White Zinfandel

Had another quiet day today, spent the morning watching Saturday Kitchen, then went into town to do some shopping and collect my photos. We've been drinking pink wine in the garden all afternoon, and finally it feels like summer is here! Bought my tomato plants ready to start growing, I had a lot of success last year and have already got 2 chilli plants on the go, except they are probably going to produce most of the goods when I am away for 3 weeks in june/july.

Also got round to ordering the Cardiac Arrest DVD box set off of Amazon, it never did manage to put me off going to med school (more fool me), but I want to see if now, having been there and done that, it is as shockingly true-to-life as I remember in terms of the disgraceful behaviour of the staff.

And further to my comment yesterday that I've been coerced into joining Facebook, I've discovered it's actually rather good for sticking up photos as I've managed to put my last 3 holiday's worth up there and it's much quicker than other places, so if anyone wants a look get in touch and I'll send you the link. However Facebook's main function (no matter how much users might deny it) is a front for stalking - who are your friends friends with, what does your ex look like now, that sort of thing. So obviously I am loving it.

My Lovely House!

No, of course this is not it. This is my "lovely" bedroom part-way through the transformation, after all the dark green gloss had been removed from the woodwork. God only knows how I put up with it for so long. The carpet with those walls and those curtains! Anyway, it's finished now but I'm not putting a picture up as I need to get some new bedding and lighting and stuff, so this is only an interim until I do that.

Been another busy week with work and stuff, having a night in tonight as I'm exhausted. Despite actually having a bed now so I don't have to sleep on the floor any more, I have not slept well this week, someone suggested it might be altitude sickness from the extra height. Anyway, pretty much everyone else I've spoken to this week seems similarly affected so it's not just me.

Not a lot else to add, have been coerced into joining yet another site, this time Facebook as aparently MySpace is so 2006. Russ seems to be using it as an excuse to put up all the unflattering pics of me that he can find, so I might stick up a video of him being an arse on youtube if I can find the damn connector between my phone and the USB port. Received my horse winnings this last week and have now spent it on some nice things, so a good investment, all in.

Also trying to sort out my birthday which is on the bank holiday at the end of May, am thinking I might do something in London that weekend so if anyone's free and wants to come along - let me know!

My Lovely Horse!

I'm quids in after the Grand National yesterday! Now I'm not usually a betting person, and have only bet on it once before a couple of years ago under pressure from a friend who dragged me into a betting shop on the day, but I fancied a flutter yesterday so picked out four horses and put £2.50 each way on them all. Of course, I had no particular reason for going for them other than on the basis of their name, my first choice was for the horse called Simon as I have a good friend of that name, but bloke Simon told me off afterwards as he said that it was bound to come last and that Simon's are generally rubbish. Horse Simon actually didn't do too badly, apparently he was in the contenders before falling over at the 25th fence, so could have been worse. Can't actually remember two of the other horses I went for, but they weren't in the winners, unlike my final choice Silver Birch who was a 33-1 outsider but romped home and has netted me over a hundred quid!

I had to do a bit of reading to find out how the whole betting thing works as wasn't sure how much I'd get - apparently a £2.50 each way bet means £2.50 to win and £2.50 at a quarter odds to place in the top 4. So by my calculations, 33 x £2.50 plus the original stake back is £85, and since a win also counts as a place, I also get (33/4) x £2.50 plus the rest of the stake back, equalling £23.13 so a grand total of £108.12! Well, minus the £20 that I spent in the first place, but it's still enough to have a good day out sometime.

Just got back from the North where I was for my cousin Nick's wedding yesterday - he and his new wife Claire had a lovely day for it as it was pretty warm, and a nice informal service. Had a minor panic in the morning when my mum realised she'd forgotten to bring a top to wear, so she was all in a flap about that when my brother and I just said it could be easily sorted out by going shopping. Managed to find her something in the end so crisis was averted, but at least she realised she'd left it behind a couple of hours before she had to get ready rather than an hour before we had to be at the church!

Off now to do the final coat of paint on the woodwork in my bedroom, the new carpet is arriving on tuesday so it's all very exciting here...

Work in progress

Well, I had a very nice Easter although didn't spend too much of it outside enjoying the sun. Started the main part of the bedroom redecorations, and managed to strip all the horrid green gloss pain off of the skirting boards, wardrobe, and door frame. Took all day and me and both parents, armed with those hot air guns that melt the paint - I was very glad of the loan of these, apart from the fact that I kept forgetting how hot they get and accidentally banging my hand against the nozzle whilst scraping the paint away, then hearing the sound of sizzling flesh a fraction before pulling away and swearing. So my hand is a little mangled right now, but at least the paint is gone! I have done the first two coats of undercoat and it looks so much better already, the carpet is coming on tuesday, then I will do the walls (as need my dad or someone tall to come and put some filler around the top of the wall). And I ordered a new bed (the one shown here), which is all very exciting since I am currently sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Had been hoping to find something I could attach my nice leather headboard to, but seems the only option for this is another divan, I figured I can leave the old bed and headboard at my parents house until such time as I move to somewhere larger, and get a nice new bed in the meantime.

Off up north tomorrow for my cousin's wedding on saturday, so took the rest of the week off work and today have been to the gym and that sort of thing. House is in chaos with all the decorating, but I have to get into the wardrobes to find something to wear - it's going to be a pretty low-key affair by all accounts so my original choice of dress is probably not going to be suitable, so I'll probably take a couple of things and decide on the day. It's easy for blokes, all they have to do is wear a suit!

Got the good news today that the holiday I'm going on in the summer is now a guaranteed departure - I'd been a bit worried in case they didn't get enough people, but seems they have so it's going ahead - it's coming up pretty quickly now and is only a couple of months away, so I'm going to start looking up some guidebooks and things. Am hoping it will be a good diet aid too, all that walking at high altitude and living off of dried yak meat is bound to shed a few pounds - on that topic my trainer is leaving the gym as he's moving to be a manager somewhere else, but he's going to be back from time to time to see his clients, so I ended up booking another session with him in a fortnight or so to start bullying me into doing more! Have so far managed to resist the half-price easter eggs in the supermarket, but it is hard when they are those nice Lindt ones with the soft chocolate centre...mmmm.....

Come Fly With Me!

Not updated the blog for a while so thought it was about time for another entry. Haven't really had the time, to be honest, as it seems that since my ski holiday I've hardly had a day to myself. Oh well, at least it means there are a few things I can mention rather than just going on about work and stuff.

Had a very pleasant weekend just gone, staying with some relatives down in Sussex. It was an uncle's birthday on saturday so various branches of the family congregated at my aunt's partner's farmhouse for dinner, drinks and general get-togetherness. It was really good fun actually, hadn't seen some of them for a few years, and we had a lovely dinner consisting of Daisy the cow (advantage of having a farm, see) and all the trimmings. After dinner we ended up playing a game where we had to write down names of famous people and then in two teams, describe them to each other and see who could guess the most right within a certain amount of time. The teams ended up being "adults" versus "children" (children being those of us aged 30 or under), and I am proud to say that in this case, youth triumphed over experience. Possibly this was because in the subdued candlelight, the grown ups all had trouble reading the bits of paper so there was much peering over glasses and holding them at arm's length...

Then before heading home yesterday we managed a spot of flying, as the farm also doubles as a personal airfield! I'm never one to say no to an offer like that, so we were taken up in a six-seater plane and flew all around Beachy Head and the Sussex countryside. Just like Biggles! Thanks again to Sue and John for putting us up, or should that be putting up with us?

This morning I finally managed to have the lie-in that has been eluding me for so long, as I woke up at 8.45, and watched TV in bed for half an hour before getting up. Luxury! Was going to say I haven't done much with the rest of the day, but I actually think I have. Went to the gym, did my shopping, and also managed to order the new bedroom carpet as I'm doing a blitz to get my room sorted out over the next couple of weeks. Got new curtains for the spare room too although that took ages as I was being really indecisive, might get the same ones for my bedroom actually, but it depends what it looks like when the carpet is in. Tonight I'm probably going to make a cake for work as they took me out for a welcome curry last week which was really nice, they have a good attitude in that it's basically any excuse to go out.

So what else? I have also learned to bleed radiators this past week, after being shamed into it by a friend who was down last weekend. They'd been making glugging noises for a while but since my dad was on holiday I couldn't phone him to ask what to do, and didn't want to try myself in case I squirted hot dirty water all over the place. But when my friend's first comments on waking were "do you believe that bleeding your radiators saps your soul or something?", I felt a bit of a muppet - until he stood over me and told me what to do. My excuse that I'm a girl and that bleeding radiators is a man's job didn't seem to wash, but I am hoping that I can redeem myself later in the week as I'm taking him to work with me for a day as he's applying for med school and needs work experience. So I will have to cultivate the appearance of being in control and able to cope with everything that is thrown at me.

I am not allowed to mention what I was going to next, as it would greatly embarrass another friend, who was on the verge of phoning me on saturday with a delicate yet amusing medical problem - he in the end decided not to as in his words, I would probably "laugh about it then write about it on my blog". Well, he was correct, but that's all the information you are getting!