I’m having a totally relaxing weekend this week. Frazer stayed in Edinburgh and I stayed here. We had a girly drunken night on Friday, which was great, and then lots of catching up yesterday.
I’ve needed a weekend with nothing planned, as I’ve had a bit of a tough week. I had the dentist on Monday (thanks to him I no longer have a chipped front tooth!), a telephone interview on Tuesday for a job in Edinburgh Hospital working for the same company, a job interview near Penicuik on Wednesday evening and a house viewing, and the MOT for the car on Friday!
By the time Friday evening rolled around I was in desperate need of some total relaxation! I picked up my best mate Joocey, went to Tesco to buy booze and party food, came home and we were joined by the mum of Isla’s best ate, who shall henceforth be known as Snickers as she’s just changed her name and it’s a combination of the two as I never get it right!
We had a really great evening, drank too much, ate unhealthy food, and had a good laugh! We had a late night, and crashed out pretty much straight away.
Another friend from Castle Douglas came over yesterday and we had a brilliant catch up, and then I went in to town a bit later on so Joocey could catch a bus home, and Isla and I picked up a Chinese take away!
Today I am doing nothing apart from watching Arrested Development, catching up with blogs etc, chilling out, and missing Frazer.
Nothing planned next week, apart from signing the lease in Peebles on Friday. It’s all getting a little bit real, a little bit scary, but very exciting!
Plans have changed somewhat. We’ve found a house, but in an entirely different place from as planned! We are now moving to…Peebles! It’s in the Scottish Borders, still within commuting distance to Edinburgh, and absolutely beautiful. We were looking in West Lothian, but it was impossible to find what we wanted within the right price range. Peebles will be a bit of a bugger if either of us has to work in the west, but for Edinburgh it will be fine, and for me it means that I can look for jobs not only in Edinburgh, but also in Selkirk, Galashiels and Peebles itself.
Frazer’s moving in a couple of weeks, and I’m trying to find a job as soon as possible so we can move up as well. As soon as I have a job, I can give a month’s notice on my job and my house, and organise the removal! Frazer needs to get a couple of bits and pieces for the house straight away as the flat he’s in at the moment is furnished, so it’s going to be a bit bare until I arrive with a house full of furniture!!
The house is about 5 minutes from Peebles High Street, apparently in the posh bit of Peebles! It’s got 3 bedrooms, a study, an amazing kitchen with a beautiful aga, a bathroom and an extra toilet, which is highly important living in the same house as a girl rapidly approaching teenagehood! It’s very cottagey, despite being in the middle of a town. It’s got a titchy front garden, which will look great with ports of geraniums and things, and a long back garden which only really needs grass cutting.
I think that once we are in there, with all the furniture, it is the sort of place where we can be really happy. I have visions of us spending most evenings sitting in the lovely large kitchen, by the aga, drinking glasses of wine. Note to self – learn to like wine!
We didn’t do much between Christmas and New Year, mainly because we couldn’t get out of the village. We eventually tried to go to town on the Wednesday, but we passed two serious accidents within about 3 miles of the village and turned round and came home. As we drove into the village, I tried to get the car up the steep hill that is Main Street. I got about half way up, and the wheels just started spinning. Frazer asked me if I wanted him to have a go, so I agreed, put the handbrake on, and we both got out of the car to swap places. Only the car decided it didn’t want to stay where it was, and started moving backwards. I hadn’t shut the drivers door, so tried to get back in, only because the road was so icy, I couldn’t get enough purchase on it to get myself back into the car, and spent what felt like an hour, but must only have been about ten seconds, trying to get back in. Eventually I did, and slammed on the foot brake as well, and the car did stop. We managed to slide it into a parking space, and went to the pub. We couldn’t drive anywhere, so we may as well get pissed! It was an interesting walk home, up that same steep Main Street, but we managed it eventually – I think being drunk helped actually!
For Hogmanay we went back down to the newly re-opened pub and had a fair few drinks. Isla’s best friend’s mum joined us, and we had quite a laugh down there. We went back up to her house where we collected her boyfriend and the girls, and came back up to our house in time for the bells. We had a good old sing song of Auld Lang Syne, and Isla’s friend stayed the night with us, while her mum and boyfriend staggered home! The girls had been listening to music when we collected them, and we heard Ellie Goulding’s rendition of Your Song (which is actually not bad), and on the way home Frazer was singing bits of it to me. Very sweet, quite drunk and very romantic!
We had a couple of days to recover from New Year, and then it was back to work and normality. Almost! We had plenty more snow during January, and I missed another couple of days work due to bad roads. We’re now spending our time scouring property websites to find somewhere to live around Linlithgow, and I’m job hunting again. It will be great when we’re all living together, it’s just getting to that point that is difficult!
So, 2010 in a nutshell – life changing.
2011 will be our year.
And Happy New Year (although belated) to all of you.
December was snowy all the way through. It started that weekend in Glasgow, and steadily got worse through the month. I missed a fair few days at work because the roads were just too snowy and icy. As you may remember, had two accidents in the snow last year, and there was no way this year that I was going to put myself, or my new car, at risk.
I managed to get two weeks off work, and so did Frazer, which was lovely. He actually got down here two or three days before I finished work, and the night he came down, I met him at Tesco to do the big Christmas food shop! That was an experience I am happy to repeat only once a year! It cost a fortune between us, but we were going to make damn sure we weren’t missing anything!
The day I finished work, I met Frazer and Isla in Castle Douglas for a Chinese. We sat down in the restaurant, and noticed that everyone else in there was still wearing their coats. It turned out that their heating wasn’t working, and they only had one little convector heater in there for a large restaurant. We decided to get a carry out instead, and when we got it home, we discovered that a couple of the things on the order weren’t even correct. We weren’t very impressed, but it was tasty anyway.
The next day was Christmas Day, and we tried hard not to be too busy as we wanted to enjoy it. Frazer’s parents were due to arrive late afternoon, and luckily I had already cleaned the house through thoroughly and made up their bed. Frazer started to make his trifle…the first time he’d ever made it, and it was an ambitious attempt, with different coloured jellies to give a traffic light effect! We lost the packet of Dream Topping that we had bought (I was very disappointed as I hadn’t had that for years) so we used whipped cream – probably better anyway! It was a triumph, but it was massive and there was too much, even for five of us!
Frazer’s mum and dad arrived, and we just had cheese and biscuits etc, and then lots and lots of drinks! Frazer and his dad were in the kitchen, and I was chatting in the sitting room with his mum. I can’t even remember what we were talking about, but I said I’d like more kids one day, and she was delighted! We all ended up in the kitchen talking and having a few more drinks, and then they went to bed and we stayed up for a bit. I mentioned to Frazer the conversation I’d had with his mum, and I can’t even remember how it came about, but he asked me to move in with him!!! We talked about it for a while longer, decided it was the best idea we’d ever had, despite being slightly scary, and went to bed after deciding there would be kids sometime too!
Christmas Day didn’t dawn too bright or early, and there was still snow on the ground which was lovely. Isla knocked on the bedroom door with her stocking, so we got sorted, I got Frazer a cup of tea, and she sat on our bed and opened all her little stocking presents. We then got up and got showered etc, and Frazer made breakfast, and then we sat down in the sitting room and opened all our presents! I had come up trumps for Frazer – he had said months ago that he fancied a coffee maker, but they were about a hundred pounds, so I had said no chance. But…then I found one on Tesco Direct at half price, so he got it in the end! Isla got him al the little coffee, cappuccino and hot chocolate pods that go with it. I got a terabyte hard drive from him, which was exactly what I wanted, as my multi media one is only 500mb, and I keep having to delete stuff! I got Isla a new mobile phone, and some new, really good speakers for her desk upstairs. Frazer gave her a Scotland rugby shirt, and £20, and she also got a kindle from my uncle. Amazingly, she loves it! Frazer’s mum and dad seemed to enjoy themselves too, and I think it was the first year off his mum had had, so she enjoyed relaxing.
We were meant to be having a very big roast chicken for Christmas dinner, but when I got the chicken out of the fridge it had gone off! I didn’t panic though, as we’d also bought a big pork joint for Boxing Day, so we had that instead. We had prawn cocktail as a starter, then roast pork, roast potatoes, parsnips, veggies and, because they always have it, mashed potatoes as well!! We then had the triumphant trifle for dessert. It was all yummy!
We didn’t have a very late night, as we’d been really late the night before. It was lovely to have a proper family Christmas, even though I couldn’t be with my own family.
Boxing Day was pretty chilled out. Frazer’s mum and dad went home early afternoon, and we just chilled out for the rest of the day.
Yup, I’ve been terrible about updating since way before Christmas!
Our night out in Glasgow was lovely. The hotel was amazing, even if the drinks in the hotel bar were ridiculously expensive!
We went out to a very smart Indian restaurant where the food was delicious, and then went to a pub for a few drinks before Frazer’smate and his partner had to catch the train home. It started to snow really heavily on our way back to the hotel - it was really pretty and romantic, but bloody cold! We went back to the hotel bar and had a few more drinks and just sat and chatted. We woke up kind of late the next day and missed breakfast!
We had a lovely wander around Glasgow on the Saturday. I’d never been to the centre of Glasgow before, and always imagined it as kind of icky! It is nice though, and I would even go so far as to say that the shopping is better than Edinburgh! I didn’t buy very much except some card making stuff, but it was a great day.
And I don’t mean the weather, although we’ve had plenty of rain recently, and there have been quite a lot of little floods on the road. The River Nith in Dumfries hasn’t burst its banks yet, so we haven’t officially had proper flooding yet!
No, it’s not the weather, it’s the car.
I made a complete fool of myself yesterday. I felt like a pathetic, girly wuss.
Frazer was here for the weekend, and yesterday morning he headed off to work, as he had to do a site visit not far from here. As I was leaving to go to work, got into the car as normal, and tried to turn it on. Nothing. This is my nice, new car remember, so to say I was annoyed is putting it lightly. I thought it was the battery, so I called Frazer, who came back to try to jump start it. The last time I needed a jump start I discovered that there are loads of men, some living in my street, who don’t know how to do it! Incredible really. Every man should at least know how to ump start a car. Anyway, I digress…
The jump start didn’t work, and we decided that the battery was fine after all. I then called the autocare plan I have with the dealership where I got the car, and they said they’d send someone out.
An hour or so later, the nice AA man arrived (no, not Alcoholics Anonymous!). I explained what had happened, and he said he thought he knew what it was. He got into the car, turned on the ignition, and floored the accelerator until it started. Apparently the engine was just flooded. He asked me if I’d been anywhere the day before, or if I had just moved the car. I had only moved it, because we had spent Sunday afternoon cleaning the cars, and they were lovely and pristine! He said it’s a common fault in Vauxhalls, that if you start the engine and then stop it again within a few seconds, the engine floods, and because you haven’t let the engine run, it doesn’t un-flood. Not one I’ve ever heard of before – it never happened with the Corsa, and we had that for 13yrs. Anyway, he said that to sort it out you just put your foot down on the accelerator pedal and don’t pump it.
I felt such a fool. I buggered up Frazer’s work day and he had to resort meetings etc, I called an AA man out, and I was 2½ hours late for work, which I have since had to make up. All because the engine was flooded. He did say that he gets called out a lot for the same fault though.
So, not a good start to the week.
However, the end of the week should more than make up for it. After work on Friday, I am getting the train up to Glasgow to meet Frazer. Isla is staying over at her best friend’s house, and we are having a proper, grown up night out. I’ve never been to Glasgow, other than the airport, so I’m really looking forward to it.
Frazer told me he’d booked a cheap hotel for the night, which I was perfectly happy with, but then he told me he hadn’t actually booked that one, but the Grand Central Hotel instead! It’s seriously posh and smart, and I am so excited! We’re going out with some friends of his for a smart dinner (I have been told no jeans! L), and then some Christmas shopping on the Saturday before we come home. Massively excited, I’ve never stayed in a really posh hotel before! No idea what we’re eating, will wait and see!
And meanwhile I am preparing for Christmas. I’ve got quite a few presents sorted, and will get Isla’s and Frazer’s at the end of this week. Not a clue what to get my parents, but I’m sure I’ll find something! We’ve got a wee while to go yet!
A more light hearted topic today – chavvy names people name their kids. I’ve been collecting the worst ones I’ve come across over the last few months, and some are truly awful! I have no idea where the parents find the names, or why they even think they are nice.
I think the easiest thing to do is list them and let you decide if you like them or not! Apologies to anyone whose kids’ names appear!
Lily-Maii
Emmie-Olivia
Morgan-Paige
Chelsea-May
Lo-Andri
Braedigh (Brady)
Destiny
Cayce (Casey)
Kaitelyn
D’Andre (pronounced dee-andray)
Precious
Braydon
Acer
Acerjoe (I think a few people love their computers far too much!)
Chance
Raggana
Evian
Ptolomy (maybe not chavvy but terrible anyway!)
Rubii (Ruby)
Lechelle
Keegan
Nevaeh (Heaven backwards!)
Tyreece
Acea
Jazmine (not too bad as a rule, but never with a Z!)
Kealan
Chanise
Kai
Brie
Tanicha
Tyrese
Kade
Tyrone
Andrewina
Tayen
Krystal
Carlene
Nimoy (maybe they didn’t like Spock?!)
Breock
Dememe
Daffodil
Amoy (Stirfry anyone?!)
Emaleigh
Abygayle
Talissa
Dilano
Prestella
Lemise
Antonesha
Neev (liked the name obviously but couldn’t spell it – it’s Niamh dimwits!)
Thomasina
Rio
Peaches
Jacy
Calice
L’Mel
Zakari
De’Kai
Blisse
And, of course, the old standbys…
Kayden and Jayden
What I can’t get over is the fact that some people like to name their kids perfectly nice, normal names, but for that little bit of “individuality” they muck about with the spelling – eg Emaleigh, Abygayle and Zakari - it's unique innit – what’s that all about? Perfectly good names until you mangled them! And adding “ii” onto the end of a name – unfortunately we have Jordan to thank for that with her Princess Tiaamii! Some of the names are clearly made up too.
I can’t understand why people would want to saddle their kids with appalling names. For example, how is Brie going to get on when she decides she wants to become a doctor or a solicitor? She’ll never be taken seriously! Dr Cheesey anyone? Or the Reverend Kayden? Or Destiny QC? Unfortunately, there is a section of our society that, in all probability, won’t get far in life, thanks to the names they have been saddled with by their parents. Thanks Mum and Dad, you ruined my dreams of becoming Prime Minister by naming me L’Mel!
I have looked at the top 100 baby names of 2010 for boys and for girls, and the vast majority of them are pretty normal. Some owe their origins to our multi-cultural society which is fair enough. And some are just simply awful.
What’s your opinion?
It shouldn't come down to this, but it does, time and time again. This post is in support of a fellow blogger who feels that she has been forced to stop her blog, due to some small minded people who seem unable to accept that there is another viewpoint to their own. I have had similar trouble in the past because of cyber bullying, and am sad and disappointed tht one of my favurite blogs is no longer being written. I am even sadder for the blogger, who really enjoyed writing it.
We have had similar experiences in moving back to UK from France, and it all happened around the same time, so it has been nice to be able to compare the experience.
I moved back here last year, and I have not regretted the decision one little bit. I do not miss France at all. If you are retired, and have the money to live there comfortably then yes, I'm sure it's a very lovely life, and good for you if that's the case. However, if you are younger and trying to eke out a living then it's a damned hard place to live. I spent nine years trying to get a proper job, and that's with fluent French. I spent all that time doing bits and pieces and living a hand to mouth existence. It's not living, it's surviving. And while I do know that not everyone has that experience, most of the people I know and knew, did have that experience.
My daughter went to school in France, and I actually had a good experience of the education system. She left half way through CM2 having been there since she was 3. The education was good, the teachers were brilliant, and the food was top notch. She made excellent friends there, and is constantly in touch with most of them still, through msn and facebook. The only complaint I had was that it was all a little too "learn by rote" for my taste, and I hated the fact that all french school kids have exactly the same handwriting, leaving little room for personality or creativity to shine through. My daughter is now at a school in Scotland and loving every minute of it. The education system in Scotland has always been regarded as excellent, and it gives her the chance for that creativity to blossom. The school food is ok - not a patch on that in France - but not as bad as I had feared it might be. Vegetables do actually appear regularly on the menu, despite what many people may think.
I don't get why some people get a perverse thrill from slagging off the country of their birth? They come up with reasons - I think they're excuses - as to their hatred of Britain.
It's too cold, it's too expensive, people are so miserable, it rains all the time, it's all so built up, it's all ugly, there is nowhere beautiful, the food is dreadful and so on and so forth. France is wonderful, France is this, that and the bloody other - get over yourselves! Why do you feel the need to do this? Does it make you feel big and clever to do nothing but criticise the country from whence you came? Does it give you pleasure?
It drives me mad!
OK, I used to live in France. But that does not mean that I hated Britain. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I love it, particularly Scotland.
OK, the weather in Britain isn't that great. But it's not constantly bad. On a sunny day there is no place more beautiful than, for example, Somerset or the Highlands, or Devon. The autumn in Scotland is the most beautiful season - the colours are incredible. In France the summers are hot, the winters are cold. Simple. The countryside is not as green as in Britain, and this is due to less rain. So, either more rain and beautiful, lush green grass, or less rain and brown dull fields. The one thing I desperately missed in France was the greennesss of Britain. Ok, we have to put up with more rain, but it’s worth it to not have to look out of the window and see brown, drab fields.
Too expensive - don't make me laugh! Have you tried filling your car up with petrol in France recently? It's cheaper in Britain you know. I generally shop in Tesco or Asda and the great majority of products are cheaper than you would find in Leclerc or Carrefour. Yes, this is probably due to the weak pound, but that's not going to change any time soon. About the only thing I can find that is more expensive is cigarettes and wine. Apart from them, most things seem cheaper. OK, in UK there is very expensive council tax, but for most people in France it's not that much cheaper. So stop whinging that Britain is expensive because, if you do your research, you'll find that it ain't necessarily so.
People are miserable? Durr, there's a recession on you know. And it isn't just in Britain either. Jobs are no easier to find in France, in fact it's harder to find a job in France, especially in rural areas, which is where most expats settle! In UK, people can find jobs, if they are willing to do anything. But stacking shelves or cleaning is so below some people that they would rather be on the dole and sponge off the government. And that's good why exactly?
It's all so built up is it? Have you ever been to rural Hampshire? Or Somerset? Or Dumfries and Galloway? The cities are built up, the countryside isn't. You could say the same of France, which has many cities that are hugely bigger than those in UK. Every country has its beautiful parts - don't generalise on the basis of inner cities.
The food in France is, in my opinion, not much cop. It's fine if you like steak, duck, greasy duck or goose liver, or baked bean with sausages which is all that cassoulet is. I'd rather have the Heinz variety personally. I have no idea where France's reputation as a gastronomic nation has come from. Britain, on the other hand, has some delicious food, and no, it's not all swimming in grease. Steak and Ale pie is the food of the gods! I know that Britain has some wonderful food, because I used to cook it for a living.
Compared to Britain, France isn't so wonderful. The thing that is wonderful about it, is that people can move there, where nobody knows them, and completely reinvent themselves, which is what a lot of people do. They can be anything they want to be, and there is no one around to contradict them. The expat community can be great, but you have to be careful who you tell what to, because if there is an opportunity to stab you in the back, there are many people who will do so.
The amount of people with whom I keep in touch, I can count on one hand. The friends that count are the ones I have had for years. Most of the people I knew in France were fairweather friends. Out of sight, out of mind, and that's just fine.
To those people who say they are “living the dream” – how I loathe and detest that phrase – are you really? Is it really your dream, and who are you trying to convince? Why do you think that you have to justify your overseas life by bashing the UK? For most of us it’s something we’ve tried because we quite fancied it. For some it works, and for some it doesn’t. Don’t criticise those who have had the balls to admit they’ve made a mistake and decided to go home again. Because it doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived in France, never forget that Britain is still home (in fact many people still have a house there so they have a bolthole in case it does all go horribly wrong).
So what's my conclusion? France has its good points, but so does Britain folks. And don't forget that, because, for most of you, it is Britain that is still paying your pension, your winter fuel allowance and your health care. Don't criticise the country that is paying for you to live out your old age in another country.
And don't be afraid to be proud to be British, whether it is English, Scottish, Northern Irish or Welsh. Well, maybe I'll let you off if you're Welsh!! But be British and proud. We should accept and embrace our own culture and country, and be proud of where we come from, and not deny our own roots.
Your country is not awful, it's actually a pretty great place.
Ok, so for the last year or so (despite my absence of several months!) you’ve heard quite a bit about F. Well, he’s given me permission to use his name, not just his initial, so I’ll tell you a little more about him.
His name is Frazer, and we’ve been together for just over a year. We were actually at school together, and we went out for about three weeks at the end of 6th year, back in 1995. It wasn’t the romance of the century, we decided we were better as friends, both went off to separate universities and lost touch for years. We kind of got back in touch through Facebook two or three years ago, but never actually corresponded. It wasn’t until I came back up here last year that we spoke again.
You know the story of me losing my job at the pub in Cheltenham and coming back up north? Well, Joocey arranged a night out in Dumfries for that first weekend I was back, and she contacted Frazer on Facebook and invited him along. As luck would have it, he was down that weekend for his mum’s birthday anyway, so he said yes. We had a great night out, and got on brilliantly again. We arranged that I would go up to see him the following weekend for a Festival show and a night out in Edinburgh. He’d bought a bottle of Moet for when I arrived, which I was impressed with! We had a great evening, and a really lovely weekend together, and have been together ever since.
Frazer lives in Edinburgh, but is working in Glasgow at the moment, so he’s down here more weekends that I’m up there, mainly because it’s easier with Isla, and she can still go out and play with her mates here, whereas she gets quite bored in the flat in Edinburgh, so we have to try to organise stuff to amuse her. Also, from Glasgow, it’s just as easy for him to come down here as it is to drive back to Edinburgh on a Friday night. We see each other most weekends, although now and again we have a weekend off to do our own thing. I miss him like mad during the week, but on the other hand, it makes the weekends more special, and after a year we both still make the effort for each other. He and Isla get on amazingly well, which was a massive worry.
We’ve had a few little ups and downs, but, without wanting to tempt fate, I’m really happy at the moment.
