Alex's even longer post thread.

[Alex]

The bus station is Elgin has become a bit of a no-go area late at nights. Anyway, it looks like what was inevitably going to happen at some point has happened and one of the bus drivers was murdered by one of the 15-year-old teenagers that have taken to making it their hangout. He's been arrested, there are witnesses, CCTV etc so he'll do jail time no doubt and his live is most likely in an inevitable spiral downwards. The driver hasn't been named publically yet so I can't say if he was a father, brother, husband or any of that stuff. Whatever he was and whatever he could have been, for good or evil is gone.

[Alex]

The latest scammer I've been toying with finally gave up on me last night. She's been grooming me for about a month, maybe six weeks. Generally just talking, sending me photos. She is always well-dressed, often eats at restaurants that are clearly higher-class ones. She told me she was hearing a funny noise from her car when she was breaking, and she sent me a picture of the wheel that just happened to have a Ferrari logo in the centre of the hub cap. All little indicators that she has wealth. Anyway, she wanted me to invest in Bitcoin with her and got quite upset when I wouldn't immediately plunge headlong in. She told me that studying something before investing made her angry.

Anyway, this morning was the first morning since she started messaging and video calling me that I didn't get a good morning message from her wishing me much luck in my day and similar sentiments.

I might not have put a stop to her scams, but I did at least waste her time and get her quite infuriated about it. It is like she thought she was entitled to my money. Takes a bit more than a cute face and some chats while I am bored on night shifts for that lol.

[Alex]

Today marks the 11th anniversary of the day I flew to the US to marry Kristi. Monday marks the day we said yes. We've had a lot of laughs and a few tears along the way but it has been a good adventure and one I'd recommend.

Last day on shift today. I am looking forward to my downtime. Ash woke up just after midnight last night and was throwing up. Didn't get him settled again until 5 am and which point I wasn't getting back to sleep before work. I was pretty tired throughout the day. Last night he was fine so we all got a good nights sleep.

[Alex]

Yesterday I had some woman call up to complain about low flying frightening her horses. Fair enough. I tried to give her the complaints line, but she didn't want that. She wanted, nay demanded to speak to the person in charge of flying because she was beyond angry. I said that was the station commander and she insisted I give her his number. Told her, no, that isn't happening and we went around in circles for a bit. Eventually, I palmed her off to the guard commander and he gave her the RAF police number. We later on spoke to them and they told us she'd called every 5 minutes until they got fed up and blocked her.

I wonder if she'll go complain to the local MP. Going full Karen isn't going to help her. We are training to prepare for a war and the base has been here for a while now. Oh and we have horses on camp. I can see them out of the office window. Yeah, they get a scare now and again, when a jet comes roaring over and they don't see it coming, but having spoken to someone from the saddle club I was told that it isn't any more of a big deal for their animals any more than it is for people.

Oh well, not my problem and its over my pay grade.

[Alex]

Started building an armoured WW2 German train out of wood and paper. I have two of the carriages built up so far. Not looking forward to the battle with Ash to keep it as mine though. 

I might have a drinking buddy. A new guy transferred into our section and seems to have interests that aren't the exact same as mine but as adjacent. It would be good to have someone to go out for an occasional pint or two with, but we shall see how it goes. Discussing popping out for a couple of jars on Tuesday, showing him the town. It is another family Kristi can invite around for dinner which will make her happy.

Life continues to be good. I do keep wondering how long this high point can last. 11 years and only one major trauma point. Got a cold at the moment. I am attempting to drown it in a combination of ale and whiskey. This combination has never worked in destroying a cold before but I remain optimistic about the project.

[Alex]

Nikki finally came over today. Recently she fell off a chair while lightsabre fighting (she did not have the high ground as it happens), and fell off her boat leaving her legs badly bruised. We played a couple of games of Ticket to Ride (I managed to actually beat Kristi quite resoundingly in the first round, but she walked away with the second). We had a couple of walks through town and helped her sort out getting her boat moored at the marina in Lossiemouth. The sea conditions were still stormlike and I took my first good look at what is left of the sand dunes. There is a huge chunk of flat land where once there stood a sheltering dune. At a guess, two more of the storm seasons we have had and the east beach will no longer exist. After that, the north sea will start taking Seatown.

The council has delayed flood defences at least until the 2030s. I think where we are is safe enough. I doubt the government will be prepared to let the base go underwater and something will be done. I just wonder how much damage will be done betwixt now and then.

[Alex]

Manning the back office rather than the front desk. In practise that means my sole job is ferrying people to and from the more remote positions when they change over.

It was a good time off work, relaxed, spent time with Kristi and we took some long walks around the village, something we've not done for a long time. Done a bit over 5 miles which was nice.

Watched the trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine. Or Wolverine Vs a***ole according to Hugh Jackman. I am looking forward to seeing that one.

[Alex]

Spoke nicely to Paddy and got away from work early last night so myself and Kristi could go to a concert together. It was an ELO tribute band called ELO again. I felt the concert took about 20 minutes or so to really get going. The opening number was a slow number that I hadn't heard before for example, whereas I thought 'Turn to Stone' would be a cracking opening number. I can't say if they sounded just like ELO live, but they were good enough to put me in my happy place several times throughout the performance. I don't know if I'd go see them again, because well lets face it. You are going to get the same show on repeat and I find it unlikely that we will see any new tunes from the band that would lead to a bit more variety.

Anyway, it was a fun date night and after 11 years of trying to get Kristi (who often complains that there is nothing happening in nights entertainment-wise in the area) to go and see some of the local shows. We are already discussing going to see a number of other acts, some cover bands and some originals. (MacFleetwood (which I thought was a great title for a cover band) & a Queen cover band for example).

There was a rugby game on camp yesterday which is a bit of a pain for us, issuing passes to all the visiting team and travelling fans. We need advance notifications of everyone coming and if the team changes at short notice (injuries or whatever), we need to sort all that s**t out. Anyway, we got everyone that was expected through with a couple of minor dramas and then an hour or so later a car with four people in it comes up and asks if they can get on to watch the game. Yeah, they just took it in their heads that on a whim they'd drive 4 hours to the base and expect to just be allowed on a military camp with no notice.

That kind of crap makes me grumpy, but I was the duty runner for the day, so I got to sit in the back and leave Euan to sort it all out. Normally I'd have helped out but yesterday I saw the two guys on the front desk were busy so I went through to the front office to help out. As soon as I reached the desk Euan left his position, sat down on a chair at the back of the room and put his feet up on the table. I just turned around and returned to the back office as soon as he did that saying "Your customer" as I walked past. This would be repeated a few times during the day. I mentioned to the guard commander about it so he started watching him, and gave him a bit of a chewing out about it. Yesterday when it was him on the front desk I just stayed in the back and left him too it. When it was anyone else on I went through and helped out. I think he's decided this isn't the job for him and he has mentally checked out of it already. I've felt that way about a few jobs myself but I don't f**k over the other guys doing the job (unless they are the reason I've mentally checked out). I'd found him slightly irritating before, but basically ok until this recent change of character.

We shall have to see where it goes. I'd received a message from the highest ranking guy in our regiment on camp asking if I was free to do a shoot on the 5th of next month. Although technically it is on my private downtime and it is the day before we fly down to London en-route to Paris I said sign me up. It means I can do jobs other than sitting at the front desk and driving around. I walked into work and Euan had asked me if I'd been messaged by Brooksie about doing a shoot (with a tone in his voice that indicated that he thought doing it was a ridiculous idea). I replied "Yeah, of course I did. Otherwise I'd be stuck doing nothing but the front desk until the next available shoot in May). Within the hour Euan had evidently thought about what I'd said and was desperately trying to contact Brooksie to see if their are any spots left for the shoot. There aren't, but Brooksie is trying to find a way to get him on it (not looking likely at the moment).

Anyway, hopefully his attitude will improve a bit. Otherwise it is going to be something of a cold war in the office against him. The other guy who was on the desk is a newly promoted and posted in lance jack. I took him aside for a quiet word and said look mate, the way you let people treat you at the start of your posting will define how you get treated for the rest of your time here and it won't change or get better on its own. Do not let someone treat you like that. Him sitting there not only is being disrespectful to you, or anyone else he is working with but what kind of impression does it make on anyone walking in seeing him sitting there with his feet up on the table.

Afterwards I did have to go and remind myself that I am no longer an NCO, I am just a private and I am not running things any more, but it would have bugged me too much not to say anything, especially as me and this new guy are getting on very well. It is good to have a fellow geek to talk about such things with again. Heh, the phone went off yesterday and when I answered Paddy said "Will you two stop talking s**te!" and I just replied "No" and put the phone down.

Had a friend message me yesterday telling me she'd seen the news about Poland (no idea what she actually saw, but I took a fair guess about the kinds of things) and if were it attacked would NATO get involved and have World War Three.

Look ok, let's take a gander at this thing. Russian forces are struggling to take Ukraine, a country much smaller and with a tiny (but importantly with an experienced military thanks ironically to Russia). They have had to pour troops into a meat grinder, they've lost armoured vehicles hand over fist and been forced to bring back ones that were obsolete even before I was born. Their airforce has been ineffectual due to terrible command and coordination and they've lost something like 1/3rd of their entire Black Sea fleet to a nation that to all intents and purposes does not have a navy of it own. Exactly what force is it that they could possibly invade Poland with? Russia has got one trump card and if they play that, then well everyone loses them included. So, if you are worried about a possible World War 3 there really isn't any point. If it doesn't happen you'll have worried for nothing and if it does happen, well depending on where you live you'll have 14 - 18 minutes to really worry about it and then pretty much everyones problems will be over.

[Alex]

Our holiday in a couple of weeks is all booked. We fly down to London, spend a couple of days there and then off to Paris for a bit and to take Ash to his first Disney trip. Still not a full holiday imo but it is the longest we've taken that isn't visiting family which I like the thought of tbh.

Time to go get a haircut. I've not had one since the festive period.

Watched the second season of Reacher. Enjoyed the first one, but the second time around he just seemed to be a Mary Sue. It didn't matter what the bad guys did, he could easily outthink them and had countered them in advance.

Been trying to find The Last Cannibal World to watch online, but no joy so far. Quite why I would watch something that terrible again well I am not quite sure but I have an urge to watch it again. Its only been more than 40 years since the last time I saw it after all.

[Alex]

The second night on duty always seems to stretch out for much longer than it should. Had a delivery driver ask me if there was somewhere he could go get something to eat and I was about to say "No, at this time of night everything is closed", when I looked round at the clock behind me and saw to my surprise that it was only half past eight and not close to midnight as I had thought.

Had a couple come on together. One was in the forces and was bringing on a civvy partner. I was taking the standard details to issue them a pass and when I asked where they were going I was given not only the block name, but also the room number. When I said I only needed the block name I was then told that it was in case I wanted to join them later. I politely declined saying I was stuck here until 7am, even when they tried offering me cheesecake to sweeten the deal.

While the woman was quite pretty the guy was ginger and I don't want to see ginger pubes, never mind a naked bloke attached to them.

Mind you, might have made the night go faster. My boss said he wouldn't have minded and had popped off for a bit, but I replied that my wife would mind though.

Plenty of people coming in tonight which should mean time feels like it is travelling faster, but it is more irritating because they are spread out rather than coming in clumps so they keep interrupting whatever movie I try to watch. Shame we don't close the main gates for a couple of hours each night.

Someone asked me a simple question the other night and it has caused some odd reactions. Its reminded me of things that I'd managed to put to sleep so successfully that I had forgotten they ever existed. I would call the reaction emotional turmoil, but I can't find a more accurate way to describe it. All those years of suppressing certain aspects that in recent months they were effectively gone, just to be brought back by one short question.

Curious. Do I try and put them back to sleep or revel in them?

It is a Friday night, but its also the end of the month so I am not expecting too many drunks. Then again, its a full moon too so maybe I'll get the crazies coming out instead. Or drunk and crazy.

Started taking a look at what rides they have at Eurodisneyparis (whatever they are currently calling it) and which ones will be open. Got a detachment from the French air force here at the moment. Couple of them came in for something earlier. No idea what the originally wanted, but when I attempted to speak to them they tried to surrender immediately and said they'd happily collaborate if I wanted to occupy their country.

Hopefully that wasn't another threesome offer.

[Alex]

Last night on this set. I'd like to think about the nice long sleep I'll get to have tomorrow morning, but in truth I have a doctors appointment early so I'll need to be awake for that. I can at least get a couple of hours nap in though.

Its been an eventuful night, tracking people down to inform them of family tragedys, reports of vandalism outside the base (what exactly do people expect us to do about that. What authority we have during peacetime begins and ends at those camp gates. The instant we step outside to do something without a request for support from civilian authorities we are in a whole world of hurt. Even if we could act outside it, what do people think we are going to do gun down a bunch of kids? Gunning them down might be a thing in other places, but not here.

Not that I'd be entirely adverse to knee capping them or something, but not just sending a random hail of bullets their way.

My supervisor didn't want me to get involved in the vandalism thing, but I let the on base police know about it (again they are limited to the camp gates) and the civilian police about it too. That's the thing though everyone wants someone to do something about it, but no one wants to be the one to do it. The guy who called the guard room didn't want to phone the police about it, my boss didn't want me to call the police and my guess is that the police will be busy somewhere else anyway but hey at least I tried. If nothing is done then eventually you end up with someone else being murdered, lots of handwringing and promises to learn lessons that never quite seem to manage to be learned.

[Alex]

Shot a live rifle for the first time in what, 4 years?

Still an overrated experience and I have it to do again next week (although on a 300m range instead of 25m).

My blood sugar has shot up to highly dangerous levels. They've had to put me on the most powerful available medication to try to bring it down. I have a review next week to see if they are going to have to limit my duties, stop me from shooting or driving. That doesn't particularly bother me to be honest. Even if I were to be medically discharged there are plenty of jobs out there. I've spoken with my boss though and he doesn't seem to think that even the worst-case scenario would be a problem for me keeping my job.

Had one of my new workmates and his wife around for dinner last night. When I asked if there were any dishes from the US he would like, he said corn dogs. Not something Kristi had ever made before as it turned out, but she did a good job (although she also prepared BBQ chicken and a few other things in case the dogs didn't work out). Anyway, everyone certainly seemed to have a good night. In the eleven years we've been married, that is twice I've invited people around for dinner so I now feel Kristi can no longer complain that I never do that.

[Paquita]

Really? He asked you to make corn dogs and wasn't joking? Haha! That's like carnival food! I have never known anyone that actually made them from scratch in their home so kudos to Kristi for pulling that off! I would have just got frozen ones. 

[Alex]

You don't get them over here. Kristi had to order the ingredients online and then went out and bought a deep fat frier to make them in. I have to say they were really good. Certainly better than the ones I'd had at Disneyland.

[Alex]

Back in the CCTV room today, so straight into watching plenty of movies. It has been one of those mixed weather days where you get all 4 seasons. Right now it is an autumnal evening. Earlier on we had a clear spring day, a winter shower. I missed summer when I was in the room with no windows.

Jonsie wants me to try a game called Full Spectrum Dominance with him. It is a new one, 6mm scale. I've said I'll give it a go, maybe even buy an army for it. Figure I'll go a faction called either The Tech (AI robots) or Conglomerate who look like they have a lot of high tech fast moving vehicles.

Hah. Watch this space. If the game is any good I'll no doubt end up getting all the factions.

Can't wait to have this set done and just be off on leave. Too many pain in the arse things going on. Nothing overly major just so many niggling things to deal with. Some of them will just go away naturally and a few I'll need to deal with.

Euan's mere presence seems to be enough to annoy me now following his sitting down with his feet up and expecting everyone else to do his work episode. He is actively applying for other jobs though. Lets just hope he gets one. Then again he is applying with Boeing. Maybe as a former aircraft engineer I should get a job there just to blow a raspberry in his general direction. I heard one of the old sgts I used to work beside who left to go work with them didn't get his contract renewed. I suspect I know the reason why, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I could apply for his former role. Poor Sully. I suspect he has just realised the grass really isn't greener on the other side. With a family the size of his (they are in double figures), I hope they can cope. Mind you, there is always my job. He could come join us. Won't be as much money as he was on, but it should be better than collecting unemployment.

Then again, he could always take Jonathon Swift's advice on children...