Sofa surfing

It's almost like a milestone. That moment of your life where your relationship goes badly wrong, you lose your job, can't stand your housemates, are between flats, need a place to crash for a few days....or whatever the reason for finding yourself sleeping on your mates' sofa. This is the second time for me; of no privacy, cats attacking whilst I sleep, suitcases spilling out all over the place and just a general disorientation. This time it is just for 2 weeks until they let me loose into my new flat, not some disastrous life event. However, there is nothing like sleeping on a sofa to make you appreciate your own space when you finally get it- not to mention a real-life bed. I think I drove my first sofa-offering friends a bit mad with my untidiness; not that I actually made lots of mess. It was merely the awkwardness of living out of a suitcase and lots of bags, meaning that in order to find something to wear, or anything atall really, you have to empty the said suitcase to find the item-which then means clothes, DVDs and socks strewn all over the room. Then you put it all back and  five minutes later realise you need the very thing placed in the bottom of the bag. Sods law. I am currently blogging from my sofa with all my belongings piled in the corner and being attacked by even crazier cats, such is life.

Locked indoors

Luck seems to be against me right now. This morning I was leaving the flat; I arrived at the bottom of the stairs to go out the door only to find it had somehow jammed itself shut! I kicked, pulled and rattled it for a good while but it wouldn't budge. So I had to leave via the garden; involving climbing through somebody else garden which I doubt they were happy about but hey- had to be done. It is now 19 days until moving out day and I still haven't got a new place sorted- maybe now is the time to start stressing...

Flat hunting joys.

Eek, 3 weeks till I have to be out of my flat and have not yet got a place to live! Last year I got the flat, plus 3 flatmates together in less than 2 weeks so I'm hoping for a similar stroke of luck this summer. On the plus side I have my moving in buddies sorted; my partner and a good friend- so now I just need a place which matches my rather picky criteria. Must have: space, decent sized rooms, seperate kitchen and lounge, kitchen table, light, close to city centre, somewhere nice....not asking for much am I? Saw a really good place online today which had come down to £600 per month and it looks massive plus it's in a gorgeous area; the downside is it's unfurnished. I'm hoping that through the miracle of freecycle.org and ikea, not to mention the pound shop, we could get the essentials together for not too much hassle or cash. Wish me luck, or I will be blogging from the streets in a couple of weeks!

Paris-bound

Looking outside my window at the rainy Scottish weather, I can't help but wish I was somewhere else. Me, who has never been out of Britain, is about to get my first passport and I'm hopping with excitement at all the places I want to go. My first trip abroad is going to be on a very tight budget but I have already found a cheap place to stay- with a hostel chain that I have used before and a budget airline to get us there. I informed my fiancee that we are going to Paris for the weekend in February but I don't think he realised I was being serious- I've bought a guidebook and everything. France is not that far away for my first excursion out of the country, plus i've always liked the idea of seeing Paris. I decided February because who goes on holiday then? Plus it's my least favourite month of the year and this should brighten it up- not to mention the weather over here at that time of year.

On a different subject, I'm using google chrome now and it's constantly telling me that I am spelling words like "realised" wrong when i'm not. It wants me to put a "z" instead of a "s". American spelling?

Glasses? never, I can see just fine!

I took the plunge and had my eyes tested 2 weeks ago- for it got to the point I couldn't vaguely make out what it says on the board in classes and I was beginning to squint at street signs and bus numbers. It was truly a traumatic experience for me though, as I in no possible way suit glasses or want to have a pair. After the eye test- where they blind you with a horrible light trying to take a photo of your eye- I was taken round the store with the sales assistant to try on frames. I did warn him. I hated every pair. There was one or two which looked slightly better on so I came back a week later, slightly less traumatized, to pick one out. They were finally ready yesterday for me to take home and wow, I had no idea just how clear everything looks with glasses! But I still look very unsightly with them on, I spent the night in my bed with several budweisers, biscuits and the Twilight saga: Eclipse on the TV to drown my sorrows.

Summer jobs

It's that time of year again which seems to lead me back to the same job from the previous summer...and the one before that..etc. My friends mum owns a cafe in the city centre and it's probably the most laid back job i've ever had plus I get fed which is fantastic. They get massively busy over the Edinburgh fringe festival, so we'll be packed out with tourists as usual. They always ask the same questions: what is haggis, what is irn bru and where is the castle/royal mile? I don't blame them, if it were me i'd probably be asking a million questions too, but it does get a bit tiresome pointing people in direction of the castle when it is actually facing them.
I am quite looking forward to September for university to start, just so i'm not faffing around with 3 jobs (the one mentioned above plus part time in a pub 5 minutes from my flat and a care home where i'm called in when they need shifts covered.) So i've got another fun 6 weeks of not much social life- go me!

Harry Potter- Cannot resist mentioning it...

We went on a midnight trip to the cinema last night to see Harry Potter and the deathly hallows part 2- the end of an era, sob!
What an emotional film, it was so well done I actually felt like I would burst into tears at one point- even though i've read the books and knew what was going to happen. Maybe it is because I have grown up with it, the first movie came out when I was 11 years old which is around the time I started reading the books, that made it feel so epic but I do feel a little sad that it is all over. The auidence in the cinema were clapping, cheering and crying throughout the film which definately added to the atmosphere. I get the feeling I will most likely be seeing it again in the near future, I know how lame I am for that but hey, I don't care. Now I just need another great movie to see, any suggestions? Pretty excited about the inbetweeners movie next month and fancy seeing bad teacher- anyone seen it? If so is it any good? advice would be much apprieciated :)

Post- festival frenzy

Foo fighters= Fantastic!
It rained, it was cold, I shivered all weekend but saw some great bands so it was worth it. It is rather comical watching from behind the bar just how drunk everybody is. On the Saturday it was cloudy and raining on and off; yet despite that a fellow wearing a bright lime mankini goes strolling past. By the Sunday the entire park was literally a puddle of mud. People were coming up to the bar covered from head to toe in mud; quite an amusing look. I had my first proper camping experience which made me appreciate my bed on a whole new level; got very little sleep listening to the dance tent pumping till 3am and people chatting away next to my tent. If we'd actually managed to locate the tent which sold staff beers then we could have joined in the party! Still getting into the festival for free and getting paid was not too bad a deal.

Festival frenzy

My first ever music festival awaits me this weekend. Tickets were slightly too expensive for me so I'm gonna be working behind the bar. Hopefully I should still have a good time and get to see some bands. There will be Beyonce, pendulum, coldplay, the strokes, chase and status, foo fighters, blondie and loads more- can't wait! Watch this space to find out how I get on; I'm not the world's biggest fan of camping after all...

Celebrity house spotting (well, sort of)

Had the most random trip to the airport last week. My flatmate's driver friend picked us up at 4am and as we were driving he showed us some of the nicer houses in Edinburgh plus his favourite cars. Then he casually goes, "oh thats J.K Rowling's house.." (The author of Harry Potter...) Me being me I was pretty excited. I knew she lived in Edinburgh but nobody really knows where. Then as we get nearer the airport he insisted on showing us the pinnacle of houses- which had to be pretty epic after driving through millionaires row. We drive up a little lane lined with trees and stop outside big iron gates. Then he gets out a remote control, presses a button and the gates open. Our jaws dropped for there was a helicopter sitting right in front of us! Can't help but feel inferior around someone who has their own private helicopter.

Big dreams

Things I want to do:

1. Live in New York City
2. Go to London some more
3. Write a book
4. Own a dog
5. Own a flat/apartment- none of this renting business
6. Travel around the world for my honeymoon
7. Actually cook properly; as was my new year's resolution but still eat stuff out of the freezer like curly fries
8. Learn to breakdance
9. Take up ballet again
10. Be able to get a tan
11. Have an endless supply of converse trainers

London adventures

I went to London for the first time at the weekend and loved it! Scotland is so small and relaxed, not to mention cold, in comparison. We rode on the London underground, saw Buckingham palace, big ben, Westminster Abbey, Oxford street, Trafalgar square, Downing street and Camden market place. In other words I was a tourist for a day walking around digital camera in hand. Camden town held the most appeal to me; the markets were full of my kind of clothes and I am now broke after spending all my cash. We did the Camden pub crawl in the evening- which started off at Belushi's bar and ended up at Camden pride. The club was bigger, better and more fun than any i'd been to before ( me being so under-travelled and all) needless to say I had a blast. Looking at how much it costs to live in London though...wow, Edinburgh doesn't seem so expensive to me now!

Daft anecedotes

People can be very strange. I was once on a bus going to the supermarket. I stood up to get off and in front of me there was a woman with a baby and a small toddler. Suddenly, she turns around to face me- a complete stranger- to ask if I could hold the baby while she unfolded the pushchair. She thrust it towards me before I even had a chance to answer. Stunned, I took a hold of the baby. The woman turned away and fussed around with the buggy. I had to actually step off the bus holding the baby and stand there until she got sorted out. I mean, why on earth would you hand your baby to a stranger on a bus?! I mean you get all sorts on buses don't you? I could have been some psycho who would have ran off with the baby for all she knew. Except I'm not. Obviously. Later we came up with another scenario. She could have been the psycho- trying to get rid of the baby- and could have waited for me to get off the bus with the baby and then jumped back on and drove off. Then I would have been stuck with a random baby. Imagne that situation- what on earth would you do? call the police? Social workers? The baby can't exactly tell you it's name and address.

Thank god that didn't happen.

Look, a dog!

...I just saw a really nice one out my window.

On a totally unrelated subject; flat sharing = Big, fat nightmare. I can totally understand now how people can live completely alone with loads of cats. Having flatmates just means nobody buys toliet paper or cleaning products, empties the bin, cleans, washes up, pays attention to the bills....in other words one person does all of the above. Always. There's loads of pent up anger about fridge space, missing crockery, (where the **** is my mug?!?) disappearing spoons, rude friends, someone else cooking in the miniscule space when you are hungry, loud drunken idiots, someone else's appalling taste in music, snide comments, TV viewing (or lack of since the areal broke), pizza boxes, cupboard space, missing milk, heating being left on, lights being left on... It's either an all out war or a silent "we all hate each other but we're not going to say anything". This flat would be the latter. It's becoming extremely hostile when you used to be easy going and fun.

Oh, the joys of student life

I know it's such a cliche to moan about being a skint student...but hey it's true. Its that time of year when term is nearly finished and I'm free for the summer. (except I'm not really, with having a job and all) Everyone seems to be feeling the tension; people were bursting into tears left, right and center last week, including the lecturer. And there was me thinking that everything was going smoothly: I have a job, don't need to worry about money over the summer, etc.etc...Until I spoke to my *attempts to not swear and call him names* manager about getting more hours and find that the fulltime hours I was supposed to get is no longer possible. So now I have to go back to trawling the town with my CV, sitting on the laptop all hours of the day and generally getting miserable (in other words hunting for a second job) whilst not being able to afford supernoodles (69p a packet) while there's supermarket value noodles at 10p a packet....tragic. Oh well, I'm London- bound in just under two weeks time with the girls which should cheer things up. We'll be doing all the touristy stuff considering I've never been ( that's really how under-traveled I am...I've lived in the UK my whole life for gods sake!...)

what would you do if a waitress dropped mustard on you in a restaurant?

I think last night was the first shift I didn't drop, smash or knock something over. Remind me how I got a waitressing job again? Just the other week I dropped mustard on a customer (no sorry, guest as we're supposed to call them..) Luckily he saw the funny side- I told him I had to drop at least one thing during the day and at least it wasn't an entire plate of hot food or something. Plus I apolagised profusely. Another time I knocked over an entire tray of coffees, it went everywhere- all over the customers, the table and the floor. Mortifying! In one job I accidently set a tea towel on fire. I kinda stood there thinking, "shit", which was the moment my boss chose to walk through the door... But seriously I shouldn't ever be allowed in a kitchen. A couple of months ago I set pasta on fire. I had put it on to cook and gone back to my room to freak out about my coursework. Two hours later my flatmate banged on my door in a panic saying the kitchen almost went on fire. I ran through and the room was filled with thick, black smoke- needless to say I had to make a few sheepish apolagises.

Today has been very productive. I got up at 12, hung around eating toast and drinking tea and watched breakfast at tiffanys for the first time- seeing as it's pissing it down with rain outside. (WHERE is the summer I ask?! I've bought sunglasses and everything!) So here's me trying to expand my film knowledge seeing as Breakfast at tiffanys is meant to be a classic and all that. I can't believe how glamourous it is- hollywood must have been so different back then. I kinda lost track though and only watched it halfway through and now I'm watching Valentines day again...Don't judge. I guess I'd better go and "cook" some dinner though so I can get myself down to the pub for my boyfriend's dad's birthday- weirdly his is the day after my own dad's birthday. But yeah, i'm just hoping there won't be any random family members I haven't met yet- I get all nervous and freak out about what to say. Anyway, happy Saturday and if anybody has any suggestions about a film I should see and may actually watch then let me know. :)
 

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my first ever blog. I decided I needed a place to put down my rambling dis-jointed thoughts; like the fat pigeon at work and the mystery door at number 105. While trying to come up with some sort of clever, witty user name I really couldn't think of anything. Pink Panther doesn't have any kind of hidden meaning; I am not a massive fan of the colour pink and neither am I a panther- obviously. I was sitting here earlier on eating a packet of "Pink panther" wafer biscuits...that's really all there is to it. So today is the 10th of June, a typical weird mix of rain, sun and coldness in Scotland. I'm almost finished studying for the summer which means no more seeing the hilarious fat pigeon at placement (I worked in a nursing home and there was a bird seed thing in the garden. This one pigeon caught on that if it sat there all day then seeds would fall out regularly. It literally sat there with its mouth open waiting to catch the seeds- it is actually obese, waddles instead of walking..) Anyway that's all for my first post- more to come tomorrow!