in times to come

here's what i'm most looking forward to. SNOW!!!!!! seriously, last night i had two separate dreams where it had started snowing! i long for the day where i wake up, open the window and it's all white and shiny outside!

here's what i'm most dreading. driving in the snow. this fear has been confounded by literally everyone i talk to giving me their concerned face when i say this will be my first winter here. they try to quickly recover and give me helpful advice like turn into the skid, but it's that first face that seriously worries me.

and i think everyone is expecting me to curl up into a ball and whimper when it starts getting cold. i know i'm not really prepared for it, but i hope at least i won't be dealing with it by turning to the foetal position. actually i'm planning to just rely on complaining loudly and often about the weather, mostly because i feel it will help me fit in with the locals!

speaking of, i am making headway with understanding the accent, though i still have problems with e and a. when they're spelling a word (i have to ask people at work to do this when i am talking to them on the phone) a sounds like e and vice versa, so there have been lots of frustrated conversations, usually ending in the person on the phone saying "a for apple, not e for elephant!". still, i find i can understand a few more words now, and have even started using words like lass in everyday speech!

oh, and in case you're wondering, i did get my haircut, and it's the most grown up haircut i've ever had!

ps if you're very good, there me be photos of deer for you to look at next week!

the last pangs

in some ways it's been a mildly momentous week. and as i sit here with my pint of water feeling slightly queasy from the cider i drank last night, i can't help but feel a sense of, i hesitate to say (i don't really) smug satisfaction.

the last of my stuff arrived from australia yesterday, a wooden chest filled with trinkets. of course, said chest is quite securely locked with a padlock, the keys for which i'm pretty sure i gave to jeff, which now means pulling the house apart to find them. this is momentous though, because it now means that i'm officially here, i've finally moved in. and it's kind of a nice feeling. i feel kind of settled, although, coming from gypsy stock as i do, it usually doesn't take long for me to feel at home. be wary if i ask to stay for more than a few weeks!!

i am also mid birthday week, which began the night before my actual birthday. i've had cards, and cakes, and wine, and herb potatoes, and presents. and today i'm going shopping, during which i plan to get a shiny piece of pretty that my husband will pay for!

i'm also planning to get my hair cut. whilst over the history of my hair this is hardly momentous, i've been talking about getting my hair cut since i left japan six months ago, so if i actually go through with it, it will be a bit of a big deal. i have something of a fear and loathing for hairdressers, not individually mind, just as a group. i have never had a successful visit to a salon, by which i mean i walked out completely happy with the result. actually, that's not entirely true. i was pretty happy with getting my head shaved, but i'd kind of worked out how it would look! and that was at a festival, done by a guy raising money for...something to do with unions...so it doesn't really count.

lastly, on thursday morning i had my first moment of wanting to skive off work(chuck a sicky). i feel that this means i am now, well and truly, a part of the workforce. this is also evidenced by an increase in shouting at other drivers for their inability to use their cars in a safe and appropriate way. this is the first job i've had where i've had to drive to work, and so far i've been able to tolerate it, but i can see why it drives people to get out of their cars and shoot others.

oh, and we bought a big, shiny, flat screen tv.

permunnication

well, i can proudly announce that as of yesterday i am a permanent employee of the South Tyneside Council. i had an interview on thursday afternoon that i came away from only semi-convinced that i was any good, only be told yesterday that i was being daft and in fact had done really well in the interview.

which of course leads me nicely into my chosen discourse this week which is communication. there is something i've noticed about northerners. well, more specifically, given the test group i've had to work with over the last few weeks, people from the north-east.when they talk to you they leave out vital information for you to be able to know what it is they're talking about.

I asked jeff about this once and he said that up here everyone expects you to know what they are talking about so will often start talking mid topic. in a pub situation this can be very entertaining, but not so much at work.

but it seems to go the other way too. what i've found is that i will ask a question about something, but they will have already half filled their head with what they think i'm talking about, and so their answer has nothing to do with what i'm actually asking! it makes for some long conversations.

but on the fun side (well, mostly) i've been getting slowly better at understanding the northern accent. i find that if i ramp up my aussie accent then they're a lot more sympathetic, and dumbfounded too that i would choose to live in stanley rather than summer bay!

here is a little video of a geordie accent.

lost for words

i find myself at a bit of a loss for something to right about this week.

actually, that's a lie. i was going to talk about the english propensity towards saying really nasty things to people you love, but i got bored half way through and deleted it. maybe down the track when i have more funny examples.

so...how are you? how's the weather? whatchya been up to? seen any good films lately?

man, why did nothing funny happen to me this week? maybe i should lie. nah, i've never been a convincing liar.

tell me a story!

yeah, that'll work!

i wonder, though, if my lack of anecdotes has to do with feeling quite settled into my new english life. too busy feeling self-satisfied to pay attention to what's happening around me.

i wonder if people can tell how bored i am whilst typing...

jeff has just wandered into the room and helpfully suggested that i talk about him. or his party. which actually does suggest a solution to my current problem.

you see, when i've had a few drinks, i like to talk. usually about relationships (mine, yours, whoever happens to be standing near me). i have been known to make people cry. so perhaps i should go downstairs, skull a few, and the words will just flow!

i should at this point note that on monday morning (the day after jeff's birthday party) i woke up not really remembering the last few hours of the party and knowing that i spent some time talking with jeff's sober friend on the couch and having NO recollection of what was said. drunken guilts anyone?