Since I haven’t blogged for what feels like ages, I thought I’d let you know what I was up to.

I’m just over six months into my placement and have pretty much settled in. I send emails to my ‘collegues’ saying bless you (when they sneeze), have a colourful array of temperature sensitive ducks along the top of my monitor and talk to pretty well everyone I meet in lifts and along corridors.

Life in a finance team can be hectic, demanding and admittedly, dull sometimes. On the other hand, I have to handle irate people demanding money a fair bit too and am learning to tough it up and try and remain patient with them. My manager gained ten points in my opinion when he recognised my ring-tone. It was Muse. He likes Muse! More so, he actually knows who they are, which many of the people I work with don’t. (Who is Muse? I hear Toby say. Very funny ).

The Health Service is undergoing mass restruturing, not least to deal with cuts in budgets. People start and move out a LOT. Every month, someone I’ve emailed or talked to has left-positions here are a lot more flexible than I thought they would be.

In terms of workload-it varies. Some days are much more relaxed, I can do stuff at an easier pace and the telephones are quiet. Other days like today, the phones don’t stop ringing, we get bombarded with emails and everyone delegates work onto someone else. Still, it’s a good insight into the working world…Ive learnt much (accountants may not like Star Wars or Doctor Who or know who Bill Bailey is!) but I can;t wait to go back to Oxford!!

How is everyone????  Feels like ages since I saw you all

Hugs to all

P.s. Personal shortest blog of sorts.

Basically, we’re looking at either a complete day of games, at £13 a person, or however many games at £5 each per person. I will make sure there enough places for all of us going (about 21 people have been invited) on whatever day is decided and if necessary, I’ll book places.

Is everyone free in July and willing to come along and shoot each other wirth laser guns?

If so, please let me know on here, or fb.

More info:

Weblink:  http://www.quasarelitehemel.com/page8.htm

I don’t like briniging bad news, but well, I’ve fractured the index finger of my right hand. Apparently it’s a tiny fracture, but I may have increased the swelling as I had a two hour exam the next day…On a saturday! Extremely unethical. The irony is that I fractured my finger right outside the Brookes Business school library, where I was headed for a revision session. grrrrrrrrrrrrr, as Toby would say.

The annoying thing is that I now can’t drive or hold things properly and it starts aching when I write. I was guttered whenI realised I won’t be able to have a quasar fest until its a bit better , so I’m sending it lots of positive brain waves .

Hope to see you all soon anyway, although I’m in Cornwall next week, but back on the 30th. Hugs to you all xx

Details then: Tomorrow, my house, at noon(ish), for films and lunch. If theres not too many of us, we could possibly go into wycombe for lunch, as an after-thought. Please feel free to bring any films you wish. Sorry again for the whole last minute thing. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Hugs.

P.S. Mima, Robin and Toby, thank you for getting back to me already.

Anyway, yes, details…. On a day still to be agreed, I am inviting you guys over to mine to watch stardust/any other films anyone wants to bring over and drink fizzy/soft or fizzy-soft drinks.  Some time within the 26th and 8th of Januray, since Tim’s going to be drunk. Oh, and to add insult to injury, I work on Fridays and Saturdays and will be stayig in oxford on those days.

So please people, give me dates of when you’re free, so we can agree on a date. Hugs to you all!

In no particular order, I have, very fortunately, been to see both; Bill Bailey and Feeder in the past two months! Toby and I went to see Bill Bailey at the Royal Albert Hall  (as you do…) for his Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra…. Very enthralling, entertaining and really really good!!!! Afterwards, Toby and I waited for about half an hour by the stage door, waiting to meet him. We were dancing with excitment and shivering with the cold weather. But meet him we did…It was so surreal…. The legend himself is in fact taller than I had anticipated, and I think both Toby and I agreed that BB wasn’t being purely himself… Although why you would be yourself, when you’re famous and meeting complete strangers who you’re never going to see again, I don’t know.  It was unbeliveable, quite literally. WE MET BILL BAILEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (see, unbelievable, right?) That made my October.

Feeder, I hear you say? My favourite band at present, and who have a new album out. Toby, being the amazing person he is, in my totally unbiased opinion, got us tickets for Brixton academy!!!! We went, we saw….Fightstar. Yeah. What can I say? Toby booked the wrong tickets? NOPE! Fightstar were supporting Feeder, and weren’t too boring, although one of their guitarists could have done with some coffee. Preferably with sugar in it. A lot of sugar….

Feeder were AMAZING!!!!!! We headbanged, sang and generally rocked out, the wholt time they were on stage. This was my first proper rock concert, and what a one to go see! (Feeder, Feeder… ominous chanting stops). So Thank you again Toby!

So, what else have I been up to, other than being treated to shows and meeting celebrities? (puts hands in pockets. shrugs), you know, general accounting stuff. Ratios, assessments, groupwork, coursework, a really fun Diwali party, working at Hairdressers, buying USB chameleons and flying helicopters, applying for a placement for next year to various companies and wondering what my exams are going to be like, because I have three in two weeks!! Eeeeeeek!

Hope you lovely people are more than okay and hope to gather you all in the holidays at mine at some point. Ah the joys of Wycombe’s hills in winter…..

ttfn (I finally know what that means, altho John and Soph have told me loads of times!!!)

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx HUGS

If there’s any food items anyone can’t eat, or has allergies to, or of anyone has spontaneously decided to go vegetarian, give me a heads-up. Also, please feel free to bring along any DvDs, games consoles or board games you feel like.

I’ll set this up on facebook as well and call people nearer the time.

Hope to hear from you guys soon xx

 

Rosie: Sorry you can’t make it, but have lots of nfun in Cornwall

 

Sorry it’s been a while since I blogged, however I was kidnapped the day after I finished by exam by my lovely mother (who is very lovely). We (my mum, my grandma and I) went to lancashire with my mum’s cousins and their two and a half year old son.  We stayed in a caravan site, in Fleetwood, near Blackpool. I was amazed by the scenery around, having thought Blackpool would be all amusements and ‘golden mile’ type thing.  Actually, we never reached Pleasure Beach, we just saw the tower on our first day and built sandcastles.

The rest of the time was spent in Lancashire and  the Lake District, both of which were beautiful. We had really good weather luckily, and the views were fabuloso!! I took so many pictures and recordings on my phone that the battery ran out twice in two days.

 

We saw pheasants, lots of sheep and little lambs, wild boar, deer, horses, llamas, domestic pigs, rabbits, seagulls, crabs, lobsters, herons, swans, geese and we hand fed ducks!!!!!! Oh yes, and the people were so friendly!!! Everyone said ‘hello, how are you?’ and ‘are you on holiday?’ It was great!! 

Staying in one caravan with a two and a half year old who’s full of energy, loves attention and being loud, required some patience. But I have never met a happier child. We took him on steam-engines and buses and gave him lots of piggy-backs.  In the evening, when he was asleep, the rest of us played scrabble and watched the news.

Good fun, but I think a week was enough for all of us.

This blog isn’t really about a trip as such, or an event, but I chose trip as a category because it feels more exciting. Every Wednesday, Brookes tests the fire-alarm. Nothing exciting there. Only today, it went off two hours early, and why?

Because one of my flat mates, who may well have a concussion from rugby yesterday, decided to make pasta in our microwave. This was fine, we all do it, because we don’t have a hob and don’t want to have pasta-tea and so don’t use the kettle. The problem was, my flat-mate didnt put water into the bowl of pasta and left it to cook for 12 minutes.

He was about to go and check it after five minutes, when the fire alarm went off. I thought ‘That’s a bit odd, maybe they’re testing it early’, because it was midday and they usually test it at 2.30pm. I saved the assignment i was working on on my laptop and opened my room door. I couldn’t see to the end of the corridor… there was thick thick smoke outside in the corridor. It was thicker than any smoke emitted from a smoke-machine I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen some pretty hefty smoke-machines in action.

Also, it was toxic enough to make you choke. I grabbed my coat, phone and keys, locked my door and started getting out of the building. People’s eyes were streaming, the smoke was so bad, but luckily, my glasses protected me, hoooray!!! Half the people coming down the stairs (because I live on the bottom floor of my building, out of three floors) had been asleep, or in the shower, or both. But I was the only one sensible enough to grab a coat, because although it was sunny, the wind was freezing.

The fire brigade had to be called out and the corridor ‘fumegated’ in their words. It still stinks of smoke and I didn’t realise it until later, but my hair also stank as badly. So I had a shower. My hair still stinks of smoke grrrrrrrrrrrr. The smell probably won’t go until the end of easter break, if then.

‘And what happened to the pasta, the microwave and the flat-mate?’ I hear you cry. Well, the pasta was burned to a black, charry crisp (some like it crispy) and could not be seperated from the bowl. It was left on display in the kitchen sink, were many came to wonder at it’s ashiness and ruin. The microwave? It was sadly unplugged from the wall and left to cool. Then it was meticulously explored; the inside had melted and the outside, once white, was brown (like Toby with a tan and covered in tanzanian dust. And perhaps sun-burn, although that’s more pink.) Anyway, the flat- mate was made to eat the pasta and bowl…. kidding, he wasn’t really, but he did have to pay 35 pounds for a new microwave, which I correctly guessed would be a bit pathetic compared to the one we had lost.

Our old microwave had a grill, a setting for seconds, minutes and hours and was a 900 watt. Our new one is much smaller, it doesnt have a seconds option and is an 800 watt, with no grill. Also, the flat mate who caused all this wanted me to supervise his cooking in the new microwave later in the day, so I did. He might have set this one on fire as well, because he missed the teeny safety notice saying ‘remove the plastic vinyl before use’. I saw this, but didn’t realise the plastic vinyl to be removed was ALL AROUND THE MICROWAVE, APART FROM THE DOOR, so it was a bit oo obvious for me I’m afraid. However, we did get it off eventually and cooking in Wheatley is safe once again (well, it is in our block…. well, it is in our block when I’m there anyway).

THE END

Hope you all like and are okay to meet up in Easter when I am. Excursion at Wycombe methinks? xx

Oh, and I suppose this blog does involve a trip; the trip to safety when the smoke would otherwise have throttled us.