Join the Masquerade!

What a hectic, hectic week!

In fact, the last two weeks at work have been incredibly busy. Something to do with a combination of being one team member down for the best part of 3 weeks (first myself, then Barbara), a new telepone system to get to grips with, organising the mass return of one of our products, Infuenza Virus A (Swine flu!) wiping out most stock of masks, gloves, antibacterial sprays etc and a general increase of all orders - all this, and a normal day's work to be done too! We've all been doing overtime (unpaid I might add) and went in on our Bank Hol last Friday in a bid to keep on top of the work. It's mad. Don't get me wrong, it's also excellent as it means we are all needed, but at the same time it really is wearing us out. It's been non-stop. Week three begins tomorrow at 7.30am for me. Let's see how it turns out.

I also had a moment of extreme stress on Thursday night/Friday morning when I was presented with a letter at 3.30 informing me that I had a meeting with my team leader and HR to discuss the prolongation of my probationary period or the termination of my contract the following day at lunchtime! I was completely thrown. I mean, yes, I'm aware that my results, in line with the official Key Performance Indicator bollocks barometers, were not as high as I'd like or am capable of, but hey - I've been there 6 months and didn't receive the kind of training needed as already discussed in this blog and elsewhere. They've completely revamped the induction/training procedure now as (it turns out, but was unbeknownst to me at the time) they've had to extend the probabtion for 3 new starters now. The long and the short of it was that I've had mine extended too, but not after beinig made to feel stupid again. Ah well. Now I've got 2 months to show them.

ANYWAY! Enough of the work talk!


It's Sunday morning, 11am and I am sitting up in bed typing away, between getting up and doing a random job - feeding cats, putting on washing etc. I feel completly refreshed and happy though, as I managed to fall asleep at 9.30pm and slept right through til 9.30am this morning! *GASP* I had no idea I was even that tired to be honest. It's been a great weekend so far! Friday night was incredible. For starters, Phil came home with a massive bunch of gorgeous flowers for me! *happy face* He's lovely!

Then there was the incredible Dressing Up Box Cabaret! Phil, Dale, Luciano and myself ran out through the torrential rain to the station , jumped on a train to Hove and then went in search of Industrial House - a warehouse where Masquerade Costumes have a storage area, and where they were holding the first professional fancy dress party! It was sensational. THOUSANDS of items and accessories of dressing up delight, just about anything you could think of, people to help style you, a personal photoshoot and a few prints to keep afterwards, cabaret, burlesque shows, dj and dancefloor and a late license bar! TOTALLY brilliant. And all for the price of £7.50! I actually was in heaven. Phil put together a crusading knight outfit, Dale was Adam Ant as Price Charming, Luc was Cinderella's prince and I ended up being Little Red Riding Hood (after first being The Pope for a while. That was fun!) They are holding another one on 29th May, we are totally going again.

Yesterday Phil's Mum and Dad came over with his birthday present: A Wii! SO much fun! We walked through town, had a lovely lunch at JB's American Diner and then wandered back home through the Lanes. The sun was out and all was well!

Shoe love

I had a shoe emergency at work on Tuesday - my lovely red T.U.K kitty shoes cracked across the bottom completely and I decided, as I'd saved some pennies being away with my folks in France for the best part of two weeks that I'd get a new pair at lunch. Luciano, Agnieszka and I headed off to Vitas Shoes in the lanes and I bought these:




I love them! I vow to look after these ones better than the kitty ones, polish and everything. Ok, so I would have prefered green ones but the purple is hot.

Shoe love!

Redhead - it's a state of mind...

It's not just about the colour of your hair...

When I took my dreads out I decided it was time for a change and turned my fringe a delectable shade of emerald green.

What do you think? Perfect for the Head Girl of Slytherin, non?

Demonic Work, Angelic Life...

I take back what I said in my last post about coping at work – it has never, I repeat, NEVER been this busy in my time here. We had 40 orders come in overnight on Monday night. Normally, we’d get that maybe during the course of the day...

On top of the regular work we do in a day which fills our hours quite nicely normally, we have to accomplish the following:

Deal with the recall and replacement of one of our overalls.

Juggle the number of orders for masks and gloves which have skyrocketed and try to keep all the customers happy despite stock fluctuation and rationing between companies.

Participate in an internal audit.

Get to grips with a brand new telephone system, new extension numbers for everyone and new voicemail.

In addition, I was away for 2 weeks, then Barbara was away for 5 days, and so was our boss.

It’s Bank Holiday tomorrow in France but we are coming in tomorrow to try and clear some of the backlog because the phones will be quiet.

*head splodey*

Ah well! *deep breath*

Meanwhile in the real world, things are going rather well which does tend to balance out the rubbish from work. Having Phil live with us is lovely! His new furniture arrived yesterday. All this wicked cool stuff from IKEA (of course ;) ) which is bright red and made of metal – he has lockers which look like they came straight off the set of a US teen movie! Him and Barnaby put it together in the living room and I watched. I’m pretty good with a hammer and nails but this stuff was all clip-together and I preferred to see how it was done – it was quite fascinating. For furniture. I made French Onion Soup for tea for everyone and baked a big vegan sponge cake which I dyed red to match. NOM. We sat and watched Cloverfield and ate in the lounge which was cooooool.

I’m devouring The Davinci Code by Dan Brown at the moment; I read Angels and Demons on holiday and really enjoyed it, despite myself. I’d read DC a few years ago and really, really didn’t like it. I quite enjoyed the film, but that was more to do with the casting than anything else. But after reading what is essentially the book that comes before The Davinci Code, not the sequel, I am finding it much more enjoyable. Maybe reading more Dan Brown helps? Or maybe I am just less snobby when it comes to books these days, so far removed from my years as a student?

Living in Sin

I am now officially living in SIN with Phil! *happy dance*

Jordy moved out on the Friday we came back from France and Phil moved straight in! Although it’s only early days, it feels great. It really is ace having my man in the house. It is a little odd, I keep expecting him to go home, and it’s been a long time since I lived with a partner (not since Sam in 2005), but truthfully, it’s lovely. Really, really lovely. It gives me a strange sense of satisfaction and silly girly happy to see his things in the house, looking like they belong there. Hopefully the coming weeks will just strengthen that feeling. He seems to be settling in to the room really well and appears to be totally comfortable with everything – and he’s loving living with three cats! They seem extremely pleased too, as they have a multitude of boxes to explore and a new bed to sleep on all day! Oh, and we have a home telephone for the first time in years too! It’s all change, but it’s good change!

Jordy is obviously missed though – and not just because I’ve been doing loads more washing up! Letting him settle in this week and then all round to his and Andy’s seafront pad on Saturday for the housewarming shindig! YAY! I have a feeling I shall be visiting them a fair bit J

On Sunday we had planned to either go to the London Alternative Market in Clapham, the Steam punk Hidden Circus at the Marlborough Theatre or to see my friend Luke Wright perform at the Komedia. As always, weekends go by without anything to really “do” and then it all happens at once! Ironically, we didn’t manage to accomplish any of this, mostly due to the horrific red wine hangovers we both woke up with in the morning! Plus, funds were pretty low so we couldn’t really justify going out...but all was not lost! We ended up going to see the totally fabulous Lady Boys of Bangkok with Becca and Jonis – for FREE! Becca got some tickets through work and very kindly invited me and Phil. It was SO ACE! Stunning, stunning costumes, and stunning people! Almost unbelievable that they were truly men. I’d honestly recommend seeing them to anyone actually. It was a cabaret style performance in a gaudy Thai Pavilion on Grand Parade - there till late March, so go, go GO!

Back at work today after what feels like an eternity and yet, no time at all.

The holiday in France almost feels like it was in another lifetime, it’s quite bizarre. I came back yesterday as France celebrates May Day on the first of May, wherever in the week it may fall, and I have to take French Bank Hols (but I’m not allowed to take all of them, sadly, and there’s a lot! Everyone in the office takes a standard amount of Bank Hols regardless of the country they work for, the majority of them being taken to coincide with their country’s ones. It’s a bit complicated but it works out. Anyway)

It had been uber busy while I was away, but it seemed that most of my work had been done in my absence this time which really helped. I’m already swamped with orders but I appear to be coping so far!

Luciano got the job on the UK team which means he is now sitting at the desk right behind me! JOY! That totally rocks. From temp on the 1^st floor to permanent member of staff on the 2^nd floor, he’s going up in the world ;)