The Birds!!!

[essayel]

Am at work [and can I just say that mobile broadband dongles are the dog's wotsits because NOW I can get at that good site re samian ware and the other one about ancient and classical coins and :P to MCC's firewall] and the crows have just knocked off pecking and cawing at the windows in order to murder another magpie - second one this week. Makes me consider wearing a tin hat to work when you think they are like chisels with wings [those beaks my eyes!] and have no discernable fear of human beings.

Our jobs have been evaluated and I finally got the papers through telling me what I do and how I do it. I was interested to see that museum custodians, as a group, are 'never asked to do anything unpleasant'. So, litter picking, scrubbing graffiti off the walls, mopping up urine and vomit, removing human faeces and used condoms are NOT unpleasant activities? Or is it that we are never 'asked' to do it - someone just says 'ewwwww someone ought to do something about that, it's a health hazard' and walks away and we just get on and do it because there's nobody else?

If I haven't returned it, signed and dated, by the end of the month they will assume I'm all right with it. Can't actually see anywhere to say 'fuck off, this is bollocks'.

Jen is knackered at the moment. She is taking her GCSE's - for non-Brits those are the exams you take during the academic year in which you are 16, the results of which determine how eager universities are to have you as a student. Good GCSE results mean they are more inclined to offer you two Cs and a D, bad means they might demand two As and a B. So she is spending hours revising and is pale and grey under the eyes.

However she is also wildly excited because she was at her drama group last week [Gwent Young People's Theatre that gave a lot of young Welsh actors a start, including Ianto-mun who's name escapes me] and a director from BBC Wales came in and cut out nine kids, including Jen, from the herd to audition for parts in a drama about joy riding in the Valleys. Naturally one can't count on anything but she says it was brilliant to be asked to audition and even a part as an extra would be pretty damn good to have. Another squeeful thing as far as she's concerned is that the director will be getting some 'names' to be in it as well and one of the 'names' he was going to try and get is Eve Miles or is it Myles. Anyhow, thinking of that pulls Jen out of her exam induced lethargy enough to be cheerful, but sadly not enough to enable her to clear up the mess she has made in the living room or OMG!!her bedroom.

Wish me luck - I'm going in with a shovel.

Speaking of which, had a long chat with Mike about his job in the care home as a result of which I've asked him to shoot me rather than let me go in a place like that. He's hanging in there, though, and makes the inmates as comfortable as he can, whether that involves mopping up bodily fluids or dancing with the one who thinks she's in a nightclub. The one he feels saddest for is an elderly gentleman who is doubly incontinent, has no idea where he is, no idea who he is and is in constant pain. The only time he smiles is if he sees an animal, but it's the home policy that, for health and safety reasons, animals should not be brought in. Mike's outraged about that and also about the attitude of other staff who shrug and say "well what can you do?"

He's also worried because the rent on the place he's living is almost up and he hasn't found anywhere else yet. Fingers crossed he's not reduced to a tent in the grounds of the nursing home!!

On a personal note I now weigh 60lbs more than I did when I got married @_@!!! This has to be remedied but at the moment I am 'not happy' [am avoiding the D word at all costs since I work for a woman who says 'it's a euphemism for lazy'] and when I'm trying to get less 'not happy' I need to have things to be happy about.

I AM happy that we have had a new player for Morningstar Manor which is far too good a game to allow to die due to apathy. A new person seems to have goosed us all into playing a bit more, thank goodness. Wish us luck in energising the old thing but if it doesn't work we're not going to let it dwindle away agonisingly but end it all with a firm and humane bang.

Comments

[bitchy-brat.livejournal.com]

Yay! (I think) for the mobile dongle thingy... I know, it's how you access interenet, right?

OMG the birds! Maybe carry an umbrella and whack them if they start after you?

Good luck to Jen - in both the exams and the dramatics... and to you on the room

Old people's homes aren't that good here either. My Grandmother volunteers at one (yes, my Grandmother) and she doesn't like it either. Says never to put her in that place. Hopefully somebody besides me listens to her because I don't get to make that choice.

RP adverts brings interested people in... Hopefully they stay on! If it were to fizzle down to nothing though, I expect it'd be some form of internal combustion by way of explosion. But that's just me.

You're back!

[zaoben.livejournal.com]

Wow. There's a lot going on isn't there?

The birds: Hitchcock was on to something wasn't he? I've always been pretty cautious of birds. I think I will be limiting my walks in Castle Meadows if there is a murderous gang of bird 'hoodies' flying about...

I can only echo good wishes to Jen and all the things she's doing. I love Eve Myles, she's gap tooth gorgeous!

Good luck to Mike too. I'm glad he's hanging tough. Sounds like a rough place to be. Hope the housing sitch gets sorted soon

As for the dreaded 'D word' I'd like to meet this woman and take her to some of my counselling sessions. It would be hard to call some of those people 'lazy' when you see people there who are too scared to talk, let alone do anything else. S'not her fault though- 'depression' is incorrectly used by everyone.

Hope you feel better soon. I'll be over for my 'Batman Begins' and a hug whenever's convienient.