I got an e-mail today to tell me that my planned holiday in August to the Middle East has been cancelled on account of the airport and all the roads I was to take having been bombed. Nothing like over-reaction to prove a pointless point!
The alternative is to do a safari type holiday in Namibia in September but it might be hard to get cheap flights at what is now (believe it or not) short notice and the holiday might cost a third more than my planned one. Ouch! Well, I'll have to wait and see. Nothing is decided as yet...
Friday
My company treated its staff to a free lunch at a local hotel, "The Landmark" in front of Marylebone station to celebrate various things. The hotel's Victorian architecture inside was truly amazing.
The main worry about company dos for most people is that we have allocated seating, so you never know who you are going to sit next to until you arrive and it's all a bit pot luck really as to whether or not you'll get someone interesting.
I struck lucky on Friday and we were having such a good time that my table was the last to be vacated at the end of the meal.
Then we all popped down to another bar in the basement where a board director had started up a tab. I'd honestly expected things to be crap and to be back in the office by three but then here I was at five pm heading down for more free drinks!
I was having a fabulous time, chatting away when something happened with someone who I had never had any contact with before that soured the entire evening for me.
Basically, a secretary of someone high up in the company asked me to get one of my colleagues to leave as she seemed to think that they were refusing to serve us further drinks if he didn't leave. I looked at the bar, a bit confused, as I could see people getting served and my colleague, though more drunk than I had seen him before, was the kind of person that stays friendly when drunk and was talking to someone at the time.
She didn't like the fact that I didn't see what was wrong and said that if I wasn't going to do anything then she was going to call security to have him removed!
I asked her why she would consider getting a colleague removed in such a manner. She started asking what my name was and when I asked her why, she walked off in a huff. Read into that what you will. I was quite happily chatting away to someone when all this happened and now I felt distracted by what had happened.
So I went back over, we made up, said it was all to do with the drink and my colleague in the mean time was persuaded to leave.
We all decide en masse to head off to another venue anyway, so I make a quick stop in the gents, come back out and overhear this secretary (PA, whatever) talking to the two most senior people in the company present about what had happened.
Her making up had not been heartfelt and now she wanted to escalate the situation further! All because she hadn't got her way! *sigh*
It wasn't worth it. I walked out and went home, strolling through Hyde Park as the sun set. It was well dark by the time I had got home and I had hoped to walk off the incident but I still felt as if a brilliant day had turned to shit.
Saturday
Went to Kensal Green cemetery where my parents are buried. It was a lovely day. Blue skies and sunshine. I walked all the way there from home. It takes about an hour.
The cemetery was so peaceful. My mum and dad's graves are located in different parts of the cemetery as he died in 1991 and was buried with his first wife whilst my mum just four years ago was buried on the other side of the cemetery.
I stayed for an hour cleaning up the graves and roasting away in the sun (at my dad's grave anyway, as my mum's in under the shadow of a large tree whilst dad's is out in the open.)
Then got a train into London but found myself too lethargic to really do anything. Strolled around Leicester Square. The queue for Superman Returns at the Odeon West End was huge, so I had to rule that out as a place to go to chill out.
I decided to head home, recharge my batteries and then go to my local cinema, in Ealing, to see the film instead. It was awesome! Glad I made the effort.
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