If my career as an OT fails, I can always become a mystic

As in mystic Lucie Meg...


In June I updated the left hand column of my blog to read

"From then on? Who knows.

Although it will probably involve trying to make a new home for myself,

 building flat-pack furniture, collecting household items from various places,

 scouring charity shops and car boots, decorating, exploring, meeting new 

people, a preceptorship, cats, OT, medical conditions, weekends in Canterbury,

 Northamptonshire, being a proper OT, working, being an official adult..."

I have achieved all of the above. Tick!! ✓

I have a home, a lovely little house I rent with my boyfriend and cat; I've become pretty great at flat pack furniture, I have enough furniture now that it is impossible to fit my entire life into my pug 107.  I have made new friends, and explored my new area. I'm half way through my preceptorship, and been to Canterbury twice. I am a proper OT and am officially an adult. 

I am content as a proverbial 'content thing'!

xx

A whole month in the Bungalow tomorrow.

It really doesn't feel like we've been living here for a month!! Or that we have been back at uni for 4 weeks! We've really settled into life in the cotswolds, it's my favourite place I've lived so far in these past 3 years.

Uni has become a lot of work, a lot more than before. Although we are only in 3 days a week,  we have hours of pre and post seminar reading and tasks to complete. As well as the dreaded dissertation.

Ben came up this weekend, which was lovely. He arrived quite late on Friday evening, so we had fish and chips and he got to know Katie a little bit. We were going to Cheltenham on Saturday until I had a reaction whilst driving and had to turn round and drive back as I felt too unwell, which ruined the day a bit. We met Suzanne & her husband and friends in the pub for a couple and went to see their cats, which was an unexpected event. Sunday was spent in bourton-on-the-water which is really beautiful.

I feel so naughty taking time off from doing uni work, the guilt is enough to spur me on to finish the next chapter of my dissertation!!!

xx

So here I am, round three, ding ding!!

The third and final stage of my journey to become a qualified Occupational therapist has begun! Yay!
I am on placement from 3rd September until 7th December. I am to work as part of a children's team in a health centre in East London, and to live in 'greater London'/Essex.

The journey up here wasn't as bad as I had expected, and I was lucky enough to be assisted by my lovely Ben. And Given a lift to the ferry by my wonderful neighbour Sheila! It would have been quicker to go from Southampton, but given the bag situation...
I may have almost cried on the Tube, but I coped.

On first inspection of the flat I was in tears and ready to turn around and leave. Ben's gentle attempt at convincing me it wasn't that bad, was sweet, but fell on deaf ears. My room is a cupboard, a cupboard with a sink....a very warm cupboard with a sink. And I cannot/will not open the window any more as I am on the ground floor. The Kitchen is disgusting. The bathroom not much better. But there is a bath (that will need cleaning before I use it), a separate toilet, and a separate shower. It is a 20 minute walk to the station, and there is very little around, a Tesco and a few local shops.  This Pictures do not do justice to the layers of dirt and grease over everything!!!!

This was the mess I was presented with on arrival...It hasn't changed since. 

The dirt and grease on a chip fryer left on the table. 

A pan left with utensils, oil and bits of food. 

Layers of grease on the kettle.

My commute in the morning will consist of a 20 minute walk, a 10 minute train ride, and a 15 minute walk the other side. Sounds relatively straightforward? I have to factor in paralympic traffic, but only for a week, thankfully!

Sharkies!!

So far I have explored the fact there's nothing to do here. I've mooched around, and got lost in the Westfield shopping centre, navigated the Stratford centre, nosed at the Olympic park, and been for an odd, and impromtu evening out in Stratford.

Today I ventured into the Tesco, met up with a friend of Ben's, who took us on a tour (of banks), we had a nice lunch, took in the sites and went to the sea life centre.

I've met some of my flatmates, to use the word unique would be kind...

I think I may cope, just. It's only 14 weeks. And at the end of it I am going on holiday, yay.

So thank you to my mummy who helped me pack, and to nanny (and Kim, in directly for giving her the idea) for suggesting the vacuum bags, to my lovely friends at home for listening to me rant and panic about my placement, to Ben for travelling up with me, Liv,  Sammi, Jac and Michael for the texts and to G for his very unique tour of London today!

Over and out.

xx

The whole xmas/new year period!!

Now to try and recap everything... apologies if I forget something/someone!

Wednesday 21st December - I had my exam. It went ok I think, I had revised the right information, and had an idea of what to write for each question. When the exams man said we could leave the hall was literally the most exciting moment in a long time - it was officially the start of xmas for me!!! So after a rather brief goodbye to all my OT ladies. I headed home to finish packing. Bus ride to the station and an hour and a half on the train later and I was on the bus to the ferry. An hour and a nice cold pint, and my chocolate polar bear from Katie, and I was finally on the isle of wight. Driven home by my dad, it was an amazing feeling!!
Obviously I was joined by my special child hours after arriving home!!! ♥

Thurs - I had my hair cut, see previous pics. Short!!!!
Headed over to my lovely Boyfriends to have a bit of dinner down the pub and watch a band!

Friday & Saturday - Just a blur of lots of food and many drinks!

Christmas day - Was perfect! So chilled out, it was great. We eat out at a restaurant, great food and great company, could I ask for anymore?

Boxing day - Tom's birthday, we were down the local for something to eat, again a lovely chilled day!

Wednesday - Dinner with my mum and nan. It was yummy!!

Now at some point between then and NYE we went out with my special child and some of Ben's friends, was good even if she threw a hissy fit as there was no fast food places open! ♥

NYE was brill!!! All dressed up, Bugsy malone theme, and Liv joined us. Had a fab night!!!
Shame about the walk of shame the next morning. But was treated the most yummy dinner cooked, of course by my nanny! Beef wellington, mmmm!!!!

I have managed to see everyone I had hoped to. Thank you all I had a fab time!!!
It's just a shame not to have see Kim & Michael (however hope to see them soon!!) and my sister et al. Sooooo weird not seeing my baby niece on christmas day! As it is all about the kids, the only factor that made up for that slightly was seeing bens 3 nephews opening their presents.

Bring on 2012!!!!

xx

Weekend with Ben 25/11/11

He finally got around to coming up to see me!! It has been such a lovely weekend, thank you!
I got treated to a rather nice curry and a few beers Friday evening. It was a sign of the weekend to come however, as I walked to and from the train station 4 times that day!!

I gave Ben some hair...

Ben's 'Movember' attempt.

Saturday we headed into town (I hate the city centre on a Saturday, it's so busy!!!) so I could do my Christmas shopping - I did about half of it, but the selection of gifts is pretty poor, so will attempt to finish it at some point in the next week or so. So whilst I was shopping for other people Ben was shopping for himself haha!

These had us in stitches!

 I didn't feel brilliant after traipsing around town all day, so headed back to mine to chill for a few hours. During which point we amused ourselves for a good couple of hours with the webcam on my laptop, we got some hilarious photos! Finally we headed to Cocos for a few cocktails, and finished the night with a KFC.

The house in Headington with the Shark
in he roof. (Sorry the pic is sideways!).

Sunday we walked into Headington, saw the house with a shark in it, and found a nice café. Found the Waitrose and realised there's not much more to Headington than I thought! Had dinner in a pub, which was really nice considering how cheap it was (once again, thank you Ben, hehe!), and popped in to Jas' house on the way back. Ben got to meet Victoria, and be slightly scared by Jas and Kate once again, bless!!
Got home, and watched the A-team, which was a pretty good film!

Had a lovely weekend, thank you! ♥
Now I can't wait for the 4 weeks until I am home for Christmas, really looking forward to seeing everyone!!!!

 xx

Snooker with Ben - 2/11/11 & weekend at home.

Travelled down last Thursday to meet Ben in Southampton to go watch the snooker. First stop was the Slug and Lettuce for something to eat, and it was rather yummy I must admit!!
Quick walk to the Guildhall where we found a rather long cue, over 45 mins before the doors even opened, but it didn't take long for the cue to move! The seats weren't allocated so we could choose where to sit - most of the close seats where taken, but we managed to get seats on the front row, on the block slightly further away. Still had a pretty good view though!

It was all rather exciting, and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Despite the interruption to play due to a lady being ill, we saw nearly all of it, only missing the last 2 frames as we had to leave for the ferry. All in all a fun night! (Oh and happy Christmas Ben!!).

Friday I spent walking home from Ryde (thank you once again southern vectis, could your service be any worse or more expensive if you tried?!) to mum's house, via mum's shop for a quick hello and breakfast.
On my detour to Nan's house I saw Robin with his little baby dog, which is super cute! Saw nanna and mollie dog and had a nice shower! (Thank you Nan!!).

The word was 'Hoe' - By Sammi.

Was soon joined by my special child Sammi, for a mooch down to mums shop for her newspapers, and a day lounging on the sofa catching up. Yummy dinner cooked for Ben, Sammi and I by my lovely mummy, followed by several games of cards, and a rather amusing game of Pictionary.

Saturday meant a trip to Xmas world at Busybees (yesss!!) and then to Tescos with Ben's parents. 5 hours later than when we started, we were all finished and heading off toYarmouth to meet Layla and Matt for the fireworks. Pretty, loved it!!

Sunday was a lazy day, and I don't think we achieved much apart from a walk over cowes, a nose in the shops and some chips from the chippy! Decided to stay and travel back on the Monday.

I had the best long weekend, thank you all xxx

Sooo... I have a lot to write, but I can't really be bothered.

Because I'm ill and sleepy, but here goes.
So I finished all first full week - well 3/7 haha. Took me 3.5 hours from my campus to Ben's house; would have been quicker if I got taxi/buses instead of walking, but oh well. So I spent friday night in the pub, and got dinner there, by my self I may add as Ben had already eaten. Before heading back to open my presents from him. Got me 2 cds, a Grand designs dvd and a voucher for 2 people to spend the day at a Bannatyne spa, lovely!!! As well as Cards and pressies from the rest of the Jackson clan!

Saturday was lovely, cos I spent all day on the beach, the weather was perfect, absolutely amazing considering it was October!! Collected my parcels from home, And filled col's boot up with my boxes. Didn't manage to see any family, but I didn't want to spend all weekend getting buses, so hopefully will be down again next weekend.
Went out with the girls, and met Ben and Dave out in newport, was a great evening :) Sunday was spent going to the lifeboat for lunch, had a yummy roast, and then heading to the seafront for Ben's nephew's party. I had to leave early however to go meet Kel, Freya and Dan, in Southampton for dinner, which was lovely!!!
I had a great extended birthday hehe.

This week Uni has really felt like I was learning the proper OT stuff, like the fundamentals, not just the theory but how to exercise professional thinking, and use of clinical reasoning, and things like that. But my gosh is it in depth, hard work, and intense, but it's great, and I'm loving it!!! As I have two days off a week it really enables me to get stuck in to the work, and do the extra reading.

Tuesday night I went with Katie to an information session on volunteering for Keen, which looks a great experience! As well as gaining an opportunity to help out in an area that I am familiar with, find interesting and enjoy, it gives me more 'contact time' with people, to enable me to hone my people skills more than I would be able to in the 1000 hours placement time.
Wednesday I went for dinner/drinks with the OT lot at The White Horse, in headington. Had a great night chatting with the girls! And got totally drenched walking home.

So I must go and finish my notes from this week, I'm starting to get into a routine now, which is good.

xx

Our Holiday in Gran Canaria!

** Some of this is from my trip adviser review! Sorry.
I was the biggest pain the arse for the week before we went, on my last day at work, I must have been the worst!!!
Went up the previous night to avoid the weather and the Bestival traffic and stayed in a cheap B&B above a pub in Portsmouth.  The B&B was perfect, great location, clean, tidy, and comfortable, and a bargain at £45 for two people for the night!
Had dinner in Azzuro in Gunwharf; Three Course meal (well two for Ben, three for me), was sooooo incredibly tasty!!! Had a antipasto to share as a starter, both had chicken wrapped in parma ham with roasted vegetables for a main, and I had profiteroles for dessert, best meal I’d had in ages!!! And a bottle of wine in the room after!
Great nights sleep, shower and up for breakie at a tea room across the road, which was a nice start to the day! Taxi arrived on time, and off we went to Gatwick’s south terminal, checking in via my BB all the way!!!

Airport was quick and easy, bought a few bits for the plane, a travel guide, and some lunch, and then off we went! The flight was fine, on time, and no turbulence,  and I wasn’t that bored haha.
Met the Thomas cook rep, and straight on the bus! About an hours transfer, we were the last ones on the bus!

Check-in: Didn’t take long at all, easily done! The directions given by the receptionist made finding the room and lifts etc harder than it was!! (NB It takes less than 5 minutes, and if you read the signs the lifts arent that confusing at all, some people just like to complain!).

Room:Wow! For a 3* it was large. It was clean, and it was comfortable!! And that is all you really need, all you do is sleep in there!!!! It looks exactly like it does in the photos! Has a large bedroom with twin beds pushed together (With crisp and clean linen); a nice bathroom with a bath and shower; a lounge with two sofas; kitchen with hob, fridge, mircowave, kettle thing. People have complained about lack of air con - yes there is only a fan, however, once again it is a 3* resort, if you had aircon it would be a low 4* and the cost would increase massively.
And the best bit, a massive balcony with 2 sun loungers and a table and chairs.
(When we arrived and checked in it was after the dinner service had finished, so we went and had a few drinks, before going to the restaurant which they had opened especially for late arrivals with salads etc available as a light meal before bed!!!!! Not many places I have been to have done this, so it was a welcome bonus!).

Meals: FOR A 3* AI the food was great, it wasn’t repetitive if you were willing to actually try the foods and weren’t expecting pizza/burger/chips everyday (however you COULD have this in the pool snack bar - but if you want that, go to black pool!). There was a great choice of salads, veg, cheese & hams, nice soups, rice, pasta, freshly grilled meats and fish (done in front of you), lots of different meats, nice sauces, different types of potatoes etc. I am incredibly fussy, and I loved it!!  The desserts were the usual - Fruit, yoghurts jellies etc, all very nice.
I loved breakfast, although it wasn’t to everyone’s tastes! There was freshly done fried eggs and STREAKY bacon, as this is found in most Spanish resorts, scrambled and boiled eggs too, salads, cereals, bread/toast/croissants/pastries, jams and things like that! However there was always more random things like carrots, or chicken nuggets there too!
** On our last night they did a Chinese themed meal, was lovely! And the dessert was a chocolate fountain with profiteroles - yummy!!!
People do complain about the food being cold - yes, it is often colder than you would have at home, but it that heat you don’t want hot food! Also, you can see there have thermometers showing the cooked food is kept well above the food safely levels, and well below for the chilled stuff!!

Facilities: Pool bar could have more staff, but the que was never more than 3 minutes long!! There was several pool tables, an air hocky table, you could purchase a TV card for your room. The entertainment wasn’t the best, but it is a 3* and it was, mostly good!
The adults only terrace was amazing! The hot tubs were fab, and the Balinese beds were great, also has great views!
The other pools were equally as nice, never struggled for a sunbed.
**They had the deep adults pool closed for refurb (it had to be done whilst people were there as its an all round resort), this was probably due to people complaining of broken tiles. To compensate us, the management left a bottle of wine in the room, thoughtful and not expected!

Resort: I loved it!! The beaches were pretty! The bars were cheap, and the restaurants, well, there was enough to suit anyones tastes and budget!
Taxis were cheap, safe and plentiful.

**Went to Aqualand - pretty standard, same as everywhere else, but makes a nice day out! Just lazed about in the sunshine in the lazy river, or on a sun lounger. Went on all the slides, some scared me shitless haha, and got a proper funny photo of us on a slide! And there was a sea lion show thing, where you could have your photo taken with them, which was different!!
And Palmitos park - this is well worth a visit, make sure you watch all the shows!! It was set in a beautiful valley, and had amazing views wherever you where! There was so many animals, and all kept in nice enclosures! Got some fantastic pictures of the views, the plants ( there was an orchid house!!) all the birds, and monkeys! I came home wanting a meerkat and a coati!


I had the most amazing week, I went with an open mind and loved every minute! It was a fantastic cheap, relaxing week away and I would definitely return, to both the resort and the hotel!
We met some lovely people - another 2 couples, all Ben’s age, so once again, I was the baby!! We had one night out in the resort centre, was good from what I can remember and what the pics show haha.
Ate out one night, and it was cheap, and tasty, and made a nice change, and a little treat!
The excursions we did were fun, absolutely loved Palmitos park, the videos I have of the dolphin show I will have to upload to you tube, cos it was awesome!!!!
Didn’t wanna come home:’(

Here are a few pics of the holiday - What a fab way to end my summer!!!

Easter weekend ♥

What a brilliant weekend it has been!!!!
(Thurs and Fri was the 'lets dye sammi's hair red' evenings...)
Friday I worked! I revised a little in the evening and then I saw sammi for a bit and an adventure up tescos; that was nice and chilled out!
Saturday I worked some more, revised a little bit and did not much else.
Sunday I worked, joined by Liv at the hotel!! Went home, showered and got ready, and was met by Ben. We went to Nanny's for dinner, which was mucho yummy as usual!! By the time we had left I was too tired and too drunk to go out to Ryde and meet Jac (sorry!!) so went to bed! ha!!

Today I worked, did a few hours in the kitchen (I love it there, have I mentioned that?!?!) and went home to grab stuff and meet Ben, and headed to the beach to meet Ben's parents, brother and friends. Saw Becky and Isaac too, which was nice!!
Weather was beautiful, and the company was great!! Got a little sunburnt, and had a picnic. Back to mine for a little buffet, perfect bank holiday!!!

Worked the last few days, looking forward to payday! My two days off and the weather goes bad...At least I will revise!

xx

My last weekend in Oxford. (photo heavy post)

Ok, so I'm going to post the photos from the weekend before the main body of the post.

Apologies if they take a while to load! :)

 

 

Aren't they just amazing?! All Handmade in the covered market at Oxford Cake shop.

The top one is of the royal wedding, it's quite amusing!!
I love the wedding cake with the two men on it! How brilliant!! I can't get over the amount of detail in the castle shaped cake!!

Ahh Our Saturday evening spent in The Four Candles. The photo on the Right is of Ben stood next to his shrine on Jasmin's door.

I saw a painting today that was of this little bridge thing (photo on the Left). Shame those people ruined my photo! haha.

Beautiful buildings are everywhere in the city. If only it had a beach, and a few more shops in the town, and better parking it would be the idea place to live!

These are our 'Tourist' shots. I rather like them haha!

Shame about the weather this weekend, it was grey since Friday, and eventually rained today :(

I think I took a photo of the building on the Right when I first got up here, so I took a photo of it again in the spring, with the pretty blossom.

This is us in a coffee shop in the Covered Market, just before ben had to leave :'( I had a very yummy Carrot cake!! It was an old building where nothing was square; the floor was uneven, and the walls were tilted.

I've had an absolutely wonderful weekend! And it just seemed to go too quickly!! :'(
Ben arrived earlier than I thought and we managed to walk different ways, so missed each other, haha. After finding each other eventually we popped into Tescos, brought a few bits and got the bus to mine. Ordered a curry and watched a film. It was called 'devil' and it's about people being trapped in a lift and being possessed by the devil.. A bit predictable, but still quite good.

Saturday we had a nice lay in, yay! And then spent all day in the city centre looking around the shops and sat out in the square and had lunch.
There was a 'chocolate festival' in the town, which we had a little wander around. Lot's of chocolate, and one lonley mexican food stall!
We Went into The Four Candles for a couple of drinks, and had diner there aswell. By the time we left it had got quite busy as it was full of people on the beginning of a night out. Got back and watched a couple of films

Sunday we woke up late. Gave mum a ring, happy mothers day!!!! Glad she liked my card!
We headed into town for lunch, had a Burger king! It's been ages since I had one... Turns out I don't like them as much as I used to :(
I found a shop that sells some lovely jewellery, it's not that expensive either!! Would make for great presents - So I mustn't forget it! We then ventured out of the town centre to the cobbled backstreets and through the University grounds along the river. If the weather was nice it would have been perfect for a picnic. We took a few photos, and did the obligatory tourist shots. Ben made friends with a tramp. 

It was a lovely weekend, I can't believe it went so quickly. And that it was my last weekend in Oxford! That's just crazy!! I think during the summer I am going to miss the city!!!

xx