Sunrise over the City

Those of you who know me will understand that I do not particularly enjoy the whole 'getting up at 5.30 in the morning' thing. It is bad enough in the summer, when it is at least light, but for the past couple of weeks it has felt like the middle of the night. It has been dark, and recently, extremely cold, with thick layers of frost on the windows of cars, adding to the frustration of the morning journey to work.

But there are benefits as well. The chance of not just getting 'a' seat on the train, but 'your' seat, are increased significantly. There is no queue at your favourite coffee shop, and the baristas have time to greet you and have a chat whilst making your coffee just how you like it.

And sometimes there are additional benefits, that only happen very occasionally. Today is one of those days. As I walked into the office and glanced out of the window on the way to my desk, this is what I saw:





This is why you should get up at 5.30 in the morning, because this is something you do not get to see otherwise. This makes it all worthwhile.

Farewell to Priceless Paintings from W7

 

It is with sadness that I must announce the Termination of Priceless Paintings from W7. 

This blog was an inspiration to us all, particularly those of us who know the blogger well. But it is no more, it has ceased to be, it is an ex-blog.

Farewell Priceless Paintings, those of us who are relatively new to blogging will try to keep up the standard, but you will be a hard act to follow.

We Don't Often Get Days Like This, Particularly at a Weekend

It is not often that we get such a wonderful day in October, and for it to fall on a weekend is an added bonus. Clear blue skies and 70 F is not at all what I expect on 10 October, and yet, here it is.

It is a little windy, but who can complain when this is what you can see all around.

Sometimes Only the Best Will Do

Even though I am trying to be good and not spend too much money on frivolous things, there are times when only the best is good enough; now is one of those times.

It has been a tough week, and a tough few months, so this morning I decided that the usual source of my morning coffee would not do.

Today I was going to treat myself to a really great coffee, courtesy of Taylor Street Baristas.

And what a treat it was. Rich and Smooth, just what the doctor ordered. My only hope now is that the rest of the day will be equally Rich and Smooth!!

Didn't We Have a Wonderful Time?

Not the day we went to Bangor, but the day Les Girls came over for a day of Scrapbooking!

This was a class I ran for 6 family and friends as an introduction to scrapbooking. It was also and introduction to me of actually running this type of class.

It took me a few weeks to get everything ready, bit at a time, and to make sure that everyone had the same things in their kit. I also had to get the set of instructions sorted out and let the ladies know what they needed to bring by way of photos.

The plan for the day was to start making a mini-book, or brag-book, and for the ladies to have the instructions and sufficient 'stash' to take away to be able to finish the project at home.

I think the ladies were amazed at how quickly time flys when you are playing with paper and glue, but they all seemed to really enjoy the day and I am already planning the next session.

And how was the day for me? I was really pleased that I had put the work in before the day, as everything went really smoothly, and it proved to me that I can run these types of event. I was so proud of what the ladies did, without exception, they all exceeded my expectations. But boy, was I tired at the end of the day!

Back to Work - Good, Bad or Ugly?

So, I was back at work today after a holiday of just over two weeks. To say that I was dreading what the first day back would be like would be to understate how I felt. My expectation was not great, particularly as I stupidly turned on my work Blackberry last night (by mistake in my own defence) to find that I had just over 350 emails in my inbox. Even allowing for the fact that some of those would be 'rubbish' and some from my colleagues replying to emails on my behalf and copying me in. Even so, they would all need to be read and filed both within my email system and physically. 

I got in to the office at 7.00 and started the process. By 9.00 the figure of outstanding emails was down to just over 150, it is amazing what you can do when there is peace and quite. By the time I left the office, admittedly over an hour late and having worked through my lunch hour, I had only 11 emails that had not been allocated to a specific case.

And the purpose of this blog post? To crow about how efficient I have been today? No, it is specifically to show that today I learnt that with purpose and determination (and quite a lot of luck) you really can do what you initially thought to be the impossible.

Busy Learning Something New Every Day

As you may have noticed in an earlier post, I have signed up to Shimelle Laine's 'Learn Something New Every Day' on-line course that is being run this September.

The idea of this course is that you record something that you have learnt each day. Generally you will record this the following day, as you are unlikely to know what you have learnt until the day is over.

So what have I learnt so far. Well, there are a few classics and a few that are very personal. On 1st September I saw a poster on the Underground that had a quote from Gandhi 'There is more to life than increasing it's speed'; what a wise man he was. Yesterday I learnt this lesson the hard way. I was rushing to get things done, specifically making the bed, with no shoes on, ran into the bedroom, swerved to avoid the cat which was, inevitably lying in the way, and straight into the bed leg with bare toes. Here I am this morning still suffering with stubbed toe syndrome. What a great start to a holiday!!

So what will I learn over the next 25 days?