Holidays start with Celebration Europe

After finally finishing work at 9pm on Friday night I settled myself in for two whole weeks of R&R. Couldn't come soon enough!

My holidays kicked off in style as Rich and I were off to Celebration Europe at the ExCeL on Saturday. We bought the tickets so long ago that it was great to finally be on our way! Didn't pick up the tickets until Saturday morning... and was surprised to find that they weren't your average paper tickets but beautiful laminated passes designed to be worn around the neck (shame the lanyards came at an extra cost of £3)!

So. Off we went on the 486 to North Greenwich from where it was just a short ride to ExCeL. Not as short as I thought. Labouring under the delusion that we only needed to go to Canning Town I was surprised when we go there to have to go upstairs to catch the DLR to Custom House (for ExCeL). Now, if we knew then what we know now, we'd have stayed on one stop to Prince Regent!

We got off the DLR (with a LOT of other people) and went up to the ExCeL. All along the route there were Storm Troopers and assorted other Star Wars characters. It was great building the atmosphere! We arrived at the ExCeL to be shepherded along by the staff "If you've got tickets, straight through the building". Should have been suspicious. If you've never been to the ExCeL it is like most exhibition venues. There are the general public areas and the show halls (in this case several hangar sized areas which can be joined or separated as required). Celebration Europe seemed to be taking up areas on the South Side. We came in the front entrance (nearest to Custom House) and started walking.


The first thing I noticed, which was rather cool, was model of an X-wing!



We kept on walking - with no clear idea of where we were going. My big criticism of the event was generally - very badly signposted and organised. But more of that!

We walked the whole length of the concourse, and noticed that there was a queue down the South Side, so we aimed ourselves at finding that back of the queue. And then some! We saw the line go into a giant hangar area, where it went around all three sides! As we got towards the exit we heard a father say to his small son "We're nearly there", you wish! We got out the back of the building, and looked down at the car park... the queue snaked all the way around three sides and then doubled back on itself! So we walked to the end of the queue... from where we could see Prince Regent Station. If only we'd known!

I don't wear a watch but Rich tells me that we spent about an hour in the queue. Once again, badly organised. Storm Trooper clad marshals slowed the queue down as people took the opportunity to have their photos taken alongside them. I wanted to shout "There's plenty more inside".



This is the queue in the hangar... a lot of small children took advantage of the open space to hold light sabre fights or to skate around on Heelies!

Finally we came out of the hangar and back down the concourse, on the home stretch! The last few yards the organisers finally sought to marshal the queue by means of tensa barriers. And we were there, we went through the doors into a great dark area where there was suspended a model of the Death Star, with some atmospheric music.



Now you could choose to go left for the main area or right for autographs. Here as you dithered was Jabba the Hutt and his court watching you!





Inside it was clear that far too many tickets had been sold for each day, and that maybe, just maybe the event should have run for longer. A few general spaces weren't too bad... but the 'corridors' between the stalls were jammed with people, and it was barely possible to move.

Pretty early on we discounted queueing for the 'theatre' where stars of the movies (etc. etc.) were honoured guests. We felt we'd done enough standing in line.

One of the first displays we noticed was Lego. We're both Lego fans from childhood, and more recently from the PS2 game "Star Wars Lego II". They had a giant screen where kids (and probably adults) could play the game. We were more interested in the amazing models. Characters made out of bricks and whole cities! I was admiring particularly 'Yoda' and commenting on the skill as it had been built entirely from regular blocks (not using great big huge 'specials'). And it so happened that the guy who built it was standing nearby! He commented, yes, all from regular bricks... no going over to the dark side! It took 2500 bricks... the sign said 2501, but apparently he added the extra one as he didn't think anyone would believe the 2500!



I loved the little cityscapes as well. Not least because of they were populated with little Lego figures!





We had a good look up and down the merchandise stalls... selling everything from models to comics and quite a lot more besides! These were being looked over by a rather large AT-AT!



We eventually found ourselves at the official shop. Area up for most critiscm? Quite likely. You were given an order form at the door... next you could stand in an enormous queue pay a cashier and finally pick up your items (a bit like Argos). What whereas at Argos you get a catalogue or even displays, here there was little option to see what you were buying. A few t-shirts on the walls and some display stands... once you were in the queue!!! We didn't buy anything (unsurprisingly)... apart from Rich did get the show guide and the exclusive figures, and we both got lanyards for our passes.

By now we'd pretty much seen it all and done it all! But there were a couple more bits to see. I liked particularly the R2-D2 entertainment unit...



Don't even want to think what you would pay for that!

Finally we saw an F1 car... quite cool, although a LOT smaller than I imagined! It was David Coulthard's Red Bull. As I said to Rich, Red Bull are never ones to shy from re-liverying their cars! Mind you can't totally blame them, as it was the same back when they were Jaguar I seem to recollect (something about diamonds in their nose-cones one time)...



All in all, we had a pretty fabulous day out! Exhausting, but well worth it.

Movies and Books and Games, oh my...

So. I've neglected my blog sadly for the last few days. No excuse really. I've been beyond mad busy at work (trying to get everything done before I go on leave, yay)... and the weekend I spent reading, watching TV and gaming when really I should have found five minutes to be blogging.

What's been going on with me then? Well, work has been work. I've haven't had to go on any site visits (always a good thing) or had to go to many meetings (also a good thing). I've had heaps to get done though... we've never been busier! I had quite an amusing meeting this morning. Smallest team meeting ever as it was just me, the Architect and the Contractors. Also shortest meeting ever. Meeting time increases exponentially with the number of attendees, or so it would appear. We were talking about the tenants in our retail scheme, and I commented that I'd never been to the store (sporting goods)... at which the Architect commented "I think that tells us a great deal about your lifestyle". I'd like to think that he was thinking that I'm so amazingly well-groomed and sophisticated that he couldn't imagine me in sportswear rather than I'm short, round and obviously don't exercise! I'm still arguing with the office computer system on pretty much a daily basis. None of the things that need fixing are getting fixed, and the email system still seems to disconnect at least once a day. Beyond irritating.

I managed to miss all the fun in London this weekend. Saturday, of course, was Live Earth. Whilst I am totally on board with the principles I don't really go much for the whole event thing. I stopped going to 'gigs' after I stopped being a student and nobody expected me to anymore (with the exception of Glastonbury in '95 and '97). I've never liked crowds, and I'm not much of a modern music fan... so I don't really get much out of going to see live music. I missed the best bits of Live Earth anyway... apparently there were some very funny interviews during the TV coverage. No matter. As long as it gets a message across (and apparently it will as information packs were being handed out) then that is all that matters.

On the other side of London the Tour de France was passing through. Question - surely it cannot be the Tour de FRANCE when it is not in France. Suggest that maybe just 'Le Tour' for these occaisions? Not that I have the least bit of interest in cycling... or the spectacle. Last time they came to the UK (probably about 10 years ago?) they went through Tunbridge Wells and past the building where I had my summer job. Whoosh. Blink and they were gone, just a big blur of colour really. Still, everyone I saw interviewed on TV seemed to have enjoyed their day... so that's all that matters.

Wimbledon managed to overcome the weather, and somehow finished on schedule. I did see about 10 minutes of the Women's Final (which looked a very one-sided affair) and did not bother to watch the Men's Final. Well, not wishing to state the obvious, but one or the other of them was going to win. Not from the point of view that with two players one must win, but more from the point of view that I think a lot of people would have said that before the tournament even started.

The only sporting event I did enjoy over the weekend was the British Grand Prix. Not a hugely exciting race; certainly the leaders spent most of the time leap-frogging each other during pit stops. I gave my driver of the day to Massa. He stalled on the grid on the parade lap and had to start from the pit.. but made his way all the way back through the pack to finish 5th, which is only one back from where he ought to have started!

Movie wise this weekend was a bit slow. Not enough from Blockbuster to keep us going. So, Saturday night we watched M Night Shyanalan's "Lady in the Water". We only wanted to watch it to find out what the "twist" was. All his movies have a "twist". Well, unless it was so obvious that I missed it... which is what happened with "The Village" where I could so see the twist coming that I took it for granted as part of the plot... well unless this was the case, no twist. The only selling point of the movie was a few lines of very amusing dialogue and some really quirky characters. The bit parts really made the movie. Apart from that, totally do not recommend. The story was slow moving, and at the end I was left with that "so what?" feeling. Never managed to feel engaged with any of the characters. I thought that the plot was weak... but, not too long a movie, so happy enough to watch it through to the end... and I'm not advserse to stopping a film if it bores me enough!

After that we watched StarWars in preparation for our trip to Celebration Europe at the ExCeL next weekend. Booked the tickets MONTHS ago, so it is really great that we're finally getting there! Quite weird to see the movie after having spent so much time recently playing StarWars Lego II! Talking of which, Rich has massively passed my achievements playing that. I'll have to give it some serious time when I'm on holiday next week!

Sunday morning I watched "The Queen". I quite enjoyed it. The acting was absolutely flawless, and the characterisations pretty good. The story was what it was... but that wasn't really the point I don't think.

Didn't really get much time to read. I've just started "Wicked" the story of the Wicked Witch of the West before she was the Witch. Only about a third of the way through so far, but really enjoying it. Have heaps of books to catch up with... including the Glass Books of the Dream Eaters which is too big and heavy to take to work! Still. Hopefully fine weather in the holidays and time to sit in the garden with a good book (and maybe a beer)!

Ah well. Tea break over... back to work, or I'll be here all night!

Nothing like a hot cup of tea... and random conversations

I've been severely caffeine deprived today. I had a meeting all morning... and as the two trainees were both out today (and indeed my assistant too) I had to get my own teas and coffees. So... following my own rules I used the caffetieres and the tea pot. Bad mistake. The tea pot doesn't make good tea. I gave up after one cup. But the meeting went on for over two hours. Gasping!

SA girl made some tea around three... and I was going to do some, but the phone kept ringing and I'm the only one who's ever after picking the damn thing up. So, when Geordie boy got back from his meeting and made tea just now I practically downed the cup in one! I do like my tea so hot that it practically burns your tongue!

Just looking out of the window... the weather looks really dismal. It has come over very dull and grey, and so dark it is almost twilight. Another downpour looks imminent!

SA girl just asked Geordie boy if he could "do her a favour". His response was "Everyone wants me to do them favours, favours for free... Architects, Project Managers..."

Downpour is even more imminent... thunder just rumbled.

SA girl just asked my assistant to put a sticker on the office camera so she would know which way is up in future. This followed several moments of confusion as they tried to work out the orientation of photos taken on site this morning... I think they must have been close up details of bits of building taken out of context. Maybe we could use them in a "what is this" competition.

Lightning now flashing about... still no rain!

Tea break must be nearly over, I've practically run out of tea to drink.

What peculiar weather, it looks like Autumn out there! I really hope that it clears up soon... as I want to enjoy the garden during my two weeks off... I may have to buy a gazebo to go in the garden, just in case!

Ah, here comes the rain. Doesn't look that heavy though (famous last words).

So... counting down to Harry Potter now. Shall be going to fetch my copy at midnight into the 21st. Rich is delighted as that is the night before his birthday... but mollified by the fact that we can come home and he can watch the Red Sox... and he will just have been to OMD at the Dome. Not much to complain about then. I shall be feverishly reading to try and beat the BBC's blogging reveiwer to the end of the book. Failed two years ago when I fell asleep with my face in the book!

OK. spoke too soon. It is bucketing it down now! The streets have practically emptied. Kudos the the 'my weather' widget on my iGoogle. It was showing a thunder logo several hours ago... and I thought that it was mad. I should clearly know better.

I read a letter (I forget where, in some newspaper or something) debating the existence of global warming... given that the June just finished was the wettest on record. Hmm. One of the first things I learned in 'science' was "hot air rises, cools, condenses, and down comes the rain". Isn't it funny how you remember things like that. I went to a very traditional primary school where we learnt things. Quite often by recitation. I can still recite the 9 planets of the solar system (oops, I mean 8 - sorry Pluto) in order from the sun... I can still recite the kings and queens of England (with reasonable accuracy) up until the present date. I can spell (mostly) and use grammar and punctuation (which is more than my youngest trainee can). Forgot what started me on my mini-rant, but I'll stop now. Tea is definitely open... getting back to my steelwork.

Busy times at my desk... and not yet raining!

Absolutely shocking... it isn't raining! At this rate they might just finish Wimbledon in two weeks. Although, I'm not sure I care particuarly. Tennis isn't what it used to be... having seen bits and pieces (when it hasn't been raining) I'm lucky if I find 5 seconds exciting in a set (let alone a game).

Much more exciting was the Grand Prix de France yesterday. Probably the last one to be run at Magny-Cours (what will they complain about all year if they can't complain about going there?). The race was quite exciting... there were even a few bits of overtaking! The promised rain never came, but you can't have everything. I'm always fond of a bit of rain... always messes up game plans and tyre strategies and forces teams to think on their feet... also tends to cause a few shunts.

My desk is now half an inch deep in paper. Trying to clear one job off the desk before the next one arrives (not very successfully) and have taken to shoving piles of paper into the filing trays without much order or structure. The filing trays aren't appreciating this treatment... there are some ominous looking cracks developing on some of them (what do you expect when three cost £1.65?!). Mind you, that is how I keep such a tidy desk... the bottom tray has jobs from about 8 months ago that I still haven't got around to filing!

As if that wasn't enough of a pain BOTH the junior juniors have gone off to college, and won't be back until Thursday. This pretty much leaves me answering the phone as my assistant's english isn't really up to it yet. Every time I just get into something... the phone rings. Bah! In addition (as if that wasn't all enough) the flipping server is on the blink again. Keeps disconnecting from the Exchange mailboxes. It requires either the router or firewall to be unplugged (it doesn't seem to be fussy as to which one it is)... but that does mean me jumping up and down and running to the patch cabinet every time that it happens.

It must be Monday. I never did like Mondays.

Lost in the datastream...

It's always been hard to find what you are looking for on the internet. That is because there is no definitive list of what is out there... and nobody know exactly how many pages there are, what they cover, who owns them, who writes them... etc. etc.

It's even harder to keep up these days as the internet evolves, practically exponentially (or so it seems). Just when you think that you've joined all the sites you ought to have joined and signed up to the latest trend you find that, actually, it is already so yesterday!

Before I start writing everyday I always check out any new blogs listed on the front page of Blogger as 'Blogs of Note'. Usually I then scroll back through recent entries to see if I've found a blog to read regularly. Today I was reading Unit Structures which had a very interesting article titled "In-between Places". I had thought I was quite cutting edge recently signing up to Facebook (and earlier in the year MySpace) and assumed that I had now covered all the sites for social identity (etc.) on the Internet (having also had brief acquaintance with digg, del.icio.us and technorati). Wrong! There are more of them out there... so many more. I am now feeling very lost on the Internet again... I feel that they should bring back the 'Information Superhighway' as I think I'm a rabbit stuck in the middle!

Apparently now the thing is not to Blog... but to Micro-blog or Tumblelog. No!!! No more... I shan't have time to stop soon, if I have to visit all these different places. I think, for now, I'm sticking with what I've got. The idea of these other Blog type things is to be shorter, briefer and more relevant (?!). You can text... you can share photos, links, etc. etc. Basically they want to turn everything into a 'stream of consciousness' type experience. Please, no. I never was one for that type of writing, even in literature... and certainly not all over the Internet.

Already the internet is barely recongnizable from the way it was when I was first on line (some dozen years ago)... and I'm wondering what the internet will be like when I come back to read this post a dozen years down the line!

No smoking please...

So, the new smoking ban or "England goes smoke free" approaches. The papers have been full of articles on "how to quit" and new signs and butt bins (and even 'smoking shelters') are in evidence everywhere. I don't suppose that it will make much difference to my life... I stopped smoking about 3 and half years ago... and never looked back. Like a lot of reformed smokers I am now extremely intolerant of others smoking. However, I don't frequent a lot of places where people do smoke. The pub we go to if we go out is a Weatherspoon's which has always had a no smoking section. I can imagine, however, that (for example) the concourse at football matches will be much improved without the nicotine smog hanging over it!

London is in semi-chaos again today after the discovery of a car bomb outside a nightclub in the early hours of the morning. The situation was dealt with by the police and the bomb didn't explode... however, Haymarket (which basically links Westminster with Central London) is closed, buses are on diversion and Piccadilly Circus tube is shut. All that said... there is no to Mayfair or the Jubilee Line. If my boss hadn't happened to mention it this morning in the kitchen, I probably wouldn't have known.

I was off for a site visit again yesterday (sunny Kent this time). As always I listened to BBC London's morning phone in. Yesterday the discussion was about parking attendant (after a parking attendant had been attacked the day before after issuing a ticket and ended up critically ill in hospital). The airwaves were fairly jammed with tales of woe (and some of them were terribly sad involving sick children and dying parents)... but for every tale of woe and unjust ticket there are equal amounts of people who park where they want and run the risk - but will still complain when they get a ticket. At the end of the day, parking attendants are just people doing there job like anyone else. And like anyone else, they have good days... they have bad days.. and they make mistakes. I once got a parking ticket, I had stopped where I ought not - so I held up my hands and said "It's a fair cop, guv".

Looking out the office window the other afternoon (trying to see what was causing the cacophony of car horns) I saw a very amusing van, with a sign printed on the roof "Don't look down on me. I'm just a delivery van." Kind of defeats the point of being memorable as I couldn't see the side of the van to see which company it belonged to!

There is no post today as the Royal Mail are gone on strike - I believe it is over the 2.5% pay offer. I get confused when there are them and the Underground always threatening to go on strike. I have trouble remembering why and for what they are striking. In addition to this the Royal Mail also wants to stop delivering on a Saturday. Apparently most of Europe doesn't have Saturday deliveries. I find this hard to believe, and may now have to research the rest of the world to find out how common/unusual a Saturday delivery really is.

The office was highly amused by the news that the Spice Girls are getting back together. I saw a picture in the paper this morning... and I have to say apart from Victoria they were all looking every inch of their 30 years and being mothers... absolutely crying out for a 'before' and 'after' shot.

My family did their own version of that once. It was very alarming. It was the occasion of my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. A photograph had been taken 10 years previously at the time of their 40th wedding anniversary, a family grouping of my grandparents, my mother, my uncle, my brother, my two cousins and me. This photograph was re-created - identical positioning, even down to my youngest cousin (now about 14) having to hold the small orange wheelbarrow that he had played with as a four year old!

Hopefully the weather will cheer up a bit now, just in time for the weekend!

Now I've heard it all!

The weather hasn't been too bad here today... bit of rain on and off, nothing to major. It's hard to remember that there are flood warnings and all sorts over the rest of the country.

At some point this afternoon we noticed in the office that we weren't getting any email. People were expecting stuff, but nothing was arriving. We experimented using webmail addresses to send ourselves email... and nothing did arrive! But yet, when we sent ourselves email out - there it is in our webmail in-boxes.

So. I rang our IT guy. He confirmed that, yes indeed, there was no incoming email. The given reason. Adverse weather conditions. Truly! It had knocked out the incoming servers (some how)... and the back up servers... so. Here we sit. Very quiet. No incoming email!

Office gossip and traumas

Yesterday our front door broke. It wouldn't be so bad but it is practically brand new!!! We didn't actually realise that it was broken for a while - but a big meeting was happening in the Board Room and attendees kept appearing in reception without the intercom having rung. Eventually we decided that it might be a good idea to go downstairs and find out what was going on. This is what... the bolt that is operated by the push button ("press here to exit") had stopped springing back up and was stuck in the down position... this meant that the door, instead of shutting was bouncing off the bolt and the frame was blocked so the door couldn't shut. When I pressed the button the bolt did go back up... and the door shut, but the bolt then didn't fall back down again! Had to phone up the management to tell them (this was before the trip downstairs) they were laissez-faire about the whole thing and said someone might "get out today". After the revelations of the bolt, our conclusion being drawn that the building was effectively no longer secure - another call was placed to the agent... stating the urgency of the problem. Due credit... three (really, three?!) engineers did arrive and fix the door.

So - this morning the door is fixed. However now the LIFT is broken. It was working when I arrived at 20 past 6 but by the time that the SA girl arrived at a quarter before seven it was no longer functioning. How do we know this? Our lift has very peculiar symptons when it is broken. It goes to the fifth floor (top floor) and stays there. No amount of button pressing either within the car or from the landings will get it to move. During my investigations of the lift I met the office manager from the floor below. She hit upon the bright idea of using the emergency phone to summon the lift people. The emergency phone doesn't work. I joked that maybe it was cut off because the landlord's agent hadn't paid the bill. Not such a joke given recent issues with the electricity bill for the basement! So - not sure what the status of the lift is... and if I even want to use it right now. If I got stuck in there it could be a long time before I got out!!!

The office is a wealth of partner's today. The senior partner is here... the partner who was abroad is back, and the partner who is always here, is, well, here! In fact... everyone is here today. Had a funny five moments with the youngest trainee earlier. He had a drawing whose stated scale was 1:1000 (not a scale on most rulers in the office)... and actually turned out to be 1:2000. So... he measured at 1:100, multiplied by ten and then by 2. It was pointed out that it might have been quicker to merely work at 1:200 and multiply by 10. But the answer is right, he said. Ah, but the Partner said, if you'd been measuring lengths and areas you might have muddled your coefficients... and there lies the way to madness and wrong answers.

Fellow Travellers

As I was walking home from the bus stop last night I was stopped by some fellow travellers on the road of life. I remark on them only because the trio was a man, a woman and a table. Looking for Charlton station. They were exceedingly polite, and unusually for people who are lost in Charlton, not that far from their destination! The table was strange though. Large and white, two circles joined together. I wonder where it was going on a train?

Woke up obscenely early this morning and decided to try and get a march on the day by going straight to work... which means that I'd better get on with it and not sit here thinking!

Ironing Mountain

Last night I finally tackled the ironing mountian. The problem is that there is very little incentive to actually do my ironing... I own three very nice 'non-iron' shirts which I wear a lot, and several pairs of trousers that don't need ironing (or so little that the creases have dropped out by the time I get to the office). So, once again it got to the stage where EVERYTHING I own needed to be ironed. It took the whole of Supernatural and part of an episode of Hustle before it was all done! I nearly melted in the process as I always like to use steam when I iron! I feel very virtuous having done it... and made the usual (futile) promises to myself to not let it mount up again.

Saturday night movies this weekend... managed to get through two! First up was 'Edison'... I think maybe we saw a trailer for it... and also because Morgan Freeman is in it. It was OK (I suppose)... it had a story, the acting was good enough... it just didn't have a 'spark'. Still... unlike most recent 'first films' of a Saturday night we did watch the whole thing! Next up was 'Goal 2'. Quite fun in a bit of a silly way. I said to Rich that I wouldn't mind going to football every other week if Charlton played like Real Madrid. Rich told me that if I wanted to watch that kind of football I'd do better tuning into Sky Sports on a Sunday night!

It pretty much rained the whole weekend in the end. I had a brief 10 minutes in the garden on Sunday afternoon to clean out the Frog Pond which had gone the same toxic shade of green that the main pond had been a while ago. This involved bailing out all the water into the rockery (which of course ran down the rockery and onto the patio making a lovely mess) and then scooping out the leaves that were in the bottom (what a stink). I also disturbed two frogs who must have been sleeping on the bottom, and didn't look at all pleased to see daylight. They soon vanished off again once I refilled the pond though!

We also spent obscene amounts of time playing the Playstation... we only left the house on Saturday once to go to the post office and to pick up lunch. Ah well. After the madness of last week I think that we deserved some quality R&R!

Reflections on time and other things...

So. Off I went to Worcester again on Thursday for my monthly trip. Decided to go by train this time as driving there and back is just exhausting, and I get to sleep on the train!

Paddington was bizarre. There were ladies in posh frocks and way out hats (who I later found were going to Ladies Day at Ascot) and then there were masses of people with huge rucksacks wearing wellingtons... who were, of course, off to Glastonbury. Very strange mix!

It all made me quite nostalgic. I only went to Glastonbury twice... once in 1995 and once in 1997. The first time I went was awesome. I'd just finished my first year at University... the weather was glorious... I went with a bunch of people and spent quite a lot of the time in an altered state of mind! The last time I went I'd just finished my second year at a different University (long story for another day). The weather was awful... it rained, a lot. There was mud (oh, was there mud) and I'd got over being in an altered state of mind... and I only went with one person. I hated it. So, in a weird way it was good. I had the lovely 1995 (which still is a legend) but I never feel that I'm missing out by not going as the second time put me off forever! What I found hardest to believe was that it is 10 years ago (and the rest) that those things took place.

Talking about time. I was with my folks the other weekend. Me and Mum were sitting in the garden enjoying the sun when Mum said "I worked out the other day that I'm the same age now as Granny was when I first met Dad, and I thought she was so old!". My response to this was "Well I'm the same age now as you were when you had me, and I thought you were old (just kidding)!". It is alarming that I'm my mother's age when she had me... I can't imagine feeling old enough to be a mother. Mind, saying that... it still weirds me out that I know people who are married... who have kids... who own houses... who hold down responsible (well some of us) jobs... when did we stop being 18?!?!

O2

Last night the O2 opened it doors to the public. There was a free event for the residents of the London Borough of Greenwich (which is where the O2 is).

Once upon a time.... a VERY long time ago some politicians decided to build a dome. The project was conceived to celebrate the start of the third millennium way back in 1994. The whole thing has always been subject to large amounts of mockery from press and public alike. Nowhere near the expected amount of visitors ever came... and the whole thing (unsurprisingly) cost a lot more than originally anticipated. On the plus side, the Dome was at the centre of the re-generation of the Greenwich Peninsula and the extension of the Jubilee line - both good things, finally the London Underground came to South East London! When the original exhibition closed in 2001 everyone wondered what would happen to the Dome. The answer turned out to be, for a very long time, not a lot. It sat empty, costing money to maintain and occasionally being used for one off events (a 'Winter Wonderland' and 'Crisis at Christmas' spring to mind).

The whole thing was eventually sold off to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) who in turn sold the rights of the name to O2 plc. The Millennium Dome became the O2 - officially at least... most of us who live round here still simply refer to it as 'the Dome'.

So. Back to last night. We drove down and left our car in one of the newly refurbished car parks... paying just a couple of quid (apparently it will normally cost £20). And wandered over to the Dome. The new square was buzzing with people... and as we made our way inside we were given food vouchers for the concessions (which we never got round to using). Upstairs and into the arena. A band played, the chief executive of AEG Europe (I think) spoke, some local school children sang, another band played, a council guy spoke, we left. The entertainment was so-so... but that wasn't really the point. We went to see what was there... the arena is good. Big! Excellent acoustics, lighting, etc. The concourse is quite utilitarian... although there seems to be a lot of choice with concessions. The 'Blue Room' (exclusive to O2 customers apparently) was beyond unimpressive... although certainly very blue! I like the entertainment district best. An 'avenue' with plasterboard façades and fake trees... longer than Bond Street they said... not all open last night. Walked as far as the Cinema entrance, and saw Pizza Express, Slug and Lettuce and Nandos to name a few. That is the other thing inside an 11 (?) screen multiplex being run by Vue. Odeon over on Bugsbys Way must be gutted!

As evenings out go it wasn't really up there... but it was good to see what they've been up to, and what is inside. Given the programme of events announced so far, am not likely to be paying to go there anytime soon!

Time Flies

Wednesday already. Who'd have thought it! The week is nearly over (for me) as I'm off to Worcester all day tomorrow, and then only Friday and we're done!

Our family is off to the Dome (sorry, the O2) tonight. There is a free event for Greenwich residents, and I want to see what's been going on... so that will be fun!

Last night I walked along Piccadilly to get to Green Park as I needed to post some letters and there is a post-box by Cafe Nero. In the two or so blocks to Green Park I came across no less than six Chuggers. For those not familiar with the terms Chuggers are Charity Muggers. Those irritatingly chirpy souls which clipboards who just want a moment of your time. Six of them... three of whom tried to stop me. I was quite annoyed by the time I arrived at the tube station. I give money to charities already - and those chirpy souls aren't going to make me give any more.

I was so distracted (and my feet were so on autopilot) that I fell off the escalator. The down and up escalators to the Jubilee line from the central concourse had swapped sides. I tried to get on the down... slid off backwards, and undeterred tried again! Then I realised why it wasn't working. As Homer Simpson would say "D'oh"!

Father's Day

So - to all the Dads out there... Happy Father's Day. I shall be driving down to see my pops later this morning. I had a terrible time trying to find a gift... you know how hard men are to buy for! In the end I decided to pop into Fortnum and Mason... which is just along Piccadilly from my office. I'd never been inside before - although I've often admired their window displays! It's quite a store. Very genteel... and such a gorgeous smell! If only it wasn't so expensive, I'd shop there more often!

Friday night saw a further quandary for me. It was time to open the new 'improved' box of Avonex (my MS DMD - that's disease modifying drug). I sat down to prepare the syringe as always, only to find that the replacement on the syringe for the small rubber cap was a large plastic scary looking thing... with no indication of what to do next! Luckily the good people of Biogen Idec run a 24 hour support line... so I had to have the embarrassing conversation starting with "I can't work out how to get the top off the syringe". In my defence... you wouldn't have guessed. You had to snap it off at a 90 degree angle... which you wouldn't guess, you'd never dream of taking such extreme action with a glass syringe! It was, as promised, easier to attach the needle - it did stay more firmly in place. Now I know what to do I'm sure it will make my life easier!

Saturday night is movie night. We started with "Hard Times"... I'm afraid I got bored after about half an hour of the Lovely Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez calling each other "dude" and "dog" and "homie" and generally behaving like reprobates. It may or may not have developed a plot after this point! I really have to stop choosing movies because I like the lead actor (same thing last weekend with the Charming Hugh Jackman and "The Fountain"). Not learning from my mistake, next up was "Deja Vu" with Denzel Washington (I like Denzel Washington). Not a bad movie (I suppose)... but I think it could have been so much more. The science part of the fiction was a bit questionable in it's logic... but then anything dealing with time and/or time travel always is. I actually gave up trying to work out the logic of it all - but I'm pretty certain that something somewhere didn't make sense! Probably worth watching though... as I enjoyed it well enough. Final movie up was "The Magnificent Seven" (quote Rich, I can't believe you've never seen "The Magnificent Seven"). Somehow it had permeated my consciousness as I instantly recognized the theme music! Again - I liked it well enough, although I'm not sure I'd ever watch it again. Spent a great deal of time trying to tie down the famous actors who I'd either never seen before or not seen looking so young. It was weird to see Robert Vaughan who I've been watching in "Hustle" looking so young, and yet, hardly changed (lucky man)! So - now I can name all the actors in "The Magnificent Seven" - you'll just have to take my word that I've not popped off to IMDB to look them up! Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Brad Dexter, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson and Horst Buckholst. Apparently it is as essential as being able to name the seven dwarfs (Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Bashful and Sleepy) - although I read somewhere that those names were totally random and chosen from a short-list of about 50!!!

On my way home on Thursday night I stopped off to have a quick nose around Pensinsula Square. On my way into work (after going to site) I'd noticed some suits and cameras through the doors at the back of the tube station - the hoarding finally having been taken down. I vaguely wondered what was going on and though no more about it. However, on my way home in the Lite I read about the new square, bigger than Leicester Square (so they say), and thought I'd have a quick look. Very nice. It has a green wall down one side with water features (little waterfalls) built in... a great big sculpture made from stainless steel or similar... when I say sculpture, it is a long twisty post! Set into the paving are little quotes, all to do with time and stuff. I thought at first the line with the quotes was the meridian line (they are big on that in Greenwich) but then I noticed that there were loads, and decided that it was just art!

Lights Out London!

Here's another energy saving initiative - turn off all your non-essential lights and appliances for one hour (between 9 and 10pm) on the 21st June (the longest day). The aim is to save 750MWh of electricity in just one hour. Check out the website here.

Jubilee Line fails again

It's getting to be a habit! The Jubilee Line suspended itself yesterday afternoon from Canary Wharf to Stratford following a signal failure at North Greenwich. Again. It wouldn't be so irritating but that section of the line was shut over the weekend for planned engineering work. Obviously didn't do much good! This meant that I spent an extra however long in the office as there was no point trying to travel through the chaos. By the time I did leave there were only about 8-10 minutes between trains... which is about acceptable. You know that it was bad though, when they feel the need to put up posters the following morning apologising for the service!!!

More coffee please!

It took three minutes for my alarm clock to wake me up this morning!!! This would be bad enough... but Lumie has a light on it which is supposed to simulate sunrise and bring you gently to wakefullness. I can only assume that the stress of yesterday knocked me out good last night. Halfway down my first cup of coffee now and I almost feel human.

I'm going shopping later. I'm meeting up with my cousin (who I should see more often as she only lives a few miles away in Dulwich). We're going to Bluewater. Hope this isn't going to be too traumatic after the recent 'measuring shopping centres in Eastern Europe' disasters at work!

No post yet this morning... not sure that I'm due anything exciting anymore anyway since my lovely Beanie came from Abbey Bears in Cornwall. Very attractive little chaps they are too! :-)

Why I don't like Fridays

I know I'm weird. Most people love Fridays as they are the end of the week. I'm okay with the principle of them... it's just the execution that is always letting me down!

Reasons I don't like Friday - number 1
We are supposed to finish work at half past four on Friday. It NEVER happens. In fact, what usually happens is that Friday is the worst day of the week. Everything always goes wrong. Today I have spent in long (and often fruitless) telephone conversations trying to find out if anybody knows what is happening on my project (answer, no). Also, making a budget/cashflow according to a pro-forma which really isn't relevant to my project... and various other irritating little arisings... each of which must be somebody's fault, and I'm permanently worried that the somebody must be me. It almost makes me wish I hadn't given up smoking... not because I have any desire to smoke, but I remember the huge 'whoosh' of stress relief engendered by the act of smoking a cigarette!

Reasons I don't like Friday - number 2
Friday is injection day. I can't remember how much I've gone into this before... in 2002 I was diagnosed with relapsing/remitting MS (story for another day). After some years of mostly remitting and a healthy dose of denial I had a few relapses last year. My health professionals suggested that it was probably time for disease modifying drugs. I was historically terribly against this as I suffer from Belonephobia - that is a fear of needles. At the moment the drugs available in this country are all proteins, which means that they cannot be taken orally as the stomach acid would break them up. They must therefore be injected intra-muscularly or subcutaneously. Mine is intra-muscular as it lasts longer and you have to inject less often. Although I have gotten over feeling as if I'll faint and can manage perfectly well I still don't much like doing it... and it does cast a little shadow over Friday. Also, the side effects mean that quite often I either sleep badly on Friday or still feel a bit rubbish on Saturday morning.

Those are the only reasons I don't like Friday - but I think that they are enough.

Ladies who lunch

Today I met my friend and her daughter for lunch. Although her daughter was born at the end of last August our busy lives and living on opposite sides of the Thames means that this is the first time we've met since. We decided to go for lunch at a pavement cafe in Landsdowne Mews (where there are literally half a dozen to choose from). My new little friend was absolutely cute and charmed me and the waitress and the diners at the next table. My friend and I decided that a girl must get to know the important things in life... lunch with friends being one of them!

I discovered this morning that I've been wasting my money. Ever since they were introduced I've been buying a zone 1-3 oyster card. North Greenwich is on the border of zones 2 and 3 and can be in either zone depending on which way you are travelling. I alwasy figured I needed a three zone travel card to get me from my house (which is between Charlton and Woolwich mainline stations, both in zone 3) to North Greenwich. Apparently not. Apparently zones don't exist for busses and the whole of London is one big zone. Nice little saving every month - shame that I just bought a new travelcard!

Busy times

I have never been fond on Wednesday. Nearly but not quite heading towards being the end of the week!

I had a meeting in Holborn this morning, first thing. So, I thought, best go straight there and not to the office. Good plan, lousy execution. I made my usual mistake of mis-reading the tube map and thinking that Tottenham Court Road Station was in fact Holborn. Oops.

I decided to get a train to Charring Cross (following my mistaken belief that I could then go straight up the Northern Line to Holborn). I got a bus to the village planning on walking down Charlton Church Lane... but a 486 turned up, so I decided to get the bus instead! Of course, Charlton Church Lane after about 7am is always a bad idea. The bus sat and waited as a variety of cars and vans navigated the parked cars which line both sides of the road. Finally Parcelforce and another van decided that they might let the bus down. Shame that the cars behind those vans didn't. They all started trying to pass the vans... despite the second van driver sticking his arm out the window and waving the cars back! Made it to the bottom eventually and only just caught the 8 o'clock train to Charring X that I'd been aiming for! Got the tube, and realised at Leicester Square that I needed to change to the Piccadilly Line (which does go to Holborn). Hadn't banked on Holborn being so busy... took ages to get out of the station and only just made the meeting on time. I wasn't the only one though. One chap had walked from Waterloo because the queues for the buses were so immense, and the other was late as he'd been stopped by a police man for doing 38mph in a 30 zone. Know how he feels on that one. I got a speeding fine for doing 36mph in a 30. Bah. £60 fine and 3 points. Very annoying as the 3 points from a parking infraction had just cleared down!

There are still frogs all over our garden. Having graduated from being tadpoles they don't seem to be growing very fast! There are wriggling masses of tiny frogs everywhere!

The weather is a bit cooler today... for which I'm very glad. Our office traps the heat like you can't imagine... and by afternoon is unbearable on a hot day. Today it will probably only manage rather uncomfortable!

The furore over the logo for the 2012 Olympics continues. Goodness only knows who ever wanted London to have the Olympics. Most people that I know don't want them here. It just seems like more money in our taxes and more inconvenience. The logo is hilarious. It is supposed to be a 'graffiti' tag of '2012'. Doesn't look much like it to me... and ever since I've seen the comment in yesterday's Metro "What is Lisa Simpson doing to that man" I haven't been able to take it seriously. There were some quite reasonable alternatives published in the Lite last night... done in 10 minutes by members of the public for free - rather than in several months by professionals for £400,000!!!

World Environment Day

This Wednesday (6th June) is World Enivronment Day

Check out their website and see what you can do!

Summer is back!

Despite the threat of showers and cool weather May turned to June and Spring turned to Summer.

Yesterday I had to go to Lowestoft. Lowestoft is at the top of East Anglia and a good hundred and something miles from London. It is a good three hour journey too as there is no motorway, only A-roads to get there. Got all the way there, having stifled in my car with no air-conditioning... only to find out that the meeting had been cancelled, but nobody had bothered to let me know! Got some lunch and then drove all the way back again. Still stifling in my car with no air-conditioning. Got stuck in a traffic queue at the Dartford crossing, whereupon I nearly melted!!! Got home at 4pm... what a wasted day!

Rushed out first thing this morning to buy Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Have played a couple of hours worth until I got stuck. Knew I should have bought the walkthrough guide!

The garden is full of frogs again. Most of the babies have finally grown-out of being tadpoles and turned into tiny frogs. Really so small... about a centimeter long. It's like the time that Molly gave the carpet fleas. You thought the carpet was OK until you looked really close up and saw that it was hopping. That is our lawn. You don't realise that there are hundreds of baby frogs until you kneel down and take a close look and then realise that they are every where.

All the fish in the pond seem to be enjoying the summer weather... Jaws is followed around by an absolute shoal of little brown fish, medium sized brown fish and the three goldfish. The only one who doesn't seem to want to soak up the sun is Molly... being a black cat she gets too hot and would rather sleep in a bush!

Cabbies

Cabbies in London definitely have a reputation. Some good - most not so much. We're talking black cab drivers here... 'Hackney Carriages' as they are officially. The licensed Cabbies - the ones who take "The Knowledge". The Knowledge is cool - basically Cabbies are pretty much required to know EVERY street in London... and the best way from anywhere to anywhere. This makes them the choice way from A to B. It's the best way to get around after dark if you're a girl, that's for sure!

So. Last night, it was half past nine by the time I left the office... and past ten by the time I got to North Greenwich. Sod that, I thought. I'll get a Cab home. For the first time ever the Cab rank was empty. One was just leaving with a fare. Bummed. So I stood and waited. Another girl turned up... we made small talk. A cab arrived and I got in. Whereupon the Cabbie apologised for my wait (ah, bless). We trundled off and took the route which goes via the level crossing rather than through the bus lane (which I'm never convinced that they are allowed to do anyway). We got to the level crossing and the barrier was down. So we waited. For about 40p on the fare. Where upon the Cabbie switched off the meter! I always feel a bit embarrassed sitting here clocking up an extra £3, he told me. Eventually the gates went up and off we went. You should put the meter back on, I reminded him. But he didn't . So when we got to our destination (home at last) I actually gave him a tip... after all, he had saved me a few quid!

Where has all the news gone...

I didn't even bother to pick up a Metro (free newspaper) this morning. Reason: I know that Big Brother started on TV (again) last night - and therefore I held out very little hope of getting any real news at all. I caught my nearly-mother-in-law watching it on TV... when I asked her why she told me that she wanted to "see the people arriving". I asked why it mattered seeing as how they are just a bunch of nobodies after their 15 minutes of fame... As you might have guessed - I cannot stand that show. I find it drivel of the lowest order. I've probably mentioned before that I am utterly against all breeds of 'reality' TV and 'docusoaps'. I don't know why it's called 'reality' TV... the situations aren't very real - and I don't suppose that people would act the way that they do if there wasn't a TV camera trained on them. Bring back real TV. Bring back well written drama... comedy that makes you laugh... I'm still absolutlely certain that in the future social commentators will look back and wonder what an earth the people of the early 21st Century were on when they chose to watch TV!!!

I saw an interesting headline on the Evening Standard billboard - something about a Whitehall bid to block Beckham Knighthood. Would love to have read the whole story - but it appears to be an Evening Standard exclusive (no sign on the Internet) and I'm not buying the early edition of the Standard (or the late edition if it comes to that). I'm sure that I'll agree with the sentiment of whoever is trying to block this idea. Nonsense I think. I'm not sure that most people who receive honours really deserve them anymore - most were originally designed to recognize civilian valour after the 1914-18 war. I can't see that footballers, actors or musicians (save a few who have really done more than just entertain people) deserve that sort of recognition. This country have turned into fame junkies. The appetite for self-promotion and scandal is endless. All the free papers now have gossip sections (which I skip)... and even the news falls onto these stories.

This is a good thing about the ever customisable internet... you can fetch RSS feeds and so forth which cater to your appetite for news - and you can screen out the idle gossip!

OK. Rant over, climbing down off my soapbox now!

Last night's movie

Given that it was a Bank Holiday we took the opportunity to fit in an extra movie last night. Blockbuster had sent us the Ant Bully ages ago... but the mood hadn't taken us to watch it. Quite a fun movie. Once we got over the 'penny bet' on whether Zok the Ant was being voiced by Nicholas Cage... Rich was sure it was, I was adamant it wasn't. He was right.... so, he keeps the penny. The 'penny bet' is how we settle dispute. We have a penny in a frame (which came out of a cracker) and when we dispute anything we 'bet the penny'. It spends a lot of time with Rich. Anyhow... back to Ant Bully. Absolutely top quality animation, and a few witty one-liners. An all round good family type movie.

More rain...

It has finally, for the moment, stopped raining. Having rained most of yesterday and this morning. It is still grey, and unseasonably cold. Almost as if the weather, looking back at the unusually warm April decided, oops, missed the cold damp April... I'll just switch it with May then.

I've been having an excellent time with my PS2 this weekend. The postman finally bought my Lego Star Wars II on Saturday morning. I'd been feeling disappointed as the post had been and it hadn't arrived... but unusually for Saturday (and only about two hours later) second post arrived. Game is EXCELLENT. Has the "3+" rating, which is the level of difficulty I get on best with. Totally sticks to the story of the movies, and is just HEAPS of fun to play. Really recommend. I took a whole heap of old games back to Game on Saturday for trade-in. Got another £16 (which isn't bad for four games). Actually had seven to take back, but they don't trade in Gamecube anymore... so I'm selling them on eBay. Shall be spending the proceeds of the exchange next week buying the Tomb Raider Anniversary. Who says I play too many video games?!

Raining again

They were not joking when they said it would rain this weekend. Boy, is it raining! Raining some more... and then a bit more rain!

Cold and damp - typical Bank Holiday weather. Glad to know there are some things that global warming can't change!

Long weekend approaching

Delightfully when I go home tonight (which I'm hoping won't be too much of a crazy time) I won't have to come to work again until Wednesday. Hurrah! Bank Holiday Monday followed by day of leave to make up for having worked the last Bank Holiday. Busy times ahead though, with at least one meeting every week for about the next six weeks... and that is just the ones I know about!

I got home last night to find that my nearly-mother-in-law had been out shopping and had one of those "I saw this and thought of you" moments. She got me a rubber duck. A pink rubber duck, wearing a tiara, which apparently light up in the bath! We have a duck theme in our bathroom. We got some postcards ages ago with a variety of rubber ducks in various styles and colours. We had these blown up, laminated and fixed them to the back of the bathroom door (which was in a sorry state after a mirror fell down). We also have quite a lot of rubber ducks.. probably about 10 now! It's a whole 'theme' thing. I want to get these gel stickers I saw for windows, which, guess what, come in 'duck' style!

So... exciting things happening this weekend? Great amounts of sitting around and taking it easy are expected. Hopefully the weather forecasts will all be wrong and I can spend some time in the garden. Taking a trip to B&Q I think... and lunch at Nandos is also planned.

I was discussing the merits of Sat-Nav with my brother last night. He's had it in his car for a few year now... I'm thinking of getting it, due to recent getting lost on the M5 experiences and future planned trips all over and possible jobs up and down the country. My brother recommends it... unless you are driving in London. He says that he finds it very reliable.

Noticed an odd story... Trafalgar Square goes green. For reason or reasons not explained by the headline they turfed all over Trafalgar Square (temporarily). It did look exceedingly strange, that is all I can say!

Train trouble again

Another bad transport day yesterday. Yet another line side fire, so but the stations were closed (again) and all the trains were cancelled (again). The whole of south east London decided to come home via North Greenwich. Literally hundreds of people waiting for busses. Police controlling the hordes. Three busses, mostly taking me in the wrong direction and some walking I did get home. 2 hour after I left work. Apparently the lines are re-opened now, so things should be better this morning.

A day of radio

Yesterday I had to drive to Worcester again. Despite the huge amount of getting lost this had engendered the last time I did it... despite having vowed never again until my car got Sat Nav... I did anyway. Actually, not so bad this time. No getting lost (although missed my junction a couple of times). I spent the several hour journeys each way listening to the radio. As far as the reception would reach I tuned into BBC Radio London (sadly lose reception for that around Milton Keynes, wish the car had digital radio) and the rest of the time listening to BBC Radio 5. Yep, I love the BBC and total lack of commercials!

It gave me a lot to think about, especially as several shows I heard were phone in type shows.

Number One: MP Margaret Hodge and her comments about housing. We all know that there is a housing shortage... especially in London where the average house prices are about £400k now. Mrs Hodge expressed her opinion that migrant workers were possibly being housed in preference to families who had lived in her borough for generations... actually, I'm not even sure that was her point... her point was more to do with the entitlement that these families might feel (having paid council tax, income tax, etc. etc.) It was a bit unfortunate that at one point she did refer to "my white families" which I think made most of us stop taking her seriously! Of course Mayor Ken came straight back saying what nonsense she was talking, how such things would never happen (blah blah usual Red Ken la-la land). A variety of callers called the show, one from a housing association saying that housing is allocated strictly on need criteria, but he though it should be done on how long you have waited... one lady who is 50 and has been waiting for council housing since she was 16... some from people who have 'seen it happen' (and they have seen all sorts happen)... personally, knowing London the way I do... I'm sure the housing system isn't the way that it should be, or that most of us would like it to be, and that there is probably a huge variety of how it works (or doesn't work) from one borough to the next. One caller said that when she called the housing deptartment she was asked which country she'd come from and when she said the UK she'd been told "no chance"! At the end of the day I do believe that having paid taxes and taxes for years and generations should entitle you to something from the Government (not just housing here and not just talking with regards to how long you have lived in the UK)... the problem here is that the Government just don't seem to have a clue... they are more interested in fighting wars and so forth than worrying about the gradual decline/decay of the fabric of this country.

Number Two: yellow ribbon campaign (etc.) for missing Madeline. Unfortunately I lost my reception before the phone in got around to talking about this... or maybe they were having to much fun Margaret Hodge bashing?! The question was, are you wearing a yellow ribbon? Personally, no. I never wear badges, ribbons or what-have-you unless I have a personal reason to. There are just too many now. Ostentatious grief the radio presenter called it. It is, isn't it. People seem to be saying, I care more than you. I'm sure everyone hopes the little girl gets found safe and well. But even so... really, you can't give to every charity, can't wear every ribbon. So I drew a line. I donate money regularly to my chosen charities... I'll sponsor friends and colleagues who ask me, but that is that. I might, however, give some money to help restore the Cutty Sark - that is after all just down the road from me and as Prince Philip said yesterday it's a "bloody shame".

Number three - dates on food in supermarkets. The BBC are horrified as some undercover 'sting' of theirs showed that supermarkets occaisonally have questionable pracitices with regards to sell by dates on food. Really? They just found this out? Don't they go shopping. I have to throw away stuff all the time as it hasn't lasted to it's best before date. I did like the lady who phoned in to reiterate the difference between 'best before' and 'use by'. As my Dad always said to us when we were kids 'best before, not poisonous after'. Use by apparently though does mean just that, as it is to do with bacteria etc. which could be inside the food. There you go.

There was a great deal more of interest I heard especially radio presenters mangling russian names in the Polonium 210 story... however, if I don't get a shift on now I'll be late for work!!!

Another weekend been and gone

So. Before we know where we are the weekend has been and gone. Good weekend this one, though.

Started promptly as I had to get tothe Doctor to pick up a prescription, so I left work at half past four on Friday (yes, we really are supposed to finish work at half past four on Fridays!). This meant that I got home by about 6 o'clock. I was at a complete loss what to do so early in the evening. In the end I opted for doing three month's worth of ironing whilst watching a videotape of the Last Detective. So that was good news for my wardrobe. All the clothes I own (except the ones I wore on Friday) are ironed again. Hurrah!

Saturday I didn't do so much. For some reason taking my Meds earlier in the evening meant that instead of sleeping through until morning I woke up around 3am feeling the side effects. So... I got up. Fed the cat, who was loitering with intent... and decided to try to write a CSS page for my website. I thought that it was supposed to be easy... two hours later I was still trying. And trying. I got there in the end though!

Next on my list was 'popping' out for a wee bit of shopping. This was quite pleasant as it seemed that the world and his dog were off watching the FA Cup final and not clogging up the streets of the Greenwich Peninsula. Got some superb pink plastic clogs in Asda... £5 a pair, so I got two pairs!

I decided to do some weeding... the recent rain had turned our garden path into a real haven for weeds. I don't generally go a bundle on weeding... but it is very satisfying when you can really see the difference you have made!

Saturday night is movie night. First up was Headspace... which proved, in my opinion, to be a) rather dull and b) reasonably inexplicable. It lasted about 20 minutes. Next up was Borat. I didn't have high hopes, despite the reviews which all rated it as hilarious. I find Ali G funny, but not usually the Borat sections. To give kudos - there were some very funny bits... and overall the movie pretty much provided what you expected. Gave up movies after this and watched DVDs of TV shows.

Sunday saw me back with the webpage and doing more weeding. Didn't get up until really late (around quarter to 12) so didn't get too much done really. Thought about doing some work I'd brought home, but decided that I'd get into work early instead.

Which brings us to today! Did get into work early... managed to avoid any traffic chaos incurred by the Cutty Sark being on fire.

I got an excellent email at the weekend. It came from a chap claiming to be a Nigerian football player and wanting a recommendation for a try-out here in the UK. Why?! Why would anyone think that a random email address picked out from goodness only knows where could be of any help?! And if it was not genuine, what on earth do they hope to gain from such a spam?! The internet is a strange and alarming place these days... I look with nostalgia to when there was so much less, for want of a better word, nonsense out in Cyberspace!

Busy Days

It's been a bit busy this last week. 12 hour days (and the rest) have been the norm. However the project that was consuming my time appears to be done now - and hopefully I can get back to all the other projects I have been so neglecting!

Wednesday was the worst... I got to work at about a quarter to seven in the morning and left about 8 in the evening... and then only got three hours sleep going into Thursday! Needless to say, last night I went to bed at half eight and got a good eight hours!

Spring/Summer has returned to London again today. The miserable rain that has blighted us since last week seems to have given us a temporary reprieve. Back to rather a lot of fashion nightmares then!

There is an amazing fashion right now for tailored shorts. Usually cut just above the knee. there are very few body types that suit this garment, and certainly not most of those that wear them! Ladies, don't do it... especially not with tights!!!

Last night the Jubilee Line was suffering from a 'good service'. Whatever! The train that I got on was stopped several times down the line to "regulate the service". The driver told us that he was running a couple of minutes fast. At Canada Water we stopped again because apparently we were still running a minute ahead of schedule... there was a pause and then the driver added "they're determined I'll be late by the time I get to Stratford"!

The exciting event of the week was getting tickets to go and see the Giants play the Dolphins. Tickets finally went on sale for the NFL match at Wembley in October. After the announcement of the game you visited a website to register your interest in purchasing tickets. The opportunity to purchase tickets was then allocated by ballot. Apparently within 72 hours of the original announcement over half a million people had registered! The first 40,000 tickets went on sale on Wednesday and sold out in 90 minutes!!! Let's hope that the Giants are going to beat the Dolphins then!!!

My arm is almost recovered from being butchered by the phlebotomist on Monday. The bruise is now an interesting yellow/green colour... still quite sore though! I forgot to mention earlier one of the conversations I had with the Nurse on Monday. We have a variety of topics which are regularly discussed... including the "are you planning to have children" conversation. The reason for this is because if you get pregnant you have to stop taking the DMDs (disease modifying drugs). I told her, as I always do, not now... not anytime soon... quite possibly not ever. To which she replied if I was going to then I probably would want to hurry up as I was getting a bit old... and only realistically had five years left to have kids. Way to make a girl feel young and lovely!

Working from home...

Yesterday I was working from home. I had an appointment with the MS Nurse in the middle of the morning (which usually involves a lot of waiting around) and also had to take my mother-in-law to hospital for her operation and pick her up again later - all in all working at home seemed the way to go.

However, nobody told my computer to co-operate. I have a wee office (well it's a desk) in the bedroom... with a printer, scanner, etc. etc. Currently they are attached to the old desktop. Some days the old PC works... other days it doesn't. Yesterday it didn't. I gave up in the end and got out the laptop... which is highly irritating as the touch-pad won't disable and I keep accidentally moving the cursor whilst I am typing. Sometime soon the desktop is getting rebuilt and hopefully his neurosis will be cured.

Vile weather yesterday - but I decided to walk to the hospital anyway as it is only half a mile and makes me feel quite virtuous! Got there five minutes before my appointment... unfortunately the entire neurology department appeared to be running with huge delays... and I was seen over half an hour late. Next it was off to the testing to get my blood tests done. Very dispirited to see number 450-something being called when I was number 496! Spent another half an hour sitting there. As usual the phlebotomist couldn't find the vein and butchered my arm which is now a) bruised and b) sore.

To add to the sore arm I managed to drop the external hard drive on my toe in the afternoon, which has severely damaged my poor little pinkie!!!

As usual the office had some kind of computer crisis whilst I wasn't there... this involved several panicked phone-calls and emails back and forward. Found a work-around in the end, but really do need to get the rest of my colleagues trained up. Didn't matter yesterday as I was working, but they would have rung me at home for that if I had been sick or on leave! I cannot be the only one who can work the advanced functions of the software packages.

Good news is that the new firewall is being installed next week. Time will tell - but hopefully that will sort out some of the server's neuroses. How many neurotic computers do I know?!

The mysterious case of the missing key...

Something very strange happened in our office. Between one of the trainees getting files from the basement store last night and the Partner going down to get files this morning the key was lost. The trainee maintained that he had returned the key to the key cabinet. The Partner questioned that if this was the case, where was the *bleep* key? The floor was searched... the fire extinguishers were moved... the box of files from last night was emptied. No key. Trainee is singularly unapologetic and maintains a defensive posture of "I put the key back". The Partner is annoyed because a) the key is gone and b) the spare key which was requested was never cut.

I embark on a quest for a locksmith. The first call quotes me £145. No thanks! The next call is down to £90. I take a reference, it might just have to be. The final call is £65 (plus VAT) and any parking fees and congestion charge. They will come before 1 o'clock. All is saved.

The locksmith duly arrives. He makes a wasted trip to our floor, I meet him and take him to the basement. We then return to the ground floor so he can go to his van to fetch tools. Is it right, he asks me, that he can park on a yellow line for 20 minutes 'loading'. I am forced to admit I have no idea as I rarely drive in Central London. I tell him that it is best not to risk it as the parking wardens in Westminster are very enthusiastic and dedicated in their work, and indeed, there is one just coming now. Locksmith sensibly asks the warden and the warden concurs that he will not get a ticket.

We return to the basement, angle-grinder in tow. Sparks fly, quite literally. The lock is cut from the door. All this takes about 30 seconds. Crisis averted.

The story behind the traffic chaos on Wednesday night turned out to be a shead load in the Tunnel. Some asbestos fell of the back of a lorry (quite literally) and the tunnel was closed until the next morning for decontamination. Oh dear.

Very bad travel day

There were a lot of things wrong with yesterday. Not least the bit where it was nearly 8 o'clock by the time I was leaving the office.

The worst bit of all was the decision by transport in the south east of London to TOTALLY mess with me on my way home.

Exhibit 1 - Jubilee Line. When I arrived at Green Park the Jubilee Line was admitting to 'minor delays'. I was sceptical to whether or not they even knew what had caused the delays as there were different stories on the boards at platform and ticket hall and yet another story from the PA man. I had to wait 7 minutes until a train, which I squeezed onto as the next advertised train was another 7 minutes after that! We stopped and started and generally bumbled down the line to North Greenwich.

Exhibit 2 - Blackwall Tunnel. When I arrived at North Greenwich the PA man was advising of delays to ALL bus routes to and from North Greenwich station. He added to this the recommendation that customers seek alternative routes. There is a problem with that statement. If ALL the bus routes are delayed then the only alternative route is to hop back on the tube. The problem with that is that North Greenwich is in the middle of two stations which are on the OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER! Canning Town (and indeed West Ham and Stratford), on the north side of the Thames. Canary Wharf, also on the north side. If you want to go all the way back to Canada Water that is on the south side... but then you still have to get all the way back to Greenwich and then to Charlton!!!

So. I decided that I had better get on the 472 which had just drawn up as I couldn't see any other buses at all waiting at the stand. The 472 takes me as far as the 'low' road (Woolwich Road) and from thence I have to walk. I got off the bus (a stop early as it turned out) and walked home... which means going up the hill by the park and then all along my road (which is VERY long).

I couldn't even go shopping as planned as the tunnel problems had gridlocked the entire Greenwich peninsula and there was no way I was going to sit in traffic for half an hour just to get to the supermarket!

Crawled out of bed this morning exhausted after the exertions of yesterday. Got to work reasonably early to find that I wasn't the only one stressed out by their current workload as the Geordie and the South African were both already there!

Can't wait for the weekend really... although have a rather unbelievable (and some might say impossible) amount to accomplish before then!!!

Conference Calling

So, this morning we had a conference call. Not a few people sitting around a table with another distant person on speaker phone, but a real live conference call where you dialled in from different places. Managed to gather 3 lawyers (my boss was rubbing his finger and thumb together making the internationally recognized gesture for money when they all introduced themselves!), 3 clients, an architect and the two of us from this office. Gosh, what fun that was... just like a meeting but accomplishing even less (who thought that was possible)!

My other boss was making porridge for his breakfast this morning. He's got these little sachets where you just add water and stick it in the microwave... so I referenced him at one point as "Goldilocks over there". Ah, we did all chuckle!

Completely overslept this morning... but amazingly still managed to make it into work within 70 minutes of having got out of bed! Wish that could happen more often - all the buses and tubes arrived when they ought to, and there was no waiting around.

Now it's nearly Wednesday!

Good grief... where has the week gone already. Today just went **whoosh**. Good thing is that my estimate went out a day early. Bad thing is that the Contract Documents STILL aren't done. Ah well. When there is so much to do, something has to give!

I have to share my bizarre travel story from Friday night. I was on the tube heading towards home - quite late as it goes, about 8pm. The driver came on to make an announcement just as we were getting towards Canary Wharf... "If there are the parents of a little lost six year old boy on this train, and they have finally remembered to come back and get him, he is being cared for by station staff". Finally... my very own strange tube announcement! Bizarre though. How can anybody lose a child at an underground station and then not go straight back on the next train?!

I managed to delightfully managed my objective of not leaving the house all weekend. Not exactly sure what I DID do, but anyhow! After going to work yesterday I'm looking forward to an extra day on the next Bank Holiday!!!

There has been nothing but talk of football in this office today. It's the first time we've all been here since the weekend. The Man U fan has been smug about Man U winning the Premiership (so annoying)... and there has been a lot of attempts to tease me about Charlton and their relegation. Stunningly missing the point that I have been telling them all since last August that Charlton were getting relegated. Bizarre conversation at the moment... I missed the beginning, but our boss just said "Same as Gary Neville, he'll never be compared to Pele either". Would love to know how the conversation started! Conversation has now fallen to whether the Man U fan would choose Roy Keane or George Best if he could only have one or the other. He is trying to get out of answering the question. South African girl just contributed with "I thought he died". Scottish boss complained "You are just trying to ruin it for us".

Other Scottish boss has just re-appeared from making a conference call. We were a bit worried about him earlier as there was a large crash from the conference room... we thought that maybe he had fallen off his chair!

The conversation about "the best football player who ever lived" is still continuing. We haven't come to a conclusion. The Man U fan is still trying to insist that it is a contemporary english player (preferably someone who does now or once did play for Man U). Apparently we are leaning towards Pele (Geordie and Scottish Bosses). Man U fan is after Beckham.

I just pointed out that the whole conversation is completely ridiculous. The comparision in any sport over time negates direct comparison as the game evolves and develops. Pele didn't play the same game that is being played now.

Have to stop typing now. Somebody left the window open and my fingers have gone blue!

Well who knew!

My phone will talk to my blog! Not that it will be easy now that I don't have a slide out keyboard. Sorry in advance for any oddness with the predictive text!

Had to go to work today, even though it is a bank holiday! Had rashly promised lots me stuff for Wednesday forgetting it was a holiday. It is amazing how much you get done when the phone doesn't keep ringing!

Jubilee line reached a new low this morning when the trains seemed to be going backwards! First it was 4 minutes to wait, then 7!

This has taken half my bus journey to write, so maybe more later.

Note to self: purchase bluetooth keyboard!

This is not a bendy bus...

Yesterday morning the bus was very full. I was later than normal, and it was obviously a while since there had been a bus. I found a nice little spot by the doors, which is a good place on modern busses as not too many people can fit in there and the doors slide instead of opening inwards. Anyway, off we went - and due to the crowded nature of the bus (which included people standing on the stairs) the driver decided not to take on any passengers. Of course, sometimes he had to stop to let some off. Solution of the crowds at the bus stops. Pile in the back doors! For amusement value (if not for getting where you are going value) it is always more fun if the driver throws a strop at this point and refuses to go any further until the illegal entrants get off again. Unfortunately yesterday's driver seemed quite happy to let all these people (who didn't pay any fare) get on. It's not a bendy bus! There are no card validators. Travel for free? Result.

This morning's bus journey was even worse. I thought that as it was about 5 to 6 the 422 might be a safe route as there would be no frustrated tunnel traffic. Unfortunately the lights by the old hospital seemed to have gone on the blink. The three way junction only allows traffic from one way at a time at the moment (actually, if the road by the hospital isn't closed its a four way junction!). We sat and waited through two phases... but the lights never turned green. In the end a frustrated motorist jumped the queue, which meant that all the traffic decides to jump the lights... until it gets to someone so far by that they don't realise the lights are stuck. Thirty minutes on the Woowich Road this morning.

I have a theory about the Blackwall Tunnel and the cancellation of the tidal flow. A while ago Greenwich Council were petitioning for the congestion charge to be extended South Eastwards. There was going to be referrendums or something. They wanted to include the Tunnel in this extension of the zone. Funny how this desire should coincide with the cancellation of the tidal flow (which we all know causes jams) should happen just now, and thus demonstrate how bad the congestion in that area is!!!

After two months of inactivity work has finally started in the car park at North Greenwich. Presumably because the Dome (sorry, of course I mean the O2) is opening soon. This is not the only work going on at North Greenwich. Very irritatingly the up escalator at the rear of the train on the Eastbound platform has been taken out of service for refurbishment. This means that unless the train terminates at North Greenwich and comes in on the middle platform... getting on at the back of the train (which is always less crowded) now necessitates a long walk to the escalator at the front of the train and then a long walk back to the ticket barriers at the ticket hall level! Fortunately the refurbishment works can't be that extensive as the escalator is supposed to be back in service by the end of May.

A mystery is sweeping London at the moment. Strange graffiti has been appearing all over the city which says simply "Brooke Shields Alphabet". Nobody knows who is doing it, why the are doing it or what (if anything) it is for! It has even got its own website! Alphabet of Brooke Shields. Rather unexcited by the whole thing as a) I think graffiti is pointless (and hard to spell!) and b) either it is some rubbish marketing campaign or it means totally nothing... but I had to mention it as it is the talk of the town at the moment!

I read in the gossip page of the Metro yesterday morning that Mel B is distressed that the wrangling with ex- Eddie Murphy and the paternity issues have been aired "so publicly". If that is the case then she would be best to stop going on TV and giving interviews or hanging around celebrity night spots and stay at home where the public can't see her!

Last night our office went out on the town. Welcoming our newest member of staff from South Africa amongst other things. After a weeks worth of debate on pricey Mayfair restaurants we ended up in Pizza Express. And there we stayed. Long after the pizza had been eaten. The wine kept on coming... until we finished their stock of a particular white wine and had to find an alternative. Eventually they called time and so we had to leave. We were walking back through Bruton Place when we noticed a plaque on the wall which said "press here" so we did... and it opened a cunningly disguised door!!! Some night club or something no doubt... we were rather surprised, to say the least. We all scattered off in various directions for the tube, and made our ways home. There were a few sore heads this morning!

I got up at 5am. Not because I had any particular desire to get to the office... but because our cat, who had been sleeping behind the bedroom door (why?) decided to jump onto my feet. I thought about going back to sleep, but I could feel her staring at me, so I got up!

Looking forward to the weekend. Not a long one for me as I've to work on Monday... but I'll have a nice Saturday/Sunday. It is my aim to not leave the house for the entire weekend if it can be helped.

All work and no play...

...new levels of busy-ness have been reached. Now I know why it is called business (ha ha!). I'm busy than a busy thing, as my friend Kim would say. In fact, so busy, I forgot to get lunch today until about 4pm. I thought that I was hungry!!!

More indecipherable cyrillic writing (really must at least learn the alphabet)... contract documents... estimates, estimates, and even more estimates. Oh, all good fun!

On a sad note, our goldfish Toby died, after a short illness. Poor Toby. Not really a goldfish, rather a shubunkin.

Here si the story of our fish tank. Once upon a time, we decided to get a fish tank. We went of to the pet shop and bought a 'starter' tank and two goldfish - CJ and Danny.

The catalyst for the purchase of the fish tank was watching the West Wing. In the West Wing, journalist Danny trying to impress White House Press Officer CJ (that's Claudia Jean) asks one of her colleagues what she likes. "Goldfish" is the reply. So, Danny buys CJ and goldfish. However, it wasn't the fish that was meant but the Goldfish Crackers!!! However, the fish stays with CJ until the end of West Wing at the seventh season. So, obviously CJ and Danny were named for those two characters. Well. CJ and Danny grew (alarmingly) and soon we decided that they needed a bigger tank.

So we got a bigger tank. Then we decided that they were probably lonely. So Toby, Sam and Nemo arrived. They were shubunkin. Toby and Sam flourished. Nemo, not so much. Nemo had a dodgy fin (hence the name, originally he was called Leo - Toby, Sam and Leo are further West Wing characters). Nemo died at a young age, and was buried in the garden. So for a while, they were four again.

Then we decided that some further companions were called for (aparently goldfish live in shoals and thus should be kept in odd numbers). Cue the arrival of Donna, Gail and Inky. (I decided that there should be more 'girl' fish - not that we have learned to accurately determine the gender of our goldfish). Donna is another West Wing character, Gail was the name of the goldfish in West Wing that started it all and Inky was named as he had black marking rather like inkspots all over his body. Sadly, one by one these fish also all died. Leaving the four alone again.

I declined for some time to purchase further fish on the basis that they kept dying. However, Rich maintained that the tank needed more fish - so eventually we went back to the pet shop and brought home Charlie, Abby and Jed. Charlie and Abby are tiny goldfish (they're a bit bigger now, but put them next to CJ and they are still very small). Jed was a shubunkin. That's right. Was. He died less than a week after we took him home. This time we took our deceased fish back to the store to get a replacement (yes, fish come with a guarantee). Welcome T'ealc. I decided no more West Wing characters (Jed is the President in the West Wing, Abby his wife and Charlie another character). I decided we should name our fish after a different TV show... why not Stargate SG-1!

So - for a month or so, all was fine. Then Toby began acting odd - his tail looked ragged, he looked thin, obviously he was not well. We'd seen it too often before. Fortunately his illness didn't last too long, and he died in the castle where the fish hide out sometimes. For a couple of days we thought that Sam was sick too - but it seems that he was mourning his friend, as reports from the fish tank today say he is back to his old self!

So that is the story of our fish!

Expanding horizons...

The wonderful world of the internet! There are so many sites out there... I feel quite like I'm in space - space is very large (according to the late great Douglas Adams: 'Space,' it says 'is big. Really big. You wouldn't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it a long way down the road to the chemists but that just peanuts to space. Listen...' and so on.) Well - that is how I feel about the internet! I just keep on finding new sites! (It is my evening tea break in the office, when I stop work for 15 minutes or so and randomly roam the Web!)

Dreary Day

Today was never going to go well. I woke up unrealistically early (2am) with a headache. So, I went downstairs to get paracetemol. Unfotunately in the dark I picked up ibuprofen instead. Unfortunately because I am allergic to ibuprofen. Fortunately I noticed after taking one (the tablet was smoother and rounder the paracetemol). A very unpleasant few hours followed, my allergic reaction is similar to asthma... I did try and go back to bed, but gave up around 5am. So - eventually I decided to go to work. I forgot (again) that the 422 is still 'out of bounds'. The abandonment of the Blackwall Tunnel tidal-flow has had an extremely negative impact on the 422 route. Less so than previously as they have built some kind of bus lane... but still a good extra 20 minutes on the journey. Note to self: no 422 in the mornings!!!

Got to work to face what turned out to be a day of recalcitrant computers. My computer is the best in the office. Dual core processor, etc. etc. But the amount of things that I tried to have it do at once crashed it several times. I spent a very tedious morning attempting to translate drawings which were variously in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish... none of which, needless to say, I speak.

Summer has definitely come to London. I went for a little work along Albemarle Street at lunchtime. Not really sunny enough as the road is too narrow and the buildings too tall to let much sun down!

The new bed is continuing to prove value for money. The extra space means that I no longer nearly fall out of bed several times a night... however my Lumie seems to be having some sort of electrical problems, it randomly keeps switching itself off... which is no good for an alarm clock!!!