So far, the month has been good to me. Let's start with the biggest positive in my life right now: I finally got a new job.
I'm working for a pub in Crystal Palace called The White Hart, which is part of a company of pubs called Castle, which in turn is a subsidiary of Mitchell & Butlers. In short, this means I work for a large company which owns such chains as Harvester, O'Neills, and All Bar One. Exciting stuff! The biggest drawback is that Crystal Palace is about an hour and a half away from me in Leyton, so the house move planned for the summer may take me further afield than I had first thought. Still, south London seems like a nice enough place, and still well-connected by rail and bus.
It is a relief, to say the least, to be back behind a bar. I was pondering it for a couple of days and mentioned to one of the other staff after a 10-hour shift that I felt less tired than my last 7-hour stint at the call centre. He described it as less exhausting on the soul. Very philosophical, but there's a certain truth to that. In the call centre, you follow a script, you listen to complaints, you follow the script some more, get shouted at, follow the script, but whatever you do don't answer back or try to defend yourself. Behind a bar, there are no rules against laughing, against banter, against being a bit (or in my case, very) tongue-in-cheek. I can be... myself. So much more so than I could when I was simply reading from a screen. And that is so very relaxing, and at the same time invigorating. Yes, in weeks and months to come I may complain and scowl at the injustice of having to clean up after such a rabble as we may see, but for now the manager is becoming a very good friend and colleague; the other staff are friendly and up for a laugh; and the customers are local and regular, intrigued by a new face and welcoming from the off. I actually finished my last shift with a discussion about European Medieval weaponry - one of the regulars, called Mattie if memory serves - is a collector and keeps a warhammer beside his bed.
In other news, I'm still exercising, eating and getting plenty of sleep. Oh and Charlotte's Surprise Christmas/Anniversary/Valentine's/Birthday present - Pirates of the Caribbean, screened at the Royal Albert Hall whilst the Royal Philharmonic performed the soundtrack live - was spectacular. Aside from the sound/video being out of sync during the first few scenes (much to the amusement of the audience, and then to rapturous applause when the lips and words began to synchronize).
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is also brilliant. However, in a move that will put me off Cineworld for life, the projectionist cut the tape at the beginning of the end-credits-sequence. There was a collective 'what the fuck?' from those few of us who had stayed to watch it, followed by one gentleman in the audience (after shouting at the projection box) explaining in brief the sequence of events we had been denied. Ah well, at least the DVD will be released before the next film, and also they made a reference to Stephen Strange which is ridiculously exciting for people like myself.
Live long and read on, minions!
I'm working for a pub in Crystal Palace called The White Hart, which is part of a company of pubs called Castle, which in turn is a subsidiary of Mitchell & Butlers. In short, this means I work for a large company which owns such chains as Harvester, O'Neills, and All Bar One. Exciting stuff! The biggest drawback is that Crystal Palace is about an hour and a half away from me in Leyton, so the house move planned for the summer may take me further afield than I had first thought. Still, south London seems like a nice enough place, and still well-connected by rail and bus.
It is a relief, to say the least, to be back behind a bar. I was pondering it for a couple of days and mentioned to one of the other staff after a 10-hour shift that I felt less tired than my last 7-hour stint at the call centre. He described it as less exhausting on the soul. Very philosophical, but there's a certain truth to that. In the call centre, you follow a script, you listen to complaints, you follow the script some more, get shouted at, follow the script, but whatever you do don't answer back or try to defend yourself. Behind a bar, there are no rules against laughing, against banter, against being a bit (or in my case, very) tongue-in-cheek. I can be... myself. So much more so than I could when I was simply reading from a screen. And that is so very relaxing, and at the same time invigorating. Yes, in weeks and months to come I may complain and scowl at the injustice of having to clean up after such a rabble as we may see, but for now the manager is becoming a very good friend and colleague; the other staff are friendly and up for a laugh; and the customers are local and regular, intrigued by a new face and welcoming from the off. I actually finished my last shift with a discussion about European Medieval weaponry - one of the regulars, called Mattie if memory serves - is a collector and keeps a warhammer beside his bed.
In other news, I'm still exercising, eating and getting plenty of sleep. Oh and Charlotte's Surprise Christmas/Anniversary/Valentine's/Birthday present - Pirates of the Caribbean, screened at the Royal Albert Hall whilst the Royal Philharmonic performed the soundtrack live - was spectacular. Aside from the sound/video being out of sync during the first few scenes (much to the amusement of the audience, and then to rapturous applause when the lips and words began to synchronize).
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is also brilliant. However, in a move that will put me off Cineworld for life, the projectionist cut the tape at the beginning of the end-credits-sequence. There was a collective 'what the fuck?' from those few of us who had stayed to watch it, followed by one gentleman in the audience (after shouting at the projection box) explaining in brief the sequence of events we had been denied. Ah well, at least the DVD will be released before the next film, and also they made a reference to Stephen Strange which is ridiculously exciting for people like myself.
Live long and read on, minions!
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