The end is in sight

I'm working on a presentation for uni which I need to hand in on Wednesday.  I'm also supposed to have a first draft of some group work done for Wednesday. I have a research project to do for the middle of May and also a careers plan to hand in towards the end of May.  It feels like so much work to do - I feel like I've been doing this for a very long time and I feel so tired.  But just now, I feel like I might be able to do it - I might just manage to hand in all my work in a passable state, on time.

That feels like achievement enough for me, just now.

Are you speculative?

Phil Spencer, of Location Location, has just seen his luxury home-finding business collapse.  He says "The correction in the housing market continues to unfold with unprecedented speed... And nobody can know how long this is all going to take to turn around and we should be highly speculative of anyone who claims to be able to do so."

I don't think he means 'speculative'.  I think he was aiming for 'suspicious' or 'wary' or something similar.  Not to worry, he's still got his Channel 4 presenting job finding homes for people with more money than sense of proportion.

New! New! News!

I have some exciting news!  I have a new job!  I'm going to be a project officer!  

It's an internal move and is a sideways move rather than a promotion, but I get to sit on the third floor rather than the first floor and have some new experiences.

I'll be liaising with tenants in relation to new-build projects, which should be interesting, and also looking at some our projects and seeing what we can do better.  I'm excited about learning some new skills and using some of my planning skills, rather than just being responsive to tenant enquiries.  It will be good to use some of the project management skills I've learnt in a new context.

I will be sad to leave my team, as we have a lot of fun, but I feel very excited - I feel like my career is moving on...

Gymtastic!

I had a gym induction today, as I think I need to do something to train for the 10k!  And I managed to cycle for 3 minutes, then run 1.9k at an average of 6k/h, and then another 1k of cycling!  I'm pleasantly surprised at how far I can run - this feels almost achievable...  And I feel really well for having done it.

If you would like to sponsor me to run the Manchester 10k you can do so here: I'm running to raise money for Christian Aid.

Right to move?

The Conservatives have launched a new policy, arguing that social tenants should be given the right to move.  On the surface, this doesn't seem like a bad idea - if you want to move, ask your landlord to sell your house and buy you another one elsewhere.  But it isn't workable.  How is a landlord in Cheshire expected to reasonably manage a property in Essex?  What if you demand that your landlord sells your home, but no-one wants to buy it?  What about the people in Cheshire waiting for a social home who have just lost one more property from the potential housing stock?

Not just that - it isn't even necessary.  Social tenants already have the ability to move to another part of the country through the right to assign their tenancy - they can swap their tenancy with someone else, as long as they can find someone to swap with.  Landlords are able to refuse on very limited statutory grounds, and can also put conditions on the exchange, such as a clear rent account.  It's not a perfect system but it seems a bit more workable than the Conservative proposals

Run run run!

In just 6 weeks I will be doing the Manchester 10k!  I'm not really a natural runner - I did the 1500m at school once and everyone else had finished before I'd done the first 1 3/4 laps.  However, I like a challenge and I'm hoping it will help me to be fitter.

I'm raising money for Christian Aid, who do some excellent relief and development work in developing countries, and a lot of campaigning on a range of issues.  Christian Aid have also been very supportive of SPEAK, who I love.

I would be very grateful if you would sponsor me here, as it will give me an extra bit of motivation.  Judging by the 'battery-acid-in-my-lungs' feeling after training this afternoon, I'll need all the motivation I can get!

Rationality

I've just bought and started reading 'The Armchair Economist' by Steven E Landsburg.  It seems quite interesting - it's looking at the concept of rationality in economics - one of the criticisms of economics is that it treats people as rational when they aren't.  So I'm interested to see how his defence works out.  It was also book of the week in WHSmith.  Or something.

I was curious, however, when it referred in the future tense to voting in the 1996 elections.  I had assumed it was a new book.  But no.  first published in the US in 1995, and then over here in 2009.  I think that's quite weird - a 14 year gap between US and UK publications.

Now I'm off to do some reading for my research project!

Young, white and unhappy

A friend of mine works in a pub and recently posed a question that he says he hears from a lot of his customers.  Young white men are feeling discriminated against - the last group of people it is ok to discriminate against.

I'm tempted to list a range of statistics to counter this, but I'm not sure angry numbers work as an argument against this.  I think what they are probably feeling is a reduction in privileges as preferential treatment can no longer be assumed and a sense of entitlement is being eroded.  So relatively, individually, they are worse off than they might have expected (although society is better-off), but, generally, probably still better off than a lot of groups.

What do you think?

Good things

Feeling like a lot more is right with the world than has been recently.  That's in my own life, of course, rather than, for example, Northern Ireland...

It feels like spring is coming, and it's much lighter outside.  For a SAD sufferer, that's a big deal - saves me half an hour every morning sitting in front of a lightbox.

Jake, my favourite baby, said his first word yesterday.  Predictably, it was "mummy" rather than "I love my Aunty Sarah very much," but I was there and I heard it.  I love seeing Jake - he's just very cute and very uncomplicated.

A family member is quite unwell at the moment.  It's been a worrying week but I'm getting used to the worry - which feels quite positive.

I've been driving to visit aforementioned family member.  I feel very glad to have the freedom my car brings.

My first essay is nearing completion.  I'm developing a sense that maybe it's ok for my work to be ok, rather than outstanding all the time.

I've been working on some other issues as well: what I think about God, what I think about having babies, what I think about my career.  I'm feeling very positive.  I'm approaching 30 and I have an idea about what I want out of life.

I have a very nice husband.

I'm training to run the Manchester 10k, I'm going to do it very badly, and that is going to be ok.

My best friend is coming home for the summer very soon.

As I said, all is well with the world.

Time for a change

I'm still thinking about gender and work-life balance and participation in paid and domestic work.  I've just read the most depressing article - it looks at earnings and participation rates for men and women in dual-career households and finds that there is little difference between men and women - until they have children - then women's participation and earnings are significantly reduced for the rest of their lives (Hardill and Watson, 2004).  It appears to be very difficult to have two careers and children - and when something has to give, it is usually the woman's career, with a knock-on effect on her future pension and personal ambitions.

I accept that there is an element of choice within this - but people make choices within a social context of expectations, legislation and practicalities.  While access to paternity leave is so poor and so badly-paid, and while men feel their careers are at risk from taking a career break to care, it is unlikely that this situation will change.  

But I'm not sure why women are expected to suffer financially and have their careers damaged.  Within all the literature and discussions around the issue there seems to be a feeling that the children 'belong' to their mother and are her responsibility.  For example, one reason for the move from 'family friendly' policies to 'work-life balance' policies is that employers feared that they were seen to only benefit women.  Freeing up one partner to work part-time and carry out child care and domestic labour benefits both partners by allowing the other to work full-time.  Dinner does not cook itself and dirty clothes do not wash themselves and food does not buy itself and put itself into the fridge and cupboards.  But because this work is unpaid, is is not even considered within the economic framework we live in.

I think what I'm trying to say is that a change is needed - I'm just not sure what.

Balancing

My last term of taught lectures at uni has started.  It looks busy but interesting - work-life balance, a work-based project, a presentation on professionalism, a career plan and some group work - at the end of all this I will become a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and be able to put letters after my name.

I'm hoping to go on to do my dissertation and become a Master of the Universe... sorry, a Master of Science.  I'm not sure how scientific 'housing practice' is really - it's more a social than a pure science.

Currently I'm really interested in how employers allow people to balance work and life, and more importantly, why, and what effect this has on people.  And, looking at it from a gender perspective, what effect does it have on the ability for men and women to achieve equality?  Mostly women take up flexible working options - that's because mostly, caring work falls to women.  Does this marginalise women by presenting them as collectively less committed to work?  Are work-life balance policies going to change much while men tend to earn more than women, making it economically more viable in dual-income heterosexual couples for women to reduce their hours?  Why is it assumed that women will drop everything to pick up a sick child?  Is it becoming more acceptable for men to take paternity leave or reduce their hours?  To what extent is it possible to have equality when it is women who do the pregnancy and labour thing?  What does 'equality' look like anyway?

I love looking at things from a gender perspective...

Names

I spent yesterday being literary at Tatton Hall - the highlight of the day was a poetry reading by Wendy Cope, but there was also an interesting discussion about 'Get into Reading', a way of using reading groups with different groups such as people with dementia, mental health problems, learning disabilities, by reading books aloud on a weekly basis and then discussing them - I wondered whether this would work on my estate as a way of bringing different people together, but think I'll probably never find time to implement it...  Char March also read a story she had written about her relationship with her mother - as I was at the even with my mother, it was interesting to think about how our relationship has changed and how it might change in the future.

So here's my favourite poem Wendy read:

Names

She was Eliza for a few weeks

When she was a baby - 

Eliza Lily.  Soon it changed to Lil.

Later she was Miss Stewart in the baker's shop

And then 'my love', 'my darling', Mother.

Widowed at thirty, she went back yo work

As Mrs Hand.  Her daughter grew up,

Married and gave birth.

Now she was Nanna.  'Everybody

Calls me Nanna,' she would say to visitors.

And so they did - friends, tradesmen, the doctor.

In the geriatric ward

They used the patients' Christian names.

'Lil,' we said, 'or Nanna,'

But it wasn't in her file

And for those last bewildered weeks

She was Eliza once again.

The joy of shopping

I went to Asda.

On my own.

In my car.

The DVLA has still not managed to send my licence back to me but I'm allowed to drive under section 88 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

So I went to the supermarket.

How it works...

What have the Babylonians ever done for us?

Listening to More or Less on Radio 4, I learnt about the Babylonian's contribution to our maths.  Apart from our systems for time and angles (they worked in base 60), they also had a big impact on our calendar.

Babylonians were big on phases of the moon and worked in 28 day months, broken down into 7 day weeks.  They believed that the 7th day of each week was dangerous so it was best to stay at home.  It is believed that this had a big impact on the Israelites while they were with the Babylonians, so this 7 day cycle got written into the Genesis creation story.

So, what have the Babylonians ever done for us?  Sundays off!

Not adding up

The government are planning to subsidise internships for new graduates struggling to find work due to the credit crunch.  Graduates will be given work experience by large companies in order to gain skills and experience, and in return will receive a 'pay deal' slightly above the current grant rate of £2835 to ensure they don't suffer a cut in income.  This sounds like an interesting plan but not thought through.

Students live on a combination of grants and loans, but many also work - both part time jobs and working for four months or so in the summer.  Without that extra income, they would struggle to survive.

And that's living as a student.  As students, my friends and I revelled in our cheap lifestyle - one of our favourite nights out was 'Free to Dance' at the student union.  It was free.  We danced.  And we drank tap water from behind the bar.  Being poor is part of student culture.  Working requires some money - for clothes for work, and transport to and from work.  It's not cheap.

And then, why would you anyway?  I know jobs are scarce, but if I had a choice between work experience at under £3000 and a normal job at around £12000, I know what I would choose.  In some ways I regret not experiencing a graduate job, but I've started in an entry-level job, using some of the skills I got while I was a student, and am working my way up through my career - and getting more than £3000 a year.

I just don't see this taking off. 

Ethics and economics

We've had most of our rewiring done.  We need all the holes filling in with plaster.  We've had a few plasters round to look at it.  We've had a resounding lack of quotes.  We've still got some more recommendations to try.  But it's a bit depressing - all I want is someone to come and make my house whole again.

We've also had a  few recommendations of people who will come and do the job for us, if we give them some money.  No receipt, no VAT.  I believe in getting a proper job done, I believe in getting a receipt for the work I've paid for, I believe in paying VAT (particularly now there's 2.5 % less of it to pay!) and I also think that if I pay tax on what I earn, probably everyone else should too.

But I can understand why maybe not many plasterers do, if that is the case.  If  you have to charge an extra 15% for VAT and whatever you're going to lose in various income and other taxes, you're not going to be very competitive.  Which means you're less likely to survive.

I don't want to employ a plasterer cash-in-hand - I don't agree with it.  But if the alternative is living in a house with big gaps in the plaster, or doing the work myself, I'm not sure what I'll end up doing.

Hallelujah. Again.

Driving home yesterday afternoon, we listened to the top 40 on Radio 1.  As 'Hallelujah' is still no. 1, I listened to it all the way through for the first time.  I have three specific complaints about it:

1. It's overdone.  The music and the lyrics have enough emotion.  You don't need to emphasise every word.  And - I don't really know enough technical music language to describe this really - the amount of build up around "a cold and broken hallelujah" really makes me think she just doesn't get it.
2. What is the deal with a backing choir?  This is a song about being on your own, not about having a full gospel choir to keep you company at all times.
3. She missed a verse.  Yes, just missed out a whole verse.

I would rather this cover had got to no. 1.  At least it does something different with it which isn't just 'making it worse'.  And it's funny.

It's January 5th and I have to go back to work.  I'm not sure whether 'll get used to this.

'Twas the night after Christmas and all through the house...

Our old neighbours moved out a couple of months ago, which we were quite relieved about: they were noisy; shouted at their kids a lot; parked outside our house after making a fuss about our friends parking outside theirs once - and in some way connected to local gangsters and involved in a shooting incident a few years ago.  No, we weren't sorry to see them leave.

A new neighbour moved in a month or so ago - we hadn't really seen or heard much from him.  Until Christmas started.  On Christmas night at about 1 am Matt was woken by screaming and arguing on the street from people at next door's.  I sleep through earthquakes so this was no trouble.

And last night we were just going to bed at 10.30 when there was a knock at the door.  Our neighbour says he is having some friends round.  It might be a bit noisy.  Would we like to come round?  We decline, explaining that we're just going to bed and, as Matt has to be up early for work, ask him to keep the noise down.  He goes away.  We don't feel very confident.

So we go to bed and there is some noise but we manage to sleep.  Until 1.30 am, when we're woken by screaming and laughing from next door.  It's loud.  And it's not stopping.  I go round and knock on the door.  Nothing.  I knock more loudly.  Still nothing.  I do my 'baliff' knock.  Someone comes to the door, our new neighbour behind him.  I explain that it's 1.30 am and we're trying to sleep.  He looks sorry.  I ask if he has people upstairs.  He says he does so I ask him to move them downstairs.  He says he will.  He says he's sorry.  I go back to bed.  There's still a little noise but nothing like it was.  I lie awake wondering if it's going to get worse.  Fortunately, it doesn't.

I'm considering treating this as research in understanding what my tenants deal with and claiming overtime - double time for the bank holiday, of course.

No. 1

I think it's fair to say I'm not an X-Factor fan.  I don't really have anything against it, I just can't be arsed.

I am, however, incensed by their plans to appropriate 'Hallelujah' for the winner to do a cover version of.  It's just wrong.  'Hallelujah' is dark and powerful and conflicting and speaks to those painful times in life.  The original version was written by Leonard Cohen and then covered by Jeff Buckley, the epitome of angsty musicians.  I'm not saying no-one should ever cover it, just that it should be done by people who understand the song and have chosen it because they can do something new with it, not someone who has won it as a prize in a talent show and who has had it chosen by a company aiming to wring as much money as possible out of the public using the hauntingly beautiful* melody.

So, if you are also unhappy, there is something you can do.  Buy the Jeff Buckley version.  Currently it's at number 3.  Links to where to buy it from are here (not Amazon, apparently , as this doesn't contribute to the charts).  I'm not sure whether it's really possible to stop the X-Factor version getting to no.1.  I do know Sony will be laughing as they own both versions.  But I honestly think it's worth making a little stand against the overwhelming triumph of the commercialisation of culture.

*Yes it's a cliche.  No, I don't care.