Site Meter

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Wild Boar

Gus and I went to Frozen Water Land (you know the place that mums are always going to). They have a speciality meat section with ostrich burgers, kangaroo meatballs and wild boar kebabs. Gus picked up the wild boar and said, "Oooh, wild boar. I've had wild boar" to which I replied, "You are a while bore". It's a good job we share the same sense of humour. Which is why Bobo Productions are toying with the idea of a comedy sketch show.

Ziggy wanted to head out to the pub at the weekend to see all the hot bitches he knows so that's what we did to keep him happy. I love my local pub. I love that I can bring my dog there and when I notice he isn't around for a minute I go to check on him and he's nearly always sitting on someone's knee. There was a birthday cake on Saturday and Ziggy spent a good part of the night running around hoovering cake crumbs off the floor.

I am a little poorly this week. I don't mind because it seems to have been ages since I was last sick. I hope I'm feeling better by Thursday though as I have a day out with Nelly and the girls at Barry's in Portrush. I am also hoping my new camera arrives by then so I can test it out before shooting a wedding in August. The wedding is for a work colleague and the daughter of chums Nellybert have known for years. I wouldn't have agreed to do it only I know the girl is not a bridezilla and she will be happy enough with whatever I produce.

Tonight I have a date so I guess I should probably get ready for it :)

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Weeding the Garden



This was taken last Tuesday night. You can tell it's "band practice" and not "music night" because there's no booze cans on the table. As you can see, Ziggy is delighted. Elenwe took these and then she left on Saturday. Her reason for leaving was work related. It's a long story, and not mine to tell, but she was shat upon by her employers in a very sleekit and underhand way. I could really empathise with how she felt from my experience of working in Thailand when I had less than perfect employers. I told her I would give her a couple of weeks grace with the rent to give her time to find something else but she was deflated and disheartened. I knew how she felt.

She is in London now and has found a job already. We have left it open that she may return one day even just for a visit. I enjoyed living with her very much. Not just because she was a girl but because she was my kind of girl. She sang around the house, she adored Ziggy, she joined us on music night, she was arty. It was just dead nice having a girl to hang out with.

When I first moved into this flat I developed a rather unhealthy addiction to polishing the bed with brasso. I have a similar addiction to weeding the garden. It was an overgrown jungle and the weeds roots are giant. I could be doing this using appropriate tools but instead I use a plastic trowl that cost 33.33333p It occurs to me when I do this job it isn't about getting it done in the most efficient way possible, it's about being mindful of what I'm doing. I find it therapeutic and it's also kind of like a metaphor for untangling and removing the weeds in my own life. My momma will be so proud of her green-alien-salad-fingers girl, the one that once said "I remember when we used to be happy, now all we do is talk about clematis"

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Surfing The Blowhole

My head is in bobo land at the minute. Monday was a shock to the system. After my lovely week off (which ended with a very drunken night on Saturday which kinda spoilt the effects of all the lovely relaxation I had been doing but was lots of fun so totally worth it) I had to get up at the crack of dawn, work until 12:30 and then go to tech to talk about supervisors and placements and Access NI forms. I didn't like it. I didn't have my after work cup of coffee and I was not tuned into the talk at all. There's a lot of hoops to jump through to become a counsellor and I wasn't in the mood for jumping on Monday.

I'm pushing the driving to the very back of my mind for a few weeks. Cannae be bothered thinking about it. Meh! Basically, I'm kind of avoiding reality at the minute and everything that involves any kind of responsibility (or money - isn't that a coincidence!). Bobo land is nicer. I can surf the blowhole and eat jobby-on-a-stick. The only kind of stimulation my brain wants at the minute is laughter, and plenty of it. Which is lucky because I'm surrounded by it. Gus is helping with that.

It's not just the laughter though, it's that feeling of connection. Life amazes me all the time. Saturday night was fun. Elenwe, who unfortunately might have to go back home to New Zealand, came out with us. She has been one of the best flatmates I've had and if she has to go I'll be a wee bit sad. Last night we had a GCDC's band practice (as opposed to just music night where we get drunk and wail) and Elenwe joined us. She is very artistic and I had high hopes that she might notice the woeful drawings of foxes and cats I had been doodling and offer to do some illustrations for my children's story. What will be will be I guess. I remember when Gus moved out I worried about who the next flatmate would be and what problems it might bring but now I just know that when people move in here, for whatever length of time, it'll be an interesting experience if nothing else. This is what you call surfing the blowhole.

Friday, June 12, 2015

A Lovely Week Off

I was off work this whole week. It was awesome for many reasons. The past few months has been all whirlwind, heat and flash. Cramming all my shoolwork, sorting out endless flatmate issues, focusing on getting my driving test, and meanwhile, my social life decided it was gonna buzz like a busy bee. I've been kept on my toes and it's been fun and exhausting and stressful at times. This week I got caught up with myself, and have eaten better than I have eaten in years.

Monday I went to Nellybert's. I ate a salad bowl from the spar and mum made mince and tatties and pear and raspberry crumble. I drank coffee all day long and played with my two favourite girls. On Tuesday I had a relaxing morning, took Ziggy for a walk and attacked the weeds in the garden (which turned out to be surprisingly therapeutic). Gus called round with caramel frappes and jobby on a stick. These are my new favourite snacks that can also double up as a fun poking toy in which you can jibby jabby people.


Perhaps my eating wasn't quite so good on Tuesday but I did drink a lot of coffee just because I could. On Wednesday morning I woke up and had a breakfast of fruit salad with natural yoghurt and croissants and more coffee. Then we went for an expedition to an old water mill where we met some pretty handsome cows along the way.

Wednesday was a beautiful, sunny day and it put Elenwe and I in the mood for a few drinks. We went to the cheapest pub in the town and wined and dined for less than a fiver. Yesterday Ziggy and I went to Glenariff with a friend from my course. We stopped off at Garron Point to collect stones and Waterfoot beach to have a picnic. Ziggy liked the Glenariff best. I have loved that place since I was a little girl with it's waterfalls, trees and pixie trails. As you can see from the photo Ziggy was enjoying the sea breeze.

All in all it's been a good week and it's not even over yet. I started today with an Ulster fry and a million cups of coffee and a catch up with my mum. There's rumours of smarties frappes being on the cards and that probably means more Jobby on a stick. Life's good :)

Monday, June 08, 2015

Cutlery Issues

I am not sure how intelligent I really am because it's so mixed in with laziness. Also, there are so many different kinds of intelligence. I struggle with subjects likes Maths, Sciences and History. The reason being they are subjects that require you to remember lots of facts and figures. I do better with languages. Even if I have never heard of a word before I can often figure out how to spell it. I understand letters and words. I'm not great at arts and crafts because, despite my fingers being agile and dexterous, I don't have the patience to work with fiddly things. Though give me a blank page and a set of crayons and I will draw as well as any 5 year old can.

I have good social skills. I was painfully shy as a child but always had a desire to be around people. I'm an introvert who pushed myself to be an extrovert. I learnt to talk to strangers. I like to make people laugh. I like to make people feel valued. I like people. My problem solving skills are average. I went to a grammar school and got a 2:1 in my degree so I guess I must have some level of intelligence. But oh how Gus did laugh at me when I was doing a real bad job at cutting cheese the other night.

"It's this knife, I have no decent knives for cutting cheese" I complained.

"I've a really good bread knife out at home you could have" Gus replied.

"Nooo, it needs to be a proper sharp knife not a segregated knife" I moaned.

Then I heard a guffaw of laughter and turned round to Gus who was looking at me in disbelief.

"Segregated?" He laughed again, "Do the knifes have to be kept separate from the spoons and forks?"

It wasn't even a slip of the tongue. I have been calling them segregated knives for years. Just like I have been pronouncing the word carousel "Ka-roo-sel" for years. People should never be measured on their intelligence though. Some of the smartest people lack common sense and social skills and some of the dumbest people can have the intelligence to listen to their intuition to understand a situation.

Wednesday, June 03, 2015

The Circle Of Death

I should have blogged on Monday to celebrate Ziggy's 2nd birthday but I didn't feel like it as I failed my driving test again. I was disappointed but able to keep it in perspective. As I told a good friend, it's just a very boring, expensive Jedi mind exercise. I've done heaps of those before, being a Jedi Knight albeit one who isn't overly keen on Star Wars (if you ask me it would serve them a lot better to make love not war, especially way out in the galaxy where it's cold and dark and everyone just wants a cuddle).

Yesterday I was out at Nellybert's. Jakers' pet rat Jimmy had passed away and I thought it would be nice to bury him with the other rats (Pepe, Rocky, Polly and Meka). Jakers was in the kitchen and I heard him say "Oh My God that is the cutest picture ever" Jakers isn't a softie but he was, indeed, looking at the cutest picture ever of my youngest niece holding a wee orphaned fox cub. Approximately two minutes and nine seconds later I saw Bert charging across the yard, towards the hen house, hootin' and ahollerin'. Fantastic Mr. Fox was trying to make off with the rooster and a hen.

I watched from inside the house as Mum, Bert and Jakers looked stoically at the hens (Bert had to wring the hens neck to put her of her misery). I thought about the fox being cute. I thought about the circle of death (I don't like John Elton so I ain't gonna quote him). I thought it was a shame that the hens died anyway and the fox had nothing to take back to the den to feed it's cubs. I thought about how fickle life is, how natural death is and how constant it all is. I thank god that Ziggy is a dog and not a rat, or a chook, or even a fox. I accept that he won't be around forever but for how ever long he is around I promise to make his life full of forest walks and cow dung.

There's other news but I'm holding my cards close to my chest. I have five aces. I know, that's not even possible. But anything's possible really. You just have to believe. Mr.Rob wants to see my freakish fingers. I hope they're not a disappointment as I have claimed that having long fingers is one of the few things I'm good at.