Wow... I've managed to get online... OK, so I HAVE cheated in that it is the middle of the morning, and I'm at mum's while Mark is at school and Judi is... was in an exam and is then going back to dad's... but anyway...

I'M GOING ON HOLIDAY TOMORROW!!!! WOOHOO!! I get to spend a week with my mother, where I cannot escape her and all the conversations I just know she's going to have with me at some point. Like getting a job. And paying rent. etc.

And I know that those are going to come up because my dad started having this big go at me for not telling him that mum was going to be making me pay board over the summer, and did I think that I could take him for a ride and just pay one parent while not paying the other etc etc. And I was sitting there going WTF?! When did I agree that I was paying board over the summer to EITHER parent?! OK, sure, it was mentioned back in SEPTEMBER but nothing was ever agreed on, like rates or anything.

So saying that to him then started him off on how I never pay attention to anything that they say, and that the least I could have done with mum on the trip to Birmingham to pick up all my stuff on Sunday was to listen to her etc etc. OK, HELLO! Me and MUM went down to Birmingham, NOT him! So if anyone can explain to me how he knows even the slightest thing of what we talked or didnt talk about, please, feel free. Sure, mum may have meant to talk to me about it, but it NEVER CAME UP!!

OK... that little rant over... sorry to those who have already had to go through that...

Moving on... I'M HOME!! WOOHOO!! Mum had told me to bring back my big case as she only had an Astra booked. So I decided that not only would I take my case home, but I'd also take my laptop bag, my backpack and the small handheld bag that came with my cases. Got about halfway up the road to the bus stop before I regretted that decision! So, after a LONG while of having to stop every so often (read 30-40 yards) to regain some blood suply to my arms, I eventually got to the station.

I have recently, i.e. this last year, grown to HATE New Street station. The platforms are all below the complex part, so you have to go down stairs to get to the pllatforms. There is a lift, somewhere, but I've only used it once and that was with Amy who lives in Birmingham and therefore knows where it is and how to use it etc. So I'm standing at the top of this huge flight of stairs, aboout to try to navigate myself, 3 bags and a case down them thinking "this is going to kill me!" But then this guy comes up behind me and asks if I need a hand with my stuff? Now, last time, at Easter, a guy asked me that and I said I could manage. And regretted it. And I vowed that next time someone offered to help me the correct answer was YES! So this nice guy carried down my case and 2 bags for me. Sometimes I love playing the damsel in distress!

Got back to Newcastle where dad was running late so had to hang around for a bit to pick me up. But hey, it happens. So I didn't mind too much. He turned up, so we're pulling out of the station and he says that he has to run back to work because he left his laptop there. So, we trundle back, "stopped" infront of the "no parking" gates, and he goes out to get it. I look behind to see which building he left it in, happen to glance at the back seat where his laptop bag is sitting. So I'm a little confused. But then I think maybe he forgot to put the laptop in the bag. It could happen, right? So when he comes back empty handed, I'm slightly confused. Didn't he say he needed to pick it up? He gets in the car, and says in a small meek voice "I'm losing my mind. It's on the back seat." Apparently old age is setting in earlier and earlier.

Got back to mum's, and she isn't home yet, which is what was expected, hence having dad to pick me up. So he leaves to go do some food shopping for the next week, and a bit later mum comes in. Only she didnt bring back an Astra. Or anything like an Astra. She brought home a Xafira. A huge MPV bus thing. Was I impressed that I had brought home all the things I had when she had that as the car for the weekend?! Not really!

Went out in the evening with Sarah and Lucy and Kal and a few others to see Rocky Horror at the Theatre Royal... Or if your name is Dash, the Sage. Seriously, we told him to go to the big building on Grey street with the pillars. He heard "go to the slug"... Pillars. Slug. Pillars. Slug... yeah, I can't see how he got that mixed up. So then Kev, who had met us in town on his trike, had to go look for him.

So we're all standing around outside in miniskirts and corsets and stocking/suspenders or fishnets etc, and feeling a little underdressed. Especially as the police keep going by. Then we see these guys walking up the road in a corset and stockings and suspenders and suddenly we feel slilghtly over dressed... Sarah had provided the girls with bunny ears and the guys with Tiarra's, but by the end of the night I had swapped my bunny ears for Matt's Tiarra. Hey, I don't mind, I like them! Hehehe... And somehow during the night I became a sex goddess... And there was me thinking my secret was safe... But yeah, it was a really good night out.

Went down to Birmingham to pick up the rest of my stuff on Sunday. Got to just south of Derby to find that the road was closed. Great. And mum didn't have a map in the car. Double great. So we got to Tamworth where the diversion directed us onto the M42. And then directed us off at the M6 toll junction. Only mum had made it clear that she didnt want the toll road. However, living in Brimingham has its uses, and living on the road that ends beneath junction 6, i.e. spaghetti junction, has even more uses. Cos I know what roads go over there and what roads it is possible to get to my house on. So I calmly inform her that staying on the M42 will get her on the non-toll M6 which then passes junction 6 and it is possible to leave there and get to the house.

So, after arriving and packing up everything in the kitchen and packing the MPV, I am exremely greatful that A) we have said MPV, B) Mark decided not to come along with us, and C) I had brought all of the stuff back on Friday that I had. Because this car was packed full. There was no way we would have managed with an Astra. At all.

Got back with a smal diversion via Tamworth again, only this time we stayed on the M42, cos it was easier to do that then to try to find the A38. So yeah, that was a fun day. And yet no-where in the whole 7 1/2 hour round trip did the subject of paying board over the summer come up. It's money, I would have remembered if it had come up!

Went to the cinema on Wednesday. Saw X Men 3, which was a cool film. Undersatnd that I aint the comic buff some people are, and so I don't claim to know how close to the facts it was or anything, but from my perspective it was a cool film.

Judi has been driving me crazy the last few days. It's almost like she has taken on the role of parent when they aren't around. And it can be pretty annoying. But I think what annoys me more is that she can annoy me to the extent that she does. I mean, she's younger than me, yet she can stil hurt me more than I can hurt her. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe not. *shrug*

But anyway,Ii'm in another country from her for a week starting tomorrow!! So yayness! Ok, I'm off, I gotta go pack. Wow... this was a long post...