Post Birthday

Yep, it's been confirmed, I am now 26. Scarey prospect, as it means I am (according to my friend Sally) on the "wrong side of 25!!" Oh well. Can't be helped. I don't feel any older, but then again why would I feel any different in a whole day?

Friday I had the day off work. Finally, after working 9 days straight, I was so happy to be able to lie in a while. I don't normally work 9 days in a row, but i had swapped weekends with John at work so we could go to Scotland, so it just kind of worked out that way. But I still didn't have to work my birthday! I like the fact that my work is flexible enough like that. I can swap shifts with other Visitor Assistants, if possible, which enables me to keep my hours, which as a temp is important!!

Anyway, Scott and I headed into Oxford Street (via a wool shop in Stratford to get some circular knitting needles!! Scarey!!). We caught the bus from Stratford instead of taking the central line. The tube lost the coin toss! Oh well, at least by bus you get to see the countryside rather than just the other oddballs in the train carriage. :-) Took us about an hour, and I think we needn't do that trip ever again. We headed staight for our destination - The Apple Shop. So many shiny things in there. I really miss having a Mac to play with. They are so much better designed and user friendly than Windows machines. Scott had bought himself an iPod a couple of weks ago, and asked me if I would like one for my birthday, seeing as though we were no longer going to Scotland. I said yes. I chose a 30GB video ipod in black. It's the same one as Scott got. I really liked the nano model, but basically for an extra £40 I could get the video mode (not sure if I will use that yet) but also an extra 26GB. I cannot even comprehend how many songs that is. But I am sure it will soon fill up. Dad said he will send me some songs burnt onto a cd from my iTunes at home (he did suggest I send it home for him to load up with songs, but somehow I doubt I would get it back!!). So that's my new toy. I can't believe that Scott bought it for me, but I am very very happy with it.

From Oxford Street we caught the tube to Shepherds Bush, to where Melissa and Shane live. We had been invited to a very last minute dinner gathering. As of course Melissa and I share the same birthday, it was a great excuse to go out. There were 8 of us in total - Melissa and Shane, Scott and I, Ayesha and Karline (her friend from Oz) and Renee and Bram (friends of Melissa's). We ended up going to a nice French restaurant. It was a lovely evening.

Saturday we lazed about a bit, then headed over to the Barbican. The Barbican is a development which has apartments, restaurants and theatres in it, close to the City of London. Interesting place, wouldn't want to live there though!! We hadn't been there for almost a year, as the last time we were there was with Judy and we saw Batman Begins at the cinema. Anyway, the reason we were going there was because we were off to see a film from the Australian Film Festival. Very exciting! I had been told about it by a lady at work, so we made a booking for a movie called "Blacktown" on the internet. The movie was at 4pm, and began with a short film called "The Saviour". This alone was worth the ticket price. Absolutely marvellous film about the goings on behind the scenes of Mormon's visits to homes in Australian suburbia. Turns out that the main character was trying to convert a woman, who liked "one on one" seesions, ie they were sleeping together. Turns out that when he goes to see her one last time, she isn't home, he is invited in by the husband. Husband tells him that the wife is pregnant, and that it must be some miracle, as they had been trying for 10 years and he was told he was infertile (guess whose baby it is...). Anyway, ends up that the husband is converted due to the "miracle" of his wife's pregnancy!! The other film was pretty good, done on zero budget, but still an interesting insight into life and relationships in Blacktown, near Sydney.

Sunday was MY BIRTHDAY!!

We woke up earlyish (for a Sunday anyway) and I spoke to Mum and Dad briefly. Listened to them sing me Happy Birthday twice - once on my voicemail and once direct to me on the phone, in chorus! :-D I was also sung to by Scott and by my uncle Paul in Sydney. YAY! I also received text messages from home, from Caroline, Louise, and Angela. Text messages from people here were from Ayesha, Melissa, and Giulia. I unwrapped my shiny present, and my card. The card is great. It's a hologram of a set of lips. Each time you move the card they move and give you a kiss. So endless kisses for me!

We walked to the train station (on the way I spoke to Paul) and took three trains to get to Shoreditch. From the station we wandered to the bagel shop to get a salt beef bagel each for breakfast. A lovely way to start the day!! Then we walked to Old Spitalfields Market, where I planned to spend my birthday present from my parents. I really like the markets, as you can find just about anything there - clothes, food, shoes, books, jewellery. I ended up with a pair of earrings (a Celtic design with oval pieces of polished malachite at the drop end), a ring (a silver ring with a large oval piece of malachite) and a book on subterranean London (not bought from the market however). Oh! And two pairs of socks (I have become quite taken with knee high socks). I bought a pair of red and black striped socks and a pair of black socks with skulls and cross bones up the side - arrrrr.... pirate socks!!!

From the market we went to Liverpool Street station. I bought a hairdryer (I managed to fry yet another one that morning after drying only half my head so I had to leave the house looking gorgeous with a beanie on!!). Then from Liverpool Street we took the Circle line to Westminster and hopped on a boat. We did a boat cruise to Greenwich, which took about an hour. I really love being on the River Thames as there is so much to look at, and so much history. In Greenwich, which I love, we went to a bookshop where I purchased my book. Then hopped on the DLR to West India Quay and saw a movie. I stopped off on the way at Tesco (a supermarket) to buy some Tim Tams to inflict upon the good people I work with as a birthday treat from me. We saw The Weatherman, which was good, not as funny as the preview gives the impression, but still a good way to end the day. The movie was followed by a lovely dinner at one of the restaurants near work, and then it was home to load up some music onto my new toy.

I checked my emails when I got home and there were more birthday messages from Sally and from Vera. Lovely. :-)

Today I inflicted the goodness of Tim Tams upon my colleagues. The 4 packets of biscuits were gone by lunchtime!!! Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

I was also told that I am on the shortlist for interviews at work, ie I have to go through the interview process on Monday with all the other plebs. Bummer, but it has to be done. I was told by my boss that my application was excellent, and if I do as well in the interview as I did with my application, I will be fine. :-D Wish me luck!!