A Career in Construction - Part 6

Back at Head Office in the September of 1968 and a totally unmemorable year at work. I guess that we were being prepared more for our final exams coming up in the Spring. Only two sessions at college, the very last of all in January. When I arrived back from  Leeds, I was finding it difficult to find somewhere to live until my friend Trevor Pargeter persuaded his landlord to let me and John Lamprell  take the top floor flat in Kingston, and only because we would all be moving on in the summer. We were all very happy there, sharing car journeys to and from Hammersmith.

The most important decision came in the summer, towards the end of our time in Central Estimating. We had to decide where we would go as a permanent move. One department I was encouraged to join was the fledgling computer department. But binary numbers was a foreign language to me, and I really wanted to get back on site. Unfortunately, all those opportunities had gone and the only regional vacancy became a position in the Nottingham Regional Office, with the possibility of a site position there in the future. So Nottingham here we come.

Lucy Kaplansky, Lissie, Minnie Driver, Patti Griffin and Laura Cantrell

When I reviewed Lucy Kaplansky's album Over the Hills in 2011, I said I might try another of hers called The Red Thread. Over two years later and I was still in two minds whether to buy it. In the end it is a pleasant enough modern folk music, again very reminiscent of Nanci Griffith. The same mix of her own songs and covers. Her voice and the band make for a decent recording. However the same cannot be said for her latest album Reunion. As she is appearing at The Stables in Milton Keynes next year, I had hoped that her new songs would tempt me to go. So it was quite disappointing that this CD was so ordinary. Not only are her own compositions pretty boring, but the chosen covers are not worth listening to. At least I will save the price of the ticket.

Now Lissie (Elizabeth Maurus) is a completely different singer and her latest album Back to Forever is tremendous. I was so impressed with her albums Catching a Tiger (2010) and Why You Running (2009) and her new recording continues in the same super vein.  It has a real rocky feel and she has contributed to the writing of every track with other members of the band etc. She is now one of my favourite artists. With that in mind I also found a cheap copy of her 2012 release of six covers called Covered Up With Flowers. Not quite as impressive as her own songs, but definitely worth a listen.

I had forgotten that Minnie Driver had actually released an album before her Seastories that has grown on me since my downbeat review in 2008. So I plunged in again with her debut Everything I've Got In My Pocket. All eleven songs are written by her and are basically the same laid back easy listening crossover of folk, country and pop. Nothing spectacular, but easily worth the £1.27 (including postage) I paid for a second hand copy.

It's hard for me to be critical about Patti Griffin's debut album from 1996 Living With Ghosts. It was recommended by Kate Atkinson as one artist that her fictional detective Jackson Brodie would listen to. It was originally meant to be a demo, just Patti and her acoustic guitar, but the record company put it out as it was. And of that type, it is certainly a superior album. Her songs are hauntingly beautiful and her voice is terrific. I just felt that some backing instruments and better production would have made this a great recording instead of one that left me just a little flat.

The reverse is true for Laura Cantrell. Her debut  album Not The Tremblin' Kind and the follow up When The Roses Bloom Again are full of country folk  joy. There is again a mixture of her own songs and covers. She is a cross between Nanci Criffith and Lucinda Williams but has a better voice than both. The recording sparkles with uptempo numbers and catchy ballads. The band is excellent throughout, although they could have dampened the twangy guitar on the second album. Unfortunately, it is even worse on her latest album No Way There From Here has gone too far up country for my taste, violin and all.

Sweet Tooth, The Glass Room and The Daydreamer

I always look forward to reading the latest book by Ian McEwan, especially one that has received such positive reviews. Sweet Tooth takes us to the year 1972, the time of the three day week and IRA atrocities. Our narrator is Serena Frome seems a slightly frivolous girl, just out of Cambridge University but with a third. So we wonder why when she is recruited by MI5. Well, she is good looking and we get to know her love life quite well. But her menial work is incidental to the mission she is given which involves a budding writer. So the story is more about relationships than it is about spying. Or is it? McEwan has a huge literary trick up his sleeve. Serena never liked twists, so she would have hated this book. I loved it. The writing flows so silkily, it somehow encourages you to read accurately and fast. How does he do that? At one point Serena explains (but not very well) the Monty Hall problem from the American TV show Let's Make A Deal. The result is that her friend Tom, the writer, get's it all wrong when he tries to put it into words. The best explanation is in the movie "21". Check it out on YouTube.

It all started off so well. The year is 1928. A rich family in a Czech town build an ultra modern house with the help of an outstanding architect. The concept of The Glass Room by Simon Mawer is very encouraging, as we follow the house, and the family, through the upheaval of war, liberation, Soviet rule to the modern day. The only problem was that half way through, as refugees pour into the town, we have the most laughable of all co-incidences that ruins the story form there on. We also lose track of the family as new, and terribly boring, occupants of the house take over. There is also so much repetition of the characters lives and descriptions of the house itself that you wish the book could have been severely edited. I found the writing to be good, but at times it felt as cold as the house.

The Daydreamer comprises seven short stories about Peter's life as a ten year old boy. Designed to appeal to both children and adults, Ian McEwan's imagination is out in full force. Some are better than others as daydreaming Peter inhabits a funny fantasy world. An amusing diversion from real life.

A Career in Construction - Part 5

Where were we? Oh yes, our third year on the training scheme, back in Head Office. If I remember rightly, we were given a bit more responsibility in the creation of Bills of Quantities, mainly for the huge number of public housing projects with which the company was involved. We were doing some measurement from drawings so we were working with senior takers off for the first time. We were also seconded to other departments for short spells. I had a great few weeks in Central Estimating working with a small team of estimators pricing jobs for one of the midland regions.

In the summer of 1966 we were involved in discussions about where, in September, we would go for our fourth year. I was adamant that I needed site experience so I was transferred to the Leeds Region and based on a large housing and apartments contract that was just starting on Meynell Street in Leeds. This was exactly what I needed. I was the sole assistant to the one Surveyor on site and I learnt so much sharing his office.  I was outside a fair amount of the time, measuring and checking progress for Valuations. The apartments building was on seventeen floors so climbing unfixed ladders in the wind at the top to check the last concrete pours was something I will never forget.

I was living in a shared house with three other guys in Pearson Terrace in the Hyde Park area of Leeds, not far from Headingly. Again it was quite disruptive to the site team to lose me for three periods of five weeks at college during the year. But I felt the site experience gave me a lot more confidence going into the two year course for the final exams. I really enjoyed my time in Leeds and was not looking forward to the final year back at Head Office.

An Adventure in Space and Time

Of all the programmes dedicated to the fiftieth anniversary of the first episode of Dr Who, my favourite by far was the dramatised documentary An Adventure in Space and Time. David Bradley was excellent as William Hartnell who set the tone for every reincarnation of the Doctor. Mark Gatiss and the production team created a wonderful feel of TV in 1963. But the outstanding character was the young, novice, female producer Verity Lambert played beautifully  by Call the Midwife's Jessica Raine. Although initially created by the Canadian BBC Head of Drama Sydney Newman (he needed something for the slot between the end of Grandstand and the start of Juke Box Jury) it was the passion of Lambert that ensured that the programme got more than the four episodes with which the hierarchy were determined to limit the run. The rest, as they say, is history.

Tring Book Club - The Garden of Evening Mists and Instructions for a Heatwave

This is why I go to a book club. I would never have chosen to read a story by Tan Twan Eng that focuses on Malaya, especially as it covers the second world war, the post war Emergency, and almost modern day. It turned out to be an extraordinary piece of writing. The Garden of Evening Mists has been created in the foothills of the mountains by Nakamura Aritomo. He was once the Gardner to the Emperor of Japan. The story is narrated by Teoh Jun Ling. She was only seventeen at the outbreak of war, and ten years later is on a mission that leads to Aritomo. The novel jumps backwards and forwards from almost modern day to those other times. Not only did it tell me so much about the trauma suffered in the far east during the war and after, but it weaves a magical tale of two very interesting characters. Unforgettable.

Maggie O'Farrell is one of my favourite authors. Whilst not quite reaching the heights of some of her other novels, her latest Instructions for a Heatwave is still a little gem. This is a story about a family and it's secrets. When Gretta's husband disappears, their three grown up children come together to help. But old wounds surface, not helped by the children's own relationship problems. O'Farrell has such a wonderful turn of phrase, it is a delight to read the warmth and the light touch of her writing. As someone says, words are not just the written kind. The dialogue is very special. The story is absorbing and gains powerful momentum in the final third. All with a gripping and emotional ending. Superb.

A Career in Construction - Part 4

During the five year training scheme, we would take the examinations of The Institute of Quantity Surveyors. These replicated the exams run by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the body we were not allowed to join as we worked for a building contractor. Only those in professional practice and local authorities could join the RICS. The IQS did have some professional members who preferred a specialised organisation for Quantity Surveyors rather than being amongst a load of estate agents and other disciplines. So did we.

The IQS prided themselves on the quality of their exams, always trying to be superior to those of the much bigger RICS. There was the identical structure of Parts 1, 2 and 3. Each Part had six or seven different subjects, so exams were spread over three or four days. We took Part 1 after the first two years at college, Part 2 a year later and Part 3 at the end of the five years. Each time the pass rate seemed to be stuck about 30%. I was lucky to pass all the exams first time, except for one referral in Part 2 that I took on it's own the following year.

I remember so well the day we got the results of the final exam. I had left the flat in Kingston before the post arrived. Happy to wait until the evening, someone phoned up for the results. I could not believe I had passed and had to drive home at lunchtime to pick up the envelope that confirmed I was through, and became an Associate of The Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

Ours was a great organisation. There were lots of events and a quarterly journal full of interesting stuff. So when the RICS made overtures to absorb our Institute, we successfully voted against this proposal. However, their persistence resulted in another vote, and in 1983, by a tiny majority, we became part of the RICS. I became an Associate before becoming a Fellow in 1989. Apart from the kudos of being FRICS, the loss of our old institute was a disaster. The contracting side of Quantity Surveying is basically ignored, and very few newcomers to our industry now join. Very sad.

Great West End Theatres

The first documentary series of Great West End Theatres on Sky Arts 2 was a fascinating story of the origins, architecture and history of the first ten theatres in a production that eventually visits all forty. These were:

Theatre Royal Haymarket
Prince of Wales Theatre
Piccadilly Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
St Martins Theatre
Ambassadors Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Palace Theatre
Noël Coward Theatre
Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Some of these were familiar to me and some were not. The series is entertainingly presented by Donald Sinden and directed by his son Mark. What stood out for me was the vast amount of money that has been recently  invested into these theatres by the likes of Cameron Macintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I guess they now look better than when they first opened.

I was Heartbreak House at The Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1992, Les Miserables at the Palace Theatre in 1991and  Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre in 1993. The Noel Coward Theatre used to be called The Alberry Theatre where we saw Hay Fever in 1992 and Oliver sometime around 1979.

The Mousetrap has been performed continuously at St Martin's Theatre since 1974 having transferred from the next door Ambassador's where it had run for 22 years before that. We went to see it in 1987. The Prince of Wales Theatre was most impressive. The art deco restoration in 2004 under Cameron Macintosh is quite something. Note - there are tours of the theatre on Friday afternoons. Mama Mia was performed there for eight years following it's transfer from the Prince Edward Theatre.

Sunshine on Leith, Captain Phillips and Philomena

At a fraction of the budget, Sunshine on Leith showed what the film versions of Mama Mia and Les Miserables were missing. And that was total energy and commitment from the cast and crew. Dexter Fletchers' adaptation of the Dundee Rep stage show is a remarkable feat. It does help that the Edinburgh setting looks so great, and makes for a tourist promotion for it's pubs. ( I still remember the one across the road from our hotel on our visit there). Of course the songs of The Proclaimers are terrific and they are sung which such gusto and warmth. Jane Horrocks and Peter Mullan are superb and the younger members of the cast are also very good. This is a wonderful feelgood movie quite unlike anything I have seen for ages. Think Gregory's Girl with great songs. The finale based on I 'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) is worth the price of admission alone.

So much has been said about Captain Phillips that there is little I can add. Paul Greengrass takes his hand held camera on board Tom Hanks' hijacked container ship. The tension is palpable from the start and never lets up. Outstanding movie making.

I was slightly disappointed with Philomena. Although it is a moving story, and the acting of Judi Dench and Steve Coogan is first class, I found it a little predictable and unconvincing. I think this may have had something to do with the script. Philomena is a wonderful character, but just a little too much seeking our sympathy. She did have a proper family after all. And Martin Sixsmith is portrayed as unbelievably  too hard and sarcastic, I guess as not to glamorise the writer of the book on which the story is based. But there is much to enjoy in the relationship of this mismatched couple, and director Stephen Frears creates a wonderful atmosphere. I have to say that the last half hour is fantastic, so my overall reservations are actually too trivial.

A Career in Construction - Part 3

The George Wimpey training scheme for Quantity Surveyors before I joined was based entirely on day release to attend college once a week with additional evening classes. My year was the first to try an entirely different method. This was called a Block Release Course and required 15 weeks per year at college for the first three years and ten weeks per year for the last two. These were broken down into five week sessions at Brighton College of Advanced Technology, each five weeks during one college term. The course was designed around the examinations of The Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

However, much as we enjoyed the benefits of paid work experience and college life, this system was pretty disruptive for people we worked for, disappearing for weeks at a time. I believe this experiment only lasted a couple of years.

Our first digs in Brighton were in Silverdale Road, that is actually in Hove. There must have been six of us in the house, those were happy, carefree days. We always had time for last orders at the nearby pub. See postings February 2010.

The first January we were in Brighton coincided with the Central Estimating Dinner and Dance. This was a huge event paid for by the company and our presence was required. We did have to hire dinner suits for the occasion, and I found mine in Brighton. Some of the others had hired theirs in London so these had to be brought down by the training manager, Mike Godber. Having left them at our digs, some wag decided to mix then up which caused a big  ruckus and much laughter.

When we arrived at the venue (possibly the massive room above Derry and Toms on Kensington High Street), we were struck by the organisation. A large dance band played on the stage, playing quicksteps, waltzes etc. So we just watched, enjoyed the food and free bar! But half way through the most amazing thing happened. Now you have to remember this is January 1964, and the vast majority were mature people. But low and behold, a rock group took to the stage. How someone had persuaded the organisers to let one in, I shall never know. But there we were, just the trainees bopping alone on the dance floor to the music of The Beatles, Cliff, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Searchers. I guess the more adventuress of the older staff might have joined in. Absolutely amazing.

Our first year ended in the September and we were distributed through other departments of the company. The lucky many were transferred to the regions for the year, unfortunately I got stuck in a private housing unit in Flyover House in Chiswick where I basically wasted a year and learnt nothing. The most memorable feature being the canteen. But by the September of 1965 I had moved out of Riverview Gardens, sampled the boring single life in a bedsit, and  moved in with my friend Bob Owen to the attic flat of 7 Airedale Road in Chiswick, the home of Mr and Mrs Gosden, and our home for the following momentous year of 1966, and my third successive year in London.

The Garden in November

The prolonged spell of mild, almost warm sunny weather thorough October has meant some unusual flowers reappearing in the last week. The roses think it is spring again.

And the penstemons refuse to stop flowering.

I'm not sure what the early summer flowering erysimum is doing.

Or why the  polyanthus have come out.

At least the silver birch know that it's autumn.

 



The National Theatre - 50 Years on Stage

The Royal National Theatre celebrated it's 50the anniversary with a glittering and star packed gala. One of the highlights for me had to be  Derek Jacobi and Michael Gambon in the roles originally played by Gielgud and Richardson in Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, my favourite play of all time. But there were other outstanding contributions from Maggie Smith in Hay Fever, Roger Allam in Copenhagen, Simon Russell Beale's Hamlet and James Corden's argument with himself in One Man Two Guvnors.

But the two outstanding pieces came from The History Boys where the role played by the late Richard Griffiths was played magnificently by Alan Bennet himself, and the boys were the members of the original cast including Dominic Cooper and James Corden. But surpassing even this was Judi Dench singing "Send in the Clowns" from Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Is there no end to this woman's talents. it was perfection.

The ending had to be an extract from Alan Bennet's The Habit of Art where a stage manager muses about the National Theatre's creation. Frances De La Tour was brilliant.

A Career in Construction - Part 2

It was my mother who found the advertisement, possibly in the newspaper. George Wimpey (at the time the biggest construction company in the world) were looking for school leavers with two A Levels to join their company training scheme for Quantity Surveyors. Coming to the end of Sixth Form, I already had an offer from Hull University to read Economics. But the grades they required seemed quite ambitious for my capabilities. I had thought about a career in architecture, but I had no talent for drawing. The next best thing seemed to surveying, and a book described all the different kinds surveyor. There did not seem to be many openings to train as a Building Surveyor (my preference) and Quantity Surveyors seemed to operate in private practice. So training with a Building Contractor was an unexpected opportunity.

I went for an interview at the Hammersmith Head Office of George Wimpey. I guess there were a huge number of applicants. While I was waiting for the result, some friends at school suggested I had no chance. One particularly bright pupil from the year above had an interview but never made it. So I was pretty pleased when I was shortlisted for a second interview and finally made an offer that I accepted. As expected, my A Level grades were not good enough for Hull. My mother was actually amazed that I had scraped through all three subjects.

I have one vivid memory of the summer before I started work. Sitting alone in the front room of the house in Braintree (a sitting room that was hardly ever used) listening to some records and wondering what life would be like. I was leaving home to live in digs in Barnes, working in an office five days a week and going to college in Brighton. And being paid; I was, in fact, an indentured trainee. My father and I had to sign a form of indenture and this set out my remuneration over the five years.

I started on £350 per annum. This was supplemented by £2 and 15 Shillings per week lodging allowance. My digs were in Riverview Gardens. There were two of us. Derek Anderson and I shared a bedroom and the Irish landlady provided breakfast and an evening meal. Most of the trainees were always short of cash, but I found I could save a little, and was able to buy a Grundig tape recorder within a few months.

For our first year, we trainees were based at The Hammersmith head office. So every morning I walked over Hammersmith Bridge to get to work. We were attached to the Quantity Surveying team under George Vickery who produced Bills of Quantities for tenders throughout the country which were then passed to Central Estimating to price. Our task for most of that year was squaring the dimensions. There is a chapter in Elements of Quantity Surveying by Arthur J Willis (our bible for that first year) which explains all this.

The following example shows how measurements are taken off and set down on dimension paper.

Of course, these are in in feet and inches and it was our job to do the calculations in duodecimals. So you see that the third column below now has these figures.

This was all done by hand, no calculators for us in those days for duodecimals. There were the first movements towards mechanisation, but as Willis says in his More Advanced Quantity Surveying, "One cannot but feel that machines are excellent as an aid to the human brain, but that we are professional men (wow) not machine minders and that our brains have a part to play".

So our brains were worn out squaring dimensions all day, every day. Even more taxing was the checking of another's squaring. We were told that any errors were down to the checker, not the original squarer. It was therefore a relief when were able to take the process to the next stage of casting the dimensions and preparing the abstract from which the final Bill of Quantities would be produced.

I guess the idea was that we would become familiar with the measurements we were squaring, as the taking off of those measurements from a pile of drawings was then the fundamental business of a Quantity Surveyor.