We went to see Public Enemies first - Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. This film was great - thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a gangster flick of fairly significant length (2.5 hrs) and it was moving. Nice. Did I mention before at all that I LOVE JOHNNY DEPP?
Our second film was Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen. This was a complete pile of crap which I will never ever sit through again. It is also TOO LONG at 2.5hrs of out and out lousiness. It has a very basic plot that isn't well planned or developed. There are ridiculous situations throughout. All the women are HOT but have no personalities. Good things about it.... you get to see the yellow autobot again - he's a lovely robot. Otherwise I'm struggling.
Finally we saw THE BLUES BROTHERS! In the cinema. Yey. The cinema was sold out and the air conditioning appears not to work for that number of people. So the smelly guy next to us (who preempted every line of the film) got smellier and smellier as the movie went on. Luckily the film was funny enough that we didn't notice much.
Leaving after Transformers would have been disappointing but three films in one day is one too many - next time I'll stick to a doubler at the most.
one step at a time.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Bathroom Part 2
We spent this weekend fixing up the bathroom floor. Under the layers (cork tiles, glue and paint) we found nice reddish tiles. They are fine except the one in the doorway corner had a split in and wobbled.
I lifted half the tile and put some glue down to fix it. When I re-laid the tile it didn't sit quite right. I called my boyfriend but didn't wait for him, then stood on the tile... and heard it crack.
Oops.
A small piece of hardened grouting had gone under the tile and was lifting the corner. When I stood on the tile it just cracked in half the other way! So now it has 2 cracks, but is glued firmly.
We're going to leave it as is - after all the work stripping the floor it can stay plain tiled for now.
It was quite a productive weekend. We have also replaced the flush thing in the toilet and it now flushes perfectly.
I lifted half the tile and put some glue down to fix it. When I re-laid the tile it didn't sit quite right. I called my boyfriend but didn't wait for him, then stood on the tile... and heard it crack.
Oops.
A small piece of hardened grouting had gone under the tile and was lifting the corner. When I stood on the tile it just cracked in half the other way! So now it has 2 cracks, but is glued firmly.
We're going to leave it as is - after all the work stripping the floor it can stay plain tiled for now.
It was quite a productive weekend. We have also replaced the flush thing in the toilet and it now flushes perfectly.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Bathroom Floor
This weekend we decided to take up the cork tiles we stuck down 6 years ago when we moved into this flat.
When we moved in the first thing we removed was the carpet from the bathroom. Gross. Under the carpet someone had badly painted the tiles in white with green and blue squares. We used cork tiles to cover this, because we didn't have much money and saw them in the DIY shop when we were getting paint.
The cork tiles were pretty badly laid and looked fairly bad fairly fast.
So we lifted them yesterday. My boyfriend did most of this - it was really hard work. I had to hit the scraper thing with a hammer to get it under the tiles because of the glue, then lever them up.
Lifting the tiles left glue and patchy paintwork.
So we have since been scraping paint with paint stripper, white spirits and a lot of elbow grease!
The next job is cladding the bath.
When we moved in the first thing we removed was the carpet from the bathroom. Gross. Under the carpet someone had badly painted the tiles in white with green and blue squares. We used cork tiles to cover this, because we didn't have much money and saw them in the DIY shop when we were getting paint.
The cork tiles were pretty badly laid and looked fairly bad fairly fast.
So we lifted them yesterday. My boyfriend did most of this - it was really hard work. I had to hit the scraper thing with a hammer to get it under the tiles because of the glue, then lever them up.
Lifting the tiles left glue and patchy paintwork.
So we have since been scraping paint with paint stripper, white spirits and a lot of elbow grease!
The next job is cladding the bath.
Friday, July 24, 2009
out of the habit
As a lazy blogger these days I am so out of the habit of updating this thing that I have started to forget its even here.
Anyway - I have been away again, this time to visit my friend and her son in York. It was a lovely trip and the wee boy is still great fun. We ate out, went to the park, went shopping, visited the railway museum and chatted into the small hours.
Ooh - and I bought myself the coolest bag of mixed buttons I have found yet. We enjoyed spending time rooting through and organising them into colours.
Now as I know my friend occasionally pops in here I'd like to say "Thank you for inviting me and for putting me up (up with me?)!! You're welcome to a return visit any time."
Anyway - I have been away again, this time to visit my friend and her son in York. It was a lovely trip and the wee boy is still great fun. We ate out, went to the park, went shopping, visited the railway museum and chatted into the small hours.
Ooh - and I bought myself the coolest bag of mixed buttons I have found yet. We enjoyed spending time rooting through and organising them into colours.
Now as I know my friend occasionally pops in here I'd like to say "Thank you for inviting me and for putting me up (up with me?)!! You're welcome to a return visit any time."
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Organisation
Well my initial excitement that things might have turned around after my holiday seems to have been misplaced.
I had believed that my improved motivation and energy levels would mean that my organisation would have developed too.
Nah.
Even in summer, where there is no teaching so my workload is much lighter, organising where I will be and what I'm doing and who is doing it with me is something I still do last minute.
Anyone have any tips for easy ways to organise your time and life if you're not already an organised person??
I had believed that my improved motivation and energy levels would mean that my organisation would have developed too.
Nah.
Even in summer, where there is no teaching so my workload is much lighter, organising where I will be and what I'm doing and who is doing it with me is something I still do last minute.
Anyone have any tips for easy ways to organise your time and life if you're not already an organised person??
Monday, July 13, 2009
Adventures Part 2
OK. So after Mum's party we left with a car loaded with left over booze! My Mum's friend recommended a campsite in the Cotswolds so that's where we went first. It was lovely but familiar so we didn't think to photograph anything other than the moon.
On route we stopped for a walk in the Forest of Dean. We were getting to the halfway point when we heard an almighty grunt from the undergrowth. It scared me! A massive pig! On googling when we reached my sister's house it turns out they have wild boar there.
We headed from there to Cardiff to stay with my Sister and to pick up some stuff I'd left at home that she'd taken for me!
Our next night was in Melverley. This was my favourite campsite of all. In Melverley (tiny village) if you stand on one side of the bridge you're in England but cross it and you are in Wales! Our campsite was in England looking out across Wales. In the next field there was a church built in 1406 which hasn't been changed since. It has also not been out of use. So you can go around (for a donation) the real actual 1406 church. It is AMAZING! I loved it. Here's the pic.
And here is the tent in England... and Wales is just over the river behind the fence there. We walked up the hill in the background in the morning. It was a delightful walk up the hill but a hard walk down as we changed route and inadvertently went down the most difficult route.
After Melverley we went to Morecombe Bay - a place called Silverdale. At sunset it was quite beautiful though the wind made it quite chilly on the cliffs.
In Morecombe I received a text asking if I would play in a conference here on the Friday. This meant we'd need to come home on Thursday so Morecombe was our last night. To make up for the missed night camping we decided to make as much of a day of it as possible so we packed up and were off at 8.30am.
We managed to see a LOT of Britain in a day. We went to:
Windemere - had breakfast in the town and saw the lake,
Keswick where we went to the market and looked for some local ales,
Cumbrian stone circle - very cool
Penrith where we bought some boar sausages (revenge for the fright) and the ale we'd failed to get in Keswick,
Dumfries where we went to a nature reserve and found wild leek and listened for toads,
Castle Douglas where they had public loos and a tourist information,
and finally Kirkcudbright where the fish and chip shop is without doubt the best I have ever experienced before heading back to Glasgow through Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire.
It was some BEAUTIFUL scenery and the route from Kikcudbright to Glasgow is definitely one I'd like to visit again with more time.
On route we stopped for a walk in the Forest of Dean. We were getting to the halfway point when we heard an almighty grunt from the undergrowth. It scared me! A massive pig! On googling when we reached my sister's house it turns out they have wild boar there.
We headed from there to Cardiff to stay with my Sister and to pick up some stuff I'd left at home that she'd taken for me!
Our next night was in Melverley. This was my favourite campsite of all. In Melverley (tiny village) if you stand on one side of the bridge you're in England but cross it and you are in Wales! Our campsite was in England looking out across Wales. In the next field there was a church built in 1406 which hasn't been changed since. It has also not been out of use. So you can go around (for a donation) the real actual 1406 church. It is AMAZING! I loved it. Here's the pic.
And here is the tent in England... and Wales is just over the river behind the fence there. We walked up the hill in the background in the morning. It was a delightful walk up the hill but a hard walk down as we changed route and inadvertently went down the most difficult route.
After Melverley we went to Morecombe Bay - a place called Silverdale. At sunset it was quite beautiful though the wind made it quite chilly on the cliffs.
In Morecombe I received a text asking if I would play in a conference here on the Friday. This meant we'd need to come home on Thursday so Morecombe was our last night. To make up for the missed night camping we decided to make as much of a day of it as possible so we packed up and were off at 8.30am.
We managed to see a LOT of Britain in a day. We went to:
Windemere - had breakfast in the town and saw the lake,
Keswick where we went to the market and looked for some local ales,
Cumbrian stone circle - very cool
Penrith where we bought some boar sausages (revenge for the fright) and the ale we'd failed to get in Keswick,
Dumfries where we went to a nature reserve and found wild leek and listened for toads,
Castle Douglas where they had public loos and a tourist information,
and finally Kirkcudbright where the fish and chip shop is without doubt the best I have ever experienced before heading back to Glasgow through Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire.
It was some BEAUTIFUL scenery and the route from Kikcudbright to Glasgow is definitely one I'd like to visit again with more time.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Adventures... Part 1
Over the last 2 weeks we have toured Britain mostly camping in my new tent (thanks Mum & Dad - great pressie!). The most silly thing about this week was probably the number of ancient buildings we attempted to see only to find they had pay and display car parks or entry fees we didn't want to pay... so I have a whole host of photos of castles, abbeys etc that we have only seen from outside. I'll not share them for this reason.
As one does on holiday, we took a few photos. Now it is a well reported fact that people hate other people's holiday photographs... so I will minise the pain but do want to show you some of them.
On Saturday morning we headed North and camped in Pitlochrie.
Next we went down to Dundee to stay with a friend at her house, then headed down to Musselburgh (just by Edinburgh) via East Wemyss ancient caves. They have real cave paintings in.
Tuesday morning I had to go to work - on my birthday! The only school I teach in that was still running as all the others had finished up for the term. And half the kids were on a trip so couldn't have lessons. Grr.... Got away a bit early though, which was a bonus.
We then moved south via Lindisfarne staying in a beautiful tranquil campsite in West Kyloe. This is where I spent my 30th. We heated up some beef stew with rice, then sat out in the sunshine with birdsong and quiet moo-ing cows the only audible sounds, to read books until sunset. It was so quiet and sooooooo good!
http://www.westkyloe.co.uk/caravan.htm
Our next night was a campsite in the North Yorkshire Moors. 
We had a walk through the woods near the campsite. They were a bit stinky because of the fields of foxgloves... growing on rotting woods they really didn't smell too good.
Then we went home for Mum's retirement party (which I'd organised with my Dad, sister and a friend of Ma's). It all went very well and Mum and her guests seemed happy. It was exhausting, however, and I was quite glad to be away to quiet nights in the tent again!
back!
Well it has been some time since my last post.
The main reason for this has been that I have hit the big 30 at last. It feels like it's been a long time coming - I've been dreading this moment for 2-3 years...
It's a huge milestone that I set myself up for when I was a kid, by considering 30 as OLD and deciding that I'd do all the big things - like family etc - when I'm 30. However as I approached 30 I knew I didn't want to do any big things yet.... and I got scared.
So now it has passed and all my dread seems a BIT unnecessary, although I have had several people ask me when I'm getting married and whether I'm planning kids... but the people who asked that also asked it when I was 29. Family friends who seem to think I should. The answers are 'NEVER' and 'No' by the way.
Anyway - explanation over so I'll get on with drafting a proper post shortly.
The main reason for this has been that I have hit the big 30 at last. It feels like it's been a long time coming - I've been dreading this moment for 2-3 years...
It's a huge milestone that I set myself up for when I was a kid, by considering 30 as OLD and deciding that I'd do all the big things - like family etc - when I'm 30. However as I approached 30 I knew I didn't want to do any big things yet.... and I got scared.
So now it has passed and all my dread seems a BIT unnecessary, although I have had several people ask me when I'm getting married and whether I'm planning kids... but the people who asked that also asked it when I was 29. Family friends who seem to think I should. The answers are 'NEVER' and 'No' by the way.
Anyway - explanation over so I'll get on with drafting a proper post shortly.
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