Fraught start to the day

Minor Mayhem ‘helped’ in the kitchen deciding to do the lunches for Miss Sensible and himself....tuna melt wraps. Great idea in essence but a bad move…he got distracted by something on TV and left the lovingly prepared culinary delights under the grill setting off the smoke alarm....my shower was somewhat curtailed & the neighbours may well have got a bit of an eyeful as I sped downstairs clad only in a towel!!! Think it's safest if I do the lunch-boxes myself in the future.

Amaretto Sours in the Steel City

Strident Student summoned me to spend a weekend in Sheffield to celebrate the end of her exams and the start of a new career for moi. It turned out to be somewhat knackering but a great break from real life. Spent Saturday afternoon with her housemates and then in the evening went out for a lovely Italian (meal not waiter!) before heading on to a cocktail bar. Obviously to integrate into the new environment properly it's necessary to sample to local fare, so we tried a few new concoctions and have discovered a fresh favourite – Amaretto Sours.

Following the alcoholic intake I just wanted to crash but had to share a bed with the eldest who not only grinds her teeth, but also hogs the quilt…there’s a lot to be said for sleeping on your own! Interesting experience using the bathroom too….less said about that the better, suffice to say that it wasn’t helped by the fact the girls use the bath to dye their hair so there are assorted stains around the place...can't be sure what's hair colour and what's dirt! Needless to say I wished I had the power to levitate whilst using the shower.

Sunday morning was spent wandering around the City. There are some great one-off eclectic shops with loads of ‘interesting’ bits…just the type of thing I love. Had a natter over a coffee and cake before I eventually had to head back home. Great weekend and lovely to have some 'quality time with her and chance to talk to her about life, the Universe & everything.

PS> the elegant looking beverage is a Bombay Berry

Two muscly blokes

with dreadlocks & assorted piercings have been ripping up the floor. Pourquoi? There's a 2ft void underneath the lounge floor ventilated by airbricks in the wall. When the weather's really cold or windy there's a fair draught comes up through the gaps between the beautifully stripped floorboards. Not good with being cold so I did some research & found you can insulate using a special method. Managed to locate & purchase the stuff but know I'd be out of my depth installing it hence dragging in a couple of chippies to do the necessary.

So what's with the snap...nope, not a forensic examination of my cooking, Paul's using one of the 'Silent Witness' suits and a miners helmet (including lamp!) whilst crawling in the floor void. Just hope he doesn't discover any dead bodies while he's down there!

Cinnamon sprinkled Mocha and an almond croissant

in the cafe at work eased a couple of hours discussing the need to change a whole heap of things. It could have been the caffeine intake or sugar rush but I seem to have volunteered to write a paper making recommendations.

Starting to try to work out what else I might need to do before I go. I'm a bit of a 'completer-finisher' so don't want to leave with stuff half done...hate the idea of anyone bad-mouthing me when I've gone.

Ashes to Ashes

mind-set today...you know, living in a different dimension/paradigm so feeling slightly hard-nosed & with nothing to lose so went into work in my highest f*ck me boots and leather jacket ‘cos I felt like it...but had forgotten it was the accounting period review which meant that the MD, FD and merry bunch of management were in the conference room next door. Got a few raised eyebrows. Haven't had the answer about my VR application but I think I might be starting to get de-mob happy.

First couple of days after saying I want to leave has felt like a bit of a roller-coaster. Hard to walk away from something you believe in and have given so much effort. I've gone back to not being able to sleep again so completely knackered. Took the magic sleeping draught again last night... made me conk out completely and I struggled to come round this morning but fortunately it's been a relatively easy day.

Four hours with a mad Materials Scientist

discussing skills, competencies and resource profiling. At the risk of sounding 'sad' and damaging my credibility completely I have to say I genuinely enjoyed my meeting with the Technical Director. He's a 'right character', brain the size of the planet and a great dry sense of humour. I learnt all kinds of stuff about that side of the business (weapons & energetics), loads about the MoD and Manchester Uni where he's a visiting Professor as well as plenty of gossip about some of our senior management. It was a real eye-opener and a reminder of what I'm going to miss.

Giant step for Frostykind

I've put my hand up for Voluntary Redundancy! Strictly speaking I'm not eligable as I'm outside the areas they want to cut, but they're looking to reduce management by 50% & are only offering quarter the usual amount so it's worth a punt as they'll want to get the headcount down.

Dunno how I expected to feel really, but it's almost like ending a relationship...know you've tried all you can & it's finally time to walk away, but doesn't stop you hoping the other party will wake up and realise what they've got. Work-based counsellor said "It is their loss - who else is going to do what you have been doing? They'll leave it then they'll pay a team of Consultants shed-loads of dosh to come in and tell us how we could do resource planning better and will come up with the same ideas as you!"

Ironically this morning the Technical Director of another Sector of the business asked for a meeting tomorrow as he wants to adopt the approach I've suggested then I had a further call from someone elsewhere in the organisation asking for more information about what information the systems could provide.
Ah well, as the saying goes, sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone...