water, water... nowhere?

So this morning, as is my usual routine, I took a shower.

Only I got about half way through when suddenly water stopped coming out of the shower. It's a power shower and the motor was still running, but no actual water was coming out of it. It was all a bit odd, actually, as it was more like the pipe had become blocked somewhere than something bursting, but it's quite a big pipe.

Anyway, as I say, I was only about half way through, which is always a tricky thing to negotiate. I decided to go and grab a half bucket of hot water and, not wanting to get too graphic with details, wipe myself down with a flannel.

It worked okay, but I'm not at all keen on the idea of continuing it as a general practice. I've let my landlord know it wasn't working (I stuck a note through his letterbox - he doesn't tend to get up until several hours after I've gone to work!) and hopefully it'll be a quick fix. If not I could be shower-less for the next few days.

I guess timing wise it's not too bad and I can wallow in my own funk over the weekend, but Monday I've got an important meeting, so I want to clean myself up before then. I guess in theory I could use my landlord's, but as mentioned he's a late riser and I've never found shower before bed to be particularly successful. Partly because my hair always seems to end up badly mussed up, but also because I sweat a lot at night (I sweat a lot in general).

I've been lending some serious thought to moving, actually. I'm a bit bored of where I am at the moment and with the ever rising cost of fuel, living closer to work looks increasingly attractive. Also, in terms of work, our customers tend to be across the other side of Alton to where I am, so it would tend to simplify any meetings and trips.

Ideally I'd be looking to rent somewhere in Alton. That would mean I could generally walk to work, saving a lot of fuel. Also, if I get somewhere with better facilities I'd save on some of my other expenses. In theory these two saving might cover the additional expense of a place in Alton (property is not cheap, especially as it's a commutable train journey to London), though I'm currently getting away with not paying certain bills - water and council tax in particular.

The other barrier of course is you generally need to put down a deposit and pay the first month or two in advance and at the moment I just couldn't afford to do that. Well, also, there's the issue of the vast quantities of stuff I've still got (DVDs, books, comics, CDs, games, magazines). The ironic thing of course being that if I was to watch and then sell or throw away as appropriate it would likely solve both problems - the stuff would be gone and the stuff would be converted in a wedge of cash I could use to pay the deposit, etc.

Sorry, this turned into a bit of a random moaning session. Plans for the weekend are pretty boring - clean the flat and then do the sorting out that's left post GP, which will hopefully include some slightly more interesting posts about the GP for next week.

return to work

So I'm back at work after my week away for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

I'm anticipating writing a bunch of posts next week about how it was and also uploading some photos to various places. Hopefully I'll get it all done this weekend.

Today I'm back at work and it's a bit of an odd experience - a bit of a culture shock, in a way. Usually when I take holiday I try to do it so that I don't return to a full week. It can be a bit of strain going from holiday to a full week of work. However, I wouldn't usually come back on a Thursday - Tuesday or Wednesday, yes, but Thursday, no. I mean, the week is virtually over and I'm coming back to work - it feels very odd.

Especially when it turns out we've won a piece of work I bid on and the start up meeting has already been arranged for Monday and we've received the contracts and stuff. Not that I mind those going ahead in my absence, because it's a part of the job that I've been lined up to do, but that I don't really have any particular interest in.

There have been moves afoot to take me down a project management type role, and I've resisted it as much as I was able. It's something hat I have to confess doesn't really interest me, but it also scares me a bit. I'm not sure I really want that sort of responsibility. I don't fundamentally mind responsibility, but when it relates to contracts and the paying of money I get a bit worried because I just don't know what I'm doing.