I woke up today and it was beautiful out! Clear blue skies and fluffy small clouds. The kinda day that makes you seek adventure. So what did I do?
Well........ Nothing. But its ok, I watched the two FA cup games, I napped, I played online. And now I'm getting ready again to go back to work.
Just counting down the time really... I feel more than ever that I'm on a waiting game. And that I want to stay at work but am prepared for every eventuality.

Gah. I so need to get out more. Just sat and read a 22 page thread on who is the worst sibling in Game of Thrones - now I am unashamedly geeky about the books but really Charby? On a Saturday night, you have nowt better to do than read that?
I saw H3 as we'll christen her today, had a couple of drinks in the King's Arms and then pottered in the park seeking the parrots and deer, and playing with squirrels, I do so love Greenwich Park.
A nice peaceful day.
Mother is away from Wednesday until Sunday. Not too sure what I'll do with my time off! I feel like this is an excuse for an adventure, except of course I have football on Saturday and work the rest of the time so no real adventures can be had.
Just two weeks till my holiday and seeing Welshy. Just 10 days until I learn my fate at work.

TP and TJ have split up! Its unthinkable. I guess it shows how I still think of people from 10 years back, as I haven't seen them for ages.
But still. 30 years together and now TJ is in Scotland again and TP in Derbyshire. I don't understand it. Can they afford to live apart? (I guess I am thinking about London prices).
They will be alone! They have few friends, they've never needed other friends! They've had each other. I just don't get it. I wonder (being cynical) if there was more to it.

H (I realised I never gave her an initial!) is going to be down tomorrow. I can find out if she knows any more.

What else is new? I have to give Mother another 100 pounds to help pay the electric bill. I pay minimal rent so why does this irritate me? I'm just too tight, but I'll have given her 550 by the end of this month (400 of this has gone to my rent Jan and Feb - see told you I was being tight!)
I get annoyed as the money I give her for that instantly gets put away for her holidays. I don't begrudge her escapism but... I dunno. Tight.
Its annoying in another one as I'm struggling to get my money sorted as I've mentioned. I can't somehow seem to get my savings over the 500 mark in my normal account, 405 in there today and 100 going to Mum and then 100 to clear my holiday moneys and then rent at the end of Feb which is my weekly wage and then whatever for riding and then holiday spends.
Once this month is over, I shall cut down! I'm hoping that my wage goes up (bizarrely I got paid an extra 20 quid the last two weeks - again being greedy I assumed that this was the wage that I'll be going up to and was disappointed). Another twenty quid a month means I can raise the amount I put aside every week to 40 quid, so its all good. I must keep telling myself that and not get disappointed if that turns out to be the case.

Bah tired.
My alarm isn't going off properly any more, just beeping like when I get a text, is a bit worrying.
Riding wasn't a success today. She just wasn't in the mood, if it was light out I'd have just hacked but don't have that option in the dark. God it seems like its been wet and muddy for ages! Even back in the last october-y days of Sunny Pony it was rainy and muddy then.
Bidding on a pair of stirrups. Strange new Pony Owner has brought me a second hand saddle, well its second hand for her pony but i'll be the only one using it, the kids have their own smaller one.
Needs stirrups though, so thought I'd give it a go (wish I'd kept the ones I gave away in the summer now!) not 100% sure of my stirrup size. Hoping 4 1/2 inches will be big enough. TBF they will cost me under a tenner if I win!
Never had flexi stirrups before, they have wee hinges at the base rather than being fixed like normal stirrups, so should give a bit more cushioning to my joints and should help keep my feet in the right position.
We'll see. If I don't win them, then I think I may go crazy and buy the beautiful bright metallic blue ones featured in the Robinsons Equestrian sale at the moment.
(and yes I realise the irony of this when my last post was about saving money!)

There is definitely a cold draft in my room. I can feel it...
So. Tuesday went well, got to the yard by half past, got told I'm now mucking out on both days... I don't mind really, just a bit sad when I feel so rushed.
Saved money as my lesson was cancelled - Whee! Although I was looking forward to it, anyway my ride went really well, pony is getting a lot fitter and I know where to push her now, although still a bit of a work in progress.
Anyway she's not going to be there tomorrow so maybe i'll be able to get everything done a bit quicker, not sure what she'll do before I get there. Feeds and hay would be good.
8 days till I find out with work. Its good having 4 people here now, I feel like things are getting done unlike before when it was a kinda losing battle to keep our heads above water (we were clearly failing)
I gotta start sorting my finances out. I am saving a little which is good but I simply seem to be hovering around the 200-400 mark in my usual account. Its good compared to 6 months ago (!) but I need more pennies! Never satisfied!
Need to get a bit more strict with myself I think, work out what I can cut down (obvious answer is NewPony but we won't go there!)
I need to pay off the money I used on my credit card to pay for my upcoming adventure, might do that this week with my wages. Stupid short February, will have to pay Mum some money in two weeks.
Ah well, back to playing silly farts online.

Watching a programme about penguins. EVERYONE loves penguins!
Horrid, yucky, rainy and snowy day. Will the weather ever improve? Its enough to put you in a right depressed mood. Mothers in one of her funny moods again. Abusing me cos she doesn't know how to use the skyplus remote. Cross with me because I was cross that she's taken my nice warm thermal socks to work.
Actually its wrong of me to be grumpy about that. Not her fault that she brought her own thermal socks and they don't fit under her shoes.
Still annoyed though as her feet are bigger than mine and when she's wearing them, my thick winter tights and another pair of socks, they'll be even more stretched than they are getting now.

Glumpy mood isn't improved when I think about how much riding is costing me and how little i'm saving now. And it's her birthday tomorrow so I need to give her some money to put towards her holidays.
Kinda hoping the arena isn't fit for riding.

Welshy doesn't want to come home to this. Can't blame him. We can't afford to move out though and should I really be thinking about getting my own pony when it means keeping us here? Selfish of me. Should dismiss the idea completely and concentrate on getting out of here.

Lovely, lazy weekend, just what I wanted. Chinese with Mother on Friday, and then yesterday off to football - once again we snatched a draw from the jaws of victory - Poor Kermogant looked well fucked off at the end. Glad I wasn't a player, they were disgustingly filthy and the pitch is a mess!
Awful weather!
Then off into Greeny with some of the N.M.M.C.A.S.C and met up with some friends from the museum, drank a lot, did a little dancing, educated people into strawpedo-ing and eventually got home a little after half 12, made vague plans to do it again soon.
Today - laid in bed for ages, just played online, read my latest H&R magazine and ordered a head torch off of Amazon - hopefully won't need to use it much now the days are getting noticeably longer but it'll do for next year as well, if, as I suspect I'll either be at that yard or possibly another one that's down a dark lane.
Only 16 days till I learn my fate at work and only 20 days till my holiday!

Yeah! Lunged yesterday, its all so complicated 30m rope, 6ft whip and a fiesty pony at the other end! Tiring though.
Got a contract at work! Sadly just the one I should have had when I started! Learnt that I can have 20 days leave dec-jan so plenty to get though!
Just to find out if my inter-railing adventure counts as part of it. Will be sad if it does as I have already planned three weeks of adventures! 22 days till I go and 19 work days till I find out whether I have a job or not!
So looking forward to this weekend, had a lovely lazy evening eating Chinese and my bath and a new book and a bottle of bacardi breezer. Football tomorrow and out with the Museum gang which I am also very much looking forward too and a lazy Sunday, might tidy my room a little, might read my new horsey magazine which I have been saving for such a day.
Yay for lie-ins!

Yay. New Pony owner had to leave early yesterday so I got to faff at my own speed and not feel rushed or pressured into anything.
I want to do polework with the pony but I don't feel like I can as she'll be constantly in a rush to get things done and to move on tomorrow, I don't mind. I'm grateful for the lift down that scary lane but tbh I'd rather do the walk than this kinda rushing and snide comments.
Did some more researching about the best way to get there rather than the 2hr trek I do at the moment. Sure she told me I couldn't get there from Chislehurst station but apparently I can and will save me time as well...
We'll try it tomorrow and see!
Work is still mega busy. I've expressed to KOM my sudden and new boss how I feel everything is kinda slacking as I work on repairing the damage with her. Sure unlike old boss she'll take it in.
Last of Africa tonight, enjoyed it and bless David Attenborough. How I hope I'm still fascinated by all animals and adventure the way he is at his age!

I seem incapable of lying in! Was up at twenty to nine, sat in bed though till close to 11 watching the news report on Richard 3rd. So fascinating!
Went and posted Welshy's brothers birthday present - only what? 4 weeks late? -  my bad. Couldn't find any wrapping paper either! Still... At least he's finally gonna get it!!
Collected the last of my Song of Ice and Fire books to read. Might put off starting it for a bit as much as I'm longing to get cracking, Welshy's left two books here so might sit and read them first.
Plus longer I put it off, closer it'll be to the next book coming out? Hah! Think there's been something like 15 years between book 1 and the one I have now so who knows? Makes my fevered wait for the Harry Potter books seem like they came out all really close together!
Set up a new ISA as well too. Gotta start replacing the money I had to spend, especially if I want to buy a pony in the Autumn!
Did a little weeding for Geronimo, must remember to have a look for pansies for him to plant soon.
Had a 2hr nap - nap intended - certainly not for that length of time though!

Back to work tomorrow and my Graze box will arrive. Secretly very excited about testing this, then pony in the evening.
Planning to meet with some of my chums from the NMM over the weekend which'd be cool :)

Woke up at 8.30 today. WTF. Ended up going to Granddad's and then got to Bluewater for 9.30. Except Sunday opening means shops don't start till 11. Big Win there.
Met a girl I knew from the stables a long time back and her mum. Very jealous for her, she's off to work on a Super Yacht! All that travelling. Lucky beast.
Got home and suddenly crashed. Napped for 2 hours, then just chilled watching the football. Busy updating my plan for horse budget now. I really dislike how it seems to be such a long day. Well over an hour home, well over an hour to get there from work.
Hadlow college is def closest option but no idea if they have private livery facilities or if I can afford it... Have heard rumours of 3k a year bills

Yawn, yawn, yawn. Going in today wasn't too bad. I caught up with some of the work that I'd not been able to do during the week. And then I swapped over and worked on the Big List while the other girl got on with the work she hadn't been able to do.
We had KFC, I ordered a Graze box to try. I was happy listening to Rock and Roll football harking back to my uni days until the other two girls decided they didn't want to listen to that any more so it went back to Heart playing the same 6 songs all day long. I prefer so much more the Virgin No Repeat workday.
And Rock and Roll Football.
But it passed by pleasantly enough. And now I have Sunday and Monday to myself.

So yesterday was pretty bad. I had such a stress headache!
The monthly NMC pin checks had to be done and as I suspected for a long time no one's ever thought to update it. So I set about it.
I came up with 60 confirmed names from those who had worked the last 6 weeks and then set about the task of tracking down their pin numbers and investigating if they were still registered, failed, lapsed etc.
Not an easy job when some of them didn't have pin numbers logged on the system so I had to hunt through their paper files - Oh and some of them didn't have it recorded on their paper files!
It was 4 hours of absolute frustration.
Then it was the usual race to the yard to get the comment of how she doesnt like the horses to be fed in this late. Not sure really what she expects me to do. I get there at 6.30 straight from leaving work at 5. I cannot get there any earlier!!
Anyway, had a lunging lesson which was interesting. Definately more practise needed I think.
Today I agreed to be a hero and go in tomorrow to try and help get a head start on what needs to be done.
Wishing I hadn't. But. Makes me look good, I get paid time and a half and Monday off for doing so.
Welshy has finished his first week! Just 4 to go till I have my epic week of adventures with him!

Wow.... Been a crazy 48 hours at work.My boss got sacked "with immediate effect" That leaves me second most experienced member of staff. Behind a girl who's been there three months longer than me. .
We had an internal audit of 10 staff... All of whom failed. Drastically. Enough to get us shut down immediately. Not sure how much of it was my bosses fault as he'd only been there since April and until I rocked up there was only two members of staff working on 903 candidates and the consultants are bastards for sending people to work before they are full 100% legal. So maybe he was the fall guy. Hopefully its made them realise what they need to do now to support us. Me. The other girl and the two new temps. One of whom started Monday.
So its a mental case of damage limitation now. I could build a decent sized fort out of the pile of the files in front of me.
I'd just started to feel at ease with what I was doing. I could work through it slowly and in a week. Now everything's turned on its head and I feel swamped and overwhelmed again. Like the wee dung beetle on Africa at the moment I'm pushing a dungball up a sand dune. Backwards.
I am feeling quite sorry for it at the moment! It keeps falling back down!
On to riding.
Lovely, lovely session yesterday. Was amazingly hard work and she bogged off with me twice but we got bend. We got her off the forehand and into a baby outline, all very good things. She complimented me on my "quiet seat and soft hands"
Going to learn to lunge tomorrow which'll be interesting should I survive another crazy day!

Urgh. This lady who owns newpony is seriously doing my head in.
She wants me to have a lesson with her instructor. Fine I say, I have no problem with that. Its good to have lessons. I want them anyway.
So she booked it for 6.30. I cannot get there earlier than that unless I leave work at 4.45. So I'll arrive at 6.30, change and get the pony ready (at least 15 minutes) and then be late. Unless I can get a cab... More expense.... I pointed this out to her and got a bit of a lecture about how I knew it was a way away and she can't change the time because she has to go see her child.
Sigh. At least I got warned this time. Last Tuesday I only found out there was a lesson on my way to the yard when there was no chance to go to a cashpoint to pay for it. Lucky she was texting me to tell me it was cancelled!
I've been looking into the possibility of keeping a horse at the new college yard in Shooters Hill. Unfortunately I don't think that's a possibility. They want the horse to be used every day in the lessons and limited turn out. Big problem is that they want large horses that are weight carriers. Minimum of 8 inches taller than Idiotpony and Newpony. Too tall for a Charby. Well I could kinda get away with it if they didn't want weight carriers.
Sigh. Am still hoping for the chance of private livery though. I think that'd be very expensive 3k a year? But if I looked into it properly and it covers hay and feed and bedding it may work out cheaper than a cheaper yard and buying my own of the above?
Still all just pipe dreams for now....

So that's Welshy gone again at 2am this morning. Already looking forward to 5 weeks time to see him and our week of adventure! (all sorted now bar buying train from Krakow to Prague)
Its been a busy old week. Tuesday I was at the yard, I got to finish at 4 which was good cos I got there at a reasonable time, shame it was too icy to ride.
Wednesday me and Welshy went to see Django Unchained. I do like Quentin Tarentino films - mostly. We won't talk about Kill Bill or Inglorious Bastards.
Thursday I went to give blood, Mum changed my appointment to 6.50 cos she didn't know at the time when I'd get there after work. I got there at 6.10 - Ooops. And they were running 30 minutes late. Couldn't leave in case they called me so sat there for the longest time reading "Gurgle - The magazine for Modern Mums."
Friday was Welshy's leaving do/birthday drinks, so cocktails with his friends in Farrendon weatherspoons and a nice meal in a nice restaurant and then off to a strip club.
Got home about 2.40, so spent most of yesterday tired and at football.
Granddad got himself admitted to hospital yesterday and Mum was there till late and went first thing this morning. She's just got back so I should go see what's what there.
Just sat up in my room at the moment watching Murray in the open. The sun is warm (for late Jan) so I have an open window and I feel rather content. Like a sunbathing cat at the moment.

Got to finish at 4 today! Hurrah for leaving work in the light! Got to the yard at a sensible time. Didn't get to ride though unfortunately :( Ground is frozen and slippy for horses too! Got to try my new torch out on the dark creepy lanes so that was fab and works well.
Had reasonably good day, got a lot done at work. A new girl has started who seems nice. I remember how overwhelmed I was with it all (still am tbh) so am trying to help her out as much as possible.
Welshy goes on Sunday morning, that'll be sad, but I'm looking forward to his night out Friday, maybe we'll go to the cinema tomorrow

Some of my booking is done! Flight to Budapest, two nights there. Sleeper train to Krakow and hostel there booked. Few problems booking sleeper from Krakow to Prague but hopefully I can call up the Rail Europe people tomorrow and get that done there. :)
Very excited.So far its cost me about 140 quid, hopefully I can get it all sorted for less than 200 as all I need is the sleeper to Prague, a hotel there and a flight home. Actually having considered this I've discovered flights home from Prague was 73 quid so that's that budget blown! Still adventures don't come along often so  it'll be worth it.
Snowed all day today, only light looking but its certainly settled. Shame it couldn't have happened a few days before. Not sure how it'll be getting to work. Or riding on Tuesday come to think of that....

So no 5 inch snow still. Grass is still poking out of the top of it all. Pitiful. Apparently tomorrow is the day when we'll get it. Rest of country seems knee deep. Course London has one inch and ground to a complete halt!
Had a lovely, lazy day. Was so cold downstairs I've spent most of it huddled under my duvet hugging my human hot water bottle. Had disturbing dream that I fell on Bad Leg and had it amputated.
Having small self imposed FaceBook break at the moment but once I'm back I'll upload my pictures of it here!
Been doing some homework about mini-inter-railing. Seeing as The Welsh One is off next week for five weeks before getting a week off, hopefully we'll go to Budapest, Krakow and Prague in a week, I've never got a sleeper train before. All very exciting, Welshy is out with friends at the moment but hopefully tomorrow we can book some shit up now I've got prices and times of trains and shit. Will be pretty expensive. Probably same as what I would have spent in India for two weeks but this will be just as much fun and three new countries compared to one I've already been too is loads better!!!!
And then back to saving, saving, saving. Saving for South Africa, saving to replace the savings I've lost. Saving to perhaps look into getting a pony of my own. We'll see.

Snow, snow, snow. Its been fairly light but consistant and settling. Welshy is out with friends, I'm glad I decided not to join him, it was already icing up when I left work at 4pm and I have no wish to make my already fucked leg worse by falling on black ice.
The way people have been kicking off, I was expecting the same as a few years ago, when it was so deep it was indistinguishable from road to pavement. This is barely an inch, I expect it to be at least 6 inches deep by the morn or I shall sulk.

Rode last night. Not sure if I like the lady that owns the pony I ride now, not only is she slightly patronising I get the feeling she feels put out to have to take me to and from the yard, although I've stressed I don't need it. Yes its intimidating but I've brought a headlamp and should I figure out how to use it, all will be well.
She sent me a text this afternoon telling me she needs to be able to leave the yard by 8.30 at the latest on Thursdays and I should have considered this when she told me about it being in the dark originally and ideally needing a car. If you thought like that, why didn't you politely say no thanks, you're not what we're looking for at the time?
I had a nice little session with the pony, she's already getting more responsive, although I'm putting that down to the cold. Anyway Owner Lady rocks up and starts telling me the best way to canter the pony, I listened politely for a bit and then said that I'd got a few short nice canters from her. She asked to see. Should I be right to be a bit annoyed by that? I got the feeling she didn't believe me. I think she forgets that the pony is young and yes she can be lazy but small short canters are the best way to build up muscle and fitness and soon she'll get the hang of going around corners in canter, she struggles to get a good trot or walk bend so canter bend would obviously be out of the question... Hmmm. I miss Idiotpony and being left to get on with things my own way.
I hope its just us getting to know each other and soon she'll back off and not question my tacking up skills. And I long for the days to hurry up and get longer quicker so I can get up there without being reliant on her, Tuesday I will go on my own as I can finish work at 4pm so I can avoid that although the walk will still be in the dark!

They've taken TWO new people on for my department at work, I still feel like I'm on trial and now I'll be competiting against the two new people. We'll see. They gave me a weeks leave for when Welshy is away so we might go mini-interrailling. Prague, Krakow and Budapest are currently being touted. Lots more exciting that two weeks in India!