Saints preserve us

I have to face facts my club is doomed. I have hardly blogged at all about football as this season’s been so depressing – this may just have me jumping off a nearby roof.

Not another bloody strike

In principle (and mostly in practice) I think unions are a good thing. There is however one very large, very notable and very active union which consistently gets me REALLY REALLY annoyed. It’s the RMT and their oh so delightful general secretary Bob Crow.

It’s not just that their planned strikes always seem to coincide with weekends and general holidays therefore giving their workers a nice bit of time off, it’s that they strike/threaten to strike with such alarming regularity you would think that they are the singularly most picked upon industry in the UK. The truth is they’re not, they get well-paid, have excellent pension provision, get goodness knows how many days holiday, generous sick pay allowances, other generous allowances but they still find it necessary to bleat on about every single change that ‘the management’ try to introduce.

I have no ideas on how this problem can be fixed, I just want to rant that the tube drivers in particular hold this city of ours to ransom every time they can’t face living in the real world and is it any coincidence that this strike is timed to coincide with the Olympic Torch being taken through London (don’t get me started on that) – ie when the eyes of the world/IOC are on our fair city? I think not.

The perfect jeans are still alive and well

I’ll be honest, the only reason I like Banana Republic is because I found the perfect pair of jeans which I still want to wear every day. However, I got slightly caught up in all the hoopla and decided I really had to go to the new store in Regents Street. Strangely it is almost exactly the same as the store on 5th Avenue, it’s as if the Banana republic fairy has just waved her magic want, replicated the store and moved it a couple of thousand miles west.

An overwhelming propensity of navy blue and things that would look good on Bree Van Der Kamp (when she gets rid of the comedy bump) but I did spy that my jeans were still there so all is not lost now that my old ones are looking slightly tatty and frayed around the bottom (due to them being ever-so-slightly too long) – hurrah!

The end of another contract

So just finishing up at my current job before starting all over again on Monday (a case of bad timing and being far too popular for my own good) and I always feel the same: relief at not having to deal with the inevitable crappy bits that exist within any organisation for any longer; sadness at leaving behind a good bunch of people (you can usually find them lurking amongst the crappy stuff); and excitement that the next job will be so perfect that I want to stay forever (I am an optimist).

I do miss the stability of a ‘real’ job but I’m not entirely sure I will ever have one again because freelancing has made me hyper-aware of all the ridiculous politics that exist within organisations and relieved that I rarely have to engage with such daft behaviour (clients and journos are bad enough as it is without doing battle with your colleagues as well). I also quite like the detachment of being temporary – your job and the ups and downs that go with it are part of your life but not your whole life keeping you awake at night (I am quite incredulous at the amount of sleep I have lost over the years because of work). In fact the only thing that does legitimately does keep you awake is lack of work but (fortunately and fingers crossed) that never seems to last too long and sometimes it’s just life’s way of telling you you need a break.

Hmmm…all sounding very philosophical and grown up. Must remember to read this post again when I am having a major work stress!

As an aside, I am receiving an awful lot of spammy comments at the moment – highly annoying.

I am not good at being ill

Haven’t posted for ages as my common cold turned into a variety of hideous illnesses which have led to an even more addled brain than usual and a malingering cough which is causing sleep deprivation, extreme tiredness and general atrophy. Not good. In addition, my back seems to have started playing up again in the past couple of days*. I think I may just have to go around in a permanent drug-induced haze until someone decides to put me out of their misery. Anyway, as a result of my malingering maladies I have done precisely NOTHING (apart from drag my sorry self to work) and therefore had NOTHING OF INTEREST to blog about.

General update on stuff

I am still waiting for Carphone Warehouse to respond to my letter of complaint that they didn’t address the complaints of my first letter.

Had my laptop fixed although the people who fixed it are being very slack about sending the report so I can actually send my claim against PC World.

I still seem to be expanding at an alarming rate not helped by an influx of yummy tasty chocolate eggs.

*My backache may not have been helped today by the wearing of four inch heels which – when you are a size 35 – are about as high as you can get – note to self: be more sensible!

Not a weather obsessive

Given I have a catgeory about weather you would have thought I would have blogged more about the recent inclement spells. However, I have become so bored with the media predicting and ‘reporting’ weather Armageddon that – for the time being – I have given up being interested in matters meteorological except when it affects my clothes’ choices.

Social networking guru*

Just because I’m really interested in all this stuff, I have volunteered myself for a project at work looking at a social networking model for a client. At the moment the most frustrating thing about this will be when I leave this job (in a mere two weeks) and the project gets passed on to someone else. I suspect that between now and then the most frustating thing will be client’s reponse to my counsel that they can’t just pretend to be a punter and post some rather overtly branded communication on youtube hoping that your average youtuber will think “what marvellous advice, I must go and try these products”. I may need luck.

*I would like to point out I am not a social networking guru and that title must surely belong to Suw, however in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king.

The spiritual and the material

So I spent yesterday getting in touch with my ‘inner self’. Went to the Global Retreat Centre of the Brahma Kumaris which possibly sounds a lot weirder than it actually was.

The centre is the most amazing 18th century Palladian villa which – given that the organisation is funded entirely by donations – is an incredible feat. The ethos is that volunteers will take better care of a property than ‘paid’ workers and from seeing the theory in action, it’s hard to disagree.

To stick to the physical, our lunch was amazing. At the beginning of the day, we were given a little speech about the ethos of the house and the facts that waste is not tolerated and our lunch would be cooked with love. Well love is very tasty (as was the chickpea soup, super proper chapattis and apple pie).

The meditation was very relaxing and the content was extremely interesting. I think I may have to assimilate it all a little more to really understand and/or decide whether I can really believe it all. Certainly the second session on spirituality freaked me out somewhat but that possibly has something to do with my rather unformed views of life, the universe and everything.

Came away feeling positive and determined to meditate (every day), hmmm…haven’t managed it today which is fairly poor. Need to reschedule and make that extra time in my day which is – in theory – easier because at least it gets light earlier (on dark mornings you have the scenario of 15 extra minutes in bed or dragging your carcass out of the duvet and trying to concentrate on your inner being – guess which one wins?). Well the spirit is willing, I just have to get the flesh co-operating.

So to the material…

Stayed in a really nice hotel last night. No matter what the star rating,  it’s the little things in a hotel which make me feel warm and cosy, for example Molton Brown toiletries (always a winner), saying you have forgotten your toothpaste (therefore asking where is the nearest supermarket/chemist?) and being given a little dental kit; cotton wool balls and cotton buds in the bathroom (much under-rated and always appreciated); a free bottle of water (because you know you can’t really drink the water out of the bathroom taps). Just those little things that make you smile (or – if you’re me – make you squeal entirely unnecessarily but quite joyfully). However, on the down side, the room was far too hot which made it stuffy and has not entirely helped ye olde cold.

And then to the realms of ridiculous in the material world. A house two doors down and exactly the same (in terms of layout) to ours has just been put up for sale for the most ridiculous amount of cash. I am actually quite scared about it. In theory it’s a good thing but in practise I am concerned that this house turns into £ signs rather than what I consider  its primary focus: my home. I swore when we moved here three and a half years ago that I never wanted to move again and that still holds true. I wonder if that has contributed/is contributing to some rather inappropriate behaviour on my part.