You can get what you wish for

Its that time of year when politicians send out their Christmas cards. If they are anything like leo in the west wing you wont know who half of the recipients  are. Earlier this week i saw david cameron and his family in the paper  having the picture taken for the cameron card.. Cameron was saying 

In my view he is treading a fine line. I think he will end up  using the family and then asking for privacy. People know me as a labour man so it is indeed right that i mention the blairs  because they were accused of doing what cameron is.

Of course we want to know about him and what makes him tick but isnt david cameron the one voters can elect and not his family. If he does want to have them in pictures let them choose. I know they are very young so dont use them until they have a choice!

you know is christmas time when...,.

reader dear reader i would like you to think about something. what is a nintendo users favourite carol.. ( answers at the end of  the post no prize on offer i am a skinflint)

Its December the nights are drawing in. I have also opened the first few doors on my seasonal calender as my local supermarket calls them. but what makes it christmas time for me is not the christmas music or the rush of people in the shops or the movies on the tv ( the best one for me is miracle on 34th street) but it is the day the christmas radio times comes out.

In my house it created a buzz  because you could check out what to watch and when i know you can do every week but something about christmas made it different

the answer to the question is wii 3 kings

the end of an era

 The British High Street could soon change for ever. Its not because there will  be no queues in shops on christmas eve its with the demise of Woolworths. I was told   when i went to sign on  a few weeks ago that they were looking for store managers and  that i should think of applying. The next thing that happens is that they go belly up so am i like a dementor at Azakaban who sucks the soul out of  seemingly a solid business who could offer me employment?

this marks the end of an era because its always been there. If you had to get something quickly you could almost always get it at woolies from pick and mix to screwdriver sets. so woolies is to many people what sir alex ferguson is to me(apart from being a managerial god) I say that as a proud  and passionate aberdeen fan  i know  the number one fan of this blog would completely agree- the proud manchester united fan that he is. he  always says there is only one club in manchester!

He has always been chewing his gum and shouting at referees for the lack of or too much injury time .

The end of era marks the dawn of a new one maybe without woolies if it does go. Maybe in this new world i get a job selling pick and mix and other items as there seem to be a gap in the market...

The American dream

When i took standard  grade modern studies i learned all about the punch bowl of America and it was called this because of the mixture of people who had gone to America to pursue their dream-the American dream

This segways nicely into the sound of music when the nuns sing about find your dream by  climbing every mountain and fording every stream. well you may not be able to do that for much longer not because  the americans have tightened up their border but  because the auto industry is in trouble in America. firms including Ford have gone to congress to ask for help. If they don't get any help before Jan 20 12.01pm they could be up the creek. i put the time because at noon Obama becomes president and he has promised to help them. 

If the car industry is effected then that would be massive for states like Michigan who rely heavily on the industry for employment for the local populous 

So when going to find their dream the immigrants will have to find new means because fords may not be around although to  " nissan" every dream doesnt go.

ways to keep fit

Health professionals have been encouraging people for years to start to take exercise and keep fit too cut the number of overweight people and to generally make people feel better about themselves and I agree as someone who goes to the gym regularly i feel great after i have been and am feeling the positive benefits of exercise.

The Credit Crunch is hitting the whole world at the moment as I know only too well. George Osbourne wrote in The Times on Saturday  that Gordon Brown could risk a run on the pound by spending his way out of the recession  i would argue this was just papering over the cracks of Tory Economic  policy- This is something that George Osborne should be good at as he is the heir to a wallpaper fortune. Because the Tories have repeatedly promised to match labour spending on health and education  and how would they do this....

So back to ways to keep fit. Mr Osbourne says there could be a run on the pound (is this like the great north run) I say instead of running on money I will stick to my treadmill thanks.

What might have been

Over the past few months since my brief encounter at being  a city slicker- and the lack of fun I have had since the summer  i often think what could have been. this time of year if i was working there  would be an office party abd i had a belter of a flat with a view of the O2 so i often think of the social side of the job which sounded so great.

I was in the pub today watching the Scotland  South Africa Rugby game  and saw scotland blow away their  golden chances to hit the big time. I just hope i havent missed mine.

transition and living in the shop

Earlier in the week Barack Obama met George W Bush at the White House which from Jan 20 2009 will be his home. I want to talk about this in my post today

The white house is a tied house- like 10 downing street. this means that when you stop being the occupant of the oval office you have to move. I have a lifetime of experience in living in tied housing as my father is a minister so the house comes with job so i have never lived in a home owned by me or a member of my family.

If my experience is anything to go by living in a place of work is hard if you are the one who works you cant switch off. in the days before mobile phones in my house there were six people  who could get a phone call at any time of the day- so there was a scramble when the phone went not knowing who it was for. Also being a minister means being around when other people are free to talk to you not the other way round so dad could get phone called lateish into the evening when people were home from work and were free to talk to him- when they are relaxing dad is still at work.

Apart from having to cope with the work side of living in a in "house of work" or that its not your own is that people can put things in thats is not to your taste- if you take them down you cant sell them because they arent yours

The hardest thing about living in a tied house is leaving it. this is because in a way unlike if you sell a house you have no control over who is coming in next because other people choose. Being in a tied house can also be deceptive i mean that people think the house is yours so if its big they think you are minted and my dad isnt despite living in a 7 bedroom victorian villa.

Transition out of such an enviroment is a very strange thing. In my case the thing thats different is the lack of phone calls(cue the violin music) if i was being lazy at home and going back to bed after breakfast i would only get an extra half an hour because the phone would always ring between 9 and 10. Where as now that i am on my own i just dont get up!  my point here is that the routine will change. For example George Bush wont have to always be switched on- although sometimes it appeared that he is never switched on anyway and think about his every quote.

In Britain when the Prime Minister loses an election they go through a very tough thing- the perks go immidiately Harold Wilson knew he lost not when he was told in the papers but he lost his police outriders half way on a journey. George has got 75 days to get used to the idea  he isnt President.

So living  in the shop may have its perks - ie out of bed at 8.55 am but it does have its downsides so Barak good luck!

some things just dont go

I survived the group session last Friday and came out of feeling exactly like i did before I went in -tired. The power point  kept me awake so it achieved something at least.The presentation in 50 mins was  a quick run through of the best way to find a job. prepare a CV ask your contacts etc. all of these points are valid but should be covered in more depth in my view. They are covered in more depth in getting back to work courses. I have been on such a course it was fantastic and although the course I attended was for people with disabilities i would recommend it to anyone. The course would be very helpful for school leavers or the unemployed or  students looking for jobs.

The Presentation was in my view what the TV industry call a " production pilot" - a preview of the full  show. If I was the government trying to solve the unemployment problem I would snap up the rights to that deal and roll it out across the networks to include the department of education. If i was at the DWP (department of work and pensions) i would send  people who are newly signed on to JSA to this PowerPoint presentation so that they know the support that is available to them straight away and not wait till they have been out of work for ages- although i have been unemployed for 13 months there was a break in my claim for JSA thanks to Lehman brothers so i may have been sent on it as a new claimant i don't know.

sorry for the tangent. so things that don't go are 1 me and Friday mornings.

The second thing that does not go with me is obviously me and a job in politics.  I am not talking here about me losing elections all the time- that's is along way down the road if i ever get there.   I was asked by a friend the other day what gets me up in the morning whats drives me up in the morning. The answer is belief, belief in my own ability. I want to use my skills and experience to help others.Yet the thing i lack in all the jobs i have applied for in politics is experience.  My ideal job if i could choose any would be foreign Secretary - not just to claim all the gifts due to airmiles.

 If i don't go down the elected politician route l would love to combine 3 things the gift of the gab my writing skills and my thinking. IE if you have seen the west wing i would love to be a combination of josh lyman and toby ziegler. the people who do all the work for the politicians write speeches find out stuff be creative. It doesn't have to be in politics. i  would thrive if SCOPE or Capability Scotland came a calling

so the second  thing that doesn't go is despite my wishes is a job for me in politics.

The third thing is the most important thing that doesn't go. is hot chocolate and cinnamon. I was starting  my Christmas shopping yesterday i have got to the browsing stage that's before i actually buy gifts. that bit comes on December 20th ish. Although I  have to not leave it to the last minute as my parents know live in the Shetland islands so i actually have to pay attention to posting dates this year. I went for lunch- very nice of pasta with salmon and hot chocolate. I am a big fan of salmon epically smoked salmon.  Try it for your Christmas dinner its divine.

On my hot chocolate i love cream and something to dunk in it. the  eatery put Cinnamon on it i tough fine i'll try it. In my opinion just like the chances of Aberdeen winning the SPL it just doesnt go

So if you want to be a success Dont work on fridays , dont try to work in a field you really want too and for goodness sake dont put cinnamon on your hot chocolate.

whats the point...

I have no been claimig jobseekers allowance for just under a year. On friday i have to go a group session on how to find a job. I have picked up that it invovles a powerpoint presentation. i have visions of AA meetings so dear readers i am being brave and confessing via this blog my name is mark cooper and i am a job seeker.

Freshers flu over the cuckoos nest

On friday I was back at my old stomping ground the university of Aberdeen. If the alleged cuts at aberdeen council go through it will be the only thing left standing. I was there for a meeting for two hours at the start of the academic year. that was a bad idea. Its bad because it was the first week of term. That means freshers flu. As a dull time student there i eventually became imune but i havent been up there for 14 months so was susteptable to the lovely germs.

i have fluey symptoms so who knows i may have it.

the perfect weekend

Last weekend was quite a good one for me. On saturday i got up late listened to the football. In the evening i went to the pub for a few beers and natchos and to catch up with a good mate How ever the day was spoilt by the lack of taxis about in edinburgh when all the pubs were closed- this was only 1 am. I found a cab with a disabled sticker in his window. but he said his ramp was too small- what an excuse if only i had taken his number...

On sunday I went shopping and watched crap on the TV all in all the best weekend in a while. it was brought to a shuddering holt by the post and a bill from the council. roll on next weekend

stating the obvious

yesterday i recived a letter in the mail. It was official conformation that the job i had no longer exsists is said "due to a change in circumstances the offer made to you no longer stands" its not just the offer the building may not be there for much longer either!

People have been asking me how i am because of what happened I say I am fine but i am not. I am still in shock and am absolutely gutted my job went. All of the hard work by me and everyone who helped me to that stage went overnight

Although I was scared i had met new friends in St Andrews and was looking forward to hooking up with them in london.
I have no energy to do anything all i do i sleep ( more than normal) it will take me longer than wall street to get overthe credit crunch

The return of an old friend...

After taking the time to recover from the events of the last week. I have hit the ground running in my quest for the holy grail- a job( I am not being persued by an evil empire and having to take my dad along although he would be more than welcome to join me)

An earlier posting explained my sense of loss at being knocked out of the routine of signing on well like any good friend it has come back roll on monday morning......

the battle of the buldge

I am bored so i thought i would do a history reinactment. Or to be more precise i have a leak in my kitchen and my ceiling has a buldge so the question is will the plumber get here before the ceiling goes.....

Like the Everly brothers all i can to is dream (of a job)

At 5.20pm on monday the world stopped. this was because i recived confirmation of the fact because of events put of anyones control my job offer from Lehman brothers had been withdrawn I had known from about 11pm on sunday night but to see it in writng hit me hard

I am moaning but i am lucky. I know people who had been working there for longer than me or who had turned up for their first day on monday.. so i feel like someone who should have been on the titanic..

I had come so close to achieveing my goal of 14 months to start work. now with that job gone its back to square one. of that first pay cheque all i can do is dream...

losing my nerve

Readers will know i start a new job soon. Its with Lehman brothers. with the news today about possible insolvancy for the firm i am losing my nerve about the whole prospect finding a flat is proving to be such a hassell and uprooting myself is quite a challange

its in the lap of the gods now

in a bit of a rush

My fkat hunting saga could be at an end. My sister went to view a property yesterday. I spoke to the agent at about 2pm and by 5 i was on a train to london all in a days work i suppose....

thank you for cheesy music

Over the past few weeks i have been going through the ringer emotionally. I have left my child hood home my parents have moved. I will soon be leaving edinburgh- just for a year but still its a wretch.

There have been many times as readers will know that i have thought i am making the wrong desicision.

some people in my position turn to booze i turn to cheesy music. Abba has cheered me up not because its good but because its happy

So the city of london are you ready to take a chance on me

why does it always rain on Me?

This summer has been an absolute shocker weatherwise- parts of england have flooded for the second time in 12 months. readers will remember i posted in june about a trip to aberdeen where i got a soaking. well i am moaning again. it is only because nobody has come up with an umbrella that a wheelchair user can use and push themselves with two hands.

in the past i have been given umbrellas by kind people in the street but its very impracticle to hold the umbrella and move at speed to get out of the rain- which is what most people do.

So why does it always rain on me? its because i dont have an umbrella?

like tom hanks in terminal ( or what ever that movie is about the guy stuck in the airport)

Today has been an odd day for me. I knew it was friday but something was missing. I had brought back everything i had taken to london so it wasnt that. i had food and drink in the kitchen so what was it? It was the job centre.

for 11 months every second friday i had faithfully gone there to find a job and enjoy the wonders of the DWP system. But I now have a job so i have signed off. but whilst it is great to have a job there is a gap in my friday now.

If you have read my previous post ( i know one person has) you will know that my flat hunting was disasterous so i am like a student before an exam I have done all the work - or not and just want the event to happen.

Like the movie i am there but i cant go any further until i get the vital ingredient.

feeling a bit flat!

Since my last post i have been down in london flat hunting and getting things in place for my new job. I found a few flat which looked good brand new ground floor apartments. I thought this would be ideal for my wheelchair. So I went to view them on tuesday the first flat i viewed i couldn't open the outer door and move my wheelchair before the door closed. in the second one i could get into the flat but i couldnt move in it because my wheelchair was exactly the width of the hall. so that was a no goer.

The flat i was scheduled to see on wednesday was good but out of my price range. So Rather like Star Wars I the phantom menace where there was such a build up and it fell flat. I went into this week full of excitement and now its back to the drawing board

Still as hannibal smith says "its darkest before it gets black" so things can only get better

The North South Divide

It has reported in several studies that people in the north are worse off than the south - on things like life expectancy and income. I am about to to turn into dick whitington and pack my things up in a cloth and head to the big smoke. As a disabled person this presents many challanges most importantly to get a roof over my fine head of hair . Thats prooved a challange becuase i am not a london resident. This is important because although i am happy living in the private sector i need help with basic things like cleaning my clothes and other basics. In edinburgh i turned to the council because my house wasnt suitable so they helped me out with that support. I have been told i can apply for housing through the council after being a resident for 5 months- sp dpes that apply for support too?
In the bible the isrealites were promised a land of milk and honey. is london promising me a land of exspensive beer an dirty washing!


Returning to Whitington there is a poem

Turn again, Whittington,

Once Mayor of London!

Turn again, Whittington,

Twice Mayor of London!

Turn again, Whittington,

Thrice Mayor of London!

Change the name to cooper and who knows????

i am on the road to nowhere

Many apologies for the lack of blogging avid readers ( like someone from manchester) have been asking me why i havent been blogging quite simply my life has been turned upside down in the past month.

As you know i have moved into my own flat in july- i am loving it. but i had no work but then i got offered two jobs in 2 hours so i am packing up and moving to london. to work in the City. I am scared to leave edinburgh- the city i grew up in and love so much. To move to a place where i know very few people and dont know the place i am moving to.

as homer simpson said ' i am a risk taker thats why i have so many so many adventures' lets hope that this one is a happy one

life is like a bus nothing happens and the everything does at once

My friends many apologies for the lack of blogging. I have been very busy! I have found a flat! so that has taken up my time and energy sorting things out and making sure everything is in place

I also have a job interview next week so its all go go go i will let you know how it goes.............

A small step on to the pavement + a wheelchair = a broken bus

Great news dear reader I got into tripple kirks at 8.45 pm looking forward to a scream burger and beer for a fiver. I was pleased that i had timed it just right because the last time i went to a scream pub they stopped at 9pm but alas they stopped serving food at 8 so I had to wait till the end of the night to get the stapple after pub meal of cheese and chips which was as good as ever!

I have returned from aberdeen- refreshed but wet and tired as well. When I left my hotel it decided to lash it down. As I had some time to kill after a fantasic breakfeast at the local weatherspoons I thought I would go browsing to dry off a bit also. However the one flaw in my plan was that it decided stop raining when i was inside and drying off and lash it down when I was outside. so I arrived back in edinburgh a drowned rat but happy.

Many of you will be wondering why i have called the title of the post what i have well have patience and all will come clear.

I am relitavley new to using buses because they are now all low level where as not before. I was going to meet some friends and thought i would take the bus. I had never been on a bus on my own before. I got the drivers attention and also seem to be going well. the bus lowered I then requested the ramp. As the driver pushed me on i heard the ramp grown -I thought although I had a good lunch I dont way anywhere near the 300kg limit on the ramp. I thought nothing further of it until a fellow bus driver got on the bus and started talking to the driver. I heard them say the ramp has not gone back right they decided to solve the problem by jumping on the ramp and kick it into place. this failed and they decided to get a new bus,

all becaause of a young man in his wheelchair...............

the battle of tripple kirks

My friends I am off to Aberdeen to catch up with mates and generally unwind. Tonight I am going to the only pub I got barred from in Aberdeen . Many Moons ago I was on a night out with class mates and we thought we would start off at triple kirks- a pub in Aberdeen. However when we got there I was told I would not be allowed in not for being drunk- no booze had passed my lips at this stage. I was told i would be a safety hazzard in my wheelchair

lets see what happen tonight bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

pack up your troubles in a cardboard box and smile smile smile

When watching the TV at lunch time I saw pictures of the following story http://www.startribune.com/nation/20558764.html.

The newscaster said that the only thing that most people have to do when moving themselves would be is to pack their possessions into cardboard boxes then put them in a van and go..

I am in the process of moving my self to where I do not know As Paul Young says where ever I lay my head that's my home. I have lived in the same house for 16 years- so I have got 16 years of junk to sort through. It is going to be even more fun because I shared a room with my twin brother so if I get rid of any stuff he wants to keep I could be a dead man. ( the big one will be his Dr who videos) I am not a fan but he is a big fan.

Where are you meant to get cardboard boxes now my parents still have some from our move here in 1992. I can remember going to the supermarket to get cardboard boxes to put things in to take on holiday. but thats now stopped because of health and safety and I dont know where to get boxes now

So I disagree with the newscaster on 3 front firstly you have to decide what to put in the boxes. Secondly you have to unpack them at the other end. Finally and most importantly you cant move if you dont have any boxes to put your stuff in.

I am now off on the quest of the holy cardboard box although I hope if I find them they are all in one piece

a certain degree of success

As always at this time of year pubs are full of students celebrating the end of the university lives- indeed twelve months ago I had great fun doing the same thing. The end of university life should mean the start of bigger and better things, however for some graduates it is not so

There was a piece on the today program on BBC radio 4 this morning discussing weather there were too many 2:1 degrees being awarded. all of my friends who have those degrees deserve them after all their hard work. I have a 2:2 degree and have found this to be a barrier in my search for meaningful employment. I am very proud of my degree but i feel it was a waste of time. This is because all of the graduate recruitment schemes I have looked at or post graduate courses require a 2:1 degree.

I feel like a second class member of society ( no pun intended for once) just because I cant write essays does not mean that I would be no less of an asset to a company than someone with a first class degree

I congratulate all graduates everywhere for completing your studies successfully. Welcome to the biggest challenge of your life finding your first job!!!!!!!

whats that got to do with the price of crisps

Yesterday i went to Glasgow for a meeting. I went by train from Edinburgh and was finding the platform when I was given some free beer. I thought great but it was tennants trying out a new beer.

My friends if you have ever been to Scotland you may have tried tennants it is not very nice. The new one is tennants 1885 I cant tell the difference between the new and the old. As i left I was given a 50P off voucher for the new beer. Since Tennants is one of the cheapest drinks around I think they were giving the stuff away

On the train i bought some vinegar and a commodity flavored crisps ( the reason why i call them that will become apparent) for 70p which is a rip off and to rub salt into the wounds the bag was half full or empty depending on your outlook on life i thought to my self i should have only paid 35 p for those crisps due to the packet having so few crisps in it!!!! if only i could have.

David Davis

I am a politics graduate and I will give you my opinion on David Davis. I will say from the outset i am a labour man. Having followed politics for almost a decade and this episode has confused me. The tories are in uproar because the DUP supported the government. When John Major was in power it could be argued they were kept in power by the DUP and the Ulster Unionists

The second confusion is to do with Davis himself and Cameron. Davis has said it is his campaign. not endorsed by the conservative HQ but then why is Cameron going to campaign for him??

The labour party should put up a candidate because the government represents the people of the country and the people in polls have said they support the government on the 42 days issue.

Gordon if you need a candidate i am more than willing to be a candidate you know where to call just not at 6 am please................

Hello

I am a graduated from that fine institution the University of Aberdeen in July 2007 and have been job hunting ever since.


The purpose of this blog is to keep you dear reader amused and it is to allow me to put my thoughts into the blogsophere and to keep me occupied during the long days of job hunting,

The thoughts on this blog are entirely mine I hope.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!