What a lovely few days it has been! I am now the most HATED guard on the South Coast, after (allegedly) forcing a member of my own staff to pay for a ticket because he did not have his free staff travel pass with him..... Am I REALLY that stupid... of course not, but slander is a great wa to blacken someones name!

04 August

Woke up this morning and tried to ring someone from my mobile.... cold I find it? Could I hell! Running around Portsmouth, trying to find my beloved connection to the outside world. It turns out I left it on a bus on my way home last night, thankfully it was not taken before the cleaners found it!

I also found out how hard it is to get a member of staff to help yo dispatch a train. The station staff in question are obligued to assist when you can not see 100% of the the doors of a train from any position, for example on curved platform, so I had to close all the doors apart from my own, make sure they are all closed by walking up the platform, then leaving. I got a "please explain" for the delay, and I told them straight:

"... Due to the ignorance of the platform staff, I had to visually ensure that every door was interlocked by walking two coach lengths in either direction. Refer to RO2..."

(RO2 is the designation to platform staff)

I finished work at a little after midnight. For the Friday after payday it must have been quiet, as I could get a taxi straight away!

05 August

Today I found out that I was alleged to have forced this driver to purchase a ticket because he had no ID.... I only found out because a guard at another depot told me, and it has taken two weeks of guards sneering behind my back for someone to have the guts to tell me whats been said. Says a lot for the honesty of SWT staff, especially those staff that I work really close with, and know me better than that!

Spent 40 minutes waiting for my (company) taxi back to base tonight. Some roadworks have popped up on the main A3 into London, and the taxi driver had to take a 1 hour detour through the middle of nowhere! As a "sorry" he was kind enough to drop me at my door, and I went straight to bed. Not his fault, but he did sound realy appologetic!

06 August

Not real much happened today. Me and her went to the local for a lovely Sunday lunch, while watching the Grand Prix on their big screen. The most lively race I have seen in a long time... the only race I have seen in a long time....

I also did my weekly show on Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting which was ad-hoc as usual, and filled with mistakes and wrong tracks everywhere! Such is the high quality of my work!

07 August

Its only 13.00 and I have already been up for a few hours... by the end of duty at 00.30 tonight I will be knackered!

I have the application for my promotion in my hand. I want to become a Guards Standards Manager, and finally find my true place behind a desk man-managing and promoting good-will to all men! Well atually it will make me so hated, that nothing will change from above, so its not really anything new!

Oh well! Time to get dressed for work, I have just written this whole entry stark b**k naked. (Sick buckets available on request)

Ta tA