(no subject)

At noon my mother and I attended the 'Apprentice Deeds' ceremony at a local armaments factory. On the drive there, my mother, who'd spent the morning at the Town Hall entertaining junior school kids, said our invitation to the Portsmouth fireworks had arrived :D John the chauffeur asked whether I was going to the Millwall match. I told him I had college that night, and he went on at me to miss my class and go to the game. I said I was serious about this course and would be going to college, he just tutted, then we'd arrived at the security gate.

An apprentice called Dan had been delegated to meet us; he presented us with our passes and led us through the corridors into the main hall. Dan showed us round photos of the apprentices doing initiative training (camping, assault courses, orienteering and mountaineering) and showed us some gizmos they'd made for a national competition, then came a buffet lunch - plenty of onion bhajis and sweetcorn balls, I'm happy to say. Over coffee we met Graham, the factory's Business Stream Manager, who wore his ID badge on a Plymouth Argyle FC lanyard. "So you're a Janner, then?" I said. He was impressed that I knew the vernacular term for a person from Plymouth, even if my mother did hear it as 'Jammer' and need it explained to her. He immediately asked if I supported Pompey; I corrected him and told him Hawks had a cup tie with Millwall coming up, whereupon Graham predicted the Millwall fans would create mayhem. We also met Joanna, an apprentice who's been there a year and is the only girl - but she said the lads were all great to her and she loved it there.

The ceremony started with a lady who oversees the apprentices giving us a potted history of apprenticeships, then the new apprentices who were just starting signed their 'Deeds'. After that the prizewinning apprentices were presented with their awards one by one (Joanna got a first prize in the internal awards, plus a second prize from a national competition), and finally the apprentices passing out were given back the Deeds they'd signed three long years ago, together with a mysterious gold-paper-wrapped parcel each. John, the Mayor of Fareham, and I speculated that the parcels might contain two bottles of wine, though when we later saw one being carried by its recipient a bit closer up we saw it was too small and light for that. Graham rounded off the proceedings with a speech including several football jokes. All we were needed to do was sit there and clap, until the very end when John, Pam, my mother and I were asked to pose for a photo with all the prizewinners.

On the drive back John our chauffeur went into overdrive trying to get me to skip college for the Millwall game. He said he and his family were all going to go and offered me a lift to the match. I thanked him but said I really wasn't fussed, we're probably going to get knocked out anyway and with a dentist's bill about to push me back into bed with Mistress Overdraft I can do without the £15 I'd spend on a ticket. Undeterred, John went as far as saying he'd treat me to a ticket! Steady on, old chap. (To put it in context, this guy is a Pompey fan who's never shown the slightest interest in Havant & Waterlooville before except to wind me up when we lose.) He did revert to type a little, when he repeated that he'd be glad to give me a lift to the game and back - "and I won't rub it in too much when Millwall put ten past you". All the way home he kept trying to persuade me, at one point claiming that if I don't go to the game I'll be "like a bear with a sore tooth" (??)

Came home to an e-mail from the Hawks supporters' club. All members are entitled to a free Millwall ticket. I have to let them know at tomorrow's game whether I want mine...

The attractive young lady I rooted for from the start won The Weakest Link tonight :)

(no subject)

I was wavering for a couple of hours this evening, but after much deliberation I'm sticking with my original decision. I know I'll feel much better going to college on Monday week. I've just e-mailed the supporters' club to let them know I won't be needing the ticket.