Hooray It's Friday

I thought I was going to have to work late this evening but the meeting had to be moved which I was pleased about as it's been a longggggggg week.

My work colleague and I have been plotting today. During reading break we are going to have a massive 'de-junk' of our office and trial a reorganisation of the furniture - a bit of a clear out is good for the soul I think.

Once I got home, I did a fair bit of housework so there's not that much to do at the weekend which means we pretty much have two clear days this weekend - hooray. I love Friday nights with the thought of two whole free days ahead - I have lots of relaxing reading and radio listening planned - bliss.....I also have a hankering to watch a good movie or two.

I must say it's bl**dy cold and it seems we might get some snow from Sunday onwards. I love snow as long as I don't have to drive in it, so I'm really hoping not to have to drive into work in snow on Monday morning.

God this is a boring blog, sorry; sometimes life is just very ordinary.

Being Human

It's been a busy and tiring couple of days at work. The usual stack of minutes to type and meetings to arrange. Yesterday's 'excitement' was a burst water main which caused some concern as it was originally thought the water could be off for some time which would have meant emergency measures having to be put in place because of residential students living on site, but thankfully it was sorted in a few hours so the Crisis Team could stand down.

I had a terrible headache again today which took four tablets to even start to shift, still I feel a bit better now that I'm home and can relax. I was saying to my colleague at work that even losing a few hours sleep these days means I'm rubbish the next day (old age m'dears, old age!).

Last night in desperation for something to watch I watched 'Being Human' on I-Player which is a new series which has started on BBC 3 this week. Several people at work recommended it. It sounds strange but it's about a vampire, werewolf and ghost who share a flat and hold down normal jobs whilst trying to fight their evil tendencies. The acting was great and there's some real black humour in it - I predict a hit.

Well I failed to finish reading 'The Suspicions of Mr Whicher' in time for Richard and Judy's book club review tonight but luckily they didn't ruin the end by giving too much away. As they highly recommended it, it's bound to be in the bestseller list by next week! Peter is going to read it next I think.

This evening I'm chilling big time by going to have a very early night.

Oh and if you want a laugh - have a read of this wonderful complaint letter which has been sent to Richard

Branson.http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/editors_corner/article/11975/

Today's Spending
£2.00 on a sandwich (bad, very bad)

Freebies
Free sample copy of Marie Claire magazine
Awarded 50p for completing a You Gov survey - woo hoo!

Sad Day

It was raining heavily outside this morning which helped me to lay in bed until around 8.00am as it was so dark outside.

Once up, I made some more fruit crumbles for the freezer using some apples that we'd frozen in the autumn.

The rest of the day I did a bit of housework, checked the car over, read yesterday's Guardian and got stuck into my latest book 'The Suspicions of Mr Whitcher' which is a true story of a country house murder that took place in the 1860's when the Victorians were setting up their first detective force. I've given myself a deadline of until Wednesday for reading it as Richard and Judy are reviewing it on Wednesday night on their show on 'Watch' and I want to see if I agree.

We were just about to take our first mouthful of tea tonight when mum rang, we let it go to answerphone with the intention of calling her back afterwards, but she didn't sound right so phoned her back and she had some sad news that one of my aunts has died. My aunt has been suffering with MS for quite a few years - starting off with a simple pain in her foot, progressing to losing the use of both legs, then one arm and then the other, then trouble swallowing and breathlessness. Throughout the illness she has always been amazingly positive and strong.

However, on Friday last week she had finally had enough and refused her medication and didn't want to eat or drink. The doctor said he couldn't force her and just kept her as comfortable as possible at home. Today she died.

It has happened so quickly that it has shocked her poor husband and close family although, thankfully, they have all been to see her in the last few days so she did get to see everyone close to her in her final days which is good for her and some small comfort for them I think. It's so hard for my uncle as he lost his first wife to illness whilst she was quite young and then found unexpected happiness with his second wife later in life - only to see her become very ill. So very sad and unfair......

Visiting Family and Friends

Wow Sunday already and January almost gone, I've come to realise that for every year that I get older the months just whizz by faster and faster - I remember when summers felt endless and 6 weeks off school felt like an eternity.....

Work was very busy on Friday but a least I was minuting the one meeting that I actually enjoy 'The Environmental Sustainability Development Group'.

Yesterday Peter was at football so I went to visit my parents and bought them some well deserved flowers to say thank you for their help on getting our immersion tank situation sorted. Mum and Dad's place is 'almost' on the market, they just need to get their HIP (home information pack) sorted. I do hope they find a buyer quickly - meanwhile the pressure is on for them to find a new place. The market is so deflated at the moment there's next to nothing up for sale that meets their criteria. I would dearly love for them to move back into a village environment so that they've got more of a community around them and can get involved again in village life.

Mum was doing the RSPB bird watch hour when I got there - as they are surrounded by fields they get some amazing birds. Whilst I was there, as well as the usual garden birds a wood pecker, a flock of long tailed tits, a barn owl and a sparrow hawk passed through (sadly not all in the same hour though so they can't all count!).

After seeing mum and dad I met up with friends Wendy and Julie for lunch and the watching of a couple of films (as well as a good chin wag of course). I'm not into chick flicks as such but as we are all pretty skint we borrowed some DVD's from Wendy's daughter number 2's collection - 'Over Her Dead Body' and '27 Dresses'. The first one was a bit pants but 27 Dresses was actually ok and had some funny as well as moving moments.

Dashed back to Eastleigh just in time to collect Peter from the Station and we settled in for the night - although the offerings on the box were dire.

Tomorrow I am using up some apples that I froze during the summer to make some puddings for the freezer, topping up the car levels and generally having chill out day with the papers and a good book.

Today's Expenditure:

Flowers for Parents £10
Pudding for Friends £2.79
The Guardian £1.60 (just can't give up the Saturday Guardian!)
Cheese & Bread £4.78
Lipstick £5.37 (god, that's gone up - existing one worn to a stub)

Freebies Today:

Borrowed DVD of Sweeney Todd from Wendy.
Free Tub of Utterly Butterly using voucher (saving £1.08)

Wednesday (Couldn't Think of Title Today)

The roads into work this morning were like glass and lots of staff got held up due to accidents happening throughout the area. Luckily I’d decided to use the motorway this morning which meant I cut my need to go on A & B roads by about 50%.

However, obviously no one phoned up the College and said "em, looks icy out I think I'll take the day off" which is virtually what Royal Mail did today. The post van got stuck in a queue of traffic that had built up behind an accident and so turned round and didn't deliver the post, not even later in the day!! (We heard this direct from the customer service department). I tell you customer service in this Country has truly gone to the dogs - I have every sympathy with local Post Offices that are struggling to keep open, they are vital services as far as I'm concerned but with this sort of attitude going on it's little wonder the whole Post Office/Royal Mail business is in trouble.

This evening I actually don’t have any carrot preparation to do; having blanched, bagged and frozen our crop last night. Hooray!

We had a discussion about Valentines Day last night. We do like to be romantic and observe it but with watching our pennies we don’t want to go overboard or get stitched up paying over the odds for things just on that one day. Sooooo we are going to make our own cards (that could be interesting!), buy a ‘take out’ meal from a supermarket instead of an expensive take-a-way or restaurant and buy a present for each other with a maximum price of £15.00. I’m looking forward to the challenge I must say.

Today’s Expenditure
£30.00 on petrol (but I did get double Clubcard points!)
£42.00 on 8 boxes of tights (seems a lot but I ordered in bulk online and got a
discount – should see me through until the end of winter when I can stop wearing the darn things!)

Freebies Today
None (must be slipping)

This evening I've watched the second episode of the BBC 2 parter 'Hunter' on I-Player whilst waiting for Peter to get home. He missed his train so won't get home until about 7.00pm - poor thing.

Chef Wars

Busy and stressful day at work again today! As soon as I walked in the office, even before I got my coat off, my boss said he wouldn’t have time to chair the 8.25am meeting so I had to phone around and try and find a Chair at 7.45am. Not that many people around at that time as you can imagine but I found a shining star (a woman needless to say) to step in – bless her indeed.

My dad is a hero, today he and mum have been to our house and installed a new immersion tank – it would have cost us a fortune if we’d had to employ a plumber. My mum also planted some flowers in our garden whilst they were there – wasn’t that nice?

As part of my blog I’m going to try and keep track of my spending in future. Here’s yesterday’s effort:-

Expenditure
• Lonely Planet Magazine (Free promotional offer)
• 2 x Cheese & Tuna Rolls (Free lunch – left over from buffet at work).

Amount spent yesterday – Nothing!

Last night we watched Heston Blumenthal trying to reinvigorate Little Chef. What a strange programme that was. They definitely picked the wrong chef to advise them as he was coming up with ideas that were way too expensive or whacky for the Chain – lambs tongue and offal hotpot anyone? Heston’s head chefs were also very rude and snooty towards the staff working in the Little Chef which was well out of order. I look forward to shouting at the telly in episode 2 tonight.

The Most Depressing Day of the Year?

If ever there was a day when I felt like staying in bed it was this morning (that's before I saw on the News that today is officially the most miserable day of the year). I don't know why but I was just soooo tired this morning and felt like a zombie getting ready for work.

Work was pretty manic and I had a 'behind the eyes'headache all day. The worst part of the day was being called up to a conference venue to deliver a data stick (as the presenter had forgotten their presentation). I was told on the phone that there would be a few people in the room when I got there - but when I arrived there were around 30 Principals around an L shaped table in the middle of their meeting. So I had to go to the podium at the front of the room and install the presentation. It should have been simple but some numpty had failed to connect the USB connection box to the laptop so it took me some time to figure that out and finally be able to install the presentation - totally embarrassing!

The rest of the day wasn't much better so I was relieved to leave for the day and miraculously my headache had virtually gone by the time I got home (must have been the tension). My friend Carol came round this evening and we had a good old chin wag and put the the worlds to rights which was a nice end to what had been a pretty horrible day.

This evening we are watching Heston Blumenthal trying to turn around Little Chef - we are particularly interested as a Little Chef we know is featured on the A303. Good luck Heston!

Thank goodness we can now access I-Player as there are two 'part 2's' on at the same time 'Unforgiven' and 'Hunter' so it's a case of taping one and watching the other on the internet - those darn schedulers - it's all or nothing at the moment.

My what a large carrot you have !

Yesterday we got lots done in the house and garden (and I discovered we have a leakly hot water tank). It's only a little drip but, as we all know, drips can turn into something more serious if they aren't dealt with. My good old dad is going to come out next week to see if he can solder the hole in the tank or whether we need a new one - I hope he can fix it as we've only just forked out for the dish washer.

Peter dug up the rest of our carrot crop yesterday - I weighed the trug he brought them all in with and it was just under 2 stone! The largest carrot weighed just under a lb! It's definitely been our best crop so far - well done Peter! Today, as well as doing some more cooking for the freezer (chicken casserole; chicken in white wine sauce and fruit crumbles), I peeled the carrot crop - it took me just under an hour. After that I decided to leave them under a damp cloth as I was too tired to do all the chopping and blanching today.

I then took time out and finished 'The Mesmerist' by Barbara Ewing which has been a brilliant read - I loved it. Next on my reading pile is a collection of crime short stories by Stanley Ellin - apparently he won a special Ellery Queen Award for his short story (which is the title of the book) "The Speciality of the House" and won lots of other crime fiction awards too, so I have high hopes of enjoying it.

Despite the weather forecast being terrible for today - it's actually been sunny all day. Peter went to Blashford Lakes this morning, hoping to up his bird count, and I guess I'll see him soon as it's getting dark. I hope he saw the elusive Bittern that's supposed to be there....

Dumb Pigeons

Well, we really haven't been out at all this weekend, except into the garden. Although the frost was less severe today it was still bitterly cold, particularly as the wind has really picked up. The ground was much too hard for Peter to dig up the carrots we had planned to cook.

Today I cooked up 14 batches of bolognese sauce for the freezer and feel very virtuous about that. Peter was my sous chef and did my prep. work for me. One job we didn't have to do was chop onions. I have always hated chopping onions, they make my hands stink for days and my eyes always stream - so to find that Asda sell them ready peeled, chopped and frozen for 79p for a huge bag is just brilliant. Next weekend I plan to cook up some chicken recipes for freezing.

We spent a fair bit of some in the conservatory this morning watching the birds. Peter had thrown some brown bread out and the pigeons were busy feasting on it. Because the bread chunks were quite large, this one pigeon kept picking up a huge chunk and sort of worrying it in its beak to break it up. Twice we watched it do this and a bread chunk fly up in the air and land on his back. He then wandered around the garden carrying the bread on his back looking for it - this went on for some time. Hillarious - I have come to the conclusion that pigeons are the thickos of the bird world.

During the evenings this weekend we have really struggled for something to watch - how things have fallen off since Christmas - so have been resorting to watching some taped stuff.

Beautiful Trees

The temperature today stayed at -4 all day. On my drive in to work, as I got the other side of Winchester, it was like driving through a winter wonderland - the trees were white and laden with ice shimmering in the semi-light; quite beautiful. Nice to have one's spirits lifted on the drive into work. When I left work at the end of the day nothing had changed and my car had already semi-iced over at just 4.00pm.

This weekend we are officially 'holed up' except for maybe a trip to the local tip to get rid of our dishwasher.

On Saturday I'll be doing exciting stuff like defrosting the freezer (ironic that)and doing some prep. work for the mass of cooking I'm proposing to do on Sunday.

We watched the last episode of Anne Frank this evening. The series, in my eyes, has been perfect and I shall miss having something decent to watch next week. Of course we both knew what the ending would be, but that didn't make it any less heart wrenching when it came. Yep there wasn't a dry eye in this house.

I have now finished reading 'Intimacy' and was quite disappointed by the ending. I wanted to find out the reactions of the partner and children to his decision to leave but none of that was explained - I guess that was the point the book was written from his own selfish point of view......

My next book is the Mesmerist by Barbara Ewing which so far is looking good.

A Bonza Day

Great day today.

My colleague was back from leave - someone to talk to at last !!!

I had a parcel delivered at home of foil catering containers in readiness for all the batch/cooking and freezing of meals I'm planning to do. I ordered a box of 1,000 (a bit over the top but they were a bargain at less than 5p each including lids). I had placed the order at 2.00pm on Tuesday and they were delivered at 9.30am on Wednesday. What a brilliant company!

Finally, we stepped into the 21st Century and got broadband with 02 yesterday. It's wireless and is picked up via a 'dongle' (what a great word!) that you stick in your USB port. 02 have proved to be extremely efficient too - emailing and texting with details of the order - equipment arriving exactly when they said it would and simple set up instructions that I suspect even a non computer person could use.

My theory is that with the recession biting that customer service is going to get better and better with companies fighting for the little business there is around.

Anyway, we can now watch TV we have missed on the computer ie. BBC i-Player and Channel 4 OD etc. There was a show that I missed over Xmas and was pretty fed up about but I can now get it and the images are just as good as TV with no picture freeze. Within 1 day I'm a total wireless convert - it's brilliant and you can pick up the signal anywhere you move in the house and even the garden and no trailing leads around the place too.

All that excitement was enough for one day and I went to bed early to read. I have started 'Intimacy' by Hanif Kureishi. It's all set in one evening as a man prepares to leave his partner and children and all the thoughts that are running through his head as he prepares to pack his bag and tell his partner. It's starkly honest and actually quite scary viewing a relationship from a male perspective which is so very different from a females I thought. I hoped I would enjoy it as I had loved 'Budha of Suburbia' which I read way back....

A Chill Wind...

Took me ages to get the car de-iced this morning - minus 7!! Drove extra carefully into work - if only the bugggers who were tail gating me were too....

First thing had to walk up the hill to our conference/accommodation block to meet a guest speaker. Luckily she was on time and the room was all set up correctly so there were no last minute panics. I quite enjoyed the little walk around the campus even though it was freezing.

I put my holiday request form in for the whole of the year ahead this morning - my boss said "you know what holiday you want including up to next Christmas?" like I was mad but I think it's essential to have plans and stuff to look forward to. I have my main weeks booked and 6.5 days left to have for unexpected stuff or when I just feel I need a day off work.

Today I've finally finished reading 'The Woman in Black' by Susan Hill which I enjoyed - a nice creepy tale for reading in front of the fire. Now I have the choice of one of the many lovely books I got for Christmas to select from. It's one of life's pleasures starting a new book I think.

I am so enjoying Anne Frank on the box - half a hour per evening just isn't enough though. Nowt else on tonight so off to find that book..........

Back to the Coal Face

Boy it was hard getting up this morning, as bad as I thought it would be - dark and cold - how I wished I was still under the duvet as I drove in to work.

There was no snow at home but as I skirted around Winchester there it was. The approach into the College is on quite a steep downward slope so driving was really tricky - I needed to brake to slow down for the speed bumps but didn't want to because of the icy road. In the end I slowed down to first gear and braked lightly but still managed to do a bit of a slide but made it to the car park ok.

Work was actually pretty ok, it didn't take me that long to get through the emails and as everyone, like me, was adjusting to being back at work after the shutdown no-one was really up to speed.

I had just taken fruit into work today - part of the diet and all that. Only to be tested straight away by top boss giving me a large box of Thorntons Chocolates that he didn't have time to give me before Christmas - ho hum!

After work I met two friends in town for a coffee as planned and it was great, hearing about their respective Christmases.

This evening we watched the first episode of Anne Frank on the beeb which was really good I think. Apparently her diary was edited when published to take out any romantic references etc which made her appear saintly. Much better to have her represented in a more rounded light - flaws and all. Nice to see Tamsin Greig in a straight role - I think she's brilliant and the wonderful Leslie Sharp too.

Clear Out, Gardening and £200 down

Today we got up quite late and headed off to Homebase to buy a circuit breaker to use with a hedge cutter that Peter got for his birthday. We got the circuit breaker, 3 packets of seeders and two large flower pots for just under £7.00 as we had a £5.00voucher to use. Brilliant!

It has been bitterly cold today (minus 3) but very bright so we took the opportunity to do some outdoor stuff. I tidied the shed as it had got to the stage of not being able to get in there and later raked up loads of leaves and fir cones from our main border. Peter meanwhile patched up the bottom of the old part of our fence which had some gaping holes and sorted out some stuff in the greenhouse.

Having patted ourselves on the back on spending so little in Homebase and starting the year as we mean to go on financially, our dishwasher decided to pack up. So that's £200 of unplanned spending already this year - darn it.

Before we knew it, it was getting dark and Peter wanted to watch the footie. Football aside, what has happened to Saturday night telly - now that Christmas is over all the channels seem to have given up and it's pants!! I have managed to find an old Dalziel and Pascoe on the Alibi Channel but that's about all I could find - ho hum.

I must admit to feeling a bit of the January blues creeping in and the thought of going back to work on Monday is hugely depressing. I have so enjoyed my time off and this week has been great - getting up when I want, doing bits and pieces at home and in the garden and just being a 'homebird' for once.

Happy 2009 & Banana Dramas

Had mum and dad and one of my aunt's over on New Year's Eve. The evening went well (apart from the injuries- read on .....) and we played some fast paced board games - one of which is called 'Grab a Nanna' and my relies were pretty amazed to see Peter and I tugging at each end of a plastic banana and refusing to let go - competitive,us? (I caved in the end). I also broke one of my aunt's nails and bruised dad's hand - both accidental I hasten to add - and I wasn't even drinking! Everyone left at about 10.30pm which was quite a relief really as I was way too tired to stay awake until mid-night.

Shamelessly stealing the style of Anne's New Year's blog - here are my thoughts on 2008 and my hopes for the next:-

Major Things in 2008

A happy year with Peter - we have our niggles but I can't remember an argument this year (not that we rowed fervently before but there is an evening out that occurs when you have lived together for a while I think).
Some great UK holidays - 3 visits to Norfolk and one to Herefordshire.
Having our driveway and garden extension completed.
Building up a closer friendship with two girls I used to work with.
Working on maintaining a much older friendship but it's not the same since we have moved however much I want it to be.
Seeing more of my parents and including them in things we do.

Hopes & Ambitions for this Year.

The old faithful - lose a substantial amount of weight - diet starts 5 January!
Do much more 'from scratch cooking' - the deal is Peter grows the veg - I cook it.
Save, save, save money. Bye bye credit card debt!
Take more exercise.
Visit my brother in the summer - not just at Christmas.
To come off the drug that is online ordering on Amazon - it's just too available!
Getting our garden looking the best it can.
Get my numerous online photo's printed and put in proper albums.
Take a 2 week summer break - we have only ever had 1 week before.
Listen to the radio more.
Make more time to read.

This evening we are watching Good Old Wallace and Gromit which we missed over Christmas, Three Men and a Boat and new episode of Jonathan Creek (how I love Jonathan Creek!)