Following from Tuesday’s brief update – here is the news in full.

I spent Thursday and Friday on a training course at work learning how to be assertive and self confident. I just have to wait for an opportunity to put what I learnt into action – as Customer Services is full of people who like making my life difficult I’m sure there will be an opportunity very soon. The best thing about the course was that it finished at 4 on Friday so I got out of the office as fast as I could and made my way to the Audi garage to pick up my new car. After making the biggest switch transaction ever I became the proud owner of a 2002 Audi A3 1.6 SE. At that point the salesman started being nice to me which was an improvement on treating me like I had crawled out from under the nearest rock. Having proved that I can afford one of their very special cars I evidently qualify for being treated as a human.

I won’t bore you with how much I like the car. I will tell you that one of the new numberplates dropped off on Saturday, probably because they had fixed it on with blu-tac! I exaggerate, but they had only used sticky pads which after the huge amount of rain on Saturday decided to mutiny and refuse to stick. I also discovered that I had carpet mats in the back, but not in the front. However, Audi after sales service is excellent and after a quick trip back to the garage on Monday the numberplate was screwed back onto the car new car mats will arrive at the weekend at no extra cost.

Obviously I spent most of the weekend out and about in the car. In fact I have had the car only 5 days and have already done 300 miles in it. I went to Guildford on Saturday night to friends Donna Cummings and Seymour Lay’s house warming party. I nearly didn’t go, but it was well worth the horrible journey down there. It’s a great house with a fantastic space upstairs which is almost like a second living room. Friends Jacqui Buttocks, Manly Slides and Debbie Dicks also turned up and we had a big catch up on all the latest news.

On Sunday I had a fun morning at a golf shop trying to buy my Dad a birthday present. I should mention that my Dad was with me at the time, but he seemed to have a complete inability to decide what he wanted. After several years he eventually decided on a golf bag which meant I left the shop significantly poorer than when I entered it. In the afternoon, I saw family friend Jennifer Jackme at my parents. I don’t see her very often now which is a real shame as we always used to get on really well when we were little. I’ll have to make more of an effort to get organised and invite her round for dinner one day.

On Monday friend Bonnie Sin and I went to Milton Keynes to do some Christmas shopping as we both had the day off work. Considering it’s still a month until Christmas the shops were quite busy. I got a dress and Bonnie Sin got some great boots and we both managed to get some presents for other people. I don’t have so many people to buy for this year so thankfully I’m nearly finished with the Christmas shopping.

Tuesday was a sad day at work as it was friend Buck Vegas’s last day. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve seen come and go now. It’s even worse when it’s a friend. However, hopefully I’ll see him in the new year as he is getting married next month and he’s having a reception in January which he assures me I’ll be invited too.

Yesterday I went out for dinner with my Mum and sister and Jennifer Jackme and her mum. We went to Café Rogue and had a very tasty dinner, but I am really tired today as I didn’t get home until late. I also think I’m tired due to the fact it is taking me an hour to get home from work at the minute due to roadworks on the A1. It’s less than 10 miles from work to home – I’ll let you do the maths.

I think that's everything. I'm going with my Mum to see Love Actually tomorrow night so expect a full report from that after the weekend!

Got my car! I don't have much time for the detail now so I'm going to steal the latest McDonalds strapline - I'm loving it!

‘Quelle rat’

I went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the cinema on Monday night. My local cinema shows a classic film every Monday so as friend Bonnie Sin and I both like Audrey Hepburn we went to see her on the big screen. I totally want to be Audrey Hepburn when I grow up. She’s so stylish, elegant and sophisticated. As I could never really be described as any of these things you can see why I want to be like her! It’s such a lovely film. As well as Audrey there is a young and very attractive George Peppard (joining the A Team did nothing for his looks)

‘I’ve never had champagne before breakfast before. With breakfast several times, but never before before’

The insurance documentation for the new car arrived yesterday so I am very happy about that. I am going to the Audi garage tonight to drop the insurance certificate off and sign the registration form for my personalised numberplate. The new car will be premiered at friend Donna Cummings housewarming party on Saturday night.

Try this for the scoring if nothing else!

Time has passed and I now feel strong enough to recount to you my loyal reader the latest episode of the car saga. As I mentioned previously, my car died on Tuesday morning 7 days after I had last retrieved it from the garage. It died whilst I was opening the windows to get rid of the moisture. As I have electric windows this caused something of a problem and so I had to sit in the car until help arrived as it wasn't safe to leave it (obviously no one was going to steal it, but it wouldn't take long for the little thugs in Bedwell to trash it after nicking the stereo) The garage sent a guy out to look at the car. He took one look at it, said 'I wonder if it's the same problem as last time' and fixed it in 30 seconds. I still sent the car back to the garage so they could fix the problem for good rather than on a temporary basis. Luckily as my Dad is away, my Mum came round with his car so I could go to work.

I phoned the garage on Wednesday to find out what the problem was and to cut a very long story short, the fuse box had melted and the car was in a very dangerous condition as could catch fire due to the fuel pump not cutting out when it should and electrical currents bypassing the fuse box. Cost to repair - another £300.

I had the repairs done and got the car back on Saturday. I then promptly went out and brought a new car. I've managed to recoup the money I've spent on the Polo in the last week by part exchanging it, but effectively I've given the car away. However, I thought it was better to cut my losses. Anyway as of next weekend I will be the proud owner of an Audi A3 which I am very excited about.

The story doesn't end there. The insurance on the Polo ran out on 1st November and I renewed it at the end of October on the internet. I hadn’t received any documentation for the new insurance but it was in the middle of the postal strike and then I got caught up with the other car problems I was having so I forgot about it and just assumed I must be insured. This morning I checked my credit card to see if the money had been taken for the insurance and it hadn’t. I still have to check with the internet company but it doesn’t take a genius to work out that I’m probably not insured to drive my car! I had to go home at lunchtime and pick up my Dad’s car (again) to drive for the rest of the week as it’s the only car I’m insured on.

I hope by this weekend all of my car problems will be over (I will then just have the associated financial problems to pay for it all)

Not much in the way of other news. My weekend was spent looking at cars and seeing my family. Last week I was preoccupied with car problems again, although I went to the call centre in Rotherham on Thursday for work. It was a good day. We went by train which is a much nicer way to travel if you have to go for work as it is far less stressful than driving and there is less time spent hanging around than if you fly. I went with new manager Chloe Bounce and it was a good opportunity for us to talk about how things are going to work going forwards. I feel much more positive about the changes now and I think there is more for me to gain by being happy and easy going (especially if colleague Katie Blue continues being sullen and unhelpful)

The car died again this morning. Enough said....

I am tired and bored at work so thought I'd blog until it was time to go home (24 minutes and counting) Going back to last Wednesday I made it up to Scotland and back in one piece. It was long day as my flight home was delayed by an hour. However, I did get to see lots of pretty fireworks on my way back down. The car didn't die in the airport car park, but that's probably because I got my breakdown cover sorted.

Thursday and Friday were pretty average days. I got landed with a load of work on Friday which meant I had to cancel lunch and then tea with colleague Jamal Jupiter. Friday night I was somewhat tired so my Mum came round to my flat and we got a takeaway.

Saturday I was back at the garage getting the airbag light on my car fixed. I skulked around for the rest of the day at home doing important stuff like catching up on my sleep. In the evening I went to the cinema to see Intolerable Cruelty. It's very good - go and see it. However, I did wonder how true to life it was - Catherine Zeta Jones marries an older man and then divorces him in order to get his money! I'm sure I read somewhere that CZJ's earning potential is far greater than Michael Douglas's now so that can't be the case.

Sunday I spent much of the day on the phone, although I did take a short break from talking to see my Aunt who was down for the day.

Not much else is new. However, I've achieved my objective of wasting some time as I can go home now - hurrah!

Hurrah! I've finally got my little Polo back. It even works! However, it has to go back to the garage again on Saturday as there is a dodgy connection somewhere which means that the airbag light is constantly on when I'm driving. However, I am assured it is perfectly safe to drive so I refuse to worry about it. The unfortunate thing was that it cost me 150% more than I was originally quoted. Luckily the refunded deposit from the cancelled car just covers it. Now I just have to sort out breakdown cover as I had a dream last night that the car died at Luton airport. As I am flying to Scotland tomorrow for a meeting from Luton airport I hope that wasn't prophetic.

I am going to Scotland for a meeting on a top secret project I've been put onto. It’s so secret that I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I am now suitably scared as if it gets out then they will be looking for someone to blame…

I was finally told about the work changes that I've known about for 2 weeks yesterday. Basically my current manager has been working on a new project for a while and so she doesn't have time to manage a team anymore i.e. me and colleague Katie Blue (who told me about these changes in the first place as she was told weeks ago. There’s nothing like treating staff equally and that was NOTHING like treating staff equally) Anyway, Katie Blue and I are now going to be working for colleague Chloe Bounce, my sometime taxi driver and fellow Stevenage girl. I am not fantastically happy about this for several reasons as I don’t think she can cope with her own area on her own let alone take on management of mine which is much bigger and who are much more demanding. She is also leaving in a few months to go maternity leave so as soon as I get her up to speed she will leave and then I will have to start over again with a contractor. I also object to giving all the good project work to someone else (as is bound to happen) when I have to do all of the crap and have been doing so for the last 2 years. However, I may wait and see how things turn out as Katie Blue is threatening to leave over this and so there may be opportunities for me early next year.

In addition to this the Head of Sales , Marketing and Customer Services Finance also told me that my job banding has been increased to a C. I got really excited as you have to be a C grade to get a company car. However, I still won’t get a car as HR in their wisdom won’t give cars to anyone below band D now. The only reason that I wanted the banding changed was to get a car, but I suppose it can be viewed as recognition of the work I do now and how much I’ve evolved in my role.

Urgh Monday again. I am feeling less than enthusiastic about the week, but I think that’s a natural result of not sleeping much last night. Anyway, the weekend was good. I went down to London to visit friend Deedee Lustley on Saturday. She has just moved onto a new flat so I went to see her and her new home. I really liked her flat, although it was obviously built by the same people who built the complex of flats in Stevenage where friend Kinky Malibu lives. When I was buying my place I looked at several flats on that complex and the first one I saw was the same layout as Deedee Lustley has now. However, her view is much better than the ones in Stevenage. She can see Canary Wharf and Docklands, the Thames Barrier and the Millennium Dome from her window which I thought was pretty impressive. We had a quiet day, mainly just catching up although we did go for a wander down to Millennium village.

Yesterday was quiet. I went out for lunch with my family before my Dad left for South Africa for 3 weeks. Other than that I didn’t do much. I spent some time downloading music and reading the Sunday Times 500 biggest earners list. The key to getting onto that list is to set up a business and then sell it for several million. It’s not as good as the Rich List which is the wealthiest people, but it works well for aspiration purposes. The entries I liked best were for the people who earned less than me in terms of salary. Obviously, they made their millions from share sales and dividend payments, whereas my last dividend payment was about £3. I do like reading these lists for aspirational purposes.

I still don’t have my car back. I just phoned the garage and they should have it done by end of the day assuming that they don’t come up against any more problems. I’ve got the executive cruise wagon today (my Dad’s company car) as due to my insurance changeover at the weekend it was the only car we knew I was definitely insured to drive.

Got a meeting about the work changes in half an hour – I think they are finally going to tell me what I already know. I must remember to act surprised…