Nicki the dog goes rasta

Spent a very relaxing weekend at the parents house after the first week of my new job. And what a well-deserved period of non-work it was too. The work is difficult (being the newbie) and I'm learning loads and don't feel as though I'm pulling my weight - though i suppose that will change in time as I get to learn new processes and routines.

Nicki, AKA Noodles, Lynn's new dog, did it dancehall stylee with her new rasta hat, worn, aherm, firmly, on her head. Just caught her before she flipped it!

Supernanny

I'm only writing this cos its on telly at the mo. d
Does anyone else find Supernanny, aka Jo Frost, really, really sexy?

I'm married to a big girl and find that mostly I'm drawn to the corpulant side of femalehood, but I reckon than if I wasn't a chubby-chaser I'd find Ms Frost a bit of a lust-magnet.

Trip to Tallinn

Got back from Tallinn last week. Estonia was great and I'd recommend it to a friend. Sadly (unless you're Estonian) its not a cheap city any more and tourist prices are about 10 percent less than London suburban - beer about £2.50 a pop, a good meal is about £20-25 a head. Here are a few pictures I took on the mobile. When I can be arsed I'll post some picture of the soviet style flatblocks I took on the proper camera.



Charge your battery with an Estonian Red Bull clone. Not a bad representation of a Duracell-esque cell.


The view from our hotel. Enhanced a wee bit on the Mac, but quite a nice colour palette I reckon.


The ornate, and somewhat gorgeous pink Russian cathedral in Toompea, the hill at the centre of the Old Town, a prime qualtiy bit of medieval real estate, though the church dates from the early 20th century.


A view of the lower town from the top of Toompea


The centre of the old town - Town Hall Square. Fan-bloody-tastic architecture and postively bursting with atmosphere. This has to be the most photogenic city we've been too, other than maybe Krakov, which I've possibly spelt wrong.

So what was Tallinn like? Different, espensive, surprising, not so much ex-Eastern Europe, but more up-and-coming Nordic/Scandinavian. If it weren't for the housing developments on the outskirts whcih comprise at least 200 tower blocks, then you could almost be in olde worlde Sweden or Finland. Worth a trip before it gets even more expensive and EasyJet certainly don't overcharge - I think we paid £60 return each, so a wee bargain.

We stayed at the Metropol Hotel, a 3 star. Comfortable without being luxurious and missing a few basic staples which I'd expect from a hotetl of this class - no coffee making facility or shampoo/soap in the bathroom. Beds get a high mark though and the room itself was about the same as a Premier Travel Inn. Bang for buck ration was fair though we've done better (I'd recommend the rather wonderful communist throwback for anyone travelling to Krakov, known as the Start. Walls stinking of cabbage, as though they had absorbed years of stinking condesation, but clean, cheap at £8 per night and with coffee machines too). A basic but very comfortable place if you don't mind a 20 minute trip into the centre by tram).

Three days before my new job

Am I nuts?

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Could it be the job from hell dressed up in Prada?

We'll see.

In just over three days time.

Plenty of space in which to shit myself blue.

I've left my job!

My last day at at my current place of work came to an end on Friday. Nearly 11 years of service and I can't say I'm sad to leave.

I'll be missing some people, but since I decided when creating this blog not to namecheck my friends, especially those connected with work, by name, I can't, regrettably, give this item of somewhat significant news much justice. If you're one of them and should stumble across this blog, my thanks probably extends to you.

Work has become a hotbed of politics of late. Too much politics, too much (and ever-expanding) layers of upper management re-arranging deckchairs as the Titanic drifts towards the iceberg. I'm not saying the my ex-employer's future will be end in tears or even be especially bleak - events tend to ride themselves out - but working there isn't the same as it was for the first five years or so. As everywhere now, an honest day's work cannot be had without involving huge swathes or corporate bollocks intervening, and to honest, I just don't care enough about them to be arsed. There have been some large holes in this blog where I've simply been too demotivated or simply depressed to write anything, and much of this is as a direct result from what was going on in the workplace.

Despite this, I have come across some fine people there. Some of these lovely colleagues, the ones who didn't get away before I did anyhow, gave me what I would have most wanted, having just about all the material goodies I reckon I need in life.

Food.

Salami, pork pies, Harribo sour jellies which I can't get enough of, and cider. They know me so well. In a vain nod towards the healthy lifestyle I don't possess (or ever will), they even included an apple. Wasn't there enough health-promoting Magners already?

So fairwell old employer. Hello new one (in two weeks' time). More news on that when it happens.