Friday, October 28, 2005

Trains are ruining my life...

wednesday - train from huddersfield to home delayed. it said by ten minutes, but it was more like twenty by the time i got home.
thursday - train from huddersfield to leeds, delayed by 15 minutes. trains home: laugh. I nearly shat. Trains from leeds - huddersfield were just crazy. got the 1740 train at 1757, and managed to get home by seven pm. A took nearly two hours to get home from dewsbury - she was delayed getting from dewsbury to huddersfield, so she missed one train, then the next train was so late, it went straight through to manchester, and so was waiting on huddersfield station for nearly an hour.
Saw Mr Scruff at Leeds Met last night. So good. I don't dance much, but you can't help it when you're in his presence, and when the whole room was dancing, and this was no small room. Good work, Mr Scruff, keep it up!

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

On the train...i wish i was

Last night's journey was only five minutes delayed.
however, A, who works until 7pm on tuesday, had her train delayed by about 20mins. This meant she missed the connection in huddersfield, and i had to go and pick her up.
Had a strange dream, wheRe i was on the train and my boss was on a high-spec mountain bike, free wheeling beside the train, and keeping up. There was also a child on a much older bike, and she was ahead of my boss.
This morning's huddersfield to leeds train is 15mins late.
Still feeling ok, just quite tired today.
I'm impressed by George Galloways' Gall, and disappointed that, in the face of massive evidence that it's a huge health risk, the government still won't ban smoking in public places. A made the observation that it's probably due to the tabacco industry lobby, and, after listening to This Morning, i can't help thinking that the big drinks companies are in on the lobbying act too.
As mark thomas repeatly said, we're all [truly] fucked.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Tuesday am

Tuesday am
Tuesday am,
originally uploaded by b3ardman.

I didn't get home until 7.10pm last night. All in, i spent about three and a half hours travelling to work and back.
Spoke to a about feeling how i do, and it's made it seem a bit better. See how today goes...

Monday, October 24, 2005

Ups and downs

Everything constantly changes, even if it's only by minute amounts. It's the minute amounts that are the worrying changes. When things change rapidly, it's easy to notice and take action. The minute changes aren't noticable until you compare them with the way they used to be.
I think i'm slowly sliding into a deep depression. I can't be entirely sure, but I've not felt excited about anything for a long time. Even getting inspiration has been an effort. Whilst I've generally been feeling apethetic, life has seemed particularly dull lately. Even seeing mark thomas was, to be truthful, disappointing. I have no appetite for work, or reading, and whilst i'll still tinker with things, i don't think I've had the same "stay up all night" enthusiasm.
I don't know What's causing this, whether it's the lack of sleep, or whether that's because of the depression. I feel the need to batten down the hatches and set in for what will be a very dull, but still unbearably difficult, time ahead. Not crisis point yet, but it feels like the brink of something. I just wish it wasn't happening.

More trains

My train from huddersfield to leeds is 30mins late this morning, and the next one is delayed by 25mins. [Apparently this is due to a train failure.]
Had a quiet weekend. Took garden waste to the dump, and a's sister, s, came over on sunday.
We went over to tia greyhound rescue, near stalybridge, last night, and walked some of their dogs. the one's we walked were all so timid, and all very well behaved. None of them needed much of a walk. Nice to take then out though, must try and go over there again soon.

Friday, October 21, 2005

Bah!

This is ridiculous. If the trains were always late, like the three hour late one i caught in India, then i could allow for that; factor it into the journey.
With them being late or cancelled (and this is the train companies stats) 10% of the time, you never know if you're going to be left in the lurch, yet they're still on time regularly enough to prevent most people from making a formal complaint.
Is this part of a larger trend? Has the current society found exactly the lowest level of comfort that humans need to be at to prevent them from "taking matters into their own hands"? Are we, as a whole, better off than any other time in history, or are we still stuck under the same repression that's inherent in any hierarchical system, just kept distracted better? there's a lot of evidence both ways, but what if better living, health and educational conditions are just more effective ways of making us more productive?
Ikea's latest slogan, "if your kitchen costs less, you have to work less", is systematic of this point of view. It suggests that if you work hard, you'll get a reward, and completely ignores the fact that, probably, most people have to take a loan out to afford a new kitchen, which means they'll actually end up paying more. And don't think that Ikea doesn't know this. They're more than happy to lend you some of their profit, they've made out of you, so that they can get their greedy claws on even more of your hard come by cash. (It's not just Ikea, look at how many other stores have credit schemes.)
why do we stand for this? why do i put up with spending most of my waking hours, during the most productive years of my life, stuck behind a desk, dealing with people who take it all too seriously?
at the moment, it's so i can pay the mortgage, which will keep me tied down for the next 25 years. Is that enough reward? Evidently, yes.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Thursday

I'm waiting for the train, which so far this week has been late twice and cancelled once. not being one to complain, i haven't, but it's a disgrace that this service, that i subsidise and pay for, and rely on to get me to work, is so poorly run.
That's just the first leg of my journey too!
The main part (huddersfield to/from leeds), the service is so full that they've had to start getting station staff to move standing passengers into the center of the carriages. Not only does this suck, but it's clearly a hazard to those passengers without a seat. Sure, they've not started with passengers on the roof yet, but it won't be long.

to be fair, the train arrived on time, and i got a seat on the second train too.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

My Boss is so sad

My Boss is so sad
My Boss is so sad,
originally uploaded by b3ardman.
As you can see from this picture, the whole getting things done thing has completely gone to his head.
I mean, GTD is a nice idea, but what it boils done to is this:
  1. Write a list of things to do (this can be added to as you go along!)
  2. Do them
  3. go look at 43folders.com
I mean, what's so revolutionary about that? And really a website that extols the virtues of being able to write upside down?

[Not all of this post is entirely serious]