NEVER again

I am NEVER arranging a party for anyone or anything EVER again. It's all far too bloody stressful.

We went off to look at the local-ish pub tonight, as mentioned here. Fantastic room, nice little alcove for the DJ, a slightly seperate area near the bar for those that don't want to be in the thick of it but not too far away either. Sounds perfect doesn't?

Just a couple of minor problems. The bar only had lager and most of the people coming are bitter drinkers including, most importantly, the birthday boy himself. They thought they could bring up the bottled bitter but it's bottle-conditioned so has lots of sediment and, according to OH who knows about these things, wasn't the nicest bitter he'd ever tasted. And at 5.2%, serious falling down water. Oh, and it was £3.20 a bottle. EEK!!

Second problem. It is a no-smoking pub. Yes I know we're going to have to get used to that but we seem to know a disproportionately high number of smokers, including both of us, and we'd more than likely find most of the party taking place outside in the beer garden.

Edge of the planet, here I come.

There followed a series of telephone calls to all our local pubs with no joy. Until, out of sheer desperation, I tried the one pub I was convinced wouldn't have a function room. But they do so we shot over there to have a look and it's fab! A little smaller than I would have liked but at this stage of the game, beggars can't be choosers. The food looked great, the beer is more than adequate (it's a Young's pub with Bombardier as a guest ale, for those that like to know these things) and OH was very happy.

And now so am I.

But I'm still not ever doing this again.

From bad to worse

That's how my day has gone today.

We had an appointment at 10am this morning with a rep from a window shutter company. She rang at 9.30 to say she was running late as she had only just left Swindon. OBviously there was no way she would get to London for 10am so would 11am be OK? No, actually, we had another appointment at 11am so could she please come at noon. Yes she could so that was that sorted.

Went to have a shower and half way through the hot water disappeared. And so did the heating. Great. The boiler had packed up. Not what I expect from something that was only installed three months ago. Rang the engineers and they could come later in the afternoon.

The appointment at 11am was with one of the local golf clubs where we had booked their function room for OH's 50th birthday party in March. We'd booked it through a friend who was a member which meant we got the room for free and they would just charge us for the buffet. Stupidly, we didn't go and see it, just took our friend's recommendation that it would be perfect for what we wanted. So off we toddle this morning for a look-see and to discuss food. Well, my face must have said it all - the place would barely hold 50 people and as we are inviting close to 140 it simply wasn't going to work. Great. On top of that, we were told that their chef is leaving wasn't interested in providing a buffet so it would be easier if we got the food ourselves, although he would prepare it for us. Thanks very much. The whole point was that it would be stress free for us and the thought of buying all that food sends me into cold shivers.

Wobbling a bit now.

So on the way home I rang our other local golf club. We hold all our work functions there and although the food is OK, it's not top notch but it would be sufficient. Nope, he had the club's AGM that night so no way he could fit us in.

Wobble has now escalated into panic.

Rang yet another golf club, this time a Very Posh Golf Club. Fortunately we work quite closely with them from time to time so although they don't normally hire out their function room to non-members, he would "as it's you". There would be a charge but again "as it's you", he'd reduce it by 50%. What a sweetheart! Made an appointment to meet him at 6pm.

Window shutter rep arrived and tried to steam-roller us into paying nearly £3,000 for shutters. That's one way of getting us to not buy them, beautiful as they were I will not be forced into making a split-second decision on that kind of money. Even if she has made a 160 mile round trip to see us, as she repeatedly pointed out. Goodbye.

Engineers arrived and fixed the boiler and showed us what to do if it happens again. Good. Water and heating working again. Sorted.

6pm. Made our way over to the Very Posh Golf Club. I've never been in there before and it was fantastic!! Well worth the room charge. Then we started discussing menus. They don't really do finger buffets, "we do have certain standards to maintain". Oh. Of course you do. He suggested a hot buffet and that sounded like a plan until we started to discuss costs. He was terribly apologetic but it would be in the region of £20 per head. At least 100 people. You can do the math I'm sure.

Panic is now escalating into minor hysteria.

Tried a local Very Posh Hotel. I'm not even going to tell you what they wanted to charge but it was about twice what the Very Posh Golf Club would have charged.

However, all is not lost. A local-ish pub has a big function room that can hold about 100 people and don't charge for the room, just the food. And they can do a finger buffet. Phew. It's a bit more expensive than the first golf club, but not unreasonable. So we're off there on Monday evening to have a look and I just hope it's OK or I'll be falling off the edge of the planet.

If you are in the slightest bit interested, watch this space.

There goes another one....

..so that's the birthday all over for another year. I've always let Christmas come and go without too much fuss but I always think birthdays should be special so it was quite sad that this year, for the first time, it didn't feel such a special day. Don't get me wrong, I had some super presents and the friends we were staying with made it a really lovely day for me and I had a really good time but perhaps as you get older the whole birthday thing just isn't quite so important.

I do hope not and maybe it was just down to the fact that I'm still not feeling too well. The room spinning has stopped but I feel like I have constant sea-sickness. So you'll be pleased to hear that I have an appointment with the doctor this morning. I shall report back later*.

*Later* I apparently have Viral Labyrinthitis. Doc has sent me away telling me to take Sudafed to clear the congestion in my head that is part of the problem and given me a prescription for tablets to take should the sickness/dizziness get too bad. I hasten to add that she has given me the type that dissolve in the mouth!

Thank you

Thank you for your get well wishes. I'm feeling much better today so hopefully whatever was causing the vertigo, probably a middle/inner ear infection, is losing it's grip abnd I can go and enjoy my birthday weekend with friends to the full! Yes, that was a blatant plug! *snigger*

Anyway, two days out of the office is a dangerous thing. I have come back to find my pathologically tidy boss has had a clear out in the office, including clearing my desk. OK, it was a tip but I knew where everything was and why it was in the particular pile it was in. Now I can't find anything. I dread to think what's been thrown away.....I know some packaging went and I had to go rooting through the rubbish sacks to find it because it was packaging for something that doesn't work and I have to return it. I'm going to put a big "Keep your hands off my stuff" sign up on my desk methinks.

Last minute panic and other things

New Year's Eve went well, although it didn't get off to a flying start.

We were due to leave the house at about 7.30pm to get over to friends for the dinner at about 8-ish. I got out of the shower at about 6.45pm and, for once, had decided what I was going to wear in advance - wool skirt, black top and boots - dressier than usual but not over-dressed. So I got the iron out and ironed what I needed, looked up and noticed what OH was wearing. His DJ.

"Errr....is there something you've forgotten to tell me?"

"No, it's come-as-you-are but I thought it would be fun to wear my DJ as I haven't worn it for so long"

Immediate panic over, I think "that's a cool idea" and then think it would be fun for me to dress up in evening wear to! I have two evening wear outfits. One, I discover, is two sizes too big and the other, which only just fitted last time I wore it, was still a bit on the small side and I would have been in danger of losing my dignity all over my dinner plate if not careful. That prompted a minor strop and the "taking-clothes-out-of-the-wardrobe-and-discarding-them-in-a-pile-on -the-floor" scenario whilst I tried to find something else suitably eveningy to wear.

Half an hour later I admitted defeat and went back to wearing what I had originally decided to wear. Which was just as well as the other men were all in jeans and the women wearing the same as me - skirts and boots.

OH had the decency to apologise and, you have to admit, he does look rather fetching doesn't he?

















I have also decided to get rid of everything that I don't wear, or am never likely to wear, and start again. It means going shopping, which I find hugely depressing, but I will take a friend with me who will be brutally honest about what does and doesn't suit me. My aim is to make sure I have at least one something to wear for any given occasion. At the moment, as long as I can wear jeans and a t-shirt I'm covered but if it's anything else, I have nothing to wear!

And that leads me on to something I keep meaning to tell you about......I have discovered the joys of freecycling. It's absolutely brilliant! So far I have found a home for my exercise bike, some books and a bag of clothes I no longer needed (see above). I have also given a home to some cushions and a brand new pair of Ikea curtains. If you haven't tried it, go check it out. it will provide hours of endless, and mindless, entertainment!

10, 9, 8...............

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!