July Japes

This month is going to be a mad one...

In just over a week's time, I will have various members of my family visiting and staying with me for a while. Although I only saw them recently in May, I can't wait to see them again, to spend some quality time with them as I usually only get to see them once a year.

My parents will be staying for 5-6 weeks, so I'm looking forward to lots of my Mum's home cooking! I'm not looking forward to putting on weight as a result of said home cooking though! Might have to increase intensity in my gym workouts!

Two of my sisters are also coming over, along with my niece and nephews (all between the ages 7 and 5), who are all really excited about doing some 'gardening' (weeding haha!). I do hope the weather's going to be fine when they come over.

At some point towards the end of the month, there will be NINE people (including the kids) staying, so yes, the house is going to be rather noisy but nice with family sounds.

This Saturday, I'm going on a hen night - 1940s fancy dress and I'm going for the Betty Grable look - see above pic!) 

Glam and Sparkly and Tearful

"Weenie* - you look stunning!" uttered one of the IT managers. I have to admit that I did in fact look rather glamorous - have never worn a strapless dress before and I got many compliments that night. I'm just so glad I didn't have any drunken mishaps, so that dress will deffo get another outing!

So after a tough week at work for all, most people were looking forward to the company Christmas party, which took place at the Renaissance Hotel this year.

Despite being announced relatively last minute (I guess the company ultimately decided to go ahead with it to keep up morale), it was a pretty good turn out with over 200 people.

And the company was unusually generous too - 6 free bottles of wine per table, plus each person got two drinks vouchers. Taxi fares up to £15 (each way) could be claimed back off expenses too - this is totally unheard of in all the time I've worked for the business!

Drank loads of wine (plus the odd G&T!), did a bit of dancing, mingled and took a lot of photos - unlike the 'official' photographer who just snapped randomly at people sat at their tables, I knew most attendees by name so got them to pose - they'll be regretting that come Monday, haha!

JH was hammered again, was a bit naughty on the dancefloor with the Barney Rubble lookalike from the Remarketing department and at the end of the night, couldn't find her handbag... After last week's fiasco with her mobile phone, she was fortunate this time that her bag was located intact on some random table!

Was a good night - me and AM even got turfed out of someone else's party which we gatecrashed as their dj was playing better music - the taxi was on time, crashed out around 2.30am.


Come Saturday, I didn't/couldn't emerge from my bed until after 11am...bleugh! Looked at my photos on my camera - don't remember taking some of them but they turned out really well (must be a good camera!).

Anyway, after I'd woken up a bit, thought I'd brave city centre to do a bit of shopping.

Credit crunch, what credit crunch?The Arndale Centre was packed! I was there for only a short while, couldn't take any more than that so I did a bit of Tesco shopping, was home within the hour and dozing on the sofa!

Woke up in time to watch the X-Factor final. Yeah yeah you may scoff, but at the end of the day, I enjoy good live music and that's what I got. Not all of it was to my taste mind - Boyzone?? Westlife?? but Alexandra Burke, the winner in the end was class - her cover version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah not only a guaranteed Christmas number 1 but also the record-breaking fastest download ever. Wow, her tears of joy moved me to tears and even listening to the song is making me a bit emotional, blub blub!

*my real name

And all that Jazz...

So, it was our departmental Christmas bash, again at Tatton Park - the theme this year was Mississippi Mardi Gras.

As the whole department has been pretty much decimated due to redundancies, there were only a dozen of us this time, of which three people were ex-employees. There were no senior managers in attendance so we had to get our own wine for the table - bummer! One girl turned up quite unexpectedly - she's been off 'sick' for the last three months - funny how she miraculously recovered that night of all nights...hmmm.

Anyway, I'm not into jazz at all so some of the live music was a bit meh but the costumes and settings all looked good and the DJ played some good tunes later on.

It was an enjoyable night - good food, good wine, good company and I was in mega-heels but managed to stay in them all night AND dance in them - ace!

There was no gossip this year - one of the antagonists from last year didn't go - his wife put her foot down, ahem...

JH swears she wasn't drunk but how else do you explain the fact that the only part of her mobile phone that she had in her bag by the end of the night was the battery...yep, casing and sim card were...elsewhere!

The party continued for a bit longer back at the hotel until 3am - I'd had enough alcohol by then, had to stop before things got messy...

Was like a total zombie when I woke up later that morning feeling like I hadn't slept at all. Tried to soak up the hangover with a greasy breakfast - it didn't really work. Drove home slowly, knowing I was still over the limit.

But that's not all. Not only did I have virtually no voice, look and feel pretty dreadful...but I had a date!

Yeah, one of them! No, I don't often talk about these social outings of mine in any detail (if at all) but I wanted to mention that in my current state of dizziness, I got my weekends mixed up...what a dope!

Did I blow it? Hmm..not sure yet but it was a pleasant outing and passed surprisingly quickly.

I so need an early night.

Another party on Friday - can my body survive another attack??

Detox weekend?

It's coming up to that time of year where I give my liver and kidneys a severe bashing with alcohol - two Christmas parties coming up (departmental and company) and a football outing over the next few weekends.

This weekend, with not a lot planned (except Sunday), I thought I'd do a few chores, chill, relax and detox a little - even made myself some healthy salad meals.

But oops - several large gins and numerous bottles of beer later, I am relaxing, slumped in front of the telly munching cheesy puffs after a night of 'Strictly Come Dancing' and 'X-Factor' - damn Tesco for having special offers on alchohol and snacks!

I have my outfits ready for the parties - one dress I've worn before at a wedding, another is a little slinky black strapless number which I'm looking forward to wearing - tried it on today and hey, I look hot in it if I may say so myself (it's not often I do, I usually look in the mirror and go "meh!")

With what's going on at work, this could well be the last company do I attend - it wouldn't do any harm to make a good lasting impression! :-)

Looking forward to getting my dancing shoes on!

Sacred Vows

My big sister got married on Saturday! WOOHOO! It was a gloriously sunny day! Us 'bridesmaids' (siblings plus groom's sister F) were all lovely in green and complimented the happy and lovely bride, groom (who wore tartan trews although other members of his family were in kilts) and my oh so sweet nephew in his little suit!



Well, it was a great church wedding, the canon was amusing, we sang some good hymns (practiced 'I Vow To Thee My Country' the previous night ass we couldn't remember the tune - we didn't quite reach the Katherine Jenkins' notes though!)



Great reception, the champagne and wine flowed and us girls did the family proud - first on the dancefloor and last off the dancefloor - we were still there when the DJ was packing up! (I did have to change out of my killer heels later in the night so I could carry on dancing!)

It was great to see other members of the family (although cousin G was awol as he'd forgotten the date and had gone gallavanting off to Poland with his mates...), to catch up with some of the girls from the Center Parcs weekend and to meet the groom's friends and family, who I have to say, were a nice friendly bunch.

As you can imagine, pretty hungover the next day - spent a lot of time napping and when not sleeping, eating....

Said goodbye to the younger sibs - not sure when I'll see them next, sometime next year I guess and there'll be another little niece or nephew added to the family next time I see them.

Back home to rainy Manchester feeling majorly lethargic - far too much food and sleep, I'm not used to it so need to hit the gym big style!

We Are Family

It's not very often that we get a family get together, since nearly all of my family are on the other side of the world.

So when we do get together, it's a big thing and it's very noisy!

My parents are over and it's great to see them, although kinda weird having them in the house. I feel like a teenager all over again, having to let them know if I'm coming home or staying out (so they know whether to cook my tea) and if the latter, them asking questions about who I'm staying out with...

My waistline is quickly expanding from my mum's home cooking - I so need to go back to my minimum food routine soon and work harder in my aerobics classes!

Two of my sisters have been in and around the house too - that was nice, (not long enough for us to have arguments) but our clothes and toiletries all got mixed up and nobody could find anything - nightmare!

Anyway, last Thurs, we flew down to London and celebrated mum's 60th birthday - pregnant sis #3 turned up with hubbie and little niece (all just off the plane) and we ate in an oh so posh restaurant - Wilton's. Excellent food as you would expect and maybe we shouldn't have had so much of the expensive pink champagne...(still need to pay my share of the bill...).

Was great to see little niece and little nephew interacting - she is a little minx with an extremely loud pixie voice - she obviously takes after our side of the family - he is just such a happy little chappie!

Anyway, the family get together wasn't just for my mum's birthday but for....the wedding!

High Heeled Catch Up

Hmm, been a while since I was able to update so going to try to get a load done in one go while I've set some time aside.



Back to work today and oh joy, nothing's changed - day started ok, then got steadily worse as people realised I was back in the office so started to pester me.....



Fortunately, the glamorous C was online to distract me (more on her later...)



Anyway, let's get to composing my first post of the night...



KILLER HEELS



Ok, so in my last post I mentioned going out - to my little sister's best friend's evening wedding reception. So I turned up at the Slug and Lettuce in Didsbury in my new heels and funky dress that I'd never worn before, and suddenly realised that I barely knew anyone at the party (3...including my sis to be precise).

A few double gins later, well, I was able to chat to anyone!

I was chatting to one of the girls when the groom's best mate comes up to us and says 'Do you want to dance?' The girl I was chatting to pipes up 'Are you asking?' and he replied 'No, I'm asking her', pointing at me - I nearly spat my gin out, haha, I'm such a lady!

Well good job the alcohol had numbed my feet cos I was able to do some 'moves' on the dancefloor!

A young lawyer from Essex also made a beeline for me, hell I must have been hot that night! :-)Couple of dances, he tried to kiss me a few times but in the middle of the dancefloor ? Purlease! I wasn't that drunk!

Sis #2 turned up late at the party, straight off the plane from Hong Kong via London - party animal!

A good night, am glad I went, needed it after some recent events. Crashed out around 2.30am after an origami frenzy...

Footie and Fun

Woke up to find that we hadn't escaped the cold weather and it was steadily snowing outside and sticking.

Ominous but fortunately, the snow stopped around noon and a bright winter sun came out to quickly started to melt the slushy white stuff.

It was still pretty chilly though, wrapped up as we were as we witnessed Arsenal totally outplay Manchester City (we had to have some hot tomato soup at half-time!). At 2-0 down, it looked like it was all over, but then unexpectedly, City managed to pull one back.

But City didn't make or take any more chances so inevitably, Emmanuel Adebayor (who I have in my fantasy football team*) slotted in his second to make it 3-1, firing the Gooners back into the top of the league.

After the footie, I went to the glamorous C's as it was her son's 9th birthday party - the theme was Yu-Gi-Oh! duelling, so I turned up with my deck of cards and I was nominated a 'teacher' , basically there to check the gaming rules were followed and to make sure the boys weren't cheating (and some of them did try!).

Had a couple of games (I lost!), some nice buffet food - it was good fun and I think the birthday boy liked the drawing I did for him plus the spare cards.

Me and the glamorous C moved from drinking Dr Peppers to the gin and wine later on in the evening and after most of the boys had been picked up by their parents, we spent some time catching up and chatting into the wee hours. She's getting rid of her Audi convertible and possibly replacing it with a Nissan Qashqai. Funny, I never really saw her in a Japanese car but I can see her in this one!

Crashed out just before 2am and had a fuzzy head in the morning. Whilst the glamorous C took the kids on an invigorating bike ride (in the cold and drizzle!), I went home to chill the rest of the weekend.

(*I was manager of the month in my fantasy football league, winning a tenner. I'm also now in 6th place in the overall league, out of over 110 teams - looking good!)

Beers, Tears and Fears - Part II

So we piled into one of the other girls' room to continue the party - their bathtub was full of bottles of beer! There were a few complaints about our noise levels, both from security and some bloke down the corridor who had a plane to catch in the morning- oops!

Some of the guys started engaging in WWF-style wrestling - throwing each other around with full body slams! Men + alcohol nearly always ends up with some physical 'male bonding'! Am surprised the bed remained intact but there was beer and wine spilt everywhere - the carpet was sticky... At one point, one guy had hold of another guy's foot and he in turn had one of the girls in a headlock! Someone also tried to haul me upside down - I hope no one remembers the view of my arse!

JH, usually blessed with extremely high alcohol tolerance, was more drunk than I'd ever seen her - she'd been knocking them back at the party and well, she's one of those gals who get more affectionate the more they drink... Well, she disappeared into another room with S, after being pretty close with him at the party - I'd given her a friendly warning about S, which she'd poo-pooed - we've all known S for years, a big flirt but generally harmless, blah blah. Various people tried to get them to join in the party, but they didn't...

So everyone started to speculate about what they were up to and I was the only one who thought that two married people wouldn't be so obvious - would they? Maybe, I just didn't want to think of my mate cheating on her husband of 3 months? But I wasn't happy with what was being said about her - funny how guys can get so derogatory about women so quickly.

Eventually, the two of them turned up at the party, JH was all over S, it was embarrassing (seeing her so drunk sobered me up...) and everyone just gave each other knowing looks...

Just before 5am, the party ended. I was saying my goodnights when I realised that JH had disappeared... she was in S' room (his room-mate was already asleep) - me and another girl made the decision then to 'rescue' her. S wouldn't let us in until we started banging on the door. When he eventually opened the door, he was naked, just in a towel...I asked him where JH was and he said she was in the bathroom doing a number two... then he said she was in there cos she felt sick and dizzy...

JH was in the bathroom, the door was ajar, I could see some of her clothes on the floor - I didn't go in but just told her that I was going to bed and that she needed to get our room key off me. She said she was ok but didn't come out. There was nothing for me to do but to leave the key with S.

I crashed out as soon as my head hit the pillow but woke up when JH stumbled into the room - no idea what time it was.

After what seemed like only minutes, with both JH and CK stumbling around going to the loo, I couldn't sleep anymore yet it felt like I hadn't slept at all, was mega-dehydrated, had bruises on my leg and a lump on my head (how??)

JH was a right state - she was still drunk for definite, knew she'd been the office idiot, kept asking us 'What did I do last night cos I can't remember?' I know she's done this trick before of 'not remembering' - her questions are really to see what other people remember her saying...or doing. What she did reveal was that S was telling her that his wife didn't understand him...oh dear, that classic line that any woman should run a mile from...

Anyway, the news was that S had left early to avoid any sort of grilling and strangely, the toilet seat had been broken in his bathroom... I sent him a text to let him know that we knew how he'd broken it...

We went over to the service station for a greasy fry up breakfast and whilst I was eating, I checked my phone and saw that I had a couple of missed calls from an unrecognised number. I called it and a woman answered.

It was S' wife - she had intercepted my text to him about the toilet seat and that it had confirmed to her what she suspected of him...oh crap!

JH asked me what was up - I couldn't tell her and set off home. After driving for a mile or so, I pulled over and text S's wife, telling her that she had misconstrued my text which had been sent in jest (really, I had to lie...) and asked her to call me.

She did immediately and was screaming and crying down the phone, saying her marriage was over, that he would lose his family because he couldn't be trusted, that he'd stepped over the line. I tried to tell her that she was jumping to conclusions, but she screamed that as his friend, she knew I was going to try to cover for him but that he'd told her that he was in the room alone with JH....oops...

Now, I was unhappy to hear her crying but what really upset me was the sound of their two children in the background sobbing and telling her not to walk out on their dad... :-(

I text JH to tell her I needed to talk to her and she called me when I got home (her husband was out...). She apologised to me, said she was unhappy that I was upset, that she felt that she'd let me down but strangely, she didn't seem too concerned - I think she was still drunk...

Anyway, I later had a long chat with the glamorous C who did her best to cheer me up. Had a bit of a sleep but generally, the day was a write off.

Back in work today, JH gave me a hug, said I was a great mate. She knows I will be discreet. Numerous people asked me for gossip but I kept my lips buttoned. S didn't surface from his desk so I didn't have to make polite conversation with him.

The expected fireworks didn't happen - I believe JH when she tells me that nothing happened (although what is the definition of 'nothing'?) so she didn't really have anything to worry about, but even so, she knows that I know how close something could have happened between them....

You know what? Maybe I'm just over-reacting here but I wanted to ask her if she would have been happy if her husband was in a hotel room alone with a woman he worked with, both drunk out of their heads?

But I didn't, she's my friend, she has a weakness, I don't want to judge her, she knows she's been an idiot and that things aren't over just yet...

For those still reading, sorry this is so long - just writing off the top of my head - will try to edit at some point!

Beers, Tears and Fears - Part I

Why is it that when you're getting ready to go out, it seems as if you have loads of time but then all of a sudden, you're rushing around madly? Or is that just me?

Anyway, after a little mishap at home where I snapped the straps of my shoes (tripped over them as I was doing above mad rushing around) and had to sew them up, eventually made it to the Travelodge at Knutsford (aaargh, diversions on the motorway!) to get ready. Had the same room-mates - my mate JH & also CK- as last year and again, we started early, with Bucks Fizz and then vodkas as we got glammed up.

So, it was our long awaited Christmas party, at Tatton Park for the second year running, the theme this year was Swinging Sixties and again, excellent venue, great live entertainment, food was good (can't actually remember eating it though...) and the drink flowed.

It was a great fun night out, there were pink sixties-style caps provided to add to the party flavour (I collected 3 for a future concert attendance...), music was good but the dancefloor was packed, couldn't get near the casino tables, caught up with ex-colleagues and everyone had a great time.

All too soon, the minibus was outside to take us back to the hotel - part II for the adventures back at the hotel!!

Two Halves

Christmas parties, eh?

Lots of drinking.

Lots of laughs.

Lots of fun.

But at times, they can descend into stupidity and people get upset.

For once, it was me who ended up getting really upset, even though I wasn't the one who was stupid.

Friends aren't perfect, so can't judge them...

Still have fuzzy hangover head so will update on the fun night and then consider the aftermath...

Ho Ho Ho

Morale is still pretty low across the various departments at work but the company is trying its best to get people into the festive spirit.

There's a mini quiz every day with prizes (presented by volunteers dressed as elves), today is the Christmas lunch, which is usually good, and there's also a competition for the most festively decorated desk. This desk of a cosy fireplace is the favourite to win...


This Friday, it's the company Christmas Party but I won't be attending as our departmental Christmas Party is on the Saturday and there's no way I can attend both because:

1. I only have one outfit and no, I can’t wear a dress worn to a previous do!


2. I can't drink like that anymore!

Next week, we’ll be doing our Secret Santa, (actually Secret Satan…will post on this later), our Christmas buffet and our Christmas Quiz, which includes my annual picture quiz.

For once, I’ve done all my Christmas shopping ahead of time, bar something little for one of my neighbours who brings my wheelie bin in for me every week.

Need to think about New Year resolutions – go for easy ones that I know I won’t break or some life-changing ones??

...and They Lived Happily Ever After!

Friday, 7th September - a most memorable day which included nearly getting my car stranded on a dirt track, picking up a strange man in my car, being asked if I'd 'come out' but most of all, it'll be remembered for JH and Mark's fabulous wedding!

Lacking a partner to take to the do, JH had asked if the glamorous C had wanted to accompany me and it was just as well that she did, otherwise I wouldn't have had the lovely curls in my normally very straight hair - hey, I was nearly as glam as she was!

In glorious sunshine, we set off in separate cars, trusting my Tom Tom to navigate us to the church safely - how foolish I was!

We must have been minutes away from The Church of St Mary the Virgin when Tom Tom told us to take a left up Lower Greenshall Lane in Disley - it looked very leafy but um...it turned out not to be a proper road! My car struggled up about 30 yards in first gear, the glamorous C's car tentatively following and then I stopped, got out and admitted we'd been misled by the sat nav and we reversed back down slowly, back onto the main road. Later, we found out that had we continued, our cars would have gotten stranded in potholes!

Anyway, we drove around aimlessly, knowing we were close but not seeing where we needed to turn. We were about to do a U-turn when I spotted a young guy walking down the street. I wound down the window and asked him for directions. He replied that he was actually heading that way and that he could show me. So that was when I picked up a strange man in my car and was blasted by my friends later that he could have been some axe murderer (he turned out to be a Man United fan so he was nearly sent tumbling out of my car...!).

Anyway, the guy (no, I didn't find out his name) was local to the area, so he got us to the Moorside Grange Hotel without any mishap - phew. The Moorside is in beautiful Cheshire/Derbyshire (not sure of the borders) countryside - it is surrounded by breathtakingly gorgeous panoramic views - wow! We dropped off the glamorous C's car and raced to the church in mine, only to find that despite all that meandering and off-roading, we were among the first to arrive!

Anyway, the wedding itself - the bride was lovely and very calm (outwardly), I cried as I heard the groom stammer his vows, I struggled to reach the high notes of the hymns (in particular Jerusalem), I lasted just one hour in my new shoes before I had to put on a pair of equally high but more comfortable wedges (unlike one of the bridesmaids who put her trainers on...). The weather was bright and sunny, just right for some great photo opportunities.

The food was great, the speeches funny but they were also probably the most emotional and personal speeches I've ever heard at weddings. The company was excellent - in total, there were 4 of us from work (or who used to work with each other), so we had some good conversations going (not shop conversation) and the alcohol flowed.

In no time, the evening session started and we were joined by our boss and PA with his missus. PA has on occasion tried to make me embarrassed but he doesn't often succeed - I usually turn it round to make him go red! Anyway, someone taking semi-official photos asked who the glamorous C was and on hearing me reply that she was my 'wedding date', PA shouted over "Hey, I didn't know you were coming out!" I laughed and replied "Didn't you know - I already have!*" He didn't know what to say, so went rather red, haha! (*No, I haven't really!)

The friend of a friend in charge of the disco did an ok job but he didn't really have much of a clue on how to keep the people on the dance floor, so it was only when we started calling the shots and asking him to put on some good tunes that things started to liven up - namely us strutting our stuff on the dance floor to Booty Luv and Jocelyn Brown - fabulous!

The bride (and groom) were still dancing til the end and then the brilliant night was over. Crashed out at around 1.30am.

Next morning, had a really sore red wine head - it was funny how nearly everyone we met downstairs for breakfast was wearing glasses instead of contact lenses - all except for JH, now a happily married woman who was still capable of putting in lenses into hungover eyes after a large night out - what a gal!

Anyway, a most excellent do, probably one of the most enjoyable weddings I've been to! All the very best to the happy couple!

A Good Do!

Too much going on, so little time!

Anyway, JH's hen do on Saturday was excellent - had a brilliant night out, good clean (though drunken) fun - her mum and elderly aunties went too so there were no dodgy hen party shenanigans that you normally see! (ie like the one the glamorous C went on...)

We went to Efes Restaurant - great Turkish food and belly dancing too. There were several hen parties in the restaurant, plus one stag party. Each hen (and the stag) was dragged onto the dancefloor to copy the professional belly dancer - JH did brilliantly and was dancing for ages!

DJ and disco (with great music) into the wee hours so we danced until around 1.30 am. We had the obligatory member of the party who overdid things - JH's 15 year old bridesmaid-to-be quaffed too much wine, her mum obviously wasn't keeping an eye on her...

Crashed out on the sofa downstairs around 2.30am, only to be woken up at 6am to baby niece/nephew crying...my head...ouch! Also, no voice in the morning, from too much laughing/shouting!

Anyway, been spending the last few evenings with my parents, sis and little niece - whilst it's been pretty hectic running and rushing around, I'll be glad when they leave so I can get on with the next phase of my life.

Gals and Pals

It was our annual girlie uni reunion this weekend, as usual at JC's in Warrington cos she's got the biggest house!

Many people think it's strange (yet great) that we all still keep in touch with other, making an effort to meet up at least once a year after all this time (well over ten years since we graduated), maintaining email contact (albeit sporadic) in between and exchanging the odd birthday and Christmas cards.

What's even stranger though is that the guys we went to uni with almost always arrange their own little 'boys only' reunion at the same time - they all went off camping in the Lake District this weekend - in this wet weather, rather them, than us! Next year, I think a big proper reunion is being arranged, so boys will get to meet the girls for once!

It's always easy for me to book a weekend off to meet up, but many of the others have to arrange baby sitters, etc and we also found out that JS is expecting her first in December! Well, that must have shelved her wedding plans...!

As you can imagine, some of the conversation during the evening was centred around the joys/bloody horrors of childbirth but mostly, it was reminiscing our times together as students. All were supportive of my predicament - see, there's a reason why I keep in touch with friends!

Much wine and champagne was quaffed (gone are the days of cider and beer, though I still drink the latter), we went to a posh bistro for dinner and had a great laugh. We were so busy chatting that we didn't get a chance to get the Wii out!

Sunday, all felt a bit tender (and a bit achy from sleeping in one of the boys' bunkbeds!) but we still managed to tuck into a big fried breakfast!

Felt knackered but had agreed to meet the glamorous C for a coffee so I drove to Cheshire Oaks.
Had a good chinwag and then her kids persuaded me to go back to theirs for a bit, tempting me with their Wii....how could I resist? I had to get my fix! :-)

Dragged myself away around 6.30pm (they'd wanted me to stay - aww!) and got home nearly two hours later after some horrendous traffic on the M56.

Checking my diary, I don't have any free weekends until September - great for the social life, dire on the bank balance!

www - Work, Worry, Weekend

Friday - usually a happy day as it's the last day of the week, is often a pub-lunch day (for me) and we get to wear 'casual' clothes, eg jeans and stuff to work.

Unfortunately, the Friday just gone wasn't such a happy one. My mate A went for a job which was tailor-made for her but didn't get it. Looks like fat-boy-teacher's-pet excelled himself with his bullshitting and after two years of sitting on his lard arse, has gotten himself a promotion - what a bad call - we're all so gutted (apart from him of course).

That was the first bit of bad news.

The company I work for is undergoing yet another 're-organisation' - this has resulted in there being too many directors creaming the cash off the top.

The second piece of bad news is that my boss' boss didn't get the director role that was up for grabs, which means he's on his way out. As for what that means for us, we don't know yet. Relocation from Manchester to Surrey or Bristol? Maybe, though after 11 years, I think I'll take the redundancy package thank you very much.

Crap - but we could end up unscathed. Anyway, we still had a pub lunch but it wasn't the usual jolly affair.

Saturday cheered me up as we went down to Wales to meet up with MR for her husband's surprise 40th birthday party. Strange how we travelled all the way there yet some of his friends who lived within walking distance down the road couldn't make it...

Anyway, we didn't get home til 2am - it was enjoyable and nice to catch up.

Oh and Liverpool beat Chelsea 2-0. Had to mention that!

Another long week ahead!

Xmas Xtravaganza

So, our departmental Xmas party was at Tatton Park this year, miles away from anywhere in deepest, darkest Cheshire and when I heard it was to take place in a marquee, I didn't think it was going to be a good party. How wrong I was - despite it all starting wrong with me driving up and down the M56 like a lunatic looking for the hotel junction, this was probably one of the best Christmas parties I've ever been to!

The theme of the party was The Magic of the Orient, so various ladies dressed in oriental type-gear, both guests and organisers alike. The majority of other females (including us) were in posh frocks and the guys were looking well smart in black-tie.

Once you got inside the marquee, the place just seemed like a huge dark room, toilets (which everyone was expecting to be of the grim portaloo variety) were sparkling and proper, casino tables, loads of bars and hundreds of tables.

There was entertainment, singing and dancing, mostly with an oriental flavour, eg a few songs from 'Miss Saigon', bizarrely a lot of Take That cover versions and a very flexible guy in a gold outfit doing lots of high kicks and bendy-moves...
There were twelve of us in our party and everyone had a right laugh. One of the girls was in danger of ruining things as she was already blind drunk before she even left the hotel but after a few litres of water, she seemed fine later on in the night, so no vomit-horror stories, although the sight of her trying to eat her Christmas dinner with one hand (her left hand seemed incapable of moving in her drunkenness!) was rather amusing!

The dancefloor was packed all night, so I didn't get to boogie much. Mind you, my feet were killing me - just not able to wear strappy high heels for long periods of time!

After the party ended around 1.30am, we piled into one the girls' hotel room in our pyjamas and had a few more drinks there. All I remember is laughing so much at office gossip / confessions / revelations that I totally lost my voice by the end of the night! Don't think we got back to our own room until around 3.30am and I just crashed out on the sofa bed.

Next morning, we emerged zombie-like at 11am ish and just about made it for a nice greasy fry up. Not sure if I felt better or worse after eating..

A great night out - we'll have to book the next one very soon to get in the same place! What a scream!

Humbug...

It's the company Christmas party tonight. A freebie, in a swanky hotel in Manchester city centre, posh frocks and all that.

Only I haven't bothered to go this year. What a party pooper.

Aside from the fact that I'm recovering from a snotty cold (which I've unfortunately passed onto the equally snotty bf now), I didn't even plan on attending.

First time in years I've missed the party but to be honest, I just couldn't get into the Christmas spirit so I turned down the invitation weeks ago, drinks vouchers and all.

Of course I had nothing to wear, so that was another excuse.

It's the departmental Christmas party next weekend and I am going to that one - gotta get an outfit this weekend then.

Really can't get into the festive mood, done some shopping for presents and that, mostly online but honestly can't be arsed.

Roll on the new year.

Maybe when this cold disappears, I'll suddenly perk up.

Maybe.

Clapham Junction

Meant to blog earlier in the week but I've been suffering from a really bad cold - pretty much self-inflicted as I've had two very late and drunken weekends on the trot and not been able to catch up on my sleep or recover properly and whilst in this run-down state, I caught the sniffles - I just can't hack going out any more! :( Not quite ill enough to take time off work; just as well as I have such a big pile of stuff to do.

Anyway, the uni reunion over the weekend... well, if it wasn't for the 'northern contingent', ie me and a couple of friends from Warrington, who drove down to London (picking up another friend from Maidenhead), then there wouldn't have been a reunion.

It was a good job that the guy whose house we were going to was having a house-warming at the same time, otherwise there would have been a grand total of FIVE people turning up...and that would have included the 4 of us! Maybe he knew there was going to be an extremely virtually non-existent turn out... Apparently, some people just didn't turn up even though they said they would be there and some called last minute with lame excuses. All lived in and around the London area, yet we had driven nearly 200 miles to show up (and with Sat Nav, London is quite pleasant to drive through...ish!)

Still, it was worth the trip - funny how people change over the years for the better. Nice house too, a massive 3 storey town house and the guy lived there on his own... It was a good night, mingling with people we didn't know, including his colleagues, some of whom counted celebrities as their neighbours; loads of gin, wine and beer flowed and we got some dancing in there too - terrific!

We crashed out at the Travel Lodge on Clapham Junction - had forgotten how basic some hotels are after the luxury of the Nordic Sea!

The following morning, after a slow start, we made a diversion to Oxford for a spot of lunch and to visit a uni pal who had just had a baby. Cute, crying little thing - just glad I could hand her back! ;)

And then it was a nasty 4 hour drive stuck on the M6.

The bf was still not feeling well (dodgy guts) and in a frump as I'd been away again.

Still, should have a few weekends at home now, relaxing, chilling and no doubt getting under his feet, hehe!

Had enough

My third and final Xmas party of the year came and went in a blur.

Meal at the Malmaison hotel, then Tiger Tiger for drinks and music.

My tipples were red wine and then bottles of Smirnoff Ice (Black).

Good food, great laughs, dubious wagers proposed for the Liverpool v Newcastle game on Boxing Day - I was drunk but fortunately not so inebriated to shake on any dodgy bets offered, which were not monetary in nature ie, "If Newcastle beat Liverpool, you have to shag me, " etc. Whatever the result, I would be onto a loser!

The fab night was spoiled when at 3am, I noticed that someone had nicked my coat... it was minus whatever outside and I can see why my quilted hooded (fake-fur-lined) coat could be rather appealing to brave the elements whilst waiting for a taxi.

Pissed off that some scumbag bitch wandered off wearing it though - aaargh! :(

Got back at 4am, frostbitten and feeling rather ill.

Mate who was staying over had an impromtu appointment with the toilet bowl - she can't take her drink.

I'm knackered and have had enough of partying for this year. Roll on 2006.