Well...

...so far I've managed to miss all the footie.

Probably a good thing as another broken TV is not what I need on my replacement list at the moment (the main house TV decided to die a few weeks back and I'm making do with the portable as there are other things higher up the list).

Last weekend when Hilary & I met for breakfast there wasn't a hint of football fever in the café at Barleylands. When we popped in for lunch it was a whole different thing...

...a huge great Italian flag by the door and every member of staff had an Italian flag painted on their face. This cheerful chap even had his hair painted. We got the feeling that perhaps they were supporting Italy - not really surprising as the owners are Italian.

A bit more colour was added to the flags & bunting at work...

...as we had a Summer themed lunchtime party to celebrate exceeding our targets last year. Lots of flowery dresses & shirts made an appearance but I went with a flowery necklace & headband - as you do.
I did promise to show you the additional bunting that we hung...

 ...Brazil flags to recognise the fact that the footie is taking place in Brazil and...

 ...flags of all the nations taking part...

 ...all 32 of them. If you are wondering what that is hanging down from the ceiling either end of the bunting - it was clusters of England balloons but they seem to have deflated (a bit like the England performance according to the media).

I was asked what they are going to build on the demolition site across the road. We are given to believe it will be another of these...

 ...a 26 storey tower block. If you think that is rain on the window - think again. Although our windows were cleaned just about a month ago, that is all the muck & dirt that has come from the building site.
This shot will give more of an idea of how close these two building sites are to our building...

...it feels like we are slowly being penned in.
When Stratford was getting ready for the Olympics, there were many things that were done to make the area better - but this was not one of them...

...the pole in the centre of the photo is one of the new lamp-posts that were put up. A horrid grey metal pole with a circular down-lighter sticking out from the side. The previous lights were so much nicer - ornate black metal structures with large white glass globes set into them. Oh well, this is what we have now and I can use this photo to tick off number 17 on 'Rinda' Ontiveros' scavenger hunt - see the button over on the right-hand side which links through to her blog.

So it is Friday and the end of another working week. Fingers crossed the weather stays nice for the weekend. Have a good one folks.............................................................