Whistle While You Work

Sorry it has been so long between posts this time - to say I've been busy would be the understatement of the century. The past two weeks have been very eventful and at times a little stressful. I'll try to give a brief recap of it to the best of my abilities.

At my last post I was in Deanshanger, dogsitting for Neil and Nic's two basset hounds, Oli and Doogal. The first few days were lovely we went to Oxford, as previously discussed, and went for a 10 mile bike ride that Luke tricked me to taking by telling me it was only 5 miles, what a sadist! We also took the boys up to Burton Dasset, a group of hills with 360 views of Warwickshire. The day after Burton Dasset things went pear-shaped. Tuesday evening Luke and I went to the pub quiz as always but when we returned home it was to find Doogal trembling in the kitchen surrounded by his own sick. We called the emergency vets, they told us not to panic and if he was still ill in the morning to call our regular vet. To make a long story short, the rest of the week consisted of vet visits, leaving Doogal at the vets, Neil and Nic coming home early, thinking Doogal possibly had cancer, guilt that he was ill, and a LOT of tears. But I'm happy to report that Doogal is now happy, healthy, and at home! It turned out to not be cancer, but a severe form of pancreatitis. The vet working on Doogal has been a vet for a number of years and seen a large number of cases of pancreatitis, he told Neil that Doogal is only the second dog he has ever seen to survive it. Doogal is certainly a fighter!

Oliver and Doogal at Burton Dassett

It was not all stressful times, I have very good news to report as well, Luke has found a job, only two weeks and a day after graduating. The job is in Worcester, working as a Foreign Language Customer Service and Export Administrator for a company called Rigidal Systems (they make roofs and have made famous ones such as Wembley Stadium, the Hong Kong Conference and Exhibition Centre, and the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.) Luke is excited about the job because not only does he get to use his French every day but it also means he will have to make a few trips to France roughly every three to six months. Plus the job will also open a number of other possibilities for him down the line.

The job offer meant Luke could also finally get a car of his own, we spent all of last week looking at cars and on Friday Luke drove away in his first car, a 2002 Ford Mondeo (with only 36,000 miles) in Graphite. I'm very proud of him, it's a nice car with a massive boot and in immaculate condition! Which is good considering the drive from Warwickshire is about 50 minutes, and Luke will be doing nearly 400 miles a week. That is an awful lot, and after consideration and looking at finances Luke and I have decided to move to Worcester. Neither of us knows much about the place, but everyone we've told this too that knows anything about Worcester always responds with "Worcester is... [beautiful, amazing, great, etc. etc. etc.]" It has been my job to look at properties online. Tomorrow I'll be going to Worcester with Lindsay to do a few viewings, and on Saturday Luke and I will have some more viewings. Found a number of good prospects. Fingers crossed.

This past Saturday it was a fancy dress party for a family friend and the theme was "popstars". Originally I wanted to go as Lady Gaga, put a giant telephone on my head where some crazy spandex and I'm done. However, I thought everyone would think of this, so I decided against it. Regretfully no one at the party was dressed as Lady Gaga so I should have stuck to my first choice. Instead I went as Britney Spears from her ...Baby One More Time video. Luke and Ian went as Wham! And Lindsay went as Adam Ant, apparently he was an early 80s popstar who got a drug problem and fizzled into obscurity. I don't think he ever made the trip across the pond as I'd never heard of him before. But then again 80s and pop are two things I don't put together and associate with music.

Erin x