Well, Richard has made it in today (afternoon only as directed) so I will be taking him home. Which does of course mean that I have to stay until five now. I was kind of hoping to slope off early as the weather was so nice but I guess it is not to be. Never mind, three days should do me instead.

Comic Relief today so we are mostly dressed in a "relaxed" manner and red hair is spreading throughout the office. I didn't get a chance to pop up town at lunchtime, but there were apparently plenty of strangely dressed fools trying to get people to part with their money. And of course a marathon of comedy and serious stuff on the telly tonight. We have been watching the celebrity version of Fame Academy all week and been quite impressed by some of the talent on display. I wish I could sing some days...

I am just really bored again this afternoon. Loads of jobs both large and small waiting for my attention but I can't face any of them. Plus I feel like picking at chocolatey foodstuffs and am trying to avoid such temptations, which is never easy.

Still no confirmed timetables. I think they should have them sorted by Tuesday when I'm next in though. Fingers, toes and anything else crossed that will cross. Of course it did make the meeting we had first thing to decide how we are going to publicise the new stuff a little one sided. So, Simon, what's changing? Don't know yet. Where is it affecting? Don't know yet. And so forth.

Then it was straight into my second one to one meeting with Sonic. Went pretty well and have some more issues sorted and others to chase. He is also going to see if he can sort the time for toothwork stuff.

Looking forward to the three day weekend now. Just hope the weather stays as sunny as it is today. For it is glorious outside.

A good meeting with the current leader of the Ipswich Partnership helped to lift the mood somewhat yesterday. He seems a lot more on the ball than the previous head and wants to do lots to help promote Park & Ride. Obviously we shall see how it goes but any help with pulling in the punters is fine by me. For my part I merely have to look again at the concept and prospect of finding some sort of in town left luggage facility and produce a revised all in one idiots guide to using P&R type leaflet (which I was planning to do anyway). Easy life!

I was also fortified by a nice beef and egg on granary roll from Alberts for lunch which gave me the will to get through the afternoon and finish off the first draft New Routes booklet. Now all I need is a bit of help filling in a few blanks and we are probably ready to go to press. Except of course for the fact that Louise from personnel, who has been working on the project with us, is now going off for a six month secondment at St. Edmundsbury Borough Council and the person who will be taking her place on the team is on holiday until next Wednesday, which is also the day I am presenting it to the rest of the group. Stonkingly bad timing if you ask me.

That lead in to a nice relaxed evening and a pretty good sleep. Today however...

Got up fine (eventually after the alarm had gone off half a dozen times and Tawny had taken to attacking our feet) and got to work fine (even managed to clock in at the same time as yesterday despite leaving later). Logged in fine and started reading the emails and tinkering with graphics etc. Phoned Joan to make sure she was up in time for her dentist's appointment. Then from behind came "hello Simon, have you got a minute?"

It was Claire from IT. Richard's nerves had hit him again and it was big brother to the rescue. So he has now gone home (luckily he had a lift in from Mum again today and she was still in the vicinity as he had had trouble earlier in actually getting out of the car it seems). I really don't need to get involved with his hassles at the moment. I have enough of my own to be worrying about. Still, I will do what I can as he really does need to get back in to the swing of working and most of this job is really ideal for him. I know it took him a while to get in to routine when he started his last job, and has had recurring problems since, but there really is only so much I can do. Trouble is, I don't like leaving Ma & Pa with all the hard work of sorting him out, soft bugger that I am.

Anyway, the rest of the team have finally made some decisions on the tender front so I might just get some timetables today...

Joan's trip to the dentist sounds almost as yucky as mine is going to be. She is having a crown put in for a tooth that has shuffled off this mortal coil and today was all the preliminary work. I think she was expecting impressions only but ended up getting drilling and removal and a temporary fitting put in as well. She also made an appointment for me to have a chat about everything on Monday so that should at least put my mind to rest one way or the other.

Oh Goat. Another grey, wet, grotty in general miserable day out there today. Which in many ways suits me fine as I'm feeling kind of miserable myself this morning. Partly through my own copy of the confirmation letter meaning my head is wandering off to dental thoughts whenever I give it a chance. I'm just so sacred by either option and don't know what to think any more.

And then I was dreaming on varied subjects last night (including Joan driving off to pick people up from the airport and clearing a house presumably belonging to a deceased relative of some kind) and throughout the different scenarios I was crying in the dreams. Which naturally didn't allow me to wake up in the best of spirits.

So being in here listening on other people moaning on about there current problems coupled with the lack of time to make lunch meaning I'm going to have to go out in the rain later isn't helping lift the mood either. Definitely one of those days where I wish I could go home and just go back to bed to switch off from the world for a few hours until I feel more like facing it. All of which means I don't much feel like cutting down the tablets any further at the moment after all. Of course I may well feel completely different about things tomorrow, which is half the trouble with the whole issue. Give me stability! And perhaps some bottled enthusiasm I can take a sip from on days like this when I seem to be lacking in the real thing.

On a slightly more positive note, we are at least expecting some information on what service changes are coming up to be confirmed today. Well, the second round tenders are due back which will hopefully have brought the prices down to something we can actually afford. So with any luck I might just get some final timetables to play with and put together after lunch. A nice, detailed job I can get stuck into without my brain having the chance to lose focus and start thinking about teeth again.

Went out for a wander with Richard at lunch time. I think he will do OK once he settles in. If they get round to telling him what to do of course rather than leaving him sat there with no idea. And I'm not giving him a lift home either as I need to be at Argos before he is planning to finish. Must remember that he isn't my responsibility and he is (reasonably) grown up and everything now.

Have had my designers hat on again today. Stil fiddling with the structure chart thingy I've been working on for Mitchell. Also begining the crafting of the New Routes explanatory booklet. Need to add a splash more colour to that as well as the facts just to make it a touch more visually interesting. Plus I think we will need some new and improved photos to illustrate our points so hopefully the sun will come out soon and I can wangle a day wandering around the county taking them.

There has been another load of blowing up from assorted people in here today due to things going wrong or being dumped on them through the new structure. In some ways I'm kind of glad I did stay where I am in terms of what I do for now as at least I'm not suffering in that way.

Had a phone call from the normal dentist earlier. They have now had a letter from the specialist and wanted to make an appointment for me to talk it all through with him and get the bits done that need to be done in Felixstowe. Except of course that can't happen before I am supposed to see the Colchester Hygenist at (no doubt) vast expense. So we are going to see if we can at least pop in for a chat before then. Still not sure what I want to do in myself, other than avoid pain where possible. I just wish the thought of losing my teeth was actually scarier than the prospect of what it will take to save them - that would no doubt shove me in the right direction. And then there is still the exorbitant cost to consider. Right, nearly time I wasn't here.

So why do we get wound up by such trivial little details? An item on the news this morning about kids being scared off railway travel by the number of crashes they see on Thomas The Tank Engine tv episodes. Which naturally meant people phoning in and talking about Thomas The Tank. No Engine. Thus implying a piece of military hardware. Just drives me up the wall. Must calm down now and eat lunch...

Bum, bum, bum and bum. Don't you justhate when you press cut rather than copy and then when Photo Editor arses up the file you are trying to manipulate you haven't got the original anymore? Or is it just me? Oh well.

More hot and happening dreams last night. One where Joan was coming to work with me, and we were also bringing the cats. Although it was nice to have Barney back from the dead it did kind of tip me off that the whole thing was not real. Then another one later on where I was in a record shop in Derby (but located where I know there used to be a launderette) seeking out some strange and rare cds (and indeed vinyl) while under pressure from some strange young black lad wanting to stick a knife in me if I bought the wrong things. After making the purchase I then took him in to town to the Industrial Museum, which was in the middle of being re-vamped to include modern art as well. So strange sculptures and the like in the middle of displays of jet engines and old cranes. I never will understand my head.

Still, I've made it here in to the office despite the best efforts of Suffolk Coastal District Council to keep me away - got stuck behind a Dustcart while dropping Joan off at work and then further hindered by both a recycling collection wagon and a roadsweeper before getting out of Felixstowe. Must be some kind of conspiracy to keep my hours down. And on arrival have found my new holiday card at last. And only 4 extra days added rather than the five I was expecting (despite Charles getting the full five for starting a week before me but then being off for 7 weeks straight away). Grrrr.

Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men and all the rest of that quote I can't remember right now. Fair does your head in some day. I mean, I've only been in communication with a local school youth club for months now trying to arrange a convenient date for getting some pictures of them to use in the Park & Ride newsletter and finally settled on Thursday this week. With some models they made of the buses. Which only got thrown away by an over zealous teacher last week. Makes me want to scream! Still, they are going to use the service in a couple of weeks so I will grab hold of them then instead (and please, no funny remarks about me grabbing hold of school girls). Puts the newsletter back a few days on my planned publication date and changes the focus of what I was going to write a bit but does at least give me more time to think up what else I can cover.

This afternoon's meeting went OK. A big wave of tiredness caught me near the start of it by I managed to pull myself together again. I seem to have been nominated to summarise it for the rest of the group next week, but that isn't too much of a hardship as it will at least give me something to think about and play around with on the computer in the gaps until then.

I was planning on going home as soon as I got out of it too, mainly to get some dinner thoughts organised and close my eyes for a bit, but as another hour has passed since then and it is now nearly time I would have left normally, I think I will give that concept a miss. And of course tomorrow who knows when I will leave, what with Richard starting and all. He has made it very clear that he doesn't want a lift in with me to start with as it will get him here too early but has said nothing about going home again. After all, we don't know whether he will be allowed to park on site and I can't see him paying £3.50 a day to use the nearest public parking. Hey ho.

I think I've waffled on here enough today so let me get away.

This morning's big meeting on Park & Ride went OK. Basically the chap from our contracting unit agreed to do the studies into site improvements I want and Mitchell agreed to pay for them from the capital budget rather than my P&R ones. Bit of a result really. However I have now been given responsibility for any local action plan work or other miscellaneous stuff that comes up in Suffolk Coastal. Now, this should be good news as it will mean a bit more work to fill in the quiet patches and most of the involvement is likely to be in Felixstowe rather than other parts of the patch. The county has been split between the team so there might well be some sort of competitive spirit engendered now over who gets the most out of their area. We shall see. Whatever happens at least I've got "home" turf to think about.

It is also blinking freezing in the office today. Just when I thought it was going to be safe to put the jumpers away until the autumn too. Not cold enough for me to think about taking up hot drinks though - especially with the state the kettle here seems to be in (based on the complaints about scum and general crap floating in drinks most people give, but no-one ever wants to clean the thing out so they only have themselves to blame).

On the news this morning was a call from the RAC to investigate whether people on anti-depressants ought to be driving or not. I kind of agree with them the way I've been feeling some mornings recently. Which is of course another good incentive to keep up with the withdrawal process. I'm quite looking forward to the end of next week when I will have to decide if the time is right to cut down further or to stay where I am for a bit longer. As most of the problems I've had since cutting down have been physical rather than mental or emotional I am currently thinking I will. Plus we are actually off that weekend to see Chicago on the Saturday and I have the dayy off work on the Monday which should all help with the immediate alteration situation should anything arise.

Well that was a largely wasted weekend. Saturday I got up, had a spot of breakfast, realised I had a bit of a headache, went back to bed and woke up again at lunchtime. I followed lunch with a bit of Cube-ing, decided I still felt ill and went back for another couple of hours. Only really got up when it was time to pick Joan up from work.

Had perked up enough by then to go round to Ma & Pa's for a nice dinner, but we were both a bit zonked by the time we got home again.

Yesterday Joan was in much the same boat and she had the late start and afternoon snooze. We did manage to squeeze in a bit of shopping and watch the Grand Prix, but that was it.

So, what did I think of the first race under 2003 rules? Not bad. I'll be honest, I'd not been paying attention over the winter so wasn't up to speed with what the new rules actually were. The new qualifying method looks very interesting even if it didn't throw up any major surprises this time around, and will certainly be worth watching. And it was good to see Coulthard win. I will see how the season goes...

Cube-wise what I did was to thrash through another couple of levels on Timesplitters 2. Some great set-pieces lurking in there (such as the use of Gunpowder trails to blow up a wagon of dynamite in the Western Level) and I'm looking forward to running through them all again on harder difficulty and in co-op mode some time. Plus they are a good source of inspiration for when I start messing about with the map-maker options. Roll on some spare time to experiment!

Did a spot of MP3 to MD transfer while I was ironing yesterday. Another disc's worth of Cruel Brit@nnia who I urge people to go and look for. Really rather clever stuff and again fitting in the category of music I wish I had the time and talent to make.

All the sleep naturally lead to some pretty bizarre dreams again. One I think must have been inspired by the Western TS2 level mentioned above. Joan and I were going to an old west themed wedding where all guests were expected to attend in costume. Nothing too odd there except that it was Joan who went as the leather chapped gunslinger and me as the saloon floozy. And of course nobody batted an eyelid.

The other big one I recall was another full-on production number featuring superheroes in department stores, helicopter attacks on family homes and much other strangeness. Left me feeling quite exhausted when I woke up!