Saturday, January 24, 2009

Giddy Up!

I've been keeping a low profile of late - work has been mad busy and I've been a little bit sick, so wasn't really in the humour to do extra-curricular typing or thinking!!! Hopefully everything has settled down now so I'll have a little bit more time to pootle around doing very little... seeing as it's close to midday & I'm still in my jammies and just finished my breakfast, I might be on the right road.

Ended up in Caredoc last weekend and in this era of cutting back and taking a pay hit, the good people in Caredoc have raised their prices by 20%! Mind you, it's sometimes worth the hit to be seen by appointment and relatively on time, unlike my local GP where I've had to wait up to 90 minutes. The day after I went to the doc, my shoulder went (long-term problem) so I was rattling with drugs... enough whinging already!

I was at the races on Thursday - work sponsors an event every year & this was our final year, and indeed, the best. Everybody has a ball - they are ferried to & from the racecourse by coach, they have a gorgeous meal, loads of booze and spend/lost a few bob on the horsies. Except for me. I stand at the desk with a list in my hand and a lot of swearwords in my head for all the ignorant gits who fail to show and don't have the manners to tell me, miss the lovely dinner because I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to stop gatecrashers into the room and make sure everybody else is happy. It's the best workout I know - the room is on the 2nd floor and the lift is never there when you want it, so I reckon I do about 6 step aerobics classes during the course of the day. My poor legs are still in bits!

To make it worse, I had 4 great tips which would have brought me over €150 in winnings, but was too busy to get near to the tote or a bookies... grrr! On the upside though, I did get to present the winners trophy which was an utterly unexpected treat. My male colleagues (who have a death wish) were overheard commenting on the collection of big jugs on the platform and duly received a few well-placed slaps to the back of the head for their cheek. And because I was sober, I clattered them again yesterday when their poor wee heads were a touch delicate!
Right-ho, time to get dressed and venture out into the daylight

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

There Was A Young Man Called Manuel...

The freaks who we met last weekend... but even scarier!

There Was A Young Man Called Manuel


Whose customers regularly gave him hell,


But when asked for advice,


Didn't think twice


So now I think he's really rather swell!




That, ladies and gents is my ode to the wonderful Manuel who came to our aid last week when we were looking for somewhere nice to eat in Belfast. He recommended a restaurant called The Ginger Bistro on Hope Street, just a wee stagger in new shoes from the Europa where we had ensconced ourselves for the night. The food was absolutely gorgeous, the wine flowed freely and my god we were highly entertained by a table of our fellow diners, two of whom we immediately christened Lou and Andy due to their shocking resemblance to the boys above. The fat lad came in first, an XXXXXXXL beige polo shirt beaten onto him like spray on spandex - he had multiple moobs and more spare tyres than Quikfit - and a pair of denims with no belt. Yes, I almost did a little sick in my mouth and Hubs nearly got whiplash from trying to take a sneaky look at him. 10 minutes later, in strolled the other half of this freakyshow... a short-sleeved lemon shirt with epaulettes, pocket for the biro, grey Farah slacks, Deirdre Barlow specs (he really should have gone to SpecSavers), complete with beard & bald spot. It was quite the table of horrors - they all were either (a) teachers, (b) social workers or (c) civil servants. And that is why I always sit facing the room... it's how you get to see all the fun stuff!

Freaky diners aside, we had a great weekend in Belfast. The Europa has been done up since I was last there (on my hen... I kept having flashbacks and some of them were none too pretty!) and is all glossy and lovely apart from the shitehole that is the Lobby Bar. God it's the most depressing tip ever and one drink was plenty. The room was lovely, with one of the comfiest ever hotel beds we've stayed in - shame I couldn't fit it in my handbag - and great views. We dumped the bags and went for a wander around town. There was a ferris wheel in the grounds of City Hall so we had to take a trip, seeing as we got engaged on top of a ferris wheel in Paris. It was great fun altogether and well worth Hubs' money! We managed quite a bit of retail therapy for a hell of a lot less than at home... always fulfilling.

Funniest thing ever was seeing a 24 hour Tesco that only opens from 1pm on Sundays - what is it with Norn Iron and their allergy to working on the Sabbath? Although, it's probably a good idea because I was on a spendy roll and would have probably squandered the mortgage in the process!!


Thursday, January 1, 2009

Another Year Over...



As I write this with last night's makeup still on and wearing my faithful purple dressing gown (lucky I'm not single...), I'm thinking about the year that's just gone and what lies ahead. I believe that everything happens for a reason so there's no point in dwelling over crappy things and to be honest, nothing too bad happened in 2008 - everybody I love is still around so that's the main thing. Work has changed, perhaps necessarily, but not for the better - some of our "family" are no longer with us, and the transition period has been difficult to put it mildly. Little Sis got a DIY Voodoo Doll for Christmas and I was so tempted to nick it and make a revolving head with various people who I could stab in the eye with paperclips!


What I would like for 2009 is to get my poor battered body well again which will save me a fortune in chiro appointments (that man should be a millionaire given the amount I've forked out in treatments over the past 18 months!!!) and be secure job-wise... or failing that, win the Lotto and walk away - as if!


Poor Hubs has been working all through Christmas so we're heading off to Belfast, home of the legendary Manuel for a night away. Dinner has been booked, a nice hotel room awaits, and my Christmas money is burning a large hole in my pocket... so I can't wait.