Keep Britain Tidy

Does anybody get as wound up as I do about litter? When we were travelling through South America it was like touring through a rubbish tip. I never seen so much garbage, and so little disregard for the environment. It really is about survival out there and they think nothing of throwing their rubbish on the floor, out of the bus window etc. They don't even try to do it discreetly, they don't need to as everybody does it and doesn't know any better.

When we got back I didn't realise just how untidy Britain really is, it's a pit! I was doing a bit of walking before I got back to work and that's when I started to realise just how bad it really is here. There are cans, bottles, carrier bags, fag packets and just litter in general strewn everywhere. There is literally tonnes of the stuff and it is EVERYWHERE! On my drive into work now I go through the little villages rather than try and get caught up in the school run. It's a really nice drive round the country lanes, passing fields with little lambs and even the office I work in is in a rural setting surrounded by rolling hills and greenery. The other morning I was driving behind a Ford Focus and all of a sudden I started seeing litter in the road. I was totally incensed when I realised that it was the driver of the car that was blatantly throwing his rubbish out of the window, with no regard whatsoever for the environment. I felt like driving after him and having a lot off, but whats the point??

Any road..

It's Easter Sunday now, I started this blog last week and realised how boring it was so I decided to stop it. It is really difficult carrying on a blog about your every day existence, because in reality that is all it is, an existence. Got up, went to work, came home watched telly went to bed and did it all again the next day.

We have just been out with 'the family' as it's my mum and dad's 41st wedding anniversary, we also went out with Kirsty's mum and dad as it was Karen's B'Day yesterday. It was lovely we had a BIG carvery and it was spot on, the only thing that spoiled the day was a FAT anti-smoker. Now I'm not a smoker but each to their own, I'm a lot happier that it's now banned from pubs as there is nothing worse than going home stinking of smoke. My mum and Kirsty's went outside for a fag before their lunch and while they were out there a (fat) woman walked past and expressed her views on smoking, which was something along the lines of 'dirty smokers' nothing was said back but then the same woman came back and gave my mum and K's a mouthful and said that she 'hopes they both die of cancer' Well for a couple of women who were out trying to celebrate their wedding anniversary and Birthday I'd say it was a bit harsh. Alright we all have our own views and fair do's that she called em dirty smokers, but to wish that upon them. To Karens credit she did come straight back at her with some expletives and reference to the womans size, but even so it was very uncalled for and we were all a bit annoyed about it. Luckily the lovely lunch more than made up for the fat womans remarks.

On Friday Ben, Dan and Cookie came up for a night on the razzle dazzle, again it was a good night but the weather was lousy. We had planned to go into town the next day, but it was agreed that we had all had a little bit too much to drink, to fully appreciate the copious amount of £ shops in Hull. Don't worry though kids there will probably be twice as many next time you come up, Hull people love £ shops. I do remember trying to convince Ben and Dan to move up to Hull, you would think I was an estate agent the way I was rattling on at them, so apologies for the rant. That said though you would have felt a lot better on Saturday morning if you hadn't had a 2.5 hour drive to do back to Droitwich, we have some great fish and chips here too ;o)

Carry on Camping

I can't believe it's Sunday night again already, these 2 day weekends need a review!!

We have had a bit of a nightmare weekend this week with cars but I can't be bothered to go into all the detail and tell you about it. Suffice to say, it's going to cost money :o(

I still haven't been paid yet as I actually started my job on pay day, so the only money I have had since we returned from our jollies is £200, courtesy of the tax payer. Roll on the 20th March!! We have managed to get saving, well I say saving, my parents have very kindly and generously donated 1k of their hard earned cash (and believe me it is hard earned as my mum is a nurse!!) to our mortgage fund, so we officially have 'savings' People keep asking us about the wedding, but the wedding is not as important at the moment as us buying our own house is. I could hardly expect Matt to carry me over the threshold of somebody elses house when we tie the knot could I? So once we have a house we will set a date for the big day, we hope to achieve both within the next 18 months, so Jo and Di you wont have to wait too long to buy your hats!

I'm loving my new job, I spend most days putting processes in place for our new call centre and trying to recruit some staff. I have managed to secure 2 up to now and have another to interview on Tuesday. The settling in period is well and truly over too and last week I was dealing with customer complaints. I'd forgotten just how much I love Customer Service and sorting problems out, my phone never stopped ringing last week and I've only been there 3 weeks! It's also great talking to people who want help and advice on their motor homes and caravans and finding out where people are going on their travels, it's not like a job. I'll tell you what I can give Judith Chalmers a run for her money! I did get a bit of unexpected news last week though, that I wasn't really expecting, and that is a trip to Barcelona!! Not sure if I mentioned this on my last blog... anyway we have a supplier of awnings (google it for all you non campers!!) in Barcelona and we are going out to their factory sometime soon. We also have a supplier who is based in Bradford, I think I'll opt out of that one, for obvious reasons!!

Matt has finally stopped spending money and buying gadgets, I think he's getting it out of his system. He did buy me a iPod Nano for getting a job which came as a complete surprise. I hadn't even worked out how to use my new phone or boot my laptop up before I had another gadget to contend with. I've taken all his bank cards away from him now, it's for his own good!

Some of our friends are coming up to Hull for Good Friday, it really will be GOOD Friday for them as they're from Droitwich and nothing ever really happens there. I think somebody from Droitwich once applied for a passport, and then somebody from Droitwich passed their driving test and even contemplated buying a car, they have also just got an Aldi supermarket there so it is an up and coming town, I think most of the houses there have electricity now too, although there are still a few locals who are struggling to adapt.
We will be showing our mates the cultural delights of The Avenues, and the many bars and restaurants that we frequent. I think it's safe to say we are going to have a 'cracking' Easter weekend!!

If you don’t like computers or technology then don’t read this!

Now then! It has been an absolute age since I've blogged, in fact I know exactly when it was, the 22nd Dec 2007. Michelle has blogged a massive 16 times since then and as usual her blogs are a lot more interesting than mine. In fact ‘I’m getting bored just trying to write this and I’m only 3 sentences in! I remember reading “Palace Fans Blog” a while back, where he said he’s getting quite “blogged down” with all this blogging business; “nothing interesting to say”, “can’t be bothered telling people about mundane, every day life stuff”, “not allowed to slag off work as some regular readers are from work, and I might get sacked”, etc.etc. Well I’m not stupid enough to slag off work on here, and to be perfectly honest, I’ve got nothing to slag work off about (at the moment!) as things are going well. I promised myself I wouldn’t get (as) cynical as I used to be and definitely wouldn’t get stressed anymore. There’s people in Bolivia who live at 4500m above sea level in concrete huts, with no running water, heating, let alone a 50inch plasma tv and 4 computers under one roof (more on later!)

So what shall I write about then? Well there’s not a lot I can write about except maybe my new PS3!!. At this point I have to apologise in advance to Michelle and Kirsty as to be honest they’re getting sick to the back teeth of me and Stewart talking about gadgets, tv, computers, routers, WEP, DLNA, PVD, BluRay, HD, etc. So, sorry girls.

So on we go. You probably don’t know this but a vast amount of my time during the last two weeks in Chiang Mai was talking and thinking about technology with Alan (from eComet). The remainder of my time was spent sunbathing, eating Thai food, and drinking Chang beer usually in that order. Anyway, back to technology. Alan is, like myself, and Palace Fan for that matter, an Apple geek. We love to talk, think, live, breathe and dream about Apple computers, iPods, iPhones, and iAnything. I can understand Michelle showing no interest in these conversations and to be fair I show no interest in shopping conversations, or discussions about applying foundation cream before blusher. In case your wondering we do have a lot of things in common though, we both love travelling, obviously, reading, watching films, walking, eating, drinking, sleeping, I could go on. Another point worth mentioning is that Alan is such an Apple lover that even his wife is called Apple! And along a similar line, Palace Fan called his first-born Max, get it Macs, Max?

Anyway, back to Chiang Mai. One of the things I promised myself when we got back and had earned some money was a games machine of some sort, be it an XBOX360 or a PS3. Now I’ve always favoured Sony Playstations and have owned all of them at some point. I sold my PS2 before we left for the bargain price of £30 to Wellsy from eComet. I hadn’t used it for ages and knew that it would be obsolete by the time we returned. There seems to be a massive debate at the moment in various forums over which of the two games machines are better, XBOX or PS3. There are all sorts of factors, which I won’t bore you with here, to consider. To be honest I think the XBOX is probably winning at the moment, for two very good reasons; there are more games out and the Live/Online play looks better than the PS3. New games are usually written for the XBOX and then ported across to PS3, with the old PS2 this was the other way round. However, one of the main reasons I opted for the PS3 was the Bluray player. Anyone who is remotely interested in TV/DVD will know that Bluray was declared the victor in the High Definition DVD wars (not to be confused with the War on terror that has probably had less coverage!). So, now that Toshiba has thrown in the towel it seemed a good idea to opt for a games machine with a built-in player. It’s worth noting too, that the Bluray player in the PS3 is by all accounts a pretty damn fine one. I remember when I bought my PS2, with build-in DVD player, and DVD was really taking off at the time. However the player in the PS2 was absolute sh*te; every film watched through it had a slight green tinge. This worked fine with the George Romero classic “Dawn of the Dead” as he purposely filmed it to give everything a green tinge, but anything else was appalling. I suppose Shrek would have looked quite decent though!

I’ve read that not many of the games out currently stretch the PS3 to it’s limits, but this will change over the next 12 months, when the developers get to grips with all the technology. Incidentally, the games that I’ve played on the PS3 look pretty damn fine, so I’m looking forward to the next 12 months. It’s not just about the games though anymore, as now this black box is supposed to be the centre of your universe, or as they call it a media hub. You can surf the net, look at your photos, watch tv through it (or you can when Sony release the Play TV attachment in a couple of months), stream music/video from your PC/Mac. Now this topic deserves another blog on it’s own and that would be really boring. I spent most of last week trying to get the streaming working from the iMac to the PS3. This is where XBOX wins again as this is a lot easier to do. I’ve seen Ben’s working and it is pretty cool. Obviously a Mac isn’t as straightforward as a PC and of course it didn’t connect to the PS3. I even had to download some software (Nullrivers Medialink) which I got working but only intermittently. I’ve still not finished tinkering so maybe on my next blog, sometime in May at my current rate, I’ll have sorted it. I’m sure it’s something on the router, and my theory is that the traffic coming from the PS3 is caning the router which thinks it’s a Denial of Service attack and then just blocks it.

So, the PS3 is sitting underneath Stewarts brand new 50” Pioneer plasma TV. The picture quality on the games is absolutely stunning and the TV is not even full HD. It’s only 720p, the maximum is 1080p, although this is a bit of a sore point in the house, as it means Stew will be wanting another TV in about 12 months. (If Kirsty’s reading this, which I doubt as it’s turned into a rant about technology, she’s probably cursing me at this point! Sorry Kirsty!). I’ve been playing a game called Heavenly Sword last week in between fiddling with the router settings. It’s the usual story; lots of hacking and slashing, fighting medieval-type knights with huge swords, and generally trashing everything in sight. There’s one scene where you can smash food-laden tables up, and then pick up the food and throw it at the enemies. I picked up what looked like a grapefruit, threw it at a huge shield bearing knight. Needless to say it did little damage and he followed up with a skull-crushing blow to my head. Oh yeah, the main character in this game is a girl, I can’t remember her name, who wears a bikini (or something similar) and wields, yes you’ve guessed it a Heavenly Sword. She is hard as nails and some of the moves she pulls off are fantastic. I don’t know how she does it though as I’m just pressing buttons as fast as I can in any order. It seems to work though as I’m on the 6th level now.

The Bluray movies look even better. I’ve rented the BBC Planet Earth series, the one that BBC constantly broadcast on the BBC HD preview channel on SKY. I’m not that much of an AV geek like Stewart is and will settle for a fairly decent picture on a TV, but when you see this it just blows you away. You find yourself not really concentrating on the DVD itself, but just marvelling over the picture quality. “Look at that ant in the background, look how detailed it looks, you can even see the hairs on its legs”. This reminds me of a classic Carry on Film joke; it’s the one when they’re all going on holiday. One guy Bernard Bresslaw, I think, says to another, possibly Kenneth Williams, whilst sitting on the plane and looking out of the window, “Look at those people down there they look like ants”. The other replies “They are ants, we haven’t taken off yet! Classic.

The only downer is that Bluray disks cost about £20, so it’s not even worth thinking about upgrading all your existing DVDs to Bluray, like everyone upgraded VHS to DVD. I’ll probably wait a while before I buy any Bluray disks to be honest as I’m not willing to pay anymore than £10 for a film. Currently I/We rent them from Lovefilm.com which works out pretty well. You can rent games from them too, so even better. You can have any 2 films at home for as long as you want. You send them back when you’ve finished with them and then the next 2 off your list turn up. All the postage is free too. You can add what you want to your list and prioritise them. Most of the time they do send you what you want in the right order, although sometimes if you have a 5 disk series in your list, like Lost for instance, they send you them in the wrong order. You end up watching the end of the series finale before you’ve seen the start, although in the case of Lost I don’t think it makes much difference do you?

So that’s about it really; turned out to be one of my longer blogs, but I’m sure most of you are thinking it’s my dullest blog. Maybe I should have called it “If you don’t like computers or technology then don’t read this!”. In fact that’s what I’ll do, I’ll call it that and hope that only Palace Fan, Stew, Geoff, Ben and Alan reads it! If you have got this far down and you don’t like technology then sorry, but to quote Little Britain “ I did warn you!”

Adios

P.S. There’s over 1600 words in this blog! I used to struggle in GCSE English to write 400 words on “Discuss Wilfred Owen’s poetry and his use of alliteration and onomatopoeic phrases in relation to the First World War”. It’s amazing how much you can write when you’re not put under pressure or the subject is boring!

Trailer Park Trash

"Editors Note - I've been going through some of our old posts and adding relevant (in most cases) pictures. Now we all know Britney is trailer park trash but to be fair to the girl I thought I'd at least put a fairly decent picture of her on this post"

Talk about feeling the earth move! We was in bed last night and you know what it's like when you're half asleep? Well I was aware of movement in the bed and in my semi conscious state decided to blame Matt, as he is prone to a bit of fidgeting. Well this was like no fidgeting I've ever experienced before and the bed was literally shaking and juddering. I said to Matt 'what are you doing?' to which he replied 'it's not me it's you!' As I started to wake up I knew that it was some kind of earth quake we were experiencing, as just after the big judders I started to feel some slight tremors too. Anyway not one to be kept from my slumber I just fell back to sleep and didn't think any more about it, until this morning. I put the BBC news on and there was a scene in Lincoln, that was being broadcast live and there was rubble in the street. Then they started talking about the quake, so I woke Matt up and told him that neither of us was guilty of fidgeting. Fancy that though! Anyway it has been the main topic of conversation all day at work and on the radio and I can honestly say I'm sick of hearing about it now.

We're starting to get back into a kind of routine now, especially now we're both back at work. I'm finding the constraints of a 9-5 life really imposing at the moment. After 10 months of doing our own thing I guess it was always going to be difficult. We are already starting to talk about holidays, we're not going far though probably a week in The Lakes to start with, and maybe a long weekend in Bonnie Scotland too. We both want to see more of England now we have travelled the world as there is so much beauty and heritage on our own doorstep.

We are also going on a stint 'darn sarf' in April to meet up with some of Matt's old Uni mates, one of whom I've already met at Reading a couple of years ago, he probably wont recognise me without the muck and big tide mark around my neck. The other mate I've not met, although I've been reliably informed I will get on with him 'cos he's 'from the North!' So that should be a good weekend.

My new job is going really well, I'm starting to piece things together. There is so much gear involved in camping, it's mesmerising. I have poached an old colleague to come and work with me, Keelie. She came in for an interview on Monday and is starting in a couple of weeks, I'm really looking forward to working with her again as she is an absolute star. When we were in the interview I mentioned to my boss about some supplier training, Keelie's eyes lit up when he said that he would fly us out to Spain to some of the factories and we could tag a long weekend onto the end of it. There's bound to be some perks working in the leisure industry?! Oh I remember the days when I was working for Eurocamp cleaning the seals of the windows with a cotton bud and scrubbing the shower tray with a tooth brush, God knows whose tooth brush it was. I don't know if anybody else shares my enthusiasm for camping/caravanning, but I think there's something really exciting about buying a packet of bacon that you are going to cook on a camp stove and then wash the pans in cold water, and I don't even eat the stuff. For anybody that is stuck for some inspiration as to where to holiday this year, try it, you will love it. You don't have to go on the trailer park at Withernsea either, you can go to most places in Europe, or why not go long haul and spend a couple of weeks caravanning with the Ozzies, cozzies and mozzies.

I can sing now I'm winning!

Well I started my new job on Wednesday, at a company called Discover Leisure, they are a company who deal in caravans, motorhomes and anything else to do with camping. I am the new Customer Service Team Leader, what a result!

I first heard about the job when I went to register at a recruitment agency, Beardshaw Murray. We talked through my CV and chatted about what sort of role I was looking for, what experience I had etc. The recruitment consultant then told me of this opportunity that had come up with a leisure company, she told me all the details and said that the guy was looking for somebody who was well travelled and had a genuine interest in the outdoors. We both agreed that it had my name all over it. I was really excited when I left the agency as up until this point I hadn't really seen anything that I wanted to do. I had been to an interview at the infamous Welcome Finance, but if I'm honest it was the last place I wanted to work. It is full of ex-Comet staff and after a fatal blow dealt to me by an ex colleague I really was looking to move away from all things to do with 'Britains most trusted electrical retailer'.

My interview at the agency was on the Thursday and on the following Monday I got a phone call to say that I had an interview the following Tuesday. I was over the moon. I did the prep, read up on the company, revisited all my work experience, skills, strengths, achievements you name it I read it, I thought my head would explode I'd read so much stuff. On the Monday before my interview I had to go see my retarded mate at the Job Centre to sign on. Sure enough he was his usual retarded incompetent self, we went through the script, what have you been doing to find work? what websites have you looked at ra ra ra. At this point I told him that I had an interview the following day and that I didn't expect to be seeing his ugly mug in another 2 weeks. It made no difference to him, there are 1000's more unemployed scrotes in Hull that will always ensure that he is never on the other side of his desk claiming Job Seekers allowance.

On the day of my interview I was a little bit nervous, but was looking forward to having the interview and just getting it all over with, it was over a week now that I had known about the job/interview so I really was sick of thinking about it. It went really, really well and it was more of an informal chat than a structured interview. I chatted about my travels, my time at Eurocamp in Italy and all the other experience I had in Customer Service. It really did go well and when I left Trevor, (my new boss) said I will give you a call this afternoon and let you know. It was such a relief to walk out of there and I was feeling pretty confident about the way things had gone. A couple of hours later I got a call from the agency to say I had been offered the job and could I start tomorrow!! I was a little taken aback by the pace at which everything was happening, but after 10 months off work I decided that I might as well get on with it. So that's what I did, I started work last Wednesday, and I love it. I have no team at the moment and have full responsibility for recruiting, I have poached an ex colleague already, I know it's a bit naughty but hey it's dog eat dog in this world!

It is such a good feeling to be back at work, it was a lonely time being unemployed when everybody around me was busy getting on with it. Agencies don't return your calls and you don't even get rejection letters for anything you apply for, not even a thanks but no thanks. But that's all in the past now, I don't envy anybody living in Hull who is genuinely looking for work, you have got your work cut out!

My first day at work I was late, not fashionably either! The offices are just outside of Hull so I left the house at 8.15, thinking it would allow me plenty of time to get there. Well at 8.50 I was still in Hull and wasn't even half way there, the traffic is manic in a morning with everybody taking their kids to school. Why can't they get the fluffin bus like we had to!!! Anyway I phoned ahead to let them know and have now picked out a short cut that takes 10 mins off the journey and also cuts out a lot of traffic. No I haven't got a helicopter before you ask.

All in all life is really good for us at the moment, we can now get saving to buy a hooooose in the Avenues, I've already set my heart on one down Victoria Avenue. It's a beauty, 4 bedrooms with all the period features, French doors, polished wood floors, dado rails, cast iron fire places in the bedrooms, just what we're looking for. And for all our Southern readers I have to tell you that it is a snip at 234k By the time we get our deposit saved though the house will be long gone. I've already got my eye on a few motorhomes at work too ;o)

Matt seems to be settling into the Northern way of life, he addresses everybody with 'now then'. When I look back we have just about picked our life up from Berkhamstead, packed it way for 10 months, travelled round the world and come back 'oop North' unpacked and now getting back on with it. We are back on top, even if our savings are 20k lighter. Whats 20k though when you've seen and done what we have this last year!

Back to work!

Hi all, just a quickie. I will post a blog at the weekend and tell you all about my new job. I know you'll all be really excited now (not!) It took me a very long and lonely 34 days to find a job, but it really is just what I was looking for. Will reveal all when I get a few minutes to myself!!

Giz a job

Sorry it's taken me so long to blog, it's just that I'm living a normal life like everybody else now so I'm a bit stumped for a topic! I will make an effort though as I know people are still looking us up, so thanks all you avid readers!

Well life 'Ooop North' is all I hoped it would be, it is fantastic to be 'home' where all my friends and family are. My mum and dad have never gone through so many tea bags (and cake for Matt!!) We're staying with Stew and Kirsty at the moment and that's great too, they have got a lovely big house and we have been made right at home, they've even laid us on a wide screen TV and DVD player in our room ;o)

We have spent the last couple of weeks catching up with everybody and everything, although I have to say very little changes. Everybody is still going about their day to day business while me and Matt get under everybody's feet. I have been looking for a new job, a task in itself in Hull, and I have a few 'irons in the fire' so to speak. Unless you're willing to work for 12.5k though you're a bit limited as to what you can do. Yesterday I went to the job centre to sign on for the 1st time. It was an experience in itself. I had been a week or so earlier to make a new claim and was done up like a dogs dinner as I had just had an interview at a recruitment agency. Needless to say I stuck out like a sore thumb. The guy who my appointment was with was 20 minutes late seeing me and when I finally did have the pleasure, he stunk of beer! He had very little interest in getting me a job which wouldn't have been so bad if he tried to hide the fact. Don't get me wrong I wasn't expecting to come out of there with a 30k job, company car and all the trimmings kind of job tucked under my belt, but he didn't ask me the 1st thing about me, typical male I suppose!!!!!!

So this week when I went back I had to 'sign on' and then prove what I had been doing to find work. Well believe me short of going door to door looking for jobs, I have been very busy trying to find something suitable. I had it all documented on the silly form that they give you to keep. When I sat down he asked me in his best Hull accent 'So Michelle, what ave you bin doin to find work' well this was my opening gambit, I blurted it all out, I didn't stop for breath for about 30 seconds. He was shocked, the only thing he could come back with was ' Did you remember to look in the 'Ull Daily Mail on Wednesday' (it's jobs nght in our local rag on a Wednesday, and yes of course I looked!) I told him that yes I had, but to be honest it was a load of twaddle. He then said "Well that's as good as it get's in Hull, that's Hull for yer'.

What I want to know is who employed that big hapless b*&$@rd, how can somebody as BIG (and believe me he was) and gormless as him have a job and I have to rely on the likes of him to get me back into work!! What chance have I got?, any road rant over.

We went to Hornsea at the weekend with Kirsty's mum's dog, it was great. We took him on the beach for a frisk about and he loved it. It was a freezing cold day and the wind was whipping round our ankles and through our layers, it was great to get some fresh sea air though. Another good thing about living in Hull is that you are right on the coast, well good unless there's ever a Tsunami I suppose. Tomorrow we are off up to Scarborough for the day with my folks, so that will be another bracing day no doubt.

Since we got back we have done loads of walking, when we were travelling we literally walked for miles and miles so now that we're home walking down to the local shop or into town is nothing, wheras before we went we would have just jumped in the car. Travelling does make you appreciate so many little things that we take for granted on a day to day basis.

On Sunday we went out with some people from Comet, Hull, again it was good to see so many friendly faces (some not so friendly) I had a good old hangover on Monday morning as a result, luckily there was no work though ;o)

So that's about it in a nut shell, loving life and glad to be back!