Today was the start of the dreaded April-June quarter, in which we have to ask additional questions in the survey, putting a few extra minutes on each person's interview. The plus side is that the longer interviews make the shift go quicker; the minus side is that the chances of respondents getting bored/fed up are increased. Thank goodness, I didn't get any miseries tonight, but a couple of the extra questions are at the very beginning of each person's survey, and I got caught out a couple of times, starting to ask how long they've lived at their address (which normally comes first) then having to stop, say "sorry, I'll start again" and ask the new questions. Most of the work I got tonight was mop-ups from the end of the January-March quarter anyway, so it wasn't too bad all round.
And there was perfect Southern Fried chicken for lunch in the canteen :)
Meanwhile, the vending machines have disappeared. As from tomorrow we're getting new caterers, so today the workmen were in taking out the old machines ready for the new ones to go in tomorrow. So we weren't deprived of refreshment altogether, the Support Team set out a tray with tea, coffee, skimmed milk, coffee whitener and sugar, and there was a kettle available in the lounge. Just before 7 pm a lady arrived with a trolley, bearing not only the ingredients for making coffee and tea but also some flapjacks, cookies, crunch biscuits and bags of yoghurty nuts. "Chocolate!" one lady exclaimed excitedly as the trolley passed her.
"It's only biscuits," I told her. She wasn't best pleased. The goodies were a roaring success, though; they'd nearly all been pigged by 7.45.
Got to go watch Round The Horne Revisited.
An early start this morning - well, setting off from home at 7.45 am is early on a Sunday, especially when the clocks have just gone forward - for the girls' away game with Reading Reserves, which was being played in the Oxfordshire village of Woodcote.
The girl in The Bagel Factory at Reading station only charged me £3.87 for two bagels, the same two which normally cost me close to a fiver at Waterloo. Going by the receipt, it looks like there was a cheap 'breakfast' rate for buying two at that time of the morning. Not bad.
Leaving the station to wait for the bus to Woodcote I passed the Three Guineas pub, which advertised great food, lots of fun and Irish music. My budget wouldn't have extended to a pub meal on the way home, so made a mental note to check the place out if I ever visit Reading again.
Arrived at Woodcote Rec just after 12 noon and spotted three guys in Reading FC In The Community tracksuit tops taking goalposts out of a shed. I asked them if the women's game was there this afternoon and they said yes. Across the road from the Rec stood the Red Lion, with billboards promising the best pub grub in Woodcote, but I only had enough cash on me for something to eat on the way home so, with a wistful glance at the pub, I sat down on a bench to read Non-League Today.
At 12.30 I saw people in the distance beginning to get out of cars next to the changing room block and decided to go over in case it was the Hawk party (though I wasn't absolutely sure as there was a christening party going on in the same building). On my way round the edge of the Rec someone tapped on the window of the Red Lion - it was Rob, Dick and Trevor waving me in.
They congratulated me on finding this remote rural venue, and Trevor bought me a pint of Greene King IPA. After a little while they all drove off to the village Somerfield to buy after-match grub, leaving me alone with my pint and Non-League Today until, minutes later, WAGs Becky, Bernadette and Rosie arrived and we all chatted until 15 minutes before kick-off, when I made my way over to pitchside.
After just a few minutes Reading took the lead with a shot from close range. As they continued to have the better of the opening half-hour, while I continued to cheer our girls on as heartily as ever, inside I was thinking "Bollocks, we're stuck in this shite division again for next season." Soon after the goal Penny and Chantelle both jumped for a header, and Chantelle landed on Penny's ankle with a sickening crack. Penny gamely played on for a few minutes before being replaced by Jenna D - who, though not normally a central defender, played like a lion for the whole game and was deservedly voted Man of the Match.
The WAGs (who'd got the pub to give them plastic glasses to bring their pints of beer across) and subs weren't impressed with the ref, who didn't appear to be giving much to Hawks and booked Sam purely for opening her mouth after a controversial incident (she hadn't said anything out of turn). As the ref was allegedly the father of one of the Reading players, he got quite a bit of stick based on that, and his turn-of-phrase was mocked after, early in the game, he warned Rob "No swearing on my pitch". Jenna F was also booked for disputing a decision, but most refs would have given a yellow for that.
The turning point came after half an hour when we were awarded a penalty and Sam scored. While a draw would have been enough to keep our promotion hopes on track, Reading were a constant threat up to the half-time whistle. Penny wasn't amused when the ref told her to cover her shirt up; as she said, "I hardly look like I'm playing sitting here with my boot off and a broken ankle." Early in the second half Becky changed the "Penny, get your wand out" song to "Penny broke her wand"; "Chantelle broke my wand," Penny sang by way of correction.
On the hour mark Kelly, having trouble breathing, came off; Claire went on and galvanised the Hawks into constant attack. Chantelle lofted in a ball that the WAGs and substituted girls said was meant to be a cross, but floated beautifully into the top corner of the net. 2-1 Hawks.
Our girls had the upper hand from then on, though Reading had the odd bit of pressure, until Hawks were awarded a corner on 80 minutes. Jodie took it and curled the ball perfectly for Michelle to nod it in at the far post. From then it was game over and Lisa broke away to round the keeper and make it four in time added on.
At the final whistle the whole Hawk contingent erupted in celebration. This had truly been the performance of the season, and gives us one hand on the Championship trophy. As the players came off the field, Michelle, who'd presumably heard of my train and bus odyssey getting there, told me to give her my mobile number and she'd give me a lift to future away matches.
When the girls began coming out of the changing rooms I was invited to join them in their improvised al fresco feast of tuna sandwiches, little shortbread biscuits, Monster Munch and Fun Size chocolate bars, then we all headed across to the Red Lion for celebration drinks and Dick bought me an IPA this time. The Dick of the Day vote was suspended for this week - as Trev said, "there was no Dick of the Day in that performance". Rob offered me a lift to Fareham.
Home, via the kebab shop.
I tossed up all morning between Fareham Town v Wimborne Town and Moneyfields v Alton Town, but finally opted for Moneyfields. As I walked up from the Hard to Portsmouth city centre through the wind and rain to catch my bus, I reflected on how I could have stayed home and watched Victoria Pendleton go for gold.
On arriving at the clubhouse I made sure I got a Wells Bombardier bitter. This time there were only half a dozen people in the bar, and there was no food on offer - this turned out to be because of a wedding reception in the private function room, which took up the full attention of the catering staff.
I had enough dosh for a programme this time. I don't want to be too harsh on it, as it looks like there's just the one guy who does the whole programme - on one page he appealed for people to contribute stuff - but it was pretty basic, and included a report on Moneys' recent match with Poole Town that was written from the Poole point of view.
Called at the tea hut and requested a bacon roll, only to be crushed by one of the ladies saying "No bacon today. It's hamburgers or hot dogs." At that point I wished I'd gone to Fareham, home of the finest bacon rolls in English football. I went for a hot dog - not bad at all, especially compared to most football ground hot dogs. And they get a big plus for having HP sauce on the table.
The actual game was fairly eventful. On the quarter-hour Bickram Singh missed an open goal, but minutes later Jason Prior was able to score a sloppy goal to give Moneyfields the lead. Half-time saw people exchanging various rumours about the Portsmouth score before a bloke who had a personal stereo on, tuned to Radio Solent, settled the issue by confirming Pompey were 1-0 up. The second half saw an Alton player shove Bickram Singh in the back; Bik went down but the ref waved play on, to all-round discontentment in the stand (Bickram argued about it with the ref for a while but didn't get a card). The Moneys number 6 sent in a couple of rocket shots, but both were saved by the keeper; towards the end a speculative Alton cross appeared to be going in, but the goalie just managed to turn it over the bar. Moneyfields held on for the win. Sat behind me was a delightful old lady who, towards the end of the game, asked if anyone knew how the British cyclists had got on this afternoon
Into the clubhouse - much busier now than before the match - as I needed to visit the gents. With the scores coming in on Sky Sports News I asked a man who was intently watching the TV if the St Albans v Hawks score had come in yet. "I don't know, sorry," he replied. I then saw the carnation in his buttonhole and realised he was one of the wedding party. Just then, the result came up - St Albans 1 Havant & Waterlooville 0 ;( I met a married couple who were looking forward to their trip to Wembley next week. The twist? He supports West Bromwich Albion, she Portsmouth. "Divorce on the way home," they said to me.
Walked down to the bus stop and saw from the timetable that there wasn't a bus for 25 minutes. I walked back over Copnor Bridge, hoping there might be a direct bus to the Hard from the other side of the bridge; thank goodness, there was a bus stop just over the bridge, where a bus to the Hard was due in two minutes. It arrived bang on time.
At home I switched on Radio Solent to catch the non-league round-up. I was right to go to Moneyfields after all - Fareham's game was called off because of a waterlogged pitch.
After Harry Hill, went to Aunt Jean's for her 60th birthday celebrations. When I arrived Damo, partner of my cousin Gayle, was in the kitchen with Uncle Graham and my cousin Neil picking his ideal England team - or, as Neil put it, "the best we can do with the crap we've got". I joined their footy and rugby discussion for a while, until we were let loose on the food (lots of tasty chicken, pork, jacket spuds, nice spicy sausages and garlic bread) then repaired to the living room to all catch up on family goings-on, eat lemon birthday cake, drink strawberry champagne and make jokes about Aunt Jean being an O.A.P.
To the Windsor Castle this evening to see Kat Perrio. I'd first seen this talented young local chanteuse towards the end of my mother's deputy-mayoral year when she performed at a civic function, but through a combination of skintness and clashes with mayoral duties hadn't had a chance to catch her since.
She was superb. Her voice is very strong and she is magnificent at putting a song across. She did two great sets, with a mostly 90s flavour, including favourites of mine such as What's Up? and You're Still The One. I was only sorry she didn't do Stay (I Missed You) by Lisa Loeb which would have slotted in perfectly. Also included were some 80s numbers I absolutely love - One Way Or Another, Manic Monday, and (I will love her forever for this) Summer Of '69. When she announced "This is an oldie - for my parents", it was a little sobering when she struck up Manic Monday, a song that was a hit (and one of my big favourites) when I was 14. Then I remembered Kat is young enough to be my daughter...
Present in the pub was one of my heroes, local writer, anti-racism campaigner and ex-pro footballer Richie Moran. I got to say hello to him during the interval and gabble a few words about how much I love his written works, and how I'd seen him play for Gosport Borough when I was a youth. "Was I the fastest thing on two legs or what?" he grinned.
I also met Graeme, an old school pal who's now the pub chef - although he's leaving on Sunday to move to the Isle of Wight where he has a barman's job. We had a good chat for the rest of the interval about mutual friends, Kat, and how time's treated us both.
Home to read on the Hawks website that we've signed ex-Portsmouth striker Luke Nightingale from Bognor. Nice one Galey.
This morning Carole arrived while I was in the middle of leaving an answerphone message. I could hear her saying something about "it's ridiculous" or "disorganised", so hoped it wasn't bad news, but when I finished I looked up at her and said hello, and she told me with a big smile she'd got two tickets for herself and "Alan" (I didn't bother asking if that was her husband or a son) though she hadn't managed to get a further one for her dad. No matter, she's going to Wembley so all's right with the world. She too asked if I'd got a ticket - yet again I had to explain I will be watching my own team that day...
Passed Information & Communication with 95%.
Got to go watch the climax of Ashes To Ashes (though with a second series scheduled, we shouldn't expect all the answers tonight...)
Evening shift today to make up for Monday. Delicious chicken chasseur for lunch. Came out of the canteen to see Sue #1, Louise #1, Carole and Carolyn coming along the corridor together; Carole was just getting the devastating news that a cheque had bounced. It soon became apparent that the cheque was one she'd written for FA Cup semi-final tickets. I went over with the intent of consoling her, but the other ladies were already surrounding her.
"What's that, Wembley tickets?" I asked.
"Yes," said Carole. "I have to try at six o'clock tomorrow morning now."
"Have you got one?" Louise #1 asked me.
"Well, no, I'll be watching Havant & Waterlooville that day."
"Lucky you. Carole's about to cry."
"Poor lass," I said, but they all rushed back upstairs without me getting the chance to give her a hug.
As Pat had said to me in an internal e-mail, "sorry, but it's that time of year again" - the time when we have to write our self-assessments. Actually I didn't mind as it got me off the phones for an hour and three-quarters :)
Just before 8 pm I was coming back from a health and safety break when Steve mimed kicking a football, and asked if I was going to the TV lounge to watch France v England. I replied that I was unlikely to get away with taking a 90-minute health and safety break (you're meant to take 5 minutes or just over). He said he'd worked straight through since the start so was going to take half an hour now to watch some of the game. And off he toddled while I returned to the phones.
At about 8.40 Albert asked me if I knew the latest score. I said no, but the bloke almost opposite me said France had scored. Going for my next health and safety break I agreed to find out the latest news for them, and popped down to the coffee lounge expecting it to be full of guys watching the match, but the place was empty and the telly was off. It occurred to me that maybe we don't actually have Sky Sports. I surfed on to the Net and called up the latest score - 1-0 to France, from a Ribery penalty - and learned the bad news from my own viewpoint : my Oranje were losing 3-1 in Austria.
I returned to the unit - and on my way back to my workstation was stopped by a young man asking me when Havant & Waterlooville's next home match was. He fancied checking us out! I told him we're playing Sutton on 5 April and that if he's interested in the FA Cup semi he can watch it in the clubhouse before our game. I think he was tempted - fingers crossed. On my return to my workstation I relayed the news from France.
Home to find out the Netherlands had staged a magnificent comeback to win 4-3. SUPER JAN VENNEGOOR OF HESSELINK!!
Worked an extra shift today. Just like the last time I came in on a Tuesday, Christine #3, one of the day's supervisors, told me to sit somewhere only for me to find that booth already occupied (by Louise #3), then gave me another booth number only for me to start setting up in that booth then get told by Vanessa that that was someone else's seat - in this case Julie's. "She won't be happy if you sit there," Vanessa said.
From my previous experience, I knew Vanessa was the de facto authority on booths at that end of the room on Tuesday mornings, and I was now certainly not in the mood for going up to the supervisors a third time, so I just asked Vanessa where I could go. She pointed to a free booth at the end of the row.
"The supes always get it wrong," I heard her say to Louise #3. Me, I have the impression that the Tuesday morning girls didn't like the seating arrangement drawn up by the supervisors when the new system came in, so just devised one of their own and didn't bother consulting the supes.
Three refusals in a row - none of them courteous - just before 10 am had me hurling my headset against the back of my booth and wishing I was back in bed with Radio 5 Live on. After that, though, things settled down.
At college tonight, for the third week in a row the canteen was closed, so for the third week in a row I spent the 20 or so minutes before class sipping my Blue Charge in the dark in the library adjoining the IT suite. Pathenia arrived a quarter of an hour before the start and remarked on my sitting in the dark, so I pointed out to her about the closed canteen. She went off to reception to enquire, then at the beginning of class explained to us all that the lady who staffs the canteen on Tuesdays is seriously ill and they've been unable to find anyone to fill in.
Breezed through two Information & Communication mock exams, then moved on to the real one. That was going fine until one question required me to open a message in the e-mail account we've created as part of the module. I was clicking Inbox and just getting an error message every time. What a time for the server to malfunction - in the middle of an exam. In desperation I told Pathenia, and between us we tried several times before finally getting the Inbox to appear. Try as we might, though, we couldn't get the attachment I needed. It appeared as "Unknown Parameter" instead of the name it was sent with, and wouldn't open. Pathenia tried resending it to my account, to no avail. She said she'd make a note to the examiners that our server had had problems. I had to let that one mark go and move on to the remaining questions.
Despite an understandable concentration lapse meaning I started to answer the next question wrong before realising my mistake and starting over, I still got finished within the time limit and should have done enough to pass the module without that mark, but it's not nice to have that hanging over me, especially wondering if my having to call on Pathenia for help is going to invalidate my attempt. If I have to do the exam again I'll be radged off; if I have to pay another £12 to do the exam again, I'll be livid.
Hawks at home to Newport County this afternoon. We got a bumper crowd - Newport, being a former League club, always bring plenty with them, and quite a few Pompey fans came as they didn't have a match - so the clubhouse was jam-packed before kick-off and when I entered the ground at 2.45 there was a massive queue at the tea hut. I decided to wait till half time for a bacon butty, but by 3.30 the queue was a mile long, so I made my way down there then. Got to the front just after the half-time whistle.
The first hour of the game was dull, dull, dull, and as I headed back into the stand after getting my bacon roll it started to rain again. The rain only lasted about 10 minutes, then on the hour mark Rocky Baptiste ran at the Newport defence; when they began to surround him he sidefooted to Jamie Collins. The keeper parried JC's shot but Charlie Henry was on hand to tap it home. "A goal we didn't deserve," one of the two old blokes in front of me said, but no-one was complaining. A few minutes after that ex-Hawk Andy Gurney pulled Rocky back by his shirt and was sent off, to the delight of the Hawks fans, and Rocky made it 2-0 from the spot.
The play-off dream isn't over yet, and it stayed bright and sunny for the walk back to the station.
Up early for the Malaysian Grand Prix. What started out looking like a mundane race compared to last week, with Massa and Raikkonen going to the front and staying there, was transformed when Massa, soon after being overtaken by Kimi on the first pit stop, went spinning out of the race. Hamilton did well to overcome starting from ninth and losing time in the pits with a wheel getting stuck while it was being pulled off to come fifth, but the star of the day was Robert Kubica who drove a magnificent race throughout to bag second spot. A BMW win is just a matter of time, surely?
Demolished my Easter egg before the warm-up lap ended.
Spent the day checking out this year's Eurovision entries on Youtube. My favourites are Sweden (the girl who won in 1999, singing a very strong song with a good beat - she will be a contender), Slovenia (lovely Rebeka Dremelj with a lovely ballad - aaah) and the Netherlands (a catchy uptempo song, sung by a pretty girl, with a hint of Eastern influence - ought to pull the points in (please)). Quite a few joke entries this year - thank goodness we have the semis now to winnow them out.
