Eiffel Tower love affair or Twin Towers romance?

I was somewhere between disbelief and hysteric laughter when I read this in the newspaper today:

"Ever since she was eight years old, Sandy K. was hopelessly in love with New York's Twin Towers. Neither of these two monumental lovers were known for being particularly talkative. Nor did they seem to be blessed with qualities of seduction. But to their admirers, the buildings were male, sexy and extremely desirable. For 25-year-old Sandy, the attraction to things is so overpowering, she confesses: "When it comes to love, I am only attracted to objects. I couldn't imagine a love affair with a human being."

Ever heard of Objectophiles? These people are actually physically and sexually attracted to objects!! There's a guy in the interview who claims to be in a serious relationship with a steam engine (A STEAM ENGINE!!). He claims he falls for 'technical wonders' and has been known to have an affair with an electrical machine that needed repairing, but now he's monogamous...

I'm not kidding you.

Flat update:

- To clean up the carpet will only cost £150 but the guy said that he won't be able to get some of the stains out, so I think we're definitely looking at putting in new carpet.

- Drove all the way to the furniture shop to take a picture of the sofa. Haven't heard Stu's verdict yet but it better be good! Have worked out the 4-seater doesn't fit in mum's car (even though it exists of 2 parts) so we'll have to go for a 3-seater. (delivery time is 7 weeks so mum & dad will have to do two extra trips to the UK in July)

- Decided to go for a 3,5 ton van rather than massive lorry which will decrease the rental, petrol and ferry price. Jeej.

- Stu & dad are currently plaster boarding the ceiling in one of the bedrooms which had the leak but are not sure what it will look like so we might need to get the ceilings replastered. Poo.

- Decided to leave the kitchen as it currently is until I get there and earn some more money this summer.

£$€$£€

Stu's been at the flat in T.Wells (the tenants were supposed to move out on Friday but only moved out today!) and it turns out there's a lot of work to be done before we move back... Although it was written in the contract that smoking was not allowed, the entire flat stinks of cigarettes. We'll probably have to totally recarpet the place which Stu is getting a quote for tomorrow, but we're thinking 2 to 3 grant.

Stu looked into renting a 7,5 ton lorry for 48 hours, which came down to £360. Ouch. I then phoned up all the ferry companies to see if I could get my lorry to pass for a mobilehome without windows but they wouldn't have it. Freight it is. Totalling to another £310 for a return. (don't forget to add the petrol costs on top!)

Then there's my lovely sofa (€960 for a 4-seater), with Stu ever so slightly warming to the idea. He would now like to see some pictures of me sitting on it so he can picture the size of the pillows, the depth, the length, the colour and god knows what, after which he will make up his mind. (Sure, I don't have anything to do this week).

Stu also spoke about ripping out the kitchen as it's looking horrible after 3 years of tenants apparently. There's been a leak in the roof, resulting in the ceiling of the main bedroom needing redoing. When we had an electrician in to refit most of the spot lights a year ago (as they were constantly blowing the fuse), he failed to mention, he replaced them with something looking vaguely like, and I'm quoting my father here, 'an elephant's foot sticking 20 cm through the ceiling'. Nice.

It's all doing my head in. The fact that I'm not there. The fact I can't scream to anybody about this shit. The fact I'm not allowed to phone anybody and blame them for it. The fact I want other people to pay for all of this. And the fact I have a lot of others things to do apart from worry.

I did have a man ringing my doorbell today to deliver the biggest bouquet of flowers in the world!! Turns out they came from Stu, with a note saying he was sorry he couldn't be there today, on my birthday. The guy delivered two days early!! Jeeesus.

Relaxingly stressed

Stu and dad left on Saturday for England, whilst mum and I went to look at sofas and beds. Found a lovely 4 seater sofa - it's mahoosive - only Stu doesn't like it much from the picture I sent him. What a surprise. He went to DFS in England to find one that 'looked' like it, sat on it, and decided he doesn't like the sofa I found. Pure logic right?!

After a week of persuassion, I finally got mum to go to the sauna on Sunday. (her first time ever!) Evi, Mieke, Sarah, Karin, Luce, mum and I had a lovely and relaxing day at the Spa. Tried all the different saunas, ranging from a colour sauna, Infrared sauna (where you burn off 600 calories by lying still for 10 minutes!), Maa sauna which is 120 degrees (feels like you've lost 5 kilos from sweating), we also did a pour-on session with lovely smellies. I always go back home feeling energised and invigorated... My little treat for my birthday! I can now fully start my week of hard core studying in a most relaxed and soft-skinned manner.

Started off my 'blok' week today (week off to revise for exams next week) with the American Political Institutions. Want to finish off the Legal System as well tonight and then have a bath reading the end of Lolita. As you might remember, I started reading that thing about 4 months ago - and I still haven't finished it!! It's such hard work concentrating because of the style and vocabulary, it's the last thing you want to do before falling asleep.

Miss Masters

So I received my official letter of acceptance from Imperial College! I've been accepted on the Dutch>English and English>Dutch Masters, and I think I'm the only one for those language combinations. Private tuition it is! I now need to apply for every single body that is out there which will give me a grant towards my tuition fees, otherwise I need to find £4,000 somewhere by October...

Have agreed with David to work a set 15 hours per week when Uni starts again so I have some form of regular income. Contact hours at Uni are 1 full day, 1 half day and 1 evening per week, so doing 2 full days at Wordtrans and then some more translation work on the side should keep me busy for another year. In the letter I received yesterday, they made the Full-Time students aware of the intensity of the course and advised students who wanted to work to keep it to a maximum of 4 hours per week... Hmmmm.

Dissertation has been handed in which is a huge relief. Next essay awaits though. Poo. Have been putting together all the stuff I need to know for the exams and got to a full lever arch folder, so technically, my brain should be able to hold it.

Last episode of this season's Grey's Anatomy is on. Got to dash.

Monday morning

Sent my dissertation off Saturday evening with the message: "Please note I will be fast asleep for the next 24 hours but will check for emails containing a modest amount of comments when I’m back in the land of the living". And so he did. Received a reviewed version this morning and he only came up with a couple of comments - pfffew. Wouldn't have had time to rewrite paragraphs anyway.

Worked all day on the final batch for ABN AMRO. Lets hope they won't send another batch any time soon cuz I really need to start studying now. (but turning down money is soooo difficult!) Did some small calculations last week and figured out that, for the first time, I have earned (quite a significant amount) more then Stu! Women emancipation rules!

Have so much to do this week, I'm having difficulties seeing the end... Stu is leaving with dad on Saturday morning, leaving me to do the rest of the packing and cleaning - but also leaving me in charge of buying a bed (I was going to say new bed, but we've never had one) and a sofa. Hurrah.

Very excited about my train trip through the States! The tickets haven't been booked but I'm 95% sure I get to go to San Francisco for work in November. And as it's Andrew's 30th at the end of that month, I thought I'd pop in to celebrate. I'll hopefull be travelling by train from San Fran, CA to St. Pete, FL which will take 105 hours, or an average of 4 days on the train. (but I'm going to hop on and off and stay in Hostels) (or at Carrie's friends!) Still need to mention to David and Imperial College I'll be working from the States for a month, lying next to the pool... It's that prospect that is keeping me going at the moment!!

And we're done - o5.31PM

- amount of pages: 39
- footnotes: 69
- bed time last night: 04.19AM
- total amount words: 12,472
- chapters dropped as I couldn't be asked anymore: 1 1/2
- urge to sleep: 89%
- desired result: A++

Well done me.

Evening check up - 11.43PM

- cups of tea made and brough to me by boyfriend: (a disappointing) 2
- dinners made by boyfriend: 1 (made up for it)
- telephone calls to cancel hour in cafe with friends due to time pressure: 1
- amount of words: 10,434
- episodes of All Saints watched by way of relaxation: 1
- guideline from uni re: max. amount of words: 6,000
- work left to do: write conclusion, sort out footnotes, bibliography, translation, proofread
- amount of footnotes: 67
- times wanting to do something else instead of being locked up: lost count

Afternoon check up - 03.41PM

- hours slept last night: 8 (healthy- I'm expecting less tonight)
- minutes spent with boyfriend since getting up: 3
- bowls of soup for lunch: 1
- words written: 9095
- chapter to write: 2
- amount of websites consulted as part of research: 57
- English friends coming over for the weekend tonight: 3
- hours spent in cafe with friends later this afternoon: 1

Bedtimely check up - 01.56AM

- roast chickens cooked in order to spend some time with boyfriend: 1
- amount of television programs watched although I really shouldn't have: 3
- glasses of water: 4
- trips to the loo: 2
- amount of words written: 8148
- chapters to write: 3
- overall stress level: 85%

Pssst - it's me

This is me talking from my quarantined room at the back of the house. I've figured out that I sporadically have wireless down here if I sit cross-legged on the correct side of the bed with the laptop on my knees. For those who have no clue what I'm doing here - I've locked myself up to finish off my dissertation. Saturday 7PM deadline.

Check up:
- cups of tea: 3
- slices of cake/biscuits: 1 (surprising)
- toilet breaks: 2 (but one coming up very soon)
- words written: 7224
- chapters to write: 4

Jules n Lily weekend

Spent most of the weekend with Julie. Lily is growing so fast, she's 9 months now and really wants to start walking. Only her little feet haven't quite mastered it yet. Whilst Julie went off on my bike this afternoon in search for a new place to live, Lily and Auntie Lotte spent some quality time together. It only took her 2 minutes to realise her mum had gone out and she was left with me. I probably would have cried as well... She then sobbed uncontrollably, no angry sobs, but very sad sobs which made my heart melt. After 10 minutes of heart broken crying and hugging the arm of the sofa, as this was the nearest and best comfort she could find (forget me!), she fell asleep on the sofa. Absolutely hilarious but so cute and vulnerable.

The big ABN AMRO translating project is all done now so I can start focusing on finishing off my thesis and maybe even open a book or two in preparation for some exams. Three more weeks to go... AAAAAhhhhh.

Ben, Jerry and me

I'm not pregnant, I'm not getting my periods, I'm not emotionally unstable but I just spent half an hour (that's what it took) with a tub of Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Apart from sick, I also feel extremely satisfied and full. Don't know where the urge came from but it had probably been 3 years since my last tub. Thank god the video store had the right flavour. They must have thought Bridget the second walked in - Any videos madame? - Nope, just the tub of ice cream please.

Went for a drink after uni today with Lore and Evi. Had been a while since I'd seen Lore (last Sunday in fact at Evi's birthday party - but before that it had been a while) and it was nice to catch up again. She's just done an audition (Lore the Actress) for a famous soap here in Belgium and she might just get the part - but I told her I couldn't believe how low she'd fallen... Think the Bold and the Beautiful meets a lame version of ER. She's also been cast for a series of TV commercials for a very famous brand of washing powder. Well done her. The last series she was in on TV, which just finished, I didn't even recognise her. She looked a lot older and EVIL.

I'm in for another day of packing boxes tomorrow with mum. Need to make sure I don't overdo it this time on the arm muscles...

Closure

Guess what I did tonight!

In my frantic cleaning-up-the-house-cuz-we-are-moving-in-three-weeks state of mind, I've started making a pile of things I borrowed from people, and which I therefore want to return before we move back. In my pile are a variety of books, CDs, DVDs, even some exam papers (!)which I can't remember who they belong to, but they are definitely not mine! One of the DVDs was Series 10 of Friends, which I borrowed from my brother, months ago. (might even be a year now I come to think of it) I never actually got around watching the last series on TV and had a phase of watching all the episodes on DVD instead - apart from the very last episode... Somehow I 'forgot' to watch the last episode, although it might have been a mechanism of emotional self-protection. Anyway, I thought it had taken long enough, so tonight was the night! I just watched the final episode and I managed not to cry (too much)... I'm sure I would have blobbed (sorry Carrie!) and sobbed for days if I'd watched it on the day it actually happened, but I was able to control myself tonight. It's a good thing Ross and Rachel end up together - and I loved the unless we're on a break joke at the end - that sentence will go down in history!

Thesis-man was very happy with my work so far. Only main comment was that I use the passive too often when I write - but if that's the only thing, I'm not worried. I now have a deadline for next Saturday evening when I need to deliver the whole shebang to him so he can have a final read before the actual uni deadline which is the 25th of May.

Working my ass off translating this massive job - haven't been to any lectures this week. I'm sure my Russian lectures will officially kill me next week. (in response to my comment that I've been neglecting my Russian course work for weeks now, Thesis-man asked if I didn't mean years) Cheeky monkey. He's in the known though re: my efforts getting into BA3. Man's got a point.

Haven't mentioned yet that my brother has been offered to do a PhD!!! I've very proud of him - Doctor Reps in applied Mathematics. Yeah man!

And also, but this is for people who come from T.Wells - The Chinese Elvis place burnt down last night! Stu walked back from the station to his car last night, and saw, apart from lots of Fire Men, Elvis outside his restaurant on his mobile screaming to somebody he needed a solicitor. (bet you can't read that in the Courier on Friday!)

Belgian weather

After a record 5 weeks of no rain (the most I've ever known in my life!), we're back to normal. It's miserable and windy and raining. And I'm inside, with a cup of tea, sitting by the window, laughing at all the people who are getting wet and being blown of their bikes. Hours of fun.

The packing session with Mum on Saturday has left me with an injured arm. I moved so much and lifted such heavy boxes, I had to take a painkiller in the evening (one that wasn't my usual swallowable size - figures how much pain I was in!) and sleep with a hot water bottle around my arm to ease the muscles. The flat is in even more of a mess, if that was at all possible, then when we started. Having the wooden fruit boxes has been a real winner packing all my books! Not sure if 40 was enough...

More baby news! Anna (Jamie's middle sister) is pregnant - jeepie. Just spoke to her on the phone and, I quote here, she has developed a rather pompous bottom and flabby arms. She's still riding horses although she's 4 months now. I told her I'll be using a special lens to slim her down at her sister's wedding in July.

Got an email yesterday from my promoter which said 'it looks good', referring to my BA thesis. Relief beyond belief! He's just read the first draft and I was expecting him to come back with a list of things (as he hasn't been that nice to some others) but I think I'm safe. Wouldn't have the time anyway to make massive changes anymore... Am meeting him tomorrow to discuss some minor points.

Queen of Quizzing

Snot is going slightly better, cough has now developed in a serious chain smoking cough, like one of those people who've been going for 45 years on 5 packs a day sitting in their sofa watching Big Brother all day. I'm currently feeling extremely attractive.

Dropped Stu of at Antwerp Airport yesterday as he's off to England. Had to wake up at 5.45AM - that's got a 5 in! - (I don't do waking up when there's a 5 in it, or a 6 or 7 for that matter). He's got to do some work in England this week and is not quite sure when he'll be back. Meantime Stu's mum and dad have left this morning on their expedition across the channel to sail to Antwerp. Their plan is to go further up North but perhaps stop over in Antwerp for a few days/weeks. PIMS on deck anyone?

Went to a Quiz last night with Yves and Cedric (and Yves potential new girlfriend). We ended 16th out of 44 teams and if you'd know what questions were asked, we didn't do too bad at all!! This was probably the most difficult quiz I've ever been to... Thought we were on our way out after the first half. All three of us nearly graduated with a Language degree, managed to score 1 lousy point in the Dutch language round. Second half went slightly better when we were able to catch up in the Geography, Gossip and Art round.

Got a massive translation job in from ABN AMRO bank - 18.000 words for next Friday. As they pay me a rather hefty amount of money for it, the choice between studying or working wasn't all that difficult... Not sure how to explain to my Russian teacher I won't be attending her class this week for the 4th time in row. Bribery? Blackmail? Anyone?

Am starting to clean up and pack things today. Mum is coming around to give me a hand (literally one hand, as gravity was too heavy for her yesterday and she fell, went to A&E who told them she's cracked her wrist, so she's now walking around with a big white doodah around her arm totally incapable doing anything apart from giving orders!) Poor mother!

Fifth nose blockage of the year

I'm blaming Climate Change - I have yet another cold, the fifth one this year! Normally I have one big snotty, fluey week a year, but this year I've managed to have five so far, and we're only May! This time it's also a little more than just a cold, I'm having severe coughing fits as well and can't properly breath most of the time. Had a shit night sleep and need to get on with studying, working, writing a thesis, cleaning the house, packing stuff, buying a new bed and checking out new sofa's. Perhaps I should increase my vitamin/shill pill intake in the morning? Can't wait for the summer to arrive and being able to relax!

Bank Holiday Tuesday

So Stu and I decided to have a fatty Giant burger from Quick for lunch today as we'd been eating (too) healthily recently. Mother of all hamburgers, thou art so lovely and full of grease, thou makes my liver ache for hours on end, but thou art it so worthy!! Sat in the City Park and looked at Juifkes (Jewish) children play - nothing is more hilarious than their curly wurlies jumping up and down when they run around! Am considering letting Jeffke grow some for comic effect...

I'm currently tuitoring English to Maxim, one of my babysit children from decades ago. He's now 14 but I've known him since he was 1 and crowling around the floor with a nappy on. He didn't appreciate me reminding him of that fact. At moments like these, it hits me how much I love teaching. Got totally into making flash cards and other cool excercises last night. GEEK. I think I might place an add in the Friday Add when we move back to tuitor literature, GCSE and A-level English. I've done it in the past and loved it then. Plus, the money can become our Saturday morning in Cafe Nero-money!

Have been reading the Russian Constitution all day as we have a test next week. Not sure what they can ask though - please expand on Chapter 7, article 152, point 4? I don't even know the Belgian constitution! It should also be mentioned that the whole book is one big lie (my appologies Mr Putin, but it has to be said) - Chapter 2, article 29, point 5: "Freedom of media is guaranteed and censureship is forbidden". I don't think you need to have been to Russia to know this is a blatant lie!