daisy chains

Why is it that I’m overwhelmed with feelings of guilt when I abandon my diary for a month?
And as the weeks roll by it becomes increasingly difficult to write.

I’ve drawn a blank on the entire month of February.

There was Valentines day.
Valentines day has always been a nothing day to me.
It came and went, and the only thing I had to show for it was a bag of heart shaped haribo foamy sweets I gave to Ben. They cost me 50p.
I think we went to town for a few hours. I think we watched tv all day. And I think we had sex.
But I can’t be sure of any of these things!

on 1 Feb my roller derby team put on a fundraiser for the league.
We organised a pub quiz and 80 people turned up.
We made a massive £300 from quiz entries, raffle tickets, cupcake sales and donations.
It was fun and surprisingly stress free.

On the 4th I spent the day in London. I caught the coach over there and met Niks in the morning for a pub lunch.
Then we went over to Earls Court to watch a roller derby bout. 
It was London’s Ultraviolent Femmes vs Tiger Bay Brawlers.
TTB are Cardiff’s team and Bristol’s closest competition.
I was supporting them for this reason, as well as the fact they were the underdog. They held their own for the first half and it was actually a pretty exciting match!
The snow hit quite heavily that night and the coach trip back to Bristol was horrible and took over 3 hours. I’m really glad I chose not to drive.
 

5 Feb we were coached by the one and only Kamikaze Kitten.
She’s probably the best roller derby player in the UK. That’s a pretty brave statement to make, but if she isn’t she’s certainly right up there in the top 2 or 3. She coached us for 3 hours at a total cost of £300.
The whole league seemed a bit star struck around her and even the toughest coolest Bristol girls seemed to dote on her.
Very odd.

The 8th I went to see Brand New live.
There’s no comparison between this gig and the last time I saw them.
There’s no doubt they’ve been my favourite band since I discovered them all those years ago.
I went to the gig by myself since I don’t know any Brand New fans in Bristol and they’re completely wasted on anyone who’s not a fan. I’ve always loved going to gigs on my own though, I feel like it gives you the opportunity to soak it all up.
I stood there, watching them. I felt like I was in a dream, on a cloud, completely dazed.
I came out of the gig almost feeling emotional- I can’t really explain it.
I walked home in the cold with a smile on my face.
I could have watched them over and over and over. And over.

The weekend of the 11th and 12th I went down to Hastings to visit Niks.
Saturday we went pillow shopping (yes) and Saturday night we went out drinking and briefly watched a live pub band, of which the guitarist was someone Niks works with. The night ended early.
We were waiting in the cold for the taxi we had ordered and had a run-in with a group of street pastors helping drunk people get home and sweeping up broken glass bottles. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I thought they were lovely, y’know, as long as they didn’t try and talk to me about god.
Sunday was filled with hours of chit chat. I missed her.
That afternoon I went skating with Niks’ league, The Bourne Bombshells. It was nice to meet all her friends and have a little skate.
We went for carvery afterwards. mmmmm carvery.
I drove home Monday morning after dropping Niks off at work.

Saturday the 18th we got coached by Rolling Stoner. He’s the coach and bench manager of Windsor roller girls and was one of the coaches for Team England at the world cup last year. He was such a lovely lovely guy, and a really good coach too. I really enjoyed it.

That afternoon I had a surprise birthday party to go to.
Stephen had invited all of James’s close friends over for his birthday. We all squished into their one bedroom flat and jumped out and shouted surprise when James came home.
I think that was the first proper surprise party I’ve ever been to.
There was heaps of snacks and cake and booze.
We played games and had a merry time. I left at about midnight.

I think that just about covers it.

Other, non-date-specific things include:

I went to see the physio about my knee. I really should have done it a long time ago seeing as I injured myself in November but I just kept hoping it would heal itself, and when I saw the doctor there was a 3 week waiting list for the physio. By the time I saw the physio it had more or less healed itself like I had hoped.
She made me take off my jeans and jump around in my undies though (not even kidding) which wasn’t something I had anticipated.
It seems fine now. I can still feel it when it’s cold, and it was aching last week but that’s only because I had skated for 3 or 4 days in a row. I think I just need to continue to take it easy.

I have a stinking cold at the moment. I think I’m being forced to take it easy.
I thought my head was going to explode at work last night.
🙁
I just want my nose to stop running.

I won £40 on a scratchcard 🙂 I bought new knee pads with it.

Ben and I have been watching Breaking Bad on Netflix.
If you haven’t seen it, I suggest you start.
It’s completely fucked up, but also incredibly clever and awesome and gripping.
Every episode ends in a way where you feel like you’re going to die if you don’t find out what happens next.
I’m loving it.

My biggest most exciting news this month is that we’ve decided to buy a house.
It’s all happened pretty quickly.
Ben and I had a long heart to heart and discussed travelling, and babies and our future.
And BAM! we were just like "let’s buy a house". Just like that.
We both agreed that throwing away £600 a month on rent was starting to get a little ridiculous.

We went to view a house on Monday. I’m a little bit in love with it.
It’s 3 bedrooms, everything inside is new, it comes with all kitchen appliances, it’s amazingly cute and it’s in our price range.
It’s just a pity it’s going to be a couple of months till we have our finances in order and our deposit ready to go, and lets face it, a house this lovely isn’t going to stay on the market very long.
Exciting times!

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