A random blog entry. This happened to me earlier today.
I was on an early shift at work, had finished my first job of the day and was going for a well-earned coffee. I was going to a particular coffee shop in T5 which was right down the other end of the building to where I was, just because their drinks are always hot rather than the tepid stuff that you normally get anywhere else plus the fact that it has a nice quiet area to sit down in. So I got there, ordered, and waited at the end of the counter whilst the drink was being made. As I waited, I had a look towards the seating area to survey the scene. I vaguely noticed some guy sat down, and he made some kind of nodding movement to someone behind me. I looked back at the counter to collect my coffee, but then realised that the guy might have actually been nodding at me. I looked back and saw that the guy was a colleage of mine but not one I'm particularly friendly with or anything, just an acquaintace. However, if he had indeed been nodding at me as a polite hello then I had just completely blanked him. Thus, he probably thought I was an arsehole.
As I looked back, his gaze kind of drifted back in my direction and this time he was definitely looking at me. Did he nod at me the first time? Or didn't he? Do I nod at him now? What if I nod at him but he didn't nod at me first? What if he did nod at me first and now I'm blanking him yet again? Did he not nod at me the first time and is now blanking me (in which case he's being an arsehole, but I'm doing the same thing so he thinks the same about me?)
I decided to nod. Just as I nodded, he started to look away again and raised his coffee to his lips. What an arsehole!! But at the last second he must have seen my nod, because he suddenly looked back at me and lowered his coffee, and nodded, and gave a kind of awkward smile, then quickly sipped his coffee and looked away.
I still don't know what actually happened. In any case, I could no longer sit down in the nice chairs as planned, so I had to take my coffee and walk all the way back to the other end of the terminal and drink it in the noisy restroom.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Adventures in Europe over (for now)
Hello to you all from a very gloomy North London. Just when I thought all the snow had finished, I see that more is scheduled to arrive tonight or tomorrow. The forecasters here have been ludicrously bad lately however, so I don't know if that means it is more likely to be clear than snowy. I certainly hope so because I'm at work tomorrow in one of the worst zones I could be allocated during disruption. Fingers crossed that the Met Office have screwed up the forecast yet again.
I got back from Berlin yesterday after an enjoyable weekend with Daz. Last week I went to Madrid with my uni buddy Sam, experiencing the more civilised aspects of Spanish culture as opposed to the dumps I'm accustomed to in the Canaries. Both cities were colder than I expected, with Daz and I having to dive into a cab to escape freezing to death, similar to an episode in Toronto last year with Gareth where we hailed a cab to take us the remaining 100m to the hotel.
Some of you will know that I always like to get to the airport nice and early before my flight. Yesterday we were due to depart at 1920hrs, so Daz and I got to Tegel shortly after midday. That was a bit early even by my standards, but the fact that we had to check out of the hotel at 11 and then carry our bags around in snowy conditions meant we had few other options. Of course, one consolation was that we could spend all day in the business class lounge, which we did sure enough. It actually went quite quickly in the end, and the alcoholic intake of our extended lounge stay was added to when a friendly member of cabin crew decided to ply us with champagne we didn't even ask for. Looking back on the Berlin trip my mind keeps skipping to a poignant but entertaining conversation I had with Daz in a 'tropical' cocktail bar with real sand all over the floor (!) where we had a pretty candid discussion about (a) the chances of me getting a wife and (b) the type of woman it would be if I did. The line that's been making me laugh repeatedly to myself since we got back was Daz saying something along the lines of... "My God, I would bloody love to meet your girlfriend. I'd say, 'Hi, I'm Darren, nice to meet you. What the FUCK are you doing with James?'" Undoubtedly that won't sound funny on the blog but it's got me chuckling just writing it. It stemmed from Daz telling me how I'm too selfish to have a relationship and that any girlfriend of mine would have to be "thick-skinned" to say the least. It sounds pretty harsh writing it down but it had me laughing at the time and it still does now; Dazzy you're a star!
Before I started writing this post I was in a bit of a morbid mood because I had to get the exhaust fixed on my car and I was expecting to be handed a bill of a few hundred quid. Thus I was also going to turn this entry into a dark, emo post about my previous experiences with girls. However, I was plesantly surprised by the size of the bill and I'm no longer in such a mood, so onto other things...
So far my non-drinking quest has been going with moderate success. I say moderate because I've flouted my rule about not drinking on UK soil (with the exception of airports) twice; I had one beer with my Dad when we went for a curry and I had a few drinks with Sam when he arrived at my house the night before we left for Madrid. Tonight it looks like I'll be going out with Daz, Loz and whoever else wants to come along and this will definitely be my biggest test to stay sober yet.
Ok, my fingers are aching. Until next time.
I got back from Berlin yesterday after an enjoyable weekend with Daz. Last week I went to Madrid with my uni buddy Sam, experiencing the more civilised aspects of Spanish culture as opposed to the dumps I'm accustomed to in the Canaries. Both cities were colder than I expected, with Daz and I having to dive into a cab to escape freezing to death, similar to an episode in Toronto last year with Gareth where we hailed a cab to take us the remaining 100m to the hotel.
Some of you will know that I always like to get to the airport nice and early before my flight. Yesterday we were due to depart at 1920hrs, so Daz and I got to Tegel shortly after midday. That was a bit early even by my standards, but the fact that we had to check out of the hotel at 11 and then carry our bags around in snowy conditions meant we had few other options. Of course, one consolation was that we could spend all day in the business class lounge, which we did sure enough. It actually went quite quickly in the end, and the alcoholic intake of our extended lounge stay was added to when a friendly member of cabin crew decided to ply us with champagne we didn't even ask for. Looking back on the Berlin trip my mind keeps skipping to a poignant but entertaining conversation I had with Daz in a 'tropical' cocktail bar with real sand all over the floor (!) where we had a pretty candid discussion about (a) the chances of me getting a wife and (b) the type of woman it would be if I did. The line that's been making me laugh repeatedly to myself since we got back was Daz saying something along the lines of... "My God, I would bloody love to meet your girlfriend. I'd say, 'Hi, I'm Darren, nice to meet you. What the FUCK are you doing with James?'" Undoubtedly that won't sound funny on the blog but it's got me chuckling just writing it. It stemmed from Daz telling me how I'm too selfish to have a relationship and that any girlfriend of mine would have to be "thick-skinned" to say the least. It sounds pretty harsh writing it down but it had me laughing at the time and it still does now; Dazzy you're a star!
Before I started writing this post I was in a bit of a morbid mood because I had to get the exhaust fixed on my car and I was expecting to be handed a bill of a few hundred quid. Thus I was also going to turn this entry into a dark, emo post about my previous experiences with girls. However, I was plesantly surprised by the size of the bill and I'm no longer in such a mood, so onto other things...
So far my non-drinking quest has been going with moderate success. I say moderate because I've flouted my rule about not drinking on UK soil (with the exception of airports) twice; I had one beer with my Dad when we went for a curry and I had a few drinks with Sam when he arrived at my house the night before we left for Madrid. Tonight it looks like I'll be going out with Daz, Loz and whoever else wants to come along and this will definitely be my biggest test to stay sober yet.
Ok, my fingers are aching. Until next time.
Wednesday, 30 December 2009
2009 end of year post
Here is an excerpt from my 2008 end of year post:
"I remember writing a New Year's post this time last year on my old blog. It said something like 'maybe by the end of the year I'll be a policeman and will have developed things with Marie-Claire'. Lol, no success whatsoever on those goals then!Setting goals for this year.... it's a shame because I can't actually think of anything big. Of course I'd like to develop things with Marie-Claire so that's one. But other than that, I suppose the major goal will be to move on work-wise in one way or another. Another thing is to travel to a few more new places in 2009, that will be exciting. Gareth and I are currently on the cusp of organising a trip for February but no announcements yet."
So, I had zero success with Marie and zero success with my career. I did manage to visit a few more places though so there is some degree of accomplishment there. What goals can I set myself for 2010? I really don't know. I'm going to write a separate post soon on my job as part of the 'Issues' series of posts I'll be doing so I won't write too much about that here, other than I can't see much changing. As far as girls are concerned we all know about my luck / attitude, and similarly I'll be doing a post on this topic too. If I set myself a woman-related 'target', it will almost certainly be an epic fail so there is no point going down that road!
However, I think there are a couple of things I can set out to do. Firstly is the standard New Year health kick. Everyone has some kind of healthier lifestyle in mind when a new year begins so here's my token resolution... with the exceptions of my weekends in Madrid and Berlin, I am aiming to keep January an alcohol-free month. My group of friends and drinking buddies, which was once large and out every night in the golden year(s), has been becoming gradually smaller and less prolific over the last six months. This was one factor which led me to start doing late shifts only at work since October, as I wasn't missing out on much banter by doing the early shifts and keeping the evenings free. What with more friends now working / moving on / dating / ill / still studying / you name it, I still haven't really been missing out on much doing only the lates. So sod it, I'll try taking January off the booze and see what happens then. I have to confess I'm not really doing this with a healthy ending in mind, rather I'm doing to with an expectation that February will be big and messy with me returning to the fun, if there's anyone left that is. Anyway, for the time being it's a step in the right direction.
Secondly is the thing I've mentioned previously on this blog many times, that elusive moneymaking idea. Come on 2010, be the year in which I get some ideas together and lay the foundations for my own business.
Finally, I want to re-commit myself to tennis. I used to be good and with some consistent court time maybe I can become an accomplished (relatively) player again. I managed to get a lot of practice in over summer and the beginning of autumn, but November and December have been so bad weatherwise it's been impossible to get out there. In December I haven't managed to play once, what with the courts being snowed under and it pissing down with rain the rest of the time.
There we go. Have a good one everybody.
"I remember writing a New Year's post this time last year on my old blog. It said something like 'maybe by the end of the year I'll be a policeman and will have developed things with Marie-Claire'. Lol, no success whatsoever on those goals then!Setting goals for this year.... it's a shame because I can't actually think of anything big. Of course I'd like to develop things with Marie-Claire so that's one. But other than that, I suppose the major goal will be to move on work-wise in one way or another. Another thing is to travel to a few more new places in 2009, that will be exciting. Gareth and I are currently on the cusp of organising a trip for February but no announcements yet."
So, I had zero success with Marie and zero success with my career. I did manage to visit a few more places though so there is some degree of accomplishment there. What goals can I set myself for 2010? I really don't know. I'm going to write a separate post soon on my job as part of the 'Issues' series of posts I'll be doing so I won't write too much about that here, other than I can't see much changing. As far as girls are concerned we all know about my luck / attitude, and similarly I'll be doing a post on this topic too. If I set myself a woman-related 'target', it will almost certainly be an epic fail so there is no point going down that road!
However, I think there are a couple of things I can set out to do. Firstly is the standard New Year health kick. Everyone has some kind of healthier lifestyle in mind when a new year begins so here's my token resolution... with the exceptions of my weekends in Madrid and Berlin, I am aiming to keep January an alcohol-free month. My group of friends and drinking buddies, which was once large and out every night in the golden year(s), has been becoming gradually smaller and less prolific over the last six months. This was one factor which led me to start doing late shifts only at work since October, as I wasn't missing out on much banter by doing the early shifts and keeping the evenings free. What with more friends now working / moving on / dating / ill / still studying / you name it, I still haven't really been missing out on much doing only the lates. So sod it, I'll try taking January off the booze and see what happens then. I have to confess I'm not really doing this with a healthy ending in mind, rather I'm doing to with an expectation that February will be big and messy with me returning to the fun, if there's anyone left that is. Anyway, for the time being it's a step in the right direction.
Secondly is the thing I've mentioned previously on this blog many times, that elusive moneymaking idea. Come on 2010, be the year in which I get some ideas together and lay the foundations for my own business.
Finally, I want to re-commit myself to tennis. I used to be good and with some consistent court time maybe I can become an accomplished (relatively) player again. I managed to get a lot of practice in over summer and the beginning of autumn, but November and December have been so bad weatherwise it's been impossible to get out there. In December I haven't managed to play once, what with the courts being snowed under and it pissing down with rain the rest of the time.
There we go. Have a good one everybody.
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Issues
This is part one of what will probably be a series of posts. There's nothing 'wrong' with my life at the moment per se, though there is a grey cloud that seems to constantly lurk at the back of my mind. The cloud isn't about one thing in particular I don't think, rather it envolopes a number of issues that are consistently bugging me even though on the surface things are ultimately ok. I think the cloud is essentially the fact that I am treading water in life; I'm not going down, but with the the lack of other job opportunities at BA at the moment I'm certainly not moving up. I'm not even moving sideways. Anyhow, my job is a story for a later post in this series.
This post is going to concern the first issue that niggles me, which is the one of living at home. I live at home and there is no end in sight. I do not want to move out and pay rent, and I don't have the funds yet to take out a mortgage. The idea of a mortgage was always something I hated - I hate owing money, no matter how small the sum, let alone having to shoulder a sizeable debt for 25 years. Lately I've been coming round to the idea though; it certainly beats renting. I can imagine if/when I do get a mortgage I will go into super repayment mode, with the aim being to pay the thing off as quickly as possible. I'd pay as much of it back per month as I possibly could; living frugally for years until this objective was completed.
However, I think to myself, why struggle? Despite earning a poor salary, life is good whilst I live at home. My living costs are limited, I get on well with my parents and things are fine. Of course, at the back of mind my mind I know that the longer I leave it to move out then the more I will be regarded in life as a loser. Chances of getting a girlfriend diminish even further as my image in society as a cool, young eligible bachelor gradually disappears with every day I remain here. The clock is ticking, and with every second that goes by I am becoming less cool. This is the sacrifice I make in order to be not skint and to have a relatively disposable income. In the last twelve months I have been on seven holidays and have trips to Madrid and Berlin coming up in January. If I didn't live at home, this would not have been a remote possibility.
To move forward in life, I need to get my foot on the property ladder. The sooner I own my own place, the better. By living at home I am treading water but living comfortably at the expense of being viewed favourably in society. But I suppose I should be thankful I am not sinking.
This post is going to concern the first issue that niggles me, which is the one of living at home. I live at home and there is no end in sight. I do not want to move out and pay rent, and I don't have the funds yet to take out a mortgage. The idea of a mortgage was always something I hated - I hate owing money, no matter how small the sum, let alone having to shoulder a sizeable debt for 25 years. Lately I've been coming round to the idea though; it certainly beats renting. I can imagine if/when I do get a mortgage I will go into super repayment mode, with the aim being to pay the thing off as quickly as possible. I'd pay as much of it back per month as I possibly could; living frugally for years until this objective was completed.
However, I think to myself, why struggle? Despite earning a poor salary, life is good whilst I live at home. My living costs are limited, I get on well with my parents and things are fine. Of course, at the back of mind my mind I know that the longer I leave it to move out then the more I will be regarded in life as a loser. Chances of getting a girlfriend diminish even further as my image in society as a cool, young eligible bachelor gradually disappears with every day I remain here. The clock is ticking, and with every second that goes by I am becoming less cool. This is the sacrifice I make in order to be not skint and to have a relatively disposable income. In the last twelve months I have been on seven holidays and have trips to Madrid and Berlin coming up in January. If I didn't live at home, this would not have been a remote possibility.
To move forward in life, I need to get my foot on the property ladder. The sooner I own my own place, the better. By living at home I am treading water but living comfortably at the expense of being viewed favourably in society. But I suppose I should be thankful I am not sinking.
Monday, 14 December 2009
Gunners back in the title race + BA strikes
After beating Liverpool at Anfiled yesterday courtesy of a cracking strike from Andrey Arshavin, Arsenal are now right back in the title race after everyone had written them off two weeks ago after getting destroyed by Chelsea the Emirates. I just hope the Gunners can build a good run of form and give the title a good crack of the whip. I'm not saying I think they'll win the league but I'd be delighted if we just gave Chelsea and United a run for their money. If we beat Burnley on Wednesday then we're only three points behind Chelsea at the top, with over half the season to go. Come on you Gooners.
What else has been happening.... I broke my run of losing bets by backing over 2.5 goals in the Liverpool v Arsenal game and I'm itching to back South Africa to beat England in the First Test coming up so we'll see what happens. Tonight is my last night out before heading back into work for seven late shifts on the trot but there aren't many people about so it will probably be a drab evening.
Speaking of work, it was revealed this afternoon that BA cabin crew have plans to strike for twelve days from 22nd Decemeber to 2nd January. I'm in work for six of the those days but not for the first two, so hopefully if the strikes actually go ahead then there'll be some kind of contingency plan in action by the time I turn up on the third day. Even better, the crew will destroy the whole operation and I actually won't have any work to do at all whilst I'm there. I shouldn't really say things like that because ultimately if BA go down the toilet then I'll be out of a job, but the prospect of turning up at work and there being no flights is still appealing to me.
What else has been happening.... I broke my run of losing bets by backing over 2.5 goals in the Liverpool v Arsenal game and I'm itching to back South Africa to beat England in the First Test coming up so we'll see what happens. Tonight is my last night out before heading back into work for seven late shifts on the trot but there aren't many people about so it will probably be a drab evening.
Speaking of work, it was revealed this afternoon that BA cabin crew have plans to strike for twelve days from 22nd Decemeber to 2nd January. I'm in work for six of the those days but not for the first two, so hopefully if the strikes actually go ahead then there'll be some kind of contingency plan in action by the time I turn up on the third day. Even better, the crew will destroy the whole operation and I actually won't have any work to do at all whilst I'm there. I shouldn't really say things like that because ultimately if BA go down the toilet then I'll be out of a job, but the prospect of turning up at work and there being no flights is still appealing to me.
Friday, 4 December 2009
Barnet time
Today's blog entry will be all I can squeeze into the last few minutes before my mum serves dinner. I'm starving and I'm about to go out on the town in Barnet so I need the food. I've never been to Barnet before so anything could happen, perhaps it could even be my lucky night, Lord knows how long I've been waiting for that night to come. I don't know what 'my night' actually means but whatever it is, I don't think it's happened yet, or hasn't for a long time. I know I'm babbling; I'm out of touch with blogging but I'm eager to rekindle the love affair. I've been more active on Twitter lately. I didn't like it too much when I first joined a few months ago but it's been growing on me.
Yeah, so, tonight I'm going to Barnet with Alex and Gibaut and tomorrow all of us (fingers crossed) will be heading into Covent Garden for the the 2009 Pointless night. For those of you unfamiliar with what a Pointless night is, it's where we all meet up, have a few drinks and then separate for two hours and go drinking by ourselves. During that 2 hour window you are not allowed to speak with anyone else in the group nor drink in the same establishment as them - if you bump into someone you must immediately leave the place or change direction. It's a bit of a strange idea, hence the name 'Pointless', but the times we've done it in the past it has been hugely successful with some high levels of drunkeness and general debauchery.
I can smell dinner so I'm going to go now.
Yeah, so, tonight I'm going to Barnet with Alex and Gibaut and tomorrow all of us (fingers crossed) will be heading into Covent Garden for the the 2009 Pointless night. For those of you unfamiliar with what a Pointless night is, it's where we all meet up, have a few drinks and then separate for two hours and go drinking by ourselves. During that 2 hour window you are not allowed to speak with anyone else in the group nor drink in the same establishment as them - if you bump into someone you must immediately leave the place or change direction. It's a bit of a strange idea, hence the name 'Pointless', but the times we've done it in the past it has been hugely successful with some high levels of drunkeness and general debauchery.
I can smell dinner so I'm going to go now.
Thursday, 3 December 2009
The 'not shaking hands' debacle
I want to try to get this blog back into proper action again but I haven't had anything interesting to write about lately and I don't want to blog just for the sake of it. Anyway, I got back from Miami yesterday after a good trip and went out to watch Arsenal lose to Man City in the Carling Cup. Arsene Wenger refused to shake Mark Hughes's hand at the end of the game so I can blog about that today.
I know I'm an Arsenal fan but I back Wenger on this. Firstly, Mark Hughes is a tosser and I can fully understand Arsene not shaking his hand after the abuse the Welshman was dishing out all game on the touchline, even coming out of his technical area at one point to get closer to the Gunners boss. Secondly though, there's too much 'fair play' bollocks in sport these days. Let's face it, sport is so much more fun and interesting to watch when people are fighting / loads of fouls / loads of disagreements and so on. Wenger not shaking hands is good! It adds a nice little subplot to everything and will make future Wenger v Hughes confrontations all the more spicy. I'd really love it if a trend started where managers didn't shake hands with each other unless the game actually was played in good spirit / there weren't any disagreements or anything like that. So if managers DID shake hands it was actually a rarity.
That's all for now, hopefully I can think of something to blog about again soon. By the way I'm still racking my brains for ideas to start up a business / moneymaking schemes; this has been dominating my thoughts for several weeks now and although I haven't thought of anything I'm still pleased that this is happening as it increases the chances of me having a eureka moment... any million-dollar ideas feel free to comment.
I know I'm an Arsenal fan but I back Wenger on this. Firstly, Mark Hughes is a tosser and I can fully understand Arsene not shaking his hand after the abuse the Welshman was dishing out all game on the touchline, even coming out of his technical area at one point to get closer to the Gunners boss. Secondly though, there's too much 'fair play' bollocks in sport these days. Let's face it, sport is so much more fun and interesting to watch when people are fighting / loads of fouls / loads of disagreements and so on. Wenger not shaking hands is good! It adds a nice little subplot to everything and will make future Wenger v Hughes confrontations all the more spicy. I'd really love it if a trend started where managers didn't shake hands with each other unless the game actually was played in good spirit / there weren't any disagreements or anything like that. So if managers DID shake hands it was actually a rarity.
That's all for now, hopefully I can think of something to blog about again soon. By the way I'm still racking my brains for ideas to start up a business / moneymaking schemes; this has been dominating my thoughts for several weeks now and although I haven't thought of anything I'm still pleased that this is happening as it increases the chances of me having a eureka moment... any million-dollar ideas feel free to comment.
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