Last night, last weekend, last week

Am fully aware of my slacking. Have also read on Yasmine's blog that it's vital for her general well-being to keep up blogging so here we go...

First of all, am swamped with work at the moment which doesn't help. Am Project Managing the latest London Fire Brigade job, managing a Fire Safety leaflet laid out in Quark, translated into 19 languages. (the most exotic ones first). Quark is officially doing my head in as I still haven't found out how to attach the original artwork to the master prints. Anyone? HELP.

On top of working during the day, I tend to take on some evening work as well... New translation agencies are contacting me every other day and it's very difficult to say no to new business relationships (and money!).

This weekend, Kurt and Co came over from Belgium. I met Kurt at the Proms and we got on like a house on fire from the start. He has 3 adorable children, Laureanne (5), Jenoah (3,5) and Yannalotte (8 months). They all have very different little characters and are extremely well behaved. On Saturday we went to Groombridge place, which is where they filmed Pride & Prejudice. Their Giant Swings, Giant Rabbit and Enchanted Forest get even adults excited!! We were very lucky with the weather and had a brilliant time. The kids (and the adults!) had a wicked day of crawling up, under, over and in things. All of us, and I believe Stu even more than the kids, were exhausted from a day out. Fell asleep like a baby. Stu had some slight issues with the waking up pattern of young children but I can assure you, there's nothing better than seeing Stu being woken up on a Sunday morning 8 AM with a 3,5 year old jumping up and down on top of him!! (I told Jenoah to do so; they really are well educated so he wouldn't have done so otherwise - mind you...?!) :-)

After they left on Sunday, Dan and Stu had the most genius idea of going to Ikea with the trailer. Dan was buying bookshelves, Stu and I would finally get the bed we've been trying to purchase for the last 5 years. Got the aisle number etc, got to the end to pick up all the bits and pieces and then realised they didn't have the actual bed frame in stock. @$%&"£! Went back home with with all the other bits apart from the actual bed. (even got a new duvet cover!) However, Stu and Dan decided to go to a different Ikea last night and hurrah we now have a bed!! At 00.07AM Stu got back home (he first helped Dan to put his bookcases together) and decided to build the bed. By 1.04AM, after annoying the lady underneath with the banging and drilling, we managed to climb (we're off the ground!!!) in our bed...

Whilst Stu went to Ikea after work, I decided to garden. I first worked in Stu's dad vegetable patch, tieing up the tomatoes, digging potatoes, picking beans and cutting some rhubarb for crumble. (Now his mum and dad are in Denmark with the boat, I'm in charge of the garden!) I then continued gardening at home, doing my flower beds. I worked out that gardening for 3 hours is as intensive (and cheaper!) than going to the gym... Spent the rest of the night in the bath with Harry. I'm half way through and am determined to finish him by this weekend. Which btw is when Jana will be visiting; my cousin who's working as an au-pair West of London. She'll be coming down on the train on Saturday and we'll drive her back on Sunday - can't wait to see her private jacuzzi! (might need to sneak in my bikini just in case)

Torrential downpour

Drove to work this morning although it looked like the evening was falling. By the time I got to work, the skies opened and rain came out like I've never seen it. Not even in Florida. It was absolutely pitch black outside, lightning flashing through the skies and a curtain of rain stopped you from looking 2 metres in the distance. As a result all the manholes started spitting out water and the office car park started to flood. After 15 minutes of absolutely chucking it down and no end to it in sight, people from other offices decided to move their cars as their exhaust pipes had disappeared under water! A foot of water in 15 minutes, it must have been some form of record I'm sure.

Luckily I drove to work in Beast which is a metre of the ground. Stu surgically implanted a new heart - read battery - yesterday and he's running smoothly again.

Went to the doctors this morning to get my back checked out. I'm still suffering from rather painful aches due to being stuck in the same position for over a month trying to finish my degree. I really do look like an old lady waking up in the morning. Doctor prescribed me physio. Jeej for getting free massages on the NHS. Boo for probably having to wait 2 months before I can get an appointment.

Went to the Star in Old Heathfield yesterday to celebrate our 5th Anniversary. The Star has been my absolute favourite pub in England because of its cosiness (the ceilings are that low, Stu needs to duck when he enters), the food (wicked chef and brilliant menu - written on the wall btw) and atmosphere (it has 2 big fire places you can sit in).

Got there and the menus on the wall were gone, were replaced with paper menus (now who would do such a thing!?) and many of the cute wonky tables had disappeared as well. Turns out they changed owners, have a new chef and changed the menu entirely. The lasagna I'd been looking forward to, for the last 4 months probably, wasn't on the menu any longer! WHAT?! Nor did they do the scampi and chips anymore. Stu and I told the 16 year old waitress we were thinking of heading home again. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She did come back however telling me the chef would do me scampi & chips if I wanted to. Yes please. Stu got the T-bone steak which was done and not medium rare, and our chips were Mc Donald's chips and not home made ones. Poo-hoo. Last time we went there. (they've got a lovely beer garden though, perhaps we should just drink there instead)

First attempt to my new health regime

6.20 PM. Went into the pool (with glasses on – first time there, I wouldn’t have had a clue where to walk, go, swim or put my towel down without my glasses!). St. Johns is the town sports centre a bit further down the road from us. I’ve always known it was there, I’d just never actually been there.

7.10 PM. Sixty lengths and 1,5 kilometre further, I came out. I did surprisingly well considering I have not worked out for 6 months. Felt incredibly alive and full of energy even though my legs were a little wobbly and my left hand went in a spastic cramp for about half an hour.

7.45 PM. Arrival at Sainsbury’s to shop for delicious salad and healthy food. Walking through the crisps isle, Sarah and I were drawn to the half a price off offer of (talking about poetry!) Sensation crisps. Decided to buy 3 bags, all different flavours, so we could spread eating them over the next 3 weeks. Naughty.

8.10 PM. Climbed back in Beast. And then it happened. The Beast died. Not even a clunk, nothing. Phoned Stu to come to the rescue – thank god for having the Vectra at home. Thought about opening up the bonnet and pretending I knew what I was doing but decided against it.

8.15 PM. Still no Stu. Sarah and I were getting increasingly hungry…

8.20 PM. One Sensation bag of crisps down.

8.21 PM. Got rid of the evidence by throwing the bag in a bin at the other end of the car park.

8.30 PM. Stu arrives and decides the battery has had it. He manages however to jump start it with cables so I could drive home. However, if I was to stall the Beast, he would die again. Tremor and fears.

9.00 PM. Finally got to eat my lovely and healthy salad but felt surprisingly full after a few bites.

Talking about adventure

Went to the wedding on Saturday. Was a clear day – can’t really say it was sunny – but at least it wasn’t tipping it down, which meant I got to go up in the plane!!

And not only did I get to go in the plane, I got to fly it myself as well!!!! Stu and Dan drove me to Mr. Royce’s house, which has a 5 kilometre drive (and I’m not joking). Mr Royce then introduced me to one of his pilots who was going to take me up in the air. I was given some brief instructions on how to behave in a small aircraft. And when I say small, I mean small. I wasn’t quite sure whether it would go up in the air as it just looked like a steal frame with a curtain around it. I was asked about my movement sickness, which is pretty much non-existent, and was explained how to open the door if I would be sick mid-air. Hmmm.

The flight itself was brilliant. I got to see the sea in the distance, the South Downs, Mayfield and Crowborough on top of the hill, and obviously the wedding guests who had all gathered outside and stood waving at me. In taking in the scenery I nearly forgot to take pictures… After doing several circles around the farm, he asked me if I wanted to have a go. So there I was, holding the steering wheel, going left right and centre. Absolutely brilliant!

(spot the landing strip!)

The rest of the night was spent dancing and eating a very yummy hog roast. We were the last ones on the dance floor and actually turned the lights off when we left. Everybody crashed at Ad and Lucie’s, where we had some bacon butties to get over the hang-overs. (may I note I didn’t drink all night and actually drove all the drunkards home – 7 in the Beast + 4 crates of beer) Cosy.

During the evening Chris and Lin also announced they are going to have a baby!!!!! Jeeej for all of us growing up!!!!

Wedding weekend

Have to attend Jamie's twin sister's wedding tomorrow. Weather permitting I will be taken up into the sky by Mr. Royce to take pictures of the farm from above. Apparently his son his turning 21 tomorrow and they are having a big party at the Rolls Royce estate; I'm just hoping he won't have had too much to drink by the time he takes me up in his plane. Must also make mental note to wear some form of shorts underneath my dress as I'm thinking it could be pretty windy up there, and guests might start taking pictures of me instead of me of them...

Work got a little busier towards the end of the week which makes time pass more quickly. Still not the biggest Brainjuicer fan though.

Went late night shopping to buy a dress for the wedding and ended up running to Starbucks for a Chocolate Frappachino. Probably been a good year since I had one last. YuMieeee.

Signed up on Facebook.com, which seems to be very much the latest fashion. Cool thing is that I found loads of ex-MW Summer Schoolers on there!

Will post some pictures after the weekend. (also of the flat - I know I'm slacking!)

Brain-dead

I have never ever known work to be so quiet is it is currently. There's literally not one project at the moment which means I've resorted myself (and everybody else in the office) to update the Supplier's lists. Although these are much in need of an update, which should have happened half a century ago, it's drop dead boring to say the least. There's only so many emails you can sent out each day asking for the same information. If this continues any longer, I might get permanent braindeadness - a serious condition which is lacking proper research if you ask me.

Danny's pictures of last weekend are online!

Not much else going on at the moment. Being out of the house from 8am till 6pm on a daily basis makes me not want to do an awful lot in the evenings... It's difficult finding the energy and enthusiasm to continue unpacking boxes, painting and cleaning when the only thing you want to do is curl up with a book in your bath. It's all about compromising I guess.

We did make an attempt to go to Ikea yesterday to buy a bed - JEEEEJ - but realised that it wouldn't fit in the car. Poo. Think we might measure the trailer to see if that would do the trick and then perhaps give it another go, maybe tonight. Anything is better than sitting on your knees in the bathroom scrubbing dirt of tiles!

Moving-in party

It was so nice to see everybody together, to have some yummy food and to drink Pimms on the lawn. And, we were so lucky with the weather, it turned it into a very good weekend. There was lovely barbecue food and Lin and Lucy did an amazing job with the puddings! We even had marsh mellows around the 'barbecue turned into bonfire'. All very lovely. The Tour de France on Sunday was pretty cool as well, although we did wait two hours beforehand on the edge of the road, to then see them fly passed in under 5 seconds. But it was fun anyway, doesn't happen every year that Kent hosts the take off.

Am very excited that Kim Clijsters is pregnant!

Am also very very excited that an increasing amount of people have started blogging!! Keep an eye out for Mie's blog and also Sarah who's going to start this week as a try-out for when she's in Russia next month.

So far, she's doing really well on her second day at work. She also hasn't grabbed my arm yet in the car, but probably because it looks like the pheasant, deer, rabbit and 'Moose' society is on holiday at the moment.

Saw Bella real quick this morning but she was more excited about going for walkies then she was seeing me... That's what you get when you don't see your God-dog on a regular basis.

Went for a very long walk with Stu last night. Although we said we'd wait until January to start looking for a house to buy, it only took us a week to get excited! We walked to our 2 favourite streets in Tunbridge Wells to see if there are any houses up for sale. There was only one, but the garden looked too small - never mind the asking price!

Damn it.

Just as I was about to write 'First rainless day' as my blog title, the heavens have opened!

Stu took me out last night – (S) shall we go to that fancy restaurant to celebrate? – to (L) Pizza Hut, which was all good. I managed to pass first go, which is all a bit of a fluuuuk really. I did extremely well on the English, Dutch and optional courses I took, but (obviously) slacked on the Russian ones. But after all, I managed to get a distinction (2:1) thanks to the high marks for of all the other courses, for which I worked my ass off! So I’m pleased and can now start to relax and enjoy the summer.

Party weekend is getting nearer. The weather is looking increasingly hopeful – touch wood – so I think everybody can leave their wellies at home. Haven’t been down the garden since I moved last week but from the air (looking from the back of the house, we do live quite a way up) everything looks nice and green. The weeds are all growing again thanks to the monsoons we’ve been having on a daily basis, one of the bushes seems to have grown a beautiful white flower (or at least, that’s what it looks like from a 50 metre distance) and the fence which had fallen over because of the next door neighbour’s tree is still up (just about).

Really looking forward to Sarah staying over for 5 weeks! It’ll be cool having a driving partner again in the car – let’s just hope that she’s not an arm squeezer like Carrie used to be when a pheasant jumps in front of the car!!

Still haven’t put any pictures up as I realised last night that the pictures I took on my phone aren’t of the best quality when blown up. Have now been able to locate my proper camera and will do some snap shots later.

Nearly there

We’re starting the see the end of the bathroom… After another evening of hard work, I managed to get the bedroom looking exactly how I wanted it to be. Although we still don’t have a bed, we’ve fitted the extra Ikea wardrobe, and with the three of them standing next to each other, it looks really good. Stu is going to paint the chocolate wall at lunch time so we can put a second coat on this evening. This weekend consisted of unpacking boxes, putting things together, stacking Stu’s old Uni boxes in the loft and unpacking even more boxes. The kitchen is pretty much there, just some surface cleaning to do and getting rid of the final bits and bobs. The living room is fairly empty as we didn’t take the sofas back, although in Stu’s head, his flashy flat screen is turning the room into a cinema so I might need to put him straight on that one. Started building my wooden crate-library and it looks fantastic!! Can’t wait to properly have my office set up in there. (Stu has currently installed himself there so I need to make sure he doesn’t get too comfortable!) Hopefully we’ll get everything sorted by the weekend when we’re expecting 25 people to stay over.

Weather is absolutely atrocious; I don’t think it has stopped raining for more than 15 minutes since I got here last week. The road back home was fully flooded on Friday and it felt like I was on an off-road session at times… On days like that, it’s good to be driving a Beast. Started counting yesterday, and on average, I pass 5 other Land Rovers to work. 4 out of 5 do the I-drive-a-Landy-as-well-so-I-will-lift-one-finger-to-show-you-I’m-cool-too greeting; only one old granddad, who shouldn’t be driving cool cars like that anyway, didn’t.

Work is the same old. I just pick up where I’ve left off. Doing some preparation for DVX as well as I’ll need to give more and more training now BJ is gone. David mentioned a trip to Washington yesterday… Ooh what a bummer.