Tangled Love Life/ Films revisited

I found Godzooky 1 by himself last night earnestly drawing, you know the type of drawing: head on an angle, tongue  poking out slightly, concentration maximum.  So I asked him what he was doing. “Drawing a picture for Gina” he replied. “That’s nice” I said, “Can I have a look?”

 

He showed me what he had been drawing: a rudimentary drawing of a flower, surrounded by  love hearts. “I’ve got to put all the kisses at the bottom yet” he told me.

 

I told him that I thought it was very nice, and asked him what Gina would think of it. “I’m not sure”, he said, “But I think it’s nicer than the ones I’ve done for Katie and Lauren”, pulling two more pictures from his book bag!

  

I seem to be going through a retrospective phase at the moment. At the weekend I purchased dvds of films that I first watched years ago, and have on video. I only bought them because they were in the sales, and they offered additional material.

 

My first purchase was Clerks – the Kevin Smith film. I hadn’t watched it for years, but the dialogue still sparkled like I remembered it. It’s the 10 year anniversary addition, and I have oodles of extras to wade through.

 

The other film I got was Fargo, the Coen brothers excellent comedy thriller. The performances were as great as I remembered, and you can see why Frances McDormand won an Oscar for it.

 

What struck me most this time around, was the sheer scale of the Minnesota countryside. We have nothing like that in Britain, all crowded in on a small island. It’s reaffirmed my desire to do an epic road trip across the US at some point.

Thankyou for your patience

Psssst! Pssssssst! Over Here! 

Yes, it’s me posting ever so discreetly. I feel I may have overdone it with the false moustache and dark glasses though.

 I am cunningly using Word to write this post, and then will paste it into WordPress. I thank all my loyal readers for putting up with a couple of days of crap posts, and for the suggestions for continuing blogging.

 I actually came to the same conclusion myself – there may yet be hope for me! 

This new style of post may actually be better for me. I am going to write randomly throughout the day, then post the results at lunchtime. This may lead to more entertaining stream of consciousness posts, or absolute nonsense. You the jury will decide! 

OK – quick recap about the office move: I am now sat right in the middle of what feels like an aircraft hangar which has had desks randomly shoved into it. Erm, that’s a bad analogy, aircraft hangars don’t have windows do they? So, it’s like an aircraft hangar with floor to ceiling windows.  

The toilets have been cunningly designed to confuse and irritate. There are no vacant or engaged signs on them, you have to try the handle to see if they’re free! Once inside you discover that the hand driers (no more paper towels) are situated directly above the toilet paper holders. So, as soon as you reach for some paper they set off a blast of hot air, blowing the toilet paper everywhere. 

Also, when you’ve washed your hands after using the toilets (I am a hygienic monster!) you have to drip water over the floor to the hand driers, which being above the toilet paper, causes some water to land on the roll. Great design idea by somebody! 

I spent part of yesterday trying to print things off for Godzooky 1 (sharing a printer with 60 other people makes the timing critical), so he could do his Independent Learning Project. This week’s subject: Martin Luther King Jr.  Quite why he chose MLK I’m not certain, but it proved interesting to me and him. He was stunned by the treatment of blacks and that he had been killed for what he did. 

It struck me how different his childhood is to mine. Growing up in the Lakes there were no black people in my town, let alone in my school. I never had any race issues, but it may well have been because there were none around me. 

Godzooky 1 has lots of different colours and creeds in his class, and he makes no judgement of people based on that. I’m glad he has lots of friends from different backgrounds, as he lives in a very multi-cultural society today. 

I think of myself as very tolerant – yet one thing that came out in the news yesterday shocked me. A recent survey revealed that almost one third of young British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia Law than British law. Surely they should simply move to a country that has such laws then? 

I’m realising that I’ve almost written two pages now, so I’ll be signing off here….. More ramblings tomorrow

A New Dawn

Hmmmm – interesting, this new building.

Everything is modern and airy, but I am sat right in the middle of a large floor. Blogging may become interesting….

The new telephones we now have do everything except make you a drink!

More to come as the days develop, if I manage to keep blogging…..

Godzilla has left the building

I’m crating up the last of my accumulated crap, and wondering where the time has gone.

Apparently this organisation moved into this building 30 years ago. It used to be an old textile mill. The outside is a beautiful sandstone edifice, and as such it is a listed building (no alterations can be made to the building)

Unfortunately, the inside isn’t so user friendly, and it doesn’t meet the requirements for disabled access that are soon to become law.

I remember when I first came to this building, almost 14 years ago. I only came as a short term thing originally, six months tops I thought. Then came a promotion and another etc. until I’ve ended up where I am now. I guess I like the fact that what I do has a social relevance. Yes, it’s number crunching, but the things I do have a direct impact on people’s lives.

The building 14 years ago still had the same decor from the 70s. There was lovely brown and orange carpets attached to the walls in lieu of wallpaper. That’s gone now, and we’re going too, to a new building just down the road.

The new building doesn’t have a beautiful facade, in fact I think it’s pretty ugly, but it does meet all the legal requirements.

I guess it’s progress, of a kind, but I am going to miss the odd quirks of this place: random flights of steps, odd little offices tucked away, the lovely brown tiles in the toilets.

Here, we are spread throughout the building in small clusters. In the new building we’re going to be more like battery chickens – row upon row of people.

I’m hoping it’s not going to impinge on my blogging, but I guess I won’t know until I am in situ and see how overlooked I am.

What’s the right job for you?

Having just been sent this:

http://www.jobpredictor.com/

I gave it a whirl.

My ideal job? Game show contestant! 

I love me a day off…

and so do my children apparently.

 Godzooky 1 loves me taking him to school, not quite sure why exactly, but he does.

Godzooky 2 loves coming along and jumping around on the hopscotch with me. Yes, I get a lot of bizarre looks from other parents, but who cares? We’re having fun.

Godzooky 3 loves me throwing him in the air and blowing raspberries on his belly.

I love the time spent with them, forgetting about work, the only important thing being making them laugh as much as they can.

Of course I get told off for all this. Mrs Zilla says I shouldn’t do it so much – they come to expect it every day then.

I don’t think they do. They expect me to do it everyday, and I have no problem with that.

Back to the grind now though. How have I managed to accumulate so much crap in my desk drawers?

On the plus side, the amount of small change I’ve found should  buy a few treats this weekend….

Let’s get ready to ramble….

The cold snap we’re now having has prompted the installation of our winter weight duvet for the first time this year. In this age of equality should I be expected, as a man, to be given the task of putting the duvet cover on, because I have “longer arms”?

I have now packed all my work things into crates, ready for the move, and I have no idea where anything now is. This is making working considerably harder.

At least I am off tomorrow: I have 7 days holiday that I need to fit in before the end of March. Use ’em or lose ’em is the motto round here.

Do you ever get the feeling that you can’t win, no matter what you do? Mrs Zilla has embarked on a weight loss campaign, and has ruled out chocolate, alcohol and all other naughty vitals.

In an effort to show solidarity, and to avoid putting temptation her way, I too have stopped eating chocolate and drinking alcohol. She said that it was unnecessary, an dI should have what I felt like, but I thought at least at the start I could support her.

Then over the weekend she complained that I hadn’t been eating and drinking the things left from Christmas, leaving temptation lying round the house.

So, last night, I got some chocolate and began to eat it, and she said “Oh, that’s right, you enjoy yourself eating what I can’t have!” I realise, as a man, that I can never be right, but surely this is a tad unfair?

I think the kicker may have been that I’ve lost more weight than her so far. Although I have been the one doing weights and exercise, so I’m bound to be doing better.

There’s a tv channel here that’s sponsored by some energy saving initiative, and during each ad break they offer advice as to how to conserve energy:

Fit loft insulation

Only boil the water you need for a kettle

Fit energy saving lightbulbs

Get cavity wall insulation

Buy energy efficient appliances 

Turn your thermostat down by 1 degree

All these initatives are supposed to save you 20% of your energy consumption. If I do all six things that will mean I am saving 120%. Does this mean that I can claim a refund from my energy supplier?

I noticed my first grey hair this morning – middle age is clearly closing in on me fast. I need to decide what form my mid-life crisis should take…. I favour chasing younger women, but feel this may be beyond my capabilities. Buying a car that is a penis extension is also out, with 3 children it’s just not going to work. All suggestions gratefully received….

Celebrities

Godzooky 1 has a new set of homework to do at the weekend: Independent Learning.

This is designed to engage them in research, drawing pertinent facts out, and re-presenting them in a new way.

This term, the subject is celebrities. They can be anyone famous, alive or dead. The idea is that the children garner information about these people and alongside pictures, create a sort of scrapbook.

So who does Godzooky 1 choose for his subjects?

The first week, he picked David Beckham. Good choice: lots of glossy pictures and quite a good time to be writing about him.

Week 2, he chose David Tennant; an actor who plays Doctor Who, one of Godzooky 1’s favourite programmes. Not quite as interesting a person, and pictures harder to come by.

This weekend who did he decide he wanted to write about? Hans Christian Andersen. Yes, he of the fairy tales!

Sources of information a little harder to come by, pictures virtually impossible. Which is why I have just had to confess that it is me who has left a picture of HC Anderesen (that’s how he’s referred to in Scandinavia btw) on the office printer.

It’s been an interesting weekend: I had no idea that HCA was allegedly homosexual (I’m not really sure why I’ve put alleged there, he can’t really sue?), or that he was deemed to be a crashing bore. So much so that Charles Dickens refused to write to him after having HCA as a house guest. These are facts that didn’t make it into Godzooky 1’s final cut!

I’m left dreading who next weekend’s “celebrity” will be….

I survived

I’m not sure what it is about our country, but we seem unable to cope with any sudden weather changes.

Lots of sun (yeah, right, it can happen!) and we have a drought.

A spell of rain, and we get floods everywhere.

Gales, and 12 people die across the country.

It was absolute chaos yesterday.

Our travel systems ground to a halt. No trains, roads closed because of falling masonry and scaffolding.

Going home last night, I was hoping to catch a bus that would drop me right outside the garage. However no buses were running, so I had to catch a tram and then walk for a mile to the garage.

It could have been worse: it could have poured down once I stepped off the tram. Oh, yes, that’s exactly what it did.

Still, the walk prepared me for the absolute gridlock that there was everywhere. So many trees came down blocking roads.

I was relatively lucky – some people in our office didn’t get home till 8pm, and one got in at 10pm.

I was also lucky in that my car was serviced early in the morning. The garage doors were blown in by the winds and part of their roof crashed into the service area. It didn’t hit any people, but one unlucky person now has a big dent in their car roof. It also meant that all the cars being serviced were trapped in the garage. Mine was parked up safe and sound outside.

Godzooky 1 is happy anyway – part of the roof of his school blew off, and there are two unsafe trees in their playground, so he’s got a long weekend off school.

I’m hoping that all the local bloggers I know have come through it unscathed….

Typical

I pick the windiest, worst day this year to put my car in for a service.

At least I got a more leisurely start to my morning.

When I drove to the garage to drop the car off it was windy.

When I came out of the garage of course it poured down. The torrential rain was being driven horizontally by the wind.

I tried to run to the bus stop, but crossing a busy road during the morning commute isn’t easy. I was soaked by the time I reached the shelter of the bus stop.

I should be grateful I suppose, I almost got soaked by a car driving through a huge puddle, but I spotted the risk and managed to avoid it.

Of course, it hasn’t taken the garage long to find extra faults with my car, outside the remit of the standard service.

They recommend I change my brake fluid, and “did you realise your rear windscreen wiper is split?”

“No, I didn’t”

“We can put a replacement on for you if you like?”

“How much will that be?”

“£19.95 including VAT” ($38 Snavy!)

“Er, no thanks, (you robbing bastards, is that a gold plated wiper or something)* I’ll sort it myself.”

* I didn’t actually say these words, but I was tempted. However they do still have my car in their possession….