Ahh New Year's...Back to Work you slack-jawed Whiner!!

Painful as it is to recount friends, the great xmas/new year's fiesta leaves more than a little to be desired in this neck of the woods. As merry Australians continue to crack cold ones and toast their good fortune to be so hail fellow well born as to reside in such a temperate paradise, we here north of the equator must busy ourselves with the back to work blues. Hard as it is to believe I presented to work at 8:15am on Tuesday January the 2nd thereby breaking every rule of common sense and good manners. Two things bear noting: a) I was actually resonably bright eyed and lacking all symptoms of hangover or ill temper and b) I was not actually the first in the office having been beaten to that grim distinction by the good doctor S.P.J Holliday (you'll note the irony as I complain about the lack of days of recreation with a fellow named Holliday - sadly the humour was lost on this most fastidious of men!!).

So yes, I think I may have set a record of a sort given that this was the earliest I have ever been back at work after the new year. With some luck this dubious record will now stand until England next wins the ashes sometime after the next ice age (which come to think of it may not be too far away if Mr Gore is to be believed). Sadly, these Canadians care not for such reckless sentimentality and the rest of the staff are setting a frightful pace. Not for the Canuck this life of the gentle re-entry into the working grind with 10am starts, two hour lunchs and 4 o'clock knock off - no sir, back to work!!

I hope the rest of you can spare me a fond thought as you contemplate another beer or the weary walk back to the fridge for last night's left overs...happy new year!