BNP on Question Time

A final day this week in Dorking. As we are moving shortly back into the main building I spent a good bit of the day clearing out a lot of old papers which I don't think I need any more. I had lunch with Nigel G followed by a nice latte. Tonight we had three for the House Group - not many but as Sara is feeling very unwell with her bronchitis and went to bed very early coughing badly. We continued to study the First Letter to Timothy. Tonight also saw the screening of the controversial Question Time with Nick Griffin, the Leader of the BNP. Opinion has been divided as to whether this should have been allowed to happen or not. He is, after all, the leader of a political party with 12 councillors and 2 MEPs. I think it was a good move as he came across very uncomfortable and shifty and was very unconvincing in denying some of the racist statements he has made previously and which can be seen on YouTube. I believe that the credibility of the BNP was severely damaged by tonight's programme.

Hot Toddys are the order of the day

In Salisbury today and found it so difficult to wake up. Mornings are so dark now - at least when we put the clocks back on Sunday mornings will be a little lighter for a time but I shall then be driving home from Dorking (and Salisbury for that matter) in the dark. Golf will be confined to weekends only - but Richard is up for a few days golf over the winter so that we can keep our eye and swing in. The weather was wet again today. It was also the day of Tim's funeral so I hoisted the Union flag at half-mast - to be raised to full mast at 4 p.m. after the funeral and to mark the point during the Battle of Trafalgar (it is Trafalgar Day today) when Nelson was told that the battle was won. I took my lunch break between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. today on account of back to back meetings right through normal lunchtime. I met up with Sara in Starbucks as we both had errands to run in town this morning. This afternoon I gave a presentation to HR staff on the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations or TUPE. It had been useful attending the Employment Law Conference in London last week as I was able to use some of the material (particularly recent case law) for my own presentation. When I got home this evening we had a houseful of children as Sara had agreed to look after Louise's boy and Klynn and Susan's girls because their parents were stuck in traffic or were picking up family members from the airport. Sara cooked us sweet and sour pork with boiled rice for supper. She is suffering badly with a toothache and nasty bronchial cough but has antibiotics. I fixed her up a couple of "hot toddys" with a generous dose of Scotch whisky in each. Off to Dorking again tomorrow so a fairly early night I think.

More laptop frustration

A second consecutive day in Dorking - quite an unusual occurrence these days. The weather was wet and miserable as I left home today. I arrived at the office at 9.45 a.m. and immediately my laptop was taken out of action in order for it to be re-installed with Windows 2007. The whole process taking two and a half hours which meant I was unable to do any online work. I and Belinda and Matt looked over the CVs for Karen's temporary replacement and made a short-list of five which I took over to HR. I joined Anthony, Matt and Michael for lunch - tasking over my packed lunch from home and this afternoon joined in a teleconference on one of our income protection claims. I left the office fairly promptly a little after 5 p.m. and arived home at just before 7 p.m. Sara went out tonight to one of her best Virgin Vie clients and is hoping to bring back some big orders. Tonight I completed Complex's Annual return on line and printed off all the essential documents for our holiday arrangements. Mary played a game on Sara's laptop and I watched a poor film based on the Loch Ness Monster - with American Scottish accents - whilst writing up the blog.

A "tyring" day in Dorking

Off to Dorking today following the settling of my case in Manchester. So glad that I haven't got to lose a day this week going up and coming back from Manchester. In Dorking I was able to bash on with some paperwork and prepare files for Belinda to nurse in my absence. Whilst in the mood to deal with all those niggling things I rang Companies House about the filing of Complex's Annual Return and went at lunchtime to Kwik Fit in Dorking to sort out my leaking front nearside tyre. When I was told that there would be a 2 hour wait I decided to leave it until later in the day and go back at about 4 p.m. - which I duly did. I was informed that not only did I have a leaking tyre on the front but two tyres on the back bordering on the illegal. The whole replacement and repair would take an hour so I walked into Dorking to find Costa Coffee. Whilst on my way I had a phone call from Kwik Fit telling me that they couldn't find the special alloy wheel nut. I had to walk back to delve into the car and find it for them - in the net under the passenger foot-well. I then returned into Dorking town centre and had my caramel latte. Saras had a meeting to go to in Southampton tonight and, fortunately, I got back in time to pick Mary up from her drama class in the village hall. Once back we watched "Walking with Monsters" together on the Eden Channel before she went to bed. Tesco's arrived with our weekly grocery delivery at 9 p.m. and Tom and I put them away. I then sat down to write this blog before watching a programme on the Titanic's sister, RMS Britannic.

Another Sporting and Churching Sunday

Awoke at 7 a.m. this morning and dozed for a little while. I remembered that Mary was singing a solo in the church choir this morning and I was reading the lesson. I showered and made tea as usual and had a bowl of cereal. Mustering the troop, Mary and I drove on ahead to church. Unfortunately, I missed Mary's solo as I had to leave just before the end of the service to take Tom to his football match at Barry's Field against Dinton Juniors. Tom and I got to the football ground at 10.30 a.m. and he ran off to join his team mates. I popped in to the Pavilion to use the toilet and smelled the wonderful aroma of cooking bacon. Following the smell I found myself in the function room where Shaun and Peter Y were chatting, making bacon butties and drinking tea. They asked me to join them and I had a second breakfast. We chatted about such diverse topics as the fortunes of the Saints and the worrying statistic that there are more suicides per thousand population in South Wiltshire than anywhere else. According to Peter, the national average rate is 4 per thousand whereas in South Wiltshire it is 19 per thousand! Tom played well this morning passing the ball well and accurately and it is a pity he didn't get any goals to show this statistically. Clarendon Juniors (Tom's team) beat Dinton 11-0! Should have been a goal for each team member then! I heard a number of the parents on the sidelines remark on Tom's skills which made me feel very proud. I was absolutely hopeless at football as a schoolboy so he certainly hasn't inherited his skills from me! One sport I have always been reasonably good at is golf. After a typical Sunday lunch of tacos! Richard called and we went off to Wilton for nine holes of golf. He had a new set of clubs and used this as an excuse for some of his mis-shots and over-hits. Although I haven't played for about three weeks I was pleased to go round in 45 although I didn't get any pars today. Tonight I went to the Deanery Mission Service at Farley. The Deanery Mission Project this year has been Save the Children in Ethiopia. Over £3,500 was donated from the Deanery churches this evening with still more to come. I spoke to Mum briefly on the phone this evening. She seemed to be well - but suffering from the usual aches and pains. We spoke briefly about holidays and the usual topic of the fortunes of Grimsby Town FC and Southampton FC which seem very different at the moment. Tomorrow I am going to Dorking - my case in Manchester having settled.

A fairly lazy Saturday/Saints go marching on

A bit of a lazy morning today - spent the first part of it looking out my casual holiday clothing - much of it seems to have shrunk since I last wore it! Mary didn't go to ballet today so we all spent the day at home - I did some tidying up and shredding documents. Also paid some bills via the Internet. Saints beat Oldham Athletic away this afternoon 3-1 and they are now off the bottom of League 1. That makes it three wins in a row in the league - two away and one at home. They are currently four points from getting out of the relegation zone and nine points from the play-offs - indeed if it wasn't for their 10 point deduction at the beginning of the season they would be in the play-offs area now. I have every confidence that they will survive and end up well this season. Alan Pardew does seem to know what he is doing. This evening we all watched Field of Dreams again - the children for the first time. It gets better every time I see it. We ended the evening watching a drama documentary on the "Unsinkable Titanic". I watched about half of it and then recorded the rest to watch tomorrow before going to bed.

Down in Devon

I awoke at 7 a.m. this morning and realised that I was due to be in a meeting in Exeter at 10 a.m. After a hasty shower, tea and toast breakfast and a quick gathering of my papers, I was off to Devon. The Porton Down road is currently closed for improvements so I had to drive up to the Wallops and join the A303 at Cholderton. The weather was misty and drizzling. I had a good journey down to Devon and arrived at my appointment with our solicitors in Southernhay Gardens, Exeter at 10.10 a.m. This meeting was very successful and was followed by another meeting with firm at 12.15 p.m. Following that meeting I drove to our offices at Clyst St. Mary and stayed in the office until about 3.30 p.m. and then drove back to Winterslow. Sara had taken Adam up to Heathrow to catch his flight back to Thailand (with Mary). Tom and I went across to the Village Hall to take part in the Top Team Quiz and joined Elizabeth, Cynthia and Richard as the "Holy Huddle" team. We started off well but trailed off in the end. Sara joined us later and won the Head and Tails Game and Mary was given some chocolate eclairs for helping as a "runner" later on. It was a great evening and we had quite a few laughs. Richard and I retired to the pub after we'd help put all the chairs away. Sara seems extremely tired again tonight but we watched a couple of episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus before she finally took herself off to bed.