A Day In The Life

Wednesday

Training at Stormont today. Had to get up an extra 30 minutes early which really makes a difference. I was quite tired but the gentle autumn breeze woke me up as I made my way down Donegal Pass to catch a lift. The traffic was all heading the opposite way as we fired on up the Upper Newtownards Road and we made it on time. We were in the Craigantlet buildings which was new in 1953 and the only change has been placing a widescreen plasma TV on the second floor which looks really out of place and unesscessary for telling people the latest news such as fresh buns in the cafeteria. Needless to say the canteen is a soul-destroying testament to public sector workers. Food provdied by SodexHo [haha - their website is laughable] and eaten by zombies. It was depressing enough to sit in for a days training nevermind day after day but since Stormont is in the middle of nowhere like a great industrial estate, there's nowhere else for people to go.

The training itself was straight forward but staring at a screen all day was enough to bring on a migraine. It's OK when you can get up and leave your desk on your own accord but is frowned upon mid-lecture. Typically they were brand new 17" TFT screens with DVD drives but the only thing they are ever going to be used for is looking at an excel spreadsheet. Money well spent.

We finally got released around 4pm and made our way back to Belfast. I was conveniently dropped off at Direct Wine Shipment and wandered inside to procure a few bottles. I decided to treat myself with a Pinotage. After all, it was a tiring day and Wednesday is food night.
I wandered through the Cathedral Quarter to get home and there's an amazing amount of redevelopment going on. There's a lot of new pubs and clubs that I passed by and I made a mental note to visit them sometime soon: The Spaniard in particular, the Potthouse less so as it looked like a wannabe trendy piece of shit worth avoiding.

The meal that night was provided by Keith and Tony, Keith being a new addition to our cook-night and therefore the meal was strictly vegatarian. We had roast marrow and assorted vegetables follwed by rhubarb crumble which really hit the spot and then watched Batman Begins which was good on repeat viewing and I definetly look forward to the next installment.
Unfortunatly my Pinotage was unpalpable considering it cost £9 so I certainly wont be buying that again. It was South African though so perhaps that was the problem or perhaps it was just a bad bottle. I wont be taking the trouble to find out again if I was correct as there's many bottles that deserve my attention, but we'll get to that later.

Thursday

More training today but of ferent nature. This time it was Equal Opportunities & Sexual Harrassment. The trainer fired through the legislation before splitting us into two groups to review some scenarios. One in particular was about a homophobic in work, who after seeing a gay co-worker drinking from his mug, made a show to the rest of the staff by throwing it in the bin as "unsafe" to drink from again. We were asked how we would respond. I suggested that we buy a pink mug for the homophobe and everyone laughed except for the trainer who thought I meant a pink mug for the gay guy and probably thought I was an asshole but who cares what someone who you're never going to see again thinks of you?

We finished up around noon and decided that our best option was to go to Ginger Root for lunch and treat ourselves. They do a buffet for £5.95 and it's worth it if you're hungry but overpriced if you're looking for a quick snack.
After a half days training, no one is in the mood for doing any work back in the office. Fortunatly my computer was on the blink and IT spent most of the afternoon tinkering at it while I sat chatting to other staff by the water cooler.
I was glad to get home and decided to open up bottle 2 of 3 of my purchases. What a great find too - Los Cardos, a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina. At £6, I'll certainly be buying more. Like drinking velvet!

Thursday being last night, Don, Colin and myself went to the Spring & Airbrake to see Caribou AKA Manitoba. The warm up band was The Russian Futurists and although they sound good on record, there's only two of them and the live set is very synth heavy. However, they did play the one song I knew and loved so no complaints really. Then the main act. I caught Manitoba at the Leeds festival two years ago around 1am and they kicked ass. It was the same format again: guitar and two drummers. I wont bore you with details but they were awesome. Don took a few photos of the gig:



After the gig, Don bought a DVD from the drummer and we moved next door to Katy Dalys for more pints. What happened next was legend. A huge beefcake half giant was standing beside us talking to his mate but his right pocket was "ajar" if you will. We had peanuts. I threw one of them and it landed hook line and sinker right in the pocket. 3 pointer! As any drunk men would do, we spent the next 20 minutes throwing nuts into this poor buggers trouser pocket. It became a game. We must have landed around 15 nuts before he left for the john and we decided to move table and hide the empty packets of peanuts lest he pound us into dust. A drunk pacifist who has an allergic reaction to getting hit is no good in a bar fight. "Damage - my only weakness!".

Friday

And there you have it. A rough guide to the last two days. I'm in no mood for work today so as soon as I walked through the door, I brought my leave card to my line manager and made her sign a half day so in less than 3 hours I'll be back home curled in a ball ready for a nap attack.Have a great weekend folks and I'll catch you Monday.