That Was a Week, Wasn’t it ?

Monday-Stoke, Betelgeuse

A work-a-day day at work. lunch over my computer. Just read about today being the 25th anniversary of the seminal computer game Elite on the BBC Micro. I remember my excitement playing it on my Acorn Electron home computer (BBC micro for poor kids!). It was unlike any game that came before both in scope and presentation. The point was to roam the universe trading between planets and shooting pirates. I recall a box loaded with all sorts of paraphernalia to immerse  you in its universe. I also have a vague memory of trading in both furs and slaves, so I think I may owe an official apology to some distant planets.

More in fantasy space news, my inbox contained an email from my brother Bill (actual brother not socialist anachronism) asking if I am interested in attending a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy convention to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary. I replied with a succinct and accurate, absolutely.

Tuesday-Stoke, Birmingham

Arrived in Brum at 9.30 for a 10am meeting. Have decided it is physically impossible to arrive here at the time intended. Either half an hour early or 15 mins late every time. Had an interesting Regional Committee meeting. On the drive back home all I could think of was that I had wittered on too much. My new maxim will be: While Brevity is the soul of wit, blathering on is the sign of a twit.

Wednesday-Home, Cricket Club

Frustrating day waiting in for someone to measure my front widow for a repair. I was told they would call sometime in the morning. Apparently mornings now last till 2.30pm.

We were back to almost full strength for the quiz. Michael has returned from 4 weeks alcohol blotting in Spain. Sadly Vicky was tied up so I would have no one to bicker with. This quiz was an utter triumph, though sadly not for us as we finished just outside the top 3 (out of 4 teams). Post analysis was, that we did not answer enough questions correctly…. pointless analysis for a pointless performance.

Thursday-Bloomsbury

Down to sunny sunny London for a Unison Joint Regional Conveners and Secretaries meeting. This is a large gathering of the  leads form all the Regions of both the lay members (me) and Unison management all of whom are much more experienced, eloquent and factually thinner than myself. Also present was Dave Prentis, our General Secretary as well as other HQ luminaries. My unworthy gene kicked in leaving me feeling like such a small cheese in a big pond (my favourite mixed metaphor). I did make a couple of lumbering contributions to the otherwise fine debate but hopefully I was a little less wittery than Tuesday.

Home for 7pm. Asleep for 7.15pm

Friday-Keele School of Nursing

It was student nurse recruitment today. Hooray !! That is not to say recruiting people to become nurses rather than recruiting the Students to join our Union. Its a bit like being involved in a low rent Trade Fair. We had a stand in the large registration room, alongside our sworn rivals, but close allies the RCN. We stand by our pitches like so many slightly nervous double glazing pedlars ready to pounce on our unsuspecting and possibly windowless prey. Its a tricky thing to engage a student in the way of the Union. Some of them have little idea of what we do, and couple that with an 21 century attention span of just under 30 secs, meant that at times we just had to fall back on throwing free stuff at them. Still, we had an excellent day signing up nearly everyone we spoke to. Even those who left, still a little unsure as to what they had signed up to, will realise the benefits once they experience the NHS from the inside. It has to be said that however much bad press trades unions get elsewhere, in the NHS only a tiny misguided minority of the workforce would question our relevance.

Saturday-Sofa

Pottering round my Potteries house. Stoke lost to Man United, but only on goal difference.  A Tellycentic day catching up with vital DVD boxsettery in the afternoon, and the Usual Saturday night Suspects channel hopping. Headlines from the night’s viewing was that a Jockey galloped off from Vaguely Like Dancing and some singers returned home, hopes dashed on The Xploit Factory.

I think all in all, It had been a really productive day, with me managing to produce more inches on the hips and a deeper ass print on my sofa  I have decided that day by day I am turning into The Moog from, Willo the Wisp so I have changed all my avatars and profile pics until I am back on the diet train.

Sunday-Britain

Spent most of the day tinkering around  with a report for work while keeping one eye on the grand prix, another on my blog and a third on my cat Gammo, who despite being “done” some months ago seems to have returned to his sex pestering ways. Oh and I wrote up this post.

A Week on the Wild Side

Welcome to this first stab at a daily journal.
Why, well I feel I’ve got bogged down in my blog. What was supposed to be as the name implied a Web Log has turned into a “sporadic lumpen overblown series of ill informed pompous essays” (Stoke Daily Shouter) and that is the best of the reviews !
I’m also feeling in a rut. Sitting on this tube train on the way back from an appointment at the haring Cross gender clinic, its hard to see what progress I’ve made in the last year.
If my life is a marathon (mmmmm snickers) I seem to have hit that 20 mile wall. A wall guarded by a rut (not sure this analogy make much sense but hey). Stuck in a rut of sleep>work>eat>self loathing>eat again>annnnd sleep
So sitting clanking along on the district line from Hammersmith back to Tower Hill I’ve a an epiphany.
I will start a daily journal. A daily journal written on actual paper. This retro journal or paper log, shall call my Plog (clever no ?) Enough of the yacking, let’s rock..

Diary of a Trans Unionist 

Week 1 Monday 14th September 2009 London/Southend/Leicester Forest East/Stoke
2 pm - I’ve just finished my appointment with the mercurial Dr B at the Charring Cross clinic. AS usual our appointment squeezed in anything but gender identity into our 20 mins. We rattled through wonky eyes, 3D movies, Birmingham New St, the BNP, diet food cons, the recession and the possibility of a hung parliament. I can only surmise that he is pretty happy that I’m well set genderwise once I am less fat enough for the surgery. He bade goodbye with his usual “Hope to see less of you next time”. My next appointment is next May. Hopefully loads of time to make real weight loss.
So here I am scribbling in my new notebook purchased from a stationers at Hammersmith station writing with an actual biro. I’m on my way back to Southend on Sea where I’ve been spending the weekend with my friend Lucy. Lucy has been so sweet putting me up and putting up with me at the same time. Especially as she is fighting her battle with cancer. She humbles me when I see how stoically she copes with any setback when I am so prone to moan at relative trivia.

9pm - Leicester Forest East services In your face Leicester Forest West ! I've pulled over for a break on my way back north to  Stoke. Ive kept myself entertained with Transanthems, a podcast by a blogging friend Justin Episode 2 is an insane 90 min mix of 80s beats that ended with me belting along to Electric Dreams. Hope to be back home not much after 10pm. Got a really early start again tomorrow as I have to be in Birmingham by 9am.

Day 2 Tuesday - Stoke/Birmingham
7am - Just finished a lumpy porridge. Long day ahead. I have a Recruitment and Selection training day in Brum, then a dash back to stoke accompanied by Unison’s newest and most inspirational Regional Secretary Roger Mckenzie who is visiting our branch meeting which starts at 7pm
9am - despite the M6’s best efforts, I managed to make our regional centre in under 2 hours. We are just waiting for a couple of fellow trainees to arrive. I've been small talking with the trainer who is called Ian from Hartlepool. He looks and sounds like the lovechild of Peter Mandelson and Louis Theroux. On nearly every training course I have been on there has been a loudmouth irritant, hogging the debate or shoehorning in misplaced humour. Unfortunately, on each occasion it has been me so this time I’m going to make a effort to just shut the f*** up a bit. Interesting debate on how “sense of humour” has started to appear of person specs for jobs and how you would test that at interview. I just imagine someone being turned down for a job because “your humour is a little base for us, we are looking for a little more irony”

6pm Unison Branch Office. Just got back after an interesting 90 minute drive accompanied by Roger M. We talked probably too much Union shop for him but he was very patient listening to my pontificating. We also talked a bit about his passion of jazz and he gave me the cd that we listened to on the way, notable for a track by Dinah Washington. Think I’m going to source some more of her music. Preparing for branch meet by hurriedly printing off agendas to dole out. I do hope the meeting goes well.

10pm - home at last. Branch meeting went ok I suppose. Roger grave a great talk on the current state of play for the Trade Union movement and sparked some lively debate. I was a bit disappointed that there were only a dozen or so people there.
The house feels really empty without Gammo Speng my cat, who is still in the cattery. Its at these times I really miss being married. I always suffer a bit of a crisis of confidence and a low after a meeting where I’m so hyped up and it felt so comforting in  the past to have someone to offload onto when I get home.
Don’t know why, perhaps because I’m bushed but I can’t hold back tears…Hey ho

Day 3 Wednesday Stoke/Meakins Cricket Club 

Late start in work, mainly due to yesterday’s long long day.

2pm JNCC meeting (Joint negotiating meeting thingy). I’m just about to chair this meeting. They all think these notes I'm scribbling are for the meeting. How little they know. I’m going to start the meeting with my new Chairing catchphrase “Do we have a go / no go to start the meeting”. I may have watched Apollo 13 once too often.

4.30 pm meeting over. Catchphrase was met with both bewilderment and irritation. Still I found it amusing. I also managed to shoehorn twitter into the meeting, don't think I won any new followers though.

9pm Meakins Cricket club. Half an hour ago I was in bed with the firm decision to give this weeks quiz a miss. Vicky is working nights and I wasn’t sure any of the rest of our team were turning up Michael being drunk in France rather than drunk in Stoke. However I was awoke from a slumber by my mobiles message alert tone, Alexander the Meer cat saying “You are having a message…Simples” from that ad offa the telly. So a quick slap of makeup and a bleary eyed drive and I’m here with Simon and Wendy to do battle on the quiz floor.
Midnight – Home again, alone again. Basking in the glory that was our shock quiz win. I almost totally failed to be magnanimous at our victory. We are good losers and bad winners in equal measure

Day 4 Thursday – Bed/Work/Bed

8 am After playing a bout of alarm clock chicken a relative run of the mill day awaits. Meeting meeting and meeting and then hopefully the return of Gammo Speng. Today is also to be the relaunch of my diet. So today will be a porridge and pasta (not together) heavy menu.

2pm - Keele I’m sitting in an open plan office in what is called an Innovation Centre within the socialist republic of Keele University. Surely the only higher education establishment named after a motorway service station.

9pm Bed- Much twitter chatter about some Tranny social events. Feel a twinge of jealousy that while post transition life may be more fulfilling it’s much less fun

Day 5 Friday Sofa/Vick’s

Grabbed chance for an annual leave day when my one scheduled meeting for the day was cancelled. Would like to have said I made the most of the opportunity, but sadly the lure of West Wing DVDs took hold. However I did manage to consume a vast amount of pasta so the day was not totally wasted.

10pm Vicky’s Lounge. I came round V’s at 6 for a coffee and ended up staying after she left for a night shift. So me and her half dog half idiot Spartacus have just watched Strictly Come Dancing followed by Derren Brown’s attempt to stick us to our sofa’s. Derren failed to stick me to anything but Spartacus did vomit up an almost perfect pat of butter . Derren does move in mysterious ways

Day 6 Saturday Meakins/Laundrette/Vicky’s

3pm Sitting in the almost sun watching a confusing charity cricket tournament. There seem to be 3 teams of varying numbers and oddly mismatching kit. Just realised that my car is parked well within an off driven six from the canal end. Handily Autoglass have a branch at the end of the street. The charity is to raise funs for a thirteen year old member of Meakins club who sadly lost both legs after his fishing line touched overhead cables. Can’t help feeling that there is barely a worse age to suffer such an accident. V and me have done our bit by buying and consuming more burgers and hotdogs than is ever necessary or reasonable.

 

5pm Hanley Laundrette- Broken washing machine has necessitated a first visit to the laundrette for 10 years. Quite a relaxing experience scrawling in my diary while my week’s washing chugs round in the huge tumble dryer. Disappointed that the Laundrette is lacking any Eastenders style melodrama or even a Dot Cotton a like. Mainly seems to be populated by students.

10pm Vicky’s sofa- just finished loading up my car for tomorrows car boot sale. We are both attacking this with no enthusiasm whatsoever and the only reason we are doing it is that we are doing it for Vicky’s mum and there is no way we are brave enough to back out now. My suggestion that I buy everything for 30 quid, take to the dump and hence have a nice lie in Sunday morning was deemed bad form.

Day 7 – Hanley Car Boot Sale/Bed and Laptop

7.30 am Sitting in the car waiting for the 8pm deadline before we can set up our car boot stall. Had to get up at 5.30 am for this pleasure. We timed arrival precisely to be allocated a prime pitch. That is if prime means down a ramp behind some bins parked on a slope on which only a mountain goat could feel surefooted

1pm car boot has been a roaring success. Well it made me roar with something anyway, possibly frustration. It started with the usual rush and soon as the clock strikes 8 the dedicated booters swarm your stall before you can even get your stuff out of the boot. Once set up our stall was a kaleidoscope of ceramica ranging from quite nice Aynsley china to an utterly bizarre  green fish “crafted” from modern plastics and pacific seashells . We also had a box of children’s clothes which went down well and a box of romance pulp paperback novels which did not. I am certainly impressed by some of the haggling ability on show. One lady haggled down a school blouse from 20p to 10p. Cashing up we have taken the princely sum of 29 whole pounds sterling. If we deduct £9 for the pitch £3 for bacon baps and £2 for price stickers we ended up with £15 clear profit. Split between the two of us that makes just over £1 per hour each. Well worth the effort I’m sure you will agree. Still the weather has been stunning and the whole thing was quite surprising fun.

8pm finished Blogging from my scrawled notes…… apart from this bit.