Sarah

I had such a good send off from Bristol from everyone, but one of the best and possibly the most unique and at the same time frightening presents I had was this Tom Boonen puppet theatre. Look there is me and Tom Boonen cycling down the Champs-Elyse
in Paris and if you move the wires the cloud moves back to reveal Eddy Merckx. Thanks to Rosie and Rich who I know were quite scared they had even thought of making it.

I just found out it’s possible to have 16 sense of humour failures in one weekend. The factors that allow this to happen are having to work all weekend cycling with a group of strange people a very long way. Not being able to escape. Sitting through the 5th reception with a mayor in one day and hearing the same speech again and again. Finding yourself cycling through a clay like mud field and finding the clay like mud has clogged up your wheels so they won’t turn. Getting rid of the clay like mud from your mudguards with your hands as the rain starts to fall again. Carrying on your journey along tracks made of large stones in the rain and then realising it is 7.30pm and you still have to put up your tent. The general faffing that occurs in a large group of people. Having a party in your tent until 1am with loads of wine and then being woken up at 7am my a man in lycra singing a song about bananas. Not getting home until very late on Sunday because of all the faffing. So much more I could say.

Way beyond the call of duty.

I dream of this happening. I have been sent home from work because there was a gas leak in the centre of Bristol. This allows me extra time to complete my craft projects due tomorrow, although I did actually leave one of my sewing projects in the office. Does that sound like a rubbish excuse for not finishing it? I promise it’s true.

Luckily I took my bag out when evacuated, though many people didn’t so they are stuck without money or keys. They obviously don’t have an emergency evacuation plan like me (though now it looks like I need to amend my plan to include half finished craft).

In an attempt to feel like a tourist on a weekday in February when it is snowing I caught the boat to and from work today. I was very cold and unfortunately the boat heating had stopped working. Fortunately they said we didn’t have to pay. That wouldn’t happen on the bus, it is quicker than the bus, cheaper than the bus and they had fixed the heating by 5pm. I think I could go on and on saying why it is better than the bus but I’ll let you look at my view from the new bus instead.

I just went to visit a printers. We went into the admin and production office and aside from the fact there were no windows in there which made it pretty dire, half of them had full ashtrays on their desks and there was a heavy scent of smoke in the air. I didn’t think that sort of thing happened anymore. Surely there are big health and safety implications of smoking in a printers? All that paper. Dangerous.

One of the things I am enjoying most about my new job is being in the centre of Bristol. I am trying to do something different every day. The other day I went to Everest Base camp…

…then I managed to pop to the Antarctic..

You can be that adventurous too if you go to this.

The strange thing I realised today and I don’t think I like it very much is that we have underfloor heating which makes the soles of my feet (through shoes) really hot. It also means that anything left in a bag on the floor gets really hot and I had to eat a hot tangerine today. It is a whole new set of rules I have to learn. Some people embrace it and take their shoes off. No….I really don’t think I like it. I hate having hot feet and I always have.

It’s quite amazing how when starting a new job your brain actually reaches a point when you can’t take in anymore information. I felt it twice today and I was picturing my head with words floating outside not being allowed in due to the word congestion inside.

The things I remember are that I get to work with maps and I get to learn about GIS. I get free tea, coffee and milk (all fairtrade/organic)…..um I’m sure I remember more than that but my brain seems to be having a problem letting the words out now they are in.

My desk faces the tea room of the plush hotel next door and I am looking forward to it getting really christmassy and looking in at the people having afternoon tea. The Cathedral bells seem to ring all the time. I need to work on my cycling to work outfits. Today my body was too hot and my hands were too cold.

What an action packed time. I left work on Friday and said goodbye to my lovely workmates, now ex workmates. I said goodbye to my computer and to my camera…both emotional moments.

Then I spent a weekend of unemployment in Cirencester where famous people apparently go to be famous. This was proved to me and my mum when she met me at Kemble station. She was waiting there to greet me and as she came forward to hug me a tall lady turned round and bumped into her. She apologised and then we realised it was actually more than a famous person, it was Royalty in the form of Princess Anne. She was very tall.

I made a wood stack which has always been an ambition of mine. This means I stacked logs up a wall and it looks lovely.

I saw another famous person then - Melinda Messinger who was switching on the christmas lights in Cirencester.

Then I came back to Bristol where the green people live. I am proving this tomorrow by starting my new job with Sustrans (which stands for sustainable transport).

To top off my exciting weekend I just steamed three mini christmas puddings and let the pan go dry and it set on fire but it’s ok I was calm and dipped a tea towel in water and put it over the pan to starve the flames. They went out but then I lifted the tea towel off to have a look and it burst into flames again. I saved the puddings though they do now have an aroma of burnt sick.

On my penultimate day my office said goodbye in its own way. I just found a dead mouse under my desk. I thought it was a cuddly toy.

Meet my new employers. I secretly went for an interview last week. I didn’t hear anything for 24hours after the interview and wrote them off as in my experience if you don’t hear the same afternoon then you haven’t got it. They rang though, and offered me the job and I am really pleased.

I am a Sustrans supporter which means I give them money every month and they send me newsletters etc. However now I will be producing most publications, including the newsletter and obviously also giving £5 back to my employer each month. I’m not quite sure how I deal with that one.

Continuing my theme of meeting VIPs today I met the new Education Minister Kim Howells. I wasn’t really meant to meet him, I was just there to blend into the background and to take pictures. However when waiting in the corridor with the other VIPs due to meet him he strode up with his entourage, shook hands with VIP no.1, then turned to me and shook my hand. If I had a reason to meet him I would have given my usually strong handshake but I’m afraid to say it was a bit limp on my part and I mumbled my name as if to say, “you are really not supposed to be meeting me, please turn to the other important people you are supposed to meet and who are now looking at me too wondering who I am”.

I was then outdone by the other photographers there who had cameras four times as big as mine. We’ll see who has the best pics. I have one of kim’s face reflected in a piece of science machinery and it looks like he is in a hall of mirrors. I bet they didn’t go for that angle.

I’m sure these triplets appear in the news every year, all getting triple A A levels and all going to Cambridge.

I am speaking to applicants today who are looking for places in clearing and so far 95% of people wish to study Physiotherapy. I’m getting a bit bored of it.

Today I had to take a picture of some radio people in the centre but one of us noted down the wrong date and there was no one there to take a picture of.

So I decided to take some general pics of Bristol in the sun for work and got on the boat home. There was a foursome on the boat, two girls and two boys, probably late 20s. One very buxome lady stood at the front of the boat and took her top off and waved and screamed almost the whole way back, showing the world her white lace bra. She was modest enough to cover up at the SS Great Britain but then whipped the top off again. Imagine the surprise of everyone on the boat when a gust of wind caught her top and dropped it in the water. Imagine my surprise when she said to her friend “I can’t go in the pub like this” and her friend whipped her own top off and gave it to her, revealing an even more risky lace bra.

Then I got chatting to a man with tourrets

I am on my seventh day of socialising (under the Tom Smith rules) but I think I am going to blow it today as I have nothing lined up, except a visit from my landlord. Tom Smith said this is business and not social so it doesn’t count.

I am hoping to find a loophole as I have a new flat mate, a totally new person (that makes her sound like a baby but she isn’t) so effectively I am socialising with her all the time at the moment. I think after one week she then becomes just a flatmate and it is just living behaviour rather than social behaviour.

My social behaviour of yesterday was with Tom, a bike ride and a picnic. There was much statistical analysis as we both now have bike computers. My fastest speed was 26.6mph (faster than Tom by .4 of a mile). I cycled 27 miles in total. We both had an odometer stat and we just couldn’t work out what it measured but having read about odometers on the wikipedia I am still none the wiser as mine read 90miles and Tom’s read about 30miles.

Now I am in work and I just overheard this conversation;

lady What did you do this weekend?
young man Um….what did I do, what did I do….well I bought some cheese
lady you bought some cheese?
young man yeah I’ve never bought cheese before.

I took a photo of a lady banging a nail into a piece of wood with a banana which had been frozen with liquid nitrogen.

I have a chance to study a free module of my choice at work and I have narrowed it down to two. Which one shall I pick?

Culture and Economy in Contemporary Europe
This module concentrates on:

• a review and analysis of the debate on culture and economy, with special emphasis on globalisation and its implications for European societies (e.g. ‘Americanisation’);
• case studies examining the link between culture and economy in the British Isles, with reference to regional differences, and including comparisons between regions in Britain and the Republic of Ireland;
• case studies examining the link between culture and economy in various European regional contexts, including the transition from communism to capitalism, the eastern enlargement of the EU, and comparisons between major European countries (Britain, Germany, Italy);
• review of regional scenarios of culturally aware economic practice with a view to assessing viability and validity of inter-regional experience exchanges, and the implications of cultural differences for development in a Common Market.

or

Sociology on the Menu: Food and Society
This module aims to introduce the sociology of food and eating. This is a relatively new interest for sociologists, but a moment’s reflection will reveal that it is a proper and fascinating area for investigation. We all have to eat, every day and at regular intervals: however, a great many questions are raised regarding the relationship between people and what we eat – and what we do not. In this module we look critically at some social and cultural aspects of human food systems, from production to consumption. This is an opportunity to examine the taken-for-granted, customary experiences associated with choosing, preparing and sharing food.

At a fuction today at which I was chief photographer I had to take a picture of a Dame. She is a VVVIP. Probably the most VIP I have ever met. She is the most important female judge in the UK, as well as being a dame!

So I was taking a photo and she called me by my name…yes the dame knew my name. We hadn’t been introduced or even had words so how did she know my name?

I was deeply impressed and I knew why she had become VI, because she has a great short-term memory and therefore makes everyone feel a little bit important.