Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Fat ladies in floral print make me feel sick and I've seen two of them today.
The most horrific was the one I saw through a pub window, she was about two feet wide with a short garish flower print dress on that had a hole cut out of the back so that everyone could see her pale, clammy, fat, sweaty back. I'm not being cruel, this is what it actually looked like and it made me feel queesy. I think the cruel person here was who ever said to this person "go on, wear it, you look alright." Cruel to her and cruel to the rest of Upper Street. I felt strongly enough about it at the time to point her out to Mark who turned around just in time to see her take a tumble as she crossed the road out side screen on the green. And I feel strongly enough about it now to dedicate a blog entry to it. Not a very good one I admit, but still, this has taken time to write when I could be restlessly tossing and turning and keeping Mark awake.
The other one wasn't nearly as dramatic, but I was pished by the time I saw her and full up on vegetable and goats cheese lasagne. She just made me remember the first one and now it's an image I don't think I'll ever forget!
The most horrific was the one I saw through a pub window, she was about two feet wide with a short garish flower print dress on that had a hole cut out of the back so that everyone could see her pale, clammy, fat, sweaty back. I'm not being cruel, this is what it actually looked like and it made me feel queesy. I think the cruel person here was who ever said to this person "go on, wear it, you look alright." Cruel to her and cruel to the rest of Upper Street. I felt strongly enough about it at the time to point her out to Mark who turned around just in time to see her take a tumble as she crossed the road out side screen on the green. And I feel strongly enough about it now to dedicate a blog entry to it. Not a very good one I admit, but still, this has taken time to write when I could be restlessly tossing and turning and keeping Mark awake.
The other one wasn't nearly as dramatic, but I was pished by the time I saw her and full up on vegetable and goats cheese lasagne. She just made me remember the first one and now it's an image I don't think I'll ever forget!
Friday, 26 June 2009
Wacko Jacko's Dead!
I thought that was worth a mention, there's an interesting conspiracy theory that's been going around for at least 5 years and it states that MJ has actually been dead for over twenty: Decide for yourself.
Well, I don't want to talk about that. I wanted to say that I had a day off from hospital visits last night and went for an impromptu picnic after work. It was lovely. It was Marks idea, we took a few bottles of beer got some crisps and dips on the way and sat in the park on Cambridge Heath Road. We sat on the grass, chatted, ate, drank and read-him The Time Machine me The Phantom of The Opera, until the evening sun became too weak to warm us and we headed home. He had his arm around my shoulders all the way home, I don't usually like what I call "ownership" contact, but I found this quite comforting and I was strangely proud that people would see that I belong to him (and vice-versa). When we got back I did some internet shopping for his Birthday present-I wont tell you what in case he's reading, but I think I've outdone myself this year. He has an army of pressies-that's the only hint you're getting!
It was simply a pleasent evening, I got enough sleep did some enjoyable things and woke up this morning feeling fresh. I shall be back at the hospital tonight and this weekend is anyones guess. But I had one good night I can think about that and smile.
Supplimentary : The post has come and Mark has had an 'Hello Kitty' tee shirt sent to me at work! It's pink, I love it!
Well, I don't want to talk about that. I wanted to say that I had a day off from hospital visits last night and went for an impromptu picnic after work. It was lovely. It was Marks idea, we took a few bottles of beer got some crisps and dips on the way and sat in the park on Cambridge Heath Road. We sat on the grass, chatted, ate, drank and read-him The Time Machine me The Phantom of The Opera, until the evening sun became too weak to warm us and we headed home. He had his arm around my shoulders all the way home, I don't usually like what I call "ownership" contact, but I found this quite comforting and I was strangely proud that people would see that I belong to him (and vice-versa). When we got back I did some internet shopping for his Birthday present-I wont tell you what in case he's reading, but I think I've outdone myself this year. He has an army of pressies-that's the only hint you're getting!
It was simply a pleasent evening, I got enough sleep did some enjoyable things and woke up this morning feeling fresh. I shall be back at the hospital tonight and this weekend is anyones guess. But I had one good night I can think about that and smile.
Supplimentary : The post has come and Mark has had an 'Hello Kitty' tee shirt sent to me at work! It's pink, I love it!
Monday, 22 June 2009
War of the Worlds!
I saw it at the O2 yesterday. I bought the tickets for Mark's Birthday and when I booked it I thought it was going to be a play, or a mustical with an orchestra. So I made sure we got good seats on the floor, in the middle, next to an aisle. Now, Mark has seen it before, when he was 18 in Manchester from a broom cupboard about 5 floors away from the stage, and he'd told me this so I thought-get the best seats possible. When I told him I'd got them for him and all the trouble I'd gone to to make sure we could see the show. Imagine my disdain when I found out that the show is just the music. It's a sodding orchestra, that's all. With a few singers.
Ah, well. It's not my show, I'm sure he'll love it. I've had a hard weekend for other reasons that I don't want to go into on here, but we left with plenty of time so that we could eat before we went in. We took the tube from Aldgate East to Monument then walked over ground to Bank and got the tube again to London Bridge to discover that the Jubilee line is suspended due to planned engineering works. Bugger. So we get a replacement bus, then a local bus service and had about 45 minutes spare, not really long enough to sit down and eatm but certainly long enough for atake away. So it was burgers all round, sitting on a bench in the O2. Nice.
Show was good, there was a sort of a film accompanying the music in the background and a big Marsian tripod came down from the ceiling at one point. The autumn leaves falling was a nice touch. I only had to pee once during the show and I timed it perfectly, just before the half time whistle went so I missed the queue and still heard the music from speakers in the loo anyway.
I spend most of the show with a craving for chocolate, but had to have a beer instead.
Getting home was simple, 1 bus. We'll have to remember that the next time we go to the O2.
Not a bad night out for a Sunday and it got a birthday/Christmas present out of the way-can't remember which anymore. And Top Gear has started a new series, so the outside world seems to be going well and I feel like it's trying to give me a reason to smile, so I'll try my best.
Ah, well. It's not my show, I'm sure he'll love it. I've had a hard weekend for other reasons that I don't want to go into on here, but we left with plenty of time so that we could eat before we went in. We took the tube from Aldgate East to Monument then walked over ground to Bank and got the tube again to London Bridge to discover that the Jubilee line is suspended due to planned engineering works. Bugger. So we get a replacement bus, then a local bus service and had about 45 minutes spare, not really long enough to sit down and eatm but certainly long enough for atake away. So it was burgers all round, sitting on a bench in the O2. Nice.
Show was good, there was a sort of a film accompanying the music in the background and a big Marsian tripod came down from the ceiling at one point. The autumn leaves falling was a nice touch. I only had to pee once during the show and I timed it perfectly, just before the half time whistle went so I missed the queue and still heard the music from speakers in the loo anyway.
I spend most of the show with a craving for chocolate, but had to have a beer instead.
Getting home was simple, 1 bus. We'll have to remember that the next time we go to the O2.
Not a bad night out for a Sunday and it got a birthday/Christmas present out of the way-can't remember which anymore. And Top Gear has started a new series, so the outside world seems to be going well and I feel like it's trying to give me a reason to smile, so I'll try my best.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Growing up
Do you remember being a kid and wondering what it was like to be a grown up? I don't mean when you were a teenager and thought "I can't wait until I'm old enough to drink, smoke or have sex" I mean when you thought that life had a number of milestones where things happened automatically. Am I the only person that thought thet way? A few examples: at an unspecified age you got given a job and a driving license and a car, then you worked for a few years and got given somewhere to live, next you got married and had children. Simple.
I never gave any thought to how everyone got these things because it was obvious, they were given to you at a certain age. If you wanted to be a doctor you went to school, college then university (although in those days I didn't know the exact order) and when you were finished, you were given the job that you'd wanted in the first place. I admire the naïvety that children have, I wish I still had it and I, even more so, wish that it was the case.
Well, I've been to college and university and I haven't got the job I wanted. I've past the age where I'm supposed to get a driving licence and a car and no-ones given them to me. Don't even talk to me about where I live and I've had a few close calls with marriage, but I've not been caught out yet. Children? well I've never even had a scare. I'm a sensible girl.
Well, now I realise that you have to make these things happen yourself. So I'm going to work on them one at a time. After the fantasic time Mark and I had in Wales we've decided to move ourselves a little closer to the countryside. Swansea seems the logical place as it's a big city that's close and easily accessable to the sort of place we like. So I've been looking at places tolive, started with renting a room in a shared house and oh my god, look at the price of them! Not in a bad way either, it's cheap, I mean some of them are the same price for a month as we currently pay a week for the shit hole we live in. And looking at the places they're nice, they have space and gardens and real neighbours that aren't drug dealers or whores (I've looked up the area both on thenet and asking friends that know the area. I've looked on google streetview and as far as I can see there's no down side). Now I think, just for fun-to daydream for a bit, I'll look at the house prices to buy. Again, pleasently surprised, I'm a bit excited now so I look up mortgages that we may be able to get and not only does it look possible, it looks like we'd be fools not to go for it.
People live in London for the excitement and the city life. I don't find it exciting and I've never liked the city life. Apart from it being easy to find work there's no advantage to being here at all.
So there it is, theres a rudimentary plan taking shape and it looks do-able. Maybe what I thought when I was a child wasn't so far fetched, I've just been waiting for it in the wrong place.
I never gave any thought to how everyone got these things because it was obvious, they were given to you at a certain age. If you wanted to be a doctor you went to school, college then university (although in those days I didn't know the exact order) and when you were finished, you were given the job that you'd wanted in the first place. I admire the naïvety that children have, I wish I still had it and I, even more so, wish that it was the case.
Well, I've been to college and university and I haven't got the job I wanted. I've past the age where I'm supposed to get a driving licence and a car and no-ones given them to me. Don't even talk to me about where I live and I've had a few close calls with marriage, but I've not been caught out yet. Children? well I've never even had a scare. I'm a sensible girl.
Well, now I realise that you have to make these things happen yourself. So I'm going to work on them one at a time. After the fantasic time Mark and I had in Wales we've decided to move ourselves a little closer to the countryside. Swansea seems the logical place as it's a big city that's close and easily accessable to the sort of place we like. So I've been looking at places tolive, started with renting a room in a shared house and oh my god, look at the price of them! Not in a bad way either, it's cheap, I mean some of them are the same price for a month as we currently pay a week for the shit hole we live in. And looking at the places they're nice, they have space and gardens and real neighbours that aren't drug dealers or whores (I've looked up the area both on thenet and asking friends that know the area. I've looked on google streetview and as far as I can see there's no down side). Now I think, just for fun-to daydream for a bit, I'll look at the house prices to buy. Again, pleasently surprised, I'm a bit excited now so I look up mortgages that we may be able to get and not only does it look possible, it looks like we'd be fools not to go for it.
People live in London for the excitement and the city life. I don't find it exciting and I've never liked the city life. Apart from it being easy to find work there's no advantage to being here at all.
So there it is, theres a rudimentary plan taking shape and it looks do-able. Maybe what I thought when I was a child wasn't so far fetched, I've just been waiting for it in the wrong place.
Monday, 15 June 2009
SLR Film Cameras!
Started the photography craze this weekend, went to the Heath and played around. I don't remember much from my photography module at uni, so it's pretty much all guess work, but I'm hoping that at least some of the pictures came out ok.
We got through half a roll of film each day, but Sunday was by far the better of the two days.
My camera kit is bulky because I made sure I got loads of accessories with mine-bargain hunter that I am. Thus it's a bitch to lug around and I have a whole load of stuff that I don't know what to do with. Three lenses, two teleconverters, various filters (that I don't know how to attach, but Mark held one in front of the lens for me for one shot so I could justify carrying it all day).
Satuday involved getting out of the house late ;) getting a bus that took us most of the way and not finding the area we wanted to get to and playing with zoom lenses to try to photograph a stalk, a comerant and a few baby coots. Leaving the Heath at what we thought was a reasonable time but not getting home before the shops closed. Meaning toast for dinner.
Sunday, however, was wonderful. We found a sunny clearing in the wooded area and sat in the long grass drinking speciality beer and eating a frugal lunch of peanuts, pairs and cheesey biscuits. I wrote a few words in the notepad we were recording our shots in (focal length, shutter speed, aperture, lens, subject).
I got a short but helpful photography lesson from a passer by who was passionate about photography. Unfortunately the only thing I can really remember is that 125 shutter speed is fine when you don't have a tripod. An aperture of 5.6-8 will get pretty much everything in focus and the higher numbers for the aperture will focus further away and low numbers will focus close up-or was it the other way around? I'd drunk both my beers by then (Brew dog Hardcore IPA and Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA for those of you who are interested) and I couldn't take it in as easily as I could have before I drunk them (!)
We got through half a roll of film each day, but Sunday was by far the better of the two days.
My camera kit is bulky because I made sure I got loads of accessories with mine-bargain hunter that I am. Thus it's a bitch to lug around and I have a whole load of stuff that I don't know what to do with. Three lenses, two teleconverters, various filters (that I don't know how to attach, but Mark held one in front of the lens for me for one shot so I could justify carrying it all day).
Satuday involved getting out of the house late ;) getting a bus that took us most of the way and not finding the area we wanted to get to and playing with zoom lenses to try to photograph a stalk, a comerant and a few baby coots. Leaving the Heath at what we thought was a reasonable time but not getting home before the shops closed. Meaning toast for dinner.
Sunday, however, was wonderful. We found a sunny clearing in the wooded area and sat in the long grass drinking speciality beer and eating a frugal lunch of peanuts, pairs and cheesey biscuits. I wrote a few words in the notepad we were recording our shots in (focal length, shutter speed, aperture, lens, subject).
I got a short but helpful photography lesson from a passer by who was passionate about photography. Unfortunately the only thing I can really remember is that 125 shutter speed is fine when you don't have a tripod. An aperture of 5.6-8 will get pretty much everything in focus and the higher numbers for the aperture will focus further away and low numbers will focus close up-or was it the other way around? I'd drunk both my beers by then (Brew dog Hardcore IPA and Sierra Nevada Torpedo IPA for those of you who are interested) and I couldn't take it in as easily as I could have before I drunk them (!)
Thursday, 11 June 2009
The most boring night of my life
Was last night at the pub. I was working not drinking and socialising with friends although I've had a few nights that have come close (meeting old friends that you no longer have anything in common with and end up having stifled conversations about public transport or the weather).
But last night was verging on painful. I wasn't with my favourite people, none of the customers were even vaguely interesting and the main manager was supervising. Yes he has some good and un-pc jokes on his phone which he shares with us, but that can only last so long. I happened to know my arch nemisis was drinking around the corner and I hadn't gotten around to phoning the pubs in the local area as part of 'pub watch' ie theif in the area and I walked past the bitch on my way to work, which really pissed me off. I tried not to think about her and suceeded, but the boredom that followed was so intense I almost wish I'd allowed myself to be angry instead. I had half an hour break at about 20:40 and couldn't find anywhere to go so I had a cigerette then loitered around the bar. By 21:15 I was back behind the bar and had reached my capacity for boredom, by 21:40 I was the most bored it is humanly possible to be and there was nearly two hours left of my shift. TWO HOURS!!!!!
Between then and the end, I tried to list in hy head all the nice things Mark has done for me over the last 18 months. I got as far as the apple danish he got me for breakfast a week or so ago but the intrisic and repeating boredom had settled in by then and I got bored with that.
Then I rememberd the episode of the young ones called bored where Vivian puts his foot through the telly which put me in mind of Bottom-I'm currently amking my way through seris 1-3 on DVD so I started humming the men behving badly theme tune, this is some strange link between the two seris' that I have made in my own head, I think it's a prompt as to which comedy seris I should acquire next.
And now I'm at my day job, the system has crashed again and the boredom is edging it's way back. But at least here I can blog and perhaps buy men behaving badly on Amazon!
But last night was verging on painful. I wasn't with my favourite people, none of the customers were even vaguely interesting and the main manager was supervising. Yes he has some good and un-pc jokes on his phone which he shares with us, but that can only last so long. I happened to know my arch nemisis was drinking around the corner and I hadn't gotten around to phoning the pubs in the local area as part of 'pub watch' ie theif in the area and I walked past the bitch on my way to work, which really pissed me off. I tried not to think about her and suceeded, but the boredom that followed was so intense I almost wish I'd allowed myself to be angry instead. I had half an hour break at about 20:40 and couldn't find anywhere to go so I had a cigerette then loitered around the bar. By 21:15 I was back behind the bar and had reached my capacity for boredom, by 21:40 I was the most bored it is humanly possible to be and there was nearly two hours left of my shift. TWO HOURS!!!!!
Between then and the end, I tried to list in hy head all the nice things Mark has done for me over the last 18 months. I got as far as the apple danish he got me for breakfast a week or so ago but the intrisic and repeating boredom had settled in by then and I got bored with that.
Then I rememberd the episode of the young ones called bored where Vivian puts his foot through the telly which put me in mind of Bottom-I'm currently amking my way through seris 1-3 on DVD so I started humming the men behving badly theme tune, this is some strange link between the two seris' that I have made in my own head, I think it's a prompt as to which comedy seris I should acquire next.
And now I'm at my day job, the system has crashed again and the boredom is edging it's way back. But at least here I can blog and perhaps buy men behaving badly on Amazon!
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
I've been called mental in various different ways and for a number of different things quite alot recently. Some of the things I've done I admit are a little strange but most of them are the sort of things that I'm sure everyone thinks but not everyone says.
For example the same person has called me autistic twice in the last few weeks, once for claiming I'm good with numbers and once for reciting the Big Breakfast competition address and the Going Live competition phone number. Although I think these are due to a certain amount of television brainwashing (surely everyone of my age who was baby sat by the telly can do this?) and suppressed competition entries (I always wanted to enter the competitions but wasn't allowed to use the phone and my Mum thought writing in was a waste of time).
Last night at PQT I was arranging boxes of mugs for members of the public to take once they had filled in their comments forms. I got a tad over creative with the positioning of the boxes and a little upset when someone actually had to take one-ruining my display which resulted in me spending most of my time putting new boxes where the old ones had been to keep my display intact. A colleage called me a "perfectionist." The quote marks were added by my colleage at the time and are not a later addition by myself.
Another example from work: I have posh coffee that is ground for filter, alot of the people I work with have the same sort and it's become a sort of trend amoung us. However, I triple filter mine. I'm being economical, using a small amount of coffee and running it through the paper filter three time using two cups. This was described as compulsive coffee making.
One from home now: we have two sauce pans and a steamer one sauce pan is larger than the steamer, one is smaller. It's clear to me that the large one is for pasta, boiled potatoes and the like, the small one is for beans, pasta sauces etc and the steamer is for vegetables. Now last week I saw my boyfriend take the 'pasta' sauce pan off of the draining board and use it to cook beans, so I said he was being lazy not taking the 'beans' sauce pan out of the cupboard. It turns out this sort of thing is not instinctual to him and I had to explain the difference while he looked at me, half smirking half amazed.
I know each of these actions has a perfectly reasonable explanation be it economical, environmental, inspirational or just plain common sense. But I seem to be the only person on earth who thinks these things.
As long as I don't tell my psychiatrist I should be alright....
********
Additional. When I tread on a crack in the pavement that I can feel through my shoe I try to stand on another similar sized crack with the same part of my other foot to even things up. I've only told one person about this, he didn't call me mental-it turns out he does the same thing.
For example the same person has called me autistic twice in the last few weeks, once for claiming I'm good with numbers and once for reciting the Big Breakfast competition address and the Going Live competition phone number. Although I think these are due to a certain amount of television brainwashing (surely everyone of my age who was baby sat by the telly can do this?) and suppressed competition entries (I always wanted to enter the competitions but wasn't allowed to use the phone and my Mum thought writing in was a waste of time).
Last night at PQT I was arranging boxes of mugs for members of the public to take once they had filled in their comments forms. I got a tad over creative with the positioning of the boxes and a little upset when someone actually had to take one-ruining my display which resulted in me spending most of my time putting new boxes where the old ones had been to keep my display intact. A colleage called me a "perfectionist." The quote marks were added by my colleage at the time and are not a later addition by myself.
Another example from work: I have posh coffee that is ground for filter, alot of the people I work with have the same sort and it's become a sort of trend amoung us. However, I triple filter mine. I'm being economical, using a small amount of coffee and running it through the paper filter three time using two cups. This was described as compulsive coffee making.
One from home now: we have two sauce pans and a steamer one sauce pan is larger than the steamer, one is smaller. It's clear to me that the large one is for pasta, boiled potatoes and the like, the small one is for beans, pasta sauces etc and the steamer is for vegetables. Now last week I saw my boyfriend take the 'pasta' sauce pan off of the draining board and use it to cook beans, so I said he was being lazy not taking the 'beans' sauce pan out of the cupboard. It turns out this sort of thing is not instinctual to him and I had to explain the difference while he looked at me, half smirking half amazed.
I know each of these actions has a perfectly reasonable explanation be it economical, environmental, inspirational or just plain common sense. But I seem to be the only person on earth who thinks these things.
As long as I don't tell my psychiatrist I should be alright....
********
Additional. When I tread on a crack in the pavement that I can feel through my shoe I try to stand on another similar sized crack with the same part of my other foot to even things up. I've only told one person about this, he didn't call me mental-it turns out he does the same thing.
Monday, 8 June 2009
Wales
Is a wonderful place. Obviously the pictures show the highlights of the holiday (at least while we had the camera). Our pictures look better than the post cards we bought while we were there, the sky and the sea seem bluer and the personalised touch of us being in the pictures proves we were there to see the very best that South-West Wales has to offer.
We arrived on Friday at around midday after setting off at the ungodly hour of 6:30. The journey was uneventful, on reflection the route was a little odd, seeming to fork off then go back on itself and the request stops were a new thing to me but we didn't have to do anything special so it didn't effect us. I was far to excited to sleep on the train as had been my plan so I read and looked at the new OS map, planning route that we would later ignore.
We arrived at the station in glorious sunshine and found the campsite (2.7 miles away) with ease. Set up camp and wandered back into town to get supplies, found a farmers market in full swing and tested some locally produced apple brandy-very nice. We made enquiries about the bus to get us to the launch point for Skomer Island and found a 'puffin shuttle' would take us there in time to queue for the boat. All good.
We arrived on Friday at around midday after setting off at the ungodly hour of 6:30. The journey was uneventful, on reflection the route was a little odd, seeming to fork off then go back on itself and the request stops were a new thing to me but we didn't have to do anything special so it didn't effect us. I was far to excited to sleep on the train as had been my plan so I read and looked at the new OS map, planning route that we would later ignore.
We arrived at the station in glorious sunshine and found the campsite (2.7 miles away) with ease. Set up camp and wandered back into town to get supplies, found a farmers market in full swing and tested some locally produced apple brandy-very nice. We made enquiries about the bus to get us to the launch point for Skomer Island and found a 'puffin shuttle' would take us there in time to queue for the boat. All good.
The pictures tell the story better than I ever could.
But I've had to cut them down so much that you'll never get the full story...
...so make of this lot what you will-hey, tell me a story for a change!
It's not surprising, but I feel another move coming on...
...so make of this lot what you will-hey, tell me a story for a change!
It's not surprising, but I feel another move coming on...
Friday, 5 June 2009
Holiday was wonderful
And I'll write about that later-sorry it's taken so long, but I went back to working day and night shifts for the last two days and tonight, Friday night, I'm looking forward to a nice early night so that I can be fresh faced for my best friend's wedding tomorrow.
Anyway, that's not what I wanted to say here. My boyfriend bought me an apple danish and put it in my work bag. I had it with my coffee for breakfast. I'll be smiling all day now. Don't you think that was a sweet thing to do?
Anyway, that's not what I wanted to say here. My boyfriend bought me an apple danish and put it in my work bag. I had it with my coffee for breakfast. I'll be smiling all day now. Don't you think that was a sweet thing to do?
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