Starting back at work was a bit of a shock after two weeks off, but at least my first few days weren’t too strenuous. I worked from home on Monday and even managed a lunchtime nap. I needed it, as my sleep pattern had diverged significantly from normal working patterns over the holiday.

I might have been wishing on a monkey’s paw when I said that I wanted to get out of working as a web developer, but I’m now tech lead on three separate projects at the same time, which leaves me without time to do actual hands-on development, and now I don’t have to do any!

It’s too early to say whether this will turn out to be good or bad, but at least it’s a change, and as my grandmother, a heavy user of aphorisms, used to say, a change is as good as a rest.

I put the bare Christmas tree out for recycling and took the decorations up to the loft. It took me a few days to get used to the space where the tree had been, but I shan’t miss the needles everywhere. Especially in my slippers.

The Fraser fir was a great success, though: it was a good shape, kept most of its needles all the way from early December through to Twelfth Night, and exuded an appealing scent throughout.

The garment I dislike buying the most is trousers. Items in shops are almost always too long, and getting them tailored is an expensive hassle. I was therefore delighted to happen upon a pair of trousers in a charity shop that looked brand new, fit me perfectly, and cost £4.50.

We went to L—’s colleague’s wedding reception on Friday night, which turned out to be full of musicians: the singer from Spandau Ballet (I didn’t sing “Gold! Gold” at him), one of Therapy? (not the singer, but I didn’t catch who it was, and I didn’t sing “Here comes a girl with perfect teeth” at him), and a former Atomic Kitten. (I spoke with her, she was very nice, and I don’t actually know any of their songs.)

Unfortunately, I had neglected to bring (nor had I expected to need) earplugs, so I ran away fairly early to escape from the excessively loud and, what’s worse, very poorly equalised sound system.

Lots of links for you this week: