Adventures with the Aged Parents. Part 1.

My great aunt (my grandma's sister) lives in Canada, and she's come over for a 2 week visit. So my mother drove her and my grandparents (the Aged Parents of the title's post - my mother's name for them, not mine!) down to visit me, and to visit a couple of lovely places along the south coast.

The weather on Thursday was AWFUL (it rained almost the whole day), so we only ended up going to Portsmouth and for a meal in Harvester.


My grandfather and I totally pimping out the Harvester.
The B+B we stayed in was surprisingly lovely. Usually my mother and I are a little wary of B+Bs because they can be a bit too 'intimate' for our liking, and we find it a bit awkward being in, basically, someone's house! But this one appealed to me straight away, because it was called The White House and all of the rooms were named after American presidents. Which, for an American history junkie like yours truly, was pretty much made of win. Except that my mother and I were in Carter (there was even a photo of him on the wall!), because, really, Carter's up there on the Not That Interesting Presidents list.


The English breakfast the next morning was delicious. There's nothing quite like a full English breakfast (and juice and cereal and toast and fruit!) to set you up for the day.
If you ever happen to be in the Christchurch/Bournemouth area for a couple of nights, I'd thoroughly recommend The White House.


As you can see, the weather the next day was a LOT better! There was no rain in sight, and it was almost warm!
So, off to Mudeford Quay we went!





I'll post the rest of the day's adventures, in Christchurch and Bournemouth, in Part 2. Bet you're excited already!



P.S. Thanks for all your helpful comments on my jobs post. I'll have an update on that in a few days, hopefully!

Jobs. Part 3.

Yesterday I had an interview for the position of Food and Beverage Assistant at a Holiday Inn. The position is contractually only 12 hours a week, but the guy who interviewed me assured me that if I wanted to work extra hours, all the way up to full time hours, there's almost always hours available to do.

Today I got an email informing me that I've got the job - hooray!

But ... today I went to a trial shift for the role of receptionist at a hotel in Winchester. It's hard to tell how it went, since I didn't get a chance to do anything that 'proved' myself, but the people I spoke to seemed to like me, which I'm taking as a good sign.

So now I'm not really sure what to do.
I was told I'd hear about the receptionist job in the next couple of days, and that's the job I'd definitely prefer ... but how long can I hold off on giving an answer to the Holiday Inn job offer? It's a good job, and if I don't end up getting the receptionist job, I'd definitely be happy with that job (although let's be honest, right now I'd be happy with almost any job!). I just think the receptionist job is more 'me', and fits in with what I can see myself doing in the future (when I eventually figure it out ...).

I'm going away for 2 days from tomorrow, and I don't want to leave the email unanswered until Friday evening, but I'm not sure how to reply to it at the moment. I don't want to say something that implies that the job is a back up ... but it is.

TL;DR? I've been offered a job. There's a chance I'll be offered a job I want more (but also a chance I won't be). How do I reply to the job offer without taking that option off the table, but without formally accepting it for the moment?

Manor Farm Country Park.

Yesterday Dan and I went for a walk in a nearby country park. With neither of us working at the moment (I'm still horribly unemployed, and Dan's a teacher so it's the summer holidays for him), we often don't have anything specific to get up for, and I feel as if we've wasted some of our days just sitting around the flat, so I made the executive decision that we were going to get out and make the most of our free time together.





It started off a cool day, but by the time we were trekking down a long path in the open, it was quite warm and we were both regretting wearing jeans! Luckily we had ice lollies to cool us down, happy days.




I had a job interview for the role of a Food and Beverage Assistant at a Holiday Inn today, and I've got a 'trial day' for a receptionist job tomorrow, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

A Day Out in the New Forest

Yesterday Dan and I went on a day trip to the New Forest with Dan's friend Simon (well, I suppose he's sort of my friend too, but I can't imagine hanging out with him without Dan there, you know?) and his girlfriend Lizi.

We all piled into Lizi's car and drove to Lyndhurst, which is the village at the centre of the New Forest. It's also where the only two main routes through the forest meet, which means it's quite chaotic around there. After about 45 minutes in traffic, we just pulled into a gravelled pull-in on the side of the road and walked into Lyndhurst instead.



We grabbed ourselves some snacks, then went for a walk up a hilly field.

(you can't really tell from this picture, but Lizi was wearing a short skirt with black boots. She has this way of wearing things that always make me feel a little bit underdressed for an occasion!)

On the other side of the hill, we saw some horses ponies, so I decided to try and get closer. They kept moving away from us, the cheeky things! Eventually they stopped at some water and I was able to get a couple of photos.



There's loads of ponies in the New Forest. I thought they were wild, but I just looked it up and apparently they're all privately owned (which explains the markings on the ones we saw. I just assumed they'd been marked by rangers to make sure no one stole them), and they're allowed to graze anywhere in the Forest. Interesting stuff.

After our mini adventure with the ponies, we walked back into Lyndhurst and went into a small - and very busy! - sweet shop.



Obviously we had to get a couple of things - there was so much selection!

Then we made our way to the New Forest Reptile Centre. We got there at 4.10 and it was due to close at 4.30, but since it was free and really small (there was also a nature walk, but we obviously didn't have time for that!), we were still able to have a quick look around.




We drove on a bit further and had dinner in a Harvester (the amount that Dan and I eat in Harvester, we probably keep them in business. Seriously. Harvester and Wetherspoons are our go-to cheap-but-tasty food places) before driving back home.

I got to Skype with Mariah in the evening (for three and a half hours! This is what happens when almost 2 months go by without us speaking), so all in all a rather lovely day!



P.S. I've now got over 30 followers! Thank you so much to everyone who follows and comments, it makes me happy :)

Guest posting + fajitas.

This week I went from being a guest post virgin to guest posting on two blogs!

My first guest post was over at Kaley in Japan on a post called Emma's Stateside Travels, in which I talked about the travels I did while I was living in Colorado.

The other guest post was over at Jess's blog Life ... Live It! in her 10 Simple Things series. I listed 10 of my favourite simple things that make me happy.

You should go and check them out, yeah? Cool.

And - in unrelated news - here's some photos from Tuesday night, when Dan's family came to ours for dinner:




We did a Mexican food buffet, with chicken or beef (and a whole host of other fillings) to go in wraps, and some cheesy nachos and dip. It was rather delicious, though I say so myself!

Stay safe.

As I'm sure most of you are all aware, there has been rioting in London for the past 3 nights.




It's also spread to other cities, like Birmingham and Manchester. There have been rumours of riots in Southampton, but so far nothing seems to have happened, which is a massive relief.

Some people are trying to come up with justification for why this is happening, why these people are doing this, but let's be honest, there is no justification. It all started because of the shooting of one man, but it's nothing to do with that any more. These youths are simply acting out and rioting because they want to. There's no political message behind this.


Two girls in Croydon were interviewed and asked why they were rioting, and their answer basically consisted of,
"Yeah, it's because of the rich people. And the Tories, innit, or whoever it is. Whatever, it's the government. It's coz of rich people that we got nothin' and we're showin' them. Yeah, it's coz of rich people."
Excuse me, WHAT? You don't have a clue. Shut up and go home. Stop destroying people's lives.

Stay safe, everyone. Let's hope this ends soon.



(all images from Boston.com's The Big Picture)

New car!

Yesterday Dan, his two sisters and I went to pick up Dan's new car. He's a 2004 silver Ford Fiesta, and his name is Oscar. He even has a face on the dashboard.

We decided to drive to an ice cream place called Carlo's. Dan had mentioned it to me before, so it seemed a good first place to go to with the car.

It was a strange little place, sort of in the middle of a housing estate off a country road. There was a little field area with picnic benches to sit on while you ate the ice cream, with hutches full of rabbits and guinea pigs at the edge. There were even chickens wandering around!


It was clearly one of those places families go to for a mini day out, because it was surprisingly busy.

Today Dan and I took a trip to Basingstoke, which is about a 20-30 minute drive away (I didn't notice the time at all, so that's a guess!). Not for any particular reason, just because we could. We just wandered around the shops, bought a couple of things (I got myself a mini 2011-2012 diary, so I can write plans down rather than having that 'what are we doing on [insert day here]? I feel like we're doing something that day' moment I seem to have quite a lot), and ate some Burger King and Millie's Cookies (healthy? No. Delicious? Yes).

We stopped in at Asda on the way back to look for a tablecloth (we've only had our table a month and it's already got two stains on it ... oops) and some extra plates. We got a really awesome set of red plates and bowls, only to find one of the plates was completely snapped in half when we got home. LAME.

Here's a bonus picture of Dan filling the car up for the first time:

He's enjoying that a bit too much if you ask me!

Jobs. Part 2.

A while ago, while desperately applying for any job that seemed to be within a reasonable distance from my flat, I applied for a job as a Trainee Business Manager with McDonald's. I had no particular desire to do said job, but it seemed like a good graduate job with good pay, and it wasn't as if I had many other job options, so I applied.

I managed to bullshit my way through the online form, and apparently they liked me enough to ask me to fill out an online personality test. They still liked me (why? Who knows), so they asked me to an On Job Experience day. Which I went to yesterday at a McDonald's in Croydon (why did I have to go all the way to Croydon? I have no idea). There were 5 of us, all a bit apprehensive as we had no real idea of what we were there for.

The day consisted of us doing various tasks, including trying out 5 jobs within the restaurant (well, 'trying out' might be a bit strong. We watched someone else do the jobs), and coming up with a business plan for a fictional failing McDonald's restaurant.

Now, before the day, I wasn't all that keen to go. 'Do I really want to be an assistant manager of a McDonald's store?' I asked myself. 'It's good pay!' But, frankly, that - and being able to put 'assistant manager' on my CV - was the only thing it had going for it. So I went to the OJE hoping that it would make my mind up either way. It didn't completely. I didn't hate the day. But neither did I love it. If anything, it reinforced my belief that there was something slightly depressing about McDonald's. Don't get me wrong, I can see that they treat their employees well, and that it would be a good temporary job to have. But as a career? No thanks. Even the two managers who were interviewing us - who had been there for 16 and 17 years - weren't exactly a beacon of happiness.

But my problem was that if I got through to the final stage, and even got the job, I'd feel like I had to take it. Not because I'd feel bad turning McDonald's down (oh no!), but because, no matter how soul destroying it may be, it is a good job. The two advantages I mentioned above are pretty damn convincing advantages. I just wasn't sure I wanted to take it.

So this morning when I checked my email and I had an email telling me
..."we regret to inform you that after careful consideration, we will not be inviting you to attend the next stage of the recruitment process."
I won't lie, I was relieved. I don't have to work in McDonald's! Hooray!

And so the job search continues ... I should probably ring the hotel I had the receptionist job interview at, but I keep putting it off ...

My first blog award!

I've been given my very first blog award!
The lovely Tiffani over at Pretend this is Fiction thinks that my blog is on fire (she also called me funny and sweet, which I'm going to be basking in for the next few days, oh yes).
I'm a new reader of Tiffani's blog, and I can't wait to read more of her amusing and/or thoughtful posts.

The rules state that I've now got to give 7 facts about myself, and then pass the award onto more equally lovely bloggers. So, here goes:

Seven Facts About Emma

1. I'm an only child. Growing up as an only child with no pets made language lessons a bit annoying. You know those lessons where you have to learn how to say how many brothers and sisters you have, and/or how many pets you have and what they are? Yeah, my teacher told me to make them up. I was a little offended by the idea my real life wasn't interesting enough to be translated into German.
2. I'm left handed, and in the teeny 2% of left handers with parents that are both right handed.



3. I've been to Walt Disney World 13 or 14 times (I've genuinely lost count. I feel bad about this).
4. My favourite song of all time is Beverly Craven's Promise Me. It's not a cheery song, and isn't really like any of the other songs on my 'favourite song' list, but it's so haunting and beautiful.
5. I started keeping an online journal years and years ago, when I was 14, on LiveJournal. I actually still have the same account, although I rarely post on there these days (compared to the 3 or 4 times a day I posted on there at the peak of my LJ blogging addiction!).
6. I epilate, rather than shave, my legs and underarms. It's a lot (A LOT) more painful initially, but it means the hair grows back so much slower and thinner. Which is useful for someone as lazy as me when it comes to hair removal.
7. When I was younger I had a Beanie Baby that I used to take everywhere with me. His name was Bongo.


See? Pretty cute, right? (the monkey, not me, obviously. I've no idea what's going on with my hair. Or my teeth, but that was an ongoing thing).

I give the Blog On Fire award to:

Little at Romantically Challenged - I loved the design of this blog straight away, and then I got drawn in by the content. It's so open and honest, and I love the Secret Sunday posts.

Emma at DayDream Believer - This is my lovely friend Emma's blog. It's a great way for me to be nosy at what she's doing, but it's just a great blog because she posts so many great photos about all kinds of things, from clothes to bands she's seen.

Mallory at Seedling - The photos on Mallory's blog are stunning! They manage to make every aspect of her life look colourful and fascinating.

Brooke at Go Grad Girl - This blog is a fun selection of posts, from the Things I Like Thursday posts to more everyday posts about Brooke's life. She's also in the same 'just finished university' boat as me!

Ta-da! Wasn't that fun?

Goodbye July, hello August!

July was a Big Month in terms of life changes for me:
+ I graduated from university!
+ I moved to Southampton to live with my boyfriend in our own flat.

And yet, despite these Big Things, it was a bit of a let down of a month:
- I didn't find myself a job
- I caught chickenpox (I still haven't found the culprit who infected me. And probably never will)
- My watch battery stopped. I am lost without my watch. So I wore it anyway, which frequently proved confusing.
- The weather was terrible. I know Britain has an awful track record with summer, but that was just taking things too far. There was barely any sun.

But now it's August and good things are already happening:
+ It's sunny and WARM. I'm wearing a short sleeveless dress without tights or a jacket and I wasn't even a teeny bit cold when we went out!
+ Dan put down some money on a car today (he'll be test driving his new friend on Wednesday, and can hopefully bring him/her - we haven't decided yet - home by the end of the week!). SO excited to have a car again. We'll be able to go food shopping and on day trips and errands without having to ask his nan to take us!
+ I found a good standard white shirt in Sainsbury's for a job interview I have on Wednesday. It's more difficult to find a short sleeved white shirt than you'd think if you're not near a Primark. All the high street shops are too concerned with this 'fashion' nonsense to meet the needs of the interviewee who just needs a plain old white shirt. Nothing fancy, thanks; no frills, no silly buttons, no stretchy fabric, none of it.
+ My mother sent me her spare watch (which is mighty similar to mine), because I refuse to pay £13 to have my battery replaced when my uncle - who owns a jewellery shop - can do it for free.

I'm hoping that by the end of August I'll have a job, as well as a second job lined up for sometime next year. I think August could turn out to be a good month, yo.