Musical chairs

AW has been complaining, that's a bit strong, perhaps muttering about would be more apt, of a 'numb bum' and having had to sit in her chair I can see why, heaven only knows what she's done to it but the cushioning is as flat as pancake. A series of musical chairs ensued with different chairs being sat in and, yes, two are in need of replacement, one urgently and one in a few months. So two brand new chairs were ordered, surprise, surprise, the existing line is no longer manufactured so afer hours of pouring over different descriptions and options a decision was made, order placed on Monday, chairs arrived on Tuesday.
How many different things can a chair do?
Well seven apparently, requiring four levers and that's not including manoeuvring into position, another afternoon of musical chairs as the settings were made, adjusted and different levers pushed and pulled. I love mine but unfortunately AW doesn't like her new chair (we think it's her back that's skewed and not the chair or perhaps, being of tough Yorkshire stock, she likes the hard chair?), so more musical chairs was called for and she's now on the almost defunct chair whilst we ponder what to do about a replacement.
Despite the party games (and distraction of yellow fluffy balls in SW19(Wimbledon to the non-fanatics)) a new copy of CJS Weekly is now rolling off the printers, this week it's 13 sides containing 105 new paid posts of which 49 came direct to CJS.
Now has rain stopped play again yet….?

Smelly letters

We get lots of post (well most days), sometimes the odd letter is perfumed by someone wearing too much scent but today we got a first. In the heap was a letter from Royal Mail to The Managing Director (that's Hebe in case you're wondering!). The post sat on a desk for nearly an hour whilst we dealt with emails and phone calls and every now and then an odd aroma drifted across the office. Finally post was opened and the letter from RM – phewee, did it reek? Oh yes, of 'sandalwood and floral notes' . After reading it at arms length we deciphered that it was trying to persuade us to send everything special delivery and so it was swiftly removed, out to the wheelie bins, not just the office bin. The smell was so strong AW started sneezing, so we opened a window to try to dissipate the pong but that brought in the pollen and the boss and boss dog (Juno) started sneezing too – hay fever this time. So thanks RM, next time can we have a box of tissues, please?

What a week!

Torrential rain interspersed with brilliant, hot sunshine, it's been a bit like living in the rain forest!
We've been relaying messages back and forth this week, first a message on the answerphone for Niall, a mutual acquaintance (and former rent-a-ranger guide) has been awarded an MBE in the Queen's birthday honours, then Niall got a query for CJS (details duly sent onward) and finally in the post this morning a letter addressed to KH but sent to Natural England in Peterborough who very kindly sent it to us, one of the benefits of having an unusual name I suppose. However, we haven't a clue what the author of the letter is going on about so we're a bit of loss as to know what to with it. Perhaps the weekend R'n'R will provide the answer.
Loads of adverts on the website this week, 12 today alone, see Daily Online for more details. So that means it's a quite a large CJS Weekly, 13 pages with 110 new paid posts 70 of which came direct to CJS, that's two thirds with CJS.

Monthly, Weekly and Swords

The June Monthly, after a small hiccup (does nothing ever run smoothly?) was published as usual. Details of the vacancies are freely available online and are in this week's CJS Weekly which is even now rolling off the printers. In addition to details from the Monthly it also contains July's Training Calendar. It's 15 pages plus a further four of training calendar, and a massive 142 new paid posts of which 72 came direct to CJS

In local news the Goathland Plough Stots, our local traditional Long Sword dance team, a lethal variety of morris dancing for those you who haven't come across this before, are worried about the future of their dancing. In the recently passed legislation aimed at reducing knife crime a series of exemptions for carrying 'weapons' in a public place were included, but not one for the ceremonial dancing swords. For more about this see the report in the Whitby Gazette. (AW's husband is one of the senior team.) For more about the Stots see here: http://www.goathlandploughstots.co.uk/

CJS Weekly - no collection.

We discovered this morning that Royal Mail did not collect our post on Saturday. To say we're not happy would be a major understatement. A formal complaint has been made to RM so we expect a book of stamps in recompense.
Our usual postie is on holiday and the replacement is less than useless, we've received post for another business down the road, and only two letters this morning (we usually receive around 20-30 on a Monday), added to which he virtually refused to take our mail and eventually did so grudgingly.
So apologies from CJS, we hope (fingers crossed) that your copies of CJS Weekly are with you soon. If you're one of the unlucky ones and have not yet received your copy then if you'd like to contact us we will provide you with temporary details to access the digital version.

Disaster free week and Chelsea photos at last

No disasters or calamities to report this week. Maia has made a full recovery and finished her antibiotic eye drops. It was Hebe's birthday on Monday, the office pup is now an office doglet at one year old but just as crackers this week she has eaten (well chewed up and spat out in lots of bits) a bar of soap so she's been foaming at the mouth but I doubt if she's learnt anything and today she's been at the 'bad beans', into everything mischievous and troublesome. We have managed to get the Chelsea photos on Picasa, they're at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Humphreys.Goathland/Chelsea2008?authkey=9oc27ipTjd4 or click on the album cover (below)

Chelsea 2008

This week's feature article in CJS Weekly is all about the decline of puffin numbers on the Isle of May, a worrying trend. In addition to the fascinating feature there are 82 new paid posts, 31 of which were sent direct to CJS over 10 pages.