I REALLY need a job

I have spent most of my time outside of college looking for a job, and given my lack of experience in the hospitality field it's really quite difficult for companies to respond never mind actually give interviews, the only company with the courtesy to actually give me a rejection was the Counting House which is fair enough, it's like I'm 16 again with places not bothering their arse.  I registered with a temping agency but only had one job so far.

After I got my student loan I met local legend Dundee Barry for a few pints and some banter.  He's some boy, quite possibly the funniest person I have ever met.

The week after I went down to Dunfermline for a few days, mostly to see The Pars but also to see the family, and my mate Kristof was looking for someone to have a drink with and knew I was in Dunfermline, one pint turned into 4 hours of drinking as it usually does.  The Pars chucked away a 2 goal lead to let the wee team away with a draw.

The snow has been both a blessing and a curse, a blessing in that it's saved me money on bus fare on going to college and I could get my niece's Christmas and birthday presents from Tesco(yeah I'm a cheap cunt I know).  A curse in the fact there hasn't been any football since 13th November, 20th was the Scottish Cup which Dunfermline don't enter until the 4th round, 27th was the ref's strike and the start of the snow, and 4th December the snow was far too bad.

It was supposed to be the start of block 2 at college last week but because of the snow college has been shut, by the time I go back to college I would have had 2 weeks off !  Some full-time course !!!

Been a While Since I Last Posted

Like the title says it's been a while, my flatmate won some sort of paintballing competition and asked me to join him, his dad and his work colleagues, a good day apart from the fact I somehow lost £20 and my betting coupon for that day's matches, luckily it didn't come up or I would have been raging.

I really can't remember much of September tbh and weirdly it isn't drink related, I went to the Partick v Dunfermline match at Firhill and annoyingly missed Pat Clarke's goal as I was in the pisser.

The week after that I went to cash strapped Dundee's match with Morton as they need the money and it only cost me £5, I toyed with the thought of paying full price but then I thought "fuck it" it's a fiver that they wouldn't have had if I decided to go".

Later on that night I went out drinking with my flatmate and his mates, after imbibing a few in the flat beforehand playing FIFA11 and get it up ye banter flying about we got a couple of taxis to the Trades in town where I accidentally blocked the toilet with my jobby, whoops.  We then went to the Nether where Adam's drink was 'spiked' with salt by Sean in a game of one-upmanship they have going on, after discovering the salt Adam then downed the drink either bravely or stupidly you decide.  We then went to the Phoenix Bar and the Social both of which were absolutely packed.  Finally we went to Dundee Uni union, Ross didn't have have his student ID on him so we randomly befriended a nice guy called Max so he could sign Ross in.  After chucking out time, Adam was head-butted and hit in the stomach, he ran down the street with his trousers around his ankles, various football songs were sung, we grabbed a munch and got a taxi up the road.  FIFA was put back on, more drink was consumed and Ross annoyed Sean by playing Sean's guitar with a key ring, for which he got a swift smack in the nuts (after a couple of cease and desist warnings), I eventually headed to bed about 5:50.

Spent most of my week off college in Dunfermline and met up with some mates, God I forgot how much of a shit town it is to drink in.

My 30th birthday today, not doing much the now but just wait till the party, that's gonnae be some night...

I Think I Know Where Most Stuff Is Now

Got my student loan in eventually and got another payment soon after, my bank statement doesn't normally have a comma in it and doesn't any more, my wee green netbook packed up so I decided to go to Tesco and buy a better one which I had to exchange because it wasn't starting up properly, it seems like my luck with netbooks isn't particularly good, just like my Mum with Hoovers.

I'm looking for a drinking buddy here but most people have their own lives and I don't want to tag along with people who might not want me there, my flatmate was away to Hamilton on a training course last week and I went out drinking on my own ( yes, I know, incredibly sad but there is only so long you can look at the same four walls ), I got so wrecked that by the end of the night I decided it would be better for me to start drinking water, didn't help me avoid the hangover though and as the day after it was absolutely pelting down it was a good day to write off.  The thunder and lightning was bloody impressive and lit up the whole night sky, beautiful in it's own way.

College is going remarkably well at the moment, some very impressive things on the menu, one things for sure my flatmate will be well fed while I'm here as I am still a fussy eater although I'm getting better but alligator still sounds better than roast vegetables in my mind.

It should be interesting up here this week as Dunfermline comfortably beat Dundee at the weekend and I was down in Dunfermline doing the updates for dafc.net so my Pars shirt has been washed and is drying so I can wear it college tomorrow and gloat although I'm not sure many, if any of my classmates are into the beautiful game.

Beef Olives and Mustard Mash with a whisky sauce is the dish being made tomorrow in the kitchen, not my thing but I'm sure my flatmate will enjoy it, he's already looking forward to the products I will create in the kitchen although he might struggle to get any Irn-Bru sorbet off me, that stuff is marvellous.

As alluded to earlier in the blog I did use Clark's 24 hour bakery in a drunken state and how guid was a Gut Buster early hours of Tuesday morning ?  Very,  it took my mind off the fact I walked uphill for 2 miles wearing winklepickers ( yes, I'm an eejit when I'm drunk, I know ).

A party has been arranged at the flat for my 30th birthday and flatwarming so that's a thing on the calender to look forward to and hopefully I can overcome my shyness ( drink normally helps ) and apply the charm I know have somewhere deep inside me.
  

It's Getting Better Man

Finally I seem to be achieving some sort of progress regarding my student loan, apparently I should have it within the next 5-7 working days ( from Tuesday ) , thankfully I was signing on during the summer and I got my bursary ( all of which went towards paying my rent ).  I had a pop at SAAS on Facebook which seemed to get their arses in gear, I told other users of football forum http://www.pieandbovril.com/ about this and a few others went and done the same, now SAAS are telling people not to message their Facebook page as they can't reply, I like to think I had something to do with that.  *evil laugh *

At least my bills are paid for this month and I can relax a wee bit without fear of pissing my landlords off as they seem to be really brilliant people and I didn't want to look like an arsehole of a tenant by not paying my rent and billls as soon as I moved in.

I think I'm finally growing up, well it must be a sign when I'm more concerned about the fact I have no fabric conditioner rather than having no beer.

My college term started off well enough, my class on a Wednesday seems not that much different from the Restaurant Food Production with Menu Planning that I did last year obviously with a wee bit more work involved but I am confident that I won't have any problems and David Rutter seems like a much better and tolerant chef than Cameron Campbell, still has to show a wee bit more if I am to rate him as high as Gary Cromie but early signs are good.

It was unusual to have 2/3 people working on 1 batch of soup and bread as I am used to 1 person doing all that themselves but I suspect that David just wants to get an idea of where we are skills wise as we're not a class of chefs we are a class of hospitality managers.

We are doing Malaysian Chicken and Sticky Toffee Pudding next week, again pretty basic stuff but it fills some time before our service weeks start, the week before the October holiday  which I thought was quite late to start service but they're saying it's early !!  A couple of 6pm finishes now on a Wednesday which isn't too bad considering I have no idea when we'll finish  once we get into the swing of things after service starts.

It's quite weird for my locker to be 2 corridors away from the changing rooms and the fact we have to take our own tea towels in, the stock people are even worse than Joy was at Carnegie, they go daft when you use more blue roll than they think is acceptable.  Another difference is that we have to wear safety shoes in the Dundee College as outdoor shoes are not acceptable apparently while at Carnegie I wore my trainers for 2 years in the kitchen without so much as anyone giving them a second glance and SQA never said anything so I don't know what the difference is there.

I'm not looking forward to Intermediate Food Hygiene tomorrow, as well as apparently as well as being solid ( from what tutors have told me ) and having to write 500 word answers to one question, we're also gonnae find out the full impact of what food borne diseases etc. do to people, lovely...

Where's ma Fucking Money ?

I'm in a really bad mood, my attempts to find out when my student loan will be issued have been futile and I found out when I attended enrolment/induction that most of my class will get paid today so more in hope than expectation I checked my bank account but all I have is the same 20 quid that was already there.

Trying to phone SAAS is a fucking joke as well, I finally got through to them after about a week but it seems like common courtesy is beyond them as they are incapable of answering the phone or responding to e-mails and their website hasn't been updated in nearly a week so I trashed them on the feedback section.

The Student Loans Company ( England ) have been far more helpful than Saas, first of all I've been talking to human operators rather than machines which is always better and even though SAAS enjoy very much the pastime of passing the buck.  The chap from the Student Loans Company actually tracked my application and the Student Loans Company said it was approved on the 7th of the month so what's yer fucking excuse SAAS ?

I have rent and electric bills to pay on the 1st and I think I can just about scrape the money together, it just means I will have to go without food for a couple of weeks and will have to walk the 3 miles to and from college, think you can live with that on your conscience SAAS huh ?

SAAS are without doubt the worst, most incompetent organisation I have ever had the misfortune to deal with and are doing their best to put people off studying.

Hopefully this will get sorted and I will have money by Monday if not I'm stowing away on an X54, going to the Gyle and punching the pus of anyone associated with SAAS.

Should've Stayed In

So as you know I went to the Raith Rovers v Dunfermline match, I really wish I hadn't as who plays with 1 striker in a derby ?  We do apparently, no doubt McIntyre will come out with some pish about it being a 433 but Cardle and Gibson were never far enough forward to make it a 433.  After paying out nearly 30 quid and skinning myself I feel like I wasted my time yesterday and should've stayed in the house.

The game we played ok first half but it was like a soft porn film, it looks good but there's no penetration in the box.  Second half they got an extremely soft penalty which Chris Smith saved brilliantly and he had another great save minutes later then Nick Phinn rattles the bar and we may have gone on to win the game if he had scored but the wee team ( and they'll always be the wee team ) ran up the pitch and scored a quickfire double.

This was a match that we lost thanks to the manager's 'tactics' if we had played a 442 from the start we would have won but he gave the wee team far too much respect and once they went ahead there was no way back as McGurn had possibly the easiest day of his life.

It will be a while before I'm at another Pars game as I am now horribly skint ( thanks McIntyre ).

So Effing BORED !!!

I'm seriously running out of things to do here, I don't have enough money to develop a drink or drugs habit.  The flat is relatively tidy, I don't have enough clothes to justify putting a wash on, I keep hoping my mum will come up and see me just to pass some time before the Fife derby.

I'm sleeping well enough but I'm not sleeping long enough to waste most of the day which would be ideal but the flat is near a primary and a high school so I hear the school bells and youthful exuberance when I'm trying to sleep so I get up in the morning which isn't good as I would rather get up in the late afternoon.

All the dishes are done, the big kitchen bin has been emptied, I've went and got a haircut, I still need to get passport photos but I'll do that in Fife next week ( hopefully get maw to pay for them lol ).

It's a nice day and I wish the flat had a balcony, there is ciders in the fridge which I probably could get melted on but it's a bit pathetic drinking on your own.  Got a great view of the Tay and going to the beach could be nice but what male my age goes to the beach on their own without looking like a paedo ?

Hopefully the next few days go quickly and it won't be long before I'm holdiing a cool pint in the Abbey Hotel with a few hundred other Pars and we're singing naughty songs.

One of the major problems for me is that I don't know anyone up here and that if I go into a pub here myself I just look like a sad alkie.

At least my enrolment day is wednesday so that's less than a week away and I'll get to know the people who are in my class and hoping there will be good banter and some nice talent as well ;)

Freshers' week should be good and I should get to know people but it isn't for a couple of weeks yet but at least it doesn't clash with a Pars game.  Perhaps the legendary Gordie charm will make an appearance and I might pick up a wee bird but I've learnt the hard way that women are an unneccessary distraction if you're in a long term relationship so I'm not looking for any more than a wee bit of fun at the moment, wahey !!

Filling Some Time

Getting frustrated now with very little to do, I went and my hair cut and that's something that I normally have to get continually nagged to death to do.

Having not long found out about Clark's 24 hour bakery I went and had a wee look and their pies are absolutely tremendous even though there seems to be a wealth of choice so I can see me utlitising that while absolutely pissed out my skull during my stay here.

There is tons of shall we say ethnic minorities here, I have never seen so many non-white people in my nearly 30 years on Earth, in Dunfermline there is a few Muslims, some Chinese, a variety of Europeans and about 4 black people.  It is most definitely a bit of a culture shock for me but I'm not one for being racist so live and let live.

I am now at the point where I'm pricing deep fat fryers and buying household items just to pass time and getting annoyed when I forget to buy a new toilet brush ( seriously how sad is that ?)  I returned from seeing my family to find it broken, keep meaning to ask my flatmate what happened there.

Ah well, at least there's only 3 days until the Fife derby, and 7 days until my enrolment day, there's some housekeeping to be done in Fife  on Monday and Tuesday so at least there's SOME stuff to do.  I've even been doing dishes constantly and I HATE doing dishes and it's a woman's job.

Some Random Observations and Notes After 2 Weeks in Dundee

There is some quite significant differences between Dunfermline and Dundee, on a Sunday the city centre of Dundee is still quite busy, busier than Dunfermline during a weekday even, on a Sunday in Dunfermline you could launch tumbleweed down Dunfermline High Street pretty much unobstructed unless Dunfermline are at home as women try to get out of their man's way as more often than not there is some very angry Pars ( though hopefully not that often this season).

There is also quite a bit of difference between Travel Dundee and Stagecoach Fife as well as Travel Dundee being better value and quicker their warning signs on their emergency exits are much better as well, Stagecoach Fife: Penalty for improper use: a fine I can't remember the value of.  Travel Dundee: improper use could result in serious injury or death.  Haa !!!  Telt  !! ( To borrow a phrase from http://dundeebarryleighgriffiths.blogspot.com/,  read it it's hilarious and dundeebarry is a guid cunt).

When I go to Tesco I have to walk through an area called Charleston which I have told is less than reputable and I can see why, first off it contains a street called Leith Walk which is never good and it looks like Abbeyview during the late 80s/early 90s which if you're unfamiliar with Dunfermline was the worst possible place in Dunfermline during those years, it has done something to try to restore it's reputation but you know mud sticks.

When I'm out of Dunfermline for any particular length of time then I tend to develop a soft spot for a local team and while I'm a Par first and foremost and always will be I feel myself leaning towards Dark Blue rather than Tangerine which is quite strange as I've always liked the colour orange/tangerine and admired the way United play and always wanted a shirt in that colour as despite my extensive collection of shirts I don't have one and getting one will be a mission I will embark on during my stay in the City of Discovery.

Having asked the good users of football site Pie and Bovril about when I should expect my student loan I feel a wee bit more comfortable about my finances but will fully relax when I see it in black and white from the Student Loans Company as I am desperate to get to Stark's Park on Saturday and have a few pints with the likes of Wedge( who I still owe a pint from last season at Stenhousemuir), Lawman and Lee in the Abbey.  The away stand on Pratt Street is going to be rocking #  Enough, enough, six fingers up her...#  oops that's a bit rude, better not...

Lazy Saturday

My landlord and his son(also my flatmate) were finishing the wallpapering of the hall on Saturday morning, I have finally got used to my new pit so I didn't get up till yon time and because I am absolutely hopeless at anything DIY related spent the whole afternoon on my netbook and watching Gillette Soccer Saturday insead of offering to help as I would just get in the way (my excuse and I'm sticking to it), I did stick some rubbish in the bin outside, go me !!

My body may be in Dundee but my mind and heart were at East End Park where Dunfermline Athletic were playing Greenock Morton, reading the updates on dafc.net it seemed like only a matter of time before Morton were going to score but then the unthinkable happened and Andy Kirk and Dunfermline stole a 2-0 victory.

This sets it up nicely for the encounter between Raith Rovers and The Pars as both teams are two for two and will surely go a long way to determining if we're to be realistic title challengers this season.

Hopefully I'll be able to get to this game as I've yet to get to a Pars league game this season but train fare to Kirkcaldy 12.10, entry to the game 16 quid, a few pints undetermined amount,  scoring another late winner v the wee team FUCKING PRICELESS

A Slight Problem

So I nips to the toilet for a pee and tries to flush a couple of times, but no reaction, I say to my flatmate, he checks the cistern and there's no water in it and no water coming out the taps, he checks with the council and there's some kind of problem with the water and it's been switched off.

Now this poses a bit of a problem now, my ex-girlfriend has made me aware she's stalking me on Facebook so I'm feeling physically sick and also I REALLY need a jobby so my gut is doing somersaults.

I really hope the water's back on soon cos I've got a turtle's heed poking oot....


Thankfully the water was back on about 10 and I had one of my more enjoyable jobbies.

Gees a Joab

Today I decided to go to Dundee College to ask if they knew anything about when SAAS pay the loans, but I may as well have been talking Swahili as all I got from them was "phone SAAS ".

Some absolute rockets in the Kingsway area, one prick in a BMW saw fit to give me the finger as I used the pedestrian crossing to cross the road, oh the scoundrel that I am, and then a weird looking couple having a domestic at the bus stop across from the college, thankfully the bus wasn't too long.

Armed with a pile of CVs I went into Dundee City Centre to see who was advertising vacancies, I knew that Twin City Cafe was needing staff as they had posted on the Job Centre website so I fired one in there, the Old Bank pub were also accepting CVs so they got the privilige of my professional life history, Ernest Jones and Ramsdens say they needed application form to be filled in so I took them back to the flat and completed the details ( read wrote a load of pish ).

I doubt Ramsdens will take me on as I pretty much fucked my credit rating while staying in Dunfermline, it's a long story, I might blog it some time but not just now.

Needing a job badly as I don't know when I get my student loan and I have rent and bills to pay on 1st September, I start college induction on 25th August but perhaps more importantly I want to go to the Fife derby between Raith Rovers and The Pars, and that takes up train fare, entrance fee and BOOZE so if anyone knows any jobs going in Dundee preferably in hospitality as retail is shit but beggars can't be choosers please let me know and QUICKLY !!!!

Cheers

Settling In

On the Monday I decided to go exploring round the local area and ended up in Invergowrie so I thought might as well keep myself fit and walked into Dundee City Centre from there via Perth Road. 

When I go into to the City Centre now I always walk as it's all downhill and it keeps me fit.

Finding Scotts the Butchers Steak Burgers 50p each has to be a great find, I was gutted at missing the game at Falkirk Stadium involving my beloved Pars, I went to Dundee v QoS but it's just not the same if you have no feelings towards either side.

Sunday night there was a massive fire at the old Thomson's warehouse in Dunfermline, that's just bloody typical isn't it ?  I stay there all my life and nothing interesting happens but I'm gone a week and it all goes mental.  I despair...

Moving in Day

My Uncle took my Mum and I to Dundee, my Mum wasn't going to come up but I think she was being nosy and want to see the flat for herself as I have been known to accept things that are less than perfect in the past.

We nipped in to my Gran's on the way up and she went on about how I needed a haircut and to be fair she has a point as I look like a hippy Frankie Boyle at the moment.

The drive up was fairly uneventful apart from the ever changable Scottish climate switching from pissing down to glorious sunshine every 10 minutes.

We got to the flat where my new landlord was waiting to give me my key and answer questions and after my Mum and Uncle had a cup of tea and a nose round the place they left me to it and I unpacked and waited for my flatmate to come in and show me where Tesco was.

Then my flatmate and I went to the weirdest Tesco since the Mercat in Kirkcaldy, a car park on the bottom floor, a travelator up to the store on the first floor and the cafe on the second floor.

The rest of the day/night was fairly uneventful

Some background info

I realise writing a blog about myself may be seen as egotistical but what the hey, I'm bored, hopefully you will be able to see the self-deprecating humour in the blog.

I have been studying Intermediate 2 and Higher Hospitality at Carnegie College for the past 2 years and during the last year I made clear my intentions of studying the HNC in Hospitality but due to lack of interest I had to pursue other options so I applied to other colleges including Forth Valley (Falkirk), Adam Smith (Kirkcaldy), Telford (Edinburgh), Glasgow Met and of course Dundee College.

Of those options Dundee proved to be the most impressive so I posted on a few websites that I was looking for a house or flatshare which proved to be very successful as I viewed a couple of flats and settled on one in the Menzieshill area of the city and moved in on the 1st August.