Wednesday 22 December 2010

The Bath Half Madness...What have I signed up for this time!

It's been a while er...readers (that sounds a little Beano-esque) and I'm back surfing the interwaves with the same lack of skill but piles of enthusiasm as I was before I move out of the comfort of Mum's house into the castle. The castle is a frozen forgotton place now and I have moved yet again, this time to a place by the river that actually retains some heat, and where the beautiful Ted Lavery can live without fear of chastisment from the letting agent! (Ted is a rabbit, not any kind of repressed minority).
Anyway, into the here and now, where at work today I made the commonly made mistake of entering the office at the wrong moment. A parent and my manager were talking and those immortal words 'You'd be up for that Lucy, wouldn't you?' materialised. Now, I like to think I'm pro enough not to run into things to hastily, but unfortunately I was in a bit of a hurry. Eventually it transpired that there was consideration of a running team for our nursery, now open to volunteers, or indeed the volunteered, and I was it.The Bath Half Marathon. Luckily, I *think* i managed to rope good old Kitty in too, but we'll se how that turns out. Any advice on how to train for such an ultimately heart stopping event, gratefully received! Cheers! :D

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Drawing from experience...how I long to be an illustrator

The time has come to follow my dream, one I think is manageable alongside real work and one that I need to try! I long to be a children's illustrator, I think I have what it takes and it would hurt noone to try, so this is the next project I'm working on, illustration...now all I need is a story! That, will be infinitely more difficult. If you have a story that needs some illustration, let me know aye? :D
x

Sunday 7 March 2010

Queen of the Green...Pub Golf and the hideous aftermath

Yesterday evening me and the other half ventured out in our golfing attire to play a spot of pub golf with Westbury Hockey Club.
For those of you who've never heard of Pub Golf, essentially it's drinking to get bladdered, not entirely pleasant to be frank with you, but something to do all the same.
There weren't 18 'holes' mecifully, but just six, the holes beings pubs, and the aim of the game to drink the stated beverage in as fewer sips a possible. You have a partner to drink with you so you choose between two drinks. The drinks were:
Pub 1: 2x Girder Shandies
Pub 2: 2x Addlestons Cider...though they didn't have any so for some demented reason we had Jaques instead which is more than a pint and wrote me off pretty promptly.
Pub 3: 1x Guinness and 1xPort...friendly advice: never EVER down Port if you know what's good for you.
Pub 4:2x Bottles of Heineken and to donate money to the charity of the pubs choice...a worthy cause, and a beverage not designed to kill you.
Pub 5: 1x Blueberry Vodka, 1x Tiger Beer...good band too.
Pub 6: 2x...to be honest I don't remember. By this stage I was pretty worse for wear.
It was not the best night, I enjoyed the Monopoly Pub Crawl much more so, but it was an experience and lessons have been learned (Remember: Never EVER down port).
This was all last night, so unsurprisingly after the walk home alone and the waiting for someone to let me in and nodding off outside the front door, I don't feel it was one of my finest appearances, and, as I say every weekend 'I'm never EVER drinking again.'

Sunday 28 February 2010

Sew what if I'm fabricated!?

Outwardly I seem to be an upstanding member of society (bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha, indeed) but I hold a terrible secret. I'm addicted to fabric. More accurately, I'm addicted to dress making.
Since I started dress making I have paused only briefly to decide the next paper pattern, the next fabric pattern, load the sewing machine, iron a hem.
There are some amazingly beautiful fabrics in fabric shops and on Ebay, and for as little as £1.50 a metre.
Seriously, it's not as cheap as Primark but it's certainly cheaper than Top Shop and you can wear one of your own personal creations and people won't say 'Ah I have that dress' or indeed 'You got that in...*insert highstreet store here*'
Equally, if you've done it properly, it'll be a better quality and last longer than cheap and nasty stuff, and it will be 100% yours.
And when someone says 'Wow I love your dress' theres nothing more satisfying than saying 'Ah thanks, I made it myself!'
My next project is a 1950's style swing dress with a fantastic neckline...if only royal mail would deliver the pattern faster!
So if you have the means, give it a go, you wont regret it.
x
x

Thursday 11 February 2010

Pilates is good but pie and lattes is better...

Recently, my delightful mother has decided it would be good if she took up Pilates, but wouldn't it be ultimately more epic if she roped me in aswell? So, dutifully I finished work and legged it with ridiculous speed to my first pilates class on Wednesday night.

I was quite chuffed in many ways because I thought it would add to my bouldering ability, what I didn't expect was for the back of my legs to cramp up so much that I'd be writhing around on my Pilates mat like I was wrestling an invisible alligator, and also that if you can't scream when you have cramp it hurts infinitely more. My teacher reliably informs me that this regularly happens if you haven't done it before...oh good.

I concede that I learned a lot, and that it would be beneficial in the long run...pretty fortunate really since my Mum so thoughtfully signed me up for a terms worth of classes. Mondays bouldering, wednesdays Pilates, anyone want to add to my weeks work out?!
x

Wednesday 10 February 2010

You've been talking in your sleep...

Lately, I seem to have reached the other side of crazy and started talking in my sleep. If that wasn't sad enough I'm talking about work in my sleep.
My better half has reliably informed me that the other night I said a boys name three times in a weird voice. Fortunately my subconscious saw fit not to make the following morning too impossible by finishing up with 'the happiest baby in the woorrrrrrrrllllld'. Grivens, I may incriminate myself for crimes I have not committed!

Something I'd like to know, why isn't crimes spelt with a b like climbs? Answers on a postcard...
x

Saturday 6 February 2010

OooooOOoo...Technologique!

It would seem that this all has become a little technical, I have a blogsite of my very own! Whatever next? To be fair, it's just another individual airing views about random things people have no previous opinion on or experience of, but hey, I'll give it a bash.

Basically, I need to try lots of new things, my new things list has been exhausted, so let me know your hobbies so I can give them a go please! That'd be epic! Then I can do them and review them. What do you mean why? Why not, I say!
x

Old Skool: The Monopoly Pub Crawl

The Monopoly Pub Crawl
Oct. 26, 2009
Good Evening,

I have returned from our nations capital, tired and defeated! We got to pub 21 and then they all shut at eleven, dammit!

Anyway, the Monopoly pub crawl works much like this;
Yoy get yourself a list of all the streets on the monopoly board, then go to each one and buy a drink or munchies in a pub/bar/hotel/cafe/newsagent (if the situation get's critical) or indeed go to a pub in an adjoining street! This also counts for stations but not the utilities, luckily!

Anyroad, we did ours over a weekend because neither of us had the inclination to do it in one day and get up at 10am.

Day One:

I arrived at the Hilton and parked my car in the carpark (don't get me started on this, £60 parking!) and checked in and what have you. Threw bag into hotel room, armed myself with my official Monopoly pub crawl paperwork, the book of '101 Things to Do Before You Die' , a fujifilm instax camera and a camcorder, which made for hilarious fun, 'Challenge Anika' style running through various tube tunnels. We didn't do the crawl in order, we did it the way it suggested on the website. So we started with 'The George' on Old Kent Road and then tubed it to Fenchurch Station, but were met with disaster as the Fen was closing! So we went to Upper Crust and bought a bacon Sandwich, it's a hard life but I try not to weeken. Anyways this was our only setback and things got easier from then on. Finished at 11 and went back to the hotel and had a Bellini (drink of the God's...and Venice) so big win. Also ordered pizza on room service; de-ca-dent!

Day Two:

Woke up fairly early to have an argument about Daylight Savings Time, because I didn't know the clocks were going back, but was glad of the hour extra. Anyways, today we started with Mayfair, then Parklane, then Piccadilly, all of them surprisingly alright in terms of pricing. Also bought a hat, hurrah! We were a little mystified on Pall Mall as there was a pub sign but no pub to speak of, literally an 'A' board with nothing behind it, was really peculiar! We got a good rhythm going until we tried to get the tube to Blackfriars after Northumberland Avenue, but we found Fleet Street in the end. Due to the amount of drink and walking, conversation got all philosophical and when we stopped for dinner on trafalgar square we talked for far to long (a very good conversation though!) and badly cut into crawling time. Anyway, we finished up at 'The Comedy' on Coventry Street at 11pm and thus we were out of time, out of will and out of balance!

We hopped into a black cab and had a rant about 24 hour traffic wardens, as I saw one and was utterly disbelieving, and blogged a bit, then we were back and passing out from too much drink. The end.

In conclusion, it was a jolly weekend but you have to be ridiculously strict with yourself if you hope to accomplish it! And since I don't like to take anything too seriously, we bailed out terribly, but it was one helluva ride on the way! :D

xxx

PS. Never drive to London. Failing that, never drive to London for a pub crawl, so that you can use the last day to finish it off!

Old Skool: Stair Descending

Epic stair descending fail!
Oct. 22, 2009
Buenos tardes,

I'm feeling super sorry for myself today, in my rush to get out of the door to work this morning, I fell down the stairs. This would be acceptable I think if it was a full flight at once, but they have a bend in the middle, so I fell down the first lot, stopped, tried to get up, bashed my head and fell down the second half. I took a few minutes to get over the shock of it then dashed to work to find everyone waiting for me to unlock the building (I had the keys for some reason) and both my key children turned up at the same time!

So now I've been sent home because I look a little dazed and a bit rough, hopefully I'll be alright by 2ish, I'm fed up with home already!

xxx

Old Skool: Frozen Terror

The frozen terror that is Ice Skating
Oct. 21, 2009
Good morrow everyone!

I thought I'd better write about the wonderful winter wonderland that is Ice Skating, since I gave it a bash last saturday, much to the dismay of my lower leg muscles.

I fully understand many people absolutely adore Ice Skating, I was dragged there kicking and screaming by my darling best friend Neil, who is one such lover of the sport. (Is it a sport...really? REALLY?)

Anyway, to make matters worse it was a disco (are they quite insane? Add darkness to my worries why don't they?!) and it was full to the brim with nervous looking teenagers eyeing eachother up and trying to look nonchalant as they shuffled precariously around the ice.

To be fair, there were non-shufflers, and they were intrinsically more terrifying, they were like rockets, weaving in and out of people and speeding up to girls spraying them with ice, while the girls scream (genuine terror, not flirtatious folly) as they sped away again.

Once I got the hang of it, I was alright, but my ankles were killing me and to make matters worse still, Neil and I were the eldest there (except for the steward, grivens!) and I felt old. Properly 'Kid's these days...' sort of old. I gave it a go for Neil's sake (I did it for love, man!) but it'll take a whole lot longer in Pizza Hut drinking wine than it did this time!

xxx

Old Skool: The Wonderful World of Wonderment

The Wonderful World of Wonderment
Oct. 15, 2009
Howdy do Journal fans,

Sorry, I'm not entirely sure why I've started talking like a 1950s comic book character but it appears to be the direction of things so we'll all have to cope with it.

Anyways, I found myself wondering about all sorts of crazy things the other day, and now I'm curious to know how many other people wonder. I ask this because I feel that I have a love and a need for wondering, and I'm reluctant to pursue answers to my wondering since then I'll have one less thing to wonder about.

So are you a wonderer or a discoverer? And is there any productivity in being a wonderer on it's own? And what do you wonder about?

xxx

Old Skool: Natural talent

Give me some natural talent!
Oct. 9, 2009
I have made a disturbing and distressing discovery this week (possibly yesterday, maybe it was always there buried deep within my psyche) that I have no natural talent!

I have it on good authority that some people are born good at things like drawing or football or music or what have you, but I can't think of a single thing I tried and was instantly able to do.

I'm utterly distressed, everything I have ever done and will do will have to be learned through sheer hard work and determination, and that all seems terribly unfair!

On reflection, I had to learn the things the hard way, though once I got it I was away, but it's an infuriating thing when you can't just pick it up with a disturbingly high level of concentration!

I'm beginning to wonder if there is such a thing as natural talent or whether it's all a nurture thing. What's your thinking here people? I'm reluctant to believe there are natural talents out there because I have none, so my view is somewhat tainted. :P

Old Skool: The Dating Game

Now to play the dating game...
Oct. 6, 2009
Right,

This is a tricky one, the dating game. Mostly, I haven't got the first clue of the rules or the objective, this does not stand me in good stead to win...if you can win...but for the time being I'll pretend it's like Monopoly or Cludo or Snakes and Ladders. I'm feeling snakes and ladders for this metaphor: What are the snakes and what are the ladders!?

I've been out of the game for four years, that's a long time in politics...and everything else really. Back in the good old days you'd meet someone, be friends with them, then you'd be a couple and that'd be that. Nowadays you go on 'dates' and if the date is 'successful' you get...er...another date, where you can wonder whether what you are saying is alright for a first date, or whether inviting them along to something else will be a major no-no and take you right back to the start square.

So far, I feel a little at sea in the whole scenario, as far as I'm concerned if I like someone I want to spend time with them doing fun stuff, I don't want to be faffing around terrified of being myself in case I seem to forward or needy or distant or (the most likely adjective) insane.

And then you you have the complication of what the other person is thinking. If you know someone well enough you can just ask them, but on these dates it's like being on a job interview where you have no baseline subject to start from, and thus you are left out on a limb, grasping at tiny branches of conversation from which a discussion can grow. (Check me out with my metaphors, I'm just throwing them out today!)

Then (I'm in someways curious about this) after a few successful dates, I really don't know how many it's meant to be or whatever, then what!? Then you're an official couple? Or is that like a proposal 'Will you be my boyfriend?' sort of thing, or maybe you have to literally do the americanism of 'We're going steady' (as opposed to staggering around blindly grasping at eachother near a busy highway, I think)

So, basically, if you can provide any answers to this they would be greatly appreciated! Or actually, any other worries you want to add, please do, I'd be reassured to know I'm not alone in this crazy world where even fun and excitement has rules of engagement.

xxx

Old Skool: Official Hobbies

Got myself an official hobby, oh yes that I did!
Oct. 4, 2009
So, have now done bouldering enough to make it an official hobby: I say this because I am quite possibly the most contrary individual in the world, so the fact I've stuck at something for more than two attempts (have been four times this week and once last week) is quite the amazing thing! Anyway, this is how you know when your hobby is officially a hobby:

1)You go more than once and regularly: The regularly is important, I love rollercoasters but I only make it to a theme part twice a year, this is NOT an official hobby.

2)You are recognised: Right I class knitting as a hobby but I concede that you arent really recognised, however for sports and stuff the people who work there should recognise you.

3)You enjoy it and enlist others: You're having a fab time you have amazing friends...what's the ultimate combination? Take your friends!

4)You write blogs about it on the internet as though you have some faint idea about what you are doing: *Cough*

So anyway, there is your step by step guide to getting yourself an official hobby, good luck and god speed hobby searchers!

xxx

Old Skool: Silent Disco

Silent Disco
Oct. 3, 2009
Hi everyone,

Yesterday I went to the Silent Disco at Komedia in Bath, and it was absolutely amazing! It had all the best bits of life in one place:
Headphones: The glorious use of headphones is really underated, here you can flick between two DJ's and rock out to whomever you so wish, but if you want chat with your mates you just take them off!

Tinitus (Lack of): Because your wearing said headphones the music is loud but not hideously so, and you don't get the horrible ringing in you ears.

Rhythm (Who needs it?!): The most amazing thing is (since im so lanky and uncoordinated) that because you could be listening to one of two songs that your lack of dancing ability goes either unnoticed or is greatly appreciated...sometimes applauded.

Good company (optional but highly recommended): You have your good mates with ypu and you can here what they're saying...how amazing is that?!

In conclusion, Silent Disco is the perfect combination of pub and club: talking and dancing and drinking.

Hooray!
xxx

Old Skool: Excitement!

It's all so exciting, I can't really believe it!
Sep. 27, 2009
Yesterday of glorious days, I booked my CBT for the weekend after next...AHHHHHHHH I can't wait, and in that same week I move into my new flat, and it's next to a super pub, and on Monday this week I have an induction for something which is also exciting, and on Friday I'm going to a Silent Disco, which is mad and exciting, and at some point this week I'm giving Ice Skating a bash, there is far too much excitement to be had! What exciting things are you looking forward to? Let me know! :P

x

Old Skool: Rocking on

I'm a morning person...
Sep. 25, 2009
...just not a six o'clock in the morning person.

Gave rock climbing a bash last night, can't say I was terribly good at it since I fell off (much to my extreme mortification, one of those moments you wonder why the ground isn't opening up to swallow you) but it was jolly good fun, in spite of the horrendous pain in my upper arms and my fingers! Would highly recoommend it for giggles. (Thanks for all the patience, Steve!)

Pizza in the pub afterwards, delicious delicious pizza. Right, anyway, it's off to work.:D

xxx

Old Skool: Bristol Festival

Bristol Festival
Sep. 20, 2009
Went to Bristol Festival yesterday, and it was a tip top night full of crazy twists and turns, we saw music, a fire show, some under eighteens rocking out at Colston Hall (Don't ask) and had noodles, a cheese toastie, a mini milk and ace company doesn't get much better than that!

xxx

Old Skool: Kindness

On the subject of kindness...
Sep. 30, 2009
Today, giving evidence to my belief that kindness DOES exist and that we need more of it, a lady chased me through Bath, a rather long way! I parked at the Podium and put my ticket in my back pocket and at somepoint it must have fallen out, but this lady noticed, picked it up and chased me through the streets to give it to me (I was running too, I run or walk really really fast), it really did make my day :D

xx