Monday, January 17, 2005

Skint, bored and waiting for payday

Well that basically sums up my current predicament. I have got £40 left to last the month out until i get paid again and have given myself a daily allowance of £5 a day to buy food, fags, bus fare and the like. I was a bit crazy when i last got paid, i spent quite a bit on clothes, had a full on new years eve drinking session, as well as a couple more when i have been to the United matches.

Been in a decent mood over the last few days, been relieved to have gone back to work, and i feel more like i did before i went through all the hassle of my Dads illness and death and it has been good. I suppose i look back at my old man now and see him as he was before he fell ill rather than the sick man on his death bed. All in all it seems like i have regained my zest for life again.

Good news on the Cricket front, England beat the South Africans today in a tight finish. Just as it was starting to get good i had to go to work but kept in touch with the latest score on WAP, and did a secret clench fisted when i found out we had taken the last wicket and won.

Trying to get to grips with Bluetooth on my phone, i didn't know how to use it until last weekend when Les brought his new phone to the match and kept on messing about with the bluetooth, i started messing about with mine, and found out how to search for devices so i keep on searching for devices for no other reason apart from curiosity about how many people around me have the capability. Yes sometimes life gets that interesting.

Not seen Jemma for a couple of days, it has been a major killer working all the time and trying to find time to see her. I don't think we will be able to go out this weekend as i have only got Saturday off, and she is working on Saturday night on her placement so that means that we will have to have a night in together one night after i finish work.

I've tried to swap my annual leave weeks around today so i can take a week off next month and go to Cornwall for a week to see my old friends down there as well as combining the business of watching Sheffield United at Plymouth Argyle with seeing my old friends in Looe. I've got a couple of uncles down there as well so it will be good seeing them.

I was listening to the Radio earlier and they have a little feature called Changing Tracks, where someone tells the story of how their life has changed and the song that helped change it, i don't think i have really got one but The Killers seem to have played a bit of a influence. The state of Indie music at the moment is good, there is a band that are starting to become big called Kaiser Chiefs who are excellent and i shall be buying the album in due course as well as making an effort to see them in concert.

Anyway more gubbins to come soon........


Thursday, January 13, 2005

Management

I heard this morning that someone has been sacked for making comments about their management in their weblog.

I would just like to put it on record that i think my management are very very nice people!

Now, where is that pay rise and promotion!!!


Tuesday, January 11, 2005

So i have been back to work a couple of days now and what has changed, pretty much nothing and almost everything if the truth be told. I seem to be enjoying being back at work though.

It's been early to bed all week, no staying up all night having hours on end watching television, no endless hours on the PS2, and i've not seen Jemma yet this week. She has texted me sympathizing about my early starts although i will be texting her when she is doing her night shift on Saturday night and i'm out bladdered after Sheffield United v Brighton

When i have to be up at god knows what time in the morning why on earth people think it necessary to call me after 10pm, this happened last night. I heard it ring but let it ring as i deemed it not important enough to let go until the morning, however the person who called me decided to leave me an answer machine message and i had to get up and out of bed to recieve the message, it was one of my mates calling me to see if i could get them a cheap train ticket for when United play West Ham.

Sheffield United have drawn West Ham Utd, it will be a good day out, free cheap train travel for me, plenty of beer all day, a great win for the Blades and wondering who Sean Bean will bring with him this time after Nicholas Cage appeared at Millwall.

Not a great deal has been happening though in my own sad little existance otherwise.

My Highly Reccomended List

- Shameless
- Brigette Neilsons Mammery Glands
- Filling in my application form for the Weakest Link
- Full English Breakfast in Kings Cross
- Farting (had a belly ache when i got up this morning which went after i performed the said action)
- Social Interaction

Not so reccomended

- Trainspotters
- Wednesdayites invading the Unitedite message board and filling it with abuse
- Alarm Clock's
- Having a big nasty spot on my forehead that seems to get worse every day

Anyway until next time, laters

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Mediocrity

Is it just me or has this year settled down in a new groove of nothingness and mediocrity again, i always tend to think that with a new year things will be different but in reality the more things change the more they seem to stay the same.

I'd resolved to give up smoking this year, and i have managed a sizeable reduction in my nicotine intake, although i put 30+ away yesterday but i was out on the beer all day so maybe that is acceptable. The gym is going well, been 3 times already this year, doing more and more time on the treadmill, did 3,000 metres on the treadmill last time out, and my dodgy knee felt fine after. Not really managed cutting down on the boozing yet although there has been a marked improvement in how much i drink at home. Most nights i enjoy sitting in front of the TV, or going on the computer drinking a couple of cans to unwind towards the end of the night, part of me thinks it might be alcoholism in a embryonic stage, however i tend to think that its just a sign that i like a beer at the end of the day and its not if i'm 3 big bottles of White Lightening in one sitting.

Saturday i went to the football which is normal, i drank quite a lot all day, smoked a lot, saw all the people i only see once a week when Sheffield United play, i enjoyed it, enjoyed a cracking game of football (which we won may i hasten to add), and it was a good day although in the end i ended up returning home slaughtered at about half past 12 and went straight to bed with my head feeling like it was in the early stages of a hangover. The majority of Saturdays have been like this.

Sunday is the same as ever as well. Get up with a hangover, go and fetch the papers and slouch around reading the sports news before getting in to the Sunday Times later on. I've not had a Sunday Dinner for ages and think i could do with one as well. I don't normally do anything at all on Sunday, it is a day without any serious boozing and there is nothing better than loafing about doing nothing.

On a slightly different note i'm back at work tomorrow after 3 months off sick with Stress and Anxiety and i really wonder how i will be when i go back to work. I needed the time off to be honest, i had a fortnight off when my Dad died and then i spent the next few months stressed out with that and a lot of other stuff and it came to the point where enough was enough. I had not allowed myself time to grieve, and owed it to myself and my employers to take the time off.

I went to see my boss Barney last week to sort a few bits and pieces out before i go back and to be honest i don't think i have a better boss. I think he saw the stress i had put myself under and i reckon he worried that i wasn't right to work at the time. Since i have been off he has been in regular contact with me, he called me a few times and arranged for me to go down and meet him for a bit of a chat every 2 or 3 weeks and he has seen the improvement in my general being.

Back to work tomorrow and i'm up at about half past 5 tomorrow and start back with 3 x 10 hour shifts. I feel kind of nervous about getting back to work, prehaps it is the first day back at school syndrome. I know there a few people who don't like me at work and a lot who do, but then again if someone doesn't like me then i'm not really bothered to be honest. After all we all go to work, turn up and just get on with our jobs.

I can't really think of much more to say, and i have been finding it hard to find something of note to put on here. I'm going through a phase of mediocrity but i'll settle for that at the minute.


Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Shamelessly nicked but i couldn't think of anything better to write myself

Everybody else is doing it, so why can't I?

What did you do in 2004 that you'd never done before? Lost one of my parents, it is seriously bad news when it happens, you never imagine it to happen to you but when it does it crushes you and fucks you up for a time, you learn to deal with it in time, and at the end of it you come out it, your world a sadder place but a better person for the experience.

Did you keep your New Years' resolutions? My first one was to pack in smoking and lasted about 2 days before i had another fag, i also resolved to join a gym and go on a regular basis which i still manage to do, but sadly paying my penance for too much beer, tobacco and junk food.

Will you make more resolutions for 2005? I made a resolution to give up smoking, this new years resoultion stuff gets fucking tedious. I mean my life is pretty ok, why change it

What places did you visit? The toilet, Quite a few football grounds, Eastbourne for a weekend, Malia, Blackpool playing football in the Railsport Games, Sheffield Uniteds pre-season tour of Cornwall, several public houses, and all sorts of other places where people go. Fucking hell this is getting tedious.

What did you get really, really, really excited about? Its not life that is exciting, it is taking your experiences however minor, sitting down with them and disecting them and learning more about yourself and making the wry observations that people seldom notice. I was slightly excited prior to my 18-30 holiday to Malia

What events merited celebration? Not a year with that much to celebrate to be honest, it was pretty crap year. As years go it was more a year of Premiership Survial rather than Champions League glory.

Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope, sorry, i abandon my friends, girlfriends and any other family as soon as children and babies are mentions. It tends to turn some good people from good free-willed people in to boring people living boring lives and middle class sensibilities although this may change when i decide the time is right to produce some offsprings to replace myself in the great scheme of things

Did anyone close to you die? Yeah, my Dad, now referred to as the 'great man in the sky'.

What do you wish you'd done more of? Having more good sex, well not that had to little but you know they say you can't have too much of a good thing. They say a good wank is better than bad sex and are probably right but there is nowy better than a good shag.

What do you wish you'd done less of? Sitting round moping about things that happened in my life this year that i had no control over. It is one thing some bad shit happening and its another dwelling on it.

Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?I can't think of one person who i spent most time on the phone to, some people i call a lot and only have short calls, others i speak to infrequently and speak to for a lot longer. I would rather have conversation in a decent pub with a couple of pints and plenty of cigarettes, it is amazing how you can put the world to rights in such a situation

What would you like to have in 2005 that you lacked in 2004? More money and a bit of luck, i could get really deep and mention a whole host of other stuff that i lacked over the last year but writing it all down can be a bit of a arse.

What date from 2004 will remain etched upon your memory? 28th Feburary, the day i lost my Dad, this year is the 1st anniversary and i'm going to go out and have a good drink to remember him by. No point in using it as an excuse to mope around, more a good reason to have a celebration.

What song will always remind you of 2004? The Libertines, Can't Stand Me Know. A band who have revived the whole Indie scene and the nearest thing to a young Oasis. A song packed full of energy, love, hate, despair and a million other emotions flying around in the mix. Listening to it on a good day it inspires the belief that you can do anything you want to do, there and then.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I went to London with one of my mates, got totally slaughtered and went back to Sheffield on the train totally blotted and i felt another year older on the next day. I was 27, but like a vintage wine i'm only getting better with age.

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Sheffield United getting promotion to the Premiership, no ifs and no buts. I don't really give a flying fuck what people think about me, or what goes on during my day to day to life. It is just a great chance to forget all my troubles and invest all my hopes and dreams in something else.

Did you suffer illness or injury? I suffered for quite a while with depression following the death of my father. More or less over it now but at the time it was like nothing else in the world had any mean or significence (this is getting fucking boring now i hear you think). I needed stiches in a head wound after i fell off a quad bike in Greece, i also had septic tonsilitis as well which laid me low for a week.

What was the best thing you bought? I'm sorry, i can't think of anything that i bought that is paticularly memorable to be honest. I think i must buy a load of crap if i'm being honest

Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?My own at times, one thing i did was when Ken Bigley the British Hostage in Iraq was beheaded, i looked for the footage on google and found and it and a morbid curiousity compelled me to watch it. I didn't go through with watching it all, but i learnt how evil other people can be, and it taught me a lot about human nature.

When will I grow up? The eternal question!

Where did most of your money go? Beer and Football matches if the truth be told.

Compared to this time last year, you are...another year older, another year wiser but safe in the knowledge that the more things seem to change the more they stay the same.

What was your favorite TV program? Shameless, absolute pure genius and a real cult classic.

What was the best book(s) you read? I didn't read as much as i used to this year, i went through a phase of being an avid reader i didn't seem to get in to it as much this year.

What were your favorite films of this year? The Football Factory was a good film, other than that the only film i saw at the pictures was Bridget Jones Dairy and that was a right heap of shit

What was your greatest musical discovery? A band called the Kaiser Chiefs flicked the musical switch for me, as well as another band called Kasabian.

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2004? 50% mod, 50% spice boy, trying to look good whenever i can, even when i have dressed down or looked like a sack of shit. Appearances count and you never know when the next bird could be coming round the corner.

Who were the best new people you met? I met a lass called Jemma, been seeing her a couple of months and we are just taking it easy and seeing what happens, although it has been one of those years when i haven't really expanded my social circle

Did you fall in love in 2004? It depends what quantifies love. I feel in a state of happiness and it remians to be seen if it evolves furthur. I'm pretty frightened of falling in love but it excites me as well, prehaps i'm already in love, prehaps i will never be in love, will i ever know?

What was your biggest achievement of the year? I came through the biggest test ever asked of me last year and came out of the other side of it a better person, that probably classes as a roaring success.

What was your biggest failure? Prehaps i didn't really have any major failure although the fact i didn't progress is a sign of failure.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004? However bad things get it never the end of the world


«#Blogging Brits?»


Welcome (A visit to hell)

New to this blog game so i don't know where to start it all. I'm kind of thinking that i might use this site to get things off my chest, you know the script, tell you about all sorts of things that get right on my tits and tell you there is more than a few.

Possibly it could be alternative way of getting to know one another by listing the things you dislike rather than the things you light. I've tried this with my girlfriend before and she just calls me Grumpy, well she is 21 and the 6 year age gap might be starting to tell though. But its a interesting concept anyway.

I'll get the ball rolling anyway with the first thing that has seriously got on my tits this week and that is the abhorration that is known at Somerfield at Broomhill, a place where the staff are institutionalized in the worst possible way, a place where the staff are well and truly the master race and us the consumer (well we have all become the consumer than the human race in bullshit corporate speak) are nothing better than whale shit on the bottom of the ocean.

Yesterday i visited Somerfield, (Somerhell as i will now refer to it) for a few day supplies of microwave ready meals, and other bollocks that i couldn't survive without. It was a task made slightly more difficult by the fact i was feeling a tad unwell due to a very high level of inebriation due to spending the day watching Sheffield United thrup West Ham United.

As i approached Somerhell i took a deep breath in preparation for my hell loaded 10 minutes, the deep breath gave me some sort of fortificating relaxation as i passed Martins the newsagent, only to be accosted by a gentleman sat on the ground with a blue bottle containing a unidentified liquid. He slurred something at me which i which got a little bit lost in translation but possibly sounded like 'can you lend me some money for a cup of tea', which i found pretty damn preposterous as he already had a refreshing drink in his hand.

This was followed 10 seconds later by a chav looking lad offering me a copy of the Big Issue, which i declined and strode on bravely in to Somerhell clutching a green plastic shopping basket. I was going to get a trolley but i wasn't prepared to let my dignity be compromised by paying Somerhell a £1 deposit that said i wasn't go pinch the trolley, well i wouldn't find any real use for a supermarket trolley anyway but shit happens and one day in a moment of drunkeness i might find it to be a good idea to ride one down a steep hill, but by not paying a pound i was discouraged to participate in a act of theft and probably saving myself an injury.

The first thing i put in to my basket was my newspapers, i buy the Sun for the football content and the possible opportunity of seeing Abi Titmuss in a state of undress, and i also buy the Times for some more intellectual content and the excellent cricket coverage. CMJ we salute you. I then began my trawl through Somerhell commencing my grocery trip, the first visit was the Eat Today bit where the discounts are, upon my arrival i was greeted by a couple of students stood over it like vultures picking over the dead bones of a carcass, upon quick investigation there was nothing worthwhile in there and i moved on.

I was soon in to full swing and kept on adding items in to my basket, all this was quite straightforward as it is normally quite clear where most items are and i did not need or seek any assistance to locate certian things. One thing that is usually a minor irritant is the traffic flow in Somerhell as you seek to avoid errant trolley being pushed by miscreant children, and get out of the way as the people with little time on their hands barge there way through.

The majority of my trip was almost completed when i realised that i needed to purchase some lightbulbs as the bathroom light in my flat is down. I struggled to locate this and was soon forced in to the acceptance that my lesser knowledge was inferior to Phillip (i know this as it says it on his namebadge, however it also says he is happy to help but that is up for date). I don't know how well you know Phillip but i would describe him as a cross between Andy Pipkin and a Barnsley Fan (for those who aren't in the know, people around the world have been chanting Revolution for the last couple of hundred years, meanwhile in Barnsley they have been shouting evoultion as they want their own full complement of fingers and toes!!!). I asked Phillip where lightbulbs we're stored and he looked at me if i was gone out and snapped back over there before getting back to his task of stacking beans, a task i had rudely interupted to ask for assistance.

My basket was full and i headed off to the checkout to purchase my choice of goods. I was left with a 10 minute wait as Somerhell was pretty busy, and in their infinate wisdom they only opened 2 tills. Queuing is a very british thing though, we seem to be the only nation in the world that seem more than happy to waste our time in queues, although in a Supermarket i do find it interesting to see what the people in front have bought. There was a chinese fellow in front of me obviously doing some shopping for him and his girlfriend. I watched on as he loaded up the conveyer belt with his stuff. Loads of fruit juice and fresh veg before he loaded it up with a couple of packs of sanitaty towels, i turned round and looked for his female companion but she was not to be seen and i had a quiet little snigger to myself. That must be a very foreign thing though, the male shamelessly going out and buying female hygiene products, it got me thinking that maybe he hasn't bought them for a female and has a possible other use for them, after all they are supposed to be highly absorbant.

It was soon my turn to get served, and served i was, before the lady who served me put my first item through she asked me if i had a saver card. I responded that i didn't and then she said i couldn't take any advantage of the special offers which was a bummer as i had bought 4 bottles of real ale for £3.50, however she had not accounted for my superior knowledge as i informed her that she could use her override card that was located next to the till to give me the discount. Under protestation i got the discount i wanted and she kept on checking my items over the scanner. Saver Cards are used to take in all your spending habits, you have to fill in your details on them so they can work out what you are most likely to buy and sell on your details and fire off a succession of unsolicited, unwanted junk mail to your doorstep.

I then asked if she had any of the strong carrier bags as i didn't fancy picking my groceries off from the middle of the road when the flimsy free ones break as they usually do. She did although it set me back 20p for them, clever marketing again Somerhell.

Then i ended up having to pay for my groceries and the less than satisfactory customer service i had recieved. I gave her my debit card, i prefer using a debit card rather than drawing cash out all the time, plus it also serves to wind up thick checkout staff in supermarkets. As she proccessed my transaction she asked me if i wanted to make a donation to the Tsunami appeal. (At this point i would like to make it strenously clear that i have a lot of sympathy for the people whose lives have been devastated and i have made a couple of donations but i think the giving has reached epedemic proportations, i would estimate that the total donations that i have made has been about a tenner which is probably sufficent). I said that i hadn't got any cash on me to put in the collection, she then turned round and said she give me some cashback to put in the pot. Now the minumum cashback is a tenner so work it out yourselves. Not only had i been given shit customer service, been publically reprimanded for not carrying a saver card, but now i was being told to make a charity donation with my Debit Card. I mean i have a lot to pay for in my life (My rent, Bills, Beer, Fags and Sheffield United matches) and it is expensive enough for me without spending all my money on charity donations.

Successfully i managed to extract myself from the checkout and Somerhell with my extra strength carrier bags carrying the loads. Walking out of the poor i walked past a bloke with even less subtlely that Phillip, who was wearing a brown uniform with the word Security embellished all over it. He fired me a look which said i know your a shoplifter and my mission in life is to catch you and get you sentenced to life in prison to justify my own feeble existance. Well i'm very sorry but if i was to ever consider participating in the criminal act of shoplifting then i'm sure i could aim a little bit higher than a tin of beans and jar of coffee from Somerhell. In any case my own shoplifting career in itself was a very short unsuccesful occupation which culminated in a telephone call to my father from the Store Manager of Costcutter and i short spell of being known as the family disgrace at 8 years old, the punishment was not being allowed from my room and i was unable to watch the Football Results that night.

Safely out of Somerhell, i managed to navigate my way past the Big Issue seller and made my way back home, slightly poorer but my life somehow enriched by the fact that however bad things might seem occasionally at least i'm not an employee of Somerhell.

A furthur despacth is expected to published soon

Brownie