Midge bytes

I found a one year graduate winemaking diploma in Perth, Australia…sounds good to me!

Today at work my boss mentioned he might be able to get me a job with a vineyard / wine company based in the Barossa valley (Aus) and Burgundy (or somewhere else in France starting with ‘B’, my ears were too excited)…the main thing they wanted to know about me was ‘Is she small?  We need someone who can fit in the tanks to clean them’.  Hurrah, being a short arse might be a useful career move.

Something might come of these events. 

Was very good, much shiny glitter and pinkness and an elephant!  All performances were good, some were extremely good on the night I saw; Simon as Pish-Tush, Pingland as Poo-Bah and Paul as Koko were seriously good.  Ailsa and Will were lovely as the Yum-Yum and Nanky-poo too and Ailsas’ voice was rather special (I already knew Will was great so no surprises there!)  I loved the costumes and the set, (it was set as a Bollywood film).  Emma was also a very forceful 6 armed Katisha.  The meld of cultures worked nicely, which I was pleasantly surprised about, plus if you’re going to do it Bollywood, Manchester has to be the best place to do it (well, maybe second best anyway!), even if just for ease of costuming!  The costumes were beautiful and I suspect all the female choris will keep their saris / salwar kameeze because they were stunning!  I enjoyed Wills’ turned up toes but don’t recommend that he wears them out to most of the usual haunts, (white shoes just don’t work in Manchester sweetie).

Did some fun shopping in Urban Outfitters and looked longingly at things made for 6 foot size eights in Harvey Nicks, also enjoyed time with the boy, all my MUGSS friends, Old Soaks and two lovely ladies from the Madagascar trip.  It was odd mixing all these groups of people, but very pleasant! 

So, now I’m back in Exeter, trying to recover from the weekend (the after-after party lasted until five am, well, I lasted that long anyway).  I think I’m not cut out for staying up all night, but it was lots of fun!

The ball was superb!  Best ceilidh I’ve ever been to.  I have the large multi coloured bruises on my arms to prove that I was indeed swung around a dance floor by men in kilts.  I’ve never seen so many kilts in my life!  It felt a bit like a film set when the gay gordons were announced and everyone rushed to the dance floor and paraded around perfectly with no need for a caller, much fun!  The band was very good, I think they were called Tianogh, but that spelling came entirely from my imagination so probably ought to look very different.

Edinburgh when the Fringe isn’t on is a very different place, it was odd seeing the Royal Mile with no flyer-ers and Augustines in it’s more normal incarnation as an actual church!  The weather wasn’t very different though, take from that what you will!

There was indeed singing at the ball, which  I enjoyed very much, with the emphasis on Hail Poetry, with the pirate king sung by the first Savoy PK, which I think was rather special.  He still has a rather nice voice!  The men all sang a chorus of goodnight ladies at the end of the evening, notable for how very pleased with themselves they all looked (pictures are on Facebook).

Again had a lovely time with the boy, (ok, giving up the pretence of not wanting to write about him now), we cooked Coq au Vin last night (sorry, he cooked, I helped, honest!) which came out very well and generally had a good time city break-ing

again, this time with me as the tourist!  Valentines day approaches and I seem to have a boyfriend, how very peculiar

Mikey and Louisa just rang to say they’ve landed back in the UK, hurrah!  They’ve come back to renew visas, take exams, find jobs for next year and then go skiing with my family and Mikes family, all should be fun!

Next on the agenda, The Mikado!  Roll on the weekend!  Break a leg any current MUGSS reading this, you’ll be fabulous darlinks.

ps. the band is spelled Teannaich, (see links for their website).

Well, nearly, anyway.  I have a job, which I’m enjoying so far, at the Nobody Inn in Doddiscoomsleigh.  Had a lovely weekend showing Devon to somebody that you either know about or have no need to know about (as before mentioned, this blog is not a bragging / whingeing forum about boys for me).  I’m looking forward to the ball at the weekend, my WSET course, my sister coming home for a bit, The Mikado (MUGSS, Manchester, 14-17th March) and then going skiing in Zermatt towards the end of March (takes a breath)!  So lots of fun things to enjoy and look forward to.

I’m experiencing minor sartorial difficulty Re the ball, I need to match some shoes to my bronze dress that I can actually ceildih in…might have to take two pairs.

Argh,  I’m typing this with the TV on and a boy I went to school with is on again, very weird!  I was in the Threepenny Opera with him and his twin brother in sixth form…needless to say they were both much better actors than me, bit big headed though, but that helps in show biz!  (Luke Treadaway in the Innocence Project, which amusingly seems to be set in Mancland).

The weekend was fab, we did ‘Devon for tourists’,  I switched on my god complex and made the weather quite hot and perfectly sunny, still don’t have a bathroom but we went for nice swim / jacuzzis each day, we went riding and Scampi was a little darling, went to a Moroccan restaurant, which was very pleasant, went to Sidmouth and walked to the top of the cliffs and took some nice photos of the stricken Napoli, it looked very odd!  I’ve been very worried that the shipwreck is going to  damage a lot of my favourite stretch of coastline but in the sunshine it was definitely worth a peek.  The oiled birds will hopefully recover now the oil is cleaned off them, I was interested to hear that one of the birds cleaned (I think it was a guillemot but don’t quote me) was 22 years old, it had been ringed.

That’s about all the wittering for now, three more days of work, then Edinburgh, yippee!

Hopefully the bathroom will be finished soon, can’t wait!

Ps.  Oh dear, I seem to be a bit of a hypocrite, ah well, I’m a happy one