Click on picture for link to gallery to my two days at the AA induction and of course to check out my new car!! :-D
(5493)
20 November 2009
Pictures from AA Induction
Click on picture for link to gallery to my two days at the AA induction and of course to check out my new car!! :-D
(5493)
17 November 2009
Close call!
Sitting on the Virgin train backward facing, going down to Birmingham before I change trains for Leicester. Train departed Central Station at 10am sharp, and guess what time I woke up? 8:23am!! =O I remember hearing mum close the main door as she left for work, probably just after 6:25am for her 7am shift. So I thought to myself that I’d have a while yet until my 7am alarm. But my alarm had never ever went off! And on each occasion turn on the bed I would expect the alarm to go off ‘any moment now’. Then finally I decided to get up out of bed and check my phone and guess what? It said 8:23am!! Alarm didn’t even go off! What’s wrong with it?
Man, was such a panic! I had a moment of just standing on the spot for five seconds where all my perception, thoughts and senses came flooding back to me and I realised what I had to do and what time I left. My train departs Glasgow at 10am, fact! I want to leave the house 9am, fact! I had between 8:24am – 9am to get things done: Pack, check my tickets, make lunch, shower, shave and have breakfast!! My goodness, what a rush it was! In the end I chucked everything I needed into my sports holdall (I think I’ve got everything!). Had a five mins shower. I did not shave. I didn’t not make my sandwiches for lunch, but just brought the sub rolls which Cat got me yesterday. Guess I’ll eat them dry after I finish typing this up. I bought other stuff as well including snack a jacks, crackers, Nobby’s nuts and some fruit pieces and of course water!! All that is for my train journey. I plan to buy food once I arrive at Market Harborough : ) Anyway, once I packed all my stuff, including flip flops for the hotel room, I dressed in shirt and trousers, put my shoes on and still had ten minutes before I left, so had a banana, said ‘Good Morning’ to Cat, prayed to God, then had to scoot out to the bus stop across the road from my house. Had my laptop with me too.
Was hungry was breakfast. Bus got to city centre so early due to post-rush hour traffic, so I had lots of time to spare. Went into HMV to look at stuff and ended up leaving with the Black Eyed Peas albums. Didn’t have to pay for them as I used a gift voucher towards it and still have £4.01 left on it apparently. : ) Then I popped into McDonald’s for a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and a tea. The tea was free with a hot drinks voucher ;-) Quickly munched on the McMuffin then headed across to Central Station to get my train. The rest just went fine as I got on the train, and the usual stuff. But what a rush it was this morning!!
You know how it’s one of those moments where I thought what if I missed the train? What if I had to take a taxi? What if I missed the course? What if I didn’t shower or shaved and rushed down to Leicester just as I was? What if? What it? It’s not a nice feeling, but I truly thank God for giving me a calm heart, clear mind to think of what I needed to pack. And I thank God for making me a guy so I wouldn’t have to pack so much stuff, like hair dryer, shampoo conditioner and lots of clothes. I just wore a shirt, brought a spare shirt, socks, boxers, pyjamas, toiletries and that’s me out! Oh, and of course food! Who can live without food?!
(5443)
16 November 2009
If you're not fast, you're last
This time tomorrow I will be on the train down to Leicester. About two hours into my journey to be precise. I wonder if I'll be hungry around that time as I would normally have a mid-morning teabreak. Just like this morning I had tea with a coconut ring cake thing and a banana. Today is my second-last full day shift in this office. I will be on leave tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. When I come back to work on Friday, it will be my last day of full-time work, after which I will start part-time. I'm getting excited about it now!! In fact, I was quite stressed about things last Friday when I felt I did not have enough time to prepare for teaching, and did not have enough time to read everything I wanted to read before getting my car etc etc. However, thank God the weekend was more relaxing than I expected.
Spent Saturday driving around extended test routes in Springburn as well Anniesland. Later I drove up to Edinburgh with James and Roxane to attend the Coffee Night in the Chinese church. Night was pretty nice and relaxing. Met some new faces as well as caught up with old friends. Got home around 11pm, but was so hungry! Haha!
Had a fairly busy day yesterday. Exercised in the morning before having lunch, then at church I helped with transporting PA equipment, and with Sunday School and later with PA training as we got a new piece of equipment for the English Ministry. After my Specsavers appointment I decided to be spontaneous and accepted Vong's place to hang for a bit. Saw Oswald there too and we chatted for a bit. But Oswald left to go home for dinner not long after. I tried a few events on the Wii Resorts game on the Wii. My favourite is the slicing game! Such fun! And apparently I'm quite good at it for my first time =D Went home for dinner shortly after.
The title of this blogpost: "If you're not fast, you're last", refers to when I found out yesterday that a potential pupil is no longer a potential, but has chosen to start driving tuition with another instructor. This person had been very eager to learn to drive for a while now and was always asking me when I'd be getting my tuition car to start teaching etc. Maybe I was taking too long to get started. Maybe was too eager and wanted to start developing his driving skills. Maybe he was offered a better lesson price. Whatever the reason, it was still a little sad to hear the news and it brought me to new reality. That this is a competitive world. Nothing is for certain in life. If you want something, you have to work for it. If you want something, you have to fight for it. In this occasion, I could not have done anything any different because of the timescales I was offered due to going part-time at this job etc and getting my badge and did I mention the Royal Mail postal strikes that delayed applications etc??! Sigh... I was frustrated at the time it has taken for me to get started, but now there are just a few days to go before I get my tuition car and I will be working to attract as many pupils as possible to get my business going. =)
(5430)
Spent Saturday driving around extended test routes in Springburn as well Anniesland. Later I drove up to Edinburgh with James and Roxane to attend the Coffee Night in the Chinese church. Night was pretty nice and relaxing. Met some new faces as well as caught up with old friends. Got home around 11pm, but was so hungry! Haha!
Had a fairly busy day yesterday. Exercised in the morning before having lunch, then at church I helped with transporting PA equipment, and with Sunday School and later with PA training as we got a new piece of equipment for the English Ministry. After my Specsavers appointment I decided to be spontaneous and accepted Vong's place to hang for a bit. Saw Oswald there too and we chatted for a bit. But Oswald left to go home for dinner not long after. I tried a few events on the Wii Resorts game on the Wii. My favourite is the slicing game! Such fun! And apparently I'm quite good at it for my first time =D Went home for dinner shortly after.
The title of this blogpost: "If you're not fast, you're last", refers to when I found out yesterday that a potential pupil is no longer a potential, but has chosen to start driving tuition with another instructor. This person had been very eager to learn to drive for a while now and was always asking me when I'd be getting my tuition car to start teaching etc. Maybe I was taking too long to get started. Maybe was too eager and wanted to start developing his driving skills. Maybe he was offered a better lesson price. Whatever the reason, it was still a little sad to hear the news and it brought me to new reality. That this is a competitive world. Nothing is for certain in life. If you want something, you have to work for it. If you want something, you have to fight for it. In this occasion, I could not have done anything any different because of the timescales I was offered due to going part-time at this job etc and getting my badge and did I mention the Royal Mail postal strikes that delayed applications etc??! Sigh... I was frustrated at the time it has taken for me to get started, but now there are just a few days to go before I get my tuition car and I will be working to attract as many pupils as possible to get my business going. =)
(5430)
13 November 2009
Last weekend of freedom!
Yes, this is my last weekend to enjoy myself, relax before I go down to Leicester for my AA induction and come back with my new tuition car. So what will I be doing this weekend?
Tonight after work I will go for a few farewell drinks with my boss who is leaving for Australia. Then I'll be going to watch the latest disaster movie "2012" at 8pm. Man, I can't believe this will be my first visit to Cineworld since 21st October when I went to see "Couples Retreat". Almost four weeks ago man! That's disgraceful! I usually average once a week. In October I saw six movies. In August, ten movies. So I'm definitely NOT getting my money's worth this month. Reason for this? I've spent so much time on preparing for driving tuition: reading books, publications, talking to instructors. As well as attending church meetings etc. I have no more social life. No more time of leisure and it's sooo sad! Really! This morning I woke up and I asked myself WHY I have to be so busy? WHY have I not been to the gym? WHY can I not get to lie in in the mornings? WHY do I have to get up early again tomorrow? WHY WHY WHY? Yeah, you can tell I was a bit peeved off this morning. Things have settled down a bit, for now.
But seriously. This ain't easy man. I have so many things to read: finish off Instructional "Techniques and Practices" as well as reading new magazines that the Driving Instructor Association has sent me as part of their welcome pack for joining. Need to check driving instructor websites to keep myself updated with changes to the instructor world. Need to familiarise myself with test routes and areas of teaching, especially in Springburn area and the south side. I am familiar with east end with, Baillieston test area and I know enough of the west end, Anniesland test area to get me started teaching there. But south side I have no idea where to go and what to do where, and that's gonna be embarrassing! I only have one south side pupil for now, which is good. So will have to discuss with them what to do. Let's learn together! Lol! Joking aside, Saturday morning I will have to wake up early and go driving around two test centres and follow my printed out test routes from the DSA website, in hope of remembering where I should go to teach pupils in Anniesland and in Springburn. I'll start with Springburn as that is nearer my house. And nearer Costco. So after spending the morning in that area, I will pop into Costco for lunch then drive to Anniesland for an afternoon session, BEFORE going to Edinburgh church Coffee Night for 6pm. So you can imagine, by the end of the night I'm gonna be knackered. I don't hope to get back from Edinburgh that late. Event should finish 9:30pm and then there's the 45mins drive. No - I don't speed anymore. Need to watch what I'm doing as my career would be on the line!
Sunday... Sunday morning I think I will sleep in a little bit. Till 9am or something? That's considered late for me! How pitiful eh? Will probably get some reading done and might get to do some exercises at home. Won't go to the gym as I'll need more time for that and I am helping out with transport of PA equipment this Sunday as well, so will have to be at church for 12:45pm. I will be assisting Sunday School class during service. After service there will be a PA and Worship Team technical training session which I arranged, between 3:30pm-4:00pm. Then I will have Specsavers opticians appointment at 4:20pm!! Only around 5pm will I be free!!! But again, I don't know what I will do with that free time? Meet up with people from church and hang out for a bit? Do some more reading in my favourite Starbucks Borders till closing time of 7:30pm? Go home and make Japanese jelly for mum? Catch up on Flashforward online before the next episode comes out? The gym will close at 5:30pm. Argh!!
Then there's Monday, my second-last full day at work. I will finish at 5pm and then will be free. Then again, the above questions will come out? How do I spend my last free time?! More reading? Go to the gym? Go home to chill? (waste of time in my opinion) Or go to Tesco to buy food for Tuesday's trip to Leicester? I'll be taking the 1000hrs train from Glasgow Central on Tuesday, so I will need to pack on Monday night as well. I will bring my laptop down with me, not really for work, but so I can upload any pictures that I take and also update my blogs with what's happening. The AA have given me two night's stay in Hothorpe Hall as opposed to the standard one night stay, due to the fact that the course starts 10:30am on Wednesday morning and I would not make it down from Glasgow in time on Wednesday. However, for Tuesday night, only the room is provided. I'll have to provide my own dinner! Ooh! Maybe I will learn hunting and gathering skills and capture my own dinner! Or maybe roadkill! Maybe English rabbit will taste different from the Scottish lemon-baked rabbit I once had in Skye! ;-)
Anyway, yes... this weekend is gonna be busy busy and as long as it does not rain, it should be ok. If rain comes along, then my my, it's gonna be sooo bad!!
Here's the link to the conference hall where I will stay and attend the AA induction:
http://www.hothorpe.co.uk
(5397)
Tonight after work I will go for a few farewell drinks with my boss who is leaving for Australia. Then I'll be going to watch the latest disaster movie "2012" at 8pm. Man, I can't believe this will be my first visit to Cineworld since 21st October when I went to see "Couples Retreat". Almost four weeks ago man! That's disgraceful! I usually average once a week. In October I saw six movies. In August, ten movies. So I'm definitely NOT getting my money's worth this month. Reason for this? I've spent so much time on preparing for driving tuition: reading books, publications, talking to instructors. As well as attending church meetings etc. I have no more social life. No more time of leisure and it's sooo sad! Really! This morning I woke up and I asked myself WHY I have to be so busy? WHY have I not been to the gym? WHY can I not get to lie in in the mornings? WHY do I have to get up early again tomorrow? WHY WHY WHY? Yeah, you can tell I was a bit peeved off this morning. Things have settled down a bit, for now.
But seriously. This ain't easy man. I have so many things to read: finish off Instructional "Techniques and Practices" as well as reading new magazines that the Driving Instructor Association has sent me as part of their welcome pack for joining. Need to check driving instructor websites to keep myself updated with changes to the instructor world. Need to familiarise myself with test routes and areas of teaching, especially in Springburn area and the south side. I am familiar with east end with, Baillieston test area and I know enough of the west end, Anniesland test area to get me started teaching there. But south side I have no idea where to go and what to do where, and that's gonna be embarrassing! I only have one south side pupil for now, which is good. So will have to discuss with them what to do. Let's learn together! Lol! Joking aside, Saturday morning I will have to wake up early and go driving around two test centres and follow my printed out test routes from the DSA website, in hope of remembering where I should go to teach pupils in Anniesland and in Springburn. I'll start with Springburn as that is nearer my house. And nearer Costco. So after spending the morning in that area, I will pop into Costco for lunch then drive to Anniesland for an afternoon session, BEFORE going to Edinburgh church Coffee Night for 6pm. So you can imagine, by the end of the night I'm gonna be knackered. I don't hope to get back from Edinburgh that late. Event should finish 9:30pm and then there's the 45mins drive. No - I don't speed anymore. Need to watch what I'm doing as my career would be on the line!
Sunday... Sunday morning I think I will sleep in a little bit. Till 9am or something? That's considered late for me! How pitiful eh? Will probably get some reading done and might get to do some exercises at home. Won't go to the gym as I'll need more time for that and I am helping out with transport of PA equipment this Sunday as well, so will have to be at church for 12:45pm. I will be assisting Sunday School class during service. After service there will be a PA and Worship Team technical training session which I arranged, between 3:30pm-4:00pm. Then I will have Specsavers opticians appointment at 4:20pm!! Only around 5pm will I be free!!! But again, I don't know what I will do with that free time? Meet up with people from church and hang out for a bit? Do some more reading in my favourite Starbucks Borders till closing time of 7:30pm? Go home and make Japanese jelly for mum? Catch up on Flashforward online before the next episode comes out? The gym will close at 5:30pm. Argh!!
Then there's Monday, my second-last full day at work. I will finish at 5pm and then will be free. Then again, the above questions will come out? How do I spend my last free time?! More reading? Go to the gym? Go home to chill? (waste of time in my opinion) Or go to Tesco to buy food for Tuesday's trip to Leicester? I'll be taking the 1000hrs train from Glasgow Central on Tuesday, so I will need to pack on Monday night as well. I will bring my laptop down with me, not really for work, but so I can upload any pictures that I take and also update my blogs with what's happening. The AA have given me two night's stay in Hothorpe Hall as opposed to the standard one night stay, due to the fact that the course starts 10:30am on Wednesday morning and I would not make it down from Glasgow in time on Wednesday. However, for Tuesday night, only the room is provided. I'll have to provide my own dinner! Ooh! Maybe I will learn hunting and gathering skills and capture my own dinner! Or maybe roadkill! Maybe English rabbit will taste different from the Scottish lemon-baked rabbit I once had in Skye! ;-)
Anyway, yes... this weekend is gonna be busy busy and as long as it does not rain, it should be ok. If rain comes along, then my my, it's gonna be sooo bad!!
Here's the link to the conference hall where I will stay and attend the AA induction:
http://www.hothorpe.co.uk
(5397)
07 November 2009
**Car For Sale**
(click on car for more detailed pictures)
I'm selling my Ford Focus LX as I prepare to start my driving tuition business and will have another car to teach with.
This car was registered July 2003 and has done less than 28,000 miles in it's lifetime.
Ford Focus LX
Silver
Registered 2003
Mileage 27,979 (VERY LOW!!)
1.4L Petrol
Manual Transmission
Five-door hatchback
I am the second owner
Very well looked after under my care. There are plenty more years left in this faithful hatchback. Suitable for all age groups: student road trips or family grocery shopping. Five doors give ease of access to the back.
Service and MOT carried out annually with all receipts and garage stamps.
- Bodywork has been touched up this week
- Brand new Michelin tyres today (7th Nov)
- Road Tax will be renewed in end of November
- Service due May 2010
- MOT due July 2010
Asking price - £4000 ONO
Interested or have any questions? Contact me to discuss. :)
(5323)
06 November 2009
On new terms
I signed new Terms and Conditions for my current job this morning which will halve my hours and salary when I go part-time. Starting Monday 23rd November I will be working weekdays 8:45am and finishing 12:30pm, which leaves me the rest of the day to give tuition. I am look forward to this change as going part time means I will have time to build up my driving tuition business as well as still have some steady income coming in for dig money and other bills and direct debits etc. When I was signing the agreement HR asked me how I will be looking to balance my workload. I told her I will give tuition in the afternoons and Saturdays. Hope to take Sundays off as a day of rest. Once tuition gets busy and I feel I need the free up the mornings to teach too, especially for pupil tests etc, then I will arrange to finish off here completely and go into full time tuition. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to do these two jobs during this transitional period. =) Now just have to wait till 17th November to travel down to Leicester for my tuition car!
I look forward to this coming weekend. Gonna be busy as I hope to pick up my car from the Car Care Centre. Hopefully it will be all ready for pick up when I call later this afternoon. They've been working on the bodywork since Monday. Fair do's, I did tell them they can take their time so as to do a better job. So yeah, hope to take some nice pictures of the precious before I sell it on =) Will then have early worship practice with Boon at the Church Centre. Then take mum for weekly shopping. That should take about 2hours or more as I intend to have lunch with mum as well and we'll go to Costco and Tesco for our groceries. Might go back to the gym to attempt the '300 workout' again. Well, half of it anyway, '150 workout'. After my first attempt this Wednesday my abs still hurt when I sneeze! Lol!
Ok, must dash! Ciao!
(5308)
02 November 2009
Hallo-weekend
Pumpkin Party
Ah! Had another eventful weekend, full of food and laughs.
Saturday I went to the Car Care Centre to get an estimate for work to fix the bump, scratches and tipp-ex marks on my current car. Over a year ago the local Ford garage, Reg Vardy, had quoted me around £1100 to get the work done, minus the tipp-ex marks. I took the estimated costs sheet and said I'd call to book the car in for the job when I want it done. I ran away and never ever went back. I just continued using the car as it was. And though it was not aesthetically pleasing, it was a very healthy car, with less than 28,000 miles on the clock to date. Being an -03 registered vehicle, it is a very low mileage car, with an average of only 4666 miles a year. With the date of me getting my tuition car drawing closer (19th November!!), I thought it was about time to get the car fixed up and looking pretty so I can sell it once I get my instructor business running. There would be no point in keeping, insuring, taxing and fuelling two vehicles. What's more, there are limited parking spaces spaces outside my flat, so why add to it? =P
After leaving the Car Care Centre with an agreed three-figure cost, I went to get my hair cut at See Woo. Then I drove around the southside of Glasgow, leaving from Shieldhall test centre and visited the nearby surrounding areas, taking in the different roads that I may be teaching in and having a better idea of where I would be teaching particular manoeuvres etc. Only saw three other driving instruction vehicles in my 2+ hours drive. South side is just huge! Decided to pack it in after 3pm and head to Tesco for a pumpkin. Pumpkins were sold out!! =O Since this was my first time going to a pumpkin party and potentially carving pumpkins, I had no idea they were so popular or that they would be sold out. Morrison's had none. ASDA also had none! Booo! I guess it is like looking for a chocolate selection pack on Christmas Eve, or even Christmas Day itself. NO CHANCE! Ah well!
The Pumpkin Party took place at Roxane and Yin Ru's flat. Though guises where not the main point of our gathering, where two or three Chinese people meet together, there will be food!! We had a wide variety of food to enjoy: crackers, cheese, pasta, salmon, Jaffa cakes, chicken, ribs, rice, pumpkin soup and dessert was toffee cake, toffee and chocolate apples, pies and ice cream! [No, this time I did not have a taste of everything! Haha! Back to more healthy eating approach now.] Had a good time meeting new people as well as catching up with older faces from Edinburgh (William and Alan came to visit). Played "seven level pig" card game which was fun as well as 'challenging' in the fact that you have watch who you speak to. Haha! As for pumpkin carving? Gordon Li carved the big pumpkin with only small cutting knifes. The pumpkin was alight with a tealight candle and burnt throughout the night. Wilson Siu later carved the smaller pumpkin which arrived later on in the night when some visitors popped by. Here is the picture of the father and son pumpkins. Haha!
James' birthday
Yesterday was James' 26th birthday and he was wanting dinner at Nando's restaurant at The Quay. Dinner was at six, so we hung out at Ming's place first before making our way to the restaurant. I dropped my car off at the Car Care Centre on my way to Ming's place. Cat gave me a lift which was cool, cos the persistent rain was not stopping. There was an estimated 45 minutes wait for a big table in Nando's, so the seventeen of us went over to the bowling and arcades part of the leisure park. Few people played bowling, DDR, shooting games, basketball as well as those robotic arm machines where you win prizes. And I managed to win a HUGE Chupa Chup lollipop! =D The wait for our table didn't seem so long whilst we played our games and before long the seventeen of us were squeezed on our extra long table with our lovely HOT HOT food! Extra Hot chicken for me! Ooh la la! After the half chicken I was still hungry, so ordered another half chicken. This time Mango and Lime to give my tastebuds a rest. Haha!
I didn't take that many pictures through the night cos was busy stuffing my face and hands were a bit dirtier than usual. However, Henry and Ming quite a lot, so you can see them through their Facebook. We got James surprise cakes for his birthday and it felt like the whole restaurant was singing Happy Birthday to James as there was long another table nearby who were celebrating a girl's birthday. We were so noisy at one point cheering and shouting etc the manager went up to the other table and said they were to keep the noise down as there were other customers. Lol! I could see the manager stressed from the extremely busy day. =P
Had a great laugh and was good to hangout again after church =)
Ah! Had another eventful weekend, full of food and laughs.
Saturday I went to the Car Care Centre to get an estimate for work to fix the bump, scratches and tipp-ex marks on my current car. Over a year ago the local Ford garage, Reg Vardy, had quoted me around £1100 to get the work done, minus the tipp-ex marks. I took the estimated costs sheet and said I'd call to book the car in for the job when I want it done. I ran away and never ever went back. I just continued using the car as it was. And though it was not aesthetically pleasing, it was a very healthy car, with less than 28,000 miles on the clock to date. Being an -03 registered vehicle, it is a very low mileage car, with an average of only 4666 miles a year. With the date of me getting my tuition car drawing closer (19th November!!), I thought it was about time to get the car fixed up and looking pretty so I can sell it once I get my instructor business running. There would be no point in keeping, insuring, taxing and fuelling two vehicles. What's more, there are limited parking spaces spaces outside my flat, so why add to it? =P
After leaving the Car Care Centre with an agreed three-figure cost, I went to get my hair cut at See Woo. Then I drove around the southside of Glasgow, leaving from Shieldhall test centre and visited the nearby surrounding areas, taking in the different roads that I may be teaching in and having a better idea of where I would be teaching particular manoeuvres etc. Only saw three other driving instruction vehicles in my 2+ hours drive. South side is just huge! Decided to pack it in after 3pm and head to Tesco for a pumpkin. Pumpkins were sold out!! =O Since this was my first time going to a pumpkin party and potentially carving pumpkins, I had no idea they were so popular or that they would be sold out. Morrison's had none. ASDA also had none! Booo! I guess it is like looking for a chocolate selection pack on Christmas Eve, or even Christmas Day itself. NO CHANCE! Ah well!
The Pumpkin Party took place at Roxane and Yin Ru's flat. Though guises where not the main point of our gathering, where two or three Chinese people meet together, there will be food!! We had a wide variety of food to enjoy: crackers, cheese, pasta, salmon, Jaffa cakes, chicken, ribs, rice, pumpkin soup and dessert was toffee cake, toffee and chocolate apples, pies and ice cream! [No, this time I did not have a taste of everything! Haha! Back to more healthy eating approach now.] Had a good time meeting new people as well as catching up with older faces from Edinburgh (William and Alan came to visit). Played "seven level pig" card game which was fun as well as 'challenging' in the fact that you have watch who you speak to. Haha! As for pumpkin carving? Gordon Li carved the big pumpkin with only small cutting knifes. The pumpkin was alight with a tealight candle and burnt throughout the night. Wilson Siu later carved the smaller pumpkin which arrived later on in the night when some visitors popped by. Here is the picture of the father and son pumpkins. Haha!
James' birthday
Yesterday was James' 26th birthday and he was wanting dinner at Nando's restaurant at The Quay. Dinner was at six, so we hung out at Ming's place first before making our way to the restaurant. I dropped my car off at the Car Care Centre on my way to Ming's place. Cat gave me a lift which was cool, cos the persistent rain was not stopping. There was an estimated 45 minutes wait for a big table in Nando's, so the seventeen of us went over to the bowling and arcades part of the leisure park. Few people played bowling, DDR, shooting games, basketball as well as those robotic arm machines where you win prizes. And I managed to win a HUGE Chupa Chup lollipop! =D The wait for our table didn't seem so long whilst we played our games and before long the seventeen of us were squeezed on our extra long table with our lovely HOT HOT food! Extra Hot chicken for me! Ooh la la! After the half chicken I was still hungry, so ordered another half chicken. This time Mango and Lime to give my tastebuds a rest. Haha!
I didn't take that many pictures through the night cos was busy stuffing my face and hands were a bit dirtier than usual. However, Henry and Ming quite a lot, so you can see them through their Facebook. We got James surprise cakes for his birthday and it felt like the whole restaurant was singing Happy Birthday to James as there was long another table nearby who were celebrating a girl's birthday. We were so noisy at one point cheering and shouting etc the manager went up to the other table and said they were to keep the noise down as there were other customers. Lol! I could see the manager stressed from the extremely busy day. =P
Had a great laugh and was good to hangout again after church =)
This week
So this week I will be car-less for a few days and will rely on public transport. In fact, I have bought myself a one week bus pass for £10.25 which will last till next Saturday. With a single bus journey at £1.15 a shot, I will have to take nine journeys to break even and start to really get my money's worth. That will come in handy as I plan to continue going out to Starbucks to read after dinner on week days. And I'll have a Core Team meeting at church tomorrow as well. As for the gym... well maybe a visit on Wednesday. Will be inconvenient to get to the west end on buses, so may arrange a ride from Cat, or just go back to Starbucks to read instead. Hope to finish reading the Highway Code tonight and continue reading Instructor Techniques and Practice on Wednesday or Thursday. Gonna be a busy week this week. Looking forward to a less eventful or at least less costly weekend next weekend. Will need start saving my pennies again, especially after the car repairs =)
(5249)
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