I've been neglectful of this blog of late. I currently have a sense that various things are piling up around me. Internet things and domestic things. They're not really, all I need to do is sit down, prioritise and work through them and I'll wonder what I got so freaked out about.
Part of the thing is that Jimmy starts work in a couple of weeks, running a pub. I won't see a great deal of him once he's doing that, so there is an impetus to spend as much time together as possible. Even if that time is only spent lounging around watching TV. I have this feeling that I have wasted time by watching TV, even though I know the alternative is me sitting in here at the PC and him watching films whose noise annoys me and sends me into sulks of resentment. But I do feel a bit at his beck and call with no time to call my own. I am sure he would dispute that!
On Monday I went to an assessment centre for a job I have applied for. It was in a place two hours out of London, there and back in a day, with five hours of intensive assessments in between. It was role playing based upon a management scenarios, videoed and watched remotely by assessors, followed by a 45 minute exam.
I spent Monday and Tuesday nights going over it all in my mind, even though I had told myself not to, there's nothing I can do about it. I think I did as well as I could, except for that bit, oh, and that bit, and heck, I've just remembered what I've missed out. I figure that if I don't get through it's because my rivals are bloody good. Alternatively, because I am delusional about my own ability.
And the eternal conundrum - I don't believe I missed anything fundamental and I do believe I got to the heart of the issues. However, in saying that, am I merely demonstrating a lack of insight and judgement that will be clearly demonstrable by my scrutinised and assessed performance. I did feel that it was a bit like a mix of an audit visit to an establishment or local office and a councillor's advice surgery. So, if I fail, what does that say about me as an auditor and an ex-councillor?
What with one thing and another, exercise has been conspicuously absent all week. We were going to go cycling today, after Jimmy picked his bike up from service. He went down at midday but it wasn't ready, despite what they had said on Wednesday. So we went swimming instead and picked up the bike on the way back. I ended up walking all the way home, which was weird!
At Brixton Rec, I saw a sight which must be filed under 'Only in Brixton'.
Brixton Rec is pretty similar to just about every municipal swimming pool I have ever visited. Female and male changing rooms, lockers for street clothes etc, and walk out to poolside. Everybody does it, it's so common place it's not normally worth writing about.
We were in the pool and our attention was drawn by a woman walking from poolside into the water. A bit large, she was wiggling and dancing in a way that inevitable draws attention. I would have forgotten her were it not for her two male companions. One, very fat, well, grossly obese, stripped down to his trunks at poolside, leaving his trousers, t-shirt and sweatshirt, as well as several bags, outdoor clothes, shoes and so on, in the care of the 'minder', next to the pool. I'm convinced there are signs saying 'no spectators poolside - please use viewing gallery' and 'no outdoor shoes poolside' (so everyone wears flipflops or crocs that they probably wear outdoors in summer!).
I immediately christened the minder Michelin Man because he was wearing a white puffa jacket and white padded trousers as well as a white hat. And he stood there minding the belongings. I didn't particularly watch the very fat couple except that he seemed to be doing widths. Not of the pool, just of the one section that wasn't a 'lane'. I then noticed the woman in the changing rooms. I couldn't miss her because she was holding a shouted conversation with a man who was, presumably, standing at the door. Jimmy said they were only in about five minutes, and there was another minder as well as Michelin Man.
The strangest thing was that nobody else seemed to notice them nor think that there was anything strange in their behaviour. I imagined that he was some African King or something, and he was having his therapeutic dip, attended by loyal retainers. Their whole behaviour struck me as bizarre, and it was markedly different from anyone else, although I didn't have a problem with it, as such.
