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Holidays are for relaxing aren't they?

Holidays are a strange animal aren't they?
You look forwards to them in the belief that you will be able to laze around doing exactly as you wish, becoming relaxed, refreshed and generally rejuvinated.

So often the reality is rather different.

Not this time, however.

Mostly.

:D

I have had a blinding time and it's not finished yet.

I've been to see
Which had me crying with laughter throughout, although perhaps not for the reasons that the makers intended.

The Dr Who Exhibition at Earls Court.

Which was fun, as much to see the props up close and personal as the background to some of the shows.

The Viktor and Rolf exhibition at the Barbican.

Where I could have spent the whole day.
Really, if you're interested in design, go and see this exhibition.
The concepts behind each of the collections is well explained and the sheer visual energy is glorious.

I've discovered a brilliant pub.
The Angelic in Islington.
It has the BEST ladies, which was piping Eddie Izzard over the sound system when I was there, meaning I spent far longer in the loo than is normal for me.
The only reason I'm posting it is the solid knowledge that very few people will be directed there from here and so it will stay MY secret !

It been my littlest girlie's birthday too, so much fun was had by her and her friends during their sleepover [ much of which was caught on film by one or other of them, but which has been deemed FAR too embarrassing to be shown -though I suspect it'll do the rounds of her own friends- due to certain 'smellyvision' events! ]
It was followed up by a visit to London for a riverboat trip, a flight on the London Eye and then food at the Rainforest Cafe.

Of course, today has been spent mainly in my PJ's, but even so I've managed to do some supervisory painting [ ie I've stood by, given instructions and generally irritated my littlest girlie who was the one doing the actual painting ] of a fuchsia and purple chalk board/magnetic board on her bedroom wall, and a trawl through some of last weeks newspapers.

As for the rest of the week, well I'm aiming to see the Dali and Cy Twombly exhibitions, look for some new work-wear, and maybe pootle around some of the galleries.
What ever I end up doing I'm sure it'll be fun.
:D

jobs, how not to get 'em Part 1

You forget, as you get older, just how strange it is when you go for your first interviews.
You've done the hard bit:
Poured over the paper/websites/shop windows looking for the perfect job.
You've sent off your application.
You've waited patiently by the phone/letterbox/inbox.
And eventually, yes you've done it...

You've got an interview!

So you get ready, get there and get ready for them to be wowed by your obvious talent .

Riiiiiiiiiiight.

I really wish that was the case.

These last few weeks my mind has been trundling around the sticky subject of what's important when it comes to applying for and getting an interview.

It all started when i asked my daughter what email addy she was putting on her CV's?
What do you mean, 'which', was her response.

Now that gave me pause.

I dont know about you, but I have a couple of email accounts.
One, sensibly titled is for work related things.
One , rather less sensibly titled, is for friend related stuff.
And one is for the things that I just KNOW are going to generate spam by the bucket load like competition entering etc.

The first 2 are often linked, but i prefer to have the option to keep them separate.

Now in my daughters case, her only email is a very girly titled one that she's used since she was about 13 and which i would raise my eyebrows at if I was presented with it as my contact for an applicant for any type of even slightly serious job.

Can she see this?
No.

In her view NOBODY takes any notice of things like that!
[Oh, I wish it was true]
She cannot see the point in setting up another more boringly titled email account just so that she won't come over like a ditzy girly girl.

The thing is, thats EXACTLY the kind of thing that I look at when I'm trying to thin down a post-bag full of eager applicants to an interviewable handful.

I look at the envelope and covering letter:
Extra points for a clearly HANDWRITTEN covering letter.
Have they spelled my name correctly?
[you'd be saddened by how often they don't]
Have they just parroted what I've said I'm looking for in the advert, or have they taken that information and shown interests/traits of theirs that would complement/exceed my requirements?
Have they used decent quality paper?
[yes, it really does make a difference]

When I'm going through a CV I REALLY want to see that they have looked at my advert.
If I say I need certain grades then don't list lower ones without showing that you understand that you may have to do some studying to get your grades up.
[This is especially important for training positions...you may not be eligible for entry onto the necessary course if you haven't got the correct grades, so don't assume that they are only there to see how bright you are. If I've paid more to put them in the ad then they are IMPORTANT]
Have they written it themselves?
[and yes, I have discarded those that have been obviously written by someone else. If they aren't bright enough to alter 'he is' to I am' then they aren't the person for the job]
Do they have any interests?
I know, i know.
I hate writing things like that too, but it's something I always look at.
I'm interested in your interests :D

And PLEASE....
If you only put down a mobile as your contact number...
MAKE SURE THE DAMN THING IS SWITCHED ON!!!!!!!

And in the news today...

multi tasking breasts

So on one hand we're trying to promote breastfeeding.
Brilliant.
Anything that makes it more comfortable for a woman to breastfeed her child without feeling as if people think she's flashing is fine by me.

But sadly in the same week :

Mother thrown out of Costa Coffee for breastfeeding

Rainy Days

Somehow i managed NOT to get wet over the last couple of days.
Hardly earth shattering news i hear you say, but actually it is.
:D
It has been typically april .
Beautiful sunny skies one minute then pouring rain the next [ repeat at intermittent intervals ]

And what has this to do with anything?

Well, not content with scooting round the country last week [ a funeral in Yorkshire on Monday then a work related event in Leicestershire on Thursday and Friday ] I dragged D off to see Jose Gonzalez at the Shepherds Bush Empire last night.



Which meant staying over at the
Hilton Kensington.

OK, it didn't ABSOLUTELY need that to happen.
We could have got the train home.
But that always means rushing because the last train from Victoria is before midnight.
So staying over seemed like a far better idea :D

As indeed it turned out to be.

By the way, if you have to stay there I can certainly give it a thumbs up on most things.
The bed was massive and comfortable, and the air -con worked [ not always as much as a given as you'd think ].
There was loads of room to hang your stuff, should you have taken any [ unlike me ].
A decent iron [ see point above ]
And they have Douwe Egberts as their instant coffee.
Oh, and very pleasant reception and door staff, plus the offer of 2 free glasses of wine to trial when we stopped off back at about 6pm.

The only 2 small points against were the Stella Artois at £4.30 a pint in the bar [ i think ... it wasn't my round ] and housekeeping checking if the room was free at 8.30 in the morning!!!!
I mean, high beer prices I can accept, but being woken at 8.30 on a saturday morning when check out is at 12.00!?!?!

However, I'd certainly go back there again.

Jose Gonzalez was ok too, though lacking in something that i can't put my finger on.
Technically and musically it was excellent.
But.....
But what?
The nearest I can get is to say it lacked, well ... atmosphere or soul?
Something like that.
Hell, I'm no critic and his music is hardly upbeat, and i think that the fact that I enjoyed the performance should be enough, so i'm going to leave it there.

Nothing at all was lacking from my long delayed re-visitation of Bodeans.
Every sticky fingered mouthful was totally delicious, and left me all round bellied and replete.

The same can be said for breakfast at the S & M cafe too.
Wonderfully soft poached eggs, fat buttered toast and crispy bacon, plus lovely, lovely PG tips.
Plus one of those ' He looks familiar but I can't quite put a name to him' moments about a rather attractive english actor [ i think ] who was also breakfasting there.
What more can a girl want for breakfast?
*answers on a postcard please*
:D

Seriously though, it's been far too long since I got to do that kind of stuff , and i need to do it far more often.

memories

It's 9.00pm on a saturday night and I'm slowly fading.
Dave and jo are working out what they'd like to order from the Tottenham catalogue, play-fighting and generally messing around.
I on the other hand , am sitting peacefully listening to my favourite tracks , headphones on to block out the family guy episodes that Jo has on the TV, and thinking about the next few days.
I'm travelling up the country on Monday morning in order to be at my great aunts funeral, and it'll be another long day there and back.
But I know I'd regret it if i didn't go.

Damn, I've just realised that I forgot to get a card too.
:(
It's always far harder to write an 'in sympathy' card than any other kind.
I need time to get the words right.
And now I've forgotten to pick one up.
I had to stay on at work after we closed at 2.00pm so that I could get at least part of the stocktake done that ought to be done on monday [ when I'll be half way up the country instead ].
I gave up at 7.30pm and came home, totally forgetting the card, but there's only so much you can do in one hit, and I'd reached my limit.

However, I digress.

It's strange how we remember people.
I get snapshots of snatches of time, filled with texture and sounds, with the occasional scent adding depth.
Most of my memories of my Great Aunt are of her laughing.
It's the picture that springs to mind when i think of her.
A tall slender woman, angular and always busy, brown hair rollered into a fifties style shoulder length 'do', harassed by children [ of which i was one ] and generally happy to see you.
I didn't get to see her as she got older, but when my mum talked of her, it was of a woman gradually ailing but of someone who was positive and happy, and who never lost her sense of humour.
She died peacefully.
I guess its the most any of us can hope for.

this is my only photo of her.


Taken c1967 in Cayton Bay in Scarborough, with 3 of her children, her niece and me.

So many memories.

Eggs, Underwear and Ukelele's.

Easter is one of my favourite holidays and this one was particularly fun.
My Mum came to visit for a couple of days.
She was picking up her car from my brother's [ he has replaced the totalled berlingo with a fiat multi something or other [sounds like a cinema complex but I know that isn't correct ] and so he doesn't need hers any longer ] and stayed over with me for a couple of days.
Being Easter I'd already had fun buying Easter things for the girls and Dave plus various other family children, but it meant for the first time in ages i got one for her too.
Sort of gave me a happy feeling doing that.

And we went shopping.
It was one of those events that you had to be involved in to see the funnies for, but lets just say that we spent most of the time giggling.
We did come out with some new underwear for her after I got totally gobsmacked realising that she was wearing bra's that were COMPLETELY the wrong size and dragged her into M&S to try on some bigger cupped ones.
Result = 2 uplifted boobs instead of 4 [ well thats what it looked like ] squashed down to her belly.
Ok, so thats an exaggeration, but only a small one!

She drove home through the snow yesterday and left me with lovely memories.

Which got me remembering other times.

So when i came across this



it brought back so many more.
Of watching the film with my Dad.
George Formby.
And for those of you too young to remember...



And home.

shoe dilemma... look it's important to ME ok!

I have a dilemma.
No, nothing life threatening or world shaking, but its important.
It's about SHOES.

Now along with a significant number of other people i love shoes, nothing new in that.
But one of the things with me is that they have to be the RIGHT shoes.

i can't wear brown boots with jeans and a black jumper , even if they are the most gorgeous boots you've ever snuggled your cute little tootsies into.
I cant wear satin courts with a cotton sundress.
I can't wear thong sandals with a formal skirt.

If I try it gives me the shudders and makes me feel totally creeped out.

What is the point to this slightly rambly blog then?

Well, I'm going to a formal black tie work related thing with 3 other female collegues and for one reason or another we're doing cocktail rather than full on floor length.
Although actually I've fallen in love with the dress I've bought , so I'm not all that fussed.
But now we get to the shoe issue.

this is the dress in question.



and i could just wear some plan black courts with it.

but I've seen these.....






And now I'm not sure.

So,
anyone out there have an opinion?

Are they too over the top ?
Should they only be worn with something plain to show them off to their full glory?
Am I a total idiot for wanting to wear a pair of shoes embellished with tape measures to a formal balck tie?
Or are they just totally scrumptious?

:D

Update: they are too high!!!!!!! *sob*
I have piddly size 4 feet and the heels had me walking almost en point.
Back to the drawing board then.

busy busy...

i didn't used to beleive my grandparents when they said that life speeds up as you get older until after I had children of my own.
Then time began to change.
Life began to kick in to overdrive.
Or perhaps it's just my perception of time thats clicked over a notch or two.
Either way I blink and a week or a month has gone, whoosh, leaving me with a blurred mushed together series of after images.

Lately I've been trying to change things down a gear, with mixed success.
My meds [ for my lovely lovely thyroid problem ] weren't working properly, leaving me with numerous symptoms that were all pretty innocuous individually, but when added together left me like some aching, lethargic blob.
Luckily my blood test confirmed that it was my thyroxine level that needed boosting, so I'm now popping an extra tab and beginning to feel more normal.
Well, if normal can be used to describe me :D

So....what have I got up to now the aches are a fading memory?
Well, I managed to fit in going to see the Out of the Ordinary exhibition at the V&A.

There were some amazing exhibits , but I think my favourite was the lung made from blown glass, and lit so that it almost fluouresced.
Gorgeous.

We had our works Christmas Do in feb too, and got taken to see the Cirque du Soleil at the Albert Hall.

I wasn't sure what to expect , but it was an amazing spectacle and I had a great evening.

Then came the downside.
I had a couple of nights of uncomfortable wear in my lenses, and like a twit, didn't get anyone to check that everything was ok until it got REALLY uncomfortable.
By which time i had got a corneal ulcer.

If you look carefully you can see a tiny white spot at about 10'o'clock on my cornea....actually, given how the photo has loaded its about at 7 o clock in this blog....hard to see given the blood-shot runny nature of my eye, but it's there.
Believe me, the little bugger is making its presence felt in a major way.
Painful doesn't even half go there.
Arrrggghhhhhhhhhhh, more like.

So to cheer myself up I've just booked to go and see Jose Gonzalez in April.
*bounces a bit*

Oh, and now it's time for my hourly dose of chloramphenicol.
And something that makes it taste better.
Not that i drink the stuff you understand....its just that it runs down the back of my throat when i put it in my eyes and then i can taste it for ages.
yuk.

I hope it heals soon.
x

Pass me a tissue

My favourite films are those that make me cry uncontrolably.
No matter how often I see them.
And no matter how well i know the lines and what's coming.
My throat closes.
My nose tingles.
And then the tears start running down my face.

*sniff*

2008

And another year has rolled over and put it's self to sleep without too much in the way of stress and turmoil.
Or at least, when I try and bring specifics to mind to write something like this , thats always how it feels.
A large space full of errrrrrring and ummmmmming rather than lots of how-on-earth-did-i-fit-it-all-in-ing.

Actually thats what happens when someone asks me any kind of question.
It's as if the act of trying to recall anything presses the empty button and dumps all my memories down an inaccessible well.

A couple of things stand out though.
Like ....
Spending an evening dancing around a trophy and trying to lose my last chips at the charity roulette wheel [ isn't it odd that you invariably win when there's nothing to lose ] at the Awards .
Getting the start of new work on my arm by Bugs, forgetting to take water with me and feeling totally shaky after the 3 hours on putting the monochrome base in.
Finding storage space in my house for a load of stuff that an idiot friend [ you know who you are ;D ] was going to dump as a new and happy time was started in the US.
Visiting my Mum and realising how much i miss her now she's 4+ hours away and not 40 mins away.
Getting totally choked just saying goodbye when what's left of my family got together to scatter my Dad's ashes in a freezing sea.
Nearly messing up my relationship with my oldest daughter.
Getting stuck in the Victoria and Albert when they locked everyone in for a reason that they kept to themselves.
Drooling over the Vogue exhibition at said V&A.
Finally finding a pair of shoes that are more comfortable than my MBT's for work so i can look like i have normal sized [ and rather cute looking ] feet.

The whole year had a feeling of bringing things to completion.
My partner is now settled in a job he loves.
My own working life has become more manageable with the addition of a trainee and a new part time staff member letting me get to grips with things I've been putting off for over a year.
I've re-aquainted myself with some of the things that I love doing and which I haven't had [ or made the ] time for since my girls came on the scene.

And now I'm putting my mind to what I want to do with this coming year.
For I do want to actively DO something with it.
To take it by the pants and modify it until it fits ME perfectly.

*Raises my glass to a Glorious New Year*