The ring thing

So if you're on my Facebook friend list, you'll already know this, but last night I asked the Kiwi to marry me, and cor blimey she only went and said YES, so we are now officially betrothed, I believe. Brilliant!

Very briefly, as I need to get in the shower and prepare for a fairly intense day in the pub, the whole night was excellent from start to finish. We started with Champagne (Pol Roger NV, if you're interested) at Vertigo, where I mumbled the question. At 600ft, it's the highest building in London, a real landmark, and the view from the bar's tremendous. Our table faced northwest, towards the Telecom tower - the weather was perfect too, watching the sun set over the most amazing city in the world.

Following that we got a cab over to Wild Honey in Mayfair, the sister restaurant to Arbutus, which we've also been to. Terrific food and superb wine was somewhat overshadowed by how excited and dizzy we both were, but it was superb nonetheless. Would definitely recommend it. It turned out that a friend of ours was having a birthday party over in Soho, so we dropped in on that on the way home.

I feel absolutely tremendous. And I can't believe the ring, whose size I guessed, fits perfectly and looks so completely natural on that wonderful girl's finger.

Gold cockles?

Is this the biggest piss-take in the entire world? Homemade pasta (ie flour, water, eggs), cockles (ie weeny shellfish), mushrooms & lemon (ie cheap), for £13.50?

For those of you on the NZ$, that's $36.65 for a fairly unremarkable bowl of pasta, eaten in a stall to the side of London's Borough Market.

Tut.

Back in Dublin

It's been a while since I was over here for more than a day trip, so it's weird to be away from my Kiwi again. This is slightly different though; we're running a workshop for a prospective client over here (all five hours of it) which isn't exactly a pitch but there are undertones of sales-y-ness there. It should be interesting.

The important thing, though, is the hotel. We're staying in a much nicer place this time, all old-school opulence and marble everywhere. The thing I think I like the most so far (having just checked in) is the quiet efficiency of the staff - me trying to check in with a Maestro card usually causes some fuss as they can't pre-authorise it, but here it was dealt with simply and smoothly. And they had chocolate brownies on reception.

So far, so good. Whether this means I'll be over here more in the future (on two Irish projects) remains to be seen.

Interesting thing just happened though. Last week, the head of my team mentioned that there would be a bit of a reshuffle within the team, and that I'd been put forward for one of the more interesting and high profile roles within the new structure. Excellent. This forms part of the proposals all the dept heads are putting together for their own bits of the business next year.

Today though, I've been told that there's a new part of the business being created, and that I've been earmarked to be part of that team. Controversial. So there's a decision to be made fairly soonish. Politics to consider. I think it's going to come down to 60% what do I really want to do and which route would get me there quickest, and 40% who do I want to piss off the least.

An interesting challenge. Fortunately I have a little time to consider my future. Watch this space.

Coming out

So having recently left the entertainment business, I recently bought the first two CDs I've bought in around two years. An odd experience, and to be honest one which compounded my lack of faith in digital music as a mass format. I use iTunes and WMP as my media players, and have a Creative Zen as a portable player. At some point in the future I might consider going back to an iPod, so I need my music library as MP3s. Which means buying CDs, unless I'm after something that happens to be available as such, which is relatively unlikely. I don't steal music, so CDs are my only option.

Anyway, I'm skirting the point. The confessional nature of this post is brought on by the realisation that something I've always suspected about myself needs to come out. I need to come out of the closet as a bit of a country music fan. One of the CDs which arrived last night was an earlier album from the lovely Neko Case, whose 'Fox Confessor Brings The Flood' is one of my all time faves. That particular album is, as they say, 'a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll', but this one, 'The Virginian' is proper a-wailin' and a-toe-kickin' Dolly Parton / Carlene Carter COUNTRY music. And I rather like it.

Well that was a surprise. I might go out and buy a rhinestone jacket or something, not really sure where this leaves me.

FYI - the other CD was Jenny Wilson's 'Love and Youth', which I've not really listened to yet, but bought on the strength of 'Let My Shoes Lead Me Forward', off the latest Modular 'Leave Them All Behind' mix. And also, can't help but mention this, I'm not that far from the entertainment industry that I can't get into the premiere of the new Fantastic Four film last night, and the aftershow to boot. Celeb-tastic... although it has brought me a bit more into the size zero debate as Oh My God they're all practically emaciated and frankly that's not attractive. I'm talking to you Jessica Alba: eat more pies.

... and now to work. It's actually 0704; the clock on this blog seems to be out. More later...