Sunday Night Mash Up

Monday saw my final exam of this sitting, you may have seen my post from Tuesday about this.  Now I have the long wait for my results on the 8th of February.

Tuesday was our department Christmas lunch, it was also Secret Santa day.  Or should that be 'Secret Santa for now but we will work out who bought what by the end of lunch day'.  I received a book of horror stories, bookmarks and a handmade necklace (black heart, black cord, silver fittings), I was very pleased.

Friday night was our office Christmas Party.  We held it at the Village Hotel, it was a Willy Wonka themed event, we entered the room by crossing a bridge over a chocolate river, the compere was dressed as Willy Wonka (the Gene Wilder version, not Johnny Depp) and some of the servers were dressed as Oompa Loompas.

There was a quiz to take part in, on the screens (which were showing Charlie and The Chocolate Factory on continuous loop) a question was flashed up at regular intervals, mostly about identifying different sweets and biscuits.  And we won!  The prize was a bottle of perry, so a round of brandies later and we were all drinking, for intents and purposes, brandy and babycham.

After the meal we moved back out into the bar area where the disco was set up, I have no idea what time we left!

I had treated myself to an Upper Deck room and paid for a snack pack.  The bed was so comfortable I wasnted to bring it home with me.

I discovered once I had got back to my room that I had lost my phone.  I contacted reception the next morning and it had been handed in, so thank you to whoever did that.

Saturday morning I was a little worse for wear to say the least, but the Full English Breakfast and jug of coffee helped!

I am not looking forward to weigh in on Tuesday.

A Morning in Norwich.

I spent a few hours (and a few pounds) in Norwich a couple of weekends ago, it is very much a city of opposites.  Designer stores rub shoulders with Primark, jewellery shops with security guards on the doors sit between charity shops, stockbrokers are surrounded by market stalls.

There also seems to be a lot of Gentleman's Clubs on the walk from the train station to the city centre, great expanses of black glass and chrome.  I saw some of the 'artistes' leave as I was walking past at 9.30 in the morning.

I didn't realise that there was a castle in Norwich so I was surprised to see signs to one so I decided to check it out.

The first impression is somewhat spoiled by the huge glass lift.

This is a view from, and of, the balcony running around the inside of the walls.

You can access the garderobes from the balcony, I did, and I have the bump on the head to prove it!  There are signs up telling you that the ceiling is low, what they don't tell you is that it gets lower.

In the lower level of the keep, there is a display retelling the stories of the people who were held there when it was a prison.  It wasn't gory enough for me, I was looking forward to reading stories of torture.  But there were dressing up outfits for children.

Further into the castle there are several permanent displays - there is an Egyptian room, natural history (including bones and teeth from mammoths) and several others.  There is also a cafe and, of course, a gift shop.

After the castle, I had a wander around the shops, and there are hundreds of them!  I really wasn't expecting anything much and was pleasantly surprised.  I will go back again for another visit, but I would definitely allow myself more time.

Exam Week 2

So this week has seen the second sitting of my ACCA journey, and my feelings about the exams are the same as previously.

Three hours is far too long.

If you know your stuff, then the answers will flow and you can be easily finished in under two hours.

If you don't know your stuff you answer what you can and then stare at the walls, the floor, the person in front of you until the end of the exam.

You should be allowed to leave when you have done what you can.

If the ACCA insist that the exams remain at three hours, then you should be able to leave when you feel you have completed the script to the best of your ability.

It can't be any more distracting to other candidates for someone to leave than it is to see them apparently asleep at their desk.

Constant trips to the toilet.

Most of the candidates sitting the exams are early twenties, in some cases late teens, and yet they seem to find it impossible to sit through the exam without going to the toilet at least once.

This is a photo I took after the exam, you can see the corner of my desk at the bottom of the picture, the door you can see is the door out to the toilets.  And yes, it was annoying when people were constantly passing me.

Tiny Desks

The desks really are small, the question paper and answer paper are both A4 size and there isn't room on the desk to open both out fully, they have to be folded back on themselves.

Still, they are over now, thank goodness, results are due out on the 8th February.

Silent Sunday - 08/12/13

A Not So Grand Day Out or How A Full Day Can Still Be Boring. Pt 2

When Dad returned with Bess we had our lunch but I think that Dad was beginning to realise how fed up Mum and I were so we packed up the car and headed off into Mablethorpe.

I loved Mablethorpe and have spent many a happy day there when I was younger, on the beach or wandering around the 'sell everything' stores so typical of the English seaside town, or in the little arcades trying to win something on the penny-falls machines.

But as we walked into the town I could have cried.  The Mablethorpe of my youth was no more.  The little town was now a mass of huge arcades and factory outlet shops.  Even the people walking round were different and seem to have changed to suit the new facilities, I will leave it to your imagination to work out what I mean.

We walked up onto the Prom and along the sea front.  Bess decided to have a wee right in the middle of the pavement, but frankly, it did not seem out of place.

There had been some attempts to brighten up the front, several brightly coloured changing huts had been erected.

We made it to the Queen's Park end of the Prom and had a coffee at the cafe there.  It felt much nicer at that end of the town.

We then set off home, stopping on the way to have another sandwich and a drink.  It was a very long day, and one that I will not be repeating!

Lose a Stone for Christmas/Pounds for Pounds

I didn't post last week as I wasn't very well.  I don't know if it was something I ate that disagreed with me, or I picked a 24 hour thing, either way I got in from work and went straight to bed.

This week saw the start of my exams, so chocolate has been a staple part of my diet, somehow I only managed to put 1/4lb back on.  Maybe stress is a weightloss accelerator.

I have two more exams before my next weigh in, so fingers crossed for both my remaining exams and my weigh in.

Goal: 14lbs

Lost last week: 0.75lbs

Total lost: 8.25lbs
Still to lose: 5.75lbs

Goal: 14lbs

Lost this week: 0.25lbs GAIN

Total lost: 8.00lbs
Still to lose: 6.00lbs

Sunday Night Mash Up

Tomorrow sees the first of my three exams for this sitting and the closer it gets, the less confident I feel!  I will be getting into town nice and early (in case there are any bus issues) and treating myself to a coffee before I check in to the exam hall.

Not much to report this week really.  I have had a few laughs, I have had a few strops.  I have got annoyed at some blog posts I have read, but I daresay people get annoyed at some of mine so no harm done, and I certainly wouldn't criticise anyone for getting their views out there, we are all entitled to an opinion.

There was a horrible accident in Glasgow this week.  A helicopter crashed into the roof of a popular pub and unfortunately eight people were killed and many more injured.  It was just an awful thing.

On a happier note, the busy period for us compers has started.  Yes, Advents.  Hundreds and hundreds of competitions to be entered on a daily basis until the big day.  I am selective and don't enter them all as many are not relevant to me, but I think it takes as long to sort through them as it would to just enter them all.

Good luck to everyone taking part in the advents.

And good luck to everyone sitting or resitting the ACCA F5 Performance Management exam tomorrow.

A final note for tonight, I bought some fish from Iceland called Basa, I had never heard of it but thought I would give it a try and it was lovely.  I am just having the second piece out of the box of two and whilst eating decided to google it to find out more about the fish.  I discovered it is a catfish, or at least of the catfish family, and I have gone right off it and left most of the piece I had cooked.  I don't know why catfish is such an issue, I love shark and swordfish.

I blame Jeremy Wade.