Jimmy's Gone

Wednesday 9 September 2009

Good news. A particularly objectionable individual is leaving the organisation I work for. This person has a God complex, like many in his department, and I won’t be sad to see the back of him. He was thoroughly rude and ill mannered towards me on a couple of occasions while simply doing my job and I’ve never liked him since. He’s a dinosaur and the sort of person that gives my employer a bad name.

Two weeks after my contraction of some chesty, cold-related ailment on the school run, I’m still trying to shift the last remnants. I’m also still wheezing like an asthmatic donkey. There used to be this great linctus you could get from the Co-op and I’ve never been able to find it for years. That would’ve shifted it by now. I pop into Boots and they don’t even try to sell my anything. They recommend a trip to my GP for antibiotics. Maybe that’s the Friday off I’m looking for.

Flick starts Rainbows tonight and my normal Wednesday night peace and quiet will be shattered as Daddy Cabs goes into overtime. Rainbows are on from 6 until 7 and Guides from 7 until 9. As K is now running both I’ll have to drop them both off at 6 and then return for Flick at 7 with K making her own way home at 9. K suggested that she take the car and I head along on the bike for 7 and then we swap so I bring Flick home at 7 in the car and she comes home on the bike. When you have kids everything is a military operation!

Having finished the audio book of Andrew Collins’ very enjoyable “Where Did It All Go Right?”- the first in his autobiographical triumvirate - I ponder what to listen to next to relieve the boredom of the drive to and from work. In the twilight of the living room this morning I choose Nick Lowe’s “Jesus Of Cool”. I only really know the “hits” so I’m happy to learn more about a favourite of K’s during the daily commute.

According to the front page of today’s Daily Record, Glasvegas frontman James Allan has gone ‘missing’ on the eve of a US tour. Who does he think he is, Joe Strummer?

Talking of the Record, guess who the “one fan” was: http://tinyurl.com/mh5j62, I’m not even a fan; I was being sarcastic! This comment was made on Twitter in response to Glasvegas’ guerrilla gig, when some fans couldn’t get in because some of the limited places had been taken up by the band’s guest list!

How easy is it to be a journalist nowadays? You just rake through Twitter, Facebook and website forums for quotes and “stories”. Or, in the case of my employer, make countless spurious Freedom of Information claims. The latest one? How many pieces of a particular piece of clothing has our employer issued to female members of staff. They’re the first to complain about not enough officers on the street. That’s because they’re too busy working out how much we’ve spent on tea, coffee and biscuits! Woodward and Bernstein would be turning in their graves, if they were dead.