The All New TENNIS Thread. For those with Sky and those without.

[IAmNotLouise]

Accidentally filled up the last thread without realising.

Have the day off today so can sit and watch the tennis scores update.

We still have too.

Not with tennis, sadly.

Have just fallen asleep and had the weirdest dream about work. .

Hope you are enjoying your weekends.

Guess what? It's my birthday and I got flowers from Pot! Well, ok. They were from my dd pretending to be Pot, made me smile though :).

I see that Pot has declined to play Davis Cup and is being slated in some quarters for his decision.

@ the flowers!!

Happy Birthday, Juan. and . From me not Pot though.

Thank you Clay, very kind:)

ooh yes- Happy Birthday Juan-

(my posting is rubbish today- dd2 has broken the space bar and 'b' key on my laptop-it's hard work)

Thank you Raahh, am full to the brim with cake and walnut whips. Tis lovely ... :)

mmmm walnut whips....

I spilt something on the space bar and 'b' and 'v' keys the other week. I feel your pain. It make MNetting very difficult. Seems to have fixed itself this week fortunately.

Clay it is really getting on my nerves.

And you don't realise how many words have a 'b' in them.

(Apart from on this post)

I swore at the computer a lot during those few weeks. I nearly ended up becoming one of those posters who puts full stops in between words instead of spaces.

Everything takes twice as long to type if you have to press the space bar 3-4 times just to get a space. 'c', 'n' and 'm' are quite important as well. I didn't miss 'v' quite as much

Evening all. How's the week going? I had my day derailed today when my neighbour dropped by for "five" minutes. When she first came in she asked if I was busy, and I said yes, I was working but was due a tea break. Two hours later she was still here ... So annoying when people think cos you're at home you're not working. (Although, to be honest, a lot of the time Im at home I'm actually not working just very busy watching tennis). :)

Have you seen any of the pics of Nadal in Argentina? What's happening with you getting to and from work Clay without your pass?

Why have we got tardis emoticons? Has anyone been reading the "ghost in my office thread?" I'm not sure what to make of it.

50th Anniversary of Dr Who this weekend.

Am buying a weekly pass to get into work. Not cheap but can manage for at least another week.

Is totally worth paying just for the moment when my bullying, PITA of a line manager, who has caused me so much stress over the last year, was totally undermined and humiliated by being overruled by her line manager in front of the entire team yesterday. Not very professional of her boss but epically funny. Turns out karma's a bitch .

Read the second ghost in the office thread but haven't read the 1st or 3rd. What's happened?

Just read the third ghost thread on the bus. PMSL at 'I'm going to report your post and it will go on your deletion record'.

Just checking in. Clay sounds like your line manager got her just desserts. I once worked in a small office where we all hated the boss. In the end five of us left at the same time all because of her. She was left with one member of staff. We had previously complained to the board of governors (was a charity) but nothing was done, and we quite simply couldn't take it any more. What does your manager do specifically to bully you? Hate bullies. What are you going to do when the week is up (re your bus pass I mean)?

Had to take ds1 for his annual hearing check up yesterday. You know how quiet it is in those test rooms? Well obviously, my stomach decided it was the perfect opportunity to make itself heard and gave an almighty rumble .

Lots of tennis people in Argentina at the mo. Doesnt look like Pot joining in the festivities though, wonder why not? Did you see the pics of Dodig getting married? Very sweet.

am watching 'Elf'

It's not me she's bullying. It's another member of staff. She's just a bit of an arse to me but that's the same as she is to everyone else.

Half the problem is she has no people management skills. We have two line managers and are used to having some say in decisions and being allowed to suggest ideas although obviously the final decision doesn't lie with us. She seems to view this as undermining her 'power' so anything she says goes, no question and she won't back down on her first decision ever. Even if it's obviously not working.

The times she's taken team meetings without another member of management present she's been known to start with comments like 'basically you're all thick'.

She was the line manager who had direct responsibility for my CDP and sickness absence etc. I ended up having to get ACAS involved and having to get that switched to another line manager because of some of her behaviour when I was ill last year. Sadly I think the lies and half-truths she told HR and my other line manager have stuck but there's not much I can do about that now.

I'm watching classic Dr Who . Trying to hold off on Christmas stuff until December. Not sure how long I'll hold out.

Woah. That was a bit longer than I intended. Feel free to ignore all of that.

She doesn't sound like the sort of person who should be a manager, sounds like her people skills are a little bit lacking. Maybe you'll get lucky and she'll leave before too long. How long have you/she been there?

Looks like the boys(well, Rafa and Nole) are having lots of fun in Argentina! Have you seen the latest pics of Nole dressed as a doc?!

Dh's birthday today. Now that it's over I have no excuse for not getting on with Xmas. Starting to panic a bit, although I always leave it til after Zdh's birthday before I get going. (Mind you, I also always panic a bit too!). How's everybody else's preparations coming along?

Not even started yet really. Just about got where I'm going to be sorted. Haven't quite worked out how I'm going to get back. Do you have much to get sorted/buy?

She's been there 4 years. Not holding out much hope of her leaving but you are right. She should not have been anywhere near a management position. I suspect her boss knows exactly what she's like though which is why the team meeting went the way it did. I'm still laughing

Haven't seen any pictures. BBC tennis site is not brilliant. May need to find another one for tennis news.

Have a look on the Men's Tennis Forums Clay, some good pics on there.

Yes I do have a lot to do - got the four dc to buy for and naturally none of them know what they want. Would be tempted to give the older ones money but can't do that cos youngest still believes and would wonder why Father Christmas hadnt brought them any presents. Then all the rest of the family to sort. How bout you?

We've dropped off the first page.

People keep telling me they don't really know and don't really want anything for Christmas. Sorely tempted to take them at their word. Could turn out to be embarrassing on Xmas Day when we are exchanging gifts. Have literally no idea what to get my Granddad. He's type 1 diabetic so I can't even fall back on the fail safe of a nice bottle of wine and decent box of chocolates.

Hi, can't allow ourselves to fall off front page!

How about some socks for Grandad? I bought my dad last year a bird box thing that sticks to your window so you get nice close up of the birds inside? He's always telling me he doesn't want/need stuff but always seems quite pleased when I get him something. I'm struggling with my twenty year old at the moment. Of course, what he really wants is money, but he's got to have something to open on Xmas morning!

I'm bored of no tennis! How am I supposed to stalk Pot when he's disappeared from public view? Holidays (for tennis players anyway) are vastly over-rated.

Apparently Rafa earnt approx $10,000,000 for his week in South America. Hope Xisca gets a nice Xmas pressie.

How are the Xmas preps getting on?