Snow news is good news....

Well, good to look at and play in, not so good for driving in and getting to work, obviously!! I rang N who informed me that all local schools were closed (what??? Because of 6 inches of snow? I went to school in Liverpool when we had to walk and dig ourselves out of 10 foot drifts.... Merlin knows what I mean...)

So we had to cancel our volunteers' training day, I gave N the day off as her son was at home and I know she wanted to go out sledging and making snowmen...MA was snowed in at her parent's home..so I alone struggled out and -watched by the disbelieving neighbours - cleared six inches of snow off my car, and made it slowly along the road, sliding a bit, until I main road and all was ok...

The small roads near my office were snowy and slippy and cars were all over the place, so I parked and walked in..carefully....

I did some work, went to the bank and realised the town was a ghost town, so I took a management decision that as it was still snowing, I was in danger of being snowed in, so I e-mailed some stuff home, and drove carefully home...

At home, heating up high, doggy curled at my feet, i-tunes playing, I sat at the dining room table and worked, watching the snowflakes cover the garden and make it look even more beautiful...

I had bought supplies on the way home...soup, rolls...a donut....a home-made chocolate chip cookie....a bar of chocolate covered marzipan..well, two; one for the journey home, and one for when I got home..I think we can safely say this diet is not going very well..I weigh more now than when I started..I blame the snow...

Snowy garden...

View from my bedroom window this morning..I wanted it to be so deep, and snowing so fiercely that I would be snowed in at home all day. No such luck.....

Last night....can I find the words???

One of those bizarre evenings only made possible by the mad friends I have...I started by leaving work early and taking a food parcel to Laa who is still of with flu and needing supplies. They somehow included a packet of chocolate marshmallows (M&S will reduce them and stack them by the till..) but she didn't fancy one so I tested out a couple with a cup of tea..I just had ten minutes before heading to Stevenage to pick up DC (if he has caught the right train of course!!) to go to a meeting....

My phone rings then and DC announces he is at Stevenage half an hour early, having inadvertently caught an earlier connection when he changed trains, and finding himself pulling into Stevenage when he wasn't expecting it (he was on the phone!) and having to grab all his stuff and fall out on to the platform..I point out that I have just sat down with a cup of tea and he has no right to be early...he decided to get a taxi as he needs a sit down and a bit if quiet to get over the shock of being half an hour early for the first time in his life...

When he arrives at Laura's I open the door, and there is DC, he throws me his coat, pushes past me and runs upstairs shouting, 'Where's the loo?' and vanishes, leaving the taxi outside with the meter running as he was so desperate for a pee...then he comes down and goes out and pays the driver. who is looking amused..he has earned 60p for that pee....Laura makes David a cup of tea, and I tell him about Liz being not too far away, doing training for other budding s*wage *ngineers, and we start to imagine the test questions at the end of the day....I just have to text Liz the results, starting with, 'If Billy at no. 33 does a poo at 9.23am into the outflow into his street, how many other people will have to...' and so it goes on, really stupid...Liz's reply reduces me to giggles as she is amazed I have guessed one of the exam questions exactly, except the name is Bobby, not Billy, and we go on to exchange more bizarre questions, involving..well, you don't want to know, but suffice it to say her replies reduce me to such hysterics that I can't read them out, and I am crying with laughter, which makes David helpless, and Laura is just sitting under her duvet on the sofa watching in sad disbelief....

Eventually it is time for us to drive to our meeting, which is an important public meeting to do with a Christian Festival David and I are working with (another one) and I am wearing my new posh suit and want to look good, and Laura points out that I have laughed/cried all my make-up off, so I have to raid her make up bag to repair the damage....

Well, we set off and I am driving the hour/hour and a half to this meeting, and DC, unusually the passenger, is telling me about his day, and the fact his back is playing up and he has been drinking lots of water which is good for him...the journey passes pleasantly enough until we hit the town we are heading for, and sat nav tries to tell me I can go down streets that are obviously one way the other way, and so I have to make it up, but we are really early, plenty of time no worries, and then DC starts to say he needs a pee...nearly there I say, driving happily on, and he says, look, there's a garage, oops too late, I've missed the turning...then on the other side he spots a pub...no, I can't turn, someone too close behind, sorry, missed that too..I'll stop soon...

Suddenly David starts making strange noises, he undoes his seatbelt and starts scratching at the door handle, saying, 'I need a pee, I'm having a panic attack, I need to go now...' and of course I start laughing cos I think he is messing about, then I realise he isn't and is in the middle of a full scale anxiety attack about his immediate need to pee, but my laughing kind of makes him laugh, which makes it worse..oh no I am on the town's ring road and he is staying, stop, pull in, pull in, but I can't..then up ahead I see a turning and a building with lights, it's a hotel I think, 'Pull in, pull in, ' he is shouting as he is opening the door on the bend...

I pull in and it is a small industrial estate, and a yard, no-where to go, but there are some bushes at the end of the yard and a couple of industrial wheelie bins.. 'Let me out ..NOW..' as I slam on the brakes, he jumps out and vanishes into the bushes behind the wheelie bins, and I turn the car round so I can't see and my headlights aren't aiming his way..a couple of cars come down into the yard, and I hope he doesn't get spotted in the bushes..by the time he returns I have again been reduced to helpless giggles and have cried all my make-up off again...he is in shock from experiencing what maybe his first panic attack..and he wishes I would stop laughing....

Anyway, we make it to the meeting in a big town centre church, over 200 people attend, and we join in and get to sit on the platform at the front, and are introduced as the professionals who will make this festival happen....

After, we decide we are hungry, and so find a little Italian for a pizza (we share and ask if can have a choice of toppings on each half..) I have the veggie option on my half, and David has the meat feast on his half, much to the confusion of the waitress..we stay and talk far too long, and soon it is 11.30pm..time to head back, and I make sure he goes to the little boy's room before we leave....

In a bizarre ending to the evening, I get home just before 1am, hoping I am not in trouble for being late, but sure C will be well asleep..anyway I am wide awake and go to the kitchen to make a coffee...suddenly C appears on the stairs, asking, who is it, and on discovering me, says he thought I was away training and wasn't expecting me back - no, I said, I told you I was at a meeting with DC - oh yes, I forgot, I am sleeping in your bed as I thought you were away..ok..I go up with my coffee and there he is back in bed, so as I undress I ask him how his day has been and look forward to company on a cold night..suddenly he gets up, picks up his watch, glasses and alarm clock and starts to leave..where are you going I ask? Back to my own bed, I can't sleep with you talking, and so he leaves.

I sit up in bed drinking my coffee, and thinking, it's a funny old life..what shall I blog about in the morning?

A wonderful evening....and a surprise!!!

At the weekend, on Saturday night actually, I allowed myself the luxury of curling up on the sofa with a large bar of chocolate and watching a good film..(so what's new I hear you say...) here is a clue to the film in question...



Yes, I've seen the film a dozen times, but it was still a good way to spend a Saturday night in, it still made me laugh, not least because of the character Spike, and the performance by Rhys Ifans, who is the star of the movie, really.

Anyway, moving on to last night, I went to the theatre with Jill: we went to the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden, one of our favourite theatres, it is so small and intimate, and from our seat in the second row we could almost touch the stage and the actors..the play was Don Juan in Soho..riveting from the opening second, and with the arrival of Don Juan, the main character, we were hooked. He was a real lothario, tall, thin as a rake, good looking, a powerful deep, theatrical voice which filled the theatre, and he stole the show for the whole time he was on stage, which was every second.

He was magnetic, and reminded me of someone...like a young Peter O'Toole I thought, and a similarity to someone else, I couldn't put my finger on it..how annoyed was I not to have a programme, I hate not knowing...

Afterwards, I found a cast list and searched for the leading man's name...oh yes..how f**ing obvious..it was..wait for it..Rhys Ifans. Looking like this:



..the same, but not the same...and oh, what a performance..as Don Juan, he strutted about the stage with the self assurance of one who knows he is 'absolutely f*ckable'...having ladies left, right and centre, as he desires, the ultimate cad, but I bet there was not one lady there last night who wouldn't have said yes if he had come on to them, such was his appeal....

The scene in the hospital where he sits with a girl under a blanket giving him a bl*w job, whilst he is coming on to the girl sitting next to him was exquisite comedy....and the part where he lambasts society, the cult of celebrity, the ipod and even the blog...wonderful, just wonderful...

What a cad. What a user. But you couldn't help but love him. And to find out that no more than 6 feet away from me all night, so absolutely in character I didn't recognise him...Rhys Ifans. F*cking brilliant.

mmm...chocolate....

I came in from work last night..thinking, as I usually do, as I put my key in the door..mmm..is there anything yummy to eat..especially..is there any chocolate? And the answer, sadly, was no..mainly because I had eaten the large bar of Cadbury's Whole Nut I bought on Saturday...what was I going to nibble on???

I picked up the post, including the small jiffy bag, a sign, usually, that Clive has ordered a CD from somewhere, or a strange technical widget that will make him very happy...but no, the jiffy is addressed to me! Oh joy!!

I open it to find a card and a large square of chocolate...and they are from the lvoely Caroline, who, it has to be said, is going through a bad time at the moment (understatement??) and to think she has thought of me and gone and bought and posted chocolate - to me! - makes me feel very humble and cared for indeed.

I thought I should take a piccie of it to share with you all, so I whipped out my phone and arranged the chocolate tastefully for a photoshoot on my bed:

But somehow, in between taking it out of the packet, and taking its picture, a large chunk appears to have gone missing, can't think why..or where...but if you can still make out the message printed into the yummy belgian chocolate, I have to confirm...it does.

Almost home...

At five thirty this morning I am awoken by the buzzing of a text arriving in my phone...

'In a black London cab..on the home to my bed! Flight was fine, my back's ok, didn't sleep much, just read and watched films. Food was crap tho. Shame. Speak tomorow. Jx.'

Well, that's ok then. he is back safe and all is well with the world.

Sally's crazy kitchen.....

Having invited J,P and daughter M to lunch, I went shopping yesterday, and last night decided to get ahead by making the two deserts planned..got all the ingredients out and discovered that the eggs in the fridge were a month out of date, and although I might have risked them had it just been us, I didn't want to poison my friends, so I binned them, with Clive's usual criticism ringing in my ears....why do you buy food we don't eat, I am always throwing stuff away....the answer is I don't know, I don't shop with a list, I don't plan menus, and it is obviously wasteful, and frustrating in that we don't eat perfectly good eggs, but when I need eggs to cook, they are out of date. Doh.

I know I could go out and buy eggs, but I can't be *rsed, and vow to get up early and buy eggs and get cooking..well I do get up, probably 'early' would be pushing it, but I come back with eggs, and as time is getting short I start by preparing lunch, peeling vegetables, preparing the chicken etc, before starting on the one pudding I have time for..the lemon surprise pudding...just as I start, David phones me before he goes in to church (oh yes, I used to go to church once...) to say he has two cheques to drop off on his way back, but one needs explaining...ok..see you later..

I carry on and am about to mix all the pudding ingredients when my cousin rings for a chat and a catch up so I can't put the mixer on, but I do the grating lemon rind, and squeezing out juice, and separating the eggs, and wonder about the amount of time this desert is taking, and the mess I appear to be making of what was a clean kitchen....while I am on the mobile, the land line rings, so I ring off one and answer the other ..it is James phoning from Hong Kong, to tell me he put his back out this morning getting dressed (as you do) and had to phone his medical insurers and take a taxi to hospital in agony and has had painkilling injections in his back, and he is flying home tonight but has to take relaxing tablets and painkillers..I am wondering if my kids will ever ring me to tell me life is great, and not only when something goes wrong...

I am on the phone a while, and when I have finished, I ring my cousin back and tell him what's happened..then at a quarter to twelve I realise my guests are coming in 45 mins and I am far from ready, so I check the chicken, put the potatoes on to boil and finish the lemon sponge, mixing, stirring, folding, and Clvie comes in from church and remarks I seem a little behind..the table is not laid..well, yes...

Anyway, the last thing to do is whizz the egg whites into a thick meringue and stir into the lemon sponge mixture, which is looking a tad too liquid for my liking....I look round for the egg whites but can't find them..after a search and 'they have to be here, they were just here in a dish..' I find the jug with the lemon juice in, and think..the juice should be in there by now....and (just for Liz...) then it dawned on me..in my haste I had poured in the egg whites with the milk instead of the lemon juice....oh, what a waste of the last hour of my life, I have this lemoney liquidy mixture..oh b*gger....Clive is not sympathetic rally, and quite rightly cannot understand why cooking a simple lunch is causing so much mess and stress..I baste the chicken 'That doesn't look very cooked' says Clive helpfully..and put in the roast potatoes..I ask Clive to make coffee as lunch might be a while, and I go upstairs and make myself look presentable (only takes ten seconds cos I am almost perfect anyway) and come down and lay the table in the dining room to have a break from the kitchen...

At that moment David arrives and helps with the table cloths while he is giving me cheques to pay in tomorrow, while explaining at the same time that one is in part payment of the October invoice, and they have paid December, but not November, but they overpaid on,e and should we bank this or send it back, and I explain I am in the middle of a sponge pudding crisis, and was I supposed to be listening to all this, or even care? He laughs and looks at the sponge pudding mix and suggest I whisk some air into it and see what happens. He asks me where the cheque book is and the paying book, and notices I don't look him in the eye when I say of course I know where they are, and would he bugger off..and he says, who is worried about being in business with who?

As he leaves, I put on the vegetables, juggling saucepans as only three rings out of 4 work, and I try and find room for chicken, potatoes, parsnips, cauliflowers cheese and a lemon surprise pudding (surprise! it's crap!) and Yorkshire puddings in a small oven all requiring different temperatures.

As J,P and M arrive they see my stress and I tell them to leave me alone and go and drink coffee and leave me alone. I assemble a belated raspberry brulee, while J finds a vase for the flowers she has bought me, and she rolls her sleeves up and washes up the piles in the sink....what a true friend..the conversation takes an interesting turn, and what she says proves what an amazing non-judgmental friend she is....

I even manage to make gravy, and serve up what turns out to be the most wonderful roast chicken dinner ever, tasty, loads to eat...M, their daughter and I always get on like a house on fire, and she lvoes my cooking, and what's more we have such a laugh over lunch....

Finally, the piece de resistance, the lemon surprise pudding - surprise! it's edible - we all have some with lashings of double cream, and it's moist and lemony and gorgeous..and then they all have raspberry brulee as well!!!

At the end of the afternoon when we have all sat round and had more coffee, and the most ridiculous conversations which mostly takes the mick out of us all in turn....they take their leave and thank me for lunch and for making them laugh all day..you know, I'm sure that's what they said last time they came to lunch..what's so funny I'd like to know??

The maddest thing of all is that I have taken another hour out of my life writing about all this chaos...well, I hope you all appreciate it. if not..I won't bother again.....

Homeward bound...

'Hi, got to Hong Kong fine by ferry...the most amazing place. Never seen anything like it. Out for a curry and beers last night. And shopping today. With a couple of guys from work. Nice hotel too. Stunning place. U have to see it to believe it! Flying out tomorrow night. Jx.

I hope he enjoys his weekend off. After the two weeks working and travelling he has done he deserves it!!!

I was supposed to be going shopping with Laa after work last night, but she texted me to say she was off with flu-like symptoms, and so I went round and made us both a cup of tea and kept her company..she had got as far as the sofa and was snuffling under a duvet..she was watching a really cheesy American film called, 'Remember I will always lvoe you..' about a child who was stolen as a baby finding his parents again as a teenager..have seen it before but didn't stop me watching it again!

As Mec was going out for the night, Laa decided she would like company, so I was persuaded to stay for a Chinese takeaway, and we watched Lost in Translation - one of Laa's favourite films, but I've not seen it before. I really liked it, and the quality of so much unknown or unexpected in it..especially the ending....

This morning her two bridesmaids came round here with Laa and tried on the dresses. They look really good! Now they have all gone shopping to find matching shoes..so amazing to see all three, friends since they were 5 at infants school, all grown up and helping to plan Laa's wedding....

Now I am the only one with out an outfit...sob....

Crazy world....

..or maybe it's not the world, it's in my head....I think I'm winning, but keeping emotions under control is still an issue..with some people!!! I seem to have such a lot of anger, that, like a volcano, suddenly finds a place to shoot to the surface and threatens to take over, and I lose control...then after the anger comes the upset and the tears...but 90% of the time I am like a normal person, so that's an improvement...

Crazy world at work, so much to do, still no Broadband....even the calm, unflappable IT guy we are now paying is losing his cool at the call centre in India: every time we ring, they won't progress the problem from the last call, they start again, and say, we need to do a line test, it will take 24 hours...so far about 4 line tests and no solution. Eventually he spoke to someone, a lvoely lady called Janet somewhere in the UK who admitted they were having major technical problems, with everything, and they weren't coping..now we have asked them for a code which enables us to change our broadband supplier, and have told them, don't bother fixing our line, ok? And for anyone interested, zen broadband is looking like the preferred option.....

Hot news from China....

'Hi, just waiting for my flight back south. Pretty cetral here and they can't get many Westerners. On my own and getting stared at everywhere. Doesn't help that I've practically got a beard.

Nearly brought a supermarket to a standstill last night. Making me quite paranoid. Tomorrow should be fairly straight forward tho, a return visit. The on to Hong Kong on the ferry. Hurrah!! Book going well. Love J.'

Dear J, you do brighten my day! And what book are you reading?' Mx

'I do hope you're not being sarcastic!! The Michael Palin book of course. Want Graham Chapman's book now! J.'

I bought him M Palin's autobiography for Christmas. J is a great fan of Monty Python. Glad it has seen him round China!!! I wonder if his being 6' 4" has anything to do with him being stared at.....

Managed to listen to Chasing Cars at full volume four times whilst writing this!! Lvoe it!

Better today...

Feel better this morning..except too fat..I bought a welsh lamb shepherd's pie from M*S and cooked carrots and peas to go with it and ate it all up..which is good except the shep pie was for two.....didn't mean it....well it wasn't that big....I didn't have anything else....trouble is I have to weigh myself tomorrow morning, as agreed with diet buddy..I fear it will not be good news..what with dinner and the bar of Cadbury's dairy milk earlier....it was medicinal, honestly...

Watched Mystic Pizza - a cosy little film with a young Julie Roberts...after coming to bed I chatted to a couple of people via msn and e-mail, and meant to have an early night but kept chatting til nearly two in the morning..far too late, but a lot of things were said and the air duly cleared...for the moment....

Two friends of mine went to gigs last night. Only one rang and let me hear a bit. Now LIz, you are a real friend..thank you..I'll be honest, I had never heard of them, but they sounded good...

Think I will change handbags this morning. Have emptied current handbag contents on to bed. Goodness, who would have thought there was so much in it???

Let me know if this blog ever gets too shallow....

The good news or the bad news??

Bad news first..week not going so well..struggling a bit... tears and angst ridden phone calls..just as I was doing so well..oh well, I'm hanging in there...

Orange broadband still not working, despite J my pet computer engineer doing his best..he got Orange to admit to a huge technical problem..something about their platform not working???? and they are supposed to be ringing me by 9pm Weds with 'progress.' That will be a week with broadband then. John has kindly gone our bought a modem and fixed me up with dial-up for the time being - of course it is costing more money, but at least we can do e-mails..I had forgotten all that strange boing-de-boing dialling noise that dial up makes!!!

No secretary still, N and I are getting used to being a two person organisation! But after she left today I had a weird blokey in....hope he doesn't come back, wasn't happy in the office on my own with him.....

Had two texts from the Happy Wanderer today in China..he flew from Shanghai on Sunday night to another town ready for factory visits on Monday. The latest reports are: (and he is 8 hours ahead)

'Afternoon! Nearly 1am here and still on the road. Nearly 9 hours since I left the last factory at 3pm (Tues.) 3 taxies, 1 ferry and a long delay at the airport and a 3 hour flight. Still, am loving my book! And making good progress..nearly half way! Unfortunately got 8 hours in the car tomorrow up north even further. Could cry I swear. Before flying back to where I've just come from on Thursday. Still, the end's in sight. And today I had a McDonald's. Jxx'

And a little while later, this:

'Must have looked tired. The hotel upgraded me to an executive club suite on the 32nd floor, with a lounge. Luckily am too knackered to worry about vertigo. x. '

He's not joking about the vertigo. Anyone remember when a group of us met James at the London Eye and he sat on the grass and looked after our bags!!!

C is out for two nights running..last night ate loevly M&S food and watched Dirty Dancing on dvd, with the dog. Tonight, I think I will curl up on the sofa with some more lovely M&S food, and..well, maybe watch a dvd???? Just for a change?

Oh, the good news...um..let me think..oh, yes, am going to stay with the lvoely Liz up north in a couple of weeks....can't wait!!!

So far so good....

...I am managing to avoid the usual pattern of two weeks up, two weeks down..I am getting into the third week of being ok: normal, stable, even happy some days: other days have been a bit 'ish' but I have avoided the horrible downward slide into depression...long may it last..three weeks of emotional stability would be good....

This doesn't mean I haven't got stressed over the work internet stuff: or the usual upset over being let down, messed around, taken for granted, how ever you like to look at it: I have got very angry and upset and said, enough, I will not put up with this any longer, and I mean it..but how to go forward when the person in question seems incapable of change....

However, I have maintained my sanity and emotional equilibrium, and had a good week over all. Here are the highlights I didn't get round to sharing:

Finished: State of the Union by Douglas Kennedy..enjoyed it...

Listened to: The Beatles Red album in my car..they just don't make music like that any more....

Saw: The Pursuit of Happyness at the cinema, starring Will Smith. Go and see it..a true story which will pull on your heart strings...

Also saw: Walk the Line, on dvd, life story of Johnny Cash...enjoyed it...

Went to: Mozart Birthday concert, today, at London's new venue, the Cadogan Hall, an old church, a beautiful venue, highly recommended, and the Mozart quartets were wonderful..I have already booked for another concert in February...

Also listened to: Andy Thornton's The Healing Darkness album on my pc...just lvoe his songs, I think I may have mentioned before..and as I am typing this, I am listening to Steve Lawson's Bitter Sweet..very relaxing....I lvoe this whole shuffle playlist, you never know what you're gonna git....

I think I have also mentioned discovering a love (wow, spelled it right!) for Snow Patrol..what an eclectic week it's been....

And the boy rang from Shanghai, about to fly to his next city for his next round of factory visits..he hasn't needed to buy any clothes because the hotels have done a stunning job on his laundry...and apparently he would kill for a pizza...

Need to tell you something....

about my friend Jacky..she is into music...classical music. Plays it on the piano..listens to it on the radio, goes to lots of live concerts....I have been to quite a few with her, and in fact, I am going up to London tomorrow to hear some Mozart...

I suspect that 99% of the music I like, she doesn't like. But every now and then, she surprises me..there was a time I went round, years ago, when she suddenly put Billy Joel's Innocent Man on..she ahd heard it on the radio and fallen in lvoe with it. This probably happens once in a blue moon.

Last Sunday, after our dog walk, we were sitting having a cup of tea in her lounge, when she suddenly said, 'I have to play you this..sorry but it has to be loud..' I wondered what I was going to get..a little Beethoven at full volume????

Then, the room is filled with Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars..and Jacky is sitting with her eyes closed, absolutely consumed by the music..we listen in total silence..at the end, when she opens her eyes, I say, Snow Patrol? You are playing me Snow Patrol? How have you ever even heard of them???? You have never heard of anyone....

She then explains that ehr daughter, J is living at home at the moment, and has been playing it, and Jacky has fallen in lvoe with this..and then she plays it again, equally loudly. I wonder what the neighbours three streets away think.

To be honest, I know Snow Patrol but have never got into them, just haven't really heard much of their stuff. But this song is in my head now, as I leave jacky's, and as I out Sophie in the car, and as I put on the radio, I am thinking, I would like to hear more. And the radio (radio 2, Stuart Mac) is playing...yes, Snow Patrol, Eyes Open, and I can't beleive it..how spooky is that....

And that is the reason, dear reader, that I am sitting in bed this Saturday morning, having opened an account in the I Tunes store, and my first purchase and download??? What, I can't hear you...speak up...I am playing Chasing Cars over and over at full volume on my laptop and can't hear you....

The first person to take me to a live Snow Patrol gig will be my friend for life....

uuurrrrgh..yuck.....

'Chicken's feet for breakfast anyone?'

I found this on my phone at four o'clock this morning. I texted back, 'Oh, yuck.'

The immediate reply was, 'Tell me about it. And don't get me started on the smell. Am flying to Shanghai tonight for the weekend. Will try and call at some point.'

I am off to a training day in L*tchw* rth on D*mestic V*olence. I hope the lunch is a little more appetising than this..wouldn't be hard...

You won't believe this but.....

..my lvoely computer guy turned up at 9am and set about trying to solved my internet problem. He did lots of diagnostic stuff, and was soon on the phone to Wanadoo, Orange, my so-called service provider..hanging on for ages before getting through to India, where I heard him being very patient and efficient, trying to guide the guy in what needed doing, but he could not deviate call centre guy from his script..so it took him for ever to do a diagnostic test on the BT line....

I was busy greeting new volunteers for their training day, and old volunteers for supervision, so the office was filling up around John..when the conversation took an interesting turn. 'Sally, have you asked for a broadband upgrade?' 'No.' 'Well, I am being told you are having one, that's why your service is down, and it is due to be re-activated tomorrow. It just means they had to disconnect you for a couple of days. Would you like to speak to them?'

The answer was no, I was so angry I would have been unspeakably rude, so I left it to John to ask why they hadn't informed me, why I had spent two hours on the phone yesterday on to two different call centres, being told the problem was my router...how inefficient..how crap is Orange, to close my service down with out telling me, how crap is their call centre for not telling me that, when eventually John (at £40 an hour which I am paying...) eventually gets the truth out of them....

Suffice it to say I spent some of this evening on to their customer service line..and I use the term customer service loosely, orange don't know the meaning of customer service..and got through to a young lady in Middlesborough who gave as good as she got at my angry complaining..'sorry for the inconvenience, but you should be pleased, we are upgrading your service' (oh how she was missing the point,) when I asked who was going to compensate me for my time on the phone, the cost of the call and the £40 I had to pay the computer guy when Orange should have just f**ing told me in the first place, she said, 'Oh you don;t have to pay a computer guy, your service will be reactivated by us tomorrow.' But I have to pay him, I have already had him in!!!

When I demanded to speak to someone else, that was denied, it's not their policy to out calls through to managers or supervisors, she has apologised, so that's my complaint dealt with. Goodbye Mrs P.

I am angry. At the arrogance. Lack of caring. Incompentence. I found a website last night. Just type in Orange/Wanadoo and the word complaints, and you find a whole lot more people in the world who feel as I do. Now how do you suggest I take this thing further??? A generous donation to my charity might be a start, Mr Orange, and I will be writing to you to tell you so..

A little stressed....

...following on from this morning's update on J in China, when I was out at lunch today my phone beeped with a text:

'Driving back to the hotel after another dodgy meal in the middle of nowhere with factory owners who tried to get me pissed on about sixteen bottles of beer. Must be weak as I am now in a people carrier with pissed chinese listening to celine dion at full blast. Surreal to say the least. Jx.'

I hesitated before texting back, 'So who is driving?'

I guess J's text must have been delayed in delivery, for the reply I got was:

'The not pissed chinese. I'm in bed now. I'm fine. x'

So he knows to put his mother's mind at rest!!!!

I got into work to find the internet not working. Nothing. Tried on and off all day. This is in addition to dealing with families' problems, which are time consuming and demanded a lot of time on the phone trying to help sort them: trying to do my admin's job, as she has been off for three weeks now, and being a small charity, there is no IT department....

Eventually I rang W*n*doo, our service provider, and you know, the punching in various numbers in order to hold on for ages waiting for an agent not to be busy: when I did eventually get through, she wasn't British..now this is going to sound racist..but the point is, I found it almost impossible to understand her, she couldn't understand me, we both had to say everything at least twice, spell everything..it took forever to get into what the problem was..to cut a long phone call short, she decided the problem was my router needing its settings changing, so she gave me their help line number, and proceeded to give me the new settings information. I wrote down an endless series of codes and numbers and words which she had to repeat, spell, repeat again..while I sat, trying to be calm and polite but with a rage of frustration building inside me, not knowing what the f**ck to do with all I was writing down...

I then rang the router help line, pressed lots of buttons, waited..and it was answered by a very polite guy, again from the other side of the world, and again the game of understanding each other continued..how many times can I say a word, repeat it, spell it....then it was his turn...I found myself saying, 'I'm sorry but I can't understand what you're saying,' which I hated, but I was almost weeping with frustration, I just wanted my f**ing computer to work like it was last night when I left it....

He made me type in lots of things onto the pc, and we got into systems pages, and I thought, we are getting somewhere, until there was a problem with an IP address..then he says, eventually, I have to ring W*n*doo back and get them to register my user name and password cos then I can have an IP address...this was two hours on, and I just said, I'm sorry, I can't do this, I cannot ring W back, I was holding for ages just to get through...' so I thanked him..before I hung up he said (following his script..) 'Is there anything else I can help you with today?' What a stupid f**ing question!!!

Just at that moment one of my trustees called in unexpectedly and I opened the door and practically burst into tears of stress, anger and frustration..I F**ing hate call centres, so called customer service, computers, the internet and all things which are beyond my control!! After blowing a gasket, I felt better, and kindly trustee called up a friendly computer engineer she knows and he is coming in at 9am tomorrow.

Now that's a relief! I'll keep you posted. Sorry about the language, I warned you at the start I was a little stressed....

Next installment...

When I woke at 4am (as you do) I checked my phone (as you do) and found the following text messages from James on his Far East tour:

'Morning..be grateful you are not having a big lunch in some weird five storey restaurant with shark and fish tanks and sad looking chicks and ducks in baskets...dodging suspect foods. And downing beers when the factory owner bangs his glass on the table...xx'

Closely followed by:

'Morning..or night I should say...got through lunch yesterday. Long day in a cold factory. Had many beers last night in the hotel. Played ten pin bowls in the basement.Got to bed late and had a club sandwich in the room. Up at 6am and now on a 5 hour road (anything goes) trip today to another supplier.'

Now mothers are ok as long as they Know Nothing. As soon as they Know Something, especially at four in the morning, the worry gene kicks in.

OMG - will he get food poisoning? What are they making him eat? He will be upset about the sad little chicks and ducks in the baskets... and the driving...a five hour drive? Who is driving? What does the 'anything goes' comment mean? Is the car safe? What are the roads like? Are the Chinese careful drivers? Is he driving 5 hours back or moving to another hotel?

You see that's why mothers are needed. They have to do the worrying for everyone....

And his next stop is...

Just as I was closing my laptop at a quarter to one in the morning, my phone pinged with a text that read,

'Morning! Flew to Qingdao last night. In posh hotel having big breakfast. Going well. Lots to see. Amazing place. Lots of driving so seeing the country and cities. Fairly bleak but nice in parts. Wicked cold though! See you soon, J.'

So he is in another part of China, in another major trading port, having an experience of life that I haven't had! Can't wait to see the photos with the camera we bought him for his birthday...

A quiet night in....

An evening in on my own....what to do..started with a cup of tea and a little rest..followed by my lighting a successful log fire, without any kindling, with no-one to tell me I was doing it all wrong....a bit of newspaper, an amazon delivery box, a few logs and soon..a roaring log fire.

Settled to watch TV with a comforting bowl of spaghetti carbonara - I do so lvoe a bit of pasta - and I was contentment personified.

A little later I brought down my laptop, sat close to the fire and loaded up the software for the webcam I was given for Christmas...later on I discovered to my joy that DC had his webcam with him up in York, and so began a couple of hours of..I can see him but can't hear him: he can hear me but can't see me: it was hilarious with me talking, and DC responding with head nodding and shaking, or mad sign language, or written instructions on how to solve the tech problem. I observed that his grainy image coming from a small, dim hotel room, with him looking a little tired and unshaven, he looked like one of those sad images of hostages in the far east, sent by captors..this resulted in lots of written ransom demands and anti Blair/Bush tirades....

Anyway, after I had uninstalled my software, reinstalled, logged off, rebooted etc etc, and DC rebooted just for fun, hey presto we could both see and hear both parties. When contact was made again, David had disappeared, and instead I was faced with a picture of a notebook with the words, 'David is out right now, please leave a message...' Very funny....

Technology is such fun!! After much waving and silliness, we realised it was almost 1am, and having made the connection, it was actually time to sleep....DC wouldn't play when I suggested he just left his webcam on and I could watch him get ready for bed..so shy....