Workin' on a dream

I'm the tiredest girl in the world tonight. And I've got a sore heed. The tiredness stems from having been to see Bruce Springsteen last night with my Dad in Glasgow. We didn't get in until about 1am due to Mr Springsteen playing from 8pm till 11pm (yeah people 3 hours!!!, now that's entertainment), trying to get out of a car park (a football field!) for half an hour and then getting stuck in a traffic jam on the A80 (40 mile an hour limit!!). Anyway yeah it was a late one last night. And I was the driver! Dad doesn't like driving in the big cities.

The sore heed comes from I don't know what - maybe the tiredness? maybe other stuff? I do get a lot. Some painkillers should do the trick. Maybe it's the excitement of trying to sell something on eBay that ends tomorrow morning and having 15 'watchers'!! Yikes... hope it sells. Or perhaps it's the prospect of having the house to myself for a whole two weeks on Friday. Yay... peace and quiet.

My plans last weekend were scuppered as I was ready to set off on Sunday morning for a solo jaunt up the hills. But my weather detection skills were rubbish and had I planned further ahead I'd have realised that in fact Saturday would have been the better day to set off on my own. I didn't fancy getting lost so I decided to stay put. I got all my stuff ready on Saturday night too and since that say had been a scorcher I'd decided to unzip the legs off my trousers and wear shorts! eek. But lo and behold never needed to use them. On Sunday I did set out on a mission to find some stuff on the web though and purchased a couple of items. One being a pair of shorts - in case summer is still here! They arrived today and after having tried them on I'm not entirely sure... I still may yet send them back for a refund. They are nice, black, stretchy material that is light, water repellent (apparently), breathable but I'd say about half an inch too short. I'll decide later and see. Problem is I'll likely only get a few wears out of them in a year and knowing me I'd probably carry a pair of trousers with me anyway (just in case) so are they worth it? Not sure yet.

The second item I ordered on the other hand is not going anywhere. I loves it! It's a nice new shiny top. For the wind. Or to keep it off rather. Will it work? I think so and who knows but it's pretty cool.

All I need now is somewhere to store all of my kit cos yes, shamefully, it's still all laying in the top landing in the big yellow bag since I came back from Nepal. I just don't have any room. The Thermarest is wedged down the side of my wardrobe. The down jacket has only this week been shoved into the wardrobe after i had another mini clear out of old clothes. The boots go between my car boot and the lobby cupboard. The water bottles live on a shelf. The rucksack hangs from a hook where a couple of hats once were. Everything else is at hand in the kit bag. I can find everything when I need it to go out for the day but ideally I'd like it all sorted out. The spare room has no storage space whatsoever but hopefully some new cupboards from Ikea will allow me to have a Kit Store in there. Maybe if I wasn't such a hoarder I'd have plenty of room.

Anyways... we'll see...

"I'm working on a dream

Though sometimes it feels so far away

I'm working on a dream

And I know it will be mine someday"

(Bruce 'the Boss' Springsteen)

Ange xx

Pack light... nae chance!

Saturday evening was spent on the floor in the bedroom with all my bits and bobs collected over the months laid out in front of me. There were countless amounts of Exped waterproof bags in a rainbow of colours and a myriad of sizes; socks socks and more socks; 4 different types of Compeed blister gel packs; 2 tubs of Tiger Balm (for my sore knees); lip balms; antibac hand gel; all purpose wash (my skin is going to be shot by the time I get back); a first aid kit; ibuprofen, paracetamol and a ickle bottle of Diamox from the travel clinic plus various lotions and potions and... well you get the drift. Pack light?? pah... nae chance!

So I got the pen and paper out and wrote a list of stuff that I might actually need. Do I really need 2 tubs of Tiger Balm? Are 7 pairs of socks really needed? I think yes to that question. I'll get 2 days wear out of them and after that they'll be humming I'm sure. I decided that I can't lock all my toiletry stuff in the one wash bag as I might need to get the blister plasters out during the day for any sore feet that may arise (I'm an optimist as you can tell!). So the list soon covered a whole page of A4 lined paper!!! Will it all even fit into my kit bag??

Luckily my t-shirts/base layers all fit neatly into one of those Pack-It thingy's - handy wee cube bags that you see what's in them easily. I've got my socks in a smaller one. The sleeping bag, although quite heavy, fits neatly into the side of my kit bag and I only need to roll up my thermarest which is also quite small and light (I'm sure once everything's packed it won't feel that light). My down jacket stuffs into it's own stuff sack but that can go in my rucksack. 3 pairs of trousers should suffice eh?? My hairdryer and straighteners can go into the top pocket of my kit bag......... ha had you fooled there eh! Of course I'm not taking them with me but you'll have to excuse the photos when I come back. My hair will be like frizzy lizzy, there may be lots of hat wearing in the pics!

Acht it's such a hard job trying to pack. Now if I was going to a deserted beach somewhere it would be easier - wouldn't it? nope....

Right... enough about this, I'm sitting here at the computer at work and should be doing actual work just now but strangely enough can't seem to focus at the minute! Partly cos my mind is racing with things still to be done and partly cos I'm bored as I'm in the office myself today - Linda on a long weekend holibob and Brigitte off to south of France - lucky her! I mean student comes to the window, I answer them; pile of grades to enter from workshop reports, i will do in 10 minutes after I've finished this most important of blog entries and go and get my 2nd cup of tea of the day. That's how it's rolling just now. I might try some social networking in between times too. Oops did i say that out loud! ha.

take care,
Ange xx

PS If there's a rocket tie me to it!

(obligatory musical reference above)