I went to Prague! It was ace. Incredibly ace.
I am quite willing to admit here that I was worried that it might not be - and I even told the guys that when we were away. There was always potential for fall outs spending that much time with anyone, and we're all quite different and can be dramatic, and little sleep can make anyone grumpy. But we weren't! At least, as far as I know...
We met at Waverley at 7am Friday morning. Everyone was on time and awake and smiling! Dave was still drunk and hadn't been to bed. Wally. We arrived and checked into the hotel, then headed out for a wander and food. Found a little Cuban pub, which I quite liked. Had far less trouble with vege food than I thought. Hurrah! We wandered to the river, found Tesco, a building made from bubble wrap and C&A. Then we all went for naps (I had a bath whilst listening to Czech classic FM) before getting ready for the evening. I can't remember what we did for the evening. Oops.
Saturday we went out for breakfast and then over the bridge to the Castle. Was a beautiful day, if a little confusingly cold considering the sunshine. I like Prague. It's big enough to be interesting but not overwhelming. You can walk anywhere in about half an hour. There's lots of concerts and museums and theatre, but not so much that you have to do 16 million things in a day. We went to the castle and wandered around some more. More naps/rests* before going out for a lovely, lovely meal. We couldn't find the bar Emma had been recommended, so we wandered back to the hotel for a few drinks and poker for smarties. Oh, and I managed to fall over. Ouch.
Sunday started slower with brunch about noon. We then went for a walk and found Prague museum which seemed to have an exhibition on evolution, freaks, surgery and the moon. Hmmm... But it was fun and we could draw on the walls and run on foam and race and stuff. Mary did manage to chip her tooth trying to see the moon in 3-D... Oops. We did some shopping. Will is the girliest shopper I've ever seen! Emma wouldn't let me buy lime green boots that made me look like a Martian. We managed to lose the boys in a shopping centre, so us girls went to buy furry hoods and dragons. In the evening we failed to go to a concert or show as we were knackered and I doubt we'd all have agreed on anything! Instead we found the bar we couldn't find the day before (it had changed name - I asked strangers) and we had cocktails and absinthe. Then back to the hotel (via a bar called Bugsy's, which did not have a man playing piano, but possibly real life gangsters) for more poker for smarties, followed by eating all the smarties in a game of Hungry Hippos!
Got back about 4 on Monday, so I went to Monday Night Film Club (run by Caroline, not a real film club) to see Sweeney Todd. I liked it! I didn't know the story already. It's an odd one - tragic but you didn't particularly feel sorry for any of the characters. And it's quite gory, but in a ketchup/that's-not-real way. Quite make believe style. Beautiful costumes! I want to wear that sort of thing all the time. But it would be tricky.
Today I was in work at 7 and intend to stay until 6. Madness. Then to Nikki's for spinach and a night of craftiness! Ace.
*I had a bath whilst listening to Czech Country Radio. You haven't lived until you've heard "There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza" in Czech.
What a crazy week.
It's been mental. The show happened. I'm quite pleased with it. It most certainly didn't make a profit, and we didn't have nearly enough audience, but I'm happy that I brought a good share of the audience, I'm happy with the work my friends did to help out, and I think most of the cast enjoyed it, which was always the entire point. Any suggestions of how to show my appreciation to my helpers? It needs to be cheap and probably not time consuming. Not because I want either of those constraints, but because they do exist.
I've had a pretty happy week. It's been lovely. I'm mostly over my random illness, and have been enjoying myself even if I've not had a moment to chose what I want to do. That is until the last couple of days when I got some bad news. A friend, albeit one who hasn't been in my everyday life for many years, but someone I would hope to consider a friend, died last weekend. I don't want to go into the details, and I don't think anyone who reads this will know him, but it shocked me and my family.
I've also seen some friends who I don't see often, and some I'm not likely to see for a while. And seen Gran, who is really rather poorly, but hopefully on the mend now.
So basically an emotional roller coaster!
Especially rubbish as I wanted to have my wits about me to get on with finding a new flat and job. I know there's only so much I can do, but most of you also know how much I want to do both of those things!
I'm hoping the next few days will be constructive and useful. Then it's Prague! Then I definitely HAVE to be back in the game.
I shouldn't be watching this film. I know it's only the Sixth Sense, but I'm on my own in a strange place and I'm a big wus.
I've had a pretty happy week. It's been lovely. I'm mostly over my random illness, and have been enjoying myself even if I've not had a moment to chose what I want to do. That is until the last couple of days when I got some bad news. A friend, albeit one who hasn't been in my everyday life for many years, but someone I would hope to consider a friend, died last weekend. I don't want to go into the details, and I don't think anyone who reads this will know him, but it shocked me and my family.
I've also seen some friends who I don't see often, and some I'm not likely to see for a while. And seen Gran, who is really rather poorly, but hopefully on the mend now.
So basically an emotional roller coaster!
Especially rubbish as I wanted to have my wits about me to get on with finding a new flat and job. I know there's only so much I can do, but most of you also know how much I want to do both of those things!
I'm hoping the next few days will be constructive and useful. Then it's Prague! Then I definitely HAVE to be back in the game.
I shouldn't be watching this film. I know it's only the Sixth Sense, but I'm on my own in a strange place and I'm a big wus.
I must remember...
... that it is show week and therefore I'm tired and excited and hyper and a zombie. These hormone levels are not normal. Stop thinking of every possibility and stop being upset or happy baout things that don't exist!!
I make no sense. So much so that I e-mailed Caroline earlier with what I thought was a fairly structured and sensible e-mail and she asked if I was on speed. Hmmm...
Anyway, it's going to be an interesting weekend, of this I am sure. Hurrah!
I make no sense. So much so that I e-mailed Caroline earlier with what I thought was a fairly structured and sensible e-mail and she asked if I was on speed. Hmmm...
Anyway, it's going to be an interesting weekend, of this I am sure. Hurrah!
Kitchens and show week
What is it with kitchens and show week??? Last show week (November) we had a new kitchen fitted. This appears only to be a new sink, work tops and cupboard doors (same old rotting wood inside the cupboards, and same rubbish floor) but does actually look lots better. This show week it appears the kitchen is being painted. This seems to be a 4/5 day job, which I was not expecting! I'm quite sure I could do it quicker than this man, but I don't have time this week and most definitely would not be getting paid for it. And he's probably better.
Anyway, I don't need it in show week! I've got people coming to stay at the weekend (Shaun & Ed - be prepared for madness!) and I'm quite sure my family will want to have a nosey when they are in the area. My room is the biggest tip it's been for a while. I know where everything is, but that isn't much comfort!
That might be all my news.
THE SHOW IS GOING TO BE ACE! I'M QUITE EXCITED NOW.
Anyway, I don't need it in show week! I've got people coming to stay at the weekend (Shaun & Ed - be prepared for madness!) and I'm quite sure my family will want to have a nosey when they are in the area. My room is the biggest tip it's been for a while. I know where everything is, but that isn't much comfort!
That might be all my news.
THE SHOW IS GOING TO BE ACE! I'M QUITE EXCITED NOW.
Meh.
Today the headache and feeling sick are back. I know why. I just can't fix it today. And that's annoying. Hopefully soon.
I can't get myself organised. My finances are a mess! I need to sort out the last few phone and council bills and send off train tickets from majorly delayed trains. Actually, that's it. I should be able to handle that. You'd think.
Things at home are pretty unbearable at the moment. I just keep thinking about how it's not going to be much longer and slowly packing things. It's hard though as as the moment my room is full of costumes and props are I don't want to leave them in the living room. It's a state. Hence not being able to do easy jobs like find my train tickets.
Anyway, on the plus side viewing flats to move into is in progress and I don't see it being a long until we find somewhere. It's looking like it could be an expensive time over the next month or so, but it's only money, right? Better to have mental health.
The show is on this week. I'm quite looking forward to it! We've been making props and costumes from cardboard and paint and crayons. Fun! I just hope we get enough audience to make it fun for the cast.
I'm sure there were other things I was going to blog about... Ooh, I did something I've never done before - played the cello for a recording. This has just confirmed my fear that I am unable to play in tune! Crap. What else have I done? I phoned Melissa about 5am on Saturday. She jumped on Gwen and then later in the conversation Mike jumped on her. It was all very confusing, but fun.
I'm stuck. I'm dull. Oops.
Brain broken.
I can't get myself organised. My finances are a mess! I need to sort out the last few phone and council bills and send off train tickets from majorly delayed trains. Actually, that's it. I should be able to handle that. You'd think.
Things at home are pretty unbearable at the moment. I just keep thinking about how it's not going to be much longer and slowly packing things. It's hard though as as the moment my room is full of costumes and props are I don't want to leave them in the living room. It's a state. Hence not being able to do easy jobs like find my train tickets.
Anyway, on the plus side viewing flats to move into is in progress and I don't see it being a long until we find somewhere. It's looking like it could be an expensive time over the next month or so, but it's only money, right? Better to have mental health.
The show is on this week. I'm quite looking forward to it! We've been making props and costumes from cardboard and paint and crayons. Fun! I just hope we get enough audience to make it fun for the cast.
I'm sure there were other things I was going to blog about... Ooh, I did something I've never done before - played the cello for a recording. This has just confirmed my fear that I am unable to play in tune! Crap. What else have I done? I phoned Melissa about 5am on Saturday. She jumped on Gwen and then later in the conversation Mike jumped on her. It was all very confusing, but fun.
I'm stuck. I'm dull. Oops.
Brain broken.
Christmas 2007 and New Year 2008
Christmas this year was different. We went to Carnoustie and stayed in 2 rented cottages for the week to be near Gran (in hospital so is nice to visit) and small cousins (as we are not exciting enough for my parents at Christmas anymore). The week consisted of hospital visits*, trips to the beach (including on Christmas day for a photo to e-mail to my dad's brother who always has Christmas day on the beach**), cooking, eating, drinking and entertaining children. It was jolly nice and fun.
The holiday may become "The Train Holiday" as the Dundee-Aberdeen train line runs about 2' from the kitchen window. Whenever a train came past someone (or everyone) shouted "TRAIN!" as someone came up with the stupid superstition that you have to take your feet off the floor. My favourite might have been when we were on the beach and "TRAIN!" so Carla (6) threw herself onto belly on the sand to make her feet airborne. Stupid rule. Another memorable train moment (train, no "TRAIN!") happened when Carla was looking for a job in the kitchen. I didn't have any, so tried to get her out of the way by telling her to look out of the window and wait for a train to come past. It took about 3 seconds. I was hoping to entertain her for at least 20 minutes! Oh well...
Mummy's birthday also happened, and for that another of her sisters and their children arrived. We had a Scottish evening of haggis neeps and tatties, and the girls surprised her with cards they made out of things we could find on the beach. Lovely. It also involved pass the parcel which I had to rig so the right people opened it in the right order. That was almost complicated with kids saying "You've got to close your eyes!" "You're cheating!" Be quiet or else you'll get something you don't want!
We drove back down on the 30th, and on spent the 321st sorting out some present things - Jennifer bought walking boots and we swapped her hand blender for a model that you can put in pan hot liquids, and I got a different digital radio with iPod docking station. Brilliant. But all the driving and shopping got the better of us, and we couldn't be bothered doing anything on new years's eve! Me and Jen did a jigsaw and we all watched Monty Python before half-heartedly going outside to watch fireworks. New year's day itself was lovely though - a walk up to Rivington Pike then back to Steph's for food and a quiz. I came second in pretty much every round. Oh well. There's always next year...
* My favourite hospital story is Gran explaining how you had to be patient in that ward. She'd been left outside the toilet as someone was in with the promise the nurse would be back in a minute. "I counted to 539 before they came back!" Why did she count to 539? I don't know, but it's ace.
** He does live in Sydney though.
The holiday may become "The Train Holiday" as the Dundee-Aberdeen train line runs about 2' from the kitchen window. Whenever a train came past someone (or everyone) shouted "TRAIN!" as someone came up with the stupid superstition that you have to take your feet off the floor. My favourite might have been when we were on the beach and "TRAIN!" so Carla (6) threw herself onto belly on the sand to make her feet airborne. Stupid rule. Another memorable train moment (train, no "TRAIN!") happened when Carla was looking for a job in the kitchen. I didn't have any, so tried to get her out of the way by telling her to look out of the window and wait for a train to come past. It took about 3 seconds. I was hoping to entertain her for at least 20 minutes! Oh well...
Mummy's birthday also happened, and for that another of her sisters and their children arrived. We had a Scottish evening of haggis neeps and tatties, and the girls surprised her with cards they made out of things we could find on the beach. Lovely. It also involved pass the parcel which I had to rig so the right people opened it in the right order. That was almost complicated with kids saying "You've got to close your eyes!" "You're cheating!" Be quiet or else you'll get something you don't want!
We drove back down on the 30th, and on spent the 321st sorting out some present things - Jennifer bought walking boots and we swapped her hand blender for a model that you can put in pan hot liquids, and I got a different digital radio with iPod docking station. Brilliant. But all the driving and shopping got the better of us, and we couldn't be bothered doing anything on new years's eve! Me and Jen did a jigsaw and we all watched Monty Python before half-heartedly going outside to watch fireworks. New year's day itself was lovely though - a walk up to Rivington Pike then back to Steph's for food and a quiz. I came second in pretty much every round. Oh well. There's always next year...
* My favourite hospital story is Gran explaining how you had to be patient in that ward. She'd been left outside the toilet as someone was in with the promise the nurse would be back in a minute. "I counted to 539 before they came back!" Why did she count to 539? I don't know, but it's ace.
** He does live in Sydney though.
New Year
I've been TERRIBLE at this blog malarkey for a while now. New year, new me, new plan. I'm going to get back into it.
IT'S SNOWING! Wheeee!!! Big fluffy white snow. Almost makes this office look real.
So, the reasons I stopped blogging... Mainly it was because I didn't get round to it for so long that I didn't know where to start. I like having the daily account, because my memory is so terrible. But it's quite dull to read and pretty pointless really, so I'm going to try a new plan. Another reason for the lull is that I got into minor bother at work. I'm sad about this because the person who came off looking the worst in my blog is really someone I respect. The people who I don't respect got nothing. Anyway, I was scared for a while, but now I'm not.
I've been a little ill for a lot of the end of the year. Some of this physical, some of this mental. Either way, it's not been fun or nice and I need to sort myself out. I need to get fit and I need to sort my head out. A lot of the symptoms I've been having point to stress. I've always been a stressy person, but in a way that I liked and (I think) in a healthy way until recently. Headache constantly for at least 6 weeks, not sleeping, feeling sick most of the time, etc. So things are going to change.
Firstly I'm moving house. I love Alex and I quite like the flat we are in, but it's just contributing too much bother to my life. Having to hide Alex from the landlord, never getting rent (from anyone) on time, sorting out all the bills (I ended up taking over everything as people moved out), always finding someone or something different in my room. I'm not home often and need it to be less work when I am there.
I am stopping doing shows. I know I'll never quite quit completely, nor would I want to, but I don't have the time I would like to commit to a show and as such the last few I have done I haven't been happy with my work, making it Not Much Fun. I'll still hang around as I love many of the friends I have who are doing shows, and I can't sit and do nothing, but definitely less pressure.
There are plenty things I want to do, but I think I might take some time out and not start anything new just yet. I've still got orchestra and should really dedicate more (some!) time to practise and committee stuff. And I've got a weekend in Prague at the end of Jan, and 3 weeks in America/Canada in March/April booked, so it's not as if there's much time left anyway. And I've got LOADS of projects that I have or haven't started and want to finish. Lots of friends to catch up with and visit. Lots of dieting and exercise to do (yeah right - but the thought is there). Lots of money to save, therefore time needed to forward plan meals/make things instead of buying them. See, I'm still too busy! Good.
So that's the plan. I feel much better just for writing it down!
Is there anything else I wanted to write? I'm not sure. My head hurts.
IT'S SNOWING! Wheeee!!! Big fluffy white snow. Almost makes this office look real.
So, the reasons I stopped blogging... Mainly it was because I didn't get round to it for so long that I didn't know where to start. I like having the daily account, because my memory is so terrible. But it's quite dull to read and pretty pointless really, so I'm going to try a new plan. Another reason for the lull is that I got into minor bother at work. I'm sad about this because the person who came off looking the worst in my blog is really someone I respect. The people who I don't respect got nothing. Anyway, I was scared for a while, but now I'm not.
I've been a little ill for a lot of the end of the year. Some of this physical, some of this mental. Either way, it's not been fun or nice and I need to sort myself out. I need to get fit and I need to sort my head out. A lot of the symptoms I've been having point to stress. I've always been a stressy person, but in a way that I liked and (I think) in a healthy way until recently. Headache constantly for at least 6 weeks, not sleeping, feeling sick most of the time, etc. So things are going to change.
Firstly I'm moving house. I love Alex and I quite like the flat we are in, but it's just contributing too much bother to my life. Having to hide Alex from the landlord, never getting rent (from anyone) on time, sorting out all the bills (I ended up taking over everything as people moved out), always finding someone or something different in my room. I'm not home often and need it to be less work when I am there.
I am stopping doing shows. I know I'll never quite quit completely, nor would I want to, but I don't have the time I would like to commit to a show and as such the last few I have done I haven't been happy with my work, making it Not Much Fun. I'll still hang around as I love many of the friends I have who are doing shows, and I can't sit and do nothing, but definitely less pressure.
There are plenty things I want to do, but I think I might take some time out and not start anything new just yet. I've still got orchestra and should really dedicate more (some!) time to practise and committee stuff. And I've got a weekend in Prague at the end of Jan, and 3 weeks in America/Canada in March/April booked, so it's not as if there's much time left anyway. And I've got LOADS of projects that I have or haven't started and want to finish. Lots of friends to catch up with and visit. Lots of dieting and exercise to do (yeah right - but the thought is there). Lots of money to save, therefore time needed to forward plan meals/make things instead of buying them. See, I'm still too busy! Good.
So that's the plan. I feel much better just for writing it down!
Is there anything else I wanted to write? I'm not sure. My head hurts.
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