Hello world

why is it that I just couldn't be bothered to blog for the last six weeks or so? Lack of anything interesting to say, or lack of support from my willing reader, too many other things to do or just plain laziness. I will leave you, dear reader, to make up your own mind
There are things that bring you back to the blogosphere and the BBC Radio 4 howler this morning is something I just had to bring to a wider audience who may not have been up at 6.00 this morning or perhaps listening to some other radio station or even the TV. Anyway, there was an item about repairs to Roman statues that have been ordered by Sylvio Berlusconni including a new penis for Eros. This is apparently also detachable, a thought that may well bring tears to the eyes. The real crunch however when the continuity announcer said at the end of the piece "thank you to our correspondent David Willy" Definitely a contribution for the News Quiz me thinks.
Long Bored meeting this afternoon (over 5 hours, what do they find to talk about?). We were discussing high staff turnover and the Chair said "should we be looking for a new CEO?" I asked if that was wishful thinking on his part and he said no - nice to know I am still appreciated. No one else understands the accounts so I suppose they have to keep me around at least until after the AGM (Stanley if you read this at least now they add up!)
Now to cheer you up. When I was drafting my diary for the staff team this morning I realised it is only 5 weeks to Christmas. Not a present bought, not a card written. For the first time in years I think I know what I want but haven't the faintest idea what to get the others. Bearing mind my previous occupation, how's that for professional negligence
I have said before that FB has been the death of blogging, will tweet be the death of FB I wonder. CC is having a rest and AL is having a rest, how many other people giving up on FB?
SAT can always be relied on to fly the flag and make me laugh even when she is in a blue mood

and then there was the bomb!

So much excitement over the temporary new addition to the family that I almost forgot to update you on the other big event of the week. To current readers you will be pleased to know that our short term, four legged guest has been returned to his home courtesy of the PDSA who confirmed that he had been chipped and identified his owners who had been frantic for 3 days wondering where he had got to. After breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, dog food, dog biscuits, dog chocolate and I don't know what else I suspect he left the bodybuilder's flat heavier than when he arrived. He certainly didn't want for company as there appears to have been a stream of visitors cominig to meet him during his short stay.
As regular readers know, Santa has to do a bit of moonlighting during the year to make ends meet between the busy seasons each November and December. Christmas seems to come earlier every year with the first card arriving last week - from Royal Mail appropriately - I suppose that allows them to say that Christmas deliveries are being made on time. Decorations have been in the shops since October, jostling briefly with halloween stuff and now in full swing. I may be getting old (about 1200 years actually) but Christmas just isn't the same as it used to be. Now 2,000 years ago - that was a really special one - and before that the Romans had a pretty jolly time at Saturnalia.
Anyway, back to the plot. With the changes in tendering and procurement legislation various statutory bodies are now providing training courses for the "third sector" on the new requirements to ensure that they are still able to bid for business beyond 2010. I had just sat through two fascinating seminars on "personalisation" which seems to run along the lines of "you have a choice of three things on the menu but two of them are off - unless you want to pay privately of course" and "Equal Opportunities Impact Assessments" - riveting - when my name was called out. I won't tell you my alter ego but it is always a surprise when someone uses it out of context. Aha - another seminar choice I thought but instead there was a telephone call for me.
Panic from the Chief Elf who I had left in charge as a second world war bomb had been unearthed just yards from the grotto. He had set the evacuation plan in process and all the little elves and their helpers were moved out to the overflow grotto but the dwarves that run that were getting very grumpy and so I had to leap on the silver sleigh and go and calm everyone down. When I got back to the seminar the head of adult social care - Peter Blister - had just finished his address which concluded "and so now you know the sort of things we will be assessing you on when we carry out our inspections at the beginning of the new year". EOIAs will defintely feature but as far as the rest of it I will just have to wing it and hope that a little bauble or two might ease the workings of bureaucracy. Hey ho or EO IA

WE HAVE MOVED

PLEASE FOLLOW LINK TO http://fabaldiaries.blogspot.com

The peregrine is back

Yes that's right. It has moved to a new copse and now hunts closer to the golf course. The kestrel has moved further up the hill and can now regularly be seen hovering over the motorway verges as well as coming back into the conservation area.
Today (Mrs Claus' birthday) we went to the new RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes. A bright sunny day with a clear blue sky and a biting wind we had a very enjoyable morning in this new conservatin area. Lots of lapwing (2,000+ the warden said) and lots of ducks including Shelduck, possible Scaup and maybe a Shoveler but the glasses were not powerful enough (or were they just too far away) to claim positive identification. Another Little Egret fishing on the banks but no heron even though we hunted high and low. There was a surpising lack of wading birds, I would have thought the territory ideal for Curlew etc.
When we went down onto the banks of the Thames later there were none to be identified there either even though the mud flats were exposed at low tide.
Lunch at the Dog and Partridge - to be recommended but steer clear of the pickled onion! - and then to Tilbury Fort and a walk along the river path looking over to Gravesend.
A very pleasant day as long as you don't think what the stock market is doing and whether we will end up paying the pension company rather then them paying us post 65. I have just rewritten our staff policy on mandatory retirement. The new law makes quite interesting reading.
We have been looking back over the diaries to think of some questions for a fun quiz when we have our open house. No I am not telling you when, or where, or why - those who get an invitatio will know and those who don't (deliberately or failure of post) will have to wait to read about it later. We thought some of the questions might be linked to specific years and our holiday destinations. It came as a shock to count up that we have been to 21 countries (including the Principalities) since we got married and the boys have clocked up 4 more that we haven't been to - no expensive cultural trips in our day, a trip to a chalk quarry near Guildford for a geology field trip was about as good as it got. I seem to remember we went to St Albans once, got soaked to the skin and spent the rest of the day dripping inside the coach until it was time to go home. So you might want to ask a few leading questions about holidays next time we meet.
I am sure there is more news but this is probably enough to be going on with