… despite it being St Patrick’s Day, because I don’t actually own any green clothing or even jewellery. Not even socks. So there you go. I’m not going out either this year; can’t really afford it and not really in the mood. 

It’s been an odd couple of weeks. Obviously, with my work deadline out of the way, I got to sit back and relax a bit in the first week of March. We had a Friday afternoon of post-release celebration, i.e. pizza and poker and beer and computer games and general dossing. Except that I had to forego the pizza because I’d given it up for Lent, and I ended up taking my chicken strips and potato wedges to my desk because I couldn’t bear to watch everyone else eating pizza. I’m also really crap at Guitar Hero and not too hot on using a Wii either (well, it was my first time for both). And then Wales beat Ireland in the Six Nations rugby, which meant that the Grand Slam was a possibility.

And then last Thursday, we had a shock at work with redundancies announced. And those who were made redundant were told that night by phone - including the other tech writer. I wasn’t in the office on Thursday and was glad of it, but I was there on Friday and it felt like a wake. Very unhappy indeed, particularly after the fun of the previous week. I was relieved to be staying, but felt guilty because of the relief… and depressed and shocked too. We all did.

On the plus side, Wales then beat France very convincingly on Saturday to clinch the tournament and their second Grand Slam in four years. Which put me in a better mood.  I’d met Lorraine and others out on Friday evening, too, since she finished her job that day (having snaffled the only tech writing job to be advertised in the North West in years). Good food at Café Calm (lovely tapas) and good company did help too.

Also today, I am mostly … making a list

… of everything I want to get done this week while I’m off work. I’d booked this holiday quite a while ago, and after last week, I’m damn glad I did. It’s time for a serious spring-clean, anyway.