Well yes this is true! My 6 weeks or so of being an unemployed bum will come to an end this Thursday at 10am as this is when I’m due to report for training at my new job at Northumbria University! I’ll be an Admin Assistant in the Research, Regional and European Affairs Dept. Here’s a link of the location if ya wanna go have a squiz haha move the camera round to find the blue door and that’s where I’m working….

I’m kinda being thrown in the deep end cos I’ll have Thursday to have some training and then it’s Easter Weekend and then the next week the two ladies who I’m working with are away for two days! so I’ll be the only office lady there! haha I think I got the job because when they told me this I was like “That’s not a problem, I would be able to manage”…. me and my big mouth!!! haha but it’s going to be good hopefully.

Bought myself a bus pass today for a month so I’m gonna be a daily bus chick for the next two months which is the duration of the temp contract.

Well tomorrow is my last day of freedom for two months and I’m spending it with my 3 angelic young cousins, two older cousins and my auntie at Alnwick Castle & Gardens…. (pronounced Anneck... bloody Brits!) which should be brilliant – providing the weather plays ball and it isn’t pouring down like it was on Sunday night!

Anyways…. that’s another update out – and the next one will probably be tomorrow night if I get some lovely sun-filled photos of the castle and gardens….. or it’ll be a photo of a frazzled Rossco after dealing with all the kids stuck inside cos of the rain!!! Time will tell haha.

Laters,

Manda xxxxx

Man this update is well overdue that’s for sure!

For the first time since I left 54 days ago I had a massive bout of homesickness yesterday (Sunday). It was gonna happen sooner or later but the fact that Saturday had been a helluva shit day did not help – my three cousins stayed on Fri night and ALL day Saturday and were playing up quite a bit… right from 5am when they started to wake up! Now I had come back from the Club at midnight and had had a few bourbons so was not in the mood to be woken up at that hour that’s for sure! Yeah so Saturday was exhausting and Sunday was recovery day where I just think my sugar levels and mood was really low so I was in a POOR ME state. Mum rang at 8pm and it as all I could do to hold back the tears as I just wanted to be back home, but I managed to control myself til I got off the phone (soz Mum for the shit phone call haha!) and then I went and had a bit of a cry to get it out of my system. Sometimes that’s all it takes I find and I woke up this morning (Monday) feeling better about things.

Today I had my first proper job interview at Northumbria Uni in the Finance Dept being an assistant to the PA to the Directors. I was referred by the temp agency but didn’t end up getting it as someone internal ended up getting it. I’m not too bothered about that one because it wasn’t the one that I wanted… last week I had three jobs put to me by Sarah at NRG (todays failure being one of them). Two of them were the same pay and similar roles but there was a third job in the HR dept of the Uni which really got me interested. 1-Because it was more money and 2-Because it sounded interesting and something I had never done before, being admin support to a hiring and firing dept. Alas I just had a call from Sarah@NRG to say that the Uni had put a freeze on the job as they may have someone internal who could cover. Now this pissed me off because I really want the job and I can see it being offered AFTER I’ve already taken another position but I guess thems the breaks and I’ll just have to deal. So as it stands I have an interview for the 2nd of the first two jobs tomorrow so I’ll wow them in that interview and hopefully get some money coming in.

Wednesday is to be spent at Alnwick Castle & Gardens with the 3 young cousins as well as my auntie and cousin. School holidays = lots of kids running round being irritating haha.  Will be sure to take my camera tho to catch the kids running through the water fountains.

Right so an update on what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks… the answer is a big fat nothing really. Well nothing springs to mind apart from the usual – going to the Club on a Friday night, going shopping with Auntie Marcia, going to one of the youngsters school show… High School Musical (The Primary School Version) – there’s two hours of my life I will never get back! God on the kids for giving it a go tho.

Well I have not a lot more to say other than…. well that’s it really!

Laters Dudes and Dudettes xx

This post is long over-due as ever since I arrived here last month I have been in stitches whenever I hang round with my wee cousin (‘once removed’ whatever the hell that means!) Findlay!   It helps that he’s honestly the cutest thing since things started being cute but some of the stuff that comes out of his wee mouth are just classic! Here’s a few examples…

1. Bamburgh Castle… Findlay gets a plastic sword at the gift shop that is damn near bigger than him and goes running down the path waving his sword yelling “Kill, Kill, Kill!!”. Coming from a wee fella it sounded hilarious plus the fact that his short wee legs can’t carry him that fast with the running hehe.

2. Bamburgh Castle – Homebound… Cousin Neil decides to make me almost wee my pants and ruin my mascara by getting Findlay to say “Truck me, Truck off and Truck you”… HILARIOUS when you realize that his TR’s come out as F’s hehehe. And the combination of his cute wee voice saying this with the look on his innocent face was ultimately something that had us giggling for ages!

3. His house... Grandma and I were babysitting all three of the younguns at their place one night and once we get inside from wherever the hell we had been he proudly announces he’s wee’d his pants… not unusual for a 2 year old I guess so Grandma pulls his pants down and sits him on her lap to put some new pants on – only to find he’s actually poo’d his pants and her jeans get covered! He thought it was hilarious! (Grandma did not…)

4. His house again… Grandma is getting the wee ratbag ready for bed so pulls his pants down to put his PJ’s on and he wastes no time in piddling on the floor! Then proudly announces “Look at me Grandma… I peeing!” hehehe. So Grandma rushes off to get a towel and he then decides to step in it! so I grab him up before he does but he’s given the puppy the idea and she tries to do the same thing! So Grandma comes back with the towel to find me standing there holding a wriggling Findlay and wriggling puppy!

5. Ellen’s dance show… Don’t ask me how but somehow Grandma, Auntie Lynn and Auntie Amanda get roped into taking the two boys, Matthew and Findlay, to their big sis’s afternoon dance show. All is going well in the packed theater until about half an hour before the end when Findlay waits for the quietest possible moment and announces “I WANT TO GO NOW” in his LOUDEST voice…. not once…. not twice…. but about 5 times! until Auntie Lynn tries to stop him by putting her hand over his mouth. Alas this does not stop the rant so Auntie Lynn and Amanda are forced to hoist the wee loudspeaker up and make haste out to the foyer before exploding into giggles. Findlay’s dead proud of course!

6. Nickname... Findlay affectionately refers to me as Poohead on most occasions – well actually it’s not just limited to me haha anybody can be called it!

Right so today I decided to head up to the Angel of the North here in Newcastle and so I hopped online last night and planned my way out there via the bus and train. 10am this morning I was off and promptly got on the wrong freaken bus didn’t I! Which was totally retarded considering there were only two to get from outside my Aunties house haha. But me being me I overcame this minor lack of smarts and altered my plan – getting into Haymarket bus station in town and getting #21 The Angel bus which specifically goes right past the Angel of the North.

Sweet! so I’m on my way – loving the fact that the bus is a double-decker so I can sit up top and take pics on the 30min journey to the Angel (although my photos would’ve been better if I hadn’t sat on the side that had a big white splatter on the window in front of me but ah well).  I turn to my left and see something that I just HAD to get a photo of so I did my best to work it so I got it but the window was super dirty… hehe look Mum it’s the One Pound Shop!!

So as soon as I saw the Angel I started to make my way down to the bottom for an easy getaway… BIG mistake! I’m at the top of the windy stairs down and I’m two steps down when the lovely driver slammed on his frickin brakes for no reason… THANK GOD I had my hand on the rail otherwise I would’ve seriously gone head first down the stairs which would’ve been a) embarrassing as hell and b) possible brain/spinal damage. As it was my legs almost flew out from under me as I held on for dear life onto the rail with one hand haha.

Anyways… I managed to get off the bus without hurting the moronic driver and started the 5min walk (across a 4 lane motorway) to the Angel where there were roadworks to make a car park which made it hard to take a good photo from a distance bugger it!  Now the Angel of the North is massive! and it’s quite a weird experience to be near it cos of the wingspan and all but I promptly sat down on the base (it’s feet) exactly where Billy Connolly sat when he was doing his tour of the country hehe. Lame I know but I just had to!

So yeah that was my Angel of the North morning out! I’ve put some more photos up on online so click here and have a wee look…

http://amandajaneross.smugmug.com/gallery/7521113_3dUh6#485720076_7DGHf

Laters! xxx

Ok it’s Wed 4th Mar now and the cutie BT technician just left and concluded that it was the SKY box that messed up the phone line and broadband so when the SKY technician comes to fix it tomorrow we just gotta tell him to replace the SKY box and NOT plug it all back in cos otherwise the broadband will go down again haha.

Tue 3^rd March 2009

Well the past couple days have sucked majorly cos the broadband has been down at my Auntie Marcias – I reckon it’s cos of a power surge Sunday night because the SKY went down at the exact same time! BT have taken yesterday and today to come to the conclusion that there’s a fault on the line…. Uh duh! I coulda told ya that numnuts haha. So they’re sending a technician out tomorrow…. tomorrow! to fix it so here’s hoping it gets sorted. I’ll be dog-sitting again tomorrow cos it’s Wednesday and Marcia’s out at meetings and rounding up the kids etc. On the plus side the broadband being down meant that ComputerForce had to come out and try to fix it which meant cute-IT-guy was at the house for an hour or so hahaha he had the nicest eyes and longest eyelashes I’d ever seen! My Auntie agreed, as after he left she said “That price wasn’t bad…” to which I replied “I wouldn’t kick him outta bed either!” hahaha.

Anyways…. what have I been up to over the last few days since I last updated? Ummmmm well as I’m writing this in Word as I can’t get online I can’t quite remember when I last updated but I think the last post was about London? Ah well I’ll run with that…

Right, so since getting back from London on the Tue my days have been filled as followed:….

Wed 25^th – Dog-sitting Jesse (10yrs), Nina (1yr) and Poppy (3mth) at Daisy Cottage (Aunties place) and I took the chance to get my work finished up for my Auntie by spending most of the day on the comp and chatting to Amelia / Sarah! Pretty much a lazy day after the hustle and bustle of London.

Thu 26^th – Ummmm during the day I went to the Jobcentre with Marcia to see if I could get some jobseeker support and to do the weekly grocery shop at Sainsburys. Turns out I could get some monetary support so I rang the number the guy told me to when I got back to the house and answered a heap of questions which ultimately resulted in me having a meeting at the Jobcentre next Tue. Then I went out to the movies with my cousin Lynn and 3 of her friends at night – ‘He’s just not that into you’ which was ok but I wouldn’t rave about it.

Fri 27^th – I had a day at home today finishing up the extra pile of invoicing that I hadn’t realised I had to do haha. Had to be done by today as the VAT done by paid by the 28^th. Then at 5.30pm I went to visit my Grandad George who has been a bit sick of late with suspected early dementia. I was quite nervous about it to be honest as I hadn’t seen him for 5 years and was worried he wouldn’t recognise me! It was really sad to see his memory was going tho and over the time I was there (2hrs) he struggled a few times with saying weird things and not making much sense.

Sat 28^th – Well today I went into Newcastle centre with Auntie Marcia and Cousin Lynn to indulge in some retail therapy! Not that I could afford much of course cos I’m still an unemployed bum haha but I did develop a new addiction…. The Radley brand of wallets and bags! OMG I’m in love! They have their brand based around the wee Westie haha so I got the cheapest thing on the menu – a wee coin purse to start me off and when I’m working I’ll get a wallet and eventually a bag! My auntie got a bag but it was too rich for my blood…. The coin purse was £17.50, wallet about £60 and a bag would set ya back around £150 plus!!!! Something to aim towards anyways haha. We looked in John Lewis – brilliant, Marks & Spencers – awesome plus we had lunch there including a huge glass of NZ wine! And Fenwick – grand but very expensive! After all that shopping I was looking forward to a nice quiet night at home and it was all going to plan with everyone being out and about except me…. But then Cousin Neil decided to keep me company with the 3 kiddys and 2 dogs haha. It turned out to be quite nice to spend some quality time with him and the kids stayed over as we planned to go to Bamburgh Castle the next day. Oh and I got a bottle of Jack Daniels and had a few that night too haha. It was lovvverrly!

Sun 1^st March – I woke up at my usual late time and went with Neil, Ellen, Findlay, Nina and Poppy to Whitley Bay for a brisk walk (and throw and fetch session for Nina) brrrr it was chilly so we warmed up with a hot choc at the tearoom and Findlay confused the heck outta me by yelling “Bour bon Bour bon” and I’m like WTF? And it turned out to be a biscuit called a Bourbon Crème! Random… Then we headed back (Findlay with his trooooosers soaked cos he went in the puddles + Nina stinking of wet dog cos she went in the puddles too haha) and had a delicious cooked full Sunday lunch with the whole family! yorkshire puddings yummmmmmy haha and then we headed off to Bamburgh Castle!!! Cousin Neil indulged my first castle experience and it was awesome! It took us about 45min to get there with the kids constantly asking “Are we there yet!?” haha and they loved it once they were there, as did I! Although I was a bit miffed at the sign that said no photographing inside but Neil just said to hide my camera and do it anyway… not that I needed to be told cos I’m dodgy like that anyways! Awesome scenery inside and out but the best moment was after 3yr old Findlay got his plastic sword (to fight the dragons of course!) and was running round the castle screaming “Kill Kill Kill” at the top of his lungs! Hahaha it was hilarious – Neil was like “People must be wondering what kind of a father I am” haha classic! I spent up large at the wee shop as well buying the following… Bamburgh Castle pen, Bamburgh Castle notepad, Bamburgh Castle patch, Bamburgh Castle postcards x 6, Bamburgh Castle pencil case (which I converted into a makeup bag), a celtic ring and a rune necklace with my birth symbol! Oh and some wee stone things for Ellen cos she wanted some.

Mon 2^nd – Ummmmm on this day I slept in a bit longer than usual cos I was feeling a bit crook and then just mooched round the house really! Marcia went to a Bunnings-type shop that I forget the name of and got some storage boxes to hide all the kids toys away and that was pretty much the only time I left the house all day Brilliant!

Ok so I wrote this bit below when I was still in London but the stupid computer that I was on in the Net Cafe was playing silly buggers and froze on me so I just saved it as a draft and haven’t gotten round to finishing it til now haha… 4 days later! (I’m back in Newcastle now!)

Well I’ve been in London for two days and have had a blast! Ever since I left Newcastle it’s been non-stop…

I took the train down to Kings Cross station and the trip took about 3 hours and was full of brilliant scenery to the point that I only got to do one of my puzzles and didn’t eat ANY of my maltesers! (As I write this I realised that I hadn’t eaten them and now I’m wanting them so bad haha!) yeah so I met Sarah at Kings Cross and we went and had a sandwich for lunch and then figured out our next move.

As I had my backpack full of clothes and other such crap with me I was keen to dump it at the hostel if possible but as we planned this it soon came to light that that would mean we’d be backtracking a lot so I kept it with me for most of the day. Lucky it was mostly just clothes and not as full as it was on my flight over or I’d be the Hunchback of Hammersmith (place where my hostel was) when I went to bed haha.

Yeah so the first place we decided to check out was Camden Market… now we had to go on the Tube to get there which was a brilliant experience for me and I was glad I had a seasoned Tube traveller in Sarah with me as she was great and knew everything! Yeah so we rode the tube to Camden and then it seemed like I walked right into Freak-ville haha but it was amazing! Everyone expressing themselves with blue mohawks, piercings all over their face, florescent clothes etc etc. Awesome! So much I could’ve bought from the markets themselves but I was conscious of the fact that I had to lug it all back with me to Newcastle so noted a few things I wanted in the back of my mind (which tends to get easily erased with a few Wild Turkeys so I shall write it down ) and I shall return there one day.

Then we got the Tube to Hammersmith where I had booked a hostel and found it no trouble. It was right outside the tube station! After checking in I struggled up the kazillion flights of stairs to my room and swiped myself in and dumped my bag and then headed back down to Mooreski where we continued on our merry way to the new Westfield for a wee looksee at the new big big big big big mall!

We then had tea at Wagamama – type of asian place – which was delicious! I entertained Sarah by ordering two drinks… a massive glass of wine and this apple and lime smoothie-type drink that just sounded so yum that I had to get both… it turned out to be average but ah well. Then we walked back to the tube and went to Piccadilly Circus to see the big lights which totally blew me away! It was one of those places you see on the telly all the time but to actually be there is totally surreal. So we took a heap of photos then got back on the tube and went our separate ways cos we were both completely zonkered from the day (plus Glitter Girl was full of the cooties flu so wasn’t feeling the best…)

Sunday was London Sightseeing Tour Bus day yay but while I was waiting for Sarah I had an encounter with this delightful old foreign guy… I think he was Polish but I really have no clue. I was sitting outside Starbucks having a coffee and he came and sat down and said “It ok if I sit with you? you look like nice girl” haha and I was like “Um sure!” and then he said it was ok he just wanted to sit there so he could see the entrance to the train station cos he was meeting a lady friend. He then proceeded to open seriously about 7 packets of sweetner to put in his coffee! and scoffed his face with a crepe filled with choc to the point where he looked like a wee 2year old with choc all over his face haha (with three of his front teeth missing it was quite a funny sight!). Then about 10mins later this old lady showed up and he pointed to me and said “Look, my new girlfriend!” to which she started throwing her arms up and talking in Polish and they had a wee argument! Then she took off and he stayed where he was – so I asked if he was gonna go after her and he was like “Nah she will wait for me” so I said that she was already halfway down the street looking back every now and then looking pissed off haha so he jumped up and left! RANDOM… Yeah so then Mooreski showed up and I told her all about it before we headed off to the tour bus! It was so much fun – if a tad freezing cos we were up on the top deck in the open to take some photos etc. Well worth it tho!

ummmmm what next…. its now Friday the next week so I’m stuggling to get the old memory glands to kick into action (plus haven’t had my coffee yet even tho it’s almost lunchtime!) Oh that’s right we went back to Hammersmith with the idea of having a meal at this pub we saw earlier in the day… no joy tho cos for some retarded reason the kitchen was closed – at 6pm! So Mooreski ordered a bourbon right… and the bartender was like “Sorry what?” so she repeated herself and he turned around to look at the array of bottles (Jack Daniels included) and then turned back and said “I’m sorry I don’t think we have that!” haha so funny! So apparently we have to refer to BOURBON as either WHISKY or JACK DANIELS… DUMB! Anyways so the only other option was to a) brave the cold to go find a nice place to eat or b) stay in the warmth and just get McD’s!… Ronald won out in the end haha then I said ta ta to Mooreski and trudged up the million flights of stairs back to my room to plan my Monday….

Ok so I slept in for a bit on Monday morning but it was only cos once the curtains are closed in the hostel room and I have my ear plugs in it’s very hard to tell what the time is and by the time I checked my phone it was 10am! I had an appointment at a recruitment agency at 1pm so thought there was no point in rushing round to do stuff and head into the city so I showered and dressed and got some breakie and killed an hour at the Net Cafe across the road (where I started this post originally…. finishing it the next Fri!)  Agency went all good and they were super impressed with my test scores (I mean pffft obviously they would be!) and said they could get me work no problemo once I’m living in London so that’s all good.

I then high-tailed it into the City – being very proud of myself for being able to negotiate the Tube to arrive at Westminster pier to get the free boat ride up the Thames that came with the sightseeing tour! Got heaps of pics and then had Subway for tea and headed back to the Hostel to get my stuff all packed up for my departure on the Tue back up to Newcastle….

Next stop… Newcastle! After being damn near strip-searched at Gatwick airport I was glad to meet my Auntie Marcia an hour or so later at Newcastle Airport where I crashed on the couch to catch up with her and my cousin Suzy over a well-needed cup of tea.  This peacefulness lasted about 3 hours as my other cousin Neil, his wife Jen and their three adorable, yet excitable, kids Ellen-7, Matthew-5 & Finlay-2 soon swept in in the only way younguns know how…. loudly! It was really good to see them all again as the last time was 5 years ago and the kids have grown sooooo much!

They stayed til around 9 then I jumped online to check my email before my eyes totally shut down and went to bed for the most peaceful sleep I’ve had since leaving home! Which isn’t hard as it only had airplane seats and a couch at Amelias to compete with haha.

Anyways… tonight is dinner at Shiremoor House Farm or something and then movie with my other cousin Lynn and her friends so I’m hoping I’ll last the night as I have found by like 3pm onwards I’m fading fast but as always I will push through!

Here’s some pics of the kids at Adventureland yesterday arvo after we picked them up from their holiday programme, and the doggies Nina and Jesse!

I was sooooo glad to arrive in Oxford finally on Friday morning and Amelia picked me up from Heathrow and we took a bus back to her place.

On Saturday morning I met up with Mooreski for a sightseeing tour round Oxford but didn’t take many pics cos I’m dumb like that! I did take some on the walk home to Amelia’s and then the next day when Amelia and Mike took me to Tootsies for brunch and Christ Church College for a look-see cos Amelia could get us in for free! Yussss! Then we headed back to theirs in the arvo for their nana nap while I checked my email then we went to Nandos for a late tea.