The sun has got his hat on

Someone please bring the sunshine back. I thought I'd done with waterproofs and warm jackets for this winter and here I am, walking the Lurchers, and getting soaking wet again. Enough! I need sunshine!

Well!!

It's been a busy old weekend...and it's not over yet!

Friday I met up with a bunch of people for a major dog walk. 6 people and 14 dogs! It was a riot and The Lurchers had more fun than they've had in ages! The trip was only marred by getting caught up in the aftermath of an accident on the way home and having to sit in traffic for an hour when I was just 2 minutes from home.

More fun was had on Saturday when we went bowling again. I have to say that my form has much improved since the last time we went when I was absolutely crap. This time I was merely mediocre which pleased me no end. Bowling was followed by a slap up dinner in a local chinese restaurant where I stuffed my face and regretted it afterwards.

What is seriously unfair is that I've woken up this morning feeling like I have the hangover from hell. Which considering I don't drink, was still in bed by 11pm and had a good night's sleep is muchly not fair.

However, things have brightened considerably since discovering that we got 5 numbers on the lottery last night. OH and I are pondering what to blow our £2,056 windfall on! Big YAY!!

We shall go celebrate at the clan gathering that's planned for today. OH is from a big family, he's one of eight, so there should be about 28 of us for dinner!

Squeak

We have a new resident who has taken up, errrr, residence. And this is he:



Please meet Apollo Gemini. He is a 5 week old grey Syrian hamster and he moved in last Friday. I went to the petshop for some bits and pieces for The Lurchers and came home with a hamster. He is most definitely not for The Lurchers, much to Lurcher No.2's disgust, who thinks he would make an excellent toy.

Apollo Gemini is possibly a bit of a pretentious name for a hamster and I'm not 100% sure it will stick. But he hasn't told me his name yet. I named last but one hamster Egg, and he told me in no uncertain terms that his name was not Egg, but Bean.

Talk to hamsters? Has she gone raving? Quite possibly. A few years ago I studied animal communication and found that, just now and again, I could pick up on thoughts and feelings of animals. It sounds mad but when you have a bond with animals sometimes they will open up to you. You don't literally have a conversation of course, you just get pictures and feelings. Don't knock it 'til you try it!

Glory Days

I'm old enough to remember the glory days of Welsh rugby. Those days when the name "Wales" struck fear into the hearts of all the rugby playing nations. We were scared of no-one and there wasn't a team we could not, and did not, beat...not even the mighty All Blacks.

Then things started to go wrong. Very wrong.

We had such a stratospheric team that perhaps no-one thought about what would happen once they all started to retire. There was no-one waiting in the wings to replace them. How do you replace demi-gods? So began the rapid descent from the giddy heights to the rock bottom position we found ourselves in a few years ago when even Italy could beat us...and we were playing at home.

But through all that time we kept heart. Every year we thought "this is it, this year we can do it". It's what you think when you are Welsh and remember the glory days because you can't bring yourself to believe that the fire isn't still burning deep within the dragon. Yet year after year there was disappointment. But we still thought it was a momentary blip because that's what you think when you are Welsh. The pride of the nation rises and falls with the performance of your rugby team and we are a very proud nation indeed. So proud that we simply could not believe that we would not be back at the top again.

And now we are. Thanks to 15 men in their red jerseys. We kept heart and you have repaid us in full. Pride is restored and we salute every single one of you.

You take your rugby very seriously when you are Welsh you know!

Good news!

Grampa is out of hospital! He's feeling much, much better and Mother tells me he looks much, much better too! Many hurrahs!

Other good news: I've stopped buying on e-Bay. I've started selling instead. Mostly selling all the things I've bought there that don't fit.

Other other good news: Big Boss didn't gloat over the job title change that has been forced on me and which I am seriously not happy about. As he now has a "PA" rather than an "Assistant", I thought he'd go to town with the whole concept and I went to work this morning spoiling for a fight. I was pleasantly surprised that he was somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing. I therefore removed my boxing gloves and calmed down.

Boom!

So how many people watched Suprevolcano and pondered that stocking up on a few essential items for the store cupboard might not be such a bad idea!? I know I did! I shall probably forget all about the idea over the next day or two but it was definitley one of those programmes that makes you stop and think.

Other news: My Grampa is poorly in hospital. He's 85, of sound mind and generally fit as a flea but his early years were spent down the mines and they've taken their toll on his lungs. He now suffers from bronchitus and asthma and this recent bug that's been doing the rounds has knocked him a bit. A visit to the docs last week because he was having difficulty breathing resulted in them calling an ambulance and taking him to hospital there and then. He's doing OK but they are keeping him in until they can clear the infection. All a bit worrying nevertheless.

What really brings me up short is the fact that he has sorted out what he wants for his funeral and has "put his papers in order". All very sensible but knowing that your grandfather is facing up to his own mortality and preparing for the inevitable is more than I really want to contemplate.

But is it advertising?

Am I the only person to be moderately offended by the new Wanadoo TV commercial? The one with all the tongues at the end. OK, maybe not offended, I'm not that much of a prude, but is it really necessary to have all that sticking of tongues down throats? And what has it to do with broadband? Or am I missing the point?

Look into my eyes

I have a problem with food. Nothing so serious as anorexia or bulimia but an irritating problem nonetheless. I have days when I simply cannot stop eating. I can eat a good meal and be nicely full but my tastebuds are still insisting that they are not satisfied so I have to have something sweet. Then they decide that they need something savoury. Then back to sweet and so on it goes, yo-yoing between the two until it's time for bed. Even then, I can wake up in the middle of the night and my first thought will be "I need food". Fortunately, I've learned not to give in to these middle of the night tastebud demands.

Funnily enough, my boss has a similar problem and a few years ago she went to a hypnotherapist to help her deal with it. As part of the package she had a cassette tape given to her to listen to at home. She lent me the tape this week to see if it would help me. I've had hypnotherapy before and it was not a great success so I had my doubts but on the basis of nothing ventured nothing gained, I felt it was worth giving it a go. I got myself all settled and put the tape on. It starts with getting you to relax your body and takes you into a semi-trance like state. I was still completely aware of what was going on and really thought it wasn't working, until the time she suggested trying to open the eyelids to test how relaxed you are - if you are, you can't open them. I couldn't open them. Panic? You bet I did!

However, I persevered and fell asleep half way through. Which I think is part of the plan as she then makes suggestions that are supposed to sit themselves into your subconscious. Things like sweet things - all you're doing is putting a teaspoon of sugar in your mouth and greasy foods - a frying pan swimming with fat. Yeah, OK, whatever, it's going to take something fairly hard-hitting to wean me off my sweet tooth. When I finally woke up, I have to say that I felt very relaxed and had the best night's sleep I've had in a long time. If nothing else, that was a bonus.

But then the next day when I got my usual sweet craving and started to wonder what I could find in the cupboard to satisfy it, all I could picture was putting a teaspoon of sugar in my mouth, which, let's face it, is a pretty disgusting thought. So I'm happy to report that it seems to be working! The sweet cravings haven't disappeared but I seem to be able to dismiss them without caving in and not giving them another thought. Yay! Target weight of 10 stone here I come!!

Silly People

We had a blizzard this morning and everywhere on the Common was white. Not surprisingly I didn't see many people, only a few other hardy dog walkers like myself. Part of the Common is a golf course and I was gobsmacked to see a couple of golfers out playing. They were wandering about aimlessely looking for something. Funnily enough, it was their golf balls. You'd think they might have twigged at the start that playing golf in the snow might be a tad on the difficult side. Still, brought a smile to my face!

Talking of the weather, I think that whoever up there is in charge is having a laugh! Judging by the severity of the blizzards this morning, I really thought the snow was in for the day and we'd have at least 3ft drifts by the time this evening came. But it stopped and it all started to melt. Then at lunch time, I nearly fell out of my chair in shock when, right overhead, was the loudest thunderclap I have ever heard, followed by torrential rain and hailstones. We now have brilliant blue sky and sunshine. I wonder what's coming later!

Cop out

I do feel that I've been copping out on the old blog writing over the last week or so and either not writing one or taking an easy option.

There are several reasons for this...one, I seem to be constantly tired at the moment and find it difficult enough to focus in work let alone on anything that requires thought when I get home. Secondly, I've been somewhat down in the doldrums of late and didn't want to dump that on anyone who happened to be passing by and reading my blog. Which, thinking about it, I suppose that's what blogs are for, letting it all out but I've been fearful that if I let one thing out the whole wall is likely to collapse and I'd find myself drowning in emotions I'm really not sure I can cope with. It's easier to keep the brick wall intact and not feel anything.

It's not even as if I'm going through any sort of crisis. Most of my life is sweet and all is well. It's just that lack of concentration and my inability to focus is leading to procrastination which means I'm getting behind on things that need doing and I feel terribly guilty about it. And if there's one emotion I hate feeling, guilt is at the top of the list. I just can't seem to make myself do anything about it.

Reading this back, it strikes me that all this is indicative that my thyroxin levels might be a bit up the spout. Mayhap a visit to the doc is in order. There, something useful has come out of blogging!

Oh and further to my recent blog about unreceived e-bay purchases, I received an e-mail from the offending seller this morning apologising for the delay and explaining it was due to the loss of their son and everything else, not unnaturally, took a back seat. Which made me feel a bit of a heel for launching a complaint against them. But then when I checked their recent feedback, over the three weeks since I purchased the item, they have bought or sold 15 other items. I can't help but feel a little suspicious, and that makes me feel even more of a heel.

Memo

To All Staff,

RE: SWEARING AT WORK

It has been brought to management's attention that some individuals throughout the company have been using foul language during the course of normal conversation with their co-workers.

Due to complaints received from some employees who may be easily offended, this type of language will no longer be tolerated.

We do however, realize the critical importance of being able to accurately express your feelings when communicating with co-workers.

Therefore, a list of 18 New and Innovative phrases have been provided so that proper exchange of ideas and information can continue in an effective manner.

1) TRY SAYING:I think you could use more training.
INSTEAD OF:You don't know what the f___ you're doing.

2) TRY SAYING:She's an aggressive go-getter.
INSTEAD OF:She's a ball-busting b__ch.

3) TRY SAYING:Perhaps I can work late.
INSTEAD OF:And when the f___ do you expect me to do this?

4) TRY SAYING:I'm certain that isn't feasible.
INSTEAD OF:No f___ing way.

5) TRY SAYING:Really?
INSTEAD OF:You've got to be sh__ing me!

6) TRY SAYING:Perhaps you should check with...
INSTEAD OF:Tell someone who gives a sh__.

7) TRY SAYING:I wasn't involved in the project.
INSTEAD OF:It's not my f____ing problem.

8) TRY SAYING:That's interesting.
INSTEAD OF:What the f___?

9) TRY SAYING:I'm not sure this can be implemented.
INSTEAD OF:This sh__ won't work.

10) TRY SAYING:I'll try to schedule that.
INSTEAD OF:Why the f___ing h _ll didn't you tell me sooner?

11) TRY SAYING:He's not familiar with the issues.
INSTEAD OF:He's got his head up his a__.

12) TRY SAYING:Excuse me, sir?
INSTEAD OF:Eat sh__ and die.

13) TRY SAYING:So you weren't happy with it?
INSTEAD OF:Kiss my a__.

14) TRY SAYING:I'm a bit overloaded at the moment.
INSTEAD OF:F___ it, I'm on salary.

15) TRY SAYING:I don't think you understand.
INSTEAD OF:Shove it up your a__.

16) TRY SAYING:I love a challenge.
INSTEAD OF:This job sucks.

17) TRY SAYING:You want me to take care of that?
INSTEAD OF:Who the h___ died and made you boss?

18 ) TRY SAYING:He's somewhat insensitive.
INSTEAD OF:He's a pr_ck.

Thank You,

Human Resources
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