(no subject)

With this morning's weather forecast warning of rain later, I wore my Slovenian rain jacket to work. So after six weeks of wearing just shirts and keeping my money, keys and bus pass in shirt pockets, today all that gubbins got transferred to my jacket. That had unfortunate consequences at first coffee break, when I went all the way down to the office shop and tried to buy a can of Diet Cherry Coke* only to reach into my shirt pocket, as I'd got used to doing these last six weeks, and realise I'd left my money in my jacket - back up in the telephone unit. By the time I'd legged it up to the TU, got the money and gone all the way back to the shop and bought the drink, I only had a few minutes left to savour it in the canteen before I had to head back to the phones.

(*Like drinking Diet Cherry Coke instead of ordinary was going to make a sod of difference after I'd spent the morning swilling American chocolate kisses and Egyptian lacoum - basically Turkish delight, but this stuff was from Egypt - from the nibbles table.)

Then when I got back, Paul told me I couldn't do the shift swap with Nikki I'd applied for, as she'd already swapped onto Friday 20 October. So now I had to ask Paul to rifle through the pile of holiday forms and find the cancellation form I'd put in yesterday, then, when he'd found it and given it to me to tear in half and put in the shredding bin, I had to write out another form applying for 20 October as holiday again, and write my name back into the holiday book where yesterday I'd crossed it out! I did manage to regain the four hours' overtime I lost; they were asking for extra people to work Friday 1 September so I signed up.

Midway through the shift, as I came off a call Val came up beside me and said she'd been listening, but would I mind if she went to lunch before doing my assessment, so she could beat the queues in the canteen? "Don't worry," she added, "it's a good one." By the time she came back from lunch I was halfway through a two person household, so in all it was a whole hour till, at last, we went off to Room 101 and she gave me Fully Meets Requirements. Hooray.

It didn't rain.

In the middle of Liverpool v Maccabi Haifa, Daniel rang to say he'd be unveiling his musical fence next Wednesday at 2 pm and asked if I'd be able to come. I had to offer my apologies as I'll be working, but was able to give Daniel the good news that my mother hopes to have a site for his poetry box after a meeting she's having with some bod or other on Friday. As we talked my mother called out to me to try and sell her medieval night to Daniel, so I did; he says he'll probably be free that evening but he'll get back to us...