actually, that's a complete lie...I do know lots of stuff.  I'm actually quite clever.  I mean, just today I explained to the girls at work what a Banana Hammock is. 

Last weekend was my flat warming.  It got quite messy and I wasn't worth much on Sunday.  Or Monday.  Or in fact the whole week.  It's Thursday now and i'm still yawning away at my desk.  I've managed to get tomorrow off work, so at least I'll get some kind of lie in.  I just can't hack it anymore!  Good weekend though!

I don't really have that much to blog about today, not much is happening at work.  The singing man has been MIA for about 3 days now.  It's not a nice feeling and it's bringing us all down a bit!

If I can think of anything else I'll blog again.


Rhona out.

...absolutely RAWKS! There...that's my little bit of girl-love for this blog out of the way!

So i'm sitting in my brand spanking new flat with my rooooomie. Picture the scene. It is 2129, RB is sitting on the right side of the room on a chair with her feet on the Poof. RD is sitting on the left side of the room on the couch, with her feet on the table. The lights are dimmed, the TV is off, our curtains are semi closed. No, i'm sorry homies, this is not the start of Rhona's Erotic Stories.... we are both sitting earphones in watching some online television. YES you guessed it...we FINALLY got internet in the flat! So we can finally be anti-social but social a the same time! How awesome! I did fail to mention that we are both drinking flutes of Champagne aswell as it is RD's birthday today. Internet on her birthday...I couldn't have planned it any better, eh! What a good roooomie I am!

So, I've just listened to Britney's new single, 3. Is anyone loving it as much as me? Not so much the lyrics or melody, but the track is pretty addictive and it had my foot pretty much tapping away as soon as it kicked in so that can only be a good thing. But then, now I come to think of it, my foot pretty much taps at anything with a beat (its the musician in me!) so maybe it's not such a good thing afterall!

Ya'll know how I've got a balcony in my flat (is it "in" or "on" my flat? I've just typed, deleted and re-typed about 3 times and I still don't know), well where my chair is on the right side of the room, I have a pretty good view of all the flats across the grass (my block is in a semi circle with grass in the middle) and I can pretty much see right through from one side to the other. Of course, that means they can see us, but hey...we don't think of it that way! We have already made up names for our delightful neighbours and as the days pass you will no doubt hear about them. To be completely honest, I can sort of see how people can become stalkers, or obsessed with their neighbours!

We have two young lads directly across the way whom we have nicknamed Chandler and Bing (yes I know that's not right, but there is a story behind it). Chandler rides he bike home from work and looks to be pretty straight down the line. Bing, on the other hand, looks a bit rougher. He smokes and (shock horror) has had a girl on his balcony! It is quite worrying that I know this. The problem is that when we get back from work, which is usually around the same time, we get in, grab a drink and go and wind down on the balcony....is it really my problem that they tend to be most active when we are out there enjoying the moment?

We also have Screech above us. At the moment he likes the dance version of "Bad Boys" by Alexandra Burke and most nights he can be found prancing around his balcony screeching (yes, I said screeching) at the top of his lungs and might I say, a tad out of tune! We thought that someone had Singstar hooked up to a PA system, but no, he just has an incredible set of lungs. I must correct my technicality here...it is not even Screech's flat...it is his boyfriends. You wonder how I know this? Ha! I must not reveal my sources.

So, I come to the end of my blog. Phew I hear you say? Don't worry, i'll be back with another instalment soon. If you're lucky, I'll introduce you to Mr and Mrs Clause and their Elf-child.

Rhona out.

Howdy

Unfortunately I think this is going to mostly be a sad blog, so press the back button now if you don't want to hear about it (though it's me we're talking about so there's likely to be funny shenanigans too).

My beloved fat cat, Misty Moments is not very well (see previous blog for backstory on Misty). She's not been eating properly for a few weeks now and last night she was really poorly. I'm hoping she'll perk up, but outlook is a bit bleak just now.

I'm having the week from hell. Monday was alright, albeit a wee awkward morning due to reasons I shall NEVER tell you all, but on the whole ok.

Tuesday. Well, not a great start to the day, whilst trying to pick my keys up from the ground, I whacked my head full pelt off the car door. One of those cracks that makes you feel sick and there's a brief blackness behind your eyes. I am not too proud to say that there were tears. Got to work and found I was feeling a bit nauseous and quite sleepy. Joked about having concussion, but didn't really think I did. Then I had a nasty nosebleed, out of nowhere! Now, if you know me, you'll know that I am prone to them, but not like this! That was enough for me to phone NHS24, where a doc advised me that she thought I had mild concussion. She told me that someone was to wake me through the night to make sure I was awake. That would've been no problem had someone been in my house - apart from my fat cat who, lets face it, is in no condition to wake me, and i'm not entirely sure that she knows what to do in an emergency!

Luckily, my amazing besty friends came in handy and one contacted me just after midnight and my twinny contacted me around 3ish. Not entirely sure what they would've done had I not answered, but hey...it's the thought that counts!

Wednesday - still a little concussed, however more sleepy from a broken up sleep. More worrying about the cat ensued. She wouldn't let me out of her sight last night, which turned into hogging my bed all night, so another night of broken sleep caused by awkward sleeping positions around my cat and making sure that every movement she made wasn't her last.

So we get to today; Thursday. My mornings are a bit random this week because of looking after the cat and making sure she's ok and today was no exception. As I was reaching over the toilet to grab my stuff from the window sill, my phone slipped out of my hand and there was a huge "plop" as it went crashing into the toilet. Grrr! So I had to fish it out, then try to retrieve my sim and memory card so as to not lose my info. I am using an old phone today and have since found out that all my numbers must have been saved to my phone memory and I have lost some important contacts! Lets hope I can suck up to the Orange representative when I phone up to request a new one!

Right going to go do some work.


Rhona out.

OK folks, lets get some positivity flowing! Here comes a good one!

So my friend Screamer and I (don't ask why she's called screamer!) decided that we would look for a flat together. In a purely platonic-we-both-want-out-of-our-respective-towns kind of way. The first flat we looked at was PERFECT. 4th floor, brand new development, right next to a gym and shops, private balcony. It was just right...so we put in an application for it and we got it approved!! We are moving on 2 October and I am soooo excited! Finally my luck seems to be changing!

It has put me in a permanent great mood! People are starting to wonder if i've lost my mind! For example, last night I was sorting some stuff out in my house and had my ipod on. A song came on by (dare I say it) Jonas Brothers(!) which I couldn't help but bop along to. Turns out the more the song went on the more enthusiastic I got until I straight out dancing like a crazy person, hair flying everywhere, arms flaying around like I was swatting loads of flies away and i'm pretty sure there was a little bit of Elvis stylee hip and pelvis thrusts for good measure. Man I felt so invigorated!! It was a good thing that no one saw this sign of craziness as there was no music that they could hear so it would've just looked as though I had lost my mind. Ah well, a little bit of randomness makes the world go round!

Awww how bout them little lion cubs at London Zoo....they are soo adorable! I love watching Lionman on TV. Lions and tigers are so cute - and so misunderstood. All they want is a little loving - there's not enough of that in the world.

Free hug anyone?

Rhona out.

Oh wait, wrong month! Hehe!

I'm having a quiet moment at work so thought I'd write a quick blog. I thought of loads of things to talk about this morning and now I can't remember what they were.

Oooh I've got new hair!! Well, not new hair, but it's been updated! I've darkened it and put bright red streaks through it. When I say bright I really do mean bright! I'm loving it! My scabber of a friend (inside joke) is cutting it tonight for me. Yay!

Somebody fired a gun in my town last night. I heard it over the sound of my music, and didn't think anything else of it until my best mate text me (she lives 2 streets away) asking if I had heard it aswell...big news - we are both waiting to hear who has been shot!

You may have heard me talk about my band Father Jack...well sad times - we've split up (how retro of us!). We have decided to part ways, so I am in the process of trying to find another band to join or start, so please - if you know of anyone looking, please let me know!

My friend and I are currently flat hunting in the Edinburgh vacinity. We have totally found the flat that we want, so we are just putting in an application for it. Can everyone please cross their fingers for us getting it! We've got our flat warming idea all set too. We both have names beginning with 'R', so we have decided to have a themed flat warming and everyone has to come dressed as something/someone beginning with R! Think of the possibilities...Romans, Rastaman, Rapunzel, Robocop, or my favourite...Ronald McDonald! Have you any further suggestions!?

Rhona out.

I was walking along the street to work this morning with a smile on my face. I must've looked like a right weirdo! Yes and to make matters worse, I didn't realise until I was quite near to my work that I was actually talking to myself - out loud! I was in my own wee world sauntering along the road (I was early), enjoying the cool breeze with a huge beamer on my face, talking about DX boxes (if you work in law you'll know what i'm talking about). I must have looked like a right thpethal (yes, say it like it's spelt, cock your head to the side, let a little drool slide out and cross your eyes for good measure - there ya go!) person. No wonder people were giving me funny looks! Which, for the record, I thought was because they were miserable and were jealous of my dazzling smile!

For anyone living/working in Edinburgh: Have you seen the sad state that Princes Street is in right now? The bins are overflowing terribly and it's so depressing to see the streets littered in rubbish. For those of you not in Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Council workers and union are currently disputing the fact that they won't get a bonus this year (or something along those lines) and are only working "to time", which basically means that they are only working their contracted hours and not doing any extra. This means that the bins along Princes Street are not being emptied and they are overflowing with rubbish (mainly Macca's bags I might add). I'm not really one to be overly worried about the environment (I know I should, consider me scolded), but seeing that terrible sight every day has me a wee bit sad. So sad, that I feel I might have to write a letter (don't know who to, but that just proves how strongly I feel about it!)

Every morning I am the first person up in my household (unless I sleep in and then I get "Rhhoooonnnnaaaaaaa! Wakey wakey!!") shouted at me. I do what I need to do and I go downstairs. My cat is normally locked up in the kitchen as she molts really bad and sometimes she is sick and we have cream carpets (not a good combination!). Usually as I'm coming down the stairs she starts headbutting the kitchen door and meowing at me and then when I open the door she winds herself around me (getting me covered in hair) as a hello. We have a little routine going. I feed her, then I go and get my stuff ready, then I come back to the Kitchen and by then she's sitting at the back door ready to go out for her morning business. Today she wasn't waiting for me at the kitchen door. I had a slight panic to myself that she was dead. I snuck towards her basket, a little scared at what I would find. But there she was tucked up in her bed. I softly said her name and she opened one eye as if to say 'I'm sleeping here, what do you want?'. She must've had a late night last night for her to still be sleeping when I came downstairs. The cheek! She soon got up when I shimmied her bed and got into our routine (I know I shouldn't have bothered her, but she was messing with my Chi!)

I had a near death experience a couple of days ago (I know, a quick intake of breath happened to me aswell). I was leaving my office with a colleague. Setting the scene: it was raining bad and we have a concrete 'landing' then 5 or 6 steps leading down the street level (imagine big georgian building). So, we were leaving the office and because we were walking far I put my trainers on. As I stepped out onto the landing my left foot went from under me. Then, when I put my right foot down, it went too. If you can close your eyes and imagine a kid with those "Heelies" on (the ones with the wheels in the heels) - that was me. I was Heeling it! Although it happened super fast, my Heeling was something my 9 year old nephew would be proud of. I was however, dangerously out of control and close to the 5 or 6 concrete steps. In my quick reflexiness (yes, that's a word), I flung my left arm out to try to grab onto something - anything! I managed to come into contact with the wrought Iron fence that lines our stairs and building. Didn't quite manage to grab it more than whack my wrist against it, and using my uber-strong arm muscles, stop myself from falling down the stairs. My colleague wasn't much good - she just stood there and watched me!

I now have a wee bruise on my wrist and I think i've broken a bone in my right foot! You know how your whole body jerks, well I did something with my right foot and now its all swollen (still, 2 days later) and I can't move my toes. Yeah, should really go and get that checked out. Just another war story to tell the grandkids!

Just had a phone call from a lad asking me how many bodies I had in my office. I don't know who laughed more, him or me! I hope nobody was spying into the phone conversation - might have the police at my door with a search warrant!

Rhona out.

I haven't blogged in a while (I am beginning to sound like a broken record with that opening sentence!) It's not that I forget to blog, it's just that sometimes don't have anything to say (I know, shock horror, right?!)

Nothing that interesting has happened in the past few weeks - apart from the big news that i'm going to Vegas! Yeah baby!! My friend is getting married next July (in a hotel, not a drive through!) and so i'm totally going to be going for support! I sooooo can't wait! The big bright lights, the jaw-dropping sights...and the chance to meet my Ashton Kutcher (if you've seen What Happens in Vegas, you'll know what I mean). Going to spend a few days there then go travelling to either Phoenix to stay with my cousin (if he'll have me!) or to LA to rub shoulders with famous people! I can't wait!

So how about all the MJ hype? I was gutted when I heard. I actually had tickets to go to London to see him. Oh well, there won't be a trip for me in September! I watched part of the memorial concert last night. I wasn't upset or anything until his daughter spoke at the end...gosh I was bawling my eyes out after that!

I'm having a little creative spurt at the moment. I've written a couple of songs, and i'm now in the mood to start writing a novel. But i'm lacking the inspiration on the theme/topic. Any suggestions or ideas? Help would be appreciated! And if I finish it and it gets published then I'll remember to thank you in it!

Anyway, best do some work. Just been told by a colleague that the current generation of doctors and interns at the local hospital are pretty hot - i'm now thinking about going back and doing nursing. I'm actually a bit serious about this - everyone tells me I have the right nature to work as a nurse, and its always been something that's been on my mind. Hmmm opinions?

OK that's a pretty eclectic blog right there. Hehe sorry!


Rhona out.

Instead of stealing my Twinny's blog, i'm simply going to ask that you follow this url:


http://face-the-sky.blogspot.com/2009/06/best-estate-ever.html

I WANT TO LIVE THERE!

Rhona out.

Ooh I've just found a packet of Hula Hoops in my bag! Score!!

I've not blogged in a wee while, so thought I'd open blogger this morning and gradually add to it throughout the day. The world has not been all hugs and puppies the past few weeks. Mainly due to stress at work. Gradually I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is great.

I was at a Christian Festival called Frenzy last weekend. It's an annual festival and the biggest Christian Rock Festival of its kind in the UK. It's held in Edinburgh (so right at my doorstep) and is completely awesome. There were 3 stages this year so bigger and better. My favourite Christian band, Starfield, were playing too so all in all an exciting day. To make things even more exciting, whilst I was standing listening to Jeremy Camp, I looked to my right and the WHOLE of Starfield were standing right next to me. So close I could smell Tim's (the lead singer) aftershave! Lush! I couldn't believe they were standing right next to me! Such friendly guys too. What I love about Christian events like that is that there are so many different types of people all under the same roof, all there for the one purpose. You have to wonder what the police and security were thinking to themselves at a festival like that. It's the only festival I can think of where there is no alcohol, no drugs, no fighting, no judging, where you get free hugs as you are leaving and it takes 10 hours to get out of the parking lot as everyone is being so passive and not able to decide which car should leave first! Completely awesome. I have to say that you could feel the Holy Spirit moving amongst us and was amazing to hear the different testimonies and seeing so many young people completely buzzing! God rocks!

I had to go to the nurse this morning to get some blood taken and she couldn't find my vein so was digging around in my arm for about 2 minutes trying to find it. Ugh the bruise is already starting to show and it's really sore to bend and extend. Not fun!

I'm meeting up with an old friend on Thursday night for a few drinks and i'm really looking forward to it! I've not had a proper catch up with him in so long (apart from seeing him in the street every so often) so will be good to finally get to sit down and banter a bit! Him, me and the guy I was staying with in Australia were best of friends through High School. Good times!

Ok, it's lunch time. What I thought was going to be a "throughout the day" blog has turned out to be "no work this morning" blog. I'm working late tonight, tomorrow and Thursday though, so I feel an hour of blogging is acceptable! Oooh I got a pay rise yesterday! Yay!

I have a photo for you all! I meet an old work colleague every week for lunch and we generally sit in the local graveyard (it's quiet and you get a seat). We have our own tomb that we sit by. it's a nice little sun trap. Here's a picture of the view that we get. See...you all thought we were being morbid...check this puppy out! Wish you all had that view for lunch times now, don't ya!?




Rhona out.

Today we have a film crew shacked up outside our work. I know what you are all thinking....finally the amazing talent that is Rhona has been noticed! I'm sad to say meine schöne Freunde, it had nothing to do with me!

It started with the lovely City of Edinburgh Council showing up and moving the cars that were parked on the street (apparently they can do that as there was a sign on the lamp posts about the imminent road closure since last week), then after they had gotten their jollies from ruining someone's day all these rental vans turned up. Most of them were German rental vans with an A4 piece of paper stuck to their windshields which says "Whiteout"...I took a long shot and IMDB'd "whiteout" to see if anything came up and it came up with a film with Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht (yummy) and Alex O'Laughlin (double yummy!). After getting all overexcited one of us actually went out to confirm with the crew. As all the vans were german and there's one guy rocking around in a tweed jacket and barking orders in German - which, incidentally, could actually be shouting that he loves someone from the top of his lungs as everyone knows how vicious the german accent can sound - we were curious to know if we were right or not. After a quick chat with a friendly looking German crew member we found out that it is indeed a film called Whiteout, well Eisfieber to be more exact.

It is a film based on the book Whiteout by Ken Follett (a famous British author). It's a German production based for german TV. The actors that are in it are apparently really famous in Germany, but i've never heard of them!

Have to say that it is quite distracting though!

First band practice tonight for Father Jack since I came back from Australia. Really looking forward to it! Will update you all tomorrow!


Catch you on the flipside. Rhona out.

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. I have to admit that it wasn't the best of birthday's that I've had. Although I had a mini party, and my friends were all around me at some point of the weekend, I wasn't completely happy. Actually, you could say that I had a wee bout of depression. I needed one person to contact me, who I knew could pull me out of it, but they didn't until Monday morning and by then it was too late!

Leaving for work this morning I was told by my far-too-chipper mother that it was a Saturday service on the buses and so instead of getting my normal fast bus, I had to get the bus that stops at every single stop along the way. Fun. Then I got to work to find out that the cleaners hadn't done the dishes over the weekend, so had to spend the first 15 minutes of my Monday morning washing and drying the dishes.

All in all not a very good start to my 26th year.

Whilst talking to a colleague this morning I've decided that birthdays are not as much fun as they used to be, so for my 30th, i'm taking it back to basics. I'm going to have a fun birthday party. With Jelly and Ice cream, bouncy castle, musical chairs and pass the parcel, etc. I'm thinking most of my friends would be up for it (well, it is in 4 years time so that might change).

Just found out that yet another task has been bestowed upon me at my work...organising our work night out for Christmas. Fun. I hated doing it in my other jobs, so it stands to reason that I will hate doing it here. I might have to delegate it all to Rosie. She's excited about it - hmmmm yep, she can do it.

Grrrr busy day today and I can't get motivated.

Rhona out.

Right, so now that i've spent at least 10 seconds thinking up a title for this blog, I had better actually put something in the big white box underneath it.

So i'm back from Adelaide. Been back in the country for exactly one week. How am I feeling about it? Happy? Hmmm well yes and no. I am happy to be seeing my best buds again (missed my twinny and scabbers) and I missed my nephews and neice. What didn't I miss? Hmmm....work...the bad weather...big fat amount of uninteresting, boring days filled with a huge amount of nothingness. Ok, can you tell i'm a bit fed up?!?

In summary, Australia was Awesome (with a capital A). Seeing Jason again after a good few years apart was just magic and we had a friggin' fantastic time. Just when I was getting settled I had to come back, which I was not happy about. I think i've finally found where i'm supposed to be. Everyone was so laid back, friendly, welcoming...i'm sure you get the picture. Unfortunately I now have some debt to pay off, but i'm thinking that once that's out of the way I may have to return there. I have a wee circle of friends now and I miss them terribly. I've not had such a laugh in ages (not taking any thunder away from my friends here).

I would like to send a big shout out to Janey. She is awesome. She is Jason's friend in Adelaide. She and her family accepted me as one of them straight away and made me feel so welcome. I've got a good few pictures of drunken nights with her and her family. She's also an awesome singer and I had the pleasure of listening to her a couple times when I was there. Even more importantly, she offered to marry me to keep me in the country, which is just outstanding. I do believe that she is now my BFF in Australia! This, of course, is not taking anything away from Kara - another of Jason's friends who saved me from having to shop on my own, was able to throw out my frustrations over some things, and even shares a certain condition that we were able to talk to each other about. I owe alot to this woman and I hope that I'll get to see her again soon.

Both lovely ladies, both gorgeous inside and out and I'm grateful to be able to call them my friends! (hehe, i'm hoping that this "sucking up" will either help with somewhere for me to crash for a few nights when I go back over, or help me find somewhere to live/work!)

I started back at work this week. Still jetlagged a bit which is not helpful, but i'm doing ok. Work has been interesting and not nearly as bad as what I thought it was going to be. I think my brain is enjoying the fact that it has something to stimulate it and make it work instead of feeding it alcohol and pretty much nothing challenging for the past couple months!

It's also my birthday this week. I'm going to be turning 26. Eek. My friends and colleagues have all said that they notice a difference in me since I've returned. Apparently i'm chilled, not as vivacious as I once was. Not letting things stress me out that did before. Perhaps I've let the laid-back attitude of the ozzie's wash over me. Or, as one of my friends pointed out, maybe i've just grown up. As I said to her, my eyes have been opened to a whole other way of living. I realise now that not everything has to be fast paced, I don't have to stress about the little things - they will usually take care of themselves. I don't have to be so insecure about myself as I am beautiful in my own way and I don't have to look or act like anyone else as perhaps who I am right now is doing alright as she is. You know what I mean?

Ok, so moving onto other news...My twin officially "came out" and told everyone she was preggers today! I'm so proud of her! Erm, i'm not going to start a speech about it, because if you are a regular follower, I've already dedicated a blog entry to her! Enough of the girl-loving already!! Jules phoned me when I was away in Oz and told me and i've been bursting to tell someone else, but of course, I kept it quiet until she had her first scan and everything was a-ok. I've seen the pictures and something beautiful is most certainly gonna be popping out in a few months. Dead proud of you hun xx

A lot has happened since I left in March. My grandad had a heart attack, 2 of my friends' grandad's died, another friend got engaged, Jules got pregnant and I fell in love.............with Australia! Just shows that alot can happen in two months!

I'm technically supposed to be working right now, I have to copy type 101 pages, but Janey's on FB and distracting me...oh look, it's lunch time now! Perfect.

Catch you on the flipside....Rhona out.

Oh and you know, it's nice to receive comments from people....even if you're not following...go and leave me a wee comment so that I know people are still reading this!

Go on, humour me!

Ok just a quickie....Thought i'd post a couple photo's for ya'll until I can sit down to blog properly!

Easter weekend Jason and I went up north to the middle of nowhere to spend some time in the peace and quiet. Literally. We were so isolated that you couldn't hear the main road, there were no houses to be seen in any direction and the only other noise you could hear were the wildlife in the nearby valley (which, at night time, sound awfully like people walking around!!)

Jason has cured me of a couple of my fears since coming to Oz. My huge fear being that I've watched too many horror films and lets face it, where we were staying was the perfect setting for my imagination to start going crazy. Bless him on Friday night, I wouldn't go anywhere without him going first (LOL yep, including the bathroom!) By Sunday night I was taking crazy walks in the dark on my own, even walking through the shack on my own with no lights on. One fear down, a few others to go!

I'm slowly getting better on the spider front too. I have, in the past 2 weeks, been up close and personal with a red back (a dangerous spidey) and a Huntsman (which are just HUGE and FURRY!)

Anyway, going off track now....here are some photo's from our weekend!



The moon, which was so much closer and not hidden by any crappy clouds...




Our kitchen for the weekend....




The Shack...




Alligator Gorge, a beautiful place at the Flinders Ranges...





Rhona out.

I don't know if I've told you this or not, and I can't be bothered looking through my older posts, but i've been having the strangest of dreams since coming to Australia. The couple weeks ago I dreamt that someone came into my bedroom and smothered me with a pillow. Naturally, I woke up gasping for air and in a complete panic. Last night I had the worst one to date. And since I need to express what happened in order to move past it and get the images out of my mind, i'm going to sidestep the australian travels and talk about my dream. I did try to explain it to Jason this morning, but I was still distraught and I don't think he liked hearing about it. If you don't want to know about it, I suggest you stop reading......NOW.

So, Jason (the guy i'm staying with in Australia) and I were out drinking (celebrating my birthday) in Edinburgh (of all places!) The two of us were walking home at the end of the night along Cowgate (a well known pub district in Edi) and just as we were about to walk round a corner a huge gang of rioters/mob yielding guns (the old style from like WWII) and lit torches came marching round the corner in front of us and before we could get out of their way or anything one of the men at the front said "there's a man" and shot Jason. The first shot I thought they were kidding around, but then Jason hit the ground after the second and third shot. I hadn't noticed before, but we were attached round the waist, with what I can only describe as strong clingfilm (you know what I mean?) so obviously I hit the deck at the same time. Another man was about to shoot him, but I started screaming "He's already dead!" and lay on top of him sort of as a shield incase he started moving. So they just kept on walking past, not caring that I was still alive. I managed to push him and I against the wall at the side of the street so that no one trampled on us and frantically searched for a pulse, which thankfully was going strong. Weirdly, there was no blood from anywhere, but he was unconscious. As the last of the rioters passed, one man said to me that I had better get him off the street before the next lot of men marched past. So I quickly rolled us both onto the side of the road and we were both lying half in the gutter, half on the street. I managed to free my phone from my pocket and dialled "000", which is the emergency number in Oz (weird though - it's as though I knew where I was at the present time even though my dream was set in Edinburgh) so obviously I couldn't get through to anyone. Two taxi's and three ambulances were about to drive past me and one of the taxi's stopped, which had two police officers in it and they helped me get Jason into the taxi. They knew all about the rioting, but couldn't do anything about it because there were too many of them for the police force to handle. At this point Jason roused and was all panicked and because we were still attached he was sort of lying over me so I was sort of cradling him (if you know what I mean) and he just kept looking at me saying that it was really hurting. I was talking to him and trying to stop the blood (which I still couldn't see). The taxi was en-route to the hospital but as we turned the corner (and this is the major part I can't get over) the taxi came to an abrupt halt and there was quick silence. Looking out of the taxi window all you could see was devastation. Hundreds of men were littering the street, but not lying on the ground, they had been "skewered" by big poles and looked like they were just standing there, but were obviously dead (perhaps because of the skeweredness!?). There were little fires dotted around and I just remember complete silence. It was how I would imagine one of those old apocalyptic films to be after baddies had raided a town killing everyone they come across. Then, the rioters came from all directions and there was no where for the taxi to go and Jason was slipping fast. The two police officers and I did all we could, but in the end Jason died in my arms. At that point I woke up in a cold sweat. I don't think i'll ever forget his face or how I felt about the whole situation in that dream. It is by far the worst bad dream i've ever had and anyone who knows me will tell you I can have some right weird ones.

I woke up with tears down my face, so I had obviously been acting out my emotions through the dream.

So what do you all make of that then? I'd quite like to know what you think, so please comment. I need to rationalise it in my head so that I can get over it.

Ok, promise my next post will be about something a bit cheerier.


Rhona out.

So I have had THE BEST couple of days!!

Yesterday Kara and I went girly shopping which resulted in me buying a new dress (yes, you heard me right....a dress!) We went to Kara's mum's house for a wee snack and for me to meet her mum. Everyone has been so welcoming to me and made me feel part of the group, it's quite overwhelming! We ended up getting a bottle of champagne and tanned that back home. Kara was making dinner for us last night, so we headed round to her house at night. For those of you that don't know, yesterday was Earth Hour day, which basically means that you have to turn off everything in your house for one hour in a stand against global warming. We managed to time it right so that dinner was ready during Earth Hour and we sat out the back in candlelight eating Apricot Chicken, which was just WOW! I've not had such a laugh in a long time! Jason had taken his guitar with him and the 3 of us sat outside until 2am singing 3 part harmonies to loads of different songs! We rawked!! Whilst sitting in candlelight in Kara's back garden a possum jumped up onto Kara's fence and was sitting watching us! I got the fright of my life!! It was soooo cute! We put a grape out for it and it took it and ran up a tree, to come back down a bit later. Nature at it's best. I couldn't believe it! I was like a little girl, so excited!

Today Jason and I went to Cleland Wildlife Park in Adelaide Hills, which is literally a 20 minute drive from the centre of Adelaide. The weather here has been about 35 degrees, so you can imagine it's been quite warm (I erm...am burnt a wee bit - sorry mum!) **Just a side note for those who don't know...the sun burns you quicker here because Australia has no o-zone layer so we are closer to the sun and so it is more intense...not good for those with high risk skin, etc!** So we got to the park and when we paid to get in they were offering pellet food for the kangaroo's at $1 each...I didn't quite grasp what that meant until we went into the park!

It's literally loads of huge fields and paddocks full of kangaroo's, emu's, birds, little rat thingies (i can not remember their names!) and Koala's! I couldn't believe you could just walk amongst them! Well, seeing as Jason is quite the animal lover, straight away we were in amongst the HUGE kangaroo's and we managed to hand feed them! I was so excited I nearly peed my pants!! (I've got photo's on FB). After a while of doing that we went into another field and there were Emu's walking around us. Now i'm 5'4 and these emu's were bigger than me! Jason straight away started feeding them, but I was a bit of a wimp and wouldn't go near them. The Emu initially was walking straight at me and was cacking my pants! I think it's because it could sense my fear, but I slowly backed away and faced being called a scaredy cat by Jase....there was no way it was gonna try and take food off me!

So, just when I thought my excitement level couldn't get any higher, we walked round the corner to the Koala section! There was a queue which we joined....to pet the koala's and get your photo taken with them!!!! It was so cute and just sat there whilst we pet it! Again, photo's on FB (please leave me a comment if you want to see the photo's on facebook, but don't know where to find them - I'll send you a link).

Then, just to push me right over the edge on the drive back down the Hills, I spotted THREE WILD KOALA's up the trees at the side of the road! I stupidly (in my excitement) shouted KOALA! at the top of my lungs and nearly made Jason crash the car, but hey, it was the first one i've ever seen in the wild! It's just so awesome that the wildlife is just right there for everyone to enjoy! You just wouldn't get that in Scotland! I am so completely in love with this place! LOL especially the sun!!

I've just been looking through the photo's and i'm gonna post the picture of the kangaroo that we were petting. It's so well posed, you'd think that it was a costume with a real person inside.....trust me, this is the real deal!



Right, well I'm off to put some cream on my burnt shoulders and make dinner! We're going to a concert on Tuesday night. The artist is called Sia Furler. She's an australian artist and has a really brilliant voice. Can't wait!

Rhona out.

Just a quick post right now. I'm just waiting for my new friend to pick me up so that we can go girly shopping!

Last night was a blast! J and I met up with some people at a local-ish pub and ended up having a right excellent laugh! We were sitting outside all night and it didn't get cold once! I've got some great photo's which will be posted on FB in due course. Unfortunately, it means that we are feeling a tad worse for wear today! We've just worked out that we both got to our respective beds around 4.30am...not good! I'm feeling slightly better than J and am up and walking about, but he seems to be suffering something awful...haha, time to pump some music out!

Tonight Kara (J's best friend) is cooking us a meal. She's pretty cool, I like her. Tonight is also Earth Hour where around the world everyone is to turn their lights off for an hour in a world wide fight against global warming. Any excuse to light some candles!

Well Kara is here, so i'm off...will update soon!

Everyone has been bugging me to update this, so here it goes...

What started off as Mary Had A Little Lamb soon turned into renditions of the Sound of Music and more. We are available for most functions, including weddings. Please contact me for booking details! Video evidence of the practice can be found on FB.

Tonight we are going to Jason's Grandmother's for dinner. Note to self...no swearing, no cheekiness, no hitting Jason. Hmmm maybe I should stick to water all night!

Good morning world...it is me...Rhona!  Haha, that was such a good book - anyone remember that?  I think it was Sheila and not Rhona though.  Hmmm sufficiently random start!

I feel I should update those of you who may be worried...he's safe!  And I'm safe!  No booglie wooglies!

Well!  Here's my first post from Adelaide!  Jason is still out with his friends and to stop me worrying too much about him (long story and will become apparent in due course) I thought I would come online and catch everyone up (and take my mind off the worrying!)

It's 10am, i'm sitting up in my bed with the laptop on my knees, Everybody Loves Raymond is on the TV, it's Tuesday and I'm flying to Australia tomorrow! I can't believe how quick the time has flown in. It seems just like yesterday that I was booking my flight and starting the 6 month countdown!

Firstly, let me say yay - my sister has just become a follower of my randomness...and if anyone knows how random I am, it's her! You just have to ask her about her latest birthday card from me!

I got the last of my pre-packing stuff yesterday and my list is made so all I have to do now is pack it all! My gosh Raymond is funny!

Yesterday I went to my Grandma and Grandad's house to say goodbye to my family (they all live close to each other so can just go to one house and all my family come to me!). My Grandma asked me to help her on her laptop to check that the email addresses she has for me and my sisters were right, so whilst I was doing that with her, she asked me to help set her up on Facebook! How mental!! My 75 year old Grandma is now on Facebook! WTF!?!?! What is the world coming to?? How hilarious!!

I thought that I would incorporate my "pic of the week" into this blog. This drawing was originally featured in the first series of Heroes. It was a premonition picture of Peter and Simone sharing their first kiss. Although it does have that background to it, I just absolutely love it. It just looks like a really intimate and romantic moment. I just love it!

Right gonna go and pack now. Rhona out.

and I'll be in Oz! I can't quite believe how close it is until I go! Last night I was at my Sister's Pampered Chef (don't ask!) party and my friends and I got a wee bitty drunk. Was a really good night and she made loads of money for her hostess gifts!

We then ended up in our local to say happy birthday to an old friend and was such a blast from the past! It seemed that everyone was out in force! Nic and I had drank quite a lot by this time ensuring that we were feeling a bit invincible...it would come as no surprise then that at the end of the night we nearly got into a fight! I had to pull Nic away (a wee blonde girly girl who wouldn't harm a fly) and we ran away. I thought it was the best option as I knew fine if it got physical I would've had to step in and I didn't really fancy either a) spending the night in the cells and ending up featured on "Night Cops" - a series on tv following Edinburgh policemen at the weekends, or b) going to australia with black eyes (although I'm sure they would've ended up worse off - I have a mean right hook!) Fun and games my last weekend in Scotland! Never a dull moment in my life!

I just got my travel insurance through too, so bring on the dangerous sports!!

Woohoo!! I need to do my photo of the week - i'll have a think about that one!

Yesterday I sent an email to my work chums to give them the address to this blog so that they could keep track of where I am, etc whilst I'm away. One of my chums is a girl called Rosie, who is our Receptionist and Admin Assistant. I know she's reading this....Hello Rosie! Rosie is funny. Rosie is blonde. Put the two together and it makes for an interesting working environment. (for instance, she asked me what "diariase" meant earlier today! Granted, some engineers can take it too far, but on the whole it is harmless blonde fun (no insults intended)! Rosie has been hovering over me today. She says she's just quiet work-wise, and as her supervisor, I agree, but I have a different theory. Today is my last day with my work before I head off on my travels and I think it's affected her deeply (she'll be sitting at her desk laughing by now as she reads this!). She may be in denial about the fact, but I think she's going to miss me dearly! Rosie and I have a close personal bond at the moment and I know that I am the reason that she gets up the morning to come to work (ok, now everyone in the office will be laughing at this!)

She's going to miss me soooo much!

So, on a brighter note, I've passed my Federation Against Software Theft exam that I had to sit for my work...woohoo!! Those who know me will find it absolutely hilarious that I had to sit an exam about software theft! Talk about ironic!!!

Woohoo...guess what came through the post today......yep, you're right....my brand-spanking-new-PASSPORT!!!

Woohoo, just updated my Visa too, so definately organised on that front now!

Yay, I love it when a plan comes together!!!

It's Wednesday night and I'm feeling awful. I've been in bed the past 2 days with the flu and I'm still suffering hot and cold shivers. It's been planned for weeks now that i'm going to Essex tomorrow night for the weekend to spend the weekend with my twinny and her husband. It's bloody typical! I'm sure I'll be fine!

So I go to Australia in FOUR weeks!! How awesome is that!!!

I was just uploading photo's of our latest band practice to Father Jack's blog and came across the following photo. This is the Cake of Awesomeness(TM)! My Twin and I created this masterpiece when she came to visit me last July. Blood, Sweat and indeed Tears (not literally, obviously) went into this fascinating creation!



This time next week I will be visiting her in Essex and I CANNOT WAIT to create something bigger and better!



All hail the Cake of Awesomeness!!!

Yes, I can admit it. I have an addiction. No, it's not drugs. It's worse than that. It makes me hyper and all buzzed up.

Yes, you've guessed it. It's RAINBOW DROPS!!! You know, the cool sugar coated maize and rice puffs. Man, they are ACE!! I bought some out of Somerfield the other day for a sense of nostalgia...and now i'm hooked! I've quit coffee and taken up Rainbow Drops!

Just so that ya'll know what i'm spraffin' on about, here's a wee pic (see how i'm incoporporating more photo's in my blog too...2 birds with one stone and all that!)



If you go to their website you get to watch a video of them being made! And sign up for competitions, etc. Hmmmm was a bit embarrasing though when i signed up for the newsletter (that's not the embarrassing bit!) and it asked me if I had my parent's consent to sign up!! Something not right there!

Anyhoo, must go annoy fellow colleagues with my hyperness now (i've had a full bag already and it's only 1030am!)

This is my cat. She is called Misty, and she is old! This is a picture of her most favourite position in my house. On the window sill, next to the radiator! Her usual stance is to lie with her front paw on the radiator with her body half hanging off the sill (as kindly demonstrated in the picture below). This unfortunately does not bode well sometimes when she underestimates the size of her v. the width of the sill and every so often you will hear her falling off onto the ground below. The cutest part about my fat cat lying on the sill with her paw on the radiator is that every so often she will raise said paw and shake it, as though to cool it down (like she's just realised it's actually burning), then she will place it tenderly back into her original position.

Misty the crazy fearless radiator loving cat is purr-less, which makes it considerably harder to know when she is happy or not, but I like to think that she has a constant smile on her face. Last Christmas, her buddy and partner in crime; Gemma (my pony sized golden retriever) passed onto doggy heaven. Misty took it hard. She no longer had anyone to tease, to chase, to spend her days with and it has taken its toll on the poor little soul. She is no longer the independent kitty that she once was and is more dependent on us humans now. This suits me fine since getting a hug from Misty is the best (apart from when she gets bored and decides to try to draw blood from you arms).

Misty Moments (her sunday name), long live your specialness.

Crazy cat.

There's been a lot of hype over the past 3 years (yes, I said years) regarding this weekend. As you may or may not know (if you don't then i'm appauled!) that Sunday is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Rabbie Burns. Scotland has been working up to this, making plans and marketing the idea of how big this landmark date is. Scotland will be celebrating his anniversary all year long.

The song that i've posted below, Caledonia, is a Scottish anthem. It was written by fellow Scot Dougie Maclean. Scotland is also known as Caledonia, and this song is all about being away from Scotland and missing it so much that he comes home. Funnily enough, the campaign for this year is called Homecoming! I remember singing it when I was a wee girl with my daddy and have grown up hearing it. It's as famous as our "national anthem" Flower of Scotland. If there's one song that makes me love Scotland more and gives me goosebumps, it's this song. It makes me so proud to be Scottish. At the moment Caledonia is being used as the trademark song for the Rabbie Burns campaign and famous scottish celebrities have signed up to sing on it, including Chris Hoy, Lulu and even Sir Sean Connery (who is a fellow Edinburger!).

Here's the original...




And here's the Homecoming Campaign....



Enjoy....go on, admit...you all wish you were a wee bit Scottish, don't you!?