The one where I talk about shoes (and reference Friends indirectly)

I had a chance to wear my beautiful new red shoes at my staff "Christmas party" which happened the 8th of January. Christmas is busy drinking time, so we couldn't all get the night off during the holiday season. As my shoes are a peep toe, I heard Tamara in the back of my mind, screaming at me that I need to paint my toenails. So I did, and just for her, here is a picture to prove it!
Everyone in Britain is talking about the "credit crunch" or economic downturn. I know that in the big picture, this is a bad thing, and it will affect loads of people. In the small picture, as long as James and I still have jobs, we like it. With stores dropping prices, I got an Umbro bunnyhug just to wear around the house and to nurseries that can get wrecked and I won't feel bad about it for £6. I also got a really cute pair of shoes for £10!In un-shoe related news, an entertainment store called Zavvi just went into receivership. This means that all of their stock is on clear out. This means that we got LEGO Batman for PC for only £11.99!! In most stores, this game retails for at least twice that. It RULES!

Footpath Rage!!

Recently, early one morning, I was riding my bicycle to work. I was approaching a set of traffic lights and the cars were backed up a bit so I decided to jump up onto the footpath (sidewalk, pavement, depending on where you're from). Now I realise that this is against the law, but I'm no idiot and I did so very carefully, watching where I was going. As I came closer to the intersection an old woman came walking around the corner, I politely moved to the far right of the footpath as the cars were lined up on the road right up to the curb, so no room for me on the road. The footpath was at least 2 metres wide, so there was plenty of room for the old duck (somwhere in her 80s I would assume) to walk past on the left hand side of the path. As I passed her I heard her muttering angrily under her breath. At this point I had reached the intersection and pulled back onto the road in front of the cars to wait for the green light. I briefly turned my head and glanced behind me at the old Betty, only to find her turned around and walking back towards me. She had a menacing look in her eye and I could tell she was looking for trouble. 'That's illegal, you know!' she cried. I was speechless, I just stared at her. 'It's illegal! I'll call the police, you hear!' she said as she approached me quickly (well, as quickly as she could), whilst waving a finger high in the air. The first thing to find it's way out of my mouth was: 'Then call them'. She didn't take kindly to this, although I don't think it mattered to her what I had to say, she was angry, and was looking for a fight. She came even closer, waving her finger only inches from my face and screaming 'The police are right over there! You think you can do whatever you like!? That's illegal!'. I got really pissed off, very fast as she waved her finger in my face. 'Get your fucking finger out of my face lady' I said. Now this may not have been the best choice of words, but if you've ever had a complete stranger get in your face like she was then you will hopefully understand. She backed off slightly but kept paying me out, and I got to a point where the whole thing was just a joke, so I laughed, and then turned back to the traffic lights to wait for my green light. Obviously me laughing at her only served to antagonise her, because the next thing you know I felt a twack on my shoulder, I was startled and turned to find her waving her cane in the air, she had hit me with her cane! I couldn't contain myself, I was grinning like an idiot and mouthing the words 'what the fuck?' as she screamed: 'I'll smash you! And your bike!' and swung her cane in my general direction. I saw the light turn green, so I was on my way, I thought it best not to stick around, just in case she collapsed due to her rage. It really was an entertaining start to the day.

Couch!

We didn't have a couch for the first 3 months that we were here. We just sat on our bed or on our kitchen table chairs. part of the problem is that we have a very narrow staircase that leads up to our second floor flat, and we weren't sure that we could get an average couch up the stairs. We had looked at a few at second hand stores, but they always seemed a bit too big. On top of that, we would have to get it back to our flat, and didn't want to pay for delivery.

Earlier in the month, James saw a listing on a local website for a small couch. It was only £10, and it was right around the corner. When we went to pick it up, we were delighted to see how low the back of it is, and thought we could probably get it up the stairs. Even better, the legs come off to make it even smaller! We had planned to each grab an end, and carry it back to the flat. There were four huge cushions that I took off, and was about to bring back to the flat, then run back to help James with the actual couch. Instead, he just picked the couch up and put it on his shoulders. We carried the couch back to our flat, and struggled it up the stairs.

2009

I had to work at the pub on New Year's Eve. No surprise there. The surprise was that it wasn't really busy. And the best part was that the manager let off the rules a little bit, and let us drink after 9:00, providing we didn't get too drunk. Also, we did not serve drinks from 11:50 - 12:10, so we all got to get out from behind the bar for the countdown. All this combined to a really enjoyable evening. I had a great time dancing behind the bar with my co-workers, and singing along to the music. I had regulars buying me drinks, and got many a New Year's kiss on the cheek. James came to the pub about 11:40, so we rang in the New Year together. Since we weren't super busy, we closed down about 1:00 and I was home before 1:30.