F1 in my head

I was going to have a lie-in this morning...unfortunately I had a nightmare and so I'm up early.

The nightmare was a strange one...I was at work, at Christmas, and attempting to merchandise the charts - with ten Lewis Hamilton hardbacks and twenty Lewis Hamilton paperbacks...

The thing is, last Christmas there were 7 biographies of him, plus his official autobiography. But if he actually wins the championship this year then my nightmare might become real!

I think this dream was a delayed reaction to the broadcasting bias of the British Grand Prix last Sunday.

Don't get me wrong, I loved watching it. It was the first race this year that I've watched with Emily and Brychan (which always makes it better), plus the fact it was a wet race meant that lots of people spun off in humorous ways (most of them near to Sebastian Bourdais - I think he has his own gravitational field that was throwing people off).

The problem with it was actually the same problem that has plagued all the races this year - ITV and James Allen having multiple orgasms over Lewis' ability to "race".

James decided to compare Lewis' race to Senna's race at Donington, which made Anthony hit the roof.
Let's just go into that shall we... Lewis was second on the first corner, and took five laps to pass his team mate (who rather obviously moved off the racing line) - Senna was fifth on the first corner, and first by the end of the first lap having passed Schumacher, Wendlinger, Hill and Prost (that will be passing his three championship rivals and another driver for good measure).

I think that if James Allen compares Lewis to Ayrton one more time, Anthony will track him down and follow Coulthard's lead.

Now, don't get me wrong, when Lewis started racing last year I was looking forward to seeing a British driver racing for the championship. But after ITV have declared him the "People's Champion", decided that every single track guide lap should be one of Lewis', interviewed his dad rather than show an interview with the race winner (on the numerous occasions the winner has not been Lewis)...

Plus Lewis himself has changed from a guy who was very eager to push himself as a normal home-loving guy, British first, black second; into a guy who has *moved* to Switzerland "to avoid the media scrum", who has a celebrity girlfriend and lots of new celebrity friends (like P Diddy, who did a Black Power salute when Lewis won at Monaco), who cites Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King as his two biggest heroes (but then muddled up a MLK quote in his press conference).

*breathe*

I shall stop ranting now, but this fabulous cartoon sums up the Hamilton hype quite nicely.

Girlishness - I don't really have it.

My gene for face masks, shoes, earrings, gossip magazines and dresses seems to have been mostly taken over by the one for Warcraft, football, motor racing and CAT boots.

However, I think it's planning a comeback.

As well as that footstool I just mentioned, I also ordered a dress from Additions.

It's from the Trinny & Susannah collection which very much put me off at first as I really quite dislike that pair. They're just a bit too mean for me and I'll stick with the lovely Gok.
But this here dress has changed my mind a little.

I liked it on the page, so I thought I'd order it and if it's crap I can just send it back.

Oh. My. God.

It's beautiful. Not quite as nice as the sexiest-dress-in-the-world but it comes very close. It's not as dressy as that dress which is the main reason (men everywhere will be puzzled by that sentence).

This dress is lighter and floatier, and also much more forgiving.

But the real reason I think it awoke my girly gene...I tried it on and thought:

"I'm gonna need some new shoes to go with this."










(What's that? You want to SEE the dress... sorry. Here it is)

This week I has been mostly...

...squeezing gunk into my eye.

My eye flared up again on Tuesday and off I trotted to the eye infirmary to get them to sort it out. Verdict - possibly an allergic reaction, possibly due to pollen. POSSIBLY bloody nothing, if you don't know what the fuck it is then say so!

Ahem.

Anyways, more gunk for another week and more only being able to see out of my left eye, so yet more pirate jokes from Anthony and more pokes in the ribs from Rich D.

Meh.

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Today however I have been attempting to do some housework. (I hate that word). Washing up and laundry, yawn. But I am also a happy bunny. The other day I ordered a lovely Moroccan Footstool from Additions. I love the look of the things but have never had the cash. Now I have one and it was pretty damn cheap. Ok, so it's not truly perfect, and it doesn't smell of leather (mmmm) but hey, it does the job I need it too and fits with my style.

I was also thinking about my "style" the other day. When we were round at Angie's (my ex-next-door-neighbour) her other half Paul (who'd just driven me and A to and from the eye infirmary) described my style as Swedish something-or-other (I will find out exactly what he called it and put it here). It's what he also described Angie's taste as. He was saying that the number of times he's seen something and thought she'd like it, and then she's seen it and said how much I'd like it is just ridiculous.

Eclectic is how I tend to think of it I guess. I like shabby chic - but not all the floral. I like the New England type of style, lots of white and blue. But at the same time I love the dark wood of my dining table, and long to upgrade my bookcases to the Leksvik ones (which Angie just happens to have too). So my footstool doesn't really fit with the shabby chic/New England bit of my style, it goes in with the jewelled cushions and exotic side.

I think partly my dislike for florals is cos I'm just not that girly (as discussed before). But I do like some florals, in fact I adore my Cath Kidston writing paper - I just don't really want my sofas covered in it. I think it's a case of less is more, I might have some of her napkins but only with a plain white tablecloth (which would be very impractical in this house).

I am rambling now and losing my thread.

Healed...

...by Phish Food.

Ahem.

I followed the lead of wonderful Caroline when on my day off yesterday by adding Google Reader. I spent a happy half hour or so adding blogs to it and then getting it set up to my satisfaction. The only problem with the bloody thing is that when I'm trying to fill in time by reading blogs...it cuts this time right down.

Luckily Michelle is discovering some new ones for me!

Hopefully once my sister gets into RADA (not trying to jinx you, doing the positive thinking thing) then she will blog more (even if it will all be about technical lighting stuff etc).

Now I'm back off to Outland and then early to bed.

Happy happy, joy joy.

So you've had a bit of a pants day but you're being good and not just eating crap when you get in.

Then your mother phones, she asks how you are, you tell her, she tells you not to moan to her...and then moans to you.

Pizza and beer for tea then.

Meh.

(I love my mother really, I really do. But sometimes, just no.)

Friday Night

Friday Night
Originally uploaded by Petronella Rose.

In my posh dress, as taken by Miss Katie of W on her phone (which is why it's blurry, but I like that!)

All dressed up and no place to go...

Anthony is on nights at the moment.

I hate it when he works nights.

Ok, so it's better than the 5-1 shift cos I can at least talk to him in the evenings and we can play WoW together.

But I still hate it.

I miss him too much.

Silly Kate.

So I am cheering myself up by reading ALL of the Stephanie Plum books. I am up to book 10 which means I have 3 more to go and then a gap as book 14 is not published until June. Have no fear, I have lined up all the Rachel Morgan books (by Kim Harrison) and all of Kelley Armstrong's books to follow on with.

But at the moment I want to be a bounty hunter and hang out with Lula and flirt with Morelli and daydream (and get nervous about) Ranger.

The books have definitely made me feel more kick-ass and chirpy though. So chirpy in fact that on Wednesday when I had overslept and felt a bit pants and so had cherry coke and M&M's for lunch - a customer gave me his mobile number.

Another side effect is that I want to dress up a bit. So I am sitting here in my nice black kitten heels and a sexy black frock. Unfortunately I have no Bucks Fizz (to drink from a pink champagne glass) so I am making do with a litre bottle of Stella instead.

This explains why my typing is like this...and also why I think I just scared the milkman when I opened the door holding my drink, oops!

Cadburys Flake...

...or actually not.

I have been flakier this week than the last couple, mainly because I am doing this again. I did it back in the summer and it worked well, but for some reason I never managed to go back onto it after coming back from holiday...

This week has been bloody hard work but as Anthony has kept saying to me "If you can do it this week, you can do it anytime!". I have cheated slightly though, I've been drinking a little milk which is verboten. I've been doing this after nearly fainting a couple of times at work, low blood sugar + running about at work = not good.

I'm feeling good about it today though, even though it's day 5. I have lunch in front of me: lovely deli ham, strong cheddar cheese, pickled onions, celery and pate (the pate goes on the celery). M&S have been helping me out by having an offer on pre-prepared chicken tikka (the sort you can add to salads etc) which has been lovely for work lunch on days I don't fancy smoked salmon. Breakfast is the difficult meal as I have to eat it but always feel sick eating in the morning. Safest solution so far has been a whey protein shake which also makes me feel sick...

I have done some cooking this week, an attempt at Beef Stroganoff on Monday and Spag Bol last night (but no Spag for me).

Otherwise I have been doing much the same things as last week apart from eating Creme Eggs!

Yes I'm boring, go read Caroline's blog instead - she has been doing amazing things!

Temporary Hiatus

I went to the doctors on Wednesday. I've been feeling terrible for a few weeks now, nauseous all the time and very rarely hungry, then when I do eat I'm sick fairly soon after. Mostly not sleeping properly, going to sleep ok, then waking up for four/five hours and then falling asleep just in time for my alarm to go off again. Although my general mood has been fairly upbeat, altogether I've been grumpy and short-tempered because of the nausea and tiredness. (and no, I'm not pregnant...)

Anyway, on Wednesday I woke up and was sick, but there was blood in it. This made me panic and actually go to the doctor. Now the blood was apparently nothing to worry about, he thought that was just because I'd been being sick a lot and because it was always quite sudden. (Sorry for the TMI here guys).

But apparently all the being sick and not sleeping are signs of reactive depression. I told him about everything with Dad and my depressive history and that I'd never had symptoms like this before. I know how to cope when I feel blue, but this? no idea.

Basically he's signed me off work for two weeks. He wanted to make it 4, or better still 6 but I just couldn't do that at this time of year (2 weeks off is bad enough). I have to go back and see him on the 21st and if he's not happy, then I don't go back to work for another 2 weeks.

So for the next two weeks I will be about a lot. I will be doing useful household tasks (washing-up, cleaning), going for a walk every day, and working on mum's cross-stitch as well as some tiny little Christmassy ones that I've had free from various magazines.

Just so you know I'm being really productive...











I've added all the proper Armory links to my sidebar too. (I know, I know...)

The End

Well, I did it, it's the 30th of November and I've blogged every day for 30 days.

I've learnt from it that my life repeats an awful lot, that most evenings I'm not in the mood to write about anything, and that trying to blog every day and read all the other blogs I want to read is difficult. (I have discovered quite a few new favourite bloggers too!)
I have perfectionist issues about my writing, blog posts have to either be written and rewritten over and over, or written fast and published straight off. As for my whole pretty notebook obsession...

It's all been fun though.

As for today at work...RichieFingers did not need teaching anything about the English language, although he does think that anyone born in the 40's is a pygmy because of rationing.

Friday again

It doesn't seem like a week since I was running round at work trying to explain the English language (more better? betterest?) to RichieFingers...oh yeah, that's cos I had to do it again today.

He's stripping off (wait for it) the front hardback table (see, not rude) and then started putting the books back on from right to left rather than left to right.

RF - "Oh god. I'm doing this table backwards. What's it called when you can do things equally well with both hands? Ambivilent?"

Kate & Faye - "Erm, ambidextorous."

RF - "What's ambivilent then"

K & F - "Not really bothered"

RF - "No I am, what's it mean?"

*sigh*

I'm at work both days this weekend so you won't get intelligent posts from me. You might get funny ones, it depends on how many daft customers we get in.

Friday!

...and I've got the weekend off!

Today contained all of the elements that make a Friday at work so much fun:

A customer complaining that our shop was too cold - after walking past the guys replacing our front window (broken after some drunk attempted to dive through it two weeks ago). We can't work out how she didn't realise that the lack of a window would result in a very cold shop.

RichieFingers rearranging the Humour table and then saying "There, that looks...Kate? is it more better or betterest?"

Looking everywhere for The Girl's Like Spaghetti which we got on Wednesday and nobody can find. Supposedly in Children's Reference (I'm sorry, the "Discover" section - stupid rebranding) but not to be found anywhere, even in Cookery.

Putting millions of stickers onto millions of books, Christmas in retail is SO much stickering, I mean fun.

----------------------

Ok, my brain has frozen up after a cold day at work (even Chris H was cold and that's NEVER happened before) and since my boiler is having hissy fits I'm going to snuggle on the sofa with one hot man and two cute cats.

Meh

Having a very bad day today so instead of misery you can have one of my Wiki lists.

1. 84 Charing Cross Road
2. Frank Doel
3. Bookselling
4. Bookstore Tourism
5. Wine Tourism
6. Winemaking
7. Champagne
8. Dreyfus Affair
9. Nazism
10. Jingoism
11. UN-American
12. Hollywood Blacklist
13. Charlie Chaplin
14. Thomas Harper Ince
15. William Randolph Hearst

Essential Bookselling Traits

(inspired partly by a very strange conversation that I had with Faye).

A booksellers job is harder than you think. Not only do you have to sell books to people, you also have to decorate things with bits of cardboard, lift heavy weights, have the kind of brain that can solve complex crossword puzzles when all the clues are missing and also read minds.

You must not react angrily when a customer calls you a liar because the book they want to buy is only in hardback but they've seen it in paperback somewhere else, oh yes they have! Or they read in the paper that the new Anthony Horowitz book is out today and the fact that you only have it in hardback is obviously some kind of a con. I really thought that this particular customer was going to explode with indignation. In the end she just stormed out of the shop - and then came back today and bought it, from me, pretending that she didn't know who I was... "I saw this yesterday but didn't think your colleague could be right when she said it was only in hardback" - MY COLLEAGUE??? That would be the OTHER tall blonde girl we have on the staff, the one that is also me...

As well as the thick skin needed to deal with those people you also need actual thick skin. This is because the biggest enemy of the bookseller is papercuts - on my worst day I had a total of 15, that's including the one just above my right eye where a shelf strip whipped up and caught me. All those nice bright pieces of cardboard that you see, actually covered in blood smears on the back. (but we make a point never to bleed on the actual books).

The genius mind is needed to help out all the people who come in asking for that new book "about tractors", "the blue one that was on tv last night", "those bikers, the hunky ones", "that one about him off the telly, you know, the tall man" (answers at the end). This does often give a sense of achievement as you've been able to work out exactly what these people are talking about.

Heavy lifting comes in not only with lugging piles of books about the shop attempting to make neat piles on tables. The tables and browsers have to get there somehow after all. That 7ft tall dumpbin in the kids section? Dragged up the stairs by me and Faye (she pulled, I pushed) and then dragged into place by Chris as our arms had turned to jelly.

Heavy lifting is also needed when you are carrying one of those big armfuls of books and then a little voice says "Do you work here?" One day I will answer "No, I'm a shoplifter", but until then I will say yes and listen to their enquiry and then find them the book they want, all without putting the armful of books down because if you dare to do this the customer will look at you with disgust and decide that you are being rude.

Rude is something you cannot be when working in a shop. When customers walk past the big obvious pile of the new Ewan McGregor/Jeremy Clarkson/Wilbur Smith/Martina Cole and say "Do you have the new Ewan McGregor/Jeremy Clarkson/Wilbur Smith/Martina Cole book?", and you point and they say "Where?" and you walk over to the big pile of books and get one for them and they don't bother to say thank you and just sigh because it took you all of 10 seconds to walk over to the pile next to the customer and hand it to them, but you took too long....

Yes I have had one of those days...

So, to recap. Hide like a rhino, genius brain, very strong, ability to keep a smile on your face while you're wishing that they'd never been born.

Then you smile and say "Next please. Can I help anyone?"

"about tractors" - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian.
"the blue one that was on TV last night" - Planet Earth.
"those bikers, the hunky ones" - Hairy Bikers (not Ewan McGregor, lose five points).
"that one about him off the telly, you know, the tall man" - Paul O'Grady.

Cold and Grumpy

That about sums me up at the moment. I'm having one of those times where I can't really get warm, then if I do I'm TOO warm. meh.

I also have a stinky cold.

I opted out of the world last night and curled up on the sofa to read my new book The Mitfords - Letters Between Six Sisters which I bought with my dad's birthday voucher that he never got to spend. (I figured I'd better buy something vaguely "serious" with it). It's brilliant and absorbed my attention all evening. Poor Anthony had no option but to spend the evening going through dungeons on WoW.

If it hadn't been for last night I don't know how I would have coped with today. Vast quantities of stupid questions from customers, an overly concerned colleague who can't seem to stop saying "how are you/your mum/your sister/Anthony/the cats?" and then today told me she'd been thinking of things to do for my divorce party. I know she means well but what!!! *deep breathing*

I did have a rather nice moment when I discovered something on our work discussion boards. Ages ago I had a problem with Lynx needing Irish postcodes (you just put EIRE in the box instead) and a nice chap called myincubliss_in_canterbury helped me out. Then when someone else had the same problem I answered them. I got thanked and told them to send their thanks to myincubliss as he was the true hero. Today I was on there looking for something and happened to click on myincubliss's profile - where in the quotes section is my comment thanking them! That instantly made my day!

In other news that is not very interesting but about as interesting as it gets, I went to the library last night and got myself some books to read including the new Phil Rickman book The Fabric of Sin. I like these books, they always turn up at the right moments. I read the first few quite a long while ago (in fact, I borrowed them from Mab which puts it about 2004) and then have found the new ones as and when. I haven't read the previous one but will pick that up tomorrow, in the meantime this one wants reading now. It's a bit ghosty which means I shall not have to read too much in bed as Anthony is back in Brum tonight. It also meant that when I was in the bathroom and reading it (long having finished what I'd gone in there to do) and the mirror fell off the wall - I jumped very slightly. I didn't squeak though!

I am going to my warm sofa (with hot water bottle, blankets and cats) to eat some Wispas and read some more.

Everything is broken at the moment.

My memory is shot, I have to keep making lists of things I need to do but then I keep losing the lists. It took me five minutes to get a yogurt for breakfast this morning - I got it from the fridge and went into the living room, then back for a spoon, then back again because I'd taken the yogurt back into the kitchen with me and then forgotten to pick it up again.

I can't listen to music, most of my music is stuff my dad listened to or stuff that sounds like it - so most of it makes me cry. I was doing fine at work listening to Sting but when the CD changed to James Taylor I had to go hide in Goods In so my sobs wouldn't scare the customers.

I forget for about five minutes at a time maybe, then I remember that the world has completely changed and the bottom drops out of my stomach. I see a book or hear someone say something and think "I must remember to..." and then stop and try to breathe through a throat that's just closed up.

I've been trying to write on here since Saturday night when we got back but every time I've tried nothing has come out. I keep thinking of blog posts in the middle of the night but I'm aware if I get up to write it then it will be gone and I can't get the words down on paper fast enough to get it all out before it goes again. I keep thinking that I have to get my thoughts about his funeral down on here because it was so long ago now, and then I remember it was only last Thursday.

I can't begin to think how this is for mum and Emily, mum being in an empty house and Emily being so young and already "half an orphan". I start to feel bad because it's got to be much worse for them and then feeling guilty for the way I feel and then Anthony will tell me that I am allowed to feel like this.

(and now I feel guilty cos I just opened the door to the milkman and had to explain why I was crying and why I've been away so much and he was just so lovely)

When I had the miscarriages and when Andy left I felt terrible, the worst I'd ever felt, but I knew everything would be ok in the end because my dad said it would be. But now he's not there to tell me everything will be ok and I can't believe anyone else.

I know this will pass, I know that one day I will not automatically think of phoning him when Orient aren't unlucky or when Alonso crashes through a fit of pique. I know this MUST be true - I just wish it didn't have to be.

I'm so glad they came to visit in August, that we went out for dinner and talked about old holidays and silly family jokes, and that when mum said something hurtful to me dad just rolled his eyes at her and made me feel better. That although I wasn't there when he died my last memories are of him smiling and joking and being absolutely himself.

He was the person that knew me best. We are so very alike. He made me who I am. At least I don't have to be scared of losing him anymore, since I've already lost him.

Now my terror takes the form of the next phone call being bad news about Emily or Anthony or mum. I'm not sleeping at night because I'm not tired, but I'm yawning all day. I'm either starving hungry or feeling sick so eating is a gamble, by the time I've cooked something I feel sick again.

Everything is broken and I don't even know how to start fixing it.

Book Queries

Books I have been asked for recently:

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (Yes, it's a real book)

That new childrens one about the rubber ducks - not 10 Little Rubber Ducks but Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks (which is not a childrens book)

The second book by the fridge guy - that'll be this one then.

Today I also had a phone call where I was asked the following:

Caller: I'm looking for a book
Kate: Yes....
C: It's called Downpour.
K: There's nothing coming up, can you give me the authors name.
C: I'll have to spell it, D-W-O-P-S and the first name is Wayne.
K: *sigh*
K: Nothing coming up for that (thinking: but you know that don't you)
C: Can you just repeat the book you're looking for please.
K: *sigh* Downpour by Wayne Dwops.

Then I sighed again, rolled my eyes and hung-up.

It turns out that I was phoned by Scott Mills. Not only that but Emily heard me on the radio. She said it hadn't sounded like me (which is a small bonus I guess).

I'm just doing the listen again thing from his site...

Update! The one that's in todays broadcast isn't me! Yay! That's probably why it didn't sound like me. It was also slightly after 10 that I was phoned which could very well mean that it was either them recording ahead, or some bored student copying the radio.

Looking for the Moomins

Today I made a promise to Campbelli that I would write a blog tonight, one on Saturday, one on Sunday and one on Monday because she wanted something interesting and strange to read. It would probably have been better if I had some vague ideas of things to write about before vowing to do this, but then again if I'd HAD ideas for stuff to write about I would have blogged it anyway.

My head seems strangely empty at the moment. It's like my internal dialogue has turned itself off. I don't know if this has anything to do with my mother telling me that she worried herself when she did something silly and the little voice inside her head said "Now we both know that you didn't want to do that." Both!?!

Anyways, my head seems mostly vacant. It might be because my life has changed completely since I moved house. Not in a "I've had a stroke and have to learn to talk again" kind of a way, just in a "I've pretty much stopped watching TV and now spend my evenings attempting to unpack boxes and then giving up and going to play WoW" kind of a way. Surely this should mean that my head has more time to do its own thing without trying to figure out who did what in CSI, but this seems not to be the case.

I've also developed even wonkier eating and sleeping patterns than normal! This is something I'm working very hard to sort out as it's quite annoying spending mornings at work like a zombie and then being bouncingly awake until 1am. I've even started trying to eat breakfast again. Ok, so it's either a SlimFast cereal bar or shake, but it's breakfast! (and a bit more nutritious than a Mars bought on the walk to work). I've even cut down on the alcohol. Again, it's mainly cos I've got a taste for bitter shandy at the moment so I'm drinking that rather than Kronenbourg but it's an improvement.

I've taken to listening to my iPod when I go to bed in an attempt to switch my mind into sleep mode. A nice dose of Pratchett audio while I play solitaire and the light dims down. I just have to try getting to bed earlier. I did try playing music instead of the books but that wakes me up too much so I shall just have to hang onto my Audible subscription for a little longer.

(I'm rambling now and have lost all direction in this post, can you tell)

Right. The title for this post came from the fact I was listening to Green Day on the walk home and discovered that in When I Come Around he does sing "I'm just looking for the Moomins" at one point. I thought that this would be a good title for a blog post in which I could ramble on about the music I've been listening to lately. But it's too late and I shall do that tomorrow instead!!!

Rollercoaster Ride

So this morning I went off to sign my new letting agreement for my new house. Got there at 10.30, read through and signed the contract, then had to take a quick detour into town as they couldn't take my deposit off my debit card and I don't have a chequebook.
Holding £950 in my sweaty little hands was quite nice, although Anthony insisted that we didn't walk back to the car past work in case I was overcome and spent the lot on books.

So, contract all signed, money handed over and key obtained! Yippee!

Then we went over to the house...

Basically for a house that's just had new heating, new carpets and been decorated, it wasn't really "finished" (as those TV people would say). There are marks on the walls by the paintwork and stains on the new carpets. Fine I thought, I'll just make a list and take photos so I don't get penalised at the end. Bit of rubbish in the garden, again, this can be sorted.

Came back here and did a bit of packing and had a nap as I was shattered, although Mr Nightshift couldn't get any kip so he's been up now for 24 hours... (not good when he's trying to disconnect my washing machine).

We went back over there to hoover the carpets ready for tomorrow and to write a list of the marks etc. Three A4 pages later I decided we'd better go see the letting agents. Basically, as well as the marks and unpainted pipes (which are just cosmetic so not that hard to live with), only two of the doors actually shut properly, we couldn't find any way of making the shower work, and in the passage between the houses where you can take the bin out, you can look up and see the floorboards of one of the back bedrooms. Most of the things were there when we viewed it the other week, but then they hadn't put the carpets down (they only went in yesterday) or finished off so I just thought they'd have fixed them.

Anyways, the list is with the letting agent and they're going to speak to the landlord tonight. I will almost certainly be moving in tomorrow and Sunday as I can't really move at any other time due to work etc. The guy at the agents is going to sort it all out apparently - I'll just have to trust him.

I did annoy myself by almost crying when trying to explain to the letting lady about why I had to get this done. Work this week has been very stressful and next week with certainly not be any easier so I wanted moving to go as smoothly as possible.

Ah well, that's life. It's all a learning experience.

I'm off to pack more things, I just hope that everything in the house gets sorted double-quick, that Virgin Media can connect me up nice and quickly, and that I hear some fabulously good news about Miss Campbelli on Tuesday night!

PS: I do have a 1kg bar of Dairy Milk for when I get overwhelmed!

Photographing your own back is difficult

Yes you can see I've been scratching, bad Kate!

I'll get Anthony to take a better one tomorrow.
Then you'll actually be able to see what it looks like properly!