I wasn't expecting to meet a GIANT eagle while doing a bit of Christmas shopping!

Cows

New photos! I might explain them later.

Can you spot the hot air balloons?

Gerbil Bath Time!

Note: It's not a good idea to bath small animals as they could easily drown or choke if you are not careful. We only bathed the gerbils because we knew what we were doing and we didn't actually put them in a bath, we just put them in a shallow pool of water so their feet could touch the bottom, with their heads still easily above water. We also dried them straight away in towels so that they didn't get ill from being cold and wet.

Roadworks

Pictures of the all night and all day roadworks that irritated everyone in my sister's nearby flat when I visited recently. I never knew roadworks were allowed to make noise all day and night!

Uffington White Horse

On my recent roadtrip I drove through Oxfordshire. He who maketh me many cups of coffee accompanied me on my travels as we were looking for somewhere new to live. We decided to make a slight detour to Uffington where there is a white chalk horse figure in the hillside. It is thought to be the most ancient of the hill figures in Britain, perhaps dating back to around 1000BC. When I was standing on the very high hill looking across the valley, I tried to imagine that I had travelled back in time. I felt I could almost imagine that I had stepped back in time, because countryside surrounded me and there was only small hints of modern civilisation. Currently I live somewhere very flat (sadly I can't give specific details over the internet) with barely any hills and the hills that are known as hills where I live are really nothing compared to the hills of the west country. It was great to be standing on the enormous hill in Uffington and being able to see for miles, right to the horizon. It has been a while since I have seen such stunning views.
As you can see I have labelled where the chalk horse is on the photo in big red letters, because unless I had an aerial photo it would be hard to see where the horse is as you can only see part of it on the photo. Just infront of the white horse is Dragon Hill. Legend has it that St. George fought the dragon on top of this hill and becasue the blood of the dragon spilled onto the hill, no grass can ever grow on it. I think Vraie Fiction might be as excited by that as I was. I love legends, particularly one's with dragons. Some people think that the horse figure is actually meant to represent the dragon.

I miss Sky

I can't sleep because I miss Sky. I watched an episode of Eastenders of all things, and Wellard the dog had to be put down because he was ill. I thought if Sky was ill, I couldn't be there for her because she lives in a different country now. I think about her everyday and I'm particularly sad this month because instead of having the time to go and visit her which I had been looking forward to, I have to do a lot of organising in preparation for the start of my course in September, including move house. I worry Sky will wonder where I am and that she might think that I don't love her because I'm not around. I'm sure some people might find it silly to feel so strongly about a dog, but she is special to me. Sometimes people say if you can't sleep you should write your worries down on a piece of paper so that they don't weigh on your mind. Well, I decided to go one step further and put it on a blog. I do have a lot of happy things to write about which I will do soon. I've got some very good pictures of my recent travels that I want to post and of course new Horace and Hermes pics.

Back from the dead...temporarily

You may be surprised to see a new blog entry here. The last blog entry I made was 5 weeks ago! I admit I have given up with blogging, I think because:


1) Nothing interesting has been happening in my life and I don't think it would make entertaining reading to write depressing grumbles all the time

2) Blogging makes me feel like I am talking to myself and heightens my already growing suspicions of madness, although I suppose it helps to show family and friends what I have been up to

3) I've been going through a pure lazy phase


4) I prefer reading other people's blogs and seeing the pictures rather than updating my own


5) I don't feel blogging really achieves anything for me personally, except for staying in touch and I have facebook and email for that




Am I getting into depressing rambling already? Ok, so here's some good stuff then:



1) I have been fighting all year to get on to a Teacher Training course (PGCE in Secondary Religious Studies) starting this September and finally, I am getting somewhere. Just maybe I am slowing crawling out of that dark place of unemployment and a peasant lifestyle...hope it's not too good to be true.


2) I attended both interviews, the first lasted FOUR GRUELLING HOURS !!!!! and was the worst interview you could imagine x 10. Although the two ladies doing the interviewing were really friendly and made jokes to relax us all - it was a group interview. The second interview, at a completely different University, lasted just under 2 hours but is still excrutiatingly long for an interview don't you think!


3) A few days after completing the first interview, I received an offer of a place! I actually did my second interview only today. Right after the interview, they offered me a place there and then! One of the ladies even gave me a hug and seemed really impressed with my performance. I have to be honest, I have truly shocked myself by what I can achieve when I put my mind to it. I have actually achieved the 3rd stepping stone to a career in teaching which is my end goal. The 1st stepping stone was that I managed after trying much harder than I thought I would have to, to get the school work exxperience I needed in order to apply. The 2nd stepping stone was being offered the interviews for the course and you guessed it, the 3rd stepping stone is that I got offered a place on the course I want, twice! I just hope I can make it through the course because it's definitely going to be no easy task. I'm happy I've got this far. You know what though, I'm a bit of a funny one. First I worried that I wouldn't get offered an interview in the first place, then I get an interview and I worry that I'm not going to be good enough. Then I get offered a place at two different Universities and still I panic, this time about which place to pick, if I'm strong enough and tough enough to make it through the course and can I catch up with my subject knowledge...since I didn't do my degree in R.E!!! I find it more interesting than Art in terms of teaching though, so I'm taking a risk and going for what I really want to do. Or am I doing what I really want to do?? Arghhhhh! My poor worrying brain. I should be excited, but I am freaking out aswell as being excited.



4) I will be finally leaving the city I live in now for somewhere much nicer, hurray. Only got a month to move and organise everything though, eek!



5) So, to finish on a good note, as I fear I may have managed to write some bad stuff in the good stuff section after all, here is some pictures of my travels lately:

P.S To add another happy thing to this rather long blog post, here are some pictures of the silly way my gerbils sleep :-)

I am NOT 17 years old!!!!

I have been doing quite a bit of work experience in Secondary Schools recently because I am going to apply to a teacher training course. I have quite enjoyed my experience, but there is something bothering me about it all. I know that I look younger than I really am and normally that doesn't bother me, I take it as a compliment because when I am 40 I might look 30 so it's a good thing.

However, every single day that I went to visit one particular school, both staff and students commented on my age. I am 23 years old (24 in 2 months) and have done a degree and had several jobs since finishing that degree. For some frustrating reason, none of the teachers bothered to find out who I was or to get some background information on me. Every hour I moved classrooms to see a different teacher and a different year group. So, naturally I met a lot of teachers and these were the worst offenders with making assumptions about my age because they should have asked who I was or asked sensible questions if they were going to try and guess my age. They never gave me the chance to explain who I was and frankly, since I could have been anyone, they should have asked me who I was!

The first embarrassing age incident was when one of the teachers came to have a friendly chat with me about why I was doing the work experience. I felt quite sorry for him because he was just being polite and making conversation. I could see that and respect that because some teachers didn't feel a need to say anything at all to me. He said something along the lines of ''so are you studying religious studies at A-Level at the moment? '' This would make me about 17 or 18 years old. So I politely said ''no'' and expained that I had done a degree in Art and had since decided to look at doing a PGCE in either R.E or Art. So then he asked ''so you're about 20?'' So again I very awkwardly said ''no I'm 23.'' The poor guy was then so embarrassed he practically ran into the classroom store cupboard to hide!! I tried to tell him my age in a way that wouldn't make him look stupid but he shouldn't have assumed I was really young even if I look it!

Another teacher said ''are you just visiting this school to observe lessons to see if you might like to be a teacher when you finish school?'' Arghhhh! How awkward did I feel? It's so humiliating trying to explain that you're about 7 years older than they think you are! Why do they have to make silly guesses at my age??

My absolute favourite comment was from an Art teacher who was excellent at his job and really had the students paying attention and respecting him. At the end of one of my observation days he came over to talk to me about teaching art and he gave me some really useful tips. However, he then made an ill thought out joke after I asked ''How long have you been teaching?'' He said ''I've been teaching at this school since 1989. So that's longer than you've been alive.'' He chuckled to himself and gave me a look that was saying he was an adult showing off his superior knowledge of life to a small child. So I said ''Hehe, no I've been around a bit longer than that'' He looked a little shocked but then said ''Well I started my teaching career in 1984....'' The way he said it was meant to show that if he hadn't been teaching at that school for longer than I'd been alive then at least he'd been teaching as a career for longer than I'd been alive. Nope! He'd assumed totally wrong again so I interrupted him and smiled and said ''Oh yes that's the year I was born'.' Well, he shouldn't have assumed should he! After that he stopped speaking to me like a child but he didn't seem too embarrassed, but then I had tried to say my age politely because he is a good teacher and was just trying to help so I didn't want to be rude.

I do wish the receptionist who had organised my work experience had sent an email to all the teachers who I was going to spend time with explaining my age and background information. I also wish that some of the teachers weren't so rude because none of them introduced me to the students and I was just asked to sit at the back of the classroom. So, inevitably, the students asked me silly questions but I can't blame them because they weren't introduced to me and I am aware that I look young. I had so many of them say ''Miss, are you a Sixth Former?'' ''Miss, do you go to this school?'' I was pleased when some students asked ''Miss, are you a teacher?'' ''Miss, are you an inspector?'' I had made the effort to look smart and dress formally every day, but there's nothing you can do when you have a young face, you just can't change it! Ah well, it was all quite funny really but also a little insulting!

Thanks Mum and Dad

Thank you Mum and Dad for my yummy, unique chocolates that came through the post this morning :-) They put a big smile on my face. They are too nice to eat! - though I'm sure I'll force myself to eat them :p xxx

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Well I have finally seen the film that I have been dying to see since I first heard distant whispers of its being made. I have to put this blog post up because I am determined to defend this new interpretation of Indiana Jones. Being a HUGE fan of Indiana Jones from the original trilogy, my opinion could have swayed easily either way. I could have watched the new film and thought that it was rubbish and just couldn't compare to the originals. Or I could have come out thinking that it fits in well with the originals or is a good film in its own right. Happily for me I thought that the latter was true. I was gripped through the whole film and I praise it highly for sticking to the same style of filming. It was a lot of the little things that gave me a smile like the cobwebs floating around everywhere, which features so much in the originals. Or the way Indiana is still precious over his hat, or the way there were a lot of comedy references to the original trilogy, or the way the new film didnt't take itself too seriously. I felt a bit sad that Harrison Ford is much older now because it means watching his character Indiana be older, although they joke about that in the film too. I'm so glad they have made this fourth film and I thought it worked really well having a younger character to balance out the older Indy. I was also happy to see the character of Marion back too because she is my favourite of the women in all the films. I'm very tired now as it's past my bedtime as I have smelly work tomorrow so in all honesty I can't write my little film review properly but after reading people saying that they thought the Crystal Skull lacked plot blah blah blah I had to rush to its defense!!! :-) Overall, I thought it was very watchable and yes, while I could pick a few flaws, it was for the majority a lot of fun.

Belated birthday present for Vraie Fiction

I decided to make Vraie Fiction a garden gnome for his birthday as he is quite a fan of little ornaments. On a recent group holiday to France he seemed quite taken with small model witches (they were rather scary looking and ugly!), fairies and gnomes. A fair few shops in France sold tourist trinkets and ornaments of such creatures and I have to admit I was intrigued by them myself, they had a certain charm, and I nearly bought a fairy figurine. However, they all had two flaws in my opinion. Flaw number 1: they were ugly! Flaw number 2: They were poorly crafted in the same tourist shop style. Well...I thought to myself, I could do a better job than that. I could build a prettier fairy or a craftily constructed gnome or a mesmerising witch. Ok, so I may not have all the materials and tools to make an art piece to perfection and my artistic talent may not be fully developed, but I still had the confidence that I could do better than the tourist shops. After all, if you had seen the fairytale efforts in the shops you may have agreed. So, from the materials I had around the house and with the help of a plant pot from a local garden centre, I constructed the happy-looking garden gnome below.

Last weekend's chocolate cake...wish it was still here

I haven't found the motivation to write any long blogs lately, particularly ones that at least come close to sounding half way intelligent or philosophical. I can't quite figure out why that is but maybe it's a combination of tiredness from working and sometimes feeling like blogging is pointless. However, when ever I do get stuck into writing a 'proper' blog I do enjoy it and find I have a lot to say. Right now though, I am again feeling like I have mush for brains and I'm also very sleepy...well it is 2.03am! So I'm afraid it is another relatively short blog involving no wit or charm and in this case, it's about my chocolate cake that I baked from scratch last weekend. The cake turned out to be massive because it rose so much. I was worried it was going to sink because I hadn't baked in so long! It was rather tasty if I do say so myself, even though I used a runny icing in the middle which made it resemble slightly Vraie Fiction's catastrophe cake :p hehe

Animal Watch

My pet gerbils, Horace and Hemes, love their new toy. We bought them a plant pot which they curl up in and peek over the top of. They also like to chew and naw through string but we only let them do it while we are watching to makesure it is safe. I love them to bits they are just so cute and funny to watch.

A gaggle of geese chased me across a field when I was out walking the other day. They scare me a bit because they can really pick up some waddle speed! I think they might have had baby geese nearby so they were protective.

Can you see the squirrel hiding in the tree?

My blog is having technical problems

SORRY MY MY BLOG IS HAVING SOME TECHNICAL PROBLEMS. I CHANGED THE BACKGROUND TEMPLATE TO PINK AND NOW NEARLY ALL MY IMAGES SEEM TO HAVE BEEN LOST..... I'M HOPING IT WILL FIX ITSELF OTHERWISE I WILL HAVE TO SLOWLY SLOWLY SLOWLY PUT ALL THE PICTURES BACK IN AGAIN FROM SCRATCH!!!!! HOPEFULLY BY THE TIME ANY OF YOU READ THIS MY BLOG WILL BE FEELING BETTER :-)

ANTS!!!

We have an infestation of ants in our kitchen. It started with a few and now there are hundreds...literally. They have been running around the food cupboards, window sill, kitchen tiles, floor and they cluster a lot around the window frame and washing machine. Just look how many ants are on the upside down Tesco card! I think the ants got in through the gaps in the window because as you can see from the photo, it hasn't been cared for by the landlord! I feel sad and mean killing the ants but it had to be done as there is too many and I'm getting that feeling all the time like they are crawling all over me because there are so many...yuk! I have cleaned the kitchen so many times and have left no food around but the ants are relentless. I hate sharing my home with them :-(