it's christmas eve. my liver is at it's limit already, I've done my shopping, made mince pies and wrapped all my presents. Not bad at all. Bring on the festivities...
Merry Christmas everyone!

aaaarghhhh bloody boliers and bloody plumbers. why didn't Ido a plumbing degree. Social policy and administration is of sod all use to me when my boiler breaks.

bah humbug

Deja Vu

Canoe club christmas party last night
my head hurts


it all seems so familiar....

The tree's up, my nose is running and I'm having mince pie cravings... it must be christmas!!! wahey!

so my thoughts turn to jigsaws and christmas telly. What are the best christmas films? my top five.:

1 - Muppet christmas carol (it's the best!)
2 - the man in the Santa Claus suit. (not been on the Tv in years but I loved it as a kid)
3 - Gremlins
4 - A Christmas carol (any other version!).
5 - Flash Gordon

work christmas party last night
free bar
my head hurts

simply having a wonderful christmas time

Friday Friday Friday. Dontcha just love’it.

Although I have to say my throat has seen better days and I’m feeling a little under the weather, but nothing so serious as to stop me from hitting the free bar at the Work Christmas party with enthusiasm tomorrow night.. Trust me, it’s in my job description to mingle with the employees…..

So last weekend was busy, flying out to Munich for the weekend for a spot of festive spirit. The weather on the Saturday was bitingly cold so we wrapped ourselves up and trooped round the Christmas markets, up the town hall tower, round the odd church and in and out of the occasional drinking establishment. The markets were lovely, the one based in the “English Garden” especially, which had a brass band playing carols which really added to the atmosphere. The food and wine were rather nice too!

One particular market sold almost exclusively nativity scene stuff. It’s amazing how much you can put in a nativity scene. I’m struggling to recall the critical part played by a garden rake in the story of Jesus’ birth but they were definitely there on sale. To be fair, it’s a while since I read my bible so perhaps I’m a little out of touch. To be fair, t hey had some cool electric Star of Bethlehem’s!

Chasing (static) cars...

went to see snow Patrol last night at the NIA – who were excellent. A proper concert rather than a “show” where the bad actually plays instruments and everything. In all a fab evening. Sadly we got stuck in the car park and didn’t get out for a good half hour which doesn’t help when you have a long way to drive back, but such is the price you pay for quality musc.

still on the sofa.....

I changed my blog - well a change is as good as a rest eh. also tried out blogging via email which kind of worked although it seemed to wipe away my sidebar so I deleted it. still, all good fun eh.

Went go-karting with work this week, my body is complaining today, the aches and bruises and playing up, still at least I didn't come last place, thanks to my Sagga training I guess.

Went to theatre last night to see a really good production of To Kill a Mockingbird. WE studied it at school but I had forgotten most of it, although it came back to me. all very cultural. tonight is saturday night and I seem unable to lift my lardy arse off the sofa. bummer. But we've had a funfilled evening looking thought the lego website. there are definatge benefits to having a nephew, I had to persuade Paul that it wasn't the ideal option to get all the adults to club together to buy the death star at £250. somehow I don't think he had Adam in mind with that suggestion.

Pauls off canoeing tomorrow. why am I with the only man who sulks when it's not raining....

its been a long week... the first week back after holidays always is. the good bit was finishing early today, but in reality, given the painfully early morning it wasn't that much of a bonus. However it did mean that mr slacker (who gets off at lunchtime) and I walked to Morrisons about half four to buy some tea and got diverted into the Greatfield Pub. Thats the danger of shopping in a supermarket that has a pub located in the car park. Temptation with a capital T. 2 hours later we rolled out somewhat more in the weekend spirit, and had a much more enjoyable shopping experience for it. Normally my blood boils with the stress of shopping in the mis-managed, freaks for employees and basic hell-hole that is Morrisons, but a couple of glasses of wine and the whole experience is much less stressful - a bit like anasthesia for root canal work, its got to be done but much less painful when experience in a haze of consciousness....

So, having chomped out way through a packet of rolos before even entering the fruit and vedge section, we managed to enthusiastically spend far too much money on things we didn't need, and forgot that we had walked so by the time we reached the tills we had a serious imbalance of 'Purchases' to 'Carrying Potential' ratio. Luckily, with the help of an enthusiastic scout master and his troop who were packing for charity, we proportioned the weight equally (at least thats what paul thinks) and valiently struggled home.

the boy is now attempting to recreate the khymer curry that we so enjoyed last week in cambodia and I am about to collapse on the sofa.

I love fridays ;-)

oh boy the week you return to work after a top holiday really does drag doesn't it! It's only wednesday and I really need it to be saturday tomorrow. doesn't help that I've had a bad headache for the past 2 days and spent the whole of yesterday evening crashed out in bed. Work is picking up with some more interesting (yet probably quite stressful and busy) things planned.

still, i'm trying to make the psychological move from sunbathing in 31 degrees to thinking about christmas, not an easy move I have to say. we're looking at a visit to the christmas markets in Munich which may help, lashings of gluvine always puts me in a festive mood. I can't quite bear the thought of buying presents or christmas cards yet but I should probably get a move on. The other challenge is wading through the mountains of episodes of Spooks, Torchwoord, Robinhood and QI which we recorded when we were off.... more lying on the sofa this evening then...

Read 2 fantastic books when I was on holiday, highly recomemnded if you've not already found them yourself- The Observations and The Shadow of the Wind

also started to listen to the audiobook of Bill Bryson's latest book which is excellent entertainment and really enjoyable to listen to him narrate it.

Home safe and sound after a long journey. We had a fab time and there’s just too much to say really so I’ll give it all a miss and just give a one-liner summary to each section so people shall simply have to wait till I see them and subject them to the 300 photo slide show! It doesn’t really do justice to what was such a brilliant holiday but hopefully you’ll get the gist!

Bangkok was amazing, hectic, dirty, noisy, full of amazing sights, sounds and smells. Loved the temples and surprisingly loved Jim Thompson’s house (I hadn’t been that bothered about going) for the beautiful design and the sheer serenity in the middle of such a mad city.

Koh Lanta was out of this world, we went VVVV posh, took a bit of getting used to but we got there in the end. The hotel and room was gorgeous, the pool lived up to expectations, views amazing and the sea… wow. We canoed around islands, Paul did some diving and I snorkelled (as well as throwing up with seasickness but hey ho), we chilled out and drank for England watching the sunset.

Cambodia was exciting and beautiful. Angkor Wat blew our minds, such a massive place, and you get to clamber all over the temples so you really get a chance to see everything – not sure how long that will last. Some of the steps were seriously steep – there’s no way you’d be able to do that at home. The food was fab, the best of the whole holiday. You can’t ignore the problems that are out there but the place has loads going for it and I would recommend anyone to go.

So, home now, cats are happy to see us and we have mountains of washing. Reality hits hard sometimes.

One day in history

the national trust are setting up a national record of life on 17th October. "We want as many people as possible to record a ‘blog’ diary of this one day which will eventually be stored by the British Library as a permanent historical record of our national life.

This is a one off, one day diary done on a mass scale – that will itself make history and can be a resource for historians in the future."

let's get involved....

1 week 1 day to go

oh boy oh boy can't wait. Paul's off to scotland this weekend to play with canoes. he's had a stern talking to about behaving himself and not getting into any scrapes that might bugger up the holiday plans. he'll ignore me but it's worth a try.

went to the tewksbury fair last night. emma forced me into going on a scary ride (with my track record of carsickness, fairground rides and me are not a good pairing...). I had planned on simply watching and laughing, whilst eating (fat free) candyfloss but she wasn't having any of it and persuaded me to go on one that "is fine... really".

she lied

it went round in a circle, then upside down and round in a circle. It wasn't too bad but unfortunately my sensible head kept flashing back to numerous episodes of Casualty and London's Burning which involved mass fairground carnage and big explosions. I hate being a grown up and worrying about risk assessments and fairground quality control systems. Oh to be 14 years old and have this as the highlight of the year's social calendar. next year we're going to take their lead and wear tracksuits with stilettos and gel our hair down (with a concrete fringe sticking out at a right angle) so it doesn't move an inch on the waltzers.

in return for terrorising me on the upsidedown wheelything, emma won me a toy "george" from rainbow which I proudly presented paul with when I got home. I'm sure he was more chuffed than he let on, he was lucky, if she hadn't have won that we would have got him a barbie balloon...

a nice lazy weekend this weekend. the book I'm currently reading refers to a big explosion in a canadian town called Halifax in 1917. Really interesting and led me to look up a bit more detail on the internet. Whilst doing so I also read about this What wierd things occur in this world eh...

webcam

i've got one, it works. now I can monitor my cat's movements during the day....

fab

shame on me

i went to a recruitment fair at tidworth army camp today. worth the visit. only bad bit of the day was arriving at the camp i had my car searched. that would have been fine had they not wanted to check under the bonnet of my car. my car that I've had for 2 months and never looked under the bonnet. and the lever is not in the normal place. oh no, that would be too easy. Ford prefer to make it much more fun than that and hide it under the badge on the bonnet. So after a very embarassing pause where the girl with a gun stood patiently by, I tried to surruptitiously read the owners manual and found the answer. oh the shame....

charity

Si's comment prompted me to set up this site

isn't it great when the internet actually does something worthwhile. well, if you can call pimping out a 4 ft rooster for cash worthwhile....

3 weeks and 4 days

countdown to holidays... don'tcha just love'em

the charity chicken plan

I have come up with the answer to my chicken dilemma. It's based on the following:

1 - I need to use it to raise some cash for cancer research as this was the reason it was given to mum.
2 - people like the chicken but they don't want it for themselves (bit like my view on kids!)
3 - therefore people won't pay to have the chicken
4 - but people may pay to get rid of the chicken....
5 - So......

I am going to pass on the chicken to someone, and pay £5.00 to charity for the pleasure of doing so - and ask the new owners to do the same. I shall print off instructions to go around his neck so that future owners know their responsibilities.

1 -you must not keep the chicken for more than 1 month
2 - when passing the chicken on you must take a photo of the new owner and add it to the charitychicken Flickr page!
3 - you pay cancer research £5 for the pleasure of getting rid, and seeing the faces of the people you pass it on to! (I shall leave it up to people how they do this)

lets see if this works.... beware future chicken owners, we're coming to get you!

seems like the haigh holiday curse has hit again, with Thailand suffering a coup(somewhat ordered maybe but still a coup). hopefully things will have progressed by the time we go in 3 and a half weeks time, and it seems that having your photo taking with a smiling soldier is the done thing. It also seems ironic that to help quell any uprising they took all the TV channels offline and played continuous footage of the royal family. in this country that would be the way to start an uprising. cna you imagine replacing coronation street with footage of the queen and prince charles? there's be rioting on the streets within minutes.

second thought of the day is to do with the film we went to see last night. The Children of Men. bloody marvellous and I highly recommend it. Story is good, acting excellent (good old Michale Caine does old hippy so well!) but once of the diconcerting things was how they captured the "future" really well. it was the same but different. such similarities to now that it seemed so scarily possible, as opposed to many other films set in the future where you can comfort yourself that it's so different it'll never happen, this really looked possible, and very disturbingly so. go see....

excellent and inspired music video here

great photos in the guardian website here

Well the beetroot culinary experience proved positive. In addition to the creation of a pink kitchen the actual cake itself was damn impressive. It tastes really quite good but, well, beetrooty as well in a weird kind of way. I sent Paul to work with some in a little Tupperware pot. He’s now contractually obliged to appreciate my cooking so hopefully he won’t have chucked it over the fence on the way to work, liked I used to do with my sandwiches on the way to school all those years ago.
in response to Clr's comment I was trying to find something interesting to do with the beetroot whcih came in my vedge box. I had intended to do exactly as suggested and smother it in butter icing but ni fact it's damn nice jsut on it's own. tastes a lot like tea cake. yum

I haven’t written yet about our new TV viewing experience. We have become even more tecchie and purchased a PVR. As the reviews say “this will change your life”. Possibly not my life but certainly my TV viewing habits. No longer am I forced to watch Hollyoaks simply because it was the only thing on when I have made my tea and sat down with a desire to watch something while I eat it. NOW I can increase my choice massively by recording onto the hard disk SOOOOO many possibilities, that I am spoilt for choice! For the uninitiated it’s Sky+ without the subscription…..
Only thing is Paul and I are more interesting the endless recording possibilities rather than actually viewing. It’s a bit like me reading the TV guide so I know what’s on but never actually watching anything. But at least we now have lots of films to watch should we fee the urge. Oohh technology eh, in’t it ace.

domestic goddess....

i'm cooking beetroot cake. the kitchen looks like the set of Sweeny Todd.

lakes

got there late on friday, 10.15pm to be precise. it's a long way up north! we had the tent up, lilo pumped and stuff sorted in 15 mins and made it in plenty of time for last orders at the bar. stayed in a lovely campsite with fantastic views, shame about the showers but who cares about hygiene eh. we were so lucky with the weather, it was sunny the whole time. walked a bit, ate a bit, drank a lot and generally had a good time.

Chicken (not so) little

we had a 4ft chicken in the house. Someone gave it to mum to sell on a stall for cancer research. my dad deposited it at my house. I need ideas on how to use it to raise lots of cash. suggestions welcome.

wahey!!

I did this 5K this morning with Emma and Karen. Brilliant weather and a really great event. Managed to run it in just under 34 minutes which was a massive improvement on the race for life, even though the run had a few more inclines than last time. I didn't even stop once so I am well chuffed with myself. came back, wandered down to staverton to see some aeroplanes with dad, came home fell on sofa and then did gardening. All in all an eventful and and worthwhile day. All I need now is a sports massage.....

my blog's not exactly a goldmine is it!

My blog is worth $2,258.16.
How much is your blog worth?

roundup of weekend

Along with negotiation on where to place all his stuff, we’re also in discussion about holidays…. The current plan is to fly to Bangkok end of October, with 2 weeks split 3 ways between Bangkok, a beach in the south and a visit to Angkor Watt in Cambodia. There’s so much to do and so little time, that we’ve had to cut out some options that we’d both over to try, but otherwise we’d end up spending the whole time travelling and no time having fun and relaxing. I’d also like to go to the River Kwai and Phnom Penh but I can’t see us managing it all in one go.

I’ve been looking into the beach part and, having started by being delighted at the good quality hotels you can get for tiny process, have now raised my expectations to such a point that nothing short of absolute luxury will do! Methinks I may have to temper my ambitions somewhat and accept that my life will still be complete without the existence of an infinity pool and a bar in the middle of the swimming pool…..

Anyway, any tips from those who have trod these shores before us would be very welcome.

Back to the real world, well work is quiet due to holidays so time is dragging. Unfortunately I don’t have any spare days to take otherwise I would join em. We had a fab weekend over the bank holiday, which started with popping into the Greenbelt Festival on the Friday evening. Now the last time I was at Greenbelt, I think, was when I was 17 which (depressingly) is nearly half my life ago. Things have changed, not least that it’s now in Cheltenham not Northampton, and it all seems to have gone a bit middle class. I guess the organisers themselves have grown up, along with myself, and their desire to sleep in a comfy bed at night has led them to hold the festival somewhere closer to more sturdy accommodation than a flimsy tent. Although I do recall that my tent (along with another Lichfield) was the only one out of about 10 remaining standing one year in a large gale…..

I suppose that the onset of festivals such as V and T in the Park have changed the profile of Greenbelt. When I was 15 it was the only possible chance of getting to a festival that your mum and dad wouldn’t loose sleep over, as Glastonbury was the only real alternative and that was never going to be an option! I fondly remember it consisting mainly of groups of teenage friends with the occasional adult to keep a (poor) eye on us. This time it seemed much more an adult event, with younger kids, and less of the teenage bracket. Then again, maybe I was just viewing it from a different angle, or I no longer have an innate need to identify cute 15 year old boys so was less responsive to my surroundings…. Either way the atmosphere certainly felt different. But not necessarily in a bad way. Things have to evolve to survive and I guess it’s true in this case. That said I feel very privileged to have experienced the Greenbelt of old – I have some really fond memories. And it wasn’t all change – good old Martyn Joseph was still there, fantastic as ever. Just a shame I missed Cara Dillon who I’d really been looking forward to, and that Maria McKee sang such depressingly dull songs.


So, onto Saturday. Having gone for a quick run, and had a lovely massage to treat myself after having (finally) been paid in my new job, Paul and I drove up (well actually he drove, I slept) to his parents and then onto Coleshill. Paul’s brother is in a brass band and were performing an open air “last night fo the proms" style concert, with flags, fireworks, picnic and everything1 we were wrapped up warm and expecting the worst in terms of the weather but were really lucky and it only rained on us for about 2 minutes. The music was excellent, and we really had a fantastic evening. They had clearly worked really hard and all the effort was well worth it, hopefully they raised a decent amount too…

So onto Sunday morning and Paul and I left his parent’s and drove north (well actually he drove, I slept – sensing a pattern here…?!?), via Ikea car park to pick up Sarah.

We arrived at the cottage in Wales just after lunch and were rewarded with fantastic weather all afternoon. The cottage was owned but my great aunt (or as close as) and is now being renovated by my cousins/wife/uncle and they are doing a brilliant job. The view from their garden is breathtaking and the whole family basically sat around drinking, eating, gossiping and relaxing until well in the evening. There was also some den-making activity, engineering discussion about water systems and drainage, men doing BBQ’s etc etc. Lynda and Mike did a great job on the food and what looked like enough meat to feed the 5000 was pretty much scoffed away. So much for the progress on the diet.

At this point I have to mention my Auntie Ros who avidly reads my blog to live vicariously. Luckily her and Mike didn’t tease me or dad about Paul moving in within each others earshot so I was spared any awkwardness. Cheers guys. She did let me down however, by not discussing liberty bodices or being abandoned outside the Vimto bar by my dad and uncle. I had promised Paul that these delights would be forthcoming. Oh well there’s always Christmas….

Those brave ones among us camped overnight and spent time on Monday morning at the local village show admiring the dogs in the dog show and trying their hand at circus skills (not so good on Paul and Laura’s part as a large Diablo ended up giving Laura a big bump on the head….ouch). sadly we didn’t stick around for the “potato in a bucket” or “best straw bale” judging competition but headed off to Ironbridge for lunch. There we stopped for a pastie, watched the hoardes of tourists (it’s a bit like Matlock Bath for the brummies) and then drove home (well actually Paul drove….. yeah yeah you know the rest)


Arrived back wishing we’d taken more time off and explored more of the surrounding area. Started to discuss next holiday. Tried to unpack but boxes already everywhere…. And I think this is where I came in…….

And so the boy starts to bring over his boxes of “stuff”. We’ve reviewed the CD’s. generally there’s a healthy balance, but he has to remove Madonna and Robbie, and I have to lose the BeeGees and Lionel Richie. Not a great hardship on either side really as the crossover (intersection?) of our CD choice venn diagram is pretty large. Oo get me with my mathematical terms….
So, back to the moving in. well the Ikea trips were semi-successful and we have shelving for the many books but no desk, although to be fair we have 2 desks between us anyway, we just don’t like either of them – but 3 desks may end up being a little excessive. My parent’s garage is a dumping ground for all things car-boot-sale-bound. This is planned for the weekend after next, Paul’s not a big fan of them as it involves getting up early on a weekend PLUS, the baring of your soul (and worldly goods)l to random strangers. It’s a fair point, that thing you thought worth buying 5 years ago which is now just an embarrassment when laid out on a pasting table set up in a random field.

The canoe dilemma still exists. Even if I could get in the door for the shed I doubt it is long/tall enough. I’m not a fan of the suggestion that we suspend it from the ceiling in a display of post-modern/ironic art. Looks like we’ll be sticking it in the corner of the garden then,

So slowly but surely we edge towards D Day, which is the middle of next week. But before that we have the delights of a brass band in Sutton Colefield, and a bbq in north wales with the Haigh clan. Rock on.

nowt to say

that kind of sums it up. do be do be do

turnip-tastic!

well I have been influenced by my wholesome organic friends (only in the sense of fruit and vedge not in their full lifestyle choices) and gone and opted for an organic vedge box delivery. OOoh it was so exciting arriving home with a box waiting for me expectantly on the lawn – made a change for 2 cats looking hungry anyway. So I then spent a few minutes delving into an old Delia book to find out how to cook chard (she was useless, thank god for the internet) and also found a recipe for soup which involves turnips. Paul thinks he’s in for a romantic evening with a bottle of wine and a DVD…. But oh no, he’ll be peeling turnips and chopping onions for his pleasure. Ha ha!

So another day another dollar. Whilst the legions were having an apparently fabulous time in Sweden, swimming in lakes, playing at overnight island bivouac trips in a Famous Five style, I was stuck in Gloucester trying to get to grips with the new job (which I haven’t yet done but hey ho… I’m still new). Also trying to get to grips with the new diet. Grrr. Back to the low alcohol intake, saying no to banoffee pie and eating lots of fruit  But it does seem to be having a slow but steady effect and hopefully this one will be a bit more sustainable than the last time.
I’m gagging for a holiday but our plans of couple of weeks somewhere in Asia are constrained by the monsoon season and so it looks like we may not get that time away until October. In which case I shall have to beg for some unpaid time off just to keep me sane, as I really could do with a bit of time to myself whilst it’s quiet for me at work (i.e. really busy for everyone else so they haven’t got time to spend with me!) – I just know things will hot up soon and so I should try and get the time while I can!

Tina left last week, after having camped out at mine for a month, although we hardly ever saw each other as she worked the evenings and would come home about half ten for a quick chat and a cuppa before I went to bed.

We’ve got into a bit of a habit of a weekly pub quiz on a Monday night, with our combined brain power wowing the other contestants and impressing the quizmaster…. Actually that’s a complete lie, we’ve managed the grand heights of achievement of coming 8th last week – and we were chuffed! Last nights was frustrating as we only really master the celebrity gossip-related ones, and fell short on the knowledge of female/male names for various animals (who needs to know a female ferret is called a Jill for goodness sake).

So there goes the highlights of my life.

sorted

sorting sorting sorting. life is full of sorting. well more like reminiscing. i sorted my photos into some kind of order, I arranged my "important paperwork" into some kind of logical fashion, I removed things I really don't NEED although it's not always about needing things is it.

So slowly but surely a little bit of space is being made. but certainly not enough for a canoe.....

sorted

sorting sorting sorting. life is full of sorting. well more like reminiscing. i sorted my photos into some kind of order, I arranged my "important paperwork" into some kind of logical fashion, I removed things I really don't NEED although it's not always about needing things is it.

So slowly but surely a little bit of space is being made. but certainly not enough for a canoe.....

wishlists...

I was checking out Amazon wish lists (for want of anything better to do whilst the boy canoes)and was somewhat concerned by a namesake's choice of desires - well (singular)desire to be precise. one thing on the list - the Lizzie McGuire Movie. and she makes it clear that she's a MRS so she can't exactly be a young'un. Anyway, i want to make it clear that my list is the OTHER one, the one that says I have red hair and not the one from Wakefield (although to be fair I once wa from Wakefield, and my hair was much redder then too... ooh the mid boggles). that said my choices aren't exactly hip, happening and down with the kids but hey, it could more shameful...

ANYWAY. the other disturbing thing about the wish list is that in seaching for my beloved's wish list, I found it. not difficult really desipte his common name he helpfully had put in his location, and anyway, given his taste is similar to mine I coudl haev probably worked it out... apart from THIS, which was a little disturbing to say the least. he claims it was a possible christmas present for me... I'm not so sure. So very wrong.

the busy weeks continue with no time for blogging and free time spent enjoying the sunshine. it's sunday night and I have the blues cos i should either be;

A - a teacher and on holiday
B - at SAGGA camp in Sweden.

I hate not being at sagga camp, I think I've only missed about 3 and each time I've been really down. It's a shame but I guess it would have been a bit rude to start the new job and then sod off for a few weeks. should have planned it better adn had the summer off like Amy....

so the latest news.. well we had a barbeque-filled weekend last weekend adn this weekend was the Cotswold Beer Festival which we duly participated in. Got a minibus to take us there and back, we supped well and had a great time. it started to rain in the last 20 mins which was entertaining to say the least. next year we will take an emergency gazebo, although trying to put that up after a few pints could be an accident waiting to happen.


It's mum and dads ruby wedding anniversary today. they are at camp in sweden and I believe theres a bit of a celebration planned there. Just need to think of something for when then get back. Sally suggested going to the Ruby Indian for a night out!

well, thats it I think. on to august I guess...

whew what a scorcher!

blimey it's too hot to be inside typing but I thought a little udpate was needed. quick summary before I got and wither elsewhere....

finished job -wahey. flowers and goodbyes all done.
down to cornwall for a few days. Padstow, rick stein's prawns made a fab risotto on the trangia. Went for a few lovely walks (is this me talking?), camping on this fantastic campsite in Praa Sands, went to St Michael's Mount, walked again, drank lots, visited the lizard and the Lost Gardens Of Heligan which I wholeheartedly recommend. All in all a lovely couple of days.

BBQ on the sunday was HOT and full of little one years olds but good fun too! Came home, packed my pencil case and had an early night ready for new job on the monday. shame it was too hot to sleep!

New job looks like a challenge but in an interesting way. Very different from what I have done/known before but I'm looking forward to it.

Yesterday I came home from work, ran in, got changed and was jumping in the Lido pool by 6pm. now that is the life!

so the heat continues, it's past halfway to the weekend, and BBQ's a-plenty ahead. bring it on!

We did it!

31 degrees. racecourse. No shade. 5 K.

it seemed such a good idea three months ago!

but we did it, we had to walk a couple of times but often that was due to traffic and we made it round in 43 mins, 11 seconds or something like that, so we were well pleased! Photos of me sweaty are on flickr as promised, although they are actually of me beforehand!!!

it's been an interesting week. last weekend was BBQ-ville, then on the monday I was still officially "off sick". I had previously planned to work at home as I had blokes coming to install new door and windows. They did this, and I sat in the sun, read books, made tea and tried not to talk much. Unfortunately I also burned one of my shoulders which got me some stick when I went back to work on the Tuesday! My new doors and windows lok fab, and the cats have finally got the hang of the new cat flap. it's not exactly rocket science, just a few inches to the right of the old one... bless em. Work was ok, my boss was a bit cool at the start of the week but got better by the end. It's a nice time when you're in your notice period cos people are nice to you. still working on the shorter notice period, it will be good to get some clarity as I would love to have a couple of days off but hopefully next week will get a final answer.

this weekend was paul's mums birthday so we went to meet the family at Coughton Court which was very nice and the sun was beating down, then a BBQ back at his brothers - very relaxed...
back home this evening I noticed that a blackbird had made a next on the top of my bird table, which has been enveloped by a large unpruned bush at the back of my garden. the mother was sat on the eggs and then later on there were some babies in there. Three hungry little souls. So my cats are now very disgruntled as I won't let them out into the back garden. lets just hope they make it to be strong enough learn to fly and keep out of Jess and Millies reach...

yes I know I'm blogging lots but I'm so bored. i can't talk to anyone, I've read a whole book in one morning, I've watched more house-move/property programmes than you can shake a stick at and all I have left for company is my cats and a computer.

I'm hoping to go to the cinema tonight to see Mission impossible III, mainly becuae it doens't involve having to talk, but it halps that Tom Cruise is in it.... still a fan. I was watching the trailers for films on the TV and pissing myself at the disclaimer thingys they have to give now - how ridiculous can you get -
Poseidon - "Contains sustained threat and images of death that may disturb.", Da Vinci Code "Contains flagellation and other moderate violence"

What is the world coming too - they never used to do that did they?
Ghostbusters "contains sustained threat and scary 100ft marshmallow man"
Titanic "contains imminent danger and lots of drowned people"

Other news...

On top of telling my boss I'm signed off I also told him I'm leaving. Yes I know, I know, it's a bit of a habit of mine and that, even for me, 14 months in a job is particularly paltry (or is that poultry?) but this one just didn't really work out. what with the change of ownership it made the whole job completely different from what I was originally taken on for and it was really a bit of a backwards step. Plus the travelling was ridiculous.

I'd come to this decision a while back but was waiting until the right time to look about for a new role - especially being conscious of the small amount of time I'd been there. but in fact I didn't need to look and I got approached by an old HR Director within my current company who had moved on and was looking for an HR Manager in her new company (don't really want to say who the new company is as I don't think it would be a good idea to broadcast my blogging to old or new employer). Suffice to say the move sound good, - a real challenge, new environment and different type of HR issues, involvement in stuff outside HR possibly and local! - now I just need to negotiate an early leave as I was on 3 months notice.... looking hopeful though..

It could be out of the frying pan into the fire, but hey, at least it's a well paid, local fire!.

Now if only I could yell "woohoo".....

it's oh so quiet

and the dr wants me to lay off work for a week. oo i've never been signed off before... shame it's not entirely practical to slob all week, unfortunately the world of HR continues to turn, if a little more silently than before...

ramblings

As I lard on the sofa - before I move my lardy arse to sit it on sarah's sofa for a bit of variety, I was reading some of my old blog entries, and noticed exactly 2 years ago I'd lost my voice too. ooo isn't life wierd.

today I will be mostly sneezing, croaking and feeling weak and feeble. :-(

the sound of silence

The silence continues, with the occasional croak or squeak from me. curse my tonsils... or whatever it is that always makes me lose my voice when I get a cold. I don't feel too bad now, much better than earlier this weekend, but I still sound horrendous so have decided to try and take things easy and work from home tomorrow, at least until the evening when I have to drive up to Chorley. No point overdoing it even more.

that said I haven't exactly lain on the sofa in recovery today. after lying on the sofa all day yesterday (once we got home from Repton), I decided that today's medecine was fresh air (as opposed to saturday's attempt at self-healing by "drinking through the pain"...).

So Emma, Paul and I chose to partake in a local cultural activity - namely watching mad locals throw themselves down a very steep muddy slope in the hope of winning an 8lb piece of cheese. Nutters. As Paul sensibly pointed out, what's the point of trying to catch up with a cheese which, by the very laws of physics, is always going to be faster that a person? Now I'm no physics expert as my dad will support, but even I can see the logic of that statement. Anyway, I'm all for the entertainment factor if not the common sense argument, so along we went.

The car park was closed due to the muddiness so we drove to a nearby spot - with a few diversions due to my inability to read maps - yes I am that typical woman - (and yes it's only 10 mins away from my house...but we were trying to avoid the traffic). We then trooped past the reservoir and up the muddy hill to join thousands (literally) of others who had also swarmed there from miles around. the sun was out, the cheese was rolling, there were mad people throwing themselves down and mad people trying to race up the slope. all was going well. there was even one lass in union jack vest and pants (which got a large cheer and 2 blokes hanging on for dear life to the top of a tree to get a good view. There were St John's ambulance people stretchering someone off the slope - not sure if it was a participant or a poor unsuspecting spectator hit by a cheese. They got the biggest cheer when they got their patient to the bottom.

Then it started to rain!
Then it started to hail!
Big Time!

But that just added to the fun. We left and slid our way back to the car, and the sun returned.

Afterwards Emma and I went to a local street fair to meet some friends. It was really nice, with little stalls and a band playing and the sun shining. we stood outside the pub having a drink, and then the rain came back, but in true British style everyone just put up their brollies or hid under awnings and carried on drinking till the shower passed.

So - a good day, with 2 pairs of trousers in the wash and the fresh air requirement fulfilled. back to that sofa.

fab wedding

the wedding was great - the gods smiled on the couple and the sun came out about half an hour before the service and the rain just dissapeared... how lucky! Will write more when I have energy but for now a quick summary..

Wake up feeling very rough - throat sore and voice teetering on going....
drive through rain but sun comes out eventually
Arrive, get dressed and find chapel
rob looking nervous but happy
bride looked gorgeous. dress was lovely, little sparkly things in hair
vicar's speech brilliant, what an earnest and nice bloke
Witnessed the wedding, (usually I'm a bridesmaid but at least as a witness you get to choose your outfit)
Guides do a guard of honour
walked to reception in sun
photos on steps with Pimms
hall perfect size and atmosphere, decorations just right (the guides did them proud)
lots more Pimms (helps if you know the waiter) - except we are only couple in the room that the waiter checks are not driving before he serves us...!
Bride and Groom arrive to squealing balloons
Cake is brilliant, tastes fab and the little statues were perfect (off Ebay apparently!)
Food lovely, sausages great, gravy seriously alcoholic mmmm
Red wine flowed (again - helped by waiter...)
Music arrives, band dance band very good. lead singer would rather be in Nirvana but clearly knows his stuff
By this time my voice completely gone, Paul very happy...
Evening closes and we head back to pub to sleep
Unfortunately lots of other people head to pub for a different reason and whilst Paul managed to slide into a drunken stupor I lay awake listening to the party until about 3am - hey ho
Drove back passing the Marmite factory to Miss Law's great delight

so that's it. Hopefully Mr and Mrs Court had as much fun as we did - they certainly looked as though they were having fun. This matchmaking stuff is a piece of cake...Right then, who can be my next victims...?

weddings

today is THE Day which is good news! the BBC weather report looks variable but we might be in luck. I'm sat in my PJ's with a cuppa tryign to motivate myself to get dressed. I have a raging sore throat which will lead to me singing the bass part in the hymns and coughing my way through the service. But at least you get sympathy when you sound rough. could really do without feeling so bad but I was only a matter of time really as I have been burning the candle at both ends work/social life-wise. Typical taht I get ill on a bank holiday weekend though, no doubt I'll be fine by monday night.

So now I'm off to buy a pair of Bridget-Jones style stomach flattening knickers to try adn stop my jelly belly wobbling in my new dress. If ever I get married I'm going to force people to wear jeans to my wedding.

Went to see X men 3 last ngiht with sarah adn paul, not bad actually....

birthdays

I've not really had much time to think about my birthday this year what with work, weekends away, weddings, washing, and all other "w" related things. But I think what i would most like for my birthday is..... um....well... not sure really. maybe...

a new job
a cleaner
a cat that doesn't wake me up in the mornings
calorie free red wine
an afternoon off.

well I will get the afternoon off anyway as I booked it today. so tomorrow I will turn off my phone, get my hair cut and buy myself a book and read it. how exciting.

pondering

why is it... when you konw you have to get up at a ridiculously early time in the morning, you can't bring yourself to go to bed it's the fear of knowing you'll not want to get up, when in fact if you'd gone to bed earlier you would have got enough sleep to make it ok. oh well, 6am here I come.

family committments

My auntie Ros was complaining today because I haven't updated in a while and she is now living her life vicariously through my blog. apologies for letting you down... and hopefully this will make up for it but I have good reason for not being up todate. mainly because my social life and work life have both gone into overdrive, to the point where I have stopped unpacking my suitcase but actually live out of it when I am at home as it's simpler. we spent last weekend at Cranham Scout campsite doing a bit of service work, painting a toilet block. I should have helped out on the sunday morning with the campfire circle too but i was too hungover and grumpy having devoured a lot of red wine and port the previous night. Paul arrived with a chinese takeaway for 11 people on the sat evening which went down well, apart from not bringing prawn carckers, but we forgave him when we realised he's bought seaweed... yum.

So then went up on sunday evening to the wonderful world of Chorley, once again, and started my week of work work work. meeting all day monday, travel to derby, meeting all day tuesday, travel to warwick (bit in the middle which i'll come back to in a minute) training all day wednesday, training all day thursday, home back to a hosue full of drying tents and dirty washing from the previous weekend.... whew I was knackered.
But in between all that I saw TAKE THAT!!!!!!!! oh boy oh boy oh boy. Along with sarah, emma, sax and karen I took sally who's normal choice of concert is more along the lines of Bon Jovi and Whitesnake. We got into the spirit with 100 glow sticks proudly supplied by sarah who had bought them from the internet. we glowed for england, so much that people we knew in the rest of the auidence could easily find us! Pretty much lost my voice from screaming "Gary" (I yes I know he's the fat one but I liked him). they really were fab, great showmanship, fab dancing, voices were ace and they genuinely seemed delighted to be back (as Howard said "I was about to move back in with my mum so thanks for buying the tickets!") Sally had a little trouble taking it seriously at first but I think she got into it by the end and was waving her glow stick with the rest of us. It took me an hour to get out of the car park but luckily I had bought a book with me to keep me amused.

So that was last week - apart from another event which may or may not have implications on work. but I will reveal more as and when necessary.

This weekend was a trip to Birmingham to see the fabulous Boo Hewerdine - somewhat different from the previous gig, less than 100 people but a brilliant concert, he is such a hidden talent but in a way, I like it like that (I guess his accountant would prefer him to be bigger but I like the smaller gigs). then on Saturday evening we had a meal out with friends at the fab Storyteller restaurant, we cleaned out plates, put the world to rights, bet on the Eurovision and discussed the Apprentice. Top quality night.

Today was a trip to Oxford for my cousins 40th. I forgot how nice Oxford is, evening in the pouring rain, must try and go back there soon. we caught up with the family gossip, saw some of Jane's lovely pictures - I liked the one incorporating Mr Kipling cakes, and ate chocolate cake - yum. Paul seemed to cope with the experience - he seems to have had an extraordinary number of family occasions this year, I've promised him that normally it's only 2 a year.... not sure if he beleives me though....

so there you go Ros - hope that keeps you up to date.....!

weddings and radio choices

Wedding season has begun, and, unusually, I’m not a bridesmaid! But that’s a good thing… we drove up to the lakes, met up with lots of old friends, drank copious amounts of alcohol, had a good dance, “aaahh’d” at the bride, drank more alcohol, and basically had a great time. Fab wedding indeed. Took lots of photos of lambs in Grassmere too, and ate gingerbread. Oh and went round to a friend of Pauls who’s a jammy git and has landed a house (attached to the job) which lies on the side of the lake, with it’s own private little jetty. Git – where did I go wrong.

I was thinking today about the fact that I feel like I’m in a cultural NoMansLand. Since Johnny Walker left the Drivetime show and Chris Evans took over I have had to defect to Scott Mills. So basically I listen to Sarah and Terry on Radio 2 in the morning, followed by Ken on 2 if I’m still in the car, rapidly turning over to Jo Wiley to avoid the horrendous Jeremy Vine if I’m still stuck in traffic by then. God only knows why people enjoy listening to that man. I tune into Colin and Edith if I’m out and about in the afternoon and now love Scott and his gullible mum on the way home. But then at 7pm I turn my back on country music/showtunes (on 2) and dance fever (on 1) and switch to Radio 4 for the Archers plus the odd comedy programme. PLUS I listen to the Woman’s Hour and Mayo/Kermode’s podcasts when jogging.

Yikes, I’m a marketing researchers nightmare.

weekends...

Great weekend, although the problem with a good bank holiday weekend is that you are even more depressed about the prospect about coming back to work! We went down to Woollacombe late Friday evening, in time to pitch the tent, blow up the lilo in the dark and have a quick beer before retiring to freeze our proverbials in the night.
Got up to a fairly decent day but not amazingly sunny – sat about and drank various cups of tea (not unlike a Sagga weekend at this point) before heading off to the beach. The sea was as flat as a pancake which didn’t inspire the keen canoe people (i.e. everyone bar me) so we decided to descend on the pitch and putt. I don’t think Tiger Woods should be losing any sleep… Paul even managed to land one in the road. I then wandered round the shops while the keen people played in the surf in their canoes. That evening, after BBQ’ing for England, buying a bottle of wine from a pub (ouch) after realising I’d left one in the shop - we had a few swift drinks in the campsite pub to get warm. I then went to bed with my woolly hat on, and walking socks tucked into my PJ’s. Who says romance is dead….
Sunday morning was evening slower than saturday, apart from the keen people (not Paul) who got up early to check out the surf, only to come back 20 mins later cos it was flat. The keen people then did a 6 mile coastal trip and we met them arriving on the beach. We then went to the pub, then drove home – well actually I spent the entire drive back asleep - apart from waking up when we stopped at the services to buy chocolate, eat it then fall back to sleep again. Sometimes being a passenger is a good thing.

Yesterday was quiet but relaxed, main achievement was putting up a trellis for my rose bush. It took 2 trips to B&Q and a call to my mum and dad but we got there in the end.

work is starting to get on top of me a bit. the responsibility is a bit too much at times, and also the staying away from home is really getting on my nerves - there just doesn't seem to be any real let up. I know that relative to some people what I do is minor, and being away 2 nights a week isn't that much, but the problem is that my social life is such that i'm often away at weekends too, which means on average I'm often only in the house a couple of nights per week, and those evenings i am in I don't really clean and tidy, which means I live in a dump! I refuse to change my social life adn turn into a weekend hermit. I guess things will improve eventually, once the work stuff settles down, but in the meantime I will just have to contine to live out of a suitcase.

On the good side, I jogged all the way from my house to mum and dad's without having to stop once - and felt able to breathe fine at the end. I reckon that's about 1.5 miles so I'm making progress. Now I just have to make it back too....

chorley chorley chorley

here again. blimey my life is one whirlwind after another.

an A to Z of Spain

Accommodation - Rada’s flat in Chiclana, Andalucia is really lovely – photos of it are here and if you fancy staying there sometime then let me know as she rents it out….
Burning Feet – it hurts when you forget to put cream on those important bits…
Chemo Fog – the name they give when you’re being treated with chemo and start to forget things – Rada has this as an excuse for constantly misplacing keys and phones, and banging her head on various things by accident. My excuse was just being blonde.
Dreams – I had some really weird ones, must have been the cheese – one night I dreamt I would fail my degree unless I wrote an essay on the theological similarities between the Samaritans and the Tufty Club. Tough call.
Eggs – Easter ones, we bought Kinder eggs and I stuffed the chocolate down in one gulp then enjoyed making the little model. All 6 of them (nearly) - yum
Footloose – you can’t help but move your feet and wave your hands in the air and dance to the song, even if you’re sat on an aeroplace next to a Psychiatrist….
Getting on down in bars and nightclubs – that didn’t happen cos we couldn’t be bothered, must be getting old..!!!
Hats– we bought lots! I love them, and Rada needs ‘em to keep her head warm!
I love not being at work. Should do it more often…
Jess (and Mille… and Paul) – I did miss them x
Kitesurfing - Tarifa beach is full of rather sexy surfers throwing themselves about in the sea. Nice!
Licence – it helps to take your driving licence if you want to hire a car. Still at least it meant I got driven everywhere for a change!
Monkeys – on Gibralter Rock. Along with all other cultural and touristy attractions in Andalucia, I didn’t bother to see them, but spent my time shopping and reading instead!
Nearly missing our flight back – as we arrived at Gibralter airport they were announcing that the Gate (not just check-in) was closed! Luckily they let us on and we ran to get on the (already fully boarded plane)
Octopus – I ate some, can’t say I’ll be rushing to do so again, it’s a bit too squidgy and the suckers put me off…
Pain – I’ve been having real trouble with pain in my ankles from the jogging. Bought some gel insole things which will hopefully help but I think I run flat-flooted. Darn this exercise malarky
Quality control testing out sunbeds in the middle of Carrefour – it’s important to make the right choice even if you’re making an arse of yourself.
Red wine – I made up for the last month by drinking a fair amount!
Sunbathing with our fleeces on, on Tarifa beach which is a little windy!!
This Thing of Darkness – by Harry Thompson - what an absolutely amazing book – I spent a lot of the time reading this and when I finished it - it felt like I’d lost a friend. It’s a thick book, but don’t let that put you off, it’s a brilliant read which keeps you interested the entire through.
Um… running out of things to say now
Volleys – we had a (quick) game of tennis. I don’t think Serena Williams has anything to worry about but it was a good laugh – mainly for people nearby watching us!
Waterproof – bought a fab funky snot green one, along with a cool fleece. Ok so I know it’s supposed to be hot in Spain but they had a sale of the winter clothes and it was cheap!!
X-ray machine – Rada had a letter from the hospital in case she set the alarm off, explaining that her chemo may mean she had stuff in her system still… luckily it didn’t go off…
Yes definitely running out of things now…
Zzzzz – have to catch up on sleep now….

Another day another dollar. Went to a seminar on age discrimination which was really interesting although my brain isn’t particularly active before 10am and this thing started at 8am. Then had meetings in Halesowen before driving up to Glasgow. I went for a wander round the part of Glasgow where I used to live when I first moved here. It hasn’t changed that much and I was feeling quite nostalgic, although it was quite amusing to see people standing outside the theatre and the pubs having a cigarette – this smoking ban really does have an impact.

Last night Paul and I were seriously sad and spent a fun hour downloading ringtones from an 80’s cartoon website. They also had video clips and we were watching the intro to the “G-Force” cartoon (can’t remember the full title) - how cool was that. The only problem I now have is the decision on which ringtone to use – it’s a tough call between Pigeon street, Inspector gadget and Dogtanian sung in Hebrew.

It’s nice to know my mind is on the important things in life eh….

sundays

I think I prefer fridays

trainers, bunnies and contraceptives

So I went shopping for trainers. Woo hoo. Much prefer shopping for other things but I guess if I'm going to do this then i should at least have a vaguely decent pair. I went for the options of "slightly more expensive than the ones that reminded me of the old BHS one's mum used to buy me for school", but not as expensive as the "I'm paying for the name on the side" variety. I was so depressed about spending my money on such a dull purchase that I went and blew a lot more on slightly more interesting things.
But at least I came home and went out for a run - well again, I guess the terminology of "a run" would have me fined under the Trade Descriptions Act but you've got to start somewhere. the funniest thing I'm finding is that, despite the physical knackeredness I am actually getting stuff out of this - and not just the obvious health benefits (which I hope to dear god will come - all this pain can't be for nothing surely...) But in fact today I got to nose at some lovely houses and daydream that I lived there - the type who have long pebbled drives that crunch under the wheels of the Bentley when you drive down it. I also saw LOADS of really cute bunny rabbits in the field near my house - just like in Wallace and Gromit. All very worthy…
Finally I have discovered that running to music doesn't really work for me as I still concentrate on how knackered I am. but with the benefit of my trusty iPod I've opened up my world to podcasts and am now jogging/hyperventilating to the dulcet tones of Simon Mayo, Mark Kermode's film reviews and the Woman's Hour daily podcast highlight. So far I have learnt about Richard Eyre's adaptation of King Lear, Daniella Westbrooke’s battle with drugs, the story behind the LBD (Little Black Dress) and the benefits of the new contraceptive pill being trialed in Edinburgh Uni. Now that’s what I call life-enhancing!

and so the agony begins...

Most people will now know that I've signed up the Race for Life in Cheltenham in July. I figure the more people I tell, the more obliged I am to go through with it (and obviously the more chance I get of getting sponsorship) . It's probably not a big deal to many people but the prospect of running any amount of distance is seriously daunting to me (apart from running to the chocloate machine but I guess that doesn't really count). let's face it... my boobs were not designed to stand that level of gravitational pull. So I've gone out and done a bit of training - whichn mainly involved walking lots with a litle bit of running but I have time to progress (and work on my injury excuses!). I ache like mad but thats not suprising since I've not done any real exercise since leaving school!

The race is the day after the team event Sagga runs at the Malvern Challenge so there's a chance I may be able to get up that bloody hill without passing out this year too....
I've convinced Emma and Saxone to join up too, but they are fitter by far than me. Emma's mum has just had the all clear from cancer, and a close friend of mine is mid-way through battling breast cancer and doing a damn fine job of it too. I'm off to spain with her in ten days time and shall be putting aside my running training to enjoy the delights of olives and spanish red wine (and sunshine and reading books). I have given up red wine for lent which has been quite hard at times, but have decided that Easter will have to come early this year as there's no way I'm going on holiday to Spain without being able to sample the local vino.

But I'm sure red wine is good for training, at least the prospect of a glass at the end of the race may be the best way to keep me going!

so... ... sponsor me if you can via the link or just wish me luck....

weekends

it's been a lovely relaxed sofa-filled weekend. went to the pub for an hour on friday evening with sarah and paul but luckily we all were equally knackered so crashed and burned by 10pm! met up with some old friends for lunch on Saturday then lay on sofa and watched Ice Age on tv. I do love that film, now just need to "acquire" a child to give myself an excuse to go see Ice Age 2 at the new fancy cinema in cheltenham. Couldn't quite muster the energy to get off the sofa to go out on sat evening, but managed to do so this morning and went on a short walk round Woodchester Hall - really nice, if slightly spooky, place. Got totally drenched on way back - it's funny how you can't complain about getting wet when you're old, cause you're the one that made the decision to go out - not like when you're a child and you're dragged along! still, gave me an excuse to lie on sofa again this afternoon and get my tea cooked for me this evening.

i've walked round all week with the biggest dark cloud over my head, for no real reason. guess it's just hormones or something but it's not good. Hopefully the fact that it's friday will cheer me up :-)

blonde moment

You going to like this one…..

Good weekend last weekend – spent a lot of it cleaning the house as it’s race week this week and I had 3 blokes coming this Tuesday evening to stay in my house whilst I moved into mum and dad’s (along with Sarah who’s also renting her house out).

Monday night I went out with Paul and some of his canoe club people to spend the evening Slot Car racing. Basically it’s a huge scaletrix track with cars set up in a big garage… with all the technology set up like Go Karting so you can all race each other with the timings on computer. I was the only girl and out of about 10 I came 4th, so was in the final. Not bad eh!

So there I was, basking in the light of girlie credibility… until I realised I’d locked myself out of my house…… again. These were my various thought processes….

I’m always doing this, so I have escape routes….keys at both my best friends and my parents. I’ll be fine.

So I’ll get the keys from Sarah’s house.
But she gave them back to me the other day as I need them to give to the guys who are renting my place. They’re inside my house.

So I’ll get the keys from my mum and dad
But they are on holiday

I can get into mum and dad’s house with my spare key for theirs and get their spare key for mine….
But my keys to mum and dad’s are in my car, and my car keys are in the house.

It’s ok – mum gave me another spare set for their house to give to Sarah for living there this week – so I go round to hers. Whew! (By this time it’s about 11pm)

Go round to mum and dad’s, get in, but I can’t find my bloody spare key. Send text to dad’s mobile asking him where it is.

Give up, go back to Paul’s and feel very pissed off (and grateful that I’m working from home tomorrow which will give me a bit of time to sort it all out and organise my house before the guys arrive in the evening).

Suddenly realise that my spare key is likely to be in mum’s car, which is parked at Sally and Jon’s in Redditch. Send Jon a text and sleep well in the knowledge that tomorrow I can drive up to their house in the morning.

Except I haven’t got the keys to my car. They are in the house.

But that’s ok – I can get into mum and dad’s and get the keys to my MX5 which is in mum and dad’s garage (good job I have a spare car…)

Sleep….

Wake up. Realise that I was wearing disposable contact lenses last night which I threw away. My glasses/lenses are in my house. My house is locked. I can’t see jack shit without them. I can’t drive.

So Paul, bless him, drives me to Redditch and back in a nice little 2 hour round trip to get my spare key. (Before having to drive a further 45 minutes to work.) All’s well that ends well. Except…

Drive into my cul-de-sac to find the 8.30 arrival time my Race week guys had told me was 8.30am not 8.30pm and they were sat outside my house waiting wondering where I was.

I sent them off to Morrisons for breakfast and never have I cleared a house/packed/made beds so quickly in my life.

Boy what a dumb blonde I am sometimes.

Thank god mum and dad didn’t leave the car at the airport otherwise I would have spent the day wandering round NCP car parks bleeping randomly in the hope of finding their Megane! 

Viva espagne!

I'm off to sunny spain!!! yeehah. In exactly 1 momth I will be off to Andalucia for a long weekend over easter with my mate. She owns a flat out there and she is in need of a sunny break, being half way through her treaement of chemo, and, being the kindhearted soul that I am, I have conned her into letting me come too!! bring on the suntan!

another busy week at work but all interesting stuff. was supposed to have my appraisal on Tuesday but we were too busy so I was spared for the time being...

Race week next week and race fever is spreading round the town. pubs have "all day breakfast" signs outside, marquees are going up all over the place to cram the drinkers in, and there's a general feel of excitement in the air. I do love it! I'm going to have to do some cleaning s I have three young gentlemen staying in my house adn I'm decamping back to the parents. Luckily they have swanned off to South Africa. I suggested I rent our their house instead which would bring in bags of cash but they were less enthusiastic. shame. still, anyone up for a party??!! plenty of space...!

an interesting approach to the smoking issue....

pancakes

they were yummy.

have already broken the "no chocolate" for lent rule. The "no wine" has now been increased (temporarily) to no alcohol full stop as I am now on antibiotics, but will be the hardest one to keep..

I love the fact that I started off with a blanket "I'm giving up alcohol for lent" to "I'm giving up red wine for lent" to me now considering "I'm giving up drinking red wine during the week" to "I can only drink red wine when there's a Y in the day".....

It's all about refining it down to a manegeable target (ah... remember those SMART objectives folks, they have to be achievable)

On a sad note I was really sorry to read about the death of Linda Smith - a fantastic comedian who I loved listening to on various radio 4 programmes. She'll be sorely missed.

blimey check it out she's back!

Anyway, enough about others, back to ME!!!! I'm a little better after my weekend of sofadom, but still not really 100%. Made fatal error of looking on amazon for my niece's birthday present. got it, but also ended up spending an additional twenty quid on me..... thank goodness I only have one neice and one nephew, can't afford any more!

weekend

Have been ill this weekend which scuppered my plans for going to York with the family. still, they had a good time apparently and I spent the weekend rotating from bed to sofa.

With all the free thinking time I decidec to coem up with another "7 things" category - and pass it onto those who fancy joining in:

7 songs that get me up on a dancefloor

• I'm in the mood for dancing - the Nolan sisters
• Hey ya - Outkast
• Footloose - Kenny Loggins
• Reach for the stars - S Club 7
• Place Your Hands - Reef
• Together again - janet jackson
• never forget - take that

oh I feel like I've jsut bared my soul to the world....

here you go...

Updated as fraser was taking the piss that I couoldn't count....

7 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE
Have a house with a bathroom big enough for an old fashioned bath tub on legs and a fireplace
Get married
Grow roses
Learn to dance properly
Visit Australia and New Zealand.
Stop biting my nails, permanently
Take some time off work and live a little

7 THINGS I CANNOT DO
Understand physics
Draw or paint
Say no to chocolate
Swim particularly far

Stop myself from crying at Neighbours when my hormones are raging

Play the guitar, despite trying on many an occasion

Read beyond the first 2 lines on the opticians chart without my glases/lenses

7 THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO LONDON
Theatre and concerts
Meeting up with mates
The Imperial War museum
Feeling cosmopolitan on the tube
SHOPS! Esp covent garden

THINGS I OFTEN SAY
actually…..
the bottom line is…
when it comes down to it…
no you can’t just sack him
give me more detail…
I’m in the car
At the end of the day..

7 BOOKS THAT I LOVE
Matthew Kneale – English passengers
Pride and prejudice
Our Hidden Lives

Bring me my fathers body

The Past in Hiding

Wild Swans

Everyone's blog

7 MOVIES I WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAINSame deal as the books.
Dirty Dancing
Top Gun
Sweet Home Alabama
Big Blue
Footloose
Some Kind of Wonderful
Pretty in Pink

7 PEOPLE I WANT TO JOIN IN TOO
Karen
Jon
Rob
Fraser

Philip
Some others if I think of them

roll on friday

god I'm bored. I'm stuck in a hotel in peterborough with only my laptop and a glass of red wine for company. thank god for Life on Mars which is due on in a few minutes. and it's only monday. I'm away three nights this week which wouldn't be so bad but I've also got a weekend away with the family in York at the weekend so i won't see much of my little cats or my own bed. ah well, at least I won't have to cook for myself!

it's been a heavy week at work, but good too. On Wednesday work finally accounced, after nearly a year of disussion, debate and complications, that we have been sold. The company buying us a a huge south african firm who does pretty similar work to what we do. It's a good thing as there was certianly a chance I could have lost my job if we had been bought by a company that currently sits in the UK with all the head office functions, but this way they have no real UK presence so want to keep us all in place and not make any redundancies, they just want to grow in the UK market. The real impact on me is that now I'm let loose on all the stuff that I've wanted to be getting on with for the past 10 months since I started. I have to be involved in setting up a new pension, new payroll, and now reqrite copntracts, policies, handbooks, inductions etc etc. thing is everything has to happen at once so it's gone from being a bit lost and unfocused to intense and busy, but I know which I prefer. and hey, I get to drive around in my new car too!

Paul bought me a lovely valentine's day present, a lead to link my iPod with my car. what an absolute star. who needs padded cards and roses, I have a bloke that knows what I really want!

Prague was beautiful... and cold! It snowed pretty much most of the time although it was nearly always a gentle smattering... except for friday afternoon when we went on a walking tour and it chose to pelt it down in blizzard-like proportions. It made the whole trip even more special as everywhere looked so pretty- although I was beginning to loose the feeling in my fingers.

We spent our time wandering about, ticking off the list of things that my dad had reccomended - although, (don't tell him), we didn't go in any museums or go to the opera as he suggested. However we did manage to make time to go to the pubs he mentioned and the hall of silly mirrors up on the hill by the fake eiffel tower. Charles Bridge is really picturesque our hotel was just a stones throw away. I drank a fair bit of "hot wine" and even braved the local food which tasted fab. Just a shame it was over so quick and it's back to the humdrum of work... although thats decidedly more busy than humdrum but I'm not complaining, at lest it's interesting.

the fat lady sang

new car new car new car oooooh it's lurvely. but now I have to leave it sitting on my driveway whilst I swan off to Prague for the weekend. :-)

ipod frenzy

My Ipod obsession continues, with many happy evenings spent downloading my diverse, expensive and somewhat eclectic cd collection. actually if you akks my mum she would disagree with that statement: she thinks all my music choice is based around female singer-songwriters that I jealously believe I could have been had I not answered my calling into the world of Personnel.... Ah the cruel hand of destiny.

The main focus for my ipod fervor is that I get to use it in my new car - which is apparently being delivered tomorrow, although I remain skeptical on this point and will not get excited until the fat lady has sungeth, based on prior experience with this vehicle leasing company and it's delivery habits.... But once I DO get it, I can plug in my ipod (subject to having the necessary leads) and my driving pleasure will be increased 10 fold - something drastically needed when you spend on average 4 hours a day in the car. So if I'm hoarse next time I see you it's from singing my little heart out on theM4.

ALSO I get to take it on the plane to Prague this weekend, because hey it's not like I'd want to communicate with Paul or anything.... we'll both be sat there listening to our music.... who says romance is dead eh. Can't wait till Thurs, just need to find my woolly socks and long johns...mmm

katie melua was fantastic last night, took mum as he xmas present and she didn't let me down! a funny thing was when she played her really famous sogn at the end, little lights came on around the arena. not lighters like in the "good old days" but mobile phones from people recording and taking photos. ah how life moves on....

spiderman, spiderman....

This is my superhero results!

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 80% Iron Man 65% Superman 60% Supergirl 55% Robin 55% The Flash 55% Wonder Woman 50% Green Lantern 50% Catwoman 40% Hulk 35% Batman 25%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

that's it....

I'm officially old. I keep walking into room's and forgetting what I came in for, I've admitted to myself that I like the smell of lavender and this week I've finally realised I actually really like Alpen. yikes

thank god it's friday

I need a lie in.

but the good news is I had haggis neeps and tatties on burns night in a lovely restaurant in stirling. it was fab. x

news news news

It’s been a while so apologies…..
Work has been busy although more in relation to staying away than in stress and workload. It has it’s ups and downs but in general I had a good week last week and felt like I had done something worthwhile so things are ok. On top of that I should be getting my new car at some point in the next month which, for a shallow old sod like me is enough to motivate me for a few weeks more.

So whilst zipping round the country I have also had the pleasure of a curry with the Birmingham sagga crew, gone out on broad street for a night of fantastic dancing, just to prove that I’m not too old. The worst bit about that was my mate Lisa (who is exactly a week younger than me) being asked for ID in two different pubs!!!!! She was so chuffed, she’s thinking of leaving London and moving there! But a good night was had by all and we danced like young’uns in the old Walkabout.

This weekend just gone was slightly different with a family member’s 50th birthday which I dragged Paul along to -he’s being let off the 90th birthday party I have to go to next weekend!! The party was good, the food was fab and we stayed in a gorgeous little hotel in Minster Lovell near Oxford, in a lovely setting and with a nice pub attached…. Always a good thing in a hotel I find.

Sunday we walked round Blenheim Palace gardens, having found the subtle public entrance which means you don’t have to pay. In fact we may not have had to pay anyway as we were on foot but it was much more satisfying thinking that we had fooled the system. It was really foggy, to the point of not actually being able to see the palace until you were really quite close. Not great for the views but very atmospheric! We then wandered round Burford for a bit and came home via John Lewis to buy me an Ipod. Yeehaha! I’ve promised myself one for ages and finally decided to just get on and buy it (especially as I am away so much with work and get stuck in hotel rooms bored so often). So I spent all evening playing on the PC downloading my cd collections and I even tried downloading a music video from the net, the quality is amazing. I’m becoming an IPOD bore already, honestly you’d think I invented the bloody thing.

So that’s it so far. Only a short update and no real insightful comments but hell who cares. Actually I do have some comments on the world at large…

1. Why do we have to analyse the whole whale situation and try and apportion blame. What is it about our country that has to point the finger? People did their best, and bless ‘em, but there wasn’t likely to be a good ending was it? I bet Jeremy bloody vine has a phone in about it this week so people can whinge and moan.

2. How scary is celebrity BB? Words cannot express w revolting the majority fo those people are. It’s like car crash TV, appalling but you can’t help but stare.

3. If you’ve got some serious skeletons in your cupboard, why on earth would you put yourself in the spotlight and try and run for leadership of a political party? Surely you’d have a hunch that your “error of judgement(s) would come back to haunt you?

That’s it from me….. x

happy new year

Well new year, new coat, new corkscrew and new depression. Boy oh boy don’t you just love going back to work.
Christmas went by without too many traumas. Managed to be on my best behaviour with paul’s family, and coped with the claustrophobia that was 22 people in my parents living room on Boxing day. Got some fab presents (as detailed above) and gave some pretty damn good ones too. It’s funny when, out of all the wonderful things you buy your boyfriend the thing he loves the most is the £3.oo torch from Avon which shows a batman logo when you shine it. Bless…….

New year was fun, we went up to Galasheils to see some friends on the way up to Glenmore. Played an excellent game which I can’t remember then name of but it involved putting down phrases or descriptions that had to apply to an object or thing. Sounds weird but actually very good. I also drank a vast quantity of red wine. Ho hum.

Then drove on up to Aviemore in the snow, ten minutes outside of Aviemore there was no snow. Must have been the only place in the UK with no snow!!! Still, it was snowy in the right places and made for some good walking. Paul’s friends were really nice and welcoming. A couple are in the mountain rescue in the Lakes and had heard from co-rescuers that they had had to rescue a guy with a broken leg who and put his ice-axe through his tendons at the same time. Ouch. Seemed quite a good tale until I got a text from Rachel telling me Si had broken his leg in the lakes and had to be rescued. Few texts later and I was assured Si’s leg was broken but his ice axe was nowhere near….. guess he’ll fill us in on the details when he can!

So I actually managed a bit of walking, although it’s a bit harder when you’re not with your own mates that you can happily have a girlie strop with and not worry about them thinking you’re weird (my mates already thing this so no loss there really). We chilled out in the evening, watched the odd dvd and played some games. Ventured into the heady delight of Aviemore for new years eve and basically had a relaxing time. It’s just such a shame that I have to go back to work…….