Although it's been a long day and the drive to Hampshire & back was bleedin' terrible due to the weather/traffic, I've actually had a lot of fun! 'Organisational Change' is my 'thing' so got chance to get a load of stuff raised that needed addressing and had some excellent company - two girls I used to work with years ago were there and we created a naughty corner by being our usual vocal and opinionated selves - I think we may possibly have hacked off the Consultants but I actually feel like I've done something worthwhile :o)

Retail therapy - I think not!

Despite warnings from friends such as "Don't do it! Save your soul and shop on the net!!', now I get 25% discount at John Lewis I felt the need to brave Solihull & the posh Brum accents in an attempt to conquer the Xmas shopping. Fought my way through the hoards of people who obviously think that shopping is a leisure activity and potter slowly down the Mall in no particular direction; frustrated by Sales Assistants who can't be arsed to serve customers or shovel an expensive item of clothing into a carrier bag without firstly folding neatly in tissue; irritated by the fact that no one seems to be able to do stock control any more, and if I hear 'everything we've got's already out' in monotone again I may resort to violence....
Now absolutely knackered and think my arms about six inches longer from carrying so many bags! A marathon but successful trip.....need a spot of 'mother's ruin' to wipe away the trauma and deaden the pain from my poor feet!

After a fairly hectic week I decided I needed to chill so settled down with coffee & the papers. Loads in there about the Dubai financial crisis & this clever cartoon of Palm Island with the letters 'DEBT' at the end of the fronds. Loads of mixed messages about what's going on with the bankruptcy and how Dubai World might be affected. My Middle Eastern 'source' reckons the Central Bank in Abu Dhabi will inject some cash and will probably pick and choose assets they like in Dubai’s cupboard such as the QE2 and possibly Emirates, they've also mentioned an interest in Emaar which owns the Mall & the Marina. Not sure what if any material effect it will have on my contact apart from the possibly the building on his new apartment grinding to a halt until things re-stablise. I guess with the level of excess out there this was bound to hit eventually.

100 lines & a detention

Target Setting day at school so I have appointments for both sproglets bright & early this morning. Minor Mayhem is first so I will need to brace myself...pretty sure the teachers can't believe he is from the same household as the girls. Expecting lots of "bright but....", " too chatty", "needs to focus", "could do better", "plenty of opinions... which he can't keep to himself".
Would it be wrong to fortify oneself with a drop of 'Mothers Ruin' beforehand?

When it's time to go

it's time to go...email I was copied into today...

"I’ve been made redundant. For those who can’t make my farewell drinks, I’ve put together a little FAQ:

Are you happy to be going? F*ck Yes! After you’ve been told that you’re going to be made redundant you go through 3 stages, grief (1 day), anger (1 week), and then euphoria (depends on your redundancy payout). I’m currently in the euphoria stage.

What will you miss the most? The people, and the apple crumble muffins from the coffee shop

What will you miss the least? The politics, the inefficiency, that fact that I get paid X but charged out at 5X, crappy IT, email waffle from management, the continual restructuring “to help us meet market expectations”, just the general Dilbert’ness of it all . "

Insomnia reigns

So having reviewed & commented on the eldest's assignment "if racism is defined as politically or morally unacceptable, there must be a reasonable consensus about what it is...discuss"...you'd think I'd have slept soundly...unfortunately the insomnia is still ever present so the early hours of the morning found me wandering the house mulling over other aspects she could potentially feed into her assignment such as positive discrimination; mentally compiling my presentation for a meeting I am facilitating with the local high school governors next week; considering the childcare logistics for the coming fortnight which is decidedly packed; debating what to do for dinner the next day, whilst simultaneously "Fire" by Kasabian (my current favourite track), played the the background of my right frontal lobe and lights, similar to those you see on high-speed film of traffic at night, whizzed by somewhere else in my head :o/

.....Please let me sleep!!!!

Pheasant pie

Chap at work told me an amusing incident...he'd been driving home when the car in front of him hit a pheasant. Both cars stopped and the guy in front said to him "there's a law which says if you kill a pheasant you can't pick it up as road kill, so much as I love pheasant I can't have it. Do you fancy it?" So he picks it up and puts it in the boot thinking he'll pluck it & stick it in the oven when he gets home. Deciding he needs some extra ingredients he parks up in Ledbury (a genteel market town) and opens the boot to be greeted by this frantically flapping & squawking bird...apparently previously only stunned (obviously not as in The Dead Parrot Sketch), now risen like Lazarus! Unsure what to do and concerned it is going to run amok he decides his only option is to break its neck which he duly does....and then hears a thud as the tweed-clad woman about to get in the car parked next to him passes out cold!