Bloody hell ma darling where are you? It's Friday, Are you dead?! I thought I was the one that was nearly dead?

Evening all. Remember me?! I didn't mean for there to be such a hiatus in posting but it's been a busy few weeks. I'm blowing the dust off the keyboard now, though so I hope you'll all forgive me - I'm sure so many people have been wondering over the past week or more "But what is Roisin doing? Where has she been?!"

It's all been good, though. Work has been really busy and while I have had my fair share of swearing and kicking the photocopier, and filling out forms and all of the boring stuff there has actually been a bit of interesting work in there too. Right now I'd say my job is boring about 85% of the time, but the other 15% is really interesting. Last Friday I attended a meeting at our parent organisation's offices in London with Professor David Crystal. The team I work in were consulting him on a project we're working on, and it was very exciting to get to meet him and work with him. I know that's going to hold little interest for a lot of people but it was terribly exciting for the former English teacher and language geek in me. It was a small meeting, and Professor Crystal was amazing. It was so useful and interesting, and we were treated to discussions on apostrophes, the Oxford Comma, and the controversy around I/me. This kind of work day is rare, but I can live with the other tedium for the chance to get involved in this kind of work. It's also nice to have a day in our London office, which is in Westminster and therefore surrounded by beautiful buildings.

I was much too tired and disheveled when I got home from London that night to want to get a photo of my outfit and anyway, Nic and Viv were waiting for me in the pub with a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc and my dinner. It was a long day, but I felt very happy and tipsy and excited by the end of it. If only all work days could be so satisfying! The rest of the weekend felt like a holiday as the weather was so beautiful and Nic and I were free of social obligations. On Saturday we went out for breakfast before spending the day in Banbury. Banbury isn't terribly exciting, I'll admit, but there are a few places there that make it worth visiting. One is Books and Ink, which is a beautiful independent bookshop and the other is the Pinto Lounge, which is an excellent bar. Nic and I whiled away the afternoon browsing in charity shops and eating tapas in the Pinto Lounge, and we had time to visit the Banbury museum on the way back to the railway station. Banbury isn't far from Leamington, and it was good to have a change of scenery.

Nic in the Pinto Lounge

On Sunday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to go for a good long walk, this time over to Warwick. Again, it was so nice just to have a potter around. Warwick seems to have become suddenly full of vintage shops and although none of them were open on a Sunday I'm looking forward to going over there on Saturday to see what they're like. I tried on a few dresses in Aspire, and Nic treated me to lunch in an Italian restaurant. It was a thoroughly relaxed and uneventful weekend.

It was straight back into a busy work week. Everything is a bit mad at work right now because we're about to undergo a significant change, so there are lots of training courses and checklists and all sorts of admin to do around that - not so much fun. However, Nic came to meet me after work on Tuesday and we went for dinner in Nando's and then on to Brown's for a few drinks with some of my colleagues. Well, it was meant to be just one drink. However, one of our external colleagues was in Coventry for the evening and she was buying the drinks, and we ended up drinking lots of that nice house Merlot and staying out long past my bedtime.

Luckily for me I was working from home yesterday, and I didn't have a hangover! I had lots to do but I did manage to save a pair of shoes in the process...

Fever Bunty jacket and Ontario Lillies dress and Irregular Choice Patty shoes

Close-up of the pretty shoes

These shoes are a wee bit too big, just a bit, so they wouldn't be the best choice if I had lots of running around to do. However, for a wander around town at lunchtime and to do a few errands they're absolutely grand. I did get changed in the evening into something much more casual (and warm!) to go to the cinema with the Third Row Centre team to see I Don't Know How She Does It. The film was fine, but just that. I quite enjoyed it, but mainly because I enjoy Sarah Jessica Parker generally. Of course, it was also excellent to see Christina Hendricks lighting up the big screen as Kate's best friend Allison. Hendricks is underused, sadly, because she's really excellent. That's a face that was made for the movies - the small screen doesn't do this beauty justice:

Sigh.

Anyway, I'm back in the office tomorrow - more shenanigans ahead of the big change, and also a meeting. Boke. I hate being in the office on a Friday, but I do have nice things to look forward to, including my birthday party tomorrow night, going home on Saturday and a whole week off work to spend with my family and friends. I'll endeavour not to leave it so long the next time between posts, deal? Okay then, have a good evening and I'll catch you all soon.