Monday, August 27, 2007

A Day at Eltham

Had another lovely day; after a bit of a lazy morning we took the short drive over to Eltham Palace. I’d been there before, a few years ago with Rod & Jess, but it was the first time for both Brett & Rosie. It’s an interesting combination of a Tudor Great Hall and top-notch Art Deco design. The weather was lovely so we had a nice wander around the gardens too (photos here). A good day out.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Sofa slingshot

Saturday was bright and sunny but I was a complete slob; spent pretty much the whole day on the sofa reading Ringworld, watching TV and surfing Facebook. Wasted life.

The thing happening today was Trevor’s summer party. Last year’s was a great success, but left a lot of clearing up the next day. This year his neighbours weren’t going on holiday so he couldn’t have a late-night party, and had a more select, afternoon do instead. It was a pleasant way to spend the day though; they’re in a fairly rural location and it felt like we were sitting out in the countryside somewhere. Moderate amounts of alcohol, plenty of well-grilled meat and a selection of catch-ups with choristers later, we headed home.

Tomorrow, I think we might head down to Eltham Palace; can’t stand the thought of another day on the sofa.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

"But there's nothing you can do when you're next in line"

Today just completely got away from me. It started okay, but finalising the copier contracts (which have been the bane of my life for the last six weeks!) and copying them and then getting them biked over to the over-anxious supplier took forever. It put me behind schedule for my second meeting (about our report templates – which look like being the bane of my life for the next six weeks!!) which in turn overran and made me late for the third meeting with the contractors who are going to be building our new datacentre.

The whole morning felt like one of those domino-toppling events, where one thing knocks-on to another. Before I knew it, it was 4pm and I hadn’t started actually doing anything yet! (Meetings don’t count as doing; at best they’re just deciding.)

This evening has been relaxing though; Brett had a chicken casserole in the oven when I got home and the chicken was both tasty and tender when we ate. It looks like he’s going to be setting up a Limited Company for his contracting work, rather than being paid through an umbrella organisation, as it gives him more flexibility to work for himself as a designer in future.

Later on we were going to do the couch-potato thing but, for all that Sky has hundreds of channels, showing every conceivable type of programme, there was nothing on that we wanted to watch. Instead Brett went off to do coding and designing things on his Mac whilst I stayed and organised a couple of poker games for the coming weeks.

It still hasn’t quite sunk in that this time next week, he won’t be here. Not sure how I’ll handle that.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Down Henley Street

It’s been a good week, albeit a long one. I’ve been trying to get in to work earlier but haven’t been getting out earlier too, so by Friday I was knackered. We went out for dinner with Ping after work and I pretty much sat there like a lump. There was good news from Brett; he had been in Stratford-upon-Avon for a job interview that morning and had been called back on the train into town to offer him the contract. So he’s got three months worth of programming work; the downside is it’s in Stratford, so he’ll have to get lodgings up there which will cost money and keep him away from home all week. Still, it will mean we have a bit more spending money when we head out to Sitges in a few weeks for a break.

We went to see The Bourne Ultimatum last night at Greenwich and rather enjoyed it. The much-touted handheld camera work brought a lot of realism to some of the face-to-face scenes but tended to make me seasick in the fight and chase scenes. I think Matt Damon might have a point about James Bond being a bit anachronistic; I identified more with Jason Bourne than I ever have with 007.

Today has been quiet and domestic.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Where to?

So, the question is; what job involves you travelling and spending quality time getting to know your destination? By ‘quality time’ I mean not going from airport to hotel to meeting to airport, I mean learning at least some of the history and culture of the destination. I don’t mind doing research in advance to help me along; I like to know enough about a place before I get there that I don’t appear to be a complete tourist.

The second question is; why am I so lacklustre lately? Haven’t been doing much of anything meaningful, just moping around wishing my life was more… [insert adjective here.]

Quite pathetic really.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Saturday

Ruth and Chris came over for dinner. We had enchiladas and smoothies and played Trivial Pursuit late into the night; a very pleasant conclusion to a day of household and gardening chores.