The day started badly. The problems I'd had on Friday with BT hadn't been resolved, one of our customers had been without phones all weekend. So the usual routine started of me phoning BT, bosses phoning me, me writing emails to everyone under the sun began. At 11am we got their lines back up, but by that point another customers lines had gone down (2nd time in 2 weeks for that customer) and I'd started the routine over again. I'd also had some ominous news about someone I worked with which had put my head in a spin, and I didn't know whether I was coming or going.
Sitting under the table and crying seemed like a good idea.

By dinnertime things couldn't have got much worse.

So I told my boss I was leaving.

Seriously...

The exciting news I've not been able to say anything about is that I have a new job. I'm going back to work for the NHS as a Residential Support Worker, exactly the same job as I had before moving to Stalybridge, just working for a different NHS trust. I was offered the job in June, and it's taken all this time, 5 months, for me to get all the paperwork sorted and to get a start date. My last day at this place will be 11th November, and I start my new job on Monday 14th.

I have many reasons to be pleased about.

1. I'll be doing shift work again, I hated 9-5.
   
2. I'll be working in a home drinking tea and cleaning up, instead of in an office, answering the phone and sitting at a desk all day (I'm looking forward to losing the weight I've put on.)
   
3. I'll be contracted to work 25 hours a week, instead of 37.5, but there are always extra hours giving me lots of flexibility, bring on the 4 day weekends.
   
4. I'll be closer to home, probably Stockport which is about 25 minutes away. They have a home close to here, so if I'm really lucky I might have a 10 minute walk to work. Either way it has to be better than the 1 hour+ commute each way I have now.
   
5. I'll be working with people with Learning Disabilities again, and while they can sometimes be as frustrating as sales people, they're generally far more entertaining, and much happier.
   
6. Plus a billion other reasons.

I do feel bad about the way I've left work, but I didn't have much choice. This company only requires 1 weeks notice, that works both ways. I knew getting the paperwork ready would take a while, last time I worked for the NHS it took 3 months for me to get a start date. That time I told my employer straight away that I had been offered a new job, I had a Temp working with me at the time so they extended her contract, but it dragged on for that long that it got to the stage where they couldn't afford to pay us both so I quit. Luckily within days of handing in my notice the NHS gave me a start date so I was okay. I didn't have a mortgage then, I do now, I couldn't risk it this time. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll be able to convince my boss of that, I tried explaining that at the time, but he was in too much of a daze to take it in.

So I'm feeling a mixture of bemused, excited, worried, and ... I'm not sure. The butterflies in my belly are doing somersaults.

I think I've just got time to write my resignation letter before bed.

Oh one last note though, the new edition of Magknits is out. I know it's Halloween but I didn't expect to be scared by finding a Doppleganger.

Oh one other last note. We've have about 12 trick or treaters, in about 6 groups. But the lad who came round twice earlier on in the week with his "Halloween is coming, the witches are coming" song hasn't been round at all.

Thank Crunchie it's Friday (Hmm not had one of them in years.)
Also thank Crunchie (or someone) that my partner in crime is back in work on Monday. So someone else can share the task of shouting at BT, and being put on hold by them for hours on end.
I've missed him, not just because I've had to do twice as much work at a job that I'm still learning how to do, but also because everyone else who sits near me in the office is so quiet, I also sit with my back to them, so it's been quite lonely.
No doubt by about 11am Monday I'll be back to telling him to shut up as normal though. He has one of those voices that carries.

Last night Shell came round. We did some knitting, talked a lot, looked at books, did a very good impression of Threadbared whilst looking at my Mum's old Knitting Machine patterns, and lost an hour.
I have to either work out how to fix the time on the video recorder (which is supposed to set itself as soon as you plug it in... but doesn't) or make a point of telling people when they come round that the clock on the video recorder is exactly 45 minutes slow.

So this weekend I plan on sleeping.
Lots.
Maybe some other things too, but sleeping is definately in the top 5.

Congratulations if you made it this far. I should have probably given some warning about this move, but I do like to keep people on their toes. Please remember to reset your bookmarks, change links etc, I don't want anyone getting repetitive strain injury by having to click a link twice. This address is much easier to remember, but the redirect page will be there for as long as my kind hosts allow me to keep it, unless it gets deleted by accident, or someone else decides to write something better.

Anyway, please bear with me for the next couple of days, I didn't realize quite how many files there were to be moved, so I apologise now if you find any broken links or dead pictures. They will be back online at some point soon.

I'm in the mood for posting... and I've got to do something to stop me from playing Caesar again...

LibraryThing has added a recommendations feature. It's a bit hit and miss at the moment, suggesting books which I already own, but other suggestions are spot on... There seem to be a lot of Classics in the list that I've just not got around to reading.

1. The Leopard (Everyman's Library Classics) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens I was actually looking for a copy of this in the charity shop the other day. I've never read it and I want to before the new BBC series is shown on telly
3. Lady Audley's Secret (Penguin Classics) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
4. Belinda (Oxford World's Classics) by Maria Edgeworth Never heard of it, so I'll keep an eye out for it
5. Possession : A Romance (Vintage International) by A.S. Byatt Classic I've not got around to.
6. The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald Classic I've not got around to.
7. Jane Eyre (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by Charlotte Bronte I own 2 versions of this already, I love it, but don't need a 3rd copy
8. The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton I keep trying to read The Buccaneers by Wharton but can't get into it.
9. To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee Classic I've not got around to.
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Already got
11. A Journal of the Plague Year : Being Observations or Memorials of the Most Remarkable Occurrences, As Well (Penguin Clas by Daniel Defoe Sounds interesting, I'll keep an eye out
12. Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens Classic I've not got around to.
13. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Never read any Woolf, should do
14. Aspects of the Novel (Pelican S.) by E.M. Forster I'll keep an eye out for it
15. Sense and sensibility by Jane Austen Already got, and love, studied it for A-Level so know it inside out
16. Literary theory : an introduction by Terry Eagleton No No No! I like reading, I hate Literary Theory
17. Alias Grace by Margaret Eleanor Atwood I'm sure I've already read this
18. Babel Tower by A. S. Byatt I'll keep an eye out for it
19. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
20. A room with a view by E. M. Forster Classic I've not got around to.
21. The handmaid's tale by Margaret Eleanor Atwood Read it, loved it, studied it at uni. Where is my copy?
22. The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit Already got
23. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling Already got
24. Adam Bede by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
25. The plague by Albert Camus Classic I've not got around to.
26. Shirley (Wordsworth Collection) by Charlotte Bronte I'm sure I bought this a couple of weeks ago, not read it yet though.
27. Ulysses (Oxford World's Classics) by James Joyce I'm sure we had a copy of this being used as a doorstop... the size has always put me off
28. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys Heard of this, never read it
29. The Woman in White (Penguin Popular Classics) by Wilkie Collins Whenever I see Wilkie Collins I think of Jackie Collins so I've never read any.
30. Romola by George Eliot Classic I've not got around to.
31. Nice work by David Lodge Never heard of it, I'll keep an eye out
32. The remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro Never read this, but the other A-Level class studied it
33. Orlando: A Biography (Penguin Popular Classics) by Virginia Woolf I'll keep an eye out for it
34. Maurice (Penguin Modern Classics) by E.M. Forster Classic I've not got around to.
35. Sons and Lovers (Signet Classics (Paperback)) by D.H. Lawrence Classic I've not got around to.
36. The bell jar by Sylvia Plath Never! I've read bit of Plath and hated it all
37. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell I'll keep an eye out for it
38. The vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith Who? I'll keep an eye out for it
39. Moll Flanders (Oxford World's Classics) by Daniel Defoe Classic I've not got around to.
40. An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears hmmm heard of the author, I'll keep an eye out
41. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Classic I've not got around to.
42. The god of small things by Arundhati Roy I used to pick this book up in Smith's every week when I was commuting, but I always ended up buying something else
43. Beloved (Plume Contemporary Fiction) by Toni Morrison I'll keep an eye out for it
44. The Age of Innocence (Modern Library Classics) by Edith Wharton More Wharton... I'll try
45. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy I'm sure I've read this already, where is my copy?
46. The English patient : a novel by Michael Ondaatje I'm afraid to say the film put me off
47. A portrait of the artist as a young man by James Joyce Classic I've not got around to.
48. The Jungle Book (Penguin Popular Classics) by Rudyard Kipling It might ruin the film reading this :)
49. The Moonstone (Penguin Classics) by Wilkie Collins More Jackie Collins... I'll try
50. Washington Square (Penguin Popular Classics) by Henry James I'll keep an eye out for it
51. A Song Of Stone by Iain Banks I thought I'd got this book
52. Vineland by Thomas Pynchon I'll keep an eye out for it
53. The name of the rose by Umberto Eco Classic I've not got around to.
54. Villette (Wordsworth Collection) (Wordsworth Collection) by Charlotte Bronte Already got
55. Ethan frome by Edith Wharton Classic I've not got around to.
56. The waste land and other poems by T. S. Eliot Not really a poetry fan
57. White noise by Don DeLillo I'll keep an eye out for it
58. Lake Wobegon days by Garrison Keillor I've tried to read this so many times, can't get into it
59. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Classic I've not got around to.
60. Barchester Towers (Oxford World's Classics) by Anthony Trollope Classic I've not got around to... but the surname has always put me off, I think of Joanna
61. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Classic I've not got around to.
62. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams Not interested
63. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1) by J.K. Rowling Already got
64. Behind the Scenes at the Museum : A Novel by Kate Atkinson I've read some Kate Atkinson, not overly bothered.
65. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
66. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper I'll keep an eye out for it
67. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Read this loads, studied it at uni, my copy is at my parents
68. Madame Bovary (Bantam Classics) by Gustave Flaubert Classic I've not got around to.
69. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
70. Oliver Twist (Penguin Popular Classics) by Charles Dickens I love this book, studied it at uni, where is my copy?
71. The crimson petal and the white by Michel Faber I'll keep an eye out for it

One good thing, if I get through this little lot then I'll be a lot further on my way to completing The Booklovers Quest.

What a difference a few days off work can do.

Wednesday was Matt's birthday, & Thursday was Porl's, so after work I drove straight up to Ormskirk for celebrations. I had to pick Porl up at Burscough Train station first, I arrived there early and exhausted, so I fell asleep in the car while I was waiting, I slept for about half an hour, but it went dark in that time so I woke up utterly confused, and feeling like I'd slept for hours. Once in Ormskirk we went out to order Chinese and then a night of many pints began.
It was a great night, the gang back together, and everyone was in good spirits. Maybe one day I'll learn not to drink though. I haven't drank much this past year, and my tolerance for it has plummeted, so by the end of the night I was feeling a bit poorly sick. Luckily I woke up stupidly early the next morning, took some painkillers and went to bed until a more reasonable hour, at which point I felt mostly okay, and a walk round Ormskirk made me feel even more human. I'm jealous of Ormskirk's new Oxfam Book Shop though. I leave Ormskirk and they get a decent craft shop and then a 2nd bookshop. It's not fair!

The unfortunate thing about Porl's birthday being the day after Matts is that Porl always has a hangover on his birthday. So it was celebrated by going to his mums and doing very little. At tea time we went out for a meal, which perked us both up, then we headed back home to 2 angry cats who don't like being left alone overnight.

Friday I had a lazy day pottering around the house, giving it a good clean, I was supposed to be going shopping with Shell, but my lack of organisation and laziness let me down again. Shell is too much of an early bird for me, but after Wednesday night I really did need the extra sleep.

Today Mum & Dad came up and inbetween the rain showers we weatherproofed the decking. We're getting a shed delivered in about a weeks time, so the painting had to be done today, rain or shine. Tomorrow I might actually remember to take some pictures of it, I've been meaning to all week. Then Porl and I drove off to Ashton to pick up a Freecycle table for his room, and on the way back we stopped at Ashton market to get picnic goodies to eat. Mum had given us some money for a Birthday take-away, but we were craving healthy food.

I can't believe I've only been off for 3 days. I feel like I've had a holiday, and I've still got 1 more day of the weekend left.

Oh the baking went down well. The response from my boss (who rarely speaks to me) as he passed me back the empty box at the end of the day was "Yes, very good, same tomorrow if you please". From Matt I had an email titled "MMmrrffphh prrrfll" which was the sound of him eating cake.

I'm pretending to be a Domestic Goddess. Scarily this is the 2nd batch of cookies I've made this week. The last batch were half the size, I was supposed to be making them for work, there were only 2 trays worth, and by the time the second tray had finished cooking we'd eaten the first tray. So I made my apologies at work and this time I've doubled the quantities. I don't mind taking this lot into work, they're not as nice as the first ones. Cookies are supposed to be made with soft brown sugar. I didn't have enough last time so I used half soft brown sugar and half muscavado. They were sooo rich and delicious. When I went to the shops to buy more sugar for this lot they only had demerara which doesn't melt properly, so there's lots of crunchy sugar crystals in these. Oh well they still taste good... just not as good.

Last week at work was the week from Hell. I got none of my normal work done, instead I spent 4 days on the phone to BT trying to sort out the fact that they had cut off someone's lines a week early. But not just anyone's lines... no, they cut off the lines to a £400 a night Hotel. I stayed late every night trying to get it resolved. Eventually I found out at 5:30 on Friday that it was fixed. I got very drunk Friday night and forgot about it all.
When I went back into work Monday I was told that BT had done the same thing to one of the customers other sites on Sunday! Thankfully BT contacted the customer and got the problem resolved themselves that time.
Today we had our "High Points" email listing the good things which had happened last week. I was given a special mention for my battles with BT.
I'm worried... if my week from hell is a high point what is a low point?

I'm almost fed up with Christmas already. I love Christmas, but I hate the fact that it starts earlier each year. The shops are full of decorations, the main topic of conversation at work is the Christmas Do, and on the news they were telling us yesterday "it's only 10 weeks till Christmas".
I had a little rant:

It may be just 10 weeks till Christmas, but there are only 52 weeks in a year which means Christmas is still a fifth of a year away!

I try not to think of Christmas until December, or at the very earliest my Dads birthday which is 6 weeks before Christmas, I'm certainly not thinking of it now...

However in complete contradition I am thinking about New Year's Resolutions. I don't normally make them as I never stick to them, but there are a couple of changes I really want to make next years.
First, cataloguing my books has made me realize I don't read enough. So I want to try to read 50 books next year (Matt how are you doing with that this year?)
Second, I seem to talk about crafts more than doing them, so I'm going to aim for 50 completed objects next year, hopefully it will be far more.

As a boost towards starting this I'm going to take up the ArtByTheInch challenge again this year. There doesn't seem to be any movement on the website, but the LJ Forum is still alive so I won't be alone in my challenge. Also Matt is doing NaNoWriMo again this year with his own added challenge (email him if you want to keep him in check and read each chapter as he writes it) hopefully we can encourage each other.

Also, way back in July I had some news which I couldn't share. I still can't... yet, but hopefully it shouldn't be much longer now!

OW OW OW OW OW!
I've just broken my thumb nail while re-arranging the bookshelves. Lots of people are envious of my nails, they're very strong, so I can grow them long very easily without any problems. They rarely break, but when they do it really hurts.
I was trying to get a book off the shelf, the books are squeeeezed in tightly, and I managed to bend the thumb nail right back. It snapped about 2mm below where the the nail parts from the skin. I couldn't find any superglue, so the only option was to grit my teeth and rip it totally off.
I now have a very short nail and a throbbing, bleeding thumb.
The bookshelves look good though.

I finally succumbed to ebay last week and made my first bid. I didn't win, but I tried again, and I now have this boat shuttle and bobbins for my sewing machine. It was the bobbins I needed as the machine only came with one, but the shuttle may be useful. Now I have to resist buying anything else. I'm "window shopping" instead, adding things to my watch list to see how much they sell for.
I'm watching lots of boxes at the moment.
Must... not.... buy......

I've just finished cataloguing all my Mr Men books on LibraryThing, and I've hit exactly 500. I still have 2 shelves of books to do downstairs, they're mostly craft books and old hardback books so they might not be easy to search for, then there are the books upstairs. I think the final count will be about 700.
Not nearly enough.
Feel free to have a browse, or there's a link on the side menu.

Today has been spent rearranging bookshelves, obviously, and pottering around the garden while Mum and Dad built some steps. The deck is looking great, next week they should finish building the steps and put the top on, then we have to go shed shopping. Once that has been done we have to build a (strong) railing to stop people falling off and breaking their necks. It's very high up.
I can then start digging up the grass and putting plants in instead.
We've decided it'll be much easier to look after, the plants will hide the front of the deck, and there's so little grass there that it's hardly worth having. I hate gardening most of the time, but I am enjoying browsing through books looking for plants I can put in.

I'm exhausted. I've had a busy night. We had the rest of the wood delivered today to finish off the deck, so after tea (a love curry courtesy of Porl) we shifted all the wood off the patio and onto the deck frame, neatly arranged in the order Dad will need to use it. He hoping the weather brightens up so he can work on it this week. He wants to get it done as soon as possible. The aim is to get it finished and buy a shed before winter.

When we were halfway through shifting the wood the man arrived from the garage with my newly fixed and cleaned car. I'm so pleased to have it back, and so pleased my insurance is fully comp. £1600 it would have cost, and that's just mine, I haven't asked how much the Mercedes I hit is costing to repair.
I've just realized they got the horrid little Ka back with an extra £15 of petrol, I wasn't expecting to get mine back until Thursday/Friday, so I put petrol in last night.

After welcoming the car home I decided to rearrange the living room. I was going to put the sewing machine in one of the alcoves by the fire, but that would have meant I'd have to re-arrange the living room everytime I wanted to use it. So instead the Welsh Dresser has been moved into one of the fireside alcoves, and my sewing machine is where the dresser was. The living room looks nicer now too, bigger, but cosier...plus it's tidy which is always an improvement, wonder how long we'll keep that up for.

And now for bed... so tired.

If you aren't seeing huge differences here, then press F5. I've finally come up with a design I like, and have managed to get it finished and online before having time to go off it.
Please let me know any problems with it. As always constructive criticism greatly appreciated.

I've not just been doing webpages though. I've had a fun few days.

Friday night I went straight from work up to Ormskirk, Porl was already there. We did our usual thing, pizza, sillyness and vegging out. At about 2am I was browsing the local freebie paper and an ad caught my eye. Next morning, I phoned the number, and I'm now the proud owner of this...

Well I wanted a nice cabinet to go in the corner. But that's not what got me interested.
The fact that it's an antique treadle sewing machine too is what makes me love it.

It even has the original instructions, and loads of diffeent feet in their box.

I've wanted a treadle sewing machine for so long, but I didn't expect to be able to get one as nice as this. The woman had bought it as a decoration, she was told it worked when she got it but she'd never tried it. Looking at it I guessed that some WD40, wax polish and some TLC would do it the world of good, and I was right. A couple of hours work on it and it runs perfectly. I love it so much I feel all goo-ey inside.

I really enjoyed restoring it, and I've spent all day looking at other things I could restore. So you can understand why I'm trying very hard to resist replying to the Freecycle post from someone offering a 1920's Dolls House which needs a little restoration. She wants it to go to a good home.
I'm a girl. I've always wanted a Dolls House.

Lastly I forgot to post pictures of the 3 Belfast Sinks I got off Freecycle. I've started cleaning them up now and they look much better, there's no blue paint on them for a start. The planting scheme needs some work though, the corinador looks lonely.

I've tried so many times to make a catalogue of my books, but it's always failed, mainly because I have so many, and to do it properly (ISBN no, publishers etc) would take me forever. So Library Thing is the little godsend I've been hoping someone would come up with. It's so simple. You do a search for the book and it pulls up all the different version it can find on the Library of Congress gateway, and Amazon (US, UK, FR, Ger). If you can find the right version then all the details are there, ISBN, publisher, illustrator etc. It's frustrating at the moment that it doesn't find the UK versions very often, but the site has only been online for 2 weeks, and in that time the author has added many things that have been requested, getting the site to search the British Library is on his list of things to do, so I'll forgive him for now. You can add tags to books (like in Flickr & Delicious), write reviews, and see which other users you have most books in common with, which seems like a good way of finding new books to read. Now I'll just have to spend the next few weeks adding all my books into it.

In other news, the webdesign has come on leaps and bounds over the past couple of days. There's still a lot to do on the craft pages, but I'm hoping to get the rest online in the next couple of days.

Hurrah! They phoned this morning to let me know my car is fixable. I'm so relieved. It will take about 2 weeks to fix, but they delivered me a courtesy car this morning. It's a Silver Ford Ka (odd co-incidence as Jimmy just bought his first car a few days ago which is also a Silver Ford Ka.) I haven't been out in it yet, but I'll have to before Monday, I don't want my first trip out in it to be the journey to work.

I'm not hurting as much today, but I'm still sore. My head still feels like a heavy weight. I'm going to spend the day relaxing, maybe getting some webdesign done, some knitting, and maybe some glass painting. It's 80's Weekend on TMF, so I'm getting to see all the videos that went with the songs I loved so much growing up (and still do.) Everyone goes on about the bad dress sense of the 80's, but I'm sorry... the dancing! After watching Vanessa Paradis' video for Joe Le Taxi I'm wondering how she ended up getting Johnny Depp.

I've never been in a car crash before, I didn't know whiplash could hurt so much. My neck and back are killing me, I can move my neck, but if I move it too far the pain makes me feel sick, as does the occasional crunch that my neck keeps making. My head feels so heavy. My knee is fine though, so long as I don't touch it.

I had to go to the Police Station this afternoon to show them my driving license etc. Annoyingly I got off the bus far too early, as the Police Station that the Council website pointed me too has been shut for years, thankfully the nice lady in the library pointed me in the right direction, and had a moan about the state of the old building, and the fact that if anything happens to you outside mon-fri 9-5 then it's tough because the Station is closed.

I spent the rest of the day knitting my first pair of socks, watching daytime telly (I'm sure it used to be better), falling asleep, and trying to find out about my car. Apparently the insurance people were assessing whether it could be fixed, but no one phoned me back to let me know, and I fell asleep at half 4 so missed calling them back. They will only let me have a courtesy car if they are going to fix it, and I can't have on until they've decided. They can't deliver a car until Monday, but if they have made by tomorrow morning then I could go and pick one up. However that would probably cost a fortune in taxi fares, and I don't feel up to driving yet anyway.

If they don't fix the car then I have to buy a new one which will take several days, including taking a trip to Sheffield to get some savings (best way of saving money, have a obscure bank account where the nearest branch is 35 miles away.) I wouldn't be entitled to a courtesy car, so I'd have to hire one because commuting to work by train isn't an option I fancy. I worked out it would take me roughly 2 hours from door to desk. I start work at 8am, so I'd have to leave at 6. Not good.

Why is nothing ever easy?

Nanana nana Nanana nana naaaaa We're gonna crash!

I've crashed my little brum brum... it's very poorly, possibly dead. I'm waiting for someone to phone and tell me what's happening.

Now that I've calmed down I'm okay, just very sore, my neck, back and right arm are getting stiffer by the minute, probably whiplash, and I'm going to have a cracking bruise on right knee. I was a complete nervous wreck when it happened, in shock, I couldn't think what to do, the other driver had to tell me to get the car onto the hard shoulder, then it took me about 4 attempts to get the work number right. The other drivers involved are all okay, no one hurt, and their cars were fine to drive away. The car I hit was a Mercedes, he'll probably get a new back bumper, although it would probably clean up with some T-cut, but the front of mine just crumpled.

It all happened on the M60 on the way to work this morning, I wasn't going too fast, probably about 50mph, but it was wet, and my brakes just wouldn't work in time. An ambulance came to check me out, and I spent about an hour sat in a police car waiting for the AA, then got driven home.
An eventful morning, but I can think of better ways to get out of work.

I've had 'Crash' by The Primitives going round my head since it happened, but boy am I glad I opted for projecting my 5 years no claims when I renewed my car insurance just 4 days ago!

Oh fiddlesticks!

When will I learn that colours on the laptop are always totally different to how they should really look?

I'm having another of those "determind efforts" at getting the new site online. This time it's more of an effort though, I really am fed up with purple, so the desk has been cleared, I've brought a comfy computer chair downstairs rather than using a dinng chair, and I'm going to try to get somewhere.

The problem is, that the colours which on the laptop were various shades of blue, are now a mixture of purple and green. I'm trying to decide if I like it or not.
I think not.

Back to the drawing board, I will get there eventually.

Lots of thoughts in my head at the moment. Lots of things I should post about. Lots of things I'm ranting about. Porl is pretending to listen, I don't blame him for zoning out. Most are trivial, some are big, I'll try to keep each as brief as possible.

# What is is with everyone leaving their jobs at the moment? At least half the people I know are. I'd say who, but I'm not sure whether employers have been informed in all cases :) Good luck to everyone though, I hope we all end up significantly happier.

# I hate the Royal Mail. Why do they always manage to deliver the junk and lose the important stuff? And why haven't my new Knitting Needles arrived yet?

# Again I'm grateful I live in the UK, where guns aren't sold in supermarkets, and communities can get organised - I keep seeing news reports showing aid being dropped into New Orleans and seeing a few people grabbing it and it not being shared. I wonder why no-one is challenging this and trying to get things organised. Then I remember that I wouldn't challenge someone who may have a gun, so why should they?

# I'm also getting sick of seeing Americans moaning about the cost of petrol.
When I filled up the car on Wednesday it was about 92p a litre. After doing complicated late night maths (3.8 litres per US Gallon, then $1.81 to the £Sterling,) I worked out that's $6.44 per US Gallon. Nearly double what prices are in America right now.
These are the normal prices, they haven't gone up yet because of Katrina, we'll probably be paying over a pound per litre by Monday, and no doubt it will keep going up.
I sounds like I'm moaning, "ooh poor us and our high petrol prices" but I'm not, I think it's good that driving my car is expensive.
Driving is bad.
Pollution is bad.
Making people think twice about driving somewhere that they could walk to is good.
I'm far from perfect, the car is easy, and I'm lazy, but I'm paying for my laziness. I also realized that because I work so far from home I spend around 10% of my wages on petrol. That is stupid, I need to work closer to home.
Also, the worlds' biggest polluter has been effected by a natural disaster, the severity of which is a pretty good sign of the effects of Global Warming. Then people are complaining about no longer being able to put petrol in their cars and continue to pollute the Earth... it seems like there are a few skewed perspectives.
< / rant>

# Freecyle is being good to me at the moment. Hopefully by next week I'll be the proud own of 3 Belfast sinks which I can use as plant pots in the garden. I'll also have got rid of the other computer monitor.

# Had a HUGE thunderstorm the other night, which I managed to completely miss. Heard a few rumbles down at work, I think I must have driven around the storm on the way home because I didn't see anything. It took me an hour and a half to get back, several substations were hit so there was a big powercut and all traffic lights were out. Fun! By the time I got home, the power was back on. Porl was a bit jittery though, I love thunderstorms, he doesn't. He saw lots of sheet lightening, then fork lightening hit the field across the road, then he heard an even bigger bang round the back of the house. He saw a fire engine not long after.

# Going to the Stitching and Creative Craft show at the G-Mex tomorrow with Shell. I'll try to be good and not spend too much money.

Happy Birthday Opera. The original tabbed browser.

And thankyou for giving away free registration codes in celebration today (30th Aug).

If anyone missed it and really wants one I got about 5 just in case...
So if you're really really nice to me...

I love long weekends. I feel fully relaxed, but I've also accomplished things.

Saturday I had a lazy morning reading in bed, got up watched cricket, Porl and I cleaning up then the boys arrived (Robin & Jimmy.) Watched more cricket, ate lovely tortillas, played on the internet trying to find none terrifying people on the Personals section of Hot or Not. Failed. Around midnight I was going to go to bed, then Jimmy took an interest in the scarf I was knitting, so I ended up teaching him and Robin how to knit.

Robin seemed to discover some deep seated memory and sussed it quite quickly. Jimmy struggled at first but I think he's hooked now. Sent him home with a new respect for my craftyness, and the beginnings of a blue scarf which he's making in a Knit 2 Purl 2 Rib. I do have photographic evidence of this (and Gonzo's attempts) but I've run out of room on Flickr for this month and can't be bothered resizing them for normal upload right now.
Can I justify paying for a Flickr Pro account?

Sunday Cricket, Cricket, Cricket, then hid behind the sofa (literally) to watch the last half hour of cricket. Then we had a celebratory take away from the fantastic Indian in Ashton. The boys went home, and I carried on knitting.

I'm making a bag out of the vivid yarn I made a poncho out of. I hate ponchos normally, but this one was a hooded one for camping use only. I love the bright colours so much though that it seemed a shame for it to be used in something I'll only wear a few weekends a year (if at all, we've not been camping this year :( ) So even though the poncho was almost finished, I decided to pull it down. Jimmy found this very off-putting, that as he was struggling to knit his first scarf I was pulling down hours of crochet.

Anyway, I did the bottom of the bag quite quickly, then realized I needed some circular needles. I don't have any circulars, except for one pair loaned to me by Shell (must remember to give them back.) So I decided to treat myself. I've ordered a set of Denise Interchangable Needles. I decided that as I have no circulars at all, that in the long run it will be cheaper than buying them all individually, and as they're a set I might not lose them. (I hope.) So now I just have to wait for the postman to arrive so I can finish my bag.

Today, another lazy morning, finished reading The DaVince Code, then decided to sort out the front bedroom. All the boxes of things that needed to go in the loft are in the loft, and when we get the shed the last few things can go in there and it may finally resemble a bedroom. Hurrah!
We've been here for a year on 10th September. It's taken me 11 1/2 months but I've finally finished unpacking!

We had our first Knitty Night tonight. I think Shell and I successfully put the world to rights. We didn't do much knitting... but then we never seem to, and I don't think that's the point either :) It was great fun.
Some other people did show up. At 6.30, half an hour before the time on the posters, and they didn't hang around. Maybe they'll come back next time.
Made a complete fool of myself too, by getting lost trying to get out of the carpark. Shelly I promise I'm a good driver, I'll happily take you to Ikea, or Holmfirth, or other adventures... But I could get lost in a paper bag with glow in the dark arrows pointing to the exits. I hope you can read maps :)

Things to remember...
Rip a DVD of Threads
And all the Billy Bragg stuff :)
Erm... sure there were some other things.

Oh and for all you lot criticising me for reading Dan Brown, (Jimmy, Matt.) Yes I know it's trash, but I've been feeling rough for about 2 weeks (migraines) and when I feel rough I like simple books to read. I usually pick kids books, or Mills & Boon or Catherine Cookson. Dan Brown is about as predictable, but I've not read it yet, and it's slightly more intellectually challenging than a Bonkbuster.
So ner! :P

(Also I can't find my Jilly Coopers I think I gave them all to the charity shop when we moved.)