John Douglas Eccles

17/10/201517/10/2015

Our Autumn Break -‘Six go mad in Whitby’!

We have just returned from our autumn break in the north east Yorkshire coast with two other couples. We had a great time sightseeing, eating, drinking and generally having a great time. For one week a year we become Saga Louts as my son calls us.

We always get together for a midweek break (Monday to Friday) this time of the year because one its cheaper and two we are all needed for various babysitting duties at the weekends.

This years destination was Whitby a great favourite of mine mainly because it has a great atmosphere and its like revisiting your childhood because of the whole feel of the place with its small winding streets and very friendly people. Not to mention the Magpie Cafe, the best Fish and Chip restaurant in the world (In my view).

We stayed a little out of town in the next bay up the coast Sandsend and as the name suggests it does seem to be the place where the Sand does indeed end.

Now because of the scale of economics three couples splitting the bill for accommodation means that you can rent somewhere rather plush, and it certainly was. We had rented the ground floor of a rather substantial cottage that overlooked the sea, a great way to start any day.

At our age we all need our creature comforts such as ensuite bathrooms, large dining kitchens and comfortable lounges that when we are ready for a nap the seating swallows you up so you are ready to start the next activity.

We always try at least one thing we haven’t tried before on our holidays so I was intrigued by the suggestion that we should spend a day on the North Yorkshire Railway. Now my idea of trains is that you get on when they arrive and get off when you reach your destination with the minimum of fuss in-between, so what could possibly make this day anything special to write home about.

How wrong was I, it was magical. There is something special about travelling on a steam train in a carriage that was built about the same time that I was born. The smell of the smoke from the engine, the seats that when I was young used to make my legs itch after an hour or so whilst sat in my short school pants. The same feeling was muted by my longer trousers.

The carriage didn’t have wifi or charging points which meant that people actually talked to each other, asking each other where they lived and were they are staying, it was fantastic.

The best thing of all was the breathtaking scenery rushing passed the windows with whips of smoke passing by every now and again. I also discovered that strange pastime that we used to have of sitting waiting for trains and not actually doing anything but thinking and looking around. When was the last time you had the luxury of that activity.

It was the sheer scale of the operation of running at the railway that had me amazed, most of the staff are volunteers and mostly over the age of retirement and the effort to keep it all working must be epic.

Now the day after I did something I haven’t done for a while and that is we actually used public transport to get around, a strange experience for me an ardent car user and commuter. Now this was very different to the experience the day before.

Our trip was to Saltburn a pretty little coastal resort town about an hour up the coast. The buses were modern with all the latest technology , talking destination screens that told you the next stop and drivers who actually waited for people to be sat down before starting off again. As the day before people were actually taking to each other, it was very enjoyable.

As the bus made its way up the coast away from Whitby it became clear that this coast does suffer from lack of employment opportunities and the further north we travelled the more apparent it became.

I was listening in to a discussion that two people on the bus were having about the closure of the steel plant at Redcar and the effect it will have on these communities.

These things when they happen are devastating to any community that they are in but in these fragile economies on the Northeast coast it will hit them especially hard.

I have been made redundant twice in my life and it is a traumatic time. All you can see are the bills that you have to pay (which multiplies the fear of unemployment a million fold) and the daunting prospect of trying to find a job when most of your town are also looking for the same opportunities makes for several sleepless nights.

My advice for what it is worth to these people is to look at it as an opportunity to retrain and look at doing something you would like to do. I know that it seems like cloud cuckoo land thinking but sometimes it takes something monumental to make changes in your lifestyle and these occasions are just that.

If you are worried about dwindling finances get in touch with your mortgage company and tell them of your situation, they are helpful and could offer interest only payments in the short term to help your circumstances.

If you rent see what help the benefits agency can give you and a point to bear in mind is that they don’t offer up the information readily so do your research and tell them what you are entitled to. The Citizens Advice Centres are brilliant at helping with benefit entitlements.

Take advantage of any training that will help you become more employable. This sounds like something of a luxury when you are unemployed, but look at it as an investment in you getting a job.

Look at your household budget and see how you can reduce your outgoings. I did this the first time I was made redundant and by the time we had reduced our outgoings and luxuries I could find a job five hundred pounds a month less and still be in pocket.

Above all its the support of your family and friends that will get you through the turmoil and when you look back you think that all that stress and worry was a waste of energy.

But no matter how many people told me that I didn’t believe it. It’s only looking back ten years later that I agree with them.

So instead of locking yourself away and feeling isolated, get out and meet people who can help you get back up on your feet. Opportunity never knocks on a closed door and that I have found to be very true.

So now I am back in the land of the living its as though I have never been away, Grandkids to pick up and drop off, shopping to get, chores to do and getting ready for the week to come, but at least I know that I am not in the unenviable position of the 2000 people in Redcar tonight wondering what the future will bring.

Well, at least for now, because you never know what the future has in store for you and yours.

26/09/201525/10/2015

I have officially reached my mid life crisis

Well, this week I think I have officially reached my mid life crisis. I am asking standup Comedians for advice.

I have friends a lot younger and funnier than I am who are brave enough on any given night to stand in that lonely place in a spot light and bare their souls in a hope that the audience find them funny.

Now if you are like me and lived your life in the shadows, thats a term I use for people who are less than comfortable in the spotlight but love to be around people who shine in that area, I have today had this random thought that maybe just maybe I could do this.

Now every normal person out there reading this will think why would anyone want to do this. My thoughts after what has to be said a few beers on a Friday night is that I want to make my heart beat a little faster and take myself out of my comfort zone.

Now I know this sounds like I have taken leave of what little senses but I do this every day of my working life. I am a lecturer and a producer, I have to educate, persuade and entertain classrooms full of students and clients alike.

So the optimist in me thinks rationally and I can box off the younger end however I think the folks I would struggle with the most are the bright young thirty somethings who will not have a clue what I am on about.

I meet these guys on a regular basis and when we have polite conversation (which usually means I roll my eyes at least once because of the naivety of some of these people) and they may feel as though I am criticising there achievements which I am not, I admire them for even trying in a world that is very critical of anyone who sticks there heads above the parapet.

So in this year that I am thinking of looking forward rather than backwards I need to start working on my material. So before the year is out I have set myself the challenge of having a go, even if I am rubbish at least I will have made my heart beat a little faster and you never know I might even be good at it.

As someone once said life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

19/09/201519/09/2015

The Impetuousness of Youth

Image courtesy of the BBC

What a week I have had. My world is still looking a little darker and just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse someone young shatters your world by being so unprepared for the real world of work it takes your breath away.

This individual has been given the opportunity of a lifetime in media terms, he was offered a traineeship with the BBC.

Now this is no mean feat, he managed to get on a course that people would walk over hot coals and then some to get on.

To make matters worse he then completes the first month in glorious fashion, he then goes to a three week work experience placement of which he completes two days and decides it is not for him and sacks the course off.

To me there are two significant issues with this, one he has denied someone else of this position on the course and two he thinks he will somehow be able to try again in the future.

Opportunities in life are to be grasped with both hands and completed successfully. These opportunities make you stand out from the crowd, this year another 2000 media students with come out of college without any work experience to talk about and this would have made his CV irresistible.

Put the BBC on your CV and the world is your oyster. It’s a little bit like convincing students that working at McDonalds is a good Idea, work for McDonalds for twelve months and you are almost guaranteed an interview.

It is as though we have bred a generation who expect to be a managing director straight out of college. It doesn’t happen, All opportunities happen because of hard work and being in the right place at the right time.

So ten years in the future when this individual realises that he could have put the BBC, the worlds greatest broadcaster on his cv but decided he didn’t think it was important, I can only hope he will look back and think, for the sake of three weeks I could have made myself irresistible to any media organisation on the planet.

Oh the impetuousness of youth!

04/09/201528/12/2020

My world has become a little less shiny and a little darker this week

This week I have had a shock or two. the first shock was the images of the poor three-year-old Syrian child, dead on the seashore which has affected me in ways I cannot easily explain. It’s not just a knee jerk reaction to something that every parent or grandparent dreads, it is more than that.

The photograph which some people have said sensationalises what has been happening in the Mediterranean now for months is the media industries way of selling more newspapers.

Part of the cynical media type that I am would agree with that sentiment, but the power of this photograph is that it offers the viewer no hiding place from the true horror which is that for the most part, we are individually powerless to help.

This is the first time in my life I have felt total helplessness, the dreadful feeling that I could not help even if I wanted to.

I feel deeply saddened that it takes something like this, (which has happened over 1200 times in the past couple of years) to bring it home to me, someone who lives in a nice safe haven that these people need help.

The help they need is not benefits or handouts but a safe place to live, so they can bring up their children in a place where they will not be bombed, gassed or shot at on a daily basis.

The second shock I have had is that some people who I thought I knew as decent hardworking caring individuals who without a blink of an eye are saying that is not our problem, we are overcrowded already and that they are only coming here to sponge of our benefits system. These people have broken my heart.

I am appalled by this viewpoint, as an individual I would expect that if I needed help then someone would care enough to help me just out of human decency.

My world has become a little less shiny and a little darker this week just because some people don’t care about anything unless it’s on their doorstep.

So this weeks rant is over and having calmed down little I have discovered I am not alone in thinking like this.

Amol Rajan, editor of the Independent and his team (who I have to say have hearts of lions), the people who were brave enough to have published the horrific image on the front page of the newspaper in the first place have started the #refugeeswelcome campaign. At the centre of this campaign is a petition asking David Cameron to accept that Britain takes its fair share of refugees seeking safety in Europe. At my last look, it had around 300,000 people just like me signing up to make a difference.

To David Cameron’s credit, he has apparently bowed to pressure by announcing the UK will take in “thousands more” Syrian refugees, but having a healthy distrust of politicians the key details surrounding his pledge remain anything but clear. These people need help now, not after months of prevarication that will ensue in people negotiating the detail.

The real disgrace is this whole sorry affair is that it takes the tragic death of a three-year-old boy and his brother laying on a beach to make us all act in a way we should have before the tragedy struck.

16/08/201516/08/2015

A cure for the holiday blues

Another summer break draws to a close and I am sat here on a glorious summer morning looking out over the lush green moors and the blue sky punctuated with cotton wool clouds with my cup of tea trying hard to summon up the energy to write this blog.

I have always had an issue with the last days of anything, I always feel a little unsettled and apprehensive about what’s to come. Now I am lucky in that I enjoy what I do so it’s not the thought of returning to work which does it , I suppose its the freedom of doing what I want when I like which I will miss and that doesn’t happen unless it’s a holiday.

My cure for these holiday blues as my wife calls them is to make every second of the last day count. I am sat here waiting for her to get ready so we can breakfast out at our favourite breakfast stop, Albion Farm which is fantastic.

Now thats not just me saying that, they got runner up in the best breakfast in the whole of the United Kingdom earlier this year so I will just have to try some homemade Black Pudding and Bacon.

After breakfast we will pop off to see friends in Yorkshire, across the moors which this time of year are a fantastic sight.

So another great break draws to a close and I can guarantee that within two days of being back in the office this will all seem like a very pleasant dream, whilst trying to sort out projects which involve far too much work and to short a deadline.

Just the way I like it!

22/07/201522/07/2015

Inspirational Quote

21/07/2015

46 Years ago this week man landed on the Moon

This week marks 46 years since the Apollo 11 moon landing, described by Barack Obama upon the death of Neil Armstrong as a “moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten”.

We are all living with some remnant of the technology that had to be developed for this huge achievement. It made the world sit up and watch in awe at the heroic deeds of Neill Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and the almost always forgotten Michael Collins who was left piloting the Command Module

They left for the moon perched on the top of a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on July 16th 1969. Once in orbit the astronauts travelled for three days until they entered into lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin then moved into the Lunar Module and landed in the Sea of Tranquillity.

They stayed a total of about 21 ¹⁄₂ hours on the lunar surface before lifting off in the upper part of the Lunar Module and re-joining Collins in the Command Module. They returned to Earth and landed in the Pacific Ocean on July 24.

What amazes me still is that these extraordinary people really did go were no man had gone before, they had no idea if they would survive and that does take a special type of commitment.

But What if it had gone wrong? those who know me know that I am a plan B kind of guy , the type at meetings who says if it doesn’t work what are we going to do?

NASA had every eventuality covered even down to the presidents reaction in case of the unthinkable happened. This is probably the best speech never made by a president. The speech released by the US National Archives which reveals what the president at the time, Richard Nixon, would have delivered to the world if all had not gone to plan.

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind’s most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man’s search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

The speech, written by William Safire who would later become a columnist at the New York Times, is a remarkable piece of writing, factual but almost poetic.

What is even more incredible is that Collins would have had to return to earth on his own knowing that the other two had been lost, now that is something that no amount of training can prepare you for.

I am fortunate to be of an age where I can remember the excitement of the space race, the astronaut’s, the engineers and the epic accomplishments that made me think as a teenager anything is possible.

I have sat and thought about that time on more than one occasion since and unfortunately as a species we have never had the opportunity to shine as we did in that bygone age of space exploration.

19/07/201519/07/2015

Inspirational Quote

19/07/201524/02/2017

A Great Piece of Advice

never-go-to-sleep

A great piece of advice from my mother, Its taken me till now to realise just how wise she was.

18/07/201525/10/2015

Today has been a Fantastic day

As everyone who knows me I am a sixty one year old grumpy bloke who has been around the clock (please excuse the metaphor), but today has been a good day, correction, a fantastic day.

I have watched young people who have sweat blood sweat and tears for three or more years come together along with the rest of the college to celebrate achievement at their graduation ceremony.

These students have no idea what they have achieved. They have the grace and temerity to reluctantly stand on a stage and be recognised for the hard work and sacrifice they have made to make a difference to there lives.

It’s not only the recipients that deserve the accolades, it’s the families, partners and various support people who have endured tantrums and the demands that comes with living with someone who is on a degree course.

Its days like this that make me think I do have the best job in the world. Every year I get to interview these bright young people who have the world at their feet and do not realise just how talented and gifted they are.

The one thing that comes out more than anything else is the wide eyed incredulity that is etched on the faces of these hard working individuals when they are given a handshake and a certificate that makes this type of event very special.

This expression of delight is only surpassed by the immense pride from Mums, Dads, Grandparents and siblings. This is the stuff that life is about, seeing your loved ones achieve, cheering and sharing in success. Now this type of success does not come from buying a lottery ticket, it comes from hard work and sacrifice, and families recognise this.

I will admit today I had a tear in my eye because many of these individuals who have achieved have made huge sacrifices and overcome hurdles that would have made many people in similar circumstances give up before they had started. But in spite of these hurdles have achieved great things.

Perhaps the only greater feeling is as a member of the teaching staff involved is the gratification of watching the precious cargo be successful.

So to everyone who turned up and gained recognition, I salute you. to the families who supported you and cheered enthusiastically, I salute you. but more than anything else thank you all for letting me be a part of one of the best days of your life.

All that remains to be said is that use your qualifications and experience to help the world become a better place and more importantly thank you for a great day.