Hard Work Pays Off

I had THE phone call yesterday, my course tutor (Mrs Clooney) called tell me the results of my exam for Level 3 Medical Terminology. I achieved a distinction (92% or more). I am really chuffed, all those night of forcing myself to do my homework, of bugging Mr Fink and Little Fink to test me - even now Little Fink will pop up with "What is the meaning of 'osteoporosis'?"

So I'll be having a little celebration on Saturday, in tandem with the Strikly final. COME ON MATT!

On Saturday we had the annual Buncefield Bash, where The Finks and our friends gather at Chez Fink to celebrate NOT being blown to smithereens 5 years ago by the Buncefield explosion. We had Donuts on The Washing Line game, The Chocolate Game (BigMac cheated AGAIN) and a couple of others. Mr Fink excelled himself this year with the indoor fireworks. He'd purchased a confetti canon. The audiences faces were a picture as he was trying to set it off, a mixture of anticipation and fear!

Brilliant - made possible by our friends and family.

Buncefield Bash

The Buncefield Bash was a great success. Lots of lovely friends, a beautiful cake (thank you Mrs Glum)and lots of silly games. We played Chubby Bunnies, where you have to place marshmallows in your mouth one at a time and take it in turns to try and say "Chubby Bunnies" coherently. If you can't you are out - oh and you mustn't eat the mallows in between. (Mr Hammer would have won this one I think if the last players hadn't started to go green!)

We also played, Eat the Donut off the Washing line without Using Your Hands. (Greedy Big Mac!)

The chocolate game, (Bambi in the lead along with Loo) was very hard this year.

The indoor fireworks from Mr Fink provided the highlight of the evening, coaxing 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the astounded crowd - mostly when we all suffered smoke inhalation!

The main event of the night was Homer allowing the children to draw on him with felt tip pens. He had it everywhere, on his tum, in his ears, he looked like a gang had graffittied him! The funniest bit was 3when Little Fink was trying to wash his face with a cloth, he was sitting on the floor and every time she rubbed his face, she banged his head on the sideboard! Poor Homer.

It's not till NEXT year I tell you!

It's that time again, my Birthday! Why does everyone think I am 40 today? I'm 40 next year!

My birthday started well, I had to wait in the the washing machine guy as on Sunday - after the Buncefield Bash, I opened the washing machine and suddenly thought..."Why are my feet getting wet?". The darn thing wasn't emptying so we called in the man and he arrived, fixed the problem - a hairband causing the blockage! (That's £50 you owe me Little Fink).

I've been very lucky today, I've been given lots of cards with nice sentiments written in them, "good friend", "lots of fun", "yar hoo and a bucket of poo" (you know who you are 'Big Mac') and I was also given some lovely presents. Including a timeline of the various Doctor Who's from Little Fink and some beautiful jewellery from Mr Fink.

He is currently cooking me a birthday dinner and is smells super dooper!

I love birthdays! Yay me!

You know you've had a party when...

...you're eating onion bahjiis and sausage rolls for breakfast!

The Buncefield Bash was a terrific success. Everyone brought a little bit of something to eat and drink (tea cake, chili, trifle, nibbles, booze). Everyone joined in with all the games, the cereal packet game is now considered 'old hat' by the children. The 'jelly baby in the flour game' claimed Marsha and Bambino as it's first two victims and the 'eat the chocolate with the gloves on game' was played fiercely by Bag Mac and Bambi - with MUCH cheating by both. Unfortunately we didn't get time to learn Big Mac's 'toilet roll game' perhaps next year. The children were well behaved and had great fun too, dressing up, karaokeing and playing buzz.

Mr Fink's legendary indoor fireworks were the stars of the show, we were all warned to stand well back and as ever, no one could believe their eyes at the roman candles firing out of the Buncefield cake!

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and laughed all evening. Thank you all for taking the trouble to come (Mr & Mrs Fogg travelled down from York to be here) and making the evening what it was, another wonderful night of fun with the people I care most about. Thank you all. It would be nothing without all of you. xxx

A BANG in Hemel - not again!

http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/todays-picture/Explosion-rocks-industrial-estate.3599707.jp

The first I knew about the explosion was when I received a text message from the 'school alert service' which sends out one message to all mobile phone toting parents....(message shown here abridged)

"Re the fire in Maylands Avenue. There is NO DANGER. We do NOT need to evacuate the school. The children will be kept indoors as a precaution."

Now there's a message to make you sit up and take notice! Who said Hemel was a dull place to live!

A lot to catch up on

Where do I start? I went for a Christmas meal with my old department on Friday. The food was terrible. We joked about the chef being on holiday and the hardness of the pheasant, the tepid nature of the veg and the general disjointedness of the presentation of the courses. I won't name the pub but it's between Hilliers and the narrow bridge. Things started to brighten up as soon as I got home, mum was there with Little Fink, Ched and Doris were on their way.

The evening went well, lots of drink, talk and catching up - too much of all three for me by all accounts! Saturday was taken up with shopping and preparing for the Buncefield Bash - a celebration that we are all still here after such a large explosion. The guests arrived (apart from the ill ones and the stay at home ones). The kids played and drew a beautiful montage for my wall. We talked, shared stories, laughed, played games. Allan lit fireworks and we all admired Mrs Glum's Buncefield cake, a triumph of victoria sponge, chocolate icing, jelly baby firemen, chocolate matchstick girders and coloured coconut 'flames'. Wonderful. Best of all, my favourite thing... my friends all around me, enjoying each others company. We even managed to make some decisions about our joint holiday.

Ched and I stayed up after everyone sensible had gone home or to bed and talked the night through about all and nothing until 6am. Usually we only realise it's time for bed when the sun comes up - there's nothing like watching a sunrise with your best cuz.

Sunday morning came and went, Little Fink, Ched, Doris, and I went swimming in the afternoon and lost our hangovers while playing with the foam floats, along with Mr Glum and the Glumettes. Meanwhile Mr Fink made Finkpie (Shepherds pie to you!) and after feeding our faces with it and Doris's pickled onions, Mrs Glums pickled cabbage and beetroot (Ched and Doris have polished off a whole jar of Mrs Glum's pickled cabbage at one sitting before now!) I sat down for a siesta, Doris and Ched went to the Spice Girls concert and all was quiet.

A wonderful weekend, over too quickly.