:: Chris Turner's Journal ::

:: Friday, October 27, 2006 ::

Blog Mood

I seem to have been doing a fair bit of blogging lately. Hmm.

Went to the Chinese State Circus with Sally on Tuesday - it was bloody brilliant. Saw some really crazy stuff - there was the usual juggling acts, high wire tricks and so on - but there was this guy doing tricks on a line literally no thicker than a washing line. And he did a headstand. With no hands. I mean, try imagining what it's like to stand on your head on your washing line. Not only did he do that, he somersaulted on it, ran up & down it, and even swung the thing while he did it. Crazy! On top of that, some Shaolin monks decided it would be fun to break paving stones over each others' heads, get impaled on beds of nails and perform martial-arts moves at such speed, they just became a blur. Amazing stuff. But Ealing Common in the rain was incredibly muddy - and for some reason, I ended up walking through the mud in my suit shoes! Not a good idea when you have work the next morning.

Mum's birthday today, so got her a nice bunch of flowers & a card. She's difficult to buy for and doesn't take presents very well, but you can never go wrong with my mother and flowers. Poor woman has a horrible cold at the moment, and my dad managed to put his back out today, so she feels like crap and has been running around all day on her birthday :( On a positive note, my parents have finally upgraded their 1,000,000 year-old PC, and I'm now writing this from the comfort of something that makes my PC look like it was built to handle Windows 3.1 - anyone remember those days? Everything was very grey, with occasional splashes of sickly sea-blue.

Good night down at the Running Horses tonight, so am all set & happy. On an induction course tomorrow at work (like, hello, I've been working there for nearly 3 months now!), which is essentially a good excuse to drink lots of tea & have a posh lunch at the taxpayer's expense. Hey, I pay my taxes too (and quite a lot too!), so I guess I've paid for it already. Then, tomorrow night, I'm down at Sally's and on Saturday we have a big Hallowe'en party planned with lots of friends coming over. It has an odd twist ... but I'm sure it'll be fun!

I get all my police kit issued on Sunday - uniform with all possible variants (summer, winter, rainproof, parade, etc), stab vest, cuffs, ASP (baton), boots, etc. I also now know which station I'll be going to, and am pleased to say that I'll be working the beat in one of London's busiest areas - especially with Christmas coming up! Really, really looking forward to getting out there. Regular Met results still not in - maybe tomorrow? More likely next week, I guess.

Next Tuesday & Wednesday I'm off to Liverpool and then Leicester for work, then the week after I'm off to Sunningdale on another course for another 2 weeks - so no real work to do until mid November...should be quite an easy month on the old wallet.

Anyhoo, off to bed - not got to be up particularly early tomorrow, and even though it's a load of rubbish, probably best to not go in all bleary-eyed!

:: Plod 00:20 [+] ::
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Refried beans do not agree with me

Went out for a Mexican with Sally, Helen & Caroline the other night, and I think those refried beans that I had with my enchilada are giving me trouble. I think the Home Office's bill for toilet paper just trebled since Sunday night ... urgh. Still, it was great at the time! Am going with Sally to the circus up on Ealing Common tonight - there's some Shaolin Monks appearing (Chinese State Circus) and I saw them on TV once - they looked amazing, so it'll be good to see it up close. And we have some 1/2 price tickets, courtesy of our local chinese takeaway!

Things are back on track with Sally. I was upset over the whole moving to Banbury thing, but I understand why she considered it. She said herself that when she thought about things, she didn't want to uproot her whole life and move somewhere where she knows nobody. She still doesn't want to look for jobs in Central London due to her hatred of commuting, so I don't really know what to suggest.

On a happy note, we talked about moving in together sometime later next year - we'd be quite happy to do it right now, but I want to see how things pan out with the Met first. If I'm successful (results expected some time this week or next) then I'll be spending 4.5 months at Hendon training, 13 weeks on a borough, and then I'll get my confirmed final posting, which could be anywhere in London. We do get to choose our three preferences, but nothing is "guaranteed". They do take into consideration where you live - so if I'm in Surrey with Sally, it's unlikely that I'll end up in Waltham Forest or Newham or something like that. I think I'd put down Westminster as my first choice, since I know the area very well and it's my borough as a Special, then Richmond or Kingston, since they're both very easy to get to from Sally's. She's also said that if she gets a job in Kent or a really, really good job at a big museum in London (which she'd be prepared to travel for), then she'd be happy to move as well. I'm the more flexible one of us, since I can easily get to all my friends and family from Sally's, and the Met offer free travel on public transport to all their officers, so I never need to worry about season ticket costs or anything like that.

Anyway, am moving into a lovely 2-bed house in a couple of weeks time - not too far from where I was before. It's bigger than our old flat, and even has a little garden (front and back), and it's in good condition. We know the score with renting this time around, so hopefully we can avoid the whole landlady problem that we have now. I might not be there for all that long, since me & Sally do want to move in together, but Cass knows the score and she's perfectly happy with it.

Break over... time to get back to the affairs of the nation! I might not much like the work, but it's well paid...and now I have enough money coming in to take Sally somewhere special over the Christmas break.

:: Plod 10:32 [+] ::
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Plodding Along

Waiting to hear on assessment centre results for Met Police regulars - expecting to hear them this week.

Have just been "re-structured" at work, which has rather upset everyone's applecarts - now nobody seems to know who is responsible for what, but I'm sure we can very usefully spend the next few months finding out just what we're supposed to do.

Sally is looking for another job - she was offered one in Banbury (Oxfordshire), and she would have taken it if it weren't for me asking her not to go. She's not prepared to commute into London, even though it's only 30 mins away on the train, but she's prepared to move to a whole new part of the country on a whim. Hmm - odd. Caused a lot of tension last week when it was on the cards.

Am also having serious difficulties with landlady - she's lost the plot. Also, not too sure if Elli is coming onto me at the moment. She's a lovely girl, I love her company, but I'm trying to sort things out with Sally right now. Have been quite badly affected by her readyness to move so far away without considering how I'd take it, and am still very upset. Not sure if she realises that yet. Feel a bit like I'm being taken for granted at the moment, and am getting a bit tired of being criticised so much.

Want to start in the Met as a regular ASAP (all going well as a Special at the moment). Need some kind of purpose between 9 - 5, Monday to Friday. Mum's birthday next Thursday, so will need to think of something. Am supposed to be seeing Mum, Elli and be at Sally's party next Saturday, so am going to have a busy week ahead.

:: Plod 00:19 [+] ::
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