Happy Birthday to me/us :)

Hello to all my wonderful Family and friends and a very big thank you from my heart for all the birthday wishes this weekend. It started Friday at work and has continued all through the weekend. A Friday of walking into work and finding my office draped in Happy Birthday banners and card and I had to wear the obligatory "birthday" jokers hat, or the Tiara. Well I wasn't to be the princess for the day, as the tiara was I'm afraid too small she cried! So alas I had to be the birthday joker for the day and amuse my work colleagues by looking silly for at least an hour wearing the hat. I didn't quite mind the first hour as it was quite chilly in the office first thing, but as it does often get on a daily basis, quite hot, right near me, I start to glow like a real heater, as I am practically sitting on the heater :(

I know, I look a bit silly!

Now you can all see who I am working for :)

I told my sister I wasn't a hat person!

Joker hat's retired position on my PC :)

I had a crook neck Thursday, so the day at the office on my birthday was nothing short of manic all day! Two reasons really, firstly because I had been away the day before and I had to catch up on a list of emails and work, and Youth Contracts I had to sort out, but secondly, my Line Manager was leaving for a two week holiday to India! So every five minutes, it was "Alana, can you do this? Can you just run this off, print that off, fix this spreadsheet report, etc etc and it got worse as the day progressed! I did feel sorry for her though, she had a lot of reports to get out and a lot of work to tidy up before being able to take leave. With me being her next one down the line so to speak, wasn't much I could do about it!

I did manage to escape the office for a while and was told that a cake might be nice today, obviously it's the "birthday girl or boy's job to deliver! So off I trott to Tesco's, not such a great selection, I shouldn't be having any! Will just have a sliver, as my sugar is through the roof! I finally get back to the office, Ali gives me the thumbs up to my Lemon cake and Cocunut gluten free choc coated biscuits :) finally we got through to the end of the day and it was time to go home, get out to the car and it was nearly frozen again. Poor car had to take five to warm up again before heading home and defrosting windscreen. A nice relaxing Friday evening, had a little nip or two of Baileys :) not too much Alana, you have to get up early tomorrow! What other way to relax on a Friday night and what goes down well with a Bailey:) and is very relaxing? Yes a bath! Ran myself a nice hot bath, needed a good long soak to warm the bones as they say :) after the bath and the bailey's, I was nodding of on the couch, so it was definately Blanket show time! (Bed time)

Up early on Saturday, yes even on my birthday! Unfortunately not woken up by a loving warm man by my side, (oh that's right, he still hasn't found me yet, that was a dream!) After awaking from my dream, up it get and brrrrrr it's chilly this morning! Have to rush to the hairdressers for some pampering, getting the hair done and looking forward to a long deserved head massage mmmmmm blissful.

I was in Wells for a couple hours at the hairdressers, then realised it had to rush back to the car park, before the car park attendant got a bit free and easy with his tickets, the are really strict in wells :( phewwww made it by five minutes and of course a big smile :)

Back home and quick clean up, find the shopping list and it's off to do a bit of Christmas and birthday shopping. I'm off to Dobbies to find some Christmas decorations and I really enjoyed wandering around Dobbies again as it was lit up like Christmas wonderland and Christmas cd's playing. One couple came past me and had a bit of a chuckle as here I was looking at some gifts and singing away to Christmas Carols lol I was getting into it! I also was looking for a birthday gift for a friend (Angela and her partner) who I had coming to see me in the late afternoon and we discovered that Angela and I shared the same birthday, so it kind of made our birthday a even more special!

Gift shopping done, check, off now to do food shopping, check! Then it's get some petrol and then I started getting messages and calls from Angela and Rani, both trying to get me! I had been trying to answer them to no avail, hmmm no credit Alana! After a Orange topup for my phone, I'm back with the land of communication and I'm able to answer my messages. I go to meet Angela and Roger at their hotel, I met them downstairs and had a cider and we had a bit of a chat :) I knew Angela's daughter Amanda through another friend Jan in Mandurah, so it was special to meet her mum, we had only communicated for a few months through Facebook, so we were finally meeting up in person, but something even more special is that my friend Jan discovered that we both shared the same birthday, so we decided that we HAD to get together and celebrate! After a drink, I said a quick farewell and rushed home with the shopping, called in to Rani's and said we were going out in 30 mins, get ready now lol Up the stairs I rush with all the shopping, quick shower and a change and I'm ready for dinner.

When I get back home look what is waiting for me :)

A beautiful vase of flowers and a box of chocolates from my gorgeous kids :)

Back to pick up Angela and Roger and off to the Dusthole in Shepton Mallet.

Last time I visited this pub it was fantastic, there was a young guy behind the bar who was so attentive and gave Jan, Gerry and I heaps of attention, unfortunately this time, we had a girl who couldn't smile and obviously was dreaming of being in a better place! It was freezing inside too and poor Rani and Angela had to wear their coats. Apart from this, we did manage to enjoy the night and of course each other's company. The prices were reasonable, but the service was sub standard on this occasion :(

Cheers! Happy Birthday Angela and Alana :)

Roger and Angela

 

On a positive, they do make the most amazing pies, or ramikins with pastry top :) we all enjoyed them. We all decided to head home after Luke warm coffee's, we did have pudding which did warm us up a bit. We practically sat on the open fire in the pub as it was freezing in their, but it had a large area to warm. Rani was skipper, so we dropped of Angela and Roger, drove home and before I headed off to my flat, I stopped over at Rani's for a birthday night cap. A brandy liquor which was yummy, now it was time to rush home and get warm and head to the warmth of my bed!

Up again 6.30am Sunday morning, a quick coffee to try and wake up and it's a quick call to home as everyone is meeting for an early Christmas dinner, but darn it, I couldn't get through. I have this special number to ring to get cheaper calls from my mobile to a landline, well it wasn't playing this morning, so sorry guys it looks like we are not talking or skyping today :( I hope you all have a wonderful lunch without me and I wonder if anyone misses my Christmas pud? I have been going to make it over here, but I haven't found a proper pudding dish yet.

I have a bit of breaky and clean up a bit and then Angela and Roger arrive at my place, after being led up the back streets with their Gps. For those coming to my place, please remember Gps doesn't recognise where I am lol well the last little street anyway! We have a cuppa and decide on where we might head off to today, before they go back home, which is a three hour drive.

We have decided on going to Bradford on Avon, I have been there before and I loved it. I thought that Angela and Roger would enjoy the large river and the shops. We went in two cars,so they could go on home from there. We had a lovely walk around some of the town, there were Sunday Markets on, so we browsed the markets, did some tasting and then we walked back towards the river and found this quant old Victorian tea rooms called The Bridge Tea Rooms, which was close to the bridge and close to The Three Gables :) What a beautiful place. It is so gorgeous, duck your head when you go in, the building is so old, not sure when it was built. It has pretend snow in the windows. We managed to take a few pics with my phone inside.

Tea anyone?

This darling girl was serving us :)

Can you see those Cakes? Omg! I didn't have any though Angela and I had the best Leek and potato soup :)

 

Looking a bit sleepy there Alana!

Roger and Moi :)

My lovely new friends Angela, Roger and Moi :)Ins

Inside The Bridge Tea Rooms

After our wonderful lunch we headed for the Avon River and went for the gorgeous walk along the river and went to the Historic Farmhouse which for the life of me, the name escapes me :( but it's really worth looking at there are lots of shops and Galleries to see in and around the area, paintings, glassware, stoneware , jewellery antiques, whatever your thing is, your bound to find it! We stumbled across this gorgeous little barn which was filled to the brim with every Christmas decoration you could ever imagine. What a delight it was in here.

This was only one corner, it was spectacular!

After the shops in the barns etc, we were walking back to the carpark and I saw this house which interested me, it had Dove homes, built into the side of the house, haven't seen that before :)

Ok, it's time we started back to carpark and head home, I don't know about Angela and Roger, but I have gloves on and have doubled my scarf and buttoned my coat, I'm starting to feel the chill already and it's only 3ish.

I finally say goodbye to my friends and head home to Oakhill and on the way I stop by this castle :)

I get home by 3.40 and it's time for me to have a cuppa and put my feet up and enjoy one of my treats that my beautiful kids sent me for my birthday and just have a little recap of my wonderful birthday weekend. Now which cocky will I have? Mmmmmmm

 

Proof I only had 1!

Well my lovelies it's been an eventful weekend and I had a wonderful time, apart from having a bit of a skid in the black ice :( but I was very grateful to be the only person on the road and I live to tell yet another one of my blog's hopefully next Weekend, until then I send you all my love and thank you all for your love and best wishes xxxxox

Ps I sends lots of love especially to a very dear friend's mum from my childhood hometown, who has been very unwell :( Janet P-O please give your mum a big hug from me when you see her and tell her I love her and I hope to hear that she is up and well real soon.

 

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Christmas is coming!!!!

Hello to my beautiful family and friends once again xxxx Brrrrrrrrr is all I can say at the moment, we are experiencing a bit a cool snap, only the start of it I keep getting told by the locals! You definately need your coat on outside and be equipped with scarf and possibly gloves, if not this week, most certainly next week. I have experienced three mornings now where Jack has visited and made me bloody late for work! Don't get too excited girls and boys, it wasn't the type of excitement I was hoping for! That of getting out to the car and discovering a thick film of ice on all the windows :( good old Jack Frost in fine form! I now have the tools of the trade, snow/ice scraper tick, ice defroster spray tick, cloth to wipe window down on the inside tick lol god have to get downstairs a good ten minutes earlier now. Out at the shops today, bought the salt, so I can actually get out the door when it snows lol

It's been a good week work wise, learning more and more each week, the staff are starting to enjoy a bit of banter with the Aussie in the office :) they try and take off my accent lol Ali the young guy is probably the best lol, I think they get surprised when I come out with little ditties sometimes or saying they haven't heard before, can see them having a bit of a giggle :) we all work in an open plan office, so we all see each other including the boss, everyone seems to totally relax as soon as she leaves the room, it will be very relaxed then when she is on leave for three weeks after next Friday just before my birthday, so it will be interesting to see how I cope with all the admin and the staff on my own :) be a nice challenge.

This week not a whole lot happened mid week, the weather started getting very crisp as I said, the rain eased up a bit for me to get in a couple of nice long walks during my lunch hour, I went with the young girls one day Louise and Lizzie who is a young girl from Wales, or on the border of Wales, she has just started with us and I had to do the induction with her, little did she know that I had only started 4 weeks prior to her! Although she did find out that I was only new there too, she thought I had been there a long time :) Louise is a lovely woman I should say, she is a bit older than Lizzie but not my age. We all went for the walk together and had many discussions about travel, which we all seem to have in common. Lizzie recently came back from Vietnam, where she was teaching English as a second Language and she had been a couple of other places on Malaysia as well but I can't remember where. When our work contract finishes, she intents to go for a stint in Japan. Louise has travelled a lot too, I had a nice chat with her about Astrology and Numerology, which she didn't know much about, but seemed interested in,

Friday came around slowly this week :( I have been rather tired this week, my health hasn't been wonderful, the diabetes is out of control and I have been doing all the right things, so not sure what the sister/doc will suggest. The sister did say that I may have to go on insulin, means injections :( just want to get is sorted soon, might stop me from feeling tired, headachy and hungry all week! Not all too bad that I wasn't able to finish off work and head home and get changed to go into Wells for the Christmas Carnival :) I was waiting for my neighbour to get home, we were going to go in together, but she was held up in traffic, so I went in as it was going to be hard to find a parking spot. I was so chuffed with myself, I passed hundreds of people walking into the centre of town and I kept driving thinking, hopefully there will be a spot for me, and then suddenly there was a spot right near the Cathedral, yayyyyyy. I think the Carnival is mostly for the young kids, it reminded me of Channel 7 Christmas Carnival, still remember Helen having to dance her way around the entire city block, poor little thing she was exhausted. It was the days of her doing her Calisthenics and I was so proud of her, she loved it when she was a little tacker :) anyway here are some of the floats of the Carnival, quite different to at home, lots of witches, ghosts and the like lol aliens, all sorts lol

 

Freddy's Back, seemed like the fastest ride ever, although when I took the photo, it didn't look like it was moving at all!

I definately didn't stand under this one! No one is going to chuck on me lol

Wave to the Carnival Queen :)

Skulls, ghosts?

 

Skulls, ghosts?? Hmmm

I loved this! Great drumming, African theme :)

Head hunters ... Skulls

Gremlins

Vampire Desire? Lol

These girls must have been freezing their tushes off!

Who you gonna call?

That's Fart Buster's not Ghost Busters

Peace Man :)

Th Emerald Isle - The Luck of the Irish

 

More little green people....

 

Still haven't worked out what these were?

Or this one?

Griffens float was pretty spectacular, it was like a massive robot, tons of lights, very impressive :)

More of the little green people and the land of Guinarse!

Here come the extraterrestrial's

 

 

 

 

 

Ok so now that I have almost got frostbite and I can't feel my fingers, I think I will quit while I'm ahead. There is quite crowd here, so I'm going to try and squeeze my way through all the crowd and start to head back, past the Cathedral back to my car before everyone else does! I'm so cold and hungry. Brrrrr I go past one of the caravans and buy a hot choc and a hot sausage and some chips not much option here :( so nice to finally get home and into the central heating :)

Sat morning is up and out around 11pm with my neighbour, we're off to Dobbies Garden Centre, we are going to get our cars washed there in and out for a £10 while we visit the shop which is fabulous at the moment, full of Christmas everything! We wandered around, had our lunch there, bought a few Christmas things and bought some stuff for the snow and ice.

Here is one of the amazing displays they had, all the bears where singing and playing an instrument :)

I just love all the Christmas stuff out at the moment, one could spend an absolute fortune, but to me it's really just about spending time with family and friends. It's going to be quieter than normal this Christmas, but it will be the second time I have experienced Christmas in the northern hemisphere :)

Well lovely people I shall leave you for another week and as I sit here watching "the Last of The Summer Wine" oh dear I have to say I have a real chuckle watching this show, it's all your real old legend British humour at it's best. Which reminds me Rani and I cracked up in the shop today, when we saw a take of a 50 shades of grey except it was 50 Sheds of Grey, a erotic take off for the modern male who loves his shed :) talk about hilarious! If only I had a male to buy it for for Christmas, don't think my son would appreciate it from his mum lol oh well!

Until next post, love to you all xxxx

 

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