Three Fridays and a little Saturday

Right, so people will be wanting to know about the job. I've been a bit slack in updating, I'm afraid. Wednesday when I got home I was knackered and Thursday night I couldn't quite be arsed with the whole updating malarky. Now, things are a little more relaxed, for me at least, I have the time and inclination to bring you a bit more up to date.

Wednesday

Strictly speaking, I was only getting up 15 minutes earlier than normal, but that didn't make it any easier. I really am not one for doing anything before I've had breakfast (besides making it), so getting up and showered and getting on the road with only a cup of tea to power me was really not what I was looking for. Scoffing honey and raisin bread as a form of breakfast did help, but still, there are better ways to start the day.

I arrived just before 8.30 to find everyone else bright and fresh having turned up minutes before from the Hotel in the centre of town. Lie-ins are wonderful things.

I had a nickname before I even arrived. Apparently someone described their original requirement thus: "We need a data monkey". As a small progression from this, I already had the nickname "Bubbles" before I even set foot through the door. There is another complication on the name front. Although I didn't meet him this week there's another guy on the team with the same name as me, only he spells it differently (with two Rs).

After a shakey start (mostly because I was half-asleep until about 10 o'clock) I got my first task, which was a simple bit of data collation. Yes, I felt like a data-monkey. Gathering this information took the rest of the morning. Then, since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, we went for a pub lunch. These things have to be done.

"Chicken Salad" in Derbyshire apparently means chicken and chips with a bit of salad on the side. And they were lardy chips. Not the healthiest food in the world. A number of amusing and interesting stories went round the table, although TG (see last week) made a few comments about lesbians that weren't quite inappropriate, but weren't far off. Will have to keep an eye on that one, I can see.

I spent the afternoon poking data around and trying to work out what I was going to be doing with the systems in the longer term. As it was the last day of the week on-site for everyone, there was a Friday-ish atmosphere to the afternoon, and people left earlier than usual, from what I gather.

In all, it wasn't the most exciting of beginnings, but I wasn't disappointed once I'd thought it through. You've got to start somewhere and hopefully this will be the start of something more fulfilling. There was certainly more of an air of fun to the place than there has been in Daventry for some time.

Journey time was 1hr20 on the way up, 1hr30 on the way back. Passing Nottingham on the M1 is always interesting. Traffic seems to like it round those parts.

Thursday

Thursday was another Friday-ish day, on the grounds that it was the last working day of the week. At work I hid myself away in one of the empty offices a) because it had a dial-up line in it, which I needed to do the new job from Daventry, and b) if I was sequestered away I was less likely to be pestered about Daventry issues by any colleagues who happened to be unable to grasp the fact that I wasn't doing Daventry work today.

On the work front I made a breakthrough and figured out the how to go with the what, and by the end of the day had something basic to work with.

That evening we watched the next (for us) episode of the late lamented BOP (Birds Of Prey) followed by, erm...

Sorry, I really don't remember much of the detail to Thursday. It was a kinda cool day, but more in a sense of work accomplishments than anything else. I can't remember the last time I got so caught up and enthusiastic about work.

Friday

I woke up really early on Friday, and was wide awake. I think it was partly due to the glorious sun streaming through the window and partly due to the fact I was restless because I was concerned about Anne's situation and I hadn't heard anything from her the night before. Whatever the reasons, I got out of bed at about 6.15, went at sat online for a bit and caught up on diaries, then got my book and read for a bit before dozing off on the sofabed.

Friday had its accomplishments. For starters, I sorted out the headboard. Alison re-covered the headboard in the week and due to the thick material she used it turned out that in order to reattach the wooden struts to the back, the recesses for the screws on said struts needed to be drilled a bit deeper. The only problem with this was that I drilled one of the recesses too deep, ie right through. So yesterday morning I made some replacements, salvaging similar struts from another headboard and then drilling them correctly. As it was harder wood it was easier not to fuck it up this time.

My other major accomplishment was fixing the chair that I broke before Christmas and should've mentioned in this entry but for whatever reason didn't. The chair in question was I guess a luxury foldaway garden chair that I got as part of my 5-year service award and then managed to break a few days later. Since they sent me a replacement I now have two perfectly usable chairs. Just need a footrest for the replacement one now.

We both put in some effort at digging the front garden. However, with it being a rather hot day, and it having been nice weather since Wednesday, the ground was very dry. Very dry and un-diggable. We decided after a while to abandon the idea of digging for the day, with the plan that we'd water the garden in the evening to soften the ground up a bit.

We also took a brief trip to Coventry. I was hunting for the Martin Gore single and also wanted a general look around. There's something you can always rely on hot weather for. Not only does it make all the fit women look really fit, but it also highlights all the women who could really do with having a session with Trinny and Susannah. I'm not one to really give a shit about clothes and style and stuff but I would've thought that people might have learnt by now that there is no way on earth for a woman to disguise the fact that the hipsters she's wearing are too small for her. Urgh.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I saw the latest Buffy episode. About all I can say without giving too much away is "Mmmmmm, Faith." There's lots to comment on, but I can't, obviously.

Last night we watched Dr. No. It's the first time I've seen it in ages, having bought the remaining Bonds to complete my set at the beginning of the year without getting around to watching them. Political correctness just wasn't an issue in the sixties, was it? You've got Quarrel, the black fisherman, who goes with James Bond to Dr. No's island, and James Bond keeps saying things to him like "Fetch my shoes!" JB doesn't actually go as far as saying "You may be a CIA agent, but since you're black you might as well wait on me while you're here," but it doesn't take much to read that between the lines. The sort of thing you've gotta laugh at really.

Saturday

And so then on to today. Alison was far too bright and cheerful this morning, and chose to channel this energy into getting up and getting on with the digging. I took a more leisurely attitude, and spent a while chatting online before finally getting up and into DIY scruffs. Almost as soon as I was outside the door my hayfever kicked in bigtime, so as it happened I didn't really do much to help Alison with the digging today.

However, I did find my own tasks. We headed out just after lunch to get a load of bits from DIY stores, and rented Reign of Fire, which we're gonna watch later on over tea. Then we ambled around Leamington a bit, finishing up in Starbucks. Always a good place to be. In Waterstones I was tempted by 31 Songs, since after reading Anne's version of Nick Hornby's book I got interested enough in the concept to try compiling my own list (I currently have 9 out of 31). Anne is going to be lending it to me at some point, but I still toyed with the idea of getting my own copy.

Then, on our return, I got to grips with my task. Making shelves for the bedroom. Not just typical square shelves, but different wobbly-shapes-cut-out-of MDF shelves, made using MDF purchased last weekend and brackets, screws etc purchased today. Cutting out the wobbly shapes was obviously the first task, now I'm in the middle of the slightly more fiddly task of fixing the damn things to the bedroom walls. This has not been helped by the Quattro's battery running down in the middle of drilling. Feh, as a number of people I know would say :-D

So that's it. I've dispensed with coherence in favour of just getting this damn entry written, so you'll have to excuse me if I've jumped around all over the place. This is, as you will remember, my diary after all.