The Christmas shop hasnt even opened yet...

Me & James were chatting yesterday about what time to take off in December - neither of us work in retail so we might as well take some time off as we can.


So we have booked off some time slap bang in the middle of December, the next question is what shall we do?


Back in May I wanted to have afternoon tea in The Ritz, but when I tried to book it up in January there were no places left!  So I thought to myself lets see if I can book a festive afternoon tea at The Ritz for this year.  I was half expecting there to be loads of places left (what with it still being June and all), would you believe that there were only a few places left!  So instead of asking James first (which is what I would have done) I booked it sharpish, as I just know that we wouldnt have got in had I have left it!


I am still in shock that festive afternoon tea at The Ritz will be fully booked before the Christmas Shop has even opened in Harrods!

the toilet wont flush

Let me fill you in on the back story first...


...a few weeks ago I went to flush the toilet and the handle went up at a funny angle and wouldnt flush we took the top of the cistern off to have a look and the metal connecting the handle to the inside bits had completely worn away!


We have been in this house for 15 years so it was of no big surprise!


Anyhow we went down to B & Q and bought a new handle which fixed it...


...or so we thought!


Fast Forward to last week the toilet was having trouble flushing again and we (or rather James) put it down to the handle coming loose so he tightened it and luckily it was flushing again.


Today the toilet (again) wont flush properly (just a trickle comes down when you try to flush) - James has tried tightening it again and it still wont work!  So off I went to B & Q and bought some fittings (a syphon & some float ball valves).  I was hoping that I would get some inspiration while walking around there (ie a big flashing sign saying if your toilet doesnt flush than this is whats wrong but it didnt!) I even checked their leaflets telling you how to fix things but there was nothing there either.  I even checked the internet and that suggested that the syphon might have a crack in it!  Which is why I went for the syphon but am not too sure why I went for the valves (I guess I thought in for a penny in for a pound ;o)).


Anyhow James dad is coming around tomorrow so hopefully he will be able to fix it...


...and currently James isnt talking to me because he has decided that its my fault that the toilet wont flush!

he wasnt a happy train driver

I got to Chelmsford train station this morning and I could see that the platform was busier than normal (not the "have to shut the platform" busy that it would have been an hour later), I looked at the train times board and it said that all the trains were delayed because of an earlier trespass incident ;o(.

I got upto the platform and there was an announcement that the next train towards London Liverpool Street would terminate at Shenfield (oh great!).

So I got on the train and managed to get a seat and the train is just about to stop at Shenfield and the train driver says "I have just been told that because we are running an hour and 20 minutes late we have to terminate the train at Shenfield this has nothing to do with me I am just the train driver", he is clearly not a happy bunny...

...and the elephants have gone too :o(

was off sick on Friday

Wednesday saw my Mum & Marco get married (they came over from Holland so they could get married in the UK), they are also having a blessing at their church in Holland when they return.

I think that I have been watching too many soaps on tv (as the lack of a fight afterwards un-nerved me a bit) ;o).

Seriously congratulations Mum & Marco ;o)

I got home on Wednesday night and started to feel grotty, and sure enough by Thursday morning I had a streaming cold, I managed to struggle into work on the Thursday but made sure that I was dieing in the noisiest way possible ;o).

On Friday I didnt go in as I was still feeling horrible.

Yesterday was another 40th birthday do...

...we went to see Priscilla Queen of the Desert although the birthday girl didnt go (which was a real shame) as her husband is having some health issues and is having an operation on her actual birthday :o(.

The show was really good and we had great seats, although I did spend a lot of time blowing my nose and trying not to have a coughing fit (with the help of some strepsils and a bottle of tropicana mango & orange juice).

Last week I went to get some sausages from the sausage lady (I know its not a very imaginative name ;o)), and shock horror they had sold out of my favourites, someone had bought out their entire supplies on the Friday! So I went to them yesterday and again I couldnt see the sausages that I wanted and was just deciding what to get instead, when her husband told me that they had saved some aside for me (I wouldnt get this sort of service in the supermarket) ;o).

being ecological

I went upto London yesterday to do some more elephants, I was at one point fairly near Pall Mall and there were a huge crowd of people just hanging around and a huge Police presence, I didnt have a clue what this was for until I came home and saw in the tv guide that it was Trouping of the Colour, we got the flyby here too (although I missed it!).

I knew that there were a few elephants in Selfridges, and not wishing to traipse allover the store looking for the elephants, I went to the information desk to ask where the elephants were located, they are obviously used to loonies like me asking because they had a supply of store guides with an x in pink highlighter pen showing where the elephants were on each floor ;o). Incidentally there were a couple of women at the information desk buying gift vouchers (for a posh friend no doubt) who turned to the other person on the desk and asked "theyre not real elephants are they?" FFS. It wouldnt surprise me if this woman would buy the I cant believe its not butter knockoff What not butter being sold in Poundland!

So off I went with my store guide in hand...

...I was on the fourth floor and a salesman asked me if I was looking for anything in particular and I said "yes, the elephant" ;o), and he pointed me in the right direction. I should be pleased that he didnt take one look at me in my jeans and hooded fleece and mention that Primark is over the road towards "the huge white arch".

I had finally photographed the last elephant on the lower ground floor (why cant they just call it the basement?) and I saw a lady photographing it also, so I asked her if she had the store guide showing where the other elephants were? She said no so I offered her my one so she could do the others (saving a tree or at least a twig in the process ;o)).

I then went over (after having some lunch as my tummy thought that my throat had been cut) to Hyde Park, as I knew that there were some elephants lurking there, I found the ones by Speakers Corner but I couldnt find the ones by the Serpentine ;o(. I never realised that Hyde Park was so big!

feeling like the little red hen

Yesterday I was fed up (really fed up).

It was down to making the drinks at work - I had four cups of tea yesterday and I made three of them, and I got all three of my glasses of water too.

I dont normally have a problem with making most of the drinks, but I did yesterday!

Am currently drinking tea #1 and glass of water #1 ;o)

becoming an old fart

I went to the cinema yesterday afternoon to see SATC 2 and we were sitting there waiting for the film to start, and I turned to my mate and said "does it have to be this loud!" and my mate laughed "you really are getting old" ;o).  I wouldnt have minded so much but she is six months older than me!.

A few weeks ago one of our hard drives died, and James decided to signup to Carbonite, following a recommendation from Al (thanks Al ;o)), I never realised we had so many photos to backup as it took three whole weeks (with the pc being on solidly on - dont worry the screen was turned off), I guess most of the photos being backed up were James' "Special (Amber must never look at or the chocolates will disappear) interest photos", not wanting my chocolates to disappear I wasnt going to chance it...

Talking of chocolates (yes I know I bought it up) my latest tasting box turned up on Wednesday, I opened them up with excited interpretation (I usually do as I am never sure what goodies will be contained within) and was distraught (Im not exaggerating either) because half of the chocolates were melted :o(.

Thursday morning (through the sobs - again no exaggeration) I rang the tasting club hotline and explained to them that half of the chocolates were melted, and the kind lady said that she will order me a replacement box - as I shouldnt have to pay for chocolates that arent in perfect condition.  She told me to throw the chocolates away if they were inedible.  Inedible is a very subjective word as even the melted chocolates can be enjoyed ;o).

Glimmer in the darkness

Me & James were sitting there (well I was watching it and James was trying to read the paper) watching Dancing With The Stars and James suddenly started singing with made up lyrics ;o).

He hasnt done this for like years ;o)