Albert did the trick with a hot sausage and egg on granary bread. Very tasty and warming and providing of the energy for emptying boxes and moving bus stop flags. Trouble is we generated so much junk just from sorting one of the three rooms that we are going to have to get it cleared out before we can move on. I knew there was a lot of junk that had accumulated over there, but hadn't realised there was quite that much. Part of the trouble is of course that everything we buy comes in about seven nested boxes...

I was thinking of just hopping off early tonight, going home and sitting around enjoying myself for an hour or so before picking Joan up, but it seems everyone else will be off in meetins so I guess I will do the decent thing and stay here to cover the phones. Will have to get myself a book to learn how to be more of an uncaring bastard some time. Not the way I am, but I get the feeling it would be quite useful in many ways.

Arse, now it is raining and I put my new summer coat on this morning which has no hood. And my brolly is of course in the car rather than being over here in the office where it might be of some use. Grrr.

After spending all that time drawing my nice map for the Shotley ferry project they have decided not to use it after all. Taken some of my ideas, but implemented them on to one drawn by the ad agency. With errors aboundant on the draft copy from what I can see. Really makes me feel valued again. Still, there was an interesting looking job as manager of a training centre in Felixstowe in the paper this week, so I am now waiting for an application form to arrive. I will of course get all the usual should I or shouldn't I jitters when it does turn up, but it can't hurt to apply. And who knows, maybe I'll even end up being offered the post (which comes with a lot more money than here, even taking in the pay rise we'll be getting next month). That would be a result and either a fresh start or a good bargaining tool for here.

It would also mean getting away from stupid, stupid people phoning up about buses (why do you waste all that money on paying for buses that only carry 2 or 3 people? Can you not give your park & ride people better protective clothing as they are obviously not clearing the rubbish from the prickly bushes? Can't they make the steps on the buses smaller?). Or worrying about bus shelters that get installed in the morning then smacked up by buses in the afternoon (happened today in Trimley so I think I might take a look on the way home). I could just delegate all that to my underlings. Of course there will no doubt be other hassles associated with the new situation but at least they would be new and not the same old same old. And do I really want to leave the Council? Dunno. All will be revealed in time I guess, when I get to read just what this job actually entails and do some thinking about it.

I'm also in one of those flat bits here where I am waiting on other people to do stuff before I can get on with things. So in some ways it would be nice to be able to set my own pace on a higher percentage of my work. Just not sure I'm up to making the move really.

Oh crikey, the boredom/food threshold has been crossed again and I have had to obtain a creme egg. I really must devote some of my energy to finding a way to perk myself up without the use of chocolate from next week on. It would of course help if there were another huge pile of magazines to read like I had last Friday but it seems that nothing new has made it to me since. Oh well, at least the diary for next week is pretty full so there will be less time available for sitting around here trying to look busy. I have cleared out a good bin full of old junk from my desk drawers as well this afternoon. What is it about local government that we end up hanging on to so much useless tat?

Part of the general feeling bored and a bit fed up problem also stems from this weekend playing host to a Retrovision event where loads of Llamasofties will be getting together in Oxford to play old games, eat drink and generally be merry. So big amounts of wishing I could be there with them instead of sat in Felixstowe. One of these days.