Wed, Nov 19th

Over the last year or more, Dawn has been the secretary of HEBCoN (Higher Education Business Continuity Network), spending countless hours keeping everyone informed of what was happening, making more arrangements than she can care to count, and travelling the length and breadth of the country attending seminars and gatherings. Well, with the restructuring of her department, her colleague and chair of HEBCoN is standing down, and with him Dawn, too.

Today Dawn and all her efforts were acknowledged in the form of a colourful bunch of flowers and box of chocolate truffles from the other members of the HEBCoN executive committee.

It's nice when your efforts are appreciated. And, in my opinion, this was much deserved.

Tues, Nov 18th

Like I have been saying for a while, the only way I am going to be able to study and assist JT with the ISO 14001 accreditation is to do it in my own time. So for the last two nights I sat up in bed until 11pm working on the Aspect and Impact register. I had already spent several hours over the last three weeks reviewing my company's business streams to produce a list of almost 100 activities that affect the environment. Now I had to analyse this information. By Tuesday night, I had done the first draft.

Sun, Nov 16th

No decorating today. Instead we caught a train to Finsbury Park to pay Dad and George a brief visit. Normally we go on a Saturday. But there was no way that Dawn would battle with the best part of 60,000 descending on the north London to watch Arsenal. So, we left a little earlier than normal, had a lite lunch at Nandos, and spent some time with Dad.

When we got home, I made an excellent leek and carrot soup while Dawn did the ironing before ordering some Christmas gifts online for her sister Kelly and our niece Michaela.

Sat, Nov 15th

With 5 weekends before Brady and Jim arrive, and 6 before Christmas, Saturday and Sundays are going to become pretty hectic. Today I did the grocery shopping on my own at Tesco before the two of us drove over to Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage.

At Welwyn, we dropped into B&Q to pick up some DIY stuff before stopping at Parcel Force to pick up my study material. Almost forgot, I have to find time for that, too.

At Stevenage, we dropped into DFS to look for a futon (no joy), B&Q for more DIY stuff, and Paul Simon's for a curtain for the spare room.

If that wasn't t enough, when we got home I made a large pot of chili before making a cottage pie for dinner. Dawn in the meantime had her weekly video call with Brady. We did however get some down time. We watched Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor.

Thur, Nov 13th

Today was a black day in the White household. Perhaps I should say a grey day. At work several senior and long standing employees were told that they would be placed on a 3 day week from next Monday. My boss then informed the accounts staff that the transport manager, who works in our office, was one of those now on a three day week. To make matters worse, we were also informed that December may see the rest of the accounts department going on a 4 day week, including my boss. So, not to end on a bad note, at least I still have a job. However, who knows what 2009 will bring.

Wed, Nov 12th

I know that this is our blog. However, being a lifelong Spurs fan, it would have been unforgivable to fail to mention that Spurs knocked Liverpool out of the Carling Cup with a 4-2 victory at White Hart Lane. We've now beaten them twice in a couple of weeks, the only team to have beaten them all season. Not bad for a team that had started the first 8 games this season without a league win and had recently fired the manager. Best of all, I had the pleasure of watching the whole game live on Sky Sports.

Tues, Nov 11th

A couple of bad days at work. It's been a very stressful few months thanks to the cash situation. In fact, it's now beginning to take its toll on the majority of staff now. Worse still is that it is not going to get better between now and Christmas.

On a lighter note, we escaped from the pressures of work by watching last night's Hell's Kitchen finale and were pleased to see Christina defeat Petrozza to win the right to be Gordon Ramsay's next head chef.

Sun, Nov 9th

Ditto. Same as Saturday. But this time no grocery shopping, and this time Dawn also did the laundry, vacuumed the carpets, and also did the ironing..............

How was this for a nice relaxing weekend?

Sat, Nov 8th

Weekend time again. As usual we drove over to Tesco to do the weekly grocery shopping before getting stuck into our housework. This time it wasn't laundry, ironing, vacuuming and cleaning. This time I spent several hours stripping the wallpaper of the landing and hallway walls, while Dawn did some more painting in the spare room. The spare room is really coming on well. Which is great, because the the hallway now looks a complete mess.

Fri, Nov 7th

Dawn got out of the office this afternoon by attending the Archant Environmental Awards presentation near Marble Arch with a couple of colleagues of hers. City University was again up for an award, although Dawn felt like the last time she went to one of these events that it was just to make up the numbers. She couldn't have been more surprised. This time they picked up the award for Best Environmental University in London. Boy, if Dawn's application to become Environmental Officer is successful, then next year they'll probably win best University in the country...........

Thur, Nov 6th

Got to work at 7:00am as normal and proceeded to attack my workload with vigour. However, that soon changed when I was asked whether I wanted to attend a Legionnella Awareness seminar we were running. As I felt that this knowledge would be advantageous to my environmental role, plus the class was virtually empty, I joined the class.

Wed, Nov 5th

Woke up without an alarm clock this morning at 2:15am. I threw on a housecoat and went downstairs to watch the US presidential election unfold. At 3:30am I then woke Dawn up so she could see the historic moment when all the news channels announced that Barrack Obama had reached the required number of electoral votes to become the President Elect.

The two of us then watched both John McCain's humble concession speech, and Obama's acknowledgement speech, making me quite emotional. Over the last 8 years Dawn had become embarrassed and ashamed to be an American as it lurched from one travesty to another. Finally, the American public had come to its senses and realised that democracy was reflected in one's actions, not one's rhetoric.

Tues, Nov 4th

Today I had a meeting with JT to discuss how we plan to get ISO 14001 environmental management accreditation. It was quite simple. The two of us have to do all of the work required in addition to our already overtaxed workload. I am of course primarily the Cost Controller. So, this comes first and any time spent on this project, plus my studying, is in my own time. This is what happens when you volunteer for something.

Mon, Nov 3rd

Today my post school education, and career adjustment, took another little step forward today. When I got home today there was a letter on the mat from the University of Bath confirming that my application to enroll as a distant learning student had been approved. Now I just need to find the time to do the studying.

Oh yea, our back hedge finally came into contact with some shears. We had to pay someone to trim our extremely overgrown conifer hedge to a more manageable size. It's just a shame that the sun sets around 4.45pm at the moment, so we were unable to get any pleasure from spending our much needed cash.

Sun, Nov 2nd

The last day before we go back to work and we really needed to make the most of it. Dawn did the laundry and ironing while I took several bags full of crap from the loft to the recycle centre. I then dropped into Tesco to pick up some carnations for my wife to say thank you for 12 incredible years before buying our monthly season tickets at the railway station.

After lunch I changed the socket outlets and light fitting in the spare room before the two of us carried the two tall book cases from the hall way up to the spare room. By the time we had put the photo albums and books back on the shelf, our aching bodies were crying out for a break. We're not as young as we used to be, obviously.

Dawn then worked on the computer for a couple of hours while I watched Lewis Hamilton become the youngest Formula One World Champion in history by finishing 5th in the San Paolo Grand Prix. After dinner Dawn then called her mother before we chilled out for an hour watching the Strictly results.

Sat, Nov 1st

Today Dawn and I celebrated the 12th anniversary of the day we met in New York City at the top of the Empire State Building. Neither one of us can believe it's been twelve years. After getting up, we exchanged cards and we both wrote the same thing. How fortunate we were to have met each other, and how much we appreciate the other for being there with everything we have been through. Then, looking forward we both acknowledged that no matter what the future had in store for us we would come through it all as long as we had the other by our side.

To celebrate we went into town and had a nice lunch at Baan Thitiya, a Thai restaurant we like. We also splurged by picking up a brownie and carrot cake at Waitrose, too. We had that as we enjoyed the evening in front of the television watching Strictly Come Dancing and X-Factor. I was also following the Spurs' recent revival on the Internet where again they scored in the last minute. This time to beat the previously undefeated Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Fri, Oct 31st

Our last day off work and we had a ride up to B&Q to pick up some paint and some rolls of insulation for our loft. That took half the day, by the time we'd got home and had lunch. The rest of the day was spent upstairs again. Dawn finished the painting in spare room (all but the radiator), and I got about 2/5 of the loft insulated. I would have got more done, but I had so much crap that I had to move including the old insulation which consisted of pebble-like stuff, carpet, wood, an old television aerial that was bolted to a joist and what was left of a huge wasp nest. At least the house felt a little warmer even if I didn't complete the whole loft.

Thur, Oct 30th

Today we took a day off from DIY and paid Dad a visit. Thanks to the snow, the Hertford trains were suffering cancellations and delays. So, for once we decided to drive up to see him. As luck would have it, we hit traffic problems on the A10 into London, so we took a detour through Broxbourne.

I'd been in touch with Hayley earlier in the week and asked her if she wanted to come up with us to see Dad, and she said yes. So we picked Hayley up at Finsbury Park station and stopped at Nandos for lunch before visiting Dad, then dropping her off at Dalston on the way back.

Our drive home to Hertford proved (as if we needed it) why we don't like driving into London. Our drive home took almost two hours. Much of it in built up traffic. Needless to say, we will be avoiding this type of journey if we can.

Wed, Oct 29th Part 2

Now that we had power back we could officially proceed with our holiday plans. A quick breakfast and a shower was followed by the two of us getting stuck into decorating. Our two projects this week had been to finish the paint work in the spare room and start stripping the wall paper. Dawn decided to do the painting because she hates stripping walls.

By 5pm we'd both had enough. Dawn had repainted all the walls, ceiling, baseboards, window sill and door. I'd stripped all the top layer of paper along the top landing and down the stairs to the hall way. We were both aching, and knew we still had quite a bit to do.

Tonight, I then watched Spurs' revival continue with an incredible result against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sky Sports. Spurs were 4-2 down with a minute to go. Then, a goal from Jenas and a second by Lennon in the 4th minute of injury time gave my good old Spurs a famous draw.

Wed, Oct 29th Part 1

We woke in the early hours to a cold house and darkness. The heavy snowfall that came down last night had taken down several power cables, so we had no electricity or heat. Thankfully we didn't have to go to work so we stayed in bed as long as we could before getting up and having several hot cups of tea while we read a book or yesterday's newspaper.

At 10am we heard a couple of bleeps as power was restored. We immediately put the fire on and started to enjoy our three days off work.