Welcome To The World - Bethany Grace Goff

I just had to post these pictures of my new niece, Bethany Grace Goff, born 30th October 2007, weighing in at 7lbs 13 or something. What a little honey!

If You're British, Join The Queue!

The Brits, well, they love their queues. I don't mean in a plutonic sort of way, no, seriously man, they LOVE their queues. Anywhere, anyhow they can get them, they'll get in a queue. Wanna buy a chocolate? Join the queue. Wanna get on the bus? Join the queue. Wanna get on the tube? Join the queue... So today, still being half term, I decided to go up town to the Natural History Museum. I've never been there, and I have to say, it was really good. Actually I need to go again, because I really didn't see all of it the first time. Why? Because of the queues... There was a queue to go in. A queue to buy tickets to the special displays (one showing the winners and runners up in the Wildlife Photography of the Year, one about Antarctica). A queue to get coffee. A queue for the loo. And the biggest, hugest, longest (45 minute!) queue to see the Dinosaurs... no wonder I didn't get to see it all! I did see the Wildlife Photography display, this was incredible. There were some absolutely amazing photos - like the one of a cheetah in the Serengeti - where you could see the car the photographer was in reflected in the eyes of the cheetah - or the one of the penguin jumping out of the water, or the shark jumping out of the water... the pictures were incredible. I also went to the "Antarctic" special display, but was rather disappointed in this, as although the woman selling me the ticket assured me it was for adults too, alas, it was mostly a child's thing. Lot's of interactive displays that you had no chance of looking at for the minions of kids already on them. Oh well. After this, I headed into Oxford Street, because today they were launching the new Mac OS - Leopard. I found out yesterday I'm eligible for the upgrade for free (well, nearly free - I have to pay p&p on the disk as I have to buy it online) because my Mac arrived after 1st October. So, I thought I would go up and have a bit of a look at the Launch, as I would like to see what the changes are in the OS. Seriously, that was a stupid thing to do. First of all, I got the tube from South Kensington to Oxford St, and upon arrival, discovered that I couldn't leave the tube - because they were holding people back on the pavement due to congestion. So we had to queue to leave the tube... and fight the crowds on Oxford St... just to leave the station. I then made my way around the corner towards the Apple shop - to be confronted by the longest queue I have seen in a while (barring the Wimbledon queue, of course!) - it was snaking right around the block and almost back double on itself! I should've given up then, but decided, as I didn't have anything else to do today, I would stay and see what it's all about. I'm glad I did, it was very interesting and can't wait for my copy of Leopard to arrive - although with the ongoing postal strikes, goodness only knows when that will be...

Swimming With Sharks!

No, this isn't going to be a post about swimming with the Wobbegong at the Tangalooma wrecks, sorry to disappoint. Instead, its a post about the recent play I went to see, "Swimming with Sharks", starring Christian Slater, and currently playing at the Vaudeville Theatre, Strand. Also starring Helen Baxendale, a.k.a Ross' British wife "Emily" from Friends.

I managed to get cheap tickets to the Thursday matinee for this from lastminute.com, for £18.75. I thought that was pretty good because they're normally £30+. I decided though to go by myself as its half term holiday and many of my friends have gone away, plus I really wanted to see this play. The play is about a movie producer called Buddy Ackerman (played by Christian Slater, who was absolutely excellent) who is basically the boss from hell. He has a new assistant, Guy, who is an aspiring screenwriter, and the play centres around Guy's rise up the career ladder. It has a dark twist at the end, and the script is really captivating and enthralling.

As I said, I went to see this one by myself, and when I arrived at the theatre I discovered that all holders of 'Upper Circle' tickets were immediately upgraded to the 'Dress Circle' - and could choose a seat in rows F or G. I sat down and not long after, a Kiwi girl sat down a few seats away from me, also on her own. She was quite a talkative sort, and I enjoyed a very pleasant chat with her, although I was very peeved to find that she couldn't pick my accent (aw - come on - seriously!) although I could pick hers straightaway (like that's hard with Kiwi accents) and also she had rather an unfortunate laugh, and insisted on laughing throughout the whole play. Now I might just add at this point - it's not a comedy...

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable afternoon and a very pleasant play. Both Christian Slater and Helen Baxendale were absolutely amazing, and the set was incredible too - very versatile. A lovely afternoon, after all...

Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life!

This week is half term from school, and surprisingly, I haven't gone away anywhere. This is not for want of trying, mind, but I wasn't really able to get my 'a' into gear, and so my various plans fell thorough. Originally I wanted to go to the Yorkshire Dales and hike the Dales Way - a 6 or 9 day 100 mile hike (depending on how hard you wanted to go each day) - but I didn't manage to sort out my accommodation or transport properly, and so that trip didn't happen. This puts me in the unusual position of being on holiday but still in London. What am I to do?

Well, rather than be depressed about it, I decided I would 'always look on the bright side of life' and make the most of it, so yesterday I started my Christmas shopping. Took myself off to Knightsbridge and had a wander around the shops. I have discovered the 137 bus takes me direct there, from the end of my road - pretty good eh, when you consider Mayor Ken has just recently put down the cost of a bus ride if you use your Oyster card - from £1.00 to £0.90 - if you don't have an Oyster it costs you an exhorbitant £2.00!

Anyway, wandered around the shops, had a lovely afternoon tea (yummy New York cheesecake and Cafe Latte) at Harrods, then moseyed on back to Chateau La Streatham.

Today I messed around doing some housey type stuff in the morning, then got my favourite 159 bus up to town to meet friends for coffee and to go to the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery really was quite interesting, they have portraits of so many different famous people, but my favourites were:

• The Tudor gallery - really liked the pics of Walsingham, Sir Frances Drake and of course Elizabeth I.
• The pics of Joseph Banks and Captain Cook (hey what Aussie wouldn't be interested in those) - oh and of Governor Philips too
• The pics of Diana, Princess of Wales
• The Warhols - especially Elizabeth II.

Anyway, after this we went for dinner at Satsumas before heading off to see a show. We'd been to the half price booths and managed to get tickets to "Spamalot" for £18 - much reduced from the £30 so-called 'half price' tickets that were being offered by the 'official' half price booth!

The show was amazing! The special effects were really quite spectacular considering they were being done live on a stage, the singing was very good (the Woman in the Lake though was the best, just amazing - such a tonal range she had!), the story captivating - but for me the best part was that the actor playing "King Arthur" was none other than Peter Davidson. Ok, now I'm sure you're sitting there going - who? But if I tell you that he was one of the old Doctor Who's - you might get it - but if you're from my family and I tell you that he was Tristan in "All Creatures Great and Small" - ah, there you go! His singing, to be fair, was pretty pov, but his comic timing and general performance was excellent.

I had a bit of a look on you tube for some clips, but all I could find was one from the Tony Awards, and one about the World Record attempt they did recently for the largest coconut orchestra, where they packed out Trafalgar Square on St George's day with people playing coconuts to "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life". Here they are:





Shame the dudes around the camera person are rubbish singers!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the evening, it was awesome, such an enjoyable show, such clever music, such a funny script. Quality...

Rendition

Tonight Jane, Nic and I went to see "Rendition". We decided to brave the local Odeon here in Streatham, despite our better judgement (remember last time I went to the Odeon with Jane she had to get a woman chucked out because her child wouldn't be quiet). Suffice to say the Streatham population again didn't disappoint, and although they weren't bad enough to warrant calling for the manager, they were disruptive. I just don't get it. Why pay £7 to 'not see' a movie, and be disruptive and noisy? Can't you do that at home for free? Anyway, I thought the film was very good, much better than "The Kingdom" (although to be honest, that wouldn't be hard). The plot was excellent, there was a bit of a twist to it all (always a good thing I think) and the acting pretty good - I particularly liked Reese Witherspoon's and Meryl Streep's performances, although I thought Jake Gyllenhaal was pretty ordinary. I have never seen any of his films and I don't really know, judging from this one, what all the fuss is about. He was watchable, I guess. At least there was enough in the plot to keep you going, rather than focussing on his average performance. So on the kmuki 'film-o-metre', I'd give this one about a 7, and "The Kingdom" about a 3. If you're wanting a film about Islamic extremists, go for "Rendition" - steer well clear of "The Kingdom" unless you want headaches and a bit of a snooze.

The Kingdom

So on Friday night I went to see "The Kingdom" starring Jamie Foxx. Now to be honest, I haven't actually seen any films of his, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but hey, it's half term and I haven't been to the movies for a while, and the synopis looked kind of interesting. Yeah, in a back of the eyelids sort of way. Don't go see this film if you are susceptible to epileptic fits. Ok, I know epileptics are affected by flashing lights, and there weren't any in this film, so I'm being facetious, but seriously, the whole film was shot by some guy using a handheld on the back of a moving vehicle who had never heard of a tripod. I mean, really! I had a major headache by the end. I don't know how they think that style of shooting is acceptable, I'm surprised that they haven't been sued by migraine sufferers or something! And as for Jamie Foxx? Well I don't get what all the fuss is about, actually. Cute factor = 0, acting ability = maybe 4 or 5... and there is really not much else to say about him. Jason Bateman was alright, I guess, but that was about it. Do yourself a favour, give this one a miss!

Sutton Ladies Day Trip To France Advertisement

Tonight whilst watching the rugby I was a tad antisocial and created a video advertising our up-and-coming day trip to France...

What do you think? Most of the footage was from when we went to France in May last year, and then the first bit is of Sutton High Street yesterday. I guess I have to be careful though about using "Flight of the Bumblebee" for fast motion stuff, better find something new or it will get pretty boring (remember I already used it for the 'How to Work a Lock' video). Any suggestions welcome, thanks. I got the idea for the Amelie music in the French bits from Erik, I was going to use the 'Allo 'Allo theme song, but then thought the ladies might subconsciously think the day trip would be a hapless comedy of errors... Oh and by the way, the 'star' actors in this little snippet are Erik, Nic and Q - and about a coupla hundred people wandering around Sutton High Street...

The Balance Has Been Restored

Phew! Although it took the Saffa's to do it, the balance has been restored. The Southern Hemisphere wins out again. Yes, I'm talking rugby world cup. Tomorrow at church will be so much easier now that the Poms were defeated, there shouldn't be too much snootiness going on, too much nose-rubbing, or some such. Thank goodness for that. The cup is going back to the 'Antipodeans'... Only hope next time I don't have to rely on an Antipodean team in a green or black jersey... come on you Wallabies!

Welcome to the Revolution

I have been a Mac owner now for a week. I have to say so far I have been very impressed with my new computer, it does all that it's supposed to, doesn't crash, pack up or have a hissy fit when I try to use more than one programme at a time (being female I am able to multi-task very well, thank you very much), it's very fast, very sleek, and very cool - and although I had a few initial concerns re the power adaptor (which actually was faulty - but Apple replaced it instantly, so no hassles there), I haven't had any problems since (touch wood). Unlike my poor school PC - which is off again getting rebuilt because goodness only knows why... it doesn't actually want to open up any programmes, which is a bit of a problem really. Don't get me wrong, I've not gone totally Mac-bonkers, I'm not about to go out there and make Mac vs PC adverts or something - I think both have their strong points - it's just that my recent experience of PCs has been in using the school ones which are always crashing, right when you're about to lead an assembly with Yr 8... or teach a lesson that's being observed... or just turn it on... But isn't it funny how once you go 'over to the dark side' you suddenly become aware of just how many others there are of you? Like for example, if you've never owned a Peugeot or something, once you buy one you suddenly notice how many other people have one? Or if you change to a Motorola phone, suddenly everyone else seems to have a Motorola? Well, its been like that for me with the Mac. I have to say that this week I have seen more people using Macbooks, Powerbooks, Macbook Pros - any type of Mac - than I have ever seen. Like for example, today we had workshops for the Yr 10s about the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery (they're creating pieces to perform in honour of the event) - and the two workshop leaders both brought their Macbooks to school for the workshop. And yesterday I was in a meeting and one of the people there pulled out a Macbook. And the day before I was in another meeting - and low and behold there was a Macbook there too! Not to mention the guy in Starbucks using his Mac... with no PCs to be seen at any of these occasions. It's a Mac Revolution! They're taking over the world... and now that I've joined, it's actually not that hard to see why...

Scoot's Little Journey...

On Sunday morning I went out early to my car and headed off for church as usual. I didn't pay much attention to my surroundings as it was very early in the morning, and I had to be at the meeting early because the band were attempting a big number with the piano, an arrangement of Holy Holy Holy, and we needed the practise. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts that I couldn't tell you if Jane's scooter, a.k.a "Scoot", was parked out the front of the house. But when I got home mid-afternoon I did register that he wasn't there in his usual parking spot. "Ah," I said to myself, "Jane's gone out." And I thought no more of it. It didn't even register later, when I headed up the stairs to 'see a man about a dog', and heard the TV in Jane's room. "Jane must be home," I thought. And again, thought no more of it. But about an hour later, Jane came bounding down the stairs, ready to head off to Kat's to watch the rugby. She went out to warm up Scoot - and he wasn't there. He wasn't down the side of the house, he wasn't on the street. He wasn't anywhere to be seen. It was as if the rapture had been and gone, taking him up to heaven, leaving his silvery cover in his place. No Scoot at all. Some blighter's gone and nicked 'im. Thus ensued a series of phone calls to the local constabulary to report Scoot's disappearance. "Madam, when did you last see your scooter?" Jane was asked. She could not recall, as she had not been outside the house that day. She asked me, but of course in my rush that morning, I hadn't noticed. The only certainty was that Scoot, practically devoid of petrol bar a few fumes, had been parked in his usual spot on Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon was gone. The disappearance finally reported, there was nothing more for it, so Jane headed off to Kat's for the rugby and tried to, for the next few hours, put the whole sorry experience behind her. The next day, Jane had a flexi day from work, and ventured down to the High Street in search of groceries. She meandered home via several back streets, and lo and behold! There was Scoot, parked outside some blighter's house! Quickly, quickly, she rushed back to Chateau La Wavertree, grabbed her spare keys and raced back to rescue him from the den of thieves. Once Scoot was safely ensconced back at home, she phoned the police to alert them to his return. During the course of the conversation, she indicated that thieves had actually filled Scoot up - he now had a full tank of petrol. But how could they have managed to open the petrol tank without the keys? And why did Jane need her SPARE set to retrieve him, and not her usual keys? Elementary, my dear Watson - the keys had been in the ignition THE WHOLE TIME! Suffice to say, the lesson has well and truly been learned... all's well that ends well... this time...

The Boys Are Back In Town!

Last night was Erik's 30th birthday party, and a bunch of us from school went along. The party had a 'cross-dresser' theme, so the girls had to dress as boys, and the boys as girls! My friends Stacey and Agnieszka didn't want to brave the buses of London in their boy kit, so I invited them over so we could all get dressed here. Ken lent me his pinstripe suit jacket, a waistcoat and a hat, and I got a tie and shirt from Primark (very cheap - only £5).

It was a fun night, the highlight of the evening for 'Erika' was when 'her' 'brother' arrived from Boston, USA - completely a surprise!

Don't we all look a treat!

'Kyle' 'Hezekiah' and 'Mickey Spillane'"Evening, Madam!"'Kyle' and 'Erika'

A New Arrival...

Yay! Finally, it's here - MY NEW MAC!!

It arrived whilst I was at school. I was in the middle of teaching Yr 11 when a kid came down from reception with a note to say that it had arrived - oh boy, that was the longest 20 minutes til the pips (Pommy version of the bell) went - but luckily it was the lesson just before lunch and I could go up, get the Mac, and spend my lunch break setting it up (and to be honest, period 5 too as I had a free)...

I can't be bothered to take a photo of it, but I can post you a stock photo - here it is:
It's got:

• 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1440 x 900 resolution
• 2GB memory
• 160GB hard drive
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 128MB SDRAM
• 15 inch screen

Now why am I publishing all that gobbledy-gook? Because in 10 year's time, when I look back at this, I'll laugh at how excited I was over a computer with those specs (ok, who am I kidding, it'll probably be outdated within a month). Crikey, I remember how excited we all were when we finally got a 486!

So although the waiting was absolutely awful, it's now over and I am certainly one happy camper - hey, I need some sort of excitement and happiness, the Poms are playing the Frogs tomorrow, and it should've been us...

The Postal Strike

Today was the end of the second of two, 48-hour postal strikes which, according to the Times, have "crippled" the nation. I don't know so much about how accurate the "crippled" comment is, but I will say, it has been a right royal pain in the proverbial. Mostly, this is because, as you all know - I AM STILL WAITING FOR MY COMPUTER TO BE DELIVERED!

The issues at stake are the usual - money, job cuts, pensions, working conditions. The posties want more than the 2.5 or some such pay rise that is being offered. There's the possibility of the loss of some 40,000 jobs. The pension issue, I'll be honest, I don't actually know about, but I did hear some postie dude who phoned up LBC to talk about the working conditions. As far as I can make out, the management at Royal Mail want the posties to work in teams who would cover for each other when colleagues are absent - effectively making the posties work overtime for no extra pay.

Now I'll admit, that all seems pretty crap to me. And as such, in part, I'm sympathetic to their plight - I recognise their democratic right to strike (hey, I took part in the teacher's strikes back in 2002) - but come on - 48 hours at a time? With a 'rolling programme' of more strikes next week too? You've got to be kidding, right? Who do they think they are, Tube drivers?

Seems to me, the Poms are pretty good at this "strike" malarkey. First of all, seems like every other month the Tube drivers are on strike because of 'pay and working conditions'. Well, what do you expect in terms of working conditions - the trains run underground, and you knew this when you signed up for the job - so of course you're not going to see daylight in the day... Then there was the Firefighter's strike of 2002 - now that was a doozy! I had organised a trip to the Wigmore Hall for Year 7 that day - 150 kids on 3 coaches to go hear one of the "Bright Sparks" type concerts. It all started off fairly smoothly, we got all the kids on the coaches without too much hassle, headed off to the concert through typical standstill central London traffic, made it in good time to attend the concert. Kids slept through the concert (it was pretty dull, to be honest) and then it was time to hop in the coaches and go back to school.

Because the concert had taken place in the morning, the kids hadn't had lunch, and the way the kitchen operates at CEBS, we had to be back in time for lunch or there wouldn't be anything left for the kids. The first coach turns up and we ship a load of 'em off back to school. But the 2nd and 3rd coaches don't arrive. Slight problem. Where are they? Much phoning of CEBS, the coach company, CEBS again, the coach company again. Kids getting restless downstairs, being baby-sat by the staff (who are also getting restless). Me and Tina (the Head of Year) upstairs waiting for the coaches - and then we discovered the problem. One of the coaches, the 2nd one, to be precise, had spontaneously caught fire in the middle of a congested one-way street, literally around the block from where we were waiting. The 3rd coach is immediately behind it and can't get through. And all this in the middle of a firefighter strike!

The Government's contingency plan for the firefighter strike is to employ the Army's "Green Goddesses", antiquated fire trucks at least 50 years old, with a top speed of 50 mph, a portable pump, 2 hose reels and a first aid kit. Hm. Now I feel safe, don't you?

Anyway, the Green Goddess comes, puts out the fire, and then the police have the task of re-directing all traffic so that the 3rd coach can reverse down the one-way street and drive around a different way to get to us at the Wigmore Hall. Meanwhile, another coach is enroute to pick up the 2nd coach's passengers.

Suffice to say instead of being back at school at 1pm, it was 3.30pm before we got there. Thank you very much firefighters for your helpful strike!

Of course, now, thinking back to this, and in light of the postie's situation - I respect their right to strike, but only as long as it doesn't affect me - but it does. In the midst of all this pain and suffering, there is still one huge, serious, matter of life or death issue that hasn't been resolved - WHERE THE DEVIL IS MY COMPUTER?!!

A Pleasant Afternoon in Wissant

Despite the traumas of the Wallaby's loss to the Poms, we spent a very pleasant time in France on Saturday. We travelled over on the Eurotunnel (how I love how cheap that is!) and then made our way some quaint little back roads to a town called Wissant. Stella had suggested it to us as a lovely spot for lunch, it's a cute little seaside town with quite a few charming restaurants.

We made our way to the beach first. Quentin (a.k.a "Q", who had been on the Great CBA with us) wasn't able to make it on this trip because of the hoo-hah of the Schengen visa that all Saffas need to go to France, so he asked us to bring back something that reminded us of him. We weren't really sure what to get him, so in the end what we did was take photos of things that reminded us of "Q". Some of them were actually pictures of us being the "Q"...

Nic's Q....

Erik's Q...

My Q..

The last time I was on a beach in France was April this year, with Mum and Mal in Dunkirk, so obviously I was thinking of them, and took this picture for Mum...
Had a lovely seafood meal in one of the restaurants (although had never eaten cockles before, so that was a bit of an experience - plus I'm not a big fan of oysters so I kind of had to bury that one on the shell plate eh) and then we moseyed on to the shops for a visit to my favourite - Sephora! BTW Armani have a new perfume out, so of course I had to get that one...

Anyway it was a lovely day (marred of course by the dismal Wallaby performance...)!

An Open Letter To The Wallabies

Dear Wallabies,

I write to you tonight with heavy, despondent heart. I write to you as Anne of Green Gables, from the very depths of despair, as one for whom tomorrow will bring no dawn, no promise of 'being fresh, with no mistakes in it'. I write to you as one who has committed a crime, has seen the consequences of it, and has come to accept their guilt. You see, I have a confession, and an apology to make.

When you needed me, when you were suffering the humiliation of imminent defeat against a seemingly lesser opponent on paper, when you were struggling to hold your heads up, let alone high, with some pride - I, your number one fan, was not there. Oh, I was in France alright - but not at Marseille (seriously, who could afford the tickets?) - no, I went for lunch in a lovely little restaurant at Wissant before indulging in a spot of Christmas shopping at Cite Europe. And I wasn't wearing my Wallaby jersey like I normally would be on game day, nor was I carrying around an Aussie flag or anything like that. Nor was I watching the game (although I was getting text updates from Jane).

Now don't worry, I haven't lost my patriotism, my good old Aussie spirit, despite several years in the fray here in the UK. It's just that my Wallaby jersey, lovely as it is, is men's size, and therefore makes me look like a boy. And you can't go clothes shopping in France looking less than stylish - which is why I decided against wearing it on game day.

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, I know I shouldn't have gone shopping in France with it being game day with the Poms. I had serious doubts and feelings of grave premonition, which I should've listened to, and as a result, I should've stayed home, put on my Wallaby jersey and scarf, set up my flag, made a pavlova, held a barbie, blown up a few tim tams, cracked open a pack of Chicken Crimpys and stuck on a John Farnham CD. Especially as "Kicky Boy" was playing - your nemesis, Johnny "Mr Hog the Ball and Don't Let Anyone Attempt to Score a Try" Wilkinson - the man who makes all games deathly dull and boring, as the minute he gets the ball he kicks it for goal. Boring, boring BORING!!! We want a game with real rugby, with actual TRIES being scored!!

The last time we played England in the Rugby World Cup I was in Barcelona with Mum and Mal, sitting on the upper levels of a double decker bus, behind an English couple, touring the city. Oh what a tragic day that was, when we narrowly lost. And here again, the same thing happens - I'm in a foreign country, unable to support in my usual manner - "Kicky Boy" strikes and you go to pieces and lose the game.

Saturday was a dreadful repeat of that humiliating experience. I guess I am partly to blame, I didn't do my part - but boys, neither did you! Where were you? What on earth were you thinking? Who were this group of impostors who turned up to 'play' rugby? How can you do this to the country? How can you do this to me, knowing I had to return to the UK through UK customs, suffering grave ribbing and taunts by the customs official (and having to be polite lest they deny me re-entry). And not only the taunts of the customs dudes, no, I have to go to Band on Tuesday night, and bare the brunt of it all - all because last week I, your number one fan, wore my true colours and decked myself out in my Wallaby jersey to go rub it in the face of the Pommy bandsmen. Oh, how that plan backfired!

But the final insult, is now that the Kiwis are out too (to be honest, I wasn't really very cut up about that, sorry Jane) - and Fiji have gone - I find myself in the unenviable position of having to support the Saffas, because there is just no way we can have a Northern Hemisphere team win the world cup again... especially not the Poms, I just couldn't bear it (or endure the humiliation...)

Boys, I love ya - but this problem with "Kicky Boy" and the Poms is seriously wearing thin... DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! You can't go on like this...

I remain your number one fan (for now),

kmuki

The Waiting Game

It's quite a well known fact I'm not a very patient individual. I absolutely hate waiting. Traffic? Hate it. With a vengeance - sitting there, wasting time, for no apparent reason (other than the fact there are too many cars on the road). Buses? Hate 'em. You wait, and wait, and wait - and then when one finally comes, it's too full, so they don't stop to let passengers on. Restaurants? Love going, hate waiting. Especially when they're not that busy, or the waitress / waiter is too lazy to come and take your order, or too busy talking to their friends to actually provide a service (include check out chicks in that one too). And at some restaurants, despite keeping you waiting forever for your food, they still have the hide to expect a tip (like, why would I tip if I've been kept waiting?). New series of Prison Perv? Love the show, hate waiting for it. And once the new season starts, there's then the waiting game for each week's episode...

So if I can at all avoid it, I won't be kept waiting. If there's something that I want to buy, and I can buy it now and take it home (rather than order it online and wait for ages) - unless the price is hugely different, I'll probably go that option.

Which is why it's a little out of character when you hear the story of my mac. I've wanted one for a while, but when it comes to spending big money, I try to do the right thing and do my research properly before I buy - so I've been looking into macs for a couple of months now (well since July anyway). A couple of weeks back, I found myself in the mac store in Regent Street - with a very good deal on a macbook pro - and I bought it. But when I got it home I realised that I really wanted the one with more memory - and the only place to buy it was online. Aaagghh! So I take that one back and order the one I really want - only to be told that despite the fact online it estimates delivery in 7-10 days (give me strength), no, its going to be THREE WEEKS!!!! THREE WHOLE WEEKS?!! How can I wait that long?

But its the one I really want, plus you get a free nano with it. 4GB video model. Ok, well I guess I waited 3 months, 3 more weeks isn't going to kill me.

Except it is! The waiting is unbearable!

So I went online to check on the 'status of my order' yesterday - only to find it should have been shipped 3 days ago! I phoned them up - because also I wanted to see if I could change from a 4GB to an 8GB nano - and they said that I can't change my order because IT'S ON THE VAN! But still I haven't received the 'shipping despatch' email they promised to send when it's on it's way - which means it's sitting in the back of some van in Hong Kong or something - when it should be here already!

I don't think I can take it anymore... Hurry up, Apple!