Happenings
Here's a rundown on what's been happening since I last posted... I'm still living in Victoria Road, in Govanhill, although I'm now questioning whether it's a good idea to live there. A prostitute was murdered recently and she was last seen in an alley 200 yards from my flat before her body was discovered in woodland a few miles away. A few months ago, three men were murdered in a flat just round the corner. Who knows what other horrors are waiting to take place in Govanhill? I sure don't want to be around to find out. Generally I'm still enjoying living in the flat, as there's no questioning the quality of the place. I'm still not sure how long I can afford to live there though, as the savings I have in the bank are rapidly depleting. I'd be keen to stay for a while though, as it's such a convenient location for so many things and I can't be bothered moving about for now.
We still haven't had the official "flatwarming" party (mainly due to financial reasons, as I'll explain), but the flat has been fairly warmed by now. Generally, the only problem has been with my flatmate, Mark, who is now showing his immaturity - when it comes to managing finances, budgeting etc. He doesn't seem to plan more than a day or 2 ahead, and combined with the fact that he's been sacked from/left 2 jobs, he's well in arrears at the moment. The rent's overdue, and he hasn't paid a penny towards council tax or bills. He seems to give higher priority to fags and booze. He always seems to assume that things will work themselves out with him making the minimum of effort. I had a talk with him about the situation, as I was becoming concerned about his lack of responsibility. Our relationship is becoming more like a father-son one, which is not what I want, but someone had to introduce him to reality. As a result, he's now making more of an effort; doing overtime every day at his sales job (Orange phones), and even working Saturday (today)! I advised him to get a loan to pay off the arrears, so he's considering that also. We're still getting on, but I really had to advise him what to do if he wanted to keep living in the flat, as I was becoming irritated.
The lease has another 3 months to go, and Mark is very keen to extend it. Personally, I may consider moving out in 3 months' time, as I might prefer somewhere cheaper. I would like to stay though, so whether I do depends on whether the financial situation is sorted out by the end of the lease. That depends on Mark making an effort, and I made that clear to him.
I've been going to the gym, but not as regularly as I'd like. In the past week, this has been mainly because I've started a new job and it's taken that little bit extra effort to get out of bed in the mornings. I don't think I'm getting the full benefits unless I'm going regularly, but from now on I'm going to make a real effort. Mark's still going too.
As far as jobs are concerned, the last I mentioned was that I was working at Sky TV. This ain't the case anymore. What happened was that I did the week-and-a-half of training and then fell ill (a bad cold). I was off for the first 2 days of the proper job, then managed to make it in 1 day, and then was off a further 2 days! As I'd missed so many days at the start, RHL "took me off the payroll". It was unfair, as I couldn't help being ill, and had I made it in, I would've been greeted with 12-hour shifts - I simply couldn't face it. I think being sacked was actually a blessing in disguise! Then followed a long period of unemployment. Initially I wanted a few days off as I was getting stressed out, but days turned to weeks and I still didn't have a job. Gradually my motivation, self esteem etc vanished, and for a while I was watching Trisha, smoking roll-ups, drinking tea and feeling sorry for myself - not good! Eventually, after applying to a couple of agencies, I got some temp work, behind the registration desk of an annual "Indium Phosphide & Related Materials" conference, held in the Thistle Hotel. As the name implies, this conference attracted some of the most extreme geeks from around the globe. What made it bearable was the other temp girl I was working with, Pamela, whom I found incredibly sexy. This only lasted 2 days, but in the meantime, I had applied for a customer service role for Goldfish credit cards (part of Lloyds TSB), which I eventually got.
Goldfish only started last Monday, which meant more time for me to eat into those valuable savings, but this conveniently meant that I could go on holiday to the Isle of Arran the week before! My parents had hired a cottage for the week, for a family celebration, so over the week various members of my family came and went, and I was one of the few to stay the whole week. It was really the perfect remedy to the recent stresses I'd been undergoing, and it was good to get away from the city (especially Govanhill)! The weather was mainly sunny. It was also revealed that my sister is expecting a baby, and so I'm going to be an uncle!! It hasn't really sunk in but is exciting nonetheless.
So I've just done a week at my new job. There is 5 weeks of training (2.5 weeks normal, 2.5 weeks of the "academy"). My first impressions are good; we are getting paid for 9am-5.30pm, but the trainer has been telling us to come in at 10am and leave at 4pm! We get 2 15-minute breaks and well over an hour's lunch break. The training group consists of 11 of us, and 3 of those are female (not as bad as Sky I suppose). It is quite a varied bunch of people, but everyone gets on fine and I'm glad to be in there. I do fancy a couple of the girls, especially big Karen, of whom I am just in awe. Initially there were team-building exercises and ice-breakers (and a couple of amusing Office-esque health & safety videos), but we're being made to do increasingly more work now on the systems etc. We did 2 hours of buddying yesterday, which helps.
Goldfish is based in Atlantic Quay, and the working environment is very relaxed and friendly. As well as hundreds (thousands?) of pretty girls, there is free coffee (but if you pay 20p you get coffee which is probably as good as anything you'll get from Costa, Starbucks etc - from a vending machine - I can't get enough of the stuff). There is also a kitchen area which has fridges, microwaves etc, vending machines, 2 PCs for internet access and a PS2 (one controller port is broken though so the PES tournament at lunchtime was a non-event :(). There are also plenty of " break-out" areas, with leather sofas and chairs.
Overall, I think everything about the new job is better than at Scottish Power or Sky. I even get paid more (15p more an hour - yippee), but the main think for me is that I'm glad to be employed again and have some sort of purpose to the day! AQ isn't far from my flat either so it means I can walk there and back, hence saving money on travel.
My short-term plans for the future are to settle into the job and a routine at the gym - and that's it. Everything else will follow.
On a different note, I just want to congratulate Liverpool FC for winning the Champions League (the best damn final I've ever seen). If it wasn't for the brilliance of Steven Gerrard, Dudek, Jamie Carragher et al, it wouldn't've happened. Also, credit to the manager, Benitez, who did a fantastic job.
So, onto more current affairs... last night I was going to go out to the Arches, but was pretty tired, so didn't feel up to it. Instead I watched Big Brother, turning on the TV just in time to see the first housemate arrive (this seems to happen to me every year - purely by accident), and I was hooked. The housemates this year all seem to be totally up themselves, and I think the clash of egos may make for interesting viewing. I might just be tempted to watch it regularly... if only I had E4! I'm sad, I know, but I do find something fascinating about the show; complete strangers thrown together in a strange environment - just like a call centre!! I love watching the relationships evolve.
Today I came back down to Prestwick. I got 2 new CDs - new albums by Gorillaz and The Coral - both of which seem pretty good upon initial listening. Tomorrow I'm going to a party in Milngavie with Suzi, which starts at 1pm. I've got Monday off and will probably need it!
posted by Duncan @ 9:28 PM
0 comments
