Sunday 29 September 2013

Moving on

Just a couple of weeks ago marked the five year anniversary of Dizz and Wavey, and on Christmas Eve it will be the four year anniversary of us living together. When we did the whole moving in thing the hardest thing was trying to squeeze two houses into one. Basically I think we took what we considered the essentials (anything kitchen related for me, and anything power tool related for him) and found homes for everything. All the other stuff (and I really should say ALL with a capital A) got put into the loft where of course we promptly forgot about it. Fast forward to today and we are preparing for some electrical work to be done and need to make space in the loft for our electrician to work. By making space I mean sorting all that stuff out. Eep! 

The loft was previously off limits for me as we had no proper ladder and the only way in and out was to kind of jump into and out of the hole. These two things combined with my incredible clumsiness would have led to some sort of major incident and possibly involved broken bones, thus Dizz has stayed away from the loft for four years. Thanks to some other men who came into our home to do work we now have an incredibly snazzy loft ladder, with a rail and everything. One can safely climb the ladder, sit on ones bottom at the top, and shuffle to a standing position, whilst trying to avoid the GIANT spider webs and the giant spiders that live in them. Double eep! 

Fast forward the rest of the day and we have not only made space in the loft for the electrician to come and work his lighting magic, but we have also taken one full car load of stuff we no longer need to the tip, and have a nice tidy pile of stuff to go to the charity shop:
It's almost like the day I moved in...if you were to multiply the stuff in that picture by about a million trillion...ahem. 

Sorting stuff out was really good. I found all sorts of things I'd forgotten that I had. I was baffled by why we had put a bin bag full of towels into a box that we then sealed up and left for four years. I've chuckled over old photos, mainly of my Pops being drunk at various parties we had over the years. And realised that we will never need to buy Christmas cards again if our current stock is anything to go by. I think it's fair to say that most of the stuff that is going out is mine, but let's face it, if it's been up in the loft for four years why do I need it now? And how foisty would a towel be that has been wrapped in a bin liner, in a box, in a hot and cold loft for four years? Niiiiice. 

There's only one potential problem I can foresee. If Wavey is to decide that he's had enough of me and chuck me out onto the cold dark streets *sob* apart from all my kitchen stuff, the giant tv, and the V+ box (as per our prior "agreement", although there could be a skuffle over the tv...) I'll have to start from scratch again. Should probably be on my best behaviour then to avoid that scenario... 

Friday 20 September 2013

Yeah baby!

Before:


After:


Yeah baby! Rockin' my new fringe!

Thursday 19 September 2013

People! Outside!

You might have picked up that it's been a tough couple of weeks. After the holiday high it was a total bummer to come back to unemployment reality. And then Wavey had to go away to work like straightaway, and I know this makes me sound like a total puff and if that is the case then so be it, but man I miss him when he is gone. And it's especially hard when you've been on holiday and spent every hour in each others company for two whole weeks. I haven't been sleeping well. I even found myself pacing the living room yesterday just for something to do. How do people do this staying at home all the time thing? I would be a basket case! Not going out, not seeing people, the visible evidence of my bum-shaped blob on the sofa from where I have literally sat for hours. This my friends is not healthy. 

But today I left the living room! To meet up with actual people! Oh I cannot describe the joy that I felt, I could have literally kissed every one of them with sheer joy (I didn't do that though, just to make myself clear). Even though it was only for an hour and a wee bit it was sooooo nice to just chat about nothing really, this and that, my old work, relive the holiday, share the pacing of the living room floor horror, laugh and joke and exclaim in shock, all these things were like a drop of water to a thirsty person. I think they deserve a little yay! 

And then, it really couldn't get any better, I ran into Postie from my old work. Postie is erm, the delivery guy, but he is just the nicest person ever. He looks a bit like Santa without the beard but with the ruddy red cheeks and he has this gorgeous West country burr. We had a good old chin wag, he took me through some secret tunnels that I didn't know existed to get to the student's union and he is just so nice and supportive. If I didn't already have a brilliant Pops I would totally want Postie to be my dad. He truly does leave a warm glow behind him. 

I handed in one job application and picked up another and came home and completed it straight away. I'm becoming a dab hand now at all this filling in the boxes thing. It's amazing how people and outside can re-inspire. And Wavey is coming home tonight (yipppee) and my folks are returning from their Swiss adventure (oh yep, they've been away too, hence the not much seeing of people). I feel like doing a happy little jig, which I can tell you most sincerely, is SO much better than pacing the living room. I really wouldn't recommend that at all. 

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Pause and reboot

View of world and people slightly restored. My Paypal account has been reactivated and so far no further worrying developments have occurred. Still no thank you from the person that I issued the full refund to instead of running off to the hills with his money...

Spent some quality time with my oldest buddy. Not old as in you are an ancient granny, but old as in the buddy who has been in my life the longest. We chatted, we ate yummy food, I introduced her to food on sticks (fruit kebabs). A pleasant evening was had by all. 

Returned to theatre after 2 weeks holiday to spend the entire evening crawling around on my knees drawing floorboards. Despite the feeling that I had suddenly aged to 107 by the end of it, it was super great to get my creative mojo back on. I know I often moan and bitch about the place but I definitely love what we do there and the learning of the new skills.

Become addicted to English muffins. I am entirely blaming Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood and their bake off malarkey but I feel safe in declaring the toasted English muffin the perfect early Autumn snack. 

Speaking of early Autumn. Since our joyous Summer of sun and heat it seems I have forgotten how to dress for outside nip in the air. This week alone I've been caught out by venturing out in just a thin cardigan over my vest top, and today bare legs in a long skirt and just a t-shirt under a denim jacket. Sort. It. Out. Get thee to a shop and buy a new jacket and start wearing socks! 

My fringe has taken on a life of its own. No matter what I do with it, this CRAZY flick just appears and will not be tamed. Seriously. Look at it:


Low Winter Sun on Fox. Anyone else watching? Thoughts? I'm 2 episodes in and still not convinced that I want to know what happens. 

Not only have I remembered to buy and write birthday cards but I have actually posted them too! And on time! Result! 

Paul Hollywood's goatee? Hmmmm. Wavey is currently fully bearded and I am liking it muchly. I'm not entirely sure of my goatee feelings. Anyone else? 

Reboot complete.
 

Monday 16 September 2013

Disillusioned. Unlucky. Bordering on grumpy.

The past couple of days I've found myself feeling not at all happy with this world and some of its inhabitants. Whilst we were away enjoying our holiday some horrible people put a brick through Zippy's windscreen. My poor parents were looking after the house for us and have to turn up one day to find my car smashed? I wasn't alone in this mindless violence as apparently they had some kind of spree right through the village but that kind of shit feels personal, you know? 

Then yesterday I get an email telling me that someone has paid £180 into my Paypal account for an iPhone. Which I am not selling. Straight away I was on the phone finding out how I could issue a full refund and contact this person to let them know they had the wrong seller. Which I duly did. And received absolute no thanks for whatsoever. The guy I spoke to at Paypal said my honesty was to be admired as most people would have taken the money and run. Really? Would any of you have done that? There is no way I would ever do anything so awful and truly dishonest. The lack of thank you left me feeling slightly disillusioned but I was willing to file it away under disappointed. 

Until today. I have just received an email from Paypal informing me my account has been limited due to a complaint against me. Back on the phone it turns out that someone has attached their seller account to my Paypal account (probably with the intention of fraud, the kindly man informed me) and until it is resolved my account has to be limited. This my friends is what is you get for honesty. 

All of this plus an interview experience from hell the other day where I came out so unbelievably angry at the injustice of it all...as the title says I am disillusioned, experiencing some rotten luck, and bordering on grumpy. Humph. 

Friday 13 September 2013

Summer Lovin'

Much as I am trying to resist it, I just have to look out of the window and see the grey sky and notice that I am wearing a cardigan and jeans and wondering about socks...I think summer is over. Bummer to the end of summer. But what a summer it has been, highs and lows, ups and downs. For the first time in years we have had hot sunny days and long balmy nights, the sky has been blue and cloudless, I've worn my entire summer wardrobe that had previously been filed away under 'may never wear again'. If I had to choose a summer to be unemployed I couldn't have picked a better one. I've spent almost every minute outside either working or just enjoying the sun. The big yellow ball in the sky has well and truly rocked it! Here's some visuals of my Summer '13:

















Missing you already sunshine. PLEASE come back next year!

Thursday 12 September 2013

A tale of two holidays

Once upon a holiday time two excited travellers drove through a beautiful sunset:
To stay in a chocolate box house in Bretagne:
The sun beamed down on the happy travellers:
Each and every day they set off on their bikes and rode around, stopping every now and then for picnics at gorgeous locations:
Further adventures were abound as they travelled a very, very long way to see a GIANT elephant:
A Rapunzel castle:
Climbed a REALLY tall tower:
And soaked up history at the Bayeux Tapestry (no photos allowed) and the beautiful cathedral:
Leaving the little chocolate box house, the travellers headed north towards Normandy gems like Honfleur:
The day finally came when the travellers had to return 'sous la manche' and back to Grande Bretagne. But do not fret, their journey was not yet over for they were also taking a couple of cheeky days in fair London town due to a bargainous Groupon voucher. Unfortunately the sun stayed behind in France:
Never to be beaten the travellers spent a happy day wandering the "loveliest castle in the world": Leeds Castle:
Disclaimer: not in Leeds at all but Kent. If it was in Leeds it probably wouldn't be that lovely...our travellers wined and dined and ate like fat knackers:

Yummy! Still in London town our travellers nipped down the road to London Zoo where they saw lions and tigers oh my!


That gorilla? He was VERY cross. He herded all his family back inside and then basically tried to smash through some very toughened plexi-glass by throwing his ENTIRE weight at it. Needless to say the people on the other side of the plexi-glass probably needed some clean pants...yikes! Upon return our happy travellers are pleased to report that they had a rather super holiday and have returned with plentiful supplies of the precious "vin", a packet of Prince biscuits, 6 new, huge, and rather funky cereal and soup bowls, a jug allegedly for "lait" but will really hold flowers, and a tiger puppet called Roger:
 Roll on the next one. We happy travellers love holidays the best!