The boss is away this week, and whilst we aren’t so immature that it’s parties ALL the time, there’s definately been an air of relaxed jolity about the place. The numbers of coffees/teas drunk through the day has quadrupled… and yet all the work gets done. Incredible.

My quest for a healthier lifestyle backfired a bit today. I’d filled my Outlook up with recurring appointments every 90 minutes to drink a cup of water from the cooler – except I forgot to mark it as an ‘unbusy’ task and I had people phoning me up saying “I can’t book any meetings with you because your bloody calendar’s full of appointments saying DRINK!” So I guess now everyone thinks I’m an alcoholic to boot.

According to people I work with, these are just some of the randomly stupid things I’ve said over the last day or two – very disconcerting when quoted back to you through snorting laughs of derision…

• “I really LOVE robots.”
• “My spider plant has more than eight legs.”
• “What am I going to do if I need a photo of my camera?”

Thank god it’s Friday tomorrow! Shit, no it’s not!

Today is Sunday, and as it’s the law to have a huge lunch, a suitable ‘bistro’ (‘Dock Of The Bay’ in The Avenue, Southampton – funky french food but don’t go if you’re expecting to be anywhere near a bay or a dock – the nearest one is at least a mile away) was reserved for about 10 of us to eat, drink and while-away the Sunday afternoon. Now a Caesar Salad is one of my favourite things in the world to eat, but i think I had a whole shoal of anchovies in mine! I now have penguin breathe, which hasn’t been helped by the bowl full of Bombay Mix and chocolate buttons I’ve just eaten… I think I need vitamins!

Rather than one really good excuse for not posting to this blog for ages, i’ve got half a dozen smaller ones.

1. New found addiction to Monopoly (on my iPAQ).
2. After ordering loads of cheap CDs from Amazon and CD-WOW, I’ve had to justify my spending by actually listening to them (favorite one is ‘Things To Make And Do’ by Moloko, just five quid)!
3. Shopping for a new sofa (not that I’ve found one yet). They’re eith comfy and ugly or cool but uncomfortable. But isn’t that life!?
4. Work stuff (stifle yawn).
5. Homework! For my Creative Writing evening class… I don’t think JK Rowling has anything to worry about.
6. Watching all the stuff recoreded on Sky+ (especially ‘Nighty Night’) and “spooks” DVD (think it’s called MI-5 in the US).

Forget weapons of mass destruction; all our mortal enemies need is a giant snow-machine and half the western world can be brought to a standstill in one fell swoop – simply by dusting it all with half an inch of snow!

The 10 minute journey back from the supermarket took nearly an hour – I think mainly because people were slowing down to go “Oooooh, look, it’s snowing!” I brought an extra carrot in case there was enough snow for a snowman but it seems to have stopped now so i’m very doubtful.

A picture of very little snow indeed on the garden table…

Apparently there’s snow on the way. I realise this isn’t a big deal for most people; I guess if you get a ton of it land in your garden every night then it loses its novelty value pretty quickly. But I’m not most people. I’m some one who lives in the soppy south of England and I know, that as soon as the first fluffy white flake hits anywhere south of Oxford then everything will come to a stand-still. We just don’t DO snow, we don’t have the equipment or the common sense – people of all ages start acting like 8-year-olds bunking off to sled down hills on tin trays. I can’t wait!

Oh, and well done Ricky Gervais, national hero and proud new owner of a lovely pair of Golden Globes!