Blimey, is this thing still on?

It is actually quite embarrassing that I had to go through Swirals blog page to get back here, so long has it been since I last wrote anything. Its a wonder I remembered my password first try.

A brief summary of my life since saturday 2nd of june, the night of the bats.

Work is fine, bordering on successful, as I have now mastered the art of putting lots of chemicals into a pot and mixing vigorously without getting most of it over myself. Considering that I went from a standing start of knowing absolutely nothing about Ink manufacturing to getting one of the better yearly reviews in the lab within 9 months is hope that this job might go somewhere interesting. I just have to figure out how to convince TPTB to give me a computer of my very own and I'll be laughing.

My car, now known as that 'bastard heap of uselessness' has managed to breakdown on a monthly basis since september, necessitating a full service, new break pads, discs, fan, radiator, battery, undercarriage, door lock cable, suspension thingy, fan belt, altinator belt and full set of tyres. Leaving a cam belt replacement, new filter line, air con blower, front wing replacement (came with the car), rear wheel arch scrape, (might have been me,) to be completed when I have the money and/or inclination to pay through the nose for them. The rear passenger door lock that had broken, (the door was helf shut by tying the door handle to its opposite number and reducing my large estate to a 2 person car) miraculously fixed itself after half a can of WD40 and numerous threats of the scrap heap. Yes I could have payed for a considerably nicer new car with the money I've spent on this one. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Open university is going well, though I have swapped from geosciences to molecular science, (a technologists position with 30K a year is a great motivator) But I still get to do Archeology as my next module regardless, so its all good.

I continue to be a weekend warrior on wow, latest character is at level 62, with a shiny new go faster mount.

So between open university, world of warcraft, and my car, I have little free time, no social life and very little disposable income. Strangely enough, I feel more content now than I have for years.

My sister is getting married in 2 months, I may not survive the experiance, - I have to go on the hen night. THE HORROR! - A Limo and a bunch of absolutely bladdered group of my sisters mate's under my supervision, ( the reason I'm going apparently) in Bristol. Shudder.

There we have it.

- incidently discovered today the poverty line per household in the UK is considered £16472 - A fact I intend to bring up at my salary negotiations at the end of the month. A trembling bottom lip and big sad eyes may also be employed.

Bat Attack

Just before sitting down in the back garden to have dinner, we had a little visitor in the house.




Click to see the big version!

We had the fire pit going on the logear, which is what I reckon scared him in through the french windows. Thankgod 2 minutes with a fishing net and a big bit of cardboard was all that took to get him back out again.

After a bit of investigation on google, we thinks he's either a grey or brown long eared bat.

Check these links out for a bit more info.

http://www.worlddeer.org/britishbats/clebat.html

http://www.worlddeer.org/britishbats/glong.html

My money's on the grey version, which would be cool as they're the rarer of the two breeds and only populate the south west. Either way, we're sending the photo to the wiltshire wildlife trust monday to see if they can tell us.

A Cunning Night Out

We went to see Tony Robinson's Cunning Night Out at Salisbury tonight. It was a mix of his own personal history and the more interesting (bloody/mixed with wee) bits of british history in a one man show with an added dash of republican politics to taste. (Don't know how well that went down given that Labour usually comes in a distant third in most elections in Wiltshire, the laughter was quite polite at points.)

But putting a few comments aside it was very enjoyable and I have learnt many an important thing about the history of surnames and how most of them have come about from doing some sort of job that involved standing up to your ankles in wee. For these are important things to know and frankly its shocking that I wasn't taught at School. I might write a letter of complaint.

But to be honest what really made it for me was the fact that Mick Aston and Phil Harding from Time Team were in the audience. Phil even had his hat! But alas no stripey jumper, but I guess you can't have everything. However the hair styles were as gloriously bad as always.

The whole thing was over two hours long, which is a long time to talk, so hats off to him. He had the odd film clip helping him along and some photos showing, but it was pretty much him just telling a story, which I have no end of admiration for. I have trouble stringing one along for over a minute. There was more about history and politics than about Time Team, which to be honest was what I really wanted to hear the most about, but I did learn that Carenza Lewis recieves no end of smutty letters from middle aged academics and that Mick Aston is one of the most propositioned men in Television.

Then at the end, we had a sing song. Very bizarre, I don't think I've done anything like that since I was 12.

Attack at Early O'Clock

Last couple of nights, since the weather hasn't been cat friendly, Tess has taken to coming into my room around 4 O'clock in the morning to sleep, which is fine, especially if she decides to sleep on the window sill or the end of the bed. Everyone's happy.

Except that she isn't doing that, she's trying to sleep on my face.

Nothing like a face full of fur to really wake you up in the morning.

Yesterday we compromised on her sleeping on my front, which given that I fell asleep to 7 O'clock goes to show how much I needed to sleep, or that the oxygen deprivation just got to me. This morning however I managed to loose ownership of most of my pillow and spent a good 2 hours hanging off the edge of the bed while a half stone ball of fluff stretched out quite comfortably.

Sometimes I'm not sure who owns who.

Stuff and Things

New job has now started and I've survived the first week. Its been exhausting but I think I'm going to enjoy it, lots to learn, but I'm getting a handle on the basics fairly quickly (hopefully).

The Bank has written back finally refusing to pay up and hats off to them, I don't think I've seen such a finely crafted piece of bollocks in my whole life, its almost a work of art. If they'd managed to work 'synergistically' and 'vision' into that letter it quite possibly could be considered a master piece.
We're onto round 2 now, where I threaten them with court. I suppose it was too much to hope they'd fold quite so early.

An update in several parts.

I have a job, its very exciting. Apparently being interviewed by five people is a good thing and even better, apparently they were impressed. Just got the paperwork through and things like the holday entitlement aren't half bad. 28 days annual holiday, plus bank holidays and such, its as much as the parents get after having signed their formative years away to local government. With opportunities for foreign travel down the road and a good training scheme, I'm a bit chuffed.

But between now and then I've got two weeks of temp work for a company in Bath. Its basically ringing up companies and updating contact records and emails. I've been at it for two days now and I'm about ready to gouge out my eyes. I'm only on the C's.....

Non work related, in an act of consumers activism or something, I've sent one of those 'I want all the money you've buggers have charged me over the years back, you bastards' to the bank. Given that when I added all of my charges up it totalled to something just over £2000 pounds, I don't think its unjustified. We'll see what happens.

Job Interview

Had a job interview today, interesting little experience, it lasted most of the morning, and I was interviewed by a total of five different people.

Have to say I'm feeling a little drained, as far as potential employment goes, we'll have to see. I'm vaguely hopeful, but beyond that? Its difficult to get a handle on that many people and what they thought of you. We'll just have to wait and see.

This afternoon I have a packed schedule planned, starting off with a snooze, half an hour on world of warcraft and perhaps I might watch a movie if I can work out what the hell Sky has done with its movie channels.