Chislehurst Bromley Camberwell 1999 to 2000

November 1999

Left upset at end of K+++'s Party at Homefield Rd - after bending over backwards to help Hayley with making it happen.

December

Drunken night weekend before xmas - Hayley and Tony - Up The Creek - bottle of Vodka - Tony going through my tapes.

Xmas day - did nothing, went nowhere   - went for a drive I think. Saw S+++'s car outside and I just decided to hide. Couldn't deal with it. 

New Year  - the  world didn't end. Made my way home from Stratford and noticed the distinct lack of societal breakdown. Stacey had phoned me so I was very happy.

Saw Stacey on occasion. Upset that she didn't come to see me.

Got cable tv and for 1 month had Sky, Film Four, and Discovery.

Watched Truman show on pay for view. Watched films before going on nightwork, including trash such as Scream, and Scream2. Interesting docs on Discovery

Had a visitation from H and S+++ - S+++ seemed very ill.

End of Jan started night-work and spent days with S+++. This continued through to end of March - but not solidly.

February 2000

Still working on house and now with goal of letting - which was a change from when I was buying and I was told it was to be our home. I've since found out this was a lie. 

I found tenants so a panic to get house finished - was taking days off work. 

A mad panic to get house ready by weekend of 4th/5th of March, but turned out they didn't plan to move in till 8th.

Had to make good use of Bluebird before finally taking it off the road for economic reasons.

March 2000

It was around this time I was having balcony related trouble from Broomleigh. Had to move dog kennel - but just so happened we had allotment to move it to.

8th started let at Edgehill. Moved into Homefield full time.

Took 20th off, afternoon only - a Monday

Got down to serious business of sorting out allotment and planting vege:

1. S+++ and K+++ dug over what was obviously a recently used bed. I removed couche grass from bed and stuck in potatoes as I went. Replanted strawberries.

Night-work finally dried up.

April 2000

A prolonged stint at home started on Good Friday. Sunday we went to the Easter Egg hunt 

Took 25th to 28th off to go to Devon.

Allotment was in a terrible state when we got back. Weeds grown everywhere.

Put in onions from Plymouth and red onions from m-in-law. Planted Swiss chard seeds, garlic. Moved asparagus out of way of path. Created salad bed and planted lettuce and spring onions.

started off tomato seeds and carrot seedlings.

May 2000

15th - carrots all eaten, transplanted toms into pots - more strawberry flowers

Put salad plot in and planted lettuce, onions and garlic

18th - stopped Jon on stair and asked him about contacts voltage. Later met with Steve Brennan, Simon Brady and another bloke at Baker Street.

22nd - Dealing with Bance, talked to Joe Push.

23rd - Dean did MPVs this morning - I was worried he had stopped.

June 2000

7th left message with brain scan doctor (!)

S+++ started to work on web site ideas. (!)

K+++ visited Nat P Gallery

Borrowed Fall and Bowie cds from library

Launch of BCC at Friends meeting house

arranged wedding in Tunbridge Wells

planted radish and beetroot

29th Drove into Earls Ct for night work (parking was a fucker) with Francos condition monitoring equipment.

Two days sitting round 30TSC reading ATO/ATP manual.

July 2000

3rd/4th July Mon - Ruislip, met Jeff W - new boss

5th July Wed - Depot training day - late - met S+++

6th/ 7th  July Thu - back at SLH

12th July Wed - Greenwich after work.

13th July Thu - Just could not make it into work today - so took a/l

14th July Fri - took a/l today. I need it. Went up to London and visited Indian restaurant at Angel.

17th July Mon. All day at Telstar House. Bike suffered major failure and had to walk to E&C, and then get train.

19th July Wed. Early start today for training at Acton but it didn't quite work out. Dropped in on Tate gallery. SHIP - helped to create a literal cat walk for Shippy. Ate there and went to get K+++ afterwards.

20th July Thu. Fire training at Acton - early finish but didn't make it to Bromley till 3.00

21st July Fri. Met Central Line signals team - disappointing lack of progress for me. Oasis gig and wandering about Wembley/Neasden and Bromley pissed and knackered 1/2 and 4 a.m.

22nd July Sat. Lazy day. Had to go back to office to get bag, phone, organiser, bike#2. K+++ arrived in morning - late from grandmother's - we had messed their plans up by our failure to collect K+++ by 9a.m.

23rd July Sun. Spent morning doing Transport Tycoon. Stacey got up after 1pm - I let her sleep in late cos of migraine last night.

24th July Mon. Wembley, 4 Rail visit. 40 miles of cycling. Phoned mum - Gran had a heart failure but she is recovering. Today started warm but became cold and grey. Visited Chislehurst for second loft access. Found some good cassettes, books and TRB album.

25th July Tues. Weather gloomy, bike #2 is a serious strain on my legs and shoulders. A nothing kinda day. Listened to Robert Elms in a.m. Alison (?) visited. BCC meeting was a failure. Only Steve came. At home I drank a bottle of wine and fell unconscious. Bad tempered after work. S+++ didn't get my bike so I'm doomed to another day of using the substitute. Bought academic diary for organiser. 

Moved wedding day to 25th August. Phoned for news of bike - it's fixed. 

Concorde crash.

26th July Wed. Weather gloomy, bike#2 very uncomfortable. Robert Elms doing narrowest alleys in London. 

Got e-mail from Matharu bloke re-bance. I don't think he realises how low priority everyone considers this testing to be. Rob Lever said he was ringing me two weeks ago. 

Money panic - overdraft is used up and two weeks to go before pay. 
Shifted stuff to allotment with Paul, Hayley was around. John had been in and set up ads on website, and de-fragged machine. Decided to take next week off work.

27th July Thurs - managed to bugger up Stacey's training in the City. Still on bike #2. Put in leave for next week and e-mail concerning situation with ATO job on Central Line. Asked Bedros if he could help.

28th July Friday - Awaiting call from Bedros with great trepidation.

Phew! Made it. A whole week off work - Bedros didn't call.

Stacey decided to hold allotment barbecue on Sunday and I decided not to invite anyone (who could I have invited who S+++ approved of, I just wanted to avoid a bad situation) - but Stacey invited quite a few people.

Subscribed to Sci-Fi channel to get Head Fuck Weekend.

29th Saturday - Shop shop shopping! Getting stuff for barbecue. S+++ pissed off that I'm not inviting anyone. Hayley came round in afternoon - S+++ got pissed off and threw me out for hour - I wandered out and took a piss in the residents parking area. S+++ Hayely and I (briefly) painted bottles. Tony and I cleaned up barbecue. House and garden were tidied. I went to allotment to get fresh produce.

30th Sunday BBQ day. Harry and Richard didn't show, but everyone else did. Highlights: Water fights, veggie kebabs, vodka pumpkin and drunken argument about sex and masturbation.

31st Monday: NO work today! K+++ re-homed temporarily at Beverly's house.

1st August Tuesday: Laziness had to end. S+++ signed on, had to book wedding. Resumed laziness. K+++ returned to fold in late afternoon.

2nd August Wednesday: K+++ gone to sea with Pam. 

Bedros rang and told me to see Jeff W on Monday. And then wished me continuing good weather. A couple of hours later it rained extremely heavily accompanied by thunder. 

We started decorating bedroom. Lots of painting the walls.

3rd August Thursday: More painting the walls - finished. More rain today.

4th August Friday: more rain today. Lots of QM coverage. I say bollocks to her and all who sail in her.

5th August Saturday: Stress and arguments. Mainly financial. Spent afternoon on allotment and fell asleep up there.

6th August Sunday: DIY stress - can't deal with built in wardrobe in bedroom. S+++ reckons K+++ came in to check us in night and probably saw me wearing S+++'s nightie. She didn't say anything - is this acceptance?

H&T took Poppy and Mia to vet's. tied Poppy to leg of table while trying to inject Mia, Poppy pulled table at exactly wrong moment causing H&T to be squirted with the drug intended for kitten. Then Poppy slipped her collar and ran down street chased by nurse.

Watched Beavis and Butthead in evening

7th August Monday: Alec Guiness is dead and I'm back to work! Best laid plans etc. My ride to work is dogged with problem of front wheel rubbing against brake - needs to be dealt with, and my radio didn't power up due to forgetting to turn it off over a week ago. Battery was dead. Missed chance to write in Queen Mothers card from Tesco customers. I would have written a resounding BOLLOCKS. Started to lead in gently to apple detox diet. Not sure how well I can cope with this sort of thing.

S+++ at Hayley's all day - her phone not working so I had to call her on Hs phone. H is getting central heating fitted and doesn't want to be there on her own. Heard noises I assume to be aimed at Hs kitten, Mia.

after being pampered in bath by S+++. She washed and platted my hair. It looked good the next day. 

Met George and tried to get another plot to clear. Still no word from George nearly a week later.

Watched twins tending their allotment. Wondered what it would be like to have a version of yourself as your closest companion. Reminded me of Lister on Red Dwarf when he managed to produced an identical version of himself. It's someone who wouldn't undermine you, always intersted in the same thing, never make you feel inadequate or patronising. A lot of things must just go unspoken - no need to vocalise.