The weirdest thing happened. The clock in my room is mains operated, and runs 50 minutes fast. I've just adapted to the time difference, so my alarm says its goes off at 5.45a but it actually goes off at 4.55a. That's...that's just how it is. But if the electricity spikes for whatever reason, the switch trips, and boom - there goes my clock, there goes my alarm, there goes my reason to wake up and be on time.
The switch tripped this morning. I woke at 5.30a and managed to reset the clock and alarm.
However: the rents are fast asleep. The Sister is fast asleep. There is absolutely no breeze outside. How did I wake up? Someone deliberately opened the door to my room, stood there for a couple minutes, then closed the door. WHO. WHO DID THIS. THERE IS NO-ONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE. I thought maybe it was The Dad, and then looked over to the clock to see what the time was - then jumped out of bed realising the clocks were fucked. But. The Dad is asleep. Right now! He is asleep! And yes, my door has been known to swing shut when a certain pattern of windows are open in the house except: it was already fully shut, and the thing that woke me was the sound of the handle turning. GUYS. GUYS. WHAT IS GOING ON.
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Yesterday was a mess. The day was thrown by the briefing session because LL came in especially for it (whereas she normally doesn't work Wednesdays and Thursdays). This meant my boss had to sit at my desk when she came in (for a meeting) because LL's was occupied, which meant I couldn't actually sit down and get things done as soon as I got in, or when I got back from the briefing (I did have time for about an hour and a half whilst she was in the meeting). Then I had to go over my travel form again. I think we're claiming incorrectly, but fuck it; the benefits department aren't doing their maths right anyway, it turns out. Had this moment of surreality when my boss was calling them for advice, and then I turned around and realise the sit behind us and I could hear both sides of the phone call. The guy was spectacularly unhelpful.
We also have the use of three printers in the office. Two are communal and can be used to fax and photocopy, as well as print. They regularly break down and get jammed, and then you spend half an hour trying to unjam the damn thing and get toner all over the place, only for it to break again after it's done your print and is trying to do the next person's. I can here that infernal BEEP-BEEP from all the way across the other side of the office and I just know that fucker is jammed. Sometime it's just temperamental; mostly it's that people are stupid and put the paper in the tray in the wrong direction. Even though it is labelled. The toner on the second printer is terrible, as is the print quality. We've been hearing about new MFDs for months, but no joy.
We also have a small laser jet printer that my team uses. It has headed paper in it, but doesn't automatically duplex (you have to stand there, open the manual feed, and then slide in single sheets because multiple ones get jammed). It's a good printer, and we only have hassle when some idiot from the team that sits behind it yanks the network cord. But lately it has been printing things out of alignment for no reason. Just cutting off swathes of text from the right-hand side of the page! For no discernible reason! ???? Why. is. this. my. life.
Then, yesterday, it turned out it is also low on toner. Can I find the spare toner? Of course not. That would be a Christmas miracle and it is only July-end.
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And then. Oh boy. Let's talk about my commute, shall we? My train didn't pick up speed for three minutes so I knew - I freaking knew - that the bus would have left by the time I got to the station. I was right. I decided not to run for the second stop because a) it was damn humid, even at 7.30a, and b) the buses normally drive straight past that stop, not even paying attention. So I waited for the 7.50 bus thinking it would be okay because now that summer break has started, the A14 is relatively easy going in the morning.
We got into a crash, basically.
I don't know who was in the wrong - the bus driver, or the woman in the little car. From what people who could see where saying: it was the woman in the little car. (The bus driver was also a woman.) We spent 20 minutes there whilst they swapped insurance details or whatever, and then hit St Ives traffic. Of course. Thankfully the A14 and Girton were clear so not as late as we could have been.
In the evening, I left work to take the 5.00p bus. I waited. I waited. I waited. On the other side of the road we could see 55's coming in from the other direction. Three went into town, none came out. At 5.40p the 55 deigned to show up. Why exactly does Stagecoach run a single-decker at peak time? Why? How is that sensible? Got onto a crowded single-decker, then had to stand the first half hour because, naturally, we hit peak time traffic on the A14 and also, the journey is about 14miles anyway. Finally got a seat, slowly wended our way through St Ives and then through Hunts, and it became hugely apparent that I was going to miss both the trains I usually catch. We stopped at the Hunts bus station - even though the bus is supposed to take me through to the station - and wasted ten minutes there as the bus driver conferred with another bus driver about where a third driver was. I then got moved to another bus which took me to the station. Then I had to call and beg The Mother for a lift home because I had missed the bus at home end - yes, the one time it chose to be on time, naturally, is when I was late - and because the buses only run once an hour at that time of night. The Mother was Not Pleased. I was fucking furious. IT IS TOO HOT FOR SHENANIGANS, GUYS.
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Remember that horrific story about the lesbian who got banned from attending her prom? Or rather, got tricked into attending an alternate prom? Well, she got her pay out. On the one hand, I'm glad the court recognised how she was wronged in this case. On the other hand, I'm sure that money will really make up for the homophobia she experienced. A better response, I think, would have been money and some sort of fucking community service on the part of the assholes who thought it would be a great idea to victimise her in this way, but for whatever reason, it wasn't deemed a crime which is supreme bullshit.
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Hopefully today will be productive. One can live and hope. Fuck me, I cannot be asked to get on a bus this morning.
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