So much for today's productivity score....

It all started with Dave, Luke and Justin sellotaping up Andy's desk while he was away on lunch. He's just come back to the company, having taken a job back home in England for personal reasons, so there's a lot of teasing - reminding me very much of what happened to Jeremy's desk in Sports Night...

Now, in retaliation, Andy has done something with the foam cover on Justin's headset that I cannot describe without triggering the email censor. We're all anticipating the next time the team's asked to take some calls....

Ah, Christmas....it turns my colleagues into worse nutters than they were before.....

Bah humbug....

I had plans for after work this evening...

Rowan had a playdate with his best friend Isaac, so I didn't have to run out of the office to go collect him. "Brilliant!" thinks I, "I can go get some christmas shopping done without him, before Mam and I run to Tesco."

However, those of you who have read my journal for some time know that things rarely work out quite like I want them to....

As I left the office, I attempted to call my Mam on my mobile to discuss meeting her when I was done, only to discover I was out of credit. This was surprising, but then I've not been paying that much attention to my credit in the last couple of weeks, so it had to happen sooner or later. So I headed to the nearest bank to get check my balance and top up the phone - only to discover I was twelve pounds overdrawn! On an account that doesn't have an overdraft facility.

So instead of going to buy some presents, I end up in a queue at my own bank to find out what went wrong. One thing I like about my bank is they let me check that all my bills have cleared, and will give me a printout of the most recent activity on my account. It turns out that the invoice for the presents I ordered online last tuesday didn't get presented to my bank till Saturday, therefore leaving my account on Monday morning. As a result, when I checked my balance on Saturday afternoon, the cash machine told me there was far more money in my account than there actually was! *aggravated sigh*

Mam's lending me money till payday, thank goodness, so I can at least get the kids' presents. And she paid for the things I needed from Tesco. Somehow she's managed to find money to pay for Christmas, despite having lost most of her savings when Fairpack went under. It's frustrating though, as I now only have the half-hour I can squeeze in between dropping Rowan at school and the start of my shift - provided we're not running late. And I haven't seen any sign of the thing Rowan wants most in any of the shops in town - not since Toys R Us moved its store way out to the Bay, damn them...

I hate Christmas. I really do.

I also keep hoping I'll get my refund on the fees for my french course, as that'll really help. But I got the letter back from the Student Loan Company today to advise that, while they have been able to defer my loan repayments again for me, there's an arrears of about £70 due. And they won't be able to process any further applications till that's cleared....*sighs* Bloody Debt Agency telling me not to pay any of my creditors then taking three or four months to let me know they couldn't take on that particular debt...