T'eyla Minh

Even though I spent my first three days of leave doing absolutely bugger-all, we nonetheless had a somewhat productive weekend...

On Friday, we spent the remaining £20 of our anniversary budget on ingredients for a special tea (Mexican-style chicken, which we'd made before ages ago; the sauce involves cocoa powder, it's nommy) and lemon meringue pie, which despite an early disaster with the pastry was nonetheless tasty.

On Saturday we decided to have a cheese feast for dinner so I made some proper rustic French baguettes (froze one), which were delicious. The recipe came from a Women's Institute book that I got a few Christmases ago and every single recipe in there involves ridiculously wet dough, but I'm getting a bit better at handling it (the trick seems to be to let the mixer do a lot of the work...)

On Saturday, we had an adventure with the neighbours' pets... ( Dog on the loose! )

On Sunday (as already stated) I finally made a start on my new embroidery. I did a bit more last night using an overhead lamp and that made things much easier to see (and did not result in a migraine) It's already starting to take shape. :)

I also forgot to mention that I didn't go to choir on Tuesday, mostly because at the start of my week off I was feeling generally meh. (I caught up on EastEnders on the Monday, which made me cry and was thus somewhat cathartic.) I am now wondering if it was merely self-preservation, as the week before that some of the choir members went on a trip to Paris. ( More )

Other things. ( Political Things, cut if you're not that way inclined. )

Anyway, that's enough about that. :P

As ever, it’s taken me a couple of days to actually post this, but tonight I am intending to be somewhat productive by printing out my old unicorn-embroidery chart for Vicky and getting it in the post for her, as well as sending her the details of the fan kit. And then hopefully more embroidery of my own.

£161 last night... which oddly, is £30 more than last time even though we didn't get any fruit or veg other than salad and a pineapple, as it's best to just buy brocolli and stuff fresh as and when needed. £16 was beer for Paul, £17 on some trousers and a top for me (dark red 3/4-length combats and a nice t-shirt), plus a box of wine (£12) and some more of the nice vodka (£11.50). So that knocks £56.50 off already. We got two HUGE bottles of Lenor softener for a fiver, which will probably last about a year. ;) Also, six packets of Supernoodles (clearly part of our 'healthy eating' drive... :P) for £2.00, which was ridiculous. And obviously, stocked up on meat (minces, pork joint and belly, steaks) and frozen fish and shampoo and juice and pretty much everything else.

I think next time I may order online, as the taxi is usually £7 and they charge £6 to deliver... Also I might not be so tempted by random offers as they ambush me...

So, that's that for another two months. Although tonight I need to get chicken and mushrooms from Tesco as I'll be cooking for Lisa on Monday - the ever-special chicken/gorgonzola*/mushroom pasta concoction.

TGI a bank holiday, that's what I say.

So far the plan is this:

Saturday - moving bedroom around. Should be knackering but cathartic. To include hoovering and dusting.

Sunday - recovering from above.

Monday - new tattoos, assuming the place is open. MUST SORT OUT DESIGN.

And then back to work. Also must book choir concert tickets this weekend before I forget...

Considering I didn't have time / forgot to vote (which would have been the first time ever) I'm pleased to note that Moseley/Kings Heath still boasts a Lib Dem councillor in the form of Mike Mullaney. He wrote our household a nice letter, which is more than the other candidates did. :P We may get a train station at this rate...

* Well, 'generic blue cheese' this time...

So, as I mentioned, I watched this last night. The theme of the show, for those that don't know, is to put modern teenagers into an old-fashioned school environment for a month to see how they cope. I saw the one a few years back that put them into a 1960s comprehensive, or 'secondary modern', as they were called. This time, they're in a 1950's boarding grammar school, and split into same-sex classes in a bid to see who does better: boys or girls.

This entry may be controversial, and it's not open or up for debate - at least, not with me. I'm just attempting to re-inject some intelligence back into my journal, if only for my own benefit, because I'm starting to feel like my brain cells are shrivelling up. Anyway, back to That'll Teach 'Em.

On a purely superficial level, it's great entertainment. These kids don't have a clue what they're letting themselves in for, and their reaction upon finding that they're going to be split up is priceless. It also goes to show that they wouldn't even survive in a modern grammar school, let alone a 1950's one.

( However... )

"Yes", I hear you shout, "it's all very well you preaching about this, but what do you have to show for yourself?" And yes, you're right. I have a grammar school education and a University degree, and I'm working in a low-paid admin job that I mostly hate, and that's so far under my abilities it's laughable. But that's not a product of my education; it's a product of myself. I'm crazy, and crazy people can't make important decisions about their futures. Until I'm such a position to think about mine, I'm going to sit here and eat my lovely cream bun.

I think I'm about done.

This morning, a flyer was popped through our door telling us to "Use your vote and vote for Labour!" - it even offered lifts to the polling station from the candidate.  Er, no.  Thanks just the same, though.

And just a few moments ago, another flyer was dropped through our door telling us to vote against the BNP, which is certainly refreshing.  I'm still tempted to go along the Wolverhampton road with a permanent marker and scribble "NAZIS" across all of their stupid streetlight posters, though.  The whole thing makes me sick.

It's also quite interesting that all of these flyers and "vote for me!" posters don't actually bother to tell anyone what their policies are, even in short form...

That's the most political rant you're going to get out of me.  Ever.