Is That It Then?

All that build up, all that effort, all that worry, all that cash and in 48 hours it's all over?! I demand a recount!

I had just begun to relax and enjoy the break. Good wine (very important), good food (fairly important) and lots of Scrabble. All too soon, the 27^th sneaks up on me and I have to drag my turkey-laden ass back to London to man a deserted reception area. There's nobody here! There's not a single meeting booked in! Nada!

Next year I'm prepared to work up to Christmas Eve, just so I don't have to work again until the New Year.

Whining Aside...

It was a brilliant yuletide. I know some folk find the thought of spending time with the family a scary prospect, but it has to be said, my family are all insane. We're nutters. Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran, not to mention the rest, are all inclined to be silly at the drop of a hat. So festive periods are extremely enjoyable.

The whole 'Gay' thing still hasn't been tackled as I'm still waiting for the right moment. To be honest, I thought my family had an inkling, but then I get the Kylie book, from which my Dad proceeds to show me every picture of her with her nipples out, and a calender of her prancing around in underwear for a Christmas present. It's fairly ambiguous that one. Not entirely sure if they are saying:

'We know you like Kylie, here's her with her baps out for you to drool over'

Meaning: We have no idea

'We know you worship Kylie you great poof, here's more material to add to your shrine'

Meaning: We've known all along, just tell us for christs sake

or 'We know you like Kylie because you're a great poof, but it's an abhorrent notion'

Meaning: Here's Kylie in her underwear, it's bound to straighten you out

Still that's all a subtext that plays in the back of my mind. We had a bloody good time and laughed a lot. Even Nan and Grandad were in high spirits. Not once did I have to raise the judgement shield, although I did have to sit through a couple of rounds of 'Music today is rubbish, bring back Mantovani' and 'You kids today don't know the meaning of '.

All tolled, Christmas 2002 gets top marks. I missed my boi though who was having to endure 'trial by family' in Suffolk :o( But I get to see him today :o)

What Santa Brought

I got a surprisingly useful bunch of stuff this year, consisting of:

A fur-lined Hilfiger denim jacket (Hmm, snuggly)

A George Foreman fat-reducing grill thingy

A mains-powered cocktail blender (I predict hangovers for the New Year)

My own Scrabble board

Crave, the new fragrance from Calvin Klein

A deck of James Bond playing cards

It were great. What made me feel even better was that my presents to the family went down very well. I love that 'Wow!' look on peoples faces. It's so deflating when someone unwraps a present and the first sound to exit their mouths is 'Oh', closely followed by a sickly 'That's nice'. It concerns some people in my family so much that gift gifting now comes with the disclaimer 'Don't worry, I've got the receipt' before you've even got the ribbon off.

Okay...

Finish work for the holiday period.....Check!

Spend last night with PK.....Check!

Leave PK in London.....Ouch!

Travel to parents house in Kent.....Check!

Finish Christmas shopping.....Hoo-effing-ray!

Now what do I do?

Deck the hall, and the bedroom and the bathroom

We have a long running tradition in the family which involves my father decorating, in the DIY sense, around the festive season. Sometimes he's been known to finish on Christmas Eve!

This year he's doing the master bedroom. Why now? Erm...no-one's entirely sure.

The Christmas Wind-Up

As I get older, I'm beginning to realise just how much of a pain in the arse the Christmas Season can be. I never saw it as a kid. All I was fixated on then was when school finished and how to while away the days between then and the 25^th December.

Sounds mercenary I know, but kids are. Nowadays I realise all the external pressures on adults at this time of year. Most of them are cash related. My own situation has not been enhanced by an altercation with the Council, resulting in me having to pay off the Council Tax before the beginning of January. Cash worries me, always has and probably always will.

I now have family pressures upon me. 'When are you coming home?' my Mum kept asking. Then, obviously not impressed by my reply, arranges for me to go home tomorrow and go shopping with her to Bluewater (Damn! Foiled again). Should I contribute to the costs of Christmas at home? Am I in a position to?

I don't want to come across as all 'Bah Humbug!', because I have always loved Christmas. I love the whole 'getting together with family' bit. The Christmas Lunch, the board games, falling asleep in front of James Bond or Mary Poppins, making Nan laugh to the point that her dentures fall out, the Andy Williams Christmas album; all that says Christmas to me. I just get niggled by the other stuff.

For the first time in my life, I also have a significant other that I'm going to be away from for a whole week. I don't think we have spent more than 24 hours apart since we met and it's going to gut me. Luckily, I have to work in London on the 27^th so the 'Why aren't you staying for New Year?' conversation with Mum was skewed heavily in my favour, otherwise one week could so easily have become two.

I'll really miss you PK.

Domesticated Animal

PK attended his works do last night and, unlike me on Tuesday, looked and felt fine this morning. I had busied myself in his absence by tidying his house for him. Hoovered a bit (which was cool as he's got one of those Cyclone thingamys), laundered a bit, ironed a bit and washed up a bit. I felt really satisfied when I'd finished.

It's funny really, as it's all the things I really detested doing at my parents house. I suppose it's the difference between having it demanded of you and doing it because you want to.

New Year Frolics

We're planning to see in the New Year in Plymouth. It will be the first opportunity for PK to meet all my mates. I've warned him that they are all completely loopy, but it doesn't seem to have put him off. Foolish boi!

Ouch!

Christmas do last night.

Badly hungover.

Day off work.

Bleurgh.

# I'll Meet You By The Underground #

After last Saturdays curtailed exploration of Camden Town and it's markets, we decided to spend an entire day there this weekend. It was a bit cold and a bit damp but we lost ourselves in the diversity that Camden has to offer. Mulled Wine helped us fight off the winter chill.

We spent hours looking at clothes and antiques, arts and crafts, jewellery and food. PK bought me a silver ring that I had fallen in love with. He's so sweet.

Deciding that we'd had enough retail therapy for one day, we decided to round off the evening in the Black Cap, another very nice drinking establishment, with a very protective, moustachioed bouncer on the door.

'Have you been here before?' he intoned as we entered 'Erm...no' I replied. 'Do you know what type of club this is?' he responded 'Erm...yes' I replied. (I wanted to say 'Is it a Working Mans Club?', but thought it best not to annoy him) It was all very ritualistic. It felt like we were in the Masons, or somesuch. Still our answers seemed to satisfy him and we were ushered to the bar upstairs. There we remained until just after 11, chatting, enjoying the music and eyeing the rather cute guy at the table next to us :o)

Today, we're going to Kingston. Why? Shopping of course!

Richmond Nights

After todays fiasco at work, it's so very nice to be in my boi's arms in a very pleasant pub indeed. If you're ever in the vacinity of Richmond in South West London, give the Richmond Arms a try.

The secret is to approach it from a well disguised alley called Waterloo Place. So very Harry Potter don't you think?

Eek! The Plague

We've been running the reception desk at work with just two bodies this week, instead of the usual three. It's not a major gripe, you just have to be extra alert. People have the impression that it's a world of filing your nails and gossip, which is untrue. There's a lot of tag-boarding in there as well.

So it's been a little stressed up to today, mainly as it's year-end and I have had to log lots of invoices (yes I do that as well). Then my remaining colleagues mild cold decided to step up a gear to something nasty, and she went home at midday.

So I'm all alone, and it's a mite stressful. 'Do you want me to get a temp in?' my manager asked in a 'I dare you to say yes' tone of voice. 'No bother' I said 'I'll be fine'. Heaven forfend that they might actually have to spend money.

Grr! Do I get paid to do three peoples work? Do I, in fact, get paid as much as the other two? The answer in both circumstances is a simple 'No'.

Forcibly Disconnected

This day can't get any better! First my boi is feeling unwell (Poor bunny - *hugs*) so no fun out and about tonight, then I'm abandoned at work and now they tell me they're gonna disconnect the internet at 5 this evening, for emergency work. My last life support system is being taken from me! Surely there's something in the Declaration of Human Rights about Denial of Access To Weblogs?

I hope the trains are running okay this evening, as the sooner I can get out of this City the better! Could this all be the curse of Friday 12a^th?

One Less Stunner...

Pablo, the gorgeous little Italian who only wanted me for my meeting rooms, left the company this afternoon. Didn't even say goodbye....and after all I did for him....*sniff*....I'm not hurt, honestly.

Thank The Gods For Kylie

We have firewalls to stop us doing fun stuff with the Internet at work (Audio, Video, media downloads in general) but, lo and behold, Kylie's audio sampler works perfectly on Kylie.com

I'm busy trying out all the new remixes whilst the reception area is empty :o)

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful...

Having only just regained the feeling in my ears after standing on the platform of Twickenham Station at 7:40am, I felt it my duty to let you know immediately just how incredibly cold it is in London at the moment.

It's very cold. Bitter. Brass monkey weather.

Swimming In Focus

No it's not a documentary series, but instead the shape of things to come (for me anyhoo). I have found a range of websites that sell prescription goggles and send them out mail order. Simple as that!

Now if I could only find the money to pay for them.

Out & About

I have spent the last few days thinking 'I really must blog at some point', but every time I came within striking distance of an Internet connection something went wrong. Last night is was the death of PK's Broadband connection, the day before we were in a hurry to meet people and I only had time to check my e-mail.

So this has been the first opportunity I've had really.

The last three days have been truly brilliant. To be honest it's nice to actually do things with my weekend now, which comes hand in hand with having someone to do them with. PK and I began our weekend with a night on the town. We followed the pattern of our first night out and met in KU Bar. I arrived late due to a domestic panic. PK had never seen my flat before, so I had to tidy like mad after work and then get ready to go out.

Just before we left KU Bar, we were photographed by their in-house photographer, so the gods alone know where that's going to turn up!

It was the first time I had got to hold PK's hand as we wandered around Soho that evening. It felt sooo nice. (If I gush too much, just tell me and I'll shut up)

Meet The Family

Saturday was spent shopping. Shopping of all kinds. I am a bit of a retail slut, it must be said. We started in Camden looking around the markets, then headed to meet PKs sister in Kensington. She was down from Bristol for a days shopping with her boyfriend and arranged to meet PK in Kensington High Street.

I didn't actually buy anything, but shopped vicariously through PK, who bought a stunning fur lined denim jacket. Tres sexy!

Then on to Covent Garden! Shops were visited, real Irish Guinness was drunk (fresh from Dublin Yum, Yum, Yum!) and a good time was had by all. The South West posse headed back to Bristol and PK and I headed for Retro Bar, to get happily pissed and act like lovesick teenagers.

And On The Seventh Day...

...we did next to nothing. In fact we didn't get out of bed until around 3, after our brunch of porridge (which actually looked like porridge this time :o)

Good Luck!

My boi has got a big sales demonstration today, which he was stressing over last night and this morning. So I'm sending happy thoughts out over the internet.

Trial By Porridge

PK invented a whole new entity this morning. It looks like a Star Trek alien and can be used as a warming breakfast food or for waterproofing the bottom of fishing vessels.

Not that it wasn't very nice, because it was, but it gave your jaw a good workout in the process. He must be having a 'Bad Oats Day'.

Voyage To The Bottom Of The Pool

Who forgot that he hadn't been swimming in 9 years? Who couldn't remember how to breathe properly? Whose eyesight has degraded rather a lot since the last time he went swimming, so nothing's in focus these days? Who did one and a half lengths before having an extremely bad panic attack in water 10 feet deep?

Yes that was all me. I emerged from the pool on Monday night a bit of an emotional wreck. Luckily, PK was with me or I'd have been a real mess.

I did manage to swim 9 lengths, but I had to relocate to the other part of the pool where I was able to stand up if I ran out of steam! Meanwhile, children doing swimming lessons were lapping me. I had no idea that I'd lost that much of my confidence in water. I'm determined to get it back, but it may take a while.

Humph!

Whose idea was working for a living?

I'm really not adjusting to this work stuff very well, after what was an incredibly relaxed week off. I've decided something more exciting is in order, careerwise. Maybe a beekeeper? Or possibly Bishop of Bath & Wells?

Dolphin Lessons

I'm embracing my Inner Carp and going for a swim this evening. It's the next step in the project to get me fit. PK can manage 60 lengths! I'll be content with 16 to begin with. Or even 6.

Now where did I put my water-wings?