Stormy stormy night .....

Good evening my beautiful family and friends xxxx I'm changing tradition this week and attempting to do my blog a night and day earlier, because to tell you the truth, not sure hour much power will be available tomorrow and my iPad runs out quick when it's not on the battery! I'm sitting in my loungeroom at the moment, listening to the wind howling outside and I know tomorrow it is expected to be much worse. I actually love storms :) as long as I don't have to be out in them! Something that is quite strange with all this wind and rain coming, it is not actually cold yet, it's still 16.5 degrees in my flat and I haven't had to heat it at all yet, I'm hoping I can get away without heating it for another month, depending of course how cold it does actually get, but I have noticed quite a change to the weather and it has swung into autumn quite quickly and considering we are only eight weeks to Christmas, the weather is still very mild for England :)

Yes I said that dreaded Christmas word! Lol but this year when I thought I was going to be on my lonesome, I now have something to look forward to, one of my adorable niece's (Cate and her boyfriend Simon) are coming to spend a few days with me over Christmas, which I'm very excited about as it will the only family close to me at Christmas.

I had a chuckle to myself today in Tesco's, as I did my shopping, had a bit of a browse through the clothing section, look was I see in front of me..... First thought that jumps into my mind "Mr Darcey" out of Bridget Jones lol I kept looking around hoping I might find him amongst the menswear, but sadly I think, my Mr Perfect, "He thinks I'm perfect, just the way I am" may have exited the building! You know Christmas is close when everything Christmasey is on the shelves that you could possibly want. Well all I want for Christmas is joy and happiness :) for me and all my beautiful family and friends :)

I'm hoping though we can face time or skype with family at home, so that will bring us all together for the festive season xxxx. This day and age, we are so lucky aren't we? It made me think of a conversation with my Dad, before I left to come away, we had a discussion one day about how much technology has changed, he was saying that fifty years ago, or even longer than that, when he was a boy, he dreamed of rockets strapped to someone's back, rockets have come along in leaps and bounds, how computers which were great mainframe computers which use to take up the whole office, now we scroll up and down on our iPads or even check out the internet on our mobile phones or have thousands of pics on one little portable USB 8g or more memory stick or the tiny SD cards in our Camera's, just pull it out, put it in the machine down the chemist or photoshop, print of pics, or connect it to your IPad and share your photo's with the www. These days we get to see and hear each other on free apps such as Skype and face time from one side of the world to the other! I am sounding "old" now myself, when memories of me travelling to New Zealand with two of my girlfriends, when I was a mere 17/18. We didn't have mobiles, nor internet, we didn't even have international dialing in everyone's home. I remember having to ring reverse charges to Mum and Dad's. So can you imagine how far technology will go in another 50 yrs, I won't be here to physically witness it, but my kids will. My prediction is that all babies born within the next fifty years will be tagged electronically like they tag animals now with microchips, I think it is only a matter of time, before that becomes a reality and a form of identification, that no one can forge.

Slightly changing the subject, I have had a lovely week here this week. Last Saturday I went into Bath for a late afternoon get together with some workmates for a send of for Victoria, the young lass who is leaving to have her baby. We met at the Cosy Club, which was absolutely packed with people, seems to be the "in" place to be in Bath. I met up with some old staff members and got to meet some new ones that I had only met over the phone, mostly women, a few brought their little ones along, I decided I was well and truly out of practise! Helen and Rob, don't rush Mum, not quite sure Nanny is ready lol I am sure I will be when the right time comes along for either one of my kids to decide to have a family :) I will get the chance to spoil them and give them plenty of my loving warm hugs xxxx

The lovely Victoria, whom I have taken over from at work. This was her birthday a couple of weeks ago. The office has a special hat that all birthday bearer's have to wear for the day!

My work colleagues :) from left, Victoria, whom has left now :( Ali, and Ceri. Ali is an Engagement Worker and Ceri is a Personal Adviser for youth between the ages of 13 - 19.

 

Smiley Ali :) I was sitting next to him, but now have progressed to sitting opposite the Line Manager Mary and unfortunately am sitting on the radiator! They tell me I will appreciate it through winter. I don't at the moment, still want summer clothes on, it's darn hot, next to it!

At the Cosey Club in Bath, Victoria, Cheryl and ex employee Emma :)

Not the most flattering shot Ali lol but I had to have one with Victoria :)

Now on another subject, I just want to remind you of the hazards of walking in the British countryside. Some of you know that I have been doing quite a bit of walking and the consequences of that mean that I quite frequently have to dive into a hedge or bush on the side of a narrow lane. So if you ever come this way I want you to be watchful for this horrid bush!

Looks harmless enough, but on closer inspection, or just a slight brush up against, you will be Stung by Nettles! Which let me tell you is not a nice feeling, much the same as being stung by a wasp or a bee :( but if you look very closely around the bush for a plant that resembles this one...

Grab it quick and rub it all over where you have the stings and the red skin and it works it's magic. I haven't found out why, but it's called the Doc leaf! Maybe it saves a trip to the doc's lol I now carry one with me, Incase I have to lee pinto bush land without notice! I am loving walking and I am such a gorgeous spot around where I am, but now with working such long hours, it's too late to go at night or too early in the morning, so I go in my lunch hour, which is great :) I often get lost, but I carry my gps on my phone now.

Oh I wouldn't mind living here :)

Such a lovely horse

 

He or she come up to talk to me at the fence when I walked past on one of my walks :)

I am sorry I don't have lots of interesting places to show you at the moment, I am afraid the weather here is starting to become a bit gloomy, but I am thinking of going to see Amanda's mum in a few weeks time if I can, as I just found out a while ago that we both share the same birthday, so that's pretty amazing! So I might just have to go visit her and her hubby and have a bit of a celebration for our special day! I'm finding the social life here a bit light on, I would like a bit of interaction, but I think that it will come in time, when I get into a few more things. I'm actually considering joining a photography class which starts again soon, but the guy said they might hold off till next year now. I'm also thinking of learning some Scottish dancing :) a friend from work, was going to let me know the where and when of it soon, I think I would enjoy any kind of dancing to be truthful, I sooooo miss dancing!

Well I had some interaction with the opposite sex today, but not in the way your probably thinking lol I had a visit from the Pest Control man, yep had some pests to get rid of! Darn field flies by the hundreds, or what you call cluster flies. Anyway you have never seen anything quite so funny as the guy trying to show me up the ladder, to look into the loft, tiny torch, clinging to the ladder with all my life, I hate ladders! It was one of those ones with round slats, so uncomfortable on your feet! Anyway the outcome was good, we set a few bombs (smoke) in the loft and he treated all my sash windows and hopefully the buggers won't come in now to hibernate. It was nice to have a chat with Tony, we chatted about Canada as he had travelled there and of course my Aussie accent, had a cuppa and he helped me get my dining room table up the stairs for me, much better than where it was sitting downstairs at the front entrance lol I just need to get some chairs now Cate and Simon, and we're set for Christmas, only eight weeks on Wed :)

 

Well my lovelies, it is way past my bed time, well and truly now, although the clock has just been set back an hour, so I guess that means it will start to be dark at 4.30pm soon. I know it's very late now, but I wasn't tired, I can sleep in tomorrow in the storm.

Lots of love to you all xxxxx oh. And a very big happy 65th birthday to my sister Shirley on the 31st xxxx

 

 

 

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Injecting some warmth into my home!

Warm greetings and blessing to all my family and friends this wonderful week. Well this first week of full time work has proved to be tiring, but one well worth it. It is such a nice feeling to know that have a job to go to every day and I know the people, or at the very least have learnt the names of at least 8 to 10 names of my fellow work colleagues who I work alongside in the Peasedown St John Office. Working life has been full on, learning learning learning until my brain feels a bit like mush some days, I'm sure there must be a cut of point at which the brain says "no more, not enough room today to take on anymore!" I have certainly hit that a few times this past week. The other thing, which I dare not mention to my colleagues is my age lol especially when most are around 28 35, a few around 40's but I think I may be there most senior person, apart from the Line Manager, which I cannot tell her age. I dare not forget a thing, Menopause? What is that! Lol

This week, has had be doing a bit of a clean out of the wardrobe and rethink the clothes attire. I don't know if it was Monday or Tuesday night, but boy where did that cold wind come from? Yep you guessed it, off the Artic! Geez Louise I actually got down to the car with my scarf on, which I have been doing, but didn't have my coat, only had my raincoat and my hands were almost stuck together, as I tried to open the car door. Poor little "Lizzy" I have now affectionately decided to call my little Fever Peugeot 206 :) Lizzy needs a few words of encouragement in the mornings to get going, she coughs and splutters (bit like me really!) but once warmed up there's no stopping her, until she sees the big hills and also like me, has a bit of a groan getting up them!

This first weeks pay cheque (well half a week) has had to go on a few things to help warm up my little home, as I feel Jack is moving in (Jack Frost!) I went with my neighbour Rani and we took off for Wells Markets , unfortunately, it was rather dim, it was drizzling rain the entire time we were walking around. We did did our weekly errands and had a coffee at Nero's, when we came out though the rain had gone and the sun had decided to shine upon us. Oh what bliss! We then had a bit of a stroll along the Main Street, listening to a busker playing an accordion. If you closed your eyes for a second, you would have been convinced you were somewhere in Europe, Venice maybe or somewhere in Italy. It had an air of romance about the street, well that was until I nearly went ass up over this beggar's hat, sitting way out on the pavement! how to spoil a moment, how dare he, I was in my own little world then! Having a little daydream, waiting for my Prince Charming to come round the corner and sweep me off my feet. (That wasn't quite the picture I saw in my minds eye!)

We got back to the car park, it was now lunch time and Rani and I decided to go for a drive to Bristol. I was on a mission to find a nice warm rug to try and make the loungeroom a little cosier and warmer for winter and to make my place feel a bit more like home :) We were off to Ikea, so set the postcode into the gps and off we set. It was so lovely driving out in the country :) I saw some villages and countryside that I had not been through on the way to Bristol. Went through a gorgeous little village called Pensdown ( I think that is what it was called, so quaint. Then we got closer to Bristol and realised why I hate being in City's :(. I'm sorry to say, Bristol is not one of my favourite places, pretty grim, there are some pockets of the place, that have some lovely houses, but only pockets. The traffic was mayhem! I'm glad I wasn't driving.

We eventually found Ikea!!!! I don't believe it, what a drama that was to get here! Huge great big store, just like the one I remember back home, we had a great look around and bought a few nick nacks, but I had to put my blinkers on, because I was on a strict budget, I had only budgeted for my rug and maybe 20 pound extra on misc items. Yayyyyy found my rug! It's a bit in your face and bold, so I warn you now before I show you the pics, but I wanted something to bring some warmth to my loungeroom and at the same time be a soothing colour, I went for blue again :)

Close up :)

my warm little lounge room now! Also my bargain coffee table for £13

Getting there :)

For the life of me, do you think this pic would rotate in blogsy :( you will just have to twist your neck for this one!

It's Sunday I don't have Tom Cruise coming for dinner, would much rather it were Hugh Jackman ( oh yes please!)I would celebrate his birthday which was yesterday Happy birthday Hugh, your also celebrating along with Dawn :) I hope both have had a wonderful weekend. I'm celebrating still having a full time job and I am counting my blessings, I have a wonderful Beef crock pot going on in da kitchen, want to join me.

That's meals, dinners and lunches for the week, along with mum's recipe Heli Min (unsure of spelling) that's another six meals and and bought some loin pork steaks, which will make a few stir fry's or go in soups or just grill with veggies, another six meals, so I got a bargain this week with meat, don't usually buy it but got it all for £10, so have to use it wisely. Same way I buy a side of fresh salmon sometimes, that has been boned and I cut that into portions and then freeze it, lasts me for ages! All that talk of food, I think I might have to make some soup for lunch soon!

While we are on the subject of keeping warm. I can now say I have also progressed from my mattress on the floor, to now having a proper bed! I am purchasing this bed frame from a friend, so that is one less thing I will have to buy from the shops.

I feel a bit better about not sleeping so close to the carpet as well, sure that wasn't doing my asthma any good!

An interesting fact this week that I have observed, globes have been blowing out in my house and in my car! what's that all about? Gail I know I have had this before, probably all my energy being used up lol

Well it's pretty cold and miserable outside today, so I'm cuddled up on the couch with my cuppa for the afternoon. Might do a spot of reading on my library books, get a few tips on Excel and word, to keep me in top form for my work this week. Tomorrow I'm off to head office with Victoria to meet all the big wigs. So it's time to have a bit of a relax now for the rest of the day/night and watch my Downtown tonight (yes I know, I'm hooked).

Hope you all have a wonderful week xxxxxoxooxox until next post. Love to you all xoxoxo xox

 

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Yayy I'm employed!

Hello to all my beautiful family and friends, welcome to the world of the 8.30 to 5.30pm worker! Yes, I am now employed for the next six month's!! It is such a good feeling to know that I can actually put away my CV and not have to brush up on my interview skills for at least another five months, oh what a relief! If you haven't heard the news via the F/book, I now am Business Support Co-ordinator for a company who look after youth from the ages of 13 a 19 who are unemployed or in transition, looking to begin courses in colleges or disadvantaged groups (disability etc) there is much more to what they do, but that gives you the gist of what they do. My job is one of the main administrator basically, all the office admin, organising meeting rooms for youth and youth workers and monitoring and maintaining databases, mixture of HR tasks, monitoring staff records - sickness and holidays and also organising expenses and forwarding to head office. It's a varied role and I think I am going to find it quite rewarding. I might say something different in two weeks time, when my mentor has left on maternity leave and I'm left there on my own lol. The work that I have to do is fine, I will have the next couple of weeks getting use to all the Bespoke Programmes they have, just trying to remember how to get into them all!

The other great thing about my job is, that I don't have to bore you week after week with me still looking for work!

I know it's a bit too soon to celebrate with rewards to myself, but I think I went a bit overboard this week :( I think after the realisation that I was actually going to have a regular wage, I splurged a little and of course now at the end of the weekend, paying for that breakout, (note to self, Alana, you haven't got that wage yet!) but in saying that, I do think I derserve to have a reward after all the hard work over the past 4 months of looking for work etc. Another fantastic reason to having my hair done it's given me the confidence that I need to overcome anything this week. I will feel fantastic when I go to meet the head office colleagues this week, so for that alone it will have been worth it!

I have a bucket list if you like now :) for not only things I want to see and places I want to go, but also just a few more things to make my unit a little more cosy for winter, without going overboard. I have felt like a million dollars this week having my microwave lol it's the little things that count now most of all!

I am being shown signs and messages all around me now that I AM on my right path, and I do believe that you can go and do anything that you set your mind to do, you need to follow your dreams, we all have a few hiccups along the way, but they are there to make us stronger and to keep our motivation to keep on striving for what we want in life. A lot of you know me very well now, the long journey it has been for me. I no longer have to think about the negative aspects of what was in my life, what didn't work? I know that there is always tomorrow, I know that all there is is love! what I may have yearned for for so many years, I was looking at things from the wrong angle. I believe every being deserves joy, happiness and love and I actually for the first time in my life, have realised that I am love, I need not look for it, for wherever I go, it is around me, like minded loving people draw near, it doesn't matter where I am , around the world. It has made me love and appreciate my family and friends even more. I love you all very much xxxx

While I'm on the subject of love, something else that I have grown a great appreciation for is, the countryside, wind in my hair, something I never did in Aus, it was too bloody hot, even with the window down! The only thing that stops me from having the window down is the poo aroma, (well yes, I do smell it a bit around her, and it's not because people are full of shit! Lol more that I do actually live in a rural area, so you get use to pulling in behind a tractor, that has dredged through something foul, you have never seen me put that window and put the internal air on so quickly! But apart from all that, I just loveeeee the countryside and not actually living in suburbia. The fact that I'm only 15 minutes or 30 minutes away from two cities, makes it even more appealing. Where else would you have the experience I had during the week, coming home from work, getting out of the car, putting on my coat, getting my bag and Brolley from the back and I turned around and there standing on the grass, was our resident deer, that usually is much further away behind the estate, in the open fields, not up near the storehouse near the car park. Talk about a Mexican stand off, I completely froze, I was so amazed, but a little petrified as I had never been this close to a deer in the wild before. We both just stood there looking at each other, I don't think I even breathed for the entire time lol then suddenly the deer thought, if your not moving woman, I'm off! so then he turns and starts running down towards the woods right next to my flat.

Front view of my deer friend :)

The first signs of Autumn :)

Another little pleasure I had this week after work, I was in the car park and noticed some ripe berries, woohoo nice stash of blackberries, I picked a couple, being very careful not to be attacked by the nettles lol hmmm wonder if I can bring a container down here and pick some more. I adore all the fresh raspberries and blueberries and raspberries here :) omg it's fruit heaven!

Well people it's almost time for Downtown Abbey, so I'm sorry, I will have to finish up lol but before I go, those that didn't see it, the new haircut this week :)

 

I look forward to possibly going away again soon before the end of Oct, so I will keep you all posted, so until next post. love to you all xxxxx

 

 

 

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