A new beginning

www.wheredoallthefishgo.blogspot.com

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye

I've been silent recently, I know. Mostly this is due to not having internet access at home which can curtail my blogging abilities rather severely. It has also been due to the fact that for a year and a half (until last September) I had a terrible job which didn't make me much fun to be around and I wanted to whinge about work a lot. Then I got a new job. Which was great for about 1 week before it all, too, turned to a big pile of poo. It's not really good form to blog about troubles (or anything, really) at work and for the most part the shit happened to someone else and it wasn't really my story to tell and still isn't. Suffice it to say, I was over the moon when I got another new job in January. This job is fantastic. Three months in and I still love it! I love going to work, I don't feel sick contemplating walking into the office, when my bosses speak to me I don't stress about what it is I might have done wrong or if I'm going to get shouted at. All in all, job = fantastic. Life seemed to be going well. I have a great job, a loving husband who is fantastic in every way, things were going well. In fact, this probably should be a 'hey I'm back and I'm great!' sort of post. It isn't. I'm not back and I'm most certainly not ok. This will improve, over time, but right now if I could hide entirely from the world, I would. My husband, as mentioned, is a wonderful, supportive, loving man and a fantastic pillar of strength. My family and friends, although mostly distant, I know are thinking of us. I write this not for people to ask what's wrong (and I don't think you can anyway as my comments provider decided to close up shop a month ago), or fishing for sympathy but to explain that, right now, I can't do this. I can't blog what I'm feeling because it's just too hard. I'm not even certain writing this final post is a good plan, but I think I'll do it anyway, if just to stop people asking me when I'm going to blog again. So, from me, it's goodbye. Take care of yourselves and (because I'm quite a bit of a geek) live long and prosper.

On the Scrapheap

I am a huge fan of Scrapheap Challenge. I watched it religiously when I was in the UK. It was fantastic and it had Kryten presenting it! (I know, I’m a nerd. Live with it) On the move to Australia things changed slightly. While travelling it was impossible to watch it (most backpackers have no taste) and when I met Graham it was a while before we got into a decent place and it’s only in the last 12 months that we’ve had access to a channel (ABC2) that showed it. And Graham doesn’t like it*. Still, I occasionally got my Scrappy fix of both Scrapheap Challenge and Scrappy Races. I have even been known to watch Junkyard Wars (What IS it with Americans? Do they not know what a Scrapheap is? Was ‘Challenge’ not macho enough for them?). July this year. I turn on to ABC2 and it’s Scrapheap Challenge folks, but not as we know it. What were they thinking? It’s AWFUL! That bloody presenter is a nightmare, the format is all wrong. It worked for Scrappy Races, people building in their own time, but for this it’s all just WRONG. And where are Kryten and Lisa? Even the AMERICAN presenters were better than that man! The episode I saw didn’t even have the teams competing against each other because it was too far for them to go. Seriously, what is the point? I’m not happy. *we were married before I found out...

Hmmm..

Suddenly it's gone very, very quiet on the cricket front here in Australia... Am I wandering round with a big grin on my face? What do you think... :D

Feeling patriotic

I'm very proud of being British at the best of times and like it when people notice. Occasionally I feel that my accent is slipping and do my best to pronouce words properly and not slip into Australianisms. I still manage to surprise people with British sayings and phrases which always makes me happy :) I felt exceptionally patriotic when on Wednesday night Graham and I settled down to watch the opening overs of the first Ashes Test at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff. I smiled as the camera panned over Cardiff, I loved the Welsh flags everywhere and I made Graham laugh when I along to Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. I still think that that's one of the best national anthems ever :) I love cricket. I inherited the habit from my mother of watching cricket on tv with the sound turned down and listening to it on the radio. You can't beat Test Match Special, there' s just something about Henry Blofeld's voice that to me means summer. I shut my eyes and I can see the kitchen window at home open and see the cricket on the tv and the sound drifting out into the summer day. To me, that is almost as close to heaven as you can possibly get while still being alive. Graham and I both want to go to an Ashes Test in Britain one day so that should be fun to plan :) I was really happy with England's performance until Australia came in to bat. I'm still hopeful though :) I just wish I got to see more than an hour or so's worth of cricket before going to bed :( p.s. Am I the only one to think that Skysports commentary team is not only a bit dull but also one sided? They had a West Indian on day one but it's the Ashes for crying out loud? Where are the guest Aussie commentators? All they could say is that they 'may' have Shane Warne for one day of a test. Yay

blast

I just lost my entire post. Grrr

*sigh* [Scanned]

If time goes any slower, it will start going backwards.   Why did I get out of bed today?

Paradise lost? [Scanned]

I went on in the last post about living in a wonderful place.  And I do.   I would like to point out, however, that where I grew up is wonderful too and although it’s not a lot of people’s idea of paradise that’s because they have no idea what they’re missing.  It’s got more variety than the tropics do.  Sure it’s hot here, occasionally cooling down to warm but the seasons just don’t happen and that’s a crying shame in itself.   How can you not love bluebells in a wood in spring and daffodils over every roadside?  Watching the bare hedges and trees bud and bloom with early spring flowers and leaves?  Watching the hills rise out of the mist like out of some enchanted sea first thing in the morning? An avenue of trees covered in cherry blossom?   Those warm summer days where it’s just perfect to sit outside with friends and family in a pub garden with a beer or a gin and tonic and smell the honeysuckle?  Proper beer?  Proper pubs (they just aren’t right here)?   Kicking up piles of dead leaves in autumn?   Or how about wrapping up in gloves and a scarf against the wind?  Snow covering everything on a crisp winter’s day?  Sledging?  Sitting in front of a warm fire safe in the knowledge that it’s bloody miserable outside?   If I could have all those things and more, with the palm trees and the heat just occasionally, I really would be in paradise.