Eurovision Contest

I heard rumours of this... A heavy metal band in the Eurovision song contest... And guess who they are representing? That's right: Finland!!

Our entry is Lordi and the song is called Hard Rock Hallelujah. Actually I am now quite intrigued by it and looking forward to seeing it on Saturday. My friend booked time off work to watch the Eurovision contest so the rest of us decided she couldn't possibly do it by herself and we've invited ourselves along to a European cultural evening of critising and laughing at bad music.

Be Nice To Nettles

17th-28th of May is Be Nice To Nettles Week the Independent informs me. Fair enough, I agree that nettles are quite cool and you can do a lot of interesting things with them. It is a versatile plant: we've got nettle tea in the house, my friends have made some nettle soup recently from nettles they collected themselves, and if I could make a nettle cloth I'd be very happy!! At least we can be greatful that we don't have species of nettle on this island that could potentially kill us as they do in Java or Timor.

Do I want this job? I've filled in my side of the paperwork for a job with the Youth Service as a detached youth worker and in this period of waiting realise I feel rather ambigious about the job. Or perhaps that's not quite true. For the large part I think it's an amasing opportunity and would love to get it, but there are a few niggling doubts that keep cropping up. Whilst I know I'd be jumping up and down if it was offered to me there is a tiny voice that recognises that things might be easier if I didn't get it...

1a) The job is in Clydach - I was bowled over by the leafy beauty of the place, it felt absolutely gorgeous, and the new centre has so much potential in it for all kinds of exciting work. 1b) Clydach is about the furthest point away from Mumbles I could find while still being in Swansea. The commute is going to be an interesting challenge for a non-driver like myself. 2a) It's a part-time job with very flexible hours that they are willing to fit around me and were quite sympathetic to my existing schedule of events. 2b) Have I bitten off more than I can chew? I'm already committed to doing one part-time job which I'll have to learn as I go along (co-ordinating a summer cafe), do I really want to learn another job as well (...umm...yes...)?

That's just a little sample of some of the questions whizzing around my head. A bit of advice I received last Tuesday was to write down what I wished for and put it under my pillow. In theory I was well up for that - I just couldn't decide what it was I wished for...

Gloriously unemployed!!

I finished work today, having handed in the notice last Monday, and so I am now a lady of leisure! Excellent! With the ovens baking away it was a relief to slip away, and extremely exciting that I don't have to go back. I've been looking forward to this moment since, well...pretty much since I started in the first place.

My future plans include: reading some books, getting out onto the Gower and some of it's beautiful beaches, cooking a meal (I'm sure I can manage that in a couple of weeks...), volunteering down in the marina with Undercurrents for a change, and general stuff like that... And then beyond that I'll be starting a little part time job down in the Red Cafe in June. Looks like something did fall out of the sky after all. Even if I did have to wait a year!

I forgot to bring a book along today to work to read during my 10 minute break and was thus forced into reading OK Magazine. I approached it with a certain amount of curiosity as I'm not familiar with this rag - only to find it full of people I'd never heard of. Hurray! I'm more out of touch than I thought I was... I also learned that "beautiful women have no character", or at least that's what Craig David thinks. He failed to mention anything about beautiful/handsome men. Though perhaps the two lines of text underneath a HUGE photo didn't allow him justice to express himself fully?

Yesterday I had my 3rd picnic in Clyne Gardens on May the 1st. And I've only been here four years:) I'm glad I've got some nice traditions going - and this one is particularly nice. Clyne Gardens are so gorgeous this time of year. I can't believe I have been lucky enough to live right on the edge of the Gardens for a year and that I got to go through them every single day and watch everything grow and change. Apart from the fact that I was living in a 19th Century castle... And the day was nicely rounded off with sitting around a fire with friends. Bank holidays rule!!