Sucky day 3-point status report. →[More:]
1.After my Unit Manager went into raptures over my new glasses, she then said " ... and of course, the next thing you need to do something about is your hair, it's a complete mess. After all, you're no spring chicken and there comes a time in a woman's life when long hair just doesn't work any more ..."

This woman is the Queen of Unsolicited and Unwanted Advice About Everything, and I am pretty thick skinned, but a more sensitive person might well have run, sobbing, to HR. Plus, I do agree that my hair is a mess right now and ready for an Extreme Makeover before I hit NYC.

But I could have done without her booming this out around the office.

2. I had to speak to my bank this afternoon and, after answering their questions about my full name, date and place of birth, address, post code and phone number I was told I'd failed the validation. "HOW have I failed it? I KNOW where I live, I KNOW my name, I KNOW when and where I was born." But she just kept saying she couldn't talk to me and that I'll have to go into the branch with ID. Gah!

3. Worst of all, when I got home there was a letter waiting for me from my cousin, saying that his computer crashed, losing my phone number and email, hence the letter. The health of my darling Auntie, who's 91, is deteriorating rapidly. She's my mother's oldest sister, and when I was a kid, during the school holidays she gave me a safe haven at her house in Manchester. I have a few days off soon, and hope to visit her, probably for the last time. She's 250 miles away.