On new terms

I signed new Terms and Conditions for my current job this morning which will halve my hours and salary when I go part-time. Starting Monday 23rd November I will be working weekdays 8:45am and finishing 12:30pm, which leaves me the rest of the day to give tuition. I am look forward to this change as going part time means I will have time to build up my driving tuition business as well as still have some steady income coming in for dig money and other bills and direct debits etc. When I was signing the agreement HR asked me how I will be looking to balance my workload. I told her I will give tuition in the afternoons and Saturdays. Hope to take Sundays off as a day of rest. Once tuition gets busy and I feel I need the free up the mornings to teach too, especially for pupil tests etc, then I will arrange to finish off here completely and go into full time tuition. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to do these two jobs during this transitional period. =) Now just have to wait till 17th November to travel down to Leicester for my tuition car!

I look forward to this coming weekend. Gonna be busy as I hope to pick up my car from the Car Care Centre. Hopefully it will be all ready for pick up when I call later this afternoon. They've been working on the bodywork since Monday. Fair do's, I did tell them they can take their time so as to do a better job. So yeah, hope to take some nice pictures of the precious before I sell it on =) Will then have early worship practice with Boon at the Church Centre. Then take mum for weekly shopping. That should take about 2hours or more as I intend to have lunch with mum as well and we'll go to Costco and Tesco for our groceries. Might go back to the gym to attempt the '300 workout' again. Well, half of it anyway, '150 workout'. After my first attempt this Wednesday my abs still hurt when I sneeze! Lol!

Ok, must dash! Ciao!

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Hallo-weekend

Pumpkin Party

Ah! Had another eventful weekend, full of food and laughs.

Saturday I went to the Car Care Centre to get an estimate for work to fix the bump, scratches and tipp-ex marks on my current car. Over a year ago the local Ford garage, Reg Vardy, had quoted me around £1100 to get the work done, minus the tipp-ex marks. I took the estimated costs sheet and said I'd call to book the car in for the job when I want it done. I ran away and never ever went back. I just continued using the car as it was. And though it was not aesthetically pleasing, it was a very healthy car, with less than 28,000 miles on the clock to date. Being an -03 registered vehicle, it is a very low mileage car, with an average of only 4666 miles a year. With the date of me getting my tuition car drawing closer (19th November!!), I thought it was about time to get the car fixed up and looking pretty so I can sell it once I get my instructor business running. There would be no point in keeping, insuring, taxing and fuelling two vehicles. What's more, there are limited parking spaces spaces outside my flat, so why add to it? =P

After leaving the Car Care Centre with an agreed three-figure cost, I went to get my hair cut at See Woo. Then I drove around the southside of Glasgow, leaving from Shieldhall test centre and visited the nearby surrounding areas, taking in the different roads that I may be teaching in and having a better idea of where I would be teaching particular manoeuvres etc. Only saw three other driving instruction vehicles in my 2+ hours drive. South side is just huge! Decided to pack it in after 3pm and head to Tesco for a pumpkin. Pumpkins were sold out!! =O Since this was my first time going to a pumpkin party and potentially carving pumpkins, I had no idea they were so popular or that they would be sold out. Morrison's had none. ASDA also had none! Booo! I guess it is like looking for a chocolate selection pack on Christmas Eve, or even Christmas Day itself. NO CHANCE! Ah well!

The Pumpkin Party took place at Roxane and Yin Ru's flat. Though guises where not the main point of our gathering, where two or three Chinese people meet together, there will be food!! We had a wide variety of food to enjoy: crackers, cheese, pasta, salmon, Jaffa cakes, chicken, ribs, rice, pumpkin soup and dessert was toffee cake, toffee and chocolate apples, pies and ice cream! [No, this time I did not have a taste of everything! Haha! Back to more healthy eating approach now.] Had a good time meeting new people as well as catching up with older faces from Edinburgh (William and Alan came to visit). Played "seven level pig" card game which was fun as well as 'challenging' in the fact that you have watch who you speak to. Haha! As for pumpkin carving? Gordon Li carved the big pumpkin with only small cutting knifes. The pumpkin was alight with a tealight candle and burnt throughout the night. Wilson Siu later carved the smaller pumpkin which arrived later on in the night when some visitors popped by. Here is the picture of the father and son pumpkins. Haha!



James' birthday

Yesterday was James' 26th birthday and he was wanting dinner at Nando's restaurant at The Quay. Dinner was at six, so we hung out at Ming's place first before making our way to the restaurant. I dropped my car off at the Car Care Centre on my way to Ming's place. Cat gave me a lift which was cool, cos the persistent rain was not stopping. There was an estimated 45 minutes wait for a big table in Nando's, so the seventeen of us went over to the bowling and arcades part of the leisure park. Few people played bowling, DDR, shooting games, basketball as well as those robotic arm machines where you win prizes. And I managed to win a HUGE Chupa Chup lollipop! =D The wait for our table didn't seem so long whilst we played our games and before long the seventeen of us were squeezed on our extra long table with our lovely HOT HOT food! Extra Hot chicken for me! Ooh la la! After the half chicken I was still hungry, so ordered another half chicken. This time Mango and Lime to give my tastebuds a rest. Haha!

I didn't take that many pictures through the night cos was busy stuffing my face and hands were a bit dirtier than usual. However, Henry and Ming quite a lot, so you can see them through their Facebook. We got James surprise cakes for his birthday and it felt like the whole restaurant was singing Happy Birthday to James as there was long another table nearby who were celebrating a girl's birthday. We were so noisy at one point cheering and shouting etc the manager went up to the other table and said they were to keep the noise down as there were other customers. Lol! I could see the manager stressed from the extremely busy day. =P

Had a great laugh and was good to hangout again after church =)

This week

So this week I will be car-less for a few days and will rely on public transport. In fact, I have bought myself a one week bus pass for £10.25 which will last till next Saturday. With a single bus journey at £1.15 a shot, I will have to take nine journeys to break even and start to really get my money's worth. That will come in handy as I plan to continue going out to Starbucks to read after dinner on week days. And I'll have a Core Team meeting at church tomorrow as well. As for the gym... well maybe a visit on Wednesday. Will be inconvenient to get to the west end on buses, so may arrange a ride from Cat, or just go back to Starbucks to read instead. Hope to finish reading the Highway Code tonight and continue reading Instructor Techniques and Practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Gonna be a busy week this week. Looking forward to a less eventful or at least less costly weekend next weekend. Will need start saving my pennies again, especially after the car repairs =)

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Pictures from Manchester

Click above picture to view my Facebook gallery of pictures from Manchester trip :)

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Manchester visit

Mum's birthday was on Sunday (25th) and our family travelled down to Manchester and spent the weekend eating, walking, shopping, eating, shopping and more eating! Haha!

The weather wasn't bad overall. I recall two moments that it rained on us as we navigated our way around the busy city with Google Maps on paper and through my HTC Magic phone. The food was goood! We only had Chinese cuisines whilst down in Manchester. Mainly for mum to try out different Chinese food that we don't have here in Glasgow. Saturday evening the three of us had a four-persons set dinner which had soup, scallops and lobster for starters, then the mains were tofu dish, egg and clams dish, chicken dish and veg dish. For dessert we had sago and oranges. We were truly stuffed.com! =P The four star hotel room was very nice. The two double beds and double sofa bed provided us with a good night's sleep AND we had an extra one hour added on to our clocks which was a bonus! =) Before going down to Manchester I had decided and said to Cat that I was gonna let myself go during my time down in Manchester. By that I meant eating anything I want - no holds barred. After Saturday night's feast was well and truly out of my system, I looked forward to the buffet breakfast on Sunday morning. My goodness! What an eye-opener! Here's what I ended up gorging in my biggest breakfast ever!:

Had all the above to myself and after almost an hour and a half of stuffing my face I was well and truly about to burst!! Lol!

Visited the Manchester Chinatown which spanned over a few blocks rather than just the wee warehouse we have in Glasgow Cowcaddens area. Went into the supermarkets and wee shops that sold cd's/ dvds's and stationery etc. I didn't get anything Chinese for myself this time. Felt rather uncomfortable lugging so many bags around after we checked out of the hotel but I kept it to myself as it was mum's birthday weekend and that was the most important point. :) The train home was crap. Didn't get our reserved seats due to overcrowding. Was so glad to be home nice and relaxed on Sunday night!! :) Mum seemed to have really enjoyed herself this weekend and that was mega cool. She truly deserved a break from the norm. =) Had such a laugh on Sunday morning - check out my Facebook video if you're my Facebook friend =D

Business trip

And now it looks like no more travelling for a while. Actually, I have another train journey to take as I go down to Leicester in a few weeks time. This one is for business, not for pleasure. Haha! Today is Tuesday... which means in three weeks time I will be heading down to a wee town called Market Harborough for an AA conference where I meet all the other new driving instructor franchisees AND I get to pick up my brand new Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec tuition car! Whoo-hoo! My official start date with the AA will be Thursday 19th November, when I drive the car up to Glasgow. Journey is estimated to be around 328.6miles and will take 5hrs 32mins - according to AA Route Planner. This journey will give me the chance to familiarise myself with the powerful car and will definitely put my TomTom IQ Routes to the test. I look forward to seeing all the different motorway lane images appear each time I'm on the motorway, telling which lane to go on etc. It's so cool! =D

I have three weeks left till my start date and I will be using these three weeks to finish off reading four books.

.

Almost done the yellow book, tips about general communication with friends, bosses, strangers, making impressions, how to win people over etc. This book I started reading since April 2008!! Haha! Never quite got to finish it as I don't read a lot, but almost there now and the previous few chapters have been very interesting indeed. I will need to refresh myself on the Highway Code as well, remind myself of the rules of the road as well as best practice tips for driving in UK roads. Will be useful when I'm answering pupils' questions about theory etc. Driving the Essential Skills is known as the "bible" for all of Britain's drivers and the benchmark which the DSA driving examiners work from. Having this book provides detailed information on all aspects of driving, from care of car to control of car, from how to perform a manoeuvre to what to do in an accident. Finally, the Instructor Techniques and Practices. This will be most useful when I'm in the passenger (instructor) seat, as I guide my pupils through their lessons and make their lessons as informative and as enjoyable as possible so we increase their learning capacity.

These few weeks are gonna be busy busy! =D

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AA start date

Just off the phone with the AA. Denise confirmed she received my franchise pack around midday. Great news! Whilst on the call with her I checked the Royal Mail tracking site which said my package was still getting delivered! Lol! Ah well, it got there anyway!

So, I paid my deposit and an admin fee and I am now booked in for the AA instructor conference on 18th and 19th of November. Because I will be travelling down from Glasgow, and the conference starts 10:30am on the 18th, there is no way I could make it down on the Wednesday morning to start in time. So they have arranged for me to stay another night at their assigned hotel, which is most likely to be the Horthorpe Hall where the conference takes place too.

The website for the place is http://www.hothorpe.co.uk/ and first sight it looks quite plush! =D

For Wednesday and Thursday I'll have all meals and lodging provided. For the extra Tuesday night, I'll only have lodging provided and will have to sort out my own meals! Gong jiy mein!! Haha!! Nah, most likely gonna have meal in hotel or something and claim that back through expenses. I'll need to sort out train travel as well and Denise mentioned a short taxi trip from Market Harborough station to the place. So exciting!

I wonder if it would be easy to travel to Leicester Cineworld from my place of stay? =P

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Tracking a promise

I posted my franchise pack to the AA Headquarters in Cardiff, during my lunch break yesterday.

It cost me £4.95 and guarantees delivery by 1pm today. I just checked the tracking code online and it said:

They have less than two hours to fulfil their promise!! =O

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They are here!!

In my blogpost from 6th October titled "Wait wait wait!" I complained how frustrated I was being delayed in progressing with starting up my driving tuition. Two weeks down the line and I can finally report that there has been some progress! So I ended that particular blogpost with these two lists:

Still awaiting:
- Alliance & Leicester account details
- Mattress
- ADI badge
- Present



My mattress arrived on Wednesday 14th Oct. My shoulder was sore that day, but I managed to slowly replace my former Silentnight Miracoil mattress with a Rest Assured mattress which weighed at least another 5kgs more than the former. The mattress has provided me with great sleep thus far! :)


My Approved Driving Instructor badge arrived the next day, on the 15th! With the badge here, all I had to do was wait for bank details before I sign up for my AA franchise.

Well... this morning my Alliance & Leicester bank details arrived too! Yes!! So tonight I finished filling in my AA franchise application with my bank details and I will send it away tomorrow Special Delivery for delivery on Thursday. Yep, here is me talking about the Royal Mail strikes again. By now I'm sure almost everyone in the UK will know about the proposed two day national walkout planned to Thursday and Friday this week. The Royal Mail website said it will still deliver Special Deliver mail on Thursday morning, but anything sent on Thursday or Friday will not be picked up or delivered. So tomorrow lunch time, I will be jostling with all other local east end residents in pushing my franchise application form through to be delivered. Let's hope I make it there and back within my one hour lunch break!! So... I have a planned start date with the AA - Thursday 19th November. Why so far away? I shall explain a little later.

The final thing I'm waiting for: Present. There is an expected date of arrival of 5th November. We hold on tight! =P

Things yet to be done:
- Confirm franchise with AA
- Choose accountant
- Hand in notice
- Join D.I.A.
- Register for Pass Plus
- Read up on Licensing laws (foreign/ provisional/ UK)
- Learn test areas and routes
- Inform HMRC of self-employment

As I said, I am sending away my franchise application tomorrow. I also met my accountant yesterday after work. The guy will do my sums for me at the end of the tax year and he will liaise with the HMRC on my behalf and tell them of my change to self-employment. All I have to do from now on is to start keeping all my receipts as I can get tax relief on my franchise fees, fuel, training aids, phone calls, association fees etc etc. Lots of things that I 'output' for my business. I was glad to meet with John who explained the tax deadlines to me and it sounded much easier in English, rather than technical talk on websites and publications.

Last Friday my manager Bob asked me if I would consider changing from full time to work part time in the office. Bob is leaving Hewitt at the middle of November and is now training a replacement. Suzanne is starting maternity leave in a few weeks. There will be a replacement needed too. And if I leave too, well, needless to say, it's not gonna make things any easier for our wee team really. Taking up this offer would benefit two parties: they will keep my experience for a while longer and I will keep some steady income whilst my business establishes. So this morning I submitted a letter to my manager stating I'd like to take up the offer of the part time role. And my proposed idea is to work five mornings a week, doing 8:30am-12:15pm. Finishing at that time will mean I can start my first driving lesson at 1pm. :) I think this will be a good start for me as I enter self-employment. I have a few people who are genuinely interested in taking lessons with me, and a few more whom I will need to clarify if and when they want to start. So when my client base builds up and I need to free up my mornings too, I will submit my one month notice to Hewitt and leave then.

I thank God for giving me the opportunity to go part time. That was not something offered to me at the start when I first informed my company of my plans. So, I believe God provides and he protects. His plans are to prosper me and not to harm me. :)

So now!! What's left to do?

Decide which association to join: Driving Instructors Association or The Motor Schools Association of Great Britain.

Register to teach Pass Plus.

Familiarise myself with training areas and test routes for Springburn, Anniesland and Shieldhall test centres.

And pick up some Provisional Licence (D1) application forms for potential students.

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