Tales of The Liz

One of those days..

2007-01-23T18:58:00.000Z

Ever have those days when you feel in a complete daze and that you are an observer rather than partaker of everything that happens? hmm..probably just me, but ho hum. I feel this was the consequence of three funny happenings last week:

1. Was responsible for making tea and coffee for 20 people on a training course at work which involved filling some huge thermos flasks things with hot water. This went fine, until someone tried to get water out of the flask and no matter how many times they, me or my manager (who had come to the rescue at this point) pumped the little tap thing on the top, no water would come out. After much confusion and frantic pumping my manager said "You know, it feels like the pump thing isn't actually in there". Opens flask..."oh, its not." Me: "Ops! Thats what the random pole things on the side were for.."...duh. Yes, I am so incompetent that I cant even make tea ;-)

2. Attempting to make an appointment for an injection and not realising for an embarrassingly long amount of time that the person I was talking to was not actually the nurse but my mother. Gone are the days for teasing mother that "she doesnt even recognise the voice of her own daughter!"

3. Speaking to a guy at international friends and after telling him my name, he stuck out his hand and said "Atique". I thought that he was commenting on my name and trying to say something in English that I just really wasnt getting so looked at him blankly, then said "er, pardon?" and after the repeat, said "um. no I don't think so." DUH...how could I not have realised that Atique was his name...? "Um, no, sorry, that cant be your name...you must be mistaken.." ;-)

Oh. My. Word. You would not believe what happened today….

2006-12-21T23:19:00.000Z

Things have been rather quiet on the blog front recently, mainly due to the fact that life has been busy but not particularly exciting. However, today something happened which is up there with “the microwaving chicken”, as one of the most exciting things that has happened in my life. Ever. The problem is, I am so used to attempting to make incredibly dull things vaguely exciting, and therefore fear that I may make this potential exciting story, very dull. However I shall do my best not to ruin it. Anyway, enough of the build up…

Today I got mugged. Ok, so that in itself is not very exciting…actually it wasn’t very nice at all. I had just reached the brow of “the big hill”, as “mugging man” approached from the other direction, also on a bike, with a scarf covering most of his face, bar his eyes. Now you would think this was a bit of a give away as to his intentions…however it was very cold so I thought nothing of it. Next thing I knew, he had grabbed my bag and was off down the hill. In a shocked state I turn round and began cycling very slowly after him, before coming to my senses and realising that I really had no hope of catching him and even if I did, what would I do then?? Plus, if I went back down the hill, I would then have to slog back up…not very appealing. So I cycled home and cancelled my cards.

It was then that Cindy rang (now hopefully the exciting nature of the story will rapidly increase from this point forward). Unbeknown to me, Cindy and her husband, Ken (this isn’t his real name) witnessed the whole event from their red van as they were a passing. Quick thinking Cindy, on realising what had happened decided that a bag rescue plan was definitely in order, and commanded the obedient Ken to “put ye foot down”. Off they shot down the hill in hot pursuit of the mugger. After a little while the biker entered the nearby woods and, if I understood correctly from Cindy, her and her husband managed to continue the chase (on foot I presume) through the woods and in to a park. Cornering the chap, things got a bit violent. The brave Ken “took a couple of punches…and then he gave a few” (!) (to quote my friend Cindy), and despite mugger boy’s threats to stab him (aah…), stood his ground and valiantly snatched my bag from his grasp. At this point Cindy was calling the police, but alas they did not arrive in time and robber escaped. Now I do feel quite bad that quite a bit of violence was involved in the bag retrieval process, but am assured by Cindy that Ken, at least, only suffered minor injuries...

Anyway, to cut a long story a tiny bit shorter…the police got involved and it all got quite complicated, but the tale ended happily today, as I met the lovely police officer outside the “99p shop” (yep, you get all the best shops in Reading) and was reunited with my rather muddy, but 100% intact, bag…plus all its contents, including some essentials such as my Vaseline and an orange ;-) And tomorrow I shall meet my heroes, Cindy and Ken, in person. Yey! The End.

Email

2006-11-28T22:05:00.000Z

The other day at work I had to book someone on a first aid course. This involved emailing Ambulance Trust people, and giving them the name and job title of said chappy. The name was Alex. After sending the email I recieved a prompt reply from Ambulance people, saying "Please can you confirm whether Alex is male or female". Now, Im not sure why they needed to know this, but I felt I should answer their request, and sent back the shortest and most bizzare email I think I have ever sent..."Alex is male". Hee hee. Just could'nt think of anyway of saying it that made it any less weird....

Cosmestons, take note

2006-11-23T22:38:00.000Z

I just rediscovered my tomato photos! Took them yonks ago with big plans to put them on my blog, but alas I forgot. However better late than never (thats my general moto in life ;-)) so here is evidence of my tomato growing success :-) Please note that this is the "yellow pear" variety...a lot less pear shaped than expected. I think a letter to the seed company suggesting "yellow plum" as a new name for this type is definitely in order.

Spanish

2006-11-21T18:44:00.000Z

Fun as Japanese is, I'm really meant to be learning spanish. So yesterday I met up with a girl from church and we tried to learn some...and it was, erm, kinda productive..ish. Well, more productive than our previous "lesson" were we watched a spanish film ;)

Two phrases I learnt that I feel will be particularly useful are:
1) Yo vivo en un zapato (I live in a shoe)
2) Tu vendes ventanas (You sell windows)

How cool is the word for shoe? Amazing. As we were learning verb endings, I can also say...we live in a shoe, they live in a shoe, he lives in a shoe...so many uses! I think my spanish capabilities are also going to vastly improve with the help of my new book....Thanks Katie!!! :-)
Now I will be able to understand the logic behind the things I am saying! Horray!

Hee hee...today at work I discovered that the cupboard towards which my desk faces, has been filled with some new and exciting things! As supposed to files, the top shelf now houses some industrial strength, steel caped wellies (or as someone in our office calls them "welsh going out shoes" ;-)JOKE!) and some gardening gloves, whilst on the middle shelf we have a collection of torches (of various sizes) and....4 hard hats! All incase of emergencies...Don't quite know what the office is expecting, but I find it quite disconcerting. Unless the wellies are to throw at the next intruder, whilst the surrounding office workers get issued with hard hats incase the throw isn't so accurate...? And the torches...to be used to shine in the theif's eyes to check he is unconsious? Hmm, its a possiblity.

Speaking of hard hats...reminds me of a situation Becky and I once found ourselves in, where we felt at risk as were the only people walking through Reading town centre not wearing a hard hat..t'was most worrying. I almost feel the need to commander (?!) our office supply in case of such emergencies...;-)

In other news...today I forgot to remove the safety pin that I use to pin up my trousers when I am cycling to work, and therefore walked round the office for quite some time with a leggings style going on, but on just one of my trouser legs...felt like Muller.

Buenos noches (Im not actually going to bed, but I don't know how to say, "I'm off the bake a cake" ;-))

Japanese!

2006-11-17T22:45:00.000Z

In honour of my beloved ex (sniff) house mate, tonight I decided to learn some Japanese :-) In fact, not just learn but..."wait for it"...sing (!) some Japanese...

Kira kira hikaru osorano hoshiyo
Mabataki shitewa minnao miteru
Kira kira hikaru osorano hoshiyo

Guess the song :-)

Other funny things that happened today / this eve....
1. Someone running the international student event asked the students if any of them had a Grandfathers clock with them??? Oh yes of course, never go anywhere with out my grandfathers clock...always bring it in case of emergencies...I'll just whip it from my back pack..

Hmm..I really did have some other funny stories, but they escape me...tis late. Im sure I will remember them soon, and when I do I shall blog again :-)

Weather

2006-11-15T22:34:00.000Z

So yesterday I had a brilliant conversation at work which left me feeling oh so clever...

Guy at work: Yesterday I was teaching people at work how to read weather maps
Me: oh right...that's not that hard is it?
GAW: no, not really..
Me: I mean, a cloud means cloudy, and cloud and rain means rainy, a sun means....
GAW: Um, no, I mean the proper weather charts, that show high and low pressures, air currents, winds....
Me; Oh.
Awkward silence

Hee hee...it was funny ;)

Told we had a course on at work called "diversity awareness". I am still confused as to why the trainer saw the need to have flowers, relaxing music, and scented candles in the room for such a course. Most bizzare. The candle burning caused a bit of a stir as apparently our office isnt insured for candles..I was too scared to go and tell the blokey that candles werent allowed, so spent most of the day trying to persaude someone else to burst in, run up to the table, blow out the candles and run out again...heehee. Alas, they weren't persauded.

Anyway, Adios mes amigos :-)

2006-11-11T13:26:00.000Z

"This is what I intend to do for you, and this is how you perhaps expect me to do it. Now you may pin my down as to the ultimate object, because that I have promised; but you will also want to pin me down as to the method as you love things to be manageable and predictable. So watch me alter how in one place, and adjust it in another place, and find a totally different means in a third place, until the only fact you can rely on is the guarantee that I will do what I have promised."

From "The message of Judges" Michael Wilcock - A brilliant commentary on Judges, if anyone is interested...even though it has taken me about a year to get through..;)

A robbery

2006-11-07T19:05:00.000Z

Today I am feeling very loved by my family...as I walked in the door after a surprisingly stressful day at work, expecting screams of delight at my return, Andrew asks "why do you always come home in the evenings?". Charming. So now you know why most of the time in my mind he ceases to exist..the human brain has a mavellous ability to block out that which causes it pain. Hee hee

Anyway, guess what?? We had a robbery at work on monday! Twas most exciting. Dude sneaks in the back way dressed in office clothes, goes upstairs and steals a credit card from someones hand bag (how, im not quite sure, because surely if you saw a stranger going through your collegues bag, you'd confront them...) and then comes downstairs to try and get out. Being an intelligent bloke he loses his way, and ends up walking right through our office in search for the exit. Right up to our chief directors desk infact. By this point the reception staff have been notified and we are alerted of the situation by shouting in the corridor. Now was my moment to leap into action...I ran screaming down the corridor, waving my arms and yelling "a robbery, a robbery!", to alert the rest of the office. Up jumps my rugby playing friend who then races after the criminal (now sensibly hot footing it out of our office). However as robbing is his forte rather than speed, he is quickly caught up by rugby dude and tackled to the ground. When seeing the thief controlled, I jog up and offer my assistance in binding and gagging the chap. Rugby dude and I are pronounced the office heros, are given chocolate and sent home early. Horray! The End

Who ever said my life was boring?! pah.

And finally, today I discovered an amazing book...its called "Faith like potatoes", and is "the story of a farmer who risked everything for God". Definitely adding that to my must read list. Cant go wrong with a title like that ;) However I must admit, it first attracted my attention as I read it as "Face like potatoes". Hee hee.

So to conclude, I shall leave you with a gorgeous picture of the sky taken by my bro from our house the other day. Awesome.

My Brother

2006-10-29T14:18:00.000Z

Chris and his two friends (;)) went on a boating holiday over half term. Over all it was a successful trip as they didnt:
a) Sink the boat
b) break anything....other than an ashtray....
c) throw anything over board...other than a teatowel and saucepan..
d) get stuck under a bridge.

There are many photos to prove that a lot of fun was had by all. I have included a particular favourite of mine below...hee hee. I believe preparation was the key to their success.

Milk

2006-10-24T19:40:00.000+01:00

From previous experiences you would think that my mother may have learnt to reduce the milk order when they go away. Clearly not. 8 pints of milk were delievered by the milk man this morning, and plus the two I already had in the fridge, I now have 10 pints. What on earth am I going to do with 10 pints of milk?? I dont even have any other family members here to force it on ;) I suggest....a milk party! Anyone up for it?! In about 1/2 hr at my house? sorted. If no one turns up I'll just have to drink it all myself....Wow, isnt milk really weird? Its like the only liquid that we drink that actually comes from an animal. Bizzare.

Here is an english language question: Is is possible to say, "In consistent with our terms and conditions...". Does the in consisitent part of that make sense?? Really doesnt to me, but maybe that is just because I have been reading it over and over to try and understand!

Man, when I resort ot blogging about the english language I realise just how boring my life is ;)

Ooo...do you know, I feel very cheated by Lidl. A new store has opened right next to work, and the other day they went round all the cars in our office car park and put a bag on the bonnet containing a free drink and some food. What I want to know is why they didnt hang bags on the bikes in the bike rack.....humph.

Right, I must stop..I need to mop.

Cake!

2006-10-22T18:43:00.000+01:00

Here is a picture of me with my birthday cake...any guesses as the what it is?! ( I may provide clues at a later date;)) Also, Bec in particular, please note the glass stand...It has a use! Horray!

(sorry about the sideways picture...my computer takes about three hours to upload one, so I cant be bothered to do it again!)

Sorry...

2006-10-17T18:40:00.000+01:00

ah ha

2006-10-15T20:32:00.000+01:00

Apples

2006-10-15T20:05:00.000+01:00

Today Emma gave me some lovely cooking apples :) However when I agreed to take 5 or 6 (which em took to mean 7;)) home with me on the train, I forgot that a) I was going to have to ride home from the station with them and b) emmas apples are the hugest apples I have ever seen. Below is a lovely picture of my darling brother andrew modelling the apples...as you can see he was also quite excited by their size.
(oh dear - cant upload picture :(...may try again later!)

Getting them home from the station was an adventure not dissimilar to the broad bean situaiton (see previous post). I contemplated handing them out to passers by, and the plastic bag they were in very nearly split distributing apples all over the footpath...however thankfully I caught them just in time...quite a feat when cycling a long :) I also didnt get a puncture! Waahoo.

And as I'm on the subject of bikes, an 8 year old girl at brownies asked me "how" I cycled my bike the other day!? Didnt quite know how to respond...was she a budding mechanic and wanted me to go into the workings of the bike? or implying that she couldnt imagine that someone like me would be capable of riding a bike?..Hmmm, it was puzzling indeed.

Quotes

2006-10-09T18:38:00.000+01:00

The other day I heard the best quote..

"I was glad to leave Oxford - people there just aren't normal". Hee hee...I concur ;)

Almost as funny as Elisa's quote of "I am Doctor Who's tardis".

This weekend I discovered the joys of playing "I spy" with a 4 year old, who doesnt understand that when you say "I spy" your meant to be able to see the object and the letter you mention should begin the word...It went a bit like this:

Thomas: I spy wiv my little eye some thing beginning with.....C
Me: chair, cup, camera...
Thomas: No....Fishing net, silly!

Of course! duh. Hee hee - very entertaining.

And finally...I shall leave you with some wise words from Calvin and Hobbs:

Calvin: I've decided we should be "cooler" than we are.
Hobbs: We're not cool?
Calvin: Sure we're cool. But we're not as cool as we could be. Cool people wear dark glasses!
(both put on dark glasses)
Hobbs: It's cool to bump into things?
Calvin: You don't move, you just hang around.

Parents...

2006-09-26T20:56:00.000+01:00

Since starting a proper job I have made many an observation about real life and the world of work. I shall not bore you with them all, however there are two which I have been considering today:
1. Life goes far to quickly when your working. (profound I know ;)) But its true! I can't believe it is nearly the end of september! Where did it go?
2. Offices provide little scope for exciting stories...

Since my life is general boring, I have resorted to gaining amusemeent from my parents and there antics. Here is a quote for my mother that amused me rather:-

"I need to have a bath, but I dont know how this fits in with my feeding schedule."

Now you know where I get it from ;)

And a short story told to me by my father as I was being grown up and discussing work ;)

Sometimes my mum asks my dad to pick up some shopping from tescos in his lunch break. Sometimes mum doesnt ask dad but he just goes anyway and gets what he thinks we need. This tends to end in a lot of duplication in foods..many I day I come home to find that both of them have bought bread or carrots or cheese so we end up with one thing in abudance and then lack in something else. Anyway that is beside the point. Today my dad resorted to the guessing shopping technique and being a wise man he guessed that we needed a cucumber. However, unknown to him, is the fact that my mum has been growing cucumbers in the greenhouse and after a considerable dormant period they have now decide to produce two splendid cucumbers that are almost ready for picking. For some reason my father decided to email my mother describing (with glee i am sure) his lunchtime tesco purchases. However my mother then told him about the greenhouse cucumbers. Poor Dad. But instead of being stunted by this news, he proceeded to look for ways to rid himself of the newly purchased vegetable. After much thought he advertised it at work and sold it to his collegue, who was going to give it to her sister. SO now the 'cucumbers to consume list' is down to two. Phew. The End.

2006-09-22T18:58:00.000+01:00

Today:

My mum drove over my bike :(

I saw an amazing rainbow :)

I got wet and mud splattered on the way back from work :(

I used the hole punch function on the photocopier :)

I labelled 150 files for the filing cabinet :S

I decided that people should get paid more if they cycle to work ;)

And here is another picture...although possibly slightly distorted as I tried to resize it..ops! guess my relatives ;)

Weddings!

2006-09-19T19:45:00.000+01:00

This weekend I went to my cousins wedding, and it was most lovely. It was in this beautiful old church in Devon, really near the sea - a perfect back drop for photos :) The bridesmaids were the absolute cutest..although slightly stressful because they were all under 5...!
A few years ago I was most offended by being thought of as 15, however on saturday the reverse happened, when my second cousin, guessing my age said...60? 70? 100? 68?!! Hee hee..have I really aged that much since uni?! Thats a retorical question..;)

Getting to the wedding, was in hindsight amusing, but at the time incredibly stressful, due to imense lateness in leaving Reading....and what with me being the slow driver that I am (;)), I'm amazed that we arrived on time...hee hee.

Anyway, I am branching out with blogging technology, with the addition of a few digital photos! however clearly my expertese are not that great as I cant even get the photos the right way round, nor in the right place! And the best photo doesnt seem to want to add :( Oh well! wil try again later.

laminated tomatoes

2006-09-13T19:03:00.000+01:00

In the excitment of the weekend I forgot to tell anyone the most excitnig news of all.....wait for it....

I had my first red tomato! horray! finally. It was most yummy and I have gone on to have several more. The "tiny tom" variety wins the prize for speed, although "yellow pear" is definitely the best looking..(;))...the tomatoes are pear shaped! Maybe soon I shall treat you with some photos...

At work today their were two highlights...firstly I parcelled up about 50 DVDs which was more fun than it sounds and secondly I discovered and used (almost successfully..) the staple function on the photocopier. Yey! And I can hardly wait for tomorrow...its laminating day!

Biggest achievement of the day - over taking two men on their bikes, cycling up a huge hill. Oh yeah.

Trains...

2006-09-08T18:01:00.000+01:00

After travelling to london for the afternoon on weds on a really hot day, and then trying to get back home during rush hour, I have come to the conclusion that..I dont like trains.

On the return journey I ran to get this train, when I discovered it was going to reading and not just oxford as I originally thought. Arrived at plateform and train was still there..phew. Got on the train to discover that it was boiling hot and packed with people. After standing on the train for a few mins, whilst it just sat their with its doors wide open, I decided to step off for a breath of fresh air. Bad move. Just a I was looking the other way, the doors started to close....I tried to stop them by pressing the open button but was too scared to put my hand between them. SO, I was shut out, abandoned on the platform. As the train pulled away and I stood their mournfully waving, whilst everyone on the train pointed and laughed... ;)

After this experience my train travel adventures of the weekend are filling me with fear. Its only a short journey to oxford I keep telling myself....however the problem is not so much the length of the journey but the quantity of stuff i have to take with me....one tent, two carry mats, one sleeping bag, clothes, dressing up costume...ek. As I said to becky yesterday, why dont I just wear my outfit on the train?? Then again, maybe not.

2006-08-24T10:05:00.000+01:00

Time for a tomato update....

They are doing splendidly (How cool is that word...it ends in Didly!). Several of them are now too tall for their supporting canes, so yesterday I had to replace them with new taller ones. They even have baby tomatoes growing! oh the excitment :) Some of them went a bit crazy when I was away on holiday and sprouted at the bottom creating two main stalks...but looking on the bright side, this means - twice as many tomatoes! ;)
Im hoping that one day they will grow to be this tall!

Other excitments - Last weekend I went canoeing. As we were canoeing peaceful down the river we came across another canoe. However it was full of water and mostly submerged except for the very tip. My uncle decided that he wanted to salvage it....so here began a very scary operation. Rope was attached to canoe, we all held on the the rope (from our canoes) and pulled. The canoe moved about 1 cm and mine nearly capsized :S After about half an hour of strenuous work we had drained out quite a bit of the water and raised it a whole 10cm. It was then that we realised it was only half a canoe..;) Hee hee. Other events on the trip include me trying to rescue this boy's fishing float that was caught in a tree and ending up crashing into the hugest stinging nettle bush EVER ;) (maybe slight exageration there....).

Zoology moment

2006-07-18T09:20:00.000+01:00

Wow, I added a picture! the excitment. I saw a wrens nest the other day! It was so small and all the babies were so tiny. They looked a bit like this photo except there were only three. The mother really didn't like us watching them and alarm-called for ages and ages, and the babies were really clever because when she was calling they hid right in the bottom of the nest. Degree in action! The things they teach us really do happen in real life. No. Way.

funny people

2006-07-15T22:15:00.000+01:00

In a few weeks Chris is going to climb Kilimountjaro (spelling?!) and therefore he needs to be fit. As I have nothing better to do (other than job hunting which is dull) I have adopted the role of his personal trainer ;) Hee hee, this is very fun. On thurs he want to go on a run but it was late so I went with him as his body guard (!) on my bike and cheered him on circling him on my bike when he did silly things like press ups halfway round :S Then on fri he went on a pack hike at some crazy hour of 6am..my training dedication did not function that early, however I met him a bit later (after a very scary drive with many a near death experience..the lengths I go to ;)) and we had a lovely stroll. I think I may however have been more of a hinderance than a help as kept wanting to stop to look at the cute ducks or cool houses.

Speaking of cool houses, we were admiring one on the way and discussing whether or not this guy should be sprinking his lawn what with the hose pipe ban and all, when up popped this very posh man on a bike (quite literally..I have no idea where he came from) who proceeded to tell us (with no prompting whatsoever) who owned the house, their daily activities (including the activities of thier servants!) and all the "exciting" features of the house...! Kinda weird and we didnt really know how to respnd so walked on thinking he may follow and give us a running commentry of all sights on the way...fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, he didnt. People are funny.

Today we went to the beach :) Saw a crazy man who very much resemble shai, trying to fly a huge kite..most entertaining.

Imagine..

2006-07-12T17:31:00.000+01:00

To all those who know derek (our old land lord). Imagine derek in a band. Now, not just in the band but the conductor. Imagine him playing a huge pair of symbols. I experienced this "for real" at my brother's concert. Kept me amused for a long while.

Imagine the sweetest old man you can. Imagine him trying to find the name of a piece of music in a concert programme. Imagine him finally finding it and annoucing the title with glee...to find that the piece is called "go to the devil." :s

Broad beans

2006-07-08T11:05:00.000+01:00

Today (Friday) I felt like a cycle ride. Today my uncles broad beans needed picking. In a flash of enthusiasm today I decided to combined the two. This was not necessarily the wisest of moves considering that my uncle lives in Newbury (20+ miles) from Reading and it was raining. My mother, ever the optimist, convinced me that the rain was “just a passing shower”, so off I set. The shower did not pass and Newbury was further away than I remembered, but I made it there in one piece. Unknown to me when I set out on this expedition was the fact that my uncle is a keen (to put it mildly) broad bean grower. I managed to fill two large carrier bags full of beans, and these being both bulky and incredibly heavy, led to increased excitement on the journey home (I know you can't possibly imagine this story getting anymore exciting, but believe me it does ;)). I suggested handing out beans to people I passed on my way home to lighten the load, whilst my mum suggested podding them, to get rid of the heavy cases. However I resolved to only take action in an emergency, i,e. when I collapsed under the weight of the broad beans. This occurred about half way back. I tried technique number one but the fellow declined the offer, so I had to resort to stopping and podding the beans on the side of the path, much to the amusement of those passing ;)
Other excitements of the trip included; getting a puncture (woo. I blame the broad beans) but managing to then fix it without my usually essential casserole dish and spoons (!), seeing a deer, and watching a lady try and catch a swan in a net. All in all, it was an eventful trip. The moral of the story is; never underestimate the quantity of broad beans.

In other news, my tomotoes are coming on nicely and have now been planted out in the garden. Thanks cosmestons! Only problem is I planted them a bit too late, so tomotoes wont be produced for ages. Roll on December.

The end.

2006-07-02T15:32:00.000+01:00

I am no longer a student at cardiff. No longer a student anywhere infact! A very strange and sad realisation.

A few high/low lights from the last few days..
- Packing up room and then unpacking car...a definite low point! At present entering my room and then finding my bed are two daily challenges ;) I just dont know where anything is going to go I really dont! I have put some in the roof, aka chris' room, much to his distress, however he did offer to move his bed out if I needed more space. How sweet. Or was there a hint of sarcasm in his voice...I forget.
- Finding my abba cd! A definite highlight.
- nearly cutting one of the guinea pigs mouth open with a knife...an unfortunate situation. To cut (budoom) a long liz story short, was trying to point out the location of a piece of apple to a stupid guinea pig who was trying to steal his "friend's" piece, with the only thing in my hand (the knife i was using to cut the apple!) as you do...however the silly thing decide to try and eat the knife. duh.
- Finding out that I am tent leading on camp this year with Katie Watkins twin sister! yeah! She is lovely. That is the highlight of this story. The low light is the fact that I am in an all girls village...ahhh. Anyone up for a week with 12, 10 year old girls?!
- Applying for a fisheries job. Oh yeah. How cool am I? I know, no need to tell me. Just too cool.
- A final low light - a very distressing situation that occured whilst walking home from church through the woods today...however I shall leave you in suspense about that one, and maybe tell you at some point!

Man, its too hot.

Bye!

2006-04-03T20:41:00.000+01:00

So, church on Sunday was the funniest it has been in a long while...so many "really really want to laugh out loud, but really really can't coz that would be so inappropriate and rude...therefore I must bite my lip" moments ;)
Here is just one of the funny things, a good old anglican response...

Leader: In the swirling darkness before time began, God was good
All: His love goes on forever
Leader: In the mud and oozes of newly created earth, God was good
All: His love goes on forever
L: When plants began to root and shoot, God was good
A: His love goes on forever
L: When dinosaurs crashed and scampered and swam, God was good
A: (you get the general gist)
L: When human life took to its legs, God was good
L: In the age of farms and inventions and power, God was good
L: In these days of satellite, internet video and DVD, God is good
L: In the future uncertainty, scarce of resources, God will be good.

I mean, I ask you, who thinks up these things?!

Oh, and another funny thing - On saturday I fell out the train. Thankfully we were at the platform at the time but it was kinda embarrassing. So the train was really quiet, so hardly anyone else was getting off at Reading. I made my way to the door (which was closed) and just stood there looking at it thinking "wow, how on earth do you open these doors? I dont think I have ever done such a thing!" I read the instructions, which said open window, and lean out and open the door handle from out side. All very simple I thought. What they did not add to the instructions was "do not lean on the door as you open the handle"...hee hee. I think I quite startled the conductor guy on the other side of the door..;)

work monitor

2006-04-01T11:45:00.000+01:00

Work is definitely not going well when:

1. You find yourself checking the 5 day weather forcast...or in extreme cases, the 10 day one ;)
2. You do more than 3 jigsaws in less than half an hour
3. Each time you look at the clock, only a minute has gone by.
4. You read blogs of people you do not know.
5. You rediscover and repeatedly update your own blog....

2006-03-31T19:59:00.000+01:00

Friday Night. Last day of term. Last night in cardiff..(well, for a while anyway)
And guess where I am..? Yep, in the computer room. I am SO cool.
Or an official Loser (as my lovely housemate called me as I left)

But...All is well. Another person who rests very highly in my coolness rank is here to keep me company. Can you guess? The one and only...Mouthy girl ;) hee hee

2006-03-31T11:44:00.000+01:00

Oooo! exciting ;)

Through complete lack of inspiration I thought I'd share with you the dramatic ending of my dissertation:-

"For these predictions to be tested there is a desperate need for more research to be carried out into the long-term effects of climate change on different populations. However will it then be too late to save the negatively affected species? Is the extensive evidence into the short-term effects of climate change enough to take appropriate action in preventing future extinctions? Although these questions remain, I conclude there to be sufficient evidence among short-term studies to predict the identity of species most at risk, and it is therefore on these that conservation action should be focused."

2005-10-18T12:12:00.000+01:00

And again - Happy birthday The Liz!!

2005-10-18T10:44:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday The Liz :D :D 21 today!

The Liz on Monday

2005-10-17T11:31:00.000+01:00

The Liz was just in a lecture on "Fisheries management".

The Liz is so cool.

The Liz was the only one in the lecture to seem genuinely excited at the prospect of a field trip to the fish department of the environment agency.

I'll say it again; The Liz is so cool.

The Liz is currently meeting friends from band for coffee.

2005-10-16T21:35:00.000+01:00

The Liz is eating.

She also felt left out when her housemates were singing McFly's "It's all about you" to each other, so she sung out loud "It's all about meeee".

The Liz on Sunday

2005-10-16T15:03:00.000+01:00

The Liz has got her sister here. The Catherine.

The Liz is planning on making welsh cakes later on this afternoon.

We wish the Liz would do something genuinely exciting that we could share with you.

But still she doesn't.

2005-10-16T09:57:00.000+01:00

The Liz is very tired.

The Liz goes bowling

2005-10-15T17:31:00.000+01:00

Today the Liz went bowling. It was her hope to score higher than 100, but sadly for her she only managed 96.

The Liz is now working on her field course write up down at university.

2005-10-15T13:24:00.000+01:00

The Liz has left her used contact lens on the coffee table. We love living with The Liz.

2005-10-15T13:21:00.000+01:00

I haven't seen The Liz today.

2005-10-14T18:27:00.000+01:00

The Liz just watched a very exciting episode of Neighbours. The Liz just ate Katie's chocolate, now she is eating Becky's too.

The Liz is talking about food. "I really want a nice pudding...."

2005-10-14T13:44:00.000+01:00

The Liz is changing modules, from Conservation Biology to Fisheries management. And so she just went over to the undergrad office to hand in her form.
On her form The Liz had written that she is doing an MSc in Zoology.... I think that The Liz is a bit ahead of herself...

2005-10-14T12:27:00.000+01:00

The Liz is back!

She was in the library reading journal articles.

Whilst The Liz was here distracting both me and those around me from work, the library lady came in with a group of first years and gave her "how to use the print credit machine" talk, which The Liz and i have heard probably about 40,000 times now this semester.
And so The Liz thought it a good idea to recite the talk at the same time as the lady gave it.

The Liz is such a geek.

Where is The Liz?

2005-10-14T11:20:00.000+01:00

The Liz is technically supposed to be in the computer room typing up her field course.

The Liz is not in the computer room. As far as we can tell, this means that either

a) The Liz is still seeing Hefin - which would mean she has had a 2 hr and 10 minute tutorial...

b) The Liz got caught up in the "how to use voyager" session in the other comp room, and the unusually scary computer lady won't let her leave until the end of the session.

c) The Liz didn't actually get up this morning, and so has slept through all appointments.

d) The Liz is in the library looking at journal articles.

The latter is the most likely, but for amusement value, i am hoping that the answer is b), because i know how much The Liz likes the voyager computer sessions.

Will let you know the real answer when we track her (it?) down.

2005-10-14T06:57:00.001+01:00

The Liz plays slam.

The Liz is not crabby, nor has she been all day.

Observation will begin in earnest tomorrow.

The Liz returns

2005-10-14T06:38:00.000+01:00

The Liz returns.

The Liz is eating.

The Liz is out

2005-10-14T05:31:00.000+01:00

The Liz is currently out.

We'll update more later.

Dirty stop-out.