Six Months!

Well, six months ago today, John and I left the UK. The time has flown by, and yet it also feels like we have been here forever.

I've gone back through my old blog posts, and it amazes me how much happened in our first month or so - I had forgotten how quickly the various job "incidents" had happened. And, after all that, I think I've landed in the best job for me. It may have its ups and downs, but the downs don't last that long, and the ups are very good. So it all worked out for the best!

I still absolutely love it here - we have a gorgeous house in a perfect area, my commute to work is amazing (every time I get a window seat, I get to spend 10 minutes staring at the sea, with colours which range from deep grey, though all the shades of blue you can think of to a salmon pink this evening as the sunset reflected off the near-still waters), and we have got a fantastic social life.

I do occasionally have wobbles where I wonder whether we have done the right thing in uprooting ourselves and moving so far away. However, those wobbles don't last long, though I do still miss friends and family, and wish that the distance wasn't quite so far for those home visits! All in all, happiness is the overriding emotion, tinged with a little bit of disbelief that we are actually here!

We had another excellent win at hockey this week, with a very early start (9.15 meet up for a 9.45 whistle) - 6-1, with a moral 7th goal that was disallowed after the other team claimed that we'd done something wrong beforehand that the ref had missed. I was too far away to see what happened (I have difficulty in picking out anything detailed past the halfway line), so I don't know whether they were correct or not. Though the scoreline seemed quite heavy our way, I didn't get to rest for the game, as they had a number of very good players who came very close to scoring on a number of occasions. However, our defence has clicked in a brilliant way - I knew where both of the backs were the whole time, which meant that I was able to really push out to stop the attackers becoming a threat. A good game all round! There was a Tui singing away in the trees behind the pitch, which, combined with the warm sunshine (after a very chilly start, a reminder that we are actually in the depths of autumn and heading into winter, though you wouldn't know it to look at the blue skies) made it a lovely start to the Sunday.

And, finally, NZ has started broadcasting Dr Who! We've now seen the first episode, and are therefore only four behind the UK. Enough for me to still have to avoid spoilers at all costs, but at least not too bad - we aren't going to have to resort to filesharing to get our fix...

Busy, busy, busy...

It is with horror that I notice that my last post was over 3 weeks ago (I started this post on Wednesday, but had to stop due to actually needing to do some work... It is now the following Tuesday...)! I am really not doing very well with keeping updated - however, in my defence, I've not been in a lot in the evenings (and when I have, my new CD box set of the Mysterious Cities of Gold, and a very silly Tower Defence computer game have taken up most of my time...)

However, out of the flat, I've been doing a lot. My music has been important - I've got my oboe serviced, which was an epic in itself - a drive down to Taunton, going three times round the town as the road labelling system has changed since the AA set up their directions, dropping the oboe off, out to a friend's for lunch, then being phoned up to say that the oboe wouldn't be ready that evening, and could I pick it up on Saturday? Not a problem, as we were heading to Exeter on the Saturday. Friday evening, I got called to say that it wasn't going to be ready Saturday, and they would courier it to me on Monday. Finally got my oboe back on Tuesday, but the wait was worth it, as it sounds beautiful! Probably shouldn't leave it four years till the next service...)

Work has been manic, and included an all day excursion to the Forest of Dean Go Ape, an incredibly fun series of courses of rope or wood bridges, ladders, swings and zip lines, all at approximately 2-3 stories high in the trees. I pride myself in my head for heights, but this is actually really nerve wracking, as you are constantly having to battle your rational and irrational brains ("I am attached to the tree/line in three different ways. I am not going to fall." vs "HOLY SHIT I'M GOING TO DIE!!!"). I completed the courses (five of them including a training one), and am very proud of myself, as most of the time my legs were shaking, and I only completed a lot of the sections by will power ("One more step. Just one more step to go." It's amazing how many one-more-steps there are...). There will be photos, but as most of mine are of my colleagues, I don't think it is hugely fair to broadcast them on the net - mostly because the expressions tend to be one of terror, and the harnesses are not very flattering. I will wait for my boss to get back from holiday, as I know that she took a number of me...

The joy of the excursion was tempered by the fact that we then had to go in on the Saturday for an all day strategy meeting - not as boring as it could have been (for the first time in four years, I have an idea of the way the company is going!), but probably not the best place to spend half a weekend.

The other half of the weekend, though, was brilliant - spent going to Cardiff again, to the updated Dr Who Exhibition, where they now have one of the Angels from "Blink", whose outstretched arm is just high enough for a head massage:

We also had a very nice meal at Bosphorous (the Turkish restaurant that is on the end of a pier sticking out into the bay), inspected the Welsh Assembly buildings (glorious architecture, and I don't normally get excited about buildings - these are beautiful!) and a boat trip round the bay. Then a trip back to Bristol, and a lovely meal at a Chinese all you can eat restaurant. A fantastic day!

The other thing which has been taking up my time has been my hockey - we've had six games in our summer league (I've played four of them), and have now won three and lost three - a brilliant record, given that we hadn't won anything at all in the second half of our winter league. The last game (on Tuesday) was a very good one, and I am still on a bit of a high. We alread knew that the opposing team were good, however, when I spotted that they didn't have a goalkeeper, I initially was pleased - that meant that whenever we got up to their end, we would have no problems scoring. What the reality meant was that they had an extra person on the pitch (the team consists of eleven people, no matter whether one of them is wearing goalkeeping pads or not). So every time they attacked, they could always have somebody who wasn't marked. And they attacked a lot. I estimate that about 75% of the game was in our half, and most of that was inside our 25 yards (a quarter of the pitch). We did so well as a defensive team, given that we were spread very thinly - whilst I had to make some saves (and a couple of very spectacular ones, even if I do say so myself - one ended up going right over the top of the goal - I had a minor panic because I completely lost sight of it and thought it had gone in!), I didn't have to throw myself about the pitch as much as I feared - my team picked the shots up before they happened. Our attack did really well in getting their one goal in - as soon as the ball started going up the pitch, their midfield and defence formed a line that we simply couldn't get past.

However, I did have a first. It had got scrappy in the D (the area immediately in front of the goal - only goals where they have been hit from inside this area count). The whistle blew, but I didn't recognise the umpire's signal. I looked over to my team for some explanation, and noticed that they had all retreated to the 25 yard line. As had all bar one of the opposing team members. There is only one occasion when everyone will run away from the goalie. Oh dear... (well, "dear" is not what I thought, but as I've sworn once in this post, and I try not to swear, I'm censoring myself...) This would be the penalty flick sign then, wouldn't it?

For those who are uninitiated in the ways of hockey, I will explain the concept of the penalty flick. About half way into the D, there is a little white spot. The attacker puts the ball on the spot, and after the ref says "go", attempts to push or flick (not allowed to hit it) into the goal. The goalie (i.e. me), who has to stand behind the goal line, has to stop the ball. Nice and simple. Except that something funny happens to your perspective in this situation. The ball, approximately the size of your fist, becomes a golf ball. The attacker becomes a giant with arm muscles the size of trees. The goal suddenly stretches to the size of the pitch.

The ref asked me if I was ready. I couldn't really say "no", but definitely didn't feel ready - the whole match was riding on this. With us only being one goal up, and with less than five minutes remaining on the clock, we could not afford to let anything in. The signal was given, and the attacker struck.

And the ball bounced off the post and rolled up the pitch.

I hadn't seen it move, not consciously at least. Something had seen the ball go, as I was moving in the right direction, but if it had been a couple of millimeters closer to me, I wouldn't have had a chance to save it as it rolled in towards me instead of away. But for some reason everyone congratulated me as though I had done anything more than stand there!

But hey, we won the match, meaning that we aren't sat at the bottom of the summer league - huzzah!

And I'm not going to actually publish this post, as it's now a week since I started writing it. Then I can get round to writing the post about the trip to Tewkesbury and the snake...

July already...

Dr Who is over and done with - and the two parter went from being edge of my seat at the cliffhanger, to slumped back on the sofa, guessing correctly each cliche before it happened. Highly disappointed (and then with the news that bloody Catherine Tate is going to be back in the TARDIS next series. If the point of the companion is to be the face/voice of the audience, then it shows what RTD thinks of us all :-( I really enjoyed having an intelligent companion - one that I could actually relate to )

I have nothing more to say on the subject - these guys did it so much better.
http://community.livejournal.com/ihasatardis/285628.html
http://community.livejournal.com/ihasatardis/285050.html

In other news - had my coil fitted last week. Still hurting today, so the guys on the Lush Forum pointedly told me that I should get it checked out - apparantly a week isn't normal. So hours at the drs this morning, and then a trek to the hospital this afternoon, to be told that everything is fine. Which is a good thing.

Weekend

It's Tuesday already, and the weekend just flew by!

On Saturday, I had my final two BSL Level 2 exams - they actually went rather well (if I don't jynx it by saying so...) We had two modules:
203 - Conversation - taken first, as a warm up for;
202 - Productive - a 3-4 minute story to camera

For both modules, we had already picked a Theme (for me, it was Food and Drink for 203 and Travel and Holidays for 203), and when we went into the practice session, we were given the list of topics from which we could pick one. The conversation with Martin went well-ish - I completely blanked on the sign for 'pudding', which was very stupid! But the story was a dream - I'd already practiced around my Australia backpacking, as it could cover so many different ideas - "the best holiday" "the worst holiday" (obviously different bits!) "why I like backpacking" etc etc - and the topic that I picked was "travelling alone" - absolutely fantastic! I was able to put in most of the ideas that I'd practiced, so I hope that it came across very well.
Just 6 weeks to wait until the results now...

Then, after meeting with Leanne, Claire and Heather in the Greenhouse for a debrief, it was back home for Dr Who "Utopia" and the first episode of Jekyll.
"Utopia" was brilliant - Derek Jacobi was amazing as Professor Yana - the emotion that he could portray without moving a muscle was just fantastic. And, although I knew who he was going to be at the end, I didn't realise who he would regenerate into! That was a complete jaw hitting the table moment! So looking forward to this Saturday now!
And Jekyll - WOW! A few itty bitty plot things that need explaining (the main one being that if you knew that you were having blackouts, and that whilst in that blackout, you were doing things that you couldn't countenance, wouldn't you voluntarily section yourself?). However, I hope that these will be explained later on in the series. James Nesbitt was brilliant as both Tom Jackman and Hyde - and the script was super - all hail Steve Moffatt for a show that had me on the edge of my seat and giggling wickedly at the dark humour.

Sunday, we met up with Sarah and Graham to see Fantastic Four (Karen came to the cinema for a chat, but with two dads to visit, and a family wedding to go to, she was a little busy!) - a very silly popcorn film - not a huge amount of substance to it (although more than the original...), the barest minimum of plot, reasonably wooden characters, and lots of explosions. But it worked, as a 'turn your brain off and relax' film - no real need to think, just let the images flow over you, and stop wondering how much bigger Jessica Alba's lips can get before they explode...

Then, after the afternoon showing of the film, John and I headed to the Hippodrome to see Derren Brown on the last day of his tour. The man is astonishing - even though you know that everything he does is a trick - a verbal and mental illusion, you still can't work out how he does it! (and yes, John and I did talk a few of them through afterwards, and picked out a couple, but tell me how he knew that a woman in the audience, picked at random, lived on a houseboat?)

And finally - my little touch of work - we've offered the position of Sales Administrator, and she starts on 2nd July - can't wait! :-)

Catch-up

Well, even with a blog to try to force me to write, it has still been a long while since I stuck something on here (C- must try harder)

Since I last posted, there have been: 3 Dr Who Episodes; 2 Theatre trips; 2 Wedding Rings made; 1 Cinema trip; 1 birthday celebrated (and a partridge in a pear tree...)

Dr Who

"Human Nature / Family of Blood" (Paul Cornell) was the best episode of the season by a long way - rich and believable characters, a story line that had me holding my breath, and an ending that had me blubbing like a baby! Fantastic acting from the leads - I could feel John Smith's terror as he realised what he had to do, and Baines (Harry Lloyd) was just perfect - the staring eyes and twisted lip giving him a complete otherworldy feel. If this doesn't win the Hugo next year, then there is something very wrong with the universe.

"Blink" (Steve Moffat) - a dark and very scary 'non-Dr' episode. I freely admit to a jump (although not a scream, unlike Empty Child...) when the "Angel" appeared in front of Sally. Another lovely offering from Mr M, although I still feel that Paul's story was better - there are too many plot holes in "Blink", and the obvious circular nature and determinist feel to the story doesn't help (she had to survive because otherwise she couldn't give the Dr the information he needed to help her survive...) But the minor pickiness isn't going to stop me shivering next time I look at a statue!

Theatre

"Cyrano De Bergerac" at the Bristol Old Vic - we saw this in the middle of May - an interesting production - the new translation was good (John felt it was better than the Anthony Burgess script that he performed), and there were some nice performances from the leads - Cyrano settled down after gabbling his first few lines. However, I have no idea why they decided to set it in WW1 period - meaning that the cast who made specific references to 17th C costumes (the swords, lace ruffs etc) ended up wearing them along with their WW1 costumes, and the effect was slightly comical. The theatre itself is very uncomfortable to sit in (it is being refurbished later this year), and John was very cramped (my slightly shorter legs were ok, just).

"Avenue Q" - we stayed with my Uncle in Crouch End over last weekend, and he very kindly took us out to the theatre to see Avenue Q - a fantastic show. Very funny, very blue - definitely not one to take the kids to go and see! But the versatility of the actors, a number of whom were playing more than one character at the same time (the scene where Katie and Lucy are having a dialogue, meaning that the actress had a conversation with herself, was fantastic!) I am so glad to have seen this :-)

Cinema

"Pirates of the Caribbean III" Very funny, very silly, and a musical score to die for! Loved it (and no, not just because of Jonny Depp...), although the twists and turns in the plot were a little bit confuzzling - I'm glad I took the advice of the Classic FM reviewer who suggested to let it all wash over you, and not to concentrate on what was going on!

The Wedding Ring Workshop

The workshop was amazing - we got there at 10 on the button (local church bells chiming the hour), and into a very hot workshop. There were 4 couples doing it, and we each had our own expert to help us (ours, Tom, has been jewellery making for 15 years!). We started off by sitting with him and discussing exactly what we wanted - there were lots of plain bands that we could pick so that we could look to see what different sizes and weights looked like, and we discussed how we could make mine so that it fitted to the engagement ring. Then we got taken over to the workbench, and got given our lumps of metal and a blowtorch. Under the guidance of Tom, we melted down enough each of the metal to make each other's ring, and poured it (quickly - it solidifies really fast!) into a bar mould. Then, after Tom had dipped it in water to cool it down, we squashed the bars through a mill which stretched them out and squashed them into a length that could go round a finger (with a bit extra for overlap. Then, after a reheat (squashing them like that stretches and knots the molecules and makes the bar impossible to manipulate), we got to bend the bars round into a ring shape. Mine was easy - because John's ring was just a straight band (and reasonably thick rather than being delicate), it got put into a vice, and I got to hit it with a mallet until it was roughly bent round! John had a bit more work, as my ring is more delicate, and had to be bent in a specific way to start the shaping process, so he had to bend it with pliers. Then cutting off the overlapping ends with a hacksaw, and using gold solder to seal the ring together. Tom then dunked the rings in diluted sulphuric acid to clean off the oxydised blackness (glad he did that bit - it splashed, and he had to go to wash his arms because they were starting to itch!), and the long process of filing and polishing began! (At this point, Tom said that as the dangerous stuff was finished, did we want our champagne now?) It started off with a filing tool, but quickly went on to differently graded sandpaper, right down to a very fine polishing paper. It was just amazing to see the lump of metal that just happened to be bent into a circle transforming into a ring! And then we got to take them down to the professional polishing machines, where they were buffed to an amazing shine (and Tom buffed up my engagement ring for me as well - he got out the dirt that had been caught under the diamond that I couldn't remove by myself :-) ) We also got to see one of the other couple's white-gold rings being electroplated (I don't really get white gold - why take something that is nice and yellow and make it look like silver?)

They are then sending off the rings to be assayed (i.e. to prove that they used 18 carat gold not brass...) and hallmarked - they will then post them down to us in a couple of weeks' time. So no rings yet, but once I remember to bring the camera in to be developed (they gave us a disposable camera, and Tom took photos of every stage), I'll be able to upload photos.

And I apologise for the variety of fonts and sizes in here. I've tried to edit it, and it keeps on playing silly buggers at me, so I give up...

Bank Holiday weekend

When the long weekend stretches in front of you, you envisage all of the things that you can get done with the extra 24 hours of freedom. The reality always seems to be that the extra time is spent in bed, or faffing, or generally just slobbing.

However, this Bank Holiday, we actually managed to fill it quite satisfactorily. On Friday night, I opened up our freezer and discovered that it was practically empty. Thus the decision was made to go to Farrington Farm Shop, where we get the majority of our meats. Normally we end up going completely overboard, the credit card takes a hammering, and I then spend half an hour whilst meat defrosts all over the kitchen floor trying to work out how to fit it all into the freezer. Not this time! We arrived at Farrington in time for lunch, had a glorious meal in their café (Enchiladas and tortillas – surprisingly filling, and a huge plate, with summer pudding to follow), and watched the clock tick round for an hour (the clock in the café is a cuckoo clock. With a cow instead of the cuckoo… We heard it go ‘Moo’ as we sat down, but missed the cow popping out. On the realisation that we had nearly been there an hour, we started obsessively watching the second hand tick round in order to be able to catch the elusive bovine! Rather bizarrely, it popped out with 20 seconds to go…) Completely stuffed, we then headed round the farm shop, where I discovered the bonus of investing £10 on my stomach – usually when I shop I am hungry and spend ages working out the exact meal that I’ll make with each piece of meat. This time, however, I was full, and even the thought of cooking made me feel slightly queasy! Net result – I spent approximately half what I would normally spend, and, when we got home, it all fit very snugly into the freezer.

Saturday evening was spent with the normal Who watching rituals. A surprisingly good episode, from what had looked like being filler material. A further introduction to Martha’s family (and the mother is irritating me already far more than Jackie ever did, which is saying something!) The monster was interesting – with more explicable pseudo-science than the Dalek episodes of the last couple of weeks – even if the conclusion seems to be that, had humanity gone down a different branch of evolution, we would have all been 10 ft high scorpions, with the ability to squeeze through 6ft high doors, to dislocate our jaws and to suck the life energy out of people… Mark Gatiss also reminds me far too much of Peter Davidson – not just the sweep of blond hair, but the raising of the eyebrows and the posture. Still – he did make an excellent villain. (although surprisingly bloodless – even if the monster had been killed from the fall from the belltower, it should have gone kersplat as it hit the floor…) Obviously, though, the most exciting thing was the post-episode trailer for the rest of the season – I was on the edge of my seat until I twigged that this wasn’t *just* going to be next week’s episode!

Sunday morning was spent getting up earlier than I should have to go to Bristol Southmead for my second attempt at platelet donation. Rather sadly, even with my platelet count being sky high, my veins just don’t seem to want to let them go. The needle goes in, the samples are taken off, and then, as soon as I’m connected to the machine, all the alarms go haywire. I just don’t seem to have the pressure to get the blood out (which is, on the one hand, a reassuring thing – at least I know that if I do cut myself, I should heal very quickly, but is also frustrating when I want to be able to donate). As this was the second time this has happened, the nurse stopped the attempt without too much digging around in my veins (so at least I’ve not got a mega bruise), and has put me back on the normal blood donation register.

So, back home earlier than expected, I did then spend a good chunk of Sunday afternoon slobbing and playing The Sims. I know I shouldn’t get so addicted to a computer game, but it is far too easy to let the hours slip away! I did, however, find the time to do the Sainsbury’s shop with John and to bake a quiche for Monday. And to head out to Tae-Kwon Do in the evening for the hour’s work out. We did a good session on the pads, which is a fantastic release of tension – my knuckles always come away red and a bit sore, but I thoroughly enjoy it.

And then… Monday… The day off…. In which we took a trip into the darkest wilds of Wales (ok – Cosmeston, just outside Cardiff and Penarth…). Sarah came up to ours, and we trundled off, following the AA directions (and, despite a query over exactly how long 2 miles was, they got us there very well). We did spend a short while doing a tour of the car park, as Karen and Dave had already arrived, and John wanted to park next to them – unfortunately, the car park was a one way system, so we circled all round their car, without actually being able to get to it! The weather was grey and grimbly – perfect conditions for giving the cloak that I had bought at Joust an airing… The medieval fair that we were going to was not very big (particularly in comparison to something like Joust), and the talks and demos weren’t particularly well announced (we missed the start of the ‘Medieval Surgery’ talk because we were waiting by the archery area (as stated in the leaflet), and it was actually round the corner. However, the battle was good fun – a bit more of a commentary would have been good for those of us who couldn’t see a huge amount. But the main reason for us going, was to meet Cherry of Shadowlight Designs, who is making my wedding dress for me. She has made up a ‘prototype’ in a cheap fabric, so that I could see what it would look like, how it would hang, and whether, after all of our discussions, what we were asking for was feasible! To say that I was pleased is an understatement. The Dress, despite being slightly large on the top (I’ve lost two inches since I was measured…) feels glorious to wear, and looks almost perfect. She’s had to make some slight adjustments (the original idea for the sleeves would have torn the fabric), and the top and arms need to be tightened a little, but otherwise, we are happy, and she is going to make the real thing, ready for me to try on at Joust.

So the next stage in the wedding saga is coming to a close – we are now heading into the final moments (the invites will be sent out in the next couple of weeks, we will be making the rings at the beginning of June, and then the slippery slope to the 1^st Sept really begins!)

Alas – Monday came to an end all too soon, and now I’m back at work, having had an all afternoon Sales Meeting yesterday. Only a 3 day week for me, though, as on Friday, I’ll be heading back into Wales with this lot – John has declined to join me – camping isn’t really his thing! (I don’t actually know if it is my thing, either – I’ve had a few very bad camping experiences. Hopefully this will not be one of them!)