Fluff from my brain

ranting

2006-09-25T11:08:00.000+01:00

How time has flown, it's now September and I have begun the third and final year of my training.

The following things have occured since I last wrote:

The wanker from across the road moved out (huzzah) after having his house on the market secretly, lest we should find out and commit any acts of sabotage. Unfortunately his covert operations were given away somewhat by the fact the people clutching estate agents details kept cruising past and so it didn't take much to look on rightmove and confirm that yes, the house was for sale. Some tense moments followed this discovery as we waited for him to go; Kev felt it appropriate to park the van a little further back from his kitchen window just in case we put off any buyers (yes, that's how much he wanted him to move). Anyway - he went, which we were quite pleased about.

Kevin has grown a beard, started recycling things of his own accord (and wearing sandals) and has taken up horse riding. Not sure what I have done to him. Oh yes, he also proposed, so I guess I must have finally worn him down. Actually it was quite romantic, on a little bridge next to Brecon cathedral. I was just about to say "Shall we play poo sticks?", as one does, when I turned around and there he was, on one knee, clutching a little box and looking wildly panic stricken.

So September 1st 2007 is the date we have chosen, so that I will have finished my training. This brings me neatly one to my next topic: my impending unemployment.

In this area the community hospitals are going to be closed (two have already gone), there has been a freeze on recruitment of community staff for at least 24 months, the local district (acute) hospital is going to lose it's A&E, maternity services and paediatric services and in fact plans are being discussed to close it altogether sometime in the not too distant future. (One general hospital has already gone). The argument is that more people can be treated in the community; presumably the people in charge of decimating the community services aren't currently in touch with the people planning to close acute hospitals so that patients can be treated in the community. Or maybe they are, because what a wonderful opening, what a coincidental gap in the market they will create in the process of all this madness. The fact the current 'care in the community' agencies cannot find staff also seems to have passed them by.

Funnily enough these things are happening in areas where a Labour government has a snowflake's chance in hell of actually getting in. Funny that.

What I feel most strongly about is that I trained to work in the NHS because I believe in it and this government is taking it apart piece by piece. Can you imagine what will happen to standards once private companies start competing for tenders? I think what happened to school meals is probably a bit of a clue, as costs are driven down to make way for maximum profit margins.

Anyway - this has turned into something of a rant, but I suppose this is what I have been thinking about recently, as having 11 months of my training to go and no discernable job prospects is somewhat worrying, but perhaps not as worrying as the thought of having to work for a private company whose main priority is not the well being of the patients in its care but the shareholders profits.

Miso soup

2006-05-02T15:53:00.000+01:00

Well hello there.

As is usual for me it's been a fair few months since I last graced the pages of this really rather poor attempt at a blog with my presence. As I am currently doped up to the eyeballs with hayfever remedies of varying potency I am probably only actually half present, but what the heck.... I'm flinging caution to the winds and blogging anyway.

Not much has happened to me in the last four months. In March I reached the halfway point of my training, which I thought would feel like something of a milestone, but which in fact served only to totally demotivate me totally. Actually to be honest it's probably the rather pap content of the course which has demotivated me, that and the thought of doing another 18 months of yet more pap. I am certainly learning stuff about nursing, but mainly through my practice placements and my own reading. This module, which carries the rather snappy title of "Health Care Interventions" consisted entirely of lectures about statistics and educational theory. Oh yes and a two hour session on nursing skills (catheterisation and insertion of NG tubes). Useful really as one can't catheterise a patient using the ability to analyse statistics and create an optimum learning environment.

I am now on placement in A&E. There are many things I could say but I'll curb my urge to rant. I still maintain that healthy people in their 20s don't need to get themselves brought in by ambulance for a painful thumb but I accept that taxis are indeed expensive and why else do I pay my taxes? (Actually I am lying, I am a student and I don't pay taxes) ..

Not much else to comment on. Trying to be healthy; in January, February and March I went to the gym twice a week, did horse riding once a week and started running. I got quite fit and lost half a stone. In April my efforts fizzled out a bit...... so now it's May and I am going to resume activities, except it's my day off today and I feel like sleeping so that's probably what I'll do. Also all my coursework is due in at the end of this month so I think what I'll do it have the month off and go back to it in June. That's not procrastinating, it's forward planning and effective time management. The miso soup is all part of the health thing. It's supposed to be leek and potato miso soup ("Just add boiling water") and it's like drinking hot water mixed with mud and grit.

Use your van to advertise

2005-11-19T14:38:00.000Z

... but make sure you are fully aware of what it is you are advertising before arriving at home of very posh customers.

Today we arrived at what can only be described as a very large, very old, very very expensive country house to collect some furniture. As we were carrying the furniture out of the house and towards the van I suddenly noticed that we had aquired a slogan. On the side of the van, painted in blackish letters read the word

"WANKER".

In my shock I actually ended up not only pointing it out to Kev but also to our customer, who is as you can imagine, very posh. How embarrassing.

We then had no choice but to drive back through half the county with "WANKER" emblazoned upon our vehicle, until we got back to the workshop. On closer inspection we discovered that the van had also been scratched again.

Funnily enough no one else's vehicle has been touched.

Another coincidence is that yet again only the rear offside panel has been defaced which again, rather coincidentally, is the one which lines up with the arsehole from No.1's (oh yes, remember him?) gate.

Fortunately back at the workshop a bit of T-cut removed the grafitti, but the scratches are really pretty bad. So are we mysteriously once again victims of a totally random act of vandalism, in which the perpetrator just happened to be carrying a pot of black paint and a brush on his way home from the pub? This is the third time the van has been keyed, and on another occasion someone wiped mud from their muddy hands all over it too, although again, only on the side which faces AFN1's house.

Could it be that a grown man is actually sad enough to get a kick out of sneaking furtively out of his side gate and painting a rude word on our van?

(NB: the above was actutally written yesterday - this morning our mystery van defacer has limited the venting of his frustration to bending the wing mirror in. How very manly.)

the tragic demise of Terry the fish

2005-10-26T17:44:00.000+01:00

So it's been a while.

Some of you may be pleased to know that I have survived first year of life as a student nurse. I have also given up smoking again (I restarted around the time of the children's nursery placement, but stopped once it was all over, assisted initially by the mystery vomiting virus the little bastards gave me, which not only diminished my appetite for smoking, but also for moving, talking and generally existing. Fortunately it was short lived as was my return to serious nicotine comsumption).

I have since then done a placement on a medical ward, populated mainly by old demented people and am currently in my fifth week of a placement on a surgical ward (upper and lower GI tract). Both good placements and learning lots although the day I spent peering at people's colostomies wasn't really a high point it has to be said.

Not much else going on really, since between doing my placements and working part time I seem to have no life. Course work has taken a bit of a back seat recently because I seem to be suffering from a slight lack of motivation. Still awaiting results for the rubbish I handed in for my last assessment..... strangely, being placed in a children's nursery where the university openly aknowledges that nursing learning outcomes cannot be met, and still having to complete coursework which meets said learning outcomes left me feeling rather ambivalent about it all. I will so so relived if I pass I don't care if I only pass with 41%, as long as I don't have to rewrite any of my work. The assignment results are out tomorrow...

The content of the current module (and indeed the one which preceeded it) is largely political; Health and Social care tried to teach us to be polically correct, anti discriminatory and sensitive to the needs and requirements of all, however bizarre or impossible to cater for within the confines of NHS funding.

This module, Community and Public Health, is drawing our attention towards National Service Frameworks, the Department of Health's attempts to improve services for specific patient groups. I have never been particularly politically aware but I think it's probably impossible to work in nursing and not be political. I won't bore you with any of my musings since I am probably not as well informed as I ought to be, if I am going to proffer opinions on such things....

Politics aside, one thing I have noticed recently is how many patients seem to look for things to complain about, and to be fair to the hospital, there really isn't anything wrong alot of the time. The number of people who feel that the NHS ought to fund taxi's home is really quite remarkable. I was at work recently and we had to move some patients into another part of the ward to accommodate someone much older and much more dependent than they were. Both patients became abusive, one of them complained because the part of the ward we moved her to wasn't as light (?!) and both then took every opportunity to insult and abuse any staff member who happened to walk past........

Is it me??? I can understand if you book a hotel room with a view of the sea and end up with a view of the brickworks, but surely even the most self obsessed of people can recognise that in a hospital there may be someone out there whose need is greater than theirs??? And that the view from the window isn't part of the deal.

I nearly chewed through my tongue, I had to bite it so hard.

Fortunately most people aren't like that. It just made me think. Are we becoming a nation of people who believe that their own rights supercede the rights of others all around them? Do people really appreciate the NHS or where they'd be without it.

No other real news to speak of. Maddy has given up delivering live mice as she has clearly recognised that we are just not going to get good at mousing no matter how much practice she gives us. All mice are now left on the doorstep in pieces, and we are treated with the contempt we so surely deserve.

Another tragic loss: Terry the fish died due to a mysterious injury which I believe was caused by the stone sucker we have in the tank, but which Kev is refusing to aknowledge because he was warned by the bloke in the fish shop that this might occur but refused to take heed. He has become most beligerent about the whole affair, causing me to get really cross and call him a fish murderer. The stone sucker is still in the tank. Kev cannot provide an alternative explanation as to what happened to Terry but is maintaining that even though stone suckers are known to injure other fish this isn't what happened. He is a man fool.

I am hoping the other fish will take heed from the tragic demise of Terry and avoid the stone sucker at all costs.

fingers crossed for my assignment result.

2005-07-05T13:41:00.000+01:00

OK, so I last posted in March and now it's July. How did that happen? I think time has speeded up, although it's odd because at the moment it feels like things are taking forever and going really quickly all at the same time. I can't wait to be finished my course, although I still have two years and nine weeks to go (not that I am counting). I can't remember whether I mentioned I had a placement in a private hospital - it was very good, and I have just finished another placement in a children's nursery, which I will for the sake of politeness describe as less good.

I didn't learn much on my children's placement that bore anything like a passing resemblance to something which I may need to know for my course, however I did learn the following.

1) Small children are very tiring. They never stop talking, showing you things, breaking things, and causing general mayhem. You have to watch them every second of every minute, unless you happen to like your walls covered in crayon and your trousers covered in snot.

2) It is entirely possible, if you have enough money, to pay other people to look after your child from the age of 3 months onwards, for 10 hours a day, including all meals, so that your parental role is reduced to collecting them from nursery, wiping them with a damp cloth and putting them to bed immediately upon arriving home. Weekends and holidays can also be covered using a combination of baby sitters and holiday childcare facilities, thus leaving you free to carry on your existance unhindered by the demands and needs of your offspring. Alternatively you can achieve the same result by not having any children.

3) I have always had an inkling that I didn't like the kind of people who live in the Surrey commuter belt, name their children "Theodore" or "Germaline" or some such thing, drive fancy cars and can't be bothered to raise their own children. I have learned that I was right: I don't just dislike them, I positively detest them.

So as you can imagine I have been an absolute joy to be around for the past 5 weeks. My placement finished last week and as I breathed a sigh of relief on my way out of the building I became aware that I felt a little unwell. 48 hours of mystery puking virus later I will add another learning to my list:

4) Children are not only tiring, noisy and smelly. They are also diseased.

Anyway it's all over now. I have two weeks of college, and then I have three weeks off, during which time I will be spending a fortnight in Normandy with the man, my sister and Jon. Hoping for good weather, and that someone will deposit a large sum of money in my bank account before we go, however that seems pretty unlikely.

Almost as unlikely in fact, as being paid for the work which I have actually already done....

Try this for a triumph of bureaucracy over common sense: I recently began working for my local hospital, on a contract which requires me to do a very small number of hours per month but on the understanding that I then work as and when I can and I will get paid anything over my contracted hours as overtime. As is the case, except for some reason it turns out that I will get my overtime hours paid for at the end of the year.

So now I am having to chase NHS Professionals up and try to get registered with them, a process I got halfway through before I signed my contract with the other place, and which took about two months (to get halfway through) which is why I ended up getting a contract. It will actually cost the hospital in question more per shift to employ me through NHS Professionals than it will to pay me overtime as a direct hospital employee, however it would seem this is the way it must be.

Well that's it from me. I am supposed to be working but I think I might go to sleep instead.

While I'm procrastinating..

2005-03-04T14:44:00.000Z

thought I may aswell post more of my rubbish.

I have two pieces of work to do this weekend: one is a 500 word direct observation about infection control, the other is another 500 word direct observation about moving and handling. I know that 1000 words is not exactly a novel, but I am finding the subject matter pretty uninspiring to be honest. So far today I have done all the washing in the washing basket, checked my email about 20 times and chatted to my mate Dave on MSN.

I also did this IQ test on the MSN site and got 150, which pleased me despite the fact that I know it's an IQ test for morons to make them feel less moronic. Try it - you'll feel really clever for a bit.

I also emailed a friend to see if he's read Naked Lunch. I am trying to read it; the copy I have belonged to Kev's brother and it looks like he only got about a third of the way through. My friend said it took him a year to read it (and he writes for a living) so I am going to perservere as it's obviously a hard book to read, so now I don't feel bad about having to read each page three times (and still find myself thinking "what the F**K?!").

Right - given that I am unlikely to get any work done today I think I will officially write it off, and do the washing up instead.

speaking to God...

2005-03-01T11:59:00.000Z

Currently on my third placement and this one is an "insight placement": I have to try out different branches of nursing such as Mental Health, Learning Disability and Child nursing during this year and so this one is a Learning Disability placement.

I'll be honest, I was absolutely dreading it. I just didn't want to do it at all. Perhaps that makes me a bad person, or maybe it just makes me like most other people; ignorant and a bit scared of the unknown. As someone who really likes to interact with others I found the idea of working with people who can't or don't react very scary.

So I started out with the assumption that the kids I was working with wouldn't react or communicate in any way. I am pleased to be able to say that I was wrong. Although all of the kids I have worked with so far have profound and multiple disabilities meaning that most of them are unable to speak, they all are capable of making it known when they are unhappy about something, uncomfortable or just feeling a bit bored. Similarly they also show when they are happy and enjoying themselves, by smiling and laughing, like any other kid.

I have another 3 weeks on this placement and I am happy to say that it isn't dragging, although the days are long (double shifts); the staff are all friendly and helpful and utterly devoted to the kids they care for, and the kids are very well looked after and loved. Most have family that come in regularly to see them and help to take care of them. Some of them don't come at all. I don't know what I think about that really; obviously I can't judge, but I have found myself thinking often over the last week, what would I do if this were my child? I honestly don't know how I would handle the situation, and I don't think anyone can know until you are there.

Now I have conquered my fear of the unknown and am enjoying my time with the kids I have to try and write stuff for my portfolio (doubtless I'll have a long rant about all that another time but for now suffice it to say that any piece of work that can only be 1000 words long and yet has to fulfil about a million different learning outcomes and various other criteria, whilst also being written using a model of reflection, a model of nursing and which must also have a reference every 100 words is just too mind boggling even to start). Whoever thinks up this crap needs to stop taking the drugs and live in the real world.

Finally, before I leave you and return to my work..

On Saturday some people from a local church stopped by to do some singing and praying with the kids. All children were duly assembled in the hall and were given bells and tabourines and other stuff to make a noise with. One kid who likes to press buttons was given a little key board that makes different noises and so a fair amount of the service took place accompanied by a bosanova beat.

The four church folks set up their bontempi keyboard and we commenced with a rousing version of "If you're happy and you know it", which seemed to go down pretty well, with plenty of shouting and banging of instruments. We had a story about loaves and fishes (also to a bosanova beat), and a few more songs which quite frankly were painful due to the fact that no one knew them other than the earnest church ladies and yet we all felt we should be singing for the kids. I must say however, that the earnest church ladies sang all songs with great amounts of gusto including the one where they changed the words and realised that they didn't fit the tune, and so compensated on the spot by singing one of the words twice (although they never quite settled which of the words was going to be repeated).

Then it was time to pray.

Prayers were lead by a very nice, extremely-in-earnest kind of a lady who told the children that we are all Gods children and that they can talk to God in any way they like. She left a little silence then, for them to pray and reflect.

Small child on lap of carer next to me chose this exact moment to drop a fart which had the resonance of a trombone and the smell of a dead skunk, then smiled round at us with the widest, sweetest smile you've ever seen.

Flo.

some stuff, none of which is very interesting

2005-02-09T10:57:00.000Z

1. On January 31st it was officially one year since both Kev and I were made redundant and on February 1st it was officially one year since Kev became self employed. Bit of a milestone for us, but forgot to mention it on the actual day. Business going well thus far; booked up until Easter or beyond. Does this alter my determination to move away from here? I think not.

2. I received my first ever exam result for my first ever anatomy and physiology exam and got 98%. Toot toot (is the sound of me blowing my own trumpet).

I didn't want to sound like I was blowing my own trumpet, but if I say it was because the exam was easy it's insulting to anyone who found it hard and if I say it was hard it sounds like I am boasting. I'll be totally honest here; I found the exam easy because we were given handouts in every A&P lecture and all you really needed to do was to read, know and understand what was on the handouts. The exam was multiple choice and so that also made it easier. Does it scare you that a pass is 40% and so a person who got 60% of the questions about the workings of the human body wrong could end up being your nurse?

Have heard on the uni grapevine, well actually from one of the tutors marking the portfolios, that so far she has failed 50% of those she has marked, so am awaiting that result with much greater trepidation.

3. I have stopped smoking and apart from the odd slip, the last one of which was a week ago when I was in a Situation of Extreme Tension* and needed to smoke to stop me from doing something else with my mouth, like saying what I really thought, I haven't smoked for nearly 4 weeks. Not missing it (except when in Situations of Extreme Tension; see above). *

4. Kev is on a diet and has lost probably about half a stone, maybe more. We are eating mainly vegetables, salad and baked potatoes, because nothing else will fill him up. I am starting to crave curry, chinese take away and sweet things so have found myself buying and eating forbidden foods, furtively, in my car. I popped out to buy some milk the other night and found myself in Tescos, staring longingly at a box of 10 doughnuts and thinking; I could eat them in the car... he'd never know. Fortunately I managed to exercise self control, mainly due to guilt because I had already furtively consumed a galaxy that very afternoon.

I just can't live on salad and baked potatoes. This leads me neatly on to point 5:

5. Just spent over £50 on amazon on cookery books, hoping that we can find other, more interesting stuff to eat. This was harder than it sounds; once you get into the realms of vegetarian, low fat, low calorie food the books get very obscure. Was considering the "You are what you eat" book, but a quick look at the reviews it got made me change my mind.

6. I keep dreaming that I am close personal friends with famous rock stars; so far I have been to a private "friends only" gig on account of the fact that Jimi Hendrix was a close personal friend of my dad's (this dream featured the added bonus of seeing my dad dressed up from head to foot in black biker leathers, waiting for a lift to work); last night I was on holiday in Whitby with my mum and dad and Steve Tyler from Aerosmith was giving me life advice and guidance. What's going on?

That's it for me. Toodle pip toot toot.

* a note on Situations of Extreme Tension. Kevin and I have now lived together 18 months and although we have bickered on occasion, we have never actually had what either of us would call a real fight, nor have we had a Situation of Extreme Tension and were we to have one we would have it on our own and not in view of other people. Just so you know that the SET in question wasn't ours. We can't fight because as soon as it looks like I am starting to get annoyed Kev get attacks of nervous laughter and you just can't shout seriously at someone who is crying with laughter.

I have to share

2005-02-02T13:11:00.000Z

just finished reading "Vernon God Little".

You must, must, must read it (if you haven't already).

Also read "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time".

Am all out of new things to read.

bugger.

Slightly Belated Happy New Year and all that

2005-01-19T15:37:00.000Z

Can't believe I haven't been on here since November... I can't really think why that is, except that now that I don't sit at a desk all day long bored out of my tiny mind I only tend to use the PC to do work for college or stuff for the business and once I am finished with that I don't really feel like hanging around.

Well, now I am here I don't really know what to say. I'll start with what I have been up to. As you will have seen from my last entry I spent three weeks working on an Elderly Care ward, which was all good fun. Then I had an exam (anatomy & physiology) and then went home for Christmas (to Durham, which to the uninitiated is much much better than Guildford) and then to Cambridge for New Year (which strangely enough is also much much better than Guildford) then back to our little shoebox again, to be reunited with the tripod, who demonstrated her joy at our return and the subsequent unsealing of the catflap by bringing us mice aplenty, both live and dead, some in full bodied format and others reduced to component parts and smeared on the carpet under the bed.

I am now in my third week of a placement on a medical ward at the big hospital. First day was scary because it was just so different to my last placement, but am used to it now and actually feel relatively useful most of the time. I am doing lots of obs, and testing blood sugar levels and have even done some injections (truly terrifying, but probably more so for the patient once they twig that it's your first time). There's a real mix of patients on the ward, both in terms of age and conditions, although the majority are over 80 and some of them are mad as fruitbats.

Just before Christmas I found out that 70 students have dropped out of the Sept '04 intake already. That means that they dropped out before they even had to hand any work in. I don't know how much that much cost but given that all fees are covered by the NHS, plus bursaries are paid out, it must be a fair amount. I wonder if there's anything that could be done to prevent this. I suspect that they would have greater success if they took fewer people in the first place but it's all politics I guess, and funding according to numbers etc.

Funny, having not blogged for so long you would think I'd have loads and loads to say but I don't really. I will say that I am still enjoying the fact that I am doing my training but that parts of what we are expected to do in terms of course work are so inane that I can see why some people can't be arsed. As a friend of mine put it last night, it's all "jumping through hoops" (I can hear my mother's voice now, saying "welcome to the NHS!".

An example of this: I had to write an account of an episode of care which demonstrates a skill that I learned in uni that I have practiced out on placement. I had to write it in a "reflective style", using a prescribed "model of reflection", putting a reference every 100 words and also explaining, while reflecting, what I did and why my development of that skill benefitted the patient. This account only had to be 1500 words long. It took me almost as long to write as my dissertation for my degree did. The most frustrating part of it is that I don't feel that what I produced demonstrates anything other than the fact that I am learning how to write an account / reflection the right way. I know it's only a means to an end, but perhaps if it was a little less abstract and a little more useful and practical less people would drop out.

On Monday I have to hand in my first "portfolio" and horror stories are already abounding about certain tutors who failed everyone last year, and people who failed for utterly ridiculous reasons. I think you always get that though, it's like when you get to secondary school and get told the urban myth about the boy who threw his hamster off the cathedral tower (or was that just in Durham)??

Right - think I have waffled on enough.

To anyone who may be reading this, hope you are well and Happy New Year. If you are by any chance feeling unwell, can I suggest that you don't collapse anywhere near the Royal Surrey.

Flo.

pieces of mices

2004-11-28T10:56:00.000Z

So we had the live mouse and now we've had the dead mouse. Not peeled as I predicted, but a bit chewed and missing a head and two of its legs. Fortunately I was out rowing and so Kev dealt with it.

Still rowing a bit, and foolishly doing a race next sunday, somewhere in Wallingford, or something. Wallington? Who knows, but I have been told it's near to Oxford.

Got to go now - I smell bad and need a shower.

Maddy is unrepentent. We shall see if she remains so once I have wormed her.

mouses in houses

2004-11-25T19:49:00.000Z

Just a quick line or two...

First hospital placement (on an elderly care ward) is working out well and I am really enjoying it. Old people are better than I thought they'd be, which is good, but also sad cos it shows how people of a certain age are perceived in a negative light for no good reason. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to have my eyes opened.

Feeling very tired because last night Maddy excelled herself, firstly by disappearing for an enntire evening and not reappearing by midnight and then by releasing a live mouse in the bedroom, chasing it under the bed, where absolutely everything we have no space for is stored, and then banging around under there, peepy-sqeaking and smacking things, for a good hour or so.

Throughout this hour I lay in bed trying to pretend that there wasn't a mouse under the bed, and trying to put the possibility that Maddy would at some point awaken me by dropping a dead, peeled mouse in my face, out of my mind. Kev snored on.

Eventually I took to the sofa in defiance, with my pillows and one very thin and totally inadequate blanket, whereupon I froze for about an hour or so, still terrified that Maddy would find me and bring me the mouse (going from past experience, when she once went to great lengths to deliver an perfectly intact garden spider directly onto my bare foot).

I was just drifting to sleep, or into a hypothermic coma when suddenly a cat was thrown in my direction. The peepy-squeaking and smacking of inanimate objects had finally become too much for Kev and so both cat and mouse were captured. Highly disgruntled and slightly worn out cat was put in my custody, while mouse (amazingly still alive) was taken back to the woods across the road from whence he came.

Humans went back to bed, accompanied by defiant cat, who spent the remainder of the night biting anything which moved in case it was a mouse. Only had 3 hours of sleep.

Very tired. 6 hours of lectures today. 2 lines of notes made. pizza ordered for tea. Going to bed at 9pm.

It's been a long, long, long time

2004-11-02T09:45:00.000Z

as the Beatles once sang, somewhere on the White Album..

So what have I been doing?

Well, I am usually in college for 2 - 3 days a week as I may have previously mentioned, can't really remember, and the rest of the time I am at home reading stuff and trying to be useful. I have so far avoided day time television, with the exception that I sometimes watch Cheers while having my lunch.

I could easily spend all week learning the anatomy & physiology stuff - in fact I think I will be from now on as we had a mock exam last week (multiple choice) and I have come to the conclusion that learning such things in context does not prepare one for seeing 4 totally out of context seemingly random facts and having to recognise the right one.

I even went back once I had finished and changed four answers that I now know were correct to the incorrect ones in the name of thoroughness. I do have the comfort of knowing, however, that I was not the only one who did this.

The other slightly perturbing thing was that there were questions on there that I am sure it was impossible to distinguish the correct answer: ie - where would you find chyme?

Two of the four answers offered were "in the stomach" and "in the duodenum". Having checked the textbook and the notes we have been given, which state that chyme is made in the stomach and then moves into the duodenum, I have no idea which answer is the right one.

Next week I have my "trust week" where I get an of induction to the area I'll be doing my placements in, and the week after I have a placement on an "Elderly Care" ward in the hospital just up the road from me, which only has about two wards.

I have my uniform, which, suffice it to say well and truely puts paid to the somewhat bizarre myth that nurses are in any way sexy. The uniform is white tunic on top, which isn't too bad really and black nylon trousers, the waistband on which comes to just below my ribcage and then they billow, attractively into a kind of nappy shape around the stomach, bum and thigh area, before tapering to drainpipe proportions around the ankle area which serves to accentuate two things: 1) the bum, stomach nappy thing and 2) the size of my feet, which has always been something of a sore point.

Anyway, as one of the more practical ladies on my course keeps telling me, "They're good cos you can really boil them" so every cloud has a silver lining and perhaps I'll be glad one day very soon that my trousers can be boiled. Also, at least the tunic has a zip up the front and not poppers. I have heard bad things happen when patients grab tunics with poppers... and I'm guessing it would have to be a pretty specific grab to have the same effect with a zip.

I have had to buy some flat black shoes (I did not however, stick strickly to the guidelines and buy lace ups) - anyone who has ever been shoe shopping with me will understand the true horror of this situation. I think I must have tried about 150 pairs of shoes on, before desperation took hold and I found myself in M&S trying on the "footgloves". You may mock, but I must admit they are very comfortable.

Fortunately I was saved from getting "flootgloved" as Kev remembered that I hadn't been to Debenhams yet and lo, (idou for all you ancient greeks out there*) there were flat black shoes, but actually quite nice ones and so I felt lots better and bought a coat too. (It was reduced from £308.00 to £150 and so it was a bargain).

Not much else going on here really - may have mentioned that we have fish - two casualties so far - Alan was the first and then Small died yesterday, after a 3 day fight with a strange illness that made him swim upsidedown and also backwards. Otis, Dave, Terry and Dr Evil are all still going strong however and at the weekend we are getting a bigger tank (54 litres) and more fish.

Maddy is also fine although a new cat has moved into the flat two door up and she met him last night. He is called Russell and he is only about 1 year old, very cute but absolutely huge. Maddy was "Russelled" last night as she was out and about minding her own business and I had to go and rescue her because she was hiding and making a very loud noise which roughly translates as "I may be a 3 legged cat half your size hiding behind a wall, however please note that I am Very Dangerous and you should Keep Away".

Russell however is made of sterner stuff and unperturbed by Maddy, intimidating though she surely was, spent the rest of the evening trying to batter his way through the locked catflap while Maddy kept up her display of bravado by hiding behing the footstool and wailing loudly. Eventually, civil negotiations with Russell having failed, I was forced to chuck a pint of water over him.

So I think that just about brings us up to date really. We aren't thinking about moving at the moment, but we are toying with the idea of a new kitchen. Kev finished the bathroom floor last night so we are inching ever closer to completion, although he did have to be forced back in there because he is sick of the sight of it (possibly not a good time to start ripping the kitchen apart then). You will note that inbetween starting and finishing the bathroom Kev's car has acquired new dial thingys, buckets seats, subframes for bucket seats, and 4 point harness thingy. Say no more..

Right, better start this work that I sat down to do about an hour ago.
(Don't even get me started on "group presentations")

*while learing ancient Greek I once had to translate the phrase "behold, a sausage seller approaches", and the only bit I now remember is "idou" which is "behold" and also features quite heavily in the old testament, I believe.

Bye.

S'been a looooooooooong time...

2004-09-27T16:38:00.000+01:00

Hello out there

Well as you can probably surmise from the lack of posting on here, I left my office, desk slave style job some time ago. On the 3rd September to be precise.

I then had a week off, part of which we spent up in Durham, a small part of which was spent up at Housestead's Fort on Hadrian's wall. This was ok, despite having been there already on numerous occasions (a peril of being a school kid in the north east is that failing all other options your school trips were usually Hadrian's wall, although to be fair my school did also manage alternative options from time to time; Derwent water - sewerage treatment plant, Wavin plastic factory and Whitley Bay are highlights that stick in the mind).

The loos at Housesteads are the most interesting part although I wasn't sure where it all went once their ingenious flushing system had worked it's magic..... cos surely washing it a few feet away onto the land just outside their barracks wasn't really much better than just doing it in a hole and covering it up.

I mananged to avoid doing the catherdral tower this time but have been forced to promise than next time we will go since I have done so for the last two trips we've done but always managed to wriggle out of it. I hate the tower - it's so claustrophobic and I have visions of having a heart attack at the top and needed to be airlifted down... (ok so I'm 27, but it could happen, especially now because I am very unfit).

So. I have left my job and started my course which has been ok so far. The first week was a little intense, given that we had five full days of welcoming lectures, fire safety lectures, how to go clubbing without getting arrested or date raped lectures and other general lectures that really weren't of much relevance for anyone over the age of 25.

There's a huge mix of people on the course, from folks like me, who've already done non-useful degrees (counted one fine art degree and quite a few media studies type things) to people who are in their 30s and 40s who have been waiting for their kids to grow up, to people who have come over to England from other countries to work as carers, to people who are just out of school.

There are about 50 women to 1 man. I don't know how the men feel about this, but I suppose it's something they'll be used to if they have already worked in a nursing / caring environment, given that it is still largely female dominated.

I am not sure I would want to work in an environment that was so heavily dominated by the opposite sex, but that's because if you were the only woman among 50 men it would be a struggle to find someone with whom a decent conversation about hair products, diets and shoes could be had (although among 50 men at least 5 would have to be gay I reckon, but it doesn't automatically follow that just because a man is gay he has an interest in hair, shoes and diets).

To be honest these last two weeks I have had something of an overdose of conversation about hair. Especially about hair straighteners. And how long it takes to do said straightening each morning.

I am of the get up, have shower, put on clothes and allow car air blower thing and open window to style hair at will school of fashion. If it's too dreadful I may take radical styling action and tie it back, but some of these ladies actually straighten their hair before tying it back. Why? Why?

Why would you do this?

The course content thus far appears to be ok, most of the lecturers are ok, although I get the feeling that if you were to require help it would be less that forthcoming; personal tutors say we won't help unless you are having some sort of personal emergency, course tutors say if you have a problem with this module see your personal tutor. The organisation is not brilliant but then how many other courses have a twice yearly intake of 400 students?

We don't have masses and masses of work to produce, essays to write etc etc. We have a portfolio thing to complete (which is possibly the most confusing document I have ever encountered, worse even than a tax return) and a Multiple choice exam on anatomy and physiology.

So.

It's all been ok so far and I am still feeling like I have done the right thing, although how I'll feel after a stint at the Royal Surrey I don't know.

I have stopped thinking about moving to a bigger flat now, as we are ok where we are for the time being and Maddy doesn't really go out much, so I don't worry about her anymore. We thought we would wait and see, as we aren't even convinced that we'll stay down here longterm; decision time will be once I qualify.

Tomorrow we are doing basic life support on one of those dummy things. We had a lecture about it last week and this bloke was telling us that he has done CPR on a person and that the man vomited in his mouth while he was doing it....... I will have to block that from my subconcious I think.

one week to go...

2004-08-27T15:21:00.000+01:00

Next Friday I will be leaving my temp post at Defra, however since I will have a new person to train up next week I won't be able to blog at all, so thought I'd do a quick one now.

Not much is happening in my little world really. We have ordered some flooring for the front room and we're hoping to lay it this weekend, in addition to helping a friend move house, and finishing the bathroom (homebase here we come). Well, actually I am hoping to accomplish all these things. Kev thinks that I may perhaps be a tad on the optimistic side.

The friend who is moving is going to look at two bengal kittens this afternoon, one of whom is from the same mummy and daddy cat as Mervin. I am bursting with jealousy, but also excited at the propect of having kittens to play with.

I still miss Mervin everyday; I have never felt this way about an animal before; maybe my mothering instinct is stronger now that I am older (although clearly not that strong, as I can still honestly say that I would prefer to have kittens than babies at the moment).

Work has been slowly killing off my brain cells and this last week has been an utter nightmare. I haven't been sleeping either (for some reason I have let this job stress me out totally) and so the two combined have turned me into a moron, or maybe I always was a moron but now I am a tired moron.

My boss doesn't seem to have notice. He told someone today that I am the best secretary he's ever had. Excuse me blowing my own trumpet but it's nice to be appreciated, even if I don't really do anything much.

I haven't been rowing for ages, haven't been to a gym for even longer than that.. and have been smoking, drinking and eating all the wrong things at all the wrong times. I feel permanently knackered and lethargic and splodgy, like a human suet pudding, unable to summon up the will power to do anything other than eat rubbish and watch TV.

I feel a definite health kick coming on, although I am not sure exactly when I will do it. I have borrowed a book on optimum nutrition and so hopefully I'll get inspired to cook something that isn't vegetable slop with cheese on the top and a side order of cheese.

The superhero is looking a tad more rounded than usual too, so my lazy cooking obviously isn't doing either of us any good. He did suprise me by buying mint tea the other day, after having some at my sister's place and finding that he actually quite likes it.

I think we are both ready to start eating properly, it's just a question of being arsed to plan ahead, buy the right things and then prepare and cook. If life didn't seem to be one long round of washing up I am sure I'd be more motivated.

That said, people who start a sentance with "if" followed by a weak and pathetic excuse are usually just lazy.

IF I WASN'T SO LAZY I'D BE LESS LAZY. Yeah. So there.

On the subject of being motivated I have a slight dilemma going on: my ex boss called me not long ago and asked me if I would do some work for his new company. I can do this work at home; it's largely admin stuff, and at present I am unsure of how much work there is to do. I have a week off from 4th - 12th and will be spending the Wednesday with my ex boss finding out what they need doing.

My dilemma is this; I am going to be very strapped for cash and so some kind of part time work would be good. I was thinking that I would maybe need a weekend job, but was hoping I wouldn't have to get one because I want to devote 110% to my course.

I can earn probably about £12 an hour doing this work for my ex boss, and do it at home. So I guess that would be good, but the problem is that I suspect that I am going to have very little time free and so it's going to be hard to balance the course, and course work and working for my ex boss and the book work for our own business. I guess I'll find out what they want first and then decide - after all, if it all gets too much I'll have to give up it (the part time work, not my course).

Anyway - best get off and do some work.

My ankle has just started hurting. I think it's probably lack of some ankle related vitamin. I will buy "you are what you eat" this weekend. I would do a link there buy my little linky thing has vanished.

2004-08-19T09:30:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a little while since I last wrote, for no reason other than I haven't really felt like saying much.

We have now had our flat valued three times, two came in at £115K, the other suggested we try £122K, and work down from there.

As it stands we have a carpet to replace, laminate flooring to put down, a bathroom to finish, a kitchen work surface and hob to replace and so I can't see us getting the flat on the market for at least six weeks, if not more. I don't think we'll go as high as £122K but probably not as low as £155k either. Somewhere inbetween would be about right I think.

If I could just wave a magic wand and have it all sorted then I would be content to just put it on the market and forget about it; if it sells it sells, if not we just wait. To be honest there is very little around in our budget which suits our needs. For some reason all the flats and maisonettes round here are built in little corners with no surrounding land, no garden, basically the attitude must be that people who can't afford houses won't mind being stacked on top of each other in flats whose outlook consists only of a stunning view of the carpark.

There is alot of land around here, mainly greenbelt, and while I am not advocating that this should be destroyed I do think that there is a massive lack of adequate housing here. There is one little development of maisonettes which are actually situated around a green, and have parking and garages in a nice out of the way location. People are desperate to buy these, there's practically a waiting list when one comes onto the market, and it's because they are the only ones of their kind in this area. Most builders are too greedy to leave any space when building; not when they could slap another 20 houses on it and make more money.

I am feeling a little stressed at the moment, mainly because of work (would you believe I am actually really busy now?)and because of wanting to move, and probably because I am about to undertake one of the biggest committments of my life. It's quite scary going back to college, and I am really quite worried about it.

No one ever came forward to enlighten us as to how Mervin came to be left upon our doorstep. While this wouldn't change anything it would be nice to know who left him there and what happened.

We are really missing him, and probably missing him more and more as time goes on. Maddy has hardly been out recently, although that is also because it's been raining, but even with Maddy around, Mervin's absence is still very noticeable.

We're off to Cambridge this weekend for my birthday.

money money money

2004-08-12T10:41:00.000+01:00

or the apparent lack thereof.

We are currently investigating our chances of getting a mortgage.

Our mortgage man, Barry, seemed to think that we had only a slim chance, given that Kev has only been self employed for 6 months and I am about to become a student nurse. Well actually he though we had no chance but was too polite to tells us that outright. However after speaking to Kev's current mortgage people, who surprisingly didn't hang up on him instantly when he explained our situation, he seems relatively confident.

We had the flat valued on Monday night. The estate agent in question thought we ought to put it up for £122.5K, which we probably won't get, but we might get £120K or so. They want a 1.5% fee, which apparently they absolutely can't drop but we have since found out that the bloke three doors down got them down to 1%, so we'll be checking out the competition and having a word I think. They really are leeches.

Our flat is one step above being a studio flat, in that it has separate bedroom and bathroom, but the kitchen is in the corner of the front room. It's quite a nice little flat, we've redecorated it all in neutral colours (can't get more neutral than jasmine white), but I just can't quite get my head around the fact that someone might pay £120k for it.

It seems wrong. It just seems an extortionate amount of money to pay for a tiny flat. How many first time buyers on average money can afford that?

I remember buying my house in Cambridge in 2000, it cost £125K and I though that was hugely expensive. Now we are looking at two bedroom flats for £160K - £170K and £125K for a two bedroom house, with garden and parking, seems like nothing.

We need to do some stuff to the flat before it can go on the market, like replace all the flooring, the kitchen work top and the manky brown 1980s hob. Not sure how we'll be paying for all this but it needs to be done. Doing floors will be a nightmare given our lack of space to move stuff into. Thank God we have the van.

If we are approved for our mortgage it will mean that we'll be paying out an extra £250 per month on mortgage, plus however much our other costs go up, like council tax, maintenance fees etc. I think, having looked at the numbers that this is possible, however we are a little concerned about the prospect of having no guarenteed income, since we've been let down three times recently and money has been mega tight.

Kev is also worried that we might move, pay £170K for a two bedroom flat and then the prices will fall, but I don't really see what we can do about that. If prices fall we'll get less for our flat, so what you gain in one scenario you lose in t'other.

anyway - that's where we are folks.

Still missing Mervin loads and loads, but Maddy has become hyper affectionate; I think she gets lonely now during the day.

I have abandoned all hope of buying the ridiculously expensive flat. I know it's hard to believe but I just get carried away sometimes....

Finally - since I got my letter from the council the MFN1 hasn't touched that piece of land. So now it's all half dug up tarmac etc which looks a bit awful, but maybe this means that the council have been in touch with him?

Mervin and Moving

2004-08-06T10:54:00.000+01:00

It's been an odd sort of a week.

Maddy moved out for the first few days but seems to have returned home now and is being spoilt rotten and enjoying the limelight. We are missing Mervin madly and have spend very little time in the flat.

I keep thinking that I can see him crouching in corners and looking at me with his big round eyes. I keep thinking "I can't leave that there, Merv will get it" or thinking that I have heard him calling. It's really hard because since Kev lost his brother Merv has been our focus, our little bundle of trouble and fun and I don't think we realised quite how much we relied on his silly antics and big soppy cuddles to help us through.

I feel so guilty, I miss him so much and I would give anything to turn back the clock so that I could have put him inside on that afternoon.

In the light of all of this, and given that we are utterly cramped in our one bedroomed flat, we have come to the conclusion that we need to move to a bigger flat in a more cat friendly location.

We have found a couple of places which would suit, but unfortunately we missed the boat with the first place (nice new maisonettes, 2 acres of grounds, garage & car parking) and the other place, which I am in love with is £189,000 which would be pushing it on our budget. It has a balcony, is in the middle of forest, has a handmade kitchen with oak flooring... it's just devine, huge windows, light and airy and I want it.

It's annoying because down here it will cost £550.00 to rent a tiny tiny flat like the one we live in. It would cost us £600 - 650 a month to buy this dreamy flat in the forest. However one of the rubs of being self employed is that your income is not guarenteed.. and it would be a little unnerving to chuck all our available collateral at a flat and then find we have two bad months where we can't pay the mortgage...

It's all my fault really, since I am the one who wants to go back to college for three years, and you can't have it all. I keep racking my brains, wondering if I own anything which is worth 30k, hoping that it will just fall out of the sky; it's almost as if I believe that if I think about it hard enough it will just materialise in my bank account. It has to, you see, because I need to live in this flat.

Looking at all the numbers for the business, and my super snazzy projections (I love excel) if things go the way they seem to be going we should be able to afford it and have £500 a month left over. But what if it doesn't? I know the world of upholstery isn't quite as dynamic as other industries but it is affected by all sorts of things; the antiques trade is dead as a dodo at the moment (I blame IKEA), and all our work is private work. If interest rates keep going up and mortgage payments go up alongside, as ours have done (thanks Abbey National!) then people don't tend to spend £1500 on having their sofa re upholstered.

Having said that, I think our client base down here won't be too badly affected since most of them probably don't have mortgages anyway. You wouldn't believe some of the houses we go; it's interesting seeing how the other half live. The last place we went to had a kitchen bigger than our entire flat.

There is a small amount of tension between the superhero and myself at the moment over getting another kitten. I am absolutely not, under any circumstances whatsoever going to get another kitten until we are somewhere which I consider to be "cat friendly".

Kev doesn't think that there's such a thing and left to his own devices would get another kitten tomorrow. I think if you do that you may as well run it over yourself, because that's what it feels like to me when they die.

The difference here is that I feel personally responsible for Steve, Maddy and Mervin being run over and Kev doesn't because he thinks it could happen anywhere. This is true, I'll admit, but it's more likely to happen in some places than it is in others. Two of our three cats have been run over where we are now, plus our neighbour's cat was run over last year. That doesn't spell "good place to get another kitten" to me.

Kev wants Mervin back because he could play rough with Merv, and throw him about and he loved it; Merv was a man's kind of cat whereas Maddison is very dainty and doesn't respond well to being dangled upsidedown etc. Maddy is cute, but just isn't the same. She doesn't climb the curtains or damage the upholstery, steal food or add cat toys to your bath water. She doesn't get stuck dangling from ivy 14 feet up the wall, or cry when you go around the corner and she can't see you anymore.

Maddy is actually the idea pet cat and Mervin would have been a nightmare for anyone who wasn't used to dealing with male bengal cats, but that's what we liked about him.

Anyway - I'll stop rambling on about my cats because I know that people think that "cat" people are mad and boring etc and I am probably being both.

The flat is being valued on Monday, we are seeing mortgage advisor on Tuesday.

In Memory of Mervin

2004-08-02T10:28:00.000+01:00

We were having quite a good weekend until yesterday afternoon.

We were only out for about two hours.

Mervin was happy and well when we left him.

When we returned he was dead, wrapped in a towell and dumped on our doorstep.

No note, no explanation.

Obviously someone who knows him and us left him there but most of the people we know would have gone about it in a slightly more sensitive way, like leaving us a note and returning the cat once we were prepared.

We actually think it was the bloke who lives next door because yesterday he pretended not to be in when I knocked on his door. Also we know our other neighbours pretty well and not one of them would have been so cowardly.

I know that people who don't own cats think that cats are just cats.

They aren't. They are friends, and comforters and little furry beings who are there to share in your life and participate in everything you do. Our flat was silent this morning. No sqeaks of joy when the shower went on, no persistent presence on the kitchen worktop while I was making my breakfast, no enthusiastic wake up call at 4am this morning.

Unfortunately Maddy found Mervin on the doorstep too and is now very distressed and is hiding herself away at the moment.

There must be fifteen cats living in this street. Two of mine who have been run over in the last two months. I don't know why these things keep happening to us. I know in the grand scheme of things that can go wrong in your life losing a cat isn't the worst, but it does feel like the last year has just been one thing after another.

Kev and I are both distraught and have come to the conclusion that we really need to move away. I think we have too many sad memories of where we live now.

Our little fuzzy boy is gone, and nothing and no one can replace him.

You just don't mess

2004-07-27T15:08:00.000+01:00

with the mother of a super hero...

Words have been had with the relevant department and more specifically with the relevant people, and while there is no guarentee that the fence will come down, or that anything will happen instantaneously or even relatively soon, the wheels are now in motion and Waverley Borough Council wants money for the land.

We need to do another letter with petition signed by neighbours which shouldn't be to hard to arrange, since most of them are hopping mad about this already.

So we'll do what we can and wait and see.

In the grand scheme of things this is not terribly important, it's just annoying. I don't like anyone who assumes that they can just take what they like, regardless of the feelings and needs of others around them. It is quite nice to see others banding together to help put a stop to it though.

Speaking of banding together a funny thing happened in the world of the Rowing Club's women's squad. Two of the novice women found two other, fitter bods to sit in the stern of their boat at a certain regatta last weekend. Remarkably they won their novice pot and understandably they are suitably chuffed and are gloating very unwisely in the faces of two of my crew mates who are not only superior in their rowing ability but are also 100% fitter. One of these is the women's captain and she is not a happy camper.

Feathers are really rather ruffled.

In my crew everyone one other than me can do a sub 8 minute 2k.
I can probably do about 8 minute 15 at a push under extreme duress, relying not upon any level fitness but upon sheer brute force and bloody mindedness. I stroke our boat and am the only person willing to do so however I have also repeatedly said that if I am letting anyone down on fitness etc I am happy to not row / race, and I mean that - I like sculling and it's alot less political.

The two pot winners who are currently gloating can do 2k in about 9.5 minutes.
They don't train and while they are technically ok they lack both strength and stamina.

Having to congratulate them on their victory really stuck in the throat for my crew mates.

About two months ago I was joking that the only regattas worth entering were the ones at the end of the season, the reason being that all of the decent crews move up to senior level and everyone goes on holiday leaving not much in the way of competition.

Sooner or later you'll meet crews who are even worse than you are and then you'll win, provided you can move a boat forward and all row approximately in time.

Now this is pretty much what has happened, however the winning of a novice pot is still a big deal for these peeps and not to be sneered at. A win is a win. I have no problem in congratulating them because the fact is that they did win, and that's always worth celebrating.

The fact that they are now debarred from racing at novice level and will spend all of next season competing against crews who will beat them by 5 lenths or more doesn't seem to have occured to them. The time it took them to compete the course was equal to the time it took one girl in a single scull to do the same. Had they been up against anything like a decent crew they would have lost badly.

However, there are now rumblings coming from their general direction that as they have points they should be in our crew.

The fitter and more dedicated members of my crew are quite alarmed by this and while I am perfectly happy to congratulate the winners on their victory I can see why.

Points do not automatically make you a better rower. They do not make you fitter overnight.

However this particular issue is really very easy to sort out by establishing a notice board where everyone posts their 2k erg times once a fortnight.

A four sessions a week training plan has also been issued in the attempt to make them realise the difference between commitment and a fluke win.

I am adding this to the land dispute in things that are kind of in the background, but which I refuse to get seriously drawn into. If I get time to train seriously so much the better, however at the moment my motivation levels have hit an all time low.

Considering going rowing tonight but I think I may go home and do some more bathroom stuff...

Rowing Thursday, Saturday and Sunday so I don't feel too guilty....

The Battle of Waverley (part II)

2004-07-26T15:40:00.000+01:00

So you are all familiar with the saga with the MFN1 and his rather dubious land claiming activities.

Having contacted Waverley Borough Council, to whom the land belongs it would seem that given that it's on the edge of their territory they can't actually be arsed to do anything about it. It would seem that if there's no money to be made or if the cost of fighting it outweighs the benefit for them then they aren't interested. Wonder why you pay your council tax?

Today Kev and a bloke from down the road went across to speak to MFN1 as he is having the land dug up and is going to start planting things. Basic outcome:

He checked out the law and he can do what he bloody well likes, then it's us to us to challenge him if we have to time and energy to do so.

He is planting up the land to use as a garden. His garden. He doesn't want anyone else on the land despite the fact it doesn't belong to him. Phil enquired as to whether we too could plant things. Apparently he doesn't want to share.

Kev asked him if it was ok for us to have a BBQ there. T'would seem not, although I would like to see him stop us.

Wasting further time and energy on such things really isn't worth it. He is scum, the likes of him exist everywhere and take great pleasure in pissing others off. It is a shame that the law protects him when he is clearly in the wrong but there you go. What can we law abiding citizens do?

writing

2004-07-22T14:34:00.000+01:00

Just been having an email conversation with my mate Dave about writing a book. Every now and then I get this "wouldn't it be cool to write a book feeling". I have done some digging around I have discovered that probably most people have this thought at some time. So I am actually once again not very original.

Found this which seemed pretty pertinent...

I would love to wake up one day suddenly full of inspiration and write something that other people might actually want to read. Unfortunately I seem to lack imagination and inspiration these days. Also - the whole "write about what you know" thing would kill any book I could write instantly. I haven't had any big adventures. Maybe I should try to have one just so I can write a book about it.

Anyhoo - if I am talking about writing then I think it's necessary to mention a friend of mine who writes for a living. Not only this but he has his own record label. So it would seem that if you have the requisite amount of talent and drive it can be done. He wrote the book of fuck; what more can I say?

I also think this must be his - I like this especially "All Roads Lead North". Reminds me of our teenage years which were spent being part of a brilliant group of friends..

Not much else to report at the moment.

I am trying to learn stuff for my course and am feeling daunted by the physiology stuff.

Maybe I can learn it by labelling the man's body parts with a marker. Wonder if he'll go for it?

FIRE FIRE!!!

2004-07-19T10:33:00.000+01:00

This weekend I painted some more of the bathroom and Kev set fire to his car.

I should elaborate upon this; the painting of the bathroom was intentional, the car fire was an accident.

Having recently taken delivery of a roll cage, the man planned to devote the entire weekend to fitting it, in good time for the track day he is doing at Castle Combe on Saturday.

He had drillled, fitted and bolted about half of it and was welding underneath the car when he noticed a small flame on one of the fuel pipes. He ran to get the hose pipe and while his back was turned there was a "Whoooshhhhhhhhhhhh" and the car burst into flames.

At this point I looked up from the kitchen window to see Kev, armed with only a small hosepipe, sticking his head under a burning car and battling with the fire, which by this stage had taken quite a hold.

I am very relieved to say that after what seemed like forever he won and the fire was extinguished. HE is relieved that his car does not appear to be a write off. I am relieved that my boyfriend is not burnt to a crisp and still has all his bits in the right places. Priorities.

Turns out that all the flexible (and as it turned out) meltable fuel pipes under the car need replacing and a few other bits have melted. Now he has a race against time to get the car ready for Saturday, as otherwise he'll have to pull out and lose his money or even worse, he'll have to drive my car.

We went out to a Thai restaurant last night because it's Kev's birthday today (33 today) and had a meal with his Mum and her boyfriend. I think Thai was a bit adventurous, as it didn't seem to go down too well to be honest.

That's about it for our weekend really; did a bit of rowing, cleaned the flat, painted and had a fire. We watched the first Spiderman film on dvd, which I really liked when I went to see it at the Cinema with Adrian and enjoyed it just as much second time around.

Finally, something I wish I has said to the man who tailgated me all the way out of Haslemere and into the petrol station/BMW garage this morning, whereupon he swooped into his BMW staff parking place and then smirked at me in a creepy way as he walked past, doing the old wide bollock walk and the jacket over the shoulder swing:

"Your car is without doubt very big and very powerful.
You are without doubt very small and insignificant.
Tying to convince me that that is not the case by driving with your bonnet in my boot will not work. Prat"

There is a light....

2004-07-15T14:42:00.000+01:00

The superhero's mummy, who just happens to have worked for Waverley Borough Council for the last 16 years is now on the case... and this morning she marched over to the planning / land registry people this morning, plans in hand and full of righteous indignation (like mummy like son).

Waverley Borough Council are currently of the opinion that MFN1 is going to have to buy the land (and pay full market value for it) or remove his fence.... so he should hopefully be hearing from them sometime soon.

Huzzah for us and for Kev's mum.

"There is a light..." reminds me of a Belly song from the Album "King".

It's one of my favourite albums of all time and if CDs could go bald from too much wear it would have done by now.

Now someone is going to have to email me to tell me that CDs do go bald from wear.. Adrian? Jon?.. I know you can't resist

Mood

2004-07-15T09:02:00.000+01:00

I was expecting to get home after rowing last night to find that Kev had finally cracked and gone ballistic with an angle grinder but he hadn't. He had been very restrained and simply parked the van directly outside MFN1s kitchen, but without the aforementioned "You are a Twat" sign.

I have written a letter to the Council, so am hoping that something will come of it but we'll have to wait and see I guess.

The man is not too happy at the moment as the job he was supposed to be doing this week isn't happening now due to the interior designer failing to order fabric in time, and then discovering that it's out of stock until September. This leaves Kev with pretty much nothing to do this week since there are very few jobs that he can bring forward, as they too will not have their fabric yet. Cost to us of having this work booked in and then cancelled is £175 a day until we manage to get something else rearranged. Not Good.

I got my reading list for my course today. I am feeling quite anxious about it all at the moment, especially when I saw that I have some work to do before I start!! Sill it will be good to be prepared.

I have been talked into doing two more regattas, Henley T&V and Maidenhead. I am not really all that keen but I feel a sort of duty to do them since I have been stroking the boat all season and to just leave everyone in the lurch could be considered to be a bit inconsiderate.

I am rowing with arrogant student tonight. Just what I need to enhance my already brilliant mood.