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I really, genuinely can't understand how I've managed to accumulate so much stuff in the almost 6 years I've been living in this flat. When I moved here I made a conscious decision to not buy stuff I don't need or that isn't useful. Despite this it's still a struggle to sort everything out and move it. The decorators are starting at 8.00am on Wednesday morning and I've been getting ready since Saturday. They'll be starting in the bedroom so I've packed up most of he bedroom stuff ready for it to be moved into the living room. Thankfully, the wardrobe is built in so I can stash stuff inside. The living room is a different matter entirely. I've packed up some stuff but there's still a long way to go. Everywhere I look I can see piles of random papers which don't seem to have a home. I dread the thought of ever moving. I'd probably expire from the stress of it all.
Here begins yet another sad plumbing related story.
Work was closed on Friday as it was our annual Christmas privilege day. I was woken up at around 10.30am (I was tired!) by someone ringing the doorbell. Obviously I wasn't dressed so I didn't answer. The bell rang again that afternoon when I'd just got out of the shower. By the time I'd put enough clothes on to be decent whoever it was had gone away. A bit later on I went out and noticed a note stuck to my neighbour's front door. The note was urging the occupant to contact the person in the flat below as water was pouring into into his bathroom seemingly from her flat. I was slightly worried but reasoned that it was unlikely to be anything to do with me as all my pipes are on the other side of the flat and if they were leaking the water would most likely be ending up in the flat directly below mine.
I'm a born worrier so I there was still a niggling feeling of dread at the back of my mind. On Christmas Eve I went to Kingston to pick up some last bits of shopping, then went to my parents' house to collect some gifts that had been delivered there. When I got home the guy from downstairs rang the doorbell and asked whether I knew how to contact the girl next door. I didn't and told him I thought she was away as I hadn't heard her moving around for a while. After he'd gone I decided to investigate my pipework and found that water was dripping from the pipe leading in to the toilet cistern. I knew that area of the bathroom was a bit damp but had put it down to condensation from cold water coming in to warm bathroom. I put a towel round the pipe and thought I'd sort it out after Christmas. Unfortunately, I'd badly underestimated the amount of water dripping out. Within a couple of hours the towel was soaked. It was quite late by this stage so I wrapped another, larger towel around the pipe, put another towel on the bathroom floor and went to bed.
When I woke up on Christmas morning, both towels were soaked and half the bathroom floor was flooded. At this stage I did what any slightly useless lone female with a water leak on Christmas morning would do... I phoned my Dad. By 11am he'd turned off the water going in to the cistern and declared that a new washer was needed. Thank goodness my Dad is so good at fixing stuff. I dread to think how expensive and stressful it would have been trying to find an emergency plumber on Christmas Day.
This morning, my parents came to collect me at 10.30am and we went on an exciting trip to Homebase to buy a new part. The shop was practically empty. I think everyone else shopping there was trying to sort out some kind of household emergency. A lot of people seemed to be buying new kettles... Anyway, we got the new part and Dad had fitted it by lunchtime.
Hopefully, the crisis is over. The girl next door doesn't seem to be back yet and the guy from downstairs hasn't been up again. If it was my leak that damaged his flat we'll have to sort it out through the insurance. All in all a bit of Christmas drama I could have done without but which hopefully didn't have too much of any impact on anyone other than me and my family.
Christmas itself went OK. It was the same as usual really. My sister and brother in law spent Christmas Day with us and travelled to Shropshire this morning to spend Boxing Day with his family. I spent today with my parents and failed to win any board, card or work games.
I wasn't given many gifts as my main present was subscription for Time Out magazine which is great, but not the kind of thing you can wrap up and put under the tree. I got El Camino by The Black Keys (I'm really excited about seeing them at Alexandra Palace in February), the first volume of The Carrie Diaries (which I will be reading in secret in the flat), some silicone baking tins, the new Hummingbird Bakery cake book, a silver scarf and lots of chocolate and socks and things.
I'm off work for the rest of this week and will be trying to find some new furniture in the sale as I've outgrown some of the pieces I got when I first moved in. Then on Saturday I'll be seeing in the new year at a wedding in Central London. I'm so excited :)
Work was closed on Friday as it was our annual Christmas privilege day. I was woken up at around 10.30am (I was tired!) by someone ringing the doorbell. Obviously I wasn't dressed so I didn't answer. The bell rang again that afternoon when I'd just got out of the shower. By the time I'd put enough clothes on to be decent whoever it was had gone away. A bit later on I went out and noticed a note stuck to my neighbour's front door. The note was urging the occupant to contact the person in the flat below as water was pouring into into his bathroom seemingly from her flat. I was slightly worried but reasoned that it was unlikely to be anything to do with me as all my pipes are on the other side of the flat and if they were leaking the water would most likely be ending up in the flat directly below mine.
I'm a born worrier so I there was still a niggling feeling of dread at the back of my mind. On Christmas Eve I went to Kingston to pick up some last bits of shopping, then went to my parents' house to collect some gifts that had been delivered there. When I got home the guy from downstairs rang the doorbell and asked whether I knew how to contact the girl next door. I didn't and told him I thought she was away as I hadn't heard her moving around for a while. After he'd gone I decided to investigate my pipework and found that water was dripping from the pipe leading in to the toilet cistern. I knew that area of the bathroom was a bit damp but had put it down to condensation from cold water coming in to warm bathroom. I put a towel round the pipe and thought I'd sort it out after Christmas. Unfortunately, I'd badly underestimated the amount of water dripping out. Within a couple of hours the towel was soaked. It was quite late by this stage so I wrapped another, larger towel around the pipe, put another towel on the bathroom floor and went to bed.
When I woke up on Christmas morning, both towels were soaked and half the bathroom floor was flooded. At this stage I did what any slightly useless lone female with a water leak on Christmas morning would do... I phoned my Dad. By 11am he'd turned off the water going in to the cistern and declared that a new washer was needed. Thank goodness my Dad is so good at fixing stuff. I dread to think how expensive and stressful it would have been trying to find an emergency plumber on Christmas Day.
This morning, my parents came to collect me at 10.30am and we went on an exciting trip to Homebase to buy a new part. The shop was practically empty. I think everyone else shopping there was trying to sort out some kind of household emergency. A lot of people seemed to be buying new kettles... Anyway, we got the new part and Dad had fitted it by lunchtime.
Hopefully, the crisis is over. The girl next door doesn't seem to be back yet and the guy from downstairs hasn't been up again. If it was my leak that damaged his flat we'll have to sort it out through the insurance. All in all a bit of Christmas drama I could have done without but which hopefully didn't have too much of any impact on anyone other than me and my family.
Christmas itself went OK. It was the same as usual really. My sister and brother in law spent Christmas Day with us and travelled to Shropshire this morning to spend Boxing Day with his family. I spent today with my parents and failed to win any board, card or work games.
I wasn't given many gifts as my main present was subscription for Time Out magazine which is great, but not the kind of thing you can wrap up and put under the tree. I got El Camino by The Black Keys (I'm really excited about seeing them at Alexandra Palace in February), the first volume of The Carrie Diaries (which I will be reading in secret in the flat), some silicone baking tins, the new Hummingbird Bakery cake book, a silver scarf and lots of chocolate and socks and things.
I'm off work for the rest of this week and will be trying to find some new furniture in the sale as I've outgrown some of the pieces I got when I first moved in. Then on Saturday I'll be seeing in the new year at a wedding in Central London. I'm so excited :)
Wow it's hot! I think the temperature must have hit about 30 degrees today. Although I moan about the seemingly random nature of the temperature control at work I was extremely grateful for the air con today.
I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I know it's corny but I genuinely think it's true that everything seems better when the sun is shining. I also had a really enjoyable weekend which was much needed after a stressful week. It's odd because I was alone the whole time. From when I left work on Friday night to when I arrived back at work this morning I didn't communicate verbally with a single person other than shop assistants and bus drivers. Most of my weekend was spent watching or listening to BBC Glastonbury coverage. I loved it! Also, as I was in the flat I took the opportunity to get some jobs done. I cleared stuff out from the storage part of the coffee table and figured out why one of my kitchen drawers wouldn't shut. I actually felt quite accomplished when all my household jobs were complete before bedtime on Sunday.
The next few weeks are going to be tough at work but there's some fun stuff in the pipeline too. I'm going to Wireless 2011 in Hyde Park this Saturday where I'll hopefully get to see The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin, Chase and Status and Janelle Monae. A big group of us is going so I'm trying to figure out the best tactics for getting to see the acts that I want to see. My plan is to make a longlist and then start working on the other members of the group. If I get to see a couple of them I'll come away happy. The timings were published today and fortunately most of the acts I want to see are on at different times so fingers crossed. After the mudfest which was Glastonbury I decided it was time to invest in some proper wet weather gear. Yesterday, I trudged off to Kingston in almost 30 degree heat and got myself a pair of wellies and a rain mac. Now the weather has turned so I'll be going out later in the week to buy a sun hat. UK weather, don't you just love it!
On Friday, it's our work summer party and someone's leaving do. I'm currently working with friends to come up with a plan for attending both events (which are about half a mile apart at the same time). Whatever happens there will be alcohol, lots of it. Bring on the Pimms!
Also, my union has called a nationwide strike this Thursday so I'm going on strike for the first time ever. A slightly scary prospect.
All is going well with the new phone so far. I've only managed to phone someone by accident once. I've even managed to wean myself off of Angry Birds for now. I'm loving having a phone which has reception at work. It makes life so much easier. I'm currently ripping CDs on to my laptop and then on to the phone so I can get rid of my mp3 player. Last night I attempted to copy all the tracks from my mp3 player directly to the phone but then realised that the mp3 player didn't have all the album artwork on it so tonight I'm doing it all over again. The archivist in me likes things to be filed correctly :)
I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. I know it's corny but I genuinely think it's true that everything seems better when the sun is shining. I also had a really enjoyable weekend which was much needed after a stressful week. It's odd because I was alone the whole time. From when I left work on Friday night to when I arrived back at work this morning I didn't communicate verbally with a single person other than shop assistants and bus drivers. Most of my weekend was spent watching or listening to BBC Glastonbury coverage. I loved it! Also, as I was in the flat I took the opportunity to get some jobs done. I cleared stuff out from the storage part of the coffee table and figured out why one of my kitchen drawers wouldn't shut. I actually felt quite accomplished when all my household jobs were complete before bedtime on Sunday.
The next few weeks are going to be tough at work but there's some fun stuff in the pipeline too. I'm going to Wireless 2011 in Hyde Park this Saturday where I'll hopefully get to see The Chemical Brothers, Aphex Twin, Chase and Status and Janelle Monae. A big group of us is going so I'm trying to figure out the best tactics for getting to see the acts that I want to see. My plan is to make a longlist and then start working on the other members of the group. If I get to see a couple of them I'll come away happy. The timings were published today and fortunately most of the acts I want to see are on at different times so fingers crossed. After the mudfest which was Glastonbury I decided it was time to invest in some proper wet weather gear. Yesterday, I trudged off to Kingston in almost 30 degree heat and got myself a pair of wellies and a rain mac. Now the weather has turned so I'll be going out later in the week to buy a sun hat. UK weather, don't you just love it!
On Friday, it's our work summer party and someone's leaving do. I'm currently working with friends to come up with a plan for attending both events (which are about half a mile apart at the same time). Whatever happens there will be alcohol, lots of it. Bring on the Pimms!
Also, my union has called a nationwide strike this Thursday so I'm going on strike for the first time ever. A slightly scary prospect.
All is going well with the new phone so far. I've only managed to phone someone by accident once. I've even managed to wean myself off of Angry Birds for now. I'm loving having a phone which has reception at work. It makes life so much easier. I'm currently ripping CDs on to my laptop and then on to the phone so I can get rid of my mp3 player. Last night I attempted to copy all the tracks from my mp3 player directly to the phone but then realised that the mp3 player didn't have all the album artwork on it so tonight I'm doing it all over again. The archivist in me likes things to be filed correctly :)
My decorating is complete. I finished painting the bathroom at 8pm this evening as planned. Hurrah! Both the bathroom and the fourth bedroom wall look much better after a second coat of paint. The most valuable lesson I've learnt through this process is not to worry too much about what the wall looks like after the first coat as most minor problems can be sorted out with a second coat. The blue wall in my bedroom looked really patchy after the first coat but after a careful second coat it looks fine. I now just need to hang the new curtains and get the stuff back into my bedroom. The 200+ books which normally live on bookcases in my bedroom are currently stacked on the top shelf of my wardrobe. It's going to take some time to replace them. I'm going to take the opportunity to rearrange the shelves a bit. Also, at the moment one whole shelf is taken up with folders and notebooks containing notes from my PG Dip. I'm not sure whether or not I should keep them. On one hand, this represents a lot of work and some of it might be useful again one day. On the other hand, I finished the course almost four years ago, I don't work in HR anymore and I don't plan to in the future and quite a lot of the stuff reflected in the notes is likely to be out of date already. I hate throwing things away so it's a difficult decision. I've still got a few things to buy. I'm going to replace my elderly, faded green towels with white ones and I need new bed linen to match the new colour scheme. Finally, there is still some stuff in my old bedroom at my parents' house which needs to be rehomed here. Most of it is just old collections from my childhood (badges, keyrings, letters from penfriends etc.) and notes from my first degree which can all go in one of the newish under bed boxes. The 50 odd VHS tapes of episodes of The Tribe my mum taped off the TV for me when I was away at uni in a place with horrific C5 reception can stay with my parents for now as, for reasons I don't remember, both my VHS players seem to live there.
In other news I watched two BBC4 shows about music from 1991 this evening. The first was about the album Screamadelica by Primal Scream. I only discovered Primal Scream relatively recently after a work colleague told me he was going to see them in concert. I was only 10 in 1991 so I guess I was a bit young to be appreciating the contribution the album was making to modern music (I've been trying to remember what I was listening to in 1991 and I have no idea) but I recognised quite a few of the songs. The second show was a selection of performances of what they described as acid house influenced rock tracks from 1991. I was suprised by some of the selections as many seemed to be more pure acid house tracks (808 State, The Shamen) than rock crossovers. Then at the end they showed the (in)famous footage of Nirvana's Top of the Pops debut during which Kurt Cobain appears to attempt to swallow the microphone. Now, I get the feeling Nirvana were influenced by acid (amongst other dubious substances) during this period but I really don't think that they were influenced by acid house. Anyway, most of the footage was taken from Top of the Pops which was going through its 'party in the studio involving lots of balloons hosted by Gary Davies' phase. This was clearly an era in which performers generally mimed their way through TOTP. Most obviously in this show The Happy Mondays as Shaun Ryder wasn't even singing into the mic! It got me thinking about the way kids must get a different experience of music these days. When I was at junior school I'd watch TOTP every Thursday night with my mum and younger sister. Mum would move the coffee table out of the way so that we could dance around our tiny living room. I'm sure I didn't realise which artists were miming (although mum would often complain about it) and I'm sure I wasn't aware how off their faces the artists were. I guess by the time I was old enough to twig this we'd moved out of the acid house era and people were less obviously drugged up. Things are so different for kids now. I assume that they mostly come into contact with music through super slick, mega expensive videos shown on music channels and online. They probably don't relish 'interestingly' styled bands miming badly for half an hour a week. It seems so absurd that an obviously talented live band like Blur would mime their way through TOTP whilst Kurt Cobain would sing to a backing track whilst the rest of the band mimed playing their instruments badly in the background. Strange times. I guess the difference now is that a lot of the music in the commercial charts now isn't performed by 'bands'. Much of it is performed to highly computerised backing track so it's easier for the main performer to sing live. 'Rock' bands seem to be largely outside of the mainstream and only perform in environments such as 'Later' where everything is set up for them to play live. I'll return to my thoughts on music at another time.
On the subject of music it looks like Spotify is moving towards a pay model. It's now only possible to listen to any individual track five times on the free model. I object on principle to having to pay for the service but I get the feeling I'm going to end up paying £4.99 a month for basic membership just because I use it so much. I guess £4.99 a month is pretty good value for being able to listen to tracks a limitless number of times when an single album is still around £5 to buy on CD.
It also looks like I'm going to two day festivals this year. I've already got my ticket for the Saturday of Wireless in Hyde Park (headlined by the Chemical Brothers with Aphex Twin and Janelle Monet playing during the day) and I'm hoping to go to the Sunday of Lovebox in Victoria Park (headlined by 2 Many DJs and The Scissor Sisters). The summer looks like it's going to be good this year :)
In other news I watched two BBC4 shows about music from 1991 this evening. The first was about the album Screamadelica by Primal Scream. I only discovered Primal Scream relatively recently after a work colleague told me he was going to see them in concert. I was only 10 in 1991 so I guess I was a bit young to be appreciating the contribution the album was making to modern music (I've been trying to remember what I was listening to in 1991 and I have no idea) but I recognised quite a few of the songs. The second show was a selection of performances of what they described as acid house influenced rock tracks from 1991. I was suprised by some of the selections as many seemed to be more pure acid house tracks (808 State, The Shamen) than rock crossovers. Then at the end they showed the (in)famous footage of Nirvana's Top of the Pops debut during which Kurt Cobain appears to attempt to swallow the microphone. Now, I get the feeling Nirvana were influenced by acid (amongst other dubious substances) during this period but I really don't think that they were influenced by acid house. Anyway, most of the footage was taken from Top of the Pops which was going through its 'party in the studio involving lots of balloons hosted by Gary Davies' phase. This was clearly an era in which performers generally mimed their way through TOTP. Most obviously in this show The Happy Mondays as Shaun Ryder wasn't even singing into the mic! It got me thinking about the way kids must get a different experience of music these days. When I was at junior school I'd watch TOTP every Thursday night with my mum and younger sister. Mum would move the coffee table out of the way so that we could dance around our tiny living room. I'm sure I didn't realise which artists were miming (although mum would often complain about it) and I'm sure I wasn't aware how off their faces the artists were. I guess by the time I was old enough to twig this we'd moved out of the acid house era and people were less obviously drugged up. Things are so different for kids now. I assume that they mostly come into contact with music through super slick, mega expensive videos shown on music channels and online. They probably don't relish 'interestingly' styled bands miming badly for half an hour a week. It seems so absurd that an obviously talented live band like Blur would mime their way through TOTP whilst Kurt Cobain would sing to a backing track whilst the rest of the band mimed playing their instruments badly in the background. Strange times. I guess the difference now is that a lot of the music in the commercial charts now isn't performed by 'bands'. Much of it is performed to highly computerised backing track so it's easier for the main performer to sing live. 'Rock' bands seem to be largely outside of the mainstream and only perform in environments such as 'Later' where everything is set up for them to play live. I'll return to my thoughts on music at another time.
On the subject of music it looks like Spotify is moving towards a pay model. It's now only possible to listen to any individual track five times on the free model. I object on principle to having to pay for the service but I get the feeling I'm going to end up paying £4.99 a month for basic membership just because I use it so much. I guess £4.99 a month is pretty good value for being able to listen to tracks a limitless number of times when an single album is still around £5 to buy on CD.
It also looks like I'm going to two day festivals this year. I've already got my ticket for the Saturday of Wireless in Hyde Park (headlined by the Chemical Brothers with Aphex Twin and Janelle Monet playing during the day) and I'm hoping to go to the Sunday of Lovebox in Victoria Park (headlined by 2 Many DJs and The Scissor Sisters). The summer looks like it's going to be good this year :)
The one in which i-just-hide returns...
May. 6th, 2011 12:02 amI'm back! I have a new laptop and a new router so I'm finally able to rejoin the 21st century. I looked back through my FB posts and worked out that I've been without the internet for around 11 weeks. I can't believe I lasted that long. I've been staying vaguely connected by using the (woefully slow) cyber cafe at work when desperate and checking in from my mum's PC every Sunday. I think I've managed to keep up to date with most important stuff on Facebook and Hotmail and I'm able to check Twitter from my desk at work anyway so I hope I haven't missed anything vital. I feel a bit guilty about anyone I've not been able to wish a happy birthday because of the lack of FB so if you fit into that category I'm sorry and will try and do better next year. I now have over 600 emails to sort out in Hotmail. They are all from businesses rather than contacts so I feel a bulk deletion session coming on.
Tomorrow is my last day of 2.5 weeks annual leave. I decided to take advantage of the Bank Holiday season to do some desperately needed decorating. I set myself a target of painting the bathroom, re-sealing part of the bath, filling the crack in my bedroom wall, painting my bedroom and replacing the curtain rail in the bedroom. I'm not doing too badly. I need to do one more coat on about half of the bathroom and one more coat on one of the bedroom walls. Then it's just a case of moving all the furniture back into the bedroom and getting dad to put up a shelf in the living room and a finger plate on the front door. I'm aiming to finish the painting tomorrow, The process hasn't gone too badly. The worst thing has been coping with having all the stuff from the bedroom (apart from the bed) in the living room. There is currently about 2 square metres of spare floor space in my fairly large living room. I'll be pleased when it's all finished.
I've tried to alternate one day of decorating with one day of fun stuff in an attempt to try and stay motivated. It seems to have worked as I haven't slacked off at all.
On Easter Saturday I went to Oxfordshire for my aunt and uncle's golden wedding anniversary party. It was nice to see all my 2nd and 3rd cousins who are nearly all teenagers now. That made me feel a bit old. In keeping with family tradition we played a selection of silly games. I proved that I'm not competent at sucking a pea through a straw and moving it across the room. I'll remember not to include that skill on my CV in future!
Last week I met up with a friend in central London. I'd planned that we would look at the exhibition currently showing on the South Bank and grab some food at the Royal Festival Hall or the NT. However, I'd failed to realise that most of the complex was shut for the few days between Easter and the Royal Wedding so we ended up walking up to Westminster Abbey to see what was going on. We saw lots of tourists, some of the crazy people already camping across the road on the Wednesday to ensure they got the front spot and zillions of media teams from all over the world.
On Friday I watched the wedding on TV. I am slightly ashamed of myself about this and will not be admitting it to anyone at work.
Earlier this week I went to the Museum of London with my parents to see the London Street Photography exhibition. We also looked around the newly refurbished modern galleries. It was the first time I'd been to the Museum of London for many years and I really enjoyed it. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a free day out in the city. We were there from 11.30am - 5pm and we saw less than half of the permanent exhibitions. In the evening I treated my parents to tickets to see Smash! at the Menier Chocolate Factory, an independent theatre in South London. This marked the second time in as many months that I'd been in a theatre audience with a famous person. Back in April I was in the audience of 'Shoes: the musical' with Gok Wan and then I was in the audience of 'Smash!' with Steve Coogan. I was literally standing right next to him as we left the theatre. My parents had no idea who he was!
Today I went to Balham for lunch with my friend and her 7 month old son. We had lunch in a lovely boutique cafe and then went for a walk on Tooting Common. The little-un was positively angelic and the sun came out in the afternoon to allow us to wander around. I felt a bit guiltly that I still haven't finished sewing the baby's christening gift. He was Christened in April and it's still not finished. I'm doing the final stage at the moment but I've run out of one colour of thread and will have to send to the USA for an extra bit. My aim now is to finish it before he's too old to want it on his bedroom wall. A highly scientific survey of males (I asked the bloke who sits diagonally opposite from me at work!) informed me that it'll probably be OK until he's about 7. I'm pretty sure it'll be done by then! However, I think not having the internet has helped as I didn't have that to distract me in the evenings. I'm going to have to be disciplined in the coming weeks. I haven't done anything to it this evening.
So tomorrow is reserved for finishing painting and Saturday for moving furniture. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by Sunday. Then it's back to work on Monday. Time flies when you're having fun.
Tomorrow is my last day of 2.5 weeks annual leave. I decided to take advantage of the Bank Holiday season to do some desperately needed decorating. I set myself a target of painting the bathroom, re-sealing part of the bath, filling the crack in my bedroom wall, painting my bedroom and replacing the curtain rail in the bedroom. I'm not doing too badly. I need to do one more coat on about half of the bathroom and one more coat on one of the bedroom walls. Then it's just a case of moving all the furniture back into the bedroom and getting dad to put up a shelf in the living room and a finger plate on the front door. I'm aiming to finish the painting tomorrow, The process hasn't gone too badly. The worst thing has been coping with having all the stuff from the bedroom (apart from the bed) in the living room. There is currently about 2 square metres of spare floor space in my fairly large living room. I'll be pleased when it's all finished.
I've tried to alternate one day of decorating with one day of fun stuff in an attempt to try and stay motivated. It seems to have worked as I haven't slacked off at all.
On Easter Saturday I went to Oxfordshire for my aunt and uncle's golden wedding anniversary party. It was nice to see all my 2nd and 3rd cousins who are nearly all teenagers now. That made me feel a bit old. In keeping with family tradition we played a selection of silly games. I proved that I'm not competent at sucking a pea through a straw and moving it across the room. I'll remember not to include that skill on my CV in future!
Last week I met up with a friend in central London. I'd planned that we would look at the exhibition currently showing on the South Bank and grab some food at the Royal Festival Hall or the NT. However, I'd failed to realise that most of the complex was shut for the few days between Easter and the Royal Wedding so we ended up walking up to Westminster Abbey to see what was going on. We saw lots of tourists, some of the crazy people already camping across the road on the Wednesday to ensure they got the front spot and zillions of media teams from all over the world.
On Friday I watched the wedding on TV. I am slightly ashamed of myself about this and will not be admitting it to anyone at work.
Earlier this week I went to the Museum of London with my parents to see the London Street Photography exhibition. We also looked around the newly refurbished modern galleries. It was the first time I'd been to the Museum of London for many years and I really enjoyed it. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a free day out in the city. We were there from 11.30am - 5pm and we saw less than half of the permanent exhibitions. In the evening I treated my parents to tickets to see Smash! at the Menier Chocolate Factory, an independent theatre in South London. This marked the second time in as many months that I'd been in a theatre audience with a famous person. Back in April I was in the audience of 'Shoes: the musical' with Gok Wan and then I was in the audience of 'Smash!' with Steve Coogan. I was literally standing right next to him as we left the theatre. My parents had no idea who he was!
Today I went to Balham for lunch with my friend and her 7 month old son. We had lunch in a lovely boutique cafe and then went for a walk on Tooting Common. The little-un was positively angelic and the sun came out in the afternoon to allow us to wander around. I felt a bit guiltly that I still haven't finished sewing the baby's christening gift. He was Christened in April and it's still not finished. I'm doing the final stage at the moment but I've run out of one colour of thread and will have to send to the USA for an extra bit. My aim now is to finish it before he's too old to want it on his bedroom wall. A highly scientific survey of males (I asked the bloke who sits diagonally opposite from me at work!) informed me that it'll probably be OK until he's about 7. I'm pretty sure it'll be done by then! However, I think not having the internet has helped as I didn't have that to distract me in the evenings. I'm going to have to be disciplined in the coming weeks. I haven't done anything to it this evening.
So tomorrow is reserved for finishing painting and Saturday for moving furniture. Hopefully, everything will be back to normal by Sunday. Then it's back to work on Monday. Time flies when you're having fun.
Tags:
I'm not happy.
Yesterday I resealed my bath. Obviously it was more difficult than it looked. DIY stuff always is. My major error was cutting the nozzle on the tube of sealant to the middle setting rather than using the smallest one. In hindsight I should have tried using the smallest setting first and then adjusting it later. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The excess sealant means that it now looks messy. Where there was previously a nice straight, narrow line, there is now a wonky, splodgy line. When I'd finished it I sat on the bathroom floor and sobbed. This morning I felt a bit better about it. The sealant looks messy but at least it looks like the bath has been sealed effectively and won't be flooding the flat downstairs. Additionally, it looks nice and white rather than black and mouldy. Some of the sealant behind the taps was previously mouldy all the way through. Finally it's not like it's permanent. In a year or so it will have gone mouldy and will need replacing again. I can either do a better job next time or get a professional in to do it. It's not the end of the world by a long way. The whole DIY thing gets on my nerves a bit. Sometimes I wish I could afford to pay someone to do these types of jobs. Other times I think that I <i>should</i> be able to do these little things myself. I am an independent woman. I need to be self sufficient to some extent. I'd never attempt anything complicated or potentially dangerous (like plumbing for example) but I should be able to cope with a bit of light decorating. Oh well, it's done now.
I'm also unhappy because I've missed out on piano lessons this term. I went to open evening at the College on Monday because I had some queries about the course. When I spoke to the tutor there were still six places left on the course. I went away to think about it and by the time I attempted to book on Thursday night it was full. Now I'm going to have to wait until January. I'm going to be sooooo bored this term. All my friends are really busy or have moved to Watford (only one friend has moved to Watford, it's not a mass exodus or anything!) What am I going to do with myself?
Finally, I'm a bit fed up with Nationwide building society. They keep sending me letters telling me that my mortgage deal is going to expire on 31st October 2009 and urging me to phone the branch to make an appointment to discuss it with someone. I've failed to get through to them on the phone several times and no one answered so I went in on Saturday morning to try and make an appointment in person. When I asked the assistant she told me that they no longer have mortgage advisors in branch and I need to speak to the call centre. I don't want to speak to the call centre. I want to have a face to face meeting with a human being. I had several meetings at that same branch when I originally got my mortgage and they were great. It makes me want to move my mortgage but if I did that I'd have to pay a £1000 early repayment charge and there's no saying that another lender would be any more helpful thatn Nationwide. Argh!
On a more positive note, I've been looking at B&Bs in Nottinghamshire with mum in preparation for our short break at half term. We're going to do some family history stuff in Bottesford (near Belvoir Castle) and hopefully explore the area a bit.
I watched the final episode of ER last night. I've never been an ER fan as I don't cope very well with blood, gore and death but I can appreciate that it was ground breaking TV. I watched a few episodes of the final series and I thought it was done very well. It was great that they managed to get many former cast members to return for odd episodes (even one whose character died on screen!) I hate it when important former characters are forgotten in shows (like when peoples relatives fail to attend their weddings in soaps). It was also nice to see the very beautiful Parminder Nagra as leading lady of the final season flying the flag for us Brits (and Thandie Newton and Alex Kingston in the final show).
Oooh, and I bought clothes today. I got a winter coat for the bargainous price of £35, a black sweater dress reduced to £12 and a grey cardie for work for £15 all in New Look. I'm going to buy a couple of V necked jumpers in Dorothy Perkins then my winter work wardobe should be sorted.
Yesterday I resealed my bath. Obviously it was more difficult than it looked. DIY stuff always is. My major error was cutting the nozzle on the tube of sealant to the middle setting rather than using the smallest one. In hindsight I should have tried using the smallest setting first and then adjusting it later. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The excess sealant means that it now looks messy. Where there was previously a nice straight, narrow line, there is now a wonky, splodgy line. When I'd finished it I sat on the bathroom floor and sobbed. This morning I felt a bit better about it. The sealant looks messy but at least it looks like the bath has been sealed effectively and won't be flooding the flat downstairs. Additionally, it looks nice and white rather than black and mouldy. Some of the sealant behind the taps was previously mouldy all the way through. Finally it's not like it's permanent. In a year or so it will have gone mouldy and will need replacing again. I can either do a better job next time or get a professional in to do it. It's not the end of the world by a long way. The whole DIY thing gets on my nerves a bit. Sometimes I wish I could afford to pay someone to do these types of jobs. Other times I think that I <i>should</i> be able to do these little things myself. I am an independent woman. I need to be self sufficient to some extent. I'd never attempt anything complicated or potentially dangerous (like plumbing for example) but I should be able to cope with a bit of light decorating. Oh well, it's done now.
I'm also unhappy because I've missed out on piano lessons this term. I went to open evening at the College on Monday because I had some queries about the course. When I spoke to the tutor there were still six places left on the course. I went away to think about it and by the time I attempted to book on Thursday night it was full. Now I'm going to have to wait until January. I'm going to be sooooo bored this term. All my friends are really busy or have moved to Watford (only one friend has moved to Watford, it's not a mass exodus or anything!) What am I going to do with myself?
Finally, I'm a bit fed up with Nationwide building society. They keep sending me letters telling me that my mortgage deal is going to expire on 31st October 2009 and urging me to phone the branch to make an appointment to discuss it with someone. I've failed to get through to them on the phone several times and no one answered so I went in on Saturday morning to try and make an appointment in person. When I asked the assistant she told me that they no longer have mortgage advisors in branch and I need to speak to the call centre. I don't want to speak to the call centre. I want to have a face to face meeting with a human being. I had several meetings at that same branch when I originally got my mortgage and they were great. It makes me want to move my mortgage but if I did that I'd have to pay a £1000 early repayment charge and there's no saying that another lender would be any more helpful thatn Nationwide. Argh!
On a more positive note, I've been looking at B&Bs in Nottinghamshire with mum in preparation for our short break at half term. We're going to do some family history stuff in Bottesford (near Belvoir Castle) and hopefully explore the area a bit.
I watched the final episode of ER last night. I've never been an ER fan as I don't cope very well with blood, gore and death but I can appreciate that it was ground breaking TV. I watched a few episodes of the final series and I thought it was done very well. It was great that they managed to get many former cast members to return for odd episodes (even one whose character died on screen!) I hate it when important former characters are forgotten in shows (like when peoples relatives fail to attend their weddings in soaps). It was also nice to see the very beautiful Parminder Nagra as leading lady of the final season flying the flag for us Brits (and Thandie Newton and Alex Kingston in the final show).
Oooh, and I bought clothes today. I got a winter coat for the bargainous price of £35, a black sweater dress reduced to £12 and a grey cardie for work for £15 all in New Look. I'm going to buy a couple of V necked jumpers in Dorothy Perkins then my winter work wardobe should be sorted.
Green fingers?
Jun. 6th, 2009 11:29 pmThe population of the balcony of chez i-just-hide has increased by four. Mum and dad took me to the garden centre this morning and I ended up spending £30. Bertie (the box tree) now has a sunflower, a standard marguerite and two other flowering plants whose names I can't remember to keep him company. They look quite good at the moment. I hope they survive through the summer. The marguerite I had last year got a nasty parasite and died so I'm hoping for better luck this time around. I've replaced the soil and mum disinfected the pot so fingers crossed it should be OK. In order to plant the new arrivals I had to empty the pot containing the daffodils and hyacinths. The hyacinths I bought this year didn't come up which left me left me a bit disappointed. I now know why they didn't come up, the bulbs had rotted away. Stupid rainy spring messing up my balcony display!
Speaking of rain it's been drizzling pretty much all day today. Within a week I've gone from complaining about the heat and wearing summer clothes to wishing I'd worn my winter coat to the garden centre. The thermometer says that it's 24 degrees at the moment which isn't actually terribly cold, but after the weather we had earlier this week it feels freezing. I'm wearing a chunky knit cardie! Let's hope the rain is all coming now so it's lovely and sunny on 4th July for my sister's wedding and my friend's 30th birthday.
This morning I collected my bridesmaid dress. It had been altered and was originally much too tight but the tailor took it back and let it out a bit. It's still tight but at least I can breathe now. It has to be quite tight to stay up on someone as flat chested as yours truly. Sis is talking about changing into jeans and a t-shirt for the Reception. I might do the same so I can at least have something to eat.
Next week is my last week at work. It feels really strange leaving after four and a half years. I'm going to have to take lots and lots of photos of the wonderful building which houses my office so I remember how great it was to work there.
Right, I'm off to try and find footage of Boris Johnson falling in a river on YouTube. Mum has informed me that it's the funniest thing she's seen in a long time. In this era of political angst it's good to see that it's business as usual for Boris the baffoon.
Speaking of rain it's been drizzling pretty much all day today. Within a week I've gone from complaining about the heat and wearing summer clothes to wishing I'd worn my winter coat to the garden centre. The thermometer says that it's 24 degrees at the moment which isn't actually terribly cold, but after the weather we had earlier this week it feels freezing. I'm wearing a chunky knit cardie! Let's hope the rain is all coming now so it's lovely and sunny on 4th July for my sister's wedding and my friend's 30th birthday.
This morning I collected my bridesmaid dress. It had been altered and was originally much too tight but the tailor took it back and let it out a bit. It's still tight but at least I can breathe now. It has to be quite tight to stay up on someone as flat chested as yours truly. Sis is talking about changing into jeans and a t-shirt for the Reception. I might do the same so I can at least have something to eat.
Next week is my last week at work. It feels really strange leaving after four and a half years. I'm going to have to take lots and lots of photos of the wonderful building which houses my office so I remember how great it was to work there.
Right, I'm off to try and find footage of Boris Johnson falling in a river on YouTube. Mum has informed me that it's the funniest thing she's seen in a long time. In this era of political angst it's good to see that it's business as usual for Boris the baffoon.
What a feeling dah, dah, dah d dah!
Apr. 10th, 2009 11:37 pmGosh! It's been absolutely ages since I updated properly.
I am currently feeling accomplished. This evening I finished painting my living room/kitchen ceiling all by myself. I'd never painted anything before and didn't expect it to be an easy job so it's good to know that it's now complete without any major disasters occuring. One problem I hadn't anticipated was that it is quite tricky painting something the same colour it is already as it's difficult to tell which bits you've painted already and which you haven't. I tried to work in a logical order but once you've gone down the ladder, put more paint on your roller and then climbed back up the ladder again it's easy to forget where you were. Anyway, it's done now. It's not the best paint job ever. You can clearly see that it's patchy and some areas are better covered than others however it is just the ceiling and I'm hoping people won't look to closely. Most importantly, the patch of Coca Cola blotches over the sofa are now gone so it's mission successful. I've spent the last few days living in chaos as the furniture has been all over the place. The process of moving stuff out of the living room has reminded me of two things (a) what a nice, big space it is and (b) how much better it looks when it is tidy. I'm now considering some changes to the furniture. Also I was given a large piggy bank as a late birthday present which won't fit on any of my living room surfaces at present. It'd be good to have a nice big display shelf to put it on so it doesn't languish in my bedroom forever.
I'm doubley pleased with myself for completing the painting as I'm really quite unwell at the moment. I woke up with a sore throat on Tuesday morning, wasn't too bad on Wednesday, sore throat returned on Thursday and has now turned into a chesty cough which I have a horrible suspiscion may be an 'upper respiratory tract infection'. I had my tonsils out when I was six and I now seem to get such and infection when everyone around me has tonisilitis. Fingers crossed it goes away with me having to go to the Drs for antibiotics. I didn't sleep well last night as I kept waking up to cough which is why I'm still awake now. I'm hoping if I make myself tired enough I'll sleep through. Typical that I get ill whilst I'm on annual leave. I was talking about this to Mr Mole earlier on and it probably is the fact that my body has 'allowed' me to get ill this week whilst my guard is down. Bother.
( We love the 1980s )
I took this week off work as annual leave. The main purpose was to paint the ceiling, however on Monday my Dad suggested that we go on a trip to Blenhiem Palace. Blenhiem Palace is in Oxfordshire. It's famous because it's a Baroque style building and it's enormous. It's also famous because Winston Churchill was born there and later proposed to his wife there. It is quite an impressive place. The architecture is certainly different. It's made out of a yellowy coloured limestone which is quite unusual. You enter through a big courtyard which is covered in gravel. It wasn't a very sunny day when we visited and it all seemed quite bleak. Mum said that it could do with a few pot plants for interest! Inside, the decor is all about excess. The palace was built in commemoration of the first Duke of Marlborough's victory at the Battle of Blenheim and the whole place is full of references to this. There's a massive mural on the ceiling of the entrance hall showing him giving the note stating that he'd won the battle to none other than Britannia. When I say massive, I mean massive. It's in a similar style to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. There is also a whole series of huge tapesteries and a silver table centre all about the battle. In the grounds there is a Nelson's Column style column with the Duke on the top, with a blow by blow account of the battle written on the lower parts. We walked over the the column through a field full of very woolly sheep who were doing a good job of keeping the grass short. It would be fair to say that the Marlborough's weren't modest at all! The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough still live there some of the time. The Duke is in his 80s and married his fourth wife in December. He's disinherited his oldest son because he doesn't approve of his lifestyle. Don't you just love the British aristocracy!
That's all for now. I'd better get some sleep. I've got a trial at the hairdressers for my bridesmaid hair tomorrow afternoon. Very excited (and nervous!)
I am currently feeling accomplished. This evening I finished painting my living room/kitchen ceiling all by myself. I'd never painted anything before and didn't expect it to be an easy job so it's good to know that it's now complete without any major disasters occuring. One problem I hadn't anticipated was that it is quite tricky painting something the same colour it is already as it's difficult to tell which bits you've painted already and which you haven't. I tried to work in a logical order but once you've gone down the ladder, put more paint on your roller and then climbed back up the ladder again it's easy to forget where you were. Anyway, it's done now. It's not the best paint job ever. You can clearly see that it's patchy and some areas are better covered than others however it is just the ceiling and I'm hoping people won't look to closely. Most importantly, the patch of Coca Cola blotches over the sofa are now gone so it's mission successful. I've spent the last few days living in chaos as the furniture has been all over the place. The process of moving stuff out of the living room has reminded me of two things (a) what a nice, big space it is and (b) how much better it looks when it is tidy. I'm now considering some changes to the furniture. Also I was given a large piggy bank as a late birthday present which won't fit on any of my living room surfaces at present. It'd be good to have a nice big display shelf to put it on so it doesn't languish in my bedroom forever.
I'm doubley pleased with myself for completing the painting as I'm really quite unwell at the moment. I woke up with a sore throat on Tuesday morning, wasn't too bad on Wednesday, sore throat returned on Thursday and has now turned into a chesty cough which I have a horrible suspiscion may be an 'upper respiratory tract infection'. I had my tonsils out when I was six and I now seem to get such and infection when everyone around me has tonisilitis. Fingers crossed it goes away with me having to go to the Drs for antibiotics. I didn't sleep well last night as I kept waking up to cough which is why I'm still awake now. I'm hoping if I make myself tired enough I'll sleep through. Typical that I get ill whilst I'm on annual leave. I was talking about this to Mr Mole earlier on and it probably is the fact that my body has 'allowed' me to get ill this week whilst my guard is down. Bother.
( We love the 1980s )
I took this week off work as annual leave. The main purpose was to paint the ceiling, however on Monday my Dad suggested that we go on a trip to Blenhiem Palace. Blenhiem Palace is in Oxfordshire. It's famous because it's a Baroque style building and it's enormous. It's also famous because Winston Churchill was born there and later proposed to his wife there. It is quite an impressive place. The architecture is certainly different. It's made out of a yellowy coloured limestone which is quite unusual. You enter through a big courtyard which is covered in gravel. It wasn't a very sunny day when we visited and it all seemed quite bleak. Mum said that it could do with a few pot plants for interest! Inside, the decor is all about excess. The palace was built in commemoration of the first Duke of Marlborough's victory at the Battle of Blenheim and the whole place is full of references to this. There's a massive mural on the ceiling of the entrance hall showing him giving the note stating that he'd won the battle to none other than Britannia. When I say massive, I mean massive. It's in a similar style to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. There is also a whole series of huge tapesteries and a silver table centre all about the battle. In the grounds there is a Nelson's Column style column with the Duke on the top, with a blow by blow account of the battle written on the lower parts. We walked over the the column through a field full of very woolly sheep who were doing a good job of keeping the grass short. It would be fair to say that the Marlborough's weren't modest at all! The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough still live there some of the time. The Duke is in his 80s and married his fourth wife in December. He's disinherited his oldest son because he doesn't approve of his lifestyle. Don't you just love the British aristocracy!
That's all for now. I'd better get some sleep. I've got a trial at the hairdressers for my bridesmaid hair tomorrow afternoon. Very excited (and nervous!)
I'm unloved and unwanted...
May. 9th, 2008 10:44 pmMy tap still won't turn off properly. My dad isn't going to be able to come and look at it until next weekend at the earliest :(
My Galilleo Thermometer is informing me that it's 26 degrees in the flat. It's been uncomfortably hot in the office all day. I urgently need to buy some summer clothes. I went to Primark yesterday and bought a grey hoodie to wear around the flat which wasn't really what I went in for. Today I bought a pair of smart black 'city shorts' from New Look. I haven't tried them on yet but I'm hoping they'll do for work. If they don't fit I'm going to keep them to encourage me to lose weight. My colleague is doing Weight Watchers which is inspiring me. I'll feel much better if I'm a size 10 again. I started by doing a work out DVD today and I'm going to try and keep it up.
Watched 'Curse of the Were Rabbit' yesterday night. It was good but not as 'laugh out loud' funny as I'd hoped it would be. I love the amazing attention to detail that goes in to the Wallace and Grommit films and I adore Grommit. What a hero! I wonder what LoveFilm will send me next.
No real plans for the weekend. Will probably go shopping tomorrow, then do my recycling and sort out the flat on Sunday.
I can't believe how fast the academic year is going. Only 7 weeks until the end of term now.
My Galilleo Thermometer is informing me that it's 26 degrees in the flat. It's been uncomfortably hot in the office all day. I urgently need to buy some summer clothes. I went to Primark yesterday and bought a grey hoodie to wear around the flat which wasn't really what I went in for. Today I bought a pair of smart black 'city shorts' from New Look. I haven't tried them on yet but I'm hoping they'll do for work. If they don't fit I'm going to keep them to encourage me to lose weight. My colleague is doing Weight Watchers which is inspiring me. I'll feel much better if I'm a size 10 again. I started by doing a work out DVD today and I'm going to try and keep it up.
Watched 'Curse of the Were Rabbit' yesterday night. It was good but not as 'laugh out loud' funny as I'd hoped it would be. I love the amazing attention to detail that goes in to the Wallace and Grommit films and I adore Grommit. What a hero! I wonder what LoveFilm will send me next.
No real plans for the weekend. Will probably go shopping tomorrow, then do my recycling and sort out the flat on Sunday.
I can't believe how fast the academic year is going. Only 7 weeks until the end of term now.
I have been a lazy livejournaler. Facebook is taking up an increasing amount of my limited online time and I fear that my trusty LJ is being neglected. The following entry is my attempt to redress the balance.
Last Wednesday I went to Ikea in Croydon with a uni friend. We went on the tram from Wimbledon which was quite exciting for me. Trams are cool. Sort of like the lovechild of a bus and a train, but cheap and without traffic jams. My shopping list consisted of the following items:
A new cover for my sofa
Dividers for top drawer of chest of drawers
Dish drainer
Cutlery dish for kitchen drawer
Coat hangers for trousers
I returned with the following:
A large stainless steel bowl
Two replacement heads for toilet brush
Magnets for fridge door
Fish slice
Glass jug
Coat hangers for trousers
Two lampshades
As you can see from the discrepancies between the two lists the trip was not very sucessful. This was made worse by the fact that the bowl wouldn't fit into any of the many kitchen cupboards except the extra large corner cupboard. As a result I had to rearrange all my crockery to squeeze it in. This process reminded me of the puzzles they used to have on the Crystal Maze! I was particularly irritated that they didn't have any covers for my sofa. I have a standard Klippan sofa which currently has a black cover. All I want is more colourful one and every time I go there they're sold out. Tut! Additionally, I finally relented and purchased two paper sphere lampshades for the lights my lounge and bedroom. I don't like them but they are the only ones I can find which fit the high tech, super energy saving light fittings in my flat. The light in the hall is causing more problems as the bathroom door skims the light bulb by a few millimetres when it opens. A paper lampshade would be destroyed in no time. The trip wasn't a complete disaster though. I had a very nice (and very cheap) dinner of meatballs followed by chocolate mousse and it was good to catch up with my friend.
On Saturday I went to a garden centre with mum and dad to choose some plants to put on my tiny balcony. I really wanted a small tree and some big daisies. We got the small tree but daisies seem to be out of season at the moment so I got dark pink petunias instead. The pot which the petunias are in will be my 'seasonal' pot. I'll re-plant them each season with a suitable plant. I'm looking forward to some winter pansies in a few months time. Mum helped me put the plants in the pots and on Sunday night we bought them back to the flat. They are now brightening up my balcony a treat. I think I need one more slightly taller plant to set it all off but I'll have to wait until I have more cash.
There's been some good TV this week. I enjoyed DanceX on Saturday although I thought Bruno made the wrong decision when he ditched Becky. Also, the sleazy looking Maltese guy who Arlene rates so much is a dreadful singer. He was so out of tune in that second song it made me cringe! Roll on next week.
I also enjoyed Sanjeev Bhaskar's show about India and Saira Khan's show about Pakistan. I knew a bit about India but practically nothing about Pakistan despite having many friends and work colleagues of Pakistani descent so it was really interesting to see inside the country.
And in food news... I managed to destroy a marinaded chicken breast this evening. I think there was too much excess marinade on the chicken when I put it on the grill because it burnt. When I picked the burnt bits off it was quite nice underneath. Oh well, I certainly live and learn when it comes to cookery. I'll be testing the baking credentials of the oven on Friday night when I make cakes for my friend's barbeque. I've got my fingers and toes crossed for sucess in this feat.
The burnt dinner didn't matter too much as I went out for a Thai meal at lunch time. It was a double leaving do and 27 people turned up. There was only one waitress and she coped admirably under the circumstances. The meal was pretty good for only £4.75. However, I wish people would stop asking me about my exam results. I'm trying to forget about them!
Some readers may know that I had a bit of an emotional time over the weekend. Both Cardiff Bloke and my ever dependable Mum deserve big thanks for putting up with me and providing wise advice.
Right, time for bed.
Last Wednesday I went to Ikea in Croydon with a uni friend. We went on the tram from Wimbledon which was quite exciting for me. Trams are cool. Sort of like the lovechild of a bus and a train, but cheap and without traffic jams. My shopping list consisted of the following items:
I returned with the following:
As you can see from the discrepancies between the two lists the trip was not very sucessful. This was made worse by the fact that the bowl wouldn't fit into any of the many kitchen cupboards except the extra large corner cupboard. As a result I had to rearrange all my crockery to squeeze it in. This process reminded me of the puzzles they used to have on the Crystal Maze! I was particularly irritated that they didn't have any covers for my sofa. I have a standard Klippan sofa which currently has a black cover. All I want is more colourful one and every time I go there they're sold out. Tut! Additionally, I finally relented and purchased two paper sphere lampshades for the lights my lounge and bedroom. I don't like them but they are the only ones I can find which fit the high tech, super energy saving light fittings in my flat. The light in the hall is causing more problems as the bathroom door skims the light bulb by a few millimetres when it opens. A paper lampshade would be destroyed in no time. The trip wasn't a complete disaster though. I had a very nice (and very cheap) dinner of meatballs followed by chocolate mousse and it was good to catch up with my friend.
On Saturday I went to a garden centre with mum and dad to choose some plants to put on my tiny balcony. I really wanted a small tree and some big daisies. We got the small tree but daisies seem to be out of season at the moment so I got dark pink petunias instead. The pot which the petunias are in will be my 'seasonal' pot. I'll re-plant them each season with a suitable plant. I'm looking forward to some winter pansies in a few months time. Mum helped me put the plants in the pots and on Sunday night we bought them back to the flat. They are now brightening up my balcony a treat. I think I need one more slightly taller plant to set it all off but I'll have to wait until I have more cash.
There's been some good TV this week. I enjoyed DanceX on Saturday although I thought Bruno made the wrong decision when he ditched Becky. Also, the sleazy looking Maltese guy who Arlene rates so much is a dreadful singer. He was so out of tune in that second song it made me cringe! Roll on next week.
I also enjoyed Sanjeev Bhaskar's show about India and Saira Khan's show about Pakistan. I knew a bit about India but practically nothing about Pakistan despite having many friends and work colleagues of Pakistani descent so it was really interesting to see inside the country.
And in food news... I managed to destroy a marinaded chicken breast this evening. I think there was too much excess marinade on the chicken when I put it on the grill because it burnt. When I picked the burnt bits off it was quite nice underneath. Oh well, I certainly live and learn when it comes to cookery. I'll be testing the baking credentials of the oven on Friday night when I make cakes for my friend's barbeque. I've got my fingers and toes crossed for sucess in this feat.
The burnt dinner didn't matter too much as I went out for a Thai meal at lunch time. It was a double leaving do and 27 people turned up. There was only one waitress and she coped admirably under the circumstances. The meal was pretty good for only £4.75. However, I wish people would stop asking me about my exam results. I'm trying to forget about them!
Some readers may know that I had a bit of an emotional time over the weekend. Both Cardiff Bloke and my ever dependable Mum deserve big thanks for putting up with me and providing wise advice.
Right, time for bed.
More grumbles...
Nov. 5th, 2006 09:04 pmSometime on Friday my mobile phone ceased to work. It was fine in the morning when I phoned the housing association about the dodgy heater in the living room but by the evening it was defunct. The handset is fine but the account is dead. I'm on O2 pay as you talk and I've never had any problems before but now when people try to call me it gives the message "this number is not in use" and it won't dial out at all. I went into the O2 shop yesterday and they put me through to customer services who told me there was a message attached to my number for them to capture my details and they would phone me back in five days time. I pointed out that this was going to be a bit difficult as my mobile wasn't working and I can't take lengthy phone calls on my office phone during the day. The operator asked me if I had a spare mobile! Now they're going to phone the house during the week and I'm going to have to borrow someone's mobile at work to call them back. I had a right go at the guy on the phone because I can't understand what's happened. The only thing I can come up with is that someone with a very similar number to mine has reported their phone stolen and O2 have disabled mine instead. In any case, don't bother phoning me on my mobile as nothing will happen. Even though I don't use my mobile much I feel like I've lost a vital part of my existence. When LJ was on the blink last night I felt really uneasy. How sad am I?!
In better news, we've sorted some more stuff at the flat. Dad's going to take me to Kingston on Thursday night to collect my crockery and then I'll finally be ready to move in. Just need to stick up the full length mirror and sort out the high tech kitchen bin now.
Went to see some brilliant fireworks on Streatham Common on Friday night. They were free and went on for 25 minutes. I went with my friend, her fiance and her sister and they are so lovely. They even made mulled wine and took it along in a flask. The fireworks at Kempton Park Racecourse cost £7.50 to get in this year. I'm suprised anyone goes when you can see a display like the Streatham one for free.
In better news, we've sorted some more stuff at the flat. Dad's going to take me to Kingston on Thursday night to collect my crockery and then I'll finally be ready to move in. Just need to stick up the full length mirror and sort out the high tech kitchen bin now.
Went to see some brilliant fireworks on Streatham Common on Friday night. They were free and went on for 25 minutes. I went with my friend, her fiance and her sister and they are so lovely. They even made mulled wine and took it along in a flask. The fireworks at Kempton Park Racecourse cost £7.50 to get in this year. I'm suprised anyone goes when you can see a display like the Streatham one for free.
Deforestation starts here...
Oct. 27th, 2006 08:30 pmFurniture comes with so much packaging. After 10 years or so as a dedicated recycler I think I've undone all my good work in the space of a fortnight. On the plus side, the flat is starting to look habitable now. Only one bit of furniture remains un-assembled and that's the coffee table which isn't really essential. My dad has informed me that the wrong screws have been sent with it, but I'm not going to start complaining until I've had a thourough look at it myself as the diagram is very confusing. The bedroom furniture arrived on schedule yesterday in the hands of a very grumpy delivery driver who proclaimed that there was nowhere to park and that he'd been told off for parking in the Blockbuster carpark opposite. I pointed out that the area directly outside my block was a dedicated loading bay, but he wasn't convinced. I felt like informing him that two Argos delivery men with much larger vans had managed without moaning on Saturday when the traffic was worse but I held my tongue. The bedroom furniture is great though. My dad proclaimed it 'very solid' which it darned well should be for the price I paid. I'm pleased that the chests of drawers arrived without the knobs attached as I was planning on buying different ones anyway. When I first looked at the flat the bedroom seemed tiny but it actually looks bigger with the furniture in it. Think I might have to put a blackout blind behind the curtains though as the station is lit all night. The lounge is finished now apart from the aforementioned coffee table. Dad finished off the dining table today whilst mum and I put the panels on the vertical blind. The blind was nearly a disaster as we cut the panels incorrectly but we managed to salvage the situation. Let this be a lesson to you reader... if you purchase vertical blind panels from Argos they are not all the same length therefore deciding to shorten them by measuring the length needing to be cut off and cutting the same amount off of each panel it won't work very well to say the least. It does look good now it's sorted though. Unfortunately, it doesn't block out much light and I can't afford curtains so anyone who has to stay in the lounge may not sleep very well. The BT man is coming next Thursday to sort out the phone line so I need to sort out when I'm going to move my general stuff from here to the flat. Mum and I also hope to complete the general jobs on Thursday like fixing the full length mirror.
I've also discovered the horrors of the bin store this week. It's smelly, horrible and full of flies. Urrgghh! I'll be trying not to go in there very often.
Very much enjoyed seeing Julia Sawalha in 'Who do you think you are?' on Wednesday evening. Quite sad that despite being the highest rated show for the timeslot her episode had the lowest viewing figures for the entire series. It seems that quite a few people opted for the first episode of 'Torchwood' on BBC2 instead. Julia came across both as someone close to her family and as someone genuinely interested in her family history. It always amuses me that she is most famous for the roles of Lynda Day and Saffy Monsoon, characters who rarely laugh, yet she laughs all the time in real life. She must have a natural ability to keep a straight face when all manner of hilarity is going on around her. Now I hope that she decides to return to acting. In my eyes she is the actor who never grew up. I read an interview done some years ago in which she said her agent was advising her not to take so many teenage roles but she wanted to as she felt it would giver her career longevity. She has played a few adults noteably in Jonathon Creek and early 90s movies etc. but all her 'big' roles were teenagers. I think the last one was 'Pride and Prejudice' in which she was about 28 playing a 16 year old. Jonathon Creek was a shame as it was past it's best by the time Julia joined. I think many viewers gave up when Caroline Quentin left as they were only watching for the Jonathon/Maggie spark. Also the stories didn't seem quite as clever in the Julia episodes. Anyway, she's nearly 40 now and looks just as amazing as she did in Press Gang 13 years ago, so it's time for her to do something brilliant and resurrect her career. Dexter Fletcher managed to establish himself as an adult actor in 'Lock, Stock' so Julia now needs to do something similar, although with less gratuitous violence obviously.
On a completely different note,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
violetcreme has reminded me that I forgot to write up laurasplog's stand up gig which I attended a couple of weeks ago, so here it is. I went along with my sister, her boyfriend and some of their friends to The Cricketers in Kingston to see the Laughing Horse comedy night which is held there every Saturday. laurasplog was waiting by the bar when we arrived but I didn't go and speak to her as I wasn't sure she'd recognise me and I felt that going and randomly asking "Do you ping?" in front of her fellow stand ups may cause embarrasment and confusion. We each paid our fiver and took our seat. I'd never been to a stand up gig before and was bit nervous as I knew audience members are often picked on from the stage. One of my sister's friends wanted to sit right at the front but we managed to talk her out of that idea. This was good as the first thing the MC did was ridicule the jobs of the people sitting right at the front and I think, as I'm a Personnel Administrator, I would've been easy pickings. The first act was a very charismatic South African guy who joked about happy slapping and being mugged. Doesn't sound like great subject matter but it was actually a very good warm up. Laura was on next and her act was a complete contrast to the first guy. She reminded me a bit of Jo Brand only happier, thinner and with better dress sense. Her jokes are observational and probably appeal to women more than men. My party particularly enjoyed the ones about speed dating as one of our number is a speed dating veteren. I feel a need at this point to inform laurasplog that not all blokes called Barry are a dead loss. I will elaborate if asked but possibly in a locked post! Back to the gig, I though her act went down very well so early on in the evening. The crowd wasn't particularly charismatic but she got some good laughs. I'll definitely go and see her again when she's next in the area. The evening continued with some good acts and some bad ones. The guy who followed Laura on was gay and autistic and had based his act around these points. Unfortunately, he was very nervous and didn't really find the level of the audience. The guy after him was obviously much more experienced and sent us off the interval in a good mood. After the break there were two very funny acts with an inexperienced guy who ran out of material after about five minutes in between. Throughout the evening my group had to keep being told to be quiet my the MC. My sister's friends are a bit louder than the people I normally hang around with. The night was also noteable as I tried Magners for the first time. It was an enjoyable experience as I like cider but I gave up drinking it years ago as my friendship groups always considered it to be suitable only for old men and kids hanging aroung getting drunk in parks. Thank you Magners for making cider socially acceptable again!
I've also discovered the horrors of the bin store this week. It's smelly, horrible and full of flies. Urrgghh! I'll be trying not to go in there very often.
Very much enjoyed seeing Julia Sawalha in 'Who do you think you are?' on Wednesday evening. Quite sad that despite being the highest rated show for the timeslot her episode had the lowest viewing figures for the entire series. It seems that quite a few people opted for the first episode of 'Torchwood' on BBC2 instead. Julia came across both as someone close to her family and as someone genuinely interested in her family history. It always amuses me that she is most famous for the roles of Lynda Day and Saffy Monsoon, characters who rarely laugh, yet she laughs all the time in real life. She must have a natural ability to keep a straight face when all manner of hilarity is going on around her. Now I hope that she decides to return to acting. In my eyes she is the actor who never grew up. I read an interview done some years ago in which she said her agent was advising her not to take so many teenage roles but she wanted to as she felt it would giver her career longevity. She has played a few adults noteably in Jonathon Creek and early 90s movies etc. but all her 'big' roles were teenagers. I think the last one was 'Pride and Prejudice' in which she was about 28 playing a 16 year old. Jonathon Creek was a shame as it was past it's best by the time Julia joined. I think many viewers gave up when Caroline Quentin left as they were only watching for the Jonathon/Maggie spark. Also the stories didn't seem quite as clever in the Julia episodes. Anyway, she's nearly 40 now and looks just as amazing as she did in Press Gang 13 years ago, so it's time for her to do something brilliant and resurrect her career. Dexter Fletcher managed to establish himself as an adult actor in 'Lock, Stock' so Julia now needs to do something similar, although with less gratuitous violence obviously.
On a completely different note,
violetcreme has reminded me that I forgot to write up laurasplog's stand up gig which I attended a couple of weeks ago, so here it is. I went along with my sister, her boyfriend and some of their friends to The Cricketers in Kingston to see the Laughing Horse comedy night which is held there every Saturday. laurasplog was waiting by the bar when we arrived but I didn't go and speak to her as I wasn't sure she'd recognise me and I felt that going and randomly asking "Do you ping?" in front of her fellow stand ups may cause embarrasment and confusion. We each paid our fiver and took our seat. I'd never been to a stand up gig before and was bit nervous as I knew audience members are often picked on from the stage. One of my sister's friends wanted to sit right at the front but we managed to talk her out of that idea. This was good as the first thing the MC did was ridicule the jobs of the people sitting right at the front and I think, as I'm a Personnel Administrator, I would've been easy pickings. The first act was a very charismatic South African guy who joked about happy slapping and being mugged. Doesn't sound like great subject matter but it was actually a very good warm up. Laura was on next and her act was a complete contrast to the first guy. She reminded me a bit of Jo Brand only happier, thinner and with better dress sense. Her jokes are observational and probably appeal to women more than men. My party particularly enjoyed the ones about speed dating as one of our number is a speed dating veteren. I feel a need at this point to inform laurasplog that not all blokes called Barry are a dead loss. I will elaborate if asked but possibly in a locked post! Back to the gig, I though her act went down very well so early on in the evening. The crowd wasn't particularly charismatic but she got some good laughs. I'll definitely go and see her again when she's next in the area. The evening continued with some good acts and some bad ones. The guy who followed Laura on was gay and autistic and had based his act around these points. Unfortunately, he was very nervous and didn't really find the level of the audience. The guy after him was obviously much more experienced and sent us off the interval in a good mood. After the break there were two very funny acts with an inexperienced guy who ran out of material after about five minutes in between. Throughout the evening my group had to keep being told to be quiet my the MC. My sister's friends are a bit louder than the people I normally hang around with. The night was also noteable as I tried Magners for the first time. It was an enjoyable experience as I like cider but I gave up drinking it years ago as my friendship groups always considered it to be suitable only for old men and kids hanging aroung getting drunk in parks. Thank you Magners for making cider socially acceptable again!
Why do things never go to plan?
Oct. 20th, 2006 08:34 pmWhen I ordered some furniture at Argos last Friday I had a nagging feeling that the assistant didn't really know what he was doing. I really would've been better off ordering online or over the phone but my home town has just been urban regenerated and we now have proper shops for the first time, like, ever so I wanted to support them. The assistant asked me whether I wanted the stuff to be delivered between 7am - 12pm or between 12pm - 6pm. I opted for 12pm - 6pm as I'm not currently living at the flat and I didn't fancy having to leave the house at 6.45am and walking for 15 mins to get there. The assistant then said the slot wasn't available so I'd have to make do with the morning. Fine. When the receipt was printed it stated that they'd be delivering between 12pm - 6pm. Confused. Anyway, he said they'd phone to confirm the time so I waited patiently. I still hadn't received a call by lunch time today so I phoned customer services. It transpired that one of my items, a dining table, is an Argos Direct product which is delivered by a different company to the rest of my products which are just normal Argos stock. The normal Argos stock can only be delivered in the morning whilst the table was scheduled to be delivered in the afternoon. Really, the assistant should have told me this so I could've asked for both to come in the morning. Now I'm potentially stuck in an almost empty flat all day waiting for stuff to be delivered. My plan to go shopping with my parents in the morning to grab blinds and a mirror are now scuppered. Great!
On the plus side I managed to buy a beautiful pair of lined purple curtains in the Debenhams blue cross sale reduced from £60 to £25. Now I just need a curtain pole.
Nothing else very exciting has happened since I last posted. It's all been about the flat really. Looking forward to Julia Sawalha's 'Who do you think you are?' next Wednesday. Watched Extras, Mitchell and Webb and Mock the Week yesterday night and didn't enjoy any of them. I'm still rating Arrested Development though.
Thank you_mardybum_ for sending back my Maid Marian DVD. I'm tempted to invest in series two when the finances have sorted themselves out.
On the plus side I managed to buy a beautiful pair of lined purple curtains in the Debenhams blue cross sale reduced from £60 to £25. Now I just need a curtain pole.
Nothing else very exciting has happened since I last posted. It's all been about the flat really. Looking forward to Julia Sawalha's 'Who do you think you are?' next Wednesday. Watched Extras, Mitchell and Webb and Mock the Week yesterday night and didn't enjoy any of them. I'm still rating Arrested Development though.
Thank you
_mardybum_ for sending back my Maid Marian DVD. I'm tempted to invest in series two when the finances have sorted themselves out.Flat update...
Oct. 14th, 2006 10:11 pmMy day started off badly. Having held on the phone to BT for 15 minutes yesterday and then given up I tried again this morning. On the first attempt I waited in a queue for 10 minutes before the call was answered. Only a few seconds into the conversation they cut me off. On the second attempt I actually got through to someone and managed to sort stuff out. It transpires that they won't be able to set me up with a phone line until 2nd November as that's the next free slot the engineer has. I also have to pay £160 to be set up even though BT installed not one, not two, but three phone sockets in the flat whilst it was being built. I don't understand why I have to wait two weeks, take another afternoon off work and pay £160 for an engineer to turn up and flick a switch. Grrrrr. Unfortunately, I don't trust any other phone companies so I'll have to make do with it.
On the subject of phone lines etc. I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give me about broadband providers. At the moment I use AOL dialup and I'm keen to switch. I know that Cardiff Bloke always seemed to be having trouble with NTL broadband and I can't get cable in the flat anyway. I'm also a bit scared by signing up to talktalk as there was a report on the news saying so many people had signed up the company is now in financial trouble. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
After the BT woe I went off to IKEA in Croydon with my sister and her boyfriend. I am now the proud owner of a sofa, a desk, a set of desk drawers, two bookcases, a set of cutlery, some coasters (essential purchase those!), a loo brush and lots of coathangers (mainly for my mum). My sister and her boyfriend purchased a new bed which caused more agro than all my stuff put together as it had to be bought down from the warehouse especially for them. The journey back was a bit stressfull as there was loads of traffic around Kempton Park Racecourse (should've checked whether there was racing on before we left) and we were stuck in crawling traffic for ages. I hate travelling by road. The real fun started when we had to unload my stuff from the van and get it into the flat. Fortunately, my sister and her boyfriend have moved houses loads of times and work like a well oiled machine. My block of flats is really odd as the entrance is on the corner of a busy road and the road leading into a carpark. The pavement around the corner has a barrier separating it from the road. We parked the van behind the barrier, my sister jumped over the barrier and her boyfriend and I passed all the stuff to her. Then we walked round and lugged it all into the foyer of the building. Next we moved all the stuff into the lift foyer. The lifts are quite small so we loaded most of the stuff into the lift and I went up with it whilst the others loaded the sofa and one of the bookcases into the other lift. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the bookcase out of the lift on my own and it shot off down to the ground floor, no doubt confusing whoever had called the lift! At that point the other lift appeared so my sister's boyfriend pressed one, and jumped out quick so we could retrieve the bookcase. Everything is now in my flat but it all needs putting together. That'll give me something to think about next weekend whilst I'm waiting for Argos to deliver. Next thing to think about is curtains for the bedroom. I'm so bad at decisions!
On the subject of phone lines etc. I'd appreciate any advice anyone can give me about broadband providers. At the moment I use AOL dialup and I'm keen to switch. I know that Cardiff Bloke always seemed to be having trouble with NTL broadband and I can't get cable in the flat anyway. I'm also a bit scared by signing up to talktalk as there was a report on the news saying so many people had signed up the company is now in financial trouble. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
After the BT woe I went off to IKEA in Croydon with my sister and her boyfriend. I am now the proud owner of a sofa, a desk, a set of desk drawers, two bookcases, a set of cutlery, some coasters (essential purchase those!), a loo brush and lots of coathangers (mainly for my mum). My sister and her boyfriend purchased a new bed which caused more agro than all my stuff put together as it had to be bought down from the warehouse especially for them. The journey back was a bit stressfull as there was loads of traffic around Kempton Park Racecourse (should've checked whether there was racing on before we left) and we were stuck in crawling traffic for ages. I hate travelling by road. The real fun started when we had to unload my stuff from the van and get it into the flat. Fortunately, my sister and her boyfriend have moved houses loads of times and work like a well oiled machine. My block of flats is really odd as the entrance is on the corner of a busy road and the road leading into a carpark. The pavement around the corner has a barrier separating it from the road. We parked the van behind the barrier, my sister jumped over the barrier and her boyfriend and I passed all the stuff to her. Then we walked round and lugged it all into the foyer of the building. Next we moved all the stuff into the lift foyer. The lifts are quite small so we loaded most of the stuff into the lift and I went up with it whilst the others loaded the sofa and one of the bookcases into the other lift. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the bookcase out of the lift on my own and it shot off down to the ground floor, no doubt confusing whoever had called the lift! At that point the other lift appeared so my sister's boyfriend pressed one, and jumped out quick so we could retrieve the bookcase. Everything is now in my flat but it all needs putting together. That'll give me something to think about next weekend whilst I'm waiting for Argos to deliver. Next thing to think about is curtains for the bedroom. I'm so bad at decisions!
New Flat Edit
Oct. 14th, 2006 09:53 pmIt has been pointed out to me that the last link to photos didn't actually work. Looks like photobucket have made some changes to their set up since I last posted two years ago!
Anyway, I hope these links work better:
( Kitchen )
( Bathroom )
( View from Balcony to South )
( View from Balcony of Station )
( View from Balcony of Heathrow )
Anyway, I hope these links work better:
( Kitchen )
( Bathroom )
( View from Balcony to South )
( View from Balcony of Station )
( View from Balcony of Heathrow )
Proper grown up!
Oct. 13th, 2006 08:56 pmI am now a home owner which is, in my opinion, one step further towards being a 'proper grown up'. Technically I only own a 50% share of the flat with the housing association still holding on to the other half but as everyone keeps saying it's a step on the ladder. If anyone is interested there are some photos here . You can see that I'm very close to both the station and Heathrow airport. As I don't do flying one of these will be much more useful than the other. It also means that no one has an excuse not to visit despite the lack of parking. Talking of the lack of parking there was a letter in my mailbox from someone else in the block complaining about the lack of parking, stating that the NCP carpark next door was very expensive and requesting that everyone raise the issue with the council. I'm sorry but I have little sympathy with this person. It was clear when viewing the block that there was no parking nearby and I made a point of asking about it before I decided to buy the flat. I'm aware that beggars can't be choosers when moving into social housing but still I'd think that if you were that desperate to own a car you'd find somewhere else to live. I don't know what the council will be able to do about it either. They can't magic up parking spaces in a very crowded area and everyone knows that NCP are an evil and expensive private company. I've been past the MD's house in Teddington and it's gigantic!
Anyway, I now have enough keys to consider opening a key shop. I just hope I don't lose them all. I also have a lot to set up and lots of manuals to read through. I spent 15 minutes on hold to BT today and still didn't get through so I hope this won't be the case with all the other companies I have to contact. I also discovered that my water rates are included in the service charge to that means there was something I budgeted for which I won't have to pay :) All my required furniture is either on order or being purchased in IKEA tomorrow. Big thanks to my sister's boyfriend who has hired a van and is driving me to Croydon tomorrow. He used to work for Pickfords so I'm hoping he'll help carry everything up to the flat without taking chunks out of the new plaster. I ordered four items from Argos this afternoon and it's being delivered next Saturday. I'm not entirely convinced that it's going to turn up though as the guy who served me was incredibly nervous when he found out it was all home delivery and went to pieces a bit. Initially he asked me which timeslot I wanted and I requested the afternoon. He then said the afternoon wasn't available so it would have to be delivered between 7am and 12noon which is really inconvenient as I won't be living at the flat then so I'd have to get to the other end of town for 7am on a Saturday. Then when the receipt printed out it gave the afternoon times! Goodness knows what was going on there. I should've ordered online or over the phone.
The housing association gave me a welcome basket which I wasn't expecting. It consisted of posh Twinnings tea, coffee, a small bottle of red wine, a small bottle of white wine, some shortbread biscuits, some sweets and a duster. I'll be needing the duster as the builders haven't tidied up after themselves very well.
Sadly, I can't live at the flat until my bed is delivered and that could be another fortnight. At least that will give me a chance to get things sorted out ready to move. My life is chaos at the moment.
I've volunteered to take part in a research project at work which is looking at how part time post grad students organise their study. I'm hoping it'll guilt trip me into working harder. At the moment I do most of my work in the 40 mins Arrested Development is on TV every Sunday night. This is obviously not a good thing as I have twice as much work to do this year.
In other exciting news, I've been invited to my friend's hen weekend next February. We're taking over an entire self catering block in a country house hotel for the weekend. It's going to be so much fun :)
Entertainment wise I've missed several things I wanted to see. This included Mitchell and Webb on BBC2 and Rubbish on Radio 4. I'm most disappointed about Rubbish as the Radio Times doesn't list Paul Reynolds as appearing this week. I did however find time to post an episode review of Breakfast at Czars (first episode of series two of Press Gang to the uninitiated) to Holding On. Really looking forward to the rest of the discussions for S2 as it's by far the best series in my opinion.
Anyway, I now have enough keys to consider opening a key shop. I just hope I don't lose them all. I also have a lot to set up and lots of manuals to read through. I spent 15 minutes on hold to BT today and still didn't get through so I hope this won't be the case with all the other companies I have to contact. I also discovered that my water rates are included in the service charge to that means there was something I budgeted for which I won't have to pay :) All my required furniture is either on order or being purchased in IKEA tomorrow. Big thanks to my sister's boyfriend who has hired a van and is driving me to Croydon tomorrow. He used to work for Pickfords so I'm hoping he'll help carry everything up to the flat without taking chunks out of the new plaster. I ordered four items from Argos this afternoon and it's being delivered next Saturday. I'm not entirely convinced that it's going to turn up though as the guy who served me was incredibly nervous when he found out it was all home delivery and went to pieces a bit. Initially he asked me which timeslot I wanted and I requested the afternoon. He then said the afternoon wasn't available so it would have to be delivered between 7am and 12noon which is really inconvenient as I won't be living at the flat then so I'd have to get to the other end of town for 7am on a Saturday. Then when the receipt printed out it gave the afternoon times! Goodness knows what was going on there. I should've ordered online or over the phone.
The housing association gave me a welcome basket which I wasn't expecting. It consisted of posh Twinnings tea, coffee, a small bottle of red wine, a small bottle of white wine, some shortbread biscuits, some sweets and a duster. I'll be needing the duster as the builders haven't tidied up after themselves very well.
Sadly, I can't live at the flat until my bed is delivered and that could be another fortnight. At least that will give me a chance to get things sorted out ready to move. My life is chaos at the moment.
I've volunteered to take part in a research project at work which is looking at how part time post grad students organise their study. I'm hoping it'll guilt trip me into working harder. At the moment I do most of my work in the 40 mins Arrested Development is on TV every Sunday night. This is obviously not a good thing as I have twice as much work to do this year.
In other exciting news, I've been invited to my friend's hen weekend next February. We're taking over an entire self catering block in a country house hotel for the weekend. It's going to be so much fun :)
Entertainment wise I've missed several things I wanted to see. This included Mitchell and Webb on BBC2 and Rubbish on Radio 4. I'm most disappointed about Rubbish as the Radio Times doesn't list Paul Reynolds as appearing this week. I did however find time to post an episode review of Breakfast at Czars (first episode of series two of Press Gang to the uninitiated) to Holding On. Really looking forward to the rest of the discussions for S2 as it's by far the best series in my opinion.
