Memories

I love the smell of rain. In the city it's mixed with diesel, especially when you're waiting for a bus on city road.


When I was a kid we had a caravan that was shared between my entire family, not like normal people would with a time share arrangement, it was more like 'it's the school holiday's lets all pile in!' I'm not joking we were known to get 14 people into 9 berth caravan along with 3 dogs. Among the grandchildren the boys out number the girls meaning the girls were always guarenteed as much privicy as you can get in this kind of overcrowding, we had our own room, when I was very young I shared with Ann she is 6 years my senior which is a huge difference when you're 9 & 15 and when I became the hooligan staying out till all hours I shared with Ann's sister Laura who is 7 years my junior. Having so many peple in a small space meant we had to spend most of our time out doors, this was in the South coast of England in the 80's & early 90's it wasn't always pleasent. But we (the kids) loved it, with so many of us there was always someone to play/fight/plot with.



The drive there was always full of anticipation and I rarely fell asleep unlike my brother who managed it on most trips. As we were the smallest family (Dad, myself and my brother-Mum never came) we had the duty of taking my grandparents, which meant there would always have to be a certain amount of Irish music played on the way. Usually mostly Irish music, my Mum called it diddly-diddly music, if she'd only come with us we wouldn't have had both grandparents in the car and probably would have got a bit more capital FM than we ever did.

Prioritise EVERYTHING!

I left my book at the pub last night. It's not a problem, I haven't lost it forever or anything, I work there and it was left on a shelf behind the bar with my scarf. Ironically so that I wouldn't forget it when I left to go home. So this morning on my way to work instead of having my nose in a book I looked around me. I have a particularly nice view on my way to work as I cross Tower Bridge and go along the South Bank a little way, so I really should appriciate it a little more. I watched the Thames swell showing smooth surfaces looking like a balloon streatched and close to bursting and ripples like the same balloon after it had burst, looking old wrinkled and useless. Cormerants on the surface taking a deep breath to dive. It was lovely. There's always something going on in the green outside City Hall and this morning there was a huge inflateable dome that wasn't there yesterday, I'll see what that's all about at lunch time.

I got into work ten minutes early to be greeted by my boss asking if I had finished a task she gave me on Tuesday afternoon. To explain, I've done this before and it took the best part of a week and yesterday I had to go to a meeting, take the minutes and type them up. On top of which she has put me on phone duty which means that as soon as you get any kind of flow for anything you're doing the phone rings and you have to stop. So my reply was "no, I'm afraid I haven't had the time to finish it yet, but I'll get on to it now if you want." She tells me it's a priority to get it done so start it ASAP. I'm not even meant to be here yet and I know she wont sign my timesheet for a minute over my contracted hours. "And the TfL post didn't go out yesterday so can you do that as a priority too?" she added accusitory. She didn't even ask me to do that so that can't be my fault! She's obviously read the word 'priority' in a memo she's recently recieved and got the jist of the meaning but not quite the correct definition, I really want to tell her that if she keeps calling things "priority" it equates to nothing being a priority and that if you want someone to do something you a) have to ask them and b) give then enough time to get it done.

And today started off with so much promise!

Drunk, on a Sunday!

and now feeling rough on a Monday.


Sunday was alot of fun, but I'm feeling it todaya. I'm tired beyond belief. not just a little bit. Head lolling around my shoulders as I look at the computer screen. The system is down so I can't actully work so I'm looking for a camera on ebay and wishing I was still in bed.


Getting as drunk as I turened out to be was an accident. I was supposed to get my hair cut, have a civilised lunch with Jamie then go home and hang up my washing.


It started well, I got my hair cut. The fringe isn't quite short enough, but never mind it would have grown ito this in about a week anyway (my hair grows ridiculously fast). Jamie couldn't find the hair dressers, not helped by the fact that he called it hairy fairy rather than hair by fairy! So we did what comes naturally to us and met in a pub. It was National Norweigan day or some such and the pub was full of them, being all patriotic and stuff. There was a geezer that looked alot like Beethoven (the Bill & Ted version) who kept standing on a bar stool and starting them all off singing their National anthem. Not that I minded, the only thing Iminded was I didn't know the words so I couldn't join in! We got talking to a girl on the table next to ours and she said he should start something different that he was doing the same thing over and over. As I didn't a) know the song and b) understand the words until she'd said that I hadn't noticed. We went for food at an Italian place near the square then went back for a few more in the Punch (or as I will call it from now on-that Norweigan place) Beethoven had been joined on his bar stool-or at least another bar stool dangerously close to him, by a member of the blues brothers and I think the girl that wanted a different song had had a word, but they couldn't come up with a Norweigan song that everybody knew so they had settles on the chorus from "Buffalo Soldier" So at least now I could join in!

Happy Norwegian day!

I saw Beethoven and The Blues Brothers singing Buffalo Soldier in the Punch, in cOVENT GARDEN.
i CLA]EARRLY CAN' T TYPE, NOW.
i', M TOO DRIUNK.
NIGHT

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases

I've had a cold for the last week or so, and off work with it for the last two days. I felt alot better this morning, but as I was rota'd on the phones I decided another day in bed just to make sure would be a good idea.

Work sucks. I want a new job!

Damn you facebook

it's a blessing and curse. I've finished all the work that I've been given to do for the day and I want to play on it-do some quizzes, write on walls, update my status telling everyone how cushty my job is.
But I've gone and added all my work colleages, including two of my direct superiors
Fucksocks.

At least they don't know about my blog. Infact nobody I know knows about it, let alone reads it!
I've been getting a cold steadily for the last four days now, scratchy throat, bunged up nose, stuffy ears. I'm hpoing that the paranoia about swine flu will mean I get a week or so off work. Not because I have anything to do, just becuase it's boring me and getting up in the morning is starting to get on my nerves.
Holiday, as I have said is booked. I should be looking forward to it. I am looking forward to it. The whole "I will be sweetness and light until we come back" went right out of the window, but I don't feel as bad about it as I used to. I think I'm losing interest in this relationship. I spent two days evicting Mark from my dreams and future plans and now I don't even miss him in them, although I might miss him in day-to-day life I know longer see a future for us. I should just stop being so serious and enjoy what's left. I won't, I know I won't. I'll stress and fret and push him away, but at least I have a direction to aim for that's totally my own.

HIGNFY

I saw it filmed last night!
It wasn't as awsome as I thought it would be but I suppose I'm used to the fully polished version that appears on the telly. It was an experience and, as I don't have a telly at the moment, it was good to see the show again!
I won't retell the jokes as I probably wouldn't do them justice and I'm sure it would infringe the terms and conditions of my entry. But Paul Merton said we were a sarcastic audience (highly complimentry coming from the king of sarcastic comments) and commended out ability to take the piss out of the panalists without resorting to heckling. It was also the first time they'd recieved a standing ovation.
I went with Miranda who's an old frind-I'm talking nearly 15 years or so. We were in a band together in our early teens, she's continued in music more than onyone else in Caddis Flae, which is probaly best as she was the only one of us that had or has any musical talent.
You know how when you meet old friends that you haven't seen in years you usually reminisce over old times, discuss mutual friends then the conversation dries up and you make an obvious effort to rekindle some commonality? Well it wasn't like that at all. We had a slight bitch about a mutual 'friend' that we've both fallen out with then talked about our current lives and all the happenings there of. We gave advice, laughed, made comparisons, ate, drank, chatted and resloved to meet again in a fortnights time. She even shocked me a few times. Oh, how the worm has turned!
I think we have more in common now than we did 'back in the day.'
I think I'll enjoy making these meetings a more regular occurance, so let's drink to old friendships that reanimate effortlessly and bloom fuller and more brightly than they could have been before.

Healthy, plus obligatory quit smoking lecture

At work today there were free health MOTs so I took one.
My blood pressure is 84/121 (textbook normal)
My cholesterol is 4.2 (under 5.2 is good)
My blood sugar was a little low-but it was just before lunch time so that's normal.
My waist measurement was in the healthy range for my height.
So it looks like I might be around for a while to come!

Of course, I was told I should stop smoking and I am still trying. But I begrudge giving up my fag breaks. I should time them and just go out for a quick stroll around the carpark. I've been thinking that for quite some time. Somehow I don't think it will be quite as satisfying.

Dinner's burning-gotta go

captains log supplimentry

I also found a fiver on my way to the shops during a fag break at the pub job and go a £2 tip from an Austrailian girl.

All in all it was a lucky day yesterday. And a fellow county person rdeemed the Aussies a little.

:)

Huge box of popcorn!

I just stood under popcorn rain, the salty kind. No, I'm not being rude and this is not a euphamism. It's Orange Wednesdays 5th birthday and they hid prizes in the popcorn so I was first in! I didn't get a big prize, but I came away with two cinema tickets and two Orange sim cards with £10 credit on each of them. So all in all it was quite a productive lunch break!

There's a video of it here. There are no pictures of me (I successfully avoided the cameras) but you can make out my yellow skinny jeans for a milisecond in the video!