Developmental

[caddyman]

It’s not particularly cold, but it certainly is windy today. Even by the standards of the past couple of days it’s blowing something powerful to the extent that it was easier walking up hill this morning, rather than down.

I don’t know if the weather is involved, or whether there is some obscure holiday or festival happening, but this morning’s journey into work was one of those occasional half-empty tube days that leaves you wondering if everybody else knows something you don’t. Hopefully it will be like that tonight on the way home, too.

Today I have to write my Personal Development Plan. I hate them and they are always ignored, despite all the right-on blurb on our intranet and in the staff handbook. I don’t know who actually reads them or what the end use of them is; I know what they are supposed to be for, but the reality is so far removed from the theory that it may as well be a fairy story, or an economics degree. My particular gripe is that someone changes the system each year by just enough so that you can’t cut and paste last year’s version into the new template and run all the dates on accordingly. The gaffer is uncharacteristically enthusiastic about them (for this week at least), so the chances of me quietly “forgetting” and getting away with it are low to zero. I would put the damned thing off for a while longer, but I am not in the office tomorrow as I have to go to the hospital for various proddings.

In other news, I am toying with the concept of spending around £200 I don’t have on a leather jacket I don’t need. If you’ve ever seen Das Boot¹ you will know the style I am thinking about. A search of the intarweb suggests that it is a reasonable price to pay; leather jackets/coats are not cheap, but they do last.

I am sure that someone will talk me out of it. Or not.


¹Or even maybe the adventures of a certain Time Lord in his Northern incarnation…

Comments

[fencingsculptor.livejournal.com]

"Who" would have thought it ! You are going to beat me to the Kriegsmarine Jacket ?!

Still the Wested version sounds ok from their website but I still haven’t seen one up close – the Original was made using the pattern taken from an original WWII coat. So as long as Wested have done the same it should be spot on. Their Reputation for film costumes and Indianna Jones jackets are legendry.

The other Replica New who jacket is produced by http://www.thebadwolf.com . It’s twice as much as the Wested but the info on their site is certainly more comprehensive !!!

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

Hehe - great minds! I have just come to conclusion that I need a new coat too. The long black coat of power is lovely for interviews but just does not cut it with weather and my much loved bottle green duffle coat with the tartan lining is possibly not office wear, more's the pity. Where to get a decent black coat for hardly any money?

Maybe I nick yours.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I venture to say that any coat of mine would bury you! It would fit you like a marquee!

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Das oot, now there's a cheery flick!

[mr-h-r-hughes.livejournal.com]

Or Das Boot...

[drjohnsilence.livejournal.com]

Da's Oot is actually the Geordie version of Home Alone...

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

My leather jacket did not last. We were burgled when I lived in a damp hole in Earl's Court, and the blighter took off with it, and half my record collection! AND a twelve-string guitar, damn it.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

To be fair, I think there is a qualitative difference between an item of clothing being nicked or wearing out!

Your jacket may well still be out there, 20 years later, giving sterling service to a spotty miscreant.

[agentinfinity.livejournal.com]

Probably a gang of street-goths. That's what happened to Jamie's first frock coat, we figure.

Buy the jacket. It is ten million times more practical than a replica sword, something shaped like a tardis, or a model of a female sci-fi character with no clothes on.

A few years ago I fell in love with a leather coat in Leeds. It cost £250, which was more money than I had, so I didn't get it. Now I will never get to fight crime wearing my sexy coat, and the world is a sadder place. So the moral of the story is: buy the coat.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it is indeed, unless the thieving git was mugged and deprived of it. That would have been rough justice. I still bear the psychological scars from that incident.

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

I have been randomly selected to fill in an extra "Personal goals" scorecard at work, which only be used anonymised. Doing them for my direct benefit is tedious enough and makes me want to rip the entrails from an HR manager, as the entire process is meaningless for most professional staff.

Doing it anonymised is totally useless. However the statistician in me says I should fail them all (even the ones I have actually done) to make my real one look better.