Sore Feet & Premium Seats

Dropped Peter off at the train station at just gone 6.00am - yawn. When I got home I decided I was too awake to go back to bed so pottered about for a bit and then got ready to go out. Decided to go to mum and dad's first today, so got to Andover at around 8.30am and had a chat for an hour and collected the compost bin. Went over to Wendy's at 9.30am and had a quick coffee before we left for Basingstoke. The compost bin was still in the back of the car but decided no-one would be sad enough to steal it.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the shops. When we were younger my shopping spree spending used to far outweigh Wendy's but no longer! I bought myself a £10 pair of flat black shoes in the sales and a few bits of makeup and that was about it. Wendy bought quite a few items of clothing and some shoes (although they were in the sales too). By 12 o'clock our feet were getting tired and we were starving so popped in to Greggs to get a sandwich and a coffee.

Then it was off to the cinema to see Premonition - we did a 'naughty' and sat in the premier seats even though we had just paid for the normal ones - well, the cinema was virtually empty so why not! God they were comfortable though - no bum ache at all which is unusual for me. The film was ok but rather confusing - Wendy got to grips with it far easier than I did with all it's jumping about and flashbacks. They avertised an Anthony Hopkins film in the trailers which looked excellent but neither of us can remember the name except it has a one word title and is a court room drama about Anthony killing his wife. Oh well, I'd expect the internet will reveal what it is.

After the cinema it was off to Asda to get Wendy's weekly shop. Oh dear - this was NOT good. Wendy and I are totally incompatible in our shopping habbits. If I have to go into a crowded Saturday supermarket - I plan it like a military campaign - up the isles at record speed throwing things into the trolley with an aim to getting out as fast as possible (Peter and I used to split up too and each find a few items before reporting back to base - the trolley). However, Wendy is a 'browser' and actually enjoys the experience! We must have got to Asda at around 3.30 and didn't surface until after 5.15. Wendy likes to research new products and stop and really look at things to try and find things that are different whereas I can't be bothered. I did have on revelation in there though - I had picked up some malt loaf made by Weight Watchers that was £1.08 and shoved it in the trolley and then noticed the Asda own brand was just 22p. On closer inspection of the label the Asda brand was actually lower in calories than the Weight Watchers brand!! What a rip off. So I could have bought almost 5 Asda one's for the price of one WW one.

We got back to Wendy's place at around 6pm and Wendy cooked chilli con-carne - yum. I stayed for the evening and we watched Doctor Who (excellent) and Andrew Lloyd's webbers new show about finding a 'Joseph' for his stage show. I didn't think I would get sucked into the show but I did! Left Wendy's at 9pm and drove slowly to Eastleigh to collect Peter from the station - I knew his train was running a bit late so had plenty of time to get there.

The train got in at just after 10 and we were both pooped out so went straight to bed. Even though I was tired I was still rabbiting on about my day to Peter but gave up when I noticed his eyes were shut and he wasn't responding! Oh well, plenty of time to talk about things tomorrow when we go for our Costa Coffee.

Good Things Today
Spending the day with my best pal
Treating myself to some new make-up (maybe my old mascara is causing my puffy eye?)

Bad Things Today
Aching feet

Puffy Eye, Miracle Face Cream & Compost

Didn't feel too good today - when I woke up I noticed that I had what I call 'puffy eye'. This has only been happening to me within the last year really - occasionally I wake up with the area above both both of my eye-lids, and below my eyebrows, puffy and swollen - it looks quite disturbing and changes the shape of my eyes but it's totally painless. It usually disappears within about a day and I really don't know what causes it - I have thought maybe it is due to staring for long hours at the computer at work, or perhaps an allergy. As it's so intermittent it's difficult to know whether to go to the doctor or an optician and as it only lasts a day when it occurs I doubt I would get an appointment in time for them to see what it is!

Also had a bad headache this afternoon so went to bed at mid-day and woke up at 4pm wondering where the afternoon had gone.

By the time Peter came home I was feeling much better and my 'puffy eye' had almost gone - what the hell causes it! At around 5.30 we saw Sainsburys delivery van pull up outside (he was half an hour early - whoopee!). As we only food shop once every two weeks there is always a huge pile of bags to unpack and we have it down to a tee between us and get it stuffed away in record time. As it was still lovely and light we ate our tea in the conservatory and listened to The Archers (I have inherited my love of The Archers from my mother who is a huge radio 4 fan but I rarely remember to listen to it).

Peter brought loads of papers home and there is some exciting news for us women. There now follows an advertisement for Boots the Chemist................ Apparently the other night there was an Horizon programme on the telly where they tested the validity of the claims of loads of anti-wrinkle face creams on the market from the cheap to the £200+ a jar variety. Anyway after testing a Boots product 'No.7 Protect & Perfect Beauty Serum' it was proven to actually work!!! The scientist who tested it said the product had shown scientifically to repair photo-aged skin and improve the fine wrinkles associated with photo-ageing. Women volunteers who tested the products found measurable improvements in wrinkle depth, so minimising the appearance of fine lines. Apparently Boots have seen herds of stampeding women rushing to it's counter and now have sold out !! When they re-stock I'm definitely going to give it a go - it's £16.75 a bottle but that is cheap in this market and you use it very sparingly.

Phoned friend Wendy tonight to finalise our arrangements for tomorrow. We are going to Basingstoke for a bit of retail therapy first, then lunch, then to see a film (probably Premonition) we had wanted to see Amazing Grace but it doesn't seem to be on at either of the huge cinemas in Basingstoke which is strange. Then Wendy wants to do a big food shop in Asda (I have tried to convert to online shopping but to no avail) and then we are calling into my mum and dads on our way back to her place to collect a compost bin they have going begging for me and Peter (that my aunt has given to us). Should be a good day.

Plans for the Weekend & The Apprentice

Andy

Friend Wendy phoned me at work today. We are planning a day out on Saturday whilst Peter is on his day trip to Manchester. We are probably going to head for Basingstoke, do lunch, see a film and then a bit of shopping on the way back. I'm looking forward to it - i just hope it happens as the last few trips we have planned have gone pear-shaped at the last minute for various reasons.



Wendy's daughter, Laura, is off to Amsterdam tomorrow for a 4 day trip - oh to be 18 again and exploring the world. Wendy says that Laura also has the opportunity to go to France and Spain in the summer - green with envy moi??



Peter was a band practice last night so I settled down to watch The Apprentice - terribly nice Andy got booted off. His fate was sealed when he was put in charge of the girl's team really - like being thrown to the wolves I think! Anyway, there appears to be the usual mix of arrogant and ruthlessley ambitious individuals (maybe Andy was the token nice person!). Anyway it makes for excellent telly.

Weeds and Reads

Quite a productive day at work today – managed to get lots of long standing items done – hoorah.

When I got home I weeded one of the flower beds which was hard work as the soil under our huge fir tree is rock solid. We also have an infestation of wild onions which are a devil to remove – anyway, I felt very good for having made a start on the great garden tidy up.

This evening I started a new book – it is one that was recently promoted with The Times for 99p. It’s called Messiah and it’s the first book by author Boris Starling who was one of the youngest ever contestants on Mastermind in 1996 and went on to the semi finals (specialist subject the novels of Dick Francis) and has worked on both the Sun and the Telegraph (what a contrast) and now specialises in kidnap negotiation, clandestine investigations and political risk analysis – what an interesting chap he must be! I’m very impressed so far as there is a murder already (a hanging with a tongue cut out). Peter looked at me strangely as I explained the plot so far – but I think he was pleased that he had witnessed me reading one of the books he had made a special trip to get from W H Smiths (who are running the promotion).

Sunny Delight !

What a delightful end to the day yesterday was. Left work at 4.00pm and went to Weight Watchers feeling extremely unconfident as I had eaten some naughty party food at the weekend. However, I had lost 1.5lbs – brilliant! That makes 23lbs so far. I drove home in the brilliant Spring sunshine feeling very pleased with myself.

Mum and dad had been at our house during the day fitting some radiator valves but I knew they would have left by the time I got home. I was delighted however to see that not only had they done the radiator valves and fixed the bookcase shelf that I had broken but also mown our lawn front and back – they are stars indeed. I am so lucky to have such lovely parents. Oh and they put up a sparrow tenement bird-box on the side of the house too (which dad had made).

I also had some ‘nice’ post when I got home in the shape of my ‘She’ magazine which is always nice to receive. I sat in the garden reading it before it got a bit chilly and I migrated indoors to prepare tea.

After tea Peter went out to do manly stuff in the garden like stirring the compost bin and I did a bit of pond skimming and weed assessment (ie. working out how much weeding there is to do – answer loads!).

It is so nice to have that extra bit of light in the evenings - it lifts the spirits.

A Dangerous Man !

I finished Anne’s book yesterday ‘A Dangerous Man’. For the first few chapters of the novel it was constantly in the back of my mind that I knew the person who had written it and therefore I was thinking things like ‘I wonder how Anne came up with this idea’, ‘I wonder how she researched this bit’ etc etc.

However, as I progressed through the book these thoughts slipped away as the characters became real for me and took hold. I thought the novel was suspenseful, unsettling and well paced and took me into a world that is totally alien to me. Although the main Character, Michael, is not your normal type of hero, in fact he is very dark personality indeed, I felt a real empathy for him and I found myself rooting for him until the end (even when he had stepped over the boundary into criminality).

The final chapters of the book are gripping as the shadows that have been stalking Michael, come to the surface and threaten to ruin his all so brief taste of success. As things head towards a climax there is a sense of foreboding and you become aware that the unattractive character, that is Jack’s mother is feeling the same as you, the reader, that there is surely tragedy ahead for her son, Jack, and Michael.

I thought the writing throughout was excellent, paticularly in the final more violent scenes, and I found it easy to visualise what was being played out in front of me. I was sorry to be coming to the end of the novel so I left the final few chapters until later in the day to savour reading them – what a sign of a good book that is!

Anne, if you are reading this, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and think that you have definitely found your genre! I look forward to reading The Gifting !

Grhhh It's Bear Grylls

Today has been a 'hole up' in the house day. Went out to get the papers first thing and then read them whilst watching some taped recordings of 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks' and 'Grumpy Old Men'. Then did some much needed housework (particulary as mum and dad are coming around tomorrow to fit some radiator valves for us to improve our energy efficiency - it is sure handy have an ex plumber/builders as a dad!).

We've had lots of phone calls today (and usually we don't get any except for annoying sales calls anyway). First it was mum and dad, then my friend Wendy thanking me for my help with the party stuff (which was much appreciated) and finally Peter's sister Denise. When Denise calls it is normally an hour long phone call, so when Peter sat on a chair in the kitchen to take the call I opened a can of beer for him so he did not dehydrate (aren't I a considerate finance!)

At the moment we are watching action man/survivalist Bear Grylls (yes that is his name). I think he is trying to knock Ray Mears off his perch. I said he should bring out some food products - can you imagine 'Bear Gryls' steaks - I'm sure they would appeal to the manly bab-b-que types.

Peter has been uploading all the pictures he took of the party last night onto the internet so Laura can see them - I think she will be very pleased with them.

Oh well, another week of work looms. Roll on April and May though as there are lots of lovely bank holidays to look forward to. ......................

The Party

Well here is part 2 of my blog for Saturday. The party was great. Laura, the party girl, had a wonderful time which was obviously the main aim of the evening. I think that almost everyone that had received an invite came along - which shows how popular she is. The party was held at the British Legion which I must admit I never knew was there in Andover but it's a great space for a party with a separate room to hold the food, a large dance floor in another room and the bar in a third. Right from the start of the evening people were getting up on the dance floor so there was no ice to break and I got up a few times for a bop as did Peter. Peter was also extremley in his unofficial role of 'Party Photographer'. I don't think any of Laura's immediate family had a chance to take pictures so I think Laura will be thrilled that so many were taken to provide a record of her party. Peter will post them onto P-base on the internet so that Laura can pick them up today. I saw quite a few of Wendy's friends (that I also knew from the past) that I haven't seen for absolutely years so that was nice.

The most amusing part of the evening was early on when several of us asked Laura's dad, Mick, which lad was Laura's boyfriend as we had never met him before. (Just to set the scene Mick is not a fan of Laura's boyfriend) Anyway about half an hour later said boyfriend walked across the room and as he got level with our chairs Mick said, in a loud voice and indicating with his head, "that's im" - all eyes swivelled across the room to stare and we fell about laughing - the poor guy didn't even notice though!

Laura had a proper 'cake cutting' ceremony so I am pleased the cake turned out as well as it did or else I would have been hiding at that point. Laura also had a lot of presents on the evening and one which was passed around was a vibrator - Wendy's family was totally unphased by this and thought it was hilarious. I couldn't help but think back to my own 18th birthday and how shocked my parents would have been - actually they 'still' would be - tee hee.

The party had to end at 11.45pm as the license expired at 12 O'clock. Wendy had to throw absolutely loads of food away which was a shame but you just never know how much people are going to eat so it's better to have too much I guess. Only two glasses were broken during the evening - one by me (oh the shame of it). I knocked over Peter's pint as my very swishing skirt swished past the table whilst I got up to dance - hope this doesn't effect Wendy getting her deposit back!

We were home by about 12.30pm and just fell into bed - then we remembered the clocks go forward so we lose an hour - groan...................

Blog Part 1

I will probably do two blogs today - one 'pre' and one 'post' party. Woke up feeling a bit 'down' this morning and after watching a bit of the News and something I had taped I slunk back to hide under the duvet. I heard the Postman come and Peter brought up a letter for me. It hardly lightened my mood though as it was the expected letter from work saying I was in a 'pool' of people could are 'at risk' of being made redundant. Nice touch to send it to your home address I thought - happy weekend everyone! I'm not going to get too stressed about it as my view is 'if it happens, it happens' and until I'm sure if I'm one of the 'chosen ones' - why worry about it. However, at least it's a bit of advanced warning and gives me a chance to tighten my belt so to speak - the earliest that redundancies will happen will be August (as Carol at work pointed out - exactly the week that Peter and I are going on holiday!).

Just done an hour of housework and now having a rest before doing the next bit - watching 'A Taste of my Life' with Nigel Slater and this week it stars Lenny Henry - what a thoroughly nice guy he is! Peter has just sent a text to say that his train is cancelled so he can't get to football today so he's heading back with the papers. Shame for Peter that it's cancelled but I think he would secretly welcome an extra bit of time at home and it will also mean we won't have to rush around this evening getting ready for the party too.

Better get back to phase two of the cleaning now.....................

Ferrets & Party Frenzy

Gingerly put the cake into the car boot this morning and drove to Andover to drop it off at my friend’s house. It was like transporting a very fragile old person or something because every pot hole I drove over or bend I turned around, I was worried that the cake would slide around and bash into something in the boot! Luckily I made it there in one piece and Laura was very pleased with it, as were the whole family – so that made all the effort worthwhile.

The party plans are progressing well, although there are some last minute hiccups with half of the family having colds and a friend going down with tonsillitis. Anyway, it should be good and I’m looking forward to it (I’m not really a party person by nature but this one’s different as it means so much to Laura and it should be fun).

At work today we had the following email sent around – now there’s not many places of work that can claim to receive emails like that!!

“An entire male polecat ferret has been found on college grounds by a student. Please contact me immediately if you have lost one as he will be handed over to the vets in Winchester very shortly”.

Heard a new term yesterday - the Mcjob - classic! Wikipedia definition below.

McJob is slang for a low-paying, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. Such jobs are also known as contingent work. The term McJob comes from the name of the fast-food restaurant McDonald's, but is used to describe any low-status job - regardless of who the employer is - where little training is required, staff turnover is high, and where workers' activities are tightly regulated by managers. Most perceived McJobs are in the service industry, particularly fast food, coffee shops, and retail sales. Working at a low paying job, especially one at a fast food restaurant, is also often referred to as flipping burgers.

Great TV

Work today was busy but uneventful.

When I got home I did a few very minor adjustments to the cake and then took some pic’s with Peter’s camera which I will post shortly. Then found a tray big enough to hold the cake and carefully put clingfilm over it. All done and dusted – just got to deliver it tomorrow now.

Usually in the evenings I tune into some mindless telly at about 7.30 and Peter spends the evening on his computer but tonight there were some good programmes on so Peter joined me starting with the ‘Hairy Bikers’ which is a cookery/travel programme with loads of humour thrown in, then a programme about ‘How to be Green’ and finally ‘Dead Ringers’ which is hilarious and very topical – I really don’t know how they film the sketches so quickly. At the end of the programme they showed a trailer for ‘The Apprentice’ which is back next week –hurrah!!

I had to set the alarm fro 5.30am as I need to deliver the cake to Andover by 7 O’clock in order to have time to get into work on time. Yawn.........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Let them eat cake!

Busy, busy, busy today. Wednesday is big meeting morning at work so that took up the morning. In the afternoon it was audio typing and I didn't finish it all - so more of the same tomorrow. Had a splitting headache by the end of the day which wasn't helped by one of the alarms deciding to go off and then the cleaner coming round early and hoovering around my feet whilst I was talking on the phone - what a din!

As soon as I got home I started on the cake - I spent about an hour and a half on it until Peter got home and then another hour after Peter had gone to Band Practice and now it's done!!!

I'm always critical of my own work but I would say I'm about 80% happy with it.

Now going to watch a film or something and just chill.

Standing Up

Another rotten day at tut mill.

I was asked to take on something additional at work and I said 'no' and now I'm miss unpopular in certain quarters I feel. The task in question would have meant more hours and sitting through an additonal meeting (which I absolutely hate) . I already get into work at around 7.30am and work through to 4 O'clock with about 10 minutes for lunch so this was a request too far and even though it would have earn't me 'brownie points' I decided my life outside of work was more important.

It's really horrible saying no to something and then being made to feel bad about it - isn't it supposed to be empowering using the 'no word' - if so, why do I feel so crap and like I'm letting people down.............

Went to bed really early this evening and curled up in a ball - sometimes life sucks and I just want to hide. Peter did bring me up a bunch of grapes though (as chocolate is not allowed at the moment!!)

Dull and Duller

God, what a ‘dull day at the office’ it has been. Sometimes I look back at my work days and think:-

What have I actually achieved today that has made a difference?
Has anything surprised or delighted me?
Has anything made me laugh?
Do I feel proud about anything I’ve done today?

Today is a big fat ‘no’ on all fronts. God, I really really wish I was working for myself – it would be bloody hard work but surely I'd get more satisfaction out of it! Trouble is that you need money to set anything up and returning to College to learn something new is out of the question as there is no way we could afford to drop a penny from the joint salaries that go into keeping our house, car and everything else …………

Ho, hum such is life. At my uncle’s funeral last week the vicar recounted the hi-lights of Reg’s life (he had worked on the tug boats in Southampton docks since he was a young man right through to retirement). Anyway, one of the most wonderful and moving things to hear was that he had ‘adored’ his job and just loved going into work each day. Mustn’t that be a wonderful thing – to enjoy every day of your working life - we spend so much of our lives being wave slaves that to say that you enjoyed it is truly a blessing.

It’s my Monday visit to ‘Fat Club’ tonight so if I have lost some more weight that will be my achievement for the day (there has to be something!)

Post Script: Lost 1lb at Fat Club so that's 1 stone, 7.5 lbs so far. So the day wasn't lost!

Good Things Today
Another 1lb gone

Bad Things
The general dullness of it

Shopping, Baking and the Wrong Film!

Set off to town in search of 'the outfit'. First stop Monsoon where I bought a skirt - pricey but floaty and swishy which is what I wanted. Also found a pair of cream shoes in Shoe Express which were a bargain. Finding a top was a different matter - everything, and I mean everything, is in the fashionalble 'smock style' which just makes me look pregnant! Eventually found a top in Bon Marche which isn't shop I normally frequent but among the 'granny items' there were a few nice bits.

When I got back I made the sponge for the Birthday Cake and thank goodness it has come out well. Just the hard bit to do now of decorating it , which I'll do on Wednesday when Peter is at Band practice.

This afternoon we also changed one of the bulbs in the car as one of the brake lights wasn't working. Luckily we had a spare so the car is legal once again. Also planted the snow drops that mum gave us.

After all the 'business' I decided to settle down and watch a film from Sky Box office which is a bit extravagant as it costs £3.95 but it's cheaper than buying the DVD I guess. Anyway I messed up as the film I wanted to see was 'Little Children' with Kate Winslet but I got the titles mixed up and ended up booking 'Children of Men' - what a duh brain! Anyway, it is a great film and it stars two of my favourites Clive Owen and Michael Caine. It also meant that Peter watched it with me which he probably wouldn't have done if I'd booked the other film.

The weather today is wild, brilliant sunshine but really strong winds - I keep looking at our huge conifer in the garden and hoping that it remains standing!

It was one of my uncle's birthday on Saturday and I forgot to send a card so I bought a humorous one today and wrote a little message in it about the Bar-B-Que I know he had to celebrate it. I wrote ' I hope you didn't burn the sausages' but when Peter read it he said it looked like 'I hope you didn't bum the sausages' - now that would have given the card a whole new meaning - tee hee. A quick go with the Tippex has put things right.

Read in one of the Sunday papers about a lovely website called http://www.bloomingmarvellous.co.uk/itoys-reunited-lost-stripey-pupMM.aspx

which reunited kids with toys they have lost - arhhh

This evening will probably settle down and watch Mansfield Park - I'm not a huge Jane Austen fan but it's worth a look..........

Good Things Today

Cake Success (so far)

Found the outfit

Good film

Bad Things Today

None

Busy Busy Day

Phew what a day! Left the house at 7.30am and drove to the huge Marks and Spencers at Hedge End to try and find a party outfit for next weekend. What a disappointment that was! I had heard that monochrome was the 'in' look and M&S seem to have gone for it in a big way - trouble is I was looking for something light, bright and spring like. Per Una had some lovely stuff, and they do go up to a size 18, but they didn't have size/length in the stuff I liked. The second disappointment was going into Sainsbury's next door and finding that they had sold out of the latest Snow Patrol CD which I had set my heart on. Grhhhhhh

Then it was off to Andover and before visiting mum called in at the Charity Shop which had a sale on (weird that, a Charity Shop with a sale). Anyway bought some brand new 'lounge pants' for Peter which should earn me a Brucie bonus. Then over to mum's where I gave mum her mother's day pressie and also an hour's 'teach in' on the computer. I think she is finally getting the hang of it and she was delighted with some images that David had emailed her of the grand kids. Mum gave we some snow drops to plant in the garden which was nice.

Stopped for lunch with parents and then headed into Andover as I needed to buy a cake board for the 'yet to be made' birthday cake to sit on. Also found the Snow Patrol CD - yeh! and also bought the latest Take That (yes, yes I know - I'm sad but I love the song 'Patience' so couldn't resist it.

Then headed back home, getting petrol and putting the car through the car wash on the way.

As soon as I got home I hit the housework and have done about 75% of my chores so am feeling virtuous now and tomorrow will be reasonably clear to make the cake and also to nip down town and try Monsoon and Evans for my party outfit. Now have an hour of relaxation before going out to collect Peter from the Station. Looking forward to eating together when he gets home.

This evening there is noubt on the box except Harry Hill so will probably end up watching a Sky Box Office film or something.

Good Things Today

Two new CD's to play at high volume in the car

Seeing mum and dad

Getting so many things done

Charity Shop Bargains

Bad Things

No party outfit

Mufti

Today is Red Nose Day so we are allowed to dress down at work. Peter tells me this is called a 'mufti day' which I had never heard of until he used the word!! Wasn't there a children's book called Muffy or something?

Anyway, this is great on so many fronts:-

Don’t have to wear tights
Can wear denim (which is normally banned at work)
Can wear a bright red top and not feel conspicuous as everyone else is too

Work has been really quiet today but a few interesting things have happened. The Principal received a pot of daffodils in the post in a jiffy bag and tucked in the pot were some tiny Easter eggs. When he got back to the office he gave them to me :-)

The Horticultural Department have lots of flowers and pot plants for sale for Mothers Day so I have bagged a pink potted rose for a bargain £5 and a couple of smaller plants for myself :-)

Although there are lots of Red Nose Day goodies circulating around I have so far managed not to give in and eat any – I have however donated a pound for dressing down 'mufti-ing' (last of the big spenders me!)

As work has been quiet I have been planning my weekend in my head. Tomorrow I am going to hit the local Marks and Spencers at 8.00am sharp to look for a party outfit for next weekend’s party. Then I’ll put the car through the car wash to get all the bird poo off, then drive over to Andover and pay a quick visit to the charity shop on the outskirts of town, then over to mum and dads for lunch, then back home, collect Peter from railway station after football and FLOP!!

Haven’t got as far as Sunday yet but think I need to go out for a bit as Peter wants to do some drum practice.

So looking forward to getting home tonight – the weather is fab today – so sunny and Spring-like and I just want to enjoy a bit of it before the snow arrives that is forecast for next week!!!

Also looking forward to some total escapism tonight which will mean watching the Red Nose Day shenanigans on the box. Planning to cook something tonight (yes I did so cook!). Large flat mushrooms, with a slice of stilton in the middle, wrapped in parma-ham and baked, served with a green salad. I have never made it before but saw it on a Sainsbury’s advert.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Friends

A pretty uninteresting day at work today so I won’t comment on that part of my day.

When I finished work at 4 O’clock I drove over to friend Wendy’s to see Laura (her eldest daughter) who was 18 yesterday. I took over her pressies and she was really pleased with them all.

I stayed for tea and then we sat down to watch Comic Relief Fame Academy. I hadn’t really be following it but it was really really good as they are down to the last four contestants now. Shaun Williamson (Barry from Eastenders) was terrific as was Tricia Penrose (from Heartbeat). Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was a scream though and her voice was terrible – very brave of her to do it though. Wendy said during the first episode she had been literally paralysed with stage fright – poor girl. Shaun did a cover of a Snow Patrol song which has made me want to rush out and buy the album as I had forgotten how good their songs are.........

Later in the evening Mick went upstairs to watch the footie and left me and Wendy to watch Eastenders. I am making Laura’s 18th Birthday cake for her party in a week’s time and I must get on with making it this weekend as time is creeping on.

Our Sainsbury’s shopping order was delivered this evening at home and Peter took delivery of it – the delivery driver made the timeslot with about 3 minutes to spare which was disappointing as if he had been just 1 minute late we would have received a £10 voucher – oh well!

Got home around 9 O’clock and gave Peter a quick kiss and then went out the back of the house to loo – when I came back the interior door was locked and I couldn’t get back into the kitchen so had to knock and bang for a bit before Peter realised what he had done and let me in! As I said to Peter later, I would have been a bit cold spending a night in the back of house (as there’s no heating) but at least there is a loo and two fridges out there so I wouldn’t have starved !!

All in all a good day today.

Good Things Today
Seeing friends
We have food in the house again!
Being cooked for

Bad Things
Dull day at work

Dog Tired

Sat through an awful meeting in the morning which I have to minute - one of the speakers went totally off at a tangent so I am not very happy with the quality of notes I have taken this time. I'm sure my boss will be doing some serious editing on them! Also learnt today that there is a chance that the College (mine and the one we are merging with) will be making over 100 people redundant. This means that they have to notify staff that this is a possibility (but they are not identifying specific job roles yet).

Feel like I struggled through the day today as I was feeling really tired. When I got home I did a few houseworky bits and then started the tea which was sausages and mash. When Peter walked in he took over the making of the mash as he makes it better than me (even though it is out of a Lidl's packet!). He took one look at my attempt and sighed and said "give it here - I'll see if I can rescue it!" I'm quite happy to relinquish this duty though, so it suits me :-)

Peter went out to band practice tonight and I hung around downstairs until about 8.00ish as there was a chance that my parents might call in as they were in the area - but they didn't - so I then crashed upstairs on the bed and watched 'Location, Location, Location'. Wanted to watch 'Grand Designs' too which was about a couple designing their own houseboat from scrap but I think I was asleep by 9.00!!!

Woke up when Peter came in at around 10.30pm and suddenly remembered that we have a Sainsbury's shopping delivery coming tomorrow night and I will be out - so asked Peter to peddle home as fast as he can tomorrow, to make sure he is back in time for the delivery man.

Bad Things Today
An overlong and overdull meeting (yawn)
Redundancys looming at work

Good Things Today
Not making mash
Sleep
Richard and Judy Bookclub

Funeral

We went to my uncle’s funeral yesterday – it wasn’t until 11.00am which meant we were sort of killing time around the house until 10.30am not really knowing what to do with ourselves.

When we arrived we spotted lots of people waiting outside the crematorium and the welcome faces of some relatives so we were relieved we were in the right place. We waited for about 10 minutes and then a loan piper walked slowly in front of the hurse that was bringing the coffin, as you can imagine that was extremely moving. Then my aunt followed with my uncle’s brothers and sisters. The crematorium was packed and some people had to stand. The vicar was very modern and up-beat and he read out lots of interesting details about Reg’s life (some of which I hadn’t been aware of like his time spent as an childhood evacuee during the war when he spent 2 years living on a farm, or his stint in the army stationed in the Libyan desert). The British Legion played a big part in the ceremony by raising and lowering flags, salutes etc. It was all very moving.

Afterwards we went to the British Legion at Netley for a couple of hours and it was nice to see some family I hadn’t seen for many years (just sad it had to be on this sort of occasion).

We departed along with mum and dad and my brother and his daughter Amy at around 2.30pm and rather than come straight home we drove up to Netley Abbey and had a walk around there and then down to the sea-front to watch the ships come in. It seemed a sort of fitting end to the day really – watching little Amy jumping around enjoying herself – as one life ends another is growing up and enjoying life……………….

In the evening we settled down to watch ‘Broken Flowers’ with Bill Murray in it. I enjoyed it and it had some surreal moments in it and some black humour. However it had a very annoying ‘audience has to figure out what happened’ ending!

By the end of the day I was pooped and asleep before 9.00pm.

Present Frenzie

Woke up feeling pretty ‘spring-like’ and in a good mood. Took pity on Peter who would have had to carry a laptop, rucksack and camera equipment on his bike, and gave him a lift to the Station.

Popped into Sainsbury’s on the way to work to buy an emergency birthday present and card for my god daughter who is 18 on Wednesday. Because Laura is having a big party on 24th March I was thinking I had loads of time to get a present only to have Wendy remind me that it is her actual birthday this week!!! Anyway, managed to get the thing she had requested: the DVD of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’.

I also found some lovely pieces of costume jewellery too – so the situation is saved! Found mum a mothers day card for this weekend and only have a small pressie to get now. Phew!

Also treated myself to a movie which was on offer with the wonderful Bill Murray in it – he plays hangdog so brilliantly. It’s ‘Broken Flowers’ which is a film I failed to catch at the cinema.

Whilst on the subject of movies, I watched 'Adrift' on Sunday which was about 6 friends who go out to sea on a posh yaught and dive into the sea to cool down, only to realise that they haven't let the boat's ladder down so they can't get back on board. Very scary prospect!!!

It’s Fat Club tonight and if I haven’t got a decent weight loss I will be miffed as I’ve done lots of exercise of the week-end, what with our long walk on Saturday and gardening on Sunday. Full details will be posted tomorrow.

The big garden tidy up

Another fantasticly sunny day - I can't beleive I'm wandering around in a T-shirt.

This morning I strimmed the front lawn which is part jungle, part swamp and is quickly being taken over by moss. Then I did a bit of pruning - I enjoy pruning as you can be quite savage with the sheers. Also weeded and 'de-leafed' a couple of flower beds. Gardens are extremely forgiving (we've ignored ours since about October) as once you give them a few hours of attention they can look amazingly different within just a few hours effort. Peter has been doing the manly stuff of sawing down huge hunks of tree - we now have 3 green bags from the green bag collection - without fail we put a bag out every week as we are paying for it and we are jolly well going to get our money's worth.

We had our mid morning tea, and later lunch, sat in the garden watching the birds busy picking up twigs for their nests. There were a couple of butterflies around too.

This afternoon I hoovered out the car and de-cluttered the boot. I need to stock it up with things for when we go our caching and walking now that Spring seems to be here - like wet wipes, plasters and water - all things we find we need after going on long, muddy, bramble filled caching expeditions.

This afternoon I'm going to settled down with the Sunday papers and maybe watch a film - bliss!

10,520 Steps

What a super day! After spending an hour getting ready to leave (why does it take us so long - it's not as if we have kids!) we went to the nature Reserve at Swanick. The weather was fantasic (17 degrees and sunny) and we had a long walk around the lakes which were created in the site of a former brick works. The ground was very muddy in places and at one point we had to turn back as it got to ankle depth with no dry bits to hop on! Peter spotted a few birds but not as many as he'd hoped I don't think!

Anyway, the walk was grand and afterwards we went in search of a Garden Centre which we found with no probs and headed straight for the cafe - it was packed so we sat on the benches outside in the sun. Then we had mooch around the plants and gifts - it made me smile when we got to the area where they had the posh patio furniture as there were two old blokes sat at one of the tables (about 80-ish with their walking sticks), one had fallen asleep and the other was well on the way. I think their wives had probably plonked them there whilst they had a look around. I hope they remembered to collect them! Peter says it's time to get planting so we bought some spuds and broad beans.

Then it was home to flop - according to my pedometer we had done 10,520 steps which is brill as 'they' whoever 'they' are reckon that you should walk at least 10,000 steps per day and that's the first time I've broken the target since buying the blooming thing - result!!

Tomorrow we are having an 'at home' day and I might even attempt some mowing of the jungle......

Just catching up on some video watching at the mo - the first part of 'Cold Blood'. Matthew Kelly is bloody creepy in it - he's a brilliant actor.

I've Been Phished :-(

Yikes! It appears after only about 2 weeks on MySpace I have already been "phished" - been trying to work out how this has happened as I have been fastidious in fending off any potential weirdo's that have invited me to be "their friend".

Anyway, I think I have possibly figured it out. There is another site called My Space Co.Uk which I often type into my address bar by mistake instead of .COM (cos I'm stupid like that!)and I think I must have inadvertently typed my password and email address into the sign in box and, even though it wasn't recognised, the site has somehow retained my information - the b!"&*!d's.

Anyway, sincere apologies to my future sister in law, Anne, who has informed me she has received a rather lurid email generated from my account. Good job I know that Anne is broad minded (I've read her novels you know) - I don't know what the actual content was Anne but maybe you can use it in a future book??? she says hopefully trying to cover up her embarrassment.

Speed Bumps - Yah Boo!

Am I working efficiently?

Had a heap of work plonked on me today and did my usual thing of dealing with the ‘volume’ first i.e. the photocopying, filing, forwarding things on etc so as to make the pile instantly smaller and then got cracking with the more complex stuff.

This morning though, I questioned my methods – should I not really be tacking the more difficult, and undoubtedly more urgent stuff, first and then do the easy stuff later. Well the answer is undoubtedly ‘yes’ but I can’t seem to make myself work that way round – I always seem to need to clear the decks of the trivia before I can tackle the proper work.

I ‘think’ Peter has agreed to us going on our nature walk at the weekend. I think the penny dropped when he found an AA route map, to it’s location, next to the place where he makes his sandwiches in the morning. I am so unsubtle!

Weather forecast is supposed to be great for the weekend so we might actually get to tackle the wilderness that is our garden.

Had a note poked through the door this evening - seems like the Council is considering puttting traffic calming down our road. God I hope not - speed bumps are a nightmare.

Off to do a bit of reading now as nothing on the box tonight unless you are into Fame Academy or Crufts!

Hedge Pigs

Peter picked up our Ricky Gervais Tickets from the Bournemouth International Centre yesterday – so that’s cool. Can’t wait to go now. I haven’t actually been to see a show in this particular venue before so that will be interesting too.

Oh, and as suspected, our hedgehogs are out of hibernation and gratefully eating up the unsalted peanuts left out for them on the patio. So far Peter has only spotted one but hopefully there are 3 or 4 about. Ahhh Spring must be around the corner.

Read a fantastic true story yesterday about a guy who had filled up his van at Tesco (this was about a year ago) and the fuel contained water which had wrecked his engine, costing him nearly £3,000. Despite Tesco’s fortunes they only paid the guy 25% of the cost of the repair and so he took them to court and he won the case. However, Mr Tesco still wouldn’t cough up. Soooo this week the Baliffs went into his local Tesco store and removed £60,000 of booze from their shelves and told the cashiers that they would be breaking the law if they tried to charge them. What a result for the little guy for once!

I’ve been compiling our next ‘Sainsburys’ shopping list and they have their Easter Eggs in. I’ve been thinking about this – i.e. how I would feel about not having an egg this year due to my Weight Watchers regime. The conclusion I have come to is that I STILL WANT ONE but I guess I should chose the healthiest one I can find (or lovely finance can find – tee hee). I guess mini eggs might be good as you could sort of ration those over a week (who am I kidding!). The mistake I used to make was buying Easter Eggs in advance and keeping them in the spare room for my friend’s kids – then I would be sitting there one night thinking – hmmmm I don’t half fancy some chocolate and before I knew it!!! You can guess the rest.

Been thinking about the weekend ahead and wouldn't mind going for a bit of a walk - possibly at a local nature reserve we haven't been to before at

Swannick. Not sure if Peter will want to come or not as he did mention he had lots of computer stuff and gardening he wanted to get done. On the other hand it would probably help Peter to get his 'bird count' up. Anyway, if not this weekend maybe next. The only downside is that there is no coffee shop there - I find that after lots of walking about in the cold a coffee shop is most welcome - maybe a local garden centre might oblige on the way back me thinks.

It has just struck me that Peter and I are doing some of our comunicating through out blogs now. The other day he mentioned in his blog that he had woken up with a raging headache (I didn't know this until I read his blog) and now I'm writing about what I want to do this weekend on here and waiting to see if I get a comment. Hmmm 'a sign of the times' or 'time to talk more'?

Good things today

The return of the hedgehogs

Ricky Tickets

Bad things

Another work tension headache

Sunny Day

Bit of a short blog today as nothing much has happened really.

The weather today has been beautiful - made me want to go out for a walk instead of being stuck at my desk.

Peter has been in to WH Smith and bought The Times for me as it contains a book for 99p. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner which I look forward to receiving when he gets home :-)

Our tickets to see Aida turned up yesterday which was amazingly quick - only booked them on Wednesday - what service!

We were thinking of going to the Cinema tonight as Peter hasn't got band practice but we decided we are both a bit skint so we'll give it a miss. The film we both want to see, Hanibal, is on late anyway so I doubt I would have stayed awake.

A number of staff have been advised today that they will have to apply for their own jobs as part of the merger with another College and so the process starts! I guess morale around here is not going to be very good from now onwards.

Off home in 15 mins and looking forward to the drive home in the sunshine.

Good things today

Peter getting my book

Bad things

Changes at work

Starlings

A Flock of Starlings

Another big surprise a Weight Watchers last night – there was a big queue, as usual, and I was very apprehensive as I thought I would have stayed the same this week (certainly didn’t feel any thinner) but much to my surprise I had 2.5lb’s – I was very very pleased and smiled all the way home. Total so far 1 stone and 5½ lbs. Peter was pleased I had lost again but did poke my tummy as if to say ‘I can’t see where you’ve lost it from’ – cheeky monkey!

On a sadder note. I heard from mum last night. My uncle’s funeral is next Tuesday so I will be booking the day off work and Peter is coming with me. It’s a cremation (I have never been to a cremation before).

This morning got to work at 7.15 to find that there were two power cuts last night so there is no email or internet or home drives on the computers. So thumb twiddling time here at the moment – very frustrating. Finally got on line at 9.15am – two hours of wasted time!

Excellent cat clip from Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ860P4iTaM

Good things today

Got through lots of work
Still on a high from losing more weight

Watching some funny clips on YouTube

Bad things today

Feeling a bit hot and dizzy in the afternoon

Things I've Thought of Today (That I must Do Before I Die!)
Witness the spectacular flock of starlings at Shapwick Heath Nature Reserve, near Glastonbury.

http://www.english-nature.org.uk/about/teams/team_photo/ShapwickLeafletall.pdf

Aida

AIDA & BRIDGWATER CARNIVAL

Tough morning at work but it got better when one of the bosses received a programme of upcoming events at the Theatre in Basingstoke (The Anvil). Upon browsing through it I noticed an advert for Aida the Opera which I have always wanted to see. I have never been to an opera but have always said I will go to one, one day, and that one will be Aida as it is supposed to be such a spectacle. Anyway, Peter has decided to join me for the experience which is cool and I have just booked the tickets as they only had a few places left :-).

I said to myself that this year I wanted to do more things (even if it means scrimping in other areas) and so far this year we've done just that and booked up lots of interesting things to do.

These include:-

Ricky Gervais in early April in Bournemouth

Tate Modern and a visit to a Sushi Bar on or near by birthday (I've never done either)

Aida in mid April

A weeks holiday in Hay-On-Wye in August (41 bookshops in this town - heaven!)

Bridgwater Carnival in November (see pic above to see one of the floats from last year - amazing!

Also put our monthly 'Costa Coffee' shop visit in our diary for the rest of the year

Talking of Costa Coffee http://www.costabookawards.com/- they are taking over the sponsorship of the Whibread Book Awards from this year and they had a little book on sale in the cafe (costing £1) with extracts from their short-listed authors for the prize. One which took my interest was 'Tenderness of Wolves' by Steff Penney which looks interesting. Must get around to buying it/reading it sometime. I have started off an Amazon 'wish list' and the list of books I want to read is getting longer and longer - as is the list of films I want to see.

Talking of books, The Times are doing their books for 99p offer every Friday from this Friday in conjuction with W H Smith. Peter is going to pop into the Bournemouth Smiths and get any titles I want.

Getting nervous about my Weight Watchers class tonight as I will be amazed if I have lost anything this week - it just doesn't feel like I have. Watch this space tomorrow to find out!

Family

Bit of a hectic evening, this evening. Straight after worked dashed over to Andover with the greenhouse glass and dropped that off. Wendy wasn’t back from work yet so it was literally a drop off and drive off situation. A couple of panes had broken in the boot but the majority made in one piece.

Then dashed home to give the house a quick tidy up and to shove tea in the oven before Peter arrived back with Denise, Brian and Hannah. It was really nice to see them all and we sat around the kitchen table chatting until about 9.30pm.

Hannah is such a well behaved child – we sat down to eat at about 7.00pm and she sat there the whole evening with us without complaint. We gave her, an Easter Egg which she adored as it was pink and had a pair of bunny ears in it attached to an alice band. Hannah had been keen to see our garden hedgehogs but they legged it as soon as I opened the patio door so that was a shame.

Whilst Denise and Brian have been clearing Brian’s dad’s house they had come across quite a few old black and white photographs of Brian as a child – Brian had always been told, by his dad, that none existed anymore so that was a lovely thing to find and I think Brian and Denise will treasure them. Mind you we did have a laugh at Brian in his school shorts!!

Brian’s Dad’s funeral is next Tuesday and we are hoping to go over to give Brian and Denise a hand with the house next week when they are up this way again for a few days.

We were both tired by the end of the evening but I had really enjoyed seeing them again and it had probably done them good to have a rest from all the arrangements they are having to make.

Sunday Storms

At 10 O'clock we drove down to the town and parked in the high street (it's free on Sundays). This is the first of our 'first Sunday of the month treats'. We agreed that on this particular Sunday of the month we would take a trip down the town, buy the papers and sit on the comfy sofas in Costa Coffee and watch the world go by. It was sheeting down with rain when we parked and we ran to Tesco's to buy the papers. When we got back to the coffee shop we were the only ones in there so had first choice of the comfy sofa's - we bought the hugest coffee laitte's that they do and settled down next to the window. Stayed for about an hour and then had a wander round the town to see what else was open - I would say about 50% of the shops were open which was a surprise. I went into Monsoon and found at least three skirts that are 'possibles' for Laura's part if I don't turn anything up on Ebay. God they have some gorgeous gowns in there - to die for as they say!

We went to the £1 shop and Peter bought a rose bush and raspberry bush for 99p each which are a bargain! I just bought some french cheese and an indoor TV aerial (exciting!)

Came home for lunch and sat in the conservatory watching the rain - very therapeutic. Intend to spend the afternoon giving myself a french manicure, watching a film and reading. Peter is busy planning what vegetables he wants to grow for us this year (he had some ambitious plans I think) and I'm looking forward to eating some 'free' and fresh produce in the summer.

We received some sad news yesterday - my uncle died in the afternoon. Mum and dad have gone down to say with my aunt and I guess the funeral may be this week - depending if there is a post-mortem or not. I have a feeling there may be as he did only go into hospital for a relatively minor operation originally and suffered a stroke as a consequence. It is frightening that this sort of thing can happen - I will be very apprehensive the next time someone I love goes into hospital for anything at all.

Slouchy Saturday

Woke up annoyingly early even though it's Saturday. Why is it that during the week I could quite easily sleep past the alarm but a weekends I automatically wake up expecting the alarm to go off.

Nipped out and got the papers - specifically wanted The Times because it has a free DVD of the Killing Fields film but my favourtie newagents had the papers but no inserts so had to drive to another shop in order to get the DVD.

Then relaxed for an hour and finished reading 'Twilight' by Peter James - I enjoyed it. Peter left to get his train for football at about 10.30am and I did my share of the chores and repaired a skirt that had a rip in the lining. Now catching up on a bit of video watching and thinking about lunch - I'm starving!

Don't have to go out again today until 6 O'clock to collect Peter so I'll be typing going online and doing a bit of Ebay and Amazon surfing. I have discovered that there is a lot of Monsoon stuff on Ebay and I'd like a new outfit for a party we are going to in a month's time so I'll be hunting for a bargain. Also looking for some cake decorations as I am making the 18th birthday cake for Laura's party.

My online ordered car tax disc arrived today so it's only taken two days to arrive - not bad!

That Friday Feeling

Actually a good day at work today!

Caught up with my workload - ventured into the Staff Room at lunch time to have a chat with Pauline who I used to work with. She is currently working as a temp in another department and is leaving next week as a permanent member of staff has now been employed. Just getting away from my desk for half a hour was a real treat and quite a rarity but I have vowed to do it at least once a week from now on to give myself a break and to be more socialable!

Spent the afternoon working on a PowerPoint presentation which allowed me to be creative for once - I really enjoyed that piece of work. Importing images and designing the layout to make it look proffesional. Bosses are always really impressed when you hand over a finished presentation too which earns one 'boss points'.

There are a lot of routes I can choose to take home and I chose the A34 tonight - big mistake as the queues were horrendous - I guess the rain, which was torrential, was slowing everything down.

As there are only a few days to the next weigh-in I had a Sainsbury Supernaturals Beef and Ginger microwave meal for tea. They are yummy - one up on the usual microwave fayre as they are fresh and you just zap them for 3.5 mins. Plus they only use up 7 weight watchers points.

Peter has brought is work laptop home and I'm typing this in bed whilst watching the telly - bliss! Peter has a new 'special interest video' which he is watching downstairs. No! not that type of special interest - a train video!

The rain is hammering and the wind is really strong - our garden has turned into a bog again - lord knows when we will be able to get out there and tackle the jungle of grass - it just never seems to dry out! My plans for tomorrow are to catch up on some reading whilst Peter is at football - a nice peaceful day I hope.

Completed another U-Gov survey today - they pay you 50 pence for every survey you complete and I have £5 in my account. You can't claim your cash though until you get up to £50 so a few more to do yet.

Good things today
Meeting a friend
It' s Friday!
Being cosy indoors when there's a gale outside

Bad things
The drive home

Exploding Yoghurts !

On the way to work I listened to the home made CD that Peter had left in the car from last night - there are some good tracks on there.

Today's main news story seems to be about the dud petrol that has been sold in some garages which is ruining peoples car engines. My favourite headline from, who else but The Sun, was 'Petrol Chumps'. Genius - what a fun job that must be - headline writer for The Sun! It appears that it's not just a problem with 'supermarket' petrol - someone at work has had his car knackered by the local Texaco garage.

Work is better today - my opposite number is back and both bosses have been locked away in meetings so we've been able to crack on with our work.

Last night I had a bit of a panic moment when I realised that my car tax disc had run out at the end of February. I knew you could update it online but had not intended to go this route as I think Post Offices need all the business they can get. However, it was an emergency so I succumbed and it couldn't have been easier. I literally punched my car registration number in and the number on my vehicle registration document and the system checked automatically that I was insured and had an MOT and then that was it. The disc will be with me within 5 days (hopefully sooner). The only cautionary note is that the tax disc is automatically sent to the address on your vehicle registration document so if that's out of date the disc will be sent to an old address. See http://www.vehiclelicence.gov.uk/EvlPortalApp/?SKIN=directgov

Tonight is the fortnightly Sainsbury delivery - hoorah, fresh food is arriving. We always get down to the dregs in the last few days before a big shop arrives ie. we run out sandwich filling, fruit - all the fresh stuff really. We always pray that the driver will be late too as if he's even 1 minute over our allocated delivery slot we get a £10 voucher :-).

Looking forward to some good telly tonight as 'Bonkers' and 'Benadorm' is on tonight - both are hilarious.

Damn I just cautiously opened a muller yoghurt and it gave a hiss as the air escaped and spurted yoghurt all over my top and skirt - drat.

Good things about today:-

Sainsers are coming
Good trash TV

Bad things
Nothing really