Archive for December, 2008

So I’m sure that I should be providing you with a proper post, something heart-warming and seasonally related perhaps.  Not a chance.  My blogging mojo doesn’t extend quite that far.

Instead I’m sitting here at work with nothing to do because there’s nobody in to provide any work in the first place.  Events seem to be rather dull (and I’m sure will be until the obligatory New Year’s Eve post is up) and I have nothing to report.  At all.  Except that I’m draining water faster than a leaking pipe supposedly maintained by Thames Water in an attempt to calm my sore throat which I’m sure is the result of not drinking enough water yesterday and consuming far too much coke (not to mention the Southern Comfort that I felt was necessary to accompany it).

So I’ve been having a bit of a look back through the archives.  It seems that 2008 has been about a lot of things: educational dramas, the first day at school and the trials of homework; my admission of and battle with my compulsive overeating; my search for a new job, the trouble with resigning, and helping to find my own replacement; starting a new job and finding out what it really means to be a float; moving house; joining the gym and engaging the services of a personal trainer in an attempt to get thin; multiple trips to Legoland; buying a car, breaking down and giving up and getting a different car; young love; my NaNoWriMo entry and search engine stories making it over here; and especially recently, I’ve taken lots of trips down memory lane.

In less of a ‘rundown of the year’ style, this blog has been about me finding more of a style for my own writing, instead of writing tiny snippets of daily life.  I’ve found myself venturing further into the blogging community instead of keeping to the small circle of friends that I met back in ’04.  It’s been a move that has led me to find some wonderful reading, and find some great blog-friends. 

2008′s been a good year.  It’s had its ups and its had it’s downs, but it’s been good.  I’ll be glad it’s over though, because 2009 can only be better.

I feel that I should be writing some sort of ‘this was my Christmas’ post but that would necessitate telling you how we managed to leave on time, that I overcalculated the amount of red cabbage one large family could eat, that the boy behaved, that I was ready to leave before lunch on Christmas day just to get away from B1, how moody B1 was being, that I didn’t eat anywhere near as much as I usually would have (which just goes to show how totally much I usually overeat), and that with a few exceptions it was generally a good few days.

Instead I’ll just show you my stash!

As you can imagine, I’m a rather happy girlie right now.

It was the summer of ’99.  We had jobs, if that was what you would call delivering leaflets and free papers.  A future of drinking and partying, boys and dates lingered ahead of us in the hazy air, so thick you could taste it.  We needed real money.

Mum’s friend worked in Woolworths, they had jobs.  I took the tests and aced them.  No interview was needed; they knew mum, had heard that I was a good kid.  That was enough.

I started working Saturday mornings, four hours standing at a till weighing pick’n'mix and smiling at all who passed.  Four hours turned to five and I stacked shelves too.  By Christmas I had reached the holy grail of the weekend workers and found myself working on the entertainment counter, along with longer hours, more days, and more money.

I loved my job, I was good at it.  I was asked to work full time, to quit college and stay there.  Coming from the manager it was the highest of praise.  Friendships were forged, relationships that would help me through the darkest of times.  When I left after two and a half years, heading out into the big bad world of full time work I said goodbye with a mixture of happiness and sorrow.  I could’ve stayed forever.

 14 months later I was back.  It took less than a week to arrange and in some respects I slotted back in as if I’d never been gone and had simply took on the job I’d been offered all those years ago.

It didn’t work out, but even so, when I left almost a year later I left with fond memories of what had been.  If things had been different I could still be there now.  Facing unemployment.

Last month Woolworths entered into administration.  If things had been different I could have been working there when the news broke, instead of sitting at my compter feeling a pang of nostalgia for what the UK was about to lose.

This afternoo0n as we were driving past the store where I’d worked I saw a sign advertising 80% off.  We stopped and I popped in to see if I could get any bargains.  It was a big mistake.  It was like watching vultures pick over a corpse, except this was a corpse you knew.  Only this was three years of memories looking back at me as they were torn apart. 

I guess it was partly morbid curiosity that sent me walking through those doors this afternoon, a little desire to recapture the memories that I once lived as well.  It backfired on me.  Instead of now remembering those years with a hint of fond happiness they will now be tainted with the image of vultures and an empty skeleton that barely resembled the visions from my memories.

Goodbye my friend.