Today I am considering myself lucky to be here. Driving home last night, descending from the Orwell Bridge when I saw something black come hurtling towards the car from he side of the road. Stone, lump of rock, not sure what really but it connected with an almighty thunk (that I felt as well as heard). On getting home and having a look it has left some deep scratches and a bit of a dent on the wing. So if it had been a foot or so higher I'd probably be looking at a new windscreen at the very least never mind injury, mayhem etc. Someone was definitely looking out for me there.

To make matters more complex I had also pulled a muscle in my back durng the morning while shifting P&R leaflet boxes around town so was in pretty much agony at every sudden movement. A bit more flexible and in less pain today, but still not particularly nice. Praise be for ibuprofen!

Wednesday I was out and about in the van with Chris (eventually after he finally got free from a 1 to 1 with Mitchell). We were looking at the north-central area of the county where we are supposed to be focussing our efforts in a transport review project over the coming weeks. Conclusion - there really isn't much out there for people to do or visit or shop at. I was fairly familiar with bits of the area, but it was useful to see it all in one visit and really gain a better feel for the places. Not sure we will be going with the
recomendations given by the consultants, but there is a definite need to do something better than we have at present. Of course most of what we do have was done at a rush when commercial operations got cancelled so the chance to actually plan in advance will be a
luxury we don't normally have. Still, a nice lunch in Diss when we finally got there and I think I learned a bit more about how I supposed to be working now from Chris as we were tootling around. Oh, and Joan actually won £115 at the Bingo so it was worth her going for once...

Today we have a meeting (at 3-30 on a Friday!) with someone trying to get us to sponsor a big charity event coming up. Not sure what we will do - personally I think it would be nice to be associated with it for the positive media coverage we might generate, but don't think we should do things we can't get a bus to easily. Will have to see what the management say.

Joan is off for the weekend with me which should be nice (if my back eases up). We are meeting Ma & Pa for dinner at the White Horse tomorrow night but otherwise have no plans apart from relaxing and having some fun.

So, finally for today, I was right about the Graham Norton book not lasting long. In fact I was through it in 28 hours or so, which includes around 8 hours asleep and 8 here at the office... Have now gone back to Melanie Rawn with book 4 (or book 1 of the second trilogy if you prefer) Stronghold.

They didn't win anything once again - not in any of the games and the big draw prize went to the club in Edinburgh. And now Helen wants Joan to go again (although to Felixstowe not Ipswich) on Wednesday. Time to call in Gamblers Anonymous I reckon.

Not sure if Joan will be going though - she has been having real problems with one of her teeth - had it crowned and all sorts - and last night the blessed thing snapped off. Hopefully she will be able to get in with the dentist and get it fixed one way or another, but I feel so sorry for her going through all the pain and hassle.

Still floundering a bit in the new job, but also got plenty to do and read. I just don't quite understand it all yet. I'll get there in time though I'm sure.

Wrote that lot a couple of hours ago. And since then I have actually done something properly realted to the new job - persuaded one of our sponsored service operators to extend a contract he was planning to cancel for an extra month. This way it will tie in with some other changes we are working on for the same area. OK, so it was the bus company run by someone who used to do this very job and I've known him for 6 years, but its a start!

Finished The Wee Free Men yesterday. As I said, very good. Hard to say anything else about mr P really as he is just so consistently worth reading. Am now reading a biography of Graham Norton by Alison Bowyer. Not an official one so while she has tracked down assorted family and friends most of it is cut & paste from other interviews and articles. An entertaining read if not overly taxing (I only started it last night and have whipped through over 120 pages already!)...