If in doubt cook

or make soup has always been my motto...2 banana and maple syrup loaves lovingly prepared for Minor Mayhem and the office...always a thereputic exercise and method of winning friends and influencing ;-) plus a large pan of roasted red pepper & sweet potato soup to sustain the Frosty family.

Pleased to see that my upbringing is rubbing off on the kids. The starving student has recently been known to ring me from the supermarket, provide me with a potential list of heavily discounted foodstuffs and ask for a suitable recipe á la 'Ready Steady Cook"...nothing like being put on the spot.

Minor Mayhem shows a keen interest in food mostly on the consumption side but occasionally assisting in the kitchen particularly if the opportunity to lick out bowls is on offer. However to my chagrin he is obviously a second generation Northerner as can be seen from his choice of ingredients for the savoury scones he is baking at school tomorrow....ham, cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Don't know if you have read it, but Stuart Marconie's book 'Pies & Prejudice' starts with him remarking that he knew he had crossed the north/south divide when he had the sundried tomatoes and a cappuccino maker in his kitchen!

Had hoped to take the kids to see ‘the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus’. Really like Terry Gilliam’s films (particularly The Fisher King, Twelve Monkeys & Time Bandits) and this latest has the added advantage of Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Heath Ledger….too young for me, but nice to look at ;-) Although it’s been heavily advertised as being out from 16^th Oct it’s still not in any of the local cinemas as yet :o/

Settling for a dvd - 'A matter of loaf & death' accompanied by copious amounts of popcorn and toasted marshmallows in front of an open fire :o)

West End Girls

Did a spot of shopping in the West End. The Xmas windows in Liberty and Selfridges are fab - the latter are based around Pantomimes but with a risqué edge - very clever. The 'Look Out He's Behind You' in particular made me laugh...you probably get the gist ;o) Love the buzz of the shops over the build up to Xmas and sometimes think wistfully back to my days in retail management especially when I ventured into Top Shop - that really brought back some happy memories. Didn't manage to do any major retail therapy as I had a train to catch but picked up a couple of bits for the girls Xmas pressies.

Trip to the big City

Attended the first of a series of modules on Workforce Planning which was really interesting. Nice bunch of delegates and the tutor was very informative. May be a bit 'sad' to say this but I thoroughly enjoyed it. What was even better was the view from the conference room which was on the 7th floor of a lovely swish office block - almost panoramic views taking in the Gerkin, Monument, the Tower of London, London Bridge and the Thames.

And the votes are in for most popular employee

and the winner is...Bernard!

a local cat who strolls around the site, sneaking into buildings when someone swipes in and then making himself very much at home. We’ve nicknamed him Bernard after the building we’re in. Although today he was manning the reception desk there is no need to contact the RSPCA about potential exploitation - one of the PAs keeps a box of cat food in her desk to make sure he’s provided with sustenance, and he's always assured of plenty of fuss. Hardly surprising he comes back so frequently, like most males he knows when he’s onto a good thing.

Who moved the Hills?

Fog & low cloud today :o(

the view from the office is nowhere near as pleasant as usual

...one of those days where you start to feel the need to hibernate

It's been a long, long, dull, dull day

doing process mapping with a view to streamlining/outsourcing some of the HR function...a fun-filled day which will make me distinctly popular with my HR colleagues, not.

The day's entertainment was provided by a pair of Consultants fluent in management bollox who thrived on encouraging the attendees to wallpaper the conference room in various shades of 'post-it' notes. If I heard one more "let's brainstorm that", "park that thought", "it's a win:win scenario", "how do you feel about that" or "I think we're making progress people" I think I would have had to shoot them to put us all out of our misery...

problem is I've got another five days of this over the next three weeks...deep joy :o/