tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-123054852024-03-23T18:16:26.236+00:00The general public (and other things I dislike)To save the ears of those I knowUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-34102880973485198772007-10-24T18:10:00.000+01:002007-10-24T18:25:56.817+01:00"High on a hill lived...<span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">...Lady and Mr Librarian, Lay-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">ee</span> ode-lay-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">ee</span> ode-lay <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">hee</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">hoooooooo</span>" </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">I'm sure that's what Julie Andrews meant to sing. We seem to attract hills. Every house we've ever lived in together has been right at the top or right at the bottom of a steep old hill, meaning that at least once a day at we've had to walk up the blasted thing. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">We're moving to Norwich, and Norfolk is a county that is known for being flat. On the way there you can see for miles and miles across <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">endless</span> fields and huge big skies. And yet we've still managed to find a house on top of a hill. When we went to view it the first time, I thought I was going to die walking up the damn thing (I was very hungover, we had to stop halfway up). The second time, a lady in the street smiled at us and said "it's much better going down" or some other such <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">pleasantry</span>. This time I nearly did die - of shock. I wanted to shout after her "we live in London, please don''t speak to us in the street unless you're going to mug us. It confuses us".</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">Anyway, it's worth the trek to the top of the hill, we have the most amazing view of the cathedral, city and miles and miles around. And even better than that - we will be living in a house (a house!) with three bedrooms (three!) and a downstairs loo (like the Queen!). It's a good job we've got the downstairs loo, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it up the stairs after tackling that hill...</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-71380741071627683792007-09-29T09:18:00.000+01:002007-09-29T09:33:56.947+01:00Tickets please!<span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">Do you know who I won't miss when we leave London? The miserable man who works in the ticket office at our local station, that's who. Heaven forbid that man should actually speak to you, he has now added throwing your change at you to his repertoire. He doesn't do it quite so well as he does reading his paper and ignoring you - he dropped 5p of my change on the floor as he was hurling it towards me, amature - but I'm sure with all the practice he'll be getting, he'll have it perfected soon.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-67046059741660233502007-09-28T20:45:00.000+01:002007-09-29T09:03:38.261+01:00Leaving London. Part Two.<span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">The last time we left London we went on an 8 month round the world trip. Vowing never to set foot in the Big Smoke again, after the final flight home we lasted two months with my parents before we panicked that our friends would forget us, and we came back. Three years later, we are older, wiser (we now know that our friends will visit us. Promise them fresh air and cake and these people will do anything) and moving the hell out again.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">I have a new, fantastic job, working for the brand spanking new<span style="color:#990000;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.ucs.ac.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#990000;">University Campus Suffolk</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"> and we're going to be living in Norwich (insert Alan Partridge joke here)</span><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">. Both Mr L and I are super excited, and despite my pleas for him not to pack everything up <em>just </em>yet, I came home tonight to a half empty kitchen. I have no idea where our coffee machine is, but I suspect it's in a box somewhere... </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">So, seven weeks today I will be closing my present library up for the last time. I'll be very sad to leave my job, after a rough-ish start I've grown to really love the library, my colleagues and the library members. Even the consultant who has more questions than the Spanish Inquisition. And after I've locked up the library, I'll head into town to the Knight's Templar where we held our last farewell, and as I'm downing my pitchers of Long Island Iced Tea (thanks <a href="http://oohdontgetmestarted.blogspot.com/"><span style="color:#990000;">Booky B</span></a>) I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that this time we can stay away for good.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">Or at least until December 12th when I see the Manics in Brixton. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-35355092900782189422007-08-28T09:42:00.000+01:002007-09-28T21:15:51.541+01:00Parklife<span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">One of the worst things about living in London is the lack of your own garden, or any outside space. My mum spent the first two years of us living here in an almost constant attempt to buy us a tumble dryer, as the lack of outside drying space for our wet clotehes was giving her sleepless nights. Never mind the fact that our flat at this time was so small a tumble dryer would have taken up the entire kitchen space...</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">But the lack of garden really comes into it's own when the sun comes out, and you have to walk for thirty minutes to the local park, just to be able to sit outside. I did this on Saturday whilst Mr L had a trip to the library (the closed library. By the way, library, putting the fact that you are closed on a Saturday on your website the follwoing Monday doesn't really count as advanced notice, does it?).</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">I lasted about an hour and a half in the park, before the general public drove me away. I'd taken my radio, and the batteries died, so all I had to listen to was the Gatwick flight path and other people's conversations. The park was pretty empty, and yet a family still managed to come and sit right by me, in all that empty space....Anyway, the little girl of the family had the same name as me. Now, my name isn't that popular, so when I hear it called, my ears always prick up. And to my credit, I sat through "Abby: "sit down", "don't do that", "come here", "would you like a cheese sandwich?", "would you like a chicken wing?", "would you like a ham sandwich?". Listen Park Mum, all that your poor Abby wanted was a bit of peace and quiet. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">The final straw came when looking round the park (in a rare moment of non-Abby bossing) Park Mum declared in a very loud voice "Ah! This must be what people did before television was invented!". </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">I was home in thirty minutes flat.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-63871753058609797792007-07-03T15:40:00.001+01:002007-07-05T17:31:46.357+01:00Black umbrella, Navy baseball cap, Hard-back A4 lined notebook<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Surgical technique A4 booklet (nail PTN system)<br />Blue envelope file containing printed documents<br />Hard-back A4 book ‘HGV Man Manual’<br />Banner shorthand notebook<br />BMT Careers A4 notepad<br />Paper-back book ‘The Practical House Officer’<br />A black and white grey dotted tie<br />A pair of sunglasses<br />A green book mark<br />A small blue ring note book<br />A CD ‘Kings College London Risk assessment and management of violence…’ </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Pressure Area Management Guide (leaflet)<br />Pressure Ulcer Classification (Information sheet and activity sheet)<br />Booklet titled ‘A Guide to Wound Dressing’<br />Booklet titled ‘Grey Matter’<br />Phone chip<br />BVNA key ring<br />Ring with a red flower on the front<br />Pink comb<br />Cream hairclip<br />Vesicare post-it pad<br />Blank patient info table with sticky labels<br />A4 notice ‘Changes to Recruitment’<br />Gold USB stick<br />CD<br />Grey hooded zip-up tracksuit top<br />Cream and brown subtle patterned scarf<br />Burgundy glasses case<br />Brown glasses case containing a small blue biro pen<br />A4 ring bound ruled plastic-backed notebook<br />Dutch to English dictionary<br />Double aerial device<br />Brown-green baseball cap<br />Dark grey printed ladies umbrella<br />One pair of black woollen gloves<br />One pair of navy woollen gloves<br />TV hits magazine<br />Pink novelty plastic backed notebook<br />Lilac ring-bound ruled notebook<br />Parts of the printout of an essay<br />Blue Nokia phone<br />Grey 2007 A5 diary</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Green H+M jacket.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">This is what we have in our lost property box in the library. And no, I have no idea why somebody would bring, and then leave, a tv ariel in the library.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-15469992257940043902007-06-05T17:27:00.000+01:002007-06-05T17:29:14.712+01:00I don't even know where to start on this one<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">The "logo" for the 2012 Olympics.</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gopetition.co.uk/signatures.php"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Make it go away!</span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-58272278837385588472007-05-30T17:07:00.001+01:002007-05-30T17:18:33.254+01:00You Love Us<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Last night I went to see the Manics. A. Mazing. That's what they were. We were super close to the front and somehow I managed to end up standing behind a girl the same height as me, so I could see! I kept forgetting that I could actually see the stage and found myself standing in my usual gig position, where I look roughly 10ft above the band as that's all I can see. I had a lovely unobstructed view of James, as usual all I could see of Sean was his arms, and I was probably a bit too close to Nicky, got to see a fair amount of his undies once he donned his super short mini skirt.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">What I have never, and will never get, are people who go to gigs to talk through the band. Tickets weren't cheap for last nights gig, so why would you fork out £26 and then just chat, in a LOUD voice all the way through it? Why?! Surely it's cheaper to stay at home, or go to the pub? What made this even more annoying was at the beginning of every song they said, loudly, something along the lines of "I f'ing LOVE this song" or, in the case of an acoustic number "this song is just beautiful" and then chatted away merrily all the way through it. I did say to them at one point, after an "I f'ing LOVE this song" "well why don't you shut the f up then?" but they were so busy talking they didn't hear me!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-73781425946386948362007-05-23T17:22:00.001+01:002007-09-28T21:17:07.292+01:00Wheels on fire<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">This morning my bus driver (well, the driver of the bus I was going to work on, I don't have my own personal bus) stopped to help a man put out his car that was on fire, whilst the rest of the bus tutted, sighed in an exaggerated fashion and swore at being held up for literally 3 minutes on their journey, and the other car drivers drove straight past him without a second glance. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">There is nothing miserable Londoners hate more than someone getting in their way, especially with such trivial things as car fires. This man's car was actually <strong>on fire</strong>, and people were more concerned with the fact that they might be a few milliseconds late for work.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">What people don't realise is that on the side of the building that says "Welcome to London" is that underneath in teeny letters it says "Please leave all manners and consideration for others this side of the North Circular".</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-36242762769671360722007-05-20T08:29:00.000+01:002007-05-20T08:46:21.346+01:00Don't tell my mum<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">but yesterday I met up with a bloke I met on the internet. Luckily, he turned out to be a very nice man indeed and didn't kidnap or murder me, hooray! Even better than not being kidnapped or murdered was finally getting my hands on a pair of tickets for the Manics. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I found him through </span><a href="http://www.scarletmist.com"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">www.scarletmist.com</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"> after having been messed around, again, by See Tickets. In the past year they have charged me for Recorded Delivery (more or less £5) and sent the tickets by First Class Post (32p), I've had to phone them up to tell them a gig was cancelled and ask for my money back - they had no idea and this time they sent me a sale confirmation email only to follow it up 6 hours later with an email to say that there were 'not enough funds' in my account so they'd cancelled my order. Fibbers. Funny that the money they couldn't take on Thursday came flying out of the cash machine yesterday to pay the Lovely Internet Man. Hmm. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-4715539521469370732007-05-16T17:39:00.000+01:002007-05-16T17:41:13.027+01:00The lost art of customer service<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I’ve spent the best part of the afternoon trying to set up electronic access to one of our journals, I won’t bore you with the painfully long process I had to go through to actually get it, but here’s the last reply I got:<br /><br />"You can furnish me with a password and I can enter it in."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"> What?! That’s not even bloody English. If they weren’t on the wrong side of the Atlantic I’d be furnishing them with more than a bloody password.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-76778701178989927772007-05-04T14:39:00.000+01:002007-05-30T17:58:59.065+01:00Our Man on a spending spree?<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Do a good thing today. Be entertained and get the itchiest feet you've ever had. Go </span><a href="http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2007/05/dear_firsttime_vietnam_visitor.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">, read it, and before you pack your bags for and head for the nearest airport, leave a comment and vote for Our Man and make him a Rich Man. $500 to the winner.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;color:#990000;"><strong>Update! He won, hooray! The full weeks guest blogging <a href="http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2007/05/our_man_in_granada.html">can be found here</a>. </strong></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-10289352308183344012007-03-28T17:21:00.000+01:002007-03-28T17:33:26.144+01:00O.A.L. Old Age Librarian<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">So, I'm now officially the wrong side of 29. On Sunday afternoon my best friend phoned me to ask "are you suicidal yet?", and I was little unhappy in a "what have I done with my life" way. Luckily by the time I woke up on Monday, the mood had passed and I had a lovely day. It was super sunny, so, as befits a librarian of my age, Mr L & I took a stroll around the local park (where I saw an obscene amount of duck sex. Ducks! Get a room!) and then went for lunch. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">As we were waiting for our food, the couple at the table next to us were just leaving. The lady rose from her chair accompanied by the "oofs" and "ooohs" that accompany us over 30s every time we do anything more strenuous than drinking a cup of tea. When she'd got to her feet, she turned to us and said "You never think you're going to get old. I don't think I'm much longer for this world". What are you supposed to say to that? </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">And is this what you get when you reach your thirties, no more strippers<strong>* </strong>for your birthday just a Pensioner-o-Gram who comes to tell you of the 'joys' ahead of you? </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#666666;"><strong>*</strong><span style="font-family:georgia;">Although I've never been sent a stripper. And that's they way I like it, thanks.</span></span> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-7340237736468503462007-03-21T17:44:00.000+00:002007-03-21T18:03:36.076+00:00The dog ate my homework<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Ooooh, you'll <em>never</em> guess what happened! Well, there I was flying back to LA from Sydney when the plane only went and crashed! No? Yes! So then, I was all stranded on this island with these other damn annoying people and would you believe it - in this weird underground house thing, there was a computer! "Great" I thought, and there I was all set to update my blog but apparantly someone blogging about 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 was more important and so it's been three months since I last wrote here. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Oh, alright. I have not been living in Lost since December (not even the faux England bit where Charlie lives). I'm just lazy.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Here are ten things that have happened since I last blogged.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">1. I got a whole lot closer to 30. Boo!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">2. I booked a holiday with my best friend in Tunisia - we are off on April 1st to drink for a week in the sun and forget all about the fact that we are both 30. I booked it All Inclusive and she doesn't know. The reason I decided to book All Inclusive wasn't down to the unlimited booze, or use of pedalos, but the fact that you get Afternoon Tea and Biscuits every day. Rock.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">3. I gave 20p to a woman with no change who needed to use the loo at Charing Cross Station. This means that I have repaid the 20p a lady gave to me almost two years ago when I was desperate at Victoria Station and had no change. I had been waiting all that time for someone to help. Karma.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">4. The library was broken into and some hoodlum stole 12 computers. Double boo!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">5. I signed up for a librarians conference in April 'cus Miss S is going too, only to be told by a publishers rep I know that the kind of people that go to this conference are "hardcore drinkers" and "party until 5am". There is a disco every night. Both Miss S and I will be taking cameras, I think this has to be seen to be believed.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">6. I attended a course at my old university and saw one of my old tutors. She didn't recognise me as the drunken idiot who stood on her handbag in the pub at the christmas 'do'.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">7. I had my hair cut and immediately wished I hadn't.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">8. I realised that I really like singing along to songs that have the word "goddamn" in them. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">9. I went to the theatre in Manchester and a man was sick on me during the interval. This is what happens when you attend a cultural event in the north of this country.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">10. I got a even closer to 30. Boo!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">So see, apart from the burlgary and vomiting incidences, you didn't really miss much, did you?</span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="color:#666666;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-8760994613230849752006-12-21T17:43:00.000+00:002006-12-21T17:47:26.577+00:00Other triangular snacks are available<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I suspect I'm not being very professional right now. I'm running the library on my own, and I'm eating Doritos and salsa dip straight from the jar. I have spilled it down my chin, my cardigan, on my desk and on the squichy wrist rest thingy on my keyboard. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Merry Christmas!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-10136591689939423682006-10-12T17:57:00.000+01:002006-10-12T17:59:20.443+01:00List #2<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Last night when I was closing the library, I found </span><a href="http://thegeneralpublic.blogspot.com/2006/05/glasses-check-strudel-check.html"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;">another list</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">This one said:</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">egg bacon</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">tomato</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">2 x glasses</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">1 tea</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I wonder if it was the same person? And what<em> are</em> they planning?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-42970891471139128962006-10-05T17:29:00.000+01:002006-10-05T17:31:06.403+01:00Cake or biscuit?<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">My main problem with Jaffa Cakes is not the “are they a biscuit or a cake?” debate (cake, quite clearly) but rather that they are so damn small! They are the only biscuits/cakes/niceness in the office, and I am here on my own. They announce very proudly on the packaging that there are 15 Jaffa Cakes inside, so if I eat them all, people will know just how very piggy I have been. Now do you see what the problem is?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">What I need is one of </span><a href="http://www.pimpthatsnack.com/project.php?projectID=174"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;">these</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-12579085484938019932006-09-29T08:00:00.000+01:002006-09-29T08:01:51.649+01:00Every child needs this<span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="color:#666666;">and some adults too!</span> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.coloursarebrighter.com"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#993399;">www.coloursarebrighter.com</span></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-62381197689950274522006-09-28T18:01:00.000+01:002006-09-28T18:11:06.265+01:00Domestic Goddess<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">So, now that Mr L has gone back at university (or school as I like to call it) full time, I figured I needed a hobby for all those times that he's too busy studying to entertain me. I came up with lots of ideas; DIY, knitting, crafting, and just the one reason why none of those could be my hobby: I am rubbish at being practical and have no patience to learn new things. I thought about learning a new language, which I am good at and do love, but working two late nights a week really cuts your options down. That and I'm far too lazy to go to classes in the evening. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Finally, it dawned on me that I don't have to get a new hobby, I'll have more time to do the hobbies I already have (genius!). So I've taken to the kitchen with a vengeance and have started to cook more, read more cookery books and blogs (mmm, food porn) and even make my own cookery book from all the recipes I have gathered over the years. I even brought craft glue, which I have yet to cause trouble with, mainly by heeding the good advice given to me by Mrs D "remember, don't eat the craft glue". </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">On Monday I went shopping with some of the remaining gift vouchers that we were given at our wedding. I knew I was really an old married when I found myself in the House of Fraser kitchen section getting excited over finding a loose bottomed flan case and a silicon 6 hole muffin tray! You don't even want to know how super excited I got when i saw the sign saying "20% off all bakeware". </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I can't wait to try them out. How long before my new hobby is Weightwatchers?!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-30612482843294764382006-09-28T17:30:00.000+01:002006-09-28T17:48:14.314+01:00They are my favourite band in the whole world ever<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Twice in this past week on the way to work I have been struck down by radio rage. Or rather radio listener rage. Both for the same reason, people phoning up for competitions claiming to be the biggest fan of the band ever, ever, <strong>EVER</strong> and then turning out to be total idiots. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">The first incident happened last Friday, when </span><a href="http://www.xfm.co.uk"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#6600cc;">xfm</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"> were giving away 10th anniversary reissues of Placebo's debut album. There's your first clue, right there, the<strong> ten year anniversry </strong>- this band have been bround for at least 10 years. You phoned up, won a reissue and then went into a draw to go and see them live in Milan. So, between 8-9am the dude who phoned up was indeed, the biggest fan EVER of Placebo, ooh he LOVED them, he was, in his words "a massive fan". Then the DJ asks "so, you've seen them before then?", "no, never" came the reply. I'm sorry? I thought you were a "massive fan" and yet you're telling me that in the last <strong>ten y</strong>ears you've never managed to see them live? Ever? He then went on to say "I thought about getting tickets for this tour but I just haven't got round to it yet". What? This tour that sold out in about an hour, that the tickets went on sale for a good couple of months ago. Hey, I only "like" Placebo and I've seen them live at least twice. Forgive me, but <em>thinking</em> about <em>mayb</em>e buying some tickets for a bands biggest tour to date, is not massive fan behaviour. <a href="http://thegeneralpublic.blogspot.com/2005/08/foos-are-in-town.html"><span style="color:#6600cc;">This</span></a>, <a href="http://thegeneralpublic.blogspot.com/2005/08/6-days-and-some-hours.html"><span style="color:#6600cc;">this</span></a> and <a href="http://thegeneralpublic.blogspot.com/2005/08/queuin-in-rain.html"><span style="color:#6600cc;">this</span></a> is. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">And then this morning, in a multiple choice quiz in which the question was "where are The Zutons from?" and the answers were a) Liverpool, b) County Durham or c) Henry Kelly, yet another massive fan had to be literally told the answer before he finally said "Errrr, Liverpool?". Good grief. Even my mum knows that The Zutons are from Liverpool.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-6350416211011122942006-09-27T17:52:00.000+01:002006-09-27T18:00:10.669+01:00Bringing home the bacon<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">We have our food shopping delivered. This is not because we are too lazy to go to the supermarket but rather...oh, okay, it's because we are too lazy to go to the supermarket. Sometimes they can't provide you with <em>exactly </em>what you asked for, and so send a substitute. Sometimes these make sense, for example you don't have Braeburn apples, you send Coxes apples, sometimes, they make no sense at all. At all! </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Imagine you are the person shopping for us (in my mind this is always a man who has never had to do food shopping in his life. Probably still lives at home with his mum). Into your trolley you have just put vegetarian 'sausages', vegetarian 'mince', soya yogurts, soya milk and many other products marked on the front with a very helpful big green <span style="color:#009900;">'V: Suitable for vegetarians and vegan</span><span style="color:#009900;">s'</span>, and then you get to the quiche section. There are no Cheese & Onion quiches left, so, bearing in mind what you have just put into your trolley, what do you send instead? </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Why, Quiche Lorraine of course!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-1156171232421217672006-08-21T15:26:00.000+01:002006-08-21T15:48:15.753+01:00An Englishman's home is his (eco)castle<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I<strong> love</strong> property programmes. I love them all and can watch them for hours on end, even if they are repeats. I think it's mostly because I know there's no way we'll be able to afford our own home anytime soon, I just love being nosey and looking at other peoples (more often than not) horrific takes on decoration.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I'm on a half day today, so I made a cuppa and a sandwich and sat down to watch <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/tv_and_radio/ettc_index.shtml"><span style="color:#993399;">Escape to the Country</span></a>, which is a programme about, believe it or not, people moving to the country. Escape to the Country provided me with one of my favourite property programme moments <em>ever</em>, where a family from Birmingham looked at houses that they could run as a B&B, and everytime they went to open a door just before they did they said "Is it a toilet?" and then when they finially found the smallest room in the house exclaimed in a very excited voice "Oh! It's a toilet!!!!!" For weeks following this episode to me and my workmate opening the drawers and doors in our office at the time going "What's in here? Is it a toilet?". Imagine the hilarity!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Anyway, todays couple wanted an eco-friendly house. It was all "we need green this" and "eco that" and he was obsesseed with double and triple glazing. They wanted to have their own veggie patch and recylced water system. When they finally found a house they liked, they went down to the cellar where Eco Man said "Oh, this is brilliant. I could have a massive TV screen on that wall, a massive leather sofa there and all my games consoles." </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">So that'll be eco-tv, green leather and double glazed playstations then?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-1155836899289961352006-08-17T18:34:00.000+01:002006-08-17T18:48:19.370+01:00It's the least wonderful time of the year<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">As anyone who knows me knows, today is my least favourite day of the year. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4801035.stm"><span style="color:#993399;">A Level Thursday</span></a><span style="color:#993399;">.</span> Whilst most rational people can let their A Level results day fade to a distant memory, mine is right up there at the front in bright technicoloured awfulness. The first thing I said this morning was "Grrr. A Level Thursday".</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I hate A Level Thursday as it was one of the worst days of my life, and every year when I see all the 18 year olds who already have everything (blonde shiney hair, slimness, rich daddy) opening those godawful envelopes live on tv, only to discover that - and Oh! <em>What</em> a suprise! - they got straight A's, my heart goes out to all the 18 year olds who get 3D's and an E and think their life is over. Although I suppose letting the thick kids open their results only to start crying and pounding the ground wouldn't make quite as heartwarming a scene on breakfast tv. It would be more entertaining though, and at least I'd be able to relate to it "Oh, look, they've run out of the building straight to the clearing hotline to try and beg a place somewhere, I did that!", "Oh dear, she's ruinung her mascara, she could at least have waited 'til she got home like I did".</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">It just seems to be something I can't get over, which I should really, as it was 11 years ago. Wow, now I feel old...</span><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;">...although to be fair, if I'd spent less time in pubs or misbehaving with boys and more time in actual lessons, I doubt it would have been so bad.</span><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#666666;"> I may not be a straight A girl, but boy, did I have fun!</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-1155835902584304462006-08-17T18:22:00.000+01:002006-08-17T18:31:42.600+01:00The Big Five O!<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Tomorrow one of my colleagues turns 50. He doesn't seem too fussed about this, which could be down to me shouting things like "enjoy the last night of your youth" across the library to him as he was leaving today....but me and my boss are <em>very </em>excited! We've been planning a party for him for ages. I've made a cake (I really have to stop volunteering to make cakes, I was whipping cream at 6.15am today) and we have banners, balloons, musical candles, everything you could ever want for a party. Apart from booze, but then we are having the party in the day, a room full of librarians is one thing, a room full of drunk librarians, well that's <a href="http://oohdontgetmestarted.blogspot.com/2006/06/sober-and-law-librarian.html">quite another matter altogether.</a></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Only trouble is I have to leave as the party will be starting, as I have an appointment right the other side of town, so my dilemma is this - how best to reserve myself some party snacks? I might stick post-it's on to things I like the look of, or I could always hoard things in my desk...</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-1155564657016279292006-08-14T15:02:00.000+01:002006-08-14T15:10:57.016+01:00This is hardcore<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">On Friday night we went out to celebrate a friends birthday. His wife had booked the private dining room<span style="color:#cc33cc;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.mildreds.co.uk/"><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#cc33cc;">here</span></a><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"> for him. She is a much better wife than I am. It was really lovely evening, a fabulous dining room to ourselves, the best food ever, good company, great service. In fact we were having such a lovely evening that it was some time before someone noticed that the pictures in the beautiful frames on the walls were porn. And why, yes they were! Lots and lots of victorian porn. Well! It was almost enough to put me off my dark chocolate and orange truffle cake. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">Almost.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">And judging by the bored faces of the ladies in the Vicporniana, I'd say my dessert was a whole lot better than theirs.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12305485.post-1155564139021962072006-08-14T14:56:00.000+01:002006-08-14T15:02:19.036+01:00Lazy Librarian<span style="font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;color:#666666;">I'm not very good at having a lie in. Stupidly early nights yes, lazy weekend mornings no. But this weekend I have had two 9am starts (this is probably the equivalent of you lying in 'til 1pm) and an afternoon nap! I must've needed it, as my nanna would have said. However, all this lying down has left me with a really bad back. The kind that is fine until you try to do something, which means every time I try and get out of bed, get off a chair, bend down, or do <em>anything</em> I am making an involuntary "oooh", "sssss", or "eee-aa-ooo" noise. Which is not very attractive, and the kinda thing I wasn't expecting until <em>after</em> my 30th birthday.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;color:#666666;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0