Duty Week, Couch Surfing and Me

Work continues to be busy and interesting. Another duty week last week . . . no, wait . . . it was week before last but the late nights bled into this week . . . which is why I haven't posted for a while. I don't have my diary at home b/c I've been trying to get my work computer going; tech support is only open 8:30 to 5:30 so I left the office about 3:30 yesterday so I could be at home when tech support was available. Didn't get it going yesterday but did today, so I COULD have entered some mileage that I am trying to get submitted but without the diary I don't know what I did in May. Will hafta finish it next week.

I do recall having late nights a week ago Thursday, Friday, Tuesday and again Thursday. Training on Wednesday and that's when I took an hour to take my computer in as their office is in Maidstone, which is where the training was. So I spent an hour doing that and then couldn't get the computer going the next day . . . ugh. Anyway, it's working at the mo. It runs much slower than in the office but it does run. *knock wood*

I have couch surfers coming in tonight, C from Germany and her boyfriend M. (Not sure of the etiquette/confidentiality of naming people in a blog.) I signed up to couchsurfing.org a few weeks back so I could get a place to stay when I go to Paris as beds are so expensive there. Meanwhile C contacted me last . . . musta been during duty week. She is a social worker from Germany and is interviewing in Ashford on Monday. I don't know who her interview is with but she told me it's with a children and families team. I don't think it's the team I'm on for various reasons but we shall see.

So I went to the grocery and bought food for company before I checked to make sure I had the needed pots and pans. I have been aware that I was missing a lot of my kitchen stuff but thought I had enough to get by, and I do except . . . no colander . . . no point making pasta without one of those, is there??? Also it's actually HOT so I am not cooking now, which is what I'd planned to be doing today at this time. I did go to Asda to buy sheets for the Aerobed and a fan. Well, they don't have electric fans, so I had to go to Argos for that. Argos is kinda time-consuming b/c you hafta look at the catalog, write down what you want, go pay for it, and then collect it. I'd been to the one in the town centre before but left without buying anything b/c of the time factor, but now I have a car and there is an Argos Extra in a "retail park" as they're called not far from me.

If we decide we want to cook the pasta, we or I can go to the grocery tomorrow and hope there are colanders there.

Meanwhile I worked on cleaning off the garden furniture. It will need another go but I made a good start. The lawn and garden guys did go into the back garden yesterday as I had said I was having company this weekend and wanted that done, but I guess they just put out weed killer??? I thought the weeds would be gone and they're not. Oh well, we can open the patio doors from the living room and/or sit in the conservatory, which is what I've done with previous visitors.

Signing off now to finish getting ready!!!

World Cup and Proms

So, the World Cup is inescapable. It amazes me how important it is over here whereas in the US it gets very little notice, or did when I was there. I mean, to the point of one of my colleagues being asked to try to dress in the colors of at least one of the teams playing that day, as she had managed to wear green and red on the day of a match with Mexico??? (Although she wore the green and red for fashion reasons and not because of the football game, and I haven't kept track of her fashion choices since that day, but heigh-ho.)

It's all led me to try to find out more about the music surrounding the game. Which has led me to the Proms, which are classical music concerts put on by the BBC. The last night of the Proms is a big deal and this is where the traditonal "anthems" are sung. I want to learn them and that's what I'm doing. Learning the tunes is easy (for instance, "Pomp and Circumstance" is one of them, but learning tunes is easy for me anyway) but the words are harder for me.

I've learned "Jerusalem," "Rule Britannia," "Land of Hope and Glory" (sung to the Elgar tune aforementioned which Americans know as "Pomp and Circumstance" and am working on "God Save the Queen," which Americans know as "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

Learned "There'll Always Be An England" when I first came over and still like it, but it doesn't seem as popular as the others. There's a football song about the three lions too, but haven't learned that one yet.

So far the concert that looks most interesting to me is on July 24. Two of the pieces featured will be "O Fortuna" from "Carmina Burana" (which I sang with one of the Austin community choirs in 1984 under director Morris Beachy) and "Mars" from Gustav Holst's "The Planets" (which I forced visitors to my home at yuletide 1977 to listen to, an electronic version by Tomita. Ah, the '70s.)

I suppose part of the reason for this preoccupation is to do something completely different from my job. Last week was duty week for me and I was out doing a placement until 10 p.m. Thursday night. Fortunately I had traded my Friday with another worker but that means I'm on duty tomorrow. Duty tends to wipe me out and I'm not fit for human commerce after work, so I turn to music. Which I love anyway and want to remember that I came over here to LIVE and not just to work!!!