Dear Stanley,

i would love to say that it is my massive busy-osity that has kept me from the internet, but i cannot lie to you all like that.

Mainly last week i was made of fail. Though i did Sign On (dear gods, it only took an hour) and may soon be recieving some money for trawlling through the papers looking for jobs (and, admittedly, looking at pets for sale). Jon remains firm on how we are not getting a Bengal kitten (stripy and spotty!), a black pug puppy, or a piglet (who would eat all our biodegradable waste and be named Bland).

But that was about all i did *hangs head* This week has been much better. i have been up in (almost nearly) the morning (except for today, when i was up at 1030!) and have used my time most(ly) productively.



(OMGYAY, it is RhymeTime in the library and A HUNDRED BABIES JUST ARRIVED AND ARE SMILING AT ME. i must remember not to steal them.)

Dear Stanley,

We're all settling in well down here. Especially well this week as the weather keeps on being so marvy! Shorts have been worn, factor 50 applied - soon i shall be as tanned as the locals (who all seem v brown).

The ferry to Torpoint is now a regular part of my routine. Only yesterday i was over there visiting the Torpoint Continental Market; where i ate LOTS of starch-based products, bought the Jester's birthday present, and attempts were made to win my hand by attractive French boys. i'm sure i don't mean to encourage that sort of behaviour...

DD and others will no doubt be pleased to hear that i attended a Jobs Fair on Saturday. Mainly it was lots of people handing out web addresses, though a nice lady from the Early Learning Centre gave me an application form (and a compliment!). Now all i have to do is make "i will be good at recommending toys to customers as i will have played with most of them myself in the stockroom" sound professional :D
Other places i will be applying at include: the Post Office, Plymouth City Council and Plymouth City College. And a volunteering organisation. Fingers crossed!

Jon, meanwhile, is winning hearts and minds across Plymouth (and he's sure he doesn't mean to encourage that sort of behaviour...) Last week he was dunked in at the deep end with some actual students, and this week he's mainly attending University (and being bombarded with paperwork). But he does seem to be enjoying it, if the way he comes bounding in each night with tales of "the one who reminds me of a pink-haired Ace, from Doctor Who", "the two ballistics experts who I hope get together", and "the tutor group who don't actually hate me" are anything to go by.

Our little house (or Casamanca, as it has been christened) is looking quite Bohemian. The addition of a Third Wardrobe means i shall soon be winning the Battle of the Floordrobe. And then all our unpacking will be done.

Just in time for me to repack some of it and return to you, my darlings, for a brief spell next week. Having no Marvellous Charles the Flying Parson (why yes, i did just finish 'Cold Comfort Farm', why do you ask?) i must journey by Megabus, via the Great Metrop. - but for only £34 both ways i can endure much hardship.

xx

Stranger in a Strange Land.

Plymouth is strange and new and smells like fish.

Jon took me for a bit of an explore this morning, and i did my best to be a brave troll. But Plymouth is strange and new and smells like fish.

No, it's not that bad, it's just completely different from anywhere else i've ever lived. i am a City Troll and, yes, i know Plymouth is a city (has been since the 1400s, and in fact there's a special day to commemerate it becoming a city next week) but it's a small city. In the South. By the sea.

Scary Things

• The buses all stop before midnight.
• The local paper is full of adverts for Christian support groups and salsa dancing.
• You cannot throw a stone in Stoke without hitting a charity shop.
• If you stand on the hill by our house you can see All Of Plymouth (it's not even a particulaly big hill).

Not Scary Things

• There is an all-night cafe type-place.
• The local paper is full of Up Coming Activities (like Freedom Day, which celebrates Plymouth becoming a city, and features Morris Men, crafts and members of the Sealed Knot being Historical)
• There is a Library, two pasty shops, four takeaways and a Coop a stones throw away from my house.
• You can see Cornwall from our house.

Futher to that last bit: Jemma and Chris live in Cornwall and we suspect (but have not yet proved) that if they stood outside their house and waved a flag we could see them.

Well, i am now Officially Down South, and have been for over 38hrs.

The journey down was in two parts, as i stopped off in Wales for a 40th Birthday Party. Caught the train from Tenby Station (which is so cunningly hidden that we had never seen it before, despite having visited Tenby a bazillion times before) in a bit of a rush (i stopped to buy fudge and the young man on the counter was IN NO RUSH AT ALL, goody for him). But i made it, and was cheerfully, tearfully waved off.

Everything went fine UNTIL i hit England. The Bristol train was cancelled, and a very unhelpful platform bloke told us the next one wasn't for an hour. So an hour i waited, in Bristol Parkway (an ugly station, especially compared to its sister Temple Medes) on a Sunday night. With nary a cuppa tea to comfort me.

i had hoped to get one on the train, but it seems that services to the South-West are ghost trains. Not only was there no buffet cart, there was no ticket inspector. Though this was a Good Thing, as i discovered i'd left my tickets on the previous train. Doh.

Even though i'd been delayed the train arrived over an hour earlier than i expected. This came as a great suprise to all concerned - when i phoned Jon he said he'd just sat down to a pot of tea in Goodbody's (an all-night cafe type-thing). i told him to hold the pot and whistled up a taxi post-haste. With in minutes i was reunited with my beloved boy and my beloved beverage.

And thus begins my life in the South.

First Post

Exactly wot it says on the tin.