Wednesday, February 13, 2008

12 of 12 February

Well this year I decided I wanted to go one better than the 11 out of 12 that I managed last year. I didn't get off to a good start. January's 12 of 12 (falling on the 12th) fell into the Weekend I started my BELA (Basic Expedition Leader Award) course. This course teaches the basic skills required to take young people out walking in lowland countryside. It also teaches you about your responsibilites. It is a minimum requirement for takling cadets out hiking.

The problem arose due to the location of the course. It was on a Royal Air Force Air Base. Being a military installation, security is pretty tight. However this particualr air base is currently home to one of the heirs to the Throne aka Prince William. He is currently in residence undergoing his pilot training. As you can imagine being seen with a camera, let alone taking pictures gets you a big frown down the barrel of a gun.

Still no one around to stop me this month so without further ado.

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1. 06:55
Having started my new job in January, I find myself having a much earlier start on Morning. I actually start work at 07:30 am which is an hour earleir than my previous job. This morning it's very foggy and I can't see very far down the street. It's also very icy and I almost go flying walking down the steps to the path.

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2. 06:56
It's so icy my car has completely frozen up on the outside. It will take me a good few minutes scraping off the ice you see here. In the meantime I get much colder wishing I hadn't got out of bed this morning.

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3. 07:25
My desk at work. It's nice and clean at the moment as I haven't had too much time to accumulate the years of crap my last desk had. The second reason is that it's only a temporary desk as there's an office move in the works. Thirdly (and finally) the desk is right next to both my bosses, so I can't escape there gaze.

Note: Unfortunately photo's from work will be few and far between as they take security and privacy very seriously. However as I'm one the first few people in the office on the Morning I should be able to get one or two. Also for those not in the know I finished my job with the Cremation industry at Xmas and started one with the water industry in the New Year. So I've gone from Crematorium to Sewerage Treatment Works. It's a good job I have a bad sense of smell.

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4. 16:10
The one good thing about starting early is I finish at 15:30. I can be home within 30 minutes and now I suddenly find myself having more of the day to play with. Also the new job no longer has the option of going to the canteen for lunch (and I refuse to pay shop prices for Sandwiches all week) so I make my own. Lunch usually consists of a Sandwich, 2 slices of Malt Loaf and a Cereal bar. I also have a fruitbowl full of fruit stashed in my desk draw for when I get peckish!

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5. 16:25
Tonight is a Cadet night and there is now time before I go out to have a shave. As I am in uniform I must be clean shaven (you can only grow facial hair under exceptional circumstances) and I'm glad I no longer have to rush before travelling to cadets. And yes that is my bald head you can see just in the bottom of the mirror. ;-)

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6. 17:00
As part of my evening preparations I also need to polish my shoes as part of the uniform. Only the toe caps need to be polished, but the rest of the shoe needs to be clean and scuff free. I usually spend about 1 hour a week polishing them, however this is currently not giving me the shine I want so I may have to find the time to do another hour somewhere in the week.

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7. 18:00
There's just time to check my emails before I leave. This is my new Laptop which I've had for about 3 weeks now. My old laptop has been on it's last legs for the last 6 months now. It was really slow and had no battery life, but at least it worked. However just before Xmas it welded the power lead to the back of the laptop due to excessive heat generated by the charging circuit. At that point I decided it was too dangerous to use anymore. The new laptop is silver with a white outer casing. I had my choice of colours, but I went for white as it seems to be the fashionable colour at the moment.

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8. 19:25
I've arrived at the Squadron headquaters. It took me a bit longer than usual due to the fog coming backas the evening wore on. I've been a uniformed memeber of staff on the Squadron for 6 months now and I'm starting to get the hang of it. However having been a member of the squadron for a total of nearly 14 years probably gives me an advantage in that respect.

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9. 22:20
Back home for the night and as you can see the fog is still on it's way back. It's not quite as bad as it was the morning, but I still can't see all the way down the street. As I live on a hill I have to say it was much worse at the bottom of the hill, rather than where my house is.

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10. 22:25
For the next part of my BELA training course we are doing a camping skills weekend. I've borrowed a couple of tents from the squadron for this part of the course. However, I know one of the tents is missing a few pieces. So I need to put up both of these tents sometime this weekend to see which one is the complete set. I think I'd fail my course if I turned up with the wrong one.

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11. 22:30
Just time before I go to bed to get some reading in. Well I say reading, but I've gone for the option of a Comic Book this time. This is a Japanese Comic by Mamoru Nagano called "The Five Star Stories". It's a Science Fiction epic (that should be EPIC) and even though it's a comic I wouldn't call it "light reading". It's also printed in the original Japanese format, so you read if from right to left and back to front, compared to what we are used to in the west. My favourite thing about this series is the art, some of the drawings (especially the colour ones) are simply beautiful.

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12. 23:10
Okay before I go to bed, one more picture. Yep that's a picture of somebody in a uniform. Sorry I couldn't resist. Also that Beret, to get it that shape, you have to soak it in warm water and then wear it on your head in the correct shape until it dries in that shape. That was an uncomfortable few hours I can tell you.

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Well that it for the first on of the year (how I wish it was the second). If you've been reading this and wondering why I've done all this then visit Chad's blog and all will become clear.

Join us!

5 comments:

Simon said...

Five Star Stories! I remember that.

Let's hope for less fog in future, eh?

Dogeared said...

I love the foggy street photos :D

And yes, you do know how to pick the fragrant jobs! Still, I'm glad you have nicer hours (not that your old hours were bad, and 7:30am start is early, but it's worth it to leave so early!).

Scooter said...

I had no idea about the wetting of the beret. That would drive me nuts! Fun pix! Thanks for sharing your day with us!

Lisa B said...

Gosh that looks an icy, chilly morning, bbbrrrr. At least you get to finish work nice and early.

Elaine said...

A+ for the beret preparation!