Brrrrrrr

I want to know how the weather knows that it is winter now??? We have gone from 3 months of "unseasonably warm weather" to the 1st of November being the first day of proper weather for this time of the year, and frost on cars, thick jackets needed, highs all day of 11-12'C. How does it know??
Well, my week has been average, I didn't ring in for work on Mon and Tues as I was so exhausted from all the travelling I just wanted a sleep in, and they didn't ring me, so obviously they weren't desperate. Then Wednesday I worked all day in the place I was at last term, where I got asked back too. I was sitting in the staff room and someone asked someone else who I was, and they obviously said, and I just heard "oh, so that's Rachel?" and then they started talking to me about how I had this reputation and they would request me wherever possible, but I'm known as the kookaburra lady for teaching them the Kookaburra song! The teacher I was with was lovely, and had only been teaching 3 years, decided to get her degree once her kids had grown up. She asked me at the end of the day for any suggestions I had to help her, she was one of the best teachers I have worked with yet, and I told her so.
Then yesterday I was booked to work at Swindon (over an hour away) and to be there at 8am. So I set the alarm for 5.30am, got up, showered, got dresses and left the house at 6.15am. The car was covered in ice and it was FREEZING outside. I turned the engine on and all I got was a flash of the lights and then they all went out, no engine turning over noises. Then I waited and tried again (once the 'door open' light was on again, as it meant the battery was working again) and the same thing. I tried several more times and at around 6.20am managed to get it on, but a little orange light with the car and a spanner came on. I tried to drive and there was no power, so I got as far as reversing out and 3 metres down the road, inbetween my house and the neighbours. So I rang AA (our NRMA) and I only have roadside assist, don't I?? So I gave all my details, then she put me on to the person who I had to pay another 88GBP to get home start added to my membership. I was told it will be some time before 8am. It was now 6.30am. I rang Select and left a message. I rang them again and left another message at 7.15am when he still wasn't there. AA arrived at 7.25am. He said he would 'download' to see what the fault was, but might not be able to fix it, because it was electrical. He does this and 'no fault registered' comes up and the light went out. So he asked me to drive it round the block, which I did, and it worked fine, so he filled in the paperwork, told me if it happens again to take it to the local dealership, and left. By this time it is 7.33am. I ring select for the 4th time and finally get a real person, who tells me to please still go to Swindon and they will ring the nursery and tell them what happened. So off I head, I got about 2 miles down the road and it is jerking and the engine starts miss firing. So I drive it, carefully, to the local dealership and leave it there for them to look at. I also rang select and said there was no way I was going to get to Swindon and they would have to replace me. Then I get to sit and wait for the courtesy bus to take me back home again, which I finally got to at 10am. So 6.15-10am all that took. I was not a happy camper. I did a couple of loads of washing and watched a DVD that I hired that had come in the mail (I highly recommend "Confetti" if you read this mum, you will like it), and then at 3.45pm I got a call saying the courtesy bus would come get me again as the car was ready to collect.
120GBP later I got new spark plugs and a fee for them to assess the vehicle. I drove it around a bit and it was still not 100% when I changed gears, better, but still a bit jerky. I took it straight back and the girl at the desk said to leave it til tomorrow (today) and she would leave my card out, but they can take a while to settle down. So I did.
Today I worked at Barton Hill again in the morning, and the car was still doing the same thing when I changed gears. So I took it back after I finished work and she said she could book it in for this afternoon but she couldn't guarantee they would even look at it, and if they did, t still wouldn't get finished til Monday, or I could bring it back next week, but as she had no courtesy cars that wouldn't work, because I have been booked in every day next week to work in Swindon, so I NEED a car every day, cos I can't afford a taxi to Swindon, even for one day, and me and public transport don't mix, especially when I don't know where I am going and have to be there by 9am! So it is booked in for the 13th November and I am going to cross my fingers that it will work until then!
I have NO plans for the weekend, and now, because of my car saga it doesn't look like I will be getting any, other than maybe going to the shops and buying myself some leggings or long johns or something, as I have managed to keep my top warm, but my legs are freezing! I even wore my thick bed socks to work today inside my ankle boots to stop by feet freezing! So I will DEFINITELY need something for Prague!
Mum (being technologically impaired) asked me whether I had been printing off my blog for prosperity as what happens to the old entries. They get archived on the blog site, but I had already thought of using my blog entries as the text to go with my scrapbooky items I have been collecting (maps, tickets, photos etc) for when I get back, so I went through and copied and pasted from "30 days to go" into Word this afternoon without formatting and pictures and stuff, so I have it all in one spot and it's easy to print off, and now it's less of a job to do 13 months worth when I get back. It was interesting to read my ideas from back then, to what has actually happened! I didn't do any travel until October, when my original plan was to do the tour in August, and I still haven't been to the places that were on that tour! I have booked the following trips though:
Nov- Prague (Czech Republic)
Jan- Rome (Italy)
Feb - Paris (France)
Feb - Salzburg (Austria)
Mar - Dublin (Ireland)
April - Hanover (Germany)
Giving myself roughly 4-5 days in each place, some over a weekend, some during the week. Salzburg is during school holidays, that's why I have 2 in Feb. I have nothing in December because I need to work to survive the 2 weeks school holidays when I will be up with the rellies. It is rather a juggling act with the money, but whilst I still have something in the savings I wont panic too much!
Oh, and I also read about my speeding fine... here's the latest update on that... I sent away my licence and a cheque for the fine and it came back a week later saying because it wasn't a UK licence it could not be processed as a conditional fine, and had been referred back to the Northampton Police who may wish to pursue the matter further. So at the moment, I have had nothing happen. I don't know if I will have to pay? If I will have to go to court? If I will just get a slap on the wrist and be told to be more careful. I have no idea!! And I don't really want to ask because I don't want to remind someone about me, incase I just slip under the rug somewhere and manage to avoid this for a year!
Hmm, ok, I can't think of anymore news, updates etc. I have a new housemate, another boy! Ola, he's African or something, very dark colourings. He's nice, but has a very deep voice so it vibrates through the house so you can hear him everywhere! There's an empty room, so who knows who will get that? Its the TEENY room, that now its empty I see it doesn't even have a wardrobe, just a single bed and bedside table!
PLEASE write comments, or send emails, or send actual mail, because I love hearing what is happening on the other side of the world and keeping up to date. Susan and Karl and Izzy from Neighbours are doing the tour of media interviews at the moment over here, which is very sad that everyone is so interested!