Soooo….. Update!!

Rightio I know I haven’t been updating much but I will do so from now on! I has a new puppy! Not so new now, though, we’ve had him for about 5 weeks or so. (Surely it’s not that long since I updated?) He is 5 months old.

Here’s a photo of him driving my car. He’s a terrier cross, that’s all the info we were given from the RSPCA. Although when I was in the pet shop last week they said he looks like a jack russel/corgi, it makes sense too. The RSPCA named him Pepe and we changed it to Toby. But after noticing how he LOVES his football I’m thinking we made a mistake in changing it! (Pepe is the name of a footballer, goalkeeper, I think).

When we first got him we wondered how on earth we would cope but he has settled down a lot, thankfully. By watching his body language sometimes though we think he used to get hit by his previous owners, for example when you lift your hand up – not to hit him, I’d never hit him – like when you’re reaching for something he runs off and he absolutely hates dads stick which he uses to walk with. I don’t understand how people can hurt animals, makes me sad just thinking about it. He’s settled down very well now though and is a happy dog, everyone comments on how lovely he is. He can be very stubborn when he wants to though. I guess that’s the jack russell in him.

I’ve started college now, studying Biology, Chemistry, Psychology A Levels. I’m finding the sciences pretty difficult but I’m keeping on top of it. The psychology is going ok, I’ve studied a lot of it already when I did my AS Level in in 3 years ago, but I couldn’t carry it on this year for some reason so had to start the 2 years again.

I used to work fulltime in the sheltered housing complex but then I had to cut back my hours to just 7 a week when I started college. I’ve been looking for flexible work to go around my college hours and it would be a weight off my mind if I get a job.

Jim and I are going well. Seen a lot of him over the summer and it’s been great. We’ve done so much – went camping, climbed a mountain (photos here), been to Liverpool, London, Brecon, went to Go Ape for a friends birthday (will show them pics another time), saw Les miserables in the West End, row a boat (another story for another time! ha) Really enjoyed it. This weekend I’m at Jims, why am I sitting at the laptop writing a loooong blog entry, you ask? It’s because he’s watching his beloved Liverpool playing against West Ham (I think, it says ‘W Ham’, anyway!!) I don’t suppose I mind, as long as I get to watch The X Factor. =D

Tags: life, people, thoughts

Murders in the Neighbourhood

A woman under police guard in hospital on suspicion of murdering her four-year-old daughter.

The 34-year-old, named locally as Zoe David, was arrested after the body of Zoe-Anne was found by police at their home in Newport, south Wales on Friday.
Ms David was taken to hospital with serious but not life threatening injuries.

This news has shocked the area I live in, it’s practically around the corner. You never think something like this will happen locally it’s always in another city, another country, never on your own doorstep. The latest news is the young girl died of strangulation, and the mother tried to kill herself afterwards. I can’t imagine what must have been going through her mind for her even to think of doing this to her little girl. We’ll need to wait until the psychiatric report comes back but this woman is going to have to live with this for the rest of her life, that in itself is a punishment.

I can’t say I know the family, but that doesn’t lessen the shock. We always think we’re invincible, that we’ll never come of harm. Our family and friends will never come of harm and we’ll all here forever dodging all the badness but it doesn’t work like that. Goes to show that no one knows what is around the corner and one minute everything in life can be peachy then the next it’s all smashed to pieces. It can take weeks, months, years to be who you want to be, go where you want to go, and only one second for it to crash down. Life’s not fair but then, what is?

Humans are strong creatures, I believe in that. I don’t believe in weakness, in all actuality, I believe the people who feel weak are usually the strongest.

I’m not sure what to think of the mother in this recent news. Of course killing her daughter is absolutely unforgivable and for that she should face the consequences of her actions but then at the same time she couldn’t have been in a good state of mind. We can look at people from the outside and they seem sound, but at the end of the day we don’t know what’s going on inside their head. The only person who knows that is the one who’s head it belongs to. Just need to wait now and see how the case progresses

Tags: lifes, news, people

Nosebleeds, Makeup and Mint Imperials

I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache. I have a headache.

Work today was nonstop busy. Started with handover which took an hour because the person giving it just couldn’t stop gassing, then started our rounds which took 3 hours then we had three tenants who were unwell, one with heart problems, other severe constipation and another one who had really bad nose bleeds. I spent a lot of time with the one who had nose bleeds and it was due to her not taking her BP medication, although she wouldn’t admit to it. Oh no, would she heck. I spent a good amount of time in her flat yesterday trying to explain and the evidence she wasn’t taking her medication properly were right there infront of her. Tonight after spending time in her flat trying to explain and comfort her I think I needed the BP medication to lower mine! Haha

My arm has been hurting like CRAZY the past few days. It’s hurting right now. Last night I tried putting a support bandage around it and it seemed to help a little but not much, I just couldn’t settle down last night at all and was up about 4am mastering Suduku!! I actually finished a puzzle too YAY!!!

Was talking to my Red Cross manager and they’ve managed to find me a makeup kit for the casualty simulation and I’m todging over that. Can’t wait to play with it. I was asked to go for an exhibition for first aid to do makeup and casualty stuff but it’s the weekend I’m going to Widnes to spend time with my lovely boyfriend and have a BBQ etc if weather is right, been planned for a while now.

Anyway my mum is visiting at the moment and she’s eating Mint Imperials. Driving me absolutely crazy. Eat quietly. Stop crunching. Suck the sweet until it’s tiny then swallow it, ok? Please? As if.

Tags: jobs/careers, life, people

Two Idiots

Current Mood: Skeptical

I have had the ‘pleasure’ of being in the presence of two idiots in the last 24 hours. A plank on the motorway and my dad.

Story Of the Plank On the Motorway.

I was driving to Cardiff via the M4 late last night and it was dark (obviously). There are some major work contruction work around this part and as a result, only two lanes are operating. I was in the outside lane. In the nearside lane to the front of me, was a car and infront of him was a lorry. I saw the lorry slam on his brakes then swerve half into the next lane (one I was in) then of course the car behind hit the brakes and managed to get into the other lane thankfully there was enough room otherwise it would have been ugly! What caused this? A cyclist who has the IQ of a plank who decided to cycle on the motorway, didn’t have any lights or nothing, not that it would have made it excusable if he did. He wasn’t even cycling straight he was all over the lane, good thing the lorry driver was looking and the roads weren’t that busy otherwise there’d have definitely been a pile up.

Story of My Dad

Sigh. Where do I start? Well to sum it all up – his relationship with woman less than half his age who cannot speak much English, who’s family is taking my dad for a ride. Yeah I think that pretty much sums it up. Don’t get me wrong, the age isn’t really a bother to me but everything else is. I could rant about her family for ages but this post would end up extremely long so I’ll just include the outlines. He has known her and the family for a year and at the start they were really lovely, but then they started hinting towards money problems and we agreed to give them a loan. They promised they would start paying it back the next month but they haven’t yet, I’ve been told I’ll get a first payment this month – we’ll see. I’ve heard it before. L (dad’s fiancee) is from another country and she went there for a few months to look after a relative of hers, she kept putting off the date because she couldn’t afford the fare so my dad paid for her ticket because he missed her etc.

 The day before she is due back, her family asks if I can drive with them to Bristol Airport to pick her up, because I can talk English and may be useful if they get any problems along the way. I was ok with that. No problem. On the day, about 15 minutes BEFORE we were going to pick L up, her family ask if they can borrow my sat nav because theirs was faulty (I got it back straight after the journey, made sure of that). Asked to borrow petrol money as they didn’t have enough to get there and back (they ended up paying themselves). Dropped the bombshell that the father who was driving the car didn’t have a full UK license, only a provisional and wanted me, as a full license holder, to show my license if anything goes wrong. WHAT THE HECK!??? This really irritated me and I was certainly NOT happy. So they wanted me to go because of my English, huh? Yeah. Right. And I was born yesterday too. They are a nice family in the way that they don’t want,want,want all the time but they do expect a lot from us, and I worry my dad is falling into it.

I know they have been planning to marry for a while – L’s family had a lot to do with that, pushing my dad, he is quite content just living together or something. But now he is going for the marriage, and tonight L came by and dad asked me to go into the other room and shut the door so I couldn’t listen. I did listen. He said to L they can get married next year and he has … thousand to help them both settle down. I didn’t catch the amount, but it ended with thousand. He ust have got a loan or something because we don’t have that sort of cash. He is so besotted with her, I have bought up my concerns with him and he’s convinced L is for real. I pretend I’m “happy” when she’s here but deep down I don’t like her, and I’m getting tired of him talking about her. But he’s happy. She’s happy. I don’t know… Maybe calling my dad an idiot is a bit extreme and wrong, I just think he’s been badly sucked in and I worry he’s going to get hurt. I just don’t like the family. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Tags: driving, family, feelings, life, people, ranting, thoughts

Daily Express | UK News :: Britons swap cake for curry as our traditions die out

Daily Express | UK News :: Britons swap cake for curry as our traditions die out.

We do try to stick to a Sunday Roast (81% do) and try to have Fish’n'Chips once a week (21% do)… to be honest I was part of the 95% who didn’t know what ‘Sunday Best’ meant…  I remember playing Hopscotch etc when I was in infants school… as for conkers I didnt play with them but I knew of people who did in high school….

I do keep a diary, well, it’s kept online (well, you’re reading it) which I think a lot of people are turning to nowadays… also to add to the stats: More than half still take British seaside holidays, 47% watch pantomines, 39% celebrate Bonfire Night.

I think the article is very right saying the traditions are going to change, social networking sites, weekly curries and Sunday Shopping are definitely the ‘in’.

Tags: life, news, people

Meh

Well as many of our friends know (I’m friends with most of Callums friends, and vice versa), we have split up. I won’t go into all the details here but we’re still on talking terms, which is good. I feel really crap about the whole thing to be honest, my heart is conflicting with my head and normally I listen to my heart but I’ve decided to go with my head and think it’s the right thing to do. Thinking you’re ‘right’ doesn’t always make you happy though, certainly isn’t the case here.

2009 has got off to such a crap start, my head feels overwhelmed with everything and I can’t think straight. I don’t know what I’m doing, where I’m going, what to do next or anything. Was hoping to make this year productive but now… I feel so unmotivated, it’s hard. Really hard. Got my payslip today too and was expecting a decent one as I’ve worked all through Christmas, full time, including triple pay for Christmas/New Year but what I got paid was absolutely appauling. The worst payslip I have had since I’ve been there.

When are things going to go right? Seriously. NOTHING has gone right.

Yes, I’m in one of them moods. Ignore me.

Tags: feelings, jobs/careers, life, people, thoughts

Life is fragile

Quite a few things have happened since my last entry, maybe I’ll type it all up in a next entry but today my mind is fixated on a certain thing and I just need to get it out, I guess. I do enjoy my job, but sometimes it can be depressing and emotional and sometimes, certain things happen that really make you think and you leave work but your head is still there. Of course it’s important to be able to detach yourself from your work and to unwind when you get home, normally I can do this, but when I see the same people everyday, you do grow a bond with them no matter how hard you try not to; you do care about them, you do want to ensure they are kept healthy, you do talk to them, you do laugh with them, you are friends with them. For some of them, we are the closest thing they have to family.

When you see someone slipping down that slope of a serious illness it is a horrible thing to witness. When they’re going through all sorts of different treatment but still carry on with their daily life, laughing and joking, asking you HOW YOU ARE, when it is them putting on the brave face through what is a terrible time. When inside they are so tired they can hardly keep their eyes open and they feel so ill, makes you realise just how strong we, as a species, really are.

Past few days this lady hasn’t been eating nor drinking much, we have tried to encourage, sat next to her and talked while she was sipping the tea or taking a few mouthfuls of food. Today this lady is so weak, she couldn’t move out of bed, she said today, “I don’t want food. I don’t want water. I want to die. I’ve had enough, I just want to die”. She has stopped taking her medication (her own decision), and her course of chemotherapy has been stopped. Tomorrow the doctor/nurse is going to set up a syringe driver and judging from her current condition we’ve been told she has a week, or possibly 2 weeks left to live.

It’s hard, sometimes we’re faced with hard situations but we have comfort in knowing the last few weeks of her life we will be there for her and she need not be alone. She’s scared, weak, but deep down just wants it to be over, she’s been fighting for so long. Now she feels it’s time to give up.

Life is fragile, every life needs to be handled with care.

Tags: life, people, thoughts

Facebook and People

Well, Callum is sitting beside me and we’re both on our laptops, on Pet Society – an application on Facebook. Callum is in the ‘Stylists’ store and is clicking the ‘randomise’ button looking at the different styles you can make your Pet look like, some are cute, others are just plain scary. My ‘Orange Pie’ (name of pet) is betting in the Stadium and has won three times on the trot. Now she has bet on ‘Sketchy’ (Callum’s pet) to win a race and wonders if he is going to ruin her stream of good luck!

I forget I have these smileys… I need to use them more often.

Anyway, today Callum, dad and myself were invited to a nieghbours for a few hours. The family only recently moved to the UK from Europe and they are a lovely family. They are quite a big family and only 2 of them speak good English (the others know bits and pieces) so these two ended up doing the translating for the family. They were showing us their family video and shown us around the house, invited us to stay for lunch but we said we would another time.

I’m tired today, and my cough is still there it’s driving me crazy. I still can’t taste food which is annoying especially as it’s Christmas and there’s all sorts of yummy food around.

Hmm… “Sketchy finished in third place”. Ruining my lucky run.

Tags: christmas, health, life, people, thoughts

A Day at the Races

Today I was providing first aid cover at a racecourse, it was a large race meeting today so they were expecting thousands of people, and it was thousands of people they got. Thankfully we didn’t get many casualties but typically, the last race something just had to happen…

The race was 10 minutes late starting and what had happened was in the paddocks, one of the horses who was due out to race went a bit crazy, flung the jockey off him who fell onto the floor, kicked another person in the paddock in the head and then fell onto the jockey, lodging him between the horse and the wall. Didn’t sustain any apparent head injuries and was talking etc but was in a lot of pain in her hip area. She was administered morphine by the onsite doctor and strapped to a board to stablise her and then had to wait for the ambulance, the race happened and the meeting drew to a close by the time the ambulance got there, thankfully there were plenty of trained personel in the jockeys hospital (on site) including 1 red cross paramedic, two private ambulance paramedics, one county paramedic (only saw one… there was probably another around, though), a doctor and a nurse. Oh, and the trainer decided to say hello too, he was very upset and wouldn’t leave the jockey when we asked him to step back, in the end he spoke to the doctor he was most concerned about any possible spinal injuries, I guess seeing the jockey strapped to the board was a concern to him, but the doctor reassured him sayinng it was more of a precaution than anything and to stablise her. Anyway off the jockey went to hospital, the other person who was kicked in the head was surprisingly ok.

I got to drive one of the ambulances today. I was a bit reluctant because I was a bit nervous, haven’t drove this one before! My feet could hardly reach the pedals and the handbrake was in an odd place! Stalled it a few times and I think I scared one of the guys I was in the ambulance with, because when we got out of the ambulance and had to get back in, he jumped in the drivers seat before I had the chance to. Haha. I wasn’t THAT bad. Seriously, I wasn’t.

I’m waiting for Callum now, he’s staying a few days and I’m picking him up in 20 minutes, then going to my mums to drop off her Christmas presents.

Tags: driving, life, people, red cross

Merry Christmas!

Current Mood: Crazy

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Hope you’re all having a good day. =)

I am feeling a lot better today. Thank goodness. I felt so ill last week I can’t put it into words. On Saturday I started panicking because it was almost Christmas and I was nowhere near ready for it, so I dragged myself out of bed and went to town but I was home within 30 minutes. I felt so weird, I couldn’t think properly at all and I just needed to get home and as soon as I did I collapsed onto the sofa. Totally draining. My nose is still blocked one minute, running the next, which is a pain but heck, I can’t complain. My poor boss has it now and is refusing to take time off work (Christmas time and all that) but I am just really hoping I don’t catch it again!!!

Christmas Day has actually gone a lot better than I thought it would. I was finishing off my wrapping last night and realised I have actually bought a lot of presents, it’s no wonder my bank looks like it has taken a battering and when I checked to see if I got paid the other day, it seemed like I hadn’t (I was paid, just I spent so much it didn’t look like it…). Thing is, with Christmas I understand it’s all commercialised these days which, to be honest, I don’t like but then at the same time, I do like treating my friends and family and buying gifts for them… it’s just the effect it has on the bank. Ouch. >_>

Anyway today I was working. I had to dress up as St. Trinians today so there I was in my knee high boots, black skirt, fishnets, shirt, carelessly tied tie and scruffed up hair in bunches. Father Christmas popped by on his way home to drop off some presents for the tenants then we served a 3 course lunch and the boss let us home early. I didn’t bother getting changed, couldn’t be bothered. We looked like a bunch of hookers if the nieghbours wanted to talk, let them, I really couldnt care less! Haha

I was surprised by the presents I got today. I have a new Samsung SGH-G600 and it looks so sexy. Also got 9 pairs of socks (I love socks, so I actually don’t mind getting them for Christmas!), chocolates, wine, cute puppy themed diary/calendar, clothes.

Thing is… it’s not almost 9pm and it makes you think… all this stress and worry is coming to an end. All the headaches and worrying, lack of sleep for ONE DAY IN THE YEAR. It’s crazy. *Sighs* I think I’ll turn to the shopping channels. I watched Bid TV out of curiousity the other night and was shocked at the prices!! One lovely necklace went down from £300 to £50 or something… and there was a globe that went down from £1,100 to £81 :O I need to stop watching or I’ll end up buying and I can’t afford to. >_>

Anyway, Happy Christmas everyone! Have a drink for me, seeing as I’m driving in the morning to work I can’t (and wouldn’t, anyway) take the risk. No doubt there will be plenty of police on patrol in morning randomly stopping people and breathalising them.

Tags: christmas, health, life, people, thought