Well, hello again!

I'm not completely sure what I'm doing back here. It is something I've been thinking about since I was surprised by a comment in my inbox from someone who had stumbled upon the blog and wondered why I had stopped writing so abruptly. I guess I was a bit taken aback that a) someone had actually read it recently, and b) thought it was interesting enough to comment on it. So I thought I might as well drop back in to say hi.

It has been a really long time actually. I have little excuse for the sudden halt - I was still unemployed at that point so there's a huge element of laziness in it. It has been well over a year, maybe time for a quick summary:

1) The rabbit died in September 2009. It was very sudden. I just found him dead in his cage one morning. He hadn't appeared to be ill so I don't know what happened. I suspect it might have been a cold, bunnies are apparently suceptible to them.

2) I got a new job, working for a charity where I have been since October last year. Far less stressful than the old one (and what I hear about what is going on in my former office does amuse me) but if I'm honest I find it a little dull. Initially it was maternity cover but I've been kept on in another project, and apparently I'm wonderful. Nice to be appreciated.

3) I got a second cat last December, a gorgeous fatty of a black tortoiseshell, eight years old and from the animal shelter. This was largely because I thought Titan was lonely, but inevitably they tended to fight. Tilly occupied the bedroom and bathroom for a good three or four months. In the end they tolerated each other but didn't hugely get on.

4) Grandma died in March. We did have a live in carer for the grandparents for a while but by Christmas Grandma was so unmanageable that in the New Year she had to go into a home. Mum has been living with Grandad ever since, and in the end Grandma stopped eating, so effectively starved herself to death.

5) I had to have Titan put down in October. Had him just under two years. Cats Protection had thought he was about ten when I got him, but I suspect he was older. In addition to the beginnings of kidney failure he ended up with a heart problem which the vet said if he was human would make him a candidate for a transplant. Add thyroid problems on top of that, which oddly would have made his kidneys worse if we had cured it, and in the end I had to make what was a really heart-breaking decision. The vet was lovely, but it was so difficult. Mum paid for him to be cremated, so he is now in a lovely carved wooden box on the bookshelf that he liked hiding on.

6) GBF and I are looking to possibly set up a company and work together. There has been a set back in that GBF decided this week he didn't really want to work with the potential backer we had lined up - understandable because he had worked with the guy before and knows what he's like. Was a bit frustrating though since we were so close, but probably the best thing in the end. We're going back to the drawing board to decide where we want to go from here.

7) I'm attempting to get fit. Again. My current office has way too much food around and the weight has been creeping up again. Since the beginning of November I have been doing a ten minute work out with a DVD when I get up, and half an hour on the Wii in the evenings. No dramatic changes thus far but I'm only on week three. At least I'm taking more care about the food intake as well.

So here we are. Summary of the year.

I can't promise that there will be frequent postings from now on; I'm trying to maintain a variety of things at the same time in my non-work life, but posting here now I realise I have kind of missed this place. So to the person who posted last week, thanks for the boost.