply on Hate Crimes reported to the Police then it is hard to see what the connection is between different incidents, and it is hard to see what participants will gain from being part of a forum. Other than the negative gain of being labelled as a potential “victims”. If the forum is also to consider unreported incidents, then it becomes very hard to draw boundaries: school bullying? preventative work? community cohesion? And where does this fit in with our own work to establish a World Forum in Watford? And where does this fit in with work to establish a county-wide Race Equality Council function? And where does it fit in with moves to establish a county-wide Herts Equality and Race Organisation?
All three of us agreed that things were getting very confused. We also all agreed that Hate Crime must mean more than racially motivated crime. We also all pitied representatives of the local “black and minority ethnic” communities who must all feel that statutory and voluntary agencies are hunting in packs to recruit them to forums and committees. Tokenism? Issue of the month?
And so back to the office, arriving at 3:30 and finally leaving at about 8:00. Another long day.
After a quick visit to the office, I met Saud outside Watford Football Club at 10:00. We met with Rob Smith of the Watford Community Sports and Education Trust to discuss their Positive Futures project. This is focused on Holywell and there looks to be a lot of scope for joint working: I promised to write to Rob with some ideas / suggestions.
Sunflower
From Watford Football Club I went straight to the Town Hall for a meeting of the Strategic Board of the Sunflower Project. At an operational level, there has been some good progress with the Sunflower Centre working well with voluntary groups. I agreed to find someone from the voluntary sector to sit on the interview panel for the recruitment of a manager for the Sunflower Centre. But at a political level, there is still rancour and suspicion. For example, minutes of a recent meeting of the “Perpetrators Sub Group” of the Domestic Violence forum were largely devoted to criticisms of the Sunflower Centre. Whether or not these criticisms are justified, this sort of thing is most damaging in undermining trust and credibility.
We agreed that the way forward was through practical service-led collaboration. There will be two further meetings: one with a focus on domestic violence and one with a focus on hate crime.
Hunting in Packs
After the Sunflower meeting, I met with Anne Clark (the “temporary” Sunflower Centre manager) and Sarah Pinnock (of WBC) to discuss forums. The Sunflower Centre has been asked to try and establish a “Hate Crimes” forum locally. But what would this be? If it focuses simply on Hate Crimes reported to the Police then it is hard to see what the connection is between different incidents, and it is hard to see what participants will gain from being part of a forum. Other than the negative gain of being labelled as a potential “victims”. If the forum is also to consider unreported incidents, then it becomes very hard to draw boundaries: school bullying? preventative work? community cohesion? And where does this fit in with our own work to establish a World Forum in Watford? And where does this fit in with work to establish a county-wide Race Equality Council function? And where does it fit in with moves to establish a county-wide Herts Equality and Race Organisation?
All three of us agreed that things were getting very confused. We also all agreed that Hate Crime must mean more than racially motivated crime. We also all pitied representatives of the local “black and minority ethnic” communities who must all feel that statutory and voluntary agencies are hunting in packs to recruit them to forums and committees. Tokenism? Issue of the month?
And so back to the office, arriving at 3:30 and finally leaving at about 8:00. Another long day.
Monday, 26 March 2007
A day working at home
Another valuable day today working from home catching up on so much writing and correspondence - and so many telephone calls to return!
Today's Big Project was to finish drafting the WCVS's Risk Assessment, which I eventually completed at about 8:00 am.
Reading again
After, I finished Simon Gray’s The Smoking Diaries. Early on, I nearly abandoned the book when I encountered a sentence that lasted for more than a page, a paragraph that lasted for three pages, and a habit of starting a new paragraph
in the middle of a sentence. All of these devices (affectations?) irritated me greatly. But I am glad I persevered.
Another valuable day today working from home catching up on so much writing and correspondence - and so many telephone calls to return!
Today's Big Project was to finish drafting the WCVS's Risk Assessment, which I eventually completed at about 8:00 am.
Reading again
After, I finished Simon Gray’s The Smoking Diaries. Early on, I nearly abandoned the book when I encountered a sentence that lasted for more than a page, a paragraph that lasted for three pages, and a habit of starting a new paragraph
in the middle of a sentence. All of these devices (affectations?) irritated me greatly. But I am glad I persevered.
Sunday, 25 March 2007
The clocks leapt forward and the sun shined. Bobby called to say he was visiting from Brighton. Jackie and I tested our new boots with a walk around Stanborough. And we bought a wedding ring. A much much better day.
Saturday, 24 March 2007
Comfort in Wittgensein
Some days are thoroughly hateful: today, for example.
I was expecting to visit my daughter in Southend. I didn’t. But I did spend three hours attempting to. And what did I feel: anger? frustration? selfishness? disappointment? resentment? heartbreak? And whose loss is the greater?
I suppose I should follow the counsel of Wittgenstein: of those matters on which we can say nothing, let us be silent. Or something similar.
More disappointment
Instead, Jackie and I went off to buy new “walking boots”. For men, it was once possible to buy: sports shoes, casual shoes, formal shoes, industrial working boots, and walking boots. And it was pretty clear what was what. Not now. Now anything and everything is possible, and nothing is quite what it seems: there are business shoes with candy-stripe laces, sandals with soles like trainers, trainers with steel toe-caps, and walking boots with smooth bottoms like plimsoles. I suppose it’s all to do with consumer choice and the free market. But every store seemed to be some mocking surreal post-modernist cathedral dedicated to proving the proposition that More equals Less.
After the upset of the morning’s abortive trip to Southend, I wanted something more reliable and fulfilling. Without Jackie’s patience and support I would have spent this summer striding out across the South Downs in a pair of carpet slippers.
When England played Israel, the only minor surprise was that England managed to earn a point from the game.
Some days are thoroughly hateful: today, for example.
I was expecting to visit my daughter in Southend. I didn’t. But I did spend three hours attempting to. And what did I feel: anger? frustration? selfishness? disappointment? resentment? heartbreak? And whose loss is the greater?
I suppose I should follow the counsel of Wittgenstein: of those matters on which we can say nothing, let us be silent. Or something similar.
More disappointment
Instead, Jackie and I went off to buy new “walking boots”. For men, it was once possible to buy: sports shoes, casual shoes, formal shoes, industrial working boots, and walking boots. And it was pretty clear what was what. Not now. Now anything and everything is possible, and nothing is quite what it seems: there are business shoes with candy-stripe laces, sandals with soles like trainers, trainers with steel toe-caps, and walking boots with smooth bottoms like plimsoles. I suppose it’s all to do with consumer choice and the free market. But every store seemed to be some mocking surreal post-modernist cathedral dedicated to proving the proposition that More equals Less.
After the upset of the morning’s abortive trip to Southend, I wanted something more reliable and fulfilling. Without Jackie’s patience and support I would have spent this summer striding out across the South Downs in a pair of carpet slippers.
When England played Israel, the only minor surprise was that England managed to earn a point from the game.
Friday, 23 March 2007
A gentle start to the day. I first had to check through the draft minutes of Tuesday’s HIC meeting, and then I spent two hours working with Katherine (volunteer) on my filing. Between us we really nailed it: Maria is a tough act to follow but Katherine is doing well.
Sue is leaving us next Thursday! Panic is setting in. I next met with Laura (Voluntary Transport Scheme organiser) who kindly offered to take over responsibility for overseeing the WCVS reception desk and the volunteers. One crisis averted.
After this, I rushed off to Stevenage to attend a meeting of the Hertfordshire LAA’s Volunteering Target Delivery Group. The meeting was not well attended. And the meeting seemed to have no structure to it, meandering from one topic to another seemingly aimlessly. Perhaps there was a logic to those more experienced in this field, but I confess I was lost most of the time.
But we did agree on a common strap-line for promotional efforts in the County: Valuing Volunteers in Herts. It wont win any awards, but it will do the job perfectly well.
I then travelled back from Stevenage to Watford to attend the annual Audentior Awards at the Colloseum. My invitation said “Black tie of lounge suit”. I thought: “Who wears black tie nowadays?” Lots of people, I now realise. I estimate there were about 500 people attending, and it was a very swish event. I represented the voluntary sector at the Mayor’s table, but there was a very good turn out all round and it was an excellent night for the voluntary sector.
How many other local authorities will hold such an event to celebrate and honour their voluntary sector? More evidence of what makes Watford special.
Sue is leaving us next Thursday! Panic is setting in. I next met with Laura (Voluntary Transport Scheme organiser) who kindly offered to take over responsibility for overseeing the WCVS reception desk and the volunteers. One crisis averted.
After this, I rushed off to Stevenage to attend a meeting of the Hertfordshire LAA’s Volunteering Target Delivery Group. The meeting was not well attended. And the meeting seemed to have no structure to it, meandering from one topic to another seemingly aimlessly. Perhaps there was a logic to those more experienced in this field, but I confess I was lost most of the time.
But we did agree on a common strap-line for promotional efforts in the County: Valuing Volunteers in Herts. It wont win any awards, but it will do the job perfectly well.
I then travelled back from Stevenage to Watford to attend the annual Audentior Awards at the Colloseum. My invitation said “Black tie of lounge suit”. I thought: “Who wears black tie nowadays?” Lots of people, I now realise. I estimate there were about 500 people attending, and it was a very swish event. I represented the voluntary sector at the Mayor’s table, but there was a very good turn out all round and it was an excellent night for the voluntary sector.
How many other local authorities will hold such an event to celebrate and honour their voluntary sector? More evidence of what makes Watford special.
Thursday, 22 March
I awoke greatly refreshed by eleven hours deep sleep. At work, I began with a long meeting with Helen (Volunteer Centre Co-ordinator) to follow up the LSP meeting on volunteering and to identify ways forward. It was a very focused meeting and very useful.
After a brief break, I met with Vanessa (Development and Training Officer) and Anne (Funding Advisor) to brainstorm our second stage bid to the Big Lottery’s BASIS fund. After a very hard meeting, I think we pretty much finalised a good draft Risk Assessment (incorporating SWOT and PEST analyses). I was pleased by the outcome, and pleased that we worked well together.
Following this, I met individually with Anne and Vanessa.
An announcement is made
And some way along the line I told people that I was getting married over Easter. It was very gratifying to receive so many good wishes all at once.
And somewhere in and around it all I spent time with Saud trying to get his Connexions laptop working. It only took me a little longer than it should have done to discover that the reason his laptop wouldn’t connect to our wireless network was that it didn’t have a wireless network card (the one thing I’d specified was necessary). Ho hum.
After a brief break, I met with Vanessa (Development and Training Officer) and Anne (Funding Advisor) to brainstorm our second stage bid to the Big Lottery’s BASIS fund. After a very hard meeting, I think we pretty much finalised a good draft Risk Assessment (incorporating SWOT and PEST analyses). I was pleased by the outcome, and pleased that we worked well together.
Following this, I met individually with Anne and Vanessa.
An announcement is made
And some way along the line I told people that I was getting married over Easter. It was very gratifying to receive so many good wishes all at once.
And somewhere in and around it all I spent time with Saud trying to get his Connexions laptop working. It only took me a little longer than it should have done to discover that the reason his laptop wouldn’t connect to our wireless network was that it didn’t have a wireless network card (the one thing I’d specified was necessary). Ho hum.
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
I awoke about 2:30 am bright and alert. Perhaps the manopause? Anyway, by 3:30 am I was in the office thankful of the chance of a few hours to catch up on things. By 6:00 am I had e-mailed my budget proposals off to my trustees.
The budget shows turnover of £355,944, or which more than £250,000 is already pretty much assured. This is a big luxury: I know of other charities that start the financial year with expenditure commitments of £300,000, a fundraising target of £300,000, and perhaps three months’ turnover in reserve. The big potential hole is our Reaching Communities project. If our bid is successful, we will be fine. Without this money, things look pretty tight.
After a bit more work and a few brief meetings, I attended a Big Lottery Awards for All event at the Beechen Grove Baptist Church. This was organised jointly by WCVS and the Big Lottery. Turnout was good, but a long way from excellent.
After this, I returned to WCVS for a meeting with Watford’s Mayor Dorothy, Cllr Shirena Counter (portfolio holder for Leisure and Community), Cate Hall (Corporate Director) and Sarah Pinnock (Senior Grants Officer).
The purpose of the meeting was to talk through the key areas where we can work together toward shared objectives. Of course there are many areas where we could work together, but resources are limited; so where can we best work together?
We focused on four key areas. Two of the four were pretty obvious: a better grants programme and a better voluntary sector. "No-brainers", as it was once fashionable to say. The second two areas were community development and community cohesion. Both are immensely complicated areas. We made some progress and set out a way forward. We didn’t reach any hard a fast conclusions, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that four senior figures from WBC spent two hours talking to their CVS to discuss what was best for Watford. That was impressive. That is what makes Watford such a special place.
At 3:00 pm I had fully intended to go to the Arthritis Care AGM. But my lack of sleep was catching up on me fast. I did a final few bits and pieces, talked to one or two colleagues, and headed off home. I arrived home about 6:00, and fell asleep about 8:00.
The budget shows turnover of £355,944, or which more than £250,000 is already pretty much assured. This is a big luxury: I know of other charities that start the financial year with expenditure commitments of £300,000, a fundraising target of £300,000, and perhaps three months’ turnover in reserve. The big potential hole is our Reaching Communities project. If our bid is successful, we will be fine. Without this money, things look pretty tight.
After a bit more work and a few brief meetings, I attended a Big Lottery Awards for All event at the Beechen Grove Baptist Church. This was organised jointly by WCVS and the Big Lottery. Turnout was good, but a long way from excellent.
After this, I returned to WCVS for a meeting with Watford’s Mayor Dorothy, Cllr Shirena Counter (portfolio holder for Leisure and Community), Cate Hall (Corporate Director) and Sarah Pinnock (Senior Grants Officer).
The purpose of the meeting was to talk through the key areas where we can work together toward shared objectives. Of course there are many areas where we could work together, but resources are limited; so where can we best work together?
We focused on four key areas. Two of the four were pretty obvious: a better grants programme and a better voluntary sector. "No-brainers", as it was once fashionable to say. The second two areas were community development and community cohesion. Both are immensely complicated areas. We made some progress and set out a way forward. We didn’t reach any hard a fast conclusions, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was that four senior figures from WBC spent two hours talking to their CVS to discuss what was best for Watford. That was impressive. That is what makes Watford such a special place.
At 3:00 pm I had fully intended to go to the Arthritis Care AGM. But my lack of sleep was catching up on me fast. I did a final few bits and pieces, talked to one or two colleagues, and headed off home. I arrived home about 6:00, and fell asleep about 8:00.
Tuesday, 20 March 2007
This morning I travelled to Stevenage to Chair a meeting of the Hertfordshire Infrastructure Consortium. Kally was there from CapacityBuilders and I think she likes the Hertfordshire set-up – at least she claims to quote us as an example of good practice when she visits other regions.
The big issue for HIC is that we must use the new CapacityBuilders toolkit to assess our performance and set out targets for the future. We need to look at accountability, our engagement with front-line organisations, access to services, linkages to local strategic plans, etc, etc.
I suspect that we are going to find this quite challenging – although we are certainly better prepared than many other Consortia around the country.
In the afternoon, I finalised a covering note for the draft 2007-08 budget, read through some excellent information sheets that Vanessa has produced following her recent trip to Vale CVS in South Wales, and prepared for Wednesday’s meeting with Watford Borough Council.
In the evening, I finished reading Pretty girl in scarlet rose (8). A book of real originality. But why does the author persist in saying he lives not in Islington, or Highbury, or Finsbury Park, but “near the Arsenal”; that is so wrong in so many different ways.
The big issue for HIC is that we must use the new CapacityBuilders toolkit to assess our performance and set out targets for the future. We need to look at accountability, our engagement with front-line organisations, access to services, linkages to local strategic plans, etc, etc.
I suspect that we are going to find this quite challenging – although we are certainly better prepared than many other Consortia around the country.
In the afternoon, I finalised a covering note for the draft 2007-08 budget, read through some excellent information sheets that Vanessa has produced following her recent trip to Vale CVS in South Wales, and prepared for Wednesday’s meeting with Watford Borough Council.
In the evening, I finished reading Pretty girl in scarlet rose (8). A book of real originality. But why does the author persist in saying he lives not in Islington, or Highbury, or Finsbury Park, but “near the Arsenal”; that is so wrong in so many different ways.
Monday, 19 March 2007
I began the week at the Quality Hotel in Hatfield, attending an introduction to the NVQ level 4 that all our Connexions Personal Advisors have to take. It was a good introduction and I was pleased that Farzana and Saud seemed to take everything in their stride. I am to be an “expert witness” within the evidence base that Farzana and Saud will collate for their assessments.
The meeting finished at 12:00 and I hurried straight on to Watford. After dealing with a few domestic matters, I met with Sarah Pinnock to prepare for Wednesday’s meeting with senior WBC figures: Mayor Dorothy Thornhill, Cllr Shirena Counter (portfolio holder for Leisure and Community), Cate Hall (Corporate Director), and Sarah herself.
Later in the day, I spoke with Steph about Tuesday’s HIC meeting, before reading a very useful handbook "Capacity Checking Framework" produced by the South London CVS partnership.
I left work about 6:30 pm and arrived home to a lovely dinner, after which we all settled down to watch the mighty Spurs take on the Chelsea minnows in the FA Cup quarter-final replay. Spurs didn’t play well. I suppose if Spurs are going to lose a game, it ought to be to goals like those scored by Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips, both beautiful.
To console myself, I began reading Pretty girl in scarlet rose (8) by Sandy Balfour, a personal memoir charting his life and his growing passion for cryptic crosswords. All very good. Sadly for me, by the close of chapter three he makes it clear that he is an avid Arsenal supporter. Is there no respite on this gloomy night?
The meeting finished at 12:00 and I hurried straight on to Watford. After dealing with a few domestic matters, I met with Sarah Pinnock to prepare for Wednesday’s meeting with senior WBC figures: Mayor Dorothy Thornhill, Cllr Shirena Counter (portfolio holder for Leisure and Community), Cate Hall (Corporate Director), and Sarah herself.
Later in the day, I spoke with Steph about Tuesday’s HIC meeting, before reading a very useful handbook "Capacity Checking Framework" produced by the South London CVS partnership.
I left work about 6:30 pm and arrived home to a lovely dinner, after which we all settled down to watch the mighty Spurs take on the Chelsea minnows in the FA Cup quarter-final replay. Spurs didn’t play well. I suppose if Spurs are going to lose a game, it ought to be to goals like those scored by Shevchenko and Wright-Phillips, both beautiful.
To console myself, I began reading Pretty girl in scarlet rose (8) by Sandy Balfour, a personal memoir charting his life and his growing passion for cryptic crosswords. All very good. Sadly for me, by the close of chapter three he makes it clear that he is an avid Arsenal supporter. Is there no respite on this gloomy night?
Sunday, 18 March 2007
Mothers' Day
For Mothers' Day, Bryan bought breakfast in bed for Jackie - and he included me which was nice.
Despite the ferocious wind, I spent the day sorting out our front garden. Most depressingly I had to saw down our beautiful Japanese brush tree which did not survive the winter.
In the evening, my brother Jez had invited everyone to his for a meal for my Mum - the first Mother’s Day since Dad died. It was a lovely evening – Jez and Lyn are great hosts and Lyn is a wonderful cook. It was good to see the children all so grown up and smart, although I missed Bobby. And of course Dad.
For Mothers' Day, Bryan bought breakfast in bed for Jackie - and he included me which was nice.
Despite the ferocious wind, I spent the day sorting out our front garden. Most depressingly I had to saw down our beautiful Japanese brush tree which did not survive the winter.
In the evening, my brother Jez had invited everyone to his for a meal for my Mum - the first Mother’s Day since Dad died. It was a lovely evening – Jez and Lyn are great hosts and Lyn is a wonderful cook. It was good to see the children all so grown up and smart, although I missed Bobby. And of course Dad.
Saturday, 17 March 2007
Visiting Watford
I arrived home on Friday evening with both office keys in my pocket. As I would not be in the office on Monday morning I needed to return one set of keys over the weekend, so this morning Jackie and I took a trip to Watford.
Since starting work here last summer, I have developed a genuine affection for Watford adn its people. But I am used to visiting Watford to work. I should visit it more for pleasure.
Jackie and I had a lovely time in the High Street. And then in the Harlequin. And then at the wonderful New Hope Trust charity shop, I managed to buy The Smoking Diaries (Simon Gray), Allan Quartermain (H Rider Haggard), Sap Rising (A A Gill), No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith), Hannibal’s Footsteps (Bernard Levin), Defying Hitler (Sebastian Haffner), British Wild Flowers (John Hutchinson - two volumes), and The Observer Book of Cats (first edition). All for less than £5.00!
Among our other purchases was a new cordless telephone. The User Guide helpfully begins: WARNING: Your phone have been registered before ship – you doesn’t need to register nor de-register normally. Is it me?
Divided loyalties?
Sports-wise, I had a day of strained loyalties.
My affection for Watford means I want Watford FC to survive in the Premiership. But I still support Tottenham against Watford today and was delighted with Paul Robinson’s goal from almost inside his own penalty area.
While I have no hesitation in backing the England football team in all circumstances, I have divided loyalties when Wales play England at rugby. Today, as usual, my (distant) Welsh ancestry prevailed (as did Wales in the game).
Geneology tells me I am more Scottish then Welsh. In fact, I am more Scottish than English. But I have never considered supporting the Scottish national team in any event.
I've no Irish blood at all, but still felt sorry for Ireland as they missed out to France in the Six Nations Championship. On St Patrick's Day too. But they did beat Pakistan at cricket: how weird is that?
I arrived home on Friday evening with both office keys in my pocket. As I would not be in the office on Monday morning I needed to return one set of keys over the weekend, so this morning Jackie and I took a trip to Watford.
Since starting work here last summer, I have developed a genuine affection for Watford adn its people. But I am used to visiting Watford to work. I should visit it more for pleasure.
Jackie and I had a lovely time in the High Street. And then in the Harlequin. And then at the wonderful New Hope Trust charity shop, I managed to buy The Smoking Diaries (Simon Gray), Allan Quartermain (H Rider Haggard), Sap Rising (A A Gill), No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (Alexander McCall Smith), Hannibal’s Footsteps (Bernard Levin), Defying Hitler (Sebastian Haffner), British Wild Flowers (John Hutchinson - two volumes), and The Observer Book of Cats (first edition). All for less than £5.00!
Among our other purchases was a new cordless telephone. The User Guide helpfully begins: WARNING: Your phone have been registered before ship – you doesn’t need to register nor de-register normally. Is it me?
Divided loyalties?
Sports-wise, I had a day of strained loyalties.
My affection for Watford means I want Watford FC to survive in the Premiership. But I still support Tottenham against Watford today and was delighted with Paul Robinson’s goal from almost inside his own penalty area.
While I have no hesitation in backing the England football team in all circumstances, I have divided loyalties when Wales play England at rugby. Today, as usual, my (distant) Welsh ancestry prevailed (as did Wales in the game).
Geneology tells me I am more Scottish then Welsh. In fact, I am more Scottish than English. But I have never considered supporting the Scottish national team in any event.
I've no Irish blood at all, but still felt sorry for Ireland as they missed out to France in the Six Nations Championship. On St Patrick's Day too. But they did beat Pakistan at cricket: how weird is that?
Friday, 16 March 2007
A busy day
I arrived at about 7:00 am on Friday morning and soon managed to plough through some of the many outstanding e-mails. I knew it was going to be a tough day because Anne was due to be off all day, and Sue was off all morning (both taking up their remaining annual leave), while Helen was off at a conference. Then by 9:15 two other members of staff had called in sick and a normally tough day suddenly looked very hard indeed.
Thankfully, our bookkeeper Priti arrived at 10:00 to offer some support. But Priti only added to my feelings of abandonment by handing in four weeks notice. She wasn't to know. And she was very nice about it (she now has work much closer to her Middlesex home) and I am pleased for her.
Of course we all got through the day: our wonderful volunteers filled in the gaps, and Sue arrived at lunchtime to take over and allow me to concentrate on my own selfish pursuits.
Between all this, I spent some time showing one of our volunteers how to update our website.
I also spent time on the telephone talking to an elderly lady who thought she had a large sum of money to donate to a local charity. By the time I’d worked out that she owed the money in tax, I was seriously worried about how isolated she was and about how vulnerable she might be to more predatory strangers. I promised to send her information on volunteering.
I also met with Allan Hall of the Watford Bowls Club to talk about car-parking at Cassiobury Park. And in the afternoon I had a good meeting with our three Connexions Personal Advisors: Saud, Farzana and Des.
Relief
When I got home around 7:00 pm, Jackie and I decided (without much enthusiasm) to watch Comic Relief on the BBC. This turned out to be a real treat – far and away the best I can remember. The only bad thing was the "official song" - two girls' groups absolutely slaughtered Walk This Way with no discernible humour or irony: they lured it down an alleyway, they taunted it, they clubbed it to the ground, they tortured it, killed it, buried it deep deep down and danced miserably on its forsaken grave. And it was never a great song to start with.
Otherwise, everything seemed absolutely spot on. The short reports were all superb, and among many other highlights I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) was hugely enjoyable. Breaking the £40 million barrier was just reward for their efforts. Although by that time I was tucked up in bed utterly exhausted.
I arrived at about 7:00 am on Friday morning and soon managed to plough through some of the many outstanding e-mails. I knew it was going to be a tough day because Anne was due to be off all day, and Sue was off all morning (both taking up their remaining annual leave), while Helen was off at a conference. Then by 9:15 two other members of staff had called in sick and a normally tough day suddenly looked very hard indeed.
Thankfully, our bookkeeper Priti arrived at 10:00 to offer some support. But Priti only added to my feelings of abandonment by handing in four weeks notice. She wasn't to know. And she was very nice about it (she now has work much closer to her Middlesex home) and I am pleased for her.
Of course we all got through the day: our wonderful volunteers filled in the gaps, and Sue arrived at lunchtime to take over and allow me to concentrate on my own selfish pursuits.
Between all this, I spent some time showing one of our volunteers how to update our website.
I also spent time on the telephone talking to an elderly lady who thought she had a large sum of money to donate to a local charity. By the time I’d worked out that she owed the money in tax, I was seriously worried about how isolated she was and about how vulnerable she might be to more predatory strangers. I promised to send her information on volunteering.
I also met with Allan Hall of the Watford Bowls Club to talk about car-parking at Cassiobury Park. And in the afternoon I had a good meeting with our three Connexions Personal Advisors: Saud, Farzana and Des.
Relief
When I got home around 7:00 pm, Jackie and I decided (without much enthusiasm) to watch Comic Relief on the BBC. This turned out to be a real treat – far and away the best I can remember. The only bad thing was the "official song" - two girls' groups absolutely slaughtered Walk This Way with no discernible humour or irony: they lured it down an alleyway, they taunted it, they clubbed it to the ground, they tortured it, killed it, buried it deep deep down and danced miserably on its forsaken grave. And it was never a great song to start with.
Otherwise, everything seemed absolutely spot on. The short reports were all superb, and among many other highlights I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) was hugely enjoyable. Breaking the £40 million barrier was just reward for their efforts. Although by that time I was tucked up in bed utterly exhausted.
Thursday, 15 March 2007
During my two-day absence from the office, everything has started piling up again. I went through eight-nine e-mails and left little red flags on thirty of them that require considered responses. I now have forty-five little red flags in my mail box.
I also had messages that 4-5 people needed to talk to me. Three of these turned into long discussions and two will require follow-up meetings.
In the middle of the day, I went to Hemel Hemstead to introduce Saud (our new member of staff) to Mohamed Fawzi at Connexions. When I returned to Watford, I met with Sarah Pinnock to discuss some issues of mutual frustration and then we both went to attend the WBC meeting to take decisions on the one year funding programme. I attended to offer some "specialist knowledge" and to act as an observer. In this latter role, I felt able to make several observations.
I returned to the office at 5:00, and finally left about 5:45, fully intending to travel to County Hall in Hertford to join the annual gathering for the Hertfordshire Community Foundation. But the traffic was bad and I would not have arrived until nearly seven and as the event had started at 5:00 ... I decided I would instead go straight home. After all, tomorrow will need an early start.
In the evening, I re-read Orwell’s “The Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays”. Splended stuff. Although he was rather unkind to Kipling – did Orwell not know that Kipling lost a son in the Great War?
I also had messages that 4-5 people needed to talk to me. Three of these turned into long discussions and two will require follow-up meetings.
In the middle of the day, I went to Hemel Hemstead to introduce Saud (our new member of staff) to Mohamed Fawzi at Connexions. When I returned to Watford, I met with Sarah Pinnock to discuss some issues of mutual frustration and then we both went to attend the WBC meeting to take decisions on the one year funding programme. I attended to offer some "specialist knowledge" and to act as an observer. In this latter role, I felt able to make several observations.
I returned to the office at 5:00, and finally left about 5:45, fully intending to travel to County Hall in Hertford to join the annual gathering for the Hertfordshire Community Foundation. But the traffic was bad and I would not have arrived until nearly seven and as the event had started at 5:00 ... I decided I would instead go straight home. After all, tomorrow will need an early start.
In the evening, I re-read Orwell’s “The Decline of the English Murder and Other Essays”. Splended stuff. Although he was rather unkind to Kipling – did Orwell not know that Kipling lost a son in the Great War?
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
Hertfordshire’s nine CVSs share a common goal of delivering an effective CVS service across Hertfordshire. This morning I headed off to Cheshunt YMCA for a meeting of the Herts CVS group to discuss the Herts CVS strategic plan.
I had been involved in the early stages of producing the plan, but have since missed a few meetings. I suppose the ego-ist in me hoped or feared that progress had tailed off, but I was impressed with how much sensible progress has been made in my absence. Damn these efficient, capable people.
By mid afternoon, I was back home working on the WCVS budget. During the Numbers’ Excuse Me I resolutely refused all offers to dance, and so kept my perspective. Discipline and self denial are everything. Around 7:00 pm I was rewarded with the wonderful sight of all my little numbers capering obediently to my tune: indeed, a sight of rare beauty. For guidance on the dancing metaphors, see yesterday’s posting.
In the evening, I watched Spurs on television, glad that I had not talked Jackie into getting rid of our television. Spurs are dazzling and frustrating in equal measure, just as they should be. Spurs were never meant to be a workhorse work-a-day league team; this club is built for the glory of the cup competitions. Whisper who dares: maybe, just maybe, the Glory Days are coming back.
I had been involved in the early stages of producing the plan, but have since missed a few meetings. I suppose the ego-ist in me hoped or feared that progress had tailed off, but I was impressed with how much sensible progress has been made in my absence. Damn these efficient, capable people.
By mid afternoon, I was back home working on the WCVS budget. During the Numbers’ Excuse Me I resolutely refused all offers to dance, and so kept my perspective. Discipline and self denial are everything. Around 7:00 pm I was rewarded with the wonderful sight of all my little numbers capering obediently to my tune: indeed, a sight of rare beauty. For guidance on the dancing metaphors, see yesterday’s posting.
In the evening, I watched Spurs on television, glad that I had not talked Jackie into getting rid of our television. Spurs are dazzling and frustrating in equal measure, just as they should be. Spurs were never meant to be a workhorse work-a-day league team; this club is built for the glory of the cup competitions. Whisper who dares: maybe, just maybe, the Glory Days are coming back.
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
I worked from home today trying to catch up on reading, writing and budgeting.
I began by sorting through the sheaves of papers I’d bought home from the offices. Including reading time and taking notes this took two hours. I didn't spend much time considering my invitation to the NAVCA residential 2007 Chief Officers' meeting at the De Vere Belton Woods Hotel near Grantham. Most of the blurb focused on the attractions of the hotel and its golf course.
I enjoy a bit of luxury as much as the next person, but if I have to spend Watford CVS money pampering myself, I at least want to know what the business agenda will be. And anyway, I don't want to spend two days playing golf. And nor do I want to spend two days with other people who want to play golf.
Then I addressed the serious work of finalising our 2007-08 budgets. Very tricky.
Producing a solid reliable budget is never a straightforward task. Each project of course has to be accounted for separately. This ought to keep things simple. But Oh no.
All projects are carefully choreographed to leverage maximum income to deliver important strategic goals, and so all projects weave in and out of each other in a dance of great complexity. If you stay on the balcony and look down on the dance floor, this dance is a thing of marvellous beauty. But if you take your eye off the Masked Ball (so to speak) you soon find yourself lost down among the dancers where there is no pattern and the where the whirling numbers delight in stamping on your feet. And each additional project increases the complexity exponentially.
I made good progress for a bit. Then I realised that I had descended from the balcony and was lost somewhere down among the numbers. I had been lost for some time, just spinning round without purpose.
This is a curious sensation, perhaps akin to snow-blindness in arctic explorers. There can be few other direct connections between accountancy and arctic exploration. I took the hint and abandoned budgeting for the remainder of the day.
Instead, I turned my attention to up-dating people’s job descriptions – a task that has been on my To Do list since January’s appraisal meetings and which is now becoming urgent with Sue’s imminent departure.
By the end of the day I had successfully produced first drafts of all the new job descriptions. But this only emphasised how difficult it will be to replace Sue.
I began by sorting through the sheaves of papers I’d bought home from the offices. Including reading time and taking notes this took two hours. I didn't spend much time considering my invitation to the NAVCA residential 2007 Chief Officers' meeting at the De Vere Belton Woods Hotel near Grantham. Most of the blurb focused on the attractions of the hotel and its golf course.
I enjoy a bit of luxury as much as the next person, but if I have to spend Watford CVS money pampering myself, I at least want to know what the business agenda will be. And anyway, I don't want to spend two days playing golf. And nor do I want to spend two days with other people who want to play golf.
Then I addressed the serious work of finalising our 2007-08 budgets. Very tricky.
Producing a solid reliable budget is never a straightforward task. Each project of course has to be accounted for separately. This ought to keep things simple. But Oh no.
All projects are carefully choreographed to leverage maximum income to deliver important strategic goals, and so all projects weave in and out of each other in a dance of great complexity. If you stay on the balcony and look down on the dance floor, this dance is a thing of marvellous beauty. But if you take your eye off the Masked Ball (so to speak) you soon find yourself lost down among the dancers where there is no pattern and the where the whirling numbers delight in stamping on your feet. And each additional project increases the complexity exponentially.
I made good progress for a bit. Then I realised that I had descended from the balcony and was lost somewhere down among the numbers. I had been lost for some time, just spinning round without purpose.
This is a curious sensation, perhaps akin to snow-blindness in arctic explorers. There can be few other direct connections between accountancy and arctic exploration. I took the hint and abandoned budgeting for the remainder of the day.
Instead, I turned my attention to up-dating people’s job descriptions – a task that has been on my To Do list since January’s appraisal meetings and which is now becoming urgent with Sue’s imminent departure.
By the end of the day I had successfully produced first drafts of all the new job descriptions. But this only emphasised how difficult it will be to replace Sue.
Monday, 12 March 2007
A long long day that began with a very pleasant Networking Lunch at St Thomas’s Hall. The meeting was well attended by groups such as the Orbit Short Mat Bowls Club, Watford Senior Citizens Forum, Watford Library, Age Concern. Mencap, and so on. We enjoyed a good presentation on the Lottery Heritage Fund, a nice spread courtesy of Margaret Sutton (one of my trustees) and Sue (how will we cope when she’s gone?).
The meeting also included a few words from me, a brief presentation on Connexions from Des Reid (newly returned from the Caribbean) and a quick speech from the Orbit Short Mat Bowls Club about the possible closure of local Community Centres.
I returned to the office about 2:00 and spent an hour with Saud Hafiz who started work with us today as our third Connexions Personal Advisor: it is a relief to finally have him on board after waiting so long for the CRB to produce his clearance. I also had a talk with Sha-Lee about changes at WCVS.
About 4:00 pm I finally started work on the interim Value and Volumes report. With one or two further interruptions, I finally finished the report about 10:00 pm. This has been one of the thorns in my side over the past few weeks. It is good to finally get the report completed. I’ve sent it to Herts CVS colleagues and hope to have it presented at next week’s meeting of the Hertfordshire Infastructure Consortium.
I spent a further hour at the office sending out invites to the 29 March Minority Ethnic Forum before I collected my papers and left the office at about 11:45 pm.
Thank heavens I am working at home tomorrow. Tomorrow I hope to finalise our draft 2007-08 budget (another major deadline that’s looming) and read through papers for Wednesday’s Herts CVS meeting.
The meeting also included a few words from me, a brief presentation on Connexions from Des Reid (newly returned from the Caribbean) and a quick speech from the Orbit Short Mat Bowls Club about the possible closure of local Community Centres.
I returned to the office about 2:00 and spent an hour with Saud Hafiz who started work with us today as our third Connexions Personal Advisor: it is a relief to finally have him on board after waiting so long for the CRB to produce his clearance. I also had a talk with Sha-Lee about changes at WCVS.
About 4:00 pm I finally started work on the interim Value and Volumes report. With one or two further interruptions, I finally finished the report about 10:00 pm. This has been one of the thorns in my side over the past few weeks. It is good to finally get the report completed. I’ve sent it to Herts CVS colleagues and hope to have it presented at next week’s meeting of the Hertfordshire Infastructure Consortium.
I spent a further hour at the office sending out invites to the 29 March Minority Ethnic Forum before I collected my papers and left the office at about 11:45 pm.
Thank heavens I am working at home tomorrow. Tomorrow I hope to finalise our draft 2007-08 budget (another major deadline that’s looming) and read through papers for Wednesday’s Herts CVS meeting.
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Another clear and sunny morning. Spring is here, and Jackie and I finally got to spend a day in the garden.
Between us, we swept and raked, trimmed all the firs, cut back our buddleia, sawed up the tree I felled last autumn, dead-headed the hydrangea and mowed the lawn. It still needs lots of work, but it looks so much better.
By the end of the day, we were both stiff and sore and we each enjoyed a long hot bath.
Latest reading
I finished reading Conquest without Victory about anti-Nazi resistance in Greece and France. This is interesting for the virulence of the writer's opposition to the Greek Communist Resistance, who he regarded as worse than the Nazis. He is more favourable to the French Communists. Throughout, he is also stridently pro-Catholic and anti-Protestant. All in all a very curious book.
Between us, we swept and raked, trimmed all the firs, cut back our buddleia, sawed up the tree I felled last autumn, dead-headed the hydrangea and mowed the lawn. It still needs lots of work, but it looks so much better.
By the end of the day, we were both stiff and sore and we each enjoyed a long hot bath.
Latest reading
I finished reading Conquest without Victory about anti-Nazi resistance in Greece and France. This is interesting for the virulence of the writer's opposition to the Greek Communist Resistance, who he regarded as worse than the Nazis. He is more favourable to the French Communists. Throughout, he is also stridently pro-Catholic and anti-Protestant. All in all a very curious book.
Saturday, 10 March 2007
It was a wonderful sunny morning. Over breakfast, Jackie and I watched a Great Tit flitting around the garden. Then we took off to Brighton to spend the day with Bobby. As we left at dusk, a massive murmuration of Starlings massed and swooped spectacularly over the end of the pier. Very pretty.
Back home in front of the television, Jackie and I found absolutely nothing worth watching. So we had a long discussion about the possibility of getting rid of our television. I've always thought that at some point in my life I'd like to live without television; maybe this is a good time.
Of course it would be an easy decision if all channels and programmes were irredeemably awful. But then there are programmes I will miss: Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Poirot, Black Books, South Park .....
Back home in front of the television, Jackie and I found absolutely nothing worth watching. So we had a long discussion about the possibility of getting rid of our television. I've always thought that at some point in my life I'd like to live without television; maybe this is a good time.
Of course it would be an easy decision if all channels and programmes were irredeemably awful. But then there are programmes I will miss: Midsomer Murders, Foyle's War, Poirot, Black Books, South Park .....
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