Birds, Foxes and Goats

It's been a funny few days without Peter, I've really missed him - especially when I'm home in the evening and at the 'expected time' I don't hear his key in the door. Anyway, he will be back from his travels tonight so that's good.

Work has been really really busy but, for a change, there has been lots of variety so I've quite enjoyed this week. I've dealt with everything from researching the law on keeping dogs in cars to sending emails concerning drug detection (thinking about it that involved dogs too so definitely a 'dog' theme going on this week!).

Went to see my friend Wendy on Thursday night and she took pity on the 'lonely one' and offered me tea. She is still off work with a bad leg and hubby is out of work too so she is going through a financially hard time at the moment. Very frustrating not to be able to help - all I can do is listen and offer to help with boot sales etc to try and raise some funds.

Yesterday my brother and his two kids came up to stay with mum and dad so I went over for the day. In the afternoon we went out for a walk to a local village and saw some very cute goats (as per pics above).

This morning I have done the RSPB bird watch survey and our garden birds were a bit hesitant in making an appearance in the hour I had chosen. However, I did see the following.

1 x Robin
1 x Blue Tit
1 x Black Bird
4 x Wood Pigeon
2 x Collared Dove
2 x Starlings
1 x Great Tit

Last night I didn't sleep too well and kept waking up at the slightest noise. At 4.00am I looked out of the window and rather than seeing the usual local cats who are usually responsible for making a din, saw an urban fox trotting along the pavement. I would love to know where he lives as we have seen him a few times now.

Brothers and Birds

Phew, a busy couple of days at work – the term has really got going now and I’m having to type like a woman possessed just to keep up!

Today managed to find a venue for a big conference I’m organising in February. For some reason February 13th seemed to be booked up everywhere and I was starting to worry we’d have to hold the meeting in a car park! But now I have a pub in mind with a conference room attached – I think I might have to check it out one weekend though as it’s an unknown quantity (I'm sure Peter won't mind coming along and checking out the beer too!)

Looks like my brother and the two kids are coming ‘down south’ on Saturday so I will be seeing them which is something to look forward to. On Sunday I will be sitting in the conservatory for an hour compiling my list for the RSPB bird watching survey http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/takepart

When I get home today after my usual frantic half hour of housework and preparing tea, I’m going to watch the next episode of ‘Damages’ which is truly gripping and then later it’s ‘Mistresses’ – oh I lead such an exciting life!

Wardrobes & Endings That Don't Arrive

Whizzed out to get the papers this morning as there were some free CD's going begging. Watched a bit of Breakfast TV and then crawled back into bed for a bit.

Spent the morning tackling the huge task of sorting out our wardrobe. Our wardrobe is rather strange as it goes right over our stairs, so you can walk in and look at the clothes rails each side and then go back further still into a 'black hole' which is directly over the stairs. Within the black hole was stored a large chest of drawers - of course it being so dark in there I never could see what was in the drawers so I decided that had to change. I dragged the drawers out into the bedroom and managed to fit them in around the existing furniture - hooray. Then I spent a couple of hours sorting through all the clothes and deciding whether to 'keep', 'throw' or 'send to charity shop'. Ended up with one charity bag and one throw bag. Needless to say I discovered loads of things I'd forgotten that we have - oh, I so wish I was a 'capsule wardrobe' girl. I have decided that I am going to order some clear plastic boxes in which to store the shoes I don't often wear - loads of people sell them on Ebay, so when I have some pennies, I'll treat myself to some of them.

After all my hard work I had some lunch and settled down to watch a film I'd taped 'The Life of David Gale' starring Kate Winslet and Laura Linley'. I was so enjoying it and it had almost got to the end - Kate was just putting in a video tape which was going to 'reveal all' and the tape clicked over to BBC News !!!! ARHHHH - I was so disappointed. Whenever I tape something I add 5 mins onto the recording time but the film must have overrun even that. I have now resorted to bidding on a copy on Ebay as I have GOT to know how it ends.

Spent the rest of the afternoon ploughing through the Sunday papers and this evening we shall probably watch a film together as we have spent most of the day busying ourselves in different areas of the house and garden.

Really wish this weekend was longer - it's gone too quick.

Day with Friends

Bad day at work yesterday, typed solidly from 7.45am to 4.15pm with about a 15 minute break. It's coming up to one of my busiest times, when I have to produce Governors reports - one of which is 50 pages long (with graphs and tables)and the other two aren't much better. Next week is going to be hellish and I'm not looking forward to it.

Visited my friend Wendy today. We spent the day chatting and watching a film, one of her daughter's 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' - it was quite funny - if perhaps a little too crude in places (maybe I'm becoming a prude in my old age!). I do miss popping in to my friend's place, which I used to do much more often when I lived closer.

Collected Peter from the station on my way home and we are now watching 'Oceans 13' on Sky Box Office. A good old fashioned heist movie.

Cupboards and Ceilings

I haven't blogged for a couple of days, largely because Peter has been away on a course so I haven't had the use of his work laptop at home.

It's been strange at home in the evening without Peter, but he's back tonight - hoorah!

The last couple of evenings I have been sorting through yet another cupboard - this one is stuffed to the gunnels with old paperwork and it's taken ages to sift through each sheet of paper and decide whether we need to keep it or whether it can be shredded. Anyway, it's done now and I am determined to keep things more in order in the future.

The other night Peter noticed we had two small marks on our bedroom ceiling about the size of 10p pieces. Tonight I noticed that they have got bigger - my first thought was 'oh my god, our brand new roof is leaking already'. I got the ladder out of the garage and had a peer about through the roof hatch. Although it was teeming down with rain outside I couldn't see any dripping and couldn't smell any damp. Our new roof tiles have a lining underneath too which should offer extra protection so I don't see how any rain could get in. Peter is going to inspect further when he gets home - very strange indeed.

This morning I was about 10 mins late in as every bin lorry in Winchester seemed to be out and about. They don't pull into a convenient parking spot these lorries, they just pull up in the road and let the traffic pile up behind them. When I got it there was 10 minutes of panic trying to find and print some papers my boss needed for an off site meeting this morning but then everything was calm.

Today I'm working a half day and meeting two friends for lunch (one current work friend and one who left a few months ago) - it's going to be lovely to have a leisurely lunch without the need to rush back to work. This afternoon me and friend number two are going back to her place, where I will fuss over her new puppy dog Daisy again. We are hoping another friend, who has been having a very hard time recently, may be able to join us later in the afternoon. After that it's over to the station to pick Peter up from the train (Fingers crossed that he has passed his Project Management course).

Just for Anne and I

Swoon swoon !

Perfect Sunday

A bit of an early blog today as I happen to have the laptop to hand whilst Peter is busy in the garden doing manly things like stirring our compost heap and pulling up leeks for lunch.

This morning didn't arise until after 8 O'clock, a record for me. I don't know if it's my age but these days it takes about an hour for my face to catch up with my body in terms of awakeness. My first glance in the mirror shows puffy, watery eyes and it takes about an hour for this to resettle into my normal face - ho hum.

This morning we went into town and I went into Costa Coffee as soon as it opened and bagged one of the comfy sofas whilst Peter wandered up to Tesco to buy the Sunday papers. We each had a large latte (me with a dash of vanilla, which was nice but made it a bit sweet really). After about an hour we wandered over to W H Smiths and bought some books and magazines and had a quick look around The Works before heading home. It's such a little treat but I do love our monthly Sunday morning expedition to a coffee house.

Last night we booked our main holiday for the year to the Peak District. Our first choice of holiday cottage had unfortunately been snapped up for the week we wanted but we are happy with our second choice. Unusually for us, we are going earlier in the year this time to try and spread our holidays out a bit as we usually have several weeks at different intervals in the autumn. We are so looking forward to it and Peter is already sussing out bird spotting places we can go to .......

Last night I watched the funniest hour of TV I has seen in a long time. Who Wants to be a Millionaire had Peter Kay and Patrick McGuiness on it and they were sooo funny -I love em! The next time Peter Kay comes to our area, probably at the Bournemouth International Centre, I'm there! The contestants on before them, Will Greenwood and Martin Johnson (both sportsman I think?) were also excellent value. When a question came up about Coronation Street, they phoned Martin's parents and when his dad answered the phone he said "dad, do you know anything about Corrie?" - reply "No", "Oh well, how are you?", "Did you play well at Golf today?" - it was the most useless use of the 20 second phone a friend I had ever seen, but so funny.

This evening there's a real treat on beeb 1 with 'Lark Rise to Candleford' and 'Sense and Sensibility' on in the same evening - TV heaven I think.

This afternoon, after we have eaten our Sunday lunch (I have done a roast for once, but have kept it healthy so I can stick to by diet) I shall be ploughing my way through all the newspapers and magazines we have bought today - pure Sunday bliss!

Stay at home Saturday

Nipped up to the garage this morning to get the papers and to get a refund for the car wash. I had bought a ticket for it which lasts 30 days but during that 30 days it has never been working, so therefore I got my money back - I caused a bit of a queue at the checkout but I wasn't let Mr Tesco get away with it.

Fancied a day at home today so haven't accompanied Peter on his bird watching trip today. Instead I've got stuck into the next phase of my clear out project and have tackled the wardrobe in one of the spare rooms today: it mostly contains my summer clothes and games and puzzles. I have selected a box load of games to go to the boot sale (who needs three editions of 'Mastermind' for example?), came across a pair of brand new boxed walking shoes that I had forgotten I'd bought, and sorted out my collection of scarves into some sort of order. I also tackled two drawers downstairs, so I'm getting there......

It's been quite tough sticking to my diet today but I've managed it so far. Peter texted to offer to get a takeaway on the way home, oh I was sorely tempted to say yes, but I bravely declined whilst dreaming of a lovely chinese. We are having shepherds pie instead which should still be nice.

After all my hard work I settled down to watch some taped TV - the beeb's new series 'Mistresses' which had got slated in the press but which I really enjoyed - the only problem was that all the actresses look so darn perfect in it though! I've always thought that Sarah Parish is stunning - lucky cow! I recognised one of the filming locations which is a folly near Bristol - in the story you can allegedly get married there but I'm not sure that is the case.....

Then I watched the last ever episode of 'Cold Blood' which was ok, if predictable. Matthew Kelly plays an incredibly creepy psychopath though - you couldn't get more removed from 'Stars in Your Eyes' or panto which he is more famous for.

Had phones calls from my parents and my friend Wendy today. Wendy has tendonitis in one of her legs which means she is off work at the moment - this is really worrying for her as she is now on sick pay and her husband is out of work with nothing on the horizon. I'm looking forward to seeing her next weekend for a proper sympathetic chat.

Diets and Twitcher

So far, so good on my Tesco Diet. I had an email from my online Diet ‘mentor’ today encouraging me and reminding me that my weigh in day is next Tuesday. It sounds silly, but just getting an email prompt from someone you don’t know does help to focus the mind and keep you on track. To pad out my evening meal out I’ve been increasing my veg intake big time – half the plate is now taken up with veg – Peter is pleased too as he loves veg (more than I had realised actually, so I feel mean for having deprived him of veg in the past now!).

This weekend is forecast to be wild, windy and rainy but thankfully we have nothing planned. Other than a brief trip out to Costa coffee as a treat. Costa are running the book awards again this year, so I’m hoping they will produce a little book like they did last year which gives you a taster of a chapter from each of the finalists.

I pointed this article out to Peter from the Daily Mail

"They may look harmless (if a bit mad) but as a new book reveals, the world of twitchers is full of dishonesty, bitter rivalry...and dark threats.

There they stood in their anoraks and woolly hats, staring with a quiet determination through binoculars and cameras with long lenses.

The group of 'twitchers' pictured yesterday in Norfolk were among the hundreds who this week descended on the pretty village of Cley, in the hope of spotting the rare white-crowned sparrow, which had travelled 3,000 miles from its native North America.

Sustained by coffee and sandwiches, they huddled together against the bitter wind, looking as inoffensive a bunch of people as you could hope to meet. In this day and age, could there be a more innocent pursuit?

Well, yes. In fact, the apparently sedate world of birdwatching is plagued by jealousy, bitter rivalry, accusations of dishonesty and dark threats.

This strange obsession breaks up marriages and brings enthusiasts to the brink of breakdown, as Adrian Riley, once one of Britain's most obsessive twitchers, reveals in a new book.

It chronicles his epic battle to become the champion 'year-lister' for 2002 - the birdwatcher who sees the most species in a single calendar year - and beat his bitter rival, Lee Evans, to the prized title.

It was a struggle that would threaten his sanity.

At just 43 years old, Riley took early retirement from his job as a government taxonomist (a scientist who classifies biological species into groups) to pursue his passion.

Other collectors may be able to buy their desires, be they stamps or antiques, in shops or auctions, but "ours have to be hunted in the true sense of the word", he insists, admitting: "Twitching became the most important thing in my life."

Riley drove 78,000 miles and spent £8,000 in his year-long campaign to beat Evans, the long-established "king of British birdwatchers".

He funded himself with his retirement lump sum - as well as the proceeds from selling his London home and moving to Norfolk.

During the 12 months, he recorded the sighting of 380 individual species of birds.

All this was accomplished with the support of his long-suffering wife, Vanessa, known as Nessie.

Obsession: Former champion twitcher turned author Adrian Riley
Not that Riley began his title attempt that well.

Indeed, his opponent, Evans, got off to an impressive start, surprising Riley with his intensity when they went out twitching together in January, hunting for the bird species which would give them the tally, or "yearticks", to beat each other. "We raced from site to site," Riley remembers, "gathering one 'year-tick' after another: Hertfordshire one minute, Essex the next . . . then into Suffolk.

"By the end of the day, I was almost dizzy."

At the end of January 2002, Evans claimed to have seen no fewer than 221 species of bird to Riley's 164.

"I was the weakest link," he says. But then it started to get dirty - for at this time, Evans was the most powerful twitcher in Britain.

One fellow twitcher told Riley darkly that if he challenged Evans for the "yearlister" title, his name "would be mud".

"His comment made my stomach flutter like a swarm of migrating butterflies and I was bathed in a sense of foreboding," Riley says rather floridly.

Worse, Riley finished that month with a total of 217 sightings, well under Evans' record-breaking January score.

Riley especially wanted to reach the remote Scottish island of St Kilda in May, but wasn't able to find a boatman and couldn't waste time.

"Competitive twitching necessitates haste," he reminded himself - a motto that got him 308 species sighted by the end of the month.

But such haste also meant personal animosity between Riley and Evans.

Later that month, Evans called Riley to say that "he knew where I was all the time, and was aware of all the birds I was seeing".

It was a conversation that was to change Riley's life.

In the first weeks of June, Riley's distrust of Evans hardened still further when, he says, his rival rang to tell him that reports from a service called Rare Bird Alert - who are responsible for tipping off twitchers about sightings - of a canvasback duck near Manchester were "a load of rubbish" and he needn't bother going to try to see it.

At that moment, Riley recalled a previous conversation when Evans had told him the same thing about a hooded merganser in Northumberland.

"At the time, I did not realise Lee had already seen the bird," says Riley.

Evans had used the gentleman's agreement which governs competitive birdwatching - that if a twitcher spots a species while alone, his word is enough.

However, September brought a dramatic showdown between the two men.

Evans interrogated Riley, demanding to know if he had actually seen a bird he'd claimed to. "This was the final straw," he says.

"I decided then and there that the game would now get personal.

"I was no longer going to aim to win the competition - I wanted to beat Lee Evans. Winning was secondary." Furious, Riley immediately set off for the remote island of Foula where he hoped to spot a long-billed dowitcher.

When he finally arrived, after a hair-raising flight on a small plane in a rain storm, it took him more than an hour to find it.

The sighting came at a terrifying price.

"The wind was driving the rain so hard, it found its way through the tiniest gaps in my waterproof clothing.

"It was running down my back in icy rivulets. I was thoroughly miserable," says Riley.

Shivering uncontrollably, he started running on the spot to raise his temperature, then tried to sleep while waiting for his plane home.

He managed it - only to dream that he was dying and being lowered into a deep hole, with his wife looking down at him beside a one-eyed man with a crucifix in his ear.

In the silence, Riley imagined he was screaming "no one else could have seen a long-billed dowitcher".

But he made it home to Norfolk, and by the end of September his tally was 357.

The following month, Riley was in the Scilly Isles only to discover that Evans was already on his way to the islands.

By this time, says Riley, "I was so angry with the man, I detested all he stood for."

Incensed, he darted around the British Isles, notching up more and more birds.

But any of the joy he had obtained from birdwatching had gone.

He admits: "The battle with Lee had probably ruined my hobby for good."

In November, he again headed for the Scilly Isles, driving the 400 miles from his home in Norfolk to Cornwall overnight.

Mad though it may sound, Riley needed to be there before dawn because he was in pursuit of two rare birds sighted the day before.

He knew he couldn't afford to waste a moment.

Driving through the darkness, he arrived in Penzance for breakfast and caught the helicopter to the Scillies.

But not everything went according to plan.

"Got soaked to the skin as I didn't put my waterproofs on - bloody idiot", he wrote in his diary afterwards.

"Hamlet cigars still dry, thank God. Searched frozen and sodden for ages for the paddyfield warbler, but it seemed to have left."

"Heard that Lee had seen it the previous day - f*** it!"

A disconsolate Riley flew back to Penzance and drove home to the village of Sculthorpe in Norfolk.

He'd been away less than 48 hours.

"Still have a wet crotch from the speedboat crossing at 9.30 this morning," he confided to his diary.

By December, the race was almost run, and Riley, after more frantic dashes across the country, was triumphant but exhausted.

Indeed, even though a rare-bird alert arrived on New Year's Eve - that a black-browed albatross has been seen off the Norfolk coast - Riley sat in his kitchen with a cup of coffee and thought: "F*** it! I can't be beaten now... I'm going to the pub."

He was right. He couldn't be beaten - he'd won, but only just.

His total number of sightings for the year was 380 individual species, while Evans managed 379. Yet, no matter how sweet, Riley's victory was to come at a terrible personal cost, first to his health and then to his happiness.

Inevitably, the battle had ruined twitching for him.

But still he set himself huge tasks of documentation.

In 2003, he set out to photograph every one of the species and sub-species of British butterflies, only to suffer a stroke shortly after he began, brought on by too much stress and too much driving.

To cap it all, he then found himself divorced by Nessie over their "mutually irreconcilable differences" - no doubt brought on by enforced twitching absences.

As indefatigable as ever, the now silver-haired Riley, who will be 50 later this year, completed his butterfly project and has recently set out to write a guide to every species of British and Irish dragonflies and damselflies.

An eccentric's obsession, clearly, never ever dies: even if his battle of the twitchers cost Adrian Riley very dear."

I have told Peter that I hope he doesn’t turn into an ‘evil twitcher, I guess everything can become an obsessive it too far………

This evening I was dog tired for some reason and didn’t even manage to stay awake through the first 5 minutes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks – maybe the lack of calories is reducing my energy even further!

Holidays and Good Books

Oh whoops, forgot to blog for a few days again.

This week in my spare moments I have been working out which weeks to request as leave for this year and now I'm busy surfing the net for cottages in the Peak District for one of our weeks. Things have really moved on from just receiving a brochure in the post with one picture of the outside of holiday cottage. These days you can take a virtual tour of the property which is great fun and, like viewing a house to buy, I instantly know whether I like the look of a place or not. I plan to narrow it down to 10 or so and then Peter and I can have a good look through and choose one.

I've been keeping up with my new year's pledge of going through a drawer or cupboard a day to sort it out and select stuff for a boot sale. I've also started my diet yesterday - I've decided to do an online plan (via Tesco.Diets.com) which is far cheaper than weight watchers but basically operates the same - you are given a set number of points for each day and can log each food you eat into a daily calculator to ensure you don't exceed your points. There are chat rooms and blogs from other dieters too, to keep you motivated. I must admit that last night I was pretty hungry but resisted the snack tin and Peter was good enough to eat any snacks he had out of my sight.

This evening I watched my tape of the new American series 'Damages' starring Glen Close. God, it's cracking, I loved it. Can't wait for the next episode. Glen Close is excellent and Ted Danson is doing an excellent job of playing against type.

I've started a new book too, which Peter got me for Christmas 'The Poisonwood Bible' - it's not my usual style of book but so far I'm really enjoying it. Basically it's the tale of a wife and four daughters of a devout evangelical Baptist who get taken by him and his mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

Sickly Sunday

Woke up this morning with a banging headache (the second in two days which is a bit worrying). Dragged myself out to get a paper but returned to bed after a few hours as I just wasn't feeling right - still a banging headache, puffy eyes (which I'm suffering from a lot at the moment) and feeling really cold. Peter left me to sleep for a while and later made me some lunch and dosed me up with pain killers - so I felt looked after. Got up at about 3.30pm feeling a bit better - head is still muzzy, and I'm tired, but I'm hoping that I will be ok tomorrow for work.

We've spent the afternoon watching a frankly ridiculous episode of Midsomer Murders -it's been laugh out loud at times which I'm sure isn't the programme makers intention!

Twitching at Titchfield

Woke up with a headache this morning which thankfully seemed to disappear shortly after I woke up.

Went up to the garage to try and get the car washed but yet again it wasn't working, so just used the vac instead and bought the papers. Then it was off to Homebase to buy a loo seat (don't laugh!) - the metal fixings on ours had corroded so the seat was 'free standing' if you see what I mean. When I got home Peter got to work on fitting it before my parents arrived!

When mum and dad got here we had an early lunch of crusty bread and parsnip soup and then headed down to Titchfield Haven for the afternoon. We now know why it was shut last week - apparently they are never open on a Monday or Tuesday except on a Bank Holiday, so we will have to remember that.

We saw a lot of interesting birds although not the volumes of each species we were expecting. I will let Peter blog about what we saw. Mum and dad enjoyed it but come 3.30pm I could tell they were getting cold and with dad still being a bit fragile we headed home for tea and a bit of telly. It was a good day.

Jam, Jerusalem, Pesto and Pillocks

Bit of a hectic morning this morning. Got up even earlier than usual as I wanted to go to Sainsers before work for a few bits for mum and dad coming tomorrow. However, seemed to find too many things to do before leaving the house and ended up leaving just before 7. As the postal sorting office was about to open at that time, decided to call in and pick a parcel for Peter - however, realised as I pulled into the car park that I had forgotten to bring some ID for Peter - darn it. Dashed to supermarket and whizzed round and only two tills were open - both with men with huge trolleys in front and I chose the one not only with the huge trolley but who also fancied a nice little chat with the cashier (no concern for people behind him who may have needed to get to work) grhhh. As I was already late for work when I came out I thought, to hell with it, I'm late anyway so I'll get petrol too which thankfully was a quicker purchase. Unbelievably, when I got to work - neither boss was in - have they both made New Year's resolutions not to come in at sparrows fart I wonder? Anyway, it gave me chance to boot up my computer, switch on the coffee machine and settle down before they came in - phew!

Today wasn't a particularly good day - one of the so called 'managers' really upset a colleague of mine by blaming her for something (which wasn't her fault) in front of a conference room full of people. As her request I reported it to someone more senior but he wasn't remotely interested in having words with the individual so I was bloody annoyed about that. It really bugs me that us mere 'administrators' aren't deemed worth treating with respect.

After a very long day, that dragged like buggery, I drove home, picked up the ID, and then back to the Sorting Office. Some git tried to force his way in front of me at the traffic lights but I wouldn't let him in (I was in that sort of mood). Then another lune switched lanes at the lights and totally cut me up - I travelled behind him on full beam for a bit (I was in that sort of mood).

This evening has been tranquil by comparison. We had linguine with pesto tonight (yum) followed by a bit of Christmas cake (yep, still eating up those Christmas leftovers).

We are currently watching Jam and Jerusalem - didn't think much of it first time round but thought we'd give it another chance. Peter made a valid point, which could be the problem with it, that there are so many excellent and well known actors in it that the characters aren't given enough 'air time' to develop. I would imagine that each actress demands a certain amount of screen time and that results in the plot jumping around all over the place.

Holidays and Cute Puppies

Well, as predicted, getting out of bed this morning was hell and it was certainly a struggle to leave the house on time to get to work. Luckily the roads were amazingly quiet - seems a lot of people aren't going back until Monday.

As it turned out, I needn't have rushed in as no-one in my corner of the office came in until an hour after I'd arrived and my boss had left me a note to say he has taken today off. My opposite number is away until Monday and the other boss was only on campus until about 11.00am. I did have the foresight to bring my radio in so I stuck on Radio 4 and tackled my emails (101 exactly!) and the actions arising from them - mostly printing of docs and booking people onto conferences, so nothing too taxing for my first day back. I also took the office decs down and opened a present and xmas cards that had been left on my desk whilst I was away so that was nice. I also penciled out some dates when I propose to take leave; if Peter agrees with the dates, I'll book them with work next week.

At home time I went to see my friend Carol to see her new puppy. Daisy is gorgeous and one minute is running around like a lunatic and them suddenly tires and goes all floppy and lets you pick her up for a very soppy cuddle and then just falls asleep in your lap. It was good to see Carol and catch up with what had happened during our respective Christmases. I have decided that 2008 is going to be the year when I focus a decent amount of time on my friendships.

I got home only about 15 mins before Peter so threw together a chicken satay stirfry which was gorgeous if I say so myself. Peter has band this evening so I'm relaxing with the laptop and the soaps. However, I have kept to my New Years resolution and tidied up another area of the house tonight - this evening it was the turn of the bathroom medicine cabinet - it is now free of sticky patches of Covornia cough mixture and medicines that ran out in 2002!

Rain & a Good Old Clear Out

Happy New Year everyone - let's hope it's a good one! I had this message on my mobile from a friend which hits the right note I think "2008 is at the door ... remember, life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile".

Today we were supposed to be at Popham Airfield on our stall but I backed out last night and told Peter I didn't fancy freezing my wotsits off on my last day before going back to work. As it turned out it was raining heavily this morning so we couldn't have gone anyway (so that me feel a bit better about not wanting to go).

Peter decided to go to Blashford lakes today to do some bird spotting - he's pretty obsessed at the moment as he wants to make this a record year for the number of birds spotted. I think he has seen 47 species this year already! Anyway, before he went out we took all the xmas decorations down and hoovered up all the bits of tinsel. The place looks rather bare now but it's good to get it sorted today as I'll be taking decorations down at work tomorrow (how depressing!).

Once Peter had gone out I started on my first new years resolution of going through the house, room by room, and having a clear out. I managed to do my bedroom drawers which were full of pens, old bits of make up, odd earrings - you name it, it was in there(still the wardrobe to tackle) and the whole of the kitchen which is a good start. I have a whole bag full of kitchen gadgets, that I never use, to go to the boot sale.

Once Peter got home I stuck on one of my favourite movies of all time 'Trains, Planes and Automibiles', - it's hilarious and touching in equal measure and Steve Martin and the late John Candy are exceptional in it.

This evening we are going to watch 'Three Men and Another Boat' on beeb 2 which should be hilarious if the last one was anything to go by. Then I'm going to have an early night in preparation for the dreaded work tomorrow.