Christmas Canaries

Well... yesterday was fairly eventful for me. It took me a full (count 'em) THREE hours to get to work at the new office yesterday, prompting me to try and find a new route for my next visit to the Citigroup building in Canary Wharf. I took a bus to Cambridge station, a train to Liverpool street, a tube (after five attempts to get on) from Liverpool Street to Bank, and the DLR to Canary Wharf... god knows which route to take next week; there are so many variations, and I don't think any of them will shave off the hour I would like to save on my journey time!

The new offices are scarily high up (we are on the 38th floor), but I *think* I like it. It all seems quite empty and a little eerie at the moment (we are all rattling around in a frankly HUGE space), and it also made me realise what a small concern Monis actually is! We take up barely any space in the office, and are outnumbered several times over by other business units. And yet... we are one of the top earners... it is amazing really. My new "hot desk" is without any essentials (no drawer in which to put my salt and mustard, no telephone, no bin... the important stuff!), as apparently "hot deskers" (those of us who go in once or twice a week) have no rights... tsk tsk. However, it is quite nicely placed (right next to the emergency exit, a short walk to the kitchen, and well away from the window view that, quite frankly, freaks me out a bit!). Lunch was spent exploring all the new shopping opportunities... it is much better than I thought it would be, in that there are several women's clothes shops all clustered together in one mall, AND a Waitrose! Joy! :-D

In the evening we had the office Christmas party at The Marriot Hotel in Canary Wharf area. This was very pleasant (entirely well organised by Arpi); good food, a good laugh, and I actually managed to stay relatively sober. The only problem really was the journey home... having narrowly missed the 23:15 train to Cambridge, we (Tim Dodd from one of the other business units) and I had to get the 00:07 slow train home... this took an age, and seemed to stop at places I have never even heard of!! I managed to get home at 2am... schnarl schnarl. Very annoying when you have to leave just when the party is getting started, but still make it home later than most! It seems that the usual suspects from work went a leeeetle bit OTT in their celebrations, and some didn't make it home at all... tsk tsk tsk... would you credit it?! ;-)

Anyway... got a quiet day today. Have to get parcels off for friends abroad (Jen - I am SO sorry I didn't post yours sooner! I promise it will be worth it...). SO many of my friends seem to be moving house at the moment, or are waiting on moving, it will cost me a fortune in "New Home" cards in the next couple of weeks... John is moving, Nikki and Carlos, Tracy and the boys, Jamie and Adele, and Chris (who sits next to me at work). Janine and Simon managed to get their move sorted a couple of weeks back; a nice easy move across the road to a bigger house.

Much love
Hayls
xxx

PS. BIG First birthday shout to little Eloise Hart-Davies. We hope you have a lovely birthday! Can it REALLY be a year?!