No, don't worry, I'm not going to inundate you with a lot of depressing stuff about how the family home has broken apart and, no, it hasn't been destroyed by volcano ash. Just everything in it, is broken. Today, I am typing from the local library and seeing as I haven't been paid yet, I can only afford to use it for 15 minutes. 5 of these minutes have been used loading up the internet which is as slow as my Nan in a 400 metre race, so I have a grand total of 10 minutes to speak to you before the computer copies my personal one at home, and switches itself off.
You see, that is the reason I am speaking to you from the corner of the local library. My laptop has died, (R.I.P), but my commitment to my mountanous amount of readers is paramount, so now I'm paying what money I have to update you with the boringness that is my life. Aren't I amazing? Please say yes.. I only have 7 minutes left! I suppose I'd better get on to something constructive..
Yep, everything in my house is broken. I have a laptop that refuses to switch on, a TV that refuses to turn off, another TV that has a screen that suggests an alien broadcast is about to appear and everything else has either snapped, (i.e. headphones), chipped, (mugs) and over-oiled or split cricket bats. Ok, chipped mugs aren't a huge deal but I couldn't think of anything else. I have 5 minutes left. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun. I just wish my laptop would stop being such a bigot.. (Where have I heard that word before..?)
Not put off by the fact that anyone could be looking over my shoulder or the strange man with a beard next to me could be reading this and then looking in horror as he sees I am typing about him, I am a tad reluctant to type anything too personal at the moment. And yes, a huge banner has just come across the screen reminding me I have 3 minutes remaining...
I have work tonight. The end of 9 days off, (albeit 2 of them being "ill"), I have almost forgotten how to do everything I had learnt at BP. I'm fairly sure I'll get back into the swing of things soon enough though and despite yesterday's claims that I was "looking forward to it", I now know I was stupid to suggest such a thing and of course, would much prefer another day off.
Ok, I have 1 minute left, so in danger of losing such a magnificent post, I will leave you all to get on with what you were doing. Beddoe, get back to programming you lazy sod.
Laters x
Wednesday 28 April 2010
Tuesday 27 April 2010
Don't Fear The Reaper
Dear Laptop. Your time is coming to an end and despite being a great servant over the past 18 months, why the hell won't you work now?! The most temperemental thing in the world, it decides when it wants to switch on, which is very rarely, so, once again, I must warn that my blog entries may become a bit thin on the ground for a while. 'Cos this thing ain't lastin' much longer!
Back to me, I'm still not feeling 100%. The most mundane of activities such as walking to the shops or round someone's house makes me so tired, as if I had ran a marathon and a half. I'm still weak and I know I'm going to struggle this week. A full week aswell. It is going to be tiring, yet I am quite proud of my determination and organisation in getting ready for another week of through-the-night working. I purposefully went to bed last night, fuelled by many bottles of lucozade, just so I could get up a little later this afternoon and get my sleeping pattern near what it is supposed to be. A small part of me is sort of looking forward to it... Why? Who looks forward to going to work...? I'm strange.
My eyes are feeling very weary and I could do with a nap. I promised I'd go to a pub quiz later however, so if I fell asleep, I'm not waking up.
That's it. I bore you. Nothing happens.
Cya x
Back to me, I'm still not feeling 100%. The most mundane of activities such as walking to the shops or round someone's house makes me so tired, as if I had ran a marathon and a half. I'm still weak and I know I'm going to struggle this week. A full week aswell. It is going to be tiring, yet I am quite proud of my determination and organisation in getting ready for another week of through-the-night working. I purposefully went to bed last night, fuelled by many bottles of lucozade, just so I could get up a little later this afternoon and get my sleeping pattern near what it is supposed to be. A small part of me is sort of looking forward to it... Why? Who looks forward to going to work...? I'm strange.
My eyes are feeling very weary and I could do with a nap. I promised I'd go to a pub quiz later however, so if I fell asleep, I'm not waking up.
That's it. I bore you. Nothing happens.
Cya x
Monday 26 April 2010
Steep Road to Recovery
I haven't fully recovered. I went out for lunch today and couldn't completely stomach my favourite. A Chicken Mayo and Sweetcorn baguette followed by a large slab of chocolate cake. Too much too soon? It didn't mean I was sick in the middle of the Harpur Centre but it left me with a bit of a stomach ache and that trip to town also knackered me out completely. I'm not yet 100%. I have since spent most of the day laying spread-eagled on my bed, sitting on my computer doing nothing in particular. For once, I'm determined to make it to work on Wednesday as I get the feeling I may enjoy it...? I mean, really? Enjoy doing work? Since when have I ever done that? Unless you count Year 4...
Focusing on more positive things, I currently have a smile on my face. The car is soon to be making it's comeback appearance, although it is still a month away, the cricket season is upon us and my team look better than first expected. Our expectations started so low I think that anything is better than first expected! I'm still working on recruiting a player or 2 so hopefully things will turn good.. Ahh, the tingle down your spine as you look forward to another sun-soaked, run-infested cricket season.. Nothing better..
I still feel very weak... also have a headache, thinking about something a team-mate said to me yesterday. He seems to think he saw my drink being spiked by someone as I went to the toilet. (I must add at this point, I was hardly drunk at all), and I do seem to remember things going vastly downhill from that point. The first thing I thought was, "Why didn't you stop me?!", but it seemed pointless saying it after it had happened. I wonder? I did have a lot and I probably did have enough to make me like that... but what if someone had added something a little extra? It makes me shiver just thinking about it... It could of been anything...
Anyway, I'm definitely recovering and I'm most of the way there and I should make it to work on Wednesday night, so I must look at the positives. I'm healthy and I'm alive. That is the main thing.
Ciao x
Focusing on more positive things, I currently have a smile on my face. The car is soon to be making it's comeback appearance, although it is still a month away, the cricket season is upon us and my team look better than first expected. Our expectations started so low I think that anything is better than first expected! I'm still working on recruiting a player or 2 so hopefully things will turn good.. Ahh, the tingle down your spine as you look forward to another sun-soaked, run-infested cricket season.. Nothing better..
I still feel very weak... also have a headache, thinking about something a team-mate said to me yesterday. He seems to think he saw my drink being spiked by someone as I went to the toilet. (I must add at this point, I was hardly drunk at all), and I do seem to remember things going vastly downhill from that point. The first thing I thought was, "Why didn't you stop me?!", but it seemed pointless saying it after it had happened. I wonder? I did have a lot and I probably did have enough to make me like that... but what if someone had added something a little extra? It makes me shiver just thinking about it... It could of been anything...
Anyway, I'm definitely recovering and I'm most of the way there and I should make it to work on Wednesday night, so I must look at the positives. I'm healthy and I'm alive. That is the main thing.
Ciao x
Sunday 25 April 2010
Vomiting for Victory
If you find bits of a stomach on Bedford High Street or just outside Kempston Rovers FC, then I'd appreciate it if you returned them.. They are the remnants of the before and after of a sensational football match. Part of me now wishes we had lost, given the pain and anguish I have been through the last couple of days, however, we won. 2-1. Delerium ensued.
It all started at around 6.30pm on Friday. I was deathly nervous. So much so I was slightly sick by the gate as we walked in.. No one knew or found out though which was thankful, and it turned out that was the start of the theme for the next couple of days, not that I knew at that point. Yes, I was that nervous, and all the pre-match hubble and ritual did nothing to settle them. I decided to feast on banana and lucozade to settle the nerves and get the energy running through me a bit more. 7:45 came. Kick-off. The nerves had worked differently to the semi-final, where they had gone by the time kick-off came. This time, in the final, I was nervous for pretty much the whole match. Nervous of making a mistake. Nervous for losing it for the team. The first half was fairly uneventful. We hit a post and had a couple of good shots saved by their keeper. Nothing really happened until around the 40th minute. The ball was hoofed long up field and I came out to get it. The ball was close to the edge of the area and as I went to grab it, it bounced sideways and took it outside the penalty area. I had handballed it, and yes, I did get booked and yes, they scored from the resulting free-kick, but it wasn't a mistake by any means. Maybe a slight misjudgement, but it was definitely the pitches fault. We went in at half-time 1-0 down. Still in the game.
A relatively short half-time team talk followed from the gaffer and the new right hand man, and we were out again. We dominated the 2nd half more than the 1st as our opponents legs got more tired. 70 minutes had gone. We were still fighting away. I had hardly touched the ball since the start of the half, and our left back went rampaging into their penalty area and was "brought down" by their centre back. My first thoughts were, "surely that's a dive", but no, the ref blew. Penalty. I couldn't watch. My back faced towards the action, I heard a huge shout. Equaliser. Jack had managed to keep his cool and from that point onwards, there was only going to be one winner. Thormo pounced in the 86th minute to stroke home the winner and we won 2-1. I was not the hero this time but I didn't care. We had some silverware. And the champagne and beer started flowing.
This was the point things started going downhill. After we got changed, we went and had a few celebratory pints in the clubhouse before moving on to town to celebrate some more. My Dad even contemplated coming before being given a rapturous drumming from Mother Mitten for even thinking about it. He passed, but I didn't. I don't remember a lot about the night. I apparently sent a few strange texts and had way too much in such a short space of time. Before I knew it, I had staggered out on to the street, collapsed, was sick everywhere, then helped home by 2 Irish lads who helped me out. That's what I thought, but apparently, one of them had tried to nick my wallet but rescinded when my Dad turned up. Talk about taking advantage! I felt awful. Almost bordering on the "Hot n Spice" incident.. I won't talk anymore about that because it makes me feel ill just thinking about it.
So I was home, still vomiting, yet thinking the night was worth it to pay the consequences. I'll be fine in the morning, ready in time for the cricket friendly. I got a few hours sleep, woke up at 11, was sick once more and went on my way to cricket. It was a beautiful day and I was convinced I would be able to play a full part. However, before the match, I was sick again, aswell as 6 overs in and then I thought... This is much worse than I thought. I went home. I had drank much more than I thought I had, and I went straight to bed, shaking and sweating as if it was 40 degrees outside. After a few more hours sleep, I was still shaking and sweating. My parents considered hospital again, but I perked up enough to rescind them from taking that route. It was at that point, that my old childhood villain, made a long-awaited return..
Dioralyte. For those of you who haven't a clue what it is, it's basically flavoured liquid salt. Mother brought a mug of it upstairs and the smell hit me instantly. No way... things have not resorted to this mug of pure evilness. Dioralyte is designed to replace lost salts and fluids in your body, but is also designed, I'm sure, to taste so bad that you have no choice but to vomit it all out again.. You see, when I was younger, I was ill every other week. Infection after infection, sick bug after sick bug, I spent probably 30% of a school year, at home, in bed, shaking, with a mug of this Dioralyte by my bedside. Like the Daleks to the Doctor and Tottenham to Arsenal, the Mug of Dioralyte is my worst enemy. I didn't have a choice. I had to have it. Either that or hospital. Apparently it was blackcurrant flavoured, but that's just insane. I had a sip and all the memories of a sick childhood came flooding back, then flooded out into the bucket that had become a fabric of my bedroom the last couple of days. "Have more" said Mum. A cup final victory isn't worth this. No way. I had more and before I knew it, was sick again.
People have asked for details, so here I am, giving them!
I have grown steadily better, however, that was my 2nd worst encounter with alcohol I've ever had, (behind the dreaded "Hot n Spice" incident.. On the plus side, I'm no longer banned from there!), and it has put me off for a fair while. Probably the next time I touch the stuff will be for my 19th birthday in the middle of May, and even then it will be gingerly. Why do I put myself through it..? All because of a win in the football... Football kills. There's a lesson for you kids.
So my tumtum took a battering, aswell as my head and my whole body in fact, meaning I missed a cricket match, 2 days at work, (including tonight) and another football match this morning! We won 4-0, so I wasn't missed and my Dad claimed the clean sheet. It's turned out to be a good season overall. Another promotion and a cup win. I've decided I'm staying now. I'm going to referee on Saturday afternoons and play Sunday mornings. I love the game too much to not play now. But that's it for another football season. Cricket takes over now and MY first game of the season comes this Saturday. Provided I don't get ruined the night before... Like that's gonna happen!
Laters x
It all started at around 6.30pm on Friday. I was deathly nervous. So much so I was slightly sick by the gate as we walked in.. No one knew or found out though which was thankful, and it turned out that was the start of the theme for the next couple of days, not that I knew at that point. Yes, I was that nervous, and all the pre-match hubble and ritual did nothing to settle them. I decided to feast on banana and lucozade to settle the nerves and get the energy running through me a bit more. 7:45 came. Kick-off. The nerves had worked differently to the semi-final, where they had gone by the time kick-off came. This time, in the final, I was nervous for pretty much the whole match. Nervous of making a mistake. Nervous for losing it for the team. The first half was fairly uneventful. We hit a post and had a couple of good shots saved by their keeper. Nothing really happened until around the 40th minute. The ball was hoofed long up field and I came out to get it. The ball was close to the edge of the area and as I went to grab it, it bounced sideways and took it outside the penalty area. I had handballed it, and yes, I did get booked and yes, they scored from the resulting free-kick, but it wasn't a mistake by any means. Maybe a slight misjudgement, but it was definitely the pitches fault. We went in at half-time 1-0 down. Still in the game.
A relatively short half-time team talk followed from the gaffer and the new right hand man, and we were out again. We dominated the 2nd half more than the 1st as our opponents legs got more tired. 70 minutes had gone. We were still fighting away. I had hardly touched the ball since the start of the half, and our left back went rampaging into their penalty area and was "brought down" by their centre back. My first thoughts were, "surely that's a dive", but no, the ref blew. Penalty. I couldn't watch. My back faced towards the action, I heard a huge shout. Equaliser. Jack had managed to keep his cool and from that point onwards, there was only going to be one winner. Thormo pounced in the 86th minute to stroke home the winner and we won 2-1. I was not the hero this time but I didn't care. We had some silverware. And the champagne and beer started flowing.
This was the point things started going downhill. After we got changed, we went and had a few celebratory pints in the clubhouse before moving on to town to celebrate some more. My Dad even contemplated coming before being given a rapturous drumming from Mother Mitten for even thinking about it. He passed, but I didn't. I don't remember a lot about the night. I apparently sent a few strange texts and had way too much in such a short space of time. Before I knew it, I had staggered out on to the street, collapsed, was sick everywhere, then helped home by 2 Irish lads who helped me out. That's what I thought, but apparently, one of them had tried to nick my wallet but rescinded when my Dad turned up. Talk about taking advantage! I felt awful. Almost bordering on the "Hot n Spice" incident.. I won't talk anymore about that because it makes me feel ill just thinking about it.
So I was home, still vomiting, yet thinking the night was worth it to pay the consequences. I'll be fine in the morning, ready in time for the cricket friendly. I got a few hours sleep, woke up at 11, was sick once more and went on my way to cricket. It was a beautiful day and I was convinced I would be able to play a full part. However, before the match, I was sick again, aswell as 6 overs in and then I thought... This is much worse than I thought. I went home. I had drank much more than I thought I had, and I went straight to bed, shaking and sweating as if it was 40 degrees outside. After a few more hours sleep, I was still shaking and sweating. My parents considered hospital again, but I perked up enough to rescind them from taking that route. It was at that point, that my old childhood villain, made a long-awaited return..
Dioralyte. For those of you who haven't a clue what it is, it's basically flavoured liquid salt. Mother brought a mug of it upstairs and the smell hit me instantly. No way... things have not resorted to this mug of pure evilness. Dioralyte is designed to replace lost salts and fluids in your body, but is also designed, I'm sure, to taste so bad that you have no choice but to vomit it all out again.. You see, when I was younger, I was ill every other week. Infection after infection, sick bug after sick bug, I spent probably 30% of a school year, at home, in bed, shaking, with a mug of this Dioralyte by my bedside. Like the Daleks to the Doctor and Tottenham to Arsenal, the Mug of Dioralyte is my worst enemy. I didn't have a choice. I had to have it. Either that or hospital. Apparently it was blackcurrant flavoured, but that's just insane. I had a sip and all the memories of a sick childhood came flooding back, then flooded out into the bucket that had become a fabric of my bedroom the last couple of days. "Have more" said Mum. A cup final victory isn't worth this. No way. I had more and before I knew it, was sick again.
People have asked for details, so here I am, giving them!
I have grown steadily better, however, that was my 2nd worst encounter with alcohol I've ever had, (behind the dreaded "Hot n Spice" incident.. On the plus side, I'm no longer banned from there!), and it has put me off for a fair while. Probably the next time I touch the stuff will be for my 19th birthday in the middle of May, and even then it will be gingerly. Why do I put myself through it..? All because of a win in the football... Football kills. There's a lesson for you kids.
So my tumtum took a battering, aswell as my head and my whole body in fact, meaning I missed a cricket match, 2 days at work, (including tonight) and another football match this morning! We won 4-0, so I wasn't missed and my Dad claimed the clean sheet. It's turned out to be a good season overall. Another promotion and a cup win. I've decided I'm staying now. I'm going to referee on Saturday afternoons and play Sunday mornings. I love the game too much to not play now. But that's it for another football season. Cricket takes over now and MY first game of the season comes this Saturday. Provided I don't get ruined the night before... Like that's gonna happen!
Laters x
Friday 23 April 2010
The Day of Reckoning
Ok, I've made that sound as if it's Doomsday again and to be honest, it is only a football match, but this is bigger than I could of imagined. Loads of people are going to be there, every single one of my teammates are "buzzing" and a couple of players are disappointed bordering angry about missing out.. Sometimes even petulance and immaturity gets in the way - which isn't great. Me though. I knew I was guaranteed a place from the moment we won the semi-final, (bar any injuries or suspensions), and I haven't felt nervous at all. Until now.
The butterflies have come back and nested in my stomach, ignoring the beautiful sunshine outside and I've got a couple of hours to waste now before we start our mammoth journey to the ground. It will be the longest 15 minutes of my life anyway.. Turning up in shirt and tie and doing the whole pre-match routine of a cup final will get the nerves going in even the most hardened professional, but me, as weak mentally as I am physically, I'm gonna be a nervous wreck. Hopefully these nerves go away as soon as we start, just like last time. I would all the money in my bank account at the moment to not make a match-deciding mistake this evening, (work that out for yourself..) I just want a nice, solid game. If I do all I can, without making a mistake, I will be happy enough. Even if we do lose.
This next couple of hours are going to go terribly slow. It's times like these I would like the Tardis or Bernard's Watch to change the course of time and just get on with it! Do you remember that programme? 'Bernard's Watch'. No kid in the galaxy would be trusted to use an instrument that stops time in a sensible manner. I would just stop everyone and everything then just go around driving people's cars and eating free food from Burger King amongst other things.. You just would! Ok, I'm trying to distract myself..
There's no point documenting any further. I am nervous and typing a few words won't help. I just hope all goes swimmingly and hopefully we'll come away with a win. I'd like that.
Bye x
The butterflies have come back and nested in my stomach, ignoring the beautiful sunshine outside and I've got a couple of hours to waste now before we start our mammoth journey to the ground. It will be the longest 15 minutes of my life anyway.. Turning up in shirt and tie and doing the whole pre-match routine of a cup final will get the nerves going in even the most hardened professional, but me, as weak mentally as I am physically, I'm gonna be a nervous wreck. Hopefully these nerves go away as soon as we start, just like last time. I would all the money in my bank account at the moment to not make a match-deciding mistake this evening, (work that out for yourself..) I just want a nice, solid game. If I do all I can, without making a mistake, I will be happy enough. Even if we do lose.
This next couple of hours are going to go terribly slow. It's times like these I would like the Tardis or Bernard's Watch to change the course of time and just get on with it! Do you remember that programme? 'Bernard's Watch'. No kid in the galaxy would be trusted to use an instrument that stops time in a sensible manner. I would just stop everyone and everything then just go around driving people's cars and eating free food from Burger King amongst other things.. You just would! Ok, I'm trying to distract myself..
There's no point documenting any further. I am nervous and typing a few words won't help. I just hope all goes swimmingly and hopefully we'll come away with a win. I'd like that.
Bye x
Thursday 22 April 2010
Overreacting
I'm fed up of people I know overreacting to everything. I do not understand the concept of friends and family as much as most people do. People make mistakes, everyone does, so why do people suddenly hate you so much when you do make a mistake? Why can't people accept you've done something wrong and say "Not a problem", and move on? Why does the whole world hold grudges on the most trivial of things?
Nothing untoward or major has happened in regards to my friends or family recently. Nothing that I would consider major anyway, however, I get the impression some people think its the end of the world when you make the smallest of mistakes. Say for example, you accidentally mis-quote someone and that person decides it's the end of your friendship. Ok, I got it wrong, get over it? Not with some people. Some people take life too seriously. Let your hair down a bit and get on with it man! I've had a couple of friendships in the past go completely down the pan simply due to the other persons complete ignorance and overreaction. Sorry, but if I'm mistaken on the smallest of facts, then .. sorry? If you're gonna act like I've killed your brother, then I don't want to be friends with you anyway.
Over the past ... 3 years .. I've only done one thing I consider to have been majorly wrong and dishonest and may well have warranted more "severe" actions from a friend of mine. I would of accepted the end of our friendship for what I did. However, most other slight mistakes I've made or wrong decision has been greeted with overreactions from some person or another. Receiving lectures like, "It's not what friends are for?" and crap like that. Clearly, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, lets get on with things! I don't see why people have to disagree so much and make a mountain out of a mole hill. Why can't people just live in harmony?
Disagreements, arguments and the like always bring the worst out of people. I have spoken before about trying to keep a cool head when I'm not happy about some things and I try to do that 100% every time I'm deeply angry or upset about something. Most people wouldn't notice if I was very angry. I've been angry about a lot of things in the last 6 months or so, but I don't think anyone has realised. It makes things more progressive and means everyone can get on with things more, instead of "talking things through". Eurgh.. I hate that phrase.. "Talking things through" means making more out of a situation that doesn't deserve the attention. I'd of been happy to "talk things through" after running away from home, if I was in the right frame of mind, because something that serious deserves it.. "Talking things through" because I said something about your hairstyle to someone else doesn't constitute the end of a friendship. I must stress I am using these as examples.. apart from the running away bit... unfortunately..
Friends should be there to have a laugh with, play football with, go to the pub with and get drunk with. Not to talk about your inner-most thoughts with. I believe not even family should know about these things. Your inner-most thoughts should be kept with you and dealt with by you. It shouldn't be anyone else's business, unless you need desperate help with it. This is my philosophy, which is the reason I don't speak to a lot of people about my problems. Only the people I trust to provide an honest opinion and to tell me what I NEED to hear and not what I WANT to hear, can help me with things.
People who are honest enough to help you, even if it hurts, and are not there to just try and make you feel better short-term about things. Truth hurts, yet truth is good.
There are probably only 3 people in this world who can do that. One of them I don't speak to so often and haven't seen him in a while, but when I need to tell someone something he is always there to provide an honest opinion, 100% of the time. I like people who are completely honest with me even if it's something I do not want to hear. And if this is not you, then don't worry about it. Let's go to the pub, and do what friends are supposed to do. Have a laugh.
"A long, long time ago. I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance..."
Nothing untoward or major has happened in regards to my friends or family recently. Nothing that I would consider major anyway, however, I get the impression some people think its the end of the world when you make the smallest of mistakes. Say for example, you accidentally mis-quote someone and that person decides it's the end of your friendship. Ok, I got it wrong, get over it? Not with some people. Some people take life too seriously. Let your hair down a bit and get on with it man! I've had a couple of friendships in the past go completely down the pan simply due to the other persons complete ignorance and overreaction. Sorry, but if I'm mistaken on the smallest of facts, then .. sorry? If you're gonna act like I've killed your brother, then I don't want to be friends with you anyway.
Over the past ... 3 years .. I've only done one thing I consider to have been majorly wrong and dishonest and may well have warranted more "severe" actions from a friend of mine. I would of accepted the end of our friendship for what I did. However, most other slight mistakes I've made or wrong decision has been greeted with overreactions from some person or another. Receiving lectures like, "It's not what friends are for?" and crap like that. Clearly, I made a mistake, I'm sorry, lets get on with things! I don't see why people have to disagree so much and make a mountain out of a mole hill. Why can't people just live in harmony?
Disagreements, arguments and the like always bring the worst out of people. I have spoken before about trying to keep a cool head when I'm not happy about some things and I try to do that 100% every time I'm deeply angry or upset about something. Most people wouldn't notice if I was very angry. I've been angry about a lot of things in the last 6 months or so, but I don't think anyone has realised. It makes things more progressive and means everyone can get on with things more, instead of "talking things through". Eurgh.. I hate that phrase.. "Talking things through" means making more out of a situation that doesn't deserve the attention. I'd of been happy to "talk things through" after running away from home, if I was in the right frame of mind, because something that serious deserves it.. "Talking things through" because I said something about your hairstyle to someone else doesn't constitute the end of a friendship. I must stress I am using these as examples.. apart from the running away bit... unfortunately..
Friends should be there to have a laugh with, play football with, go to the pub with and get drunk with. Not to talk about your inner-most thoughts with. I believe not even family should know about these things. Your inner-most thoughts should be kept with you and dealt with by you. It shouldn't be anyone else's business, unless you need desperate help with it. This is my philosophy, which is the reason I don't speak to a lot of people about my problems. Only the people I trust to provide an honest opinion and to tell me what I NEED to hear and not what I WANT to hear, can help me with things.
People who are honest enough to help you, even if it hurts, and are not there to just try and make you feel better short-term about things. Truth hurts, yet truth is good.
There are probably only 3 people in this world who can do that. One of them I don't speak to so often and haven't seen him in a while, but when I need to tell someone something he is always there to provide an honest opinion, 100% of the time. I like people who are completely honest with me even if it's something I do not want to hear. And if this is not you, then don't worry about it. Let's go to the pub, and do what friends are supposed to do. Have a laugh.
"A long, long time ago. I can still remember how that music used to make me smile. And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance..."
Wait For It
The Sun is out. It's moderately warm and there are people walking around town showing off their abs and wearing their shades, but this time next week it will be 5 degrees and drizzling. Classic Britain. Don't expect the Sun to stay.
I'm enjoying while it lasts though. I've made the most of my days and I've had a fairly good week off so far. Big couple of days coming up though. Cup final tomorrow and the nerves are starting to kick in. Everyone is really up for it and once again my nerves of making a mistake are shining through. I can't be the hero twice in a row, but we'll see what happens on the night.
Other than that, I've got nothing else. I'm just gonna carry on enjoying the sunshine while it lasts and relax.
Ciao x
I'm enjoying while it lasts though. I've made the most of my days and I've had a fairly good week off so far. Big couple of days coming up though. Cup final tomorrow and the nerves are starting to kick in. Everyone is really up for it and once again my nerves of making a mistake are shining through. I can't be the hero twice in a row, but we'll see what happens on the night.
Other than that, I've got nothing else. I'm just gonna carry on enjoying the sunshine while it lasts and relax.
Ciao x
Tuesday 20 April 2010
Centurion
I'm feeling a little bleak today.. I woke up at 4:10 this morning after my marathon sleep and now I feel a little bit tired again... it's only 3:41pm... Why do I do this to myself??
My idea of an activity filled day just hasn't happened.. Everyone is now either back at university or has gone to work so I'm left at home, on my own, with nothing to do except watch YouTube videos and doss about doing nothing. On the good news front, I was given £60 for the week, as a sort of budget thing so now I have some sort of money to use, not that anyone has been around for me to do anything with and spend that money anyway... Sigh.. May go for a curry later. If anyone can be bothered... Sigh again... My first act with this money was to go round to Pinner's and buy myself some lunch.. like the good ol' days of sixth form! Pinners anyone? A nice ham and cheese panini and a chocolate muffin later, and I felt a whole load better!
My Dad has been at work all day. As is usual. My Mum went to a funeral of a distant family member I have never seen and my sister is doing her thang at university in the Valleys, so I have been home by myself for most of the day, with nothing to do and no one to do nothing with. If you understand. Ok, I could of gone to golf on my own, but that would be £15 of depressing walking wasted so I wasn't prepared to do that and to play cricket you generally need a bowler to face or a batsman to bowl at, so that wasn't happening.. Football season is nearly over and being a goalkeeper, practicing your kick ups in the back garden isn't exactly going to help, unless I get a dodgy back-pass on Friday.. hope not.. Sigh yet again...
I know I will be enormously nervous come Friday.. I was terribly nervous of making a mistake before the semi-final, with a capacity crowd of about 4, so I don't know what I will be like before going out to play before a crowd of about 300. Loads of people are going that I know of, and ok, 300 doesn't sound like a monstrous amount compared to the 70,000 of Old Trafford but when you're used to playing in front of about a maximum of 20 every week on a park pitch every Sunday morning, playing under floodlights in front of a few hundred is fairly daunting.. And chances are, I won't be the penalty shoot out hero twice in a row.. At the moment however, I am more excited than nervous... Will be the other way round come Friday evening though..
I would like something to happen today. Anything. Something to keep me occupied. I do not want to spend my whole week off doing nothing and being lazy. I want to play at least 1 round of golf and have at least 2 net sessions before Saturday's curtain raiser. That's my target. But what can I do if everyone has gone back to their working days at school/uni/work (delete as appropriate). It's slightly frustrating to be honest with you. Sigh... I've done a lot of sighing...
A bit of socialising is needed. And as for the blog title, for those of you who didn't know, this is my 100th post! My first century, and hopefully not my last!
Ciao x
My idea of an activity filled day just hasn't happened.. Everyone is now either back at university or has gone to work so I'm left at home, on my own, with nothing to do except watch YouTube videos and doss about doing nothing. On the good news front, I was given £60 for the week, as a sort of budget thing so now I have some sort of money to use, not that anyone has been around for me to do anything with and spend that money anyway... Sigh.. May go for a curry later. If anyone can be bothered... Sigh again... My first act with this money was to go round to Pinner's and buy myself some lunch.. like the good ol' days of sixth form! Pinners anyone? A nice ham and cheese panini and a chocolate muffin later, and I felt a whole load better!
My Dad has been at work all day. As is usual. My Mum went to a funeral of a distant family member I have never seen and my sister is doing her thang at university in the Valleys, so I have been home by myself for most of the day, with nothing to do and no one to do nothing with. If you understand. Ok, I could of gone to golf on my own, but that would be £15 of depressing walking wasted so I wasn't prepared to do that and to play cricket you generally need a bowler to face or a batsman to bowl at, so that wasn't happening.. Football season is nearly over and being a goalkeeper, practicing your kick ups in the back garden isn't exactly going to help, unless I get a dodgy back-pass on Friday.. hope not.. Sigh yet again...
I know I will be enormously nervous come Friday.. I was terribly nervous of making a mistake before the semi-final, with a capacity crowd of about 4, so I don't know what I will be like before going out to play before a crowd of about 300. Loads of people are going that I know of, and ok, 300 doesn't sound like a monstrous amount compared to the 70,000 of Old Trafford but when you're used to playing in front of about a maximum of 20 every week on a park pitch every Sunday morning, playing under floodlights in front of a few hundred is fairly daunting.. And chances are, I won't be the penalty shoot out hero twice in a row.. At the moment however, I am more excited than nervous... Will be the other way round come Friday evening though..
I would like something to happen today. Anything. Something to keep me occupied. I do not want to spend my whole week off doing nothing and being lazy. I want to play at least 1 round of golf and have at least 2 net sessions before Saturday's curtain raiser. That's my target. But what can I do if everyone has gone back to their working days at school/uni/work (delete as appropriate). It's slightly frustrating to be honest with you. Sigh... I've done a lot of sighing...
A bit of socialising is needed. And as for the blog title, for those of you who didn't know, this is my 100th post! My first century, and hopefully not my last!
Ciao x
Tiredness and Recovery
Let's check how many e-mails I've got... "Welcome to AOL. You Have E-mail". Yeah, I could of guessed that, thanks. My eyes turn towards the top left hand corner of the screen and I see the red-coloured number of 213 sitting above a small brown-coloured envelope. How many..? No, wait, it's 23. My eyes are still blurry. My mistake.
I've only just woken up. The time is 04:31 and I have a day ahead of me which is hopefully full of activity and things to do. I spent all of yesterday asleep. Yeah, literally, all of it. I fell asleep at 8am on Monday morning, woke up at roughly 3pm on Monday afternoon, answered a few texts, then didn't feel like going back to sleep. Before I knew it, I opened my eyes and the clock face says 4:04. "Not too bad", I think to myself. Still a few hours of the afternoon to negotiate and fill. But why is it so dark? The ash cloud isn't that bad surely? Unless it's 4:04 in the morning...? It can't be...
I look at my phone. The date and time section in the top left of the screen say 'Tuesday 20th April 04:05'. Oh great. I've been asleep for 20 hours. I feel more awake than I have done for the past few weeks put together so I may aswell wake up. My body clock has been smashed into a million metaphorical pieces in front of me as I sit on my laptop, freezing, waiting for a dead world to come to me. No one is around to talk to as they're all human beings and not hedgehogs. After I vowed not to sleep away my week off, I then go and do that. I've got to learn that I can't physically do all the things I want to. Going to watch that cup final in the afternoon wasn't the brightest idea in the world as I should of spent it sleeping. Sacrifices need to be made. This is way harder than I first imagined...
Ok, so it's now 05:20. (I went and had some breakfast hence the large gap in time), so now I'm back and feeling a little more like my head is screwed on properly. My first fear was that I'd conk out in 12 hours, (4:30pm), and be tired, which is the worst thing possible. But then I remembered I've just woken up from 20 straight hours of sleep. So I'll be fine. Call me lazy. Please do. But you'd be wrong.
Plans today? I want to be doing something physical. Maybe play golf and definitely cricket although most of the kids are back to school today, (or was that yesterday?), so I would have to wait till the afternoon anyway. Maybe go to town with the minimal amount of money I have? If I had money, we could do anything. Go to Thorpe Park maybe, or a day trip to Hunstanton or go and get eaten by lions at Woburn. Ahh Woburn. A particular memory has just sprung to mind. Year 9, IT Trip to Woburn. If my memory serves me correctly, we were supposed to be researching CCTV cameras and technology they use or something, but we were more researching the ball pool in the play area, the humungous slides they had and the boats in the lake. Ahh, the good old days..
All is not lost. I've only wasted one day and my sleeping pattern is almost back on track so I'm determined to NOW make the most of it, after yesterday's hurrah. I needed that though. I'm not used to sleep deprivation so who would blame me? Oh well! Done now. Move on.
Nothing else to say. May update in a bit if I think of something else. For now though...
Bye x
I've only just woken up. The time is 04:31 and I have a day ahead of me which is hopefully full of activity and things to do. I spent all of yesterday asleep. Yeah, literally, all of it. I fell asleep at 8am on Monday morning, woke up at roughly 3pm on Monday afternoon, answered a few texts, then didn't feel like going back to sleep. Before I knew it, I opened my eyes and the clock face says 4:04. "Not too bad", I think to myself. Still a few hours of the afternoon to negotiate and fill. But why is it so dark? The ash cloud isn't that bad surely? Unless it's 4:04 in the morning...? It can't be...
I look at my phone. The date and time section in the top left of the screen say 'Tuesday 20th April 04:05'. Oh great. I've been asleep for 20 hours. I feel more awake than I have done for the past few weeks put together so I may aswell wake up. My body clock has been smashed into a million metaphorical pieces in front of me as I sit on my laptop, freezing, waiting for a dead world to come to me. No one is around to talk to as they're all human beings and not hedgehogs. After I vowed not to sleep away my week off, I then go and do that. I've got to learn that I can't physically do all the things I want to. Going to watch that cup final in the afternoon wasn't the brightest idea in the world as I should of spent it sleeping. Sacrifices need to be made. This is way harder than I first imagined...
Ok, so it's now 05:20. (I went and had some breakfast hence the large gap in time), so now I'm back and feeling a little more like my head is screwed on properly. My first fear was that I'd conk out in 12 hours, (4:30pm), and be tired, which is the worst thing possible. But then I remembered I've just woken up from 20 straight hours of sleep. So I'll be fine. Call me lazy. Please do. But you'd be wrong.
Plans today? I want to be doing something physical. Maybe play golf and definitely cricket although most of the kids are back to school today, (or was that yesterday?), so I would have to wait till the afternoon anyway. Maybe go to town with the minimal amount of money I have? If I had money, we could do anything. Go to Thorpe Park maybe, or a day trip to Hunstanton or go and get eaten by lions at Woburn. Ahh Woburn. A particular memory has just sprung to mind. Year 9, IT Trip to Woburn. If my memory serves me correctly, we were supposed to be researching CCTV cameras and technology they use or something, but we were more researching the ball pool in the play area, the humungous slides they had and the boats in the lake. Ahh, the good old days..
All is not lost. I've only wasted one day and my sleeping pattern is almost back on track so I'm determined to NOW make the most of it, after yesterday's hurrah. I needed that though. I'm not used to sleep deprivation so who would blame me? Oh well! Done now. Move on.
Nothing else to say. May update in a bit if I think of something else. For now though...
Bye x
Monday 19 April 2010
Po Po Say No No to Go Go
We had the police in tonight.. Wanting their usual free coffee or late or tea for the ladies, but then a group of kids strolled in, probably about 6 or 7 of them, at about 5 in the morning. They were probably about 15 years old and they decided they were going to nick something!
Now, I'm fairly sure things have been stolen before... but never when there's been police in the same building and for 15 minutes, these 2 police officers were wandering round the maze of aisles looking for the kids, who incidentally had already gone. They weren't going to accept defeat though and shouted "Thanks for the coffees!" before driving off into the sunrise in search of a group of kids who probably stole a Crunchie or something just as insanely small... Deary deary me.
Anyway, after a rather slow and uneventful shift, I am happy to announce I have 5 days off! Happy face time! I'm determined to make the most of my mini-holiday by playing as much cricket and golf as possible as the weather sounds like it may hold up and be good. I'm determined not to spend the whole thing asleep as that would be a waste and not good for me!
I need my bed now though. Last time I slept was a couple of hours before work after the Saturday night shift, football this morning and going to watch a friend referee his cup final. I was ruined after that.. Our match this morning was majestic. Our best performance of the season ended in a 3-1 victory away at top of the league. The perfect warm-up for Friday. If you don't know what's happening on Friday by now - you fail. I am also feeling fitter and healthier thanks to this job and then walking home afterwards. Ok, it aches but I feel all the better for it after resting up. All good in the mind of Mitten. At the moment. Bed time. Yawn..
Cheerio x
Now, I'm fairly sure things have been stolen before... but never when there's been police in the same building and for 15 minutes, these 2 police officers were wandering round the maze of aisles looking for the kids, who incidentally had already gone. They weren't going to accept defeat though and shouted "Thanks for the coffees!" before driving off into the sunrise in search of a group of kids who probably stole a Crunchie or something just as insanely small... Deary deary me.
Anyway, after a rather slow and uneventful shift, I am happy to announce I have 5 days off! Happy face time! I'm determined to make the most of my mini-holiday by playing as much cricket and golf as possible as the weather sounds like it may hold up and be good. I'm determined not to spend the whole thing asleep as that would be a waste and not good for me!
I need my bed now though. Last time I slept was a couple of hours before work after the Saturday night shift, football this morning and going to watch a friend referee his cup final. I was ruined after that.. Our match this morning was majestic. Our best performance of the season ended in a 3-1 victory away at top of the league. The perfect warm-up for Friday. If you don't know what's happening on Friday by now - you fail. I am also feeling fitter and healthier thanks to this job and then walking home afterwards. Ok, it aches but I feel all the better for it after resting up. All good in the mind of Mitten. At the moment. Bed time. Yawn..
Cheerio x
Sunday 18 April 2010
Drunk Men, Mad Men and Taxi Drivers
You get all sorts in this place. Tonight was a Saturday, (if you hadn't noticed), and therefore signalled the craziest night of my life, ever. Most of the customers were drunk, mad or taxi drivers or a mixture of all 3, although I am not suggesting that taxi drivers drink and drive ... wait.... I am. Oh well.
Along with my usual duties, I had a whole host of drunkards coming up to me asking me if we sell alcohol at 3am and the answer to that is solid "no!" before they start insulting me.. That was about 3 of them and I have a self-made response ready, every time. "I've heard worse on a football pitch mate", before they stagger out wondering what's just been said to them.. Brilliant! However, my main concerns lay with the co-worker I have been unluckily paired with. We communicate a bit more now and things are a bit better, but he takes forever with his tasks meaning I have to do more work towards the end of the shift, where the manager turns up. Luckily today, he turned up half-asleep and maybe hungover, although I was never going to suggest such a thing in fear of my head being chainsawed off, so we got away with it. It won't happen all the time though, especially when the more scrutinous managers turn up and bollock you for leaving a packet of cookies at a slightly strange angle in the 2nd aisle.. Man, I hate those people..
I hate those people nearly as much as the taxi drivers who come in and pay for their petrol in coins. You get 4 types of customer:
1) Kind and polite and happy to make conversation = Fantastic
2) Come in and go out ASAP but still relatively polite = Good
3) Come in, throw their money at you and walk out again = Poor
4) Come in, shout at you, pay in pennies and walk out in a huff = Despair
There is a 5th but I haven't experienced a gun to the forehead yet.. I'm waiting for it though. I think through how I'd react if that really happened and I envisage a picture of calmness and relaxation while handling the incident with upmost professionalism and solidarity, but in reality, I'd be bricking it. It won't happen I'm sure but I have all the training in the world to deal with it! Or maybe I'd fallen asleep during that particular video... Who knows..
Anyway, I only have 1 more shift to go till my 6 days off! Result! Time to relax, play a lot of cricket and golf, (depending on how much money is leant to me...) and of course our cup final and the first match of the cricket season! I actually can't wait! All week I've been reminding myself of this week off and it's kept me going. All is well. Apart from not being paid.. Every sun has a lining of ash.
Changing subjects completely, relationships. If you've read the whole blog back to front you may have picked up on a couple of references on my view of relationships and they are not so positive. I believe relationships make people one-dimensional and make them think about only their relationship and their partner, and not other people. It is common to see a guy get a new girlfriend and then fall out of favour with other friends. People always say they are so so happy in relationships, but I'm not so sure.. Maybe it's because I haven't found "the one", but that's just my opinion.. I'm talking of this because a couple of friends recently have "found love" and they've instantly vanished off the face of the Earth. Not a glimpse or word of them since they're relationship status changed, (I didn't mean it to sound like a Facebook term!), and it doesn't half annoy me.. I prefer to be single. I'm happy with it that way.
Anyway, enough of my procrastination. Time to end. One more shift to go. Next time I blog, I will be as happy as Larry, (whoever Larry is), unless of course I get shot.
Ciao x
Along with my usual duties, I had a whole host of drunkards coming up to me asking me if we sell alcohol at 3am and the answer to that is solid "no!" before they start insulting me.. That was about 3 of them and I have a self-made response ready, every time. "I've heard worse on a football pitch mate", before they stagger out wondering what's just been said to them.. Brilliant! However, my main concerns lay with the co-worker I have been unluckily paired with. We communicate a bit more now and things are a bit better, but he takes forever with his tasks meaning I have to do more work towards the end of the shift, where the manager turns up. Luckily today, he turned up half-asleep and maybe hungover, although I was never going to suggest such a thing in fear of my head being chainsawed off, so we got away with it. It won't happen all the time though, especially when the more scrutinous managers turn up and bollock you for leaving a packet of cookies at a slightly strange angle in the 2nd aisle.. Man, I hate those people..
I hate those people nearly as much as the taxi drivers who come in and pay for their petrol in coins. You get 4 types of customer:
1) Kind and polite and happy to make conversation = Fantastic
2) Come in and go out ASAP but still relatively polite = Good
3) Come in, throw their money at you and walk out again = Poor
4) Come in, shout at you, pay in pennies and walk out in a huff = Despair
There is a 5th but I haven't experienced a gun to the forehead yet.. I'm waiting for it though. I think through how I'd react if that really happened and I envisage a picture of calmness and relaxation while handling the incident with upmost professionalism and solidarity, but in reality, I'd be bricking it. It won't happen I'm sure but I have all the training in the world to deal with it! Or maybe I'd fallen asleep during that particular video... Who knows..
Anyway, I only have 1 more shift to go till my 6 days off! Result! Time to relax, play a lot of cricket and golf, (depending on how much money is leant to me...) and of course our cup final and the first match of the cricket season! I actually can't wait! All week I've been reminding myself of this week off and it's kept me going. All is well. Apart from not being paid.. Every sun has a lining of ash.
Changing subjects completely, relationships. If you've read the whole blog back to front you may have picked up on a couple of references on my view of relationships and they are not so positive. I believe relationships make people one-dimensional and make them think about only their relationship and their partner, and not other people. It is common to see a guy get a new girlfriend and then fall out of favour with other friends. People always say they are so so happy in relationships, but I'm not so sure.. Maybe it's because I haven't found "the one", but that's just my opinion.. I'm talking of this because a couple of friends recently have "found love" and they've instantly vanished off the face of the Earth. Not a glimpse or word of them since they're relationship status changed, (I didn't mean it to sound like a Facebook term!), and it doesn't half annoy me.. I prefer to be single. I'm happy with it that way.
Anyway, enough of my procrastination. Time to end. One more shift to go. Next time I blog, I will be as happy as Larry, (whoever Larry is), unless of course I get shot.
Ciao x
Saturday 17 April 2010
Half Way There
I'm half way through my "long working week", but tonight is destined to be the busiest of them all. With a ridiculously large zone of the store to clean, more things to cook and more importantly more drunk customers to serve, tonight is going to be a killer. But I'm over half way there! Boy.. I'm gonna be happy on Monday morning...
Last night was fairly uneventful. My hapless co-worker took so long with his duties that I had to stay behind and help him with the large bundles of papers that lay by the front door and then the even larger bundle of inserts to ... insert into the papers.. I hate Saturday papers.. Why do The Telegraph need 4 inserts into each of their papers?! Why?! No one reads them! I might send them an angry e-mail...
Anyway, nothing else to say, so instead of doing what I've done in the past and waffled, I'll end it there.. I may well update tomorrow morning as I've got to stay up for football.. Big game tomorrow, but everyone else's heads are already on next Friday..
Laters x
Last night was fairly uneventful. My hapless co-worker took so long with his duties that I had to stay behind and help him with the large bundles of papers that lay by the front door and then the even larger bundle of inserts to ... insert into the papers.. I hate Saturday papers.. Why do The Telegraph need 4 inserts into each of their papers?! Why?! No one reads them! I might send them an angry e-mail...
Anyway, nothing else to say, so instead of doing what I've done in the past and waffled, I'll end it there.. I may well update tomorrow morning as I've got to stay up for football.. Big game tomorrow, but everyone else's heads are already on next Friday..
Laters x
Friday 16 April 2010
Caption Competition
Whilst walking home, I resembled one of those caption competitions. Or "Guess what this guy is thinking!" and I'm afraid my face and posture were not positive..
Captions I came up with for myself were, "Slave Labour" and "This Isn't Where He Wants To Be". The second one is self-explanatory. I don't want to be at BP. I knew that when I started but I left myself without a choice, due to making all the wrong choices in the past year. I should have worked harder at my A-Levels, I should of gone to university and I should be towards the end of my first year training to be a Primary school teacher. The truth hurts. I know people will say, "You can still go" but with grades like mine and the optimism of a goat about to be put to the slaughter, my future lies in dead-end jobs or maybe a career as something unpredictable. The stories I hear from people at university are always good and full of fun and endeavour yet I put myself in the position of not going and having to endure going to work back-breaking shift after back-breaking shift, for what feels like, at the moment, nothing. Hence the first caption.
People say, "think of the money" or "think of when you get to go home", but when you haven't been paid yet, and won't for another month and also know you're not Doctor Who, those 2 things become irrelevant. The only thing I have to keep positive at the moment is the promise of 6 days off next week so I'm trying to think about that as much as possible. However, I didn't get the bollocking I had expected and just a quiet word in the manager's office from ... one of the managers.. I had to sign something that looked suspiciously official and then went on with my work. I had a lot to do this evening and time went relatively quickly, as it does when you're busy and then walked home without a lot more fuss. Yep.. still walking... I want my car back!
So, middle of the working week for me. Football training later and then back to work with the moron. I must keep positive..
Ciao x
Captions I came up with for myself were, "Slave Labour" and "This Isn't Where He Wants To Be". The second one is self-explanatory. I don't want to be at BP. I knew that when I started but I left myself without a choice, due to making all the wrong choices in the past year. I should have worked harder at my A-Levels, I should of gone to university and I should be towards the end of my first year training to be a Primary school teacher. The truth hurts. I know people will say, "You can still go" but with grades like mine and the optimism of a goat about to be put to the slaughter, my future lies in dead-end jobs or maybe a career as something unpredictable. The stories I hear from people at university are always good and full of fun and endeavour yet I put myself in the position of not going and having to endure going to work back-breaking shift after back-breaking shift, for what feels like, at the moment, nothing. Hence the first caption.
People say, "think of the money" or "think of when you get to go home", but when you haven't been paid yet, and won't for another month and also know you're not Doctor Who, those 2 things become irrelevant. The only thing I have to keep positive at the moment is the promise of 6 days off next week so I'm trying to think about that as much as possible. However, I didn't get the bollocking I had expected and just a quiet word in the manager's office from ... one of the managers.. I had to sign something that looked suspiciously official and then went on with my work. I had a lot to do this evening and time went relatively quickly, as it does when you're busy and then walked home without a lot more fuss. Yep.. still walking... I want my car back!
So, middle of the working week for me. Football training later and then back to work with the moron. I must keep positive..
Ciao x
Thursday 15 April 2010
Dust Cloud
There may well be a humungous cloud of dust covering most of Europe at the moment after a volcano in EekillingstadfroedeestadtforiBirdsEyepodlisnski erupted in the south of Icelend earlier and Ok, some flights have been cancelled, (in fact I believe all have), but my worries at the moment are a bit closer to home.
A couple of nights back, I thought I had double-charged a customer, (a customer I happen to know), however I checked and it said on the computer I hadn't. I laid my mind to rest and forgot all about it. However, today I was told by the person I served I did in fact charge him twice and he went and told them... Now, for those of you who don't know, the managers at this place are power-crazy and will find even the smallest thing to bollock you over.. Ok, that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean...
Last week, the management bollocked a colleague of mine because he put 4 butter croissants on a tray instead of 3.. He still wears a hearing-aid now after being made deaf by the roar... Another colleague claims to have been given an ear-bashing for not facing products the right way although she claimed they were only "at a slightly jaunty angle". The perfectionist and power-hungry ways of this management are the number one topic of conversation amongst us "normal workers", so the bollocking I'm going to get this evening when I walk in at 10pm tonight is something I am completely dreading... In fact, I have never dreaded anything so much in my entire life..
Not as if this is my first encounter of daft and ridiculous management. Last night, at the end of my shift, the manager who came in said I hadn't cleaned the zone I "supposed to have cleaned wasn't up to BP standards". So, I had to get the cleaning detergent and paper towels and take off all the stock of FairTrade Colombian Coffee, Cow & Gate baby food and strangely shaped toothbrushes and clean what I had already cleaned. Prick. For one, I had actually cleaned it and, two, I knew he was just getting his early-morning fix of power to get him through the morning. Most people choose coffee or heroin, but not BP management. BP management go for torturing their employees and it isn't very popular amongst us.. Oh man... I'm gonna die.
Also, to rub salt in the wounds, I got a payslip in the post yesterday morning from BP. Could I actually have been paid? No. It was a payslip for £0.00. How pointless is that? It was just like they were taking the mickey so now I know I have to wait until the 15th May for any money at all... I have no money, literally, till the end of April, unless that money I'm STILL waiting for from Beds FA for those games I did way back in February...
The whole world is a joke. The only comfort I can take is that no one can see the joke in Europe.... There's too much dust.
Ciao x
A couple of nights back, I thought I had double-charged a customer, (a customer I happen to know), however I checked and it said on the computer I hadn't. I laid my mind to rest and forgot all about it. However, today I was told by the person I served I did in fact charge him twice and he went and told them... Now, for those of you who don't know, the managers at this place are power-crazy and will find even the smallest thing to bollock you over.. Ok, that doesn't sound right, but you know what I mean...
Last week, the management bollocked a colleague of mine because he put 4 butter croissants on a tray instead of 3.. He still wears a hearing-aid now after being made deaf by the roar... Another colleague claims to have been given an ear-bashing for not facing products the right way although she claimed they were only "at a slightly jaunty angle". The perfectionist and power-hungry ways of this management are the number one topic of conversation amongst us "normal workers", so the bollocking I'm going to get this evening when I walk in at 10pm tonight is something I am completely dreading... In fact, I have never dreaded anything so much in my entire life..
Not as if this is my first encounter of daft and ridiculous management. Last night, at the end of my shift, the manager who came in said I hadn't cleaned the zone I "supposed to have cleaned wasn't up to BP standards". So, I had to get the cleaning detergent and paper towels and take off all the stock of FairTrade Colombian Coffee, Cow & Gate baby food and strangely shaped toothbrushes and clean what I had already cleaned. Prick. For one, I had actually cleaned it and, two, I knew he was just getting his early-morning fix of power to get him through the morning. Most people choose coffee or heroin, but not BP management. BP management go for torturing their employees and it isn't very popular amongst us.. Oh man... I'm gonna die.
Also, to rub salt in the wounds, I got a payslip in the post yesterday morning from BP. Could I actually have been paid? No. It was a payslip for £0.00. How pointless is that? It was just like they were taking the mickey so now I know I have to wait until the 15th May for any money at all... I have no money, literally, till the end of April, unless that money I'm STILL waiting for from Beds FA for those games I did way back in February...
The whole world is a joke. The only comfort I can take is that no one can see the joke in Europe.... There's too much dust.
Ciao x
Tuesday 13 April 2010
The Mini Jeremy
I am a quiet person. I'm not very outgoing or loud in any way shape or form, but I have said a few things in the past that are considered controversial, for some reason. I don't realise it's controversial or people gasp when I say it, it's just what I think. People like Jeremy Clarkson and Jeremy Paxman are like this. Say what's on their minds. I should be called Jeremy.
Now I've said that, I might aswell tell of a few things that get on my nerves about this country we live in and the lives we claim to lead. Call it racist or wrong or whatever you like and then listen as I tell you I don't care.
Polish people. I have nothing against the people themselves, but there are too many of them and if you're not even going to bother to learn our language and speak English in England then you can go back to where you came from. In fact, that's all immigrants. If you're going to come to ENGLAND then speak ENGLISH. The country isn't called Arabia for that very reason, so don't speak Arabic! Nothing annoys me more than people I serve at work for example, who try and tell me what they want in their native language and then get worked up as I greet them with a blank look. Why should I know your language here when you haven't bothered to learn ours in our own country? Idiots. People say the BNP are a racist party, but I agree with them on this. Why should British people be denied jobs for immigrants to take them? British people should be given British jobs. If British people went to Poland, we wouldn't take their jobs, so why should they take ours?
Politicians. Stop skirting round questions that are asked straight by coming up with a load of jargon that no one understands. If you say you want to relate to the public more, stop acting like toffs and talk in English rather than Snobbish. No wonder the public can't relate to you when you're as good at speaking normal English than the copious amounts of immigrants you've let in to our own country. If you want the trust back from the English people then it starts if you can speak to us in a language that didn't originate from Cambridge University. Idiots.
SOME laws. I'm not on about the laws that govern the use of drugs or even some stupid laws like you can't use your car horn after 11pm. I'm talking about the common sense laws of life that shouldn't be there. For example, it is compulsory for students to stay at school until they're 16. Why? If you don't want to be at school, then go and ruin your own life and pay the consequences instead of ruining the education of those who actually want a future. Why should teachers have to spend most of their time reminding the narrow-minded kids in a classroom of when to shut up and telling kids off, instead of teaching. Not as if they're job title is 'Shutter Upper' is it... Also, another stupid law, You cannot buy alcohol after 11pm. Why not? Politicians trying to stop alcoholism? Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen.. Again, if people want to waste their lives and start killing themselves by drinking, then let them. It's their own choice and it would reduce the "troubling rising population" in the country. Besides, if you want to stop the selling of alcohol then don't sell it all. Probably against Human Rights or something.
Terrorism. Let's get one thing straight. Most terrorism these days are committed by Asians. Al-Qaeda is an organisation based around Muslims and most Muslims in this world, are Asian. To call it "Racist" when you suspect an Asian to be a terrorist ahead of a white guy is complete nonsense. All major terrorist attacks are committed by Asian Muslims. Attacks on New York, London, Madrid and Bali, among others, were all committed by brown-coloured Asian Muslims so if you don't like being suspected of terrorism because you're carrying a rucksack, then go away. It's going to happen.
Now some smaller things that do not affect all of us, but do affect me.
The FA Respect Campaign. This is the campaign that is supposed to stop abuse aimed at football referees from players, coaches and parents, and won't and can't work. When playing football and a decision is made that a player thinks incorrect, the first thing that springs to his mind WILL NEVER BE, "I must respect the referee". Never. Scientifically, it will never work, because the adrenaline surrounding any sporting activity means that any player will just blurt out what they think without thinking about it. Therefore, trying to cut out any behaviour like this is pointless. Also, if you're going to let 80-year olds referee on a Sunday morning, just because they have nothing better to do, therefore leading to a number of incorrect decisions, then you can expect hot-headed footballers to argue, and rightly so. The FA need their heads screwed on.
Car Insurance. To charge over £2000 a year for independant car insurance for young people is daylight robbery. Most young drivers are too scared to go over 30mph and their chances of crashing as a result are minimal so why charge them nearly 3 months wages for it... A quarter of a common young person's wages spent on over-costly insurance is wrong on so many levels. And a young driver has no choice but to buy it, because it's illegal to not have it. Is it illegal to not have life insurance? No. So why should it be different for cars?
There's just a few things that annoy me. There are a few others but they are touchy subjects that would spark a riot amongst friends. Times are hard enough at the moment without friends. If you can think of any other things, let me know. It's all gravy.
Cya x
Now I've said that, I might aswell tell of a few things that get on my nerves about this country we live in and the lives we claim to lead. Call it racist or wrong or whatever you like and then listen as I tell you I don't care.
Polish people. I have nothing against the people themselves, but there are too many of them and if you're not even going to bother to learn our language and speak English in England then you can go back to where you came from. In fact, that's all immigrants. If you're going to come to ENGLAND then speak ENGLISH. The country isn't called Arabia for that very reason, so don't speak Arabic! Nothing annoys me more than people I serve at work for example, who try and tell me what they want in their native language and then get worked up as I greet them with a blank look. Why should I know your language here when you haven't bothered to learn ours in our own country? Idiots. People say the BNP are a racist party, but I agree with them on this. Why should British people be denied jobs for immigrants to take them? British people should be given British jobs. If British people went to Poland, we wouldn't take their jobs, so why should they take ours?
Politicians. Stop skirting round questions that are asked straight by coming up with a load of jargon that no one understands. If you say you want to relate to the public more, stop acting like toffs and talk in English rather than Snobbish. No wonder the public can't relate to you when you're as good at speaking normal English than the copious amounts of immigrants you've let in to our own country. If you want the trust back from the English people then it starts if you can speak to us in a language that didn't originate from Cambridge University. Idiots.
SOME laws. I'm not on about the laws that govern the use of drugs or even some stupid laws like you can't use your car horn after 11pm. I'm talking about the common sense laws of life that shouldn't be there. For example, it is compulsory for students to stay at school until they're 16. Why? If you don't want to be at school, then go and ruin your own life and pay the consequences instead of ruining the education of those who actually want a future. Why should teachers have to spend most of their time reminding the narrow-minded kids in a classroom of when to shut up and telling kids off, instead of teaching. Not as if they're job title is 'Shutter Upper' is it... Also, another stupid law, You cannot buy alcohol after 11pm. Why not? Politicians trying to stop alcoholism? Yeah right, like that's ever going to happen.. Again, if people want to waste their lives and start killing themselves by drinking, then let them. It's their own choice and it would reduce the "troubling rising population" in the country. Besides, if you want to stop the selling of alcohol then don't sell it all. Probably against Human Rights or something.
Terrorism. Let's get one thing straight. Most terrorism these days are committed by Asians. Al-Qaeda is an organisation based around Muslims and most Muslims in this world, are Asian. To call it "Racist" when you suspect an Asian to be a terrorist ahead of a white guy is complete nonsense. All major terrorist attacks are committed by Asian Muslims. Attacks on New York, London, Madrid and Bali, among others, were all committed by brown-coloured Asian Muslims so if you don't like being suspected of terrorism because you're carrying a rucksack, then go away. It's going to happen.
Now some smaller things that do not affect all of us, but do affect me.
The FA Respect Campaign. This is the campaign that is supposed to stop abuse aimed at football referees from players, coaches and parents, and won't and can't work. When playing football and a decision is made that a player thinks incorrect, the first thing that springs to his mind WILL NEVER BE, "I must respect the referee". Never. Scientifically, it will never work, because the adrenaline surrounding any sporting activity means that any player will just blurt out what they think without thinking about it. Therefore, trying to cut out any behaviour like this is pointless. Also, if you're going to let 80-year olds referee on a Sunday morning, just because they have nothing better to do, therefore leading to a number of incorrect decisions, then you can expect hot-headed footballers to argue, and rightly so. The FA need their heads screwed on.
Car Insurance. To charge over £2000 a year for independant car insurance for young people is daylight robbery. Most young drivers are too scared to go over 30mph and their chances of crashing as a result are minimal so why charge them nearly 3 months wages for it... A quarter of a common young person's wages spent on over-costly insurance is wrong on so many levels. And a young driver has no choice but to buy it, because it's illegal to not have it. Is it illegal to not have life insurance? No. So why should it be different for cars?
There's just a few things that annoy me. There are a few others but they are touchy subjects that would spark a riot amongst friends. Times are hard enough at the moment without friends. If you can think of any other things, let me know. It's all gravy.
Cya x
As Busy as a Bee Should Be
I need to do more of this. Make my "weekend" full of productive things and have fun a little, even if it does mean lack of sleep... I can do that at night, when usually I would be doing nothing but sitting up on my computer and just ... well... doing nothing!
Yesterday, I ventured out on to the golf course in the sun, (even if it was a bit chilly!), and I felt I played well considering I hadn't played for 6 months.. I'm only a "fair-weather" golfer and hate playing in winter. Golf is just another sport that comes under my list of sports I play and even if the price has hiked up now I'm 18, I hope to play as much as I can.
As you can probably tell, I am waffling slightly as I try to not talk about work for one second. I realise most of my recent posts have been about the place I dread going to. Right.. that's enough about that..
I'd like to talk about something I have never mentioned before to anyone, ever. I have a pen-pal, (or more of an e-mail pal..), from Boston in America, she's 17 and we just casually send e-mails to each other just updating each other on our reckless and un-interesting lives. I met her last summer when she was on holiday in London. I was on a day trip with the fammo and I was sitting in a cafe, (sorry I don't have the little accent to go above the 'e' on my keyboard..), on my own waiting for my people to come back from a shop I didn't particularly want to go in.. and she came and asked for a chair next to me. I jumped, after being in a bit of a day dream about how bad things were, and spilt my drink over her shoe! It goes down as one of the most embarrassing things to have happened to me ever.. so, like the gentleman I am, I offered to buy her one and we just got chatting.
Turns out she was in there for the very same reason I was, as her family had walked off to a shop she didn't want to go in... (I don't know why). She seemed highly independant and intelligent, (for an American!), and we had an interesting chat for half an hour or so before we both re-joined our families. I never saw her again, but she had talked about her great number of pen-pals and asked if I wanted to join her extensive list. She showed me that list aswell. A moderate number of people from South America, Asia and the UK, (probably about 12), all pen-pals, (or e-mail pals..), with this solitary girl from the US. It made me think that this country doesn't have to stop at making friends with our own nationality, but can broaden our horizons and stretch out to make friends with other nationalities. I find it interesting to find out about other people's lives, miles away in some deserted suburb, even if it does sound a bit nosey!
Some of you may think it's a tad strange, (a couple of people spring to mind immediately!), but I'm not so bothered. It's amazing that 9 months almost to the day, that 2 people who will never see each other again, are still communicating..
Yesterday, I ventured out on to the golf course in the sun, (even if it was a bit chilly!), and I felt I played well considering I hadn't played for 6 months.. I'm only a "fair-weather" golfer and hate playing in winter. Golf is just another sport that comes under my list of sports I play and even if the price has hiked up now I'm 18, I hope to play as much as I can.
As you can probably tell, I am waffling slightly as I try to not talk about work for one second. I realise most of my recent posts have been about the place I dread going to. Right.. that's enough about that..
I'd like to talk about something I have never mentioned before to anyone, ever. I have a pen-pal, (or more of an e-mail pal..), from Boston in America, she's 17 and we just casually send e-mails to each other just updating each other on our reckless and un-interesting lives. I met her last summer when she was on holiday in London. I was on a day trip with the fammo and I was sitting in a cafe, (sorry I don't have the little accent to go above the 'e' on my keyboard..), on my own waiting for my people to come back from a shop I didn't particularly want to go in.. and she came and asked for a chair next to me. I jumped, after being in a bit of a day dream about how bad things were, and spilt my drink over her shoe! It goes down as one of the most embarrassing things to have happened to me ever.. so, like the gentleman I am, I offered to buy her one and we just got chatting.
Turns out she was in there for the very same reason I was, as her family had walked off to a shop she didn't want to go in... (I don't know why). She seemed highly independant and intelligent, (for an American!), and we had an interesting chat for half an hour or so before we both re-joined our families. I never saw her again, but she had talked about her great number of pen-pals and asked if I wanted to join her extensive list. She showed me that list aswell. A moderate number of people from South America, Asia and the UK, (probably about 12), all pen-pals, (or e-mail pals..), with this solitary girl from the US. It made me think that this country doesn't have to stop at making friends with our own nationality, but can broaden our horizons and stretch out to make friends with other nationalities. I find it interesting to find out about other people's lives, miles away in some deserted suburb, even if it does sound a bit nosey!
Some of you may think it's a tad strange, (a couple of people spring to mind immediately!), but I'm not so bothered. It's amazing that 9 months almost to the day, that 2 people who will never see each other again, are still communicating..
Sunday 11 April 2010
Act Your Age... Part 2
Now, after yesterday's furore over being treated like a kid, the roles were reversed today but with more ... how shall I put it? Daunting consequences?
You see, before I started, I was made aware of some condition that my co-worker had, and seeing as I had no choice but to do the bakery stuff, I presumed it was some sort of food allergy or similar condition. However, I presumed wrongly. So, the time was roughly 4am, I was halfway through my compulsory bakery duties when I heard incredibly loud shouting coming from the storeroom, getting closer and closer. Before I knew it, the door burst open and there was my co-worker looking blankly shouting things such as, "I want Mummy!" and "Where am I? I want to go home, I feel sick Mummy!" It reminded me strongly of that Doctor Who episode with the gas-masked boy.. "I want my Mummy"... It was freaky..
At first I thought it was a joke, then realised this man was not into humour and is way too boring and professional to do such a thing.. What the hell was happening? I had customers, (most of them drunk seeing as it was a Saturday night), who were as bemused as I am and then one decided to copy him and shout things out aswell. This was greeted by an uncharacteristic wailing from co-worker before disappearing out the back. I was shocked. I served the amazed group of waiting customers before going to try and find him to see what was going on. I was greeted with a man, probably mid-40's, sitting in a child-like position in the middle of the floor.. I didn't know what to do.. I did what I could only think of and got him a drink of water before carrying on my duties.. Maybe it will wear off? It did after about 30 minutes, but it left him shaken and myself wondering why the hell I had been paired with someone who had the capability of throwing a whole store into embarrassing and potentially dangerous territory...
I brought the issue up with the manager who appeared rather groggily at 5:50am. She was awoken though by the story of what happened and agreed that she would bring it up with the boss, Chris. Sorry, but you can throw as many grumpy and outraged 17 year olds on a football pitch or even a BP store at me as much as you like, but put one 40-odd year old acting like a 4 year old in front of me, and watch as it scares the shit outta me. That was the least I was expecting..
Otherwise, it was a fairly boring, yet busy night and I was ready to go home in a worse mood than I turned up with, (which is tough seeing as I was in a foul mood at 10pm), but the manager said I had done a good job and that raised my spirits no end. It's amazing what one compliment can do to your spirits and I made the long and customary 5-part walk home in happy enough mood. Even if I was greeted by a moody Father when I got home at 6.30.. Probably still angered at my decision not to play this morning seeing as I would physically die. I've got to referee this afternoon aswell, so I've got my large can of Red Bull at the ready. I should be fine.
I wonder how my co-worker is feeling though? Embarrassed? Wouldn't surprise me. Although it sure did earlier..
Bye x
You see, before I started, I was made aware of some condition that my co-worker had, and seeing as I had no choice but to do the bakery stuff, I presumed it was some sort of food allergy or similar condition. However, I presumed wrongly. So, the time was roughly 4am, I was halfway through my compulsory bakery duties when I heard incredibly loud shouting coming from the storeroom, getting closer and closer. Before I knew it, the door burst open and there was my co-worker looking blankly shouting things such as, "I want Mummy!" and "Where am I? I want to go home, I feel sick Mummy!" It reminded me strongly of that Doctor Who episode with the gas-masked boy.. "I want my Mummy"... It was freaky..
At first I thought it was a joke, then realised this man was not into humour and is way too boring and professional to do such a thing.. What the hell was happening? I had customers, (most of them drunk seeing as it was a Saturday night), who were as bemused as I am and then one decided to copy him and shout things out aswell. This was greeted by an uncharacteristic wailing from co-worker before disappearing out the back. I was shocked. I served the amazed group of waiting customers before going to try and find him to see what was going on. I was greeted with a man, probably mid-40's, sitting in a child-like position in the middle of the floor.. I didn't know what to do.. I did what I could only think of and got him a drink of water before carrying on my duties.. Maybe it will wear off? It did after about 30 minutes, but it left him shaken and myself wondering why the hell I had been paired with someone who had the capability of throwing a whole store into embarrassing and potentially dangerous territory...
I brought the issue up with the manager who appeared rather groggily at 5:50am. She was awoken though by the story of what happened and agreed that she would bring it up with the boss, Chris. Sorry, but you can throw as many grumpy and outraged 17 year olds on a football pitch or even a BP store at me as much as you like, but put one 40-odd year old acting like a 4 year old in front of me, and watch as it scares the shit outta me. That was the least I was expecting..
Otherwise, it was a fairly boring, yet busy night and I was ready to go home in a worse mood than I turned up with, (which is tough seeing as I was in a foul mood at 10pm), but the manager said I had done a good job and that raised my spirits no end. It's amazing what one compliment can do to your spirits and I made the long and customary 5-part walk home in happy enough mood. Even if I was greeted by a moody Father when I got home at 6.30.. Probably still angered at my decision not to play this morning seeing as I would physically die. I've got to referee this afternoon aswell, so I've got my large can of Red Bull at the ready. I should be fine.
I wonder how my co-worker is feeling though? Embarrassed? Wouldn't surprise me. Although it sure did earlier..
Bye x
Saturday 10 April 2010
Act Your Age...
... not your shoe size! Remember that phrase? Used to be one of my favourites! Now though, the shoe is on the other foot... (No pun intended, even if it was a poor one.)
No, you see, I had my first "proper" shift tonight, (as the ones before had been "training shifts"), and I got to work with the other new guy for the first time. Now, for most of the week I'd been fairly worried about this because as we're both new, we both may struggle. However, what I was greeted with was an ageing man who, because he's been there about 4 days longer than me, suddenly thinks he's my manager. Or the King Of England. Seriously, he was ordering me about as if he was my boss, with a swagger to suggest, "I'm the boss round here" and then when I asked him why his badge said "trainee", he blushed. Moron. Can't even get a name tag with your name on it. And you're acting as if you're my manager? Grow up. Power-crazy, grey-haired, Mr "I can't touch food" son of an elephant! No, I shouldn't make fun of his made-up condition which means he can't do the bakery stuff. Some people are that lazy and you shouldn't make fun of them. Idiot.
Despite this, the shift went reasonably quickly, except for the last couple of hours which clearly always go slowly in any job you do, just because God likes a laugh occasionally. Even the proper manager that came at 6am said that "I didn't do badly at all" and for someone who is allegedly evil in the mornings, I was fairly pleased with that. And walked home in a fairly satisfactory mood.
Now. Walking home. After 8 hours of solid manual labour, (I forgot to take my medication for my condition against manual labour this evening), walking home is the last thing you want to do. I do strange things to keep my mind off my aching feet and calves on the way home. Such as cut my journey up into fifths. The starting slog down Newnham Avenue, followed by the uphill descent of Haylands Way before the pit-stop/chicane at Queen's Drive shops before the back straight down Bowhill and the final sprint down Putnoe Street and Little Headlands before getting out my keys ready to open the door. Incidentally, that final leg was literally a sprint today because I was getting chased by a crack dealer.. I joke. I did sprint though. Keeps the muscles from seizing up. I can't wait to get the Mittenmobile back just so I don't have to walk home in the future.
Talking of 'future', I've been thinking. I'm not staying here very long. Sorry, but after a while of back-breaking labour, insulting drunk customers and trainees thinking they're managers, I will get sick of it. Now then. Big moment here. I'm not certain, however, I'm being drawn more and more to becoming a police officer. I have mentioned it before and I like the idea of it. I need to find out more about it first and the implications on your social life, (which seem to diminish with the job), which wouldn't be great... I'll keep on thinking about it.
Talking of social life, (I've got to admit, the linking between my paragraphs this morning has been top-notch), cricket. Now, again, I was supposed to be going to nets this afternoon but failed to make it because I was just whacked out. I let them know I wasn't going and went back to sleep. I was that tired, that I also nearly didn't make it to football training at 6:45 but just about got my act together to make it and have a decent training session. Despite getting a telling off from the gaffer about Tuesday. Not just me, but the whole team. I still maintain he deserved it. He's also an official on the Cup final.. The fickle fingers of fate!
Talking of fate .... No sorry I haven't got anything on fate, I just wanted to see if I could keep on linking.. Clearly not though. Sleep is now incredibly important in my life, (sorry for the drastic change in subject). Mainly because I get in from work at 6.30, then sit up for a bit because for some reason you don't feel tired when you get home.. Usually go to sleep around 7.30 then face the dilemma of more sleep, less social life or vice versa and face the consequences when you join Mr. I'm The King at work later.. Decisions decisions.. I was given the offer of going to nets again later, but 11.30am is beyond my capabilities so I didn't even bother saying I was going to go, as I know I wouldn't make it. I need to learn to get up a bit earlier than I am at the moment though, because I'll forget what it's like to see the clock say 14:00..
What else can I say? Yeah, more on the bastard I work with. The chances of him reading this are about as likely as me headlining Reading, so it's cool. Sorry, but I left school because I didn't want to feel like I was being told what to do anymore. I wanted to feel a feeling of independance and not to feel like a kid anymore. I would love it if we established what jobs we both needed to do and left each other to get on with. The less we speak to each other, the better. He's a moose. End of. Kaput. No argument.
Right, bed. (Joanna Lumley: You have e-mail!) Oh, go away! Spam anyway. "No I don't want a larger penis with a bonus offer of free heroin!" How stupid are these people..? Not as stupid as the guy I've got to spend most of my recent working life with anyway... Sigh. Put up with it Mitten. The time has passed now where you can complain about it. Get on with it.
Ciao x
No, you see, I had my first "proper" shift tonight, (as the ones before had been "training shifts"), and I got to work with the other new guy for the first time. Now, for most of the week I'd been fairly worried about this because as we're both new, we both may struggle. However, what I was greeted with was an ageing man who, because he's been there about 4 days longer than me, suddenly thinks he's my manager. Or the King Of England. Seriously, he was ordering me about as if he was my boss, with a swagger to suggest, "I'm the boss round here" and then when I asked him why his badge said "trainee", he blushed. Moron. Can't even get a name tag with your name on it. And you're acting as if you're my manager? Grow up. Power-crazy, grey-haired, Mr "I can't touch food" son of an elephant! No, I shouldn't make fun of his made-up condition which means he can't do the bakery stuff. Some people are that lazy and you shouldn't make fun of them. Idiot.
Despite this, the shift went reasonably quickly, except for the last couple of hours which clearly always go slowly in any job you do, just because God likes a laugh occasionally. Even the proper manager that came at 6am said that "I didn't do badly at all" and for someone who is allegedly evil in the mornings, I was fairly pleased with that. And walked home in a fairly satisfactory mood.
Now. Walking home. After 8 hours of solid manual labour, (I forgot to take my medication for my condition against manual labour this evening), walking home is the last thing you want to do. I do strange things to keep my mind off my aching feet and calves on the way home. Such as cut my journey up into fifths. The starting slog down Newnham Avenue, followed by the uphill descent of Haylands Way before the pit-stop/chicane at Queen's Drive shops before the back straight down Bowhill and the final sprint down Putnoe Street and Little Headlands before getting out my keys ready to open the door. Incidentally, that final leg was literally a sprint today because I was getting chased by a crack dealer.. I joke. I did sprint though. Keeps the muscles from seizing up. I can't wait to get the Mittenmobile back just so I don't have to walk home in the future.
Talking of 'future', I've been thinking. I'm not staying here very long. Sorry, but after a while of back-breaking labour, insulting drunk customers and trainees thinking they're managers, I will get sick of it. Now then. Big moment here. I'm not certain, however, I'm being drawn more and more to becoming a police officer. I have mentioned it before and I like the idea of it. I need to find out more about it first and the implications on your social life, (which seem to diminish with the job), which wouldn't be great... I'll keep on thinking about it.
Talking of social life, (I've got to admit, the linking between my paragraphs this morning has been top-notch), cricket. Now, again, I was supposed to be going to nets this afternoon but failed to make it because I was just whacked out. I let them know I wasn't going and went back to sleep. I was that tired, that I also nearly didn't make it to football training at 6:45 but just about got my act together to make it and have a decent training session. Despite getting a telling off from the gaffer about Tuesday. Not just me, but the whole team. I still maintain he deserved it. He's also an official on the Cup final.. The fickle fingers of fate!
Talking of fate .... No sorry I haven't got anything on fate, I just wanted to see if I could keep on linking.. Clearly not though. Sleep is now incredibly important in my life, (sorry for the drastic change in subject). Mainly because I get in from work at 6.30, then sit up for a bit because for some reason you don't feel tired when you get home.. Usually go to sleep around 7.30 then face the dilemma of more sleep, less social life or vice versa and face the consequences when you join Mr. I'm The King at work later.. Decisions decisions.. I was given the offer of going to nets again later, but 11.30am is beyond my capabilities so I didn't even bother saying I was going to go, as I know I wouldn't make it. I need to learn to get up a bit earlier than I am at the moment though, because I'll forget what it's like to see the clock say 14:00..
What else can I say? Yeah, more on the bastard I work with. The chances of him reading this are about as likely as me headlining Reading, so it's cool. Sorry, but I left school because I didn't want to feel like I was being told what to do anymore. I wanted to feel a feeling of independance and not to feel like a kid anymore. I would love it if we established what jobs we both needed to do and left each other to get on with. The less we speak to each other, the better. He's a moose. End of. Kaput. No argument.
Right, bed. (Joanna Lumley: You have e-mail!) Oh, go away! Spam anyway. "No I don't want a larger penis with a bonus offer of free heroin!" How stupid are these people..? Not as stupid as the guy I've got to spend most of my recent working life with anyway... Sigh. Put up with it Mitten. The time has passed now where you can complain about it. Get on with it.
Ciao x
Thursday 8 April 2010
Insomnia Part 2
Ok, it may not be insomnia, but I simply cannot sleep. Take all of these factors into account and try and work out if you could either.
Firstly, the curse of the night-shift worker means that I cannot even attempt to get to sleep until 5am at the earliest. 5am was the time I wrote my last blog entry. I can never get to sleep for an hour at the best of times as my brain does it's usual things of playing life scenarios over in my head and gets me thinking about things. Take tonight for example, I thought about what it would feel like to be in an armed robbery, (which may well become reality soon with the nature of this job!), what it feels like to be in a plane crash, what it feels like to be friends with Bin Laden and what would happen if I got charged with the manslaughter of my best friend who went on a murderous rampage against my family, (Dont ask). That's not a joke either. I genuinely came up with that in my head and thought about it all. You can tell I'm not a cheerful fellow! So... 6am... I feel a little tired but I can hear the owls hooting and my brain still wants to think... stop thinking... please just sleep. You'll regret it..
Secondly, 6:30am.. The problem with this time is that around this time of the year, the Sun is up and it is as bright as it is in the daytime. Now, I've mentioned my new blackout curtains before, however, they are slightly too small so when the Sun does come up, a beam of sunlight breaks through leaving my room with a thin strip of light going straight through me and my eyes. How can a lad get to sleep with a beam of light across his eyes..? It's impossible.
Thirdly, it's around 6:45 to 7am now, and this is the time Father usually awakes to embark on another day at work, working normal hours like a normal person. However, the house, probably built in the Roman times, creaks like a 300 year old Mummified Egyptian so whenever my Dad walks on an uneasy floorboard, (which is pretty much all of them in this house built of polystyrene), the noise eminating from it resembles that of a stressed out cow and is enough to cause a medium-sized tremor across the town of Bedford. Aswell as this, the pipes in this house, (consequently also made created by Julius Ceasar's army), seem as if there are tiny men trapped in them who are trying to kick their way out. There are always little clicks, squeaks and knocks that after a while of noticing them just get on your nerves. It is a form of torture.
Fourthly, both sets of next door neighbours have dogs that seemingly awake at 7am as they bark constantly until they get their dose of Whiskas or whatever the dog equivalent is, Pedigree I think it's called. One of the dogs doesn't bark too loudly and I can just about put up with, but when the 2nd one joins in, it sounds like a rat being exterminated with a screwdriver. Mix the two together and any sane person becomes suicidal, let alone an 18 year old insomniac night-shift worker laying in bed as wide awake as he was 7 hours ago..
And finally, fifthly, (yep, I'm not joking), everyone in this house decided they were going to go to the toilet, drop multiple pans and metal bottles, talk at their normal volume and generally act as if it was the middle of the day. Now, come on, if this was you - with a night-shift sleeping pattern, curtains that's sole job is to block out sunlight, letting more sunlight in, a house made out of those squeaky toys that 3 year olds play with, pipes with dwarfs trying to rampage themselves out of, neighbours with pet monsters and a family that creates their very own circus at 7 in the morning, would you really be able to sleep? Exactly.
So I've decided. What's the point? The Sun is up, I'm angry now that I haven't got to sleep and I can feel the adrenaline inside me as I get more annoyed and these bloody curtains aren't big enough! What a joke! The whole thing is just a joke! I'm not getting to sleep now because if I do I will miss another cricket net session that I really do want to go to. Otherwise, come the start of the season I'd have no practice and bat like a kid with no arms. Or Geoffrey Boycott. Your choice. However, I probably will end up batting like a kid with no arms because I'd be half-asleep after being kept up all night by this house with a mind of it's own and next door's bears. I've decided I want to move to Greece. Now, I will think about what it feels like to live abroad for another half hour..
I've spent most of the last couple of days being annoyed about one thing or the other. Slowly becoming more depressed and angry over trivial things. Ever since I started work... I was depressed when I had my old job, then I slowly became more happy when I was out of work and now I am back in work... I am turning back to my old ways... Interesting... Jesus Christ! A giant just tried to kick it's way out of a pipe! That's the last straw! I'm going to explain to Mother Mitten. This just isn't good enough.
And Chris, the reason why I couldn't bat at nets this afternoon, (which as I'm typing this, hasn't happened yet), is because of this very reason. Giants in the pipes and neighbour's pet elephants.
Laters x
Firstly, the curse of the night-shift worker means that I cannot even attempt to get to sleep until 5am at the earliest. 5am was the time I wrote my last blog entry. I can never get to sleep for an hour at the best of times as my brain does it's usual things of playing life scenarios over in my head and gets me thinking about things. Take tonight for example, I thought about what it would feel like to be in an armed robbery, (which may well become reality soon with the nature of this job!), what it feels like to be in a plane crash, what it feels like to be friends with Bin Laden and what would happen if I got charged with the manslaughter of my best friend who went on a murderous rampage against my family, (Dont ask). That's not a joke either. I genuinely came up with that in my head and thought about it all. You can tell I'm not a cheerful fellow! So... 6am... I feel a little tired but I can hear the owls hooting and my brain still wants to think... stop thinking... please just sleep. You'll regret it..
Secondly, 6:30am.. The problem with this time is that around this time of the year, the Sun is up and it is as bright as it is in the daytime. Now, I've mentioned my new blackout curtains before, however, they are slightly too small so when the Sun does come up, a beam of sunlight breaks through leaving my room with a thin strip of light going straight through me and my eyes. How can a lad get to sleep with a beam of light across his eyes..? It's impossible.
Thirdly, it's around 6:45 to 7am now, and this is the time Father usually awakes to embark on another day at work, working normal hours like a normal person. However, the house, probably built in the Roman times, creaks like a 300 year old Mummified Egyptian so whenever my Dad walks on an uneasy floorboard, (which is pretty much all of them in this house built of polystyrene), the noise eminating from it resembles that of a stressed out cow and is enough to cause a medium-sized tremor across the town of Bedford. Aswell as this, the pipes in this house, (consequently also made created by Julius Ceasar's army), seem as if there are tiny men trapped in them who are trying to kick their way out. There are always little clicks, squeaks and knocks that after a while of noticing them just get on your nerves. It is a form of torture.
Fourthly, both sets of next door neighbours have dogs that seemingly awake at 7am as they bark constantly until they get their dose of Whiskas or whatever the dog equivalent is, Pedigree I think it's called. One of the dogs doesn't bark too loudly and I can just about put up with, but when the 2nd one joins in, it sounds like a rat being exterminated with a screwdriver. Mix the two together and any sane person becomes suicidal, let alone an 18 year old insomniac night-shift worker laying in bed as wide awake as he was 7 hours ago..
And finally, fifthly, (yep, I'm not joking), everyone in this house decided they were going to go to the toilet, drop multiple pans and metal bottles, talk at their normal volume and generally act as if it was the middle of the day. Now, come on, if this was you - with a night-shift sleeping pattern, curtains that's sole job is to block out sunlight, letting more sunlight in, a house made out of those squeaky toys that 3 year olds play with, pipes with dwarfs trying to rampage themselves out of, neighbours with pet monsters and a family that creates their very own circus at 7 in the morning, would you really be able to sleep? Exactly.
So I've decided. What's the point? The Sun is up, I'm angry now that I haven't got to sleep and I can feel the adrenaline inside me as I get more annoyed and these bloody curtains aren't big enough! What a joke! The whole thing is just a joke! I'm not getting to sleep now because if I do I will miss another cricket net session that I really do want to go to. Otherwise, come the start of the season I'd have no practice and bat like a kid with no arms. Or Geoffrey Boycott. Your choice. However, I probably will end up batting like a kid with no arms because I'd be half-asleep after being kept up all night by this house with a mind of it's own and next door's bears. I've decided I want to move to Greece. Now, I will think about what it feels like to live abroad for another half hour..
I've spent most of the last couple of days being annoyed about one thing or the other. Slowly becoming more depressed and angry over trivial things. Ever since I started work... I was depressed when I had my old job, then I slowly became more happy when I was out of work and now I am back in work... I am turning back to my old ways... Interesting... Jesus Christ! A giant just tried to kick it's way out of a pipe! That's the last straw! I'm going to explain to Mother Mitten. This just isn't good enough.
And Chris, the reason why I couldn't bat at nets this afternoon, (which as I'm typing this, hasn't happened yet), is because of this very reason. Giants in the pipes and neighbour's pet elephants.
Laters x
Mitten, Mitten Don't Be Hasty
I've been rather incomplete today. Not my usual self. I'm usually fairly reliable when it comes to being somewhere, but today I completely forgot about 5-a-side footy and carried on sleeping, leaving the others with a player and a ball short. Things have just gone haywire since I started work and it's going to take time to get used to the physical and mental demands of a night-shift job. Therefore, I am trying to convince myself to not get ahead of myself and try not to do as much as I can. Because it will be tough.
Mitten, Mitten don't be hasty! First I'm perfect then I'm lazy. Re-worked lyrics. Apologies. Tomorrow should be good. Good.
Mitten, Mitten don't be hasty! First I'm perfect then I'm lazy. Re-worked lyrics. Apologies. Tomorrow should be good. Good.
Wednesday 7 April 2010
This Is My Weekend
The end of the 2nd of my 2 night shifts came and went without too much fuss, however, me and the other new guy, are together on the 3 night shifts at the end of the week, which isn't the best of moves from the management... If something goes wrong, what are we supposed to do? We're newbies!
Today has been a fairly frustrating one. We had a football match this evening, our only midweek one of the season, and we were greeted with a highly incompetent referee. To overrule offsides when you are in no position, makes no sense and I let him know this in a way I wouldn't usually do. I was very angry and frustrated at him and let him know what I thought of him. I should really have been sent off, however, when he called me over, all he said was, "If you said that to me in the street, I'd punch your fuckin' face in!" I was shocked. No referee says that. Sorry, but you just don't. I complained to the county and the league, accepting that my words played a part. We drew the game 2-2, but for the first time ever, I can blame the referee.
This made me in a bad mood for the ensuing night shift that was to follow. I started at 10pm in a foul mood, although I didn't let my colleagues work that out and it was generally a highly uneventful shift that slowly dragged on to 6am. I then found out I was working with the other new guy this weekend, which in my opinion, is a huge mistake. We will get things wrong and there will be issues. I'm not looking forward to that..
However, this is now technically my weekend! The next few days, mainly recovering from working like I haven't done for the past few months.. I've said I'm going to cricket at half 2 tomorrow, but I didn't make it last time so I'm thinking I may not this time. I'll see what I feel like at 2.. I'm dreading Friday, Saturday and Sunday though.. Sunday especially.. I'm going to be dead after refereeing in the afternoon. I've already declared myself out of playing in the morning as I physically couldn't do it. Dad didn't seem happy at all, but he's got to accept that I've now got to prioritise.. Chances of getting promoted now are slim and there is a small chance that the team will carry on next season anyway. Everyone's losing interest..
Anyway, sleep is needed. Especially if I'm going to make it to cricket.. Paolo Nutini - Pencil Full of Lead has just come on my Spotify playlist... which is too cheerful a song for the level of tiredness I'm feeling at this moment...
Much Love x
Today has been a fairly frustrating one. We had a football match this evening, our only midweek one of the season, and we were greeted with a highly incompetent referee. To overrule offsides when you are in no position, makes no sense and I let him know this in a way I wouldn't usually do. I was very angry and frustrated at him and let him know what I thought of him. I should really have been sent off, however, when he called me over, all he said was, "If you said that to me in the street, I'd punch your fuckin' face in!" I was shocked. No referee says that. Sorry, but you just don't. I complained to the county and the league, accepting that my words played a part. We drew the game 2-2, but for the first time ever, I can blame the referee.
This made me in a bad mood for the ensuing night shift that was to follow. I started at 10pm in a foul mood, although I didn't let my colleagues work that out and it was generally a highly uneventful shift that slowly dragged on to 6am. I then found out I was working with the other new guy this weekend, which in my opinion, is a huge mistake. We will get things wrong and there will be issues. I'm not looking forward to that..
However, this is now technically my weekend! The next few days, mainly recovering from working like I haven't done for the past few months.. I've said I'm going to cricket at half 2 tomorrow, but I didn't make it last time so I'm thinking I may not this time. I'll see what I feel like at 2.. I'm dreading Friday, Saturday and Sunday though.. Sunday especially.. I'm going to be dead after refereeing in the afternoon. I've already declared myself out of playing in the morning as I physically couldn't do it. Dad didn't seem happy at all, but he's got to accept that I've now got to prioritise.. Chances of getting promoted now are slim and there is a small chance that the team will carry on next season anyway. Everyone's losing interest..
Anyway, sleep is needed. Especially if I'm going to make it to cricket.. Paolo Nutini - Pencil Full of Lead has just come on my Spotify playlist... which is too cheerful a song for the level of tiredness I'm feeling at this moment...
Much Love x
Tuesday 6 April 2010
Complacency
I definitely took this night-shift malarky way too complacent.. I thought it would be a lot of standing behind tills, changing stock and generally looking grumpy. What it is though is a large variety of tasks including cooking, cleaning, stock rotation and dating, taking deliveries, using some handpad thing (enter confused smiley here) aswell as dealing with drunk people and a thieving West Indian.. I'll get to that..
However, I turned up at 10pm, slightly nervous but sort of looking forward to dossing about for 8 hours and getting paid for it. I walked in and straight away I was doing back-breaking work carrying that around and moving this there and trolleying another thing round. Have I mentioned before? I actually do have a phobia of manual labour. I can't do it and if I have the choice, won't. I didn't have that choice though and gritted my teeth, a little too hard as I gave myself a headache, and got on with it. The night wore on.. staff and customers alike left to the comfort of their warm beds and to sleep, at night. Like normal people. However, myself and 2 others, worked on through the night, cooking, cleaning, serving the occasional insomniac/drunk customer and basically breaking our own backs. I felt reasonably OK, up until around 4am, when the tiredness hit me as suddenly as the West Indian jumped in the latest delivery van.. He didn't get away as the driver kicked him out, but that didn't stop the driver coming in and giving us a blow by blow account of his heroic acts. We ended up giving him a free large coffee just to piss off.. So, 6am came round, finally. The morning people came in, looking like Daleks on a downer. My first night shift was over. Now, to walk home. Great.
On this walk home I did a little bit of thinking. Ok, that shift was alright and I enjoyed it as much as you can enjoy being at work. My instant reaction was that I may stay at BP for a long time, however, when you are introduced to something new, you will find it interesting. However, 6 months down the line when you've been doing it constantly, you may well find it boring. So I came to the conclusion that I will not make my mind up. And just let things happen. I may well win the lottery next week, (because obviously I didn't win this week..) Also, it felt very strange walking home FROM work and looking at everyone else's grumpy faces as they GO to work. I'm going home to my warm, comfy bed, (that I haven't yet slept in because I felt it was my duty to inform my "large number" of readers of my first day ... or night...), as they drive/walk/cycle their way to work, to endure a day of boredom no doubt.
I'm a tad concerned here, because, after spending the last 3 or 4 hours being very tired, I am now fairly awake. I think the human body sees that it is dark and automatically thinks you should sleep, and makes you tired, however, when the Sun comes up, you should be getting up.. not going to sleep. This is more difficult than you can imagine. Trust me. I'm going to struggle with this. I also have a football match this evening! Where did that come from?? I'm struggling to even keep up with the days of the week at the moment. All happening very quickly..
Well, I suppose I'd better go to bed... at 07:21... Strange? Yep. But that's life from now on.
Ciao x
However, I turned up at 10pm, slightly nervous but sort of looking forward to dossing about for 8 hours and getting paid for it. I walked in and straight away I was doing back-breaking work carrying that around and moving this there and trolleying another thing round. Have I mentioned before? I actually do have a phobia of manual labour. I can't do it and if I have the choice, won't. I didn't have that choice though and gritted my teeth, a little too hard as I gave myself a headache, and got on with it. The night wore on.. staff and customers alike left to the comfort of their warm beds and to sleep, at night. Like normal people. However, myself and 2 others, worked on through the night, cooking, cleaning, serving the occasional insomniac/drunk customer and basically breaking our own backs. I felt reasonably OK, up until around 4am, when the tiredness hit me as suddenly as the West Indian jumped in the latest delivery van.. He didn't get away as the driver kicked him out, but that didn't stop the driver coming in and giving us a blow by blow account of his heroic acts. We ended up giving him a free large coffee just to piss off.. So, 6am came round, finally. The morning people came in, looking like Daleks on a downer. My first night shift was over. Now, to walk home. Great.
On this walk home I did a little bit of thinking. Ok, that shift was alright and I enjoyed it as much as you can enjoy being at work. My instant reaction was that I may stay at BP for a long time, however, when you are introduced to something new, you will find it interesting. However, 6 months down the line when you've been doing it constantly, you may well find it boring. So I came to the conclusion that I will not make my mind up. And just let things happen. I may well win the lottery next week, (because obviously I didn't win this week..) Also, it felt very strange walking home FROM work and looking at everyone else's grumpy faces as they GO to work. I'm going home to my warm, comfy bed, (that I haven't yet slept in because I felt it was my duty to inform my "large number" of readers of my first day ... or night...), as they drive/walk/cycle their way to work, to endure a day of boredom no doubt.
I'm a tad concerned here, because, after spending the last 3 or 4 hours being very tired, I am now fairly awake. I think the human body sees that it is dark and automatically thinks you should sleep, and makes you tired, however, when the Sun comes up, you should be getting up.. not going to sleep. This is more difficult than you can imagine. Trust me. I'm going to struggle with this. I also have a football match this evening! Where did that come from?? I'm struggling to even keep up with the days of the week at the moment. All happening very quickly..
Well, I suppose I'd better go to bed... at 07:21... Strange? Yep. But that's life from now on.
Ciao x
Sunday 4 April 2010
A Painful Leg
I have the most excrutiating pain in my left leg ever imaginable. Seriously, anywhere else on the body and I would be on the floor dying, but seemingly my legs can hold out for longer than most other parts of my body.. so I can stand... just.
I had my first shift today and it was busier than an Iraqi market, which may explain the very painful leg, because I was up on my feet for 8 hours solid. Shoved on the tills in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of customers flowing through the door, after seeing that Tesco and Sainsbury's was closed, heard the rumours that there was a new guy at BP and decided to make his first shift as tough as possible! That's what it feels like in my mind anyway... However, despite me being epically tired after a while and being vastly inexperienced and probably contributing to the vast queue before me, (now snaking out the door at this point... it wasn't my fault completely!) Despite this, I strangely enjoyed it.. I have no idea why as this time last night I really wasn't looking forward to it, but I felt I picked it up quite well and to be shoved in at the deep end on the "busiest trading day of the year" and to be congratulated on a good job... it's a good start!
However, now the real test begins. You see, getting a night shift job generally means... working nights.. Surprise surprise. Working a day today and then a night tomorrow means I've got to stay up a long time tonight to get the sleeping pattern, that has been as muddled as my sister's iPod headphones, (they tangle themselves up), are and if I'm honest, I could do with a kip now.. I know I can't though because I'll sleep forever and then I'll be ruined tomorrow night. I promised Swanny I'd have a net with him tomorrow aswell... I suppose it's good practice for the summer of cricket approaching. I'm not looking forward to the sleep aspect of things though.
I'm not sure what night-shifts have in offer. All the videos I've watched seem to suggest that armed robberies and thefts happen a lot although I'm fairly sure that's just for safety stuff.. It definitely won't be as busy as it was this afternoon which is a bonus and the couple of people I'm working with are a laugh aswell... so maybe it will be good? However, I thought today was gonna be rubbish but it turned out to be good, so maybe thinking vice versa isn't the way forward! My leg really is hurting now... I need some painkillers... or even better... Nurofen! Loving Nurofen!
...
Right, now I'm drugged up to the eyeballs with Nurofen and also Easter Egg, (i noticed my 2 sitting on the shelf... kitchen shelf that is..), so I've made a start on those despite being full still with the curry I had earlier, and I can feel no difference in my leg whatsoever. Give it time Mitten.. give it time..
Right, I'm going, trying desperately not to fall asleep... I've heard the phrase "Jobs a job" recently.. but mine isn't so shabby! At the moment...
Ciao x
I had my first shift today and it was busier than an Iraqi market, which may explain the very painful leg, because I was up on my feet for 8 hours solid. Shoved on the tills in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of customers flowing through the door, after seeing that Tesco and Sainsbury's was closed, heard the rumours that there was a new guy at BP and decided to make his first shift as tough as possible! That's what it feels like in my mind anyway... However, despite me being epically tired after a while and being vastly inexperienced and probably contributing to the vast queue before me, (now snaking out the door at this point... it wasn't my fault completely!) Despite this, I strangely enjoyed it.. I have no idea why as this time last night I really wasn't looking forward to it, but I felt I picked it up quite well and to be shoved in at the deep end on the "busiest trading day of the year" and to be congratulated on a good job... it's a good start!
However, now the real test begins. You see, getting a night shift job generally means... working nights.. Surprise surprise. Working a day today and then a night tomorrow means I've got to stay up a long time tonight to get the sleeping pattern, that has been as muddled as my sister's iPod headphones, (they tangle themselves up), are and if I'm honest, I could do with a kip now.. I know I can't though because I'll sleep forever and then I'll be ruined tomorrow night. I promised Swanny I'd have a net with him tomorrow aswell... I suppose it's good practice for the summer of cricket approaching. I'm not looking forward to the sleep aspect of things though.
I'm not sure what night-shifts have in offer. All the videos I've watched seem to suggest that armed robberies and thefts happen a lot although I'm fairly sure that's just for safety stuff.. It definitely won't be as busy as it was this afternoon which is a bonus and the couple of people I'm working with are a laugh aswell... so maybe it will be good? However, I thought today was gonna be rubbish but it turned out to be good, so maybe thinking vice versa isn't the way forward! My leg really is hurting now... I need some painkillers... or even better... Nurofen! Loving Nurofen!
...
Right, now I'm drugged up to the eyeballs with Nurofen and also Easter Egg, (i noticed my 2 sitting on the shelf... kitchen shelf that is..), so I've made a start on those despite being full still with the curry I had earlier, and I can feel no difference in my leg whatsoever. Give it time Mitten.. give it time..
Right, I'm going, trying desperately not to fall asleep... I've heard the phrase "Jobs a job" recently.. but mine isn't so shabby! At the moment...
Ciao x
Saturday 3 April 2010
Sans Le Chocolat
For those of you without a French disposition, basically, I don't get any. You see, after 18 years of having 2 weeks off at Easter as standard, this year I don't even get the Easter weekend off as I have to go into work to finish this god-awful laptop training course at BP. Seriously, I talked about it on the post before, however, I don't think I got the message across of how bad this course is. You see, I would rather be tortured by a North Korean government official with kerosene and rat poison while tied to a chair with spikes on the back, with live snakes, while Heart FM, (and therefore constant Jason Mraz), is on the radio at full blast.. I'm awake at 5:30am, for some absurd reason that I cannot fathom, and I start the 2nd part of this hideous training at 10am for 8 hours and I may well fall asleep by 1.. Someone please help me.
Despite this, I haven't been in the best of moods recently. This has nothing to do with the depression or work or family.. well, maybe a little bit, .. but the point is, I am just generally annoyed. I think it's the lack of money as I THINK my first pay-packet comes on the 15th May. Yes... MAY. I get paid on the 15th of each month but have to work 2 weeks in arrears. So, my 2 week "arrears" will end on the 15th April, so on the 15th April, I get what I'm earned contractually... nothing. So It dawned on me that I'm not going to have any money for 6 weeks and I will be working for 6 weeks without any money. I fear a stage of depression.
So, for the first time in a long, long time, my wish to win the lottery is unbearable. Even me, who has a "slight" gambling streak, NEVER buys a lottery ticket, because the chance of winning the jackpot is about as small as the cup of coffee I'm drinking... I don't like coffee.. However, I may well buy one this afternoon, for this evening's draw, if I haven't died of boredom, just so I have a minor chance of winning something big. If I'm to listen to Dale Winton's advice, You've gotta be in to win it!
Despite my boredom of being sat in front of a laptop all day, I hope to do something in the evening. I have nothing planned, but hopefully if you're reading this then please come up with something. Please. I may go out for a curry on Sunday, but once more, the money issue comes into play.. I have an Easter weekend full of boredom. I'm not used to it.
I'm going to go now.. I have a few iPlayer programmes to watch ... at 6.30am... What am I doing???
By the way, I'd thought I'd add a thought at the end of this post. Current time - 09:34. Ok, I was up very early this morning and those iPlayer programmes were very good, thanks for asking, however, I do feel better for myself now I'm going off to do this 8-hour course, (did I mention it was boring?) I should make a habit of getting up earlier than I need to.. I'd feel better going off to work.. I do.
Cya x
Despite this, I haven't been in the best of moods recently. This has nothing to do with the depression or work or family.. well, maybe a little bit, .. but the point is, I am just generally annoyed. I think it's the lack of money as I THINK my first pay-packet comes on the 15th May. Yes... MAY. I get paid on the 15th of each month but have to work 2 weeks in arrears. So, my 2 week "arrears" will end on the 15th April, so on the 15th April, I get what I'm earned contractually... nothing. So It dawned on me that I'm not going to have any money for 6 weeks and I will be working for 6 weeks without any money. I fear a stage of depression.
So, for the first time in a long, long time, my wish to win the lottery is unbearable. Even me, who has a "slight" gambling streak, NEVER buys a lottery ticket, because the chance of winning the jackpot is about as small as the cup of coffee I'm drinking... I don't like coffee.. However, I may well buy one this afternoon, for this evening's draw, if I haven't died of boredom, just so I have a minor chance of winning something big. If I'm to listen to Dale Winton's advice, You've gotta be in to win it!
Despite my boredom of being sat in front of a laptop all day, I hope to do something in the evening. I have nothing planned, but hopefully if you're reading this then please come up with something. Please. I may go out for a curry on Sunday, but once more, the money issue comes into play.. I have an Easter weekend full of boredom. I'm not used to it.
I'm going to go now.. I have a few iPlayer programmes to watch ... at 6.30am... What am I doing???
By the way, I'd thought I'd add a thought at the end of this post. Current time - 09:34. Ok, I was up very early this morning and those iPlayer programmes were very good, thanks for asking, however, I do feel better for myself now I'm going off to do this 8-hour course, (did I mention it was boring?) I should make a habit of getting up earlier than I need to.. I'd feel better going off to work.. I do.
Cya x
Thursday 1 April 2010
The Jokes on Me
1st April. The classic day for pranksters and jokers alike, however, the joke was on me today. It wasn't a practical joke, in fact, it wasn't a joke at all because I genuinely had to sit through 8 solid hours of slide show, presentation, cartoon and video for the first part of my training at BP. Now, I turned up expecting it to be boring, but I didn't expect to turn up having to sit in the same chair for 8 hours solid, (with only a 20 minute break at lunch), to learn trivial things like where petrol comes from and how it is transported to the pumps along with things like how to lift a box and how to read a bit of paper with some writing on..
Aswell as sitting through video after video, I had assessments to do aswell. These are only completed if you answer every single question right and if you are stupid enough to get one wrong, you have to sit through and endure the whole section again. Sections ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Only I could get a question wrong on a video section that lasted 2 hours. So I was subjected to watching the most boring video on lifting boxes, that I had already seen, for another 2 hours. I would rather have watched 'The Village'. And that's saying something. However, the 8 hours came and went, albeit at the pace of a disabled snail and I finally got to go home, with a headache and my brain frazzled by hours of health and safety regulation.. The good news is though, I'm not even halfway through yet! Oh the joys!
The people working there however, now I suppose my 'colleagues', had good fun in laughing at my misfortune, although it was in a friendly way and they helped me out if I was stuck which probably saved me another couple of hours of torture. Come 6pm, (or I think it was 6:20), my eyes were literally square and my head was fit to burst with Food Safety Acts, Petroleum Acts, Environmental Protection Acts and of course, "how to lift a heavy box". The only funny part of the day was laughing at the awful acting in the scenario videos. I doubt I will see many robbers who look like an OAP Lord Voldermort and his assistant who looked like Paddington Bear. I'm happy I've got a day off tomorrow however, before the weekend slog of finishing the dire training before starting the proper work on Monday. This means I am officially ruled out of football Sunday, (which I probably would of been anyway because of the old knee), so it's worked out OK. Just these videos.. awful..
I had the option of going out on the town this evening, however, I still have a lack of money, my head is still hurting from 8 hours of constant laptop watching and I am generally very tired so the benefits wouldn't be huge. I may well be getting an early night for once which is something that isn't very 'me'! Current time: 21:06.
Just a quick word on April Fools Day actually.. I had a couple of pranks lined up and none of them turned out to work and be successful.. 4 male friends have also announced they're going to be Fathers, which is a bit of a coincedence and I heard of a friend of mine who had pranked his Headteacher at school. That takes guts... literally... as he placed some belonging to a poor pig on the Headteacher's chair. Disgusting boy!
Right, that's me done. Yes, I am fully aware I hadn't updated for 3 days before this so for those of you who were asking, you need to find something else to do with your evenings!
Ciao x
Aswell as sitting through video after video, I had assessments to do aswell. These are only completed if you answer every single question right and if you are stupid enough to get one wrong, you have to sit through and endure the whole section again. Sections ranged from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Only I could get a question wrong on a video section that lasted 2 hours. So I was subjected to watching the most boring video on lifting boxes, that I had already seen, for another 2 hours. I would rather have watched 'The Village'. And that's saying something. However, the 8 hours came and went, albeit at the pace of a disabled snail and I finally got to go home, with a headache and my brain frazzled by hours of health and safety regulation.. The good news is though, I'm not even halfway through yet! Oh the joys!
The people working there however, now I suppose my 'colleagues', had good fun in laughing at my misfortune, although it was in a friendly way and they helped me out if I was stuck which probably saved me another couple of hours of torture. Come 6pm, (or I think it was 6:20), my eyes were literally square and my head was fit to burst with Food Safety Acts, Petroleum Acts, Environmental Protection Acts and of course, "how to lift a heavy box". The only funny part of the day was laughing at the awful acting in the scenario videos. I doubt I will see many robbers who look like an OAP Lord Voldermort and his assistant who looked like Paddington Bear. I'm happy I've got a day off tomorrow however, before the weekend slog of finishing the dire training before starting the proper work on Monday. This means I am officially ruled out of football Sunday, (which I probably would of been anyway because of the old knee), so it's worked out OK. Just these videos.. awful..
I had the option of going out on the town this evening, however, I still have a lack of money, my head is still hurting from 8 hours of constant laptop watching and I am generally very tired so the benefits wouldn't be huge. I may well be getting an early night for once which is something that isn't very 'me'! Current time: 21:06.
Just a quick word on April Fools Day actually.. I had a couple of pranks lined up and none of them turned out to work and be successful.. 4 male friends have also announced they're going to be Fathers, which is a bit of a coincedence and I heard of a friend of mine who had pranked his Headteacher at school. That takes guts... literally... as he placed some belonging to a poor pig on the Headteacher's chair. Disgusting boy!
Right, that's me done. Yes, I am fully aware I hadn't updated for 3 days before this so for those of you who were asking, you need to find something else to do with your evenings!
Ciao x
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