Give him the chair!

I went into town this morning to pick up my sick note from the doctor's surgery.  Is it still called a sick note?  I think now it's a "Well, ok, you can stay off work, but wrap up warm and come back and see me in a few days, and if you're skiving I'll tell on you," note.

Anyway.  I went and collected it, then went to the weigh-in at Fat Club.  Stayed the same as I was last week, which I was actually pleased about as it's been a weird few weeks and my eating habits have been out of whack.  The antibiotics meant I was feeling even worse than the chest infection was making me, and my appetite had gone, so I was eating for the sake of it, rather than because I wanted to.   What with the stress of poor old Father-in-law WithaY being in hospital, and Mr WithaY and I not being allowed to go and see him with our colds/coughs, it was all a bit much.  So I shovelled down far more bread and honey than I am supposed to.  Comfort eating.  It works in the short term, but then you get depressed because you're a fat bastard. Gah.

Encouraging developments, though.  Father-in-law is out of hospital and back at the nursing home, where he hasn't been tipped out of his wheelchair again.  Yet.  We popped in briefly last night to see him, and he looks better, still terribly frail, but more cheerful, and delighted to see us.

On the way to the weigh-in, I walked past a cafe, outside of which gathers the rank and file of local life.  As I walked past, I overheard an ENORMOUS woman saying to her friend, "Worrrrl, I weren't going to not say nothing, was I?  Was I?  You know me..I says what I think, and if I dunt like something, I tell them, dunni?  Dunni?"

Her friend nodded eagerly, clearly enjoying the retelling of whatever epic encounter this was.  If I hadn't been late for my meeting I would have stopped to hear the rest. 

I have a feeling that the large lady came off best in it.  She looked as though it would take more than a battle of words to defeat her, and I imagine that she'd never even realise if she was taking part in a battle of wits.  She had the air of someone who thinks nothing of picking up a chair and twatting the other party with it to get her point across.

Other news: Watched Avatar on DVD last night. Boy I wish I'd seen it at the cinema. I loved it. Mr WithaY loved it too, and he'd been lukewarm about watching it to begin with.


I want to go and see Iron Man 2, but the reviews haven't been great, and Slyde was less than complimentary, so maybe that can wait for DVD too. 

Walking back to happiness

So, the end of my first week back at work in ages. How do I feel? Just a bit tired, really, and that's perfectly copeable-with. I went up to London on Thursday, slept on the train on the way up, walked from Waterloo to Victoria in the sunshine, which felt like a bit of an achievement, and had a reasonable day trying to remember what it is exactly* they pay me for.

I'm still not a fan of the new flexi-desk arrangement. Disappointingly, this is not a series of special magical desks that you can bend and stretch to fit the number of people, like a special effect from a Harry Potter film.

No.

It's a limited number of desks into which a larger number of people have to try and fit on any given day. Inevitably, there are people who get into work a little later, and then can't find anywhere to sit.

We have these little personal box thingies that we keep in our lockers that we carry around till we find an empty desk, then decant all our work rubbish all over it for the day. We look like squalid bag ladies (and bag men, I suppose) with all our worldy goods lugged from pillar to post each day.

I haven't seen some members of the team all week because I have no idea where they are sitting. We communicate via email, because people also forget to set up their phone to pick up their extension, and therefore can't take calls.

Ah, progress.

I look forward to it.

Other news: One of our mates came round last night for dinner, and we had a rather splendid time eating our own weight in roast pork, bought from the highly persuasive butcher we met at the Bath and West show earlier this year. He was right to brag about the quality of his meat, it was superb.

We also watched Tropic Thunder on DVD, which is very funny. Lots (and lots) of bad language, so not for everyone, but it still makes me laugh out loud in parts. And Tom Cruise is just inspired.

There's an extra on the DVD entitled "Blowing shit up". Says it all really. Check out the website, you can machine gun stuff with your mouse.




*Still struggling with that a bit, to be honest. It'll come back to me.

Film

Just watched "Laputa, Castle in the Sky", one of my new Studio Ghibli films I bought the other weekend. Very nice.

I love the look of those films as much as anything. The quality of the animation is superb, and the minor stylistic annoyances are easily ignored. Perfect for a quiet night in when you feel a bit low and grumpy.

And that's not a rating you see on posters often enough, in my view.