Dear Fargate and high street stores,

I realise that Christmas is approaching, Hallowe’en notwithstanding. The council have begun to put up the street decorations ready for the official lighting up ceremony next month. The man with the hot chestnut stand has taken up daily residence at the bottom of Fargate. Window displays include spray on fake snow, and Christmas decorations are hanging inside. I think I even heard the strains of Christmas songs filtering from one of the shops. I appreciate that you’re stocking up in plenty of time to get as much commercial benefit as possible from the season. After all, as the lady with the clipboard who accosted me in the supermarket tried to impress upon me, there are only 9 shopping weeks until Christmas, and wouldn’t I like to take part in their Christmas savings plan? No. Most emphatically not.

You see, I have no problem with Christmas. Season of good cheer and all that. What I’m not so keen on is the way you’ve stacked up the Christmas crackers like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in the centre of an aisle, no less. Or the way you’ve crammed all the usual stock into an obscure corner of the store and spread the Christmas merchandise everywhere else. Trying to find toilet roll and washing up liquid in their usual locations and coming across tins of Quality Street and tinsel isn’t too helpful - particularly when your staff need to think for five minutes before they remember where the original items have been shunted to. On a final note, to Marks and Spencers. Whilst I’m sure you feel your new store card is marvellous and competitive, no amount of pointing out the myriad benefits of it is going to make me want one. And I don’t care what your adverts say - &more should be pronounced “and-more”, not “a-more-ay”.

Christmas season. I love it really. Less commercialism and more snow would be nice, though. What’s that weather forecast looking like?

My alarm clock went off at 7.20am this morning, as per usual. Stumbling out of bed, I logged on quickly to download email and speak to Rob (aforementioned close friend in NY state) online, and announced I was going back to bed for quarter of an hour and I would be back briefly when I surfaced again. So very not a morning person. Going back into my bedroom, I changed my clock for 15 minutes later, and got back into bed. I was woken up by the phone ringing. I had enough time to register that my clock said 8.15am and mentally curse that I was going to be late, then I answered the phone. It was Rob, telling me he’d wondered why I wasn’t up and that I was going to be late. I was confused as to why I hadn’t heard my alarm, when I spotted that my computer clock said 8.00am. Realisation dawned - I hadn’t set my alarm clock for 15 mins later, I’d forwarded my clock by 15 mins. Relief and gratefulness to Rob ensued. It’s handy knowing someone in an earlier timezone, especially when they care enough to make sure you’re not late for work!

I know, it’s been ages. I kept meaning to update, really I did. I just never got round to it. So between now and last time I have been:

1. Suffering with a cold for 2 days last week.

2. Spending money in Monsoon last weekend to buy an absolutely gorgeous but expensive £150 dress (me, in a dress!) for a formal charity ball at the end of month. My sister Jude came up to give a second opinion on the dress, which I’d tried on before but not decided on. Ok, I’d fallen in love with it, but I think I needed confirmation that it looked good. Full length, satin, purplish-brown, astoundingly low-cut at the back. Realised a backless bra was most definitely in order. I’d never actually come across one before. This was a bad thing, as I discovered the multi-way bra is an evil, confusing, scary contraption. My first thought was ‘oh my God, I’m supposed to wear this?’, closely followed by ‘ok, how the hell do I put it on?’. Initial attempts resulted in the fear that I may put an eye out. Got it figured now. Small print on the packaging read ‘not recommended for wearing longer than 8 hours’. I think if anyone was planning on that they should be sectioned under grounds of unstable mental health.

3. Working a lot in the evenings at the theatre bar. Not conducive to any kind of social life, but money is a good thing.

4. Talking lots to a friend I’ve fast become very close to.

5. Going out for drinks and a long girly chat with recently re-acquainted friend-and-housemate-from-uni Ness. Long overdue and much needed/appreciated on both sides.

6. Wishing little sister Jude a very happy 21st birthday (last Wednesday). Not so little any more!

7. Looking forward to a long, relaxing, work-free weekend - my first in a month!

Radmila, via one of Dad’s links, has been asking ‘what’s in your bag’?

I never used to carry a handbag when I was younger. I always associated them with responsibility and grownup-edness. I slobbed around with a half empty rucksack, or just abused coat and trouser pockets. I’ve used a handbag for about two years now, and I don’t think I could cope without it. As a result, it’s become the black hole of handbags. Things go in there and are never seen again (until I remember to clean out the bag at six-monthly or so intervals). At the moment, the contents are:

- 3 dead batteries
- keys
- my tram pass
- a bus ticket dated 26 Sept
- a prescription
- a floppy disk
- a book of 1st class stamps
- a quartz arrowhead
- a black biro
- a birthday card
- a small roll of brown sticky parcel tape
- Stephen King’s Firestarter
- my meds
- a letter from a friend
- my university ID card
- my passport
- a receipt dated 26 August
- my cheque book
- my pink A5 notepad full of random diary type non-bloggable scribblings
- 2 letters from the mortgage company, one recent and one dated 18 July 2002
- job ads/descs for 3 jobs I applied for a couple of months ago but didn’t get
- a letter dated 31 July inviting me for a job interview
- my last 9 payslips and a tax slip
- a red plastic paperclip
- a supermarket receipt with a smudged date
- my money purse

Maybe it’s time to clean it out again.