went 'back to the parents' this weekend. gner helpfully showed me billy bag are doing pink leather ipod cases. nice. my sister gave me some diamante hello kitty ear-rings. fabulous. my best word in scrabble was 'haiku'. tremendous.
fashion spread in the sun showing all the latest great cheap stuff from primark/peacocks/new look. wow. and best of all my auntie really liked her present.
always look on the bright side of life.....

i think lidl is the way forward. it requires more walking and im warming to the array of european fare. and of course some oldies but goodies like fig rolls (open ended, v important).

and i love the marketing. i mean i bought some 'mini bake lites' which had the tag line of 'snacky and cracky', which they were. the picture of a girl giving a bloke a kiss on the cheek whilst another girl looked on seemed very swedish, as im not sure whether a threesome is snacky and cracky too.

then there is the white chocolate with 'funny' drops (ie smarties). the fact that they obviously thought appealing to children, the use of the word 'funny' would be suitable they didnt realise this in fact means that you could think the drops would taste odd. i didnt try them.

but it is the one place where you can get good quality sundried tomatoes for about £1.50, part baked baguettes for 39p for 2, cheap brie and spanish extra virgin olive oil. the secret is looking at the labels and putting in the effort. cheap as chips!

so eammon is leaving GMTV. wonder if hes copying me. since ri:se died, the void had to be filled by GMTV, which most of the time is filled with daily mail type papp, along the lines of what food is bad for you (all foods) and stories of puppies saving lives or children dying of rare diseases etc along with westlife and david blaine.
well fattie eammon, so long.

i love watching the 'elimination' reality shows. so far tonight its been the apprentice (Alan Sugars version of the US show which featured Donald Trump. Two teams get set a sales project and at the end the losing team has to nominate three people to explain why they lost. sugat then fires one) this week stupid lindsay got the push for basically ignoring the whole team and going with her own idea.

Then americas next top model where cassie the miserable one got sent home. (a group of pretty girls are set modelling tasks whilst all living together in the waldorf astoria. tyra banks and a team of 'experts' picks which one photographed the worst to leave)

next week the opposing boys and girls are forced to mix teams on apprentice which should be good, whilst the girls have to model with a big fat tarantula on their faces. cant wait!

people power won today, when the northern line was suspended. at stockwell station which serves both the northern and victoria lines, passengers were left bewildered when the victoria line trains were then prevented from opening their doors at stockwell, due to 'over crowding'. This is because with less than fifteen people in the station, overcrowding was not a problem.
(however when a really packed northern line train was emptied at kennington the other day and there was people standing over the yellow line 'overcrowding'wasnt a concern...)
anyways a silly vicky line driver opened the doors on the train for just a fraction, and one of the very few passengers left in the station forced the doors open. Relieved people were able to get on and off the train with no fear of being pushed anywhere near the tracks. and so another hour of my life lost to the great transport god in the sky...

its been snowing in london. such a rare sight...

yesterday i volunteered at hackney city farm. it has cows, sheep, pigs, bunnies, geese, ducks, hens, a turkey and cockrels. obviously some of the group hadnt seen a pig before, and yes they do get pretty big, that should be no surprise. so the first half was spent shovelling rubble into bags.
it was a nice spring morning, very bright but also very cold. somehow i felt that doing such physical activities was more beneficial outside rather than in the sweaty gym. i could be up for doing more of the same.
second half was cutting up trees and by accident i put some branches down whilst another volunteer was bending down (at the same time), and she got hit on the head. nothing serious, not a cut or anything, just a slight bump but i did feel a bit of a tool...and i do hurt a lot today..

and then to top it all off a really crap night at the telegraph. a much hyped evening of hip hop funk and breakdancing ended up being a poor cheesy night of funk your teenage cousin would know/play. lots of ladies wearing very horrid outfits and quite a few old or well ugly men with only a couple of decent ones. waste of time grrr!

experiments bought at sainsies today
2 types of pretend sugar, 1 tate and lyle half sugar and 1 fruit sugar replacement
salad cheese (light?)

oh and btw WE BEAT CHELSEA!!!!!!

watched a programme the other day bout planes. it started off really interestingly about the stealth bombers and then moved onto harrier jump jets. i always wondered how they 'worked' and didnt realise its the thrust which is directed downwards for vertical lift, if only for a max of 90 seconds. and it doesnt do sub sonic speed, but the next version will...
then they showed the B2 bombers and the U2 spy planes which are mental and massive to land (the wings are so big they have their own wings) and they nearly fly into space to avoid detection. id love to fly in a jet...it has to land on a carrier btw..
however the prog started to get a bit terminator, what with missile guided bombs and remote control planes, the commentary detailing that the plane would fire when the images matched. how long before the plane decides what to bomb?
frustrating day in more ways than one. tomorrows motto is must do better. at least i'll be down the farm on saturday, that'll be fun hopefully

bit of a bum day today, the plan seems to be going off the rails a tad and im unsure of what to do next. i know i have to sort out some more things, make some calls, get more figures and decisions.

i 'moved forward' today re: mobile phones. i road tested the 7270 and the 7280. the 7270 had a great screen, better camera than current 7250i and wanst too bulky. the 7280, otherwise known as the 'lipstick' was stylish and sexy, and would 'match' my ipod click wheel. also very handbag friendly. unfortunately had tweeny twiney screen and thus camera quality undeterminable. the 3230 however will have a 1.3 megapixel camera and also seems fairly dinky, but is 'due out first quarter 2005'. as i have to change phones within the next six weeks that makes a narrow 'window of mobile opportunity'

i did love it talking to the mobile phone salesman, seeing through all the bollocks. and having been within the bowels of a certain mobile comapny and knowing more than the average joe about the technology behind them i let him say his stuff. after all i just wanted to see the handsets irl... im not buying one for four weeks, and even then there are quite a few tinternet retailers that 'seem' cheaper, not sure how quality the service is... but i rarely need any service... any reviews of onestopphoneshop.com?

ah half term week, the week when only the childless or parents with kids form hell visit the office. i honestly think that there is around 80% less traffic just because its not the school run. i love these parents that are sooo concerned about their childs education but dont mind damaging their lungs and encouraging their laziness.

im currently in the market for some new toys. so far i think i am going to plump for a samsung x15plus, just cos the ibook wont support the inevitable software that i will need 'going forward'. i wont tell you who had me half way to the apple shop...

todays mission however was finding a mobile. off peak, peak, weekend, calls to land lines calls to other phones, xnet charges, all too confusing. im looking at nokias, as i had a bad experience with a motorola and i think theyre cheap and tacky. also am used to the nokia menu system after 7 years...

so am scratching round t'internet and it seems the best policy is to find out where my calls go, as mobile to mobile calls are the most expensive. so far 02 seems to be most popular with my mates, vodafone being a close second. 02 is my current provider and i think switching to being a private user they may win out as they have pretty good coverage and a few tempting 'deals'... god its sooo confusing!!!

hi sorry for the interruption but blogger ate my post on thursday and i locked myself out of my dial-up connection on saturday morning and IT only do mon-fri. grrr. normal service resumed.

i forgot to mention that on the way to the terminal for my madrid flight, i saw the couple who i sat next to on the flight back from ireland the other day get off my tube and go up the escalators in front of me. spooky they were on the same tube!!

interesting prog on tonight about the sun trying to get liverpudlians to come round after they offended them for printing they were robbing scallies who pickpocketed the dying hillsborough victims. also read in the papers about some tail-end who held up an ambulance cos he wouldn't pay the fees for going through the mersey tunnel....

madrid part 2

the simpsons in spanish is very funny, esepcially as principal skinner sounds exactly the same and flanders sounds just as straight, wimpy and religious.

anyways i venture out onto the streets of madrid and the heavens open with hailstones, the weather is always poo in february. i run into el cortes ingles and am disppointed by the lime green fashion and lack of mandarina duck on discount. luckily zara has a nice tee in blue, which is my new colour. check out the girl on the garnier 100% ads with my hair style/colour- i'm nicking that soft blue eyeliner trick

so i meet up with my 'colleagues' have a quick wander round town then its off to the o'caldino for some tip top grub. i had whitebait embralada (spanish fish pastry pie their equivalent of pizza), clams, langoustines, those peppers where some are hot some are not and the most yummiest octopus (pulpo) ever- incredibly melt in the mouth i must try to do it myself once.

then i tried an oyster. ive never had one before and didnt realise they were alive. anyway it was like squishy salty jelly and defo needed champers to wahs it down. except we had a particularly nice wine made from albarino grapes. this is a unique variety only grown on the sea cliffs of galicia north west spain and therefore is quite rare. but its the smoothest nicest white ever, and available from majestics and oddbins.

then we had a liquor that was bright yellow and you had to pour it over the cake. that wasnt so good but i was getting quite tipsy by then. a small shufty to the wine bar next door and we only just missed trying a 20 euro glass of red....i thought places didnt close in spain?

i dont normally do this.....

Madrid part 1.

i have an inbuilt clock that ensures if i need to be up for something then i wake about an hour/ two hours early and then cant get back to sleep properly. so i'm awake at 4.30, up at 5.30. i have plenty of time and make it to heathrow terminal one ahead of schedule, no delays and feeling very relaxed. i do a quick shop in 'duty free' where they were giving away free smaples of raspberry vodka (i declined hard liquor at 9am on a sunday) and there was nothing in my fave shop, 'pie woman' disappointingly.

as i sit down, i notice the gate number on the screen and decide i might as well amble over there and wait/watch the tv. so im sitting outside gate 40 and wondering why there are loads of japanese going to madrid when i suddenly get the impression that this isnt the right gate, even though theyre mentioning madrid a lot. i realise that this is the BMI flight, also going to madrid, leaving 20mins after mine and that at 9.45 i have ten minutes to reach my flight, if it hasnt closed already.

so cue image.. im running just as fast as i can, holding onto to handbags, laptop bag and overnight bag whilst also giving roger bannister a run for his money. (for those that dont know there is considerable distance between gates 40 and 22 at heathrow) luckily i arrive at my gate, unable to talk and board the plane. there were still four people after me yet to board.

as i sit down i feel my lungs reach 2000 degrees farenheit and wanting to leave my body directly through my rib cage. the guy behind me is being asked by the dispatcher to apologise to the air stweard for something he said earlier or he may get taken off the plane. meanwhile the guy infront puts his coat over his head and reclines the seat fully back. the air steward asks if id feel more comfortable there are other seats further back down the plane, barely recovered, i almost ask to be taken off myself as i'm about to die.

tomorrow madrid part two...

one kilo. could be significant. i will investigate tomorrow for further information, the weight v price argument becoming relevant. but it has to be stylish too. yes i'm going light lappy shopping!!!

in the interim sleep sleep and more sleep, i love the weekends!!!

ive seen something of great amusement tonight, if i could pull it off it would be very convenient. hmm. oh yeah and tv phone ins here i come......

all in all its just another brick in the wall....

have picked up a new mag this week, 'star'. its basically a cheap version of heat. the main reason was the 105 diet tips from celebs. and there was a free copy lurking in the plane today that i managed to claim from being donated to the cleaners. it kept me entertained from heathrow and was marginally better than heat. it didnt have that stupid woman in now who i hate and has inspired me to make some funky tshirts. result.

tick tock tick tock, whaddya waitin, whaddya waitin, whaddya waitin foorrrr?

in one way i cant wait for the next eight weeks to be over. in the other way as i need so much to be completed by then i think i wish i had another couple of weeks breather. i'm running around the next few days, but i really need to get a few things off the slate next week. start whittling down the pile and shifting the focus to another type of pile.

any more clues and i'll be a times crossword.