Monday at work

I haven't thought about what I wanted to write about for todays blog at all if I am honest, the time is 22:30 and I am only just getting round to writing something. I am on day 25 now and the end is in sight, but have I overdone it on the amount of things I have wrote about this month. With how much of a struggle it is to write something lately, I would say so. I had a lie in this morning, well I say lie in but I mean I didn't have to start work till 11 today. But from the moment I walked in, I was bombarded with tasks and problems to sort out. Just another day on my new department then. It not not faze me too much and I think the key is to dealing with most of lifes problems at work and at home is just to relax and not get too stressed out.

The last customer walked out the door at 8:15, we had shut at 8 but I had to help him try to sort out his order. There were many ups and downs throughout the day and by this point I might have been letting the stress get to me a little bit. I stayed on till 9 to get some bits done that need preparing for stock take next week. In hardly any other year I have not really cared about the stores performance on stocktake night. But this time I actually care and this time I want my store to do well and be one of the best in the region. We blew out by a lot of money last year so hopefully this year we will do better! 

Hibernate

Today has been a good day, well it was always going to be if I was in the pub before 12 right? My excuse for drinking that early was because I didn't go out last night even with the day off work today. (Yes I know, I am worried too!). Our plan was to feed ourselves and go and see the coca cola truck in town. So we wandered into town to check out the famous truck in the flesh and I must say I was a little disappointed in it. I made the comparison at the time to my friend, but it was like meeting somebody who is your hero in the pub and realising they are a bit of  dickhead.

After that initial disappointment, we decided on an impromptu trip to Manchester Christmas markets. I love the smell of all the food at the markets and the mulled wine. It just makes me feel all christmassy and want to buy all the food I smell. There was loads of cute little stalls selling everything from jewelry to sweets and chocolates. But the best find of the day had to be a cosy and beautiful pop up bar called Hibernate at Spinningfields by the outdoor ice rink. I would highly recommend the Duvel beer a taste while visiting at 8.5% it might be wise just to have the one pint though. Or if you prefer cocktails, they do a lovely hot chocolate one of those. Something to surely warm you up on a cold winters day. But don't take my word for it go and try it out yourself!

Winter is here. .

It's cold outside and Winter is here,

Sometimes it's the season I most fear,

It is dark and It's cold, 

I can't imagine what it's like for the old, 

Wrap up warm is the general advice, 

But still our heating bills double in price, 

Energy companies make more and more profit,
Through all the talk they will not stop it,

But it is a time of joy and festive cheer, 

To all relax and drink lots of beer, 

We all get together and sing Auld Lang Syne, 

With being drunk, it is always out of time, 

Before we know it here comes Spring, 

The season of daffodils and lambing, 

By now winter has gone, there is nothing to fear, 

Well, at least for another year!  

The 7 wonders of the world :)

Tomorrow is a new day

It started as I woke up, thinking of things I thought I had forgot, things I didn't want to be reminded of, things that are better left in the darkest recess of my mind. I didn't need this today, I didn't need my mind to lose a battle of wills with itself before I even got out of bed. I didn't choose to be depressed today, the fog of depression chose to descend on me out of nowhere. That war I am fighting inside my own head, well today I lost a battle with it. I drifted through the day and tried to shift my focus onto something else, first of all a careers fair. I can do this right, I am good at talking business with just about anyone. Well I was there in body only it seems, I saw one stand that caught my eye when I looked beyond the attractive recruiters that had been sent to represent their companies. 

Mcdonald's for lunch would surely do the trick to cheer me up a bit, If only I was so lucky. I knew I should've bought that coat I like even at that ridiculous price. So I didn't buy the coat, probably just as well with how expensive my phone bill is this month. I came home and tried to distract myself by playing on GTA V. It worked, I started to feel better just in time to realise I had 3 psychometric tests that needed completing by the end of the day. Being quite an avid reader helped with the verbal reasoning test and I was on a high after finishing it. Next was logic, I felt I did ok, maybe about average. Last of all was numerical reasoning, well there is nothing like messing a test up to make you feel like utter crap. I got a 1st in my accounting module at uni, but I just cracked under pressure with this assessment! 

Now I am sat here preparing to do it all over again at a management assessment day  for work. Throw in a couple of group exercises, an individual exercise and an interview in front of a panel and that completes the rest of the day. But hey, tomorrow is a new day and tomorrow I am going to have a good day.      

Computer Games..

I must confess I got my inspiration for this blog from another blogger who blogs about IOS gaming on her site. Check her out here: The ramblings and rants of a strange girl. Now I wouldn't really describe myself as a massive gamer but I am not going to lie there is no better feeling than completing a certain game, even if it did mean going a few days with no sleep and limited food and bathroom breaks. I haven't done that for a while though with any game. In the past few years, I have spent hours on games like Skyrim, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty and Football Manager. At one point I was even obsessed with an NFL game, I still don't get American football properly. Although my housemate is doing her best to change that by making me watch it every time it is on. More recently it has been GTA V that has grabbed my attention and got me into the mindset that I am 3 master criminals but only one player. But for me there is something missing from all these games that I have been playing and that is real face to face human contact. Yes, I know you can play online GTA and Call of Duty is only any good when you actually play it online in my opinion. But this is with friends or strangers who are not actually with you, yes it is a good thing that we can share our experiences with people from all over the world. Maybe not so good when 13 year old American boys beat you on COD, that happens to everyone right?

 For me, there is nothing more appealing than sitting in a room with a group of other like minded people and playing FIFA. Now my friends will vouch for me, I really am not the best at this game. I'm not as bad as my friend Ollie who has to play with World IX all the time and me Burnley but still, we both love it nonetheless. It feels great to score a last minute goal against your opponent, especially when he is sat across from you so you can celebrate like England have just won the world cup. Or if you are losing badly/know you are going to just getting as many of your players sent off as possible so the game gets abandoned. Everyone else does that right?  

What is wrong with the England National Team?

The good thing about being English is that as a nation we are always optimistic right? Now I am not naive enough to think that we put one of the best sides ever out against Chile last week, although I would start Jay Rodriguez every time & why hasn't Danny Ings got a call up yet to the senior squad? Also while I am on the subject, how can you leave somebody with the fire and passion that Joey Barton shows out of our national team? Most men would love Roy Hodgson's job as the England manager and we would all probably make lots of changes to the side that is starting tonight against what can just about be described as a German reserve side. The last time we played a full strength German side we lost 4-1 so maybe I am a little bit glad of that. 

I saw a stat before tonights game that showed 48% of German players play in the Bundesliga compared to 26% of English players playing in the Premier League. Now I know straight away people will say, "but the Premier League is the best league in the world". No, it is not. What the Premier league is, is everything that is wrong in this world. It is full of players who came to play in England for the highest bidder of their "talent". Once they are here, they either move around to the club who offers them the most money or pretend they want to move so their current club gives them more money. We only have to cast our minds back to this summer and the exploits of Rooney, Suarez and Tevez to name a few to see this is the case. For a start to stop this being the case, we need to introduce wage caps into the game across at least all the European teams. This needs to be put in place sooner rather than later. I totally think that quotas on the amount of foreign players in squads in the EPL should be put in place. This will force clubs to develop our own national talent at grassroots level. This used to be the case, before the Bosman ruling many leagues across Europe placed quotas on the amount of foreign players allowed in a team. In fact in the Champions league and UEFA cup, UEFA had a rule that prohibited teams from naming more than 3 foreign players in these competitions!. 

Until all this happens England have little chance within the next few decades of dominating world football. Who am I though to say what must and mustn't happen for the England national side to be successful. I am too young to remember Euro 96 in our own country. The first memories of me watching England are France 98 with the likes of Scholes, Beckham, Owen and Shearer playing. In the second round we came up against Argentina, Owen scored THAT goal, Beckham got sent off and we lost on penalties, I cried. Admittedly I was only 11, but still thats how much it meant for me to see the the national team do well. That is how much it will always mean to me. That is how much it should mean to each and every player, every coach, and every manager every time they go and and represent our country friendly or not. Everyone saw the heart and passion Greece played with in Euro 2004, maybe just maybe if England can recreate that, we might have a glimmer of hope next year in Brazil.