A quiet day in Ayr...

Thank you for all your kind wishes yesterday. I assume the cold got to me as I sat downstairs in the afternoon and it is chilly in that room where dad had his computer and golf things.

I didn't sleep at all well and am still feeling under the weather but OK. I gave up trying in the end. Replying to Cara's comment yesterday, despite feeling unwell, my picture was an easy one to take and required no effort. It was the beauty of nature and the location that provided it kindly for me. Indeed, I couldn't have gone anywhere else and if the sky had been slate grey to match how I felt and devoid of colour, that would have been it.

Photography is more about luck and opportunity than camera craft in my opinion. I have seen some beautiful pictures taken with a phone on here. Anyone with half an eye for a good shot can get one. The person who can make a tin of beans look interesting and unusual impresses me although I'll be biased and give a heart for a subject I really like.

Anyway, back to the current day....

Work was better today. Last Friday, I had fixed a report problem in a test environment but when I ran it yesterday, it produced no results at all despite the fact there were 279 employee records on the report on Friday. I'd used the same parameter date and run for all payroll groups but with no joy. I passed it to a contractor on a manager's advice yesterday to look at. There was no progress when I had logged off later than usual.

This morning at 6:30am, I ran the report and was pleased to see that the problem was resolved. I emailed Chris to ask what he did and all he said was 'Oh nothing! The statistics in the database were out of date so I regenerated them.'

Great. The moral of the story is that there are some areas in life where you will never succeed. If it involves someone else and what steps they take, you will always be a victim. I'm not saying I will give up and just blame someone else; I just mean that I have to know when I'm done and trust my own judgement and instincts more in the first place.

On a brighter note, Paul O'Brien (the change control manager) - we have several twat job titles these days – sent an email to everyone inviting them for birthday cakes. I emailed him back saying that he should send me a picture so he sent me one via text. Years ago, I had sat next to Paul at the Symphony Hall in Brum to see Billy Connolly. I'd thought the man sat next to me looked familiar (Penfold from Dangermouse) and he had thought I looked familiar (skinny gingery bint). I only found out that he really was Paul the following Monday!

The whole IT Section was in hysterics when they found out and to this day, people tap me on the shoulder when he comes into the office saying 'Look Roz! That's Paul O'Brien!' They march him over to introduce him to me too. This happened 4/5 years ago so this just goes to show how long an old joke lasts in the ICT Division....

That's it. Oh and it snowed this morning. I watched the white flakes falling past the window hoping for a nice picture of snow on the beach later. It was all gone half an hour later. Sigh! Another missed opportunity!

The picture was taken from the bit of grass that leads down to the seafront. The Isle of Arran was very clearly seen today.

Track? The Stones today - You Can't Always Get What You Want