Saturday, January 15, 2011

London!!!

We went down on Tuesday to do a bit of preparation work and get things ready in advance... as we were driving back on Thursaesday we got the call that we are actually going to start on Wednesday!!! And they managed to jiggle things so that we start on Monday, and have the weekend of this weekend to pack and get ourselves sorted.

Huzzar!!!

Can't wait to get down there. Typically I've booked a holiday (Prague!!!) in just over two weeks time. We will get down there, set up properly, start, then I leave them for a week. My poor workmate will be doing it all on her own! Lol!

So much to be excited about!
New job (well, sort of. New company, identical to the old one in structure and purpose, different role for me), new pay (thank goodness!!!), new city to settle in, new people to work with (actually I will miss my workmates here, they're all wonderful), and eventually a new flat to live in. First few weeks we will be living at work, lucky us! Lol tee-totalling when we have to do our job is just unfair, especially at this point when we're just setting it up and have millions of things to do! Haha oh dear. Oh well. Won't be for long.

Prague in a couple of weeks. And my friend coming over too, yayness!!! Just so much to be excited about!

In other news, you probably won't hear from me here for a while, seeing as I will be busy working and moving and sorting lots of things out. But I will update for sure in Prague. Probably before, I've got a few days off before we go.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Sun-drenched, beer filled holiday...

Probably more of a sun-less, beer-drenched holiday!

I'm going to Prague in 4 weeks!!!!

I started out thinking we would go to Spain, it being a bit warmer than here, an enjoy some slight warmth and possibly even sun before coming back to the gloomy UK winter. But then the idea of Prague dropped in to my head, and it was Spain no more. Time for Eastern Europe! I'm so excited. It will be pretty, and delicious, and we will need beer to fight off the cold (it's anti-freeze for humans don't you know?) and can stumble from one ancient site to another with numb feet. It'll be great!

My camera is in for SUCH a workout!

There was a possibility to hire bikes as part of the trip, but I figured this might not be such a bright idea in the middle of winter, what with all the snow and ice. Their average February temperature is slightly below freezing (-0.3C) which makes the risk of randomly cycling in to a patch of frost pretty damn good I should think. While a hospital would be warmer, I'm pretty good with fridge magnets and postcards for souvenirs, I don't need a plaster cast.

I love travel in Europe, it's so cheap! The whole entire trip is costing about £450 for two of us, including flights, hotel, all public transport in Prague (yay for the extra pass I bought), and entry to all the major attractions (more yay for the extra pass!). Actually it was only about £350 for the hotel and flights, but the passes should be a good investment I think, attractions were about £15 to £20 each in London! And I'm sure we will use the free transport, we might need it getting in from the airport! But they manage to up the cost in other ways- £11 because I paid by Visa (no, it's not a credit card, it's a debit card. They're just mean.) when I booked online. But I know they usually charge £20 or £30 if you book through the phone, and more still if you go in to a shop, where you might have the option of paying by any other method. Oh. I think I opted for a travel book about Prague too. I kinda don't know anything about it, and I have a feeling I won't have time to learn much before we go.

Anyone feel like giving me a 4-week crash course in Czech online?

Anyone?

Didn't think so.

I can't even guess how to pronounce things from their alphabet, it's too different. I would be better off trying to pronounce French. And that's something really.

Okay time for dinner. I came home fairly early today, and I'm going to have a jacket potato for dinner with beans and cheese. Om nom nom. But it needs to go in the oven now. Jacket potatoes are possibly the best food discovery I've made since coming to the UK. We should have them like this at home, they're great. Other best discovery: don't eat anything from Asda. Ever. Actually calling gigantic meatballs faggots was pretty hilarious. I actually had to refrain from giggling the first time I ordered it. They're proper British pub food. Not gay at all. *snigger* I'm so immature! It makes me wonder if there is an etymological link though. There must be, surely. It's just too funny otherwise. My Mini Oxford Dictionary informs me that they are either a bundle of sticks tied together, or gigantic meatballs (apparently they contain chopped liver and onion. Go my iron levels!). I miss my dictionary of etymology. I knew it had a use! It also makes me wonder about the word 'fag'- I was shocked when I first heard it here, until I realise they were going for a cigarette! But how did that come to be a gay reference as well? It doesn't make any sense really, that they aren't linked. I shall have to investigate this curiosity now. Maybe wikitionary.com will help me.

Okay time for dinner. An research about Prague and faggots. Of both varieties, and how they are or are not linked.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

One of the signs that I'm really tired:

I get way too excited about things! I think I've over-done it this time, it's 8.40pm and I was aiming to be in bed at nine, and I haven't even made my bed up.

But I'm still waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to excited!!!!!!!!!!!

My friend is coming here in less than a month now, and when she gets here I'm abducting her off overseas again before she can start work, and I've just been looking at places to go. I had been thinking Spain, the need for beaches is strong in me, particularly in long gloomy winter. Which is even longer and gloomier here. Seriously, it wasn't light until after 8am, and was getting dark by 4...

But then I had a look on lastminute.com which is a sure-fire way to throw your plans up in the air. The problem with Spain is that it is pretty general, mainly because really I want to see all of Spain. But then the idea of city-breaks came in to my head, and I figured that seeing as we can only go for about 4 nights anyway then we don't have enough time to see more than a city... Maybe we should be going to Luxenbourg! No, lastminute.com suggested Prague, and has now totally captured my imagination! It's not that I don't want to see the rest of the country, it's just that I can't speak any Czech then I would probably be a bit diabolical there at the moment anyway... so we could do a touristy bit which is STILL really interesting and not just full of tourists (I don't think even a thousand hoards of loud American tourists could hide all those pretty buildings). And delicious. And full of beer. We both like beer, this could go really well.

Ohhh I hadn't thought about the beer, just another reason we want to go to Prague. I should really just book it and tell her that's our destination once she arrives. I'm *way* too impatient to wait for her to say yes.

Okay that's all my ramblings for now. Time to go make my bed and stare at the ceiling for a while.

Monday, January 3, 2011

So apparently I have a sinus infection.

It's not currently as gross as it sounds, but the doctor said I can expect that to change once the anti-biotics start working.

Mostly it just really hurts. One side of my face really aches and is swollen. It hurts to chew anything which isn't quite soft (crusts on a sandwich for example... they were particularly memorable). Not that I really feel like eating anyway, thanks to all the Sudafed and Night/Day Nurse I've been taking my stomach is in a mess and isn't really coping with anything I try to eat anyway. I had a banana on Saturday, and that was okay. But it really wasn't okay Sunday. And marmite toast tastes particularly amazing at the moment, but is really not amazing with my stomach.

All in all I've spent most of the weekend in bed. I only got up today to go to the doctors. And yesterday because it was so noisy in this house I figured I could get some quiet if I went and fed my friends cats in a nice empty house of quietness. Oh, did I mention the pressure headache? It's really neat, head and face aching, stomach not able to cope with painkillers. I don't recommend it. I think I might risk some panadol later, before I try to sleep again. I think I might be okay with that, it's just neurofen that's really out to get me.

Okay, time to go and do some washing I think and then try to sleep some more. Just need to remember to wake up and take some more antibiotics. Tasty antibiotics. Well probably not. But anything that gets rid of this aching face deserves a positive adjective, and I can't think of many for a small, orange-yellow capsule.

So that's my life for the moment, and why there are no pictures.

There would be some of London, but the aforementioned plague and drug-taking kinda ruined my new years. I might tell you about the epic train ride home later though. Serious mission. I'm keeping the ticket as a souvenir.