Working for the Man (possibly)

Happy New Year to everyone. 2012 looks to be a big year - the Olympics, the Golden Jubilee, me starting a new business, Mr WithaY starting a new business - it'll be hectic.

Although I think my personal input into the Olympics will be minimal.  And the Golden Jubilee, now I think of it.  Hopefully the businesses will take up a lot of my time.

It's still a tad too early to talk about in detail, but I am really hoping we get stuff signed this month and then I can start boring the collective arses off everyone with dull details.

There is little news of note from this neck of the woods.  Mr WithaY went down with a heavy cold on Boxing Day and is still making alarming snot-based noises on a regular basis.  I have a much less revolting version of the cold, but am still having to sneeze loudly about once every 20 minutes, and live in fear of Being Without A Tissue. Our elegant home is currently festooned with boxes of tissues, placed on every flat surface, within easy grabbing reach.

We use Kleenex Balsam, which are very good, and stop your nose getting sore.

Also, if Kleenex want to send me some free boxes of tissues* in return for my charming and entirely unsolicited testimonial, I am happy to accept.  Email me, Kleenex PR team, I await your offers.

The weather here has been appalling for the last few days.  Lashing rain, howling gales, dark and gloomy and stormy.  Yesterday morning we had planned to go to Salisbury for a bit of mooching round looking for bargains in the sales, possibly with a brunch trip to Patisserie Valerie thrown in, but when we got up it was so truly terrifying out there that we decided to stay home instead.   Seriously.  You couldn't see across the road, the rain was so heavy.  And it was coming in sideways.  Some of the garden furniture was blown over by the gale force winds.  A first, in my experience.

I decided to make a cake instead.  Cunningly using up leftover bananas that were too black and squidgy to eat by hand, I made a banana and walnut loaf.  And some sausage rolls, as I had some sausage-meat left over from before Christmas.  Don't panic, it had been in the freezer, and was defrosted properly.

I used the last little bit of pastry** to make a cheese and pine-nut tart, a recipe I invented out of my head.    I have no idea what it tastes like.  Mr WithaY and I are having a sort of Mexican standoff about it, neither wanting to be the first to crack and try it.

Oh, and this morning I had a job interview.  It's for a very small part time job a couple of minutes drive away for a few hours a week, but will:

a)  Earn me a pittance

b)  Get me out of the house and interacting with other people on a regular basis again

c)  Give me something to think about other than "Gahhhhhhh I have no money why is everything taking so long to set up with the business recession recession recession insurance electrician advertising I need to sort out tax and National Insurance with an accountant..." and so on, which is what endlessly flickers through my brain just at the moment.

I fancy doing a job that doesn't give me a blinding headache whenever I think about it, and that I can stop thinking about as I leave, rather than taking it with me wheresoe'er I travel, like a millstone of unfocussed anxiety around my neck.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Oh, also, Mr WithaY bought me Skyrim for Christmas.  Anyone got any helpful top tips for not being killed every 5 minutes?  Thank you.









*Or money

**There's always a bit left over, and I can't bear to throw it away when I've made it myself.