Dog Days

The weather (despite childish protestations in the newspapers) is actually lovely, it's sunny and warm in the mornings and it rains in the afternoon. As a result everywhere is green and not too dusty, what's not to love?

My house is covered on one side in Virginia Creeper, it's a constant battle to stop it colonising the roof space, but in addition to turning a stunning red colour in the autumn, just now it is alive with bees, the whole of the wall seems to be buzzing as you walk past, a bit unnerving I grant you.

Two days ago I found out that back in February I made a mistake on a case, I am waiting to hear from counsel whether that mistake is fatal or salvagable. I have felt sick and woken up sweating at 4am for two days now....I can't do any more, I can't change what's happened. I just wish that after all this time I was better at this job and mistakes didn't happen at all any more. I bet if I look back in this blog there are a number of posts where this has happened, so clearly I have survived before....not sure why that doesn't particularly help.

Emotional Wreck

My Dad is ill in hospital, he has an unexplained obstruction in his gut that we are all secretly terrified is a tumour.


He had a small stroke about a month ago and we had hoped he was getting better. But over the weekend he took a turn for the very much worse.

We all know , or think we know that everybody dies, so why are we shocked when it's someone we know and love? The shock is absolutley profound and over whelming.

Work is a struggle, I don't want to be here and I would really rather all my client's fucked off and sorted it out for themselves. But then I would have no money and something else to worry about.

My summer with Summer.

At the moment we loan this lovely horse, Summer, from our friend Natasha. She is a 17 year old thoroughbred mare, her racing name was Lunch In Paris. In 1999 she had 5 starts over hurdles and her best finish was 9/15 at Worcester, after which she was understandably retired.

We have had Summer for a year now and it's been a fab year..with only a few glitches, like a bad foot.

But I think it may be time for us to buy someone of our very own.

Last Thursday we went down to Essex to see a lovely 6 yr old Irish Sport Horse, a completely different proposition. Going to see him again next week. And trying another Irish horse this afternoon.

But for what may be our swan song, Summer and me are taking part in a charity ride for Breast Cancer Research on 21 August, we will be decked out in everything pink and I will post the pictures later.

Lunch - again

Going out for dinner in highly rated restaurants has proved to be a dissapointing experience on more than a few occasions recently. Not so lunch. Some great restaurants have fixed price lunch menus which are fantastic value (watch what you drink they make the money up on the booze!) .

Today I went with a friend to Maison Bleu in Bury St Edmunds , one tip for this restaurant ask for a table at the front, I find the back room claustrophobic. Their summer lunch special is a "provencal" menu , I went for the seared tuna starter, guinea fowl with green olive sauce for main course and strawberry and pistachio tart for pudding, all lovely and all for under £20.

My London reccomends for the fixed price lunch special are the splendid Bistro du Vin in Clerkenwell and the fabulous Orrery restaurant on Marylebone High St.

So tip of the week, go out for a lovely lunch and then treat yourself to a mildly intoxicated and thoroughly disreputable afternoon .

Lunch

There should be a blog called "what I had for lunch" and there isn't, why is this?

I work from home so every day at around this time, the big question , regardless of the content of the in box, is "what to have for lunch?". Too often this is solved by a trip to the co-op for a rotisserie chicken to pull apart and a baguette. Whilst this is lovely it clearly lacks imagination.

I am not big fan of cheese. Soo any sort of cheese arrangement is out.

In my worst ever lunch phase at university years ago I subsisted on something we called "tuna fish rissotto" - tin of tuna, fried onion, tin of sweet corn heated through with some ready cooked rice...actually sounds quite nice I may have to ressurect it.

This is clearly a subject requiring further thought and research.

"Waves"

Heaven's last post 2009!
.
And apparently I was even missed.

What's happened, well some blog people have become real life mates. Which is lovely.

Still lawyering, still married, child grown bigger, new horse.

Anyway to break myself back in gently. Things I like; Horses, my Jack Russell terrier but not necessarily other peoples, chocolate, raspberries, raspberries and chocolate together, coffee, my nespresso machine, facebook, Lewis, books by Henning Mankell, Holkham Beach, Fit Flops, my blackberry, clean ironed sheets with a bit of starch,white walls with paintings on them, London, my house, the Law Society Library, the smell of bookshops....

Really not dead!

Not sure where to start really; the over riding theme of the last couple of weeks has been commuting in to London to work for a couple of days, then working like mad to catch up when back out in the sattellite office at home.

If it was just easy straightforward cases it wouldn't be so bad, but some of this stuff is so difficult that it's frying my brain to the point where I am having problems stringing a sentance together.

One high point was AB's school concert on Tuesday, where, in addition to the usual recorders and squeaky violins there was a top drawer rock outfit playing some Chilli Peppers and AB's jazz group with some rocking Nina Simone covers... and they are only 12!

I also seem to be having a social life which is a bit of a shocker, went to dinner and a jazz night last friday and discovered that my ability to drink a bottle of wine and not fall over has not been lost due to lack of use. And we are all off to London en famille to the theatre next Friday to see a Little Night Music at the Garrick - hope it's good!

We had mates round for lunch on Sunday - and had a bit of a lemon meringue pie disaster, the lemon tart bit was fine, but cooked the meringue too hot and not for long enough so it melted rather than cooked - gross! I have taken advice and am going to practice before I attempt it again.

Been back to yoga - "root flow yoga" to be precise, and it's killing me far more than the very fit and lithe pensioner on the next mat, which is more than a bit depressing. Horse all good - but other pressures have meant less dressage schooling and more thrasing round the country side at high speed, jumping ditches to work off the stress!

OK really got to go and finish this brief. Will try to have a more interesting life.

Oh dear dear dear

Oh dear, I've horribly neglected my poor blog and have taken to twittering like a duck to water. It requires so much less effort to put together one sentenance than a whole , hopefully cohnerent paragraph for a blog. It also panders shamelessly to my borderline ADHD personality! I will do better.

A shamelessly lazy Sunday here - no guests, not much dog walking in evidence and no one but the AB has cooked anything since breakfast. She made chocolate fairy cakes with sugar sprinkles and I've eaten three!!!!

I've played a little badminton ,read the newspaper (nothing so taxing as a book!) and tried to write a bit.....the dismal ongoing saga of my attempts at writing a detective story is not something I shall bore you with. Suffice to say I am writing words - I am not troubling myself at the moment with trifles such as the appropriateness or relevance to the plot of the words that are being written!

Hate objects!

Some times I really hate lawyers . I have an opponent on a case who has resorted to hectoring emails because I won't do what he wants me to. And although I can see all sorts of holes in his case, when someone shouts at you for long enough and loud enough I (at least) really start to doubt my own position. Of course I'm not admitting that, but I would really like some nice barrister to hold my hand on this case now - so part of this morning will be dedicated to trying to pursuade the client to pay for one!

Things I did last week;

1. Took the skin off my feet walking around London in new shoes.
2. Fixed my cousin up with a blind date.
3. Got cross in a committee meeting - I'm amazed that I could summon up the energy!
4. Got my blackberry charged up for free by the nice man on the vodaphone counter in Harrods.
5. Had a 7am breakfast meeting.
6. Made a great lamb curry.


Must work, there is great piles of the stuff wafting around the office!

Wii.

We don't actually own a Wii (or an X-box or anything) we are of the pre-gaming generation . But one of the AB's mates came for a sleep over and brought hers and what a hoot! I was mocked mercilessly for having a Wii fit age of 52 when I'm only 46 until the AB had hers assessed at 25 when she's only 12 and the TB who is 44 came out as 72!!! Serves them both right for laughing.

I cannot race in Mario Kart and was heard frequently screaming "Why is eveyone else going the other way?" with replying screams at even louder "turn round". But I'm a passable ski jumper and a "YOGA MASTER" go me!

We may have to buy one.

Lovely weekend though - of doing very little, sat in the sun , went swimming with the fam and walked the dog along the river. And ate and drank. Isn't it spring though, everything is growing so fast now. All the flowering cherries are out and some of the May, most of the daffodils are over and the tulips are full on and the wild garlic in the woods is starting to smell REALLY strong.

Have a nice Monday!

So what's been happening?

I finished teaching the second part of the law diploma yesterday, the students all seemed very happy. Which, as they are all perfectly well qualified solicitors, barristers and surveyors who are just doing this as an "extra" qualification, was quite hartening. And I've written my exam questions and sent in my invoice! So that's that until next year!

Other than that, driving along the M25 is a dreadful bore, and isn't Windsor castle close to the M4??? The Queen must get terrible traffic noise!

I have a new blackberry - which I fiddle with constantly as I'm still trying to work it all out. The TB is most dischuffed that BT gave me a better model on my business account than his firm gave him...he's actually right, it's not fair. I can also now send people irritatingly long text messages with proper punctuation.

Must do some actual work now, so far today been riding and had mate round for coffee ..,.this does not get the billable hours in!

Later!

Reality blogging in real time!

I'm currently on hold waiting for the Uxbridge County Court to answer the telephone and as this state of affairs is likely to continue for some time I thought that I might update my blog.

I love Easter, it's SO much better than Christmas, less pressure, better weather. On Sunday we decided we didn't fancy our leg of lamb, so had curry and then ate the lamb yesterday. I can't imagine deciding on the spur of the moment to eat Christmas dinner on Boxing Day instead, can you? But then why not? And it's very telling that a few chocolate eggs seem to make people just as happy as expensive Christmas presents. It's a ll a matter of expectation, legitimate or otherwise.

I can't say I did much over the break, slept, walked the dog, went swimming and watched a bit of telly - I loved the Dr Who special and thought Michelle Ryan was fab....she does need her own decent action woman type show. She's fun and "the Bionic Woman" was awful.

I've given up and sent Uxbridge an email insteand - I shall expect a response in October.

It might be summer?

Winter isn't always kind to those of us who work from home. No christmas office parties and no after work drinks, no sneaking off to the pub for a gossip at lunch time and the same long hours as everyone else can make you feel very mushroom like.

But summer! We come into our own, I can get up early do a couple of hours work then head to the stables or the beach and make up the rest of the time in the evening. And if I'm not feeling quite that keen, then my wi-fi link stretches into the garden, in celebration of which I've just bought a new parasol and a new barbeque - hurrah! Oh and since the picture of my office was taken it's acquired doors and blinds so it looks a bit less spartan.

For those who have been paying attention, brother didn't go down in a hail of bullets in the African bush, he and his family made it out. And now, in a demonstration of OUTSTANDINGLY chav like behaviour, his current wife , his ex wife and all his children are living in the same house in South Africa, whilst bruv has taken a job in Dubai. Next installment will be the wives embarking on a lesbian affair . innit.

Advanced Law Diploma thingy!

I've been "doing teaching" this week , it was the first time I have worked on this course, in fact the first time this course has run. And boy it was hard work. It was presented in a "team teaching" format, which involved in effect being a group tutor from 9am to 7pm for 3 days.

My head hurts. I'm not sure I can remember my name now let alone any law.

College life is fundamentally not meant for grown ups. Being in a group that big for that amount of time constantly, and meals and the bar after .....I found exhausting! And the little turrent room that I had, whilst cute, was basic in the extreme, less "en-suite" , more "en-cupboard".

Will write more next week when head back on shoulders!

I wanna be sedated!

I spent Friday afternoon in hospital having tests , laproscopes and stuff, just to make double triple sure that I don't have cancer. And, as we pretty much knew, I don't, - excellent.

The sedative was amazing, knock out drops WITH muscle relaxant, the knots in my shoulders have gone completely and I slept for two days. I think litigators should get a six monthly shot of this stuff on the NHS!

Clients don't really get the concept of "I'm in hospital" and were still hopefully ringing my mobile at 8pm on Friday night!

I'm away teaching on an advanced law diploma for most of this week. So, see you Friday.

Kate Moss

"Kate Moss!" screams the fashion press, "what a style icon, what a goddess!"

I think the whole thing is a bit Emperor's New Clothes, and one day a little boy at the back of the crowd is going to say in a very loud voice "Mummy, aren't those men funny all taking pictures of that raddled old hag!"

And Kate, as one raddled old hag to another, it's not such a bad life, but you don't need the Botox nearly so often if you stop smoking.

Siblings

When asked I will tell you something vague about my brother being "in security".

The truth is that , as we speak, he is hunkered down in the bush with an ousted African president being shot at by half the Madagascan army.

He's a jammy sod my little brother - but today he really , really , really needs to be.

A Day at the Races

On Friday we headed off to the Gold Cup Meeting at Cheltenham. So here is Lippy's on course guide to a day at the races;

First of all check the form;

Then stick on some slap so that you don't frighten the horses!

Getting to the course on time helps!

Check out the runners in the paddock and see if there is one that you fancy. You might also get to see the Queen..

Fight your way through to the bookies and have a bet.

Then watch the race - only I didn't get any good pictures of that I was too busy jumping up and down and shouting. Although I did pick the winner in the first race the final score was Lippy - 1 Bookies-6

Oh well.

There is no getting away from the fact that Cheltenham on Gold Cup day is rammed, with the crowd pretty evenly split between Essex boys with black shirts and Grant Mitchell haircuts and those found drunk in charge of an Irish accent! I don't really quite understand why it is such a boys day out, with suited and booted blokes out numbering the women about 15 -1.........well I suppose those are slightly better odds!!!

Litigation 101

Well here on planet legal it's all happening.

There are definate trends and waves in the sorts of proceedings before the courts. To put things in perspective before we start, the sort of work I do - business and property disputes - is a minority interest. Over 60% of the work of the county court is family proceedings - divorce and children actions. When economic times are bad divorce courts are extra busy. I don't do that sort of work as it gives me hives but when the courts are full of family work (which gets priority) it means that my clients wait longer for cases to be heard.

Anyway on the menu today we have;

Bankruptcy - only available to a creditor where the debt which is owed is undisputed. So we have a debtor trying to manufacture a dispute in order to avoid a petition and it's my job to put together the evidence to show that his so called "dispute" is merely fanciful and has no basis in either fact or law ( and yes I am planning to use that in my submissions, I think it's aposite!)

Application to set aside Default Judgement - if you ignore a court claim form your opponent gets judgement by default and the baliffs still appear at your door regardless of how the judgement was obtained (so sticking your head in the sand is not an option). In this case though the proceedings were served at some seemingly random address which has no connection with the debtor company - so we're asking to court to set it aside, strike out the action and give us costs. Which won't please the PLC on the other side will it?

Claim for Unpaid invoices - about £130k's worth. At the moment if your opponent can pay it's worth having a judgement debt as the interest rate is 8% pa which is more than you will get anywhere else.

I need to get the desk clear by end of the day tomorrow as I'm off to the Cheltenham Festival on Thursday - hurrah a day off! Can't wait.

I'm sort of dreading writing this post as Tickers is going to say "I told you so" - I've felt knackered since I got back from London last week, couldn't put one foot in front of another. I finally ended up in hospital yesterday and came back with a new inhaler and huge antibiotics, I've apparently been walking around in the throes of a major asthma attack and a chest infection for about a week..........I thought I felt a bit rough.

Added to this the business has spent rather more than it has earned over the last two months - quite a lot (the tax bill, the VAT bill ) has been absorbed by savings and even more is the huge annual items like law books which are annual editions at between £500 and £1000 a time. It's a bit worrying but I think it's turned the corner, I don't owe anything I just don't have much of a float any more.

And the financial arises just when I want to spend some cash going to Hydrabad for a wedding. My best friend's cousin's wedding to be precise. The TB (my toy boy husband to save you scrolling down to the bottom of the blog for a translation) is not keen on such a big spend on travel right now. My best friend on the other hand is desperate that I go to India. I can just see this panning out in a way that means I am in trouble with both of them.

Right - chargable time is ticking away, timesheets await! Onward! - do I need to blog about all that stuff ?!