Breaking news

Yay!!!

After months (or is it years) of being miserable in my job, and five failed job interviews I have been offered a new job as the Education and Events Officer in Darlington.

Today I had to break the news to Groundwork that despite their "cough" extremenly "cough" generous "cough cough" payrise and extension of my contract for another year, I would be leaving for a well paid, permanent job.

Then after breaking the news they started discussing where and when they should advertise my job to find my replacement - hello I haven't even handed in my notice yet!

Starbucks

Starbucks in Glasgow made the mistake of selling me out of date sandwiches. So I sent a polite email to Starbucks on Monday afternoon informing them of their mistake.

I received a reply on Tuesday morning asking which store had made such a silly mistake and that they would inform the store that they needed to be more careful. And that they would like to send me some vouchers as an apology.

So yesterday I arrived home from work to discover £10 of Starbucks vouchers had arrived in the post!!!

Hmm very tempted to go to Team Valley tonight for a mocha!
(well its been almost 48hrs since I last visited Starbucks)

A big special thanks to ........

REBECCA

Thankyou so much for managing to sort out my flights home from New York, without having to make me pay 100pounds (yes my pound sign is still on holiday)

I now don't have to dash from Heathrow to Gatwick in the 3 hours between landing and departure. Although really it would only be 2 hours since I have to check in 1hour before departure.

Luckily for me (and Catherine) Rebecca (and whoever Catherine spoke to at the STA call centre) phoned American Airlines and got us onto the BA flight from Heathrow because the flight we were actually booked on didn't seem to exist.

Thanks Rebecca!!!!!!

Fish

we got goldfish!

they are called sherbet and barley

sherbet is a lemon goldfish

and barley is an orange goldfish

A moment of clarity

I like it when things suddenly become clear and begin to make sense.

I had a moment like that last night when watching a tv program.

At the start of the program a song was playing about little boxes made of ticky-tacky. And suddenly everything became clear.

Years earlier the youth pastor of my church, Jonie, would talk about little boxes made of ticky-tacky and all look the same. I always thought it was just an obscure youth pastor reference. I never realised it actually came from a song.

Here's the song

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All go to the university,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
And there's doctors and there's lawyers
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf-course,
And drink their Martini dry,
And they all have pretty children,
And the children go to school.
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
And they all get put in boxes
And they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business,
And marry, and raise a family,
And they all get put in boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

And its only now that the point Jonie was making (or at least the point I think he was making) becomes clear.

You have to laugh

Running

As some of you know I started running a few weeks ago, well actually eight weeks ago, it started off with running 2mins and then walking 4mins, which to be honest I struggled with but kept going.

I'm now up to running 10mins and walking 2mins! I'm quite impressed by this, but last night Andrew decided to come with me and he managed it!

Its not fair, it has taken me 8 weeks to get up to running for 10mins without collapsing and Andrew can do it the first time he goes running

hmph

Silly computer

My work computer has decided to be very silly, it has lost its pound sign!!! How does a computer manage to loose a pound sign. Instead of a pound I have a #

It has also decided to swap @ and " which has caused a number of problems in sending emails

A few other symbols have swapped too

But the pound sign has vanished

Thursday Morning Fun

After only four hours sleep we had fun negotiating Newcastle Airport on Thursday morning, although it reaqlly wasn't the chaos that the Newcastle Chronicle was reporting.

While standing in the check-in queue we were told by an announcement that with immediate effect no passengers were allowed to carry hand luggage. Ok for the 40minutes from Newcastle to Belfast thats not a huge problem and we quickly stuffed our things into the suitcase.

Then we went to Starbucks and got a mocha and a bottle of water and proceeded to the huge queue to get airside.

I managed to drink my entire drink in the queue it was so long!!!

While standing in the long queue people from further back started walking forwards saying loudly "did they just call the stansted flight?" so everyone for the stansted flight started following them with us standing thinking "we're at the front of the queue and we didn't hear them calling the stansted flight so how on earth did you hear them call the stansted flight" but I'll know or future use that thats a good way of queue jumping!

Got to security and was told that I had to leave behind my SEALED bottle of water that I had bought in the airport I even had a receipt!!! and the reason I wasn't allowed it - well the security man wasn't allowed to tell me!!!! Now remember it was about 6am and no-one had any clue about what was going on because we hadn't seen the news! I personally didn't think it was an acceptable answer but didn't think I'd win the arguement.

Then at the scanning machine thing the women wanted to send us out of security because of Andrew's car key, but after negotiation she let us take the battery out and it was no longer electrical.

However, I do think the airport security made a big oversight in forgetting that watches are electrical!!!! I didn't see them taking anyones watches. And I'm sure watches have been used in the past to detonate bombs, but they allowed the watches on board but not newspapers. I haven't figured out what threat newspapers pose.

But after my previous post about looking forward to New York I'm still looking forward to New York just not the journey because 5 or 6 hours with out a Ipod or a book will be awful.

93!

Its 93 sleeps till I fly to New York, its ages away but I can't stop thinking about it, I've started writing a list of the shops I definately want to visit, and trying to think what Christmas presents I can buy everyone.

It feels like I'm wishing my life away but thinking about New York is one of the few things keeping me going at work each day as the boredom of the office and the temptation to write my resignation letter grows.

Superman Returns

I went to see superman returns and really the only good things about the film were Lois Lane's nice shoes, dress and coat!!!

Sorry Catherine but I really didn't like the film

My first lesson in Bengali

Yesterday I agreed to do a favour for a girl in work

Today I regretted agreeing!!!!

I agreed to go to South Shield Mosque (I didn't even know it existed) and get some forms filled in. Doesn't sound so difficult.

Well I found the mosque - It doesn't really look like a mosque so I'm not surpirsed that I didn't know it was there. I was armed with my forms, plenty of pens and Sarah (because she fancied a trip out of the office)

Well prayer time finished and suddenly I was surrounded my Bangladeshi men asking to fill in my form because they were doing the course. Ok I gave them a each a form.

About 10mins later the interpreter arrived saying oh not all of these people are doing the course

AAaaarrrggghghhh

We then spent the next hour inside the mosque with 4 men arguing in Bengali and occassionally speaking to me. Sarah and I just sat their while they argued and debated - at least that's what I think they were doing because my first lesson in Bengali only taught me one thing - I DON'T UNDERSTAND A WORD OF BENGALI!!!!

More lessons are obviously needed

Domestic Goddess!!!!

I think I am quickly reaching the rank of domestic goddess, what with my kitchen aid mixer and enjoyment of baking.

On Monday night I baked three dozen cupcakes - one dozen chocolate and two dozen vanilla.

I spent hours baking and decorating them, with pretty pastel coloured icing and little sugar flowers.

Unfortunately they were struggling to compete with the more traditional desserts that were also brought to the bbq last night!

And I forgot to take a photo of the cupcakes before they were eaten! Oh well I'll just have to make some more

pretty shoes and sore toes

I got new shoes last week (yes yet another pair) very very pretty red ballet pumps

But

WHY? OH WHY?

Does the prettiness of shoes have a direct correlation to the painfullness of them?

Kirstin's Irrational Fear # 1

Today at the Festival of Nature I had to briefly overcome my irrational fear # 1 which is

MORRIS DANCERS

three entered the marquee I was working in today, and were standing close by, they actually seemed like quite normal people, apart from the bells round their arms and their daft clothes.

I managed not to run out of the marquee screaming - although if they had started to dance I'm not sure what would have happened.

Most people (Andrew and Steph to name a few) find my irrational fear # 1 rather amusing, especially after Andrew practically had to drag me past the Morris Dancers in Durham, I was perfectly happy to walk an extra half mile to get back to the car avoiding the morris dancers (unfortunately Andrew wasn't)

Emotional Wreck!!!!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult has finally been knocked off the top spot in the list of Books that make Kirstin cry.

Last night My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson reached the number one spot on the list I was an emotional wreck as I finished the book.

Some of you may know that I am cold and heartless when I watch sad films, those of you who watched Titanic with me in the cinema will remember that I found the film hilarious, but strangely the rest of the cinema were all sobbing (and a few were pointing out the mistakes in the film, actually I did that too). And as we walked back to the Polleymobile after the film, I turned to Catherine and said "it would have been sadder if the lady had died at the end!" and Catherine replied "she did!!" oops I kinda missed that point of the film and thought it was a strange dream sequence at the end, (I'd probably been watching too much Sunset Beach at the time).

So anyway films rarely make me cry, but with books I can easily turn into an emotional wreck, like I have for the past few days while reading My Best Friend's Girl. It had me crying from near the start of the book and I had to keep holding the book higher and higher to hide my face so the rest of the room couldn't see I was crying. But I really enjoyed the book and would definately recommend it, but beware you'll need to read it in private if you don't like crying in front of people.

Vampires and Demons

Yesterday at Alnwick Garden I learnt a new way to escape from vampires and demons and I feel that for the good of mankind (or at least the 2 or 3 people who read this) I should pass on this knowledge.

You probably didn't know that vampires and demons have a compulsion to count poppy seeds, so you should always carry some poppy seeds with you just in case you should ever find yourself being pursued by a vampire or a demon. If you throw some of the poppy seeds on the ground the vampires and demons will immediately start counting them, and that should keep them busy till Buffy arrives to slay them and gives you the chance to escape.

New York New York

It is 119 sleeps till Catherine and I go to New York. We are booking are hotel tonight yay, I won't have to sleep on the streets for three nights.

Catherine has already planned what she is going to wear, hmm I haven't gone that far but I have been planning my tactical packing.

What is tactical packing? you may ask

Well..... I'm going to pack all my things inside my smallest suitcase and then pack my smallest suitcase into my medium suitcase. That means that when I buy lots of Christmas pressies and clothes and stuff I'll still have space.

My Birthday!!!

Wednesday was my 25th birthday - that feels too old.

Anyway Andrew and I went to London on Tuesday for a Marcus Miller concert, which I didn't really want to go to but the idea of the trip was sold to me as Tuesday night we'd go to the gig and then Wednesday we would do whatever I wanted to do as it was my birthday.

However

On Tuesday evening when Andrew asked had I thought of anything I wanted to do on Wednesday and I suggested the London eye (if it was a nice day), he decided to break the news to me that he had brought a broken bit of camera equipment with him to take to a camera fixing place!!!! so much for me getting to choose what to do on my birthday as cameras rarely feature in my idea of a good birthday. So we decided to go to the camera fixing place first. We got the tube to Vauxhall and then I spotted a Starbucks and sat there drinking my grande skinny no-whip mocha with my book while andrew got his flash gun fixed.

The monster in the corner

There's a monster in the corner of our living room, it's hiding just out of sight behind the armchair. We don't mind it sitting there, as long as it behaves. Its probably choosen that spot because it can read the books on the bookshelf and play monopoly without us noticing.

Unfortunately Nutmeg is not so pleased about the arrival of the monster in the corner, because previously it was her corner, her hiding place where she could sleep undisturbed for hours. But since the monster's arrival on Saturday night she hasn't been keen to go into the corner, she creeps around the chair very slowly ready to run if the monster attacks.