I´m...

slowly getting adjusted to my new flat... the noise level outside is very different... a little less traffic and a lot more pedestrian noise... i just have to train myself to sleep through the 3am crowd going home every night and i´ll be just fine!

I´ve been working my little socks of writing test scripts till all hours of the morning. I´m so tired but all this stress going on i can´t sleep. I´m going to have to buy somethign to knock me out during my flight back to canadia on thursday. i can´t wait to see my family and Noeleen´s little brand new baby girl named Saoirse!

Seestor tells me that the ever missing Mr McCann may be coming down to TO this weekend to see me! That would be so amazing as i´ve not seen him in 3 years now!

Seestor also tells me that James was contacting her the other day. How odd I was telling someone about him the other day. I love it when things connect like that!

but then

as you always do... you come out the other side... I´m moving into my new flat today. I´ve found a nice place with an argentienean art director named diego. I´ve got a really big room in the part of town where I wanted to live. Things are looking up. I think initially when things don´t work out the way you want them to you feel like the world is out to get you... and in some cases it could be somewhat true... but i´m a fighter and I¨ll get through this if not stronger than before.

My spanish is coming along slowly and once i return from my anxiously antcipated trip to canada i´ll be back in school and back to painting! Speaking of painting I´m so excited to report that I sold my first painting to a colleague of mine that I met in kent. I´m so thrilled!

and then..

your xmas cold kicks in... and you leave your xmas party early as you can't tilt your head back far enough to keep the tears in...

but at least being at work is a bit of solice as it keeps me busy and if I can just manage to work work work I won't fall apart at the seams... perhaps my lost appetite will assist in shifting all the unruly pounds I've put on since starting this contract.

xmas will be spent by myself and new years too but i've done my best to line up working remotely for then and there will be lots of time for painting and gymming... a little reprive. I just hope I can find a new flat as soon and get settled.

i am the only constant in my life and you know what.... i'll get through this. that is one thing i'm certain of. Something to laugh about this time next year i suppose :)

and then...

you wake up the next day and realise that your nightmare is reality and it's confirmed that even if good things are not excluded from you... this is not one of those times... and this is one of those times that the bad things are waaaaaaaaaaaay worse than you could ever expect and you wonder why no matter how hard you try in life you always find the ones with broken wings... sometimes however they managed to shit on you even before they fly off...

anyone got any stain remover?

you know...

sometimes i go though phases where i say to myself... 'sarah, you deserve good things to happen to you' and the rest of the time i say... ' ha dont' think for a second you deserve anything to come to you easily' I'm very much thinking that my life has just flashed a big notice board confirming the latter. I'm almost certain now that I did something pretty awful in a past life as if this is karma then, man... I fear I may just be served with a hefty invoice. I really don't want to believe... I'm not here... this isn't happening.

cheque please

Rage!!!!!!!!

There are a few things that make me VERY angry... and a few things that make me laugh really hard.

The first of these two aforementioned emotions was excised this morning when I realised that Easy Jet had lowered the fare on the flight that I booked for the 23rd. The reason why this angered me so was because I bought it during their 'Massive Sale' what a farce. So I followed their instructions to get the difference refunded (obviously this happens often)... I rang their number 10p a min and it took me approx 12 mins to get to an operator who was very unhelpful and did not offer any explanation or apology for the price discrepancy... They then proceeded to issue me with a 'credit file'. Armed with this number I asked the operator a parting question... 'can I use this code when I book online?' to which he responded 'no, I'm sorry this is only for telephone bookings... simply call this number that charges you £1 a minute and make your booking'. Now I'm no genius but It's sure as heck going to take longer than 10 minutes to book a flight and the prices for telephone bookings are 10% higher than online bookings... which means that I still would not get my money back!!!!!!!!! Why Why Why they couldn't just issue me with a total refund and then have me re-book online is beyond me... Don't worry, In true Canadian fashion I've written them a very stern letter....

The laughing part comes in when Monday when I came into work there was an email from my bf's not so friendly ex in my inbox. Yes folks... Apparently I'm destined to connect with this woman every time I look for a flat in BCN!!! LOL! This time I managed to contact her directly... but she clearly had forgotten my name... Ah life can be so amusing.

Face it with a smile

Only 9 more sleeps!!!!!!!!

like a bad rash

my ebay addiction has resurrected and between the gaps in time during the day I can't help but browsing around... it doesn't help that eveyone in this office is just as bad if not worse than I am... Even if you're trying to put it out of your mind you can't help but catch a glimpse of it on someone's monitor. I tell you it's like working in a lab and we're all just a bunch of mice spinning our wheels so that that magic of ebay will dispense the cheese...

On a more positive note... it's almost the weekend and I'm very excited to be able to listen to some music I brought back with me from home... as i absconded sally's cd player...

I was having a conversation with a taxi driver the other day on my way home and I was recalling the story my grandmother told me about my little cousin asking her if she could play one of her big cd's... (records) how cute. I also remember another little cousin of mine who was puzzled by the old rotary phone we had in the basement...it wasn't immediately clear to her how it would work. Dang I'm getting old... but not as old as this lady... imagine living 113 years? She saw so much. What a fantastic privilege.

72 day work sentence

well mine is almost up... as of the 23rd of December I shall be free. Then off I return to my tiny bed and the manzana of my eye... I'm counting the hours. Then but two weeks after I shall mostly be skipping off to the wilds of the great white north to visit the family and celebrate my cousin's nuptuals. I was joking with mum the other day that I would just pop into vegas quickly on my way to Vancover to tie the knot and beat him to it... making me the first of the grandchildren to get married and not him! Alas... Fredu is shooting in Jan and can't come... dang... my sabotage is foiled!

The never ending flat hunt continues... watch this space as I move from my prison in the wilds of the east english countryside to the tent on the beach on barcelona... lol

Miss Hannah gets married next Saturday and miss jo jo and I will be attending with bells on. I'm so happy and excited for them. Now it's just the small detail of sorting out the wedding present.... nothing interesting is left on the registry... I'll have to come up with something clever. Too bad easyjet doesn't sell gift certificates...

although i'm very sad

that after all the toing and froing... and thinking that maybe just offering the girls more money for the flat we wanted... it turns out that it was not meant to be. They asked Fredu to meet them last night to chat... however they did not bring with them the news that we were looking for... They simply explained that they had promised the flat to the family and although the extra money would have been nice they had to stick by their word. Disapointing but very honorable on their behalf. There are some good people out there... can't say I don't feel a wee bit evil after having trying to gazump a family. Bad me.

So yes, flat hunting is officially back to sqare one...

The lovely miss andrea is celebrating her day of birth this saturday. I hope very much that it will be my last saturday in the UK. Bring on the 1st of December... or if you're the lovely miss Joey (owner of a red galaxy dress) the 2nd of December when she is again united with her army boy who completes his special secret hardcore training. Bless, she's so sweet.

Visit this weekend was fabulous we caught up with theo and alonzo who was in town for the weekend... miss andrea and senor Danny too! We stayed at a very cool b&b in islington... it's called The luxury inn it's in my old neighborhood in angel and it's quite a cool idea... and the best part about it, is that it's so inexpensive!!!! Go book in now.

much ado about nothing...

after much a flat hunting and not having anywhere to live other than the local b&b here in maidstone

I finally suffered a bit of a lodging nervous breakdown. Brough about by a long sequence of events but it all erupted in a flood of tears when we found out that we didn't get the flat we both fell in love with down the street from our current place... In a stroke of trickiness we proposed to offer them more money for the flat than they were asking if they would choose us over the first couple who saw the place that wanted it... we were the second. It's been a few days now and they're milling over the offer. In my heart of hearts I dont' think they'll go for it but you just never know... if we achieve no sucess then we will just stay put in our tiny place until the right option comes along... Very stressful all around... made me realise how i would just love to buy somewhere and put some roots down for once! I guess it's just me being so transient of late that is making me crave some lodging stability.

The days are ticking away and I'm gleefuly approaching the end of my contract here with the counsil. I could stay till mid -dec but I've not yet decided if it's worth it (mentally) I think financially it's always a good idea.

Seestor arrives tomorrow. Xmas shopping in london town will be our mission... nothing unusual about that one... us predictable? Never.

I came up with a brilliant idea whil chatting to a cabbie when I was in london for a brief spell last night for Ceciles 'i'm free from working at GT' party. I'm going to open a pram shop in Maidstone. I can smell the money and the chav's...

i have this thought... in that

playing the lotto has a direct connection to my discontent... guess it's not surprising really... winning would allow you a quick ticket out of this game... of course with it, would come an equal amount of problems ... but I'll keep my lucky dip for tonights draw thank you very much. It's funny as I've not played the lotto for quite some time... and when I start again I seem more convinced that I will win... I can even invision myself explaining how i just bought the ticket on the spur of the moment... so cheezy. I am guilty.

Two more sleeps and I get to go home. I'm counting down the minutes. I miss painting... I miss having a house... and of course Fredu.

Yesterday we worked for 13h and most of them i spent listening to a local Kent radio station... perhaps that is the source of my discontent... it's not a healthy choice for any human... on a brighter note... Theo sent this to me today... I thought it was cute. I want to be the man with the fish. Read on....



A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village.
An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

"Not very long," answered the Mexican.

"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.

The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. I have a full life."

The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you!
You should start by fishing longer every day.
You can then sell the extra fish you catch.
With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

And after that?" asked the Mexican.

With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles, or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years," replied the American.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.

"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."

And the moral is: Know where you're going in life... you may already be there.

Silly


Getting paid silly money doesn't of course come without working silly hours... not anything as bad as design agency hours but taxing nonetheless!

Did I mentioned that my old dodgy landlord got 9 years in the end... they finally caught him at the beginning of the year... the officer in charge of the case dropped me a line a few days ago to let me know. Sweet of her to remember :)

Busy weekend lined up... not as hectic as last weekend... but how good was it to go home and sleep in my own bed next to ze boi... I miss him! The tardy arrival back in London on the Monday night was nothing to envy... I finally made it to Maidstone at 1h30 in the morning... I left out flat in BCN at 18h... now that's an evil commute. Next weekend when I go home I'll be sure to stay the night with Jo Jo and come into work in the morning instead...

The mission is back on... flat hunting again... we're moving flats at the beginning of Dec. Somewhere bigger and somewhere less noisy. Bijou is okay but we've got no room left for anything now! Time to move. I love looking but I hate the actual moving... Still have 3 bags left here in London... will probably take the next few trips to manage to get it all over...

Did I mention my project manager (note my joy in that I'm not the project manager for once) bought us boxes of chocolates as a thank you for working so late for the past few weeks. She's such a sweetie.

The weekend starts in T minus 8h

Oh yea almost forgot... congrats to senor Danny for his new fab job with Yahoo :)

Blind blogging continues

Not being able to see my blog from work is a bit frustrating as I can't kill time like I used to... I have no idea why any company would see the need to block all URL's with underscores in them... maybe they equate them to porn peddling sites... HA.

The days have been co-operating and sure enough I'm getting closer to Friday and going home! I'm so excited. I know I've only been here 3 weeks but it feels like I've stepped back in time... kind of like moving to BCN was just a time blip. Pinch me someone...

I'm sitting in death row as I've deemed it... this florescent lighting and recycled air office is breeding sickness as fast a battery hen... there is a chorus of coughing and sneezing all the way up and down my seating area. Not one to ever miss out on something, I too am brewing a nice sort of sickness... It cant' quite decide if it wants to go to my sinuses or my lungs... or perhaps a bit of both. Joy.

Ivy and Mel arrive in BCN this weekend for a bit of a Jolly. We're out to some fancy foody restaurant on Saturday night. Should be interesting to see how much one will end up paying for a posh salad. Good thing really as all the comfort eating that I've been doing since my return has had a very rapid effect on my waist line... is this why I've suddenly acquired an avid interest in all clothes that offer an elasticised waistband? Seriously I've got three pairs now that would easily be confused with maternity wear... It's my own trend maternity-chic for non maternity people... it's so the new Deralique!

My heart is so sad

My poor Fredu was mugged last night on his way home from the production office. He got surrounded by three guys while he was unlocking his bike and they swarmed in on him and kicked and punched him and grabbed his bag. The worst part of it beyond the cuts and bruising is the fact that they got his laptop, cables... CD's containing all the work he'd done in the last week and 5 sheets of negs which are obviously irreplaceable. They didn't take his wallet or his agenda as he had those on his person... They clearly must have planned the attack as it wasn't at all obvious what was in the bag they must have been casing the cafe where he often works with his colleagues... they must have known he had some expensive equipment... It's just terrible. I'm gutted that I'm not there right now. I can't concentrate on work. I wish terrible things on the people who did this to him... but then again I guess they are already experiencing terrible things that would make them attack someone and then steal from them.

Boo to them. Boo to all the horrible people like them out there.

strange things are a brewin'...

for some reason... i don't be able to see my blog today... i'm suspicious that it has something to do with how i'm accessing it... I'm in a seceret location... it's grey and rainy and it's not barcelona and it's not even central london... there are lots of chavs and transient people who drift around town with wheely suitcases... i am one of them.

i am now living part time in a b & b in sunny maidstone working with miss sally trying to save the world or maybe just kent counsel from the evils of disorganised systems... the money is silly... thus my rapid departure from my new sunny home and my beautiful corazon... money is such an willing motivator. I'm just trying to get my heart into doing it... Strangely they have no siestas here. I don't know if i will be able to adjust.

My poor mobile that died is being collected and replaced tomorrow. I've most definately lost all my contact details and all my pickies... so so sad but what can you do? I've got the next 8 weeks here in the UK to try and re-collect them all.

On a positive note... seestor is dropping in next weekend just for the day... she's still working for the airline on the weekends so it will be a real treat to see her! It's very exciting as Air Transat has decided to add a new route to BCN starting next summer. How fantastic is that?

Love is...

a cherry chupa chup... a mini toblerone and a kiss from a handsome boyfriend at my local internet caf.

one month in

so it´s been nearly a month... and yes believe it or not i´ve started school...
it´s only 2h per day but i think it will be just fine... going to school on the second day with a hangover... not so smart, but hey you forget these things. The last time I studied anything It was back in 1998! The teacher is nice and there are a good mix of people in the class including one english bloke, two japanese girls and another canadian... there are also some americans, an italian and an austrian. Lets see if Sarah still has any brain cells left to learn a new language.

Spending time with Andrea and Danny this weekend was fab, they´ve now jetted off down the coast for a few days of wine tasting and such. It´s been really great to see some friendly faces. I´m so lucky!

They had a really freaky festival here this weekend that we went to check out... it´s called boulevard of broken dreams and it´s a circus-esq show that tours around, mostly dutch people. Was pretty interesting. I did however have terrible nightmares that night... I guess the freak shows were a bit much for my delicate psyche.

When it rains it poors... I´ve just been offered the possiblity to return to london for a 4-6 week contract at my old job... they´re very busy... I´m not sure if it will work out but we´ll see... also miss sally just dropped me a line asking me to go and work for her for 2 months. All so tempting as the money would keep me here for a lot longer and my life of leisure would continue... we´ll see how it goes.

I think the autumn has finally started to arrive here... there is a definate snap in the air now... however last saturday it was 26 and i got a bit of colour on my face while swimming in the afternoon.

My bike is back in the shop again... somehow the bike i bought for 30euros is soon going to be worth 70... the guy who fixed the back tyre... didn´t put in a very good innertube so it was deflating... it´s a comedy. i may as well buy a donkey... i think it would be more reliable!

hey

i just noticed that my last entry was number 555 tee hee... not long till 666... Once i bought a dr pepper, and a packet of fags way back when in ottawa and the total came to $6.66 i was amused... the shop keeper, not so much.

Strange and random things often happen to me... I always find myself telling my sister that "these things never happen i swear" like when we were walking down the street in london with all the embassys and sally was faking limbo under the secuity gate when the guy in the booth lifted the arm for her... it was hilarious... well last night after a great birthday dinner at la dolça herminia we were on our way home but wanted to stop for the ultima de la ultima... when we stumbled upon a leather sofa that was discarded in the street. it was in pretty mint condition... Alfredo fell in love with it and sat down... a few seconds later another guy and girl rocked up and sat down and started chatting... one was swedish the other italian who spoke swedish... we nabbed some tins of estrella and sat and had a good old chin wag... the street cleaners arrived and wanted to take away the sofa but we insited it was ours... and our mini street party continued... then, no joke come along two young very blond guys with suntans and surf boards... how surreal... they had missed their flight and had to wait till today to go home... the airline had no room to store their boards so they had them with them... turns our they were also italian... but from the very north as you can imagine... they ended up leaving their boards at our house for the night so they didn´t have to trekk them around... so funny. So yea KJ... I agree... these things do happen to me.

Happyness is... finding out you got payed 400 pounds more than you expected on your last paycheque from work!

I´m very excited... sally has invited me back to london to help her celebrate her b´day not this weekend but next... I´ll have to leave next Friday after school and return sunday night. Very exciting.

off to find the art shop and hopefully an art school... here´s to hoping that clotilde manages to take me there without going flat... i´ve got suspcisons that she was not fixed properly... we´ll see... if i´m in luck she may even manage to take me to the gym this afternoon.

how excited am i?

Mucho mucho!! Miss Andrea and Senor Danny are booked in for a visit. They arrive on the 1st. I can´t wait. It will be so fab to get to see them again. I feel like i´ve been away forever... it doesn´t help that my phone is still in the shop and that i have no ones phon numbers... talk about feeling cut off!

I´m off to see the art school shortly... would be great if I could start this week as the language school I´m going to doesn´t start until next week. We´ll see... Fredu has been busy working working working... so i´ve been gymming and reading... it´s funny as it´s so strange for me to spend so much time on my own. It´s good, it forces me to relax and unwind...

The sun is shining today and i´m due to collect Clotilde this afternoon... she´s my new silver bike... how exciting!?!?! okay play along

love for sale

i can´t get the song out of my head... don´t worry it´s not me selling it but there are many others all around Barcelona offering it round the clock... you can spot them on many many street corners... Alfredo keeps saying´"look she´s selling love"... must be a good trade as there are so many girls in the business...

Today was a productive day thus far and it´s only 17h20. I´ve managed to open a bank account, find the MAC counter (to purchase an emergency lipstick) have lunch with Maria... accidently swallow a fish bone... (okay yea i was trying to be a carnivore for once... that´s the good it did me)... hmmm I guess that´s all I´ve managed to do thus far today but it feels like a lot... oh yea... I also checked out a language school... they dont´have another session of classes starting till the 26th but now that my bank is sorted I can start the gym full time and I will be more than happy (so will my bellies) to get back at the gym on a regular basis.

My new bike is ready... and Fredu is picking it up from the shop on his way home tonight... of course I tried to collect it but they were not open at 16h like they were supposed to... long lunch I suppose. No passe nada LOL

I´m hoping the weather holds nice until the weekend... a week full of "slow rushing about" is tiring... I think we almost merit a break in the sea for a splash about.