train of thought

very kind of liz to offer me her job ... leaving aside the fact that i know with no doubt that i am very unqualified for it ... it was a generous and unselfish act on her part until she posted again within the hour to point out that she would need to keep the wages ... so right back to square one then ... me doing volunteer work while everyone else gets to earn money ... i shall decline gracefully liz and look forward to working with you next week rather than for you in a quite literal way ... i work FOR you so you don't have to ... good slogan for a company that would never make any money ever :)

have spent the last few weeks helping out at greenbelt office
and the last two days our usual parking space was being used so i went in by train
now i am aware that this doesn't make me look good but it is the first time on a uk train for about a decade

i liked things like the air conditioning when it worked ... and i liked that inside the carriage was an electronic sign telling you the next station so you don't need to do that craning your neck thing

the lady wife stood on the platform lecturing me, like i was a toddler about to visit an aunt, about how to behave ... no giggling inappropriatly ... no pointing and laughing at people ... no loud comments about other people's dress sense ... and no saying out loud about people who smell

coming home i apparantly committed a commuter no no by getting into conversation with someone ... but he started it ... he talked to me first ... going into work was fine, it was fast and smooth ... a bit crowded and i didn't get to sit down which made it a bit lurchy and i kept worrying about being unbritish and falling into someone accidently and touching them! :)

coming home took forever ... trains were not where they said they would be ... fast trains were cancelled and it was very hot and it took forever

last night there were three people around me having phone conversations ... is it something like the i can't see you so you can't see me theory that makes people behave like that ... a kind of i am talking to this person and it is quite clearly a private conversation and because i am speaking into this microphone thing you can't hear me ... so no problem

all three of them were talking such inane nonsense ... all my phone calls are naturally deep and thoughtful :) ... it was a bit surreal ... i was so tempted to lean over to one of them and tell them to get more interesting friends or better yet if they had to make calls in a loud voice could they possibly include a bit of juicy gossip so the rest of us weren't so bored ... it is a modern habit that i have managed to avoid by not using trains and it just struck me what a weird thing it is to do

i know two days is not a good sample but i am not convinced of the public transport argument ... with the 20 minute walk (i saw little point in trying a bus in the heavy traffic) it was no quicker than driving and at least i get to be comfortable, have air con and make phone calls in private

back to driving in today and just as well as a thunder storm has just kicked off which means i would arrive looking like a drowned rat

well i can't sit around here chatting i've got to get to work ... oh is that the time i'm late for work ... good grief i need to get a move on i have a meeting in half an hour ... what a day i've had

sorry just practising ... i don't get to say stuff like that often :)