Chilled

So, I'm about to leave Jersey for a quick visit to London (and work) and then off again to Cornwall - weather permitting that is!!

I've blogged before about being in Jersey, leaving it, and my confusion about having two homes, and all that applies again. Apart from last time, it was warm and sunny, and now, it's wet and cold.

Still, I'm very much looking forward to New Year in Cornwall. Where I'll cook up some fantastic new year's resolutions and then post them on here to amuse you all!

Oh I do love to be beside the sea side...

Happy Boxing Day. I hope all (few) of my readers have had a good Christmas and that you are looking forward to an excellent new year.

December has been a slightly philosophical blogging month for me, perhaps not conveying the joys and highlights of the festive month as much as I should have done, and concentrating on the stresses and traumas too much!

Ah well. A post on my new year's resolutions for 2006 will follow. In the meantime, I've had a great and relaxing Christmas, although it has taken me a long time to wind down!

Instinct

Mad, bad, busy week...

Happy that I've been out three times drinking and not had a single hangover, but my week has been very dominated by work, and there's a whole lot more of that to come!

I can't think of a useful and entertaining blog entry, so I'm going to stop now. I am going to leave you with a few pictures though. I've seen a few cats this weekend, and they were all in a photogenic mood...









and finally, as I'm starting to feel just a tiny bit Christmassy...



More on Flickr, as usual

White Tie And Cognac

Sometimes I wonder how I ended up here. I have a great job that I truly enjoy, despite the traumas, and sometimes I end up in the most fantastic situations at the most fantastic events and thank my lucky stars that I am where I am. If the 18 year old me could have had an insight in to where I would be now, she would be truly shocked.

Geekery

Thanks to Ginger Rich I've added a bit of geekery here, including a site meter (hidden right at the bottom of the page) and the very cool Flickr flash badge, which shows off a nice selection of my fab (and usually drunken) photos.

Nice

Cheers Rich. I'll buy you an ice cream sometime ;-)

Seven

Seven lists of seven things...

I found this here. Jo would probably be puzzled about how I came to find her site, and I’m not sure either, but I’ve been reading it for a while and find it very interesting…

So:

Seven things to do before I die

1. Buy a house
2. Get a Masters
3. Visit Madagascar and/or Mauritius
4. Spend at least 6 weeks travelling in America
5. Have children
6. Complete the ITEX walk
7. Learn to scuba dive

Seven things I cannot do

1. Dance
2. Play a musical instrument (although I am still vowing to learn to play the sax)
3. Sing
4. Play any sport which involves balls
5. Touch my toes
6. Jump and tap my heels together a la Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz
7. Drink whiskey, tequila or Aftershock without being very sick

Seven things that would attract me to my spouse if I had one

1. Nice legs (the bandy thing)
2. Nice hands
3. Nice eyes
4. A nice smile
5. A good sense of humour
6. Being a ‘foodie’
7. Being loving and caring and thoughtful, especially in times of need

Seven things I say most often

1. Exactly
2. Well, quite
3. Cool
4. Rubbish
5. Thank you
6. Hang on…
7. (I’m a bit stuck now… this is the kind of thing that I don’t notice, but others will – any suggestions?)

Seven books (or series or authors) I love

1. Goodnight Mr Tom
2. John Grisham
3. Harry Potter
4. Tony Parsons
5. Catherine Alliot
6. Auto biographies and biographies, generally
7. Bridget Jones (I love the films, but the books are better)

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time - I’m expanding this to include TV series)

1. Four Weddings and a Funeral
2. Love Actually
3. The Lion King
4. Shawshank Redemption
5. This Life
6. Friends
7. Jonathon Creek

Seven people I want to join in, too

1. Tania
2. Rich
3. Naomi
4. The Midlander
5. Steve
6. Marty
7. Kev

When life goes on

I’ve been working on this post for some time, which is unusual for me, because usually I start up Blogger, write what I’m thinking down, spell check it, and that’s it (apart from when I’m drunk, when I usually miss the spellcheck out, but the magic ‘you can spell and be coherent when you’re drunk’ fairy seems to sort it out anyway!)

I often ponder how different people cope with the challenges that life throws at them. Some just get on with it, some crumble, some get very bitter, some become hysterical or come to rely on drink or drugs. I can’t work out what distinguishes which way each person will go. I also can’t work out how some people are consistently ‘copers’ and some are not.

I’ve faced a reasonable amount of times where I’ve needed to ‘just cope’ in my life, particularly recently but also in various phases, especially in my teens. I think there is something about your natural outlook and make up which makes you resilient (or not) to the little, and rather more than little, challenges.

I’m a coper… but I do wobble. And how do I cope with the wobbles? How do I cope with coping? Maybe I’m too inclined to rely on a drop of the hard stuff at the moment – but this wasn’t always the way. And I seek comfort in the fact that the hard stuff is always accompanied by good company. I’m naturally a fairly closed person. It takes a lot to get out of me how I really feel about something. I’m bubbly, bouncy and generally not fazed by much. I’m more or less unflappable in a crisis. You really have to push me to get me angry, upset or emotional. But doesn’t that mean that all those feelings, which naturally exist, are therefore suppressed inside me?

I've pickled my liver

This is in tribute to Kelly, Sarah and Verity, who I’ve spent a wonderful evening with, but they’ve been moaning that they can’t spend enough time with me in the future because I’m booked every Saturday night in January so far (and most of the rest of December is written off with various Christmas parties).

This is bad. But it’s also good. I’ve spent a reasonable amount of time recently thinking about me, who I am, the challenges I face and the things I enjoy, and what I want for the future (partly fuelled by “20 Something, 20 Everything – a Quarter-Life Woman’s Guide to Balance and Direction” – and yes, I know it sounds like clap-trap, but it’s actually really good). My Dad says I always face challenges head on, and he’s right. I love being challenged. But I also love the support, companionship and understanding of my friends. I mean friends in the widest sense. I have some wonderful people in my life, and I frequently ponder that I am so very lucky to have them. Part of the reason that I’m “booked up” until February is because I have lots of different groups of friends, and I really love that. You all give me a different perspective on my life - those who read my blog and those who don’t; those who I work with and those I don’t; those who knew me at school and those who didn’t; those who knew me at uni and those who didn’t; those who have only ever seen me existing on the precipice of drunkenness that I currently occupy, and those who knew me in my more sober, less hedonistic days…. Those who are now reading this and thinking “Hang on, it’s Tuesday. She’s drunk again. Oh dear”

Three gloopy sauces, two hot dogs and a partridge in a pear tree

Sing it and it'll make sense.

How did it get to be the 1st of December already, that's what I want to know!

Anyway, fab Moeker gig tonight... Marty - thank you for the song dedication to me, Tania and Rich (and Pete and Helen in their absence). It really was appreciated. I've had a rubbish day and a Moeker gig is always a great chance to have a laugh and feel a bit normal again. AND I didn't fall down the stairs this time, although the cheering and cajoling was nearly as embarrassing as the falling was last time!

Although, I have an odd feeling of contrast from the last time I walked home from a Moeker gig and then blogged (check out my "Gig... It's all good" post from Friday 2 September in the September archive as I can't get a link to it to work right). Mainly because it was summer then and I was more carefree.

And now it's winter and I'm stressed... and I have to be up in 5 hours. Wicked.

Tania, Rich, Steve and Sally - you're stars. Thank you.

Some pics from tonight here.

D-r-o-w-n-i-n-g

Today I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of paper, work, complications and confusions. It was predictable that this week would be a difficult one. Still, I'm getting good support from those who should be supporting me so I'm happy with that.

I'm also happy with my new flatscreen, although the colour is slightly odd.

And I'm also happy with this. As I'm a bit lacking in inspiration to come up with anything funny, I thought I'd link to this, as it made me laugh out loud - thank you Tania - although of course I'm not laughing at your pain!

Sleep

Today I had the best sleep in ever. I didn't get up until 2pm. It would be fair to say that the earplugs I was wearing helped, but the sleep was clearly much needed. But, now I'm drunk again, no surprise there then.

I'm also massively scared about the week ahead. I just hope that by this time next week (when incidentally I'll be in Brussels) I can look back on the week (I'll no doubt be drunk by then too) and be happy.

I love you, you're Lewisham, now change

Lewisham. Much as I love you (but only for your reasonable amount of shops and short walk to Blackheath) you're not where I want to be at 11.30 on a Thursday night. But, love you I did for ten minutes after falling asleep on the DLR and ending up with you instead of Mudchute or Island Gardens. Either would have done nicely. Why didn't they have the courtesy to wake me up when I was with them? I'm going to have to have words with them.

I'm now so cold that I'm nearly crying. But hey, I have to be up in 5 hours. Doesn't that rock. Not. I'd rather be in Lewisham.

Although actually I'd rather be in Rome. I never came back to post more about it. Enough to say that I had the most wonderful time, and cemented some wonderful friendships, and I really want to go back there sometime. Rome - you treated us well and we will be back. This time maybe I won't have quite so many accidents!

Viva Roma

More about Rome soon, but just time to say - it treated us very well, we had a fab time, lots of laughs, and took lots of pics, some of which are here, some of which need tweaking, and some of which probably won't ever make it past my camera and in to public view. More will arrive there soon.

Tania, Marty, Helen and Pete - thank you

The case of the mysterious missing comments

I owe those of you who have posted comments on here recently an apology - for some reason unknown to me, the 'moderate comments' option had been turned on, and I only stumbled across the 7 comments waiting for my authorisation by accident this evening! So, I've published them all now! There was me thinking no one loves me and that no one is reading my random ramblings and rantings anymore... ;-(

Anyway, I think I've changed the settings back now, so feel free to comment willy nilly.

Today I have three things in my head:

1) Far far too much information about the job I was doing until two weeks ago, the job I'm doing now, and the job I'm about to start

2) A lovely tale about the Mancunian taxi driver who drove me home last night, after I left work at 11.30. Turns out he might know my Dad! Small world eh.

and

3) A rant. The garage where I have put my car in for an MOT and service are blatantly trying to rob me. They are being paid a handsome amount to do the service and MOT, and then they had the cheek (this is only one example) to tell me today that they were going to charge me an extra £50 for investigating why my windscreen washers weren't working, on top of the cost of the part which needs replacing to get them to work to get it through the MOT. DON'T FRICKING THINK SO!! I might be a blonde(ish) woman but I'm not bleedin stupid you idiots!! I think I've put them in their place. They'll learn not to mess with the Griffiths if they give me any more crap when I pick up the car tomorrow.... Grrrrr.

I got the boots

Well, I got two pairs of boots actually. Which is one more than I really needed. Bit like how I didn't really need two new tops, a pair of pj's, a pair of jeans, a scarf, a bag, a belt and a coat, nor did I really need a nice expensive dinner from Marks and Spencer.

Still, I feel better for it, and the mammoth shopping trip which resulted in acquiring all of this was very successful given it took place at lunchtime and in one hour after work! The only slightly distressing thing was that I had to go to three different branches of Next to get the coat I wanted... I was extremely distressed by the time I got to the last one and found they didn't have the right size. However, I thought I would be astute and have one last check to make sure there wasn't one on the wrong hanger or something, and, sure enough, there it was!

The point of that little tale is that it led me to reflect on how something so simple and seemingly insignificant can have a massive impact on your mood. I wasn't expecting to get it, and then I really wanted it, and then I found it and was elated. Just goes to show that good things can happen when you least expect them to...

I was so happy once I'd tried it on that I even found myself singing along (quietly of course) to the Christmas songs in the shop, despite being a firm believer that things Christmasy should not be present anywhere until at least 1st December.

On a slightly different note, having realised that 6 out of 7 posts this month so far have been alcohol related, I thought I'd mention that I'm not drinking this week (except I had a glass of champagne last night, but that doesn't count). That is until we get to Rome...

two and a half

It has, in the words of another, been a crazy week. And, like Marty, I can't post about a lot of it on here. However, the headline news is that I've been promoted, and, although it was a gruelling process, I'm well chuffed, and everyone else seems to be too, including those who matter!

Had a fantastic night celebrating and catching up with old uni and college friends. The hangover was evil though. I love the work hard - play hard ethic! I am however very much appreciating a Sunday in the house pottering around right now though!

To all those who have wished me luck and supported me in various different ways this week - thank you. I really do appreciate it.

And expect champagne and merriment once the pay rise comes through!

I'm just going to leave you with two pictures:

Yeah baby!

I've had some fantastic nights out "just because it's Wednesday" in the past, right back to when I was at school. I'm not sure why this is, it might be because I hate Thursdays. Anyway, you can see the repercussions of tonight here.

But before you go there, check out this:



which I think is a cool pic - good macro setting on camera...

and this,



which Na and I think is a hilarious photo, but I suspect others won't quite see why!

More later on in the week...

Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps

Except in my world it's five pints of lager and a packet and a half of crisps.

Hic.

Still, finally managed to spend tonight catching up with KWTNH. Anyone who is still wondering who he is can email me to find out and I'll tell you, but I'm not going into it on here. But my god he makes me laugh! And he's a great mentor type person. He's frank and a bit harsh at times, but he cuts to the chase, and he's got to know me very well over a relatively short period of time. Funny how that happens.

I'm glad to have lots of great and wonderful mates, but they more or less fall in to completely different groups, and I really enjoy that. It gives me lots of different perspectives. Some might say it gives me more than the average amount of opportunities to go out drinking too...

Fireworks

Again, I've got so much going round in my head that I could probably get a whole long page filler of a post out - but I'm not going to.

I am going to leave you with some fireworks pictures though:







From the very good display at Blackheath last night. I have, again, had an excellent weekend. Best of luck to Pete and Helen in their new flat. And Na - the raspberry daquiri went straight to my head, but it did the trick. Thank you.

PS - there's more photos on my Flickr site.

Full

I've got a whole head full of thoughts that I can't quite marshal in to a logical and reasonable blog entry, and as I've already excelled myself with one extra special completely non-sensical blog entry this month (and it's only the 4th!), I think I'd better restrain myself!

I am however going to comment on the fantasticness of risotto. As I had another unexpected evening at home last night (KWTNH again, but he's got a good excuse), I cooked my most favourite dish ever, risotto with herbs and goats cheese (those of you who know my cooking/eating habits will know that my 'most favourite dish ever' has a habit of changing, but this is it for now!). Given that I am incapable of cooking a reasonable amount for one, I usually end up with left overs. Which I've just scoffed this evening, as a very satisfactory post-wine/champagne snack.

The best thing about risotto (which outweighs by far the 30 mins preparation and stirring that it takes) is that you get a whole bowl full of carbohydrate rich creamy comfort food - but with no cream actually involved and therefore not many calories. Wicked. You've got to be happy with that.

Sense

Um. Well. That didn't make sense did it!

Hopefully the person to whom the last paragraph was addressed has seen it and taken note. I did toy with the idea of editing the post, or removing it completely, but have decided to leave it there. Some of you thought I was being morose, some thought enigmatic. I think 'drunk'. And maybe a bit too thoughtful for my own good.

Anyway, I've improved a crap day at work with two of my favourite things this evening:

1) Shopping. I went in to Dorothy Perkins to look for boots... and came out with a skirt, a cardigan, a necklace and a pair of earrings. And no boots. Ah well

2) Chocolate. The Marks and Sparks melting chocolate pudding things. Need I say more.

Do you?

I've had the kind of evening that makes you realise things about yourself that you didn't previously realise. There is a high chance that this isn't going to make sense to some of you, mainly because I'm suffering from a poor Stella vs food ratio. Still, enough of you will be able to make sense of it to make it worth posting, and those of you who can't make sense of it can have fun trying!

It's like when you're convinced that you don't want something, so convinced that you can ignore what others are saying to you, but then you suddenly (even though it's maybe more than a year later) realise that maybe they are right.

The key thing this has taught me is that sometimes your friends can know you better than you know yourself. And that is the sign of a true friend, that they can be patient with you when they know they are right, but that they also know it's going to take you some time to realise it. Thank you. I love you :-)

Phenomenon

Three things are going through my mind...

1) Phenomenon. I had to spell this word backwards correctly during a game of Cranium on Saturday, and, well... I didn't. Since then it has been running through my mind on and off, and I can do it now:

n-o-n-e-m-o-n-e-h-P. See.

2) I have a 1 in 4 chance of getting promoted. I'm beginning to get very nervous about the interview.

3) Mmmm fudge. I've just found some leftover fudge from Edinburgh from the the best fudge place in the world ever. Yum. I'm particularly enjoying the belgian chocolate, as it's not quite as hard as the others. I've also just discovered that they do mail order, which is a really bad plan for the waistline, and decided that if I ever ever get married, I'm going to have fudge as wedding favours. How cool is that!!

Another summer's day has come and gone away

I completely forgot that the clocks had gone back when I woke up this morning. So there I am, getting ready to leave Na and Steve's for Kent... and then Na reminds me that actually it's only 8.40, not 9.40, and that not only am I therefore not late, I've also got her up an hour than she needed to be! Sorry Na!

The reason I had to be up was twofold... we spent Saturday night at No 28 having a games night. Otherwise known (this won't surprise most of my readers) as an excuse to eat food and get drunk and play board games. It was a very funny night, although us girls weren't quite as amused at the end of the session (2.30am!) when we lost to the boys, especially when there was two of them and three of us! Anyway, Na Steve and I walked back to theirs at 3am, leaving my car there, and I therefore had to get it, hence the need for a lift from Na, before heading off to Kent. The walk home was special in itself, it's been a very long time since I walked home drunk in the early hours of the morning in Hatfield with the birds!

Once I'd impressed my mum and my nan by turning up in Broadstairs on time (more by luck than design due to my timing problem above!) we had a lovely day. Went for a pub lunch, and, although we didn't, it was easily warm enough to sit outside. At the end of October. Weird. Lovely though.

I particularly enjoyed getting out in the countryside and seeing autumn evolving in the wintry sunlight, checking out all our favourite old landmarks and visiting places. The only thing which disturbed me was that it was dark by 5pm... although that made for a good drive home because I sat in the outside lane for most of the M2 and cruised along at a decent speed, with Classic FM to accompany me.

I have moments (they are rare, and I haven't had one for a while) where Classic is just what I need for a longish drive. It's stimulating enough to keep me awake, but calm enough to prevent me from getting road rage with those irritating Sunday drivers. And there are a lot of those in Kent. One of our childhood pastimes used to be to count the number of three wheelers... today's count was 11.

I have my new camera now too. Although I've not had much chance to use it yet, and definitely haven't worked out the settings etc to get the most of it, check out my Flickr site here to see the results of my efforts. Expect more to come. I'm a snappy snappy photographer rather than a selective perfect shot photographer, so I plan on populating the site with a fair few photos over the next few weeks.

The title, by the way, is from Michael Buble's 'Home', which I've become rather hooked on recently. It's a Magic FM tune rather than a Classic FM tune though!

When a Belgian taxi driver tries to crack on to you, it's time to change your perfume

I went to Brussels for the day today. Well, I say the day, as I said in my previous blog, we were only actually there for about 5 hours!

On the way back to the station, the taxi driver tried to crack on to me. The conversation went like this:

Him "blah french something blah perfume"
Me "pardon?"
Him "I like your perfume"
Me "Thanks"
Later...
Him "the control for the window is here" (in the control panel by the handbrake). Accompanied by stroking leg action
Me "Uh, thanks"
At the station, I'm paying...
Him "You have beautiful hands. I hope I meet you again"
Me "Thanks". Run. Now

Then, I texted someone at work to say we were on our way back, and that a taxi driver had tried to crack on to me. He replied

"Must be your perfume"

And, indeed, unbeknown to him, it was!

This is not the first time recently I've had an 'interesting but wrong' flirting type encounter.

Maybe I really should change my perfume.

Unexpected

I've got an unexpected night at home (I was meant to see KWTNH, but he had a problem at home with a BT man) and now I'm not sure what to do with myself. There's lots of things I should be doing, like washing, ironing, washing up, or perhaps working on my CV, but I don't actually fancy doing any of them and am not very motivated. Which is the end result of an interesting shift, because I've been far more motivated at work these past few weeks... just not at home!

So, for the time being I'm left pondering the wisdom of my day tomorrow. I'm going to Brussels with work. Which is great (apart from the fact that I currently can't find my passport, so really should be looking for that too!) as I've never been there before (although I'm a bit worried about my lack of French skills) BUT I've just worked out the timings for the trip. It's going to take 4 hours and 56 minutes of travelling (first class on Eurostar though). And we're only going to be there for 5 hours and 7 minutes. That's only 11 minutes longer than the travelling will take!!!

Wet, soggy, and... happy

Today I have been very very wet, three times, from the rain. It's horrible. The only good time for rain is a weeknight when you're at home and don't have to go out, or a Sunday when all you feel like doing is hibernating.

I hate this period of weather. I'm a summer kind of girl, but I can get on ok with winter when it's cold and dry, and when it's snowing. I just don't like all this soggyness.

Anyway, I've had a good day today, I've relocated and restructured my job, and been encouraged to apply for a job which I didn't think I could apply for, so I'm thinking what the hell, I'm going to go for it and see what happens, the worst thing that could come out of it is that I don't get it, but I do get feedback from two people who will be reasonably instrumental in my career for the next few years, so that can't be bad.

And, I had a lovely lunch with Pete and a lovely dinner with Sophie. A lovely way to spend a Monday!

Puberty Police

As Marty has previously mentioned I seem to have some sort of odd police homing device attached to my car. Especially in Hatfield, and especially on Oxlease. Where I got stopped AGAIN tonight (5th time in about 2 years) by the police.

They wanted to know what I was doing in Hatfield when my car is registered in Docklands. I felt like saying "I pay my road tax, I can go wherever I want can't I?!" but I restrained myself, and simply said "I've been visiting friends". Puberty policeman number 1 then said "well, it's a bit late to be doing that on a Sunday night isn't it, what other reason have you got for being here?".

It was 8pm. I told them that unless they could tell me I was actually doing anything wrong, I was leaving. And I did.

(In case you're wondering, I got the 'puberty police' phrase from Wonder Boys)

Other than that, I've had a good weekend, good food, good company, and gardening, which I always enjoy. There's something about pottering around in the garden which means you can't help but relax. Although I did combine that today with some random destruction of a very big bush, which was quite satisfying!

I'm hoping that this week will be a better, less weird, and less toxic.

Day two in the Kate hangover house

I'm still struggling. I still feel hungover. Usually after a night's sleep I'm ok, but this particular one is really quite harsh. I'm going to take myself off to bed soon and hope that I feel ok tomorrow!

The route of all this was my attendance at a conference in a lovely hotel in Manchester. The 4.30am drinking stint clearly wasn't a good plan though. Why didn't I think of that at the time? I clearly had a beer head on. Had a very good laugh though and met some very interesting people and had some very interesting conversations.

Some of which have led to some interesting work opportunities, which now have my already confused head in a bit of a spin. I'm hoping that once I've had a good night's sleep and done a bit of the necessary reading, things will all be a lot clearer by Monday and then I can make some decisions!

3 1/2 hours

Me, lots of booze, bed at 4.30am, breakfast meeting at 8.30am.

Me not a happy Kate today :-S

The Cats

I'll post a longer post about my weekend and the cat project soon, but for now I just wanted to share this with you:



The Cat Survival Trust

Cocoon

My Big Bed (6’6” square) is pretty comfy usually. That’s a lot of bed for just me, and as I seem to be unable to sleep diagonally in it, I don’t use very much of it! Every now and then I have a fantastic night’s sleep in it, and wake up so perfectly comfortable that I can’t think of a way of being more comfy. I’m lying in the right position, the pillows are plumped up in the right way even though I’ve been sleeping on them all night, I’m the right temperature, not too hot, not too cold, and there are no annoying noises going on. This morning was one of those mornings, and it was delightful, for a short time, until I realised that I was going to have to get up for work.

Why can’t those mornings happen at the weekend!? What usually happens on weekend mornings instead is that I wake up at 8.30, feeling groggy, and can’t get back to sleep because I know I’ll get a headache and I’m just not comfortable.

Please can the sleep fairy arrange for these instances to be swapped round so that they come on the right days? (And if you wouldn’t mind finding me someone to share the bed with at the same time, that would be great too ;-))

Why?

Whilst I was having my mid-afternoon-I’m-not-feeling-motivated-to-do-any-work-even-though-I’ve-got-loads-to-do-lull this afternoon (they usually happen between 2 and 3, and I’m having real trouble shifting them at the moment), I read this interview with Heather Armstrong, creator of Dooce (with thanks to Marty for the reminder of the link, I used to read it a while ago when she lost her job, but had forgotten about it). Somehow, although I now can’t work out how (and therefore can’t link to it), those links also led me to an article in an American business magazine about the reasons why people blog, and some basic thoughts and principles behind blogs (eg unless there is absolutely no one you can think of who you DON’T want to read what you say, don’t say it, because people will always find things on the web these days).

It really got me thinking about the reasons for blogging, and whether by creating a blog and exposing my thoughts to the outside world, I was really doing myself, or anyone else, any good or if those thoughts should actually be confined to the mad washing machine spin cycle churn effect that is my brain these days.

The main reason for me setting up a blog was to see if I could do it (although Blogger is pretty elementary I have had to learn some new skills and a few bits of code to make it work like this), to keep in touch with friends who I don’t necessarily see very often and let them know what I’ve been up to, and to tie in with a Flickr site (which I haven’t actually got round to sorting out yet, but then as I haven’t got round to buying a digital camera yet either, the whole project isn’t quite ready yet, and the blogging has advanced without it!)

It’s part of a coping mechanism too. (I’m brewing a longer and separate post about that, but it’s not ready for public consumption yet). I used to keep a diary regularly, but I don’t any more, I stopped in my final year at Uni, although I’m not totally sure why, I just did. I’ve always found writing about what’s on my mind soothing, and despite following the ‘don’t say it if you don’t want people to read it rule,’ and therefore restricting what I say somewhat, I’m finding the blogging has the same effect.

It’s also giving me a chance to write and test whether I can retell the funny experiences which my drunken, accident prone life tends to generate in a humorous way. That seems to be going ok so far (I think!)

Now, I’m off to make that Flickr site I think… and decide which camera I’m going to spend my hard earned pennies on.

UPDATE: An hour later, I now have a Flickr site. You can find it here. The photos on there at the moment are kindly borrowed from Pete and Helen, and they are of our legendary trip to Dublin in May this year (where I earned more nicknames than I've ever had, including Get Em Out Griffiths and Gravity Griffiths).

Top of the Hill

Top of the Hill
Originally uploaded by Kate Griffiths.

This is a test to see if my newfound Flickr skills will transfer to my newfound(ish) Blog skills.

This is a random photo from the selection from Dublin I've just posted (credit to Pete and Helen again). Although, there's something a bit Pride and Prejudice about this photo, Na and Steve walking through the bushes in a slight wind. I like it. And it has lots of sea in it too, which I always like!

Rules and hairdryers

Last night I went to Rules, London's oldest restaurant, in Covent Garden. They do a great post theatre deal of two courses for £18, which is good value given that most of their main courses are more than that on their own. However, there was three problems with our master plan...

1. We'd not been to the theatre first, we'd been in the pub
2. We were therefore starving when we got there at 10pm, which is when the deal starts.
3. We decided to have an extra course (cheese) and that came with port

SO not a good plan on a Monday night. Rolled home at 1.30am (after the cab driver drove into the movable traffic bollard outside the flat) and passed out.

And then I had a very strange experience at 5.30am. I heard someone leave the flat, and thought 'ah, flatmate leaving for work early, back to sleep', but then I heard his alarm go off, and heard him switch it off. So who had left the flat? Next thing I know, whoever it was is coming back in the flat. By now I'm convinced it's a burglar (bear in mind I was almost certainly still drunk and therefore it was all a bit hazy). So, being the sensible girl I am, NOT, I grabbed my hairdryer in preparation for going in the hall and challenging said burglar. What on earth did I think I was going to be able to do with a hairdryer?!?!!??

A much sunnier day

I'm feeling a bit better today. I'm having a sort out at home, I'm going in to work to have a sort out there too... and yesterday I spent time with, and time chatting to, some very special people who did a very good job of cheering me up and making me realise that I'm lucky to have such great friends, and a great job.

Happy Sunday

:-(

Today is Black Friday.

Haven't got the pupillage I want, can't apply for the job I want, haven't got a man to spend my few free hours with, and various other things are going wrong.... and to top it off, I've now realised I've missed The Brief with the lovely Alan, and I forgot to set the Freeview magic technology to record it. Gutted all round.

In my 'Sunday Sunday' post, I resolved that I wasn't going to post when I'm drunk anymore... but Tania has encouraged me to continue, so here you go. I seem to be the only one of the "new Bloggers" ie Steve, Na and Tania who is blogging on a regular basis. Not currently sure why that is...

Maybe it's because I get more drunk, more often, and that generates more posts. It can't be because I am more bored at work, because I can't access this from work anymore (and I'm ridiculously busy and will therefore even be going in to work on Sunday!). But, maybe it's because I'm quite good at rambling, and no one who was interested is remaining interested anyway... If you're still here occasionally, let me know! As my boss observed accurately today, I don't stay down for long, so it's not all doom'n'gloom.

Disorientated

When I left work today, I was convinced that it was 8pm. Not too bad, I thought, hard day etc, still a reasonable amount of the evening left. So imagine how pleased I was when I sat down in the Chinese take away and saw that the clock said 8.10..... I'd suddenly gained an hour of my evening back!

Bit disorientating though. And that feeling was increased when I walked past the Muslim Community centre and smelt a particular type of incense, which I currently can't put my finger on the name of, which I always used to burn when I was a teenager. It bought back a lot of memories... I always used to burn it when I was shut away in my room trying to deal with whatever angst was going on at the time. I thought I had some spirited away here somewhere, which could help me deal with my current angst, but I can't find it. At the time, those traumas seemed like the end of the world. On reflection now, they were actually quite straightforward, and the traumas and complications of life as a mid-twenty something are infinitely more complex, confusing and need-for-incense-to-give-calm provoking.

Maybe I should nip back to the Community Centre and borrow some of theirs...

Bread, Cheese and Wine

Bread, Cheese and Wine. The food of the Gods. And a chance for me to try posting a picture. And what I'm currently eating (and drinking in the case of the wine of course!). It makes me happy.

Had a slightly better day today, with some pomp and circumstance this morning to remind us of the coolness of our jobs. Hard work though, and I still can't believe it's October already. I really don't feel like I've had a summer (apart, perhaps, from the long weekend I spent in Jersey). And now it's almost cold enough again to start wearing a coat. So not good. I want summer back sob sob.

Sunday Sunday

Ah... I really shouldn't post when I'm drunk (not a new observation that though). I think someone needs to invent a breathalyser which is linked to the computer, to stop me from even logging on when I've had a few too many (or, as was the case on Friday, a few too many far too quickly, red wine and champagne, what was I thinking!!)

Anyway, it was at least some form of stress relief at the end of a long and complicated week. Although I fear I'm about to have another one of those, which is why, despite the fact that I've had a lovely relaxing weekend, I'm now working at home. Grim though this is, it is motivated by a desire to get on top on my work (see my post about that), and has involved a small amount of hilarity. I've not got a great deal of desk space in my room, so finding room for a laptop and lots of papers etc has been difficult. I've now reached a happy improvised solution, by putting the laptop on a baking tin, on a cardboard box, on my set of steps, so that it can be close enough to the phone port and also close enough to my desktop computer to enable me to be able to work, MSN and blog at the same time!!

My evening has just been brightened as I write this though, because I've just seen an advert for Alan Davies' return in The Brief on Friday nights. Might be a slight issue because it is on on Fridays and I'm usually always out, but I'll have to put Stephen's new Freeview recorder box to the test to ensure that I can get my weekly intake of Alan and his great curvy legs. I finally found someone on Saturday night (Tania's friend Laura) who understands my curvy leg theory. At last.

Talking of Saturday night, we all had a great time at Moeker's gig at the Spitz (a great venue, and close to my roots in the East End). Marty played on a mini drum kit, and remains critical of his performance today. But, for what it's worth, I thought it was great. It helps that now we've all got the album, we know most of the words to the songs (although the new song was really good too). Although Dobbin wasn't in evidence. I think he'll have to make a return, along with the big kit with all the toys, at the next gig?!

And just to complete the weekend of East Endness... Na, Steve and I went for pie and mash for brunch! Fab.

If only weekends were three days long, I'd be completely happy today.

Worst

Do you know how it feels, when you have the worst day at work ever... everything is going wrong. And then you get to the end, and think, ah, I'll have a few drinks, that will sort me out. And then you get really really drunk. Really really quickly.

That's me. Today. Don't think it would be sensible to write anymore for fear of incriminating myself. Or making a spelling mistake. But, Marty and Ginger Rich are all booked for Rome, so there is one good thing about today.

PS - and I'd just like to add that I remembered the code to make the links look pretty without referring to anything I've done before, which I think is quite impressive in my current state. Either that or I've transferred into an IT geek without realising, which would actually be quite distressing :-(

Thwarted

It seems the internet thought police are on to me... can no longer access Blogger from work, so no more random middle of the day posts for me!

Jelly Belly Beans Yeah!

No posts for yonks and then two in one day... this one is inspired by the large amount of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans currently residing in my office, thanks to the big boss having just had a recent trip to the USA. Pure nostalgia and a sufficiently good sugar rush to get me through a couple more hours at work.

I've only just started feeling productive today. I've been sitting on a piece of work which I really don't want to do, but which is now desperately urgent and I really need to hit myself round the head and get on with it. I attempted some of it at the weekend, but became distracted by Back to the Future II and various other things (involving F1 (finally a new champ) and speedating).

This has got me wondering about motivation and styles of working... I always struggle to be motivated to do things I don't want to do (usually difficult bits of work or chores) and end up leaving them to the last minute. Sometimes this generates really good work... but sometimes it just gets me in a bit of a pickle, which is pretty much where I am now (hence the working at the weekend and late in the evenings, which is otherwise a dire situation to be in).

I often wish that I could be more motivated to do things in advance. And it's not as if I can say that things creep up on me because I forget about them either, because I'm more or less a compulsive planner (maybe too much sometimes, sorry to anyone who's been on the receiving end of this!) and am usually completely aware of what's coming up. That almost makes it worse, because by the time a nasty piece of work has been playing on my mind for a few weeks, I'm even less inclined to do it.

My other frustration today is musical... my radio in the office still stubbornly refuses to hold any station apart from Magic FM for more than 10 minutes without fuzzing. Radio fuzz is one of my 'I really can't tolerate that' noises, so Magic has been the preferred option for the past two weeks. However, having heard the new Tracy Chapman song (which I do like) 6 times today, I'm a bit tired of it now. And my I-Pod is dead. And even I can't bear the sound of my own extremely bad singing!!

So, my evening will be accompanied by the sounds of traffic outside, and the dinky little mice running around under the grates in the corridor. Maybe I need a cat from here to sort them out! (Na visited them today and got some very cute pics).

More Jelly Belly ness needed...

Monday Blues

No post for a week...

I guess I just didn't have anything to say (which is surely unusual for me?!)

I am now at work on another sunny Monday morning, having had a lovely weekend at No 28. My film education (which is being successfully (so far) directed by Richelle and Marty, prompted by their disgust at the amount of classic and great films I've never seen) progressed further, although I must acknowledge that I'm generally not very good at concentrating on films - I usually get the gist though!

We also had particularly hilarious games of Articulate and Twister and some good weather, what better way to spend a weekend... although unsurprisingly I have come away from it with an injury in the form of a rather large cut on my leg... idiot!

Am now trying to brace myself for what will no doubt be a very challenging week at work - but, with two Moeker gigs to look forward to in one week, it's not all bad. :-)

Time Travelling Reading

Tania reminded me today of a great book I read in South Africa at Easter - The Time Traveller's Wife. She described it as "totally mind blowingly amazingly beautifully funny and melancholy all in one!"((c) La Scania 2005) And it is. It is a completely different book, unlike anything you will have ever read before. I read it really quickly lying in the sun in South Africa (I know, I know, but I just had to get a bit of that in too! I'd quite happily be back there right now!) and it really was a page turner. I was stunned by it then, and I'm stunned again thinking about it now. I meant at the time to tell people about it when I got back (although I gave my copy to Charlotte, my travelling companion, who assures me that she was equally as impressed), but, I didn't. Must have been the back-to-work effect making me forget or something.

So I'm glad that Tania has reminded me of it so that I can have a quick rave about it on here and spread the word a bit more. It's the kind of book I would consider reading again, and I don't usually say that, if ever. Once they are read for me they are done, pretty much. Especially with most of the rest of the BBC Big Read list to work my way through. My progress through the list was hampered for sometime by my slow reading of The Two Towers (which I found boring, but not quite as boring as the first volume of Lord of the Rings), now finished, and War and Peace, not finished, but also not boring. The problem with this one is that the print is so small that I can't read it before bed because I can't concentrate on the print, and I can't carry it around with me because it's a bit big (941 pages and at least two and a half inches thick!).

At the current time, I've read 12 and 4/6 of the Top 21 (as Lord of the Rings, and His Dark Materials, both trilogies, are counted as one entry, and I've read the first and second volumes of each) and 33 4/6 of the Top 100. So not too bad, but it is going slooooooooowwwwllllly!

I love reading, but I always feel like I don't get enough time to do it. I can get through books really quickly (although not as quickly as some, such as Marty who finished the latest Harry Potter within hours of getting it!) if I have the chance to sit down and concentrate on them (which most often occurs at home in Jersey, the beach seems to help for some reason, although it does make the joints of the book a bit scratchy!) but on the whole, reading on the journey into and out of work is a bit spasmodic because of changes etc, and I'm usually too tired to read at any length before bed. Sometimes I think I should wake up earlier and read before I get ready for work... but I just don't think that would happen on a regular basis. And I am already in danger at times of existing on Margaret Thatcher levels of sleep, which is never good!

Phew. Now that I've got all that off my chest, I'm going to go home (as I'm still at work)... and probably not read because I'm shattered!

Moules, frites, schnapps and emotions

What is it about the mid-twenties which provokes so many crises, emotional traumas and break ups? I've been struggling to understand it for some time, and although I've developed a number of complicated theories, I'm not sure there is really an answer. It seems to be an unsettling time all round.

But, moules, frites, schnapps and good company have restorative properties, especially when they are secured at old college stamping grounds. Have had a lovely night catching up with lovely friends who I don't see very often, but who I share a lot of special memories with.

IT... Inept Technology

Ah. Hee hee. I really shouldn't drink Kronenbourg. Bad plan and headache provoking. Ah well.

I'm struggling today to comprehend how IT projects can go so badly pear shaped. Every corner I turn, there is something else going wrong. Finance, system development, broadband systems not being able to talk to each other, techies trying to blind me with science (I'm fond of not letting on that I know a bit more they they think I do until key moments. And I do seem to be doing ok with my new-found web skills, albeit that Blogger makes it very easy to get on with this HTML lark!).

Technology rage. Grr. It's the worst kind.

It is, however, Friday, thankfully. And next week I'm planning short days and long lunches in a last ditch attempt to make the most of what is left of summer. All good.

Mmm. Beer. II

Anyone notice a recurring theme...!?

Mmm. Beer

That's all I have to say really. It's been a randomly shit and potentially successful day, all at the same time. And I've had beer. And no dinner.

But, I've been out with KWTNH (hey, if Belle De Jour can use initials to secure anonymity, then so can I!) and he's done a good job of cheering me up.

Before I face the hell of work tomorrow, I'm going to enjoy Lost and then a good night's sleep.

Arrivederci

Ouch

Don't eat cold ice cream after hot soup. It hurts.

A lot. Ow ow ow. Good job I've got the dentist next week. And the physio... and the doctor.

My boss happily told me today that he thinks I'm falling apart. Wicked.

On a completely different note, I'm doing some work tonight on the merits of "shoot to kill". It's led me to reflect on the fact that just two months ago we were in the midst of the aftermath of the 7th July London bombings. It seems like such a long time ago now, but the memories of the weirdness of that day and the trauma of the atrocities are still so acute. The way that London has bounced back and regained it's sense of community makes me proud. Life goes on, but we will never forget the events of that day (and the attempted bombings on the 21st July.)

Britain is a resilient and determined nation, across all the different communities and cultural divides.

Cricket

Well. Normally, I hate cricket. Despite the best efforts of Steve, my Dad, Tim, and various other men, I have never been able to understand the game, the rules, or the attraction of the game.

However, I did find myself interested by it yesterday. I was getting slightly addicted to the scoretracker Steve sent me and watching it probably a bit more than I should. But, having said that, big boss man was quite happily watching it on tv in our office for a good proportion of the afternoon, so I didn't feel too guilty!

So, I joined the masses in celebrating the win in the pub last night, and had the pleasure and privilege of seeing the celebratory buses go past work earlier today. There were loads of people out on the streets (great view from our balcony!). The cricketers (including the wives and the women's team) all looked very much worse for wear though, and I reckon a lot of them were feeling very sick!

Whilst spectating the buses, we developed a theory that with the Rugby World Cup success in 2003, and the Ashes success in 2005, we must be up for a big win (preferably against Australia!) in 2007. Which will be a Rugby World Cup year and an Ashes year. Maybe we can do a double......?!

Now that I've publicly admitted that I just might have found something interesting about cricket, I'm going to do some more work. I have masses and masses to do, not to mention a small amount of preparation for something important tomorrow.

I'm nervous and I hate being nervous.

Autumn... what!

How did it get to be autumn already!

Right now I'm distressed. I've just come out of a succession of meetings, finishing at 5.30, and whilst everyone was leaving work, I was coming back to work.

Not amused. On a happier note, I'm going to Rome!!! Yeah!!! I've always wanted to go, and never made it, so I decided yesterday that I was going, courtesy of the great Ryanair who are having a massive (and genuinely useful) seat sale. Nice one.

Now at least I have something to look forward to, I hate not having holidays booked!

Back to work now though... ick.

Result!

I just had to make a quick post in celebration of the fact that thanks to Kev, I've found a way to get round the thought police and access Blogger from work - by going to his site first and using the links.

Of course it may only be a matter of time before the internet thought police figure out what I'm up to and learn how to block my little piece of trickery, but nevermind, it'll be good whilst it lasts!

What is not so good however is that I'm still at work... and likely to be here for a while.

Thanks to No 28 for recording Lost for me though!

Hazy

And I forgot to say...

My top tip for today is don't try to learn about Government finance when on a complex combination of painkillering things

Limping and red sky

I'm not very good at thinking of titles for my Blog entries. Some are very good at it, but I find myself lacking in inspiration sometimes!

Anyway, after recovering from the shock of realising that I posted the last entry on here when I was really drunk - AND it made sense and didn't have any spelling mistakes, I made it to Cornwall (via work, ick) successfully - and with a reasonable amount of matching clothes and the right toiletries!

Had a great weekend doing not very much - which is rare for me at the weekend. Spent most of Saturday lying in the sun reading the papers (and working out how to view Blogger and therefore the crazy blogs on the left from my phone so that I can see them from work if someone posts something unmissable!) and having a few bevvies. Very chilled.

Until, that is, I decided that it would be a good idea to play frisbee. Bad bad plan for my old knees. One very (6 hours!) long train journey and 2 hours in A and E later, and I'm now equipped with crutches - courtesy of damaged cruciate ligaments and soft tissue in my left knee. Not good.

And... get this - not only did I not get a seat on the DLR this morning, I couldn't actually get on the first train which came along because everyone pushed in front of me!! Some people are so rude. Same thing happened on the tube this evening - there were two people on crutches and two heavily pregnant women on the tube, and not one person offered any of us a seat! Grrr.

This is in danger of turning in to an essay... so I'll finish just by saying big up to Cleve, Nikki, Hannah and the most mad three lads I've ever had the priviledge to meet - Mike, Gordy and Caz, you're stars and you made the weekend INTERESTING!

Gig... It's all good

Just got back from the Moeker http://www.moeker.com album launch gig. It was great. And I made an entrance to it as only I can.... By falling, rather spectacularly, down the stairs, and landing, on my knees, at the feet of Del, Marty (www.martspain.co.uk - Moeker drummer), Na and Steve. Great. I'm a classy chick. And I wasn't even drunk.

However, I am of course drunk now. When Santa read this blog, he said it was cool, but it didn't reflect the real me. Because it didn't involve any references to alcohol. Well Santa, now it does. And I'm not convinced yet that posting when I'm drunk is a good plan. But it's a bit late now.

Anyway, my journey home was pretty eventful. Thought it would be a touch of the night bus, but managed to run for the last DLR. However, sore knee (see falling down the stairs, before), and high heels are not compatible. Which resulted in walking home with no shoes on. Which got me thinking about how grateful I am that although Tower Hamlets Council are crap at most things (health care, rubbish collection, racial tension, teenager misbehaviour) the one thing they are good at is keeping the pavements clean. And I did meet a random person called Edward who lives in the block next to me on the way, so it's not all bad.

So, the next thing on my agenda is packing for Cornwall tomorrow (work then straight to 6pm train) whilst listening to the Moeker album really really loudly as my lovely flatmate/landlord Stephen is not currently in residence to disturb, and most of the neighbours are safe because of the high level of soundproofing. Unlucky for the Humans is currently on repeat. It is after all the (now official I think) Act 2 http://act2productions.co.uk song. Go Dobbin.

Anyone who has ever experienced my drunk packing before will be appreciating the pain I'm going through at the moment - and the sheer fashion disaster I'm about to inflict on Cornwall too.

By the way, Rich (http://gingerlovin.blogspot.com), Marty (www.martspain.co.uk) or Kev (www.taverner.co.uk) - one of you is going to have to tell me some time how to make these links look proper and pretty, because I just don't seem to be able to do it!!

I'm leaving... on a jet plane...

Well, actually its a prop plane, because the airport in Jersey isn't that big, and they don't have that many jets, but hey!

The return to work is tomorrow. So very much not looking forward to it. But, still, I've had a lovely break here in my sunny Isle.

I always feel a bit wierd when I'm here. Like when I'm here I want to be here. But when I'm there (ie London) I want to be there. Or perhaps that is better expressed as... when I'm here, I want to be there, and when I'm there, I want to be here... if only I could be in two places at once!

That was a bit rambling. I know what I mean at least!

To contrast that and attempt to be succinct, I thought I'd give a top 10 list of unique, funny, and slightly wierd things about Jersey, in no particular order!

1. Cows
2. Boreholes (NB these are both for the benefit of Pete, Steve and Tom)
3. This is the only place you still see mark 1 Fiestas and Metros
4. The surf. And the fact that you can mess around in it and pretend your 5. And that's fine, because that's what everyone else is doing too!
5. The Hungry Man. Those who have been (Richelle, Steve, Hannah... and of course all my local friends) will join with me in appreciating its hangover curing powers. Those who haven't... you really should visit some time!
6. People take flasks of tea, cake and bottles of wine to the beach.
7. Old wooden surf boards and green zip up wetsuits with jackets and gloves are the rage for hitting the surf.... if you're 50+ that is.
8. You can't buy a paper on a Sunday. But you can buy a porn mag (not that I have of course!)
9. You see people who you know, but don't know why, in the street, at least once every 10 minutes.
10. Jersey potatoes. Enough said. They are just great.

For now, however, I have to go and eat a roast dinner. Parental cooking. Tis great ;-)

Ah ha, warm, dry, and not working! Result!

I have landed in sunny Jersey. Well, to be completely honest, it's a bit grey at the moment, but it should be getting better, and then I can go to the beach.

As usual I arrived with nothing planned, and now I have a lot planned. Given that most of my mates from school have returned here and settled here, there is always a lot to do and lots of people to catch up with. Which I love, but this time I especially need some time to chill out too.....

... so come on sun, you know you want to!!

Cold, wet and still working... so much for August

My second post in two days... hmm.

I'm motivated to write this by frustration at the weather and work. It's pouring down with rain, and its cold. And its August! It's just not funny! What happened to the predictions of a heatwave for this summer that we were constantly hearing about a few months ago?!

I can only hope that the weather is nice at the weekend so that I can have some quality beach time. And hopefully that will help me recover my brain to its normal (albeit strange) state. I'm really struggling to recover and get back to normal after our manic week in Edinburgh.

Not helped by the fact that my neck really hurts, which always happens once I've sat at my desk for a few days after some time away.

Enough moaning. I have today booked a table at Rhodes W1 for Monday 5th September, so that is something to look forward to (in the absence of having any holidays planned, and I always have to have something to look forward to!)

I'm off to search the kitchen for something that might possibly be able to be created into a comfort food style meal.

My first blog ever

Well. This is my first Blog post. Inspired by other Blogs I've been reading recently I thought I'd try my hand at one, and this seemed to be the easiest way to do it. Although I can't access the Blogger site from work (Government Internet thought police, pah!) so I'm not sure how often I'll be able to use it.

And there is a chance that it will be all to technical for me.

Hey ho, worth a try though.

However, now I have to decide what to actually say. Is it worth having a blog when I can't really discuss my work on here... but then blogs aren't really for that anyway.

What I'm most thinking about at the moment is the come down I (and my other 15 or so companions) are feeling after taking Act 2's http://act2productions.co.uk very first show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We had a truly fantastic time, and it was an amazing achievement, and something all involved can be justifiably proud of.

However, it's a long way to come down from that kind of thing, and it's particularly harsh when I'm at work and others are out enjoying the sun!

The so called rest period that vacation was meant to bring with it just hasn't happened, so we're all feeling a bit burnt out at the moment. Am much looking forward to some relaxation in Jersey this weekend, praying for good weather. Hopefully that will be followed by some relaxation in Cornwall the weekend after too.

Right, I'm going to post this and see if it works. And then I'd better think about telling some people that it's here so that its worth writing it!