Year: 2005

What a fascinating weekend!

I had the chance to meet 11 guys I had not already met and it was great to put bodies to profiles.

First thing I met Rich at Northampton station and we travelled down together going first to Paddington to drop off my bag where the guy at the desk seemed to be half asleep. After that I screwed up and got us to Westminster when I should have gone to Blackfriars to get to Tate Modern. That place is just so boring! Though, it may be boring but the company made it a laugh so not complaining.

Not everyone had met up at Tate Modern, there were still a few to join us. Martyn met us at a nearby pub and we then walked the river to attempt the London Eye but the queues were huge so we skipped it. Across Westminster Bridge and on the train(s) to Soho where we had lunch. The service was awful and I think we did really well to allow them their 10% service charge.

Back across to the South Bank to the Aquarium where we spent some time with the fishes, some of us more than others!

From here back to the north side and the Trocadero where my only experience of the place was the toilet for which I would have paid way over 20p for by this time! Off from the Troc and back into Soho for drinks at the Duke of Wellington where good fun was had by all.

Overnight Martyn and me stayed at a hotel in Paddington in what was probably the smallest twin room I have yet been in beaten only by a cabin on a ferry and then only just! Home today at around 2:30 having left the hotel at shortly before 11am. This is why I don’t use public transport!

Nick came round about 5pm and we had a wonderful few hours together watching Bill Bailey then we said our goodbye on the doorstop in view of some chavs and that was just about what I did this weekend!

What a fascinating weekend!

I had the chance to meet 11 guys I had not already met and it was great to put bodies to profiles.

First thing I met Rich at Northampton station and we travelled down together going first to Paddington to drop off my bag where the guy at the desk seemed to be half asleep. After that I screwed up and got us to Westminster when I should have gone to Blackfriars to get to Tate Modern. That place is just so boring! Though, it may be boring but the company made it a laugh so not complaining.

Not everyone had met up at Tate Modern, there were still a few to join us. Martyn met us at a nearby pub and we then walked the river to attempt the London Eye but the queues were huge so we skipped it. Across Westminster Bridge and on the train(s) to Soho where we had lunch. The service was awful and I think we did really well to allow them their 10% service charge.

Back across to the South Bank to the Aquarium where we spent some time with the fishes, some of us more than others!

From here back to the north side and the Trocadero where my only experience of the place was the toilet for which I would have paid way over 20p for by this time! Off from the Troc and back into Soho for drinks at the Duke of Wellington where good fun was had by all.

Overnight Martyn and me stayed at a hotel in Paddington in what was probably the smallest twin room I have yet been in beaten only by a cabin on a ferry and then only just! Home today at around 2:30 having left the hotel at shortly before 11am. This is why I don’t use public transport!

Nick came round about 5pm and we had a wonderful few hours together watching Bill Bailey then we said our goodbye on the doorstop in view of some chavs and that was just about what I did this weekend!

Monday, yes, I know today is Thursday but I have just not been in a blogging kind of mood.

Meeting at Hargrave House in Rushden where Jermaine is currently staying to be assessed.

I was hoping that the point of this assessment was to move things along, to more easily and confidently define what could and could not be done with Jermaine and which some sort on intervention should occur regardless of his wishes. Sadly, it doesn’t look like that is the case at all. It appears that this is really more of a ‘get to know you’ session so that health can know more about him before he goes into short term care.

It appears that they have made a bit of a cock up too by not taking down notes for the first couple of weeks so what they have now is undocumented reports from several different people that are not really of much use to anyone.

Social Services, it would seem, would rather just pull out now that they feel health is taking over. Apparently inter-agency working is not yet a reality but they hope at some point in the future it will be, like I can just hang around for a few years waiting!

Generally there was only one positive to come from this meeting. I do now know at least two lots of respite dates of a week each. Not brilliant but better than nothing.

The rest of this week I have not really done much. Some major cleaning here and there but nothing too significant.

Last night Paul called from a phone box and asked me to call him back when he got home which I did some 1:45 later. He sounded pissed in the background and was really abusive to his mother, I was not impressed. On the phone previously he had told me that he was really missing me.

He never did come to the phone last night or call me back and I think this may be a good thing. To be honest, he scares me quite a bit as he is totally not in control of his life and drinks way too much.

This morning he called again and spoke to Daisy. She thought he was just being a twat when he kept insisting to her like she was some sort of idiot that I had to call him back. Needless to say I didn’t and nor do I plan on doing so or answering his calls. What I am going to is send him a letter explaining that he really has to get real and stop with all this fantasy shit about being in love with me and missing me. He can’t possibly be either. I am in no position to so much as entertain the concept and neither do I want to be, I am happy with Nick now and that’s my way forward.

Monday, yes, I know today is Thursday but I have just not been in a blogging kind of mood.

Meeting at Hargrave House in Rushden where Jermaine is currently staying to be assessed.

I was hoping that the point of this assessment was to move things along, to more easily and confidently define what could and could not be done with Jermaine and which some sort on intervention should occur regardless of his wishes. Sadly, it doesn’t look like that is the case at all. It appears that this is really more of a ‘get to know you’ session so that health can know more about him before he goes into short term care.

It appears that they have made a bit of a cock up too by not taking down notes for the first couple of weeks so what they have now is undocumented reports from several different people that are not really of much use to anyone.

Social Services, it would seem, would rather just pull out now that they feel health is taking over. Apparently inter-agency working is not yet a reality but they hope at some point in the future it will be, like I can just hang around for a few years waiting!

Generally there was only one positive to come from this meeting. I do now know at least two lots of respite dates of a week each. Not brilliant but better than nothing.

The rest of this week I have not really done much. Some major cleaning here and there but nothing too significant.

Last night Paul called from a phone box and asked me to call him back when he got home which I did some 1:45 later. He sounded pissed in the background and was really abusive to his mother, I was not impressed. On the phone previously he had told me that he was really missing me.

He never did come to the phone last night or call me back and I think this may be a good thing. To be honest, he scares me quite a bit as he is totally not in control of his life and drinks way too much.

This morning he called again and spoke to Daisy. She thought he was just being a twat when he kept insisting to her like she was some sort of idiot that I had to call him back. Needless to say I didn’t and nor do I plan on doing so or answering his calls. What I am going to is send him a letter explaining that he really has to get real and stop with all this fantasy shit about being in love with me and missing me. He can’t possibly be either. I am in no position to so much as entertain the concept and neither do I want to be, I am happy with Nick now and that’s my way forward.