Silkmen 6 Hatters 0
The fabulous Macclesfield Town FC beat Stockport in the local derby on Monday 6-0. I should be overjoyed but we have friends who support lowly Stockport and I cannot take much pleasure from seeing them lose so badly. I would have been able to gloat if the score was just 2-0. What makes it worse is that Stockport lost earlier in the season 6-0 and so I texted our friend saying that I was hoping for another 6 goal thriller with no expectation of this coming true. Also Stockport are bottom of the league and were demoted from League division 1 last year. Therese joked yesterday that the Stockport manager was probably writing his CV and I subsequently checked the BBC website and yes he, Chris Turner, has resigned. The Hatters are in real trouble.
Macclesfield Town have their own problems though have being asked to pay £300,000 before 31st January 2006. The club has been fined due to irregularities in invoices for building contracts for modifications to a stand. Allegedly monies had been received from the Football Foundation before contractors have been paid and false invoices created. Hence the fines and costs have been awarded against the club. For a Premiership club this would be no problem but for Macclesfield it is another matter. They have the smallest average crowd in the football league - around 2000. Doing the maths they need about £150 per supporter by end of January. I am sorry but I am not going to pay my share – the ticket prices are high enough.
Anyway the good news is that Macclesfield, if they survive the financial problems, are in the Northern semi-finals of the LDV Cup with the finals held in Cardiff in April. Come on you glorious Silkmen...
New Job
Started a new job this week. Feels just like going back to school after a long summer holiday (I have had 6 months off). New socks, smart shirt and polished shoes.
Anyway it has been a good first week lots of new people to meet. My new boss is very approachable, knowledgeable and helpful. She has been with the company for a long time so she knows everyone and all the necessary procedures.
Project Management at my new company is very different to my last. At the new one you have someone to do everything for you. Take 'Risk Management', rather than do it yourself you have a risk management person that you call and they talk to all the stakeholders in the project and form a risk log for you. It means you do get time to focus on the real Project Management issues.
Travel was always going to be the biggest issue with my new job, however, this week it has been fairly straight-forward only hit one jam on the M6 and with the benefit of Sat-nav just turned onto the A roads and arrived in about the same time. Would not buy a car without Sat-nav now. It was a miracle that I ended up with Sat-nav. Still not looking forward to the inevitable snowy days this winter though.
I stayed at 2 B&B's last week. The Stone House <
http://www.stonehouseguesthouse.co.uk/> which is very close to Telford and the Mill House <
http://www.ercallmill.co.uk/> which is in the countryside. Both offer a friendly welcome and great food. Met a resident at the second B&B, Steve, a linguist specialising in German - fasinating guy.
Really looking forward to my second week and the Christmas break!
"The Descent" Horror movie
Watched “The Descent” on Friday night to see if all the reviews were accurate and if it would scare the pants of me. Yes they were right. A movie well worth viewing unless you are an avid pot-holer and want to continue the sport. I have never been caving myself, closest I have been is visiting Ingleton falls which is like comparing chalk and cheese (perhaps not even that close). The movie is an 18 certificate.
The movie thrills by introducing many of the most deep rooted human fears; fear of the dark, enclosed spaces, dark water and the unknown (when they realise they are not alone in the cave). The only criticism I would have is that some of the action sequences are slightly too fast. It looks like the playback speed has been increased. Not as scary as “Alien” for me but that is probably a good thing.
An excellent horror movie well worth watching. It much akin to watching the last 15 minutes of a Macclesfield Town Football Club home match - more tension than I can handle.
http://www.thedescentthemovie.com/http://www.ingletonwaterfallswalk.co.uk/
