A little extreme maybe?

My revered place of work is on an economy drive recently it seems, the usual stuff, combat shrinkage, use less of this and that, don't waste things unnecessarily, that's all good, the tree hugger in me approves, no problem, I'll happily comply.

As in most businesses of this size fuel costs are high and so have been addressed, again the usual things, turn off unwanted heaters, lights etc. and yes it makes a difference, leaving a whole floor of lighting on overnight when no one needs it is a terrible waste not to mention cost. The electricity usage and charges alone for this building would make your hair curl.

What has amused me is this. I have become accustomed to rushing into the toilet or cloakroom and finding I'm in the dark, the managers office is at the far end of the corridor and each time he walks along it he pokes his hand through every door and turns off the lights but yesterday he surpassed himself.

I had cause to visit his office, (no not to take ownership of my P45 pity) and as the lights were off and the room was in complete darkness I assumed he wasn't in residence, imagine my surprise having bowled thought the door into the dark to then find him sitting at his desk! Hmmm, I thought, show concern, he must have a headache, the lights are maybe broken but on making enquiries as to the reason for this rather strange behavior I was informed, perfectly straight faced that he was saving electricity!

Ok, joke I thought, but further questioning proved it to be otherwise, straight up, he was working in the dark to save electricity, there are no windows no nothing, ........maybe just a little extreme!?

What next, perhaps I'll find him working by candle light tomorrow!

Oh to be this chilled!

Ok...

........I'm having another one of those days, my mind is a blank, so rather than post complete drivel I wont post anything at all!

Hey, it counts as an entry for the day! ;o)

How much....

.......do I want this!


Ok, I dont usually do the 'head up rear down' kinda bike, the reverse is usually my preference but hell......it's pink! What more can I say?! :o)

*Thanks to Joanna for the image and for always keeping me updated on Daytona!

I'm sat here like a pudding...

......it's early morning and this is the time I usually post something here right? Only today I'm sat here, my mind is a complete blank and the equally blank page is staring back at me with a sneer on it's nasty white face just knowing that twelve hours sleep in the last 72 is not conducive to anything remotely purporting to be a half way interesting blog post!

So I give up, I'm not even gonna try right now, oh, save for one little snippet that I found amusing if a little annoying.

Yesterday was mothers day of course, I work in retail, the two things usually dictate a hectic day and this particular Mothering Sunday was also the start of British summer time. Already grossly under staffed for the day, it always happens, someone forgets to move their clocks on. As ever yesterday was no exception on that front but it is worth noting that of the three people who failed to register the time change and rolled in an hour late.....one was a supervisor and the other a manager!

Need I say more? ;o)

An unsuitable place to sleep!

No prizes for guessing who!

In fond memory.......

....Of Karine, who through her blog Graybar was one of the most inspirational people I ever had the good fortune to call a friend and who very sadly died one year ago today.

My thoughts are with her and the husband and young son she left behind.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The spirit of humanity

It's been kind of a heavy a few days here in gemmak's-ville recently, a few days of emotional extremes, of living life on an emotional roller coaster, of hopes and dreams alternately raised and shattered and raised again and of standing by, often feeling powerless to help, while a very special friend has faced and tried to understand the situation they have found themselves in.

There have been times of confusion and of profound pain and introspection for my friend, of questioning the very reasons for life, of looking deep within oneself and of trying to find at least some answers and through it all I felt privileged to be so trusted as to be involved and to be allowed to try and help where I could, though often I have felt that familiar feeling we have all experienced of feeling utterly, utterly helpless to truly be of any help at all, of wanting to be able to take away the pain as if by some magic and not being able to, of only being able to stand by as the situation unfolded and hope that my being there might at least offer some support.

.......but through it all I have been reminded of the spirit of humanity, of the strength to fight, of the courage we have to take on our demons and to win even when we are scared witless, to look life in the eye, flip it the bird, regroup and move forward.

Sometimes we have to hit crisis point to be able to take the next step forward, we have to feel the pain to be able to heal and we learn from it, grow from it and peversely gain strength from it. Above all I have been reminded in the last few days of the power of two things, of friendship, which we so often take for granted but which can be truly invaluable and inspirational and of humour in the face of adversity, for even in the darkest moments, however irreverent, there can be found humour, and the power to laugh and to retain the spirit to laugh is immensely valuable.


~ Go find your happiness my friend, you deserve it and you damn well earned it these last few days ~

Is it just me....

...or can no one upload images or vidoes to Blogger the last few days?

Amusing stupidity

Imagine you're 19 years old, you have a court appearance pending and into your bail conditions there is written a curfew, so what do you do...THIS is apparently what you decide is a good move!!

Ok, so all things considered it was unlikely this girl was ever going to be renowned for her intellectual capabilities but you can't help wondering, and laughing just a little, at the level of utter stupidity she managed to display on this occasion!

Almost perfect

Picture the scene, an almost unbearably hot bath, bubble filled and scented with chocolate truffle, steam rising and warming the air, the soft light of candles flickering on the walls, a mug of Charbonnel et Walker hot chocolate in hand and James Blunt gently breaking his heart in the background....sound almost perfect?

....did I not mention forgetting to close the door and rather than luxuriating, spending the entire time endeavoring to stop one small mischievous cat from slipping in off the edge to join me, or catching her tail alight!

Sunset and snow!

How peculiar, not that you can tell in the image but as this sunset was glowing on the horizon yesterday evening.....there was now falling on me!

I might add that it was almost 7pm.......spring and longer days are on the way, despite the still sub zero temperatures!


Sunset and snow.

Something good....

....happened this morning.

I sat here last night feeling sorry for myself, thoroughly and pathetically fed up with one thing and another, nothing earth shattering, just a constant stream of small problems recently. I even blogged it, I typed out a long, boring and protracted post of my small woes, one of which was the constant hassle and problems Gemmak Designs has been since the sad demise of the original site. I was about ready to jack it in, the hack to a porn site and the ensuing work and bother had been just about the last straw......but something stopped me hitting the publish button, don't ask me what because other than maybe I was ashamed to be moaning about something so relatively insignificant, I have no idea why I didn't just post it there and then, but I didn't, instead I went to bed.

This morning as ever, as soon as the obligatory early morning coffee had been made and cigarette had been lit I switched on my pc to check my mail....and there, first in the list was a mail from 'someone' telling me they had managed to rescue and reclaim the old DAB url that had been hacked!!!! Yayyyyyy, no more porn, no more buttons to change on numerous blogs, no more complaints and even a redirect to my new site now in place!

Really, I don't think my day could have started better if I had won the lottery, I feel like a new woman, things are beginning to turn around at last maybe.

Thank you 'someone'...you know who you are and you really made my day/week/month..........

Oh...and I deleted the original post!

Checkin' out the sounds!