The brief patch of spring-like weather only lasted a few days, and now it's cold again, leading to a frantic search for my hot-water bottle, which had mysteriously hidden itself over a couple of warm days ( Read more... )

Friday was the staff Christmas lunch at work; I had been rather dreading this, since I don't really know anyone there except my immediate boss, Cathy, and I'm generally a bit frightened of any social situation, especially ones that involve free alcohol. When I got in, Cathy was off sick, and I sat in the office, doing a bit of desultory research ( Read more... )

Last night, since it was almost my birthday I had a sort of dinner party/vodka tasting session. I'd been rather dreading this, since it had been arranged before I started on the great weight-loss project, but it didn't go too badly. Perhaps fortunately, two guests cried off, so there were only four of us; me, Jade, Andrew and Greta, a friend of ( Read more... )

Woke up last night at about four, as usual, to a funny noise that I actually took a few seconds to recognise as rain. The morning was dull and wet, and warm(ish), just like spring should be, and by the time I'd persuaded myself out to the conference it was almost sunny and the air was like milk. The conference wasn't anything like as dull as I'd ( Read more... )