Back home and back to work

I've had a short break from the blog deliberately.  I decided that I wasn't going to just write all my frustrations about the divorce, or lack of it, and in particular my frustrations with simply how unreasonable one woman can be.  Fortunately for my sanity (and that of my very nice man), she has started to see sense and we are making some progress.  I say "we" despite it being nothing to do with me, but it does seem to dominate our lives. 

The break was also enforced by a long weekend in Cornwall.  It was really nice, we were so very lucky with the weather, with one day of slight showers in an otherwise sunny day and another day of glorious sunshine, even catching the sun on my nose – in February.  But the lasting memory I did come away with is that Cornwall is full of people who have an incredibly strong sense of entitlement.  I don't want to offend anyone, and indeed most of this is not aimed Cornish locals or "normal" people, but the people who take a house (or own a second home which they occasionally visit) and spend a week or more lording themselves around the place.  They drive inconsiderately, take up all the path when walking, express their opinions loudly to anyone who is in the vicinity, and generally spoil the place for everyone else.  I will confess that I judge people by looking at their clothes and listening to their accents – and can admit that not everyone who (female) is sporting the Breton look and has a cut glass accent is going to spoil my holiday but it did seem that most of them did.

I think my favourite was the woman who was wearing the stripy top, knee-high boots over skinny jeans and had a short silk scarf tied around her neck.  She spoke very loudly on her mobile phone for the entire journey on the Rock-Padstow foot ferry and announced to everyone how good the hotel was, how much work the builders had done on the cottage and how pleased everyone seemed to be that she'd got engaged last night (hapless fiancé was accompanying her on this trip).  And we had the misfortune to get the same ferry back when she was regaling someone with how wonderful the accessories were that she'd found in Rick Stein's quaint little shop.  I could at least take pleasure in noting that this quaint shop had dispatched her with a paper carrier bag which was nicely disintegrating in the rain.

I shouldn't be judgmental, I realise, but this sort of thing brings out the worst in me.  I'm not poor, at all by national standards, I have a responsible, well-paid job, my views and opinions are sought at work by senior colleagues – but once I'm out of the office, people like this manage to make me feel inferior to them. 

This doesn't mean I'm not going away again – we need to have more nice breaks.  I just might have to invest in my own stripy top first!

Weekend, much welcomed

So after a tiring (but not remarkable) week at work, I was looking forward to the weekend and managed to have a really enjoyable one.  Friday was due to be unremarkable but my very nice man was working from home so we were able to have some time together and also catch up with a friend at lunchtime as well as him getting done more reading than he could in the office.  We had a quiet Friday evening, cuddling on the sofa whilst watching American comedies and a very early night, both falling asleep before 10pm. 

Saturday we went to the Travel Show at Earl's Court.  If I didn't get free tickets from a magazine subscription, I wouldn't go as I don't think it's worth £12 entrance unless you knew you were going to book a trip that was highly discounted.  However, as I don't pay to get in, and I pay to commute into London each day so travel at the weekend doesn't cost any extra, I think it's an okay day out.  We went to listen to the photography talks and these were really good - particularly because there was a separate theatre for photography this year so they could give more time to those.  The celebrities weren't really an attraction, so we didn't bother with any other talks but did browse some stands and also get a half-price guidebook for my next exciting trip - El Salvador in November.  You may not be surprised that there aren't many books on El Salvador so I have 90 pages from Footprint which give me a little bit of information to help getting around.  We were pretty tired yesterday too so got home for dinner and more American TV (crime shows on a Saturday) and another early night.

This morning we woke up to lots of snow and with a heavy heart, my very nice man put off his daughter who's been living with him Sunday evenings to Thursday mornings and has booked a hotel near work because he's got to be there all week as he's leading work with lots of visitors expecting to see him.  He's headed off to get there before dark and whilst we've had a nice day, breakfast and late lunch together, with him going home in between to get a week's worth of clothes, it wasn't at all what we had planned. 

Myself, I've also got to think about work tomorrow - a little bit of snow gives a lot of scope for public transport to go wrong.  We were lucky on Saturday - partly by design because we didn't want to stay out too late - but reading comments on various websites, I can see people on my line were stuck in London waiting for trains on Saturday night and there have been delays today too.  I'm not foolish enough to think that I'm so important I have to be there tomorrow but I have a team and need to set an example. 

I'm posting this with a nervous eye on the rugby - Wales is in the lead with seconds to go.  Can we hold on - that'll be a nice end to a pleasant but somewhat odd weekend!