Morning All

So looks like the hot weather is at an end, at least for the next week or so.  In typical British fashion I've been complaining its too hot and now, no doubt, will start complaining that its too wet.  It was ever thus. :-)

So it's been a while since a proper blog so this might be a longer entry but, on the plus side, I'm not drunk at the moment and so it should be relatively sensible.  

Yesterday was a quiet day apart from staffing the helpline yesterday evening.  A quiet shift with just one call and no trainee.  Took the opportunity to catch up on all the news that is gay. Have you seen what is going on in Russia?  Putin has just brought in laws similar to Section 28 (no teaching of being gay as an acceptable sexuality) and has also banned Gay Pride marches.  I think we should boycott something to make our displeasure known.  I suggest we boycott Coca Cola who are sponsors of the Olympics next year in Sochi and the Athletics World Championships this year. I urge my readers to join me in this.

On Thursday I was interviewing for a Project Lead on the Macmillan project I'm involved in.  It was a long day (1100-1900) but worth it.  We got the right person in the end.  On the bonus side the room the interviews were taking place in was air conditioned!  It all took place at Manchester Conference Centre on Sackvile Street which is quite a nice (if somewhat dated) venue.  We had to score the candidates on a scale from zero to five and, for 4 out of the 5 candidates we were very consistent in our markings but one candidate really split the panel (me, an NHS person, a Macmillan person and someone from the local council). This candidate scored really badly from me and Macmillan but top marks from the NHS and the council.. We marked low because of no people skills whilst the others marked high for good process skills. Interesting.  A the end of the day it made no difference to the top candidate given the scores from the assessment centre they'd all gone through. Hopefully the project will take on a bit more momentum now.

Wednesday saw me, DD and Sara heading to Uppermill for lunch at Michele's cafe.  And very nice it was too. Good to see she was quite busy. I definitely recommend it.  We also had a stroll round the village and I bought some napkins. :-)

Today is another quiet day until this evening when I'm out with DD, Nicola and Steve.  Not quite sure what we're doing but DD has organised it and so we're in safe hands.  Tomorrow is curry and a party debrief with the key party personnel. May wander into town today to see what's going on with all this garden/food stuff.  And that's all folks.  J x