3^rd December 1998

I hurriedly signed the security log in the foyer at Spectrum house, NPI at 16:43 and manoeuvred through the revolving doors into the biting cold of the now dark afternoon.   I walked briskly toward High Brooms train station thankful for my hat and polar fleece- the trains had been  right on time all week.  I didn't want to tempt fate.  I arrived at the station at 16:59.  The train was again on time at 17:00.   I made my way to the second to last carriage as usual and found a seat away from a door where the draughtt always creeps through.  Most seats were occupied - I knew they would empty at the next two stops.

I have started reading to pass the travelling time so I settled into a few more pages of 'Fatherland'.  Before I knew it, two stations had passed and  I was nearly alone in the carriage again.  Tired from reading I pushed and wiggled at my earphones in a vain attempt to get them to sit properly and fell into a nearly peaceful doze listening to The Bee Gees "One Night Only"  I was awakened not far from London Bridge by a little girl walking across my feet as she climbed onto the seat in front of me so she could wave at her sister through the window of the carriage divider.   The familiar hollow rumbling noise of the train crossing the bridge across the Thames just before Charing Cross wasn't far off.

I stepped off of the train into the sea of faces of weary commuters waiting to take my place.  As I shuffled with the crowds into the main lobby, the usual hub bub of travellers was broken by the angelic sound of a choir singing Christmas carols raising money for the homeless.  Passing down the stairs towards the tube, the carol singers faded away and the familiar noise of the homeless guy selling "The Big Issue" filled the stairwell.   "Big Issue...... Get your Big Issue.....  something to read on the way home...."  I occasionally buy a copy from this guy.  He is there every day, helps ladies with pushchairs carry them up the stairs - perhaps he needs a break...

I would have finished this but tiredness set in and I fell asleep.  My memories of the rest of the night faded and time moved on.  This was part of a Tuesday evening - not dissimilar to Monday evening, Wednesday evening......

30^th December 1998

Book keeping really sucks.  I've spent the last three months keeping what I thought were tidy accurate records of all the invoices and receipts for my company and now the boss (Louise) has come and shifted the goal posts (something the South Africans could have done with in their last game against England so their boy could get the ball through the sticks from right in front!).  Apparently I haven't depreciated some assets or something and I haven't done something else and it took me half an hour to find £1.53 which I lost somewhere and now they're looking a bit messy and I don't have any twink and aaaarrrrrggggggghhhhhh...........

As you will no doubt know, updates here have been like hens teeth in the last month.   Just so busy.  So to summarise, I will jot down some of the highlights...

I'm sure other things happened - just can't remember what!

Anyway, Christmas was great.  We went to Rugby and stayed with Paul, Alison, Alisons Nan, Ruby, Brae and Toosha.  We slept... and we slept... and we slept...   Seems like every time we go to Rugby we sleep.  In fact we did more sleeping in four days than we normally do in seven!  I made my first Pav for boxing day lunch (and it didn't sink in the middle)... Louise supervised as girls do..  It was here that we discovered that there are more than seven types of cream over here.   After beating the cream for the Pav for twenty minutes it wouldn't thicken - we needed whipping cream... or was that double cream.  In NZ cream is cream is cream.   It whips, pours, thickens... it does everything.  Lesson learnt!  We came home on Tuesday.  The train was totally packed.  Louise got a seat.  I sat in the corridor by the door wedged in besides our packs and everyone else's luggage scattered around.  It wasn't bad - I was engrossed in my book 'Enigma' and we were home before I knew it.

Enigma is the second book I have read in a month and now I am reading Richard Branson - 'Losing my Virginity' - The Autobiography which Louise gave me for Christmas.  Most people who know my reading habits know that this is quite out of character for me.  I'd be lucky if I've read five novels since I left school and that was 13 years ago!  Anyway, it's getting to the point where I find it hard to put the books down now - sitting up till 3 in the morning then waking up feeling terribly sleepy.  Oh well, it has to be healthier than sitting in front of a computer till 3am...