Christmas in the Peak District

On the Saturday, after the party, we drove to Derby and did some shopping before continuing to the cottage where we were spending Christmas.

Because we had to leave the hotel at 11 but we couldn't book in to the cottage until 3, we assumed there was plenty of time to spare. However, it surprised us how much time it took to do the shopping. It wasn't even as manic in the supermarket as it could have been the last Saturday before Christmas. I think we can thank 24hour shopping for that.

We arrived at just after 3 and found the cottage to be small but very pleasant. It was fantastically well kitted out and we even managed to find space for the 7ft Christmas tree that I had insisted on taking with me.

The whole week was like being in heaven. We did absolutely nothing, just spent a lot of time in bed, eating some wonderful food and watching TV. Just the sort of holiday that I dream about.

I had waited so long for a rest and it was so gratefully received. I really, really didn't want to come home.

Christmas Do - 3 of 3

Well, the highly awaited day for our evening do at the Grand, finally came. As I had booked a room, I went straight from work to the hotel and had a little sleep, before getting ready for the party.

I thought the meal was very nice but I admit that it was not worth £35 each but then again, what is? I had a melon for starter and ham carvery for main meal with cheese cake for pudding.

Everyone had plenty to drink and so did I, but I can still remember that it was a very good evening. There was a disco and I did a little dancing but also spent some time in the bar, chatting to others.

A succesful evening, all in all and a great start for the Christmas holidays.

Christmas Do - 2 of 3

Well, the much awaited company party finally came about yesterday afternoon. What a flop that turned out to be. I don't know if it was our high expectations or what it was.

The free drink that we all had looked forward to turned out to be a rumour. With other words there wasn't one. We had to pay full price for all the drinks. I only had one pint of Shandy since I was driving anyway.

The karaoke that we had been threatened with was also a viscious rumour and the disco turned out to be somebody's ghetto blaster, which half-deaf people like me couldn't hear at all.

The buffet had very little salad stuff and, if there were any vegetarian stuff, they were not labelled. Majority of the food was clumpy sandwiches, which I didn't touch at all. I had a little bit of salad and a few cheese sticks. I heard later that an awful lot of food went to the hostel, because the staff didn't want it.

The tables were arranged into little groups so needless to say, all the staff sat in their own deapartments and there was very little mingling. After an hour and half we had a little speech by the Chief Executive, thanking us for all the hard work and for working over Christmas (for those that do).

Then we had a little presentation for a staff member who was leaving and for another whose 50th birthday it was. We took a few photos and chatted for a bit but by 3 majority of us were going home, including me.

In the words of Shanaya: That didn't impress me much!.

Christmas Do - 1 of 3

Yesterday was the time for our department's christmas meal. We booked initially in August but have already changed the date twice, but finally it came around.

Linda sadly couldn't make it but everyone else made it so there was 16 of us seated at two tables. The meals were all pre-booked so we all had different things. As usual, I opted for the vegetarian which was phenominally cheesy (in a nice way).

For starters I had Goats cheese with a salad, walnuts and oranges. For main course I had a huge 3-cheese pie with roast potatoes, swede pure, cauliflower, carrrots, peas and gravy. For pudding majority of us had cheesecake so you can see why I said my meal was cheesy.

We also did the secret santa. I was very lucky because I had three presents. I got some note paper with a pen, a card organiser with 24 greeting cards and a bottle of sherry of Carol. I bought Michelle various smelly things for the house from the Indian shop. She has a dog so I thought she might like those.

We all collected money for a fantasticly luxurious fluffy dressinggown for our manager. All in all, we had a fabulous time and the White Lion did well to accommodate us all and clean up after us. Thanks!

Looking forward to Do number two on Thursday.!

Change of plan - Maybe?

There has been a few disappointed faces in our office this morning. We were all looking forward to moving office after the new year. However, on Friday we were told that the move may not go ahead at all. The reason for this is, alledgedly, that the company is now looking for premises that are big enough for the whole of the organisation to move to. Your guess is as good as mine to as when this is going to happen or whether it is indeed at all. Apparently, the new premises are costing £300,000 over budget at £1.3 million, so it is a case to see where the funding can be found from. I will keep you posted.

Moving office again

After New Year we will be moving office again. This time we will move a little further away from the head office, which will be a nuicance if we want to check the post or get petty cash but well outweighed by the fact that the offices are more roomy and incorporate the stores on the same premises.

There are three seperate smaller offices which means I will be getting my own office and not having to share the noise and hustle and bustle that goes on in the main office. I will also be getting my own phone whearas at the moment I'm having to share with three other people. It has been virtually an impossibility.

Apparently car parking will be sparse but we can block each other in as we will all be in the same place so it shouldn't be that much of a problem. Personally, I can't wait.

Poor Jake!

Cat sitting went ok in a way that I did not feed the wrong cats this time but yesterday morning when I got downstairs, I found to my horror that there was blood all over the window sill, the post, the dining chair and everywhere around the floors.

I quickly checked Dizzy and found nothing wrong with her, spent a little time trying to catch Jake and eventually discovered that he had a (now dried up) little cut on the big pad of his right hind paw.

We have absolutely no idea how he got that as he was fine when we went to bed, but mummy thinks he might have trod on some tools that was left on the didning table. That could also explain why the blood was on the chair. He wasn't limping when he walked and it was amazing to me how much blood had come out of such a tiny cut.

I still felt terribly guilty as I was responsible for his well fare and really didn't want something like that to happen when I was looking after them.

Cat sitting again

Sioned and Anna have gone to Blackpool for a couple of nights so we have the great honour of looking after the house and cats again. So far so good, the cats were in when I got there last night so I had no problem identifying them this time.

We had a little fun and games when a meter reading lady knocked on the door asking if she could read the electric and gas meters to which I had to reply "sure, if you know where they are as I don't live here".

She claimed that she did know and showed me that the electric was over the back door which was simple enough. However, the gas meter not only turned out to be in a cupboard with various heavy items in front of it; but also sideways on so that even if you can reach it form over the tumble dryer, you could not actually read it.

To save me pulling everything out of the cupboard, the lady climbed over the tumble dryer and almmost dived head-first into the back of it. She eventually got her reading and left happy.

We had a wonderful evening just relaxing and watching TV whilst the cats slept on the sofa, every now and then peering at us in turn to see what we were up to.

Wonder if there might be a profession for this. . . . . .?

Time

Isn't it funny, when you look around at other people's websites? You find that the closer to Christmas you get, the less time spend on writing. I'm pleased that I'm not the only one constantly juggling with time.

I have just got back from spending the week-end away. It was a fantastic, relaxing time but now I'm having to catch up with all that didn't get done during that time.

Luckily I haven't got an awful lot to get ready for Christmas since I'm going away again. Still need to plan our meals and do the shopping for that but otherwise I think I'm sorted.

Still wouldn't it be nice to have some spare time (whatever that is)?