Orbit - July 05 2002

6.45am I realise I had turned off and then slept through the first
alarm, and now it is the second alarm letting me I need to get up right
now. I stumble downstairs half asleep. In the kitchen the cat litter
bag has been upended which explains why Tabby was making all the
scratching noises last night. Longhair sniffs at the fresh litter thats
on the floor, which I sweep away under the mat quickly. Then I feed
both of them. I wander into the room with the laptop carrying my coffee
and write my handwritten journal before going online. I think I must be
quite tired this morning.

Yesterday dawned with an overcast sky and the chance of rain. I got the
next train to work and rolled in late, you see if I get the 8.22 I get
in on time, get the 8.27 I get in ten minutes later, because it stops
at more stations. On the train I didn't read anything, but I just sat
there thinking.

During the morning I went through a big pile of reports, and the boss
says to me, well the reports should be the same, and I say they are and
the totals are the same but the information is laid our differently. So
I fix that, as I can, and take it over to the chap who needs the
reports and he is quite happy with them. We've actually deleted the old
database he used and he is using the new version anyway.

At lunchtime I go into Starbucks, there are no Croque M'sieurs so I
have a thick pastrami panini and a latte, as the lunchtime drink
planned with my old mate who went to South Africa to learn about CISCO
has been put back to tomorrow (05). I take a look at the board. In the
afternoon I work on the data downloads from the mainframe and we are
also downloading somebody's email mailbox across the intranet, which
takes a long time. At one stage with my boss in a meeting about the new
building we are all supposed to be moving into in March 2003, I am left
alone with downloads running on two machines and nothing else to do
except leave messages on another offices answerphone because they have
taken a half day, not told us, and I have no way to get in there and
stick the backup tape in the tape drive on their server.

I get the train home and I am reading Nine Princes In Amber by Roger
Zelazny. It is a great book to read and like something precious I only
read it in small amounts. I spent the rest of the journey thinking
about the names and the plot.

I got an email from E which was nice. I havent heard from E in ages.
E's cat Einstein weighs 17 pounds. Thats quite heavy I think and tell E
by return email that Einstein needs to work out at the gym more.

I get in and play the acoustic for a while. One poem has also become a
song, and uses chords from another I had from last year. Then I go
online. I see ... is back on line again. I havent spoken to ... in a
while so send an email to find out if I still can, or not.

I drop the line and hurry into the lounge to watch TV. Wimbledon gets
turned off, I cant really say I watch Tennis unless Henman gets in the
final, which he should do if he is good enough. We watch Big Brother. I
am now thinking that Adele may go instead of Jade as Adele is
expendable, rather like Tim's ability to pontificate. I watched Tim in
the diary room telling them he hated doing the puppets as it made him
feel a pratt. I thought, well, I wouldnt worry too much about the
puppet's influence. In a moment of clarity Alex makes the cockerel crow
twice and has a bizarre chat with another hen. I think he is cracking
up under the strain.

I went on line again and spoke to ... at length. I sent another email
to ... to try to explain, but I am not sure it made much sense. I hear
that WH Smith have already started discounting the new Oasis CD, so I
hear and suggest that ... consider All Mod Cons. This morning I went on
the Amazon site and ordered 2 CDs for a friend. I probably have the
spares somewhere but it seemed a lot easier to get them online.

Then we went to bed. My wife commented that she thinks Longhair gives
off some sort of odour that Tabby finds offensive, and started talking
about putting a red bow on Longhair under his ruff. I dont think so. It
would only annoy him, I am sure. I fall asleep. I spend a lot of time
running about in my dreams and at one stage I am in a bar and my jeans
have split and somebody goes off to find a needle and thread and I ask
the girl who is with me if the tear on the bum of the jeans shows. Of
course nobody can find a needle and thread.

Tomorrow we are going home from work an hour earlier so I post a thanks
on that thread to mention this. Then the weekend. Here comes the
weekend.

I think people look forward to the weekend because there is so much
potential for doing stuff they want to do and having fun with their
friends. I tend to do my shopping on Saturdays. I dont buy clothes that
often, mainly because I do not need them and also because they cost
money. Sometimes though I may find a real bargain in a charity shop.
Like a shirt. We all run around the shops on Saturday shopping.

I listened to In The City and This Is The Modern World this evening.
The lyrics go into my head and stay there.

"Life from a window I am just looking at the view"

"Dont tell them you're sane, they'll laugh and put you to sleep"

"Away from the numbers"

I find that occasionally like a good film, a good album will stay in
your mind forever.

Another package for my wife has just turned up, which I sign for, and
there is too much milk in the fridge. We have a glut of milk and I dont
eat enough cereal.