Howdy everyone!
Wow, I'm really not very good at thi's blogging lark. Its been nearly 2 months since my last post so it is most definitely time to write again.
My sister, who you may recall visited me back in October had her birthday yesterday and so I asked her to ring me so I could wish her happy birthday.
I am planning on heading back to leafy East Yorkshire for a week at Christmas. It will be a chunk out of my budget of course, but if you have people who care about you in your life, then you have to make some effort and embrace Christmas. Indeed I positively enjoy the Christmas season. People compain a lot about how stressful it is, but personally I find it so so easy to not throw money away, whilst still treating it as a special day rather than just another day to be 'endured' that will 'soon be over'.
I will be going around to my sisters in Howden, who will have bought a turkey plus all the trimmings. Too much if you ask me, but she's happy to have me and I'm happy to be there. Beside's I've agreed to provide roast potatoe's from one of the markets in Beverley for her, so I'm doing my bit tee hee.
The nieces and nephews will be getting a small gift as well. They will no doubt be getting all the latest gadgets from their mum (sigh), but my homemade gifts plus a pack of chocolate coins will hopefully be appreciated too.
The thing with Christmas is that there are 2 extremes, neither of which are going to make for a happy life at this time of the year. Either you are running around like somebody not right, throwing your cash away without a moment's though or you are ignoring the whole thing, telling everyone how you cant wait until it is over and it is just another day in a 365-day calendar.
As long as you don't let yourself be taken in by all the adverts, you can have a wonderful, stre'ss-free Christmas with your loved ones and when it's over you feel all the happier for it. Don't ignore it, don't let it stress you out, don't let it burn a hole in your pocket. Simple eh?
It is of course also true that you can celebrate loving family values at any time of the year but with holidays Christmas is just more practical, as well as being traditional. It's nice not to feel left out, even if you don't share the same stres'ses and budgetary worries as many people.
Ta-ra for now!
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Sisterly Love tee hee
Alright everyone!
Sorry it's been another long while since the last post. I've had a week long visit from my dear sister to contend with so opportunities to log on to the Internet have been few and far between.
Alison who is 3 years my junior, was here from Saturday 5th October to this Sunday and while somewhere deep down I love her dearly, we don't tend to see eye-to-eye on many things and so it has been a fairly stressful week but no matter what the situation I'm a big believer in tolerance. Without tolerance there is no peace and without peace there is no happiness and happiness plays a permanent role in my life.
She is certainly not one to shirk away from spending money that's for sure. Every night we had the same conversation about where to eat and every night I told her I can feed her for next to nothing at home, but she just muttered about wanting variety in what she eats and insisted on going somewhere with food that actually tastes nice. The blooming cheek!
Still, after insisting each time, that I had neither the means nor the desire to pay vast sums of money eating out, she agreed most nights to pay for both of us, so I shouldnt complain really. Especially as the portion size meant I was able to take doggy bags (Hundchentasche in German) home that were able to top me up for the following few days.
She seemed to have had a good time anyway, despite the constant suggestions of taking a taxi, public transport, bike, boat everywhere. She's not used to walking so much but at only approximately 15 miles across, Berlin is a compact city for its size.
I will endeavour to post some photo's at some point too. Alison took plenty on her camera and she said she will send them to me. No idea how much her camera cost her, but safe to say thats' another object I do'nt bother with.
If I want to take a photo' of a person, then I can use their camera. If I want to revisit a place Ive been in pictorial form, then you can bet your bottom dollar that there's photo's on the internet that have been taken from the exact same place I was. They can be expensive to repair too.
On a final note, thanks for reading. Page view's are increasing week-on-week. Thank's also for the email suggesting what I should do with the jacket that I found.
The person who sent the email will be disappointed to learn that I didn't throw it into the river and tell the homeless person to jump in after it.
I don't know if you were trying to be funny but my life is good and I'm not bothered either way. In any case when I went back to the underground station again he wasn't there so I've now cut out the fabric and made a pair of gloves, whilst Molly is currently walking around in legwarmers, made out of what was left. Unfortunately there was only enough material for 3 of her legs tee hee.
Ta-ra for now!
Sorry it's been another long while since the last post. I've had a week long visit from my dear sister to contend with so opportunities to log on to the Internet have been few and far between.
Alison who is 3 years my junior, was here from Saturday 5th October to this Sunday and while somewhere deep down I love her dearly, we don't tend to see eye-to-eye on many things and so it has been a fairly stressful week but no matter what the situation I'm a big believer in tolerance. Without tolerance there is no peace and without peace there is no happiness and happiness plays a permanent role in my life.
She is certainly not one to shirk away from spending money that's for sure. Every night we had the same conversation about where to eat and every night I told her I can feed her for next to nothing at home, but she just muttered about wanting variety in what she eats and insisted on going somewhere with food that actually tastes nice. The blooming cheek!
Still, after insisting each time, that I had neither the means nor the desire to pay vast sums of money eating out, she agreed most nights to pay for both of us, so I shouldnt complain really. Especially as the portion size meant I was able to take doggy bags (Hundchentasche in German) home that were able to top me up for the following few days.
She seemed to have had a good time anyway, despite the constant suggestions of taking a taxi, public transport, bike, boat everywhere. She's not used to walking so much but at only approximately 15 miles across, Berlin is a compact city for its size.
I will endeavour to post some photo's at some point too. Alison took plenty on her camera and she said she will send them to me. No idea how much her camera cost her, but safe to say thats' another object I do'nt bother with.
If I want to take a photo' of a person, then I can use their camera. If I want to revisit a place Ive been in pictorial form, then you can bet your bottom dollar that there's photo's on the internet that have been taken from the exact same place I was. They can be expensive to repair too.
On a final note, thanks for reading. Page view's are increasing week-on-week. Thank's also for the email suggesting what I should do with the jacket that I found.
The person who sent the email will be disappointed to learn that I didn't throw it into the river and tell the homeless person to jump in after it.
I don't know if you were trying to be funny but my life is good and I'm not bothered either way. In any case when I went back to the underground station again he wasn't there so I've now cut out the fabric and made a pair of gloves, whilst Molly is currently walking around in legwarmers, made out of what was left. Unfortunately there was only enough material for 3 of her legs tee hee.
Ta-ra for now!
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
Homelessness and Horses
Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Don't panic, Sue is back after a few days absence and an action-packed weekend full of fantastic, free and fascinating fortunes.
I went to a free art gallery on Saturday. There are many expensive and famous art galleries throughout Berlin, but I'm less interested in those with their pretentious paintbrushe's and their fancy frames. You can see much more interesting artwork made using a pencil and paper that don't take anything like as long to make. This horse in a field is well drawn and theres no confusion as to what its supposed to be.
The following day, I knocked on my neighbours door and got to know her a little better. She also lives alone but is a bit younger than me. She speaks fairly good English for a German and we chatted for a bit. I won't bore you with the details but Petra is from a town called Rostock in the North of Germany and moved to Berlin 15 years ago and works as a receptionist at an opticians. She said she wouldn't offer me free eyecare though tee hee. She has a nice flat and she offered me tea and some biscuits which was nice of her. After I'd finished the tea, I did begin to find myself wanting to return home to check on Molly so I made my excuses and left although she kindly let me borrow a couple of plates after I had explained how I don't have much crockery.
I've got another evening class to look forward tonight where we will be talking about the Royal Family. They really do seem to love everything about the Queen and her family here in Germany and who can blame them?
Thankfully I have the day off on Thursday. I've been told its a public holiday because it's the anniversary of the day the West German troops marched into East Germany and took back Berlin from the Russians. I often forget how dark German history is at some times compared to that of Britain and its former Empire. I can see why they celebrate it though but I'm much more at home celebrating St George's Day on the 17th March.
Lastly I leave you with a bit of a dilemma. For my daily good deed yesterday I tried to offer a jacket I'd found to a homeless man who was in one of the underground stations. I told him thatWinter was coming and that it can get very cold here but he seemed quite annoyed and I made off in a hurry. I later felt quite bad because I took the jacket with me, thinking I could use it myself but even if he didn't seem to want it, I think maybe I should have left it with him in case he changed his mind.
What would you have done in tha situation and should I return to the underground station tomorrow to see if he is still there and leave the jacket with him?
Your answers or any other comments would be much appreciated.
Ta-ra for now!
Don't panic, Sue is back after a few days absence and an action-packed weekend full of fantastic, free and fascinating fortunes.
I went to a free art gallery on Saturday. There are many expensive and famous art galleries throughout Berlin, but I'm less interested in those with their pretentious paintbrushe's and their fancy frames. You can see much more interesting artwork made using a pencil and paper that don't take anything like as long to make. This horse in a field is well drawn and theres no confusion as to what its supposed to be.
I've got another evening class to look forward tonight where we will be talking about the Royal Family. They really do seem to love everything about the Queen and her family here in Germany and who can blame them?
Thankfully I have the day off on Thursday. I've been told its a public holiday because it's the anniversary of the day the West German troops marched into East Germany and took back Berlin from the Russians. I often forget how dark German history is at some times compared to that of Britain and its former Empire. I can see why they celebrate it though but I'm much more at home celebrating St George's Day on the 17th March.
Lastly I leave you with a bit of a dilemma. For my daily good deed yesterday I tried to offer a jacket I'd found to a homeless man who was in one of the underground stations. I told him thatWinter was coming and that it can get very cold here but he seemed quite annoyed and I made off in a hurry. I later felt quite bad because I took the jacket with me, thinking I could use it myself but even if he didn't seem to want it, I think maybe I should have left it with him in case he changed his mind.
What would you have done in tha situation and should I return to the underground station tomorrow to see if he is still there and leave the jacket with him?
Your answers or any other comments would be much appreciated.
Ta-ra for now!
Thursday, 26 September 2013
Free cultural and visual entertainment tee hee
Guten Abend! (That's German for 'good evening!')
I've just finished another evening class and have stayed behind to use the Internet here in the Friedrichshain part of Berlin to update you on the going's-on of my blooming cheerful, happy enjoyable life in Berlin.
I was kept busy yesterday by one of the free walking tours that take place in Berlin every day for tourists. They are always free and a great way of learning about the city I've moved to and they're completely free of charge. The tour lasts 3 hours and the tour guides do a lot of work, so its even more impressive that you don't have to pay a penny, although I think some of the more gullible, less money-conscious people tend to give money they don't need to part with as tips. The guide today was called Lars and apart from being very knowledgeable and friendly, he was also very nice to look at as well wink wink.
The other advantage of going on such a tour is that it includes a lunch stop at a local eatery and there are usually plenty of people who are unable to finish whatever it is they have ordered and that's where I am happy to step in and save the lives of whatever it is that would otherwise be thrown out with the rest of the rubbish tee hee. Today I managed to grab 2 bowls of goulash soup and half a sandwich which kept me going for the rest of the day.
I'm still getting to grips with life here and spend most of my free days wondering about, exploring, taking photo's looking for things I can use to make my flat look nice.
The flat itself I bought prior to coming out here 5 months ago, after seeing it listed on a property site. It was very derelict and on the market for only about £40,000 - a lot cheaper than what you'd get in the UK - and whilst it's a work in progress, its beginning to feel more like home every day.
The bedroom wall has now been painted, I have posters found out and about in Berlin on the walls and I've found many unwanted pieces of furniture lying in front of people's houses for others to take, something you see very commonly here.
That will have to do I think, since I know Molly will be wondering where I am and she will probably need feeding since she's been left to fend for herself since 11am this morning. She's a blooming nightmare I tell you. I'll see what I can find.
Ta-ra for now
I've just finished another evening class and have stayed behind to use the Internet here in the Friedrichshain part of Berlin to update you on the going's-on of my blooming cheerful, happy enjoyable life in Berlin.
I was kept busy yesterday by one of the free walking tours that take place in Berlin every day for tourists. They are always free and a great way of learning about the city I've moved to and they're completely free of charge. The tour lasts 3 hours and the tour guides do a lot of work, so its even more impressive that you don't have to pay a penny, although I think some of the more gullible, less money-conscious people tend to give money they don't need to part with as tips. The guide today was called Lars and apart from being very knowledgeable and friendly, he was also very nice to look at as well wink wink.
The other advantage of going on such a tour is that it includes a lunch stop at a local eatery and there are usually plenty of people who are unable to finish whatever it is they have ordered and that's where I am happy to step in and save the lives of whatever it is that would otherwise be thrown out with the rest of the rubbish tee hee. Today I managed to grab 2 bowls of goulash soup and half a sandwich which kept me going for the rest of the day.
I'm still getting to grips with life here and spend most of my free days wondering about, exploring, taking photo's looking for things I can use to make my flat look nice.
The flat itself I bought prior to coming out here 5 months ago, after seeing it listed on a property site. It was very derelict and on the market for only about £40,000 - a lot cheaper than what you'd get in the UK - and whilst it's a work in progress, its beginning to feel more like home every day.
The bedroom wall has now been painted, I have posters found out and about in Berlin on the walls and I've found many unwanted pieces of furniture lying in front of people's houses for others to take, something you see very commonly here.
That will have to do I think, since I know Molly will be wondering where I am and she will probably need feeding since she's been left to fend for herself since 11am this morning. She's a blooming nightmare I tell you. I'll see what I can find.
Ta-ra for now
Tuesday, 24 September 2013
A rainy Tuesday
Hiya everybody!
So I've just finished teaching English to a Kindergarten class here on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in Berlin and before walking home (hopefully the rain will stop), I'm using the school's Internet connection to update my blog.
I don't actually have Internet in my own flat as there is no justification for spending 10€ a month on a service that I can use for free at school for example or borrow from a friend when I'm at their house. Failing that, there are also always a wealth of unsecured wireless network's and in any case nobody really needs the Internet to live do they?
In actual fact I only work 2 to 3 days a week now. Every Tuesday and Thursday I have a couple of afternoon classes of English for toddlers who can barely speak German, (but then again why even bother learning German when English is the lingua franca?) and then a couple of evening classes for adults. Occasionally I work weekends too if I really do find I no longer have any money left at all.
It can be quite hard work its true, but after 30 years loading and unloading containers, whilst suffering verbal abuse from the various male wannabe-comedians who worked on the docks, I'm done with full-time working and as long as I scrupulously watch every penny that leaves my homemade purse, then I don't need to work in any case.
Unfortunately it still seems to be raining so it looks like I'm going to get a bit wet on the 4 mile walk home but then I guess thats what towels are made for.
As usual as I wander, I'll be looking out for anything useful I may find, whether it be uneaten bread on a restaurant table to top up my lunch or a bit of roadkill to feed Molly, my 3-year old Irish Setter.
Thanks to everybody who read my first post yesterday. Hopefully I will continue to attract readership as I continue to post.
And as ever I welcome any comments, suggestions or pleas for advice to sort out your issues.
Ta-ra for now!
So I've just finished teaching English to a Kindergarten class here on a rainy Tuesday afternoon in Berlin and before walking home (hopefully the rain will stop), I'm using the school's Internet connection to update my blog.
I don't actually have Internet in my own flat as there is no justification for spending 10€ a month on a service that I can use for free at school for example or borrow from a friend when I'm at their house. Failing that, there are also always a wealth of unsecured wireless network's and in any case nobody really needs the Internet to live do they?
In actual fact I only work 2 to 3 days a week now. Every Tuesday and Thursday I have a couple of afternoon classes of English for toddlers who can barely speak German, (but then again why even bother learning German when English is the lingua franca?) and then a couple of evening classes for adults. Occasionally I work weekends too if I really do find I no longer have any money left at all.
It can be quite hard work its true, but after 30 years loading and unloading containers, whilst suffering verbal abuse from the various male wannabe-comedians who worked on the docks, I'm done with full-time working and as long as I scrupulously watch every penny that leaves my homemade purse, then I don't need to work in any case.
Unfortunately it still seems to be raining so it looks like I'm going to get a bit wet on the 4 mile walk home but then I guess thats what towels are made for.
As usual as I wander, I'll be looking out for anything useful I may find, whether it be uneaten bread on a restaurant table to top up my lunch or a bit of roadkill to feed Molly, my 3-year old Irish Setter.
Thanks to everybody who read my first post yesterday. Hopefully I will continue to attract readership as I continue to post.
And as ever I welcome any comments, suggestions or pleas for advice to sort out your issues.
Ta-ra for now!
Monday, 23 September 2013
This is I
Now then everyone!
So here we are, a momentous day for me, my family and the Internet. In 25 years time, people will look back to Monday 23rd September and say that was the day that Sue Phillips first went public. 25 years on, thanks to this blog, the World will be a happier place and instead of suffering in silence, everyone who has a problem in their life, whether emotional or financial, will know everything will be ok because they can always get in touch with me, whether publicly or privately.
It's fair to say I have come through a lot during my time but I've always managed to come out the other side. When I was locked up in a cargo ship for the night when I was doing an evening shift, I remained calm and the following morning reported the incident and the two culprits were fired. When I found out that my fiancee was cheating on me, I ditched him at the altar and carried on with my life. When I got into debt due to my gambling problems, I was able to wean myself off the slot machine's and live happily and healthily on a vastly reduced budget. When I was fed up of working in a port city that smelled perpetually of fish and was full of uneducated teenagers pushing prams, I upped sticks and moved to Berlin to begin a new adventure.
What I'm trying to say is that I've experienced most problems that you can suffer from during my life. I still have to stick to a very tight budget, which is even harder in a foreign country. I know how the world works. I know how to deal with adversity and I know I can advise on all sorts of issues so don't hesitate to get in touch whether you simply want to hear some tips as to how to make your money go further or whether you are completely down in the dumps and are about to make your way to Beachy Head.
As I post more often, you'll get to know me a bit better as I post about the things I do on a daily basis to make myself happy and contented.
Ta-ra for now!
So here we are, a momentous day for me, my family and the Internet. In 25 years time, people will look back to Monday 23rd September and say that was the day that Sue Phillips first went public. 25 years on, thanks to this blog, the World will be a happier place and instead of suffering in silence, everyone who has a problem in their life, whether emotional or financial, will know everything will be ok because they can always get in touch with me, whether publicly or privately.
It's fair to say I have come through a lot during my time but I've always managed to come out the other side. When I was locked up in a cargo ship for the night when I was doing an evening shift, I remained calm and the following morning reported the incident and the two culprits were fired. When I found out that my fiancee was cheating on me, I ditched him at the altar and carried on with my life. When I got into debt due to my gambling problems, I was able to wean myself off the slot machine's and live happily and healthily on a vastly reduced budget. When I was fed up of working in a port city that smelled perpetually of fish and was full of uneducated teenagers pushing prams, I upped sticks and moved to Berlin to begin a new adventure.
What I'm trying to say is that I've experienced most problems that you can suffer from during my life. I still have to stick to a very tight budget, which is even harder in a foreign country. I know how the world works. I know how to deal with adversity and I know I can advise on all sorts of issues so don't hesitate to get in touch whether you simply want to hear some tips as to how to make your money go further or whether you are completely down in the dumps and are about to make your way to Beachy Head.
As I post more often, you'll get to know me a bit better as I post about the things I do on a daily basis to make myself happy and contented.
Ta-ra for now!
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