Centrestage

well, we had the last official centrestage before the summer on saturday just past and i thought it was pretty good. Andy Hopkins spoke on self-control which was pretty good and the music was decent too. I loved singing. Have to say the second lot of music / worship was better than the first. Could actually hear audience participation which was brilliant. Plus i think they knew the songs a little better than the first set. Was sad that "i've found Jesus" and "let there be joy" didnt quite get going in terms of people joining in. Perhaps it was more that they didnt really know them... or perhaps they were done too early in the night and the kids hadnt really got into the whole thing yet. Either way they didnt go as well as i hoped they might, but the rest of it was enjoyable and i think everyone taking part and just being there had a good time.
Went out for a drink afterwards with Ali, Bennett, Sandy and Steven, and Chris joined us at the pub. It was nice to just go and chill out with them all afterwards.
Things are a bit crazy at the moment cos aside from occassional walks / lifts home from different places, i feel like i've hardly seen Chris alone at all since we started going out. It sucks. But at least its not like i havent seen him at all since then... its always just been in more of a group context. And since the other physics teacher at the high school has been signed off with a bad back and definitely wont be in for the next two weeks, it means Chris is pretty much a one-man show in the physics dept. Which puts a lot more pressure on him. He not only has his own 21 periods to prepare for and teach, he also has Alec's 16 or 17 periods to at least prepare for.. he'll teach some of them but he'll have his own classes to teach at some points so he needs to actually have stuff properly prepared that they can work through with a different (probably non-science) teacher. So he's gonna be very busy over the next few weeks at least while Alec is off... and i dunno, but i get the feeling that Alec may not be back til after the summer.... so that's longer that Chris has to prep for. The joys of having a responsible job i guess.... :-S

Coupledom

well i've entered the happy state of coupledom now. Chris and i finally got together on Tuesday after months of comments / whispers / pestering / nudging / flirting and general interference from others! Am very happy just now :)

Quarter of a century....!

Imagine what you see there but in a wooden frame with the lyrics "Over all the earth, You reign on high, every mountain stream, every sunset sky" written between the pictures and you've got what i gave Chris for his birthday.

I soooooo wanted to keep it for myself!! And if he hadnt liked it so much i would have been taking it back! lol!

We went out for a meal on friday night to celebrate Mr Rossi's 25th, and it was a really nice night. Went to Pizzeria Il Fiume which is an italian (as the name might suggest!) and no it wasnt a coincidence that we went to an italian and Chris has italian genetics... cant believe Ali didnt twig it was deliberate! Was really nice that Anna could come down from Glasgow for it, it was just a shame that Ali and i had to work at 7.45am cos it would have been so nice to have been able to spend a little more time with her... And dont get me started on work yesterday... it deserves its own special individual post!!
Anyway, there were 7 of us at the meal - Chris, Hugh, Bennett, Anna, Ali, Claire and me. Lots of nice food and fun shared round the table and then we walked Claire home and headed down to the Bruce for a drink or 3 where Sandy joined us after he'd finished back shift at work. Would have stayed out slightly longer, but it was a good thing we went home when we did with the madness of the next day! Hugh, Sandy and Chris stayed out a bit later than us girls (and Bennett walked us home) so i dont know what time they all got to bed on saturday morning! The wee small hours i would expect! Chris seemed to have a nice evening which was the main thing :-)

pictures...

Thought i would post a few more pictures from the whithorn trip. It was brilliant :) i had such a nice time. Just so relaxing and chilled out.. just what i needed.

long time no post.....

Well, i havent blogged in AGES so i thought it was about time you got an update.... it probably is not likely to be a full update since i have SOOO much stuff to say and i cant actually sit here in this position long enough to type it all.... the joys of back pain. :-S

So yes, first piece of news - i have back pain. And specifically i have sciatic nerve pain which is causing me great amounts of soreness and tension in my right calf. Sandy can testify to what its done to my ability to walk anywhere! It hurts like nothing on earth! Had today off and went for a nice massage which was actually quite sore, but i'm sure its done me some good. The bugging thing is because of my physio training i kinda know what i'm dealing with and i know what i would really like done, but i dont want to have to be referred for physio through the NHS cos that'll take forever, and i havent been bothered to try to find a private physio to do anything about it. It just needs a little manipulation of my lumbar spine, but its irritating that i cant do it myself! My posture is appaulling and i know that doesnt help. So yeh, needless to say i wasnt at badminton tonight!

Second piece of news - i have a holiday from work next week :-D yaaaay! long time coming! And thanks to Ali and Helen swapping shifts / doing extra work, i get the whole week off instead of just mon-wed. Libby doesnt have the abundance of staff she thought she did so i was going to have to work thursday / friday.... actually i told her if she was really really struggling then i could work those two days (which would have been much to the annoyance of Chris and Sandy who have been pestering me for months about taking a holiday from work and would have shouted at me if i'd worked!) So i'm off down to london on monday (note to self - book tickets!) til wednesday. Staying at David's flat and spending tuesday with Neil. We're going to do the touristy london eye / thames cruise thing and also go to see One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest at night. Should be quite good. I'm looking forward to it, but i'm praying that things dont fall back into the ways they were a few months ago. But that's the reason i'm staying with David ... to avoid that situation happening.

Third piece of news - technically not mine, but i'm happy about it so i'll share. Chris bought (in terms of the offer has been accepted but the paperwork still needs to be sorted out) a flat on Lockerbie Road today. Well, the offer he put in was accepted today so that's brilliant :-) I'm really happy for him. Everything seems to be working out for him down here, he got his job without an interview, the first flat he's put an offer in on has been accepted... he's totally settling down here. Kinda scary i'll bet but very cool at the same time! So i'm looking forward to lots of flat-moving / decorating parties in the not so distant future :) I wonder if Hugh will actually move into the spare room when Chris gets the keys to the new abode... Its a distinct possibility i would think.

Fourth piece of news - I'm not going to blaithwaite in the summer any more ..... :-( I'm totally gutted about it, but i'm needed to work and to be honest i would rather work than have libby reduce more members of staff to tears over that week. I'm nice that way. that's how i ended up with very very little holidays last year. I worked over summer, and christmas... and easter come to think of it. But hey, i get next week off and i'm definitely getting the 3rd week in July off to do Glenshee and i think i'll try and get the last week of the summer holiday off as well to do a camp at Scoughall... and i actually would quite like the first week in september off too so that i can go to a Spring Harvest Holiday (which would be a holiday for me rather than a camp where i'd have to do work) so we'll see. Lots of things going on at work tho so i'll just have to play it by ear to see what i can and cant do. And i think i might have to try to be more forceful.... but i dont see it happening any time soon.

Fifth and last piece of news - I had a great weekend in Whithorn last weekend. It was just brilliant. Good company, great weather, great food... all in all a smashing time. Loved it. Was so nice just to chill out with the gang and get to know some of them a little better. Got some cracking photos too. Wanna see?.....

Muchos fun :-)

Anyway, i gotta go cos my back is causing problems being in this position.... will fill you in more on the whithorn trip in another post... plus there's probably other news i've forgotten to include....

its a mental lightning / thunder storm outside at the moment so i think i should probably switch off and unplug my comp before i fry something!

Adieu