Ellys Singapore Trip!!

Im back!!

2006-03-08T14:41:00.000Z

Yes folks, this is the return of my blog, atleast for three weeks!!

I am off to Singapore on Sunday for a "work" trip, staying in a nice 4* hotel with complementary slippers (!!!), a cantilevered swimming pool on the outside of the building, and best of all free wireless broadband! :-)

So, im going by myself, and havent managed to arrange too many meetings which is what i'm meant to be there for! So, to keep myself amused (for a little while) i'll be blogging all about my trip.

So far im not looking AT ALL forward to the 1 1/5 and then 12 hour flight. Boooo! More soon.....

Elly

2005-08-14T19:00:00.000Z

OK, so i'll keep blogging for now, but I still have my doubts about it!

Had good weekend, with a random night out yesterday with some Safeway people - all very last minute, but turned out well! I also went shopping and I *think* I have sorted something to wear to the wedding next week, although I have still got to try all the different bits on together!

I made bread and butter pudding tonight which was pretty yummy! :-)

In other good news I found out I have A LOT of money left in my PhD budget, so i;m almost defaintely going off to Singapore early next year! And even better Laurent might be coming with me which would be great! :-D I can also buy some expensive books i've had my eye on for ages.

That's all for now!

24

2005-08-03T21:24:00.000Z

Oh dear! Laurent and I have just started watching 24, Series 1! There goes my life for the next week or so!

I have seen Series 2 already, but not the first one, so it seemed like the sensible one to watch next (I know, its all wrong). Unfortauntely it means I know a couple of the plot elements now (who dies, who lives and who is bad), but i'm sure it will still be gripping! Managed to stop after just 2 episodes today - mainly becasue Laurent made me - but maybe there is hope that I won;t gte addicted again!

Homeward bound!

2005-07-29T07:46:00.000Z

So i'm almost all packed, about about to head off for the bus in 15 - 20 minutes! Wooooooooo! Coming home today! It will be nice to be back!

Last night I went out with some people from the department (most of whom I didn't know) and some of their friends. It was a really good night, and they were all nice and friendly so we had a fun time! Unfortunately I had to go home about 11.45, but then we did go out at 5.30, so its not so bad! Drank a fair amount of wine and had some food, but not feeling too bad today which is all good.

Right, time to pack up my laptop and roll on out of here!

:-D :-D :-D

2005-07-26T22:50:00.000Z

So, I started packing which is good! :) Home soon!

Meeting went well today, and I have my last meeting tomorrow - with a *really* important person! So important lots of other people sound both very impressed and also suprised when I mention I managed to arrange a meeting with him! I have had lots of compliments about my interview skils so far (well, three or four at least), so i'm pretty confident! Apparently he is quite a nice guy, so it should be fine - fingers crossed!

After saying that getting a job is scary, yesterday I found out about a possible job that I can apply for in September (to start about July 06). I was actually quite excited about the idea and when I thought about it some more! There is a very long selection process with multiple rounds of tests thought which could be bad! Verbal reasoning tests generally find a bit ambiguous, and I thought I was a bit crap at them, but I managed to get 84% on one I did last night, which seems OK. There was no idea of what other poeple got though, so I can really tell. I seem to be pretty with it on the numerical side of things though, so thats a bonus!

I had a lot of panckaes today with choccie sauce which was goooood, and frites with mayo from Amsterdam for my lunch! It so happens the nearest bench to the chippy is opposite a bar called "teasers", where as you can imagine the bar maids (no-men as far as I can tell) are all reasonably fit, and walk about wearing very small tops and thongs. They dance about bit too, and seem to stand outside waiting on th etables there and chatting to men a fair bit, trying to entice them in. Itss quite funny to watch. I sat eating my chips next to this old guy (grey hair, wrinkles, 65 plus) who was at first shocked and then transfixed! When he left he turned to me and said (in an up north accent) "Coooor, its a good job they aint got places like that where I come from or i'd be broke". It made me laugh. (And I was also secretly happy to note one of the waitresses seemed to have slight thigh-cellutlite*! Sorry, but you can't really help but notice these things and be slightly pleased inside!)

I'm actually going out here on Thurasday night! Its a shame it is the day before I leave, but someone else is leaving the department after a masters, so we're going for some food and drinks, all good!

(* Yes, they were close enough to notice this.)

2005-07-23T09:15:00.000Z

I'm not going to read my ramblings from last night again, but I will leave them for the amusement of others. I think I might have perhaps come across as quite negative. I'm not really, I was just having a bit of a hyper TV fuelled rant really - it happens to the best of us every now and again!

Metallica rules...

2005-07-23T00:30:00.000Z

So I have had a pretty good evening.

Earlier (and last nigth) I was really in the modd for going out. I miss not being able to go out here. One for the general company of talking to friends in person, but also to let off some steam dancing. I settled down flicking through the telly earlier with some wine and other accompaniments (biscuits!) and ended up watching a programme all about Metallica which was pretty good!

I was going to attempt another wine-fuelled blog (after a request), but i've not had too much and the effects have worn off a bit anyway.

I completed my pancake mission earlier, although I went for ones from the market which lacked chocolate sauce. That woudl have been best, but they had enough sugar to make up for it!

More work tomorrrow seeing as there is nothing else to do! Might go for a walk if its nice, read a book - and definately have a lie in! My attempt this morning didn't go to well, so i'll give it a second shot! And I suppose the best way to get started is by going to bed!

Night!

PS Anyone want to go to the Dungeon on Satruday next week? Celebrate my return!

Not such a light-weight

2005-07-22T22:30:00.000Z

OK, so i've drunk about half a bottle of red, and due to not having drunk anything for about a month (and being a general wine lightweight) am now moderately pissed! (Interesting blog coming up I hear you think expectantly).

And here comes the topic....

I've been parked in front the kitchen TV watching MTV programmes on people having plastic surgery to look more like celebrities, followed by a programme all about gays and sexuality. I have not formualted my ideas on this yet, but here they are anyway, in no real order....

OK, so there parts of my body that I dont really like. But at the moment I have no facilities (i.e. a gym), and basically lack sufficient motivation to do particualrly much about it. Hence, I dont really moan about it to anyone (unless you count this rant, which - FYI - I dont, becasue it is wine induced and not to anyone in particular.) And, there is no point other people saying things like "but you're skinny" etc etc, because I DONT LIKE PARTS OF ME. Other people's opinions wont change that. I'm not anorexic or anything like that (in fact I love food), and I haven't said i'm fat. But, my stomach is currently bigger than I would like, and bigger than it was a few years ago. Its undeniable. But, im a bit lazy (and busy) and dont have the motivation to change it right now. So, here end the moan. But what I certainly wouldn't want to do is pay someone to suck fat out of me, leaving me in agonising pain for a week or so. Eugh! And, I have a boyfriend who loves me how I am, so do I really have much incentive to change besides my own personal happiness? Not really. Is that enough? Not right now, no.

At this point I am remembering an e-mail related conversation I had with a friend many years ago about a very sensitive (but not related) topic. We decided typing without deleting or censorship was the way to do. I have since decided this is a flawed approach in many ways, but im gonna stick with it anyway.

And now i've forgotten what my next part of rant was going to be about.

Umm....

Dammit I still cant remember the point.

Stupid wine.

This wasn't my point but anyway - moaning about things and not doing anything about it is irritating. Particularly the "i'm depressed" option. Surely some perspective is called for; especially in light of recent events.

Im sure I have some thoughts on the gay issues, but now i've been distarcted by my rant like typing.

What is the point of this blog anyway? Im not really sure. At least partly its becasue I cant SAY this to anyone becasue i'm alone in the Netherlands, but then if that was the only point it would call into question the point of the blog when I AM in the UK and do have people to speak to about such things. What am I hoping to achieve? Passing the time is what immediately springs to mind. There must be othe points too. Entertainment? Probably outweighed by my cringe-factor when I read it later.

Man this is going on a bit. Bored yet? Suitably amused by my rambling?

Bodies. That was going to be my topic. Such a materialistic thing, but accredited with so much importance in modern society. Hummm.

I wonder if there is a limit to how much you can type in one blog...

Can you tell I have been drinking?!

Monkey mind someone once said! Jumping about.... Maybe its a sign of genius. Maybe not.

I think I should stop now. Whatever my main point was going to be it eludes me. For the amusement of anyone who reads this:

*Note to Elly: Dont delete this post!*

So i'll end with a thought.

Polder politics is a double edged sword.

How do you know when you're old?

2005-07-22T20:47:00.000Z

This post has been chopped to the bare essentials.

Things which scare me:

1. Getting a job in "the real world", whatever that is

2. Settling down / getting married / having kids etc etc. How do you know?!

2005-07-22T17:02:00.000Z

So, im not feeling too much in an updatey mood, and I don't think I have too much to say, but i'll write anyway!

Work is going really well, and I found out some interesting stuff today. Only a week to go here now.

Tomorrow i'm gonna go shopping in town, in the absence of much else to do here of a weekend. I have a bottle of wine to drink before I leave, so I might even crack it open later to celebrate not really having to go anywhere tomorrow.

I find the whole London situation very surreal. Watching it unfold slowly on the web as the news seeps out can be quite agonising, especially after how bad the events were a fortnight ago, when they say things like "only one casualty" you cant help wondering how many they just haven't found yet. Thankfully my pessimism was not warranted. Of course the events are terrible, and I really hope they catch the people involved; but of course there are braoder issues that need to be addressed. I find it very strange about the bombs not going off too, and the time of day of the attacks. Were they copy cats or actually linked to the first bombs?

As an aside, it astonshes me the power of indoctrination, and the people can actually be made to believe that killing others will earn them a place in heaven. But then if you look at the other things some people do believe I suppose maybe it isnt that much of a leap.

I think thats enough rambling on that topic anyway, and i'll try not to get started on the issue of "security on the tube" until I have my thoughts more in order. Just to say I totally agree with what Ken said yeseterday - scanning or searching the millions of people using transport in London each day is just totally impractical for so many reasons.

Well, after such a serious and saddening topic now I'm not really sure what to follow on with, so i'll leave it there.

Bye Laurent

2005-07-18T19:01:00.000Z

I just got back from going with Laurent to the airport. Luckily there was no HUGE f*ck up with the trains like last time!

So, i'm back to being by myself again. Not feeling too miserable about it at the moment, which is good. The time I have already been here has gone by really quickly, and I have lots more meetings lined up, so i'm sure the rest will fly by too. I'm only here until next Friday, so not too long at all really. It was a nice (long) weekend, and the weather was just right too.

I have a meeting tomorrow that I need to write some questsion for, although i'm strangely unmotivated. Reading Terry Pratchett and playing Battleships on the computer seems like a much better move....

Canoeing

2005-07-17T09:39:00.000Z

Yesterday was nice. Had a lie in, figured out where to go and then went and hired a canoe and went for a paddle around the canals, and had a picnic. Alll nice and relaxing - so relaxing when we got back I fell asleep for an hour! Went for a walk in the woods in the evening, and saw lots of herons and horses running about. No weasels mind.

Today we're probably going back to Amserdam, although i'm not exactly sure yet. There isn't a huge amount to do, especially here where evenrying shuts on a Sunday! I figure seeing as thats the tourist destaintion it has the best chance of places being open - and they have good chips there. :-)

Hamster Jam

2005-07-15T21:11:00.000Z

Laurent came out to visit me yesterday - Wooooo! the trains all went wrong, and it was very annoying, but its all good now!

Today we went to Amsterdam and have just got back. It was good, if slightly surreal! ;-) We had lots of chips with special sauce, and I did a scary impression of a

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasel!

2005-07-13T17:36:00.000Z

So, here's an update.

Most importantly Laurent is visiting tomorrow, so I might not update for a while! Very happy about him coming to see me! :-D

Today I managed to get a meeting with THE most important person who was ever likely to talk to me. (I didn't count current and past trnasport minsters, as most of them work in Brussels now). My supervisor here seems very impressed and suprised, so its all good!

Had a few more meetings, and all were interesting. I've even written down some ideas!

Steak for dinner for the third time tonight. I am a bit unsure about what exactly some of the meat in the shop is, so i've been sticking with the safe options, steak and chicken! Can't go wrong!

Slight bout of upset last night, but I was really just being silly about nothing.

Yes, they do have coffee shops in Utrecht, and since I discovered this a few days ago i've been keeping my eyes peeled, but still haven't spotted a single one. I have plans to rectifiy this situation!

Thanks to all the people who have obliged in chatting to me during my dull evenings here - it really is helpful!

I saw a place with a lot of canoes and kayacks today, by a canal. I went past onthe bus, but i'm hoping when Laurent comes we'll be able to rent one and go for a paddle.

I had to run for the train this morning, becasue my bus was early (not late), it was leaving just as I got (ran) there, and then I had to wait for the next one - how annoyong. Grrr.

The ducks that visit can jump very high in the pursuit of bread, although one did bte my finger when I was feeding it from my hand. One even came in the kitchen to get the food I enticed it with, but I resisited my small urge to tempt it all the way to the oven!

Weekend

2005-07-10T15:37:00.001Z

So i've almost survived my first week here in Utrecht, and my first whole weekend.

The weekends here are even more quiet than in the week! The Uni buildings including the library are shut at weekends so nobody can go in, Sundays the shop is shut, and even the bar is closed on Friday (a true scandal!)

Yesterday was pretty good. I decided to go into town, and it turned out there was a market on, which was quite big. It was absolutely rammed full of people, as was the rest of the town. It passed the time to walk about, and I managed a few choice purchases. :-) I got a bunch of 40 roses (see the picture below) for just 5 euros - £3ish. They are really pretty. Flowers make me cheerful! :) (Even if I did buy them myself). I had a nice waffle thing at the market too, filled with caramel and lovely and warm. Only after I ate the waffle did i notice the Profiterole stand, but next week i'll go back and DEFINATELY make th emost of that one! Yum.

Today hasn't been too slow. Had a lie in, played Su doku, did some work, watched the politics show, and chatted to lots of different people via the wonders of MSN. At some point i'll hoover my floor too. I even swapped my uncomfy chair for a better one from the kitchen - i hope nobody minds. At leasy now i'm not toally crippling my back!

Off to the Hague again tomorrow for a meeting.

I've been wondring about the cafes here. I basically want to know if they are like the ones in 'Dam which sell you weed, or not. I don't really want to ask my supervisor, but hopfully my flat mates will know. So far i've only noticed two people with joints. It doesn't seem as big a thing here as in 'Dam, but I suppose it is responsibe for a LARGE part of their tourism. I guess they must have at least some cafe's, its just knowing where to go. I was just wondering why so many people go to 'dam, when if it is the same in other cities the tourists dont go to them too. Although having said that i'm glad it isnt packed with tourists here like it is there.

That's it for now!

Floral

2005-07-10T11:21:00.000Z

Pretty roses from the market I went to yesterday, which make my room seem a bit less like a cell! I'll update properly later on!

2005-07-08T06:15:00.000Z

It goes without sayin that yesterdays events were sad and tragic. Anyone involved or knowing people who were there or injured has my deep sympathy. I am still really shocked by the whole thing. With any large terrible event I always find a certain feeling of disbelief. Could that actually happen? Of course it did, but I hope you understand what I mean, acts so horrible can just be incomprehensible. And the co-ordinated nature of the attacks makes them all the more shocking. Even lisening to the graphic eye witness accounts I don't think people can truly grasp what it must have been like for the people who were there.

Being in a foreign country when something like this happens is slightly strange as well, more removed from what happened in some ways, but intensifying the shock in others. Luckily nobody I know was involved, and the Dutch people I was visiting at the time were kind enough to translate the news for me (although the pictures needed no translation), and let me use their phone to call my parents. Thanks :)

Looking up...

2005-07-05T22:20:00.000Z

Things are getting better!

1. I spoke to Rudegirl, who apologised for her rudeness, and we had a nice long chat! (Twice). She even mopped the floor and did some cleaning in the kitchen as well!

2. My office-mate is thinking about buying a kettle! :-D There is a vending machine on our floor, but it only takes a special card thing that there is no point me getting, and the cups are tiiiiny. All the other places near by only do tiny cups of tea too! Basically everyone has kettles in their rooms to make tea and coffee. There's no point me getting one, but S said she was going to so I can use that! Wooo. (The Dutch have milkless tea so the lack of fridge isnt an issue for them). I'll work something out about that.

3. I got a new pillow for 10 euros. The one they gave e was very very thin, so now i'll be all comfy! :-)

4. I printed some Sudoku! :-D I've done them all now, but never mind.

5. My patio window thingy unlocks now, and I have more keys for it!

6. My large lamp is also fixed. Apparently the new lokign bulb in a box in my room was actually a dead one too. Why not throw it away?! This had occured to me, but I didn;t bother to investigate further, and got some free bulbs from the accomodation people. What they think i'll do with four bulbs and one lamp in one month I don't know!

7. I scored a meeting with some important person. I don't know exactly what they do, but they are on a panel of road pricig "experts", so they must be good! (I didn't think any of them would even say yes to meet me.)

Man, I didn't realise there were so many things, it truly has been a good day!

Finally,

8. I bought a discount card for the train, which I was told was only valud on trains after 9. I have to get a few before this, becasue of early meetings. But, it turns out during July and August the card is valid all of the time! Bonus. 40% off here I come.

9. The Pogues have cheered me up - although their "best of" qalbum doesn't have my two favurite songs ever.

I feel the need to think of a tenth thing! I was amused by someone else's problem, but i'm not sure if that really should be a good thing or not.

Anyway, 9 is enough. Pretty good I think actually. Bad news is I have to get up at some silly time around 7 tomorrow, which is 6 in England! Eeeeeek.

Yes, another post!

2005-07-04T20:37:00.000Z

Two things:

1. I feel sorry for people who live on their own.

2. Today, for their dinner, one of my house mates had baked beans with brown rice. :S Not even a hint of chesse. Beans'n'rice.

Yes, another post!

2005-07-04T20:36:00.000Z

Sudoku-less

2005-07-04T19:30:00.000Z

Dammit, the Sudoku programme realised I had had the free tiral before on my computer! :-(

Does anyone know where I can download it for free?! (Not www.sudoku.com)

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease let me know! I can only find crappy versions that you have to print out and write on! Sob.

2005-07-04T19:21:00.000Z

Well, a second lonely night in my slightly cell-like room!

This time I have Tenacious D for company, and I think i'm about to download free Sudoku again! No progress on the window front, but someone should be looking into it tomorrow.

My office here is pretty good, bigger and better than the one in Southampton. (I'm not tempted to stay though!) Its quite boring here in the evenings, and most students just seem to do work. The campus is a long way from any other sort of life besides farm animals, and there is one bar. I might try the bar tomorrow, but not really feeling sociable enough right now.

I spoke to all my flat mates again today, apart from Rudegirl. The Chinese guy is really friendly, and is going to find out about films they sometimes show at the Uni once a week. At least it would be something to do! When there is nothing to do but work it makes it even less appealing than usual!

I cleaned the kitchen today, which makes me feel better (sad, I know). It wasn't too bad, but a little bit of time and now it's much nicer. I got an airfreshner for the stinky loo too, but I don;t think it will help too much.

There are lots of cana;ls on the campus. When I went out for a walk earlier I went to go out the patio door in the kitchen and there were 7 ducks looking in and quacking! They didn't dare come in. I was a bit sad I didn't have any bread for them a first, but its probably best or they neer would have gone away!

Anyway, its time for some mind numbing games now!

In Holland

2005-07-03T20:49:00.000Z

So, I'm in Holland now.

Here's a summary:

Its lonely.

I went for a litttle walk around the campus, which has canals and lots of sheep and cows grazing next to it!

The flight went well, and it was all on time. The plane was tiny, only seating 38 people in rows of three! It did seem a bit unstable when it took off, but it was all fiiiiiiiiiiine!

Apparently I get an office in the Geog building, sharing with someone from Italy! Sounds better than sharing with 9 others at home! Annoyingly the phone won't work unless I get a contract, but thankfully I do have th eownder of the internet.

My room here is pretty good, although I have a patio window thing, which needs two keys to open it. I only have one of them. Grrrr. Gonna find out about getting the next one tomorrow.

There is a Spar shop on the campus, a few minutes walk away, and it seems quite big; so that sould be fairly convenient.

The kitchen here is a bit of a mess, the freezers are all frosted up with a small space that has been filled by random meats, and the fridge is full of smelly things (Including a lot of Dutch cheese, which I suppose is to be expected).

There is a cleaning rota from 2003 on the wall!

The toilet really really stinks and there is loads of hair all over the bathroom floor :-( (I do mean loads, you can't NOT step in it. Gross)

I went to say hello to the other people here. One wasn't in, one Chinese girl was really rude to me saying "I've got an exam tomorrow, so i'm really busy right now. Bye." I don't think they speak to eachother much as a flat! The other guy is Dutch, and is living here with his Romanian wife in the same room. He seemed nice and friendly, but probably spends most of his time with his wife. Hthird guy turend up later, and does seem nice and friendly too, although they dont seem to socialise together. Shame.

Arrianne (my supervisor) said people in the department go for lunch together most days, so i'll do that to try and meet some people. I'm meeting her in the morning to talk about by work and things, and hopefully meet some other poeple too, or its gonna be quite dull sat in my room.

Right, time to make my bed!

For Bob...

2005-07-01T09:26:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4637801.stm

Fingers crossed!

2005-06-30T09:16:00.000Z

I just dropped my car in for its MOT. Fingers crossed that it passes, and the mysterious problem that the garage couldn;t find yesterday doesn't come back! I really need it to pass today, as the tax is due tomorrow! :S (Well, technically its due today I suppose). Eeek.

Slack!

2005-06-29T17:48:00.000Z

OK, so I know I have been slack with my blog again.

After a request from someone who actually still read my blog i'm blogging again! (Thanks for reading!)

So i've been up to quite a bit actually. I'm off to the Netherlands for a month on Sunday, so have been doing LOADS of things to get ready for that. Aparrently I have broadband in my room, so assuming I can work out howto set it up I should be able to blog from there! And trust me, I will blog from the Netherlands beacsue it's not like i'm going to have many people to talk to!

Things to note include:

Bob got a first - very well done! :-) Well done to everyone else who got their degrees too!

I ate an oyster last weekend! (Under duress). I'm not really too sure why people eat them to be honest. It looks really horrible, the texture is grim, it smells of a rockpool (which is about the best bit), and I can;t say the taste was good. But anyway, it was an experience, and I had plenty of wine to wach it down with!

My mum came to visit yesterday, and we had a nice day shopping, with lots of bargains!

I am having some very stressful car issues at the moment, which I can't be bothered to go into, but some of which is just due to my own stupidity!

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. Its for a "fissure sealing" which doesn't sound too bad. However, since I made the appintment I ave chipped off the side of one of my back teeth, and exposed a filling. I was just walking around Asda when I noticed it, so it wasn't even like I was chewing bottle tops or anything! The problem is this is the tooth I had emerency work on about 6 weeks ago, and the dentist then said if it had been any more decayed they would have taken it out instead of filling it. I'm a bit worried that this is what they'll do now. :-( Seeing as i'm going away for a month on Sunday i'm hoping they can sort out something temporary until I get back, but I don't imagine it will be nice.

The geckos have beeen re-homed in the lounge now, and they seem to like it there. Its much better than before becasue they can roam around a lot more when we take them out! :-)

Jane has moved out now :-D, and we are gradually helping Steve (who works with Laurent) move his things in. I'm sure they're going to play LOADS of compter gsmes while i'm away, but hopefully they'll be sick of them by the time I get back!

On Sunday I cooked roast dinner for five people! Craziness. It was very nice, although the piles of washing up weren't so good!

Anyway, that's all for now! Hopefully more discussion and less general re-capping next time!

Deskage!

2005-06-19T13:42:00.000Z

Oh, and the desk thing got sorted out, very quickly!

It fits in the gap! Woooooooooooooooooo! :-) Its soooooo much better now, and hopefully the landlord will let me put some shelves up! Thankfully Laurent thought the whole thing was quite funny, especially because of how stressed it had made me!

I like happy endings! :-D

I made flapjacks last night, and decided to make them a bit chocolately. Rather stupidly I managed to burn my finger AND my tongue on a 200 degree chocolate chip! :-S My finger is OK today, but my tongue is still pretty painful! I managed to get the chocolate from my finger to my mouth just before I realised how much it burned. Ouch. The lure of the fresh chocolatey goodness was just too tempting, but I think I have learnt my lesson! In fact, I think its flapjack time now..............

Exorcism

2005-06-19T08:52:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4107524.stm

Now, from my personal point of view I can't see how the people who instigated this could possibly be not-guilty! But, I suppose the problem is they will be tried in a country where it is "common practice" and "not at all unknown".

I'm not one for imposing my views and beliefs on other cultures, but, come on, killing people - even if it is in the name of God - simply can't be right!

Bollocks!

2005-06-18T15:44:00.000Z

I just buggered up my bedroom! :-(

I wanted to re-arrange it, and thought it would be good if I could do it without asking Laurent to help me! So, being all stubborn I decided to set about doing it myself; afterall, its not to difficult a task for one. So, I got a fair way, which was good, but now i've wedged my desk between the walls, window ledge and radiator, and it won't budge. I REALLY really really want it to fit in the new place too, becasue where it is at the moment is just a pain in the arse, and now it looks like it wont go.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, now, when Laurent gets home in about 15 minutes i'm gonna have to explain my stubborness and ineptitude, and hope he can help me out, or i'll have to put everything back again.

Poo.

I'm quite unhappy about it all now, and wondering whether the landlord will notice if I saw a few millimeters off the edge of the desk! It sooooooo nearly fits. I thought I just needed to lift it over the windowsill, but thats how it got wedged.

Oh, and in my bid to make it fit I even unscrewed a piee of skirting board, and even that effort was in vein! GRRRRRRRRRRRR. why cant it be just a centimeter smaller? Stupid desk. Its not even a desk. Its technically a dresser. Wel, whatever it is it's wedged now.

I'm trying very hard to refrain from swearing, so best stop there!

Drunken-ness!

2005-06-17T22:00:00.000Z

Wooooooooo!

Just had an impromptu BBQ round mine, which went really well! Had a few free bottles of wine, which have mainly gone now, so please excuse my typing!

Feeling at a nice level of pissed-ness, altho have to go to the Cube in a minute to take a friend back his keys which he left in my house. I pray that we dont get dragged in there!

Jane moved out today. I dont think I need further comment on that, other than to say "Wooooooooooo!" :-) The geckos are happily re-housed in the lounge, and seem to be doing fine.

Not done much else. Work is a bit slow. I'm going to Berlin on a fieldtrip in September, which I thought I got out of, but it turns out I'm going afterall. Need to sort out flights, but its all a bit complicated becasue i have to go to Strasbourg as soon as the field trip ends. Rock and roll!

To the Cube!!.............................

The adventures of Tigger!

2005-06-11T21:47:00.000Z

Tigger our most shy gecko just came out of the viv and played on the bed! (and on Laurents back and arm!) It was pretty cool, becasue he hasn't been out like the others before, becasue he is so shy. if you put your hand in the viv near him he backs away, and if you try to grab him he squirms and wriggles off REALLY quick! But today I got him! :-) Once he was out he wasn't too bad, although he did try to run off the bed a few times!

In other news we also managed to kill the cricket that has been chirping in our house ever since we got back from Canada. Good old Raid. It was hiding down the side of the freezer, so we managed to fumigate it enough to make it come out! Sadly we were a little bit fumigated too, but I don't have a headache or anything, so i'm sure it'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

Apologies to all those I missed at the Hobbit tonight too. We had the choice of BBQ or Hobbit. Laurent was tired from work, and is working early tomorrow, so picked BBQ, and I was easy, so we went to that. (What with party tomorrow and ROCK on Monday I figure one less drunken night is allowed!). Unfortunately at about half eight a few people decided to roll on into town, which we couldn't be bothered with by then! (If we were up for going out it would have been to the Hobbit!) Shame the night ended there really, because I was enjoying catching up with people at the BB, but far be it from me to stand in the way of single people wanting to head into town in search of some action!

That's all for now - I don't want anyone getting blog overdose!

Oh, and i've had no reply from the person who I brought the e-bay DVD off. Grumble. OK, so its only been a day and a bit, but its particularly annoying when they sent me an "invoice" saying "pay now" as soon as the auciton finished!

Apathy

2005-06-10T20:20:00.000Z

OK, so, I admit, I have been havin gsome blogging apathy lately. Reading other people's just seems more interesting than writing my own!

But, at the moment my choice is between doing this or marking the 11 final essays of my 75 essay total. I just can't focus on it any more, having read about 30 all on the same topic! They're all so similar, its just dull! But I need them done for Sunday evening pre-party, so have to get on with it... :-(

So, my nana came down to visit for the day today, which was really nice. I haven't seen her for a fair old while, probably since Christmas. We get on well, and its good to see her. When i'm old I hope I am like my nan. She's still really active and healthy, and does lots of things with her friends, particularly going on holidays! I like that part! :-) She understands the importance of the main things in life, including;

Shopping
Puddings
Holidays / travel
Animals

What more do you need?!

So, that was good. We went for a nice lunch too, which turned out to be huge, but good! :)

This morning I was a bit bored (before my nan came), and so I was surfing the net. Unfortunately I let myself go onto e-bay, and, yes, I "won" myself something! I like the way they tell you you "win" things. There is no luck involved, just being prepared to open your wallet, and then you're a winner! Woooo. Anyway, i'm getting a DVD set for £22 (£24 with PandP), which is new and would cost £35 in the shops, so its all good.

I do have some PhD updatey things, but i'll do that another time I think (perhaps when i'm bored of marking tomorrow!)

Also, there is a large black cricket loose in our house. My brother must have let it escape when he fed the geckos when we were on holiday. Now, ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem at all, becasue we buy brown crickets. These little fellas have no wings, and therefore are SILENT. However, black crickets do have wings, and chirp at stipid times in the morning, in the middle of the night, when they are hiding under the freezer whilst you are cooking and so on.... It must die sooner or later, I have no idea what it can be eating! I just wish it would shut up. We keep trying to catch it, but becasue its black its hard to see, and it hides under things so you cant see it anyway. Suggestions welcome! (We have contemplated the hoover).

Anyway, ill end the uber-update there and let you wait for the next thrilling installment!

Gecko under the bed!

2005-06-05T22:10:00.000Z

So, at the moment I am sat at my PC, glancing regularly at my bed! Lemmy, the lemming like gecko decided it was a good idea to go for a bit of an explore under there, and I think he's decided he likes it! Im a bit worried about all the dust, but I'm sure he'll come out sooner or later. Its only been about 5 minutes!

So, Canada!

It really was a fantastic holiday, with a good combination of city things and going out to the countryside. Toronto is a great place, and like I said before, everyone is really friendly. I didn't like Montreal as much, but i'm glad we went there to find out. It could have been all old and quaint with lovely buildings and culture and appealing, but really it wasn't! Definately wouldn't want to live there, although I could get used to the French toast for breakfast!

We did some of the touristy things in Toronto, like goin up the CN tower, we went on a boat tour around the isalnds, we went for a walk on the islands, went to the museum and so on. Found some good places to eat too! I am generally cynical of Starbucks, but they had coffee shops called Second Cup, which I really liked. $1.40 (65p) for an extra large tea, the size of my mugs at home (LARGE)! And all their tea was the same price no matter what size you had, how good is that?! Extra large every time I think! :-)

Well, Lemmy has moved but still hasn't come out!

I even managed to get a Second Cup mug to bring home, and they gave it to me for free!! They sold general mugs, but I wanted one of their own, with their name on, but figured they didn't sell them becsaue they never had them on the shelves. I asked in one of the shops, but I dont think the poeople properly understood what I wanted, as they only had three of the actual mugs in question anyway. So, I went back a bit later, and eventually explained I wanted to buy one of their regular mugs, and the girl just let me have it for free! How good is that?!

Other cool things included:

*Seeing a moose!

*Seeing lots of groundhogs up really close, inclusing three peeping out of one hole!

*Chipmunks and black squirrels.

*The Montreal Biodome (the best thing about the place)

*The Beer Bistro in Toronto. They have a 40 page beer menu, with over 200 beers or something silly! Looks of their food is cooked in / involves beer somehow, and they even make beer cocktails, which I had several of, and enjoyed! (Maudite ale, vodka and cointrea if you dare...)

*The guy who did wood carvings with a chainsaw who we spoke to for TWO HOURS randomly

*Muffins, French toast and toasted cinnamon and sultana bagels!

*Cheap food and clothes!

*Helpful people in clothes shops who aren't pushy, but start changing rooms for you so you dont have to carry things around!

*Hiring a car to find out they didnt have it so we got a uber-large Dodge Durango instead (Jeepy thing)

*Going on a "canopy tour" in the Haliburton Highlands, which involved walking on really creaky boards suspended high up in trees!

*The wolf centre

*Kayacking (yes, me, and I didn't fall in!)

And many many other things!

I think i'd like to check out Vancouver and the west coast too, but maybe in a year or two to cave up some more money! :-) I really enjoyed it all, shame its back to work tomorrow! (If the gecko ever comes out so I can go to bed....)

Road Pricing...

2005-06-05T10:29:00.000Z

OK, I will blog a bit about my holiday later on, but for now, this is good:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4610755.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4610877.stm

Its interesting that instead of pricing replacing just VED (which has been suggested in the past), its going to be replacing fuel tax too! Of course the mileage charge would probably be higher to reflect that, but then it would be differentiated by road type. Wouldn't put it past the Gov to bring in some "other" charge to make up for the environmental element of fuel duty and VED mind....

HOLIDAY!!

2005-05-16T10:44:00.000Z

Well, i'm off home later, and then we fly out for the big Canadian adventure tomorrow!

Still got a lot of things to get sorted before I go, so the excitement hasn't really kicked in yet. We fly to Toronto, have about 5 days there, then hire a car to drive to a cottage on a mountain lake in the Algonquin national park. After a week there we drive back to Toronto, and catch the train to Montreal, to have a few days there. Then its back to Toronto for a night, and flying home late the next day. Lots of travelling!

Probably not gonna blog when i'm out there, but i'll post some pictures when I get back. Still not looking forward to the 8 hour flight, but I have filled my mp3 player with 1GB of tunes, so I should e reaonsably entertained!

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :-D

Hoodies

2005-05-14T09:57:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/4545657.stm

Book review

2005-05-13T12:31:00.000Z

Today I got asked to write a book review for a journal! Oooooooh! It means I get my name in print, and get a free book! :-) Quite a good opportuity I thought, and it is under 1000 words, so shouldn't be too hard! Looks like quite a good book to read too, which is nice.

Girly night tonight which i'm looking forward to! :-)

Week today

2005-05-11T16:40:00.000Z

A week today Laurent and I will be flying through the skies (in a plane), on the way to Canada! :-D I ordered some money yesterday, and have been bsy getting maps of where we are actually going and stuff! It seems to have come by so quickly, but i'm really looking forward to it. Definately in need to a break!

Managed to arrange lots of meetings with people in the Netherlands yesterday. Its good to have some thigns sorted becasue I am off there for a month, but don't have much of an actual idea what i'm gonna do when i'm there!!

One of my friends is coming down for a girly night on Friday, which I am looking forward to! Yay!

I have two big interviews coming up, and did one on Monday! (That wasn't so great coz I was knackered, but never mind!)

Anyway, best get back to the big pile of work I have to do before going away!

"NOW do you believe me?!"

2005-05-08T09:21:00.000Z

Before last night I had seen a mouse in our kitchen three times. Nobody else in the house had ever seen said mouse, and Laurent didn;t believe me that there was one. What hapened was we would be watching a film or something late at night, i'd go into the kitchen to get something, turn light on, the mouse is there, i'd scream a bit (more from suprise than fear, I think mice are cute), and the mouse would quickly scuttle off under something, leaving no trace it existed.

BUT, last nigth, Laurent was just behind me, and HE saw the mouse too! It was actually quite fat and round, more the shape you would expect from a hamster than a mouse, but it did have a big long tail and big ears! Anyway, as we were stood there with me being smug the brave little chap came out again to finish eating whatever he had found, anfd then ran off again! We tried to lure it back out wihth some cheese (so we could catch him and put him outside), but clearly we were out-witted in our transparent plan!

Personally i'm not sure we should bother catching it. Its not like he is doing any harm, and it is quite cute! OK, so its unhygenic, but we clean regularly, and it can't get up to a level where any food is! dont worry though, if we do catch it our landlord approved the use of a humane mouse trap, as I woudl be pretty upset at the thought of chopping its fuzzy little head off!

Winners!

2005-05-06T08:45:00.000Z

So, Labour won the election! I have to say this is basically the result I was hoping for - Labour win but with a lower majority, the Lib Dems make some gains, and Mr Silk doesn't get anywhere near becoming an MP (4th place!!) :-)

I think theres gonna be more than enough coverage in the press to warrant me not blogging about the election any more than that!

2005-05-05T19:57:00.000Z

So, I hope all of you voted today! I'm quite keen to know the result of the election, although not keen enough to stay up till 4 watching it!

Today I did two interviews and taught two seminars (busy!!). The second interview was a bit frustrating becasue it had lots of irrelevant bits, and there were two people who kept causing eachother to go off on big tangents! Still, they did say some helpful things as well!

Not much else to say really. Off on hoiday to Canada really soon now! (Under 2 weeks!) It seems to have crept up quite quickly, and i'm really looking forward to it! :-)

Lemmy....

2005-05-02T09:49:00.000Z

Today my shoulders and arms ache a lot from climbing! It was good to go again, coz I haven't been for ages. Predictable Laurent and I were crap due to not having been for months!

Had a nice day with my parents visting yesterday, much less stressful than it potentially could have been! :-)

We thought of some final gecko names! There is Ferocious, who has been nmed for a while, mainly becasue he pounces on food quickly. He is actually the friendliest one, who likes being handled the most, but never mind. The smallest one is gonna be called Tigger, just because I like it, and he is sort of orangey. not sure if he "likes to bounce" tho! I hope not!

We named the final one last night. We had him out to play, and he was just walking off things without lookogn where to actually put his feet. Ferocious does this too, but not quite as much! They bascially wander along without thinking about where they are going, and hope there is something to put their feet on. Anyway, in my mind ths made him a bit like a Lemming, so I came upw ith the name of Lemmy, because:

a. Its short for Lemming.

b. Lemmy is cool, and

c. He is the palest one, sort of lemony colour.

So thats that. Ferocious doesn't fit *too* well with the other names, but Laurent likes it so we are gonna keep it.

2005-04-30T19:27:00.001Z

Bit blurry.....
Posted by Hello

2005-04-30T19:27:00.000Z

Ferocious the gecko! :-)
Posted by Hello

Voting...

2005-04-28T07:51:00.000Z

Well, I poted off my ballot paper yesterday, but I thought I would take the "who should I vote for" test.

I did expect to be Labourish, but with some green and lib-dem mixed in. It came out much more orientated towards the second two than I had expected at first (altho not that surpising given my answers to the questions)!

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Labour

Your actual outcome:

	Labour 8
Conservative -25
	Liberal Democrat 48
UK Independence Party -15
	Green 51

You should vote: Green

The Green Party, which is of course strong on environmental issues, takes a strong position on welfare issues, but was firmly against the war in Iraq. Other key concerns are cannabis, where the party takes a liberal line, and foxhunting, which unsurprisingly the Greens are firmly against.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Voting

2005-04-26T14:26:00.000Z

I'm quite excited! I got my postal ballot paper earlier, so i'm gonna be voting this evening! Wooo. It's my first election vote too (sort of forgot to get my arse to a polling station last time! Disgraceful, I know.)

Rock last night was good, and for once Laurent suggested leaving before I did. Was a good night, and I even managed to stay clear of wine, so my headache was minimal!

Yesterday I did an interview and the man was so rude and condescending it really annyoed me! He kept treating my like I was stupid, which was VERY annoying. Grrr. I am doing a PhD, would I really be stupid?! Hope now!!

And I couldn't retaliate too much becasue I had to maintain respect and finish the rest of the interview. Ah well, there's always one....

Back to work...

2005-04-23T12:38:00.000Z

I have a problem with my knees, which basically are not stright, so they ache a lot sometimes. I had physio, and have exercies for it and stuff. Today my knees hurt, which helps me confirm my theory that wine makes my knees hurt. :-( Often after I have had a few glasses my knees will hurt the next day. Its really weird, and clearly not a good thing!! Last night I had about 3/4 bottle rose (I know!), did no dancing or long walking or anything, and today they hurt.

I am very curious about what the reason for this might be, given that it is supposedly a muscle problem. Maybe I should have Drs research me..... (I imagine any experiment would have to involve them giving me free wine to test the effects of it, and other forms of alcohol too to see if they have the same effiect....)

Also today my phone has broken. The SIM works in another phone (thankfully), so now I have to take the phone to a shop to get it sorted....

Going out to marshall a rally tonight, which is gonna involve standing in the cold and rain, watching fast cars! Thankfully we won't have to stay up ALL night like some people though! Madness.

Laurent and I have started watching 24, series 2 (haven't seen number 1)! We have only watched 3 episodes so far, but hopefully we wont end up getting tooooo addicted. It does seem pretty good so far, im just intrigued by how they are going to keep such a fast pace all of the way through! Time will tell...

Funny mouth...

2005-04-20T08:48:00.000Z

My mouth tastes funny and I don't like it. Not even tea or toothpaste gets rid of the funny taste! Its tasted weird since last night. Hope its OK.

I worked out by the end of the week I will have done nearly 30 interviews! Wooo. Off to do one in a private house in a minute. Hope it isn't a weirdo! (If I don't come back the address is in both my diaries.....) Yes, yes; two diaries could perhaps be overly organised. But one is my office one for work things, and witing what I have actually done, and the other is my own diary for things like holidays, birthdays, trips and going to pubs and stuff!

"You shouldn't have looked at this big needle!"

2005-04-19T21:04:00.000Z

So, it turns out some of my tooth broke off (which I probably swallowed), and then it decayed under the existing filling, LOTS. So, they had to drill out the old filling, then all the decay (which went down below my gum level somehow), and then give me a new filling. If it had got much worse they would have pulled the tooth out, so it looks like I got there in the nick of time. Well, too late really, but you know what I mean!

It wasn't actually too bad. The worst bit was half of my face being numb and tingly and weird till about 5!! According to the dentist it should have worn off by about 2! All my face muscles on one side felt really tight and strange. And I could poke myself in the lip and not feel it!

Now the numbness has gone, and replaced by a fair bit of aching and hurt. probably just from having my mouth pulled about so much! Sure it will go away soon.

In some ways it was quite comic. I was led in the chair, after having a bit of anaesthetic soaked in cotton wool to bit on. The dentist is to my right, and back a bit.

Dentist: "Now, the easiest thing to do now is...."
*Elly looks around to the dentist who is speaking to her*
*Elly notices the rather large needle he is attempting to hold slightly behind his back*
*Elly looks scared*
Dentist: "Well, the best thing is if you hadn't of turned around to look at this big needle...."
EEEEEK!

The needle was by far the worst bit. Much more nasty than the drilling, scraping, blowing and god knows what else! Its just how you can feel it going in, and then they keep pushing it further and further. I'm not overly averse to needles, but it was pretty grim.

Anyway, its over now. :-)

Someone from one of the compnies on my "large companies I want to talk to list" contacted me today, and I arranged an interview with them, which made me happy! :-) I didnt think I had written to them yet, but the database I used had their old name on it. Hopefully all the other big companies out there will be as forthcoming! They are not one of the huge huge ones, but its all good! :-)

Sorry, this is long and not too interesting.

Remeber, brush your teeth and go to the dentist every 6 months!! (Not 2 - 3 years....)

ARGH

2005-04-19T09:52:00.000Z

Well, I had a good weekend. Went for a ight out in London which was good fun, although dented my bank account quite considerably!

I have been having tooth ache for ages, and now have an emergency dentists appointment in 15 minutes. ARGH. Might be having a filling. Or something even more evil. I'm sure it will be bad news, whatever the outcome. :-( Booooooo.

Test....

2005-04-15T17:35:00.000Z

Right, i'm hoping Ihave maanaged to steal some HTML code.

So, here is it! BADGERS!

Calling....

2005-04-15T09:57:00.000Z

On Monday I sent 48 letters to people asking them to be interviewed for my PhD. Today I have the job of calling hem to hassle them into agreeing.

Normally out of 25ish people I get 3 or 4, so the whole process is very depressing.

So far 2 have agreed already, without me even hassling them. I'm hoping to get about 7 or 8 lined up, but fear I may be being over optimistic! It is soul destroying when people are either not there, not interiested, didn't get my letter, too busy and so on. Normally I have to call lot of them back coz they are not there or in a meeting.

The worst ones are where you ask to speak to the contact, the peron on the phone is like "Yes, certainly. Can I ask what it is in connection with?" You gloss over the finer details slightly, but when they find out what it is suddenly the persion is in a meeting or otherwise unavailable! I'd far prefer to just be rejected outright, and then I wouldn't have to keep calling back and getting more excuses.

Anyway, i'll let you know how I get on later!!

2005-04-14T21:33:00.000Z

Iguana!! Not mine, but very cool!
Posted by Hello

2005-04-14T21:30:00.000Z

One of the geckos!! (I know it's not very good, but it was dark and I couldn't use flash. You can see the patterns well though)
Posted by Hello

Topical....

2005-04-14T20:33:00.000Z

After the many comments prompted by my faith school blog (15 or so), I think I would like to make my blog a bit more topical / relevant; rather than ranting about things or saying what I did today! I am quite pleased with the resonse given I typed it pretty early in the morning whilst half awake!

So, some blogs I will endeavour to write are:

* People in suits
* "Whatever love is..."
* Why although drivers do pay large amounts of tax, which doesn't all go back into roads, they should still pay more [or atelast have a different system!] (Not gonna be too popular that one!)
* Life after University
* Something political....

Actually, that is the only ones I have thought of at the moment, but i'm sure I will come up with more!!

So, despite saying i'm not gonna blog about what I did today, here's an update:

Today I got my red hair streaks re-done, becasue I went swimming three days in a row and they faded loads! Pleased that it is looking good again, and less pink! :-D

Linkage

2005-04-13T13:06:00.000Z

Wow!

I sucessfully managed to add links to other people's blogs to the side of mine! Of course, I can;t really take the credit for this, as I couldn;t have done it without Rach's help!! Thanks! (Well, if fact she sent me the code and I just copied, pasted and slightly edited it!)

Eventually i'll work out which websites I want to link in too.

Faith schools

2005-04-13T07:59:00.000Z

Now, here is something I disagree with (suprisingly it invovles Tory policy!!!):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4438453.stm

Now, the reason I disagree is thus. Do you think the children have a REAL choice about going to these schools? They will go to them because their parents follow the particualr faith, and will simply be taking on their views, rather than being old enough to make up their own minds. What if they do get old and wise enough to realsie they disagree with the views being expressed around them. How do you think that's going to make them feel!? Worse still, they might be bullied back into "towing the school line" and actualy discouraged from having their own views on the issue!

"They are among the few places where the young can seek out answers to the really big questions - not who will win Pop Idol but what is the purpose of my life and what happens after my death"

Surely not. Surely if you just wanted to do bit of "seeking" you could ask parents and other figures, read a bit about different religions and so on. Not go to a school where it is told to you every single day and permeates the whole ethos of the place. Why funnel people down one route so young?

I know that of course children will get taught about other religions, and just becasue they go to a Jewish school is doesn't mean they don't get taught about Muslims and Christians. However, I went to a C of E school where I sang hymns, said prayers before dinner; I even played Jesus in a school play!!! But did it do me any good? Can't say that I honestly think so. You come to see these sorts of things you do every day as "normal" practice, and at a young age (priary school) you just accept them without necessarily knowing fully what they mean. I remember being quite scared about going to "hell" and burninig forever if I was bad, which for a young kid can be quite traumatic!

Anyway, I need you get ready to go and do an interview. I just can't see why schools need such an explicit religious element, biased in one direction. If you have strong religious views and want to pass them on to your children whats wrong with taking them to chrisches / mosques and so on? They might be part of a strong religious community anyway, so why make it a part of schooling too? (Apart from RE to learn about all religions of course).

Please dont lay into me too much!

Dentists

2005-04-12T15:48:00.000Z

I am tempted ot have a large rant about dentists, but i'll try and refrain form making it too big. Essentially, after about 6 weeks of intermittent toothache and vowing to go to my dentist at home I finally got around to looking up some here, and registering with one. Only AFTER I gace them a £35 booking / inital consultaiton fee were they able to book me an appointment, and so only then did it become apparent the earliest appointment is in nearly SIX WEEKS time. Not only is this shit and ages away, but it is when i'm on holiday! Crappness. So, I got an emergency number which you can ring and be seen if you are "in pain", but they only take bookings at 8.30 in the morning, for that day, and you can;t choose your time. So I cant go today coz I range too late and there wee no appointments, tomorrow and Thurs I am busy in the mornings, so its gonna have to wait till Friday, the day before i'm off for a night out in London. Grumble.

OK, the rant was quite long so i'll stop there.

The geckos are doing well. They ate all their worms on Sunday night, but only one ate any crickets last night. I guess they are not too hungry, and proabbly a bit stressed from the move. We might try again tonight / tomorrow. No name thoughts yet, although one is keen on climbing and jumping (and is aslightly orange), so she might be Tigger! I'll post some pics when I get a good one that is not through the glass.

Also, last nigth I cut Laurents hair! It was only in a stright line, so nothing taxing. It turned out well! I think I was more nervous about messing it up than he was, seeing as I have never done anyone's hair before. I was quite impressed with my effort, very professional!

Trying to work today but can't concentrate. Probably becasue I am annoyed about the dentist thing, and the passport thing which I won't even go in to now!

Geckos!!!!

2005-04-09T14:51:00.000Z

I am excited! Like a small child!

We are getting two leopard geckos tomorrow! Its so exciting!! I have been doing things to set the tank up today, including drying out lots of wood chippings in the oven, and buying worms and crickets. I had a slight cricket escape scenario earlier, but thankfully I did have the sense to try and transfer them between tubs in the garden (and not the lounge!)

Can't wait! Yay!

Any name suggestions? They are both female. (No breeding!)

Idlewild and Death By Sun

2005-04-08T19:18:00.000Z

I blogged about Idelwild earlier, but it got lost, which is annoying.

In essence, I saw then, I moshed and it was pretty good. We got quite close to the front, so could see all the band really well! :-) I enjoyed it, but don't think I would go out of my way too much to see them again, unless they release a new album which is more like the earlier ones!

Today i did a TWO HOUR interview! It was quite good, becasue we were asked to leave the room, so I started rounding it up after about an hour. Then the other people didn't turn up to use the room so it went on. They guy was really talkative, and said lots of good things. We even slagged off Mail readers together, Tory asylum policies, the bias in the media and so on! (In a sort of relevant way, honest!) And he gave me some tips on recruitment! Unfortunately only the first 45 mins came out on the recorder, so I am in the middle of typing up my notes. Sigh.

The quote which sticks in my mind goes likethis:

"People need to be more aware of the consequences of luxuries. And cars and petrol is a luxury. I mean, sure, I would like a Ferrari. But if you said if you had a Ferrari then your kids will get skin cancer, then I know which i'd choose."

Being a marketing type he thught people did not respond much to global warming debates any more, and maybe it shouldbe renamed "death by sun" to get people's attention again! Hummm.

Field-trippin'

2005-04-05T20:53:00.000Z

I'm helping out on a field trip in the New Forest today, and just got in from a looooooooong day (although the steak for dinner on expenses was good!) :-) Managed to fit in a swim too.

Project days tomorrow and Thursday. I need to write a talk to give tot he students tomorrow, but am currently feeling a bit too brain dead. Bleugh. Three early starts in a row. Hard core!

My Thursday is going to go like this:
9.30 Meet group at Uni
Brief them on their project
Listen to a talk by a policeman
Ask some questions
Stress about giving a talk
Put on smart clothes
Drive from Southampton to Ringwood
Sit in a meeting
Give a talk to scary businesses people
Take questions
Drive from Ringwood to Lyndhurst to meet my project group
Talk to them about project / take questions, sort out their presentation
Leave by 5
Drive to Southampton in rush hour
Eat
Shower
Change
Go to Giddy Bridge to meet Bob
See Idlewild
Collapse (preferably AFTER Idlewild have finished!)

Madness. Right, my talk awaits. But my bed is calling louder. I cna almost hear it now....

Relaxed

2005-04-03T20:48:00.001Z

Hey.

I am wonderfuly relaxed and the moment. Today my friend Helen and I went for a pamper day, which was just lovely. :-) My mum gave me it as a present earlier in the year, and it has taken me a while to actually go. We went swimming, took in saunas, steam rooms and sat in a jacussi for a while too. Wonderful. And them we had aromatheraphy back neck and shoulder massages, facials and I also had a head massage which was great too. Sooooooo relaxed now its fantastic. Don't normally feel so calm and de-stressed. Ummmmmmm.

On Saturday night we had a take away, and then went out for a few beverages, with the idea of taking in some new places, including Voltz, a gay bar which we were curious to find out about! Our male friend Rupert declined to come along, and went off home as we headed for Voltz...

How foolish was he?!

At first we were a bit reluctant to go in, and stood outside ppering in like scared children. Then a man turned and looked at us, so we walked of briskly, only to then walk on more briskly when the bouncer came out and saw us too.

So, after a minute we worked up the courage to go in. We were greeted with a cheerful "come on in ladies" from the kind chap on the door, so in we went. As we walked up to the bar i noticed and pointed out a sign saying "Caution, pole dancers." I didn't process this thought any further, besides commented perhaps we should steal it for our friend who has been learning to pole dance.

So, we get the drinks in, surrounded by men, who mainly look like they could be gay. And we notice, in a corner, three poles, surrounded on two sides (of a corner) by (smeary) mirrors. Hummmmmm.

So, after a while the pole dancing began!! Scantily clad women in full force. Of course we had to stay and watch their performances, to learn a few things, and purely for the sake of experience! It is very confusing about why they would have women pole dancers in a supposed gay bar. :S Also, many of the men did seem to be paying close attention, and didn't seem to have too much trouble admiring the displays. The plot thickens. Also, it was free to get in, so why aren;t loads of straight men going there to ogle at women?! Mysterious. I guess they must be quite strict about who they let in.

Anyway, it took a little while to get used to having female open-legged crotch in your face, but the moves they were pulling off were very imressive! I think we watched 5 dances in all, including ones to Marilyn Manson, Puddle of Mudd, and A. I approved. Who would have though you could pole dance to that sort of thing?! And we found out why the mirrors were smeary!

So an entertaining, if suprising, night! :-D And a thoroughly good weekend.

Relaxed

2005-04-03T20:48:00.000Z

Gecko

2005-03-30T20:15:00.000Z

Our landlord said it was OK to get a pet gecko! YAY!

I really thought that he might say no. People do seem prejudice against lizards as pets for some reason. Probably becasue they are not furry or feathery. Well, I think they are sweet, and its so exciting that I can acutally get one (or two or three) after wanting a lizard ever since I was little! :-D

I got a 3 foot tank when I was at home last week, and have a couple of books coming tomorrow. Whoop. :-)

Crumble

2005-03-26T15:34:00.000Z

I have an apple crumble in the oven at the moment! Ummmm. :-D I know crumbles are sort of a wintery thing, and it is lovely and sunny today, but I haven't made one for ages, and was in need of some crumbly goodness. It does have fruit in after all, so it must be sort of healthy!

Went to town earlier, but it was busy and nasty. I still managed a few purchases though, but didn't stay very long.

I'm burning CDs at the moment because my laptop hard disc is actually full. 30GB disk, and about 20GB of music on it!!

Last night we booked the hire car and train trips for our holidya to Canada, which is very exciting. For £60 each we get a return jounrey of 4 1/2 hours (each way). Here I can't get a peak time return train to London for less than £70! Madness. Yay for Canada!!

2005-03-25T09:50:00.000Z

Well, i've had a strange couple of days. Went shopping in Salisbury with my mum on Wednesday, and then headed home, which was nice. Got quite stressed out and mildly annoyed by Thursday though, but never mind. I brought a 3 foot vivarium tank for our forthcoming pet gecko(s), which is cool! :-)

Then I found out that Laurent had fallen down the stairs and went to hospital!!!! It isn't as bad as it sounds though. He is mainly OK, apart from some bumps and bruises, and went to hopsital on the bus rather than needing an ambulance!!

I also realised last night I do have a scary amount of work things to be getting on with. I have been concentrating on the interviews, but according to my "plan", I am meant to be doing three things at once, so I need to pull my finger out on the other two really.

Sigh. Best finish my tea and get on with it!

2005-03-22T19:49:00.000Z

New hair is defainately good! Much less subtle now, but still subtle enough to tie back and hide from anyone who might be dissaproving! The perfect balance! :-) If anything it could be brigher. I think it is bright really, but the brown of my hair helps to tone it down a bit, which is probably a good thing.

Will try to post a pic at the weekend.

Off shopping with my mum tomorrow, then home for a day or two. I get to have a bath! Yay!! :-D looking forward to that!

Right, gotta go and finish cooking dinner now.

Hair # 2

2005-03-22T13:28:00.000Z

Wooo! I am going back to the hairdresser today to get my hair finished off! Then i'll post a picture of it (when I can collar someone into taking one). They fitted me in at the last minute, which is great becasue i'm off home for a couple of days tomorrow. Must remember to take a book to read this time - magazines are a bit boring after a quick flick through!

Roby - careful not to confuse Lauren (a girl) and LaurenT (most definately not a girl!)

Hair

2005-03-20T13:06:00.000Z

Well, yesterday was hair day! I do like it, but it is a bit too subtle. It is good that the colour is under the top of my hair, so I can disguise it during important meetings, and the colour is good - but the effect could be bolder. I think I might go back and get more done!! Hope they can do it before Wednesday (when i'm going home).

I think it was a good idea to start with less though - and now I know what its like I can go and get more!

Also, went to Jesters last nigth after having people around to watch the rugby. Feeling quite ropey today. Want to shut my eyes all the time. Going to go and get some fresh air soon, so that should help!

Muggage

2005-03-19T10:41:00.000Z

I have a hew huge mug that L got me, and its great! Yay for tea.

I was doing some marking last night. I have 74 1000 word essays to do, but the pay is good so i'll not complain. I think I mark a bit generously really, as i've not given out many 2:2s. Im gonna go back over them all at the end and moderate propoerly (which I am doing at the end of each section anyway). I did give a 3rd to someone who seemed to miss the point totally!

People are coming over to watch the rugby later, have drinks and pizza! Then we are going on a bit of a pub crawl to god knows where, so it should be a good laugh. All this nice weather is even promiting thoughts of a BBQ! (Perhaps premature).

Right, im off to buy the pizzas.

Hair in 3 hours!! :-D Quite impressd i didn't chicken out this time!

Mammoth session

2005-03-17T22:57:00.000Z

*Sign of relief*

I just finished a mammoth interview typing session. 85 minute interview, in about 5 hours, although some of that was spend surfing / chatting / generally dossing off. (Thats a reasonable speed, although I thought it would be quicker).

My hands hurt now! Gonna go to bed and read a book! Glad that it is out of the way so I don't have to think about it tomorrow!

2 days till hair streaks......

Shot myself in the foot

2005-03-16T18:45:00.000Z

I have just had a really productive meeting, which gave me some good ideas.

BUT, and there is usually a but, I managed to shoot myself in the foot slightly! The man I was speaking to is the chair of a group of business people who meet regualrly to talk about transporty things. This is a group that I want to get access to, so I cheekily asked if I could go along to one of their meetings (mainly to show my face and get people's details afterwards). And he agreed! Wooo.

But then it went something like this...

Him: "I can do one better than that actually. If I talk to x we can get you an item on the agenda so you can hear people's view specifically."

Me: "Great, that would be fantastic"

*Going good so far*. Then:

Him: "And then you can do a presentation all about your work to set the scene, people can ask questions and lead into a discussion."

ARGH!!!! A presentation to influential people!! It should be a good opportunity, although the entire prospect does terrify me! At least it is some way off at the moment.

RIP Basil

2005-03-16T09:52:00.000Z

So my promise of a happy blog today is gonna fall through.

Last night my hamster Baz (Basil) died. :-( I'm quite sad, although I am glad that he didn't have a long lingering illness or anything. He was about 2 1/4, and was ill for a week. If I lived to 100 and was ill for under a year, i'd think that was quite good going.I moved his cage and everything last night (about quarter to 12), because it would be strange to have it in the lounge, but all empty. I would probably forget he died and go to look for him, and then be sad!

It is sad he's gone. We was a good pet, and very entertaining! He had a good life in an exciting mansion of a cage with lots of tubes, levels and tunnels. In some ways he was more like a monkey than a hamster, he used to climb up the sides, and hang upside down from the top of his cage!

RIP Basil.
I'll miss you.
x

2005-03-15T20:38:00.000Z

I think I need a break. I'm getting a bit fed up with the whole PhD and living really near the office thing. Just a bit of a change would be good really.

Its strange that I feel so fed up really, because the PhD is going pretty well at the moment really - its good to be getting out and doing interviews. I do think it is taking over my life a bit too much though; espeically because I have to type up my interviews at home, so home isn't really a place to escape from the office any more.

Humm, I think just a proper couple of days off with no work would be good. I don't think I can do that properly whilst being here though. Might go home for a couple of days over Easter, but then that isn't really the height of excitement!

Ho - hum. I am more cheerful about it all than I was the other day, so I don't mean to have a depressing blog! Happy thoughts tomorrow!

Sorted

2005-03-13T11:48:00.000Z

Normal kettlage is resumed! Wooo. Just about to sample my first cuppa from it. :-)

Now I just need a propoer size and shape mug again.

Pizzas were good last night! Today we have a whole roast duck too eat. I lvoe duck, but have never cooked it myself before, so it should be interesting. I can't help feeling slightly mean. It is easier to imagine it as a real live duck when you see it whole. Well, i'm sure it had a good life. Its not like its any meaner than eating a chicken, some beef and so on.

Also, in sad news, Baz (my hamster) is really quite ill. I'm pretty worried about him. He does seem to be eating which is good, but only gets up very very rarely, and can't relly walk or stand properly without falling over. :-( I want to take him to the vets, but he doesn't like the car, and it would be traumatic for him. I think i'll see how he is tomorrow.

DISASTER!

2005-03-12T14:58:00.000Z

Yes, a terrible disater has befallen me....

The kettle is BROKEN!! The light comes on, but instead of boiling water is just does nothing! Atleast I have pans to boil water for tea in! I'll let Laurent have a look at it later, and then get a replacement ASAP!!

Tonight i'm making home made pizzas - ooooh.

2005-03-11T21:35:00.002Z

So, I had a really good weekend lined up, which I have been looking forward to and arranging for a fair while. And now its all fallen through coz my friend is ill and can't come down. Luckily we can re-arrange the things for a few weeks time, but its a bit of a downer coz I was looking forward to it a lot.

Anyway, i'm not too sure what to do now. Laurent is gonna be working, so
can't do things with him. I might go on a random trip tomorrow, because it'll be good to get out of Soton. Not too sure where to though.

Laurent has gone to bed now, because he isn't feeling too great. I have the hiccups and my knees hurt. Booooooooo.

Oh, and my hair is too short, so I can't tie it back and it blows around and in my face when it is windy. Time for a hat investment I think!

So, that's the moaning out the way. Why don't I feel better?!

On the plus side, the cupboards and fridge are stocked with lots of yummy and exciting foods! Maybe it will cure my hiccups....

*Goes to investigate...*

2005-03-11T21:35:00.001Z

2005-03-11T21:35:00.000Z

PS

2005-03-09T21:15:00.000Z

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention...

I have had my hair choppped short. Too short at the front I think. I can't tie it back so it is gonna annoy me big time. Dammit. Atleast it'll be easier to wash and dry I guess.

And i'm going back in a couple of weeks time. Spoke to the hairdresser all about it, and i'm gonna get the red (propbably red anyway) streaks! Yay! :-D They can do them under the top layer of hair, so they are more subtle; and I can tie it back (when it is long enough - grrr), and still look sensible for doing fieldwork! Woooooo.

Networking

2005-03-09T21:08:00.001Z

Tonight I went to a meeting, int he hope of making some contacts with businesspeople in Soton, to help with my research.

First in my half hour "networking" I got one interested person, and spoke to one guy from Poole, two people who work at the Uni and someone else from far afield. I then sat though about an hour and a half of talk that wasn;t really relevant to me. Then - more networking, and food. I met one more person who *may* be able to help, and spoke to about 12 people (one of whom I am meeting on wednesday anyway!)

So, this all took 3 hours. Now i'm knackered, and fairly dissapointed. Potentially I could have got about 30 contacts, but it turned out laods of people there were form the Uni, and others were mainly from outside of Soton. Dammit. I have another possible avenue of recruitment though, which may be promising.

Saturday my friend is coming down and we are going to a health spa place for a pamper day! Really looking forward to it. Gonna be followed with a girly night in, nice foods, wine, films. Then a day of shopping! What more could I ask!? (Apart from for another of my friends who pulled out to come as well). Roll on Saturday!

Networking

2005-03-09T21:08:00.000Z

Obsessoinal....

2005-03-06T22:20:00.000Z

I am just watching a programme called Fallen, which is quite worrying.

Bascially this man is obsessed with a lady, he starts off as the gardener, and then she gets ill, he looks after her and nurses her back to health; and then does the same thing again when she falls and hurts her foot. Gradually he worms is way into her life, and ends up living with her, then in the same bed, she falls in love with him etc etc....

Sometimes I get infuriated by characters on TV programmes. You want to just speak to them, and say "don't you see he is a weirdo who is obsessed with you!" (Or something). If our lives were like TV programmes I think things would be much easier - more obvious, more blatant. It would be straight forward to see what was going on, and where the plot (so to speak) was heading.... Humm, that isn't where I thought this blog was heading, but never mind.

Then again, if life was more like TV then everything would be over-dramatised, small events would become earth shattering and over emotional....A bit like the lives of some people I know actually (or so they would have us think).

House crawl...

2005-03-06T12:32:00.000Z

Well, last night was the house crawl. Each house prepares a drink / gets in a selection of drink, and you go around them, drinking the drinks! (Like a pub crawl, except you spend all your cash on drink in advance.)

It was good fun, and suprisingly, considering having about 4 different kinds of cocktail, and lots of vodka, i'm not feeling toooooooo bad. We even got all the way around this time too! Glasses with handles are great! :-D

Work is slow today. I need to call lots of people, but being the weekend they won't be there. I may just have to watch Eastenders instead. I am quite worried I may be getting back into watching Eastenders actually. I managed to stay away from it for a good couple of years, but after watching an episode or two by chance, now I want to know what is going on again! I'm sure given enough time I will conclude it is crap again.

Anyway, enough rambling.

Morning...

2005-03-05T10:34:00.000Z

Morning everyone.

I had a really hectic day yesterday. Seemed like I was constantly busy and "doing things", although didn't manage to actually ahieve very much. Out of 15 people I called (some tiwce), only 2 agreed to do interviews with me. :-( But I did manage to get in for free to a conference, now I just need to do the same next week, for the one where the fee is FOUR HUNDRED POUNDS!! For that you get entrance, a book, lunch and two days of talks; but the dinner is extra! I have no idea how they can possibly justify that.

But; in good news, we have found a new house mate for next year! Yay! :-D Also, I went to the gym for the first time since erm.....probably September! OK so I didn't do a mega work out or anything, but its a start! Not aching too much today either but i'm sure there is still time for that.

House crawl tonight!! Not too sure exactly what is happening for it yet, but hopefully it'll all be sorted at the last posisble minute!

Frustration

2005-03-04T10:55:00.000Z

Sometimes other people's decisions can be sooooo frustrating.

OK, so I don't want to intereste in anyone's life, but it goes like this. A firend of mine has made a decision, which is my view is a bad one. Very bad. They have made the same decision two or three times in the past, in near identical cricumstances, and subsequent events have proven that maybe it was not the right course of action. Aside from that, the mere fact they have to keep on making this decision shows that they may not have made the right one previously. (Hope that makes sense!)

Anyway, it's frustrating becasue I can just see the whole thing happening all over again, and they either seem to dont relaise, or just ignore it! Ho - hum!

Anyway, that's my opiion, and the person involved is perfectly entitled to make up their own mind, that I understand. BUT, my friends, if I was ever in a position like this - and you can see me making the same mistake over and over again - PLEASE, for my own sake, tell me so!

Worry

2005-03-02T19:53:00.000Z

I am really worried about one of my friends at the moment. the whole thing is really frustrating too. They don't live in Southampton, and I know from an e-mail that they are having a really hard time at the moment.

They don't know many people where they live, and despite lots of offers of support, a place to stay, choloate, ice cream and so on; the won't reply. :-( Its soooo hard, because I know they feel they don't want to impose, but I really really don't think anything of it at all - that's what friends are for, right?

It makes me sad for them too. To think of someone all alone and suffering with their problems by themselves, and not sharing them with anyone. And, if you're on your own you can't have hugs. Hugs are one of the greatest things ever!

I have done all I can, but it somehow doesn't seem good enough. I have been tempted to just drive to their house, but they moved recently, and I don't have the new address, and i'm not sure they are even there anyway.

Sorry for a sad blog!

Rockin'

2005-03-01T09:49:00.000Z

Last night was a rock night at the union.

It was good.However, it was meant to go on until 1, but at 11 it became apparent the bar manager had said the bar was closing, and everyone had to be gone by 11.30. Damn them!! But still, there was enough time for a bean bag mosh!!! :-D

I'm doing two interviews today, and one of them is with two people at oce, so i'm gonna be knackered!

Coats....

2005-02-28T15:24:00.000Z

Man, I am having some dilemmas and issues today.

Life is hard.

I want to hide under a pile of coats. A big one.

Bored

2005-02-27T14:44:00.000Z

Well, last night a lot of people went out. It was good becasue lots of people came down from various places, and I got to see some old friends. It was a shame though, becasue there was a bit of a parting of ways about 11ish, when we headed off to seperate clubs, but it was good to see people none the less.

Laurent and I were chatting on the long walk home, about problems in relationships. I was saying that even people who don't have any problems are bound to have had them in the past or will in the future. Now, I know thats pessimistic, but hey. But he countered with the even more depressing view that people in relationships have problems all of the time, it's just sometimes they are pretty small (or they hide / ignore them). I'm not sure if I buy that or not. OK you can have tiny "problems", but aren't they likely to be more personal things (hating your job or whatever), rather than to do with the relationship? Although I suppose insecurities or erm....trust issues or something, they can be ongoing....

But anyway, on a happier note I was sort of cheered up by this conversation, in a strange way. It's not good to take pleasure from other's misfortunes, and that isn't what I intended; but basically thinking about other people's problems does help to put your own into persepctive. *edit*

I don't have much to do today. Not sure how to fill in the time really. I have some work that will take about 15 mins. I have already been for a walk, but it was cold so i'm not doing that again!!

God this is a ramble. I best stop now.

Ummmmmm,

2005-02-23T09:23:00.000Z

Cocktail

?? Which Alcoholic Drink Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Ummmmm, cocktails!!

Not a nerd!

2005-02-22T16:26:00.000Z

Damn.

2005-02-22T13:31:00.000Z

Damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn damn! DAMN!

Edinburgh rejected the congestion charge. BOOOO. Silly silly people.

What else do they think is going to miraculously solve their traffic problems?

Humm? Public transport? Yeah, right, because more drivers are going to spontaneously use that with no encouragement! (Oink. Flap.)

And they even dare to use the "tax" argument. It IS NOT a form of tax if you can choose not to drive, and therefore not to pay it. Grr. And "we pay for parking permits", well, they are a termination charge; to do with being STOPPED, nothing to do with when or where you actually use your car, and the problems you inflict on other people by doing so.

Goddammit.

2005-02-21T14:22:00.000Z

Feeling a bit better today which is good, although still have quite a bad cough.

Am a bit confused about some things at the moment, but not gonna go into them here.

I booked my flights to the Netherlands last week, so it looks like I am properly going. I'm still quite unhappy about the whole thing, but I managed to chop a few days of each end of the trip, so it won't be toooo long really. I can fly from Southampton too which is good, cuts down on too much arsing about at the end of the trip!

My interviews are going well at the moment, although I think I may go mad typing them up. Best get back to it I suppose...

Ill

2005-02-18T12:06:00.001Z

Right, well today I am ill in bed. I did get up to go an do an interview, and was feeling slightly better than yesterday, but then I realised I was worse after all.

Decided to re-schedule my interview and go back to bed. I have sitting in bed, it is just sooooooooo boring. I have finished a book now, and am going to start on Nightmares and Dreamscapes in a minute.

I have been really busy recently, and hence not blogging. And now that I have lots of time I can't remember what the things were that I wanted to blog about! Typical.

I am quite annoyed about being ill. not just because it is a dull waste of time, but also becasue we are meant to be drinking all day in the Hobbit tomorrow!

I think i'll stop there before I ramble on any more about nothing, but i'll probably post again later on!

Ill

2005-02-18T12:06:00.000Z

2005-02-17T13:49:00.000Z

Yay!

My work is mentioned in the Guardian (p11)! Well spotted Pug. Just gone out and got myself a copy. :-)

OK, so it doesn't say my name or anything, but its still good they are actually in the press talking about it (insteads of hiding away scared of what people will say!)

Warning

2005-02-17T08:47:00.002Z

WARNING!

Mixing drinks is bad.

Especially when they are tea, and immitation Lemsip brought from the Netherlands.

I am ill. Bleugh.

Want to go to bed, but have to go and do an interview. Hopefully i'll be able to stop coughing some time soon....

Warning

2005-02-17T08:47:00.001Z

Warning

2005-02-17T08:47:00.000Z