zosted

Got back from Bristol at 10pm after spending the day (my third on this project/bid thing) trying to get the newly assigned chap up to speed on something I haven't got my own head round yet.

~ and I've lost my lighter : yes, that one. Had it last night when I was outside talking to Paul on the phone, couldn't find it this morning in the hotel room. Turning my handbag upside down on the bed didn't help anything except helping make me late for work; not under the bed; not on the floor near the desk where the cigarettes were; nowhere. Really teed off with myself, I've now turned the suitcase upside down on the bed, and the billybag my laptop travels in. De nada. It has to be SOMEWHERE; and bad cess to anyone who purloined it.

Really am feeling wiped out but the kitchen looks as if it might be ready for Saturday; I have cupboards on the wall now, and lights under them, doors that open and shelves to put things on, nearly a drawer unit, and an incredible amount of dust over everything, everywhere.

Past time to go to bed, I need to get up in the middle of the night to get to London tomorrow for another client meeting on a different project, then work on the Bristol one on Friday: I rebelled at the idea of driving back there for Friday so I'll be working from home and hoping to get some house-work; note, not 'housework' done; and shopping; and pampering of me - I think I deserve it.

Might phone that nice man from Magnet who left a message saying he was sure he could be of service to me; servicing sounds tempting.

rodent RIP

This morning, my mouse died. Not one of those supposed cheese-addicted furry cartoon things, or even one of the furry disease-bearing scary beasties, timorous or not. The electronic, tenner from tescos, blue light useful mousie.

I thihk stuffing it in my billy-bag, pulling its tail unmercifully on a far too frequent basis, and generally treating it as indestructible finally took its toll.

So. I get brave and demanding in the office, and call facilities (whose job I know it's not, but I don't know if there IS any desktop support at the Bristol office) to find out if there was a spare moose aboot the hoose. SIGH Lovely facilities lady : I was on her case for a replacement phone cos the one on the desk I was borrowing didn't work perfectly. She brought me a brand new one which I was tempted to adopt and take home with me. While I had her attention, I asked if she could find a mouse for me to molest. She went the extra mile and harassed desktop support to provide a mouse-loan with strict instruction that I had to return it. Great stuff. Except my laptop doesn't have a round mouse connector, only a USB port so ............. I spent the day being out of sorts because I didn't have the kind of toy I prefer.

The entirely no sense of direction paid off after work when I found a huge retail park up the road (in the wrong direction of course) from the office with a Currys/Comet/whatever whose helpful staff person at least understood what I meant when I said I wanted a baby mouse.

Things made more sense before I got outside most of a bottle of red (retail park had a supermarket)

Not/kinda/watching "Shameless". I've seen the trailers on the sudden access of TV around me, and caught an interview with whoever the main man is on breakfast TV this morning, saying that the storylines are tame in comparison with what really really happens on 'these estates'. I know exactly what he means. The satire is more rational than the reality.

City Inn Hotels are kinda cool, especially the MAC gizmo with razor sharp images for telly stuff and options for movies and music. Free internet also helps, but mostly helps me to mess about instead of doing any of the work I thought I might do after work. Makes no sense whatsoever.

G'DAM!!!!!!!!! TV not only messes about with Edith but has started on Ray as well. NOT amused!

g'night

my poor baby

Paul has whiplash from that accident yesterday, killer headache and really sore neck, enough that I managed to persuade him to go to the hospital just in case. Not that it did much good, they agreed he has a whiplash injury, gave him some painkillers, a leaflet about whiplash injury and told him to come back in two weeks if it hasn't improved.

I was wrong about the accident, the volvo pulled out from a side road, it wasn't on the roundabout, but right about my insurance having cover for a courtesy car during investigations. That could be useful, I guess, but I'll be spitting if they log it as a claim against my no claims discount.

Another trip to B&Q to get the rest of the big stuff for the kitchen, long debates about various things, and finally decisions on which hob/oven and sink unit (Paul said he would smash up the old sink if I didn't get a new one) More noisy drilling, more mysterious movements of the peripatetic kitchen contents, more chasing the net trying to get hotels for the next two weeks working UK tour - London on Monday, Bristol Monday night for Tuesday/Wednesday, London again Thursday, Bristol again Friday, London the following Monday-Wednesday and probably Telford at the end of that week, I'm exhausted thinking about it!

Should have gone to ST tonight but too tired and out of sorts, we resorted to Lois again for a delivered take-away ~ what do you call it if it gets delivered rather than fetched?

Not been reading much lately, not even on the trains where I've mostly been working on the laptop getting there and sleeping getting back, but the TV has been on more in the last week than in the last three months I'm sure, however, that means I got to watch 'Keeping Mum' the other night, and I'm half-watching Karate Kid now, I'd forgotten just HOW old that film is, but it's still funny

oh dear

Paul moved back home night before last :{ I’m glad to see him, he is more than welcome, but :{ on his life with Dee going west again.

This morning, he crashed the car when someone pulled out in front of him on the roundabout outside Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He is OK, but the car isn’t :{

Me? I worked like a loon yesterday in Woking on the EA startup thing, and didn’t get home till 9pm.

This morning, tired, I got a lift to the station bridge and was just in time to get a ticket and get on the train at 7:50 but ~ the ticket machine was out of tickets. The time printed on the ticket I had to buy at the window was timed at ~ 7:50. Never mind, the next train was 08:05 so I shouldn’t have been too much late.

Got to Vauxhall in the pouring rain, at 09:38 (having had to dive in the loo at Marylebone – bit concerned about the dodgy tummy here) and they knew nothing of the course, or the man, and I was further delayed with them having to authorise my ID card for Southbank. Phoned Jane, who said she’d come out and fetch me. After about ten minutes, she called me. I was in the wrong building. Ssssssssssssssssake! I should have been at the ‘real’ Southbank at Waterloo, not Vauxhall. After paying £30.50 for a peak rate travelcard, I wasn’t up for taking the taxi Jane suggested, and fired up the laptop on my own mobile broadband to get the right address and directions. 77 bus, 20 minutes. OK. Except it was still raining, and cold, and the bus took about fifteen minutes to arrive. Kept the calm and got off at Waterloo.

Then forgot a right I should have taken and ended up on the river and walked round three sides of the block to get to the office. *sigh* Sign in, ask where the course is being held, man on the desk says some passing chap will escort me, all nice, chatty, still calm and cool. He took me to the wrong place. Luckily they have little screens outside the rooms saying what’s going on in them so I didn’t gatecrash some other meeting or course. Chatty chap saw me heading back to reception and I followed the desk man’s original instructions and found the room, by which time it was 10:45.

Not bad for having got up at 7 and left the house at 7:35 for a 9.30 meeting.

At the end of the day, having just handed back the visitors pass and about to leave the building with Jane, I realised I had left my scarf in the training room. Palaver to get back in to be able to get it, but at least I remembered.

Improvement when I called Mark to find he was already home, OK to visit and was cooking dinner. ~ annnnnnd relax! ~

We managed to see off three bottles of wine between us and I managed to get the bus back in good time to get the last Amersham train home. Also remembered to get the taxi driver to drop me off at the end of Grenville, which would seem to have saved me at least a quid on the fare, spared me having to give repeated directions and meant I had some minimal exercise to walk to the house.

More bad news when I got back, apart from wanting to be quiet and get to bed rather than have conversations (I got back just in time to see Mel Gibson bravely acting the stoic as Wallace being drawn and quartered – shame, I like that film, or I did) Paul had managed to get an antivirus virus on my machine, a really nasty persistent new one, which took a while to track down information about, but I did manage to clear it off the registry and etc. I’ve told him he can use his own sodding machine for downloading whatever films/games he does because it’s THEM that brings these things in. grrrrrrrrr.

Almost 3am now, think I’m past tired now although I did sleep on the train.

how did life get so busy?

Feeling trashed and more than ready for bed now. Today started with my boss deciding it would be a good plan to call me at 8:45, which I kinda didn't appreciate but it's my own fault for answering the phone. He bracketed it by calling me again at 6:15 to discuss the ins and outs of the two projects I'm being chased to join, the current bid which suddenly came back with a vengeance, wiping out time for any of the other things I'm supposed to be doing while I'm unassigned, and a new request to work on another bid, or is it project? Welsh tongue to Scottish ear across a dodgy phone line with the sound of major kitchen drilling in the background doesn't make for clear communication.

Small feather in cap, the new response and update I did yesterday impressed a VP enough that he wanted me doing second reviews on all the bid responses with carte blanche to reword, restructure, reformat them however I thought best. fnar, fnar, some of them were written by my (only!) work colleague ex and they're rubbish so I revised them fnar fnar.

The second project is chasing me to work in Telford for the next year - YEAR?!? and my favourite sexy Welshman called to check I was available before putting in a request for me, by name, to work on a project he's starting. Anyway, Mr HoTC boss doesn't want me to do the variable utilisation one (OK) but also wants to give the nice wee bit of work for Mr Welshman to my review manager (BAH!) I think I need to get on a project for a rest instead of juggling the increasing number of small but immediate jobs that have swarmed in the last two days.

I'm in the London office tomorrow to see my review manager for a blahhhhhhhhh performance review face2face but managed to extract agreement from Mr HoTC that I can go on a training course week after next regardless of project starts. Hurrah! This time I'll hold out for an hotel in London instead of spending four hours a day travelling at peak time and not being able to reclaim the extortionate peak time rail fares. Friday I'm meant to be in Woking(for 9am!!!!!!!!!!! I'll never make it!!!)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the kitchen rehab is making good progress, Gordon and I went to IKEA last night, leaving Barbara at Rachel (just bin it)'s while we bought the rest of the dead trees we need, and it's quite exciting trying to find pots and pans, salt, knives etc to cook dinner when the kitchen is now a mostly empty space, all naked repainted walls with neat gouges for new sockets and naked floor. Straight from working all day to B&Q then the supermarket to pick up some super-cheap steak and scrumptious cheesecake for dinner, which was lovely. More lovely is that Barbara is doing a great job with the washing up and knowing which bit of the peripatetic kitchen contents are where.

So, dinner was cooked, enjoyed, and there went the day! Am taking myself off to bed now with a nice malt and a book. Is it Easter yet?

planet project

I should really have checked my email first thing this morning, people were sending me requests for work at 8am and I didn't pick them up till 10.

One of them is about an 'unusual' Test Manager role which would involve spending the rest of this year working and travelling around Telford, Southend, Fleet, Bletchley (at least that's close!), Woking and wherever else they might have someone I need to talk to. The chap thought it would be a good idea for me to pop up to Telford for a half-hour face2face tomorrow; he agreed with me that a 5 hour return trip to do this is probably not the most effective use of time.

It looks "interesting" but wouldn't be full-time all year and would probably block me from doing any other project work, so I suspect our delivery director will put the kybosh on tagging me for all of it, but next month could be a bit busy.

Complications

Lovely day yesterday and rotten luck following. Paul brought the children over when he brought the car for me to use, only saw them for a couple of hours, including my getting ready to go out but it feels so GOOD!

This morning, slowly surfacing was interrupted by the mobile ringing downstairs, which I managed to ignore, and the house phone going off right next to my ear minutes later. Being up till past 3, drinking wine and on a buzz doesn't feel so good when yr bro calls you and inflicts a sense of humour before you're properly awake grrrryrrrrrrrrrch. Gordon is coming down to build me a new kitchen; promised myself I'd have one by the Rammy this year and getting the house straight FOR the Rammy is always a challenge for me anyway so the next couple of weeks should be ~ interesting ~

Rammy - the guest list is shifting all the time, variously. Last Saturday in January EVERY year should be reasonably easy to remember but I still have people telling me they needed more notice FFS. I found a raft of photographs the other week which reminded me that it never used to be a 'big' party, just an OTT dress-up one; the limit had to be imposed when I started inviting people from 'out of town' and accommodation was never an issue back in the day because my social network was centred here; now it's all over the place! Sid has found himself a rather snazzy new jacket to show off, and we had a bit of a convo about the lives and times of said event, coming to the conclusion that, unlikely to happen as it is, we'd be able to cope if it was just the two of us getting dressed up and hammered on champagne over the course of a few hours.

Went out in the sunshine earlier to check what the car problem is after last night when I was driving back in the airborne flood and ended up waterski-ing between two 10ft fans of water, after which the car started making weird noises, sometimes. I thought (hoped!) maybe it forced one of the mudflaps into the wheel arch or something, cos there wasn't any lack of power, the exhaust sounded fine, BUT I wasn't going to stop in the dark and rain 15 miles from home to find out why it made graunching noises now and then. Hasten to add, this is the Mazda, not the red devil. Oh fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff! nothing trivial; I didn't even know what/which bit is missing/broken, but there's a dangling bit of metal associated with the steering, or suspension, or something at the back of the car. NOT feeling guilty here, honestly, just *bad*; it's my car and I broke it; nothing nearly as bad as if it were his. I know it was steering light anyway: (I haven't driven it since June last year, only the red devil so I just assumed it was the way it drove and it's front wheel drive in any case). So, the damage. There are two brackets dangling, one of them with a random rubber bush thingie on it, maybe 'just' a strut affair, but something necessary nonetheless. Since it *is* my car, I can cope with getting it fixed, but that won't have it right for Paul to use tomorrow morning.

I discovered, when looking for some unopened letter about taxing the devil, that my friend gave me the whole V5 thing for it instead of sending it to DVLA, and I plain forgot to send it off. So it's still registered to her, and she's moved, so the form about taxing it is in the silently growing pile behind the front door where she used to live. Sent it off to them last week with a note saying I need it NOW to be able to tax it : hence borrowing the Mazda *correction, using* to avoid being stopped for no tax. And I paid for it to be cleaned inside and out at the carwash place outside the do yesterday so it's an echo of the cooker business and my telling off "dirty and working is better than gleaming and broke". Not *quite* the same thing as the cleaning had no connection whatsoever with the broke, but I'm on an echo spotting jag at the moment.

Summoned Paul by telephone who told me the replacement shed had arrived, and that he was just about to start setting it up so there we have the rotten luck options kicking in again BAH! Anyway he came over and it's not the end of the world (he's managed a Heath Robinson short-term fix) just a killer on his available time to fit it, once the new parts are bought. Trunnions(?)rubbers for the replacing of, which he says he and Richard did notice on the final part-swapping from the blues brothers Mazda to this one, but didn't then have time to do. Isn't it the pits when you KNOW it was something that could and should have been avoided?

The charity fundraiser I went to yesterday managed to scare up over £1600 for cancer research; the organiser arranged it as a sort of memorial for his brother who died of cancer recently. It was a lovely day, managed to see lots of people I haven't met in ages, met some new people and had dinner at the Italian up the road with Robert and Carole afterwards - another Paulo's. Robert used to favour Paolo's (though that was the name of the owner, not the restaurant) in Soho and they did fabulous food, so this seemed a fitting echo for the first dinner I've had with him since forever. They tell me they've found a new good place ?Alberto's? so we've pencilled that in for a near future dinner, it was really good to have time to talk to them and do a proper catch-up. Kevin and Yvonne joined us for an aperitif but had to be somewhere else for 8:30 so couldn't stop. Great pity as they are both lovely people.

Some of the up till all hours involved an hour on the phone catching up with Trish, it's no wonder I never have time to do housework or other boringly normal things. Did manage to wash the blinding white cotton dressing gown but sadly didn't manage to wash out the screaming scarlet nail varnish from the front of it. Never mess around with a bottle of nail varnish that's been lying on its side while wearing anything you care about, especially if it's white.

So, today. I've done jack, de nada, except for reading the Charles de Lint book Sid loaned me, smoking far too much, and thinking rather than doing anything about what I ought to be doing for Gordon and Barbara arriving early hours tomorrow and the imminent kitchen rehab. They called from Edinburgh, having bought four of the required fourteen (fourteen?!?!) proper wood boards to do the kitchen, and I shall have company for the next couple of weeks and a spur to get the old homestead Rammy-ready. I'm so glad they will be here for the Rammy, it wouldn't be the same without them.

Catch-up with Mark on the poker front, he got knocked out quite early yesterday but a couple of his team got 2nd and 4th in the end so there's team if not personal glory for him to bask in.

short people

Paul has brought them over: *HAPPY*

But I have to go out, short people, short time, big happiness

24 hours

Work developed an exciting side for just over 24 hours then disintegrated into nothingness, but I enjoyed the buzz. Points were scored for working till 7 on Tuesday to get up to speed on the requirement, and more points for being able to get into the London office for a client meeting planned for 2pm which didn't happen until about 6, was inconclusive and eventually let me off the hook just after 7 on Wednesday, having eaten into the time I should have been at the London Ladies. The overall feeling was one of relief since the second plan was to have stuff ready for first thing this morning.

I made an idiot of myself managing to 'lose' my handbag and convince myself that I must have left it in the supermarket basket yesterday when I'd about-turned to be able to return an urgent call from work. I *did* search *everywhere*, and still couldn't find it. Off to the supermarket instead of the station to ask if I'd left it there yesterday. Contents being far too much folding stuff, all my credit cards, mobile broadband thing, address book and assorted other so-what. They hadn't seen it. Rather than get on the train with a pocketful of cash from the stash at home and my mobile phone (which had been in my pocket)to try reporting the loss to the police etc, I decided to look 'once more' at home. Eventually, it was discovered on top of the cooker, behind the big print I'm planning to have framed to give to my son. For once, I had left myself acres of time before I was expected anywhere which is just as well since it takes almost two hours for me to get anywhere in London and I did manage to get to the station in time to get to the office 15 minutes before the planned meeting, Which didn't happen for another 4 1/2 hours.

Joy was in the office and came over to suggest we get together to catch up, but she'd gone by the time I was clear, and I as already late for the LLM in any case. Not sure if it's even possible to resurrect our social connection (haven't spent any time with her since just before Pam's funeral in 2002, seeing her there doesn't count) but I'll pencil it in as another option.

The LLM was relaxing and fun as usual, Shani was in the pink and had brought her own throne so she could look down on us lesser mortals. Rebecca hade made a cake for Dale's birthday, and I threw a strop when Mr J crossed the threshold, refusing to talk to him until he'd uncrossed it. Principle, my dears! Either it IS or is NOT 'Ladies only'. If one chap can get permission to pop in for five minutes, then why not any chap? It was made more amusing, but changed nothing of my strop that the said chap is a good friend of mine and I was delighted to see him. We had a lovely long chat after I asked his girl to advise him I was happy to talk to him outside but wouldn't do so 'inside'.

I was going to get the bus from the stop conveniently right outside the wine bar, but it had been taken prisoner and made to wear a hoodie. I couldn't be bothered to find out where the understudy was so I walked to St Pauls with Dale and took the tube instead which won me an extra few minutes of talk time with Dale, and serendipitously (is that a word?) meant that I was in the carriage Stella got on at TCR - amazement! I haven't seen her for ages and we had the briefest of brief chats before I had to get off at the next stop but I'm very glad I had the chance to bump into her.

I think I'm suffering Filofax withdrawal, replacing my ancient PDA doesn't hold much attraction since, as with all of these wonderful pieces of tiny technology, it requires a support network of the proper transformer to charge it and a charging pod or leads to up/download whatever you've collected on it. This tends to erase any headlined 'small is beautiful' features when it comes to going away since you have to take a collection of plugs and leads with you to feed electricity to the PDA, mobile phone/s, bluetooth earpiece, notebook laptop, camera, and any other cute little electronic gadget billed as being portable and life-enhancing. It doesn't matter how small the gadget itself is, the peripherals are clunky and often bigger than the gadget.

Increasingly, old-fashioned paper seems a better option. My latest lovely gift from Mark is a smart leather address book, the kind with gold-edged paper, titled and divided 'Blondes, Brunettes, Redheads' (he demanded a section of his own). In my best make a feast of things tradition, I've decided I now need to get another Rotring pen as the most perfect spidery writing implement, or find my fine italic fountain pen and use the blackest of permanent Quink to write in it. Such things are the gold threads in life's tapestry. Till then, I'll use pencil, easier for people like Rachel and Craig who seem to move every year.

back to work already?

Waiting for an email to flesh out the phone convo about the role they want to discuss in an hour, after I've read the email, to potentially start tomorrow, luckily in Central London so I still get to go to the Ladies Munch whatever.

Fresh meat!

~ more later ~

7pm pffffffffffttttttttt!!!!!!!!! it's still a maybe and isn't as exciting as starting actual work on the client site first thing tomorrow but if it's going to happen I'll be involved. A definite plus point is that I'd be working closely with Julie ("you're too glam not to wear lipstick in the office") B who I've not seen for about five years. She was fun.

So, back to the horrendous cost of having my hair cut in the sticks which cost more than the Soho place I usually go to. ssssssssake! One of the reasons my hair isn't as much of a mess as it might be is that I NEVER use a hairdryer on it, unless faced by stern hairdressers who won't let me out of the chair till they've cooked my hair. At least I got away without the spray-helmet 'products' and it looks a lot less ragged and not too much shorter

Good Grief, I've somehow managed to work more than my official hours without having a project on the go. However, this working day has now officially ENDED and I'm about to call Sid and venture the awfulness of the local community centre which is dreadful but still a better option than the (landlady got arrested for assaulting a policewoman) local.

Binning it

Having had a bit of an over-energetic morning, getting up at 7.30, I somehow got involved in application of Rachel's "just bin it" imperative; probably because it's bin day, or ought to be. Seems too many operators fell on their backsides last week when it was icy and AVDC decided to cancel collections that day and mess us all about this week by doing collections on different days to normal. The clue was the neighbour we all keep an eye on cos they KNOW which weeks they do/not collect glass/paper/plastic as well as the rubbish, and they didn't have any bins or boxes out.

Anyway, I was feeling quite virtuous slinging all sorts of mostly meaningless'stuff' in the bin and sorting out (mostly empty) boxes to stick outside in hopes they'll take it away. This involved a trip to the shed, nasty place which leaks like a colander, worse than it did before I paid some chancer 250 quid to re-roof it about 3 years ago. Sighing heavily, I moved the contents of the ancient mugs and kitchen stuff destined for the charity shop from the sodden box to a drier one and discovered an even 'older' but luckily dry box containing - a favourite scarf, a really red basque, ONE shoe from a pair I really like (probably means I threw the other one away), the Quink bottles I spent hours looking for a couple of months ago and two coats which are moving straight to the sally army bag and TA DAHHHHH! yet another set of keys for the Honda (bike that is) on the fabric Guinness keyring with a key which not only looked like a garage key but also opened the door to the garage the old Mazda used to be in. Now all I need to do is find the proper keys for the OTHER garage.

One day my life will be organised, whatever will I do then?

Poorly me

All that uber-tired and stuff seems to have been the harbinger of a "norovirus" thing. I looked it up, thinking it was supposed to be something new, evil and horrible to find it's only a rebrand of "nasty tummy bug" and isn't supposed to last more than 2 or 3 days.

Bring back the old, familiar names we all understood!

House full of wine and spirits and I've been drinking water, with trepidation, for most of the last two days :(

Normal service will be resumed as soon as humanly possible. Hurrah for modern communications technology which has been keeping me up to date on latest gossip, and reminding me there's a world out there.

Wondering now if the 'gone' feeling in the tummy is hunger ~ dare I??

self-pity

I've got ANOTHER sodding cold, or the same one re-inventing itself for the umpteenth time. BAH!

wired

FINALLY managed to get the wireless connection sorted out, only taken months to get to the second attempt then s-l-o-w-l-y following the directions so I spotted the checkbox I left unticked last time. Not that that made it work first time. Checking the net for virgin/D-link info got me the information that I needed to switch the connection off and on again. Hurrah! now I can use my work laptop to get to the intranet and mail without tying up my phoneline, and free my PC from it's blue plastic lead.

Must check how to change the password on it because, although I don't mind my guests using the connection, I don't want to give them one of my few 'standard' passwords which I used without thinking when I set it up.

Still totally washed out by all this concentrating on work: I'd managed to forget how fiercely focused bids can be and find myself wishing this one was over, mostly because, as usual, I'm not happy with what I've produced. Going out this evening seems like a damn good plan to me.

Not entirely sure the time spent setting up the wireless thing counts as work, although it does mean the laptop can go walkabout and I can use the phone at the same time: but I'm pretty sure I've done nearly enough for today and am off into the great outdoors aka the garage and shop.

~ skating across the carpark made my decision for me about West London; pity but it would have been a bit silly, especially since I'm feeling wiped out. Kitchen plans are slowly taking shape, and I bought another book by Kate Atkinson, which sadly is not as good as 'One Good Turn'

whew!

Email from Mark forgiving me for sabotaging his hob on Monday. Relief. Only, he says, because it eventually fixed itself with the help of leaving the oven on all day to ?soften the grunge holding the automatic ignition on? It was supposed to be a no-risk escapade, he was at the pub, I had heavy-duty no-work cleaning stuff that mostly needed only to be wiped off again and it’s just my luck to have a simple Mrs Mop thing go horribly wrong.

More on the muppet front includes finding what I think are the garage keys on my housekeys which means it’s all my own fault I didn’t get the bed ferried to the dump when Gordon was here, at least I’ve found the keys for one of them, vague memory of an unidentified key in the hall which may have been the other garage key delivered by Martin which I assumed was one of the many unidentified keys the children play with.

Perking up muchly on reading a request from Mark for directions to mine from Reading/Luton on 17th – have been thinking I should get him to come here for a change.

Bill is on his way down from Brum as I write, expected about 11:30, not sure what he’s planning to collect or if he’s on his way somewhere else but will be glad to see him anyway. Just hope I can catch up with him and the bid stuff with enough time to get to Putney tonight and market my do on Feb 7th as well as catch up with some more of my scene acquaintance.

1100 need to do some WORK! it’s due today by my schedule so I can get some feedback on accuracy of direction and content.

Alongside, I need to

-Get online tax thing sorted out
-Get Woolwich account back to my address
-Bin as much trash as I can to clear some space in the house
-Design/print flyers for Feb 7th
-Decide what I want in my kitchen

Oops: Gordon was talking about coming down on 17th, Mark is talking about coming over on 17th, I want both, but separately!

1620 Bill has been and gone, collected his small wardrobe, sorry - suitcase, so I have acquired an additional 6 cubic feet of space in the mess of the front bedroom. One step at a time I guess, I’m still tempted by the skip idea and still have Rachel’s “just bin it” playing it’s siren song in my hindbrain.

1746 have discovered my understanding of the bid questions has been mostly bloody wrong: the questions are better answered by a different business area but my 'betters' have obviously misread it as I did, and therefore encouraged the blinkers I’ve been wearing. BAH! Means I have next to no time to collate information and apply it to those questions even though I’m aware I’m not in the best place to know what’s available to use as boilerplate or our-standards normal.

Very glad that S hasn't written me off altogether - I'll let that little contretemps drift into oblivion.

2300 or near enough. Finished the other book Mark loaned me, rocking stuff! + had a bit of a chat on the phone. It's been really odd these last couple of days, not having anyone around to tell or share things with; I did find time to talk some with Bill but was on a Scottish Presbyterian work ethic jag about work so it wasn't a long chat. Feeling so TIRED! will put that down to mental exercise working on something new; twelve hours sleep on Tuesday night was labelled as resetting the bodyclock and going to bed at 10 last night only meant I was awake at 4:30, insomniac but not properly awake for ages then didn't want to get up this morning. BAH!

2009 is getting itself into swing already, dates and arrangements hurrying up over the horizon so that it's almost August already.

jiggety jog

I have been welcomed home by the wonderful smell of hyacinths, which I'd forgotten about till I opened the back door and was wrapped in their heady scent.

Happy New Year to me in my house. Scattered reminders of the rush I was in when I left to catch the train to London, the children's toys mostly but not all put away, a cushion upturned above Alex' beloved diecast figure of Sir Topham Hat next to a yellow plastic digger.

My mind is ~calm but full~

Leaving Mark was strange, we ended up in a surreal situation where he had his coat and hat on to go home (to check wtf I'd done to his cooker) and get back for the late game of poker, and I couldn't go with him because I needed to get to Victoria for the last train home, but was involved in conversation with Neil & Jai so I plain didn't realise he was already hot to trot (and I do think he is hot *grin*). J said she thought he thought I would be there when he got back, which ~ he can't have done, can he? Confused now.

I'd decided to take the bus to Marylebone, and was checking which stop I needed (yes, I went to the wrong one first) when this chap decided to offer assistance, which was kinda OK even if I didn't need it. I allowed him to spell out what I'd already seen (that the stop I was at was for the wrong direction), accepted his offer to escort me to the right stop, mostly on the basis that there wasn't a valid reason to refuse and he seemed sane and normal, though short! and then had to fend off his earnest entreaties that we should meet for coffee this weekend. I thought he was going to get on the bloody bus with me but he declared in the end that he was going to walk home, after having said he was going to get the tube, so why was he at the bus stop across the road? Not quite sure if it's the Prada perfume I've been wearing lately or some change in pheremones but I'm getting hit on far more than usual or maybe I'm just noticing it more. I can see myself watching out for him so I can dodge across the road to avoid any further contact.

It's ONLY half-past one, how on earth am I meant to sleep when I've got myself nicely re-conditioned to being awake till 4am? And I miss Mark already! I want to tell him about seeing the snow lying 3 inches thick on the platforms at Great Missenden and in the fields by the railway line, about the hyacinths, that the book he recommended is a total page-turner, that my brother is probably going to come fit me a new kitchen this month (budget isn't too awful if I get past thinking poor); that I wanted to leave with him from the pub, that I really liked the acceptance I get from his poker school, to explain how completely cherished I feel with all the gifts he has given me 'for Christmas', so many thoughts tumbling in my head and, unfortunately, an unease that he's cross because I didn't leave with him, wasn't there when he got back, took liberties with his cooker by removing the accumulated layer of detritus and managing to set the ignition thing clicking unstoppably.

What an idiot I am, always so ready to run away and write everything off at the first glimmer of my own unconfidence. Sarah made a point of coming over to talk to me at the LAM and our conversation had neither edge nor allusion to the great email debacle from December. I'm very glad about that, I hate to be on bad terms with anyone.

Almost 3am, time for big red or bed at any rate: drinking a nice glass of drowned feathers, no coke, so I should be able to sleep; will be strange not to have a warm body in the bed with me. Can't find the card reader to get the NYE pics off my camera, but have found the phone lead to get the Mephistopheles shot from Boisdale off the phone. All will be well, and all will be well and all manner of things will be well *HAPPY*

dirty stop-out

Am off to the London office in a few, not been home since last year (my latest wind-up catch-phrase). I 'nearly' went home last night after the LAM and after-party but got the keys handed back to me and felt an idiot for carting the laptop and mysteriously versatile wardrobe in a bag to the pub only to have to carry it back again.

Andrex gave me a top Christmas present, Edith Piaf's autobiography, and I was presented with the next instalment of the Jack Daniels collection by Sparks and Ember. Didn't spend *that* much but did get an utterly gorgous fat red glass heart, 2 in fact, from Jed Phoenix for £15 so I'm well happy.

Friday in the office was surreal, acres of empty desks and the streets devoid of traffic in daylight, not something you see too often! I managed to get the network stuff sorted out, only took about an hour for the various company software to twiddle about with my machine before it let me start looking for the info I needed to do this bid. At least I did find it, and am up to half-speed. I'm meeting the main man in the office this afternoon to collect his wisdom and proper background/context to let me do what I need to with some confidence it's what people are expecting me to deliver.

Better get dressed and sensible now ......