Weekend enjoyable and my husband still impresses me after nine years of marriage. On Saturday we went down to Somerset to see his parents - his mum's birthday. We had a lovely lunch in a remote pub on the Levels, 15th Century, with a beautiful log fire, twinkling fairy lights, lots of real ale and delicious food. Strolled round the lovely village church afterwards, full of interesting history.

Sunday up early to face a day of cold, howling wind and driving rain. Reluctantly drove down to Margam Park for the RNLI Reindeer Run - Andrew more and more dispirited with every mile we travelled. Each competitor was offered a free pair of reindeer - mysteriously, he declined (sweet old fogey that he is). By the start, I was battling with the umbrella, and the rain was driving horizontally from the sea up past the steel works. Anyway, he lined up and he ran. I stayed in my spot, having squelched through deer poo and mud, progressively fighting the brolly and leaning into the howling drizzle, when every so often a pack of muddy reindeer wearing apparitions would appear in the gloom, thunder past and then disappear in a cloud of Deep Heat, including Andrew, who was smiling broadly as he ran. Eventually the handful of spectators stumbled back to the cars and he appeared with his goody bag, having run a spectacular time of 55 minutes, which was excellent given the slippery going, gale force winds, cold and steep hills (not to mention the deer poo). He was delighted and elated and muddy and I was delighted and elated and soggy. So we sat in the car and steamed our way home where he leapt in the shower and then spent the afternoon deservedly reclining on the sofa. What a star. I attach a photo.

Now I can write about the Ring. When I had cancer, I promised myself that if I survived, there were two experiences I particularly wanted - one was to visit Dollywood, the other was a Ring Cycle and over the past four nights we've done it in Cardiff at the Millennium Centre. The auditorium is lovely with good accoustics, giving a very crisp sound. Prince Charles was in the audience on the final night,but without his new wife, perhaps it's not her thing. There are several reviews floating around in the press - I would summarise the experience as wonderful orchestra, singing good in parts but the staging was a complete nightmare with the set being so totally incomprehensible that I simply don't know where to start in trying to describe it. The production was done by the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg and it was interesting to see the stylistic differences. In particular, the singers all adopted that declamatory style that has fallen out of fashion in the UK. If you've ever seen Blackadder Third, the episode with the actors, then you'll be able to perfectly picture the manly stance, legs apart, chest expanded, head high and arms in that peculiar theatrical hold that nobody in real life ever actually uses.

What can I say about the music though? If you closed your eyes it was sublime, quite literally giving me goosepimples at times, making me nearly cry at others, exciting and intense. My head is full of it, ringing with the sound of it still. There was an elderly gentleman sitting next to us, who explained at one point that he had even seen the Ring at Bayreuth, and his mother had also, but in the process she had become a "Wagner nut" as he affectionately put it. The trouble is this music and the characters are so powerful how do you go back to anything ordinary after that? It is addictive and I am already wondering how I can get my next fix. I sympathise entirely with his mother - becoming obsessive is a very real danger. If I did, my daily life might be difficult though - thinking about routines would be difficult with a head full of dwarves and dragons and love and betrayal and warriors and swords and armour and horses and all the other wonderful things that happen.

On a more prosaic note, the surtitles were gloriously fouled up with frequent error messages, little link to the story (they kept jumping ahead) and the most inappropriate slangy,casual language used - very much textspeak. Textspeak has its place - I use it myself enthusiastically when texting, but it isn't right for characters in complex moral dilemmas, or life and death choices. And although my knowledge of German is nearly as extensive as my knowledge of football, I know Wagner didn't write sentences as flat and prosaic as - Wotan, pay ur debts now - Rheingold or It's all over and I don't care - Gotterdamerung.

I will do a separate post about the Ring Cycle as it deserves it. A weekend, continuing as I write, of howling winds and torrential rain. Much colder too. Last Thursday husband had the day off and to our enormous excitement a delivery of two trees arrived. Firstly, our multi stemmed silver birch Jacquemontii which has the most beautiful white bark and an elegant fountain shape. Secondly, a slender rowan which will have red berries. Both were planted and the garden lights then cabled up so are now working. Wow. Not sure if I can take photos in darkness to illustrate the effect but will experiment. When it stops raining I will take a photo of the trees in daylight. When dh went to buy the cable, not surprisingly he succumbed to the lure of more plants. He got another couple of beautifully coloured cornus and two climbing roses, one of which he remembers being very much loved by his Nan, which is a lovely happy association. We have also been experimenting with top dressings on the raised bed. We had considered glass but that seems to be too disco even for us - so we currently have little circles of a green chipped stone around some of the plants. It doesn't look too much like a municipal cemetery thankfully so we may get some more. He also bought a winter jasmine - they aren't rare but they are lovely and I like them for their cheerfulness in a dark time of the year.

Because the purchase of the green chips needed a visit to a diy shed, we also looked at Christmas lights. Those who know me will know that I would be delighted to have a house looking like the strip in Las Vegas, hopefully visible from space. My dear one has unaccountably more restrained tastes and even threatened me at one point with a Martha Stewart christmas when I was getting tiresomely over-excited. This is one of the those marital testing points that you have to negotiate. At the time of writing, a flashing snowflake is hanging on the front of the house with a static tree shaped light to be erected also. After that, who knows what will follow? Watch this space.

Busy, busy, busy. Last week in work we did the interviews for and appointed our Smoking Related Litter Officer position, in advance of the ban next April. Very enjoyable and interesting process with some fantastic candidates making it difficult to choose. However, we did and he is an excellent candidate and should do a really good job. Interviews very tiring and draining, followed by marathon session on Friday afternoon of selection - grading all candidates, and then phoning all unsuccessful ones as I didn't want them having to wait all weekend before finding out. Finally shot off to the station to collect fave auntie at 4 who had come up for a weekend of fun and frivolity.

Saturday was our annual craft fest at the big Creative Stitches and Papercraft Exhibition. It would be fair to say we shopped till we dropped! Bought many many wonderful things, and to our great delight saw Alan and Barry, formerly of Create and Craft TV. Even had a signed photo, much to my excitement, and husband's bewilderment. Staggered home, exhausted. Sunday fun at Ikea bouncing on sofas as H is considering buying Ektorp. After a satisfyingly prolonged bounce, Ektorp was pronounced suitable. Also looked at lots of lovely other things there. Home for quick lunch then it was time to take H to station for her train home. Tried to see Borat on Sunday evening but it was completely chaotic so went on Monday instead. So funny that I laughed all the way through and emerged aching after it had finished. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it.

Tuesday night joined by the His Imperial Majesty Tsar Kevinovich - litter tsar of Plymouth who was visiting our city for a WRAP training course. He came over and we cooked a meal, drank too much and enjoyed catching up with all the news. Fantastic. Cooked honey and ginger chicken with a mango and chilli salsa, plus roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli, followed by a selection of cheeses. Yum. Just wish the evening could have been longer as it seemed the conversation was just getting going when it was time for him to go back to his hotel. Hopefully, he and Melinda will come and stay for a weekend soon.

Yesterday took day off for day of Christmas shopping with H, who came up again on the train. Very enjoyable and exciting day, with a successful trip to Lakeland to purchase two kitchen timers and a pastry brush. Saw lots of our city centre teams around. Had lunch at Starbucks and we had the cutest barista, who treated us to red sprinkles on our drinks, whoopee...... Bought myself a new pair of suede casual boots, and a casual western style shirt, prompting husband to ask on my return home if I was going line dancing. Humph.

Spent the afternoon today at our Highways depot, attending our monthly BIM for senior managers. Nothing wildly exciting on the agenda, but meeting deafened by howling gale and thundering rain - really quite awesome. Drove home with roads all flooded, heavy spray - glad to get home safely. Baffled completely by seeing (just) several cyclists with NO LIGHTS and DARK CLOTHING - do they want to be killed? I just don't understand.

Blimey, what a busy week. Well, last week was very momentous as it was the week the judges for the Cleanest City were visiting us to judge us. Spent some time in the city centre and must admit the cleansing standard was excellent. If I was being picky I would say we were let down by the street furniture - some of our bins are looking very tired and desperately need replacing as well as some of the other street furniture. We also have some empty shops which are waiting to be demolished to make way for the new shopping centre - even though the street is clean, these can pull down the overall visual impression. Took one of my colleagues for his first ever Starbucks as we were doing a walk round - he chose an eggnog latte and woofed it down at warp speed. Most impressive.

On Tuesday we teleported down the M4 to an event in swansea at the new Liberty Stadium. Lots of police and fire service people as well as the DVLA - looking at streetscene issues in relation to crime and neighbourhood policing - lots of crossover issues. Very interesting and a lovely little goodie bag from the DVLA - I really am a sucker for these! The stadium was very impressive - it is a joint home for the Ospreys rugby team and the Swansea City Football Club. Lots of meeting and conference space, and it was good to see lots of different groups using it that day.

Friday was marred by the news that one of our community sweepers was very shaken but fortunately not hurt after some tosser threw a firework at her while she was on her rounds. Words cannot even describe the rage I feel. Here is a woman doing an important and appreciated job for her local community. The local Councillors, police officers, shopkeepers and residents all rave over her and the wonderful job she does. She quietly goes about her business, making her neighbourhood a better place, is cheerful, positive and well liked. And some idiot teenager thinks it's big and clever to try and frighten her and is very lucky she is not injured, maimed or worse. Why do people do this? Why do people spit at, stone, abuse our staff who are simply providing an essential public service? It really does depress me at times.

On a more cheerful note, we ordered the Christmas turkey over the weekend. It's a free range, organic bronze from Marks and Spencer and was described in such glowingly happy terms in the brochure that it clearly is being as fulfilled as a turkey possibly can be, eating delicious food, hanging out with its friends, enjoying the fresh air, sleeping on high thread count sheets at night, doing a little night class in pottery - all the things that keep a modern turkey happy and healthy.

We also braved the hell that is Toys R Us - presents for nephews. Anyone contemplating breeding should be forced to spend an hour there. The smell, the noise, the double buggies that completely block aisles, the tantrums, the daggers on the axles of the chariot model buggies pushed by ubermummies, the small children cannoning round corners with no thought for who or what could be round the corner, the depressing rows of primary coloured plastic tat - aaargh! And blatant sexual stereotyping on the toys - lots of cute little girls pictured with the "My first Mrs Mop" kit, my first Hoover, etc.... and in the science section - do you think there was a single female to be seen on a box cover? No, all boys, and even worse, wearing glasses. Grrr.

This week is going to be quite hectic too. We are interviewing for the Smoking Related Litter post on Wednesday and Thursday with one candidate coming on Friday owing to a family bereavement. I am looking forward to the interviews as we have some very strong candidates. Tomorrow is J's last day in work for a while as he's heading for Tenerife for a much deserved break with his family. Will continue to post as the week unfolds.

The time is flying faster than a chav with a stolen Burberry handbag. A busy weekend just gone. Went to a Fair Trade Christmas fair where we made a start on a few Christmas presents. Also bought a new kettle - it's a disco inferno!! It glows blue/purple light when it is boiling - so great!! When I told Leila, she immediately advised to don the gold hot pants!! The fish are flourishing too - the cold weather means that they are less active and just sort of sluggishly laze around at the bottom of the pool. It's tempting to pour in a can of Red Bull to see if it has any effect.

On Sunday, Andrew went up to Manchester - we don't normally do work flights on weekends but the training course he is running started early this morning.

Busy day in work. Took a phone call from a Councillor about a problem back lane. As is often the case, it's a combination of flat dwellers with no refuse storage, some dodgy trade waste, residents putting out too early and a bit of mayhem into the bargain. Each element will have to be tackled. Fortunately, she is one of our nicer Cllrs, who is polite and friendly when she phones up - so much better to deal with.

Spent the afternoon shortlisting for the new Smoking Related Litter Project Officer. We received twenty five applications - more than I was expecting with an excellent mix of candidates, both internal and external. I love shortlisting as you feel as though you are opening a Christmas present with each new candidate - each form presents them in a different way. A wide variety of life experiences and ages and backgrounds to choose from. We eventually shortlisted down to ten candidates for interview. Hopefully (if HR play ball) we can interview next week. The candidates will also be doing a presentation as part of their interview. This will form 20% of the marking.

By the time we'd finished, it was nearly time to go home. So I did.

Clocks have gone back today - now we seem to be racing toward Christmas. Had a very enjoyable weekend with Sarah, 15 year old daughter of best friend Liz. She arrived on Thursday and we enjoyed a nice relaxing Chinese takeaway before she rushed upstairs to MSN to her heart's content. It was quite funny listening to all these strange giggles coming from up there - as we've got a webcam she was a happy bunny. Friday we had a tiring but enjoyable day indulging in some retail therapy in the city centre. She really enjoyed it. We visited the MAC shop so she could have an expert demonstration on applying eye makeup. Bought some Lush goodies for her grandmother, who I know also and remember vividly since the year dot as Liz and I were brought up across the road from each other. We got home tired but happy and then found Andrew was on an earlier flight so there was just time for a quick cuppa before disappearing off to the airport to collect him. Wonderful to see him but brief as he then parked by the railway station, removed his trousers, transformed into his going out clothes (Sarah was under strict instructions not to look) and dashed off with his former colleagues for a leaving do. Sarah and I returned home and had a pizza. Saturday we had a lie-in as all needed it for different reasons. Arranged a hair appointment for Sarah at our local salon - they did a lovely job and are very friendly too. I will definately be going back there especially as their prices are much cheaper than town and parking is free too. Sarah also had some clip in hair extensions, coloured red that look stunning. She looked fab when she finally emerged. After a bite we went to see the Doctor Who exhibition which she really enjoyed. Afterwards we headed for Ikea as she had never been there before. She picked up a few nice things for her room, like a cushion, a new duvet set and a new rug, all in wild shades of pink and purple. Very funky. We bought some new plants, some new pots and some extra scissors for the kitchen and the garden. Finally returned home for a much needed gin and Andrew prepared a Woodhouse style chilli con carne, served with long grain and wild rice. Yummy. Sarah disappeared upstairs again to MSN, and had us in hysterics later when she said she didn't want to have a shower (would disrupt her beautiful new hair) but she announced that it was a well known fact that washing your hair more than once a day would lead to serious scalp irritation. Ah well, nice try. All collapsed happily into bed by 11.

Sunday morning and we gained an hour. Andrew has been gamely altering the clocks - you suddenly realise how many things have timers in them. Sarah announced there was a homework crisis in her art coursework so going out was impossible for her. We slipped out briefly as Andrew was desperate for more fish. As you can see above, our hunt was successful. Two new goldfish and two new shebunken. We photographed the moment of release. Enjoyed a delicious roast chicken lunch. Andrew in mega domestic mode then boiled up the carcase to make stock while roasting a giant pumpkin with loads of garlic. this was then whizzed up to make some of our favourite soup. Liz accompanied by Katie (middle daughter) turned up to collect Sarah at around 5, then we relaxed on the sofa. Tomorrow the week starts again....

Ha!! The ironing monster is not slain, no. But it is significantly and mortally wounded, methinks. Some solid effort has reduced the size of the heap from a threatening and intimidating Ben into a gentle little hillock. This has put me in such a good mood (and it's stopped raining - hurrah!!) that I attach a recent photo of the garden. Enjoy.

Back from a fantastic long weekend in Edinburgh. My first time visiting the city, and hopefully not the last. I loved it. Pleasant, short flight up there - barely enough time for them to come round asking for drinks orders before the pilot started the descent.

Our hotel was very central - the Balmoral. The doormen wore full Scottish rig, including kilts,sporrans and rather cute little caps perched at a jaunty angle. Practically every time we went in or out, they were posing for photos with delighted American tourists.

The photo above shows me on the bridge with the hotel the very large building in the background on the top left. Unfortunately, our room looked out over the inner courtyard, so no view, but that wasn't too important as we spent most awake time out and about. Although we passed very little time there, we both agreed on the flight home that it seemed as though we'd been away for much longer, say a week. We crammed a lot in. We visited the National Gallery, did an open top bus tour, gawped at the Scott Memorial and the castle, went on an excellent and spooky ghost walk, took a posh afternoon tea, toured the shops (good Harvey Nicks) and walked our legs off sightseeing. What was also lovely was meeting up with Andrew's uncle and aunt, Heather and Terry. We visited the nicest vegetarian restaurant I think I've ever eaten at, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. Called David Bann, it's very funky, excellent service, reasonably priced, and was deservedly buzzy and popular even on a Sunday night. H & T are vegans, so they really enjoyed having a wide choice of items from the menu. The photo of Andrew shows him at a pitstop at a really nice little wholefood cafe and juice bar we found off hte Royal Mile in one of the little closes.

A short week at work this week, as I am off today and Friday, as Sarah, best friend's 15 year old daughter is visiting. We're planning some retail therapy in the city centre, a Chinese meal out and some Art GCSE coursework for her to do. I'm sure we'll fit in some other stuff too. Weather is currently atrocious with gales, intermittent heavy showers and much cooler. Fortunately, there's plenty of space and indooor activities we can think of to ensure she (and we) have a really good few days. Have just spent the morning catching up with the housework, and will shortly have a quick bite to eat, a shower then do some ironing before she arrives this afternoon. Unfortunately, the ironing monster has been growing uncontrollably and now growls threateningly at me when I go into the spare bedroom. An hour spent on the board will tame it again!

Wet and dark now in the mornings. Autumn is with us. Had our service area union meeting this morning. Greatly enlivened by our street cleaning shop steward rather spectacularly falling asleep in the meeting, much to the mirth of everyone present, including the other union guys. We are now all thinking of a variety of new nicknames for him. Other items on the agenda included our Christmas working arrangements, a restructure in the waste collections area, an update on the budget situation (Grim), and an assortment of odd gripes including a wobbly ramp, queries about fuel and some moans about the vehicle wash. All in all, relatively quiet though.

About a gazillion emails this afternoon. Also had a phone call from my boss. The recent budget freeze which we had enacted in our service area is now being eased - they realise we are a front line service with big political impact so want us to keep working. This is excellent news.

Tomorrow I am on a training course run by our Internal Audit people on Investigative Techniques. We have such a number and variety of these investigations in our department - the ingenuity and creativity of a bin man with money on his mind never ceases to amaze me.

When I got home from work, I went out to feed the fish and sat out in the garden, just admiring it. It looks fabulous. Tomorrow evening, Andrew's parents come to visit for the weekend. They are really looking forward to seeing it, after all the work we have done. I just hope it is dry over the weekend as we are hoping to visit a local garden on Saturday to look at their autumn trees.

I wish all weekends were this good.

Friday night, we went out with Matt and Jo. Matt is Andrew's squash partner, and Jo is one of their former colleagues, who works at a nearby local authority. She's currently flat sharing with Matt and his partner, Ty. We started out in Salt, which was incredibly smoky, very puzzling as there didn't seem to be anyone actually smoking in there. Maybe they have reverse air conditioning? They also were playing music at a volume that even Matt and Jo (who are bright young things not fogies like me and A) couldn't talk over. The other weird thing, while we're on the subject was the way they kept dimming the lights and then suddenly would turn them back up to the top of a halogen white scale - the overall effect was of a naff 80s pop video with lots of dry ice and spotlights - all we needed was the big hair to finish the effect.

We escaped to Nando's for a bite to eat, which was great fun, then on over to the Water Quarter, which had funky decor and was fun and finally back to Mimosa until they threw us out after 1 o'clock. A great evening.

Saturday went down to see Aunty Floss, who is in her late eighties and truly wonderful. After having us all worried by being very ill last year, she has now pulled through and was looking great. She has an incredibly hectic social schedule, knits profusely and is sharp as a needle. Had a great lunch followed by a run in the car then took her back home. Returned home and had a quiet evening, to my astonishment found myself in bed by 9.45 and liking it. Just goes to show that I can't do late nights like I used to.

Sunday was an orgy of planting and yet more plant purchasing. We found another good nursery and filled the car with lots of lovely things. Andrew has now put down green slate in the corner of the garden, we have potted and planted so that now our main structural plants are all where they should be. We only now have to source our multi stemmed birch and the rowan.

Today was relatively quiet for a Monday. Did a site visit this morning to an area where there are lots of student and multi occupancy households causing problems with waste in their frontages. By looking at the rubbish and talking with local residents, it seems that we have some Polish and Somali residents - we will probably need to think about producing literature in these languages to ensure they can better understand how to manage their waste. Spent the afternoon in arranging greatly reduced and limited opening hours for our public conveniences. We have a number of staff off sick and a vacancy and the current budget crisis means we cannot use agency staff or overtime as a remedy. So public services will suffer.

Lots more developments in the garden. Yesterday, the trees arrived which was very exciting. We also received one of our cases of wine - a much needed delivery from Dr Laithwaites - I like his prescriptions - they cure many things. Suddenly the garden looks very full even though we have not yet put them in their final spots.

Andrew then madly began to fill a skip with stones as darkness fell. Heroically, he shifted all the stones that have been dug out of the garden into the skip ready for collection. I took some photos of it this morning before I left for work and have uploaded one. The mysterious door is one we bought from Ikea that was originally planned to be a door for a bathroom cabinet, but either it didn't fit or we didn't want the length (can't remember which now). The plan is now that he will gravel over the area where the stones were resting and plant the delivered trees this weekend. This will ensure a presentable appearance in time for the visit next weekend by his parents.

Continuing the theme, we were invited tonight to the In Bloom presentation evening event at the City Hall. It was a lovely evening and very touching to see so many people being recognised for their efforts as they planted beautiful flowers - I find it quite inspiring. There was a full complement of nominative determinism at work, including a Mrs Plant and several other similar names. The City Hall is a magnificent building - Edwardian civic splendour, built in an era of pride and confidence. Andrew actually went to the same horticultural college as our Parks manager - seperated by about two years I think. We were seated at the VIP table - I still find that vaguely embarrassing . I just feel that as a bin/litter person, we are used to being in the bottom of the pecking order; it's a nice change when our efforts are recognised. The Parks manager and I had a quick chat about the current budget crisis - we've agreed to swop saving proposals. Should be interesting.

Thought I would post a couple of photos here of the garden. As you can see, we hit a dry spot in the middle of the day. Still more to do, but we will probably wait now until the big stuff is delivered on Tuesday before planting anything else. With my work hat on, I'm invited to our city In Bloom presentation night on Wednesday evening at the Civic Centre. Should be good. Fortunately Andrew is invited as well.

The rain is hammering down on our lovely new plants. Yesterday, we went to two nurseries, as we have finally begun the most exciting and fun bit of the garden - stocking up on plants. Our first stop was an excellent nursery over in the west of the city specialising in trees, specimen and architectural plants. Most of what we ordered is being delivered on Tuesday. This will include a liquidambar, a very small acer with delicate purple leaves, a spectacular phormium, a Chinese fire bush (can't remember its proper name), an eucalyptus and a wonderful black stemmed bamboo. We had hoped to buy a rowan, and the main tree, a multi stemmed birch but they didn't have the variety of birch we particularly wanted. However, they are receiving more stock in, later this month, so I think we will be OK. As well as these larger specimens, we took with us five ferns, for the dark corner near the house. Plus an elegant palm.

Then on to our nearby Blooms. A full trolley worth of smaller plants and a variety of pots. Plants included a holly (not variegated, thankfully - I hate variegated hollies), three Japanese anemones, an orange pyracantha, a beautiful scarlet dogwood, prostrate rosemary, a santolina, a potentilla, a sedum, a smaller bamboo, three alchemilla, three aquilega, another beautiful phormium and a couple of bushes and climbers whose names I can't remember. Also a grass to go in a pot - a departure for me, as I am not generally a big fan of grasses, so this is an experimental toe in the water. We were hoping to return today and purchase some colourful bits to make up some baskets and pots - things like pansies, ivy, cyclamen, etc. The rain is incredibly heavy though - we may need to wait.

When I woke up this morning, it was so exciting to be able to peep out of the window and see plants in our garden - it already makes such a difference. If the light improves later on today I will try to take some photos and post them here. At the moment, the rain is so heavy the sky is virtually black - not suitable for photos at all.

Friday went extremely well - our presentation seemed to be well-received. I wore my new pink shoes - they looked stunning and were a great confidence booster. The judges will now be visiting us for the announced visit week commencing November 4th, allowing us some time to prepare and make a few minor improvements.

The morning was made dramatic and exciting by D's performance - any trip with him always seems to be memorable. Firstly, he'd packed one of his smart formal shirts but then realised he hadn't packed his cufflinks. Secondly, new suit bought for the occasion from Markles and Sparkles (which I must say looked fantastic when he finally appeared in it) still had security tag attached to trousers, so he had had to wrestle with removal by use of hotel teaspoons in his room and ended up with blue dye all over his hands. Cuff links were solved by an early morning visit to Northampton Tesco and wearing two long screws (yes, really!) through his cuffs. Quite enough excitement for one day. I can't wait to see what happens on our next adventure.

So tonight is the Lost season finale - how will we cope next week? As Andrew returns tomorrow, it is recording for us to savour at our leisure.

My friend Leila has an intriguing theory about the hair conditioner in the 10K race goodie-bag. Her proposal is that conditioned hair will lie sleekly and silkily against the head, lessening wind resistance and thus giving the competitive athlete that vital edge of a few nanoseconds. It's a theory, and so far it beats the hell out of anything else I can come up with.

Have just finished the new Pratchett. Enjoyed mainly, liked the Wee Free Men but I thought the Bogles in the Underworld were pants. The little fellers should have had a more worthy opponent. Somehow, they just didn't seem frightening, it felt as though someone had suggested there ought to be a villain at that point in the narrative.

What can I say about work? We are very busy finishing off our presentation for Friday, and I at least am starting to feel nervous. Because of the video file, the size of the Powerpoint file is enormous, which causes problems in itself if we want to look at it on anything other than the computer it is being stored on. In my experience, large Powerpoint files seem to have a tendancy to just hanging and freezing - I am quite worried about this. Fingers, toes and everything else crossed. J, the "young man" who has joined us, is making valiant progress on his ever increasing task list. Unfortunately, he can't come to the presentation with us because he has a prior engagement with a football match. So we will prob take one of the Enforcement team to help and support.

Had a very grumpy meeting with my boss P this morning. On arrival, thought he looked awful and he cheerfully admitted he was coming down with some sort of lurgy. I hate this, I really do. I mean, why do some healthy people think it is OK and heroic to struggle in to work, and "bravely" struggle through, while they infect everyone else. They are usually the ones who say "Oh, I haven't taken any sick leave this year" while their colleagues are felled in their wake. In particular, there are lots of people in the world who have really compromised immune systems and just don't or can't bounce back easily. My immune system is shot these days - I picked up a cold after a conference in London at the start of the month and I am still struggling, and sound as though I am smoking forty Gitanes a day. And I'm not happy about it (in case you hadn't noticed!) There, the luxury of a blog. I can rant!! Apparently, P's wife had begged him to stay home (sensible woman, I like her already) but no, he was determined to prove his machismo...sigh.....

A very proud day. Andrew completed the 10K in around 56 minutes. Last night, the rain as we lay in bed was horrendous, we both imagined how miserable it would be if it stayed like that. However, by this morning the weather had brightened considerably. We hurtled down the M4 to Swansea, found the parking easily on the Rec, and got out of the car. There was an overpowering smell of damp grass - why is that such a powerful and wonderful smell? Andrew had fun nearly piercing his nipples several times trying to attach his race number and muttered a lot when tying his chip to his leg. We then strolled over, past groups of lean, shaven headed men smelling powerfully of Deep Heat. Andrew was by now looking more and more nervous. Finally, at 1pm the race started, with around three thousand competitors. It was a marvellous and inspiring sight to see them all running away in the sunshine towards the Mumbles. I waddled back to the car for a bit to read my new Terry Pratchett, which I am enjoying very much. Aye, crivens!

By about 1.45 wandered back over to the finish, and there he was, pinching my bum while I leaned over the barrier waiting for him! Pink, sweaty, very happy and tasting very salty. He had a carrier bag given to all finishers. When we investigated the contents, they included a race medal, a bottle of Strawberry Conditioner for hair (why no shampoo?), a pen, a lolly and a certificate. I am puzzled by the conditioner - perhaps the company believe that athletes have special hair needs? Obviously the pen is for signing autographs for dazzled fans and wives but again the lolly? Pure sugar, no obvious health benefits. I wonder.

Enough wondering - it is sufficient to say that I am incredibly proud of him and that he has gone even further in my estimation. After the race, we visited favourite aunt H - who was also proudly waiting and was able to provide a hot cup of tea and a shower for the weary athlete, thus earning his undying gratitude. After a very nice chat, we left and headed home. A much deserved roast beef and in honour of the occasion, and all his hard work, I made an apple and blueberry crumble. The weary athlete is now reposing in a hot bath, surrounded by Joan Collins style layers of fragrant bubbles, looking pink and contented. Any minute now, he will emerge to take his place in bed and read for a bit before a well-earned rest. Zzzzzzz.....

The photo I have posted shows him just by the start line doing his stretches about 10 minutes before the gun.

One of the fish has died. When I came home from work, I went out to the pond to check on them. It was floating on its side in the water, so I scooped it out. This is sad, although the other fish appear to be darting around at high speed, ate their food and seemed healthy. Not quite cold noses and waggy tails but that type of thing. I told Andrew - he was very sad.

The weather forecast for tonight is for storms - the first of the equinoctal gales. It will be good to be in the house, warm and cosy, tucked up on the sofa with my cross stitching. Today has been a busy day. Finance meeting went well this morning. Then got involved in a discussion with D, our Enforcement Manager, on preparing for Bonfire Night. The police and Fire service want us to take a robust line on removing rogue bonfires before they are lit, often from open spaces. We will not be popular doing this - usually this results in needing a police escort, getting stoned and other such fun things when you try to take away what is often perceived (wrongly, I believe) as "harmless fun". D had done a note to circulate to other departments asking for their co-operation - it will be interesting to see the response.

J, our new post-grad has got stuck in today. Has had induction, and fell on our GIS system with cries of glee. His little eyes lit up and off he went, tail wagging gleefully. It's so nice to see someone enjoy themselves at work. We worked on a list of agreed tasks which helped both of us to clarify what he's doing, and will also help him feel a sense of achievement as he ticks them off. Ja is arranging for him to have a hi-vis, door fob and all the other accoutrements and has been very efficient in doing an induction with him too. Let's hope he works out well and we are able to provide him with a good experience while he is with us.

Tomorrow, I am going to the Flytipping forum held at the University of G, some 20 miles away. If the weather is good, I might wear my lovely new shoes. Oooh, the shiver of excitement as I imagine their pink gorgeousness................

Ah Wednesday.... Heroine and role model from the Addams Family Values films with the incomparable Christina Ricci...

One of those strange days today. We've all been busy with our submission for the Cleanest City Awards - we are shortlisted finalists and go up to Northampton next week to present to the judges. Needless to say, I am nervous and excited. I also need help in pulling together the presentation, chasing down facts and figures and sorting out the judging packs, or "leave-behinds" as I learned they are called in Marketing Land.

After our colleagues (from the same department, mind you) were spectacularly sniffy and unhelpful this morning, we have gone to an agency we use, Randstadt - and they've delivered the goods. The goods in this case being a young post-grad who wants to get into environmental work, has lots of good experience, well qualified and with a good attitude (so far anyway). He joined us this afternoon for our meeting, coped well, was positive, didn't look too frightened and says he'll be back in the morning. I can't refer to him as A YOUNG MAN - that sounds ridicolously arch, yet he is in his twenties and he does seem just so young, and shiny and happy. Not just him, but other young persons we have kicking about the place. On his CV from the agency, it said one of his hobbies was Wakeboarding, and I had to go and find out what that was, which also made me feel about a hundred and three.

On a more cheerful note, received our monthly accident statistics and was reading them. Fortunately, all were relatively minor. One featured a member of the office staff who closed a filing cabinet drawer on her own hand and the other was so good I just sat and laughed out loud. The unfortunate victim sat down, but the chair wasn't there, so ended up on the floor. Duh!! I realise that Homer Simpson is not always a caricature. How on earth do we legislate for this? My favourite all time accident was one of our staff who got bitten by a squirrel.

Another busy day tomorrow. A financial meeting in the morning with our service area accountant, who I like. He is thorough, professional and unfailingly helpful. At the moment our trading account is adrift by just under fifty thousand pounds on an annual budget of around seven million, so I am not too worried, but there are some issues we will need to continue to manage quite robustly. It's important we don't allow the deficit to balloon too much otherwise we end up with a painful few months at the end of the financial year. In the afternoon, we have our monthly meeting with all the service area senior managers. These do have a tendancy to be a little bit dull at times,but tomorrow should be interesting as P will be lobbing a few casual hand grenades in I think as he has plans for shaking up the management structure. Am looking forward to it - it will be held at our Highways depot, I think. The meetings rotate around the three service area main depots, with as a result regular confusion and there are always at least two or three people who arrive late for every one because they went to the wrong venue.

We received an irate letter today from a resident who had had a fox die in her garden (cause unknown) while she was away on holiday and was very cross that when she had phoned the Council they had advised her to dig a hole and bury it..... I think she expected one of our Fox Removal Team Reynard Special Services (FORTRESS) to swoop in a bio warrior Humvee, wearing full body suits and deploying the special lead lined bio contaminant fox carrier....... on the other hand she could just exercise some adult responsibility and bury the damn thing. Her main gripe was that the fox smelled..... Hello? Yes, it would, it was dead, and they do anyway....But that's the Council's fault. Bit of a rant tonight, I'm afraid. Maybe my next one will be full of lovely butterflies and happy thoughts.

I leave you with the news that the fish flourish and appear to be swimming happily around their new home. It is very exciting. Also that I miss Andrew as he is away this week again and he also misses me, but is particularly sorry about missing the excitement of the fish.

Monday and lots to update.

Firstly, A won a prize for his raspberry tarts. It took two goes to make them, frantic phone calls to his elderly mother in Belfast for advice and the addition of some raspberry liqeur (framboise perhaps?) but they worked! Hooray!

Had to tear myself away from the house this morning and immediately on returning home went to talk to the fish. So far, none appear to have died, in fact they dart around with a surprising turn of speed. This evening they had their first feed - horribly smelly pellets from TetraPak or something like that. They look as though they are made from recycled orange juice cartons.

It has turned into a wild and stormy night. Rain and wind blow round the house and it is now getting dark depressingly early. I did some cross stitch. I am stitching my biggest project to date, a huge item that will hopefully be a Christmas gift. Although at the rate I am going it might not be this Christmas.

Had a meeting this morning with two colleagues from our fleet management office. We have an inhouse garage that repairs and maintains our fleet. They are currently undertaking a review to assess the best likely form in the future. They are not helped by the fact they are based in a listed tram shed, which is leaky, drafty and completely unfit for purpose in terms of modern equipment, working practices or anything very much really unless you were a 19th Century carter needing a new swingletree or something similar.

Also received an invitation in the post from the local Arts Trust who are hosting a conference next month on art and architecture in the public realm. An interesting idea, you might think and I would agree with you, especially as my job is intimately involved with the streetscape. However, the invitation itself was so arty that I struggled to find a programme and nowhere did it tell you any boringly practical details like how much the conference costs to attend, or how to book or if you could attend for a day rather than the whole thing which includes a fearsome amount of evening views/occasions, almost like those 1960s "happenings". The text was so impenetrable that I struggled for a while to identify the theme and what was happening. It was also printed entirely in the most post industrial lurid yellow and black, looking a bit like a 1980s fanzine. Ho hum. I expect the designer (a la Oscar Wilde) would be very pleased that at least I am talking about it, rather than consigning it solely to the recycling bin of history.

Have received a number of emails concerning difficulties in posting comments. You go to the comments section below each day's new post, usually where it says O Comments (now I know why!). Once there, click and follow instructions. Apparently this is problematic, although if an idiot like me can manage it, there should be hope for all the bright, intelligent well-adjusted people I am either friendly with or are related to.

Ah, Sunday, a day of rest. Although this Sunday started in a stormy fashion with both of us having tremendous wind in the night due to something in the pasta sauce last night. Tomato and roast garlic, very delicious, but boy did we make a noise....

This morning, we were both very excited as the day had come when we could visit our specialist aquatic garden centre to look at fish. We also bought many bags of matured horse poo for applying to the garden and lots of bulbs.

Called in at our big Marks & Spencer which is very close to the nursery. Bought the most fabulous pair of shoes. They are a kitten heeled court, with a pointy toe, in the most luscious colour, a kind of lilac-pink suede. I have to say that M & S do seem to be getting their act together - their stock is now looking quite interesting as well as all the basics they have always done. These shoes are truly scrumptious. I will try and post a picture of them later in the week. Other than going to a fresh sushi place, they do the best packaged sushi. Our favourite sushi place is on Piccadilly in London, fortunately close by the Maison du Chocolat, so you can make up for the healthy stuff with a deliciously indulgent truffle or two. Of course, Fortnums isn't very far away either, if you are really stuck. Fave uncle Warwick works nearby in the RA, so the Wolseley is his works canteen. Very starry.

Back to the fish. We have six small goldfish and four Shebunken, which my friend Leila has correctly pointed out sounds like an unpleasant foot disease. We allowed the bags to acclimatise to the pond temperature for about an hour, and then came the exciting moment. The bags tipped sideways and our fish swam out into their new home. It is a very big pond for them, so there is plenty of space for them to swim around and explore. We sat, watching, fascinated. Later, when it was time to eat, we brought our starters out to the pond to eat by the side so we could continue to watch them.

We planted hundreds of bulbs. There are narcissi, baby tulips, lots of crocus, oxalis and a huge variety of alliums which we both love. Every colour and height imaginable. Next spring the garden will look glorious. Finished off with a topdressing of blood fish and bone before retiring for a gin. More bulbs will be planted when we have put in some of the bigger plants. The weather stayed dry although it spent most of the day looking as though it wanted to start raining.

Now feel relaxed and happy before the onslaught of the next week. Andrew leaves tomorrow morning for a very early flight.

Thursdays - nearly the end of the week. Our monthly meeting with the unions this morning. We discussed the Christmas refuse collection arrangements and the forthcoming building works to give us a new street cleansing depot. Not too much whinging - sometimes it can be quite a negative environment. At the moment, lots of money is being poured into the waste management services, with heaps of capital investment - improving services, creating jobs, savingthe planet. It is then quite dispiriting when some arsy refuse driver sits there whining that they have to queue for the vehicle wash while the building work is going on.....

Spent the afternoon ploughing through my to do list. We have a system called Comino which we use to manage our correspondence - it's very good. Some of the letters (to Cllrs, MPs etc... ) come to me for approval before they go out. It is a constant battle to get the correspondence completed within the official deadline. Usually the work is done, but people do not always sign off the electronic form to indicate this, leaving the complaint overdue. As a manager, I can view other people's Inboxes, which means I can then chase those who are hanging on to things unnecessarily. Had a chat with D, our Enforcement Manager, about his Cominos and related issues. Other departments often try to push work our way, as we deal with it rather than make excuses not to. Some of this is good. We took all fly-tipping including on private land from April this year, and dog fouling enforcement will soon be coming our way. A case popped up today which indicated that Trading Standards might be trying to get us to take on Nuisance Vehicles (on street, unofficial car sales and repairs) but I think for the moment we are safe. In the fullness of time we could take this, but I would want to raid their budget for the accompanying resources. Funnily enough, that's often where other departments shuffle their feet and look at the floor. Ah, that budget... Um, well, we have other plans for it.

My boss then phoned me later in the afternoon - he had a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel. We are currently trying to create a secondment to look at the issue of smoking related litter in the run up to the ban next year - hurrah!! I was planning to use our litter fine income to fund this. However, P, who is a man of truly wonderful intelligence, had an even better idea involving the sideways move of C, trusted colleague into a post covering this and more as part of his overall management restructure. It will undoubtedly mean all kinds of headaches with HR, but hey, we can live with that. P has one of those interesting brains that you just sometimes think "Wow". He's not afraid of thinking big (and I do mean very big, in terms of projects, capital etc) and I like the way he goes for the important stuff without being bogged down in trivia. He has a mind like a knife when it comes to going after the essentials - quite ruthless, but also with a huge streak of mischief. I have no doubt that he got up to no good in school but was probably too smart to be caught. He also has an impressive tactical brain in the snakepit of corporate politics - very instructive to watch. He is a very blunt Northerner who supports Manchester United. However, one of my favourite ex-colleagues also does so I count that as being acceptable ( I am allergic to football generally).

C is now thinking over the offer, hopefully over a lubricating glass or two. Tomorrow, I have a meeting to discuss pedlars (another issue being palmed off on to us) and a meeting with some Tourism people who want to publicise the fact that we are in the final for Britain's cleanest city. We are also looking at using a pressure washer to improve our litter bin cleaning - the ones in the city centre get quite disgustingly dirty very quickly, with sauces from burgers, vomit, fag ash, spilt Coke and all kinds of other items forming a kind of sticky, dusty coating. Also tomorrow the rep is bringing some samples for our new staff uniform. All our operatives wear ballistic trousers but we want an improved top half, so there will be better "branded" polo and sweat shirts, as well as fleeces. There is a choice of styles for hi-vis jackets, and the supervisors are getting a uniform too, with Oxford style shirts and smart trousers. With so many street workers wearing hi-vis these days, it's important to distinguish our staff from cleaners in private malls, building workers, etc... We have a constant battle to find really good wet weather gear. If they keep you dry on the outside, they are often really sweaty on the inside. Or they breathe, but they leak. But life would be very dull if we could solve all our problems..

Another busy day, but interesting too. Spent the morning at a leisure centre talking about Community Planning. The leisure centre had the most beautiful and stunning view over the waterfront, but internally had obviously been designed by an unemployed psychologist, bored of making mazes for lab rats. The occasional very small and obscure signs were hopelessly confusing, and even worse they had those little Braille bits underneath. Nothing wrong with Braille at all, but I couldn't help wondering how on earth a blind or partially sighted person was meant to even find the signs, let alone read the damn things.

Returned to our depot via Tesco, where I picked up a sandwich, a newspaper and some cold remedy things, as I am a bit snuffly today. While staring at the Echinacea, I bumped into one of my favourite colleagues, A, who looks after a lot of our performance management stuff, bemusedly holding a pot of raspberry jam. He explained wearily that his allotment society were asking all the men allotmenteers to cook and he'd been volunteered for raspberry tarts. Now I've sampled the luscious produce from his allotment regularly (yes, home grown really does taste better) but he confessed that baking was not his thing, and he hadn't done it in years, so tonight was the experiment.

At work, tried to catch up with the avalanche of emails. Some of our public convenience attendants were over for a training course on Breakaway skills, so I had a chat with them while they were on their lunch break. They were explaining that they've recently had a spate of confused men wandering into the ladies toilet in the bus station. This is beccause they are foreign gentlemen who cannot read English signs so the attendants were asking if we can have really big, leave no doubt pictograms on the door to avoid doubt and embarrassment for all concerned. Seems reasonable, so will try to investigate. We discussed the perennial problem of drug use in the toilets as well.

Went back down to Bigg HQ for meeting with boss and another lovely colleague, C regarding a personnel matter. We went in at half past three but as he had nobody else booked in after us, we stayed till 6 - eek! It was lovely though, as we were able to discuss lots of things and bounced around a few ideas - I really like doing this. He suggested a visit to another European city where apparently they have cracked the problem of cleaning behind parked cars.... I will write more on this as I find out.

Drove home, happily, ordered a Chinese and thought happy thoughts about my husband. He phoned after I got in, was just going for a run. His first 10K race is in a few weeks time. He also announced he has ordered a couple more tonnes of soil for the garden to arrive on Saturday - very exciting. We both like dribbling over plant porn, much more exciting than the real thing, I think. This probably means I am irredeemably middle-aged. Other indicators - last winter, I bought vests from Marks and Spencer for the first time, and what's worse, wore them enthusiastically. Also, I don't like very loud music or noisy pubs. Before it ended, I had also reached the point of watching Top of the Pops and bemoaning the pathetic standard of music, unlike the real songs of my youth..... cue nostalgia for the Buzzcocks etc...

Well, my first ever blog entry. I started this because I wanted to submit a post on my cousin's blog, and to do that, I had to log on so thought hey why not?
There aren't any other blogs that I'm aware of that deal with my line of work in the UK, but I'd love to hear of any others , or from similar around the world. My blog will be telling it as it is for my job, which is as an Operational Manager for Street Cleaning, Public Toilets and Waste Enforcement in a large UK city. I won't name which one, although I have no doubt astute readers will eventually pick up clues. That of course assumes there will be readers.

So my day today. Away from my normal lair, and off to the bigg bad world of corporate HQ for our regular Tuesday get together with my boss. He and his secretary (who is lovely) have recently moved there from our depot. They hate it, as it's formal, stuffy and no fun. It was his first day backfrom his leave and he looked relaxed and brown, although it prob won't last.... the authority has budget issues (particularly with Social Services) so watch all us front line staff take the hit cos they can't control their budget. Bitter, moi? After that, got together with one of the other managers, as we are looking at setting up a joint project for smoking bins (smoking indoors will be banned next year, thank goodness, but that will mean a lot more litter for us to clear). Then back to the lair. I like my office. Dealt with the usual tidal wave of email, talked to colleagues, and spent the afternoon putting together a bunch of self congratulatory nonsense for the update of the corporate plan on how we met our objectives for last year. who cares? Most members of the public want to see their streets swept today, not last year. Finished up by putting on my out of office autoreply, washing my coffee mug and tidying up my office. I hate starting the day in a messy office. Tomorrow morning I am going to a meeting in a leisure centre to talk about community planning...... hmmmm. Should be interesting. Apparently I am a key stakeholder. Sounds like something out of Buffy...