P.S...

I forgot to add, in my happiness at getting my baby Bert back home...

HA... ENVY ME!!! My sister has invited me to join her for a cruise on board the QE2!!!

ENVY ME MORE!!! ... It's going to cost me a quid... HA!!!

Opulence, elegance, luxury, ballgowns, milionaires... *sigh*... life's rough, ain't it?

hehehe

The Great Escape...

Hum it with me... Dum dum... dum dada dum dum...

What a day. Hamsters. Who'd have them? Me... Institutionalise me immediately.

Bert did his impression of The Great Escape last night and I was frantically ripping my bedsit to bits trying to find the little bleeder today. Four hours of trying to find him later, I took some stuff that had been packed, unpacked, checked, packed, unpacked, re-checked and repacked and declared probably hamster-free over to the flat. Everything was unpacked and triple-checked for an escapee at the flat, then it was back to the bedsit feeling downright miserable.

I'd lost my wee baby Bert. I felt like crying. I did so, copiously. Bert was my companion while I was home alone, regulating my sanity and giving me something to cling to when the deep pits of unhappiness threatened to swallow me up into the void.

I went shopping for some milk to try and keep my mind occupied. I got to the shop, tried to work out what I wanted to eat, bought a couple of tins of stuff and forgot to get milk... When I got back, Bear was busy looking for where Bert might have escaped to. He spotted a hole. He investigated. He ended up cutting a hole in the floor... At which point, a small, dust-encrusted, whiskery face appeared from a gap in the bricks about 18 inches under the floor! My Bert was fine, filthy, hungry and found! He was removed from his escape tunnel looking very relieved to see me, and settled happily in my hand, snuggling into me and nuzzling my fingers. After his "Welcome Back" cuddles, he was allowed a bite to eat, and then it was bathtime for the filthy wee sod.

Bert is now back in his silken sheets, all clean, fed, watered and happy to be home again. Tomorrow I have to find him a bigger tank or cage, something that he will have more dificulty breaking out of...

R.I.P...

To my laptop... Poor thing has now shuffled off this mortal coil and gone to join the choir invisible... Might manage to retrieve things off it if I'm really lucky. Good job most things are saved on my computer and not the lappy. I'm currently sat at my mate's house typing this, and I doubt very much whether there will be too much in the way of communication from me for the forseeable unless someone can fix my poor, deceased laptop.

I think I might look up second-hand ones on e-bay...

Anyway.. Update...

Still no flat, still living in the glorified bedsit. Bert had a bath today and is now living in the lap of luxury in silk sheets after I cleaned his tank out and cut up an old silk shirt for him to use as bedding. He's doing better than me, and the comparable floorspace of his tank is better than my current residence. Spoiled hamster... But so worth it for the fun and company I get from him.

I spent the last couple of days sorting through my clothes and chucking out anything I didn't need, didn't wear or just plain didn't fit any more having shrunk out of a fair few pairs of trousers at the very least so far. I slimmed down my clothing to an extent that I'll be able to fit it into the one wardrobe and one chest of drawers I'll have in my flat. I've gone from ten black bags of stuff and a couple of suitcases down to a couple of suitcases, two black bags of clothes and two bags of linens, some of which I bought recently when I did a wee bit of a shop at the discount stores in town.

Oooh, on that score... I spent some money after finally getting some from the government... I spent 90 quid in a few hours picking up things for my new life. I bought 6 towels (I have a towel fetish I think, since I have a good stock already) a fitted sheet (Practical, and replacing one with a rip in), Matress cover (well, to be honest my current bed has so many springs poking out, I ain't taking any chances), duvet (because the eiderdown will be too warm in the summer, and frankly, at 4 quid, it's a good matress cover on my single bed right now) Laundry basket (Told you I was being practical) loo brush (another practicality) bath mat set (ditto on the practicality, but my shower room is too small for the bath mat, so it's going in my bedroom), lampshade (frivolity, but I liked it... Plus it's for the hall so mildly practical), dinner service (OK, so it's a bit posh, but I wasn't turning down a 4-place setting service for a tenner), 4 wine glasses (same as the china, but only four quid), 4 tumblers (ditto, but three quid), an absolutely lush tea set of six cups and saucers in white china with gold, blue and cream decoration (very swish, totally impractical for a daily basis, but hell, for eight quid I wasn't going to pass up the bargain), door mat (practicality struck again) a hall runner rug (well, I need one for the hall, don't I?), a lighthouse tea light holder (hell I liked it and it was 99p) and my final bit of frivolity was a set of fairy lights in blue and white. Can you believe all that cost just 90 quid? I couldn't, but it did. I love shopping like that...

Ah well, there's not much else been doing. I await the day I can move into my flat with impatience, but I can wait I suppose. It's been this long, I suppose another week ain't going to hurt. I just want to unpack...

Oh, in between times I have a few other things going on. Got an interview with the job centre so they can make sure that I'm getting the right benefit, then I have another interview/meeting thing with the local Women's Aid, as well as having to find a launderette, as I don't have a washing machine at the mo and the laundry doesn't half pile up after three weeks. I'm just glad that a) I have a fairly good stock of undies, and b) I washed some by hand in the kitchen sink the other week... I just don't have much drying space with one small radiator, no airer and few places to hang stuff... If I was in a silly mood, I might have asked for suggestions, but knowing the mental age/mentality of the general clientelle that comment on my meanderings, I think I'll pass (yes, that means you sims, and you Angel... He was right about the "crazy lady" bit, but you were also right about his lack of faculties... I personally think you both lost it years ago...)

Hmmm... any other excitement? Can't think of any. Biggest excitement for me these days seems to be either playing with my hamster or going shopping for cereal. Woo. Tomorrow I have the thrills of getting electric and popping into the bank, after which I can either nip into the pet shop to see about prices for bigger tanks for my rapidly expanding Bert, or I can go to the laundrette to find out how much it costs for a wash and dry of my undies.

Oh the excitement... Ah well...