1st day at work - 1 March 2011
I joined the army today.
Walking to work on my first day was like taking a walk in the forest. It’s not a metaphor. For a while I was wondering what I was doing, it seemed crazy. Like isolating myself from life itself. I need to show pictures really, but at one point I wasn’t sure if I was walking the correct road to work, as there was no people around. Nobody was walking with me, in front of me or after me. Nobody even passed me! Once I hit the path to work, located behind the train station, I only saw trees and snow neatly pressed to the ground. I was in the forest. Somewhere in the distance I could hear a road with cars going by one at a time.
After walking for 10mins I could see my future boss waiting on the other side of the fence. What a relief, there is life here. A guard was hesitant about letting me in - I was wearing a black winter coat, jeans and brown shoes and gloves. I wasn’t wearing green and I didn’t have a military ID.
Finally I got a temporary pass to hold on to and after showing my driver’s licence as proof of identity, I got access to my new workspace. It was like landing on a different planet. A big military jeep was waiting, or more like a container on wheels. I climbed up. We drove out of the military base and into town to pick up some pastries from the bakery next to the train station.
My boss told me I look tired. I had cried for two hours straight the night before and my eyes were still puffy. I had woken up at 4.30am after a crap night’s sleep. I was super tired and my head was sore.
We entered the bread shop that I’m sure hasn’t changed interiors since its opening some 60 years ago. After filling a small box with a red ribbon up with cookies, we drove back to the military base and to a yellow brick building - my new office.
The last thing I wanted to do was to meet people and shake their hands and talk about myself and all the wonderful things I’ve done in London over the past 10 years, but it came naturally and wasn’t a problem. Some of them turned out to be very keen to talk about their own merits too. A little bit too much perhaps.
My two new colleagues guided me around the military base by foot. It was freezing and I got cold. The next day I woke up with a sore throat.
Walking to work on my first day was like taking a walk in the forest. It’s not a metaphor. For a while I was wondering what I was doing, it seemed crazy. Like isolating myself from life itself. I need to show pictures really, but at one point I wasn’t sure if I was walking the correct road to work, as there was no people around. Nobody was walking with me, in front of me or after me. Nobody even passed me! Once I hit the path to work, located behind the train station, I only saw trees and snow neatly pressed to the ground. I was in the forest. Somewhere in the distance I could hear a road with cars going by one at a time.
After walking for 10mins I could see my future boss waiting on the other side of the fence. What a relief, there is life here. A guard was hesitant about letting me in - I was wearing a black winter coat, jeans and brown shoes and gloves. I wasn’t wearing green and I didn’t have a military ID.
Finally I got a temporary pass to hold on to and after showing my driver’s licence as proof of identity, I got access to my new workspace. It was like landing on a different planet. A big military jeep was waiting, or more like a container on wheels. I climbed up. We drove out of the military base and into town to pick up some pastries from the bakery next to the train station.
My boss told me I look tired. I had cried for two hours straight the night before and my eyes were still puffy. I had woken up at 4.30am after a crap night’s sleep. I was super tired and my head was sore.
We entered the bread shop that I’m sure hasn’t changed interiors since its opening some 60 years ago. After filling a small box with a red ribbon up with cookies, we drove back to the military base and to a yellow brick building - my new office.
The last thing I wanted to do was to meet people and shake their hands and talk about myself and all the wonderful things I’ve done in London over the past 10 years, but it came naturally and wasn’t a problem. Some of them turned out to be very keen to talk about their own merits too. A little bit too much perhaps.
My two new colleagues guided me around the military base by foot. It was freezing and I got cold. The next day I woke up with a sore throat.
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