A mad/normal week...

Started 17/11/2010: My last proper post on here was last Wednesday and since my feedback request was about as well responded to as Tony Blair at a Veterans reunion I had the choice about carrying on or accepting there was probably no point... well as I'm bored now and have approximately 12 minutes until my dinner is ready i thought I'd continue regardless!


Well what has happened since last Wednesday? As the deadline of my first real assessment, A 1200-1500 word Document Commentary, fast approached the time that I have been able to spend on anything has seriously decreased, but the good news is that was handed in with 90 minutes of the deadline to spare on Tuesday morning and is out of the way now. However... my next deadline is this approaching Tuesday and I think Gordon Brown was better prepared for the Credit Crunch than I am for this, and we all know what has happened to poor Gordon now. *Cameron waves from No. 10*


This weekend I went home again with the view of getting more work done than I would in Portsmouth due to less distractions etc, and I really hope that theory proves even more successful this week as I estimate that I have double the amount of research to fit into half of the amount of time, give or take... this could be interesting! I did take one break over the weekend though (minus sleeping) and this was to watch David Haye smash Audley Harisson's face in. Frankly I'm still not entirely sure it was worth the 14.95 my dad paid for it due to the fact the only action was scrunched up into about 90 seconds and consisted of big ol' Fraudley standing there while Haye went all Joey Barton on him. A fun 90 seconds, and an expected result, but a let-down all the same. Sunday also saw Smithy's first day at work... 9-5 he managed and I'm still not sure how but fair play to him and good luck with the job in general. That shift was not the most interesting part of his working week however and it took a dramatic turn towards weirdness on Tuesday when the NIGHT-TEAM ASSEMBLED!

Continued 23/11/2010: Apologies, it really has been too long since I updated this now and if anyone is actually reading this blog you deserve my most sincere apologies. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes... NIGHT-TEAM ASSEMBLE! Well once the night-team had assembled it turned out to be a disappointing truth behind the lime green veil of excitement, AKA Smith's uniform. The effect on his sleeping pattern has been interesting to say the least and he has had the privilege of working with some of Portsmouth's more colourful characters. On his first night he teamed up with the toothless-wonder, a rather unfortunate middle-aged woman called Gill who had about as many teeth as brain cells, was about as easy to understand as a Geordie after a few pints and found the name Andrew highly amusing. Night two didn't really improve either as this time he found himself working with a pleasent young chap called Clive. Now Clive was a bit of character too and at the start of the shift Smith thought he might be working with a bit of head case who thought himself as a bit handy, and by the end of the night Clive was twirling and jumping as he stocked the shelf and was happily telling Smithy all about his partner and the life he'd made himself locally. Clive was as bent as a nine bob note, and damn proud of it.

Wednesday in Portsmouth is rubbish collection, and that fits as a description as well as a name! Walking out of my house that morning I must have got a similar shock to Sam Tyler waking up in 1973, and the parallels are uncanny. Talk about returning to the dark ages, after time to consider and stew on it (as I tend to do), I came up with the comparison to the winter of discontent that marked the beginning of the end of the Prime Minister-ship of James Callaghan in 1978-79. Rubbish literally lined the streets and it looked a bit like everyone had gone on strike.

Thursday I was faced with yet more blog worthy material. As myself and Daly walked back from the gym in the evening (Yes I've joined a gym!) we saw a crowd building in the City-Centre for what turned out to be the turning on of the christmas lights. Even if you overlook the fact they chose to do it on a Thursday evening for reasons unbeknown to most people there was still plenty to question. Their choice of entertainment was a strange one, and seemed to consist of Portsmouth's rather un-kept looking answer to Cheryl Cole singing 'Promise This' on a pokey little stage whilst crowds of people that were beginning to question why they'd bothered to venture out of their homes pretended to listen. All in all a pretty impressive failure. Either Portsmouth City Council are on a budget of about £35 for the next 2 years or they just didn't make the effort in the same way many Towns and Villages across the country do. Little over 2 minutes up the road and we encountered proof of why my faith in man-kind and the people enforcing our laws has faded somewhat since cynicism has replaced youthful optimism. (Well ok I've never been particularly optimistic but it's getting worse believe me!) Now this really did take the proverbial cake and can be described as community policing at its very best. Two policemen were stood well back from the crowd looking very official and policey, but as we approached we heard this; "I said to him, I know you're going to be getting up to all sorts tonight but if I don't catch you then there's no problem." Brilliant. Just the kind of guy that I want policing the streets I walk on every day and i DEFINITELY feel safer knowing he's around. Frankly Smithy and the Night-Team could do a better job! Unfortunately that wasn't the end of the nights drama though, and as we attempted to cross the road nearer home my famously short temper with motorists was tested. Well as is generally the case I lost it and eye-balled a woman who had kindly stopped her car on the crossing and said into her open window, "Just chillin' on the crossing? cool", now I'm not sure if she heard what I said but she knew it was aimed at her even though the momentary eye-contact had been lost before I spoke and this can only be because she knew she was in the wrong. However this doesn't mean that she'd be willing to admit being wrong however great her understanding of that fact was, and she attempted to manoeuvre her cigarette into he other hand so she could open her passenger side window to argue. She took so long to do this however I didn't even catch her reply but i'll assume it wasn't a witty or intelligent retort.

The continuous list of things that annoy me continued on Friday as I waited for my train at Portsmouth station. My point that nothing seems to work in this city was compounded by the fact this is the case right up to the point of leaving it, whether this be on the confusing one-way system that leads to the M275 from Gunwharf Quays or on the train. As I waited at the station the automated announcer made a point of repeating several times that we should all step back from the platform edge because the next train would not be stopping. Guess What... It stopped. Well At Least your announcements are correct. Better still though 3 people promptly tried to get on the train, where they thought they were going I don't even want to begin to think about.

Over the weekend I did my bit for The Wagnerlution! Granted he murders songs every week and this week one of my favourites got attacked by Wagner's metaphorical axe, but I was in hysterics for most of the performance and if that doesn't count as entertainment then I don't know what does, and I'm definitely looking forward to his next murder/performance!

If you've made it this far without getting bored then your patience deserves rewarding, I will do my best to round-up quickly... I finish on a positive this time believe it or not, and here it is. Christmas has come to Manchester Road! Today Smithy came in with Advent calendars for Daly and I and this didn't fail to cheer me up out of my continual negative slumber and start the Christmas mood. We've had Boney M, Taylor Swift, Cliff Richard amongst other more traditional Christmas songs this evening and I look forward to getting even more wrapped up in Christmas spirit as we move towards the end of our first term as University Students!
Over and Out :)