Slophie's world

Shampoo

2011-07-29T08:34:00.000+01:00

"Don't Buy Shampoo, Get The Real Poo Here Today!!!"

Where does the word "shampoo" come from? Have you ever wondered?

Sham-poo.

I can't be the only person who has been showering and imagined the man who created it thinking "It looks a bit like poo, but, of course, it's not! Let's call it sham-poo!" But, to be honest, it doesn't even look like poo. At least, not if you're healthy.

Or maybe it makes you wonder what cavemen and women used to keep their hair clean.

I'll leave the ponderings up to you.

But if, like me, you are interested in putting your showertime wonderings to rest:
-"Shampoo" is originally a Hindi word, chāmpo, to massage, which apparently is an inflection of cāmpnā, to press.
-The first recorded use in English was around 1762, meaning an Indian Head Massage, usually with some sort of aromatic oil.
-It took around 100 years for the word to be used for "washing the hair" (first recorded in 1860), but only 6 more years for the word "shampoo" to be used as a noun [shampoo as an object] not a verb [to shampoo].
-Intriguingly, the first known shampoo-maker is Kasey Herbert (selling 'Shaempoo' in London), but the first shampoo we would recognise today was made in the 1930s, called Drene.

Not bad for a morning's ponderings! :)

6 months later....

2011-06-19T13:57:00.000+01:00

It has been 6 months since I last posted on this blog!

The main change in that time is that I have changed jobs. I am now a teaching assistant in a school for children with special needs, mainly severe learning and behavioural problems. I'm really enjoying the work so far - the learners are challenging, but absolutely lovely when they're being good, and all my colleagues are absolutely lovely! :)

Also in the last 6 months.... My sister and brother-in-law came to England and then went back to Mexico, I got a new car, passed units 1 and 2 of the Level 1 BSL course (only one unit to go!), joined the National Trust and visited several properties, my bike got a shiny new exhaust, got a lovely new laptop, made some new friends (but not half as many as I'd like!), left one church and returned again, done some growing up (and some growing down again, I think!), and probably half a dozen other important things I can't remember!

However, not that much has changed really! I need to resurrect this blog because it helps to inspire me to do the awesome and exciting things that I love doing most! I've been making a list of things I want to do before I'm 30 (my 25th is coming up VERY soon, and I'm quite scared!), so hopefully I can make it through a good few of those in the coming year.

More posts to follow.

Sophie's World

2010-12-22T21:15:00.000Z

Instead of an exciting update about the last few months since I posted anything (what could possibly have been so interesting that I didn't get a chance to blog?!?), I'm just writing about a book I read recently, called Sophie's World. Party the book which inspired the name of the blog to start with.

Interestingly, when I was 11 (or thereabouts) I really wanted to buy the book and read it, particularly as it had my name in the title. Mum and Dad didn't let me. Mum said that she was worried I discussed and thought too much as it was, and that she was worried it would make me unbearable.

She was probably right. It's a fascinating book, including so much history of philosophy - one of the key tenets of the book is "He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth" (Goethe). It's a brilliant mixture of story and deep philosophical thought, with a wonderful twist halfway through, brilliantly illustrating a point. The only disappointing thing was the ending, which I expected to be utterly ingenious, but which was a bit... fantastic (which in this case, as it was not a fantasy book, was slightly disappointing).

Apart from that, however, it was a brilliant book, and I now know so much more about the philosophical path we have taken to where we are now. I can't wait to find out more.

Bike (again!)

2010-10-07T11:19:00.001+01:00

Once again, it has been so long since I last posted that I'm not even sure if it's worth it.
I was considering retiring the blog, and the lack of any interesting news has made for a very quiet month.

Anyway, I have an entertaining story today...

On Saturday morning I woke up to find that my beloved Baby (also known as motorbike) had been stolen again! However, the funniest thing was that the first thing I knew was actually a note from the police, and they had already recovered the bike! Woo!

So after a few days of relying on people for lifts and cycling to work (despite the evil, evil cold of doom that struck on Tuesday!), I finally got to collect my bike yesterday and wheel it up to a garage to get it all fixed up.

It's a miracle that it wasn't destroyed. Again!
I think someone may be watching over that bike of mine.....

Envy

2010-08-22T10:33:00.000+01:00

It's been so long since I last posted anything from this computer that it has forgotten the URL. Shame on me!!!

I had some lovely moments last week I should probably tell you about. But I'm not. I'm going to let off some steam.

You see, I'm being consumed by little green monsters.

Loads of people from my church are now away on Summer Camp/Surf Trip. I am stuck here, working.

Don't get me wrong, work is actually not too bad. Apart from the stupid hours which mean I don't have any sort of a life, I actually enjoy what I do.

It's just that I can't remember the last time I had a proper holiday. And now loads of my friends are away, having what I imagine is a glorious week, being jolly and friendly and having fun and going for nice long walks and eating together and having great conversation.

And I'm *SO* jealous. I really really wish I was there. It doesn't help that Jon and others from work are there too.

This morning, in the shower, I had to pray that it would be sunny and lovely for them, because one of the little green monsters was telling me to pray for rain all week.

I hate missing out.

Oh well. C'est la vie.

I'm planning an exciting holiday later this year. Anyone interested?

Hot Cakes

2010-08-12T14:30:00.000+01:00

This morning I ate Hot Cakes: sort of like American-style pancakes.

Rachel sent the mix over from Mexico when my Mum came back. It's the best (and probably most unhealthy) breakfast food ever! :) Especially smothered in butter and maple syrup. Mmmmm!!!

Thank you Rachel! :)

My last Saturday!

2010-08-08T22:41:00.000+01:00

As you have probably gathered from the lack of posts recently, things have been pretty busy. And they've also been pretty boring. So there's been very little time to blog, and very little to blog about!

On Wednesday the 28th, Mum got back from Mexico, and we had an amazing time catching up and chatting, and seeing photos and everything. It's so good to have her back! I don't like living alone, it's just so much nicer.

This week was particularly busy, but not entirely boring.

Last weekend I saw lots of family. On Saturday I saw my Granny, Grandad and eldest cousin and her new baby!

On Sunday went to my Aunt and Uncle's place down in Stubbington, saw my Swiss cousins and Aunt and Uncle (YAY!), learnt a bit about engineering, flew kites and ate lots of very good food. :) Mmmmm.

I may put some photos up sometime.

Now, this is where it all gets a bit more complicated. I accepted a promotion at work (Wooo! Promoted after just 2 months!), but then I realised I couldn't do it. Not that I couldn't do the job, but that I couldn't face the hours (evenings and weekends - every evening and weekend). So two days in, I had to let them know I had to pull out. Which obviously wasn't met with greatest enthusiasm.

Of course, me being me, I made a much bigger deal of it in my head than it was in anybody else's head, which led to some complications on Thursday evening (by which point I was also extremely tired and, at the time, hungry). Fortunately, however, my bosses were very nice and forgiving, and everything got sorted out on Friday. Hurrah! Which means that I've had a nice calm weekend.

The deal is that I'll be working evenings and weekends in August, but from September my working week will be Tuesday to Saturday, and I'll only work Saturday evenings. Which is a more than fair compromise.

Hurrah! Certainly all things DO work together for good.

This weekend, I went to London on Saturday to see a very good friend (who was long-lost in Frankfurt but is now back!), and today (Sunday) I went for a lovely walk up by Silent Pool before heading to Priory Park for games and then going to church. I'm fairly tired now, so I think I'll end it there and head swiftly to bed.

Kite!

2010-07-28T15:28:00.001+01:00

I went kite flying last week! :)

We were up on Reigate Hill (or thereabouts). It was the perfect day - sunny and windy, with a beautiful blue sky and the backdrop of the green fields of Surrey...

Kites are officially "tethered aircraft" (or so says wikipedia), and this one was particularly spectacular. The tail added some stability and made pretty patterns in the sky.

This kite was a good stunt kite too, but we lost a rod and had to change to the other kite.

Here's me flying it. Awww. Don't I look cute. And happy.

And here's packing away. All good things must come to an end eventually!

New Project

2010-07-18T11:44:00.000+01:00

I'm starting a new and exciting project with a friend from work, reviewing food! :) Mmmm!!!!
I'll get a link up once it's all up and running. :)

At the moment, I'm staying over at a friend's house, it's a lovely sunny day, and I'll be going out this afternoon for dinner with the 20s and 30s at church! Should be lots of fun! :D We'll be going up Box Hill, so I'll try and get some photos too.

Busy beaches

2010-07-12T08:18:00.000+01:00

Lovely weekend overall.

Friday, a friend came over - we made risotto and watched films. It was great to catch up with her as it had been a few weeks since I'd seen her properly!

On Saturday I had to work, but I got a lie in anyway, as we don't open until 12.00 on weekends. One entertaining moment was realising that the machine had *finally* finished just as I was about to leave, so I grabbed a damp shirt and put it on anyway. By the time I got to work it was almost dry, and it did make the ride over much more pleasant.

We had a good day at work - very busy, and as about 40 people arrived at once, it was fairly chaotic at times! The Boss' wife was helping out, but as they have a small baby she had it strapped to her while serving people! Scary! (for both her AND some of our customers, some of whom looked at the baby with slight panic and horror in their eyes.... "Baby?! Erm... I don't know how it works! Argh!")

Yes, many of our clientelle are men who, as far as I can tell, either don't have babies themselves, or are here to get away from them. That said, we do get the odd few who will happily coo over the baby. He is very cute, afterall! We don't get as many women as I would like, but we do get a fair few. Either they are here to race, and really really love it, or they come in and refuse to join their husband/partner in the cars. I think they'd probably enjoy it if they did try it.

I'm not entirely sure I have yet explained what I do. For now, you can go to the website: www.puretechracing.com to find out, but I will take some photos at some point.

On Sunday, we went down to Hove and had a lovely picnic on the seafront, and had a fantastic afternoon by the sea. I love the sound of the sea! :)

Quick update....

2010-07-06T18:56:00.000+01:00

Hi all!
Just a very quick update, as I'm about to go and make my dinner in not too long.

Work's been good, but busy! In fact, I should say, work's been busy which is good! I much prefer being busy!

Mum has gone away to Mexico, so I'm all alone!
She's arrived safely and is doing really well. She's enjoying spending time with Rachel and Miguel, who are, apparently, looking after her very well.

The weather in England, for those of you who are not here, has been very hot! Today is much cooler, but they say it's going to get hot again.

I had a lovely day on Sunday playing games instead of the evening service at our church (not skiving - everyone at church came along!). We played rounders and football and volleyball. YAY! Lots of fun. We almost played Tennis yesterday, but all the courts were occupied.

So overall, all is good.

Mexico!

2010-06-30T07:32:00.000+01:00

Quick update before I go and make myself useful...

Mum's heading off to Mexico in a few hours to spend a month with my lovely and long-lost sister, Rachel! It's very exciting and there are lots of goodies winging their way out there. (There better be lots winging their way back in a month's time too...)

So there's been lots of preparation and nervousness, and I don't think it's actually sunk in that I'm going to be all alone here for a whole month! Although I'll hardly be alone really.

My birthday itself was lovely, I got breakfast with Mum, and lots of presents and lovely lovely cards (thank you everyone who sent a card! I don't think they've ever meant so much as this year - it's amazing to know I've been thought of!).

I also got to go up to London to see Phantom of the Opera! Wooo!!! :D It was amazing, truly truly amazing! The music, obviously, was fantastic, and the effects were really impressive!

We also got to wander around Westminster a bit first, which was beautifully lit with bright summer sunshine, illuminating all the details in the architecture and the guilding on Big Ben... It was breathtaking, and I don't think I've ever seen London look so beautiful. No photos, I'm afraid, but they couldn't do it justice anyway.

Birthday!

2010-06-28T09:07:00.000+01:00

TODAY is my birthday!!! :) Hurrah! :D

I just wanted to write a quick update...

On Saturday, Mum and I went to Biggin Hill Air Fair. It was so good!!! :) I'm afraid it's all over now for a year, but if you do get a chance to go next year, it's well worth it! :)

I won't bore you all with details, but here are some of my photos. It was amazing to see some world-class planes, present and past, and some very impressive stunt work and display flying.

Please note - it's upside down! Also, lovely paintwork.

The Red Arrows!

One of the most impressive, and certainly the most moving things, was the Battle of Britain Memorial flight. They described the events leading up to the Battle of Britain, which was 70 years ago this year, and had some old-school planes flying to demonstrate. There were also fireworks and even fireballs to create the atmosphere.

Four Spitfires. Wow.

There were actually quite a few more, but this was my best shot. It was great, at one point there were three pairs of dogfights going on up in different parts of the horizon. Really moving.

They also had a spitfire flying about after the rest came home, to symbolise all the men who never returned. It was such a poigniant reminder of the bravery of the men who protected our country!

At one point they read out a quote from one of the pilots, talking about what it actually felt like to have the enemy over your own country - to look down and see the green fields of Kent or Surrey and have a German plane on your tail... So moving!

Fairly sure this was the Spitfire that didn't come home (obviously it did eventually). What was really cool was that it did a display with the Eurofighter Typhoon (one of the most impressive and advanced modern planes in the world, I think!). It was a lovely mix of old and new, and a reminder that there are still thousands protecting our country overseas. As yesterday was armed forces day, it was particularly fitting.

Finally...

Brilliant. The Miss Demeanour, a Hunter (I think!), beautifully painted! :D

Well, off I go - lots to do today. :) Some of which I don't even know about yet!!!

Racing, Birthdays, and handwashing!!!

2010-06-21T22:12:00.000+01:00

I'm sitting here trying very hard to ignore the pile of handwashing dripping on the draining board, begging to be hung on the line, and I thought it would be a good chance to update my blog.

And then I realised it's almost the end of June.
And I've only written two posts this month!

I actually can't quite believe how fast the month has gone.
In fact, I can't believe how fast the year has gone!

It's my birthday in a week's time, and at times like this I tend to become ever so slightly introspective, and ponder about the year past and the year to come.

Well, things have certainly changed a lot this year. This time last year, I was fairly down, determinedly ignoring my birthday and denying the goodness in humanity. My friends were having a weird love triangle thing going on which they thought was more important than the fact I was completely skint, homeless, jobless and about to move somewhere I had no friends and no prospects. And all my belongings were being packed into a shed. I have to say though, the effects of the love triangle appear to have been far more profound and long-lasting than a bit of a shake-up in my life, so maybe they were right (never thought I'd say that!).

Highlights of the year:
-My sister got married
-I moved home
-I thought I was going to be a paramedic
-I found out a month before starting the course that I was not going to be a paramedic
-I worked in a call centre, and in a hospital, and, in retrospect, learnt some very useful skills. I met a lot of lovely people, and learnt a lot about humanity.
-Abroad... Well, Mexico (where the wedding was), Frankfurt, Prague. Not bad for someone skint!
-Sold the car. Got a motorbike.
-Motorbike got stolen. Motorbike got returned.

Another interesting thing about the year... This time last year, I actually hated church and church-going people. I felt completely betrayed by them. I felt angry and bitter, and didn't really want anything to do with church at all. That all changed, thanks to my lovely cell group (wednesday night church 'support' group), and lovely people at church, and thanks most of all to God never letting me go no matter how hard I try. That's the greatest thing. You've really got to hit rock bottom to realise that it never was you being close to God, it's always been God being close to you. Make sense? Probably not.

What else?
-Got a job!!! Still not completely sure what I think of it... Mainly, I enjoy it. It just needs to be seen what I can make of it, if anything, that will make it great.
-New attitude to a lot of things... Still working that out though... Picked up lots of good and lots of bad.
-New friends!!! That's been the best thing about moving home.

There's also something else... But you're going to have to wait for it. :P

I'll write about the job soon. It's brilliant.

New Year's Resolutions...

2010-06-11T16:59:00.002+01:00

I found in my diary this morning some New Year's Resolutions...

Well, since it's almost halfway through the year, it seems a good time to review them.

1. Write up Aftermath
This is the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo. I still think it's a great idea. Haven't done much writing though. 6 months left... That's enough time to get it sorted. Better get on with it!!!

2. Learn to make great cheesecake
I still want to do this! Another one to get on with.

3. Get some savings!
The only thing on my list that I have done! Not much, but some, so it definitly fulfills the criteria. Wooo! Just need to make sure they're still there (hopefully with more), at the end of the year!

4. Join Rock Climbing Club
Not yet, but I *AM* working on it! :)

Ok, so pretty poor really. But there's still time...

GAH!

2010-06-10T08:05:00.000+01:00

Sorry if you've been expecting an update.
There's lots I could say, and lots of excuses I could make.

The main thing is that I've barely had an hour to myself all week (since about a week ago, in fact). And even before then, I was really busy.

So basically, I'm using all my energy to make sure I turn up to everything I need to (and put up a good show while I'm there). It's fine, but it's not exactly compatible with blogging.

And it's not like there's anything majorly exciting to blog about.

I've got a new job, probably starting this Saturday, but more about that once I know all the details!

ipod trial stage two - the jogging test

2010-05-28T14:39:00.000+01:00

Before I go, I really should write up stage two of the ipod trials, the jogging test. Mainly because this weekend is stage three of testing.

Apparently, hard disk devices are less good for running than fixed memory. Or something like that. But I have found that the ipod I'm borrowing has been really good while I've been jogging. There have been no sound or playback problems, and it really helps to keep going to be able to listen to something! There's also a really useful feature, whereby if you pull out the headphones while you are running (as I quite reguarly do), it pauses the music, which means you don't have to miss a thing! I like it a lot.

So far, the thing I'm least impressed with is the battery life. I seem to have to charge it more often than my mobile phone, which is quite annoying. But the real test will be to see if it lasts this weekend!!! After this, I think I will have to give it back, and then make my final decision. More to come next week!

Weekend!!!

2010-05-28T14:34:00.000+01:00

I'm in the 2nd hour of 92 (yes, that's NINETY-TWO) hours off work! WOOOOO!!!! :D

I'm off to Cambridge very shortly.... Once I've packed and sorted lots of things out! So much to do, so little time. So I'm afraid you don't get any proper news today.

For those of you in different countries... The sun is shining mightily this afternoon in England! :) It's very lovely. And there are beautiful flowers and things everywhere. :D

So I'm off to a weekend of parties and excitement, and Sophie wearing a dress. I've been practicing with the shoes all week, to make sure I can walk in them. Here I go, here I go.

Update soon!

2010-05-25T22:15:00.000+01:00

Hello! I **WILL** update properly soon.

Currently being distracted by a cat and a rather amusing story.

Some condensed news
-There's a cat trying to see see how close to my keyboard she can get before she actually gets thrown off. Sigh. Now she's given up and is looking at me in a half-sulking, half-adorable way... Why are cats so irresistible?
-I've started running. I really like it.
-There are some advances on the job front. But you're not getting anymore than that until there's something definite.
-Oh, yes, the PhD is NOT happening. But that's actually genuinely fine with me. The department was too small and there wasn't enough teaching opportunity for me.
-My baby is running well and is very happy. It passed it's MOT a few weeks back with no problems.
-My Grandma came to stay last week and we had a lovely time! We even got to go to Chartwell (Churchill's home) on the Saturday, which is one of my favourite places. :)
-I just had pizza. Four cheese pizza. Mmmmm.
-oh, the cat's back... Soft fur and sharp nails in my leg!!! Silly thing. Best go though.

New Layout

2010-05-19T19:56:00.001+01:00

Ah, yes. Some of you have already noticed the new design/layout. :)

19th May 2010

2010-05-19T08:02:00.000+01:00

Can you believe it's already MAY? In the year 2010!?!

Well, it is. Part of me still thinks it's March 2009, which is kind of odd.

So I'm still working at the local hospital doing admin. The other day I got to wander around all the wards dropping off files, which was actually really interesting. I'm starting to get a feel for working in a hospital, which is nice. The first two months weren't really much different from any office job, except that the management structure is infinitely big, and there are lots more policies and procedures.

It has been good though. I'm a bit bored with some of the work, but it does vary every day, which keeps it interesting, and the people are lovely!

I also get to tutor for GCSE English and Spanish, which I really enjoy. That's about once a week through an agency. It's great fun. I wouldn't want to teach a class, but one-to-one teaching is really good. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that my tutee is very bright.

On the social side of things... Well, things have petered out recently, and this week I'm having a proper break (except for tutoring), so I can spend time with my Grandma who has come to stay! A nice opportunity to spend time with family and recharge my batteries. Hopefully next week there will be more going on again.

ALTHOUGH... Having said that... One of my friends has a really nice kit car (sports car you make yourself), and he had the roof off at church on Sunday morning. So of course, I made him give me a ride. We went up to Box Hill, where all the bikers hang out, and that was really cool. If you don't like cars, you won't appreciate this... But it's got a huge engine, can't remember exactly how big, the panels are all fibreglass, so it's pretty light, and the top speed is... well, we got to 90, but I know it does much more than that! It makes a beautiful noise

It's one of these, but it's much prettier as it's dark green and roofless.

It looks so good, especially with the roof off!

The ipod testing continues.... More about that next time.

Finally... Off to Cam on the 28th, if anyone's around that weekend? Although, of course, I'll be off at a very exciting engagement party... :D

ipod road-test

2010-05-14T08:39:00.000+01:00

I have been very kindly lent an ipod to try out for a few days, and I thought "this could actually be something interesting to write on my blog!".

So I'll be assessing the ipod and writing up a review of it here. And you will discover what a twenty-something female thinks of an ipod.

First things first: Spec.
This is a very special ipod classic - it's a limited edition U2 model. I *think* it's a 4th generation 30gb, but I will check that out.

The first thing I have noticed is the sound quality. I have to say, it is pretty exceptional! I have a couple of little mp3 players (512mb), and although I have never had any criticisms about the sound quality before now, the ipod makes them sound tinny. I also love the navigation menus, although I'm having problems convincing it to charge automatically when connected to a computer. But that's more likely to be a fault with my rather decrepit computer!

Have to be off to work now, but I will keep updating.

The Terminator with dirt under my fingernails...

2010-05-10T21:27:00.000+01:00

There really is so much I should probably be writing. I *STILL* haven't put exciting photos of Prague up, or written the motorbike story...

At work at the moment I am "Terminating Applicants". Sounds exciting, right? Well, apart from the name, and the fact that I get to press a great big button that says "Terminate Applicant", it's not actually that exciting.

Work, by the way, is Bank Admin at the hospital across the road from where I live. It's not my occupation, it's not my calling, it's just a job I'm doing at the moment, which is pretty boring, but which I am very grateful for (especially as I don't normally know until Friday whether I have work on Monday! Hard not to be grateful, really!).

I've been trying to grow a few nice things, which I planted in the garden today. The only things that are doing well at the moment are marrows/courgettes, but I'm hoping to have tomatoes (red and black!), beans and strawberries!!!! :D Mmmm.

Other nice things...
Politics really livened up my Friday. For those of you not in this country, this is because there was a General Election, but no one knows who's going to be PM yet. We do, finally, know who's not going to be PM. Woooo!

Regarding the interview... I haven't *actually* heard anything yet, so full analysis should probably wait. But I'm fairly sure I didn't get it. Not because it didn't go well, just because...

I really wish I had something more exciting to say, but I don't! Not that I can write down! :)

Results Day......

2010-05-07T21:35:00.001+01:00

Of course, I eventually decided who to vote for. :)

And I have thoroughly enjoyed following the live election feed on the BBC website today. It has made my day great! :)

More to follow, I'm testing something out...

Election Day.......

2010-05-06T07:41:00.001+01:00

Got to go vote in under an hour......

I'm still in my pyjamas and I don't know who I'm voting for. Argh!!!

More cycling

2010-05-02T15:58:00.000+01:00

HAHA! I looked at the blog to see where I left off, and it amused me greatly that the last post was on cycling too! :)

So, for those of you NOT in England this weekend, a short update on the weather. The week has been beautifully warm and sunny, but the weekend, which is Bank Holiday weekend, has been cold and wet.

This morning I decided to cycle to church. I do have alternatives - I have a car and a motorbike at my service this weekend, but I really wanted a good ride, and I saw a robin having fun in the rain and I decided to try it. It was fun - more so on the way there, as I think the day has become colder. But people at church thought I was mad, as I was fairly wet when I got there.

Anyway, so I was going to tell you about last Friday...

But before that - I fed 6 people curry yesterday and it was great! (The curry and the company! Mmmmm)

So last Friday, I went to a pub quiz style evening at a friend's school. It was brilliant! 6 rounds, with really nice fish and chips in the middle of it! :) Mmmm! Our team was brilliant - we were all from very different backgrounds, with different interests, which made for a really strong group, with a lot of success with the answers! In fact, we won!!! (First time I've won a pub quiz EVER!). We also managed to win a couple of bonus prizes and I won a raffle prize. Amazing! :)

Good times.

So my Interview is on Wednesday, and I'm sort of procrastinating at the moment, as I **really** should either be preparing for it or washing up. But I don't know how. To prepare. I know how to wash up. Obviously... :S

If anyone does have any inspiration about Interview prep, please do let me know! I'm very scared now! I'll keep you updated.

Cycling

2010-04-27T22:47:00.000+01:00

I like cycling. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I love cycling.

Today it did a very good job at blowing away the gremlins from my head, and making me happy again. Which was further compounded by not missing the train, two delicious hot chocolates, and a long and wonderful conversation with T, a very dear and very old (in duration, not age) friend, who is engaged!!!!! And who is even more excitable about life than me, if that is possible. (It is, I assure you).

YAY!!!! T&M getting married - WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

In other news...
This is actually fairly secret, but if you're a reader of this blog (especially after the hiatus), I guess you have a right to know. Just don't go telling everyone.
I'm going for an interview for a PhD on Wednesday next week! Very exciting, but very scary! If anyone has any thoughts on interview questions I might get asked, please let me know!

Mmmmmm. Happy sleepy linguisticy Slophie.

I'm not dead!

2010-04-26T18:55:00.000+01:00

Well, I think I better call an end to this hiatus, which really isn't acheiving anything...

It's been an interesting time since I last wrote, and at some point I'll figure out if there's anything particularly interesting from the gap to tell you.

Here are some interesting stories, from most to least recent.

Today I got to use a computer at work for the first time since I started, which was about 6 weeks ago now! It's been amazing to not work with a computer, actually, but it was also nice today to finally get to use one again. I knocked up a pretty good looking database with some of the results of our filing. How sad is it that I had quite a lot of fun doing it?

Yesterday I had a totally awesome walk with a couple of friends from church up Leith Hill. We did a fair bit of scrambling and sliding, and there was a lot of general silliness. :) Hurrah! It was beautiful up there. The original purpose of the trip was to go and see some bluebells, and we did manage to find some eventually (which MB trod on!), but the best thing was the fresh green-ness of the trees and the nice sunshine and good company. :)

On Friday....

Well, actually Friday's going to have to wait, as I've got a busy evening planned. Right now I should be cleaning up my room right now, and then washing up and then watching Doctor Who (a very important responsibility that I dare not neglect any longer, for the sake of humanity!). But I may get to Friday a bit later. :)

Hiatus

2010-04-15T17:26:00.002+01:00

Hiya!
Slophie's World is currently on a hiatus.
Lots has gone on, but I'm fairly exhausted at the moment, so I will update when I can!

2010-03-26T20:43:00.000Z

Ooooooo - You should also hear the story of my muppetry!!! It's very embarassing...

I was rushing to work one morning* and managed to fall over. Like a muppet. It was not graceful. And there was a really nice man behind me, and he stopped and checked that I was alright, and then a rather large woman bustled out of the nearest building. Instead of asking how I was, she informed me rather briskly that I had to fill out an incident form.

I managed to get into work on time, but I've been gently teased for it all week. And those incident forms are really complicated to fill in!

*Because, as everyone knows, the closer you live to work, the more likely you are to be late. I'm sure there's a theory with a nice name which says about the same thing, but I don't know what it is...**

** Yeah, I've been reading Terry Pratchett. Hence the footnotes.

My greatest blessing...

2010-03-26T20:31:00.000Z

My greatest blessing is probably not my camera, but I think that is probably one of the things that makes me happiest. And while tidying up my room, I have decided to procrastinate by uploading some photos.

This was the entrance to a tube station in Frankfurt. Very very cool.

For Mother's Day, Mum and I celebrated a week early and went to Gatton Park open day. It was beautiful, and there were hundreds of snowdrops out! :) After such a horrendous winter it's amazing to see flowers again! Our garden is full of flowers too. It's amazing. :)

Snowdrop

The view from the lake. You can see the house in the background. Curious geese. Very pretty walk. It reminded me lots of Cambridge.

And here's my Mummy on our Mother's Day trip, in the Japanese garden. This one's for Rachel, so she knows I'm looking after Mum. Although Rachel's not got Internet at the moment, I understand! So she probably won't be reading my blog. Which explains why I haven't been harassed for not updating it! :) Hehe. Hi Rach.

Yummy Easter Cake. Not cause it's a great photo, but because it was a great cake. :) Mmmmmmmmm

And finally... The only decent photo from my time in Cambridge last weekend. I saw some of my many ex-housemates, but none of them were able to look good in a photo. Honestly. I suppose it's reassuring there are some things Cambridge graduates can't do. I mean, I know *I* can't do everything, but it sometimes seems that the ones that stayed in Cambridge have got everything.

Except an awesome camera.

And Mum's tasty tasty cooking.

And a motorbike.

A gift

2010-03-25T19:17:00.000Z

Today I received the gift of 25 minutes.

I've spent the last two weeks filing at the hospital, and today I managed to finish all the folders! Woooo!!! And my Boss, being totally awesome, let me go home early.

So I thought maybe I should use the 25mins for something productive... But it was a gift, so I decided to do whatever I wanted. Which was watching CSI and drinking tea! Mmmmm!!!

So...
I've been really really busy the last couple of weeks. I'm feeling better after my evil cold of doom, thankfully!

I had a lovely weekend in Cambridge. It was amazing to see people again and to really have a proper chance to catch up! There was lots of tea, lots of cake, and a nice walk by the river after church.

On Monday and Tuesday I started tutoring, and then yesterday was the usual rush to get to my playleader training and then to my cell group at church... Today... I'm recovering a bit. Should really be with my youth group, but so tired!

Work itself is great. As I said, I'm doing filing at the moment, where and what for is irrelevant really. The people I'm working with are lovely, I'm really really happy. They thank me every day for my work... They're really lovely... It's great. :)

Update

2010-03-18T20:43:00.000Z

Ok, ok, I know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting to find out what my new job is! Thing is, it's a bit complicated!

But for now...
I'm working at the hospital (not far from my house!), doing some filing. Which is strangely enjoyable! :D Definitely a good move. It also means I get evenings and weekends, which is very nice.

I'm not working at a computer, so updates may be slightly rarer... But then I do get more time, so maybe they won't be. The last few days I've been feeling pretty rough, so we'll see how things go when I'm feeling better again. I don't think it's normal for 23 year olds to want to go to bed at 9pm. :s

Anyway, I'll be in Cam this weekend, if any Cam people are around. There should be an update soon about my day out yesterday - it was amazing!

NEW JOB!!!

2010-03-12T12:54:00.001Z

I'm starting a new job on Monday!!! I just found this out today!
ARGH!!!

Toasting...

2010-03-10T10:21:00.000Z

I'm eating breakfast, and had the intriguing thought of why things taste so much better toasted? Breakfast today has been overwhelmingly toasted - cheese on toast, toasted hot-cross bun, and tea. Not toasted, because that would be ridiculous. And it's not like I've put anything any more unhealthy on my bread now that it's been toasted. In fact, it's pretty much exactly the same ingredients I'd have in a sandwich normally. And yet it's so good....

Anyway. You don't really want to read about my toast ponderings. You want to read about...

Wait. What DO you want to read about? When the whole internet is open for your perusal, what is it that brings you to this small, slightly insane corner of the blogosphere?

One of my colleagues said it reminded him a bit of Adrian Mole. I'm taking that as a compliment, even though given who said it, that's not necessarily what was intended.

In which case, you should know my latest dilemma/trauma. Although you should also realise that at any moment there are at least three dilemmas going on in my head. This particular one is work related.

I am currently employed, which is a great relief and blessing. I work in a call centre. There are many things I could tell you about it, and maybe I will, one day, but while I am still an employee, my lips are sealed. What I will say is that no one understands why I'm there. Yes, I went to Uni. And got a degree. Ok, ok, before anyone says anything - I went to Cambridge and got a great degree. (Yes, THE Cambridge, don't look so shocked). But at the moment, jobs are scarce, and I'm very lucky to have what I've got, even if you don't like it that Cambridge graduates should work in call centres.

On top of this, there's another slight problem. I don't really know exactly what I want to do with the rest of my life! Of course, supposedly no one does, and I shouldn't be so worried about it. But... What I do now affects what I can do in a few years time and that affects what I can do in ten years time, and that affects.... And so on.

And so I'm at the stage where I'm looking for work (and having interviews, which I *really* should be preparing for right now!), and I know that if I'm offered several jobs, I have to make a choice. And I'm scared that I'll pick the wrong one, and end up poor and unemployed with no prospects AGAIN. Or in a dead end job again. Or in a great job, which goes places, but twenty years down the line I look back and think "I wish I'd taken the other job".

**SIGH**

Wouldn't it be nice to know what you wanted?

What's most stupid is that I haven't actually been offered any of these jobs, so all this mental exertion could well be for absolutely nothing. Story of my life. Always thinking too much.

ANYWAY!
In actual NEWS (as such)...
- I went and spent a day in school yesterday, which was really really good! :) I'm sure I'll tell you more stories about that soon.
- I'm learning Czech!
- There's been some sunshine in England the last few weeks (for those of you who aren't in the country). Woooo!!!
- I really really need to go and get ready for an interview. And drink my tea. :) Tea is so good.

Best be off.

Salespeople

2010-03-06T15:03:00.000Z

In the newspaper today, there was more talk about the election, about Labour being more popular than Conservatives, and about Mr. Cameron's plans for getting back the vote. I was going to bring the paper back and write it up, but it was gone by the time I went back for it.

What I liked most, was that the commentator pulled out one of the things that Cameron said, and it was that he was a salesman for the country. Then the commentator went off on a rant about how salespeople keep the country going.

In a capitalist society, it's true. However annoying we may be, salespeople are the driving force of the economy. If there were no sales, there would be very few jobs, hardly any industry, and the whole structure of the economy would collapse.

So you may think salespeople are annoying and ruin your weekends and evenings, but just think about the person behind the phone call. We do a thankless, underpaid job. We don't enjoy it any more than you do. And in my team, at least, we really want to do you a good deal. AND we're keeping the nation going.

Big up those salespeople! :) Next time one calls you, say no to them politely and they WILL stop bugging you.

Meant to live - Switchfoot

2010-03-05T14:07:00.002Z

Fumbling his confidence
And wondering why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bid for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly

[Chorus]
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we've been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we're bent and broken, broken

[Chorus]

We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life, yeah

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live
We were meant to live

Busy, busy, no tv.

2010-03-04T06:35:00.000Z

Yesterday was another day without television. Today looks like it will be another. For no reason other than I'm far too busy to sit down at all!

Yesterday was work, then I went to a Playleader course, which will be on for the next few weeks and will give me some training and experience working with children with disabilities. After that, I went to my cell group, which is a group of people from church who get together and talk and pray and stuff. That was really good fun.

I love my motorbike - it makes it so easy getting from one side of Redhill to the other, which any other method of transport (except a car, I suppose), would take about an hour (since public transport around here virtually stops at 8).

Today I'm up at 6 to be off to Sutton for 8.40, where I'll be registering with an agency and then heading back again for work. I get to go on the tram! At least I'm not doing much this evening (although I'm working til 8), and Mum gets back today from being away for ages!

Day off!

2010-03-02T21:00:00.000Z

Once again, today is my day off! Woooo!

I woke up this morning and decided I would NOT turn the television on once today. Which has been a great plan until right now... Because now it's late and I'm tired and all I want to do is veg out...

BUT - the lack of television means that I'm writing a post, which you wouldn't have got otherwise, so it's a great idea really. :)

SO - today's been a great day. I woke up late (but not too late), and wrote a list of all the things I wanted to achieve today. Then I had breakfast, read a bit, showered, and went to look at my list... which I had lost! Oh well.

I did some jobs, lay in the sun writing job applications, and generally had a lovely morning, and then I went on a bicycle ride to my Grandparents'. Hurray! (that was on my list). It's about 5 miles, and you get a lot of nice country lanes and pretty views. And there were snowdrops everywhere! It was very beautiful weather and I realised that I like cycling more than motorbiking, although it's a very close thing. There's more of a sense of acheivement with cycling, although you don't get the thrill of speed unless you get a really good downhill.

It was really nice to see my Grandparents - I love living so near them. They fed me lunch and lots of tea and cake and listened to all my grumbles and comments. :) We talked about all sorts of things. They're very interesting people, and they know a lot. It's easy to have an intelligent conversation with them. My Grandad has always worked in gardens in one way or another, so he helped me plan some of what I'm going to do with my garden this summer.

Not watching TV is definitely more productive. But harder work too. And I'm really tired now!

Murder by Candlelight and Chocolate!

2010-02-28T09:17:00.000Z

Last night I was round a friend's house, and two murders were committed!!! There were fifteen rather shifty looking characters about, and over three courses of dinner, we split them two groups to try and figure out what had happened... Everyone seemed to have a motive, no one wanted to admit to anything, and there were some very heated debates.

Fortunately, the murderers were identified and everyone had a wonderful evening!

PS - In case you were wondering... No, it wasn't me!

A blog post

2010-02-27T11:30:00.000Z

So... Rachel is harassing me about updating my blog. Honestly! It's not like I've got nothing better to do.

Actually, I don't have anything better to do... Not really. But that makes for such a boring blog post that I can't bring myself to write it.

I'm still working at the call centre. For those of you who weren't aware, I was meant to be starting a course as a Paramedic with the LAS on the 1st of March, but due to a silly technicality, I can't. So it's now been 6 months since I sold my soul to calling customers to flog TVs and washing machines. And I'm getting pretty good at it.

There are a few bad elements... Some things I can't share with you right now.
Yesterday, my best friend at work left to move to the Isle of Wight. I miss her a lot already, and it's only been one morning! Lots of people have been fired in the time I've been here, and yesterday someone else went. So there's only three of us today. Very strange...

I think the hardest thing about working here is that I am naturally a rebel. I don't conform easily, unless I agree with it. Not only do I naturally question everything, my time at Cambridge taught me to take nothing for granted, to challenge all preconceptions, and to think independently.

Which is dangerous.

And which is certainly not appreciated at a temp job, where all they want is mindless compliance. They basically want to turn us into clones, unquestioning, obedient, dull... I feel like they're sapping the colour from my life bit by bit, and trying to make me greyscale.

I also realise, however, that given this, it is quite a miracle that I haven't been fired yet. Over the last 6 months, they have shown a ruthless side, firing people who don't tow the line or get enough successful sales. So I must be doing something right, despite my 'attitude'.

I suppose despite everything, I'm very very lucky.

I'm learning a lot here. I just hope I never lose my ability to see through the conventions and realise when something is stupid. It's probably a good thing that I'm learning to hold my tongue though!

Germany photos

2010-02-15T16:07:00.000Z

Proof that I am here

NB: Captions refer to the picture above NOT below

Karneval/Fasching involved lots of people running around in crazy costumes. It was great fun. I felt very under-dressed. This man sends his love to the folk back home.

Beer man. He was with the beer float, handing out beer! Very cool. (Not that I like beer, but it's still cool. I got tissues and sweets. Yummy. My preferred drink was Glühwein - German mulled wine. It comes in white and red!)

Cake people!!!

Written by my new German(ish) secretary

2010-02-14T21:18:00.002Z

Due to my incompetence in the matter of foreign keyboards, I have recruited a very efficient German(ish) secretary to write this evening's post for me.

Today has been a wonderful day. I was given a tour of the marvellous city of Frankfurt, tasted some of the best of the street food (I hope, if not I'd better be getting it tomorrow) and witnessed a great to-do in the centre.

So, to start with the most important thing: the food. We ate tasty cinnamen cereal for breakfast, which looks suspiciously like frazzles but mercifully doesn't taste like them. They're actually delicious. Tea is different but still hot, wet and refreshing. I think it tastes exactly the same as English tea, but still. On our way around Frankfurt, we sampled Bratwurst and Frikadellen, which are very tasty oniony meaty burger-type things. Yummy yummy! We also had the wonders of Kaffee und Kuchen, which I do believe merit their own paragraph.

Kaffee und Kuchen, as far as I understand, is a most excellent German tradition. Germans like cakes. So do I. Especially the nice tasty German cakes, which seem to have several layers and lots of fruit and are very tasty. As in most European countries (which for my purpose does not include Britain), the coffee was excellent too. What do you mean "does not include Britain"?!?!? Well, the coffee in Britain is shocking at best. Yes, but Britain is still in Europe!

There are many awesome buildings in Frankfurt, but one in particular really deserves a mention, 'MyZeil', which, at first glance, looks like Tiger Woods hit a golf ball through it at top speed. I thought you were going to say the building looked like Tiger Woods... Inside, it looks like there's a black hole, causing the walls to melt in on themselves in true Dr. Who style. This doesn't even express a fraction of the awesomeness of this building, especially as the interior design of the place makes it light, friendly and sociable. I don't know a thing about architecture, but I did like this building. I think we got the message... Also, it had an escalator right from the ground floor to the fifth floor. Very cool.

Frankfurt is also really cool because, not only is Katy here (she made me say that), but there are loads of buildings which look fake, but are clearly real... Basically, there are loads of buildings which wouldn't look out of place in a 'German market' in England. I just get this feeling they should be made of papier mache.

There's lots of snow around.

We got to watch the Karneval procession here in Frankfurt, but more about that tomorrow, as there will be more strangely dressed people and flying sweets tomorrow.

My secretary is wonderful. I know. And beautiful. And smart. And a great cook. Mmmm.. :D. OK, now I'm slightly scared....

In Germanz ß wooo!!!

2010-02-14T09:57:00.000Z

Hmmm.... Kazboardäs a bit different to what Iäm used to.... :)

Thankfullz I have a verz skilled guide to help me.

So I´m in Germany now. Yay! Flight was amazingly fine, and ít´s all snowy and pretty. HURRAY!!!

Germany Part 1

2010-02-13T09:49:00.000Z

It surprises me that, although I love travelling so much, I really hate flying.

I never used to. I used to love flying. I remember when I was younger, we used to fly to England once every few years to visit people, and I would always look forward to the flight. It was all fascinating when I was younger.

Now I just find it boring. Apart from takeoff and landing, which are still great (though a little bit scary!), everything else is just sitting. And you tend to spend so long at the airport!

I think I hate flying because of a trip to India. The trip itself was wonderful, I really enjoyed my time there. But the day before we were due to fly back, an attempt to bomb London was stopped. The big one, where flights were stopped for two days and no one was allowed any hand luggage (and since then only liquids under 100ml are allowed on flights).

So basically, we were caught up in all the chaos. We received a message from the airline, telling us the flight was delayed by 24 hours, and so when we finally did get to the airport, it took us about half an hour to convince the security guards to let us in with what to their eyes were out of date tickets! When we finally did get in, all our luggage was seized and sent to the hold, so all we had was our passports and a bit of money. We eventually got on the plane to Mumbai, and thought we were finally going home.

To cut a very long story short, we got stuck at Mumbai for hours and hours... Over a day. We eventually got sent to a hotel for a few hours, but I didn't manage to sleep there as I was terrified of missing the flight. To make matters worse, I had an open sore on my leg, which I had no plasters or treatment for, so it got really infected. And I had nothing to entertain me except my passport. I read that thing so many times I could almost recite it. When we finally did get home, I was ill for a week with laberynthitis.

While I'm fairly certain none of this is going to happen in my short trip from Stansted to Frankfurt, I am still not looking forward to the flying. And annoyingly, on the way back, I get in at midnight, and there are no trains home anymore. :( So there are several options, but I think the safest is to find somewhere to doze at the airport until 5am, when the first train goes.

I hate airports.

Anyway, in good news, it's going to be an amazing trip! Woooo!!! :D

Airplane

2010-02-11T00:05:00.000Z

Yesterday I watched an airplane spiraling shimmering in the sun.

At times it gleamed like a polished diamond, and then it would turn and disappear, only to reappear again, shining, moments later.

Set against the backdrop of the Downs, it was beautiful.

---

Tomorrow's my sister's birthday, and she is three-quarters of the way around the world from me (if you go the long way). Happy Birthday Rach!

Happy Monday!

2010-02-09T00:01:00.000Z

But only just!

I had a lovely weekend in Cambridge - it was amazing!!! I hope to update on it soon, but I'm busy busy this week with job applications! I am planning on leaving my job in three weeks time, and I'm not sure where I'm going. But it's very exciting!

So do forgive me if there is a great deal of silence, but rest assured there are photos and stories to come.

Tonight I went to the pub with a couple of people from work (and one ex-member of staff), and we had a lovely time. There was a great deal of wonderfully putting the world to rights. There are also many stories I would like to tell, but which must wait for three weeks, just in case...

Take care, all!

Plans, Prayer and Pasta

2010-02-04T22:45:00.000Z

So, updates haven't been very regular. Mainly there's not much news. I've been looking for jobs and filling in applications and things like that, so pretty busy all round!

Yesterday, I had a wonderful customer who had worked for the co-op all his life, since he was 16 until he retired, apart from a brief stint with the RAF during the war - what I legend!!! I would have loved to meet him properly. :)

This week is the week of prayer at my church too, which has been brilliant so far. I went on Tuesday and Wednesday, where we were praying for ourselves and for others, respectively. It was really good - we started with about half an hour just giving thanks - it was great, and it reminded me of some of the things I am most grateful in life.... I thought I would share a few:

1. Top of the list, one of the things I am actually genuinely grateful for pretty much every day: HOT WATER!!!! Not just at this time of year... All year round it's good, and I love it so much!!!
2. My bikes. Both of them. No matter how much I complain, I do love them. I just wish they'd stop breaking down!
3. Tea!
4. The internet. :) It makes my life so much more joyful.
5. Peanut butter. Especially with Jam. Food in general, in fact.

In other news... I twisted my ankle (again!) today - it really hurts :( And I have a really impressive bruise from my bike... I might take a photo tomorrow for the sadists among you (like my sister) who love looking at other people's impressive bruises. :P

Finally, I have very exciting plans for the next few weeks, including Cambridge and Germany, so things should get remarkably more interesting! :D

Oh, and in case you were wondering about the pasta... I had a huge pasta meal today! Woo! :)

28th Jan 2010

2010-01-28T21:48:00.000Z

I feel it has been a fairly long time since any kind of interesting update on what's been going on in my life.

Things are finally starting to get back to normal after the disruptions the weather caused earlier this month. I have never appreciated my freedom to move around quite as much as I do now! My motorbike went for a very thorough service, and now rides better than ever.

What can I tell you?
Exciting plans are afoot to visit many an exotic location in the next few weeks. Cambridge and Germany, mainly. But there will be great partying in Cambridge, a warming of a house, a birthday of a good friend, and in Germany there will be joy over a long lost friend, a great amount of chatting and staying up late, I imagine, and also... A KARNEVAL!!! Woo! :D

The new desk is transforming my life into an organised existence. My room finally feels like it is mine, and I am thoroughly enjoying living here now. Strange... it's been over 6 months now. Things are only just starting to feel like I have a normal life.

I help out with my church youth group. They are brilliant - funny, clever, and very loud. Tonight we watched a film and I never expected to see them so quiet! I sometimes wonder if I'm being a bad influence, riding around on a motorbike... Am I actually a cool youth leader or just a wannabe? They call the bike my pizza bike! They love it.

Mum is currently talking to my sister on skype. There was recently a big carnaval type thing in the town they're living it. I remember a couple from when we used to live there: they were huge affairs, really good fun, and the whole town would turn out for them. The fireworks were the best I have ever seen, too.

I think that's it for now. If I think of anything else interesting, I'll let you all know. :)

Motorbike

2010-01-25T22:57:00.000Z

I think, given all the fuss I make about the bike, and also given that I gave up a far more sensible method of transportation for it, I should probably explain more about it.

Riding a bike is like flying. It's amazing.

You can smell the petrol, you get this amazing rush of adrenaline as you go from standing to speeding in next to no time, and there's this incredible sense of freedom and control. There's a small amount of fear. You're not strapped in, and with this little experience of bikes, you can't be completely sure that it's not going to throw you off at a whim. What's more, even though you literally trust the bike with your life, you certainly can't predict the other cars. But to be completely honest, I've never been terrified when riding my bike.

And then there's that moment of ecstasy when the red light turns as you approach it, you overtake all the cars and speed away, and when you look back in your mirror, they've not even moved. And they're so far away...

It's wonderful.

New Desk!

2010-01-22T22:45:00.000Z

See on the right of the picture - new desk! Very exciting :)

PHOTOS!

2010-01-16T21:50:00.000Z

The reason I did not get photos up on Thursday was because an infestation of llamas came and took over the back garden and I had to fight them off with an umbrella and a bottle of suncream. And once I had done that, I was about to put the photos up and suddenly I smell smoke and there's this fire and I had to rescue some puppies, and do several other highly implausible and noble deeds.

But here are the photos now.

First and foremost... Introducing Vic!!! :) A bit buried in snow, but happy. This was back in December.

Me jumping in the snow, also in December.

When I went down for Christmas to the family, we had a lovely long walk down to the beach. Here are my Grandmother, Mum and Aunt. I love this photo, it's so natural!

And here is my cousin, working! I took a photo in case it doesn't happen again...

Then I went to Cambridge, to see MS, KR and SR (who are all Northerners), and here we are, in the classic Peile monument photo.... We had a great time reminiscing and pretending we were older than we actually are... There's a long story to the Peile monument photo, which I actually can't remember. In any case, it's "our" photo.

And here's the remains of the HUGE cream tea we devoured. YUM!!!

Now, back to the snow photos. For those of you who, like me, are completely fed up with snow and are glad to have seen it gone, I apologise. But think of people who, like my sister, missed out because of all the sun!

Pretty snow!

He sat there for ages, posing, until I took the picture. Then he flew off! I think I saw him in the Autumn (he lives around the corner from my house), but he's always been really camera shy!)

Trees with snow, near the Royal Earlswood

Paramedic snowman! :) Please note the oxygen mask and gloves. Hurray!

Sledging!

Pretty!

And finally, me and Mum. Apprehensive because I'd only ever been on a sledge once before, about ten minutes before the picture was taken!

Lots has happened...

2010-01-14T12:15:00.000Z

Lots has happened in the time since my last post...

On Sunday, I went sledging for the first time in my life (wooo!) and then Mum and I went for lunch at a friend's house, which was lovely. We also started making a snowman, but there was too much dog poo, so we had a massive snowball fight instead. It was great fun.

Unfortunately....
Most of us who were there for lunch seem to have got some sort of tummy bug. Cue Tuesday. I went to work for a grand total of an hour and a half. 45 mins of that I spent in the toilet. I'll spare you the details, but I was sent home. So I slept all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday, and now I feel much better. I had breakfast this morning, which was great!

In better news... My bike is home!!! :)
Or at least... It's only a minute's walk away, instead of about an hour's walk away! Hurray!!!
I couldn't get it outside the house, as the roads are still covered in hard packed snow that I can't even walk on, but the main road near our house is fine, so it's out there. YAY! We were both very happy to see each
other.

Now, I know I promised some photos... I WILL actually do that TODAY! There are some problems with the combination of slightly-less-than-ideal computers in the house (though don't tell them that or they'll get grumpy), which mean that getting photos up takes much longer than it really should do. But today's my day off, and I've only got one thing to do... Which you shall find out about in due time.

So look out for photos this afternoon. :) Especially you people in hot countries where it never snows...

Saturday work

2010-01-09T15:23:00.001Z

"Cold air makes it harder to work and breathe, which adds some extra strain on the body."

From the Met office. Which suddenly explains why cycling was SUCH hard work!!! Working today... The snow is very very heavy, falling steadily. I got a lift today, so I kind of hope it continues. I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow, church is cancelled, I can have a lie-in, play in the snow in the garden, do some writing, upload some photos (I took the BEST photos on Wednesday... I'll have to get them uploaded.)

Chances of me actually doing those things are slim. Oh well....

Watch this space for exciting plans.... :D

Quality moments...

2010-01-08T17:15:00.000Z

Customer said she had a Toyota LCD television.

Bike still stranded. It was still there when I checked up on it yesterday - woo! :) Cycling to work in the snow is hard work... especially as I have to go the long way, with more hills...

End of the motorbike saga... Maybe

2010-01-05T23:48:00.002Z

In the end, motorbike was perhaps not the best of ideas...

It did snow, in the end. Really really REALLY heavily! Wow. Very suddenly too. Was at a friend's house at the time, and decided to attempt to get the bike home.

Fresh snow was fine, but as soon as I hit car tracks, I slid off. And even trying to walk the bike home didn't work. It slipped over at the slightest provocation. Thankfully, some very VERY lovely people offered me a lift home! So I'm safe and snug at home while my motorbike is abandoned miles and miles and miles away... (Ok, not quite that far!)

I also have some other big news... I'm not getting on the course in the end. So it's back to the job hunting and craziness.

I really believe it's all going to work out.

So far so good

2010-01-05T09:29:00.000Z

So far the motorbike option has been a good option...
This morning was wonderful, woooshing past the queues of traffic. It was amazing. :)

Yes, it was also very cold. My legs are very VERY pink.

But still. Nice warm office.

I really hope it doesn't snow badly.

Morning Conundrum

2010-01-05T08:10:00.000Z

How to get to work?
A motorbike will be fast and relatively easy, but deadly if they're right about the snow.
A bicycle will be much slower, much more effort, but will be good for me and for the environment. And safer if it snows, but still hard work.

Both will be extremely cold.

Don't get me wrong, I love my bikes. :)

I do just wonder sometimes if I'm silly in this cold weather. But then I don't really have a choice right now.

I think the lazy option wins...

Customer of the day

2010-01-04T19:07:00.000Z

My favourite customer today...
Had our equipment at least five years ago, or something like that. As the equipment broke down or became obsolete, she got rid of it and replaced it. However, she didn't know how to stop her payments, so she continued paying...
The washing machine, she hasn't had for two years, she's been paying around £15 a month for. £360 for something she doesn't have........
Wow.

THE FUTURE...

2010-01-02T12:29:00.000Z

We are now in the future... Scary!

2010...

Watched "Back to the Future" last night... When he goes to the future, he goes to 2015! That's only 5 years away! We've got a long way to go if we're going to have flying cars in 5 years!

It's been a fun New Year... I will update properly later...

2009

2009-12-31T20:17:00.002Z

Goodbye 2009. I won't miss you.

I guess I'm glad you happened though.

Silence.....

2009-12-28T18:00:00.000Z

Just a quick update so that you don't wonder what's going on when I haven't written anything for a week. (Last time I stopped blogging for a week, I was accused of having a boyfriend. By my sister. Honestly.)

I've been away for Christmas at my Aunt and Uncle's house (had a brilliant time, playing games, seeing family, walking by the seaside, flying kites, woo! - more on that, including photos, later)

Now I have an evening at home, a perfect opportunity for blogging! But I'm afraid I'm feeling a bit rough (just a cold, nothing more exciting). So I think I'm probably going to end up going to bed very early...

And then I will be away for the next couple of days, first in Cambridge, and then at my cousin's wedding in Stevenage! When I get back it will be New Year's Eve (and I'm working), and I'm trying to organise a New Year's Day Outing...

So you may not hear from me for a few days.

As a special Christmas treat, here are some kite photos...

Wooops! Sorry, it's a good photo really, but you'll have to tilt your head... (My little netbook won't rotate pictures)

Happy kite and Aunt! :)

Slightly blurry, but full of joy!

You can stop looking for the kite... This was as we were packing up to head home! Pretty sunset!

2009-12-25T17:16:00.001Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope your Christmas day is very blessed.

Christmas is over, the tyres are gettting flat......

2009-12-24T12:51:00.000Z

Well, that's it, Christmas is over.

Yes, you read correctly, it IS the 24th of December.

And yes, before you ask, I am joking. But only sort of.

Last night Mum and I celebrated Christmas, phase 1. We opened presents, listened to carols, read a couple of bits from the Bible which are particularly relevant, and generally had festive joy. Our Christmas meal was curry, and it was wonderful. Premature? Maybe slightly, but we are going away for a few days, and we thought it was a bit silly to take all our presents down to open them. It was lovely last night. Particularly as during the day I was completely fed up with work, was bored, and slightly losing the will to live.

So Christmas is over... In part. It will technically continue until we get presents from my sister in Mexico, which could be mid-February, knowing the Mexican postal service.

I have to admit that I am really looking forward to spending a couple of days away at my Aunt's house. It should be really nice... Of course, I will be constantly teased, mocked and prodded... But I'm sure it will do me lots of good.

The other mega bit of news is that as I write I am currently on hold with the RAC... The hold music is kind of hypnotic, but completely ruined by the woman telling me that I'm on hold. I KNOW! That's why I've been sitting here with a crick in my neck for twenty minutes...

Oh, and now the RAC men have arrived.... Which they're not meant to have done.....
I guess I should explain.

This morning we got up and got ready to go. We packed the car to go down to Christmas Take Two. We were ready to leave, and all wrapped up, we locked up and said goodbye to the house. And then we saw it...

The front tyre was flat.

Now, I always knew Mum could panic, but I have to say, this was a prime example. Thankfully, my crazy rational brain kicked in and went "what do we do next"?

Mum tells the story like this...

"And then my knight in shining armour came! I'm in love! I had to shoo away the RAC man. He was too late. Sophie did try! [ed's note - but failed miserably as she couldn't even get the bolts to budge]. My hero knew the secret. I never even found his name... I think he was called Santa Claus. Santa Claus in a big van and a luminous jacket."

As you can see, she's slightly hyper.

Basically, at my instruction, Mum phoned the RAC, but as they couldn't fix it so we could go to Christmas, so we did some research to see if anyone could come and sort it out straight away. Most of them were closed for Christmas, but finally we found one that was still open. Although they were just about to go home, they came out and sorted it for us, much to the dismay of the poor man's wife... (Hopefully the mince pies and mulled wine we gave him will soften her up a bit when he gets home late)

The reason I was on hold to the RAC was to cancel the call out... but the queues were so long that he was here before I got through! Poor man, apparently he was very confused that the car he was out to fix was already being fixed!

Well, Mum's bustling me out the door. Best go! We don't want to get any later.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Guest of the month: Rachel Lawrence de Garcia

2009-12-22T21:55:00.000Z

Rachel has been telling me I need to update my blog. So to start me off, I'm having an interview session with her.

So...

What everyone wants to know... How are you?
I am fine thank you, how are you.

Right, that was a silly question... How's married life?
Very nice, I like it, very enjoyable... [at this point, I feel the need to interrupt. She is my sister after all - there are some things I just don't want to know] Please don't say anymore than that!!!

How rude! I wasn't going to say anything naughty

It was, however, too hard to talk to Rachel and to continue writing, so I'm afraid I have just had to pick out some of the highlights of the conversation.

Regarding the weather...
I'm jealous that there's snow. Warm is distinctly not christmassy. I have to wear jumpers though, so that's okay, and I even had to wear a scarf the other day! I'm going to be so angry if there's a white Christmas this year! It would be so unfair.

Regarding work...
The children at the school think that Miguel is my boyfriend and when I tell them he's not, he's my husband, they look at me suspiciously.

The children found a snake in the boys bathroom! How often does that happen in England?

Best thing about living in Mexico?
My husband
Oh dear
What did you want me to say?
Not something that soppy
Well you don't move to Mexico out of free will.

Every morning Miguel says tomorrow he'll do some exercise. It never actually happens.

Despite the fact that they live near one of the loveliest markets in Mexico - well, in actual fact, because they live near one of the loveliest markets in Mexico - they do all their shopping in Wal-Mart.

Cause things in the market are expensive - things in Tepoz are two times the price of things in Cuernavaca. Because of all the gringos. (which she doesn't talk to because she's English [Gringo implies American], and she laughs at their funny spanish). Miguel and Rachel call them gims (Gringo in Mexico).

So there you go, there's a short interview to brighten your days.
As regards me... Well, to be honest, I'm still in denial about Christmas. I'm fed up, it costs too much money that I don't have, and it's cold and snowy and it's too hard to get anywhere.......
All my modes of transport are practically useless (particularly the fast one), and I'm tired and grumpy... I don't like work and my head hurts. So not really much to update you on really!

Although I am planning on doing my full bike test in Feb... Which is eating up all the money I don't have. But that should be very exciting. I'm not going to write anymore, cause it will just be grumpy. But I'll write tomorrow before I go off for my Christmas break.

I love....

2009-12-12T07:59:00.000Z

...my colleagues
...the gym
...all the staff at the gym who are completely lovely and friendly
...the Feathers pub in Merstham
...all my wonderful friends who live all over the place!
...the christmas cake that arrived yesterday!!!! (but more on that later!)
...getting paid. *dances the getting paid dance**

Yesterday we went down the pub after working a late shift, and it was lots of fun. :) We had a really good time and lots and lots of food. Since we all chipped in about a fiver, it didn't come to too much either. YAY!

Interestingly, we got into a discussion of who is the Alpha Female in the team (among other things), and they decided it was me! Ok, so there are only 4 women in our team, but me? Really? Any thoughts people? Feel free to comment below.

Anyway, about this cake.

When we were in Mexico, one Christmas a cake appeared. Given the state of the postal service, this was really rather amazing. What was more amazing, however, was the cake itself. It was good. More than good, it was one of those cakes which completely change your mood. Just the thought of the cake can make you happy, and eating it... Well, eating it was Joy.

The Aunt and Uncle who sent it must have realised we enjoyed it, and sent one every Christmas after that. We would always look forward to it. It was fruit cake, but so densely packed with fruit and nuts and tasty syrupy goodness that even Rachel (my sister who normally doesn't like fruit cake) loved it.

I guess Aunt and Uncle didn't realise how much we enjoyed it, because when we moved back to England, it stopped. And then, I think word got out that we loved those cakes. That they were the best cakes and totally made Christmas. And last year, one appeared again. I danced. I actually did. And the cake did not disappoint. It was still crammed full of fruity and nutty goodness, and still made me happy.

And yesterday, when I got home from the pub, there was one on the table. I am very VERY happy.

Now, for those of you who need something better to read than my current ramblings, may I suggest the following, which has entertained me greatly the last couple of days (courtesy of LS who passed me the link)

www.neenaw.co.uk

2009-12-10T22:57:00.001Z

It has occurred to me that many of you wonderful people are not yet aware of my latest pastime...

I have joined the gym.

For some of you this will produce great amusement. For others, surprise. Many of you will probably wonder how long it will last, and some will just be asking yourselves why.

I must admit, I form part of all the groups above. But I do really enjoy it, and it's helping get rid of some of the stress and frustration of work, and of being fairly lonely. Best of all, I can go anytime I like, and it is open pretty long hours, so it doesn't matter when my shifts start or finish. It's great.

In other news, the Australian Immigration Bureau keep sending me emails asking me to move over there. It is very encouraging to know I am wanted. :)

I know I haven't posted for ages - my apologies, I've been fairly busy! I should really put some photos up to break the monotony of this page... Let me see...

On Sunday, a group of us from church went to The Arkle Manor for dinner - we had a lovely time, and it was really nice to talk to people, new and old. The service was slow, but then it was a Sunday afternoon, and the place was crowded. The food itself was pretty good - not the best ever, but very enjoyable.

And best of all, I got to go for a ride in a very cool car, which I don't think I can spell.

Since then, the week has been... fairly mundane. We've had a different manager a couple of days at work, who is a lot harder on us, and told us to get used to being disposable because we were temps. And at the same time that we weren't meant to have a social life because we were expected to be flexible... And then I was told by Mum that I had a bit of an attitude for thinking that maybe this was a bit harsh. So I've had a few bad days... But then again, there have been a few good days - today was okay, and tomorrow is looking to be pretty alright too. We're going down the pub after work, and I get paid. Woo!

So all in all... things are pretty average and uninteresting. But that is why there are books to read (and write!). I talked to a freelance writer today... She was lovely. :) That's one really good thing about this job. I may get some horrible horrible customers, but I do also get extremely lovely ones. To all my nice customers out there: you rock, and I love you. You make these six months worth while.

Synopsis

2009-12-06T22:25:00.000Z

My battery's about to die, so can't tell you about what I've been doing, but as promised, here is the synopsis.

Aftermath follows five characters who have survived a major terrorist attack. How does the day the whole world remembers impact them in their day to day lives?

Harriet tries to find out what she really wants to do with her life, and revisits her childhood dream of travelling the world. Jed's quest for death is interrupted as he tried to justify his survival when others died. John realises there is more to life than pleasure, and recommits to his wife. Gemma decides to stop her partying and try to work hard and do well at school. Aidan tries to keep going and make sense of the world without his fiancee.

But the effects of each action have much more far reaching consequences than anyone could foresee, and all five find their lives changing beyond what they expected. The aftermath of the attack is beyond the obvious carnage.

3rd December

2009-12-03T17:30:00.000Z

Another day...

We're on customer care at work at the moment - which means trying to help people whose televisions and washing machines are broken, or who can't retune their sets... Or who refuse...

It's a good insight into human nature... Most people are fairly nice, some people are just impatient, no one likes being put out.

I've got an exciting plan for the novel... watch this space. Synopsis by Sunday as promised.

Tuesday 1st December

2009-12-01T20:51:00.000Z

So, Nanowrimo is finished, so today was the first time in a while I had a day off with no writing to catch up on!

It was brilliant!!! I woke up late, had a restful morning, got my motorbike sorted out, went to the doctor's... Then I went on an intrepid bike ride a long long way away (okay, just a bit further up the road, over the M25), to see my friend Teddy. It was a lovely ride, by far the furthest I've gone on the bike, and not only did I really enjoy it, I also didn't get lost - woo!

Once I thawed out from the ride, and met the dog (YAY!), we drove around the countryside and had a really nice walk (in the mud) :)

And then we went and played on the WII, which I don't think I've done before. And I totally thrashed him. Woo!

Now, I know you're all wondering about this novel I've been working. Well, I will let you all read it, but I'm sure you understand it's a bit untidy at the moment, having been speed-written in a month. So here's what I'll do. I need a week off. But by Sunday I will do my best to publish a nice synopsis of the novel. Then bit by bit I'll start tidying it up and publishing it bit by bit on the blog. Hope that's okay?

"Throw away your television" - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

2009-11-30T17:32:00.000Z

I just had the best customer in the world!

He's cancelling his contract, and I was told to ring him to find out if we could save him at all.

It turns out he is just getting rid of his television. Altogether. He just doesn't want one anymore, due to the poor quality of programmes.

How awesome - total respect.

I WON! I WON!

2009-11-30T09:23:00.000Z

Hi all - I made it to the 50,000 word mark, and a little bit over. Wooo! I'm done!
And the novel's finished.
Almost.

But I'm afraid I'm fed up of sitting staring at a computer, so I'll update properly later.

NOVEL - 25 hours to go...

2009-11-29T23:07:00.003Z

48,968 words so far.

I thought I was at 48,999, but apparently I'm not. So says the word counting machine on the Nanowrimo website. But still, not bad! :) Last day tomorrow, and it looks like I'm going to make it.

WOOOOO!!!

PS - endings so far...
Harriet - happy ending
Jed - happy ending (I think)
John - sad ending (but he sort of deserves it)
Aidan - sort of bitter sweet ending. My favourite storyline.
One more character to go, Gemma. Not sure how she's going to end up...

PPS - Just noticed that on my last post, I said writing was hard work. The last 8,000 words have just flown off my fingers. Particularly today's 5,000.

40,000 and counting, 51 hours and counting

2009-11-28T21:07:00.000Z

So I have finally made it over the 40k mark. It's hard going, and I feel I'm struggling uphill to get enough words down. Fortunately, I have plenty of ideas.

I now know I can do it, but it's still going to be really hard work. I'm not able to take a break until it's done. If I get even slightly complacent, I'll fail.

51 hours left....

39,471

2009-11-27T22:43:00.001Z

Wooo!!!

39,471 words.

In two days I have written over 10,000 words and managed to reach the point I was at before I lost everything. Huzzah!

Now... As long as I can write another 10,529 by Monday, we're completely sorted.

Oh, and you'll all be pleased to know that two characters so far have happy endings. Not sure about the other three yet.

PS - bike still not working properly :(

Sneaky posting

2009-11-26T20:41:00.001Z

Okay, okay, I know I shouldn't be writing here, instead I should be working to improve on the 32370 words I have clawed back. However...

I had a little 'adventure' on my bike today... On my way out of work, it refused to start. I tried and tried and tried to start it, but it just wouldn't. This is particularly bad because since I learnt how to use the choke properly, it has almost always started first time. Worst of all, it didn't just not start, I was also viciously attacked by the kick start (my leg really really hurts now! It's going to be a huge bruise).

Fortunately, one of my colleagues rescued me. After establishing that it wasn't just my puny femaleness that was causing it to not start, he taught me that you can start the bike rolling, then knock it into first, and the bike will start. It worked after a couple of tries, and I managed to get home. Wooo! :)

Right, back to the writing. :)

PS - Added at 23:22 pm. Novelling went pretty well today - have got to aprox 35,600. Woo! Getting back on track. So tired now though... Off to bed!

DISASTER STRIKES!!!

2009-11-26T00:01:00.000Z

It is actually like something out of my novel... Picture the scene:

A main character is struggling in a job she doesn't enjoy. She has no money, and very few friends close by. In order to give her November a bit of enjoyment, she decided to take up the challenge of Nanowrimo - writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. This has to fit in with all her other commitments, including organising her Mum's 50th party. The party goes off without a hitch, and everyone has a wonderful time, but the character gets behind on her novel. Determined that she will finish the task, she tirelessly works and works on her novel, and finally manages to catch up. At last the end line is in sight. Then one day, she gets home, turns her computer on for another session (to finally cross the 40k mark), and suddenly, the file is corrupt. She has lost all her work. She has five days left. The question is, will our character bravely attempt the impossible, or just give up?

Thankfully, this isn't exactly what happened to me. Fortunately, I had the foresight to save my novel in two places. Unfortunately, the last time I backed it up was the 18th. So the bad news is, my file is corrupt and I can't seem to access my 39,700 words. (Gah!) The good news is that I have 28,000 backed up. So I have only lost around 10,000 words. :(

As for the question of 'What course of action will our character take?'...

Well, it was a stupid idea right from the start, but that didn't stop me, so obviously I'm not going to let this minor set-back get in my way. I'm going to attempt to finish. Just don't expect any contact from me until the 1st December, when hopefully I will be informing you of my success! :)

Best wishes to you all.
Slophie

(back down at 28,000)

31,000 and counting

2009-11-20T22:38:00.000Z

Dear bloggees (is that a word? Does it even make sense?)

I am very sorry if you feel slightly abandoned during this time of novelling. The post have been short and mainly about how many words I have written, and despite this, I still hear reports about my blog being exciting. You are all noble people.

Today I finally have a blog post worthy of you. Well... I probably wouldn't go quite that far, but at least I thought I had a pretty exciting day.

Today is Children in Need (wooo!!! donate if you haven't already), and we had a great time at work raising money. First and foremost, we all had to dress up, the theme being "Holywood and Oscars". Among the rich and famous present today at work, we had Cher, Maryline Monroe, Doris Day, Fred Astaire, Ozzy Osbourne and Michael Jackson! In my team, those of us who dressed up were film characters, and we had Captain Jack Sparrow, James Bond, Miss Moneypenny, and I was Roxy Hart from Chicago. The [internal] Press was in force, so I'm sure at some point I will probably get some good photos to put up!

We had games and raffles and competitions, a HUGE buffet lunch, and lots of fundraising! I'm sure tomorrow we'll find out how much we managed to raise. Hurrah! Of course, we did do some work in between. I wonder what our customers would have thought if they could have seen how we were dressed!

I would also like to mention that I quite like living around here. People aren't anywhere near as eccentric as in Cam, which is a good thing as well as a bad thing. I think I get a bit more perspective around here. Things are good.

Right, back to the novelling. Aiming for 32,000 before bedtime, although it is almost bedtime now. Hmm...

And talking of novelling, I do sometimes run out of ideas... So if anyone wants to challenge me to include anything in the novel, please let me know by either writing a comment, or sending me an email! I'll do my best to include everything.

Isn't life fascinating?

19th November 2009

2009-11-19T08:50:00.000Z

I didn't manage 30,000 yesterday, but I did reach over 29,000, so I'm happy.

I ache a LOT after going to the gym. For some stupid reason, I'm going again today. What is wrong with me?

Tomorrow is Children in Need, and at work we will be dressing up. The theme is 'Hollywood and Oscars', which should be fun. If I can work the outfit out, I will be going as Roxy Hart from Chicago. :)

I'll see if I get round to getting photos.

25,250

2009-11-18T14:16:00.000Z

Finally, I have made it to the half-way mark of the novel. Hoping to reach 30,000 by the end of the day, which will make me up to date - where I should be on the novelling front. Woo!

In other news...

Erm.

I have joined a gym, and I now ache all over. Ow, pain.

My bike is wonderful. Truly truly wonderful.

ooooh - and there is some actual genuinely exciting news! Helen, a girl from my church, and I are trying to organise a meet-up for people who aren't teenagers and aren't currently 'family' types. There's so little going on for us, and we should be the life and soul of the church! If you're interested, get in touch with me. Everyone is very welcome.

Off to shower, then write some more.

21,000

2009-11-17T07:48:00.000Z

This weekend was my Mum's birthday party - which went really well! :) I will write more about it soon, but at the moment I am on just over 21,000 words. Unfortunately I should be on around 28,000. So all my writing effort for this week must go on my novel. I want to reach the halfway mark today if at all possible.

Bonfire Photos

2009-11-08T22:01:00.001Z

First of all... Lest we forget.

There were loads of awesome pumpkin carvings on the way - this wasn't the best, but it was a very impressive one. (and the best photo)

Here's the torchlight procession.

And the bonfire not long after they threw the torches on it. If you look closely, you can see just how huge it is! There was a huge Guy on top, but unfortunately, he was camera shy.

WOW. Such a cool bonfire. And WOW my camera can actually take photos of fire!! I've got some better ones than this too. Hurrah!

And here's proof that I was actually there. It was so cool!

Brockham Bonfire and Fireworks!

2009-11-07T22:45:00.002Z

It has been an evening of great adventure and excitement.

But before I start telling you about my evening, there are a few things of note from the day. I feel I should mention them, as it has been noted that I don't tell people what's going on. Apparently. So:
-My bike did NOT want to take me to work this morning. The chain jammed and the brakes fell apart, and I got to work with completely grimey hands.
-I almost got knocked off my bike by a low flying pidgeon. I had to duck. It was quite funny.
-Yes, I work on Saturdays. Every Saturday. I thought I had mentioned this several times, but apparently not.

So... Our Great Adventure
More information (and photos!) to appear tomorrow, but basically, Mum and I went to Brockham Bonfire, which was amazing! They do a really big bonfire and parade around the village with the Guy and a procession of flaming torches, before everyone gathers again on the village green and they take the Guy up the top of the bonfire, and the torch bearers (probably about a hundred of them) all light the bonfire, and we all watch it happily. Then, after most of the crow scarers on top of the bonfire go off, they have an amazing firework display (third best I've seen, I think - Kimbolton, Cambs comes top and San Sebastian, Mexico comes second). They also auction parts of the hog roast and there is a great atmosphere.

We had a really lovely time, but then we lost the car. And we wandered around for over an hour trying to find it. We were practically walking around in circles. Thing was, we didn't realise there was more than one car park! And we took the wrong turning twice (once my fault entirely). Oh dear. So we got a bit wet, and very tired, but all in all it was absolutely brilliant.

More on the bonfire tomorrow.

8000 words and counting!

2009-11-06T11:49:00.000Z

The word count is erratically increasing.

A few hundred words struggle to make it onto the page during the course of a whole afternoon. Then, in half an hour of magical inspiration, a thousand words suddenly appear. I'm not very happy with what I've written, but the idea still seems good.

In other news...
I discovered something wonderful today! I have earnt so little this year that I am not paying tax! Hurrah! There are some benefits after all! :)

Oh, and we're on customer care at work again, which makes me doubt humanity. Why do old ladies throw tantrums when things don't go their way? If I did that, it would be completely unacceptable.

4304 words so far...

2009-11-03T08:31:00.000Z

So far (2 days in), there have been no adverse effects to my life from trying to do NaNoWriMo (writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, for those of you who've never heard of it before). Of course, today is my first day at work this November (I had Monday off), so we'll see how things change after this!

Yesterday I had the day off, and Mum and I went jeans shopping. This is one of my least favourite tasks in the whole world, and I avoid it as much as possible. Sadly, on Friday evening, as I sat down to dinner, there was a huge ripping sound, and my old beloved jeans had torn in a very indecent way at the crotch. I already knew they were due for retirement soon, but I was hoping blindly that they would last a bit longer. It was with great sadness I consigned them to textile recycling, and with great horror I contemplated shopping for new ones.

I'm sure a lot of you out there know what I mean. You must do. Jeans are not designed for people. Or at least, not for people who move. They're always too tight around the leg and too loose around the waist or too short or too clingy. I was surprised at how many weren't even comfortable. I tried on a pair which must have been actually designed to make you look like a muffin. WHY!?! In any case, I shouldn't really be complaining as eventually I found two pairs that are fine, and I am actually in much better shape than I was in last time I bought jeans (when I found myself having to try size 16s, which was particularly depressing then, because all my friends were size 8 and 10).

So success in shopping and then I met up with a very old friend from college (Teddy!), and we saw Fantastic Mr Fox, which is a very strange film. Good, but very strange.

Anyway, I should get cracking with this novel. Take care all.

1st November

2009-11-01T16:05:00.000Z

I had a lovely evening last night with Mum - we looked at old photos and had a right laugh. I wish I had a decent scanner, because some of them should really be on the internet for the whole world to appreciate!

We also discovered my Great-grandfather's St. John Ambulance medals, so we now know where I got it from!

It was also an education is fashion. There were some old photos of my grandparents from the 20s, with some truly excellent hats. Probably the best photos were from the 70s. There's one particularly good one of my Dad and Uncle. They've both got silly haircuts, wearing suits with bell bottoms (Uncle Martin is wearing a light blue suit!) and platforms, and my Dad even had a moustache! Epitome of the 70s or
what?! We then progressed through 80s photos - my Mum had excellent 80s hair - and then a few of Rachel and I in the 90s with baggy t-shirts!

So it was a very fun evening.

Today is the 1st November, and I am doing something very foolish this month... Last year, I joined something called NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which involves writing a 50,000 word novel in one month (November). I did manage it last year, and it was fun, but I really wasn't that happy with what I wrote. So on the spur of the moment, I have decided to do it again this year!

My novel is called Aftermath (at the moment!) and follows five people who survived a tragic accident. How does it affect them? What do they do? Do they keep up their good intentions? Who knows... we shall find out by 31st November.

Currently my word count is 1028, but I hope this will skyrocket in the next few days as I try to get ahead before my Mum's party on the 14th. I can see this is going to be one very busy month. Watch this space.

New hair

2009-10-31T23:01:00.000Z

Voila new hair. Not all that different really, but much shorter and I like it.

Photos

2009-10-30T19:35:00.001Z

So I have finally got around to putting up some photos. I also have a new haircut, but unfortunately today you don't get any haircut or bike photos. These are my favourites from the last month. Enjoy.

I made meringues a while back, and took a photo to prove how perfect they were. Tasty too! Mmmmm!

Anyone spot the family resemblance? This is my cousin Maddy.

And here is my Mum, my Aunt and cousin and me. Once again, clear family resemblance!

I've been getting my Mum out and about on the bike more and more. Here we are, with some very nice autumn colours! YAY!

Southark Cathedral

On the Millennium bridge, on my way to the Tate. I love watching birds in urban areas! There was a group of about 5 of them, and they were very unafraid of humans (but very hard to catch on camera).

This was a really impressive cemetery up in Colne, where I went for my driving test. It's a shame, you really can't see how pretty it was from the photo!

NEWS

2009-10-29T13:01:00.000Z

Oh dear... I have heard whispers in the wind that it has been noticed I have not done a full and proper update for a while, and today probably won't be any different... I do have some photos to put up, but it's just finding the time! However, the benefit of reading Slophie's world is that you do get the breaking news.... Such as today.

I have a starting date for my course!!! 1st March! :)

In other news, I have had a horrible cold recently - yucky yucky. Feeling a little bit better today. Oh and contacts.

Yesterday we went to the pub after work for LYJ's leaving do - we did the pub quiz and lost... Oh well!

Tomorrow off, so will try to get photos up then.

PASSED!

2009-10-26T22:31:00.000Z

Hi all! I'm just back from THE NORTH!!! I'm shattered and probably have a cold, but GOOD NEWS: I passed my C1 driving test! Wooo!

Now I can drive Moderately Heavy things. Up to 7.5 tonnes.

The NORTH is lovely too. The people are friendly, the men are good looking, there's plenty of room to breathe and the streets are paved with gold (ok, so that may only be in autumn...)

In all seriousness though, I have a nice time.

Now I'm rambling because I'm very tired. Proper update soon.

London

2009-10-21T13:20:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went to our great capital. Had an assessment for tutoring and then went for a wander along embankment and a tour of the Tate Modern. It was very good. :)

Whoooosh!!!

2009-10-15T15:07:00.000+01:00

Well, the days are flying past! Suddenly it's October, and November seems just around the corner...

So what is happening in slophie's world.

Well, I'm still working making cold calls and selling TVs. I had a letter from the LAS about the paramedic job, and it looks like I won't be starting until March at the VERY earliest. And I may have to go on a waiting list... could be a while...

On Tuesday my car and I went to get tested. I took a Theory and Hazard Perception test, the car took it's MOT. I passed, the car didn't.

So I have sold the car, for a measely £120 (!). Never has the word 'only' looked as forlorn as on the cheque saying 'one hundered and twenty pounds only'. You can say that again. Oh well, all the money can go into the practical test pot. I have worked out that I need £752 for the test, and that's having already spent about £300 up to now. I hope it's worth it.

In happier news, I am settling much better into life here in Redhill, hence the slow down in updates. Things are looking good. I have a nice, tidy room. I have still got three independent modes of transport (motorbike, push bike, feet). I have a job. Best of all, filling up the bike only costs around a fiver. Bargain. :) There ARE young people in the church, they're just hiding. Rest assured, I WILL find them. Overall, I am happy. Skint, but happy. Wooo!

PS - Photos to be uploaded soon!

Carpe Diem

2009-10-09T22:13:00.001+01:00

Gather ye rose-buds while ye may;
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.
~Robert Herrick

Long break

2009-10-09T19:59:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the long break, but I promise the last few weeks have been worth waiting to hear about (if that makes any sense!?!).

Big news: I have a motorbike!!! Woo!
Yes, in the last week and a half I have purchased a motorbike, all the gear to go with it, insurance, AND taken my CBT, so I can actually ride it! Phew! So I am now more skint than I have ever been. But... I have a motorbike!!! I shall have to get some photos when it's sunny (the last few days have been awful weather-wise), but for those of you who want to know more now, it's a Honda CG125, red, looks a lot like an ant, fairly old and basic, but runs very well so far (apart from the battery being completely dead!!!).

The CBT (compulsory basic training) was a LOT of fun, and gave me a taste of newer bikes too... After trying to kickstart mine for ten minutes, I was wishing for one with a nice starter button, but then again, you can't have everything! I've been pootling very slowly around Redhill, the furthest I've been is to work and back, but I'm starting to get used to the bike. I also spent a hugely fun evening with LS and RD, as I went to Cambridge to do my CBT, with Camrider - I really recommend them!

Now, here is a great big secret, and if you read this paragraph, you must promise NOT to tell my Mum the following until at least AFTER christmas.... Promise? Ok, so I actually did fall off the bike the first time I rode. Well, falling is a bit of an overstatement really, because I sort of slid off going around a very wet bend. I was completely fine, and had I not broken the indicator casing I would have found it very funny. Ok, I did find it very funny. But it did cost me ten whole English pounds, which I wasn't too pleased about.

Nevertheless, I am having a lot of fun and can't wait for a sunny day off and somewhere to go.

In other news... Work is getting interesting. We've been doing lots of customer care work, with the national digital retune that happened last week, and on Monday we finally started getting back to our sales. I never thought I would appreciate it so much. We were all surprisingly happy to be back.

So imagine our surprise - Tuesday morning we got severely reprimanded for incompetence, and Thursday, after a day off on Wednesday, we were taken into a meeting where one of the directors effectively told us to get it together or leave. None of us were expecting that! So it's been a fairly tense and stressful week, and I'm starting to get itchy feet. If only I didn't need the money so much!

My C1 theory is on Tuesday, and my car's going in for it's MOT, so hopefully that will all go well.... Hopefully!!!

Well, that's me updated. Off to tidy the house before Mum gets back tomorrow... Woops!

Outside!

2009-09-27T16:20:00.000+01:00

I'm writing this from my back garden! Unfortunately I'm tethered to a plug socket, as the battery is very low...
It's lovely and sunny and there are lots of little light aircraft flying overhead... :) And there are two lovely Mexicans to talk to. I'm going to go and enjoy.

America's next top model and London Fashion week

2009-09-21T22:46:00.000+01:00

No, I haven't defected to the dark side. Fashion is a huge industry which affects all areas of life, and it's been a great week for some of the good aspects of it, which we should celebrate!

I had a really fun evening watching America's Next Top Model (I love that programme! I'm sorry to all those of you out there who are completely shocked now). The shoot this week was about how young girls grow up too quickly - Tyra Banks, the creator of the show, is really passionate about this. It's great to see such a positive message!

Second great fashion related item of the week: London Fashion Week employed size 12 and 14 models. And a stylist walked out... Good news, funny result. Slightly sad too. But how cool that they employed 'normal' models!

Day off!

2009-09-18T22:05:00.002+01:00

Today has been a massively busy day, despite being my day off! I've sorted lots of things out though, so I'm fairly pleased.

On Wednesday I went along to the writing group that I have been fortunate enough to join. We are a group of wonderful people who love writing, and we share what we have written and receive constructive feedback. It's great! We had a great time on Wednesday reading each other's ghost stories!!! It was great fun, particularly as none of us had written anything like it before. I'll try to attach mine. It's really great to share stories and ideas with other writers.

Picture of the day

2009-09-16T23:18:00.002+01:00

Click here.

Photos from ooop nooorth

2009-09-15T19:49:00.002+01:00

Tractor... :)

Lincoln

RD and dogs (Dan and Jed)

Rosehips, obviously.

Carriages

Vintage bikes!!! So cool! :)

Me with awesome vintage Harley in the background.

The crowds at the Country Fair, with the House in the background. Beautiful.

Wireless!

2009-09-15T19:29:00.002+01:00

Woo! We have a wireless box! :) I can now access the internet anywhere in the house! :) So I will probably update some photos soon.

The last couple of days have been very good. Yesterday at work we got started on the phones, and I actually enjoy it more than I thought I would. The day goes fairly fast when you're ringing people! The annoying thing is, most of the time they don't pick up. So far, in a day and a half on the phones, I've only had 3 successful calls. Oh well. It's still much more enjoyable than I thought. Scary, challenging, and making me a better, more persuasive person. Hurrah!

Today, unfortunatly, IT decided to update the system, so we had to go home early. Why unfortunately? Because it means I don't get paid as much as I hoped. And the C1 bits are going to come to a grand, minimum. But at least it's all going ahead now.

Yesterday was very good - I went out in the evening to a friend's house, and we watched the comedian Michael McIntyre and then went late night swimming. Funny and energising. Best night for a long time.

So things are ok. Photos in next post (it's easier).