Category Archives: Life in general

Hairdryer review

February 7, 2012 – 3:29 pm

A couple of weeks ago I bought a new hairdryer after my previous one broke. This coupled with the purchase of shampoo, conditioner and serum recommended to me by the salon I had my haircut the same week and it’s safe to say that my life has been transformed or, in a less melodramatic way, [...]

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Girly purchases

January 20, 2012 – 6:51 pm

A couple of weeks ago my trusty hairdryer gave up and died most inconveniently on the morning of my trip to Germany. I’ve had my Remington Hair Envy since 2005 so I suppose it was inevitable. I have just ordered its replacement from Amazon based on the good reviews all around the internet – the [...]

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German public transport

January 13, 2012 – 4:01 pm

The German public transport system called Öffentlicher Personen Nahverkehr (ÖPNV) is: On time Clean On time Cheap (compared to the UK anyway) On time Spacious On time Kids playing music through their phone’s speakers aside this is what not to do for German public transport: Queue Every cloud, silver lining and all that..

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The story of the jumpers [#secretchristmasknitting]

January 9, 2012 – 8:01 am

I can still hear myself insisting over and over to my friend that I was happy with just being able to do a garter stitch and that I didn’t feel like I needed to learn purl or any other fancy stitches. That was back in 2009 and since then I’ve learned a few more stitches. [...]

By Cat | Also posted in Knitting, Knitting pattern, Ravelry | Comments (3)

A year of @SatScenes

January 1, 2012 – 10:01 pm

I’ve written about @satscenes before [though the post is hardly worth clicking through to!] and I’m quite proud that I’ve managed to submit a satscene for every Saturday this year with one hitch once where @akaSylvia graciously allowed me to submit one late. Satscenes are “photographs of people enjoying their Saturday from around the world” [...]

By Cat | Also posted in SatScenes | Leave a Comment

Not the best of days #firstworldproblems

December 23, 2011 – 8:57 pm

This is a complete #firstworldproblems post. Here is a list of things that went wrong today: I didn’t sleep well thanks to a scratchy throat. I started the day with lemsip. I hate lemsip. I got wet in the rain in town. I got hit in the back by a shopping basket. I got wet [...]

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Christmas presents

December 12, 2011 – 5:21 pm

I’m starting to feel the pressure with all the Christmas knitting I planned to do. Originally I thought I had done it all well – I started before the end of October and I laid out exactly what I was going to knit for everyone and got the wool ahead of time. And then it [...]

By Cat | Also posted in Christmas '11, Knitting | Comments (2)

The fireplace

December 11, 2011 – 9:28 pm

Those following me on Twitter will already know that I have been spending far too much time in front of my friend’s fireplace. They finally had their chimney swept and bought wood and Monday was the first time they lit it. Since then I have spent far too much time at her house for various [...]

By Cat | Comments (1)

“You’re pretty much ancient already”

November 22, 2011 – 10:43 am

A random memory came up as I was just reading a friend’s Facebook status and, before I forget it again, I thought I’d post my comment here also. Years ago – when I used to do a lot of Children’s voluntary work – a child came up to me a few days before my 20th [...]

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The Strange Case of the Sanguineous Stump – Murder Mystery evening

November 21, 2011 – 11:58 pm

Last Friday I went to a murder mystery evening in Reading organised as part of the Reading Festival Of Crime Writing 2011. The story: Sol Joel, owner of the mansion at Maiden Earlegh, diamond merchant, horse race owner and cricket enthusiast was devastated. Firstly his uncle had fallen off a ship in mysterious circumstances, then his [...]

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Too much organisation can be…?

November 16, 2011 – 4:32 am

Just over two months ago I spent a weekend completely tidying up my room, organising things into boxes and rearranging things. Since then things have somewhat progressed to a whole new level. I have: Bought more storage boxes bringing the total of my ‘collection’ to: Two large cardboard boxes Eight medium cardboard boxes Two small [...]

By Cat | Also posted in #funemployment, Personal | Comments (2)

Ongoing ‘knitter’s thumb’

November 15, 2011 – 12:20 am

Two weeks ago at around this time in the evening I felt the beginning of the strain in my right thumb. This left me with a bandaged thumb/hand for six days barely being able to use my hand without pain for four of them. Since then I have been very cautious and hardly knitted or [...]

By Cat | Also posted in #doodleblanket, Knitting | Comments (1)

Knitter’s thumb!

November 1, 2011 – 6:50 pm

Went to bed last night with a slight strain in my right thumb and put it down to too much knitting, even though I hadn’t really. Woke up throughout the night with pain, pins and needles and a slight bit of numbness so decided to go to the doctor’s. Apparently I’ve overused and strained my [...]

By Cat | Also posted in Knitting | Comments (6)

Ghana baskets

October 27, 2011 – 8:29 pm

My mum used to have a range of baskets she used for shopping or to keep knitting in and I’ve been wanting something like it for the past years. Baskets seem to be a more common thing in Germany versus the UK as I only rarely see people use them in town and I don’t [...]

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Not to self: Don’t colour your hair black again

October 9, 2011 – 11:46 pm

I have always had a quite relaxed attitude to dying my hair and have always used permanent colours. Sort of along the lines of ‘what is the worst that can happen’. Since I’ve been 14 I have been: All shades of red. Blond [we won't talk about that]. All shades of brown. Deep purple. Multicoloured [...]

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Job searching with social media – Day 1

September 30, 2011 – 9:08 am

For the past few months I have been looking for a new job, as well as working on updating my CV and all the other things that come with it. Up until yesterday I was unable to utilise social media in my job search, as I was on a contract pending renewal and I didn’t [...]

By Cat | Also posted in #rdg, Blog, Facebook, Google, Jobhunt, Tumblr, Twitter | Comments (6)

Help me find a new job

September 29, 2011 – 8:44 pm

I need a new job in the Reading, UK area. Preferrably looking for customer service or copywriting, but will take any full-time job. I am a native German speaker and my background includes: Copywriting Games QA and Compliance QA Games QA Test Lead Community Management Church Sexton Secretarial Work Administration Bar/Cafe Work with limited food [...]

By Cat | Also posted in #rdg | Comments (4)

Should the date of birth be on a CV/resume?

September 28, 2011 – 2:20 am

It’s about time to update my CV again and earlier today we had a discussion in the house whether a CV should contain the date of birth. I have always had it on there and I had never considered taking it off. Unable to find a middle ground earlier I decided to pose the question [...]

By Cat | Also posted in Twitter | Comments (2)