Shattered

Is what I am.

13/9/7 - I had a pretty productive and lovely evening. Pub before orchestra had a new face (Andy Bassoon) although lacking in old faces (Katrina Violin in attendance, Tim Viola now in Sheffield, Ali Cello always too busy for us, Caroline Violin and Eoin Clarinet late). Rehearsal was fine. We seem not to be up to full flow yet. But I'm glad to have Neil back. Yay! After rehearsal we had a quick meeting (Note to self: you have the church keys. Don't forget them on Thursday...) which was ace! Felt like everyone cares and I think there was one thing that I'd not thought of. That could be a lie though. Savoy pub crawl was rubbish. Well, it wasn't rubbish, but Frankensteins is, for trying to chat at least. Plus I was worried about Rodney. But was lovely to see a few people. Hope to see them better soon!

14/9/7 - Up early, early, early to pack and get to work. Did well. Work exceedingly dull (see previous 2 posts) but short. Had a quick drink with Erin & workmates before train. Bought wine for the train, but had to get a big bottle as M&S didn't have little ones. Then had to drink out of the bottle. Classy. The lady next to me saved me when she went to the buffet car and got glasses, so I shared with her and had a lovely chat! I also read the script for Three Little Maids in Sherwood Forest - the show I'm producing & doing costumes for at work. It looks good! Let's see what the auditions bring on Thursday...

I eventually arrived (after a looooong last hour) and got the bus to Rusholme. Fantastic surprise of ex-Housemate Dan getting on the bus! He was drunk and amusing. Yay! Then to Hardy's to find a plethora of lovely people (Charlotte, Dan, Liz, Andrew, Cass, Joe, Rosy, Andy, Emily, Rich, Miranda & Steve). Was disappointed that Wolf wasn't going to be there, as he was on a sofa dressed as a cowboy. Strange. But true to form he appeared a la pub anyway. I stole his hat for a bit. Then it was back to Charlotte & Dan's* with Cass & Joe for tea and bed.

15/9/7 - The boys had to get up early to go to work (ha ha!) and Cass left to go pack for her camping trip (i.e. get back into bed). Lazed around with Charlotte, then we went to meet Justin and Ian in Solomon's for breakfast. I forgot how much I like that place. Was good to see Justin before he goes off on his Madagascar adventure - I look forward to hearing about what he's been doing. After a good catch up we all went our separate ways and I headed into town. Met up with Adam and Tim from maths and we played around in Urbis. I liked it muchly! I've always had a pretty negative impression of Urbis without ever going there, but now strongly encourage people to go, if only to feel like you're in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and go in a diagonal lift. The exhibit that meant you can throw balls at strangers and play with children and a fake picnic is now gone, but go see the Hacienda exhibit. I learnt things. There's a new one opening in October about some design awards or something. So there.

After playing Shaun and Dean found me, and we found Del and lunch and beer. Great plan! But by then I was tired, as getting to sleep on Charlotte's sofa when drunk was fine, but getting back to sleep at 4 was not. So went back to the hotel with Del for naps, but then I failed to have a nap and did my nails instead. The it was off to the party. I managed to get us a little lost on the way, which resulted in wandering around rather dodgy looking areas. It was fun. We found a new bit of canal and thought about arriving at the party by boat. Party was lovely! Sarah and Cattac looked lovely, and there were many, many splendid people there. I snuck off for a while (I think only Mahinda noticed and I was suitably mysterious, just because I could be!) to say hi to Mark who was drinking along the road. Got back to the party at kicking out time and managed to steal** some decorations.

16/9/7 - Woke up about 4.30 and couldn't get back to sleep. Grump. Eventually got up about 9 and showered. Got out of the shower to discover a text from Mark asking if I was up and saying they (Mark, Andy, Sabeena & Kieran) were drinking in Hulme Park. I didn't really believe they'd got up that early, but it turns out they hadn't gone to bed. Far more believable. So I met them for breakfast. It was amusing being so fresh in comparison! I was even wearing the day before's t-shirt and jeans, but 3 hours sleep and a shower made me superior. That and the fact that I ordered a vanilla latte when they all ordered black coffee... Then off to Kro Piccadilly to find Anne, who was up from Norfolk for the weekend. Lovely! Andy & Emily were first to arrive, and that surprised me a lot! Anne and Charlotte and Dan were late, and Liz, Andrew & Ian were later, but they weren't supposed to be on time. Catching up and Guinness followed. I was really quite rubbish by then though - not much sleep many nights in a row.

Left Kro and headed under Adam's escort to Piccadilly train station to find Maths Liz. We couldn't decide what to do, and as all we wanted to do was hang out, we did it right there in the station. Well, upstairs in a bar bit. Oh, forgot to say - all this time I was carrying around 2 balloons (1 popped on a scallies cigarette). Anyway, we played on a quiz machine and caught random bits of each others lives. Lovely. Liz had to go pick Carl up from Scouts and she casually mentioned that he'd had a 3 hours heart operation including having to be fibrillated in the middle! Scary. I was going to go to my parents' then, but it turns out they were in Bangor trying to fix the internet, so I wandered off to find Mark, etc. at The Cavendish for pool. Was funny - they were all amusing and occasionally falling asleep at the table. They needed curry, so I then did head home where Daddy and Jodie (dog) met me from the train. I think I was a little tipsy and I think my dad knew... Oh well! Tea was had, stories were swapped, plans were made, bed was found. Lovely.

17/9/7 - Random Bank Holiday, just for Edinburgh, not even the whole of Scotland. I'm not complaining though.


/me does the paid holiday dance.


Wasn't sure where I was when I woke up! Turned out I was in Jennifer's room, due to complication of the house being a show house for selling and not wanting to iron sheets. Yet again I'd woken up many times in the night. I then failed to get up when my alarm went off and had to be woken up by my mum to get out of the room for the window replacer man. Enjoyed the luxury of the bathroom and eventually did what I was supposed to and went into the loft. I was right - I have two boxes of kitchen stuff, one of which I wouldn't care if it vanished. The other one contains my Beerfest glasses and some mugs that I don't want smashing, hence why they are not in my flat up here. Then went on an adventure with my mum and sent her to the hairdressers. I wandered through Bolton town centre, and discovered it's actually quite nice! The town hall is beautiful, and there are new flower beds and the fountains are looking better now they've blended in. Shame it's still full of strange looking people, and I've no idea if it would be nice in the evening, but it's gone up slightly in my estimation.

Train back was uneventful and dull. I was pretty glad to get back into my own flat. It'd been a long weekend. But a fantastic one! Was great to see everyone that I saw. As usual, I missed some people out. It just wouldn't have been possible to see any more people. I got over 3 crushes but gained 2 more. Decided not to unpack, but to get in bed and watch Walk The Line. Ace.

18/9/7 - Got incredibly lost on the way to the care home. Oops. They didn't care though, as they didn't know I was coming anyway! The afternoon one also said I wasn't due until the next day, so I went to the one that I had for the next day, and they thought that too. But did the interview anyway. The evening was Emma time as she's away for about a week. We watched Grease II and Cry Baby and drank wine.

19/9/7 - International Talk Like A Pirate Day! But I forgot and did not play. Possibly would have if I had been in the office. Was at the same place as yesterday. The morning's interview was very smooth and quick. The afternoon's wasn't so smooth, as there were many interruptions. I didn't mind though (I'm never in a rush!) and enjoyed a bit more insight into what else they have to do. I quite want to be a specialist palliative care nurse now.

In the evening I managed to do some washing up and feed the cat. Not nearly as productive as I would like, but a start! Then went out for a drink with Nikki. She's ace. We had a good catch up whilst drinking raspberry beer through giant pink straws. I managed to get myself locked out, but luckily New Housemate Rhian came back later on and I could get in. Hurrah!


20/9/7 - Today I am mostly miserable. I'm hoping this is just through being tired, so I might skive orchestra tonight to fix it. Although I think it might be more to do with being fat, and the more miserable I get about it the more I eat. It doesn't help. I need to fight my way out of it, but I really can't be arsed.



*Lots of people kept calling it Dan & Charlotte's, which, although technically wrong (I knew her first!) is easier to say...

**By steal, I mean take with permission. You've got to be careful about what the internet says! It is all true fact, you know.