Archives: work

Wonder how Jack will get on with the sponsored run around the cricket pitch next to the school today? Nothing exacting for him, as he has shown the capacity to run quite a way when he’s been in the park. It would be nice to be able to go, but… here I am on my train to work as per usual. The normal train is late, so the turn back train has come early, much to the initial confusion of my fellow passengers as it’s a normal train, not the usual ‘boneshaker’ they deploy for the turn back.

It looks like they’ll have a good day for the run, although the amount of rain over the past couple of days could make the whole thing a bit of a mess & the cricket club may regret to letting a school of kids run around there… heh. Caroline arrived yesterday teatime, so she will be able to go & see the great sporting event. We did not spend the night foolishly drinking, but we did stay up too late. Late enough for me to get to the point where your brain feels too heavy in the head. Late enough for me only to have the capacity to stare blankly at the world. Hmmm… Isn’t part of meditation the exercise of thinking about nothing? I can do that now with very little… um… thingy.

New fellas at work seem to be settling in OK. Can’t really say that much at the moment other than that they are personable & that they seem quite knowledgeable.

ooh… — view from the train: a heron sitting in a dirty puddle in a field… Well it isn’t going to catch much there.

New people started at work yesterday. There will be 3 in all, but we only saw 2 yesterday – such is the staggering of the introductions. Too early to say what I think of anyone & how I feel they will fit in. The fact that they turned up in shirt & tie (we have a relaxed dress code, thankfully) makes judgement all the more difficult.

We shall see…

Groggy (gosh, what a surprise) this morning – polyfillering late again… It seems I always find a little that I can do. My alarm is having to protest at me for me to get out of bed. I normally respond automatically & just start the day, but I’m getting a dangerous tendency to lig a little longer.

Eve was reluctant to sleep last night & made quite a fuss about going in the cot, but go she did & fuss she did. It took a good long while for her to calm down, but Louise did not get her out of the cot again. She cuddled her, but did not lift her. We do not want her getting the idea of a precedence set. It was Jack who eventually calmed her down… Well, distracted her by complaining at her that she was being, “Too loud” so he “could not hear the story” I was tying to read. She turned round as if to say “what?” & from then started to settle again. She was excepting enough to lay back down in the cot with her rabbit & milk (not a ‘bottle with a teat’ – she’s never had one of those). Jack drifted off to sleep as I read Whinie The Pooh (he doesn’t like “big books” a a rule, but this one does have quite a few pictures in it). I got up to turn the light out to leave & Eve’s still awake. Uh-oh… Feel like I’ve been caught doing something that I shouldn’t be so I flap my arms nervously, grin sheepishly & say to her that, “I’m just turning the light off” do so & lie back down with Jack again. Just so she knows there’s someone in the room, like. I give it 5 minutes before I check & she has drifted off to sleep now. She was slow blinking when I stood up, so I guess the darkness was the final blow to wakefulness.

Moved my work PC over to Windoze 2000
today. Still a few things to do to get it functioning as I might
like, but on the whole it was painless. For someone who is not
wholly confident with putting PC’s together in general – with a bit
of help it was all done in a day. The secondary HD (my old one) was
not being detected at 1st, but that was to do with the bios, so
thankfully that was sorted too.

Got all my old files & all that
malarkey, so, hmmm – not so bad.

Still -I liked NT4 even tho I was derided.
I’m derided for being a Mac user tho – so what would I
care?

Not really getting that much done at home
this week. Not really sure why, but – what the hell… I’m too
tired in general to be bothered by it, but can’t switch off enough
to dismiss it.

The kids are going to be tired this evening
– they were both awake before I left for work. Be nice if we could
get them to bed early, but that would be too much to ask. I’ve
designated tonight a ‘don’t prat about on the computer – get some
polyfilering done’ night. Needs must.

Anxious today. Returning home from work
& inexplicably anxious. Can’t really give a good reason, as I’m
supposedly reassured, but that doesn’t help. I guess it’s all work
based. Got a internal mail of criticism yesterday that was stated
as not being directed at me, but nonetheless… Thought I’d talked
that through & felt better at the time, but as with paranoia it
creeps back at you.

Looks like we will get new staff joining
us, but that does not really help anxiety – perhaps creates more…
We have not been told that new people will be joining us.. but then
no secret has been made that recruitment is being done. As usual we
pick things us by assimilating snippets & gleaming
titbits.

i dunno – i think it’s that which is making
me anxious, but I’m not really sure.

bugger

This evening before tea Jack was drawing, & then wanted some scissors, then rushed into the kitchen with the train. We were delighted, so he cut out some more shapes & drew the truck & car in them

Hectic couple of days at work & home, so travelling home today is my 1st writing time. My fault for trying to do too much at home. Been actually starting to write some comic reviews again, & although they are not fully formed enough for ZUM! as yet, I thought I’d bat them off to a review zine in the states. Dunno what will come, but why not thinks me. I was too late to bed last night, so have a ‘background’ headache now, due to tiredness.

Jack’s 1st day at school went well, according to reports, although he was a little tired. He was lying on the sofa watching “The Travelling Thornburys” (my favourite cartoon at the moment) when I got home. Louise says that she was worried how he’s be when he came out from school – overexcited or whatever, but he was happy & placid. He had a good day at school, likes his teacher, & had some stories & … well, rather enjoyed it. It’s not really as if the surroundings are unfamiliar as it is the same school as he has been attending ‘nursery’ school at. He is now in what is termed ‘reception class’.

Louise didn’t tell me how leaving him there was, but then, as said, this is just next from nursery. The school day started later yesterday, but it was a normal start time this morning, which may have been more difficult. Everyone was asleep in the house as I left this morning. Hopefully everything went well, but Louise had go clothes, shoes etc all prepared the night before, so in theory everything will have gone smoothly.

It was just Louise & Eve yesterday, & Louise said that Eve did not stop talking & noise making all day.. well, we knew she was loud, but I guess that Jack has also been around masking the noise she makes on her own. She had fun by the sound of it – playgroup & more attention to just her. Heh… there’s girl about Eve’s age, with an older sister about Jack’s age. She was there at playgroup, & when she say Louise & Eve – she greeted them as Jack. It seems as she likes Jack, both Eve & Louise also must be called the same.

Jack was a bit difficult at tea time yesterday, as he can be sometimes. He did not want to come to the table to eat, so we didn’t bother trying to force the issue. He was mean to his sister when she had finished, a lego dispute again – he was trying to build something & she pinched a brick, that was either next to or part of his construction, he hit her, she got so upset she ‘lost’ her tea… so, effectively none of them had a tea, really. Jack did not get a tea after that mayhem. All calmed & cleaned up reasonably quickly, but it is especially disheartening for Louise when that happens as she spends this time cooking the meal, only to have it all messed up. Nice meal too – a new sweet & sour… Hey ho…

Dad called last night for ‘tech support’ on his computer. It seems, as he is entirely new to a windows or generally GUI interface, he was a bit rash with the left & right clicking, & somehow ended up getting too high a monitor resolution. He got it back to normal eventually in ‘Safe Mode’, but it took a few goes, & we also installed the printer drivers so that he could do what he wanted to do. Quite good to get that bit sorted – next to get him online!

Full of good intention.  I thought I might
get to sleep sooner last night, but failed as usual. Did get all
the tweaks done on my website that I had intended, but did not
really get far enough to actually posting up a new ZUM! review or
2, which I had intended.  Ah, well.
Jack was really chatty yesterday.  Quite full of wanting to
tell me things & join in.  Louise said he had been all
day.  Louise’s mum had bought us a copy of the new Ikea
catalogue, (Louise’s auntie Cathleen had had it dropped on her
doorstep & had put it aside for us, & Louise’s mum picked
it up for us when she went round; Cathleen said that she had put it
aside as she thought that we might be interested, so Louise’s mum
brought it along for us, but she’s never had one delivered , &
she wonders why Cathleen has a delivery and… oh, sorry just
started relating ‘as told’ by Louise’s mum).  Where was I…
Ah, Jack went through he whole catalogue with me, chortling at
things he thought might be ‘funny’.  It would have been quite
amusing for me, had I not had quite such a testy day at work. 
Perhaps I was in a negative mood in general, but people calling up
with problems – things like; an involved
explanation of a problem, then a couple of questions on my part
that indicating that the imagined problem was nothing of the sort,
& then finding that they were not even in front of the computer
to do any diagnosis; and the general attitude of ‘business users’
when you answer the phone, greet them, & they greet you as if
they have just discovered a talking dog shit… sigh…  I
guess I’m feeling a little over busy at the moment.  Such
things do not usually bother me, I’m not exactly you’re ‘sensitive’
type in such matters, but you need the chance to maintain an
equilibrium between calls.  Not really possible at the
moment.  One of the company bosses called yesterday, I started
treating him as a normal caller; Opening schpiel, listen – ‘Problems
dialling’? OK are you windows or mac?…  He butted in & had
to tell me twice who he was before the cycle of ‘getting on with
it’ was broken.  ‘Problems dialling’ was about people trying to call me
– Hah!  “How many calls do you take?”  “I dunno – I just
answer the phone as much as possible”.  Oops started to rant
on there.
Jack was still in a burbling mood when he went to sleep – wanting
to tell me about his day in Hebden Bridge with mum &
grandma.  There was some burnt wood in the river (probably by
the playground) & something blocking the road at some
point.  I turned out the light, as he was keeping himself
awake with the chatter…   He was quite for a bit, &
then said, “I’m frightened,daddy.” which was a surprise.  He
was concerned about the shadows on the window – that were only the
shape of the window itself.  I hadn’t considered this… He is
getting more aware of is surroundings, as said before & he had
not really had the chance to drift off to sleep in the dark
recently as the days have been long enough for him to miss
them.  Poor little one.  I explained that it was the
window & there was no reason to be afraid, reassured that I was
there & he seemed to accept it, as he drifted off to sleep
OK… but …poor lamb.

Here sitting at work, typing on the emate.
Yeah… At ‘work’.
I do not normally do the Saturday morning shift, but then I will
have Monday off, so… better than working Monday in my opinion as
that’s a Sunday Shift (being Bank Holiday) & although I would
be in later, but also not be able to get home until later… &
I don’t want to be doing that! Keith normally does this shift – but
he’s on hols.
Just a longer week.
It’s not as busy, by any stretch of the imagination…

Train home… Well, that wasn’t too bad. A bit like the old days
before we took on more work & lost some staff. Was able to
concentrate on things for more than 5 minutes, which was a bonus.
Not bad. Train home cancelled, but the next one is fine. Meeting
Louise from the train to go to the supermarket so that we can get
that weekly shop out of the way. Insignificant details creep into
‘diary writing’. I wish I could filter better.
Eve woke a couple of times in the night. She’s cutting teeth
again. Canines this time, & they can be a little torturous.
It’s thrown her equilibrium a bit. For instance she had had an
afternoon nap yesterday, & was still grumpy when I got home
from work; delicate & not at all happy. Gave her a little
Calpol, & she brightened after that started working, so they
must have been giving her gyp.
Louise called work this morning at @ 8:30, & Jack was still
asleep! Wow – that must be one of his longer lie-ins ever! Why can
he not do that on weekdays… Mind you, when it comes to impending
school days, then there will be none of that. It’s gong to be a
fundamental change in the families daily routine

Well – I felt better all yesterday, until I got home, & had
some crumpets for tea – at which point I felt grotty again. Might
have been nothing to do with the crumpets though as I had been
dashing around manchester for an hour after work doing a little
shopping. Could not get half of what I had intended, but that’s
what shopping is all about. Might have been that I had exhausted
myself a bit. On the whole today has been steady again. Louise was
OK yesterday; just hungry, but she said that if she has been
flailing about after the kids a lot she feels worse… so, perhaps
it’s a similar thing.
Both kids were awake before I left for work this morning. Just one
of those things, I guess. I had the door to to upstairs closed
& heard footsteps above. When I opened the door, Eve, who was
at the top of the stairs let out a little happy shout. She &
Louise then came downstairs. I carried Eve down & she hung onto
me for quite a bit. Heh – it’s funny the way she pushes your
shoulders to get you to point in the right direction. Jack used to
do that as well. He also will occasionally try to steer my head
when he is sitting on my shoulders, but I will have none of that.
He is getting rather heavy for shoulder carrying at the moment, but
it’s where he likes to be when I’m around. I guess as he gets older
I will get more used to the weight. I hope he is out of the habit
by the time he’s 21.
Jack woke as well, as I said. He gave me a very big hug as I
picked him off from the top step. He wanted to know if I was on
holiday as he hardly ever awake to see me before I leave. Ah, would
that were the case.
He did see me after I had set off to work though as when I got to
the train station this morning, I realised that not only had I
picked up my house keys but also Louise’s. Had to go back. Jack was
in the bedroom window as I came up the road home, & I watched
him do a double-take & fix himself to the window watching me.
As all were upstairs I shouted up the stairs to Louise as to what I
was there for – so that she could tell Jack, so that he would not
wonder what the heck I was doing. Had to catch the later train, but
was still the 1st in & in on time. (Blasted work
ethic.)

(Workward train)
Well, that didn’t work yesterday. The Ricicles I had for breakfast
had vengeance & caused considerable pain. I lasted until @
10:30 before I concluded that work just was not … working, &
left for home. Got an appointment at the doctors & found that
there is in fact a bug doing the rounds in town & I am yet
another victim. No real mention of what it actually is, but stay
off solids, drink frequently & have some paracetamol &
another tablet to keep stomach acid down… sigh.

(Homeward train)
Hmmm thinking about it, I seem to have 30 days worth of
prescription… I sincerely hope that this is precautionary. I
would rather not live on fluids only for a month!
So, there is no other diagnosis than ‘bug’. You have to wonder
from where you’ve caught it. Well – the kids were off food for a
period last week & Eve had a particularly bad day last Thursday
(Louise confirms that as the day she did rather a lot of nappys).
They are better now, I am on day 4. So did I catch it from them…?
I dunno really. I’m inclined to think not. The lads in the office
are not enthused by the thought I have a ‘bug’. Cotangent? Who
knows… heh – well, we’ll find out, I guess. If everyone else if
off, then that might force some reappraisal of the staffing levels
we currently suffer work under.
Today’s been one of those days – as we have ceased an old phone
number – where I constantly put the phone down & immediately
pick it up & also every so often have my ear chewed by an irate
customer. sigh.
As I managed to get home early yesterday & Louise was out with
the kids for a bit, I managed to get some time for potentially
useful things – which I filled with sleeping. I had terrible
gut-rot remember? When Louise got back I was a little surprised to
see that she had no Jack. This was a relief really as I was as well
not having him there to crawl over me. When Eve woke she did her
best at that, but was not so difficult (or heavy) as Jack in that
respect. I was able to loll on the sofa for the most part.
Jack had gone off with Leila & her mum & dad) for the day.
Leila lives a fair bit further from the centre of town than we do
& was apparently missing the lack of social activity from
school. When Jack came back he was happy & Leila said that she
did not want him to go (aw!). All was amicable tho on leaving – no
protestations & Leila’s mum said that Jack had been as good as
gold.
The kids have had haircuts recently by the way. Eve has had her
1st haircut – which was really just a fringe trim. She needed it
really as her fringe was forever getting in her eyes. Having a
straight fringe is odd though. It changes the aspect of her face a
little. She is still a pretty little thing, but her mischeviousness
is even more evident. It shines through those grins of her even
more.
Being off in the afternoon also gave me leave to read the
newspaper. There were articles on child safety & parental
supervision. There has recently been a court case in the UK where
the parents of a girl who was killed (with her friend) playing on a
railway were found guilty of her manslaughter due to ‘gross
negligence’. This has sparked a few articles hand wringing on the
subject. It makes you more paranoid. At the moment Jack is enjoying
a certain amount of freedom on his bike. Just round the back street
& cul-de-sac where we live, but nonetheless he is not visible
to us at all times. He is usually with the other kids who are on
their hols at the moment – most of which are older than he (up to
at least 9 years for one of the girls, I guess). They seem to look
after each other well, but occasionally Jack will come back crying
(usually as he has fallen over). The thing is, you ask yourself,
“Am I supervising him enough?”. Well, no in that you do not now
exactly where he is (but you do basically) & yes in that you
are assured he is basically safe. It would be foolish to be
‘spying’ on him all the time as the other kids (& he) would
resent the intrusion, but kids are kids – so the compromise has to
be to just ensure you eyeball him every so often to ensure that you
know what’s going on. The balance between freedom &
responsibility – eek!

Feeling better? Hopefully. Still went to work yesterday as well,
but sleeping on the train seemed the most important thing to do as
the night before was such a bad night for sleeping. I had had some
tea, not much & upped the stakes on the gut rot, was sick even.
Could not get comfortable in bed & eventually fell asleep on
the sofa downstairs. Weird. Yesterday I opted for liquids only
& although I went to bed hungry, I had no pain to keep me
awake, so slept quite well. I’ve tried a little breakfast this
morning, but not my usual repast with huge tea swilling. I still
have something of a headache & dullness, but my walking pace
has picked up from being a crawl, so hopefully I’m feeling better
in general; still do not feel quite right, but improving.
There was me, thinking on Friday night that now that Big Brother
had finished it’s summer run I might get back to being more
productive on an evening, or at least getting to bed at a decent
time. Well… I have been getting to bed early the last couple of
days – essentially weaving to our bedroom to flop after reading the
kids to sleep.
Hmmm… Trains are playing silly buggers again. Yesterday was OK,
but Monday’s didn’t turn up. Today we change at Rochdale for some
reason…
Still waiting outside Rochdale station to pull into the platform,
so there could be summat up with the line, this morning, I guess –
sigh.