I found myself thinking about the old days as I scoffed my
toast this morning. Yesterday a colleague had been out to some adult education
course and had met a couple of people who were senior managers where I once
worked many years ago. When it came up in conversation what they all did for a
living, my name came up, and these two asked if my colleague knew me, and
apparently they both said very nice things about me and claimed to remember me
fondly.
I was frankly amazed.
Sadly I can’t (in all honesty) say the same about
them (!). Rather than digging up old bitterness about which no one
cares, I’ll just make the observation that when one of them left and moved to
another place of work the leaving collection raised eleven pence.
And this morning Facebook told me that someone with whom I
worked forty years ago had a birthday today. He is sixty-four. I can remember
him being very angry about getting a speeding ticket. The police had done him
for driving at ninety-eight miles per hour down the Lewes bypass; he took this
as an insult and was adamant he had been going over one hundred miles per hour
at the time.
Facebook also gave me quite a few adverts for phone
tracking software; obviously prompted by yesterday evening’s little fun and
games. And I had quite a few adverts for “AI companions”, some bot
hiding behind the photo of some foxy woman. What was that all about? I suppose
it’s one step up from the dubious friend requests I get on Facebook. Not that
I’ve had any for a little while now.
Usually if I’m not at work my standard plan is to take the
dogs out. But it was hossing down outside. Storm Connall didn’t hit
us as hard as it hit some, but it was still too wet for a walk in the woods. I
wasn’t happy, but the dogs didn’t seem fussed; they’d had a full-on day
yesterday visiting Pogo.
I put on some washing then cracked on with a new idea I’ve
got for another Wherigo for an hour or so, then we phoned where “Daddies’
Little Angel TM” had been yesterday. There was relief all
round as the cleaner had found her phone, and bearing in mind it was hossing
down in Folkestone too I drove off to collect it to save her from getting
soaked. If nothing else it was a chance to spend time with my favourite lady.
With phone collected we watched Peppa Pig videos for a
while whilst “Daddies’ Little Angel TM” argued with the
glazier who claimed he was on the doorstep and no one was home… even though we
all were. He then claimed to be in Hythe and said he’d come back later.
As I drove home there was an interview on the radio with Joan Armatrading who’s been
going strong for over fifty years. I can’t pretend to be a fan of her music,
but listening to her was interesting. She was saying that when she first became
famous she had major arguments with managers and producers and the like. She
wanted to perform her own work, but everyone else advised her to do cover
versions as few people last more than five years in the music industry and she
should maximise her profits. She’d not done badly.
I came home just as the rain slackened off to a medium
monsoon. I hung the washing on the clothes horse, then spent a little longer
working on the new Wherigo project. In total I spent about three hours on the
thing today and all I’ve done is devised a vague plot and got a few pictures
together.
I took myself off to bed for the afternoon. The dogs were
funny. In the late evening when I go to bed I always ask them who’s coming to
bed and they all look at me and take no notice. They prefer to sit with “er
indoors TM” on the sofa. But if I go to bed mid-afternoon
before a night shift (like today) they can’t charge up the stairs
quickly enough. I got a few hours asleep, but woke in a cold sweat following a
rather vivid dream in which the dogs flatly refused to come to the sound of a
whistle any more. Instead, from now on whenever I want them they would only
respond to the sound of rousing songs from Gilbert and Sullivan.
Hopefully “er indoors TM” will
feed me soon. And then I’m off to another night shift. Via the supermarket as
we’ve run out of bread.
As I drive through a very wet evening I shall be bearing in
mind that this evening sees the presentations of the National Drainage
Awards. If you are considering getting your drains done, these
would be the people to ask for a recommendation…
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