buying a flat

In the next month my lovely other half and myself will have been going out for four years. "Four Years?" I hear you say, that is a long time. Well, I imagine you are saying that because before I started going out with Craig I used to talk to people who had been going out for anything more than two years and think Wow, that is ages. But now after four glorious years, time no longer surprises me because i know that actually time can fly by.

But anyway, that is not the point of this post. After four years we have decided to move in together. Now often moving in together involves discussions about whose place you move in to and the clearing of half a wardrobe and 2 drawers to let your other half slot into your life.

This however is not the case for Craig and myself. We both still stay with the parents. Blissful in a  house that has a fully stocked fridge and someone who will help out with the laundry. Therefore moving in together for us involves saving lots and lots for a deposit and trawling around flats until we find "the one."

Now, saving for a deposit is not fun. Not because I don't want a flat, but more because it is a long process and you look at the money building up and say things like- "Imagine the holiday we could get on that" and eventually as you reach your desired amount "We could probably drop everything and explore the world for a year on that!"

However  as tempting as all of these things are, you just have to keep reminding yourself that actually the money can go towards your first home and can be the start of your future together.

And so with this in mind I have given up clothes shopping and have missed many nights out and now we are here. Ready to enter into the category of "First time buyers."
According to the news we are a dying breed and I am not surprised, buying a first home is hard. If we hadn't both been fortunate enough to save without paying rent I think I would be writing this post aged 35, not now.

It is a daunting idea buying a place. Especially at the moment when you are faced with stories about people trapped in their first homes because they cant afford the next step up the ladder. But I guess it is like most things in life which are worth doing- it is a leap of faith. Yes it is scary and exciting but in the end, I think everything will be ok.

But anyway I am getting off the point. So, Craig and I are getting our first home together (Hopefully the first of a few as ultimately I want a turret, don't worry he is aware of this. I want to sit in my turret and write great things.)

Now I am sure you are thinking I am speaking a-lot about the actual property and not the fact that this is quite a big step in a relationship. Now, I have no doubt that once we live together we will both do things which irritate the lives out of each other (for example Craig ALWAYS leaves his wet towel on the bed, a habit which already drives me nuts) but I think the majority of the time we will bounce happily along. Because, the thing is, I am not scared about the living together part. It just feels right. We are ready to live together and I think we have been for quite a while. So you can call me naive if you want but when it comes to actually living with Craig I am not worried. But don't worry once we move in together I will keep you updated.

But the hunt for a flat is quite epic. Little things can make the perfect flat terrible. I seem to have a fondness of flats with wood boring insects. Turns out these are a big "NO" when buying property. Also, it might surprise you to hear, but we are not loaded and so on our budget in the City Centre (which is where we would like to live while we are still relatively young) our options are small (literally).

We have seen many flats where you couldn't get us both in the kitchen (this did not please chef Craig and did nothing for my worries about the size of my bum). There were some where the double bedroom advertised was a blatant lie. Yes you could get a double bed in it but nothing else.

However we have spent the past two months looking desperately on ASPC at the flats available and going to viewings when we can. This post has ended up to be very long so I am going to stop here and if you want to find out if we have found the right flat... you will have to tune in next time.

Kisses

Fi

xxxxx

six months on.

First, I must apologise, it has been a long time since I have blogged to you all. I realise that probably no-one missed me too much but if you did I am sorry.

When I started this Blog I set it up to pass on my experiences of graduating from university and what life has brought me. I went a little off course with tales of spiders and just the general ridiculousness of my life, but i thought I would give you all an update on life after Uni.

This week I finished my 6 months probation period of my first ever paid job as a reporter. It seems they are going to keep me - which is nice of them!!

So what has it been like doing uni and getting a job in what I want to do? Honestly, it has caused me mixed emotions. From excitement of yes this great and what I want to do, to I am so bored and disillusioned I want to cry to I am terrified and am not cut out for this. I think these feelings are fairly normal (or at least I hope they are!!)

I will admit that I have quite often been bored, not because I am so brilliant that the work is too easy, but simply that sometimes there isn't much to do. It is on days like these I have to remind myself that this is my first step and that I should just be grateful to be in the position I am in. I get to sit and write all day which for me is pretty much living the dream!

However it is still a little scary to no longer be a student, I know that sounds silly but some mornings when my alarm goes off at 7 I close my eyes and dream of 2pm lectures and weekday nights out. I think the adjustment from education of any kind to work is hard!I

Fortunately, for my sanity a  number of my friends finished uni at the same time of me and so we were all a little bit lost together. And to be honest I think that many of us will admit that we are still a little lost by it all. There are so many questions to be answered- Where do I want to live? What do I want to do? Do I want to start work straight away? To name but a few.

So I have watched my friends and myself all go through different experiences. Some have jobs they want, some have jobs they don't want and others are planning adventures in distant lands. But I think all things considered, we are all doing pretty well. Some days I find myself in my office thinking; what is the point? I have no idea how I am going to get where I want to be. It can be frustrating and disheartening. But it can also be exciting. I sometimes look at my dream jobs and think- that will never be me! But now I just keep telling myself- someone has to do it, so why not me?

I also know people who simply don't know what they want to do. But how many of us actually do?

As the sunscreen song says: "Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives."

But regardless of where my friends are in their lives, I am so very proud of all of us. Because well, we have come so far and we have reached so high. . .

But no seriously, on the whole, things are going well. I am happy and content for now and am looking forward to seeing what the next six months will bring. . .  oh and I promise I will try to start blogging more.

Love and kisses,

Fi

xxxx

Spider troubles

So, for those of you who do not know this about me, I do not like spiders. They are creepy. All leggy and furry and ahhh they make me shiver. Even talking about them makes me panic.

I have had a few bad experiences with spiders. One of which involved my boyfriend (who is also afraid of spiders- what is that about?!). One night I was in the bathroom of my house brushing my teeth, when in the mirror I noticed something massive on the wall next to my bathroom door.
This thing was HUGE, in the mirror it looked like a big black spot and I thought it was maybe a hole in the wall- I don't know why there would be a hole in the wall, but this was the most sensible conclusion cause this was huge.

But, when I turned around it was not a hole in the wall, oh no it was the biggest spider I have ever seen.
Being a sensible female I screamed. Very loudly.

When I screamed the spider moved. Now at this point I was standing on the floor and thought if it comes off the wall onto the floor it will crawl onto my leg and then... well i don't know what would have happened then but the thought was horrific.

The only way out of the bathroom was to pass the monster- and as obviously the spider meant me harm and would leap off the wall towards me, this was not an option. So I did the sensible thing and jumped in the sink.

Ultimately my boyfriend, who was very brave considering he normally screams like a girl, saved me. But this should give you an idea of how much I hate spiders.

So, two weeks ago i stumbled into my bathroom in the morning and went to get into the bath for a shower and as I lifted my foot over, looked down and there was a massive spider.
I jumped back and, trying not to scream thought something along the lined of "Oh bother there is a large spider."

As it was early in the morning I decided to man up and deal with the spider myself. So grabbing the shower head, I chased the beast round the bath until I flushed it down the plug hole.
I was victorious, or at least i thought I was until I moved the water and incywincy mega spider came up the spout again.

It was indestructible. so now I knew that simply putting it down the plug was not enough to defeat this thing so i once again flushed it down the plughole. Then I put in the plug and then, after seeing it's super spider sense, I put a heavy object on top to ensure it stayed away.

After this I felt slightly shaken. So I showered quickly and stepped out with a sigh of relief that the spider had not escaped its watery tomb.

I lifted up my hair towel, and as I flung it forward to wrap up my hair- a spider fell out. Ahhhhhh!
It was quite a small spider, probably the beast in the baths child, but a spider nonetheless and it was almost on my head. The thought now makes me shiver.
After running into the hall butt naked, I pulled myself together and went to work- but I am telling you I was not in a happy place.

But as all people must do when faced with adversity, I soldiered on.

The next day, my shower went smoothly, the towels were spider free and I was very smugly driving on the dual carriage way when disaster struck.

A spider was hanging over my window. Quite a big spider, just hanging there, taunting me with it's multiple eyes and it's fangs.

Once again I went "oh dear a spider in my can and I am driving rather fast. What an interesting problem" or something along those lines.

I knew I had to act quickly before it ended up on me and I caused a crash. So gathering all my courage I put down the window and slapped the nasty spider as hard as I could so it flew out the car onto the road.

Then I screamed for quite a while.

After these two days of spider-related disasters I am now more paranoid than ever. My own hair frightens me when I am asleep, as it goes across my skin and I think it's a monster, I am scared to lift things in case one of them is waiting for me.

And as a new precaution, as I heard you swallow spiders in your sleep I am going to start sleeping in an space suit like NASA Astronauts wear (If anyone knows where I can get one I will appreciate the help).

I am frightened.

But anyway that's all for now. I hope you are well and far from any nasty spiders.

Kisses
Fi
xxxxxx

the journey home

Many people who drive home from work every-day and get stuck in traffic will be able to relate to this post.

At around 20 past 5 every weekday, after grinning as I zoom down the dual carriageway, singing the great escape, my mood is ruined as I hit the inevitable rush hour traffic which sees me slowly edging towards a roundabout in my bid to get home.

In the month and a bit I have been doing this I have started to notice certain people around me who also do the same journey from Monday to Friday.

There is the girl in the red car who chews chewing gum, the grumpy faced businessman who despite having a very nice car, seems unable to drive and often gets too excited by gaps in front of him, speeds up too quickly, and then has to brake suddenly.  There is the 30-odd year old man, in the blue car who always smokes and looks very content to just sit in traffic.

And finally, there is a person I hope I never encounter again in rush hour traffic. . . . the man in the silver car. Here is why. . .

Last Friday I was sitting in the car waiting patiently for the traffic to move, when Radio 1 played a song which I like a-lot. So I decided to sing along. But not just sing, oh no dear readers, I was performing - Loudly and dramatically .

Just as I was half way through belting out the first chorus I turned my head to see man in silver car sitting staring at me with his mouth wide open, clearly shocked and surprised by my larger-than-life performance.

Immediately I stopped singing and tried to retain my dignity. I noticed that in his shock, silver car man had missed a massive 2 car space in front of him and thankfully he moved forward. However I then moved forward too and it was a dance, I would get away from this man who I had just completely embarrassed myself in front of then he would be next to me again. It was very upsetting! So finally I got round the round-about and we sped away from each other.

But still the fear remains that he will return and I will be once again singing. . .

Much Love
Fi
xxx

This week at work

So, I had a very interesting week at work this week. I will not bore you with all of the details, but a few amusing things did happen to me.

At the start of the week, I was sent in search of a Scorpion. Yes a scorpion. I am not going to lie I was terrified! Basically, a scorpion had jumped out of a box of fruit at a local shop. When we found the story we did not know when this had happened. So I was terrified. . . armed with my camera I went off in search of the scorpion (I contemplated picking up a stick on the way so I could keep it back). Bravely I entered the shop, and looked around for the creature, I looked up too as I wasn't sure if scorpions could jump - I didn't want it landing on my head! However it soon became clear that the scorpion was long gone. Relieved I returned to the office and hoped that there would be no more creatures crawling around.

I then had to go out and take a photo at a local church, I arrived at the Church to find the main door open and walked into the main body of the church. It was quite dark and surrounded by pews I cautiously headed up the aisle looking for where I wanted to be. Now normally I do not think Churches are scary but there alone, in the dark with only candles, I was a little frightened. In fact I was doing this thing I do where I dictate my own news story in my head when in a bad situation. It went like this:
"A Young journalist was today missing from the Aberdeenshire area. It is believed she left the office at around 11 and was last seen entering an old church..." I had just reached the sob story about how wonderful and talented I was (No need to be modest when you are missing) when I was stopped in my tracks - "Hello," came a voice behind me and I got the fright of my life. "Oh God" I shouted and turned round to be faced with the vicar. Uh oh.

After apologising profusely for using the lords name in vain I found where I was going.

I would just like to point out that normally I really like being in churches, I find them calming and I do not really think they are a likely place for a crime scene. But you never know.

So those are a few of my adventures this week, at least I cant ever say my life is predictable.

I hope that this blog finds you all safe and well.

Kisses

Fi

xxxx

I'm a professional. No really, I am!

Since starting my real job, I have been feeling quite grown-up and have been attempting to act all professional and like I know what I am doing.

Sadly however, the power of thought seems unable to overcome my clumsiness and general lack of ability at life and as a result I have had some truly whopping moments so far.

One of these moments came in my second week working as a reporter, I was returning from being out at a story but I could not get the office door open (In my defence it is quite stiff) a man at reception had to come and open the door for me and said, "have you never opened a door before?"
He then asked "If you are here with a story for the paper just let the receptionist know and she will get you a journalist" He clearly assumed I had never been in the building before because well, lets face it, I was defeated by a door. So I told him, "Erm actually I am one of the reporters" and decided to scuttle upstairs and hide under my desk, however fate was against me and what I did instead was walk into the pull door and almost fall over. This is the first event which ruined my ability to look professional.

The next event happened, once again on a job where I was getting in my car to leave the job and I stalled twice and then reversed instead of going forward, this would have been fine had the people I was photographing not decided to come up to the car and give me a cheery good-bye.

Then whilst out on a story, I triumphantly pulled out my notepad, ready to get my shorthand on, I looked all impressive and ready for action when I noticed. hanging out the back of my notepad an empty crunchie packet...

As well as having general issues functioning on day to day events I have also had some problems with the phones. Now the call transfer system is confusing and I transferred one guy back to myself three times before hanging up on him (If you are reading this I AM SO SORRY!)
But as well as the technology letting me down my complete inability to speak sense has also proved an issue with me leaving one poor man three numbers on his answering machine, with apologies in between as I got them wrong, and then afterwards I realised that actually NONE of the three combinations were right.

Then I have another issue, giving out my email address, people always double check the letters and you know when you go yes that is a for alpha for example, well I always come up with the most ridiculous examples and I said to someone the other day yes that is p for philharmonic, they must have thought what a twat.

But apart from this things are going swimmingly well.

Kisses

Fi

xxxxxx

A serious note

I know that I normally fill my blogs with random musings and stories from my life which I hope you find amusing. However today I am going to write the blog on a more serious note. If you are thinking, oh no don't do that, I would suggest you skip this blog and wait for my next (hopefully) witty installment about the life of fi. But if you are prepared for something a little different then read on.

When he was interviewed on Friday, just hours after Norway came under attack, the mayor of Oslo, when asked what he wished he could do for the children on Utoya island he replied with, I wish I could be there right now and stand in front of them and get shot instead. This was met by a stunned silence from the interviewer. Stunned not only over such an honest response by a politician, but also because of the weight of his response, he wanted to die in their places.

At the same time as this interview took place, holidaymakers near the island where the shooting was happening were taking their boats out into dangerous waters to rescue the people caught up in the violence.

Meanwhile on the island hundreds of children were hiding from a man with a gun. Stories have emerged of children hiding under the bodies of their friends and under beds for hours because they feared for their lives. There are also tales of the survivors then helping the wounded after it was all over. The victims have since then spoken out about what happened, and thousands have marched through the streets, standing up in defiance against one mans hate.

Many people will say that the last week in Norway has been a week of fear and violence. But when I look at what happened I see bravery. So often at times of great human suffering the stories which emerge are those of horror, and what is lost is that those involved are often so courageous and at times like these, it is not only the worst aspects of human nature which emerge, but also the best.

I always remember watching 9/11 I sat staring in absolute horror at what was happening. I saw the firemen and other civilians who, whilst people were running away to escape the buildings, were running the other way. They were the brave people who were trying desperately to save lives. I remember thinking I cant believe it they are going towards the danger - They ran into the fire.

Every act of terror is aimed at somehow making a statement, or destroying a country. Yet what I see, is that yes people die and it is horrific, but also so many come out stronger than before, because regardless of how horrible and evil a person is, I still believe there is more good in the world and that is why whenever something terrible happens you will always see someone who runs into the fire. This gives me hope.

So I know that it has been a sad week, and I hope this blog finds you all safe and well wherever you are.

I promise my next blog will provide some comedy relief.

Kisses

Fi

xxxxx