Blog Entry: 9 So close but yet still so far
August-September 2021
So, I have previously alluded to the possibility school and me were not a match made in heaven! This is a categoric understatement! I was gifted with a Psychophysical amalgamation of severe dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a fast explosive temper with reasonable strength for my age. Couple this with high amounts of testosterone, verging depression and a low amount of ‘shits’ given in regard to who I offended, I think you will start to conceive how the majority of my issues arose. There is one very thick silver lining to this. When you are gifted with the emotional cocktail equivalent of a vodka Redbull followed by a shot of steroids, chased down with a gram of MDMA and a tab of acid for desert! When you do figure out how to get your shit under restraint and fathom a productive way to use what you were sold as a ‘disabilities’, you suddenly realise you actually have a quite a usable skill set. It’s funny, in the constraints of school I found learning a near impossibility, but outside of school and even more so as the years pass, I’m constantly on the pursuit of new skills. Be it mechanics, flying, photography, carpentry, science, graphic design, business and even coding fucking HTML emails. I will now give massive chunks of my life to constantly learning. For example, this blog. Back in school writing two paragraphs took me hours; I hated it and I had no interest. But now I’m choosing to write a blog, with no reason other than my own desire to do so, even more I find it therapeutic.
But years have passed and given the time to excogitate why I connected with so much controversy in school it’s simple! My competency and cognitive abilities to learn are more than sufficient when allowed to absorb knowledge in a process that works with my head! So, dyslexia mean’s reading is a challenge, but that not the only way to receive information. I can very effectively learn listening to a 2x speed podcast while doing manual work, taking in new info, while working on a completely unrelated manual task. And my supposed ADHD, again this can be a benefit, my peripheral vision of what’s going on around me while also focusing on what I’m doing can effectively keep my head on a swivel. My hyperactive personality gives me explosive enthusiasm, the ability if I chose to encourage and motivate groups of people. And my aggression when focused correctly gives me a determination in pursuing a resolve to an issue far beyond the patience levels of others. Back when I was learning I could have done with some guidance on how to achieve this control and encouraged to absorb information in the way most productive to me, opposed to being insulted and encouraged with negative reinforcement. Reinforcement designed to make me conform to a learning structure that opposes me in every way. As always there is a point to all of this. The point is, I would have been a very good student if the school hadn’t tried to force me to learn, think and act in a way I don’t operate. Because of the constant suspensions, detentions and removal from trips, groups, and social events, I inevitably lost out I areas I wish I had been allowed to be involved in.
One of these was rugby and what will come as no surprise, one of the teachers I did hold respect for was my rugby teacher Mr Matthews. Mr Matthews recognised my explosive temper and hyperactive energy levels, and he realised if focused I could enjoy the sport and possibly be a good rugby player. That said as mentioned above, no sooner had I joined the team and started training was I suspended and told I wouldn’t be allowed to represent the school until I changed.
Looking back this was just another example of foolish negative reinforcement on their part, I should have been encouraged to play team sports, especially rugby. At the time I was unaware that rugby was such a close community, and that it may have been the stability I needed to get focus my temper if nothing else. So, upon leaving school and starting mechanics at Suzuki, I was placed with a mentor named Andy. Now had you asked me after 2 weeks what I thought of Andy, I would have told you with no uncertainty he was the biggest grade A (C.U.N.T) I had ever met, but he wasn’t, nowhere near actually. Andy was one of the best mechanics I worked with, and he was iron focused on me getting trained right. Obviously, I didn’t see this at the time, but in the 2-3 years I worked with him I realised I had made an error. One thing he did do was play rugby, this did go some way to explain his crooked walk, wonky jaw, and disturbing lack of teeth! This had me thinking maybe I should give this another go. Soon after he left, I joined Bishops’ Stortford Rugby Club. Now I am not a good player, I don’t know the rules very well but didn’t matter as I was quick. They put me on wing and for the season I did play it was a lot of fun, well right up until I got 3 new holes in my right knee, courtesy of a 20+ stone behemoth! I somehow missed him until he was on me, I hit the ground and he ran over me like a freight train over a cardboard box. Fast forward to August 20th, 2021, and over 14 years on, I’m in a bar called The Texas Gate in Cochrane getting told by a large New Zealander called Ash who worked the doors that Cochrane had a team called the Grizzlies. That week on the 24th I had my 1997 rugby boots laced up with my 1995 Adidas shin pads firmly on, I was wearing some old Cotton Trader faded white school shorts and a thick Cotton Trader Budweiser rugby top! A top that was older than all the juniors and some seniors. It took me one training session to realise I was still shit, no one wears shin pads, and I looked like some1990 English time traveller, but I fucking loved it. The Grizzlies are a committed technical team, I knew I would need to do a reasonable amount of learning to be effective! Jess said very little but knew this wouldn’t be a one-time thing!
This week had been an important week! I had sat my Red Seal exam for mechanics on the 19th, this is the one that gives me the licence to work on cars anywhere in Canada. I would also need it if I was to apply for PR under a trade skill. On the 23rd I got confirmation I had passed with 86%. This was at least one stress done with.
As said, my boots were aged more than a 25-year-old Glenfiddich, but they hadn’t failed me before! So, there was some disappointment when after only 4 training sessions they had an issue…. By issue I mean the fell apart, they plastic had gone brittle over the past 26 years and that was all she wrote, the photo says it all! Unfortunately, that hadn’t been the only failure, the mighty Outlander needed a new battery as it was bulging at the sides and there was a 2cm gap between the positive terminal and the top of the battery! On removal I could see it had probably had a hard life, and going by the pick and pull label, I was defiantly not the first owner.
One cool thing, on the 5th we ordered our bamboo business card. I know we will have to get some disposable ones at some point, but I at least wanted to get one reusable RF and QR code one. Some of this is my geek indulging but there is lots of logic. This gives the ability to tap on a phone or get them to read the QR code and it will quickly exchange details and save all my links directly to their contacts, without doubt the most logical way to transfer details. It’s all little steps at the moment, as we are still looking into the company side of things and I’m just trying to be as prepared as possible.
At this point Jess is full steam ahead at school, in her first semester she was in the top 1% and awarded a chance to gain entry to a selective sorority, not to mention her GPA is looking very strong! She also has found a decent couple of friends, one of them is a Shanghai girl called Xiaowen. Since moving we have done very little due to our tight funds, and we decided a trip to Banff with Jess, Xiaowen, Dani, myself, and Lucy the dog was in order. The plan was, when we landed in Canada we would spend our first day in the sulphur mountain hot springs, but thanks to lots of quarantining and the increased costs involved in moving that never happened. For anyone who has not visited Banff, the springs do smell like eggs and fart, but it’s very relaxing sitting in the hot natural spring water looking at the mountains, it’s one of my favourite places in Banff. But in typical form, due to an ear infection Jess could not come in, so instead her and Lucy the dog could only but watch. It’s strange, but nice how quickly we have found some good friends that have very similar enjoyments. The day was topped off with our first visit to Tommy’s, a very well-known bar on Banff Highstreet and some tacky Banff Highstreet photos. Now don’t get me wrong, Cochrane is nice, but we came here to live in the mountains and instead we live in an ever-growing town/city and I drive 2 hours a day into the city for work. The city is one place I have absolutely no interest in, this depressing situation will have to change soon!
Over the next weeks I couldn’t fault the hospitality of my employers, Vichi and Shawn. They got takeaway’s way more than they should have, not that I was going to stop them. Vichi being Vietnamese, meant all the home style food he picked was on point! We had missed out on the stampede, but no worries as Cochrane hosted its own rodeo, and as it happened one of our new friends Pam had said we could sit in the VIP tent. Basically, where the investors and those make the event happen sit. This was cool! Essex does not do rodeos. We do have cowboys, but most of them claim they can fix your roof, cut your trees, or resurface your driveway, they take your money and do a half-arsed job, and never to be seen again! This was a first! Pam the legend had also got us a little behind scenes tour, I was so happy I had come camara armed. I was very happy when they asked if I wanted to ride something, but Jess immediately did all she could to convince me this was a bad idea. I have never ridden anything more than a cob, one you had to give incentives to get moving, so in hindsight was a good call. We went back for the second day and not only was the show good but so was the complementary food. The only problem was the 1400+ photo I took. Always hard when you’re at a busy event on MP5 mode, it took the next 3 weeks to sift edit and export the photos in my spare time.
It was September and to make up for not doing much on Jess’s birthday coupled with my birthday in the coming months and our anniversary that had just passed it only seemed fitting to go to Banff once again, but this time for the Fairmont afternoon tea!
Now the two times we had been before, we sat in the upper eating area surrounded with views of the mountains, the pace was calm, and the food was on point and plentifully. Unfortunately, this time we were seated in a corner booth in the downstairs area as they had moved where afternoon tea was served; with a view that overlooked a carpark and the whole meal felt rushed and cheapened. It’s so annoying when you find something really good, only to return after a little while to find it’s been changed. I imagine the bean counters wanted a little more profit. Oh well! Time to find a new place for those occasions.
The pace had defiantly slowed, it’s become eat, sleep, repeat. We are finding routines and with the housing marked for flats in England on its arse, we made the call to rent it out. This saddens me as it makes it more likely we will be renting in Cochrane for the foreseeable future.
The one thing that never fails to surprise me is the horrific lack of maintenance some car here receives; I had a lady bring in a Hyundai of some description with two seized callipers and a front brake that was down to the piston…… Yes, the fucking piston no pads, not even a backing plate! And it was venting brake fluid out the seal like a ruptured artery. The most shocking part was that even when shown this, she still wanted to drive it home. It’s actions like that which make you lose faith in the human race a whole.
Next time October to November, we go to a few parties, the Outlander fails in the middle of nowhere in the cold, we get another broken car, I get a new record player, the house tries to flood itself twice, I move jobs and we adopt Satan the cat. Until next time my friends, TTFN!
