Wow it was hard getting up on Monday morning. I mean I knew it was going to be, but when the alarm clock went off I just wasn”t expecting it. It was almost as if the alarm clock was mocking me. I got to the train station and had forgotten to renew my ticket over the weekend, so had to stand in the queue which isn”t great at the best of times let alone the first working week of the new year. There was such a demand for tickets the system kept crashing meaning that they could only issue weekly tickets. So I brought the ticket and stood with all the other happy souls on the station platform waiting for the train. Monday flew by after catching up with everybody and before I knew it I was homeward bound with several hundred emails to still wade through. The only problem with taking time off is that the work just waits for you to return.

Tuesday night it snowed and snowed hard so by Wednesday morning we had 6-8″ of snow on the ground and the roads were impassable, this continued all week so I worked from home. Luckily with technology today this is not a problem and I can access all the systems I need to, but I do miss the social interaction and by the weekend I was starting to suffer from cabin fever, and a distinct lack of food.

Saturday I tried to venture into town but the roads were still very slippery and the car parks were closed, so I decided to pop down to see Katrina and the kids as it was Katrina”s birthday on the Friday and I hadn”t given her the iPod that I had brought her.

Katrina was equally frustrated as the schools had been closed and the kids were also starting to show signs of being cooped up to long. We had a cup of coffee and complained about the weather like good British citizens, while the kids climbed all over me, but it was really good to seem them again.

Sunday it was still to risky to go to far but I dug the car out and cleared the drive somewhat and made it to the train station and renewed my ticket. I just couldn”t stand the thought of doing it at 06:30 Monday morning. After doing that and getting some shopping I walked up to Mum & Dad”s for Sunday dinner. We chatted about the snow as they hadn”t made it out too far either and then moved on to holiday”s to try and brighten up the mood.

I walked home slipping and sliding all over the place and then settled in for the evening with a rented movie.