I'll take a side order of nap with my burger please...

Nooooo sleep... I had to take painkillers yesterday and weirdly they seem to speed up my brain but at the same time make me woozy. So I think I’m tired and I act tired and then I go to bed and lay awake all night!

That said, I’m loathe to whinge too much, my partner got in late last night from work and was up at 6am to get in early this morning. She also worked all weekend (right up until the point we left for Cambridge) and so this Saturday will be her first day off in over two weeks. Puts a sleepless night in perspective...

This weekend is the culmination of Movember. Ten of my finest and bravest male friends decided to fight prostate cancer by... sprouting unusual facial hair for the whole of Movember. If you watch international rugby, you’ll see that my friends were not to the only ones to get involved. Several rugby players were also sporting the sort of facial furniture that you can only hope is for a good cause. This weekend we get to party and judge the best – and worst – efforts. Should be a very fun evening and all for charidee too!

I got a great new pair of Merrell trainers yesterday for nought pence. Well, that's not strictly true, in fact that's not true at all. I had paid for them but over a year ago! We bought a tent July 07 and after three uses it broke, so despite it being over a year old, we took it back to the Millets, Lewisham where the customer service was as ever, great (we didn't exactly get what we wanted but they were friendly and efficient).

Because it was longer than a year since we bought it, they only offered us a free repair, or 60% of the value. We were a bit disappointed but knew we didn't want a repair because clearly there was a design flaw with the tent and we didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere, have it happen again, and be without a tent! So we accepted the 60% and decided it was probably fair in lieu of not having a receipt (but we did have the bank statement) and the age of the tent. (Although I did point out that it really wasn't acceptable to buy a product that you could only use three times, and then have it let you down on holiday!) Anyway, I decided to snap up some Merrell's that were on sale and my feet are very happy.

Right I have a job application to do. Enjoy your Friday and may it be the start of a great weekend.

What is the cost of kindness?

£1 apparently! I was on my way to my photo shoot today via Lewisham because I wanted to pick some stuff up from Millets (the outdoor shop I always use, more of that later). I parked in a side street by a parking meter (next to a car park) only to discover the smallest I had was a fiver. Worse, traffic wardens were prowling… three of them, writing out tickets, losing a little bit more of their soul each time they slapped a ticket on a windscreen… I asked one of them whether they knew where I could get some change but got little more than a shrug in reply. Then I saw the guys that hand wash the cars in car parks and asked one of them if they could change my £5. He couldn’t so he gave me a £1 and said, give it to me when you can…

I raced back to the car, got a ticket and then went to the shops. I did get some change after I had done my shopping, and found him again to give him back his pound. I know it was only a pound, but I was really touched. He didn’t know me and certainly didn’t know whether he could trust me. Anyway, I felt that he was very wonderful for doing it.

I alway use Millets in Lewisham. A lot of people use Millets because their prices are quite good, but I always use them because the service is great. I have never had a bad experience in Lewisham Millets. They rock. We’ve bought boots, clothes, equipment, a £200 tent… and each time they’ve been really good.

So I told them that! (I’ve written to their head office before and my letter was published in the staff magazine that goes all over the country!) But today I told the woman who served me as well. She positively glowed and seemed really delighted that she was being appreciated!

The photo shoot was OK – but only three people turned up so we’ll have to do a follow up. The lunch was very nice though!

Smashing blackcurranty bit

Apart from discovering blackcurrant jaffa cakes, things have been a little slow... I'm off work AGAIN! The cold that was aggravating my asthma turned into a bronchial infection over the weekend. I went into work on Monday and my boss sent me straight home again. I have a very impressive cough which is less impressive at 3 in the morning... so I'm off till Tuesday next week (I had Monday booked off on annual leave).

Now I'm concentrating on getting well so I can go to Cornwall this weekend. I really, really, really want to go and we have our fab new tent to road test.

Despite all this, we managed to have a nice weekend (spent a fortune at, among other places, Millet's*) and went for a drink with friends but everything was very gentle and slow, with lots of lying on the sofa and doing nothing.

After going to the doc's this morning - I got my favourite doctor which was nice - I went for a quick haircut. I can't be doing with big hair when I'm under the weather.

Anyway, I shall end this frankly not very interesting entry by explaining why I have put an asterix by Millets. Millets Lewisham rocks. I get all my outdoor gear from them and have spent a fortune over the years. The service is great, not a bad range for a smallish store and competitive pricing. But really, it's the first one, the service, that's so excellent. I wrote previously to their HQ about the Lewisham manager saying what a star he was and they printed it in the staff magazine! Well on Saturday the store was full of youngsters (sorry to be stereotypical) and it was really busy so I was a little unconvinced that we would get to talk to someone at length about tents. How wrong I was. Everyone went out of their way to show us tents, give us information and answer our queries. So if you need any outdoor stuff, Lewisham Millets is the way forward...

Ok that's it. I need a lie down and a jaffa cake... later...