Yip that was what my last Saturday as a 27 year old contained! Amongst other things of course and here’s how it goes…

As it was the last weekend I’d have complete free use of the Audi for a wee while I thought best to make the most of it and get out on the road to explore the North East a bit more, but when I woke up on Sat morning I was feeling a tad un-enthused. Now, I’m contributing about 95% of this feeling to the fact that I had about 6 bourbons the night before and the remaining 5% to the fact that when I woke up and looked out the window it was overcast & drizzly – which meant no top down driving for me! (Just my luck haha) So I fell back into bed and read/snoozed for another hour then at 10 am I got up and slapped myself into some form of good attitude. My cousin Suzy was doing the dishes in the kitchen by that stage so I came in looking like complete shite – PJ’s still on & hair as wild as Jesse Ryder after a night on the turps – and got a lovely look & laugh from Suzy that said it all haha. I then checked up on my farm on Facebook (my new addiction-  thanks Shaz & Karryn!) and made sure my crops were all harvested & new ones plowed & seeded.  Then Uncle Ali came round, as he normally does on a Sat morning – cue the smile/laugh/lovely comment on my appearance!  So he stayed for a cuppa tea & smoke (him not me ewww gross!) then departed to go back to bed no doubt.

 I decided to go to Sainsburys to get some food in before my Auntie comes back on Tue & Suzy decided to tag along so we headed off and somehow I managed to make her get teary about Fathers Day today! Her dad died suddenly about 7 years ago and she still misses him so I had to scramble to change the subject quickly cos I could feel myself getting teared up about being so far away from my own Dad!! (Not good when driving expensive car…) Anyways we got to the supermarket in one piece and zoomed round the aisles managing to control the urge to buy naughty stuff (even tho Suzy kept pointing all the nice biscuits out every two seconds!!) and there was a deal on where you buy two  2L Coca Cola & get this nifty cool Coke glass! It’s like the one I had to leave at home so I got that and it’s now my new bourbon drinking glass haha. Hmmmm small things amuse small minds I guess but I was super excited about using it that night for a few more Beams!

Once I had unpacked & found places for all the foodage (some were kinda random but there was no room!) and Suzy went back home (across the road) I had lunch & sat to read for a bit… before coming a tad bored! It was at this point I decided that despite the gloomy weather I was gonna go for an exploration drive… at 3.30 pm haha! Couldn’t put the top down which sucked MAJORLY cos it’s so fun but ended up driving South for ages down the A1 motorway and saw signage for Durham and thought ‘Why not!’ so I did… and then it started POURING down rain. Like too fast for the fastest setting on the wipers fast! That was interesting, cos it coincided with me coming to a few hectic roundabouts (which are sometimes totally off the scale of confusion in the UK) but I managed to negotiate them and then it seemed to clear for a bit… which is when I had a ‘moment’.  I’ve had a few of these ‘moments’ since I’ve been in the UK and they’re the whole reason I came over here. I came up over this wee hill and as I did Durham Castle & Cathedral came into view and OH MY GOD my mouth opened involuntarily, it was just so majestic & the mist and grey clouds seemed to make it that much more old-worldly, like I was back in the days where it was used as a proper castle. I almost forgot to look at the road haha I just wasn’t expecting it I don’t think and there it was. SO I tried to drive round Durham to get close to it again but geez was it hard! and the rain came back which didn’t help as I couldn’t get any good photos. Durham is totally and completely lovely though, and it’s become somewhere I think I’d definitely like to live if I end up staying in the Newcastle area for a few years. It was so green & compact in places and then suddenly you go down this dark lane with a leafy canopy all around and above you and suddenly there’s huge open green fields on both sides of ya! I was well impressed with Durham for sure & I will definitely be going there for a day trip when Mum, Vicky, John and Hayley get here in July/August that’s for sure! 

As I wasn’t able to take any photos here’s a few sites to go to see just what I’m talking about… 

• Wikipedia
• Durham Millburngate Bridge
• Durham Cathedral & Castle

So it was real whirlwind kinda 2.5hrs where I saw a few random things which, as well as my OMG moment, made the day really memorable… 

• On the drive into Durham I saw a stretch white Hummer outside a theatre at like 5pm – never seen one before!
• Was waiting at the lights & saw two grown men trying to impress some girls at the pub by coming out onto the street to try to fly a Thomas the Tank Engine kite…. and failing HUGELY! I laughed so loud with the window open that they heard me & looked over… thank god the lights had changed & I zoomed off!
• Had this awesome Lotus 7 wee sports car following me a lot of the way back home and it totally reminded me of Dad & his Lotus. This one had a dinky plastic canopy on it so it could be driven in the rain (which he was doing haha)
• Saw a Duke of Wellington pub which reminded me of home (there’s a suburb in Newcastle called Bishop Auckland that does the same thing.)
• These numbers started flashing up on the navigation screen area of the car & for a minute or two I was like what the frig, but then remembered my Aunties embarrassing story of how it had happened a couple of times to her too – so she took it to the Audi shop to ask one of the guys what it was… turns out it’s the car telling you that you’ve been driving for 2 hrs without a break! hahaha funny.

So that was my last Sat as a 27 year old… came home, had some tea, christened my new Coke glass, spoke to Mum & Dad on the phone & wished Dad a HAPPY BIRTHDAY for Monday 22nd… first time I’ve been away from everyone for a birthday – feels weird! My birthday’s on Thurs 25th so that’s gonna be doubly weird – bet you I cry when the family rings! OMG I totally forgot to put something in this post about my present I got from home on Fri after work… think I’ll leave that til next week and do a post about me b’day.

AH well…. this is another chunky one by the looks of it but not my problem now cos it’s done-burger! (been using this word heaps at work… pretty sure I’m referred to now as ‘the odd girl from New Zealand who talks funny & uses weird words’ haha!) 

Right… must go tend to my Farm on Facebook & update my sounds on my laptop…. been way too long!

Laters people,

Love Manda xxx

Random song lyrics above but I’m currently sitting in the sun in my Auntie’s conservatory on her computer listening to some tunes on Grooveshark and that was what was playing when I started writing this post… so as my rules dictate, that is to be the post title! “Forever in Blue Jeans” – Neil Diamond…

Well… (shit! just leant back in my chair (not realizing it was a fancy chair that has fancy leaning back capabilities) and thought I was about to go ass over kite haha!)… today (Saturday 13th June) was one of the best days I’ve had since I’ve been up here in Newcastle!  I had a wee sleep in til about 9am then got my packed lunch and flask of coffee ready (Mum would be so proud she’s had that influence over me!) and, after a visit from Uncle Ali and Cousin Suzy, I headed off on my long-anticipated day out in the car!

Originally I had intended to go to Wallington because I Googled ’squirrels UK’ and saw on the National Trust website that this old country house there had made an effort to conserve the red squirrel population and there was a walk you could do to maybe see some… and since it’s been ages since I’ve seen a proper real-life squirrel (last time was when I was in Std 4 at primary school and we lived in the UK for 4 months and I saw one down in London) I thought I’d give it a whirl!  Unfortunately, when I drove the 50 mins to Wallington it was being bombarded with cyclists etc for some kind of ‘meet’ so looked way to busy for a quiet squirrel hunt haha! The drive there was lovely though so it was in no way a wasted journey – just getting out in the car was enough for me! 

I was driving on from Wallington when I came to an intersection that had a sign for Kielder Castle and Forest – 22 miles… and my impulsiveness (yes DJ I gave in to it this time!) made me turn in the opposite direction of home and go exploring. Hell I had just filled up the car with petrol so why not! I had researched Kielder as a place to go because it also had squirrels & an amazing forest and lake but thought it would be for another day cos it was quite far away… turns out it was for today!! So I had a lovely long drive through the English countryside – off the beaten track where a lot of times I had to slow down when another car was coming in the opposite direction because the road was so narrow! I loved it – meandering along (obviously at an Audi TT speed!) with the top down enjoying the sights. The landscape is kinda similar to NZ in that it’s so open with rolling hills etc but there’s normally a stone fence on the roadside, compared with the No 8 wire fences we have back home haha! 

So I got up to Kielder and parked the car and found a vacant picnic table to have my packed lunch and it was utter bliss! Took some photos so I’ll upload them tonight and update this too. Didn’t manage to see any squirrels but there’s always next time!

There was multiple giggle opportunities along the way… some English village names are just plain odd! Example: Donkleywood… Kirkwhelpington… Otterburn… I love it!! Got some pics of signs with the names on them but half the time there’s no place to stop and take a photo so I miss out but always have a laugh cos they’re just so random!

“In other news….” (channelling Alison Mau from TV One News) my temp contract with Northumbria University was extended for another month after the minimum two months was up last week (couldn’t believe I’d been there that long!) so that’s good! It could have been extended for two months but with Mum, Vicky, John and Hayley coming over late July/early August I wasn’t too sure if I would be able to commit to it so it’s just another month at this stage but it looks like I could be there for longer. I’m working with some brilliant people in the Research, Regional and European Affairs department… although one of the older dudes I deal with constantly refers to me as ‘The Aussie’ when I’ve told him before, with exaggerated OMG’ness, that I’m NOT an Australian! But last week he comes in and says some remark about how my team got played out of the Twenty20 Cricket tournament… THAT WAS AUSTRALIA NOT NEW ZEALAND YOU DORK!! 

OH and it’s my birthday in 12 days…. as of the 25th of June I will be 28 years of age… bring it!!!

laters Dudes & Dudettes,

Rossco xx