Ride 'em cowboy!

Picture taken at this weekend's Wild West party. I was going for a mean sheriff look but actually ended up as one of the Beverley Hillbillies...

40th birthday party's and sad goodbyes

We had a lovely walk this morning. Bess was off lead and we met Charlie and her owner and all three dogs walked along happy to be together and out in the sun.

I could have quite happily stayed in bed, with the fan on, gently snoozing the day away but seeing as I have less than 2 weeks in the office, I figured I had to get up and get on. Very tired though – partly from a brilliant weekend and partly from having a sore back and knees.

We drove up to the Cotswolds on Saturday, my partner and I and a friend of ours. We dropped him off at his hotel and then got to our hotel in plenty of time for a Panini and a rest. The theme of the party was Wild West and the birthday boy (boys actually because it was also his partner’s birthday and together they both worked really hard on the party). There was a bucking bronco (my partner lasted about 28 secs!), moonshine, saloon girls, a raffle, a rare appearance by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, a discount bar and the piece de la resistance was Boogaloo Stu and Princess Twinkle Knickers. Yes, birthday boy had brought Shinky Shonky to Shrivenham! (Shrivenham, where he lives, is a tiny little village in the middle of the Oxfordshire countryside – it will now never be quite the same again…)

Boogs was as ever eccentric genuius personified (on da stage and in da house) and Twinkle did a cheeky little number with some strategically placed fans and a new use for spare wine bottles. Storage issues can be so vexing... not anymore...

I was supposed to be a sheriff but actually looked like one of the Beverly Hillbillies. Although my fake moustache was a huge success and there are various pictures in existence showing the moustache in several guises (it wouldn't stick to my face so it either hung off to one side, or I stuck it to my breast or shoulder).

I danced too much – hence being in pain now – and we had an absolute stonker of a night. He had even laid on shuttle busses to get us to and from our hotels. We collapsed back in bed just after 1am. Which wasn’t bad seeing as we had been going since 6pm!

The next morning we headed to Sainsbury’s for a surprisingly good cooked breakfast in the café and then to the pub where after a quick drink we said our goodbyes and saddled up our horses…

We were further delighted to find that when we picked up Bess and Pluto from their boarding mum, they too had had a wonderful weekend and we all headed home tired and happy.

Unfortunately I came home to find I didn’t get a job that I wanted and we later on that evening had to say goodbye to a very good friend who is heading back to NZ for good. It was the first time she had met the chickens and Bess so we sat in the garden for an hour and didn’t think about saying goodbye until we couldn’t avoid it any longer. You get cross with yourself for never making enough time until it’s too late but it isn’t too late of course, we fully intend to visit her and I suspect she will be back for a visit at some point soon. I must invest in a web cam now though; I have several friends overseas and it would be nice to catch up face to face from time to time even if we are several thousand miles apart!

Fight the power!

I fought the law and won! At the end of last summer I got a parking ticket in Brighton. The reason given was because I had apparently not displayed a visitor’s permit – even though I had. Anyway, months later they have finally dealt with my appeal and cancelled the ticket! Yeeaaahhhhhhhhhhh people power!!

It’s my partner’s birthday today and I made her a cup of tea in bed and brought her her presents and I think she’s gone to work happy. I’m making dinner tonight – and doing the washing up! We’re going for birthday drinks tomorrow as well.

We have another reason to be happy; our wedding rings arrived yesterday. They’re so lovely! The jeweller included a little note wishing us all the best and hoping that they see us again sometime! Now that’s great customer service…

It hasn’t all been wedding rings and cups of tea in bed this week; I had to have a biopsy on Monday. I have a lump in my neck which is probably one of those thyroid nodule thingies but it’s quite large. (And no you can’t see it, so no point staring at my neck the next time you see me. Mind you, it would make a change from my breasts so knock yourself out.) It was a very stressful and painful experience. Not painful at the time, but painful afterwards. I have some internal bruising in my neck which makes it difficult to yawn, sneeze or cough, which is an arse because I enjoy yawning. It’s like a mini workout for my head.

It’s our chief exec’s last day tomorrow and luckily I’m working from home because I think it will be a very sad day indeed. He didn’t want presents but we had a whip round anyway and have raised several hundred pound which we’re donating to his favourite charity, cancer research.

This weekend, my partner is hopefully going shopping to spend her birthday money! And on Sunday I’m taking a friend to see Wasps take on Sale Sharks at Adams Park. And hopefully, England will stuff Italy!

Water, water everywhere... grrrr...

It may be a sweeping generalisation but why do overseas companies seem to deliver so efficiently and UK companies don’t? I often order from America, and late last night I ordered from Australia. I received an email early this morning telling me my order had already been dispatched. And yet I ordered something last Thursday (from England) and its still “processing” – actual delivery may take another 14 days! I have ordered from the US and England on exactly the same day before now, and the order from thousands of miles away arrived a week and a half before the one from less than one hundred miles away…

Anyway, there are far more important things to be fretting about, namely water coming through the ceiling. It’s a pre-existing problem (although last time they thought by doing the tiles around the bath that it would fix it, clearly not.) Anyway, I texted the owner of the flat upstairs last night and said in no uncertain terms that I want this fixed today. I think he wanted to take a more relaxed approach to the whole thing. But then he doesn’t have water pouring into his kitchen!

Our friend’s 40th was good fun this weekend. He seemed to have a great time, there was cheesy music, a large chocolate cake and he was surrounded by people that love him – what’s not to like?!

I better get on with some work, especially as I have to leave early to let the builder in who apparently will need access to our flat…