I am sat here, waiting.... waiting for the clock to tick over until I go to work, waiting for the computer to finish uploading a movie to my mobile for the long night ahead, waiting for a reason never to work again.... just waiting.

Its going to be another boring night, so I will most likely post around 11pm saying I am bored. Its a FRIDAY damn it and I am WORKING... I need a life, I need a woman in my life, I need intellegence in a woman in my life, I need a life.

After going through a bottle of wine last night when I got home, I was not really in the right frame of mind to post anything. I am slowly falling into the depths of depression about living alone, no reason to come home, no reason to go out.

Work was crap as a usual nightshift is. Finishing up with the me on a phone to the night-supervisor when a taxi driver refuses to take me home as booked because his taxi is booked for passengers not staff. Confused? Heres the deal.

When a train is cut short because of "engineering works" the train company puts on a bus to get the passengers onwards on the train journey. Because no one really uses the train at 1am, they put on a taxi instead. Crews are book to "travel as passengers" on these services to get back to the home depot.

The contracted taxi company has two accounts running. one paid by the company's "passenger replacement" budget, one paid by the local "staff transport" budget.

The taxi company has now decided that as it is the "passenger" account, they will not take staff on it, even if staff are booked as passengers... confused? Thought you would be.

So with one passenger in the car, the cabbie says he will drop the passenger off on the "passenger" account, then come back to do the "staff account". In reality he took both in one run and double fare.

Scam.... I think so.

It was quite a boring night at work last night, it took me until 11pm to actually get any money, and that was only because I walked through the last train of the night before it was even due to depart!

I should not have much to do tonight, I have not got a job to do yet so I will sit around hiding everytime the chargeman comes into the room. It will make a change for me to not do much, I have got a quiet week of jobs though this week, so I can not grumble though.

I don't mind nightshift, its the chavs and morons who don't want to pay for tickets that I can not stand.

I had a "homeless" man who wanted to use a return ticket to travel all week between the two destinations, a chav who could even recite the by-laws regarding travelling without intention to pay, and an off duty police officer who thought his warrant card granted him 24/7 free travel (he WAS drunk at the time).

After all that, it was a very quiet night, I only took £40 all night, and I hope to do even less tonight. I get a bit peeved when I hear of colleagues who are being told "You must take £150 a day average otherwise you are out the door". Last time I checked I would rather make sure a passenger is going to get home in one piece before making sure they have a ticket.

Thankfully tonight, I am not heading anywhere near London. I love the city, but hate the commuters, they think they own me because they have a train ticket.... don't even get me started on the "commuter action groups".

Well rant over, I am off to do it all again! TTFN

Its a sunday. Not sure what time yet, have not worked that out, I got different clocks showing different times. Some are radio controlled, some are not, some might be and some have a little hamster inside that runs all day so I know what time it thinks it is.

Sat in bed watching the cats fight, not even wearing a pair of socks in bed... that is usually all I wear in the winter.

Back to work tomorrow I am night spare this week, so hopefully I won't pick up much work. I don't mind having the odd few days spare, means that I can settle down for the night with my laptop watching the world go by.

Not a lot else to say at the moment, apart from I am lonely, bored and really can not think of anything else to write....

I never got around to coming on here last night, I was probably too drunk to actually make sense anyhow.

I got bored by about 6pm yesterday, I was mostly playing the computer, moving finances around, the usual... so I decided to head out for the night, went into Portsmouth. I started in the Surrey Arms. A nice local feel, its a shame that the staff are always changing, otherwise I might go in there more often.

Then I moved onto a few more pubs, including the Trafalger (Lloyd's No1 bar) in the city centre, then getting a bus up to North End and having a drink in the Mischeif, a really nice boozer in the middle of a shopping area.

The problem I have with drinking though is I will start playing fruit machines. Thankfully tonight I won a bit at the start before losing, so I managed to spend about £20 and had a kebab, 5 beers and my bus fare to and from town! Thats not bad for me, its usually around 5 times that for a night out!

I suppose I had better do the cleaning that I should have done yesterday now, I have to work Monday and make sure I have my radio show ready for tomorrow night, and try and find a woman, and ....

Here I am again, sat in bed writing a start to the day blog. Both of my cats are lounging next to me on my double bed, one busy washing himself, the other being a complete tart, flat on his back, expect a belly rub.... I only been doing that the last half an hour!

Tidy up day today, looks like a bomb has hit the place, I rally can not be arsed though, as noone ever visits

I have got to do some washing today as I have no clean shirts ready for work on Monday, thankfully the company pay for me to dry clean the trousers and blazers, which have a big "dry clean only" tag on them.... sod that, I am going to put them into the washing machine anyway, when I can not get vouchers for the dry cleaners!

I have also got to set up a few bits for my radio show this Sunday. I am trying to convince the broadcasting committee to expand from our current "We can only broadcast to the hospitals otherwise it costs too much" to "lets try it". I want to get us off the ground again with Internet Broadcasting, but they won't have it!

Well I had better get dressed now. I am considering heading out to Blackfield to see if that little darling is working at Coral this afternoon.... I bet if I went over she would be having a day off!

Enjoy your days, maybe you will get another post from me tonight.

I had a flick through various websites before blogging this morning, but there was not much that took my notice,

Well, around 13 hours after my last post I make another.... not quite the boring day I thought I would have to be honest.

I actually decided at 9am to go shopping. The cats only had a few days of food left, and I was out of bread and milk.... that little shopping list turned into £36! How? With beer, cakes and readymeals for work next week (on reduced of course - they all get frozen!)

By the time I got back, it suddenly dawned on me it is Thursday, time to investigate why the damn studio equipment turns itself off every Wednesday night... the thing is, it didn't this Wednesday night.... so I ended up putting 60-odd music tracks onto the computerised playout system, and came home...

The rest of the day was boring really....

Now I am going to just chill with me beer, like I have most of the afternoon, and wait up for Most Haunted at Midnight....

Night Night!

I am sat in bed, at 7am, not being able to sleep now the cats have woken me up for their breakfast. I have just watched the last minute of some kids program "Balamory" on the TV and I can not remember when I last got up and just lay in bed on the lappy....

That teacher on Balamory could be a real sex symbol if she tried... saying that she can help me play out MY teacher student/teacher fantasy anyday.... she is quite cute really.

Anyway, the time has come for me to say goodbye to the mystery shopping I do. It has just all become troublesome, with a lack of work and the work I do accept being for only one of two companies. I have enjoyed doing some of them, especially for a chain of bookmakers. I met a really lovely young lass yesterday when i did one, she was so sweet and I wish I was not working as I would have asked her out! If anyone knows a Kayleigh, that works for a bookies just outside of Southampton (that probably narrows it down, but obviously while I still work for them I can not be to specific) then show her this! Oh and Kayleigh, if you are reading this, I was not going off to Bristol for my work, I was heading to another one of your bookies.

Anyway I digress, I am lucky to get £100 of pay a month from them, even then the taxman takes a big lump of it, so I am going to knock it on the head.

I am about to start a long weekend, I got four days off again and not much to do with it, I only ever have the cats for company these days although I really should tidy up the flat. This is the one thing I hate about living alone, the solitude, not being able to afford a good night out, but not having anything to keep me in. I really should head out to Hospital Radio at some point today or tomorrow to sort out some technical problems that they have been having, the equipment has been mysteriously powering down on a Wednesday Night, I dread to think if its malicious or not!

Anyway, I am off to write my resignation e-mail TTFN

The picture I promised will not be published. The pictures I have taken are to incriminating.....

They include.

A member of staff cooking breakfast for the others and then CLEANING UP!
A number of members of staff asleep!
An ASLEF train driver drinking from a RMT cup!

A manager being friendly.

SORRY!

I HAD to laugh when I saw this!

.. stop bloging from my mobile. Its gonna cost me an absolute fortune. I am sat in the depot with around a dozen of the men sat "spare". We are all primed ready for the inevitable that (no)things gonna go wrong on the railway.

yeah right. I will try and sneak a photo on later, of them all "primed and ready, alert like a.. well.. like an alert thing" and working hard for their money.

Even the manager is busy watching Match of the Day at the moment it is that busy. The nearest train is around 30 miles away cv the moment, and that is the case until at least tomorrow morning.. if Network Rail get some work done.

I am booked to sit until about 3pm. I doubt that unless things in badly wrong, that I will still be here at 12! Its now nearly 9am and there are 17 of us sat around.. except the one that is doing a huge fry up for those that want it! DUD players and laptops litter the tables and the fruit machine is being filled, with the occasional smoker leaving the smelly den to grab a cup of tea.

Well thats it. I am going to try and sneak a picture while the old man star in the fact that he retires this month.. maybe you will hear from me later.

I am glad to be back at work today. Although I do not mind taking a day off sick if I need it, I do not like sitting in a hospital for 5 hours waiting to find out if I have had a stroke!

Thankfully I think it was just the end of an infection, but while I was sitting there, the whatif's went flashing through my mind.. especially the fact that I could have had a stroke, on the train I was working thursday, and why did I insist on continuing to work that train?

So I am sitting here, on a train to London writing this blog, realising just how sacred what I have is. I live alone but content, I have a well paid job as well as job security, I have a life but choose to live.

I do ask myself though.. do I enjoy it?

Its been a painful day, I mean serious pain and worrying health.

I spent most of my shift today with pins and needles down one side, and my hand and head both feeling "wrong". I would just be sat on my train, and my whole hand would flush and I would start getting the pins and needles again. I could not talk without trying to catch my breath, I only walked up the stairs and I felt really breathless.

Sometimes I would forget what I was saying, or lose my balance, something is really not right. I phoned NHS Direct and they said that it sounds like nothing that is worthy of a trip to hospital, and I should see my GP tomorrow... well thats reassuring.

I really do not know what else to say today, I am so confused.

This is really scarey. I am sat at work, with my phone surfing the actual web instead of the vodafone portal.

I can see my bill going up and up.

I have drunk a bottle of wine in just over an hour....

its not bad wine.... such a waste to drink so quickly!

As you can tell, I was rejected for a promotion at the first stage. No new suits for me

The managers gave some crap excuse that it was due to the information I put in my CV.... Probably my name!

Ahh welllll.... back to the drawing board!

Those of you that know where that title was stolen from probably has a good idea of todays topic of rant..... train passengers.

I have held my tounge over those that try to exploit the system; those that buy a ticket for a specific train and try to travel hours or evn days earlier/later; those that have absolutly no intention of buying a ticket at all - one notorious local would prefer to get a free ride to Liphook or Guildford to see his dealer for another hit of whatever he is always stoned on; those (commuters mostly) who on a daily basis play chicken with train conductors to avoid paying their way.

These people are the first to complain when a bus is substituted for a train, or the service is so abysmal that train crews would rather hide than face the public. When you ask them for their ticket so that you can endorse it for a refund, they say "I am not buying one", what can you do then? As it is, if we are faced with a ticketless traveller, we are instructed we are NOT allowed to remove them from the train even if it is through non-physical methods!

Then we get into questions like this

Why do you allow so many passangers who communte every day to avoid purchasing a ticket? When challenged they purchase a single even on a return journey, why don't you introduce a minimum fare equal to a full price return? Ticket checks are sporadic at best and I subsidise this through my increasingly expensive season ticket. I see no point in purchasing a season ticket in the future as I can save a significant sum by following what is clearly a practice that SWT condone. Source: South West Trains Live Q&A
 
Now here is the best bit. We still have a debate going on about whether SWT are allowed to make passengers sit on our "suburbanised" class 450 trains, as they prefer the "express" class 444 trains. So they start getting grumpy when a bright 12-coach 450 turns up and start rufusing, or taking their time to show, tickets. Thats fine by me. If they want to take 10 minutes to find the ticket in their pocket, then I will happily waste those 10 minutes when I could be catching ticketless travellers!