2006: A crap year

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 24 January 2008 14:25:48

2006 started badly and went downhill from there.

January is always quiet for Driving Instructors as nobody has any money. This coupled with the fact that I was having trouble with the car and was being messed around by the local dealer trying to get it repaired meant that I was earning next to nothing.

On 1st February, I had my final attempt at the Part 3 exam. For the first part of the test, I had to teach the "learner" how to perform an Emergency Stop. After that, I had to teach "travelling distance, Road Position and Clearance of Obstructions". The first part was OK, although the second part wasn't quite up to scratch. Unfortunately, to pass the test, you have to pass both sections.

So that was it. I'd had my 3 attempts and was forced to give up the best job I'd ever had. I don't think I've ever been so depressed.

With a background in Pest Control, and having been trained by one of the biggest companies, I was confident that getting another job would be easy. Within a week, I started with a small Pest Control company based in South East London.

This was a mistake. To describe them as "cowboys" would be polite. Their standard of work was shoddy and slapdash, and some of their working practices were bordering on being illegal. (In fact, a few were quite blatantly illegal). Instead of providing any sort of quality service, the ethos of the company was to bash out as many jobs in a day as possible. This involved spending as little time on each site as possible and driving as fast as possible to get to the next one. I didn't like either of these. First of all, I had been trained to spend time trying to find the source of the problem as opposed to simply chucking poison around and hoping for the best which is how this lot seemed to work.

Then there was the issue of travel between sites. The vans had trackers fitted and the Managing Director seemed to have nothing better to do with his time than to sit at his desk watching where everyone was. One day, he called me in to his office and pointed out that the trackers record the speed driven at any given time telling me "You're no good to me driving a f***ing milk float" and warned me that I'd have to drive faster. He sent me out with some other "technicians" (I use the term loosely) to demonstrate how to get around. Bear in mind that for the previous 9 months I'd been driven around by learner drivers, so was used to erratic driving, but these guys really scared me. If somebody in front was driving "too slowly" then the done thing was to tailgate, flash headlights and sound the horn repeatedly. If there was a queue of traffic, for whatever reason, then we were expected to either drive on the wrong side of the road or mount the pavement. One-way streets, prohibited turn signs, speed limits and traffic lights meant nothing. I wasn't prepared to jeopardise my own clean driving licence or compromise road safety, so just carried on as normal.

I wasn't happy there. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a job I hated so much. I lasted 5 weeks before I was sacked. What annoyed me most about getting the sack was that I was already looking for something else, so wanted to get in first and tell him exactly where he could stick his job.

Anyway, I was quite relieved to be out of it and within a matter of days I found another job, this time with a larger company. Ecolab are a large multi-national company on a par with Rentokil and with similar working practices. They were familiar with the company I'd been with before, knowing all too well of their shoddy workmanship, so showed every sympathy when I told them of my experience.

We were living in a flat that we rented through an agency. We'd never actually met the landlord. All we knew of him was that he was working abroad. In the summer, the agents informed us that he was returning to the UK and wanted his flat back, so our tenancy wouldn't be renewed. We started looking for somewhere else straight away and after viewing several places, settled on the place we're in now.

There was more upheaval to come though.

Things weren't going brilliantly at Church. Since merging with the next door parish and becoming a United Benefice, two Non-Stipendiary Ministers had been sent to help take some of the workload from the Vicar. Gradually, I found myself doing less and less. Officially, I was Lay Vice-Chair of the PCC, but was never consulted on anything. Any suggestions I made regarding the liturgy, or any other aspect of Church life, were largely ignored. After a while, I found I was no longer having any involvement at the "sister" church. I was still superficially involved with Confirmation classes, insofar that I would attend the sessions, but as I'd not been involved with any of the planning sessions, wasn't really able to contribute much. I was preaching much less often than I had done previously. Even minor tasks such as reading the Gospel didn't happen any more. The Vicar was of the opinion that only ordained people should read the Gospel. He'd allowed me to do so in the past, as that had been the tradition at this parish, but now that we had three clergy on the staff, I was no longer deemed important enough to do it. I really felt like a spare part. If I ever was asked to do anything, it was usually because there was nobody else available to do it. I would still robe each Sunday, but my liturgical role was little more than decorative.

These were all issues I wanted to raise with the Vicar, but at the time there was a more pressing matter. To perform any sort of Ministry in the Church of Englad, it is necessary to have CRB clearance. In June, I sent off the form to the Registrar. What happened to it after that nobody knows. Whether it was lost in the post, or delivered to the wrong address, I don't know. All I know is that the Registrar never received it.

Another form was sent to me. Now, I am the first to admit that I am hopeless when it comes to filling out paperwork. The first form had been sent having been chased for it! Time went on. Eventually, I was told by the Archdeacon that of the CRB wasn't sorted by the end of September, he would have no option but to suspend my licence until it was sorted.

In September, I sent to form off again. This time, the Registrar did receive it, but it was too late for the process to be completed by the end of the month.

The Vicar said he wanted to see me. I was expecting a telling off for dragging my feet. I even suspected that my licence would be temporarily suspended. What I wasn't expecting was to be told that the Vicar was suspending my licence and that he head no intention of renewing it. After everything else that had happened that year, this was the final smack in the mouth. I had been at this church for 11 years and had made many friends, but if I was to be deprived of exercising the ministry that I'm trained for, I reluctantly decided to look around for another church.

On New Years Eve, I raised a glass and said "Thank God this year's over". This was a year that had seen a great deal of upheaval. However, we'd found a new church and were settled in to our new house. It was nearly time when I would be allowed to re-take my ADI exams again. At long last, thisngs started looking up.