Slightly off line at the moment due to the fire in Manchester and all of the telephones and comms off the air.
Have had to move offices for the moment.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

Went across the country lugging a 3 piece suite (and a few other bits) including a new monitor for her poorly virus infected PC. (yes I do know that won't fix the virus - I am not a complete moron - yet. But her current monitor is buggered)
Its a 200 mile round trip. She don't live next door.
I met her new 'partner' another girl called S. Yes, she appears to have tuned the corner. Not really a surprise for me I have seen it coming for a number of years. It was more of a shock to her than it was to me. However I am pretty laid back about this kind of thing and I am just happy that the is finally in a stable relationship. Normally this kind of thing has been pretty volatile in the past, I just hope a partner of a different sex will work better for her.
So far at least one good thing has come out of the relationship. S. has managed to get her to give up smoking. Something I could never manage.(persuade her to give up, I mean). I gave up years ago.

As my doctor affectionately puts it I currently have a 'sub infection'. A virus that is in the background just enough to make me feel knackered and lethargic.
Normally the thing just goes away after a few days, but it can come and go and linger for anything up to six weeks.
When I have this thing I tend to get withdrawn and depressed.
I try to fight it...I do. Sometimes it can be an uphill struggle.

I suppose it could be worse - I could be as bad as BW.That's not good- I could get worse and be just as bad....Now I am really worried.

Good news......The missing dove has returned.....or the remaining dove has found a new partner.
Maybe they had a very heavy row (hence the feathers on the patio) and had a trial seperation?

Today Mrs L. is handing in her resigation at the school where she works.
Since the new head teacher started there in September the atmosphere has steadily gone worse and worse. In the past few days things have come to head after harsh words being exchanged and the situation has now become untenable.

I wrote a really good letter of resignation for her, naming names and casting blame. Great !!

Yes. She does have another job to go to.

Well just recently I have been stuck for words.
I think life has just been taking me over, sometimes I just feel as though I am not coping and want to shrink away. I have to just kick myself up the arse and get on with it. I tend to go very quiet when I am in these kind of black moods.

Cat-napped

For about the last three or four years there has been a pair of doves who have been around. They both are great fat things and really enjoy their grub. They were a really devoted couple. Where you saw one, the other was not far away.
A couple of days ago we came in and found some feathers on the back patio, quite obviously from one of the doves. There was no other sign of the bird, just a few feathers. I looked around but could not find any trace of it.
Now every time I look out of the back window I see one very lost looking dove on its own.
Poor little thing…very sad.

Well joy of joys. The move to the new office looms closer.
The company, being forever prudent, about 12 months ago decided to close the office we are currently in and pack us like sardines into a recently acquired building labeled as a showcase building.
I currently enjoy plenty of desk space and work space with 2 desks adjacent, there are plenty of side streets with easy parking and walking distance.
The new office has 3 desks together with less than half the space I currently enjoy, crappy heating/air con, limited car parking. But never mind - it is a showcase building.
Yes with loads of waste space just for bullshit to make it look good.

I think it must be a trial run for when they move all out jobs to India.

Still looking.....Bear with me.
I am off work for a couple of days working on a couple of projects in the garden...Not sure how much spare time I will have.
So please be patient.

Handwriting….

Graphology, the fancy name for the analysis of handwriting. It is not an exact science, there are a certain set of rules that one can follow, sometimes it can show definite tendencies and sometimes it can be rather subjective.
My problem at the moment is that I have not done any for a very long time. I dug out my old books last night and some of my notes appear to be missing. Of course it is the important notes with all the basic stuff that are missing. The ‘frilly’ bits for the fine tuning are all there. Not much use to me, because as you know I have a memory like a fish and without my notes I just have absolutely no chance of making any kind of analysis.
In the words of Trevor McDonald …. Bah!

I will have a good look tonight for the missing notes….watch this space

Status syndrome


In modern society kids in school are taught that they can aspire to anything. That their potential is limitless.
Especially so in the States but more and more over here in the UK.
The result is, if someone does not become a company director or high flying lawyer or suchlike then they see themselves as a failure, as unfulfilled.

To be normal is to be a failure.

I was brought up in just that kind of atmosphere. I was brought up to think that I had unlimited potential irrespective of my real ability in the hope it would spur me to better things.
My two brothers are both in prestige careers; I just do a job for a wage to live, and I sometimes feel just like that. As if I have somehow failed, even though I am happily married, we have lots of possessions, house, cars, caravan etc and yet I compare myself with my brothers and feel a failure.

At least I know I am normal.

Today is shoe day….

My normal routine at work is to roll in about 08.30 and then about 09.30 I go down to what is laughingly called the staff restaurant for a spot of breakfast.
When I return I normally discard my shoes and put on a pair of nice comfortable slippers. I spend most of my time sat at my desk and is not too obvious.
However, sometimes I get carried away with work and forget to change them. Then about 3pm I notice the lack of comfort, but I finish at 4.30 so its hardly worth changing.

I must admit I am a bit of a clothes slob. I dress for comfort and not for style. I hate tight uncomfortable clothes, I tend to go for big and baggy. I hate being too cold. I much prefer hot weather to cold weather.

At work its Chino’s and T shirts and a zip fleece if cold..
At home its jog bottoms and T shirt or fleece.
In summer/hot weather shorts and T shirt.

I was just hit by the chocolate urge....I had to wander to the machine to get some...I was trying to fight it but ....

even the mirrors in the lift didn't help !!!

I now sit happily munching my Mars Bar.

oops crunch!! Boing....

On a roundabout on the way to work this morning the lights changed and we started to pull off. The car in front of the car in front of me, if you see what I mean, suddenly decided that didn’t know if to go on the motorway or to carry on round the roundabout. It took the Mercedes in front of me a second to decide to brake, so he hammers his brakes and his ABS cuts in. I am still in the process of accelerating when I realise what is happening and I break very hard and my car decides to skid on the unsalted semi-frozen road. It feels as though the car is accelerating. Pound signs are flashing before my eyes before we even touch !!!I slide into the back end of the Merc and we bounce off each other like bumper cars. As the cars separate I am expecting to see the back of his car all squished and mangled. To my surprise there is no apparent damage.
We pull to one side and he gets out. He rubs the film of dirt off, and minutely inspects his back bumper. There is a tiny little vertical crease in the plastic, it could even be part of the way it is built. He was very concerned about damage inside the bumper, maybe something that he couldn’t see. There was no damage to my little Fiesta. After a bit of um’ing and ahh’ing he decided not to bother and off we toddled.

I was surprised just how quickly the whole thing happened. We can’t have been travelling at more that 20 mph when the accident took place !!

Well all I can say is hooray for plastic bumpers.