Are You Settling In Okay?

Its Friday here at the lost world and today I got up one hour early because Betty is taking another of her holidays so I am all on my own, one good thing about coming to work early is the traffic is light.
My 6th week at the monastery has seemed a bit more subdued at melancholous and I guess I must have appeared a bit depressed because our assistant head monk, Shandy Pants enquired if I was “settling in okay”.
I didn’t want to tell him that the reason for my depression was that Madonna’s latest single “Miles Away” finished up in the charts miles away from the top 10 debuting at No39 before falling to 68, her worst performing single since the release of “Borderline” in 1984.
The Lost World, which seems like now the distant past, is still under the guidance of Father Bell and Riddion though it is rumoured that Father Bell is suffering from Cabin Fever which affected Jack Nicholson’s character in the Stephen King film “The Shining”.
Betty is very systematic in her ways of doing things whereas I am very spontaneous and tend to jump about with my tasks and forget half of what I am doing, I guess like she remarked the other day we are both used to working on our own.
She is a nice lady though and quite funny at times however can also be very bossy and like many institutionalised people is of the opinion that if something has been done a certain way for a good few years then the method should be set in reinforced concrete.
Soon she will be introducing me to a whole new dimension in my duties with calculating the wages which I look forward to with glee and I am sure I will be able to find much better ways of doing them which will involve huge complex spreadsheets with unfathomable formulas that no one including me understands.
I did have a try at modifying this spreadsheet which keeps track of holidays the other day, my first tentative steps into the world of the wages however I wound up losing the protection from the spreadsheet and “forgot” how to get it back which provided Betty with a great deal ammunition for her Luddite cause.
My part of the office is in a sort of common room of the old directors suite and has 3 offices joining to it, the first one is Ms Bickerdykes office, the second is the luxurious penthouse space of Betty and the final one is a sort of storeroom and the home of The Oracle when she comes for a visit.
Ms Bickerdyke has just arrived now as I write this, she looks glowing with energy, she did at one time before I became a member of the Lost World be my boss but only for a short period, I now think of her a sort of posh big sister even though she is much younger than me.
Yesterday Father Carolgees our absent minded leader bought me some Fish and Chips which were something I never got from Dolph however I think he finds it hard to see past the hopeless drunk he used to know many years ago.
Back in 2004 when I was here last Father Carolgees on a couple of occasions ended up taking me home after I was found wondering round a nearby field disorientated and inebriated and you know what they say about first impressions.
On Tuesday me and Betty erected our office Christmas tree and decorated it with fairy lights and baubles while singing along to a variety of Christmas carols, it was here she told me about her enjoyment of Morris dancing which she regularly attends with her husband and wagon driver Harry Potter.
Also this week Harry managed to lose his wagon which is 40 foot long, he has indeed just been in this morning and is now driving around with Keith Chicken as a co-pilot, he told me he had it with him right up till Monday Dinnertime and I was able to tell him it was last seen going to a place near Derby with a driver called John.
He has now headed off in pursuit of a vehicle which he considers a second home and also a shrine for his love of Morris Dancing which his cab contains quite a number of pictures of him and Betty enjoying their hobby.
Talking about hobbies, I ended up bowling for our indoor bowling team, “The Apostles” on Wednesday night with Happy, Captain Picard and of course Luke but my performance could be described as dreadful, I had no control of the speed at all on the artificial surface and nearly broke our Captains leg when another one of my bowls hit the gutter with a little more energy that what was required.
Also at home this week we have had a new bathroom fitted which was why I had last Monday as a holiday, I have also booked this Monday and Monday to Wednesday of next week as Holidays which means I have just 4 days remaining in which to work.
Luke seems content at the moment; he has just got a project from school all about Gravity one of physics’ oldest and least understood forces and usually goes to visit his mum the Ice Queen from Sunday night returning on Wednesday after school.
This week the driver’s league is as follows;
Mv Nov Dec Driver SumOftotal
▲ 3 1 Harry Potter 62376
▲ 7 2 Orville 55144
▲ 13 3 Jackie Chan 51980
▲ 6 4 Wurzel 51528
▲ 19 5 HAN007 44084
▼ 2 6 Burty Basset 41584
▲ 8 7 Obiwan 41584
▼ 5 8 Tim Terapin 41584
▲ 14 9 Keith Chicken 41584
▲ 24 10 Simon (D&A) FJ57NCE 31252
▼ 9 11 Van Damn 31188
▲ 22 12 The Crowman 31188
>> NE 13 John DX04DNY 20792
▲ 20 14 Rodney 20792
▲ 91 15 Hawkins X396AAD 20792
▼ 10 16 Dizzy 20792
▼ 4 17 Donkey Daz 20792
▼ 12 18 LB 20792
▼ 17 19 Mark Y77MAS 20792
▲ 25 20 Bruce Forcythe 12204
>> NE 21 Steve P20COD 12204
>> NE 22 David SV06EFH 12204
>> NE 23 Paul K500COD 12204
▲ 32 24 Jim P40COD 12204
>> NE 25 John T70ETF 11752
▲ 56 26 Stuart S21COD 11300
>> NE 27 David YW03TZF 10848
>> NE 28 Spice S453ARP 10848
>> NE 29 Robertson AY08BZO 10848
>> NE 30 Newland AY08BZS 10848
Harry seems to be doing okay despite losing his wagon but if he doesn’t find it soon Orville, Jackie Chan or Wurzel will soon take his place at the top of the league and receive the Yuletide gift from Betty.