I'm Back!

Don't get too excited, but I finally remembered my username (which allowed me to create a new password, which allowed me back in here!) And to be cryptic, but still allow myself a reminder, it was Hysterix2008 in the leafy glade place!

So... now that I'm back, what shall we talk about?

Shoebury East Beach

Shoebury East Beach, originally uploaded by braduk.

Went straight to Faye's from work and had a lovely Chicken Tikka Massala which was very nice (thanks Faye xx), and as the weather was so nice we then went to Shoebury East Beach for most of the evening. We walked around the edge of the paddling pool there and saw a few fish, some baby crabs and even a jelly fish!

They reckon we're in for a "mini heatwave" so hopefully we'll get the chance to come lots more during the school holidays.

What a great day!!

Sapphy, Wall-E and EVE, originally uploaded by braduk.

Had a fantastic day yesterday! We went to Lakeside, but when we got to the car park we decided on the spur of the moment to go to Bluewater instead, which is a quick hop accross the Queen Elizabeth bridge into Kent. We found out (thanks iPhone!) that they had a Disney store too, and as neither of us had been there before, thought it might be fun to explore.

Now, as anyone who knows me can testify to, I HATE Lakeside! I can never find the shops I am looking for, and always lose the car. So I expected Bluewater to be the same... but OH MY GOD!!! I LOVE Bluewater!! Even while we were still driving it felt like we had somehow been transported back to America! The wide roads, the scenery, the water... the general 'feel' of the place was 100% pure Orlando! Even the sun was shining fiercely! We parked in a covered car park (Green, row D) and even this felt very - yup, you know.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had a GREAT day. Found the Disney Store straight away, Had lunch at TGI Friday's, found loads of cool shops (including a David and Goliath store for more "boy-bashing"!) and had an ice cream. At around 6ish(?) we headed back to Lakeside and had another shorter wander and a look around their (bigger) Disney Store before going to Waterstones where somehoe we all ended up sitting at the kiddies table colouring in and generally acting Sapphy's age! It was great! Ha ha! Then I said I'd treat everyone to dinner at Pizza Hut. We were quickly shown to a very nice booth when Sapphy said that she wanted a little pizza meal with fries. I said that you can only get those upstairs in the food court, which is when it hit Faye and I like a tonne of bricks that the reason we had gone to Lakeside in the first place was to get food from the food court!! AARGGHHH!!!! Much laughter later, we quickly left Pizza Hut and went to the top floor where the girls had their Pizza Hut meals (Sapphy only ate her fries! You just can't win!!) while I had a very nice Chinese.

So all in all, a VERY good day :)

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish!

Today was officially my last day at B&Q. As most people reading this will know, I injured my back at the end of March and have been signed off work since then. I'm a upset that not a single member of the management team contacted me today to wish me well in the future, or even just see how my back is now. Upset, but not surprised.

Anyway, *I* wish the store and the staff the very best. They are a great bunch of people, and I will miss them - especially my Front End team. You guys are the best! Remember, single-scanning and trolley to trolley! :)

Your Duty Supervisor is no longer Brad :(

Testing...

Ok it's actually 12:40am on 13/6/08, and I am posting this from a new Firefox add-on. Just testing to see how it all works really.

Lets try a picture...


Wow that was easy!! Yup, think I like this :)

Back to the Future

Well, I was running out of titles!

Today is exactly a week since I jiggered my back, and it's not showing any signs of getting better. Yesterday I thought things were on the up as it hurt a little less, but today the pain is back whether I am still or moving, standing, sitting or lying. Triffic!

It's quite a nice day out today too, and I would have liked to have gone for a walk and taken some photos but there's no way I can do that. Instead I am sat here, updating my blog. Ho hum.

I still have a ton of junk I need to take to the tip, which is also a no-no at the moment. It' so frustrating!

Oh, and I'm having trouble sleeping, too. Last night I was up until after 4am. Maybe that's a side effect of the tablets?

Not good... not good at all!

Today I went back to the doctors. The short version is that I have been signed off work for two weeks, been given stronger pain relief and refered to Southend Hospital for physiotherapy. The doctor says it is likely that I won't see much of an improvement for at least four weeks!!! There's nothing I can say to fully articulate how depressing that news is. Four weeks of this pain - at LEAST! God knows what work will make of that, but as much as it inconveniences them, it's just that - an inconvenience. I, on the other hand, have been given notice that I am going to be in a whole lot of pain for WEEKS to come!

This is horrible

The time now is 1:33am. I'm writing this from in bed. I'm in pain. Lots of pain. So much pain that I can't sleep. And I am alone. I don't know why but right now I feel like I may as well be the only person on the face of the planet. All my friends and family are asleep, I don't feel like surfing the net. I feel very very low. It feels like someone has reached inside me and ripped out my drive. I don't like this feeling one bit! And I want my stupid back to stop hurting so that I can get back to a normal life!! There's so much to do at work at the moment, and it seems very unfair that others are having to work twice as hard, and rearrange their shifts to accommodate my injury. 

I hope this feeling is gone by the morning. I don't want to feel like this any more.