struuth

07 January 2009 @ 05:42 pm

Since I got back

Ally helped me stay awake on New Year's Eve by meeting me in Reading
Michael cooked me a scrummy dinner on New Year's Eve. We then played our new game 'Shear Panic', it is very good, finally we settled down to watch Saturday Night Fever, but I was asleep by 8.30, we we had to watch the end on New Year's day. For the first time in goodness knows how long I was not awake for New Year!
On the evening of New Year's day I went down to Bournemouth where there was much skating, chocolate cake, walking, pizza hut buffeting, and meeting up with friends to be had. I managed to meet up with everyone, yay! Sue and Tony came down for the weekend, it is lovely to see how happy they are together, yay!
Went to Michael's grandparents on our way home to Maidenhead to drop of presents, eat Christmas cake, and stone (Michael's Grandpa has offered to paint the name stones for the wedding, yay!)
School is going fine, though I am struggling to get up in the mornings.
Ally and I are doing out Monday evening skating courses again.
There are lots of new people at Rotaract : )

AND the LAMDA results are finally in...
I am so proud of my girls, 1 got a merit (2 marks off distinction) and the other 3 got distinction (which is the highest grade you can get!) WOOOOHOOO! I rediculously long wait, but at least the news was good.
I have 1 girl doing Grade 3 this weekend, and I have 3 new girls who have started with me this term.
So a total of 8 students, just right really. I am really really enjoying it, and I am so relieved that I am doing it right!

Keep Smiling

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

over the moon

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07 January 2009 @ 05:05 pm

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Kunal and Meena's wedding

Day 1: During the day Michael and I went shopping for Indian outfits etc. and did a bit of exploring. The first ceremony of the wedding took place in the evening and outside. There was a shrine set up to an important female God (sorry I can't remember her name). A priest and some helpers lead the ceremony. There was lots of music, chanting, offerings to the God and dancing. Most of the ceremony carried out by Kunal and his Mum. Meena and her family mainly watched. After this ceremony all the guests were given a bag with money, fresh fruit and dried fruit inside it by the priest. Then it was time for a buffet dinner before going back to Kunal's house for drinks and dancing until the early hours of the morning. After the party we watched Kunal's friends rehearse their dances for the cocktail party, so it was a very very late night.

Day 2: At the cocktail party they was Menhde (I had 1 hand re-done, you can just about still see it), dances performed by Kunal's friends, an amazing buffet and fully stocked bar, beautiful decorations and lots of people (mayble 500). The disco went on until goodness knows what time.

Day 3: Michael had to go at midday to fly home : ( There were some religious ceremonies held in Kunal's lounge. Kunal and his parents had to do lots of symbolic things led by the priest. It was Kunal's Mum's 50th birthday. In the evening there was a Kareoke party for Kunal's Mum's. Again there was lots of lovely food. After the majority of the guests had gone home we went back to Kunal's house and one of his Uncles played the keyboard and everyone sang and drank, again until the early hours.

Day 4: The wedding and the wedding recpetion. During the day the priest came over to the house to carry out more cermonies. Meena and her family all arrived at the wedding venue early. We then arrived with Kunal, first the men (apart from Kunal) went in and were greeted by the men in Meena's family, then a piece of cloth is held up which Meena stands behind and Kunal comes up to the other side (this comes from when the bride and groom had never met) some initial vows and cermonies occur and then Meena retreats and Kunal and the women on his side of the family (and me) were greeted by Meena's family and move into the wedding venue. Meena's family kept trying to give things to Kunal's Mum and she kept giving them back, I think that this is traditional. Kunal and Meena went and sat in a circular pavillion with the 2 priests opposite them and their parents either side of the. Meena started on Kunal's right side, once they were married she moved to his left side (the side of his heart) and she should always try and sit on his left side from this day forward. During the wedding there was lots of chanting, moving on objects, scattering on rice, giving of gifts, blessings from various family members, wafting of money and fire, tieing of shawls, walking round fire etc. The climax of the cermony is when the bride and groom each make 7 vows (one of the brides vows is never to lose her temper!) and then they walk around the fire 4 times twice with the groom leading and then twice with the bride leading (therefore meaning that the bride moves to the left of the groom). Kunal and Meena then went off to freshen up / change ready for the wedding reception. Well over 1000 people attended the wedding reception, the format was very similar to Dipti's reception. The food was absolutly amazing, there was so much that it was impossible to try everything. There was freshly squeezed fruit juices, a coffee bar, and loads of puddings as well. At about 1am we moved back to Kunal's house and another specail ceremony was held as Meena entered the house for the first time. She stepped into water as she entered and then flicked holy water into the house and she moved through to the lounge. Some more prayers were said and rituals took place. Finally Meena passed rice 3 times to each member of the extended family (and me), this is to symbolise the fact that they should all have a good relationship with her. Kunal and Meena could not have left for their hotel before 2.30am and they they would have found their friends, who they would have to have got rid of before going to bed. A very long day for them. I left at 3pm the next day and was not surprised that they were not yet back from their hotel.

Day 5: After some confusion with my taxi firm I eventually got picked up at 3pm (they were due at 1pm, good old Indian time...) to start my journey home. That evening there was another dinner hosted by Meena's family, but by then I was going through security at the airport.

A wonderful experience : )

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31 December 2008 @ 04:49 pm

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I got a lift to Mumbai to pick up Michael with some lovely friends of the Neware's, as Michael's plane was delayed by 5 hours, they very kindly took me out for lunch and then arranged for a car to take me sight seeing for the afternoon. I went to the beach, to a number of Hindu temples and a church. Driving round for the afternoon gave me a good flavour of the city. I then waited for the last hour at a big international hotel where I sat in the lounge and read my book in comfort. Got back to Pune at about 1am where we checked into a hotel for the night, ready to depart for Arangabad at 6.30am, or so we thought...

I have had many examples of 'Indian time' whilst organising things, and this was one such occasion. After much phoning and cajoling we finally let at about 9.30am. During our time in Arangabad we bought Michael an traditional Indian suit to wear for the weddings, ate some more delicious food thanks to Andi's i-phone. We saw some mazing Hindu and Buddhist caves, went to the mini Taj and generally did touristy things. It was lovely to catch up with Andi and get to know Rosanna.

On the 25th of December we returned to Pune with our driver to join Kunal's family ready for his wedding.

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

trying to stay awake

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31 December 2008 @ 09:13 am

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Back to day 2 of Dipti's wedding I forgot to mention the day time! There was a Mende (probably spelt wrong) party for the ladies on the brides side. Dipti had her hands, lower arms, feet and legs decorated, and the rest of us had out hands done. After you have had it down you have to keep your hands out of contact with anything for about an hour (quite difficult for me!) It is still just about visible on my hands. Whilst the mende was being done Dipti's Mum played a traditional Indian instrument, people sang Indian love songs and dances were performed. Clapping was a challenge! When are hands were suitably dry and the paste was starting to flake off we had a lovely lunch.

Day 3: Rest day, Dipti spent most of the day rehearsing dances for friends and family weddings that were coming up in December and January. She organised for a car to take us "foreigners" on a tour of Pune. We went to lots of temples, some gardens, the market, a fort etc. We also saw the outside of a famous meditation retreat where you have to take an HIV test to enter... That evening I had a lovely dinner with Rucha and her parents and then we went out for ice cream with one of her friends.

Day 4: The actual wedding. Rima arrived from Hydrabad. Andi and Rosanna arrived in amazing Indian costumes! The wedding ceremony started early in the morning and the rituals, ceremonies, vows and gift giving between the 2 families lasted until past mid day. Finally Dipti and Rahul circled the fire 4 times and were pronounced married. It is traditional that the grooms shoes are stolen by the brides side of the family during the ceremony, and they then sell them back to him. Rahul's shoes were procured very early on in the ceremony, and his cousins spent the whole day trying to find them. Eventually he had to spend 1000 rps to have them returned. After the wedding ceremony everyone queued to go up on the stage and congratulate the couple and their immediate family, before going to another area of the venue for the wedding meal. The immediate family ate together at tables in the area where the wedding ceremony took place.

Rima and Rucha then took us to see the latest Bollywood film, they helped to translate for us, it was great fun. At the interval I got some very yummy caramel popcorn.

After that we went to the roof Rahul's house for another party, this one was mainly for the younger guests, lots of alcohol and food. Dipti and Rahul cut their wedding cake. Got home very late.

Day 5: We had a quiet morning, I joined Kunal, Andi and Rosanna for a lovely lunch and chat before returning to Rucha and Rima's house to get ready for the wedding reception. I wore a sari! Over 1000 people attended the wedding reception, again the venue was outside. Dipti and Rahul stood on a stage with their parents and guest arrived queued up to give their congratulations and have their photo taken and then enjoyed another delicious buffet. Their smiles must have felt pretty sore by the end of the evening. Rima had to leave early to go home to Hydrabad.

In the next installment Michael will arrive and we will go to Arangabad with Andi and Rosanna to do some touristy stuff : )

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

tired

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21 December 2008 @ 11:28 am

(no subject)

Dipti's wedding is nearly over now, she officially got married yesterday, and this evening it will be the massive recpetion for over 1000 people.

There was a last minute change of plan, and I have been staying with Rima's family instead of at Dipti's sisters house. They have been going to all of the wedding events so I have been able to travel with them and get to know them properly. it has been really lovely to get to know Rucha, who is Rima's sister, she is studying in Paris at the moment, so hopefully she will come and visit England before her course finishes. They have all looked after me very well.

So, the wedding:

Day 1: 8pm Cocktail party, hosted by Dipti's family at a lovely hotel for approx. 200 close family and friends. There was lots of lovely Indian food, a free bar, and loads of Indian dancing. The dancing started off by telling the story of Dipti and Rahul's relationship, with some clever areoplane sounds effects (he was living in the US, she in France), some narration and some wonderful dances done by groups of family and friends, I had a small part in the last dance, which was great fun. After that every one got up and danced, Indian dancing is fabulous, I am not very good at it, but I had a go. Finished at about 2.30am

Day 2: 8pm dinner hosted by Rahul's family. This party was held outside in a beautifully decorated court yard (all the venues were beautifully decorated). Again there was delicious food and some more lovely people to meet, there were a similar number of guests. Rahul's family did some special dances for Dipti and Rahul, making fun of rahul a bit, it was very funny. Finished at about midnight.

Will carrying on later, I am off to have lunch with Kunal, Andi and Rosanna.

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17 December 2008 @ 10:39 am

(no subject)

Yesterday I explored Pune some more using my 3 modes of transport. I discovered that the traffic madness that I witnessed on Monday was nothing (Monday is their equivilent of Sunday). I feared for my life a number of times when travelling on the mopeds, thank goodness Kunal's sister drives so well. I would not be able to drive in Pune myself, I would constantly give way to others and therefore stay stationary, you have to drive ever so aggressively.

Kunal's Mum and I went to the fruit and veg. market and the meat market. Everywhere is so busy and so colourful. For some reason i thought that sari's were only for specail occasions, but a lot of Indian ladies where them all the time. We also delivered some more invitations and picked up more wedding invitations. Kunal took his lovely niece and I too look for some Christmas decorations for the 25th, he has decided to have a Christmas tree for the first time. I have been watching lots of clicks of Bollywood films, good old Shara Khan seems to been in at least half of them!

Days here start at about mid morning and finish very late at night, hense I get a chance to use the internet when i get up in the morning, I have also been having little naps so that i make it through till the end of the day at between 12 ands 2 so far... Very late nights for Ruth!

The weather here is gorgeous, the heat is dry heat, so you do not feel sweaty, just nicely warm : )

I've had some more yummy Indian food, I think I am averaging 7 meals a day at the moment.

Last night Kunal managed to finish sorting out the decorations, so we had a celebratory drink with a friend of his from next door.

Today I need to pick up my dresses from the dry cleaners and my punjabi suit from the tailors and then at some point I will be moving to Dipti's sisters house. Dipti's weddings starts this evening at 8pm with a dinner dance. Tomorrow will be the henna ceremony, all very exciting.

Current Location: Kunal's house

Current Mood:

excited

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16 December 2008 @ 10:29 am

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Mumbai airport was stressful, everyone kept directing me in the wrong direction and it was a really struggle to find an ATM. Finding a taxi was less problematic thank goodness, because by then I was stressed and more than shattered. I shared a taxi with 2 Malaysian gentlemen. Eventually arrived at Kunals at 5am and collapsed into bed. The road discipline in not as bad as in Eygpt, but the horn is used lots and lots and over taking / junctions are scary!

I set my alarm for 9.30 keen not to get back on English time. Yesterday i spent the day with Kunal and his Mum exploring Pune and getting some of Kunal's many wedding outfits. I have met Kunal`s lovely wife to be. We had breakfast out in the porch so that Meena could join us, there tradition is that she can not enter the house until they get married. We visited friends and family (all of which wanted to feed and water me!) and had a South Indian meal at a traditional cafe (S Indian food is less hot that N Indian). I tried 3 modes of transport, car, moped and rickshaw.

In the evening I joined Kunal`s parents for a evening of Hindi music and food. Their friends where really welcome. We did not eat our main meal until midnight, so i wasn`t really ready for breakfast this morning.

Lots of things remind me of Malaysia e.g. stray dogs, no moped helmets or seat belts, lots of people on the streets, cows wandering randomly in the road, temples, rickshaws

Current Location: Pune, Kunal`s house

Current Mood:

cheerful

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14 December 2008 @ 11:19 am

(no subject)

It has been a very long time since I last updated, I have got out of the habit completely, but right now I am in Aba Dabi airport for 10 hours with very little to do, so I am stood at a free internet computer and typing away.

Last night I got about 2 hours sleep and that is an optomistic estimate so i am sorry if this does not make complete sense... it is particularly difficult to entertain yourself in an airport for 10 hours when you are shattered and can not sleep because there is no where safe to leave your bag. My flight was supposed to depart at 10.20 local time (40 mins ago) but it has been rescheduled and now delayed until 17.00 (last time I checked...) At least the airline is providing us with meals to apoligise for the inconvinence. The delay is costing me nearly a day of my holiday, but such is life. I just hope that Michaels flight is not delayed because he is only coming out for 1 week.

On the flight from Heathrow I watch Wall E and a very sad film about a lady whose daughter disappeared when they were at a park. Other than struggling to sleep the flight was fine. I had some gorgeous views through of sun rise.

I dread to think what time i will reach Pune this evening, but I am very excited about seeing Kunal, Dipti, Andi and hopefully Rima as well. 2 Indian weddings, some exploring in Pune and hopefully some tourist trips organised by the wonderful Andi, all very exciting.

Current Mood:

exhausted

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08 August 2008 @ 06:35 pm

(no subject)

This time last week Michael and I drove down to Bournemouth for a double dose of taxis. On Saturday we went to Southampton to see Miar and her wonderful caravan, we had a yummy BBQ and chatted to Miar and some of her friends before returning to Bournemouth for dinner on the beach with Helen, David and Tiff. On Sunday we had elevenses at Becky D's in her newly finished beautiful lounge and then we went to David and Tiffany's for a BBQ, the day was finished off with another massive meal at the 3 Tonnes pub with my parents and some of their friends, I had a delicious risotto and an amazingly massive and yummy pavlova!

On Monday Mum helped me to find a new car, a difficult job considering I wanted a low mileage, reasonably modern, small engine automatic for less than £4000. Eventually after lots of phone calls, sales speals and test drives we found one which fitted the bill. And as of yesterday I now own a rather ugly but functional, very low mileage 53 reg Postman Pat van. On Monday afternoon I went to visit Miss Littlefield for tea before going for a walk with ickle brother (we were going to swim, but he chickened out).

On Tuesday Mum drove me and our new book case back to Maidenhead, and after having dinner with Mum and Michael I waved good bye to Mum and went down to Rotaract.

Wednesday involved some wedding dress shopping in Bristol and Southampton with Cat and a fabulous performance of Flashdance, which coincidentally Becky, Becky and Kay were at as well. The next day Sue picked me us from Bristol and we went to Chippenham to try the Oxfam wedding dress shop, all the half decent ones were too short, it is obviously short people who are generous enough to give their wedding dresses to Oxfam... they have one in Poole, so I will try that at some point. I now definitely know the kind of thing I am looking for.

Sue and I then went to the fabulous balloon festival, unfortunately the weather conditions were not right for flying but we enjoyed all the stalls, all the freebies, the various different entertainment acts and of course seeing the majestic balloons themselves. The night glow was as good as it always is.

Today I had to say goodbye to Percy and pick up Postman Pat... I am now back in Maidenhead, and Michael and I are all packed for our holiday to Iceland. We will be away for 2 weeks, all ever so exciting, yay!

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

cheerful

Current Music: the next door neighbours grrrrr

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31 July 2008 @ 07:17 pm

(no subject)

Last Wednesday I went to Cornwall to visit Lowenna, we had great fun catching up and exploring some of Cornwall's coast and its little towns and villages. Thanks to Lowenna's MBT's we managed a 7 mile walk on the Thursday. Lowenna has now done her square on the canvas, yay!

On Friday I drove all the way up to Leamington Spa ready for Hannah's wedding, and to see Michael for the first time in a week. Friday evening and Saturday morning wee spent helping in what ever way that we could. The whole day went incredibly well, even the weather was on side, I think is was the sunniest day so far this year.

In the early hours of Sunday morning I drove us home, so we slept for the rest of the morning. When I got up I did lots of up packing and tidying, I have lost something very small but very valuable, which I am incredibly annoyed with myself about : ( But, I have now come to the conclusion that I have searched everywhere and now just have to accept that I have lost it. I really really wish I had a better memory, grrrr!

Saturday afternoon I joined Cat, Sophie, Miar, Shaun, Beth, Cheryl, Rog, Ben, Ellie and some other people whose names will not come to mind right now, naughty memory again! To watch a wonderful performance of West Side Story. Some of us then went to join Tony and Maxine for dinner. It was really good to catch up with Maxine now she is back from her travels. Got home very late, woops!

This work I have been play working 8-6 at Winbury with 3-7 year olds, it has been good fun, but quite exhausting. Tomorrow we have go-karts and a bouncy castle to play with! After tomorrow, I am not working till I go back to school on the 1st of September.

Monday evening I went to Rotary with Lisa and Adam, the meal was scrummy and we listened to a very interesting speech by a man who ran from the west to the east of the USA in just 72 days, amazing! Tuesday night Michael and I went to see the Batman movie, it was very exciting, but I did have to hide behind Michael during the scary bits... Wednesday evening Ally and Matt came for dinner and we played 'Killer bunnies' yay! Ally brought a wonderful Mississippi mud pie for pudding which I have just eaten for pudding today as well, yum yum!

Michael went to Aberdeen for work yesterday, he will be back late tonight, so at the moment I have the house to my self, I might start to work through my list of things to do before we go to Iceland next Saturday...

Some of the important things on my things to do list:

Pay in the money I have earned this week
Update my saved book
Send out save the date messages on facebook for the wedding
Write birthday cards
Write thank you cards for the children

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

cheerful

Current Music: Richard Dawkins

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21 July 2008 @ 05:48 pm

Paris

Paris was fabulous, there were 9 of us in total, we saw lots of sites (including the baby statue of liberty which I did not know existed!), ate some amazing French food, went on a boat trip, played Mr and Mrs with Rachel and gave her lots of funny little presents and the high light was the amazing Moulin Rouge.

It certainly is worth watching, the dancers were ALL amazingly talented (and unbelievably flexible), the costumes were phenomenal to say the very least, although they did not cover much skin... they where amazingly elaborate. In between the dancers we had acrobats, a magician, a shadow puppeteer who used his hands as the puppets and a girl that swam / danced topless with massive snakes (and that is not an exaggeration, they were long than she was tall and they were fat as well!) and looked like she was having a really fabulous time! It was expensive, but worth the money, I certainly recommend it.

I am now in Bournemouth till Wednesday. Working on the wedding (things are coming together...), booking flights for Rachel's wedding, sorting out India etc. Mum and I have been fruit picking and we when skating this morning and there were only 4 of us on the rink, it was fabulous! Went to see Grandma this afternoon and tonight I am off to watch Bournemouth play football with Helen.

Current Mood:

cheerful

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21 July 2008 @ 09:10 am

(no subject)

I had a lovely weekend in Bournemouth last weekend. We looked at various different cars, but I decided they were on beyond my price range. I ate chocolate cake, went for a lovely walk along the Perbecks with Dad, went round to see David and Tiffany's new house, went to the theatre with Helen, had 11ziz with Becky L at her new house and then drove up to Ally and Matt's ready for Go Ape.

Go Ape was great fun, I would certainly recommend it to you you all. The zip lines were great fun, as was the assault course through the trees, the only bit I struggled with was the cargo nets after the Tarzan swings, my arms ached until Wednesday!

Last week I ran my own little play scheme at my school. It worked perfectly really, I got in early to sort out my classroom in preparation for next year and clear out the massive messy cupboard that I inherited at the beginning of the year (I have thrown lots out and now know what is in it!) We did lots of fun activities during the week including a highly successful High School Musical afternoon. Tiring, but fun.

I had my first 'advanced' skating lesson on Monday, followed by Rotaract on Tuesday (must do the minutes, naughty me!) then skating at Bracknell on Wednesday when I finally passed there tricky step sequence and dinner with Elli on Thursday night. It was lovely to see Elli and have a catch up. I have also been doing lots of venue finding for the wedding this week, so it has been highly busy. If I gave you a provisional date I am afraid that date is unlikely to be correct now. We are struggling to find somewhere for the civil ceremony which is affordable, big enough and not too much of a drive from the reception... All 3 seem to be an impossible combination at the moment, but I am still working on it.

On Friday Mum came up to Maidenhead with a massive chest of drawers to ease our storage problems. Our room and Michael's study heaved a sigh of relief when they saw it arrive as did we. Just waiting for our new bookcase now, but we will need to borrow Uncle Richards van for that.

Very early on Saturday Mum and I zipped off to Paris for Rachel's Hen weekend, but I will tell you about that later. Mum and I are off ice skating now.

Keep Smiling

Current Location: Bournemouth

Current Mood:

cheerful

Current Music: Radio 4

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10 July 2008 @ 05:37 pm

(no subject)

On Friday we had our class assembly, my PowerPoint presentation refused to open, so the morning was a bit of a mass panic, but in the end it went really well.

I had a lovely weekend in Bristol and was treated to lots of scrummy home cooked meals by Tony and Ellie, Rob, Lisa and Olly. Yes, as usual I did lots of eating! On Sunday Sue, Cat and I had our first look for wedding dresses / brides maid dresses. It is much easier to decide what I do not want than what I do want... On the way home from Bristol I stopped at Chieveley to see the village hall, which is probably where we are going to have our wedding reception, it certainly seems to fit the bill : )

This week has flown by at a rate of knots! Ice skating on Monday went very well, I am enjoying the bronze syllabus. On Tuesday I had a very long day at school inter house rounders was cancelled because of the rain, which was a shame. Then on Wednesday (the day that it rained constantly!) it was the Prize Giving Service followed by our staff end of year meal so that was pretty hectic, they the time I had packed and got stressed about the location of my car MOT and log book it ended up being a very late night. Today we had a half day at school, the children gave me some lovely presents, bless them and I had some lovely cards from them. The school year has gone incredibly quickly...

After saying goodbye to the children I jumped in Percy and drove down to Bournemouth. This afternoon Dad and I had a lovely walk by the beach. I have just tried out a possible new car. The details in case you are interested...

CDTi 1.3 Corsa Vauxhall, Breeze - GU05WUJ, Diesel, Turbo, 5 door, Blue, 28,000 miles, 2 owners, powered steering, aircon, electric remote central locking (locking would be novel), airbags, electric front windows.

I am not sure if I will go for it yet, it is not a full automatic, and I am only used to automatics...

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03 July 2008 @ 05:19 pm

(no subject)

We had a very successful trip to Aunty Steph's the food was a scrummy as always, and it was really great to have a good chat with her about all sorts of things. She is very optimistic about being able to cater for the wedding, and she had lots of very sensible suggestions about budget venues as well. I am off to see a very promising venue this weekend, so hopefully within the next fortnight a date will have been set...

On our way back from Steph's we dropped in to Lisa and Adam's for the Rotaract end of Year BBQ, a good way to end a good weekend.

This week has been busy busy busy, lots to get sorted / do at school, I seem to be adding things to my 'to do' list fast than I a, ticking them off at the moment, and I am ticking them off pretty quickly. My class assembly practices have been drastically disrupted by ill health, so I am really hoping that it all comes together tomorrow... The house swimming gala went well today, Thistle came 2nd as expected.

I might be buying an 05 Vauxhall Corsa... Will be giving it a test drive when I am down in Bournemouth next weekend.

In Slough I have passed level 10, so I am now working towards by Bronze Award. In contrast at Bracknell I are still struggling to do my backward mohawks and crossovers (can't help moving forwards rather than backwards!) This week I was skating like a banana though because managed to forget my own skates, the ones I borrowed from the rink where incredibly blunt, I now have new respect for people that manage to progress through the levels without buying their own skates. By 7.45 my feet were in sooooooooo much pain that I can to ask Ally if we could get off a bit early, such a wimp!

Tonight Tomas is having some friends over for a good bye party, so we are going to go out for dinner to give them some space, and to celebrate Michael's promotion from A2 to A3 (he is slowly becoming a smaller piece of paper...)

Off to Bristol tomorrow after school, yay!

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

cheerful

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29 June 2008 @ 07:47 am

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The new girl was lovely and she has signed up for September, so that is very good news. After leaving school early on Monday, I had to make up for it by staying late for the rest of the week. On Tuesday I did not get home until 7.45, so did not make it to the Rotaract social, which was a shame. Sports Day went well, and we have started preparing for our class Assembly which is on Friday. We are still struggling to get this terms D.T. project finished, moving monsters powered by pneumatics is challenging to say the least!

Another reason that I have been so tired recently is that I have been reading the new Torey Hayden book, and I have always found it difficult to put them down once I start reading them.

My Level 10 Ice Skating sessions are still going well. All I have to pass is the step sequence on both of them... And, I am getting there slowly but surely... It is in my interest not to pass level 10 at Bracknell because there is no where to go after level 10 there and I enjoy my Wednesday skating sessions with Ally. After skating I did a bit more of my square on her canvas and we had a lovely Ally made dinner, yum yum! As usual the time past very quickly and it ended up being a late night!

On Thursday at school we had the performance poetry competition. The lady who came in to judge was fabulous, and gave all the girls very good feedback.

This weekend has been set aside for a while now for some decision making. We have decided what excursions we want to do in Iceland and booked them, yay! We have looked up lots of flights for India, and once Michael has booked his time off on Monday we will book the cheapest of those. Yesterday we also went into Reading and Michael helped me find a pair of shoes to go with my dress for Hannah's wedding. The shoes that we found a compromise, but I must admit that comfort did have to come before height, strappiness etc. To celebrate the end of shoe stress we had donuts and a shakeaway. No trip to Reading is complete without popping into Eclectic Games. They have moved just across the round from there old premises and it took us a while to navigate the new setup. We came out with Killer Bunnies (which would be more correctly named as Kill the bunnies!) and a Dungeons and Dragons book for Michael. Played the Bunny game last night, it was good fun, but would probably be even better with more people playing.

Today we are off to see Michael's Aunty Steph for lunch. We are hoping that she is going to be able to help us make some decisions about catering for the wedding. I am hoping that we will have a date before the beginning of the summer holidays, so that I can start doing invites etc. whilst I am not at school. In order to maximise the chance of good weather, it looks like we might be looking at July rather than April or May, (can't do June because there are no school holidays in June!)

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26 June 2008 @ 05:18 pm

(no subject)

The Big Read thinks the average adult has only read six of the top 100 books they've printed below.

01. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
02. Italicise those you intend to read
03. Underline the books you LOVE.

I am quite amazed that I have read 44 / 100, not bad really...

001 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
002 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
003 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
004 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
005 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
006 The Bible
007 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
008 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
009 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
010 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
011 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
012 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
013 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
014 Complete Works of Shakespeare I have read a lot of it, but not all yet…
015 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
016 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
017 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
018 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
019 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
020 Middlemarch - George Eliot
021 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
022 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
023 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
024 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
025 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
026 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
027 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
028 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
029 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
030 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
031 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
032 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens HATED IT!
033 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
034 Emma - Jane Austen
035 Persuasion - Jane Austen
036 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
037 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
038 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
039 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
040 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
041 Animal Farm - George Orwell
042 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
043 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
044 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
045 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
046 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - and the rest of the series!
047 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
048 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
049 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
050 Atonement - Ian McEwan
051 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
052 Dune - Frank Herbert
053 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
054 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
055 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
056 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
057 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
058 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
059 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
060 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
061 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
062 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
063 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
064 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
065 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
066 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
067 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
068 Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
069 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
070 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
071 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
072 Dracula - Bram Stoker
073 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
074 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
075 Ulysses - James Joyce
076 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
077 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
078 Germinal - Emile Zola
079 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
080 Possession - AS Byatt
081 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
082 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
083 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
084 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
085 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
086 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
087 Charlotte's Web - EB White
088 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

089 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
090 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
091 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
092 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
093 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
094 Watership Down - Richard Adams
095 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
096 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
097 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
098 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
099 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

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23 June 2008 @ 06:19 pm

(no subject)

On Saturday morning I had a bit of a lie in, and then did some cleaner before going into school for the school fair. After I did my stint at the school fair I returned to Maidenhead to find Sue and head into London. We wondered round Leicester square listening to West End Live and hunting for theatre ticket bargains. In the end we went for 'The Sound of Music'. Tickets purchased we treated ourselves to a Harrods chocolate fondue, sooooooooo yummy! We then met Linda for dinner before heading to the theatre. The show was excellent, I just about managed to keep my singing along inside my head! After the show we met up with Michael who had come into London trying to meet up with a friend. Before heading home we went to Ed's for a wonderful milkshake.

Sunday was a day of lots of walking for Sue and I. We got the train into Windsor and walked all the way around Windsor and Eton before having a picnic lunch on the Queens drive way. After lunch we walked all the way down and up the Palace drive way to the statue at the top of the hill. I think it is about 3 miles each way. By then our legs where a a bit tired, so we headed for a Ben and Jerry's milkshake. Got home at about 6pm and had a go at making bread in my new bread machine. Was disappointed that it was going to take 4 hours! We decided that we could not wait that long for dinner, so Michael suggested fish and chips in Marlow : ) We enjoyed sitting by the river with our dinner and then returned home to wait for the bread to finish cooking...

Today has been a good day, the weather is gorgeous, so I decided to leave straight after school and come home for a cycle ride. I cycled along the Themes to Windsor race course and back. My legs and arms are a bit scratched because the path is quite over grown, but it was certainly worth it. I was cycling for about an hour and a half, singing along to the songs on my mobile phone as I went.

Off ice skating tonight, and tomorrow I have a new little girl in my class for the day.

Current Mood:

cheerful

Current Music: Radio 4

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20 June 2008 @ 04:40 pm

(no subject)

Goodness me I haven't updated since the beginning of half term, shocking! Life has been particularly busy recently...

Matt and I had a good week in Bournemouth with Gemma joining us for the evenings. Our High School Musical evening was fabulous, had a really lovely dinner cooked by Tiff and ate dinner on the beach in the sunshine and in the rain... Matt did lots of revision and I spent lots of time looking for wedding venues, Matt very kindly came to look at some with me. A sad lack of report writing was done. On the last Saturday of half term Gemma and I cycled for a shake away before I headed back to Maidenhead. Michael and I went for a walk in the sunshine when I got home and then had a pub dinner in a beer garden over looking the river. On Sunday I sandwiched a bit of conservation work with Rotaract between lots of report writing.

Report writing, meetings, competitions, galas, trips, clubs and end of term STUFF has meant that I have had lots of late nights at school.

Ally and I have started iceskating lessons at Bracknell, Ally has already been promoted to level 2, and I am learning lots of new things in level 10 (there level 10 is quite different from Slough's). There are only 3 of us in my group and I am probably older than the other two put together. The coach seems very good. I go straight after drama club, arriving in time to watch the end of Ally's lesson and then have mine. Then at 7pm there is an open session so we have a practise and a chat before going back to Ally and Matt's for yummy dinner at canvas painting! My square on Ally's canvas is a work in progress! I did the background last week, added 2 colours this week...

I am now Secretary of my Rotaract club, so it is now my job to type up the minutes etc. We have had some very good talks recently and seem to have 2 new members, so it is all going very well.

The weekend after half term Michael and I went down to Bournemouth to welcome Mum and Dad home. It was really lovely to see them and catch up, I really missed being able to ring them up for a chat when they were away. We looked at some more wedding venues, but everything was either far too expensive, too church hall like and or too small... Perhaps I am being toooo picky...

The next week we had some really lovely weather, one evening Michael and I both managed to get home from work before 7pm so we headed down to the river for a lovely picnic dinner and a read of our books, it was perfect.

Last weekend we went to Michael's parents, I helped Michael to clear out his room. He helped his Dad on the farm and watched lots of sport and I caught up with my report writing, went shopping with his Mum and yet again looked for wedding venues. Finding a suitable dress was surprisingly painless, though I was stunned by how difficult it is to get some dresses on and off. They look / fit fine once they are on, but getting them on and off is excruciating! On Saturday evening we took Michael's parents out for dinner for fathers day, the meal was really yummy and the weather was nice enough to sit outside as well. On Sunday Zosia and I attempted to find some shoes that suited the dress, and that I thought I could stand up in without falling over or being in pain. After trying on goodness knows how many shoes we gave up, I think we both felt equally frustrated : (

This week has been particularly manic, Michael and I have been a bit like passing ships... At school on Monday I was informed that the 'Windsor race night and picnic' that I had signed up for was that night, for some reason I thought it was in early July, woops! It was a really lovely evening, I did not bet, but enjoyed cheering on other people's bets.

On Tuesday we took Year 2 and Year 3 on a school trip to RHS Wisley, it was a really great day, but as always with school trips it was very full on. I also managed to put my camera down when I was sorting out a child how had been stung by a wasp, and promptly forgot to pick it back up again... By the time I realised it was missing and went back to look for it, it was gone : ( I reported it missing, but it was not found on the day. However, I got an email today saying that one had been handed in, so I hope that it is mine... Got back from Wisley to a stressful meeting with parents about a proposed residential for next year. Some of the Year 2 parents are not keen for their little darlings to go away for 2 nights, it got quite heated, (between the parents, not between the parents and us!) Then there was a long staff meeting, I was ready to do to bed when I got home, but I gulped my dinner down and went down to Rotaract for an interesting talk from the dyslexia association.

Today my class and I made sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous chocolate rocks, it was great fun...

Right time for dinner now, I will try not to leave it some long next time...

Current Location: home

Current Mood:

cheerful

Current Music: Radio 4

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27 May 2008 @ 09:07 am

Things to do this week...

Write reports (not started yet, woops!)
Watch High School Musical (I want to know what all the fuss is about) (DONE, it was great! And we even learnt some of the songs / dances!)
Get some new school shirts and a new pair of casual trousers (DONE, went shopping in Poole today)
Library (not yet...)
Print photos for saved book (not yet...)
Find a venue for Mr Wedding (I am working on it... so far everything is too expensive, a bit too small or too ugly. Matt has been a great help)
Tidy / clean the house (not yet... will do that just before I do)
See my Bournemouth friends (DONE, but will do some more! Last night Becky, Becky, Helen and Tiff joined Gemma, Matt and I for pizza, popcorn and High School Musical. Tonight we had a delicious risotto and home made bread made by Tiff.)
Go cycling (DONE, Matt and I went cycling yesterday, but I am hoping to cycle with ickle brother on Friday as well)
Spend time by the sea (DONE, but not much recently because of Mr Rain...)
Phone / write to Lowenna and Claire (not yet... I have had lots and lots of company!)
Visit Grandma (DONE, it was 11am but she was still sound asleep and I could not wake her!)
Email Kunal about Christmas (DONE, but it bounced back, he has changed his email address, not sure what to do next)

Current Location: Bournemouth

Current Mood:

cheerful

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27 May 2008 @ 07:25 am

(no subject)

The bank holiday weekend has been fabulous. The BBC lied about the weather! On Saturday and Sunday we had beautiful sun shine. Saturday morning Matt accompanied me to the supermarket to buy in supplies and then we headed down to the beach for lunch, paddling, volley ball, cricket Rummikub and tablet made by Ally. Sarah, Ed and Pete popped down to see us for the afternoon, yay! We stayed down at the beach until about 7, but then returned home for dinner, new canvas painting, more chatting and Eurovision. After Eurovision Sue and I thrashed Michael, Steve, Matt and Zain at poker, hehe! I am getting good at poker...

Will disappeared very early on Sunday, he even missed the cooked breakfast! The rest of us including Matt's Mum headed down to the beach again with more food and shakeaways! We even got thrashed at volleyball by some 13-15 year old girls who where foreign students! The volleyball net also became a bat and ball net and David got very frustrated about how bad us girls were! Steve headed back up to Nottingham and Rob left for Bristol just before dinner. Cat and Ceri went off for a boat ride with David and Tiff in the evening whilst the rest of us packed up the beach hut and started getting dinner ready. There were 11 of us for dinner so we had masses of pasta and garlic bread sat at the dinning room table, and after dinner the conversation turned to all sorts of things and suddenly it was way passed David's bed time!

Yesterday we allowed ourselves a lie in, and decided not to brave the weather as finally the weather forecasters had got it right and it was tipping it down. Ceri made a scrummy yummy chocolate cake! Sue, Cat and Zain left just before the chocolate cake, poor them, but lucky us! In the afternoon we played monopoly and Beth wiped the board with us (but I came second..)! Then suddenly it was time to take Ceri to her bus, we just about made it. Shortly after that Michael had to disappear back t Maidenhead and we were done to 4 of us... Shaun made us a scrummy yummy dinner and we had lots of Uno matches and chocolate cake. Gemma arrived mid evening and joined in with the fun and frolics, yay for Gemma.

It was a fabulous weekend, thank you to everyone who helped to make it so (including Mr Sunshine!)

Current Location: B'mth

Current Mood:

cheerful

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