Lady of leisure

My long weekend is finally over. I wasn’t in work yesterday and got loads of things done, after what proved to be a fairly busy weekend.

Saturday G and I went for a walk. The picture above was taken while we were out walking. It was a really pleasant walk in the sunshine and included walking by the Grand Union Canal. We were looking at the canal at one point and I saw that there were a couple of terrapins sitting on a log. I wasn’t very impressed by that (although seeing them was really interesting) because I can’t imagine a British canal is their normal habitat and presumably people dumped them there when they realised that they do actually grow. It made me a feel a bit sad to see them and how lazy people can be. But apart from that it was good! We have a date in the diary for the next walk – which will be in the City of London.

In the evening we went to see a radio recording and that was good. It was called Spike’s Lookalikes and was written by Mark Watson who introduced it. It had Ardal O’Hanlon (the chap from Father Ted) and Doon Mackichan (the woman from Smack the Pony) and Rosie Cavaliero (the woman from the Green Wing). It was very amusing and given that it was about a lookalike agency and is a radio programme, quite a feat to pull off!

We then went to another radio recording on Monday night, which was of Bleak Expectations. I had tried to see this last year but didn’t get in. Sadly this time it didn’t have Celia Imrie in it, but it was quite amusing nonetheless. It had Anthony Head in it and Geoffrey Whitehead in it (and others but I wasn’t so familiar with them, including Mark Evans who wrote it and I didn’t realise until I saw him on the stage that he had been standing right in front of me in the queue talking to a couple of people) The second episode we saw recorded (which was the last one of the series) was more amusing and was a take off of The War of the Worlds. It was an acquired sense of humour but was certainly amusing. I’m not sure when either of the recordings we saw will be broadcast though.

Yesterday I had the day off work and managed to get a lot done, including getting my car MOT’d, putting a whole load of lawn feed/ moss killer down, digging out a plant that was taking over and generally tidying up my place. The first task of getting the car sorted went slightly awry when I realised I hadn’t got any money with me, but I had time to get home on public transport, get my money and then do a quick bit of shopping before going to pick up the car. This included buying a Frisbee, as G wants one - so I bought it in the green of Celtic.

Now, today, it’s back to work. I am only in the office for two days, then doing something work related but not in the office on Friday, which should be interesting and then am on leave all of next week (but only to get a boiler fitted), so hopefully I can survive a couple of days at work. Every time I am off work it reminds me how much I like being a lady of leisure (with the emphasis on ‘leisure’ rather than the ‘lady’…).

Twisted

I had a very irritating day at work yesterday, mainly due to a meeting where one of the people was in a very bad mood and just tore everything that we had done to shreds. His comments weren’t actually justified and pulled him up on some of the things that he had said. Judging by the look on his face, I have made a bit of an enemy there. Anyway, by the time I got back to my office I was really hungry and a bit grumpy. I heard my Australian stalker shuffling over and on his lunch break he had been out to try and buy some cake. He sometimes buys lamingtons and splits one with me, but hadn’t been able to get any but instead he had bought a doughnut for me. I don’t think he buys cakes for anyone else, he just sometimes likes to appear with a cake for me. Yesterday it was perfect timing and I finished my lunch and then ate the doughnut with a nice cuppa and some vague normality was restored. Although it probably wasn’t great for the waistline.

Anyway, it’s a nice long bank holiday weekend ahead and G and I are going for a walk on Saturday afternoon and then going to see a radio recording and another one on Monday. I think we’re having a celebratory take away tonight due to G getting a new job.

Incidentally, if you’re a fan of Cadbury’s Creme Eggs then they’ve brought out a new version of the bar. If you look at the videos here then I’m not entirely sure why a chocolate bar of an animated poo would be something that people would want to eat, but that aside, I might have to give it a go some time soon. Of course, I do still have an Easter Egg left to eat so perhaps I should do that first. Looking on that site did remind me of my favourite chocolate bar though. Oh yes, indeed.

Anyway, have a good weekend all.

Good news and a rant

Right let’s start with the good news. G got the job!!! So that was indeed light at the end of the tunnel and escape is now in sight. The not so good news G then said “but I’m not sure we can go on holiday now, as I am due to start the job on 7 July”. We spoke about that later and G is going to try and come up with a solution to this – it all goes back to having a really inflexible boss at the moment who sets bizarre rules. Fortunately that will all be over soon.

Anyway… I finished reading “Rebecca” which was very good and am now reading Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Marconie, which is a non-fiction book about the north of England. I have to say that I am not too impressed with it so far. Why not? Well, writing about the North seems to have to involve slating the South. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of things that could be said about the South, but why can’t you praise something without denigrating something else? Also, and I say this as a Londoner myself, London is not representative of the whole of the South of England – and in fact the entire first chapter of the book which was about the rubbish South was mainly about London but not a London that I actually know. He seems to have an obsession with cockneys.

“Chelsea Pensioners and Pearly Kings for instance. What is it about London that even the old codgers and marker traders have to ponce about in ridiculous costumes doing what can only be described as “showing off”? Northerners […] are generally inoculated against showing off by slaps administered in childhood. Pearly Kings and Queens: really, what is all that about? They are market traders, the people who sell you knock off batteries and pressure and snide versions of Nike tracksuits.”

What part of London does he frequent? Do I stumble across Pearly Kings and Queens on the tube each day? Erm… No… Are they on the market stalls round the corner from my office? Erm… no… When did I last see one? Probably as a small child and it was most likely at some sort of school fete. This chap has been watching too much Mary Poppins.

The book then moves on to talking about The Krays and the infamous pub the Blind Beggar and that after he visited it he looked up some reviews on the internet and people described the pub positively and one person said how nice all the staff are that there’s never any trouble. A point that Stuart Marconie is incredulous at because some 40 years ago someone was notoriously murdered there. Who here seems to be stuck in the past and unable to let stereotypes go?

Or how about “We don’t really get the Londoner’s much vaunted love of the royal family”? Er… all Londoners love the Royal Family? I don’t have much of an opinion on the Royal Family and I’m not sure I know many Londoners that do, but most people who have a strong view about them seem to be anti-monarchy not pro them.

But the bit I really couldn’t get my head round was when he wrote about seeing the musical My Fair Lady.

“But halfway through, something really quite dreadful happened. The scene changed from Park Lane to what was unmistakably some theatre director’s notion of a ‘cheery’ down-at-heel street scene in Lambeth or the Isle of Dogs. Slatternly woman in a shawl shrieked horribly as ‘cheery’ costermongers pinched them on the bum. Scamps and scallywags ran about nicking apples from barrows; chestnuts were sold and the contents of chamber pots flung about. Fear and apprehension began to grip me as it does when you hear the whine of the dentist’s drill or the opening music to Last of the Summer Wine. But in this case, I was the fast approaching whine and clatter of Dennis Waterman and a troop of choreographed ‘geezers’. The clatter was the sound of the dustbin lids they had attached to their feet as they stomped and hoofed around. The whine was the awful version – I’m not sure there is a good one – of ‘Get Me To The Church On Time’. When Dennis and co. got to the bit about ‘having a whopper’ and actually hooked their thumbs, behind their lapels, that inexplicable Cockney gesture of, well, ‘cheeriness’, I could feel the blood drain from my face. […] At heart, northerners feel the Cockney lower orders shouldn’t be so happy with their pathetic lot but organising a whelk stall strike and staging a violent revolution, whatever the Queen Mum might think.”

Right, perhaps I have missed the point here, but isn’t he taking a musical and suggesting that it is an accurate portrayal of Londoners? Do people go and see the musical Chicago and think that if they go to the Windy City that there will be lots of scantily clad women who commit murders? My Fair Lady is a musical and is meant to be a stereotype and is about a London that never existed – and I’m pretty certain that not only was there not regular singing and choreographed dancing in London markets of yester-year but also that people who were like Professor Henry Higgins didn’t break into song in their drawing room over an afternoon cup of tea. Any comments he has about the portrayal of London is a reflection on musicals not on London, surely??

Funnily enough on Tuesday I had been discussing Land’s End with my boss and how you have to pay to visit parts of it and then that evening the book in its very brief (two sentence) mention of the place it did actually cover where to park your car and the £3 admission charge to see the exhibition, and how you can wander half a mile down the road and see the wind and the waves for free. That’s helped with the holiday planning at least.

I did learn that the only football team in England not to be named after a place is Port Vale FC. Remember that if you’re into pub quizzes - and give me a share of any of your winnings.

Disconnected

I got home last night to find that my water supply had been turned off. The water company has said that they would switch it off during the day as they are replacing lots of pipe work but it was due back on by 4pm. I spoke to my neighbour and she’d had no water all day. She was so unimpressed. I phoned the water company and they said they’d get someone out to have a look and try and find out why there was no water. By the time I went to bed, there was still no water. Marvellous. It was back on this morning though.

G was not happy yesterday, primarily due to having one boss who is a bully and another who is so weak that she has to rely on rules to manage staff. The rules are in control she isn’t – and she doesn’t necessarily know what the rules are, in which case she panics even more than normal. It’s all turned into a complete mess and it is too excruciating to go into the detail of it here. I was trying to advise G on what to do but in the end I had to say that I couldn’t really give the right advice because if they were reasonable people this just wouldn’t even be an issue.

Let me give one example of how illogical G’s big boss is. One of G’s colleagues is American and she wanted to go back to America for two weeks for a wedding. The wedding was during term time and you’re only allowed to take two days leave per week during term time. How do you solve that? Well you tell the person they can go to America but must “work from home” on the three days that are not allowed to be taken as leave. The end result, G’s colleague got to go to America for two weeks during term time but only took four days leave as the other six days were “working from home”. Did she work from home – well what do you think? Could she have even if she had wanted to? No. But the big boss didn’t break the rules so it was fine. Do you see how there are some people you just cannot argue with, as there logic is so warped. G has two job interviews this week, let’s hope the light is finally at the end of the tunnel.

Patience

I slept really well on Sunday night, but last night I was still feeling really tired. I am now thinking that I might like to become a giraffe. Apparently they only need to sleep a maximum of two hours a day. I’m not entirely sure how one would go about becoming a giraffe, but I will try and work on this.

I think I’ve mentioned before that there is a chap at work who has taken rather a shine to me. I don’t think it is in a romantic sense, I don’t really know how to explain it though. He often comes back from meetings and if there are chocolate biscuits left over he brings back the chocolate biscuits for me in his sweaty little palms and leaves them on my desk. He also negotiated a discounted ticket at a conference for me, except that I didn’t want to go to it (and hadn’t said that I did), but I felt bad that he had gone to so much effort and so have arranged for someone else to go instead, so that his efforts weren’t wasted.

Every day I am can hear him shuffling over towards me. I sit with my back to where he sits and so he comes up behind me and knocks on my chair and updates me on his weekend or gives me an article he has found on the internet that he thinks I might be interested in. Yesterday morning I was standing at my desk switching my computer on and he came right up behind me (very close, but nothing one would want to start a grievance over) and then started to tell me about a chocolate custard he had made over the weekend. I moved to a slightly safer distance, told him it sounded very nice and then made my excuses and went and made a cup of tea.

He’s well intentioned, but hard work at times. I do have the ultimate way to get rid of him though. He’s Australian and sometimes I call him a “gentleman” which apparently Australians take to be the worst insult imaginable. I can’t use this weapon to often but it does normally seem preferable to killing him which at times seems like the only other alternative. Always best to keep that one in reserve though I find.

Observation

Another pleasant weekend over. G and I spent some time planning various activities such as a walk we want to do next weekend, plus picking out various radio broadcasts to try and see being recorded. We also spent some time trying to decide where to go on holiday. We were thinking about Spain but we think it would be too hot there when we want to go and we thought about a few other places in Europe but I have been to quite a few parts of Europe over recent years and haven’t got and strong urge to go back to any of them. I think we might now stay in the UK and go to various places that we have been thinking of visiting, such as the Eden Project. We’re planning on going to Montreal later in the year anyway, so hopefully we will get out of the UK for a break at some point anyway.

At the moment I am reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and I have to say that having read a few books of late that I have been fairly non-plussed by, it is with some pleasure and relief that I am finally reading a book that I am enjoying. That seems a strange thing to say about this book because it isn’t a cheery read, it would more accurately be described as sinister and there is certainly a sense of foreboding in it. But it is a good read and one that a few people have raved about of late. I just don’t think it’s going to end very happily…

On the way home on Friday I picked up a copy of the London Paper that someone had left on the tube. As I flicked through the paper I got to the Sudoku page, which is not something that really interests me.



I was amused by the way the person had marked it. Judging by the size of the first tick they were obviously very pleased with their performance on the first one, on the second one, it was more of a struggle and they gave themselves a sizeable but not as enthusiastic tick and by the third, well it seemingly lived up to its ‘difficult’ label. Do people normally mark their own puzzle-doing like that? Perhaps giving themselves marks out of ten for how quickly they can answer the cryptic crossword in The Times? It has to be said that I don’t even attempt such things, so I’m not really one to criticise.

Animal Adventure

My animal adventure yesterday was a success. Despite some very grey skies my colleague and I set off to see some animals that live not far from where we work. It was just a really nice way to spend a lunch break and we’re going to go back again soon.

There were all sorts of animals, of which here are a few.

Some calves:



A pig:



A cockerel - there were lots of different chickens and cockerels but this one amused me:



Some goats and cows. If you look carefully at the black cow you will see the goat is actually standing on its back, where it proceeded to walk up and down to its heart content, which really made me laugh.





A marvellous little adventure. So my colleague and I are now going to look for other hidden gems in the local area.

Digest

I’m hoping that on my lunch break today I’m going to do something exciting – and it involves animals… But it’s dependent on a) there not being a massive downpour at lunchtime and b) the chap I work with who is going with me getting back from a meeting in time. But it involves animals and I am (genuinely) very excited at the prospect of going to look at some animals on my lunch break what with working in a big city. If we don’t do it today then we’ll go next week instead. We also have plans to go and see a range of other places near work and soak in a bit of culture or just to totally escape from work in the middle of the day.

I have been trying to get tickets for a particular BBC recording. I got some last year but when I turned up all the seats were taken due to a massive guest list. Then I ordered some more last week, as they are doing some more recordings, but got an e-mail yesterday to say that the recording was cancelled. So I have now ordered some more tickets. Third time lucky? We shall see.

I made a discovery yesterday. One that is unlikely to change my (or your) life, but a discovery nonetheless. I found out why digestive biscuits are so called. Basically when they were first created by McVities, it was believed that they had medicinal properties that aided digestion. This was later found to be untrue, but the name continued. Biscuits that aid digestion? I imagine if they contained prunes they might, but beyond that I don’t think biscuits are generally hailed for their health benefits.

Gardeners' Question Time

Yesterday I mentioned to my boss that I am thinking about doing some volunteering and told him about one of the things I am considering doing. He was *really* enthusiastic and very supportive of me doing this and he told me that I would get leave from work (in addition to my normal leave year) to do it. This was all very good news and so in the next week or so I am going to go and observe what goes on a couple of times and then chat to a friend of my mum and then maybe apply. So I might have one thing in the pipeline already, which is a reasonable commitment in itself, but once I’ve got my head round this one, I’ll see if there’s anything else I might be interested in doing as well.

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I was trying to identify some of the plants in my garden. They might be really well known plants, but I must admit I know nothing about gardening, so that wouldn’t really surprise me.

If you have any idea what any of them are then feel free to let me know.

Number 1:



Number 2 (the one in the foreground):



Number 3:



Number 4 (not just one plant, but I don't know what any of them are):

Tags

Right, well TF cast me on to a Desert Island recently and I had the task of deciding what food and other items I would take with me. I have finally got round to doing this (I am a last minute packer when I go on holiday too, so this is true to form). Anyway, here we go:


1. First course – my mum makes this really lovely starter which involves melon, Parma ham, cucumber, tomatoes and goats cheese all in layers and then a honey mustard dressing on it and it is so nice.
2. Main Course – My mum’s homemade beef goulash (you may be picking up a theme here that my mum’s cooking is really good)
3. Sweet – a New York cheesecake
4. Drink – a cup of tea. How could it be anything else? Most days I only drink tea anyway…

One piece of music/song - So much to choose from but it should probably be something that I think would endure, so Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copeland.
One book - Again, so much to choose from but I shall go for A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute.
One luxury item - A radio playing the BBC World Service (or my mum, so she can do lots of nice cooking for me!).

I was also going to do Titration's tag which was as follows:

The rules of the meme:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

However, the problem with this was as follows (click on the image to enlarge it):




I shall give it a go another time!

Don't try this at home

Another pleasant weekend over. This one was actually filled with various domestic chores but I enjoyed them. I got up early on Saturday and pottered about before mowing my grass and then my neighbour’s grass as well. Then I had a chat with my neighbour for a while and she, as ever, asked me lots of questions like why I thought her gas bill might be so high and if I could work out how her gas fire turned on (not that she needs it at the moment). The primary problem with the fire appeared to be that there was no gas coming out of it when I tried to switch it on. I said I’d drop round the details of a firm who could look at all her gas appliances for her.

I spent a bit of time trying to identify the shrubs in my garden. I have managed to identify some of them, but others are still unknown. I’ll post some photos in the next few days in case there are any gardeners out there who can identify them for me. I also made some repairs to my shed roof but have decided that the only way to fix it properly is to re-felt it, so I’ll be doing that in the next few weeks.

G and I met up for lunch on Sunday and we went to The Mango Tree, which was very nice. We would have enjoyed it anyway, but we didn’t actually pay for the meal because G had collected enough points through TopTable so that we could use those to pay. We did have to pay for the drinks (which is has to be said were pretty pricey) but beyond that we didn’t pay anything. Very nice – and if you can go there through a TopTable deal (normally 50% off the bill), quite a bargain as well. I have come up with a list of places that I want to visit or go or a meal so we have a whole array of things to do over the coming months now…

I was talking to G on Saturday and the conversation went something like this;

G: I didn’t tell you what I bought on my lunch break yesterday.
Me: *ponders for a few seconds* A 99!
G: Oh, I did tell you.
Me: No you didn’t, that was a complete guess. Did you really buy a 99?
G: *somewhat disconcerted” Er… yes.

How weird is that?? I really had no idea what G was going to say and yet managed to guess.

I also read something in the local residents’ association magazine which said “3 Brits die each year testing if a 9V battery works on their tongue” and my first thought was to wonder if that’s true and then some vague thoughts about trying to test if that is what would happen – but then thinking that was probably what gets those three people killed each year. I wanted to know the answer to this and seem to have found it here. It is seemingly not actually lethal but best to be avoided nonetheless. Fair enough.

Volunteering

It’s Friday and I have quite a busy day ahead, what with a long and tedious meeting this morning and then giving a talk at lunchtime and then another meeting this afternoon etc etc. This is not what I want on a Friday. I also seem to be suffering from hay fever, which is particularly annoying seeing as I don’t normally get it. I shall blame it on global warming.

I am thinking about doing some volunteering. I have a few ideas in mind, but will have a bit of a think about what I might pursue. I think I’ve decided that as I don’t find my job all that satisfying, I am going to have to get that satisfaction in some other way. I don’t mean that I just want to do it for what I can get out of it. I just want to do something that makes a bit of a positive difference. That job I applied for would have been a really great move towards achieving that, but as that didn’t happen and my current job is more about bureaucracy than anything else, I feel I need to get involved in something else. Work would give me time off to do various bits of volunteering as well (in theory at least, as I haven’t actually asked my boss as yet), so I should think of how to take make the most of that.

A builder came round last night to give me a quote. He seemed a nice chap and he’s going to phone me today to tell me how much it will cost. All being well, I should then be able to get the boiler sorted at the beginning of June – and I will just have to hope that it doesn’t blow up before then.

As you may be aware, Labour did not do well in the elections last week. It seems that Gordon Brown is facing another vote and you have until next week to have your say. Should Gordon Brown have a waxwork made of him at Madame Tussauds? The choice is yours. I don’t really know what they have in terms of waxworks of former Prime Ministers but if it is meant to show who the PMs have been over the years it does seem a touch odd not to immortalise him in the same way, electoral mandate or not. Anyway, you can have your say.

Smugness

I went out for dinner with a friend last night. We went to Giraffe, which is normally a nice place, and it was this time, but the service was so slow and so disorganised. We got there before 7pm and wanted to order from the menu that is only available until 7pm, but by the time they came to take our order it was gone 7pm and they said it was too late. To give them their dues, I did point out that we had been there for a while and they went off and spoke to a manager who agreed we could order from the menu we wanted. But even that took ages to get agreed. Nice food but poor service throughout.

I read yesterday that Sheriff Ken Boris is going to ban alcohol on the tube from 1 June. Even as a non-drinker I have a few issues with this. First, a rule is only as good as the ability to enforce it and there is no way that it will be possible to stop quite a lot of the people drinking on the tube. Are they going to start searching people for illicit alcohol? Will they ban people from the tube who have just bought their weekly shop at Sainsbury’s including a can of beer or two to be consumed at home? I would also say that is the problem really caused by people who drink on the tube or by those who have spent the evening drinking in London and are heading home? Are they really tackling the right people?

I do have solution to this problem though. I think that everyone should be breathalysed before they are allowed to board a tube train - people who are teetotal such as myself may carry the “card of smugness” which means that you can just flash the card and walk past the queues of people being breathalysed and go immediately to the platform without delay. Anybody found to have drunk alcohol will not be able to use public transport. This will have a number of effects:

- More cars on the road, including drunk drivers who aren’t allowed to use the tube. We will therefore need more traffic police officers to detect them. This increase in police officers will mean more people in employment and therefore reduce unemployment figures.
- More cars on the road will also mean that potentially more revenue will be raised through congestion charging.
- Some people may choose to walk instead, thus increasing the fitness of the nation.
- Those allowed to travel by tube will be greatly decreased in number thus making the tube less crowded and me more likely to get a seat. This would make me happy. This is what is important.

Perhaps Boris isn’t going to be so bad after all.

Dubious

Well, not a lot to report here beyond a very nice evening spent by G and me celebrating our anniversary. Back to the office today which I am not looking forward to particularly, but I shall soldier on. Actually not being in the office yesterday meant that it was a real pain sorting out various things that I would normally do with instant access to the internet, so perhaps I should be glad that I will have the chance to plan various other parts of my life by being back at work.

Apparently some research has shown that yesterday was the most expensive day of the year for Brits. (I’m not really sure why that link is to Yahoo India, but there you go…). I am very dubious about that piece of research anyway and am not convinced that it is true. I really don’t believe that somehow one day is most expensive for most people. There are various bits I don’t believe but this one in particular stands out:

“And more than one third are making their own clothes, growing their own food or making their own wine.”

You have got to be kidding me. This is the same country where we use 17 billion carrier bags a year and so yesterday M&S started charging us for carrier bags to stop us creating so much waste – but we’re all at home making jam and knitting. Some seriously dubious research there...

In an economy drive*, I gave G this as an anniversary present. Yes, I gave G a link to a website. G gave me a jar of marmite. Romance is not dead. You need your speakers on to understand it. G is a number geek and was so thrilled by this website. G is a simple soul, but it is strangely mesmerising.

*not really an economy drive (or really an anniversary present for that matter), we’re just not much into buying each other presents and I came across this on the internet recently.

Time passing

The long weekend is over *sigh*, but I don’t have to go into the office today *hooray* as I have a meeting elsewhere *sigh*.

Anyway, it was a nice weekend. G and I went over to see my sister and nephew and we went to a farm. We all seemed to enjoy it but my nephew now seems to be more fascinated by playing than by looking at things like animals, so I may need to find a new alibi to visit places like that. Hopefully I can still persuade him to go to Monkey World though. My nephew is so funny though and it seems is also somewhat scared of some animals. There were a few occasions when some sheep bleated and my nephew clung on to me for dear life and was shaking like a leaf. So cute…

Then on Sunday morning G and I looked after my nephew while my sister did a 10K run. We amused him in a play area and fed him kit kat until we reckoned my sister was due again and then we walked back to the track and watched my sister appear again (she was doing three laps). My sister did really well and did it in about an hour. I’m not sure she enjoyed it though, so we’ll see if she does it again.

My sister then dropped me and G at a station and we waited for a train but my sister and nephew reappeared a few minutes later as my nephew was really upset because he hadn’t said goodbye to G properly. I think G was rather chuffed by that. We then headed off and had a picnic and I was so tired when we got home (I’d slept really badly the night before because the job was going round in my head) that G bought a takeaway which I ate and then I fell asleep on the sofa.

Today is actually G and my first anniversary. It’s amazing that I have even remembered because I am rubbish about things like that. I can’t believe a year has gone by already!

Disappointments

Right, well, lets get this over with. I didn’t get the job, which I have to tell you is such a disappointment and I cannot tell you how gutted I was. I got a letter on Saturday morning and had to read it and go straight out, so I didn’t even have time to think about it properly. I am somebody who likes to process things and take time to think about them before talking about them. I sent G a text (as we were about to meet up and go over to my sister’s house) to say what had happened and that I didn’t want to talk about it and then just talk a bit of time to have a ponder.

They actually gave me feedback in the letter and it has to be said that the feedback was very positive and they said what a good candidate I was and how I demonstrated so many of the qualities that they wanted. Basically there were just a couple of things that I should have expanded on more and then this probably would have been a very different story. Actually after the interview I had realised I hadn’t said those things and the feedback was entirely in line with what I had thought, so it wasn’t a surprise and the annoying thing is that I had some very specific examples that would have easily illustrated the points. It’s strange how close elation and despair can be.

Whilst I was upset about not getting the job, I was even more upset about how nice the letter was. This was not one of your bog standard “sorry you didn’t get the job” type letters. It was really personal (the person who wrote it knew me) and she also said how much the head of department had wanted to contact me himself, but as he was on leave they wanted to let me know the outcome anyway. I was really touched by it and I think the head of department wants to speak to me (the letter does actually say to get in touch with him), so I’ll send him an e-mail when I am back in the office on Wednesday. I always find people being kind to me very upsetting and the way that office has dealt with this has therefore been very upsetting!

I have a few thoughts about it all, most of them are actually very positive. I think it can be easy to lose your confidence in this sort of situation, but actually I feel that what the process did is show I really could do that job and I just didn’t keep one small part of the interview focussed enough. This actually makes me more likely to apply if another job comes up there. I just need to keep my focus the whole way through the interview.

What it also proved to me was that my motivation for going back to the office was to do the work. The whole time I was applying, preparing for interview etc, my thinking to do with it was always about the job and what I would do if I got it. It was not about working in the same place as A again (apart from the occasional feeling of fear about potentially doing that!). I think it was important to me to know that and now I do. If I had got the job, I would have wanted us to be civil and if possible for us to be friendly with each other. My thinking about A as a person will always be positive and that will never change, regardless of the changes in my attitude more generally about the situation itself. But that was a side issue and not my motivation for applying. I knew all that in my head, but now, because of all that has happened, it has actually proven it to me and I actually feel pretty good about that.

I am decidedly unimpressed that I have to carry on with my current job though. What I do is interesting enough, but I don’t really care about it, whereas the job I applied for would have really mattered to me. I think it is going to be hard to get my focus back on my current job – and to be honest I think I am going to be keeping an eye out for another opportunity in that office and will just bide my time until then.

Having said all that, I take you back to my first point – I am gutted about not getting it. There’s a song that sums up how I feel. Possibly you won’t see any connection and I’m not sure I can explain it, but the whole feel of the song describes what not getting that job felt like. The song is “Here Comes the Flood” by Peter Gabriel.

Conclusions

Well, it’s Friday at last and we are also on the second day of May – how did that happen? There’s no news on the job front. I’m not taking that as a particularly positive sign but hopefully I will hear something today, one way or the other.

Today is also C’s last day and I feel quite sad about that. We have worked together for about 18 months and have always had a good working relationship and got on well. When she’s on leave for a few days I usually miss her being about, so her leaving altogether is going to be more of a challenge. I went and sorted out the presents we are giving her and hopefully she will like those. I really shouldn’t be given responsibility for things like that – although I did ask her boyfriend for suggestions, so at least I can blame him for it in part, although not publicly as I think I might get in trouble for revealing their relationship to the office.

At least it is the bank holiday ahead. G and I are staying at my sister’s house tomorrow night and then looking after my nephew while my sister does a 10 km run. I think we will do something rather more relaxed than that but rain or shine we will be there waiting for my sister to cross the finish line, hopefully with my nephew still in one piece.

By tonight we should know the outcome of the mayoral result. If you had the chance to vote in the election then I hope you used your vote wisely. I voted on the way to work yesterday and when I was on the tube I began to wonder if maybe I had been too tired to vote and therefore voted for the wrong person, so let’s hope I didn’t lose the ability to put a simple x in a box (well four boxes actually). Anyway, tonight all will be revealed. If Boris gets in then London property prices may drop rapidly based on the number of people who have suggested they might have to leave the capital if he is elected. That’s democracy for you.

Decisions

Well, the interview is over and I was pretty pleased with it. They had told me the interviewers in advance but there appeared to be a last minute substitution and I was actually interviewed by two people, not three, and I knew one of them. I was pleased with my answers and whilst I can now think of additional things that I could have added, I think it went as well as I could have hoped. I should find out by the end of the week – and I can tell you that I will be gutted if I don’t get it.

I felt really nervous all morning and managed to eat some of my lunch but wasn’t really that interested in eating, despite feeling hungry, but fortunately adrenaline kicked in and kept me going – and then I had a curry to look forward to in the evening. Although it turned out to be quite a long time in the pub and then not much time to actually eat the curry before having to head home.

Anyway, if you have British blood in you then you might be interested in finding out if it is tainted by crime. The Proceedings of the Old Bailey have been published on the internet and you can check if your ancestors were up to anything naughty and if so what gruesome punishment they were given.

Rather more of the moment than that though is a reminder that if you live in most parts of the UK then it’s time to vote for local councils and if you live in London you get to vote for the London Mayor. I was talking to someone yesterday who helped design the system of voting in London, where we get two votes for mayor (plus a range of other votes). Apparently they decided on the two vote system so that with your first vote you can vote with your heart and for the second with your head. So in other words vote for who you would ideally like to win with your first vote and then with your second vote make that for the person you think will actually get in (or that will tip the balance away from the person who you think will be the other major contender). Of course this only works if no-one gets 50% of the votes in the first round, as then it would be irrelevant who you voted for second. This voting business is complicated. As it said in one of the papers yesterday: go and vote because don’t bother complaining about the outcome on Friday if you didn’t.

There's no I in team

I took yesterday morning off work to get another boiler quote. The chap who came round looked a bit like Captain Birdseye but I decided not to point this out to him. I don’t know how much they would charge yet, but the chap was very helpful and knowledgeable and I asked him loads of questions and he answered them all very well. I’m hoping he comes in with quite a good quote because I would like to use them if possible.

Anyway, today is ‘I Day’ meaning ‘Interview Day’ and as a result of that, when you are meant to be spend the whole time going “well, I did this” and “I did that” and generally saying how fantastic I am, although perhaps being a bit more specific than that. We’ll see how it goes. I’m just glad that the day has finally arrived as I have known about the interview for so long and it will be a relief to get it over with. I just hope it was worth the wait.

C is back at work today and we’ll see if she is a bit more talkative than at the end of last week. Her boyfriend works with us and I had to ask him for some information yesterday and he was really short with me. I wasn’t sure if that was because he was just stressed about something or if he was being off with me because I had upset C last week. Whatever the reason, it didn’t put me off getting him to do the work.

Then I’m meant to be going out for dinner tonight, although if I am feeling totally worn out, I might bow out of that.

Rightio, I’m off to sell my soul.

You get what you pay for

When I went to see my friends on Friday night, they were talking about how they’ve got lots of things that never get done and so they’re thinking about using a concierge service. Basically they would pay a company a fee and they would arrange their lives from them. Be it booking a holiday, arranging for goods to be delivered or getting the boiler serviced. Pretty much anything. I think this comes with somewhat of a price tag. But having said that there is a certain appeal to having someone do all those jobs that I never get round to – not that I can afford to pay someone to sort my life out for me. There is also a part of me that thinks it would be a very cool job to have. Although it can be a hassle, I do like finding things out, working out to get a good deal on something, helping other people out with finding products or services. Maybe I should have this as my second career. Not that I feel I have had a ‘career’, as such, to date.

Anyway, should you want to make use of a concierge service, then these people might suit you, if you are rich and famous (so rich that you would be willing to apply for membership without actually knowing how much they charge… Or you could try these people who seem to charge a maximum of £40 an hour, which whilst quite a lot of money, if it saves your sanity then maybe is worth it. A green alternative (as in how to make your life more eco-friendly) is these people. They charge about £200 but I guess you might make that back through the energy savings.

However, for something that doesn’t involve inviting strangers into your home, you could make your life a bit simpler by using a vacuum robot. You can programme this one and it will start vacuuming in the middle of the night if you want. It is about £800 though… Or you can get a rather cheaper one here, for a mere £230. Or if you want one that you don’t have to give up eating for a month to be able to afford then you can get this one for about £20 and it can mop your floor as well, although I think the fact it is cheap probably also means it isn’t as effective as the others. You really can buy anything these days though.

Offers

I really enjoyed being off work on Friday. When I used to work at a university I used to go for a walk on my lunch break and I would look at some of the people who were seemingly wandering aimlessly about the local streets and wonder how they were able to be do leisurely things on a working day. I like doing leisurely things on a working day and should try and do them more often.

Anyway, the first order of the day was British Gas. They, as I already knew, are very expensive. The quote I had from another firm is for £3400. British Gas would be £4400. BUT, I would get a £250 discount because they would trade in my old boiler. So, they came in at about £4150.

I have a few thoughts about British Gas’s offers. First, they are just very expensive, although I don’t mind paying a bit more if I think the quality of the work will be better. But that £250 trade in is a con – they are going to do nothing with people’s old boilers but chuck them away, so they are basically making you think that you are getting a discount, when actually they could have just given the lower quote – but then the customer doesn’t think they are getting a bit more of a bargain. If I was one of their homecare customers, they would have given me another £150 off – but if they have fitted the system right then presumably I would be unlikely to need the service, and they probably get a lot of customers who continue to keep the service (and therefore British Gas get lots of money in subsequent years). So it's just a way for them to make money in the longer term.

I told the chap that I didn’t really think their quote was very competitive and he said that they do normally come in about £5-600 more than local firms, but he then told me why they were still such a great choice. However, he then said he could give me another £200 off if I would sign the contract that day because he "wouldn’t have to come back to get the paper work”. Two thoughts came to mind with that. First, it costs £200 to collect some paperwork??! But also that it is just a sales pitch because surely I could post the paperwork, but also it must make people sign because they will want to save £200 if they can. I imagine that if I hadn’t already got a quote and don’t also have another appointment booked then I might have thought that it was best to sign to save £200. Despite the fact that British Gas just aren’t that competitive. The chap wasn’t doing the hard sell, by the way, he was very pleasant, but I think that by the time he left he was thinking he was unlikely to get my business.

Anyway, after all that I went out and got my hair cut. I went somewhere different to normal because it was easier to get it done in Central London. The hair cut was fine, but a bit shorter then it has been for quite some time, so I’m trying to decide if I like it like that. G liked it though, so I have do have an endorsement of it.

Then I saw my financial adviser and it was interesting talking to him about his thoughts on the current ‘credit crunch’ and I am just very glad that I don’t need a new mortgage at the moment.

G was over for the weekend and we went for a very nice walk in the sunshine in Windsor Great Park on Saturday. That was very pleasant and I just so like going out for a walk in the sunshine and Saturday was a particularly nice day to do that.

Then last night I went over for dinner with one of my housemates from university, which was just so nice. We used to see each other loads but recently that has been more difficult to do and I have just missed the opportunity to spend time together and chat. We put the world to rights, as ever and ate lots of nice food. All good.

Frustrations

I’m off work today and waiting for the British Gas man to come round. Then I’m going to go and get my hair cut and then I’m going to see my financial adviser (and I will presumably say I haven’t got any money as I have to spend it on a new boiler!).

Anyway, yesterday proved to be a bit of a challenging day at work. C is leaving and so we have been looking for someone to replace her. We looked at various options and decided that the best approach was to upgrade her post because there is some difficult work coming up and there was also a very good candidate from a recruitment run by one of my colleagues and we were then able to offer that woman the job. We got HR’s agreement to all of this and it meets all the rules – the woman was recruited through fair and open competition etc. This woman accepted the job yesterday and so that was the first opportunity to tell C what was going on. I really believe that you should be honest with staff and that you need to make sure that you tell staff properly rather than them finding out through Chinese whispers, so I explained to C what was happening about replacing her. She was so unimpressed and had a real go at me.

We sit next to each other and normally exchange a bit of banter, but yesterday afternoon we didn’t really speak (not in a childish way, we just each got on with our work) and just before she was due to go home I asked her if there was anything else she wanted to say about our earlier conversation she said “no, it’s none of my business really because I’m leaving”. She then momentarily paused for breath and it turned out that she actually had plenty to say and told me what all those things were! Basically she doesn’t think it’s very fair and to a degree suggested that I had sold out my principles by doing this, she said something like “you talk about always wanting things to be fair, but when it suits you, you change the rules” and I explained that what we had done was fair and we’d had to go through a process to get permission to do this etc and I explained why we’d regarded he post and the election process to get her replacement etc, but she still didn’t think it was fair.

C wouldn’t have been eligible for this upgrade because of the way the grading structure works and she said that we would never have done this for her, which I was surprised that she would say. I told her that we were working in theoreticals now because I couldn’t predict what we might have done in the future had she stayed but I talked to her about all the things we had done to try and get her post upgraded but ultimately she didn’t pass the exams and so we couldn’t upgrade her. I even helped her prepare for the interview for the job she is now moving on to. I have worked really hard to do the right thing by her, even if it was to her benefit more than that of the organisation. It’s not that I think she is ungrateful or want her to thank me for it, I just feel really disappointed that she might leave next week and her abiding memory is that I sold out and did something for convenience rather than being fair. If it were true I’d just have to accept that, but what bothers me is that it isn’t actually true. There was nothing dishonest about this recruitment and I always did the right thing by her as much as possible, but somehow I feel there’s a bit of a cloud over that now. I’m not feeling sorry for myself about it and I don’t feel guilty about what we have done because it is all above board - and I also suspect if I was on C’s position I would have said very similar things to what she did – but I do think it’s a shame that C feels the way she does. The fact she said the things she did is because we have good and honest relationship, but sometimes it seems that isn’t always a good thing.

Well, what’s done is done.

Palpitations

On the way into work yesterday morning I went to change trains as normal and could see a passenger talking to one of the station staff on the platform. Initially I couldn’t quite work out whether they were having a friendly chat or if she was annoyed (as weird as that may sound). Anyway, as it turned out she was annoyed and I could hear the station chap politely explaining to her that if she tired to go down on to the tracks they would have to call the police. It was then that I saw a mobile phone on the tracks and it seems she had dropped it there. He said that they would retrieve it for her after 9.30am which was about an hour away and she was so unimpressed and then seemed to think that I might lean over the platform edge and steal her phone and practically elbowed me out of the way while I stood there waiting for the train to come in. I suggest you hang on to your phone tightly when you’re out and about.

I was talking to a colleague yesterday about various things and while we were talking he suddenly told me that he’d been unwell recently. Apparently when he was on leave a couple of weeks ago he was rushed to hospital because he seemed to be having a heart attack (this chap is in his forties). They ran tests and in the end decided that it was actually stress induced by work. While we were talking he said that he felt a tightness in his chest. I asked if he had told our boss about it and he said no and that I was the only person he had told. I said that I thought he should perhaps say something, but he just said “no, you can’t afford to show any weakness here and if I tell them that’s what they’ll see”. I despair. I do still think he should say something, but he says he won’t and it’s not my place to tell people at work. I did, however, assure him that if he ever collapsed I would try and resuscitate him - and then further assured him that I would be happy to punch him in the chest any time he liked. I like to be helpful.

Anyway, if you live in London and are wondering who you should vote for, you could try this website. Just answer some questions and it will tell you which of the candidates you’re most aligned with. I should perhaps get G to do this. We were talking on the phone the other night and G was reading the candidates booklet (we have very interesting conversations) and was threatening to vote for the BNP*. I assured G that if that was the case that not only would it be vote day but also ‘dumping day’.




*This was a joke by the way. G would never vote for the BNP.

Conversations

I have had some odd conversations this week.

Example 1:

G phoned me at lunchtime yesterday.

G: Hello Poppet.
Me: Er, hello…
G: That’s from Mrs Doubtfire.
Me: Oh right.
G: So it seemed entirely appropriate to say it given that it was a transvestite talking to a small child.
Me: Er, quite…

Example 2:

I had a meeting with someone I had never met before. We were talking about some work related things and suddenly he said:

Ooh look at me being so indiscreet and we haven’t even slept together.

Well, indeed.

Clay Feet

One day down and only three more days of work this week, as I am off on Friday. British Gas are coming round to give me a quote for a boiler and I have a whole list of other things that I also need to get done.

My interview next week keeps crossing my mind and when it does I then think that there’s no way I am going to get through the interview. I just keep doubting myself, even though I have experience that is entirely relevant and am usually pretty good at interviews and have been doing my prep. I just need to have a bit more confidence in myself, I guess.

Something else keeps going through my mind, which is entirely unconnected to the above. One of G’s friends was over last weekend and when we were having some cheese after dinner he licked his knife and then put it in the butter spread that on a cracker and then sliced some cheese with the knife. He’s a really nice chap and I get on with him well, but somehow I just struggle with someone licking a knife (I’m not keen on that in and of itself, but have sort of got used to that as G does it sometimes) and then dipping it into a communal product. Ick.

Anyway, I read this article on the BBC and thought it was quite interesting. Should the personal life or views of an author influence whether we read their books? It’s an interesting dilemma. I’m certainly not of the burning books type (oh the horror!), but if someone held views that I found abhorrent would I decide that I should not read their books. I guess I might choose not to buy them so that I did not line their pockets – but what if I borrowed the book from a library or the person was dead so they did not really personally benefit? Is there work somehow devalued or should be ignored because of extreme or unacceptable views? I don’t know.

In the comments on that article someone mentioned that Roald Dahl was anti-Semitic and yet that wouldn’t stop me from reading his books, but perhaps that is because I am not Jewish. Is it somehow more acceptable as long as you are personally not threatened by that person? That seems like flawed logic to me. We can find things unacceptable that don’t directly impact us and would be pretty selfish if we only measured things by whether it affects us as an individual. But banning authors or blacklisting them seems a worrying thought to me, but maybe finding out things about the author can so taint their work for us that we choose not to read it anyway, even if those views are not themselves apparent in their books. But having that choice does in itself seem an important thing. I will end my somewhat incoherent thoughts with something someone said in the comments on the BBC article:

“One of the biggest dangers of meeting your heroes is discovering they have feet of clay.”

Errors

If you live in London then you might have seen the adverts for the forthcoming mayoral election that are basically telling people that they should find out where their polling station is and not just rely on stumbling across it on the day. Well, as it turns out, my own council doesn’t know where my polling station is. A few weeks ago I got my polling card which said that my polling station was at the school along the road from where I live. Then on Friday I got a letter from my council saying that they had made a mistake and actually that isn’t my polling station and it is in fact about a 15 minute walk from where I live. Oops. I guess, at least they realised in advance. I was planning on voting on the way into work but I don’t think I’ll have time to get to the polling station and into work at a reasonable time, so I might have to wait until the evening. Grrrr…

Anyway, it was quite good weekend – despite getting a quote for fitting a new boiler which is for £3400!!!! I went to my uncle’s house on Saturday to celebrate his birthday. To get there I had to go to St Pancras, which is where the Eurostar departs from. I wasn’t actually heading for the continent and was using one of the domestic platforms, but from what I saw of the station, I thought it was pretty impressive. It was a pleasant enough afternoon, despite one of my cousin’s being as irritating as ever. He is about 8 years old and is a militant vegetarian. He is happy to point out to people how disgusting they are for eating meat and my uncle told me that they had recently been to an aquarium, which my cousin had enjoyed, but then there were some stuffed animals and my cousin was so horrified when he saw a stuffed polar bear that my uncle had to cover his son’s eyes to escort him out of the exhibition because he could not look at it. I know stuffing animals is not a great thing to do (although having said that, there is a very funny scene in Alan Alda’s biography “Never have your dog stuffed” about the after effects of his childhood dog having been stuffed which I thought was very funny) but my cousin has no middle ground in any of his thinking and if he doesn’t like something you certainly know it… He’s always a challenge.

Yesterday I met up with G and we went for lunch at Wagamama’s and then had a wander in the National Gallery and around the local area up to Piccadilly and then had a cup of tea and a bit of cake before heading home. All very civilised and there was a nice bit of sunshine to go with it all too. Very pleasant.

In hot water

I left work really promptly yesterday because a heating engineer was coming round to look at the strange set up with my hot water tank. There is basically a cylinder directly above the tank that is rusting away. He looked at the system and basically said it is all very dangerous. A plumber had commented on it previously and said it needed looking at, but I had never quite got round to getting the problem fixed because that plumber then became very elusive and it slipped my mind after that.

Anyway, the problem is that there isn’t a proper outlet on my hot water tank, so if the water boiled (which admittedly is unlikely) then there would be nowhere for it to go and my hot water tank would explode. It seems I have two options. First is to get the agreement of my neighbour to run some pipes up through her property so that there is proper outlet up to where the cold water tank is in the roof. This would cost several hundred pounds. I have a fairly old heating system which will break at some point and need to be replaced and you can only get combination boilers now, so ultimately I would have to get that fitted instead anyway. The second option is to get the combination boiler fitted now. This would mean a lot of work and could be quite destructive, including possibly taking up the flooring in my bathroom that I had fitted less than a year ago, plus they would put new pipework in my kitchen and I’d have to get that all boxed in as well. This would cost around £3000.

I can’t decide if it is best to persuade my neighbour to let them do some work in her flat and get the quick fix that is relatively cheap (by comparison…) but run the risk that when my boiler breaks (and it is difficult to predict when that would be though it is running fine at the moment), I’m going to have to go for the new boiler option anyway, so it would be several hundred pounds now plus the cost of then installing a boiler. Or go for the pain now consisting of destruction, more work and lots of money to get the problem totally fixed for the longer term.

I can’t quite decide what to do. Whilst obviously the expense is a big factor, I am ultimately a practical person and like to get things done properly, which would make me lean towards getting a new boiler. But it is the thought of all the destruction and then all the other things that I might also have to get done that really puts me off. Why can’t this be more simple??

Anyway, it’s the weekend ahead. I’m going to my uncle’s house tomorrow as it is his 60th birthday. I think my sister is going to come back to mine for a bit afterwards, not least to pick up her Easter eggs that I haven’t been able to give to her yet. Incidentally, I still have two Easter eggs of my own to eat.

Challenges

I have been feeling really tired this week. On Monday it was just because I’d taken ages to fall asleep on Sunday night, but then on Tuesday night I had felt fine all day but by the evening, I just felt totally worn out and fell asleep really early. There is a part of me that wonders if I am just going into hibernation mode (despite it being the wrong season for it) because I feel a bit down about some things at the moment, which is making me a bit anti-social and feel really tired. But then last night I went out with a friend from university and we had a really nice evening and just spending a nice evening in pleasant company, talking about nothing in particular helped a lot. I did take the opportunity to ask her about her views on Boris Johnson. She doesn’t live in London, but has a definite leaning towards the right and she said that she thought he was awful and if she lived in London, despite being a staunch Tory, she would have to think about voting for someone else.

On the way into the station this morning a man gave me a leaflet and when I looked at it, it was a Boris Johnson campaign leaflet. Had I realised before I’d taken it, I would have just said to the man “I don’t think so” and refused to accept something proclaiming that man’s supposed virtues.

Anyway, at least I can be grateful that I’m not bald. Not only that, but I’m not a teacher who appears to be frightened of their own pupils and trying to cite baldness being a disability as my defence. Let’s just look at the dictionary definition of a disability:

• lack of adequate power, strength, or physical or mental ability.
• a physical or mental handicap, esp. one that prevents a person from living a full, normal life or from holding a gainful job.
• anything that disables or puts one at a disadvantage.

So technically, it seems that being follicly challenged could indeed be a disability as being called “baldy” and having to skulk about so you don’t see any pupils at your school does seem to be not living a “normal life”. But can you imagine if baldness became known as a form of disability? Winston Churchill helped to win the war *puts on a whispered slightly patronising tone* “despite his disability”. Kojak was not the story of some slightly maverick cop but was in fact an insight into the everyday troubles of someone who was disabled. Also, given the number of people I work with who are somewhat lacking in the hair department, we must easily meet any disability equal opportunities quotas. Children can be cruel, but I’m not entirely sure that I can see the chap’s case.

Oh and I got a letter from a friend from school yesterday. She has had child number three and called him Max. When she was at school she had a dog called Max. Is it just me or is it a bit weird to pick the name of your dog for your latest child??

The kindness (or otherwise) of strangers

Someone I work with was on the tube going to work yesterday and, although she is English, was reading a book that was in French. There were a couple of people sitting opposite her who decided that based on her reading material, she must be French and therefore started talking about her shoes in totally audible English. So basically, if you read a French book you must therefore actually be French and if you are French you can’t understand any English. I think that is a path potentially destined for trouble.

As if to illustrate that the French are potentially more charming than the English (or certainly the two people on the tube yesterday), a friend was out on hr lunch break last week without a coat and suddenly it started to rain. This chap came up to her who she didn’t know and put his umbrella over her and in a French accent asked where she was going and walked her to her destination (which wasn’t very far away). There were no strings attached and there was nothing sleazy about it, this chap just saw someone who was going to get drenched and helped her out. I’m not sure there are many people who would do something like that.

Lighting up

I felt so tired all day yesterday. It took me ages to fall asleep on Sunday night (I think due to over-consumption of caffeine) and so didn’t get anywhere enough sleep. It does tend to mean that I get a really nice night’s sleep on a Monday though, whicg did prove to be the case.

Anyway, yesterday sent someone an e-mail to ask about he colleague who has an interview for the same job as me. He came over to see me and said “she’s rubbish. She is a real worrier and panics about everything.” That’s what I like to hear. That doesn’t mean she isn’t fantastic at interviews though, of course...

I was looking in my airing cupboard yesterday and there is a strange cylinder attached to my hot water tank. It seems to serve no purpose and is just slowly rusting. I think the rusting is getting worse though so have arranged for someone to come round and look at it, as it’s either going to rust through one day and presumably cause a problem or it’s just dripping rust into my hot water tank, which isn’t great either. The firm I spoke to, who fitted my fire and serviced my boiler etc, are so helpful and I arranged an appointment for next week for them to come and assess it, but they phoned back and said they’d just drop round one evening and have a look and then presumably will just get on with the work next week instead. I so like having a firm I can call up and they just do what they can to help. I have no plumbing expertise and have to rely on people who do know what they are talking about and it’s so easy to get ripped off. So it’s good to feel confident in a company. I should perhaps look into getting some skills in that area though, just to deal with basic ‘incidents’ at home. You have to be corgi registered to deal with some things though and somehow I think that might be going a bit too far.

If you have some lighting expertise then you might want to try installing this though. Why bother with actual lights when you can get your wallpaper to glow. How very bizarre, and yet kind of cool at the same time.

Know your enemy

Monday again. Always a disappointing end to the weekend... Anyway, it was a nice weekend and all the cooking etc went well when G’s friends came over. They are really nice people and also great fans of the finer things in life, so you always know that they will either feed you lovely things or if they come to you will bring lovely things with them. This was no exception, as they even brought home made cakes.

On Friday, someone I used to work with who knows I have applied for a new job said that she knows someone else who has an interview. I don’t know this other person very well, but I felt kind of disconcerted by that. But then I thought that as there would obviously be other candidates, perhaps I should just work on the philosophy of “know your enemy”. I know that the job would be a promotion for her, whereas I already have a proven track record at the grade over several years. I also have worked in the unit before and so have more of an idea of what they might be expecting. I don’t know I she knows I have an interview as well, but I could just poison her so that she doesn’t actually make it that far...

Over the weekend I was talking to my visitors about the mayoral elections. For some reason I am becoming fearful that Boris Johnson might actually get elected. I don’t actually know anyone who has so far admitted that they will vote for him, but presumably some people somewhere will, so he is still a danger. So I am taking the next couple of weeks before the election as an opportunity to beg people to vote so that whoever gets elected is not based on people’s failure to vote. Incidentally, a few weeks ago I mentioned about a bid to get an independent candidate to run. Well, it looks like that bid failed. I have no idea if the account of it is accurate, but it makes interesting reading. So despite the claim that “it could be you”, well, actually no it can’t...

Screening

This week has gone by fairly quickly and it’s almost the weekend. Tonight a big Tesco order is being delivered and then some friends of G’s are coming over tomorrow and, I think, staying the night. Should be good. I must make an effort to be more sociable though. My home phone has rung a few times this week and I just can’t be bothered to answer it. The advantage of a mobile phone is that you know who is calling you and at the moment I’m not sure I can be bothered to speak to people when I don’t know who it is in advance. Anyway, I shall make a special effort this weekend to be friendly (so long as it doesn’t involve having to talk on the phone).

I have watched this series of The Apprentice right from the beginning, which I have never done before. I have to say that I am decidedly unimpressed by it. The people just seem to argue the whole time and no-one seems to have any skill apart from pointing out other people’s faults. Is it normally this bad??? I think I have only ever seen the last few episodes in previous series and it has to be said that I don’t feel as though I have missed out. Maybe I just can’t understand why they would be interested to put themselves through that process. If it was me I wouldn’t have applied to be on it in the first place, but if somehow I still ended up being selected, I would have said very early on that life is too short to spend it arguing and walked out. Am I somehow missing the point of this programme? Aren’t these people means to have some greats business acumen – because I’m not sure I have noticed any so far.

It’s probably a good thing that there is lots of food on arriving tonight because I was looking for something in a kitchen cupboard yesterday and found this:



I am wondering if I should perhaps look through my cupboards a bit more regularly in future. You’ll be pleased to learn that I threw the potato in the bin and wasn’t tempted to eat it.

Inaction

I was on the tube yesterday morning and there was a girl talking on the phone to her friend. She was very talkative but not particularly loud. However, the woman sitting opposite me and her husband obviously took exception to this girl and the woman kept making comments like “I hope we go in a tunnel soon” and other such polite things. The woman and her husband were each reading their own copies of the Daily Mail. I think that about sums them up really and I knew who I was more keen to be quiet.

I had a meeting yesterday morning and after an hour we finally reached the first point on the agenda (note that is “reached” not “were still talking about” or “finished”). We then commenced the first point, which was the minutes and were doing the standard thing of checking the actions had been completed. We got to the first action and spent 45 minutes on that. After the meeting had been going for two hours we abandoned it and decided that what we had discussed would have to do. I wasn’t chairing this meeting, which is probably a good thing, as I don’t think it would be the sort of example I would want to use in my interview.

I had an interesting bit of news yesterday that a chap who works in our unit and is sort of “spare” would be interested in my job (not that he knows I am applying for a new job, he just expressed an interest). So that means, if I got the job I have applied for, I could probably leave pretty quickly, as he could replace me, which would be good because it is never good to have to hang on. Anyway, now that means I just have to actually *get* the job. I’ve been practicing the written task and think I have got pretty good at that and am still working through all of my examples for the interview and making sure they are up to standard. I am going to be so gutted if I don’t get this job.

Evidence for the prosecution

As you will probably have noticed, the inquest into the death of Princess Diana is now over. Yesterday, the BBC published an article on three members of the public who regularly attended the inquest. One of them is a chap called John Loughrey and he was asked what he would now do with is time to which he replied "It's fine, I move on very quickly from things, I have plans, firstly I'm going to go on holiday with my sister. Then I'll think about getting another job."

Let’s just consider the evidence for that:

- He rented out his house and moved in with his sister so he could afford to attend the inquest.

- He told the BBC "I'm going down in history for this. It wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't a portrait of me hanging in Kensington Palace in 100 years time" which some might suggest is a little overly optimistic.

- And... Diana died over ten years ago and he followed every word of the inquest in person. This man attended every single day of the inquest (over 6 months of it) and even got a special mention by the judge in his summing up.

So, yes it sounds to me like he can move on very quickly from things. Perhaps his next project could be following the Olympic torch around the world. That should keep him occupied for a bit.

On an entirely different note, yesterday I kept thinking of the song “Lost” by Michael Buble. I think this is partly influenced by walking past a branch of KwikFit on Sunday and they were listening to it full blast, but anyway, it has been rattling around my head. So I present it here for you, so that it can rattle around your head as well.

Early

One day down, four more to go and it’s another early start today. Yesterday, despite not needing an early start, I seemed to be doing things ahead of time. Today, not so good... Yesterday afternoon I went to a meeting and we went through a document paragraph by paragraph and, believe me, there were a lot of paragraphs to go through. I am surprised I managed to stay awake until the end of the meeting. One of the chaps there really wanted a cup of coffee but there weren't any cups left by the time he arrived. His boss then left the meeting early so he took his bosses cup and poured himself a cup of coffee. I just found that quite odd. I think, however, much I wanted a drink - or how good my relationship was with my boss - that I wouldn't have chosen that option.

Anyway, yesterday I was talking to someone I do a lot of work with about how we could occupy some particularly irritating people we have a meeting with tomorrow. We are thinking of setting them a colouring in task. It would have nothing to do with our work, but it’s a great way to keep children occupied, so it might work equally well with them.

If modern living gets you down, then you might like to look at this site. You’ll either really be able to relate to it or end up totally scratching your head. I’m still trying to work out which side of the line I am on...

Prised

Another weekend over and it was the opportunity to experience pretty much any type of weather you can think of – sun, rain, snow, thunder, lightning. Perhaps it was the beginning of the apocalypse and I just failed to notice.

Anyway, Saturday G and I went to see one of G’s friends. That was a really nice day. I’d never met this chap or his wife before but we just chatted away and ate lots. They have a little girl who is about 14 months old and she is learning to sign. She isn’t deaf, but it seems that one of the things young children can learn these days is signing, which means that even though they might not be able to speak yet they can still communicate what they want. So, if they are in pain or want a drink they can sign that rather than leaving perplexed parents trying to work out why they have a screaming child in front of them. I just thought it was so simple and was really impressed by it. I am now trying to learn the sign language for “a cup of tea”, so that I can get G to brew me a cup in the morning without me having to speak. Although to date, a sharp poke with my elbow has been found to be remarkably effective.

I saw that Charlton Heston died yesterday. Whilst best known for his acting, he was also known for being the president of the National Rifle Association in the US. Maybe someone can finally prize that gun from his "cold dead hands".

There's always an answer

Yesterday I got the letter confirming when my interview is and, despite them previously saying I would have to give a presentation, the details of a written test that I will have to carry out. The odd thing is that they have actually told me what the written test is – which basically means I can practice it in advance. I won’t be able to practice the precise detail because I will only find that out on the day but I know what the key elements are. It makes me wonder if there is some catch. But I guess they are maybe just testing my ability to speedily take in information and summarise it in writing. I am scratching my head about it though. My main concern is that I have terrible handwriting, so somehow I am going to have to make it legible before the end of the month.

Anyway... ladies, are you worried that you’re going to be left on the shelf? That you’re going to end your days lost and alone – or worse, still living at home with your parents at the age of 75? Well, have no fear, there is an answer. Get your parents to add you to this website. They can get about $50,000 for you and live a life of luxury, while you’re married to some creepy guy who has to resort to buying a wife.

If you do get picked by the man of your dreams (there’s none of this silly women having any choice in the matter, so don’t worry, just spend the time making yourself look pretty) then you might want to think about where to go on honeymoon. At the same time you can test your world geography by having a go at this game. Of course you’ll only actually get to go to any of those places if you get the washing done and have done all the cleaning. So starting getting those dishes clean.

Scarred for life

I have to be in work early today, which I am decidedly unimpressed about. I just don’t to early. It’s odd because a few years ago I used to get into work for 8.20 every day, but now I get in about an hour later and the thought of getting in that early seems beyond comprehension. I shall soldier on though.

Anyway, there was a horrible story in the news last Friday about a woman who was killed in Colchester, Essex. She attempted to cross the railway lines after the barriers had gone down and she got her foot stuck in the track. Despite a couple of men trying to help her, they couldn’t get her foot free and she was killed when the train struck her. This brought back memories that we had to watch as children at school teaching us the dangers of various activities. One of the films was about the dangers of playing on the railway lines. It has to be said that filmed really scared me, I was probably only 6 years old when I saw it. Had I ever been set for a life dicing with danger on the train tracks this film forever changed my destiny.

I can’t find a copy of the film on the internet but I remember the film, including the football boots hanging on the back of a door and the voiceover saying something like “Robbie won’t be playing football any more”. This being due to him and some friends walking home along the railway line one day and he got his football boots stuck and while he was trying to pull them out, he got struck by a train and his legs were cut off. Just the kind of thing you needed to learn about at the age of 6. I told my sister about the woman being killed in Colchester and asked her what it made her think of – and she named that film as well. It was obviously very memorable – and my sister doesn’t play on the railway lines either.

Robbie isn’t actually a Public Information Film, but I came across some of those when I was trying to find a copy if it on the internet. It really reminded me of some classics out there and they can all be found here. I really remember the one about rabies and that made me a bit paranoid about going anywhere near animals when I was on holiday (even going to visit my aunt in Ireland...).

Some of the more peculiar ones though are... one telling you about the dangers of polishing your floor if you have a rug, one about what to do if there is a nuclear attack and perhaps the most strange one involving the analogy between road safety and a hammer hitting a peach.

Mind you, I have never been hit by a car, contracted rabies or killed myself slipping on a rug so maybe I shouldn’t be so sceptical.

Subtitled

Yesterday was the 90th anniversary of the RAF, which included a fly-by by the Red Arrows. I managed to get out of the office in time to take a photo of them. It was only when I got back to work that I could see the picture properly and realised they were in shot, what with them being quite fast and also because I was looking into the light I couldn’t see at all whether they were in shot (click on the picture for a bigger version of it).



That's a cropped version of the picture but when I looked at the picture more closely on my computer last night I was amused to look at the whole picture and see the writing on the side of the bus.



Weird.

Still laughing

I was very jolly yesterday, which I think was down to three main reasons. First, I felt soooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than on Sunday that I was just very happy. Second, with the clocks going forward at the weekend, the extra hour of daylight in the evening was great and I just soaked in the light on my way home. Third though was that yesterday morning I got an e-mail from one of my friends which left me laughing so much and through out the day, the story would just come to mind and I would start laughing again. If people saw me walking along the street they probably would have seen me grinning and thought I was slightly mad. Nothing new there then.

Anyway, my friend said that she had been staying with her cousin over the weekend and the cousin’s sister in law phoned to say that she’d had an unfortunate incident in the local DIY store. She had gone there with her three year old son and they were walking round together when a woman tapped her on the shoulder and said “is that your son?”. At which point the woman turned round to see her son sitting on one of the display toilets and doing rather a large poo…

I guess it’s difficult to explain to a three year old that despite it being a toilet, its lack of plumbing (and being in the middle of a shop) is not an ideal place to relieve yourself. The shop was not very impressed and gave her some rubber gloves and a brush and got her to clean it up. I’m sure that story will haunt that boy for the rest of his life!

I also heard yesterday that it seems the longest word that you can type just using the letters in the QWERTY line of a keyboard is… typewriter! I wonder if that was done deliberately.

By the way, I have no recollection of where the above picture came from, but it just makes me laugh.