V Festival - Day 2

Kinda tired from yesterday but nothing too major. Really glad I bought those wellies. The grass was a bit squelchy on the way out last night. And my coat was soaked with drizzle and the hood kept the wind out so I was nice and toasty warm!!

I cooked brekkie for everyone this morning and we left around the same time but, alas, too late to see the Goo Goo Dolls. We heard ‘Iris’ playing as we queued to get in – bother! I was kinda mad for at least an hour. Today we saw Sophie Ellis Bextor then McFly… over most of KT Tunstall which I was also mad about but Anna guilt-tripped us into seeing them – she said we made her see Sophie E-B. “Er, no, I said you should see James Morrison instead,” I reminded her. But she conveniently forgot I said that. And then we needed the loos. So I saw KT Tunstall on the big screen and a glimpse of her on the stage but that was about it. The Fratellis rocked the place and everyone sang every word of ‘Chelsea Dagger’ and ‘Whistle for the Choir’. James sang ‘Sit Down’ and it was electric! Then Kasabian came on. I watched for 20mins and didn’t know one song. I went off to the other stage and watched the Manic Street Preachers who were totally fab and even sang some new stuff. Then I went back to the main stage to see The Killers. Oh my God. They were fan-fucking-tastic! Totally worth my backache and the rain!

Unfortunately our plans to go as soon as the encore started were scuppered. They sang one song as an encore. Everyone left at the same time and it took 1 hr 45 to leave the field! We got home about 1am and I went to bed at 1.30am… Only to wake up the next day at 8am for work! Yippee (!). I’m totally shattered…

V Festival – Day 1

Yay! V Fest! I haven’t been since 2005 so hopefully it’ll be a good year. Rain has been promised all weekend so we head off to Harlow town centre first to find raincoats or ponchos of some description. Every Argos in North London is out of £4 ponchos so we hunt around Milletts… which turns out to be very expensive - £35 for a kag. Anna hunts around for a sports shop and we end up buying large boys coats with hoods in the sale at JJBs. £13 each – bargain!! Reuben is content with a fleece and his Indy hat.

So armed with new coats and wellies we head off to Chelmsford. We wait around for Lynne and Ian to find us – we have their camping cooker and some food. Eventually we head into the park and see the The Proclaimers. Of course ‘500 Miles’ was very popular! The Thrills were a cool band and Paolo Nutini was too, but he sang more covers than his own stuff. Kanye West was pretty rubbish – he just yelled over samples of other songs. Everyone thinks he’s great but I was not impressed! ‘Stronger’ was his only decent song. Pink was easily the best performance of the day. She had a brilliant band and a really cool stage set-up. Snow Patrol was excellent and had a cool light show. The Foos played brilliantly in the face of wind and drizzle! Was a bit miffed that I missed their ‘secret’ acoustic gig under the pseudonym 606 on the C4 stage earlier…

We left after the encore started and was out of the park in 10 minutes. We arrived home really tired and suddenly quite peckish. So 11.30pm and we were ordering pizza! It was cool. And I slept like a log. My back hurts from standing up all day. Reuben keeps calling me an old woman…

UKC 2007

Oh yeah! This time we're all on our merry way to New England for Road Trip II. I'm already looking forward to going into Boston and retracing the footsteps walked by Ally McBeal who I totally identified with during most of my twenties. The problem is that, other than Boston, I really don't know what else I want to see and do up there so I'm looking at a bit of research between now and then!

I just realised. This year marks a decade since we all met at UKC!! It feels longer... ;) LOL!!

What the Dickens...?

A theme park dedicated to Charles Dickens? What a fantasmagorical idea! Take me there!!

Surprise, anyone?

How evil are you?

It's Official!

Right, now that all the important people have been told, its time to tell the general public... I'm engaged! Yaay!

Reuben proposed to me over a vacuum cleaner. Not the most romantic of situations I have to say. But nonetheless he said it and I had to wait 2 weeks before we could get a ring and tell people properly. I was itching like crazy to yell it out to all. I eventually did yell "I'M ENGAGED!" in a crazy high-pitched squeal down the phone to my brother. All he could say was, "Oh, Clare, wow, oh, wow..." and his g/f was laughing her head off in the background. I rendered him speechless. :)

So we got a ring and it was hot and sticky under all the lights in the jewellers so I thought my ring was a little on the big side but nothing major. By the end of the day it was falling off all the time. So its now sitting in its box waiting till we find a time to go back and get it altered.

Hurrah!

I haven't been able to post for ages since Google took over. I keep crashing. Will just have to restrict my posts to the comments on mel and Jen's posts. :(

Quasi-celebrity

I went back to work today and felt a bit like a celebrity. Everyone had heard about my ‘incident’ on Tuesday and wanted to know all the gory details and if I was okay now. I didn’t get a scrap of work done because I spent the day chatting to everyone! LOL!!

Sonic Death Monkey

I received a parcel from Mel today (which by shrewd deduction means that it was probably Jenny who sent the chocolate treat maker - thanks guys!!). Inside were some lovely smelly lavender bath cubes and a bottle of Lush shower gel called Sonic Death Monkey. The name made me laugh out loud which hurt my stomach. It apparently smells of chocolate and coffee which sounds scrumptious but I decide against sniffing at the bottle just yet. Just smelling toast this morning was enough to make my stomach turn...

Stomach bugs and gremlins

I woke up about 6.30am feeling really hot and slightly nauseous. I went to get up but couldn’t; I felt really weak. A few deep breaths and I somehow managed to haul myself up and into the en-suite. I don’t turn on the light because I don’t want to wake up Reuben and I kneel down and await the dreaded moment. Suddenly the light turns on and Reuben is behind me and helping me up. He said he heard a thud and came to see if I was okay. I say I’m fine and need the loo. He leaves me and I’m doing my business. Next thing I know I’m staring at the en-suite ceiling and Reuben is calling an ambulance. I had collapsed and was out for a minute or so. I wasn’t quite sure where I was so I (weakly) ask, “Where am I?” “In the bathroom. You fainted. Sod this, I’m calling an ambulance.”

I can’t move at all. The ambulance crew are there within minutes and bombard me with questions. They help me to my feet and sit me on the bed. One takes a blood sample and the other uses the handheld pump to take my blood pressure after failing to find my pulse anywhere in either of my wrists. I feel like blacking out again. I then throw up and feel marginally better.

Apparently it’s a bad stomach virus going around and I got it bad. Tell me about it! I felt dizzy every time I sit up or stand. Reuben took the day off work just in case I collapsed again and called in to my workplace for me too. By the evening I still felt quite bad so we called NHS Direct who were very helpful and gave us some good advice. They said if I was sick again or had stomach or chest cramps I had to call an ambulance. A rather eventful day in all...

Back to normal

I went back to work today and made the classic mistake of signing a works order with 04/01/06. Oh well, at least its done now! And I know I’m missed from the office though I’m not sure it’s for the right reasons. I walked in and my colleague said, “Oh I’m so glad you’re here! The photocopier hasn’t been working for a week!”
I put my bag down on my desk and said, “And a very happy new year to you too!”

It turns out that three of the four drum cartridges went out and nobody knew what to do. It’s a big thing when the drums go because no-one can print, photocopy, email or fax from the machine. Anyhow it turns out I only have two spares so I phoned the company and ordered some more supplies. I then had to sort out three problems with emailing and one problem with spreadsheet page margins. By 10.30am I actually managed to have time to make a cup of coffee. Considering I start work at 8:30am that was a long time to function without caffeine!!

2007

Another year rolls by... Happy new year everyone!!

A.T.H.E.N.E.

Get Your Cyborg Name

"Not for now..."

Reuben asks me if I want any biscuits.
"Yeah, go on," I said, "I like the butter crunch."
"We finished the butter crunch!"
"How come? I only had one!"
"Out of the whole packet? No..."

This is the thing. I can't eat lots of biscuits (or anything) at once. I have to take my time. Reuben is the opposite. He also doesn't understand the phrase, "Not for now." When asked if I want another biscuit and I answer, "Not for now", this obviously means that I don't want another now but may have one later. He thinks it means I don't want another ever and gives him free reign to eat all of the packet.

So now I'm munching shortbread, kind of annoyed that I only got to eat one biscuit out of the packet I picked out and bought myself...

"Please, see my film..."

“Or I will be execute.” Borat has spoken so we obey his call and go see the latest film by Sasha Baron Cohen. It was incredibly offensive and hysterically funny. I will have that unpleasant image of male nakedness in my mind for days to come…

Bond... 21

Reuben and I took his parents to see Casino Royale today with his cousin in tow. His cousin’s sister and mum went to an Indian film instead. Strange people… How can you pass up the opportunity of seeing a Bond film?!

Anyhow the film was brilliant, the way James Bond should be. Everyone is saying Daniel Craig is the best since Sean Connery (of course) but everyone always conveniently forgets that Timothy Dalton approached Bond in the exact same way. Must be a Welsh thing… It was a fantastic film!! See it!!

Cadbury's

Anne arranged a trip to Cadbury's World in Birmingham for a tour around the chocolate factory there. As the minibus pick-up was at 8am, we decided to skip the bus and travel there ourselves, being faster and obviously more sleep-loving than minibus travellers!

The factory was enormous and smelt of warm chocolate all the way through. There was a little history on the start of Cadbury's and how Quaker Mr Cadbury founded his shop next to his father's drapery. As he made money out of his chocolate business, he and his sons built the village of Bournville as a community for its factory workers and their families. We then saw how chocolate is made and I particularly liked the way they make Creme Eggs. Mmm... yummy!!

We had free chocolate given out during the tour and I ate most of it on the move. The activity room didn't work very well so we had fun in the shop instead, buying some gifts for people and purchasing the new product, Purple Planet. I was in chocolate heaven all day. Funnily enough though, by the time we got to Amanda's, I couldn't face any more and I'll probably stay off chocolate for about a week!!

Moving in

Reuben and I moved into our new flat about 6 weeks ago and we've spent the time between then and now buying stuff for the flat and generally trying to make it look as homely as a new build can be!

We painted before we moved in so that was okay. Not too many discrepancies about colours thank goodness. I think Reuben really just wanted to avoid any tantrums from me and I used my "I have an A level in art" argument to generally win anything decorating-related. :)

First we wanted to get curtains for the patio doors. It took all of our day off work to find any that would have fitted. I measured (correctly!) from the holes left by the previous owners to the ground nad it seems the doors are just not the standard size for drop-curtains. Everything was too short or too long. In the end we bought the longest pair we could find and refitted the curtain pole almost against the ceiling. The curtains slightly brush the floor now. And we have to fill the holes left by the previous tenants because they are just unsightly!

The blinds were another hassle. Our parents gave us money so we decided to buy 'designer' and get them fitted. The guy came round with a tape measure and a catalogue of slats in different widths, fabrics and colours. He casually quoted us £350 for two blinds. Reuben and I smiled politely and said we'd call him. We then drove to IKEA and bought the same blinds for £30.

So its been fun...!

Wedding no 3

Dad and Pam got married today. All the family were involved in one way of another except for me. I guess this is what comes of trying to be independent. Anyway, Reuben and I had to sit separately for the ceremony which lasted about 10 minutes. My mother’s parents and sister were invited and looked as if they’d rather be somewhere else. I know the feeling…

After the ceremony everyone gathered for drinks in the bar. I however had to go and have my photo taken but the photographer didn’t seem particularly interested in having the family in the picture. He took loads of time getting bridesmaids Rosemary and Lynne into place and taking pictures of Dad and Pam on their own. When it came to all of us the shots were rushed. He took three with me almost completely obscured by my dad’s shoulder and Anna’s elaborate hairdo. Ho hum…

Dinner was weird too. It was a buffet table so everyone had a plate and went and helped themselves. However, being on the head table (away from Reuben) (again) we had our plates given to us with everything from the buffet in a big pile. It looked very unappetising and I don’t think anyone on the table ate much of it at all.

As people started to move around after coffee had been served the party started… If that’s what you could call it. It was a so-so pub band singing 80’s songs and they only performed for 15mins before going off for an hour’s break! Some finger food arrived onto the tables and we ate a bit and chatted to Chris and Cem but it wasn’t all that. We decided to call it a day and left about 10pm.

Hoorah!

I know its taken a while but I have been busy - honest! Reuben and I have been looking for places to buy and we finally found a flat we love. It's just like the one we live in now, except the lounge and bedrooms are bigger, its on the top floor instead of the ground floor, we have v nice large patio doors and we have loft space. Yeah! We just have the little matter of paying a large deposit and solicitors fees before we get our completion date...