It’s all over and I feel quite sad. I had a lovely if somewhat hectic Christmas. I got lots of nice presents including a digital camera. If I ever work out how to use the internet properly I will post some pictures of my family festivities. Christmas eve was fun and went according to plan with the added bonus of friend Debbie Dicks joining us at the cinema to see Love Actually. The film put me in a very Christmassy mood although I didn’t think it was as good as Richard Curtis’s previous films. The biggest redeeming feature was that it is absolutely stuffed with scrummy men – Hugh Grant (gets better with age), Colin Firth (gets better the more I age), Andrew Lincoln (new entry), Alan Rickman (old favourite) etc etc.

I am very bored at work – I have lots I should be doing, but that isn’t the point when you are bored. I have done the essential month end stuff – I just have to watch out in case anyone posts any nasty surprises later today or tomorrow.

T’was the night before Christmas and all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…

It’s Christmas eve – but before I can wish you festive joy, a quick update on the last week or so. I went to see a U2 tribute band last Wednesday night with friends Mary Ellen Thong and Bonnie Sin as well as a few hangers on. They were OK, but the Bono-a-like could have made more effort to get the sunglasses right. Thursday I was brave and hit the shops. After a very painful shopping experience (hell is other people when you are Christmas shopping) I had enough presents for everyone plus a few spare due to a minor miscalculation as to who was getting what! Friday I reinstated my seasonal feelings by putting up lots of Christmas decorations at both my house and my parents. Saturday was a dull rainy day so I spent all day wrapping presents. On Sunday I had a family lunch out with my parents and my uncle, aunt and cousin.

Since Monday I have been back at work, but I just have a couple of hours left and I can start celebrating Christmas! Friends Lolita Slides and Sandy Jets are coming over this afternoon before Bonnie Sin and I go to the cinema to see Love Actually. Then we are going to make punch and start cooking fun foods to take to Mary Ellen Thong’s new year party next week.

I don’t have much more to say, other than to wish you and your families a Happy Christmas. I’ll be back with the Shelby Official Review of the year next week (mainly because I will be at work with not much to do)

I feel more able to document the Christmas party today. Friend Bonnie Sin and I were picked up by colleague Huge Head who also lives in Stevenage. We then made our way to the office to get a coach down to Wembley. Bonnie Sin and I managed to leave Huge Head behind as we got seats on the coach and he didn’t. However, he had the better deal as his coach driver knew where he was going. Our coach driver insisted on driving round in circles so we did about 5 laps round Wembley. Once we finally got to the party it was one huge room which was good as everyone was in one place. However as it was dark it was difficult finding people you knew. I managed to catch up with most people I wanted to see including an Australian ex-colleague who I hadn’t seen for nearly 2 years although I couldn’t find most of the people from my department who I see on a daily basis. The entertainment was mediocre – Big Brovaz were crap, the live band were too interested in showing off their musical skills rather than entertaining us with songs we knew and Pat Sharp was stuck in 1989. On the plus side the food was nice and there wasn’t a huge wait at the bar to be served.

Although I had a few drinks, I would like to dispute the rumours that Huge Head has been putting around. He e mailed my entire department telling them that if they got to level 4 of this, then they'd reached the Shelbycam footage from the night before...

Saturday afternoon I saw friend Kinky Malibu and helped her pack for her trip to Australia. Yesterday I didn’t do much although I did get a call from newly engaged friend Tiffani Holiday. I am so excited as she has asked me to be her maid of (dis)honour at her wedding next October. I was really touched that she asked as although it’s something we agreed years ago when we were at university, I didn’t know if she’d still feel the same now. The good bit is that I will get to organise the hen night, but the bad news is that I now have to spend the next year on a diet trying to be thinner so I don’t look like a big pudding stood next to her in the wedding pictures!

It’s nearly time to go home which is always a good thing. Even better is the fact that I’ve got Thursday and Friday off so I’m practically half way through my week!

Anyone who had 9.45am for my arrival this morning wins a cash prize. To make things worse everyone else in my team was in at 8.30am in order to make me look bad (possibly not deliberate, but that's how it felt!). However, as my manager and the head of my department are away there is no one here of consequence to notice my late arrival.

Christmas party was better than expected. My expectations were set so low that I could only exceed them. Full details will follow in the next posting (probably next week)

Such a good weekend! I don't know where to start, so I'll be conventional and start with Friday. However, due to the previous night's activities not much was doing so let's skip onto Saturday. My sister and I travelled up to the London Studios to see the Record of the Year show. We managed to find our way to the studios and arrived about 15 minutes before the doors opened. Considering there were 800 people there we got pretty good seats. We were on the right hand side of the studio in the fourth row. The majority of the performances took place on the other side of the studio, but as it wasn't that big they didn't seem to far away. If anyone was watching when Fatman Scoop ran into the audience he was standing parallel with us and we were about 4 people away from him. Six out of the ten finalists were in the studios although the performers I really wanted to see (Dido and Beyonce) weren't there. However, we did get to see Rachel Stevens, Daniel Bedingfield, Busted, Westlife, Oliver Cheatham, Fatman Scoop, Gareth Gates, Will Young and Cat Deeley who a) is tiny b) was wearing a horrible dress c) had her hair and makeup redone EVERY time the cameras were off her and d) was holding the whole thing together.

So we got into the spirit of the evening and cheered enthusiastically when told to. There was a long break until the results show, when to all intents and purposes we were held against our will – you could leave, but it was difficult. However, the time went quickly as it took an hour to get to the bar. When we got back to our seats we got goodie bags with some good stuff in and not the crap I was expecting. The results show wasn’t as good as the main show, as there was a definite drop in energy and enthusiasm levels. Westlife won again, which was unfortunate as it would’ve been nice if someone new had won it. To quote my sister ‘ At least Daniel Bedingfield would have cried if he’d won’ I have a theory as to why Westlife won for the 3rd time in 6 years (and it’s not that the results were fixed although that must be a distinct possibility) I think that the public see that Westlife are in the final and think that there is no point in voting for anyone else as they always win. The net result is that only Westlife fans vote and then they win Record of the Year with a song that has been out for 2 weeks. To be honest I ended up hoping Busted would win only because I had to get enthusiastic about whoever won and it was easier to do that with an upbeat song rather than a ballad.

Sunday I was out again celebrating friend Bonnie Sin’s birthday. The whole posse was there, friends Kinky Malibu, Mary Ellen Thong, Donna Cummings, Jacqui Buttocks and Debbie Dicks. I can’t remember we were all in the same place at the same time. I’m surprised that the world didn’t explode. Due to stunning organisational skills on the part of Bonnie Sin we didn’t have a table booked for lunch anywhere so we ended up squashed round a couple of bar tables. However, it made things cosy. We have started thinking about our girls holiday away next year which I am very enthusiastic about, mainly because I haven’t been away this year and I have 31 days holiday to use up next year. However, we have a fun weekend in Guildford at Donna Cummings to look forward to early on in the new year. A promised tour of local sites of interest will include the club where Cheryl Tweedy from Girls Aloud punched a toilet attendant.

Monday I was off work, using up holiday. My sister and I were supposed to go up to London to see the rugby team, but we decided not to after she heard that 999,998 other people were expected. I had a nice quiet day at home getting my Christmas cards written. My seasons greetings will be appearing in a letterbox near you soon.

It’s been fairly quiet since I’ve been back at work, everyone is gearing up for the Christmas party at Wembley tonight. Friend Bonnie Sin is accompanying me and even better, her brother is providing the taxi service home so we can both get drunk. The Head of Sales, Marketing and Customer Services Finance has the day off tomorrow as has manager Chloe Bounce. Place your bets now as to what time I make it into the office tomorrow!

It took half an hour to get through to the helpdesk in the end yesterday. When my call was finally answered I practically fell off my seat in shock.

On a slightly more interesting subject, it was the department Christmas dinner last night in St Albans. Much fun was had by all, especially by those who were at the drinking end of the table. For once that included me as manager Chloe Bounce is with child and therefore not drinking at the moment so she was my taxi home. As with every work event I’ve ever been to, conversation always ends up being about sex. Colleague Juan Sex lowered the tone nicely by conducting a poll as to who watched porn which then quickly degenerated into a round of shag, marry or push off a cliff. Obviously, the fun part is to use people from work who everyone knows, although thankfully there was an embargo on people in your own team. There was supposed to be an agreement that none of it would go any further than the people at the table, but I really can’t see that happening. I was the only person who got 4 guys to choose from and so a new special category called shag twice was introduced especially for me. The bad news was that I considered my choice as my friends. How long they remain my friends depends on how quickly news of last night’s entertainment travels!

I’m sitting on the phone trying to get hold of the PC helpdesk. It’s been 8 minutes so far and I’m playing guess the musak game. It definitely sounds like something familiar, but I can’t work out what it was before Mr Musak played it on his bontempi organ (remember those?)

I have to get hold of the helpdesk as I can’t save any of my work, which is causing something of a problem so I am stuck here until they answer. I’m not even getting the message anymore which interrupts the musak telling me that I’m in a queue and that my call is important.

Tonight is the department Christmas dinner so we are all heading over to St Albans to eat, drink and be merry. It should be a good evening, although probably not that drunken as we all have to drive and/or come into work tomorrow.

The exciting news is that I am going to see the Record of the Year show on Saturday night. I won tickets in a competition at work, although if I’d seen the shortlist before I don’t know if I would have entered. There are a couple of good songs, but you can guarantee that none of the ones I like will win. In fact it’ll probably be Westlife or someone equally awful. Remember it’s the great British Public who vote for this, and that means teenage girls. How else could you possible explain the shortlist? I am taking my sister with me for cheesy pop night out. I’ll have to get a message to Westlife so they can sing their latest single for her!

20 minutes in (obviously I haven’t been typing all this time) and I’ve hit the repeat on the musak. I don’t know if I can take much more!!!

I'm sorry to announce the sad demise of Peoplenews. It was my favourite lunchtime reading gossip site. If I don't find a replacement soon I'll have to read the grown up news and be informed on current affairs rather than celebrity affairs!

Contrary to expectations I did not get to see Love Actually on Friday night for reasons that I won’t go into here. I didn’t do anything else instead as I stayed at work until 7.30pm to miss the traffic. Saturday I didn’t do much as it rained all day. I ventured out to see my parents but as Word War III seemed to be well underway at their house I turned round and went straight back home. Yesterday I took my new car to see my Aunt and cousins.

Festive things start this week which might be slightly more interesting to write about!