Joan came back all clear from her appointment, and I have also had a similar response from my blood tests, so I guess we are just tired and in need of a break. Which we are now having, so that should do the trick.

Anyway, yesterday was more notable for the non-work than the work stuff. In the morning I had a meeting with my former colleague Richard at Ipswich Borough to sort out joint publicity for car parks/park & ride from now to Christmas which went OK. My main aim from it though was to be at his end of town come lunch time for a change. I wanted to check out a couple of second hand cd/dvd/game shops that are just too far to walk in normal circumstances. One of them proved to be a total waste of time, but the other did have 1 Lynx game so I snapped up Hydra for £3. Still in the original shrink-wrap. I also picked up Tomb Raider 2 and got number 3 thrown in free to boot.

After lunch was another town centre gyratory meeting where we finally managed to get the facts right on the leaflets and adverts. Which was good as they go to press tomorrow.

Then it was home early to start being off!

Joan went to Bingo in Ipswich (and won nothing) so I had a fiddle around on here and played some games on the N64.

Today we have been taking things easy to a degree. Done some ironing. Taken the car in for a service and am now annoyed with them as they phoned to say the front brake pads needed replacing. Now it was only pre-sales checked and MOTd 2 weeks ago so I find it a bit hard to believe that they passed it with brake pads that were only good for another 300 miles or so. Can't decide whether to make a fuss when I pick it up or write a stroppy letter and try to get money refunded.

Joan is getting her back cracked at the moment and I ought to be doing some more ironing.

Tonight we are taking Ma & Pa out for a Chinese meal in town as it was their wedding anniversary at the weekend. Will report on that next time. We are also making a few plans for things to do while we are off. On Tuesday we are going to France for the day. A horribly early start (got to be in Ipswich for 6) but it will be a laugh all the same. Only shopping rather than seeing any sights but at least it is abroad. We also plan to go to London either on Saturday or Monday depending on other circumstances.

Aaah, that's better.

Got the day off today to be with Joan and also take her to an appointment later. Then back at work tomorrow followed by more holiday until Thursday next week. We plan on a few days out - London, Norwich, Cambridge - that sort of thing.

Updates as we do them/when I get the chance!

Hmm, tried to post this last night, but Blogger didn't want to play:

Oops, knew I hadn't been doing something over the weekend. And updating here was that something. Anyway, Friday was the usual boredom-fest at work. All I really did was fart about with graphics for the new Park & Ride buses and surf the internet. Not very productive but I really don't feel that way inclined at the moment with all the change and stuff happening.

Anyway, Saturday was better. Joan was at work (but for the last time for a fortnight) so I did a bit of internetting, played a bunch of Gridrunner and went in to town to tax the car. Another £88 gone, and that only lasts 6 months, but I thought I'd rather do it that way than have to pay out for the tax at the same time as the MOT in future years. Not that I expect any work to have to be done to get through the MOT for the next couple of years anyway, but better to keep the bank manager happy!

Richard came round in the afternoon and we watched half the Iron Maiden Rock In Rio DVD (as a break from my in-car cd run - now on Live After Death by the way) and played some more games. I have now picked up a Commodore 64 emulator plus a cd with 3,000 or so games on so we are looking for some decent ones there.

In the evening we had the fairly usual for a Saturday Chinese and watched The Shawshank Redemption. What a brilliant film. Why has it taken me this long to get round to watching it? Another DVD that will get multiple plays over the years I think, unless repeated viewings aren't as good due to the surprise being lost.

Sunday we had a relaxed day. In the morning I washed & waxed the car (and found out that that scratch was old as it now shows evidence of being inexpertly touched up) while Joan cut the grass, then we had a nice lunch in the garden. After lunch we walked in to town, had an ice cream and walked home again. I then indulged in more Gridrunner before dinner when we watched Tomb Raider again. Which inspired me to finish playing it tonight in readiness for starting number 2 sometime soon. OK, so I'll have to buy it first...

Today was also fairly tedious at work. It was determined to be the official start of the new structure, so we had a meeting for the first hour to discuss that. I said almost nothing as I couldn't give a monkeys about it all. They are also trying to organise a team building exercise again (we tried a year or so ago but it all got lost in the Geof-zone when he went off sick and never re-surfaced). I think the consensus is for something involving driving tanks or 4x4s or something. If it looks interesting I shall go along, but if we end up with something where we all have to dress up stupid, carry each other around or make bridges and stuff I shall give it a miss. Either through throwing a sickie or just blatantly not going. I can't see how one day out in the woods or something is likely to change the habits of everybody that I've seen over the last 5 years. No amount of "fun" or life saving will make Ian and Mike give me timetables early enough to get the publicity out on the buses in time. That will need major re-training and cultural changes. So I'm not pinning my hopes on anything useful under the new structure.

Oh well, Joan is out getting aromatherapy right now so I shall post this then go to see how Richard survived his first day of unemployment.