Reflections on the past 13 months (just to be different!)

Hi all!

I've decided that I'm at a good time for reflecting on the past year. Since it is now actually February, it will actually be a reflection on the last 13 months; fitting for 2013!

Yet, how do you sum up a year; in terms of events, people, places, personal development, experiences or all of these? Reading back over my blog posts from the last year I am reminded of both highs & lows, ups & downs and all that comes inbetween. So let's talk about the good things first:

1. Whitby!

Seriously, my blog from that week away (pretty much exactly a year ago as of right now) was, in my humble opinion, one of my best. The reason that the blog was so good was that the week was so good in so many ways & the fact that I have great pictures, that conjure up great memories a year on is just fab! Holidays are such a great breath of fresh air (literally & metaphorically) & much needed chicken soup for the soul that they're often the highlights of my year.
Whitby especially was a time of relaxation; basking in the beauty of nature, spending quality time with good people, getting a lot of fresh air, browsing the shops & discovering the history of such an historic & renound town.

2. Disneyland Paris

When we booked our 4 day break to Disneyland Paris, I didn't know just how stressed, frazzled & downright incapable of functioning I would be with work, by the time we came to depart. I was close to emotional meltdown: snappy & useles, so a holiday was just what I needed.
Disney never fails to make me smile anyway: the weather was clear & bright, all the staff we met were pleasant & helpful & the parks just met all of our needs: emotionally, mentally, spiritually & physically. I returned after a mini break spent smiling, dancing, marvelling at fireworks, seeing beloved characters, being transported to faraway lands & riding my favourite rides.
The thrill of watching Dreams in front of the castle, riding Splash Mountain & Pirates of the Caribbean, watching the 20th Anniversary Celebration Train, pin trading with lots of different people & having a wonderful get-away-from-it-all change of scenery. No to mention stocking up on my favourite sweets (nom nom nom!)

3. Llandudno

The thought of going to the Royal British Legion Women's Section Annual Conference with my Mum, didn't really fill my heart with joy, that's without the 8hr drive there & back. However, the prospect of going to Wales: a place where, prior to this trip, I had never set foot, was too much to resist. I didn't actually blog about the trip I believe, which is a mistake on my part. I'll summarise here: we had 2 days at the Conference & 2 free days. So we were able to really spend some time appreciating the sights of the town & the bracing Irish Sea weather.
The total highlight of the visit for me was taking the trip to Llanberis to ride the Mountain Railway to the Summit of Snowdon & then being able to stand there at the top of the highest mountain in Wales & just look & look & look. We also found what is now my favourite restaurant in the entirity of Great Britain: Mamma Rosa which is near the seafront. No word of a lie, I would go back to Llandudno (yes all 330 miles) just to eat there again. Because we couldn't keep away, I ended up very poor, but the food was sooooo worth it. Yum :-)

So those were my holidays! I'm very pleased to say that I'm starting 2013 the way I hope to go on by heading to Italy at the beginning of nex tmonth. Eat, Pray, Love has a lot to answer for where my opinion of Rome is concerned!

Then there's Keswick! When you mention Keswick to me at the moment, I get rather sad: I'm not going this year :""(and so I can't really say much about it now. Suffice to say Keswick Town, the Keswick Convention & Keswick for Kids holds a very special place in my heart & I'll miss every minute that I'm not there this summer. The spiritual refreshment, the awe-inspiring scenery, the company of wonderful friends, the priviledge of teaching children about God & all the special moments in between!

So you can see there have been highlights amongst the day-to-day drudge of working 9-5! Of course 2012 was also special for another reason: (or 2 reasons if we're to precise) the eyes of the world were on us, the UK. The Queen's Golden Jubilee & the summer games of the 20th Olympiad meant the UK & London especially was on the map in 2012!
I didn't blog about the Olympics either(!) but I should've (tsk tsk). Basically I applied for tickets & applied to be a Games Maker because I wanted to say that I had been there & been a part of it. I got an interview to be a Games Maker: to be able to say I would've been one if I hadn't been at work, is enough for me. Then to able to go to the Olympic Park, to the Olympic Stadium and watch the likes of Usain Bolt compete, is a great memory that I'll always be able to carry with me
2012 was a fantastic, moving, proud year to be British & I'm so glad to be able to say I was a part of it!

Aside from those real gems of places & experiences, there have also been people. There are my closest friends; the ones who have always and, I hope, will always be there through everything. You know what they say: everlasting friends can go long periods of time without speaking or seeing each other & never question that friendship. These friends pick up like they just spoke yesterday regardless of how long it has been or how far away they live & they don't hold grudges. They understand that life is busy and love is there. I am always thankful for them & their support.
Recently someone else came in to my workplace & later on, my life. Currently we've been together for just over 3 weeks & we've just come back from a weekend away together in Dorset. I won't say much more here, but needless to say, in terms of relationships, I'm happy.
Long may it continue :-)

So, what did I hope for last year? What were my life aims & goals? Where did I want to be at this point, last year?

• I want to still have my job
• I want enough work and enough free time to be/feel free and happy
• I want to enjoy my youth
• I want to see new things and meet new faces
• I want to be the best I can be at all that I do

Well, I pretty much still have my job, although I'm not quite working at the mo. I'm still struggling with the work/life balance but this is due to insane job - the small fact that I love my job, means this is a vicious circle! I do feel as if I'm living, perhapsnot 100% to the full, but I'm appreciating my youth. I have seen new things & I have met new faces: tick! As for being the best I can...well I continue to try my best, to be the best I can be; it doesn't always work, but I'm trying and I will continue to with all that I have :-)

• I want to be able to commit to a church family
• I want to sort out my charity giving into regular and organised payments
• We need to sort out all of our stuff and generally be organised & have routines and motivation to do all sorts of things that I'd like to; go to the gym, not hoard stuff, be tidy to all hopefully contribute to a carefree life

 In these areas, perhaps I'm not doing as well as I could be. Church is not happening. Charity giving is optimal: I adopted a child through Compassion last year: 17 year old Karen from Bolivia, I enjoy being able to exchange letters with her & be a partof such an important ministry. As for my life & its personal admin: I am going to the gym, infact I'm a member of the gym with a membership card and a snazzy waterbottle! I had a really good sort out recently which helps me to achieve some semblance of order in my life. Hopefully this means that I am helping myself to be carefree.

This year I want to be more proactive in achieving my goals. My New Year's Resolutions this year was to be more disciplined and now that I'm a month in to the New Year, I can reflect on it.
So losing weight & being better with food was top on my list. So far I'm achieving mediocre success at cutting out inbetween meals snacking & I'm attending the gym dutifully.
Spiritual disciplines are not so great; Bible reading, prayer, Church - but believe me they're still right at the top of my list of priorities where they belong.
Getting up early/on time, being tidy, doing things the first time they are requested etc again is another goal of mine in the domain of discipline. I'll be playing the long game on this one!

Of course having a boyfriend means more joys & challenges in many areas including discipline - nevertheless, life is more fun when someone walks beside you. I'm looking forward to the journey this year.

So have a happy 2013 everybody; may you be able to look back on it with acceptance, joy & enlightenment. My hopes for this year are that I would be joyful, faithful & content.

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12

² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Ephesians 4

So that's enough waffle from me! I like to take time each year to reflect upon and reaffirm my life, sharing it with the world is just my way of being open & allowing myself to confront the good & the bad in my life. Here's to the next 11 months...

2.2 pounds of jam weigh about a kilogram!

I've been really lax at blogging and life in general over the last little while, especially since I'm on a break from working at the mo!
So I decided to take my life in hand & start eating healthily & I joined the gym!

I started off by going to a "Legs, Bums & Tums" class with some of the girls from work once a week. Then I wanted to go more often & continue witht the class, so now all 3 of us are members. Currently, its LBT on Tuesdays & I'm thinking gym on Fridays; but that will need a rethink once I'm back at work as Friday is like, our busiest day!

So the good news is that I'm weighing myself & the results of my first weigh in are that I've lost half a kilo or 1 pound...ish. So I'm happy with that as a very good starting point for this new way of life.
I'm just now in the last couple of days, beginning to get food cravings, but now I've been to the gym, on the machines and seen just how much work you have to do to burn one measly calorie! That was a shocker, but I'm pleased that my kiloage went down & not up!

Out have gone most of the cakes, sweets, biscuits etc & I'm on a lighter diet. I actually enjoyed my veggies tonight!

:-D

So as I said, I'm on a break from work at the moment, so I've got a whole different pace of life going right now. I spent 3 days visiting Southampton & the wonder that is Miss Ruthie Gill. It was a really lovely time together; mostly spent shopping & chatting, watching DVDs & eating Percy Pigs!

Very soon I'm off to see Sarah & Tom, which is not only very exciting in itself, but extra excitement is certain as we are planning our holidays!!

The holiday is booked: a week in Italy, split between the Home of Pizza: Napoli & the Eternal City: Roma! I'm pretty excited to see the sights of central Italy, as I've been to Sicily & skiing near Turin but never seen any of the bits in the middle!

Maybe I shouldn't be excited about going back to work in March, but I am! I miss the people, the place, the buzz & busyness -not to mention the money :)

At some point in February, Darren & I are also taking a road trip across to Wilts & Dorset to go see his parents for the weekend. He is astonished that I've never really been to Dorset, so he's setting out to restore that great imbalance in the world(!) It should be a lot of fun & a good time!

That's about it for now....  Not sure when I'll be back: watch this space!

Ten Years of Chip & Dale

Hi everyone,

So I just last night finished displaying all of my Chip n Dale pins on a big board I bought from Homebase last week. There are a lot of them and I was rather impressed with the finished item (although technically its not finished - it has all of my CnD pins to date on it)!
Here's some piccies, have a magical day!

Then these 3 are close ups of the top, middle and bottom of the board, so you can see pins up close.

So yeas, you could say I have a fair few! There's a tiny bit of room left on this board, but I bought 2 just in case!
Do you like?

Magic Everywhere

Wahey! I've been to Disneyland Paris and now I'm back to share the tale of my lovely holidays with you all! The title of my blog is based on the parade we saw and the song that is played for the parade and also for the thrice daily outings of the Celebration Train. Celebration Train I hear you ask...
Well, this year is Disneyland Paris' 20th birthday and, as the song rightly says, its been 20 years of joy and laughter; two words that were so not synonymous with my personality before I went away. I think work had just all got on top of me, so a break to the Happiest Place on Earth was exactly what I needed! Here's the song from the parade so you can get in the spirit!

Sooo, on with the tale! 17th September: Ashford Int'l > Lille Europe > Marne La Vallee Chessy (Disneyland Paris Eurostar Station) and we're in to Day One...

So yep, half of this day was spent on the train; 5.30am train to Ashford, Eurostar to Lille, TGV to Paris where we arrived around lunchtime, dumped our bags and set off!
We'd planned to do something low-energy, so we decided to do the Hotels. I love the Disney hotels (I've only ever stayed in the 2 cheapest ones, but if you ever want to make me love you forever take me to Sequoia Lodge!!). They each have their own character, theme and - most importantly - shop! As well as Cast Members ready to pin trade!! So we went Disney's Hotel Cheyenne > Disney's Hotel New York > Disney's Sequoia Lodge > Disney's Newport Bay Hotel (and a couple of days later went to the Disneyland Hotel). Basically our mission was to pin shop, pin trade and have a long-awaited look at some of these rather snazzy hotels.
Sequoia Lodge is now my favourite and I have my eye on it for a future stay; it was so peaceful there! Lush greenery, soothing music, rustic feel - perfect! I could go on for quite a while but I won't. Needless to say, we had a nice afternoon, easing ourselves in and also occupying ourselves before check in at the hotel.
Everything was good about our hotel, the Kyriad and if you want to hear more about it, see my TripAdvisor review: http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g664935-d487413-r140866970-Kyriad_Disneyland_Resort_Paris-Magny_le_Hongre_Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT

Otherwise, its on with the show, arrival day now gone we had 2 full days in the parks and another half day before the train home...

Day 2: We spent the morning in Walt Disney Studios, investigating all around, seing all the new stuff they've added!! We went on the Backlot Tour - I still love seeing all the movie props and Catastrophe Canyon is thrilling each time! There were so many other things I wanted to go on: Crush's Coaster (based on Finding Nemo), a cool Cars version of the teacups and a whole play area based on Toy Story complete with a Slinky Dog Ride!!!  Totally lots of scope for next time!! We ate lunch mere feet away from the Tower of Terror; listening to all of the screams :) Then it was time to head over to the main Disneyland Park!
Sadly a couple of our favourite rides were closed, so definite need for a return visit methinks. Anyone wanna come along?? Nevermind, we headed for Frontierland, sussed it out for the following day and covered all the shops and lanyards! Then it was on to Adventureland where we rode Pirates of the Carribean twice(!) and Flying Carpets over Agrabah (based on Aladdin). We checked out the restaurant where you eat inside the Pirates of the Carribean attraction, but decided it was too expensive! We ended the day in Fantasyland: riding Its A Small World and then going through Sleeping Beauty's Castle on our way back to Main Street.
We took our places right in front of the Castle, getting ready for the fireworks!! Now this, I was hyped for! In celebration of its birthday, Disneyland Paris (DLRP) welcomes this year DREAMS. A spectacle of water, light and music, DREAMS tranforms the Castle into a backdrop for a great musical show. I videoed the whole thing and may upload it later, it was well worth it!! Well worth the nearly 2 hour wait in the cold to get a good spot, still I got a hotdog to pass the time-it was almost like Bonfire Night!

Whew! On to Day 3: We were back in the Disneyland Park, to cover the rest of its many areas! We began where we left, in Fantasyland, riding all the other rides we missed the day before; The Carousel, Snow White and the 7 Dwarves, The Dragon's Lair (under the Castle). Then we moved on to Discoveryland - home of a French C-3PO the Little Green Men!! Here's one, incase you've never seen Toy Story :P

So of course, we then rode Buzz Lightyear's Lazer Blast and Star Tours. Love seeing all the LGM and Star Wars merchandise. Did not go on Space Mountain as that's enough to give me a heart attack! We had luch back on Main Street and were pleasently suprised to see a couple of major French pin traders has set up shop behind the Pin Cart. We did a trade in very basic French, but a trade nonetheless! Happy days! I then ordered our Ben and Jerrys in French too. Trying to cling to the last remnants of my Franglais... :( We watched the Celebration Train come past; having a little boogie in the street in the process!
The afternoon was spent in Frontierland and I finally got to go on my favourite ride Big Thunder Mountain! Love it! I could go on it every single day. Back in Adventureland we walked through an Aladdin storyboard before circling back to Main Street to get a good position for the 5pm parade-Magic Everywhere! Oooh I love a good parade! There's only so long you can sit and watch before you cave in to pure excitement and start waving at your favourite characters! Seeing all the Princesses with their Princes is just amazing-I'm not gonna lie! You forget that in your humdrum, 9-5 existance you wear a pinstriped suit to work and sit at a desk all day and you're a kid again; meeting all your favourite heroes!
We were in 2 minds about what to do next: do we attempt to exit the Park at this point and fight the massive crowd or do we go to the shops for a while and attempt to fight the massive crowd?? We opted for the shops and bumped in to some folks we'd met on the bus that morning and had a nice chat with them as well as bagging a few more bits!
:( end of our last full day in the parks :( but we were tired and happy and had acquired most of the pins and other bits we needed. So we spent the evening packing :/

Our last day in Paris, we had breakfast and stocked up once more for the day ahead. We checked out of the hotel, took our bags with us and squished on to the bus. Dumping the bags at the Left Luggage Lockers again we were free until 2pm. We'd decided that since we were without the wheelchair that we'd use the Disneyland Railroad to get around and to see the Park once again, so we boarded at Main Street. This is where we met our favourite Cast Member of our trip. Since I've worked in the hospitaility/leisure industry I always make a point of recognising superior service when I see it; far too many people only complain these days. So when we got back, I made a point of emailing Disney and thanking them-and him-for superior service.

We rode the train around to its last stop, Discoveryland, I rode Star Tours again, and then we walked back on to the train, took it around to Frontierland and rode Big Thunder Mountain again. Talk about oing the highlights on the last day. So we were taking a very slow stroll back out to Main Street for a last look at the Castle and everything when something large and black caught my eye! Oh yeah, there was a pin board outsie the Pin Cart on Main St, so we just had to take a look. And we did maybe 5 or 6 trades off of that board and it was nice to talk to a Cast Member who enjoys his pins and actually knew his fakes! So full of our last-minute pin trading success; we took a last, slow walk out of the park gates and I was marking off the last glances as I saw them. Last look at the Castle, last look at Main Street, at the entrance, at the grandiose Disneyland Hotel, at the entrance to Walt Disney Studios and then our last look at Disney Village before we entered the station.
We had a pocket of coins and so I went in to the tabac at the station and bought some of France's finest exports: Dragibus and Schtroumpfs

Who wouldn't want Smurf-shaped sweets?? Then it was time to board the train. We were unfortunately sharing a carriage with a young couple and their friends who were all very loud and excited and who had bought several large Disney ornaments to use a centrepieces at their forthcoming wedding. They were full of joie de vivre all the way back to Ashford!
Back to Ashford and back to Earth with a bump-I've decided I'm going to be a professional holidaymaker from now on (shame I'm not a lottery winner eh?). Seriously, we are considering going back next year, just need to find a good time to go. I'm also trying to keep a wee bit of magic inside me, so I don't get down in the dumps anymore. Until then, I have my photos, my pins, my memories and YouTube!

All together now: "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Celebrate the magic! Magic Everywhere!"

First Class Times

Oooh I love a good play on words! So I'm now back (via 1st Class train travel) from Keswick 2012!
So the first question you are asking is, did I have a good time??
The answer is most defiately yes, but there is so much more to say, so I'll start at the beginning:

So Friday 13th July:
8am - I arrive at work to have a shower, as our bathroom had been ripped out. I can't get in to my borrowed caravan, so Roma takes pity on me and invites me in to hers. I then make myself all clean.
9am-12pm - I work, then I leave.
12pm-2pm - I pack my final bits and pieces and head off to the station
2pm-6pm - I travel to Ruth's house in Stoke
6pm-8pm - We eat and catch up, then pack the car.
8pm-11pm - We drive to Keswick, getting stuck in numerous traffic jams on the M6 and making Cam wait up for us, much later than we'd have all liked. Thank you Cam!

So Saturday is Arrival Day for Keswick Team, with most people coming in the PM, those of us there early helped set up the kitchen (Rat Poo Ministry - I'm safe from you for another 4 years!) etc. Then there's lots of hellos and welcomes as lots of people start arriving! By Saturday at 4.30pm almost all of the team is assembled. We meet, pray, give out tshirts and IDs, chat, catch up and begin to look to the week ahead! Then we all go to the first Convention meeting together as a team.

Sunday we're up early to take part in the All-Age Service; lead jointly by the Children's and Youth Teams. Yours truly is up on stage in front of thousands of people doing actions to a song I've never heard before and that the band only learnt that morning! The service is followed by Registration, lunch and then we begin to set up the venues! This involves unpacking sheds full of toys and heavy crates full of supplies; as well as ride-on toys, climbing frames, sand tables and the like! Sunday evening is our first meeting with children: the 8-11s evening programme which every leader is involved in.

Monday to Friday prety much then follow the same pattern each day: get up, shower, prayer meeting, brekkie, walk to Convention Centre, set up for the morning's session, morning session til 12.30, clear up. Walk back to Rawnsley and eat lunch, FREE TIME!, bible study with the main convention speaker (this year: Simon Manchester, a straight-talking Ozzie), dinner, evening programme prep, evening programme til 9.15pm, debrief and pray. THE END! Whew!

What about the weather, I hear you ask! Well it was mainly dry save from the Monday, but today (now I'm back home!) it was sweltering and my office is not a nice place to be in the hot weather! Here's some piccies:

Beautiful sunset to marvel at whilst we were stuck on the M6!

Great bags on sale in Keswick - nothing like identifying your target audience!

Me enjoying my favourite Keswick indulgence, from Java, having an afternoon with Ruth!

So yeah, afternoons in Keswick, our beautiful few hours of free time! I have to say I did spend a couple of afternoons just chilling by myself with my book! Here it is:

 

Then there is our £20 book voucher to spend in the convention bookshops - the convention is very kind to us; paying our expenses, feeding and accomadating us and giving us money for books/CDs! Then I spent an afternoon down by the lake; feeding the ducks and chatting, then strolling around the shops and eating ice cream whilst having good girly times which were just nice :)

Friday afternoon was just Ruth and I, we wandered around the shops and then settled in Java for a natter. It was good to just chill and chat and we need to do it more often!!

All in all, I loved Keswick, but never has a week gone so fast and I've learnt a lot of valuable lessons from the experience. I was challenged on a few things in my lifestyle but over everything I just want Keswick 2013 to come around NOW and I want to go for 2 weeks at least!

Loving the Lakes

Hello everybody! A special hello from the Lake District and from the Keswick Convention 2012!

I have exactly 5 mins and 32 seconds of internet left so this will be a short post indeed, but I'll post again when I get home maybe...

So, all I'm popping in to say is: having a great time and being really blessed this week and really getting a good sense of perspective on life and been re-evaluating lots of stuff. This is on top of having great teaching and meeting lots of old and new friends up here.

Right, 3 mins left, so I'd better leave it here!

The bathroom has been ripped out whilst I've been away, so I could well go home to chaos..who knows?

Talk soon!

These are the days of our lives...

Good evening everybody, I can't believe how long it's been since I last communed with you all. Even Blogspot has changed its layout since I was last here and I'm being slightly freaked out by it as I type!
I read through my blog post from March and realised just how much has actually happened since then:

1. I actually did leave Argos! That day I recounted was actually my last. Seven years of my life I spent working at Argos and it will continue to occupy a little corner of my heart for a long time. Plus its useful to have a friend who knows the Argos catalogue inside-out right??
2. The Park opened for the year on 4th March and the season started on the 23rd and all of the highs and lows will be detailed below!
3. People have come, gone and changed over - more below.
4. We had a Fun Day at work (in the pouring rain!) in aid of the BHF and raised £340
5. The RBL had its first Coffee Morning, with another one planned for the 26th May (posters designed by moi, coming to a bilboard near you soon!)
6. We went to Llandudno (a whole other blog for that methinks) and I fell in love with Wales!
7. It was Ruth's, my Dad's and Tom's birthdays and now its nearly time for my Mum's.
8. Hazel got married in the US, on a veranda overlooking the mountains, with wolves present. A ceremony which I'm certain suited her and her man perfectly - she looked great!
9. Katie got engaged! Jack is, of course, the lucky man and I'm very happy for them.

Here's Tayla (our lifeguard) dressed up as the BHF mascot Arty Beat on our Fun Day!

So now we're in the middle of May and I'm one of those crazy people who is attempting to squeeze the last 2 months in to one post. Sometimes it seems as if mine is the most mundane of all existences; but when you look back, you do re-discover little gems which may be things that were special to many or have significance only to the beholder. Nevertheless they are all parts of that which makes us what we are and when you consider that the actual human will spend over 91,000 hours at work in their lifetime you can't expect it not to be influential.

So the news from Beauport: yesterday was one of *those* days. You know, the one where you say to someone else "I've had one of *those* days" and they immediately know its been rubbish and say no more. Worringly enough, there seem to have been quite a lot of those recently and as each one passes (usually in a big blur) I always catch myself thinking nothing could come along and be worse than that and they always are!! No fair!! I can only register my thankfulness once again for the people I work with - they are only reason we keep going as a business. They know who they are.
I always say that we have succeeded if our guests don't see any of our work. If they have no idea how hard we've worked or how close we came to not getting things done, then we can congratulate ourselves for a job well done. Yesterday was a day where we were less than a hair's breadth away from crossing that line....so close. The tourist industry is the thin edge of the wedge indeed.

When I was a bit down, I started singing (as I often do). My song of choice was Dolly Parton's "9 to 5": like most people I only knew the first line until I listened to it on YouTube and I couldn't believe how much a pop song described my working life:

Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin'
Barely gettin' by, it's all takin' and no givin'
They just use your mind and they never give you credit
It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

There are also some interesting thoughts in that same song about who profits from our VERY hard work, which I'll say no more about....

There's another Dolly song I've also become very fond of recently and that's The Sacrifice - its another pop song that is quite meaningful to me right now. It helps me to put things in perspective; looking ahead to the day when I'll be able to look back (if that makes sense) on building a good life. Because that is really the ultimate goal; whichever job I'm doing, wherever I live, whomever I'm with; to have run the race and finished well. That is what I want to strive for.

This week I made a terrible mistake at work that effected people who I've never met - and they got rather angry. This left me very low, wondering just how far the situation would go and if my job was in danger. A couple of days after that I had a really great day; I escaped the office on my buggy, the sun was shining, I helped out a fair few people and everything was well. I felt free, happy and empowered. Then when it all went wrong on Monday, it seemed terrible (say with French accent for dramatic effect) by comparison. And yet...tomorrow is another day:

But sometimes I wonder in the still of the night
Is it really worth the sacrifice
I've often laughed and I've often cried
I've often failed but I've always tried
I made the sacrifice

So there you have it, I do actually like my job: its not for the faint-hearted by any means. Kevin, who was there when I first started at Beauport, got moved to another park. Then we got Eric in his place: such a funny guy, then he went on to his new management post at another park. Louise came to us from HO, then went back there after about a month and her replacement arrives at the end of the month. Ant is going too - to work for Hardings, so at least we'll still see him around. Its tough when people who like and trust move on - new starts are never easy for the people who are left behind, let alone those who are going!

Of course there are some funny moments, like this one here, even more so cos we got to laugh at Paul for it! He was attempting to move the safe from the old office to our new one and the tele-handler broke down in the office doorway!

 

Outside of work my Mum's been in hospital and out again, we went to Wales of course, we've had a new boiler fitted (and just today, go wrong!) and we're beginning to see real progress in the home improvements department.

So all in all, it has been eventful, even if it doesn't feel that way when I'm living it!

So that ought to bring you all up to date with the life and times of me. All that remains to be said is Welcome Home Sarah from your epic voyage to NZ, you lucky girl you! Right now, I'm thinking of a winter sun break during the shutdown at the park... where to though??