[19 Dec 2005|11:11pm] Well, i've finally made the change! New journal _nowadays please add me, i love you all! 1 comment|post comment

[07 Dec 2005|02:48pm] Tree at the christmas markets (Maxine and i took very similar photos :) ) I'm feeling a little better since my last post of moandom& then the whole Strokes thing. The good news is, Gill's dad has come up with the goods and we're now going to see them in Nottingham, hurrah! :D V.excited, naturally. Although, i'm not sure i'm going to like their new stuff, which will be sad. Rather excited about seeing my family next week. Spoke to dad on the phone earlier and he sounded chipper (afterall, he was giving me his credit card number, though i'm obviously paying him back). I really miss them at the moment. Stu brought me some beautiful roses last week, ♥ yellow roses They were by way of an apology for a little (big) tiff we had, i love them. I don't have anything particularly constructive to say, so i think this will be all. 9 comments|post comment

[02 Dec 2005|09:36am] Sold Out :( 10 comments|post comment

[02 Dec 2005|09:33am] AHHH. Almost had my Strokes ticket from Ticketmaster, but nooo, you can't use Maestro cards. DOOM. C'mon and load 'seetickets' you bastard! post comment

[27 Nov 2005|12:32pm] A proper upate soon, but for now: ♥ Stu and I went on a little trip to Salford Quays and the Imperial War Museum North the day my last essay was handed in. It was really nice to get out of the city centre for a while...i found it very peaceful& quiet there. The Museum was very interesting. It was designed to express the fragmentation of the world as a result of war (I think anyway!) &had some very good info/displays etc.. I've been to the London one a few times too and love it lots. ( Imperial War Museum& Salford Quays ) 9 comments|post comment

[12 Nov 2005|11:30am] OH NO, but OH YES! Belle and Sebastian at the Ritz in January, just got my ticket. £25. Robbage. But, it just had to be done. I can't tell my mum, she will probably kill me. &then there's the Rakes and of course, Strokes tour coming up. One day i'll realise that i really do not have money for any of this. 3 comments|post comment

My mum. [06 Nov 2005|06:48pm] [ music | simon and garfunkel ] Just a quick update. Have been reminiscing a bit, looking at the photo albums i've thumbed so many times before: i feel like the albums my mum put together really give me the best sense of her and my father's history. Both are in crazycool clothes, dad often with guitar in hand, hanging around with friends like an all-year round festival. And then, us lot together. If these photos every got lost/stolen/damaged, it would be most awful, i want to cherish them forever! Last night mum read me an old diary she made of one of our holiday's at the caravan, it was so sweet. I really would like to put everything she has kept to good use: diaries, pictures, trinkets. She has this fab nurses belt thing that is really very cool and worth a lot of money. I really want to wear it, but her waist was super tiny back then! Anyway, i love these photobooth pictures of my mum waybackwhen before she was married. I swear she'd have a livejournal if they were around back then! I really think she was beautiful. Maybe that's because she is my mum, but still, aw. Oh, yes! &i had a rummage through dad's tape collection and found the Simon&Garfunkel tunes i was after. Hurrah! Also found some John Peel sessions to entertain me! 9 comments|post comment

[02 Nov 2005|07:24pm] Wellll, since i'm at home and thus have 24hr access to the wonder that is t'internet, i think i will update with more rambling crap from the life of Nicola. It's been a fairly productive wednesday. I've got down 800 words of essay number two, p-a-i-n-s-t-a-k-i-n-g-l-y so. Instead of just going at it maximum effort style, i seem to write say 300 rough words, put on my headphones and sit staring at Windows Media Player thinking about how good some of those Maximo Park songs are. And i stare, and stare and stare. &then the word FUTURE creeps into my brain, and, like the record that got stuck, i obsess about how that's going to pan out since i have NO PLAN WHATSOEVER and really really want to live in Manchester next year. Finally, i do some more work and contemplate how crap i'm going to do on these essays. However, i do have Repetative Strain Injury Ache in my RSI hand, so perhaps i'm putting more effort in than i think. Ouch :( You never know, i may even get dressed tomorrow *shock* *horror!* So, really need to get back to reading about the 'ghettocentric imagination' in the 'ghetto action film cycle' and then watch Lost& eat Galaxy chocolate, mmm. I miss Manchester, &Stu, but realistically, i doubt i'll be back up there for the weekend. +i'm loving the mothering and fathering i'm getting right now: lots of delicious foodstuffs from Sainsbury's! Cups of tea on demand! Mum making me cry with laughter as she sings 'Pon de Replay' or whatever it is! The end. Edit: i seriously need to make myself some new userpics. The ones i have have been kicking around for Far Too Long. 4 comments|post comment

[01 Nov 2005|11:38am] Well, am back home in Tamworth after a rather adventurous trip to London! Of course, numerous hitches and oddities arised which i feel compelled to write down since i seriously thought i was going to CRACK on the coach home and beg the driver to drop me off at the start of the M6 Toll! (Viv and Maxine: i had a right old time on the way home!). Firstly though, London was lovely. It was so cool to meet up with Vivian for the first time and spend the day with her and Maxine, you are both super! We did quite a number of things: Pub lunch, National Gallery, Harrods, afternoon tea (oh my! Delicious indulgence, very interesting experience!), Tate Modern (if only briefly due to closing time, +level two was closed), walking by the Globe, up to Buckinham Palace. It was a nice day and i felt remarkably relaxed throughout it! I have taken a few picture, but i left my camera up in Manchester. Thankyou both for such a nice time! My journey was a whole other kettle of fish. I missed the bus up to the city centre in Manc and therefore had to walk at 6am in the dark. It was quite hair-raising, especially with drunken people dressed up for Halloween stumbling around and creepy looking men standing around. Admittedly, it was not sensible of me at all. I then had to start running (YES, nicola, RUNNING!) because time was seriously getting on. In the end, i flagged down a taxi, else i really would have missed the bus. Had a pseudo-creepy man sit next to me on the way down, but i managed to sleep lots so the journey seemed quite short. On the way back, the coach seemed to be taking a while to actually leave London. Then, this very posh, eccentric lad got on and sat near me drinking whisky like it was going out of fashion. He was sweating and falling around everywhere and it turned out that he'd broken part of the luggage hold door, so they'd had to get a mechanic out. Now, my phone battery had died earlier in the day, and i really needed to get in touch with my mum&Stu (Stu was meeting me by his road to take me back to his). The lad was gassing on to anyone he possibly could about his entire life& his plans to set up a business/his study of law blah blah. Clearly stinking rich, he'd been just about everywhere in the world and thought he knew just about everything. He started talking to me about my course and didn't stop. So, in my panic, i told him i was pissed off that he'd held up the coach because it had messed up my plans! I then managed to borrow his phone to put my sim card in, but his phone was shit and i couldn't ring out. When we stopped for a ten minute break, he came back in a tweed suit, businessman coat, no longer sweating and with clean hair, having took a shower in the service station. Me and this other Portuguese dude were hysterical with laughter. In the course of the journey, i was actually asked out on a date by Portuguese dude and asked for my number by this Adam character. Tired and worried, i really though i may be hallucinating the entire journey! Back in Manchester at 1am i bolted from the coach to the bus stop, where i witnessed a horrible SCALLY brawl in which a bunch of lads started beating the shit out of some other man. It was crazy, people were running around in the middle of the road and within about 30 seconds police vans came careering around the corner. When i got on the bus, that was also full of dodgy people, one of which was hanging around the phonebox i was using in Fallowfield to contact Stu. It was just MAYHEM. Bloody nora! So, the latest: -Travelled back home yesterday as it's reading week and i therefore have to actually write my essays! It's going okay: i've written about 1,200 words of one of them. I'm hoping to get 2,000 words down today and then start on the next one tomorrow. -Testament to the ghetto that is my road, mum's car was stolen last night. But, they only got as far as the end of the road, where it was just sat and wouldn't start. Me and mum were out there with the police at 4am. They were really nice policemen! The whole thing was quite bizarre! -Feeling much better about dissertation matters. Think i'm just about sorted with my theme and have started forming proper question that's due my tutor next week. 5 comments|post comment

[14 Oct 2005|04:18pm] Graffiti wall dedicated to John Lennon. Prague, Part 2 (probably seems ridiculously out of date now, sorry) There are lots of photos, erk. ( photos ) The end! Do you ever get the feeling (when using public computers) that you are the one who is typing the loudest? And that everyone is hoping you will stop it and go away? I do! 9 comments|post comment

is this the city of angels or demons? [17 Sep 2005|03:20pm] Prague was amazing. Go there! Stu and I fell in love with the place. There is so much to see& so much interesting history. The architecture is wonderful, the weather was just how i like it (apart from the day it bucketed down with rain, although that was interesting in itself!), and it seemed such an untouched and preserved city (it was left mostly untouched by war). Truly beautful. &it was so good to get away with Stu :) The Rough Guide to Prague, kindly lent by Sian, was thumbed consistently by me! It was essential in helping the pair of us navigate around the city and in providing tons of information about the sights. Hurrah for Rough Guides! It became quite a joke in the end "Nicola and The Book", the third wheel to our relationship, heh. I'm just going to post my B&W film prints in this post, but i also have colour digital ones to come later! Sorry for the gigantic-ness of my scans, scanners drive me mad! We flew into Prague as the sun was setting and then nervously purchased travel passes (£4 for four days unlimited public transport pass, excellent!) We bussed& metro-ed it to our hostel, where we were met by the night-time non-English speaking secretary man who tried to explain to us (in Czech) about paying in the morning and then shut us into a rickety old lift up to our floor. Our room& shared bathroom area were very basic, but perfectly fine given we aren't fussed and we spent 12 hours out of every day outside of the room! We immediately went out and walked alongside the river up to the Charles Bridge, both completely in awe of being in Prague, and of the views. We were asked by a man how to get to the "Karls Bridge for the discoteque, the biiigest discoteque in Europa?", which was very funny! Day One ( +3 ) Up at 8, we went out to Tesco and brought bread and cheese for breakfast, and then headed straight out to the Charles Bridge and Prague Hradcany (Castle). We spent a good few hours up there, heading up The Great Tower in St Vitus Cathedral, through the Old Royal Palace, and down into The Golden Lane where we browsed the lovely little shops (i loved these!) and had a drink and ice-cream in the Franz Kafka Cafe. We then headed down into Mala Strana's backstreets (The Little Quarter), where we had lunch and saw many of the cool old house signs. Here, we sought out the now-legal grafitti wall dedicated to the memory of John Lennon. I adored this! I have a number of digital photos of it. Within Mala Strana, we strolled through a little park and looked over at the river. We then walked up Petrin Hill with it's mock mini-Eiffel Tower, which we weren't all that impressed with. The views from the Hill were wonderful, but getting up there in the heat of the afternoon took it's toll! Suffice to say, we took the funicular rail thingy back down! Had a lovely evening, eating at a pizza restaurant that overlooked the river. Stu was loving the beers, and i was loving the cheap wine! We went to a Czech bar, where the men were all sat around watching the Sparta Prague match, and then walked back up to the Castle, to look over the city at night in a nice drunken haze. Day Two ( +1 ) On the second day, we went to Old Town Square. Unfortunately, the Astronomical Clock was under reconstruction and covered up, but the whole Square was beautiful and the buildings and churches were amazing. Here, we went on a walking tour. Stu and I wanted to do something a bit different to a typical sight-seeing tour, so we went on a Communist Walk, which was very interesting and brought back a lot of my knowledge from GCSE History. The lady took us to see balconies where various speeches were made, up to Wenceslas Sq, where Jan Palach and Jan Zajic immolated themselves as a protest against the Communist regime, to a small monument dedicated to the student effort of the Velvet Revolution, and showed us the giant Metronome that was made in the place of Stalin's statue. That day, we also visited the Jewish Ghetto and Synagogue (didn't manage to go to Terezin, the ghetto created by the Nazi's, as time was limited). That evening, we found Cafe Radost FX, which was the place Stu read about. It was supercool, rather like Trof (in Manc), but with a massively diverse menu and a fantastic vegetarian selection. We went back the next day, the food was delicious and the decor was very alternative and individual, ♥ ! Back at Old Town Square in the day, a busker had gathered a big crowd and we joined in singing along to Yesterday and Let It Be, it was supercool :D Day Three ( +2 ) Last day! The hostel held our luggage for free and we headed out into the rain and up to the Museum of Medieval Torture (Stu's preference, haha). It was interesting and all, but it got me feeling a bit paranoid and queasy, so i kind of couldn't look at a lot of it, wuss that i am! After this we went to Fair Trade Palace art gallery, but it was shut until the next day. I was really pissed off as i was looking forward to that. Instead, we went back to Old Town Square and looked around an independent photo gallery and art gallery, which were nice. We then went to a micro-brewery, which Stu LOVED. He had coffee and nettle (?!) beer, which i tried. I have to say, coffee beer is the nicest beer i've tasted. Beer=pretty gross as far as i'm concerned! It was raining extremely hard, so we didn't have long in the National Museum before we had to head back to get to the airport. I was extremely anxious for the flight home, it felt so good to get back on the ground!! Ah, lovely. These are memories that i will cherish. More pictures later. 18 comments|post comment

[10 Sep 2005|06:17pm] [ music | jinx-greenday ] I have new shoes! ( detail ) Yesterday, i went sh-hopping with Stu in Birmingham. This will probably be Nicola's Last Shopping Trip Ever, since when i go back to Manchester, i will officially have to declare myself in the Money Pit Of Doom. Well, probably. You see, i have a very strong relationship with denial and i don't reckon we're ready to break up just yet. Anyway, enough of that! I decided to buy those shoes since pumps look good with my jeans, i love pumps and i need to get them while they are around/FIT ME! There were another two pairs i was lusting over (black with flowers on, mmm), but i shall have to wait until...birthday money? before i even think about purchasing those beauties. But they were beauties :( Also invested in a black Eastpak backpack in an effort to be comfortable and practical when carting my books back and forth to the library and university. I had to somehow stop myself looking in too much detail at the clothes in H&M, but Topshop, of all places, CLAWED ME IN. Now, i don't tend to buy much stuff from Topshop, but there were some beauties in there. AND, there is now an Urban Outfitters in Birmingham, which rendered me swooning for the second time in a month over all the cute and cool trinkets it has to offer. But, no Topshop or UO goodies for me, woe! Other news: I've had my hair cut. OH MY, ( my hair has gone! ) Life has been extremely stressful this past week, and home life is going beyond what i can take. I'm not really the happiest bunny around, although i somewhat strangely, and decpetively, sound and look quite chipper in this post. My brother is particularly trying my patience (not that losing my patience with him seems to cause him any upset at all): our relationship as brother and sister is in tatters, yet this does not register with him. He's been in a lot of trouble this week, and he has attracted a lot of trouble. I'm so disheartened with this place and with some idiots (Tamworth's 'yob culture'), it disgusts me. Another thing on my mind is university/going back to Manchester. BUT, it's Prague on Tuesday, hooray! 8 comments|post comment

[10 Sep 2005|12:45pm] AHHHHHHHHHHHHarrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh. ARRRRRRRRRGGGHHHhhh. Phew, just needed to let that out. post comment

apply some pressure! [30 Aug 2005|07:39pm] Oh yes, ohyesohyesohyes indeed! I have officially left my employment at Drayton Manor Theme Park! Actually, i was quite sad to leave everyone really. I finished my shift in the sunshine of the Ice Cream 'shack' (as i like to call it) watching everyone leaving after their Bank Holiday fun. Everyone who was working signed a card and i got a few little gifts/& jokey gifts. Greg came to say goodbye and he sounded and looked like he was going to cry, :s bless him. I've spent the last couple'a days at Stu's house being fed and watered with chinese, rose wine and a yummy pasta dish, watching You've Got Mail (ahaha, i was having a weak moment regarding romantic comedies. Stu fell asleep during this, naturally) and the MTV VMA's. The VMA's are so bizarre. Stu has been looking at places to visit in Prague: Cafe FX (one for Nickolai!) Clad with chiffon and tasselled lampshades, this hippy-chic cafe at the entrance to the Radost FX nightclub dishes up imaginative plates ranging from Indian-spiced aubergine with mint yogurt to Thai veggies in coconut sauce. No meat in sight! Hehe, ♥ aubergine and mint yogurt. I've spent today reading and painting and listening to music, and i will probably spend tomorrow doing the same. This makes a Nicola happy. Edit: Urmm, i mean a happy Nicola! 7 comments|post comment

[23 Aug 2005|09:17pm] Oww, keep seeing words such as "READING!" "LEEDS!" "EXCITED!" popping up on my friends list. Really wish i was getting me some festival action this weekend, instead of working. Can't believe i'm braking with tradition this year. It all seemed so justified at the time: "seen/seeing most of the bands anyway, no money blah blah etc" / "don't think any of my friends want to go/boys definately not going", and then SOLD OUT when i was actually going to just go for it& hmming and harring over Leeds when i knew my course folks were going. It's just not the same *weep weep*! Anyways, to those who are off for some festival fun, have an awesome and magical time :D 1 comment|post comment

[18 Aug 2005|10:36pm] Oh sadness :( Will (my brother) has been attacked very near to our house tonight. He has quite a bad head injury according to my dad (i think they hit him with a bottle.) He has had to go to hospital and will probably have to stay in overnight. I was out with Stu at the time and when we got back he asked where my mum was as her car wasn't parked up. I never thought it would be something like this, but who does hey? My family (extended also) really are having a hard time of it at the moment. I went to visit Michael yesterday, but i think i'll write about that another time. 13 comments|post comment

[15 Aug 2005|10:08pm] I did have a lovely weekend! Started it off with Friday adventures: Stu and I went to Bonds with Sian, Graham, Sophie and Newman, and we bumped into Awni. I got a liiitle bit drunk and went back to Stu's to stay and stuff myself with food and water to ensure my hangover was minimal. It was nice and fun to catch up with Sian and her man. I was working Saturday, but i managed to get out early to meet Gemma, Rosie and Sophie from uni for Saturday adventures. We went to a 'secret free gig' under a brige thing by the Mailbox in Birmingham, where large pretty colourful bulbs were hung. The Editors played and they were an impressive live group. I'm not sure i really like a lot of their stuff; it's kind of a bit too dark and moody...but i do love some of their songs: especially Bullets, mmm. Stu came along to that with a few of his cronies in tow. Afterwards, us girls went for a meal in BarRoomBar, which is in the Mailbox. Rosie gets a 50% discount (something to do with the place where she waits in Cambridge), so that was rather ace. It was rather swanky and very nicely designed (downfalls: appalling music, orange-coloured freakish posh girls who ALL appeared to be dressed in a variation of gold/green sequined little numbers) and actually very cheap without even taking the discount into account! The food was amazing, DE-LICIOUS, as were the cocktail pitcher's. I am definately wanting to go there again! Following the meal, we walked up to show Rosie and Sophie Victoria Sq fountain and then headed to Snobs. Had quite a good time in there, despite the drinks tasting vile and the music being a little too same-old, if you know what i mean (I am officially sick of hearing The Kaiser Chiefs, Oasis anthems and that bloody Bravery song.) But we all had a good laugh and good dance and then went back to sleep over at Gemma's house in Solihull. It was really good to see the three of them again. I've felt very distanced from my Manchester life and yesterday made me feel less cynical and more comfortable/happy. & Sunday was excellent too. Stu picked me up complete with food he'd made/brought us (tasty bread rolls, crisps, coffee and juice, BLESS HIS COTTONS!) and drove us to Dovedale. We 'climbed' Thorpe Cloud, which i found hard since i was knackered and uphill walking is clearly not my thing! Once we were up there, however, the view was wonderful and going down was much more fun. We then walked along the riverside to Milldale and i had a yum whippy cone (one of the top 5 best ice-creams in Britain apparently!). We fed the ducks, ate and headed back. We were out for 7 hours! ( More pictures from yesterday ) 15 comments|post comment

[11 Aug 2005|08:20pm] Well, 7 days (i think) and no journal post, shocking stuff! Not too much has been happening really. Well, i say that, but a lot has been happening regarding work. But i'll perhaps get onto that in a minute! I've been using my camera, trying to get the hang of aperture and macro shots and all that jazz...mainly going around Tamworth and snapping at flowers because they seem to be ideal for learning. I probably sound quite silly to those that know how to do this kind of thing already :s Anyway, the sunset was amazing the other night, but i was in the car with Stu, so had to take photos out of the darn window, which wasn't really ideal. I like the geese picture, but i wish i could have taken more as geese were flying everywhere that night and they looked cool against the purpley/orange/grey sky. I am not doing this camera justice!!!( +1 ) Anyway...work. I'm team leader 4 days this week and on my first, one boy was given the sack (yes, i sort of had a hand in this, I TAKE NO PRISONERS haha-seriously though, he was already in the almost-sacked books that day already and he put the final nail in his own coffin by wandering from his kiosk when i was checking up on him). On the next day, John left, as in WALKED. I won't go into it (long, even-more-boring than-my-posts-are-anyway story) but it was to do with him going off site at lunch (not allowed) and having money on him etc...basically, they were trying to accuse him of stealing and he proved them WRONG, stuck to his guns and decided he was no longer going to work for them. I'm really going to miss John :( He was super-funny, a nice guy, had cool hair, was in an emo-ish band (!) and had a great CD collection that he brought in. Huh. So, with all that drama, us being short-staffed, it being a REALLY busy day and having a massive delivery on my hands, i ended up kind of cracking and crying a bit to Alma who calmed me down and sent me over some extra help. Everyone has been lovely and supportive about it, it's nice to know that when you really need people, they will be there for you. I had a shitload of tasks to do this morning at work, but with the help of a list and the staff, i got it all done. I'm looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow me and Stu are hopefully meeting Graham and Sian for drinks, Saturday i am really wanting to get out of work early to go and meet Gemma, Rosie and Sophie in Bham, and Sunday Stu and I might me going to Dovedale. Hurrah post comment

Let's take you back to the concrete streets [04 Aug 2005|09:09pm] [ music | jurassic 5-concrete playground ] +I passed my Driving Theory& Hazard Perception Test today, hurrah! Excellent news: the driving instructor's daughter DID NOT fail! +Got my camera this morning. Mum had a little cry that i wasn't opening my present on my 21st (aw, silly) and i was extremely excited. (I wanted the camera NOW, paid for most of it and i'm not particularly keen on my birthday) +Speaking of my 21st, Stu and i might be going away for ours as it's his birthday only 7 days before. We are hopefully going to have a weekend away somewhere cool. This also makes me extremely excited! +I have been listening to Will's 'History of Hip Hop' CDs today and i'm enjoying a lot of it. Some of the songs make me happy and are familiar ones that i didn't know he owned. I am glad i chose my Hip Hop Culture course: the reading is very interesting and enlightening and i'm interested in 'stepping outside of the box' more with my studies. -I've been charging my camera battery for HOURS and it's still on the red light. In the instruction manual, it says it should take 180 minutes max. Perhaps it takes longer when it's new? GAH, please. do. not. go. wrong. 7 comments|post comment

maybe, you can owe me, or should we wait and see? [02 Aug 2005|09:46pm] [ music | maybe you can owe me-architecture in helsinki ] Hallo blue sky! I have missed you! Life is so much better when the sky is blue: hot or cold. For me, anyhow. My camera hasn't arrived yet, booo. I am triple excited about learning how to do everything with a decent camera, HURRY UP AMAZON! Well, life has been quite okay these past few days. I had a really nice time with Stu on saturday; we went to Birmingham (all i purchased was a pair of tights and two pairs of pants! Granted, the pants are rather cool) and found ourselves in Chinatown eating none other than chinese, mmm. We spent the evening drinking niiice alcohol in the Centurion (Baileys'& Vodka/Lemonade/Lime's, mmm again!) and then i went back to his across the VERY scary and dark brooke. The next morning, his mum was being all cute and buttering me up scones, haha :) Yesterday and today have rendered me hysterical with laughter at work, which is quite honestly fantastic because there is nothing i love more than laughing hysterically! I love everybody (minus two) that i work with at the moment and they are brightening up my life a treat. I've been considering the idea of working with young people lately, just because i am enjoying their company so much. The good news is that John's decided to stay on for longer now (he was originally leaving this sunday) so i get to laugh with him for a a bit longer. The bad news is that Helen keeps saying she can't wait to leave now, and i am very scared about her leaving as i will be taking the reigns-more or less-until i go (which, fortunately, will be soon after). I need a lot of September to myself, i think. Hopefully i will have saved my target amount by then. At the moment, i feel like i'm actually going to miss it. This song is so nice. 2 comments|post comment

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