Normal Service will be�

On May 1st, Google will will be changing the way they manage my Blogs, and this has an impact on the feeds to Facebook and other social networking sites that �talk� to my blog.

It�s quite a big change, requiring a whole load of tweaks at my end plus the �fun� of transferring six years of blogs without any glitches.

Being a realist, I think it�s fair to say that there may be an interruption to services sometime between now and then!!

What fun!

London calling!

What a busy week! Six-days too. Today, I�m off to London for one of our regularish LNG meetings. Luckily, Denise has managed to find us a semi-permanent home in Holborn (at least for this year), so that�ll help preserve the LNG funds. Nice one Denise!!!

Today, we�re recapping assertiveness techniques courtesy of Angela.

Lent Boy

I�m in �Lent Mode� getting ready to give up all the things I really like to eat, for the 40 day period.

This year, the list is longer than 2009 and includes:

• Beer
• Biscuits
• Cake
• Chinese
• Chips
• Chocolate
• Cider
• Coke (the fizzy type!)
• Crisps
• Crunchy Nut Cornflakes
• Curry
• Ice-Cream
  
  

It�s been 15 minutes and so-far, so good!

Let Them eat Cake�.

I seem to have spent the whole week eating! One of the benefits (or curses, if you're dieting) is that with Lee staying with us, I get a lunch-time meal too. Well, I managed to avoid that today because I drove down to South Mimms to meet-up with Simon H for a business catch-up and I managed to get away with just sandwiches and a couple of coffees! Phew!

On arriving home at about 3, Lee greeted me with tea, biscuits and cake � wonderful!!! I will end up being the size of a house, if I don't work out how to manage all this wonderful (and regular) food!!! Not a bad problem to have though!!


And if that wasn't enough, tonight, we're off to our fave Chinese Restaurant in Market Harborough � Han, with Janet and Jo for a blow-out meal.

Mr Porker lives!!!

What do points make�?

Followers of my blog (and those that try to follow me in the car!) will be well aware of my heavy right foot! So heavy in fact, that at the beginning of 2009, I was up to NINE points � all for speeding.





I can't remember the last time I didn't have any points on my Driving Licence, I think it was when I was about 22 years old!!

Although we're not quite there yet, three more points 'came of age' today and are eligible for removal. That just leaves me with THREE points left (after three more came off back in June). So, providing I can get to 22 May 2011, I'll be back to zero points.

The Cecilian Singers' Carol Concert 2009

We drove over to Leicester to see David singing in the Cecilian Singers Choir. Val couldn't join us this year as she's in America visiting her sister.

We've been going annually for a few years now, but the format this year, was slightly different as they'd changed the venue to St Philip's Church in Evington Road. Parking was typically Leicester, all double-yellows with the occasional free space. Finding a space wasn't helped by the thick fog that had lingered all day. We were lucky in finding one solitary space on the street, about 5 minutes away.

For 2009, the programme was different. Instead of one event punctuated by the sit-down supper, we had the first half in the Church, then supper, then the second half in the Church Hall, in the next room.
The Programme was excellent in our view. Part one was a more traditional carol-concert whilst Part two featured more modern stuff. This year, for the first time, members of the choir did some small group and individual pieces � solo singing, recorders and a lute were all featured.

As always, each half contained the obligatory 'sing-for-your-supper' piece. Part one featured Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, whilst Part 2 allowed the audience to murder, O Come all Ye Faithful :)

The food was its normal high standard and all-in-all, this year for me, the whole event was the best they'd done so far.

For us, Christmas has now officially started!

We left around 10.45 and in spite of the thick fog, were home by 11.45.

Learning Network Group Meeting

We all met at the excellent Royal Festival Hall today for our final meeting of 2009. Rick took us through his experiences of measuring leadership performance through the use of a comprehensive questionnaire � the whole thing was fascinating and useful in equal measures.

The small turnout of Lydia, Antoinette, Sharon, Angela and Jan, plus Rick and me was more than made up for by the interest shown by us all. The venue was good too as we were able to tuck ourselves away upstairs in one of the public areas � perfect! 

We finished around lunchtime and decided to eat at the nearby Pizza Express. Coincidentally, we ended up being seated in exactly the same spot as the time when Ann and I went there, back in September, 2007 � what an coincidence! As last time, the service and food was excellent.

After lunch, we went our separate ways and Rick dropped me off at St Pancras. I missed the 3 o'clock by a whisper, and settled for the 3.30. It's been a great day and good to catch-up with many of my closest training colleagues and friends.

Home by 4.45 � feet-up and do b*****-all for the rest of the evening!

Let's Dance (Week 7 of 7)

Well, here we are, seven weeks (and three left feet) later, we've now had the final dance-class of this series. It all starts again in September, but I'm not sure we'll be able to commit to it. It's all been very enjoyable and Bob and Marjorie have been excellent (and patient) tutors � but 9pm is just too late for us - we're normally thinking about going to bed at that time!

Tonight, we started with the cha-cha and then moved onto learning the quickstep � apparently, it's one of the easier dances to learn, but you wouldn't have guessed it if you were watching me! I finally 'got it' by dancing with Marjorie - but even that took three or four attempts.

Well, we've certainly learned a lot and I'm not quite as bad as I thought I'd be � and it was also good (comforting) to see others struggling as well! If the next series starts earlier than 9pm, we'll be there!

Let's Dance (week 6 of 7)

We thought we might have a lot of catching-up to do as we hadn't attended last week, but it was actually quite a relaxed session. Numbers were down � maybe because of holidays � leaving only around eight of us to fill the floor.

We spent most of the evening practising our waltz, which I think at last, I'm 'getting'. We then spent a few minutes towards the end, doing the cha-cha.

It's the final week next week and we're going to learn the Quickstep, which I'm told is very easy!

That sounds like good news to me!

Exam Time - 2

It's Ann's final day in London on the Prince 2 course today and having passed her Foundation exam earlier this week, it must be time for another exam! 


On this occasion, it's a bit more serious, as it's the pratictioner part where you have to put it into practice.
It's a three hour affair, the pass mark is 55% and the results won't be published for about three weeks. A pass will lead to a formal qualification in project management. In turn, this will be a valuable part of Ann's portfolio in future work-roles...but perhaps even more importantly, when organising large parties!!! (I knew there was a practical application for this somewhere!!!)

Exam time - 1

Well done Ann � she passed her Prince 2 Foundation Exam today. So just the Practitioner Exam on Friday left to do now!

Let's (not) Dance (Week 5 of 7)

The dance-class is probably running tonight, but as Ann was knackered after her ongoing intensive Prince 2 Course and 1 was� well�just lazy� we didn't go.

Let's (not) Dance AGAIN! (Week 5 of 7)

We knew we had a bit of catching-up to do as we'd missed last week's lesson. So, imagine our surprise when we got there tonight, only to find that no-one else was there!

It's been a day full of surprises!

Big Mac and a Big Disappointment

I went for my six-monthly check-up at the local dental practice today. The dentist I saw was new and boy, was he rough - ouch! Last time my mouth was that stretched was back in the 1970s when I used to eat a whole Big-Mac in one mouthful! He looked as serious as hell throughout the encounter, and had no 'small-talk' whatsoever. I think I'll contact the Practice and switch to someone gentler, humorous and more of a conversationist�but mostly someone gentler!!

The 'measuring-man' from the local 'Rock Revelations' kitchen company was due to arrive at 1pm to measure the kitchen. His office rang to ask what time the appointment was � doh! When I confirmed 1 o'clock, they said they couldn't make it, so we arranged for later in the day, 3.30. Later I discovered I'd missed a message on my phone asking for directions � doh!, we'd emailed directions to them last week. I gave them again over the phone. At 3.30, no-one had arrived. When I rang, he was apparently 'two-minutes' away. Fifteen minutes later, still no sign of anyone.

I cancelled!

Steve on the Game?

Phew�not quite!

Just when I thought I'd have to develop some new skills to supplement our income (and perhaps introduce a comedic element too!) by going 'on the game', Ann learned today that she had been successful in getting the job she was interviewed for earlier in the week.

That's good news all round and my body-is-a-temple philosophy can now return to the more familiar my-body-is-a-larder-and-wine-store!

Let's (not) Dance (Week 4 of 7)

We didn't go to the dance-class tonight as I've had a really bad headache on-and-off since Sunday night.

An early night for me tonight to try and shake it off.

Walk the Dog...

If we had one! - and we'd never get the cats to move away from their comfy sleeping positions! Yes, we went out for a walk again tonight as it was such a beautiful evening - it's becoming a habit (that's twice this week)!!!

Let's Dance (Week 3 of 7)

Thankfully it was a lot cooler tonight so that made the activity more a little more enjoyable! So, just call me 'Matilda' as tonight we practised our waltz. The good news was that I didn't pulverise Ann's feet as much as last week; the bad news, I still haven't quite perfected the moves. More especially, the pivot turn has  completely eluded me, and so I'm destined to spend my dance-floor days looking for very long and straight dance-floors! Walls also pose a particular problem as I'm unable to turn corners.

Bob the instructor said that the waltz was the most difficult dance to learn � I didn't believe at first� now I know it's true!

Apparently next week is 'rock and roll' � look out for dents in the ceiling then!

Walkies�

Shock horror, I joined Ann and Jo for walk tonight. I'll be going to dancing lessons next�oh that's tomorrow!

Let's Dance (Week 2 of 7)

Luckily it was lot cooler this week, but the room was still quite hot.

This week, we did a little cha-cha and then Bob attempted to teach us all the waltz. Our initial thinking was that this would be a 'piece-of-cake' compared to the cha-cha � how wrong we were - and it was good to see that more or less everyone in our beginners' group was struggling with this one!

Thirty minutes later, and half a stone lighter, Ann had bruised feet and that matched my ego � what a disaster!!! Ann's OK, but my 'clod-hopping' style threatened anything and anyone within the immediate area.

Practise, Practise, practise!!!

Let's Dance� (Week 1 of 7)

�or in my case, let's stumble around the room with all the grace and co-ordination of a hippo housebrick lump of concrete �err, me! You get the picture. Given enough time, I should be able to master the 'moon-walk', the salsa, foxtrot and waltz�but not for a few years yet! Rosi had encouraged us to go and it wasn't far � just down the road at a local school. We picked up Rosi and David at around 8.45 for a 9pm start.

It was good fun, and the instructors � Bob and Rosemary, seem to be pretty good with lots of personal tuition. The only down-side was the temperature inside the venue � hot doesn't even begin to describe it! (mainly because it had been a very hot day here � in the 30s). Fortunately there was only about a dozen of us, so that helped a little. 

Tonight was the Cha-Cha � and I didn't do too badly. Before we knew it, the hour was up and it was time to lie-down :)

Same time next week�

Sub-committee Meeting

I travelled down to the BRIT School today to chair our second meeting to plan for the OCA centenary in 2011.

I felt it was a very productive meeting, but perhaps I need to allow more time for the fact that most of the group don't really know each other and they may be holding back.

It was a good journey down but coming home took ages! I left at 2.30 and didn't get home until almost 6pm � and it's only 100 miles!!!

You dancing? You asking?

Rosi rang to remind us about the new local dance-class - but it had totally slipped our mind. Embarrassingly, Rosi had reminded us a few weeks' back too! 

Still, on the positive side, the World is spared (for a week at least) from the man with two left feet and all the rhythm of a house-brick. Ann will fare a lot better to be sure!

Ahh, that's nice!

I don't normally cross-post comments from my business blog, but a delegate on one of my recent Workshops was moved to email the client and pass a comment about me:

�I would just like to commend Steve Palmer on the course ran on 9/10^th June I think this was a highly motivational, useful and on the whole relevant and complementary to our working practice. I also thought it was an extremely well planned and well delivered course and as such, I felt able to contribute and I get a great deal out of it��.

That's excellent news!

Walkies - again

This could become a habit � we went out for a walk again tonight!

Walkies!!!

It was such a nice evening, we went for a short walk. Hard to believe it was 8.15pm � beautifully still and quite warm. Beautiful!!!

Mr and Mrs Normal...

We both agreed that it feels weird normal weird normal...no..WEIRD with me out earning and Ann at home cooking and cleaning!

Ann's Web-site

I completely revamped Ann's web-site. You can see it HERE

Creating it using Serif's WebPlus software made it a breeze to set-up and publish. The whole job took less than 4 hours!

Ann's is redundant

Well, here we are then. After a total of 27 years, 3 months and 7 days of ultra-loyal service, it all ended for Ann today. Next Monday, the new organisational chart will have been air-brushed in, and on paper, it'll be as though she had never existed.

...as many have said before: 'What price loyalty..?'

These lyrics by Eric Woolfson from the Album 'Turn of a Friendly Card' seem strangely appropriate...

Nothing's good, the news is bad,
The heat goes on and it drives you mad,
Scornful thoughts that fly your way,
You should turn away, 'cos there's nothing left to say...

You gave the best you had to give,
You only have one life to live,
You fought so hard, you were a slave,
After all you gave, there was nothing left to save!

You read the book, you turn the page,
You change your life in a thousand ways,
The dawn of reason lights your eyes,
With the key you realise to the kingdom of the wise

Nothing ventured, nothing gained,
No more lingering doubts remain,
Nothing sacred or profain,
Everything to gain!

Download/Listen to the tune (7Mb mp3) HERE

Onward and upward then! One door closes and another one opens...

Ann's Redundancy (1 week to go!)

Here we are then, one week closer to 'the day'. HR have once again shown their complete insensitivity and disorganisation by continuing to ignore all Ann's request for a meet. Instead, the bland one-size-fits-all letter arrived last Monday reminding Ann that she's being made redundant (just in case she had forgotten!) and if she doesn't sign the compromise agreement, she won't get the enhanced redundancy package. A good start to the week then and good to see her employer focusing on the positives!

Interestingly, the letter from our Solicitor to HR explaining our reasons for not signing, would have arrived on Tuesday - the day after - but by Thursday there had been no response from HR - not even an acknowledgement of its receipt. If I was to be cynical, I'd say that was deliberate, to un-nerve us, knowing there is only a week to go to get things sorted.

Ann instructed the Solicitor on Friday to chase HR and what a surprise - HR had discussed the letter with their Solicitor - and obviously made a decision about its worth.

A few hours later an email arrived from her employer stating why they would not consider our case. In short, they wouldn't even acknowledge that there was a equal pay claim! They judged Ann's colleague as doing 'a much more important role' and his job 'being of much greater value'. OK, that depends how you define value in the context of their jobs and it certainly could be argued that her colleague's portfolio is worth more than hers - but they've defined what value means and have never discussed it with us. They also suggested that her colleague also 'presented papers for the Board' - implying that Ann does not. Err, I wonder what Ann spent her time doing on all those late nights in recent weeks and months - yep..writing (and rewriting) Board papers because of her indecisive and inefficient boss!

The refusal to even acknowledge that we have a case has left a real bitter taste in the mouth for us. The arrogant attitude from the other side (which, in fairness we were told might be the case) has left its mark - and we're very disappointed that we've 'lost' the battle and won't be pursuing the case. Why not pursue it? - because it'll be too stressful and too expensive as it'll take nearly a year, maybe longer for it to progress it to an ET - and I think her employer knows that! Wouldn't it be great to win the Lottery and use the money to fight on? You bet!!!!

I can't see Ann's final week being particularly pleasant - and it won't provide a good back-drop to her leaving-do at work on Tuesday either!

Time to look forward rather than back I think...! Very easy to say, but much harder to do...

Learning Network Group Meeting

I took the train down to London today for our regular LNG Meeting. Denise joined me at Bedford and after arriving at St Pancras, we took the short hop on the Tube to the venue. Denise had secured us some free space in an office she's currently working in.

Angela took us through the Trainer Assessment Programme (TAP) - a robust assessment process for new and experienced Trainers. A great session and very useful too! Well done Angela!!

I got away at around 2pm and caught the 3pm from St Pancras home and Ann picked me up from the station.

Ann's Redundancy (2 weeks to go!)

Well, it's been a very stressful week for Ann. Still no reply from HR for her request to sit down with them and discuss her issues!


But what really stood out this week was Ann's meeting with the Employment Law Barrister who she is working with via the Solicitor.

Whereas we thought we had an 'open-and-shut' case, the Barrister - being cautious - has reminded us that the 'compromise agreement document' in which the two redundancy amounts are laid out (statutory minimum and employer enhanced), is purely discretionary! This means that if, through our actions, we p***-off Ann's employer in the last few weeks of her employment, they are perfectly within their rights to withdraw the document - and then bang goes the enhanced option - it literally becomes unavailable! - and we would be left with very little dosh - just the statutory minimum figure!!

Why would we p*** them off? Well, we wouldn't directly, but if the Solicitor's letter explaining our our issues to them, comes across as being too gung-ho and aggressive (because that's the style we were originally advised to adopt), her employer will almost certainly exercise their rights to withdraw the compromise agreement document completely. 

As an result of this, if we end up settling for the statutory minimum redundancy figure and fight the case at an Employment Tribunal, that could take ages (too stressful) and cost us a load of money (also too stressful). And, interestingly, our current Solicitor is NOT allowed to represent us at an ET, it has to be a Barrister (we didn't realise that!) - so we'll end up paying TWO people during the 'fight' process - a double-blow for the bank balance! 

This is a real issue of principles, and maybe we'll look back in years to come and it won't feel like such a big thing; but currently it's such a pivotal decision that we need to make. Either rolling-over-and-signing, (full amount of dosh, but values compromised) or fighting for what we know is rightfully Ann's (expensive, time-consuming, but our values are left uncompromised).

Errr... this is really getting our grey-cells working overtime!!!

So, the Solicitor and Barrister have now constructed an appropriate letter with a few ideas for content from us. It's assertive rather than aggressive (nice!) and sets out the concerns we have very clearly - it also reminds Ann's employer of their obligations under the law.

In the next few days the letter will arrive at HR for their consideration - hopefully some actions/decisions by them will result. The letter suggests they get in touch with the Solicitor to resolve things.

It's going to be an interesting penultimate week! Ooo-err missus! 

...more information next week!!