Not quite a start I expected, but came down with a cold, gets worst than that though..
Author: wessexen
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I know I’ve been quiet
Its not deliberate… honest, just things have taken a change for the worst or better.
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Happy new year.. 2024 to 2025
I wrote this ahead of time, so it may well be about 7 days out of date and anything can change. So you are hopefully reading this on the 31st December 2024, that means…
Happy New Year
I hope!
So I’ll do this review thing, what happened?
- Got promoted to CO4 from CO3 in July 2024, that was a really unexpected thing to happen. I failed my first CO4 interview but I was suffering at the time and so I was expecting it.
- Learnt another trade at work. I was previously in Timings, I’m now in Train Crew and one of the things I’ve made a habit of doing now, is asking train crew for their diagrams and get feedback on how its gone, I’ve learnt a lot and so have they.
- Actually volunteered for several events at work. Worked at Ascot, Portsmouth AND Twickenham. More than I did last year.
- I don’t like talking about money, but that has got a lot better as the year has gone by.
- Seen more of the UK, done the Far North Line (Inverness to Wick/Thurso) on a really warm March day! That was a big thing as its the furthest north I’ve been. Previously, it was Dingwall. Also been to the Isle Of Man for the second or third time in my life.
- Finn and Bailey have now formed a very strong bond to me, these are 2 dogs, both setters that I haven’t talked much about but will do one day. Finn is particularly interesting as he is a rare breed.
- Joined a gym!
- Finally and this is a thing for me, been on a century old tram. Why is it big? Well, the only place you can find them next to the newer trams is Blackpool and every time I go to Blackpool, I miss them. I also did the Blackpool North tram extension not long after it opened by mistake.
The bad bits though and thus missed the mark.
- Still single which is really dragging me down
- I’ve done one unexpected thing this year and I’m not proud of it, its to do with my personal life and very few know about it (I want to keep it that way).
- I’m still living in my dads place – I live with my dad that I’ve probably never mentioned and sometimes, it gets very heated with how things go in the house. He has a physical disability but still can do things, but I feel I do a lot more than I should and it drains me.
- I’ve not done as much Trainz work as I like.
Now you may of noticed a theme, I didn’t mention the blog, which is the start. The reason I didn’t is because the first 3 bad points is the reason I started it, my mental health has been quite frankly appalling this year for stress reasons and for once, its not my job. Interestingly, I go to the office, I want to go in every day despite my dad telling me to work at home. I’ll even work as long as I can or need to on something and if I am knee deep in deadlines, I will basically work until something gives in, like I got pretty dry one day and started coughing as I was focused on my deadline. My fault entirely. Then my eyes started stinging so had to take a break. These are things I am bad at. I also bottle up a lot of problems, with the problem on the train, it had been going on for 6 months and if I am honest, its a 2 way thing. I got an interest in this individual, I’ll be open about it but what worries me is the answer of “no”. Like a lot of things, I had someone at work about halfway through the year, I knew her name anyway but I wanted to keep it quiet, however I wanted to point out something about ASD, she may of dropped loads of hints of interest I am guessing, but I was cautious because I was worried that my interpretation of “interest” is different to theirs. It’s not their fault, its a compatibility problem between the genders that we can all learn from.
Likewise, someone I travel with occasionally, yes, I have an interest, but as soon as I saw a ring on her finger, I didn’t bother, I also struggled to talk to her to begin with. However, more recently, I discovered more about her and was surprised that the ring wasn’t on her finger and interestingly, talked quickly about university and our immediate family, which I had to go away and think “Oh wait, what? I missed a trick there!”.
This is where I wonder that in the office, am I really alone with single life? I was under the impression most (I’d say 95% of them) are married at least and with happy families – if I was really honest, I actually felt pretty much alone. Likewise with my ASD difficulties, I honestly thought they were not many on the spectrum in the office and more normal. I only recognised one and that was it. The interesting thing is, I am discovering I am not the only one, although I feel alone with my journey through life and my difficulties, I’m discovering I’m working with others who have the same problem and the discussions in the pub outside of work is proving it.
So, 2025, I already know of some big changes, the company I work for is going from private to government ownership and the phrase that is being used is “Lift and Shift”, now goals I have:
- Lose weight
- Apply and become a CO5
- Actually be a bit more confident with women in particular, at the moment, I have no confidence in myself in approaching women or even talk to them, maybe make friends with them rather than look at them as potential dates? Which may lead to dates? Maybe I should start with the person on the train and just somehow get talking to her?
- I also got a lot of cleaning up to do at home and I’m selling a lot of stuff that basically has no use for me, despite my large computer collection.
The last one has been a challenge, I started this year but I’m trying to go further and further. One of the biggest things I’ve done is basically digitalise everything and whatever loose papers I have, shred them, its saved a lot of shelf space and its something I want to keep going with. Perhaps digitalise my books now I got a Kindle.
Oh and here is some hopefully interesting photos of 2024:
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Interesting look..
It’s Christmas Day in the UK and this is my local city, the City of Chichester (it’s on the south coast of the UK) and I thought I’ll take a few photos of how quite and still it is. Bearing in mind, this was all taken between 1730 and 1800
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To all my readers
Or the very few that seen this blog, as it is now a public holiday…
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Talking about old buildings
Its coming up to Christmas as my older and myself have an affectionate view on a building that sadly was long demolished. It also comes up in my work environment..
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Note to self: Dealing with passengers.
I get into a little bit of trouble but I got to be careful what I say… (more…)
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Past work..
I probably should talk more about my past and present work, yet these days, I generally don’t tend to.
Here is an item that took me around about a month and a half to draw using Microsoft Visio, way back in I think 2008, I vaguely remember being either at college or uni at the time and it was meant to be a avatar for the Trainz forum, it was! So was it’s off springs (livery).
If you want to use it, you have all right to do so, I’m not looking for money for it, unless you want to give me a donation which will be appreciated and I would say “you don’t have to give me credit”, it should be, its nice if you could give me credit, but you don’t have to.
Just Right Click or Apple Click and save as.. depending on your OS (I use a variety, so its upto you).
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Interesting thought (When I go abroad)
Yet, I’m on the avoid list in my own country with women at least…
What triggered this off is I was talking to a friend I know of, a lady I know from college and is currently elsewhere and spoke about my experiences. I mentioned that I find it difficult to get a date – well attention as well, but I didn’t mention that, unless you are J and sit opposite me saying nothing and her friends know my name.
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Things that surprise me.
Its no secret what I do for a living, however, I know staff for other operators and one gave me a discussion about their shift card one weekend that really shocked me. I could come up with something as equally in efficient, but this is sort of what I was told, I’ve used locations of similar distance and times on the network to protect the identity.
Sign on 12:00 Sign off: 18:00 NM1201 GRD Act Traction Location Arr Dep TAXI Northam Dep 13:15 Portsmouth Hbr 13:55 PASS 2E30CB Portsmouth Hbr 14:00 Southampton Ctl 14:59 PNB 450 2E35CB Southampton Ctl 16:10 Portsmouth Hbr 17:09 PNB …. And something like that… It is completely made up from my perspective, however just to give you an idea and no this is not a diagram we would ever create or even pass, the diagram has never been used on our side as Northam depot in reality doesn’t have guards of any type, only drivers. But it did happen at another TOC without guards.
Notice the problem:
– the guard gets a taxi from Northam to Portsmouth
– then gets passed to Southampton by TRAIN (if you aren’t aware, Northam Depot is very close, like a mile from Southampton Central – Portsmouth is about 25 miles away).
– THEN has their minimum 30 minute PNB (an hour and 11 minutes, should be 30 minutes plus 5 minutes each way, so 40 minutes total).
– finally,works a train TO Portsmouth Harbour…
– THEN another 30 minute PNB.
PNB = Personal Needs Break.
Now, 2 PNB’s are not unusual for guards, they can have either one 30 minute break or 2×20 minute break which has to be diagrammed between the 2hr 30 minute and 7hr mark. So at a bare minimum, the start of their break has to be somewhere starting at 2 hours 30 minutes and ended by the 7hr mark. If it falls outside these times, its not a legal diagram. (Say the break starts either at 2hr 29m or ends at 7hr 1m, its illegal). This is exclusive of walking times – i.e. they have to be added and at some stations and sidings, walking time is quite long, especially for drivers. As a standard, a lot of places unless stated are generally 5 minutes.
Now its legal, but we haven’t considered shift length, minimum is usually agreed to be SIX hours and maximum gets VERY complicated very quickly. How? Drivers are different to guards who can stay on for longer but the union gets involved and drivers often have their shift length dictated by their start time AND in some cases their end time. Confused? You will be. On top of that, you can’t extend an existing turn by 60 minutes (as a lot of them have 12 hour turnaround times, I.e. as they do a safety critical role and are under “Hidden rule 15” rules, they must have a minimum gap between shifts of 12 hours and they can only work a maximum of 12 hours which is why it exists), if you have to extend it more than 60 minutes, you have to cancel the turn and replace it with an STP turn.
So, how would I approach this? Well….. I am suspect that this is what is called an LTP (Long Term Plan) that has been “overlaid”, altered in other words, but this is where altering has problems as the duty can only be extended if it is “related work”. Otherwise, there is free reign to do what you need to with the diagram, as long as the work content remains. Due to engineering work, looks like the first part has been removed and therefore doesn’t exist.
Fair play
But if the work content is substantially changed, then the diagram has to be cancelled and reissued with the remaining work content if desired (or mixed up and re-issued as a more efficient diagram).
What I would do? Exactly that, cancel and recreate as an STP diagram, not as an LTP(O). I know a lot of you this post wouldn’t make sense, I’ve tried to explain it simply but it will be hard to follow as there is a lot agreements that go into a lot more depth, think nearer to 40 pages of agreements and that is just the start. (Sign off appears weird as I did the table in word, then forgot the sign off time, so assuming a 6 hr shift, still 1 train.)
