Saturday was a washout. I really should know better by now, but I guess I never will. I did manage to get as far as the bakers in the morning to get some fresh bread, but that was about it.

Sunday I went into town, and spent 2 hours wandering around Borders (inlcuding about an hour sat in the Starbucks there - reading the book I had brought with me!), and then another hour around Waterstones, and managed to buy nothing (apart from the coffee). Coming out, it had started to rain. Good job I came packing my trusty brolly in my handbag.

My trusty brolly that broke within 2 minutes, so I was soaked when I got to the car.

The woman at work is driving me insane. She is dangerous. Last week, when she applied these updates to first the test machine and then the development machine, she assured me (one of her favourite words, assured) that all was well.

Tuesday, the developers were having a (very small) issue, in that some incorrect code, that they knew to be incorrect, was giving them an error. Previously, while it hadn’t worked, it had not given them an error and so they could continue doing whatever else they did. It seems the update was now ensuring that (rightly I think) only correct code would run.

This is not good enough however. This is Different. And Different is not good in the Civil Service.

Stupid Bitch did a mad panic search, decided another update was in order, and left me instructions to apply this update yesterday, when she wasn’t in.

On reading the documentation, you can’t just apply one update. You have to apply three. I spoke with the lead developer, and he was adamant he wanted these extra three updates, even though they wouldn’t actually fix his ‘problem’.

So I attempted to apply them to the test server. But first I ran the test script to make sure all was working fine.

It wasn’t.

None of the test scripts would work.

I logged onto the box as administrator. First thing I noticed is that none of the servers were actually running. I tried to start them. They wouldn’t start.

Oh god, really she is not that stupid?

Oh yes she is. She hadn’t run the code to reset the permissions after installing the updates. Which means she hadn’t started the servers.

Which means she hadn’t checked that after applying the updates she hadn’t screwed up the machine. And had then happily applied these to a working server.

I really don’t know what to do. There are step by step instructions. They are clearly numbered. But if the Stupid Bitch won’t bother looking at them, then what use are they?

Went out last night with people from my old workplace. I was invited by Krazy K, but to be honest she is starting to annoy me a bit. She is extremely clingy, and wants to monopolise my attention. Even if I am talking to someone else, she will just come and stand between us, as if the other person isn’t there.

The weirdest thing about last night was when I went to the bar to get a drink, and Q was there, talking to L (who used to sit behind me) and another bloke I didn’t know.

“Oh, Woman, meet New Woman. J, meet Woman.”

This bloke puts his leg next to mine. “Oh, your feet aren’t really that big,” he says. “You have very big boots to fill.”

This was the man who had taken over my job. Q’s boss. Seems he’s “heard a lot” about me….

When I was talking to him, he seemed a nice enough bloke. However, he is one of those people who is extremely charming, but when he wasn’t around (and when I had sobered up) I thought, “God, he loves himself.” It was very, very weird, because I really didn’t notice it at the time.

Q doesn’t like him. It was funny as well, because J was trying to make out how him and Q were mates, how Q know’s what he’s like, they were buddy buddy. Turns out this is the first time he’s been out for a drink with them after work.

And talking of Q knowing what people are like, “Right, Woman, I’d make a guess at, umm, 40H?” I was gobsmacked. Given how many years even I didn’t know what size I was, and was wearing totally the wrong sized bras, he was bloody close!

Also weird was, when I was talking to other people out, about how I’d met my replacement, so many people said, “Really? Who is he?”

He’s been in that job for a year, and most of the people don’t know who he is. This is the job that, when I did it, *everyone* in the company knew who I was. When I went to the Christmas party, so many people stopped me to wish me a good time, and I didn’t have a clue who they were, but they all knew me. S commented, “Oh, it’s all different now, Woman. There are no emails, no information coming out, no regular meetings letting us know what’s going on. In fact nobody really know what he does.”

No wonder people still tell me I am missed there.

I got very drunk. It wouldn’t have been quite so messy if I hadn’t drunk half of Q’s Southern Comfort and lemonade (someone had bought it for him, and he didn’t want it. Mind you, come to that neither did I).

I did manage to get home though, although it was one of those nights where I watch the clock on the taxi, worried I don’t have enough money to get home. I had just over £3 left in my purse this morning……

It’s not driving me quite so mad at the moment, because there is actually work to do and I am not getting quite so bored.

However, the stupid woman I work with is driving me insane. She is not only useless, she is dangerous.

The day before yesterday she announced she was going to look into updating our servers (which we are supposed to do every 6 months). She said she would go through all her emails to see what updates were needed, but asked me (as soon as I walked in the door mind, pc wasn’t even switched on) if I knew what was needed off the top of my head.

“Well, no, I don’t remember all the codes of things like that. Have you checked the update spreadsheet? And directory on the network?” I asked. “The spreadsheet has everything that has been applied to each server, and also when there is a new update we want to apply, I have downloaded it to the folder. There is also a sub-folder of those that have been applied….”

She (should) already know this. I told her when I created it. I explained how it would save us time.

Yesterday, after spending a whole day going through her emails she announced, “Yes, your documentation is right, you do have all the updates we need…” Talk about a waste of fucking time. Why do I bother setting up these admin things, if (a) she doesn’t listen (b) doesn’t understand them and hence (c) doesn’t use them (don’t get me started on a simple spreadsheet ‘to-do’ list I created - I had to explain to her the concept of adding a comment in the comments column when we had done some work, but it wasn’t fully completed… when I checked it later I found she had overwritten the comments that were already there…….).

Lunchtime yesterday she announced, “Oh, I am going to apply all those updates now to the test server.” “Have you read the instructions on how to apply the bundle?” “Oh yes, of course I have.”

Okay, I will leave her to it then.

“This bundle won’t apply.”

“Why not? I applied it to the test server months ago and it worked fine.” I had applied them, but the server has snce been rebuilt, so they needed to be re-applied.

“It says the file format is not correct.”

“Have you transferred it in the right format?”

“Well I don’t know, it was already there, I assumed you had put it there. It is a .tar file, I assume I have to untar it.”

“What do the instructions say?”

“There’s nothing about untarring the file. I am going to do it anyway.”

“No!” I screamed. “Don’t do that until you are sure it’s the right thing to do. I am sure there is something in the instructions about that.”

“Well there’s not I can assure you.”

I pull up the instructions onto my pc.

“It states quite clearly in step 3 to untar the file.”

“Well, it doesn’t in my instructions.”

“Are they the bundle instructions?”

“Oh, no…….” AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

She eventually applies them. It took her two hours. When I did it it took me 10 minutes.

Today, she announces she is going to apply the updates to the server used by the development team. Okay, fair enough, she did it yesterday so hopefully she won’t do anything wrong.

“I’ve got an error applying the first one. Something about permissions.”

“Did you execute the first bit of code, which sets the permissions?”

“Oh no, I forgot to do that.”

Ten minutes later. “It’s now asking me for the root password, shall I just ignore it?”

This panics me. No way should she need root for a simple update. “Well, it says because the first one was applied incorrectly, it could cause major errors if we don’t put in the root password…”

The DBA is going mental. She moans about the software constantly needing root, and how inconvenient it is because they have to set it and reset it just so we can do our stuff. “Oh, it’s not normal,” Stupid Bitch chirps, “It’s just because I did the first bit wrong…”

Twenty minutes later, I stand up. “I’m going to lunch.”

“Oh, do yu think you can wait until I have just run all the checks to make sure it all works fine? I just have to restart the servers, it will only take a couple of seconds…Oh god….What’s happened, why won’t they come back up?”

I go round there. None of the servers had started. So she executes the same command again - because obviously, this will fix whatever is wrong, won’t it?

“Why don’t you look at the log file? It might tell you something useful about why it won’t start.”

“Where’s that then?” She has been in this job 18 months. Checking log files is an almost daily occurrance. I open them for her.

“Look, it says something about permissions……… Did you reset the permissions when you had finished?”

“What do you mean?”

“Where are the instructions?”

She spends 5 minutes going through folders trying to find them. I bit my tongue on the question of why she didn’t have them in front of her when she was actually doing it. If I’d asked it I may have ended up screaming it.

“See? Have you executed this code to reset the permissions?”

“Oh, no, I didn’t know you had to.” You stupid fucking bitch. That’s why we have instructions. So we know what we have to do. Rather than just blindly guessing.

Potentially this whole debacle could have brought the server down. It’s only because the software people anticipate stupid people like her, so they build in safeguards so that if someone tries to apply something incorrectly, it won’t break. Thank god for them, otherwise I’d have spent the next few weeks rebuilding the whole thing.

I went to the doctor’s yesterday - in part because of the pain in my left foot, and in part because I have a cold, and I just knew that people at work would all declare I had swine flu (and this is the Civil Service - any of them get even a sniffle and they are off for a fortnight, and the abuse I get when I go in is amazing) so wanted to confirm that the doctor said I was fine (he did).

However, I told him I had just done the Race for Life, how I had been training and everything, but that my left foot had started getting a pain, and it had moved up to my toe and I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to do any major damage if I continued. I mentioned it was starting to look a bit weird - the second and thrid toes seem to be moving apart.

I took my sock off and he immediately declared I had a hammer toe.

Now, this is a phrase I have heard, but didn’t really know what it was. Turns out it is most prevalent in women who force their feet into high heeled shoes…. It’s so bloody annoying, because I don’t. I wear flat shoes, they have plenty of room for my toes.

However, it is also caused by ‘walking badly’, which i already knew I did, and it can cause the tendons to pull the toe out of shape.

Turns out that my new found regime of walking and running is actually causing me harm! Bloody typical!

I am going to go see a podiatrist (not until October though), and the doctor said to keep it up, that I won’t cause more damage as long as I get it looked at. I already have medial arch supports, so they will either need to be adjusted, or I may need new ones.

Bugger.

I spent most of last weekend watching Torchwood. Then, apparently, D got a strop with me. Only I didn’t realise, which appeared to make him have more of a strop. When I finally realised, I tried to ring him to straighten it out, and he refused to answer the phone! I was very, very pissed off.

Monday I went up to Oxfordshire for my one day in the office. For once I was actually really busy - finally got ownership of something, giving me something to be responsible for. Then, late that evening, my phone rang. It was D. I almost ignored it, but decided not to be petty. “I’ve just got one thing to say,” he says. Deep breath, thinking I am not going to stand for any bullshit. “Most of the way here it was dry and sunny, but as soon as I got over the bridge the rain started…..”

He was spending 2 days here in Torchwood Town for work. The original plan for him working here was he would stay with me, and we would blow the £30 a night he got to give me as expenses on a bloody good night out. However, The Bank has now decided that they will still give up to £30, but it has to provide a gift and a receipt has to be provided (Krazy K did suggest that he could spend it on a bottle of vodka and a bottle of gin for one night, bottle of Tia Maria and bottle of whiskey another……). Anyway, instead he is going to stay in the big posh hotel near work at over £100 a night!

We met up for dinner on Tuesday. I debated saying something about the strop, but decided not to. But I am not going to put up with this - if he has a problem, he tells me. If he does it again, I will tell him so.

Also on Monday night had several texts off FKM. Offering me the full set of a telly sci-fi series. When I asked how I would get it, he replied he’d have to bring his portable hard drive round and transfer it to my pc. “So, this is where I am supposed to invite you round, you say yes, and then you don’t bother to turn up?” “That was a long time ago. Things have changed. Fancy a coffee after work or the weekend to play catchup?” Sort of said I would Sunday afternoon, but not sure if I will. I think maybe he has been dumped and/or having ‘issues’ again, and needs someone non-judgemental to talk to. And I am really not sure I can be arsed.

However, didn’t stop more texts from him Wednesday, and last night.

Last night I went to my friend L’s for dinner, with X. It was such a good laugh. L has had a bad time of it the last few years, and in particular the first 6 months of this year. She has basically been bullied by this arsehole boss. But…. it got so bad that she finally collapsed, and raised a formal complaint. And, although we don’t know the official reason, we do know that as of 2 weeks ago he is “no longer part of the company, but please note that this is not part of the current restructure….” Monday he was there, Tuesday morning he was gone, Tuesday afternoon his office had been cleaned out!

FKM had been sending texts during the night, which I had ignored. I sent him one when I got home, and, for the first time in just under a year he rang me. Conversation was pretty light - think he might have been a bit drunk (who am I kidding, I know he was drunk, he was on the way home from the pub). But. Really. I think he actually thinks I can just pick up where we left off last year.

My parents are coming for the weekend tomorrow. I am a little worried. I rang my mom tonight, and she doesn’t sound too happy. I think something may be wrong. I spoke to her earlier in the week and she mentioned my Auntie M, who is struggling against cancer (one of the names on my back last week when I did the Race for Life!). I am wondering if it’s to do with her. And they don’t want to tell me over the phone.

Got lots of texts last night off FKM. Obviously getting drunker as time went by. Flirting outrageously.

I think maybe his latest floozy has dumped him!

But seriously, does he really think I am interested?

I’ve been walking like an old lady all day - and it’s been getting worse as the day wears on so I am guessing it’s going to be worse tomorrow.

Still, I am chuffed to bits. I did it!

I didn’t actually run any of it - partly down to my ankle, but to be honest it was mainly due to the sheer number of people there. There were almost 5,500 women taking part last night. I walked the first bit - which is my usual warmup routine anyway - but when it got to when it felt like I should run there were just too many people in the way. Not that I can run very far, but it would have been so difficult trying to weave in and out of all those people.

I wanted to run over the finish line too, but it was a bottle neck of people, so I couldn’t manage that.

Next year I will be fitter, so I can at least start the race with the ‘runners’ rather than the ‘walkers’, meaning I can at least run at the start.

And I can’t believe how much money I’ve raised. I am overwhelmed with how generous people have been in sponsoring, allowing me to smash my original aim of £100, and raise over £400 for Cancer Research.

Pictures will follow.

Heading into town now. Race starts at 7.30, but because of The Ashes I think parking is going to be tough.

Gutted I won’t be running as much as I planned - ankle and foot still very sore from twist last week.

I will do another 5k run in September, so it won’t feel so much like cheating.

Wish me luck!

Wednesday night was way too hot to even consider going for a run/walk. I waited until 9 o’clock, in the hope that it would cool down enough, but it was still way too hot.

So, needing some bathroom cleaner anyway, I headed out to Tescos on my estate.

So much for being open until 10 o’clock! Well, while they were actually open, they were not fully functional. Depsite there being quite a few people shopping, they had 1 till open. Even when they came over the tannoy and announced everyone had to make their way to the tills, they still had one till open.

So, I went to the self server till. I hate them at the best of times.

First I went to one which had a conveyor belt. This is probably great for people with a load of shopping, and two people - one to scan, one to pack. I had a handful of items, and had taken my environmentally friendly bag with me. I took my bag out, placed it on belt and started to scan the first item.

Nothing.

Then and electronic voice told me, “Unexpected item on belt, please remove”, so I took the bag off, at which point the belt started moving.

This was annoying, I did not want to place all my items on the belt, I wanted to scan them and place them straight into my bag. However, this was just not possible.

So, instead I headed to the ‘basket’ self-serve tills.

Again, bag in one hand, I scanned the first item, placed it into my bag.

Scanned second item.

Nothing.

Scanned it again. And again. And again.

“Please place scanned item onto baggage area.”

Aaaaaarrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhh!!!

So, I am not to scan something and place it directly into my bag. I have to place it where the plastic bags - so much for being environmentally friendly!

I placed my bag, with said item inside it onto baggage area, and scanned the next item.

I scanned it again. And again. And again.

“There is an unexpected item in the baggage area, please remove it.”

I took my bag off.

“Please place scanned item onto baggage area.”

I placed my bag onto the baggage area.

“There is an unexpected item in the baggage area, please remove it.”

I took my bag off.

“Please place scanned item onto baggage area.”

I placed my bag onto the baggage area.

“There is an unexpected item in the baggage area, please remove it.”

I took my bag off.

“Please place scanned item onto baggage area.”

I removed the item from my bag, threw it back into the basket and walked out, and went to Spar.

Where, on leaving the shop I twisted my ankle really badly and it is now swollen up like a balloon. So much for all my running training!!!