Another satisfying weekend.... First, the bathroom. We've bought paint for it - it's a metallic sparkly very dark blue, sort of disco infinity, yeah baby..... Also purchased a new light and Andrew spent today manfully fitting it, so the bathroom now has lots of sparkly halogen loveliness. Plumber David who is lovely will be returning later in the week to pick up his thermos which he left behind and to complete the last little bit of tiling, then Andrew will be painting, and then it will be virtually complete.. So exciting to see it come together.

Succumbed to the lure of the garden centre today and returned home with a quince (Geisha Girl, a lovely delicate, creamy peach colour blossom) and a hamamelis - yellow, although they also had some beautiful rust colour ones which tempted me sorely. Also bought some more granules for combating the ever present cat crap menace - I loathe them. Bulbs are now poking through most excitingly with lots of crocus in bud, and some hyacinth and narcissus not far behind. Apart from last week briefly, it has been wet and mild rather than cold so bulbs developing well. Tomorrow should be an interesting day in work.

I can't believe it's already Friday and so much to write about. Firstly, the Glamorgan sausage controversy. This is a Welsh delicacy - a meatless sausage, usually made with cheese, breadcrumbs and sometimes chopped leeks, and very delicious it is too. Before Christmas, my friend Leila (down in deepest Devon) found some on sale in her local Sainsburys and sampled them, and called to say how much she had enjoyed them. This then developed so that when I was out and about and saw one, for instance at the farmers market, I would text to report a sighting. Yes I know, little things etc..... Anyway, during a recent conversation on this subject (when we weren't solving the Middle East peace crisis, or lamenting the state of the modern novel) we agreed that actually a Glamorgan sausage has a really naughty ring about it, just begging to be a synonym for a deviant sexual practice. A Cumberland Sausage has no such ring, somehow it sounds worthy and hearty and rather dull, but a GS..... Anyway, I've asked several colleagues to put their thinking caps on. This led to some very interesting and surprising revelations and suggestions, most of which so far have revolved around knee tremblers in the wilder reaches of Merthyr.... however, I think the search is still on. So far, the suggestions are sex with two vegetarians, or watching two vegetarians having sex. I welcome any further thoughts....

Today is Leila's birthday - hurrah!! Go Leila..... Sounds like she had a really lovely day getting on the right side of a Chocolate temptation, admiring a waiter's cute butt, and wanting to ravage the flower delivery man...... Excellent.

Work is interesting. We are continuing to work on the new job descriptions and person specifications for the management restructure. New supervisory posts are being created for flytipping and hazardous waste, graffiti and flyposting, public conveniences, an asst to our transport manager, two senior supervisors, a new service support officer, a service development officer, and two new rejigged management positions. So exciting, working on these and seeing the ideas take shape and become reality. With our Enforcement unit, we are setting out for taking on skip permits,dog fouling, graffiti, highway permits for tables and chairs, abandoned vehicles, trolleys (S 99) and new notices under S 33, 34, 46 and 47 - can't wait! The new CNEA is what a colleague describes as a helicopter gunship for us - I like his turn of phrase. Personally, I love the idea of my own submarine, but really I'd like a tank with a RPG on the front to attack flytippers, caravans, cars with sickly baby on board stickers and men who drive wearing hats...

The bathroom now looks so gorgeous - I expect an orderly queue to form of admirers at the front door. The shower curtain is perfect for it - tomorrow we go to buy the paint for the finishing touches (and then I can visit a towel emporium, ha ha ha ha.... )

The plumbers are here! Contrary to popular urban legend, they are delightful, arrived exactly on time, appear neat and professional and brought their own stuff for making tea and coffee. Lead plumber even entered a brief but knowledgeable discussion of London theatre and has recommended a restaurant to us; I suspect he is a friend of Dorothy. So the transformation is under way. Very exciting. I have spent the day quietly cross stitching out of the way downstairs - it has been a real treat.The sampler is progressing well. Young master is in London today, returning later tonight and working from home tomorrow so it will be his turn to enjoy their company.

An enjoyable weekend which was quite quiet. We went out for a meal on Saturday night. When the taxi picked us up, he remembered us from previous forays down the Bay, which was nice. Went to Woods Brasserie, our first time there. Lots of young French staff with outrageous accents. Do they practice them? Is it some Inspector Clouseau style conspiracy? Do they stand in the back room together practising? Delicious food and an impressive wine list. I would recommend and would certainly go back there again. After the meal we went for a romantic evening stroll which was lovely but very, very cold so we toddled home and watched a DVD.

Inspecting the garden on Sunday, we now have three crocus flowers, and lots more in bud- wow!! Very happy and very impressed. Lots of other interesting spikes emerging - I love watching them grown and turn into flowers. On a less exciting note, did a huge pile of ironing. Ho hum.

Floods, gales and excitement with plumbers. Yesterday, Persimmon finally sent two men round to repair/replace the broken shower tray in the ensuite bathroom. I was downstairs happily cross stitching a new sampler but I don't think they realised how clearly their voices carried as the bathroom is directly above the living room. They were having a very detailed discussion over the pros and cons of having a mistress, the practical issues and how to manage when found out. It had a kind of trainwrecky fascination as apart from anything else I didn't realise men had such intimate discussions, instead thinking they tended to mask their feelings by coded discussions about manly things like sprockets, flanges and drill bits. So if you are married to a plumber or similar tradesman, their long and irregular hours and frequent travels apparently provide an ideal cover for naughty goings on. The one who was unmasked didn't seem to regret the affair per se, more that he then had to put in a considerable amount of spadework with his wife, including several holidays in Tenerife and a more than usually flexible approach to shopping.

On a more serious note, the weather yesterday was bad, and during the night got steadily worse. The wind was so loud it woke me at night and by this morning the gales were atrocious along with the most appallingly heavy rain. Driving to work was utterly miserable as several roads were badly flooded with fountain style drains and idiots who were going too fast through deep bits and then creating bow waves. Arriving at the car park, by the top near the landfill, I attempted to use the big brolly we keep in the back of the car, but that was a complete waste of time as I nearly impersonated Mary Poppins and floated off over the tip. By the time I got down to the office, I was drenched and looked as though I had literally just stepped out of the shower.

Went to County Hall later for our monthly finance meeting which as usual was interesting - I am always so impressed by our Finance team - they are so constructive and positive, although Phil (the boss) also creates a very positive environment. Fortunately, our DSU finance is heading in the right direction, although it is apparent there are problems elsewhere in some of the others that may cause difficulties in resolution.

Our BIM meeting was cancelled this afternoon, so I returned to the depot, with less rain this time and ploughed through a big stack of correspondence for approval/signing off. Just had one about a persistent problem where a business on an industrial estate is cheesed off because prostitutes and clients use the vicinity at night and leave a range of detritus behind, often including throwing their used condoms into the business premises, to await the staff when they arrive the next morning. I strongly suspect the police will be unwilling to move the street prostitutes on in to a residential area so I am not optimistic about an early settlement of this issue. He was also complaining about the smell of the waterworks - fortunately this is not in my remit.

Also had another phone call this afternoon to say that it looks as though two of our recent four funding applications may be successful . This is great news and I am very happy. If so, this will be worth about £100,000 for the two projects (£50K each). I will write more on these once it is confirmed.

Came home the long way so as to avoid the flooded roads and have spent a contented evening in cross stitching, card making, and of course blogging..... Over the weekend we will be collecting our new tiles and on Monday the tradesmen arrive to start work on the main bathroom. It is expected to take around four days of work. I am so excited about this. I will post some photos of the before, during and after.

I have succumbed to the lure of the tile shop. On Saturday we purchased a new shower for the main bathroom and looked at tiles. The young master has egged me on (not that I needed much egging once I got into my stride) and we have selected and ordered a beautiful turquoise/aqua mosaic tile that we'll use. My wise friend Leila has also pointed out that this will be an ideal towel purchasing opportunity. Quite right too. In the evening, we went to a colleague's surprise 50th birthday party. Had a good time and it was nice to see him enjoy himself so much, surrounded by his family, friends and colleagues. I attach a photo - it was also memorable for him wearing a tie - not something he does ordinarily.

Sunday was very relaxed - old school friends Robin (without her husband who was poorly) and Christopher (without his partner, who was working) came over for lunch. We did a peasant casserole with Heaven and Earth mash, followed by date and toffee pudding - successful and delicious. A really enjoyable day, discussing gardening and putting the world to rights over a glass of red wine - can there be anything more pleasant on a cold Sunday afternoon?

Work is now a swirling morass of rumour and counter rumour. As my boss is now leaving, the Operational Managers have been asked to put their heads together and re-organise - as is always the case, there is now a healthy mix of gossip, innuendo, fact and downright fantasy. I am enjoying the process, as the rumours are very entertaining. I will write further on this as matters become clearer.

An interesting couple of days. Yesterday evening I went to a very interesting talk in the Old Library in the city centre on Brunel's impact on the South Wales landscape. I parked in our city centre depot and walked round with the afternoon shift supervisor, while being impressed and amazed by the speed at which large bits of the city centre are disappearing in preparation for our new shopping centre. It was a good opportunity to catch up with all the news from the depot. As we walked past the old Tabernacle chapel, there was a smartly dressed man in a mac hanging around looking furtive. Just as we passed he sidled up to the litter bin and slipped in a brown paper package. On leaving me, my colleague was rightly concerned and on inspection it proved to be a fine collection of porn!

The talk was excellent - to my surprise, half the Council seemed to be there. On taking a seat, my colleague A joined me (the champion raspberry tart maker) along with a friend of his from our IT dept. After the talk, then bumped into a colleague from Parks who was there with his dad, which was nice. Strolled back to the depot by which time the night shift had arrived and it was good to stay a while and have a chat and catch up with the news. I ended up staying there till around 10.40 before setting off home.

today was an interesting day at an APSE meeting. My colleague L was kindly giving me a lift (in his BMW convertible, how posh is that?) and was picking me up from home at around 9.20 this morning. Thinking I had plenty of time, of course the inevitable happened, I dawdled and by 9.18 I was in a frantic multi-tasking mode of applying makeup, drying my hair and finding a pair of earrings. Naturally,then L was late! Opened the front door, and was practically blown flat by a gale of frightening size with accompanying horizontal rain. Our bin bag(being very light) was half way down the street. Anyway we got to the meeting, not helped by a Nazi jobsworth in the hut guarding the Council car-park. Where do we find these people?

Meeting went well. J and I did a joint presentation on smoking related litter and listened to some other presentations on highways surfacing and benchmarking issues. Left there, came home, again courtesy of the BMW magic carpet and did some ironing. Then updated this. Also just had an email, confirming that on Sunday, a couple of old school cohorts are coming to lunch.
Am really looking forward to it, and also the enjoyable process of deciding what to cook. Hoorah! Weather has calmed down slightly and seems to have stopped raining, although it is still quite breezy.

Forgot to mention earlier, that last night as I was leaving work, I walked up the car park to the landfill overflow car park by the weighbridge. The nights are noticeably beginning to draw out now which is lovely. Anyway, the sky was a stunning deep blue with just a few early stars. Just as I left the top of the main car park, I noticed an owl hunting down the hedge line. The paler underside of the wings is quite ghostly and beautiful. I stood, entranced. The bird life at work is superb - I see so many species there, it is a real treat.

Another wet Monday following a very wet Sunday and (surprise!) a very wet Saturday. Yesterday was so miserable weatherwise we didn't feel like venturing abroad - it was a day for peaceful pottering, cross-stitching and a slow-cooked, warming beef casserole cooked in port and a slug of madeira, with huge quantities of root vegetables. Today has been productive at work. We've been working on a presentation we are doing on Thursday at an APSE meeting, on our Smoking Related Litter project. Have some great photos including some I took on holiday in Edinburgh last October. As I write, Andrew is doing battle with our Christmas tree outside, trying to chop it up into smaller pieces so we can take it to the tip on the weekend for recycling.

Visited by a plumber and his accomplice earlier - they came to have a look at the main bathroom. When we moved in, Persimmon had finished it in a perfectly pleasant and inoffensive marble tile with a bath, but no shower. There is a shower in the ensuite to our room, which is great when we are here, but not so much when we have guests which is quite often. So, it looks as though in a few weeks time we will have a shower fitted. We either need to find a match to the tiles that are in there or to look for some new ones. The young master is keen on a change - I'm quite content with the ones we have but I suspect if we visit a tile shop I could be convinced. Watch this space for an update.

Most recent picture is of me and Andrew on Christmas Day and it was very very cold. Our noses ran. So we went home and had a drink.

A busy and productive end to the week. Got four funding bids finished and sent off, including the one for the pop up urinal - I love this job!

Also attended a meeting on our service area risk management policy this morning - supposed to identify risks and illustrate how we'll manage them.

tomorrow, we are seeing favourite great-aunt for a relaxing pub lunch. We are also planning a weekend away in London next month. I can't wait. Now I'm blogging in this new version it does seem a lot quicker and faster so am happy. Will add another picture - my Christmas sampler cross stitch before it was framed. It looked lovely this year - seemed a shame to put it away.

New Year, new blog. Apologies for the delay in blogging, ladies and gentlemen. I've been having awful problems with the version I was using. So husband offered to upgrade me to new version, just out of Beta, which accounts for the frivolous posts you see before this one. I'll say no more, except my revenge will be merciless.... He is obviously too used to getting away with stuff 'cos he pulls that really cute look which makes it impossible to be angry with him for more than a second... Humph. After nine years of marriage he has unerringly mastered my weak spot.

Enough frivolity. The year has started with such a packet of news I hardly know where to start. Most important first. Went to hospital just before Christmas for my checkup. Usual squirmy moment with cold ironmongery (but lovely, lovely sainted nurse who held my hand and deserves a halo) and specialist announced that all was well, and even better, they don't want to see me for another year. The best Christmas present I could possibly have asked for. Even more fabulous, he then drew me a graph for illustrating the risk of recurrence (he's even done a paper on it) which started me off at about 40% and has now plummeted to less than 10%risk. In other words, I have a greater than 90% chance of being here in three years, and after that I revert to being "normal" or as normal as I will ever be. Let us pause here for a moment and then rush around like a mad thing, open champagne and let off fireworks and then let's say a huge great HURRAH for modern medicine. I like my life and I appreciate being around to enjoy it so very much, even if it is only to moan querolously about my husband.

After that, everything else is relatively minor but here goes. Firstly, husband bought me the most fabulous necklace for Christmas - I am wearing it as I type and feel like Elizabeth Taylor (in one of her glamourous phases, I hasten to add, not a self-destructive alcoholic stupor).

Enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with assorted family and loved ones, drank champagne and Southern Comfort, and returned to work to find out that my boss is leaving at the end of March. I have mixed feelings in that I am delighted for him personally but am sorry for the department as we will miss his considerable talents. Will stop here but wanted to reassure my readers that I had not abandoned you.

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.