Hello again

How long has it been....my blogging days earlier this year ground to a bit of a halt with all the pressures of life. But now, encouraged by the musings of a friends blog http://www.onlyhereforthecricket.com/ I am determined to get the keys tapping yet again.

Thankfully, life has become somewhat less pressured, partly due to work settling down, partly due to my own laziness, and que sera attitude. So time for an update on life:


Marathon Demon Died in Barcelona

Yes, in early March, on a bizarrely hot spring day I managed to stumble over the finishing line of the Barcelona Marathon. Not as fast as I intended, but in 24c heat, I think thats OK. A lovely city, and a great way to see it. Kilometres 20-30 were pretty awful, but with 10K to go, the wall was broken through and I cruised through Barcelonetta, the gothic quarter, and down Las Ramblas amid cheering crowds. All in all a great day, only marred by a good dose of food poisoning which kicked in just as I flew home :-(



Having put to death those voices in my head that told me I couldn't run 26 miles on my own, I dont really intend to run that far again for a good while. Maybe for my 40th birthday ( a marathon each decade seems like a good target to have).

The Dreaded Masters
Hand-in date is the end of August. Ho Hum. Having not done a great deal of work in between my last post on this topic (Feb) and May, I am currently having to live, eat and breathe computing stuff (arrgghh). Having been chastised by my tutor for my lack of enthusiam about coding ...quote 'this is a masters in computer science , not social science... you need to do some programming' I have begun to write some code. Much frustration, and frequent tears have followed. Only determination and hope will see me through....



The Uber-Trust is born
1 April saw all the Healthcare Trusts in Belfast merge into one. It was an anticlamactic day - having worked since the start of the year on all the communcations stuff to keep people informed and the branding stuff to make it look good, when it actually happened, everything kinda went quiet.


Anyway, now I'm in a new office, have a new boss, and am getting to work on some new stuff. All in all, its been OK....different.... but OK. If anyone is vaguely interested, our website is http://www.belfasttrust.hscni.net/ - dont be too critical of how it looks - it is a work in progress. Merging the sites of 6 large organisations into 1 huge organisation (22,000 people) takes some time.



The Glorious Twelfth!

It's that time of year again - hurrah! they cried. Well they would, if there was anyone left in the country. The annual ulster diaspora is upon us, and Belfast as with most towns and cities across the province is resembling a ghost town as the majority of people head off for a fortnight in the sun.

The marching season is a funny old time - flags go up; bonfires get built; bands tune up to an approximation of concert pitch; and households stockpile canned goods in preparation for the one day shops are shut.
Belfast City Council, in an attempt to make the 'festivities' inclusive have branded the whole thing 'Orangefest' . I love that - gives lots of advertising possibilities ' the futures bright, the futures orange' etc. Not sure it will take off though, but maybe thats me being cynical.