Still feeling annoyed by the marketing team. And not actually helped by the Manager coming along trying to butter me up for another project. And now my PC has been playing up again and refusing to print without 27 re-starts and so forth. Grrrrrr. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be happier tomorrow (and no, a big dose of chocolate didn't improve my mood either).

Joan has been to the dentist, again, and still has infection problems with her tooth. He has drilled up and released a load of nastiness then packed the hole with antiseptic stuff. Lovely. Will have to remember not to breathe when kissing her tonight.

Finished Holy Fire on the bus home last night. Good stuff. Not sure if I understood it all, but I definitely enjoyed it. Mind you
I'm not sure I want to have understood some of the medical stuff. A bit gruesome in places. Have now started Inventing the 20th Century - 100 Inventions that shaped the modern world by Stephen van Dulken which does exactly what it says on the
tin...

Funny how it only takes one small thing to get one's back up. Today started off fine, Joan off and I managed to get out of the house early enough to make using Martlesham Park & Ride practical (in fact got my earliest arrival time at the office so far this week out of it), no complaining emails to find on arrival and all well in the world. Then Ian comes along and asks if I can add the new shuttle bus stops to my P&R leaflets (we are funding a town centre shuttle thingy as part of the move to Endeavour House as councillors don't think people can walk the 200 metres or so to the current nearest bus routes). He then shows me the draft shuttle map. Which is blatantly derived from my P&R publicity. It would have been nice to be asked if they could use it, or at least to be told that they were using it. I'm not normally a bitter person, but this has just wound me up.

Today's word from the forgotten English calendar is "Niggle" which I use all the time. But of course these days it means small, irritation or suchlike whereas the 1895 definition quoted is "Small, fine or cramped handwriting; a scribble, a scrawl" so I guess I can see how the meaning has mutated over the last 100 years.

Today's odd thing - we have just had a new member of staff turn up. Didn't even know we were looking for one. I think he is actually from a consultant here to help with database wrangling, rather than a direct employee, but we shall see.

This is bizarre. Or totally expected. I have sneakily installed the BBC radio player software to the work PC and am typing this listening to a repeat of last Sunday's "Freak Zone" from BBC Radio 6. One of the stations only available through digital radio/satellite/the web. I would listen to it at home through the dish if I ever remembered to. We are not in a digital coverage zone yet in Felixstowe so not worth buying a proper digital radio (ideally I'd like a pocket one that could travel around with me, and indeed use at work as the quality via the web is pretty appalling). Anyway, the show in question is usually hosted by Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden but as he is off on tour at the moment Paul Morley of Words And Music fame. And he is talking just like the book was written. Which is, as stated, either bizarre or expected. However, I am prepared to put up with that and the low quality as he played some of the stuff mentioned in the book I'd not encountered before. Which is great.

So we are both back at work. Not too bad for me. Yesterday mainly spent catching up on loads of emails and sorting out staff discount and new stops for Park & Ride linked to the office move. Not so good for Joan but she is plodding on and only has to get to the end of next week before she is off again anyway. She did speak to someone high up in personnel about the whole situation which hopefully will help in the long term, but left her feeling sick when having to do it.

Oh, and we watched the film version of Chicago on Sunday night. Very glossy and fun.

I think if we ever get to the stage of winning big on the lottery (yeah, like that's ever going to happen) and can give up work we will have to change a few things about how we spend all the free time compared to a holiday from work spent at home. Like giving me some time to get on here to start with. I'll be honest, I didn't want this blog to be just the simple record of what we've been up to it seems to have become. I was hoping to get a bit more in depth on some topics, writing about books and music and films in much the way I do about the computer experience over at Way Of The Rodent, trying my hand at bits of short fiction and stuff, then sticking them up here for all to see. As it stands I never seem to have the time, and when you think there ought to be a chance - on holiday - there is even less to play around with. So, should we ever get to the state of "permanent holiday" I think we'll have to be more regimented in doing a bit of everything.

So, what did I do with a week then?

Monday was of course the Charter Mark seminar. Got there in time despite the train's brakes being stuck on for a while just into London. I think we stand a pretty good chance of keeping the award if I am given the time and backing to do the work that will be required. I know the previous director was dead keen on all the gongs and plaques on the wall etc, we shall have to see where our priorities lie under the new system. They have combined a lot of the old criteria into fewer sections now, but added a new one about impacting on the wider community. Like I say, I think we should be OK but we shall have to wait and see.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in a big spring clean of the house. OK, it needed doing and the place looks lovely again (although the dustmen were probably less than happy with the amount of junk we threw out) but I could have used a few minutes of fun in there...

Thursday Joan had to go to the dentist in the morning for a filling. Not fun. Especially as a bit of x-ray investigation turned up an infection up in her jaw as well. So she is now on anti-biotics for that to add to the excitement. We then had lunch with Mum & Dad round at the White Horse and finished off by taking Tawny to the vet for her annual booster injection. She enjoyed that about as much as Joan had liked the morning. And they have decided her teeth are in a state so we have to take her back in a couple of weeks to be knocked out and cleaned up. Which will no doubt cost an absolute fortune. She is worth it, but we could use not having the expense.

Friday we went into Ipswich, did a bit of shopping (even finding some top notch Old Navy gear in one of the cheap shops, which was a welcome surprise) and met Jacqui from Ipswich Argos for lunch. A good day really. Then yesterday we spent food shopping, doing final tidying and cooking for Mum, Dad and Richard coming along for dinner. That went very well too (and another 15 out of 10 to Joan for her culinary wizardry).

The only film we have managed to watch all week is the second Tomb Raider - The Cradle Of Life. As with the first, not much of a plot more a stringing together of action sequences in exotic locations, but fun all the same. I treat them more as extensions of the games rather than "proper" films and just enjoy the ride. Never have been one who needed deep plots and motivations from every piece of entertainment.

Have now finished Words And Music and enjoyed it in the main. Still not sure what he was banging on about half the time, and yes it is a tad pretentious in places, but I am more fired up to go listening to lots of music after reading it than I ave been for a while. Am now in to Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling. Set about 100 years from now when politics has turned largely in to a way of keeping old people alive longer and full of lots of medical details. Enjoying it so far.

So now Joan has gone back to work today (but only for 2 weeks, then she is off for another 2) and I have to go back tomorrow. Not particularly looking forward to it - I always hate not knowing what might have occurred while I've been off. All I know is that Sonic probably won't be around much - their baby has finally come along but is not in the best of health. They know what isn't wrong with her yet, but not what is and how long it will take to sort out, so he is expecting the first of many trips down to Great Ormond Street childrens hospital sometime in the week.

Mind you, we only have four weeks now to the move to Endeavour House, so I expect more clearing out and packing to start soon...