Friday night, but not as we know it

Throat infection and lost voice = a break from my usual Friday night tradition of hanging out with faithful travelling companion. We have shared custody of this cold/flu/whatever, this week: he got the runny nose, I got the ear/throat/voice hell. Which explains my blogging marathon tonight.

Voice: missing in action

Now I have lost my voice and can only whisper.

I am still at work, I'm on my teabreak at the moment. Thank goodness I don't need a voice to type !!

Woolies R.I.P.

Recessions come and go, but the big stores always survived. Till now anyway. Woolworths have always been there, for everything from Pick n' Mix to half price suitcases to top 40 CDs to Ladybird children's clothes to insoles and superglue. They seemed to sell a little bit of everything, but even that wasn't enough to save them.

In a big city it probably wouldn't really matter whether they were there or not: but in a small town like the one I live in, Woolies is/was an essential part of life.

Their heyday is long gone of course. They started selling too much, the shop became so packed that you couldn't actually find anything in it and it all became a bit tacky. Back in the 70s of my childhood, their Christmas TV adverts were legendary and star-studded, in the days when celebrities actually were celebrities. But now, as those great philosophers the Kaiser Chiefs once said, everything is average nowadays. Celebrities, advertising, Woolies. Yet I'll miss them.

MFI has also gone into administration. Who's next?

When do I start feeling better?

Still got a sore throat, sore ears and a head full of goo :(

That's four days now, I'm very impatient with this kind of thing and would just like to start feeling better now. Pretty please.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

• Once again our town has recycled possibly the most insignificant Christmas lights in history.
• Panic spreads across the faces of all those who can't get their hands on this year's must-have, Wii Fit. (Get a life and do some real exercise then!)
• Panic spreads among work colleagues as they realise that a) the balance of the Christmas night out has to be paid asap, and b) the Secret Santa presents have to be bought in the next two weeks. Blogger trying not to be smug as I'm avoiding both of them.
• Christmas ads on TV - Ok these have been on since about September, what am I talking about :)

This may all seem a bit bah-humbug but I love Christmas all the same, and the annual Christmas tree ceremony at EuropeCrazy HQ has been pencilled in for this Sunday. Yes, it's still November. Yes, I know. Well if you can't beat them, join them!!

Weight-watching update

There is some good news though: I've lost two pounds.

Once again this leaves me at the 7 pounds-till-target-weight scenario: yes it's Groundhog Day yet again!

Once I start feeling better I will throw myself into all efforts to get this weight off and quit Weight Watchers once and for all...

There are not enough throat lozenges in the world right now.

Why do I always come back from holiday with a cold or a throat infection? Here we go again.

About 45 mins before my return flight home yesterday, I started feeling sick and feverish in the airport. A few hours later I'd developed a throat so sore that there aren't enough throat lozenges in the world to soothe, and I could hardly move my head or face for the pain spreading across and into my ears. My only consolation is that I'm fine from the neck down!

Just as well really that I was off work today, although my plans had to be scrapped in favour of staying in bed till noon and trying to shake off this infection. Hope it goes away before I have to go back to work tomorrow.

I'm not the only one with it either - faithful travelling companion also texted me to say he had a cold.

:(

No, make that :((((((((((((((

Meh.

Put out the flags and rejoice as a new word is officially added to the world's vocalbulary:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/odd/a135817/meh-added-to-english-dictionary.html

I actually think 'meh' is OK although I never really use it. It's still btr thn txt spk, which really annoys me and that perhaps explains why it takes me 30 minutes to send a text message.

Good week, bad week

Good week for: my five minutes of blogging-fame. Thank you Salem, you have lifted my spirits and made me happier than I can even describe.

Christmas shopping - it's under way, and at a pretty advanced stage I reckon.

Bad week for: sore feet.

Public transport - or should I say the lack of it, as my little corner of the universe suffers from a pathetic reduction of service and a (temporary) road closure.

Dieting - it's a losing battle at this time of year! Still I stayed the same weight so it's not so bad, but my plan to quit Weight Watchers at the end of 2008 has officially been abandoned and I've decided to go with it for another while yet!!

The control freak's Christmas.

Firstly, I love Christmas. But in a low-key, back-to-basics, quality-not-quantity kind of way. I don't want to be confronted with Christmas cards in the shops before I go my summer holiday. I don't want to go into Poundland in the first week of November to be confronted with "Stop The Cavalry" on repeat.

What I do love is....spending Christmas with the people who mean the most to me, doing what we really want to do.

I am lucky enough to be in a situation where I avoid overspending and subsequent months of debt-hell, because the most important people in my life share my view that Christmas can, and should, be done on a budget, whilst still ensuring that everyone gets what they really really want.

This Christmas - just over six weeks to go, folks! - it's going to be even more low-key than ever. For reasons known only to myself and close chums, I'm not going to the office Christmas lunch, and subsequently have withdrawn from the annual Secret Santa ritual. Secret Santa is, of course, that thing when you pick someone's name out of a hat and buy them a Christmas gift, putting some thought into it and making sure that it's something they would like to receive. Over the years I've been lucky with what I've received so it's not as if I'm carrying any grudge or whatever: I just decided to take a year out of it.

Presents list is now compiled and all I have to do is buy them.

Yes, I may be an easy-going enthusiastic kind of girl, but underneath this exterior lurks a control freak, spurred into action....!

He's done it.

Well done Mr Obama - welcome to the presidency!

I can't remember a time in recent years when the whole world seemed to be buzzing with excitement about a U.S. election result, there is such optimism in the air and the world really needs that right now I think, what with all this economic doom and gloom and the c****t c****h (I refuse to mention that catchphrase-to-describe-the-recession, it sounds like a cereal bar or something), anyway you just get the feeling that this is not just a fresh start for America but it's a new era for the rest of the world too.

So let's celebrate :))

I can't stand up for falling down.

It's not been the greatest 7 days, has it? (And I don't just mean for Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross, ha ha)

Whilst walking home from work last Monday I went over on my left ankle and fell down, spraining my ankle and sustaining some very painful cuts and bruises.

Then on Friday at work it happened again, same thing. Have now attributed my repeated falls to a pair of very unlucky shoes which I will never wear again.

I do have a tendency to fall over quite regularly. Before you ask, this always happens when (a) I'm sober and (b) I'm wearing flat shoes. I can't wear high heels, but it seems that I'm not immune to getting up close and personal with the pavement even when wearing flat shoes.

The double-falls of last week are small fry compared to the Great Fall of 1999, during which I sustained a knee injury which is recurring even to this day. Then I had a very bad fall in June 2007 which I mentioned over at EuropeCrazy.

All this has knocked my confidence somewhat. Was feeling very sorry for myself on Friday but at least I've managed to get through the weekend without falling over :)

Here's a picture of my left knee: scary isn't it!! People of a nervous disposition, look away now...

America, it's up to you.

Two days to go till the American presidential election. The amount of coverage it’s been getting over here is quite remarkable, but it’s understandable too. It’s a bit like the 1997 General Election when a young, charismatic politician swept to power in a wave of hysteria. We can only hope that if he’s elected, Barack Obama doesn’t make the same mistakes and have the same fall from grace as Tony Blair.

I’m not American, but since everyone else has a view about it, here’s mine. Obama must win, because (a) if he doesn’t, we’re all doomed; and (b) there would be something truly encouraging about a multi-racial nation electing a mixed-race president for the first time in its history, and that alone would go a long way to changing the world’s view of America.

Is it just me, or did the world feel a safer place with a Democrat president in power? The last one, Bill Clinton, is now best known for dangerous liaisons and indiscretions, but I prefer to remember him as the man who helped end the Cold War. Republican presidents don’t end wars, they start them...

Since the Republicans have now run out of Bush family members to represent them, they’ve moved on to yet another over-the-hill guy named John McCain, and by picking Sarah Palin as his potential VP this has been a political masterstroke as she gets all the attention and could pick up the all-important religious vote. Obama on the other hand is a confident and strong campaigner who has impressed since beating Hillary Clinton as the Democrats’ candidate.

On Tuesday, American voters have the chance to change not just their own country, but the world we all live in. I genuinely believe that by electing Barack Obama as president, they might just save the world.

Fingers crossed...