magictreehouse | Entries tagged with james' family

Christmas has been a pretty successful affair, although it's not quite over for me yet as I've not seen my family yet! My haul's been very good. James' presents had a broad muppet theme and I got:

The Mupper Show Season 3 on DVD
A cuddly Count and Janice
Angel 'Smile Time' graphic novel
Muppet Christmas Carol Soundtrack
A Swedish Chef mug
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind Graphic Novel
Cuddly Totoro
Monty Python Fluxx card game
A Muppets Christmas DVD
'Animal' belt
Sesame Street DVD 1969-1974
Sesame Street 40th anniversary
Various chocolate goods

I haven't looked through them all properly yet but the Sesame Street stuff, especially the book makes for fantastic reading. I'm quite into the Muppets (good job eh?) so seeing what work goes into the shows is really interesting. We watched the first Sesame Street episode the other day and James keeps singing the songs round the house. In 1969 the only characters to appear were Bert and Ernie, Big Bird, Kermit and the Cookie Monster (who doesn't even eat cookies!).

Ourliving room on Xmas day

My presents to James weren't themed at all:

Tetris Cube
Zac Efron calendar (so fucking hot)
Cow candles
Black Eyed Peas 'The E.N.D' album
Beyonce 'I Am...Sasha Fierce' album
The Argyle Sweater 2010 desk calendar
Top Trumps tournament
Cows In Action book
Mr Bump stress reliever
Mr Bump mints

Think that covers it all. Oh, and a cute toast cushion which I bought for both of us as I loved it! Haha. We played with the games and stuff a fair bit during the day. We've got various other bits from James' family too. Too many chocolates and biscuits, Ross Noble DVDs, a strange penguin thing, a digital photo frame (re-inventing the wheel? We're not convinced by it yet!).

James with toast cushion and other various gifts

On the day itself we played games and cooked the dinner. Very exciting as we'd never cooked a Xmas dinner before. It was a roaring success though. Should have taken a photo of it but we forgot! I was dead pleased with it though. Once that was eaten I'm ashamed to say that we watched a lot of TV. Top Of The Pops (I sung along to everything naturally and it was tonnes better than last year even though it still had Fearne 'The Programme Murderer' Cotton [who appropriately turns into Fearne Bottom when you type it into predictive text] and Reggie 'Please Punch Me In The Face' Yates), The Queen, The Gruffalo (beautifully animated), Doctor Who (OK. Got better. Too much confusion and contrived goings-on at the beginning), Strictly Come Dancing (vaguely), The Royle Family, Gavin And Stacey (Like week old sprouts. ie, off the boil) and Catherine Tate's Nan's Christmas Carol. Quite surprised by The Royle Family. I can take it or leave it usually. I find it a bit too depressing, like a lot of stuff about 'normal' families but it's miles better now they've left the house! A good day all told.

Me looking quite smug with my gifts

On Boxing Day we braved the shops just to leave the house. Town was busy and a lot was open. We did pretty well. We got the DK Prehistoric Life book from Smiths which we'd been after for a while. For dead cheap too. I bought the Ministry Of Sound 80s 3CD set, although I think I've over-dosed on electro 80s a bit now :s. I also got three pairs of trainers in the Schuh sale. I'm quite excited by this as I've never owned so many pairs of trainers!

Yesterday we went to visit James' family. The farm was nice, still all snowy, and we got fed lots and although we didn't do a lot it was nice enough. We played Scrabble today. I won the first one, James' Dad the second. He's worse to play board games with than James, haha. Julia and James' Dad don't get on all that well and Julia always blame me for his behaviour when we visit. Unfair! He'd show off with any visitor!

Caught in bed with another man

Back home now. Quite glad that we've got a break before we head off to my family for New Year. I want a rest!

Current Mood: thankful
Current Music: Annie - Don't Stop

This weekend's seemed quite busy really. On Saturday we went to Skipton as James' Grandma was visiting. We probably went a little early really as we were a bit bored and the house was so warm that we were half asleep! James' Mum made us a nice tea though so it was worth it for that. We were back for about nine which wasn't too bad. Yesterday we went shopping around town. I hate it usually but I was clothes shopping so it wasn't as bad. I did pretty well overall. I bought a coat which I consider quite a success considering that the only new coat I've ever bought was from Primark two years ago. This is more like a 'posh' duffel coat though. I feel quite grown-up in it. A worry. Managed to do very well in H+M all told. It's finally good again. There was a time when my entire wardrobe was from there but I haven't bought anything from there for years. I struck gold with the long sleeve T-shirts though, such is my style nowadays. james is quite grumpy to go clothes shopping with which is quite amusing. Especially when we go in places like Topman, it makes him quite potty-mouthed despite him having quite a bit of success in there. Still, I couldn't persuade him to buy a stupid hat.

We watched Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe the other day. I think it's a one off as it was basically a short history of gaming and then a run down of all types of genre. it was really interesting as he seemed to be coming from the same I do when I talk about games. I thought what he was saying about creativty and story-telling was bang on the money. A lot of the current stories in games come from people who have just watched a load of films and replicated them in games, like Grand Theft Auto. That's not to say that those types of games aren't well done. GTA is very intricate and well made game, but you end up with an immense game which is propping up a weak-as-dishwater story. The only place that that doesn't seem to happen is with RPGS which often have a brilliant story with a well-crafted gane. This is possibly down to RPGs often being made by Japanese developers. It's not all bad though. It's just frustrating sometimes playing games from an 'educated' view. I don't want to just shoot things and kill things in the most gory way possible, I demand creativity, something fun and involving, ingenuity. It exists but you have to fish through an awful lot of crap shoot-em-ups to get there. But then, the clip at the end which was from about 20 years ago said exactly that, so it's hardly a new problem.

Last Wednesday we went to see 'Up' in 3D. And God it was good. Wall:E and Ratatouille have been my favourite Pixar films so I was ready to let this one lull a little I guess but days later I'm still thinking about it. It really affected me quite a lot. I could tell from the beginning that it was going to be an emotional roller coaster. And that picture montage nearer the end made me cry (no mean feat I can tell you). I was glad that Pixar had gone back to doing comedy/dramas as opposed to drama/comedy's, it made a nice change. It was beautiful too and the 3D really added to it, which I didn't expect. A woman outside the cinema afterwards was taking comments from people who had just seen it and excitingly our comments are up on the website: http://web.orange.co.uk/p/film/details/up?lat=null&lng=null Unfortunately I sound like a simpleton. I was much more eloquant and my comment of it being 'joyous' is missing. Boo to that. It was very strange how the cinema was full of 20-somethings. No kids at all. But as James rightly said, people our age have grown up with Pixar and it's a nice thing to have. And it's interesting seeing how the films have grown with us and how they will continue to develop. So yeah, I loved it.

I think the only other main thing worhty of note is that I've been listening to lots of music. Stupidly I'm buying old 80s stuff while still buying lots of new a stuff. I must curb the spending for a bit. But y'know, the Strawberry Switchblade Best Of was a fiver. What are you going to do? Other albums I've been listening to include the new Natalie Imbruglia (excellent but really needs more than 10 tracks in order for the album to breathe more), Dragonette (bloody good!), Venus Hum (not what I expected, less intense than their other stuff, still great though) and Saint Etienne's 'Foxbase Beta'. Richard X's done a great job of updating the album's sound while not wrecking it totally. Oh, and I'm still listening to Dannii's 'Neon Nights'. Where has that album been all my life? Oh, and of course today is Annie day! If her new album isn't in my post box when I get home in ten minutes I will kill someone. Mind you, it's not like I've been waiting 18 months for it already is it?...

Talking of music, I'm thinking of starting a blog (on Blogger which I think is much nicer and better than LJ funnily enough) dedicated to music lists. It'll be for me more than anyone else but I want to do some kind of countdown of the 00s best singles. I've got a spreadsheet going and I just add songs to it when I think of them. I'm on about 350 so far but I want to cut it down really. Dunno how long to make it though. Bah.

Current Mood: busy

On Wednesday night we headed over to Skipton. As it was James' group night we went to the cinema, except that nobody but us turned up and even Ellen preferred to go home rather than stay and watch the film (she does live in York though), so we got our tickets paid for anyway! We went to see The Time Traveller's Wife. I have missed Skipton's Ye Olde Cinema with one screen. Anyway, the film was really good. Ignoring the rather creepy bit where the naked man appears next to a six year old girl obviously. However, it was just nice to see something involving time travel taht was neither complicated or science fiction and although it by no means an amazing movie some of the scenes were really nice and it looked very nice. I really enjoyed it actually and proved that not only can you make films with a love story that aren't awful, I can actually like a film with a love plot. They're just usually awful! My favourite film is a rom-com of sorts after all. Mind you, Amelie hardly a rom-com by numbers.

Anyway, after the cinema James' Mum picked up and took us back to James' family's house. We watched Dragon's Den and just chatted really. I do like going back to the farm house. It reminds me of good times. Actually, it was the first time we'd slept in James' old bed since he moved out. 2006 was an awful time in many ways but visiting James' was so great, we had a lot of fun because our weekends had to be spent well, so it's glad that I now see those times as being good rather than hard and depressing like they actually were! I don't know how we coped for two and half years with just seeing each other every other weekend. Thankfully we don't need to do that anymore.

Yesterday morning we headed into Skipton early to have my hair cut, and run a few errands and then we went to visit James' grandparents. Ate a lot of food but I had a nice time. I do love seeing their garden and they seem very well. A good time was had by all I think. James' Mum drove us to Clapham station and we got back to Leeds at around 6.15pm. Now we're here for a day and then we're off to Austria tomorrow! I do hope it'll be a relaxing holiday! I'm looking forward to it though, I love exploring new places. And we'll be celebrating our fifth anniversary when we're away. Scary! But good obviously.

Right, off to see if I can get any last minute clothes for hols in the sales!

Current Mood: busy

I must update about my birthday fun. So last Saturday we headed to Tropical World which was brilliant. We got in free as we're Leeds card holders and we got the bus for free as we'd won £6 on the Eurolillions the night before! So it was a good day out in all. We had a nice lunch there which was great and the weather on the whole was really good too. It's good to see that the meerkats have got a bigger enclosure now and the reptile bit is back so we got to see some great animals. It was fairly busy though so I did get very irritated with people banging on the glass at nocturnal animals. Yeah, very big and clever.

After we'd done Tropical World we went arouns Roundhay Park which is really nice, it's just a shame it's so far out of Leeds really. And then after we'd wandered around there we headed back home for a bit. In the evening we went to Little Tokyo which is possibly my favourite restaurant ever. We got served by a great waitress who was trying to teach james how to use chopsticks, not with much success I have to say but she was very niec to him, where as I just laughed at him! I had a duck bento box which is always always amazing, and we had cocktails and I had coconut ice cream for dessert followed by a very strong coffee. James has hot chocolate with rum after and let's just say that it's a good job that he wasn't driving! I had a great day though, really nice.

On Sunday 3rd we headed to Driffield to see some of James' family. It was a good day overall. We stayed with James' grandma for most of the day and saw his cousins, auntie and uncle during the day too. James gets very annoyed with visiting his auntie and uncle and sometimes his cousins too as they never ask us about what we're doing. I can understand his frustration really and I don't even think that it's because there are loads of young kids around now either. You'd just think they'd ask us stuff as they don't see us very often. I don't even think they know that much about me really, well, not stuff they'd have heard straight from me anyway. Anyway, it was a good day. The night not so much as James wasn't very during the night. We still don't know why but it didn't make his birthday (which was the next day) worth celebrating. Poor mister man. I'd even made him nice birthday stuff too.

So yeah, bank holiday Monday wasn't all that fun as we didn't do a lot. We decided to postponed James' birthday for a week! Just as well really as I'm still waiting for one of his presents to cmoe through! I'm still waiting for some cards too (still not got yours yet Lucy) so God knows where it all it is.

In the week I got some of my presents through the very slow post. I got some Xbox360 points from my family and also a bonsai tree set which I'm really pleased with. I've planted two to see how they do and I've saved another two in case things go horribly wrong. It's a slow process but I'm really worried it'll go wrong because they're meant to be difficult to grow. Does anyone have any experience with them as I really want it to go right! We also watched my Librarian: Quest for the Sacred Spear DVD which was brilliantly fun, especially as it had Kyle Maclachlan playing an evil librarian.

Speaking of which, I've found a great job to apply for. It's Harewood Project Archive Assistant which sounds amazing. It's only for six months though and only 15k but it'd be good just to get my foot back in the door. I've been a bit frustratd with work of late, I'm just a bit frustrated that even though I've been out of uni for four years I've never been able to get of the starting block as far as wages are concerned. And I know I'm quite capable of working in a higher paid job, there are plenty of people I work with who are earning more than me and they're no better than me. I guess have risen to 17k but as I'm only working for four days a week it doesn't really count. I just want a better paid job! Is that too much to ask?

While I'm on a work note, OfSTED came this week. Only for a day but as I'm on my own I had to organise the whole thing. It went well but I was in a meeting with them, answering questions and all the time thinking 'why am I still here, I don't want to be in education anymore' so I'd better get another, better job soon.

In other crap news, we're still fighting to get our deposit back from the last house. Turns out it's been sent to our old landlords (nice of them to tell us) and they want to keep £200 of it for carpet cleaning. We need to see the emails and sort it next week so we can tell them to fuck off. It's so unfair and we've been moved out for 8 weeks anyway and we've had to do all of the chasing for it so it could get ugly.

Better stuff now. This weekend's been really nice. Yesterday we went to Leeds City art gallery which we'd never been to before. We ended up spending most of the time on the lower ground floor in the natural life bit which is really great. I ticked off another two prehistorical fossils that I'd always wanted to see off my list as they have a Hypselosaurus dinosaur egg there and a Megaloseros skeleton. The former is the biggest dinosaur egg ever discovered and the latter has the widest skull of any mammel that's ever lived. Strangely, both of these facts were absent from the displays. The reason I originally wanted to go to the museum in the first place was that they were meant to have a computer game retrospective exhibit on which sounded brilliant. However, it wasn't on. We asked about it and apparently they hadn't got enough funding for it which I was saddened by as I was really looking forward to it.

In the evening we went to the cinema to see 'In The Loop' which was very funny. I'm not a big fan of all the swearing though, not because it offends me, just because swearing in itself isn't funny at all but I did enjoy. A three out of five affair really. There's loads of stuff at the cinema we want to see. Hopefully the next week will bring Coroline and Wolverine and then Star Trek a little later when it's got quiter.

Music-wise it's electroclash week this week with new albums from Peaches and Fischerspooner (and I think Miss Kitten although I don't have it). Peaches 'I Feel Cream' is brilliant and it always amazes me that even though she work sin quite rigid template she always does something a little different, she really is a very underated gem. The new Fischerspooner album is really good too, possibly a bit more accessible than there others although that's never been a problem for me.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Peaches - I Feel Cream

Christmas has been mostly good. For most of it we seem to have been watching stuff we've taped, even though there doesn't appear to have been much on TV worth watching. However, on Christmas Eve I did make two white and two red mulled wines and a mincemeat tart which I'm very pleased with. On Christmas Day we opened our presents from each other. I got quite a good haul all told. I got a pirate T-shirt, a cow on a spring, some books, Xtina's Best Of, and lots of other bits of stuff. I was pleased anyway :D James seemed pleased with what I got him too. That High School Musical has seen some action anyway as has Lego Batman on the PS2. At around half 10 we headed to James' family and I opened more presents including some wildlife DVDs off Julia.

Then there was a lot of food! We had a fish salad starter with prawns and salmon, then the usual for Christmas dinner and Christmas pudding for dessert followed by cheese and chocolates. Not surprisingly I was very full at the end of it but it was all very nice and James' Mum did a good job overall. We only stayed until about half 4 when we came home and then watched stuff on TV for the rest of the evening. Oh, and I gave my family a ring too. We watched Wallace and Gromit, The Royal Family and I skipped through Christmas Top of the Pops. Despite me being pleased that they've revived it for Christmas I found it was mostly crap so I sped through it in no time. Girls Aloud were good but they seemed to have missed out some of the more interesting (and obvious) hits of the year. No Pink?

Here's where it starts to go a bit downhill as at half 6 in the morning I woke up with a real bad pain in my abdomen. So bad that James called an ambulance for me! It seems a little surreal thinking about but it was slightly less amusing at the time. It took forever for them to arrive and by the time two paramedics did come into the bedroom the pain had gone. The advised not going to A+E since it had gone so we agreed to just have a quick few tests done so I headed out to the ambulance outside the house. God it was freezing! They tested my blood sugar and blood pressure and all was fine so I went back inside. The pain returned about an hour later but after that went it didn't return, even though there was a little uncomfortableness for quite some time after. I'm back to normal now though. I'm still puzzled as to what it was and it wasn't nice at all. I'm just glad I'm alright now. I did feel a guilty for putting James through this again though, so much so that I burst into tears while we waited for the paramedics. Not good.

On to more pleasant things now. The past few days we've been watching DVDs, including The Muppets Take Manhattan (good stuff!), playing DS and PS2 (Lego Batman obviously), finishing off my latest great Jasper Fford book (The Big Over Easy) and just relaxing really. Today we ventured out to the sales which really just meant picking over Woolworths corpse. The Skipton closes in two days and there isn't much left although I did get 4 CDs and a DVD for £13 which is pretty good all told. It was a little weird though. Some of the shop was condoned off, like a bomb site, and you could even buy the shelves if you wanted. People are quite nostalgically attached to Woolworths and I get why. Crewe never had one so when we went to Nantwich or on holiday to St Ives we always used to go, if not just for the toys. But with Crewe being a good town you could get other things that Woolworths sold elsewhere apart from toys. Now I'm in Skipton though not having a Woolworths will have quite a big effect (not only because our local toy shop closed recently either) and I think that small towns will be worse off by them all closing. For stuff like games, and silly stuff like baking stuff I don't really have much option apart from going to Leeds. And with Zavvi on its way down too I do wonder what will happen to the high street in the near future.

Tomorrow we're off to spend New Year with my family. I've planned nice stuff to get us out and about so it should be good :) Better get on with that review of the year hadn't I?!

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Timbaland - Shock Value

Right, I need to write an entry because my entire life is getting on top of me and I've not had chance to sit down and do one for ages. Damn queen? Moi? I really do feel like that at the moment though. I wasn't even that busy this weekend but it just seemed to fly by doing stupid stuff like going recycling and shopping. Anyway, more on that sortly.

On Friday I basically got a day off work to go and help with the College's graduation. Because we're a small Uni we have our courses vaildated by Leeds University and so our graduation was there, in the Great Hall, which is a really nice venue. It was also really good that it was a beautiful day, untypically mild and sunny for this time of year (so that's where the summer went, we're having it now!). Anyway, there were two ceremonies and me and Liz marshalled one each. I shepherded people in the morning which was fine and then we went to a really posh lunch/buffet that the Uni had done for us. It was so lovely that we all just wanted to stay there. I have to say that the whole day was really enjoyable. I got to chat to other work people who I wouldn't normally see that often. I chatted to Amy about her new job and others so that was nice. In retrospect that glass of wine at dinner followed by coffee wasn't such a good idea. Not just because I spout rubish when I've been drinking but I needed a clear head for what the hell I was doing at the afternoon ceremony! So, after lunch (and God that lunch was good!) there was the second ceremony which I did. I had to wear a gown and carry a medieval stick too! So bizarre. And just like my own graduation there were all manner of costumes that people were wearing. It was great! Walking through everyone with my stick and then sitting on-stage wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I'll probably end up doing next year in an attempt to attend a Graduation every year. The year after will be my own though! Someone took a photo so I'll try and get hold of it soon.

As previously mentioned the weekend was mostly taken up with house stuff. We did a lot of this on Saturday because we cooked for James' parents in the evening. We had a deal that James would do the main course and I'd do the dessert and it turned out great! I'm still really pleased with how it all went actually. James did baked cod topped with tomato and breadcrumbs and I did banoffee pie (on recommendation from James as her banoffee pie is legendary for being chewy as hell!). We even did melon as starter. So yeah, it was a sucessful night! Hoorah.

Over the course of the weekend we ended up watching some films. 'My Little Eye' being the first one. I wasn't going to watch it but made the mistake of sitting downstairs when it was on and got sucked into it! I'm not really a big fan of horror movies anyway so wasn't all that keen. Nothing seemed to happen until the very end (which I liked) although the tension was held high throughout, but I felt that because of this structure it dragged a bit. It wasn't bad though, although it wasn't my kind of thing. 'Dick Tracy' should have been more my kind of thing but it was just odd! It was enjoyable and the look of it was great but there was something not quite right about it that I can't quite figure out. Maybe the structure? Maybe Warren Beatty's face not being able to express emotion (was botox invented in 1990?)? I wish I knew.

Time just feels like it's flashing by at the moment and it's making feel rushed. I don't feel like I have time to sit down and do anything that isn't controlled by extraneous factors. Work's the same. I've been in meetings alllllllll day today, graduation on Friday, off last Thursday. I don't feel like I've done any of my own work since last Wednesday. Everything needs to slow down and I really need to start doing Uni stuff *cries*.

I must say that this is the first year in a while that I've not done anything for National Terrorist Day, sorry, Bonfire Night ina while. We were going to go to Bolton Abeey which would have been great but James isn't feeling too great. I don't mind but I do miss it. I like fireworks!

Ooh, Dragon's Den's on now!

Current Mood: rushed
Current Music: OK Go - Oh No

Well, first things first, I'd better update as I didn't get chance yesterday. There don't seem to be a lot of people online at the moment and as a result I'm feeling a little cut off from everybody.

Anyway, the weekend. On Saturday we headed off to Leeds. We had time for a little shop, although I didn't buy anything, and then time for dinner before heading off to the Grand Theatre (again), this time to watch The History Boys. We were a little taken aback by how old the crowd were at first, so many biddies and so many groups too! Anyway, the play itself was absolutely brilliant. I have to say that it's one of the best plays I've seen. I didn't know much about it beforehand and I hadn't seen the film so it was a nice surprise. I really liked the video clips we got in between scenes which averted your gaze away from the scene changing in from of you as well as the little songs that were occassionally sung. It was also brilliantly acted which helped to really suck you as well as being hilariously funny.

Funnily enough, my line manager at work went to the evening performance and had exactly the same things to say about it. David thought it raised a lot of interesting ideas about teaching, but then, he is one himself and thinking about it, I suppose it did, especially as I agree that 'education is the enemy of education'. For me though, the main thing I liked about it was the way that, as an adult audience member I could really empathise with both sides, the kids and also the teachers and I think that's what helped to suck me in the most. James took issue with the moral dubiousness of it all which I had no issue with! Ha! 'I'm small, I'm Jewish, I'm homosexual and I'm from Sheffield. I'm fucked!' Hehe.

Sunday was equally busy as James' parents took us to see his Grandma in Driffield as it's her 85th birthday this week. It's a two hour journey there and I've found out that I can't play DS in the car as it makes me feel ill :( Boring! I hate car journeys! However, we had a nice day. It was a lot less stressful this time around as last time I was there it was the Christening. This time however, it was more relaxed. We went for dinner at a really nice carvery, and I had a massive Sunday dinner. I had Yorkshire puddings for starter too which I think is fairly hardcore. For dessert I ended up with a lemon brulee which I thought was going to be hot but was actually cold. It was really nice though, even though I've never had one before. They also played 'Stars'by Dubstar in the pub! Always a pleasure!

After dinner we headed off to James cousin's for a cup of tea. Sally and Gill were both there along with accompanying young children. I'm usually a bit awkward around kids but I was a proper hit with Holly, the two year old, however, I was just hit proper by Jack the horror. I think he might be three. Either way, cousin Rand clearly has a way with children (not to be confused with having his way with children, I'm not Michael Jackson).

I also must mention the vicious rumour that seems to have got around about our supposed moving to Leeds which I don't understand because it's never been an issue. Discussions arose about it and not once did the point about me not liking Leeds as a place to live occur. Yes, we could probably save money moving now that James has a job in Leeds but I still don't like the place!

By the time we got back it was late and dark due the clocks being put back so we didn't really do much. And then, last night James was writing an essay for his OU course so I went upstairs and read for bit, listening to Soulwax remixes, before Dragon's Den. Oh, I gave my Mum a ring on Saturday night and she has managed to acquire her two DS machines as a prize from work (she's been waiting for them for weeks) and so I'm trying to persuade James to buy one off her. I want someone to play DS with! I have just started Pokemon after having my train journeys sucked away by The Settlers. Gotta catch 'em all! I really need to get the wireless thing sorted out so I can trade online. Oh yes!

I really can't be arsed with work. Although there's only another day to go before I'm at Uni on Thursday and then I'm helping with Graduation on Friday! Odd.

Current Mood: apathetic

In my last post I said that I thought that we'd watched another film but I'd forgotten what it was. It turns out that I was right. We watched 'C.R.A.Z.Y'. I was a bit silly to forget really because I really enjoyed it. The passage of time was done really well and it was nice to see that a film can deal with 'gay' issues without a character having a breakdown or something similar. It had a wider scope than that as it was basically a film about a family and all the issues that arise during twenty years. So yeah, it's a really enjoyable film. After finally figuring out that it was a Canadian film I realised that I hadn't watched one before. This weekend we've watched more films. On Saturay night we went to the cinema to see 'Shoot 'em Up'. Now I'm not Clive Owen's biggest fan and I wasn't sure if I was going to like the film at all but it actually turned out to be very good and very funny. An oddly limited amount of explosions for an action film but there were plenty of shoot-outs in plenty of silly places. It wasn't a spoof exactly but it was more of a comedy than anything else. It reminded me a bit of Scream but for the action genre, kinda spoofy but serious too. Then last night we watched 'Volver'. I have vowed to watch more Almodovar after loving 'Bad' Education' and although 'Volver' was good it didn't blow me away. I think the problem was that it didn't seem to be about anything in particular. The family stuff was done well but as for an over arching theme, well I'm not sure there was one. I did like it though and I really like Penelope Cruz.

All I've done this weekend is eat out. For lunch on Friday me, Amy and Bex went for dinner at the new restaurant across the street. I can't remember what it was called but it was really tasty. Bistro's maybe? Anyway, I had a smoked haddock fishcake with chips that came with a poached egg on the top. Mmm, yummy. I would have loved a creme brulee too but I was full sadly.

On Friday night, in order to celebrate Julia's leaving for university, I went out with James' family to Carlo's in Colne. I had Duck l'Orange which was incredible tasty too. Surprisingly I'd never had it before and I'm glad that I did. Yum yum. I get quite self-conscious around James' family sometimes, for the simple reason that I seem to spend the whole time laughing, mostly at James' sarcastic remarks. I hope they don't think that I'm a maniac. But yes, we had a good time. Julia even went so far as to say that she now has two brothers. I politely told her that I had enough siblings as it was! Still, she went on Sunday and I think she's ok. James has said that she can ring us if need be and we'll go and visit her when she's settled. We can be her cool, older gay sibling and much hotter boyfriend. Oh yes, street cred ahoy.

James is starting his Open University course soon so on Saturday he went to Leeds for some meetings about it. I met him afterwards but they're doing work on the line between Skipton and Leeds so I had to get a bus for some of the way. I got chatting to a woman who asked if it would offend me if I sat next to me with her dog. I said no and so got a woman and a dog sitting next me. I'm not a fan of dogs but this one was lovely. He wasn't a Bichon Frise but he was very much like one, black with one white paw. Very cute. So I was chatting to her on the way. The dog took a shine to me too. Just call me Dr Dolittle.

On an animal theme, once I met James we went for a shop and we bought The Blue Planet, that BBC series that was on a few years back. Animal documentaries are always something that I caught bits of and always really enjoyed so we've vowed to watch more. BBC DVDs are so well put together too. I love zoos so it makes sense that I'd like programmes about weird and wonderful animals. After shopping we went Nando's, which I've decided I'm not keen on. If I'm at a restaurant I like to have everything done for me, that's what you pay for right? Well, at Nandos all I seem to do is get up for very various things and can't just enjoy the meal. I've just become too accustomed to a luxuorious lifestyle haven't I?! Hehe. After tea we went ot see 'Shoot 'Em Up'.

Sunday was spent not doing a lot really. We had a mammoth game of Monopoly. I lost so let's not talk about that. I also wrote an email to the library and watched 'Volver'.

Current Mood: bouncy

This week's been a pretty quiet one really. I gave my family a ring on Wednesday night to catch up on all of the news and James mum came round last night. James' parents have just come back from Iceland so she came bearing gifts :D A cuddly puffin, a bookmark and a cow pencil case, which we can use for our future studies! Unfortunately for her though, which she was in Iceland she slipped and tore the ligaments in her ankle so she's on crutches at the moment :s. Still she had a good time. Much like James actually, who had been for a drink with an old work mate beforehand and come home tipsy before his Mum arrived. Disgraceful behaviour.

In other family news, my Great-Grandma has been taken to hospital. She lives with my Grandma and has been bed-ridden for years and suffers from Alzeimer's so the whole thing is quite sad I guess. I've never been as close to my Dad's side of the family though so I'm not as hard hit by it all as I could be. That's not to say that I'm not affected by it at all though. I was thinking about her last night. Stuff like the family party we had when she was 90 (she's 95 now) and visiting her at her house before she lived with my Grandma. My Grandma's obviously upset and part of can't help but think, once she doesn't have to look after Nanna Curzon then she can enjoy her retirement. I don't mean that in an awful way, it's just that my Grandma has two brothers who've not been all that supportive in the looking after of my Great-Grandma and so she's been left with the task alone really. Anyway, enough of that, whatever happens, 95 is an amazing age to live too and she is a great-great-Grandma three times over so that's nothing to be scoffed at!

Right, happier stuff, Lucy is visiting us tonight which I'm really looking forward too. I shall be buying some vodka, peach schnapps and fruit juices in order to make some crazy cocktails, and we will be raiding those charity shops tomorrow! Work is hectic so I really need this weekend!

Current Mood: busy

Right, I must write about the weekend. Although I think that the only major thing that happened was a trip to visit James' grandparents in Ingleton. It was lovely to see them and they plied us with all many of food stuffs and made James put up some curtains. Well, he's got to have some use right? After dinner we had a look round Ingleton itself. We would have gone to the waterfalls but you have to pay to go and see them! Crazy. But that is one walk we will do sometime soon I think. It was lovely weather up there too and it was slightly baffling that, on return to Skipton, it was really grey and cloudy.

After Boots royally cocked up with proceedings we finally got our Paris photos back, so you know I'll be making a photo post soon :D Amazingly, they're even better than we first expected. I'll have to have another look through them tonight I think because some of them really made me laugh. I want to go back!

Well, actually, I'll end up being really busy over the next few weeks. Lucy is coming up which'll be great and will make a nice change from me going to visit other people rather than visa-versa (that's just reminded, remember Visa-Versa chocolates? They were like Minstrals except there was one type which was milk chocolate covered in white chocolate and the other set was white chocolate covered in milk chocolate. They were dead nice!). Worryingly, it's two weeks until I go back to uni! Frightening. James has signed up for his Open University course though so that means I'll have a study buddy too. which'll be nice. But I start on the 27th September and that same night I'll be going to York to see Ross Noble (Hurrah!), and then we'll stay the night there and come back home, have a break and then head to Manchester on Sunday to see Darren Hayes at the Lowry! Brilliant! I really can't wait. Plus, I'll get to see Salford docks and the Lowry. So yeah, it'll be nice to see a different area of Manchester. And then, after that we stay a night and come back home. Over the past few days I've been booking tickets, getting days off and booking hotels so it'll feel like a mini holiday. Wonderful stuff.

Current Mood: excited

Yesterday on my train to work we stopped just outside Leeds:

'I apologise for the delay. If you look at the right hand side of the train then you can see, what I assume is the cause of this delay'.

Everyone looks. Two brown cows trot past, seeming to be quite happy wandering about, having escaped from a near-by field. Oblivious to the chaos being caused they proceed to wander about the side of the track, eating exotic plants and revelling in their new-found freedom. A poor railway worker runs past, aided by a van who try and corner the cows away from the line. They disappear for a bit. The the cows are seen running the other way, it's like an episode of Scooby Doo. Thankfully, it wasn't long before the cows were lead away from the line and we were on our way. The joys of the country!

James' new car is now sat in our parking space. Hooray! It is lovely, although he can't drive it yet because it hasn't been taxed - but it looks nice! We've even sat in it, unable to go anywhere.

I'm going to send off the acceptance letter for my course today so I've been having a think about that. It starts on the 26th September. Now, a while ago James suggested that I could go part time and fit my course in around my current job. Naturally, because I'm stubborn I said 'No boyfriend! You are wrong!'. However, it's not such a bad idea. I'm aware that it's a crappy time to go even with two months notice because of the preparations for a big audit in November, plus David is on leave for all of August. Also, I'm been given a pay rise which I've (apparently) earned so I must be doing something right, and going part time would actually make my current wage approximately what it is right now, so I wouldn't feel a difference. Money is a big problem for fees and the like.

The problem is that with the re-structure my line manager now will not be my line manager when I'm due to go in September so I'm a bit stuck as to who to talk to. However, I have a probation review in a few weeks so I'll raise it at that. Has anyone negotiated going part time before? And if so, how did it work? I have to bear in mind that it's a two-year course so I have two years to gain library experience. And we were having a meeting about our new tean and I felt quite good about it, it seems like we can have quite a good effect on the College (mmmm power!) and I felt quite positive about Plus we have a new Virtual Learning Environment which, if I get to work on, will be good library experience for me. So yeah, lots of positives to doing it that way. I just have to raise it. Eek! It makes sense in my mind but whether they'll go for it, I don't know.

James' grandparents came to see the house on Tuesday and it was a hit :D I wasn't there as they came during the day. It's my Grandma's 93rd birthday on Saturday so I'll have to give her a ring. I've got a card to send her anyway :)

I've just been talking to Liz and Eleanor about moving to York (as Liz lives there) and apparently house prices are not bad, due to student populations. Also, it's not as expensive as you'd think apparently. So it'd be nice to do that eventually.

Current Mood: thoughtful

At around 4 o’clock on Friday I had a sudden panic that I wouldn’t be able to get home from work due to the flooding scenario. I checked the websites and most lines out of Leeds were flooded so off I trotted to the station to try and get home. I got there to be told that Skipton-bound people should head to Bradford and get a train from there so that’s what I aimed to do. Trouble was that all the Bradford-bound trains from Leeds were two coaches so the first one I tried to get on was packed so tightly that they wouldn’t let anyone else on. So I had to run to the next one and wedge myself into the crowd. Great. Some semi-amusement was provided for the brief trip in the form of a woman scorned who was shouting at her cheating boyfriend over her mobile threatening him with such classic lines as, ‘I’m going to fuck your mother’. Note that this is only labelled semi-amusement because it was funny to begin with but the second time she rang him the carriage literally groaned.

I got to Bradford Interchange then had to walk to Bradford Forster Square in the rain and then hang around for a Skipton train. Considering I’ve only been to Bradford once before I thought I did quite well getting to the station. Weirdly, when I did get a train home it was quite empty. It took me two hours to get home in total!

The weekend consisted of the following:

On Saturday I had a hair cut and got my new contact lenses. Thrilling stuff folks.
We watched stuff like ‘Hustle’ and ‘Boston Legal’ (the first one anyway – very good although I keep thinking that everything William Shatner says I’ve heard on his album!). Oh, and Ellen’s stand-up. She’s a funny lady. I especially liked her doing her coming-out story through the medium of interpretive dance! It weird to think of the ho-hah behind it actually, especially since there are so many gays in our entertainment industry. Weird.
I made a chocolate blancmange. Yum yum.

On Sunday me and James went to his old house. Neither his Dad nor sister were in it was just his Mum. It’s funny. We were in James’ old room at one point and it still smells the same. It made me quite nostalgic. I especially miss looking at the cows from his bedroom window J It reminds me of the summer. James’ Mum made us lunch consisting of salmon. Yum yum. We also picked some elderflower in preparation for wine making although whether we actually do it or not remains to be seen. We don’t have enough bottles or time to do it or anything big enough to do it in. However, we have the flowers in case we get the urge. I do want to do it one day!

Sunday also featured the dress rehearsal for the play. Things have gone great for sound and lighting. I am a little worried though because the programme we’re using at the moment is a trial version and an annoying little window pops up telling you this every so often so I have to pray that it doesn’t pop up during a sound effect and it *will* do, you just know it will. For some reason I’m really nervous about this one even though things have gone better this time around.

I mostly spent the rest of the time playing Tomb Raider 2. See Lara jump! Run Lara Run! Etc.

I forgot to mention that I’ve whizzed through Kate Atkinson’s ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ which I really enjoyed. It’s such a well developed character piece. I like that about her books though, her characters always seem to be very grounded in reality and fully encompass the human details of everyday life without them ever seeming boring. I love the pinches of human littered through the book too. I’m reading ‘Not The End Of The World’ now, also by her which is all short stories. There’s a Buffy reference so I’m pleased. It’s been far too long since I watched Buffy.

I've just rediscovered The Wannadies. Mmm. And I've just realised that it's five years since they last released new material! Par even wrote a song for the new Sophie Ellis-Bextor album but it didn't make it onto the CD damn it. Get to it guys!

No news on my MSc application either. Grrr.

Current Mood: okay

The weekend was a little different from the norm. Although I wasn’t feeling totally 100% on Saturday I was well enough to go to Leeds, so that’s what me and James did. Oh, I got a hair cut first. Thrilling stuff. Anyway, we got to Leeds early enough to have a general shop about. I got a white shirt and some other clothes from BHS of all places. Every time I go in there I’m always pleasantly surprised by what I find, especially because they’re the only place I know that has a wonderful array of stripy socks for men I bought five pairs. Hehe. But God my feet look good! I also headed for the Corn Exchange. After waiting an age for Watchmen to come from Amazon and then cancelling it I figured I’d just buy it instead, however pricey it may be. So I got it from Travelling Man and I have yet to put it down since I bought it. It’s a movie in comic book for and I love everything about it, the characters, the drawing, the script, some of the frames are as well-thought out as a directed film. I guess it’s for this reason that I think that it will make an excellent film. Like Sin City, it’s all already there. Dr Manhattan’s nakedness is an obvious sticking point but as long as they keep the bit in where he makes two of himself in order to ‘please’ his girlfriend I’ll be happy.

We then had dinner in the little green area where we always go, even if it’s now far too close to where I work. Still, the Playhouse is just round the corner so we didn’t have far to go when 2 o’clock came. I’d never been to the West Yorkshire Playhouse before I was impressed. The stage we saw The Tempest on was halfway between it being in the round and a traditional stage. Me and James we both really impressed by Northern Broadside’s take on it though. Wherever I’ve read The Tempest I never really think of it as a comedy but that was how it was done and it worked really well. It was just really funny and enjoyable and managed to feel modern without sacrificing anything from the original script. And the music was really good. And I liked what they did with Ariel (split her into three people), there was just loads to like. A disappointing amount of young people there though (cue old fogey - youth of today speech) We think that the girl from Queer As Folk was on stage too although she never got to shout ‘Nafhan!’ so I’m still not sure.

So after a busy day we went home and watched Any Dream Will Do. Honestly, is it just us or do the judges love all the ones who were clearly really awful? Ahem. So on to Sunday then which was the dreaded Christening. James’ parents picked us up at the just plain wrong hour of 8.20am and we set off on a two-hour journey to Driffield. It’s easy to forget how big the county I live in actually is. We got there about 10.20 I think and got to spend some time with James’ Grandma who seemed ok with me being there. I even got a kiss! What I heard about her was true and we were fed to within an inch of our lives! With me being ill I hadn’t got my full appetite back so this had a knock-on effect through the rest of the day.

We headed for the church for 12pm and I got to meet more of James’ family including his two cousins, Sally and Jill along with the christened person in question, Holly who seemed quite content to run about the pews meeting and greeting. We did a bit of mingling outside the church, enjoying the ridiculously nice weather, and then went inside. The Christening was just what you’d expect. Me feeling like a hypocrite, getting to read utter bollocks for an hour etc. James is terrible to sit next to in a church though, he kept making me laugh with his ultra sarcasm when reading the script. Naturally, he was pleased that the vicar was a fatty what with his major obsession and all.

After the water had been splashed on the child’s head we went and had a proper roast beef lunch. There were quite a few people there actually, about seven tables of six or so. Lunch was tasty and the amount of stuff we got to sample just kept coming. First dinner, then dessert, then coffee, then cake, then champagne. If I was at full eating capacity I would have been in my element, as it was I had to leave stuff, which is completely out of character for me! Me and James mostly got by not really saying a lot and just hanging about which was fine, the whole thing wasn’t too traumatic although not wildly exciting. After dinner we went back to James’ Auntie and Uncle’s farm. Their house is massive! And we sat in their garden for a good while which was especially nice because it looks out on to a huge field. No cows in sight though L

We ended up home around eight o’clock which wasn’t too bad and we finished the evening off by watching the last Life On Mars which was really good, especially the Descartes influenced ending – it also made no sense. He died! How can he still live in 1973?! But BBC TV is not really worth having an aneurysm over is it? No matter how good it is.

I dunno if it’s because of the lovely weather but I’ve been feeling really good about things this week. I’m even not hating work (Hurrah they say, no more moaning! Well, give a week you sarky bunch). This is mostly because of OfSTED which means I have plenty to do. Weirdly I like gathering documents and the urgency makes it all quite exciting. We’d better pass (and I think we will this time) so it’ll feel really good to have been a big part of it. Also on the subject of work, new guy has started and I’ve been assigned as mentor to him which is a nice responsibility. We went for lunch yesterday. He’s originally from Northern Ireland but he’s moved from Lancaster, where he went to uni. He’s lovely and I feel for him that he doesn’t know anybody at all in Leeds. I was going to say that I could never do that, just move away to a new place, until I realised that I actually had done it :s I will try and befriend him which might be difficult to do without seeming like a scary I’ve-got-no-friends freak. Talking about OfSTED has reminded me, I’m 23 in two weeks, weird! I’d not really thought about it since I’m not really doing anything for it and it’s kinda crept up on me.

Even the theatre’s going well. We’re just under a week until we open and things have come together really well. All the lights are fully rigged so I’ve been at my operating desk and I have more sound effects to do too so it keeps me busy. I can watch the whole thing from above too so I won’t really miss out on it all. Neil, who’s one of the main characters in the play, is off work with stress at the moment and so it’s a bit tentative if he’ll be ok to play it or not so that’ll be a spanner in the works. And no, I shan’t be stepping in before you ask. It’ll be ok though. I’m looking forward to it.

Oh, I got photos back so I’ll try and put some up at the weekend. Lucy- there’s a good one of you and mister Robin ‘thunder thighs’ Hood. :D

Current Mood: chipper

I've been a little lax with the ol' LJ lately, mostly because I've been ill this week. I'd managed to avoid James' pox right up until half an hour before I was due to get up for work on Wednesday morning, when I woke up with a didgy stomach. Next thing I know, I'm worshipping at the alter of Armitage Shanks. I despise being sick. So I've had to take the rest of the week off.

Evidence for my illness can perhaps be traced back to my last LJ entry which was a little patchy. I forgot to mention that on Good Friday we went to the park and sat in the sun for a bit. There was a cold wind though so we ended up sitting there in a coat and sunglasses. Suave. And I also forgot to mention that a sacked person at work has been reinstated. I don't know if he's come back or not though as I've not been there this week. I must also reitrate how lovely Haworth was and its prettiness. Sarah got my postcard and seemed very pleased with it, asking me if I saw Mr Rochester, before saying that, of course, I was there with my very own Mr Rochester.

I'm meeting more of my Mr Rochester's family on Sunday as we're going to a Christening. It's not my place to go into it but I must mention the fact that James' Grandma only found out about us a few weeks ago and apparently asked James' Mum if we wear dresses! I do hope Sunday's going to go well, I'm prepared for twenty questions as it is :s

Pre-illness I got given a proper job at the theatre! I got to play with the lights and do the music and sound effects which was quite fun and makes things a little more interesting. Opening night is in one week I think. Scary.

I'm going to see The Tempest in Leeds tomorrow. Exciting stuff. I think I'll be 100% better tomorrow. About time too. I'm missing out on all the lovely weather. As much as I love having the day off, playing DS and reading, I do want to leave the house. I shall miss my mornings of Jeremy Kyle, This Morning and Loose Women though. Oh wait, no I won't. I also won't miss seeing that hideous David Gest advery so much. As if I wasn't ill enough.

Current Mood: sick
Current Location: recovering
Current Music: Kelli Ali - Psychic Catand

An uncharacteristically busy weekend for me means that I have something to say, hooray! On Saturday me and the man went to Manchester where we met my Mum. We had a little shop and we were rather restrained. I have to ask though, what's happened to H+M?! There was a time when I'd go in and it was basically rails and rails of my clothes, it was just all me! Now it appears to be black, white and jackets, which are very not me. I wear a shirt and shoes everyday, why would I want to do that away from work? I should have gone in Primark instead. The only thing I bought was Sarah Waters ‘Night Watch’ for £4 from good ol’ Fopp. I don’t re-read many books but I’d definitely read that again. I actually forgot to mention that I’d finished Kay Smallshaw’s (?) ‘How to Run A Home Without Help’ which was the book Sarah got me when I left the library J It made me laugh though since it’s a 1949 book on how to run a home. One suggestion was getting a man to help so at least I’m doing something right.

Anyway, I digress. We went to Tiger Tiger for lunch which I suggested on account of me liking the one in Leeds and it being cheap since I’d offered to pay! It *was* really nice though and my Mum enjoyed it anyway. We had a good chat anyway. I’ll be making a trip back to Crewe at the end of the month to catch up on a lot of stuff anyway, most notably, to tell Jonathan off for getting back with his girlfriend. Oh, and to play on my Mum DS game collection. She’s starting to buy more for me which is a little worrying.

After dinner it was about time for our theatre trip. Thankfully, the Royal Exchange is right in the town centre so we didn’t have far to go. It’s a weird building but I really like it. It reminded me a flight simulator! Thankfully our seats remained firmly still although we were a long way up! Oh yes, we went to see The Vortex, the Noel Coward play with Will Young in it. Mr Young was very good I have to say, as were the supporting cast and I delighted at getting to hear Noel Coward’s wonderful way with words on-stage. I just wish I was part of 1940’s high society to be honest. My life really should be a Noel Coward play. I’m happy to say that my Mum loved it too. She’s not really a theatre type but she said that I’d got her hooked :D So that was good news, especially as it was for her birthday. James was not so impressed which I was a bit sad about I guess. I’d paid for the day so I wanted everyone to have a good time. He did say he enjoyed it though. I wasn’t perfect by any means. It’s difficult to use a round stage well and some more movement would have been welcomed at certain points. I guess I have more issues with the play itself which could have been lengthier in order to elaborate on the lives of the characters. It also didn’t help that the last scene was so at odds with the rest of the play which had a wonderful mix between humour and seedy darkness that the ending felt a little abrupt. Still, I loved the humour and costumes and everything else about it really so I was glad I went.

We went home after that. Oddly me and James got talking to a couple on the train about theatre. Oh how nice it’d be to have friends to go to and talk about the theatre with! That reminds me, must pluck up the courage to ring Skipton Theatre up about volunteering opportunities. Anyway, the woman we talked to told us that The Tempest by Northern Broadside is on at the West Yorkshire Playhouse so we’ve booked tickets to see that. Mmm theatre.

Sunday was quite different. Me and James went out with James’ parents, Auntie Kathleen and Uncle Julian, the latter two I’d never met before. They were very nice and we went out for Sunday lunch just outside Skipton and then for a little trek out, firstly to see a huge dry stone wall that James’ Dad is building and then to Wycollar. I have no idea where that is other than it being in Lancashire! Lovely views up there though. We had tea in a little tea shop and James bought me a very cute cuddly cow :D So yes, it was a lovely day overall. We didn’t do much in the evening. I put some songs onto my MP3 player and put some CDs away. I think that’s about it really. Oh, I watched Primeval to. Mmmm, Pteradons.

I forgot to mention that we watched 'Slither' the other day. It wasn't as good as it should be though. It wasn't funny enough to be a good spoof and wasn't serious enough to be a good horror film so the tones just jarred. But, the effect were really good I have to say. Nathan Fillion is always a pleasure too :D

Current Mood: busy

Thursday 18^th January 2007

Well today marks the second full day of living in mine and James’ new home and we’re both really pleased with how it’s looking. The bed is especially pleasing because it’s so huge and so darn comfy! It arrived on Tuesday and we managed to put it up without too many problems. We got a darker coloured version of the one in the shop and it’s completely paid off. We’ve unintentionally ended up with a rather slightly Japanese looking bed but it looks really nice. We went to Keighley on Tuesday and bought some lovely new duvets covers and sheets so it’s looking really smart. Mmm bed.

The sofa also arrived on Tuesday and the downstairs looks so much nicer and really benefits from having a something fill the space. It’s also darn comfy to. Mmm, leather.

As I mentioned earlier we went to Keighley on Tuesday and bought quite a bit of furniture from Argos. We got some good deals although we did buy quite a few items. We had to make three trips from Argos to the car and then I had to navigate the left because we had loads of furniture between us! We haven’t had chance to put it all up yet, mostly because we busted two screwdrivers (or rather they were shit) so the first piece of furniture, a small slated table-type thing took an age to do. However, we did the bookcase and my CD shelves with no problems. The place looks better with every thing we put up. Not everything is sorted (or unpacked) but we’re getting there slowly.

We did have one huge problem this morning though. James went back to work today and just as he was about to leave the house…except he couldn’t get out! We’d been having trouble with locks since we moved in but we’d never been stuck. That’s the trouble with having only one door though! We had to get James’ dad round to try it from outside and thankfully it worked. We’ve arranged to have the locks change thank God. Weirdly, our landlady works in a prison, which explains why we haven’t been able to get hold of her all day.

Yesterday marked the first proper visit of the in-laws. James’ mum’s been round a few times already, helping move James’ stuff and Julia’s popped in too. But both James’ parents came round yesterday for a cup of tea as neither had seen the place with a bed and a sofa in it. In James’ words it was ‘relatively painless’ which is probably the best way to describe it!

I was acting housewife today and although I was a little bit bored I keep fairly busy. I guess I’m not used to being in the house alone but I did enjoy the day. This morning I ran some errands. I popped James’ camera film into Boots, went to Specsavers to ask about change of address and then Morrisons to pick up some ingredients. And tonight I made a sausage casserole and sticky toffee pudding for me and my working man. Darn tasty it was too and not all the difficult. There’s something satisfying about cooking in my new home. I didn’t really want to stop out that long on account of the awful weather. There have been proper gales today. James delightfully told me that a lorry had overturned on the bypass into the canal killing a man and someone else has been decapitated by a roof tile. Yes, moving to Yorkshire was certainly the right decision…well, my Dad asked me if I’d had snow so maybe it was!

We’ve had a lot of lovely moving in cards too including one from the lady at the bank who set up our joint account! That’s the joy of James’ knowing everyone at the bank since his Mum works there. It is really handy though.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: Our new house!

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Page Summary

Christmas 2009
Squirrel!
Quick entry before jet off!
'Never go to bed without a piece of raw meat'
Christmas and all the trimmings
Here It Goes Again
Travelling far and wide (can I have a day off please?)
I Get Around
We are family
Weekend stuff and then busy busy busy
Today's adventure will include escaped cows, a work masterplan and elderly relatives
'Monday's no fun, Tuesday's the same....'
'Live for tomorrow and do what you have to'
'I'm so very hot that when I rob your mansion, you don't call the cops you call the fire station'
Sing, Memory
Continuing adventures in the Mason-Oakes household

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The Secret Life of Andrew

Entries tagged with james' family

Christmas 2009

Squirrel!

Quick entry before jet off!

'Never go to bed without a piece of raw meat'

Christmas and all the trimmings

Here It Goes Again

Travelling far and wide (can I have a day off please?)

I Get Around

We are family

Weekend stuff and then busy busy busy

Today's adventure will include escaped cows, a work masterplan and elderly relatives

'Monday's no fun, Tuesday's the same....'

'Live for tomorrow and do what you have to'

'I'm so very hot that when I rob your mansion, you don't call the cops you call the fire station'

Sing, Memory

Continuing adventures in the Mason-Oakes household