Best Day of the Year (so far...)

This is my perfect Groundhog Day :)

Imagine this........

Monday morning, a night of restless sleep interspersed with anxiety because I know I am not ready for school......

6.00am - radio alarm goes off
6.10am - mobile alarm goes off
6.10am and 5 seconds - snooze button pushed
6.20am - mobile alarm goes off
6.20am and 5 seconds - snooze button pushed
6.28am - telephone rings

Chris: (Assisstant Headteacher at School) ohhh Hi Sharon, did I wake you?

Me: No, no...already awake but not quite out of bed yet..

Chris: (mobile rings in background) wait a minute, can you hold on or shall I call back?

Me: It's okay, I can hold

Chris: (mumbling in background) Hi, I'm back...don't know if you heard that - but the school is not open today because of the snow, Florence (Headteacher) doesn't think we will be able to get in, safer for all to stay home.....

Me: (suddenly very awake, whispering 'Thank you God' so Chris can't hear) Ohhh I guess that is a wise decision given the amount of snow. I have so much work to do, I could use having a day at home to work solidly and finish it all.....

6.40am - drinks tea in bed while smiling
7.00am - watches BBC news - still smiling
7.45am - still in bed, makes a plan to get up and do lots of school work
8.00am - has shower
8.30am - texts friend to say, 'let's meet for coffee in Balham at 9.30am' because convinces self it is important to see amount of snow outside
9.15am - rugs up and puts on walking boots, leaves flat and is amazed at amount of snow, takes photos on the way to coffee shop, meets laundromat lady and she takes a photo of me
9.30am - meet friend and enjoy coffee, convince friend that a walk to Tooting Common would be good exercise and entice with promise of snowman building
10.30am - walk to Tooting Common, smile at people, throw snowballs, marvel at real snowflakes
11.30 - while walking home from the common, join some strangers in their front garden and help them build a snowman
12.30 - arrive home for tea and biscuits
1.00pm - send friend away because one must do school work
1.30pm - cook lunch
2pm - eat lunch
2.30pm - have more tea
3pm - go outside to take some more photos
3.30pm - set up computer ready for schoolwork, disbelieve that the whole day is nearly over, wonder how will get all of the school work done before tomorrow, wish for more time
4.00pm - telephone rings
Chris: Hi Sharon

Me: Hi Chris, how has the day been?

Chris: pretty good, I went back to bed, have only just woken, how about yours?

Me: really good, have spent the day doing school work

Chris: I have just been talking to Florence, and school will be closed again tomorrow

Me: (doing silent victory dance) ohh really, I heard there will be a lot of ice about tomorrow, probably safer for it to be closed, maybe the buses won't be working and noone will be able to make it.....

Chris: Yes, that is what we thought

Me: Okay, I will work again from home and then everything will be finished, call me if anything changes....

4.05pm: looks at potential summer and Easter holidays on internet and makes phonecalls to airlines..................
5.00pm - pours glass of red wine..........still smiling
5.30pm - pours another glass of red wine, smile some more and promises self to wake at 6.30am and do schoolwork all day....

Can you imagine a better Groundhog Day???

Below are some pictures taken outside the flat.

There has not been snow like this in London for 20 years.

Useful things to do when Sick

1. Sit very still
2. Take a day off work
3. Procrastinate over completing things that should have been done at least last week ago if not before
   
4. Watch Firefly
5. Drink hot lemon drinks
6. Complete valuable questionnaires
7. Post results on your blog

Your results:
You are Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)

Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 90% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 80% Inara Serra (Companion) 70% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 60% River (Stowaway) 60% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 55% Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 45% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 40% Alliance 30% Wash (Ship Pilot) 20% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%

You are good at fixing things. You are usually cheerful. You appreciate being treated with delicacy and specialness.

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test

How to Make Your Own Bed #5

Now - onto the bed! After a mighty lot of cleaning and sorting Nikki and I set off to Ikea, flexed our muscles and managed to lift, buy and wheel the bed to the delivery counter, and the next day it was delivered. I then set about putting it together, luckily Terry came to help and then Drew and David came to help......



....and after lots of hammering and screwing I had almost made my own bed.

How to Make Your Own Bed #4

Finally finally after a few months of meetings with the slimy mortgage man, discovering the ins and outs of insurance, paying too much money to the Home Office for a Resident's Permit, and walking down Balham High Road carrying £4000 in cash, I was presented with the keys to my new humble abode. This is what it looked like.......



Note the dirty cream walls and pink carpet

Some very kind friends helped with all manner of things over 3 weekends



and it soon looked like this




So, on the 21st December it was time to move. Again, some very kind friends came to help. This was what it looked like in the old flat.

This is what it looked like outside the old flat when the removal van didn't arrive, so we had to have a little picnic on the pavement along with all my belongings

.....and this is what it looked like in the new flat once everything was moved in

.....so being Christmas time, I set about cleaning the house!

How to Make Your Own Bed #3

Ok Ok ....so there has been a delay since the last post.....well I have been mightily busy.....and over the course of the next few weeks you will discover exactly what that busyness has entailed...but, first of all back to the bed story, for bed is one of the most important places in the world....

I set off in search of a space that matched my sums. Along the way I added a few other criteria which I list below for your reading pleasure

1. 3 minutes walk from the tube
2. 10 minutes walk from Church
3. A short-ish cycle ride to school
4. A bus stop a very short walk away for when it rains
5. A place to store my bicycle that is nice and safe
6. Somewhere that needs minimal renovation work
7. Somewhere happy
8. A short walk from a major supermarket so it is easy to carry the shopping home
9. A short walk from a cafe so there is somewhere to do some reading on a Saturday
10. A place that is easy for others to travel to so some people will come and visit

Now, looking for a place to keep a bed is not a straightforward task, as fellow bed shaped space hunters will know, especially when it has to have all of the above, as well as being affordable and in London.

Lo and behold, I stumbled upon a building that looks like this

I asked the slimy estate agent all about the building and looked at some studio apartments that were way too expensive. Then I found a non-slimy estate agent who showed me a studio apartment that looked like this


I was disappointed to discover that the chair on the bed, the cowboy boots and wet towel were not included in the asking price. I tested this very tidy studio against my criteria only to discover

1. It is literally 3 minutes walk from the tube
2. It is 10 minutes walk from Church
3. It is a 4 mile cycle ride to school
4. There is a bus stop directly at the front of the building
   
5. There is lock up storage for bicycles
   
6. A bit of paint and a new carpet would make it livable
   
7. All of the people I saw in the building and the porters smiled at me
   
8. A 4 minute walk away are Sainsburys, Waitrose and M&S Simply Food, and a marvellous organic food store, library, chemist and Woolworths.
9. There are 3 cafes and 4 restaurants across the road, and another 5 cafes 4 minutes walk away
10. Lots of my friends travel past the building on their way to and from work.
    

Taking all of this into account I made an offer and a day later made another offer and it was accepted!! My heart skipped a beat or three and I felt the mortgage burden settle upon my shoulders and I bid goodbye to the idea of working part time.

You can read more about the building here

How to Make Your Own Bed #2

So....I was on the hunt for a bed shaped space to keep the bed in. I found a few spaces, but unfortunately the people who owned the spaces wouldn't let me keep my bed there. Which brought up a new problem, it seemed that I needed to own some space in order to own a bed! Armed with this knowledge, I pulled out the accounts, calculator, pen and paper and started doing sums. Luckily, the sums I chose to do worked out very nicely with all the correct answers! This accomplished, I set off in search of a space that matched the answers to the sums. Here are some spaces I considered.........






.............unfortunately, none of these spaces matched the sums



But fortunately, the sums were greater than these spaces - but only just!!

How to Make Your Own Bed #1

Well.....first of all it is important to have your own bed - which unfortunately I did not. For the last 11 years I have slept in beds that have been on loan for one reason or another. Many different sorts of beds.....the three quarter bed in Newcastle, the futon in Japan (yes - one of those ones that i would roll up and put away everyday, and hang over the balcony railing and beat with the futon beater!), the lumpy double bed with the saggy bits in the bedsit when I first came to London, and the bed I have had for the last 6 years - a divan bed - bright green circle pattern on the mattress which belongs to the vicar and his wife. I have been very fond of some of these beds - especially the most recent one - because it was rather comfy - but still.......it wasn't my own bed. What is a girl to do??????

There was only one viable option to solve this situation and it was simply to buy my own bed!!! Easy!......buying a bed is easy - I can do that - the tricky part was finding a place to put it, keep it and sleep in it.....this is where the fun starts......part 2 coming soon.....stay tuned.



My most recent bed....notice the teasmade on the bedside table



The balcony in Japan looked like this on airing day......(somebody elses image...but gives you the idea)

What are you reading?

I am currently reading this book

http://www.simongarfield.com/pages/books/private_battles.htm


It is incredible. A collection of diarists who wrote for the Mass Observation in one book. They comment on what life was like in Britain during WWII. There is a lot about rationing and queues! I read the companion volume over the summer - was hard to put down - but I had to occasionally so I could cycle to various French Chateaus.

I wonder how present society would respond to food rationing? 2 pints of milk per adult per week! Having to hand over coupons to buy onions or how people would react if forced to do 'war work'? The people in this book seem to get on with it....I wonder what i would do?

Portugal

Ho hum......back at school now. Holidays are a distant memory.

Highlights of being in Portugal
1. Being in Portugal
2. Not having to go to school
3. Spending whole days reading
4. Swimming everyday
5. Great restaurants
6. Lying on the beach on beach chairs under umbrellas
7. Tea in bed everymorning - and knowing there is time for a second cup!
8. Time with friends
9. Seeing Cape Vincent
10. Watching movies outside in our outdoor cinema created by Drew
11. Having my bed made by the maid each day
12. Not being shot by intruder

Lowlights of being in Portugal
1. Travel delays
2. Delayed luggage
3. Driving to airport twice to look for delayed luggage
4. Having money stolen by intruder
5. Trying to converse with a shoplady in Portuguese and French about where to buy underpants because mine were being held hostage in Lisbon by Groundforce.
6. Watching Wise Blood
6. Leaving

Some carefully selcted pictures

we peddled this great big yellow thing to a private beach!


relaxing in style by pool outside villa


pre-dinner drinks at the golfclub

A Little Break

Well.....unfortunately I have to spend the next 10 days here!

(Am secretly very happy about this, and the idea of being here has brought me through many assignments and exams this year! Eg: Christology exam next week.... aaahhhhhh - I know nothing about Christ, let alone theologians concepts of how the atonement works, and what is the Christus victor model, and surely substitution says it all and Anselms theory of due honor surely holds some value....breathe......... its ok, in August you will be in Portugal.....wooohoooo! just make it thru this exam and then the next one and before you know it.......you will be beside a pool bearing your svelte body to the world, sipping martinis)

You may even be able to view my dear friends and I on this webcam at some point

http://www.cam1.carvoeiro.com/

and this is where we are staying, do stop in for a drink or such if you are near by..

ahhhh Another Test!!!!

Just when I thought I was free of exams, tests and assignments - I am forced to do another one!! This one takes place tomorrow at 3.30pm - and what is it for I hear you ask....It is to check whether or not I am capable of being British!! The fact that I like tea, teach Britain's children, can handle warm beer, understand cockney, cope with tube delays and no summer, speak read and write English and have lived here quite happily for some time now, etc etc, is of no value - I need to prove all of this by cramming information about geography, government, statistics and culture into my short term memory and reproduce it by answering multiple choice questions!

Follow these links and test yourself.....let me know - Are you capable of being British???

The official website - http://www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk/

A practice test - http://www.lifeintheuk.org/

First Ever Blog Post

My lovely friend Kathryn helped me to set this up!

I will put little things of no importance and big things of some importance on it every now and then, and maybe a few photos as well.

Today we went to Abney Cemetry and saw the grave of William Booth. We had a nice lunch and a catch up and then I came home and cleaned off my shoe shelf and put those i no longer wear in a bag to take the charity shop and felt guilty about having so much when others in the world have so little. Being at the cemetry today reminded me that our lives are fleeting and in God's hands - I hope I am doing something useful with mine....

This is the lovely Kathryn
She will probably not like it that i have put this photo of her on here - but I think it is a great photo :)