… to find the time to go off for a walk this afternoon.
Not that it wasn’t without its complications as I had three different groups of people at one time in communication with me about this refugee issue.
And one thing that I’ve discovered (well, I knew it anyway from years of bitter experience) is that it’s a really great deal of effort to actually help people and make progress. And there’s a long way to go yet.
But these are of course First-World problems. I would probably feel so different had I been chased out of my home by a Russian tank with my two children and then watch a guided missile demolish my whole street.
They actually had a similar kind of experience in Crewe during the war when a wagon-load of munitions exploded just outside the station – 40 tons of it. They say that it caused £50,000,000 worth of improvements to the town.
For a change I had a good night’s sleep, even though there wasn’t much of it. I had my little Hawkwind playlist going round again and I enjoyed it so much that I played it a second time
And why couldn’t I ever find a violinist like SIMON HOUSE when I was playing in rock groups?
Leaving the bed wasn’t easy of course but eventually I was up and I went off for a shower and to wash my clothes. And I noticed that one of my socks has a huge hole in the heel. I can see that I need to go shopping later.
Steam-driven computing is not easy when you are having a Welsh lesson on Zoom but I managed it without too many inconveniences. It just took ages to switch in and out of break-out rooms, by which time most of the work had been done.
It ended up being quite a late lunch because there was so much to do. But once I’d eaten I could go out for walkies. First stop was the office here. I’ve extended my stay until Sunday now and I needed to pay the supplement. But they hadn’t had the account yet so I needed to call back later
FNAC and Zeeman had nothing of interest, but I managed to find some socks in Wibra. And then round to whatever Origin’O is called now where they had vegan cheese and vegan sausages at last.
On the way back I went to the office to pay the bill – I just caught them before they went – and then back here for a coffee. My emergency supplies are being depleted rapidly and I’ll need to buy a small jar before I’m much older.
There was some stuff on the dictaphone too. We were at school again, all of us. One of the teachers had thought that he had Covid and went and had a test but found out that he hadn’t so he carried on teaching at school. There was a girl in his English class who I was very keen on indeed – the farmer’s daughter in fact even if that’s nothing whatever to do with Deep Purple, who has figured occasionally in our voyages but while she wasn’t there last night she was in spirit. Although I had never succeeded in getting my evil clutches around her, nevertheless we did come into a fairly close contact on one occasion round about the day that this teacher nearly had Covid. While he was talking to a load of people about this I happened to throw into the conversation that “I nearly infected all of your class with it”. He was actually teaching my brother at that moment so he was in fact interrogating my brother on “how come? Who? Which girl?” but my brother didn’t know either. He might have had an idea about this particular girl but he didn’t know for sure whether it was her or whether there was someone else whom I’d really had in a clinch. While I was outside the room, a little girl came out, a tiny little girl bouncing a ball. He shouted something at her about the ball so she went back in and then came out. I asked her what had happened and she replied that the teacher had taken her ball. I told her that she could take STRAWBERRY MOOSE if she wanted but she said no. All she wanted was her ball.
And then I was back at work. There were a few problems in the office because we had two Trades Union reps and they were both off sick so no-one was dealing with Trade Union issues. First of all, as a line manager I had to go to see one of them, who was an old guy who had been there for years (the other was the woman who worked with him but I can’t remember her name) and remind him of his obligations to inform his employers about his work and any new contacts he made even though he was off sick. Someone, while I was reading out the oaths to these two people, came along and reminded me of my oath to appoint a replacement. I had to think of a replacement and someone’s name came to my mind. I wasn’t sure if he would do it seriously or whether he would use his position for other kinds of purposes. But it was strange being in that office after all this time with this kind of thing that happened and a load of damp peppers that could go some way towards saving any meal that I was making
While we’re on the subject of meals … “well, one of us is” – ed … after tea there was football on the internet – Penybont v Y Drenewydd. And you’ve no idea how exhausting it is watching a game in “portrait” format on a smartphone.
There have been plenty of games better than this that we have seen – and plenty worse too – but the score of 2-0 to Drenewydd was rather flattering.
So, totally exhausted, with 81% on the clock, I’m off to bed to listen to Hawkwind and try to fall asleep. I’m ready for a good sleep, especially if I have some decent company with me during the night.
