Stranger on a bus

I was just re-reading a very old post about conversations with strangers, and it got me to thinking about the number of times I've sat on a bus or a train and had some of the most amazing conversations of my life with people who's names I didn't even know.  I remember once, about 4 or 5 years ago now, I was getting on a train, and I walked past a friendly looking guy at a table, but I didn't sit with him, I just wanted to sit on my own and read my book.  Well, after a while we learnt that there were engineering works on the train lines, so we were going to have to get a bus for a few hours.  When I got onto the bus I found a nice quiet seat by the window and settled down for the journey.  A few minutes later, this same guy got on and sat next to me, and within minutes we were chatting away.  It was just so easy, and we had so much in common that the conversation just flowed back and forth without any awkward pauses.  For the 3 or 4 hours we were on the bus we learnt so much about  each other, he was a teacher at a secondary school, I was an office temp (at that point!), he liked skiing and snowboarding, I liked travelling and living out of a rucksack, he liked science fiction books, I liked rock music... When we had reached Birmingham, where we then had to get different trains, we waited whilst the other retrieved their bags.  Our next trains were departing from different stations, so we said our goodbyes, (almost going in for a hug after all that chat, but neither of us really wanted to be the one to make a move!) and went our separate ways.  It was only as I entered the station that I realised I had never asked him what his name was, and to this day, one of my biggest regrets in life is not asking him if he wanted to have a cup of coffee with me until my train arrived.  And who knows what would have happened if I had sat at his table on the train to begin with?  And even now, all this time later, I think about the stranger on the bus, and what he might be doing, and whether or not he thinks about me?

As it always seems to be...

Well, as always, it's been forever since I last wrote anything.  Now, once again, I am unemployed...therefore I have the time to write!  I have spent the last few months doing exactly what I wanted to do!  I was working on the next series of The Apprentice over here in the UK.  Granted I was mainly a runner, and then on studio days, I was the Assistant Floor Manager, but it was a production job, and looking back on it now, through those wonderful rose tinted glasses, I enjoyed every minute of it!  Oh, there were those moment where we all just wanted to curl up and cry, what with the 4.30am start times and 3.00am finish times, and the moody, self-important directors, and the 'think they're amazing', dare I say it, "talent"!!!  Those who demanded Soup for every meal, no matter where you were, or those who for the past 6 years have demanded Kit Kats, only to reveal that, actually, they hate Kit Kats...But on the whole it was an absolute blast.  I can't reveal a whole lot about it yet, as it's all very confidential.  As soon as it goes on air, I may come back and tell you all about the stresses and fun times we had.

After that, I was working on a studio based show for Channel 4, called Four Rooms (at least, I think it will go out as that?!) It was a sort of a cross between The Antiques Roadshow, Dragon's Den and Deal or No Deal.  I was the Floor Manager for this one, which meant that I was basically the Director's voice on the studio floor.  I had to do a lot of shouting, which I've never really had to do before, but it was so much fun!  I had to call for silence on the floor, and make sure that the contributors were in the right place at the right time, and that everyone knew what they were doing.  It has sort of made me rethink what it is that I want to do.  I now know that I definitely want to go down the studio based route, as supposed to the more office based roles.  However, this is proving difficult, as Floor Manager jobs are quite hard to come by!  I just keep sending my CV out to as many production companies as I can find, in the hope that something will come up!  In the mean time, I'm also applying for restaurant and bar jobs, which I know I don't really want, but let's face it...money's money right!?

So, as I'm sure I've said a thousand times, now that I have the time, I may write a few more posts about my mini London adventures!

Winnings

Last week I was informed that I had won a competition through the great Love Film. It consisted of 2 tickets to the performance of Six Degrees of Separation at the Old Vic theatre, and a night in The Cavendish Hotel just near Piccadilly Circus. I enter as many of the competitions on Love Film as I can, and I never win! So i was amazed!

I decided that I owed my lovely Sister a great deal, so i would take her along. We met just outside the tube station and made our way down to the hotel to check in. Walking into the very swanky hotel lobby we both felt a little out place with our rucksacks and flip flops! However, we checked in and were given the keys to our room...on the 14th floor (of a 15 storey building)!!! As we came out of the lift, our room was directly in front of us, just down from the entrance to the Penthouse Floor!

Our room was fairly basic, but comfortable. The key feature was the enormous window overlooking the greatest aspects of the London Skyline! We had the London Eye, Big Ben, The Gherkin, The BT Tower and The Center Point building all there in front of us. It was awesome! We dropped our bags off and tried to decide where to go for dinner before heading to the theatre. We realised that we should just stay at eat at the Hotel Restaurant, as when would we ever get that chance again?

So, we headed back down stairs to the restaurant on the first floor, where were seated by the window and handed a very posh menu! I went for Pan fried Chicken Livers wrapped in Bacon with some kind of red wine sauce for starters, followed by Roasted Leg of Pork with Potato Farls and Celeriac. My sister had the Broccoli Soup for Starters with a Salmon Fillet with purple sprouting broccoli and leek and potato puree as her choices. Having ordered our food, the waiter returned with 3 little homemade bread rolls - an olive roll, a Parmesan roll and a caramelized onion roll. Then a pre-appetiser of Pepper Bread with Parma Ham arrived. It was just a small mouthful of Delicious sweet red pepper wrapped in light and fluffy white bread topped with the salty parma ham. Both the starters and the main courses were delicious, and presented so beautifully, we almost didn't want to eat them. By the end of the mains we were contentedly full so declined the desserts and headed off to the Old Vic.

When we picked the tickets up we discovered that we were down in the stalls, and as we took our seats we realised that we were in the 5th row! Tony Head was so close! I enjoyed the play, even though it started out quite slowly, and it took a little while to get used to the slightly forced American accents, but once they got into the swing of things, and the audience relaxed a little, it was pretty good. The acting was amazing, as there are a fair amount of very impassioned speeches, which you forget, as an audience member, that they have to perform night after night. The story was quite good, but I felt it got a little lost at times, with many more characters than I was expecting. And considering it was free - I don't think I can complain at all!

After the play, we tried to find somewhere that sold coffee and desserts, with maybe a glass of wine or two! But we found ourselves back at the tube station heading towards the hotel. We passed a Cinabon shop, and the sweet sugary smell of the Cinnamon doughnuts was just too much - and we caved! So instead of coffee and desserts out, we bought a bottle of Pink Sparkling Wine to enjoy with our Cinabons in our room! It was a Delicious, gooey, fizzy way to end a brilliant night.

To round off the whole experience, we had breakfast to look forward to. We went back to the restaurant to see what delights awaited us. We took our seats and were promptly offered some tea or coffee - then we went to check out the hot buffet. I bacon, sausages, beans, mushrooms and scrambled eggs! It was a great way to start the day! I think my favourite bit of the whole experience was as were checking out! The lovely man behind the desk took our keys, and asked us for the room number. He then looked at the computer and said, "And you have......nothing to pay!" He seemed very surprised by that! We, on the other hand, loved it!

So...Thank you Love Film and thanks to my lovely Big Sis for the extras!!!!

Whatever Happened To Chivalry

So, I was on the tube this morning on my way into work, and this girl got on at the same time as me. She was walking with a crutch and a bit of a limp. By this time of the morning there are no seats left on the train, but there were about 6 guys sitting down, and 1 lady. Of all these people I would have expected any one of the men to offer up his seat, but no - it was the only lady. I was shocked! I'm a real stickler for a bit of chivalry in men, I mean - how hard is it to open a door, or just stand back and wait? I'm all for equal opportunities and what not, but a little tiny bit of common decency never went amiss. What is the world coming to?

OK - so I'm pretty sure that I've said this a thousand times before, but this time I'd really like to stick to it. I've neglected this outlet for far too long now. I really want to get back into the whole writing thing. I took it pretty seriously for some time, and then it just kinda faded into the background. I was thinking about this a little while ago, and I came up with the theory that when I first started this blog and updated it a lot, I was in a horrible dead-end job, living in a nasty damp house and all in all, was fairly unhappy. My main way of venting that unhappiness was write, however a couple of years later, I ended up in a job I enjoyed, living in a much nicer place and sort of got my life back on track - the downside was that I lost the inspiration to write. I just couldn't find anything worth putting down on paper that didn't sound like I was writing a day to day journal.

Now, though, I've had a total life change. I live in a totally different city, I have a job that I'm hoping will not only get me somewhere, but will take me one step closer to that DREAM job! So - maybe now I can find the words to get this up and running once more.

On a side note - to get me in the mood for writing, I thought I would check out some of the old blogs that I used to read all the time, and I came across a couple who are still going, and it was so nice, almost comforting, to know that they're still out there! So yey, and keep up the inspiration for me! Thank you!

25 Random Things

I was sent this through FaceBook, and thought I'd post it up here, just in case anyone is still reading this! I just thought it was a bit of fun!!!!

1) I used to have a goldfish named Wellington.

2) Pete Postlethwaite (the actor) has spat on me!

3) I own a genuine Montanan Cowboy hat.

4) I love trees.

5) I count stairs and I have to land on my right foot when going up or down stairs.

6) I guess this ties in with #5 - I know whether every flight of stairs in my place of employment (both current and past, and even way back to all my schools too!) is odd or even.

7) My favourite sandwich consists of - White Plastic Bread (you know, that real chap stuff), Cheese Slices, Plastic (see above) Ham, sliced tomato and that bright yellow American Mustard! I love it and could possibly eat it forever!

8) When I read books, I more than often imagine the story in my head as if I'm watching a movie - I'll even occasionally stop to ponder who I would cast in the roles/how I would shoot the scene!

9) If I could, I would actually worship whoever it was who invented, Beds, Duvets and Pillows!! It's one of my favourite places to be!!!

10) I love the smell of a freshly opened packet of Post-It notes - I think they smell like see-through Gummi Bears!

11) I spent ten years of my life at Boarding School.

12) I NEVER wear matching socks - it started out because I was too lazy to pair them up, but now it has turned into a minor obsession. If I have matching socks on, I start to twitch a little!!!

13) I can't eat Jelly (Jello) - mainly because I can't actually swallow it...it makes me gag! Bananas have the same effect - unless I'm walking around!

14) I'm allergic to loads of fruit - Pineapple, Melon, Tomato - but I eat them anyway becuase I love them!!!

15) I've known my oldest friend for longer than some of new friends have been alive!

16) I spend ages alphabetizing my DVD's and CD's, and then when I when I take them out to listen to them, I very rarely put them back in the right place - however, if someone else borrows one, I get twitchy that they're not put back correctly!!!

17) I am a book Nazi...I've been well trained by my sister. I can't STAND it when the spine gets broken, and when corners of the pages get turned down - GET A BOOKMARK!!!!! I wached a guy on the tube the other day with a brand new paper back, and as he opened it up, he just bent it back on itself...I was nearly sick on the train!!!!!! If I lend my books out, I make sure that they know how to treat it properly!

18) My favourite animals for many many years were Rabbits - in the last few years it has changed to Penguins! I love them. I can't look at them without laughing! They are just the most amazing creatures!!!! yey for Penguins! Also, tying in with this...I would LOVE to have a pet polar bear! I am yet to come to terms with the fact that this will never happen!

19) I often fall totally in love with fictional characters! For example, Pacey from Dawson's Creek - my PERFECT man...currently there is also Edward Cullen from the Twilight series, I would also add in Agent Seely Booth from Bones in there too!

20) I love taking photos of boardwalk paths through forests.

21) I firmly believe in faries.

22) Gordon Ramsey is the nicest celebrity I've met so far. He gave me a Quality Street.

23) I miss blogging - I kept a blog for a few years when I was working a rubbish job, living in a crappy house - now that I'm finally happy, I can't find the inspiration to write about anything!

24) When I have enough money, I'm going to spend a lot of it on a Steinway Grand Piano - and a house to put it in. I've wanted one for almost all of my life.

25) My life's ambition is to have my name on the credits of a film. In any role - preferably Script Supervisor, as that's what I've set my heart on - but anything will do! One Day Folks....Watch This Space!

Well - that has been fun, and time consuming!!

Three is a magic number

So, seeing as I've had the worst writer's block in the world - for the past however many years - I thought I'd do something like this instead. Where I can post a new blog and slowly get back into the creative-ness!

3's about me

Three jobs I have had in my life: Waitress, Pasty Packer, Head Runner
Three shows that I watch: Dawson's Creek, The OC, Party of Five - see a theme going here?
Three places I have been: The USA, Romania, Australia
Three places I have been this week: Harrods, Wandsworth and Soho - All in London!!!
Three people who e-mail me regularly: My sister, Alan from Work, my Boss!
Three of my favourite foods: Roast Beef with all the trimmings, A good curry, Coldstone Creamery Cinnamon ice cream!
Three places I'd rather be: Boston (the American one!), At the cinema, In Bed,
Three friends I think will respond: No one to be honest!
Three Things I am looking forward to: Going home this evening, going to the movies on Tuesday, Seeing the boy I quite like on Thursday

So there we go...my magical 3's!

I'm going to try and get the creative juices flowing for a more exciting post soon!!! I'm sure I keep saying this! Maybe one day I'll actually do it!!

One Day

She walks through the crowd wishing someone would hear her screams. This lonesome girl with nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. It's not like she has any major problems, nothing life threatening or serious, it's just lots of little things. She's tired of being lonely, having no hand to hold when she's feeling insecure, no one to protect her when things are looking dark. Oh, she has friends, and some good ones at that, but friends are not what she needs right now. The hustle and bustle of daily life are just too much to take when there's not a soul who will listen. They hear what she has to say, but they're not really listening. They ask if she's OK, if everythings going alright, and when she answers that she's doing fine, but things could be better, all they hear is that she's coping. All she wants in the world is for someone to love her, to hold her and protect her. Reassure her that her life isn't falling apart, that she's right on track and that one day (hopefully soon) the darkness surrounding her every day will brighten.

But for right now, she has to deal with the fact that she's by herself, all alone in her self-made twilight, keeping her eyes open for when her prince in shining armour will be gallop around the corner and sweep her off her feet.

What's in a name?

I was thinking the other day about names, and how we are defined by our name to a certain degree. Most parents have names already picked out for their unborn child, which to me seems odd. I'm the kind of person who cannot name something until i have seen it. Admittedly I have only named things like cars, pets and in my younger days, stuffed toys. I was just thinking about how what we are called is such an enormous part of our lives. There are many other people called Rachel out there, who are nothing like me, but they too are defined (I'm not sure that defined is the right word to use here) by their name. But it IS who we are. People who have been given nicknames that they use all the time then become so associated with that label, I guess it is, that we forget that they have real names. We get very defensive about our names. Like if someone spells it wrong, or pronounces it incorrectly. Why is this...? What it is about our names that we are so inclined to defend? Anyway...that was just some random thoughts that I had at about 3.00this morning!

And so it is

I know I seem to talk about this quite a lot, but my desire to turn back time will not go away. Every time I hear a song, look at a photograph or when something catches my eye it has the ability to take me back in time. Then there are the occasions that I look back to with regret, things I wish I could have changed somehow, done one little thing differently to completely change the outcome. But then, we have that unanswerable question of how would that affect things in the present? But that's not what I'm getting at right now, that's a whole different kettle of fish! At the minute I guess I'm just reflecting on times past and wishing I could be there to enjoy them all over again. If I could have a superpower, I think that would be it. Choosing a favourite time, and just totally reliving it - not changing anything, but just being there again. Like going back to Keene State College and being with my friends, not having anything of great purpose to worry about, or heading back to school aged 9 when your biggest priority at the start of term was ensuring you got the best bed in your dorm, and finding out which teacher was head of your lunch table. More recently there are the times over the summer when the sun was out, and we'd play in the park, go out drinking, have many a BBQ in the back garden, hang out with some awesome people. I think it's my great fear of change that's brought this whole post out tonight. Things are changing at the minute, and I don't like it. I know that, for the most part, everything that changes is for the best, and in a few weeks time it'll feel normal. It just that I'm not used to the situation right now, and it's scaring me. I just want to be able to go back to a time when everything seemed easy, and carefree. But then I suppose hindsight is a wonderful thing, because at that time, there were always things to worry about, we only chose to ignore those memories to make things easier for ourselves.

I've just re-read this and realised there is no point or structure to this post whatsoever, so I'm going to stop my ramblings now, and give you all a break!

MUSE at Wembley!!!!

Finally, I've got around to blogging about watching MUSE and other guests at Wembley last week! It was incredible. I just couldn't believe the whole size of the stadium. With a 90,000 capacity, it is really quite overwhelming when you walk through the doors to try and find your seats! Even from the walk there, watching this incredible structure loom closer and closer, I couldn't quite comprehend the sheer size.

This is how far away from the stage we were! But unlike most other gigs I've been to with seated tickets, the atmosphere was still electric, and full of suspense for both MUSE and My Chemical Romance. there were so many little Emo Kids about, it was funny! But i have to say i was just as excited about seeing My Chemical Romance as they were!

Because it was an early gig, the doors opened at about 2.45, but Beck and I went to Wembley via Camden, so we missed the very first act, she was a solo artist. But we did get there in time to watch Biffy Clyro. I don't really know a great deal of their music, but i was looking forward to seeing them all the same. They totally rocked out, busting out some epic sounds. We were that far away from the stage that when the drummer hit the drums, it took about half a beat for the sound to reach us...it was very strange watching it all happening on the big screens then hearing it a bit later! After Biffy had finished, we just sat a waited for MCR. By this point i was getting really quite excited! As much as i hate to admit it, I think there's a mini Emo in me trying to get out, and I went from absolutely hating the Romance, and dismissing their music, to actually really really liking it!

When they came out on stage, the crowd went wild (apart from the couple next to me, who turned to me and told me that they had never heard of this band before! ha ha), and they just went for it! My highlights have to be, Black Parade - which is a great song anyway, but hearing it live was awesome, and I Don't Love You - one of the ballads they do so well. Because Beck and I were so far away from the stage, we were quite thankful for the big screens on either side, it meant that we could watch the action up close, as supposed to watching little tiny ants, crawling about! I managed to take some pretty decent photos on my Phone, which i was quite pleased about! Becky...these are for you!!! Gerard Way was looking so hot! he started out looking just OK, then as the the show went on, he got hotter and hotter, literally, which meant that he kept sweeping his hair back....mmm!! I know we're meant to listen to music for the music, but a hot front man doesn't hurt at all does it???

So after singing my little heart out to MCR, there was about a 20 minute break, in which time Beck and I had to try and control ourselves! It was difficult I tell you! We went and had some food, came back to our seats just in time to hear the 5 minute announcement! That's when the cheering started...and didn't stop for about 2 hours!

As Wembley is a stadium, obviously it was still light when they came out at about 8.00pm, which was very bizarre. I had never been to a light MUSE show. I wasn't quite sure how it would work because the band always such amazing lighting and set designs. But as it got darker, the set became even more impressive. Those big red balls in the background, changed from red to blue and green, and there were flames and firework things too. They just played classic song after classic song. I know I may be a little biased, but there were no bad choices of songs...they were all incredible. this was the 5th time I'd seen muse live, and they just keep getting better and better. Every time Beck and I leave the gig, I'm sure we always say, "Wow, that was sooo much better than last time! Not that last was bad, it's just that this time it was INCREDIBLE!!!!!" We were absolutely going for it in the stands too. They opened with Knights of Cydonia, which is one of my favourites, and the best song to start off with, because it really gets the crowd going. Even though there were only 1 or 2 other people standing up at the start, we didn't care...we got up, and danced and sang as if there was no one else around! eventually other people started to join us until there were only 1 or other people still seated!

Considering there are only 3 of them in the band, they sound they make is just awesome. It's so epic, and enveloping. You just can't help but lose yourself totally in the music. So when it came to the end of the set we were a bit gutted, because it had just been an awesome show. But it was OK, we knew they'd come back and do and encore. Just as we were discussing which amazing show stopping tunes they would rock out to end the gig, out came Matt Bellamy with an acoustic guitar. they didn't belt out the real rocky stuff they usually do for the encore, but they did a totally acoustic set! Blackout from the album Absolution is so beautiful. It's really light and floaty, but still with a very big sound. So just as we were getting ourselves together after the excitement of some new variations on our favourite songs, the two larger spheres on either side of the stage floated upwards, to reveal acrobats suspended beneath them. The massive blue globes travelled down to touch the crowds beneath them, to get rise again, as if to touch the sky. It was so graceful, and magical as the music totally wrapped itself around every person there. Just as the balloons were descending back to the sides of the stage again, Matt Bellamy was just fiddling around on his guitar as he usually does, when all of a sudden it turned into the start of Unintended, my all time favourite Muse song. But because it is quite a slow ballad-y type, they never play it live. I actually gave out a little squeal of excitement before fighting back the tears. It was incredible, and so beautiful. Then as they finished the encore, there was really mixed emotions going on. We were kinda chilled out, but full of adrenaline from watching one of the best live bands EVER, but then also a little sad because it was over. However, there was still more to come. The guys came back out again, to finish the show in true MUSE style! The totally rocked out, and so did we! With the sun setting outside the stadium, the now iconic white semi-circle over the roof was glowing bright white, matching the stage. It was a perfect end to an incredible night. I can't wait until I can watch them again! Both MUSE and MCR!

Trust Your Heart

Is it happening now
That thing I craved
That feeling I've longed for
For so many days?

Is is really the truth
That way you feel
That sparkle in you eyes
Is it aimed at me?

'Cause I can't help but think
You've changed your mind
About the way you feel
And what you may find

I'm trying not to hope
So it's not ruined
What our years have built up
All our great doings

It's filled my heart for years
For you it's new
But please just trust your heart
You know it's all true

You once said no to us
Give it a chance
We fit so perfectly
So let our souls dance

Seriously Not Long To Go

I'm so excited...there is now only 1 full day to go, until i go and see MUSE! I'm so excited! I can't wait. I am a little gutted, because the whole MUSE gig thing was a birthday present to my friend for her birthday, and i was going to spend the weekend with her in London before the gig on sun day. But no...I've been made to work tomorrow night. Apparently I was the last person to book the weekend off (which i find hard to believe, seeing as it was almost a month ago), but such is life. So I've had to put off the weekend of fun, and make it just a night of hilarity. I'll be posting the report of the gig, when i have time.

Anyway...in the mean time, to quote the movie Ever After "It feel like my skin is the only thing holding me together". MUSE are going to be incredible!

It's all change on the Derby Front

At the end of this month, everything changes. After two and a half years, Daisy is moving up to York with her boyfriend. For a while it meant that I would have been housemate-less, but it's OK!!! Two of the chefs from work are going to move in with me! Yey! It should be really good fun, but I am concerned about living with two boys after so long! I like having male housemates, I think they bring a totally different dynamic to a flat. Instead of bitching and ignoring problems, they'll just have it out, and over and done with. There's less arguing and horrible atmosphere...however, they can also be very messy, smelly and childish!!!! :-) These guys are great though, and being chefs, I'm looking forward to having great food all the time. One issue that people brought up was the whole living and working together thing, but at the minute, we pretty much spend all our time together anyway, so I don't think it would be too much different. I'll have to keep you all updated on how it's going.

The strangest thing will be not having my best friend around all the time. York is only about 2 hours up the road, so it's not like it's the other side of the world, but even so. I'm just so used to having her around. And since we first moved back up to Derby after uni, we've been through so much! Our first house was just horrendous (oh my, there are hundreds of hideous stories there), and then the move to our current house whilst I had the mumps! All the gigs, and road trips, the various housemates, the neighbours, the ups and downs. There is so much there, it'll be odd to think that it's all coming to and end. But as Daisy keeps telling me nothing lasts forever, things will change and move on. Very deep, don't you think?

In other news, I'm going to see MUSE play at the new Wembley Stadium next Sunday! I'm so very very excited about this. Not only will MUSE be there, but they are supported by Biffy Clyro and My Chemical Romance...WOOO HOOOO!!!!! I'll definitely blog after that weekend and tell you all about it! Yey.

Right, I'm off to make Fajitas now, before going to see Oceans 13!

Back Again...

Last weekend it was my mom's birthday, so the whole family went to stay with my sister just outside London. We had a champagne breakfast, followed by the gift-giving. Then later on in the week, as part of the birthday celebrations, we all went to The Ritz for tea. That was so exciting. It was great to pretend to be a grown up for a while. It was all so proper and English! We were shown to our table, seated, and had our napkins put onto our knees for us! We were then asked what kind of tea we would prefer to drink, and a silver plate rack was placed on the table. Not long after that a plate of sandwiches was brought over. Now these sandwiches were perfect. They were crustless, and cut into identically sized fingers. There was chicken, ham, egg and cress, smoked salmon and also cream cheese and cucumber. They were all so delicious it was a good job they kept refilling the plate. I don't think I've ever eaten so many sandwiches! When we had had our fill of the bready treats, a plate of fresh scones was brought over. There were pots of jam and cream on the table already, which of course are the only accompaniment to scones. Again, the waiter kept on bringing over more and more scones...it would have been rude of us to turn them down, so just as we thought we could no longer eat any more, one more scone would magically appear on the plate!!! Of course during all this we had countless cups of tea, I'm sure i must have drunk about 8 or 9 cups. it's alright though, because I'm sure tea solves the world's problems, and i can always drink tea, no matter when or where!!! To finish off the very posh tea, there was a plate of miniature cakes. these unfortunately weren't refilled, so the four of us had to make-do with the 5 cakes we got! I really didn't think you could eat so much at tea-time! the whole experience was thoroughly enjoyable, and as I said, it was great fun trying to be all grown up and civilized, as supposed the wannabe student I really am!!!

I have to say though, after a week away, I'm glad to be back again. However, i'm really not looking forward to going back to work again tomorrow...it's going to be a shock to the system. I have enjoyed being a lady of leisure for a while. Aren't vacatioons just the best?!?

Still Here

I'm not sure if anyone's still checking this, as it has been months and months since my last post, and even then they were few and far between...but I'm still around, and I'm really going to try and post more regularly, because I have found myself missing the whole blogging thing. So here starts my conscious effort to blog more.

I've just has the most awesome week...but in true Rach style, I don't have time right now to write about it, so I'll update you all soon...that's a PROMISE!

I'll be back!

I'm on the bandwagon!

I finally gave in, and bought myself an ipod...i know I must be one of the few people on the planet who didn't have one until now, but it generally takes me a while to get into the whole trend thing! I've only had my pink ipod nano for a day, but already i can't remember life without it! it's amazing! sooooo tiny, yet with so much space for music. i no longer need Cd's (other than to fall asleep to at night!) as i can put almost my entire collection on my nano. new toys are always exciting! I got given some money for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and i think i might use it to buy some funky accessories for new toy! Yey!

As I was saying before I'm not one for jumping on the bandwagon. At least not for most things...and ipods were one of them. i never saw the fuss really. Yeah, they look cool, but they do things that many other MP3 players do. it's just that they were one of the first of their kind. the reason I chose an ipod over any of the other makes was because it's an apple product, and I feel that apple have been ripped off in the past due to Microsoft and what not. I'm not overly bothered about the whole rivalry thing, because i am quite happy to use a Microsoft computer with my windows xp etc. But I do like to help out 'the little guys' (if you can call apple such a thing nowadays!). For instance, i would rather go to my local corner shop for my everyday groceries, as supposed to the larger (better) chain store just a little bit further up the road. Mainly because it's a family run store, and the people are just so lovely! The amount of times that we've been in there while they've been cooking their dinner, and they offer us some delicious chicken, or a pakora or two.

Wow, I've just re-read this and I'm blabbering nonsense! but then i guess that's the point of blogs!

I'm going to go and play with my new toy some more now.

Take care everyone.....

The Changing Seasons

It's been forever since my last post, and the more posts I write, the more I seem to start with that sentence. I'll get around to writing more regularly one day!

Christmas at the restaurant was manic...we were working 12 hour days with only an hours break in between shifts. It was hard work, but the tips were awesome, so I guess I can't complain too much!!! I'm still enjoying it a lot, and have met some real interesting people. One thing I've learnt though, is that when it comes to respect, and therefore friendliness, you get what you give. We've had some horrendously rude people in recently. There was this one man who wouldn't even look at me when I talked to him. He wafted me away with a little flick of his had at one point, as if I would respond like an animal. He got me so riled up that I had to get someone else to go over to their table for the rest of the night. I gave him no respect what so ever, he didn't deserve any. If I don't get respect and politeness, then I don't give any, within reason. That's the one thing about working with the public, is always having to be nice to people, even when they're the nastiest people around. But luckily for us, the ratio of nice to nasty people in our restaurant is definitely in favour of the nice people.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want to hear about the ins and outs of my job...so I'll just leave it there. This was just a quick post to show that I'm still around, and reading blogs, even if I'm not writing my own at the min. I'll try and update more often.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Take Care....

Anonymity

We have a customer at work who comes in for lunch most days. He sits by himself, and has his two course meal, and a couple of glasses of red wine. It's hard not to strike up conversations with people who become regulars, and this particular customer is amazing. He's so interesting, and always has time for which ever waitress it might be to talk to him. From what i can gather, he's had the most amazing life, and been all over the place. He has told me of this small village in Switzerland, which sounds like my ideal place. It's a real life fairy tale village apparently, especially at Christmas when all the lights come out. Sorry, I digress slightly. I guess my reason for posting this is because, although we see this man almost every day, and have incredible conversations with him, nobody knows his name. I've been quite tempted a few times to find out what he is called, but then I stop myself, because I quite like the anonymity of it all. I like the fact that we hardly know anything about this man, and yet at the same time, we know so much, and vice versa. We can have talks about anything, and it doesn't matter, because technically, we are still total strangers. I have had many an in depth conversation with people whilst on a bus or a train, where I've completely opened up and spilt my soul to a person who's name I don't know. I think those types of conversations are among the best you'll ever have.

Back Online...

Hey! It's been far too long since my last post, so i thought it was about time i post an update!

I've started my new job, and I absolutely love it! It's the first time in my life that I really enjoy what I'm doing, and i don't dread going into work every day. I'm working as a waitress in a French Restaurant here in Derby, and I know it's not a particularly relevant job considering my American Studies degree, but I'm happy! I love the shift wor, as supposed to the 9-5 Monday to Friday lifestyle i used to have. Office jobs just don't suit me, especially ones with little or no customer interaction. I love the fact now that i get to meet so many different people, from Derby locals to people visiting from all over the place. also, becuase the other people that work there are just amazing, it's like having a social life! I was called into work the other night, and i actually said to a colleague, "it beats sitting at home alone on my sofa!" that NEVER happens!!!!

In other news, Rich has moved out to move in with his girlfriend in Edinburgh. I drove him up there, and spent a couple of days in Bonny Scotland. it was so much fun. we went and explored the city a little bit, took some awesome pictures, that i'll hopefully manage to put up here some time. Edinburgh is such a gorgeous city, full of history and atmosphere. Daisy and i thought that we might struggle a little bit with the rent, but all is well...one of our neighbour's girlfriends has moved in. She's called Alice, and she's awesome! we have lots of fun! She is a vegan, so i'm learning all kinds of new recipes for vegan meals, it's been quite a learning curve, but an interesting one.

Anyway, that's my little update on Rach-Land. I hope everyone is well, and having a happy Halloween!!