THURSDAY 19TH JANUARY 2012

It felt very strange being able to have a sleep in this morning on a work day, it felt like I was skiving off school.  It was a really nice relaxing morning before Alison picked me up about midday and I headed in to do a stint on the picket line before the march to Victoria square at 2.30pm.

So I arrived at work and went to the front of the mailbox, where one of the picket lines was setup. It was really cold today and I started regretting not putting more layers on, but I can’t complain as I haven't exactly put a long shift in for the course.  Everyone starting gathering as 2.30pm approached, this time was organised for the march, so that colleagues from local news & radio could join us as well.  Just before the march was due to start 3 bangra drummers arrived to lead us, which BECTU had organised, they were brilliant and got everyone in good spirits.

There were a lot of photographers as the march started and the public seemed to be intrigued/bemused by what was going on.  When we arrived in Victoria Square we had various speakers from the different unions, Birmingham Council and business leaders. It was the first time I felt like there was total support for what was happening and hopefully this can gather even more momentum in the coming weeks.

So eventually it was time to head back to the office, I was looking forward to warming up with a hot brew as I couldn't feel my hands and toes.  We got back at 3.30pm and read through my emails, it wasn't a very productive couple of hours to be honest before heading out.

This evening I went out for a couple of drinks and something to eat with Martin, a colleague. We went for drinks from work at Bar room Bar with some of his colleagues from Radio 4 and also Steve Evanson who was Series Producer on Countryfile but has been SP on Coast and that is what he is doing at the moment. It was great chatting with them and getting their opinion on Bristol, you don't really get opportunity in work to discuss the situation and it was good to share my thoughts with them and get there opinion.  Steve called it a night so Martin and I headed for some food to Zizzi's.  I think I had passed the huger stage but my ravioli was lovely, finally headed home about 10pm in a cab and dad showed me my brief appearance on midlands today, before I headed to bed.