My annual address to the nation and the people of the Commonwealth

If only I was the Queen....
But I'm not.
I do however, know the King of Kings. Not only do I know Him, but I know He loves me, delights in me and 2000 years ago - as a testament to that love for me and all humanity - He came to Earth as a baby. Being fully God, He gave up all the glory and beauty of Heaven to live amongst fallen (but not forsaken) man.
And why is this so great?
For two reasons.

1. Easter.

When Jesus came to Earth, He lived amongst those He had had a part in creating, but He came to die first and foremost. When He gave Himself over to death, He took the sins of the world with Him to the grave and left them there; rising again to raise each of us with Him. Through Him we are free of our sin and all of the problems and suffering it brings - if only we in turn hand over control of our lives to Him.

2. His life on Earth.

The bible tells us that Jesus died in His 30s - He had lived as a human being - the only perfect human being, here on Earth all that time. That means that when we go to Him with our problems, the burdens of our hearts and souls, the temptations and failings, God is no distant or abstract figure. Through Jesus we know that God cares, understands our plight and can help if only we ask Him in to our lives. He has been there. He knows. He cares. He longs for us to care too.

Here's what the bible tells us about the birth of Jesus and how important His life will be:

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned...
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of His government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Isaiah 9: 2 & 6-7

As is traditional, I've tried to look back on 2010 and sum up how it has been significant to my life as a whole...

It hasn't been a great year for relationships; either with Jesus or with people I know. It is always said of being a Christian that relationships require communication and the same is true of any friendship.
It is a sad fact of growing up that old friends lose touch and drift apart as they move onwards and upwards to new things. I often think of those people and recount the old days with a smile.
The same is true of not so old friends too... Tsk tsk.

Here are my other reflections on 2010:

O Money has been a significant issue this year. Lack of. Nevertheless, I've managed to redecorate my room and I love it. It makes me look forward even more to the day I have my own flat and my independance.

O I started work at Helenswood as an invigilator. My experience at Cantell is never far from my mind and nor are the students. Helenswood is different as are the team, but I like it there too.

O Sarah, Tom and I went away, abroad together for a week to Croatia. Sarah and I also went to Bosnia. Two fantastic countries and the holiday is a definate highlight of my...life so far!

O Applied for and got accepted onto the Open University study course for Early Years Professional Status - they only accept 53 students nationwide and they chose me! It took me the entire application process, including a trip to the Open Uni in Camden (love that place), to see that EYPS is not for me. Eventually I turned down the place and haven't looked back since.

O Keswick 2010! Awesome. Met some awesome new people and got reaquainted with some others. Got to hang out with great kids and young people (including a local youth called Dean)

O Didn't go to Momentum which is something I really and truly regret actually. I though I wouldn't mind, but I did. I really want to go next year - must find someone to go with for sure. Its crucial to my walk with Jesus, this week, I find.

O Bee & Matt and Izzie & Chris tied the knot, Emma & James had baby Harry and Isaac & Becky's baby is due in February! Congratulations all round!!

O Claimed a lot of Job Seekers Allowance and (especially in December) worked a lot at Argos!

O In 8 days I'll turn 23 and begin my 24th year on this Earth. What does the year ahead hold I wonder?

Here's a brief rundown of the next few days anyway...

Dec 21st: Argos 2pm-7pm
Dec 22nd: Argos 12pm-8pm
Dec 23rd: Christmas food shopping and decorating/tidying
Christmas Eve: Argos 9am-5pm
CHRISTMAS DAY: rest 8-)
Boxing Day: Argos 9am-5pm
Dec 27th (Bank Hol Mon): Argos 9am-4.15pm
Dec 28th (Bank Hol Tues): ChRiStMaS with Tom and Sarah in New Malden
Dec 29th: Shopping in the sales in Tunbridge Wells with Mum
Dec 30th - Jan 1st: Peaceful relaxing days with (as far as I know) no work! I have my b'day of for the first time in many years. Normal celebrations usually include cinema and eating out.
Jan 2nd: Argos all day (hrs tbc)
Jan 3rd (Bank Hol Mon): Argos 9am-5pm

That's enough to be going on with for sure!

I wish each and every one of you a peaceful, joyful Christmas and all the very best of everything for 2011.

Don't you just hate sad songs?

So yeah, I was (and still am meant to be) tidying up the living room in preparation for Christmas and decided that I would put a CD on to cheer me on my way...
Sound good so far?
Wrong.
I chose David Gray, and that got me thinking...

So of course I couldn't rest until I'd found and listened to James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover", then I moved on to Bon Jovi's "Always".
Neither of these are songs I would neccessarily listen to on an average day, that's because they have deep and intensely personal meanings to me and certain other people and no-one wants to be reminded of that on a daily basis!

So with 5 days to Christmas Day, I'm listening to sad songs. Might listen to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol now, just to complete the full set...

For those of you thinking "why", well its cos I couldn't find the Christmas compilation that I had to put a different CD on, and that just happened to be David Gray, which just happened to remind me of James Blunt and it went on from there.
Oh well.

Which happy song should I listen to to counteract all of this?? Darn. I'm too depressed now to think of happy songs...
I'll get back to you on that one.

LATER

I've found the song!! Its called "Affirmation" by Savage Garden. Its the kind of song that you can boogie around the room whilst singing along and dusting down the ornaments in preparation for decorating!

We've got the Christmas chocolates out in their special festive bowl (a mixture of Roses, Celebrations and Terry's Chocolate Orange Segsations) and now we're just about ready to start on the tree!!

A Very Busy Christmassy Week

16 DAYS TIL CHIRSTMAS

23 DAY TIL MY 23rd

Whoop whoop!!

All in all it has been a very busy week, what with one thing and another - and another and another! Let me start at the beginning...

Monday was a lazy day where we did nothing, so I'll just ignore that.

Tuesday I had the dreaded dentist in the morning!! Once a year is way, way enough to be going. Unfortunately I have to go back next week and have a liitle hole filled in. So I didn't get away that lightly :-(
In the afternoon I was invigilating and it was very, very cold in the hall for the hour and a half RE exam that I had to endure.

Wednesday I had Argos work and I ws running around like a mentalist trying to get out of the door in time to get my bus. I was meant to have half an hour for shopping, but the bus got delayed by a break down truck that blocked the road for ages. Tsk tsk.
Although my shift finished at 5.30, I stayed on at work to get a lift to the Argos Christmas Party which was at the White Hart - 3 course meal for £5!! There were 28 of us, including 3 who've moved onwards and upwards to new things since their Argos days.

Thursday (today) Mum had a hospital appointment at 10.25 - thus we didn't get out of the hospital until gone midday!
We popped home, had a quick whizz around doing the bits and pieces we needed to and then headed off to town. It was the RBL Women's Section Christmas Party and we had lots of Christmas cards and party food to take. There was lots of food, crackers, merriment and giving of cards. So all in all that was a pleasent afternoon!
We had some errands to run in town, so that came next and we were late getting home so KFC came to the rescue for dinner!

Friday is to be Christmas decorating day.
I'm invigilating between 8.30 and 3.30, so when I get home, Mum should have cleared up the living room and Dad should've gor the decs down from the loft. Then we can have much fun putting them up!!
Roll on the weekend...

Saturday and Sunday are both Argos days pretty much so the weekend will pass in the blink of an eye and the blur of the till queue.

Then that brings us around to next week and, by then, only 11 days til Christmas and 18 til my b'day!

Apart from work, the highlight of that week is the Age UK Christmas Party on Wednesday at St Clements Restaurant in Mercatoria and, even better, we get a 2 course Christmassy meal for free!

Got plenty more work lined up over that week too, so no rest for me. No more exams until after the New Year though, so invigilation will be on hold until then.
Argos will be stepping up their efforts though and in Christmas week I've got such desirable shifts as 12pm-8pm on Wed 22nd. Don't you wish you worked at Argos???

So happy times for all! Well I'm happy anyway, got all the Christmas shopping done, just waiting for one more item to arrive in the post and then I'll be happy.

Hope your countdown to Christmas is a happy one too!

The Advent of the White Stuff!

Morning all! I won't risk saying "Good morning" incase you're stuck on a train still trying to get home from work yesterday, or you've fallen over in the ice!!

So, yeah, we have snow. That's the major news. Current measurements are 13" or 33cm in my back garden and its still sporadically falling. Yesterday and today have been snow days at Helenswood where I was meant to be invigilating. I went in to Argos for a 3hr shift yesterday and also got in to school for the Maths exam on Tuesday. Today we're venturing only as far as Sainsbury's (directly across the road from us) and the back garden to take amusing videos of the dogs like this one:



The snow began over the weekend and hasn't really let up since. So now we're on snow day no 2, most of the country is on snow days actually, so there's been plenty of kids roaming the streets with sledges and throwing snow balls etc. Speaking of sledges, we had to put a sign up at work to say that we didn't have any sledges available for sale cos the 18 we had in stock were reserved for other customers - that's if they could get out and down to Argos to collect them!!

Very excitingly I now know what I'm buying everyone for Christmas! Parents are all done and dusted - apart from one thing for my Mum which is in the post (and therefore may take a lil while to come!). Sarah and Tom's presents are also available but getting hold of them is weather-dependant!

So we have 23 days til Christmas now. I had every intention of getting myself an advent calendar but it never happened :-( Nevertheless, Mum and I have already opened the Christmas chocolates, snack mix and, last night, the parents got started on the Christmas booze! Very festive.

As I hinted at in the title, we're also now in Advent! Advent Sunday was last Sunday and now we're looking forward to Christmas Day, marking the day when the Light of the World came into it as a baby. Remember the words of John 1: 1-12 that reminds us that "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it" (v5) and "Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (v12).

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Well we've been out in to the wintery wilderness - I wore my wellies and the snow wasn't far off of the tops! People were parking everywhere; you couldn't tell kerb from road or distinguish any parking spaces. Sainsbury's is completely out of bread and milk:


The dogs certainly seem to enjoy the snow and I have too, but I have to admit with a great deal of reluctance, that, after a while, the novelty value wears off and you realise that its going to have cost you pretty much a week's wages! Also the temperature is due to drop to -6C tonight, so I should freeze my bum off tonight in bed!

That's about all to report at the mo. I'll be back to report as significant events unfold (should there actually be any - since the whole country is at a standstill!)
Dress sensibly and wrap up warm - have fun while the white stuff lasts!

Tis the season...

Well lots of people would say its not yet the season for anything, but I am feeling decidedly as if Christmas will be here any day! This is, of course, no thanks to eBay who have a countdown to Christmas Day on their homepage.
Argos also have all of our Christmas decorations up and literal hordes of people buying literal hordes of presents for kids every single day.

Plus there's been the added pressure of the annual Christmas meet-up with Tom and Sarah which means that I have to really think about what to buy them! The current situation is one down and one to go - but I'm not saying which one, cos that would be telling!!

I've also heard tell that the Coca Cola advert is on TV - I haven't seen it yet - when I see it, it'll definately be Christmas, that's for sure. I sure do love seeing that ad, it never fails to get me in the Christmas spirit!

As for the 'rents, that shopping is also well under way, which is indeed very good - cos in previous years I haven't had the faintest idea what to buy them, but this year I do, so that's great too.

I'm also looking forward to 2011 - it should be a very good year and I'm anticipating lots of great and nice and memorable things happening. I hope 2011 will be the year that I move onwards and upwards with my life and career - with any hope I won't be the only one either!! I've had the whole of 2010 to - not vegetate - but to be at home, work at Argos, go back and forth to see friends and to be free to see and do and experience things and just be chilled out.
Now I need to go and be proactive and get a nice (hopefully well-paid) job, to be able to fund all of th crazy adventures that I want to get up to in my crazy life! I really like the idea of being financially independant one day and having a good and stable job is the key to that.
Now, being a History graduate, doesn't exactly lead to a career (in most people's minds) except teaching, so I've kind of been a bit at sea and not really - if I'm perfectly honest - applied for any jobs this year. This week, I'm appying for two. I'm also considering a mission trip for next summer.

However, that's all for next year. Right now we are 38 days away from Christmas, celebrating Jesus' birth in the most un-Christlike manner possible. So I need to nail my shopping - selected gifts and also a great many cards to get - and make a move on gettin ghte house tidy so we can have some semblence of decorations up...

Also it'll be my birthday and I'll be 23. I think its quite grown-up to be 23, what do you reckon?
Enough of my ranting and postulating on the subject of Christmas, the nights are drawing in and the days are getting much colder. Today we had to have the back door open all day because we have workmen here to do the guttering and they needed to plug their tools in - it will be great when their done, cos the guttering won't leak outside my bedroom window all night when it rains - but right now it must be colder inside than out!!

See's you soon peeps!

Remembrance

As October goes on and November approaches, all talk and a lot of time in our house goes on the Poppy Appeal.

It's very important to us not to forget the sacrifices made by members of our Armed Forces in times of war and dangerous duties overseas and also to preserve the memories of conflicts past now that those who fought in them are few (and dwindling) in number.

Mum and I were out selling poppies right from the 20something of October and our duties didn't end til Sunday just gone. For me - designing and editing the programme for the Festival of Remembrance at the White Rock Theatre - work had begun much further back in the summer and I saw the programmes (600 of them plus inserts) right through to completion. I was onhand at the Festival (14t Nov) to sell the programmes and poppies and to help Mum and others going up on stage with their bits and pieces.

We always make sure we watch the Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall, the morning's events at the Cenotaph and Songs of Praise for Remembrance Sunday on the TV too. All in all, its a busy weekend, having been at work both days but its well worth it. I also get to see some of the serving members of the Armed Forces who are local to this area as they take part in the Festival. I always find it a powerful - and important - thing to remember that they are my age, some of them younger and yet they do a tremendous and courageous job, one that I could never do.

It also reminds me of the links Hastings and East Sussex have to the Armed Forces. Not only are young men & women of our town represented in all 3 Armed Services, but we have links to 47 Reg Royal Artillary (who have freedom of the town) and the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (one of the most senior in the Army) has East Sussex as one of its recruitment counties. It's important for me to remember these guys and girls because of the great work they do and their close connection with my home town/county.

So, as of before the Festival, Hastings and St Leonards had raised over £30,000 for the Poppy Appeal with lots more collecting tins still to be counted etc. So I say "good show" to the people of our town!! I can't wait to hear what the actual grand total is...!

So the Poppy Appeal is over for another year now, but the work of the Legion goes on: 24/7, 365 as does that of HM Forces wherever they are in the world. I look forward to getting my Poppy Press throughout the year and seeing other ways that I can support our troops.

Lest We Forget

Also in November, the wondorous occurance of me getting to go to Southampton occured!! I stayed with the wonder that is Miss Ruth Gill, in her palacial student abode. I got to see the Uni again and the city - we also went to Portsmouth and Winchester (where hilarity ensued over parking) to o some shopping and just spend some quality time together, while Ruth had a week off. Now she's having to get stuck in to the joys of 4th year and the dreaded dissertation :-(
It was a visit that was long overdue and very thoroughly enjoyed indeedy!

Work at Argos (of course) continues to proceed in Christmasy type fashion; we're getting busier, customers are getting stressier - all in the name of celebrating (supposedly) the birth of our Lord. So that brings me up to date with the life and times of yours truly.
I want to dedicate this blog entry to Ben and to Ian, and also to Brian - stay safe guys.

Blogadoon of the 9th month

Hello everyone.

Now, I know it has been a significant amount of time since my last blog, but I didn't want to blog just for bloggings sake. So I'm going to put a summary of all that happened in September here and that'll make it even more awesome than ever!!

HOLIDAY obviously!! Sarah, Tom and I spent a completely wonderful week in Croatia, taking in the delights of the ancient city of Dubrovnik and visiting some other places too - the most notable of these was Mostar in Bosnia. I find it so amazing that I can now say I've been to Croatia and Bosnia (though I've never been to Germany or Spain!!)

Every day of our Croatian adventure was packed full of new experiences and all sorts of fun. We walked the Walls of the Old City (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), visited the Cathedral, went to see the War Photography Exhibition (very poiniant considering the recent nature of the conflict in that part of the world), took a trip to the island of Lokrum: with its botanical gardens, crumbling citadel and gorgeous views. One day Sarah and I took a minibus tour to the city of Mostar in Bosnia. Not only was Mostar great to see and spend time in, but the experience of driving through Croatia and up in to Bosnia was wonderful.
The city of Dubrovnik is beautiful; steeped in history, with beautiful sea shore and coast, majestic buildings and fountains dating back to the 17th C and a wonderful blend of old and new as the bustling city spreads out from the walls and presents constant reminders of the all-too-recent war. We took a cable car (the cable car had only been reopened a month beforehand, having been destroyed in the war) up to the mountain that was a fortress in the war and has a museum up there.

When we got back, there was only a couple of days before Mum and I travelled to London for the Under London Blitz Experience organised by the London Transport Museum. Alydwich Tube Station (closed since 1995) was reopened for one weekend only and we went down to platform level for an hour or so.
There, they'd bought a 30s tube train for us to go on, decorated with all of the War posters they could muster, and many actors (dressed as a Spiv, a WVS woman, an ARP warden and a sheltering housewife) to give us a real taste of the war years. We took lots of pictures and they simulated an air raid overhead. Also there was a chance to buy lots of war related stuff and they made the whole thing even more authentic by parking an old style London bus (complete with old posters etc) outside the tube to add to the experience.

The following day was my great aunt and uncle's diamond wedding anniversary party. I feel that being married for 60 years is a blog worthy feat for sure! We had a pleasent afternoon where we nearly burnt a hole in my cousin's dining room table and got to hear all about the family travels to NYC and DC and had a great family photo taken (which I must see if I can get a copy of!).

All in all September was a great month for me. I hadn't been on holiday sinc we went to Morocco in 2007 and the memory of that holiday will forever be marred by the fact that my Mum didn't really enjoy it, even though I did!! So I can't really reminisce over that one in public, but with Croatia I can. I'll also always be able to look back through my passport and see the Croatian and Bosnian stamps there!

Now on to October and (brrrrr) November, for more awesomeness related to my life.

Hooray, hooray, its a holi holi day!

HEY! Well I'm up early to finish all my stuff for the big off. Holiday kind of begins today, as I travel to Sarah's, but kind of begins tomorrow when we fly out of Gatwick. Awesome.

So the last few days have been fun and hectic too. Here's a mini run-down:

FRIDAY:
Sarah's Bday. Train to New Malden. Hang out with Sarah and dogs, go to lunch at Prezzo with Sarah, Tom and Georgie. Back to Sarah's for cake and round one of presents. See Tom off to see Muse at Wembley, back to Sarah's for parental presents (including shoe boxes and bic biro), bit of holiday chat, home at 8pm!

SATURDAY:
Day of packing and holiday-related chaos. Day was split between doing all of the random stuff Mum wanted me to do before I clear off for a week and packing. The latter involving me turning my room upside down and emptying half of it into a small suitcase. Making lists, sorting handbags, putting toiletaries into tiny bottles etc

SUNDAY:
Work! Not much to say here. I sell people stuff and occasionally they have a go at me cos I won't give them a refund. Lots of people bought suitcases(!) and I have to bring back a magnet for the fridge in the Staff Room.

MONDAY (today):
Everything supposedly comes together. Ummmm.... Right. The plan is that everything is used, then packed, then I do all the other stuff I need to, then I get the train to Sarah's. Step 1: Get a shower and put some clothes on! Step 2: Get my Mum up! Step 3: Try and cram the rest of it in as quick as poss so I don't miss the train. :-)

TUESDAY (beginning Monday night):
Sarah's house. I arrive mid-afternoon Monday, Tom at tea time. We go to bed really early, to get up at 2am or thereabouts. Leave Sarah's, driven - exceedingly kindly - by her Dad both ways, for Gatwick at around 3.15am. Arrive around 4am. Our flight leaves at 5.55am and we get to Dubrovnik at 9.40am (GMT+1). Whoop!

We've yet to actually decide what we're going to do each day, but we reckon due to the early start, Tuesday would be a good beach day/chill out day/maybe suss out the local area. We're staying in Hotel Petka which is in the Port of Gruz (where all the cruise ships come in) so we may see some pretty cool ships (and lots of tourists?)

Basically its gonna be epic, so as its 9.30am now (we'll be coming in to land this time tomorrow!!!), I'd better get on! See you when I get back! That's Tues 21st btw and I'm over-nighting at Sarah's that night, so I come back to Hastings on the 22nd.
Then we go back up to London on the 24th for the Blitz Experience at Aldwych Tube Station (disused).

That's it for now. Bon voyage!

Holiday plans, outings and activities!

Well good morning everyone! I hope that where you are is reasonably dry, cos here on the not-so-sunny South coast, its well raining! Today I did have plans to continue with my DIY activities but had a lie in, read my Bible and am going curtain shopping later instead!

DIY? I hear you ask! Yep. Currently, my room is stripped of all wallpaper (including the fiddly lil bits round the edges) and half the skirting has been sanded down. Last night I put this special glue stuff on the big holes in the wall that appeared when the wallpaper came off. Now all we need to do is sand the other half of the skirting - as well as the door frame and the inside of the door - fill in the holes properly, and we'll be ready to paint!
The paint is called Jasmine White (variation on cream). The redecoration project has cost me lots of money and benefitted Home Retail Group considerably with all of the visits to Argos and Homebase! It'll definately be worth it though! When the painting is all done, it'll just be the flat packs to put together: bed, wardrobe, bedside cabinet, desk, radiator cabinet and 3 bookcases. Plus there's floating shelves to put up and then everything to organise. But its going well and everything is in place.
The latest visit to Homebase means I have a new curtain pole, some special crack-filling paint for the ceiling, undercoat and gloss for the skirting/door/frame, masking tape so we don't paint on't carpet and some random bits of wood that cost me £2 that I may make in to extra shelves! Next time we need to buy the radiator cabinet - I'm really excited about that. :-)

In other news, Tom, Sarah and I are attempting to arrange a meet up for before we actually get on a plane together for a weeks holiday. Its not going well. Let's hope we make some progress there over the next few days. On the holiday front, I ordered and then collected, my 2000 kuna from the Post Office last week. It cost me £246.91. I do still need to actually buy my travel insurance, but I'll be doing it as ever with Insure and Go, so all I need to do is click a few buttons and it'll be done. Cool. Then before I know it, it'll be time to print our boarding passes off, find and put in a safe place the PMTs (passport, money, tickets) and then pack and travel to Sarah's.

Between then and now I have the "Tunes of Glory" Military Tatoo at the Ardingly Showground on September 4th. It features Hayley Westenra and Blake, as well as a fly over by a Battle of Britain spitfire, five major bands: HM Royal Marines, Gurkha Pipes, RBL Youth Band etc. So it starts at 1pm and takes about 2hrs each way, so we should get home around midnight! Gonna be an awesome day!!

So I will also get around to doing my Keswick blog sometime soon... Oh dear!
Anyway, enjoy the last days of August lovely people, and roll on September!

K*E*S*W*I*C*K* 2010

Blog to follow soon, when I have a spare few moments to get my thoughts and memories in order!

Kez Wick Prep

I know its spelt Keswick but you know...

So tomorrow I get on a train and head back up North, in the direction of Stoke on Trent to overnight with Ruth before we head off to the wonder that is Keswick Wk1, and have lots of great fun and Jesus time etc!

Today was Keswick prep day and so I finally managed to fit all the stuff I need, and some stuff I maybe won't need, into the bags I'm taking. I'm going to look worse than ever with 2 suitcases and a backpack and my handbag all struggling up the Victoria Line from Victoria to Euston.

Ummmm that's really it, I've made the crosses I needed, got the colouring books, packed waterproof & wellies, sunglasses & shorts - all avenues covered! Rain is forecast for at least Sat-Wed (major grrrrr). Rain I can deal with though, its the wind and cold we've been having with it that I'm not too fond of funnily enough!

Right, must top up my Oyster and check for planned engineering works! See you sometime after the 21st!

Sun is Shining, Weather is HOT!

Hello people,

So its very hot here at the moment and I'm taking refuge inside. Also we're worried I may have actually broken my toe, cos a 6pack of cans fell out of the cupboard on to it today. Today is meant to be (or was it yesterday?) the hottest day of the year and we were doing a boot sale. There was no shade. I made a measly little £14, it all adds up in the end. Due to busy schedulage, we can't do another one til 31st July, so maybe I'll get a bit more £££ then?

Well recently I was in London a lot, the most significant of which was for Keswick Planning Day. Keswick is now a mere 6 days away (well I travel up to Ruth's on 16th!) so I need to get my skates on which planning what to take. Its always a fine balencing act for Keswick, cos it may well rain on one day, may well be sweltering the next and you may well sit in a wet patch in the tent neccessitating a change of shorts the third day, and so on... Pretty much if you take wellies, waterproof, vest tops and sandals you'll be fine!
I also need to take a wee trip to Mr Tesco's little emporium to get colouring books and make 7 cardboard crosses. Cool beans. Ruth and I will make cake to take with us to Keswick also, so that'll be yumtastic.

Last week also saw the last of the invigilation that I've done at Helenswood this summer. I had 31 Yr6 girls for a morning of CATs tests while there were at Helenswood for their taster days. I loved them, they were so cool (apart from the crying ones eeek!) and I had really good dealings with the teaching staff. One of them asked me if I *was* a teacher cos she reckoned I had a really nice manner and good way of explaining things! Cool!!! I was sad to leave them > I am sad.

What else? Oh yar... My room is almost all packed up in preparation for the redecoration spree to occur! There are a lot of boxes. Most of which are now living under my bed or causing a tripping hazard on the landing! I couldn't believe that I could a rather large box up with stuff, look around the room and not see any difference :-( Oh well, I'll press on.

Whilst all of this has been occuring, we have, of couse been watching the World Cup! Spain beat Germany, Holland beat Uruguay and now they'll play each other in the final tomorrow night. Should be exciting times.

Ummmm that's it I think, I may blog before Keswick, otherwise it'll be a post-Keswick blog when I next touch base! Have fun and stay safe in the sun! Adios.

Three Good Things In A Row

Hmmm, so I'm blogging again so soon, what could have happened that is so good and so blog-worthy?

- Footie
Well for a start, England are through to the last 16 in the World Cup!!! Hooray for Defoe our saviour! France and Italy are out and can you believe both finished last in their groups. Ooopsie.

-Guide Bookage!
My cool Dubrovnik Guide Book arrived today from Waterstone's! So, it being a nice day, I sat out in the garden and read it. The one excellent thing about it is that it is laid out in terms of itineraries, so you know how long it'll take and exactly where you need to go to get to somewhere and al of the POI along the way: good views/swimming holes/recommended places to eat/shops/bus stops etc. It also included a really good sized map that is separate and has all of the itineraries plotted out on it. Should be very useful!

-Holiday (and other) Shopping...
"That's a bit premature!" I hear you say! Well, yes it is, but when you have very limited funds to begin with, you have to buy things when they are cheapest and when you can get the best deal on them. So when I go to work over the weekend, I'll be buying my new camera, a new case (cos I've never really had one to go on my belt)and 3 floating shelves for my room when we finally get around to sorting it all out. We work at a different speed to the rest of the world, here in Hastings, you see. It's equal to one eighth of a snail's pace (lol)!

So that's my news. Oh, also, if we're talking about my room, the floorplan has been finalised!!!! Oooh I'm happy! The only potential cloud on the horizon is that England face Germany in their next World Cup match. Hmmmm.

As ever, I'll report back when there's news. Bye bye.

June-atron!

Hello again, cyber friends!

This blog is for all of the other cool stuff that has happened or will happen in June, apart from Chris and Izzie's Wedding, which has a separate blog entry! Ok, so what has happened??

- Work!
So, beginning on June 7th, so the day after I got back from Soton, I began invigilating again. Not at Cantel, but at a school near to me in sunny Hastings called Helenswood. The first week was at the Lower School (Yrs 7-9) for their end of year tests - it was also a good way to integrate new and old team members etc. Now the GCSEs and A Levels have been in full swing and are actually beginning to wind down a little, but I've done some big and little exams, invigilated solo(!) (with 3 extra timers) and dealt with a girl who had to come out all together due to being sick!

In other work, I've been Argosing it. That's much the same as ever really. We have a sweep stake for the World Cup going on, and guess which team I picked out?? Ivory Coast! But anything can happen, as you'll see from my next point.....

- World Cup!
As anyone who hasn't been living in a cupboard for the past 10 days or so will know, England managed 2 draws (USA 1-1 and Algeria 0-0) so far. Now nothing but a win will do over Slovenia this afternoon (eeek!) but I will be in an exam, so don't tell me what happens! In other news, France is out (I think) and so is South Africa - the first host nation not to advance from the group stages. So we'll see, today is the decider for England. . . .

- Home Improvements
Well these have - albeit slower than the average snail - finally begun. On the flat-pack front, I now also have my wardrobe, just the bed and floating shelves to go! We're having to sort out the garage, shed, loft, spare room etc. This could be a long job.

- Holiday Plans :-)
So YEAH! Sarah, Tom and I have booked our (certain to be) epic trip to Dubrovnik for 14th-21st September. We're staying at Hotel Petka which is a stone's throw from the cruise ship port! We're looking forward to seeing and experiencing all that Croatia has to offer and spending some good times together too! Our flight leaves Gatwick at 5.55am, so we'll be up way before dawn for that, and we fly back to Stanstead - both with EasyJet.
The 'rents and I did a bootsale the other weekend and I made a good amount of money for the holiday fund. The £10 note I found on the floor in Sainsbury's also went in there! As I type, my Dubrovnik Guide Book (2010 ed) is on its way from Waterstone's. It only cost me £3.04 with Free Delivery and using my Waterstone's points, so bargain! Despite having resolved to save up for this trip, as I begin to think about it, a few things I want to buy have cropped up(!), so much for saving!!
There's this "WDW Memories" book I want for reading material, a silicone case and wall charger for my iPod, a new camera and a new roller holdall! Not much at all!

- Upcoming Events
Next weekend I go to London for the Keswick planning day, and by that time it'll only be a couple of weeks until actual Keswick! In the meantime, there's Argosing and invigilating to be done, all of which will help the Holiday and Home Improvement Funds!

- iTunes
So, Argos had this special offer that I couldn't resist. Buy 2 £15 iTunes vouchers for £20! With discount etc I got £30 worth of iTunes vouchers for £16! Now I have to decide what to spend it on... New tunes for all the travelling I'll be doing in the near future!

Right, so that's about it I think. I'll blog again as items of note occur, unlike Tom who never blogs at all!
Loveage!

The Making of Chris and Izzie White

Hello.

So I promised to blog and then I kept putting it off, but that just leads to bad habits! I also couldn't be sure I'd remember everything, so I'm doing this separate to my "June-atron" blog. Here we go...

Ok, so the main event of this blog is that Izzie and Chris got married! But this also coincided with my first visit to Soton in nearly a year and my first visit to the mighty Playzone! On with the tale!

Train via Waterloo to Soton, met Tom at Waterloo. Ruth picked us up in her car(!) from the new, improved, shiny Southampton Airport Parkway and we headed straight off to Netley Beach via a Fish n Chip shop! We ate our dinner of various fish and chips on the grass over-looking the water, which was lovely, and then took a stroll along the little pebbley beach. There was a man water-skiing which was fun to watch, especially as he was towing someone on a rubber ring! We sat on the beach for a while and threw some stones - I once again proved that I am a weedy girl cos I can't reach the water with most stones I throw!

After the beach we hopped back in to the car and headed down the motorway to Portsmouth and to Playzone! We don't have any photos of there, cos there's nowhere safe to put a camera etc. But this is what happened...
Its basically like a big childrens play centre, with all of the typical features that I have no idea of the name of... Well massive slides for a start, split levels, rope bridges, rollers, the list goes on. We were there from 8pm til 11pm when they shut!
Basically, don't ever wear anything more than a vest top and shorts (and the obligatory socks!) there cos you get well hot with all of the running up and down and around the place! We also got through about 2 bottles of drink each!

The middle of Playzone is dominated by 2 massive slides; blue and red. The blue has a crest in the middle, but the red is just sheer drop and has two heights!! It took me at least 5mins to get up the courage to do the blue one, but afterwards I was hooked! As for the red one, it was my idea to actually try it, and I lead the way, but then I chickened out and had to go down with a someone I'd never met before holding my hand. Good times! I spent a lot of time on the blue slide, it was my fav, and at the end of it you crash in to massive foam blocks to stop you.
Tom and I also got in to trouble for climbing up the other slide. This one is very bumpy and you go down it on a sack, so its not that steep! We climbed up and then got told off, but our "punishment" was to put our socks back on and slide back down.

Basically we had lots of fun running around, taking turns in leading, climbing up and down, resting, drinking, observing our fellow patrons: one of which ripped his trousers open in a rather revealing place and others of which (girls) were falling out of their tops! All in all a very enjoyable evening and a great way to spend my first evening back in Soton with Gill and Gray.

On to the day of the wedding... Before that, a word about our sleeping arrangements: Tom was sleeping in Ruth's room @ No31 and Ruth and I were sleeping at No11 where Ruth's friends live (one of which, Helen, was away for the weekend and very kindly allowed us the use of her room!).
Ruth and I were up around 7am and headed straight up to No31. I showered and then got some food for our brekkie at One Stop. Meanwhile Ruth cooked some bacon and had her own shower. When we'd done that, we woke Tom and had bacon sarnies for brekkie. Tom then showered while I got dressed in my dress and did hair/make-up/handbag etc. Ruth very kindly drove us to the church and the service began at 12.30pm, before kick off we had a good chance to see and catch up with people which was very niceeee!

Service was lovely of course. The Church looked lovely too, I loved the flowers throughout. I also totally loved the purple/pink/silver theme that was everywhere inc invites, decorations, bridesmaids' dresses etc. Chris was wearing a purple tartan kilt and that looked very effective indeed against the rest of the coloured backdrop! Paul Alcock did the whole srvice and Andrew Page did the Address. It was really sweet to see bride and groom very emotional as they took their vows!
After the service, it was up to the top hall at ABC for a lovely cream tea, and a good old chat/chinwag etc with everybody you haven't seen for ages! Everything tasted amazing and it was a really nice part of the day!
Then it was over to the park accross the road for the wedding photos, before we headed to the Wedding Breakfast at Otterbourne Village Hall. Tom and I were lucky to get a lift from Hannah, so after the photos, we headed back to West Quay to the cars. Once we had made sure that Lydia had her boot down(!) we headed off.

The Wedding Breakfast and Reception were both at Otterbourne Village Hall, and we got there around 4pm, got glasses of bucks fizz and adjourned to the gardens for even more chatting etc and hearing all about the jobs that people have got now/their married lives together/other important news: Emma being pregnant and Rachel being poorly and not able to make it :-( More bucks fizz flowed - as did the conversation - as we waited to be called in to sit down to eat. This happened at 5pm and I have to say that the tables were decorated amazingly!! Lovely little trees with flowers in, set on a mirror plate, were in the middle. Around the outside of this were scattered hundreds of little gems in purple, pink and clear. The favours were tiny gift boxes of purple or silver, filled with heart-shaped jelly beans. Place cards, chair ribbons and the like, all fitted the theme!

We had a lovely wine selection on the table, as well as OJ and water, and the food was wonderful. Chicken in bacon, with a cheese sauce was the main course - followed by a choice for dessert of cheesecake or profiteroles! Awesome. Then there was tea/coffee and mints and then there were the speaches! Izzie's Dad went first, followed by the Best Man and then the Groom. Speaches are great, cos you really get to hear people speak from the heart on what is a very emotional day!
Lastly, the cake was cut! Again this was so cool - a work of art by a couple from ABC, as so much of the other work had been too. By this time, the rest of the people had arrived for the evening reception, so we headed back outside while the room was transformed in to the disco! Outside, we took it in turns to write in the Guest Book, which is an absolutely brilliant idea, and must have been wonderful for Izzie and Chris to read together! My own message of course, referenced Mandy's 21st, where I was rather a spare wheel, as sparks began to fly between the two of them!

Disco time followed, with all of the old favourites, and some more modern ones that fitted very well. The first dance was just great to see and then everyone got in on the act as more people arrived and the dancing got underway. Us Uni singles (mostly girls!) formed a big circle to dance in, which took up half the floor! We danced a lot, had a drink or two, had a laugh together and just enjoyed the company. Lastly, it came time for the happy couple to leave and we created a tunnel for them, armed with confetti and party poppers! They got in to a car full of balloons and headed off to honeymoon in Pembrookeshire. Phew what a tiring day, and that's just as a guest!

Ruth, being the star that she is, came to pick us up just after 11pm and we got back to Sirdar eventually (roadworks meant we took a major scenic route!) and fell in to bed. Before that though, I made myself sort out my clothes/bag/stuff so I wouldn't have to do it in the morning - as we were working on a tight schedule! So that brings me to the 3rd day of my whirlwind visit to Soton! Sunday. Right. Another early start for Ruth and I whilst Tom had a lie in. We headed off to the ABC 9.15 service with the girls from No11, this was great to be back in, seeing lots of people, hearing AP preaching etc.

Then it was back to No31 to get Tom up and I headed over to Mayfield to see Ellie! I was going to meet up with Harriet, but she was ill, so that was sad, but I suppose my schedule, to get to the airport etc was quite tight! So I had a lovely drink and a chat with Ellie and we chewed the general cud over job opportunities/the PGCE/future plans and all of our news. We had gorgeous sunshine - as we had had for the entire weekend thankfully - so we sat outside. Eliie then took me to the station, which was very nice of her, and I headed off home. Muchos :-(

There ended the weekend! It was very full, very fun and long overdue to be back in Soton and so I really enjoyed it and I wish Izzie and Chris all the best for their new life together.

Here I am to blog!

Hello sun worshippers, how are you this fine Toooosday? I'm sitting on my back step (so I can hardly see the screen) soaking up the harmful UV rays from the atmosphere and blogging for your general information/amusement.

So I'm quite happy at the mo, I've got a nice tan, Sarah, Tom and I planning to potentially go away on holiday in early September, I'm going to be invigilating at Helenswood this summer (earning the money required for such things as holidays) and I'm working Sundays at Argos, much to the delight of the Sunday-shopping British public. It seems that a few people are moving onwards and upwards from Argos at the mo...Cat is taking leave to try out a new job, so she may be leaving us and Rachael (so I hear on the Argos grapevine) also may have a new job... Sounds cool to me.

Mum and I started this new training course yesterday, so we'll be working towards an ITQ, which maybe is something similar to an NVQ in ICT, who knows? May as well if the JobCentre are paying for it!!

In other news, I head off to Soton next weekend for Izzie and Chris' wedding at ABC, I did their pressie a while ago, but must remember the card etc. I also have no handbag or shoes to wear with the dress :-( which needs to be sorted out before I go! I am much looking forward to that indeed.

Last night we had our first BBQ of the year which was nice and continuing in that sort of summer theme, later this week Mum and I are going to drinks hosted by the Chairman of the local Conservative Association at his house, to celebrate the election of Amber Rudd, Hastings' first Conservative MP for 13 years!!! We also went to the annual Mayor making last week, which was a good event to go to but sadly was blighted by the fact that the new Mayor, her deputy and the leaders of the council are now all Labour :-(

I don't think there's a lot else to report of great interest at this current time, but there'll; be things to update you on after they've happened.
Right I'm off to research things and places for our little holiday. Whoop whoop, fun in the sun!

Until next time, take care in the sun!
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UPDATE 26th May 9.40am

There is no more sun... :-(

Goodbye Gordon, helllllooooo coalition

So Gordon Brown resigned, first as leader of the Labour Party and then as PM. This was last night. Then the Queen invited David Cameron to form a government and he said yes (funnily enough!). Today is emerges that Nick Clegg will be his Deputy.

I'm hopeful. I want to see what they have in store for us and if they can keep the best interests of the country first and foremost in their heads.

That's all I have to say really on that matter, I just wanted to record it for posterity.

In other news I have my interview for invigilation at Helenswood on Friday. I'm not sure what it'll be like really, I keep comparing it to Cantell, which is a bad idea cos they were quite casual there and I get the feeling that dear old Helenswood are not. We shall see...

Ruth got older, Tom got dunked, Sarah got nervous, Gordon Brown was rejected and I....

...was there to see it all!!! Whoop.

So, hello, blog readers. How are you doing? I'm quite cold as its raining outside and slightly disgruntled as the dogs are taking up the whole sofa and I'm having to make do with the armchair! I'm reporting on all of the recent happenings as I'm bored of listing random crap on eBay that I don't want and I doubt anyone else will either.

Firstly I'll report on my long weekend in London... (1st-3rd May)

Two very good reasons for going (not thay I actually need any!): Ruth's 21st b'day and Tom's baptism.

So I got to London at 11.30am on Saturday and met Ruthie at Waterloo and we tubed it to our hotel on Tavistock Square - called, oddly enough, the Tavistock Hotel. We dumped our bags since we couldn't check in til 2pm and headed back out in to London, straight to Oxford Street to have a look around the shops. We bought matching flip flops as you can see here... ... in M&S, where we also got some Kir Royale and Percy Pigs!
After a few hours we headed back tot the hotel, checked in, got our stuff and headed up to our room on the 7th floor. Great views of the Square and the BT tower from the window. Later, after consuming half the Percy Pigs and most of the Kir Royale whilst watching TV, we headed off to our free dinner at one of the Tavistock's sister hotels.
Service and food were both excellent here! We shared 2 starters; one of melon and one Prawn Cocktail. Then it was time for the carvery!! I had yummy lamb, with gravy, yorkie, roasties and veg. Man was that nice! For afters we had profiteroles. Did I mention it was free too!!

Day 2 saw us head back to Oxford St to get a few bits and pieces in the morning. However, because it was Sunday, most of the shops don't open til 12! We loitered in KFC drinking Fruit Shoots until we could get into Primark! Then it was back to the hotel - change clothes, collect presents/cards etc and set off for Waterloo. From Waterloo we headed to the little known town of Ashford where Tom lives and then to Ashford Baptist Church.
Once there we saw Sarah and her parents, plus all of Tom's family and Lois. Now, Sarah and I had been asked to read a verse (read passage) but didn't realise we actually to be Tom's sponsers! Sarah was nervous, but it all went well. We went up straight after his testimony to read Proverbs 3:1-12 from the Message which I love and suits Tom so well! Then of course there were the actual baptisms and lots of singing. Good times.
After the service we all went back to Tom's house for some well nice food and watched Tom opening his various presents/cards (all except mine cos he saved mine for his b'day). There were lots of books as well as the t-shirt Ruth got him. "Banana on my mind"
We left just before 9pm and got the train back to London, before heading back to the hotel. We sat in 1st class most of the way back as the guard said we could! I made sure to get it in the pic:

So that was the end of Day 2! On our last day, we began again with an awesome English brekkie at the hotel. Admittedly I only had bacon and sausages on both days with some Apple juice, but it was still well yum! As it was actually Ruth's birthday, she wore 2 b'day badges and the jewellery I'd bought for her! We were going to walk through Hyde Park (having seen Buckingham Palace) to Harrods but it was seriously raining so we got the tube straight to Knightsbridge. Our destination of course was Harrods and we spent a lovely couple of hours in there browsing everything and even saw the Diana and Dodi Memorial and Memorial Fountain. I bought Buster and Molly a cake each from the Canine Cookie Counter - got to love the novelty value there!
From Harrods we headed straight to Covent Garden! As we walked down from the Tube to the market there were plenty of street artists, including a Captain Jack Sparrow and a gorilla. We had a quick wander through the actual Covent Garden Market and then went in to a few actual shops including the Radley shop, Fat Face (where they were having VAT free!) and then ate waffles at an outdoor vendors to keep warm!
Finally though, the time came for us to have to head back to the Tavistock to collect our bags and then head off to Waterloo for the final time. Sad times. I wish I could go to London for a mini-holiday every weekend. Although if I heard one more announcement saying that the Jubilee Line was closed, I may have gone ga ga.

Ruth and I parted ways at Waterloo at about 3.30pm and I made it home for about 5pm. Ruth had work the next day so we couldn't be much later. That night there was rather a lot of sleeping to be done! It was a really lovely weekend, especially since I got to see Sarah, Tom and Ruth all in one weekend and in one place! Shouldn't be too long before I see Ruth and Tom again though, as Chris and Izzie's wedding at ABC is soon and Ruth said I could stay with her.

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Of course by the time I was back from London, it was the 4th May and only 2 days until the general election. Predictions said that we would see Labour lose a lot of support but not enough of it would go to the Conservatives for them to have a majority - we were expecting a hung parliament. Boy did we got one. The Conservatives got a very respectable 304 seats and in other shocking news, Brighton elected our first ever Green MP! The whole of the SouthEast: Sussex, Kent and Essex is now blue - Labour lost every single seat!!! Hooray.

Safe in the knowledge that my postal vote had been done a while ago, I stayed up til 2.15am watching the first election results come in and then the TV went straight back on at 9am, but by then it was already too late - the hung parliament had been declared, there weren't enough seats left undeclared for David Cameron to get a majority.

The latest news is that David Cameron has offered a coalition with the LibDems. I absolutely loved his speech where he announced it and really look forward to the possibility of him and Nick Clegg being in control together. Only problem? Technically speaking Gordo is still PM. He is expected to attempt to make a government in alliance with some other parties. Word on the street (and the TV) is that he wants an alliance with the Cleggites too, but they are sticking with what they said befor ethe election: the party with the largest number of seats/votes has the right tto seek to form a government first - and that is the Tories. Phew, politics is hard work!

They had a little break in their negotiations today as Brown, Cameron and Clegg joined Prince Charles and others to lay wreathes in honour of the 65th Anniversary of VE Day. This, IMHO, is a good thing. I'll be watching very closely to see what goes on next - who says what, offers what etc. Hopefully all will be revealled by the Queen's Speach (well it'd better be, cos that's when she opens Parliament!) and we won't have another election.
If we do however, I hope to High Heavens that they don't cack it up like they did on the 6th when thousands of people in London, Manchester, Sheffield and other big cities were turned away from Polling Stations at 10pm because there had been too many people trying to vote (up to 84% turnout in some areas!). On the other hand, some Polling Stations stayed open beyond 10pm which technically illegal soooooo who is right and who is wrong?

Anyway, this blog is long enough so I'll come in to land here. I'm off to work tomorrow, so ought to get on with things here. Until next time...don't keep your wand in your back pocket, its dangerous! :-p

Spring-tastic

Hello blog readers! Long time no speak eh?

Well, its about time I put that right isn't it? Where are we? 27th April already??

Ok so obviously I'm still working at Argos, hours are subject to change each week, but yeah that is still a constant.
Still going to the JobCentre regularly (all the cool kids go there)! Another constant, but not quite so fun as Argos...

Over Easter weekend Mum and I got DIY-tastic and went shopping in Eastbourne. We went to Homebase, where they had 20% off and I got a further 20% off on top of that staff discount! We got new tiles for the kitchen floor and all the guff you need to put them down and some paint for my bedroom walls, with a Dulux Paint Pod that basically paints the wall for you so long as you hold it and wave it in a vaguely up-and-down motion. Bonus!

At Argos I got myself some wall art, including the really cool "Keep Calm and Carry On" one that I've wanted for ages. I also got a new duvet cover set. Later, back at my home Argos, I also bought myself a new bookcase and bedside cabinet and I'll be adding to it (bed, smaller bookcase, desk etc) as finances permit.

Add to that the fact that we're having a good old clear out on eBay, giving us cash to fund the DIY and valuable house room, then we're all set to have a nice shiny, presentable house soon. Tis rather exciting, especially since summer is coming!

In recent events, I went to visit Ellie for what I call a weekend, but is actually Monday-Wednesday. The first night I was there we rented a film and cooked fajitas and had an afternoon chat-a-thon to catch up.
On the Tuesday, we visited Cambridge for the whole day. I got to see some of the awesome colleges and take some pictures of them. Then we went to watch the punting! Yep, we watched groups of tourists, especially the Japanese, attempting to master the art of punting and having varying degrees of success...
Later on, it was time for major shopping. I can't list all of the places we went to but it was epic and I got a lovely, summery top in H&M and a great pair of sandals in Gap - I wore them out to town the other day and they were way comfy!

It was so great to see Ellie, because we hadn't seen each other since Graduation Day! That's why I'm quite excited about upcoming events this weekend... So much happening in one weekend! So, its Ruth's birthday on Bank Holiday Monday (as well as my Dad's) and she asked me if I wanted to spend the weekend in London with her for the occasion - of course I do! Tom is also getting baptised that weekend, so Ruth and I can zoom across from London to be there too. It'll be cool to see the others that are coming up/down/along for the occasion, including - I hope - Sarah!!

Then after that we're in May and I can't believe we'll be in the 5th month of the year. Gosh. Then it'll be June and my Mum's bday and then Izzie and Chris' wedding at ABC in Soton. I bought selected items from their gift list this morning, which was exciting indeed! After a great deal of consultation with my Mum on what constitutes a good present, I decided on a worktop saver and two measuring jugs...

I've also applied to Helenswood (the local girls secondary school) to invigilate with them this summer. I don't know if I'll get it or not, but the JobCentre can't fault me for trying, can they? At least its something I know and can look forward to! What will be better/worse though...Cantell or an all girls school? Will I ever find out? I'll let you know!!

Ummmm what else? There are other things in the pipeline, but I need to leave something for my next blog!! Special mentions go to Stu who arrived in South Africa this week to do gap year stuff, doing children's work and sporty stuff and to all of the peeps doing PGCEs this year, who are currently in their last ever weeks of lectures and then will do their final placements before qualifying! Gooood luck.
Other than that I'm just generally excited that summer is on the way (I actually wore sandals for the first time this week!) and I hope you are too!

Thoughts on being Proactive

Well Good Morning readers of my blog, I hope you had a pleasent Monday and a nice weekend to go with it!

This week, well starting on Wednesday that is, me and the maternal figure started what we understood to be a computer course with a company called Real Time Training here in foggy old Hastings.
The first 3 days were spent on "employability" - doing CVs, mock application and thinking about all of the goals and aspirations that we have for ourselves. I might add on some of the thing I came up with for things like Ideal House, Ideal Relationships, Ideal Career etc. That was quite fun seeing as how I've been cutting up the Argos catalogue for the last couple of weeks and making collages of how I would have the different rooms in my house done, from all of the items in the Argos catalogue.

Course wise:
Yesterday we completed the IT Applications, Risk Assessment and Health and Safety Courses; so should get a little certificate for each of those. Today we are doing Manual Handling, Fire Safety and tomorrow we should do the food Hygiene Certificate. The big point is that it has inspired me to get an NVQ in Customer Service!! What do you reckon? Do you think I can do it? Course I can (I hope!)!
So that is where the proactive part comes in to play!! Of course there is a possibility that it'll never happen, but it would never have happened in the fist place unless I had the inspiration!

**New Thought** Maybe I'll get an NVQ in Childcare or another qualification in childcare... Maybe I won't. But you know how it goes, if you don't take the first step, you'll never start the journey - you'll definately never get to your destination!!
The other thing this course has highlighted to me, is that I need to work on my people skills, so who knows... Watch this space for any other crazy ideas I may have.

My No1 thought?
NEVER LET THE FEAR OF STRIKING OUT KEEP YOU FROM PLAYING THE GAME

Gold and Gloom for GB!!

20th Feb 10

Yes, yes, yes! GB have won thier first individual gold medal at the Winter Olympic games since Robin Cousins in 1980!! Hooray! I stayed up until about 2am to see it live on TV and it wasn't disappointing!
Shelly Rudman came 6th for GB too and the men did really well to have two of them in the final and be 8th and 20th I think...

So, medals eh? Pretty awesome for us to have one! I'm also hopeful for the Kerrs in the Figure Skating and for the men and women's Curling teams to do us proud.

That's not to say that the likes of Chemmy Alcott, Ed Drake, Lesley McKenna, Zoe Gillings and the others who have competed for GB haven't. Chemmy Alcott did really well I thought, coming 11th(?) in the downhill.

I just think its so great that we have such a big team, representing a variety of sports competing in 2010 in these Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Watch this space for more Olympic style joy!!

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24th Feb 10

So this is not really Olympic joy, but that is part and parcel of being British - losing at stuff but still having maximum optimism. So...

The Kerrs came 8th in the Ice Dance and Penny Coombes/Nick Buckland came 19th (in their first Olympics!) so it was really good for us to have 2 couples in the finals and watching all of the different dances was grrrreat. My favourite dance has to be the original dance by the Kerrs, I thought it was really creative and fun - the crowd certainly loved it big time.
However, big time love from the crowd and the judges went to Tessa Virtue/Scott Moir (who are Canadian obviously) who won gold in the end. I have to admit they were pretty breath-taking!

Curling has to be the most disappointing at the mo though. The women's team went out doubly when Switzerland beat Germany and when we lost to Canada. So their Olympic hopes are out of the window and they are out of the competition.
The men lost to Norway last night so now we MUST beat Sweden in a tie-breaker game if we are to advance to the semi-finals.

So there is hope there, and there is also hope for us in the women's 2 man bobsleigh, which starts today, so I'll be keeping a special eye on that after the men's team crashed out in qualifying. Apparently, they've made efforts to make the course a little less dangerous - as they did when the Georgian luger died.

So some stuff to hope for and other exciting stuff just to watch: snowboarding and ski cross for example.

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25th Feb 10

Pretty much all gloom today as Nicola Minichielo and Gillian Cooke crashed out of the women's 2 man bobsliegh yesterday. It was a pretty spectacular crash and it's so lucky that they were both ok!

The men's curling team took their tie-breaker match with Sweden right to the 11th end and were tied 6-6. Then Sweden got 1 in the last end to take the match and the 4th and final place in the quarter final. Darn.

It's not all about winning though, its the taking part and its so great, literally, to see so many GB athletes in so many different events. GB2 for example (the second 2 man team in the women's bob) finished 11th and its only their first Olympics, so we have great hope for them to improve for 4 years time.

Hmmm, and still the Games go on! So watch this space for my final thoughts as they wind down to a close and as we see the final medals decided - the ice hockey for example!!!

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1st Mar 10

So, the Games are over and all that's left are the litterpickers (I made that up, but it sounds good!). Canada, have gone from being the only Olympic host nation in history to have never won a gold on home soil, to being the most successful Olympic host nation in history, having won 14 golds at these games. So well done to Canada.

On the subject of Canada, my heart was in my mouth as I watched - live - the Gold medal match in the men's hockey. Excitement! Canada lead going in tot he last period and then with roughly 20secs to go, the USA equalised - oh my word! So then they went to a 20min golden goal period and Canada scored. And won the gold. And celebrated.

Hopefully though, they didn't celebrate like the Canadian women's team (who also won Gold). They were show, celebrating on the ice that evening; smoking cigars, drinking champagne etc. That is no the way I (or the IOC for that matter) would expect world class athletes to behave, it could have even put their medal in jeopardy!! Silly.

All in all though, the Games have been good. Canada did us proud as hosts and Team Canada did themselves proud. Team GB did our sceptred isle proud too, roll on Russia in 4 years time! Also roll on London 2012, please do not let us cack it up and show ourselves up to the whole world. I just hope I can get some tickets!!!

So my Olympic post is over, hope you've enjoyed the Games as much as I did. Adios!

Hmmm, I really must blog some more

...and I will, just not now!

I also have philosophical longings in me, so I may have to blog and investigate the meaning of life.

In the meantime, you will find me glued to the Winter Olympics, go Team GB!
RIP of course to the Georgian luger who died.

*WE* *WILL*, *WE* *WILL* *ROCK* *YOU*

So, this has to be my favourite musical of all time...so what better way to celebrate turning the grand old age of 22 than by spending a weekend with my dear friends Sarah and Tom and seeing the best musical of all time: We Will Rock You, based of course, on the music of the awesome Queen.

I took the train to London, it was seriously touch-and-go though. I missed work because of the weather the previous 2 days but did finally manage to get to the train station. Lots of trains were cancelled, but eventually I reached Clapham Junction where I met up with Tom and we journeyed together to New Malden (Sarah very kindly put Tom and I up!).

The first thing we did was Christmas!! Yes, I know, Christmas in January!! So we passed around pressies. After Christmas, we did my birthday - and all of the pressies were coming my way that time! So, I recieved 2 tops from Tom (one evening-y and one summery) and from Sarah I got a personalised mug that she had decorated with a picture of the 3 Muskateers and which was a very unique present indeed! I also got an umbrella that lights with LED lights that change colour - and that's so cool! I did have a bit of a job taking it home with me though!!

Around 4pm, we went to change in to our theatrical attire. I gave a little advice/persuasion to Sarah over clothes so she was wearing a little jewellery and a cute pink jumper. I think it was nice to dress up and Sarah - especially - looked lovely.

We ate ouut on The Strand, at an Italian-run restaurant called Salieri. We opted ultimately for all 3 courses and that must speak volumes as to the quality of the food! I certainly enjoyed each course from the starter which was a salmon roulade, my main which was a lovely steak in red wine sauce and the tiramisu dessert. I was stuffed by the end, but would definately recommend the restaurant - not only for the food; but for the atmosphere, the staff, the location and the value-for-money.

Ultimately though, we bid the Salieri goodbye, hopped on the tube to Tottenham Court Eoad and emerged right outside of the Dominion Theatre, which has been home to We Will Rock You for a good many years, and where I had seen it once before. I was really, really, really excited! Just to be back in a London theatre, seeing a musical, with my friends, for my birthday was amazing. To see my favourite musical of all-time was the total icing on the cake!!

So, from start to finish, I was hooked. I sung along to every song, anticipated some of my favourite bits, was amazingly suprised by bits I'd forgotten and had a thoroughly grrrreat time, clapping, cheering, singing and laughing. Gosh it was a very happy day indeed. I'd wanted to see it again for years after I first saw it, and then I had. Awesome.

Naturally, we all had a little lie-in the following morning, but then we drove over to Richmond Park around lunchtime and took Archie for a walk. The park was as much a winter wonderland as you could ever expect and we had a substantial walk, seeing the deer (and keeping Archie away from them!) and playing in the snow. It was lovely just to walk, talk, have fun and be together. The afternoon, saw us comsume a large amount of my birthday cake (a giant pink French fancy!!!), make a chocolate puzzle, make a start on the puzzle ball Tom had given Sarah and play some games.

Tom departed that night as he had to work on the Sunday. I overnighted again with Sarah, and then departed on Sunday. Since central London is on my journey route home, I had made plans to do a little shopping at some shops that we don't have down here in rural Hastings: Primark, Disney store, Jane Norman etc. So after my little jaunt I headed over to Waterloo East to catch my train home.

I'm still rankled by the fact that the man at the info desk who laughed at me when I asked for trains to Hastings. Eventually it transpired that everyone had to pop on the train to Cannon Street (no explanation offered!) and get the train from there, which ran fine, if a little late due to us being stuck behind the stopping service in front of us. Nonetheless, I was home by around 3.30pm and had plenty of time on the way to listen to my new iPod (which I had done all weekend) on the way.


So all-in-all, a fantabulous weekend all round, and the best way I could have celebrated my birthday by far, since I'm not in to partying, and do lurve a bit of Queen. Not to mention the characters in the musical: Scarramoushe, Galilleo Figaro, Killer Queen and the GaGa girls/boys!

So, I leave you with some words from them:
"All we hear is radio Ga Ga
Video Goo Goo
Internet Ga Ga
All we hear is cyberspace Ga Ga
Marketing Blah Blah

Always something new
Globalsoft, all your world loves you"!

From "No Snow" to "No More Snow"!

Well as I sit here on a freezing Tuesday night, we are expecting 20cm of snow!

Let this self-confessed snow freak now declare that I really do not want a snow day on Thursday or Friday as I won't be able to go to London. That would be disasterous!!

Now, we were all excited/in anticipation when, at work today, it started snowing - and it looked great. Buuut, I hope it doesn't stop play on my very carefully laid weekend plans.

So do you hear me? No More *Serious* Snow Please!! I'll report back on further news relating to the weather situation as and when it breaks.

Just spoken to Tom to confirm, co-ordinate etc all of our plans and it all seems to be smooth sailing from here on in. Roll on Friday.

<<2 days left>>

UPDATE: Less than 24 hours til departure

Well I couldn't go to work today (Thurs) or yesterday, and we had more snow this afternoon. Police have been stationed on our road most of the day, helping cars and lorries that were getting stuck. So hmmmm, what are the chances of me getting to Surrey tomorrow? Well, I'll let you know what happens. Nowt I can actually do about it.