Time Off

 

Monday 6th December 

I had the day off so that we could go to our friend Tom O’Neill’s funeral. Tom passed away very shortly before what would have been his 101st birthday. 

Tom was a friend of both me and Louise, and I was there not just because Tom was a friend to both of us, but also to be there to support her as well. 

During his life, among the many things that he had done, Tom had written books that were published, served in the navy, introduced ultrasound technology into being used in hospitals, and so much more. 

He had climbed various mountains, walked in some incredible places, flown gliders in his later years… 

He never slowed down one bit. 

After the passing of his wife he walked the many miles to her resting place numerous times per week to pay respect, and fed the birds while there. 

He was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II, which was on display at his 100th birthday celebration last year, which was in itself a fantastic time. We went to that, and had so much fun. 

There were two funerals this week, but obviously I couldn’t get time off for two funerals in one week. So, with much pain mentally, I had to decide not to go to the funeral later in the week of the local rock star Chris Bailey, lead singer and bassist for rock band Savage. 

That band came from this area, and are revered by many of us in the local music scene, because they made it.

They were a band signed to a record deal, had toured with many top heavy metal bands, even to the degree that the band Metallica often used to cover their song Let It Loose, so they obviously made an impression on them. 

What is now a little over thirty years ago, I worked voluntarily for the Nottinghamshire Youth Arts Trust, in their office. The man in charge there was Andy Dawson, guitarist for the aforementioned band Savage. I got to know people such as Chris through my friendship with Andy, a friendship that endures to this day. 

Andy is married to Chris’s sister. I offer my condolences to them, and the rest of the family, as well as my apologies for not being able to attend the service.

Tuesday 7th 

We watched Gogglebox

Wednesday 8th

We watched My Secret Santa starring Ryan Eggold (New Amsterdam), and Is It Cake Holiday season 2 episode 3: The Finale.

Tuesday 9th -

We watched Gogglebox, The Marvellous Miniature Workshop episode 1, Vicar Of Dibley: The Christmas Lunch Incident, short film The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, and The World’s Biggest Sweet Shop at Christmas. 

Wednesday 10th -

I don’t know what happened. 

Thursday 11th - 

Same again, I don’t remember, I don’t recall. 

Tuesday 16th -

I absolutely felt like rubbish. 

On the previous Sunday (13th) while at work I was doing one of my duties, patrolling a closed shopping area somewhere, which was open to the public to walk through at all times, because it was outside. 

While there taking pictures of the undamaged shop windows, which is part of the job to prove that there is no damage, I was punched by a passerby, who for some reason accused me of being a pervert. For taking photographs of store fronts. 

The police gave me an incident number, but did not show up. 

Even now as I write this on the 27th of December, I still have some swelling, as well as needing to book some dental appointments. 

Back on the day in question I wasn’t feeling great. 

I still had to finish that Sunday night shift after the incident, and I was also at work on the Monday night, which in itself wasn’t a great experience - I was really slow, tired, and in pain. 

The punch had dislodged a tooth cap from a previous incident many years previously, and damaged some fillings on the left side of my mouth. 

I just about got through work with the help of a large number of tablets, albeit not getting everything done. 

Anyway, I was tired and could barely do anything, but life had to go on. I watched Moonlighting episode one on STV player. 

I went to bed to sleep, and then woke up in the night to record a special episode for When They Was Fab, which featured a discussion between myself, Ed, Lonnie, Jon, and the return of Ed’s original show co-host Dave Persails. 

With it being the show’s tenth anniversary, it was thought that something was needed for the auspicious occasion, so an idea formulated in me to see if I could get Dave to return to the show as part of a roundtable discussion. 

However badly I felt, I just had to be a part of the recording, and pushed on through the chat about what we liked from the previous ten years in the world of The Beatles, and what we could feasibly see over the next ten years. 

Wednesday 17th

A day with a lot of sleep - got to sleep a bit after 4am, woke at 8, fell back to sleep from around 1 until 5pm, dropped off for about another hour before dinner. 

Had dinner while we finished watching Love Actually from last week.

We also watched the film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation again - a favourite. 

It was irritating because this day was supposed to be a day of visiting family to drop off gifts and Christmas cards, hardly any of which had gone out to anyone. 

I just didn’t have the energy to do anything. I should have gone into A&E to be checked out, but I didn’t. The cost of parking is ridiculous, and you don’t know how long you would have to wait. 

It comes to something when your health is based around how much it costs, and yes I know that other countries pay for their medical treatments, but in truth so do we! 

The NHS is paid for by what is called National Insurance, that comes out of the wages of every worker in the U.K. It is something that is legally enforced, not that we mind. That goes towards the National Health Service and the benefits systems. On top of that is income tax, which also comes out of our wages, and we can’t opt out of that either. 

Anyway, it’s a good system, albeit one that doesn’t get as much funding as it needs to. Me thinks that the government are pilfering money from NI for things other than what they are intended for. 

I don’t remember anything else from this day, or the Thursday on the run up to going back to work.