Oops, a quick update, I misrembered my new address, it's Flat 20B not 20A.

I'm back at home this weekend, having travelled back on Friday morning. It was a fairly good trip, especially as for the most part impatient drivers actually overtook me rather than inspecting my bumper for a change.

Wednesday was not a good day for me, I turned up at my new address to sign my rental agreement a day early having been caught out by my dyslexia, and felt very guilty about wasting my time at work.
Wednesday evening, I discovered that the college's procedure for finishing meant that I had to stay until Friday morning, rather than scooting off on Thursday night as I had planned. This understandably put me in a bad mood, so I went out to get some apple juice as a healthier treat than a chocolate bar. Big Mistake.
As soon as I got a fair way out of college the light rain and wind turned heavy. I was soon drenched and my umbrella required both hands to brace it, and then the struts bent out of shape so I gave up on it. The sequence of weather was heavy rain and strong wind, followed by sleet, half-melted hail, more rain then snow alternating with heavy rain, Yuck! I also discovered that I had worn through the soles of my shoes so I had wet feet. On returning to college I borrowed an iron to start drying off my trousers and jacket, and left them on the radiator to finish drying. Sigh.

Thursday turned out a little better, my clothes were dry and the shop was quiet and I was able to get on with work. However at the end of the day, David (my boss) asked why I hadn't put a "dog-leg" ("S"-shape so the pin can't slip out) on the taper pin that held the hands on a clock I was working on. He demonstrated and broke off one end and weakened the other so much that when I attempted to removed the broken taper pin the other end broke off leaving the middle bit firmly wedged in the hole. I was unable to remove it before I had to leave, so I'll probably have to try again when I'm next in.

On Friday I got off to an early start, waking up at 4:40 and being unable to fall asleep again, I waited until I couldn't stand to wait any longer and began loading the car at about 6:50. When I finished, I handed in my room keys and drove the car up from my room to the top car park, using one of the Visitors spaces, in order that I would be able to keep an eye on the car from the dining room. After breakfast at 7:30, all I could do was wait until reception and finance were open at 8:30 when I could collect my travel expenses and hand in my student and free drink card. I then had a brief interview with the person in charge of the training dept and then set out at 9:30.
On returning to Camberley, I unloaded the car since I couldn't lock the car in the garage to keep it secure and then headed down to Clarks in Camberley in order to see if I could get a refund, since I had only bought the shoes in September and they had only lasted until the end of January, I actually got a whole new pair of shoes, Woo-hoo.

Hey, Emma blogged! Great. I was just wandering through town after getting off work early, and I thought I could blog, but nothing much has happened today, so I'm not sure what to write. The more perceptive among you will have noticed that I must have left work a bit early today, and it's true. I just started my first month of police civilian processing today, and it's huuuuuge. But apparently it's mostly easy. Busy time of the moth this - everyone's phoning up to query their pay advices, so we do less work. I got quite tired. Don't know what to do this weekend. I've still got to work out what holiday to take. I've got to take 5 days before April, lest I lose them forever. Hmm.

I was trying to find a particular place behind the Pyramids swimming centre-type-place. I never did, but I did find a monument to a couple of 16th century protestants who "suffered" for a) denying the supremacy of the pope and b) denying the doctrine of transubstantiation.

I might be going back on the Choral Society committee again. Wendy PolishSurname didn't want to be the open-place rep last year, and neither does she now. I understand she's been doing it for five years now. In any case, the open place rep is there to represent the non-student members of the choir. I've provisionally volunteered, because it would be far better if the open place rep was older I think. I can in no wise claim to really represent the choir in chronological magnitude. We're singing Mendelsson's (sp? - can't be arsed to look it up) Elijah. There's a fairly ridiculous phrase:-

There came a fiery chariot, with fiery, fiery horses[...].

(that is to say, ridiculous as a phrase, not as a concept) which gets even more absurd as you mediate it through a Westcountry choir.

I just noticed the library computers have MSN. Wow!

It snowed, hurrah hurrah I love the snow! I walked to work today in the snow as it went crunch crunch under my feet. And me and Ade had a bit of a snowball fight last night. Its rather icy now though as most of it melted and went slushy and then refroze later as it got cold. Some of the roads are like a sheet of ice. So our new car is sitting in the car park until it gets warmer.

Hello everyone, I've finally found somewhere to live in Exeter and will be moved in on the 2nd of Feb this year, while working at David Copper's clock shop on Sidwell Street.
The Address will be
Room 20B (Oops, I put down 20A by mistake)
The Exeter Foyer
Commercial Road
Exeter
Devon
EX2 4AD

It's a fairly nice place, better than my St Loye's lodgings, especially since I'll be able to cook again, rather than stomach the low, low budgeted college food. It's well furnished and secure, and best of all cheap, (for Exeter).

The system is that in the beginning I share a kitchen, living room and bathroom with two other people and then I should be moving into a flatlet where I'm the only person there. Updates will follow when I know the next address.
There is a Internet facility nearby, however since it is due to be finished (and hopefully working in March, I will probably be off-line for a while.

With Dad changing his ISP (or rather him asking me to do it for him), I decided to set up a new e-mail account, hopefully less spam-able. This new e-mail address is (aspergerneil@yahoo.co.uk), is all set up and I should be able to check it using an Internet Booth, but for the mean time mobile phone or text is the best way to contact me.

I have to own up to a blunder, while clearing my desk at college, (since I'll be spending the rest of my time at St Loye's working at David Cooper's shop) I found a TV licence renewal reminder, telling me that my TV licence had expired over Christmas, and with all my frantic job searching I hadn't notice it. Oops. Thankfully the TV licence people didn't kick up a fuss when I renewed my licence, back-dated to when the licence expired.

Hello everyone, guess what! Not only have I now got a place on a pgce course for september at Manchester University but I've got a job as well!

I applyed for the Project Assistants job ages ago and out of 150 people for 11 jobs I came 12. Rather annoying but today I found out that not only has someone dropped out but they have found more finances for another post and so I will get a job. It was a bit complicated but Bernard my manager pushed for me to stay at the office I'm already at in Fallowfield, so I don't even have to move office, which is great as most of the other jobs are in north manchester miles away.

So all is going well on the Manchester front. And I'm rather happy which is why I did hardly any work today - oh well.

Good evening; I've just finished work, and I thought I'd let you know that my responsibilities have indeed changed. Now I have a weekly payroll to do for Plymouth College of Further Education and also some monthly Police Civilians, i.e. what Neil used to be, but naturally not for Devon & Cornwall Constabulary.

I've just downloaded one of the Pope's more recent encyclicals to read at home. This is because Christians Together at County Hall (still with the rubbish name...), well some members of the aforementioned, would like to have a monthly communion service, symbolical style. Both of the people to whom I have spoken about Catholicism there have been considerate and asked what I make of it all. Currently I don't mind but if I became a Catholic, I wondered what the Pope would make of it all, and that's sort of what the encyclical covers, at least in part, so there you go.

I should really go home. Bye.

Some men are born great, others achieve greatness, and others have responsibility for payroll stationery ordering thrust upon them.

I'm on the up!

In other news, I might have a bigger desk soon - that is, the same size as everyone else's.

You're just jealous.

* * *

And I also hear my proper work allocation being discussed behind me; truly these are halcyon days.

Happy New Year! Aha, I guess this is the last entry before I go into semi-blog retirement again.

Went to Ruth's last night, which was a relaxed affair involving trivial pursuits (together Ruth and I were an unstoppable force) jenga and the listing game. The listing game, which is awesome, had the most longevity. My brothers and I were there, as was Ruth, naturlich, Emma, grumpy Sarah and Grumpy Sarah's boyfriend Simon. Grumpy Sarah was in genial spirits.

This morning as I drove to Frimley Park, which is the hospital Sophie countess of Wessex was in for a bit, to collect Mum I listened to a bit of Radio 4. Apparently Radio 4 has been running some kind of competition to dream up a new parliametary bill. The one which won was something along these lines - "To legalize all and every form of self-defence in the home". Good grief, somehow I'd expected a more easygoing and positive bill. I suppose most of R4's listeners are at an age where they might break easily though. Also strange because Radio 4 is pretty much the only media outlet can think off that doesn't put morality, private and public, only implicitly into it's programming. I reckon someone's put subliminal messages in the shipping forecast.