29 down 1 to go

well it was a strange feeling as 6pm rolled round this evening and we shut the doors to the shop. It's now been 29 days since I started my secondment which means I have exactly one day left.


So at 6pm tomorrow that as they say will be that. 30 days will have gone and it will be time for me to go back to the office which seems weird as I've just got used to being in the store and I know I always say this but time seems to go so quickly these days!


My main concern is when I go back is that it will take me ages to get used to be able to sit down again during the working day. Not a major problem I grant you, but there you go:-)

The weather was once again fairly settled during the day. Maybe this means that the weathermen are right and we might be due some good weather. But I'm not holding my breath to be honest. It's not like they've been that right up to now.

anyway,

Later folks,

Umm what?

As most people are aware Michael Jackson should have been a few shows into his this is it tour by now if things had turned out differently. Of course with his death, the O2 arena is apparently trying to find new acts to use the arena during these dates. Apparently one famous act is supposed to be launching a series of comeback shows to try and relaunch their careers/franchise. Is is a band? Umm no. A comedian? umm no? A play? Still no. It it is in fact the teletubbies. Yeah you read that right the Teletubies are trying to launch a comeback tour at the O2 arena in London.


Umm what???

A trailer for the new season of heroes has started doing the rounds. I have to admit that I lost track of the show a while ago as it never seemed to reach the potential that it promised, however I was intrigued to see what ideas the show makers have to reclaim viewers. Unfortunatly I shouldn't have bothered as it seems that in their desperation they will be trying anything to lure viewers back especially the young male demographic.

How I hear you cry?

Well you remember the cheerleader who was the focus of season one, save the cheerleader save the world? well she will apparently be getting a new storyline this season. Yeap she goes to college and makes a new female friend and they decide to do some experimenting and I'm not talking about the sort you would do in a science lab. Lets hope they don't go the fully shameless route in a attempt to draw in the maximum amount of viewers and make them both part of the cheerleading team. You have to feel sorry for the actress who plays claire, she was probably hoping for a serious, dramatic storyline and it seems she will be getting this! I wonder if she worries that she will be typecast as the sexy cheerleader type for ever but then again seeing as she's just stared in a film as another cheerleader she might already be firmly trapped in that stereotype.

The weather is once again failing to make up it's mind as it started off very sunny today, it then suddenly went into a stupidly heavy downpour around lunchtime for a hour before once again turning sunny. So taking the umbrella with me to work was totally pointless. But still irony does like to mess with me so I'm sure if I hadn't had it, I would have needed it.

I have two days left on my secondment. One thing I will not miss however is the Chavs who reguarly ride the buses. Yesterday I had to put up with a pair who were singing along to their ipod and lets just say if they were to ever appear on the X factor they would be one of those acts reserved for the 'worst ever audition clip show' where you watch the people try and sing and wonder if their entire families hate them for letting them go on national TV when they obivously can't sing!

anyway,

Later folk!

and the word of the day is...

Rain which quite frankly is the only word which could possibily apply because it basically hasn't stopped raining from when I got up this morning till about now to be honest. It's just been a really constant heavy rain.


Fortunatly for me Grumpy allowed me to borrow his golfing umbrella which meant I stayed fairly dry walking too and from the bus. However as the rain and wind were so heavy I had to keep the umbrella pretty low down which at times made seeing where I was going a rather interesting challenge. ( I almost collided with a building at one point.) Still at least I got to work almost dry rather then having to squelch around for the whole day.


well mostly, my shoes did get a bit wet but I stayed in front of the fans as much as I could and they dried pretty quickly.


Despite the rain it was actually quite a good day and I spent sometime in between helping customers and painting geothemal power plants pondering my secondment and realised that I have learnt a lot and hopefully has been very successful. But I guess I'll have to await the final verdict on that from the boss. It's going to be very weird going back to the office next week and I expect it will probably take a little while to get my 'office head' back on.


Coming home was a interesting experience as the amount of water about on the roads was simply incredible. The Drains had obivously become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of rain that had fallen and the water was starting to collect on the roads in huge pudles ( I'm sure theres a better word but I can't think of it right now). Of course these bad conditions only served to do what they always do. That's right bring out the mad and scatter brained drivers!


I've spent most of the evening hard at work on a birthday present for one of my friends from uni. I hope she likes it after all the time it's taken as I'm sure she won't be expecting it. ( I hope).


This has reminded me that another project I've had on the back burner for a long while really needs to be finished. For those of you with long memories or know how to use the seach function I created 'top secret project one' a book of all of the photos I had taken for Engineseer as a leaving present. Several people were interested in getting their own copies but I resisted as I wanted his present to remain one of a kind. I did produce a new version or 'volume 2' for Traveller and her sister as Christmas presents which will also remain one of a kind ( Yes I know there are two but you know what I mean!). Basically I will be producing a 'volume 3' which I will make avalabile to anyone who wants it. It will run from at least 2006 to now and will include chapters and photos from Nemesis's farewell trip to bradgate park, Institute meals, the national YSA conferences, Engineseers farewell and more.

It will take me a little while to finish but I'll say when it is and if anyone's interested in getting a copy let me know.

anyway,

Later folks.

Always on guard

We had a much earlier wake up call then we were expecting this morning as all of a sudden Owen heard something at around 3am and tore down stairs barking his head off and going berserk. We have no idea what he heard as he quickly calmed down and went down to sleep, so whatever it was it must have disappeared sharpish.

Not that we had any inclination to scold him as we learned a lesson that sometimes Dog bark in the night with good reason as when we used to live at our old house many, many, many moons ago our dog Duke suddenly started barking in the middle of the night, Tap dance went downstairs and told him off but was dismayed to find out the next morning that not only had the next door neighbours been robbed, the window in our utility room was open. It seems that we had been next o nthe bad guys list but Duke had heard them and scared them away. Suffice to say Duke was well apologised to as he probably saved quite a few of our belongings.

The much hyped massive rainfall has failed to materlise again today. In fact it stayed sunny for most of the day and was quite warm. Maybe this is the secret to getting a summer of nice weather in the UK get the weathermen to forecast the exact opposite.

It was interesting at work today as due to a sudden surge in customers we started to run low on change, meaning that I had to go to the bank and thus walk through the town centre and the 'beach' that is there every summer. Yes you read that correct folks every summer Nottingham council construct a 'beach' in the town centre complete with paddling pool, sand, and various fairground attractions including crazy golf. Well I'm sure it made sense to someone at the time when they first came up with the idea.

Anyway,

Later folks.

Randomingly advertising

Well Grumpy and I have had some more random thoughts about certain adverts which are on the TV right now. Next on our list is the advert for Vanish Washing powder.

Why in this advert is the mother more concerned about the sons greying white t-shirt then the women in the vanish t-shirt. I don't know about you but if a women suddenly appeared in the middle of my house holding a cup of white powder and started talking about what it would do to my washing I would be more concerned with who she was, where she came from and how she got in my house as opposed to how clean my whites were getting!

Secondly in the compare the market car insurance adverts why is the meerkat russian? I understand the whole joke with compare the market/ compare the meerkat but why make him Russian?

Thirdly with all these adverts for things like actimel and other such yoghurtie type things it keeps advertising that it helps improve slow digestive transit, but how do you know if you have slow digestive transit? Do you time yourself? Who tells you how look it should take? and how do you know if your running later then you should? And is it a sign that if you actually time these things that you should get out of the house more? Or Less?

any suggestions anyone?

He'll fix it for you and you and you

It's been a nice day today, despite the weathermen forecasting lots of rain, in fact so much that they said this might be the wettest week of the year the sun started shining at around lunchtime and hasn't stopped since. Which means one of two things either the weathermen are wrong ( but wait that never happens! :-) or the weather is just trying to lure us into a fall sense of security. With the weather in the UK both is equally likely to be true.

I also found out today that the new manager of the local GW store will be called Jim. Apparently the jokes have already started among them are jokes about rosie and Jim, Jim'll fix it and Doctor 'bones mc coy' " Damit Jim I'm a tabletop wargames player not a computer gamer"

Grumpy and I have had a couple of random thoughts whilst watching TV today. For example Lipobind must be a big secret as the advert doesn't tell what it is, but why if it is a secret all these women who feel it's their big secret seem determined to tell it to a random camera man who walks by.

The second query is with the barclaycard advert is the man who goes home from work by way of a waterslide which starts at the very top of the skyscraper where he works and descends through the city through someone's living room, a market, a library and a train station before he finally reaches his home at the bottom of the slide. Our query is if that how he gets home from work how does he get there?

They've started showing trailers for the new GI Joe film. It doesn't look that good but I think I'll give it a go anyway. If he turns out to be as bad as people are predicating at least it should be a laugh.

Speaking of bad things apparently people have now giving up betting on which housemate will win big brother this year, they've now started to bet on whether or not it will be cancelled. I have a feeling it won't be as we're not that lucky!

Anyway,

Later folks!

Top 25

Just to be random here are the current 25 most played tracks on my ipod

1. Lacrimosa Dominae- Immediate
2. Raindrops- Sash & Stunt
3. The Heart asks pleasure first- Michael Nyman
4. Starship troopers - London Theatre Orchestra
5. Pjanoo - Eric Prydz
6. An Epic Age- Immediate
7. Robin Hood-Prince of thieve -City of Prague Philiamonic orchestra
8. Throw it on me - The hives/timbaland
9. Fides En Lucuis Del- Immediate
10. Beat It - Fall out boy
11. Anthem- filo & peri
12. Disturbia - Rihanna
13. Ready for Love - Cascada
14. Prediator- Globus
15. Requiem for a Tower- Escala
16. Phat planet- Chesire Cat/leftfield
17. Til the Dawn - Drew sidora
18. Russia Privjet - Basshunter
19. I'm your basscreator- Basshunter
20. Elysium ( I go crazy) - ultrabeat
21. I believe- Sash
22. Another Sunday - Paul Van Dyk
23. In Pieces - Linkin park
24. If today were your last day - Nickelback
25. Savin me - Nickelback

Through the keyhole

Now as regular readers will know and I know there are some of you out there ( google anayltics tells me so) one of my callings is to produce the weekly ward bulletin/program/whatever it is it's getting called this week which means I have to get to the chapel half an hour before the start of church to give myself enough time to photocopy the right number, fold them and distribute them round the chapel.

However something rather strange happened this morning as when I got to the chapel it was still locked, and the car park as well which meant I joined a queue of two cars, two people who had biked in and four very confused missionaries as we wondered what to do next. As time ticked by with glacial slowness more and more people started to turn up leading to a growing queue of cars parked on the road and people milling about on the road which probably confused the heck out of anyone who was passing. " Look it's a group of people up and about before 9am on a Sunday. Keep driving they might be crazy!" Although I suppose depending on your point of view there might be no 'might' about it.

As the minutes ticked by I wondered if we were going to break the law of probablity as in a ward of a 100+ active people as surely somebody with a key should have turned up by that point. However I did bear in mind that bending the laws of probablity seemed to have become my new superpower of the weekend as while showing somebody a intro game on Saturday I just kept rolling six's. Mind you that's probably by whole supply of sixes for the year but never mind.

Finally someone did arrive with keys and we were able to get into the chapel for just after 9.16am, cue lots of running about from muggins here as I tried to get the bulletins copied, folded and distrubuted whilst trying to maintain at least a small sembelance of calm and coolness.

Although I probably failed miserably.

They are now forcasting some improved weather for August which will be good as it seems to be shaping up to be the month of BBQ's. There will be a ward YSA one, the annual ward one and a stake YSA one. Which is a lot of BBQs I'm sure you'll agree. Quite how that happened I have no idea.

Apparently Orlando Bloom has turned down a fourth pirates of the carribean film to spend more time with his new girlfriend. I'm sure the fact that the last one was panned by most people had nothing to do with that decision at all.

anyway,

Later folks

5 down 1 to go

Well it's Saturday and this means that it's the end of another week of my secondment. Yes Time continues it's relentless match forward and I have no completed five of the six weeks of my secondment, leaving me with one week before I return to the office.

Which will be probably strange for a couple of days as I try to get used to being able to sit down rather then stand for most of the day.

Weather wise I don't think it rained today and it was actually sunny for most of the time. Of course it could have rained at somepoint when I wasn't looking as if the weather had decided to be difficult and now I sound like one of those people who sit around in foil hats to protects my thoughts from the aliens.

It's just over a month to the national YSA conference which I am looking forward to as last years was very good, especially at getting me out of my comfort zone and talking to new people. Here's to hoping that this year is just as successful and also to what ever we have for the Saturday evening meal being identifable this year round.

Well I have two days off before I have to be back at work so I'm just going to take things nice and easy.

Yeah that will be hard won't it?

Later folks

A difficult case by anyones standards

I was on the bus this evening when a man got on and went up to the driver
" Has anyone handed in two mobile phones?"
" Did you loose them today?"
" No the other day."
" Was it on this bus or route?"
" I'm not sure as i was a bit drunk but I know it was a blue bus driven by a man does that help?

And no I am not making this conversation up! Quite how the driver managed to keep a straight face and not give a sarcastic answer I'll never know.

The somewhat changeable weather we have been experiencing has changed to be even more changeable and I didn't think that was possible. It now seems able to change from sunshine to remarkably heavy rain at the drop of a hat and then back again. Which is why I'm making sure that I take everything I need with me and thus have no need to leave the shop.

My sense of time is still throughly mixed up. I kept thinking it was Thursday today for some reason!

I've just seen a trailer for the new stargate universe series. It looks awesome and might not be a simple BSG clone after all.

anyway,

Later folks.

Going backwards

I seem to have been fated the last few times I've been on the bus to and from work to end up in a seat that faces backwards. Now intitially I didn't really like the sensation of going backwards as I prefer to see where I'm going but I have to admit I'm slowly starting to get used to it, as it can be quite amusing sometimes as to what you can see that you would miss going forwards.

This evening for example I saw one mothers interesting way of trying to get her little son to stop picking his nose. She tells him that every times he does that he's actually picking out his brains and will be dumb and stupid when he grows up if he doesn't stop.

Not that the lad paid much attention. Maybe he's already cleaned himself out.

I also had a rather curious occurence today of getting a sensation of motion sickness whilst in the store. I was trying to paint up some bits for the store and I had people talking on both sides, music from behind me and the table I was using was wobberly and two kids were using it to rol ldice so I was trying to concentrate on the model in hand as it were and I could see the table moving back and forward, back and forward. Fortunatly after a couple of minutes fresh air the feeling quickly passed but it was strange as I don't think theres many times where you can get motion sickness whilst standing still in a middle of a store.

I have two more days this week and then it will be into my last week which seems weird as it really doen't seem like five weeks have passed since I started this secondment. It's also a bit weird as I find I have two heads now ( not literal ones before anybody asks although that might be cool and some people might even argue that would be an improvement) a retail head and a office head as I keep finding myself refering to 'we' in both instances if that makes any sense. If it doesn't just put it down to my usual rambling and move along, nothing else to see here in this paragraph.

just move along.

Later folks

Back on the air

For those of you who may have noticed the lack of blog posts for the last two days there is a very simple reason for the lack of blogage. I was ill as I managed to pick up a virus from somewhere. Yes in these days of swine flu it's easy to forget that there are still other run of the mill but still nasty viruses floating about out there. I will spare you all the full and gory details as it were but suffice to say I haven't been that ill in a while and wouldn't mind if it's a long time before I am again. I even had to take a day off work which should give people who know me well a indication of how nasty a bug it was as it takes a lot to put me down for the count.


Unfortunatly with such a nasty bug the inevitable has happened and Grumpy is now coming down with it much to his displeasure ( understandbly as he saw what it did to me). Quite what we'll do with regards to taking Owen for walks during the day now is anyones guess.


I was cheering a few weeks back that Futurama is making a full series return. However I am now less then happy as it appears that the original cast has now all been dumped over pay disputes and new people will be voicing all of the characters which just sucks on so many levels and will probably kill the shows revivial. It doesn't matter how good the scripts are if all you're thinking about is how Bender doesn't sound like Bender and the new Zapp is much worse then the old one.


The 'new' Doctor who has just started filming his first episodes in cardiff, in what seems like a very strange outfit. His companion will also be called Amy pond. I just hope no one uses the phrase " Hey up me duck" to her otherwise I'll just be sniggering for the rest of the series.


A interesting rumour to come out of this however is what David Tennant will be doing next. Apparently he is a contender for the role of Bilbo in the new Hobbit film. Which would be a interesting choice indeed.


Speaking of hobbits I've almost finished painting the four hobbits of the fellowship. I'm moving onto Gandalf next. Should be a interesting challenge all those greys.


Later folks!

A Glowing return

Sorry Engineseer couldn't resist that title and to the rest of you all will become clear in a moment.

I woke up this morning and promptly went straight back to sleep. Fortunatly Grumpy was up early banging about which woke me up meaning I didn't oversleep.

I headed for the chapel to do the usual things with the bulletins and was distrubting them around the chapel when a thought struck me. Engineseer was due to be coming to Loughborough and if I had caught the sun I'm sure he had as well but how bad?

Well the answer wasn't long in coming, if I had caught a little bit of the Sun, Engineseer had caught the rest of it as his whole head was pretty much bright red. Or as photoshop would later put it, your like one of those things that you charge up during the day and glows at night, you look like your glowing.

Not that I can talk much as the places where I had caught the sun were pretty red by this point as well.

Photoshop gave a talk this morning which he had put on his blog if you wanted to read it, look in the blog roll for my family news.

For once the YSA class was a bit packed so much so that Traveller was going to sit on the floor. However I insisted she take my chair despite her protests as there was no way I was going to let a girl sit on the floor no matter how much she claimed she preferred it. However this line of conversation/arguing was cut short as some other people arrived with chairs meaning that nobody had to sit on the floor.

We then found it was Non-spiltters last sunday as she is leaving to the USA this week. It was bittersweet to see her go as it's another one of my friends going to another country as they rarely come back but it was good to get a chance to say goodbye. It also made me realise that I know so many people out there now that if I ever do get enough money together to go on Holiday to the USA I should be more then okay for blagging some free accomodation :-)

It was then time to say goodbye to Engineseer as he was off to see family before heading back to Luxembourg tomorrow. I found it very weird with his car as I kept wondering why he was getting in 'the wrong side' of it forgetting it wasn't a english car.

I couldn't help but feel slightly depressed driving home as saying goodbye to my friends as they leave for other countries is certainly not getting any easier and it's a bit hard to shake a feeling that I'll be the one 'turning off the lights as it were'. But I quickly scolded myself for that line of thinking, as I shouldn't let myself get depressed as I don't have a basement or a attic I can skulk around in feeling sorry for myself. Besides the national conference is nearly here and after that there will be a new insitute course and who knows what will happen. It's a new game board, a clean slate, zero scores, insert generic game cliche here, etc, etc, etc.

Still despite that one brief slip into depressiveness it's been a really quite enjoyable weekend, and I've had lots of fun epic traffic jams aside.

This afternoon, well I've been busy doing nothing really. Which whilst not constructive is still fun in it's own way.

I've got tomorrow off, then it will be the start of week five of my secondment and it's likely to be a interesting one with a shop full of kids.

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what's thrown at me, in a what sort of opportunities will arise sense not actual things beings thrown at me sense. At least I hope that will be the case otherwise I will just have to practise my ducking skills.

Anyway,

Later folks!

Keeping the Target audience in mind

According to rumour and hey if it's on the internet it must be true right? All is now well with the cast of Iron Man 2. Apparently Gwyneth here is not happy that her character has been sidelined in the early promotion campaigns as does not appear at all.

This is who she feels that she's been sidelined in favour of.
Scarlet Johannsen playing Natasha Romonov aka the Black Widow former soviet super spy.

Now bearing in the mind the target audience ( males ) in early promotion who would you emphasis more, the PA? Who is smart, sophesticated and wears nice outfits or the red haired soviet super spy who is a femme fatale whose skill in weapons seems to be only matched by her skill into getting into the tightist cat suits possible?

yeah thought so.

If this story is true Gwyneth should just grin and bear it as lets face it Pepper potts is far more likely to be back for Iron man 3 then the widow.

A whole new level of epic (part 2)

I arrived into the show and met up with Engineseer just in time to see the B-52 land which was annoying as I would have loved to get some photos of that in flight.

Still on the plus side I had arrived just in time to catch the red arrows display which was awesome on just so many levels. I really would have been gutted to miss that. We sat and watched the display in some folding chairs we had bought which were really quite awesome even if I had getting up from mine everytime we sat down.

Once I've finished playing with the photo editor I will post some pics as some need a little work. It was harder then you'd think to take photos of fast moving aircraft with a digital camera as not only do you have to locate the aircraft in the screen, you then have to contend with the sunlight reflecting off the screen which makes a hard job even harder.

We then spent the next couple of hours wandering up and down the show looking at all of the aircraft and some of the stands. The most pointless stand was run by Dyson which showed off their 'airblade' system of drying your hand and the stand literally was going in, washing your hands and then drying them.

We saw some A-10s which Engineseer especially liked and walked through a C-17 which he was also quite keen on but seemed disappointed when I told him that no he couldn't get one.

We found some space to set up our chairs again and watch the rest of the afternoon's flying including the Vulcan a awesome bomber which everybody jumped up to see as it's just such a beautiful aircraft and it's engines had that deep roar that just resonates inside your chest.

We then looked round some more aircraft before catching the bus back to the far end of the airfield as it was open topped and it seemed like a fun thing to do.

Finally we did some more looking round as we waiting for the crowds to dispese a little bit as I wasn't looking forward to facing the traffic again. Plus it looked like the weather was closing in as somehow it had refrained from raining for the whole day which really surprised me to be honest.

However all fun days must come to a end eventually and At last it was time for me to face the traffic once more and I wasn't filled with confidence as the radio station said that traffic was moving slowly. However compared to the morning it was moving at warp speed as it only took me a hour to travel the same distance it took me three hours to travel in the morning.

I arrived home shortly after 9pm, tired but happy as I had, had a very fun day and was glad engineseer had invited me to go to the show. I was surprised however when Grumpy remarked that I had caught the sun as I hadn't thought their had been that much sun to catch. Checking a mirror I could see he was right as my noise and cheeks were very red, which he kept saying gave me a healthy glow. I just thought it gave me a red glow but we all have our own view points I suppose.

A whole new level of epic

Good morning Mr Saxon this is your early morning wake up call and by early we mean earllyyyy

Which is not what my PA told me yesterday morning as I don't have a PA but it would be cool if I did as that would mean I would be important and have money lots of money. It would also be cool if the PA was in the vein of pepper potts or Natasha romonov in the new Iron man 2 film. Quite why he needs a russian super spy as a PA I have no idea but I guess having a russian super spy really does mean that tony stark is the man who has everything and I'm sure I had a point before I started rambling. Oh right those words were the first thought that passed through my head as my alarm went off at 6am. Which means I now know that, this time on a Saturday morning does indeed exist and I will be more then happy if I don't see it again for a very, very long time.

Grumpy let me borrow his car for the day, a good thing as it turned out as it's more comfortable then mine to spend a long time in.

So after grabbing a quick breakfast I headed out to the RIAT or Royal International Air Tattoo 2009 at RAF Fairford where I would be meeting up with Engineseer who was over from Luxembourg ( if I've spelt that right)

Now I was keen to give irony or fate or who ever would want to cause me problems as I hadn't driven down to that part of the country before so I decided to so with the most direct route with the least chance of screw ups, I know, I know I should really contemplate getting satnav.

Well despite my fears I actually stayed on course and made goodtime as probably most of the sane people were still in bed.

However it was when I got to a little village just five miles away from RAF fairford on the main route there I ran into a traffic jam. By this point it was around 8.20 now I had been expecting some traffic.

Now I say some, however what I got was epic and I mean epic! I have never been in a traffic jam like that before and would be more then happy never to get stuck in one like it again. It took me one hour to get from one end of the village to the other.

However the radio ( the airshow is so big it has it's own radio station) continued to say that the routes were moving and we should all get there in time for the start of the flying at 10am.

They were rather wrong.

by 9.15am I'm starting to wonder if I would have time to run into a shop, buy a paper, drink and sweeties and get back to the car before the traffic moves too much.

By the time 9.20am rolled around I was just getting to the other side of the village, feeling slightly concerned, my feet sore from the constant clutch control that the slow moving traffic entailed but also feeling amused by the sight of a general store called arkwrights. The radio continued to assure us that the traffic was moving well and that it was only fourty minutes from the shell garage to the airfield car park on the route I was on. So I was sure I would see said garage any second.

By 10am the traffic reports were no longer sounding so optomistic and they were slowly starting to admit that all routes were jammed. The flying was starting but they were going to go over to the obeservation team who would tell everyone what was happening and thanking us for our patience. Just what a lot of people stuck in a traffic jam want to hear, what their missing in great detail!

By 10.20am I had finished my water and the choclate bar I had in the car and was starting to switch between CD's in a rapid fashion trying to find some songs I hadn't listened to before or at least had skipped over The roar of the engines in the distance was making things seem much longer.

by 10.40am I was starting to get jealous of the people in the car in front because as there were two of them they could keep switching drivers and I watched as they switched for the third time, whilst trying to flex my feet as much as possible to try and get some feeling back.

At 10.45am I finally saw the shell garage and was pleased to see a sign saying I was only a mile from the airfield. But the radio said it would still be fourty minutes and the lady doing the traffic sounded on the verge of tears as she said they had been recieving lots of texts about the situation. No doubt not very nice ones.

by 10.50am I saw the first people start to leave their cars and walk down the traffic obivously intending to get their quicker their drivers staying with the cars to allow at least some of their party to get their quicker. I looked around at the empty car and wondered if I should ring someone at least to have a chat to pass the time.

10.55am. I dismissed the idea of ringing someone and instead started to sing along tunelessly to a now 44 albulm wondering if I'm starting to go insane and if I will ever get feeling back in my legs and back.

10.59am. Bought back to reality when I realise I'm starting to sing along to Aquas barbie girl.

11am. It's now four and a half hours since I started driving and almost three hours since I ran into the traffic I'm still inching forward in the worlds slowest rolling traffic jam. I'm now hearing the third top of the hour news bulletin and to add insult to injury I'm now under the flight path. I can hear the planes but can't see them thanks to tall trees. I'm also starting to really detest the women reading the traffic, this route is not moving well!

11.10am. Catch first glimpse of airfield.

11.15am. Traffic starts to speed up, hello second gear how I've missed you.

11.20am. Reach gate to airfield.

11.25am. Reach check queue for the car park.

11.30am. Reach car park and park the car 5 hours after I set off. I manage to exit the car on rather woberly legs at this point and possibily look like the worlds biggist idiot as I shaje my arms and legs about trying to get feeling back.

11.45am. after a epic hike across the car park I clear security and finally enter the air field to meet up with Engineseer.

Looonngg day

Just a quick post to say that as it's been a very long day there won't be a usual post today. But make sure you tune in tomorrow for a tale of Red arrows, Vulcans and a traffic jam so epic it re defines just how all traffic jams I'm stuck in, in future will be defined.

Two Thirds

It's been yet another miserable day weather wise as it's been overcast and rainy for most of the day. In fact it really tipped it down around lunch time which made me really glad I didn't have to leave the store for any reason.

Today was what is likely to be our last quiet day as the local schools broke up for the summer holidays today so the store is likely to be heaving with people every day from now on.

Today also marks the two thirds point of my secondment as I have now complete four weeks with only two more weeks left to go. It's really weird as the time seems to have flown by, when I first heard the secondment was six weeks long I thought that it would take 'ages' for the time to pass but it hasn't.

Due to the ancient and mystic ways of the shift patterns I now have three days off in a row. I will be spending tomorrow however heading down south to meet up with Engineseer who has popped across to the UK for a visit.

Rest assured photos will probably follow.

Later folks!

Summer stereotypes

I'm looking out of Grumpys office window as I write this and once again it's raining in a really quite dreary fashion. Yes folks the stereotypical english summer weather is still here and it looks set to stay. I can't decide right now as to whether it would have been worse to have that heatwave we were promised as opposed to putting up with this dreary weather.


Still I realised today that it's just over a month until my birthday when I will be ....... getting older. Yes, yes I'm still a touch in denial about getting older as I'm sure most people are when it's their birthday.


It was another interesting day at work. I continued to work hardon my project for this week which did tax my conversion skills as I had to find some bits and pieces to convert a planetary defence centre and geothemal power plant.


As you may have guessed I had a fun day :-)


Well I only have one more day to work this week then that will be the end of week four of my secondment and will mean that I only have two weeks left before it's back to the office. I have a stack of notes to take back with me as it has been a rather interesting experience.


In a good way before anybody asks. Most certainly a good way :-)


Later folks!

Wheels on the bus go round and round

For some reason this morning whilst waiting for the bus I got this song stuck in my head rather then any deep or profound thoughts and it's been stuck there pretty much all day. Still it was better then the song I had stuck in my head yesterday.


We had another quiet day which allowed us to get caught up with all of the outstanding jobs and projects and start some new ones. Which meant I got to have a lot of fun converting some new objectives for a map which included amongist others a spaceport, a lake, a defence command centre, a factory complex and a lava miner. It was great fun.


The weather was also playing up again as it was switching at what seemed like the drop of a hat. So much for the massive heatwave we were supposed to get all summer.


Mind you if it would have been as humid and sticky as it was a few weeks ago I'm really pleased that the weathermen got it very wrong.


Anyway, I'm off to do some painting as I've decided that I'm going to paint the fellowship of the Ring as I'm getting a bit bored of Space marines right now.


Later folks!

I wonder

I had one of those random thoughts this morning whilst waiting for the bus this morning in the way that you do when you have time on your hands and you have all those big thoughts that will probably lead nowhere but you still think them if anyone has done a scientific study into why headphones for ipods, cd players etc always seem to get easily tankled no matter how carefully you put your player in a pocket/bag etc. I mean we've had a scientific studies for everything else under the sun from the universities where they seem to have departments of scientists with nothing better to do so why not try and answer this mystery :-)

They've just announced the schedule for this years conference. It seems that in a slight change to the usual schedule they will be running a 'church cinema' as a alternative to some of the workshops and showing lots of different church films for anyone who doesn't feel like running around.

On the Saturday afternoon we will be getting a choice of the following workshops; Funhouse, Human Bowling, Giant Football, Art workshop, Massage class, Salsa class, Street dancing, Break dancing, Snowball fight, Motivational speaker and Treasure Hunt.

However the most interesting surprise was about the choice of workshops on Sunday afternoon. Bro H that's right our institute teacher Bro H will be attending conference and taking a workshop " the Saviour as revealed in the gospels" which is one workshop I'm going to make sure that I catch.

The only slight disappointment is that they've only given a hour to testimony meetings on the Sunday night and it's not the last activity. It will be followed by a film on Joseph Smith. Which I think is a shame as the testimony meeting was always a lovely and spritual way to end the Sunday and for most people was always a highlight.

Still I'm going to keep an open mind as I'm sure the leaders know what their doing. They probably don't want to have to drag people out of the building so the staff can go home.

anyway,

Later folks.

Roadways and waterways

The day actually started out good today, clear blue skies, bright sunshine. I even took my sunglasses with me when I went to catch the bus as I thought I might need them on the way home.

I didn't need to have bothered.

It started to rain by early afternoon and not just a light rain, I'm talking mega death you spend longer then two seconds in it you'll get soaked rain. By later afternoon the roads were doing a very good impression of waterways and the buses were leaving bow waves that would do some ships proud. Fortunatly the pavement outside of the shop slopes downhill and has a drainage bit in the middle which meant the water was getting no where near the front door.

One of our regular gamers did get caught out in the rain and got throughly drenched as he was only wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals. He was doing a very good impression of something that looked like it had drowned be it a rat or otherwise.

I've just realised that this years conference is just under seven weeks away and as regular readers will know it is the one time of the year where there will be a break in transmission for three days whilst I'm away. But never fear as with the last three years I will be giving the conference an extensive write up of everything I got up to. I just hope that I can once again make some new friends this year as I will as last year be going by myself! Which even though I went by myself last year is still a nerve wracking prospect.

Still I survived that so I'm sure I'll survive this :-)

Later folks

Words fail me

I saw this story today ( be warned it's a fairly adult story) and quite honestly words fail me. Who the heck thought this was a good idea?

what happened to PE lessons? Do they think this is the only way kids are willing to exercise?

51 to go

As in 51 posts to go before I hit the major figure of 1000 posts. Which means I am almost at the point where you could read posts a day starting from the very beginning and it would take you a whole year to read them all. Which on reflection is a lot of writing, ramblings and waffling init?

Traveller has returned to the UK for what I understand is a brief visit, well I think it's supposed to be a month but seeing as she spends near enough the rest of the year overseas a month is only a brief visit. Well it could be longer depending on your sense of time but to each their own I guess and oh look I'm rambling again.

It was Owens birthday today as it was a year ago today that we first collected him from the kennel. Wow it doesn't seem that it was that long ago. Time certainly does fly when you have a dog that likes to chew socks. He's been busy most of the day playing with his new toys.

anyway back to work tomorrow for week four of my secondment. It should be a interesting week as it's likely to be the last quiet week as the schools start to break up for the summer holidays the following week and it's likely to get a lloootttt busier from then on in.

anyway,

Later folks,

Awesome

is the only word I can think of to describe the last episode of season three of torchwood. My only fear is that as the ending was a bit 'final' it might be the last we see of Torchwood. However the ratings are supposed to have been a smash and we can only hope that this encourages the BBC to commission season 4.

It's really difficult not to wax lyrical about the whole series but I will refrain for now in case any of my American readers plan on watching it. I'll just mention three of the highlights from last night episode. Firstly Captain Jacks decision, was the sacrifice of one life for millions worth it? Secondly the master stroke of a scene which shows it's what you don't see which is more horrifying, where a Father faces a impossible choice. And last PC Andy's decision. Now I like the character of Andy he's very much a secondary character but he's clearly devoted to his friend Gwen even though she can be a bit of a cow when dealing with him sometimes, and I found the scene where he stands alone wondering what to do before dropping his body armour to race into a riot to help protect the children extremly powerful.

It showed that the BBC is still capable of producing TV sci-fi or otherwise to match the best of the shows from the USA.

It was a lloooonnnggg day today because as you can imagine it's always busier on Saturdays. To be fair it was quiet to begin with then all of a sudden the shop seemed to fill with people and it all went mental! Still it was a lot of fun and I got to play several intro games to show people how our games work. In 40k the Orks still can't hit the broadside of a barn and in LOTR Frodo continues to keep getting away with that Ring. Trickseh hobbit he is.

I also decided for Lunch that I was going to do something different and try going to subway as I admited the other day that I had never been there to someone and I got the sort of look that you would expect from someone when you insult one of their children. I did have a bit of a 'is that it moment' once I paid for my sub but then again I suppose that it is part down to me being a fussy eater so I don't like about three quarters of their options.

The BBC has now cancelled Robin hood but I suppose it made sense after the death of three major characters ( I won't say who in case any of my US readers watch the show).

anyway,

Later folks!

50/50

Well I only have one more day of work this week and then I will officially be at the half way point of my secondment. It feels quite odd as it doesn't seem like three weeks since I started my secondment and it seems strange that in three weeks time I will be back in the office.


I'm still in shock at last nights torchwood. Yes Captain Jack needed to be taught that being a arogant so and so doesn't always win the day but why like that. Why did that have to happen?? There's only one more episode and that's tonight and I hope they come out with a good ending and not some cop out as if they don't beat the aliens it's going to turn the Doctor who 'universe' quite dark. Speaking of the Doctor I couldn't help but wonder why none of them suggested trying to call him? Did they loose his phone number or something?


Channel five have started showing the first season of CSI again. It's very weird as all the stars seems so 'young' and it only seems to emphasis how poorer the show is now Grissom has left.


This Sunday is Owen's 'Birthday' as it's been one year since we first collected him from the kennels. Time certainly seems to fly these days doesn't it?

anyway,

Later folks!

Little creepy

Due to various reasons I'm still not sure of but may include some/all or none of the following, leaving early, holes in the space time continuim, upgrading the car with warp drive, putting rocket fuel in the car instead of unleaded, finding a wormhole, or using a helecopter I ended up getting to Nottingham early enough to catch the earlier bus, which meant I had a little while to kill before the shop opened.


So to pass the time I went for a little wander round some other shops and came across something which might have seemed like a good idea at the time to whoever thought it up but it just comes across as creepy now. For those of you who live under rocks or on Mars, or even under rocks on Mars Michael jacksons tour in the UK was called 'This is it' or at least that's the name I've heard most people refer to it as and one shop is now selling a t-shirt with the slogan " This is it" across the front and above it is a image of Michael jackson from the thriller video. Yes that's right they've used the image of his as a zombie.


All I can say about that is d'oh!


We had a quiet day today which meant we were able to catch up on some jobs which mainly included painting a lot of terrain which was quite fun as I got to paint a huge armoured bastion/tower which proved to be quite a challenge especially when it came to figuring out how to paint rust. Which might not sound that interesting but it was, honest.

Okay maybe you had to be there.

I thought I was going to see a fight on the way home on the Bus as a OAP squared off to bunch of chavs and I have no problem referring to them as such as they were all the walking, talking perfect chav stereotypes. Fortunatly nothing did kick off as I really didn't want to get caught in the middle of anything like that but to be honest I'm not sure who I would have placed my money onto win, the old guy or the chavs as he did look quite tough.

It's episode four of Torchwood tonight and Grumpy has very kindly agreed to forgo watching the mentalist this week so I can see it. I can't wait it's been so coll so far this week. My only complaint is that it's going to be over tomorrow and who knows when the fourth series will arrive?

Anyway,

Later folks

Boom dakka Bang

It was all change this morning as I had to take Grumpys car to work as he was taking mine to the garage to get the small repair that it needed to pass it's MOT. The garage was able to get it sorted quickly and so I now have my car back plus a nice new MOT certificate for another year.

We had a quieter day today which meant that we had a chance to start constructing some new terrain for use on the gaming boards which was a lot of fun especially as I got to put together and paint all of the observation stations and interceptor cannons as I've come up with a good way of painting metallics. Which might sound a strange thing to say but it's a lot harder to paint realistic metallic colours then you'd think.

But no stranger then gettign a rock from the garden painting it black then repainting it to look like a rock. And that's another long story which I won't bore you with here.

I started watching the Fellowship of the Ring tonight before the third part of Torchwood, as I've started to become really interested in the Lord of the Rings again. I have now in fact got the whole fellowship sitting on my painting table ready to start whenI get a moment. I might post a photo if I like my resulting efforts.

Torchwood episode two last night was brilliant. There's something ever so british about a jailbreak involving a JCB. Episode three tonight was a bit slow as the pace slackened but ended on a very foreboding note and a 'twist' which was unfortunatly a touch to easy to work out. but despite that I'm looking forward to the rest of the series with bated breath!

Anyway,

Later folks.

Sailing Away

The weather has been playing up a bit today, going from sunny to rainy at a drop of a hat. Which is slightly annoying when trying to figure out what coat to take with you as because if you make the wrong decision as Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes would say " After one short downpour you become ludiciously attired for the rest of the day.

Due to light traffic I got into Nottingham slightly earlier then I needed to so I took the chance to have a quick browse around the shops as I realised after reading up on Lord of the rings I only had Return of the King on DVD and not the first two films as I only had them on video! So I was keen to find them and I managed to luck out as they were in the HMV sale for only £10 for the pair.

I got to the shop to discover we had, had a problem yesterday as our basement had flooded ( along with several other shops) fortunatly not too badly ( about 5cm at most), nothing important was damaged like stock or anything electronic but the carpet was throughly soaked but it still required us to call some cleaners out, Who were actually quite chatty and were fascinated by the shop and what we sold which I suppose makes sense as there's few business's like ours. Fortunatly although the basement had been flooded the shop floor was fine and things chugged along at their usual interesting pace. Plus my new shoes held up very well.

The first episode of torchwood last night was brilliant. It was very creepy with all the children stopping dead then chanting in perfect unison " We, we, we are, we are, we are coming....." Events moved quickly and they have at last toned down the references to Captain Jacks sexuality. There was only one kiss in last nights episode and it wasn't gratious as I think anybody would kiss their partner/ girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/ wife before they are about to be blown up by a bomb in their stomach ( and now I'm not going to explain how that got there).

I've got to sign off now as episode two is about to start.

Later folks!

Watch out Irony is about

Well the car went in for it's MOT this morning and it failed. Darn it!

Which may have been my fault for thinking it had it's service only a month ago and everything was ticked off in the green so it's sure to pass. It seems that a small bit in the suspension broke since the service and has to be replaced. Still on the plus side it's being done this week so it means I don't have to pay for two MOTs and the cost of the repair will only be in two figures which as the man at the garage said is very good for car that is almost ten years old.

I spent the rest of the day rushing about doing the shopping, getting some new shoes ( and some new socks too, woah! Going crazy in my spending there I know. Plus there all plain black ones which should make it easier for me in the mornings as I am one of the walking stereotypes of men who can't find their socks) and getting my hair cut. Which took much longer then usual plus was more exspensive as they've just put their prices up again. It's now £8.

Now I was rushing around, Grumpy however was not as he's done something to his back. Now I'm sure it's his back but Grumpy did have a touch of lets go to the worst scenario possible and started imagining everything it could be. The short of it is that he can't move very well which meant someone needed to take Owen out.

And who could that be?

Mind you I'm starting to see what could have caused Grumpys bad back as I can barely keep hold of Owen when he starts pulling and I'm not exactly on the small side!

In between cursing the fates and getting the shopping I spent most of the day reading up about the Lord of the Rings tabletop game and figuring out how it all worked. It certainly seems a easy game to play but hard to master. I found some LOTR figures in the garage and thought I would give painting them a go. I don't have gollum however which is a shame as it would give me a perfect excuse to bound around the house making jokes about the preciousss.... and confusing the heck out of Grumpy.

Week three of my secondment starts tomorrow which I'm looking forward to as it's been a lot of fun so far and we're about to start getting into the really, really, really mega interesting stuff. Which will hopefully involve building some more terrain as I'm starting to really enjoy that. Hmmm now do we have room to cram another table in the garage I wonder??

anyway,

Later folks.

Blank blank blank

I've been sitting in front of the computer for the past half an hour trying to think of something to write in my first bad case of writers ( or I suppose in this case bloggers ) block I've had for sometime.

It's just been on of those days where things haven't been forgettable as that's the wrong word more, just pretty much standard and rather non descript. Which isn't that useful when it comes to writing a blog post as it's not terribly interesting really is it?

That's a rhetorical question by the way

I've spent most of the afternoon reading and then doing some clearing out through the boxes of models bits I have in the garage. I really do have way too much stuff.

The car is going in for it's MOT tomorrow. I am hopeful it will pass as it came through it's service all right but I guess you can never know with these things if irony is going to be just round the corner ready to stick his oar in.

anyway,

Later folks!

No plan survives first contact with the enemy

It's been a pretty hectic day today. Work was extremly busy as it was a 'release weekend' which is a technical term meaning a lot of new shiny models were released today. So if theres a big release it's a 'release weekend'.

Yeah I know, not exactly hard to grasp is it?

I had other problems to content with today however as both of the heels on my trainers yesterday somehow choose the exact same moment to collapse rendering them unwearable. This meant I only had my church shoes which are fine for church but after 7 and a half hours of standing around it was starting to feel like something had been chewing on my feet.

So first business of the day on Monday will be a hunt for some new shoes to wear.

Still this minor problem aside it was a shock to realise that this was indded the end of my second
week of secondment . I'm now a third of the way through! The time is moving so fast. Please excuse me if I have said that before as it's late and me brainee no thinkee and workee soo gud rite now.

After work we had a staff game which was a lot of fun even if my side got so painfully pummelled I'm sure we'll loose the next game as well. Still I'm sure my Dwarf army will return and take revenge on those that wronged them even if it's likely the best they'll be able to manage is a moral victory :-)

Later folks!

I don't think this was what they had in mind

I can't remember who it was exactly but before I started my secondment somebody said that I should enjoy it as much as possible as it was a good chance to see things from another angle. I had cause to reflect on this comment this morning as the angle I was seeing at that point was one I'm sure they did not have in mind. But then again even I was expecting to be looking upside down at a sink as I attempted to dry my wet hair under a hand dryer.

Before you wonder if I have finally snapped and gone totally round the bend allow me to explain. The hot weather finally broke this morning with a rather intense rain shower which would have been fun to look at if I had been inside. Unfortunatly I was not inside and managed to get a bit wet whilst getting to the shop. Fortunatly I had taken my coat with me as I hadn't liked the look of the sky which meant I didn't get as wet as I could have done but I was still quite damp. So with no towels other then paper towels in the shop I had to resort to trying to use the hand dryer in the loos to try and dry my rather wet hair at that point. But as it is in a awkward place I ended up having to do a lot of awkward manoevring to get my head under. Which is why I was looking at the world from a rather diffirent angle :-)

The rain continued for most of the morning which meant it was a lot cooler today that it has been. However the temperature suddenyl ramped up again suddenly in the afternoon which meant the last couple of hours were a bit sticky.

Today was even more fun then usual due to the sheer array of jobs I had to do, from the store walk, to repairing terminators, to helping a kid build a model, to fixing a building to finally painting the hobbits from Lord of the Rings, Sam even had his own saucepan which I found quite funny. I have one more day to work this week and then I will officially be one third of the way through my secondment which is weird as it doesn't seem like two weeks have hone by already!

anyway,

Later folks!

Giving it everything we've got

In the shop I'm currently seconded too we have two AC units and today as well as having them on at full blast as well as two large fans it was still getting just a bit warm in there. Yes the hot weather is continuing and as yet shows no sign of abating.

However according to the weather guru's it is supposed to be getting a little cooler tomorrow and theres a chance of some rain which might finally 'break' this heat.

Of course if you think about it, I do seem to be doing what most english people do, spend the last two summers moaning about how awful the weather is and wishing it would be warmer and when we finally get some warm weather I spend the whole time moaning wishing it would be cooler.

I guess the english stereotype will never be satisfied when it comes to weather :-)

It was a shock to realise we're now in July! The halfway point of the year has been passed already! I'm sure the years are passing quicker now, is it just that I'm getting older? Or is someone stealing days when we're not lookin? Why am I suddenly using lots of question marks? Who knows?

Torchwood season 3 starts on Monday and I'm really excited. However the downside is all five episodes will be played every day next week meaning the whole series will be shown rather quickly. Lets hope it's not too long until season 4!

anyway,

Later folks!

Drink, Drink, Drink

It's still hot, really really hot and I'm downing so much water at the moment I'm starting to feel like I'm in danger of becoming a swimming pool!

Still the water is a lot better for me then fizzy even the sugar free kind and a side benefit of the heat is that I don't seem to be eating as much. So bonus point there me thinks and right now I am seriously looking for all of the bonus points I can find when it comes to this heat as I did not sleep well in the slightist last night. But again looking for the bonus point no weird dreams last night involving muppets helping space marines clear a space craft. I'm sure Engineseer will find that funny even if the rest of you have no idea what I'm currently blithing on about.

I also lucked out today when catching the bus back to get my car ( yes I know this is complicated but it's the simplist way) as apparently there had been a bad accident somewhere in Nottingham meaning that all of the buses had been delayed exactly 45 minutes. However as the buses run every fifteen minutes it technically meant that I caught the bus that was three times in front of the bus I should have caught. At which point I decided it's far too hot for that kind of thinking and if I kept thinking like that my brain would probably melt, if it hasn't already. But then again I speak so much gibberish sometimes who would be able to tell the difference.

anyway,

Later folks!