Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Back To Work I Go

Well my seven week sabbatical ended last Monday with my first day at Pru Health.
Looks like a fantastic company to work for & it seems like a great bunch started with me.

So what have I learnt?
Firstly inaction doesn't suit me. I need the discipline & structure of work.
The alternative would be me becoming really active on the local council or something. And nobody wants that.

Part of the problem was the bloody awful weather & the timing.
I went back to work the week my daughter's summer hols (Hols? FFS I'm turning into Enid Blyton) started.

So what have I done?

I've converted a lot of my vinyl to MP3 & I've catalogued a lot of said vinyl & my CDs.
That might sound a little anal but I really am fed up with getting home from second hand record shops (yes I still call them record shops) only discover I've already got what I've just bought.

I threw myself into my post as secretary of the TVRA including working on the website & FB page. Just my small part in dragging it kicking & screaming into the 21st century.

As I previously wrote, I watched quite a bit of daytime TV.
Last time I went over what didn't impress me but I did make some discoveries.

Highest on my list is Monk. The OCD suffering detective has become something of a guilty pleasure over the last month or so.

Everybody Loves Raymond is also new to me. Love the brother, Robert

So that's it. A little photography, a little computer work & voila, here we are 7 weeks later & back in gainful employment.

The Knowledge Of Fire Delivered To Bournemouth

Friday the 13th saw the Olympic Torch pass through Poole & Bournemouth. This was a BIG event.

The last time the locals got this excited was when they changed the sequence of the traffic lights on Cemetery Junction.

These hardy revellers set up three hours before the event.

The whole thing was typical olympics of profiteering ("Today Only: Olympic Cheeseburger £2.60") & patriotism verging on the jingoistic.

Man selling tat to locals....                                                         ....who promptly drape themselves in it!  

Missing from the classic Olympic mix was the expected incompetence. It really was well organised at least in Wallisdown.     

We also had typical British eccentricity:

This man decided to dress from the 1940's, when our fire had to be delivered by air from Germany.

And finally after the sponsorship vehicles passed by (basically lard, sugar & bankers) the fiery stick itself arrived

We applauded, we cheered, we went home mumbling about how historic events really weren't as impressive these days. Perhaps it's the recession.

What a difference a year makes.

If someone had passed you brandishing a burning torch a year ago, you would be convinced the riots had reached your town.

                           

  

Daytime

As some of you will know, my last job ended on the 31st May & my next one doesn't start until the 23rd July.
So I have the longest period of unemployment in my life.

So what have I learnt?

PPI: God the phone calls just don't stop. At least 4 a day all asking me if I want help reclaiming PPI. The irony is at one point this is a job I was lined up to do. Perhaps I would have got abuse from bothered people.

Daytime TV: As bad as the cliches say it is. Homes Under The Hammer In The Sun In The Attic. Interchangeable formats with interchangeable hosts.
Fortunately I have SKY so I can  look  a bit further afield.
Oh & Discovery Channel; I get it. Hitler was a bad man.

Weather: Trust me to get time off in the most miserable June in years (hence the reliance on TV above).
This means my photography plans have come to nothing but I still have more than two weeks to go so I live in hope.