And that's another week nearly over and done then. Still very quiet in the office (in fact possibly more so than over Christmas as they have turned the air blowers off again, so as well as not having cold currents blasting over us we can actually hear ourselves think once
more). Wednesday I was out in the van looking for new timetable outlets again, however not alone for a change. I took Matt the trainee with me as (a) we had to take down the Park & Ride christmas signs and (b) he needs to see a bit more about what we do around the county, where places are etc. Quite a good trip out all told, although we had a couple of places refuse to stock the books which annoyed me rather. Yesterday and today just general in the office stuff for the main - checking timetable proofs, writing letters - although this morning I managed to escape to a Car Parks meeting. About as fun as it sounds really!

We have re-watched the first two Lord Of The Rings films this week in readiness for seeing part three tomorrow. Cracking stuff, and am so pleased with the extended dvd versions, they really flesh the story out properly. Not sure now how much longer I can out off re-reading the whole thing...

And speaking of reading, I have just finished the Sting book. Again, very interesting (it must seem like I praise everything with the same selection of words, but really I can't recall the last book I didn't enjoy!) and good to get an insight into some of the stuff that went on pre-Police. I will be more than happy to read it again in the future and also a second volume should he choose to write one. It has also reminded me of his links with the extended Gong family and I really must listen to the music again now. Fiction next...

Oh bottoms, have forgotten to bring a cup with me today so I'm going to have to either overdose on fizzy stuff or just go thirsty. I should have known something would get left behind - everything else went nicely ahead of schedule this morning when getting ready to leave the house. Grrrr. Mind you, today is looking like being just as grey and dismal and rainy as yesterday was (although a fraction warmer) so I shouldn't be expecting everything to go just fine now. And still fairly bloomin' freezing here in the office, although not as bad as yesterday.

Watched Charlie's Angels - Full Throttle last night. Even more of a switch the brain off film than the last two mentioned, but thoroughly enjoyably daft anyway. And more a case of listing who wasn't in the film somewhere than who was. I think there was a plot in there somewhere between all the action set pieces and costume changes... I think I will also have to take the time one of these days to watch all the extra features from both CA films. Purely for research purposes and to gain a fuller understanding of the nuances of the film-making process you understand.

Have managed to get a bit further in the "Park & Ride as transport hub" report thanks to the lack of distractions here but still can't say I'm gripped by the material. I think I will at least manage a finished first draft for people to look at by the end of play this week but am not promising that it will be gripping reading.

Crikey, its December already. Better open up the first window on the advent calender. Hmm, rustle, tear of perforations, oooooh. A picture of a kitten. How nice. Wonder what will be under tomorrow's flap...

Anyway, another good few days from my point of view since last post. Friday I was out in the van looking for new timetable outlets. Did the Felixstowe and Bawdsey peninsulas (well, I had to do them some time, couldn't keep putting them off just because I live there) and got a whole load of successful hits. Plus lunch at home with Tawny. And once again reminded of what a lovely part of the world it is that we live in.

Saturday I basically stayed home tidying and stuff. Joan had her works Christmas dinner in the evening and brought Marion home to get changed. Which turned out to be quite a noble gesture as she had really upset her earlier in the day. Just general insensitivity I think - saying other stores were doing better because of who was at them and thus running Joan down by implication. I thin they are sorted a bit better now but it isn't the best working atmosphere at the moment. I just wish there was something other than listening I could do to help. Still, they had apretty good evening as far as I've been told.

While they were out enjoying themselves I watched Rat Race which had a funny moment or two. Not the best comedy film I've ever seen but a passable way to kill a couple of hours. Also finished the Gap books. Overall a superb series with just about the right amount of resolution and finality to the ending. That's not to say there is no room for a second series following on some time, but only in the sense of it being a big old universe out there and things have changed over the course of these five books. So that it would be nice to see how those changes pan out over a longer period. Bit of a breathless read as well due to the style of writing with
precious little in the way of description of the locations etc - just action and conversation. But still enjoyable. Am now about to start the second collection of Darwin Awards as compiled by Wendy Northcutt.

Then yesterday Joan and I had our big Christmas shopping day. Used Martlesham Park & Ride and spent several hours and a lot of money in Ipswich. We certainly broke the back of it, but still quite a few bits and bobs needed due to shops being out of stock etc. Mind you, the town centre was absolutely heaving so it was inevitable we wouldn't be able to get everything. I'll just have to keep wandering up to the shops of a lunch time.

I wish this building would make its mind up about what temperature it wants to be. Luckily I decided to bring an extra layer today as its been OK, too hot and now too cold. Most peculiar. Mind you, I was here at just after 7 today following the dropping off of Jerry at the hospital. He might well be under the knife or even out of theatre by now. If it all goes according to plan he should be allowed home again tomorrow but I think someone else will be picking him up.

So, we had a pretty good weekend all told.

Apart from Friday night – in celebration of having my teeth back we decided some nice crusty bread was in order. So naturally I sliced my left thumb open with the bread knife. Still painful and bruised now although the cut seems to be healing nicely. Putting a real cramp on my joypad skills!

Saturday Joan worked in the morning then when I went to pick her up I got notified of a change to the plans. Instead of going home we went to Puccinos for lunch with Lesley. Which was particularly tasty as always in there. I really must get round to trying something else rather than having the same filling all the time, but it is just so nice… We then managed to sleep through most of the afternoon, which was also nice. I think we are now finally caught up with the missing sleep caused by the alarm.

Yesterday we spent the morning wandering around the market – even managed to spend some money for a change. Although mainly what we came home with was fruit, veg and bird seed. Then while I did exciting grass cutting stuff Joan went mad in the kitchen. So we had a fabulous dinner with homemade pumpkin soup and wonderful turkey with lots of different roast veggies. Lip smacking stuff. Plus we re-watched Mission Impossible 2 which was pretty good too.

Today I have of course achieved loads through being here so early (and especially before the distractions of phones and other people arrived on the scene). I could almost bring myself to do it again if the situation arose. Tomorrow I am in Aldeburgh at the library it would seem, doing an exhibition for the P&R publicity plan. So definitely an early finish for me today is warranted. Which will be arranged by simply slipping off after lunch to re-distribute all the new P&R leaflets which have all been delivered to London Road.

Well, the new computer seems to be working pretty much OK. Now I've delved in to the settings, resurrected some bits I cunningly copied across to the network, re-installed all the extra fonts I need to actually do my job and so forth. OK, so I can still only print from Windows to one of the numerous printers I am supposed to be able to access (and yet they have got the DOS printing side of things right without being prompted) but otherwise all seems reasonable - they even managed to keep my Zip drive working. Plus the new keyboard is very nice to use, the mouse is optical and rather swish (and again they managed to provide one with a wheel rather than me having to dig out my old one) and the monitor is a very tasty large flatscreen one. Which I wouldn't mind at home quite frankly. All in all it has made coming back here after four days away almost tolerable. That and the choccy biccies Gary provided after his day trip to France on Saturday and the cream scone related to Danny's birthday a couple of weeks ago (luckily he bought the cakes today - they haven't been hanging around since the actual date...).

Of course it turns out that we have also lost access to one or two programs (including our main public transport database) as they aren't Windows 2000 compatible. Reckon someone screwed up there, but not my problem.

Finished off the weekend last night by watching American Beauty. A very good film. Not 100% sure if I grasped all of it but I did enjoy the majority which I understood. I can certainly see how it ended up winning shedloads of Oscars and BAFTAs and other awards. The I had one of those nights of fragmented dreams (installing a stair lift at Ma & Pa's house, going to a party dressed as one of the girls from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, shopping and other bits) that just leaves you feeling totally flummoxed in the morning.

Well, I'd like to have loads of stuff to waffle on about here but truth be told there hasn't been all that much going on worthy of mention. Joan is doing a lot better, but not yet feeling up to going back to work on Friday when her sick note runs out. I've just generally been getting on with stuff at my desk most days, attempting to get some sort of order for approaching my targets together. I think I am nearly there, but need Sonic to actually approve some items rather than just letting them build up in the big heap of crap dominating his in-tray. Gary has decided not to go and work for Chambers and now he and Charles have gone off to Switzerland for a couple of weeks. Very cosy I'm sure.

I did spend most of Thursday out and about in the south of the county trying to find new book outlets. Quite successful and lots of pretty scenery that I must take Joan around some day.

Still not received the council job application forms we requested over a week ago, and not been able to make a start on the other one yet. Maybe this afternoon. Also not been online at all so no idea what is going on in Llamaland, but am about to rectify that.

Book-wise I went straight from The Non-Born King to The Adversary and finished that off yesterday. Totally enjoyed the whole saga once again an now determined not to leave it quite so many years before I next peruse the pages. Been catching up on this month's magazines since then before deciding what to go for next. I reckon it will be the companion to the above then into the Mileu strand of the tale as I'm sure that will only take a couple more weeks. I don't want to be on the last book when it comes to our holiday as that's a hardback but there is just over a month still before we depart.

Big Brother has finally come to an end (well done to winner Cameron) and now we have to wean ourselves back on to other things I guess. Although there is the American version now available for watching...

Filmwise we've not seen many because of BB but did laugh a bit at Evolution and go through the usual rollercoaster of emotions with Apollo 13 last night despite having seen it several times before (and indeed knowing how it would end in the first place). I've also watched some of the extras on Tron which were pretty interesting.

Hmmm. Still hurting quite a bit here. Plus hungry cos eating is not a fun experience right now. Oh well, perseverance will pay off I'm sure and maybe by September I'll be able to smile again and eat steaks and stuff.

Didn't go to the cinema in the end yesterday as I didn't feel up to it after all. Maybe today. However, we did watch The Wedding Planner on Sky which was a lot funnier than I was expecting.

Well, that was a fun hour in Colchester this morning with the dentist from hell. OK, so actually it wasn't too bad (lots of pain killers and other drugs) and I now have a gob full of plasticine keeping the stitches free from roving tongues, teeth or other implements but I'm getting a bit ahead of things there. Let us rewind back to Saturday afternoon when I was last in a verbose state.

After a spot of shopping we called in at Helen's for a while then ended up going back there in the evening to play cards. Not my first choice of a fun time as I've never been a cardplayer but I surprised myself by enjoying it thoroughly. Still not 100% sure I see the point of card games, and definitely not sure I understood the rules of the one we were playing but there you go.

Sunday we woke up to nice weather so started off out in the garden. I managed to get the final (fourth!) coat of paint on the gate and a few fence panels done before the rain kicked in for the afternoon. Not to mention the thunder, lightning etc. So that was the end of that! In the evening we went along to Ma & Pa's for an early birthday dinner for the Mother. Her birthday is not actually until this Saturday but they are going out and we don't know what I'll be up to eating this weekend so all agreed it was better to go early. And very nice food and a good evening it turned out to be.

Monday was the complete opposite - woken up early by thunder and rain lashing against the windows. So after a lazy morning we watched The Others. Very good if a little slow moving film. Nicole Kidman was excellent and we were also pleased to be surprised and impressed by Eric Sykes playing it almost straight. A very good twist at the end too. If you don't want the film spoiled go ahead to the next paragraph now, otherwise read on as it bugged me slightly despite being good. As with The Sixth Sense what we seem to be dealing with here are ghosts who have little or no problem interacting with the physical world. I know the "they don't evem know they are dead" premise wouldn't work if they kept walking through doors and not being able to pick things up but it does strike me as being a bit odd. I guess I am just used to the idea of ghosts haunting people, rather than trying to carry on as if nothing had happened.

Anyway, after that the weather picked up again so I was able to colour in a few more panels while Joan did some serious weeding and pruning and even planting before exhaustion got the better of us.

Tuesday we went out for the day on the train. Walked up to the station here and with the iad of the Anglia Plus day ticket ended up in Ely. Had a nice walk up to and then around the cathedral (but nearly £5 each to get in - a bit steep really). I may have said before on here - I don't really know what I believe in religion-wise but the buildings that go with Christianity really are wonderful things. And not just the detail or vast scale of them, things like the simple smell of old stone or the knowledge of hundreds of years of history concentrated into the space really make me happy. After an hour or so we wandered on in to the town centre where we had a very nice lunch from a fish & chip shop while sheltering from the rain, looked round a few other shops and then headed back to the Cathedral for another look (well, we had to get our money's worth). Then, with no aim in mind wandered back to the station. As luck (bad) would have it we just missed a train to Norwich where we had thought of going on to and had an hour to wait for the next one. As there was one back to Ipswich a lot sooner we took that instead, but got off at Bury St. Edmunds for a further dose of wandering. Just stuck to the shops this time rather than going down to the Abbey (well, one ecclesiastical masterpiece a day is usually sufficient!). Of course that meant we ended up paying a visit to the Thorntons Cafe where seriously gooey cakes were consumed but you can't have everything. Then it was back on the train to Ipswich and on to home - which was the only train to have a real problem all day as we were stuck behind a freight train for the docks which was moving very slowly. Ended up getting home about half an hour late but worth it for the great time.

Yesterday we again started in the garden - more painting and pruning - before once again the rain drove us inside. So we watched The Matrix in order to remind ourselves of what was going on before we go to see part two - probably tonight.

Which brings us back to today. And now one quarter of my mouth has been sliced open, cleaned to within an inch of its life, re-built with artificial bone and sewn up again. I admit I had a few doubts and nearly just got up and walked out while I was waiting for him to start but persevered and went through with it. Hopefully I will be able to eat again fairly normally within a day or so though as I didn't do very well for lunch.

Rather than coming straight home we went to Colchester Zoo. Great fun, loads of fluffy things to go "Aaaah" at and indeed not so fluffy things too. Well, the baby elephant was definitely cute but in no way could you describe it as fluffy without problems from the trades description people. I think we saw pretty much everything, even had a ride on a little land train wotsit getting closer to some of the beasties. I definitely want a monkey or two, some red pandas and a tiger now though.

Oh, and started a new book too. As I don't want to wait too long before getting in to the final part of Otherland I have sneakily condensed the intervening first non-fiction and the fiction choice into one with The Samoln Of Doubt by Douglas Adams which collates the last few bits of Dirk Gently story he was working on with a whole bunch of other articles, essays and general stuff found on his hard disc after he died. All fascinating so far.

Talk about big cheesy grin time. Spent much of the morning riding around Park & Ride routes on a nice Nottingham City Transport articulated bus Ipswich Buses had borrowed for the day. Now that is what I call fun in a bus and I want them for Martlesham. Probably be defeated on cost, but it has to be tried. Damn thing went like a dream, fitted through all the gaps we thought might prove awkward and would turn on a sixpence. And IBL are desinging their new depot with them in mind as people won't go upstairs on double deckers and they have a couple of low bridges to contend with anyway on certain routes. Got to be a serious consideration really. I think the only issue will be to do with the fact that although they will hold 150 odd people only 50 get to sit down. And the people of Ipswich don't like standing up.

And no Sonic on the office today either so I'm able to get on with what needs doing.

Last night we relaxed and rather than the planning for who gets what in the will we are making next week we instead watched The Italian Job. Wonderful as always and much improved from DVD. I was surprised that Joan had never seen it before though. And almost a year since I last watched it - she is away for this year's Argos conference on Sunday night...

Now I have finished my part on the timetables that are changing on the 7th April I thought I could relax a teensy bit and just check them when they come back from Pindar. But no, Ipswich Buses are now changing the majority of their network in May. Back to the grindstone for me then.

Well, that wasn't too bad as hygenist visits go. At least she thought my mouth was in pretty good shape and I don't need to go a few more times before it is safe to do the surgical bits. So that has saved a quid or two. And I've got lots of strange interdental brushes of assorted sizes to be playing with from now on. Groovy teeth a step closer.

Met Joan in town on my way back and we had another monday lunch in Puccinos (and I had another New Yorker!) and then came home to a nice surprise - a cheque from Ma & Pa which will cover about half the cost of the work. Nice. Any other contributions gratefully received.

As I write this the PC is approaching halfway in downloading the latest version of Norton Anti-Virus. Seems the version I have is no longer supported and I need a new one. Which would be OK if it wasn't a 35Meg download. Which is likely to take at least another hour yet. Why didn't I just go to PC world and by the latest edition? Will I ever learn? Still, this way should be cheaper (thank the Lord we don't pay per minute for internet calls) and anything is better than the worry I went through before when we did catch something nasty.

Have now started reading the first Darwin Awards book as compiled and annotated by Wendy Northcutt. Always good for a laugh at the stupidity of others. And it was cheap in the Waterstones sale.

We managed to watch two films last night, both of which made stunning use of computer graphics in their own way. First up was Stuart Little 2. I admit I was sceptical when we watched the first one, but find I can recommend them both highly. The characterisation is superb and the animation even better so you really can believe in the little fellow. And of course the sort of bubble the Little's inhabit just makes it all the more joyous an experience. Not that I want them to keep milking the bandwaggon (is that possible?) but I wouldn't say no to more if they can keep the quality up.

The other was Tron. The graphics there blew me away 20 odd years ago when I first saw them and in many ways still do. OK, so technology has moved on, but they just feel right for the period the film inhabits. And even the plot didn't seem as stupid as memory had painted it to be...

Of course neither of those explains why I then went on to dream about tracing the graves of long lost relatives, visiting a bunch of Libraries and taking photos of trains. But then should I expect them to?

Not much else to say other than I'm glad I'm not at work again. These four day weeks could get to be quite a bargain.

Wrote this and put in on the Llamasoft forum earlier today:

Sense Of Wonder.

So here I am at nearly 32, currently fed up with my job as it isn't challenging me at the moment (although that may change, I've been called to a meeting with my boss and his boss this afternoon about my work, hopefully they have some more stuff for me rather than just a bollocking for spending too much time on the internet). It's winter and grey and cold and yucky most of the time. The bills are going to come in from Christmas any day and make my wallet cry.

But, last night, with the help of one DVD I got back that sense of wonder and joy and everything seemed a lot better.

We were watching The Abyss, having finally got round to buying the special edition half price in Smiths sale.

Now, I've seen if before. We were interrupted by the phone and other breaks for natural functions to occur. I was also flipping through the booklet scene by scene to read what they'd added from the original version. And yet...

By the end of it I was sitting open mouthed with a big smile on my face. Fully in tune with the characters and what they were going through. Enjoying as if new every revelation or glimpse of the aliens.

It was truly wonderful.

And something I've not had since this time last year when I first watched The Fellowship of the Ring on the big screen and thought it looked exactly right.

------------------

It got a good response which was nice. Especially as the meeting was kind of a stop surfing and start working/we see you are in a rut how can we help kind of combination. I have been down of late, as regular readers will know, and I have needed something like that. Hope it does the trick and also that the promised support materialises. Especially as the anticipation of the meeting was horrible, leading to me sitting out in a church yard for half an hour at lunchtime, some of it on the phone to Joan in tears with worry. God, I hate being me somedays.

All of which might mean fewer postings on here but I am going to try to keep up and get myself re-motivated. Hopefully some of the new things coming up will give me the challenges I need.

Off home now for more fretting and consolation I'm sure.

Friday night ended well - justice was done and Adele was voted out of the Big Brother house. We slept peacefully after that!

Yesterday was a fairly typical Joan at work and Simon at home kind of day for the majority of it. I ironed in the morning with help from:

Chumbawamba - Swingin' With Raymond AND i - Portraits of Anarchists
Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler
Alien Ant Farm - Anthology
The Orb - Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld

Then had a mosey about on here and lunch. With lunch I decided it was about time I re-watched The Haunting what I got for my birthday last year as it is the main film ripped off in Scary Movie 2 which we will probably watch tonight. I'm not sure if the ending made any more sense second time around but I still enjoyed it. Must watch the extras on there sometime as some of the FX were really quite good.

That was followed by the obligatory (it seems) falling asleep on the couch until it was time to pick Joan up from work. I was a bit annoyed with myself for that but again must have needed some sleep. Really must get around to seeing the Doctor again to find out if there's anything he can do to stop me nodding off all the time.

When Joan got home we made the standard issue calls to the hospital and relatives to see how Ernie was and pass it along. She got a bit of a shock when they said what they were having to help him with - I don't think she realised he would be all tubed and monitored up for a few days after the op. Still, progress appears to be being made - his sense of humour is coming back and so forth. Fingers are begining to relax from the crossed position I think.

After that we went round to Ma & Pa's for dinner, which was nice to be able to switch off a bit. Their extension is coming along well and the food was lovely.

Today Joan is at work again and so far I have cleaned out the bathroom and played a few games on here. The soundtrack to the morning has been Crawl, from The Beyond (who were just starting out in Derby when I was at college there and generally superb the couple of times I saw them - pity they didn't last more than two albums) and Implant from Eat Static. This afternoon the ironing calls again - which should help to keep me awake during the British Grand Prix.

Tonight's tea will feature chicken cooked on the new George Forman health grill thingy Joan bought yesterday. All the reports from other people rate them highly so we shall see.

Well, a simple chair delivery took over an hour, but I am trying to be on my best behaviour (even if I was absolutely famished by the time we finally got home) and didn't make a fuss! And no plans made as yet for next week so it still has a chance of being enjoyable.

There was bugger all worth watching on the telly last night, so we finished off the Batman DVD boxset with Batman & Robin. Not the most popular film in the series with the critics (or indeed the cinema audiences) but I like it. George makes a good Bruce in my opinion, and we can always watch Alicia Silverstone in rubber. A-hem. I'm not sure why people didn't like it so much - after all if you look at some of the original comics they are even more ludicrous! That only leaves one film and a couple of tv series discs we haven't watched yet, although we have seen them when they were originally broadcast or off tape so nothing sitting their crying out too loud for attention.

Oh, and there was also an Australian Changing Rooms care of the satellite. Not sure about the style of the show there - the New Zealand version mirrors the UK one almost exactly, but the Ozzies do things a bit differently. Still, the end results were interesting as ever (with ideas that may make their way into our place when I have the energy to pick up a brush again) and the girl who presents it in white shorts has rather nice legs!

Hmm, I seem to be turning into a dirty old man today. Better get on with some work. Actually, am out doing the deliveries mentioned yesterday - but not going out until a bit later as have just ordered a bacon roll from Alberts. Well, one a week won't kill me (unlike some of my colleagues who seem to be indulging every day).

And finally for now, actually saw this Blog listed on the most recent updates bit of the front page after yesterday's waffling went on, so if anyone saw that had a look and has come back again - Hello!