Grey Area

Went into town - risking life and limb. Deathtrap for most of the journey - quite clear in central Hastings. managed to grab a cup of tea at work then wandered into the whiteout in search of a Firewire 400/800 adapter or cable. Pretty desperate for one but the post is so unreliable at the moment. Nobody had one - the computer shop in Claremont was very helpful - the one on London Road was fucking rude. I had a poke about in the posh shops on Norman Road. They were full of expensive, well presented tat ( I blame Kirsty Alsop ). In 'From Love' - ( awful name) an older, very annoying, middle class woman was monopolizing the staff buying dozens of very small items for countless posh childrens stockings, she wanted everything explained and was very sniffy about most things. In the end she sais

"well, I've done my bit to support the local economy, you should thank me"

I left, sharpish.

I did manage to find a few things I needed in Old Town and clambered up the hill to home EXHAUSTED - even in my hiking boots it was a nightmare. I had to send off a few bits at the post office - something I loathe, the last 3 parcels I've sent from there have vanished without a trace. On the way home I went wild and bought a holly wreath for the front door from Carrolls the greengrocer - and a big bag of lovely Russets. I bought a beautiful enamel bread bin from Courthouse market with a King George crest in blue and the best typographic treatment of the word 'Bread' I have ever seen - it was 18 on the ticket but he let me have it for a tenner - that's the benefit of being seen in there all the time and being friendly to the traders.

When I was walking the dogs - just as it was getting dark - the drunk mad woman from round the corner came out to talk to me - have not seen her for ages ( thank God - she's the one that 'likes' me ). She was already quite pissed and wearing a massive amount of make up.


"I've got now" she said
"I've got a little staffie puppy already"

She had a staffie cross before - it was a lovely little dog - she would never put it on the lead and often leave it out in the yard ( which had no gate ) - and it would cry like a baby for hours - I think several neighbours reported her to the RSPCA in the end - so I was a bit confused - I thought she might be refering to the other dog

"NO, NO, NO - it's a new one - you haven't seen it yet " she shouted
"It's not been walked - it's only 13 weeks old "

OK - I said, well erm - I'll see you around with it

"you haven't seen it yet, you haven't seen it yet" she kept shouting at me as I made my getaway.

I've finished all my commercial work and invoiced - and I'm going into work tomorrow for my appraisal and a leaving drinks party. They have appointed a new bloke who will be teaching all the same subjects as me - but on a lower level that should feed into my course - apparently he's really good - can use all the software packages and multi-talented. I'm actually quite happy about this - I have nobody in the same 'line' as me at college so I need someone to help me keep my game up - I like a bit of competition.