wagwaan?

Scrapping Sunday

I was up bright and early to make sure I got to the show by twelve to meet my friends - it's actually completely the other side of London, so it took an hour and a half, but the weather was gorgeous for the bus ride up the hill to the Palace. I met up with Soo & Nets (and sisters), and Mel & Glad, and we bumped into Dougie too. I bought some gorgeous chipboard swirls

I've just googled these and discovered they cost twice as much here as in the US, with the exchange rate. What a swizz!
Anyway, after a long and tiring day in London, I was grateful to get home and have a cup of coffee and a bun. As soon as I sat down I got a phone call from Wittine, and we chatted for an hour - I must invest in an internet phone so it doesn't cost the earth! 
Now I've had time to upload some piccies of my nephew who came to stay yesterday, and while I was at it I did a couple of the cats, who were all cuddled up recently. Also, I forgot to upload a pic I took of the kitties the day we came back from holiday - on my open suitcase!  I think they were trying to tell me something...

(Joanie - the others are going to be uploaded to my flickr very soon...)


Right - I'm off to watch Medium and then a good night's sleep before facing el jefe who is back in the office after weeks and weeks......  Nite!

Yoohoo I'm back!

Here I am at the end of a nice week off - well, it was nearly all nice. If you don't count the root canal on Monday that was excruciating and the lasting pain of which drove me demented for the next three days.... Funny that. The first half of the treatment wasn't nearly so painful.  Now I have to have a crown fitted and that, hopefully, will be that.
Thursday night I made a quick trip back into London to attend my colleague J's leaving party. No one ever thought she'd leave. She's been with the company 18 years and is the Company Secretary who deals with shares and has all the info stored in her memory. Her husband has taken a job in NZ, so they are off. It was quite a tearful affair and she will be sorely missed.
Yesterday my other half booked us into a spa in our local town, as we had planned to go away but it hadn't worked out. Instead we relaxed in the steam room and had massages and enjoyed the dry "flotation" bed. It was so soothing and wonderful, and we both vowed to keep this a regular event.
We are now waiting for my nephew to turn up for the evening - he's over from France for a month's work experience. He's a lovely boy (I'm not just saying that, Joanie!!) and I'm looking forward to seeing him.
Tomorrow I'm off to Ally Pally for this event, where I'm going to meet up with some friends. It'll be fun!

TGIF again

Goodness - what a week. For some reason it has seemed dreadfully long. This morning I got up bright and early to get the 7.45am shuttle to hospital for my pre-operative assessment.  It all went well, and I was pronounced hale and hearty and ready for the surgeon's knife on 4th Oct.  I didn't get to work till noon, and by 3pm it felt like I'd had a veeeeery looooong day!    Still, I have had feedback from my boss and another colleague that the off-site meetings went well, and this afternoon I had another call from the nice hotel lady, who thanked me for all my help. I thought it should be the other way around, to be honest - poor woman was on-site and got asked to change one thing after another.... She made me promise to drop in on her if I ever venture back down to that area of France (which isn't too far-fetched, seeing as it's a beautiful place and my sister isn't that far).

So now I'm just tying up loose ends at the office before going home and having a week off.  I'm without the internet at home until the end of the month probably, so I won't be updating, but I'll be sure to tell you all about my week off when I return!  I hope to be doing some scrapping and some photography and just making the most of some down time.

Byeeee

What a long week!

I knew this week would be long when the train was late Monday morning.  Then, on Tuesday I woke up and thought "ah, it's the weekend; oh no, it's Friday....... oh hell no, it's only Tuesday!".  All the bosses are away, of course, on the trip I've been organising for months, and you'd think that would mean it's quiet here. Well, you'd be right if the airline hadn't lost one of the directors' luggage, among other disasters!  Thankfully, I have received an email from the company secretary saying thank you for the organisation and everything is great. And now I've booked next week off, so I shall have a nice rest before I come back for 3 days before my surgery, and then I'll have another nice rest after that. My man wants to take me to Paris, but I've just had a look at the Eurostar and as it's so close to the departure date, prices are silly. I don't fancy flying as there was just a horrific crash in Thailand and that always puts me off...

I can't believe it's more than half way through September already, can you?  I do love this time of year, though. We have Hallowe'en, and Guy Fawkes to look forward to, and then it'll be the run up to Christmas. Yay!  The weather has turned seriously cold this week, although we did have a bit of an Indian Summer, so we can't complain too much. DD has gone back to college and of course she has caught a cold after ONE DAY mixing with other students. Luckily, she has the day off mid-week, so she is at home keeping warm before it's back to the grindstone tomorrow. She has so far developed all the rolls of film she took over the summer, and now she has to print them. Out of that, she has to find 6 that she likes enough to present as her summer project.  Yesterday she didn't seem too hopeful!

We are both excited about a bit of a shopping spree if/when my hospital money comes through. We both need winter coats and shoes, so some of it will go on that, but I'm determined to treat us both at least a little. Can't wait to see how much I get....

In other news, I'm really really happy to have made contact with my "best friend forever" from secondary school. She now reads this blog (*waves* hi Wittine) so I'll have to make it more interesting from now on lol.   I also promised her I'd look out some old photos and do something with them. This could be fun.....  I must also look at prices to Portland, Oregon for next year. Yikes, that'll mean hours and hours in a plane, but it'll be worth it. I'll just have to take some DRUGS to cope with the fear.

See y'all later.

Some welcome news

I couldn't believe it last night when I got home and opened the post.  I don't think I blogged about it, but I recently wrote to my previous employers, the local hospital Trust, after I found out that the pay award that had been turned down when I was working there (long time readers will remember that fiasco) had finally been reviewed. My ex-colleagues were paid back-pay dating back to October 04, and one of them had suggested I write asking for my share. I didn't think I had a chance, but I wrote, wording it carefully, sent it and waited. So back to last night. I saw this enveloped marked "confidential" and my heart sank. I mean, normally things like that mean only one thing: a bill or debt of some sort.  But to my absolute JOY, it said that I was correct, and that "my re-assimilation will be taken back to 1st October 2004"!  The writer stopped short of saying "here's your cheque", but it means I am entitled to that money. What a turn up for the books :)   
Claire being off at a concert with some friends, Wayne and I just celebrated quietly with a take-away and Diet Coke, and a DVD. We really do have to stop living it up like that!
Today I've been resizing some pictures I took. I took this one of DD's concert-going friends who came by on their way back into London. I have been trying not to rely on the EOS's automatic settings, and this is what I did today, aiming for interesting depth of field. DD's best friend on the right, and their German friend on the left, outside our house (to view better, click on photos):

The sun was really bright, but I think it looks ok.  Settings were ISO 100, 1/100s, f5.6 (for the depth of field).  I also used manual focus, but I don't think I set the dioptre right for my sight....
And on to some photos I've taken for a competition at work. I can't remember the details, but there are about 4 categories and they are related to commodities (our sector), and the environment we live in etc.  So far I have this one, which is samples of sugar:

This one is called "coffee break in the office"

And this is "coffee break in the city" - OH said "it's blurred!".  Er, der!!  It shows the hustle and bustle of city life. And the queue for coffee to go.  Well, that's what I say, anyway. By the way, we sell coffee to the company in the picture....:

Although they aren't brilliant (well I like the bottom one), I think I have a chance at one of the prizes.   I have it on good authority that about 3 people have submitted a total of 5 photos LOL   And there are hundreds of employees worldwide.
Right, I really must go and cook some supper. Nite nite!

The end is nigh...

No this isn't a post about doom and gloom - it's just that the end of the pre-Board and party prep is nearly finished. My boss is off travelling tomorrow and then I don't see him till he gets back after the celebrations, early October!  Tomorrow I just have to do some Powerpoint stuff for him, and then I reckon I'm home free.
The bad news, on the other hand, is that the hospital messed up AGAIN and it turns out I can't have my op on 26th because that slot is in Day Surgery and we've already established that I'm too fat for Day Surgery!  So now it's on 4th Oct. And I hope that is the last of it.  It's doing my head in and the leaky boobage is just getting on my nerves now (sorry if that's TMI!).
Time for bed. Nite all.

Next week can't come soon enough

We are hellish busy at work at the moment. The preparations for the off-site meeting in France next week followed by el jefe's milestone birthday are gathering speed.... and tomorrow is the last day he's in the office until early October. So I'm just popping in to say H&G ("hi and goodbye") and I'll regale you with my ins and outs with the Council Tax another day.  But before I do, I'll pay homage to this lady who died yesterday. So young!
Oh, and of course I must NOT forget that I finally got in touch with my best friend from secondary school (we shall call her "Wittine" which is how my nephew said her name) at the weekend, and had a fantastic and lengthy phone conversation which made us both very happy ladies. 
Nite all!

Quiet weekend

Well it's getting late on Sunday, and it's been a very quiet weekend.  Friday night I didn't get home till 8.30pm, having had el jefe on the phone after 5pm to run through the documents for this trip to France and Spain... I then had to stay and update the spreadsheets with arrival times, who goes where, departures etc because I knew if I left it till Monday I'd have forgotten everything.  Having chilled for two days, I am now about to finish updating the Word doc that goes with it.  He's back tomorrow, and it'll be non-stop, so it's best to have it done tonight.

Yesterday I had a session with the osteopath, and apparently I can't stop talking about him ;)   If I was single I'd definitely have a crush on him LOL    After that I went into town to pick up some essentials, and then I got home and chilled until the OH came over.  Since then, I've been washing, drying, cooking, baking... and checking out some blogs when I got a chance.  I do like a quiet weekend, but then by Sunday night I always wish I'd packed in more!  I really must do something about the mess that is my bedroom.  Oh well, there's always next week.  Now I must rush... Nite all.

The world is a tiny place

I've just been to the corner shop to get some coffee - and I had a chat with the guy who works there. I think he's Indian, but he always speaks French to us. He's been working there a few months now. Turns out he worked at this place (I don't like putting words that can be found by a search engine LOL) which is down the road from where I lived as a teen and again as a young mum, and where my DD was born.   That place must employ millions of people, because we keep bumping into people who work(ed) there!  My brother was there before it opened and then for a few years after; my mum's neighbour used to work there; lots of old, local friends work there or have relatives who do... They're gonna take over the world!!!  Actually, despite the early opposition, I expect it's been pretty good for the local economy. It's just a shame so many sweet villages got swallowed up in the huge urban sprawl surrounding it.  It used to be such lovely countryside - that's progress, I guess.

In other news, the strike is off. But I don't think all their staff know it yet, as our station was shut this morning and I had to leg it to the OTHER station at the other end of town to get a train. Good job several of us shared a cab, and one of the guys paid the fare and got a receipt - must have an expense account, lucky guy.  In the end, I made it into work at just the right time.

Today was a funny day, though. I just felt really tired and/or grumpy. Several people asked me if I was ok, because (and I quote) "I didn't sound my usual cheerful self" on the phone. But it must have been something in the air, because two or three other people seemed to feel the same.  Just before I head off to bed, I'm checking out this blog - man, I love this woman's photos. I'm checking out the lens she uses; it would appear it costs a grand, but hey, if I could take pictures half as good as that, my business would thrive immediately! Worth the outlay, I think. Another thing to try and squeeze out of the hoped-for bonus in January.... 

Long day

Pah! That union guy who runs the Tube network needs a slap!  The 72h strike is on, even though 2 out of the 3 unions decided to withdraw action as they feel they have received the reassurance they were seeking. But this guy, he's pictured in the papers this morning with this smug look on his face, while millions of commuters have been more than a little inconvenienced.  Anyway, this morning I really didn't feel like getting up. So much so that I dozed off again and woke at 8am. OOps. I dragged myself out to the bus stop, waited for the bus to the rail station and managed to get the 9.17 to Euston. It actually wasn't too packed, and at Euston I got the Northern Line to London Bridge. Again, not too bad at all. I even got a seat.  Luckily, there are 2 Tube lines working, the one I needed being one of them. So I got in at 10.15am. Not bad considering LOL.  This evening I left at 5pm and got home at 6.45, having got a seat on the Tube and on the fast train that only took 15 mins to get to my station.  Still longer than my usual journey, but not as horrific as I had feared. At least my season ticket was "accepted on alternative routes" ;)   Let's hope tomorrow is the same.  I'm feeling all scratchy-throated, as if I was coming down with something, so I'm off to bed with a hot drink and my Good Homes magazine. Nite nite.

(oh, but before I forget, someone contacted me today to ask if I wanted her to have some of my stationery to sell on her website.  I got DD to check out her site, and she thinks it looks cool and "indie" and all that, so I'm going to do it. Get my name out there and all that.  Exciting!)