I Bought A Dress!

On Monday, when Mum and I went Christmas shopping in Brighton, I needed to find something to wear next Friday, for the meal I'm going to with work. It's just a group of ladies, mainly from checkouts, with one or two people like myself, who've defected to other sections over the years, and a couple of people who have been lucky enough to retire, but we always have a great time at our meals out every few months.

I didn't want anything too formal - it's just a meal out at a local pub - but I wanted something nice, that was new. All my nice clothes have made so many outings now, I think everyone else is as bored with them as I am!

In Bon Marché I found a twin pack of black leggings for only £8. That made my day, because I adore leggings. I find them confortable, practical, and they suit my body shape, with a nice long top - I actually have good legs. For several years I've been unable to find leggings at all, then this summer they came back into fashion - but mostly the 3/4 length ones, which I didn't want. I wish I'd got two packs though, whcih would have given me four nice pairs!

Next I had to find the top half. I was aimlessly browsing, picking things up and discarding them, when I found the minidresses that have been in fashion this year. The first one I found, I changed my mind about, but then I found a really nice one. About mid-thigh length, short sleeves, with a deep V neck (not that I have the cleavage for it, I wasn't blessed in that department!) in black, with a purple swirly print. I really like it over the leggings, and I shall try and get a pic on Friday if I remember.

A dress - who'da thunk?

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Now playing: Marion Raven - Set Me Free

Now *that's* a big bonfire!

Just found this pic of the Cliffe Bonfire Society bonfire, on the morning of the Fifth! I think seeing all the people gives a real sense of how massive this one was ....!

Cliffe Bonfire

(I've linked it, not posted the pic, because it's not mine)

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Now playing: Various Artists - Cindy Bullens / It's Raining On Prom Night

What a Nice Surprise!

Having just read Lins's blog, I've discovered that she's recieved a blogging award, and
that being the lovely person she is, has kindly passed it on to me!

See?

Now I have to be honest here, and say that ages ago, both Lins, and Alison passed on another award. At the time I wasn't blogging much, and I never got around to posting about it, or passing it on, but I'm rectifying that now.

Here's the first one!
Now it falls to me to pass them on to those I feel are worthy. Just a few people, because I'm not really active in many blog circles, but here are my own nominations, for *both* awards.

1. Lins - We've been friends for years now, and she's still putting up with me, even though I take forever to answer emails. We had a slight blip for a while, but managed to act like grown-ups and get over it. Hopefully she'll put up with me for a good few years yet! She's honest and always tells me the truth, even when it's not what I want to hear!

2. Alison - I haven't known Alison all that long, but she's a lovely person, and we have a few things in common. I'm looking forward to gradually getting to know her better!

3. Viodyna - We've known each other since early last year, but she lives too far away and we haven't met yet. She's caring, funny, and the sort of person I want to be when I grow up.

4. Sarah - we've been friends for 27 years now, and hopefully will be for another 50 or so. We had the odd argument in our teenage years, but who doesn't!

Hugs to all my girls!

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Now playing: Chessington World of Adventures - Professor Burp's Bubbleworks: Giggle Gas

Fabulous? Or *Scrabble-uous*?

I just decided to have a flutter on the online versions of Lottery Scratchcards. I transferred £10 into my Lotto account, and started playing the Scrabble game, at £2 a go.

First I won £27 ... fabulous, thought I! Then another £3, followed by more prizes, of £6, £18, £2, £18, £3 and another £18!

Altogether I won £95, though I played a lot of it back, as I was feeling reckless, and I ended up taking my original £10 with me, as well as another £45. I'm more than happy with that - a very nice rate of pay for less than 25 minutes work on an otherwise boring Sunday!










I didn't take screen captures of the first few prize, as I really didn't expect my luck to hold, but here are the last few!

Payday!

Payday today - only one more after this, until Christmas. I need to start doing my Christmas shopping, as I haven't even made a start yet, but I don't have a huge amount of people to buy for, but I still end up running around like a headless chicken every year! Oh well, I guess Christmas officially starts next week!

In other news, today I bought tickets for Bon Jovi! I'm seeing them at Twickenham on June 27th next year, and *either*, going to Dublin for three days/two nights on the 28th, or going to see .... Bon Jovi at Twickenham again! It depends whether I can get tickets for the second Twickenham date with next month's pay, which itself, depends on whether all my Christmas shopping is done! I'm excited already, especially as today I managed to change my 'long' holiday from September to June, so I have a week off either side of the concert. That will be the third year in a row that I've seen Bon Jovi in June, and I'm so looking forward to it again!

Work's been pretty boring, but I suspect that's more to do with the fact that I'm just waiting for my holiday now. I have one more shift tomorrow, then I have nine whole, blissful days off. During that time I have a GP appointment, at least, I will if I can make one - I can't make them in advance any more, and very often I can't get one for that day, especially as it's not going to be an important one - it's only to discuss my blood pressure. I also have a diabetic nurse appointment, to review my meds, and a practice nurse appointment to take my blood pressure. I have a day Christmas shopping planned, and I'd like to go and visit my cousin and his family in Hailsham on one day as well. I'm going to France with my friend and her husband on Saturday, so I won't have much free time!

Ooh, I won £35 on a couple of scratchcards after work today as well! Why do I always win if I buy them when I've just been paid, but never when I spend my last pound or two just *before* payday, when I really need the cash?!

Unsure.

Over the past few weeks, lots of things have reminded me of things that have happened in the past, which I always thought I was over, but it's beacome clear recently that I'm not, at all.

There's so much I want to say, and to blog about, but I know that there are people who read this blog who I might not want to read what I have to say on certain topics, and that's why I've said nothing so far. Well, that and the fact that I have all these thoughts racing through my mind, and yet I can't find the words to articulate what I want to say.

I've thought about starting another blog, and closing this one, which I would hate to do, because it had lots of posts which I really like re-reading on occasion. I couls leave this one here, and start a new one, or just say "To hell with it, I'll write what I want to write" and keep posting here. I'm not ashamed of anything I have to say, but it's not really information I want all and sundry to read. I suppose I could password protect my blog ...

Off to think about it some more.

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Now playing: Kenny Chesney - You Save Me

Song for Today

Creep, by Radiohead.

When you were here before
Couldn't look you in the eye
You're just like an angel
Your skin makes me cry
You float like a feather
In a beautiful world
I wish I was special
You're so f**king special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here

I don't care if it hurts
I want to have control
I want a perfect body
I want a perfect soul
I want you to notice when I'm not around
You're so f**king special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell I'm doing here?
I don't belong here

She's running out again
She's running out
She runs runs runs

Whatever makes you happy
Whatever you want
You're so f**king special
I wish I was special

But I'm a creep
I'm a weirdo
What the hell am I doing here?
I don't belong here
I don't belong here

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Now playing: Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer

Waste of a day,

Ever had one of those days where nothing particularly goes wrong, but you're in a foul mood anyway, and *everything* that anyone says or does is annoying? Yeah, that would be today.

I'm seriously p'd off at the moment, and the only thing I feel remotely like doing is walking along the beach for a few hours. As I haven't even got the fare to Brighton, it's not going to happen, so I shall listen to all the angry songs I can find, and hope I feel better in the morning.

I have Bonfire photos to edit and upload, but I just find them depressing. It's over for another year, and now I just get bloody Christmas to get through. Ugh.

I know I owe a few people emails, and I've been particularly lax recently, same with blog comments. I'll try and catch up a bit tomorrow.

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Now playing: Meat Loaf - Not a Dry Eye in the House

Nearly Done.

Well, the guys came and fitted our new kitchen units yesterday. I say guys, when really it was one workman, with the boss popping in a couple of times, and a plumber to disconnect the sink, and then fit the new one later. It was done before 4pm, and the other workman came this morning to plaster rough bits of wall, chip off the edges of the tiles on the windowsill, etc. Then the tiler is coming tomorrow, and after that it should just need a quick visit from the boss to check that we're happy with everything, and sign the work off. There are a couple of little hitches at the moment, that we only noticed today. The worktop in teh alcove hasn't actually been screwed to the base units yet, but that won't take a minute for someone to come and do, and one of the drawers in the same base unit doesn't open and close smoothly, it seems to stick on the worktop, but again, I'm sure that will be easily fixed.

We will need to get the floor redone, as where we noe have base units in slightly different places, there are areas of bare concrete showing, that previously had units covering them when the last floor tiles were laid, but I doubt we'll have any trouble getting the council to agree to that in a few weeks. Of course, after the tiling is done, we need to repaint, and I suspect that will happen in the last week of November when I'm on holiday.

All in all we're pretty pleased with it. It'll take come getting used to, as things are now in new places, and not where they've been for the past 15 years, but it's looking good.

Space wise, wenow have three wall cupboards on the cooker/fridge side of the kitchen, where we previously had none, with the same three base units, one single, one double. On the sink side, we previously had one double wall cupboard, where we now have a double and a single, and then we have a single cupboard under the sink, a space for a washing machine, then another cupboard.

We have a weird shaped alcove in our kitchen, which is where the airing cupboard used to be, and that's now been made into a functional space, with a double wall cupboard, and a double base unit as well, which has worktop, and will be tiled around. That whole alsove is mine, to store all my bits and pieces, my own food, and my appliances, like my juicer and George Foreman grill, instead of having just one shelf in one cupboard, as I previously had!

We went for a pale maple finish to the units, with a black granite effect worktop, and although, being a council flat, it's not top of the range (far from it!) it's a whole lot better than it was before, and once the tiles and redecorating are done it'll look pretty great, I think :)

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Now playing: Lionel Richie - Say You, Say Me

Missing ... One Kitchen

The electricians came yesterday to rip out the old kitchen, leaving just the sink unit, and put in extra power points for a wasjing machine, should we want one, and move a couple of others, and at 7:50am this morning, the workmen arrived to fit the new kitchen units.

They've ripped the sink unit out, put new piping in for the new sink, and are merrily attaching the fixing plates and screws to hang the new units, but one of them has just received a call letting him know that the kitchen itself appears to be missing. Apparently the guy driving the van with the kitchen units on has dropped off the other one the company are installing today, but can't find our address, so seems to have given up!

It's really quite comical!

And as I write this, he's made it to our address! Yay - I can have a kitchen after all!

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Now playing: Nelly Furtado - All Good Things

Forgot to Say ....

that the remote control shutter release and two extra batteries that I ordered for my SLR camera came this morning. That's great, but I ordered them *last* Monday with priority despatch, so that they'd be here to use last night! It's not 7dayshop's fault, as I had the email on Tuesday morning to say that they'd been despatched, and in fact, the memory card I also ordered did arrive on Friday, but Royal Mail obviously went on a go-slow for the other bits!

Thankfully the single battery I had didn't even drop by one bar on the battery life bar, until nearly midnight! I got almost 500 shots, using flash for a lot of them, and it only went from 3 to 2 bars in almost 7 hours .... impressive!

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Now playing: Ronan Keating - Lost For Words

Damn ...

Just had a call from Ticketmaster to say that the Meat Loaf concert has been cancelled, as he's still ill. I can't say I'm not disappointed, but as the other concerts that have had to be cancelled have been rescheduled, I' guessing this one will too, and truth be told, I'd far rather wait a few weeks and see him when he's fully fit and on top form than struggling through, or giving up halfway through, like at Newcastle last week. After last night, I'm pretty shattered anyway, and now I have this evening to edit more photos as well!

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Now playing: Men At Work - Down Under

Wow - what a night!

Last Night's Bonfire Celebrations went off almost without a hitch, and it had to be the best Fifth for years. There were no huge delays between processions, no drunks behind me in the crowd, we had front row viewing at the War Memorial, and it only rained twice, for about five minutes each time - not bad since rain was forecast, and we haven't had a wet Bonfire Night for ten years!

Add to that the fact that some of the fireworks were the best I've ever seen, and I think I might well be going to a different firesite next year, for the first time ever, and it was a pretty damn good evening!

I'm starting to edit the 500+ photos I took, but as I have to shop, have lunch, and go to London this evening for Meat Loaf, it'll likely be Thursday before many, if any, are online. In the meantime, here are some links to other pics and stuff from last night.

A short video of the processions from the Argus local newspaper.

Pics from the evening

Commercial Square Bonfire Society's first procession - video

Off to shop now, then charge batteries for my camera, check train times, and try not to freak out about walking home from the station at 1:40am tonight!

Oh, and try and remember last night for a few more precious hours :-)

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Now playing: Various Artists - Sha-Na-Na / Born To Hand Jive

It's here!

Bonfire Night, that is!

I know I have a few new readers this year, who won't have heard me mention Bonfire Night and the Lewes celebrations before, so for them, and anyone who wants a quick recap, here are links to my posts from last year.

Bonfire Part 1
Bonfire Part 2
Bonfire Pics

Mum and I went out last night to the Cliffe banner raising, and I took a few photos. It was pretty crowded, and I didn't manage to get a shot of all four banners, just three of them, as I couldn't get far enough down the street for the fourth one. These are the best ones, though.



The first banner goes up. This one has the Cliffe Bonfire Society motto on - "Nulli Secundus", or "Second to None". With over 1000 members, Cliffe are the biggest of the seven Lewes societies.







The final banner, "Best wishes to Cliffe subscribers"



The most controversial of the four Cliffe banners. For those who are against the "No Popery" sentiment, and who may see it as "anti-Catholic", it's important to remember that Bonfire Night came about as a direct result of an Act of Parliament after the failed Gunpowder Plot, which directed that the 5th of November be remembered as "the joyful day of deliverance" from the Catholic-led plot. These days no-one in the Cliffe is anti-Catholic at all - in fact, many of the members are themselves Catholic.



Between 1555 and 1557, seventeen Sussex people were burned at the stake in Lewes, on the site of the current War Memorial, for refusing to renounce their Protestant beliefs in favour of Catholicism. This banner commemorates them.



I took a couple of video clips as well, but as I used high quality, they're too big to put online. They do show the sheer loudness of all the firecrackers and bangers that were let off in the street though, although there weren't as many as there usually are. It was a good start to Bonfire though, and I enjoyed it as usual.
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Now playing: Robson & Jerome - The White Cliffs Of Dover

Stupid. Stupid. STUPID.

I left the money for my holiday deposit in my bank account, ready for when we booked, and have just checked my online banking. What did I discover, but that I'd miscalculated *before* I got paid, and ended up over my overdraft limit for one day, and by less than 50p. Of course, I've now been charged a total of £67 for that! Dammit, could the bank not have just *declined* the transaction at the time, as it was on my debit card (Solo, so not even supposed to be authorised if it would take me over my OD limit!!!)? No, of course not, they'd rather authorise it, and have another £67 from me for the privilege!

Now I can't book my holiday until *next* payday. Grrrrrrr. The best part fo £70 down the pan, for nothing. I hate banks. Why can't everything be cash only? *muttermuttermumblemoan*

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Now playing: Darren Hayes - Casey