I don�t know if it�s because I�m busier now or if the novelty�s worn off - maybe it�s a bit of both - but I feel a little less inspired to write anything when I realise that there probably isn�t anyone out there reading it. None of the people I know have a clue about Diaryland nor would they care.

It�s just as well. I don�t really want any of them reading my diary. Just like most people here, I want my thoughts and quirks and stuff to be anonymous. I don�t know why, but it is a bit more exciting when total strangers do respond - reenforcement without commitment, I think. I�ll have to analyse that some day...but not now.

I started a new contract in Big Town last Tuesday. The company I used to work for till I retired (that�s another story) seems to need people to do the work that they no longer can handle. They need people who can work on a contract freelance sort of basis. Good for me since that�s the business I�m into now.

Anyway, since the AOA last month, there seems to be an increased demand to develop emergency and security plans and facilities. So that�s what they hired me to do. As long as there are crises, I�ve got a gig, I guess.

Back in the dark ages, when I was young, the big concern was the �Cold War� and nuclear annihilation. The bogey man was the U.S.S.R and all security and defence organizations were obsessed with building devices and processes that would block or defend against an attack from the great white East-European north.

Anyone who�s read my diary will probably guess that the company I used to work for is a large broadcasting company. In the late 50's and early 60's, the military built bunkers all over the country so that if �The Evil Empire� ever did drop atom bombs on us, our politicians would be safe and the government could still function in a hole in the ground several hours from where real people would be fried to a crisp. Ludicrous when you think of it.

So...The-company-I-used-to-work-for (herein called TCIUTWF......the cute woof!!) was part of that system. We had studios in the bunkers that would take over all radio transmitters in the area and broadcast military doctrine or something.

When the �Cold War� supposedly ended about a decade ago, all of those facilities along with the plans for how to use them were dismantled. We were safe from the evil hoards, right? Well along comes the AOA...911...the WOT (war on terrorism) and everything changes overnight. Organizations are in a panic to get some facilities and some plans in place - including TCIUTWF. And that�s where little old me comes in.

So I�m commuting to work every day and I�m not working with luvofmylife any more. That was probably a bad idea anyway. We worked together once when we were young but our relationship has turned into something else. We look to each other for support and to get an outside perspective away from our daily work lives - to uplift and inspire one another. Not to rag about the things that are bugging us at our common workplace. The month I spent working in that office with her has helped me to understand her situation better, though.

Hmmm.

I guess I�ve gone on long enough tonight. Gonna sit back with luvofmylife and watch a movie or the baseball playoffs or something.