I spent a lovely day yesterday with the LSC auditors – to be fair they were both nice ladies, but never the less, they were still auditors and had a job to do. So did I.

I’m getting exceptionally good at audit speak – I’m fantastic at tracking down information that gets us out of the quagmire, which considering I'd spent half the previous night throwing up was nothing short of a miracle. I felt and looked like death warmed up, but obviously I perform better under pressure.

I've probably passed the bug onto half the staff in the company, but then I'm a generous sort of person and as there was no one else to step into my shoes - I had little choice in the matter - I had to go in. Something else to add to the down side of being a manager.

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Sandy spent the day in London. She’d been invited to attend the Learning and Skills Council annual presentation of accounts, the reason being –and this is what we’re celebrating on Thursday night - is that we’ve been named in the Chairman’s report as one of the leading Work Based Learning training providers in the country. It won’t mean a lot to anyone who isn’t involved in training, but to us it’s equivalent of winning a gold medal at the Olympic Games.

Not bad for a company that started out life in a garage at the back of a Social Services respite centre. Money was that tight back then that we use to reuse envelopes, just to save a few pence. We had one plug in heater that got turned on occasionally just to take the chill off the air, we in the meantime turned up to work dressed for the Artic, we often worked with our coats on.

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Eldest son rang me up half way through the day, he'd been feeling dizzy for the last couple of days, could I get him into see a Doctor. Not beinging in a mummying mood, more in a 'I still feel sick, why's it so hot in here' type mood - I did suggested that he was a big boy now and if he could ring me, he could ring and make an appointment. Time to stand on his own two feet, just because doctors receptionists seem to see it as their vocation in life to make it as difficult as possible to see a doctor, doesn't mean you should be scared of them.


It didn't matter he said, he'd be OK, don't worry he'd probably feel better tomorrow. Talk about a guilt trip - he could give my dad a run for his money and believe me, he's got it off to a fine art. I gave in, got him an appointment and then oftered to drive him. No, it was OK, he'd rather drive himself now I'd made the appointment. Ever since he past his test he hates anyone else driving, it's quite funny to watch him keep going for the brake. And before anyone says anything, he does that with everyone, not just me.

Outcome - he's got vertigo, which to be fair is horrible. I suffered with it myself only last year. I’d be walking down the corridor at work and veer off into the wall – I ended up covered in bruises and got no end of comments about putting more water in it. Lying in bed at night was even worse, you felt as if the bed was moving and you were about to fall out of it. No, not very nice, so I hope the tablets work quickly.

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Today's photo is my favourite Christmas tea light - I got round to sorting some out (the rest are still in boxes). It was a gift from my friend Maggie, who brought it back from German a couple of years back. I'm amazed she got it back in one piece as it's made of glass and very delicate.

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The best part of yesterday evening was spent visiting tractor websites for Himself’s friend. Both of them are totally useless when it comes to computers. I distracted then long enough for Matthew to make a break for the door, but couldn’t save myself.

Which meant I spent nearly an hour and a half looking at John Deeres, Massey Fergusons, JCBs, Duetz, Fords and Case Tractors. I learnt about the tyre tread, horse power, 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive, hours on the clock and I now know far more that is strictly healthy about the purchasing of said item after finding myself in the company of a couple of anoraks.

I’ve always known that Himself had a bit of an interest in Tractors – he makes a beeline for them when we visit the Three Countries Show. After all, he worked on a farm when he left school, so I shouldn't have been surprised, it just hadn’t dawn on me how bad he was. I was waiting for one of them to get out a note book and start jotting down details.