unPossibilities

Some of you may remember that I wrote a rather cryptic post on the 31st March about something that I had done but wasn't telling anybody what it was.

Well...it was for a job. I wasn't particularly looking for a new job, but when I saw the advert for Librarian at Somerville College in Oxford, I thought "oooh, I fancy having a go at that". I agonised over the application form for ages, selecting the right words that I hoped would get me an interview.

Unfortunately, such possibilities are not to be as I heard today that I had not been selected for an interview, which is disappointing, but sometimes that happens. Particularly when applying to colleges that are prestigious and expect a high calibre of applicants and I am quite sure that they had a very good response to the advert.

All I say right now is "oh poo". Naturally I am disappointed but the reality is that I have a good job and I don't need to work somewhere else, I just thought that it would make a change and perhaps take my career in a different direction. Still, you never know what's round the corner do you, so perhaps I will find something else or make more of the job that I currently have.

sneezing panda

oh, I just had to show you this if you haven't seen it before. I laughed out loud so long and so hard that the cat looked at me in suspicion - go see!

Flippin' Car

Well, after the success of fitting a new headlight bulb, the last place I expected to be was by the side of the road waiting for the AA to come and rescue me!!!

Fortunately, it had nothing to do with any mistakes I might have made in attempting amateur car fixing. But the car was overheating again - another hose seems to have sprung a leak - grrrhhhh.

Unlike my last breakdown, I was on the motorway and so had no way of finding some nice local person to contact the AA for me. This time, I had my mobile phone and the text number of the AA (thanks Jen!), so I sent them a text, hoping that my battery would hold out.

I have to admit that I was a little dubious that they would actually get the text and respond - if only because it's not the normal way of contacting the AA and I wondered how the message would get through to the call centre. Anyway - they were with me within the hour and found that there was a leak and so towed the car from Bristol to Bassett.

This lovely car of mine is really beginning to tick me off now - the guys at the garage said that they needed to set up an account for me instead of sending bills!!! ha ha!! Fortunately, the garage have been very good to me and the bills haven't been too bad.

Still, it means that I am carless tomorrow, so I have arranged for a lift from a colleague so that I don't have to waste any of my precious annual leave hanging around the house waiting for the car to be fixed. It's all a pain in the proverbial and I could really do without calling the AA out again this year!! ;-)

Satisfaction

Changing a light bulb doesn't normally fill one with a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

 

Only, this was no ordinary light bulb...it was for the headlight of my car!!!  About two to three weeks ago, I noticed that I no longer had the right hand side headlight, the full beam light worked, just not the normal light.  I didn't want to take it to the garage just to fix something so relatively simple, particularly not when the garage have already had enough of my money lately!! (I am still waiting for another bill from them for some recent work).

 

So...I went to Halfords (a car parts shop for those that don't know) and bought a bulb.  Of course, when you get there you are faced with a whole wall of bulbs all with different codes and sizes and shapes!!  I bought the wrong one first time around (naturally!), but then bought the right ones.

 

Then, I had to actually fit it in the car.  The little manual wasn't really very clear about what I had to do, but I gave it a go, only to stop half way through because I wasn't very certain about what I was doing and so I gave up rather than do something that might break the lights!

 

What did I do next? I googled it of course!!  I found this perfect youtube video that showed exactly what I was supposed to do.  The main thing that was stopping me was that the headlight fittings didn't seem to want to come out of the car, but on the video the chap really did wiggle the setting about to get it out, so I was no longer afraid of using a bit of force to get it out of the socket.

 

I went back to the car and proceeded to fix the new bulb - it really isn't a simple matter of taking the old one out and putting the new one in!  I had to take off a small section of the front grill, unscrew that bit, move that lever, wiggle the fitting out, unclip the back of the housing and THEN I could take the old bulb out.  Put the new one in and do all of the above in reverse order!!

 

And do you know what?  It works!!!!!  Ooooh, the satisfaction!!

let down

I am sure that you are all familiar with the experience of getting something that wasn't quite what you expected and that feeling of disappointment. That's bad enough I am quite sure, but when I had an envelope on my door mat when I got home this evening I thought that it was my essay from university being returned with the mark and comments enclosed.

So, I steeled myself and thought that I would just have to see what the marks were given that I think that I could have done better. It was just the right size and weight too, not to mention postmarked as coming from the university.

I was so bummed when it was a glossy newsletter and a snarky letter saying something like "we hope you are enjoying your studies". I was really quite disappointed and very annoyed - the timing was perfect too as the essay has been gone for over a month - plenty of time to be marked and sent back.

I was actually quite surprised at how annoyed I was - I was all prepared to face possibly poor marks along with constructive criticism and not getting anything was such a nuisance. I said a rude word several times as I went about the business of changing from the work me to the casual me. In the end I started laughing at how the whole thing made me feel and now I have to wait for when the marked essay really does arrive!!

Musicals

I love musicals and usually look forward to whatever is on television on the Easter Bank Holiday Monday. However, this Monday's offering is High School Musical Two, and the opening song irritated me! It simply cannot compare to Grease, which was on yesterday.

So, I am not watching this! What's weird though is I would probably have enjoyed this once, but along with the grey hairs comes the "why are we watching this rubbish" phrase that all adults seem to have!!

Ok, so some people think that musicals are rubbish anyway, but as much as I love musicals - this one really takes the cake! Most definitely aimed at the so-called tweens. At least Grease was good!

The really scary thing is that I think that they are still making another High School Musical!! They'll still be in school when they are thirty!! One film would have more than sufficed, but hey - Disney knows when they are on to a money spinner!! ;-)

Grey

I always said that I'd go grey (gray?) gracefully, especially as my Nana always had beautifully silver hair and always looked very elegant.

 

However....I am definitely not ready to go grey just yet!!  I have been spotting a few grey hairs just above my ears, but they were ok because they were mostly hidden by the rest of  my hair.  Yet, I seem to be going a bit grey right in the middle of my fringe!! What's a girl to do?

 

Especially when this one isn't even 35 yet!!  ;-)  Mind you - I am reasonably certain that I am the only person that can see this, no-one else would take much notice I am sure, particularly as I am a dark blonde and as such all those pesky grey hairs are well hidden.

 

But I can still see them!!  Should I continue to go grey or should I start to colour my hair and end up spending a small fortune in order to maintain that colour!?  Why am I even considering this question?  Why are we all expected to stay as young as possible?  A recent article about Kylie and Madonna and how young they still look made for interesting reading and mentioned the pressures that women (and men) are facing. 

 

We are not permitted to grow old, heaven forbid that we gain a few laughter lines and grey strands of hair.  Since when have we been so frightened of looking our age?  I suppose that as 'treatments' have become cheaper it has become much easier to try and look young, but who wants to remain looking as though they haven't lived life, haven't gained some fantastic experiences, and have sailed through life without any problems at all.

 

We are who we are, and yes with a bit of care we can look the best we can, but I do think that we shouldn't be hiding our true faces - those faces that reflect our experiences of a life truly lived.  After all, who doesn't think that women like Helen Mirren or Meryl Streep still look good without even attempting to roll back the clock? 

 

 

Bun Fight

Ha ha - I forget that not everybody speaks the way I do (or the way the Brits do!!).

For those of you that asked, a Bun Fight is a colloquial term for a grand formal party - which is what B and E's wedding will be.

Language is a funny thing - I didn't even think that anyone wouldn't know what I meant by bun fight, just as a few posts ago someone said that they hadn't heard car bonnet for hood before.

British english is very different to english elsewhere, it makes me snigger (just a bit!) when Australians say that they are going out in their thongs....in this case - flipflops!! ;-)

Family Gatherings

As we are all spread far and wide it is always lovely to gather as many of us as possible in one place!  An Australian cousin is currently visiting her parents in the UK and she has brought her four month old gorgeous baby girl, so when the invitation went out for a get-together, the date very quickly got penned into my diary.

 

As ever, we could not all make it there, but for those of us that did, it was a good day.  Lots of chat and laughter and cuddles of the newest family member - such a sweetie - very placid and happy to be held by all and sundry.  These get-togethers are always a bit odd - some of us haven't seen the other for at least year, and yet some of us see each other on a monthly basis and yet no-one ever runs out of things to say.  Whether it's talking about the recent appendectomy (not mine!), travels abroad, job troubles and applications, and all the rest of it!

 

Each family gathering is always slightly different as it contains the different sides of the family, for instance there is another family gathering the weekend after Easter, but this is a new one because it is our family and my brother's fiancee's family - most of whom I have never met!!  We are all celebrating the latest engagement - with a wedding to attend next year, so I think that we're sussing each other out before the bun fight!! ;-)