Extra parts for the kitchen

I forgot to add in on my description of bank holiday things that I decided to get my new oven on Monday. After searching various websites for hours I went for one at Currys and did the Reserve and Collect thing. Waited the hour it requested before going to collect and walked into the store looking for the Reserve and Collect counter as instructed, walked round the whole shop, didn't find it. Decided to go to the Customer Services and got sent across to the Tills to get it. The kind shop people carried it out to the car for me but then when I got home (after visiting B&Q, Wickes, Wilkinson and the other B&Q to buy a tap) I decided I could get it out of the car myself. I realise that sounds like there is a big story coming about a disasterous attempt to get it in the house but there isn't, it wasn't too heavy and pushed easily across the lounge floor to the kitchen.

I managed to get the old oven out and put the new one in, transferring the plug/cable that was already there and not electrocute myself. I switched it on for an hour and the smell was horrible (which it did warn about in the instructions) but hopefully the next time I use it it won't be as bad and should stop smelling soon. I was also pleased that it didn't set on fire due to my electrical skills although I did pop my head round the kitchen door a few times just to check that it hadn't. The only slight problems are that it is a bit narrower than my old one so the fixing screws don't have anything to fit into and it sits a bit lower than the old one so it looks like there is a bit of a gap between the top of the oven and the worktop. Once the joiner has come to fix the new worktop I'll look at what I can do to raise it up slightly and get it fixed more securely into place.

Now I just have to have the old one in the lounge for a while until I can see when Ruth or Naomi (who have both volunteered) can help me get it in the car - it's heavier than the other one - and get it to the tip. I'll post photos of the new oven in the kitchen once the worktop is in place so you can see it finished.

Swindon

I had to go to Swindon with work this week so I set off on Tuesday morning to get to the train station for 8.15am. The first thing that should have told me it was going to be a bad day was that as I was half way to the bus stop I could see a bus drive past the end of the road so I knew I'd missed that one, although the next one was a couple of minutes late I knew I still had enough time to get to the station before the train was due to leave at 8.27, or so I thought.... We managed half of the journey fine but then as we reached the stops at the racecourse the engine cut out everytime the bus pulled up at the stops from there and every stop all the way into town. I still would have had enough time if it hadn't also happened each time the bus stopped at the traffic lights so by the time the engine had started again the lights had turned red so we had to wait twice as long.

I got to the station thinking I had a minute or two to spare so I rang Susie as I got there to see where she was, to which she replies that she was on the train just as I saw it pulling away from the platform. That wouldn't have been too much of a problem, I could just get the next train and meet her in Swindon - except that she had my train tickets as well! So we decided I would get at ticket to Doncaster and meet her there. Sounds simple enough.....

As the train was pulling into Doncaster I rang Susie and she'd checked the tickets and decided we could use them to go via London which is the faster route. I was on a Kings Cross train anyway so I just needed to stay on it and she would get on at Doncaster. By this point the train had stopped outside of Doncaster station to wait for a platform to become free so I was then slightly panicked when Susie rang to say that she was on the train! She quickly pushed her way back off that train and ran to the other platform where my train finally pulled in and we managed to find each other at last!

The rest of the trip was quite uneventful, the disciplinary meeting I was in Swindon for wasn't that exciting but did last a bit longer than expected, when my notes run to 12 pages I know it's been a very long meeting and my writing hand begins to ache. I went to the gym at the hotel which I was quite impressed with myself for doing as in all the times I've stayed in hotels with work over the past 4 years I've never once used a gym in a hotel. We had a quick dinner because we wanted to watch The Apprentice and I was so pleased that Michael finally got fired, it had been too long in coming!!

Lazy Bank Holiday Weekends

I'm having a really lazy bank holiday weekend this weekend. After being on holiday for 2 weeks and then having Frances to stay for 2 weeks then most of this weekend has been spent catching on all the programmes that have been recorded. I've made my way through most of them now and I'm saving Heroes for Monday as Ruth is going to come round to watch them as well - also an excuse to have wine and take-away.

I have made it out of the house as well this weekend, Frances and I went to see Indiana Jones on Friday night which was quite good but I thought it was a bit far fetched at the end. I'll try not to give the ending away but when it starts to mention portals to another dimension then I start rolling my eyes.

Saturday night was Eurovision and I'm sure many will be shocked to hear that when it came round to it I could happily have missed it. I was falling asleep through the voting so I left before the end to get home to bed! By that point though it was looking certain that Russia would win and they were my country in the sweepstake.

The most energy expended this weekend has been on washing my car which is amazing considering I only cleaned it a week ago. Normally it would only get cleaned by me when it was absolutely desperate for it and then it might coincide with a trip home and Dad would very kindly do it instead! This year it seems to be suffering from being parked under the tree all day every day and the tiny leaves from the flowers drop onto it and the sap from the tree then sticks them to the car, it looks like it's been snowed on sometimes! Must arrange to get it cut down this autumn so next year hopefully anything that drops from it will miss the car.

This is also my last weekend before I start putting a lot of effort into fitting into a bridesmaid dress so I think I'll just have that chocolate bar that I've been saving....

Visitors

You can tell when I have someone else staying in my house because there is always some food that appears that isn't there the rest of the year. In the past this has included baked beans and olives and this week it has been peanut butter, thankfully Frances has said she will take it with her when she leaves so I don't have to find someone to give it to or leave it in the back of the fridge and end up throwing it away in 12 months time.

As Mum & Dad introduced her to Rocky biscuits last week there are also some of those in the house now as well, I thought it would be a nice treat for her, and I might help myself to one or two as well....

Congratulations!

...to Rob and Sally who got engaged on Friday night!



I'm still waiting for a phone call to hear all about it though but I have seen a picture of the ring which is beautiful, can't wait to see it for real. Which reminds me can I come and visit next weekend please....?!

I got my phone call thank you. Also forgot to say I was quite relieved to get this news because 2 days before Facebook had told me that "Sally Greenwood and Rob Harrop ended their relationship", so I'll never trust the Facebook news again!

Books

As it's been commented that I haven't said anything about the books that I read on holiday, I thought I'd better add in something about it. As usual I made my way through a few books while I was on holiday, I find that I get really bored sunbathing even if I'm listening to music so while Sal can lie there for hours just listening to her ipod, I end up reading the whole time, which also means my face doesn't always get much sun!

So this week I read:
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella
One Shot by Lee Child
Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

I was going to read Cold Mountain first and get it out of the way as I thought it would be a bit depressing but as I didn't start reading anything on the plane then for the first day of sunbathing I went for Salem Falls and pushed Cold Mountain down to second on the pile. Then I kept reading all the others until I had no choice but to read Cold Mountain on the last day and the way home. I've found it really hard going and quite boring at times, but I'm pleased to say that I have tried to stick with it and am determined to get it finished and not give up on it. Hopefully just one or two more rides on the bus to work and I might get it done!

I really enjoyed the Lee Child book so I think I'll pop back to the Oxfam book shop where I got it from and pick up the other 4 that were there and make my way through those next, maybe not quite as fast as I read that one, it's only usually on holidays that I can get away with reading a book a day.

UPDATE: 22nd May 08 - I went back to the Oxfam bookshop and there were no Lee Child books left in there! I knew I should have bought them all at the time - should never have thought it was a better idea to get the stupid Cold Mountain book! (which still isn't finished....)

Sun, Books and Hayfever

Sal and I had a lovely week in Turkey last week, Sal's written on her blog already so I'll try not to repeat too much. It was a really relaxing time of sunbathing, swimming (by me not Sal), reading, eating and watching tv. That was just interrupted by a day trip to Ephesus on the Thursday which turned out to be more of a guided tour than I had expected. I thought that we would be dropped off in the morning and just given a time to be collected in the afternoon but we had our own guide for the day who did the whole tour from the North gate of Ephesus and down to the exit at the South gate. It seems my memory is really failing me now because when I was showing Mum my photos I could barely remember what anything was. The main part was the Celsus Library and luckily in the middle of a rather overcast day with thunderstorms the sun shone as we reached the library so the photo's look so much better!



The rest of the day we also visited the Artemis Temple and a Mosque but the funniest and wierdest part of the day was the visit to the leather factory. It was actually just a shop that we were taken to but before we looked round the shop we had to sit through the 'fashion show'. It was the strangest thing, 10 tourists and a 6 month old baby sitting round the cat walk watching people model these leather jackets, lights dimmed, spot lights on the stage and music playing. Sal had unfortunately chosen one of the seats at the end of the cat walk so we had to watch these people walk directly towards us each time and feign interest in what they were wearing. It has to be the strangest part of a sightseeing tour that I've been on!

Annoyingly I spent the whole week suffering from hayfever, for some reason it never even crossed my mind that I would get hayfever when I was abroad . I spent most of every day sneezing and had to soak my eyes a few times because they were so itchy. I got home and of course have been fine since.