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Next stop...Egypt

That's what’s planned to be happening this Friday. Yeah, I'm bound for the land of the Pharaohs!

To be honest I couldn't tell you where about in Egypt I am going - all I know is that it’s at a resort by the Red Sea, and I could hazard a guess that I will be leaving from Gatwick.

Some may find my total lack of knowledge about this quite surprising, but all I can say is that I had absolutely no hand in organising it - the only thing I did was stump up the cash. All the other stuff was sorted out by someone else. As you have probably guessed by now, this is a family holiday.

What are my feelings about the whole thing? At the moment pretty neutral - a lot of time this week has been spent trying to squeeze in things like packing and buying sun block between all my other activities, which hasn't proved that easy. Also, as this is going to be very much a beach holiday, all there is to do is reading, so I will have to bring quite a few books along. Don't get me wrong though, I am not totally against the idea.

If I can get a web connection I may even attempt a few posts from out there, so if I can, watch this space - if not, speak to you all soon!

Moving on up?

I suppose the above title could be said to be jumping the gun a bit - all I am in the position to do at the moment is to move on - the problem is I am 'clinically fed up' with my time at the Weybridge Voluntary Organisation.

While I really like the people there, the way the management is treating me and my mate is, to put it bluntly, beginning to severely hack me off. When we joined we were getting training for the role we wanted to do, but for the last few months we have been re-assigned into positions that we did not really sign up to. What's more, they don't seem to be that open in communicating with us about how to work towards getting the roles we want, so my gut instinct is that a political decision has been made to keep us sidelined.

In theory there are a few options available - there is another nearby voluntary organisation, and a commercial i.e. non-voluntary company in Guildford that both roughly do the same sort of thing. As I have not had the time to look into making an application to either of these, I wouldn't really have anywhere to go if I did leave. At the moment walking out is all I can do.

I guess I had better get applying...

Starts Here?

The weekend certainly does - that’s just a question of time. Whether or not any of my other planned endeavors will come to anything, I can't be so sure.

A lot of the stuff lined up is admittedly just run of the mill chores - things like setting up my replacement mobile phone will never set the world on fire, but need to be done. The date is a different kettle of fish entirely though.

 A hot one?

This came about from my first foray into speed dating last year, where I matched with one of the woman. We arranged to meet up before, but she had to cancel at the last minute due to work commitments. All I can say is that we are due to meet up tomorrow afternoon, and the venue is somewhere in Hampton Court.

At the moment I feel totally Ok about it, i.e. no nerves yet - I just hope she doesn't cancel again!

Wish me luck!

Avat-aaargh!

The evening was full of Eastern promise. Or was that SW London promise? Whatever it was full of I was looking forward to it. On the cards was a trip to the legendry Rotunda Cinema complex in Kingston-upon-Thames, and myself and three friends were all set to see a 3D screening of James Cameron's budget busting epic Avatar.

 Believe the hype?

The more observant amongst you may have noticed a shed load of snow that had fallen over the UK on previous night, and was making a pretty determined effort at stacking up throughout most of the day. As the afternoon wore on, these weather conditions were the biggest potential threat to the success of the evening to my mind. I have been snowed in at New Malden before, and as the afternoon wore on, I found the condition of the snowfall a constant distraction.

In the early afternoon myself and a mate braved a hike on the frozen steppes of Wimbledon Common as an alternative to a run in Richmond Park, which for obvious reasons, was knocked on the head. The snow, which despite being thick, crisp and even on the Common and in Cannizaro Park, did not seem to affect the road and rail links even though the pavements were a bit slippy. As I made my way back to New Malden I found this fact to be encouraging sign. My confidence was shaken a bit later on when the snow started falling thick and fast at around 4.30pm.

I got a text from my friend at 6pm. She and another friend were making their way to Kingston by bus and wanted to meet at the Rotunda at 6.30pm. The trip was on! I fired up the Rover, and was pleased to find that the roads were no problem - I stuck to the main roads, and the short journey down the Kingston and London Roads was problem free. The only fly in the ointment was due to parking - the Cattle Market car park was shut so I had to park in a road just off the Surbiton facing side of the Fairfield. It wasn't much of a problem as it added only a few minutes of walking time on my journey to the Rotunda Complex. I was there dead on half past six.

My friends arrived shortly afterwards. One of them called friend No3 on her mobile, who was on her way. I felt a sense of relief - things were going to plan! This feeling was dealt a fatal blow when we reached the foyer to buy our tickets. A notice informed us that the Cinema was closed due to the adverse weather conditions. The snow had thwarted my social plans once again!

The evening wasn't a total disaster. We ended up having a meal in the nearby Pizza Express which was very pleasant, but it didn't quite make up for missing the film.

I hate snow.

End of year audit

I don't know about you but I have found the big 09 has flown by. It just seems like yesterday that I was queuing in the cold outside of Jamie Oliver's Restaurant in Kingston for a joint birthday meal - that happened all the way back in January!

 Ringing in 2010...

As years go it certainly had its ups and downs. I spent the large part of the year with worries about my job - for a time I was considered to be one of those employees who were 'At Risk', but luckily I managed to find a project just in time.

My squash progress has overall ended up on the positive side of the ledger - I spent virtually the whole of the year in the lower Gold League, but ended up being poised to drop back down to the Silver ones - looks like quite a lot of work needs to be done.

Pool-wise I certainly feel very much like the Jedi - the last time I played I won by the convincing margin of 5-0!

The old love life still needs a bit of a kick start - perhaps something to concentrate on in 2010...

Other highlights were my trip to Copenhagen - this was truly awesome despite going on my own, and joining the Weybridge Voluntary Organisation and discovering Running were things that made life that bit more interesting.

Soon I'll be off to the exotic climb of Worcester Park to see in the New Year with some friends, so it just remains for me to wish you all a happy and safe 2010.

Happy New Year!

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