Published: 15/01/2010 12:12 - Updated: 09/02/2010 13:24

I HARDLY know where to start with my blog.  New Year, New Job, New Blog. So much to catch up on!

 

 I’ll start with Christmas. It was really exciting. First, we added a new member to our family. He is a polydactyl tuxedo cat (well, he’s a kitten actually.) ‘What is a polydactyl tuxedo cat?’ I hear you ask.  

 

A polydactyl tuxedo cat is basically a black and white cat with very large feet. Bob has an extra toe, and looks like he is wearing a pair of mittens. He’s a cat with a thumb!

 

Anyway, it turns out Bob is a big fan of Christmas. All the decorations, the candles, the tinsel.

 

Bob particularly loved the Christmas tree. He loved everything from the twinkling lights to the dangling ornaments to the sparkly gold star on the top.

 

 Inspired by the tree, Bob invented a really great game called ‘make the tall ginger haired guy go completely bonkers.’ 

 

 It is a really good game. A kitten (Bob in this case) climbs a Christmas tree, making it sway violently from side to side. If it can knock a few ornaments off along the way, all the better.  

 

 Chewing the electric lights will cause sound effects: children screaming that the cat is about to be electrocuted. This will cleverly lure the tall, ginger haired guy into the game.  

 

He will insert his hand randomly into the Christmas tree to try to catch said kitten (all futile, of course), whilst lacerating his hand on the branches.  

 

The game is over when the kitten comes out of the tree by himself and falls asleep on the tall ginger haired guy’s new cashmere jumper Such fun!

 

Not to be outdone by Bob, I invented a game called ‘set the 1985 record player on fire by leaving an unattended candle on it during Christmas Dinner,’ but that is a whole other story and I don’t want to bore you.

 

Fast forward to the New Year. The Decorations are packed up, resolutions have been made (and broken) and thoughts turn to the year ahead. In my case, thoughts turn to the new job I’m due to start the following week.

 

Starting a new job is exciting, and of course demands a bit of extra effort. One has to prepare properly, be ready. It requires…shopping.  

 

Well, you have to make a good impression, don’t you? Not one to ever balk in the face of post-Christmas-triple-blue-cross-extra 20% off current price sales shopping, I decided to head off to the Westfield Centre in Derby. 

 

 Unfortunately the snow hit. Living in Parwich (and near the top of a hill, no less) it was very hard to get out. Especially if you drive a 14-year-old slightly clapped out Nissan Micra. (Having said that, I do love Ethel, my car.)  

 

 Undaunted, I got on the computer and shopped on line. I trolled through a few web sites, with nothing really catching my eye, till…  I saw them (queue dreamy romantic music): Beautiful. Black. Leather. Boots. And 50% off!! Where had these boots been all my life?  

 

Quicker than you could say ‘heaven is a new pair of boots which are incidentally going to change my life for the better’ they were in my virtual shopping bag, taken to the virtual check out, paid for with virtual money (the tall ginger haired guy’s credit card) and were (virtually) in the post.  

 

 I would wear them on the first day of the new job, guaranteeing a successful start in my new role. Except for the snow.  It just kept coming.

 

It snowed more and more. A lot. And I found myself trapped. 

 

 I couldn’t start my new job, meet my new boss, plan the project which lay ahead of us. I was stuck at home. I figured it couldn’t last long.   

 

It was Monday. I’d be at work by Tuesday. Not Tuesday. Not Wednesday. Nope, not even Thursday. Friday was a write off. Sigh.

 

 That’s right. My first week of ‘work’ was spent trapped in my own home, feeling guilty, with a grumpy teenager who was stuck inside with me and was missing her townie friends, and a manic kitten who was missing the Christmas Tree and having to make up ever new annoying games which all seemed to revolve around me. (The tall guy with the ginger hair, and his trusty 4xdrive braved sub zero temperatures and drifting snow to get to work. You’d almost think he was trying to get away from us.)

 

 As I write this, the snow is finally starting to melt, and things are getting back to normal. I even managed to get into the office today.

But the post has been delayed.

 

And those darn boots still haven’t come.