Onwards and Upwards

Woke this morning at Champney's and after an early morning swim and a lovely healthy breakfast spent the morning reading Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" before setting off for Southampton to meet up with Sara, Tom and Mary and pick up Tom to take him to the Saints FA Cup tie against Ipswich Town at St Mary's. Everything went according to plan and Tom and I arrived at St. Mary's at around 2 p.m. . After having had a look around the shop we went into the ground remarking that it was before Christmas when we last sat in our season ticket seats in the Chapel Stand - and that was the Johnstone's Paint Trophy tie against Norwich. Saints scored two great goals - the first by Wayne Thomas was a "cracker" from an acute angle and some 40 yards out from the goal. The second, by Antonio, came off a rebound following a free kick by Ricky Lambert. Ipswich scored a late goal about 10 minute before the end and a five minute period of injury time had all 20,000-odd in the Stadium on the edge of their seats. Fortunately, Saints hung on and the final result - 2-1 to Saints assured them a place in the Fifth Round. The draw is tomorrow - I bet we get either Portsmouth of Tottenham! Tonight we went to the Village Hall to see the Winterslow Drama Group's production of "Jack and the Beanstalk" with Mary playing a "bubble fairy". A really entertaining panto with some great acting (and ad-libbing) from the cast. An entertaining day all round - onwards and upwards for the Saints, onwards and upwards from Jack!

Away at Fitness Centre

I am away at a fitness centre today and tomorrow. No posts until Saturday

Last trip to London office

A very early start this morning as I got up at 6.00 a.m. to make sure that I got the 7.27 a.m. train to London from Grateley. I had a meeting in our London office at 10 a.m. and I wanted to ensure I got there in good time. As I drove to Grateley Station the snow started coming down quite heavily but, fortunately, it was not settling on the road although it was settling on the car. I managed to park the car easily and stood on the platform under the footbridge keeping out of the snow. Klynn joined me and we travelled up to London on the train together - Klynn treated me to a coffee to celebrate my last commute for the company on the train! I had another coffee and a sausage muffin breakfast at EAT close to our office in the City before going on to my meeting near the Guildhall. The meeting kept to time and I was back on the train to Grateley where Tim C joined me and we chatted our way back to Hampshire. This afternoon I worked in our Salisbury office and also finalised my plans for my two Salisbury retirement dos - one at The Boathouse and one at The Jade. Tonight Saints played the first leg of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Area Final against MK Dons at Milton Keynes. The Saints won 1-0 and now go into the 2nd Leg at St. Mary's in a winning position. Looks like we'll be going to Wembley if we can just hang on at home!

Another day of office clearance

I was meant to be in Southampton today giving support to my colleague Belinda who should have been conducting her first ever advocay in a full employment tribunal hearing. The hearing was, however, adjourned yesterday for a number of reasons including the fact that the other side were not ready. I therefore drove up to Dorking to do some more clearing out of filing cabinets and crates and also to have a meeting with my staff to organise cases in anticipation of my departure. The traffic up to Surrey was awful again as I drove up the M3 motorway. I shall certainly be delighted to put this commuting behind me when February arrives!

A clear out begins

My penultimate Monday morning trip to Dorking today. Indeed, only another twelve days (seven working days when two days holiday are taken into account). Traffic was not too bad this morning but it still took me two hours to drive the 78 miles. I spent most of the day clearing out my desk drawers and a filing cabinet discovering all sorts of documents going back seventeen years as well as some sweets I'd brought back from the Bahamas three years ago and never given out! I am sure they will still get eaten. When I got home this evening Sara told me, with delight, that Tom had been awarded a great accolade at school as he had received more points in the last term for his behaviour and attitude to work than any of his other 199 peers! A model student. A tremendous achievement and I am so proud. However, it would be great if he could show the same behaviours and attitudes at home too! Tonight, Sara went off to Southampton to an area branch meeting of her Virgin Vie cosmetics company and Mary was rehearsing in the village hall for the weekend Panto - Jack and the Beanstalk.

Back to Normal?

Hurrah - back on line and feeling better too. Sorry guys and gals for not having written anything for so long but not only have we suffered Internet problems of late - both Sara's and Tom's laptops are not functioning properly either and my laptop has been press-ganged into service for them - I have been extremely unwell with a chest infection which has left me feeling extremely tired and miserable over the last week or so - a constant hacking cough has not helped. To add to that, the weather has been appalling ever since we returned from the Canaries and we were snowed in for several days too - all with no Internet connection. Things have not stood still though. Since my last post it has been confirmed that I will be leaving my Company at the end of this month and taking early retirement. Only two weeks to go as I write this! So much to do - buy my company car, decide upon pension options, finish off a multitude of tasks at work, arrange a couple of farewell functions at Dorking and Salisbury, attend a couple of court hearings and important business meetings and so on and so forth. Everybody says that retirement will come quickly and the days of retirement pass quicker than ever. What am I going to do? - well, Sara has a number of tasks for me - including a complete sort out of the study, garage and shed - her idea of a "sort out" is to take all my worldly possessions and shove them in a skip! Klynn seems to agree with this! I will develop my employment law consultancy company, Complex Services Limited - see my sister blogspot site called Complex Services Limited which will be found at: http://complexservices.blogspot.com - become more active in the church and within the charity Stop the Traffik - but above all join the local golf club and get a decent handicap. This week has seen a sad occasion with the funeral of a dear friend, Beryl Dare, in Reading. I attended her funeral in Reading on Friday and met a lot of old friends. Quite worrying when you cannot recognise a group of old men as your former colleagues. How we all change. Today I delivered the intercessions in church at the Parish Eucharist where Doreen, our newly licensed Lay Minister, gave a lovely sermon on the Miracle at Cana. Sara has written a short play about this biblical story to be performed next week by the Junior Church. Hopefully I am now back on course to continue this blog on a daily basis. Thank you all for your continued interest. 2010 will be a much more interesting year I feel and my days will be much more than the previous "got up, showered, had breakfast, went to work, had a challenging day, came back from work exhausted, fell asleep.... etc." Richard and I plan to set up a "Last of the Summer Wine" scenario but currently we are arguing over who is more like "Compo". However, is there any doubt about Nora Batty? One word - skips!

NO INTERNET CONNECTION AT PRESENT

Postings are currently suspended as following a lightning strike in our village, my router is not working and I am, therefore, unable to put regular posts on this site until after the new router arrives (next week). This post is being put on by using Klynn's wireless connection

In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR!