Alex's even longer post thread.

[Alex]

Whatever virus is doing the rounds at the moment I have managed to pick it up. Slept a lot today, like more sleep than I'd normally get in 3 days.

Got a bit of a shock yesterday. I saw a woman who was the spitting image someone who I'd had my first threesome with. If it was the same person, well she hasn't aged any in the intervening years, lost her (Cuban) accent and picked up a broad Scottish one. There was a woman I'd been friendly with for a while. We decided to meet up outside of work (which I wasn't sure if it was a date or just being friends. Damn, but I wish just once I could tell one of these stories where I ended up where I did because I was being smooth, rather than just stumbling in blindly). I remember she had the brightest red lipstick I have ever seen. Anyway, I was invited back to her place and I wasn't sure if she wanted something or was just being polite. When we got to her house she went to the toilet and came back wearing see-through underwear. I could see she had both nipples pierced.

At that point I began to suspect that just maybe she might have something else in mind. Anyway, she kissed me a bit, and then told me that her roommate was in the shower at the moment, but would I mind if she joined us? My first thought is well I don't want to say yes before seeing her. What if I didn't find her attractive? My second thought was "So this was a setup." My third thought was "I don't care, I'm being offered a threesome.

Anyway, the two of us lay on the bed together, kissing and stripping our clothes off. Her friend came through in skimpy underwear and stripped off too, then started giving me oral while Agatha sat on my face. She gave the third or fourth-best BJ I've ever had, but at some point started straddling me. Anyway, I'll stop before I go listing all the positions we went through that night. There is an ocean of time between then and now, and a literal ocean between me and where this all happened. Her friend (Diana), was not what I'd call physically attractive, and had a rather spotty face, but her skin was lovely and smooth. Her English wasn't great and much of our conversation was translated via Agatha. Evidently, she thought I was using Viagra rather than just being incredibly turned on by having two naked women on me. Except when Diana was digging into my nipples with her nails. That didn't turn me on so much. I had Agetha doggy style on the edge of the bed and she came up behind me. Made the whole thing slightly awkward to be honest, but hey we had people from three seperate continents all having sex together.

Funny, when I think back on things like this, as good as those times were I don't think back and say that I wish I could do it one more time. There was a time and place for it and that time is gone. I don't expect it to come back either.

It was a very good memory to reminisce about though.

[Alex]

Yesterday I was still unwell, but feeling much better today. The day before seemed to be breaking the virus and now it feels like my body is just clearing the last of it out. Today though was a bit rougher. Fairly sure it's covid, but I'd rather have it now and get it out the way now than have it over xmas.

Went out the cemetery today. Had to clean away all the detritus of autumn from around the grave, but didn't have my usual bag of stuff that I use for it so I'll go out sometime before Yule and finish the job. Put down flowers, a wreath and a small tree.

[Alex]

Another dead night and still no complaints about that from me. Looking out down the road onto camp. It's dark and empty. I like that. Just a shame about all the lights ruining the darkness. Little pinprick spoiling the dark blanket cloaking the sky. Must be cloudy as no moon or stars are peppering the sky. Ever seen a clear night sky with no artificial lighting? It is quite something to behold. I've only gotten far enough away from civilisation to really view it in all its glory a few times. Going up into the Highlands, down the Falklands or in the middle of Yellowstone. I imagine many, if not most people must spend their entire lives never seeing that kind of view even one. Hell it won't even occur to many of them that it could be a thing.

[Alex]

Kristi had her hospital visit today. The results day that the lump isn't cancer, but it is cancerous. I'd have to be honest and say I don't know the difference there. Either way, she is getting surgery to remove it. I've  got a hospital appointment in Jan to get my tongue checked out. Still not been paid for this month. My paycheck apparently was issued, but has disappeared somewhere enroute. Good job we have said gs, my pension and Kristi's job or it would be a miserable Yule. Well not totally because presents were all bought up months ago and despite everything we still donated a good £150 worth of toys for the local poor kids appeal.

If you happen to have some spare cash I'd recommend finding a similar local charity to donate to.

There, that is my food feed for the year done with two weeks to spare.

Funny that even with everything we have going on, we are still in a better position than most. We aren't living in a country where medical bills would be a problem, access to medical care itself isn't an issue, both of us have jobs, got a house which we can afford to keep warm and plenty of food.

Not everyone is as lucky. And yes, some people are in this position by their own damn fault, but not everyone. If you can help out someone deserving, why not do so?

Another dark and quiet night. It does seem that the less people that are around the easier my life is. Still, they do tend to make it more interesting. I'll give them that. I'd still be happy to replace an awful lot of them with cats though. Cats also make life more interesting, but with less inane chatter.

[Alex]

Another lovely dark night. Well aside from the heavy rain anyway. Had to pick up someone guarding a crash gate. When I pulled up, he ran through the pouring rain and dived in the car. I'd to tell him he'd need to get back out as he'd left the spotlights on. By the time he got back in he was drenched through.

Yeah, I could have done it for him, but then I'd have been the cold and wet one. Felt like a bad idea.

When I finish tomorrow that is me off until the 25th. I'll be on days then, so the plan is we'll get Ash up at midnight and let him open most of his presents. Going to leave his train set until I get home. Shame it's a 13 hour shift, but dems the breaks.

[Alex]

Took Ash and Nikki to see Muppet Christmas Carol in the cinema last night. That and Treasure Island are my favourite Muppet movies.

It is snowing today. Too wet for it to lie on the pavement though. I'll need to check the weather report, see if the temperature is going to plunge overnight and turn the street into an icerink come the morning. Hmm, looks like it is supposed to be quite warm tonight.

[Alex]

Well Ash was up all night. He can hardly speak, and wakes up crying in pain. It is very unusual for him to be so tearful. Seemed to be especially excited with his train set, box of lego and his Scooby Doo toys. He slept a few times through the day, but it was after 3 before we got him to go to sleep this morning. At that point there was no reason for me to go to bed since I'd be getting back up at 4.

For my first three hours at work, my entire contribution consisted of giving out one pair of keys and being given several boxes of mince pies. We have stacks and stacks of mince pies that people have brought in and donated to us.

Don't even like the damn things myself.  I accepted them with a smile though, said thank you and all the stuff you'd expect. After all the people are being nice. No point in putting them down for that.

I think I'll sleep well when I get home though.

[Alex]

Another rough night for Ash last night. I got home, ate and then pretty much went to bed. I was asleep by half seven. An hour later I woke up when I heard Ash sobbing. Kristi was sleeping and I decided to leave him alone. If he wanted us, he'd come through and get us. Anyway, by ten he was laughing and playing in his room. I didn't get back to sleep though until after midnight, making sure he had got to sleep ok. He did come through to our room just before I went to work. Gave him some melatonin to get him to drop off back to sleep. Kristi and him both need the rest. I am off work tomorrow so I can sleep then.

Watching the dawn on the security cameras. Nice colours. Then again most dawns up here are rather pretty. Sunsets are more of a mixed bag. Wonder why that is?

Euan is talking about quitting, although he is stuck until September. Once you sign up, you are here for a year minimum. He wants more of a challenge. After more than 20 years of working outside my comfort zone I am quite happy to spend a good bit of time working within it for a change. I don't want to still be doing this job when I turn 60 though. Then again my long-term plan only needs no more than 8 years of work.

[Alex]

Yet another night of Ash waking up crying with a sore throat. We've given him all the medication we can. Kristi is going to make an appointment for him at the doctors, let them have a look a him.

Damn, but we all need a really good night's sleep at this point.

Seeing how many more bad movies I can squeeze in before the end of the year. On my third of the morning. Tooth Fairy 3: The Final Extraction. I wasn't aware of Tooth Fairy 1 or 2 to be fair and the special effects... well they aren't special. The tooth fairy looks like the Mari Lwyd.

Picked up two computer games based on rpgs. Paranoia & Rogue Trader. So far the atmosphere in Rogue Trader is winning over on Paranoia's adaptation. I've heard in the third chapter of RT though that is gets buggy and the game has more or less been released as a beta test. I spent £84 on it, so I'd be a bit annoyed if it turns out that isn't the finished product.

I wonder how much notice is being taken on the (more or less) stalemate in the Russian/Ukrainian war and what is would portend for a future large-scale conflict elsewhere. I think it is time for a new weapon to dominate the battlefield and allow a breakthrough. I wonder what it will be?

[Alex]

Told Kristi I was going out for a hike today. I am really going looking for a birthday present for her. Ordered a Jim Shore ornament for her from Ash. No idea what I am going to get her, I tend to wander around various shops until I find something that jumps out at me as being good for some person.

We had another full nights sleep, even if Ash did wake us up at 7am.

Decided to wear my dress shoes today. Evidently, they fail to keep one's toes quite as warm as my usual trainers or boots do. One thing I do not miss about being in the airforce is wearing dress shoes daily. With the army I have a choice of boots. Either it's my heavy brown boots or my super heavy other brown boots. Always found that walking lots while wearing boots was good for keeping my calf muscles toned. It must work because my legs are the most complimented part of my body.

A random though for today. It surprises me how many people at bad at giving massages and back rubs. Most women who have given me one (not counting professional masseuses here just amateurs), have been more of an endurance test rather than something relaxing (or depending on the context sensual). The best massage I've ever had was oddly enough from my worst girlfriend. Indeed she was the only one I ever learned anything from to add to my technique. She did thus thing where she rubbed down the centre of my spine, getting her fingers between each vertebrae. It is a difficult thing to get right. Sometimes I just can't get it right  but when I do it always brings an ooooh of pleasure.

[Alex]

Nikki was supposed to come round for a game of Bolt Action today but as usual, Nichols is causing drama, threatening to leave her and take her stuff. I told her it was time to get the police involved. They wont come round for that, but she can start buildng a profile of domestic abuse which will come in useful later.

She isn't in a relationship, she is in a hostage situation. I don't get why she just doesn't end the damn thing and move on.

Got Ash's trainset built up which he is quite delighted with. Given how much it cost I am not going to complain about that.

Anyone else getting endless adverts for metal posters? I have never bought and don't really see the point, but that isn't stopping them from appearing.

Back to work tomorrow night, but during the day we are going to take Ash up to the nearest model train store. I want to pick him up some buffers so we can do branch lines for him. Time to see what 2024 (everytime someone says that I automatically think "I Wanna Be Sedated") has to offer us. Lots of people seem to have found it to be a bad year. I wonder what they are basing that against. 2014 had all those big name famous die. 2020 had covid (although I enjoyed lockdown myself. Didn't have to go see people anywhere near as much as before. Somehow doubt much will change just because the planet passes an arbitory amount of time. Best of luck to you though if you think it does make a difference or that this is the perfect time to make some big change in your life. Mostly I see people like that down the gym every January. Come February, they've all given up until next year. Hmm, come 2026 I'll have spent as much time in this millenium as I did in the last one.

[Alex]

Took Ash up to the nearest model railway shop. It was a more than hour and a half journey by bus. I figured the £75 he'd gotten should be enough to get an engine, maybe some other stuff and still have some change left over. Damn near had a coronary when I saw the train Ash picked was three times more expensive than he had.   Heh, I guess trains are more expensive than I thought. The cheapest was just under £100, one of the Thomas the Tank Engine crowd. I'll be happy enough to get him the more pricey ones when he is a bit older and can take good care of them.

Anyway, the bus back was late, and by the time we got home I'd to very quickly jump into my uniform and head into work. Got a phonecall from the hospital. They've booked me an X-ray appointment for Monday afternoon. That will be a long day, finish my shift, get Ash off to school then head up to Aberdeen for my appointment, followed by getting back home and then going back to work. I can snatch some sleep on the train. The days when I could go three days without sleep and still mostly function are pretty much gone, but I can still get by with a few naps here and there.

Every time we think we've got Nikki sorted out with her life something else hits her. Well, we at least got her financial situation sorted out. She's just had a second close family member die in fairly short order. If it isn't that then she has had a raging arguement with her girlfriend. Some people just never get a break.

[Alex]

Another quiet night with only the very occasional person to bother the silence. The few people I've seen have either just wanted keys issued or have in some way expected us to sort out some problem of theirs that is nothing to do with us.

Yeah, they've been getting sent away disappointed. If you've left your room keys back home, guess what? I don't have access to a spare set. Best we can do for you is issue you an emergency room for the night. Some other guy wanted a temporary pass as he'd packed his ID away and didn't want to go through his luggage to find it. His face fell when I told him he'd need to get someone with a valid military ID to come out and vouch for him before I could issue him a pass. He decided to dig his pass out afterall. Guessing he found it since he didn't come back in. The days when we could just issue anyone a pass are long gone.

No one seems to be stealing any aircraft on the big screens. Or the little screens for that matter. Guess I can go back to reading for a bit. Got two main books on the go at the moment. One is the story of a British tank commander during WW2 and the other is a German Heer tank commander. I find the difference in their attitudes towards the whole thing interesting. The British guy ends up spending the first 100 pages of his book travelling around to join a battle only to find that when he gets there, he's got orders to go somewhere else. The German guy... well he complains a lot about not being more thanked by the government for his efforts and starts off pretty much with the invasion of the Soviet Union.

[Alex]

Well tomorrow is going to be a long day. I'll be finishing a 13 hour shift, going home to get Ash ready for school and drop him off, then heading straight up to Aberdeen for an X-Ray. By the time that's done and I head back, I won't have any time to grab any sleep and I'll be getting ready to get back to work.

At least after that shift I can get all the sleep I need.

It is the Sunday before everyone returns to work so lots of people wanting new car passes. Well, ok. For the first half hour on the front desk there were lots of people wanting car passes. Then nothing. Nice fog outside and despite the air feeling warm the ground is icing up. Hopefully it won't affect the roads or railways later.

[Alex]

X-Ray has been had. Now I have a two week wait on the results, by which time I'll be waiting for my other set of results. I wonder if Kristi will have her surgery date by then?

Icy streets again, so as per usual I've done our house and helped out the neighbour. Another night of thick fog too. I think Euan has accepted that the reason he can't see anything on one of the cameras but a glowing yellow mass is because of the fog rather than the cameras having a fault.

Feeling like taking a shopping trip to Aberdeen. The only day I will be able to do that though is today and I'd have to skip sleeping.