Essentially Steph

Glad I squeezed in the 3rd Birmingham site today because the one I have tomorrow can take ageeees, and I usually get driven around but will have to walk it. And if by any chance I whiz around, at least I can get on the way back home quickly.

Took yesterday off because Andy was off and we went to glossop for a walk but the route was closed because of fire risk and we tried to walk a different way but didn’t get very far and decided to go to the pub which I was thankful for because I am still not feeling 100% with this cold and I was struggling.

When we got back home we decided to go out for dinner at Hungamaa which was yum but we took some home cause we couldn’t finish it so have lunch today!

Met Sahema + Jess + new housemate Alex for a drink after, he seems so sweet I’m really happy we chose him. Caitlin is also moving in this week so hoping we do something altogether on Friday - especially as the rest of the house are due back then too and it’s been a little empty this week!

One line from last night that absolutely cracked me up and I couldn’t even tell if he was joking was from Alex asking “wait, how many ovaries do you guys have??” 😭

But yeah, was walking around and asked the guy are you sure we shouldn't be wearing masks? (Having just walked past a barrier that clearly said everyone should be wearing a respirator beyond this point - but the way it was chucked to the side made it seem like it wasn't relevant right now, but given that the idea of being on site around asbestos while it's being disturbed has me on edge, thought it was a good time to bring it up.)

He was like no, all this ground (exposed, 300mm topsoil removed, chunks of random material sticking out) has been scanned, this is fine. I was like ok, what about that, pointing to the big pile of topsoil that is to be removed from site because of the asbestos containing material that was found on the playing field and in several other samples around the school, and which in that moment has a massive digger on top of it dropping a bucket full of soil which was just billowing into the air and catching on the wind :) The guy was like yeah we should probaby stop here. Ffs I swear to god if I die for this job I'm gunna be so annoyed.

- she called me several pet names including my sunshine and my squirrel (!!) within the first 10 mins

- the consent form was full of little errors that gave away the polish origins of the 2 main artists of the studio than no one has had the heart to point out, and why should they, they are so heart warming

- she kept telling me how excited she was to do my design and that her daughter was ill last night but she begged her husband to stay home from work to look after her as she didn’t want to miss this tattoo!

- She told me “you are never wearing white pants for a tattoo again ok. I am shitting myself.”

- She did the first few strokes of the piece and went “nearly done!”

- as I uncovered pieces of her life story in the wrong order I found out that she moved to Ireland from Poland because she was a troublesome teen who had stolen a car and crashed it into a lamppost and her parents refused to bail her out “this time” (what an earth did she get up to before!?) so she went to work in a hotel to make the money she needed to pay back.

- She told me about travelling “about 20 years ago” and I was like excuse me how are you old enough to have done anything 20 years ago?? Looks soooo good for being 40 something! (Try not to obsess over stuff like this but damn)

- she was talking about me getting plenty of rest while it heals and was like that’s ok because you’re staying with your mum tonight right? And then she remembered I was actually staying with my brother and was like oh wait oh no you are not going to rest at all are you. Ok, it’s ok. 😂

I don’t really want to get the same lung cancer as my dad and die 👿

Yesterday I had to go to the office and it was such a pain because the trams are still off (back on Monday, praise all things good) but on my way home I got on the wrong bus and decided to just walk the hour plus journey from where I ended up, went via McDonalds to get a wrap so I wouldn't have to cook, and just went straight to bed, I was exhausted!

Tonight is my late bday meal and half the house has backed out because of house drama (no one has said its because of this, but I'm sure that it is) so I'm feeling a bit shit about it in some ways, its not that I'm taking it personally, its just the way things are coming to an end, as I expected, but not how I expected.

But I have felt overall quite down, and it did dawn on me that I haven’t spent a single birthday apart from Andy or ever not been with him for his since we properly got together (I think that’s factual, I can’t think of a reason or year that we would have been apart… last year I was already here of course, but he visited, and we were away together for his in October, so…)

Feeling rubbish but maybe I’ll wake up feeling better for my actual bday (but still have to work, so, boo)

I played with my mini straighteners before bed to try and style my hair, it is not clean and the result wasn’t exactly a look, but hopefully I can get used to and enjoy this hair if I put a bit of effort in and refine the styling process!