Categories: uncategorized
Date: 26 November 2006 22:27:42
Well, what's been going on? I noticed that my last entry here was in August last year. Reading through it brought back all sorts of memories. A lot has happened since then.
Most notably I had to (temporarily) give up instructing back in February. The part 3 examination is the worst part of the 3 part qualifying process. It is a role play situation with a 50 something year old examiner pretending to be a clueless 17 year old learner driver. Now, the boss man had done a brilliant job of training me how to actually be an instructor and as a consequence I had a 61% success rate among my pupils but, sadly, role play is nothing like the real world and I failed.
So no job, no income, so I went back into Pest Control. I initially got a job with a small company based fairly close to where I live. (For "fairly small" read "bunch of incompetent cowboys"). Having been trained by the big pest control company whose name begins with R, I was used to doing the job properly. This lot had the ethos of bashing out as much work in a day as possible without giving a thought to any level of decent customer service. What's more, the vans all had trackers installed and the boss seemed to spend all day in his office watching where we all were at any given time and phoning us to tell us we were driving too slowly (i.e legally and within the speed limit) or spending too long on site (i.e. providing a proper service and actually trying to solve problems). Well, that's what happened to me. I lasted 5 weeks before I got sacked. I thought it was quite funny that I was sacked for trying to do my job properly!
Well, sod 'em! If I hadn't been sacked, I'd have walked anyway!. Anyway, within two days I started work with a large multi-national Pest Control company (beginning with E) where I get to do my job properly and get really good support and regular training.
In the summer, we got a letter from our letting agents informing us that the landlords wanted their house back, so once again we found ourselves moving. It didn't take us too long to find a place - a lovely 2 bedroomed house opposite a park. It's a little further from the town centre than we'd have liked, but you can't have everything. The landlord seems to be a really nice guy and if work needs doing, he gets it done. Now, there's a novelty!
The other recent upheaval is my ministry as a Reader. To function in any form of ministry in the Church of England, it is necessary to have CRB clearance. (If you don't know what that is, look it up in Google - I can't be bothered to go in to it all now!). Well, a long long time ago, I sent off my CRB application to the Diocese but for some reason it never got processed. This weasn't just me. As far as I can make out, this happened to all the Readers in the Diocese.
Well, earlier in the year, I was reminded that I would have to send the form in again. Anyone who knows me well enough will know that when it comes to filling in forms, I am dreadful. I seem to have a genuine block when it comes to actually writing things down with pen and paper. I've been like it all my life. Well, after constant reminders, I finally got around to filling the form in back in June, but it somehow went astray. I was sent another form. Did I fill it in? Well, no. I received constant reminders both from my Vicar and from diocesan officials and eventually, was told that the process would have to be completed by the end of September in order for my licence to remain valid, so what happened next I suppose was my own fault...
During the last week of September, I realised time was running out, so finally got around to filling in my CRB fiorm and sending it off. Unfortunatley, I had left it too late for the process to be cleared by the deadline I had been given, so my Vicar had no option but to suspend my licence, which was no more than I deserved. The bombshell that hit me though was that he is not prepared to renew my licence in the future which put me in a very difficult predicament. I could remain at my church and permanently cease functioning as a Reader, or move on somewhere else with a view to excercising my ministry in another parish. This was one of the toughest decisions I have ever had to make. I had been at that church for over 10 years. I had made loads of friends there. I got married there. It was a major part of my life. Reluctantly I have decided to move on.
So, we've found a church we both like. As yet, I haven't discussed any of this with the Vicar of the new place. It's in a different Deanery, so she doesn't even know that I'm a Reader. I'll give it a while to settle in before raising the subject and see what happens from there. Basically, if God wants me there, I'm sure He'll make the path clear.
This week I posted off the form to re-apply to be a Driving Instructor. I have to go right back to the beginning again and do both the theory and practical driving tests all over again. Well, the DSA have to make their money somehow. We've settled in to the new house and are slowly settling in to the new church.
This has been a very long entry. That's what happens when I don't update my blog as often as I should.