Thursday 31 December 2009

The last drive to work this year and another nondescript one.

Took some bread to work so I could have some toast only to find that my Waitrose spread had disappeared from the office fridge. If that had happened last year I'd have over-reacted and gone nuts. I'd have sent out accusatory e-mails to all and sundry and got myself in a right state. But the new me is somewhat calmer about such things. I still had a little moan about it to the few colleagues who were in but eventually let it go.

The word on the street was that we'd get away at 1400 but the grumbles were short-lived when we spotted the first flakes of snow fall shortly before 11. A lunchtime finish it was. Now my lunch begins at 11 (that's flexible working for you) and I'd booked my quiz show haircut for 1130 so there was no need for me to come back to the office. I popped into Waitrose to get some money and considered getting the crumpets I'd forgotten yesterday. One look at the queues and general madness brought me to my senses - the crumpets could wait.

Normally I pay £4 for my haircut, which usually equates to £1 a minute but today, because I was "up town" (i.e. in Edinburgh, albeit the outskirts) I had to pay a whopping £6.50!! I even increased my usual £1 tip by 50%. Anyone would think it was Christmas.

After the recent debacle I avoided my usual route home and went via Ferry Road, which was an altogether more stress-free journey.

After toasties and soup for lunch, the girls and I settled down to watch "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". I enjoyed the film although I felt it was a bit violent in places.

There was hee-haw on the telly and K and I ended up watching not one, not two but three list programmes. First up there was the repeat of Channel 4's The Greatest Songs of the Noughties.
I dipped in and out of the programme as I did the dishes and some tidying but the Top 20 went like this:

20. Leave Right Now - Will Young
19. Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
18. Valerie - Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse
17. Viva La Vida - Coldplay
16. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
15. Mercy - Duffy
14. Patience - Take That
13. Stan - Eminem
12. I Don't Feel Like Dancing - Scissor Sisters
11. Hey Ya! - Outkast
10. You're Beautiful - James Blunt
9. Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minouge
8. Crazy In Love - Beyonce
7. Rule The World - Take That
6. Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
5. Rehab - Amy Winehouse
4. Sex On Fire - Kings Of Leon
3. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - Arctic Monkeys
2. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
1. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

While two or three of those songs might have made my own list I had no real qualms with it. Let's face it, we've seen worse lists.

Next up, after Flick had gone to bed, was the first of a two-part repeat of BBC3's Most Annoying People of 2009. (The most annoying thing about this show was the number of talking heads I hadn't heard of. Where's Andrew Collins when you need him?) In between was sandwiched the Greatest TV shows of the Noughties, which Top Gear won and, again, I had no grumbles with that.

For the record my choices in these categories would be as follows:

Song of the Noughties: Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart
Most Annoying Person of 2009: Katie Price/Cheryl Cole
Greatest TV Show of the Noughties: A tough call with so many great shows but I'd probably go for House.

These programmes took us to 3am and we called it a night, er, morning!

During our televisual delights I received five pre-midnight text messages wishing me a Happy New Year, three of which read "When the clock strikes 12 with the midnight bell, I'm not going 2 join the texting hell, so here is my message 2 those I hold dear, have a great night and a happy new year!" I'm sorry but if you want to truly wish me a Happy New Year then at least send me an individual personal message and not a cut and paste job from someone else that you then send to 50 people, including me. I sent a personal message to people who sent me a text but I didn't bother with anyone else. I sent all my Happy New Year messages via Twitter and Facebook and didn't feel the need to send anymore.

On that bombshell, Happy New Year and all the best for 2010.