I would like to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to all my readers, (for other religions insert religious celebration in place of Christmas).
May you all have a wonderful holiday season, and a fabulous New Year… Let’s see what 2012 will bring.
Have a good ‘un!!
xoxo
Well much time has passed now since my last posting. So time I think for another random rambling from the R-o-b-b-o.
Ok so now I’m a blonde, so many would say I have an excuse for my varying degrees of, well… blondness? So far I have to say I fully disagree with the statement “blondes have more fun”. I’m having no more degrees of fun-ness since grabbing the peroxide bottle than I did when I was; Red, Brunette, Blue, Black or any other wonderful colour I have been. But for whatever reason I feel like I should stick with the blonde for a while longer. But for those who know me well a while longer could be days, weeks, months or minutes!"
I’m mostly filling my time in planning my future adventures. Oktoberfest next year and maybe a nice little trip to somewhere obscure on my little tod again, but it’ll have to be Europe this time. It’s been a year or two since I stayed in my own continent so maybe I’ll come up with a way to do some other strategically placed excursion?
Life is in general is quite good in the land of me at the moment. Nothing overly exciting going on, but in general good, although I did hear via the BBC that apparently I will end up with high cholesterol. But as that’s kind of an hereditary thing in my family I guess that’s to be expected – Roll on the heart attack! It’s either that or cancer that will get me in the end. That is unless I get hit by a bus tomorrow, or you know an axe murderer jumps through my window tonight and brutally attacks me etc.
At least I have a zombie attack plan – but I’m not going to share it with you as otherwise you’ll all rob my rather strategic hiding place.
We’ve not had any shooting as yet on the estate but fingers crossed we’ll get some days soon – Tweed is still coming on he’s done a few more days picking up now, and a few days loading, according to the “old man” he’s doing fine and so far we haven’t had too many squabbles over how his training is going. Wow he’s over a year old now, I’m 26 soon, nearly 30. WOW
Well I think on that note I should end this now depressing post – axe murderer’s, death, getting older – maybe I should scratch the earlier comment about life being good in the land of me…
xoxo
Stormin the Castle at Witton le Wear was a brilliant feat again this year!
After taking a year off last year (that’s me not the Rally) it was good to be back. The line up was awesome and much fun was had by all.
Friday night has to be the pinnacle for me though, great weather for a start! And from Crows to the Emerald Theives to Ska-Toons much fun was had by all. We even fitted some dodgem time in! Although I must take this opportunity to apologise to everyone who we rambled on at that night, especially to the Scots who we had an awful habit of not fully understanding… But according to a posh scouser we were incredibly difficult to understand too. We talk to fast me thinks?
Saturday nights line-up for the Iris tent was brilliant. To anyone who hasn’t seen them you MUST see Bessie and the Zinc Buckets they put on the best show, 2nd time for me and I’d see them again in a heartbeat. Skinflint returned to the main stage this year – we last saw them at our first Stormin adventure in 2007 and they are still as good as last time if not better.
Saturday however it rained but it was nothing my faithful hunter wellies couldn’t deal with.
So now I’m sleeping it all off ready for work tomorrow. Stormin we love you, see all our friends old and new next year! Only 365 days to go…
Friday line-up
Iris Stage
Emerald Theives
Backstreet Crawl
Main Stage
Crows
Fractured Valves
Ska-Toons
Dr Feelgood
Saturday line-up
Iris Stage
Smokehouse Boys
Bessie & the Zinc Buckets
The Karma Heart
Lyndon Anderson Band
Main Stage
Shameless
Seven Little Sisters
Skinflint
Ginger Wildheart & Friends
Go to: Stormin the Castle for more information
Always make a back up when dealing with the internet and jargon instructions!
Today I helped my good friend from stormford golden retrievers move her website hosting… I printed out the instructions and sorted through all the technical jargon and hey presto the website was now being hosted on wordpress, only there was no site?
Now as when I had moved to wordpress from spaces I figured it must be a delay in the moving so we e-mailed the respective hosts and left it to them. By the time I got home however I began to worry, so upon a bit of late research I discovered that actually you should save the website on something called an FTP. Argh!
But thankfully due to Cache on Google (why they don’t just call it an archive I don’t know?) I have just trawled through the whole site and put it all back together again, well except for some missing bits I couldn’t find. How stressed I was that I’d single handedly destroyed my friends hard work! I’m still hoping that the old host can do something but I figure I may as well act now instead of later.
So even if the instructions don’t mention these things always make a back up!
xoxo
Grrrrr I’ve been back a week nearly now (sad face, I miss my adventure compadres) and I haven’t had a good nights sleep since I returned!
I’m blaming Jet Lag but maybe my body is fighting against this non-air filled bed, because they were really comfy – No I’m being serious they were ace! I’m exhausted but can’t sleep it’s 00:12 now, I had a nap but now I’m wide awake. It’s so frustrating.
So to help me sleep I’m listening to my iPod… I doubt 30 seconds to mars is a good lullaby, but we’ll see? It beats counting sheep and I’ve got plenty of them to count out my window.
Back to normal in every other aspect but not in sleep. My eating is now back to normal, as in I can finish my food (now the portion sizes are smaller). Back to normal at work, but in order to function I need my sleep – God Damn It!!
Ok rant over, now to be soothed to sleep by the dulcet tones of Mr Leto, I’ll be sure to let you know if it’s successful.
Note: Not successful, however Ellie Goulding was.
Apologies one and all – but for those of you who want to see the pictures from my adventures, this year and last and anything in between – I am changing my photo store from photobucket to Flickr. No real reason other than I’m finding photobucket too slow with uploading and difficult to deal with.
So once I have everything sorted you should be able to click on the link underneath my gravatar to see my beautiful (and not so beautiful) images. I don’t proclaim to be a professional photographer but I like to share!
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
House hunting – Now I may be going off the wall a little bit here, but surely an estate agent’s purpose is to sell a house to a buyer. In my most recent experience with an estate agency that shall for now at least remain nameless (unless they annoy me just enough to name and shame them) was just downright rude.
They contacted my home and spoke to my Mother to organise a viewing and were just rude and vicious to her when they found that I was working the day I wanted the viewing, clearly they didn’t get that I only work the morning and I live at least a half hour away from the property, it’s called being economical you Ass!
Then upon arranging the viewing and turning up before the agreed upon time (seen as she was so bloody twisty about it) we rang the main office to see when the agent would arrive. There was no agent, she’d called in sick and they hadn’t even had the decency to contact me to say they would NOT be coming out to show me around and that was it – I lost my rag!
Upon getting home I found out they had tried to contact me about another property that didn’t even fit the same requirements as the one they wouldn’t show me around, so some poor lad who knew nothing of the whole debarcle got it in the neck and suffice to say I will not be dealing with them ever again.
YOU ARE TRYING TO SELL A PROPERTY, IT’S YOUR JOB! Stop making out like it’s more than your jobs worth, it is your bloody job. Get the stick out of your arse and earn your money, the property market isn’t doing well at the moment so you’d think they’d be snapping up buyers to get sales but no. It’s clearly an inconvenience!
If you can’t tell I’m annoyed.
Rant over.
xoxo
Well it’s getting nearer to adventure time, one more working test before I go and a few more weeks of work then off I fly! I’m going to have a Skype session with Miss Blemker some time before I go just to catch up and finalize bits and pieces but otherwise it’s all going to be played by ear.
The Northern Monkey is off to the USA. I think I’m in shock – I never thought I’d get to go to America so that’s another destination to tick off the bucket list. There’s still loads more places I need to visit before I die, namely Australia, Mexico and I’d like to see some of Asia, I say some of as I’ve not overly done any research but I’ve heard from friends who’ve been out there that it’s amazing. I don’t count Europe as places to visit as they’re kind of a given. I think really that covers the whole world bar the poles but my geography isn’t too good so that’s debatable ha ha.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the weather holds out for the working test this weekend, although they’ve been lucky with the weather every other weekend so I’m hoping a pattern is emerging. It’s new ground this time so I’ll remember to take my notepad to write down what happens and as promised I WILL remember to take photo’s or video’s if I get the chance. I wonder who’s running their dog’s this time?
Anyway I figured an update was in order as I’ve not posted for a long time. But when I’m away I will be updating as regularly as I can. Also it’s not long till Grouse season starts yay!
xoxo
Here are a few photo’s from a walk I just got in from with a couple of the Dog’s (Tweed, Misty and Penny) out and around the surrounding area and down the beck (river to those not in the know).
It’s not very often that a nursery rhyme has such an apt way to describe the UK weather. Incy-Wincy was correct, although I have been led to believe that it’s more about perseverance and how if you keep trying you get where you want to be, but I think we’ve all been lead a merry dance. It’s about the weather!
We start off the year with a minging batch of snow and sleet and rain, yes it’s refreshing but then we crave the sunshine and would you believe it when your about ready to think we’ll never see a nice day again out comes the sunshine and dries up all the rain! I know it makes me feel better.
It’s been a lovely week this past week and having a nice weekend has made up for missing out on the sunshine from being stuck in work you would think – but no I’m working this weekend (sad face). Mind you it just ruins the morning not the afternoon so I can’t complain.
I think tomorrow I shall go take the pups down the river… I call them pups but they’re far from it now. They were microchipped by my own fair hand only last weekend, yes I am now officially licensed to microchip animals. Now I just have to invest in the equipment and buy some chips. I have my first order already but as they aren’t to be born for a few weeks I’m figuring I’ll wait until I get paid all my overtime at the end of the month before I invest. It won’t be a massive money spinner but it should keep some beer money in my pocket at least ha ha.
Once I have prices etc figured out I’ll publish them on here (what with all the views I’m getting I can’t see it doing any harm?)
Right I think I’ll go sort out the Ninja-pig and let the Boy out for a run about again. I really need to take some more pictures, he’s blooming HUGE now bless his cotton socks.
xoxo
So as the countdown continues it has dawned on me – am I ready?
I know all the paperwork is sorted, my passport and flights and things are done and dealt with. But there has got to be something I’ve forgotten to do/sort/figure out? I’m trying and trying but I cannot pin what it is!
As such I decided to concentrate on other things and so now I am being distracted by TV and my promotion documents, which if you ever have to fill them in are there as a way to put you off wanting to be promoted… seriously a 20 page document is not my idea of fun!
So then as a distraction from the distraction I then got highly absorbed into friday night television, yes I’m at home on a friday night but you know what I don’t care. I’ve got things to be saving for plus I’m not on my finest on a friday evening I’m all tired from work, which although it’s not overly strenuous on a friday I do find that as it’s the end of the week I’ve used all my energy up and need the friday night and sleep saturday morning lie in to get my wind back!
Anyway I’m rambling again. I’m mainly writing this as it’s been a while and I figure I may as well write something new as I’ve been getting so many views lately – I have to say I’m quite charmed by the reading of my ramblings. So thanks guys.
Right, back to figuring out what it is I’ve forgotten, only 131 days / 18 and a bit weeks / 4 and a bit months till I fly out now, time’s running out man…
The decision has been made – we’re travelling on a wing and a prayer. Yes we’re figuring it out as we go… The general plan is sorted. Arrive in Seattle, go to see Angela and get her to get her tour guide hat on.
From which point various outings to Vancouver, a Winery and seeing the Space needle are most definitely occurring. Then jump in the car and head down the road; inland for so long, then heading out to the coast taking in all the sites. Seeing the redwood forests, the beautiful coast and all the bit’s in-between until we reach California. Where Melissa will takeover as tour guide and take us to another Winery (we like the grape juice!). The Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco bay, along with Pacifica. Then probably LA and the rest of southern california we can fit in!
I want to see as much as possible and take in all I can of the big American experience. It’s all so exciting I nearly wee’d a little!
I now though have no idea what to pack. I want to travel relatively light, with all the travelling I think it’s better to take a small amount of clothes and then wash but I don’t want to under compensate and take too little. But 20 days is a long time so maybe if I take 10 days worth of stuff then wash the middle of the trip and start again… I hate luggage and packing, mainly because I’m bad at it. I was a total flake last year for Nova Scotia – if it wasn’t for the packing list we got of essentials I would have totally forgotten the most important stuff like my hiking boots. But then I’m sure my Mam would have reminded me about them! She’s a handy packing aide!
The problem now is I’m so overly excited that by the time it actually comes around I’ll be so worn out from all the buzzing around for 6 months waiting I’ll probably be dead when I get off the plane! So I think I may take some teabags, I love tea, I’m a true Brit.
The USA needs to stock up on some good tea – Typhoo or Yorkshire Tea, they’re the proper brew none of this PG tips, mind Sainsburys gold leaf fair-trade tea makes a damn good cuppa at work, so I’m not a total tea label freak. And I HATE Earl or Lady Grey tea, it’s all flowery and rubbish – it tastes like Parma-violets in tea, and Parma-violets were never good. They were all little and ewwwwwww.
The MOST hated sweet EVER (Not 100% fact, but I sure don't like them)
I was more of a Love Hearts or Refresher girl… wow I’m totally rambling now, about tea and sweets – so back to the program, and talking of programmes Frasier is on – or as it’s now known – The Seattle research show.
So I will bid you adieu, with my thoughts of tea, and sweets. Goodnight xoxo
Today, because I’m a citizen from one of those lucky countries that the US doesn’t deem to require a VISA to enter the country, I filed and was approved for my ESTA (Electronic system for Travel Authorization) into the US, and what a random lot of questions.
But because I don’t have a mental disorder (although some would say that’s debatable) or Gonorrhea, I’m not or have never been involved with criminal espionage or had any persecutions associated with Nazi germany or its allies luckily I was admitted entry.
I understand why they ask all of this stuff but when you fill it in you do giggle. I mean how many people who enter the US would admit to seeking entry in order to engage in criminal activities, I’m not – but for people who are, would you say so??
So now it’s official I’m allowed to enter the US… $14 later
So roll on the 6th(?) of July – that’s the estimated date I intend to fly out on – and the craziness which will ensue upon my arrival.
xoxo
ESTA Website (for all you happy travellers out there) https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/esta.html?_flowExecutionKey=_c82B7DC5B-505F-9C25-EB38-AA97FD866F01_k00DFC028-59B4-42FC-DCAE-8EB7795CA847
Well the more intense planning stages are about to commence. That’s right folks the real pricing has begun and jesus, it’s going to be expensive but worth it!!
So far I’ve got my travel costs down, that’s right down to £1200, but considering how much I spent on my expedition last year that is nothing. And I’ll probably never do the same trip again especially once I get myself on the property ladder, so till then may as well enjoy myself.
Next stop is passport central. My passport needs to be sent off and updated as I can’t get my Visa unless I have at least 6 months to a year so off to the passport office we go for documents and the like. On a bonus note I think I have to get a new passport photo, so a trip to the hairdressers and a beautification may be in order, as I look HORRIFIC on my last photo and my driving licence isn’t overly special either. Don’t want to scare the immigration guys at the desks!!
Sooooo the current plan still stands I think… Train to Heathrow, Flight to Seattle, Drive to Pacifica, then Vegas, Then fly home again, and all in 20 days I think I calculated it to be. 7 in Seattle, 7 in Pacifica/San Francisco and 4 in Las Vegas, plus 2 days flying/travelling!! Woooooooot
The USA should be afraid, be very afraid!!
See you soon my American friends xoxo
So it turns out MSN spaces has died (ironically I am writing this entry from Windows Live Writer). Although I am saddened by this I am also reassured that my blog will now be looked after
Upon being rudely told I would have to move I have had NO support form Microsoft regarding the issue to the point where my blog was presumed LOST! However, Word press came to the rescue after a quick message and now my blog is fixed a whole 5 DAYS LATER.
I’m still annoyed at how the move was conducted, the lack of options from Microsoft and quite frankly Crap customer service. From a user of MSN and it’s related products since the beginning of the Hotmail revolution I expected more – but then if they gave up on what could have been as big a service as Facebook if they’d publicised it more widely I guess they aren’t the big shots of the internet that they once were…
I’ll miss my MSN space – but on to the future… I’m just waiting for all my files, pictures and videos to be forcefully distributed to the highest bidder now. I give it a year, who knows they may move all our Hotmail accounts to Gmail next!
A disgruntled mourner at a shockingly bad wake.
xoxo
