Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, it's off from work I go!

Used up my last day of annual leave today, and had a much needed day off. Was a nice mix of productivity, laziness and indulgence! Did a boring task I'd been putting off til the last moment, and re-registered/re-taxed my car... the DVLA office was something straight out of Kafka.. get in this line, get a ticket, wait to join another line, fill in a form, join this other line & wait again.. I was glad to make it out of the maze of bureaucracy & back into the sunshine again, sanity intact!

I really love working a 4 day week. It makes all the other days fly in twice as fast. It also makes for an amazing feeling on Friday night - knowing that so many niggly things have been accomplished before the 'real' weekend even starts! I don't know how these full-time working mothers do it, I feel tired & trained just by looking after myself!

At the risk of sounding like one of those annoying 'twitterers' who declare to the world what that they just ate a mars bar, I have really eaten like a Sultan today. Amazing Pancakes & crispy bacon for breakfast from Manchester's 'Muriels Cafe', and a delicious (homemade by the OH) Jerk Chicken 'n' Rice 'n' Peas for tea - it's just as well that gym going has started to feature on my itinerary again...

"Who ya gonna call?"

Well, 10 days have passed, and what a (mostly) great 10 days they have been! Last weekend the OH & I visited York, home of vikings, ghosts & cream teas. We, of course, experienced all three.
Staying in a 'haunted' hotel was an experience I'm not sure I would try again, as it resulted in being kept up until 4am, my imagination running riot, causing me to be spooked by every little sound... the various locally brewed beers fermenting in my stomach, (alongside a vast portion of fish 'n' chips) probably didn't help much though!

One of my highlights, other than a delcious afternoon tea@ the institution that is 'Betty's (pictured), was the Castle Museum. It's a very odd place, with a section devoted to old-style washing machines & the etiquette of Victorian funeral's, but it is precisely this randomness that made it absolutely brilliant! Much better than smelly old Jorvick centre, which made Viking life out to be like a less-dramatic & technologically advanced episode of Eastenders.

This weekend has been spent back in Manchester. It has involved Italian dining, cinema going, gym-bunnying, coffee slurping, bolognese making and... housework. Can't all be good. A few drinks at some of the local watering holes later should hopefully make the Monday morning dread abate somewhat!

Woe is me!

Feeling rather bleaughhh for the last couple of days, which is such a bore. Not that anyone loves being ill, but it probably makes me angrier than the average person. Even when it's a simple cold (like now), I feel so damn angry the whole time that I'm sniffling and coughing - it's just gross & inconvenient, ugh! It's also that stage were you feel absolutely horrible, but don't demonstrably look/sound terrible (i.e. a hacking cough), so no visable reason not to be in work... Sigh.

To top it all, my car has conveniently decided to pack it in, in my moment of greatest need. Having to walk 1/2 hour to the bus stop whilst sneezing pathetically hasn't been great for morale!

Anyway. Enough whingeing. A trip to York is planned for Saturday morning, and I will be well. I'll eat a whole damn vitamin c factory if I have to. The other half got me some 'Percy Pig Tails' (which contain 'pork gelatine', aptly enough), I reckon they probably have some vitamins in them, any excuse really to lie on the Sofa watching 'Star Trek' and shovel them down my gob!

Oscars Dahling

Still recovering from a great weekend at home. The main object of the trip - to complete the annual Oscars watchathon! Mission was accomplished. Bed was not reached until around 6am Monday morning.

I'm not a betting gal, but I think next year I may give it a go, seeing as I predicted 15 of the categories correctly... although it must be said that no great skill or insider knowledge was involved this year, it was fairly predictable & shock free (unlike last year when Sean Penn triumphed over Mickey Rourke's amazing come-back performance in The Wrestler).

Better than the actual awards, is gawping at the gowns. Meryl Streep looked the proverbial million dollars in her gown designed by the flamboyant Chris March from Project Runway - she is on a winning style streak with this guy, as he designed her gorgeous Golden Globes look also.

There's too many to talk about really, so I'll bow down to the DM for their picture coverage of the event.

Anyway, am wrecked. Work tomorrow, boo hiss. I could get used to this mid-week lounge lizard lifestyle. Signing off while still vaguely compos mentis...