eiffel_71 | (no subject)

Arrived in my booth at the top of the shift to Jane and Paula telling me urgently to check my e-mail. They'd had their typing tests yesterday for the full-time post we've all applied for, so reckoned there'd be an e-mail in my inbox about mine. They were right - a lady from the department in question had mailed to ask which shifts I was working, so she could set up a time for my test.

It wasn't long before we were all chatting about next week's Leap Week again. Jane still votes for us spending the week playing hangman. Later, after Paula read the e-mail about the official Leap Week activities (I'd had to forward her mine as she'd deleted her own unread, naughty girl) she decided she'd come along to the Classi & Methods forum with me on Wednesday, but reckoned she wasn't going to the Reluctance forum at all. I casually mentioned to her that we're all expected to go, and for a while she was actually going to put down for the Thursday one, but after another read of the e-mail, where it said 'be prepared to talk about your experiences', she announced "I'm not doing it." And that was it. Double naughty girl.

By the end of the shift I'd had a message back saying my typing test would be at 1.45 tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Driving lesson after work. Not too bad this time, apart from one howler at the very end where, when stopping to wait for another car to pass (there was only one car's width between the parked cars on either side of the road) I came right off the clutch instead of holding it at the bite, causing us to come to a juddering halt. Still an all-round improvement on Monday's complete horlicks, though.

Went to the library this evening for a talk by local author Jim Riordan. He opened up with a few words about his childhood in Portsmouth and how it shaped his novels, then talked about various highlights (and misfortunes) of his literary career and finished with a little about his time in early sixties Russia, including the incredible tale of how he played two games for Spartak Moscow. "I was the only westerner ever to play in the Soviet First Division," he said, "but please don't let that give you an inflated idea of my footballing ability." There was a long, fascinating Q&A session, during which it emerged that Jim had associated with people like Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, and indeed carried Guy Burgess' coffin with Maclean at his funeral. Jim had brought copies of most of his books along for people to leaf through at the end, and had a few copies of his latest opus Comrade Jim but, strangely, urged us "Please don't buy it, borrow it from the library, that's what it's here for." He did say he'd sell copies at half price, £7.50, to anyone who really wanted one, but added "but remember the paperback's coming out next May." I had in fact brought £20 along in case he was selling copies, but on my current budget I was glad to be able to hold on to my dosh with a clear conscience (I will buy the paperback when it appears).