My, my, the clock in the sky is pounding away...

So it's T-Minus four days until the great move South and I'm feeling pretty good about everything.

Thank you for asking.

The packing is going pretty well and I am being as ruthless as Darth on his first day on the job.

Probably more so.

But there are few things I just can't part with, silly little things that have no intrinsic value beyond what they mean to me.

One example is a small place mat I kept from The Savoy Court.

I spent a couple of happy years at the old SC and when I closed the place for refurbishment back in 03' I kept the mat as a momento.

That little hotel just behind Marble Arch was a good training ground for me and I feel like I grew up there.

Amongst the chaos of overbooking, the poor product and the complaints.

I learnt a lot there.

So now I have a small green/cream place mat with a cartoon drawing of Bertie the Badger that I took from the restaurant when the place closed down.

And now after spending two and a half years in Manchester it's returning to London.

With me.

It had been a long day.

I was attending a company conference in London that was centered around Leadership.

Level 5 Leadership to be exact.

We had arrived at 8am that morning, after leaving Manchester at 4am, driving across the country through the night.

That's right Binkster, 4 am.

It was the Friday after the stormy Thursday and we had wanted to get the train but they had been cancelled.

When the BOSS had suggested we go at 5am, I tried very hard to hide my shock.

When THE LONDON GUY had then suggested we leave at 4am, I could have fainted on the spot.

It wasn't the alarm that woke me at 3am, it was my loyalty to the BOSS, nothing else.

So we arrived at 8am and spent the whole of Friday sharing the company wank session with the London guys, listening to some guy talk to us about Leadership.

In a nutshell a 'Level 5' leader combines humility with a steel like determination to succeed.

This is no idealogy, it is proven.

The companies that were analyzed that had gone from good to great all had a very shy, humble leader who shunned credit and the limelight.

Throughout the day, I chuckled to myself thinking of the irony.

The irony that if our company was to go from good to great, it would have do so without our Chairman.

Humble he is not.

His ego is as large as his bank balance.

Don't get me wrong, I like and admire him, but the irony was not not lost.

After the day spent in the conference room and tea breaks spent in smoke filled corridors, I was ready to go to my room.

We had cocktails and dinner and I gave my excuses and left, taking the lift to the seventh floor.

Closing the bedroom door behind me I was met with sight for sore eyes.

It wasn't the amazing suite I had been given as a gesture by the manager of that hotel.

It was 'G', waiting for me.

I walked up the stairs and over to him, collapsing next to him on the over large sofa.

I kissed him 'hello' and he kissed me back.

A nice ending to a shitty, long day.

Justice Society of America - not to be confused with Justice League of America...two issues into this series and so far it's two for two. Good characterisation, good plot so far with portents of doom laden story lines to come, all mixed up with the Kingdom Come limited series. The artwork is nothing special except for the glorious Alex Ross covers.

The Beatles Love - saw the documentary over Christmas and was blown away by it. Cirque De Soleil pay a visit to Penny Lane. Some cassic Beatles tracks rejigged by the fifth Beatle himself George Martin and his sone Giles. Take a bow guys, you did good. And so did G. He went and bought tickets for us so we can go see it when we are in Vegas next month. Thats's my guy!

Memnoch The Devil - have read it twice before but am currently meandering through it again. I love this book. I love the way Anne Rice deconstructs Christianity and I think she is right, people haven't stopped believing in God, they just don't trust him anymore.

Sculpting A Galaxy - wow this book is cool. A behind the doors peak at the Industrial Light and Magic model shop, home to every Star Wars model ever built. I could look at this for hours, just enjoying the details that have gone into these models.

Dr Who figures - got a stack of these for Christmas from G - I love 'em. I like the detail and the sculpting is generally very good. Only taken the Cybermen out of the packet so far, but will open the rest. Good choice,thank you again.

BattleStar Galactica - 3rd season is just amazing. I get the analogy between the Cylon occupation of New Caprica and Iraq and the way the whole thing has been reversed. You clever monkeys! And the shot of the Galactica jumping into the atmosphere of New Caprica, falling earthward, launching it's Vipers and then jumping again before it hits the terrain is is pretty amazing.

'Sleb Big Brother -yes you read right. Poor old Ken. Leo was a prick. Jackie was just...something else.

Not forgetting the old faithfull's...

Torchwood
Dr Who (natch)
Heroes
The WonderStuff
Aintitcoolnews
WilWheaton.net
Biscuits (generally)
Hotel Chocolat
Batman Confidential
All Star Superman
Morrissey
Sleep.

Just like everybody else I hated him.

He irritated me, always with the right answer, always saving the day.

And those sweaters!

Sheesh.

It wouldn't be bad enough that he would be the most unpopular kid in school, his mom dressed him like a dork.

Sorry Binky, I am of course talking about Wesley Crusher.

Yep him.

When I first watched the early season's of Star Trek The Next Generation, he really was the most irritating character.

I could believe in the Starship Entreprise, I could believe in Capt Picard, I could believe that there would be a Klingon on board, but I just couldn't swallow that this snot nosed little shit could outthink the adults around him and save the Entreprise.

Week in, week out.

And like everybody else, I assumed it was the fault of the guy who played him, when in fact it was the writers.

Damn those pesky writers.

In later season's , the character got a lot better and in one story - 'First Duty' he positively shines.

But I admire actor Wil Wheaton.

You can go look up his career at IMDB, I ain't gonna do the work for ya!

I've followed his blog almost daily for a few years now, in fact he inspired me to have a bash at blogging myself.

And it's sometimes very funny.

It's not one of those ''whiny'' blogs, it's more of a ''here's what I'm currently into'' type blogs.

He has become a very talented , very insightful writer.

He will tell you himself how he has wrestled with, and finally laid to rest, the ghost of Wesley Crusher.

Go check him out at www.wilwheaton.net

Tell him I sent ya.

I sit back in my chair and look at the Excel document on my monitor.

It's pretty big, filled with stuff and hell, I've even coloured it in.

It's the first of my hand over documents, a kind of Idiots Guide to my job.

I print a copy and hand it to Ms Jones and flippantly say ''Gosh, I didn't realise I did so much''

She looks at the document and then looks at me, smiling.

''Neither did we, Mr D, neither did we...''

So I'm sitting with my colleague Stewart, who is trying to work out where the extra million is going to come from to meet next years budget.

I ask him how he's getting on.

''Easy '' he says ''I'm just gonna increase the occupancy of the rooms and increase the average room rate.''

I look at him to see if he is joking.

He is not.

''So'' I begin ''Your solution is to sell more rooms at a higher rate?''

The guy is not just a Revenue Manager, he is a frickin' genius.

Not.

Realising how absurd he had been he went back to crunching those numbers.

So tomorrow I have my usual monthly chat with my BOSS.

The agenda is usually quite loose, we go through the P&L from the previous month, highlighting any areas that need further analysis and recommendations.

For example, during the last one, I presented him with an analysis that clearly showed that we had made a loss on our in-house movie system, even though the system had cost the hotel something like 50k for the whole year, we hadn't even broke even.

The BOSS is a very visual person, meaning he has the attention span of a retarded ameoba.

Bullet points.

So I broke it all down, made recommendations.

He then took these to the Senior Management Team meeting in London and now the contract for the whole company is being reviewed.

Strike one for the good guys.

But tomorrow's meeting will be a little different.

It's my last one.

I don't expect any plaudits for the work I have put into Manchester.

I know he appreciates my efforts, it doesn't need to be said openly.

I expect we will just discuss what needs to be done between now and the end of the month.

And thats cool.

I want to leave Manchester with a solid reputation, a job well done.

I think that will be the case.

This is how it must feel when all the children have left home.

The journey down to London from Manchester was peaceful, the train was practically empty and I just plugged in the DVD player and continued working my way through season one of 'House'.

I like Hugh Laurie in this series, he is just how I would like to be were I a Doctor.

Grumpy on the outside, caring on the inside.

Hell, I'm like that at work anyway, so who am I kidding?

The train arrived 20 minutes early.

Yes, you read that right, 20 MINUTES EARLY....

...I may have single handedly discovered evidence that there is a God after all.

G is still away, he gets back Saturday but I have come down tonight so I can do a little shopping tomorrow and be here when he arrives early Saturday morning.

He has had a good time, I hope, and I know that he has missed as I have him, so it's ok that he has ha a good time without me, if you understand.

So I am sitting here in his apartment and even though I am surrounded by his posessions and his things, the place seems incredibly empty without him.

Really.

And instead of finding comfort in being in his - or rather our soon to be- home it is serving to reinforce my feeling of loneliness without him.

I know in the grand scheme of things two and a half weeks is nothing, not even a blink in the eye of the universe, but for me it's been long enough.

Saturday morning and feeling his embrace and kiss cannot come quickly enough.

Moments.

You have to choose 'em right, know when to act to get the result you desire.

I think I'm pretty good at this, I think I can read situation well enough to know when to play my hand and when to keep my cards close to my chest.

I was gonna tell my BOSS my departure date last Thursday but it wasn't right.

I felt it wasn't right.

I knew that he wasn't in the right frame of mind, especially after he had been told we had to write of a couple grand worth of revenue before the end of the year.

I am quite happy to watch the tiger pace his cage and growl, but I'll be the one to choose when I put my head in his mouth.

So today was the day and I don't know why I was nervous about it, I knew he would only wish me well.

So why nervous?

No, not nervous, apprehensive I think is a better word.

So just after lunch I sat down at his desk and told him.

And he was cool.

Of course he was.

Maybe I was apprehensive because even though he is just my BOSS I respect him a great deal and feel a great deal of loyalty toward him, and it is important to have his blessing where this move is concerned.

He's a great guy, a good manager and leader and a good role model.

What more could you ask?

So as we close the door on 2006, let's take a little pause before we kick the door to 2007 down and run in guns blazing...

2006 has been a good year.

Well, any year when the Zombie Apocalypse doesn't happen is a good year in my book.

2006 has been a turning point in my life.

I became a homeowner in 2006, I bought a little house in Manchester, a place to call home, a place to hang my hat.

Something I should have done years ago but just didn't.

I was too irresponsible, too busy having a good time, too busy getting drunk and laid to do something as sensible as take on a mortgage.

But I did, and I'm glad I did.

I have calmed down a lot in recent years, when I first came back to London in 2001 I was in the pub maybe five nights a week, usually with a friend and colleague Martin and both of us suffering the wrath of his then girlfriend.

Him for staying out and me for leading him astray.

So having a home to become a homebody in has been nice.

Most importantly I met G.

Falling in love with him has been the catalyst for change.

I never thought I would ever be so much in love that I want to bind my life to another, for the rest of my life.

I proposed in Rome and he said yes.

In 2007 I will be in London living with him, in every respect.

I will be part of the opening team of another new hotel and am looking forward to that challenge immensely.

We will travel to San Francisco and Las Vegas and later in the year to New York as well, amongst other places.

2006 was good, 2007 is going to be even better.