Birthday weekend

It was my birthday last Friday and I had a lovely day and weekend following. We both took the day off and pottled round doing nice touristy things on a pretty,wintry day. We went away for a night in a hotel and for a smart meal and it was romantic and lovely. Nice to have a bit of luxury for a change. It was also nice to receive loads of cards and a fair few pressies to open on the morning - I felt like a kid again. So, thanks to those of you who sent me a card - they were much appreciated.

Saturday was NOT luxurious! It was back to business as usual. Rich tells me that it is a tradition to go to the Sheffield Wednesday away game nearest to your birthday so we went down to Milton Keynes! I have been to MK before but am not, I'm afraid, impressed. I find it very soulless, something about all the roundabouts and the houses and businesses being hidden away in their little grids.

The MK Dons stadium was also pretty soulless, new and with the appearance of being half-finished. It was conveniently situated next to a giant Asda but miles away from any pubs or hint of an atmosphere. It was also, as are all these new stadiums, flipping freezing. Our feet were like blocks of ice until our third goal went in. At that point, we had been bouncing up and down so hard that we must have de-frosted!

So, Sheffield Wednesday came through for my birthday with a cracking 1-4 away win. We've now had 6 wins out of 6 which is pretty amazing. Not only that but a mega-rich Serbian (Milan Mandaric) has bought the club and saved it from the threat of administration. This is huge! We might be able to press on now and not be the useless bunch of no-hopers that I've been watching for the last z13 or so years!! Wish me luck.

Work is busy too. I have managed to save my skin in the this first round of job cuts as the only solicitor in the team. It was touch and go for a while as they could have decided that they didn't need a solicitor and saved my salary for 2 other members of staff but I am so busy now that they saw sense and kept me on!!! It is a horrible time though with nearly everyone else in the team having to apply for their own jobs and with at least 5 compulsory redundancies out of a team of 22 (reduced from 28 with all the voluntaries and early retirements we've had recently). It's a bloodbath and very sad. It also means that the atmosphere is pretty poisonous at time.

As the only person who is safe, I am trying to keep my mouth shut and my head down but not always easy.

In the midst of this, I'm trying to keep up the exercise and not eat for comfort and it is generally working. I'm hovering at the top end of my comfort zone so watching myself like a hawk. I've noticed that autumn/winter tendency to want sandwiches instead of sushi/salad and biscuits instead of fruit. Understandable but something to guard against.

Anyway, got to dash - we're going to the golf club Christmas dinner dance tonight. I'm looking forward to dressing up and having a dance. Who knows, we may debut our waltz or quickstep if we feel brave enough?! I'm not looking forward to the snowy freezing walk home though. I hope we can scab a lift....

Have a great weekend everyone and stay strong through this most difficult of seasons for dieters everywhere!