Today I've mostly bin...

[giraffe]

The lorry driver was totally unaware that he had lost a pole. What was worrying us was that he had other poles on the back and none of them were tied down properly.

[eirian]

that's just sooooo scarey. Glad you are ok, Giraffe.

[Bunnylump]

That's pretty dreadful. Actually, if a pole had come end on into your windscreen it could have been REALLY nasty.

[giraffe]

Well only a couple of miles from there a year or so ago I passed a car stopped at the side of the road, with an ambulance just pulled up in front of it. The car had a hole the size of a fist in it's windscreen, and a piece of metal 3 feet long had fallen off a passing lorry and gone into the driver's head! It must have just happened about 5 or 10 minutes before I went past as they closed the road when the police arrived. That was what was going through my mind as this pole came hurtling towards me.

[eirian]

.... doing my duty. Well, actually I voted some time ago as I spent today getting tediously bored watching 175 people vote... Polling Clerk. 6.30am-10pm. But hey, it's good money!
Can't believe so few people turned up... although, to be fair, a lot of people now do postal votes (as I had to), so it was higher than 15% turnout really.

[giraffe]

I couldn't believe one of the ballot papers I was given. It had seven candidates on and you had to vote for a maximum of six! I picked the one I was least keen on and voted for all the others. OH couldn't get in the car park when he tried to vote on the way home from work, as our polling station is the cricket club and there was a match on.

[LAT]

I wasn't even aware that we had any local elections in addition to the AV referendum today until I got to the polling station and was handed two pieces of paper. We have had no canvassing at all and no flyers through the door other than one urging my husband and son to say no to AV. Not quite sure why I was left out of that.

[Bunnylump]

It was the same here. No bits of paper through the door, no letters, no people knocking at the door. I still went and voted, although I found it quite difficult to decide who to vote FOR this time. I'm pretty disillusioned with the lot of them. I do think it's important to vote though (I've never actually missed one yet) because otherwise some of the extreme candidates could get in by default.

[MBH]

.... doing my duty. Polling Clerk. 6.30am-10pm.

Me too - except I DRIVE my polling station around so I got to work for 6am to take my bus to the site I was given - and then after 10pm when the main man had vanished getting the box to the counting station I then found my battery had gone flat and I couldn't start the bus

Eventually got the girls at the elections office to sort me out a taxi to take me back to where my car was parked - my bus is secured in the estate it's been sitting in all day and I'll need to get the electrical guys out tomorrow.

So I got back to my car 11:30pm (by the time the taxi took two wrong routes to find where I wa), and I'm now home and ready for bed

[Bunnylump]

That sounds horribly like a 17 and a half hour day to me. I sincerely hope they are going to be PAYING you for your overtime.

[Bunnylump]

That sounds horribly like a 17 and a half hour day to me. I sincerely hope they are going to be PAYING you for your overtime.

[MBH]

<<slaps thigh with mirth>>

With my 'high scale' [lol] I'm not able to get 'overtime' only time off in leiu. This day is my only way in the year to get extra money since as well as being a 7hr 24min work day I also get paid as a Poll Clerk (about £180 I think.... less tax of course). Somehow I don't think little complications like THAT will fit into any formula of compensation.

Such is life

The bus was OK this morning when I got back to it - nobody had broken in to try and lift the computers or anything (it WAS a nice area we were working in). Got jump-started and had a big drive around to recharge battery. I'm just dropping it off now for it's weekend service, but who knows what state it will be in on Monday.

NOW to go find a bus that will take me somewhere near where my car has been left.

[Bunnylump]

I don't get paid overtime either. Because apparently I'm "in the higher salary scale bracket for support staff". The fact they only pay me for 5 hours a day and 43 weeks a year doesn't seem to come in to it. Last time I looked, 8 30 to 4 is actually seven and a half hours, but ho hum. I am seriously tempted to refuse to speak to any of the teachers or do work in my "tea break" and lunch break" or before or after school. Sorry, this should probably be in the whinge thread...

[tricia]

Travelling back from fort William. Hand a fantastic few days, the weather has been glorious. We droive up on Tuesday via Glencoe. What an experience. I was standing on the road facing the hulking rocks that are the three sisters of glencoe - they were stunning But absolutely no bird song! We moved onto the visitor centre for some coffee and as we sat there a Tornado on a low flying excercise came screaming over and proceeded to do a victory roll over the top of the mountain. Ton thought we had arranged it specifically for him. Our hotel was situated at neptunes staircase in the shadow of Ben Nevis..........a magnificent sight.

On Wednesday we had arranged a trip on the fort william to Mallaig journey. Wall to wall sunshine. We boarded the train at 8.30 am for the jouney which is described as one of the best train journey's of the world. Part of th journey goes over Glenfinnan viaduct, Usually shown on Harry Potter as the Hogwarts express goes over the viaduct. Unfortunately the steam train does not start to the 16th. It has been so dry that the scrub was on fire and it was amazing travelling through the glens with the smoke rising into the air. It is so remote that they had to use helicopters to douse the area with water.

We alson paid a visit to the Glenfinnan monument - the site where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard. The reason why I mention this ..........there is a black DVP rose on the gate We also visited the Comando monument at Spean Bridge

All in all a very nice few days, and aou Dutch friends were amazed with the scenery

Hope I did not bore you with my meanderings

Tricia

[Bunnylump]

You didn't bore me at all. I love to hear about places people visit, and hearing their recommendations. It sounds fantastic. We've been to Glencoe ages ago - it's an amazing, brooding place, isn't it? I've never been anywhere else in my life that was so ominous and wonderful at the same time.

A friend of mine (the one who runs the trains at the park and owns a steam traction engine) goes up and volunteers to shovel coal (yes, I know, sad nerdy man ) on that railway you mentioned from time to time. My friend Janet went up with him once, she was all togged up in a boiler suit and had her picture taken in the driving bit of the steam train. We were all laughing at her and telling her she would be "Miss May" on the train spotters' nerd calendar!! However, she did say that the train route was absolutely amazing, and that the scenery was to die for. Be warned, though, you picked the ideal time of year to be going to that area. If you leave it until later in the summer they have MAN EATING mosquitos. I ended up being one big BITE.

[LAT]

Sounds wonderful Tricia.
Of course mountains of any kind will always impress the Dutch, they don't have many of their own!

I have been to an evening meeting at Ascot today. My husband won two tickets so lacking anyone better to accompany him he took me. And what made the evening more fun was that there was a wine tasting evening. for £6 we got 5 different tasting glasses of wine from a large selection from all round the world. There were tasting notes to help you choose which ones to go for so we had a different one between each of the races. And there was a competition to win a case of your favourite so fingers crossed!

[Wulfruna]

Oh wow Tricia - that's one of my very favourite areas of Scotland. When we lived "up north" it was not so far to drive to Scotland and we regularly stayed at Fort William (getting there via gorgeous Glencoe), and then went on out to the Western Highlands via Glenfinnan and ending up at the other end of Loch Shiel. Glorious country........

[Bunnylump]

I've been doing housework avoidance. Having gone with my daughter to view a house, and since we got back I've been sitting helping her to write a cheesy goodbye song for their headteacher (which the students are going to sing.)

[gill216]

Today I have been totally verbally abused by the same person - I wonder who it could be:!:

Here are some comments- all related to different topics-

No, she's a bloody ???????? in all of them! Or do you think that >>>>>?doesn't count?

you haven't filled the sheet up with the usual irrelevant stuff as you normally do,

Let's try that again, but with an electric cattle prod attached instead...

However I did also get an offer to wash my kitchen floor!!!

Humphh. Some friend I have!!!!

Wicked person!!!

[Bunnylump]

You do realise just how kinky that all sounds, Gill?

Look at each comment and then apply "Bunny thinking" to them... I'm looking at a certain person in a TOTALLY different light all of a sudden...