Descriptive account of today

Sunday Sunday, so bad for me,
Sunday Sunday, it wasn't all I hoped it would be
Oh Sunday morning, Sunday morning could guarantee
That Sunday evening I'd be bored with the TV.

Sunday Sunday, can't trust that day,
Sunday Sunday, sometimes it just turns out that way
Oh Sunday Sunday, you gave me no warning of what was to be
Oh Sunday Sunday, how could you be such a torturous entity.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Sunday comes, but whenever Sunday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Sunday Sunday, so bad for me,
Sunday Sunday, it wasn't all I hoped it would be
Oh Sunday morning, Sunday morning could guarantee
That Sunday evening I'd be bored with the TV.

Every other day, every other day,
Every other day of the week is fine, yeah
But whenever Sunday comes, but whenever Sunday comes
You can find me cryin' all of the time

Sunday Sunday, ...

The very definition of "pastel"

I've been a busy old bee today with lots of things to do and keep me busy.

First off Phil and I have to go into town for his follow up appointment with the optician to see how his first night of contact lens wear went. We have to get into town for 9 am, only to be kept waiting for 20 minutes for the fat walla pseudo russian airport man to get his act together and to see phil. I'm quite angry when he waltzes over his voluptuous manner and so promptly leave to go do some shopping.

It appears that there is a french market in town today, so I have a gander around that to see what's what and thank the lord I've got no money in my purse since the mobile boulangerie was soarly tempting. Instead of the bread though I make do with a brownie baking tin and a jiffy bag and trudge back to the opticians to pick up Phil and we wind our way home via the super market to pick up a few more bits and pieces. It seems Phil's eyes have coped well with having plastic wodged in them overnight, so he's got the go ahead to wear them constantly for the next week until we have to go back to the optician to wait pointlessly for another 30 minutes or so for another check up. So that's good news, we've just got to keep a close eye out for any problems that may crop up.

This afternoon I decide to make some french fancies - cakes in other words. This time though they are made with a very light sponge and filled with french butter cream - sounds good eh? Only problem is they are an all day affair to make. Not only do you have to make custard from scratch (yes, I just about managed it without it turning to wall paper paste) but there is an extraordinary amount of chilling time involved too. Nonetheless, they taste divine, I just don't know when I'll have the energy or endless cavern on time to make them again heheh :) The only slight problem was when it came to the icing you're suppose to put on the top of them - the book said "split the icing into two bowls. Add a tiny drop of blue food colouring to create a pastel blue in one half and then add a tiny drop of yellow food colouring to create a pale yellow in the other half". Hmph, my hand slipped so the cakes actually ended up looking like a 3 year old had gotten loose with a crayola.

Sweet diddly going on this evening, with just the usual entertainment of x-factor to keep us occupied. Oh well, long gone are the days where we didn't have time to think on the weekends.

Uncannily similar to our optician, though he is always late for what he deems as a less than important date...

More baking for me today this morning, as well as popping out into town and picking up a few essentials, such as more doggy treats for ratbag and more human treats for the other pack members.

By the time I've rushed around town and the supermarket I've not got long before I get back home and unpack, have some lunch and then bake Phil some cakes since I'd promised him a batch. I have even less time after doing all that before Phil gets home early since we've got yet another opticians appointment today so they can do a pre-overnight check on his eyes before he attempts to sleep in his contacts for the first time.

We arrive at the opticians in plenty of time, however the same can not be said for the man we are suppose to be seeing since as we are walking down the opticians we see him walking in the opposite direction. We then spend the best part of 15 minutes waiting for him to arrive (that includes a phone call made by one of his collegues to see WTF he is). Shocking service really I'm half minded to write to boots and put a complaint in. Everytime we go in there we either have to wait for 15 - 30 minutes for our appointment to start or we get back chatted by the bloke who obviously took his customer service skills course at a BT call center.

When we finally get home Phil ponders about what he's going to do for the rest of the evening since he's home a good couple of hours earlier than normal and I finish icing the cakes I'd made earlier. We then have a debate on "icing: the correct ingredients for perfect fairy cakes" and I resolve that I'll make some different ones tomorrow to see if they are more to the liking of Phils more traditional icing tastes.

Not up to much today really, so to subdue the boredom I decide to make some jewelry with the large array of beads I've been gathering for some time.

Whilst I was in America I picked up some lovely blue tigers eye beads along with some rather unusual ones which whilst predominantly brown in colour when you turn them in the light have patches of metallic blue in them, and alas they've been sitting on the side for several months now, so I string up 5 bracelets with the beads, all with various combinations of blue to brown beads which I'm really happy with. I also make up another bracelet but this one is a combination of tiny haematite beads with some swarovski fire opal crystals (they are almost burnt orange with fading to an orangy yellow). The black and orange look really good together and I'm very pleased with it - I think it will become one of my favourites without a doubt :)

This evening is a bit of a no brainer, Phil is home late tonight after fixing someone elses feck up and so by the time we've eaten (and I've recooked the chicken since it wasn't quite done) and watched Dragon's Den (twice since Phil had a phone call half way through) there ain't much else to do before it's time to go to bed.

Rupert prefers this position also..

I've had a very quite day today, so much so it's quite difficult to write any kind of entry, but I did do a few things to keep me occupied.

The first thing I did today was to do a bit of research on this whole pub idea I've got. I spend a lot of time evaluation what the sort of prices I'd be looking at to get myself into my own pub which varies depending on if you want to lease somewhere or buy somewhere freehold. Ideally I'd like a free hold pub but without the backing of about £500,000.00 I'd be lucky to get anything with 4 walls and a cellar. The reason I like freehold is because you have no obligation to any brewery and you can get your supplies from anywhere you want. You also own the property outright (except of course from any lender) so you're pretty much left to your own devices.

But as you can see, freehold is a pretty big financial commitment so I've also looked at other options. If I was lucky there is an option occasionally to get a "free of tie" lease, which is cheaper than freehold but also gives you the freedom that I mentioned before. Only problem with "free of tie" is that they are relatively hard to come by, and are also expensive by comparison to an ordinary tie in lease, which are more common and less expensive.

So ultimately then I'm left with the choices of a tie in lease or the rare chance of picking up a free of tie lease. Ideally, the latter would suit, but I think I may well be lumped with a tie in if I do decide to go further ahead with my plans. I suppose the upside of a tie in is that for a newcomer like myself it is easier in terms of getting supplies (you'd be required to get them from one place stipulated in the contract) and also a lot of the tie in leases are offered by companies who provide training for first time landlords and the like.

Anyway, I've sent off for some information from one particular company that looks promising, and bookmarked several websites specialising in the sale of licensed premises so I can keep a regular eye out for anything that might come up.

Doing all of the above pretty much took up most of my day, but by 6.30 we're off to doggy training again. For some reason Rupert is a bit ditzy tonight confusing his sits with his downs so I've got to do more work on that to help him reclarify what he's suppose to be doing. He did do pretty well on his puppy recall though and was once again the star of the show when we had to practice grooming (getting the dogs to lay on their backs etc) which he found very easy since he spends 90% of his day on his back asleep!

Anyone for a pint?

So I've got my tester day at the local pub today, but before that I have to go to the opticians to get my eyes tested. I don't think there is anything wrong with them, but since they were offering free eye tests in boots I thought I'd sign up and just get them checked out. Better to be safe than sorry.

After air being puffed into my eyes, bright lights shone into them and general retinal burn and poking and prodding the upshot of it all is that my eyesight is fine - I'm slightly long sighted in my right eye but no where near enough to warrant a prescription.

By 11 I'm at the pub and being shown the ropes, but truthfully nothing much happens till around lunch time when every mother and their uncle turns up for food. So with a mad rush at the bar and me not being overly familiar with their fancy tills I don't know if I helped much or just got in the way, but I tried my best and only really fucked up when I corked a bottle of wine. Oops. By 2 I get to take my break and go and let Rupert out for a pee, he seems to have coped pretty well whilst I've been out and after a quick lunch and a bit of play time in the garden with pupster I'm heading back to the pub to do my afternoon shift. It went a bit smoother than the earlier one and by the end of it I was much better at getting the hang of the till and also remembering where everything was and I actually enjoyed myself - I'd forgotten how much fun it was to work behind a bar, and after spending so much time at home lately it was nice to go out and do some sort of socialising.

By the end of my shift though when the landlord said "see you thursday then" I was a bit taken aback since I was under the impression that it really was a trial day and we'd have a chance to take about things at the end of it, rather than assuming I'd be up for it straight away. Like I said yesterday, I had a number of concerns, primarily with working every weekend without the opportunity of having any off at all (they don't run a fair rota system) and so when I mention this to him he kinda goes off on one, and even though I try to explain to him the difficulty what with Phil being a weekday worker and us only getting the opportunity to see each other in the evenings and at the weekends, we'd never see each other. It wasn't as if I was asking to never work weekends, just to have one off every month, but he couldn't offer that sort of guarantee. He also then went into a big spcheel about the trade doesn't work 9-5 Monday to Friday which I managed to stop him preaching about when I said to him that whilst I fully understood that he had to understand my point of view, after all he and his wife worked and lived in the pub so there wasn't really an issue with their relationship suffering due to lack of attendance by one party.

Urghh by the end of it I was glad I told him I wouldn't be back, but thanks for the day. Seriously the man was a right proper grouch and I don't know if I could have worked with him in the long term. It's also made me realise that these big pub chains might not provide the sort of experience I want - everything is so regimented (like having to serve coke out of branded coco cola glasses) it doesnt really offer any opportunity to reach out and do something different. You're just following a set of rules and sticking to them with out any imagination or spark, everything comes from head office and you'd better like it because if you don't follow them the likely hood is you get fined or something ridiculous like that.

I'm thinking that perhaps I'm going about this all the wrong way - maybe I need to be brave enough to just jump from the frying pan into the fire and see if I can do it on my own (with Phils help of course!) without the trauma of being subjected to pub chain bureaucracy. Something to think about tonight I guess :)

DP's to the rescue again

I make a rather off the cuff phone call today to one of our local pubs (a hungry horse chain run by greene king) after looking at their website and noticing that they do training to see if they have any jobs available. As it happens they do and so they've asked me to go for an interview today at 3 pm. Not a problem really so I just spend most of the morning relaxing in front of the Tv, doing a bit of squatting up on the pub and not a lot else.

The interview went well and they've asked me to go in for a training day tomorrow to see if I like it or not and then to discuss the position further there after, the only problem is I need a pair of black trousers and a black top to wear, which currently I have none in my wardrobe since I've thrown most things of that description out as it was too big.

So after the interview I nip back home, get changed and then head back into town to get the required clothing for tomorrow and luckily I hit the jackpot in dorothy perkins and pick up everything I need within 20 minutes flat and 5 minutes before they close. I was going to do all of this in the morning but quickly remembered that I'd booked an eye test in the morning and so probably wouldn't want to run the risk of finding suitable clothes, having an eye test and getting to the pub on time because knowing my luck it would end in disaster.

This evening is a bit weird, but I think I know the reason for that. Having explained the possible hours of the pub job (3 - 11pm 3 days a week, and 12 - 9pm at weekends) to Phil I think he's concerned we might not ever see each other and he's right, and thinking about it it does seem a bit unreasonable they they would expect someone to work every weekend without some sort of rota in place to ensure weekends are spread out amongst employees to make it fair. It's something I'll have to mention tomorrow I guess, of course this would be academic if phil and I both ran/lived in a pub rather than me working for someone else. It's another consideration I need to think about I guess.

All shiney and new.

And this is how exciting today has been, the only thing we did today was go to homebase to get a new kitchen bin since this morning I managed to break our old one by snapping off the little peg thing which the lid clasps onto in order for it to open and close nicely.

Anyway, we manage to get a new one, with 10 litres more capacity so that's helpful. We also nip to the supermarket to get a few bits and pieces for lunch and dinner and for Phil's lunches next week, but apart from that, really, not much else to say.

Milky and frothy!

Quite a busy old day considering it's the weekend today, and first things first this morning we're off into town to the opticians to get some help / advice about Phils contacts. He's being having a lot of trouble with his one eye that has an astigmatism in it, to the point where he can't actually use a PC because his focus is so crap so we want to go see if they can up the prescription to help out (I mean after all, he's suppose to be wearing them 24/7 and he can't do that if he can't see!)

After a bit of a wait we are finally seen by the bloke who sorted phil out with the contacts in the first place. To give you an idea if you've ever watched the series "airport" here in the UK there is this fella called Jeremy who works for some Russian air line. Well the eye bloke is the spitting image of him, and as if that wasn't bad enough he also appear to have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning because he was far from courteous and quite rude in fact - like excuse us for interrupting you because you fucked up in the first place arse wipe! Urghh, I hate people like that, so stuck up their own arse they think they are better than the customer, when in fact its the customer that's keeping them in business. Nevermind, eventually he gives Phil a new prescription and we leave before I punch the dudes lights out.

We don't go home for long because we are going into oxford this afternoon so that Phil can get his his hair cut, and whilst he's doing that I have a poke around the shops and pick up a few things. First off is some new games for the PSP, I get a number of tetris like games but restrain myself when I see frogger on the shelf, I wish I hadn't really because I love that game and have fond memories of it from childhood. If it's there next time I go into town I'll buy it I guess!

I also go to the toy shop and pick up some hair pin turns and extra side swipes for the scalectrix since Phil has been after them for a while now, and by the time I've done all my shopping it's not long before I have to go pick up Phil from the hairdressers. On the way back to the car Phil gets a MaccyD's and I indulge yet again in crap food by stuffing a hot apple pie down my gullet. Secretly I'll admit it was quite nice, but I know I shouldn't have eaten it!

Taking of eating badly, I've really gone off the rails these past weeks what with being ill and the like. I mean I've stuffed my face beyond belief and really have gone back to my old habits, but I want to nip it in the bud for next week and get back to dropping the pounds (including the 3 I've managed to put on in the last week). Monday is d day, so out with the old and in with the new once again.

I should perhaps mention here whilst on the topic of food a new place that has opened in oxford called Shake Away, which is basically a funky place to get fabulous milkshakes pretty much of any description you can imagine with top quality ingredients. Phil had an "aero" one and it was very nice indeed - icecream blended up with 2 aero bars and quite a generous portion too. It's a little pricey, but I'd put it in the genre of expensive rare treat but worth it - a bit like ben's cookies. I hope they do well, it's a unique service for oxford and I think the novelty factor will pay dividends quite nicely.

Sorry for the lack of posts around here lately but a) I've not been up to much and b) I'm still trying to get shot of this cold. Consequences? I couldn't be bothered to post because I didn't want to bore everyone to death. I mean I could have recited some poetry or something but what would the point in that be? :)

Lemmings, stupid but fun

Considering it's a bank holiday today it doesn't imply that I have the luxury of a sleep in this morning since my sister and her boyfriend are rattling around fairly early getting their stuff ready to head off back home.

After I've cooked them some breakfast and filled them up with tea and coffee they leave at about 10.30 and get home around 4 I guess after a few stops here and there for groceries and the like.

Whilst they were travelling home Phil and I do very little indeed. We watch a few films - Scary Movie 4 (crap) and Basic Instinct 2 (looked ok but I was too busy playing Lemmings on our new PSP to pay it much attention). Phil also has much better luck with his contacts today getting them into his eye much quicker than he'd hoped. I think with no time limit on him and no stress he relaxed more making it easier to pop the blighters in. He had to wear them for 4 hours today but I think we've decided that until he's happy getting them in and out quickly we won't push it any further than the 4 hours since I think if he tried to put them in in the morning it would be too much pressure to perform before he goes to work. So, the plan is keep practicing putting them in and out and once he's got that down to a fine art then increase the amount of time they are in his eyes until he gets up to the 18 hours or so he needs to reach before he can try his first night of sleeping in them.

I also spend a lot of time today keeping an eye on Rupert. He's not up to his usual perky standards this morning and I think it might be something to do with the coffee he scarffed down last night - but by the time this evening rolls around he's much livelier and happier however and so I feel less inclined to worry about him. Luckily I managed to keep myself entertained whilst on puppy watch by making lots of use of our PSP and the lemmings game we got with it - highly addictive stuff dontcha know!

Our new toy

After a fairly late night by my standards last night, I'm still up early this morning sorting Rupert out and preparing breakfast for everyone - a good old full english, something which I haven't had for a hell of a long time, and it was lovely!

Once we've all eaten it's not long before we are going out of the door and heading into Oxford to do some shopping. My sister has never been to Oxford before and her boyfriend used to live in the area about 15 years ago, so it will be nice for them to have a look around. Our first stop is a big electrical store as we want to have a look at the TV's where Phil and I eye up a 60" plasma but decide on the slightly smaller compulsive purchase of a PSP instead since they had a fairly good deal on them with a discounted price along with a good selection of games which came at a reduced price also.

We then head into the centre of town and have a poke around the shops, and after splitting from the boys my sister and I hit the clothes shops to see if we can find her some new trousers and jeans. Like me she has also lost a lot of weight recently and her clothes are also hanging off her arse so she needs some new ones and after we've tried on practically every pair in several shops we find some that she's happy with. We also pick up some bath supplies from Lush since bath season is almost upon us and Beth and Ian head into the mobile phone shop to upgrade their phones to some fancy motorola ones. Phil also gets some more bits for the scalectrix and by the time we've also raided the chocolate shop and stocked up on the cornish pasties for lunch it's time to head home.

Back at the house and Phil sets up the race track for everyone to have a go around on and then tries to put his contacts in. It doesn't go very well and I think part of that is because he was rushing to get them in as we were going out for a meal, so after trying for 30 minutes to get them in I convince Phil to leave it for today and to try again tomorrow since it was obviously frustrating him and getting him right royally pissed off. He takes my advice and we go out to eat and have a very nice indian meal and then come back home for coffee and dessert and Rupert also decides to get in on the action by drinking Ian's coffee which he'd left on the floor. Oh dear, I dare say that won't do him any good.

How not to put a contact lens in

You have to wonder if having guests is really worth the hassle sometimes! heheh, seriously though I've got loads to do this morning before my sister turns up with her boyfriend to spend the bank holiday with us.

I'm first out the door this morning and off to the supermarket to pick up all the requisite bits needed to feed 4 people over the weekend and when I get home I pack it all away which leaves me with about 30 seconds before Phil and I both have to head out of the house since Phil has got his eye appointment at 12 to check his prescription and see if his eyes are suitable for contact lenses as he rather fancies getting some of these ones that you can wear for 30 days / nights without having to take them out.

We get into town with just a few minutes to spare and whilst he is getting his eyes prodded and poked I do some shopping. I pick up a few things, namely a new coat for autumn and also another pillow for the guest bedroom as it appears we've only got 3 and 4 would be much handier for a double bed. I also get a few new cooking utensils as well as a bigger cooling rack for cakes and the like.

By the time I've done all that I head back to the opticians where Phil is having a lesson on how to get contacts in and out of his eyes which IMHO looks really tricky and difficult but eventually he gets them in and we go back home where I get on with cooking some chocolate fairy cakes and preparing dinner for tonight as well as squeezing in a shower so I look at least half respectful when my sister arrives.

Our visitors are on the door step by 4 pm and we then spend the rest of the evening chatting and eating and generally catching up - it's been a long time since I've actually seen any of my family rather than just chatting on the phone.

A lovely evening then, and now I'm popped and my cold or cough doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Apparently this is also a computer game

By comparison, I feel a bit better today and its a good job really because I need to clean the house before our visitors arrive. The bad news is that my cold has migrated from my head and now landed itself nicely on my chest giving me a rather nasty bark combined with lots of ickky phlegm and the like.

I've not got much time to complain though because I do need to start with the cleaning from the top to the bottom, including sorting out the guest bedroom which always takes longer when you have to make up the bed and the like.

Whilst I'm cleaning I'm also trying to catch up on the laundry as well as keeping an eye on Rupert who today, bless him, has been rather neglected since I'm busy with other stuff. He's been everso good though just sleeping in the lounge and not creating too much of a fuss. He didn't even have any accidents either which is good news.

By the time Phil walks through the door at just gone 6 I've not long been sat down after finishing off the cleaning and I'm knackered. Cleaning is hard work at the best of times let alone when you're coughing, sneezing and snuffling your way around the house.

Anyway I'm off to bed because all I want to do now is collapse.