“What makes life worth living? To be born with the gift of laughter and sense that the world is mad.” –Searamouche

“Often it is the most deserving people who cannot help loving those who destroy them.” –Herman Hesse

“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” –Victor Hugo

“Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you–not because they are nice, but because you are.” –Unknown

“If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.” –Sheryl Crow

Well those are some of the more memorable quotes I’ve found when stumbling round the vast Internet over the last few weeks (started this post about 2 weeks ago…)

Things have been ticking over quite nicely here in Newcastle – my week-day routine has been carved in stone just like home…

6.15 – Get woken up by Cousin Lynn (who’s away in Spain this week so I’ve been left to my own devices…)  Curse the early morning a few times before propelling myself outta bed…..

7.00 – Feed Jesse and give her her jab of insulin… lately she’s been a wee minx when it comes to this and hides from me.

7.11- Catch the bus (if it’s on time which is NEVER) to Newcastle Haymarket – tunes plugged into my ears to cut myself off from any possible communication from fellow bus-goers haha.  Lately my fav song has been Lily Allen’s – “F**k you” – not generally a fan of hers but that song cracks me up every time. Also The Feelers have been featuring a lot lately which is odd.

7.40 – Arrive Haymarket (if it’s on time which is NEVER) and avoid eye contact with the Greggs bakery – very hard to do when tummy rumbling!  Walk to the Uni, normally stopping at Boots to get the meal deal for lunch if i’ve been too lazy to make it the night before… sometimes stop at the Lloyds bank cash machine to check how much ££ I don’t have – on a Fri morning the queue is massive…. pay day!

8.00 – Get to the Uni and make my first coffee of the day before starting work! Onto black coffee at the mo and me likey!

1.00 – Go sit outside and perv on the young, cute Uni boys while eating my lunch and/or reading my book.

4.30 – Escape from work and walk back up to the Haymarket (this time avoiding eye contact with all the clothes shops on Northumberland Street!) To get to the Haymarket I have to walk through Marks & Spencers – which has proved my downfall many a time but I’m getting pretty good at keeping eyes straight forward focused on the door and just power walking through the temptation!

4.55 – Get the 363 bus home with the usual crowd – it’s funny how you see the same people everyday…

5.35 – Arrive home and change into trackies and jandals – oh how I love my jandals!

Um what else to report…. Oh I’m having some visitors from NZ hopefully coming over July / August! My Mum, brother John, John’s missus Hayley and our family friend Vicky are coming over.  One of the reasons is so my Mum can sort my Grandad out as he’s showing signs of early-Dementia, so I’ve been visiting him most weeks since I’ve been here to keep an eye on him and update Mum.  He lives alone so it may be time to bite the bullet and see about moving him into a home but Mum will sort that when she gets here – I can’t wait to see everyone! Never thought I’d see anyone from home this soon after getting here but it’s brilliant – wish my Dad was coming too but hopefully he’ll come next year.  Also, Vicky’s looking to get a house swap sorted between her house in Lyttelton and Italy….. Italy!!!  Here’s hoping it works out cos it means a brilliant holiday for us all and it’s on my list of places to ‘do’.

My Auntie surprised me the other day by asking if I wanted to go to Disneyworld in Paris with her, her son, his wife and their kids!  Her treat! I was flabbergasted and had the biggest smile on my face haha. Nothing has been planned yet but here’s hoping it happens cos it’d be amazing…

My Auntie went to Spain for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the month so I got the use of her car for that time – I was in heaven! I really really really miss driving my car and it was brilliant to get out and about. I went up to the country house and estate of Cragside one Saturday, then to Blyth another day to take photos of the wind turbines – don’t ask me why but I love watching them…  to see some pics of my travels here’s where to go:  http://amandajaneross.smugmug.com/

Well that’s about all for now…

Take care kids!

Manda xxxx