A dilemma...

I am at home this week, and this has brought something to the forefront of my mind, which is I have to attend 3 weddings in the next year. And not just attend, actually take part in all 3 of them! This means a lot of photos, which are going to be on display a lot. So Im going to have to dome something about what I have affectionately being calling "my Scotland weight". In order to understand what sort of a deal this is to me, you have to know something about me which some people don't always understand...

I live for food. I love cooking, baking, creating and eating food. From the finest dinning of Michelin start restaurants, to creating something new from scratch to enjoying the fruits of a good recipe book. Food is a huge part of my life. I would choose going out for dinner over a concert or a night out any time. Baking has become my go-to activity for boring nights or Sunday afternoons. Having my own flat on accentuated this love more. Joni and I would take any excuse to look up some new complicated meal online or in one of my many recipe collections and have a night in cooking together. I even enjoy McDonnalds! 

So you can begin to see why the quest to look better is quite a tricky one. Im asking myself to give up my hobby and my favourite past times. This is obviously never going to happen very well, so instead im going to try and become a bit of an exercise freak. I hear people who exercise a lot can eat whatever they like. Its going ok so far. I'v been home for 4 days and I'v already increased my exercise levels exponentially. We will have to see if I can carry this on over time. Tomorrow will be another good day. 

So watch this space for tales of my amazing weight loss..... 

"Stuck in the middle with you..."

So Im feeling very stuck in limbo at the moment. I'm very ready to say goodbye to this place, and this project, but I still have months to go. Its very much not fun any more, trying to drag up enthusiasm for all this stuff. I'v gotten fat living in Scotland, and I can't start exercising again till I get somewhere where its safe to go out after its gets dark at midday. I'v got lots of plans and Ideas of things I can do next but I can't start them till I finish up here. And the worse part of it is I really can't do anything to speed things up - my supervisor will drag this right up to the deadline even if I took a full draft to his office this morning. Urrgh frustrating!! Im even becoming jealous of Joni who at least gets to move out of this god forsaken spit of land we call Scotland in 10 days.

OMG we have to move house is 10 days and like nothing is packed!! panic!! We are busy trying to use up the various bits of food we have hanging around. I could be doing a lot of baking in the next week to use up all the flour and sugar. And I think Louise (who I am staying with after we move out of our flat) will be getting a parcel of all the little bits we don't manage to use.

As part of our doing-things-we-want-to-get-done-before-we-leave thing, Joni & I went to the Scottish Deer Center yesterday, which was surprisingly good fun. It had a lovely amateurish charm abut it, the paths were almost completely mud and the deer were mixed in together with really odd information signs, but you could get a big bag of food for £1 and the little ones all went mad for it. Sadly you wern't aloud to feed the reindeer because they are on a special diet (flying-pellets I reckon), but they were very ice to look at. AND we saw a red squirrel!!

They had quite a strange variety of animals, obviously slowly working on slowly expanding. They had Scottish wild cats (after seeing which I am convinced Tay is related). They had 2 wolves and a red fox which were being fed venison, which made me giggle. They also had the most amazing little sheep which are apparently the last truly wild type of sheep left in the world, and they live on the islands off the top of Scotland. Joni enjoyed feeding them.. 

All in all a lovely day, and fairly good value for money. It was expensive, but you were left with the feeling that no one was getting rich off that place, and all the money really was going into looking after the animals.

(P.S. All today's photos were provided by my awesome new phone. I'm quite enjoying that they are even better quality than the doggy old camera)  

A Confession

I think it is time for a confession. I started this blog so I could write honestly and openly about my life but I am sorry to say, my adoring public, that I have been lying to you all along. Well, lying through omission. Since the very start of this blog, all that time ago, I have been omitting one, very important, fact about my life. Its time I came clean.

The truth is I am not enjoying my PhD, so much so that I have decided not to complete it. phew, I'v said it. Feels better now.

In reality there is a long list of reasons why im not staying to finish my project (filled half a page of A4 when me & Joni wrote it down) but ultimately the most important reason is I am not very into this project. To complete a PhD you have to be really into your project. I mean it, really REALLY into your project. I am surrounded by people who love their work. All they talk about is work, all they do is work. They stay late at night, they go in at weekends, and they find it weird that I don't. At first I just thought they were a bunch of workaholics but I soon realised that actually, they had it right and I had it wrong. If Im not inspired enough by my project to do that level of work I will never write a good PhD. Not one I can be really proud of, and if I am going to write a book, I want to be proud of it.

Luckily, because I is awesome (stole that phrase from Joni, who stole it from some pop TV im sure) I can write up a masters and get an MPhil, so I get a whole new bit of paper that says I am clever and become even more unemployable! Woo hoo!

Its been a tough couple of months, and its about to get much tougher, but to cut a long story short, Joni will be home on the 10th November. Joni, Me and Tay will be bombing it down from the great North with all our stuff on the 10th November, ready to become another 2 of the 1 million unemployed 18 - 25 year olds in the UK. Technically I will still be writing up for another couple of months (5th Jan, scary!), and as such will be popping back up to St Andrews for a while, but mostly soon me and Joni will be English again!! Hurra!!

An update

Hello again, its been a long time. Time for an update on what Iv been up to aver the last few weeks.

So 2 weeks ago my Grany moved to Thailand. Yep, you read that right. My 85 year old Grandmother just moved to Thailand (with my Aunt etc, but still). Should prove to be one hell of an adventure. M&D and Jenny came up to take her to the air port, and to clear out her house so myself and Joni went along to pitch in. I'll be totally honest, in the run up to this I was seriously worried. Whenever my family gathers to do something important like this what normally happens is, well as my Dad so wonderfully put it "a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians."

But actually, it went rather well. It helped that there wasn't a huge amount to do and we had loads of time. It also helped that Dad and Granny went to the airport at Saturday lunch time, leaving the four of us to finish off (we were in the pub by 5pm). It all got very sad when they left, but I insist on keeping a smile on about these things. I'm just getting excited about my trip to visit her and the rest of the family (summer 2012 me thinks!!).

Post-packing Dad treated us to dinner and a night in a very nice hotel. It was lovely, the bedrooms were massive and it was all roaring fires and leather sofas. The food was amazing and I, for one, got just a little bit drunk on pre-dinner G&Ts. Lovely as it was, I have to say the staff were a little useless. The restaurant manager was fabulous - really very funny and helpful, but the bar girls were just a bit crap. I can suddenly see what my sister is in such high demand as a waitress, as she actually cares about good service. I had to wonder around the entire downstairs of the hotel to find a bar, and then the woman expected me to carry 4 drinks back across the hotel to the lounge area. Not impressed. Also, she was apparently very ungracious when Jenny went to point out she had made her "white wine and soda" with lemonade. Tut Tut Tut.

Overall a surprisingly enjoyable weekend.

P.S Just got an A-Mazing new phone! Looking forward to perhaps blogging on that soon, so I might start blogging more often.

A Wild Fife Adventure

Last weekend myself, Joni and Louise tried to go out to May island seal watching. However, when we got out to the little Fishing town of Anstruther (made famous by the once-greatest fish & chips in Britain.) we descovered the boat was cancelled. Last boat of the season too, very upset. But as it was 11am and we had brought packed lucnhes we didn't fancy just going back home. Instead, Joni took us on a wild adventure up the east coast!

We started in Crail. This is the view of the harbour. As you can see - gorgeous weather. Just made it even sadder we didn't make it out onto the boat. Next to this harbour we found a lovely little tea shop which made a fantastic cup of green tea, and sold little sea-side art at extortionate prices. We ate cake instead and went for a walk along the coast. As we walked around we found these amazing stone sculptures. 

And the man who was making them.

He was awesome. It only took about 10 mins to make this one. Im not sure I could have got the rocks to balance on each other in the same way if I had all day. They were great, and sat and watched him for ages before woundering further into Crail. Turns out Crail is full of little craft and art shops. And a great potter place. Decided I definitely have to take my mum there next time she is around. 

After Crail we headed further up the coast in search of somewhere to eat lunch. We stopped (after some hairy coastal road driving) at the beach in Kingsbarns. Here are Joni and Lou eating lunch. 

Lovely scenery. Still a beautiful day. 

After lunch (no snd in sandwiches, was very pleased) we headed off to try and find some wildlife and ended up stopping at Morton Loch. That was good fun too. We found this wonderful little statue, marking the point at which a Tsunami had reached in ancient times. 

We sat in bird hide for a while, watching the ducks. 

There wern't any exciting birds. But there was a rather cool visitors book. We had a right laugh reading it, and couldn't help but leave our own comments. 

 

And we found an awesome catapiller. He was well adventurous. 

Even Lou had to stop to take a picture... 

So all in all, a good day out in Fife. I feel like i have seen way more of the coast now. 

What followed we a very boring week at work, which was filled with the best weather we have had since we got here, which was nice. And a fairly disastrous attempt at a quick lunch on the beach by me and Joni on Friday. 2 words for you - Golf Tournament. I briefly forgot the golf was on (AGAIN) and got into town to find the place swarming with bloody golf tourists. Couldn't park, couldn't buy food, surrounded by idiots who can't drive. Ugh, it was a nightmare! If i never have to see another golf club in my life it will be too soon. Bloody golfers. 

Back to work tomorrow. I have a feeling this could be a big week for me.... 

Going North

So I failed to loose any weight, moving on....


This weekend we drove up north to visit my Granny, which as lovely. Fascinating woman. Hardly talks about the past but when she does she comes out with the most amazing stories. Told us this time about the time Granddad came home from work one day and told her he had quit his job totally out the blue. That was pretty much all we got, just a little titbit of an amazing history.

My Granny lives in New Deer, which is north of Aberdeen. I always feel its not very far away, because you just go through Dundee, passed Aberdeen and you are there. But in actual fact its over 100 miles! Thats further than Nottingham to York! Think of all the places you pass between Nottingham and York. And yet all the way from Dundee to Aberdeen you pass absolutely nothing. Nothing. I still find it fascinating just how much farm land there is in Scotland.

Becoming Bridget Jones, hopefully not...

I do not want to become Bridget Jones, but I think I want to try and use this blog as a little inspiration to help me be a better human being. So, I'm going to use it to update progress on my diet in the hope that if I know I have to tell people about it I will be less likely to eat that cake/spend that money. 

Before you panic and stop reading some good news - my scales have broken, hurra! So this won't be your typical "Lost 1 pound this week, bad times bla bla bla" diet updates (also who works in pounds still? Seriously, they were stupid at the time, they are even more stupid now that we have a better system). Instead it will mostly be things like "Salad for lunch today, yay!" and "Got stressed and ate chocolate, boo". In case of this week the news is more bad im afraid. I was being a guide at uni for some school groups three days this week, which meant free lunches (why else would i be doing it?). Add to that Louise's birthday cake and mini-party with a little too much alcohol and its been a really bad week. So it was bad Fiona this week, i think the diet will have to start again on Monday. 

On to more fun things - Strictly was back tonight! Woo! This means its nearly Christmas!! I enjoyed txting my mum the usual remarks as the show progressed. "Cat is going to fall out of that!" and "Why is he not dead yet!?!?". I feel I could be providing a running commentary on Strictly as the weeks go on, so it will be fun to see how my allances fall. Currently wishing Chavy McChavson would shut and go already (thats Chelsee Healey btw) but sadly with boobs like that I think she will be in it till the end. Im quite looking forward to finding out what Nancy is like, and that footballer (I may refer to him as Blondey for the rest of the time). I was devistated when I found out its three weeks till the show starts up properly. 3 Weeks?! 

OO Dinners nearly ready....

OMG Its been nearly a month since I last blogged!

So In that month I have done two things. Firstly I did my first year report and VIVA, and secondly I went home for a holiday.

The report... well we don't really want to talk about the report. Surface to say I didn't do my best work and I had better improve next time. But no big angry security guard frog-marched me off the premiss so it can't have been that bad. It wasn't great though, I'll be honest. Both my assessors we women, and one of them is heavily pregnant, how am I supposed to deal with that?

So I felt like a pretty much ran away to Nottingham to escape my failing work and pretend it wasn't happening. I think I managed this well.

Here I am drinking cocktails with Joni.

Here I am drinking with Ali...

Drinking with some more people (Mike, Chloe & Roger)...

Not drinking this time, but gossiping with the girls, which has smiler effects (Charlotte, Beth & Jack)

I did do other things on this trip other than drinking, lots of other things. We had lunch in my favourite lunch place in Nottingham (Tamatangas - Indian, if you are ever in Notts you must go there for lunch) and we went to the CCAN and to the Castle. The exhibition in the castle at the moment on street art is particularly good. 

We also spent at least two nights hanging out at Tims playing games and arguing politics and stuff. This is possibly one of my favourite things to do in the whole world. It reminds me of how much fun you can have with just good friends and good conversation. I do think at some point im going to have to remind Tim (the theatre arts graduate) that whilst slightly inebriated he tried to argue that arts should receive no funding from the government, and argument which kept me up later than any of the nights out in town! 

Special thanks go out this holiday to Chloe, who once again found the excuse, rallied the troops and organised a fantastic night out in town. I miss going out so much when i'm stuck in Scotland, and there is nothing like nearly getting thrown out of a bar for dancing on a table to make you feel wanted! Although saying that there was a brillient moment when we were deciding where to go next, shared by myself and Mike and the conversation went something like this... 

Everyone else - "Lets go cucamaras!" (the place in Notts for seriously cheap and nasty drinks)

Me to Mike - "Is it just me or dose 'really cheap drinks so you can get drunk quickly' just not sound like a good advert for a bar anymore?"

Mike - "nope, i hate cucamaras"

Me - "me too. Next time we are home me, you, Joni and Helen should go out together to The Pitcher (old church converted to cocktail bar) and Tilt (jazz club/cocktail bar)."

Mike - "That sounds great."

Me - "We are getting old."

Mike - "Yup."

Oh dear.

Anyway, so I had an amazing trip home. We managed to see just about everyone, including Jonis older brother and family which was great. I only lost my voice for half of it and have just about caught up on my sleep now. 

I came home feeling much better about the work, ready to throw myself into it, to conquer it all, save to world, cure cancer, get skinny, earn a million and even make time to house train the cat. Lets see how that goes shall we.... 

Anarchy in the UK

My next blog post was going to be about the Edinburgh festival. I went there for the first time on sunday. I was looking forward to telling you about how much I loved it, how amazing it was, and how i am going to have to move to Edinburgh in the future. But instead i feel compelled to rant about the current situation of rioting in the citys across the UK. Mostly this is because it makes me angry, and i feel powerless to do anything, and because I do love good rant.

So... What in Gods name is going on? Seriously? I have heard some fantastic quotes coming from people in the news over the last few days - blind, stupid idiots just proving time and time again they are just children, who know nothing. Heres a sample of some of the best:

"Its the goverments fault, the conservatives or who ever is in charge." (It helps to know who you are fighting against)

"Its about telling the police we can do whatever we want" (HELLLOOOOO The point of living in the "civilised" world is you can't do whatever you want, dumbass!!!)

"Its about the rich people, casue we have no money" (yeh, all those tenament blocks you are setting on fire, homes to single parents and old people, well known for being the richest people in socety)

 This is just getting stupid now. Lots of things are being blamed for this outbreak, I have a few ideas of my own. Firstly regarding social media - Teenagers have been bored and angry over the summer holiday for as long as there has been such a thing as teenagers and summer holidays. Sadly mobile technology and social networking has allowed these kids to group together. 3 kids on a street getting drunk and throwing things is annoying. 30 is a mob. Not a lot to be done about that, sadly. (although i would like to point out the Scottish police are arresting people as soon as the facebook about rioting - why has this not happened elsewhere?)

Secondly regarding young people being out of work - oh please, get a grip! Young people have never had much work, mostly because they don't want it. Being broke is not an exuse for looting, and the sooner a few of them get jailed for it the better. And While we are on the subject, yes i think a lot of these people should serve a lot of time in jail for what they are doing - too many of these kids are doing this because they think there will be no consequences. Watching their mates fail to get GCSE's because they have spent 6 months in jail should help solve that mentality.

And one final note of ranting - where the hell are these kids parents? Come on! If i had been out on the street at 11pm when i was a teenager my dad would have come out and dragged me in by my ear!!! And im only 23, we are not talking 20 years ago. I had a mobile, and facebook (i think i even had a myspace!), that didn't mean i felt the need to go out and riot! Above and beyond anything else I want to know what has happened to these kids parents? Why are they being silent through all of this? Surely if anyone is to blame for 200 minors being out on the streets causing chaos its the families who should be teaching their children responsibility.

So, rant over. As per-normal i blame everything on the parents. This could forseeability be the end of long summer holidays - no rioting past midnight when there is homework to do. The young people of this country have done some damage to there already tarnished reputations, damage i don't think could be undone for a very long time.

The Firemen in the Garden

As previously stated, interesting things don't happen to me often, but tonight something really interesting did happen! In the form of 3 firemen in the garden.



So it started with a BBQ. A very good BBQ - Indian rubbed pork chops and Satay Chicken. Afterwards I decided to do a little gardening, and took down a load of ivy. Well, it seemed the obviouse option. Hot BBQ, dead ivy.....

Problem was the coal wasn't very hot by this point, so decided to use a little white spirits to get it going. And Joni got a little over enthusiastic. And it got quite smoky. And it turns out the neighbours called the firemen!! The irony was the fire was out. I was already inside and Joni was on his way in when he heard someone bashing their way down the ally and shouting! Being the guilty type (he always has something to feel guilty about) Joni bolted into the house! So im leaning out the window asking what the fireman is doing stood in my garden, and he asked me is a saw some kid running past, when he points behind me and says "yeh him!" at Joni.

So one hell of an adrenaline kick later and there are 3 firemen in my garden explaining the neighbours called because there was lots of smoke and the smell of petrol. They didn't seem to mind being called out. Life as a fireman in Cupar is probably quite dull. Everything is normally to wet to catch fire around here.

So, fun evening!!!

Building Demolition in Dundee

Today Joni and I went to see some flats be blown up in Dundee. It was pretty awesome. We stayed on the Fife side of the bridge. Parked up on a grass verge and walked down the central reservation to join the small crowds gathered watch.

 One moment there were 4 high rise flats

 Next there was a missive dust cloud. It was so sudden we almost missed it! And about 20 seconds after the buildings came down we heard the rumble.

 And the dust cloud just get bigger! Its going to be window cleaners out in force in dundee tomorrow!

Joni and some dust. 

An ode to a day off.

Now don't get me wrong, i love having people to visit, i really do. And i love visiting my family. Reports I don't enjoy so much, but I do love my job. But today was my first day off since (and i will check my calendar here...) the 26th of June and it has been amazing!!

I watched 2 hours of crap TV in bed after Joni went to work. Then i gardened with Tay. I watched more crap TV with lunch, baked a cake and then watched Sex and the City 2 while I waited for Joni to come home. Pure awesome (not the film, that was complete trash). 

I need more days off. The draft of my report i handed in to Paul was total rubbish. I am dreading having to sit down with him on Monday so he can give me "corrections". And the reason for this uncharacteristic rubbish-ness was the fact that I was sick to the teeth of staring at that stupid report. Its been driving me mad! But, now that i have had a day off, i feel ready to face it again. 

And do you know whats even better? Tomorrow I get another one!! 

A post from a few days ago

Wrote this a couple of days ago when i was in a place with no internet. Forgot to post it until now.

24/07/11 22:50

Been for an emotional trip to see The Stanelys this weekend. It might be the last time we see them before Jenny’s wedding, which is very sad. Just as we thought we had moved closer, its time for them to head off again. M&D were around too, which was very sad. Its defiantly the last time they will see them for a while. I couldn’t watch them say goodbye, I’m not really good at goodbyes. I tend to make inappropriate jokes.

It was wonderful to see them. I particularly enjoyed going for a “wild Scottish Adventure” with Freya (14) and Charis (11). I remember them being born, and now there we were chatting about what they want to do with their lives and what options they have picked at school. It was pretty amazing. Got them all set up with Facebook now so we can keep in touch. Charis has taken to it like a duck to water, so she can keep us all in touch. Freya (the typical teenager) is a little more reluctant, but she will get there. Soon as she sees the pictures of Emma (little sis) in Chavos etc Im sure she will be filled with ideas! Even Aunt Kate has Facebook now which should be funny to watch at least. It a bit like my Dad getting Facebook, although he seemed to get the hang of it.

Back to work tomorrow afternoon, after lunch with M&D. I have got to stop avoiding writing this report. I promised myself I would have a full final draft ready for my supervisor, Paul, on Friday, which as its Jonis day off Thursday actually means Wednesday night. I just have not done enough work on it this last week. Its terrible, but I’m just sick of it. Iv barely been in the lab in weeks because of it. And I had the most ridiculous phone-conference-call thing with 2 of my industrial sponsors last Wednesday. I wish Paul  had been around for that – he could have helped me explain to them what im doing for the 4^th time. They just seem to have no idea whats going on. On the plus side I did manage to completely blind-side them with science, which is always fun. Say stuff they don’t understand and they will trust you to know what you are doing, regardless if you are just making it up! “Oh yes, I trying to alter the reaction kinetics so encourage growth in the (100) plane whist halting growth in the (001) plane.” (Just to make you feel worse btw, yes I do know what that means and it is what im trying to do… sort of :-P).

An Update

****WARNING This blog post includes some ramblings about the new HP film. 

These may class as spoilers even if you have read the book. 

Read at your own risk****

So i don't blog much. This is mostly because I think my life is pretty repetative so i don't know if would be interesting for the rest of the world to write about or not. As it happens i am on full report-writting-avoidence mode right now so i thought i might do a little blogging. 

July has been full of people visiting. I won;t bore you with the tales, if you care you know all about it already because you were probably there.  Surfice to say Jonis parents came and Jenny (sister) and Ben came for about a week each. Both were great fun, although i do sort of wish they hadn't followed straight on from one another. Particular highlights include Edinburgh Castle with Jonis parents and seeing HP7II with Jenny and Ben. 

Speaking of which, i feel a small review is in order. First up want to say i loved it. The Harry Potter books were exactly my generation - I was the same age as Harry each year when i read the books and i have loved them ever since my Granny bought us a box set of the first two when i was 12 years old. My Harry Potter life has spanned reading them in the sunshine after exams, walking to Asda at midnight to buy one the moment it came out (i think it was the 6th) and enjoying every one of the films (even when the acting was a little ropey to start with!) 

I completely agreee that when you make a novel into a film things have to change. They are two compleatley different mediums of entertainment and as such you can never just turn a book into a film word for word. Books have way more time to say what they are going to say, but can also rely on a persons imagination, where as films have to fit into a short space of time but are really visual. Saying that, there have been changes over the Harry Potter films a didn't agree with (Hello - what happened to Padfoot, Wormtail, Moony and Prongs??) and there was one in the final film i didn't like. And that was the HP v Voldy fight. 

Let me explain...

In a face to face fight (like in the film) Voldamort would have kicked Harrys butt. That (i felt) was the whole point. He was more powerful than Harry, a more experience dualer. Harry had other things on his side - friends, love, cunning, bravery bla bla. I loved the way JK wrote the ending - A packed room, everyone watching, Harry finally gets his chance to talk, to show Voldamort just how badly its about to go, and to give him chance to redeem himself. Than just one spell each, done. Simple yet incredibly powerful, it had the hairs on the back of my neck all tingly. The films version, yes i understand it more visually pleasing, but it just doesn't fit with the characters. (it also doesn't fit with the whole premise of the Elder Wond but thats another story). 

But never mind. Over all it was amazing - and i did love the inclusion of the epilogue from the book - there is nothing like a fantastic series all tide up with a neat bow at the end. I hate a series that doesn't end properly. Cliff-hanger endings are all well and good mid series but when you have reached the end have the guts to finish it properly.

And that was a brief update of what I'v been thinking out. Next up a visit to see The Stanleys and Granny up north. Could be the last time a see The Stanleys for a while. 

Beth & Sam go North, and other things.

After the trip to London it was a fairly uneventful few weeks, apart from the whole buying of a car. Here he is:

Being all black and shiny we decided it was defiantly a boy, and have named him Vox. To say it has made a bit of a difference would be the understatement of the century! Even buying food has suddenly become massively better. We go  so carried away in the big supermarket last weekend the bill nearly hit three figures, opps!

Something else the car allowed us to do was go on a trip to Glasgow. Now i know one or two Scottish people read this blog so i apologise for what is about to come but.... Glasgow is a horrible place! The people were miserable and mean, and the town is scummy - even the bank was scummy! How anyone can even think its can compete with Edinburgh is beyond me. The only good thing about it was contemporary arts gallery in town, which was pretty interesting. Me and Joni being sad arty types we enjoyed looking at the British Art Show there, which we had already seen in Nottingham. It was interesting to see is curated in a different place - to see which pieces looked better, and which didn't work as well.

So it was sitting in an art gallery in Glasgow that i finally got the call from Argos about the bed being delivered (yes, the one i ordered 25 days previously!) and i missed it! But i called them back straight away only to be informed that the reason they were calling was to tell me that a part was missing from the bed and it wouldn't be delivered until the 7th August. To which i replied in a calm and straightforward manner, no it won't. I bought it under the agreement it would be delivered by wednesday so it would be delivered by wednesday. Unsurprisingly the guy got quite confused. So i yelled at him. A Lot. Lucky he was quite nice and passed me over to a manager, who also lucky was very helpful. She informed me that the only missing parts were the lights and so consequently i was sent the rest of the bed on wednesday, as originally promised. Still waiting on the lights... (in reference to the previous argument with Argos, i sent them another letter, telling them to dam well not fob me off. Im awaiting a reply).

So bed arrived and flat scrubbed to the cleanest its ever been Joni and I played delighted hosts to our first ever non-family guests! Beth is one of my best (and most riotest) friends from uni. It was amazing to have her and Sam stay - one of the best weekends we've had since we moved here. Helped in no small part by the glorious weather. I am sunburnt! Sunburnt from a weekend is Scotland! Amazing!

We did lots of fun and exciting things - wondered for hours around Edinburgh, and St Andrews, and Tentsmur beach. And we discovered a new place - Loch Leven, which has the coolest little castle on an island in the middle of it. Very awesome. I was super sad to say goodbye to them both. I hope that Sam enjoys his amazing trip in Mexico. Im not sure I have the heart to tell Beth that this is exactly what happened to my Dad - Offered a summer placement in Africa and 4 years later he was still there, digging up rocks. Hope she enjoys Mexican food!!

London

(Worte this on the train home) 

I don’t blog very much because most of my life is quite boring, but this week me and Joni have been on a mini holiday to London which was fantastic, so I can tell you all about that!

Tuesday

It all started a bit early for my tastes – train at half 7 in the morning, leaving poor Tay alone for the second time in a week. I was a bit worried when we get back he will think James is his new owner! Then when reached York some idiot decided to jump in fount of a train, causing everything south of York to be delayed or cancelled. But it was ok, we got into London only an hour late and the sun was shining and our hotel (Super cheap, not to cheerful) was very close to Victoria Station. Quick stop to drop of the bags and get changed and we headed out into town.

As the weather was so nice we walked along the river to Parliament, and had ice cream sitting in the shadow on the London eye, very picturesque. We also managed to find a rooftop bar and garden on top of the south bank centre which was very nice, but reminded us of how expensive London is!

For a nights entertainment we had booked a table in a very good restaurant, Roux at Parliament Square and it was amazing! We had like 6 courses and each one was a perfectly crafted bundle of amazingness! We had Asparagus soup with parmesan foam (actually foam – it looked like fairy liquid, tasted like heaven), and Veal and Suckling pig and the most AMAZING Blackberry and Apple Soufflé which was massing and so soft. Joni had Salmon and Pigeon, also totally delicious. And you know what, nowhere near as expensive as I thought and totally worth every penny. My first real experience of fine dining and it was a good one. Can’t wait to do that again.

Possibly the best thing about the whole meal (aside from like everything else) was the magical refilling bottle of wine. I have no idea how he did it but somehow I managed to have my class refilled at least 4 times all from one bottle of wine! And a bloody good bottle too. Midnight on Tue found me and Joni giggling our way back to the hotel.

Wednesday

Wednesday was the day of the Big Show, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (an exhibition of art works from contemporary living artist, for those not in the know) but that wasn’t until 11am, so we had a few hours to kill in the morning. The day before we had spotted some of those bike-hire stands they are now operating in London. Basically you can hire a bike, cycle to where you want to go and leave your bike at the nearest station. So we decided to give it a go and OMG, such a good way to get around London! We cycled all the way around Hyde Park, got a great view of it and then just left the bikes near the gallery. I think it cost about £2 each and that includes a £1 access charge so we could have used them all day if we wanted. An amazing idea.

The show was pretty amazing, although I think not really my favourite way to see art. The pieces were all very unconnected, as you can imagine as they were all from different artists. And there were so many! The show catalogue listed 1117 items. There were some amazing pieces – and a whole room of architects drawings and models which were really cool. We were thinking we might buy some work if we sound something good (the show is primarily a sale of works, form all sorts of different people. We had a maximum budget of £500, but it turns out this was nowhere near enough to buy something we liked. Both of us kept pointing out pieces we liked around the £3000 mark. Well, at least we know how much to take with us next time, to help start out collection.

We left the show about 2pm, having had nothing except the most expensive coffee&cake ever. So hungry (and so a little bit bitchy for me, as always when I am hungry) we decided to just grab a quick bite before deciding what to do next. Bring on the Subway, then half price tickets for a show that evening and a quick march to the British Museum to pass the rest of the afternoon. And OMG, THE BRITISH MUSEUM IS AMAZING! We were there until we were practically kicked out, just moving from room to room looking at all these amazing artefacts. I could have spent so much longer – I’m not sure we even saw half of the stuff they had on display. I saw the Rosetta stone, which I have never seen before, and so many Egyptian mummies and Greek statues. Just awesome.

Went for a quick Chinese buffet before going to see The 39 Steps, which was so funny! I know – Hitchcock’s Phyco-thriller but it was a comedy. Full on slap-stick farcical funny. It was a cast of 4, at one point with 2 guys playing 5 different characters at once with the clever use of hats and some excellent accents. I think it was made even funnier because it was set mostly in Scotland and their Scottish characters were all just brilliant – so stereotypical, but so true! So Wednesday night found me and Joni once again, giggling our way back to the hotel, past a beautifully lit Buckingham Palace. 

Thursday

Thursday we had till 2pm till our train left, so we decided to visit the Tower of London in the morning. Raining buckets this morning which was a bit annoying, but never mind. We took the tube again over the right side of town. It was a good attraction, the Crown Jewels were amazing and some of the armour they have on display is epic, but I was annoyed by how money-grabbing they were. Maybe it’s just been so long since I was at a proper tourist attraction, so I’ve forgotten how bad they can be, but this place seems particularly awful. Firstly you pay £18 entry. Then you automatically pay £2 “voluntary” donation, then they got all Joni’s details so they could claim tax gift aid, and then they have the check to put donations bins all over the place! And the souvenirs were all so incredibly expensive I couldn’t even get a tacky pen. In fact I’ve gone the whole trip without getting a tacky pen from anywhere we went. Very sad.

So it’s been an amazing trip. I’m really looking forward to seeing Tay. I hope he has coped ok without us.

A Trip North

We were very generously lent a car by a good friend while she was away for a week, so we decided to take the opportunity to venture north to visit the family again. My uncle has been offered a job in Thailand so they are all taking the plunge and emigrating in about 3 months, so figuring its about to become way harder to see them we had better get in as many visits in as possible.

It was a fantastic trip. I'v found as i'v grown up my relationship with my Aunt and Uncle, and with my cousin who are now teenagers, is completely changing and it just gets better and better. Joni and I found ourselves sat up half the night chatting stories with Kate which was just wonderful. I remember my cousin being born, and now they are both like, real sized people with stories and dreams and they are such cool people. Im really looking forward to getting to know them better as we, hopefully, get closer.

Even my granny seem to be on top form. She had something of a 'funny turn' as she likes to put it, a couple of years ago when i last saw her, but she is recovering well. Sounds like she will go to Thailand too. I guess it means i won't see her as often, but then i was only seeing her once a year anyway so its not like she has been a regular presence in my life since i was a child. And i really think life out there could be very good for her. Get her away from the cold and the damp of the Scottish weather, bit of sunshine might do her some good. Live out the rest of her days lounging in a Thai garden with a sun hat on, listening to ex-pats rant about the war. Im jealous!

I really hope we get to see the family again before the go. Its certainly provided us with a real incentive to get on and buy our own car. Now we just have to do something about getting turn down for all the loans we have applied for.....

Whats the problem with buying a new car?

We have decided to buy a car. Living in Fife without one is just getting stupid (it takes Joni 2 hours to travel 13 miles home from work on public transport!) and having admired some extreme budgeting we have worked out what we can afford to spend each month. So i began googling - Bank loans, other loans, second hand cars of eBay, autotrader etc etc. After a few hours of searching i found myself pricing up the cost of buying a brand new Ka on Ford's website. Much to my shock i found the monthly costs came to around the same as the cost of a second hand car. So i started getting ideas into my head.

Fast forward a few days and i find myself test driving a new Toyota Aygo with a very good sales man (he even claimed to have a nephew at Notts uni and "accidentally" showed us how much commission he gets on sales - a really good sales man!). They are offering these cars with a 5 year warranty, 2 years free servicing and £500 free petrol. So we are looking at one of these PCP offers. For anyone who doesn't know this means we can have the car with basically no deposit (which is handy as we don't have one) and we pay around £200 a month for 3 years. At the end of this we basically still owe then £3000, but we have 3 options. Hand the keys back and be done and dusted with it. Hand over the £3000 and take the car away. Or have the car revalued and then any difference over £3000 we can have or use to invest in a new car. (For a truly interested party its worth noting at this point current 3 year old Aygo on Autotrader costs around £6000, giving a £3000 difference).

Between the first look at new cars and the test drive I have been asking the opinion of just about everyone on buying a new car and the reaction has truly and genuinely shocked me. I thought a few people might not like the idea but it turns out everyone hates it! My mother yelled at me - she hasn't done that since i was 16! A mate from college has been quoting numbers at me all week. Whats most incredible is I still don't get it.

Now I don't think its arrogant to say im quite an intelligent person. I succeed in getting a degree so im clearly not a complete idiot (although i do know some idiots with degrees so maybe thats not the best argument), and i think its fair to say i normally get thinks pretty well. Which does make me question what it is im massively not getting here. This could now turn into a long and rambling post as im about to try and explain, mostly to myself, what it is i think everyone thinks im missing, and why i think im not missing it.

Firstly there is the question of ownership. If you get a car on a PCP contract, you don't own it, until you hand over the final payment of £3000 and then you have paid £10,000 and you have a car worth £6000. I can see this is not a very cost-effective method (although i do believe there is an argument in saying if i get a loan in 5 years i will have handed over £6000 and have a 7 year old car worth about £3000 - is that much better really?) But what if you don't intend on ever owning the car? In 3 years time we plan on having the car revalued and using the extra to trade up to something new - bigger, better, more expensive. At which point we continue paying monthly payments we can afford, just like we would have done when we decided to trade in a second hand car. So we never really own a car and im going to be completely and truly honest here (and please excuse the language) but i really couldn't give shit. I find no pleasure in being able to say "that car is mine" over being able to say "that car is on extended loan from a dealership". When i hear "not really ours" what i hear is "not really our problem", much like i do with renting the flat. When the roof fell in on our flat it was the landlords problem to sort out, much like if the clutch falls off a new car, its covered by the warranty.

The biggest problem most people seem to have is this one of deprecation, my views on which i think i have largely covered above. I think its all a matter of perspective. Mostly i struggle to see how the depreciation effects my life directly - If Im paying the same amounts each month, and after 3 year years on PCP im in a position to trade up to another new car, or with a loan i have to wait 5 years and all i have is a car worth about £2000, whats really the difference? but then maybe thats my problem. Im just a little too short sighted, i struggle to see past 27th March 2014, when i finish my PhD.

Its about this point i run out of steam and this is why I'm writing this post, and not putting up pictures of my brand new Aygo. Surely the whole world can't be wrong? Surely i must be wrong? Surely there is some massive problem with buying a new car that im just not getting and i would be a fool to get one? And maybe im just to arrogant to admit it.


P.S. Some progress on the Argo's bed saga. Firstly we waited about 3 days when the brought in a new offer on £100 0ff all furniture which did include beds (funny, furniture, but not bedroom furniture) so we got the bed even cheaper. Also written letters to Argos, ASA and Watchdog. So far only ASA has responded, telling me to wait and hear from Argos and get back in touch if their answer isn't satisfactory. Will keep you posted

HOW IS A BED NOT BEDROOM FURNITURE?!?!

So me and Joni have been thinking of buying a new bed for a while, a nice bed. We both fell in love with in Argos, and seeing this advert decided to go buy it..

This advert very clearly states 15% off all bedroom furniture, but I couldn't get the 15% to come off, so I phoned  them up. 4 phone operatives and 2 managers later i discover this is because Argos don't class beds as bedroom furniture! How is that possible? How is that even allowed? I can't remember the last time I was this angry at a company!! I begged, I pleaded, and I yelled blue murder at these people but no one would help me. The last woman i spoke to was so useless. She admitted the advert was misleading. She admitted it was frustrating, But she still refused to help me. ARRGHH!

But now we are facing a terrible dilemma. I still really want that bed. And we would quite like it soon, so we can have a spare when people come to visit us over the summer. But i now hate Argos.

Do we buy the bed?

A new addition to the household

For anyone who isn't harbering the same Facebook addictions as me, I have some big news. On Tuesday Me & Joni got a kitten! Funny story to how it happened really....

We had been talking about getting a cat for a while, but Joni had a few reservations. Rather stupidly for him on Sunday he used the phrase "If you really want a cat you should probably just get one." Well, what else could i do?

I tired cat rescue centres first, but they are such a hassle. They all insist on arranging to come see your house first, and Cats Protection took 6 days to call me back to arrange a visit. And as soon as they hear I live on a high street they practically hang up. So Louise (good friend, we have coffee when we are bored of working) suggested i try Gumtree, a sales website. And so six hours later we were just north of Dundee picking up a Kitten from a lovely, if slightly animal mad, woman with just one kitten left from a litter.

This is Tay Robbie Angus. We spent 4 days trying to pick a name, but couldn't decide so we went with 3. He is 7 weeks old and the cutest kitten in the world! Pretty much all we have done since we got him is play with him. His favourite game is chew Fiona's fingers, and he like to chase a feather duster. Its all very cliché. He doesn't really like being left on his own yet, so I took a couple of half days from work so i could play "look after" him. Hee Hee. Need to go back to work properly next week before my boss notices my absence. 

This wouldn't be a blog post without an update on the garden, and once again the progress is amazing! I think we have finished excavating, there are plants down now! And grass seed, and decking! Im looking forward to next week sitting outside with my parents. Of course this is Scotland, so its going to rain from now until.... well until it snows but never mind. Here are some pictures anyway. 

 Look, deck! and a wall, and some plants and everything! Its sooo cool. BBQ party here we come! 

Joni's Birthday and some Gardening

Its been a while since i last blogged, its been a busy couple of weeks.

Firstley it was Big Presentation time at work. I have to give a presentation via a web-link to the big Americans who are funding my work. This week was the first one of those. Giving a talk through a screne worked quite well actually, although i was sat down at a desk so i wish i hadn't bothered with the uncomfortable smart trousers!

Also this week has been Jonis birthday. Here he is with his birthday cake:

Poor Joni had to work on his birthday, so he had quite a quiet one. Just a nice lazy breakfast with me, and then cake in the evening. He was off on Friday so we went to Dee Sea World in North Queensferry. It was really good! They have one of those "underwater tunnels" which was so good! We spent ages walking around it looking at sharks and fish and crabs and divers trying to sink a boat (soo funny, they were trying to get this battered old boat to sit on the bottom as a new feature and it kept floating up, who would have thought it could be so hard to sink a boat?). I think the olny slight dampener on the trip was a small school trip, from which the parents had absolutely no control. they let the kids all go to the shop in the middle of the trip and buy loads of sweets, and then they all went stampeding around the tunnel, which was pretty annoying. Stupid parents.

Because we were in North Queensferry we got to see the bridge (thats the Forth Road Bridge btw) really up close. I even got to touch the legs! Its even more impressive when  you can see it stretching out above you.

Today we were gardening all day, and once again we have made a huge difference. We were at it for about 7 hours, and we are both now totally knackered, but it was good fun. I think i have jarred my wrist digging up rocks thought, its really sore now. I'v taken lots of photos.

 This is where we started today. 

 And this was the big pile of wood we wanted to burn today.

 Here is Joni and his friend James building our little fire up into a very big fire. 

 Here is Joni enjoying some lunch, with our quite large fire. It turned into a very very big fire actually, after 6 hours worth of burning, but it did get rid of lots of bits of tree and rotting wood. And ivy. So much ivy.

 Here is Joni with the corrugated sheets that took us hours to dig out and move and discover underneath 10 stacks of tiles, gerr! But luckily, as they were quiet neatly stacked, they are perfect for a little decking.

And here it is when we were finished. Such a huge difference - we burnt so much wood, and cleared soo much rubble. Im really looking forward to relaxing in this space now. Next up, to clear up fully and level out the ground ready for the decking!

Aren't long weekends for relaxing?

(wrote this one while in the car on the way back last night) 

Wow, what an epic weekend! I love trips home. It all starts with an epic night time road trip with Louise and Dean. There is nothing like a 11pm trip to Asda in Wollstanton to bring back memories of uni. Follow this up with a 2am drive around Notts town centre, totally lost because they have changed the one way system so I couldn’t find my sisters office, and you have the beginnings of a truly awesome long weekend.

A view from the car window, with driver Louise grinning in the rear-view mirror.  

Friday morning brought “the wedding of the century” which I have to admit, I got quite into. 11am found me and the family (plus Joni) sitting around the TV, eating comerative biscuits from paper plates with the royal couples faces on, drinking just a wee tipple to their health. I thought this was great – smiling happy people, spending all morning pointing out good v bad hats. What more could you need?

Friday night was “the big night out”, which was amazing. Thinking back, I think the best part of this night was I didn’t (quite) need to organise it! Many thanks to Chloe who did my job brilliantly, so well in fact I am never organising anything again – she can do it. A night of drinking, dancing and lots, and lots of laughter. I got to catch up with some old college friends – Tim (who is turning into a Paul Bettany Theoretical Physics Play-er), Fletcher (who has decided to turn into a Stalen-est biology teacher). And yes – I was sober, they weren’t and so will be quite surprised to find out I remember that conversation in full! I have to say I particularly enjoyed a little dance with a ‘slightly inebriated’ Joni, and then having to drag him off the dance floor at 1:30am because we were all going home.

All my wonderful friends who came out to party in style. 

Saturday brought the trip to Stoke to catch up on all the gossip from Beth and Sam. Considering I lost my voice half way through Friday night you can imagine how much a trip to Beths helped! A little walk around uni was fun – we went to the library and looked up the exam papers we sat this time last year. I could not answer most of those questions now!!  I was very upset to see the KPA was closed, so we had to get pub lunch in Newcastle instead, and then back to Beths (well, its technically Sams place now) for ice cream and yet more gossip. We agreed we couldn’t go Trafford Centre as neither of us have much money, but somehow I still managed to come home with a new skirt and shoes. That girl is just amazing…

Me and Beth smiling in sunny stoke.

Sunday arrived and it was time for more gossip in the form of lunch with sisters and poker night at Tims. Joni won, I can 4^th out of 5. Not my finest moment. It was a fantastic night. Rich brought some home brewed Raspberry Mead, which was delicious. He should defiantly go with trying to sell it, it really great.

Joni enjoys the mead while kicking everyone butt at poker.

Friday night was so good I didn’t ‘t want to go home without seeing people again, so just before going home on Monday we went for a pub lunch with a few people (my 3^rd in 3 days). Again, fantastic to see everyone, but I have to leave now before I get fat again.

A final pub lunch in the sunshine. Shame we didn't get time to play on the bouncy castle.

All this, and we are going home with money in the bank still. Amazing!!! I love being a two income household.

On the drive back I got an email from my industrial supervisor. 6 month report requested on the 12^th May (only month and a half late!) so back to hard work tomorrow. Best get a good night’s sleep first…..

2 posts in 2 days? I spoil you!

I know, twice in one week, its more than you can handle, but i just had to put up some pictures of the garden project. We spent the afternoon working on it, and the progress is amazing! We might actually have a space to put chairs and a table soon.... 

This is the view through the door - note the missing piles of rubbish!

This is a new view, from standing in the far corner which we couldn't reach until this afternoon. You can sort of see how deep the garden is now. 

And this is what it looks like standing half way down the garden looking back! We can get half way down are garden!! We will be having a BBQ out here in no time!