... Portugal! Two days to go and am very excited. Forecast looks good so am hoping for a week of lazing in the sun, evenings walking along the beach, catching up on my reading and generally just chilling out. But I know the weather can change quickly in the Algarve (Atlantic coast and all that) so am not counting my chickens just yet. It will, at the very least, be warmer than here. :-)
So, have been busy as usual since last we spoke. Tuesday saw me meeting my mate from the big smoke, Donna. We go way, way back to when I first joined the Revenue - so that's 20 years ago. We did some of our training together and she, me, Sarah & Sarah have all stayed in touch ever since. We don't all get together as often as we'd like (London, Manchester & Leeds) but it is lovely when we do. We had a couple of cocktails in The Lowry hotel (very nice they were too and served by a young Eastern European chap - they make the best waiters I think, I still miss Martin from The Midland) and then I escorted her off the premises and to Piccadilly. Lovely.
Wednesday saw me take my life in my hands and venture to Liverpool where I met the ever lovely Daniel for lunch. Daniel and I were managers together in Warrington and I think I can honestly say that I felt he and I made the best team. Our strengths really complimented each other and I never felt (truly) in competition with him (of course anyone who knows me knows that I can never really divorce myself from my competitive side and I think Daniel is the same but it was always friendly). And he is a friend. Lunch was great apart from the venue and the food. I think when it comes to choosing good restaurants then I win - oops there's that competitive side again. Franco's is, I imagine, a Liverpool institution with such a good employee benefit programme that they have managed to retain their loyal workforce ever since they opened. About 50 years ago. Honestly our waiter was like "2 soups". And somehow the chef had managed to make a lasagne with all the sauce on the outside rather than between the layers of pasta. Very strange. But good to see him nevertheless and catch up. PMR sounds like such fun that I almost regret retiring.... :-)
Yesterday saw me take my life even more into my hands when I had an early meeting with Macmillan. In the Asda cafe in Hulme. Readers, you can imagine. A) It's Asda B) It's Hulme C) It's run byMcDonald's D) They had no coffee and E) It's Asda. Let no one say I am not truly a champion on behalf of cancer patients everywhere, willing to put myself through all kinds of hell to serve them. Discussed plans to increase the patient voice whilst redesigning the delivery of cancer services in Greater Manchester and I now find myself on another committee and attending a Macmillan conference in Sheffield later this month. I'm really enjoying this but find myself getting bogged down in discussions about discussions rather than actually doing stuff that makes a difference. In many ways not dissimilar to how the civil service works. I'm also finding that I'm not solving homophobia at the moment. Maybe I'll spend some time in Portugal thinking all this through.
Readers, we should also take a little time out to welcome Dr Y to the blog. Nurse Jackie informs me (whilst on her way to see her niece singing Eponine on the West End stage - so she's someone to know: backstage tour anyone?) that the very lovely Dr Y will be joining our readership. Dr Y is a very refined and distinguished lady so can we keep it clean please? The fact that she drives a Mercedes sports car with a personalised number plate does not mean we should treat her like an Essex girl...!
This afternoon I will be seeing Sara so I will give her the best wishes of you all and update you on how she's doing later. Will then be on the helpline (will pretty new ginger boy be working I wonder?) and afterwards calling in for a nightcap at carer-in-chief's.
I will also just say that I'm missing loads of people at the moment. I am hopeless at keeping in touch but vow to do better. So Karen, Manchester Mum & Dad, Helen, Mark & Chris, Sarah, Mike, Chris, Lisa, Ronda, Pradeep, Jim and everyone else, I'm sorry. You are all in my thoughts and hopefully I'll see you soon - don't forget the party on 21/06.... That's all for now. J x
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