The Mr X factor 15: Christmas 2007 - Easter 2008

Christmas in Barcelona - Work at London Ambulance Service - Project Managment qualification - Knee operation - visit to Wembley Stadium - Easter in Somerset.

For Barcelona trip photos visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157603787199684/

For Somerset trip photos visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidhodgkinson/sets/72157604232135578/

Hi all – It's almost April, so I am completely overdue for an update of adventures and happenings...

Christmas seems (and is!) a long time ago now, but it involved a relaxing 10-day break in Barcelona, with friends Rebekah & Mark Zwies, sister Julie Z, + John and Jannah Dennison + their 15 mth old son, Theo – quite the character. We hired a sunny and spacious 3rd floor apartment in Sitges, 30 km SW of Barcelona, on the coast.

My first night was spent at Barcelona airport, after my flight was delayed out of London Luton. I got my luggage at about 11.30pm, by which time the train and bus to the coast had stopped. Faced with the choice of a 60-euro taxi ride or an adventure, I chose adventure, and found myself a place to sleep in the airport, tucking myself away under an escalator having made a makeshift sleeping mat out of my clothes and some flattened cardboard boxes I found. With ear plugs in and my night eye-patches on, must have looked quite the sight! Despite the constant hum of the elevator, I actually got a good sleep until about 5.30am, when an airport security guard found me, waking me up by smashing his baton on the escalator underside, and saying 'Hola, hola?'.

Not knowing who it was at this stage, I stayed still – hoping he would go away. That didn't work, so I stirred. 'Habla Ingles?', I responded, to which he said no, no, then very slowly and clearly, 'You cannot stay here!'. I started to pack away my gear, and was doing so, when Mr Security Guard (we'll call him Manuel – I guess he must have been from Barcelona!) suddenly left – seemingly called away to a far more important problem.

The teacher in me figured he would be back to check I had moved on at some stage, so I finished packing, then dozed for half an hour, before being woken by a very agitated Manuel, smashing his baton even more violently on the escalator underside – really not happy I was still there. I said 'uno momento, por favor', grabbed my suitcase and emerged from my hideaway, into the waking airport's concourse - closely followed by Manuel and menacing baton. I headed to the just-opened cafe, for a coffee and croissant, and then found the train for Sitges. Feeling invigorated after my overnight adventure, I finally rendevouzed with the rest of the gang, who had made it to the apartment earlier the previous night.

The holiday involved the usual chilling out with good friends and compulsory Christmas Day roast meal (delicious!). From Boxing Day, we checked out Barcelona over a few days – firstly with a tourist bus ride around the city, to help us get a feel for what we wanted to see. I hired a bike for the duration of the stay and managed to cycle around the city a fair bit, checking out the 1992 Olympics site and Olympic museum, Sagrada Familia, Park Guell & Mt Tibadabo, the Spanish maritime museum, among other things. There was plenty I didn't see though, as there is so much to do in Barcelona, so I might try to get back there some time – though that's a difficult decision, as it is at the expense of visiting somewhere new! We also got down to the Sitges township & waterfront a few times, which was lovely & relaxing, and would be fantastic in summer – just a beach paradise. A particular highlight was a relaxing last day of 2007. I cycled slowly along the waterfront on a beautiful blue day, stopping to look back along the coast and out into the Mediterranean Sea. I had a beer at a waterfront hotel, reflecting on 2007 and looking ahead to 2008. Then I cycled back the way I had come, and round a few bays on the other side of Sitges, where I had a coffee and listened to some music, before heading back to the apartment for New Year's Eve together. We had another lovely meal together, then played some board games, seeing in 2008 at midnight with a shot of port. We flew back to London on January 2nd. Next day, I had this strange thing called work to go back to! I've now been with the London Ambulance Service since the week before Christmas, working on a three-month programme to spend not an inconsiderable money before the end of the financial year, improving their service (and to avoid a massive underspend!). It's been a friendly place to work, and my line manager, who was pretty formal in my interview has turned out to be pretty laid back and informal, so it has been fun. One frustrating thing has been having to chase some people for regular project updates, when you know it's not a priority for them, and they simply won't deliver. But overall, a good vibe, and I have never appreciated a job more, after last year's unemployment.

The good news is that they have asked me to stay on for another six months, which I've agreed to. This is really good , as my contracts up to now have been three months only, which tends to roll round pretty quickly. I'll also be leading on a project, managing the re-development of their computerised inventory system store, so am looking forward to being more of a central role in making things happen.

Probably with this in mind, my manager put me through a week-long project management course in early March, called PRINCE2 (Project in Controlled Environments). This is the key public sector project management methodology qualification to have, so I was really pleased to be able to have a go at getting it.

Held near the Monument in the City of London, it was an intense and interesting week, with tonnes of info to absorb, evening homework and 2 exams to pass, the last one, a 3-hour scenario based exam on Friday morning. It was pretty classic to remember and use all the exam strategy tips I used to pass on to my students at secondary school when they took their exams! I have to wait 6 weeks to hear if I passed that one, but think I have done enough. We had an excellent trainer, and a good mix of 15 people from all sorts of different sectors (4 from LAS), and it felt pretty good walking across London Bridge on Friday afternoon, having finished a demanding week and a pressure-cooker exam.

On the health front things have continued to be a challenge and to be honest, I have been really frustrated. I finally had my knee operation on 18 January, and bizarrely they found nothing wrong with my cartilage. Why is there never anything clearly 'wrong'? Just chronic aches and pains which can't seemingly be explained.... It was quite shock to be told there was nothing wrong – just caused more questions, when I expected to be on the road to recovery after the knee op. I had an MRI scan 2 weeks ago (don't begin to ask why they didn't do that first), and will hear the result of that in early May.

As a result of a sore L knee I have leant more on my R heel and that has got worse, and is pretty much now constantly achy, which is limiting me getting out and about – essentially, my bike is my wheelchair. Am still seeing the medics about this. The orthotics/foot inserts I got prescribed before Christmas have helped clear up some achy symptoms in my back/legs/calves, which is great, but they have not alleviated the heel pain. For those inclined I would your appreciate prayers for God to free me from this mysterious and chronic condition in my life. At the end of the day my ultimate hope & trust is that the Lord is in control, even though it seems not, and that He will work His purposes in me through this. Am also encouraged to keep praying for a solution and healing.

One thing I haven't tried until now, is to get my core strength stronger, as I am terribly weak in my abs/gluts/well basically everywhere! Have wondered for a while if this might have anything to do with my problems, so I have hired a personal trainer of late, recommended to me by a friend. At the moment this involves weekly workouts at the Paddington Recreation ground in Maida Vale, doing heaps of different ab exercises. It has been fun overall, and even though I've only just started, I am starting to detect the difference from week to week. I have a long way to go to get strong, but it's good to have a focus and it helps get some of my frustration out. And perhaps the weakness may link to the heel pain.

Things done in London in the last 3 months involve:

• A football trip with Nics & Serge, Angela + funky family friends, Anne and Colin, to watch Aston Villa lose 2-1 to Fulham, with an awful performance – very disappointing, but well done Fulham, who clearly wanted it more;
• My first visit to Wembley Stadium, to watch England play Switzerland in a friendly match. Went with Kiwi mates, Danny Hayes and Rob Edgecombe. Not even David Beckham got invited to this one! England won 2-1. OK game, amazing stadium;
• Inspiring and enjoyable visit to the Cotswolds for our church's inaugural weekend away – some great teaching on Ephesians 4:11-13. Also went away to Hertfordshire on a church Alpha course weekend away, in late February.
  

Oh, and after 22 months living in a pretty small room, surrounded by my gear stacked up to the ceiling, our flatmate Jo moved out and I finally got myself a bigger room – which has been simply lovely. So really enjoying my new set up, and the chance to spread out a bit!

The weather here is now getting milder and warmer, although fairly stormy these last 2 weeks. It is now light at 7am and 6pm, and nice to know it should (never guaranteed!) be warm and light for the next 7 months :)

Easter provided a great opportunity to get away and have 4 days off work. I headed to the West Country for the second time (previously in 1982!). Sister Nicola and I took the train down to Somerset, where we stayed near Bridgwater with family friends. It was pretty cold and windy, but we took the West Somerset railway steam train to Minehead on Saturday and went for an invigorating coastal walk/bike in the afternoon, before retreating to the pub for shelter and a lovely lunch!

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and discussing travel, our parents(!), and many other things with our lovely hosts, Mike and Enid. It was also great to get out of London and see the countryside.
With the exciting news filtering through from home, that my six-year old nephew Adam, loves cricket and wants to play for the Black Caps one day(!!!), I have been inspired to make sure I get some tickets to see the NZ team when they tour England in May/June. Having had a stunning 3 weeks touring Australia and watching the Black Caps win 3 from 3 in 2002, I am convinced cricket is the best sport to holiday to. So I have managed to get tickets for all of the second test at Old Trafford in late May.

I will be heading up to Lancashire for the long weekend with fellow NZ cricket fans, Rob Edgecombe, Danny Hayes and Hamish Stockwell. Totally looking forward to that. When we watched the NZ cricket team play in Australia, we won three from three, so are hoping that we will be the winning factor in England. Clearly something needs to change, as we are staring down the barrel v. England right now, in the third test in NZ.

The week prior to that, I will make my first visit to 'the home of cricket' – Lords, to watch the third & fourth day of the first test between NZ v England. This will be a very special two days. There is nothing like supporting your team away from home. I just hope we front up and perform after the 3-0 humiliation on the last NZ tour here. Goodbye Fleming and all the best Vettori. Bracewell, please resign soon!

That's all for now folks. Hope you are well.

Dave :)