Storm.

I feel good.

What a beautifully, refreshing day of laziness I've had.

It's been warm... the sun has tried to nudge it's way through the clouds. It's close, humid, like there is a storm bubbling... or maybe that's residual energy from last night's bizarre conversations.

I had an apology yesterday. 

Unexpected and out of the blue. 

This has happened twice to me in the last two years... the former was perhaps more necessary than the latter... but at least it came. It's small... sometimes a bit insignificant but it helps to know that I'm not completely crazy and people are capable of self awareness.

I've surprised myself by accepting both.  I can be pretty hateful when hurt.  Time passes and you realise you are better off anyway, but an apology is still welcome from some.

I wish these people well- genuinely- despite them playing no further part in my life.

People are in your past for a reason. 

More so if you're a lying, manipulative, egotistical, illogical, unapologetic c*nt who deserves nothing but disdain.  Your word dear- it is, I must say, perfect.  May it echo in your shallow brain for eternity. I wish you nothing. You deserve it;  Fucking people about, lying wherever you go and being proud of it... you have bigger problems than you will ever realise.  Good luck to whoever you're currently conning into believing you're a decent human being.  Undoubtedly the most regrettable person I have ever trusted and thought I knew... I still remain shocked at just how incredibly wrong I was.  Almost a year since we spoke... a letter that will never get read... will now burn.

What goes around comes around.

I am better, stronger, sharper, greater.  I am in a good place right now.  Refreshed after an intense, stressy month all I needed was one day to catch up on sleep, rest my head and focus. An apology from someone who means little to me now, but still cared enough to say it.  Closure.

Good things are happening for me... changes are coming... and I am excited...

BOOM!

Yikes. Where to start?!

Friday couldn't come soon enough last week; the week seemed to go on forever after my first okay interview and the one from hell... I just wanted the three day weekend to come so I could relax... well kindof.

I pretty much wished most of Friday away hoping that the phonecall turning me down for the job position was over quickly so I could forget about it over the weekend.  I had already made up my mind about the first job and was prepared to turn it down on the basis that it was (wrongly) less money.  The second one, I just wanted to get the dreaded feedback and forget the whole thing.

What I wasn't expecting as my phone conveniently rang as I parked up at Sainsbugs on my way home on Friday, was for them to offer me the job!??! This was met by .... "er what?" as I tried to compute how they could possibly have cruelly got the wrong phone number to call for the job offer?! I've avoided even posting about it because the whole experience was just awful... consisting of analysing a case study for ten minutes, then getting an hour to produce a presentation and then present it to the interview panel in ten minutes.  This was immediately followed by 5/6 challenging interview questions.  I was a bit overwhelmed with the case study; ten minutes not being long enough for me to process the pages of intell logs, crime reports and offender profiles.  I managed to string some semblance of an inference together with some recommendations but my presentation wasn't slick or structured and I rushed through it with minutes to spare. The mess up through me and I felt flustered through the interview in which I stupidly managed to end up discussing my main weakness in relation to the post (!? I mean really?! ) before finally leaving knowing I had been completely out of my depth. It was awful.

Clearly they disagreed! I was absolutely stunned and remain pretty puzzled as to how on EARTH I got offered it. I'd told everyone who asked during the week that unless no one else showed up I had ZERO chance at the job! The only thing comforting me was the fact that I had one more interview pending... the one I really want- Job C.

On Friday, I also got confirmation that I had passed the paper sift and would be given an interview date in the next couple of weeks. I've had to inform Job B about Job C, and he's kindly waiting until I get a date for the interview.  I just hope it isn't AAGES away as I don't want to keep them waiting too long for an answer.

Fingers crossed... and hopefully I can avoid any further magpies for this upcoming interview.  But, at least, if I don't get it, I have a really good job offer as a back up plan with a slightly smaller pay increase, but lots of potential and intrigue all the same. Big smiles.

I kept my good news quiet for that evening, as it was my Dad's birthday meal and I didn't want to detract from his birthday outing.  We went to a newly refurbished restaurant nearby called the Trooper which specialised in Longhorn Steaks. I opted for scallops and a tasty sea bass but the highlight was the dessert... My sister and I shared a chocolate stuffed crust pizza with a berry compote and hot chocolate sauce topping with melted marshmallows.  The tension built as we watched it get prepared and put into the Roman stone oven and I held my camera phone in anticipation of it arriving before us on the table.  Sadly, it lacked on visual presentation looking like a large, ugly cowpat but OH MY FREAKIN GOD the taste was IMMENSE.  It was by the far the most amazing pudding I have tasted in some time and I KNOW my puddings.  It was just delicious; oozing with warm, smooth, chocolate sauce and a light chocolate pizza dough base.  Perfection.

Saturday was spent sculpting; eagerly trying to finish my latest commission before my deadline next weekend.  Problems hit left, right and centre as I had major stability problems with both figures which I've only partially fixed.  I'm not happy with the arms either, struggling to fit the two together properly and having to bodge the arms a little bit at the back. These are all things that I need to resolve next weekend.

Sunday; N, Becko and her partner E, set off for a day hiking in the Peaks.  With perfect walking conditions (not too hot, but dry and overcast) we climbed three very steep hills; the challenge being getting down most of them rather than getting up! One was particularly steep on the slope down, with any semblance of gravelly pathways just turning to loose, marbles under your feet.  It was easier to grip on to the grass and just slowly edge your way down on all fours.  We were out from about 11.30 to 4.30 walking, exploring and absorbing the sights.  I got some brilliant photographs which probably still don't do justice to the views or the height.

A truly perfect day, aside from some annoying and uncomfortable tummy cramps. A day of fresh air, energy bars, leg muscles, landscapes and scrambling up and down steep slopes and across sweeping green fields.  Needless to say I slept like a baby that night!

Bank Holiday Monday was a slightly less energetic affair with me spending most of the day reading up on some interview prep documents, a bit of sculpting and washing little Franko.  Not very exciting I think you will agree, but all necessary tasks!

So with my weeks at my current job looking numbered, I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can.  Changes are coming... big ones... and all for the good.  :)

Now if I could just get rid of those magpies...

Windy.

I'm getting bored of this apocalyptic weather now.

Floods, more rain, winds bringing trees down and damaging roofs and blowing out windows.

The wind in particular, worries me.  High wind always unnerves me and has done since I was little.  Being the little dot I was when I was younger, I used to get teased all the time about blowing away in the wind.  So much so, in fact, that I started to believe it and it made me really nervous.  I even drew a picture of "windy weather" which was shown at the start of the local news weather report back in the late 80's! And yes I do have Midlands Today Weather Reporter T-Shirt to prove it!

Even as an adult, albeit a small one, this wind scares me.

Sunspots.

What an awesome weekend!

It kicked off with some sunny post-work drinks on Friday evening with H from work.  I survived my first round of drinking post inner-ear troubles.  Having felt drunk for three weeks I was a bit wary of getting back on the good ol' Jack n Coke, but yep, it was just what I needed.

Following that I spent Saturday on a mini road trip with N up to Chester.  It was beautifully sunny and we strolled around the quaint little shops and had a waffle cone ice cream by the river.  We took a walk all round the ancient city walls and looked around the Roman gardens and amphitheatre although I was put off by the creepy stilt walker who seemed to be tottering around.  I still hate them. Always will. 
I failed miserably at remembering my digital SLR to take any decent photographs which pissed me off no end, but to redeem myself I am proud to say I refrained from spending any money in the shops despite being very tempted by a nice new handbag.  Be proud. 

Saturday evening was spent being set up in the back garden with some Honey Jack, Peanuts, a nice warm chicken salad and the Sono's blaring out some awesome tunes while a little lantern flickered in the gentle breeze.  It was perfect. 

Today I spent the morning strolling around Cars In the Park in Lichfield wishing I was rich enough to have a car for every day of the week.  A quick lunch was had at Ego nearby, a Mediterranean bar where I had a Fusion Mezze platter and a Strawberry, Mango and Stem Ginger Eton Mess for dessert.  Then, back to the park for a last drool over some amazing cars... before heading back in time for the Wimbledon final where grumpy-ass Murray took the cup. 

I've picked the following as my faves from today although the F type Jag and a BEAUTIFUL blue TVR Sagaris also looked incredible.  I think you will agree the matt black Hudson complete with skull on the dashboard is very me.  :-)

The weekend was finished off with a family barbeque in place of the traditional Sunday dinner, complete with steaks, burger, sausage, rice, salad, new potatoes and kebab roasted vegetables. 

I have some sunburn from today.  I plastered myself in factor 30 this morning, and seem to have staved off getting burnt in the normal places like my neck.  However, I do have an interesting red, stripe down my nose, and some weird patterns on my arms which look equally strange! It must have been where I was holding my bag or something and have got burnt in between the straps.  No matter how hard you try, when you have ghostly white pale skin like me, the sun will get to you somehow!!!

Despite the sunburn, this weekend has been - simply PERFECT.  :-)

Coming up this week... I am planning on returning to the gym now I'm fully fit, shopping for Boss' leaving present on Tuesday, Boss' leaving do on Friday and then potentially a night out in Brum on Saturday! I want to squeeze in a trip to the cinema, headphone shopping, potential holiday shopping and wedding guest dress shopping also this week.

Ooh... and I must blog about the imminent awesomeness that I have managed to source for myself.

I'm dreaming of a White Easter...

This snow is doing my nut.  All but one of my weekend plans has been ruined by this freakin' snow.  We've had about 4 inches over the last two days and it's showing no signs of stopping.  AND it's officially Spring!

Snow Joke...

My office move is complete and not only was today my first drive to my new Station, this was my first time driving in snow.

It was NOT nice.

This morning wasn't too bad. There was a light covering on paths but the newly gritted roads were fine for driving on.  I got to work at 7.30 with no trouble at all. 

However, by 9am, the snow had mounted.  By 12 o'clock the snow was probably about 15cm deep and a message from HQ was sent to say that all none operational staff were being sent home.  This was it- my first drive in snow.  It. Was. Horrible. 

My route home contains hills- fairly steep hills at that, and of course if I could get up them- I also had to get back down.  The roads through Walsall centre were fairly okay, it was only once I reached the main crossroads that it all started to get interesting.  Although painfully snow, I got through the town centre and up the first hill without any trouble.  I was feeling quite proud of myself so far in fact- pulling off in second gear, taking the down slope in first and the journey was going fairly smoothly though I was panicking behind the wheel.  However, I wasn't even half way home and this three mile stretch had taken me about 35 minutes.  My normal commuting times is 25-30 minutes! The roads after the first hill had gotten progressively worse in that time, and when I finally reached hill challenge two I could feel Franko's tyres slipping slightly.  I stayed calm, reduced speed and brought him some pretty awsome (if I do say so myself) clutch skills to control it going up the hill.  Hill three, was lurking about 10 minutes round the bend an I started to see my first people skidding around and cars stopping at the side of the road.  I navigated the down slope of hill three pretty perfectly, passing a number of people struggling to get up on the other side.  The next hour, involved painfully slow, ankle aching clutch use as poor little Franko drove along at 15mph maximum.  Hill four was all downhill and here I felt my ABS kick in.  Skidding just feels awful- you feel the car being pulled in opposite directions but it's good how much of your driving instinct kicks in and you just do what you need to whilst bearing in mind all the advice and tips for winter driving.  The last hour was the worst.  The roads were just treacherous and I was getting really hungry and thirsty. People were skidding, sliding and I felt like little Franko was struggling to keep in an adequate gear for the inclines and grip. Aside from the odd Wanker, most drivers were sensible and took it pretty easy.

The snowier side roads close to home were actually moderately better and provided some welcome grip from the slush I'd been sliding in for two hours.  I pulled in and covered up Franko in his snow blanket. He did pretty well considering he's just a little 1.2. :-)  I'm considering investing in some Snow Socks for him.

I have rarely been so relieved to just get back home in the warmth. It took just over two hours.  I'm proud of myself for managing to get home safely though I have to admit to feeling incredibly anxious the whole time.

Stay safe out there folks! Where's my cuppa....