SpaCeMonKeY UK

Tuesday, June 29

Since I last blogged a few rubbishy things have happened. The first thing (and the most recent) is that our hamster Heidi died on Sunday. She hadn't been very well for a while so it was good that she didn't keep hanging around, but still... she was a funny hamster. The most vocal hamster I've ever had, squeaking really loudly when she wanted things (mainly for Rob to feed her). She ended up pretty enormous. Not fat, just enormous. :)

The other thing, which was particularly rubbish, was that when I was walking back from Morrisons along Saffron Lane, in broad daylight (about 5.30) one evening, a couple of men came up to me. I thought they were going to ask me for directions but one of them said, "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?" and things went downhill from there. I kept walking but there's nowhere to run to along that embanked bit of Saffron Lane. So I talked to them, I didn't want to make them annoyed. There were two of them, I wouldn't be able to do much if they got annoyed.

It was weird, one of them did most of the talking and the other one just laughed at how funny he was. I kept insisting that I didn't want to go into the bushes or back to his flat, but they wouldn't leave me alone. The guy was being fairly explicit. He kept trying to hold my hand and he touched my shoulder at one point, pushing my bra strap up (it had fallen down a bit). Really horrible. The worst thing is that somehow I feel that it must have been my fault - like I could have done something to make them go away. I talked to the police about it, they took a statement etc, and they said I'd done the right thing. Apparently it's pretty unusual for things like that to happen. I'm a bit paranoid about walking around now, which is annoying since I like walking home from work. :(

Anyway, I've walked around since then and nothing has happened. And I've lived in this bit of Leicester for nearly 10 years and it's the first time anything like that has happened, so...

In other news, my Dad has now retired. He took early retirement (he's only 61). His job was making him ill (at least, he seemed better when he was off work).

Can't think what else has happened. We're without a car since it broke and the parts are on order (it has been a while now, makes life difficult at times!). We have to get it fixed so we can sell it to John - our new car will arrive before too long. Rob's quite excited about that. :)

So, that's about it. RIP Heidi, who is now sleeping with Hovis at the bottom of the garden... If there is a hamster heaven I hope it's got a lot of monkey nuts.

Sunday, June 6

Reading James's blog I realise that I never blogged about Eurovision!

Personally I think the strongest songs were:

Satellite by Lena, the eventual winner. Graham Norton described her as a cross between Lily Allen and Bjork - I couldn't see how that was possible, but she IS! I think it can only be a good thing if the winner actually does reflect the tastes of Europe. :)

We Could Be The Same by manGa. I hadn't heard of these guys, though apparently they won some sort of MTV Europe Music Award? They sound quite like Linkin Park. (Who I have to admit I do like, so...) They came 2nd, which is possibly the best place to finish for a successful band - not a disgrace but not a cheesy Eurovision win!

Me And My Guitar by Tom Dice. A nice quiet ballad, simple, well performed. And Graham Norton was right when he said Tom sounded like Tracy Chapman! Weird but true. I don't think it's a bad thing to sound like her, though obviously Tom is a man and she is... a woman. Ho hum. He finished 6th.

Having said all that, the song I almost voted for was Lost And Forgotten by Russia. Let's face it, judging by the booing Russia were never going to win. And this is a weird Eurovision song. I think I liked it because it's sort of 70s. And I liked the crying at the badly drawn portrait. Amusingly theatrical. They finished 11th.

I wondered who let Greece sing about setting fire to stuff, etc, since that's what they've actually been doing that in Greece lately. I'd rather they didn't destroy all the old things they have, though it does bolster our argument for keeping the Elgin Marbles. ;)

As for the UK entry, That Sounds Good To Me by Josh Dubovie - well, I think whoever said it sounded like a rejected Jason Donovan song from the 80s was right. For crying out loud! I'd rather we went back to choosing the song and the singer rather than just the singer. (Shame on you Pete Waterman.) Not that that always works. I mean, why didn't we vote for Justin Hawkins (from The Darkness) and Beverlei Brown to be our entry in 2007? LOL, they rocked... But the general public chose Scooch. Honestly.

Thursday, June 3

Me again!

Since I blogged last I have been to the opticians and received new glasses (apparently my eyes had improved!), I have watched a couple of pretty exciting F1 GPs (I lay the blame entirely at Vettel's feet, poor Mark Webber), enjoyed some sunny weather, played some Red Dead Redemption... Probably other things too, but hey. Oh, went swimming for the first time in ages, plan to go more often (let's see how that turns out!).

I read an interesting article on the BBC News website - what's the difference between being lonely and a loner? Every so often I learn things about the world that mean it makes a lot more sense. I never understood why people try to force you to dance at social events - apparently they think you want to! Surely people know that not everyone's the same, so why do I have to join in with stuff if I don't want to? Which is why the article's interesting. It's nice to know that even if I am a freak, there are others like me. :) And it hits upon the nub of the problem, which is, "You can't go through life not interacting with anyone, you have to talk and deal with a certain amount of people to function in everyday life. You need to know how to do this appropriately and successfully." It's making myself do things to nurture this sociability that's my problem. I'd quite happily never talk to anyone, so figuring out what's expected of me in social situations is problematic...

Mum and Dad came to visit at the weekend. We did lots of gardening. And bought a bench type seat thing for the living room. And went to a car boot sale. Rob mainly played Red Dead Redemption, but I enjoyed their company. :D