Looking over my shoulder

After last weeks marathon things have been a bit easier this week with just a couple of days in Portsmouth. So quiet in fact that I even got to watch the sky blues less than impressive performance against Bristol City in the FA cup. It was Micky Adams's last game in charge. I know football managers get well rewarded for what they do, but it can't be nice to be in that position. I guess it doesn't matter how much work he did coaching, scouting and trying to get the best out of his players who seemed to lose the ability to play football, he was judged on results and they were poor.

I could never do such a job, it's just so unstable, never knowing whats around the corner.

SJA at the moment is a bit peculiar, I get the feeling that somethings going on that I know nothing about. I get the feeling that I aught to be cautious and choose my words carefully. After all, walls have ears. It's no secret that I've always seen the divisional officers role as a stepping stone to bigger and better things. I am ambitious and want to progress, but this should not be seen as not caring or having commitment to my present role. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wonder if anyone else could do a better job, and who else would apply.

Perhaps I'm just being paranoid and it's all just idle speculation, but there's one thing with St. John, that's expect the unexpected.

1047 miles!

That's how far I've driven this week, and it's not including the trip to Cardiff last Saturday. It's been one of those difficult weeks where I've travelled the length and breath of the country.

The week started with our sja sector meeting on Monday. Unusually it was a friendly good natured affair, although I can remember being really downhearted at the time to be missing out on the opportunity to go on duty at the speedway in brum. Now not many people know this, but the reason I joined sja back in 1989 was so I could go on duty at the speedway. Anyway, 18 yrs later I've yet to have that chance.

Talking about sja, I kinda feel like I've hit the buffers a bit. Because I've been working really quite hard these last couple of months, I've not been able to attend a couple of requals, so my defib qualification has lapsed. Now I'm quite disheartened by this, and i did make an attempt, as did several others on my behalf to keep up my competence. Sometimes I think those people who sit in their nice little offices don't really understand the fact that not everyone works 9-5 and gets to go home at the end of the day. There just seems to be no allowances made.

So where to now? Well I'm not about to throw in my fleccy jacket, but then work comes first. I don't think I can keep up with the increasing training demand being placed upon me, so something has got to give, or some compromise made. I't going to be tough, whatever I decide, and i'm bound to upset someone.

I'll probably put more on here as it develops.

So yeah, it's been a hard week, but the rest of the month looks not so bad. I even get to go to the football on Tuesday.

The start of the weekend

Tonight we did program planning at SJA. I'm really kicking myself at the moment because it seems like an opportunity missed. Basically it's business as usual with a program that is virtually identical to last year. There were a few positives, and at least I was able to get some of my ideas across. With any luck we can use the first few months of the year to plan the remainder.

Don't get me wrong, I think what we're doing is fine, but I just think we can do more to improve. There's no sense in standing still and loosing the initiative.

I'm worried that I'm really going to struggle to keep my qualifications up this year, what with work increasing. I think I'm going to have to consider letting something go. I'm not sure what yet, but it'll be a hard decision.

Anyway onto lighter matters, I'm off to Cardiff tomorrow to watch the blaze play. For me ice hockey would have to be one of the highlights of 2006, as for the most part it fits in with my life quite nicely. Not to mention the fact that the fans are great and the prices reasonable. It's nice to get away from the hassle of everyday work and St. John and just go and have an evening of enjoying myself.

If Coventry win both games in regulation time this weekend then they'll go top of the league. I have to say, after supporting the Sky Blues for so long it's a nice feeling believing that we might win something. But lets not get to carried away, although I have put in an order for the league winning picture :-)

So probably no post until Sunday, so bye for now.

First post of 2007 - Finally!

What happened I hear you cry. Where did this big new year blog post go? Well to be honest, once I'd eaten my curry on NYE i felt absolutely shattered and nearly didn't make it to midnight. I think I might of picked up a bug or something as I felt really under the weather on New years day. To make matters worse, the ice had melted at the skydome! This meant the game had to be postponed until the following day, when of course I was in Aberdeen. Still thanks to Mr Ice Hockey, I got regular updates and the result was a guddun.

So i've been in Aberdeen this week, not a lot to say really, fairly average week, although I nearly missed my flight due to leaving work late. I'm still toying with the idea of going back to BA, but I do enjoy getting home that little bit earlier.

Right, SJA, what are we going to do in '07? It's something that has been on my mind almost constantly for the last few months. I keep asking myself the question, How can we make it better this year? To be honest i'm not entirely sure, it's a hard one to call.

When I first joined the division, I was the youngest member by, what, probably two decades. Now probably half the division are younger than me. Now this is both good and not so good. Youth brings much needed energy and enthusiasm to the division, but then younger members often get Saturday jobs, and end up going off to University.

So what's the best way? If you try and please everyone, it's likely no one will be satisfied. But If we target the divisional program, then people will pick and choose.

It's difficult, and I haven't got any easy answers, so c'mon folks lets have some comments here.

Anyway here's a list of aims for the new year:

• Better internal PR, Lets beat Bournbrook*
• An annual 'event' that is the best in Coventry
• Six-ish 'Keystone' events that the program is centred around, concentrating on a different set of skills. a la the grand prior scheme, but for adults??
• Individual personal development plans
• Recruitment. Targeted or general?

Anyway that's it for now, more this weekend.....Hopefully.

*Disclaimer - Bournbrook are really really good at what they do, they are an example to us all.