Love at first sight

Yesterday was the last day of Ramadhan and after waiting patiently I might add, it is finally Eid. Now imagine for the last few days (because it was a bank holiday weekend) you sleep late and wake up early. Well I used the same sleeping concept for Monday night and here I am on Tuesday morning at work ready to go to sleep any minute now.
Before I go to sleep, it is Eid and most of us dressed up, including me. I wore something other than plain black. I wore a bright red scarf and bangles. I think that’s as far as I would let myself go in terms of dressing up at work. But fear not readers I will get dressed up when I get home.

The last event which I want to tell you is about something that happened to me.

It was a magical story. It is something that you would only find in a fairy tale. I was with my friends and was looking just to have fun. I wandered into a shop, mindlessly and not expecting anything out of the ordinary. All of a sudden I turned around and my heart skipped a beat. It was love at first sight. My head did a double turn and this time my heart began beating faster and my blood rushed to my head. The shape caught my eyes and the tone was divine. I practically drooled on the spot. Very unladylike but it’s not every day that something makes my head turn. No readers, it’s not a person; I fell in love with a sari! A wine coloured sari with heavy gold and diamante embroidery. Thankfully the person that was eyeing up my sari no longer wanted it. Next thing you know I exchanged the goods (don’t worry readers I didn’t snatch) and took it home with me.

And I lived happily ever after.


The End.

MA Literary London

I have just realised that I have been writing blogs just over a year and I rarely write about the programme I am studying and what the course entails. Rather my blogs contain random events or how I always dread starting coursework. Well readers, since I am almost at the end of my programme, here is your personalised blog of my experience on the programme.

AUGUST 2009

It all started in 2009, when I decided I wanted to expand my education and explored courses that the University of Greenwich offered. I found the programme MA Literary London and contacted the programme director, Jenny Bavidge, who just happened to be my personal tutor in my first year of my BA English course. After speaking to her, I realised I wanted to study on the course and applied around early 2010 and was given an offer.

FAST FORWARD SEPTEMBER 2011.

I enrolled on the MA Literary London and met my fellow Literary Londoners. It was a different experience from the BA programme which I started at the mere age of 18. I was now 24 and full of worldly wisdom! We had an induction session were we introduced ourselves and our views of London. There was a wide range of student who all had their own opinion of what London was for them. The first session was an induction and we got to find out what is it about London that makes it London through listening to opinions put forward. Me, who never really ventured outside the city much, found it fascination when comparisons were drawn to other cities. Even when I was a child, I never really needed to venture outside of East London, so when I did start the course it really opened my eyes and I fully appreciated the city in all its glory.

In the first term, we studied four modules:

Foundations for Postgraduate Study (15 Credits)
This module prepared us for the Masters programme in general. It taught students how to research articles using specialised academic search engines and how we could structure our essays to put forward a strong argument within the essay. There were two assessments, the first assessment was to demonstrate how well we were able to find related articles and use search engines. The second assessment was a critical evaluation and we had to evaluate an essay and how academically strong it was.

Theory & Research Methods (15 Credits)

This course was studied throughout both terms. In the first term we looked at theory behind the city and what research we could include. We were also introduced to the Literary London website, which is a website that includes articles on the city, dating from 2003. It would be a recommended read for anyone interested in broadening their horizons of the city and is available on the following link: www.literarylondon.org. You will be happy to know there is no assessment for this module in the first term.

The Commerce of Vice (30 Credits)

The topic has two assessments, one coursework and one presentation. The module was divided into two parts. The first part explored London art and the industry. We explored how London was presented in art and the effect of the industry on the city. The second part explored plays that centred around London.

Imagining the Metropolis (30 Credits)
This topic explored the city through texts and films (woohoo!) dating back from Dickens era to the present time. We may have explored earlier texts but my mind is hazy and it seems like a lifetime ago. The texts we studied mainly looked at how the city was represented and the formation of the city. The railway line comes to mind as we had to read Dombey and Son. With this module there is one essay per term.

FAST FORWARD TO JANUARY 2011

Aside from the presentation for The Commerce of Vice module and the first assessment from Foundations for Postgraduate Study, the deadlines for the essay were at the end of January so we had the winter holidays to work on them. The set date may vary year to year as sometimes additional lectures may be needed.

In the second semester we studied the following three modules (some overlapped from the first term).

Imagining the Metropolis (30 Credits)

In the second term we studied a different set of text. These were recently published texts and contained a range of themes within them. Topics included eschatological events, post war, modernism and the presence of the “other” in the city. The “other” could be ghosts, monsters or anything else your imagination can think of.

Theory & Research Methods (15 Credits)

The second half of this course consisted of exploring writing approaches and looking at topics for dissertations. We had lectures and individual tutorials. This was useful as it helped mould ideas up into a suitable topic for the dissertation.

The portfolio for this assessment was not intense but there was a lot of work involved. The portfolio needed to contain an annotated bibliography, a critical evaluation of an essay and the abstract for the dissertation with a preliminary bibliography.

Landscape/Dreamspace (30 Credits)

The topic has two assessments, one coursework and one presentation or those who hated presentations had the option of writing two essays. The module was divided into two parts. The first part explored London and the uncanny. This module was interested as it gave me ideas for my final project. The second part explored postcolonial poems and novels.

The deadlines for the second term assessments were in May and that gave me plenty of time to start the reading for the dissertation. Unfortunately I still have not started writing anything.

LECTURE HOURS

It may seem that there are a lot of modules but once put in a timetable it seems more manageable.

FINAL PROJECT

The final project is a dissertation on your chosen topic and it is 12,000 to 15,000 words. I am quite excited as my topic explores the representation of the underground and how many perceived the underground. As exciting as the topic is as it is summer the lack of motivation to sit in front of the computer is greater but I will start soon. The deadline for the final project is on 30th September so I still have time.

ME, MYSELF AND I

I came on the course naive and it really did broaden my horizon on the city and changed my attitude towards learning. Unlike the undergraduate course, it is intense and there is a lot reading that needs to be done and a lot of work and effort that would need to be put in. The reading list is usually emailed to students before summer by the programme director.

However do not let the intensity of the course put you off, as it is a great course with excellent tutors. Also some lectures contain films and poems so you get a week or two to relax and catch up! I hoped you enjoyed reading about the programme and if it does make you want to enrol on the course, then the blog has not gone to waste.

Back in MY days...

So the month of July has flown past and I had two weeks off. They were good times; I abandoned all things related to coursework.

I did have time to catch up on childhood; my sister found a game we used to play on Mega Drive or was it Mega system?

Seems like an eternity ago. Well young people, it wasn’t like the ps3 or the x-box but it was the best thing to TV back in the days. As you can tell, it was the time when people only had channel 1-4, and at times when you woke up at 6am and turned on the television there was only a girl standing there with chalk. Yes, it was a still picture as well.

We sat there playing Gauntlet, otherwise known as Exit (simply because there were exit signs the players had to go through to go onto the next level).

Other than that, I went to the last wedding of this month a few days ago. The bride looked stunning but sad because she was moving far away (a few hours’ drive away from her family). It has been a long month with tons of mendhi parties and weddings. Yes everyone for some reason decided to get married this month. It was exhausting and fun and sad at the same time and I look forward to the long awaited r&r in September.

As for the dissertation it is still there and will be done eventually. It’s summer now and time for fun!!

PANDA CRAZE!!

Do you have one picture that sums up the entire you? I know I do now. I saw the picture and it made my day. It is part of the WWF new marketing scheme and might I say works wonders.

But before I knew it was the advertisement, I thought it was made especially for me and that someone spent hours working on this new image.

Other than that I finally started my dissertation, I started on Monday. It was the worst possible day to start. The weather was unbelievably hot and humid and eight minutes into the assignment I gave up. This was a shame really as I had set aside time this week to get it done.

It is now day two of coursework and I am still struggling with starting the coursework. It’s really due to the lack of motivation. I mean it’s the first time in ages I’ve stayed home and I have two choices: watch TV/movie or do get started on coursework. You can see my predicament there. ARRRGGGGHHHH.

Whilst coursework is heavily playing on my mind, I weirdly enough had time to write this blog and now writing about writing this blog I have made up my mind. It is too much of a beautiful day to not laze around. So movie it is. But first thing first: coffee, it’s been ages since I’ve had coffee and whilst the cravings have mostly gone, I still feel incomplete without it.

So au revior readers, I’m off to have coffee and set up the movie. Now if only there was someone to make the popcorn and hand me food on a platter. Shame really, it would have been perfect.

T’is the month of June

It is June already and the promises of working hard to complete the dissertation have gone awry. In fact shamefully I must admit I have not read a single book or done anything coursework related.

I have however made attempts to still have the fun that I missed out on during April and am continuing very well. So many things and so little time.

I mean I have gone back to watching my dramas, yes the Korean and Japanese dramas which I had to give up due to the need to focus on assignments. I mean I still have the panicky feeling that I won’t get my assignment done on time, but it becomes a distant worry with the viewing of these dramas. At the moment I am watching Hana Yori Dango, (the Japanese version of BBF and finally I might add) and as of today I have one more episode left to watch. It has gotten to the point where I wake up, go to work and have the urge to go quickly back home to watch the episodes. But I guess readers you’re thinking I’m crazy and maybe I am. But I have to say it was time well spent especially since I would sacrifice my sleep to watch the episodes.

Other than watching endless dramas, I have found a place where I can go to relax and just watch the time fly by. It’s known to Summi as the Meridian Square, buts it is really actually the steps of Stratford (the ones that lead up to the central line).

Okay this is obviously not the steps, I mean for one it looks like it is cleaned regularly. But the steps are just a nice place to sit and unwind after a long hard day of working.

So readers that it what I have been up to the last few weeks and don’t worry I’ll be back soon with more stories of how my life just seems to fly by.

Arigato!

The long awaited catching up!

All work and no play has affected me badly. It literally meant I cooped up at home leaving only for work and sitting on the laptop for up to 10 hours a day, working my brain away.

So this month whilst I will be working on my dissertation (fingers crossed) I will take the time out and enjoy life.

Plans for this month

Get blood test done: I got the request for the doctor in March and needed to arrange time to go. Now that I finished the coursework I had no excuses. So yesterday I went with a mate as we both needed to get it done. She went in first and came out...telling me the nurse stabbed her skin with the needle and rummaged around. Now to a person who last got an injection at the tender of 15, imagining what was running through my mind with that imagery. I went in bracing myself for the worst possible pain... It actually wasn’t bad, turns out I’m full of blood and there were plenty of veins pumping blood around. It was quicker than her one as well. (I can tick this off, woohoo!)

Catch up on missed movies: Whilst I have been working hard, I missed the new movies that had come out and have plans to go see them. After waiting almost 3 odd weeks I made plans and saw Scream 4. Next movie on watch list is Insidious and Fast and Furious 5.

Get outfits made: Too many people are getting married and it’s annoying they’re all together. Wedding fever has gripped my family and friends and for some reason they all have decided to get married within the next few months. In fact some of the wedding dates are already starting to clash! “What to dooo?”

See the babies: Like wedding fever there has also been a baby fever going around. I need to go see the new babies. Also there are other babies who are ageing a little too rapidly for my liking. Some have already turned one; it seems like they were only born the other day!!

Road Trip and Reunions: Summer is almost here and it’s been ages since I have met up with a few dear friends. This month I plan to see them, hopefully all of them. And also carry out the long awaited road trip that I have been planning for what seems like eternity!

Sleep more, drink less: My sleeping pattern did mess up and that left me with an unfocused brain. This month I am thinking of dedicating 10 hours a day to sleep. I also at times get really bad migraines. I am a regular, I mean a healthy coffee drinker. Doesn’t that sound so much better? Anyways I think my migraines could be linked to my drinking habit and therefore am taking steps to curb coffee drinking. It’s the second day. So far so good!

Anyways reader that’s the plan in progress and I’ll keep you updated!

Essay Deadlines Looming And I’m Going On Holiday?

So readers the last blog mentioned how much coursework I had due in on the 4th May and for once I was really really stressed out. Unfortunately the plan for the coursework plan did not go ahead according to the plan. Hahaha.

That is what happens when Raz does all work and no play. I stayed at home and it took its toll as I spent up to 10 hours a day in front of the laptop, which made me crazy. But the other reason why it didn’t go ahead was because I had a mini holiday. I wasn’t going to go but... everyone in my family was going on holiday that I became unbelievably jealous and booked my ticket. In hindsight that was four days that could have been spent wisely...

But the booked holiday was made with good intentions. I took a reading book that I needed to read for my essay. However 3 hours later and 10 pages in, I gave up. It wasn’t my fault as the language lacked the standard literary writing which engages the reader. Also it was too hot and humid to sit inside and read.

And then I came back...with food poisoning I might add... I was in agony for days and lost my appetite.

Mini Facts of Food Poisoning

Negative point of food poisoning: The sight of food made me have panic attacks...

Positive point of food poisoning: I lost a few pounds without working hard or going to the gym!!!!

Anyway with food poisoning over by Sunday I got back on track and finished my essays by deadline. It was a real struggle to complete the final assignment. My brain was tired from overworking and taking no breaks. It got so bad; I literally sat on the laptop for an hour just trying to understand the question. It just didn’t go through in my head and I actually cried in desperation!

However there is a lesson learnt. I have learnt a new way of working and must now accommodate my body and mind rather than my body and mind accommodating my lifestyle. Never again will I try to complete four assignments in fewer than two- four weeks. The bad point is even if I spent a month locked indoors, I feel I could have done better with the assignments, whether it was to read more texts or proof read my essays for the zillionth time..

Either way its handed in and now I’m making plans (in good faith) to start dissertation!!! Oh mannn

Deadlines, Deadlines and More Deadlines (Part Two)

All I can say is that I never learn. Every year it’s the same problem with me. I always start my work last minute and somehow fling the essay. Fortunately every year I recover. Well that is until this year. This year it was a struggle to complete four essays in less than two weeks. I hardly did any background research and this showed in my grades. Yes I could have achieved better. I also suffered from insomnia. This meant I was catching sleep while writing coursework. Shamefully after I caught up on sleep and proof read the coursework (after the deadline obviously) I found too many mistakes that I could have avoided.


But don’t worry readers I have learnt my lesson. I have another four assignments due in 4th May and have devised a timetable. One essay per week and hopefully I should finish before the deadline.

 (I know what this looks like, I spent more time devising the timetable then on my coursework but it’s a coping method of sitting long hours on the computer)

Unfortunately this is how the plan is going so far:

Obviously my “fun day” and “lie in” were something that couldn’t be postponed. It was so important it was highlighted in red... I actually starting to stress and regret not starting two months in advanced. But fingers crossed readers I get all of it completed by the end of this month and not a day later...

Desserts is Stressed Spelt Backwards!

So this weekend I arranged a get together with a few girls and what better activity to do than eat. We all needed a break from our lifestyles of work, studying and relaxing and decided to meet up. Unfortunately this was the worse meet up ever. Firstly we were all late by an hour. Thankfully the location was two minutes down the road from my house. But then we all had the worse dining experience!
It was two in the afternoon and none of us had anything to eat and so we travelled to Ilford to have food. We were so starving that the tummy noises started, yes the embarrassing ones that always happen to you when it is quiet. We finally made it to your destination and went to a well known dessert bar and that is when it went wrong.

We ordered our food and man it was deceiving. I ordered cake with side orders of ice cream. I ordered yoghurt looking ice-cream and it turned out to be bubblegum. I should have just had Hubba Bubba and it would have been better. I also ordered a creamy looking ice cream with chocolate flakes thinking it was vanilla and it turned out to be coconut. Seriously who decided these flavours?

My dessert came with a hair. Those who know me, know that I have hair phobia. The sight of it on anywhere other than heads, makes me want to physically vomit. I was nauseous when I told the waitress, who then just attempted to move the hair. One look at my face and she with a reassuring smile said, “I’ll just get you a new one”.

Man, I’m actually gutted, that was my favourite dessert bar and when the waitress attempted to move the hair rather then get me a new dish now means I am not going back there anytime soon.

So after we finished our desserts we travelled to Green Street to have our main course. Thankfully my food this time was fine, I stuck with something no chef could make wrong: a chicken burger. However my friend ordered a Chicken Tikka wrap. This particular friend literally picks her food. She ate one piece and it was fine. She then proceeded to the next piece and opened it up. The inside was uncooked, pale pink and had a thin layer of shine to it. Basically it was undercooked. The funny thing is we all looked at it and confirmed the chicken was undercooked and needed to be returned... We called the waiter, and the waiter replied “Madam, it’s not undercooked, it’s juicy... (Emphasising point here) It’s juuuiiiiccccccccccccccy”. Yes it was said twice; with the second time it being elongated.

Her face said it all and it was turning into chaos until we got the chef, who actually confirmed it was undercooked as well. Fortunately she got another dish, but unfortunately she was disgusted so she only had two bites and stopped. Shamefully we couldn’t stop laughing. Her scenario was worse than the ones the rest of us experienced. What made it worse was when we wanted to pay; the cashier explained (nicely) it will take five minutes to fix so we had to pay with cash. Yes readers, I know what you are thinking. Who carries cash these days! Jeez. That is another story so let’s leave it at that! But so much for the day of relaxing and being stress free, if anything it had made more be more stressed and have a phobia in eating in these specific places again.

Now readers there is a moral to my story, firstly do not be greedy and have dessert before the main and secondly do not set aside a day to eating, make sure you have other activities planned.

The day went horrible but we couldn’t stop laughing, it was one of these moments where everything goes wrong and all you have left to do is laugh.

DENIAL

Retirement Plan

So I hardly have written any blogs in the last two months and the reason for that is firstly I have been very lazy and secondly there is not much to write about other then coursework. With the matter of coursework readers, I think you have heard enough.

Deadline is in March or is it in April? Like every deadline I received I make a plan. My aim was to finish it in February but like all work plans I get sidetracked (blah blah blah blah)…I got books out (blah blah blah blah)… I attended most lectures (blah blah blah blah).

Yes readers that is how my life is, I am soo laidback that now even I do not know what I am doing.

Everything seems like heard work so I just take it as it comes. I’m writing this with half my eye open and trying to stay awake at work. Yes unfortunately I detest hard work but need to actually work in order to fund lavish food for my tummy.

Therefore to avoid all this hard work I have set up a retirement plan which I hope to carry out very soon. This is so serious I even devised a business plan of finance money to help my retirement.

Since I do not have enough time on my hands I have devised a time allocation of what I may do during my retirement…

I have noticed there is nothing different from my retirement plan to what I set aside on Annual Leave. What a shame.

However as like all retirement plans with more income going out and without anything else coming in, I will probably have to go back to work by the time I’m thirty. Woohoo Guess how much I am looking forward to that? (¬.¬)

O Car, Where Art Thou?

So readers I have some good news, I have passed my driving test and finally can tick off my Tick List which I created last year. Most of it like cooking is out the window but hey I got one down and a billion to go.

If you’re a new reader it would be best to read the following previous blog to understand my desire, my dream and everything else which will make me broke.
http://gre-razmin.blogspot.com/2010/07/worlds-your-oyster.html

But anyways this was my third time taking the test. Unfortunately the first two times were simply because I did not see the red light. And no readers I did not run anyone over when I didn’t see the red light, zebra crossing or the pedestrian crossing!

But jeez completing the driving test and then being told not once but twice that I was failed simply because of the red light was not on.

Oh the shame, but now third time lucky I have passed and thankfully the red lights and the crossing were not an issue, I did not even get minor marks on them!

However now that I have passed my test, the first thing I did was text everyone to help with my car fund.

All I got back was congratulation texts but not help with car fund and this means I now have to wait and save up for a car, mind you I have checked out insurance and that will kill me alone. So now it is the Support the Raz Car, Insurance, MOT, Road Tax and Petrol Fund and any donations are more then welcomed.

Sibling Rivalry

Well readers I am sure you are aware now that I come from a large family and there is always sibling rivalry, arguments and as always revenge. Muhahahahaha (Evil laugh here)
So readers what can you do (that I myself have done obviously) to get revenge or do out of boredom.

Problem One
Running late for work and need the bathroom only to find someone else is in the bathroom, not having a shower but taking a bath?

Solution
Well after endless banging on the door, switch the hot water off and run all the taps in the house. This will definitely get the person to hurry up, coming out angry might I add. But by that time you will have hopefully left the house!

Problem Two
They won’t share their clothes?

Solution
Take one of their favourite socks so they are left with the other. This will mean that they will not end up wearing the sock at all and therefore leave the house stressed out.
Also take the item of clothes that you want to wear without asking. This will also give you UNLIMITED access to clothes AND accessories. It really infuriates my younger sister. Unfortunately when she does it to me, it is ineffective as my room is messy, I wouldn’t know anything has been taken until they come forward and confess.

Problem Three
They won’t share their money?

Solution
Raid their piggy bank. That is one of the good things about having tons of siblings. Someone somewhere will have money lying around always ready for you to take. Also since there are some many siblings there are also so many people to point the finger at.

Problem Four
Need a wakeup call?

Solution
If you share a room then set the alarm and put it next to siblings that way you have to cross over them to switch it off. It will annoy them but will also get you moving…

Problem Five
Are you lazy in general?

Solution
Carry a bell!!

Wedding And All Things Related

As I mentioned in the previous blog the wedding was last minute and everything was rush, rush, rush!! Even the bridesmaid outfits. The entire weekend was spent consulting the tailor and making sure we had the outfits made. We got ripped off but as it was last minute we just agreed as we just couldn’t be bothered to haggle hard. Anyway the tailor was a last minute person and actually finished the outfits at 8:00pm on Monday night and as neither I nor the tailor could be bothered to give/get the dresses, collecting it would then be on Tuesday.

So come Tuesday morning me and my little sister got up early enough to get the dresses. By the time we got back everyone had just started to get up and hog the bathroom... typical!

The wedding itself was hectic, as everyone was getting ready and whilst we had to get ourselves ready, we (as in me and my sister) had to get others ready and babysit the children. I know women are multi-taskers but this was impossible and therefore when people complained why we were running late I was not happy.

The hall we booked was okay I guess. Thank goodness we came in way early as we made a few changes. And thank goodness for contacts as dad sorted out the caterers, hall and stage. Anyway the wedding had slight hitches, mainly from guests who did not understand the concept of a segregated wedding and no pictures. Other than that it went smoothly. I as usual was put in charge of the female hall and had to be a bouncer. So much for enjoying myself ey readers? Anyway I finally got to eat at 4:00 and I only had starters. Not much of a curry fan I’m afraid... oh the irony.

Once the wedding finished we went to my sister’s new flat and chilled there until like 12. When we finally got home we were told to clean the kitchen. Yes, I’m for real. By then I was really losing my sanity! We finished the cleaning and then had to clean our room up as it had everything everywhere. Boy was I glad at 2:00 am that I finally got to sleep!!


Bridesmaid Outfits

Yes, modelled by yours truly

Everything about the Mehndi and wedding was last minute. I mean even the invites were sent out a few days before the actual wedding and that is not my style. I prefer to be prepared and that’s why I have planned out my entire wedding, from the card design, the dress, the hall and the food. Yes you got it I have started planning mine (only in my head of course). Better to be prepare than not!

Now my sister is gone it is a bit weird. I mean I actually have to cook now and then, but unfortunately my curries never come out right...

It’s weird that she’s married and gone now, living elsewhere. It means now that we have to actually call when we want to pop over. Don’t worry people there is an upside, our room has more space now, I chucked my bed out, moved onto the bunk bed and added an extra wardrobe. But unfortunately no new outfits as I’m broke till payday...

Also now the hustle and bustle is over I still have to get back into my life routine and get started on my coursework. Man I need a holiday to get over this holiday!!!

The Best Laid Plans Often Go Awry

So I haven’t written a blog in so long that now I’m back I feel like I got tons to update you readers with... Telling you about what I did over the last few weeks... Well it’s a sacrifice of my time I am only too willing to make readers... just for you lol.
Okies so last December term ended and my target was to have completed an essay with research and all things related and that way I would only have two to hand in January. Obviously that didn’t happen, but hey readers the important thing here to remember here is that it wasn’t my fault...

Roughly a week before Christmas my sister had her wedding date booked, and when I mean booked she booked it for the following week. This meant we only had nine days to prepare everything for her wedding... (0-0). She booked it for the 28th December!!!

It didn’t help that out of the nine days I was working during three of them and then there was Christmas day where no shops were open. Frustrating if you actually need to shop...

So as soon as I finished my shifts I spent Thursday and Friday getting everything sorted and planning her Mehndi. The Mehndi is usually a few days before the wedding and it is where people get to put henna on the bride to be. It’s the equivalent to a (most of the time clean) hen party. But anyways it’s amazing what you can accomplish within a few days. I spent these days getting outfits made and buying bits and bobs for her Mehndi, including stage stuff. Yes I got material and made the stage. Not bad for someone who does no work. Hehehe

Picture of stage

A Close Up


(Me being lazy meant the decorations have not come down yet...)



Yes, yes we forgot to iron the material before we put it on but hey it was rush, rush, rush and we did the best we could. Shame I couldn’t take a picture of the entire living room... most of all I had fun with the staple, stapling anything and everything to the wall and ceiling. (0-0)

So the Mehndi night we made it strictly women so we could all let our hair down and have fun... We tried but come 10pm all the men gate-crashed our party so we have to move elsewhere. We were very very annoyed and jeez man did they not have any other time to come! Talk about wrong time, wrong place!!!

Then Monday come and just about as we were about to relax, about 15 odd guests came round to stay. I’m not joking. Our house was jam packed but thankfully I did not share my room, or my bed. No one touches my bed!!! I don’t know how we would have managed without our guests. For some reason no one trusted my cooking even though I volunteered to cook (in my head and I can cook!), they did ALL the cooking. Yes ALL the cooking!! Thank goodness for family!

Alas we could relax or so we thought.....