One or two things

I have a job! Actually, I have 2 jobs which is fantastic. Now, if you pop into my local, the delightful Sexton Arms, you may be able to catch a glimpse of me (behind the bar for once) on a Friday or Saturday night. Failing that, if you are really keen, for about 20 hours a week I can be found wearing the very green shirt of our local Somerfields supermarket and processing all your items through my till. Isn't life wonderful? Mind you, all this means that I have money coming in to save to buy my visa and plane ticket back to be with my lovely fiance*. Oh, speaking of which, isn't it amazing how many absolutely dreadful wedding dresses there are out there? I bought a magazine the other day and of the 934 (it told me, I didn't count) dresses in there I liked a grand total of 3 well enough to think that mmmm maybe. Most I was indifferent to and about 10 were laugh-out-loud bloody awful. Why anyone would want to wear something like that I have NO idea. No idea at all. *whose name, by the way, is Graham.

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Oh dear, I've just managed to delete a whole load of emails from my hotmail inbox*. I was attempting to empty my junk mail and had ticked them all but when I asked it to delete them it told me I had to select an email to delete and, unbeknownst to me, threw me back into my inbox. So, I ticked 'select all' again and deleted. Hey ho. In other news, I have had several complaints (admittedly mainly from one person who shall remain nameless and over the last 6 months, not all at once) about my use of the name 'my Other Half' for said Other Half. I must admit I'm not entirely sure what made me choose that apart from the fact that I think at the time of first posting I was rather pressed for time and it was the first thing that came to mind** . Then of course, I couldn't call him my boyfriend because, for a while, he hasn't been. He's been so very much more. But I couldn't post that either because we were waiting. So, the Other Half he remained. I am, however, quite aware that it's a fairly twee sort of name, and not one that I'm entirely happy with. So, I leave it open to debate. Should I continue to call him t'otherarf? Or should I think of another name? Maybe simply referring to him as 'my fiance'? Any ideas are welcome. *After an initial panic, I have recovered all the emails I needed from my deleted box, panic over. *phew* **He does feel like another half of me after all

This and that

I have noticed recently (and actually, not quite so recently, really) that a few people whose blogs I read update the look of their blogs quite regularly and with lots of style in each reincarnation. This makes me feel a bit sort of guilty that I don't. The last time I changed I had to get a friend to help me get a 3 column layout because I hadn't the slightest clue what I was doing. That is still the case. I do have some excuses though. I do not have a job so no internet access there. When I lived in Australia we did not even have a computer let alone have scaled to the dizzying heights of having the internet. I now live with my mother at the moment which means that broadband is not available, we are still existing on dial-up here so my internet time is limited because I don't want to run her phone bill up (that is, I don't want to run her phone bill up on the internet when I can quite happily run it up calling Australia...). I have other things on my mind which, in my opinion, are far more important. More important, in fact, that anything else. At all. Mainly, these things consist of my visa and the fact that I'm missing t'Otherarf (oh my, now Welsherella's got me at it...) like crazy. Phone calls are great and I don't know what I'd do without them but there's just no substitution for getting a great big hug and kisses in person. The other thing (tied in with my visa but not happening specifically for the visa - I thought that I'd make that distinction clear right here and now) is that I'm getting married :D I am officially engaged and loving every second of it (apart of course from the being 12,000 miles away from my fiance - that bit sucks) I've not posted this before because I wanted to tell a few people in person - or, in one case, over the phone - rather than have them read about it on this blog. I'm very, very happy, I've got a very lovely ring, my mum's going to take me dress shopping and I'm going to spend the rest of my life with a man who I'm head over heels in love with who loves me to distraction in return. Next year, hopefully on a tropical beach, I'm going to marry the nicest, loveliest man I've ever met. And, I know I've said this a few times now but tough I'm going to say it again, I could not be happier. In the manner of 1066 And All That this is a Very Good Thing.

Visiting

Oooh, I had a lovely time this weekend. I'm currently up in Stockport at my aunt and uncle's house and it's been great seeing them actually in person, rather than just a voice at the other end of the phone. Yesterday I went to see my best friend and her fiance over in Leeds (the one who's getting married next month whose bridesmaid I am - very excited!) and we had lunch at Yo! Sushi and then sat in a pub for a couple of hours. I got to drink my first pint of proper beer in nearly a year and it was utterly delicious! I love the Australians to bits (one in particular) but bloody hell they cannot brew a decent pint for love nor money. Timothy Taylor's Landlord was the pint (or 2...) selected for my reintroduction to proper beer (unfortunately the pub we went to didn't do Black Sheep, hey ho) and ooooh it was nice. So smooth and easy going down I just couldn't get enough. That is one thing I do miss when I'm out of the country. A warm pub with a nice pint. There's simply no replacement! It's back to Wales tomorrow and then down to see my brother, sister-in-law and nephew for next weekend so that will be great, he's going to have changed so much it'll be quite strange seeing him (my nephew that is, not my brother!) but I can't wait, everyone says that he's a great child so hopefully he won't cry when he sees me this time (as happened when I first met him last year...) so fingers crossed!

Home

Home is: Lovely Cold Still being renovated but has made progress from when I saw it last Did I mention COLD?! I miss the Other Half (or t'otherarf as Welsherella says it in her head) like crazy. Phone each other every day but it's not the same. He's there and I'm here and months will pass before we see each other again. This is not a happy thought.

Lovelyness

I think that I could quite happily live in Singapore Airport. I've never had the chance to really explore here before but I've just had a shower and am about to have a massage all for the price of S$38. I have no idea how many pounds that is but I don't care. I want my massage and my shower was heavenly. All I need to do now is stay awake until my flight in 2 1/2 hours. Wish me luck P.s. I think I deserve some sort of medal* for being able to negotiate my way round my website, emails and all when every link is displayed not in English, but in those squares you get when the site doesn't recognise symbols. Hey ho. p.p.s. Missing the Other Half like crazy *Possibly a very sad one

On the road again

I have a confession to make. I haven't blogged about coming home. Which I am. Right now. I'm in Brisbane at the moment, flying out tomorrow to London and thence to Wales to see my lovely family and get a job and earn some money to pay for my visa to return. I've not blogged about it for the simple reason that the Other Half and I have been blocking it out for some weeks now that this day was coming because neither of us wanted it to. It's not that I don't want to see my family, because I do. It's not that I don't want to see my home and my friends, because I do. It's because it's the start of a separation from my Other Half that will last certainly for months, and really we don't know how many of those. It all depends on the Department of Immigration and how nice they want to be to us. We've not been together long but we know one thing, both of us, for certain and that's that we want to be together and not being together is going to be really hard. The Other Half isn't an internet sort of person so this relationship is going to be carried out the old fashioned way - with phone calls and letters, proper letters. Just don't ask me in a month or so what my phone bills like because I will probably cry.