As I got into my car this morning, I noticed there was a note on my windscreen. It simply said, “Please do not bang on the wall!”. It took me a while to remember what it could be referring to but I guess it was the 5 or 10 minutes that I spent sweeping the floor with a hand brush under the shelf. How petty!!
More staff are off work with the “office bug”. So far I'm managing to avoid it. Fingers crossed that I'm immune to it. Sarah, who is Sales Co-Ordinator, was off today too so that made me busier.
Another good evening with a house full of friends, and another episode of Heroes watched.
Monday 25th January 2010
Well there's another week gone by. My excuses for not catching up on here.....
On Tuesday, we had a meeting before watching the Heroes episode to sort out details for the upcoming meal. After the meeting I had to type out the information to put into an email so that we all know what we're doing.
Moving on to Friday, as soon as I got home from work we were straight back out to walk to town to Wetherspoons to celebrate. Kat persuaded me to join her for a cocktail pitcher. We had several pitchers of Purple Rain while there yet I felt sober when we left. Four of us went on to the Swan for a “crafty half”!! I felt more drunk after that half of Hobgoblin than the cocktails we were drinking earlier. A good evening was had by all.
The weekend was comparatively quiet after Friday. At Chris's we watched Harry Potter film and the Half Blood Prince. It is apparently the 6th one. Not sure if I enjoyed it. I suppose it was OK. I've not read the book. Those that have say that there was lots missed out. After HP, we watched Enchanted which is one of my favourites. I've seen it lots of times. Recently I've not managed to catch the beginning when it's been shown on Sky so it was good to see it all the way through. We usually look for a connection between the two films that we watch, and we found one. Harry Potter and Enchanted both have Timothy Spall in.
Bowling was good fun as always. We managed to get all 8 points but then we only had to get 320 between us with handicaps. We weren't playing against team. It was the last night the last night of the season. We finished in second place only two points behind the top team. Well done to Team Lightning. Playing like they have been, they deserved first place.
On Tuesday, we had a meeting before watching the Heroes episode to sort out details for the upcoming meal. After the meeting I had to type out the information to put into an email so that we all know what we're doing.
Moving on to Friday, as soon as I got home from work we were straight back out to walk to town to Wetherspoons to celebrate. Kat persuaded me to join her for a cocktail pitcher. We had several pitchers of Purple Rain while there yet I felt sober when we left. Four of us went on to the Swan for a “crafty half”!! I felt more drunk after that half of Hobgoblin than the cocktails we were drinking earlier. A good evening was had by all.
The weekend was comparatively quiet after Friday. At Chris's we watched Harry Potter film and the Half Blood Prince. It is apparently the 6th one. Not sure if I enjoyed it. I suppose it was OK. I've not read the book. Those that have say that there was lots missed out. After HP, we watched Enchanted which is one of my favourites. I've seen it lots of times. Recently I've not managed to catch the beginning when it's been shown on Sky so it was good to see it all the way through. We usually look for a connection between the two films that we watch, and we found one. Harry Potter and Enchanted both have Timothy Spall in.
Bowling was good fun as always. We managed to get all 8 points but then we only had to get 320 between us with handicaps. We weren't playing against team. It was the last night the last night of the season. We finished in second place only two points behind the top team. Well done to Team Lightning. Playing like they have been, they deserved first place.
Monday 18th January 2010
It seemed strange today sitting at my desk looking out at green fields again rather than white ones. The snow has all gone now apart from a few places where it had been piled up at the side of the paths/roads.
I had an interesting email today from Nokia:
“We are happy to inform you that your email address have emerged winner of
500,00.00 POUNDS in the NOKIA PROMOTION PROGRAM 2010.” Yeah, right!! I received 3 copies of the same message and it went straight to my “Spam” email folder so I knew straight away it was to be ignored.
We had to be at the bowling centre early this evening for our AGM. Thankfully Bruce has taken on a more active role with the secretarial side of things now. He prepared the Agenda and the Treasurer Reports. I just have to make sense of the notes I took and put the minutes together. One of the main points of discussion was to change from a “trophy” league to a “cash prize” league. As most of us already have a shelf or two full of them, unless they have already been boxed and sent to the attic, it was a unanimous decision to make the change. We lost 6-2 but still maintain our place in second, but as we were playing the top team, it just made it more difficult for us to overtake them. I think they have to lose 8-0 next week and we should win 8-0 as we are playing the “spare” team. We just need to make sure that we get 320 on each game, with handicap. Watch this space!!
Sunday 17th January 2010
Today started earlier than most Sundays as we had arranged to deliver the old TV to a friend in Sandgate at 9.30. I used to work with her and we've kept in touch since she left 8 years ago. Mostly through the internet of late, Facebook and Yahoo. It was the first time I'd been to her new flat. Getting down the stairs to the ground floor was a bit tricky but between 3 of us we managed to guide the TV inside.
Back to Ashford via the petrol station. Dave gets twitchy if we've got to go anywhere and the petrol gauge looks low! To quote one of my favourite lines from the Punt and Dennis show..... “Oohh, I think we can make it to the next one.” I had time for a quick cuppa before going to pick Matt up. Then off to Maidstone early so that we could do some shopping before visiting time. I was able to sneak into a couple of my favourite shops too but managed to leave without buying anything. We went to Richer Sounds for the new DVD player. It is very compact. Not much thicker than an actual video. The shop, although small, had more assistants in it than Currys, and they were more helpful and friendly than any other shop of electricals. Under Matt's recommendation, we had a look around Cex shop. Not that sort of shop!! They sell pre-owned goods including DVDs and games. Some of their DVDs were as cheap as 25p. Not that we'd possibly want those ones, but we picked up a couple of bargains. The Sahara DVD I've got was only 75p. It was soon time for Maccy D's and then back to the car to unload before going to sign in. There was a really scary girl in the queue. It was very difficult to tell how old she might have been. She could have been anything from 14 to 40. She had bright pink blusher on that looked like it had been layered on. She had lovely shoes but they were high and she seemed very fragile and delicate in the way she walked. I think it would be safe to say that she was a sandwich short of a picnic. There's always at least one interesting character there. Anyway that's the end of an era. Somewhere we won't ever need to go again.
Back to Ashford via the petrol station. Dave gets twitchy if we've got to go anywhere and the petrol gauge looks low! To quote one of my favourite lines from the Punt and Dennis show..... “Oohh, I think we can make it to the next one.” I had time for a quick cuppa before going to pick Matt up. Then off to Maidstone early so that we could do some shopping before visiting time. I was able to sneak into a couple of my favourite shops too but managed to leave without buying anything. We went to Richer Sounds for the new DVD player. It is very compact. Not much thicker than an actual video. The shop, although small, had more assistants in it than Currys, and they were more helpful and friendly than any other shop of electricals. Under Matt's recommendation, we had a look around Cex shop. Not that sort of shop!! They sell pre-owned goods including DVDs and games. Some of their DVDs were as cheap as 25p. Not that we'd possibly want those ones, but we picked up a couple of bargains. The Sahara DVD I've got was only 75p. It was soon time for Maccy D's and then back to the car to unload before going to sign in. There was a really scary girl in the queue. It was very difficult to tell how old she might have been. She could have been anything from 14 to 40. She had bright pink blusher on that looked like it had been layered on. She had lovely shoes but they were high and she seemed very fragile and delicate in the way she walked. I think it would be safe to say that she was a sandwich short of a picnic. There's always at least one interesting character there. Anyway that's the end of an era. Somewhere we won't ever need to go again.
Saturday 16th January 2010
Another morning passed me by where I probably wasted too much time on Facebook, mostly on Three Towers Solitaire. Martin called to break up my morning. He asked to call round on his way out. He sounded close to tears. I automatically feared the worst regarding his Nan. I soon realised when he arrived that the reason he sounded as he did was because he was losing his voice. He always goes ultra sonic and squeaky when he gets ill. We had a cuppa and then we went up to Kengate for a look round. It is a brilliant fancy dress shop. The best one (maybe the only one) in Ashford. Martin had seen something there that he wanted my opinion on and I wanted to deliver some invitations to my friends that work there. We need more fancy dress parties as an excuse to dress up. Though it could get expensive!! They have some great stuff there.
Once Dave got home from work and he'd had something to eat, and I'd pulled myself away from the PC, we went shopping. Light bulbs from B&Q, and then over the road to Currys to check out their big screen TVs. It's a bit confusing and with no one about to offer advice, we then went over to Comet. As soon as we arrived a chirpy assistance welcomed us with a cheery hello. Once we had looked around at a few, Dave went to talk to one of the many assistants that were about. She was very helpful, and pointed us to a lovely looking TV that we almost bought. She'd got as far as signing into the nearby computer when I noticed a bigger one next to it for the same price. So I asked her quickly what the difference was. She said that she had forgotten that this one was still on offer and should have shown us. Dave would have been cross if we'd got further with the purchase if I hadn't have said something. I had to put the seats down in my car to get it in, and just like the adverts, they brought it out to the car for us.
In the evening, Sammy was hosting a candle party for me. I had packed my bags carefully, with view that everyone had seen PartyLite before. Maybe it was because it was a big table but it didn't seem like I had taken much at all. As it happened we did have one “PartyLite virgin” so I ran through the wax forms, etc and just showed the lovely new stuff that I've got. It was good night. Thank you again Sammy for hosting. Hope you are pleased with all the lovely commission you got, thanks to your lovely friends. Now I just need to work out how to get the Scentsational special offer that we promised. I think it worked out to £70 of freebies.
Another morning passed me by where I probably wasted too much time on Facebook, mostly on Three Towers Solitaire. Martin called to break up my morning. He asked to call round on his way out. He sounded close to tears. I automatically feared the worst regarding his Nan. I soon realised when he arrived that the reason he sounded as he did was because he was losing his voice. He always goes ultra sonic and squeaky when he gets ill. We had a cuppa and then we went up to Kengate for a look round. It is a brilliant fancy dress shop. The best one (maybe the only one) in Ashford. Martin had seen something there that he wanted my opinion on and I wanted to deliver some invitations to my friends that work there. We need more fancy dress parties as an excuse to dress up. Though it could get expensive!! They have some great stuff there.
Once Dave got home from work and he'd had something to eat, and I'd pulled myself away from the PC, we went shopping. Light bulbs from B&Q, and then over the road to Currys to check out their big screen TVs. It's a bit confusing and with no one about to offer advice, we then went over to Comet. As soon as we arrived a chirpy assistance welcomed us with a cheery hello. Once we had looked around at a few, Dave went to talk to one of the many assistants that were about. She was very helpful, and pointed us to a lovely looking TV that we almost bought. She'd got as far as signing into the nearby computer when I noticed a bigger one next to it for the same price. So I asked her quickly what the difference was. She said that she had forgotten that this one was still on offer and should have shown us. Dave would have been cross if we'd got further with the purchase if I hadn't have said something. I had to put the seats down in my car to get it in, and just like the adverts, they brought it out to the car for us.
In the evening, Sammy was hosting a candle party for me. I had packed my bags carefully, with view that everyone had seen PartyLite before. Maybe it was because it was a big table but it didn't seem like I had taken much at all. As it happened we did have one “PartyLite virgin” so I ran through the wax forms, etc and just showed the lovely new stuff that I've got. It was good night. Thank you again Sammy for hosting. Hope you are pleased with all the lovely commission you got, thanks to your lovely friends. Now I just need to work out how to get the Scentsational special offer that we promised. I think it worked out to £70 of freebies.
Friday 15th January 2010
Another very busy day at work. 60 replacement dongles to one of our other big Corporate customers as well as lots of other exciting stuff to do. No time to tackle the mountain of returned old dongles.
After work, I thought I’d go shopping at Iceland and get a home delivery for the evening. Unfortunately the service was “unavailable”. Apparently all delivery slots were booked for this evening and for tomorrow. Must be popular! So I just bought the essentials and something for dinner. It seemed like a long walk back to the car with a couple of heavy bags.
For dinner, I’d bought some beef and vegetables to make a stew, and it would have plenty of time to cook as Dave was working late. I also dragged out my recipe books to find out how to make dumplings. It’s been years since I made them and I didn’t have any suet. Usually the recipe is on the back of the suet packet! It was very easy I will definitely be doing this again.
I got more big blue boxes delivered today from PartyLite. The new booking gift waterfall is really heavy so I’ll probably end up keeping it at home. I haven’t tried setting it up yet and I wonder how easily it will go back into the box. I’ve also bought one of the new penguin pieces which is really cute and the crystal holder on it is really heavy, good quality. Another item that I bought was the new mini ambience tealight holder which is a mosaic glass holder in reds/browns. I know someone who is very happy that these mini ones have been created.
The scanning of old photos is underway, starting with Dad’s collection. Not sure if he wanted me to scan the whole box eventually. I’ve started with a few interesting ones, most of which can be found here.
After work, I thought I’d go shopping at Iceland and get a home delivery for the evening. Unfortunately the service was “unavailable”. Apparently all delivery slots were booked for this evening and for tomorrow. Must be popular! So I just bought the essentials and something for dinner. It seemed like a long walk back to the car with a couple of heavy bags.
For dinner, I’d bought some beef and vegetables to make a stew, and it would have plenty of time to cook as Dave was working late. I also dragged out my recipe books to find out how to make dumplings. It’s been years since I made them and I didn’t have any suet. Usually the recipe is on the back of the suet packet! It was very easy I will definitely be doing this again.
I got more big blue boxes delivered today from PartyLite. The new booking gift waterfall is really heavy so I’ll probably end up keeping it at home. I haven’t tried setting it up yet and I wonder how easily it will go back into the box. I’ve also bought one of the new penguin pieces which is really cute and the crystal holder on it is really heavy, good quality. Another item that I bought was the new mini ambience tealight holder which is a mosaic glass holder in reds/browns. I know someone who is very happy that these mini ones have been created.The scanning of old photos is underway, starting with Dad’s collection. Not sure if he wanted me to scan the whole box eventually. I’ve started with a few interesting ones, most of which can be found here.
Thursday 14th January
That was possibly one of the busiest days I've had at work for a long long time, and Barry was off sick so I had to pack the 45 parcels myself too. With the big corporate order, 3 replacement dongles and internal and timed out dongles to sort out, I programmed over 50 dongles, as well as answering queries without getting stressed out. I still wasn't ready when the City Link guy arrived to collect so he helped me with the packing. It's a good thing it was our usual City Link guy as I wouldn't have been able to ask and he might not have been able to wait.
When I got home from work, I put a film on. Starting from the beginning of the shelf as I can't make decisions, 102 Dalmatians. It's been a while since I've seen it. Love the parrot that thinks he's a dog. After that, I tried switching over the scart cables to see if I could fix the problem with not being able to record from the Sky+ box. No joy. I tried changing the settings on the TV and then realised that what I had not tried was the settings on the DVD recorder. If only I'd thought of that first! It was just on the wrong setting. Not sure what the setting was now. I just changed something and now it works. So one with the recording, the Sky+ is now up from 3% free to 8% free!! Still not good. Kat needs to have a mammoth Deal or No Deal watching session. I've now caught up with recording Flash Forward. Fringe to do next. Hopefully before the new episodes start again.
When I got home from work, I put a film on. Starting from the beginning of the shelf as I can't make decisions, 102 Dalmatians. It's been a while since I've seen it. Love the parrot that thinks he's a dog. After that, I tried switching over the scart cables to see if I could fix the problem with not being able to record from the Sky+ box. No joy. I tried changing the settings on the TV and then realised that what I had not tried was the settings on the DVD recorder. If only I'd thought of that first! It was just on the wrong setting. Not sure what the setting was now. I just changed something and now it works. So one with the recording, the Sky+ is now up from 3% free to 8% free!! Still not good. Kat needs to have a mammoth Deal or No Deal watching session. I've now caught up with recording Flash Forward. Fringe to do next. Hopefully before the new episodes start again.
Wednesday 13th January 2010
More snow again today. It didn’t settle on the roads. The car park at work is still “interesting” to drive on. I’m not sure what the snow is like in other parts of the area but can't help but think that Partylite cancelling Friday’s training day maybe a little premature. They haven’t booked a new date yet but will let us know when they have. Hopefully, I will be able to re-book my holiday for the new date.
At work today, I was given 3 boxes of old parallel dongles from our German distributor. Oh the joys of marking them as “returned” in the system. I think there is between 800 and 1000 of them there. I’m about half way through. I am going to be sick of these parallel dongles by the end of tomorrow. I’ve also got to program and send out over 40 new ones to a UK Corporate Account, to individual stores!! If only we’d known that this large quantity was going to come in from the Distributor then we wouldn ‘t have placed an order for new ones. At least the new ones will be consecutive numbers which will make the admin a bit easier.
My sister has posted lots of “old times” photos on to Facebook. Some of them I don’t remember even seeing before. I’ll have to join in and dig out and scan in some of mine. I wonder what I can find. Oh dear, I’ve just remembered a particularly embaressing evening when we had a few too many glasses of vino and my sister was singing with a hair brush. Maybe I won’t post that one, she might have an even more embaressing one of me somewhere!!
At work today, I was given 3 boxes of old parallel dongles from our German distributor. Oh the joys of marking them as “returned” in the system. I think there is between 800 and 1000 of them there. I’m about half way through. I am going to be sick of these parallel dongles by the end of tomorrow. I’ve also got to program and send out over 40 new ones to a UK Corporate Account, to individual stores!! If only we’d known that this large quantity was going to come in from the Distributor then we wouldn ‘t have placed an order for new ones. At least the new ones will be consecutive numbers which will make the admin a bit easier.My sister has posted lots of “old times” photos on to Facebook. Some of them I don’t remember even seeing before. I’ll have to join in and dig out and scan in some of mine. I wonder what I can find. Oh dear, I’ve just remembered a particularly embaressing evening when we had a few too many glasses of vino and my sister was singing with a hair brush. Maybe I won’t post that one, she might have an even more embaressing one of me somewhere!!
Tuesday 12th January 2010
Tonight, the usual Tuesday crowd came round. Apparently it was “bring a pet” week. Lisa brought in her new gerbils that she had just got from Pets At Home. Chris didn’t bring Tony! I wonder why he didn’t contact Chris for a lift in the end. He’s probably fallen asleep after work again. We went back to watching Heroes again, once we got the problematic DVD player to work. We still haven’t found the remote control for it. Time for a replacement we think, when I’ve finished have a stress!
Apparently while we’re experiencing the worst winter for years, Australia are suffering in a heat wave. According to Sky News , the temperature at midnight last night was 34 degrees C. The overnight temperatures equalled the record of February 1902.
Recently I have been introduced to a drink known as “wassail”. I have been reading up on the tradition of this. “Wassail” is a hot spiced punch associated with Christmas.
While the beverage typically served as "wassail" at modern holiday feasts with a medieval theme most closely resembles mulled cider, historical wassail drinks were completely different, more likely to be mulled beer or mead. Sugar, ale, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon would be placed in a bowl, heated, and topped with slices of toast as sops.
Hence the first stanza of the traditional carol the Gloucestershire Wassail dating back to the Middle Ages:
Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.
At Carhampton, near Minehead, the Apple Orchard Wassailing is held on the Old Twelfth Night (17 January). The villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree, hang pieces of toast soaked in cider in the branches for the robins, who represent the 'good spirits' of the tree. A shotgun is fired overhead to scare away evil spirits and the group sings, the following being the last verse:
Old Apple tree, old apple tree;
We've come to wassail thee;
To bear and to bow apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;
Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.
We could have gone to the Firle Wassail at Middle Farm on Saturday night, if I wasn’t already booked. They’ve got Morris Dancers, Dave.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/Xmas/wassail.htm
Apparently while we’re experiencing the worst winter for years, Australia are suffering in a heat wave. According to Sky News , the temperature at midnight last night was 34 degrees C. The overnight temperatures equalled the record of February 1902.
Recently I have been introduced to a drink known as “wassail”. I have been reading up on the tradition of this. “Wassail” is a hot spiced punch associated with Christmas.
While the beverage typically served as "wassail" at modern holiday feasts with a medieval theme most closely resembles mulled cider, historical wassail drinks were completely different, more likely to be mulled beer or mead. Sugar, ale, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon would be placed in a bowl, heated, and topped with slices of toast as sops.
Hence the first stanza of the traditional carol the Gloucestershire Wassail dating back to the Middle Ages:
Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee.
At Carhampton, near Minehead, the Apple Orchard Wassailing is held on the Old Twelfth Night (17 January). The villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree, hang pieces of toast soaked in cider in the branches for the robins, who represent the 'good spirits' of the tree. A shotgun is fired overhead to scare away evil spirits and the group sings, the following being the last verse:
Old Apple tree, old apple tree;
We've come to wassail thee;
To bear and to bow apples enow;
Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;
Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.
We could have gone to the Firle Wassail at Middle Farm on Saturday night, if I wasn’t already booked. They’ve got Morris Dancers, Dave.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/CUSTOMS/Xmas/wassail.htm
Monday 11th January 2010
A minor panic at work today. Apparently the roof has been damaged under the weight of the snow. This was noticed as there is a metal pole in the office next to mine that is now bent. This is attached to the metal structure in the roof which has been bent and caused this pole to bend also. We await the news from the structural surveyor on Thursday to find out how bad it is. Hopefully the building is insured for this sort of damage. I guess we've never had this much snow since the building was built about 12 years ago. So I've learnt a new word today. A "purlin" is a horizontal structural member in a roof. Purlins support the loads from the roof deck or sheathing and are supported by the principal rafters and/or the building walls, steel beams etc. Let's just hope that our "purlins" can be repaired.
Bowling was fun as always. We so should have won 8-0. The team we were playing were using a "blind" score (20% less their average) as one of the players isn't well enough to play. Graham had a very good game in the middle one and it was down to me not sparing the last frame that we lost by one pin! Ahh well, that's how the game goes. So we are still two points behind the top team with just two weeks to go. We are due to play them next week so that will be interesting. Hopefully they won't play like they did tonight. I think Mark got 6 strikes in a row and finished with a score of over 200. They have taken top place in most of the categories now.
Bowling was fun as always. We so should have won 8-0. The team we were playing were using a "blind" score (20% less their average) as one of the players isn't well enough to play. Graham had a very good game in the middle one and it was down to me not sparing the last frame that we lost by one pin! Ahh well, that's how the game goes. So we are still two points behind the top team with just two weeks to go. We are due to play them next week so that will be interesting. Hopefully they won't play like they did tonight. I think Mark got 6 strikes in a row and finished with a score of over 200. They have taken top place in most of the categories now.
Sunday 10th January
A quiet day at home. I spent far too much time playing a very addictive little game called Rockem Blocks. This afternoon, I re-sorted my Partylite stuff so that all of the Christmas things are in the same box, the current catalogue stuff in another, what I want to keep in another and the things I should sell or raffle in another. This evening, I cooked up the gammon joint that I'd got in for Christmas and we had that with roast potatoes and veg.
I've been given the jobs of cuddling the guinea pigs while their cage is being cleaned out. Another tough job!! They are very cute, even if I have been tiddled on. They make the cutest of noises. Kat has two guinea pigs that live in her room. I'm not really sure what their names are … “Iggle Piggle and Macca Pakka”, “Thing 1 and Thing 2” and there are another pair of names too that are less cute, more macho. Not that the pigs really care. As long as they get fed, cleaned, watered and some cuddles, they're not worried what we call them.
I've been given the jobs of cuddling the guinea pigs while their cage is being cleaned out. Another tough job!! They are very cute, even if I have been tiddled on. They make the cutest of noises. Kat has two guinea pigs that live in her room. I'm not really sure what their names are … “Iggle Piggle and Macca Pakka”, “Thing 1 and Thing 2” and there are another pair of names too that are less cute, more macho. Not that the pigs really care. As long as they get fed, cleaned, watered and some cuddles, they're not worried what we call them.
Saturday 9th January
Today we set off about 11 am for our trek to the pub. Just myself, Dave and Batty. The boys teased me about the layers that I had on. Leggings and trousers, 2 pairs of socks and wellies, but I surpassed their expectations with the top layers. Underwear (yes, it counts it was long enough to cover my tum), a t-shirt, a long sleeve top, a jumper, waistcoat, hooded sweat shirt and then my coat! I wasn't taking any chances in getting cold!. It was a lovely walk through the park. Wading through the snow was good for the calf muscles. The snow also looked deeper when walking like this as it wasn't getting compacted under foot. The swans and ducks at the lake were hungry. We were wishing that we'd thought to take some bread. There was someone else there feeding them already so I'm sure that they won't be starving. It only took us an hour to get to the Hoodener's Horse. One of our favourite stopping places. I opted for the omelette. I've got a tough decision now. Which pub makes the best omelette? This one or the FILO in Hastings. I'm going to need to sample both again to make a decision. Tough job, but someone has to do it!!
On the journey home, a quick stop on the swings at the park. Well, that's what you do when you've been drinking! We were thinking about a drink in the Singleton Barn but they were really busy and didn't have a beer on that was worth stopping for. Batty was tempted by the smell of steak and wishing that he wasn't already stuffed. The little shop only had one croissant left so we didn't get anything for the birds to eat. Back home again past Singleton Lake. Most of it was not frozen just deep slush. We were surprised to see the fountain in the park working today. It did look good with the icicles hanging over the edges in places. Dave and I didn't go straight home but went on to the shops in search of sledges and essentials. B&Q was closed, Halfords didn't have any sledges left. On to Asda, they had lots of milk and bread too. There were more people walking in than normal but still surprisingly busy in the car park. Some of the shoppers on foot were using sledges to carry the shopping. This seemed like a good idea, until they got to crossing the roads which were completely clear.
Back home in the warm now, pizza for dinner and then off to Brian's to watch films. It's too far to walk to Chris's and neither of us want to risk driving our cars down the hill on his estate.
Kat came home soon after we did with her mate, James. They set about making snow “things”. A snow-woman in the front garden with big boobs, and a snow ball tower in the back garden. Kat was climbing up it to put the top ball on. The snow ball tower fell soon after they came in. The snow woman either fell over during the night or was “helped”.
Friday 8th January
Another snowy day. I uncovered the car … no ice to scrape today.... and drove to work …slowly. I tried out the heated waistcoat that secret Santa got me. I had to take it off after about half an hour in the office as I was too warm. At lunch time, some of my colleagues went out for a snow ball fight. I would have liked to have joined in but I the idea of sitting in wet clothes during the rest of the afternoon did not appeal. I feel the cold at the best of times.
While the snow was falling, can you believe that the cleaning company still came to clean the office windows. It's not like they were even dirty. Madness!! More snow fell during the day and this evening when I got home I decided that I wanted to build a snowman. So, why not? I'd forgotten how much hard work it is. I nearly gave up. I struggled to get the snow to stick together to roll into a ball. So I started to build a sort of snow mountain to see if I could make it into a snowman or something. While I was doing this it started snowing again and I tried again to get the snow to roll into a ball. This time, as long as I didn't try to compress the snow tightly, I was able to keep the ball shape and roll it. I rolled it around the garden as much as possible and then pushed it to the yard area when it was big enough. There were lots of bare patches on the grass by the time I had finished this. I then used the snow mountain that I had started to try to form his head. That didn't work too well so I had to make a ball shape again and roll this around a bit too. Head on, time for some “trimings”. My snowman has fizzy drink bottle top green eyes, green Partylite packaging as eye brows, a stella bottle top nose, a rose branch twig for a mouth and he is wearing a strategically placed leaf!! I thought he came out OK considering I was going to give up earlier, especially when the snow started coming down again, and went down the back of my neck. It has snowed so much this evening that the grass is covered again and you can barely see where I cleared it earlier. We've not had snow like this for many years. My car is buried again, the tracks in the road have disappeared and it's still snowing. I've taken some more photos today.
Off to bed soon, hopefully this awful cough doesn't keep me awake again. I don't like to sleep sitting up but as soon as I lay down to try to sleep it starts.
While the snow was falling, can you believe that the cleaning company still came to clean the office windows. It's not like they were even dirty. Madness!! More snow fell during the day and this evening when I got home I decided that I wanted to build a snowman. So, why not? I'd forgotten how much hard work it is. I nearly gave up. I struggled to get the snow to stick together to roll into a ball. So I started to build a sort of snow mountain to see if I could make it into a snowman or something. While I was doing this it started snowing again and I tried again to get the snow to roll into a ball. This time, as long as I didn't try to compress the snow tightly, I was able to keep the ball shape and roll it. I rolled it around the garden as much as possible and then pushed it to the yard area when it was big enough. There were lots of bare patches on the grass by the time I had finished this. I then used the snow mountain that I had started to try to form his head. That didn't work too well so I had to make a ball shape again and roll this around a bit too. Head on, time for some “trimings”. My snowman has fizzy drink bottle top green eyes, green Partylite packaging as eye brows, a stella bottle top nose, a rose branch twig for a mouth and he is wearing a strategically placed leaf!! I thought he came out OK considering I was going to give up earlier, especially when the snow started coming down again, and went down the back of my neck. It has snowed so much this evening that the grass is covered again and you can barely see where I cleared it earlier. We've not had snow like this for many years. My car is buried again, the tracks in the road have disappeared and it's still snowing. I've taken some more photos today.
Off to bed soon, hopefully this awful cough doesn't keep me awake again. I don't like to sleep sitting up but as soon as I lay down to try to sleep it starts.
Thursday 7th January 2010
It snowed again over night so I thought it would be as easy as it was yesterday to clear the car windows. Unfortunately not.... there was a thick layer of ice under the inch of snow. It took 20 minutes to clear the windows to a state where I could see. I can't see why people rave over the de-icer sprays. The car was parked further down the road so I thought I would give it a go. It was hard work and slow to melt it. It would have been quicker for me to walk back home and get a bottle of warm water. I will only use it again if I have no option.
I got to work safely, only slipping once while driving. During the morning, I spotted two foxes over the fields that looked like they were playing in the snow. They were probably trying to find food. It might be their daily route but usually we don't notice them. Snow is no camouflage when you are a brown beast. More suited to polar bears. There was more snow mid morning. It was that bad that we lost sight of the trees and fields across the road for a while. I took a few photos as I had my proper camera with me. Good thing I didn't need to try to get to Watford. One of our friends took 4 hours to get to Maidstone as the motorway was closed due to an accident. Once he finally got there, he was told that he could go home again as they were closing the office.
I cooked chilli con carne tonight, without the kidney beans, and poured it over toasted sliced french bread. It made a change from the usual rice or jacket potato. I managed to make a mess whilst eating and spill it down my sleeve of my favourite white jumper. Hopefully it will wash out.
I tried a new cocktail tonight. Tea Toddy. Kat wasn't impressed. 1 measure of Cointreau and 4 measures of black tea, topped with a slice of orange. I would have it again but it wouldn't be my first choice. I fancied a hot alcoholic drink and Cointreau seemed to be about all we had other than red wine!
Wednesday 6th January 2010
Apparently the heating was left on overnight at work last night and it certainly made a difference. I didn't need to wear my blanket today and we didn't have the extra heater on.
Tomorrow's PartyLite meeting in Watford has been postponed now until Friday 15th due to the weather conditions. I'm pleased that I haven't got to make that decision myself in the morning.
I collected the bowling scores from the bowling alley tonight. We won... we won... we won..... :) Not that we did very well but the couple we were playing against didn't do well. Jose and Sara also won all of their games too.
Tonight, I went to Asda after work. I bought some Salmon steaks that were reduced as they need to be eaten today. I cooked them up with some herbs, a tin of ratatouille and a tin of tomatoes. Asda also had some adult cycle helmets for £3!! So I bought one as it will be a good present for our additional cycling partner for this year. When I got to the check outs, there were only two staffed ones open and I had a trolley full of shopping. I braved the self service. Somehow I managed to put the whole lot through without needing assistance. A tip when using the self service tills is to spread your bags across the "bagging area" so that you can pack the shopping without lifting up the bags. Then I think you have to leave it all on the "bagging area" until you've finished or it has a hissy fit at you!! It seems clever enough to know the weights of stuff too. Although I do use the self service, I feel that this does take a job away from someone though and they seem to be more popular since last year.
Tomorrow's PartyLite meeting in Watford has been postponed now until Friday 15th due to the weather conditions. I'm pleased that I haven't got to make that decision myself in the morning.
I collected the bowling scores from the bowling alley tonight. We won... we won... we won..... :) Not that we did very well but the couple we were playing against didn't do well. Jose and Sara also won all of their games too.
Tonight, I went to Asda after work. I bought some Salmon steaks that were reduced as they need to be eaten today. I cooked them up with some herbs, a tin of ratatouille and a tin of tomatoes. Asda also had some adult cycle helmets for £3!! So I bought one as it will be a good present for our additional cycling partner for this year. When I got to the check outs, there were only two staffed ones open and I had a trolley full of shopping. I braved the self service. Somehow I managed to put the whole lot through without needing assistance. A tip when using the self service tills is to spread your bags across the "bagging area" so that you can pack the shopping without lifting up the bags. Then I think you have to leave it all on the "bagging area" until you've finished or it has a hissy fit at you!! It seems clever enough to know the weights of stuff too. Although I do use the self service, I feel that this does take a job away from someone though and they seem to be more popular since last year.
Tuesday 5th January 2010
The training meeting last night was fun as always. Laura and Jackie were the stars of the night having done well in December. Laura got several awards for her hard work. I had a quiet December, only submitting one show order. The recession doesn't seem to be affecting the Partylite business.
Tonight we went to Andy and Heather's where we helped them eat some chocolate. Apparently it's impossible to just take one After Eight mint. We watched 2 episodes of the Family Guy and a Father Ted episode. It was snowing when we left. The weather forecast is not looking promising for me to get to the Partylite training day in Watford on Thursday. It will be a shame if we can't get there, apart from the fact that we've paid £5 to book our place.
My car went for it's MOT today. It passed but with several advisory points. Some I knew about already. Also I'm going to need a new tyre in the next month or so, and the brakes are at 50% wear. I can't remember when they were done last. It also had a service which was long over due.
I took down the Christmas lights and trees at home today. I've always left them until 6th January, that's how it always has been in our family. We had a discussion at work about 5th January being the twelfth night. If you count Christmas Day as the first then it is but I've always counted 26th as the first day. Apparently 5th January is the "twelfth night" and 6th January is the "twelfth day", so maybe we have been right all these years. Strange how we let superstitions and all that rule our lives.
Tonight we went to Andy and Heather's where we helped them eat some chocolate. Apparently it's impossible to just take one After Eight mint. We watched 2 episodes of the Family Guy and a Father Ted episode. It was snowing when we left. The weather forecast is not looking promising for me to get to the Partylite training day in Watford on Thursday. It will be a shame if we can't get there, apart from the fact that we've paid £5 to book our place.
My car went for it's MOT today. It passed but with several advisory points. Some I knew about already. Also I'm going to need a new tyre in the next month or so, and the brakes are at 50% wear. I can't remember when they were done last. It also had a service which was long over due.
I took down the Christmas lights and trees at home today. I've always left them until 6th January, that's how it always has been in our family. We had a discussion at work about 5th January being the twelfth night. If you count Christmas Day as the first then it is but I've always counted 26th as the first day. Apparently 5th January is the "twelfth night" and 6th January is the "twelfth day", so maybe we have been right all these years. Strange how we let superstitions and all that rule our lives.
Monday 4th January 2010.. Hey ho, back to work
Back to work today after the Christmas break. The office was, of course, colder than it had been at the end of last year, and apparently it had warmed up a lot by the time I got there at 9. We had to run the extra heater until the middle of the afternoon today. Usually we can turn it off when the sun helps warm the room up. Bang goes any economies that we might be making by turning off our monitors at night.
At lunch time, I went to a Pet Food shop that I hadn't been to for a while. Not sure if it was any cheaper than Pets At Home where we have been going recently but we should look after the smaller companies.
I got an email this evening with reference to "A Year In The Life of Faversham" that I submitted photographs for in 2008. They are doing the same for 2009. I won't be taking part again in a hurry. Anyway I'm still sulking and we haven't been back to Faversham since the exhibition. I was very disappointed that they didn't use any of my pictures. The ones that had been used on the dates that I'd submitted photos for, did not portray "Faversham" to me at all. Also, my apologies again to Dave, Chippy and Brian for dragging them all the way over there only to find that my photos did not feature.
I'm off to the monthly Partylite training meeting tonight. Glad it's not snowing.... yet.
At lunch time, I went to a Pet Food shop that I hadn't been to for a while. Not sure if it was any cheaper than Pets At Home where we have been going recently but we should look after the smaller companies.
I got an email this evening with reference to "A Year In The Life of Faversham" that I submitted photographs for in 2008. They are doing the same for 2009. I won't be taking part again in a hurry. Anyway I'm still sulking and we haven't been back to Faversham since the exhibition. I was very disappointed that they didn't use any of my pictures. The ones that had been used on the dates that I'd submitted photos for, did not portray "Faversham" to me at all. Also, my apologies again to Dave, Chippy and Brian for dragging them all the way over there only to find that my photos did not feature.
I'm off to the monthly Partylite training meeting tonight. Glad it's not snowing.... yet.
Sunday 3rd December
Last night, we went to Chris's for film night. We watched G-Force, Bolt and then the short Merry Madagascar Christmas special. During G-Force, everyone had to put up with me going "awh, cute" all the way through. It's about secret agent guinea pigs and it’s brilliant. We all enjoyed it. Bolt is also another favourite animation film. I thought it had a guinea pig in that too, but it is a hamster that joins up with Bolt and Mittens (the cat).
Today we went round the garden centres, a couple of PC shops and Perry Court Farm, as all I needed was vegetables for dinner. I will definitely go back there again. I think I could even get there in my lunch break. The geese were cute at the farm shop, even if some of them were in the way of the car. Two of them were bathing in the puddles and one of them was really rinsing himself properly right over his head. The cauliflower that we got is massive so I've had to halve it. Kat's guinea pigs love the cauliflower leaves.
Today we went round the garden centres, a couple of PC shops and Perry Court Farm, as all I needed was vegetables for dinner. I will definitely go back there again. I think I could even get there in my lunch break. The geese were cute at the farm shop, even if some of them were in the way of the car. Two of them were bathing in the puddles and one of them was really rinsing himself properly right over his head. The cauliflower that we got is massive so I've had to halve it. Kat's guinea pigs love the cauliflower leaves.
It's snowing again today but hopefully it won't settle as it is quite light and the ground is quite wet. One of the garden centres has a large pond and the ducks were sitting on top of the ice in parts (as in today’s picture).
Happy New Year
My plan for 2010, as it is every year, is to try to write more blogs. As usual, I’ve not started very well. It might help if the “play” buttons on Facebook on the games didn’t have magnets on them for my mouse!! Three Towers Solitaire is the favourite at the moment. Then I need to check out the status updates and photos to see what everyone has been up to. It’s a mega distraction.
I had to go out in the garden to go some milk from the outside fridge earlier. The garden looked really pretty again covered in the remains of yesterday’s snow. (As in today’s picture). We couldn’t believe it when we woke up yesterday and it was snowing. Only about an inch of it but it’s not usual. That’s one week before Christmas and one week after. I made a snowball later in the day from the snow on the car, just so that I could say that I had. The snow on the roads had all gone and mostly from the paths. Just the cars covered and the grass.
The last couple of days, while I’ve been at home, I’ve been tackling the washing mountain, watching a set of my 40 hours+ DVDs that I got from Santa and getting together a complete list of all the Partylite stuff that I have. It’s scary when it’s put together in a list. Even more scary when catalogue prices are put next to it. I need to have a sale.
I just saved this document as I had a scary moment when my PC just froze up. It seems really weird typing the date in. The first time that I’ve had to save a file in date format this year. We’ve been through 70s, 80s, 90s and noughties... what are we into now? We had this conversation with Mum and Dad yesterday. Tens doesn’t sound right. Also do we say “two thousand and ten” or “twenty ten”? I’ve posted the question on Facebook. Let’s see what everyone thinks.
I’ve just been having a long promised sort out of stuff. An old CRT monitor is going today to Mike and Julie’s. I’ve had my new monitor now for over 18 months and the plan was to have another PC set up downstairs but there’s no room for such a big monitor and I’ve been using my laptop more. Also going today will be some kid’s duvet covers and some clothes. Then I must get on to my Ebay “project” more. Again, leaving Facebook until last would be useful!!!
Right, on with the work.... blog 2 in planning, so that’s a good start.
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