Well, it's the end of my first week at the new job and I can honestly still say that I am having a great time at it. Although I must say that I really can't understand how people make their full careers at it - eight hours a day on your feet running around! By the end of the day the poor old dogs are barking! And that is from a fellow who is quite used to 10-13 and even 20 km hikes with a 20 kg pack on my back and a rifle n my hands (although we used to sling arms as soon as we could). I have a whole new respect for retail sales clerks.

I am getting a lot of practice with my splicing skills. I have done a fair amount in the past but mostly only for myself so many of the different types of splicing, especially that with double braid, I have only done once or twice and am definitely out of practice, but I am an absolute moderate whiz at three strand standard and tapered splices. One of the nice things about the modern manmade fibres is that you can cut them with a heat gun and that certainly makes the tapering a whole lot easier. I am going to get in practice for the double braid and the rope to wire and rope to chain splicing so that I can not only be of assistance to the rigger at the shop but also could do some of it for hire while under way this fall.

I have the next two days off, and wouldn't you know it, the forecast is for rain! I guess I'll be doing inside jobs and maybe Barb and I will go to another movie. We have tentative plans to go with Pat and Lisa so we'll have to see if they're still available tomorrow. I have researched the movies playing and am really surprised at the choice. There are four movies that I wouldn't mind seeing. None of them have been critical successes so far but they are filling the seats from a box office point of view so perhaps we should try to get in during the mid day.

The CPS annual dinner last night was pretty good, but I am starting to get a complex about never winning any of the door prizes. This is the fourth one of these that we have gone to and although there were almost as many prizes as there were people in attendance, neither Barb nor I, nor, for that matter, any one in our row of seats even had a sniff. I was waiting for people to relocate to get away from our bad luck. The dinner put on by the caterers that the CPS brought in was really good: a buffet that included - choice of dinner rolls, choice of salad, rice or potatoes, mixed veg and salmon or roast beef. In fact you could have some of all of it if you wanted and go back for seconds. After the main course there was desert and coffee or tea. I'm afraid that my diet was sacrificed on the altar of my appetite.