phil_mo

Theory

2007-03-31T10:50:07Z

I passed my theory test today! Go Team Phil.

Can I now drive a theoretical car?

Cold!

2007-02-08T15:45:40Z

I've got a cold. Had a blocked nose for about a week but now just feel crappy and washed out. At least I can jsut stay in and play Spider-Man on playstation without feeling guilty now. Think I've been pushing myself too hard recently, and angst-ing about jobs never helps. Hopefully good news soon on that front though!

For the last fortnight we've had a Work Experience girl coming into the shop for some, er, work experience. I've been manically thinking of things for her to do, remembering how dull my work experience was, but I've been struggling. She spent yesterday in a different shop which is much busier, so I think that was fun for her and today we went to see the lovely people of Manchester LEaving Care, a joint initiaive between Manchester Council and Barnardo's to help kids who leave care to find hoes, jobs, friends, that sort of thing. It was good to see where the money we raise in the shop goes and hopefully will encourage greater interaction between the shop and the projects.

Had two more driving lessons this week. Both in the dark, both at rush hour. ut they've been intense experiences, and I haven't hit anything yet, so that's all good. Having a manoeuvres lesso non Sunday, so that should be interesting!

There's just (ten) things that got me trippin'

2007-01-25T09:35:54Z

As requested.

1. On my 20th birthday I went to a club that had a revolving dancefloor. But I didn't notice and just thought I was going mad.
2. I think I need to write poetry rather than anything else.
3. For a friend's fundraising party for her trip to Cambodia I dressed up as a ladyboy. People said I had nice legs. And I do.
4. If I had more money I'd get more tattoos.
5. I first met my girlfriend two years before we went out, but I didn't have the confidence to talk to her. As it happens, I'm glad I didn't, since I think I'm a better person for having had those two years at uni. When we finally met properly I was much more capable of being in relationship.
6. I want to make the world a better place, and I think it might happen if more people read classical works.
7. I've had long conversations on why small versions of large foods taste better. And I don't know why.
8. I've compared Jack Bauer from 24 and Angel from, er, Angel to Achilles and meant it. Although I have also written a thesis on Achilles and Spider-Man.
9. My favourite film trilogy is Back to the Future. And I will happily defend it as a piece of cinematic genius.
10. I haven't read nearly as many books as I want.

Superb...

2007-01-23T16:53:57Z

Warning on the back of a pack of dominoes and playing cards?

"This is not a toy."

Driving Lesson #1

2007-01-15T15:50:55Z

I had my first driving lesson yesterday, a bit delayed from planned due to darkness. (apparently it's not a good idea to have your first lesson in the dark- who knew?) but I ended up having one on a Sunday morning instead, which was probably a better idea. I quite enjoyed it in the end, driving round Chorlton on a Sunday morning was nice. At one point I thought "wow I must be going really fast", then checked and was doing 15 miles per hour. I even got to drive home from my lesson through West Didsbury which even on a Sunday morning was quite busy. Did put the car into 4th gear a couple of times by accident (I am just a boy racer at heart) but then on purpose on the way home.

My second lesson was meant to be today, but my driving instructor's ill! Curses.

And if anyone wonders, it was a silver car.

Roads?

2007-01-05T12:45:17Z

Where I'm going I don't need roads. No, wait, I do. I've booked driving lessons, so from next Tuesday the roads may be a little less safe. But the pavement might be more safe. Unless I'm really bad, in which case stay in your homes.

Now I'll just have to start doing the theory...

New Year's Resolutions

2007-01-02T10:52:25Z

Right. I've been told that one of my resolutions this year must be to post on my LJ more. Since I only managed to do so ten times last year, I hope I can better that at least. My other resolutions are to learn to drive and, I imagine, start looking for a new job at some point. Last year I managed two of the three resolutions that I made, so I take that as a success.

New job searching is due to the fact I woke up this morning to find that I've got ezcema on the back of my hand. This generally only flares up while I'm stressed, and I imagine it's down to this shop. On Friday I got an e-mail from my regional manager (boss' boss) telling me to produce a business plan on how to increase sales/hit budget/acquire more stock. Having never written a business plan, it's a bit daunting. I obviously know what I want to put in, but it's a case of the format and, more importantly, what not to put in. Am going to ask my boss for some guidance, but it's really not the support I wanted after a busy Christmas period!

But on the other hand, the Christmas/New Year period was good. Spent a lovely two days with my family for Christmas then spent the weekend with Sheena's parents for New Year. Although we did spend much of yesterday evening moving furniture around. (the front room's being decorated, it's not a bizarre New Year's ritual.)

Then watched the finale of Torchwood. Won't say any more until I know julysea and sadaprilsky have seen it, but it was certainly interesting. Have been generally underwhelmed by the series, but I'll keep on watching...

And so this is Christmas...

2006-11-28T15:12:24Z

...it's officially started in the shop. The Christmas tree is up, there's a garland over the stockroom door and there are fairy lights in the window (although they're not strictly speaking for Christmas, just for winter).

Mind you, we've had our Christmas cards on display since October.

The good thing is that I can at least be in charge of retail Christmas thisyear to some extent, and I'm going to try and limit the tackiness. And especially the Christmas music, which will be tasteful and classy (at least until Senior Management decree that it must be tacky and horrible and that I should have been playing it since August)

On a lighter note, went to see Roderigo y Gabriela on Sunday night which was triffic. They're really amazing guitarists/drummers and seem genuinely nice and funny people. Plus they do some great covers to go with their amazing own stuff. So it was an excellent gig.

Hurrah!

2006-10-12T13:26:53Z

Ah, I'm enjoying today at work. It's not exactly a rare occurence, I enjoy running this shop, but it's nice to have a day where it's all going well. We've sold lots of books, including many interesting ones. I'm always under pressure from management to stock books that will sell, a thousand Dan Browns would do, so it's always nice when unusual books that I've wanted to stock have actually sold. A book on Greek Architecture, another on Masculinity, Sexuality and Visual Representation, a few Observer Series books and several copies of sheet music have all sold today. What's more, the stockroom's organised, the floor is clear, the shelves are fully stocked(ish) and the sun is shining(ish) If only the fridge worked so I didn't have to store the milk in a sink full of cold water then I'd be laughing.

Well, I'd have fresh milk at least.

I've also started my ECDL training. It's all via online learning, which means I can do it at work or at home which is convenient. It's free, and will look good on my CV, in addition to (hopefully) be useful and help with my current work. It does, however, mean a return to exams which I thought I'd left behind. Darnit!

The dark side...

2006-09-26T11:33:26Z

Sorry, but the first update in a while is going to be a ranty one. Why oh why do junkies in Withington feel the need to steal from a charity shop? And why oh why are they so dense that they can't read the signs saying that all the DVD cases, PS1 cases and PS2 cases are frickin' empty?

It doesn't directly harm the shop. We obviously don't pay for any of the stock, so we aren't losing money. We can't raise as much money, as three PS1 games will bring in £9 for the charity, whereas three games without cases evidently won't.

These people are stealing for money for drugs. What I imagine is happening is that they are getting to the pub or wherever they fence this stuff, then find out the cases are empty, the nthrow them away. Which is mind-bogglingly annoying. It's hard enough to raise money to help the 76,000 children that we help every year without this happening.

What bugs me is that I know exactly who is doing this. But, until I have 'ocular proof' I can't do anything about it. Gah!

Hmm...

2006-09-01T07:51:43Z

Phil Michael Moses's Aliases

Your movie star name: Chocolate Cake David

Your fashion designer name is Phil Paris

Your socialite name is Philly Manchester

Your fly girl / guy name is P Mos

Your detective name is Tiger Whitgift

Your barfly name is Sausage Roll Long Island Iced Tea

Your soap opera name is Michael Hayes Lane

Your rock star name is Green & Black's Cheetah

Your Star Wars name is Phisop Mosshe

Your punk rock band name is The Hungover Mars

The Amazing Meganame Generator

Fame!

2006-08-11T21:59:00Z

Success! I'm in the Yellow Pages (sort of). I applied for the shop to be in the new Manchester Central Yellow Pages and it is! It is second list, right under 'The Adult Bookshop.' Oops. Let's hope people don't get confused, otherwise that could be some disappointed book shoppers.

Gah!

2006-07-15T13:48:05Z

Why does no-one want buy books on a hot, sunny Saturday in Manchester? Oh right.

Blood

2006-07-06T07:36:14Z

It runs through your veins, and out into a tube. Yes that's right, I gave blood yesterday. I was guilt tripped into it, as I was sent the "Donor," the free magazine that all blood donors get and as it was my day off I thought I'd give in. It's about the fourteenth time I've given (I think), and I still enjoy the biscuits, tea and strangely gooey orange squash.

Consequently I had a legitimate excuse to do nothing for the rest of the day.

I'm still very excited about this week's Doctor Who. I watched last Saturday's episode again last night before watching a bit of Episode III, which is noticeably less fun when Lego isn't involved.

There's no news in the world of bookshoppery this time, other than it's really hot and my area manager is coming to inspect today, so I'm in early to finish all those jobs I should really have done about a week ago. Ah, the joys. If only this was like Black Books, I could be grumpy now...

phil_mo @ 2006-05-17T19:49:00

2006-05-17T18:53:32Z

There've been some exciting times in the world of charity bookshoppery. We've ventured into the media, as I have now been on Radio 4's "You and Yours" show and the front cover of the South Manchester Reporter, the local free paper, all of which is great publicity for the shop and makes my life that little bit more exciting. Apparently GMR are wanting a story too. All of this is in relation to a Harry Potter box set that was donated to the shop that may be worth lots of money. It's certainly come in handy in terms of free publicity. I now get recognised as that man from the paper with the Potter books. Although only when I'm in the shop. The books themselves are on ebay, which is where I'm trying to sell some items that have been in the shop for a while but haven't sold. There's a delicate balance that I'm trying to walk between keeping the right stuff for the shop but also making money online. The warning from history is the bookshop round the corner that closed down because the manager found he was making more money from online sales than people coming into the shop. Like many independent bookshops, he found it was easier to close down than to continue. On the South Manchester Reporter website, there is an article asking whether Didsbury, just down the road, has lost its soul, and I wonder whether the lack of bookshops on the high streets of these places reflects or is the cause of this 'loss of soul.' Still, I'll man the barricades with my tiny charity shop, if barricades need manning of course.

The window cleaner on our building today was singing The Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" while on a ladder two floors up cleaning windows. I was bemused by this but I'm not entirely sure why.

Wednesdays...

2006-04-12T09:33:09Z

One of the bad things about working in a bookshop is that I have to work Saturdays. A consequence of this is that I get Wednesdays free to do as I please. A strange reversal has happened since, because I'm always so busy on Sundays, Wednesday feels like a weekend. Except its not. Or something.

I have no amusing anecdotes of Bookshopery yet. It has rained alot the last two days. We're still getting the usual crazy people coming to talk to us. I got to play with a balloon on Monday too. It was a quiet day.

Quick market research...if you're walking past a shop window of a small shop, what is likely to entice you in? Would it be, say, the look of the people in the shop already, the lack of people in the shop already, or something that you like that you've seen in the window?

Cheers.

A new beginning...

2006-04-04T19:52:00Z

Hey everybody! This all looks like much fun, so I thought I'd get involved. Hopefully I'll remember to update this, with hilarious tales of running a bookshop. Hmmm...