Night out

Met with The Arch and Marc tonight, at the Roundhouse in Covent Garden. I've been going there for years and it's a pretty good place to meet in the area. We went along the road to Taste of India for a bite to eat, which was decent but nothing special.

The Arch has recently bought a holiday cottage in Sussex, and we're all planning to go up there for a weekend sometime when he can get around to suggesting some dates. It'll be just like an episode of Cold Feet, though hopefully without the fallouts.

Incidentally if anyone is interested in a holiday in a beautiful part of the East coast, just email the Arch quoting the code melvtopia and I'm sure he'll give you a special deal.

The weekend

I had a really good weekend. On Friday evening Wenge and I went to one of our regular haunts - Pradera in Hornsey, for some excellent tapas. On Saturday we walked down to Crouch End to pick up some ingredients for an Indian chicken recipe that Wenge saw on TV. Apart from that it was a catch-up day although I did have a lengthy transatlantic phone call with Steven about all things Mac. I still don't get spaces...

I managed to stay injury free at footie, where we had a good 5 v 6 game.

James arrived home on Saturday night, understandably tired from partying all through the previous night then playing football for the university team. Those were the days...

Actually, one of the highlights of the weekend was James showing us some photos from uni. A large proportion of them seemed to involve him surrounded by assorted babes, which drew interesting and differing reactions from Wenge and me.

The mother's reaction was: "That's it. You're not going back to university with all those girls"

Mine, by contrast, went more like: "Get back to Surrey and make sure you send pictures".

Today has been tough, as most Mondays are. Negotiating the terms of my new contract; meeting with the development team; fleshing out requirements with the e-Commerce team. I even had time to talk to a headhunter about an interesting role (which would, however, require me to be an expert in SEO). I've got a feeling that it's going to be pretty intense from now on as I try to manage stuff at Ministry of Sound while keeping active in the job market. But I'm thankful that I do have some work, so I'm not complaining.

Meanwhile, Lee emailed to say that all zavvi head office staff were made redundant today. Good luck to everyone.

Happy Friday

I just got this email;

Hi guys,Just to let you know there will be a casting in the product area today
from 3.30pm - 5.30pm. Hope this won’t cause too much inconvenience.Many
thanks,Gareth.

Bother - all those models taking over the place again. What a pain.

zavvi reunion 2

Had a mini-reunion last night at The Endurance pub on Berwick Street (not, as Steve texted me, the Endurance on Beak Street nor, as Stephen texted me, the Endance on Berwick Street). Fortunately I'm a resourceful chap so I got there to be greeted by:

Steve - dapper in black after an interview.

Cathy - who I found out was Welsh.

Stephen - also suited after what sounded like an overly tactile meeting with a recruiter.

Zoe - I can't believe I called her Laura again!

Mel - getting very close to finding out whether she'll be able to stay in the UK or not; my offer of marriage wouldn't solve things apparently (oh, and someone told me that bigamy is still illegal in the UK).

During the course of the evening we were also joined by:

Laura - I didn't get to speak to her but she's obviously got a good new job as she was dressed for business and I overheard talk of City Airport, security and the likes.

Dave - Looking very suave and sophisticated in his black coat and new hair.

And of course Suzanne - straight from work, and managing a couple of drinks before going back home to continue working. Ah the joys of a new job (or in SJ's case, more like two new jobs).

Anyway, a good night was had by all, I believe. I bailed out about 10.00 but even though I didn't have much to drink I still felt pretty rough this morning. I blame poor bar stewardship.

Today I spent pretty much all day with our new development team. Notwithstanding the dilemma I spoke about a couple of days ago, this has the makings of a significant project and it would be good to manage it through. Good experience, lots of learnings and probably good for the CV.

Footie tonight, then more of the same tomorrow - if I can get out of bed in the morning. I'm absolutely knackered...

Since we all need cheering up today, a joke; although it may not be understood outside Scotland:

While being interviewed for a job as a bus driver, a guy is asked: 'What would you do if you had a rowdy passenger?' 'I'd put him off at the next stop,' he says. 'Good. And what would you do if you couldn't get the fare?' 'I'd take the first two weeks in August,' he replies.

Or if you didn't get that...

After announcing he's getting married, a boy tells his pal he'll be wearing the kilt. 'And what's the tartan?' asks his mate. 'Oh, she'll be wearing a white dress,'

Lights out

I see from Lee's facebook status that it's officially all over at zavvi. Such a shame for all concerned, but without trying to sound trite, at least there's a chance for closure and for everyone to move on. That's better than it sounds.

The news here isn't so great either. As a result of Trinity Street (Ministry's eCommerce & fulfilment partner) going into Administration on Friday, they've decided to hire a development team and build a new platform. That, coupled with the loss of a substantial amount of money owed for sales, means the P&L has been shot and basically I've been told they can't keep me for longer than a few more weeks at my current rate. So I need to decide:

(a) Do I work as long as I can and then get back to full time jobhunting?
(b) Do I accept an offer to be a full time contractor for a fixed period (maybe 6 months) but at a significantly lower rate (month's notice would allow me to move if a job came along...)
(c) Is there a plan C that would work better?

...and it was looking so good... Ho hum.

Are we human?

So I got a call from the headhunter that had put me forward for the Ann Summers job. They don't want me back for a second interview. It seems that what they really want is someone with in- depth technical knowledge, and I was too marketing and strategy focused for them. That's fine.


They also thought that my energy levels were quite low, and that I seemed a little laid back about the whole thing. I can't help thinking that that was probably due to (a) the stinking cold I had that day, (b) the two hour journey there and (c) the fact that I'd pretty much decided I didn't want the job by the time I met them. Still, it's something for me to watch out for next time just in case that's not the reason. Maybe I should have taken one of their Golden Root capsules - that would have got the energy levels up...



I was driving back from a weekend with Wenge's family in Leek this morning, and heard that 800 mini workers are to be made redundant. Isn't that illegal, laying someone off just because of their height?


Finally - and beware before you read this last bit, because once you do you'll never be able to listen to the Killers 'Are We Human?' again in the same light - have you noticed how incredibly similar it sounds to Chris de Burgh?


Next time you listen, just imagine Chris De Burgh singing and you'll know what I mean...