Fed Up

I've been using a new skincare regime for the last week or so, and now I keep coming out in spots like some acned teenager. I'm already feeling generally fed up anyway, can't explain why - just how I get sometimes, and I have to go back to work tomorrow after being out for a week and I don't want to do that either as I really can't bear being there. I need some excitement in my life.

On the plus side I did manage to get my 'Timeless' ATC swaps completed and do an entry in my Discworld CJ about one of my favourite characters, Lord Vetinari yesterday (see above) which was a bit of a challenge as the main colour one would associate with him is black (his CoA is plain sable shield) and was also a bit of a surprise as I was originally intending to do Sam Vimes. I'm pleased with the way it turned out - although the scan looks like its brown rather than black. I keep thinking I'll start scrapping soon, but that doesn't seem to be happening either. I just can't seem to settle into anything at the moment!

Chelsea Flower Show Pictures

Below is a link to the digital photos that Lynne and I took at Chelsea (be warned there are hundreds of them!)

http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=43173305/a=26385683_26385683/t_=26385683

I am not sure if you can access the link without signing up to snapfish, but it's free and only takes a couple of minutes to do.

Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.

Blooming Lovely

Yesterday was our annual trip to the Chelsea Flower Show. Unfortunately the weather wasn't as good as our previous 2 visits, although there were more dry times than wet ones I think. The gardens were all lovely and most seemed to be very relaxing and tranquil but none stood out as being as outstanding as in previous years, but maybe the weather affected that too. In my opinion it would be hard to EVER beat Julian Dowle's From Darkness to Light garden for the Salvation Army from 2004. My poor Fuji S5600 came a cropper with the monsoon conditions and about 3/4 of the way through the day decided it no longer wanted to play - mind you I had taken about 250 pictures by that point!

As usual though, there will be some great moments to remember, such as Lynne and I perched on a picnic bench under an umbrella in the pouring rain sharing a jug of Pimms, the excitement of seeing Alan Titchmarsh up close (yep I really AM that sad!), the smells of the fabulous flower displays in the great marquee, the wonderful water features and the lovely luminescent mushroom ornaments that Lynne bought for her garden.

A wonderful day, but a very tiring one - I was in bed before 10.30pm!

Congratulations!

Paul Jepson/Patrick Gormley/Jack Newland

To my sister's OH, Paul who came 2nd and 3rd in the latest two rounds of the Caterham Superlights Challenge held at Donnington Park last weekend. He's now 2nd in the Championship. Good luck with the rest of the championship Paul.

The Notice

Here's proof that Iain still has a way to go in learning good staff management!
The last line is a particularly good one!!!

The Staff Meeting

This morning was the staff meeting. I found out yesterday that Iain hadn't called the meeting, it was arranged by the staff and he still wasn't keen on the idea. Yesterday everyone was saying they had things they wanted to talk about, that they were determined that Iain would listen to. I decided that for once I was not going to be the one to speak up but would sit back and let everyone else have their say, and add anything that I felt they had missed. Of course when the actual meeting arrived, everyone kept quiet as usual, although I mentioned a few things that were on my list that Iain didn't cover.

The good news is that he is finally beginning to listen to experienced staff and not just dictate, but he still has a long way to go. The meeting was a good first step at getting everyone up to speed on the way Iain wants things run, but had some rather unsettling moments as far as I was concerned. He is considering stopping staff from being in the pub unless they are working. I am not sure on the legality of this, but it would mean not being able to go for a drink with my friends, or stay and have a drink after finishing work. If this is enforced I will definitely have no choice but to leave. Hopefully he has finally realised that he needs to increase his stock ordering after we ran out of beer for the 3rd week in a row!

Disappointingly, he has also told us that we are not allowed to wear our England shirts during the World Cup, not even during England games. Instead we have to wear a promotional blue pepsi cola shirt. I am thinking that if I can get mine early enough I can add an England patch to it.

Robbie Williams Here I Come

Hot on the heels of booking Voodoofest, last night I got the opportunity to get tickets for the Robbie Williams concert at Milton Keynes in September. How could I refuse?

So many things to look forward to ...

Indecisiveness strikes again!

I'm being really indecisive about what to do about working at the pub. I have so many things I'd like to be doing at weekends like cropping, scrapping, h********k ... ok well the last one isn't true but does need to be done, and leaving the pub would certainly free me up for all those things. Also I am not happy at the way things are being run. Since Fred & June left it has been no secret to anyone that I am unhappy there.

Iain is a nice bloke for a chat but to be frank can't tell his arse from his elbow in the running of the pub (and yes, I know that it takes time for a new person to adjust to the pub, but when it gets to the stage where you were wishing that a previous and completely crap boss (i.e. Daffy) was back it has to be bad!). Already some of the staff I get on best with have left, and unless things get sorted more will follow shortly I'm sure.

I know that we have a staff meeting planned for tomorrow with, I assume, a view to sorting out the problems he has created. But although I am interested to see what happens, I have a feeling that as usual I'm going to be the only one with something to say. I have been away from the place for 12 days (which seems to have flown by far too quickly) and to be honest I am not really looking forward to going back, in fact the only thing that is making me go back is to see the customers and staff and of course to find out what's been going on while I was away.

I really like most of the customers and due to the shifts I work would miss seeing most of them if I left as I am pretty unlikely to spend Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes in the pub. Also it does get me out of the flat and in contact with people, rather than stuck indoors on my own with only my computer for company and of course the money, whilst not essential any more, is quite useful - especially with 2 holidays coming up!

What to do ...?

WOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

OK so today I am extremely excited. Last night I booked my trip to Voodoofest 2006. I managed to find a nice hotel, which used to be the old firestation (sorry girls, not the pink one you all agreed you'd choose) in a great location, a decent price flight and of course the VIP Loa Lounge ticket for the festival itself. It was a bit annoying to have to pay to collect the ticket on the day (they only allow tickets to US people), but at least I have one. How on earth am I going to manage to wait 'til the end of October?

Impatiently Waiting

That's me today!

Having decided that I really want to go to Voodoofest I now want to get it sorted. I'm worried that with all the cheaper tickets selling out already (everything between $15 and $50 has gone), those VIP ones will all go before I get a chance to buy one. I entered a competition this morning to win a holiday to New Orleans, but not really holding my breath on that one - and if I did happen to win, it would give me another chance to go to my favourite place in the world!

New Look Blog

Yep I know I've only had the blog for 5 minutes but I thought it could do with a slightly more purple and Kiefer look *LOL*

It's not perfect, but it'll do till something better comes along.

Sympathy & News

Just wanted to say that my heart goes out to Dolly who is attending her Uncle's funeral today. Also to Keili, who found out yesterday that her BIL is not going to recover and has only months left to live. Big hugs to both of you! I wish I knew what to say, but I'm not very good at that sort of thing.

With the above in mind, I didn't feel I could put this on UKS after hearing KW's bad news as it would have felt like rubbing it in, but had another e-mail from Nicky's hubby

Just a quick line to say that Nicky received her new cells on friday 12th as planned with no complications. Now its the long wait for them to start working. She is still receiving chemo etc and it is really knocking her for six at the moment, even a simple task requires a long lie down to recover and unfortunately it will get worse before she gets better. However she is still smilling with a good positive attitude.

After everything she's been through hopefully it's the start of Nicky's road to recovery. Keeping my fingers crossed for that anyway.

And it's been announced that we're finally going to have a staff meeting at the pub on Sunday. About time too!!! Now I just have to make a list of all the things that have been bugging me. Just hope I can remember them all *LOL*

Thank You

Just want to say a BIG thank you to my mate Dolly (and of course Bry, Bek, Dan, Meg & Holly) for giving me a very friendly home over the weekend. The company was perfect, the food was wonderful, and the drink was plentiful *hic!*

Not much scrapping done (well none) but what's new? However, I did finally manage to get all my New Orleans/Disney photos sorted into categories, which is a start. I also blame Jen for being so creative yesterday *LOL*

First Posting

Well here it is ... my first post on my new blog!

Thought it was time to jump on the bandwagon and get myself online - too little time to build a website, too lazy to do much else.

I'm not entirely sure how much this blog will be used, but hopefully I'll remember to update regularly ... or at least occasionally