Well, hey, since 0555 this morning it has been officially autumn. And naturally it is raining. Not that I can use that as an excuse for not putting anything up here over the weekend, but I guess it was worth a try. So, where was I?

Thursday night. That was it. We had nice haircuts mainly. And I also spoke to my old boss Colin on the phone for the first time since they moved back up north. And some things never change - when he was here you could guarantee that as soon as he left his desk his phone would ring, and wouldn't you know it - when I called him he was out. He did call back though, and thinks I should appeal against the senior/non-senior thing. Trouble is, who do I appeal too? The higher management and personnel made the decisions that we needed this structure and Gary should get the job, and the union argued against it in the consultation period and were overruled. So who is there left to turn to? Not that I'm a member of the union anyway but the point remains that they were no help.

Still, they are settling in pretty well and he sounds a lot more cheerful than he did down here. I expect we will go up to see them in the new year. It is just a pity that they are no longer a good stopping off point on the way to Newcastle for us.

Friday was the big day of getting rid of Geof stuff. Or rather, taking him out to lunch and then having his official leaving presentation. In the morning I was meant to be going to a car parks meeting but found a whole load of other stuff that needed sorting out and, err, I forgot all about it. Only remembered it yesterday! Oh well, probably wasn't vital that I attended.

Lunch happened at the Lord Nelson pub just down the road from here. We went there for our Christmas Dinner last year and I have been again since, so at least there were no food-related worries. And what I had was very tasty indeed. Geof was looking much better than when we saw him last. Amazing what removal of stress and a heart-bypass operation can do for you. His presentation was a bit odd though. Considering he has been here 24 years there was a very small turn-out. I know that he irritated a lot of people over the years, particularly with his timekeeping, but you'd think a few more might have made the effort. The assistant directors trotted out the usual platitudes and "humourous extracts" from his file. Can't recall any of them now so they can't have been that good. One of the councillors also said a bit and then that was that. The Director kept his trap shut, which again was a bit of an insult really but a relief in other ways for the rest of us. So now we really are embarking upon new, uncharted waters and other such cliched claptrap.

And then it was the weekend. On Saturday Joan was feeling almost human again so we went out for the day. Woodbridge was the first call where we did a bit of shopping and had a nice lunch. Not at the Bull for a change, but a cafe type place on the high street. Good food and good prices so we may well go there again some time. That was followed by a trip to Sainsburys to stock the house up. And then a relaxed evening.

I was a bit frustrated at not being in Oxford for the Retrovision Yakfest event, and am looking forward to reading reports of it on the Llamasoft forums later on today. Not sure I would have lasted the course for an all-night event anyway but it would have been nice to try. One day I will get to a meet-up.

Yesterday was also pretty busy. After scything the lawn it was round to Ma & Pa's for their "open morning" of the extension now it is nearly finished. Not that many people turned up but that wasn't our problem. And now they have the carpet down in one of the rooms and started putting stuff back in there it has made a real difference to the rest of the house. I bet they are pleased to be able to move a bit again now but I still think they would have been better encouraging Richard to move out. Not that he will I'm sure.

The afternon was filled with ironing and a cracking proggy on National Geographic tv about Koko the talking Gorilla. I've been reading about her for years so it was good to see a bit more. It even prompted us to sign up for her regular email newsletters too.

So back to today. The rain has stopped and I've been to a thrilling team meeting so far. Just waiting for timetables to come through then I will be leaving fairly early to sort out P&R liveries and stuff on the way home.

Music for pleasure: As well as reaching the Blaze Bayley years with Iron Maiden (The X Factor, Virtual XI) which means I will be on to the last album and return of Bruce Dickinson (Brave New World) on my way home tonight and then have to think about what to listen to tomorrow, I have been doing more pc - md type stuff. Another disc of Diffusion and also the latest MP3.com find - AnalogX. More good electronic stuff. Might have to look for some more later.

More timetable checking, leaflet designing (people like it!) and funky music really. Bentley Rhythm Ace to be precise, both their albums. Also been to the post office to post a map and that's all I have to say about today.

Spent large chunks of last night playing Shadows of the Empire and Mario 64 on the N64 so nothing much to say there either.

Got to go to a meeting in a minute about the Ipswich Nightbus. Something I have no knowledge or interest in, but that's life.

Hey hey, managed to get approval on my revised livery for the new P&R buses so if I can get this poxy computer to stay on for more than 20 minutes at a time without crashing I will get a bunch more printouts of the design and shop for quotes. Actually, now I think about it quotes aren't needed as I'm going to have to put up with adverts on the buses through the sponsorship deal, so will just get whoever does the adverts to do them to save multi-visits and cock-ups.

And we have also had the first batch of files back from Pindar for all the new services to check. Which means that apart from sitting around restarting this piece of junk I have actually been able to do some useful work today. I feel quite refreshed by that.

Joan much improved today but still staying off until next week. I had to take a message from her to the acting manager at Ipswich store today. Who also happens to be one of my old staff from Newmarket. Good to see her getting on I guess, but rather her than me. At some point every day I still find time to thank fate that I don't work for Argos any more. Mind you, she is probably earning more than me now as Ipswich is a big store in Argos terms. Plus she is claiming mileage from Newmarket and back every day while here.

Another vegging in front of the telly evening last night. Well, it was Holby and Waking The Dead so I guess we have an excuse. Still, hopefully Joan will be up to a resumption of our evening walks at some point if not the full bodybalance experience. Although that would be a complete restart from scratch if we did go back. Not much on tonight though.

We have finally got round to watching The Osbournes too. Been meaning to since they started showing it but events have conspired against us. Top quality "reality" tv (well, how real is the life of Ozzy for cripes sake??). I do enjoy his bewilderment.

Apart from the in-car Maiden (now on to A Real Live One but will be missing A Real Dead One as I only have it on minidisc) I have mainly been listening to stuff from the internet today. First two minidiscs full of Bassic which I found and recorded last year sometime. Really good ambient floaty trippy stuff that assisted my passage through proof checking and lunchtime. Now some bits by a chap calling himself Cruel Brittania. A bit like Diffusion - a mix of original dance stuff and unofficial remixes/cut 'n' paste jobbies. I do like the web some days, it provides me with sanity-preserving entertainment, wise words and some good games to play. What more could I ask for?

Oooh, just bit into a Kit Kat Chunky to find no biscuit in it, just lots of loverly choccie. Haven't had that happen for years. Mmmmmmm.

Another day of waiting for things to happen really. Well, a morning of that so far anyway! To pass the time I have finished re-jigging my Park & Ride leaflets and not until after printing them for others to look at found the most glaring error - on both of them. A stop on the wrong side of the road now they are all moving. How could I forget to move one? That's why I'm re-doing them for pity's sake. Oh well, if that's the only error I'll be happy. Now if only some timetables would come back for checking we would all be happy.

Had a quiet afternoon yesterday doing much the same as this morning which lead nicely into a quiet ish evening too. Of course there was a bit of shouting in Waking The Dead but then there always is. Looking forward to part 2 tonight!

Am getting nicely in to ...Shimmerism and wish I could just blatantly pull it out of my bag to read now while waiting for stuff to arrive. I haven't had the courage yet to sit at my desk in a busy office with a book and claim to be on a smoke break (well, if the smokers can stop working for 10 minutes in every hour why can't I?) but I have been known to browse in quieter periods when every other slave is out. Of course when I was at Argos (especially in Newmarket) I generally managed to get everything for the week done early so I could spend most of Friday afternoon turning pages in the stockroom between sending things down the conveyor belt. But then I was in charge of the stockroom and able to decide if I needed extra help or not. And I didn't have the internet there for proper time-wasting.

Joan is feeling a bit better again today - less pain and less swelling - but has been to see the Doctor anyway. And now I can't get hold of her by mobile or normal phone so I don't know what he said. I'm sure there is nothing sinster to worry about and she will probably be OK to go back to work next week - if she will refrain from lifting the heavy stuff - but I'd still feel better if I could speak to her. EDIT - she's called now and is doing OK.

Update the Irons!: to mangle a phrase from their sleeves. Anyway, since coming back to work last week the car has been full of the sounds of Somewhere In Time, Maiden England (live video which I have a CD of the soundtrack for - this stood in for Seventh Son... having only just listened to that), No Prayer For The Dying (which I seem not to have listened to for years and had forgotten just how good parts of it were) and now we are on to Fear Of The Dark which was Bruce Dickinson's last album with the band before he re-joined a couple of years ago. Again, I seem to have neglected this one too. Naughty Simon! Probably due to having obtained these on CD in the first place rather than vinyl that has since been replaced - and the replacements have got played more to make up for not having a proper record player available. Or something.

Time for lunch now...

The weekend worked out not too bad in the end. OK so we couldn't go out anywhere as Joan was still in reasonable amounts of pain half the time (and is also now sacred of being "spotted" now she is on sick leave) but we were together and that's what counts in my book.

Saturday was a very relaxed day. I popped in to town in the morning to deliver her Sicknote and pick up some shopping etc. They all seemed to be genuinely concerend in Argos and not just annoyed because they are 1 pair (v capable) hands down but I could be mis-reading the signs there. And I was very good and didn't buy any DVDs!

In the afternoon we had a bit of a games session. Joan tried to teach me some card games (and perhaps with a few more years practice I might get the hang of them) while I recorded some music off the PC and then it was time for a few more levels of Tomb Raiding. Not sure about the method they used for number two of making it harder by including lots more people to shoot as that can just get frustrating when you keep dying, but all the other improvments over the first one are doing their magic on us. Especially the way the background music has been tweaked to fit the locations more. Very atmospheric it has to be said.

And then Casualty was back for a new series. And yes, they did live slightly up to my expectations by glossing over one of the two cliff-hanger endings to the last series, but overall a thumbs-up experience.

Yesterday was more of the same really - relaxing, music and ironing. The music I have been recording has been stuff obtained from the internet. Legally mind you, only tracks that the artists in question have put up themselves for public consumption. In this case the artists are Machinae Supremacy who do pretty good Heavy Metal with a twist (as well as guitars and so forth they also have a Commodore 64 in use) and Diffusion who does lots of dancey stuff and also remixes TV theme tunes to comic effect. Two Minidiscs full with another Diffusion one to do soon and two MS tracks leftover - hopefully they will release some more in the coming months to allow a second disc too. OK, so I cheat slightly by downloading the MP3 files from work which is strictly speaking against the rules, but no bugger has complained yet and it is so much quicker than the modem at home. Also got up to level 34 on Gridrunner++ so perhaps I will get to see the end one day.

And today I am back in the office with Joan at home. The day started very well though. I finished reading The Light Of Other Days over breakfast (absolutely superb book overall, they must have had some real fun writing it and deciding which bits of history to play with) and as I was debating what to start next the postman provided me with the answer via a package from America. So the next book will be The Rise And Fall Of Shimmerism by James Kracht, who is also known as dtj on the Llamasoft forum. DTJ stands for Distance To Jupiter, under which name he has also recorded 153 tracks over 8 cds, which were also included in the package (as MP3 files on 1 disc, before you start thinking about postage costs). The book is Sci-Fi and deals with religions among other topics - looks very interesting and a thumping good read (even if it will put the fiction/non-fiction sequence out!), while the music seems to be mainly ambient electronic stuff. I like what I've listened to so far. Will put it all on minidisc eventually to make listening easier.

Workwise things are building up to a frenzy about all the gyratory stuff. We are waiting mainly for timetables still to get the books finished, but I also need to sort out my Park & Ride leaflets. So that is what I shall have a crack at now.

Hey, the Levellers single was absolute top notch. I have high hopes for the album now after the slightly disappointing last one (Hello Pig). Roll on the end of the month and payday and it being released (the same day as the new WiLDHEARTS single). Mind you, there is still no news as to whether we will actually get our pay rise this month or not.

Joan has now been signed off work for at least 10 days by the doctor. I think she is doing a bit better in terms of pain now, but still not good. Hopefully the nice sunshine flooding down at the moment will be helping.

Watched Groundhog Day last night. One of my all time favourite films of all time that one. Bill Murray is just superb in conveying the different emotions as the day repeats again and again. Also got me thinking about things I'd do if I were in that situation, but nothing they don't mention in the film comes to mind. OK, so it would be useful to catch up on the backlog of books and films I want to go through - but only if they had them in the town.

I think of all thew fictional devices like that (including things like mind reading, time cameras, being able to change shape etc) the most useful would be that from The Fermata by Nicholson Baker. In that the lead character has the ability to stop time. He mainly uses it to take women's clothes off and gawp at them, but I think I can find some more constructive uses for it. Just to be able to stop everything to get my head straight or to take a nap at times would be quite nice. And again the chance to do stuff for myself would be welcome. Oh well, reality is all we've got so I'll just have to stick with it.

This morning has been fairly average. Had Maria from Pindar pay us a visit and I am now a bit clearer on what went on during my absence. No happier about how it was handled but still glad it wasn't me who had to make the fatal decision.

The last two mornings have also made me realise just how long I've been in this job - the longest I've done in any one location now. Part of the routine has been checking where other people are when I travel in as a test on whether I'm on time or running late. And since the schools went back while I was off it has been odd seeing another new load of small brats waiting for buses. But more freaky was the realisation that some I've been seeing since I started here weren't there because they've left school. Well, I thought it was odd anyway.

Not sure how the weekend will work out. All depends upon how Joan is feeling I guess. Hopefully we will at least be able to get out in the sun if it shines. But I don't feel we'll be travelling far from home.

Oh my goodness, could this be the longest gap between posts since I started this? Many humble apologies if anyone as actually been tuning in in hope of news from Felixstowe.

Feeling kind of dazed and confused today now I'm back at work again. I thought things must be running smoothly here as (a) when we used Park & Ride on Saturday (see below!) someone had managed to do some posters for them and (b) for the first time in 4 years I hadn't had a single phone call from the office while I was off asking how to do things or where certain files were. Coming in today it seems that all the hard work I put in to the area books has been sort of thrown out as the production has been cancelled (at a cost to us of something in the region of £25,000) and we are now doing them at the end of October. Loads of changes came in and Gary and Charles have been working their socks off to get it all covered. Glad I was out of it all really, and if I can get away with it I plan to stay away from this revised schedule. What would probably have been best was to have stayed at home until next week totally, but I can't afford the holiday days!

Where was I then? Oh yes, Thursday last week......

The big posh Chinese meal was indeed very tasty. Lots of things on the menu unlike any offerings from the takeaway places we usually eat food from, so there was a lot of hard choosing to be done. In the end though it all went very well with several new flavours discovered and a commitment to re-visit the Golden Panda with Joan alone sometime.

What else have we been up to since?

Friday we pretty much hung about the house doing ironing and tidying up and stuff like that. I think Joan overdid it a bit though as since then her recurring dodgy neck pain thing has been excrutiatingly painful requiring visits back to the osteopath and also the doctor and some serious pain killers. This naturally put the brakes on many of the plans we had and left others flapping idly in the breeze.

On Saturday we went in to Ipswich and got a great Chagall print to hang on the stairs instead of the signed (by Radio Suffolk) t-shirt we had there. It took ages to find somewhere selling stuff big enough to do the frame justice, and then when we did had loads to choose from. Isn't that always the way?! We also had a wander about, some food and stuff and managed not to buy any DVDs from the assorted offers available. On Sunday however...

...we popped in to the re-opened Blockbusters and bought 2. Armageddon and Gone In 60 Seconds. We also hired Gosford Park - which was the reason we went in in the first place. Quite a good little film, with about a zillion people we recognised popping up left right and centre. I think I worked out the majority of the surprises and clues before the answers were revealed, but it's always easy to say that with hindsight.

Monday we were supposed to go to London. Had tickets booked for the eye and a river cruise and were going to travel most of the way with Mum as she was visiting Grandma. Unfortunately Joan's agony put a stop to that so we settled for staying at home instead. The weather was foul anyway, and we managed to get a postponment on the tickets so that wasn't bad. To keep ourselves amused we watched Armageddon and despite the America rules gung-ho ness of it all we still had stirred up emotions. In fact for me more than the first time I saw it a couple of years ago. Also started playing Tomb Raider two. Gorgeous graphic enhancements over the first one (and yes, I know there are much prettier games available now but my OC ain't butch enough to handle them) and a good sense of being there.

Tuesday was the trip to France. Dad came instead of Joan and in the end we had a good time. There were one or two hiccups along the way (such as the gearbox on the coach failing when we hit the M25 forcing an unexpected break to wait for a spare) but we got through the Tunnel OK and in to Cite Europe. There we had a nice lunch (at a place called Flunch - recommended) and hit the shops. Neither of us bought very much (but then that was never my intention) - just some little treats and suchlike you can't get over here plus a few bottles of cheap wine. Good stuff, but cheap!

Wednesday was another lazy one before I returned to work today. We took a stroll out in the morning and sat on the beach for a while in the sun - it was lovely. Then when we came home the sun went in so timing was perfect again.

Yesterday was of course the anniversary of last year's terrorist attacks in America. Feels a bit odd still to think about it and am also still a bit guilty about feeling glad it wasn't here and that it was about time America took some crap like that. I still can't comprehend how anyone could want to do such a thing but I guess that just makes me a normal person. I heard today that something like 46% of NYC residents knew someone who was killed or injured which is kind of staggering in itself. Given the numbers in the towers that must mean the theory that people in cities are increasingly isolated and have no social contact with each other is kind of wrong.

There was of course loads about it on the tv (as indeed there has been for a week or so now) and it all got a bit overloadish. The reading of the names was a nice touch, but some of the documentaries were just so much spectacle and speculation that we gave up and watched Gone In 60 Seconds instead. OK, so that's mainly spectacle too but at least it wasn't all too real. Not quite sure if I approve of blonde hair on Angelina Jolie but otherwise a fun diversion. Even if technically its about the bad guys getting away with it (although not as bad as the really bad guys...).

All the time away from here also left me able to get some pages turned. As well as getting totally up to date with all the magazines I have also been through:

Stephen Poole - Trigger Happy. An exploration of what makes a good computer/video game and why we play them. Very interesting in many ways (and glad to find myself agreeing with him too, or should that be him agreeing with me as I had the opinions before reading the book?) and better than a straight history of the games - although I'd like a decent one of those too.

Terry Pratchett - The Last Hero. Cohen the Barbarian attempts to take fire back to the Gods and Rincewind gets sent to stop him. Another good Discworld read in my opinion and nicely illustrated by Paul Kidby too. I still prefer the pics as done by the late Josh Kirby but I'm getting used to Mr K the second's style now. Annoyingly this is one of those books I picked up on special offer in Hardback and now wish I hadn't as the paperback has been enhanced with another 16 pages of pics. This is now the third TP book I have where expanded versions are now on offer. I refuse to buy them twice though. Been down that route with CDs more than once.

Donald S. Johnson - Phantom Islands Of The Atlantic. This one was an impulse buy after I saw it in the window of a Charity Bookshop a couple of months back. Basically details a whole bunch of Islands that appeared on early maps but never actually existed such as Frisland, Buss Island and the Isle of Demons. Johnson makes a pretty good case about explaining how so many people were misled by the poor navigation techniques available at the time into thinking they were in places other than the reality. There is also quite a lot in there about how Islands from legend such as Hy-Brasil and those visited by St. Brendan came to be mapped even though there were no records of people reaching them. Absolutely fascinating for someone like me who likes nothing better than to look at old maps.

And now I have progressed to Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter's - The Light Of Other Days which is also proving to be a gripping read. The idea (science enabling virtual cameras that can see any place or time) has been done more than once before, but they have managed to add a new twist to it. Well, I say they, it reads a lot more like Baxter solo than as a collaborative effort (other than some of the explanatory speeches made by the characters).

So that's pretty much everything since last time covered. I am now going to do a bit more work whilst listening to the new Levellers single (Come On) that I got whilst out at lunchtime. See ya.

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.

Feeling a bit apathetic today. Not sure why, probably the continued talk in the office about who will be doing what in the new order and me feeling disgruntled by it again. Plus neither of us thought to buy a paper yesterday so no jobs to look through. Oh, and feeling tired too which never helps. Perhaps I should sneak over to our store room for a snooze later on. If it wasn't so dirty and smelly over there I would give that serious consideration.

Am also feeling very annoyed as some bugger has scratched the car already. From the size and position it has to be deliberate vandalism too rather than from an accidental nudge. Will have to get some paint filling stuff as they've gone pretty deep and it looks to be more than a polish job.

Have decided not to go and see Chris bloke again as I just don't feel fully comfortable with him. Now all I need to do is phone him and tell him that, which I don't feel all that comfortable with either. I just think I'd rather find my own way around things at the moment and maybe get someone again on a more physical relaxy basis in the future. Plus while I thought that I'd be fine with it, I didn't feel OK with having a bloke rubbing me.

I got the driving role this morning so the Maiden campaign has been put on hold for a day. We had the Springsteen instead. Really is a top album that grows on me every listen. As Joan was late home from work yesterday due to staff training I took the opportunity for a spin of the Gorillaz album to go with my dinner. Only listened to it once before and had forgotten how dang good it is. And not really like anything else I play on a regular basis.

Not been out in the fresh air today. Just can't be bothered to go outside really even though the sun is shining. I would probably end up spending money as well so should hold off until tomorrow when pay day comes around. Only another month until we get our pay rise now too. Unless the union cops another strop of course. I hope they don't as I have plans for the back pay!

Oh well, back to work for now.

Excitement has worn off a bit today. Still fairly happy, but also a teensy bit bored again. Am back to waiting for stuff to come in from Pindar rather than having anything specific to do. Or at least anything I fancy doing. Anyway, at least the sun is shining and I was able to get out for a walk at lunch time. Have also booked some days off while Joan is off so we can do some relaxing and fun things and stuff. And the kidlets will be back at school.

Maiden-watch: With waiting outside Argos I got to the end of the Paul Di'Anno era (Iron Maiden, Killers) last night and am now in to Bruce Dickinson territory. Have started The Number Of The Beast and will no doubt get on to Piece Of Mind on the way home. Might not get much further before Friday though as not picking Joan up tonight (she has to work late and will get a lift home) and she is on a course in Ipswich tomorrow along with a colleague of hers, so if I give them lifts the music will not be playing. Of course if she goes in with him it will be a further guitar frenzy.

Wow, what a great weekend that was. Started in top form when I left here on Friday to pick the car up and never looked back. Mmm, nice shiny car now they've cleaned it and it smells lovely inside - all fruity. It drives very well, all the toys seem to work and even better than all of that, it doesn't seem to have the invisibility option switched on - unlike so many other cars I have driven. Yup, no-one has seen fit to drive out in front of me or anything as if I wasn't there yet. I'm sure it won't last though. Obviously we had to show it off to everyone on Friday night so we didn't actually get home until nearly 8, but it was worth the effort to save the rest of the weekend for more fun stuff.

Saturday Joan was at work (boo, hiss, but it was the only day she had to go) so I pottered about the house during the morning doing general tidying up and stuff like that. Then in the afternoon it was round to Ma & Pa followed by a sit on the beach as my Cousin Anna and family were up for a visit. Very pleasant, especially as the sun had deigned to shine upon us. Three great (if mad) kids who were thrilled to get on the beach and in the sea. The only down point of the day followed that when I went to pick Joan up from work and ended up sitting outside the shop for nearly an hour. Not fun, but it has made sure I will now always carry something to read with me whenever I have to collect her. Not Joan's fault - incompetent staff messing up the tills mainly.

In the evening we had Alexander over to stay and have a big fat Chinese meal. We watched Unbreakable which is one of the top 10 DVDs we have bought - combining a top film and a good transfer with superb packaging as well. I really must get around to watching the feature about comics on disc 2 sometime as it should be interesting. Poor chap was nodding off by the end though as it was also his first day at work for Tesco, and they put him on the 0630-1530 shift. Wouldn't have been my idea of fun either.

On Sunday we took him out with us to break in the new car. First stop was the Anglo Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo (just over the river from us really). They have opened a proper visitor centre there this year so we were treated to a short film along with lots of exhibits (including some of the actual treasures found there on loan from the British museum), reconstructions etc. Then a good walk out to and around the mounds themselves. They were doing proper guided tours as well as the look for yourself option we took, but wanted and extra £2 a head (on top of the £3.50 entrance fee) so we thought we'd save that for a possible future visit should we ever join the National Trust as you do actually get to walk on the mounds themselves.

Despite the inevitable crowds of people I really got a good feeling of the history and significance of the place when we were looking around. Plus being able to walk around places knowing people were doing the same hundreds or thousands of years ago always sends a chill down my spine. The views down to the river and across to Woodbridge were also tremendous, and make it even more alive when you can see the route they must have taken to drag the ships up for burial. Plus they have sheep grazing all over the site to preserve the landscape by natural means, which is always a bonus. I do like a nice sheepie.

As the coffee shop on site had nothing Alexander fancied for lunch (which was a bit of a pity in my view as I really fancied the local free range sausages, but don't plan on paying a second entry fee for those either) we went off to the Three Horseshoes at Charsfield instead. Of all the places we have tried for food when out doing Roadside this has to be the best, and I have taken Joan there before as it is just so damn good. Sunday was no exception and I stuffed myself silly. We were also joined by Basil, one of their cats who sat on the bench seat with us and generally made himself available for any spare morsels we may have had to pass his way. A real friendly moggy even after the plates had been cleared away, so it wasn't all begging!

Then we came back via Ipswich to shop at Sainsburys, took Alexander home and generally collapsed for the evening. Watched American Pie 2 again (still funny) and mellowed out nicely.

Yesterday was also good. After a lazy start we did a bit of tidying up in the front garden then went in to town. There we obtained a big "dinosaur egg" thingy and some gravel for the front garden - when we had it paved last year we left a gap for a feature plant, but as two have now died in the space we decied to give up and get something permanent instead. I cemented it in when we got back and it seems to have set nicely.

We also finally managed to get lunch at Puccino's. My second attempt and Joan's third! This time we were given a menu within 3 minutes of sitting down, our order was taken very promptly after that and arrived pretty quickly too. And they held off bringing the drinks until the food was ready, unlike many places where you can finish the drink before you get to eat. Very nice Ciabattas too.

Then a relaxed afternoon (oh and some ironing) before dinner and What Women Want on DVD. Another brilliant film, and very funny. Not what you would normally expect from either Mel Gibson or Helen Hunt, but all the better for that I think. Can't decide if I'd want that "gift" or not really. I get distracted enough at the best of times.

Today has been back to work, but not too onerous to ease in to. Plus I managed to get out at Lunchtime and came back with the new Queens Of The Stone Age cd - Songs For The Deaf. Listened to it this afternoon while processing concessionary fare payments and most excellent it was too. It also comes with a free DVD but no indication of what is on it, so I'm looking forward to taking that home and plugging it in.

In the car this week will be Iron Maiden. All the albums in order, with the exception of Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son as we listened to that on Sunday. Right time to go home now I think.

Up and down kind of a day so far. Stayed at home finishing off a few bits and bobs first thing which was good as I was able to listen to the Springsteen again and play a bit of Gridrunner. Then off to the doctors for a nurse to suck some blood out of me. Only ever had blood tests once before and that was at hospital. I was having chest pains and the doc decided I needed an Xray. That proved nothing so they did some tests then - couldn't get any blood out of either elbow and eventually took it from one wrist after failing at the other. V. painful and also proved nothing. It was probably the beginings of all the Argos related stress coming out in a hurty way as all the tests proved was that I was in pretty good shape. Today they took 4 phials of blood so I hope they get some sort of conclusion from them. I lived up to expectations by feeling a bit wobbly afterwards and having to lie down for 5 mins. I guess I'm not likely to become a regular blood donor just yet!

Finally made it in to the office at 1130 and was out again almost straight afterwards. Had to take a disc up to Ipswich Buses, which was nice to get back in the sun. Trouble was, after I'd been in to Boots for a sandwich the rain decided to fall. To say I got wet on the way back to the office would be a pretty accurate description. Drip, drip, drip goes the Simon (to paraphrase Chumbawamba).

Now I am stuck on the TraveLine for the afternoon (well, until 430 anyway) as the agency person hasn't shown up and there is no-one else free. Not my favourite job in the office, but probably the last time I'll have to do it as the line closes soon. We could really have got away without me here as well given the number of calls I've taken but never mind. I've been able to catch up with some web stuff I wanted to look at instead!

Finally got round to watching The Big Blue last night. Quite a slow moving film and concentration needed to make sense of some of it, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Some fantastic underwater photography and loads of Dolphins. My only real issue with it is one that occurs with a lot of DVDs - the chapter titles listed on the inlay. I know they have to call them something, but I wish they'd choose names that don't give the plot away. Same with Soundtracks - when they come out before the film and a casual glance reveals a funeral march or wedding song that does kind of spoil things.

Oh well, only an hour to go and then I get the car. Wahay!

Am feeling pretty good and happy with things today, and am trying not to let stuff get to me. Of course it does help that I got some good news in the post before coming to work - an insurance policy thing I thought had another two years to run actually expires in November. The letter was of course trying to get me to re-invest the profits with them, but it was nice to know there is some more money coming this side of Christmas. Even just the amount I've put in coming back will be nice, so the profits too could be really nice!

Gary is back at work today, but has spent the whole time talking about looking for other jobs elsewhere so even his presence has not been a downer.

Got through all the area books now so waiting for the corrections to come back. In fact, even having to re-punch in a load of details I've already given people isn't bringing me down too much. Mainly cos I've got some top tunes to keep me going. The MD player had now been relegated to lunchtime and at-desk entertainment as I have let Dad have his car stereo back before getting rid of the car. This week's choice of discs has been: Orbital - The Altogether, The Chemical Brothers - Dig Your Own Hole and Fuzz Townsend - Far In. All on a dance/techno trip to keep me happy. And right now some downloaded stuff from Yak's Tempest 3000 Nuon game are doing the same. Of course from tomorrow at 5 there will be in-car CDs to mention. Oooh, the anticipation.

Still no firm decisions made on getting away from it all. Joan spent another hour or so on the internet last night looking for stuff but with little joy. We were quite tickled by one page though - it had a load of cruise offers from around £600 to £2,000 a head. Then halfway down was one for £8,500. That made us look twice, thinking it must be a mistake but no. Seems you join the ship in January and after going round the world get home in April. Somehow I don't think we'll be doing that - even if we could afford it we'd never get the time off work. I have now picked up some brochures for UK hotels just so we do get away somewhere for a couple of nights.

Not having made my own lunch today, I was going to pick something up at Subway as they have just opened a branch in Ipswich. Saw them all over the place in Canada last year but never got around to trying them as there were so many other things to scoff. Looks quite good but was absolutely heaving so I resorted to good old Alberts instead. OK, back to work.

Went back up to Aldeburgh after that lot to retrieve the temporary bus stops. Both still there but one of them had been stripped of all the information stuck on it. In Aldeburgh of all places. Vandalism in Haverhill I can understand, but there! Very obscure. On the way back (sad confession alert) I called in at Jewel. I can kind of justify it by wanting to check the finance had gone through OK and wondering when they would want the first payment but I could have done that over the phone. Yup, I just wanted to look at my car again. Backfired though as they had it off site getting serviced and MOTd. Foiled!

In the evening we had a bit of a relaxed vegging out with the TV session. Great new series started with a bunch of historians etc trying to recreate part of Cook's voyage around Australia in a replica of Endeavour. called The Ship and recommended.

Today has been pretty frustrating as this damn PC keeps locking up and dying for no apparant reason. If I wasn't trying to build up the hours I'd just go home early. Didn't even go out at lunch as I was trying to get the thing sorted out. OK so that helps the hours as I only take 30 mins off rather than what I would have been out for but that ain't the point.

Have started on the proof checking of the next load of area books and really wish I wasn't. One of the most tedious things I have to do in this job but also pretty damn essential. Still, although there have been lots of changes since the last edition they have all been in the areas I haven't looked at yet so it hasn't been too arduous. That comes tomorrow! I have also whipped off a couple of Park & Ride posters and if they have been printed am off to deliver them now.

Tuesday, 1105 as I start writing this. I've been in the office since 0831 and managed to do about 20 minutes worth of real work in all that time. I knew I did the right thing by being at home yesterday. Anyway, an update on the time since Sunday morning:

Surprisingly enough, I managed to fall asleep a few laps in to the GP. To say that I was a bit fed-up with myself for it happening when I did come round would be something of an understatement. So naturally that was top of the agenda with the doctor yesterday. He thinks it could just be that with all the disturbances of late I've just got into a strange sleep pattern that has taken over and could possibly use a teensy bit more exercise. However, I am also going back in on Friday for some blood tests so we will know a bit more when the results of those come back.

Sunday night was quite pleasant at Ma & Pa's. No problems about the car (other than perhaps a spot of jealousy as it will be the newest in the family). Their extension is coming along nicely and they also had a present for us. A big (1m+) thermometer for the garden. It looks really good sat in the lawn and we can read it from the kitchen to decide whether to go out or not!

Yesterday, as mentioned was a working at home day due to the doctor's appointment. I could have come straight in afterwards but would have struggled to park so thought I'd be better off at home - and a load more productive too. As well as the sleep thing I let him have alook at my hurty foot. Couldn't find anything major so probably just a strained ligament that will sort itself out over time. Doesn't do much for the pain though!

Joan came with me so after we emerged we went for a drink and ended up having poached eggs on toast as well. I knew I wouldn't miss the Alberts run! Then had a bit more of a look at holidays before heading home to work.

I did loads of map updating, timetable sorting out, index compiling, scanning and stuff while Joan blitzed the house. I think we both did what we wanted to get done as I have a list of things ticked off and the house looks lovely. I also found the time to sort out the insurance for the car and knock off another level of Gridrunner.

Then it was off to Chris for another head rub thingy. Not sure how I'm feeling about it all at the moment. Might not go again - will see how I feel over the next couple of days. Not what I'm really after, a bit expensive plus he thinks I should try some diet supplements which I'm a bit dubious about. Especially as they are also likely to be expensive.

Ohm and have now started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as I couldn't hold off any longer. Good so far, even if it will mean a longer wait for the next one.

Oh man is it hot today. Even just sitting here with the window open and nothing else going on is hot. How I am going to get any ironing done later is a definite mystery to me.

Yesterday was in many ways a lazy day. Joan got up fairly early, but I had a good lie in to catch up on some of that missing sleep. Then after a fiddle about on here and working out of finances we went shopping.

Tesco at Martlesham - where we also had lunch and then spent less than expected which was good.

Especially as on the way home we bought a new car. Yup, we finally did the deed. OK, so not a brand new one but only 5 years old. And we have stayed with the Escort rather than going smaller, but that's OK as at least I know where it will fit and stuff. A slightly larger engine so we will have to pay a bit more road tax and insurance but hey, we're worth it!

It also comes with all the gizmos - electric everything (including seat adjustment), airbag, cd player and Air Conditioning. Never thought that would be essential for a car in this country but hey, I'm not about to complain. Could have used it yesterday on the way to the shops.

So I pick it up on Friday after work when they will have serviced and MOT'd it and scrubbed it top to toe. Now all I need to do is work out how to tell people (especially Ma & Pa who have been involved in all my car dealings up to now) and dig out all the paperwork for the old one.

When we got home we had a nose about at holidays once again. Glad we didn't pick Prague as it appears to be underwater at the moment. Depending upon availability and what the weather over there is doing we might have a week in Austria or we might just stay at home and chill out.

I was felling tired again despite the late uprising (and also very hot and shaky - probably just the thrill of the car catching up with me) and ended up going to bed straight after we had eaten at 8ish - and then sleeping through until this morning. I think I will have to insist the Doctor does something for me about this tomorrow. I also want him to look at my right foot which has been hurting (and getting worse) since Tuesday. Totally jarred off with my body at the moment - it seems to be conspiring against me.

Today Joan is at work once again and I have a mound of ironing to attack as soon as I post this. There is the Hungarian Grand Prix this afternoon which I shall probably watch as I press even if Schumi has got the championship sewn up. Currently listening to Eat Static - In The Nude!. Very good stuff. And yes that is the name of the album, not my condition clotheswise - it's hot here but not that hot.

Urp, just had a first proof through of the map for the gyratory thing. Found about a million errors on it so I'm glad they came to me first. As Charles said "what have they got right?"

Time to go home for the weekend now I think. Joan off tomorrow so a good day is anticipated.

It sure was dashed hot out in Aldeburgh. And spending 45 minutes getting out of Ipswich didn't help keep me cool either. I don't think I've ever seen so many sets of roadworks so close to each other before. Got the temporary stops in place, notices on the three that won't be used and a bag of chips on the beach for my lunch. Not very healthy but nice.

Now another timetable has arrived so I will wop that in and off to Pindar.

Watched Robocop last night - supposedly the directors cut but I can't recall seeing anything different. Oh well, a couple of fun deleted scenes anyway. Also mashed off another level of Gridrunner, only to get toasted on the next. Grrrr.

Just finishing off an offering from Alberts then I'm off to Aldeburgh.

Calmed down a bit now but still feel very down and pissed off by the whole affair. I think it helps a bit that Gary has gone off on his holiday and that I had a couple of visitors yesterday to distract me, but it was still a pretty hard day to get through. Especially when the email announcing our results came through saying I was "successful" in getting the PTO post. Oh, great, so staying in my current job while everyone else goes up is a success now is it! I also made sure I left early with the excuse of delivering my newsletters to Park & Ride just to get away from it all.

Back to some sort of normality today, but still glad of excuses to get out for a breather from everyone else. Only trouble with that is where these trips take me. This morning's was to the bus station to deliver some temporary timetables to get around the problems due in Aldeburgh on Monday because of the carnival (And tomorrow I will be out of the office putting up the bus stops for this variation, and Tuesday to take them down again). Trouble was on the way back I got sucked in to Cash Convertors and ended up buying the three Robocop films on dvd. A nice box set, but I wish they'd do these things properly. As is the case with the Superman 1/2 set film 1 has full Dolby 5.1 surround, loads of extras and commentary while the sequels merely get Dolby 2.1 surround and no goodies. I like my loud explosions and dvd extras...

Joan and Helen went bingoing again last night (no winnings, don't know why they bother) so I was left to mope about. Tried a spot of ironing (well, I needed some shirts) but it was just so hot I gave up when I had enough to last the week out. And I only managed to squeeze in enough time on the PC to check for emails too. Did finish the Game On book though.

Although I've not mentioned it, I have still been getting through a reasonable amount of music this week. Both in car and at home, comprising:

Dire Straits - Communique and Making Movies (both on 1 minidisc)
Alice Cooper - Brutal Planet
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon
OPM - Menace To Sobriety (a very rude bunch of boys)
The eponymous first Orbital and Elvis Presley albums
Lothlorien - Ghostwood

This afternoon we have a site meeting at London Road Park & Ride to see if we can beef up the security a bit after an incident a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if there is much else we can do (and afford) but it will keep everyone happy if we at least take a look.

Think I'll have some lunch now as I need to go out again before the meeting to take some stuff back to the library.

Arse.

Seems I need to develop personally a bit more. Whatever that means. Communications and media training and dealing with people and stuff. Seems like a lot of it has come from what got shoved on us a couple of years ago though. I got P&R, Gaz got infrastructure and they had differing effects on how we've worked since. Which then influenced the choice made now.

Oh well.

Got to remember I haven't lost anything, just not gained.

Definitely going to fill in that application form for St Eds now though.

Too down to fill in anything else today. See you tomorrow.

Done it.

It was a proper interview too, not just a chat between colleagues.

Been in and said a lot of my piece, including the bit about feeling let down and betrayed by my speciality being put in the "lesser" post.

Was in nearly twice as long as Gazza too if that will count for anything in the decision. Probably not.

Feel I made my points and stated my case and hyped myself up but will have to wait and see.

They are going to make the choice now and tell us before Gary goes home/off to Edinburgh for a week. Unless of course they can't choose then it all starts again when he gets back.

Back to the waiting.

Waiting. Waiting.

Gary in there now.

I feel like utter shit.

Shaking AND Stirred.

I can't stand it.

Waiting.

Interesting, that's a good word to describe the experience of last night. After talking and building up a profile of me we never actually got as far as reflexology stuff which I was expecting. Instead he used a mix of Reiki and Head Massage which left me totally relaxed (which was very nice). And then a spot of thought exercises and working on accupressure points which I can try myself if I get stressed out. I am going again next week, but don't plan to go every week as it will be too expensive. Hopefully once a month or something just to keep me in balance.

Which is pretty hard at this very moment. With only a few hours to the interviews I am pretty much resigned to accepting the worst now as further study of the job descriptions does point in that direction. I have a big list of stroppy questions I want answered before I'm prepared to leave the room though - I can't see it happening but it might just possibly give them cause to think again. Yeah, and pigs might fly etc. So now I just feel sick and nervous and tense and want to be anywhere else but here. I know whatever happens I won't be worse off for now, but I can see that at some point the gap between senior and normal levels will increase and why should I be the one to get left behind? And it is all mostly change for change's sake, which winds me up all the more.

Another weekend has been and gone. On the whole it was a pretty damn good one too, although there were a couple of negative aspects which we will no doubt get to later in this stack of waffle. Actually, let's get them over and done with then I can concentrate on the positive stuff.

Friday night after yet another phone call from Canada asking if everything was sorted out yet with Ernie's accounts we got a bit stroppy and sorted out what we could. We are still waiting to hear from a couple of people who may or may not have some more money to give us, but this is apparantly too slow for some people. So we divided up the cash and wrote a couple of cheques for the other sisters. This was not enough and there were still more calls asking for copies of things to be sent (as if our word is not good enough and it seems clear that we are not trusted to look after money. Pity nobody remembers asking me to sort it while we were still up north and then letting me get on with it). So yesterday we gave all the paperwork over to Helen and are going to let them get on with it themselves. Of course, in theory everything left outstanding should be coming to us anyway as we did the initial organising but we won't let that get to us. They also brought Joan a new mobile phone that Alexander had got from one of his uncles whilst staying up in Northampton for the last couple of weeks. It works with her SIM card so all seemed well, and I was to have her old one as it isn't actually that old and the keys on mine are starting to get a bit iffy. Today Helen has been on the phone and getting arsey with Joan - first off a message asking if she could have her old one "temporarily" to which the answer was no as I'm having it and then a call asking if Joan's boss would do a reference for Alexander.

When Joan said her boss was busy but she'd ask, but not to be too helpful as she doesn't really know him that well she got all uppity, asked to speak to her anyway and then came in as well to buy something acting all nice as pie. What is it with these people?

Anyway, enough crap and on to the good.

Saturday was a way out day out to London. With Richard and for fun rather than for work or with Joan for a change. We got the 0900 train out of Ipswich and decided about half way down that if we didn't get away from the screaming kids sitting a few rows behind us soon we would end up throwing them out of a window or something. After all, they were keeping me awake!

So, we got out at Stratford with the intention of showing Richard the exciting (well, I like them) extended Jubille line stations as far as Canary Wharf and then transfering on to the Docklands light railway. I also wanted a look at Stratford tube station itself as it has been rebuilt in a rather dramatic fashion of late. Naturally, having made this decision they were doing engineering works so we had to get a replacement bus as far as Canary Wharf instead. Which was OK by me in some respects as I do like buses after all, but not quite the thrilling trip we had in mind - the underground architecture of east London is much nicer than that on the surface! Still, he got to see the dome at any rate.

At Canary Wharf we met our first cow of the day. Yup, the cow parade statues have come to London this year. There the DLR transfer went ok and we were off via the tunnels to Covent Garden. That produced the only other major let-down of the day as the London Transport Museum shop didn't have the book I was looking for. Will have to get that from the jolly old Interweb instead. Oh, there was also our second (and surprisingly last) cow outside the museum too. We were also fascinated by the bungee trampolining - but not enough to give it a try. Must be getting old or sensible or both.

Next stop was Tottenham Court Road where it meets Oxford Street for lunch. This was consumed at Garfunkels next to the Dominion theatre and for me was Chicken smothered with BBQ sauce, bacon and melted cheese along with copious amounts of mashed spud and a bit of greenery. All very tasty it must be said. Opposite (and thus determining the choice of lunch venue) is one of the entrances to the hugest of huge Virgin megastores in the big city so it was only fair we had a look in there whilst in the capital. We only came out with 5 cds and one pre-recorded minidisc between us. Which I think was pretty good. My tally was Crash which goes one more step towards migrating my Human League collection on CD and also In The Nude by Eat Static. Can't say what Richard bought as I wasn't looking.

From there it was off to the main attraction and reason for being in London - Game On at the Barbican. As the name suggests, this is an exhibition on the culture, history and future of computer and video games. The first strangeness came when we emerged blinking in the daylight from the tube into what can only be described as a wasteland. The Barbican is in the middle of the actual "City" of London - the financial district and that only operates monday to friday. So there was no-one about, all the shops were closed etc. Very unusual for a big city. Still at least we didn't have to worry about getting run over.

More strangeness ensued when we followed the handy yellow line painted on the floor between the tube and the exhibition centre. Without going up any steps I can recall (although I guess there must have been some) we found ourselves on a walkway at first floor level running between offices and flats. A strange place to live if you ask me. Anyway, on to the event itself.

As was to be expected, there were computer games there. Lots of computer games. Lots and lots and lots. Over 150 you could play plus several more that didn't work (mainly the old stuff, the final disappointments of the day were the non-workingness of Tron and Battlezone) coupled with conceptual artwork, marketing methods, more games, articles on history and development, old adverts and magazines, differences in stuff from around the world oh and some more games. I won't go in to a long list of what we did and didn't play but will just mention a few highlights - Tempest in the original arcade version with rotary controller rather than joystick or pad (a real novelty, and stranger still as it was obviously built before the now familiar convention of movement bit on the left and fire/action buttons on the right of the control panel/joypad came in to play). The original Japanese version of Renegade as set in a school playground rather than a subway (and thus with kids as opponents rather than thugs). A peculiar Japanese train simulator complete with proper loco controls. Anything on home systems we've never owned - PS2, X-Box and Gamecube obviously but also the original NES, Commodore 64, Sega Saturn, PC Engine etc.

All provided much fun and enjoyment, even if there wsasn't nearly enough time to devote to any one piece of kit. It has made my mind up that I will get a Gamecube at some point (although not until Jeff Minter confirms that is indeed the system he is now developing for) as the stuff we saw on that just looked amazing.

There was also a groovy new thing from Sony that tracks movements with a camera system then overlays your actions on to (in this case) live footage of you - in real time. It was limited to flame or water effects for now but the power required to do that "live" must be phenomenal. Looking forward to see how they can implement it into a game without it being simply an excuse for the technology that gets boring after 5 minutes. That, after all, is usually the fate of new ways of playing - witness the dance mat, most light guns, Nintendo Power Glove and robot, Spectrum surfboard et al. Still, perhaps they will get it right.

That proved to be the end of the day as we spent longer than expected there. I restricted myself to just buying the book of the show, although there were numerous others that could have quite happily come home with me. I am now about half way through it and enjoying it quite a lot.

When I finally got home after train (woohoo a chance to sleep for half an hour or so) and car it was to find Joan in the middle of cutting the lawn so I finished that off before dinner and a quick check on the internet to find that the full version of Jeff's new game Gridrunner++ was now available so that was bought, downloaded and played till my eyes could take it no longer.

Yesterday we did a whole load of work at clearing in the garden. 5 sacks worth at least. We also popped up to Homebase to get some plants and did some tidying in the house as well. All that after a very long lay in. However I was still in zombie mode and managed to have 1½ hours sleep in the garden while Joan kept working. Makes me feel a bit guilty but does add more ammunition to the case to present to the doctor next week. Then we ended up having another late night after watching the first show in this week's Elvis bonanza, it being 25 years since he popped his last pill and all.

So now I am back to today. Not done a lot of real work - mainly replying to messages and, err, writing this! Have also been out at lunchtime and moved money about to clear a few bills etc and buy a new SIM card for this phone. Am leaving early as well in order to go see this Chris chap and see what he can do for me. Will report on that tomorrow, which is also D-day for me and Gary.

I still haven't decided which of the two jobs I want, but feel I am being steered into the Junior one as that's where they've put Park & Ride and I want to keep looking after that. Oh well, no point worrying about it at the moment.

Quite a good, fun and interesting couple of days since last I wrote.

Wednesday night we watched Seven and enjoyed it muchly. A bit gruesome in places but a very good plot etc.

Yesterday started far too early in order for me to meet Claire from Norfolk on the 0737 train to London. That went smoothly and we found our way to Fenchurch street with ease (and saw two policemen on horses too!). Train out to Grays was also dead simple and the walk to the office was simple too (even if I did nearly get clobbered by the barrier at the level crossing).

Morning part of meeting was a bit tedious (in fact I had real trouble staying awake) as it was mainly a guy talking about information strategies that we all have to write. The same guy giving basically the same presentation as we had two meetings ago. Oh well. They did put on a decent buffet though and Claire and Davina (Cambridgeshire) and I spent most of the time planning our strategy for today's meeting (of which more later).

After lunch we wandered back round to the bus station to admire their kerbs (no, really) then on a bus to the Tilbury - Gravesend ferry. That took us across the river where we saw the highpoint of the day - the grave of Pocahontas. Not what you expect on the banks of the River Thames but there you go.

Train back to London was delayed when the power lines were vandalised but we made it for the 1700 train and thus got home at 1830 which was nice.

Today we were in Norwich discussing marketing for our regional Traveline. We have been a little disappointed by the manager so far, so went in all three in agreement with guns blazing so to speak and seem to have got the desired outcomes. I also got to claim 115 miles and lunch so that made the drive up there in the rain worthwhile.

Now to go home and sleeeeeeeeeeep cos I'm zonked.

Just been up to visit Ipswich Buses to sort out their stops when the gyratory system comes in and it is hot hot hot out there. So hot I had to have an ice cream on the way back. Mmmmm, Galaxy Caramel Swirls, very tasty. Such a hard life. And I'd only just got back from a wander at lunchtime in the sun too, where I managed to control my expenditure to some new films for the camera. Well, can't be out of the office in the summer and not take a few pictures now, can I?

Still, being hot makes me wish I could wear fewer clothes to work which reminds me I need to iron a couple of shirts tonight which in turn reminds me of this what I got sent the other day:

Reasons to go to work Naked

1.No one ever steals your chair.

2.Gives 'bad hair day' a whole new meaning.

3.Diverts attention from the fact that you also came to work drunk.

4.People stop stealing your pens after they've seen where you keep them.

5.So that - with a little help from Muzak - you can add 'Exotic Dancer'to your exaggerated CV.

6.You want to see if it's like the dream.

7.To stop those letches in IT from looking down your blouse.

8.'I'd love to chip in, but I left my wallet in my trousers.'

9.Inventive way to finally meet that special person in Human Resources.

10.Can take advantage of computer monitor radiation to work on your tan.

...and (drum roll) the number one reason to go to work naked:

11.Your boss is always yelling, 'I want to see your arse in here by 8am!'

Well, they made me smile at the time. Then again, the temp looking after the TraveLine this afternoon is displaying far too much wrinkly flesh for her age and I do wish she'd sit down and get out of my field of vision.

Smiles were good as we now have the job descriptions and they are not really smile material at all. Whatsoever in fact. They have as threatened taken my job and Gary's job and mixed them up to create two jobs that neither of us really want to do. If I go for the senior post I lose out on the Park & Ride bits that I like the best but in the junior one I have to do bloody roadside again. Part of me wouldn't object to that at this time of year, but I don't want to be going out in the rain all the time. I've done that and got out of it thankyouverymuch. Will have to do some good hard thinking over the next couple of days as to what I really want to be doing for the next few years.

It doesn't help that Gary is currently out of the office looking for sticker suppliers and taking some pictures of bus shelters and then when I go home I won't be back here until mid-afternoon on Friday. We won't get the chance to talk it over between us until then and they want some indication from us if we are more interested in one post or the other. Although technically neither of us can go for the senior post as we haven't got associate membership of the Institute of Logistics and Transport.

I did look in to membership back when I first started here but they wanted about £900 to put me through the graduate entry programme and then another £50 ish a year membership fee (none of which the Council would pay) all for a one scale point pay increase which would only just cover the £50. So I decided not to bother with that. After all, it would be of no value at all if I left transport.

I guess I could be barking up the wrong tree but I just getthe feeling they have already earmarked me for the junior position but don't want to admit as much. God, I hate all this crap and indecision, but it seems to consume me at times like this. One day I will be a positive person. Yeah, I'm positive I'll get the worse deal!

At least I can still enjoy music at the moment. When I had the real big downer before starting this job I couldn't even do that for much of the time. On the subject, finished off the Rutles at lunchtime and have now moved on to Kite by the much missed Kirsty MacColl. Why do the good die young?

I think there is a conspiracy afoot to stop Gary and I doing any proper work this morning. His computer has been playing up for a couple of days now. IT have compeltely rebuilt it from a formatted hard disk up and still it refuses to play. I've just finished my Newsletter with a load of stuff stolen from elsewhere, tried to print it and the darn printer is out of yellow toner. There isn't even any yellow in the document. Aaaargh. Plus other people's phones keep ringing when they aren't there and we seem to be the ones left to answer them. When I choose to be lazy I don't mind having nothing to do and obstacles to productivity, but when I'm trying to get things done it does get a tad frustrating.

Here's a list from Total Guitar Magazine of the top 20 guitar players as voted by their readers:

1. Jimi Hendrix

2. Jimmy Page

3. Eric Clapton

4. Slash

5. Brian May

6. Joe Satriani (soloist)

7. Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)

8. Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd)

9. Kirk Hammett (Metallica)

10. Steve Vai (soloist)

11. Carlos Santana (Santana)

12. James Hetfield (Metallica)

13. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)

14. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)

15. Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)

16. Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne)

17. Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy, others)

18. Jeff Beck (Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group)

19. Stevie Ray Vaughan (Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble)

20. Angus Young (AC/DC)

Not too sure about the guy from RATM but I kind of agree with all the others. Although maybe not in quite that order.

And then there is this from the BBC. A story they've been featuring a lot on Radio Suffolk over the last couple of days and everyone seems to feel the same about it!

Protest over children's play bans


Children are to campaign against a "culture of caution", which charities fear is restricting youngsters' experience of play and stifling their social and physical development.
The protest will see the children make a giant daisy chain, play with yo-yos and ride skateboards and bicycles - activities which many schools and public playgrounds have banned, research suggests.

Survey of 500 children
45% can't play with water
36% can't climb trees
27% can't use climbing equipment
23% can't ride bikes and skateboards

Source: Children's Society and Children's Play Council

The survey of 500 children up to the age of 15 by the Children's Society and Children's Play Council found many thought public playgrounds were boring and unadventurous. The two charities also found that traditional childhood games from daisy-chain making to doing handstands had been banned for fear children might catch germs or injure themselves.

Now the charities are calling on every council and school in Britain to carry out a "daisy chain audit" to uncover the extent of bans and restrictions on children's play.

To mark National Playday on Wednesday, the two charities are asking play providers to look again at what is on offer in schools and parks.

If traditional games - such as tag and conkers - are banned, councils and schools are urged to consider whether this is in the best interest of children.

The theme for the fifteenth National Playday is "take a chance on play" and more than 100,000 youngsters are expected to take part in events across the country. Penny Dean, a director of the Children's Society, said: "We are asking councils and schools to look at what activities children can't take part in."

Should children be more exposed to risk?

"Where there are bans, or equipment removed, we want adults to question whether this is necessary. Children must be allowed to take risks in safe and well managed places," she said.

Tim Gill, director of Children's Play Council, added: "We are not pointing the finger of blame for a growing culture of caution at any one group, but individuals and organisations have an important role in making play exciting."

The campaign comes as experts grow increasingly concerned that restricting children's play may stifle their social and physical development and contribute to the growing levels of childhood obesity.

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I'm not sure what the real reason is for this trend. I think it is partly overprotectiveness but more likely the fear that parents will start sueing schools if their sprogs graze a knee or fall off a climbing frame. They tried to get rid of a lot of competetive sports and games a few years back too as it was bad for those who came last. OK, so I usually came last but I can't see that being the real cause of all my hassles and wories.

I plucked up the courage in the end and made the call. And after a wrong number, looking him up in the book, leaving a message on his answerphone and waiting for him to call back I finally got to speak to the chap. Sounded OK and I have got an appointment to see him next Monday - which might just help me get in the right frame of mind for this interview thing. More details Tuesday morning I guess.

Dinner last night was good. Joan had bought a steamer and we gave that a try. All the veggies came out really well and were added to a very nice Chicken in white wine sauce she had picked up from M&S. Can't complain at all.

Currently listening to a couple of tracks from the Llamasoft game Tempest 3000 I was pointed to on the web. Quite uplifting they are too. In the car the Sprout has given way to Archaeology by The Rutles. Neil Innes & Eric Idle's spoof of the Beatles. Very well done and pretty funny too. Will have to give it a proper listen without traffic intrusions sometime. Some of the tracks appear to be spoofing one song musically and several others in the lyrics, which suits me fine.

Some more very strange dreams last night. One where I was walking through a bunch of terraced houses that all shared a common corridor across their fronts with no doors on. A bit odd - neighbours just waltzing through your front room ontheir way to somewhere else. There was also something to do with cycling in the dark but I can't work out/recall how that fitted in.

The other was even more bizarre. I was driving someone (never found out who as they always seemed to be just out of view) and we got caught up in a strange rally/treasure hunt type event. Lots of very flashy cars all with unusual occupants. We had to keep stopping and performing tasks, and if we failed them had to take some of a revolving group of passengers on to the next one. When I woke up we were trying to decide if small gold bars or a few ten pence pieces would be the more useful amount of currency to take on the next stage. Wish I could remember a bit more of it, but there you go.

Oh Gawd, still nearly two hours before I can leave here and nothing left to sustain me but a Cadbury's Boost. Which I really want to eat but will then be left with nothing. OK, so technically I could leave at half past three, but I've finally got myself back up into positive hours after the time I had to take off and would like to keep it that way. Definitely a typical Tuesday. And still not got ourselves sorted to go back to Body Balance (and when we do the rest of the class will just be streets ahead).

I am also debating over a phone call I ought to make. The person Joan sees for aromatherapy has given me a recommendation of someone else to call. I did see her a couple of times last year for reflexology and also a full aromatherapy back massage - both of which were lovely - but we came to the conclusion that Joan and I shouldn't really be seeing the same person. I do want to get back into that area of "treatment" as it really helped me relax and I think I am in a better frame of mind to appreciate it now - back then I was more analysing how it was making me feel than just feeling it.

The debate is over the fact that the number she has given me is for a chap. I'm just not sure whether I want to submit myself to the ministrations of another bloke or not. Well, it won't hurt to call him tonight I guess, and he might just put me on to someone else anyway.

And now the corporate style police want a chunk of the newsletter changing. Great, time to track down a willing volunteer to write that for me I think.

Hmm, the sun has come out and my mood has lifted a bit. Must be some form of coincidence or cause and effect in action there. I wonder which. You decide (to quote the bloke off Big Brother). Had a bit of a mooch about at lunchtime which was slightly spoiled by having to make smalltalk with a colleague on the way in (I'm no good at that kind of meaningless chat, I just want to shout "Shut Up!" and run away). It was almost ruined by a screaming kid in Woolworths but fortunately I had the MD player with me and was able to drown it out.

Have finished the 80s discs and am now on to The Gunman and Other Stories by Prefab Sprout which is proving pretty good so far. As the title suggests there is a kind of country feel to it, and some of the songs were originally used by Jimmy Nail in his Crocodile Shoes tv shows/albums. So in some respects you could say the cover versions of those were released before the originals.

Oh, and it turns out I was both wrong and right about the pay deal stuff. We are only getting the original 3% straight away but it has to go through approval with unions and that will take six weeks so we won't get any back pay until the end of September. Then we get another 1% from October and a further 3% next year. So by next April we shouldn't be too badly off, but I don't want to wait that long so will still fill in the form.

Here's a bit wot I wrote last night but never got the chance to stick on:

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And now I am home once again. And Joan is out once again (Oh, they came out of the Bingo empty-handed once again too). Am just waiting for a bunch of Chumbawamba MP3s to finish copying over from Zip Disk before having a go at the latest demo release of Jeff Minter's marvellous Gridrunner ++. Hopefully this should have sorted all the bugs that were plaguing the earlier releases. The trouble with parallel zip drives is that while stuff goes on them pretty quickly, it takes ages to copy it off again. Oh well, it has saved me several hours of download time so a few more minutes won't kill me.

And just for a change I know what I'm getting is worth the wait. Having grabbed all the files off the net at work I was wishing the PCs weren't nobbled so that I could play them. They are all totally silent and we all assumed they had had their soundcards removed (or never installed in the first place). Then I happened to glance at the back of someone elses machine and spotted the microphone and earphone sockets. Why would they be there if the sound cards weren't? So I plugged in my trusty headphones that normally occupy the socket on the CD drive and fired up one of the MP3s. By Jimcrack, we had sound after all - just no internal speaker. So a swift bit of desk rejigging later (in order to reach the socket and have the earphones in use without a broken neck) I had a very entertaining afternoon finishing off the newsletter. I even hid the Chumblies web site in a word search I put in it just to express thanks in a subtle way! Why has it taken me three plus years of using that PC to think about trying that? D'oh!

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Extra! Gridrunner updated again while I was writing that. Even better than before!

And now I realise I haven't got time to post this tonight so it will be stuck on top of Tuesday!

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So now it really is Tuesday morning and I've got a slight attack of the tuesday syndrome previously mentioned. The weather isn't helping there either - yesterday was a mix of sunshine and serious showers but today is just drab and leaves me unenthused.

The newsletter is now going through all the corporate hoops it has to jump before I can unleash it on the public. I hope there are no major changes required as I hate having to mess with my words. Especially as I try to tell the truth and reflect reality rather than putting the official spin on stuff. Trouble is everything here has to be so political. I probably mentioned this at the time so apologies if this is a repetition but it winds me up something chronic. In a previous newsletter I had nothing to fill some space so put in a call for comments etc from the users. I finished it with something along the lines of "..and we want to hear what you think. Most comments we get at the moment tell us we have the best toilets in Suffolk and really ought to be running the Norwich and Cambridge schemes as well". Now I thought that was a clear indication of what the public were telling us not me trying to score points off other counties, and my colleagues agreed. However, the Public Transport boss at Norfolk thought we were running his service down and we had to send a grovelling letter out. It just frustrates me even more.

Today I have done a bit more designy stuff. An advert to go in a booklet going to every schoolkid in Ipswich. If it works we can always use it elsewhere too. A bit of a tough job though, how to persuade the people who have no say in their travel decisions to get on a bus.

News just in from the BBC web site is that the Unions have reached an agreement with the councils on our pay rises for the next couple of years. I don't think I will be any better off than I would have been if they had just accepted the initial deal, but it will help the people paid by the hour. All I have to look forward to now is 5 months worth of back pay at the end of the month (hopefully).

We have also just been told that Gary and I will be interviewed for the job clash situation next Tuesday. Another reason to not like Tuesdays! We are expecting to get the proper job descriptions and task lists today to enable us to prepare but I can't say I'm over keen on the prospect. From what we have seen so far neither job actually covers what either of us want to do full time but splits stuff between the two of us. Splendid. And I just get the feeling that however well I do in the interview I will end up with the lesser of the two posts which will be a real kick in the teeth. That could just be my natural negativity coming in to play but it just sits there nagging at me.

Mind you, I have got an application form sitting at home for a post with St. Edmundsbury council (as a refuse and recycling officer, which looks pretty interesting actually) that it won't kill me to fill in and post. Just finding the time to do it seems to be the major problem. I'd even be happy to spend more time travelling again if the ultimate prospect was better for me. And right now I'd jump at anything that would put make me happier more often.

Of course what I forgot to mention in all of that entered last night was the debacle of Saturday's lunch. We thought we would try the new Italian coffee and Sarnie place that just opened in Felixstowe - Pucinos. So I dutifully trotted in to town in time to meet Joan for her break at one. She didn't finally get out until nearly quarter past but that was OK as she still had an hour to play with. We went up and found a table. After 10 minutes we snagged a menu off the table next door and decided what we fancied, however that still didn't produce a waiter and as we were running to a timescale decided to move on after 15 minutes with no sign of life from the staff. Now, I acknowledge that the place was busy and that it was their first day open, but you would think that any sound business plan would anticipate being busy on your first day and arrange staff accordingly. At least someone to come over and say "we're a bit busy but will get to you eventually" would have been nice. When we gave up we met some friends outside who had waited 25 minutes just for a coffee earlier in the morning.

We settled on Bumpers after that as at least we knew lunch would be OK and prompt. Seems we were wrong there as well. After we had sat for 30 minutes with no sign of food we collared the owner and he discovered they had lost our order. We got our money back and left as Joan then had no time left to eat and had to go back to work instead. I was by this point in an equally mixed state of anger, frustration and general gloom. I only just kept myself in check until I got home where it all came flooding out for a few minutes. Not a great situation. Oh well, over and gone now.

So, the Springsteen album (The Rising) is superb. Nice to hear the full E-Street Band back in full flow and also the, dare I say it?, experimental bits. I.E. strings, eastern singers, hurdy gurdy, dancey beats and stuff like that. Will have to listen to it again very soon. Possibly even tonight as Joan is out getting aromatherapied.

And now I'm back at work for another week. At least I'm not stuck at the desk for 5 days - Thursday is an ATCO meeting in Thurrock and on Friday I have to go to Norwich for the morning. So far I confess to not having done very much today - a bit of tidying up on my Park & Ride Newsletter - really must get that finished this week - and one simple timetable change. Have also spoken to Joan at home and she has booked me in with the Doctor. Not until the 19th but at least I now have a target to monitor feeling tired until. And yes, I could use a couple more hours snoozing today.

Have also had a bit of a bad head this morning so took a stroll out in the sunshine after lunch (as well as a good dose of Ibuprofen!) and that seems to have sorted it out. That included a stop in the Library to take back last week's CD borrows and grab a couple more (Orbital and OPM) and one at HMV for the new Chumbawamba album Readymades which I am listening to a the moment. So glad we got PCs with CD drives in. Anyway, they have taken loads of samples from classic British folk tunes and added a danceish feel to them with a smattering of the usual Chumblie sound. Top notch so far.

I'm not going to start this off with some reference to it being a busy few days and use that as an excuse for my laziness in not putting anything on here since Thursday. I admit that yes, it has been fairly busy at times, but I have been more lazy than things have been happening. So there.

Anyway, Friday was a reasonable day at work. I had a meeting in the morning where we sorted out a few more design issues for the new Park & Ride site at Martlesham - mainly moving the windows in the Terminal building to somewhere they will actually serve a purpose other than letting light in. You would think that having the windows for a security office located so that the occupants could actually see what they were trying to keep secure (i.e. the car park) would be fairly obvious a concept. Not to architects obviously. Oh well, at least I got to see the plans in time.

Lunchtime I was forced to go up the town by the ruthless tactic of not making any lunch. Ended up with a very nice sandwich from Marks & Spencer but managed not to buy anything else. Then the afternoon just seemed to drag so I made my excuses and left early. Via Homebase to pick up a bathroom storage trolley we ordered two months ago and then Felixstowe Tourist Information Centre to drop some timetable books off. And thus ensure that the journey home can be counted as time worked and keep my hours up. Ooh, such a naughty person I am.

As well as having been on order for so long, the trolley has caused much hassle now we finally have posession of it. Not only does it not fit at the end of the bath where we wanted to put it (and only by a matter of a few mm) but when put in the second choice location between the other end of the bath and the toilet it prevents the loo from being flushed by being too tall for the handle to move fully. And as we have only had the bathroom suite since just before Christmas replacing the cistern with one where the flush handle is located elsewhere was not an option! In the end we took the wheels off and it does at least go in place b. Grrr.

Then in the evening we ate more Chinese food and watched You've Got Mail. I was pleasantly surprised by just how good a film it was. I know all the reviews raved over it, but I wasn't expecting them to be able to do another film as good as Sleepless in Seattle. Just shows a good team can repeat success. In fact the only downside to the whole thing was that it was a tape we had bought for Ernie's birthday that he never got to see. Which left a tinge of sadness.

Saturday was a nice and sunny day in the main, so naturally I spent most of it indoors. Partly through being absolutely zonked when I got up the first time. To the point where I had a spot of breakfast and went back to sleep for another 2 hours. I finally got up around 11 which I always thought was rare for me but seems to be becoming more prevalent. Really must see the Doctor about it soon. Anyway, I then spent most of the rest of the day clearing out the study (with help from Richard) in preparation for today. Which I will come back to in a minute or two.

The main aim was to get rid of the desk and one of the bookcases. Much to my surprise, not only did we manage that but he took the bookcase and Ma & Pa came round a bit in the evening and made off with the desk. Which was a bit of a result as I was expecting to have to pay the council to take them away.

Today I spent the morning (again with brotherly assistance) putting together the new desk and chair that are enabling me to write this in extreme comfort. A proper corner desk at last meaning I can finally (after 3 years) get the monitor a better distance from the keys and stuff like that. It all looks very nice and I just hope I will manage to keep it tidy. I don't hold out too much hope of that given my track record in the tidiness stakes, but Joan is threatening violence if I mess it up so fingers are crossed. Mum kindly made lunch then I came back here and spent the afternoon sorting junk out into neatness before it was time to fetch Joan from work. She has now gone off to Bingo with Helen so I thought it was only right that I give the equipment a proper test. Complete with help from Chasm, the second (and last) album from The Beyond. And now I must upload this, resist the temptation to check out the Llamasoft forums cos I'll be there for hours and go do some ironing - otherwise I'll have to go to work naked tomorrow. Which would probably make the office temperature bearable but not help in many other ways. So I shall listen to the new Bruce Springsteen album while I flatten some shirts and say adios for now.