Yip it’s official… Rossco now has her first set of UK wheels! A 2003 Ford Fiesta to be exact… one prior older couple owned her before me and apparently she only did around 1,000 miles in the last year! Of course that is all set to change now she’s mine haha I’m not one for worrying about keeping the mileage figure down for possible re-sale!

I have Mum, Vicky, Auntie Marcia and Uncle Ali to thank for my new wheels as only two days after arriving from NZ Mum and Vicky set out to find   me a car and give me a bit more independence and found this wee gem in a day! First I knew about it was when the receptionist at work called me to say my Mum was in reception… Admittedly my first reaction was OMG how embarrassing what is Mum doing here! and then I thought OMG something must be really wrong so I raced out and Mum was standing in reception with a sombre look on her face and she says  “Amanda, I’ve got some bad news…” and my face just dropped. Then she said “We’ve found you a car!” which is when I called her a name and pushed her away from me! I really thought something was wrong with my Dad but she totally got me back for the way I told her about the Paris trip!  I couldn’t get off work for another hour so they went into town to do some shopping and then we went to the car yard to sort it all out. Hardest part was having to wait from Wed arvo until Sat arvo to pick her up haha.

Ironically my bus pass was due to expire on the Sunday so it all worked out perfectly and I’ve been driving to work all this week and it’s so much better than riding the bus.

Ok… so here’s a bit of background that I couldn’t blog about before in case Mum read my blog (only a slim chance but I wasn’t going to risk it) basically Mum’s good mate and close neighbour (only an empty section between!) Vicky emailed me with the idea to surprise Mum with a trip to Paris for her birthday in August and I thought it was a grand idea! So we were playing Secret Squirrel over phone/email for a couple of months and I booked the flights and Vicky took care of the accommodation – check this OUT… http://www.specialapartments.com/24_chapon.html

Now, I’m such a loving and fantastic daughter that I couldn’t let Mum off too easy when it came to telling her that Vicky and I had planned this surprise trip could I? All along I had thought we would tell her maybe a couple days before we were due to leave but Vicky pointed out that it might be best to give her a bit of warning etc so in the end it was a couple days after they’d arrived that I told her.

Here’s how it went… we were sitting in the living room of my Aunties house (‘WE’ being Auntie Marcia, Vicky, Mum, Me) and I turned to Mum… took her hand… put my game face on and said “Now Mum…. I’ve got something to tell you. I don’t want you to be mad at me or get upset…” and at this point Mum has this priceless look on her face and says “Oh God” hehe and I’m struggling to keep a straight face before yelling “We’re going to Paris for your birthday!” There’s this moment of silence before she starts laughing and whacks me on the arm.  Classic! She totally thought I was pregnant or something haha.

Also,  my Auntie’s face was priceless too as she was apparently thinking “Oh God Amanda’s gone and got herself pregnant when I was supposed to be looking after her!” and as Vicky knew it was coming she was tryin to get her attention to wink or something but her eyes were glued on me wondering what the hell I was going to say…. Ahhh I’m such a brilliant daughter to age my mother 10 years like that.

153 days…. or 5 months, 3 days…. or 220,320 mins….

Far out – that is how long I’ve been away from home! Can’t believe it’s been that long… 

I’m driving down south to London-town this weekend to pick up my Mum and family friend Vicky from Heathrow for their 2 month stay in the UK! They arrive sometime on the Monday 20th July (stand-by business class seats are a bit of a mission to confirm but should be around 11am London time!) and I’m taking this opportunity to spend some quality time with my best mate Amelia as well! She lives in Bladon, Woodstock with her hubby Mike, which is near Oxford. I’ve hired a car and I’m driving down this Saturday all by myself and I CANNOT wait! I’ve been looking forward to doing a road trip down South for ages as I’ve pretty much explored as far as I can North before I’d have to stay overnight.

Also, when I asked Amelia last week very politely, and not at all in an over-excited way, if I could stay with them this weekend she told me she had her parents friend already staying (hello comfy sofa bed for Manda!) and they’d booked tickets to Battle Prom at Blenheim Palace for the Saturday night. I said that’s fine & I’ll just chill out at your new cottage while you’re out as I couldn’t really afford to go…. but sneaky minx Amelia bought me a ticket didn’t she! So I’ll be rocking up in my ‘Vauxhall Astra or similar’ car late Saturday afternoon and joining them for a nice stroll up the road to Blenheim Palace where there will be some such Battle Prom as well as wine and a picnic (c/o Amazing Amelia!). Not entirely sure what a Battle Prom is but Amelia says its on par with ‘Sparks in the Park’ back home but on a much larger scale… but to be honest after the word WINE and PICNIC were mentioned everything else she said kinda went blurry haha.

Then, after a lovely night drinking wine and having a picnic in a palace, we will take a drive into Oxford for NANDOS lunch the next day! OMG totally can’t wait for this part – going from having Nandos almost every week back home in New Zealand to only having had it TWICE in the aforementioned time in the UK has left me feeling rather deprived. I had it first with Amelia and Mike a day after I arrived in the UK back in February.. and then I went with my Auntie at the one in the massive Metro Centre shopping mall here in Newcastle… alas it has evaded me ever since!

Also, my brother John and his girlfriend Hayley are arriving into Heathrow Sunday August 2nd and will be having a couple days in London with our cousins then driving up here to Newcastle. I’ve taken the Thursday, Friday and following Monday off to spend with them and I can’t wait!  Then they leave on the 19th August but Mum and Vicky are here for another month after that.

I’m hoping overall after they’ve all gone home we will have had the chance to visit:

• Edinburgh
• York (checking it out on my way down this Saturday too though) 
• Liverpool (as a possible new home for me before Xmas
• Durham (I’ve driven through in pouring rain [see older post re: stretch hummers etc] but never stopped to have a look)

Oh well… this will more than likely be my last update before the Kiwi’s invade but I’ll try and post stuff while they’re here because if I leave it til they’ve gone I won’t remember what was done/said! [Memory like a fish]

Take care guys and gals,

Manda xxx

Well I’m currently in the middle of a mass thunder & lightning display – on my lunch break but stuck in the office cos it is PELTING it down outside! Definitely ‘fastest setting on the windscreen wipers’ weather as I like to say haha.  I’m all on my lonesome this arvo cos the Irish part-timer Julie has left and the other 4 ladies in the office are either on non-work days or sick! So…. I have got NZ music playing  – currently “Northern Lights” by Goldenhorse & I’m loving it!   Preceding this was “Loyal” by Dave Dobbyn which was equally as brill.

Just a quick update really to fill peeps in on what’s been happening…** SIDEBAR | music now = “Beers” by Deja Voodoo (off Outrageous Fortune soundtrack) + MASSIVE lightning strike and thunderous thunder outside!!**… over the last couple of weeks!  Well, as planned I took two days off for my birthday but of course I had to go and get the sickness didn’t I!  So as well as having the Thu & Fri I had all of the next week off too – killer sore throat, headache, all blocked up, cough, wheeziness from asthma… you name it and it was happenin. I did, however, manage to catch some of the heatwave rays that were streaming down last week (top of 27celcius which is damn near tropical up in the North East!)  through many sessions on the deckchair reading… and my arms & chest are quite sufficiently brown! (only after first going a radical red of course haha) but I’m back at work now though and the first day is going swimmingly.

Over last week the dates of Mum, Vicky, John & Hayley’s flights over were finalised and here’s how it’s happening…

• Mum & Vicky (family friend) are getting into Heathrow 20th July and staying until 22nd Sept.
• John & Hayley (his girlfriend) are arriving at Heathrow 3rd Aug and staying until 17th Aug.

Still can’t quite believe they’re coming but it’s going to be brilliant to see them! **music now = “Dreams in my head” by Anika Moa**  So I’ve pretty much got two weeks before Mum & Vicky get here which I’m sure will go really quickly.

Nothing much else to report… been living the quiet life at my Aunties house still, which won’t change until after the family’s been… then I’ll be gearing up the search for a flat, as well as sorting out my job situation, and hopefully feeling more settled!  Ah well… laters kids!

Manda xx