28,000 and 500

I have posted 500 messages on this blog and they have been read over 28,000 times. That's pretty amazing for someone who a) was convinced they were going to die and b) only started this thing because I didn't want visitors to view my disfigurements by visiting me in hospital. Hey ho. Well I ain't dead yet. And I'm still the pretty one.... That's all. J x

RIP

Bea Arthur has died. She played Dorothy in Golden Girls and was rather fabulous. I liked her and will miss her. That's all. J x

Birmingham

So, 2 days at the NEC. I could hardly wait. What a load of tosh. Although I was rather impressed by our director who tells it like she sees it. Shame she needs glasses...

Actually the best bit was Thursday night in the bar. Got totally rat arsed on cheap vodka with a couple of the other Business Learning Managers from Merseyside. Twas a good night. Unfortunately we were a little late for the start of Day Two of the conference. It can't have helped that our boss was already seated when we had to make our late entrance. Oops. I'll let you know Monday if I still have a job...

Off to Her Maj's tonight for an evening of soup and Madmen. We're spending the rest of the month in because Paris was a little more expensive than she'd anticipated. A whole week in the office next week so might actually get down to some work! That's all. J x

Lang Lang Rules

Despite sounding like a panda, Lang Lang is, in fact, a piano player. Now I'm not normally a huge fan of the piano but I have never felt such emotion when watching a classical concert before. The man is incredible. It was just him on stage with a piano for about 2 and a half hours but it was unbelievable. The Bartok wasn't so much a piece of music as an assault on the piano. It was all out war with not a tune in sight and yet it was fantastic. The Schubert was exquisite and the Debussy was lovely. Even the Chopin was great and I hate Chopin (just too boring for words). And then he did an encore of Chinese folk songs which were, well, Chinese sounding. The Bridgewater Hall was a sell out and they (and I) loved him. If you ever get a chance to go and see this man play pay whatever it takes. You won't regret it. No photos though (sorry Jane). J x

Back to Manc

So Eater was good. Spent it in Swansea with the Ageds. Ageds are fine and it was fun. The weather was fabulous. As instructed, there should be some photos of some of the gardens we visited attached to this post. That's all. J x

Easter, Schmeaster

Off to Swansea for the hols. Aged Ps delighted at the prospect of (yet) another trip to the National Botanical Garden of Wales (its their own fault really as they bought me the membership for Xmas). Will also be visiting a garden centre (I have some ideas for my terrace) and other bonding family activities. Back on Monday for another 4 day week in Warrington. Discovered today that I have arranged a Team Meeting for Tuesday when there's only me and one other team member in. Oh the joys of being in charge and completely lacking in organisational skills. The poor team member is just going to have to sit there and listen to me drone on about the BBS (ask a current member of HMRC if you don't know what this is) and then devise a solution all on his own for how we address the over 18 month old cases problem! He wasn't in today and so won't find all this out until Monday. Poor sod. That's all. J x

Very Good

The leaving do was lovely. Probably about 50 people throughout the day but not all at once - some arrived early and left early, others late and late. I received a briefcase as a leaving present. But not just any briefcase. It was an "official" briefcase (back in the day the Department used to give a briefcase to everyone who qualified as a Grade 7 but they'd stopped doing it by the time I qualified so obviously I've always wanted one). It says ER on it and everything. Its not a brand new one - they don't make them anymore but its lovely nonetheless. They'd also made up a photo album with pictures of every team I'd worked with since coming to Manchester which is just fantastic. I'll treasure it.

Of course I had too much to drink. I was trying to stick to Peronis but then people started buying me martinis so what could I do? No idea what time I got home. The party kicked of at 1200 and it was somewhere around 2100 to 2200 that I left (I'm guessing). I woke up on the sofa in the early hours so can assume a good time was had by all! That's all. J x

And so I'm back...

Valencia was lovely (but wet). The city has some really old bits and some really (really) new bits. In fact its the perfect mix - just like Manchester. Had to fly to Alicante on Monarch though. The flight out wasn't too bad - we were given extra leg room seats despite not having paid ridiculous seat booking and extra legroom booking fees. Alicante was also hot and sunny and we had a couple of hours there before catching the train to Valencia. We went first class and it was lovely - free vodka!

The apartment was also quite nice although it cost us more than we thought due to a cock up by me. In fact I suspect that DD won't let me book anything for the 2 of us again since there were also some "issues" around the timing of our flights too ( we had to leave the apartment on our final day at 0615 to get the train to go back to Alicante - in the pouring rain).

It rained on and off for most of the weekend but it didn't really spoil anything apart from the bus tour because it wasn't "open-top". It was also impossible to find the perfect vodka martini but then without James Bond poor Johnny Foreigner doesn't stand a chance. I will go back though as there's so much still to explore.

Back to work and a ton of e-mails and no computer services. Plus ca change...

Official promotion celebrations/leaving do at The Pitcher & Piano tomorrow. Looking forward to it and hoping (probably in vain) that I won't have to make a speech. I'll update you on the festivities and any injuries sustained once I'm sober. That's all. J x