Well, despite being on my last legs, after a knackering weekend of camping with my NTC unit, TS Intrepid, and TS Sturdy, this post has arrived! For the first time in weeks. Hurrah!
Unfortunatly, it has been a particularly slow news week. After last weekends 'issues' (still unmentionable through legal reasons), I have been wollowing in a pool of my own pitty. As a result, I didn't get done, half the stuff I had on my list. As a result, I hit Friday on the ground running. The day we are going campingm and I had a load of jobs that I wanted and needed to get done, but I had left nearly all of them for today. Bugger.
So, on Friday, after watching yet more TV (depression does awful things to you - why did I watch TV, even with that much to do?), I needed to make some frames for the Archery targets, buy a new whistle, pack, sort my tent out, sort my trailer out, sort the stuff that is needed for camp out of the NTC lockup, and all before (Vatican City) 3.30 when I need to leave and pick upu my group of cadets that make up my advanced party.
Needless to say, as superhuman as I'm not, it didn't all get done. With some help from my brother, we knocked up the Archery target frames (and they worked out amazingly brilliantly!). I got the whistle on the way to pick up the cadets, got the trailer, and went to the NTC lockup. You'll notice several important things missing.
I left camp late Friday evening to pack (on the way to pick up the Chinese for the staff). As a result, I left things behind. Which meant another late night trip back home. Even then, I forgot to pickup the arrows for the archery. Of course, things had been left at the NTC lockup (although that was the result of a mis-communication between the boss and I), so that meant an early morning trip back to Lancing. Splendid.
After that, the camp went swimmingly well (especially when it rained on Sunday - geddit?). So, sorry to my fellow officers and cadets for not being organised. We blagged it through. Everyone was safe, the weekend worked out fine, and only I was totally stuffed.
With that feable, but on time post, I bid you farewell. I'm going to bed. Goodnight.
If you're not going to bed, why not leave a comment saying so.
If you're going to bed, why not leave a comment saying so (and if you are young, female and attractive, why not tell us what you are wearing).
Quote of the Week: '...or I'll deck you!' It kind of became the officer's phrase of the weekend (in a light hearted manner). Well, light hearted until Robin did deck Graham, by turning his chair over. It was funny though...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
I'm becomming as reliable as a car made by British Leyland...
Sorry, I really have become an unreliable blogger lately. Last night was set to be my first on time post for a while, until I had experienced an unfortunate event. Due to legal reasons, I am not in a position to say what that was. I can say that no one has been injured, no property has been damaged, and I am absolutely fine.
But there were still some very bloggable parts of last week.
I started the week by helping my Mum's church youth grouup out, by providing transport to their residential visit. Once again, Ernie was fully loaded up (full roofrack and boot), towing a full trailer (although not Bernie, my trailer), with three passengers. Many of the staff were impressed that such a feet was capable with my old Ernie the Escort. 'Not bad for a 22 year old car, eh?' The parents of some of the kids were less than impressed however.
Angmering is reasonably well to do area, and many of the parents clearly consider themselves above the rest of 'us'. I have never been able to read people's expressions so clearly in my entire life. Some of the parents were horrified at the thought of their little darlings being driven in this 'old heap' of a car (of which we all know Ernie isn't). There were the other parents that feared for the poor little child's brand new digital camera, that was now sitting in a bag on my roofrack. I spent the rest of the day laughing at them.
The trip went pretty well. Of course we were beaten by all the other cars, but we arrived 5/10 minutes ahead of the minibus. Admittedly we were struggling up some of the hills at the back of Brighton on the A27. I believe at one point (going up the Devil's Dyke hill), we were down to a mere 48 miles per hour. That felt slow...
I've spent most of this week just vegetating in front of the television (quite rare for me). I have spent some time getting ready for NTC camp next weekend. So the most part of this week doesn't make for interestiung reading. So I jump forward to Sunday, when we assissted our Chichester friends in their St. Georges Day parade.
As always, the kids did brilliantly (the band sounded musical, and I fear they may even have been in step...), the cathedral service was as exciting as the colour brown, and the hymns were mocked by us. I especially liked the Hymn that went 'Give me oil, in my lamp, keep it burning', which I sung-
'Give me oil in my CAR, keep it running,
Give me oil in my car, I pray,
Give me oil in my car, stop it tappeting,
Keep it running 'til the break of day!'
Well it kept us entertained anyway. But the best moment had to be on the march back from the cathedral. It was like a scene from Dad's Army. On the way back, we have to march back past all the VIPs. The VIPs stand on a raised platform, so that we can salute them (known as a march past). As I'm sure you can imagine, this is a very ceremonial part of the day. As we marched along the road (we were at the front of the parade, as we had the band), I noticed a double-decker bus come around the corner. Clearly the Police had failed to stop it (I can see why, busses are small vehicles).
So, I thought 'This is going to be interesting', as a policeman ran ahead, and directed the bus to pull in to the side if the road, out of the way of the procession. And so, the bus pulled in - right iun front of the VIP's stand. By this time we were getting very close, getting geared up ready to salute. Now there was a huge great bus in the way. I was gleefully chuckling, as a herd of gold chained VIPs rushed to the front of the bus, to receive their salute. Bloomin hillarious.
Well that's been most of my week. I hope you are all well, and don't forget to tune in next week, when a post might event appear on time!
If you would like to read a blog post on time, why not leave a message telling me how my posts are as reliable as public transport.
If you didn't realise that that post was late, why not leave a comment telling me how my posts are as reliable as public transport.
Quote of the Week: 'Er, control? Yeah, we have the lady back to her address, but she has now decided to be extremely intoxicated... and... annoying' said one harrassed Police Officer, as his colleague and him struggled to drag a very drunk alcoholic back into her flat. This quote of the week narowly beat 'She sure is a big unit' by the other officer.
But there were still some very bloggable parts of last week.
I started the week by helping my Mum's church youth grouup out, by providing transport to their residential visit. Once again, Ernie was fully loaded up (full roofrack and boot), towing a full trailer (although not Bernie, my trailer), with three passengers. Many of the staff were impressed that such a feet was capable with my old Ernie the Escort. 'Not bad for a 22 year old car, eh?' The parents of some of the kids were less than impressed however.
Angmering is reasonably well to do area, and many of the parents clearly consider themselves above the rest of 'us'. I have never been able to read people's expressions so clearly in my entire life. Some of the parents were horrified at the thought of their little darlings being driven in this 'old heap' of a car (of which we all know Ernie isn't). There were the other parents that feared for the poor little child's brand new digital camera, that was now sitting in a bag on my roofrack. I spent the rest of the day laughing at them.
The trip went pretty well. Of course we were beaten by all the other cars, but we arrived 5/10 minutes ahead of the minibus. Admittedly we were struggling up some of the hills at the back of Brighton on the A27. I believe at one point (going up the Devil's Dyke hill), we were down to a mere 48 miles per hour. That felt slow...
I've spent most of this week just vegetating in front of the television (quite rare for me). I have spent some time getting ready for NTC camp next weekend. So the most part of this week doesn't make for interestiung reading. So I jump forward to Sunday, when we assissted our Chichester friends in their St. Georges Day parade.
As always, the kids did brilliantly (the band sounded musical, and I fear they may even have been in step...), the cathedral service was as exciting as the colour brown, and the hymns were mocked by us. I especially liked the Hymn that went 'Give me oil, in my lamp, keep it burning', which I sung-
'Give me oil in my CAR, keep it running,
Give me oil in my car, I pray,
Give me oil in my car, stop it tappeting,
Keep it running 'til the break of day!'
Well it kept us entertained anyway. But the best moment had to be on the march back from the cathedral. It was like a scene from Dad's Army. On the way back, we have to march back past all the VIPs. The VIPs stand on a raised platform, so that we can salute them (known as a march past). As I'm sure you can imagine, this is a very ceremonial part of the day. As we marched along the road (we were at the front of the parade, as we had the band), I noticed a double-decker bus come around the corner. Clearly the Police had failed to stop it (I can see why, busses are small vehicles).
So, I thought 'This is going to be interesting', as a policeman ran ahead, and directed the bus to pull in to the side if the road, out of the way of the procession. And so, the bus pulled in - right iun front of the VIP's stand. By this time we were getting very close, getting geared up ready to salute. Now there was a huge great bus in the way. I was gleefully chuckling, as a herd of gold chained VIPs rushed to the front of the bus, to receive their salute. Bloomin hillarious.
Well that's been most of my week. I hope you are all well, and don't forget to tune in next week, when a post might event appear on time!
If you would like to read a blog post on time, why not leave a message telling me how my posts are as reliable as public transport.
If you didn't realise that that post was late, why not leave a comment telling me how my posts are as reliable as public transport.
Quote of the Week: 'Er, control? Yeah, we have the lady back to her address, but she has now decided to be extremely intoxicated... and... annoying' said one harrassed Police Officer, as his colleague and him struggled to drag a very drunk alcoholic back into her flat. This quote of the week narowly beat 'She sure is a big unit' by the other officer.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
I suppose this should be a fortnight's worth of blog...
The more observant readers amongst you, will have noticed something a little odd last week. For many of you, this will have come as a great shock to you, and for some of you, your bosses may have been unable to explain the bizarre phenomenon that occurred. From the most recent reports that I have managed to obtain, last week saw the country's gross national product increase by 27p. The reason for this - there was no CATCOUK post last week!
How did this disaster to mankind happen I hear you cry. Well it's very simple actually. I cocked up. I should have mentioned two weeks ago, in my last post, that I may not be able to post last week. And I forgot. Sorry.
I spent last week on an RYA Dinghy Instructor's course, at Cobnor Activity Center. I had to be there for Sunday evening, so I didn't get a chance to post. And as I've been there all week, I've not had a chance to put up a message or anything. As it is, I wouldn't have had time anyway. The general way that thing worked, was I would wake up around 7am in the morning, breakfast at 8, and we would start work at 9. In between, we would have to do various duties, depending on what we were assigned to (kitchen, housekeeping, or boats). From 9 until 9 or 10pm, we would get a few tea breaks, and an hour for lunch. Other than that, we worked solidly. Oh boy - those were long busy days...
But not without fun though. Okay, so more than half the say was spent talking about dead boring subjects (especially Child Protection - which always bores me). As I said at the course, when asked what does Child Protection mean, "Child Protection is very simple - don't kiddie fiddle". But the rest of the time, we spent sailing. I genuinely love sailing - especially on a quiet, sunny and relaxing day. And for the first four days, this is pretty much how the sailing side of things went. That was until, the day of our assesment. On the last day, the wind picked up considerably. I don't particularly enjoy sailing when the wind is ripping through, and I'm sailing a particularly clunky 18 year old boat, being held together by 17 year old mould...
Needless to say, my assesment didn't go well. I didn't fail, but I didn't pass either. The RYA have this middle grade of an 'Action Plan'. So I have pretty much passed, but I need to help instruct 10 evening classes before I get my ticket. They told me, that the entire week went really well, but that last day did it for them. They said that I didn't really look like I was enjoying myself, and I didn't exube confidence. I wonder why.
As exhausting as the week was, it was fun. And quite suprising too. Now, I know that all of my readers know that NTC means Nautical Training Corps. But usually I have to explain what the NTC is, and what I do, so on, and so on. But amazingly, this course was littered with NTC people. The lead instructor used to help alot at our Portsmouth training centre. One of the assistant instructor's used to work with one of the Corps' most infamous Commanding Officers (he goes by the name of Mr. Ginnaw). If that wasn't enough, a couple of days into the course, I discovered that the guy I was sharing a room with, was a member of TS Resolution NTC, and another guy was an ex-member. That may only be four people, but that's about 3 more than usual!
Lastly, there was one odd thing about the course. I have attended quite a few training courses recently (NGB Courses), and at almost all of them, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest attendee. But at this sailing course, I was beginning to feel a little old. This course has a minimum age ogf 16, and so the majority of the course were younger than me. Out of 17 students, I was in the top 5 oldest people. It was a bizarre feeling.
And on that low note, it is time for me to go to bed. I still haven't recovered from the week. I am bloomin shattered.
If you can think of anything witty to say, why not leave a comment to give me some ideas for next week.
If you can't think of anything witty yo say, why not leave a comment anyway.
Thanks to Siobhan and Rob for leaving comments last week. It's nice to feel missed.
Quote of the Week: 'I've lost helm control!' called a harrassed sailing student (not me), as we rounded a mark whilst racing, and I commented that we were turning a bit too far, just before he continued to interupt himself by saying 'Oh - the rudder's snapped off.' He did a good job too, bent the metal work holding the rotten wooden rudder blade...
Song of the Month: I fought the law - The Clash (thanks for the good times, and we'll see you next year when Ashes to Ashes returns, DCI Gene Hunt - an inspiration to us all, and law enforcement officers everywhere)
How did this disaster to mankind happen I hear you cry. Well it's very simple actually. I cocked up. I should have mentioned two weeks ago, in my last post, that I may not be able to post last week. And I forgot. Sorry.
I spent last week on an RYA Dinghy Instructor's course, at Cobnor Activity Center. I had to be there for Sunday evening, so I didn't get a chance to post. And as I've been there all week, I've not had a chance to put up a message or anything. As it is, I wouldn't have had time anyway. The general way that thing worked, was I would wake up around 7am in the morning, breakfast at 8, and we would start work at 9. In between, we would have to do various duties, depending on what we were assigned to (kitchen, housekeeping, or boats). From 9 until 9 or 10pm, we would get a few tea breaks, and an hour for lunch. Other than that, we worked solidly. Oh boy - those were long busy days...
But not without fun though. Okay, so more than half the say was spent talking about dead boring subjects (especially Child Protection - which always bores me). As I said at the course, when asked what does Child Protection mean, "Child Protection is very simple - don't kiddie fiddle". But the rest of the time, we spent sailing. I genuinely love sailing - especially on a quiet, sunny and relaxing day. And for the first four days, this is pretty much how the sailing side of things went. That was until, the day of our assesment. On the last day, the wind picked up considerably. I don't particularly enjoy sailing when the wind is ripping through, and I'm sailing a particularly clunky 18 year old boat, being held together by 17 year old mould...
Needless to say, my assesment didn't go well. I didn't fail, but I didn't pass either. The RYA have this middle grade of an 'Action Plan'. So I have pretty much passed, but I need to help instruct 10 evening classes before I get my ticket. They told me, that the entire week went really well, but that last day did it for them. They said that I didn't really look like I was enjoying myself, and I didn't exube confidence. I wonder why.
As exhausting as the week was, it was fun. And quite suprising too. Now, I know that all of my readers know that NTC means Nautical Training Corps. But usually I have to explain what the NTC is, and what I do, so on, and so on. But amazingly, this course was littered with NTC people. The lead instructor used to help alot at our Portsmouth training centre. One of the assistant instructor's used to work with one of the Corps' most infamous Commanding Officers (he goes by the name of Mr. Ginnaw). If that wasn't enough, a couple of days into the course, I discovered that the guy I was sharing a room with, was a member of TS Resolution NTC, and another guy was an ex-member. That may only be four people, but that's about 3 more than usual!
Lastly, there was one odd thing about the course. I have attended quite a few training courses recently (NGB Courses), and at almost all of them, I was one of the youngest, if not the youngest attendee. But at this sailing course, I was beginning to feel a little old. This course has a minimum age ogf 16, and so the majority of the course were younger than me. Out of 17 students, I was in the top 5 oldest people. It was a bizarre feeling.
And on that low note, it is time for me to go to bed. I still haven't recovered from the week. I am bloomin shattered.
If you can think of anything witty to say, why not leave a comment to give me some ideas for next week.
If you can't think of anything witty yo say, why not leave a comment anyway.
Thanks to Siobhan and Rob for leaving comments last week. It's nice to feel missed.
Quote of the Week: 'I've lost helm control!' called a harrassed sailing student (not me), as we rounded a mark whilst racing, and I commented that we were turning a bit too far, just before he continued to interupt himself by saying 'Oh - the rudder's snapped off.' He did a good job too, bent the metal work holding the rotten wooden rudder blade...
Song of the Month: I fought the law - The Clash (thanks for the good times, and we'll see you next year when Ashes to Ashes returns, DCI Gene Hunt - an inspiration to us all, and law enforcement officers everywhere)
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