Re-Grouping
18 March

By the time my long weekend finished, I had started to feel better in myself.

Ross and I went for a meal at the Ship Inn in Haskayne with my parents as a pre-Mother's Day treat. To be honest, the food wasn't as good as we have had there in the past but it was still a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.

The days get longer and Nutkin is taking advantage of the extended daytime to spread his pussy bountifulness around. It's getting more difficult to get him in of an evening but he's spending the time well. He's caught his second mouse.

Sue returned to work as Ross's care assistant today so another element of our lives should start taking on a more even keel. Nutkin, of course, showed her his displeasure over her absence by constantly turning his back on her. He really is turning into a temperamental teenager.

Yesterday, when Ross refused to give him any of the chicken carcass he was putting into a casserole, our nearly mature cat flounced out of the kitchen and was to be heard stamping his way up the stairs. Only someone who has never been around animals could say that they don't have emotions and don't express them in very understandable ways.

I should mention the first really enjoyable television programme of the year. Hustle doesn't pretend to be anything other than damned good entertainment and it is entirely that.

The basic premise is that each week we watch a group of hustlers fleece another greedy individual. The style of the programme is snappy, cultivated and pretty classy. It reminds me a lot of Mission Impossible as they find a new way each week of outwitting their mark. And in fact, reading about the programme on the BBC Website, the Producer has exactly the same reference point. A clear three star event in the week.

I had my review meeting at work and, true to form, it turned into an exercise in damage limitation for the company. What could they do least in order to satisfy themselves that everything was OK. My request for a lightbox was turned down on the grounds that it was not medically essential. My request for more preparation time was turned into me doing more work on my own when I was prepared rather than any recognition that I'm still not right. My request for a bit more protection from being dumped in it at short notice was sidelined. And I was left to my own devices to sort everything out. I even had to ask for a further review meeting. Pshaw.

Still, the actual work is much pleasanter now that the customers are beginning to realise that, provided they follow the rules, they will find that we can offer them all sorts of added extras. Others have noticed a much more mellow vibe in the room. And we have managed to get rid of some of the more unruly elements.

However, I retain a lingering sense of being a fraud as I train people in things that I know very little about myself. I could do with a training course myself. However, I've led a couple of somewhat successful sessions on basic DOS commands for customers who had never used DOS before. And that was very satisfying.