Random-week-away!

Greetings fans of randomness, welcome to a nice new blog, and to a fairly extraordinary week!

First things first though, and the all-important competition set last week, and thanks for all those who voted (well, selena and gareth but thanks anyway!) So to the results, and what a result, for as I got out of the lift (yes I remembered what side opened!), I could see the orangutan from the lift! So sorry Sel and Gaz, the prize would have been a 2 week trip in the Caribbean, but I guess that will have to stay with me for now!

Anyway, before we get onto the week itself, last weekend saw a bit of a DIY weekend for us for various reasons, so we ended up going to the local B&Q and Homebase quite alot. On sunday we were wandering back to the car, when I stopped in my tracks, and just had to take a photo of it as I don't think I'll ever get the chance to again, so here is what was parked up right next to me...on a sunday....at the Sears Retail Park in Solihull.......

Yes dear readers, I give you the General Lee!!!

How freaky is that!!!

So that made my weekend, and sent me into my first week at my new firm with a spring in my step.

So to my first day, and after meeting perma-tan we spent the first day in a training room just reading countless amounts of rules and regulations, as well as the funniest and most horrific Health and Safety video, seeing people doing the most stupid things uve ever seen in an 'office situation', and then having parts of their body sawn off or stabbed or knocked out/off. It was like a horror movie with a half decent plot!

Anyway that was the first morning, and for lunch I had a walk into the Mailbox, and thats when the randomness really started. In ascending order, these are the people I saw on my first day:

I present to you:

Dudley Sutton, who played 'Tinker' in Lovejoy! Just sitting at a cafe' in the mailbox, having a chat to some studio-type executives, so hopefully we'll be seeing him back on our screens soon

Anyone who says 'who?' or 'whats Lovejoy?', should be rounded up and shot at dawn, unless ur a foreigner, and so not familiar with classic British sitcoms. Dudley's done loads, bless him, so open your mind and explore his back catalogue.....wait that doesn't sound right!!

Now, one for the Midlanders, stalwart of the radio scene in Birmingham, one of the greats of Radio, I present to you....

The legend that is Les Ross! Again, anyone saying 'who?' should click here, unless u think its cool not to know or care about anyone over the age of 24, and in that case, what the heck r u doing here!

Ok so he was doing his radio show in his studios at the Mailbox and I was in the public gallery, but the point is that I saw him so bally-hoo to you!

The rest of the day was pretty much the same as the morning, reading forms and generally being told loads about the company, which was really interesting but we both really wanted to find out what we would be doing at the firm and when we would meet our teams. We were overrunning slightly (or to put it accurately, THEY were overrunning slightly, so to save only spending an hour with our teams, they sent us home at 4pm, which was good, especially as we live in the same building as the BRMB radio station, which I only realised when I got in a lift with....

Tammy Gooding, a DJ on the aforementioned station, who lives in Solihull and was on her way home, but I decided against asking her for a lift home, as its only 15 minutes from my house!

Again, this means nothing to you if ur not from the midlands, but for me, its a celeb-spot, so I'm happy!

Right, on with the rest of the week, and Tuesday was pretty much the same, read this, write that, watch this etc, which was all very good, but by the afternoon was starting to drag. Luckily we did get put with a 'buddy' (how american cheese does that sound? yuk!), who would talk us through the work that we would be required to do, which was good.

Wednesday, we were forgotten about completely until about 10am, so were just sat in the training room wondering where the heck everyone was, but when we were eventually seen, we were given to our 'buddies' (yuk) for the rest of the week.

I know in my last proper post that I said I would have to finally use my brain for a job for the first time in 2 and a half years, but I didn't realise just how accurate that comment was! I was physically shattered by Wednesday, due to the new job and new commute every day, which now I have got used to, but its just very different to my normal routine.

By the end of the week I was really getting into the work and was completely into the whole thing, and looking forward to coming back to work, which surely can't be right, after all, it is 'work', but for me its a big career move, and the more I've got into the work, the more hints they give me about giving me more and more responsibility. The work itself is dealing with insurance claims, working for the insurers, which is really interesting work, and something that i wanna go into when I qualify, so its really fascinating, and I just can't wait to see what I can do at the firm, coz they seem to like me, so I'd better make moves on a promotion before they find out what I'm really like!!!!