pmsumner

Curry at the Cottage - astounding. Horrifically expensive on a normal night (probably talking £25 a head for starter, main, coffee or pudding and drinks) but Sunday nights they do a £15 deal for all that except drinks. Good one!

The first thing you obviously see is the building. It's in a gorgeous old cottage with wooden beams and everything. The door is huge and heavy, with an old style latch connected to a massive ring on the outside. The inside is immaculately decorated, very modern with several different rooms, wooden flooring throughout, an intimate bar area with large leather sofas and a roaring fireplace. The dining rooms are very modern, with artwork on the walls and eye-catching black and white crockery laid out at your table as you sit.

The menu is extensive, which lots of food that you would never normally see on a curry house menu - with salmon, bass, Mediterranean salads and a large choice of "non-standard" dishes which I've certainly not seen before under the chefs specials.

The food was quite astonishing. We knew we were on to a good thing with the popadoms. They were good quality, and the pickle tray was served in proper dishes rather than in a metal revolving thingie, and they were of obvious quality from the taste.

The food was just brilliant. The only complaint Jane had was that the Passanda was hotter than she would have expected - but this is going to be the same whenever you go somewhere for the first time... you never know just how hot something will be. It was all elegantly presented, simple tastes combined to make a meal which was enjoyed thoroughly by both of us.

As I said at the top, the joint ain't cheap, with your average starter being £4, the average main £10, and the puddings (well, the cakes at least) £5. I swear - it is so nearly worth it. I do however have difficulty in justifying paying nearly £25 for a 3 course meal + drinks. No matter how good.

I'm really enjoying myself at work now. I've been there a month and I took an afternoon's worth of calls on Friday. I feel that I am getting there with the knowledge, and the hardest thing now is figuring out quickly enough what machines are what, and what machines have what capabilities. Not made easy by calling at least 3 differing machines the same name........... Great idea by marketing and/or product development.

The people I work with. They're nice people, and I enjoy spending time with them. I do feel a bit odd at the moment because a lot of them are really struggling with the move to Warrington, and don't see a future with the company. They feel quite let down, I think. They seem to be in the same mindset that I was in 6 weeks ago, and I don't want to be there. I'll just have to be relentlessly optimistic at them :)

Personal life - good and improving all the time. Having weekends is such a bonus! I love being able to get places and do things with Jane. Friday night we went to see Sue Perkins, and as we got to the theatre really early and were in the 1st tier, indulged in a spot of audience watching. It was so funny - we're looking at the people coming in going... "stereotypical lesbian", "oh my... look at those sensible shoes", "is that a man?" and so on. We didn't know that Sue Perkins was a lesbian. We really had no idea! That certainly explained the audience, which I estimate to be roughly 50% lesbian couples/groups and 50% middle-age, male, Radio 4 listeners :)

She was very funny, however. Perhaps not the funniest thing I've ever seen, but I really enjoyed the show, and we had a good night out at the quays, going for a meal and a show should always be fun.

I've pretty much decided I'm giving up the mystery shopping lark. I can't do it, these days. Working Monday-Friday 9-5 isn't good, because most shops that I want to do are only open those hours. I'll keep an eye open and stay registered with the various companies, pick up the occasional job here and there that I can do in the evenings or weekends, but not much.

My flat is there, I think. There's a few things which I am still struggling to find space for, and I still haven't got any bloomin' doorstops, so am using random things to prop open doors. Must resolve this tomorrow evening with a trip to B&Q. Everything that I want and need seems to have found itself a place, though I'm still at a loss as to what to do with my old PC. I want to rebuild it, but know that the only possible reason for that is pure geekery. Until my conflict between geek and space resolves itself, I'm left with a full tower case, monitor and loads of assorted PC junk lying around taking up space which I really could do with.

Loving my new phone. Seriously never thought I'd actually use the walkman side of it, but I am! A 512 Mb memory card included gives such a lot of room for music that it's actually useful.

It's time to start arranging for anyone who wants to come see to come... name your dates if you do.