Having very little else to write about recently, I thought I'd show you some pics my friends took of some of the fish at the aquarium.
This dude here is Albert, I named him that mainly cos I think he looks like a grumpy old man, and Albert seems like a grumpy old mans name!
Octopuses are great fun, when he comes out, most of the time he sleeps all day.
He's good at escaping too, the aquarists have so much security around his tank and he still manages to get out of it!




Percy is our Pufferfish
Hes dead sweet and takes food from our hand, which we're not actually supposed to do, but I can trust you guys to keep it secret!
Apparently unlike in Finding Nemo Pufferfish can only inflate themselves so many times and then cant deflate which leaves them easy targets for predators.


Our clownfish eggs never hatched though, I guess they didnt want to be raised in a single parent family

I went to the Tower of London today!

Its one of the few "main" London attractions that I've never been too.

And I rode up on a boat and now I know how the word wharf originates and all about the sites and things, I know the pub where Captain Kidd was arrested and the house where Nelson lived and the Pub thats made out of parts of the Mayflower!
Yeah! It was like a history lesson only fun!

The tower was ace, we got shown round by one of the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters) they all live in the Tower grounds! Imagine that? And at night they get locked in the castle and can only get in and out by using a secret code word and have their own doctor on the premises and play football on their "village green" which in olden days was where Anne Boleyn got the chop. How cool is that?
Apparently you can only be a beefeater if you've been in the army 22 years, reached a certain rank and something else though, so unless I marry one of them I dont think I'll be living there!
And I saw the famous ravens and the Crown Jewels, which would be ok, I guess if you like that sorta thing, I just thought it was a lot of glittery tackiness!

An Ace day though!

best bit about this promotion effort?

I get to spend time supposedly doing the work for it in work!
This generally means I spend time gazing into space and doodling on my notebook and getting paid for not being on the shop floor or behind the till!!!

Despite not having a clue about anything at work and STILL fucking stuff up with the till I've been offered a promotion!
Oh yes! I can become a "Product Advisor" instead of just a humble "sales associate"!
And what will my new fancy title mean?
Well If I take the exam within a month and pass, I can have a one off pay bonus, I'm not sure how much of though, probably not a great deal, and its still a fancy title for "shop assistant!"

My clownfish - well they aint mine exactly but heyho - are having babies!
There's a mass of teeny red eggs next to their anemone home!
The dads well cool, I kept hopping off from my appointed task of the half hour to go investigate them.
He waves his little fin over them and sometimes dusts them with his tail fin to ensure a floew of clean fresh water over them and carefully mouths them to remove any sea-dust on them!
He's such a good parent already!
The same cant be said of the mother, her job is to protect them (Dad and eggs) from attack and chase away any bigger fish that could cause a threat.
I think being a potential parent has caused her a bit of a breakdown, she keeps hiding in the coral away from her family.
However if Disney has taught me anything, its that Clownfish fathers make great single parents.

Hopefully (this is the second time in as many months) the eggs will have hatched this time next week as the previous batch were duds.
Hurrah!

what a game!
And what a typically awesome (note the sarcasm) performance from Poll the Arsehole!
Go Aussies!

gotta love this link! I wanna toy poo!

I have a habit of greeting my friends with the term stinky. Upon hindsight, perhaps its not the best term to adress my boss at the aquarium first thing in the morning.

It was odd being in Derby this time. I remember when I knew the name of every station even the ones that I didnt stop at on the way up and now I can't remember if Wellingborough comes before or after Market Harbourgh.
And things there have changed.
Its not the 5 of us any more. R has moved to St Lucia, A is working in Southhampton at the moment and STF was in Germany, although he did come home for this weekend and we went out.
Places I know have changed, and I'm no longer part of that inner circle, there's all kinds of adventures and plans that I'm not part of any more.
I guess its all to be expected really. I'm not living there. I'm not sure if I'll ever go back to live there again and I still want things to be the way they were.
Odd to seeing H2 so pregnant. Hearing that the day before I came up CL's UDOBF had proposed and they're thinking of getting married in April 2008.
Hearing MH talk about her continuing hunt for the perfect man and how she at 25 feels the need to settle down and do housewifey things and that she's sick of the student lifestyle.
I know I'm not ready, not willing for that, I feel sometimes that I was robbed of being careless and not worrying about it all.
I know I'm not the same person I was when I left Derby, I can't barely remember the person that I was 5 years ago when I moved up there.
So why should I want things to stay the same so much?

I had a great time nonetheless, I stayed with N and like I said STF popped home and we went out on a tame (for their standards) night out, where I got shamefully hammered and then overly fascinated with the fact that I could see double when we came home and how many times I needed to tell them I didnt like Indian food when they were shoving it under my nose.
And then they passed out and I curled up in the corner of the bed and got busy with some of my other favourite drunken past times when I can't get near a computer of drunken texting.
I'm still trying to remember what and who I texted though!
And then on Saturday I met MH and I felt sick at the thought of meeting her, I dreaded the invevitable and vile questions of "how are you coping?"
Why can't it be like the lads who greeted me with "Alright Charlton? Get t'bar and getter round in!"
But I lived and we came back to H2's house and played with her cats and played endless games of "I remember such and such an incident"
And then we went to Asda mainly cos I wanted to remember those funny trips up there, when I'd go straight to the items I needed and not waste time going up and down the aisles like they did and it was kinda like old times, especially cos they had an aisle devoted to the World cup and football stuff and showing the Portugal game, (Oh I remember how they did the same during Portugal 2004 and I'd sit in a chair there and watch a DVD of Englands 50 greatest goals while they did endless girly things)
I miss those days where everything now seems careless and carefree. You can forget the bad stuff like how our house was always cold and the Co2 leak we had and how the lad we originally stayed with stunk and made a horrible atmosphere.
So we went for this meal for H2s birthday and of course MH flirted stupidly (I can see it now and how I still sit back and wait for her to get it on with them before I go over and make friends, the way I used to see myself as the hanger-on, the not really in the way but not really wanted by either of them to be there.)
So I drank loads again, combatting my fierce hangover.

Today I met up with The Lizard and it was nice and we went for dinner and a trip to sainsburys (Where me and Mum and Dad had our first ever meal in Derby! And where I took LF once and he offered to buy me flowers and I laughed at the idea that someone would want to buy me flowers and what the hell I'd do with them)
And again it was nice, and nostalgic and I'm all caught up in wanting things to be like they were but knowing that it can't be exactly how it was.
There wont be a red taxi waiting for me at St Pancras every other weekend and there wont be my Dad standing on the platform, waiting to greet me with a huge grin and likeways there isn't the commute up to my house and up those hills every other Sunday.
And a whole weekend without a trip to Our Beloved Friary! Now there's a good reason for another trip!

I ache for things to be like that, and I think I'm also very tired, mentally and physically.

Do you ever get the feeling that sometimes you just can't cope with everything your friends place upon your shoulders?
That you feel like breaking down in tears and crying "no! Enough! I can't do this anymore, I can't be that rock for you, when you're not there for me"
I saw scars on N's arms, deep, ugly red scars and asked him and felt them.
He cuts himself and I feel so bad and so want to help and yet I can't bear the thought of shouldering another burden, I carry too many other peoples burdens.

Why can't things just stay the same?

Yay! My work uniform for the shop has finally arrived, admittedly its the winter shirt but yay!
No more patching this one up everytime I wash it!
Off to Derby for the weekend! See ya!

One of the cleaners at the aquarium brought in his babies today.
They were gorgeous! So cute! And ever so friendly.
Admittedly I was a little worried when he pulled a wriggling bag out of his rucksack but when he produced a handful of baby two-month-old boa constrictors, I fell in love!
They were tiddly! And so cute! I was on the verge of bringone one home and then remembered the birds, and The Brat's phobia of anything that has no legs, and the fact that they grow to 18feet and I reluctantly handed them back.
Boo!

I fucking hate this heat!

Its bad enough in our shop that our air con is permanently switched to hot, although there is an occasional *poof* of air, which has the same strength of someone breathing on you.
We asked Head Office about getting it fixed and they responded by saying it might take 6-8 weeks to get someone out to look at it. Thanks guys, the summer will be over by then.

Incidentally someone complained to Head Office about us drinking on the shop floor, so as I do 5 hour shifts I don’t get a break and am permanently on the shop floor. Often on my own if the Big Boss Woman is doing the paperwork and on lunch and my supervisor spends a lot of time on the phone out the back, having a fag or trundling along the high street.
So I suffer and a Charbs can’t work in this heat and my patience for the Idiot customers is low and I end the day feeling sick and dreading my next shift.
I worked 7 hours on Thursday with no break for a drink or dinner and felt really rough!
So anyway, I’m fighting the power by having my sneaky bottle of water under the till and standing by the doorway whenever I get a chance hoping to find a bit of wind.

The machinery has other ideas, today they came into work and found that the freezers have been over working, and that they’d died and everything had defrosted.
There is only two tills in our shop and one of them has blown up – with purple smoke!!
So once we’d cleared the floors of gravy. We continued our day moaning about the heat and then it suddenly went from brilliant heat to thunderstorms, hailstones and torrential rain!
And we flooded! Ever seen those cartoons where a character opens the door and a huge wave of water rushes out soaking him?
Well it was like that!With the odd box or packet of papaya floating past!
Loads of stock ruined!
And the computer and ticker that records everything got wet too!
All the time dealing with the waterfall above our heads We mopped up the best we could and then rang Head Office. And remember this is the company that refuses to give us CCTV, claiming its not cost-effective – (fuck our safety or whatever!) Told us that they might send some one round on Friday, and until then we’re too do the best we can and carry on as normal*

So if you happen to be in Woolwich High Street tomorrow and pop your head in and see members of staff, lying dead and electrocuted on the floor and bottles of Evening Primrose Oil floating about you’ll know what happened.


* of course I’m hoping that we’re closed for Thursday so that I can watch the England game in peace!!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Its the world Cup! Hurrah! Go out and miss the key clash of Mexico/Iran? You're having a laugh?
(How boring was the Portugal/Angola match though?)
And Englands got off to a winning start, although I still remain convinced (and even more so after yesterday) that we're facing another q/f exit!
And if anyone can think of a better way to spend their day apart from drinking in Greenwich, watching the Sweden match outside in the Sun by the Trafalgar and getting the worlds nicest Apple Pie at the Yacht over looking the river?

The only problem I have is that its too fucking hot! I'm hiding indoors from it and my poor birdies are sweltering! I put in a bath for them, they paddle in it and have water fights, they're so funny!

Today was Granddad's birthday so we all (minus D) arrived at the Anchor In Hope on the other side of Shooters Hill, and watched the Holland game and laughed and joked.
It was fun! And an idea was suggested by M that we all go off to Cuba for Christmas and New Year! We'll see how that one plays out, it'd be a quality holiday!

And next weekend I'm going up to Derby, bit sad really cos STF will be in Germany doing his World Cup thing and I think most of the lads will be busy doing stuff, so although I'm staying at N's I'm not really sure if there will be any decent nights out with them all, but its H2's birthday and MH will be there and I'm going to meet The Lizard so it should be a fun weekend anyway!

Wheee!

Hello there! Have you missed me? I've tried to blog honest!
But Blogger has been a Queen Bitch all week!
Any one else had this problem?
The World Cup is here! Yeehaaa!

ANNNNDDD I've been asked to stay on at the aquarium for another three months!
I absolutely love working there its the highlight of my week, and I'd like to be considered for a perm job there if one came up.
However, there is one part I dislike and thats the public talks, I guess you need to be a certain kind of person to be able to handle talking over hundreds of kids/tourists who aint listening to a word you say, or to give a talk to just one or two people and see your crowd dwindle off as they go onto to see other exhibits.
I'm not that kinda person, maybe its something that will come in time, all the people that work there are doing it everyday and I just have to put myself through it once or twice a week.
but I dislike all the crowds and the kids under my feet all day and the repedative screaming at them NOT TO FUCKING SPLASH THE WATER IN THE RAY TOUCHPOOL!
So I'd like to get into the quarintine department I think and I'd like to find out how to go about that, its so much more hands on with the fish and best of all its all behind the scenes so I can stay there and not have to deal with the public.
Only thing is they're obviously very picky about who they pick and you need a gazillion years of experience with fish beforehand.
So we'll make discreet enquiries and if not maybe we'll sign up for another three months, like I said, I do really enjoy working there.

This is chief Journalist Charby McCharb reporting to you live from her computer!
*NOW UPDATED*

Uncunformed reports indicate that a shot has gone off in the house next door but one, and indeed a gun has been carried out!
The police were called about half hour ago, after people broke in and set on the house, we're not sure of the full details and we are all aware of the not so pure background of the people next door but one.
Is this a vendetta attack? A robbery that went wrong?
Who knows? An Eyewitness by the name of Charbs McCharby can say is that they heard a lot of shouting and then the father of the house in the street with blood running down him.
Paramedics, dog handlers, SWAT teams, (ok maybe not, but definately Special Operations) and normal police were quickly on the scene.
We'll try to get back to this story with more rumour and hearsay later tonight!
For now I'm heading back off to my familar position on the Woolwich Front Line!
Over and Out!


*update*

Apparently they pulled a gun on C coming down the stairs, but it didnt work or something? Anyway, the Father is now back at home and the boys are all here, and they've found the clothes or something, I'll fill more details in as they come through! Wheee!

Project bird cage is finished!

I've installed them all in now and they look terrified poor things, its all the outside noises and natural light and not being able to hear the telly I guess!

Pictures forthcoming with Blogger stops being a bitch!

Hi!
I'm back! And fuck me am I burnt! I thought Ireland was supposed to be a rainy country?
I had a great time and one without any of my usual disasters hehehe!
Here's my caravan!










And here's me and my new bestest horsey buddy Tommy!