No stop signs, speed limit Nobody's gonna slow me down Like a wheel, gonna spin it Nobody's gonna mess me around (Highway to Hell - ACDC)

Well as there is an Antipodean theme going on here and with the sad news of George Young, I thought we could have an ACDC song. So a classic, you will know it, doesn't mean you will like it.  I love it.  As always, enjoy.

Monday:  Strange things are happening again.  Any of you who know me will know this is nothing new.  In fact, I was telling the Kiwi yesterday about the strange things that happen around me.  He did not run for the hills. So yesterday he was mentioning a play he wants to see in the west end, I had not heard of it. He said it was a film as well (films and stuff are his 'thing' and I use that statement very loosely).  So there I am reading my books and next week's reading and the play, well the book of the play of the film, is mentioned in my reading!  I could to believe it.  After a bit of Googling and checking, it is the original version of the play (the one that is mentioned in my book). Then, almost the same time, they mention on the news that George Young, the guy I blogged about last week, the brother of Angus and Malcolm Young of ACDC has died!  I swear, I would have been burnt at the stake if I were around in medieval days!  Weird things my friends, weird things.

So University tonight.  I still get so much joy getting on the 188 to Russell Square and had one of those pinch yourself moments to tell you that hey, yes this is real.  Lecture was very good and it is such a lovely moment when you are taught by an author whose books you have and have read.  Amazing. I do think that finally, things are starting to make a little bit of sense.

Tuesday:  The good thing about living in a time bubble is that you fail to remember what is really going on in the real world.  I have just realised that it is this weekend we put the clocks back.  Summer will be well and truly over. It is very grey and autumnal in London today. I had to make a visit to the darkest depths of South East London which, as usual, resulted in me being on numerous buses for hours!

Back home, via the shop (again) and time to kick back and watch Bake Off.  I know, I lead such an exciting life.

Wednesday:  Working from home all day today which is a blessing and a curse.   I always start work far too early and finish late.  However, I was more disciplined today and got loads done.  A productive day.  Also, the new cooker arrived (such excitement) and very nice it looks too.  It is such beautiful day today, it is more like spring than autumn, and typically I am stuck indoors all day.

So I guess it was all going well.  I rang to register the cooker with Zanussi and got an over familiar bloke on the phone.  I told him I was at work so could we please move things along.  He then asked me if I would rather be called Karen or Mrs Guile.  That was it.  At this point you have to feel sorry for 'Ben'. I told him that I did not want to be addressed as either thank you and why did he 'assume' I would be a Mrs.  He did not have a clue what I was on about. I said I could be a Dr or a Prof, or a Rev; still nothing. He said he had not assumed, so when I said why did you not ask and pushed him further, he put the phone down on me.  Note to you all: never, ever, put the phone down on me.  I called back and asked to speak to a Team Leader and spoke to a lovely guy called Yusef. I told him the tale, he really did not get it until I broke it down into small pieces as in, this will never happen to you because you are a man.  Men do not get labeled this way as the only title they can have is Mr (or Prof, Rev etc) however, their marital, or single status is not defined by their title.  The top and bottom of it is, I have insisted on some diversity training for their staff, and they are going to trace the original call and get back to me in 48 hours.  We shall see.  It is not because I want to get anyone into any trouble, far from it, I want to educate them.  However, I cannot believe I am still having to challenge this 'shit' after all these years. Sigh.

Thursday:  Interesting and productive day.  I spent the evening at a seminar at University it was very interesting.  It was about inequality and women in prisons within the USA.  It took me back and was very informative.  I also got a great

deal of reading done today too, so it is all coming along nicely.

Back home, catch up with Andy and unfortunately his evening had not gone as well as mine then it as time to sleep.

Friday:  Worked this morning and then I had some TOIL to take this afternoon. Andy was on annual leave so went to the market to do some food shopping and then back home for a couple of free hours.  

Tonight Andy and I had free tickets to go and see The Last Leg being filmed. I love this programme.  We had to queue for ages and the people behind us were vile. Four young people who were just loud, rude, racists and well damn right awful.  When it was time to go in, we were given wrist bands and I said to the lovely guy handing them out, 'will they be in numeric order as the people behind us are vile'.  He said 'oh no don't you want to be near them' to which I promptly replied 'No'. So he gave us purple wrist bands.  We did wonder why. The others went in then us and well, there we were on the front row! Yay! 

It was a brilliant evening.  The delicious Russell Brand was on the show, which was an added bonus.  It was obvious we were being filmed as there was a bloody great camera in my face!  Then they had sumo wrestlers on the show and just before the break, one landed in my lap.  I have not seen the show yet but when one of our friends posts 'get that man off your lap' I think we can safely say it went out.  So much for keeping a low profile.  My FB feed went mad and so many people had seen us.  It was a great experience and the fact that I love that show anyway, was great.  No that would never have happened in Stoke.

As always, with my love x