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Thirteen series/films I had never seen, or even heard of, before moving in with Tyronne.

1. Filthy, Rich and Catflap. This apparently is what the people in The Young Ones did after that series was stopped. He cries when he watches it, I merely smile every now and then.

2. D.A.R.Y.L. About a robot boy. I was shocked that I recognised him as Bastian from The Neverending Story.

3. Red Dwarf A tv series I'm sure I've seen on the BBC before but could not be bothered watching.

4. The Mighty Boosh. Zoo-keepers, talking monkeys, and the spirit of the jazz. Umm.. Yeah.. well.. see 1.

5. Gimme, gimme, gimme. A homosexual and an ugly nymphomaniac sharing a house.

6. Supernova. Australian/English series about astronomers in the outback. I actually found some bits of this funny. I think I need to get worried...

7. Bottom. Two sad acts sharing a flat. Very sick and well, not funny. To me, that is.

8. I'm Alan Partridge. The ongoing adventures of Alan Partridge, a sport presentor/talk show host, during and after his failed tv series. I've stayed away from this one for now, maybe it's best to keep that up.

9. Double Agent73. Wonderful '70's porn about a woman with huuuuge tits and a camera hidden inside them. 'You have to see it to disbelieve it' it said on the box. So true.

10. Chocky. Boy talks to alien friend, while parents think he's losing it. Poor poor kid. Note to self: need to make my friend a copy of this as she loved to watch this and couldn't find it anywhere in Holland.

11. Brasseye. Current affair style comedy which at the time seemed to be far fetched but sadly is now more fact than fiction. Tye is threatening to put this on now so I can actually watch it....

12. Quatermass. Late '70's show about an elderly scientist trying to save the world from an alien invasion by nuking a new age rave. Poor Tye did not see it for 20 years because it scared him....

13. Black books. Comedy set in a bookstore, with Bernard Black, the most unsociable person in the world who loves wine and insulting people.


The list could be endless really, as he's got far far FAR too many DVDs, mostly of stuff when he first tells me about them I think he made up himself.. And yes, I could put links up for all of these series, but as you've got the internet at your fingertips, you can do that yourselves...!!


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. Buttercup





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Supernanny

A few weeks ago I decided it was time to look for a job here. One of the most logical things to look for, other than something to do with people suffering from eating disorders, was to look for a job as a nanny. I love kids, I've been a nanny a few years ago and loved that (eventhough the parents were a bit of a problem) and I knew it would be something I could do.

And so I found a nanny agency and filled out their form. A few days later, I got a call asking when I could come over for a job interview. And that was yesterday!

We arrived early. Of course we did. Yoda told us where to go, which was so nice of him, and I waited another 15 minutes before ringing the doorbell.

Belinda answered the door, very casually dressed which I like because it makes you feel less like you're at A Job Interview, and showed me to her office. We talked a bit about my CV, about the police check I need to have done, about living in the UK and about my previous experience and how it's usually the parents who make it a difficult job, not the kids. She signed me up for a First Aid class sometime within the next two months, gave me my Nanny-card with my picture and Nanny-number as well as their address and phone number and that was about it! She said she would start looking for a family for me within Chelmsford, as I'm not that confident at driving and need to use public transport (at least for now, I know I need to bite the bullet at some point...) and off I went..

Now all I need is a Supernanny suit....

Card

So there we were, at the bank, talking to a boy who did not look old enough to work there. After about half an hour he told us that he had a 4 year old daughter and that the bank holiday had been all about her. How is this possible? He looked no older than 16. Oh I don't know, I still have to get used to people having kids a lot younger than in Holland.

Two hours later, Tyronne had some financial stuff sorted out and my name was put on his account. Ha! He gave me access to his money! How foolish can he be?

Today my shiny new debit card arrived! Now, where is the nearest ATM?

Seamonkeys

When we left on saturday for the bash, the Seamonkeys were swimming around in their lovely tank with gold on the bottom of it (pirates!! arg!) minding their own business, just being Seamonkeys really.

When we got back we found that they had grown. Lots! They are HUGE now! Enormous! I'm sure that within a week, we'll be seeing some Seamonkey sex! Whoohooo!

Bash

Last saturday me and Tye drove off to meet some loonies. Don't worry, they're harmless, and he's met them before, but as this was my first time meeting them I was still a bit apprehensive as they had only been names on a screen to me. Oh no wait, that's not entirely true, I had met two of them before. Anyway... After driving around for an hour, following instructions by Yoda on the TomTom satnav, we finally got there.

There were lots of people already, lots of booze, some chilli, later on someone went to get chippies, and as it was someone's birthday, there were balloon cock-hats and cake too. Pony-cake and bum-cake with a huge goatse on top. (If you must, you can google for goatse, but whatever you do, do NOT do that on either an empty stomach or after having just had your food, or while eating, and definately not while at work! So in other words, maybe you should just try and resist googling this.) And of course the biggest topic of conversation was sex, whether it was bumming, dogging or the very explicit explanation of space docking. (Again: try and resist)

Tye on the other hand got more and more lovely as he got more and more drunk. He kept saying how much he loved me, how happy he was I said 'yes', and how pretty he thought I looked. Which of course I did. He said some other things as well, but let's not go into that.

Later that night, or very early that morning, after all the booze, the talking, the Guitar Hero and the Karaoke (not me, not me! Don't worry!) it was time for bed. As we were not going to share a futon with 2 other people (I wish someone had taken a picture of those four that did, they looked so very cute) or sleep on the kitchen floor, we got our brand new tent out of the car and tried to set it up. Picture this: 4 o'clock in the morning, me cold, Tye drunk, not enough light to read the instructions, both of us not having set up any tent for a number of years. Let's just say we got it up, but it looked nothing like the picture on the bag it came in. The foam matrasses that came with it were far too thin, the sleeping bags too straight jacket-like, the ground too hard and too cold, but other than that, it was perfect. Tye was snoring within 2 seconds, I was awake for about half an hour and then finally fell asleep as well.

I woke up again at 6.15, and for about an hour I tried to decide whether or not I should get out of the sleeping bag, get dressed and get inside the house to use the toilet. 'I'm not going, but I need the toilet, but I don't want to go outside, but I need the toilet, but it's cold outside, but I need the toilet, I'm sure I can hold it for another hour, but I neeeeeeed the toilet!' And so finally, at 7.15, I did get dressed, got inside the house, tip toed up to the bathroom (this is the second house I've been to that only has a toilet upstairs in the bathroom. I've never seen that in Holland, it would be the other way around there..) did what needed to be done and got back downstairs again, only to learn that one of the people sleeping on the kitchen floor had been sick about an hour ago. I never smelled anything or found any evidence! I was so pleased. He could've easily had decided to go out in the garden next to our tent, but instead he got upstairs to go to the bathroom and cleaned up after himself!

I got back into the tent, got back to sleep for about an hour, woke Tye up and we then had some breakfast and coffee. Yes, I had coffee too, only because there was no tea.

Yoda got us back safely, we popped by McDonald's for McChicken on the way, and then we got back in bed for more wonderful, wonderful sleep on wonderful, wonderful bed with soft matrass and nice duvet and no cold floor.

Our pictures of the bash can be found here, if you really want to see what the loonies look like.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I've had here for the first time and LOVED

1. Jaffa Cakes. The little ones, the big ones, the bar ones.

2. Chelsea buns. Yummmm!

3. Coca Cola Zero. Better than the diet, although it took some getting used to the no caffeine bit...

4. Sweet corn with honey, spash of lime and lots of chilli....! Pop in the microwave for a few minutes and it's delicious!

5. Shepard's pie. But what ever you do, do not look at what you're eating..

6. Curry. A real one. Chicken, of course.

7. Flapjacks, the big ones that Tesco does. Much better than a muesli bar.

8. Pub food. Pubs in Holland should do food too, more than just kroketten and bitterballen.

9. Yorkshire pudding, especially the crunchy ones.

10. Kievs. We've tried a couple but I have to say I like the garlicy ones best.

11. Cornish pasties!! They definately need to do those in Holland.

12. Sausage rolls, although they do taste a lot like sausijzenbroodjes

13. Walker's Thai chilli crisps. Or Hoola hoops.


Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. My 2 cents

2. Tink


3. Dane Bramage

4. Cheryl



Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

thursday thirteen

(Sorry to everyone who replied to this: as I was putting your links in, my template started acting up, so I had to copy it all and post the list without the TT-template.....)


Shit (2)

Why is it that when someone asks you to do something you normally do every day without any problems, it suddenly becomes a problem just because someone's asked you to and now It Has To Be Done?

I finally had my sample in the tiny tube (not something I hope to be doing again any time soon). Tye and I took it to the surgery while making every single shit-joke we could possibly think of.

The lady at the reception was very friendly, maybe a bit too much, because.. .I have to be honest, I've never heard anyone say 'Thank you so very much,' when taking shit like that.

Shit, quite literally

Back in Holland, I had seen my doctor several times to talk about my horrible heartburn. Nothing in particular could set it off. Sometimes I'd get it after drinking tea, sometimes on an empty stomach, sometimes right before having anything. I could not pinpoint anything I could stay away from and not have heartburn. There had even been times when I nearly choked on acidic stomach juices, not nice! Especially not with my fear, phobia, of being sick.

But he said 'We both know why you have this. You're fat. So you know what you need to do.' Oh thanks so much. He never asked about my eating habbits, if maybe I was under a lot of stress, he never examined me, no, it was my weight and that was it.
Last time, about a month before I left for England, he did give me some medication, and those pills were great! For the first time since I don't know how long I didn't live on Rennies, and I could sleep without being afraid of choking.

Unfortunately, I took my last tablet the first week I was here. And the heartburn was back within days. So it was back to Rennies. I just started my second box of 96. Not good.

So today I went to see my, new, doctor. I was a bit nervous about what she might have to say, but she was very friendly. Asked me about my eating habbits and if anything I have might set this heartburn of. Asked me if the medication I had relieved the pain. Asked me if I had ever been tested and when I told her no, asked me if I perhaps would like to have that done.

A test, that sounded rather scary. She explained that she thought my heartburn might be caused by a bacteria called helicobacter pylori, the bacteria that causes ulcers. (Funny enough I had told my former doctor that I was afraid this might be an ulcer but he laughed that off.) If I would be tested positive for this in my stool sample, I might need a stomach endoscopy... Not something I'm looking forward to!!

So tomorrow, I need to put some of my stool (doesn't that sound lovely? Nothing like the stinking shit it is!) in a little tube and walk all the way to the doctor's with it and have it tested. Results will be in after about a week. Fingers crossed!

V festival

If I turn down the TV, I can hear the V festival, a huge 2 day concert both here in Chelmsford as up in Staffordshire. Bands that played here today will be playing there tomorrow and vice versa.

My Love, who actually said it was OK to use his name on here, so it will be Tyronne or Tye from now on, promised he'll take me next year. From what I can hear from my window right now, I can't wait!

Postcrossing

I just signed up for Postcrossing, a project that's about sending postcards all over the world.

I used to have penpals, in Holland, in the US, in Denmark, in England and I loved it! I loved writing long letters till my fingers hurt, I loved decorating the envelopes, I loved receiving the letters and then writing back again.

The internet is great for meeting people all over the world and keeping in touch, but it's not quite the same as writing letters by hand, sending them of, waiting for replies that might take days, weeks even.

Now (well, not now now, obviously, as it's half 10 on a saturday evening) all I need to do is request an address, find a postcard that is OK enough to send and make a trip to the postoffice. And who knows, I might find a postcard in the mail sometime soon, too.

Writing again

I am writing again! A few days ago, I bought a 'Write your own novel' CDrom by GSP, and it works! On it you can write down your ideas and notes, keep track of events, dates, locations, add all your characters and their description, personality and relationships. You can even keep notes on where you've submitted your story, and oh yeah, you can actually write your story on there as well. I have to be honest, I was a little scared to actually save my writing on here instead of a notebook (I of course keep one anyway) but it really does work!

And best of all; I'm not doing this on my own. I've got My Love as a sparring partner. I had a very basic storyline, but while talking to him we added more and more to it, making it more complex. We talk about why people do the things they do in the story, when certain events take place and why in that order, and how it will all end. We are now looking at a police thriller, which is something I've never done before, but by having him as my partner I feel the story will be tight enough to work.

And now it's time for, as Mur Lafferty from I Should Be Writing always puts it, 'butt in chair'!

Horses

My favourite tv ad at this moment: the Clark shoes one with the little girl who pretends she's got a horse. She's wearing a skirt that looks like a dress I used to wear, her hair is as long as mine was, and she's got the boots I used to have.

She's making her pretend horse jump, run, she offers it an apple, she walks it back to the stables, she's lost in her own little world.

You watch this ad and you just have to love it. You can't help it.

Unless you're My Love's 6 year old nephew. 'She doesn't even have a horse.' Yeah, thanks for that.