it shouldn't be like this

Signed off

2010-05-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

CS was consistently chaotic to the last. Two weeks ago I got my last pink slip. As the supervisor filled it in he tallied up my hours. He wrote, 'balance - 1 hour', (crossed out) with 'zero/completed' written underneath. I asked if I had to have anything else to prove I was done. Not that I was expecting a graduation ceremony and a scroll but this seemed a bit too casual. I wasn't surprised that the supervisor was typically vague. All he said was 'I think you are just completed'. So I just did not turn up the next Sunday.

I got a call during the following week, from my offender management officer. I had to turn up one more time to be signed off. So I did. Last Sunday, the supervisor said 'hi'. He didn't know what else to say or do, I guess. I TOLD HIM he had to sign me off. As he didn't have any sort of form to complete he said I should consider myself signed off.

So I came home again. I have now completed... I think.

Decision time

2010-04-09T03:50:00.000-07:00

I have begun following some of the new blogs that have sprung up since the general election was announced. I resent being lumped together with everyone under 30 as one of the x-factor generation. Apparently we are those who will vote for a sad wannabe that eveyone knows will end up being manipulated by some rich manager but not in a general election

Aren't politicians and wannabe politicians also motivated by money and manipulated by big business? I do not follow X-Factor, but I did buy Killing in The Name.

Tell me what you stand for and why I should vote then I won't spoil my ballot paper. I am not even dignified with the name of floating voter. Though if you read the Indie blog www.indyeagleeye.livejournal.com that term has definitely been un-dignified. Politics of the playground, why should we be any different?

Blogscorrespondent

2010-04-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

As there was no CS this week I am allowing myself to digress. Anyway my sentence is nearly over and I thought I would diversify. A few weeks ago I mentioned I read the Times when no one is looking, I also read The Indie from time to time. It seems that the Independent has appointed a blog correspondent for the duration of the election. Michael Bywater. So far he has commented on blogs by the famous and the lesser known. I bet he doesn't look at this blog.

Nearly at an end

2010-04-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

First I thought I would have done my 240 hours by early January. Then there were all the Sundays when I was among those turned away (no work, no supervisors, no BUS!) so I thought it would be February, then there was the snow. But now I have 8 more hours to do, one day plus a couple of hours. Not this week though, it's Easter.

Some people don't seem to care how long the hours stretch out, it is just a way of life. A couple of weeks ago one bloke (I'll call him Steve) was on his last 6 hours. It was clear, yet again, that there would not be enough places on the one rotten bus that they had actually managed to get started that morning. The rule when you get near the end of your sentence is you are not to be stood down.

Steve was moved to the front of the line to make sure he got on the bus. Somehow he was counted then doubled back to the end of the line again behind me.

The dumb look on the supervisor's face when he thought he had a full bus and looked round and saw Steve made everyone laugh. Steve must have thought it was worth it but he's mad, he could have finishd that day but he didn't, just so that he could beat the system. It reminded me of the time when I had just begun CS and two boys stole all sorts of stupid worthless stuff from the school we were painting, just because it was there. I was a bit shocked then, not much surprises me now.

No PPE

2010-03-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't got a lot of time for all the tedious regulations we have to obey at work. The Health and Safety rep is the most annoying bloke in the yard. He is always shouting about some breach of the regs, not lifting properly, failure to wear a high vis jacket etc. You name the infringement and he has made a note of it in his little book. But there are certain safety instructions I think anyone would be mad not to follow. Like wearing steelies (steel capped boots)and eye protectors.

Two weeks ago at CS we were given the choice of indoors or out door work. I usually choose out door but we were close to the road and I don't want to be spotted. I got my job before I went to court and don't want to loose it because some sneak sees me in the 'chain gang' The job we were asked to do was chipping tiles off a shower room wall, PPE? Forget it. Dust and chips of tiles flying everywhere and no goggles or masks. I got some cuts on my hands and arms but luckily neither the person I was working with nor I got anything in our eyes, the dust made us cough though. Last Sunday I took my own goggles and face mask, just as well, we were doing the same job.

Today

2010-01-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

Stood down again. I didn't mind for a change. I stupidly banged my knee last night (pub table since you ask). So when they asked for volunteers to go home I put my hand up. It is possible to self certificate but they only give you a couple of these. I would rather turn up and be sent home, that way I keep the self certs in reserve

Tomorrow

2010-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about tomorrow. My next day of CS. Wondering what we will be told to do. Last week we went to the old churchyard again. We are clearing the weeds and long grass from around the grave stones, we began the work before Christmas and the extended break caused by snow, lack of supervisors and no supervisors at all. I have been reading the inscriptions on the stones, no one has been buried there for over 50 years. Then last week a very old lady walked through. She said how glad she was to see the place looking more cared for. Her brother was buried there, he died when he was five. That must have been way before the second world war, so after all someone appreciates what we are doing

same again

2010-01-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

I forgot to blog last Sunday night, probably because it was the same as last week, or very nearly. We have had snow since last Tuesday night, I could not get to work on Wednesday but by Thursday the roads were clear and life was getting back to normal, despite the big freeze and the snow piled up on the icy pavements. On Sunday about 8 of us turned up on time for CS, but no supervisors at all and the vans had that much snow on them it was clear they had not moved since the big snow fall. The rule is you wait 45 mins for the pick up, if no one has arrived by then you can go home and you will not be marked as a no show. Well we waited for 30 minutes slowly freezing to death. Then went home. They had better credit me with an hour for turning up this week.

Another day wasted

2010-01-04T03:21:00.000-08:00

I had not touched a joint since my arrrest but, on New Years Eve a group of blokes walked up to my mates and I and asked if we could spark up.

Turned out what they wanted was for someone to roll a joint, from the green they had ground because their hands were too cold!! It did not seem the moment to refuse so I obliged, they thanked me and walked on - very strange

Turned up as usual for CS yesterday, only one bus, too many people, sent home.

Have I learned my lesson?

2009-12-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

Somoene posting a comment asked if I have learned anything. Yes I have learned things, some of which I have written about already, like how stupid I was to get into this mess in the first place, how to keep my head down and how most of the other blokes just regard CS as a nuisance. These blokes are not really bothered how often they get into trouble.

But I have learned absolutely nothing from the 'work' itself. We are given little or no instruction and the supervisors are stretched to the limit, far too busy making sure no one actually commits a crime during the session to actually give us any instruction.

In the 1930s at the height of the Depression there were work programmes for the unemployed, particularly in the US. Some projects were really worthwhile, but one economist went as far as to say that any work whatsoever was better than having people on the dole, even digging holes in the road and filling them in again. CS is just below this level of utility (or futility).

We get next Sunday off for Christmas

No room on the bus

2009-12-13T01:45:00.000-08:00

One mini bus, 6 seats, 20 blokes reporting for duty, I'm home again

Reading material

2009-12-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about tomorrow, my CS day. Wondering what else can go wrong with the arrangements, recently we have had van trouble. Two weeks ago we had a puncture and we had to wait in the van for someone to come and change the tyre. I had a passing thought, here was the opportunity to learn something useful, how to change a tyre but no... CS does not do practical relevance.

The supervisor said if we could get someone to pick us up we could go. Just like that, one more way to delay finnishing my 240 hours. We have had; not enough supervisors, supervosors training day, rain and now punctures. When I started my sentence I thought it would be over by January, now I'm looking at February.

I rang my mate Olly he agreed to come and get me. Then several blokes said they needed the toilet, we were just by Sainsburys, the supervisor said he had to go with us and we had to go together. I had no intention of joining that lot on a shop lifitng spree, the supervisor would never keep an eye on all of them all the time.

Waterstones seemed to be the best place to wait for Olly, little chance any of the inevitable absconders would join me there. I spotted a book I liked the look of. CS involves so much time just sitting around, for the bus or on the bus or for the rain to stop, I usually buy a paper to keep a low profile I buy a red top, I usually finish it before we reach our first job, a book would be better.

Last week no one noticed I was reading the book, I am wondering if tomorrow I could get away with the Times...

removal of priveledges

2009-11-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

The supervisor wanted to talk to us all as soon as we got out of the mini bus today. We were going to carry on with last week's job, clearing grounds around a school, but before we began he wanted 'a word'. I had been hoping to claim the strimmer and ear defenders and get as far away as possible from everyone else again. Working on these big out door sites gives plenty of opportunity to muck about. I don't mind being on look out for someone who wants to use his mobile (not allowed) but I draw the line at covering for a couple of blokes who want to smoke a spliff round the back of the tool shed (definately not allowed). It's none of my business what the others get up to but I don't want anthing to do with any of it. As for cannabis it got me into trouble in the first place and I have no intention that it should get me into trouble again.

So there we were, squashed into the tool shed and the supervisor had his 'you have all let me down AGAIN' face on as he explained that a large power tool had gone missing after last week. Actually we all had overheard a couple of boys boasting that they had managed to avoid putting it back in the store last week and had stashed it somewhere on the site for collection later. So missing, but not stolen... yet.

To give the supervisor his due he did not ask us to 'come clean' he just said - in his weary voice - 'because of this no one may come into the hut for a tea break and you will have to eat your lunch (we all take sandwiches) outside'. So we learn the only sanction, no matter what anyone does, all they can do is make us stand outside to eat our lunch.

We could be doing something useful

2009-11-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

Of course we are not supposed to enjoy ourselves and we have no right to complain if community service is boring, but it might at least be useful or worthwhile. We put up fences all the wrong way because we are not shown the right way, we do work that just looks a mess because we don't have the right tools. I was thinking the other day, some of us have jobs but many don't. Why not teach us a skill that could lead to getting a job. Or, some of us might have our own homes eventually if we knew how to put up fences properly that skill could be very handy. What about the actual order being to acquire a skill, an NVQ or something? Then the time we serve could be related to gaining the skill, you complete your sentence when you pass. That at least would have a purpose, what we are doing now is just like digging holes and filling them in again - VERY slowly and VERY VERY badly

what I did

2009-11-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

When anyone on the community service project asks what I did to end up there I just say I was caught with some green. I never say any more. I don't say; I was drunk, stupid, should have run away when I saw the bouncers were searching bags and should not have bought enough for the whole party, but it was all of these.

Near my university campus there was an area of pretty scruffy terraced houses where a lot of us lived. Walking down those streets any evening the smell of cannabis was everywhere. I didn't smoke when I was at school even though I was offered it enough times but once at uni it became a way of life. My first year I shared with a stoner and began to enjoy a smoke myself, soon I met others who smoked and in the second year we all spent a lot of our evenings stoned. One of us would collect contributions from the others and go shopping for the whole group. It did not seem like supplying because we all took turns.

That's not how the police saw it when I was arrested just before last christmas, it was a bit of a wake up call for us all but I was the one who got caught.

keeping my head down

2009-11-25T15:05:00.000-08:00

I don't talk to anyone in the group if I can help it, it's better that way. Mostly I try to keep my head down unless someone asks me a direct question. People are coming and going all the time, as some finish their hours and some begin, the new ones ask questions. Not surprisingly the most common is 'why are you here?' Last Sunday, as we were clearing rubbish from an old churchyard, another new 'recruit' wandered over with the inevitable question. 'What did you do?' I say as little as possible 'I was caught with a bag of green going into a bar'. Later on in the morning he came up to me again, he had been thinking... 'You probably won't want to go back to the same dealer, I can fix you up with what you need'. You have to be a bit careful but a polite refusal doesn't usually offend. 'It's OK mate I'm already sorted'. Keep it ambiguous.

we're all criminals here

2009-11-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

We were working at a school, painting classrooms; one supervisor, two groups. I was sanding down a door in one room, two boys rushed in, asked if it had been searched. I didn't know what they meant at first then watched as they opened every cupboard and drawer, stuffing their pockets with whatever they could find. Only pencils and post-its available but they took them anyway. I was scared we would all get blamed. The two boys did not give a F*** they used the post-its to decorate the windows in the bus on the way back to base. The supervisor, over her shoulder as she drove the mini bus asked where they got the stuff from, no one answered... My first stupid thought was 'they are just criminals' my second was 'we are all criminals'. My third, that some people were going to learn a lot about crime...

I'm not whining

2009-11-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

I only got to thinking about remission for good behaviour when I saw the end of my sentence receding into the distance. 240 hours seemed long enough; at 6 hours a day, one day a week, I knew it was going to take 40 weeks to complete but I did not allow for the cancellations. I am halfway through and already it will take me an extra month to complete my sentence.

The first week I arrived at 8.30, as instructed, and promptly six of us were sent home with only 1 hour to our credit, not enough supervisors. The same thing happened the following week. On week 3 we finally got going, 6 hours and I went home clutching the all important piece of pink paper. We were told at the orientation session to keep hold of the pink slips as though they were £20 notes... How right they were. As I clock up my hours I often find that someone at the 'ofender management service' (Probation service to most of us) forgets to log my hours for the previous week. So I have to check and dispute the total producing my slips.

Then there was the training day, just like school, there has to be supervisor training days, and they have to be on on Sundays, my days. So another week passes and I have not added to my total of hours served. Once someone managed to stick a fork through his foot, despite wearing steelies (steel capped boots) while we were doing some gardening. There was no one to supervise us while they took the injured bloke to hospital so we were taken back to base first, only 3 hourse clocked that day. Supervising that's a joke, I will blog about that one day soon.

Yesterday took the biscuit and is really the reason for this rant and why I have begun this blog. It was raining!!! The job was outside it was decided we could not get wet. I work outside - Monday to Friday, my boss would take a very dim view if I did not turn up if it rained. Not so we criminals.

Honestly I just want to get this over with. I have no intention of getting into this mess again and I'll blog about that later too. I'm not whining - honest

no remission

2009-11-22T14:54:00.000-08:00

It doesn't matter how well you behave, how much you just keep your head down and get on with the job, ignoring the other criminals (I have had to get used to that, we are all criminals on this job) there is no remission when you do community service. I have to 'serve' 240 hours, practically the maximum number of hours they can give you, its non negotiable. Of course I'm relieved I did not get sent to prison but prisoners get parole. I get 240 hours no more no less