Nice R.A.K!

Well hello and very much a very good morning to you, my little monkey socks. Right deep breath in everyone . . .and hold it . . . keep holding it . . . and breathe out and relax. Maybe finish it off with a new big stretch and a good shake . . . Sorry, I was a little distracted by the thought of you stretching there. Am I the only one who finds the act of stretching a little bit, you know, *hushed tone* sexy? Sorry. Right, where was I? . . . Ah yes! You can't beat a good shake after a big stretch you know! No really! You should try it!

Well, a brand spanking new Thursday (Friday Eve) has arrived with us. Just a thought, why do people describe stuff as being brand "spanking" new? . . . No? . . . No, me either! Maybe it's a childbirth related thing because you used to have to slap them when they come out. Do they still do that? Although that always seemed a bit harsh to me. "Hello new person welcome to the world that you are going to live in for the rest of your life, let's make the first thing that happens to you a swift slap!" I know why they do it, it just seems a little unkind that it had to be the babies first experience of the world. It seems to me that a persons first experience of the world should be a little kinder.

Which does bring me on rather nicely for a change to what I wanted to talk about today. R.A.K or Random Acts of Kindness. You see I don't claim to be able to change the world, but I do claim, that if we all did tiny things to make other peoples life seem a little better, together we actually could. You see it doesn't take much to do something kind or a little bit thoughtful. It just needs to be enough to make the person it's aimed at think "Aww, that was nice" So really it could be anything! If someone in the house has come downstairs and has just announced they have forgotten something they want to bring down, offer to nip upstairs and get it. Or if they have just sat down, leap up and ask if they want a brew?

Of course it works even better if the person you are doing it for is a complete stranger. Just give up your place in the shopping queue to let them go first. (So long as they don't have a stacked trolley full obviously, that would be foolish) Hold a door open for someone. Or if you're at a car park, offer to pay for the person behind you in the queue for the ticket machine (If you have a spare 80p or £1.20. Or if you're out, offer to buy the bar tender a drink. Or at a restaurant make the tip a little more than you would do normally. There are literally hundreds of tiny little things we can do for other people to make them think "Awww, that was nice!". Even if you think they look grumpy and look like they don't deserve it, those are probably the people who need it the most I reckon.

You see if we all did that, the world would be a much nicer place, people would smile more, people would be more friendly. It would also have a knock on effect and it would make people want to do something small and nice for another person too, because they know how they felt when it happened to them. So as you can see a little bit of thoughtfulness and nice goes an awful long way.

So I hope this Friday Eve, treats you well. Do look after yourselves and each other (haven't said that for a while!) and go and do something tiny, but nice for someone else.

LARGE CARL HUGS to you all.
xx

Wednesday already!!

Well would you look at that, it's gone and turned into Wednesday already! It's all gone rather quickly so far this week hasn't it? Which is of course a good thing because we have gone back to the five-day week after a lovely couple of four-dayers the last couple of weeks. Still if it carries on at this rate it'll be The Blessed Friday before we know it! HUZZAH! *Raises mug of coffee in a flagon type way, before quaffing his Milicano*

So how have you been? You been coping with everything ok this week so far? Good! Although it was all a bit stressy on Monday wasn't it. Still we're over that hump now. Go on shake it all out, give yaself a brisk rub down and pat ya cheeks (Any cheeks you wish of course! pfnaar pfnaar!). Then find a mirror and blow a loud raspberry at yourself. I promise it will give you an inner smile! Oooer Mrs! See that's much better isn't it!

We had the Auditor in yesterday at work. All a bit scary, he's the bod who has to come round and check up on us to see whether or not we still deserve our lovely certificates in Quality and Environmental wonderfulness. It was like having the head teacher in the classroom for the day. Whenever I talked to him I almost felt I should be curtseying and calling him Sir all the time. Still he was actually very jolly and we passed with flying colours again. Phew!

I tell you what though, I think the TV and the papers need to turn down their Mrs Thatcher button a bit now. Yes it's very sad that she has died, but then it is also very sad when anyone dies! There is always someone that they leave behind and to that person it's like the world disappearing from beneath their feet! It is a world changing event to those people concerned. I just think that now the TV and the papers have had their say about it all and they should just give it a bit of a rest now. Otherwise there's a danger that people will get fed up with it all and it will all start getting a bit disrespectful. Which would be a shame. I realise that they will all want to cover the frankly HUGE funeral planned for next Wednesday, and that's fine you would expect them to. I'm just not sure that we need to have all the media coverage about Mrs Thatcher for the whole period between now and next Wednesday! Right, I promise that's the last Mrs Thatcher discussion from me for a bit.

Right, well time to get out there and face our Wednesdays together. Here's hoping the rest of the week is going to be a brisk as the first half has been!
Tight squeezes to you all. xx

Spare a thought!

Phew! Good morning to you! Well it's pretty yucky out there this morning and no mistake. I know it's April and the song does go "Drip drip drop little April Shower" but to be honest, singing about it, doesn't really make it any less yucky. Although on the plus side, yes there IS one, I've just thought of it! It is a lot more warmer than it has been. Ok, so it's not quite shorts weather yet I grant you, but on the other hand I did swap the big quilty thick coat for the black waterproof thin one. Sorry, don't know why I'm banging on about the weather, you've got a window you can see for yourself! (Although do make sure you're properly covered up before flinging back the curtains and having a look out the window. Don't want to go around scaring the neighbours. Unless of course that is exactly what you want to do, in which case fling away!)

I do feel I need to mention, in case you haven't heard, Maggie Thatcher died yesterday. Of course the only way you wouldn't of heard if if you are living in a cave in the middle of nowhere or are a resident in the Big Brother house, and as it's not on at the moment and if you were living in a cave, you wouldn't be reading this either, chances are that you have. I just think it's a shame and a bit of a sad reflection on us as a whole that some people think it's a good opportunity to air their views on how much they hated her!!

Look, we all know that some political choices she made and her 'no nonsense' approach to things in general made her unpopular, but let's not overlook the fact that she was human. She had a family and friends and people all around her who probably loved her very much. So it is a bit spiteful and cruel to say some of the things, that people have been saying, because you're not hurting her by saying them, you're hurting the people around her who are left behind, who had nothing what so ever to do with her leadership qualities! So before people bang on about her and paint her in a bad light, let's just think about what we say and how heartless and cruel it may seem to those around her who truly cared about her. The fact is you can say what you like about Mrs Thatcher, but whether you agreed with her or not, she was one of the strongest and one of the most iconic leaders this country of ours has ever had. Plus let's not forget, she was the first woman Prime Minister, which in itself is no mean feat!

Sorry, I'll get off my soap box at this point, it just saddens me when people just want to say things to be controversial and don't stop to think of those people they might be hurting by saying it. Plus of course, you've probably all heard far too much about Lady Thatcher as it is anyway.

Right well, I was going to talk the thankfully deep sleep I had last night, (without the use of pills) and the fact that I had a really weird dream about falling asleep and having a dream! (It was getting just like Inception, but without all the gravity changes and folding streets). Plus I was going to talk about the fact we have an Audit Person in today, all a bit nervous, it's like a Teacher coming in and checking on you! But I think I shall have to leave all that for another day now, having already taken up far too much of your time with my ramblings. So have yourself a fine Tuesday despite the weather! HUGE HUGS to you all.

Helloooooo Monday!

Good morning to you good Sir or Lady, I'm sorry I'm not really with it this morning (No you don't have to say, you're never with it anyway! RUDE!). I'm all out of sorts! Of course there is a perfectly good explanation for this! Still I trust that the weekend treated you well? Sadly mine seemed to misbehave a bit. Well Friday night was ok, didn't get up to anything sadly but it was nice and relaxing, so it fulfilled it's requirements sufficiently. It was Saturday night that played up for me. I had one of those nights that I'm sure we have all had, when you just can't sleep. There was no rhyme nor reason for it! (Always troubled me, that saying as well. I mean why would you have a rhyme for something, just because you couldn't explain it? Still I digress).

I had done all my usual bedtime routine stuff of course and I was doing the final part of reading a book till the point when you find yourself so tired that you start to have to read the lines twice, because you are having trouble keeping your eyes open. (If your were wondering, I'm re-reading Lords & ladies by Terry Pratchett, hilariously funny!) Normally when I get to this point, I can put my book down, turn over and sleep happens! Well Saturday night it didn't. The only cause I can possibly think of is that I did have a kind of nervous excitement going on, a bit like butterflies in the stomach. Although there was no rhyme for that either! Anyway I laid awake trying desperately to be asleep for quite some time, before I gave up and went downstairs to make a milky drink. (I don't know why we do that! I think it's something our Mothers teach us we must do if we can't sleep. I'm sure there is a Sciencey reason for it, sadly I don't know what that is.) So I had that and thought, thing will be fine now! They weren't. So I carried on being awake and wanting to sleep for hours and hours. I twisted and turned and tied myself up in the duvet, then flung off the duvet. Then tried to pull the duvet back on and grabbed the wrong bit so then I couldn't work out why the duvet was no longer fitting! So then you have to get out of bed and sort out the duvet, so it at least resembles a duvet again, before repeating the whole process.

I think it was around 3:45 I decided to get my little book light and start reading again, to see if I could convince my brain that I was starting my going to sleep routine from the beginning again, so it knew that it was supposed to be shutting off for the night (Of which there wasn't much of at this point!). Suffice to say I think I managed just under two hours of sleep on Saturday, which is rubbish!! Not at least because it makes ya brain all fuzzy the next day and it actually feels like your face hurts.

Anyway, I thought I would try and skip some of that drama last night and downed a couple of elephant strength sleeping pills. (No there's no need to be rude and make similarities between me and an elephant I thank you so very much indeed. RUDE!)

The pills did seem to work a treat though, sleeping did happen quite soon after me putting my book down. So in that respect they performed admirably. The only trouble is since my alarm went off this morning I'm still feeling asleep here! It's weird, I know I'm awake, what with all the moving around and looking at stuff I'm doing but my brain and face still feel like they are sound asleep! Which of course doesn't bode well for the rest of the day! As Garfield the cat quite rightly said on a number of occasions "Helloooooooo Monday!" Still I hope yours turns out ok, oh and sleep well tonight!

Give hugs a chance!

Blessings be upon your house and welcome to your most convivial of days. The Blessed Friday. Which of course has come round a lot sooner than normal this week. Although it was expected, so we don't need to rush about the house panicking and trying to tidy things up while running, or trying to hide our pants which are all hanging on the laundry clothes horse in the lounge by the radiator trying to get the darn things dry, because we still can't put anything outside to dry even though it's flippin April! So relax, have a nice big stretch, maybe a nice cup of tea, and an early morning biscuit! Yes that is allowed on a Friday, biscuits before breakfast, shocking I know, but there it is.

There, I trust we are all comfy now *looks around the room over top of some imaginary half moon spectacles* Good. I've brought in some lovely Lindt chocolate chicks for everyone in the office today, I was supposed to bring them in last Thursday of course, but with all the craziness that was happening here I'm afraid it totally slipped my mind. Still they are here now and I've just had some fun arranging them on everyone's desks peeping over keyboards or from behind telephones. Such fun! hehehe. Yes of course I shall pretend I have no idea how they got there, I do that every year! *claps hands and bounces with excitement*

Well it's all very doom and gloom in the news as always so I do try to ignore all those things in the most part. Especially with the North Korea shenanigans which seem to be building up to nastiness. The only good thing to come out of it of course hearing the name Ban Ki-moon on the radio and telly. (Always heard in my head as Banky Moon of course) He sounds like he should have his own childrens programme on CBBC. Mind you he always looks like such a lovely, smiley, friendly man as well, the kind of person you could easily hug!
Just the sort of person you need to sort out all the naughty people I reckon, because they'll see him and hear his name and just go "Awwwwww" then go in for a cuddle. Hugging is definitely the way forward into any peace process I reckon, first thing they should do in fact. Just go up to whoever is playing up with open arm and just tell them to come in for a hug. Maybe give the back of their head a little rub while you're doing it and just ask them what seems to be their problem. The world would be a much better place for it I reckon.

Right well, that's world put to rights once again, do have yourselves a frankly gorgeous weekend, however you spend it. Well as the bell for end of lessons has gone off, which is a signal for me and not for you to grab your coats and run off, (Sorry I went all teacher there for a bit) I'll see you back behind your desks bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on Monday!

Friday Eve already!

Good Morrrrning to you! Well would you look at that, if it isn't Thursday already, Or Friday Eve of course. Even weirder I think it actually feels like a Thursday as well today. Yesterday definitely felt more like a Tuesday though, so it seems in my mind at least I've missed out on a Wednesday. Still here we are anyway arrived safely. I suppose some of you lucky things are still off enjoying Easter Holidays with the kiddywinks? Well I say enjoying, probably more barely coping, this far along in the proceedings. Still not long now before they go back to school, so hang in there.

I can't believe it's now April, (The BIG Birthday month) and we are still having such rudeness as flurries of snow! Yes 'flurries' is a nice word, just a shame it it used to describe something we're frankly not that keen on this far along the year. I'm sure, around this time last year i had me shorts on! Honestly Great British Weather I think I should write "Could do better!" in your homework book! I might even put in a "See me after lesson" in there as well, and give it a very stern talking to about it's lack of effort. Then let it know it better jolly well buck it's ideas up or I shall be sending a letter home to it's parents!

Still it is Friday Eve and by the looks of things, it will start warming up slightly come the weekend. Phew! I've still got lot's to do here and a few "Screamers" have come in. Those are the jobs where you get next to no time to achieve masses of work because some clients are idiots and think that what they want just magically happens by the time they need it, no matter how short the time frame happens to be! Although of course, luckily for them I'm SO frankly stunning at my job, most of the time they do seem to get done! Nothing like blowing your own trumpet from time ti time I say. Well no one else offers to do it, so you may as well have a blast yourself ay!

Right, well, coffee is done, Ready Brek is done, time to crack on being simply magnificent I suppose! So I bid you 'adieu' and then lightly kiss you on all four cheeks!

Simnel Shenanigans

Deep breath in . . . and hold it . . . and breathe out slowly. There. That was a cleansing breath. A breath to signify the overcoming of the work hurdle that I have been struggling with for the last week and a half, even though it feels like it been a good month since I've manged to be behind my morning address reigns. I've missed you all SO much, here have a great big lift and spin hug, for they are the best kind ((((((SQUEEEEEEEEEEEZE!)))). I still have much to do of course just not quite so much of a muchness that it feels like it's too much! Ooo I've said much to much now and now it sounds weird. Sorry.

Well how the Dickens and his Devil are we? It's been SO long! I trust we all had a lovely Easter breaket? Where we celebrated the protracted suffering and death on the Cross of Jesus and his triumphant resurrection by eating mildly spiced fruit buns and chocolate eggs. No, I've never really understood the logic of that one either.

Still a couple of days added to the weekend is always welcome along with the mildly spiced fruit buns and chocolate. Oh and there's always Simnel Cake as well. Does anyone still make or have a Simnel Cake these days? Maybe that was back in the day when Easter used to feel a bit more like Christmas when it came around. It's true, Easter used to be a much bigger event in my eyes than it seems to be these days. It used to be like having a second Christmas, there would be big films on the telly, and Easter Specials! Then we'd all sit round and have a big Turkey dinner, just like Christmas, and people used to send cards and you'd get eggs from all your rellys. Now it's just seen as just another bank holiday. All be it one where shops can fill there shelves with Easter Eggs for two months beforehand, apart from the ones you are specifically trying to find of course, you'll never find them!

Sorry about that, cynical me just sneaked out for an airing there! I shall put him back in his box for another day. Still it's now Wednesday already, which is weird! It definitely feels more like a Tuesday, which means Friday will seem like a Thursday, so it will be like we're having another Good Friday on Saturday! Fab! Although I'm pretty sure we'll all be doing normal Saturday things, so the whole one day feeling like another may well cancel itself out by the time we get there! Thank goodness, it's exhausting!

Right well, that's enough of my muttering, before I bore you all to tears, when I've only been back for one day! Must let you get on I suppose. Plus I still have all the 'much' to deal with myself! See you tomorrow! Toodles!