Err, is this working?

Nothing major to relate in the real world since yesterday. We were both shattered last night and after managing to get as far as 830 and the end of DIY SOS crashed out on the couch for an hour or so of quality sleep before waking up and deciding that really we might just as well go to bed. So we did.

Today's highs have been the purchase of the new issue of Edge with the full scoop on Jeff Minter's Unity project and the new WiLDHEARTS single. Otherwise just plugging away at some confusing timetables (I think I turned them from Mikespeak into English) and stuff like that.

In the unreal world, however, things have been much more thrilling. Yup, time for me to waffle on a bit more about recent dreams.

Had one the other night which was actually set in my current job rather than harking back to the Argos days. I was delivering timetables to Newmarket and got back from lunch to find the van missing. Stolen was the diagnosis. This was followed by a strange chase round a department store that certainly isn't in the real town and a drive around with a colleague who happened to be passing to see if we could spot the missing vehicle. Hadn't found it by the time the alarm went off though.

Last night proved stranger still. Featured some kind of sporting challenge event crossed with quasi-religious hysteria (in which I seemed to be the venerated figure) all set in the grounds of some big country house. The Queen was there to dish out prizes and there seemed to be a rather large amount of gratuitous nudity. I never did work out what the sporty part was meant to be - plenty of people were intraining for different events but I never got to see an actual contest. Odd.

Wonder what the psychologists would make of those.

Oooh, just had an email while I was writing that lot. Cunningly timed to after most of the office has gone home for the weekend thus meaning we will have the big discussions on Monday morning. Seems we will be going LIVE with the new database system on Monday. Wham and indeed Bam (not forgetting the Thank You, Mam). I forsee lots of things not working still and many people getting their knickers in a twist over the small details and forgetting the bigger picture. Especially as the person appointed to look after the system isn't starting until March time. Time I went home too I think.

Interesting day.

The drive up to Beccles was in the main fun and relaxed, but there were a couple of annoying hold ups caused by roadworks which obviuosly had people behind me fuming as they were hanging far too close to my rear end. And just when I was almost in sight of my goal I was further diverted by a Policeman after an accident ahead. Great. Oh well, got there in the end.

Graham looks nicely settled into his new job and they have some pretty nifty kit on the printworks. Wandering around there was just a joy to a lover of books like me, the smells of ink and paper alone were enough! Anyway, the data people reckon they can do pretty much anything we want if I can get Routewise to spit it out properly so I will do a bit more playing around at this end and quite possibly save us £30-40,000 a year in printing costs if it works. We shall see.

Also managed to fit in a nice sausage sandwich at the King's Head across the road and catch up on a bit of the family news and stuff since he left Pindar. Oh, and getting rained on as well. Always good to fit that in...

On the way back I detoured via Leiston to deliver some bus boards to an operator there. I do like that part of the county a lot, and if the rain hadn't been doing its thing would probably have stopped once or twice to take some suitably scenic snapshots. Oh well, plenty of time for that to come. Also detoured into Wickes to pick up the door handles and latches. Should be very nice when I get home tomorrow.

Arrived back here to find my desk in its new place. I think I will soon get used to it, although in theory I do have a new desk on the way. Not sure now if I want to change the angle I'm sitting at (supposed to be swapping from a right bend to a left bend) but we will see when the time comes. Of course being nearer to the window doesn't make a difference to me as I am still far enough away NOT to be distracted by pretty young student girls passing by, and I am also further form some of the other noises in the rest of the team so in all probably a good move. And then got to meet the new boss. Chris Seaman. Seems OK on first impressions so hopefully he will stay OK. He is coming from a London background so it might take him a bit of adjustment to get used to the slower Suffolk ways!

Then again, if what they are saying on the news is confirmed, we will be on the move again soon anyway. A new office block for the power company TXU is being built across town, however they went bust and got sold to Powergen who don't want the new home. In many ways it would be nice to move to a spacious, airy, modern building but as it was designed for 800 and we have 1300 to squeeze in it will probably be just as useless as this one. Plus it is further from the town centre so although I might be pleased to be away from the shops, it will be a bugger when I do need to go in.

Tonight Joan is staying late due to a staff meeting to get Gill properly introduced and see where they are all going. I hope it will be OK and not a cause for more fireworks. I will find out when I pick her up I guess.

And finally for today, finished Tunnel Visions and despite wandering off into too much theory/philosophy and not enough transport stuff I still enjoyed it a lot. Have now Started on the Otherland saga by Tad Williams with book one City Of Golden Shadow. Only read the prologue thingy last night so can't really comment on it just yet, but looks interesting and entertaining, as all good fiction should be. I don't think I will read the whole series in one go though, as each book is enormous. Some light relief in between volumes will no doubt be required.

Phew, Joan just called to say she isn't too bad and things are going in the right direction. Which is what I needed to hear as I have just had a very depressing lunchtime.

Other than the not knowing I was just gloomy through not having any spare money, drab weather and loads of books I wanted to read on the shelves and no way of fitting them all in.

back to drab reality of work now, but at least one weight is lifting from the shoulders.

Hmm, I had intended to add to yesterday's waffle during the afternoon but circumstances conspired against me. First blogger refused to publish, then there was more furniture moving to assist with (and that is still going on today). That was then compounded by a quick look in to the Llamasoft Forums which lasted a bit longer than planned. Yup, the long awaited IT has been revealed at last as a game called Unity for the Gamecube. So, yay! I have the right hardware already (as suspected). OK, so there is still likely to be another year of waiting, but at least we now know what we are waiting for and I can keep on with my learning of Cube hardware and generally getting better at games.

Joan heard last night that Gill had been at the meeting yesterday claiming that it was actually Lesley who ran the store anyway. Hopefully though things will be improving now - I dropped her off just as the evil one was arriving and there wasn't an immediate punch-up on the doorstep. And nearly three hours later I've not had Joan on the phone asking for help, in tears or announcing her resignation so fingers are crossed. I do hope they can find a way to work together and that Gill is only there for the three months initially mentioned as I don't want to see Joan affected this way.

Homewise I bought the four doors for downstairs last night. So thanks to Dad for lending me his big car to transport them in. Luckily they had them in stock in Felixstowe so no trip to Ipswich (and more importantly as they were a fraction of a smidgeon too long, no trip home with the boot open). Plan to pick up the handles (well, knobs actually) and latches tomorrow on my way back from a meeting in Beccles.

We also took a viewing of a video tape sent over from Canada last night. A mix of the Christmas lights around Burlington and Oakville, Caroline & Chris's new house and Darrell's new band. Very nice indeed the lot of them. Although I don't get the concept of selling you a house with the basement unfinished. Surely you have enough to do on moving in without that to sort as well? I will have to take advice from people on the appropriate side of the Atlantic there I think. I would also get some colour in to the house asap but that's just me.

Well, today marks the fifth anniversary of me last working for Argos. Yup, the Tuesday after the catalogue came out (and I think it was the 21st then as well). The months of put-downs, lack of supprt, insults, general morale-sapping and personal attacks finally took their toll. I'm not going to go into the full, gory details here and now (I expect I'll write them up on here at some point as eventually I want to backtrack over the entire 30+ years of me) but suffice it to say the way I was five years ago today resulted in one of the staff at Stowmarket phoning Joan worried and Joan making me an appointment for the Doctor on the Wednesday. He signed me off sick for a fortnight and I then ended up being off 12 weeks or so before starting here. Which was a change to say the least!

And that all ties in reasonably well with the fact that Joan spoke not to her new boss as I had thought, but to the Area Manager instead. She did so representing the entire store not just her own views, and he promised to get it sorted out. Gill was at a meeting yesterday afternoon when the conversation took place and another all day one today so hopefully he will be able to sort her out during those and things will be better from tomorrow. Certainly they have plans for a full store meeting on Thursday so if that doesn't clear the air I am going to get involved, whether they like it or not. After all, I am not about to let what happened to me happen to Joan. And not just because we need the money (although she did also have a look in the Job Centre yesterday too)!

Today all in the office has once again descended into pre-big move, furniture shifting chaos. There are desks and filing cabinets and stuff going everywhere as I write. Mostly I'm staying out of it but lending a hand when needed so as not to look too lazy. There have also been verbal fireworks with Chris really letting fly at Charles. First time I've ever seen him get worked up like that and, truth be told, rather wonderful to watch. In a schadenfreude kind of way of course.

Definitely a Grand Old Duke of York weekend just gone. When it was up it was up but when it was down it sure was down.

Saturday started great for me. I got a load of old files and junk cleared off the PC making room for some last bits and bobs of music I had kicking around on zip discs to go on. Then got a load of ironing done whilst finishing off the MDs to send to America and later made and printed the inlays for them. And I even managed to squeeze in a viewing of War Games one of the best cold war/teen hacker combo films ever as far as I am concerned. Great performances from all involved (and the realisation a couple of years ago as to why I recognised Barry Corbin when I forst saw Northern Exposure) and fond teenage wibbly thoughts about Ally Sheedy. Looking forward to re-visiting it again soon with the commentary.

Then I went to pick Joan up, which is where the down bit kicked in. It was her first full day with the new Manager and to say that they did not get on would be a boit of an understatement. It seems Gill has rubbed everyone up the wrong way and there was talk of a mass exodus if she didn't sort herself out pronto. All of which left Joan in tears when I got her home and in need of much TLC. Not a good way to ingratiate yourself with a new set of staff. Having just spoken to her, Joan has said a few things today which will hopefully ease the situation but she wouldn't give me the full details so I will just have to wait until I get home to find out more. Fingers crossed.

We then finished off after calming down with a fab stir-fry from our new wok (The old one having bit the dust recently) and a bit of Casualty. Nice.

Yesterday we did another trawl round all the big DIY stores looking at doors. I had completely forgotten that we had set the process of getting the interior doors replaced before Christmas (as mentioned on Friday). They are to be done this Friday now (provided I can get them in the car tomorrow) so that buggers my New Year's resolution of not touching a paintbrush this year. We also had a tasty junk food lunch out (Mmmm, double rodeo burger, you are my friend) and looked at some cute birds in a pet shop.

Then it was round the corner to Ma & Pa's for tea. That went very well and they managed to avoid the work issues for most of the night and then skillfully change the subject before it got too stressful when it did come up. A good evening on the whole.

Today I have been thrashing in new and revised timetables to go off for printing. Some big changes coming up (again) which will need a supplementary booklet preparing (again). One day I'd love to have a stable network.

Didn't go out at lunch time today due to excessive water hurling itself fromt he sky. However, I have been out now as there were some films to post off to Pindar in Preston. Our in-house post people can't handle special delivery so it means a walk to the post office whenever we have something in production. This did mean I was able to take a quick look in Out Of Time but though tempted I managed to resist buying any cheap CDs.

New Boook! I am now progressing nicely with Tunnel Visions by Christopher Ross. Very good. A mix of his experiences, anecdotes and reflections garnered whilst working for London Underground interspersed with other tales from his travels, bits of psychology and other rambling passages. Just the kind of book I'd end up with if I was trying to write about this job I expect.

OK, time to go see if the Felixstowe Homebase has the doors we settled on or if I've got to come back to Ipswich after work tomorrow.

Spent yesterday out and about in the van with Ray - taking down the Park & Ride Christmas signs and delivering some books. Lovely sunny weather made it a very pleasant experience, and I even managed to take a gorgeous picture of the river Alde up at Snape. Oooh, I love having my camera.

Last night was odd. I got home early enough to take Joan up to get her back cracked, we then did a bit of shopping and dropped some stuff off for Helen. By the time we got home I was feeling really spaced out, and it didn't help when we had an unexpected visit form (another) Ray to talk about hanging some new doors for us. Ended up feeling all over the place but at the same time detatched from myself by the time we went to bed. Still, I did squeeze in the last few pages of ...Maurice which I have now decided was very good. Just not the rib-tickling humour of the more adult books. ER was also very good again.

Today I went to a Car Parks meeting in the morning, which was nice as I actually had something to talk about for a change. Yup, the third P&R site finally got planning approval yesterday so we are now about to get into full building mode and go for it. I have to say I'm quite looking forward to it, and hopefully can really get into the thick of things this time. Still not sure how the actual operations will work, what with strong commercial services running along much the same route but I guess we'll find out as the year progresses.

Then this afternoon I have had another big clear-out in readiness for the move. This is now likely to be in the next couple of weeks so I thought it was time I got on with things.

Not sure what will be happening tonight as yet - Joan will be working late for the new Catalogue launch and Tracey has left at lunchtime leaving the new boss Gill in charge. There shouldn't be any major problems I'm sure but you never know. I think I will just stick some big spuds in the oven and wait for the phone to ring. And then hopefully I can have a relaxing weekend.

Don't know whether it was just Joan talking about work couple with me being tired, or the fact that next week will be five years since I last worked for Argos/went off sick with all the stress and depression but had yet another "back in the old job" dream last night. As usual it was at Newmarket rather than Stowmarket where all the hassle happened, so that was a relief at least. And for once this one actually ended with me telling the Manager that they couldn't possibly pay me enough money for me to go back there from what I do now. So that was a nice resolution for a change. It did, however, leave my head in an Argos mode when I woke up leading to a bit of the old self-recrimination/could I have done it better stuff that has bugged me since. I thought I was finally clear of that but it seems not. Must think nice thoughts this weekend and relax and enjoy myself I think.

Musically I have really enjoyed the Police all week. OK, so listening to it all in one go did show up the fact that they did let one or two duff tracks out there, but on the whole a sound body of work. Now going back to random selections interspersed with working through a few artists in their entirity but not all in one go, if you see what I mean!

That'll do I think - this has been a recorded message, brought to you in association with Kit-Kat.

Don't you just hate it when you only get part of a story? Mitchell has just been down and announced that he has filled most of the vacancies (with a copule still to interview/accept) and that our new boss is an ex-London Transport chap. But won't tell us his name. Crazy system!

Anyway, Joan had a good time out last night - a kind of informal just her & Lesley saying goodbye to Tracey sort of meal. And Tracey paid as well, which made it better.

So I did go along to see the Brother. Played a few games, a bit of chat that sort of thing. Nowt startling though.

Today has otherwise been an average Wednesday with nothing else to add due to staying in this lunchtime. Hurdie ho.

Well, I didn't go out last night in the end. Decided to kick back with some music (finally got the next Wonder Stuff MD recorded to send to the USA) and a bit of Super Monkey Ball. Which was good as I finally got to enough play points to unlock one of the mini games. I did have 2 of the 3 available before the sodding memory card decided to eat my SMB details (left everything else OK) so having to re-gain them is a pain. Went for Billiards as it was the one I'd not played before. Very good and will get lots of play I think. Anyway, Joan is out again tonight and I think I will make the trip round the corner.

Today has proved to be pretty much an average Tuesday so far with nothing really to rave about. Managed to avoid spending significant money whilst mooching about town over lunch.

Today is also the second day of a manager-less office in the main as they are finally doing some interviews for the five vacant posts we have. Quite whether these will result in any people joining the team before Easter is another matter entirely of course. Hopefully there will be some decent ones to help ease the pressures people are beginning to crack under. Of course them being nice, understanding and not wanting to change everything on day one will be useful too while we are at it.

In car entertainment has been wide and varied from the CD selection of late so this week I thought I'd settle on a band. As such I'm in for a complete works run through from The Police. This is of course made simple by having the box set of everything! Not listened to some of it for a couple of years so am enjoying the driving thoroughly. Although not to the point where I am looking for traffic jams and hold-ups in order to stay in the car longer.

Not really much else to add. Am trying to make more time to read again, but am still on ...Maurice at the moment. I guess the fact that it was intended as a children's version of Discworld could explain it, but I'm not feeling quite as enthralled as I have been by other Pratchett stuff of late. Caught a few extra pages yesterday when I was on the Park & Ride buses, not that I plan to make that a regular part of the day either just to get some words absorbed. Hey ho.

A very good evening ensued yesterday. There was obvioulsy the planned viewing of the conclusion of Messiah (which was absolutely superb and kept me guessing literally right to the very end - much my preferred form of detective story, rather than the Columbo style where you know whodunnit from the start and just watch the police going through the motions). However, we also managed to fit in my first ever viewing of Look Who's Talking which was pretty good (thanks, Sky Movies) and Joan's first ever of The Wizard Of Oz. I was amazed to learn she'd never seen it before. And from the DVD it looks superb. The only shame is that widescreen hadn't been invented when it was made!

Plus I made a rather tasty dinner. Grilled chicken on a bed of multi-mash (a ring of potato, cabbage and raw onion mash encircling a portion of carrot and parsnip mash). Followed by ice cream with a superb toffee sauce on it.

All in marked contrast to the chaos of this morning which saw me sleeping through the alarm. Not a good start to the day leaving me getting up an hour later than scheduled. So a quick exit from the house met with horrendous traffic trying to get out of Felixstowe (never did find out why, probably just loads going down to the docks). That meant I'd never get a space in the car park here so I diverted to Park & Ride instead. I did have an excuse to go there as we are having drainage problems and that meant there was a hole I could look into and take pictures of. Leading to arriving in the office at 10. Oh well, back to normal from that point with bits and bobs to do on assorted topics.

And now off home again (well, off to get my bus now anyway). Joan is out tonight and I may go round to see Richard, but may just sit in playing games instead. Will see how I feel at the time.

And so far most of it has indeed been pretty good. OK, so Friday I went to bed early with a splitting headache and it was still there when I woke up yesterday but it was gone by lunchtime and since then things have been pretty woosome.

We did manage to see LOTR TTT yesterday and damn good it was too. Better than the first one as not so much introductions to character stuff needed and loads of action. Hats off to all involved cos it must have been a real slog at times. Plus the computer graphic work on Gollum and the Ents is superb. Knocks things like Jar Jar Binks totally into the shade. Roll on the final part now.

Got home in time for Casualty and (finally) the first part of Messiah 2. And it has to be said there wasn't too much in there that I could see justifying them not showing it when originally scheduled. Oh well. Concludes tonight and should be good.

Joan is back at work today so I have been ironing as normal! Watched Groundhog Day + commentary this morning and plan to do the third American Pie 2 one this afternoon. Now listening to the new Sum 41 cd (why has it taken me so long since Christmas?) - more of the same really so hopefully they will expand a bit next time around. Heck, an album over 30 minutes would be nice! Back to iron now...

Hey, we only broke their system 3 or 4 times. Not bad for a whole day's trying. Like I've said to people before, the potential of the program for what we want it to do is staggering, it just isn't quite there yet. Trouble is, the flaws are in the really vital or obvious places rather than the fiddly bits you only use once or twice a year. One day!

Home now for a damn good weekend (I've decided).

And so we wait. Due for training in the new database today, but nobody really knows when it is due to start so we sit and wait. I have seen one of the training people, but he didn't see me (which was pretty cunning I reckon).

Anyway, calmed down finally last night, but still felt a bit wobbly and stuff. Now, part of the problem was my fault I admit but having gone through such a crappy year I think some proper support should have been more forthcoming a bit earlier. Oh well, we will just have to see how it goes from now on. I do still have my eyes peeled for other opportunities - there just don't seem to be any at the moment.

On a brighter note, the new series of ER finally started on E4 last night. Hoorah for Satellite TV! Bit of a gruesome way to start the series but really good, solid drama that made the ad breaks more tolerable. I'm sure they only had two when they first started to show it rather than the three we get now. If the show wasn't so damn good it would be far too easy to lose track of the plot the way they break it up like that.

Joan is off tomorrow, which is good as the weather is forecast to get worse again tonight. However, if they are wrong or it clears up by lunchtime we will be coming in to Ipswich to see Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers. Having re-watched Fellowship and seen the reviews etc I am so looking forward to this one. Then will start to delve into the other two discs in the DVD box. Mainly to find out what the extra material there covers, as it could well be that there will be extended and enhanced versions of all three films available. That will just be wonderful in my opinion. I know that purists reckon they have changed too much from the original books, but I am realistic enough to see why they had to for a cinema audience and am sure I can enjoy the two different versions equally. After all, the whole thing just looks so much like I'd visualised it that even though I will be looking for differences next time I read the book I reckon it will still be fully enjoyable.

Right, let's see if they are ready for us now.

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

Sense Of Wonder.

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

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

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

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

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

It was truly wonderful.

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

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

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

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

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

It stopped snowing so I went for a wander at lunchtime after all. Got the new Levellers single and also met someone I used to work with at Argos here for a surprise chat.

And now have confirmation that the account I opened for Llamasoft related travel (i.e. anyone can donate to get a worthy fan across the atlantic or whatever) is underway so will get that announced nw and watch the cash come rolling in.

Well, what started off as a slight sprinkling while I was coming in to work now seems to have progressed to a full and proper snowfall situation. NOT looking forward to driving home tonight if it keeps on like this. Still, better than when I used to work in Newmarket I suppose. That really was a nightmare a couple of times.

My turn for the strange and confusing dreams last night again. Some snippets featuring strange underwear and trying to get families together but mostly trying to help my friend Cara claim some money she was owed from the army unit stationed in our college (??) whils avoiding the animated goat statues (also ??). Sometimes it would be nice to just sleep without my head wandering off!

Main job for today would appear to be looking for errors in the latest build fo our database that still doesn't work. Time to get really petty and vindictive I think.

Woo. Proper snow last night meaning a couple of inches lying all over this morning, cars to clear and all sorts. Journey into work was only a problem because of other pepole as the roads themselves were nice and clear by then. Just loads of people blocking my way by queueing to get round other routes or whatever and not leaving gaps. Plus of course the kids were back to school today and obviously couldn't be walking in this weather. Lazy trolls.

Joan had the strange dream last night - something about getting a pet duck. Must stop her drink!

Not much else to say for now. Didn't go out at lunchtime yesterday and not planning to today either. Too many temptations in the shops. Joan was supposed to be going out for a "farewell" meal with Tracey tonight but that has been postponed by the weather so we will have a relaxed and snuggly evening instead.

Brrr, more than a bit nippy cold this morning. Even had to scrape ice off the car for the first time this winter (first time for this car come to think of it). Only the rear windscreen though as being up on the driveway shelters the rest of them. Could this be my lucky winter? We shall have to wait and see.

Everyone back in the office today having survived their Christmas revels and New Year frolics. Which means I am back to using headphones plugged in to the PC to keep my sanity as well as just for the entertainment. Todays a selection of seriously chilled-out stuff as recommended by someone on the Llamasoft Forums. Very interesting listening so far. Will have to go rummaging more I think.

Very vivid strange dream last night so I think I will write it up. Started in a semi-normal fashion (!) with David Attenborough wanting to film a wildlife prog in our back garden. He got even more excited when Tawny came along so she ended up being filmed too. After that it got stranger, as our current garden was tacked on to the old house in Welwyn Garden City but everything else was as in Felixstowe. So we were having a post-filming party with all our current neighbours (including Patti wandering around with her top off for no logical reason) and people I work with. All got very confusing trying to explain to people why the house was so different from all the othes in the street.

Hmm. Time for lunch now I think. Oh, they didn't win last night either. But at least it wasn't as smokey as last time so Joan isn't coughing and spluttering as much today.

Last night went very well indeed. Lots of fun and laughter from all, and good food as well (my Joan sure can cook). Some of the piccies plus some from Christmas and other recent gatherings are now at http://uk.photos.yahoo.com/llama_at_home if anyone wants to look!

Had a good day today as well. No snow, but the sun has been shining making all well in the world. Had a late start then went into town for lunch. Also managed to buy another two DVDs (Monsters Inc. and The Wizard of Oz) - must try to stop myself now at least until after my birthday. Then to Safeway for food and back here. Jerry came in for a coffee and another good chat ensued.

Now Joan is off at Bingo, surely they will have to get lucky and win something this time. I'll be off to pick them up later but now have time for a spot of something else.