I might aswell be sleeping in the Sahara... It is stupidly hot to sleep so I decided to get up and sit in bed with my laptop on my legs, making me even hotter! Great thinking from me to be honest!
My room never has been very cool. In the summer, it gets mind-destroyingly hot and in the winter it can be described as "a bit balmy", but only if you have the radiator on full blast. Tonight however, is closer to the mind frazzingly warm stage and even with a fan, that is pretty much blowing warm air into my face, it is impossible to get to sleep. The window is thrown wide open, attempting to invite the air that has probably gone on vacation to Mars into my room and all I have to keep cool is a half-broken fan blowing more hot air.. The time is 04:58, and frankly I'm tired. My 17 hours of last night means I was on a relatively comfortable sleeping pattern but now it's all ruined. Thanks to GLOBAL BLOODY WARMING!
Not as if I have anything to get up for though.. My first event of the day comes in the shape of a cup quarter-final for Aspen which is fairly huge and I may end up going on my first of 2 consecutive nights out seeing as it's AK's birthday.. Otherwise, I'm going to be sleeping, unless the Sun comes through my window, which, given the temperature, is a distinct possibility..
I'm a bit nervous about cricket tomorrow. The only reason I'm in the team is pretty much my catching ability which seems to give everyone a huge lift when I take a flying one-hander, otherwise I don't do a lot, unless you count gathering money at the end, so I'm surprised I'm that popular! I also have games on Saturday and Sunday so another tiresome weekend coming up! Yep, you did read that right, I am playing on Saturday.. I gave in to the new captain's persuasions as he was claiming he "needed the experience". If I'm "experienced" then we must have the youngest team in living history ... same as usual then.. Hopefully another win on Sunday. We've got Flitwick at home and I got a decent score against them earlier in the season so hopefully I can emulate that!
One thing I haven't spoken about a lot is hayfever. I am a major sufferer, all the consequences of a grass fight I had 8 years ago.. We had a fight when the grass had just been mowed and clearly Mother Mitten thought I had been in a proper fight, maybe with Lennox Lewis, as my eyes were all puffed up and I was crying like a baby.. Ever since then, every summer, I've been drugged up to the eyeballs with Clarityn tablets, nasal spray and eye drops aswell as having a nosebleed every other day and bleeding all over the house.. I had a nosebleed on the 8th tee today but luckily I had my muddy club cleaning towel to help me..! After I recovered, I went and sliced it right on to the 10th green, a hole I nearly went on to eagle!
Also, I'm running out of money... I next get paid on the 15th July... that date rings a bell, what's happening then...?
Cya x
Wednesday 30 June 2010
Meeting A Legend
Before I start .. a 3rd apology. The song 'The Universal' by Blur is not in the Lloyds TSB advert either! It is in fact in the British Gas advert and I have triple checked to make sure it is.. I don't want to be humiliated again...
Yesterday was a good day. I was incredibly tired even before we set off but to hell with it, I enjoy driving and the sun was blazing so I went on my way with that packet of Pro Plus. It had kicked in a bit by that stage but I needed 7 more tablets throughout the day to keep me awake. It took us a fair while to get to Lord's aswell with a fair bit of expected traffic in London and then parking in completely the wrong place.. so another 40 minute walk on top of that! We were an hour and a half late and missed Bedford School's winning fielding performance in their semi-final. They won their semi-final fairly comfortably but were then slaughtered in the final by a team from a place I had never heard of.. It was a good day and the weather was just glorious. So much so I even got the guns out for a part of it. Then put them away again as I realised I was blocking the cricket with them. Apologies guys.
Still, the cricket on show outside was quality, but nothing could match the cricket on show inside.. A short way into the 2nd semi-final, played out by teams I had never heard of, I overheard someone say Monty Panesar was having a net inside with the one and only, Sachin Tendulkar. Now for those of you who don't follow cricket, Sachin Tendulkar is definitely the best batsman playing the game at the moment and quite possibly the best batsman to have ever lived. A huge celebrity, especially in his home country of India, watching Tendulkar batting was something I would never get the chance to see close-up again. I went inside with the others and we were greeted by a fair few people, in complete silence, watching Monty Panesar bowl at Sachin's son, (who was an amazing batsman, just like his Father), and then watched as Sachin pulled on his pads, pulled out a beast of a bat, and started batting against the bowling machine. Everything was perfect. I was standing on the other side of the net, in absolute awe. He's only a small man but he was very strong. Not that he needed to be because every shot was coming out of the middle. Everyone in awe, in complete silence, watching the Little Master at work.
When they had finished, everyone clambered around the entrance to the nets wanting to get an autograph. Somewhat strangely, no one was bothered about Monty Panesar, the Sussex and England 'A' bowler, as everyone made a circle around the entrance. TB wanted to get a photo with him but I was thinking our chances were very limited. He signed a few autographs and I thought, "lets just ask him.." ... "Any chance of a photo Sachin?" Before I knew it, I was standing next to the legend himself. Absolutely amazing. I've had a few photographs with celebrities and met a few, but this is my best. Definitely. 28th June 2010. The day I met Sachin Tendulkar.
We went back out, shaking from the buzz of it all, and went to watch the final. Bedford School were obliterated and I started to feel overly tired. Phil Tufnell and Nasser Hussain, two ex-England players walked past and I said "Alright Tuffers!" before being greeted with a strange look.. I don't blame him.. He's not as kind as Sachin clearly.. When we eventually got back to the car, found it, then paid the ridiculous price of £17 to some attendant, we started to drive home. My eyes were incredibly weary but I felt OK, until we got to the motorway. The 32 miles of monotonous road. Throughout those 32 miles, I think I fell asleep twice and the invention of the rumble strips saved us. I had had my limit of Pro Plus and seeing as I'd never taken it before, I didn't really want more.. We did make it though. We didn't die, obviously, and when I got home I went straight up the stairs and collapsed on my bed.
Before I went to sleep though, for what ended up being 17 hours, I smiled to myself. I've just met Sachin Tendulkar today. Today has been a good day.
Laters x
Yesterday was a good day. I was incredibly tired even before we set off but to hell with it, I enjoy driving and the sun was blazing so I went on my way with that packet of Pro Plus. It had kicked in a bit by that stage but I needed 7 more tablets throughout the day to keep me awake. It took us a fair while to get to Lord's aswell with a fair bit of expected traffic in London and then parking in completely the wrong place.. so another 40 minute walk on top of that! We were an hour and a half late and missed Bedford School's winning fielding performance in their semi-final. They won their semi-final fairly comfortably but were then slaughtered in the final by a team from a place I had never heard of.. It was a good day and the weather was just glorious. So much so I even got the guns out for a part of it. Then put them away again as I realised I was blocking the cricket with them. Apologies guys.
Still, the cricket on show outside was quality, but nothing could match the cricket on show inside.. A short way into the 2nd semi-final, played out by teams I had never heard of, I overheard someone say Monty Panesar was having a net inside with the one and only, Sachin Tendulkar. Now for those of you who don't follow cricket, Sachin Tendulkar is definitely the best batsman playing the game at the moment and quite possibly the best batsman to have ever lived. A huge celebrity, especially in his home country of India, watching Tendulkar batting was something I would never get the chance to see close-up again. I went inside with the others and we were greeted by a fair few people, in complete silence, watching Monty Panesar bowl at Sachin's son, (who was an amazing batsman, just like his Father), and then watched as Sachin pulled on his pads, pulled out a beast of a bat, and started batting against the bowling machine. Everything was perfect. I was standing on the other side of the net, in absolute awe. He's only a small man but he was very strong. Not that he needed to be because every shot was coming out of the middle. Everyone in awe, in complete silence, watching the Little Master at work.
When they had finished, everyone clambered around the entrance to the nets wanting to get an autograph. Somewhat strangely, no one was bothered about Monty Panesar, the Sussex and England 'A' bowler, as everyone made a circle around the entrance. TB wanted to get a photo with him but I was thinking our chances were very limited. He signed a few autographs and I thought, "lets just ask him.." ... "Any chance of a photo Sachin?" Before I knew it, I was standing next to the legend himself. Absolutely amazing. I've had a few photographs with celebrities and met a few, but this is my best. Definitely. 28th June 2010. The day I met Sachin Tendulkar.
We went back out, shaking from the buzz of it all, and went to watch the final. Bedford School were obliterated and I started to feel overly tired. Phil Tufnell and Nasser Hussain, two ex-England players walked past and I said "Alright Tuffers!" before being greeted with a strange look.. I don't blame him.. He's not as kind as Sachin clearly.. When we eventually got back to the car, found it, then paid the ridiculous price of £17 to some attendant, we started to drive home. My eyes were incredibly weary but I felt OK, until we got to the motorway. The 32 miles of monotonous road. Throughout those 32 miles, I think I fell asleep twice and the invention of the rumble strips saved us. I had had my limit of Pro Plus and seeing as I'd never taken it before, I didn't really want more.. We did make it though. We didn't die, obviously, and when I got home I went straight up the stairs and collapsed on my bed.
Before I went to sleep though, for what ended up being 17 hours, I smiled to myself. I've just met Sachin Tendulkar today. Today has been a good day.
Laters x
Monday 28 June 2010
Sleep Please
I am so tired. Worked Friday night, had 5 hours sleep and then went to play golf with Angry Kid, played rubbish up until the 13th when I finally found my game, but the damage had been done. I got back at half 7, went to work at 10 till 6am, as usual... Very busy shift that Saturday night but for once The Wall seemed up to the task and everything seemed so much easier.. Yep, I am praising him. First time for everything.
Still, I didn't get out of work till 7.20am and I didn't get to sleep till 8am and only had 3 hours sleep before I had to get up for cricket in Hitchin, 40 minutes journey away. We won, narrowly, I was too tired to perform quite well and I was more bothered about England when, in hindsight, I shouldn't have bothered. Everyone can blame the linesman and yes, it was a shocking decision by the officials, but regardless, we'd have still got smashed. Everyone knows it. We won the cricket by 20 runs, I think..., and got back home at half 8. Went to work, usual shift but incredibly busy for a Sunday night and now I am home.. Yes.. I can go to sleep.. Or...?
No. In fact, I have agreed to take the kids to Lord's Cricket Ground for a Twenty20 finals day of some sort so in a couple of hours we embark on that journey. I know if I go to sleep, I will not want to wake up and I will feel worse.. So Pro Plus it is. It's strong stuff but I took my first 2 tablets of the day 30 minutes ago and I feel no more awake. How I'm going to drive to London without falling asleep, only God knows. Chrisy, put your seatbelt on! I'm half regretting choosing to go to this as I know by the end of it I will be on the floor but half of me reckons it will be a good day out, especially if we don't crash, and quite frankly, sleep is for the weak.
Before I go any further a couple of apologies. 1) Sorry for the amount of commas in this post. A short pause takes a short amount of time to complete but a lot of them, and they mount up. I appreciate that this wastes valuable time and for that, I apologise. Damn it! And 2) I do believe the song I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Blur - The Universal, is indeed from the Lloyds TSB advert, and not HSBC.. They're all made up of just letters anyway..
Back on track, I would like to talk about my cricket performance today. We batted first on a fairly dodgy but hard pitch and they had a quick and accurate opening bowler. However, even though I haven't batted all week, I was middling everything. Ok, they were only defensive shots, but I felt so comfortable, I was disappointed to be bowled for 17. An absolute beauty jagged back at me and cleaned me up.. The best 17 I've ever had.. We won though, I fielded appallingly but didn't get any opportunites for a catch, but a win is the most important thing and we keep our 100% record! Fantastic!
Ahh, I'm going to die by the end of the day.. I can't keep up with the japory and antics of the kids at the best of times, but I'm gonna be well behind their honking and llamas today.. I know, it's just pure ridiculousness! Hopefully, Pro Plus can be my saviour!!
Cya x
Still, I didn't get out of work till 7.20am and I didn't get to sleep till 8am and only had 3 hours sleep before I had to get up for cricket in Hitchin, 40 minutes journey away. We won, narrowly, I was too tired to perform quite well and I was more bothered about England when, in hindsight, I shouldn't have bothered. Everyone can blame the linesman and yes, it was a shocking decision by the officials, but regardless, we'd have still got smashed. Everyone knows it. We won the cricket by 20 runs, I think..., and got back home at half 8. Went to work, usual shift but incredibly busy for a Sunday night and now I am home.. Yes.. I can go to sleep.. Or...?
No. In fact, I have agreed to take the kids to Lord's Cricket Ground for a Twenty20 finals day of some sort so in a couple of hours we embark on that journey. I know if I go to sleep, I will not want to wake up and I will feel worse.. So Pro Plus it is. It's strong stuff but I took my first 2 tablets of the day 30 minutes ago and I feel no more awake. How I'm going to drive to London without falling asleep, only God knows. Chrisy, put your seatbelt on! I'm half regretting choosing to go to this as I know by the end of it I will be on the floor but half of me reckons it will be a good day out, especially if we don't crash, and quite frankly, sleep is for the weak.
Before I go any further a couple of apologies. 1) Sorry for the amount of commas in this post. A short pause takes a short amount of time to complete but a lot of them, and they mount up. I appreciate that this wastes valuable time and for that, I apologise. Damn it! And 2) I do believe the song I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Blur - The Universal, is indeed from the Lloyds TSB advert, and not HSBC.. They're all made up of just letters anyway..
Back on track, I would like to talk about my cricket performance today. We batted first on a fairly dodgy but hard pitch and they had a quick and accurate opening bowler. However, even though I haven't batted all week, I was middling everything. Ok, they were only defensive shots, but I felt so comfortable, I was disappointed to be bowled for 17. An absolute beauty jagged back at me and cleaned me up.. The best 17 I've ever had.. We won though, I fielded appallingly but didn't get any opportunites for a catch, but a win is the most important thing and we keep our 100% record! Fantastic!
Ahh, I'm going to die by the end of the day.. I can't keep up with the japory and antics of the kids at the best of times, but I'm gonna be well behind their honking and llamas today.. I know, it's just pure ridiculousness! Hopefully, Pro Plus can be my saviour!!
Cya x
Saturday 26 June 2010
A Light In The Horizon
I've just realised the song from the HSBC adverts... The Universal by Blur! Fantaaaaastic!
Tonight was awful. Nothing stupidly bad happened, it was just incredibly long and busy which is the worst combination in retail. The Wall was his usual slow self and things nearly got slightly too much.. I hold on however, due to a conversation I had, admittedly 45 minutes after I was due to leave..
You see, the store manager was the manager of choice for the morning so he took forever to show us through our faults, (or show The Wall his faults), and so by the time it was eventually time to leave, nearest makes no difference, 7pm, The Wall ran off. My opportunity had come. For the whole night I had deliberated having a serious word with the Store Manager about this guy and I am very happy to report that I plucked up the courage. You must all understand that this is a large step for me. The old me would have bottled it up and got on with it, but I am proud to have plucked up the courage to seriously discuss this with the Boss. "Can I have a word please, Chris" , "Certainly."
I was already 45 minutes late leaving, but at this moment I didn't care. Chris locked the door and I sat down, business like. For 25 minutes we discussed the problems and the potential consequences and although I didn't hear exactly what I wanted to hear, I heard a very bright response and an understanding one. This is the best response I could of got. He said not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear and he also mentioned that he regretted employing him and that he had failed his probation period, whereas I had passed. He has 3 months to prove that he has learnt, and if he hasn't, then his time is up. That is the impression I got, although it wasn't spelt out for me, and this is a good step. Maybe I will be rid of him soon..
He also said something else. Something that I really wasn't expecting to hear. Towards the end of this conversation he said he was "proud of my mental strength and resolve in this very difficult situation". Me? Mentally weak and frail me, praised for the complete opposite. I realised at that moment that I may well have changed for good. Leaving behind the depression days and the times I bottled up before exploding, almost like yesterday's Lucozade. Letting loose my frustrations by talking to people about it... Instead of writing it in some blog and snapping after it all gets too much... I'm very happy I plucked up the courage to talk to him..
It doesn't change the fact that tonight is probably going to be more of the same, if not, busier, but one thing I do know, is that I have the management on my side. And he's not lasting very long..
Other news, I'm playing golf later with AK, Colin and Mario which is a good warm-up for Sussex and it's due to be another day of Mediterranean weather which equals fantastic times! Admittedly back to running into the wall in the evening but, tonight, I took my first steps to running straight through it.
Cya x
Tonight was awful. Nothing stupidly bad happened, it was just incredibly long and busy which is the worst combination in retail. The Wall was his usual slow self and things nearly got slightly too much.. I hold on however, due to a conversation I had, admittedly 45 minutes after I was due to leave..
You see, the store manager was the manager of choice for the morning so he took forever to show us through our faults, (or show The Wall his faults), and so by the time it was eventually time to leave, nearest makes no difference, 7pm, The Wall ran off. My opportunity had come. For the whole night I had deliberated having a serious word with the Store Manager about this guy and I am very happy to report that I plucked up the courage. You must all understand that this is a large step for me. The old me would have bottled it up and got on with it, but I am proud to have plucked up the courage to seriously discuss this with the Boss. "Can I have a word please, Chris" , "Certainly."
I was already 45 minutes late leaving, but at this moment I didn't care. Chris locked the door and I sat down, business like. For 25 minutes we discussed the problems and the potential consequences and although I didn't hear exactly what I wanted to hear, I heard a very bright response and an understanding one. This is the best response I could of got. He said not what I wanted to hear, but what I needed to hear and he also mentioned that he regretted employing him and that he had failed his probation period, whereas I had passed. He has 3 months to prove that he has learnt, and if he hasn't, then his time is up. That is the impression I got, although it wasn't spelt out for me, and this is a good step. Maybe I will be rid of him soon..
He also said something else. Something that I really wasn't expecting to hear. Towards the end of this conversation he said he was "proud of my mental strength and resolve in this very difficult situation". Me? Mentally weak and frail me, praised for the complete opposite. I realised at that moment that I may well have changed for good. Leaving behind the depression days and the times I bottled up before exploding, almost like yesterday's Lucozade. Letting loose my frustrations by talking to people about it... Instead of writing it in some blog and snapping after it all gets too much... I'm very happy I plucked up the courage to talk to him..
It doesn't change the fact that tonight is probably going to be more of the same, if not, busier, but one thing I do know, is that I have the management on my side. And he's not lasting very long..
Other news, I'm playing golf later with AK, Colin and Mario which is a good warm-up for Sussex and it's due to be another day of Mediterranean weather which equals fantastic times! Admittedly back to running into the wall in the evening but, tonight, I took my first steps to running straight through it.
Cya x
Friday 25 June 2010
Pop Goes the Pop
Tonight was fairly good actually. Everything went swimmingly despite that feeling you sometimes get in the pit of your stomach that something will go wrong. Last time that happened, everything went wrong so I was glad there wasn't a repeat performance.. Today has probably been as average as Joe, so not a huge amount to let you all know about... Unless you count the story of Pump 1 and the Exploding Lucozade Bottle..
You see, there was this man. He had a Hi-Vi on, in broad daylight, and he wanted some petrol. Apparently people go to petrol stations to get some petrol.. Anyway, Pump 1 was being wierd and he waited for 10 minutes until he realised there was no petrol coming so moved tanks. After eventually filling up, he came into the shop, had a little go at me for not being a Fuel Engineer, (I'm used to it), and picked up a lucozade bottle and came to pay. By this time, there was a short queue, about 3 or 4 people and by the time he got to the front, his bottle of lucozade had literally exploded. I mean, out of nowhere, literally exploded. There was no more bottle and the orange contents were now all over this poor man's orange Hi-Vi jacket.. Not deterred by the fact that a bottle of fizzy stuff had internally combusted all over him, he went to get another one and then tripped over his own foot.. Oh yeah, then his card failed on him and he had to pay by cash that was "supposed to be for the Boss.." I can only imagine how his day has been so far.. I'll probably read a story in next week's Times&Citizen that he has been eaten by a tiger addicted to Lucozade... Dear me..
*An Error bar has appeared at the top of my page.. I hope it doesn't delete this post because quite frankly, I'm just getting warmed up!*
However, I don't care if other people are having a bad day, because as long as I'm not, I'm happy. I nearly drove home with the BP Safe key in my pocket, but otherwise I really don't have any complaints about tonight. It really is a first for me but I can promise normal service will definitely be resumed tomorrow as I run into The Wall for the first time in 5 days.. He will be rusty as he had his 4 days off, so he will be slower than usual and most probably more annoying.. Still, I've got things to look forward to on Saturday and cricket on Sunday, (I consequently miss England beating the Nazis), and I am 6 down, 3 to go.. So near..
"And then it goes back."
Bye x
You see, there was this man. He had a Hi-Vi on, in broad daylight, and he wanted some petrol. Apparently people go to petrol stations to get some petrol.. Anyway, Pump 1 was being wierd and he waited for 10 minutes until he realised there was no petrol coming so moved tanks. After eventually filling up, he came into the shop, had a little go at me for not being a Fuel Engineer, (I'm used to it), and picked up a lucozade bottle and came to pay. By this time, there was a short queue, about 3 or 4 people and by the time he got to the front, his bottle of lucozade had literally exploded. I mean, out of nowhere, literally exploded. There was no more bottle and the orange contents were now all over this poor man's orange Hi-Vi jacket.. Not deterred by the fact that a bottle of fizzy stuff had internally combusted all over him, he went to get another one and then tripped over his own foot.. Oh yeah, then his card failed on him and he had to pay by cash that was "supposed to be for the Boss.." I can only imagine how his day has been so far.. I'll probably read a story in next week's Times&Citizen that he has been eaten by a tiger addicted to Lucozade... Dear me..
*An Error bar has appeared at the top of my page.. I hope it doesn't delete this post because quite frankly, I'm just getting warmed up!*
However, I don't care if other people are having a bad day, because as long as I'm not, I'm happy. I nearly drove home with the BP Safe key in my pocket, but otherwise I really don't have any complaints about tonight. It really is a first for me but I can promise normal service will definitely be resumed tomorrow as I run into The Wall for the first time in 5 days.. He will be rusty as he had his 4 days off, so he will be slower than usual and most probably more annoying.. Still, I've got things to look forward to on Saturday and cricket on Sunday, (I consequently miss England beating the Nazis), and I am 6 down, 3 to go.. So near..
"And then it goes back."
Bye x
Thursday 24 June 2010
The Merry Chef
I always think of ideas to write in blogs whilst at work, because I clearly have nothing better to think about, but I really should write them down because when it comes to this part, the typing up of it, the plans disapparate like a wizard... Still, there is one part of it I remember and that is the new oven... Oh come on! I can't help being boring!
Yeah, there is a new oven and yeah it does mean more work and yet another re-vamp to how we do things just as I was getting used to the old new regime ... but I suppose it keeps us on our toes. Tonight was all good because I was working one of my 2 nights with a competent person but when it comes to hitting The Wall, things will be a host more different. This new oven takes up a ridiculous amount of room and has a mind of it's own and won't stop bleeping or beeping or wailing just because I need to cook a few muffins. Seriously, who on God's Green Earth would want a Bacon and Bean Muffin? How nasty does that sound... I would rather eat a Discharge and Snot Wrap.. Ok, I wouldnt..
That is the one part of my job I dislike. The bakery part. It means baking and cooking and using tongs and I don't see myself as a Gordon Ramsey even if I don't have to make things from scratch and I only have to press a few buttons. At 5am, when you're very tired from the 7 preceding hours, I have 4 things on the go at once plus a large number of grumpy customers who are just about to start their days... Obviously, The Wall is off galivanting around the store doing nothing, avoiding mopping, blaming his bad back... Don't get me started.. Still, it's tough and tiring. Does make me fitter though.
5 down, 4 to go... Please Monday morning. Please come now. Please.
Cya x
Yeah, there is a new oven and yeah it does mean more work and yet another re-vamp to how we do things just as I was getting used to the old new regime ... but I suppose it keeps us on our toes. Tonight was all good because I was working one of my 2 nights with a competent person but when it comes to hitting The Wall, things will be a host more different. This new oven takes up a ridiculous amount of room and has a mind of it's own and won't stop bleeping or beeping or wailing just because I need to cook a few muffins. Seriously, who on God's Green Earth would want a Bacon and Bean Muffin? How nasty does that sound... I would rather eat a Discharge and Snot Wrap.. Ok, I wouldnt..
That is the one part of my job I dislike. The bakery part. It means baking and cooking and using tongs and I don't see myself as a Gordon Ramsey even if I don't have to make things from scratch and I only have to press a few buttons. At 5am, when you're very tired from the 7 preceding hours, I have 4 things on the go at once plus a large number of grumpy customers who are just about to start their days... Obviously, The Wall is off galivanting around the store doing nothing, avoiding mopping, blaming his bad back... Don't get me started.. Still, it's tough and tiring. Does make me fitter though.
5 down, 4 to go... Please Monday morning. Please come now. Please.
Cya x
Tuesday 22 June 2010
You're Round
That cup final win a few months back was something special, and so was the after-match party, for very different reasons, but since then I have literally only had one bottle of Corona, (which was last Thursday), and that's it. I'm not a massive drinker. In fact, I hardly drink at all if I have no intention of getting ruined, (or Mittoed), so I don't bother. Since that amazing / frightful day however, I simply haven't been able to stomach it. Not even a single shot. I am probably now as much of a lightweight since I was when I first turned 18, which is half good, half bad and part of me does want to go out and get ruined... Work restricts me however..
I do feel slightly isolated from the world at the moment. I sleep when everyone is awake and work when everyone is asleep and it sometimes makes me feel lonely.. I don't have anyone to talk to during the nights, (except the 4 walls + another wall). I miss the times when I could go out at the weekend, like a normal teenager, instead of serving them cigarettes at 3 in the morning and I miss the socialising part of being my age. Deeply. I hear stories of silly times, ridiculous times and downright dangerous times and I think to myself, "I was probably at work" and then feel more lonely... I know, it sounds stupid.
All the memories of jumping over the bush only to find that you were nearly impaled by the rusty old fence that lay on the other side, or running in the middle of the road to abuse a cabbie or even being horribly sick outside Hot n Spice, (glad to announce I'm no longer banned...), I miss those days a lot. Except the sick one... I was glad when that finished.. So many memories I can't possibly list all of them. Have I mentioned I miss them?
Maybe it's time to grow up but there is still a little bit of Mitten that wants to have a party occasionally. I haven't been able to do that recently and frankly, work is rubbish and boring when all you want to do is party..
Laters x
I do feel slightly isolated from the world at the moment. I sleep when everyone is awake and work when everyone is asleep and it sometimes makes me feel lonely.. I don't have anyone to talk to during the nights, (except the 4 walls + another wall). I miss the times when I could go out at the weekend, like a normal teenager, instead of serving them cigarettes at 3 in the morning and I miss the socialising part of being my age. Deeply. I hear stories of silly times, ridiculous times and downright dangerous times and I think to myself, "I was probably at work" and then feel more lonely... I know, it sounds stupid.
All the memories of jumping over the bush only to find that you were nearly impaled by the rusty old fence that lay on the other side, or running in the middle of the road to abuse a cabbie or even being horribly sick outside Hot n Spice, (glad to announce I'm no longer banned...), I miss those days a lot. Except the sick one... I was glad when that finished.. So many memories I can't possibly list all of them. Have I mentioned I miss them?
Maybe it's time to grow up but there is still a little bit of Mitten that wants to have a party occasionally. I haven't been able to do that recently and frankly, work is rubbish and boring when all you want to do is party..
Laters x
Monday 21 June 2010
It Takes Skill
It takes skill to design a car from scratch. It takes skill to be a Premier League striker or win the Golden Boot at the World Cup. It takes skill to build a robot or a computer or build a business up from scratch. It even takes skill to be a carpenter or a plumber and it also takes skill to PISS ME RIGHT OFF!
That's right. I'm annoyed and there is only one person to blame. Given that most of my recent posts have been about this human abomination, you already know who it is.
Seriously, he is now topping my, nicely short list, of people I absolutely hate. There are only 2 others and those are a certain blond-haired cricketer who is the smuggest and cockiest person on the planet, who also attempted to break my leg playing football last season and also my ex-boss who refused to pay me money I had earned. How he can top a list ahead of those 2 I do not know, but he does. Aswell as being annoying, slow and all the other things I listed in my last post, you can also add "Bloody Well Patronising".
"Can you waste this for me through the till, do you know how to do that?" Of course I bloody well do, I do it every bloomin' day you ridiculous ape! I'm the one that has to tell you how to give a refund and swipe a gift card even though you have been here for longer than me! "Can you go and mop the floor because I have a bad back". What absolute bollocks! I didn't and he was the one that got slated for it in the morning, and rightly so. I can't wait to see the back of him and frankly I'd rather work with Jose Mourinho or Daffy Duck.
Added to my disgust, I've got to go to work again at 2. Only 4 hours, but I'm going to be in a foul mood later. When I accepted the overtime I saw it as an opportunity to gain more money for the holiday which is in roughly 3 weeks, (wow!), but now, I see it as an opportunity to gain sleep lost. I need a mocha. Sigh...
Still, I've got a mini-reunion curry to look forward to and then a round of golf tomorrow with 'The Angry Leg Spinner'. Things to look forward to.. They seem so far away.. I cannot believe I've got to wake up at 12:45 for something that isn't cricket. I'm going to struggle big time.. Help meeeee!
Cya x
That's right. I'm annoyed and there is only one person to blame. Given that most of my recent posts have been about this human abomination, you already know who it is.
Seriously, he is now topping my, nicely short list, of people I absolutely hate. There are only 2 others and those are a certain blond-haired cricketer who is the smuggest and cockiest person on the planet, who also attempted to break my leg playing football last season and also my ex-boss who refused to pay me money I had earned. How he can top a list ahead of those 2 I do not know, but he does. Aswell as being annoying, slow and all the other things I listed in my last post, you can also add "Bloody Well Patronising".
"Can you waste this for me through the till, do you know how to do that?" Of course I bloody well do, I do it every bloomin' day you ridiculous ape! I'm the one that has to tell you how to give a refund and swipe a gift card even though you have been here for longer than me! "Can you go and mop the floor because I have a bad back". What absolute bollocks! I didn't and he was the one that got slated for it in the morning, and rightly so. I can't wait to see the back of him and frankly I'd rather work with Jose Mourinho or Daffy Duck.
Added to my disgust, I've got to go to work again at 2. Only 4 hours, but I'm going to be in a foul mood later. When I accepted the overtime I saw it as an opportunity to gain more money for the holiday which is in roughly 3 weeks, (wow!), but now, I see it as an opportunity to gain sleep lost. I need a mocha. Sigh...
Still, I've got a mini-reunion curry to look forward to and then a round of golf tomorrow with 'The Angry Leg Spinner'. Things to look forward to.. They seem so far away.. I cannot believe I've got to wake up at 12:45 for something that isn't cricket. I'm going to struggle big time.. Help meeeee!
Cya x
Saturday 19 June 2010
When I Get Older, I Will Be Stronger
And everybody will be singin' yeahhhh..
I had a strange feeling my good mood wouldn't last for more than a day. I was very right. Work was an absolute bitch and for the first time .. ever.. the jobs that were not done tonight that were supposed to be were blamed on me, because of.. him. I find it highly unfair but I kept telling myself, "just agree with it, do the jobs and go home.. Just do it, don't complain". It was hard and once again I had to bite my tongue real tough to not openly lose my temper with The Wall, but once again I remembered the time I did lose my temper with another human being and the consequences it led to and once again, I bottled it up... I don't wish to sound brash, but I do not want to be the person facing me when I snap. And I will snap. A month, a year, a decade ... I will.. some time..
Still, 1 down ... errr.. 7 to go..? Ah man, I'm not liking this already. I have to use techniques to get me through shifts like imagining driving home at 6.15am every morning and invisaging the pay slip coming through the door with a large amount of money on it and the holiday we have booked for mid-July. Just happy things to keep me going and get me through the hours. It's hard though, almost too hard..
My Dad said something today. I got home from my appraisal. My probation period is over now at work and I get a 9p pay rise. Woopee! However, I got home and Father Mitten asked about it. I told him it wasn't a very drawn out process and it was just signing a couple of forms. He then said he was proud of me. Proud? The son who had caused a whole host of problems over the last 2 years and his Father is still proud.. It knocked the wind out of me... He doesn't say that very often.. He admitted he didn't think I'd last this long working nights, he thought I didn't have the bottle. And he was proud that I had. Proud. It's a strong word. Proud.
My mood, which then was happy, went fast downhill from then on, watching England play out a frustrating goalless draw against minnows Algeria and then going to work. Seriously guys, I've spoken to most of you a fair bit about this guy, and most of you are probably thinking I overreact, but when you spend half of your week in the company of this man, this awful, childish, patronising, boring and useless man, you have no choice but to hate him. And I mean hate. Hate is also a strong word, but I honestly, have never disliked someone as much as I dislike this person. Honestly. My determination to not give up however is stronger than anything I have ever done. I am not going to give up because of some invalid who can't do anything properly. He called in sick yesterday, (I wasn't working), because of a bad back. Seriously? A bad back? My Dad goes to work for 50 hours a week with osteo-arthritis which is a constant and very painful back and hip condition and this moron can't handle 8 hours because of an itch.. Seriously, this guy needs a fuckin' kick up the jacksie..!
Incidentally, the osteo-arthritis is hereditary, I may have mentioned it before, so I am destined for a life of painful joints and broken backs.. Oh, the joys.
Time to look on the bright side. I have cricket later this afternoon. My last as captain and at The Bury, which is a fantastic place to play, and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I can get a good innings before I have to go back to work. And run into The Wall again..
Cya x
I had a strange feeling my good mood wouldn't last for more than a day. I was very right. Work was an absolute bitch and for the first time .. ever.. the jobs that were not done tonight that were supposed to be were blamed on me, because of.. him. I find it highly unfair but I kept telling myself, "just agree with it, do the jobs and go home.. Just do it, don't complain". It was hard and once again I had to bite my tongue real tough to not openly lose my temper with The Wall, but once again I remembered the time I did lose my temper with another human being and the consequences it led to and once again, I bottled it up... I don't wish to sound brash, but I do not want to be the person facing me when I snap. And I will snap. A month, a year, a decade ... I will.. some time..
Still, 1 down ... errr.. 7 to go..? Ah man, I'm not liking this already. I have to use techniques to get me through shifts like imagining driving home at 6.15am every morning and invisaging the pay slip coming through the door with a large amount of money on it and the holiday we have booked for mid-July. Just happy things to keep me going and get me through the hours. It's hard though, almost too hard..
My Dad said something today. I got home from my appraisal. My probation period is over now at work and I get a 9p pay rise. Woopee! However, I got home and Father Mitten asked about it. I told him it wasn't a very drawn out process and it was just signing a couple of forms. He then said he was proud of me. Proud? The son who had caused a whole host of problems over the last 2 years and his Father is still proud.. It knocked the wind out of me... He doesn't say that very often.. He admitted he didn't think I'd last this long working nights, he thought I didn't have the bottle. And he was proud that I had. Proud. It's a strong word. Proud.
My mood, which then was happy, went fast downhill from then on, watching England play out a frustrating goalless draw against minnows Algeria and then going to work. Seriously guys, I've spoken to most of you a fair bit about this guy, and most of you are probably thinking I overreact, but when you spend half of your week in the company of this man, this awful, childish, patronising, boring and useless man, you have no choice but to hate him. And I mean hate. Hate is also a strong word, but I honestly, have never disliked someone as much as I dislike this person. Honestly. My determination to not give up however is stronger than anything I have ever done. I am not going to give up because of some invalid who can't do anything properly. He called in sick yesterday, (I wasn't working), because of a bad back. Seriously? A bad back? My Dad goes to work for 50 hours a week with osteo-arthritis which is a constant and very painful back and hip condition and this moron can't handle 8 hours because of an itch.. Seriously, this guy needs a fuckin' kick up the jacksie..!
Incidentally, the osteo-arthritis is hereditary, I may have mentioned it before, so I am destined for a life of painful joints and broken backs.. Oh, the joys.
Time to look on the bright side. I have cricket later this afternoon. My last as captain and at The Bury, which is a fantastic place to play, and I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully I can get a good innings before I have to go back to work. And run into The Wall again..
Cya x
Thursday 17 June 2010
The Perfect Week
I am on such a high right now. Frankly, I shouldn't be, because it's coming to the end of my week off and I know I have to work 8 of the next 9 days and I'm going to be a bit down about that, but seriously, I have had possibly the best 4 days of my life, definitely capped by a truly great day today. It hasn't been epic. Nothing amazing or out of the ordinary has happened to make it spectacular. It has just been a day of confirmation. Confirmation that my life really isn't that bad and I do have friends out there who just want to have a laugh. And for me, there is no better feeling.
The week so far has been great. Playing golf and cricket in the sun with a few people back from university and going to the pub with my best mates. For me, there is nothing better. The things I enjoy doing all in succession with no hold up, and nothing to worry about except who's gonna get the next round in. Pure bliss. I played useless at golf earlier in the week, playing 9 holes under the setting sun with Colin and Beddoe, and despite not being able to see where the ball went because the Sun was so low, it was absolutely fantastic. Going for a curry afterwards at my favourite restaurant and then a couple of drinks afterwards, despite being very tired, was absolutely fantastic!
I've had a couple of nets this week. In the Sun, perfect temperatures, with a cool breeze, getting on the front foot and middling cover drives, no better feeling. Bowling line and length with the breeze in your hair, no better feeling. Welcoming back a university person with a reverse sweep for what was probably a six, (in my dreams, and on facebook), no better feeling.
And today, in my opinion, was the best day of the lot. I woke up with the feeling that it was going to be a long day. I had training at work from 2-5 and then not a lot planned after that so I got the feeling my last day of freedom before hard labour was going to be slightly boring in comparison to the fantastic week I've had. I was so wrong. Even the training was such a laugh and surrounded by every one of my colleagues, I really felt part of the team. The first time I have done so. Sitting doing "team bulding exercises" and telling everyone I was born deaf and hearing other people's facts that no one else knew about them. It was very interesting and when it came to suggesting things later on, I got a lot of laughs from my suggestions which makes you feel wanted and liked. I loved it. After the event, we stayed at the pub, (which was where it was held) and the manager got a few drinks in and we had a fantastic laugh just being casual and laid back. No mention of work. Just friends, having a drink. The Team America Secret Signal and the manager's inabilty to talk football and a few Corona's later and I was on top of the world. Not drunk. Just absolutely delighted. I really feel a part of things now at BP. Simply because of today.
I know full well I've got to go back to work tomorrow with 'The Wall', (or maybe not because apparently he called in sick today ... again ... with a bad back... no I'm not joking!) and I know full well I've got to work 44 hours next week and you know what? At the moment, I don't care one bit. Because Mitten, is on top of the world.
Cya x
The week so far has been great. Playing golf and cricket in the sun with a few people back from university and going to the pub with my best mates. For me, there is nothing better. The things I enjoy doing all in succession with no hold up, and nothing to worry about except who's gonna get the next round in. Pure bliss. I played useless at golf earlier in the week, playing 9 holes under the setting sun with Colin and Beddoe, and despite not being able to see where the ball went because the Sun was so low, it was absolutely fantastic. Going for a curry afterwards at my favourite restaurant and then a couple of drinks afterwards, despite being very tired, was absolutely fantastic!
I've had a couple of nets this week. In the Sun, perfect temperatures, with a cool breeze, getting on the front foot and middling cover drives, no better feeling. Bowling line and length with the breeze in your hair, no better feeling. Welcoming back a university person with a reverse sweep for what was probably a six, (in my dreams, and on facebook), no better feeling.
And today, in my opinion, was the best day of the lot. I woke up with the feeling that it was going to be a long day. I had training at work from 2-5 and then not a lot planned after that so I got the feeling my last day of freedom before hard labour was going to be slightly boring in comparison to the fantastic week I've had. I was so wrong. Even the training was such a laugh and surrounded by every one of my colleagues, I really felt part of the team. The first time I have done so. Sitting doing "team bulding exercises" and telling everyone I was born deaf and hearing other people's facts that no one else knew about them. It was very interesting and when it came to suggesting things later on, I got a lot of laughs from my suggestions which makes you feel wanted and liked. I loved it. After the event, we stayed at the pub, (which was where it was held) and the manager got a few drinks in and we had a fantastic laugh just being casual and laid back. No mention of work. Just friends, having a drink. The Team America Secret Signal and the manager's inabilty to talk football and a few Corona's later and I was on top of the world. Not drunk. Just absolutely delighted. I really feel a part of things now at BP. Simply because of today.
I know full well I've got to go back to work tomorrow with 'The Wall', (or maybe not because apparently he called in sick today ... again ... with a bad back... no I'm not joking!) and I know full well I've got to work 44 hours next week and you know what? At the moment, I don't care one bit. Because Mitten, is on top of the world.
Cya x
Wednesday 16 June 2010
On Reflection
I've been doing a fair bit of thinking recently. Would I have changed what I have done over the past few years? Would I have tried harder? Do I regret not putting in more effort? Yes ... and no.
School was always tough for me. I'd like to thing I was naturally bright, but when you get to the upper levels of schooling, that simply isn't enough. You need to work hard and carry on working hard to gain your aspirations. Out of 10 for effort, I may have scraped a 2. I never, and still don't know where I'm going and this, ultimately, makes me a little sad. Just thinking ahead to what the rest of my life holds. It's OK now because I have no bills to pay and no food to buy, but I can't live at home forever, and to be honest, this time next year, I don't want to be. I'd much rather live in my own space, have my own space and use it how I want to use it. Where I am now I feel very much restricted to my small and cramped bedroom, as the older sister clearly nicked the bigger one at birth. It gets very warm in here and sometimes the window fails to open, making me light headed and tired. Makes me think a bit more...
Because I never knew where I wanted to be, I never really saw the point in trying my maximum. What's the point of gaining all of it when you don't know what you want to use it for? That was my attitude then, but of course, I was completely wrong. Qualifications are everything and without them, you're life ain't gonna be good. Not as if I have no qualifications at all, but only the basics and now I'm passed the stage if going to university with my own age group, I feel I don't have the dedication, desire or balls to get back into education and work at it. I like having money, but, like I said, soon all of that is going to be given to energy companies like NPower and food companies like Sainsburys.
Despite this, I do ask myself regularly why I didn't put in at least a bit of effort during my last few months of school, leading to exams. I suppose I'm the sort of person that either puts in 100% or nothing at all. At the moment, I am putting in 100% effort to keep this job as fresh and interesting as possible, trying not to let it get monotonous and boring. I know it is, and I will get bored eventually, but who am I to plan ahead? That's not me. I don't have the guts to do it.
And that I think is the bottom line. I don't have the ambition or the guts to go ahead with any alternative. Going to university is something I imagine I would find rather tough and what other alternative is there other than work? You can't walk into a good job so you've got to start at the bottom and work your way up. That's my mind made up for me. Doors smash close when you don't put the effort in in your school days.
Part of me does regret it. The side of me that screams, "Can't Be Bothered!", however, doesn't regret it. Time spent not revising was spent doing things I enjoy and I when all of my classmates were spread-eagled over countless revision notes and books, I was outside in the sun, enjoying the summer with the other people who didn't care. We all knew we were never destined for greatness. Another thing I don't like about myself. I underestimate myself too much and I know I do. But overestimation I feel can lead to disastrous and disappointing consequences. At least I know where I stand. Another thing about myself. I like to know where I stand. Even if it is nowhere.
There are a lot of things I do regret. I will regret them more when I wish I had a good career to keep my life interesting and even though I'm safe and sound at the moment, who knows what will happen in 20 years..
School was always tough for me. I'd like to thing I was naturally bright, but when you get to the upper levels of schooling, that simply isn't enough. You need to work hard and carry on working hard to gain your aspirations. Out of 10 for effort, I may have scraped a 2. I never, and still don't know where I'm going and this, ultimately, makes me a little sad. Just thinking ahead to what the rest of my life holds. It's OK now because I have no bills to pay and no food to buy, but I can't live at home forever, and to be honest, this time next year, I don't want to be. I'd much rather live in my own space, have my own space and use it how I want to use it. Where I am now I feel very much restricted to my small and cramped bedroom, as the older sister clearly nicked the bigger one at birth. It gets very warm in here and sometimes the window fails to open, making me light headed and tired. Makes me think a bit more...
Because I never knew where I wanted to be, I never really saw the point in trying my maximum. What's the point of gaining all of it when you don't know what you want to use it for? That was my attitude then, but of course, I was completely wrong. Qualifications are everything and without them, you're life ain't gonna be good. Not as if I have no qualifications at all, but only the basics and now I'm passed the stage if going to university with my own age group, I feel I don't have the dedication, desire or balls to get back into education and work at it. I like having money, but, like I said, soon all of that is going to be given to energy companies like NPower and food companies like Sainsburys.
Despite this, I do ask myself regularly why I didn't put in at least a bit of effort during my last few months of school, leading to exams. I suppose I'm the sort of person that either puts in 100% or nothing at all. At the moment, I am putting in 100% effort to keep this job as fresh and interesting as possible, trying not to let it get monotonous and boring. I know it is, and I will get bored eventually, but who am I to plan ahead? That's not me. I don't have the guts to do it.
And that I think is the bottom line. I don't have the ambition or the guts to go ahead with any alternative. Going to university is something I imagine I would find rather tough and what other alternative is there other than work? You can't walk into a good job so you've got to start at the bottom and work your way up. That's my mind made up for me. Doors smash close when you don't put the effort in in your school days.
Part of me does regret it. The side of me that screams, "Can't Be Bothered!", however, doesn't regret it. Time spent not revising was spent doing things I enjoy and I when all of my classmates were spread-eagled over countless revision notes and books, I was outside in the sun, enjoying the summer with the other people who didn't care. We all knew we were never destined for greatness. Another thing I don't like about myself. I underestimate myself too much and I know I do. But overestimation I feel can lead to disastrous and disappointing consequences. At least I know where I stand. Another thing about myself. I like to know where I stand. Even if it is nowhere.
There are a lot of things I do regret. I will regret them more when I wish I had a good career to keep my life interesting and even though I'm safe and sound at the moment, who knows what will happen in 20 years..
Wavin' The Flag
Best song of the moment. As I have said before, and after just witnessing a fantastic refereeing decision in the match between the hosts South Africa and Uruguay and accidentally calling Howard Webb earlier whilst he was refereeing his match between Spain and Switzerland, I am ... in a minute ... going to speak refereeing. (He didn't answer clearly..)
First however, I'm going to speak cricket. After returning from possibly the most boring match I've ever had the misfortune to play in, against a village team in the middle of nowhere, full of bald fat 50 year olds and their 12 year old sons, I was greeted when I came home to my Dad blowing my own vuvuzela in my face before I let him know I had used it as a butt-scratcher just hours earlier to his own anger. Not my fault. I didn't really. This weekend brings the end of my reign as captain of Bedford CC Saturday XI, and I have a good team at my disposal and with good weather forecast, I am upbeat and looking forward to it.
Ok, refereeing. I have been pondering lately on my decision to go for promotion this season via the Beds Saturday league. I'm not so certain. I have to complete 20 matches from September to March, which inclues the notoriously snowy months of January and February and, to be completely honest, I'm not so certain I'll have the hunger and desire to do it. To be completely honest, I'm not so certain I'll have the hunger and desire to referee at all. It's a shame, but the truth hurts. Maybe it's my thinking at the moment, because it's summer and I have cricket to concentrate on, but I was starting to think it at the back end of last season.. Even before I applied for promotion, but I dismissed it as end of season sadness. But even during the off-season, when I should be raring to go and waiting for the season to start with anticipation and hunger, I just ... haven't.. I'm not sure what to do, help me..
Still, I've got a few months to ponder that decision before I make a final one, but I feel I've got a lot of thinking to do and if I am going to go for it, I need to get my head in the right place and really go for it. Would be a good achievement. But, as is usually the case for me, do I really want it enough? That answer at the moment, I think, is a no.
Cya x
P.S I'm leaving you early, because I need some croissants.
First however, I'm going to speak cricket. After returning from possibly the most boring match I've ever had the misfortune to play in, against a village team in the middle of nowhere, full of bald fat 50 year olds and their 12 year old sons, I was greeted when I came home to my Dad blowing my own vuvuzela in my face before I let him know I had used it as a butt-scratcher just hours earlier to his own anger. Not my fault. I didn't really. This weekend brings the end of my reign as captain of Bedford CC Saturday XI, and I have a good team at my disposal and with good weather forecast, I am upbeat and looking forward to it.
Ok, refereeing. I have been pondering lately on my decision to go for promotion this season via the Beds Saturday league. I'm not so certain. I have to complete 20 matches from September to March, which inclues the notoriously snowy months of January and February and, to be completely honest, I'm not so certain I'll have the hunger and desire to do it. To be completely honest, I'm not so certain I'll have the hunger and desire to referee at all. It's a shame, but the truth hurts. Maybe it's my thinking at the moment, because it's summer and I have cricket to concentrate on, but I was starting to think it at the back end of last season.. Even before I applied for promotion, but I dismissed it as end of season sadness. But even during the off-season, when I should be raring to go and waiting for the season to start with anticipation and hunger, I just ... haven't.. I'm not sure what to do, help me..
Still, I've got a few months to ponder that decision before I make a final one, but I feel I've got a lot of thinking to do and if I am going to go for it, I need to get my head in the right place and really go for it. Would be a good achievement. But, as is usually the case for me, do I really want it enough? That answer at the moment, I think, is a no.
Cya x
P.S I'm leaving you early, because I need some croissants.
Monday 14 June 2010
Spillage
We have been briefed on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill that has killed a few birds apparently and we've been told not to be dragged into a discussion about it and to not comment on the situation and try and "change the subject". If anyone is that bothered about it, I doubt the person they will go to is a night-shift worker in an M&S Connect store in the middle of suburban Bedford. Still, I have had a couple of comments on it, mostly from drunk people, obviously blaming me for the spill, but hey, it's all a good laugh, apparently.
Rob Green spilled a softie for England but unlike the most of the country I couldn't really care a jiffy. In fact, I found it quite funny looking at his face in slow motion as he realised he would be plastered across every front and back page in every paper back home. As the ball trickled over the line, I didn't need to initialise the slow motion on my friend's new HD ready TV, (incidentally he has already claimed £10 off Curry's for Gerrard's 4th minute goal), as it was so slow already that it didn't need it. And I got a laugh this morning as I walked out of work, knowing I have a very cushty 5 days off, stating my manager looks like Rob Green. "That's a fuckin' insult man!" Hehe!
However, after the match, Rob Green was given a much needed lift after his new skipper, Stevie G, commented on it saying, "He's a top lad, we're all right behind him", and I couldn't help thinking, "In retrospect, would have probably been the best place to stand..."
And ironically, I've just spilt my coffee...
Still, as mentioned above, I do have a very nice 5 days off that I intend on making the most of. I get paid as of tomorrow and as people start coming back from their ravid university lifestyles, I'll have more people to spend that money with. All is well, as it usually is on a Monday, and I might well watch some football, if I can be bothered to drag myself downstairs to watch any. I'm fed up of it all already. Too much pre-tournament hype. To match my expectations, every match would have to finish with 9+ goals and 4 red cards, 2 of which have to be associated with a massive rugby-like bundle in the centre circle. Anything less, and I would be left disappointed. Hence, why I'm left disappointed, as every match, (apart from the match with the Nazis involved), has finished in a cagey draw or a 1-0 scrap. In fact, the most interesting part has been Rob Green's inability to be human.
A special mention to Mr.Daniel Beddoe for insisting on interrupting me every 30 seconds with a pointless texts about "wastemen and sandals". If this post spirals out of control, you know the man to blame.
The best bit about the World Cup is, honestly, it's official song. The Soccerboys with 'Wavin' Flag' is one of the best songs around! "Ohhhh Woooooooah" ... yeah, come to think of it, it doesn't sound too good written down, but if you haven't heard it already, you should try and listen to it. Highly inspirational, if not a little African.
No time for the post to spiral out of control, I have a strange urge to actually go and watch some football. I know, it's amazing. Might spill the odd beer aswell, or is it too early for a can?
Laters x
Rob Green spilled a softie for England but unlike the most of the country I couldn't really care a jiffy. In fact, I found it quite funny looking at his face in slow motion as he realised he would be plastered across every front and back page in every paper back home. As the ball trickled over the line, I didn't need to initialise the slow motion on my friend's new HD ready TV, (incidentally he has already claimed £10 off Curry's for Gerrard's 4th minute goal), as it was so slow already that it didn't need it. And I got a laugh this morning as I walked out of work, knowing I have a very cushty 5 days off, stating my manager looks like Rob Green. "That's a fuckin' insult man!" Hehe!
However, after the match, Rob Green was given a much needed lift after his new skipper, Stevie G, commented on it saying, "He's a top lad, we're all right behind him", and I couldn't help thinking, "In retrospect, would have probably been the best place to stand..."
And ironically, I've just spilt my coffee...
Still, as mentioned above, I do have a very nice 5 days off that I intend on making the most of. I get paid as of tomorrow and as people start coming back from their ravid university lifestyles, I'll have more people to spend that money with. All is well, as it usually is on a Monday, and I might well watch some football, if I can be bothered to drag myself downstairs to watch any. I'm fed up of it all already. Too much pre-tournament hype. To match my expectations, every match would have to finish with 9+ goals and 4 red cards, 2 of which have to be associated with a massive rugby-like bundle in the centre circle. Anything less, and I would be left disappointed. Hence, why I'm left disappointed, as every match, (apart from the match with the Nazis involved), has finished in a cagey draw or a 1-0 scrap. In fact, the most interesting part has been Rob Green's inability to be human.
A special mention to Mr.Daniel Beddoe for insisting on interrupting me every 30 seconds with a pointless texts about "wastemen and sandals". If this post spirals out of control, you know the man to blame.
The best bit about the World Cup is, honestly, it's official song. The Soccerboys with 'Wavin' Flag' is one of the best songs around! "Ohhhh Woooooooah" ... yeah, come to think of it, it doesn't sound too good written down, but if you haven't heard it already, you should try and listen to it. Highly inspirational, if not a little African.
No time for the post to spiral out of control, I have a strange urge to actually go and watch some football. I know, it's amazing. Might spill the odd beer aswell, or is it too early for a can?
Laters x
Sunday 13 June 2010
The World Cup
I am probably the only person in the world, who is involved and interested in football, who doesn't care one bit about the World Cup. It is way over-hyped and in my opinion is just an excuse for companies to exploit the "national pride for our heroes in South Africa" and support them all the way to "winning the trophy". For the last few days, I have failed to have a conversation with a single person without mentioning the world cup in some form or another and it is already starting to get on my nerves. It has no personal impact on my life at all so, the pessimist and boring git I am, I can't be bothered to support England. We'll get knocked out in the quarter-finals as usual, and all the pre-tournament hype of, "this is our year!", will be diminished in a cloud of Brazilian dancing or Spanish Flamencos. I guarantee it.
And don't even get me started on those damn horns. Despite not being able to afford food or clean water or a house that isn't made of straw, these Africans can buy a long piece of plastic that sounds like a swarm of bees. Vuvuzelas are they? The instrument of Satan. I am the only person I know who didn't watch the England vs US match earlier, because frankly I needed to sleep, and like I said, my personal being comes before any tournament any day. Apparently Rob Green made a howler but who cares? He's getting his wages and we won't win anyway so it'll mean nothing whatsoever.
I needed to sleep earlier, for a couple of hours, because I had decided to take the, "drink red bull and have no sleep" option for what is definitely going to be the last time I ever do in living history. Did I say that last time...? I got home from work on Friday night, stayed up, went to cricket, won very comfortably and I have to admit I did intend to watch the football, but I fell asleep and woke up 15 minutes before I was due in at work with a banging headache and as tired as a heroin addict on a downer. Tonight's shift was fairly quiet seeing as it was a Saturday night, thankfully, and I got through it all. I am not doing it again though. It is a true killer.
I'm going to bring this post to a premature end. I am drifting in and out of sleep and not even Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz can keep me awake.
Night all x
And don't even get me started on those damn horns. Despite not being able to afford food or clean water or a house that isn't made of straw, these Africans can buy a long piece of plastic that sounds like a swarm of bees. Vuvuzelas are they? The instrument of Satan. I am the only person I know who didn't watch the England vs US match earlier, because frankly I needed to sleep, and like I said, my personal being comes before any tournament any day. Apparently Rob Green made a howler but who cares? He's getting his wages and we won't win anyway so it'll mean nothing whatsoever.
I needed to sleep earlier, for a couple of hours, because I had decided to take the, "drink red bull and have no sleep" option for what is definitely going to be the last time I ever do in living history. Did I say that last time...? I got home from work on Friday night, stayed up, went to cricket, won very comfortably and I have to admit I did intend to watch the football, but I fell asleep and woke up 15 minutes before I was due in at work with a banging headache and as tired as a heroin addict on a downer. Tonight's shift was fairly quiet seeing as it was a Saturday night, thankfully, and I got through it all. I am not doing it again though. It is a true killer.
I'm going to bring this post to a premature end. I am drifting in and out of sleep and not even Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz can keep me awake.
Night all x
Saturday 12 June 2010
Looking After Number One
I've been fairly selfish lately. Looking after Number One. I'd like to think I'm usually the person who puts others before himself, but lately, this week especially, I've been doing the complete opposite.
A friend of mine asked for advice earlier in the week. She's going through the A2 exam stage and she asked for help and all I could say was, "I'm too tired for this deep stuff!", which, in reflection, was the wrong thing to say. I could have done my best instead of fobbing her off and I apologise gravely! Also, I was supposed to be playing football on Thursday and let me team-mates down by oversleeping and also a same situation with a friend who I had promised a round of golf. That's just this week. Work is very tiring but I think I should think about making promises if I can't carry them out. I'm disappointed in myself.
Other news. Work this week has been distinctly average. Tonight went very quickly, surrounded by another fitting session from The Wall, but it's not worth making a fuss over now. It happens as much as a manager complaining in the morning so I'm used to it. The worst bit is when customers realise what's going on and, if they are drunk, (which on a Friday/Saturday night is more often than not), and they try to help ... bad times. I've given up trying to hint to the management that this is too dangerous at night time and if it happens again and I don't get an adequate answer, I'm going to the authorities. Time up.
Still, cricket tomorrow. For the first time in a few weeks I am looking forward to it a lot later, maybe it's the fact that I have resigned from Saturdays and I am ready to cherish my last couple of Saturday matches before I hand over the reigns. Even if the "Director of Cricket", attempted to "reject my resignation". Ha! That was funny...
Everything is so busy at the moment. So much going on, maybe I can't possibly put everyone else first before myself? I try my best though, and I will carry on doing so. World Cup? What World Cup..?
Ciao x
A friend of mine asked for advice earlier in the week. She's going through the A2 exam stage and she asked for help and all I could say was, "I'm too tired for this deep stuff!", which, in reflection, was the wrong thing to say. I could have done my best instead of fobbing her off and I apologise gravely! Also, I was supposed to be playing football on Thursday and let me team-mates down by oversleeping and also a same situation with a friend who I had promised a round of golf. That's just this week. Work is very tiring but I think I should think about making promises if I can't carry them out. I'm disappointed in myself.
Other news. Work this week has been distinctly average. Tonight went very quickly, surrounded by another fitting session from The Wall, but it's not worth making a fuss over now. It happens as much as a manager complaining in the morning so I'm used to it. The worst bit is when customers realise what's going on and, if they are drunk, (which on a Friday/Saturday night is more often than not), and they try to help ... bad times. I've given up trying to hint to the management that this is too dangerous at night time and if it happens again and I don't get an adequate answer, I'm going to the authorities. Time up.
Still, cricket tomorrow. For the first time in a few weeks I am looking forward to it a lot later, maybe it's the fact that I have resigned from Saturdays and I am ready to cherish my last couple of Saturday matches before I hand over the reigns. Even if the "Director of Cricket", attempted to "reject my resignation". Ha! That was funny...
Everything is so busy at the moment. So much going on, maybe I can't possibly put everyone else first before myself? I try my best though, and I will carry on doing so. World Cup? What World Cup..?
Ciao x
Thursday 10 June 2010
Mocha Flavoured Vomit
I was re-stocking crisps tonight.. how fun... but when I picked up the brand new crate of salt and pepper kettle crisps, I had a mini-sick, mocha tasting. Yeah..
Anyway, I am in a pensieve mood this morning. A very dull, boring and long shift made longer by an annoying manager keeping us till 6:35am pointing out our problems while saying, "You've done an excellent job". It's good to get a compliment from time to time but to mix it in with complaints about what is now a ridiculously busy shift, (just not tonight..), is a bit contradicting. Still, home now, and I'm almost ready for my bed.
Earlier, Aspen CC embarked on their latest journey up at Sharnbrook. A cup match against a team 3 divisions above us, surely there must only be one result? We were put into bat on a farm of a pitch and made a rather conservative score of 98, but that turned out to be good on a pitch that turned into what looked like a sewer in the 2nd innings. My mittens took a complete battering, as I took 3 out of 5 catches. All the ones I catched were dollies or moderately skied, but the 2 I missed I was disappointed with, for different reasons.
The first one, off Watty's bowling was skied so high it literally went into orbit. I positioned myself under it after one of the loudest calls ever heard, and it just wasn't coming down. By the time it got to me, I might have fallen asleep and made a fairly poor attempt. I was disappointed because I wanted to see Watty get a deserved wicket! I then made my other 3 catches fairly simply before a 2nd drop, which was greeted with complete mentalness from my teammates. A lower order batsman middled a cover drive, uppish, and I was nowhere near it. Until I had dived full length one-handed to my left, and somehow got a hand to it. I pretty much had it but it just plopped out.. I was gutted! I had missed out on some glory, which I absolutely love. We won though, fairly comfortably as Sharnbrook collapsed in spectacular fashion, and our unbeaten midweek run continued.
I just about made it to work on time, and for the whole night I have felt a searing pain in my little finger on my left hand. It's not broken but it bloody well hurts, probably hurt during that one-handed effort. Body on the line stuff.
Time for bed I think. I can feel my eyes starting to close...
Cya x
Anyway, I am in a pensieve mood this morning. A very dull, boring and long shift made longer by an annoying manager keeping us till 6:35am pointing out our problems while saying, "You've done an excellent job". It's good to get a compliment from time to time but to mix it in with complaints about what is now a ridiculously busy shift, (just not tonight..), is a bit contradicting. Still, home now, and I'm almost ready for my bed.
Earlier, Aspen CC embarked on their latest journey up at Sharnbrook. A cup match against a team 3 divisions above us, surely there must only be one result? We were put into bat on a farm of a pitch and made a rather conservative score of 98, but that turned out to be good on a pitch that turned into what looked like a sewer in the 2nd innings. My mittens took a complete battering, as I took 3 out of 5 catches. All the ones I catched were dollies or moderately skied, but the 2 I missed I was disappointed with, for different reasons.
The first one, off Watty's bowling was skied so high it literally went into orbit. I positioned myself under it after one of the loudest calls ever heard, and it just wasn't coming down. By the time it got to me, I might have fallen asleep and made a fairly poor attempt. I was disappointed because I wanted to see Watty get a deserved wicket! I then made my other 3 catches fairly simply before a 2nd drop, which was greeted with complete mentalness from my teammates. A lower order batsman middled a cover drive, uppish, and I was nowhere near it. Until I had dived full length one-handed to my left, and somehow got a hand to it. I pretty much had it but it just plopped out.. I was gutted! I had missed out on some glory, which I absolutely love. We won though, fairly comfortably as Sharnbrook collapsed in spectacular fashion, and our unbeaten midweek run continued.
I just about made it to work on time, and for the whole night I have felt a searing pain in my little finger on my left hand. It's not broken but it bloody well hurts, probably hurt during that one-handed effort. Body on the line stuff.
Time for bed I think. I can feel my eyes starting to close...
Cya x
Wednesday 9 June 2010
Zorbing
That's one of my favourite songs at the moment, but it has some sort of meaning to it. Actually, no it doesn't. But my brain does feel like something from the planet Zorb right now, I am confused as hell itself.
Yesterday was a strange day. I spent all night being awake and then couldn't get to sleep before I went to watch what was, in hindsight, a pointless day of minor county cricket in Luton as the non-existent rain at times, threatened to wash out a day's play, I'll explain later.. I woke up at 9pm-ish on Monday, and planned to stay up till around 4, where I would get a few hours before leaving for the cricket at half 9. It didn't work out that way though, I ended up going to work, which was a pain, so I spent most of the day in a haze of tiredness.
09:30 came, and I left work, a little agitated at the lack of sleep and went to pick up a friend to travel to this cricket match in Luton. Rain was threatening all day and there were a few showers but, usually in cricket, when it doesn't rain, you play. The scheduled start was 11am, and at that time it was raining. Fair enough. Half 11, no rain. Go and play? Nope. Pitch preperations took the best part of 2 hours and by the time they were ready to go it had started pissing it down already. So the whole process was started again. It resulted in a day of no cricket whatsoever, which was the most stupid outcome ever. Why did they need to take so long to make sure the whole pitch was stone dry? Talk about over-protecting. Still, I could feel the effects of the early morning Mocha inside me so I mustered enough awake time to drive the kids home, via a few "Lollidopes", (don't ask... please..), and made it home, just.
Then I woke up at 3.30am. Again, don't ask me how that happened because I can't remember getting changed or turning the light off or even what time I went to sleep, I just did. I am still confused about why I woke up in the dark. Great, my sleeping pattern in the complete opposite of what I want it to be.. And I have to work tonight... Life's unfair!
So, I am wide awake, it's 7am and now I have to go back to sleep, when I don't need to, to make sure I am awake for cricket later, (which will be rained off I bet) and then work later, where I don't want to be tired. It takes real brain power to wor out a sleeping schedule you know. 6 days till payday.
Ciao x
Yesterday was a strange day. I spent all night being awake and then couldn't get to sleep before I went to watch what was, in hindsight, a pointless day of minor county cricket in Luton as the non-existent rain at times, threatened to wash out a day's play, I'll explain later.. I woke up at 9pm-ish on Monday, and planned to stay up till around 4, where I would get a few hours before leaving for the cricket at half 9. It didn't work out that way though, I ended up going to work, which was a pain, so I spent most of the day in a haze of tiredness.
09:30 came, and I left work, a little agitated at the lack of sleep and went to pick up a friend to travel to this cricket match in Luton. Rain was threatening all day and there were a few showers but, usually in cricket, when it doesn't rain, you play. The scheduled start was 11am, and at that time it was raining. Fair enough. Half 11, no rain. Go and play? Nope. Pitch preperations took the best part of 2 hours and by the time they were ready to go it had started pissing it down already. So the whole process was started again. It resulted in a day of no cricket whatsoever, which was the most stupid outcome ever. Why did they need to take so long to make sure the whole pitch was stone dry? Talk about over-protecting. Still, I could feel the effects of the early morning Mocha inside me so I mustered enough awake time to drive the kids home, via a few "Lollidopes", (don't ask... please..), and made it home, just.
Then I woke up at 3.30am. Again, don't ask me how that happened because I can't remember getting changed or turning the light off or even what time I went to sleep, I just did. I am still confused about why I woke up in the dark. Great, my sleeping pattern in the complete opposite of what I want it to be.. And I have to work tonight... Life's unfair!
So, I am wide awake, it's 7am and now I have to go back to sleep, when I don't need to, to make sure I am awake for cricket later, (which will be rained off I bet) and then work later, where I don't want to be tired. It takes real brain power to wor out a sleeping schedule you know. 6 days till payday.
Ciao x
Tuesday 8 June 2010
The Inspirational One
Sleeping is underestimated. Most people have the pattern of a normal being whereas I have the pattern of an owl and right now, I am willing to make the sacrifice of no sleep. It's 04:43, I woke up at 20:30 as I usually do on any Monday and then spend the rest of the week regretting it. I really should change it.
"Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."
I am always useless at change. I like to be stable and knowing what I am doing, which is why I am not a fan of surprises or challenge either. It's easy to say to an employer, "I love a challenge" but what do you do when it comes down to it? Bottle it? Yep. Mitten is the ultimate bottler.
"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."
I know I haven't worked hard either. People say that I'm probably going to regret it and I know I will at some stage aswell, but if I could give one piece of advice to anyone, however useful or useless it will be, it is this. Find time to enjoy yourself. Before you become bogged down by "settling down". The worst thing that could happen to anyone. Settling. A life of boring monotony surrounded by people living the high life. It will come to me at one stage, as it will to most people, but I have tried to enjoy my life so far, despite the dark days. I'm not an extravagent, extroverted person, but I have enjoyed it.
"You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be."
Still people say, "I could of been much more", but what do they know? My Dad could of been so much more as could every person on the planet but they themselves can only decide that fate. Lots of people have more potential than they make out, and I am probably one of those, but the most important thing in life is happiness, not success. Success can make you happy, probably more chance of success making you happy than failure, but as long as you're happy, or even content, then what does it matter? Why should anyone else care?
"Yesterday is history. Tommorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift that's why they call it the present"
One of the philosophies I took when times were at their hardest. Take each day at a time and see where it takes you. Never get too far ahead of yourself, because you'll lose sight of what really matters, the day at hand.
"Don't take life too seriously, because you'll never get out alive."
And of course, whatever you do in your life, whether it be wrong or right, successful or failure or happy or sad, you'll always end up in the ground anyway. So live. And live well.
Ciao x
"Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."
I am always useless at change. I like to be stable and knowing what I am doing, which is why I am not a fan of surprises or challenge either. It's easy to say to an employer, "I love a challenge" but what do you do when it comes down to it? Bottle it? Yep. Mitten is the ultimate bottler.
"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds."
I know I haven't worked hard either. People say that I'm probably going to regret it and I know I will at some stage aswell, but if I could give one piece of advice to anyone, however useful or useless it will be, it is this. Find time to enjoy yourself. Before you become bogged down by "settling down". The worst thing that could happen to anyone. Settling. A life of boring monotony surrounded by people living the high life. It will come to me at one stage, as it will to most people, but I have tried to enjoy my life so far, despite the dark days. I'm not an extravagent, extroverted person, but I have enjoyed it.
"You were not born a winner, and you were not born a loser. You are what you make yourself be."
Still people say, "I could of been much more", but what do they know? My Dad could of been so much more as could every person on the planet but they themselves can only decide that fate. Lots of people have more potential than they make out, and I am probably one of those, but the most important thing in life is happiness, not success. Success can make you happy, probably more chance of success making you happy than failure, but as long as you're happy, or even content, then what does it matter? Why should anyone else care?
"Yesterday is history. Tommorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift that's why they call it the present"
One of the philosophies I took when times were at their hardest. Take each day at a time and see where it takes you. Never get too far ahead of yourself, because you'll lose sight of what really matters, the day at hand.
"Don't take life too seriously, because you'll never get out alive."
And of course, whatever you do in your life, whether it be wrong or right, successful or failure or happy or sad, you'll always end up in the ground anyway. So live. And live well.
Ciao x
Monday 7 June 2010
Resignation Tendered
I am thinking about resigning as captain of the Bedford Saturday side. It has nothing to do with the quality of the side or the fact we have to play amazingly to even stand a chance of winning a game, but it's the sheer fact of working and playing cricket throughout a weekend with very little sleep. I feel it's starting to make things very tough and even dangerous.
Working Friday night, playing Saturday, working Saturday night, playing Sunday and working Sunday night, all with roughly 10 hours sleep in total means that come Sunday 10pm, I am nearly on the floor and that is before I start. By 6am, I am almost drunk with the tiredness and then I spend the next couple of days catching up by becoming seemingly dead. Sunday cricket is my best chance of improving as a player and the team and quality is much better, so my only option is to quit Saturdays, and quit as captain. It has been a challenge captaining that side, with very few resources and having to rely on a few players to build a challenge, it sure has been eventful. I have enjoyed the challenge, and I don't want to resign, but I think it's high time I started thinking about work ahead of leisure, and these days, work comes first.
I said it has the potential to make things dangerous. This evening I almost severely burnt my hand taking a searing hot tray out of the oven without oven gloves and nearly stabbing myself in the hand with a pair of scissors. I know it sounds ridiculous, but when you've had little sleep, these things just happen. I didn't hurt myself, but I nearly did, and it's this fact that makes things dangerous. This weekend, I hardly batted at all on Saturday and didn't even play today, and those things still happened.. If I end up playing 2 days and batting well both days, (if only..), then things could become hazardous.
We don't have any games on the Sundays for a few weeks, so I will carry on playing Saturdays until then. I will resign at some point this week, in advance of the date, so the "Director of Cricket", otherwise known as "That moron who attempts to run a cricket club", can see who else wants the job, if anyone at all..
It's a shame, but sometimes, sacrifices have to be made.
Bye x
Working Friday night, playing Saturday, working Saturday night, playing Sunday and working Sunday night, all with roughly 10 hours sleep in total means that come Sunday 10pm, I am nearly on the floor and that is before I start. By 6am, I am almost drunk with the tiredness and then I spend the next couple of days catching up by becoming seemingly dead. Sunday cricket is my best chance of improving as a player and the team and quality is much better, so my only option is to quit Saturdays, and quit as captain. It has been a challenge captaining that side, with very few resources and having to rely on a few players to build a challenge, it sure has been eventful. I have enjoyed the challenge, and I don't want to resign, but I think it's high time I started thinking about work ahead of leisure, and these days, work comes first.
I said it has the potential to make things dangerous. This evening I almost severely burnt my hand taking a searing hot tray out of the oven without oven gloves and nearly stabbing myself in the hand with a pair of scissors. I know it sounds ridiculous, but when you've had little sleep, these things just happen. I didn't hurt myself, but I nearly did, and it's this fact that makes things dangerous. This weekend, I hardly batted at all on Saturday and didn't even play today, and those things still happened.. If I end up playing 2 days and batting well both days, (if only..), then things could become hazardous.
We don't have any games on the Sundays for a few weeks, so I will carry on playing Saturdays until then. I will resign at some point this week, in advance of the date, so the "Director of Cricket", otherwise known as "That moron who attempts to run a cricket club", can see who else wants the job, if anyone at all..
It's a shame, but sometimes, sacrifices have to be made.
Bye x
Sunday 6 June 2010
A Test of Character
As I sit here, listening to my favourite song at the moment, in the comfort of my own room, on my own bed, I am reflecting on what has been the most mentally tough night of my life. And I don't say that lightly.
I had that strange feeling that develops like a flower in your stomach at about 9:30pm that told me that something was going to go wrong. Either a mountain of small problems or one huge problem, but what I got instead was a mountain of huge problems. Again, I don't say that lightly and I am not joking when I say there were a few times tonight, where I thought I was in serious trouble.
It all started off reasonably OK, a busy queue for a couple of hours as is usual on a rowdy Saturday night, with most people donning their partying clothes to dance the night away and the usual lightweights who shout at you because you've locked the alcohol away. All in a night's work. Midnight came and went, with the queues getting noticeably smaller, I started re-stocking the chillers as has now become accustomed with the night-shift job since the change of roles. There was an impossible amount of crates to empty which didn't improve my mood, but to be fair, in hindsight, that was probably the highlight of my night.
The problems started at roughly 02:20. I had just finished re-stocking, The Brick Wall as he shall now be known, was on his break, and everything was cushty. I had a few customers, mostly entertaining and/or stumbling in and out of the doors with a 20 pack of L&B and a lighter and everything was going OK. I swear to God, I was just thinking, "What was I thinking earlier when I thought things were going to go wrong?", when it started. The Fire Alarm. Let loose like a tortured cat with spikes through it's claws, it wailed through the building like a World War 2 warning alarm and the words 'Emergency Procedure' flashed before my eyes. Think Mitten, think, what do you do? Obviously, Mr.Wall was useless so I had to figure it out by myself. Ok, switch off the pumps, close the forecourt, done, enter the code and go to the room with the fuses in. This room was round the back of the building, so I grabbed my useless Hi-Vi vest and the emergency torch and traipsed round the back, in pure darkness, with just a hole of light guiding me to my resting place. I thought someone was going to jump from behind a bin with a machete, but it wasn't to be. I reached the room. Reset the pumps and hey presto. It wasn't working though. Something wasn't working and the fire alarm still wailed it's way through the store like a pressurised Banshee. Why isn't it working? Never mind. Turn the alarm on mute. That worked. It saved our ears from extinction at least, but there was still the small matter of the pumps.
Nothing I tried worked. For 45 minutes, I muddled around, figuring out what to do and nothing. Customers came and went complaining of there being no fuel, and boy, were they angry. I can handle 22 rowdy players on a football pitch no problem, but give me 6 angry taxi drivers and an alcoholic wanting fuel for him and his car, and I'm as stumped as Kevin Pietersen. My patience came in handy and I felt I did OK in hoarding them off. Nothing I tried worked though, so we had no choice but to keep the forecourt closed. No business. The fire alarm went off again. What the hell is wrong with this thing?! I had to go through the whole process again...
"Well", I thought to myself, "Well at least Mr. Brick Wall isn't having one of his now legendary fits"... Yeah, you can guess what happens next. So now, I'm dealing with a wailing fire alarm, a fitting co-worker, 3 or 4 drunk/gangster/angry customers that grew to 7 or 8 drunk/gangster/angry customers and an exploding oven, (note: Exploding ovens may be added for effect). But seriously, this was too much to handle. I told myself, "stay calm and explain", but it didn't work. I panicked. I rang the manager, at 3 in the morning. Surprisingly, he was sympathetic and talked me through what to do and after 20 minutes of guidance and admittedly customer anguish, all was sorted. Still no pumps though, but I didn't care. I was alive.
I got in with my jobs. Hopelessly behind on schedule but I did my best and surely the manager, (the same one I rang), would be understanding in the morning. Mr. Wall had yet another fit just before the manager came, but to be honest, I was so tired and bothered that I let him get on with it. He damaged a stand and tore some bread in half, all captured on CCTV, so hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll fail against that evidence and never embrace our shores again. That's hopeful though. I'm not finished there though.. Oh no...
The time was about 05:20. Just after The Wall had finished his latest episode, a man, in a Hi-Vi jacket none the less, sprinted in and claimed that a man had collapsed down the road and he needed a phone to ring an ambulance. The first thought that entered my head was, "Is this some sort of test?", but no, a man was in danger so I handed him the phone. That phone, the work one, didn't work though. With a man probably bleeding to death, I handed this stranger my mobile. He ran off with it, to look for the man and thankfully brought it back and said the ambulance had turned up. The fire alarm then went off ... No, I am only kidding, nothing else untoward happened, unless you count me staying behind 45 minutes to do a "re-cap" on the emergency procedures. Why do I need a re-cap after spending the whole night carrying them out? Management are strange - fact.
Well, that's the story of my night. 8 hours of pure and hellish tasks filled with dread, desperation and holding on for dear life. Come 6:45, when I eventually got to go home, I clambered into my car, aching from head to toe, and simply laughed. What else can you do?
Ciao x
I had that strange feeling that develops like a flower in your stomach at about 9:30pm that told me that something was going to go wrong. Either a mountain of small problems or one huge problem, but what I got instead was a mountain of huge problems. Again, I don't say that lightly and I am not joking when I say there were a few times tonight, where I thought I was in serious trouble.
It all started off reasonably OK, a busy queue for a couple of hours as is usual on a rowdy Saturday night, with most people donning their partying clothes to dance the night away and the usual lightweights who shout at you because you've locked the alcohol away. All in a night's work. Midnight came and went, with the queues getting noticeably smaller, I started re-stocking the chillers as has now become accustomed with the night-shift job since the change of roles. There was an impossible amount of crates to empty which didn't improve my mood, but to be fair, in hindsight, that was probably the highlight of my night.
The problems started at roughly 02:20. I had just finished re-stocking, The Brick Wall as he shall now be known, was on his break, and everything was cushty. I had a few customers, mostly entertaining and/or stumbling in and out of the doors with a 20 pack of L&B and a lighter and everything was going OK. I swear to God, I was just thinking, "What was I thinking earlier when I thought things were going to go wrong?", when it started. The Fire Alarm. Let loose like a tortured cat with spikes through it's claws, it wailed through the building like a World War 2 warning alarm and the words 'Emergency Procedure' flashed before my eyes. Think Mitten, think, what do you do? Obviously, Mr.Wall was useless so I had to figure it out by myself. Ok, switch off the pumps, close the forecourt, done, enter the code and go to the room with the fuses in. This room was round the back of the building, so I grabbed my useless Hi-Vi vest and the emergency torch and traipsed round the back, in pure darkness, with just a hole of light guiding me to my resting place. I thought someone was going to jump from behind a bin with a machete, but it wasn't to be. I reached the room. Reset the pumps and hey presto. It wasn't working though. Something wasn't working and the fire alarm still wailed it's way through the store like a pressurised Banshee. Why isn't it working? Never mind. Turn the alarm on mute. That worked. It saved our ears from extinction at least, but there was still the small matter of the pumps.
Nothing I tried worked. For 45 minutes, I muddled around, figuring out what to do and nothing. Customers came and went complaining of there being no fuel, and boy, were they angry. I can handle 22 rowdy players on a football pitch no problem, but give me 6 angry taxi drivers and an alcoholic wanting fuel for him and his car, and I'm as stumped as Kevin Pietersen. My patience came in handy and I felt I did OK in hoarding them off. Nothing I tried worked though, so we had no choice but to keep the forecourt closed. No business. The fire alarm went off again. What the hell is wrong with this thing?! I had to go through the whole process again...
"Well", I thought to myself, "Well at least Mr. Brick Wall isn't having one of his now legendary fits"... Yeah, you can guess what happens next. So now, I'm dealing with a wailing fire alarm, a fitting co-worker, 3 or 4 drunk/gangster/angry customers that grew to 7 or 8 drunk/gangster/angry customers and an exploding oven, (note: Exploding ovens may be added for effect). But seriously, this was too much to handle. I told myself, "stay calm and explain", but it didn't work. I panicked. I rang the manager, at 3 in the morning. Surprisingly, he was sympathetic and talked me through what to do and after 20 minutes of guidance and admittedly customer anguish, all was sorted. Still no pumps though, but I didn't care. I was alive.
I got in with my jobs. Hopelessly behind on schedule but I did my best and surely the manager, (the same one I rang), would be understanding in the morning. Mr. Wall had yet another fit just before the manager came, but to be honest, I was so tired and bothered that I let him get on with it. He damaged a stand and tore some bread in half, all captured on CCTV, so hopefully, fingers crossed, he'll fail against that evidence and never embrace our shores again. That's hopeful though. I'm not finished there though.. Oh no...
The time was about 05:20. Just after The Wall had finished his latest episode, a man, in a Hi-Vi jacket none the less, sprinted in and claimed that a man had collapsed down the road and he needed a phone to ring an ambulance. The first thought that entered my head was, "Is this some sort of test?", but no, a man was in danger so I handed him the phone. That phone, the work one, didn't work though. With a man probably bleeding to death, I handed this stranger my mobile. He ran off with it, to look for the man and thankfully brought it back and said the ambulance had turned up. The fire alarm then went off ... No, I am only kidding, nothing else untoward happened, unless you count me staying behind 45 minutes to do a "re-cap" on the emergency procedures. Why do I need a re-cap after spending the whole night carrying them out? Management are strange - fact.
Well, that's the story of my night. 8 hours of pure and hellish tasks filled with dread, desperation and holding on for dear life. Come 6:45, when I eventually got to go home, I clambered into my car, aching from head to toe, and simply laughed. What else can you do?
Ciao x
Friday 4 June 2010
No Sleeping Allowed
This is the worst thing about the end of a week off. Having to get back into the night-shift sleeping pattern which is most probably the toughest thing ever to have existed. I have spent most of the past 3 days getting up reasonably early, (and by "early", I mean 11/12 which in normal terms, is "bloody well late"), but I've got to stay up tonight because if I don't, I will awake early tomorrow and hence be more tired going to work tomorrow night. It doesn't half take explaining. Basically, I've got to stay up all night, and it's highly boring and eye-watering but I have my music on and the occasional hedgehog to talk to.. so I'm ok.
I have a whole weekend of cricket ahead of me aswell so I know come Sunday night/Monday morning, I am going to have that feeling I had last weekend. The feeling that I'm so tired I almost feel drunk and will then spend the next year asleep. Have I mentioned how tough it is? I have ... I thought so..
All is said. I'm going to go back to watching mindless youtube videos and listening to my music playlist. Current time - 03.32. I've got ages left yet.
Cya x
I have a whole weekend of cricket ahead of me aswell so I know come Sunday night/Monday morning, I am going to have that feeling I had last weekend. The feeling that I'm so tired I almost feel drunk and will then spend the next year asleep. Have I mentioned how tough it is? I have ... I thought so..
All is said. I'm going to go back to watching mindless youtube videos and listening to my music playlist. Current time - 03.32. I've got ages left yet.
Cya x
Thursday 3 June 2010
The Four Days I Live For
These 4 days I get off every other week is just like having a school holiday every other week. Except it's not really a holiday, and I'm not really at school anymore... but it is a considerable amount of time and I absolutely love it!
You see, the hours I get are absolutely perfect! Ok, obviously I end up with less money than I would if I worked full-time and Ok, I work every weekend, serving nonchalent and drunken passers-by with their cigarettes and Percy Pigs, but honestly, I don't need all the money I earn and quite frankly, some of the drunken people can be hilarious! Especially when you need a laugh... However, when that Monday morning rolls around after a full and rather demanding week, the feeling I get is one I cannot match with anything else.
Knowing I have 4 nights to do what I want, with money in the bank to go out and actually do something is a great feeling to have. When I had no work, I could do what I want with the unlimited amount of time I had, but with no money, my options are somewhat limited to watching TV and mooching around on the laptop. That's about it. With money though, the possibilities are endless. Unless you live in Bedford... No. I won't be that harsh because tonight I am off to see that new movie with Chris Rock in it, (whatever that's called), and a couple of nights back I had a delightful curry with the Dude with the Chins. Money rocks ladies and gentlemen, money rocks.
Tomorrow night though I am back to work, and that's alright. I have two cricket matches this weekend, and with the forecast set solidly on "Western Africa", the weather will not disrupt them either. Therefore, I am looking forward to the weekend despite working with the brick wall who unfortunately has not been fired, yet.
One more thing before I leave you once more. I'm sure, by now, you have all heard about the horrific events in Cumbria yesterday and personally I hoped the gunman wouldn't shoot himself so he could rot away in prison forever, but I was reading a report on BBC earlier that described the survivors of the attack, who had serious injuries after being shot in the face, as "comfortable". Now, how many people are "comfortable" after being shot in the face? I'm comfortable sitting here on my bed, typing this and I'm fairly sure you are comfortable sitting on your DFS sofas or your spindly computer chairs, but you haven't been shot in the face. The phrases these people come out with are, sometimes, just ridiculous.
Anyway, enough procrastinating.
Laters x
You see, the hours I get are absolutely perfect! Ok, obviously I end up with less money than I would if I worked full-time and Ok, I work every weekend, serving nonchalent and drunken passers-by with their cigarettes and Percy Pigs, but honestly, I don't need all the money I earn and quite frankly, some of the drunken people can be hilarious! Especially when you need a laugh... However, when that Monday morning rolls around after a full and rather demanding week, the feeling I get is one I cannot match with anything else.
Knowing I have 4 nights to do what I want, with money in the bank to go out and actually do something is a great feeling to have. When I had no work, I could do what I want with the unlimited amount of time I had, but with no money, my options are somewhat limited to watching TV and mooching around on the laptop. That's about it. With money though, the possibilities are endless. Unless you live in Bedford... No. I won't be that harsh because tonight I am off to see that new movie with Chris Rock in it, (whatever that's called), and a couple of nights back I had a delightful curry with the Dude with the Chins. Money rocks ladies and gentlemen, money rocks.
Tomorrow night though I am back to work, and that's alright. I have two cricket matches this weekend, and with the forecast set solidly on "Western Africa", the weather will not disrupt them either. Therefore, I am looking forward to the weekend despite working with the brick wall who unfortunately has not been fired, yet.
One more thing before I leave you once more. I'm sure, by now, you have all heard about the horrific events in Cumbria yesterday and personally I hoped the gunman wouldn't shoot himself so he could rot away in prison forever, but I was reading a report on BBC earlier that described the survivors of the attack, who had serious injuries after being shot in the face, as "comfortable". Now, how many people are "comfortable" after being shot in the face? I'm comfortable sitting here on my bed, typing this and I'm fairly sure you are comfortable sitting on your DFS sofas or your spindly computer chairs, but you haven't been shot in the face. The phrases these people come out with are, sometimes, just ridiculous.
Anyway, enough procrastinating.
Laters x
Tuesday 1 June 2010
Made of Money
Blimey, it's been a day of money-throwing expenditure in the Mitten household, although mainly spent on a fairly long and ardous trip to Heathrow Airport and back to wave off, once again, a respected family member to the "Land of the Free", (despite not letting in anyone suspected of terrorism). Yep, Laura has once again gone on her magical trip to Camp America, but it didn't half cost us a lot to get rid of her!
We left at midday, hoping it would take an hour and a bit, but it in fact took us the best part of 2 hours, stopped by roadworks with no one working on them as usual. We were expecting this, but as we neared Heathrow the roads started to have a lot of writing on them, directing commuters and unlucky others to certain parts of the humungous airport and I have to admit, I thought we were going to end up driving on to a plane and ending up in Papua New Guinea. It was ridiculous. However .. after a lot of confusion and 3-point turns we made it to Terminal 3 and started our ascent of the multi-storey car park. A swivelled road up the multi-storey we went, like a helter skelter, until we reached Level 2, (Level 1 being at the top ... this is Heathrow remember..), and went round the one-way system of the multi-storey car park to find a space which was as rare as an England World Cup win, which means we only found one. You only need one space though, don't you! The BMW next to us thought otherwise though and merely reversed his bus into 2 spaces and inadvertently knocked the wing-mirror off the car the other side of him. Funny times.
The worst was yet to come though, as we had parked up, we needed to work out where to go. Despite being here twice in the last 2 years, no one knew where to go and we needed to take 3 lifts just to get to the 'Departures' bit, and along the way I heard not one word of English being spoken. French, Spanish, German, Urdu, Australian ... but not English. Tut tut. Anyway, since we had been asked to be in attendance at the airport way earlier than we needed to we sat down and had some lunch. A few sandwiches and a few drinks, maybe £10-£12. Nope. The Asian man behind the counter came out with a bearly distinguishable grunt of, "£22.50 please sir". How much?! Father Mitten accepted the payment and we went to eat the extortionate panini and the rest on rather uncomfortable chairs and then went on our way. Never mind.
Check-in time came, eventually, and that of course meant time to weigh the bag. Now, for those of you unaware of new airport rules, your main bag can be no more than 23kg and of course Laura's was 28.5kg. That meant an additional charge. £10 per kilogram.. For those of you with a mental arithmetic age of a 4 year old, that's £55. Just for a few extra clothes and a few bottles of make-up, (which inadvertantly cost Mother Mitten £40 this morning), just so she was allowed to fly. Now really, is 5kg of luggage going to make the plane crash? Yes? Oh well then, better safe than sorry. So, £22.50 for lunch plus £55 for extra luggage, and still the airlines couldn't fly a month back because of a bit of ash. Surely all this money they're charging could of hired a machine to blow the dust to Mars?
Oh well, money had to be paid or Sister Mitten would be staying at home, incredibly unhappy and grumpy. Still, the parking would be cheap.
Ha, what a funny guy I am. Earlier in the day, I had paid a solitary pound coin to pay for an hours parking to pop into town for a while. At Heathrow Airport though, we had stayed for 2 hours and paid £8.40. That's EIGHT POUNDS AND FORTY PENCE. That's just insane for a 8x10 rectangular piece of concrete! How stupid is this place?! However, rather craftily on BA's part, we had no choice but to pay up and get out in fear of being stuck there for all eternity.
We had to get out first though, so we went back down the helter skelter and out on to the road with the Bible written on them and nearly ended up through the pilot's window of a life size model aeroplane with 'EMIRATES' on the side of it. We didn't though and we embarked on our return journey through roadworks with no one working on them with Father Mitten adament that 'Gold FM' was the radio channel of choice. Even then we nearly ended up on the M4 to Slough. Deary me.
So I'm home now. Finally. Curry and a pint for £4.99 anyone? Wow.. that's cheaper than the cost to hire an 8x10 slab of concrete for 2 hours... Bedford's amazing!
Cya x
We left at midday, hoping it would take an hour and a bit, but it in fact took us the best part of 2 hours, stopped by roadworks with no one working on them as usual. We were expecting this, but as we neared Heathrow the roads started to have a lot of writing on them, directing commuters and unlucky others to certain parts of the humungous airport and I have to admit, I thought we were going to end up driving on to a plane and ending up in Papua New Guinea. It was ridiculous. However .. after a lot of confusion and 3-point turns we made it to Terminal 3 and started our ascent of the multi-storey car park. A swivelled road up the multi-storey we went, like a helter skelter, until we reached Level 2, (Level 1 being at the top ... this is Heathrow remember..), and went round the one-way system of the multi-storey car park to find a space which was as rare as an England World Cup win, which means we only found one. You only need one space though, don't you! The BMW next to us thought otherwise though and merely reversed his bus into 2 spaces and inadvertently knocked the wing-mirror off the car the other side of him. Funny times.
The worst was yet to come though, as we had parked up, we needed to work out where to go. Despite being here twice in the last 2 years, no one knew where to go and we needed to take 3 lifts just to get to the 'Departures' bit, and along the way I heard not one word of English being spoken. French, Spanish, German, Urdu, Australian ... but not English. Tut tut. Anyway, since we had been asked to be in attendance at the airport way earlier than we needed to we sat down and had some lunch. A few sandwiches and a few drinks, maybe £10-£12. Nope. The Asian man behind the counter came out with a bearly distinguishable grunt of, "£22.50 please sir". How much?! Father Mitten accepted the payment and we went to eat the extortionate panini and the rest on rather uncomfortable chairs and then went on our way. Never mind.
Check-in time came, eventually, and that of course meant time to weigh the bag. Now, for those of you unaware of new airport rules, your main bag can be no more than 23kg and of course Laura's was 28.5kg. That meant an additional charge. £10 per kilogram.. For those of you with a mental arithmetic age of a 4 year old, that's £55. Just for a few extra clothes and a few bottles of make-up, (which inadvertantly cost Mother Mitten £40 this morning), just so she was allowed to fly. Now really, is 5kg of luggage going to make the plane crash? Yes? Oh well then, better safe than sorry. So, £22.50 for lunch plus £55 for extra luggage, and still the airlines couldn't fly a month back because of a bit of ash. Surely all this money they're charging could of hired a machine to blow the dust to Mars?
Oh well, money had to be paid or Sister Mitten would be staying at home, incredibly unhappy and grumpy. Still, the parking would be cheap.
Ha, what a funny guy I am. Earlier in the day, I had paid a solitary pound coin to pay for an hours parking to pop into town for a while. At Heathrow Airport though, we had stayed for 2 hours and paid £8.40. That's EIGHT POUNDS AND FORTY PENCE. That's just insane for a 8x10 rectangular piece of concrete! How stupid is this place?! However, rather craftily on BA's part, we had no choice but to pay up and get out in fear of being stuck there for all eternity.
We had to get out first though, so we went back down the helter skelter and out on to the road with the Bible written on them and nearly ended up through the pilot's window of a life size model aeroplane with 'EMIRATES' on the side of it. We didn't though and we embarked on our return journey through roadworks with no one working on them with Father Mitten adament that 'Gold FM' was the radio channel of choice. Even then we nearly ended up on the M4 to Slough. Deary me.
So I'm home now. Finally. Curry and a pint for £4.99 anyone? Wow.. that's cheaper than the cost to hire an 8x10 slab of concrete for 2 hours... Bedford's amazing!
Cya x
I'll Have 5k on Black
Imagine having the lifestyle. The lifestyle that allows you to throw away amazing amounts of money on a 50/50 chance of victory. Living in the glitzy town in Nevada or the proper Land of the Free, Monte Carlo. Having that amount of money, based purely on a bit of luck. Imagine for one second, if you were rich beyond imagination? Would you enjoy it? Of course you wouldn't.
A couple of years back, I distinctly remember having a discussion with someone, (he knows who he is), on the importance of money, and I argued that they were "only bits of paper, and there are more important things in life". True, there are more important things in life, but these things cannot be enjoyed unless you have the Queen's head in your wallet and the more heads in your pocket the better. Wait... Now of course, I am sitting here, wondering what day it is, although I can see the time in the bottom right hand corner of my screen and it says 07:31. It is Tuesday today right? Ok, gotcha. I have little money and I work hard for that little amount of money, but it means I cherish that money more and look after it more and spend it only on the things that count in life... Petrol and sandwiches.
No, seriously. Think about it for a second and tell me if you would be properly happy if you were a multi-millionaire. Most people imagine it being the best thing to ever happen to them, but I have heard of some cases where the money completely ruins a person. Usually courtesy of The News of the World. We are talking mega bucks here now, and I have heard people becoming deeply unhappy at the amount of money they have. Too much.
I'm not just waffling about money and lifestyle here, this post does honestly have a point and I will get to that point, eventually.
I have some money. Probably about £100 to last me until I get paid in 2 weeks time, and thats what makes it more interesting. If you what felt like infinite money, what's the fun in wasting it all when you know the odds of running out and being broke are about as good as a whole country going bust. Like Iceland. Wait, that happened... You know what I mean.
I work hard for my money aswell. I know I've earnt every penny that I waste on slot machines, scratchcards and use to buy extortionate petrol, but if you get that money from rich ancestry or through luck, would you feel like you actually earnt it? If you earnt £250k a year when you've spent half of your life struggling over books upon mountains of books and are still clambering over huge hills of paperwork, you know you've earnt it, and good for you. You deserve that money. However, if you win £30million in the lottery this weekend, you will not have earnt it and you'll be the subject of jealousy from friends and family, as they envy your riches as you struggle to not look smug whenever you're near them. Sorry, but a life without love and friends isn't worth having. Money can make you fun, but it can't make you happy. Unless you have spent years getting drunk and chlamydia in a University somewhere and then spending your life under a 900 page hardback on 'Land Law'.
So next time you look at your bank balance and you see a single-digit number, just think this. At least you won't be envied upon by your friends because you have nothing to be envious of. You are a tramp, and although you are getting drunk every day at university, no one is jealous of a tramp. If that bank balance had 6 zeros on the end of it, you wouldn't be a tramp. But you might aswell be, because you'd be as lonely as hell. Except with a casino. My bet is Hell doesn't have a casino.
Ciao x
P.S. And yes, I did lie. This post had no point to it, I'm just bored. It's going to be a long day I think.
A couple of years back, I distinctly remember having a discussion with someone, (he knows who he is), on the importance of money, and I argued that they were "only bits of paper, and there are more important things in life". True, there are more important things in life, but these things cannot be enjoyed unless you have the Queen's head in your wallet and the more heads in your pocket the better. Wait... Now of course, I am sitting here, wondering what day it is, although I can see the time in the bottom right hand corner of my screen and it says 07:31. It is Tuesday today right? Ok, gotcha. I have little money and I work hard for that little amount of money, but it means I cherish that money more and look after it more and spend it only on the things that count in life... Petrol and sandwiches.
No, seriously. Think about it for a second and tell me if you would be properly happy if you were a multi-millionaire. Most people imagine it being the best thing to ever happen to them, but I have heard of some cases where the money completely ruins a person. Usually courtesy of The News of the World. We are talking mega bucks here now, and I have heard people becoming deeply unhappy at the amount of money they have. Too much.
I'm not just waffling about money and lifestyle here, this post does honestly have a point and I will get to that point, eventually.
I have some money. Probably about £100 to last me until I get paid in 2 weeks time, and thats what makes it more interesting. If you what felt like infinite money, what's the fun in wasting it all when you know the odds of running out and being broke are about as good as a whole country going bust. Like Iceland. Wait, that happened... You know what I mean.
I work hard for my money aswell. I know I've earnt every penny that I waste on slot machines, scratchcards and use to buy extortionate petrol, but if you get that money from rich ancestry or through luck, would you feel like you actually earnt it? If you earnt £250k a year when you've spent half of your life struggling over books upon mountains of books and are still clambering over huge hills of paperwork, you know you've earnt it, and good for you. You deserve that money. However, if you win £30million in the lottery this weekend, you will not have earnt it and you'll be the subject of jealousy from friends and family, as they envy your riches as you struggle to not look smug whenever you're near them. Sorry, but a life without love and friends isn't worth having. Money can make you fun, but it can't make you happy. Unless you have spent years getting drunk and chlamydia in a University somewhere and then spending your life under a 900 page hardback on 'Land Law'.
So next time you look at your bank balance and you see a single-digit number, just think this. At least you won't be envied upon by your friends because you have nothing to be envious of. You are a tramp, and although you are getting drunk every day at university, no one is jealous of a tramp. If that bank balance had 6 zeros on the end of it, you wouldn't be a tramp. But you might aswell be, because you'd be as lonely as hell. Except with a casino. My bet is Hell doesn't have a casino.
Ciao x
P.S. And yes, I did lie. This post had no point to it, I'm just bored. It's going to be a long day I think.
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