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Apr. 2nd, 2007 09:31 pmNice start to the shift. First we had a team meeting; that only lasted a few minutes, but then, as I didn't finish doing my internal e-mail on Friday, I had to log straight into that - and among my inbox was the monthly Communications Pack. Over 20 minutes of the shift gone. Then, as it was the start of a new quarter, I and a few of the girls, who hadn't yet familiarised ourselves with the changes to the questions, had to read them in our instruction books. By the time I'd finished with that, it was close to 10.30. Nearly an hour without going on the phones - lovely jubbly.
I'd done one interview when Christine #3 appeared at my shoulder and asked me to switch to the C scheduler - thus giving me access to the other side's nibbles table. OK, half of what they had was sweets (proscribed for Lent) but the other half was a box of butter biscuits, some of which had no chocolate on - very tasty.
When I got a married couple at 2.10 I thought I was going to miss the bus, but the wife was non-working so took much less time to do, and I got away bang on time :D
To Portsmouth in the evening to see the Hawk girls play the University. I'd intended to get a kebab at Sophie's Kebab Shop in Commercial Road, but the place was abandoned and had an estate agent's 'Under Offer' sign on :( Just across the road, though, was the newly opened 'Ken's Kebabs' where I got a quite nice large Doner. They also sold tubs of olives, so of course I sampled one.
The bus ride to Furze Lane ended with a bit of a trip down memory lane, as the sports ground is bang next door to a child development centre that was once the EBD school I went to from ages 6 to 11. On the way, we passed by the sites of a couple of the shops we sometimes used to visit on class walks, though one of them (the post office) is now a hairdresser's and the other is now a house. As the bus passed the entrance to the centre, I got a brief glimpse of the buildings; then standing at pitchside I could see the upper parts of them over the wall. Some of them are still the same. Seeing the place for the first time since I left in 1982 was quite nostalgic.
This game had been built up as 'The Big One' as Portsmouth Uni are our main title rivals. It was a hard-fought game from the beginning, but when midway through the first half Sophie scored with a beautiful lob over the stranded goalie from 25 yards I was convinced we were going to be all right. Alas, the Uni equalised on the hour, and scored again minutes later, both from free kicks. Hawks had a few chances to score, but wasted them all. Meanwhile, I left my copy of the new FourFourTwo on the ground by the subs; the last I'd known one of the subs was reading it, next thing Lisa was apologising to me after catching her 4-year-old, Brannan, shredding it! Lisa said she'd pay me what it cost, then told Brannan to say sorry to me, but after three prompts he was still just standing there sucking his thumb, so she said "Right. No PlayStation for you tonight."
During the second half Hawks attacked a lot, but it was the Uni who scored a third, on the hour, again from a bastarding free-kick. Sam did pull one back with a sublime shot from out on the wing, but in the 10 remaining minutes, again all we did was fluff chances (Kay should have buried one gilt-edged opportunity but hit a pea-roller at the keeper). The final whistle blew, and the Uni players went mad. We were all sick as parrots - as I passed Lisa she said "I could almost cry." "Know how you feel, babe," I replied. Trevor did his best to get our chins up, pointing out that we are still two points in front of the Uni, but for the half-hour since we conceded the third I'd felt a sinking sensation in my guts, with visions of our promotion prospects slipping away.
As Lisa put the water bottles away, I asked if I could have my £3.80 and she got out her purse. Ollie asked if I'd join them all at the pub after the girls had got changed, but I decided I'd better get the bus. I said my goodbyes to the girls as they filed towards the changing room, still sick to my guts. Thankfully a bus showed up just after I'd arrived at the stop, and a direct one to the Hard too.
Popped into the Co-op at the Hard. They don't stock FourFourTwo. Just about summed up the entire smegging evening. Crossed the road to the 24-hour snack window for a bacon roll.
Saw Bunhead and Sophie on the ferry home.
I'd done one interview when Christine #3 appeared at my shoulder and asked me to switch to the C scheduler - thus giving me access to the other side's nibbles table. OK, half of what they had was sweets (proscribed for Lent) but the other half was a box of butter biscuits, some of which had no chocolate on - very tasty.
When I got a married couple at 2.10 I thought I was going to miss the bus, but the wife was non-working so took much less time to do, and I got away bang on time :D
To Portsmouth in the evening to see the Hawk girls play the University. I'd intended to get a kebab at Sophie's Kebab Shop in Commercial Road, but the place was abandoned and had an estate agent's 'Under Offer' sign on :( Just across the road, though, was the newly opened 'Ken's Kebabs' where I got a quite nice large Doner. They also sold tubs of olives, so of course I sampled one.
The bus ride to Furze Lane ended with a bit of a trip down memory lane, as the sports ground is bang next door to a child development centre that was once the EBD school I went to from ages 6 to 11. On the way, we passed by the sites of a couple of the shops we sometimes used to visit on class walks, though one of them (the post office) is now a hairdresser's and the other is now a house. As the bus passed the entrance to the centre, I got a brief glimpse of the buildings; then standing at pitchside I could see the upper parts of them over the wall. Some of them are still the same. Seeing the place for the first time since I left in 1982 was quite nostalgic.
This game had been built up as 'The Big One' as Portsmouth Uni are our main title rivals. It was a hard-fought game from the beginning, but when midway through the first half Sophie scored with a beautiful lob over the stranded goalie from 25 yards I was convinced we were going to be all right. Alas, the Uni equalised on the hour, and scored again minutes later, both from free kicks. Hawks had a few chances to score, but wasted them all. Meanwhile, I left my copy of the new FourFourTwo on the ground by the subs; the last I'd known one of the subs was reading it, next thing Lisa was apologising to me after catching her 4-year-old, Brannan, shredding it! Lisa said she'd pay me what it cost, then told Brannan to say sorry to me, but after three prompts he was still just standing there sucking his thumb, so she said "Right. No PlayStation for you tonight."
During the second half Hawks attacked a lot, but it was the Uni who scored a third, on the hour, again from a bastarding free-kick. Sam did pull one back with a sublime shot from out on the wing, but in the 10 remaining minutes, again all we did was fluff chances (Kay should have buried one gilt-edged opportunity but hit a pea-roller at the keeper). The final whistle blew, and the Uni players went mad. We were all sick as parrots - as I passed Lisa she said "I could almost cry." "Know how you feel, babe," I replied. Trevor did his best to get our chins up, pointing out that we are still two points in front of the Uni, but for the half-hour since we conceded the third I'd felt a sinking sensation in my guts, with visions of our promotion prospects slipping away.
As Lisa put the water bottles away, I asked if I could have my £3.80 and she got out her purse. Ollie asked if I'd join them all at the pub after the girls had got changed, but I decided I'd better get the bus. I said my goodbyes to the girls as they filed towards the changing room, still sick to my guts. Thankfully a bus showed up just after I'd arrived at the stop, and a direct one to the Hard too.
Popped into the Co-op at the Hard. They don't stock FourFourTwo. Just about summed up the entire smegging evening. Crossed the road to the 24-hour snack window for a bacon roll.
Saw Bunhead and Sophie on the ferry home.
