Letter to whomever is in charge of this sort of thing.

Why oh why oh why does it have to be below -12°C? Why does it have to get below say, -10° Celsius ever? There is simply no point to it, no need, and it's extremely uncomfortable. Why just this evening I had to stand around outside in the Old Town Square for some training for a job I'm doing and it was excruciating! My face was stinging, my nose was running and my ears kept getting a tinge of cold even though they were well covered by a woollen hat. I wore 3 pairs of socks, and my feet were still absolutely freezing, my toes were stinging so bad at one point I thought they'd fall off!

This is unacceptable. Absolutely uncalled for. To have to live through this kind of cold on a night I'm positively forced to spend time outside standing around is abominable. ABOMINABLE I TELL YOU!

What I want to know is, who is responsible? Who is going to fix this damn cockup of a weather situation? And what exactly is going to be done about it? How about some compensation for mental anguish and lost digits? Answers people? We're waiting to know. And it's still cold!

You know when it's late winter...

and you have a break of reasonably mild weather after a really cold snap, and you start to imagine that spring is on it's way.. and the days are getting longer and it hasn't snowed in a while, and it's almost March, and you look outside in the morning and it looks like there are buds on the trees but it's probably just wishful thinking.. and then you have training in the evening and it's the Old Town training which is all outside in the open square and you're standing around listening for large periods in the evening and it's really really fucking freezing, like 10 degrees less than it was 2 nights ago..

well I don't really like that.

Another down..

and I don't know what to go.

Did another test, went pretty well. More training, more meetings....

WHERE'S THE MONEY ALREADY!!!

Well I should be starting properly in March, which isn't that long now...

scratch, repeat..

well.. today I started a new set of training, for another tour, tomorrow I have another test for the last bunch I've been doing, and then training again Sunday, Tuesday.. etc etc.

March is the set date for actually starting work that is getting money sort of work..

*sighs*

I try and I try..

but I can't for the life of me think of a single thing interesting going on in my life.. and well.. I lost the ability to think up stuff to write that is anything but stuff wot I'm doing now...

there's nothing crappier than writing just to moan about having nothing to write about.. literally nothing.

The silliest day on earth..

That was yesterday. For me anyway. It was kind of fucked up.. annoying, in that.. superficial unimportant stuff that bugs you sort of way.. and that is all entirely your own stupid fault for being a stupid person who's stupid and does stupd things sutpidly. That was me. Well that's usually me but yesterday especially.

It all started the other night when I left my phone behind in a bar.. not something entirely stupid because people get drunk in bars and do stuff like that but I was hardly drunk, just stupid. I figured it out halfway home after getting a particularly lucky connection with the trams.. and Erik rang it and someone at the bar answered it and said it would be there for me to pick up.. I was too lazy to go back then so I asked if I could come tomorrow. It was ok.

Tomorrow, which was yesterday, I set out to get my phone. I'd gone along on a party which met at another tram stop so I hadn't actually made my own way there before, and I'd toyed with the idea of looking up exactly where it was before going, but I thought.. nah, I'll remember.

Well I didn't, so I looked everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere. I went down every street of this particularly hilly and pub heavy part of Prague, I went up and down many numerous times. I went as far as I thought I should with a strained look up or down the hill, not wanting to waste an uphill walk too far, just to go back later and continue up or down the hill. I went past the same places again and again, unintentionally.. I went much further than was reasonable more than once.. I looked EVERYWHERE, it could possibly be, but no bar. Well lots of bars but not that one.

My legs were hurting.. and I didn't want to use any more energy than was humanly possible to try to find this thing... but I found myself walking on and on again.. up hills, down hills just to come up again.

I would have earlier called someone to look it up for me but.. my reason for going was to get my phone so obvs I didn't have one.. but I came across some public ones.. put a 5kc coin in.. and it just stuck there. Wouldn't go in and I couldn't get it out.

So I tried an internet cafe.. I'd walked past one before and didn't go in, but I had to walk all the way back.. without really remembering where it was.. but I found it relatively easily.. thank goodness.. went in, luckily it was cheap.. looked it up and lo and behold the place was really close.. and a place THAT I'D ALREADY BEEN!

Found it this time. Got the phone, jumped on the tram home, with barely enough time to go back out again to training where I had to know 3 more stories. .and of course was seriously behind on the last one, due to having less time than I expected to learn it. Damn it.

So I wasted the hour I had fumbling about... meant to go a bit early so I wouldn't be rushed, so I went at the last minute and was rushed. I put on one boot.. then I couldn't find the other. I looked and looked and looked but not boot. Finally I had to change to my sneakers and had to spend precious time lacing the damn things up.

Fortunately, my tram was late or I wouldn't have caught it.. I put in my ticket and sat down. later I realized I'd double checked a ticket. It really didn't matter because I wasn't inspected but it was just a special bit of icing on a day of stupidness for me. I did my stories not half bad, not so good but I didn't fuck up.. and now I'm still learning 3 more for tonight.. and I have to leave in like 15 minutes! It never ends....

And it still keeps coming..

Doing more training, went on Friday and Sunday and have another on Wednesday and have 3 scripts to memorize for then... of course.. I've barely looked at them so far as.. I have time :)

but as we do more training and they go through more of it with us, I'm starting to think that these scripts are a piece of piss.. as I like to say, compared to everything else.. I mean you've got to know about 10-15 stories (more actually because we'll be expected to do a few different tours) well enough so you can be comfortable with it and keep the flow going and say with your own personal style, be entertaining and suit whatever audience you have.. make sure everyone keeps up, make sure you don't go over time.. make sure you let people out of the underground immediately who look like they're gonna get sick or get freaked out... it's just so much to worry about!

and there's more, like people not having keys, other tours being in your way.. and all sorts of stuff that can go wrong.. well.. I know I can be preparing myself to at least know the stories so well that I don't even have to think about that bit, but I'm too busy doing this right now.. and then I have other stuff to waste time on.. and then I'm going out.. and then... oh whatever.

Friday fourth o' Feb

Doesn't that sound nice? It's all alliterative and stuff. There are very few such dates in the year... being only 2 letters which begin a month, a day of the week and a date.. those are F and S.. if you couldn't figure it out, and yes, there are a few of those.. 4th, 14th, 5, 15th, 6, 7 etc... and if the 6th and 7th (or 16th and 17th) of Sep fall on Saturday and Sunday we get 2 in a row.. woo hoo! This year we only get 2 altogether.. this fair FFF day.. and the 16th of September, which is a Sunday, so look forward to that one :)

Yes, I know.. way too much time on my hands.. but never fear, I'm starting training again tonight, to be followed by more training, and sometime later this month, or next month I'll start actually doing tours, while continuing with some of the training so this do stuff one week and a week off stretch will be over...

and perhaps if you're lucky I'll be too busy to post at all :)

Very modern..

Haven't done this for a while..



for captioning.

I remember when I used to do this...

The word o' the day is:

unequivocal

That's actually a word I know.. though I don't think I've ever used it.. perhaps I have, certainly not very often. It means of course.. um.. totally, or something.. er, admitting of no doubt or misunderstanding; having only one meaning or interpretation and leading to only one conclusion.. or having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning, something like that. Maybe open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead..

one of them.

'parently spring is coming early this year, for whoever "us" is in the whole groundhog mythology they have.. I kinda doubt I'm included...

*ponders it a bit*

This cold isn't really so bad.

When you don't have to go outside :) I did have to run down the stairs of the building in my big fluffy cat feet slippers to let someone in.. and felt a rush of the cold from the outside, but let it be as freezing as it likes while I have the luxury of hanging around here if I choose.. all those other poor folk bedamned!

:)

Not sure that's a real word.. well it is now. I'm very lucky that I'm once again in between training or anything else I'm required to do particularly during the evening time.. because it would be a bit unpleas right now, and if I'm lucky it will be over this colder than average for the typical winter snap and not back into another one during the time I have the next sessions..

but to be perfectly honest.. I'm not usually that lucky :Z Oh well.