brief interlude

today

tomorrow

see you when i get back

if anyone wants a postcard, send me your request by this evening.

xxx

and two days ago...

we had a woman in the store wearing a gasmask.

my how the darth vader jokes went on after she'd left.

okaaaay...

"if i've seen a book i want, am i allowed to take it off the shelf or do i have to come to the desk?"

word for word. quaint how there are still people in the C21st who haven't grasped the concept of shopping. heaven help her at tesco.

couple of days ago a customer rang up to say her book was damaged and she only noticed when she'd got home, would i pay for her parking to come back in and get a replacement?

ponies!

never before in the history of all things culinary has a finer crust and rice pudding been sampled.

Now to work on the clanger liberation front.

'Moo' and 'baaa' say we for the dark grey turkeys.

lords of dogtown

love to hate

got a fwd but I liked this quote:

Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut the bitch up with cookies.

in good company!

received news today of people thinking about Mr K at the moment and wrote: we light a candle at breakfast every day for you all-and Norman Kember. Not sure how I feel about being included in such illustrious company but very touched.

half and half

another day of flitting between two different branches and not really enjoying the dizzying effects of hurtling round hertfordshire. well, it makes the working day go quicker i guess.

overheard at work today: "that book's awful. i read the first few pages but it was so bad i had to throw it across the room." It happened to be the book I'm reading at the moment and finding really interesting!

day off

lay in til 930 when i realised i had an appointment in an hours time, half an hour away. made it by 1035.

the appointment went like this. brrr. clump clump clump. crunch crunch. click-clunk, click-clunk, ting-ting-ting of the poma, swooooosh.

got home. went and had me nails done.

got home. washed up. sat and watched 'bagdad cafe' that i got free with the guardian a few months ago. really liked it. the setting was just the kind of colours and backdrop to a lot of books i like reading. decided i really like that beat up old american middle of nowhere type of scene, especially in novels.

got pizza in. had friend round. put world to rights. got late birthday present from her after her trip to syria; groovy ingredients for middle eastern cooking (saffron, undefined but delicious smelling spice, dried lemons which remind me of the shrunken heads in the pitts river which i haven't seen so therefore can't technically be reminded of them but still are rather how i picture a shrunken head, only more aromatic, hopefully) Also got a stunning tablecloth made of woven reds, golds and blacks from Syria. Reminded me a lot of the traditional Palestinian patterns on other things I have.

just read someone else's blog who says lots of tremendously charming things about me. obviously someone who doesn't know me terribly well but i'm not complaining.

i might even link it!

http://newyorktrilogy.livejournal.com/

what the heck.

quite simply splendid

what a top notch day. down to Londonium to sit around in a meeting for work, seeing lots of lovely peeps I consider good friends since starting the fasttrack course. A trip round my mate's store where he is the A.M (almighty master). Coffee out with said chap. Giggles about our 100 word writing challenge and promises to quaff alcohol together again soon.

Wandered down to the National Theatre where I saw a stunning display of post-Tsunami photos put up by Oxfam. I do think Oxfam are completely fab.

Got intercepted just as I was heading for Tate Modern by a text from another rather charming mate who told me to hot foot it back to Covent Garden's 'Food for Thought' restaurant to meet him for lunch. Don't mind if I do! Had one of my favourite foods ever - pasta and pesto. Kicks foodie butt. A groovy little broom cupboard of an establishment. Talked shop for a while then moved on to the pub to put the worlds to right.

Trained back home in time for tea prepared by the MIL and am now about to drop into my pit for a few hours.

protecting the guilty

persons a, b, c, d and e have been lax recently and rather unfeeling despite my having taken an unspecified action. Person f has outclassed him/herself in being a prize chump and left me and person g unhappy. People at location A have helped and a number at location B also. On another matter I am spending less time at location C which is not a bad thing but location D is not a perfect place to be always. In particular individual x can be hard work and makes me think how easy it was to be with person y. Person z continues to be intermittently annoying with occassional flashes of personability. Overall the situation with (i) is looking positive and situation (ii) has an end in sight.

But now I must go down to person g and have lunch!

what's the matter with you people?

i haven't had a post from anyone since 11th Feb. Come on, get it together people!

Had my 2nd day at my 6 week (ish) secondment store today. Think I might survive it. Seemed a lot better today than my first afternoon which left me feeling apprehensive. The front of the store is beautiful with those big thick glass curved windows that make me think of Victorian Christmases for some reason - probably all those festive pictures of sentimentality. Had a thrilling afternoon taking the staff on a white knuckle ride into virgin territory of cluster reports and genre bestseller lists. I mask my nerdish nature with faux cynicism.

in which a first is discovered and alcohol is a recurrent theme

to date i've not had the experience that many people have of waking up the next morning and remembering nothing after a drinking binge. until this evening when i discovered that i had been fed a bowl of miso soup between being dressed in someone else's pyjamas and lying down in a bed in derek jarman's old house. each of the latter i remember perfectly but not the miso soup. how freaked out was i when i found out this evening? this was virgin territory for me and felt really odd finding out.oh woe is me for i am not omniscient springs to mind for some incomprehensible reason. having learnt about renaissance man's ambition to know everything i've never been quite the same again. so anyway, i discovered this over my 2nd large (thank you NY3) glass of red.

found out interesting things like a good mate of mine, who for purposes of anonymity we'll call Mary, is friends with Peter Jackson and has his home number and has been to his house in NZ .

oh and i went to a management training day for work. i knew there was a reason i wound up at the blue posts!

party hair

Went to an engagement party this evening. Some mates of Mr K I didn't know very well. I wore a very expensive skirt and made up some party hair for the occassion. It turned out to be a very exciting party if you knew everyone there. I knew Mr K and mini-me. Plus a handful of other acquaintances. After a couple of hours of playing invisible drawing games on the paper table cloths with mini-me we ordered a taxi home. AND what do you think happens the moment the taxi arrives? They start up a chocolate fountain. Sorry but all sensibilites went out the window at that point. I was front of the queue slurping up chocolate and marshmallows while carrying out a somewhat muffled-mouth-ful conversation with Mr K. -The taxi's here - I know - the taxi's here - yeah but have you seen - yes i know but the taxi... - yeah yeah look, can we have one of these? - no, the taxi's here - scoffscoffscoff.

out there

essentially the great outdoors ain't a place for this girl but this afternoon i did this cool thing with masonry nails and wire in the back garden so my new passiflora can have somewhere to climb. sometime soon i'll get round to doing the same on the other wall so the purple droopy headed clematis can do the same thing.

chocbug

chocbug
Originally uploaded by kumquat7.

A Christmas present from my sister that I finally allowed myself to eat today.

networking

HELLO PALIMPSEST!!!
have just found out about kickRSS so have subtly themed this post for you all! hee hee.

14 FEB

i got a flower for my bud pot!! plucked by my own fair hand off ebay and paid for by the fair hand of mr k :)

olney wine bar

is a good place to while away a couple of hours with an old mate you haven't seen since uni.

My best mate, alimal, is flying to Syria tomorrow!http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/
country_profiles/801669.stm
So this evening we ate indian take away together and played a silly board game. I lost. Very silly. She's off to see her sis and bro in law who live there. Very exciting. Wish I was accompanying her. But which sane person would give up the chance to sit on the M1 morning and evening in favour of flying to Arabia?
I'm going to miss her a lot even though she's only gone for 2 weeks.

logs

logs
Originally uploaded by JodyDigger.

How cool is this picture by Digger? Just thought I'd nick it from her and promote her flickr site at the same time.

Clever girl.

second second ment

looks like i's gunna be chucked outta the nest again for 6 weeks to help another branch. this is of course top secret so i've only potentially told the whole world by blogging it! soon as i'm allowed to talk about my life without fear i will fill in the details.

so the 2 days of fasttrack was fun and made me feel like thursday was monday. now i have a whole weekend off to veg out and read. rushdie's going well but i keep buying new things to read. another graphic novel by sacco, 'stuart: a life backwards' just because i happened to walk past the author and so i took the opportunity of getting him to write in the book for me and he drew a cute picture too.

bored of typing now. am going to celebrate weekend off by staying up late, after watching dr. strangelove with mini-me, to play inane computer games online.

tarra.

positively ancient

it's my birthday...oh actually, it just ended 18 minutes ago. drat.

anyway i had a super dooper time at a workshop on finance today. what better way to celebrate?

thankfully i had drinks out with one set of friends in london (where some rash confessions were made to me in front of lots of people by someone who i hope will wake up tomorrow morning and cringe with embarrassment).

then i had drinks out with a 2nd set of friends back home where they'd brought in a chocolate cake to the pub and had candles and all!!

lots more to say like a storm porch full of flowers and clay monsters but my birthday ended 21 minutes ago and i have another early train to catch in the morning. off to set my alarm for 6:15.

night night.

tuesday evening

mole & JJ, if you were still thinking of coming down to london tomorrow evening....change of plan. hr can't get me a hotel so it's not going to happen. soz....

race for life

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/am_i_crazy

Took 'Berts out for her first driving lesson today. A completely new experience for me having a learner drive my car round the Oasis car park! She loved it and was really excited to be actually driving!

That's definitely not me on the far right in pink pringle socks and a flowery pringle blouse. Nor is that Mr K next to me in genuine plus fours, diamond cut socks and brylcreemed hair!!
Secretly I thought, while everyone else was laughing at him, that he looked pretty darned dashing, like a pre-war gent as seen on all those period dramas.

If you don't know the rules of pub golf they amount to drinking lots, fast. Honestly pub crawls do nothing for me but we had such a crack last night. I ducked out around midnight 'cos we had people coming over today and I needed to be marginally sociable...or at least sober! Mr K and a mate who was sleeping over rolled in around half three, singing and talking absolute rubbish for 45 minutes.

It was a close run thing but we managed to get the house looking like we're a normal regular family by the time our friends arrived for dinner and not, in fact, like a bunch of crazys who have friends crashing over and singing Ramstein as they lie on the top landing and discussing molluscs and walruses.

pub golf

i was the first to woos out. pictures to follow. i was rather proud of my pleated skirt and pringles blouse and socks though!

considering i'm not really an out on the town getting bladdered kind of girl, i had a really good laugh with a big group being raucous and merry.

brunch

Had brunch out this morning with some folks. I would say the 4 day old baby stole the show but unfortunately Alimal just had to get in there and make it more memorable by standing in cold scrambled egg and having the cat run up and start licking it from the sole of her socks. D'you see how this post looks like a fried egg?!

"mmm, nice."

Went out for Jazz and wine on Thursday night. (blogged it the same night but it disappeared.)
Fresco's coffee shop turns into a wine bar once a month in the evenings and I've been meaning to book up for ages.
Mr K had a hideous migraine, throwing up in a bucket and getting pins and needles but still insisted I went out. Being the cold blooded creature that I am and also knowing that he just needed to sleep and the best I could do was empty sick buckets, I did as I was told.
The wine was excellent. Something red and Argentinian. I should remember the names so I can drop them like I always drink posh stuff. The served food as well. I think all the dishes were cheese of some sort so I went for mozzarella, avocado, tomato and basil. Very good.
The music wasn't bad. Didn't knock me sideways but it was pleasant and unobtrusive so I got to chat with my mates, Mole and JJ.
I might have heard more of the music if JJ hadn't been singing that much loved classic 'We love big bananas' and the tune to Rhubarb and Custard with such gusto. Thank goodness Mole was there to reign her in with sensible comments like 'You tell [Mr K] him to stop playing up the brain tumour and show a bit of committment to his mates next time.' hahahahaha. (even mr k, feeling like his head was in a clamp, laughed at that when i told him.)

Must repeat soon when Mr K isn't being a big girl's blouse ;)

all cool

mini me and his girl parted company this evening. all very amicable. no real reason given (i am an old aged parent after all), they just wanted to be friends now. very civilised.

as i was daydreaming on my way home from work on the evening of our anniversary i thought about what gift i would get when i got home.(one had been promised).I decided that the best thing he actually could do would be to install that bloody shower that's been sat in its box for over 2 years gathering dust. that would really show he'd thought about how he could make me happy rather than buying me some little token gift. ha! what are the chances of that eh? i mean, he's a darling but there's only so much you can expect.

got home and the shower was installed.

got home tonight and a shower screen was installed.

what a star :o)

346896000

...seconds me and mr K have been together as of yesterday, our anniversary!

although my maths is awful.

no wind up

No kidding, this book is incredible.

I've just had 3 days off work on the trot which is very rare and very welcome. I have slept, eaten and read. It's been absolute bliss. I'm over half way through Murakami's 'The Wind-up Bird Chronicle' and it's incredible.

I love my job, I really do but right now I'm feeling pretty cross that I have to spend my time working tomorrow when I could be sitting down and spending more hours with Toru Okada, Creta, Malta, May, the odious Noboru and Kumiko.

Let's be frank here. I've eaten Miso soup for the last two days because Murakami characters seem to be endlessly consuming the stuff. Yeah, that's pretty sad but it tastes great with enoki mushrooms and scallions dropped in!

Some crazy guys turned up and started sawing chunks out of my house!

Not a loft conversion I'm afraid, just a bit of extra light for mini me when he drums. One day we might get round to making it a proper room.

a picture paints...

Is it any wonder our true crime section is so well shopped?!?!

March of the Penguins

A really beautiful film.

Incredible photography, humour and a jaw-dropping

fight against the odds. Just gorgeous.

news

so there goes another 'have i got news for you' participant down into the mires of ignominy.

brainiac update

news in brief:

he has to have another scan in feb to see if the tumor has grown. nothing was said about if it hadn't grown but if it has, he'll have to go for a biopsy and then maybe radiotherapy. if he has to have a biopsy, he won't be able to drive for 2 years afterwards nor will he be allowed to fly. something of a problem as he drives all the time for work. however if it hasn't grown then i'm guessing that nothing will be done apart from intermittent scans to monitor its structure but that's conjecture on my part.

for those of you who've read mcewan's 'saturday', the neurosurgeon we saw today was just like Perowne! exactly the kind of look and demeanor his character i had in mind as i read :)

smooooth

this has to be the best christmas present i got.

i have just smoothied up a banana, four rings of pineapple and a splash of milk. i feel as full as an egg and as guilty as if i'd eaten cake for breakfast but it was just fruit and semi skimmed milk.

2005-2006

Had a fab party at Mole's house. They hadn't invited anyone according to mrs mole and yet the place was heaving with people. that's what happens when you're fab company. x's to you all.
afternoon!!
You have a lovely bunch of friends Mole. One of them said to me; "Alone at last" when we were momentarily in the kitchen with no-one else about. Guess who!!Another guest described me as a 'delicious creature' and insisted on kissing me twice!! Guess who!! Someone else I've never spoken to said "You've got a blog haven't you?" Guess who!
I got to have a good talk with a load of folks I've met in passing and the home-made quiche and potato salad was outstandingly good. I think you should have parties more often!!

A very happy new year to you and the small critters upstairs who slept through our pandemonium!

3112

so mole, what time are we expected to your low key, sober little get together on saturday evening?

mini me will not be with us as he has gone bunburying.

a bientot

Buy the lil' blighter a tree and give him a tenner to decorate it, thinking, you're not messing with my decorations mate and what does he go and do?

outclass us with subtlty.

a tree full of nothing but white lights and birds.

festive grub

can't believe i didn't get round to telling you about the mince pies.

the centre were giving out mince pies all christmas eve and ended up with a box full that they couldn't distribute by the time they had to leave. for some reason they decided they'd dump them in our staff room. at the end of the day no-one else was prepared to take more than 1 or 2 individual mince pies so i took them all home. waste not want not etc etc. now i have 100 frozen mince pies. anyone hungry??

Buddy

Monty meets cousin Buddy for Christmas and

belts round a field like a loopy lurcher.

prior chaos

It's very weird having random strangers come in and rip out your windows then throw them onto your front garden. Grr. Thankfully I had Mr K there to remind me that my jungle of dearly tended flora might look like waste ground to the untrained eye. hmph.




They caused mayhem of course when they installed but it's suddenly warm. The motorbike that runs for half an hour every morning from 6 a.m doesn't wake us anymore and we have window sills which we didn't have before! Of course it's a bit of a drag that the dog bust the 50 quid cat flap in the new back door and now we have a door with a great big hole in it. Hey ho!

mmm

new windows

the day before the day before

i love work at this time of year. i keep telling myself. it's crazy busy and there's so much to be done and big goals to reach. where would peace on earth be without someone setting impossible budgets? the atmosphere at work is livlier i scare everyone; lots of stress and rush because i'm constantly telling everyone to work harder of the volume of work but so much more joking and teasing going on. i'm ruthless. it's a real buzz. the team seems to pull together more. they don't dare not do as i tell them because i look ready to explode. tomorrow should be great fun the place will be heaving and everyone will be irritable by 1st tea break keeping the motivation high their new year party rides on how well they perform and everyone happy false smiles work, the customer can't distinguish and glad relieved to close up shop and get home for Christmas day.

sod it

Actually I'm just going to use my blog for news about Mr K.Lots of people check in here to catch up on news so here goes. I know this is the world's crappiest way of doing it but please bear with me. I cannot face saying the same bits of news over and over again to different people, as much as I love you all. I know this is probably the equivalent of text dumping but I hope you can understand and will let me off the social faux pas!

We just got back from seeing the consultant for the 2nd time and I was armed with a mountain of questions. The main news from today is that the tumour has been there for a long time. At least months, possibly years. He thinks it is stable because the symptoms are stable but changes can occur of course and there can be abnormal developments. It can be known to trigger blackouts but so far that hasn't happened. If it does we'd have to look at restricting activities such as obvious stuff like driving.

In terms of processes, this tumour cannot be operated on. It is on too many important parts of the brain to be cut out so we're looking at medical solutions. Chemo and wotnot. We will be getting a date for a biopsy with 'a small number of weeks'. The tumour is non urgent because there are no signs that it is going to significantly change in a matter of days or weeks. Of course there's no proven diagnosis yet so he was unable to commit to a prognosis. I asked blunt questions and got blunt answers. It was just what we needed.

So, we won't know if it's malignant or benign until after the biopsy and we can't be sure of what treatment will be needed until biopsy results are back in.

He was rather more human than when Mr K went in last time. He did say that he'd find things out for us and contact us. Also he said he understood that the waiting must be really difficult.

Now don't get me wrong. I haven't blogged this because I don't want calls or visits. I just don't wanna have to say all this a million times over. Yes, because I have at least a million regular viewers!

Don't let this spoil Christmas, even Mr K came out and said; 'You know how much I want this biopsy? Like a hole in the head!'

blogger's block

done nothing, can't think what to write.

I assume no-one apart from me is going to be pleased that we beat WTD figures yesterday and that one of our really good temps is working full time next week but these are the things that make me happy at work. who else is going to understand my frustration that HO thinks we're not zero model stocking when I do that every day and it must be a problem with IT? Or why does HH keep getting left off the company voucher tables? And I'm not even getting onto the OFT referral!!

I read 'Gaza Blues' recently and it wasn't bad. Thought it was going to be a lot better though. Short stories by a Jew and a Palestinian. Cute cover and nifty thinking but didn't blow my socks off.

Now I'm reading 'Ask the Dust' by Fante which I'm enjoying. I need lots of short novels for a while as my reading has been non existent recently. (it's the drive for uplift on LFL figures, you know...)

As soon as Mr K can find the lead for the digital camera I promise to give you pretty photos of Christmassy things and no more talk of missing POS headers and poor automatch results (also not our fault)!

BOOM

Could be fun getting in to work tomorrow.

Work has not suffered any damage but shops in the same area have big cracks in the walls. Seems we were protected by the car park which stood between us and the blast. My colleagues who live locally told me that things were flying off their shelves during the explosion and that town had a bit of a smoggy atmosphere all day.The motorway is shut down and everyone is going to be taking the back roads to wrok tomorrow morning!

FUNNIEST story

Shamelessly nicked this from the mighty Palimp but it had me howling so wanted to share it with you all. True story of a friend of a friend...

A man is drinking in the pub, and drinking, and drinking, when suddenly he realizes he is about to be ill. He heads for the Gents' toilets. He walks in the door and finds the door to the only stall locked. "Great time for the toilet to be out of order," he thinks. He's reaching the emergency stage now, so he assesses his remaining options in a panic...sink? Too small. The 'urinal' was one of those clever floor-based narrow trough thingies you Brits do so well (or not) in your public toilets. Not a proper receptacle for massive amounts of vomit, either.Finally, he has reached a crucial point, and he has no other options, so he lowers his shoulder and charges through the door of the stall and vomits all over...the stunned man sitting on the toilet.Our hero suddenly sobers up for a moment, as one often will do immediately after drunk-vomiting, and he carefully considers the situation: "This bloke's going to be angry...""...I'd better get the first punch in."So he punches the man, who is still sitting on the toilet, before quickly collecting his friends and leaving.

le dog

Seems Monty learnt a bit of continental cooking while he was away.

He has developed a taste for KOURAPIEDES, that I made this evening from the Falling Cloudberries recipe book. Essentially, they are lots and lots of butter with icing sugar, flour and egg yolk. They taste amazing but next time I make them I'm only going to taste 2 or 3 at a time.

They may be small but I feel rather er...'full' now so I'm going to bed.

day off

what a splendid day off. went to see mrs mole and new offsprogs who are delightful and funny and smiley and generally (and specifically) loveable. I look forward to watching them grow up and play their parents up horribly so I can sit back and chuckle!!

Bought my christmas present from Mr K (pair of growed up girls boots) and then accidentally found myself buying a skirt to go with it.

MONTY HOME!!!!!

We are all beyond ecstatic. Monty is home. He was found the same evening he ran away and has been safely looked after by some people not far from us. (Just off Ampthill Road for those of you who know where that is) They found him hoofing it across the St John's roundabout, dodging traffic. They found us through the website where we'd put up Monty's picture and details which amazes me that they discovered that website.
Anyway he's back and we are all delighted. Panic over.

please?

http://www.doglost.co.uk/forum.asp?ID=4909

anyone in the Bedford area. please would you consider clicking on 'view poster' and printing off a copy or two to put up in your window or local shop?

thank you

xxx

May I recommend 'Ricotta tart with a chocolate crust'?

and then...

...the dog ran away from home. this will be his second night missing.

i thought the last last straw was the last straw.

startlingly awful

that pretty much sums up today

the sublime

as promised.

went from rocking and playing pool in one of Bedford's earthier clubs to singing in the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday evening.
Quite a big ole do. The choir must have been 5,000 strong. Believe it or not, it has been a lifelong ambition of mine to sing Handel's Messiah (without a hairbrush in front of the mirror) though I never expected it to be in the Albert Hall. hey ho, life throws you some crazy ones occassionally.
It was amazing, of course. I sang alto and had a superb time. It's an annual thing called 'Handel from Scratch'. You literally book your ticket, turn up and sing. No rehearsals. I went with a group of friends who go every year and borrowed a score when I got there. Thankfully, I've (charitably) blasted it out to the rowdy neighbours to get my own back often enough to pretty much know all the words anyway. Who knows, I might go next year unless I get the chance to fulfil any different lifelong ambitions. So if you're reading this Johnny....

Mud Shark

Last night was fun and only curtailed by having to wake up at half 6 for work this morning. Went to see a friend of a friends, now almost a friend if he can remember me (!), band Mud Shark. I have yet to find out why. They were really very good. They played Esquires which, before I knew about the place, I took to be some salacious joint that had a side line in escorting agency work - the sort I'm lead to believe advertise in the back of free newspapers. Au contraire. It's a gritty little den for the weird and wonderful. Last night we constituted the weird. I played pool like a girl. Yes, I played on the team that comprehensively outclassed the opposition for 99% of the game then I fluffed on the black ball every time to the delight of the ever so slightly competitive males.
The stamp on the back of my hand seems to be indelible.
Hung out with the ever lovely and interesting J&A and the ever lovely D. And yes Mole I did hear you say "she always needs you". ha ha ha ha! He doesn't know about this blog does he?? yikes.
Tomorrow's blog entry will swing from the ridiculous to the sublime. Watch this space.

overheard at work

"Oh yeah, keep the receipt then you can prove you bought something for her and didn't just nick it."

ooh doggeh!

just cos he's canine doesn't mean he can't enjoy a film with the quilt downstairs like the rest of us!

here's 'monteh' showing how he's feeling part of the furniture now. (those pieces he hasn't chewed)

seems i stole my own thunder

have practically no recollection of having blogged last night. to be honest i thought i'd dreampt that or it feels like something i wrote months ago and only partially remember doing. YIKES! That's a new experience for me!

So anyway, it was a splendid evening. Hope I didn't spoil an otherwise all male evening of intoxicated ribaldry.

Remind me Mole when the gig is next weekend. Friday or Saturday? Also, remind me for the nth time what your mate is called. The one who always thinks he's never met me and has the welded together dog you hate. He was very sweet last night talking to me about his family.

Also, remember the 27th January or whichever Thursday is closest to that. No pressure to let me know, just a reminder in case the mention of it last night got washed away by our starry friend, Stella.

All good fun.

perfick

lovely evening mole. am very drunk. dil beautiful. hee hee. fun fun. you and jj very good mates. see you and the smalls soon. xxx

happy

best mate happy and pretty at party. nice.
work. good.
flicks with Mr K. fun.
Another piercing. cool.

busy

day off and desperate for sleep so what do i do? jam pack it full of stuff so my feet don't touch the ground.
Looking through the latest Jamie to find a new recipe for lunch. Taking the MIL for her birthday treat today - manicure and nails. Having a friend over for said lunch. Going to my bestest mates birthday party this evening which involves me 'finishing' her present sometime today as well.

scraps

(a reference for the eagle eyed palimpers only)

uh huh today was fun again. something weird is going on with the time/space thingy round my way. i leave 15 minutes earlier for work every day but i still arrive at the same time. ie...5 minutes after the cleaner has left in a huff cos i'm still not there to open the door for her.

wore my rocket dogs and discovered one foot is wider than the other. i'm sure there was an easier way to find out. i will trust in the forgiving quality of leather until i'm crippled.

had a hoot sifting through cv's which i can't possibly divulge but 12 spelling mistakes on a page and a half is going some right? and whenever was tearing out a page of spiral bound paper from a playboy pad a great way to impress a prospective employer? i have a real soft spot for the applicants who tell me how competent they are on the computer but clearly haven't located spellcheck.

delayed photos from oxford

retail therapy

new shoes!! good ole tkmaxx sold me a pair of shoes for £33 less than the normal price. what nice folks.

Take the orange words and the laces from the shoe above and combine it with the round toes of the shoe below and you pretty much have what I bought. Someone out there is going to be as interested in this as me.... or not.

Sunday

planned to have a beautiful clean and tidy house by the end of the day but all good intentions went awry.

today i did church as per usual then took MIL out for dinner. was heartily disappointed by my 'smash' potatoes and MIL's lamb and mushroom pie that had no lamb in it. also am turning into an old woman who gets riled by loud mouthed crass idiots shouting, f-ing and blinding about people getting smacked in and throwing up with all the sound effects to go with it. rahhhh.

talked to MIL about how I plan to put aside some extra money for emergencies such as the washing machine breaking down.

Got home. the washing machine broke down. spooky.

Spent two hours round MIL's with our washing.

Cocktails to walking up and down castle road in my pyjamas (oh did i not mention that?!) ... really quite a weekend. See? THIS is why work is such a pleasure!

Saturday

Worked all day and had a great one. Roberta Taylor did a signing which was modest but fun. Did exciting-to-me and dull-to-you things like whooping budget ass and working with new team members.
Got home at half seven to be upbraided by Mr K for leaving my mobile at work and told to hurry up we had to leave in 5 minutes.
Off to fireworks at Smudgers. Really amazing generosity. Fireworks went on and on and on, enough beef and pork for 200 (?) people to get right royally stuffed and my mate Flow's band playing. Marvelloush. Took our own drink, as requested, and I nursed a bottle of chianti all night. I was outrageously drunk by the end but I only had to get up once in the night to throw up...! (eek)

friday

had a crazy fun hilarious day with digger. essentially wandered round oxford drinking, eating and giggling. mighty good fun. actually had some cool deep mind food discussions as well which is always a good thing. learnt some interesting stuff about that thar digga. in brief, she's as bright as my shoes. she learnt a lot about me. in brief, i have 364 sensible days a year where i am mostly normal, coherant, professional and organised and 1 day when i become the antithesis of all things logical. guess which day she got?
so, i get onto the oxford park and ride and text that i'm arriving. only i don't have her mobile number in my phone. no problem, she emailed it to me so i'll find an internet cafe and get it. only, i seem to have deleted it when i get there. no problem, i'll just panic. always a good back up plan. i know, i'll post notes highlighting my stupidity on every website i know she visits. someone else will have her number and get back to me. only, they don't. but life saver Mr Self has her work number. no problem. I'll just ring her work place and ask them to disclose personal contact details of one of their colleagues with absolutely no reference point as to who I might be. So, that worked! Eventually met up at midday, though I should say I got lost trying to find her even once we had made phone contact.
I didn't stop there though. oh no. i came out with a volley of stupidity all day long. "oh i want one of those, what are they?" ... "wow, what's this unmarked book, oh, it's actually a divider on the shelf" ... "oh, i forgot i was meant to tell my son he's sleeping over at a friends house tonight and i'm two counties away" ...
I'm sure there were more. Feel free to chip in Digger, it's open season here today!
But what a fantastic fun day. It would appear that, with the exception of my idiocy, Digger and I are in fact the same person. Too many times we both talked about quirky stuff we both do or think or love to hate etc.
Wonderful mezze at Jericho Cafe, incredible cocktails at the QI bar, extravagant sausages and stories at The Big Bang.
This was a must repeat day.... unless Digger has decided I'm a full time loon.

(this post had to be red, obviously)

) wanna meet up some time?
( yeah sure, where d'you fancy?
] oxford?
[ sounds good to me.

tomorrow i'm going to be shown round some of the coolest locations in oxford by a girl who boasts the epithet of being as bright as her shoes.

today was surprisingly good considering I went to a funeral. don't take me for an entirely heartless wench but even though the day was solemn, it was really good to see people and chat about allsorts.

This evening we watched a very odd film. Kung Fu Hustle, I think it was called. Some very random stuffing going on there but funny as well.

today's colour

+ dark red +

against my better judgment

this is how it begins:

"The circle of black paving slabs lay at his feet, flat and glossy after the recent shock of rain. His rough blonde hair still held the painstaking look of careless coiffure. In his left hand dangled a cocktail glass and spilling out of his pockets were Imogen’s tights and the damp contents of a discharged party popper."

Gruffalo at work!!

following instructions on keeping posts cheerful;

2 days to nano.

the cat that left came back again.

i'm making jamie oliver meatballs for dinner.

the house smells of garlic.

i have a new jumper and necklace.

we kicked budget ass over the weekend.

i have new pillows.

i'm meeting 'digger' in oggsford this week. (small BDO)

what possessed me?

So, with 3 days to go, I decide my NANO idea is unworkable and boring. I'm back to having one character and I know precious little about him but he's kinda cute and *I'd* follow him home so that's alright isn't it?

jack o'lantern

Had a lovely evening with friends eating pumpkin soup and other yumminess.

Mixed bag

I try to keep things on this blog fairly light hearted (thinks back to dog knitting, hang man, cat buckaroo etc). So bear with me if I use this space today to splurge out what a rubbish day yesterday was.
My new boss rang to tell me that two of my colleagues were involved in a nasty car crash. One guy, who has moved from the MK branch with me to be our cash office lovely, is in hospital with a fractured collar bone and the other, his mother, who was the cash office lovely at MK, died. It is truly shocking and I find myself lapsing straight into those ridiculously irrational sentiments that you can only understand when you've experienced it first hand; I don't want it to be true, I'm sure I'll see her next time I go into the branch, perhaps if I wish hard enough and sincerely enough it won't be true after all, maybe someone got the wrong message. She was good fun to work with, excellent at her job and will be badly missed. The whole language of death is a cliche but it's all I can say at the moment.
But this is called a mixed bag and some fun stuff has happened too.
I've had my first week at the new job and it's going well. If it had a time lapse camera on it the shopfloor would have gone something like this; dark with black empty shelves, some people wandering about pointing at things, 1000 crates arriving, a bit of lighting here and there, an explosion of stock over tables and zipping across shelves, general mess, lots of people waving their arms or huddled into groups scratching and shaking heads, stock disappearing from the floor, crates leaving and people moving stock from one shelf to another and pushing tables about. That's how I left it Thursday night. By Monday we should be putting up POS and putting in the Christmas campaign. It's beginning to look like a bookshop now but outside is still a hard hat site. We're due to open Thursday!! Anyone in the area??
Other news. Sorry if this is sounding like a family Christmas newsletter. Ick, I have a horror of them!
Mini-me has his girlfriend staying down this weekend which is a new experience for me and Mr K. It's very sweet to see how Mr K responds to them. Hee hee. Trying his best to embarrass them by threatening to go out to the pictures with them in my hi-vi. (high visibility vest that I have to wear when crossing the building site! Must include a picture some time!)
Last night our errant mog returned home. We hadn't seen her for 2-3 weeks and we thought she had shuffled off her mortal coil. She is a tiny scrap of a cat and last night you could almost put your hand round her back bone and meet in the middle she was so skinny :( We fed her and fussed her as you can imagine. This morning she's nowhere to be seen again.
And now I'm going off to meet the kids in town and buy them lunch.

Unbelievable.

If you were to follow the link from one of the spammers on a previous thread, and why would you when the only temptation is a link called 'private road constuction'(?), you would find yourself at the home of The Interim Monetary System of Heaven on Earth. Scrolling past the offer of 100,000,000.00 Credon Barter Dollars (hmm, that sounds like real currency), you would find another link. This time to Normism and the Declaration of Heaven on Earth. I suspect this is an example of someone trying to start their own religion. The logic goes something like this: there are lots of religions and that proves that god will give us whatever we want. Maybe I'm being overly critical but something doesn't ring true there. Apparantly the ideal age for asking for, well, anything, is 40 but this is not a religion without generosity:

After some brief discussion with Norm and Jesus we reached the conclusion (upon my request) that it is ok for anyone who accepts this declaration to receive immortality and peace in life right away.

So don't tell me I never give you anything!!!!!!

Long overdue pics from the peaks

induction day

I got to meet my new team today at an induction day in London. Interesting, fun, enlightening, encouraging. Looking forward to Monday now.

i hope...

...i've made the right decision.

Of course I have but I am seriously going to miss the bods at MK. They're all great and some of them are particularly yumptious. It's been tough saying goodbye to them this evening.

guess what?

Guess what I've just signed up to again? Am I a complete

numbskull? NANO time again. Another November where

likeminded idiots around the globe attempt to write 50,000

words in 30 days. This year, because of other commitments, I'm aiming for

30,000 words instead. If I get to 30K I'll be delighted, anything beyond that is

a miracle.

Who would have thought?

My money was on Ishiguro but John Banville it was and didn't he look a sweetie?
I thought K.I would grab it because the theme has such a current feel but after the reviews this evening I have to say I'm drawn to JB (not Julian!)
I thought Ali Smith looked far too self confident looking to camera all the time and smirking pretend shyly.
Anyone read any of the short listers? Anyone going to buy the winner after this evening? I'm tempted but I have about half a dozen on the go or waiting in my urgent pile.

'Birdy', I got about 20 pages into then had to pause because of a billion things going on at work but I'll get back to it ASAP. I picked up Guillani's 'Leadership' and think it's brilliant so far. Also reading a book whose title eludes me...(enchanting? enthralling?) and plodding through Ackryod's 'Albion (fantastic). Vonnegut and Murakami sit on the shelf up here, looking delicious and tempting. I have an interesting one co-written by a Palestinian and a Jew downstairs. And don't even get me started on the proofs I have!

fit of the giggles

It's been a long week, feeling torn between two jobs & two bosses. Maybe I've had more than my average dose of stress recently but all it took was this one enquiry at work today and tears of near hysterical laughter were pouring down my face as I try and keep up a semblance of professionalism.
First my customer asks for 'Knitting for Dogs'. This is enough. My face is contorted in an effort to stifle my laughter as I regrettably tell them that this gem is not in store:

So after they have left I call upstairs to our resident knitting knut and tell her I have an ISBN she needs to check out. We have a laugh but then comes the clincher. She outdoes the unspeakable horror of pet dressing:
Yes indeed folks, this book will teach you how to take dog hair, weave it and then knit it into snug items to keep you warm during the long winter months. Just think! Spaniel scarves, Golden Retriever gloves, Jack Russell jeans and Poodle pants. Contact your local dog groomer to start up your own business!

Botswana

http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/wildcam.html

This has to be the most amazing link I've ever seen! It's a webcam onto a pond in Botswana. Don't forget to turn up the volume. I sit for 15 minutes every night watching this before I go to bed. Things at the pond are livlier during the day but I've seen an elephant washing itself and some kind of deer creatures walking around in the evening. In the day I've seen these massive birds chasing each other about. I wish I knew what they all were. It's compulsive viewing! Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

At last!

The news is finally official and out in the open. I have a new job. (yeah, another one, i know!) I've only been at MK for 4 months but I've been offered an assistant managership that I'd be stupid to turn down. So I didn't. Two more weeks at MK before heading south to HH.
Recruitment for two branches simultaneously is a challenge! Arriving at 7 a.m after an hour's drive to let the cleaning lady in is something I just can't wait for either. But it's a brand new store so I get to be Book Fuhrer from the word go. It's all good.
One of guys at work responded with 'Good, I never liked you anyway', which was momentarily unnerving. I manoeuvred that one then he came back with 'how soon are you leaving?' Touching.

nothing dramatic

...just to say i'm back. work is frenetic and brilliant. the animals are crazy. the humans are competing on that front. interesting work news that i can't divulge to the world for perhaps another week but it's good. had my hair cut. bought new red shoes. went to the peak district for a weekend. that *is* about all that's happened in the last fortnight.

back online!

Monty chewed through the cable. I'm back online now though! (rolls eyes)

Thanks for your contributions.

Computer is still doing odd things. Must be some remnants of doggy saliva somewhere.

crazy day

without giving step by step instructions to the universe at large about how to break into my house, i had to do just that this morning after i locked myself out. the break in process involved climbing a wall, lying full length in mud and climbing down a ramshackle piece of trellis. i had to buy a loaf of bread so i had change to use the phone to ring mr K to find out he was miles away and couldn't help. which reminds me, that loaf of bread is still in a plastic bag in someone else's back garden where i left it as i hacked my way through nettles to get to the crumbling brick wall i was to scale. (i just ate the last slice tonight so maybe i could get minime to go fetch for breakfast!!)
then i get to work, amazingly only 10 minutes late, to be faced with news that some wacko has gone straight to the MD because he didn't have staff bow to his every whim when he last came in.
then at the end of the day i realise i can't shut the back door at work so have to call out security to do a bit of man handling of the locks to get the place secure.
i get home after nine from a late shift, eat a bowl of beans for tea and now i'm going to bed.

good job the coffee was strong

yesterday i took a 70 mile round trip for a cup of coffee. or so it felt. decided to drop in to the Hemel branch of a certain bookshop unnamed for legal reasons (!) It's a new shop in which I might be having some kind of involvement in the future. What I discovered...after timing the journey, noting the miles, researching the parking facilities and getting my bearings...was that the shop was so new it hadn't yet been built.
Thought I'd give you all a laugh at my expense on a Sunday afternoon.