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Oct. 9th, 2008 09:53 pmThe guk in my tubes shows no sign of going away, and contrived to block my nasal passages all through the shift. That, and the odd bit of hoarseness in my throat, made for another uncomfortable morning's interviewing. There was some respite, with a 45-minute Breast Cancer Awareness presentation by a guest specialist from Haslar Hospital - a few eyebrows were raised at my attendance, but as the lady who organised the talk said in her email "gentlemen are also welcome, as men can get breast cancer too" - and then for the last ten minutes of the shift we gathered in the lounge for a goodbye presentation to Ali, as she's moving to another department after this week.
Driving lesson went OK. We went onto some busier roads today and I coped OK with most situations. Once when we went along a main road Peter kept saying "Get away from him" about a cyclist, and I thought he meant either slow down to let him get away or speed up to leave him behind. It was only when Peter urgently called out "Get out of the cycle lane, you're leaving him no room, poor chap" that I realised he meant I was too near to the cycle lane. Then when I had to go round a cyclist who himself was going round a parked car, Peter said I was going too far into the right-hand lane, although in truth there wasn't anywhere else to go. All in all, though, Peter said near the end I'd done well. It was a shame I had to self-destruct in the closing moments, on the way back home, by coming all the way off the clutch and so coming out too fast onto an awkward bendy road full of parked cars, then right at the end dropping the old howler, stalling by not putting the clutch all the way down when braking to wait for other traffic to go by before a turn. I'm trying to look at the positives of the hour.
To the library this evening for a National Poetry Day reading by three poets from the wider local region, Maggie Sawkins, Stephanie Norgate and John Hayles, plus music from an acoustic Irish folk trio. All the artists were very good. I managed to have a quick chat with Maggie Sawkins over the wine and nibbles, and tell Stephanie Norgate about my poetry box in the Town Hall and present her with a copy of the compilation we had printed last year. She seemed interested in one of my own poems, at which the book happened to come open when she opened it, so fingers crossed.
Driving lesson went OK. We went onto some busier roads today and I coped OK with most situations. Once when we went along a main road Peter kept saying "Get away from him" about a cyclist, and I thought he meant either slow down to let him get away or speed up to leave him behind. It was only when Peter urgently called out "Get out of the cycle lane, you're leaving him no room, poor chap" that I realised he meant I was too near to the cycle lane. Then when I had to go round a cyclist who himself was going round a parked car, Peter said I was going too far into the right-hand lane, although in truth there wasn't anywhere else to go. All in all, though, Peter said near the end I'd done well. It was a shame I had to self-destruct in the closing moments, on the way back home, by coming all the way off the clutch and so coming out too fast onto an awkward bendy road full of parked cars, then right at the end dropping the old howler, stalling by not putting the clutch all the way down when braking to wait for other traffic to go by before a turn. I'm trying to look at the positives of the hour.
To the library this evening for a National Poetry Day reading by three poets from the wider local region, Maggie Sawkins, Stephanie Norgate and John Hayles, plus music from an acoustic Irish folk trio. All the artists were very good. I managed to have a quick chat with Maggie Sawkins over the wine and nibbles, and tell Stephanie Norgate about my poetry box in the Town Hall and present her with a copy of the compilation we had printed last year. She seemed interested in one of my own poems, at which the book happened to come open when she opened it, so fingers crossed.
