Café 153

Well its been 4 years.... sorry!
I have since the last post:-
Started work for Tescos who have opened a Tesco Express where the Woodman Pub stood. So I did get into the pub after all! Been there 2 years now. In doing so I realised that there was a need for a café for the older folk in our area so I persuaded our church to let me setup, open, cook for and run a café in our church centre. It's called Café 153 and has been running for more than 3 months quit successfully. See our Cafe_153 twitter feed

Jus a quickie to update my followers ;-) I took my pension last September and have been working as a bar person at Bowlers on the Southampton City Golf Course since April this year. Still no pub but things are getting closer. God is clearly saying its time to move. Not sure if it will be a pub as we are considering cafe and retreat/b&b. Kathy and I had a great time on holiday in Cardigan, Pembrokeshire this month and quite like the idea of moving to Wales. Loved Cardigan. Kathy has also given up work and is currently on a mission in the Congo with Flame International. See Help Kathy get to DRC by Kathy McQueen.
We shall see what God provides once she returns in October! 

Another junction

Well I am here again. I have 1 day left teaching at The Westgate School then I am officially unemployed again. It has been a very good 2 years association with the place. A fabulous school with great young people and suh a dedicated, creative and hardworking staff. I will miss the place. Room 25 with its air con on full blast became my place of work and I was quite protective. Good location, air con, staff loos 10 Yards away, staff room the same, no stairs, IT support around the corner and main assembly hall across the corridor. Only downsides were the canteen being in another block and being next to the Y10-11 playground meant we often had balls slammed into the windows.

This time I am better prepared for the future. I am looking at pubs still and there are plenty of them. Eling near Toton has 3 pubs and I'm thinking they are all available. We will need to put the house on the market so I am thinking I need to get a p/t job doing bar work again but this time perhaps with some management thrown in. Gotta learn to do rotas, stock take, handle takings and perhaps even put in orders. Would also be good for it to be a food pub.



As I am 55 I can apply for my teachers pension albeit reduced. Should be possible to clear debts and give us breathing space to get the business plan in place. Personally I would prefer to get a freehold pub that has been closed up so I can spend some time planning a launch event.  On the other hand Kathy is more into us getting a place as a retreat so with extra accommodation and nice gardens. A compromise would be a smallish B&B/hotel with bar.

Anyway 6 weeks paid leave ahead to sort things out. Here comes the summer and it's been so hot so far. Anyone know a good Christian Chef?

Two years on.

I have gone back to teaching!  But the pub idea is still on. I have got myself qualified for my licence and running a pub food and beer operation but failed to get the pub I wanted. Tesco beat me to The Woodman and now it's a Tesco Express! Mind you I believe there was some backroom dealing happening as this news story suggests Tesco only got the lease in October 2011 and I was asking about the pub from March 2011. I actually got told by Enterprise Inns via email that it was not available in August 2011. I am sure the store was not necessary as there is a store across the road and there was a One Stop (owned by Tesco) 25 yards away. I would have employed at least as many people as Tescos and there would be a community focus. Maybe I should have done more and actually campaigned about the closure. I didn't really get much backing from my church at the time. Some thought the pub should be closed anyway. It did have a terrible reputation. But a missed opportunity I think.

So anyway, meanwhile I have done a year as a weekend barman at The Hunters Inn in Romsey and gone back to teaching supply at first then a year covering someone on maternity leave at The Westgate School in Winchester. Teaching Business Studies which again has helped me get genned up on how to run a business.

My job at Westgate ends this July so I am free again to pursue the pub idea. What I need is a Christian Chef/Partner and the right pub. Any takers? Trouble is I want a pub in my community of Lordswood etc. As well as The Woodman going and apparently The Sporting View is being leased by the people who run Inferno in town. Missing out there too. Maybe I am walking the wrong road or maybe the timing isn't right but why am I 'just' missing out? Perhaps it's my lack of wholeheartedness and fear? Do I have to push through or is God closing doors?

The thing is running a pub essentially means selling potential poison. How do you make a successful business selling alcohol without helping people get drunk? Of course the law says I can be punished for selling alcohol to someone who is drunk but it seems everyone does because when does 'merry' become 'drunk'? If I have 3 pints I am merry if I have a fourth I am probably drunk. Has anyone been in a pub where you are refused your 4th pint of the evening? Pubs are going out of business at the rate of 25 a week. Is there a business model where the pub avoids encouraging drunkenness yet stays in profit as a wet-led pub? I would obviously do food and events such as music but the key for me is reaching guys who are pub-goers not church-goers with the gospel and support for them in difficult times.  This means it may need to be a 50-50 wet-food led pub. Perhaps the vision needs firming up. I need to visit and talk with some Christians who run pubs and find out what vision they have and how they cope with the challenges of profit and loss when there is no gambling, no getting pissed, no drugs, no debauched party nights and no dodgy dealings on the premises. 


Sound odd? But surely there are people out there who could appreciate such a place and still have a good time feeling safe and not having to break/bend the law or do stuff which in the end isn't good for them and is lately about escaping reality for a few hours. Would the hope of eternal salvation not be better than the hope of winning the lottery or this weeks meat draw? I guess someone's pride allows them to win the meat draw but would baulk at just having the meat given to them because they are short this week? Does winning the lottery come across as being more likely? You can read about past winners and maybe even meet them. We can read about and meet people who believe they are going to heaven but its not evidence heaven really exists. Would you go to a pub where you can meet people who believe in heaven and where you can discuss the bible over a pint?

Lots to consider still. Hope God gives me some direction soon. 

Credits 

Photo of Woodman © Colin McQueen 2011
Men drinking beer and reading bible - Image credit: prawny / 123RF Stock Photo

T Plus 2

Well I am all but officially unemployed after my last working day for HCC on Friday. I have to say my leaving presentation was fab. Daniel, the boss, did me proud with a quite humbling and amusing presentation which included a slide show and some very nice statements from colleagues especially Martyn Wilson my old boss in HIAS and County Inspector for many years. Thank you Daniel for the effort. It was really appreciated. For those who may want to see his handiwork he has provided the presentation (.pptx) online here.


It was also nice to get a good bottle of wine, a pressie that I can spend at PCWorld/Currys and a card full of good wishes for the future. Also a dear colleague Sue baked and decorated a lovely cake. Over the years I have seen many a cake that Sue has baked but this one is of course special to me. The verses on it could not have been more appropriate. Thanks too Lucey for another bottle of good wine labelled CM no less.

After the presentation I gave an ill-prepared speech that did waffle on. At the end I gave my solution for all the World's ills. During my 27 years I have changed. At the start back in 1984 I was single (not a bad thing in itself), childless (but then do I know?), Dawkin-esque follower of Carl Sagan ('God is a complication so probably not there') and it has to be said none-too morale person who largely served self. But I stand here now happily (mostly) married, father of 3 boys (such a privilege to have them on loan for these past 20 years), forgiven follower of Jesus who is hopefully a little bit more moral ad wanting now to start to serve others more directly. How come? Well I have come to truly believe it is good relationships and not science that will save the world. My relationships with my wife, my sons, my colleagues, with teachers in schools and most importantly with Jesus Christ the Son of God being examples to me of this truth in my time in education in Hampshire. He has never let me down though sometimes I've had to wait like now. 'Come on God - what's next?'

Oddly I guess but I take comfort from one of my favourite bits of the bible.

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!” ⁹ Not only was the Teacher wise, but he also imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰ The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

¹¹ The words of the wise are like goads, their collected sayings like firmly embedded nails—given by one shepherd. ¹² Be warned, my son, of anything in addition to them.

Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body.

¹³ Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

(Ecclesiastes 12:8-14, New International Version, ©2011)

It was at that point in my leaving speech that the tears did start to well up. However, I took Daniel's advice and ground my teeth so I could finish off without blubbering in front of the 30 or so people standing looking on. Thanks for turning up and patiently listening. One doen't get many chances to speak more openly about the things that matter to you with people at work. I recommend you take your chance when you get it. And thanks to all those who turned up that normally work at Winchester rather than Fareham (Karen, Lucey, Andrea, Jon A, Steve R etc). And to my wife Kathy, to Jon P and to Lindsey for coming in specially.

It was with a bit of relief for some I think that we all piled off to the pub then for lunch and a few pints. Wetherspoon's in Fareham (The Lord Arthur Lee) was the perfect venue in terms of reasonably priced food and a wide range of bitters at amazing prices. They currently have 'The World's biggest Real Ale and Cider Festival' promotion. See www.jdwrealale.co.uk. I ended up trying their triple taster offer of 3 x ⅓ pint of 3 different ales. 'Saints and Sinners' was 8/10 and 'Bloomin' Smokey' 9/10, don't recall the others. I ended up sticking with 'Saints and Sinners', partly because I found it amusing to order 'Saints' in Pompeyland. Again I have to say I was humbled by the number of people who came to see me off. We were there from 1:30 till 7:30PM. Thanks Jon and Lucey for your company for the full 6 hours. Giving up some leave to be with me in the pub was much appreciated. Thanks also to others that made a special effort to come along despite being at work still - Sue, Jan and Alistair from HIAS, Ian A + Charlie despite a hard days work in school and Ian G getting away from the Dell in Derby work for a few hours. And thanks to all those that couldn't make it but sent me kind words by email (Emma, Jon, Stella, Andy, Greg ...). And Carol you mean scouser, we will have to have that drink another time. I owe you loads. I will miss you.

I leave HCC realising that one does make more of an impact that one realises. I hope I may have left a good impression overall and that you won't forget me too soon. I will remember you all in my prayers and hope I will see you in the future.

Bye Hampshire and goodbye all you Wizkid teachers out there.

T-1 my last few hours at HCC

Well the time is almost upon me. This time tomorrow I will be unofficially unemployed for the first time in my life! I say unofficially because I guess I have until 31st March but with owed leave tomorrow is the last day at work.

Think of all the things I'm gonna learn; How to sign on; How to lie in on a weekday; How to plan your day with no-one else having a say (Hah Hah - I don't think so); How to budget drastically cos income IS less than outgoings; How to look for work, How to a avoid work... The list goes on.

I have cleared my desk already, deleted everything in 'My documents' in Hantsnet and on the PC local drive, cleared my Inbox, composed and switched on my 'Out of office' - forever - that was difficult to compose. I have even drafted the final email I will send out tomorrow. Unsubscribing my hants.gov.uk email address from all those educational mailing lists was surprisingly difficult. Quite emotional - especially ictprim and ictsec which have been stalwarts for giving and receiving advice over many years. All I need to do is make sure I have packed my cryptocard ready to hand over tomorrow along with my badge and phone.

The last two weeks have largely been dominated by handing over to the 5 or 6 people who have to deal with me not being there anymore. I do feel sorry for you guys. Trying to work out what tasks out of the nebulous mountain of stuff I have done over the last 4 years is not easy. Watching their faces as they try to grasp what I am on about as I describe my work was like watching greased up channel swimmers trying to grasp a bar of soap. It would be interesting to see what is still being done a year from now bit I doubt I will be around to find out

The boss, Daniel, tweeted, to quote:

Biggest presentation of my life on Friday. @olcinm leaving us for his next journey :-( got to do the legend justice!
Twitter for iPhone • 23/03/2011 06:35

Legend? Achilles and Eric Cantona are legends. Colin McQueen a legend? Naw! Still, I am looking forward to the presentation tomorrow. and am very touched by his efforts. Turns out he has been trawling SAP to find out about my employment record and it doesn't actually have much in it! I could have told him that. But let's see what he has found out. When I started back in 1984 there wasn't much in the way of IT to record events or data online. I guess they were using mainframes (aka Cloud Computing). The personal computer was just appearing. The first one I touched back in May 84 was a Sinclair Spectrum with those rubbery keys and the screechy FAX like noises stored on magnetic cassette tapes. Who remembers 'PEEK' and 'POKE'?

As to progress with the new life? None made, absolutely zilch. Not even a closed door. So this is really going to be a nail biting ride this time. I am taking that as a sign to take it easy for the first month.... Not really though. I have realised rather late that it would be a good idea to go up home to Newcastle to see my mum and brother. Eldest son resonsibilities and all that. Probably do some clearing out and decorating. Be good practice for what's needed back in Southampton.

Anyway I'm off for a curry now with most of the old ICT HIAS team, somewhere in Pompeyland. Better wear a blue hoodie. It's the end of an era for the National Strategy Consultants, of which I was one for 4 years. Times are a changing indeed.

T Minus 10

Well two weeks from now and I will be well into my 4th or 5th pint down at The Lord Arthur Lee Wetherspoon's in Fareham celebrating with colleagues my 'escape'. Quite a few said they will be there. I don't know if I should feel warm about that or whether it was just because I offered to buy anyone who turned up a drink!

The last few weeks have been quite hard at work really. I am starting to realise the enormity of it all. The handover document that had my simple task list has become 'Yellow Pages' according to one of the potential successors to my work. So suddenly my diary has become packed with handover meetings and blasting away at finishing off those little jobs I kept putting on the back burner. The new Wizkid support site has gone live, the support processes are tied down better. I'm struggling through the simplification of the Studywiz ePortfolio for Wizkid and wondering why I ever bothered setting up a trial of parent accounts because the schools involved haven't really done anything with it for one perfectly valid reason or another. If you ever want to develop a service change that involves schools piloting or testing, give yourself loads of time and communicate, communicate, communicate because you can bet your bottom dollar the school teachers won't. they're too busy and don't understand the depth of work you are beavering about on at the back end that really needs commitment and feedback on to avoid wasting time.

But what to do next? There was a great verse came up at church on Wednesday.

Isaiah 43

18 “Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.
20 The wild animals honor me,
the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the desert
and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
21 the people I formed for myself
that they may proclaim my praise.

A couple of circumstances and this verse have created thoughts. How about running a pub? Our local right next to our church has starting advertising a lease for sale. Kathy and I have got quite interested. Why not have Christians running a pub with the offer of advice, guidance and a prayer room at the back for the punters? All those guys burying their heads in pint after pint could access some real help. 'Pint and a Prayer!' for anyone? Of course there are difficulties to deal with. We couldn't have slot machines or gambling going on. But we would want to bring back loads of old pub games that don't seem to be available these days. Anyway we shall see. I'm putting it before The Man upstairs to see what He says.

Oddly I have spotted that there are loads of pubs up for sale. Some are freehold, some leasehold. Those that are leasehold may be 'tied' to a brewery or drinks company others are free. The business seems to be difficult for many right now. But then if God wants us to do it He will bless it in one way or another. That's what's great about being a believer. Hope and Peace. All really exciting. Horizons broaden when you get into a relationship with Jesus. Things are never the same again.

Totally separate to this (at least as far as I can tell!) I've also decided to do some volunteer work with a special school in April. Just another thing that has come up after meeting with several special school teachers over the last term or so. I'm particularly moved by kids in wheelchairs because of cerebral palsy. In the past I have helped out with a couple of children, one with severe physical problems and the other less so.

Oh and I am Looking forward to a week's break between the end of 'something old' and the start of 'something new'.

So T-10 and counting...