Survival Mode

Another scorcher of a day, yesterday. I was supposed to only be at work for half a day, but I preferred to stay in AC comfort and so will take that time off another day. We work a 40 hour week but only get paid 38 so accrue 2hrs off/week. We're only s'posed to accumulate a max of 16hrs before we must must must use it. Currently I have 24.

I spent most of the day clearing up the final details of the TRAC project; with the launches all done now its time to do the journey. This weekend I'll also have to get to the shop to buy extra flag pins for the map board and extra bags since we really hadn't prepared for 75 teams.

Yesterday was a day when training was far from the front of my mind..it was a survival day. A day for running on empty, a day for icy poles not ice cream, a day to retreat after work to a shopping mall for food and a film.

That morning Alex and I had decided that eating out'd be a good idea; both of us have been struggling with heat related lack of appetite since not wanting turn on the cooker have been eating cold meat, salads and fruit and sorta wanted a change. We shot out of the house in time for the 6.20/640 sitting but hadn't bothered to decide which film to go to...we didn't care, it was just a ploy to get cool.

A conversation with a guy in the queue led us to seeing Clint Eastwood in Gran Turino and both of us highly recommend it. Neither of us would have picked it as our first choice..I'd thought maybe Valkyrie and Alex though maybe Will Smith's latest but happenstance led us elsewhere and we're truly grateful. I recall the first Clint Easwood films I saw... "the good the bad and the ugly" etc.. must have been during the late 60's since I saw them with Phil before we got married. He must say the least in any one film of any starring actor..he'd have no trouble at all remembering his lines, and no-one absolutely NO-ONE can sneer quite as well as Clint!

So nice and cool and ready to eat and re-hydrate it then became a question as to which queue to join for food. Pancake Parlour won out. The wait was forever but eventually we ordered and finally the food arrived. We'd ordered a plate of cottage fries ($11.90)..when they arrived I looked at them on their small bread and butter sized plate and said..we ordered a full size..the waiter said this IS a full size, to which I replied something to the effect that thank god we didn't go for the half size. Then I couldn't eat them they were so greasy and tasted as if the oil was rancid. Then Alex's main course was not the one he'd ordered and finally we discovered the cost of one of the drinks was wrong.

Ok I said to Alex..you'll want to walk away cos I'm gunna complain. So he did and I did and we got a free meal.