so you think you can knit

We were watching Harry Hills TV Burp last night and Harry mentioned that they are launching a competition called The K Factor - So You Think You Can Knit, I remembered that I have a teddy bear that I knitted when I was 8 years old (yes its many many moons ago), so I have e-mailed a few pictures to them and will let you know if they come back to me ;o).

to see the full set click here

I had Thursday off work last week, and as I was going into town anyway to meet up with James I thought I will get there a bit earlier and will send off my passport application form. I plonk my letter on the scales saying "I would like to send this first class please" the guy sees what I am sending and says "as you letter contains valuable documents we recommend that you send this Special Delivery - it will cost you £4.79" something close to that anyway. So I say "how much will it be to send recorded delivery" he said in a huff (as he knew this was a far cheaper option - and my passport is about to expire anyway) "that will be £1.39 but as it contains valuable documents I had to recommend the other service".

Ha ha I checked the progress of my letter and it got there just fine ;o)

Between going to the post office and meeting James I went to Starbucks to get myself a drink. I was standing there deciding (but knowing) what to go for and saw that they are now doing a flat white (I have seen it on New Zealand tv shows but never knew exactly what is was). So I asked the Barrista what it was and he said it was a creamy cup of strong coffee from New Zealand made with whole fat milk.

He asked me if I would like to try one and I said no I will stick with my (pretentious) double tall skinny latte, and then he said I could try one for free (I guess this was because it was quiet). I thought for a minute knowing that I would be meeting James soon I said no thanks. I then finished my drink and decided that I did have time for that free coffee after all. As it was still quiet I went up to the bloke and said "is it ok to still try that flat white" and he said "yes it was" ;o).

Anyway I tried and it was really nice, served in a proper tea cup and saucer, it had a single shot of espresso in it and because it was a smaller drink the coffee taste was stronger - and even nicer because it was free.

Alan I saw this article and thought of you ;o) The article in the paper finished with the line "Another Mother said I wont bother with Tesco any more - Im off to Aldi" I was laughing so much when I read this ;o)

I decided to weigh myself this morning and was well pleased that I have lost one pound, not bad since Christmas was just over a month ago ;o)

he was taking the p1ss

My train pulled in this morning with the lights off, this is no big deal because it starts from Chelmsford...

The train gets to Ingatestone and the lights still werent on, I glanced around and saw a few people with their newspapers on their laps where they werent able to read them. I was ok because I was listening to Mark Kermodes film reviews on my MP3 player ;o).

The train gets to Shenfield and the lights are still off and more people are getting on the dark train, even the platform guard looked on in dismay.

The train then pulls into Stratford (the last station before Liverpool Street), and the driver finally switches on the lights. There was a massive cheer of "finally".

I got off the train and saw some people sitting there working on their laptops, was it really worth switching it on for those few minutes, or were they working on them in the dark?

booking birthday commiserations

I have a big milestone birthday coming up and was determined to do something fun...

I was thinking what shall I do and where should I go? After a lot of deliberations I have booked an afternoon tea at Claridges with my three best friends.

And I have booked me and James a trip to Paris on Eurostar, I have only been to Paris once before and that was back in 1992, when me and my friends (the same ones Im doing the afternoon tea with) did a coach trip to EuroDisney (as it was called then).

As with all coach trips it was full of old people (one of them was a nice doctor (she used to keep a jar of boiled sweets in her consulting room to give to the kiddies) me and one of my friends had) apart from eight of us (who were all under 30) - the tour guide called us "The EuroDisney eight". There was also a lorry driver strike at the time we went, so instead of going on the motorway from Calais to Paris we went on the back roads, which took a good 10 hours. I remember getting quite drunk on the awful wine we had with our meal that first night ;o).

I am having to renew my passport too...

...I was thinking what sort of photo should I get taken? Should I go for one depicting how Im likely to look when going through passport control? ie half asleep with my hair all over the place. or one where I have brushed my hair? (how I will definitely not be looking).

I got my pictures done this morning at the Photo-me booth, and James had a look and said "you dont look very 'appy in them" so I glared at him and said "your supposed to 'ave a neutral expression", I dont know about neutral I definitely look more miserable ;o), which I suppose will be more of my look when returning from going away!

breaking the psychological barrier

I looked at my countdown this morning and saw that I now have less than 10,000 days til I retire...

9994 days are still a lot but its now only 4 figures ;o)

torture by chocolate

On Friday one of my bosses came in saying he had a present for me...

...so I asked if it was a nice present or a horrible present and he said I would definitely like it, pulling out a bag full of Celebration chocolates...

Telling me that some were for me and the others would go out for our Brokers to eat!

I was ok when he bought in the jelly sweets last year as I can "take em or leave em" but chocolates are a completely different matter!

So I have hidden them in a drawer, as if they are in my eyeline then I am more likely to start eating them. I just hope I dont start feeling stressed about anything as I just know that I will start on them, and once that happens then I WILL FINISH THE LOT. My willpower just isnt that good...

Earlier on in the week I was really pleased with myself because I picked up a bag if mini eggs while in the queue in Sainsburys, but put them down when I got to the front of the queue, as I had decided that I really didnt need them. I got back to work and then decided I did need that chocolate fix after all (sometimes only chocolate will do) and ended up eating the emergency bar of Wispa Gold I had in my drawer!

Dont worry I have another emergency bar in my drawer, it was the free Cadburys Flake bar I got a few weeks ago at Liverpool Street Station ;o).

phew...

My holiday photos have now all been commented on...

theyve taken me that long to do, that I feel I need another holiday now ;o)

snow joke

I dont have much to talk about this week, except for the snow!


It has snowed everyday since Tuesday, mainly little flurries, but the snow hasnt had a chance to melt because the temperature hasnt increased enough during the day.


At least I have seen a few snowmen about, the sweetest one being this that I saw at Chelmsford train station on Friday night ;o).



I was reading in Metro one day in the week an article on people panic buying because of the snow. While reading it I thought people were buying cat litter to use for grit in the snow, I thought it sounded like it may be better to use than salt. So cat litter went on my shopping list for when I did the food shopping this morning.


I mentioned this to James, and he said people were probably buying cat litter, because they needed it for their cats! Does he mean to say that they werent buying it instead of salt to sprinkle onto their paths/driveways?


We have now sprinkled some on the driveway outside our garage and have given the local cats a new place to go to the toilet :o( I just know I will get the blame if they do!


Now that Christmas is well and truly over and done with the Easter products are creeping there way into the supermarkets, every day I have been fighting the temptation to buy mini eggs. And when doing the shopping this morning I was even on the look out for a box of creme eggs. I really cant help myself ;o)

I was right...

I got to Chelmsford station this morning and was greeted with the news that the engineering works had over run!

I even considered putting a £5.00 bet on it at the weekend - I wish I had now although the odds probably would have been really bad ;o).

My journey was delayed by about 25 minutes this morning, so not too bad.

I will just have to see what things are like this afternoon, oh well onwards and upwards!

Its January again

Christmas has now been and gone and its January, and time to be good again eeeuuugggggghhhhhh :o(.

oh well...

I said last week (last year now) that the train journeys would make an interesting post, so see what you think?

On Tuesday morning I got to Chelmsford station and the train (the 7.03) I wanted was running late (why I dont know because it actually starts from Chelmsford!), so I got a later train (only by six minutes).

The train was ever so slow between Manor Park and Stratford, apparently it was because of a mixture of signal problems and congestion at Stratford.

I finally got to Stratford and fought my way to the underground platform, there was a train already in but it was rammed to capacity so I waited for the next train which arrived three minutes later.

The next train arrives and I get on, and finally get to work at 08.55, my journey which only normally takes 45 minutes took nearly 2 hours.

My boss comes in to Liverpool Street too and his journey was just as long and arduous as mine, but he decided to get the C2C to/from Laindon for the rest of the week.

Tuesday afternoon my boss let me leave at 3.30, I got to Liverpool Street and just as I get to the escalator (I was literally about to step onto the escalator) and one of the station workers dives in front of me and pulls a tape barrier across because of platform overcrowding. Apparently there was a broken down train that had to be moved and then another train had to pick up the passengers (or customers as we are called), before it was safe to let us go down to the platforms. There were tannoy announcements saying that there was overcrowding on the Central Line platforms but still people were walking up to see why they couldnt go down the escalator!

I was chatting to the worker as I was waiting, and he comes into Liverpool Street on the overhead trains too.

Thank goodness the delay was only about five minutes, when I got to Stratford and I only had to wait a few minutes for a train to Clacton-on-Sea.

Ooohh Ive just got an e-mail from my Mum who wants me to mention everyone...

...so hi Mum, Mums fiance, Mums cat, sister, sisters fiance, nephew, both brothers and brothers girlfriend (dont think I missed anyone out there), and as an aside there is thick snow in Holland at the moment!

back to the trains, got on the train and it was half empty when it left Stratford and I had two seats for myself ;o), I finally got to Chelmsford just before 5 so the journey wasnt too bad.

On Wednesday morning

I got to Chelmsford and got an earlier train, and just as we are pulling into Shenfield the driver says that the signalman just told him that the train is going to have to terminate because of congestion at Stratford, so we all trudge off of the train and onto the other platform which is luckily on the same platform bank that we were on and waited for the train from Southend Victoria, luckily this came after a couple of minutes, got on the train and slowly got to Stratford (not as slow as Tuesday thank goodness), there was an underground train in and again it was rammed decided to wait for the next train, the next train pulls in practically empty and I actually got a seat (I was astounded ;o)).

Wednesday afternoon I left at 3.30 again and got to Liverpool Street, this time I was able to get onto the underground platform with no problems, got to Stratford there was a train in on another platform but couldnt see where it was going to as the train to Southend on my platform was obscuring my view. The Southend train finally goes and I see that the other train is going to Braintree, I was annoyed as getting it would mean that I would get home a few minutes earlier! By now the train was packed, and I thought I might as well wait for the Clacton train, so wait I did...

...the train again pulled out half empty, I had the three seats to myself as well as the three opposite until we got to Shenfield and a family got on (taking one of my three seats as well as the three opposite me), the Mum was saying how she was going to visit her Mum tomorrow (New Years Eve) and I dont think her hubby wanted to go with her! Again I got to Chelmsford just before 5.

Thursday morning was uneventful as I got to Stratford without having to change trains and got on the underground train that was in.

Thursday afternoon the office shut at 1 (as it was New Years Eve) so I got myself some lunch before getting the underground to Stratford. Got to Stratford found that there was a train going to Norwich luckily it was going to stop at Chelmsford. I sat down started undoing my coat and felt one of my buttons fall off! Because it was an intercity train with a table I couldnt immediately see where the button went. So I waited for no-one else to be walking down the aisle before getting up to see if I could see where it had gone to. I got up and wouldnt you know it some one came to walk past me, so I sat down again to wait for him to go.

Got up again had a brief look on the floor (thought to myself its got to be somewhere) got down on the floor and this womans bag was under the table :o( I still couldnt see my button.

So we are just about to pull up into Chelmsford and the woman whose bag was under the table had got up and I had another glance and still couldnt see my button. I thought to myself oh well thats that gone, and a kindly lady asked me if I was looking for my button (I was trying not to be to obvious too - perhaps being on the floor on my hands and knees was the giveaway) and I said I was and she had it ;o) phew that was a relief.

Have just reminded James (Im being serious now) to sow the button onto my coat as I am really useless at sowing things :o( .

Hopefully the engineering works wont overrun, but Im not banking on it!

Oh forgot to say Happy New Year! ;o)