Finally caught up – please bear in mind that I started this entry on 14th October
I know it's been a while but at least I am not one of the 66% of people who haven't updated their blog in 2 months (statistic courtesy of friend
Pimp Daddy Rothschild) However, I have a good excuse as I haven't been at work and blogging on my own time just isn't as fun.
Delving back into the mists of time...
1 October: My Mum and I dropped my sister off at Heathrow so she could catch her flight to Australia. I managed to disgrace myself by getting upset even though I was glad to see the back of her! She was very excited as the England rugby team were on her flight. She was less impressed when she discovered that they had to go via Perth in order to drop them off putting a couple of extra hours on her journey to Sydney.
3 October: I went out with friends
Bonnie Sin,
Kinky Malibu,
Mary Ellen Thong and
Debbie Dicks on the Friday before my birthday. I chose a restaurant which I had been to a couple of times before and quite liked. However, I'd never had the pleasure of being there when it was someone's birthday. If I had, then I would never have chosen to have my birthday there. They turn off all the lights in the restaurant (which is bloody annoying when you are trying to eat) and play happy birthday followed by Congratulations by Cliff Richard. This was offensive enough, but they also bring out a giant mouse... So I'm sitting there thinking how can I avoid this humiliation and I thought I was pretty cunning and didn't order any dessert. My friends however, are more cunning than me as they'd purchased a cake and taken down to the restaurant at lunchtime. So they turned out the lights and started the music and I was feeling pretty confident it wasn't going to me. It nearly wasn't as the mouse walked past my table with the cake and had to be called back! So everyone sings happy birthday and then the mouse wants me to dance with him to Cliff Richard. Thankfully I wasn't that drunk and so refused. Once that exciting incident was over we decided to leave. As it was a Friday and I had been slaving away all day over a hot computer I was really tired, so we all bundled back to my place where my friends all then proceeded to ignore me and read my magazines.
5 October: My birthday was fairly quiet. I went shopping with my Mum and we went out for dinner in the evening. It was a slightly reduced family occasion as my Dad managed to put his back out whilst we were shopping and so couldn’t come. We knew it was serious as he’d never give up a meal out unnecessarily.
6 - 10 October: My week off work got off to a good start when I discovered a leak in my bathroom on Monday morning. Luckily I was having some furniture delivered so I was at home all day ready to empty the bowl I put under it which filled up remarkably quickly. Eventually I fashioned a funnel into a bucket using a plastic bottle which meant that I could leave the house for more than an hour. Thanks to my Mum’s work contacts the leak was fixed on Wednesday and at no cost to myself which was also something of a bonus.
Most of the week was uneventful, although having to spend so much time at home meant that I got my practical experience written up for my CIMA qualification. However, on Friday my Mum had the day off and we went up to London. We had a fun touristy day seeing the sights from the London Eye and a Thames river cruise and then we went to see Mama Mia! I booked us seats in row B which I thought would be OK. However, it turned out that we were in the front row which I hadn’t expected. It was really cool being so close to the action, but there were times when we couldn’t see properly because extras were in the way.
11 October: On Saturday I went to a surprise birthday party thrown by friend
Pimp Daddy Rothschild for his wife
Lydia Hott. On my way down I called into see friend
Boopsie Venus for a couple of hours as I hadn’t seen her since the summer. Unfortunately when I got back in my car to resume the journey down to Creepy Crawley I realised that the car had been playing up again. I decided to stick to my original plan and ‘pop in’ to see
Lydia Hott. Needless to say she was pleased to see me (I think her exact words were ‘What are you doing here’) However, as I was worried about the car I didn’t stay long and I was a little preoccupied during the time I was there.
12 October: Sunday was a day of rest and rejuvenation before facing work again on Monday.
13 – 17 October: Coming back to work wasn’t too hideous, things had been fairly quiet whilst I was away. However, I seemed to have formed an inappropriate crush on someone I work with. True to form, I’ve now known him a while and we get on well blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately he is senior to me (although not in my line manager structure) older than me (but in a good way i.e. not old enough to be my father) and also very married. The good news is that he’s just been signed off work sick for 2 weeks and I am a great believer in out of sight, out of mind. I am really going to have to start acting like a grown up at some point and start liking people who are at least available!
18 – 19 October: I had a quiet weekend although I did see friends
Bonnie Sin and
Kinky Malibu on Sunday afternoon. We had an exciting afternoon going to Homebase and the car wash before watching
Bonnie Sin re-potting her plants. Never say that I don’t live la vida loca! However, we did come up with a great idea for new television programme – The Bedroom Gardener. It will deal with issues like how to re-pot plants in a small space, and if you cut all of the roots off a plant will it still grow? We are going to pitch the idea to Channel 4 very soon!
20 – 24 October: A somewhat difficult and trying week. My car died on Tuesday morning. I managed to start it but as I was turning out of the car park it gave up the ghost. It was so dead that the hazard lights wouldn’t work so I could alert other drivers to the fact that I had a problem. After pushing the car back into the nearest available space in the car park with the help of a passer by I walked round to my Grandad’s so I could borrow his car to get to work. Once at work I called the Peugeot garage to find out what was happening with my new car. Imagine how happy I was when I was told that my car was in Zebrugger. However, later that day I got a call to say that my car was unlikely to leave Zebrugger for several weeks due to transportation issues. Delivery was estimated to be in December! They then offered me another car which was similar to the one I ordered. I refused on the grounds that it had a vomit inducing black and red leather interior. They offered to take £500 off of the price of the car if I took it. Still I said no. They then offered me another car which had a bigger engine. I considered this until I found out that the insurance would be an extra £350. They then offered to take the black leather interior out of the bigger engine car and put it into the car with the red and black interior. It was at this point that I cancelled the order. I got tired of being messed around and as they couldn’t offer me a car in the interim it was easier to get my car fixed. As it was Peugeot’s fault they have refunded my deposit and I have drawn a line under the whole sorry experience. It is also measure of how pissed off I was as at the time of cancelling as I did not have a working car. The bad news is that I now have to decide which car I want instead. Any suggestions of a suitable car for me should be sent on a postcard to the usual address
25 - 26 October: My car was picked and taken to the garage at the weekend and I have found out in the last couple of days that the reason it died was because of a loose power lead to the fuse box. They have also MOT’d it and although it failed there isn’t any major work (for major read expensive) that needs to be done. The cost to get my car back on the road and insured for another year is less than the deposit refunded to me from Peugeot. Hardly comparable I know but it’s keeping me happy. With any luck I should have my car back by the end of this week.
As I was car-less I didn’t do much at the weekend. So I did things at home like catching up with the washing. My parents took pity on me on Sunday and loaned me one of their cars so at least I could go shopping. My Aunt and cousin came down for the day so I saw them and also my sister, recently returned from Australia. My sister got me a lovely Tiffany & Co keyring for my birthday whilst she was away, but unfortunately I had to tell her that I no will longer have a fancy car key to put on it. Actually all of the birthday presents I got this year were related to my new car and all of them are partially redundant due to the Peugeot fiasco as it shall henceforth be known.
This week I have been reliant on colleague
Chloe Bounce to get me to and from work. She has been my star as it can’t have been convenient to come via my house every day to pick me up and drop me off. Because I’m stranded at home in the evenings not much else has happened. I mentioned changes at work in my last entry but I still haven’t formally been told about them yet so with your permission I shall defer blogging them until I have.
