284: #WednesdayWonderings

We live in a world where we have a bunch of information at our fingertips – we unlock our phones and Google to our hearts content, but what about all those random questions, why was I looking and what did I find out.

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Fisheye app for iPhone – I post a lot of pictures to Instagram and wanted to play about with a fisheye lens but wondered if there was an app for that. The first app I tried was rubbish the second was £1.49 and decided that I wouldn’t buy it especially as I’d just cleared like 3 photography apps off my phone because I wasn’t using them.

Heathcliff musical – I’m currently reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and vaguely remembered my Dad buying a CD for my Mum after she’d been to see Cliff Richard in some performance. Well him with a friend or two wrote and starred in a musical called Heathcliff and it revolved around the character of Heathcliff and his life. It’s only while reading Wuthering Heights that I’ve realised how little we actually know about Heathcliff as the reader. Emily carefully gives us just enough information to create this rugged and rough character but doesn’t give us too much and lose the enigma that is Heathcliff.

Chapter 7 “my dinner goes up in smoke” – I posted a picture on Instagram and was looking at other pictures with similar tags and this appeared in a picture. I was looking to find out what book it was from. I think it comes from The Lightning Thief that then became Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Doctor Who 11th Hour – My friend Angelika is catching up on Doctor Who via Netflix at the moment, so while she was watching The Eleventh Hour episode (Rory and Amy’s first proper episode) she posted on my FB wall about how excited she was and how she liked the new doctor and wanted to know what his name was. Well I had a mental moment and couldn’t remember if it was Matt Smith or David Tennant. Okay before you demand my fan girl status back I was like 99% sure that it was Matt Smith but there was a tiny bit of doubt that I had to get rid of. Now I know and will remember.

Soap taste after temporary filling – A while back I had a hole in my tooth and got a filing – didn’t really think any more of it – sometimes my teeth are a bit sensitive but it usually combines with whatever I’m eating or how harshly I attempted to clean (or beat up) my teeth the night before! I went for my check up yesterday and told my dentist that I thought my tooth was decaying around my filing and could he take a look. So he had a look and a poke and said “Yes, your filing is loose – I’ll take it out and put in a temporary one” so he took it out with some tweezers (oh dear!) and then said “The hole in there is actually quite big, I suggest that we take out your tooth” Great okay last time I had an extraction I sat in the chair in tears and bit the dentist’s finger because I’d really had enough as I’m not 100% sure I was given enough anaesthetic (That was my old dentist – I am with my third dentist!). So back to the filing – I’m given a temporary filing to plug the hole and I have to book a date for an extraction. So that’s next week. I might cry. I might need the following day off work but that depends on how I feel. Anyway so following my dentist appointment all I could taste this soapy taste – it was really gross.

Losing my Boyfriend to World of Warcraft – Our Sidekick downloaded Minecraft at the weekend and this song kept coming into my head. It’s by All Caps

Piano in St. Pancras – I walked through St Pancras and could hear a piano being played and thought I was going a bit mad but there next to the lift is a graffitied piano and two lads were playing it. I wanted to sit down and play Für Elise but I had to catch the train. I found more information here.

St John’s ambulance history – we had a meeting on Tuesday and as we drove past the local St John’s Ambulance base we ended up having a whole conversation about how the St Johns Ambulance came about.

Chemicals in cigarettes – on Monday after getting back from London me, JD and Our Sidekick were sat at The Fountain and somehow what chemicals there were in cigarettes came up. There’s things like formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia and tar. They were just the ones I can remember off the top of my head.

12 Grimmauld Place actual location – having met Mel and Jelly at Platform 9 and 3/4s in Kings Cross Station on Monday I quickly googled to see if there was an actual address used for Grimmauld Place continuing the Harry Potter theme – according to my results there could be any number of addresses in London used as 12 Grimmauld Place. I found on Living The Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) that the address is New Square, Camden. Apparently chunks of Westminster Tube station are used as the Ministry of Magic but I didn’t know that until I started writing this post today.

Hummingbird Bakery – I was trying to think of all the tourist things to do in London to take Mel and Jelly to then I decided that if we were close we should go for an afternoon piece of cake however turns out we were kind of in the wrong area of London for Hummingbird Bakery we were in Covent Garden area and I think HB is closer to Kensington – oh well that’ll be a trip for next time.

 

Image from here. Text my own.

283: The Invasion of Nottinghamshire #TWI

It’s Sunday when I’m writing this. I’m on the bus heading back from my adventure. I could wait until I get home but I may as well use the time wisely right?

Joining with Sar from [Life of Love] and Syndal from Synfully Delicious

“That girl in the black jumper is me……”

So many films and TV shows start with something to this effect. I think the recent one I can think of from my seat on the X5 heading to Bedford is from Episode One of Hart of Dixie.

Rachel Bilson as Zoe Hart is sat on a bus heading towards the fictional town of Bluebell, Alabama. She’s been turned down for a Cardio-Thoraxic Residency at a hospital in NY and found out that she’s been given half a GP practice. And her adventure kicks off.

Well I’m not as glam as Rachel and I need to wash my hair. Wuthering Heights is open on my knee with my post it note bookmark stuck to the outside. I can hear people behind me speaking animatedly in Polish (or at least that’s what it sounds like). I have homemade chocolate cheesecake made by Miss S in a carrier bag next to me – I think it might be squished but its wrapped in tin foil so hopefully I can eat it with a spoon from the foil if needed.

My adventure started yesterday morning when I drove to The Fountain and then caught the X5 to Milton Keynes to meet Miss S for our adventure further north to Nottinghamshire to meet up with the uni girls.

I caught the 1015 out of Bedford, made a friend in the queue, paid for my “period return” which would mean I could get as far as town on Sunday and headed for MK.

I pottered round the shops and ran an errand for my brother (who had a really sore face after having a wisdom tooth removed on Friday!) and then headed for John Lewis end of the shopping centre to wait for Miss S.

We headed to the supermarket first for lunch, road trip supplies, my contribution to the meal and petrol. The supermarket was heaving as it was nearly lunchtime on a Saturday (this is why I go food shopping on a Monday or Tuesday). Miss S dropped me off at the store while she got petrol then came back for me rather than trying to find a parking space.

How's that for a Ferris wheel. #goosefair #nottsinvasion

We arrived in Nottinghamshire at Kewey and DanDan’s house, lots of hugs were passed around then we settled down to curl up on the sofa and catch up, a little while later LB and Andy arrived so there were more hugs and more catching up. DanDan and Andy ended up sat in one corner chatting away and about boy things and we were all on the other side chatting away. We exchanged birthday presents with Kewey and LB. LB gave Kewey a white canvas with musical notes and a giant treble clef on it – I stood on the sofa and hung it up and it looked amazing like it should always be there!

We’d had a discussion earlier in the week about going to the Goose Fair at Nottingham. It was probably not my cup of tea but we had so much fun from nearly falling over on the tram because we were too busy chatting and not busy enough hanging on, going on the ferris wheel and looking at the view, going on the chair swing and LB holding my hand when I got the collywobbles. (I’d have probably been fine on my own and without the flashing lights that were like right in my sight line but thankfully LB had been pre-warned and when she looked at me and saw that although I was smiling my eyes said I’m not okay she knew to grab my hand!)

I’m glad I charged my phone before leaving the house because I was snapping away. Some of the pictures didn’t come out that great but some where amazing. Others wouldn’t upload as O2 seems to have a crisis in Nottingham and some of the surrounding area. My phone keeps freaking out and losing all signal only to then reconnect seconds later. (And steering me more and more to a new network when my contract runs out in a few months time).

Fun times at the fair. #goosefair #nottsinvasion

We hadn’t had tea before leaving the house and decided that we were going to grab a burger or something like that. I ended up having a hot dog and a bit later in the evening I had a nutella crepe – which was easier to ask for than to actually eat. At one point Kewey wanted to take my picture because I had nutella all round my face like a small child – apparently it was quite funny but I got really self conscious about it lol.

After a while we headed back to the tram stop and then headed back to the house. On the way at one point Andy was stood behind LB, S and Kewey were chattering away and then the tram jolted – Andy some how reached round LB and grabbed them both by their sleeves and managed to stop them from falling over in the middle of the tram – it was really epic!

We spent about 3 or 4 hours chatting and then realised at 1:30am that it was really time to go to bed! Me and S were sharing the living room – I was on the fold out futon which wasn’t amazingly comfy but I got some sleep which was the main thing. At about 8am the light coming through the blinds was too bright so I curled up on the sofa and played the next MacHeist mission and carried on reading Wuthering Heights.

We had bacon sandwiches for breakfast once everyone was downstairs and ready. We then had the TV playing in the background and decided to pop into town for a little while as Kewey had an errand she needed to run. Me and Andy raced the lift down from the car park to the shops – we just arrived before the doors opened. We then did the same on the way back to the car with DanDan, DanDan shot off in front and was about 1 and a half flights in front of me, then about two flights of stairs from the top I couldn’t catch my breathe and had to slow down – Andy took over but he was only about 6 or 7 steps in front of me – it was pretty epic but did start jokes about the gym (which is kind of true but it’s a bit expensive!)

Feeling a bit out of place in #topshop. Oh well.

I snapped this picture while in TopShop. I have a think about TopShop because their choices of mannequins bug me, they are really skinny to the extent that I think they are size 6 or 8. I stood next to one that had not shape to “her” bottom and her legs were thinner than table legs I swear! Anyway so I was pottering around and updating Twitter and chatting to Chris by text message. (On the other hand I got home and watched Strictly from last night – oh my gosh can Lisa Riley dance! And that lift at the end – she just proved that girls don’t have to be skinny to be dancers! Get in Lisa!!)

After pottering round the shops we headed back to the cars and then back to the house. Kewey cooked us Spaghetti Bolognese with Quorn mince – it was really yummy but as I normally don’t eat breakfast and had on Sunday then lunch was like two hours later so that S could make it back to her house to get ready for her evening plans. While we were sat around the dinner table we discussed dates for meeting up for Christmas.

At 3pm it was time to head home, part of me wanted to get home to see the points but the other part of me wanted to stay and hang out with the girls more. I made it to MK in time for the next x5, I charged into the McDonald’s opposite the bus stop to go to the loo. I was going to buy a drink or a burger or something so I didn’t feel like I’d used the customer toilet without being a customer but I then saw the bus arrive outside. It was only when I joined the queue and the lady in front was told it was the Oxford bus and she’d need the other one for Bedford did I see the Bedford bound X5 pull in behind the Oxford bound X5 and changed queue. Chris had waited at The Fountain for me so I just had to walk from the Bus station round the corner to The Fountain and then we went home via Mum’s.

That was my weekend.

282: Dear Monday

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Joining with Megan from Happy Day.

Dear Kewey and DanDan, thank you for playing host to me, S, LB and Andy – I had a lovely time. The bacon sandwiches for breakfast were yummy, that spaghetti bolognese was awesome too – I just wish I’d had room to eat my portion of Spag Bol.

Dear S, thank you for being my taxi hehe. Without you I’d have probably had to get the train which would have been a bit crazy and probably a headache for me lol. The X5 to MK is dead simple lol.

Dear Chris and Our Sidekick, I genuinely really missed you. I loved calling on Saturday night to wish you both good night. I think you were having a lovely time too.

Dear Jelly and Mel, it was so lovely to meet you, I had a great time exploring London with you. I think Ruby would have liked to have been there too! You two are so adorable. There was one moment on the tube when I thought Jelly was going to fall over then again on the journey to Covent Garden Jelly almost caught me when I was wasn’t quite holding on tight enough! I snapped this picture while waiting for you guys. I realised when I got on the train after we’d left each other that I didn’t snap one of you two at 9 3/4s 🙁

I wonder what the weather is like at #hogwarts.

Dear East Midlands Trains, last time I went to London I could get to St Pancras International and a Zone 1 and 2 Rail card for £30ish with no restrictions. Today I had the choice of £26 but couldn’t travel back between 4:30 and 7pm or £44 for the freedom to travel within those times. Why the difference exactly?

Dear JD, it was great to meet you for an impromptu drink and then a road trip. I loved trying on crazy shoes with you and winding up Our Sidekick. You have to come and hangout for a DVD night and soon!

Dear Chipotle, I’d have probably avoided you normally. With Pizza Express next door that would have probably been my first choice but I jumped in and went for it. I had a chicken burrito with brown rice and the “not really spicy” sauce. I think the marinade on the chicken made my lips and throat sore from the spice but I drank my can and some water and was fine. I’m going to have to take Chris and Our Sidekick as they will love it! Either that or try and make a homemade version of Chipotle – there’s got to be a recipe out there somewhere!

My first #chipotle for lunch. We walked from King's Cross. I think it balances out. #london #adventures

279: Fill In The Blanks Friday

Joining with Lauren from The Little Things We Do

1.  The last thing I ate was my breakfast. I had a sausage sandwich – I know it’s not good for me but I only have it on a Friday and even then it’s not every Friday. I try and be good but sometimes I fail.

2.  The last time I went to the beach was in July when we went to the beach at Barri Island in Wales. It was too cold for a paddle – I had a quick paddle but it was making my feet hurt. I have a rule that I have to paddle in the sea at least once when we go to the seaside (apart from the time we went to Felixstowe in October it was far too cold to be on the seafront let alone near the sea lol).

3.  My last vacation was   this summer. We went to Bristol with Our Sidekick it was our first holiday as a family. It was good fun although there were a couple of rocky moments where I think we were just driving each other slightly mad as we were in each other’s personal space a lot of the time.

4. The last place I drove was    to The Fountain to meet Chris for lunch, haven’t really seen him this week and we need to chat over some stuff before a huge explosion takes out half of Bedford!

5. The last song I listened to was erm I don’t know! We have the radio on at work, I have the radio on in the car and there’s the stereo playing music in The Fountain so it could be any song. The two albums I’ve been playing lots are Babel by Mumford and Sons and Our Version of Events by Emeli Sande.

6. The last thing I watched on TV was it was either Sing While You Work – it’s the latest Gareth Malone choir adventure (when is he going to come to Bedford? Then again I think statistically we have a lot of choirs it’s just I can never go to them and some charge to join what’s with that!) or Grand Designs Australia – me and Chris regularly discus what our dream house would be like. I think when he decides that we are going to build the house I am going to go and emigrate somewhere and then come back when it’s done because we’d just annoy each other because I’d be there wanting to learn how to do things (I learnt to tile bathrooms and replace double glazing windows because of my Grandad, then again him and his builder friend taught my Mum how to lay bricks.

7.  The last time I said “I love you” was probably to Chris earlier this week which is really bad. I told Tori my cousin that I love her. She’s been at university almost a week and I think as exciting as it is she’s missing home a little bit. I might have to organise a petrol pot so that if it’s really bad I can pack up one Friday and drive after work to her university and see her then come back Sunday in time for work on Monday or in time for contact time if needed.

277: Dear Monday /This Weekend I…#TWI

Dear Monday/This Weekend I...

Dear Monday (except it’s Tuesday because I either can’t count or read a calendar it seems!)

Dear Monday, this week it was my fault – I got distracted by my book and couldn’t put it down – I read almost a whole book in one night. Erm about 3 hours but it did mean that I went to sleep at 1am. Probably explains why I feel so rubbish today.

Dear Tummy, what is with you?! You just kept playing up all day!

Dear Worship Song, I get it’s supposed to be serious but when the line “heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss” in is one of your verses I couldn’t help but laugh – even “he even gave the cat it’s furry bottom” in Lovely Jubbly is less laugh inducing (mainly because it’s a kid’s worship song not a serious worship song.

Dear October, you have arrived. I wore a woolly jumper yesterday which was fine until I went out at lunch and then I was too warm but the jumper worked as a bit of a comforter when I spend the whole morning feeling a bit death like.

 

Joining with Sar from [Life of Love] and Syndal from Synfully Delicious
I couldn’t decide whether to carry on with Dear Monday or join This Weekend I….so double whammy. In my mind the weekend starts at 5ish on a Friday right?

This Weekend I went to the cinema with Libs – we went for dinner first. I had Four Cheese Rigatoni with chicken and garlic bread. We went to see Untouchable at the cinema. It’s in French with English subtitles but the story is so good!

This Weekend I (well we) took Our Sidekick on a guided tour around Huntingdon and Godmanchester where Chris grew up and told him (OS) stories like how Chris cooked Spag Bol for me and two friends after we drover from Bedford to Godmanchester as a surprise crazy road trip.

This Weekend I (well we – again!) had dinner with my in-laws – originally we popped in for a cuppa as part of the magical mystery tour but ended up staying for tea (we went to Fayre and Square at Hartford Mill) and then went back to their house to watch Doctor Who. Our Sidekick helped Chris’s Dad (My FIL) get the guinea pigs in from the garden. My FIL and MIL have a small zoo in their garden lol. There’s two guinea pigs, at least two if not three rabbits, a dog, tank of fish. There were hamsters or rats at one point and some African Snails – not sure if they are still there.

This Weekend I played bass in the band for the last time. I have officially stepped down from the band now. Kinda sad but I’m still part of the team when it comes to kid’s worship songs and doing the actions so I’m not completely out just yet lol

This Weekend I spoke to B about Kid’s Work – I start in two weeks covering one of the others ladies. It’s the first time I’ll have done proper Sunday School kid’s work since 2006 ish (I’ve done odd Sundays but not proper being part of the rota)

This Weekend I bought some more wool and did some more crocheting – I’ve had to undo the bit I started on Saturday as it was all wrong and there were too many stitches in places, I do however have my original project home from work so I can carry on with that one instead.