Strike Factory

Mr Ball has been occupied, with a fair bit of positive stuff since my last blog post about the end of employment at Gate Gourmet, firstly I attended Lewes Bonfire Night, which was a fine night esp the words of wisdom of Ricardo Wiggett who traveled from Cardiff for his debut spectator appearance at the event. Only disappointment was the Alex Salmond effigy not being paraded around the streets of the East Sussex county town (although still burned afterwards).

Plus finally got to meet the newest addition of the Ball family my nephew Lucas 2 days after Lewes. The son of brother Stephen and his partner Lorna, Lucas is about 8 weeks old now, and also got to meet his aunt Rose and grandparents. Could share a photo, but due to my brother wanting privacy and no stangers seeing I respect that and can't show it. 

Last Friday I attended a performance of Calamity Jane at the Hawth Theatre, just a 5 minute from Strike Towers. Had to go when I heard that the lovely Blackpool lass Jodie Prenger would be in the title role (who I previously saw in Spamalot at Theatre Royal, Brighton 2011), and Tom Lister (aka Carl King from Emmerdale) was also performing. It was an enjoyable performance, and can't believe its 2 years since Carl King was killed off, I did feel tempted to shout the infamous line 'I'm indestructible' but held back eventually. To the group of individuals at the bar that had a stranger kindly donate them 10p for their £20.10p drinks bill before the start of the performance it was me, and hope you had a great night overall, no need to return the favor. 

Finally was honored to get follows on twitter from 2 of the co creators of the legendary ITV night time show Quizmania, Chuck Thomas and Simone Thurogood (who is also one of the presenters of the Latest Brighton channel these days.) got fond memories of watching the show with cult viewing presenting from Greg Scott and Debbie King during the infant days of this blog at the old Strike Tower HQs in 2006. I am starting 2 courses, one a puzzling Pre Employment Training course, though lovely tutor Sangeeta is doing her best to see us though it, and returning to Rewards Training to start a Power Point course, and I will be not be retiring this blog and will carry it on well after the 10th anniversary next year, as long as friends, visitors and fans are still happy to read this blog.

Well sadly things did not quite work out at Gate Gourmet like I hoped, I tried my best but initial job I did I was judged to be too slow and then they suggested an alternative job within the firm that was not suitable for me and I found too stressful especially as I have aspergers, so it mean't me and the firm parted ways. A shame but was a good experience, and learned a fair bit, but from now on think warehouse work is not for me and will try and find work that I have experience in like charity shops as well as office administration.

Oxfam Crawley have happily accepted me back as a volunteer, where I have been volunteering the last few years, and happy to be back its something to do know some great people to work with there. Later this week will be attending the famous Lewes Bonfire Night on Wednesday, as well as the usual Albion football. Finally I will finally get to meet my nephew Lucas at the end of the week for the very first time the recent newborn son of my brother Stephen and his girlfriend Lorna, so the last few weeks have been a cause of celebration in general for the Ball family decide the little job setback last week, still feel happy and upbeat, and won't let stuff get me down. Thanks for the messages of support people. 

Well its been a week since starting full time employment at Gate Gourmet in Gatwick and has been an interesting experience though not been easy and a little bit stressful as trying to find a routine in the first week that I am comfortable with and settle into. It was a very similar story to when I was employed as a fresh faced 16 year old at Sports Soccer Crawley (now Sports Direct), whilst finishing my GCSE's, I was not exactly Employee Of The Month in the eyes of staff members I worked with in my first few shifts I was there, but then I did not give up and my dedication (with the old Record Breakers theme from CBBC playing in my head helped sometimes), and kept plugging away until about a month later I settled making less mistakes and speeding up gradually in getting stock out to the shop floor as well as becoming the sole air pumper of footballs, basketballs in the back room (living up to the Ball surname), sticking to a regular Charles Ball schedule eventually worked and Sports Soccer benefited from my part time work and long commitments in summer holidays for about 18 months and made good long term friendships with staff members. So like then not giving up, and believe I will get there.

Whilst not enjoying watching Brighton and Hove Albion recently, I have been enjoying the spoof online Neighbours Vs Zombies that sees returns from popular Noughties BBC era characters that died like Drew Kirk, Stingray Timmins (who although died at a time youtube existed in 2007 was not apparently aware of its existance), David Bishop, along with the recent Robbo Slade who caused a bit of a storm in Ramsay Street last year. Sadly not much in the way of popular sexy female returnees like Dee Bliss (producers possibly still holding out for a crazy potty Harold Bishop style comeback in main show though this spin off is non canonical), Kate Ramsay, Madge Bishop or Cody Willis, though the girl that plays Hope Gottireb (daugher of past Neighbours regulars Phoebe Bright and deceased Todd Landers (could we see a surprise appearance from Christian Schmid as Todd in this series) played by internet celebrity Louna Moroun seems a bit of a tasty alternative girl. Plus EastEnders tonight sees the return of nasty Nick Cotton, hopefully will be more like his wicked early recurring stints in 1980s and early 1990s and not the too panto villain stints we saw of him in 2000-01 and 2008-09, but the introduction of Charlie Cotton Jnr his son has been a masterstroke especially as he does resemble in appearance his grandad Charlie Cotton Snr.

That is all for now. :)