23 August 2012

It's been a few days--but it was a tough set of graves!  [That's my story and I'm sticking to it...]

I didn't weigh myself today because I got off my last grave and had to take the train to Liverpool to get my visa renewed.  Ugh!  L867--or about $1370!  [Which is a bit like $1370 I'll never see again...]  It's a good thing I don't have to pay for that--especially since I may not get to use it for very long!  I got a first class train ticket for Liverpool, thinking I could use their WiFi on the trip, but Trans-Pennine doesn't have WiFi on their trains.  What a bummer!  So I'm reduced to typing this in an off-line file and pasting it into my blog when I get home. 

I'm pretty disgusted/frustrated with work right now.  The manager has decided that another guy and I can work regular day-lady hours while the rest of the crew gets our usual 4-on-4-off schedule.  There will be no traveling on a 5-on-2-off schedule unless I take vacation--and there is no one to cover vacations!  What is up with that?!  So I'm back to looking for a new job...  I guess I'm supposed to be so grateful I have a job that I won't complain.  Obviously this jerk doesn't know me very well!  I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't complain if I didn't like something.  No breaks, no vacation, no traveling, no overtime--why am I here? 

Fortunately for the diet, I'm still recognizing that I am not the source of my frustrations and I'm managing to resist some good old-fashioned comfort eating, but it's hard.  Plus, this is only a day-and-a-half break--instead of the usual four--although I guess I'd better get used to that!

Given how much of a hassle it was to finally get an appointment, I figured the whole process would be a nightmare.  I was quite pleasantly surprised!  You have to book your appointment on the internet.  After several months of striking out on getting any appointment at any office (I even tried Belfast, I was that desperate!), I woke up at about 2 am (potty break) on the 10th of July and figured I'd give it a shot.  Amazingly, I got an appointment for 21 August--which turned out to be a bad day (right in the middle of a set of graves), so I set my clock fo 2 am on 12 July and tried again and was able to get an appointment for Liverpool at 2 pm on 23 August!  A miracle!  I had no idea how long the trip would take--and what kind of delays I'd have, so I set out at about 9:20 this morning and
arrived at noon.  I headed right over to the Border Agency Office and got right in, even though I was a couple of hours early.  I was back at the train station by 2 pm (L867 lighter!), but all taken care of.  And the level of service is much better than the folks answering the phones lead you to expect!

I packed some chicken this morning--rather than take my chances on what sort of 'diet food' I'd get, but I was hungry on the way over and it was long gone.  There's quite a large (and nice!) M&S Simply Food shop in the train station, so I picked up a couple of packs of cooked prawns for the way home.  Very yummy!  Good service--and still on my diet!   What more can you ask for!?

And finally, one final observation to file under 'Is it me--or the rest of the world?'  I have just about come around to the idea of having 2 cars (a "beater" or something new--like a Fiat 500--that gets super gas mileage to drive to work and a car for travel/road trips), but I just don't get the idea of multiple cell phones!  I think everyone I saw today has a cell phone and probably 90% had more than one!  Of that 90%, probably half had at least 3 cell phones!  What is up with that?!  That's at least 2 (and generally 3 numbers to keep up with!  One woman had an iPhone, a Blackberry and a Nokia!  Sheesh!  I just don't get it.