Dreadful week

As the title to this post suggests, I've had a pretty awful week. Yesterday, I sat two exams. The morning one didn't go too badly but the afternoon one was terrible. When I opened the paper and looked at the 20 mark questions I nearly cried. In order to make the situation slightly worse I then wasted the first ten minutes of the exam trying to work out whether I was able to answer enough questions to get me over the pass mark! Now I've got to wait until the end of February for the results. If I've failed I'll have to take the cursed thing again in June. If I fail my second attempt I'll have to take the entire module again next year :( To be honest it was a rude awakening. It's been many years since I had to learn the entire contents of a modue off by heart for an exam. My uni exams normally involved answering three questions from a choice of around ten. We were advised to revise ten of twenty topics to be sure that we'd have a fair choice. Also, I would have done some background reading around the topics before the lectures so I had a good grounding before revision started. Thursday's exam involved memorising a lever arch file full of stuff which I knew nothing about in August last year! We only had one 2 hour lecture a week for heavens sake. I haven't had to learn a whole syllabus by heart since AS Level Statistics in 1998! I now have a lot more sympathy for people like Cardiff bloke (Chemistry) and my uni housemates (Biology, Psychology, Law, Medicine) who had to learn loads for their exams all through uni. As people keep reminding me, I'm working at 'M Level' now so I have to expect the work to be more challenging.

Continuing along the dreadful week theme, my Grandad (91 on Tuesday) has been poorly all week. It was hardly worth taking the week off of work to revise as I couldn't concentrate. Grandad has been having stomach problems and wasn't getting out of bed or eating. We had been waiting for Social Services to assess him for a home help but by the time I finished my exam on Thursday his health had deteriorated further and he'd been taken to hospital in an ambulance. Now he's on a hospital ward undergoing tests. I've been really worried about my parents all week as they've been dealing with phone calls from Grandad and the wardens at the sheltered acommodation complex, hassling Social Services and keeping my Aunt, who lives in Oxfordshire and is very easily upset, informed. Additionally, my dad has been over to see Grandad every evening to get him to change his clothes and to try and make him have something to eat. My parents aren't getting any younger so I don't like them getting stressed out and tired. Sadly, there isn't much I can do to help. I can't drive so if I go and visit Grandad he gets upset because he doesn't think it's safe for women to use public transport. Also, he is very deaf and can't understand a word I say. My mum reckons it's because I use 'complicated language' and speak too fast. I try really hard but I don't get anywhere. My sister is a different matter. He chats away to her quite happily! Mum reckons this is because she speaks to him like the 2-3 year olds she cares for at the nursery. Also, Grandad approves of what she does for a living. Like my Dad, he believes that office workers, like myself, are a waste of space. Anyway, he's in hospital for a while now. My Aunt is coming down to see him tomorrow so my Dad can have a slightly more relaxing day. A big problem with Grandad is that he's really difficult. When Mum and Dad went to see him in hospital he was accusing the wardens of interfering in his private business and swearing about them loudly. I wouldn't want to be the nurse responsible for looking after him. It'd be all complaints and no thanks!

To add to my joy filled week I realised that the heal had fallen off of the boots I wear to work. I only purchased the damned things in early November and they needed re healing by the end of that month. A month and a half later (bearing in mind that I've had two weeks off of work since November too) the re healed bit has fallen off. It obviously fell off a while ago and I've been walking around on the un soled heal for some time. Consequently, I spent today, when I planned to be relaxing, trawling around the shops looking for a new pair. I got a pair of bog standard, unsexy ankle boots for £25 in the Barratts sale which will, hopefully, keep me going until I decide what I'm wearing to work this summer. I also got a new pair of work trousers in Next. They're a bit tight but the 12 was so big around the waist they nearly fell off.

Leading on from that I intended to start the Kelloggs 'Drop a Jean Size' diet this week. Unfortunately, my sister gave me a late birthday present of a huge bar of Dairy Milk on Monday so I had to eat that!!! I'm definitely starting it on Monday though. By the time I go away with Cardiff Bloke in February I aim to be much closer to 8 stone than 9! I just want to be a clothes size again. At the moment a 10 is too tight and a 12 is much too big around the waist.

It's been another good week for 'Press Gang' spotting. Dexter Fletcher appeared in the first episode of 'The Virgin Queen' on Sunday and the second episode of 'Hotel Babylon' yesterday. This may be a controversial opinion but I actually think he looks better in Tudor dress than he does in 'Hotel Babylon'. I'm not usually a beard fan but the little beard was quite attractive on Dexter in 'The Virgin Queen'! Tudor history is not my area of expertise but I have a feeling that Dexter's character (Suffolk) is going to turn out to be a baddie. It'll be interesting to watch as he normally plays nice, cheeky chaps!

Rosie Marcel arrived at Holby City Hospital this week riding a huge motorbike whilst clad in full leather biker gear. I bet that raised a few uneasy feelings amongst male 'Press Gang' fans who remember her aged 11 wearing school uniform!

Another, completely unexpected, 'Press Gang' sighting occured in this week's episode of 'Life on Mars'. I didn't have to go to uni this Monday so I made sure to tune into 'Life on Mars' as I'd only heard good things about it. I was sort of half watching, half revising when I heard a familiar voice, so I looked up at the screen and there was Lee sporting a very dodgy mostache! He was playing a comedy 70's detective and ended up being punched in the face by both the leading men at once. I'm looking forward to seeing Lee in 'The Family Man' later this year as it looks like he has a bigger role in that.

Whilst shopping today I spent some of my vouchers. I bought the DVD of 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' for £5.99 in the WHSmith sale and some hair straightners in Boots. There're so many gorgeous shoes in the shops at the moment. I must buy some skirts to wear to work this summer so I can wear lovely shoes as well as boots.

Have decided that I need to buy a new PC. I've had this one since 2001 and it's gradually grinding to a halt. I'm really scared as my understanding of computers is very limited and I'm sure to buy something I can't work or that isn't compatible with what I want to with it! Cardiff bloke informs me that I can transfer all the files on this PC to a new one quite easily but I haven't even got a clue how I'd do that!

I've still got a £10 HMV voucher to use. There are so many CDs I want. Decisions, decisions!