Down On The Upside

I deem myself to be like death warmed up this morning. The head is fine but the body feels like it has been put through the wash or to quote Bilbo Baggins, “I feel thin, like butter spread over too much bread”.
I am, however, struggling on for several reasons. One is that today is my works End of Year event at the Waterfront and I have been asked to meet and greet Nuala McKeever, ex-Hole In The Wall Gang and currently, it seems, on a sojourn from television screens. Secondly, and most importantly, attending tonights event will score me four hours of T.O.I.L. [Time Of In Lieu] which I desperately want. The event also provides free drink and a warm meal which is always nice.

The weekend was a hive of activity. Following a quiet night on Friday, it was Cheryl's birthday on Saturday night in Bangor. Myself, Colin and Lou took the train from Botanic and the new trains that were introduced a few months ago still look decent which is surprising because of Northern Ireland's complete ineptitude to refrain from vandalising public services.
We were one of the first to arrive and were given a tour of her new house - very spiffy! I hope that there was minimal mess to tidy up the next day as there seemed to be around 30 people packed into the place. We booked a taxi for 1am and when we arrived home we foolishly decided to open another bottle of wine. I'm not sure when our heads touched the pillow but I felt rough as sin the next morning.

Unfortunately I had to be somewhere for noon and the afternoon was spent trying to focus and pull myself together as we were enertaining Brian and Jude that evening. Lou put together a sumptious meal of Pepper-Crusted Fillet of Beef with Roasted Balsamic Onions and Thyme with winter roast vegetables and sweet potatoes. Jude also made a delcious toblerone cheesecake which Brian and I couldn't resist helping ourselves to seconds!

If I can make it through tonight I will be hitting the hay as soon as I get through the door.

Hope you had a great weekend and catch you sameplace tomorrow.