Geoff's Bit About Him

I love my work and yet I am not happy AT work - the reason has struck me following learning a few interesting facts - ambition.  I have always thought that ambition was a good thing, but I have learnt that ambition can become too strong.

When you learn that 'friends' within my team have issues with how you manage that team, that I can live with.  No one's perfect, least of all me and if I have made mistakes then this only proves that I am human.  However, I expect 'friends' to tell me that I have made these mistakes as I would them.

 

I have always known that certain people are not to be trusted as these people are perfectly happy to do vicious things to their fello colleagues in order to guarantee their progression.  I have recently realised that perhaps the reason I haven't progressed as well as others is simply because I won't do this - maybe this restricts me professionally, but at least my conscience is clear.

 

However, when I learn that 'friends' have sent quite vicious emails to senior management about me in order to try and improve their position then that hurts.  Then when those 'friends' continue to act as though they are your best friend it leaves me extremely disappointed.  It also leaves me even more resolute to push for progression myself and if this fails then it is truly time to leave.

 

On another note I have had a comment left regarding our hatred of the daily routine.

 

We all do it - day in day out, get up, go to work, come home, have tea, get a wash, go to bed!!  Yet we all have dreams, things we would love to do, places we would like to go but generally we don't do these things or go to these places.  Why do we do it?

 

I have a theory that it is all because of modern society and what it is commonly accepted is ok to do in order to be a member of this society.  People talk about their dreams; travelling around the world, moving to hotter climes, a holiday always wished for etc but society tells us that we should put family, work and neighbourhood first and our dreams can wait.

 

But I say sod that!  The truth is we can have our dreams and if done sensibly they don't have to be at the expense of family etc.

 

I have been there, I spent seven or eight years putting my wife and her kids before anything else and society told me I was doing right.  It wasn't until my marriage was over that I realised that I had in reality spent those years totally ignoring what I wanted.

 

I had a nice motorcycle parked in the garage which was my pride and joy.  I loved riding my bike and yet did less than 10,000 miles over the full eight years.  I love motorcycle touring and yet took the bike no further from the house than the coast, 70 miles!  I stopped playing snooker, lost contact with many friends and was only able to do karate by taking the boys.

 

And besides all this felt I was doing the right thing.

 

Nonsense!!  I have now learnt that I was wrong.  The only thing stopping me from doing the things I wanted to was me.  Since then I have put me first and life is much better.  However, people still seem to consider me as a generous, helpful fella which tells me that I can have fun and still think about others.

 

And if I can do it, anyone can.

 

I now have a new policy for life.  If I have the money and the time, I do it.  The money; I can't take it with me and I could get run over tomorrow, so as long as I ain't borrowing for my pleasures, why worry.  The time; I can't turn back the clock so would I rather look back at yesterday with a smile and a laugh or with the knowledge that yesterday was no different than any other day?

 

So my advice is live your dreams, you can't do yesterday again.

 

Cheers for reading

 

Geoff B

 

On a last note - I fancy organising a motorbike trip to the south of france, anyone want to join me??

Oh wow!!!  Really, sorry one and all.

Nearly six weeks and I haven't said hello, that's awful.

All I will say is that I have been ill - pretty poorly actually.  Started about five weeks ago with a bad cough, that developed into a full blown flu which knocked me for six.  I seemed to be getting over that a few weeks ago, but was left with blocked ears, this developed into a nasty ear infection which led me to go see the Doc.  He told me off for not going sooner and warned me that even with drugs my infection would get worse before it got better.

Very true cos this infection spread into my throat and then my chest which left me having difficulty breathing half the time, in a lot of pain and deaf as a doornail.

Well happy to say that apart from still being a little deaf in my right ear, everything seems to have cleared up.

 

Really glad to say as well because I am hoping to go off for a long weekend on me new bike sometime within the next few weeks before I go on my two week (nearly) trip touring Spain that I have booked myself on.  Jeez, I'm looking forward to this.  This very evening I have laid out absolutely everything that I am planning on taking from chain lube down to painkillers (in case) and have practised packing and re-packing it all into my panniers and topbox.  Got it sorted now with loads of room to spare should I decide to bring things back.

 

Saying this, I am going to have to take pretty much the same stuff for a long weekend away.  The thing I learnt a long, long time ago about motorcycle touring is that packing for a few days is not much different to packing for three months!!  On a bike you simply don't have the space to pack a clean set of underwear and t-shirt for each day of your twenty eight day touring the USA.  So do what I do, pack no more than four or five changes and if you are going to be longer than that, wash them!

 

Also found out that my landlady is definitely going to put the house on the market, so I need to move out.

 

Things getting busier and busier at work, too busy a lot of the time actually - I have noticed that apart from the fact that I am feeling a lot more stressed recently, everyone else is as well.  Need to get another bod, pretty soon.

 

Anyway, thought I would drop in and write - will make a point of bobbing around to say hello to people individually.

In the meantime, farewell.

 

See you all later.

 

Geoff

As promised I have uploaded photos of me posh new bike.  Picked it up yesterday and so far have only had chance to do a couple of short rides so only about 70 miles on it at the moment.

 

It's a lovely bike to ride, wonderfully smooth and yet of course, at 1300cc, incredibly powerful.  It's also, despite it's size, very easy to ride.  It has perfect balance and feels just as relaxing to ride through high speed bends as it does doing u-turns in the road at half walking pace!  The best bit compared to my old bike is that after an hour in the saddle I got off without any aches or pains at all.

 

This is definitely a bike to travel from here to Spain on - anyone want to join me?  Any young lady interested will be happy to hear that my new bike also has a big, comfy pillion seat!! Lol.

 

Still no reply from my landlady.  It's been three weeks now and I still don't know if she still has plans to sell.  Crazy.  Anyway, my mind is resolute now which means she has only eleven days left after which I will be giving my months notice and sorting out another house.

 

Watching Return of the Jedi, although I will be stopping it to watch Big Brother whilst I record Top Gear.  All I will say is Carrie Fisher in her slave girl costume in Jabba's lair.  Wow!  I was only fourteen when I went to see that film at the cinema and the gorgeous Ms Fisher was very nearly too much for my raging teenage hormones to cope with lol.  To be fair at the age of 51 (imdb) Ms Fisher still don't look bad although the signs of age are showing - saying this it don't look as though she's had any plastic work done unlike most Hollywooders - good on yer girl.

 

Right, time to watch BB - I'm looking forward to seeing Dannielle squirm when she sees that the world has been debating whether she has been racist and bullying live on national tv.  Personally, out of the three witches I do think that Dannielle is the one who could be labelled racist although they're all guilty of bullying.

 

I have meetings Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - as such roll on Thursday then I can go to work on me new bike!!!

 

For a change ....... cheers for reading

 

Geoff

xx

Well, almost at the end of the first month of the year once again.  I can't decide if the speed at which time passes by is a good thing or not!

 

I ordered my new bike yesterday and because they have one in stock I will probably be able to pick it up next weekend.  I'm dead excited, bit like a little kid the way I can't really wait.  Going to the next karate grading in an hour to help out and it would be ace to turn up on a new motorbike.

 

I asked my landlady a couple of weeks ago what her plans are.  She told me last summer that she wanted to put the house up for sale this coming Spring and I need to know what she is doing because if she decides to sell then I need to move.  However, two weeks have passed and as is her way I still haven't heard from her.  It's a wierd arrangement this for certain.

 

One of the biggest problems with living here is that I am unable to contact my landlady quickly!  She will not give any phone numbers out, even to me and so my only way to contact her is to write.  Even then it is odd because she has a post box set up and to access it I have to post anything to her name care of my address and she has it set up to divert to her post box.  Because of this I don't even know where she is living!!!

 

There are a couple of nice houses in better areas up for long term rental right now and I have decided that if I don't hear from her by the 8th (date when the rent goes out of my account), then I am going to send her another letter offering my one month's notice.

 

I have been thinking recently.  I have a nice new car, I have ordered a nice new bike, probably moving to a new house, have a very well paid job, planning some nice holidays etc etc.  So why am I not completely happy?  Why do I cry at sad movies?  Why do I regularly feel as though there is something not quite right, as though there is something missing or I'm not doing something which I should be?

 

The obvious answer is the lack of a special friend, a special, female friend.  However, I think that is too obvious and besides, as I have blogged before, although sometimes it would be nice to have someone there when I wake up or when I get home from work or on an evening in front of the tv, a lot of the time I am perfectly happy with my life being just me.

 

I can do what I want, when I want.  I like the way I am able to set the furniture up in the living room so that I am sat in the middle of it with my surround sound system spaced perfectly around me.  I like the way I can go off for the Sunday or even the whole weekend with little or no planning, or like today, I can decide to do nothing and spend the whole day in front of the tv in nothing but my undies!

 

So, no, I think the lack of a girlfriend, although a little bit of a shame sometimes, is not the reason I often feel like I do.

 

It's almost as though as though there is something important missing or wrong with my life.  I enjoy my job most of the time, but I have been wondering if this is the problem.  Perhaps I should be doing something else?  I like Britain and being near family, but again, perhaps I should be living somewhere else?

 

I have always got a lot of pleasure from helping others, guiding others.  As such I could easily see myself being very happy as a tour guide, or a teacher or as a full time martial arts instructor.  But of course then I wouldn't be able to afford the things that I like.

 

I would absolutely love to pack in my job and spend a year exploring the world on two wheels.  But again that would mean leaving behind all the luxuries I have around me including my films and would probably make quick work of my savings.  Plus then I would be left with the risk of not being able to get a job at the end of it which would pay to keep me in the lifestyle I am used to.

 

It's very frustrating and indeed confusing.

 

I wonder if, like a young Clarke Kent, this slight sadness is because I am supposed to be a superhero of some kind???  Perhaps instead of working nine to five, I should be resting during the day and then going out at night to beat up all the bad guys??  Hmm, perhaps not lol!

 

Or maybe it's simply because I haven't been laid for a while lol!!!  Who knows?

 

Ok, guess I had best put my gi on and go and beat up some karate students attempting their next grading!

 

Hopefully next week I'll be able to post some photos of my beautiful new bike.

 

Until then, thanks for reading.

 

Regards

 

Geoff

xx

Well, finished my first week back at work after the Christmas break - phew!!!  I had hoped that the break would be enough to make work fun again, but unfortunately not!!  Our office would benefit greatly with Andrew disappearing to another consultancy.  He's managed to annoy everyone tremendously within just this first week!  What is wrong with the man?

 

My thoughts have been heavily biased towards holidays this last week and I have spotted something which seems really cool - A company in Yorkshire called White Rose Motorcycle Tours do British and European escorted bike tours and I really fancy the 9 day trip to the South of France.  As it happens the numbers are limited and I may not get it, but if not I should be able to get into another one of their trips, even if it's in the UK.

 

Speaking of bikes, I now have the pennies to buy my new bike so within the next few weeks I am going to order it - which again is going to be ace!!  Or at least receiving it will be ace, I guess ordering it will be pretty uninteresting!!

 

My landlady spoke last summer about putting the house up for sale in February of this year.  As such I am going to have to make contact with her to see what her immediate plans are and whether I should be looking for another property.  This seems to be a good time to be getting a new house as there are a few really good ones on the market right now.  So I could be relocating real soon and this time it ain't gonna be a couple of car loads to get myself moved, I am going to have to look at renting a van or even getting a removal company involved.

 

Been to look at a house today actually, it's in Alverthorpe in Wakefield and is a three floor end town house and is perfectly laid out for me.  Living areas on the second floor with bedrooms on the third floor.  Thing is that as well as the built in garage (required for the bike) there is a large room on the ground floor which is advertised as a third bedroom or office but would make a perfect dojo!!

 

Still sticking to my change in eating habits - indeed starting to get used to it now, cooked myself a turkey roast dinner today without even thinking about it.  The cooking side of things was never a problem (after all I used to cook each night for five), but my problem was that once I was single I couldn't be bothered going to the trouble of proper cooking when its just been for one!!  In fact I haven't had a single takeaway all week and have only had chips once.  Eating far more veg and more fruit and yes, I am feeling better for it.

 

In fact as well as my clothes feeling as though they fit better, a friend commented over the weekend that I had lost weight which is cool.

 

The only problem is that my new craze, the powerball, is starting to have an effect as well with my upper body starting to build up so now whereas a few weeks ago my t-shirts were tight around the belly, the belly is now loose, but my t-shirts are starting to feel tighter around the chest and shoulder area!!

 

Saying this, I returned to karate for the first time in three weeks on Saturday after the Christmas break and I was surprised to find that as well as thoroughly enjoying the class, I wasn't falling over dead at the end.

 

Anyway, I'm gonna get off, watch Celeb Big Brother and I'm going to have an attempt at getting around other peoples spaces.

 

Cheers for reading

 

Geoff

xx

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

I thought this was supposed to be a break??  I'm shattered lol.  I have spent all my time so far running around from friends to family and back again lol!

 

Last night didn't help to be fair!  My sister had rung me earlier in the day to ask if I fancied going over to spend the evening with them and to watch a film and eat a curry.  However, when I got there my brother in law had decided to put together a new bed for my niece.  Of course I ended up getting involved and it was gone one o'clock by the time I got home and in bed.

 

I can't believe that the break is halfway over either!  Where does the time go?  I don't care what the scientists say, time does slow down and speed up according to what you are doing and whether you are looking forward to something or not.  I am sure my last day at work lasted a good two or three days and yet the last six days have passed in under two!!!!  It's simply not fair.

 

I am at that time of year again when my head starts to turn towards holidays.  I have been invited to go to Center Parcs again with my sister and her family in July ..... however, I don't think I will be doing this.  They are going with Steve's Mother and her fella again and have suggested that Steve's brother James and myself go as well.

 

But they are trying to keep it quiet for the time being because they don't want my Mum and Dad to find out - they don't want them to find out because they don't want them to go and as such have no intention of inviting them.  And I don't think that's fair.

 

My sister and her husband get a lot of help with their kids from my Mum and Dad.  Apart from the fact they have them every Friday until Saturday lunchtime to give my Sister and Steve some time on their own, they also babysit on other days as and when required, they buy the kids things and so forth.  And yet it was only a week ago that Steve was complaining that his Mother doesn't do anything to help, which is very true.

 

So why does she get to spend a week with them on holiday and my parents aren't even told about the holiday itself?  So, no, I don't think I'll be going.

 

Instead I am thinking of my new bike that I am planning to buy in the next couple of months and of the possibilities of taking that abroad.  Or maybe I'll go to Wales again for another chill out week in the woods, or I'll go to Portugal again??  Who knows?  Anyone got any suggestions?  If you're an attractive single lady and your suggestion is for me to take you somewhere nice for a week or so then let me know lol!!!

 

On another note - has anyone seen the new Carphone Warehouse advert where the pretty young (and from appearances supposedly pleasant and innocent) ladies are "disposing" of their old mobile phones?  If so, do you find it odd that I find the adverts fairly sorrowful?  Ok, I know they're just adverts and I know that the phones being "murdered" aren't real of course, but even so I find myself feeling quite sad for the poor phones.  The one where the phone is being drowned I find especially awful.

 

Anyway, enough of my potty ramblings - I have bought myself a Christmas present that needs playing with - a posh DVD recorder to go with my posh home cinema system - it's got integrated Freeview and a nice big hard drive so I can do fancy things like pausing live TV and recording programmes instantly or setting a programme to record and then start watching it as soon as I get home, whether it has finished recording or not - clever hey?

 

Now, just got to choose a film that will really test the surround sound .... hmmm.

 

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and hope you all have a fantastic New Year and indeed a fantastic 2007.

 

Cheers for reading

 

Geoff

xx

I always know when Christmas is just around the corner when I begin to have my last few karate lessons of the year.  Now with just one more to go on Tuesday my brain is definitely set into Christmas mode.

 

I have agreed to go to my sisters and brother in laws for Christmas Day dinner and the afternoon, but not for the full day.  I haven't explained why but they don't seem to be that bothered as long as I am there for part of the day.

 

The cards are starting to come in - I am always a little touched as to how many people from my past still send me cards every year - there are some who I haven't spoken to in years and yet still today, as with every year, a card will appear through the post.  I have made a point this year of digging out the addresses of all my old friends, people I knew before I was married but have drifted away from.  I am going to dig out all the addresses and send them all cards.

 

Looking forward to the New Year.  I have lost some weight already and I plan to lose a fair bit more, hopefully, before my Sensei decides it is time for me to try for my black belt.  So I am planning on a New Years resolution - never made one before so perhaps it's about time - I am going to try and change my lifestyle slightly and my food habits as well.  It's not that I eat particularly bad, but some weeks I do find myself having up to three takeaways due to a lack of time - well I think the answer here is to stock up at the start of the week on two or three ready made salads - these would then be easier, cheaper and quicker to clean up after than any takeaway.

 

I already own an exercise bike and an abs trainer, but don't use them as often as I should, normally only managing two, maybe three sessions each week.  So again I am going to make a point of doing a session on both every evening I am not training at karate.

 

Finally, as well as going to senior class every week I can, I am also going to make a point of going to brown and black belt classes on Sundays, or at least those Sundays I have nothing planned.

 

But this isn't the only reason I am looking forward to the New Year.  Work is kicking off right now.  Over the last two or three years I have been able to keep my team ticking over nicely and making a nice profit on anything from five to ten jobs at any one time.  However, my marketing push over the last twelve months has really paid off and we are looking at a workload of at least eighteen jobs at the same time, which is liable to keep us extremely busy for the next six months.

 

The good thing about this personally is that it gives me the opportunity to expand my team again and push for further promotion.  This could perhaps be the way out of Andrew's grasp.  I was promised a couple of years ago, that if I can expand my team to over ten people then I could have my own profit centre and possibly my own building.  Well this is entirely possible within the next twelve months and this combined with the fact that Andrew's team will have dropped from twelve, from when he took it over three years ago, to just two by this coming February will hopefully be sufficient for me to justify moving my team away from the prat!

 

But quite possibly the main reason I am looking forward to the New Year is that I have now saved up enough pennies to go and buy my new motorbike.  My plans are to order it in February and then it should be here nicely for spring - I can't wait.  What is making the wait worse is that the back tyre on my current bike is down to the wear markers, so if I ride it much more the tyre will need changing and I'd rather save the 150 squid for the tyre and put it towards me new bike.  So I am not getting out on a bike at the moment even!

 

I have decided what I am having - a Honda CB1300S in red and white to mimic the old CB1100 Bol'dor from the eighties!!  Looks gorgeous and although it looks like a bike from the seventies/eighties, it is totally and utterly modern, with up to date semi-racing suspension and braking systems and a 120bhp engine and a 150mph top speed!!  Not that I am that bothered about the top speed - my preferred riding is below the 100mph mark and using a really big engine to zip past cars on fast winding A-roads, something the CB is perfect for - ooooo, I really can't wait.

 

I haven't taken a bike abroad for several years either and again this is one of my plans for next year - maybe Belgium or France, not too far but far enough to get used to riding on the continent again and then perhaps the year after I can look at booking myself on a long distance european tour for two or three weeks - that would be cool.

 

Now all I need is a pretty lady to accompany me - erm, ideally with her own bike lol.

 

Anyway, enough of my waffling.

 

I decided to blog this morning mainly to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a fantastically happy New Year.

 

Oh, and if you are a lady, aged somewhere between 25 and 45, are single and seem to have got some mistletoe stuck in your hair - feel free to drop me a line and I will happily come over and help you get untangled lol.

 

Once again, thanks for reading

 

Regards

 

Geoff

xx