Picked the National winner and Mrs Software had the second. Celebrations over the weekend.

Busy busy busy... if I work all day tomorrow from home, I should get through enough work to be able to catch the ferry to Blighty on Wednesday evening to go and have fish and chips with my mum.

Please tell me...using this map. http://www.anagramtubemap.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

No fair...I had to look of the doddery lady question's answer to post!

(Giertrud) Blighty is a very old affectionate slang term for Britain and has a sense of "home".

Then...all of that ... and more.

[Simons Mith] Never underestimate the propensity of the great unwashed to spend their money on tat. Take for example this wonderful Priness Diana Porcelain Baby Doll. Surely the work of a demented mind. Or perhaps you'd like to see a Wall Mounted Motorbike Cuckoo clock. This was advertised in my free monthly RACV magazine and gave me a chuckle. It makes me wonder what sort of operation is required to completely remove someone's sense of taste. But it must be cheap.

[nfras] *bokes*

[Pen] Did you also always read the warning sign as saying 'Thonk Boke'?

[INJ] erm... not that I can remember. Here we have 'Gordels om, ook in achterin'. So belt up.
BTW, what are you doing having a Fling in Provence? Does Mrs INJ know?

I am dieting. Just so you know. Day 2...

Have you bought the dress already?

[Softers] Part 1 is 'one-size-fits-all' and has been reserved at the Posh Frock Shop. (That's a completely unhelpful description - in fact it's a rather fabulous and very expensive Japanese jacket.) My mum is using her pensioner's bus pass to travel to buy it later this week. Part 2 will be made to measure.

Isn't it a bit quiet around here? Are you all busy or what?

'Tis a little on the quiet side this week.

Shhhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet.

F, F, F, F minus, F, F minus, F plus, F, F, F, F, F plus, F minusminus, F minus, F minus, F, F, F minus...

(Phil) 105 what?

[CdM] Sounds like you might need to widen your scale a bit...

Yesterday I embarked on a 12 hour round trip to be asked three questions by a US visa official. The good news is that the visa is approved, so I don't have to return with any additional documentation which is a relief, as the train fare to London is not cheap.

Meanwhile we're just waiting for rab Jr to arrive. Some friends of ours were three months early which has put the wind up us...

[Rosie] 105 lies to help me get a job.

[rab] what's the point of the Edinburgh consulate?

Emergency passports for US citizens. My wife needed one once, so the proximity was very handy.

(Phil) A purveyor of that which cheers? Best of luck, whatever you do. Out-of-work is not good for anyone and it's happened to me three times.

[Rosie, Phil] Out-of-work has been happening to me for 3 years now, and boy is it ever getting the better of my sanity.

Hidden text

Wibble

Maybe I should try the lying...

[Knobbers] Why not? I'm sure lots of people do.

I wouldn't. Particularly as anyone who's any good as a wordsmith can use the truth to say what they want without actually needing to lie.

I feel fairly confident that no-one will make any objections to the notice of impending marriage between the windy miller and me, which for the next three weeks will be pinned on the noticeboard, almost behind the filing cabinet, in the inner porch of the back door of the British Consulate in Amsterdam. You have to speak through the intercom to the grumpy security guard at the front door, and again at the back door intercom to get in there, so I doubt you'll get in anyway. I took a friend with me to Amsterdam today, and she had to wait on the street until I complained to the consul officer, and he sent the guard out to bring her in.

I would protest in the strongest terms, if I had good reason, and/or could be bothered...so feel free, and go ahead!

[Pen] Congratulations. Break a leg, as I think they say in Belgium :-)

I trust it's written in English, translated from the Dutch via Estonian, Kurdish, American Sign Language and Xhosa. That sounds like a good excuse for a gin.

[INJ] Indeed. Cheers. :o)

(pen) Never tried it - there aren't enough saints to choose from. Works for some and I hope it does for you.

Congrats is the usual thing. I tried it once, but the wheels fell off after a while, didn't stop me doing it again though, but that was for pension reasons.

[Softers] This is like getting my first car at the age of 46. Although, of course, I actually passed my driving test at 17 and bought my first car at 23. And somewhere halfway through that analogy, it stopped working. I'm marrying the windy miller for his money and for the free flour.

(pen) Not going Dutch, then. :-)

[pen] sounds like a grind...

Congratulations. I think our intention to submit appeared on a scrolltext screensaver in the waiting room of the registry office.