Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Cuppa Cold Tea?
At work we are in the process of getting a new computer system. The old software is 'read only', new data is being hand written, prescription requests are disappearing into a big black hole and patients are frustrated with our temporary 'book on the day' procedure. Staff are taking turns leaving the ship to attend training sessions for the new software and in the midst of all the chaos there is one major problem brewing, or not brewing should I say?
The kettle in the downstairs kitchen has broken down. For some reason it won't work. Perhaps the fuse has blown in the plug? No one has bothered to check because they're too busy worrying about where their next brew is coming from. The lost prescriptions and angry patients have soon been forgotten. All of a sudden they are no longer a problem. The lack of brewing facilities in the downstairs kitchen is the biggest nightmare of them all and even the Assistant Practice Manager has joined in with the shrills and cries in the back office. They can't have the kettle from upstairs because the upstairs boiler thingy isn't working. They must switch on theirs and wait for it to warm up before they get their thirst quenching brew. Hard times.
The kettle in the downstairs kitchen has broken down. For some reason it won't work. Perhaps the fuse has blown in the plug? No one has bothered to check because they're too busy worrying about where their next brew is coming from. The lost prescriptions and angry patients have soon been forgotten. All of a sudden they are no longer a problem. The lack of brewing facilities in the downstairs kitchen is the biggest nightmare of them all and even the Assistant Practice Manager has joined in with the shrills and cries in the back office. They can't have the kettle from upstairs because the upstairs boiler thingy isn't working. They must switch on theirs and wait for it to warm up before they get their thirst quenching brew. Hard times.
Monday, 3 January 2011
Preston's Newest Book Group!
I'm sure we're all guilty of never reading enough. The broadsheets take up all your weekend, the local rag's tittle tattle just happens to be nearby when you're on your coffee break. The television seems comforting after a hard day at the office and all your friends are on Facebook at the same time. STOP this madness! It's time to read more.
Or perhaps you read loads but from the same old genre and you need an excuse to try something new but you need some friendly encouragement?
I think all these reasons combined with missing uni is the reason I wanted to set up a book group. My mum wants to make new friends and sometimes we just need a good excuse to get out of the house on a winter's evening.
It was easy to do, pick a place, pick a time and pick a book. Text some friends the details and voila, book group up and running!
We had our first meeting in December which wasn't the best time really, everyone had festive madness to contend with but a small number of us got together to talk about Susan Hill's latest novella, The Small Hand. The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. Before you slap me for being so naughty, my boyfriend saw me admiring it and told me he'd read the author's other work and said she could write some really scarey stories. As this was a ghost story I was keen to find out more and so I chose it for our first book.
I won't let on any details in case you plan to read it yourself but it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I still enjoyed it though and found Susan to be a beautiful writer.
After discussing the book over drinks we caught up on each other's lives and went on to discuss other books. We've all got a long list of stories we want to read and authors we want to try and genres we're yet to experience. One member, my good friend, Christine has picked Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights. Many people I know adore the Dark Materials collection and respect Mr Pullman himself. I am yet to experience the 'delights' of his stories so I'm really looking forward to starting this. First thing is first though, I must complete the Twilight Saga and read Christine's copy of the short second life of bree tanner before she thinks I've stolen it!
Review of the books we read are to follow.
Or perhaps you read loads but from the same old genre and you need an excuse to try something new but you need some friendly encouragement?
I think all these reasons combined with missing uni is the reason I wanted to set up a book group. My mum wants to make new friends and sometimes we just need a good excuse to get out of the house on a winter's evening.
It was easy to do, pick a place, pick a time and pick a book. Text some friends the details and voila, book group up and running!
We had our first meeting in December which wasn't the best time really, everyone had festive madness to contend with but a small number of us got together to talk about Susan Hill's latest novella, The Small Hand. The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover. Before you slap me for being so naughty, my boyfriend saw me admiring it and told me he'd read the author's other work and said she could write some really scarey stories. As this was a ghost story I was keen to find out more and so I chose it for our first book.
I won't let on any details in case you plan to read it yourself but it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. I still enjoyed it though and found Susan to be a beautiful writer.
After discussing the book over drinks we caught up on each other's lives and went on to discuss other books. We've all got a long list of stories we want to read and authors we want to try and genres we're yet to experience. One member, my good friend, Christine has picked Phillip Pullman's Northern Lights. Many people I know adore the Dark Materials collection and respect Mr Pullman himself. I am yet to experience the 'delights' of his stories so I'm really looking forward to starting this. First thing is first though, I must complete the Twilight Saga and read Christine's copy of the short second life of bree tanner before she thinks I've stolen it!
Review of the books we read are to follow.
New year, new challenges
It's probably too late to wish everyone a Happy New Year - whoops I just did anyway. Apologies, you're probably fed up with it all by now. I know I am if I'm quite honest!
So towards the end of 2010 I finally got myself a fairly decent perm job. Hooray! It's been a good year all in all - graduating, getting employed again and of course the start of my book group (more on that in the next blog). So enough reflection and more on future thoughts.
I must confess all this job hunting has proven to be quite a distraction and little writing has been done since completing my degree. I must not fall into this trap again. So I've every intention on re-working a short story I have drafted for a competition which I missed. That way when another competition comes my way I'll have something ready and waiting for submission!
Reading - again I have lapsed on this so less television and more reading!
Facebook - I'm spending less and less time on this stupid website and intend on spending more time on here reading blogs and writing my own. I didn't spend 3 years bettering myself to regress back to social networking to while away valuable time. People need more one to one communication. I spent yesterday catching up with my cousins, I got off my ass, dragged James with me and spent a few hours with them, in person! Lavinia has made me promise James and I will go out to Majorca to see her. She no longer lives in Magaluf anymore (which James would hate and to be quite honest, I've tired of). She's living up in the mountains in a pretty idyllic Spanish village which sounds lovely. If she ends up moving to Dubai we'll just go and visit her there instead, oooh what a shame!
Blogging - as mentioned above, time for more blogging and less facebooking (repetition alert!).
MANCHESTER - I will, I will, I will, I will, I will finally move in with James. Parting company on Sunday evenings is becoming increasingly difficult :( The problem is money more than anything. There is never enough of it to go round is there? I got a bit of a shock when I got my first pay cheque on Friday, once the pension, national insurance, tax and bills have been paid you're left with very little to be getting on with.
So there you have it and lets face it, they're all pretty easy goals to obtain after what I've achieved recently. I will also be doing the usual, trying to lose weight hopelessly, be more tidy, eat less chocolate etc.
So towards the end of 2010 I finally got myself a fairly decent perm job. Hooray! It's been a good year all in all - graduating, getting employed again and of course the start of my book group (more on that in the next blog). So enough reflection and more on future thoughts.
I must confess all this job hunting has proven to be quite a distraction and little writing has been done since completing my degree. I must not fall into this trap again. So I've every intention on re-working a short story I have drafted for a competition which I missed. That way when another competition comes my way I'll have something ready and waiting for submission!
Reading - again I have lapsed on this so less television and more reading!
Facebook - I'm spending less and less time on this stupid website and intend on spending more time on here reading blogs and writing my own. I didn't spend 3 years bettering myself to regress back to social networking to while away valuable time. People need more one to one communication. I spent yesterday catching up with my cousins, I got off my ass, dragged James with me and spent a few hours with them, in person! Lavinia has made me promise James and I will go out to Majorca to see her. She no longer lives in Magaluf anymore (which James would hate and to be quite honest, I've tired of). She's living up in the mountains in a pretty idyllic Spanish village which sounds lovely. If she ends up moving to Dubai we'll just go and visit her there instead, oooh what a shame!
Blogging - as mentioned above, time for more blogging and less facebooking (repetition alert!).
MANCHESTER - I will, I will, I will, I will, I will finally move in with James. Parting company on Sunday evenings is becoming increasingly difficult :( The problem is money more than anything. There is never enough of it to go round is there? I got a bit of a shock when I got my first pay cheque on Friday, once the pension, national insurance, tax and bills have been paid you're left with very little to be getting on with.
So there you have it and lets face it, they're all pretty easy goals to obtain after what I've achieved recently. I will also be doing the usual, trying to lose weight hopelessly, be more tidy, eat less chocolate etc.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
A quickie
Well I'm skint. I'm working for pittance at the NHS on behalf of the agency. Boohoo. I miss all my uni friends and what makes it more frustrating is that they're all still working within the comforting happy learning walls of UCLan and I'm stuck working next to the old derelict spooky mental asylum in Whittingham. Oh joy!
Still the old building fascinates me and has inspired a story so we'll see what comes of it. I'm also entering a short story writing competition - 1000 words to be exact - in fact you may have heard of it as it's for the Lancashire Writing Hub. So I won't be sharing any details of that just yet - can't have anyone stealing my ideas can I?
I'm starting a reading group with friends which I'm really excited about so I better hurry up and choose our first book! It's looking like a ghost novel - there are 2 by good authors in that genre that have got my attention so far....I better hurry up and finish Nick HOrnby's Juliete, Naked. Not a bad story but it hasn't bowled me over just yet but I am only up to chapter 10 so there is still time to be impressed.
Must rush, night on the town planned with my best pal, Louise. We'll be home and tucked up in bed by midnight because neither of us can handle the pace anymore. I prefer supping real ale in olde worlde towns like York. I was there with James a few weeks back and we're going again in December. Also going to Sherwood Forest in 2 weeks too. All my xmas presents are coming from far and wide this year!!!
Catch up properly soon
Cxx
Still the old building fascinates me and has inspired a story so we'll see what comes of it. I'm also entering a short story writing competition - 1000 words to be exact - in fact you may have heard of it as it's for the Lancashire Writing Hub. So I won't be sharing any details of that just yet - can't have anyone stealing my ideas can I?
I'm starting a reading group with friends which I'm really excited about so I better hurry up and choose our first book! It's looking like a ghost novel - there are 2 by good authors in that genre that have got my attention so far....I better hurry up and finish Nick HOrnby's Juliete, Naked. Not a bad story but it hasn't bowled me over just yet but I am only up to chapter 10 so there is still time to be impressed.
Must rush, night on the town planned with my best pal, Louise. We'll be home and tucked up in bed by midnight because neither of us can handle the pace anymore. I prefer supping real ale in olde worlde towns like York. I was there with James a few weeks back and we're going again in December. Also going to Sherwood Forest in 2 weeks too. All my xmas presents are coming from far and wide this year!!!
Catch up properly soon
Cxx
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Common Sense
While sitting with friends in the Mystery Tea Shop one afternoon it was brought to my attention that the final year at uni has well and truely fried my brain. I once had a reasonable amount of common sense which seems to have been in the section of my brain that was cooked earlier this year. Thank you degree, for making me an idiot on various occasions.
Most recently for letting me destroy a table display in BHS. It was one of those 'knocking over the pyramid of baked beans' moments. Only salt and pepper mills. Thankfully they weren't made of glass so nothing broke but the shop assistant wasn't best pleased. This accident followed the one on Satuday when James gave me a can of beer to hold (I was on the bed watching a DVD) when chaos broke out. The power in my laptop was running low so I paniked and we had this comical moment as James tried to find the power lead amongst the wires for my hair straightners and hair dryer etc. Once calm had restored I saw the can, sitting on it's side on my bed and leapt up in the air shrieking. Oh yes, beer soaked duvet. It was on his side of the bed so it wasn't a complete disaster ;) I never used to be so accident prone but according to my friends other things have happened to prove my loss of 'C.S'.
My mind seems to go blank and I'm unable to do the simplest of tasks - it's very strange and frustrating. I've just read the above paragraph - paniked is wrong but I can't for the life of me remember how to spell it!
Anyway - despite this lack of brain cell I will carry on being Claire, hence the new name for my blog.
Most recently for letting me destroy a table display in BHS. It was one of those 'knocking over the pyramid of baked beans' moments. Only salt and pepper mills. Thankfully they weren't made of glass so nothing broke but the shop assistant wasn't best pleased. This accident followed the one on Satuday when James gave me a can of beer to hold (I was on the bed watching a DVD) when chaos broke out. The power in my laptop was running low so I paniked and we had this comical moment as James tried to find the power lead amongst the wires for my hair straightners and hair dryer etc. Once calm had restored I saw the can, sitting on it's side on my bed and leapt up in the air shrieking. Oh yes, beer soaked duvet. It was on his side of the bed so it wasn't a complete disaster ;) I never used to be so accident prone but according to my friends other things have happened to prove my loss of 'C.S'.
My mind seems to go blank and I'm unable to do the simplest of tasks - it's very strange and frustrating. I've just read the above paragraph - paniked is wrong but I can't for the life of me remember how to spell it!
Anyway - despite this lack of brain cell I will carry on being Claire, hence the new name for my blog.
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