Stormy weather

I have survived my first week at work here! Tired, having worked just shy of 50 hours, but content.... I need to have a word with Stephen about timekeeping. We get into work for 7:30 to maximise the overlap with the UK, but unlike our colleagues (sorry - co-workers) who go in early and leave early, we are failing to leave before 5:30. In fact they are complaining that we're making them look bad!! The exception was Friday when we managed to skip off at 4:30 AND I got a lunch hour (as opposed to a lunch 15 minutes!). Alyssa, Tanner and Jacqui always go for lunch on a Friday and invited me along. We had a really good time, some interesting food (I had chili made from Bison!) and laughed a lot about some pretty "interesting" topics! Heaven knows what the people in the next booth thought! No topic was off-limits!!

We were talking about TV programmes (this was one of the tamer topics!) and Alyssa said "There is this programme in the UK, they should bring it over here and show it. I don't know what its called but the girl from Big Brother was on it" (Alyssa is as huge a gossip hound as I am, and had got hold of a copy of OK magazine when she was in the UK - which is when she saw this programme. As soon as she mentioned this I was able to tell her it was Embarrassing Illnesses...I had read the same magazine!)
"There was this woman on there with haemorrhoid's who was happy for the doctor to spread her cheeks and show the world, and then there was this other woman on there who was incontinent and had been peeing her pants for 20 years".
"I know her! And it wasn't peeing..."
"Ohmygod, that's right...she said she'd just poo her pants and then go home and change"
"And considering the inappropriately short skirts she wore to work, I'm surprised no-one noticed"

So, this person's fame and notoriety has spread to the US...it didn't take long! I look forward to the day I switch on the TV and see her on TV here!!

I told you the conversation was funny, interesting and inappropriate!! (And this was the most printable bit - honestly I blush to think what else we talked about!!)

After another few hours slaving away in the office we scarpered a little early in order to get home in time to tidy up and prepare the food for Paul, Hilary, Paul, Lisa and the kids coming round to BBQ. Thankfully the weather had picked up a little and had stopped raining...unfortunately someone forgot to stop turning up the thermostat and humidifier and by 6:30 you stepped out of the lovely chill of the air conditioning into....hot soup! Honestly, one week of cloudy, damp and cool weather and you forget just how totally boiling hot and humid it is here!! It was over 100 degrees here today (which is 40 deg c!). Anyway, we all did the British stiff upper lip thing and stood outside sweating buckets and chucking wine down our throats and Paul's eldest daughter did her bit to keep Dad cool by occasionally chucking lumps of ice down his T-shirt...

Because of the exceedingly high temperatures and humidity today we're now having a severe thunderstorm (that is the official meteorological rating!). There was a HUGE boom a few minutes ago which made me jump out of my skin. I think it might have been one of the trees in the wood out back being struck - it certainly sounded loud enough and close enough!