Following numerous grumbles, I’ve decided not to have the ‘mini meadow’ section in the sidebar any more.

Whilst I did like these little asides, they weren’t really noticeable unless you read the site via RSS, and large chunks of my readership were missing out on some fun conversations. So they are no more (the asides, not the readers – hopefully). The ‘Mini Meadow’ category itself is still in use and I will keep using it for those little snippets that aren’t really posts, but they will no longer be styled differently and they will appear in the normal way on the blog.

If you were a devoted fan of the old way, make a good case for reinstating it and I’ll reconsider. I’m nothing if not accommodating like that.

You are now free to resume your weekend 🙂

*gulp*

That’s all I have to say.

The problem with starting a new job is that new colleagues want to know all about you. We’re an office of women (bar the uber-boss and a couple of roving reporters) and, well, discussions on education and previous employment can only stretch so far before the conversations turns to significant others.

Current and past.

Which is cool I guess – stories and sharing are fun – but then people expect me to share right back at them. I’m not a fan of the randomly sharing in person as, irrational blogging of intimate secrets to complete strangers aside, I like to build up a friendship with someone first.

But I realised lately that a lot of my anecdotes contain the Cute Canadian.

[THEM] When/where was your last holiday Cas?
[ME] Oh back in April, to Toronto/Brampton/Kingston to see J.
[THEM] You’re other half lives in another country?!
[ME] No, he’s no longer my other half.
[THEM] But still, how did you meet?!
[ME] We were on the same post-grad course.
[THEM] Ah… Then why did he go to, Canada, was it?
[ME] He couldn’t find a good enough job, his visa ran out, he had to go back.
[THEM] … (it’s clear they want more of the story)
[ME] We tried the distance thing for several months but by the end of May it was over.
[THEM] It must have been awful!
[ME] It was moderately horrendous, yes, but not as bad as it could have been. We’ve both still got our health, sanity, and were at least reasonably amicable. Put it this way, I wasn’t at the stage where I downed three bottles of rose and ended up setting fire to his belongings.
[THEM] You poor, poor thing! Then, they do always say distance is hard…
[ME] (when I get my hands on that mythical ‘they’, I swear I’m gonna have words) yes, distance is crappy but I have seen first hand how it can work. He was my Cute Canadian, and I had a blast and don’t regret a thing, but it wasn’t to be. I expect even without the distance it wouldn’t have worked.
[THEM] You’re so brave…
[ME] (I’m sorry, I’m meant to be breaking down at this point?) Yeah…

Silence falls on the office.

[THEM] So have you ever been on the London Eye?
[ME] Um, yes in fact, several times. It’s very beautiful if you go at dusk – the sunset can be very romantic (oh bollocks! I think to myself. I didn’t mean to let that slip…)
[THEM] Romantic?! At sunset!? That’s a brilliant idea Cas!
[ME] Not mine actually, my ex’s… *sigh* Yes, the Canadian one.

Again, silence. I tell myself to keep schtum. Then we start talking about the various men in our lives and those that have and haven’t cooked. I mention that the only time J ever cooked, I ended up in hospital (almost certainly unrelated).

Damn it! Every bloody anecdote they seem to hear out of me at work comes wiggling it’s way back to my past. I don’t want to be one of those women who is only capable of defining herself through her man (or previous men). That’s not me.

It’s just than in an office of slightly more mature women, I’m an oddity – footloose and fancy free with my own take on life. It seems to fascinate them.

I’m just waiting for the time to come when I can tell them about the two before that I met through the internet… *snigger* How many points do I get if I can get my manager to fall off her chair?

I’m happy. Work once again contains some random lust objects.

One is definitely random because I am never sure when he will turn up so it’s always a nice surprise. The other is disgustingly happily engaged, but it’s always nice to look 😀

This new job is getting better and better!

I’ve shamelessly nicked this from Dan because, well, I’m a shameless hussy ^*1* 😉

I’m also up to my ears in non-blogging things (though it feels like heresy to admit it) and didn’t want to leave you faithful few with nothing to read. Enjoy.

A – Accent:
Depends where I am and who I am talking to – most normally I’m bland home counties cut with some Wurzel vowels. Listen to the Bright Cast if you really want to know.

B – Breakfast Item:
Two pieces of toast (non-soggy) with soya spread. I’m on a bit of a non-dairy kick at the moment.

C – Chore you hate:
Most all of them, but cleaning the bathroom is the one I’m the worst at.

D – Dad’s Name:
Thomas Charles Andrew

E – Essential everyday item:
Glasses. Without them I can just about not walk into lamp posts. Just about.

F – Flavour ice cream:
Ben & Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew.

G – Gold or Silver?:
Silver. Gold just looks tacky when I try and wear it (something to do with my skin tone I think).

H – Hometown:
Glastonbury, Somerset is where I was born and brought up so you could argue that’s my hometown. But the three years I spent in Liverpool really shaped me, and Southampton has been ‘home’ for the past three years and I’m getting quite fond of it.

I – Insomnia:
Occasionally. Very annoying it is too.

J – Job Title:
Business Support Officer

K – Kids:
None and it’s 50/50 whether there ever will be.

L – Living arrangements:
2 bed flat shared with Moose.

M – Mum’s birthplace:
London.

N – Number of significant others you’ve had:
3 though ‘significant’ is a term open to debate.

O – Overnight hospital stays:
Two of some duration when I was a little child (putting your head through the caravan step and then catching a mysterious disease are not to be recommended). One stay of a month when I was 14 with burst appendix, peritonitis, stomach abscess and septicemia. One stay of a night last October with possible intestinal adhesions that turned out to be just hideous gastric flu. Well, you did ask!

P – Phobia:
Slugs. The slimy buggers freak the crap out of me.

Q – Queer:
I have a strange obsession about penguins and their evilness – is that odd enough?

R – Religious Affiliation:
Nothing organized – I’m a strange hodge-podge all of my own devising which owes a lot to Buddhism. It makes sense to me.

S – Siblings:
One older brother and god how I hate him *grr* (actually I love him to bits, but don’t tell him that – he still hasn’t got me a gift OR a card for my birthday that was a month ago).

T – Time you wake up:
As late as possible! 0630 or 0700 during the week. Whenever I surface at the weekend (normally between 0900 and 1000).

T2 – Time I am awake enough to deal with people:
Once I’ve had the morning cup of tea (minimum 10 or 15 minutes). Before that cuppa don’t even bother. Truly, entire conversations have been had before that magic cup of tea and I just don’t remember them.

U – Unnatural hair colours you’ve had:
Red, purple, green, blue, blonde bits, black… You name it, my hair’s been it. Green wasn’t a good look for me however.

V – Vegetable you refuse to eat:
Parsnips.

W – Worst habit:
Biting my fingernails.

X – X-rays you’ve had:
I’ve lost count. I had lots when I was a kid on my lungs and joints. My latest one was last year.

Y – Yummy:
A nice cup of tea. Talking of which… *goes and makes one*

Z – Zodiac sign:
If you believe these things, Virgo. I’m also a Dog (no jokes please) in the Chinese calendar. Pretty much the only Virgo trait I can identify in myself is an almost obsessive inability to be late for anything. I expect I would be early for my own funeral because I hate to rush.

There – I hope you learnt something about me. This entire post would have been a bit pointless if you hadn’t.

Endnotes:
^*1*And that’s a genuine little old lady quote. I love some of the random people working in local government has brought me into contact with.^Back

Just had a piece of spam caught by Akismet that said “come to this site for information on serious penis enlargement”.

We will put aside for now the fact I don’t have a penis to enlarge and concentrate on the use of ‘serious’ in the sentence.

Isn’t all penis enlargement a fairly serious proposition and not to be entered into lightly, or without the advice of a health-care professional?

And what exactly would constitute minor penis enlargement? A few millimeters instead of inches?

The mind boggles.