What’s it all about again?

Have just seen that advert for Diet Coke on the tv with the puppets.  Maybe I have some weird aversion that dates back to childhood, but I find that advert really creepy!  I think it’s puppets in general.  To quote Gareth from The Office; “I don’t trust the way they move”.

I now have a cold which has annoyed me completely!  It’s as though I was carrying on for ages with the worry of the presentation hanging over me, and when that was over the place where the worry had been stored emptied out and was replaced by a cold virus.  Still at least no-one will try and tell me it’s swine flu this time.

I have been so glad to get the last week over with.  The big presentation which I was dreading happened on Tuesday, and whilst I won’t say I absolutely smashed it and received a standing ovation from the listening audience, a minor personal victory was won just by getting through it!

I saw Seth Lakeman in Southsea on the 5th (thanks for the comment by the way!) and he was absolutely marvellous - a good night was had by all!  Some of his older tunes like Riflemen of War and Kitty Jay had people out of their seats, but his new album Hearts and Minds, which he suggested will be out in May, also sounds like it’s going to be really great on this evidence!  I know my friends find it somewhat odd that I just have to keep going back to see him again and again, but there is something about him…I can’t quite describe it, but when I watch him on the stage, it is like I’ve been picked for a team, like I’ve won a prize, like all’s right with the world, just for a little while…

Maybe it dates back to the first time I saw him, on tv back in 2006.  I’d just had my heart broken for the first time, and I had been walking round in a numb, grief-fuelled haze for two days, and when I saw him there on the tv singing Lady of the Sea, for just the couple of minutes that he was on, I felt ok again.  Like a spark of hope had been lit.  Recovering from a broken heart is a long and painful process, but it’s amazing how people do.

A very nice day was had yesterday, not least because the Saints turned on the style and hit 5 (yes, five!) goals against Walsall.  If you look very carefully on the tv highlights you can see me leaping around like a gibbon behind the goal when Rickie’s went in!  I had to pause and replay it about seven times, but yes, I’m there!

Also saw a group of friends, two of whom are pregnant, one of whom is due quite soon!  I had this scenario running round in my head where her labour started whilst we were still having dinner, and we would all have to dash off in convoy to the hospital and wait in the waiting room, like they do in ‘Friends’, meanwhile she headbutts her husband and swears at the midwife… No such drama, unfortunately.

So I may not have a holiday to look forward to this year (between a holiday and a laptop, I chose the laptop), but I do have a trip to Southsea next weekend to see the lovely Seth Lakeman.  I know I have mentioned him here before as he is probably my favourite live performer.  I went to see him five times last year, and although the gigs were mostly pretty similar set-list wise, it never gets old.  I have never actually met him, but he is apparently a bloody nice bloke as well.

It’s Friday night, but I’m so glad I don’t feel an obligation to go out, spend loads of money and drink loads of alcohol.  I’m just too tired for that!

I’m so happy, I finally bought a new laptop, and it is fabulous - so fast and clean and pure.  Windows 7 is a bit weird though isn’t it?  I couldn’t find ‘My Computer’ anywhere!

I’m thinking my slight feeling of unwellness could actually be down to chocolate withdrawal.  I have kept to my strict lent promise, and whilst I feel all virtuous for the extent of my willpower, I do still miss it.  I was nearly undone by a very tasty looking chocolate muffin, and a bowl ful of M&Ms earlier in the week, when I arrived at a work meeting and found them lying out on the tables, right under my nose…

I keep getting this panicky feeling, like I’ve forgotten something or upset someone without realising it.  I can’t really see what I can do to get rid of it.  Usually I’m fairly serene and content, but sometimes it does feel as though I’m losing control, even if it is only for a day or two.  Maybe tomorrow will be better.

So having promised myself I’d be a better blogger, I then fail to post for a good few weeks.  I have been busy at work and so forth so I suppose I have an excuse.  I have been asked (or rather told) to do some public speaking at a couple of meetings coming up in the near future and I don’t really know why as I have quite an abject fear of public speaking.  I keep oscillating between total anxiety and a will to overpower the fear.  I’m hoping the will wins.

I have decided to give up chocolate for lent, at the suggestion of one of my work colleagues.  When I got home today, I cleared out all traces of chocolate from my cupboards and put it all in a big bag to be guarded by said colleague.  I’m actually not a big one for chocolate, so I thought it would probably be quite easy, but I have to admit I did waver when the chocolate hobnobs disappeared.  I will keep you posted on progress.

Saints lost in our local derby with the skates on Saturday.  In spite of the result, which I know they will never let us forget, the atmosphere on the day was corking!  There hasn’t been that much of a buzz around St Mary’s for many a year.  And now we have Wembley to look forward to as well.  It may be the ‘paint pot cup’ but it’s a trip to our national stadium with 44,000 friends!

An encouraging story was read in one of the dailies this morning; there are apparently now more single men than women in every age category except the over-75s, according to the ONS.  I find it hard to believe as I know barely any single men in their 30s at all.  Trust me, I’ve been looking.

In the interests of getting myself ‘out there’ (and to please my mum who suddenly began mentioning shelves recently), I have joined up on a new internet dating site.  If anyone read my blog previous to this one, they will remember that there were one or two dates as a result of my first foray into internet dating but no happy ending… I am now corresponding with a couple of seemingly nice guys, but trying to keep it casual so I don’t get too disappointed if they suddenly forget me.  I don’t know why we women do it, but we have a habit of trying to make men into what we want them to be, rather than what they are.

Right enough of the ramblings now, and time for a nice cup of tea…

I regret that I’m starting this post with the gloom of the title - a bit like bad news before good - but why is it that customer service, good customer service, is a thing of the past nowadays?  I had no end of trouble with my previous phone and broadband service and whenever I tried to contact them to complain, I couldn’t even get through!  So I decided to take my business elsewhere.  That’ll show them, I thought!  No, still their total ineptness and antagonism haunt me!  Not only did they charge me to escape their clutches, but they were sluggish with severing the connection, and charged me for an extra four (count them!) weeks following the start of the contract with my new provider!  An oversight, surely, I thought.  But no.  I did actually manage to get through after a ten-minute wait to haul them up on this and they unapologetically informed me that that is “how long it takes”.  The final insult came when they did send me a refund of charges already paid - a cheque for the princely sum of £0.55.  Fifty-five pence!

So anyway, I could try and write a complaint letter, but I have decided to let it go, for the sake of my blood pressure and mental health…

And now the brighter part of my post today; last week I decided to watch the first two episodes of the new American TV series called Glee.  What a delight!  It is complete nonsense, total fluff, but more enjoyable (I would imagine) than being let loose in a sweet shop!  The characters appear at first to be very ‘High-School Musical’ two-dimensional, with all the stereotypes catered for, and yet the show has an edge too.  Just a slight hint of adult humour, a cheeky little wink to all the cynics.  It borders on the un-pc without tipping over into offensive, in the vein of ‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Scrubs’.  There is someone there for everyone to root for whatever age or background.  I highly recommend it, and guarantee you will be smiling by the end.

I know I am not the only one getting a bit fed up with the snow now.  This time last week it was all “oh isn’t this fun? It’s so cold, and white and beautiful!”.  But we’ve had Christmas, we’ve had New Year, we’ve had snow…now’s the time to just be getting on with things! 

I was in our great nation’s capital today for a work meeting.  I managed to get on the only train going anywhere near Waterloo station which was more from luck than design!

It’s funny how people are never what you expect though.  The man I went to see was much younger than I imagined, and my first thought was that he was one of those young upstart know-it-alls who you sometimes see in high powered jobs with absolutely no clue as to how they got there.  But he was the opposite of that.  Very intelligent, very switched on, confident but not to the point of cockiness. 

I would go as far as to say that it was worthwhile persevering through the biting wind and snow (and the transport problems again on the return journey!) just to be reminded to take people as I find them.

PMT.  It’s like hell on earth.  I know we’re not supposed to talk about it in polite company, but I’ve been more than a little depressed today and I know exactly why that is… so I have come up with a counter-balance.  It’s not a cure, but it has improved my mood no end, so I felt obliged to share…

Jameson’s whiskey.  Or whichever your preferred brand is.  Make sure you dilute with a smidgeon of mixer so’s not to completely ruin your day tomorrow as well.

Pizza.  I am partial to the miniature variety as these can easily be cooked in the microwave and thus cut down on waiting time.  They are also especially favourable when half price at your local supermarket, which these ones were.

Crunchie.  These are making a comeback, I believe.  If not, they should be.

Lost.  I mean the TV series.  Since I am poor, I don’t have Sky TV, so am catching up with this (currently series 3) courtesy of a kindly friend’s DVD set.

I realise that my choice of food and drink particularly is not conducive to a New Year slimline figure, but do you know what?  Just for the next week, I really don’t care.

Happy New Year to all you rest of worlders out there!  The resolution at the top of my list this year is to be a better blogger.  This would be greatly enhanced if I could only have access to the spanking new laptop which has been on order since Boxing Day…you see the laptop I’ve had up until now was bought when I was still at University and since I left 10 years ago this year, you can probably tell how much rubbish has been clogging up my hard drive.  So here’s hoping for more opportunities and a faster broadband!!!

I went to a live show last night - Bellowhead were playing at Reading Concert Hall - and I’m pretty new to folk music in general, especially these guys (and one girl), but they were absolutely magnificent! 

I was bowled over by the sheer energy they put into their performance, the exquisite blend of so many different sounds, the immense talent of each and every person, and the charisma of their front man Jon Boden.  He looks like he wouldn’t be out of place propping up the bar at your local on a Saturday night, but his voice, and his fiddle playing, and his on-stage persona are all just fascinating… And another thing which really made it for me is that they all looked like they were having enormous fun! The fans were jumping and stomping all around me.  I especially liked the kazoo song!  I’m just not used to music and musicians being so…normal, so available.  We passed three of the group (including Benji Kirkpatrick who is the only one I had heard of before, having seen him on stage with Seth Lakeman) on the stairs on the way out and they seemed perfectly happy to be squeezing through a crowd of sweaty, smiling fans.

This was the first night of the Bellowhead tour and if this show is anything to go by, a great time will be had by all.