The nights lark just did not work for me, as I said last time out, so I’ve switched to days. Yay!
I’ve done a full week of days, including the busy weekend period, and got one shift. To be fair, when I applied to the agency I asked about days and the guy said “We have a lot of drivers who want days and not many shifts.” I don’t know, after getting six shifts in a week on nights I was hoping there would be enough to keep me going on days. Nope. Back to the job hunt. Nights fail, days fail. At least there is symmetry.
There are plenty of jobs out there, but none are great. Nights or stupid o’clock start times, adding a lot to my day in commute time, or poor pay. For instance, I was thinking of doing Iceland. It’s a tough job, with tough driving and long hours, but it’s local and it’s full time. But it’s 04.00 – 06.00 starts now. That’s less than ideal. For 43K. Which sound good, but for, say, an average of an 11 hour day, that’s about £15.50 per hour, and it’s a weekly take home of £633.
OK, it was a 69 hour, 6 shift, week of nights last week, but I took home £1,326. So £633, for grafting my arse off, does not sound appealing.
The winner at the moment seems to be Poundland. Near Haydock, so about the same commute, £17.73 starting pay, with paid break, overtime rate, 1 to 2 drops a day, 09.00 – 12.00 starts. That all sounds reasonable. Not fantastic, but reasonable. I’ll apply tomorrow.
Ironically the Royal Mail emailed me to say I’d been successful with my application so I was to forward my driving licence check details. I did, but sent the recruiter an email to say RM had got rid of me off the agency. She cancelled my application. sigh.
I’ve had a to-do with the Harley as well. They stung me with the insurance. I upped the miles on the Bonnie to account for my longer commute when I renewed, but being multi-bike insurance I couldn’t do an online comparison. Anyway, with the extra miles, it was £597 for the year. When I did an online check, just for the Bonnie, with the same miles, it was £233. That miffed me. Then, on my one day shift this week I rode it into work. And I hated it. It was slow, uncomfortable, and just stupid. I was all set for selling it. Then I rode home. One of the indicators fell off, and another was acting dodgy, and I’ve noticed the brand new fork seals are leaking, but it felt better. I’ve ordered a fork seal set.
Today I fitted the new bars from the Harley specialist shop. They are a bit wider, so the handgrips fit properly now. And I was able to fit some bar end mirrors. I took it out for a test ride. The bars are a weird position. They make pulling the clutch lever in a real pain. Literally. But you are hunkered lower, in a position where you feel you want to throw the bike about a bit. When you can actually see what’s behind you, and start riding it in a spirited way, the bike is a whole different beast. It’s a hoot. Like on the old CX500s, you were thrashing it, pushing it to it’s limits, at the place a sports bike would be starting to warm up. It’s ridiculous fun. If I’m sticking with it I’ll do the fork seal kit, fit the fork cover things, and look at a shorter front brake hose. The lower bars are twisting the line all over the place. Oh, and I located the vibration racket,(more than standard Harley) it was the petrol tank. I took it off, cable tied a section of unused inner tube rubber to the frame, and that’s that fixed. I love it when it’s a simple fix.