Nil points...but big love

 Bonjour mes amies! I thought it was ripe time for me to update ye olde blog with the latest headlines of my life. Today it is raining. For the first time in a week. An apt illustration of the rivers of tears I long to cry in relief that I have FINALLY done an exam!

Yesiree, I am officially on the map...or timetable as the case might be. A half hour exam which was the academic equivalent of Blind Man's Bluff....a multiple choice English exam!!! I got on the bus this morning and accidentally sat next to my professor for this class...luckily, she didn't have a clue who I was. Secret identity maintained *phew*

Tapas central!!!

Still, it's all over...and I am very happy about finishing it. I deleted all the documents for this module off my computer in a very laissez-faire wa- Long gone. Moved On.

Stupid Loreen...

In other news, my sister Suzanne came to visit for a few days as it is the last time we shall meet. Indefinitely. She is moving to California mid July while I am still in Barcelona so we shall not be at home together again for heck knows how long! It was all very final, seeing her off at the train station, sausage bap in tow. Wherefore art thou, sister friend?

She arrived on Saturday morning, where we indulged in Starbucks frappucinos before returning to the house for a spot of sun bathing. It was reaaaaallllly hot! In the evening, we ordered Chinese takeaway and the five of us watched Eurovision. I was cheering on Jedward because I love them and Roman from Germany because I love Germany too! Alas, Sweden won. I have nothing against Sweden...or even the song...but that Loreen woman dances worse than S Club 7 these days (Have you seen them? They're not in the best shape...)

Sunday we relaxed in the garden for most of the day, stopping for regular ice pop breaks and the odd shopping trip to Booths.

Our next door neighbours here are pretty annoying. The mother yells at her children. All the time. And she sounds like Howard Wallowitz's mother. I never really knew what she actually looked like though, as it was only ever the father who ventured outside. Anyway, thanks to my sister's excellent photography abilities, we now have the visual aid you are all dying to see. So here it is. John and Joleen.

Big Love.

                                                                                     Positioned next to their lovely bench, which I'm almost certain was hand-crafted by John in a wannabe Joseph move with his son, Jay. (Is it a coincidence that both their names begin with J like their predecessor carpenters? I think not...) So, we were all equally delighted and repulsed by this lovely picture so I thought it was necessary for me to share. Someday I hope I look like a fat angry baby and look so in pain when I hug my much smaller husband. Living. The. Dream.

On Monday, we again stayed mainly in the house, although we did go and walk a dog at the animal sanctuary where me and the girls are volunteers. We met Harry. A dog with a bit of a personality. It was more akin to taking a stroll with a friend than walking a dog. He was elegant and polite and never pulled on his lead. It makes a change from my own mentalist of a dog who sometimes hops with a bunny because she cuts off circulation to her back legs by choking herself with a lead.

His Lord, Harry, with Josie and me

On Tuesday, me and Suzanne went into town to watch 'What to Expect When You're Expecting', armed with pick and mix from W H Smith. This was my second time seeing this film. It's probably a bit weird that a young thing like me enjoys films about babies so much but it is genuinely a really funny film, treating things in an honest, interesting and often sad way, with a lovely balance of laughs to tears. After the cinema, we met up with Josie and went out for tapas in the lovely 1725, a favourite spot of ours in town. Such nice food and a really atmospheric location. We got 8 tapas between the three of us and got two of these for free, much to our delight. We washed it all down with delicious Sangria and good conversation.

Me and Suzanne- tigers grrrr!

Me and Suzanne...and Barbie.

As I waved away Suzanne on Wednesday morning, I felt very sad. I walked back to the bus stop in a daze of disbelief. No more friendly chats with my sister in our pjs. No more inside jokes. No more reminiscing. It's a really disturbing period of life to be entering. I know I should be used to it because I've been living away from home for three years but I always knew I'd be returning home for holidays and I'd get to catch up then but now....there's just nothingness. And loneliness.

Being a grown up is going to be really hard.


However, I don't want to finish my blog on a negative point so I'll conclude by saying this.

In 11 days time I will be done with my exams. In 24 days time I will be in Barcelona. Everything is happening from now on. It's important some times that I can just sit back and try and relax. I am glad to still be with my friends for the next 20 days. I am happy I have had the chance to see both my sisters for a final time recently. I am excited for all that is going to happen soon.

Sisters are good. Next door are strange. I have wet hair.

QOTR

'William Wallace was watching'- my trip to Edinburgh

Howdy!
I just returned from Edinburgh last night and it was so friggin' cold that it should have been renamed Edin-brrrrrr....a poor pun, I'm sorry. I woke up in the middle of the night last night with my light on and my kindle still in my hand, I must have been very tired, it freaked me out a bit, I slept like a dead person until 10 this morning and this whole day has proceeded to fly by, I can't catch a breath at all! Anyway, this is not the purpose of my entry today.

This review comes from INFINITY AND BEYOND!

That leads me to this. The Al Capone of the review world. My 'unique' perspective on all things Edinburgh and this weekend. I'm sure there will be many blogs written about Edinburgh, many photos shared, as it was PACKED FULL of tourists from every which country in the world. It is one of my true pleasures in life to try and work out where people are from, by a wonderful thing called observation. Well, what can I say? I had a blast! I seen a lot of things. All of them interesting. A lot of them funny. It was great to be back with my sister again, we hadn't seen each other since my last trip to the North of Scotland, so it was glorious to catch up!

After meeting at the train station, where we dressed almost identically unintentionally, we sojourned into the city for a breakfast. That first Flat White (best coffee EVER!) was blissful after the ridiculously early start we'd both had that morning. I had some gorgeous granola and yoghurt and compote which fuelled me for the morning. I heard my first pipes of the stay once we breached the centre of the city and that part, I'm glad to say, is certainly not a myth. Every which way you turned there was another piper hiding in a crevice. I never thought I'd hear the Highland Fling so very often in such quick succession. There was a bit of a legendary piper who attempted to play what sounded like the Foo Fighters- it was GLORIOUS!

Girls just wanna....WELD?

We headed off to the National Museum of Scotland which was reaaaaallllly good, seriously the best museum I've been to! There was just SO MUCH, all in one place: history, science, geography, food, art, fashion, modernity- *pause for breath* and lots of things to play with and try on- ALWAYS A PLUS! here I am, learning about welding, learning about ship building, learning that I really suit having a hat that'll literally cover up my face...

We spent several giddy hours playing with the museum and learning lots (because learning is fun!) and it was a heck of a nice change from sitting in the house doing not much of anything. After all of these revels, it was time for lunch. We feasted in a lovely vegetarian deli called Hendersons where I had a lovely cheese and potato and brocolli pie and my sister learnt the joys of being able to finally try a wee bit of someone else's food and it wouldn't be meat. After this, we went to leave our bags in the hotel, after briefly stopping for a 99 at an ice cream van, because Saturday was blissfully warm-ish weather. The hotel room was loooooovely, really comfy, and the bathroom was very spacious and white and I had visions of a man dressed as an angel singing 'Beauty School Dropout' emerging from the harrowed doorway.

Our room....with an eskimo in the corner.

We proceeded to lie like beached whales on the bed for a while, relishing finally ditching our back packs and being freeeee. Enjoying a beverage made with our mini room kettle and the generously provided Viennese Swirls, we watched 'Come Dine With Me' and chilled. After reading some hotel recommendations, we headed out for dinner in an Indian Tapas-style restaurant were we indulged in a huge garlic naan, poppadoms, lentils, samosas etc. We were STUFFED and rolled our way back to the hotel heavier ladies. It seemed, the only way to soothe our stuffed bellies....was to put up our gilet hoods and pretend to be eskimos.

Tough snow to you, sir

 What did you say, sir? That's a bit weird? Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn! We had a blast pulling faces and hiding behind doors and generally acting a little bit foolish. We filmed crime scene photos and shower paparazzi shots and my sister hid in the wardrobe and behind a curtain and tried to scare me. 

After all of these shenanigans, we retired to bed, where we tried to watch 'The Proposal' and feel asleep before it got too far (although some of us survived longer than others *cough*)


As the sun rose over the Edinburgh city-side...Escape to the Country, eat your heart out... we proceeded to the dining room in the hotel for a delightful binge eat. I had yoghurt and pastries and cooked breakfast- even a SQUARE sausage!- but still did not try haggis or black pudding, although they were both on offer for my perusal. There were even free refills of coffee- one of life's true pleasures! 

That's the castle...up there behind my huge head!

Of course, there's lots to see in Edinburgh so we jolly well got our move on.  We went to see the castle but it cost a fortune to get inside so we just took a picture and left again. We proceeded to go to the Musuem of Surgery where my sister, the dentist, fell in love. Her eyes lit up like it was Christmas morning and someone had commented on her Youtube video of her riding a pony to the sound of 'I Love Horses'. She revelled over all of the tools and all of the old techniques and poured over things in jars while I tried to control my absolute terror of dummies re-enacting medical scenarios (a fear which has haunted me since my first visit as a 6 year old to the Underground Hospital in Jersey).

We finished our trip with one last lunch out, this time in the gorgeous David Bann restaurant. I feasted on more vegetarian dishes, this time with humus and bread and pear and passionfruit tarts and perfectly cooked celeriac and puff pastry. It was all delicious! We parted ways at the train station and made our lonely way homes. A train journey in which I tried unsuccessfully to strike up conversation with a handsome boy, nearly missed my stop, and told a taxi driver he was 'awful young' for being a taxi driver (I swear my fare was lower than usual!) When we shall meet again Edinburgh, I do not know.  Someday I'll look out of my little thatched cottage window and I'll know, oh yes I'll know, that this is not goodbye but a see you later! Edinburgh, you've been a blast!

QOTR                                                           

Mum's the word

Me, dressed as Cinderella. Why? All will be revealed in a later post...

As it was long overdue for me to write a new post, I decided that now was as good a time as any. So, since my last post, I've been working hard (or hardly working) at revision, gloriously intercepting the long boring-ness with random whimsies with my housemates. I've begun to feel very despondent about my exams because on Facebook everybody else seems to be saying 'Done for summer! Finished exams! I'm amazing!' yadda yadda yadda and I've found myself thinking 'Well, great, I won't be done for another 5 and a half weeks, this is gonna be a-maz-ing!'



Anyway, the purpose of this post is
basically to praise my wonderful mother, Hezza, for running a frigging marathon yesterday! I feel

My mum and me

so incredibly proud of her. She hasn't run a marathon in 30 years but managed to only be 15 minutes slower than she was then- 30 years older! I love my mother, she's the best friend a girl could ask for: kind, caring, funny, clever. She gives such amazing advice and always lends a listening ear. She never complains about the many stresses of her multiple-jobbed lifestyle and she is just a wonderful role model. I've often been called Mini-Hezz and I for one take that to be a compliment, I'd love to end up like her.

At the finish line

I know she reads my blog so I wanted her to know that I think she's top bananas. When she completed the race yesterday, my dad and sister were there to see her finish- my sister Suzanne had made chicken enchilada soup (yum!) and gotten Mum fresh flowers and I can predict exactly what Hezza will have responded. 'Ahhh, bliss!' Her trademark phrase, if you will.

She's such an inspiration. How did she manage to run for TWENTY SIX MILES??? I can barely run after a bus! She really puts all of us youngsters to shame, doesn't she?



In other news, apparently there was a tornado through mid England yesterday. Good to see the weather improving, eh?

You're just too good to be true, can't take my eyes offa you!

Not much has been happening with me. I've been trying to write revision notes, realising I haven't remembered diddily squat from the last year, I made a list of my top ten favourite celebrity men, as did my three housemates, and we basically just shared our choices and dissed each others selections. Every evening we watch Pointless (which if you aren't familiar, is an obscure quiz show where you try and answer the most obscure answers possible) and Eggheads (mostly to make fun of Daphne) and I've also recently started reading and watching 'Game of Thrones' which is pretty amazingly epic and I would definitely recommend it.



Saturday morning, at 7am, I am heading up on the train to Edinburgh to have a weekend with my sister Katherine, who is coming down on a train from Inverness. There'll be a new blog by next Monday, showing the highlights of the trip (most of which will be food!)

To conclude: Mum- you're a speedy gonzalos superhero who I am very proud of. Myself- you need to get a life!

QOTR