Sinister: and then the real dawn came, i saw it crawl over the hill and i felt clean and shook my hair out in the light...

[nafees saeed]

my college run a work shadowing programme.  which basically means somebody
who doesn't really know you looks at your course choices then assigns you to
someone who you follow around for a day and apparently learn about their
profession.  last thursday in college i was told that i had to go to the
careers officer's room, i knew what it was about so it didn't come as much
as a shock to me.  i was hoping that i'd be assigned to do something
interesting like a fireman or a police officer.  but.  i got told i was told
that i was to go a local solicitor's office who i was to follow around all
day whilst they did their job.  the careers officer didn't offer much
insight as to why i was to go there, but apparently it matched my studious
nature, and out of all the possible options, it was apparently the best one
for me.  Ok.

yesterday i started there.  luckily i didn't have to dress in a suit, just
'smart'.  so i left my house lucking smart.  at the moment there's roadworks
around my normal bus stop, so i have to walk about half a mile to the next
one.  this trek takes me through a woodland area with all these really huge
evergreen trees that just seem to reach to the sky letting very little light
through.  the only way to really know where you're going is to follow a
little dirt path that had been forged over time as people have trekked here
before.  but yesterday, it snowed again.  not major snow but enough to cover
the route so it took me twice as long to find my route as it usually did,
and by the time i'd finished i'd managed to lose twenty minutes which meant
that i missed my bus.  so for the next half an hour i was sat on the cold
steel seat of the bus shelter whilst the wind blew snow all over me.  i
didn't have my gloves with me either so my hands were tucked into my pockets
and my head bowed towards the floor.  i didn't have my hat either, so my
ears were cold and stiff which meant my earphones actually hurt me.  but my
reluctance to take my hands out of my pockets and adjust them meant that i
had to endure it for half an hour.  Still, i'm glad i did.  when i have my
earphones in it's great.  it always seems as it's not just me listening to
the music, but everyone is too.  i always think that everyone is hearing
what i am.  that's why i couldn't understand why everyone was looking so
glum, i know everyone had to stand in the snow but still, how can you frown
if you're listening to belle & sebastian?

the bus eventually arrived, bringing it's electrical heating and comfortable
seats and dropped my off at a stop where it was a further fifteen minute
walk in the snow to the solicitor's office.  i eventually got there, and the
secretary took great pleasure in pointing out the obvious and informing me
that i was indeed 40 minutes late.  i of course blamed the weather and the
bus, but she still felt the need to tell me that if this were a real job i
would have to be dealt with.  i felt like telling her that this wasn't a
real job, and possibly the most inconsequential thing that i have done in a
while, but i didn't.  instead i apologised and smiled.  eventually i was
introduced to the person i would be following.  "lee", who's apparently one
of the best in his field and has been a solicitor for quite some time.  lee
also had a crippling handshake, one of those that make you wonder what
you've done to receive such a greeting.

after the initial greeting, i was ushered into his office where he told that
he was working on a case that was about land dispute.  basically, this
family live in such a prestigious and affluent area where all the houses are
so great and magical that even if the family grow in size they're not
allowed to extend their house to suit their needs because if they did, one
house on the street would look different from all the rest and this would
cause the prices of one house to be higher than the others which means that
all the other people on the street would have to go to bed at night knowing
that their houses aren't the most expensive on the street.  naturally, this
means that the world would end.  now the family who want to extend their
house are putting a case together to the other residents explaining why they
should be allowed to extend their house.  granted, this isn't the most
interesting of legal cases but i reasoned with myself that i'd at least have
something to do.  which i didn't.  instead i was sat in the corner of the
office for about 6 hours whilst lee did nothing more than read documents,
occasionally go to the filing cabinet and briefly tell me some lame joke
which was obviously taken from the “big book of politically correct jokes
aimed not to offend a particular sex/race/age/hair colour”.  this was quite
possibly the most boring thing i have experienced in a while.  if i had my
sketchbook i would have at least been able to keep myself amused, but the
only thing i had to draw with was some paper that had been bastardised with
crappy letterheads and a pen that you had to put all your might into to make
work.  however, i did devise some games to keep myself amused such as:
how-long-can-you-keep-a-digestive-biscuit-in-a-cup-of-tea-before-it-crumbles
-in-half? and how-many-seconds-is-it-between-each-breath-that-lee-takes.

eventually the eternity that seemed to be my time there came to an end as
the clock finally dragged it's way to 4.30 and after another excruciating
handshake and lie about how much i enjoyed my time there came to an end and
i went home.  on my way home i think i saw the strangest thing ever.  is it
possible for the sun to set, rise again then set once more? it probably
isn't but i swear it did.  perhaps my boredom made me delusional but i'm
sure the sky changed colour on more than once.

this morning, for a change i was actually glad to be back at college and
once more i was summoned to the careers officer's room.  here i was given
feedback about my time there.  apparently lee found me a polite, hardworking
and attentative person and thoroughly enjoyed having me there.  i of course
have no idea how he managed to think this as all i did was play games with
tea and count his breaths, but i suppose i should be thankful for the
praise.

oh yeah, apparently if i want, i go back there for some extra hours...

...hmm.

---

my tickets for brixton finally came last week, sadly though not delivered
personally by the band.  just my normal postman.  who's ace and has royal
mail issued shoes that are reflective.  he even has this wee trolly thing on
some days if there's too much mail and he can't be arsed carrying it.

hannah brown mentioned "dancer in the dark" which for some reason is on of
my favourite films ever.  i don't know why, perhaps it's my obsession with
Bjork, but still.  if you haven't seen it i recommend it.  it is depressing.
sort of.  i suppose it depends on how you look at it.

someone told me to listen to sigur ros, and i did again for the first time
in ages.  so i thank them kindly.

take care,

nafees.

p.s. the new boards of canada album is ace.

+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+
        +---+  Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list  +---+
     To send to the list mail sinister at missprint.org. To unsubscribe
     send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to
     majordomo at missprint.org.  WWW: http://www.missprint.org/sinister
 +-+       "sinsietr is a bit freaky" - stuart david, looper           +-+
 +-+  "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" "peculiarly deranged fanbase" +-+
 +-+    "pasty-faced vegan geeks... and we LOST!" - NME April 2000     +-+
 +-+  "frighteningly named Sinister List organisation" - NME May 2000  +-+
 +-+  "sick posse of f**ked in the head psycho-fans" - NME June 2001   +-+
 +-+               Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa                 +-+
 +-+               Snipp snapp snut, sa var sagan slut!                +-+
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+