What in the world makes God Botherers believe that knocking on your door on a Sunday afternoon to discuss The Bible is going to endear them to you. I have just had the Jehovah's Witlesses around. Not the usual old woman/young woman partnership. No this time was a very nice looking young bloke (5'10", short blond hair, cute smile, aged mid 20s, I'd say) and a young asian woman (Far East, Malaysia or thereabouts, 5'5"ish, quite pretty, disarming smile).
Young Man: Good afternoon. I know this probably isn't the best time to call, but we were wondering if you had a few minutes to spare to discuss The Bible. [Short pause] We would like the opportunity to discuss why we believe that current events were predicted in The Bible.
Me: Sorry I don't wish to be exposed to your heresies [Shuts door in young man's face]
It was only later that I realised that this could have been the start of much amusement.
Damn, I've got to learn to put my brain in gear before opening my mouth.
Sunday, February 16, 2003
Friday, February 14, 2003
Government Stupidity
In response to the Belgian supreme court ruling that Israeli military commanders could be prosecuted for their part in the 1982 Sabra and Chatilla massacres, the Israeli government are screaming anti-semetism and an accusation that Belgium are raising 'a "blood libel" against the Jewish people.'
The Guardian have reported the story here including a brief description of the blood libel.
In response to the Belgian supreme court ruling that Israeli military commanders could be prosecuted for their part in the 1982 Sabra and Chatilla massacres, the Israeli government are screaming anti-semetism and an accusation that Belgium are raising 'a "blood libel" against the Jewish people.'
The Guardian have reported the story here including a brief description of the blood libel.
He Loves Me!
I just collected the package my boyfriend sent from Manchester. Apart from the obligatory Valentine's Day card, he sent me his last Rolo.
All together now. Awwwwww.
All together now. Awwwwww.
YAY!
I found the game. I can't think why software is on the Hitler bookshelf. I'm now off to spend an enjoyable evening bankrupting capitalists, killing warmongers and smiting fundies.
Don't wait up.
Don't wait up.
A little bit of poetry for a Friday afternoon
I was going through old issues of the Lancet (like you do) and I came across this poem (again)
night-crossing
i wake to find myself
exactly halfway
between last night and
touching you.
i can tell by this uneasiness.
by the way these feverfews
have come to harm, how
the thin
velvet of their dusted
wings
weaken and fold
beneath a litany of false alarms
halfway
between burning down and coming true.
this is the season of falling satellites, the internal bleeding
of unwritten poems, forest fires for no reason
and i am waiting for news of all
of these, and cannot sleep
until you put your arms around me like a bay
and i tide in and out of you, until we run aground
and have nothing left to say.
you are listing, unsure
if it is my hand in your or yours in mine
if your pulling away will leave me falling behind.
Michael O'Reilly
Ramelton, County Donegal, Eire
(Or if you want the proper reference: O'Reilly. The Lancet 1995; 346: 1543)
night-crossing
i wake to find myself
exactly halfway
between last night and
touching you.
i can tell by this uneasiness.
by the way these feverfews
have come to harm, how
the thin
velvet of their dusted
wings
weaken and fold
beneath a litany of false alarms
halfway
between burning down and coming true.
this is the season of falling satellites, the internal bleeding
of unwritten poems, forest fires for no reason
and i am waiting for news of all
of these, and cannot sleep
until you put your arms around me like a bay
and i tide in and out of you, until we run aground
and have nothing left to say.
you are listing, unsure
if it is my hand in your or yours in mine
if your pulling away will leave me falling behind.
Michael O'Reilly
Ramelton, County Donegal, Eire
(Or if you want the proper reference: O'Reilly. The Lancet 1995; 346: 1543)
Thursday, February 13, 2003
My phone has been ringing like an emergency hotline tonight. Seems as though everyone and his dog wants to speak with me.
In among the calls was one from a friend in England checking I was okay because I'd been quiet, who is then telling me about his latest string of potential conquests, which left me so f****** depressed. It just highlights the difference in attitudes to men and women. This friend is only about a year younger than me and seems to be getting interested ladies left right and center. Whereas I am perceived as being over the hill and not worthy of a second glance. It's a rotten f****** double standard and it's f****** unfair. Why should an almost 40 year old woman be seen as unworthy of attention when a nearly 40 year old man is seen as highly desirable? Why the f*** should experience be a virtue for a man and yet mark a woman out as being a slut? Why don't I just blow my f****** brains out and be done with it?
In among the calls was one from a friend in England checking I was okay because I'd been quiet, who is then telling me about his latest string of potential conquests, which left me so f****** depressed. It just highlights the difference in attitudes to men and women. This friend is only about a year younger than me and seems to be getting interested ladies left right and center. Whereas I am perceived as being over the hill and not worthy of a second glance. It's a rotten f****** double standard and it's f****** unfair. Why should an almost 40 year old woman be seen as unworthy of attention when a nearly 40 year old man is seen as highly desirable? Why the f*** should experience be a virtue for a man and yet mark a woman out as being a slut? Why don't I just blow my f****** brains out and be done with it?
Okay, okay so I don't update as regularly as I should. So what? It's my blog and I'll update when I want.
Anyway I have been frequenting different parts of the internet recently and have been introduced to a couple of tidbits, which I present here for your delight and amusement.
Firstly, thanks to a one of the geeks in a linux chat room for this. Remember folks it's a joke.
Then there the Restroom Rules as brought to my attention by Mike (thanks mate).
And finally, on a topical note a bunch of folks protesting the forthcoming war against Iraq but a banner over a billboard which I just had to laugh at.
Well that's it till next time.
Anyway I have been frequenting different parts of the internet recently and have been introduced to a couple of tidbits, which I present here for your delight and amusement.
Firstly, thanks to a one of the geeks in a linux chat room for this. Remember folks it's a joke.
Then there the Restroom Rules as brought to my attention by Mike (thanks mate).
And finally, on a topical note a bunch of folks protesting the forthcoming war against Iraq but a banner over a billboard which I just had to laugh at.
Well that's it till next time.
I have the urge to play computer games but I don't want to reboot into windows because that might be what caused all the problems in the first place and I can't find the linux games to reload them. I want to know how it is possible to lose a set of cds in their packaging, complete with manuals in a flat that is the size of a rabbit hutch. I think one of the cthulus must have eaten them as a substitute for brains, but neither of them will admit it. I feel like I should head out to the pub for the writers workshop readings, but seeing as I have been off work sick it would be a bit of a cheek. On top of which I have to get out of bed sometime before light to get my butt across town for 8:30 in the morning. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Blarrrggghh!
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Right the computer is working again, thanks to Claudio and the guys in #linux on nixhelp.org. It's actually a re-occurrence of a problem that Claudio spend two nights fixing last week so before he started spending lots more time at it again I threw the problem into the chat room. Main query that came back from the guys was "raid?". Neither Claudio or I thought that the machine was using raid but we kept the suggestion in the back of our minds as work began, partitions were checked and bad blocks marked. When the machine was rebooted, we kept a very close eye on what was being loaded, at which point curses were heard. Kernel sources were located and downloaded from disk at which point we noted that the installer claimed it was reconfiguring something. Looks were exchanged and a decision to have a close look at what the kernel was doing was made. The distro insists that my AMD K6 desktop machine is a 586 family processor running on a Toshiba laptop as well as other stupid stuff including what appeared to be two different raid controllers, so a swift reconfiguration and recompile later we think that we may have the problem solved. Touch wood.
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
ARRGHH!
Just got up after a fitful night of pained sleeplessness to discover that one of the computers has crashed big time. Won't boot at all. I think I need the services of an Italian friend. Hopefully he will make the computer an offer it can't refuse.
Monday, February 10, 2003
I woke up today with a blinding headache, so bad that I rang for a doctor's appointment. It wasn't just that it was bad but also that it has been there for about ten days. Anyway, the doctor listened to me sympathetically, and agreed that worrying about a headache that's lasted ten days isn't hypochondria, and she gave me some pills to kill the pain and help with the feeling of nausea. So off I toddled to the bus stop to go to work only to find I'd just missed the bus, so I went to get the prescription made up. What a palaver. The local pharmacy never seems to have drugs that you want, it's always we'll have to order this in and we'll have it in a couple of days. Anyway the drug I was prescribed is available in small quantities over the counter so the pharmacist made up the script out of her "over the counter" stock, then charged me a double fee ("well there are two types of tablet there dear").
I staggered into work only to have one of the other senior secretaries drag me off to lunch with the rest of the lunch crew, who all said I looked like shit and should go home.
After having had at least something to eat I took two of the pills. The first lot you should take are a lurid pink and have a drug to stop feelings of nausea, which I needed because I really did feel quite sick. I then put my head on the desk and prayed for a swift death (I said it was a bad headache). One of my co-workers saw me in this state and said that I really ought to go home, and as he is a doctor I decided to take his advice. Because I was feeling nauseous I decided that it would be better to get a taxi home but before I could do this I had to go and throw up. Now I can only blame this on the pills because I'd gone well over a week of nausea without the up-chucking, but on the plus side after my discussion with Ralph on the white telephone the nausea went away so it wasn't all bad.
And now I am at home and just about to go to bed to see if darkness and quiet will help any.
Blaaarrgghh!
I staggered into work only to have one of the other senior secretaries drag me off to lunch with the rest of the lunch crew, who all said I looked like shit and should go home.
After having had at least something to eat I took two of the pills. The first lot you should take are a lurid pink and have a drug to stop feelings of nausea, which I needed because I really did feel quite sick. I then put my head on the desk and prayed for a swift death (I said it was a bad headache). One of my co-workers saw me in this state and said that I really ought to go home, and as he is a doctor I decided to take his advice. Because I was feeling nauseous I decided that it would be better to get a taxi home but before I could do this I had to go and throw up. Now I can only blame this on the pills because I'd gone well over a week of nausea without the up-chucking, but on the plus side after my discussion with Ralph on the white telephone the nausea went away so it wasn't all bad.
And now I am at home and just about to go to bed to see if darkness and quiet will help any.
Blaaarrgghh!
Sunday, February 09, 2003
I had a phone call from my mother today. She was telling me the latest news about her chemotherapy and all the stuff that is going on with the family down in Leeds.
Family news is pretty much as it always is, but the treatment news was interesting. Her treatment regime is a long session (several drugs) then a week later a short session (one main drug and antibiotics), then the next week a long session and so on. She had her first long session a couple of weeks ago and when I went to visit she was fine. Her only side effect was that her joints were aching and she felt tired. When she went for the short session it was cancelled because her blood tests were a bit skewed. Last week she was back for the next long session and there was a delay for some reason during which time she got to see the consultant. She thought that because there were no nasty side effects that the drugs weren't working, so she was shown the x-rays for comparison, and apparently there is already a visible reduction in the tumour.
Whilst we know that this is not a cure, it's a positive and each positive is a step on the way to controlling the nasty little bugger. So we are all pretty upbeat about it.
Family news is pretty much as it always is, but the treatment news was interesting. Her treatment regime is a long session (several drugs) then a week later a short session (one main drug and antibiotics), then the next week a long session and so on. She had her first long session a couple of weeks ago and when I went to visit she was fine. Her only side effect was that her joints were aching and she felt tired. When she went for the short session it was cancelled because her blood tests were a bit skewed. Last week she was back for the next long session and there was a delay for some reason during which time she got to see the consultant. She thought that because there were no nasty side effects that the drugs weren't working, so she was shown the x-rays for comparison, and apparently there is already a visible reduction in the tumour.
Whilst we know that this is not a cure, it's a positive and each positive is a step on the way to controlling the nasty little bugger. So we are all pretty upbeat about it.
Monday, January 20, 2003
Just got back to work, straight off the train from Manchester I should add, and what do I find? Someone in my office "borrowing" my keyboard. So I wasn't well pleased. Of course, this has raised an issue of security, but as my contract there expires on the 14th April I'm getting to a point were I don't give a shit.
However, the reason for my late arrival at work was the visit to my mum's (travelling via Manchester to see the boyfriend). I actually arranged this trip quite well in that I travelled straight from work on Friday, spend the best part of Saturday in Leeds, had quality time with Paul on Sunday and started back a zero-dark-o'clock today.
Mum is fine, if fact she looks better than she has in a long time. I suspect that some of that is because she took early retirement from her job as a special education needs co-ordinator at a deprived inner city school and has therefore relieved her of a huge amounts of stress. The only side effect she is getting is soreness in her joints, though she also says that she is getting tired easily. I have to confess that seeing her has lifted a weight from my mind. She is her usual cheerful self, and she doesn't look anything like you would expect of a cancer patient on chemotherapy.
Plus she is determined not to be beaten.
However, the reason for my late arrival at work was the visit to my mum's (travelling via Manchester to see the boyfriend). I actually arranged this trip quite well in that I travelled straight from work on Friday, spend the best part of Saturday in Leeds, had quality time with Paul on Sunday and started back a zero-dark-o'clock today.
Mum is fine, if fact she looks better than she has in a long time. I suspect that some of that is because she took early retirement from her job as a special education needs co-ordinator at a deprived inner city school and has therefore relieved her of a huge amounts of stress. The only side effect she is getting is soreness in her joints, though she also says that she is getting tired easily. I have to confess that seeing her has lifted a weight from my mind. She is her usual cheerful self, and she doesn't look anything like you would expect of a cancer patient on chemotherapy.
Plus she is determined not to be beaten.
Thursday, January 16, 2003
I knew this was going to happen. The last time I spoke to my mother, she promised faithfully that I would be kept informed of what was happening. Well the date for her first chemotherapy has been and gone and not a word. I know that the effects of the treatment are such that she probably doesn't feel up to calling. But what excuse does my aunt have? On past experience my mother has been at death's door in intensive care and my aunt didn't tell me anything, and what was most annoying is that I was working in a different department of the same hospital. I am so angry yet I can't really be angry at my mother because she probably feels like shit at the moment, and I feel shit because I don't know what is happening.
Monday, January 13, 2003
Well I have arranged travel to go to Leeds to see my mother next weekend and I suppose I will have to wait to see what happens in the interim. I spoke with her on Saturday to let her know that I am going down. She gave me a real ticking off for getting upset again. She actually said that it wasn't as if the cancer was going to kill her, which made me laugh. I suppose that if she can be so upbeat about the situation I should really try to emulate her, but it is so hard when all I really feel is crushing depression combined with total helplessness.
It doesn't help that her first chemotherapy session has been put back two days which then makes me think that there is not as much chance as I was a first led to believe of reducing the tumour. On top of that I have lost a sapphire from the nice dress ring that she gave me when my boyfriend and I started living together and with the timing being what it is that has upset me as well. I know it's silly but my mind was trying to read all sorts of omens into that.
Ho-hum.
It doesn't help that her first chemotherapy session has been put back two days which then makes me think that there is not as much chance as I was a first led to believe of reducing the tumour. On top of that I have lost a sapphire from the nice dress ring that she gave me when my boyfriend and I started living together and with the timing being what it is that has upset me as well. I know it's silly but my mind was trying to read all sorts of omens into that.
Ho-hum.
Sunday, January 12, 2003
This week has been a nightmare. I almost feel as though a deity somewhere has it in for me. To bring things up to date:
Tuesday evening: My mother called to tell me that she has her test results back and that she had and inoperable cancer. I told a few people on my IRC channel, finding time to type between bursting into tears and I have a friend in the Midlands that I also told. I managed to get a lot of help and immediate moral support from them and they all gave me the encouragement that I needed to be able to tell my boyfriend (who currently lives in Manchester). It was really bizarre the way it was so much easier to tell the irc people than it was to tell my own partner. Once I had calmed down a bit I was able to call my boyfriend and his immediate reaction was to try to arrange to come up and visit me. I, on the other hand, thought that it would be better if he went to visit my mum. My mood was swinging from desperate sadness, to frustration and anger, all accompanied by floods of tears, so needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.
Wednesday: After having had a dreadful night of very disturbed sleep I got up and tried to get ready for work. However, with continued bouts of crying and being in a complete daze I realised at about 10:30 am that I was late (one and a half hours late at that point) so I rang my boss's secretary and explained what had happened, only just managing to stop myself from bursting into tears whilst speaking with her. I thought I would go to the restaurant on the corner of the street for lunch, so finished getting ready and as I was about to leave thought I'd head into work because I might at least manage to get something done between the tears and the dazed periods. I also thought that if I got back into work it would start to get my mind back on day to day things. It did eventually, but work wise the day was a complete wash out. My boss was away at a conference but he did manage to make time to give me a call, though I don't really think he knew what to say. As I put the phone down I burst into really hysterical tears that must have been heard right across the lab, because our Lab Manager came to see if I was okay, so yet again I had to recount what is happening. Of course this is now spreading right through the department which I'm not sure is a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, it saves me having to tell people why I am so gloomy, but there is also the feeing that it should be me telling people and that this shouldn't be the subject of general gossip. I have a friend who is an oncologist and I had a chat with her. She told me a lot about lung cancer, possible treatments, possible outcomes and that was very helpful. I also rang the Macmillan nurse who will be looking after my mum. She was very helpful, but at the same time she was very firm that she couldn't tell me anything without my mother's permission. She did, however, say that she wouldn't tell my mother anything about our conversation unless I agreed, so that was good. I slept better that night, though it was still a bit disturbed.
Thursday: Surprisingly, I was fairly okay. I got into work without a hitch and managed to get a fair chunk of work done. I was running behind because of Wednesday, but the really big job that I had, I managed to get completed, which left me feeling frustrated because it took the best part of the day but didn't make an impact on the in-tray. Had a really long conversation with my mother and told her that I had spoken with her nurse. I think she was a bit miffed at first but I explained why I'd called and that I didn't want to be in a position where she was too ill or tired from the chemotherapy to call me and that my aunt would be too busy "dealing with things" to bother calling to let me know and that I didn't want to be cut out of the loop. Anyway, mum said that she will tell everyone that they are to let me know what is going on.
Friday: Today was good. I've read a lot about the cancer treatments available, with probable outcomes, and that combined with my mothers really positive attitude is starting to have an effect. I actually feel guilty about being so upset because clearly that isn't what my mum wants. To be honest if I were in the same position I wouldn't want people to be miserable around me, but it is only natural to be upset in the first instance because whether you are expecting the news or not it's a big shock. Added to the fact that both my grandfathers died of cancer so I know what to expect if the tumour metastasises and/or doesn't respond to the chemotherapy, and I know it isn't nice. It isn't something that I ever wanted to see happening again and I particularly didn't want to see it happening to someone close. Still, as my mother say's you have to look at life in a positive fashion or you'd never do anything. So now I am going to go home and have a hot bath and carry on living my life. It's not that I don't care it's just that my mother is going to live her life as she wants to and now isn't the time to drop everything to go and be with her. What she want's most of all is for everything to carry on as normal, and that involves me living in Edinburgh and being a tour guide when she comes to visit. There will be a time when I have to put my life on hold - it just isn't now.
Tuesday evening: My mother called to tell me that she has her test results back and that she had and inoperable cancer. I told a few people on my IRC channel, finding time to type between bursting into tears and I have a friend in the Midlands that I also told. I managed to get a lot of help and immediate moral support from them and they all gave me the encouragement that I needed to be able to tell my boyfriend (who currently lives in Manchester). It was really bizarre the way it was so much easier to tell the irc people than it was to tell my own partner. Once I had calmed down a bit I was able to call my boyfriend and his immediate reaction was to try to arrange to come up and visit me. I, on the other hand, thought that it would be better if he went to visit my mum. My mood was swinging from desperate sadness, to frustration and anger, all accompanied by floods of tears, so needless to say, I didn't get much sleep.
Wednesday: After having had a dreadful night of very disturbed sleep I got up and tried to get ready for work. However, with continued bouts of crying and being in a complete daze I realised at about 10:30 am that I was late (one and a half hours late at that point) so I rang my boss's secretary and explained what had happened, only just managing to stop myself from bursting into tears whilst speaking with her. I thought I would go to the restaurant on the corner of the street for lunch, so finished getting ready and as I was about to leave thought I'd head into work because I might at least manage to get something done between the tears and the dazed periods. I also thought that if I got back into work it would start to get my mind back on day to day things. It did eventually, but work wise the day was a complete wash out. My boss was away at a conference but he did manage to make time to give me a call, though I don't really think he knew what to say. As I put the phone down I burst into really hysterical tears that must have been heard right across the lab, because our Lab Manager came to see if I was okay, so yet again I had to recount what is happening. Of course this is now spreading right through the department which I'm not sure is a good or a bad thing. On the one hand, it saves me having to tell people why I am so gloomy, but there is also the feeing that it should be me telling people and that this shouldn't be the subject of general gossip. I have a friend who is an oncologist and I had a chat with her. She told me a lot about lung cancer, possible treatments, possible outcomes and that was very helpful. I also rang the Macmillan nurse who will be looking after my mum. She was very helpful, but at the same time she was very firm that she couldn't tell me anything without my mother's permission. She did, however, say that she wouldn't tell my mother anything about our conversation unless I agreed, so that was good. I slept better that night, though it was still a bit disturbed.
Thursday: Surprisingly, I was fairly okay. I got into work without a hitch and managed to get a fair chunk of work done. I was running behind because of Wednesday, but the really big job that I had, I managed to get completed, which left me feeling frustrated because it took the best part of the day but didn't make an impact on the in-tray. Had a really long conversation with my mother and told her that I had spoken with her nurse. I think she was a bit miffed at first but I explained why I'd called and that I didn't want to be in a position where she was too ill or tired from the chemotherapy to call me and that my aunt would be too busy "dealing with things" to bother calling to let me know and that I didn't want to be cut out of the loop. Anyway, mum said that she will tell everyone that they are to let me know what is going on.
Friday: Today was good. I've read a lot about the cancer treatments available, with probable outcomes, and that combined with my mothers really positive attitude is starting to have an effect. I actually feel guilty about being so upset because clearly that isn't what my mum wants. To be honest if I were in the same position I wouldn't want people to be miserable around me, but it is only natural to be upset in the first instance because whether you are expecting the news or not it's a big shock. Added to the fact that both my grandfathers died of cancer so I know what to expect if the tumour metastasises and/or doesn't respond to the chemotherapy, and I know it isn't nice. It isn't something that I ever wanted to see happening again and I particularly didn't want to see it happening to someone close. Still, as my mother say's you have to look at life in a positive fashion or you'd never do anything. So now I am going to go home and have a hot bath and carry on living my life. It's not that I don't care it's just that my mother is going to live her life as she wants to and now isn't the time to drop everything to go and be with her. What she want's most of all is for everything to carry on as normal, and that involves me living in Edinburgh and being a tour guide when she comes to visit. There will be a time when I have to put my life on hold - it just isn't now.
Wednesday, January 08, 2003
I have become the Angel of Death
My mother was in hospital just before Christmas with pneumonia that wasn't responding well to antibotics. Whilst she was in hospital she had to undergo a battery of tests, getting the results back when she went to the clinic yesterday. However, the results are not good. She has an inoperable lung cancer and the doctors are hoping to start chemotherapy next week.
Meanwhile, I am about 200 miles away feeling very alone and wondering what to do. I feel angry that this is happening to my mother, and I am also angry at myself for not being there. At the same time my mother is telling me off for getting upset and when I suggested that I move back down south she told me not to be so stupid.
But what am I supposed to do?
Meanwhile, I am about 200 miles away feeling very alone and wondering what to do. I feel angry that this is happening to my mother, and I am also angry at myself for not being there. At the same time my mother is telling me off for getting upset and when I suggested that I move back down south she told me not to be so stupid.
But what am I supposed to do?
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
...and Then Some
Over the weekend Edinburgh has had it's largest fire in living memory. The fire took over 48 hours to extinguish by over 100 firemen. Fire appliances were brought over the Firth of Forth from Fife and other neighbouring districts to help fight the blaze and maintain fire cover for the rest of the City.
It is ironic that this fire has served to highlight why we need dedicated firefighters, when it was a fire in the same proximity that resulted in James Braidwood being commissioned to form the first municipal fire service just at a time when the local authorities and the government seem to be trying to undermine the well trained and highly dedicated firefighters that we already have. It seems to be the view of the employers that these men and women should only expect to have a living salary by working overtime, yet by the nature of the work that they do working regular overtime would more than likely put lives at risk. Let us not forget, these men and women will go into burning buildings at the risk of losing their own lives, to rescue the likes of you and me. These are the people who are often having to extract badly mutilated bodies (sometimes even of young children) from vehicles after car accidents. These are the people who are frequently left to deal with distraught victims of fire or accident right at the time of the initial trauma.
Come on Tony don't be a tight arse. Just give them the money. You know they deserve it.
Discuss Edinburgh
Over the weekend Edinburgh has had it's largest fire in living memory. The fire took over 48 hours to extinguish by over 100 firemen. Fire appliances were brought over the Firth of Forth from Fife and other neighbouring districts to help fight the blaze and maintain fire cover for the rest of the City.
It is ironic that this fire has served to highlight why we need dedicated firefighters, when it was a fire in the same proximity that resulted in James Braidwood being commissioned to form the first municipal fire service just at a time when the local authorities and the government seem to be trying to undermine the well trained and highly dedicated firefighters that we already have. It seems to be the view of the employers that these men and women should only expect to have a living salary by working overtime, yet by the nature of the work that they do working regular overtime would more than likely put lives at risk. Let us not forget, these men and women will go into burning buildings at the risk of losing their own lives, to rescue the likes of you and me. These are the people who are often having to extract badly mutilated bodies (sometimes even of young children) from vehicles after car accidents. These are the people who are frequently left to deal with distraught victims of fire or accident right at the time of the initial trauma.
Come on Tony don't be a tight arse. Just give them the money. You know they deserve it.
Discuss Edinburgh
Life Sucks
You realise that your life has suddenly become very full when you realise that you haven't updated your blog for a couple of months. Is it any wonder then that I feel the need to get a lot of things off my chest?
The two most important things are that my best friend's cat just died. The big blob that turned all my black clothes orange is no more. Last night was very weird because I went to my friend's flat and we sat watching TV and downing a few beers when suddenly we realised we'd spent most of the time talking about the cat and that we were in fact having a wake. Didn't make it any easier and I have cried a few times both last night and today. Charlie put an entry into his blog.
You realise that your life has suddenly become very full when you realise that you haven't updated your blog for a couple of months. Is it any wonder then that I feel the need to get a lot of things off my chest?
The two most important things are that my best friend's cat just died. The big blob that turned all my black clothes orange is no more. Last night was very weird because I went to my friend's flat and we sat watching TV and downing a few beers when suddenly we realised we'd spent most of the time talking about the cat and that we were in fact having a wake. Didn't make it any easier and I have cried a few times both last night and today. Charlie put an entry into his blog.
Sunday, October 06, 2002
Old Photos
My boss has not been giving me much work at the moment which has been very frustrating to say the least. Friday lunchtime he called and apologised and then asked if I could do him a huge favour. Naturally I said yes (I may need a reference from him in the not too distant future). His parent's were visiting for a long weekend and had brought with them an old photo album. My boss wanted the pictures scanning so that they had an additional record of them. So I have just spent Friday night and most of Saturday scanning pictures of my boss as a child. I had to meet up with him today to give him the photo album back and he was so appreciative that I just had to forgive him for leaving me with nothing for a week. On top of that there were some older photos of his grandparents and great-grandparents that look as though they are original dagerrotypes, so I feel really honoured that I was allowed access to them. The other nice thing is that I have been told to take time in lieu at time and a half so it turned out really good in all ways.
My boss has not been giving me much work at the moment which has been very frustrating to say the least. Friday lunchtime he called and apologised and then asked if I could do him a huge favour. Naturally I said yes (I may need a reference from him in the not too distant future). His parent's were visiting for a long weekend and had brought with them an old photo album. My boss wanted the pictures scanning so that they had an additional record of them. So I have just spent Friday night and most of Saturday scanning pictures of my boss as a child. I had to meet up with him today to give him the photo album back and he was so appreciative that I just had to forgive him for leaving me with nothing for a week. On top of that there were some older photos of his grandparents and great-grandparents that look as though they are original dagerrotypes, so I feel really honoured that I was allowed access to them. The other nice thing is that I have been told to take time in lieu at time and a half so it turned out really good in all ways.
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