Month: May 2010

Serendipity

The T.A. Physical Training Instructor gave us all a brief before we left. He made a point of going on about buying decent trainers for running as your knees take an immense battering. At the time I was scornful. We used to do all of our running in Boots, Combat, High. O.K., so we had a lot of shin splints, and I tried to get Premature Voluntary Release because the pain in my knee was so unbearable, but that was 20 years ago and mainly forgotten. Besides, it was character building. I thought I was being a bit precious running in my old, flat soled, unsupported trainers. As you can see, not really high tech running shoes. I bought them whilst practising Taekwondo so I would have some lightweight footwear, the better to kick people in the head. As running shoes go, not really fit for purpose. Before I went to the T.A. assessment weekend I bought a cheap pair of Asda trainers, so I would have not-scruffy footwear in case the army was being sniffy.I wore them once, didn’t like them (I thought they were rubbing my toes) so never actually ran in them. I was looking at them earlier in the week, considering what the PTI had said about lots of padding on the heels to absorb the shock on the run. They fitted the bill so I went for a run to try them out. Revelation! The PTI and I were both right! It felt massively more comfortable running in trainers with padding and they rubbed like a bitch. Yesterday, being a day’s holiday, I went up town to the a sports shop. ‘Give me proper running shoes now Mr trainer pimp!’ I went in and my heart sank. The whole of the back wall of the shop was given over to row upon row of trainers.A myriad of different styles, presumably for different purposes, most I suspect just for Chavs to flash labels. Woe onto the Buckster. I was envisioning the scenario; ‘I want some running shoes’. ‘You must get these, here fill out the mortgage repayment plan, you’re so down with the Chavs.’ A mild sense of panic was setting in as I wandered up and down the row. I ended up at the end of the section, as that was where the assistant was. She was serving some chap, so I looked on bewildered, like a stereotypical chick in a car showroom ‘ I like that one, it’s black.’ Anyway, this chap was umming and aarring, trying on different styles, sizes, half sizes etc. In short, he seemed to know what he doing. In desperation I said to him ‘you’re not a runner, are you?’ He was! He’d just done the Manchester 10k, and was off to do the Glasgow full marathon! Joy! I asked him what I was supposed to be looking for in a running trainer, he said ‘Aasics’ or ‘Balance line’. “Anyone who’s anyone in running gets Aasics.” Spot on! As […]

Continue reading

The mills of the army grind slow…

The heading refers of course to the quote; “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all.”  (1870 Longfellow poems, 1960) The army, whilst not god, does have to slowly grind through every process, however time consuming or irrelevant. Take the farcical case of my blood group. They told me to take written proof of my blood group to the assessment. They stated either written confirmation from my doctor or my blood donor card. Having neither I took my army issue I.D. from when I served in the regular army. An I.D. that the army issued me, with my blood group written on it. They wouldn’t accept it as proof of my blood group! O.K., it is twenty years old, but I’m not likely to have changed my blood group because B positive is so last season. So I went to the doctors (again) last Monday. She said my blood group was personal information and not stored on their system (!) so I had to arrange to see the nurse, again, for more bloods on Wednesday. Turned up Wednesday morning morning, the nurse said “Oh, we can’t take blood for blood groups here, you’ll have to go to the hospital.” I went home, fuming about the pointlessness of it all, and the fact the documents officer wanted this information A.S.A.P. An hour later the nurse ‘phoned me back and said “We can do your bloods here, can you come back?” So I did. Friday I got another call off the same nurse saying “Somebody has to pay for blood group testing, so they’ve not processed your sample.” In desperation I said I’d pay, so now I have to wait until tomorrow (Monday) to ring the doctors, to arrange another appointment, to have more blood taken, to pay for it, and to wait for the results to get back, then arrange to have the doctor put my blood group in writing. Then, finally, the army will know that my blood group is B positive, as they put on my I.D. card. In more positive news, I got a ‘welcome to the regiment’ pack yesterday. That was nice. It looks like I’ve got to do my basic training then a conversion course to army driving, then I’m fit to deploy. Sounds like I could be off to Afghanistan by the end of the summer, doesn’t it? But no. Even with opting for two out of the three fast track basic training courses I won’t finish my basic training until the end of September. The idea of the fast track courses is to try and put them more or less back to back, so students and the like can get it all done and dusted on their holidays. I considered doing all three of the fast track courses, but that would have meant starting training 10 –23 July (the first two courses, which I am going to do) come […]

Continue reading