Osborne House, IOW

Today we decided to attempt to go to the Isle of Wight and see the sites. We drove to Lymington and hopped onto the passenger & car ferry to Yarmouth. Once there, we took a bus to Newport and then another to Osborne House. It was nice not having to drive! On the bus ride between Newport and Osborne House, I sat next to a chatty lady who lived there but originated from London. She had a proper cockney accent, which had crossed into a thick 'coun-tree' brogue so Mel and Jenny didn't really understand her… She was bemoaning that she couldn't see Ventnor or Sandown because they didn't have a harbour for her to dock her yacht and, upon finding out I was from London, started a tirade against the bombers of 7/7 and hoped nobody I knew was a victim.

Once at Osborne House it was already 1pm so we headed into the restaurant. The menu is two pages and eight items on page one are the food items. All the others are drinks. The food items consisted of soup and bread, egg and watercress sandwiches, poached salmon sandwiches… Yep, just soup and sandwiches, none of which sounded particularly appealing or filling. In the end, Jenny and I plumped for tomato soup and Melissa had the seafood mix soup. The soup tasted like the juice out of tinned plum tomatoes – bitty, watery, and pretty gross. I'm so hungry I eat it all anyway. Apparently the seafood mix soup wasn't all that wonderful either… The peach and passionfruit cordial drink was nice though… but didn't compensate. This is very bad food karma!! I'm still hungry and have digested tinned tomato juice. Not happy bunnies, we rate the food quality and choice as 'poor' on the comments card, adding that they should get 'real food'.

We left hungry and annoyed, and slowly walked around Osborne House, taking in the glorious décor, the intricately designed ceilings, and the brilliant views of the gardens from all directions. One room contained the Royal Family tree, and it demonstrated how Victoria and Albert attempted to marry off their children throughout Europe to ensure peace between the countries… You could also clearly see how Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are first cousins as well as husband and wife…! No wonder the children of Elizabeth II and Philip are a little weird – they're a bunch of in-breds!

After wandering around the gardens and quickly making out way through the Walled Gardens, we headed back to the bus stop, grabbed our two buses, and hopped back on to the IOW ferry to the mainland. Back at the chalet, we are incredibly hungry and open the Thai Chilli crisps and shortcake biscuits, and cook potato croquettes to snack on before dinner! I cooked sweet 'n' sour rice with southern fried chicken fingers which was eagerly devoured, and we spent the evening doing crosswords and playing the Friends game. Well, not exactly playing but reading out the questions and laughing at them and our own answers!! It was fun.

Salisbury

We are up in good time and get in the car to head towards Salisbury. We stop at the Park 'n' Ride and take the bus into the city centre. The cathedral in Salisbury is absolutely gorgeous and is the only British gothic cathedral still intact in its entirety. The spire is the tallest in Britain and the cloisters are the largest in England. The cathedral is actually undergoing restoration, which started in 1986 and is expected to continue until at least 2015. We get a free tour around the cathedral with an elderly gentleman who was very well spoken and knew loads about everything we wanted to know! Interesting parts of the 90min tour were the oldest mechanical clock, the baby who died eleven days before it was born (a result of the change from Julian to Georgian dates) and the guy who was found dead with a perfectly preserved skeleton of a rat in his skull – nice! Of course, there's also the infamous Magna Carta on display, guarded by numerous staff and surrounded by carvings on the walls, depicting major events in the Old Testament of the Bible (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah's ark, etc)

After the tour, we trekked back into the city centre for lunch in a Tudor-style pub and had jacket potatoes and Ploughman's. The people moving around upstairs made the ceiling creak and I swear I saw one of the beams move… We then did a bit of shopping, mooched around Boots (the Yanks can't get enough of the Fresh! range) and then trudged all the way back towards the cathedral so we could go into the Salisbury museum. It contained the infamous preserved rat skeleton, a history and analysis of Stonehenge, costumes from the Victorian era, and a whole range of Wedgwood pottery. Completely tired out and way too hot (it is 28ºC today!) we relaxed on a shaded bench in front of the cathedral before finding ice cream and making our way back to the Park 'n' Ride.

Due to our aforementioned tiredness, we decide to drop by Stonehenge but when we get there, there are hardly any spaces to park in and we are hot and grumpy. I stop in a lay-by opposite the henge and we took some photos before driving slowly by the structure to grab a last shot. "It's smaller than I thought it'd be," Jenny commented. Hmm… Americans always say that about stuff in England…

So we drove back, stopping off at Tesco's to buy more provisions (read 'alcohol') and get petrol. Mel and Jen insist on arguing about everything when we go food shopping. Not only are they adults arguing in the middle of the shop, but also they are loud and have American accents – enough factors to get everyone looking at us! I try walking ahead to avoid the arguments but in doing so, I'm probably making it worse…

We have an orange dinner of chicken Kiev balls and potato croquettes followed by a yellow desert of lemon Madeira cake and pineapple chunks. Loyd Grossman would be appalled… Soz guys… Anyways, by 10.30pm the girls are shattered but I had just had coffee and was buzzing. I watched some music videos and a good episode of SATC before hitting the sack around 00.25am!

Bournemouth

This morning I woke up unfeasibly early considering I had a great night's sleep. I made Jenny and Melissa eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast and then we just lounged around in and outside the chalet until Reuben called me to say he'd arrived in Bournemouth. I drove to Bournemouth, found Reuben, and we all walked along the promenade, stopping in an arcade along the way. We had lunch in Hot Rocks, a surf-themed restaurant overlooking the square and with beach views. It was incredibly hot and all we could manage was two starters between the four of us. There was quite a bit of food though – chicken pieces, potato skins, southern-fried potato wedges, tortilla chips and spare ribs, served with salsa, sour cream and mustard dips. We took a short walk through Bournemouth gardens in the blazing heat, taking photos and trying to work off some of the food!

Back in the car and to the chalet, I noticed my upper right arm had turned slightly pink – sunburn! I should get more sunblock… Mel and Jen began to argue out their joint efforts on a new story for a while before Melissa finally left to call Andy. Jenny disappeared outside to enjoy the late afternoon sun on the patio, and Reuben and I decided to clock in some quality time… Well, a week is a long time when you're apart from the one you love!

Reuben left about 7.30pm and we had mince and pasta for dinner before heading out to the club for the evening cabaret. Comedian Paul Eastwood is not much of a comedian. His jokes were funny but they were recycled off the Internet so I'd heard most of them before. The ones I hadn't heard were in bad taste, a typical example being "The other day I met a blind prostitute… well, you've got to hand it to her." (sigh) Yeah…

Glastonbury

Thus begins our second week of holiday. We are up surprisingly early – 6.30am! We have breakfast, do some last-minute packing, and return all the hired items and chalet key into Reception. As we head out of the park at 8.40am(!) Melissa says, "See you in hell, John Fowler!" We laughed and prayed that the accommodation for the second week would be marginally better. Actually the week wasn't all that bad. We did do a lot of mileage, see a lot of places, and the park itself was good value for money. At £232 for the week, we had a reasonably sized chalet with water, electricity and heating on tap. Okay, there wasn't enough water pressure to have a decent shower, the chalet became extra tiny when the bed or table were fully extended, and we felt we were living in each other's pockets. It was literally a place to crash. We weren't exactly gonna live there!

Anyhow, we headed into Barnstaple for the last time to fuel up, and then headed towards Glastonbury via the M5. Glastonbury was beautiful. We walked around the ruins of the Abbey and watched some of a church ceremony being conducted outside, with a choir and large altar set up by where King Arthur and Guinevere's tombs were. On the way back to the car, a large procession had gathered in the street, blocking the route I was meaning to take out of Glastonbury. We stopped into a newsagent to pick up ice-lollies and water bottles, and asked the shopkeeper what was going on. Apparently, in early July, Christians of all denominations come to Glastonbury in pilgrimage, as legend says that Joseph of Arimathea came to England with Jesus and they built the old wattle and daub church, which unfortunately burnt when the entire Abbey was destroyed by fire in 1184. So we witnessed the C of E procession before we packed back into the car and took the alternative route suggested by the shopkeeper, heading towards Salisbury.

Deciding that Stonehenge would be a decent day out, we stayed on the main road to Salisbury instead of heading out to Stonehenge, and take the Ringwood road to Bournemouth. We find the train station easily and said our goodbyes to Debbie, who profusely apologised for not being better company. Like she could help it, she is sick!! We followed Anna's directions to Highcliffe and find the chalet easily. It's actually an owned chalet on Hoburne Naish Holiday Park and Oh…. My… God… This place is wonderful! We have SPACE, a proper kitchen, table and chairs, enough sofa seats to go around, gorgeous beds and bedrooms, and a powerful shower! I am SO happy! We all are!! We feel like crying. If we had come here the first week and then gone to John Fowler's, we would have been sooo gutted!!

Anyway, despite every luxury spared, true to Anna's word there is no bed linen. I agree to purchase bed linen and then keep them afterwards. So we go to Reception and look through the Yellow Pages for an Argos, as I know they do nice bed linen at decent prices. We find it closed so we head on towards Bournemouth again and detour as we spy a Roseby's from the road. As we arrive, the manager come to the door and announces that the shop is closed. I ask him if there is anywhere I can buy bed linen at 6pm. "Find a hotel," he answers unhelpfully. "We are in a hotel," we say in unison. I explain that we need bed linen desperately and he directs us to the nearest Tesco's, turning the key in the lock as he says his last words. We duly go back to the car, grumbling about how everything shuts at 6pm outside of London. We find the Tesco's without grief and I buy £50 of sheets, pillowcases and duvet covers.

Back at the chalet, we have our longed-for and well-deserved showers, eat lemon-iced cake, and drink Arbor Mist, a pink/rosé coloured fruity wine that was de-lish! Man, I love this chalet!!

Arlington Court & Benton

I got to sleep in this morning! Well, not much but enough to feel better. I think I'm burning my candle at both ends – early mornings, late nights, and a dry cough that won't leave me alone! We have a slow breakfast and head to Arlington Court, a National Trust house with a cool collection of horse-drawn carriages and some magnificent grounds, including a gated garden and large pond. The house was full of artefacts and had some really fine and exquisite pieces of art and furniture. Outside the house was a sign to a bat cave. "To the Bat Cave!" we yelled in the style of Batman, but it was merely a room with a small TV screen in the corner. A control panel enabled the camera in the loft to move and focus on the (sleeping) bats. It was rather disappointing… We did get to have a fun but short ride in a horse-drawn carriage and we lunched among coloured and white peacocks.

After Arlington Court I wanted to go to Benton, a nearby village I'd seen on the map. We drove down narrow roads, some only the width of the car, and past wheat that towered high above us… but no Benton. It was possibly the house in the middle of a field that we passed but we can't be certain.

We headed on into Ilfracombe, stopping for souvenirs and Devonshire ice cream. The evening involved takeaway and getting ready for tomorrow's journey to Bournemouth, Dorset. Anna called my mobile to give directions and to warn us that there would be no bed linen. "Crud!" Jenny exclaims while taking notes. After failing to get through to the guy who hired me the chalet, we have a short discussion and decide that if there's no linen hire once we get there, I'll buy some.

Exeter

We were all up early and headed out to Exeter. On the way, Reuben texted me to tell me the news that London had been hit by four terrorist bombs: three on the underground and one on a double-decker. The radio was hastily clicked into place and the news was on all the channels. I was shocked and as soon as I had parked up, I desperately texted all my family and friends to make sure they were okay. All but one texted back to say they were fine and were either going home or were avoiding Central London. I felt sad for all those involved in the attacks, but in a way I felt numb too. It is hard to explain fully.

Pushing home events aside, I moved forward to Exeter Cathedral, took some photos, and lit a candle for the London bomb victims. We then walked through the city centre in the blazing heat (such a contrast to Tuesday!) and poked our heads into various shops, notably Lush, where we sampled various creams and sniffed all kinds of soaps and bath bombs. Lunch was in a small café tucked behind the High Street shops, where Debbie's cough, which had slowly worsened through the week, was so bad that she couldn't eat. We left Exeter, completed the long drive back to Ilfracombe, and I took Debbie to the local doctor's surgery while Jenny stayed in the chalet and Melissa called Andy. I found the medical centre pretty easily and waited a short while for the doctor. It transpires that Deb's medication is a waste of time and that she should just cough when she needs to. However, he did give her a small vial to hack in to so he could analyse her phlegm… Charming, huh?

The Eden Project

Today, the Eden Project! The Eden Project is a former disused chalk pit that has been transformed into a diverse array of plants, flowers and trees from all over the world. The main attraction is the two large Biomes - temperature-regulated environments that recreate the climate conditions of Europe and the Americas, and Africa and the East. Outside of the Biomes were the remains of the recent Live8 concert and fields of tea and lavender. One very large sculpture was made out of the number of electrical goods discarded as waste from the average individual, such as refrigerators, computers, toasters and mobile phones. We also saw the enormous half-haired bee grazing on the landscape! The journey to the Eden Project was long and painful. Remember we are in Ilfracombe, North Devon – the Eden Project is located near St Austell, South Cornwall. Yeah, a round trip of c.200 miles and nothing but 'A' roads. Southwest England badly needs motorways!

After the Eden Project, we decide to drive into St Austell to have a Cornish cream tea and maybe ice cream before starting out 2½hour journey back. Easier said than done! After driving up precariously steep corners and circling the town a few times, we find nothing. My grandmother said St Austell was a delightful little town. What she failed to mention was that driving was a nuts idea and there aren't any cafés, just takeaways and pubs! The turning point was when I found myself faces with a narrow road able to fit one car across and the sign by the entrance was for the national speed limit… 60mph up a narrow winding path with a strong chance of on-coming traffic? Uh-uh… Wrong-o!! I quickly about turned and drove home, stopping at Okehampton Little Chef at 6pm because I was too hungry to continue! We also made a quick pit stop at the Tesco's in Barnstaple for some provisions, namely cough mixture and petrol… again! The Rover 200 isn't the most economical car in the world…

Clovelly, Dartington Crystal & Bideford

I know I'm missing some days... Bear with me here!!!

We get up and leave at 8.55am – wahey! We're practising for when we have a long haul journey (like tomorrow!). We head into Clovelly (cloh-vellee) first, a tiny fishing village situated on a very steep slope of cobbles. (I found out later that it was actually the setting for the old Hovis ad, where a young boy drags a trolley of bread up the slope with an old man's narration over it.) The cobbles were a nightmare to walk on, especially since it was drizzling quite a bit and threatening to get heavier, so all the (uneven) cobbles were very slippery! We all inched (well, Jenny bravely marched) down into the village, heard about their way of life, and admired the fantastic views of the Bristol Channel and Barnstaple Bay. Debbie and I trekked along the part-stone-part-sand beach while Jenny walked along the harbour and Melissa… disappeared for a good ten minutes or so!! It later transpired that she took a pathway back past Crazy Kate's Cottage and stopped to talk to a local! Looking at the steep hill, walking back up was not an option and we paid to be driven back by Land Rover. We lunched in the café overlooking Clovelly and watched the donkeys feed on the grass slope outside.

We then braved the rain again and drove to the Dartington Crystal factory. The factory was very cool and had some great pieces of crystal glassware on display. There were boards and audio-visuals about how the crystal is made and we were able to watch some glassmaking first hand. One guy was preserving a couple's handprints in glass and we watched people round the back rolling and blowing glass into shapes. The gift shop, of course, had a marvellous display of ornaments, glassware and figurines, all of which were either too expensive for me to purchase, or too delicate to take back with me. I'm guessing I can order stuff off the Internet…

The rain still pelting, we head to the Atlantic Shopping Mall in Bideford, purchasing chocolate and banana chips to munch on. Later that evening we ate spaghetti and played Gloom. Gloom is a card game whereby each player has a set of cards representing a family. The player then has to kill off each of their family members with the highest number of points displayed as possible. Apart from the not-too-solid game rules, I found the hardest part was concocting a story to accompany the various ailments, deaths and tragedies bestowed on my characters! Melissa thinks that’s the best part…

Sick

I'm soooo sick. It's a sore throat/tickly cough/semi-blocked sinuses combination. And I have to pick Melissa and Jenny up from LHR tomorrow morning. I hope that its not viral and that we'll be ill all holiday... I just want to curl up and sleep... but I have washing and packing and food shopping to do before that. Argh...!! Where are servants when you need 'em?!

Apprehensive excitement

I'm kinda excited. For some reason, and I'm not one for spontaneousness, I have just signed a lease to rent a flat. With R. This is totally weird! I mean, it feels okay and almost natural, but at the same time, I have a nagging feeling that things are going too fast. I'm not alone in this, however, as R confides that he too feels the same. So we're moving to this really nice 2-bed flat on the new estate in Turnford. We've got a good price and can't wait to do the coupley Ikea thing! The keys get handed over end of July so hopefully we'll be settled in by mid-August.

I'm so excited... but apprehensive... but the excitement thing is definitely stronger!!

Amsterdam v Nottingham

R buggered off to Amsterdam for the weekend on an all-guys holiday mini-break thingy. Kind of like an Only Fools and Horses Jolly Boys Outing. Only in Holland. So I joked about the red light district, told him an amusing story about Omouse's trip there, and went on my own mini-break... to Nottingham. Yeah yeah, not as exciting or cool as Amsterdam, but Nottingham has clubs, pubs, and Andy.

Andy likes my new shorter hairstyle. And the fact that I'm eating properly again (see here). So a good start! He's a little despondent since his working contract ended so my objective is to cheer him up, mainly by doing a pub crawl and then clubbing until the early hours. He was a bit surprised to hear about R (doesn't anyone read my emails or blog?!) but said that it probably explained why I seemed happier and healthier!

The pub crawl went swimmingly! We went to four pubs and graded the sofas out of ten in each. The second pub had the worst sofa but the best ceiling. It was a see-through walkway on the upper floor, and we only noticed it when we left! Andy was a little disappointed at not noticing it earlier, especially since there was some kind of hen night going on and quite a few girls with short skirts on were walking up and down...!! We eventually decided to go in search of a club and passed Flares, which Andy desperately wanted me to go into, as it has a revolving dancefloor and a pole... Yep, the guy wants to have a pole-dance!! I am adamant that we are not going in, though I flirtingly suggest that I'd probably be very good at it... We ended up at Faces, a club with cool music but a few posers. I pulled this guy who said in so many words that I was sexy and could he take me home? I was a little shocked but politely declined. Andy was watching from the side of the dancefloor and thought it was hysterical, though I refused to tell him what the guy had said to me. I sweetly said that it might shock his little cotton socks off(!)

We finally crash at the flat around 3am. After poking him so he wouldn't sleep on the sofa, and Andy badly defending himself with a feather duster (best not to ask!), we retire, only for me to wake later that morning at... 6.30am. Damn east-facing window!!

Parents (Part 2)

R finally got to meet my father today. Dad was polite - shook his hand, offered a drink, didn't ask too many Q's - which I was pleasantly surprised at! I was worried it'd be a '20 questions' situation whereby Daddy's Little Girl needs some Fatherly Protection (patent pending).

Result? Dad's not totally mad and R is still alive. Points all round!

Asi Training

After a surveyor dropped out, my supervisor's manager put me on an asbestos management training course in Basildon. I actually got quite excited about it. I have constantly asked (read 'nagged') for training of some description to help with my job and have always been refused, so this is a big step forwards! The course was spread over two days, the first covering the basics of what asbestos is, how its dangerous to health, and the regulations and laws. The second day dealt with the regs in detail and also covered step-by-step procedures for safe removal and air clearance.

The trainer was brilliant - I couldn't commend him highly enough. He was professional, clear and concise, while at the same time being a bit of a jack-the-lad and joshing with a couple of attendees he'd obviously met before. The industry, it would appear, it pretty small and tight-knit; everyone knows everyone!! One memorable moment was when he paused the DVD as the words 'The Analyst' appeared letter by letter, and it paused on 'The Anal'...

It was all pretty interesting stuff and generated good conversations! It was also a great opportunity to network and gain insight into how other people work and how they are a part of the industry. I was surprised at all the managers there who had no idea what asbestos was and were only on the course because of the new law out last year that says all dutyholders are responsible for any suspected asbestos within the framework of their buildings. The law was out April 2004... and they are attending a course in June 2005. I was shocked! My workplace started carrying out extensive property research back in January 2003 so we were ready when the law came into force. It was nice to broadcast how far ahead we were from other local authorities. It gives us a good name, expecially important since we've had some bad press recently.

Heatwave

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4105484.stm

Just in case anyone was in any doubt that English weather can actually be pretty darn hot and isn't all rain...

Oops...?

I told my dad about R. I didn't even mean to! I stumbled downstairs this morning to make coffee and Dad asked me if I was going to JH's for the annual birthday BBQ. I declined, saying it was too hot this year and Bedfordshire is a long haul in hot weather. He then asked if I was doing anything tonight and I said that no, I wasn't.
"But you usually go out on a Saturday night, don't you?" he asked.
"Well, yeah," I reply, "but R's in Manchester today."
"R? Who's R?"
I suddenly realise what I've said and gulp. "Boyfriend?" I offered.
"Boyfriend?" my dad repeated.
"Yeah."
"I didn't know," he said, a little crestfallen, and then just walked out of the room and back upstairs.

I'm not quite sure what happened. Was he upset he didn't know, or upset I had a boyfriend? Was he even upset at all and just...? I dunno. He hasn't spoken to me again the rest of today... Maybe he needs to think about it...

Parents

For reasons I can't remember, I agreed to meet R's parents. I cannot tell you how nervous I am. Normally when I meet the parents of friends, everything is fine and they think I'm adorable/ look like my mother/ very tall/ etc. But this is a guy's parents we're talking about, specifically his mother. It is a well-known fact that most mothers believe that no woman is good enough for their son. I am therefore understandably nervous.

I arrive incredibly promptly - bang on the dot perfect timing. I politely take my shoes off upon entering and shake the hands of his parents, who are grinning ear to ear. I'm praying its a good sign! I'm offered a drink and I decline, visions of various spillage-related accidents going through my head. I'm pressed further and decide to just go with the flow and, yes, tea would be lovely. Two minutes later, I'm being offered bone china on a tray. My stomach flips. Various swear words fail to pass my lips. I take the cup and saucer, visibly shaking. But no spillages occured and the china stayed intact throughout the sitting.

And apparently it went well. His parents like me. Well, his mother does anyway. My father doesn't even know about us yet...

Receptionist No 7

S starts with us today as the new receptionist. My supervision meeting was cancelled because my line manager had to dedicate another day to training up the new staff, showing her around the depot, talking through all the procedures... Its such a waste of time, really! Instead of paying for new staff and extortionate agency fees, why can't they give a little extra money to us, the admin staff, and we'll cover the reception, just like we've been doing for years before this new-fangled role emerged.

I give her a week.

Yahoo!

Jenny and I had a long chat over Yahoo Messenger today We spoke mainly about the up-and-coming holiday and how I should presuade my b/f to let me borrow his car so all the luggage will fit. It's not so much me borrowing his car, but more him borrowing my car. I love my car very much and have had made a lot of fuss about me being the only one who drives it. But then I figured, the guy who had it before me drove it (as well as goodness knows how many other people) and everytime I take my car in for servicing, a number of people drive it. So why not at least someone I trust and not just another mechanic?

I might have to clean it first though. It's pretty dirty on the outside because I have to park under trees when I go to work. The inside isn't so good either, because our vacuum cleaner doesn't quite reach the entire car, even with the extension cable. But it's the least I could do. R's car is spotless...

Canterbury

R has never been to Canterbury so I offered to take him there sometime. Within days he has a room at the Holiday Inn booked up and we're off for the weekend. I decide that my father would probably hit the roof if he found out that, not only did I have a boyfriend, but I was planning to spend the weekend away with him. So I told a little fib... It wasn't a bad one, and I didn't exactly lie, I just omitted some facts that were the truth! I said I was staying in Canterbury - truth. He just presumed it was with Debbie. At no point did I say that I was or was not staying with Debbie. So I'm in the clear!!

Being my controlling self, I drove us to Canterbury and talked the entire way! I can talk for England, I swear!! I did a little guided tour, driving around the old fortress wall to Northgate, then going straight up St Stephens towards the university. Drove around the university campus, pointing out where we stayed, ate, had lectures, our hangout (bus shelters outside Keynes) and drove back down the 'front entrance' so we could see the magnificent view of Canterbury city centre. After that, I drove down the hill and through the town to the Westgate, finally parking up at Canterbury West station.

We did the usual stuff: watched a double decker bus pass through the Westgate; ambled around the Cathedral; admired the eclectic mix of Tudor, Victorian, Edwardian and modern buildings all built next to eachother in the high street; walked through the Westgate gardens and hung out under the arch; stared at the Beaney Institute; saw the wonky doorway to the art shop round the back streets; browsed through hippy-junk shop Siesta... everything!! And in the evening, we ate at my favourite restaurant, Marlowe's. I was surprised we even managed to get a table at such short notice! It must be because all the students have gone home...

R liked Canterbury a lot and we decided to go back sometime for a long weekend. Just not enough time in one day to do it all!

Name's Bond, Mrs Bond...

We went to see Mr & Mrs Smith at the cinema. It was quite funny and had elements of a Bond film, but it was pretty much a rom-com with a spy-thriller streak in it. A nice way to spend a couple of hours in the cinema!

The cinema itself was packed - nearly every seat was taken. The guy next to me kept repeating all the funny lines in the film and telling his girlfriend how all the stunts were done... and someone further on down the line of seats was playing with his mobile and the blue light was distracting... But otherwise it as plain sailing and everyone was laughing out loud at the funny parts, which added to the atmosphere. I like it when that happens during a film.

Sin City

Oops, didn't realise how long I'd stayed away from my blog!! The problem with these is that sometimes not a great deal happens in your life - you have the odd monotonous week where you just get up, go to work, come home, eat, and go to bed. Nothing abnormally weird happens and its not worth the bother of going on line and writing about nothing.

Anyways, R and I went to the cinema this evening. The intention was to see Mr and Mrs Smith but its not out until tomorrow... So we were faced with Star Wars III (my 2nd time, his 3rd), a plethora of predictable mush (Monster-in-Law, The Wedding Date, etc), or we could see something we've heard nothing about and just go out on a limb.

This is how we ended up seeing Sin City. It was like watching a comic book come to life! The film was shot in black-and-white with the odd brightly coloured object - a woman's hair and lips, a person's eyes - or with a luminous white sillouetted figure against a black background. It was arty and visually stunning!

However, it was also unnecessarily violent and didn't seem to hold much coherency as scenes were slashed together and didn't seem to make a lot of sense. The dialogue was pretentious and generally appalling. Women walked around semi-naked (as in true adult comic-book fashion); people were pumped with bullets left right and centre; Mickey Rourke couldn't kick Elijah Wood's arse (Come on, man! Its freaking Elijah!!); and I still have no idea what Josh Harnett was doing in that film...!

Return of the Receptionist

A came back. After bailing out on Wednesday, we were receptionist-less on Thursday, trained up K on Friday... and Tuesday, A is back on reception.

I give up...!

Again...?!

A new day, a new receptionist. Yep, we got ourselves another one! They just simply do not turn up for work and we have to draft in another temp. from the agency. I was covering until the new temp. arrived, as per usual. A guy came down, looked at me, and said, "Again?! What are you doing with all the receptionists?!"
"Maybe they're being hung on a rack out back?" I suggested, shrugging.
He didn't get the joke. Mind you, it was 9am. Maybe he hadn't had his coffee yet.

K seems quite nice. The bets are down: Reuben gives it a week before she bails. I'm giving her until Wednesday. At least its May Bank Holiday this weekend. Makes next week that little bit shorter!

Jedi Master Athene

:: how jedi are you? ::

At least mine was honest... Omouse rigged hers so she'd get Han...

Daa-daa, da-da-da-daa-daa!

It all started off innocently enough. R and I decided to spend our evening shooting pool up at Bruce Grove since I had been rather unsuccessful in obtaining cinema tickets for Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. Why I have agreed to go play pool is a mystery as I am truly pathetic... I can't even hold or aim the damn cue properly so I don't stand a chance of even coming near winning! So we're circling the pool table, talking about how we don't care where we see the film, just so long as we get to see it, when we (okay, he) had a thought: Why don't we go to the run-down cinema in Picketts Lock and take our chances there? As the cinema is generally falling apart and there are nicer places to go, we stand more of a chance there than anywhere else.

So we abandon our game and drive to Picketts Lock. The car park is pretty full, which is a rarity in itself, but we manage to pretty much walk straight in to the film. The cinema was showing Star Wars on four screens at an hour apart... at the cinema I was trying to get tickets at, it was showing on a multitude of screens at 20mins apart!! So we got to see the film, which was pretty awesome in itself. It was way better than 1 and 2, and maybe just as good as 4 and 6. I don't like 5. Don't get me wrong - it has its moments - but I feel that its just a bridge between 4 and 6, and doesn't hold any real substance.

Anyways... the film!! Okay, obviously, some people may not have seen it yet and I don't want to give anything away, but when Vader gets suited up for the first time in his suit, I worked so hard not to squeal in delight! It was a fantastic moment!! The lightsabre fights were fast and furious (and I love the fact that Samuel L Jackson has a purple one!!). Most of the CGI was excellent and very realistic, although I still felt Yoda needed more texture. There was no delightfully comedic banter between C-3PO and R2-D2 although I guess it may have been a little out of place with the mood of the film as a whole. Anakin's slow descent to the Dark Side was good, although it could have done with going a little slower. He seemed to be okay and then suddenly, he was bowing to Sideous. He could have put up a bit more of a fight...

But I did enjoy it as a whole. The Wookie battle was fun and it was nice to see (finally!) how Sideous killed off the Jedis and took over the Republic to create one Galactic Empire that he controlled. He perfectly manipulated everything considered to be part of the Dark Side (greed, weakness, deception, etc) and used it to great effect. And of course, it was great seeing how everything else was put into place in line with how Star Wars IV began - remaining Jedis going into exile, the splitting up of Luke and Leia to keep them safe from the Sith... Loved it!! Might even go see it again before the week is out!!

The time has come

The long-awaited final episode of the prequel trilogy of Star Wars opens today in 100 different countries across the globe. Unfortunately, tickets in London are gold dust and seemed to be booked up until the end of time!! R was gonna try to get tickets for the premiere but it wasn't happening. And the way things are going at the moment, we might not even be able to see it on Saturday. It's crazy!

I have been watching it all on the news though. Fans queuing up since March to see the film, a snapshot of Vader reading a newspaper in Leicester Square, several Stormtroopers walking through the shopping malls... Its been rather surreal to see and probably even more so to actually be there!

I'm very excited about the film. I have to stifle my squeals every time I watch the trailer. Seeing the Vader costume all new 'n' shiny...? Hoo yeah! I just hope and pray it's everything I wanted out of the final episode. The build-up has been so great I just don't want to be disappointed.

Walk out: 2

A new receptionist came in Tuesday and we started up an office kinda-pool, which is a pool but without money involved. We placed bets on how long our new girl would last. I said two weeks. She seemed nice enough upon introduction and seems to be very quick on her feet. Our boring reception will make her 'break' quicker than usual.

She lasted two days.

She left this afternoon, claiming that our office has 'an atmosphere'. Well, I guess that's one way of putting it! The person probably to blame for this performance took the claim the totally wrong way. "It's an office atmosphere, what did she expect? It's like every other office!" Hmm... I don't think she was referring to the actual office...!

So the kinda-pool opens again tomorrow. I wonder what the morning will bring...?

Walk out

The receptionist finally walked out today. A. said that she doesn't normally hate people but she has a particular grievance with a certain person in the office and can't stand being there any more. I felt so sorry for her. Then again, I didn't think she'd last as long as she did. We have a very high turnover of reception staff. Since January we've had five different people on there, including A. I wonder what the temping agency must think of our office...?

Statues, Italians, and Perfumes

So my best friend and I went to the British Museum as a sort of belated birthday outing. We usually go out together on my birthday but schedules clashed and this was the earliest date we could do. Anyways, we went there because I love it there and because she'd never been before... Yes, I know! Completely unacceptable!! So we spent a good deal of the morning and some of the afternoon just peering into the Egyptian sarcophaguses, taking in the Greek statues, marvelling at the Parthenon frieze, and bitching about home life!

It was about 2pm before we decided to find lunch somewhere, and we headed to the ultra-crowded Covent Garden to have some Italian on the piazza. Ponti's has crap service but some very good-looking Italian waiters! They have names like Georgio and Paulo and speak in stilted English that makes me go all weak... Let's just say the bad service was quickly forgotten!

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in Debenhams sampling the perfume ranges. I've been experimenting a while and decided that CK's Contradiction is too sweet for me and I need something a bit zestier; something which a bit more punch. I was torn between DKNY's Delicious (think apples) and Britney's Curious (smelling suspiciously like So...? Inspired) before plumping for a Davidoff limited edition, Sea Scents and Sun, which is lighter than Cool Water and definitely more wearable for the summer. I should go before I sound like someone off the QVC...

Flower selling power

Our house looks like a redundant florist's. Seriously. Dad's latest bright idea is to decorate the house with flowers in a desperate attempt to get some sort of bid on it. Someone must have told him somewhere along the line that fresh flowers brightened a home and was a positive selling point. We are now drowning in flowers. They're on every window sill and shelf, in the bathroom, and in the hallway on top of the laundry basket. He wanted to put a vase on the mantelpiece but my birthday cards are still on display, so he grudgingly put them in the fireplace.

Oh well, at least the house smells nice...

Anon loves Samantha

Someone posted onto my NaNo 2004 blog that I should get my work published. They posted anonymously though...

Who is this nameless person? Is it a publisher? Is it a reader who sees my subject matter as close to their lives? Or maybe it's just my sister...?

It was kinda cool and weird at the same time to read a comment like this. Does it mean that I'm actually good at this sort of thing? Or maybe they're just taking the piss? Man, this is annoying!!

Well now brown towel

You'll never believe this... but Anna found her brown towel. It was behind the radiator and is now in the wash cycle. We are trying desperately to make more room as both Anna and I are going to be studying again in September and need space for books. Anna stands her suitcase upright instead of having it lie down flat, and the towel just appeared from underneath the radiator. Better late than never...

Forty two

I went to see the film version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I watched the TV series when I was younger. My dad had taped it and I just watched one episode after another. I remember being confused by Zaphod Beetlebrox and couldn't understand why nobody could tell the actor had an obvious fake head attached to his neck. I also remember being equally confused as to why Arthur Dent couldn't find a decent clothing manufacturer and change his outfit!

So watching the film brought back some (hazy) memories and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Martin Freeman was excellent as the continuosly confused Arthur Dent, stumbling around the realms of space in his PJ's and dressing gown. Stephen Fry was equally as brilliant as the narrator of the titular book and Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin was spot on! No-one could have done it better!! And I so loved Sam Rockwell as Zaphod! I can just imagine my brother doing something like that!! And Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast? Class!!

Electoral history is made

Well the election results are in and two parties have made history. First Labour, winning with a historic third term. Labour have never won three general elections in a row, although this win was with a decreased share of backing votes, one of the lowest recordings for a winning party since 1951... Or something like that. I was incredibly tired when they started bringing out all the statistical data.

The other piece of history was made by the Greenpeace-style party, Respect. The radio kept playing Aretha Franklin before announcing that Respect had actually won its first constituency - in Bethnal Green. Its pretty amazing.

Election 05-05-05

I've voted... have you...?! The power is in YOUR hands. Makes a change, eh? Results should start to come in about 11pm, an hour after the polling stations close. Sunderland South usually get their ballot count in first though, in about 30mins. Maybe they're counting them as they go along...? Or maybe not many people vote there?

James Marsters

Anna was so upset at not seeing James Marsters yesterday that she got up at 5am this morning and went back to Milton Keynes, queued until 9am to purchase a Virtual Queuing ticket, and then finally go to actually meet him around 10.45am. Anna did nothing but squeal down the phone for the entire conversation! She basically got to the front of the queue and handed her photo and two albums for him to sign.

Basic transcript (because words change after the story is told a billion times over):
James: Hi, nice to meet you (shakes her hand).
Anna: Hi, how are you?
James: A bit tired but I'm okay. (Starts signing her album sleeves) Thanks for buying the music, man.
Anna: I listen to them all the time.
James: Well I'm glad you like them!
Anna: I heard you hurt your hand so you aren't personalising stuff.
James: Yeah I broke it while directing my play. (Starts signing her photo) The landlord was walking around while I'm trying to work and was just pissing me off, so instead of hitting him I ended up hitting the floor (does a punching motion towards the table). Thanks for asking!
Anna: Well I hope it gets better soon. Anyway, it was nice to meet you (holds her hand out for him to shake it again)
James: Yeah, thanks for coming! (Shakes her hand again)
Anna: See ya, bye!

Anna has been on an unnatural high all day. She refuses to wash her right hand. She keeps gazing into nothing with a stupid grin on her face. But I am so pleased for her! She was so upset yesterday and I'm glad that she finally got to meet him and that he was courteous enough to acknowledge that some people had been there for ages waiting to see him. He comes across as very friendly, chatty, and taking time for fans is the best thing any celebrity can do. I look forward to the next time he's in the UK... so I can get the chance to meet him too!!

Collectormania7

Anna and I decided some time ago that we simply had to go to Collectormania7 at Milton Keynes over the 4-day set up on 30th April to 2nd May. We decide after some perusing that we’ll go on 1st May as the very lovely James Marsters (Spike in Buffy & Angel) will be there.

We leave quite early as the event starts at 10am and we know it is bound to be popular. We go to the park and ride, bus to the shopping centre, and find that it is in fact, extremely popular and heaving with people! We enter through one side of the shopping centre and see billboards posted high above the stands so people can identify who is there. We see signs for Star Wars actors Dave Prowse (Darth Vader), Kenny Baker (R2-D2) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) and start to get very excited. We push our way through the crowds and see more stands of celebrities, mainly from Andromeda and Stargate SG-1.

We finally see the James Marsters stand, only to find he is on a break and all the Virtual Queuing tickets have gone. Later, we found out that the tickets had been given out up to an hour before the event had even started, which we thought was rather unfair, but it was apparently for health and safety reasons as there were so many people queuing from ridiculous times in the morning (one group of people claimed to be there from 3am).

As we pushed through the throng of fans waiting for James, we saw Alexis Denisof (Wesley in Buffy & Angel) sitting quietly at a table next to James’, pre-signing some photos and basically keeping a low profile. Anna and I looked at each other and made a dash for the table while there was no queue. £20 later we are standing in front of him and I have to say now he is way more gorgeous in the flesh! His wife, Alyson Hannigan, is one helluva lucky woman!

Actual transcript:
Alexis: Hello, what’s your name?
Anna: (grinning like crazy) Anna
Alexis: Anna… (starts signing the photo) Are you enjoying today?
Anna: Yeah its very cool
Alexis: Oh good. (Hands her the photo) Well, see ya!
Us: Bye!

We were very jazzed at meeting him. We held the photo by our fingertips at the edge and bought an envelope to keep it in so it wouldn’t get crumpled. Sure he didn’t say much but at least he looked at us and made the effort. One girl walked out behind us and told us how she had queued for David Boreanaz (Angel in Buffy & Angel) for hours. She finally got to the front and his manager took the poster from her, David signed it, and then it was handed back. He didn’t say a word and didn’t even look up at her!

So we were standing there admiring the newly-signed photo and about three metres away, James just walked past! It was incredibly exciting but Anna was very disappointed at not being able to get the chance to meet him. It really did break my heart as she had been going on about it for ages and was really looking forward to it.

We wandered around the stalls of merchandise, buying a few items as we took it all in, and doing some more celebrity spotting. We saw Craig Charles and Danny John-Jules (Lister and Cat in Red Dwarf), Christian Coulson (Tom Riddle in Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets), Ray Park (Darth Maul in Star Wars 1), and Kali Rocha (Cecily/Halfrek in Buffy). While Anna was taking photos of Kali Rocha, Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler in X-Men 2) walked right past me and I mean, right past me! He was a foot away from me! I was very excited!! He was with a minder but was shaking hands with fans as he walked along and was generally very friendly.

We followed him to his seat and saw him sit near Anthony Stewart Head (Giles in Buffy), Sean Astin and John Rhys-Davis (Sam and Gimli in Lord of the Rings). They were very popular and had crowds of people vying for their photos and craning to catch a glimpse of them.

On the last ‘leg’ of the exhibition was the Doctor Who cast. Two of the Doctors were there, Slyvester McCoy and Colin Baker, both of whom had a small crowd of fans around their table and were talking to all of them together quite animatedly. A couple of female assistants were there (I think one was Peri) and they slotted in Nichelle Nichols (Lt Uhura in Star Trek) in there too. There was also Noel Clarke, who plays Rose’s boyfriend in the new series, but I can’t remember his character’s name for the moment. There also had a replica TARDIS police box, a Dalek (see here) and a cabinet of memorabilia. There was also someone inside a Dalek going around the shopping centre saying “Exterminate!” and “Move out of the way!” Never have I seen so many worried-looking grown men! Some of them look genuinely unnerved at the sight of an actual Dalek going past them!! It was funny when the Dalek went up to a woman in a wheelchair and said “Mummy!” It was all pretty cool.

I think the main problem was that you couldn’t just meet people. You couldn’t walk up to the desk, shake their hand, and tell them that you admire them/ love their work/ enjoy the show, etc. You had to pay between £10-20 to pass the tables in the middle of the queue gangway and this fee was for the star’s autograph. For someone big like Sean Astin or John Rhys-Davis, okay, but for a minor Doctor Who assistant or the stand-in for the hobbits? Erm, I don’t think so!!

But we had fun. I mean, my feet are hurting so much they are ready to fall off, but it was well worth it! Just disappointed I didn’t get to meet James…

Rainbow Brite anyone...?

Heather came home today for the long weekend. She gave me the URL for this really cool website dedicated to 80's children's programmes. Anna and I have just spent the last two hours downloading theme tunes and intro video clips, singing and bopping along like crazy to Muppet Babies, The Family Ness, The Racoons, Thundercats...

Join in the fun at 80's Cartoons and don't forget to sign the petition to allow the Mysterious Cities of Gold to be released on DVD! "Children of the sun, your time has just begun..." (singing into the distance)

Surprise DVD

Anna went to see Rooster play at the Astoria tonight so Rosemary and I decide to have a sort of 'girls night in'. We have dinner, lots of ice cream, and decide to watch a DVD. Rosemary says she wants to put on a 'surprise DVD' which means that I have to close my eyes while she picks a film and puts it in the player. I willingly shut my eyes and think about what we'll probably have to watch. Immediate thoughts went to Mean Girls, the newest version of Freaky Friday, Big Fat Liar... the usual favourites. She tells me to open my eyes and she couldn't possibly have been beaming any wider. The film she picked? The 1976 musical, The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella starring Richard Chamberlain and Gemma Craven.

Rosemary can't get enough of this film. It's astonishing to say the least. I used to watch this film as a child nearly every Sunday afternoon at my grandparents... and that was a long time ago...!!

Election stance

The country's election campaign has come halfway and is all anyone can talk about. Being a local authority, we have strict rules and regulations about talking politics and projecting views that may be contrary to how we are supposed to be represented. The idea is to take a completely neutral stance and work arms-length from political thought.

This is pretty difficult when all people are talking about is the forthcoming election and whether Labour will actually secure a third term, comfortable or otherwise. I think its a tough one myself. People are generally disillusioned with the Labour govt., especially after the whole Iraq experience. And Labour used to be very left-wing, almost Socialist before they became 'New Labour' in 1997. Now they are slowly but surely edging to the right. I think they might actually be more Conservative than the Conservatives are...

On the other hand, we have an unrealistic manifesto produced by the Conservatives, which seems to be putting more money into public spending but gaining less money in taxes. Tax less, more public spending. Great... but where is all the money being spent on public services coming from...? The figures don't add up well. I'm guessing they hope to bring money in from property ownership, since their roots are essentially from the middle and upper class landowners.

The Liberal Democrats are a different story. They seem to be perfectly balanced on the fence between the Conservatives and Labour, but are perhaps a little more right-wing than they want to appear. Most of their campaigning is going into social services and help for the elderly and students, the two areas where they gain the most votes. It's certainly a nice comeback for the Lib Dems in any case, having gained a good following to almost the heights that they had before the downfall of Gladstone's Home Rule policy*.

I honestly have no idea who I'm going to be voting for. I think I need to read the BBC Election Guide a bit more...

* An afterthought for those dusty on their British politics! This policy designed for Northern Ireland split the party in 1886 and created the Liberal Unionists. Later, they joined the Conservatives to boost Parliamentary pulling power, thus making the Tories what they are today - the Conservative and Unionist Party. And to think I thought History A level was a waste of time!!

Left standing

One of the managers came in today and announced that our section's desks were being moved into another office on 5th May. "You don't have to move yourself or your filing though," he said. "It's just desks and chairs, and the PCs so I.T. can hook them up."

I tried to look as if I understood, but I didn't. How on earth am I supposed to be able to work unless I move with my desk? Stand in the gap where my desk used to be?

Anna for MP

Anna delighted me this evening with her plans for benefit claims. In light of all the election fuss going on, Anna has decided that she wants her voice to be heard... Well, by me in any case!

She decided that people who claimed for housing benefits should no longer get it. "Why can single women just get pregnant and then be given a house by the Council, rent free?" she moaned. "And then they claim for child benefit support to pay for babysitters, but they don't use them, just pocket the money. And then they get money to send their child to playgroup, and they get money to pay for food..." She trailed off exasperated by her own opinion before launching into much more of the same, including people who claim for housing benefit and can't be bothered to find work... Or people who are given money to help themselves but just spend it on designer gear and cigarettes.

While she was drawing breath, I pointed out that abusing the system would bar people from being able to claim. I got 'The Look' and decided to keep quiet. Obviously abusing the system isn't being accounted for. This could go on all night... This is why I usually don't talk about specific political issues in the public arena!

Anna was only half-serious though. I think she just enjoyed at being able to pick on an issue and then just running with it. I really haven't a clue about the in's and out's of benefit claim... and, to be honest, I don't think she does either!!

Football hooliganism

I haven't written for ages... So this is just to show I'm still alive but not doing much! Work is incredibly hectic at the moment and leaving very little time to do anything other than eat, sleep and then go to work again.

I did want to point out though that football hooliganism is not restricted to just the English. The AC Milan v. Inter Milan match yesterday proved that it is very much alive in other countries too... For those of you who don't know what happened, flares were thrown on to the pitch and one caught the shoulder of a goalkeeper, subsequently hospitalising him. The TV cameras saw the flare begin to spark and spun as it bounced off the goalkeeper's shoulder, possibly throwing sparks into his face. It was an appalling scene of hooliganism.

I would like to point out that I'm not tarring everyone with the same brush. I just wanted to highlight that while the FA is barring English football fans from travelling left, right and centre, they should be using the same power to acknowledge that other countries have just as many 'bad eggs'.

Maybe I should be directing this at the FA...?

Pete and Tara's Wedding

I woke up unnecessarily early this morning (8am). The original plan was to be out of the house by 10am so I could pick up Mina and have time to drive to Felstead, get ready, and be at Leez before the 2pm ceremony. As I no longer need to do the detour, I find myself arriving at 11.30am, leaving plenty of time to get ready. The place itself is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Off the M11 at Stansted, past the airport, and ten minutes of narrow country lanes. I'm very much a city gal and don't like winding country lanes! Felstead is pretty much blink-and-you-miss-it, a tiny little lane of about 20-odd houses and two pubs opposite each other!!

I get ready, watch a little Grand Prix (go Jenson!!) and then head out to Leez Priory with two other guests at the B&B, Natalie and Gwyn. Apparently Natalie went to OLC with me for about a year and a half but for the life of me I couldn't remember her from school. She was easy to get on with and we chatted a lot about the school and the people we could remember!

The venue was gorgeous. Its an old country manor, looks like a castle, and dates back to about 1227 (or so the picture in the bar said!). The ceremony was held at the top of the tower, which was separate from the rest of the building. The entrance was up a winding staircase which proved difficult to negotiate in both directions. How Tara managed it in her long wedding gown I have no idea!! She looked very pretty in a long strapless ivory satin and lace number, and the wedding party all wore ivory and burgundy, except Tara's niece Elizabeth, who wore a little white dress and was the life and soul of the speeches over dinner!

The wedding itself was short and sweet: a reading and declaration of vows. No additional readings, hymns, sit-stand-sit again fuss - just the bare minimal legal duties and niceties. The head bridesmaid was another ex-OLC student, Jane, who I could remember!! In any case, everyone seemed to know who I was, even if I didn't know them. It was like, "You must be Clare, I'm so-and-so," and I'd be like "Oh, yeah..." and be totally confused. I'm thinking that somewhere along the line, someone has said, "Clare is tall and on her own - please talk to her!"

Andy turned up after the ceremony, just in time to get his face in all the photos (typically!). He confessed to very nearly not turning up due to illness and no local doctor to prescribe him antibiotics, but being the trooper he is, stayed until the evening before heading back to Nottingham. It was nice to have someone there who I knew and could talk to for the majority of the time in any case. There weren't many photos for the guests - most of them were just the wedding party and direct relations - so there was plenty of time to amble around the lake and take in the scenery and grounds. Wine and chocolate-dipped strawberries circulated around the crowd of guests while Tara and Pete did a tour of the grounds in a horse-drawn carriage. I thought it was a bit aimless but was pointedly told by Andrew that it was supposed to be romantic. I guess I don't have the romance gene...

Dinner and speeches came and went and everyone headed off to the bar. Andy left about 8pm (after Tara had had a chat and gawp!) and about 8.30pm, we all trooped into the small hall for the first dance. As soon as that was over, other couples started to join in but a small group of us headed back to the bar, where we stayed for the majority of the evening. More and more people drifted in and it transpired that the DJ spent most of the evening sitting on his own in the hall! But this was pretty much an Irish wedding - the bar was gonna be the highlight of the day!

Eventually it all ended at 12am and I cabbed back to the B&B in Felstead with Natalie and Gwyn. Photos will be available for people to gawp at on the couple's website here (so make a note for later!!).

Clare plus One

I need someone to go to Tara's wedding with. Mina had to pull out so I have the option of going alone and only knowing the bride and groom, or I can bring someone with me. When Tara calls me to tell me I can bring someone else, I start racking alternatives through my head and eventually manage to sweet-talk Andrew into coming with me. He just so happens to be within the vicinity of London over the weekend and will attempt to make it! Now I have to decide what to wear...

I wanna dance again!

I saw Shall We Dance? on my own as no-one else wanted to tag along. Anna wanted to see Hitch but its looks like the same old run-of-the-mill boy-meets-girl story and I wanted to see something with a bit of pizzazz!

Richard Gere was pretty cool, displaying his modest dancing talents previously seen in Chicago. Susan Sarandon didn't have a great deal to do and I think more could have been made of her character. Jennifer Lopez was surprisingly good and she is one helluva fabulous dancer! I have to admit the film itself was pretty lame (what was the deal with Gere and Sarandon's daughter?!) but the dance scenes were excellent. The showpiece was a dance between Gere and Lopez done in semi-darkness (no lights except a glow from the outside streetlamp). It was tight, sensual, and made me wish I did Latino-Ballroom dancing!!

I need to find a dance class...

London through a lens

Beautiful, ethereal, and London-based... This guy is great and his page is worth a visit!

http://myphotoimpressions.blogspot.com

Criminal

I met up with Mina today so we could go shopping down Oxford Street. Mina was running a little late so I hot-footed it to Borders so I could buy some maps for my holiday this year. I got these detailed maps of South and South-West England and they include touristy hot-spots so I thought they were pretty cool to have. I hope Melissa and Jenny are boning up on their map-reading skills...!!

Mina arrived and we ended up darting in and out of department stores until we got to Debenhams. We spent ages in there, browsing around the Fiorelli bags and the racks of clothes in Star by Julien McDonald, Jasper Conran (so love his stuff!), Oasis and Jane Norman. Eventually tried on some Jane Norman things and decided on a floral top. It was the only fitted thing there - everything else either had an empire line or just hung from my shoulders and made me look pregnant. Not really a look I'm going for...!!

We went for lunch, during which time Mina's cousin turned up to take her to Notting Hill to see her baby niece(?). We parted and I hunted around for jewellery before heading home. I got home, pulled my new top out of the bag to show everyone, and... the ink-and-glass security tag was still attached! I was horrifed to say the least! Absolutely horrified!!! The salesman was so busy fiddling with it and putting it into the bag, he obviously didn't have time to remove the tag. In any case, the security alarm should have gone off as I had exited the building. I'm so annoyed because I have this great top and it looks like stolen goods!

Anyway, to save me having to go all the way back to the West End, Pam is taking to her son who works in a branch of Debenhams in Eltham so he can get it removed for me. I added the receipt to the bag just in case any questions get asked...! Is it criminal to remove something from the store with the security tag still attached, even though the item has been paid for?

Buh-bye B&B

Anna told me today that Dad lost the house he wanted in Cheshunt; the ex-B&B. Apparently some big business guy is buying up at the full price all in one shot, with the intention of splitting the property into two and selling each individually. This shouldn't be too hard since the property is basically a house with a 'granny annexe' attached, the wall space between the two being knocked down. All this guy would need to do is re-build the wall and knock through the 'dummy wall' at the front of the annexe, where a door used to be.

I asked Anna if Dad could buy both properties and re-knock the wall down, but apparently they would both go for a lot of money than they are now, more than Dad can afford. I haven't been told officially but Anna said that Dad is pretty gutted by it.

I did try and explain earlier in the year (as did the estate agent) that you can't simply find a house you like and then put your own property on the market. It doesn't work like that. You'd think he'd know by now!

Declutter

Anna and I spent most of today tidying our bedroom. We reckon that since it's the largest bedroom and part of the loft conversion, it's gonna get photographed. To make the room look bigger and slightly less cluttered (hard when there's two sets of everything stuffed in the same space!) we took down nearly all of our wall decorations: Rosemary's drawings to us, postcards, photos, posters... anything that wasn't an actual picture in a frame or a mirror. It all looks so bare! Decluttered, but bare. I might vacuum later... Just in case...

Estate agents & car salesmen

Dad and I went to the Estate Agency today. I decided that if I had to move again, it'd be into my own place. When the saleman came into our house to valuate it, it made it out that it was easy for first time buyers to come onto the market, provided they didn't have any outstanding debts. Since I don't have any, I'm willing to give this a shot.

The guy in the EA was a different story. I worked out I could only afford £92K and he started raving about this place for £130K. Was this guy even listening to a word I was saying?! I can't afford that! And it's ex-LA. No thank you! Then another guy chipped in and started going on about this studio flat overlooking the tennis grounds on the Ridgeway. It seemed as if the tennis grounds view was the best thing going for it, the amount of times he mentioned it! I'm trying to stay away from studio flats. Who chooses to sleep in their lounge?

Dad did better. We managed to get an appointment for someone to come and take photos of the house on Monday afternoon, and they have a client who is very interested in buying in this particular area, and apparently tried to buy next door (who have since sold up and are moving to Cornwall within a couple of months). I guess we have a weekend of tidying coming up then!

Anna also tried to buy her car today. She is waiting for the garage to get the documents through for her Peugeot so she can actually buy it. She already has the insurance paid for, but the saleman at the garage is being uncommunicative (unusual for a saleman, let me tell you!). She phoned him all day, every hour on the hour. I think in the end he was just giving her the brush-off. What he would have her believe was that the Peugeot head office was being unhelpful so it was reflecting badly on him.

Anna's annoyed anyway, to say the least, and has decided that if the car isn't delivered with the appropriate documents by Tuesday, she's cancelling the insurance and demanding the garage pay for wasting her time. Er, good luck with that one, sis!

Visting Marco

Mina texted me and said that she and La were going to the twins' parents to see Marco, Linda's newborn son. So straight after work I headed off to find a pressie and found the most gorgeously soft baby blanket in Next. I figured that it would be more useful than clothes, which are grown out of within a couple of months.

As per usual, I was the first to arrive (I'm so annoyingly punctual!) and I got to talk to Linda properly for about half an hour. She filled me in on the latest while I played with her niece, Daniella, and I informed her of the going on's surrounding the house move. She said that she and Pamela were also looking to move, as their 2-bed flat is now, obviously, rather crowded. They're thinking of moving towards Ware as it's cheaper and they're more likely to find a 3-bed place within their budget if they go further out of London. They're not too happy about it generally, but it needs to be done!

Mina and La eventually arrived and Mina immediately tried to wake up the heavily-sleeping Marco! News was exchanged and Joni told us about his driving test, which was hysterically funny, but he didn't seem to get the joke. He was saying how he drove fast because his instructor told him he was going too slow, and when he was told to pull into the next convenient space to stop, he pulled into someone's driveway! We were all in tears!!

Hylands Park here we come!

So I deliberately took today off work so I could, at 9.00am sharp, be sitting at my telephone and ordering V Festival 2005 tickets. I rang a couple of times before getting into the radio station hotline. Cool! I start listening to the options and Dad comes in: "Are you ill? Are you okay? Clare, are you listening to me?"
"Shhh!!" I go, but its too late. The options speech is over and I haven't been able to hear them. Bugger.

I randomly push a number and get through to the switchboard. (Halfway there...!) The lady politely informs me that I have bypassed the ticket hotline and would I like to be transferred? The line then goes dead. Noooo!! I frantically dial the number again. An automated message tells me the number I've dialled has not been recognised. I shortly become the fastest Virgin Radio hotline dialler in the country as I repeatedly dial the number and get told the same message over and over for 20 mins straight.

Finally I give up, stomp upstairs, and hook up to the Internet. Within minutes, the SeeTicket website has ordered me two tickets for me and Anna, plus car park passes. People are probably still trying to get through the phone line. I pity them. The Internet is sooo much better! I love 21st century techonology!!

Reception

I've just spent the last few days sitting at reception on lunch-time cover. It isn't all that bad, really, but the computer doesn't have any of the programmes I need to work so I pretty much do nothing. Of course, I do take filing or some other form of paper shuffling with me so I don't get told off, but it's basically pen-tapping, thumb-twiddling, and chair-spinning!!

I've been told to answer the phone in more 'cheery' tones. I think it was meant that I had to have a perma-smile... and I'm not the perkiest person in the world, expecially whilst at work and/or doing something I don't wanna do! But I tried it out a couple of times. It just sounded fake. But at least I didn't get any wrong calls or whinging tenants, which was a small blessing.

Reuben assures me that the reception is a 'chilled area' and he can't see what the fuss is about. I can only say that the 'chilled' part must be in reference to the door draught...

Dontcha wanna V?

No-one wants to come with me to the V Festival in August (except Andy). I'm worried... Why would people not wanna see the Scissor Sisters or Franz Ferdinand?! Bizarre...

Happy Friday

Linda had a baby boy this morning at 1.30am via c-section - 7lbs. Tiny tiny!! That must have been during the snowfall that had covered everything by the time I had woken up by 8am. Anna looked out of the window and said, "It's snowing. I hope my driving test isn't cancelled."
I assure her that it won't be because by the time the test comes about, the roads will have been fully gritted and the snow would have melted away. It's not cold enough during the day for the snow to settle in London. The city produces too many exhaust fumes and other warm airs for snow to settle properly.

Anyway, I drove off to work (after searching for my snow-buried car for a good ten minutes) and hit traffic for most of the way. By the time I got to Tottenham the traffic was murder. Engines had been turned off. I sat under the bridge, the North Circular traffic thundering above me. Anna texted me to say that she had a place at University of Hertfordshire. Two pieces of good news and it isn't even 9am!

Later in the afternoon, Anna texted me again to say she had passed her test. She then phoned my work phone to squeal her delight to me. It took a lot of willpower not to squeal back!

At home, Chris told me that his band's place in Emergenza was pretty much finalised. XMTS are going from strength to strength and need your support!!

So it was a good day in all. Happy happy Friday...!

The mystery bank statement credit

I got a weird entry on my bank statement today. I'm checking through it as normal, and I have a £40 deduction from 17th February. I rack my brains to think what I was doing on a Thursday that required money to be deducted from my account. Hang on... Where's Dunmow? There, in black and white, is somewhere called Dunmow, and £40 was taken out there. I'm confused and ask Anna if she can remember what I was doing.
"Thursday of half-term?" she muses. "You took Rosemary out Wednesday, yes?"
Yeah, I have the 16th February and a deduction for Pizza Hut in WC12.
"Didn't I see Marita that day? I think I met Terry's dad."
Marita lives in Enfield Town and Terry lives in Palmers Green. Not this weird place...
"I know I had a driving lesson on the Friday." (Pause) "What on earth did you do Thursday?"

I couldn't remember. It bugged me for ages. And then later, whilst washing up and my mind is just wandering, I remember. I run into the living room, foam dripping from my wrists, and yell at Anna, "GOTTIT!!!" I had my card credited by the B&B owner in Felsted, Dunmow. I've paid for a room I'm not gonna stay in until 3rd April. Weird... But I'm glad that little niggle has been cleared up.

This reminds me of when I had to wire some money to Melissa last summer. The form had a box where I could put a special message, so I would know what the credit was for. I put down something along the lines of "From Athene19 to Liarbyrd - S'bort". I'm sure that raised a few eyebrows at the head office...! And it makes a fun entry in an otherwise boring bank statement.

SW England here we come!

After a cool chat with Jenny over Yahoo! (which now includes some nifty soundbites you can send) we came up with a wishlist and managed to get some ground over what we're gonna do. We're going to a show in the West End and visiting Stonehenge, Bath, and Cornwall. A sort of tour of Southern England, so to speak.

Since my geography is appalling, I took the time to recreate a map of SW England by taking an A-Z and tracing the coastline from Bognor Regis all the way round to Bristol. All the principal towns are marked on the map and it is now Blu-tacked to my bedroom wall. This is so when I drop a random place name we can stay and get asked, "Erm, where?", I will know the exact location! Anna thinks its a nerdy and stupid idea. I think she's just upset she doesn't get to do silly stuff like me.

Summer holiday

I was up until 2.30am this morning trying to get as much information possible on holidaying in the West Country this year. I even took notes! I have this pile of paper next to me with info such as caravan and chalet berths, nearby attractions, prices, and restrictions on all female group bookings. I'm actually rather offended by the non-all female bookings. It's insulting to think that a group of females in their late 20's can't be trusted not to trash their accommodation. Still, rules are rules, and typically it's the cheaper places that don't allow it.

I've come to the conclusion that, as romantic as it sounds, B&B-ing along the south coast is rather expensive, requires too much planning, and means that more time is spent travelling than doing anything else. So, I'm voting like mad for a holiday park. They have on-site facilities, there's no restrictions on coming and going, and self-catering means that we can have a cheaper alternative to eating out three times a day for a week. They are also excellent base points for visiting localities and attractions, and provide evening entertainment when the card playing becomes a bore.

Jenny is carrying out some excellent research. Really, I am very proud of her abilities to just source knowledge from the Internet. Of course I'm writing essays for comments on everything from price checking to weather! My only worry is that, by the time we've actually decided on somewhere, it's all gonna be booked up and we'll be back at the beginning. Most places are booked a couple of years in advance due to popularity. Sometimes, it's gotten to the point where my father phones the main office and says, "Right, what do you have left?" I'm serious!

My instincts told me that the further inland and from principal towns we are, the cheaper it will be. However, research has found these secluded places are also expensive because they indulge in large log cabins and you pay for the privilege of being out in the middle of nowhere. It's mind boggling stuff. I'm now trying for the northern coast of Devon or Somerset, as this area seems to be a little cheaper than the south coast. It only takes an hour to get from north to south so it shouldn't make much difference as a whole.

*sigh* My head hurts. Sleep... That sounds so good right now...

No snow show

It didn't snow like all the weather programme promised it would. Apparently it was 1½C too warm for snow. So that explains the endless drizzle we've had all day then. I'm glad it didn't snow. Driving in snow scares me.

Reuben stuck his tongue out at me today and did that silly thumb-on-your-nose-and-wave thing. I must have looked shocked because he said, "Oh, sorry. It's just you looked pissed off so I thought I'd cheer you up."
"Oh-kay..." I said warily.
I'm still not sure what to make of him. Taj said that the reason he was perky was because he is apparently going to Kenya in a couple of weeks and is (obviously) pretty jazzed about it. I think I still need to sit this one out a bit more...!

I want my GRO

I had to visit one of the Council's call centres this morning for a chance to see the GRO in action. It's basically a computer programme intergrated with our repairs system that allows the user to see diagrams of pipes, baths, sinks, windows etc and the various common faults associated with each. It's designed to help the call centres find the root of the problem from tenants' descriptions minus the 'techno-speak'.

So I'm paired up with Handan who logs her phone into the repairs system only. This means that when a call comes through on the repairs line, it will go straight to her phone first. All the phones can be programmed to pick up one or all of the lines the centre deal with (repairs, council tax, graffiti, parking, benefits) and the centre is a buzz of phones constantly ringing and constant chatter. It was really cool to see another office at work and how different everything was from my own office. The women on the desks around me were surprised when I said how people came into work in jeans and trainers, and that it wasn't uncommon for people to yell or swear across the room every ten minutes. There is a very different working environment in a depot from an office!

Anyways, this GRO system is a doddle. You click on the pictures, the repairs come up, click on the repair button, and the order is all written and ready to print at one of the depots. I was amazed at how easy it was. In the time it would have taken me to manually type out a works order, Handan has answered a call, identified the problem, issued an order, and set an appointment. I'm lost for words at how much easier my job would be if I had this programme. Unfortunately it doesn't cater for asbestos-related problems, so unless they upgrade, I'm still manually typing out my orders.

Anyway, I managed to entertain everyone with my extensive knowledge of asbestos and described the removal process to Handan, because her friend has suspected asbestos and may need it removed before she rennovates. So I did my party piece! And I decided that, despite the easy job logging process, I wouldn't wanna work there. Endless telephone work, limited use of email, and one computer monitoring every single call and conversation everyone has in the centre. Big Brother eat your heart out - the Council is watching you!

Snow

It's snowing. Badly. After having the warmest January in fifteen years, we've suddenly been thrown into a cold snap, with temperatures dropping below 0C and snow from Scandinavia of all places! All day we've had fluttering snowflakes and blizzard-like storms but nothing settling. Of course, now its the evening and something like -2C outside, it's settling and is probably about 3 inches deep by now.

Gmail

It's official. I have Gmail. The oh-so-coveted emailing programme that has been available to a select few is now a little more widespread and those who signed up on the waiting list months ago (like me!) now have the chance to get their email account before everyone else when the general release comes about.

So I have an account with Gmail but haven't used it as yet. Apparently there's still a few bugs in it and I'd rather wait until the official release date so if I do get any problems, they won't be brushed aside. It's important to do these things properly.

Calling from Cheshunt...?

Dad thinks he's found it. The house he was looking for. It's an ex-B&B in Cheshunt, almost on top of the train station and ten yards from a pub. The location explains the knock-down price (two words - 24/7 noise). But, as an ex-B&B, it has plenty enough rooms for all of us, plus a guest room.

The place is advertised as having seven bedrooms. This is the main bedroom (with en-suite and spiral staircase to own sitting room), plus five cupboards and a study/guest room. If we convert the dining room into a bedroom too, that's eight bedrooms. Of course, Dad and Pam have the ultra-large bedroom with en-suite, while us 'kids' get the cupboards and share our own bathroom... I feel a little bitter about the tiny bedrooms, but I guess it at least means I get my own space. I mean, 20-odd years of sharing a bedroom, and in the end, you just grab what you're given!

The house itself is actually a house and 'granny annexe' knocked through together as one. The upstairs of the annexe is coved, so people over 5'10" get to duck as they walk! The two sitting rooms are very large and the rear garden is easily five times larger than the one we have at the moment. But the hallways are narrow, especially the staircases, and it feels a bit like the flats we had to use when we went on self-catering holidays in Norfolk when I was a child. Narrow, slightly cramped, low ceilings, dark, and unnecessary exposed beams (I was told later the beams were fake and we'd just pull them off the walls).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see... I think the fact we're all a bit put out by the small bedrooms is a slight set-back...