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.

Cream tea

Well I had another interview – it went really well (especially my presentation) but of course I won’t know how well for a couple of days! All I can say with certainty is that I did my very best and they seemed to like me, but then I did my very best and they seemed to like me at the Falmouth interview also, and we know how that ended up!

The interview was down in Hampshire and afterwards, realising how near I was to the New Forest, I decided to go for a little drive to really make the most of the day and it was a very good decision! The weather was a bit rubbish but the Forest is one of my favourite places (I used to live very near). I ended up in Burley and had a cream tea and did a bit of shopping before reluctantly getting back in the car and heading back home.

I got a lovely welcome from my partner and the dog who seemed to think that regardless of the outcome of the interview I was still a bit of a super star!

I haven’t been sleeping well because of everything that’s happening and last night was no exception, I got 2.5 hours and everything is a struggle this morning. At least I can sleep in tomorrow which will help but I do wish there was a switch I could flick to stop my mind racing along and keeping me up till all hours…

This evening I am having a suit fitting. I’m having a bespoke suit made for the wedding which I’m very excited about. It’s very decadent because bespoke costs an arm and a leg (actually you would need bespoke if you didn’t have an arm and a leg I guess…) I’ve got the shoes, and will also have a nice white shirt made as well and that’s me all gussied up and dandy.

Anyway, I don’t seem to have achieved much this morning so I shall need to crack on… before I drop off…

Toilet seats and ska

It’s been a very social weekend. On Friday after the match (COME ON ENGLAND!), a large pizza and four bottles of Hoegarden we jumped into a cab and went to a ska party in Dulwich… as you do. It was really good fun and the Dulwich Ukulele Club (DUC) were playing. Ukuleles and ska. It should be so wrong, but it was so right…

On Saturday I did far too much running around. Driving hither and thither doing errands and trying to find a boot tidy (don’t ask) so I felt a bit buggered by the evening, but it was off to another party, this time Balham way – my partner’s best friend who she had known since she was 9. Really nice pub – can’t remember the name, but when I do, I will post it because the service was good and by all accounts so was the ale (I was driving so all I can tell you is that they did a lovely glass of coke.) They also had the rugby on in the background (COME ON SCOTLAND!) but it was on mute, which I thought was quite civilised. Those that wanted to watch it could, but it didn’t dominate the bar and you could talk and listen to music. We met some great people and swapped emails and phone numbers. But again, we didn’t get back to the wee smalls.

Sunday was more relaxed and we stayed in bed for ages. But we ended up doing quite a bit again: ironing, fixing a new toilet seat, getting a new cupboard for the kitchen, laundry (always with the laundry) and making dinner. And a friend popped by for tea and biscuits and she brought us three books about Paris for our forthcoming trip.

I was in bed by 8.30 only to then spend most of the night awake… I had to be up by 5am to get to work uber early and feel as if I haven’t had any sleep at all. Although I am very pleased with the new toilet seat and I have a lovely lunch of fresh homemade bread and brie and cranberry sauce sandwiches. So really, one has to take the rough with the smooth…

Bread

Yes it really is this early on a Sunday morning. Three nights of very little sleep is catching up – but I decided to get up and grab the day anyway!

The bread is baking and I’m looking forward to some fresh, warm bread in about 10 minutes! The bread machine is top of the line and it didn’t cost us a penny! (Shoplifting is all about confidence… just kidding.) Continuing in the great tradition of buying expensive kitchen gadgets that you only use once or twice and then put into a cupboard, our friends did exactly that with the bread machine. They’ve used it three times and then it got put away in early retirement. So they gave it to us yesterday. I can’t imagine what it would have cost new, and we both really wanted one so we’re pretty delighted with their generosity! If the end product is as delicious as I hope, I’ll be taking orders by next week…

We’re off to the Battersea Dog show today. I came close to cancelling because I really am tired, but figuring Mr Pluto needs a walk anyway, we might as well combine the two. I’m sure Pluto will be pleased to see some of the staff that worked so hard to make sure he got the safe, loving home he deserved and I don’t think I could ever put in words how happy we are that that was our home…

Now we just have to groom him which can be a little tricky as he loves his belly and chest being brushed and will often lay on his back for ages letting us gently brush him, but when we try to brush his back, he rolls over again and insists we carry on brushing his tummy… he has the best groomed chest of any dog we know…

Right, shower, bread, dog show…!