I can envisage a couple of problems with this job: Firstly, the thought of leaving work and not going to Village Soho or the Yard (which are just round the corner) is almost too much to bear, and I worry that working in Soho will leave me an alcoholic and/or spending all my money in overpriced watering-holes.

Secondly, the food in the canteen is amazing, and I can see myself eating a main meal every lunchtime (yesterday: Thai red beef curry with jasmine rice; today: turkey escalope with mushoom & tarragon cream sauce, served with saffron mash). This is going to make me even more fat, and it's going to make evenings difficult because C only has a sandwich at lunchtime, and we usually cook together in the evenings. But I don't want to turn down my free lunch because it's, well, free.

Also, no-one seems to leave at 6pm. Yesterday I left at ten past six, and was the first one out the door. Tsk tsk, the slacking new girl!

This morning, I got in just after 9am, at the same time as one of the other developers, and he showed me the breakfast setup. We went up to the canteen and I got Coco Pops, orange juice, and a latte. Again, all gratis. There's even cooked breakfast available if I want it.

I don't think I'll ever eat at home again!

Yesterday C met me after work with good news: the company he's been contracting with for the last 5 months have finally offered him a permanent job. It's only two-thirds of the salary he was getting up in Scotland, but at least now he gets paid holiday & sick leave etc. So we're both gainfully employed, for the first time since last October. Woohoo!

To celebrate, we went and had a pint in Soho, then bought a bottle of wine and went home. For dinner we had crisps and sex.

Yesterday I swapped a couple of emails with Mart, a guy I used to work with at the mobile company. I'm sure I mentioned him long ago - the gay guy who sat on the other side of a partition from me, and with whom I used to swap knowing glances, opinions about who was the cutest guy in the office, and stories about our sex lives. Well, I finally got off my arse and emailed him yesterday, having been out of touch for 3 months. He was one of the people culled in the latest round of redundancies. He's not down, though - he reckons he needed a kick up the butt (he hated that job), and he's just got back from a week in Portugal with "six other gayboys", which was apparently "a complete scream". He's such a queen.

Dammit, I want a sunny holiday. I haven't had a beach-type one since Slovenia in 2000. And what with Mart's trip to Portugal and Bill & Ben being in Greece, I'm feeling envious. At least now we're both full-time employed C & I can take holidays at some point, if not until the Autumn.

In other news, my Dad is fine and I spoke to him yesterday. He sounded chipper. I'm going to go visit on Sunday.