What a week. I knew I had to be in Croydon on Tuesday but what I didn't know until I was checking my email on the train that morning was that I would have to be in Slough on Wednesday AND Thursday. So there's hardly been time to breathe until now, let alone blog. I'm just grateful for the chance to work at home today, as well as spend some time with Natalie and Blythe (having picked them up early for their weekend visit).
The end of August already! Where has this year gone? Already two-thirds done; kids going back to school next week so the roads will be a nightmare again every morning; Universities starting in another month so my eldest will be tantalisingly close to us when she starts the next chapter of her life; and for us...the long slog to Christmas with no more public holidays to look forward to. I know I'm not alone in thinking that the UK needs another Bank Holiday between August and December 25th. Whether it's Halloween (frowned on by some commentators as being "unChristian" but actually a very old holiday), Guy Fawkes' Night (frowned on by others as being to anarchic - I mean why would you celebrate someone trying to blow up Parliament? Err...how long have you got?), or some other convenient and meaningful date around the end of October/beginning of November, it would break up that gloomy autumn period a bit.
End of August also means that it's a year since I finished the first draft of my novel and the first rewrite has not been progressing much of late. I have a friend reading the entire thing to give me a fresh perspective on it and as of two weeks ago he was about halfway through and says he's made copious notes, so that might spur some activity, but I can't rely on that. Gotta re-evaluate the time I spend on other things and get back to it. At this rate I'll be retired before I can knock it into a fit state to approach a publisher!
I finally had chance to pick up Nikki's new PC from PC World. I was relieved, after what their call centre had said, to find the offer was still on. And still £40 below either the Internet price or the price the call centre had reserved it at. So I ignored the copy of the email in my pocket which contained the reserve ID number and played along as an innocent buyer. Well, not that innocent. For instance I spotted the fact that the sales girl "forgot" to take the extra £40 off the sale price until I queried it, and also that she "forgot" to take off the cost of the first month's "Tech Guy support" contract that I'd said I didn't want. You've got to watch these people. They're bonused on the extras they sell you (and the "mistakes" they make that result in extra revenue, presumably).
We left the store with the PC; monitor; USB wireless dongle so we can connect to our home network ("have you got a wireless router at home, sir?" Duh! Of course I have. Made me wonder though how many people are stupid enough to buy a wireless-enabled PC and expect it to work when they don't have a wireless router. I guess there are some, or the shop people wouldn't ask the question); a nice new *wireless* multi-function printer and a set of flat-panel speakers. Woohoo! New toys! Looking forward to setting this lot up!
I thought it was all over for these Friday Fives, but then they started up again. As Di said, maybe the author was away.
1. At the end of today, do you think you'll feel spent or refreshed?
How can you feel refreshed at the end of a day? I don't think I *ever* do. No, it'll be spent for me sadly.
2. Do you like back rubs?
Love them. A really good one can send me to sleep in no time, which is kind of a shame cos then I miss half of it!
3. When did you last mislead someone?
In a personal context not for many years, but my Facebook "purity" score is only 47% so you can infer that I have done so at some stage. Professionally there are often occasions when it's not possible to tell the whole truth so I guess you could call that misleading. All in all not very satisfactory really. I've learned my lesson now though :)
4. What color are your eyes?
Blue. Deep blue. In fact they're such a deep blue that back in secondary school when we divided the class up by eye colourthe teacher insisted I stand in a category all on my own.
5. Friday fill-in:
Lastly, let me know ___.
__if I can help you with anything.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
We have a public holiday every month from July to the end of the year. July 1, First monday in August, September, Thanksgiving in October, Nov 11 or the nearest Monday to it, and then Christmas/Boxing day. Our long haul is from New Year's to Easter which is early next year!
Post a Comment