ben je hier voor spek en bonen?

25 July 2008 @ 06:49 pm

The house was bedlam this morning when I woke up: my grandparents were still decorating the kitchen, my auntie was here cleaning for my mam and, my brother was off work and had begun to build the new barbecue for my dad in the garden. Fortunately, I had made plans to meet my cousin for lunch on the marina, which was nice. I ate the smoked salmon bagel, as always, and we had a good catch-up.

Since then I've done nothing. I read a little, watched some TV and attempted to find a house again. Then I gave up and made chirashi sushi with prawns and teriyaki vegetables. Mmm.

Tonight, nothing.

Current Mood:

full

Current Music: Vampire Weekend - A Punk

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22 July 2008 @ 07:50 pm

Today has been spent cowering from the sun like the good little ginger I am.
I watched two episodes of Desperate Housewives, read more of The Day of the Triffids, cooked dinner and pored over the map that the wonderful OS people sent me. There're so many contour lines on it, though, that it might as well be printed on pink paper.
My friend phoned to say that the campingplatz was booked, so all I need to do now I get my train booked and I'm set for five days in the Lake District.

Current Mood:

excited

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20 July 2008 @ 06:25 pm

Conversations at the dinner table, no. 1:

Mam: I still haven't spoken to our new neighbours, and have no desire to.
Dad: You should embrace our lesbian friends.
Mam: We don't even know if they're lesbians.
Me: I could find out online. They have to register with the government, like sex offenders.
Mam: Do they?
Me: Yes. We live in Nazi Germany.
Dad: They're always very cordial to me.
Mam: Well, they've not even said "hello" to me.
Dad: They probably know we're Catholic and can smell the judgement.

Current Location: Hartlepool, England

Current Mood:

amused

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18 July 2008 @ 05:23 pm

Our hiking expedition has changed a little bit. Rather than walking the Cleveland Way, we're going (hopefully) to Keswick to camp for a few days. It's just north of Derwent Water, so we'll be able to do some day walks/hikes, as well as bum around the towns nearby if we fancy a break from walking.

And the best thing? I got to buy a map.

Current Mood:

excited

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17 July 2008 @ 04:23 pm

"The wife of back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin has told a jury she forgave her husband after he cheated on her." Who'da thunk?

I might go for a walk to try and spot camera crews on the beach tomorrow. I might make it onto the news.

Current Mood:

happy

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17 July 2008 @ 11:58 am

My friends from home and I decided to do some kind of a hike in the next few weeks. I think we settled on The Cleveland Way. It should be good fun if it happens, but who knows.

My boredom is getting worse, and today I have to contend with my hyperactive cousin (she's five) running around the house while my auntie cleans it. I'd go for a walk but I'm not yet showered. The highlight of my day, however, seems to be going to Asda later on, and then cooking dinner afterwards.

I need something to do.

Current Mood:

bored

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15 July 2008 @ 10:52 pm

Toen ik een antwoord voor Andy in het Nederlands zat te schrijven, begon ik het Mega-Mindy CD van Matt te krijgen. Het is dé album van 2008. Ik heb ook gezegd dat ik tussen Groningen en Zweden wil fietsen. Ik denk dat ik misschien een beetje gek werd omdat ik nog genoeg zuiker vandaag heb gegeten. Maar het bedoeling is dat ik morgen iets actief moet doen.... ik moet wel in het binnenstad lopen, maar misschien ga ik iets anders ook doen?

Current Mood:

excited

Current Music: Smoorverliefd (duet met Toby) - Mega Mindy

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15 July 2008 @ 07:31 pm

My day:
0900: Alarm goes off.
1030: Wake up, breakfast.
1100: Doorbell. Postman with a parcel from Catherine: a book titled Verleid door een duivel.
1200: Shower, talk on msn for a bit.
1330: Discover that Desperate Housewives is on channel four. Eat lunch, drink a lot of coffee.
1530: Write letter, cook brother's dinner
1700: Start reading, cook our dinner
1933: Check uni inbox again to see if Erasmus office have replied. They haven't.

It's finally sunny, but too hot for me to go outside. I burn so quickly. Damn ginger hair and Celtic ancestry. I heard from a friend that we might be having a picnic tomorrow, though!

Current Mood:

okay

Current Music: Maximo Park: Our Earthly Pleasures

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14 July 2008 @ 09:53 pm

I need a better structure to my days of boredom, so plan on getting up at an okay time tomorrow, eating breakfast and going for a walk/to Nationwide before coming home and being lazy, rather than doing it all day.
Let's hope this works.

Current Mood:

bored

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12 July 2008 @ 09:28 pm

In the last three days I've acted as a tour-guide of my beautiful part of England. I got the train to Newcastle on Thursday morning and met Leonie and Anouk in the station. We first walked down to the Riverside and crossed the bridge to Gateshead to go to the Baltic. I really liked the exhibitions they've got in there at the moment. Sometimes they can be a bit weird. Afterwards we walked through the Sage and back across the Tyne. We wandered around Grainger Town for a bit and ate lunch in Yo! Sushi. I was so happy I found one in the North East. We then headed back to the station and got the train to Hartlepool. By this time it was really sunny, and the view of the coast was brilliant. We sat around in the garden for a bit, then ate dinner and went to the pub for a couple.

Yesterday morning we got up, grumbled about the rain and then spent the day walking around Hartlepool. Christ Church, The Museum of Hartlepool, a look around the Marina for lunch (smoked salmon bagel, mmm) and then to Asda to buy provisions for last night's barbecue. The rain had stopped by the time we got home and the garden was dry enough to sit in when people got here at seven. Much drunkeness ensued and a good time was had by all. Highlights include (apparently, I can't really remember) ring of fire, going to see if Jax was open but realising it wasn't and then coming back to mine. I didn't go to bed until 6am - after my dad had got up for work.

Today, despite being incredibly hungover, I had a nice afternoon in Durham. My mam took us up in the car, and dropped us off at the Botanical Gardens. I'd not been for ages, and some of the stuff was huge now, but I couldn't find the sheep that usually graze in one of the bits :( After this we walked back into the centre and saw a bit of the Miners' Parade and battled through the crowd to get to the Cathedral. Which was shut. So we walked around for a bit, and had a tour of the castle before going back to the Cathedral once it was open again. After this we had pizza and I waved the moffen off.

I'm so so tired now, but have had a brilliant few days. I just ate fish pie again. Ratdog would be singing his song now, I tell you. Tomorrow I don't plan on doing much, but I might go for a massive walk to make up for the amount I've eaten and drank in the last few days.

Current Mood:

tired

Current Music: Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

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08 July 2008 @ 12:47 pm

I just went for my eye test and got to pay £22 for the sodding thing. I'm not covered by the NHS anymore, since I'm 20, although I'm still in full-time education. Humph. But the good news is that my perscription hasn't changed, so I don't need new glasses. Woo. I also have a slight astigmatism in one of my eyes.

The deluge continues. I wish the rain would stop. Not that I would go anywhere if it did, just it would be nice to sit in the garden and do a bit of reading. It would be better if it finished before the moffetjes came up on Thursday for the north-east adventure.

My parents came home from Glasgow yesterday. They said they'd seen a couple of things I would've liked but failed to buy them, so mammy's said that she'd buy me a mac (coat, unfortunately) to make up for it. Good times. Acne have a sale on, fyi. Although the only sizes still avaliable are fatty fatty bum bum ones.

Current Mood:

cold

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06 July 2008 @ 09:59 pm

I want a bike.
I actually want a Dutch-style bike.
But I can't find any in the UK for under £500 and Halford's aren't amazing.
:(
I want a bike that's nice and new like Rhian's.

So bored. So, so bored.

Current Mood:

bored

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06 July 2008 @ 12:52 pm

Another year abroad update.
I seem to be having a little more luck in finding somewhere to live in my field outside of Hamburg. I found a couple of WGs that don't specify gender, and I set up a profile on wg-gesucht.de to say that I'm looking for somewhere in the area. Yesterday morning I had a reply from a man who works for a property company in the town that specialises in short-term leasing, and that they have some furnished places. I have to ruf him tomorrow sometime an, to arrange viewings. Except I'm not in Geesthacht yet, so will have to explain all this, but say I'm going out at the end of August, haben Sie eine Website worauf ich suchen kann?

I spent yesterday amazingly hungover, and so I basically ate all day and watched every episode of Black Books on virgin on demand. I forgot how funny the programme actually is.

Sunday dinner at the grandparents' in 58 minutes...

Current Mood:

hopeful

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05 July 2008 @ 03:57 pm

My parents have gone to Glasgow for the weekend and left me and my brother in the house. Last night we had some friends round (my parents said we could) and everything was going great until 3am, when the alarm tripped and started going off. So, we reset the alarm. It happened again. And again. Eventually, my brother's best friend, who's an electrician, managed to turn off the alarm. But, it also turned off the rest of the house. This morning, it wouldn't turn back on. It's just been fixed, and whilst it's amazing that I can now wash, it was nice not to have any distractions. Even boiling water in a proper kettle for breakfast this morning was good fun. Breakfast was bacon sandwiches and fish fingers. I love using up food that's defrosted...

I do, however, have the hangover of death today. I drank almost three bottles of wine. I think I have a problem.

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03 July 2008 @ 11:40 pm

I have only been learning Dutch for a little under two years. I'm way better at it than I am at German, which I've been learning for seven years. I am going to Germany for the first part of my year abroad, and Nederland for the second. Between the 10th and 19th August I will be in the country, to go to Lowlands and basically laze around in Gouda before hand (day trips- thinking of giving Rotterdam a great big miss... what about Middleburg?), and since I'm probably going to be vermoffd when I'm in Germany, I've decided that the period between now and then, aside from the essential stuff I need to do (like find a house, err), will be dedicated to strengthening my Dutch as much as possible.

So I present to you a list of reasons as to why I love Holland so much, because many people ask:

( Why can't I move here now? )

.

Current Mood:

nostalgic

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02 July 2008 @ 11:11 pm

Because I can't sleep, and they've finally been uploaded (By Dave:

( Photos )

Current Mood:

tired

Current Music: Eurhythmics - Greatest Hits

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02 July 2008 @ 06:26 pm

I've just bought a ticket to go and see maximo park in Amsterdam in August with the Dutchies, and changed my flights so I'm going four days early. I love The Netherlands. I honestly cannot wait to move out there when I graduate from Sheffield.

I'm in charge of cooking dinner again tonight. We're having pasta with chicken and tomato sauce. My mam wants me to put bacon in it. I don't think I will.

Current Mood:

excited

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02 July 2008 @ 01:58 pm

I went into town today, to post some letters and have some money changed (300SEK was £23... and then £80 was only €100 *sob*), and also to go to the library to have something to do. I booked myself in with the dentist and optician, too. I guess it's best to get them over with in one swoop. God knows how I'm going to afford it if I need new glasses, or dental work doing.

Current Music: Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

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01 July 2008 @ 11:04 pm

I have more year abroad woe. It's seriously hard to find somewhere to live in Geesthacht. I've found two WGs listed, both of which specify weiblich people to apply. I'm not weiblich, and I certainly don't want to lose any of my männlichness to live there. So the only place I can find in the town is a one-roomed flat in a dachgeschoss, with its own bathroom and kitchen. I'm seriously considering living here, even though I would have to live on my own. Also, the website is requesting a Provision: 2 Nettokaltmieten zzgl. gesetzlicher MwSt plus a deposit of the same amount, but I don't have 960,00€ going spare. Especially not for a place I'm living in for 5 months. And it's unfurnished.

Hartlepool is getting more and more boring. I've hung out with some friends, but I'm bored of my family. Anybody fancy putting me up for a few days? I've been warned about using too many bowls, tea spoons and mugs. I've been told that four chicken breasts isn't enough to feed three people (wtf?), to smile more, to talk less, not to hog the TV, to arrange the cushions properly in the sitting room... I love them, I really really do. But I need my independence back.

P.S. Garraway, I know you're reading this. The new Sigur Rós album´s really really good! Six weeks!

Current Mood:

distressed

Current Music: Sigur Rós - Með suð i eyrum við spilum endalaust

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30 June 2008 @ 08:26 pm

Hartlepool continues to "thrill, chill and fulfill" me... I've not done anything today, and the most exciting thing to happen is getting an e-mail from the JBC to say my dermalogica had been shipped. Some cute guy did try to sign me up for the RSPB this afternoon, though.

Things I've learnt from the TV today:
- American is the world's oldest continent
- The Appalaichians used to be taller than the himalayas
- Some types of caviar cost over £700 a tub
- During the regency period, pie was the most popular food amongst inmates.

I think I'm going to the pub in a bit. Waiting on a phonecall. You never know, those tidbits might come in useful...

Current Mood:

bored

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