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Oct. 30th, 2016 11:48 amSo. My plan to not think too much about my new job so I overthink it and get worked up has, somewhat expectedly, backfired today, because I'm left scrambling to finally get everything ready. My mum is washing my work clothes - which, to be fair, I thought I might be wearing yesterday during my last shift at the Hospice - and I need to remember to have a bath tonight and do my Working Tax Credits form. I need to remember that I'm planning to get the train at 11 o'clock tomorrow, not 12 o'clock, because I want to go into Leeds and get some stuff before I go for my shift. But I have my metro pass, and I have a clean jumper I can wear, and they are expecting me, and I should be able to get a decent night's sleep since I don't have to get up particularly early.
I really enjoyed Blackpool yesterday, and I'm glad I went, but I might start missing the money soon enough. I keep thinking "I'll be earning in November", and forgetting that I won't actually be paid until pretty much December, so the only money I've got coming in between now and then is £140 from my last Jobseeker's payment. And the grand from my dad, but that's all going on the computer, so it's really as short as it's long. I'll probably have to borrow some money from my ISA, because there's some stuff I've been planning to get - like new work clothes - that I just don't think I'll have the money for otherwise. It's just a matter of remembering to do it.
But Blackpool was great. We got there for about 11 in the morning, so we figured we'd spend a little time just wandering up the front and along the piers. I knew they were doing Halloween food in Pleasure Beach, so I wanted to wait till we got there to have lunch, but I completely misjudged the distance from the Tower to Blackpool Pleasure Beach (for the first time that day - the second time leading to us nearly missing our train home), so by the time we got there we were both starving - and then we learned the fancy new process of getting in to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. When I was a kid you could just wander in and out at will, you just needed tickets to ride the rides (my dad used to buy strips from scalpers, I think - a couple of A tickets, a few more B tickets, and a bunch of C tickets). But now you have to decide what kind of experience you want before you go in, buy tickets accordingly, and then go through the gates and have them scanned. The queues were long and we had no idea what we were doing, so we ended up just going to the Something Grill right outside the park. I had a delicious bacon and cheese burger, but the food took forever to come, so despite having gotten to Blackpool early, we ended up not actually getting into the park until about 3 o'clock. For one horrible moment we thought mum was going to have to buy a £30 wristband just to get into the park, even though she was actively invested in not going on any rides, but it turned out there was a £6 option for just getting in through the gates.
It's an interesting system though, because after I paid £30 for a wristband, I felt sort of obliged to go on some rides, even though I'd sort of stopped feeling it by that point in the day. So I went on The Big One, after decades of looking at it and thinking 'I wonder what that's like, I would never have the nerve to go on it'. And it was fun, but the kind of fun that's almost on the side of unpleasant, which might mean I'm getting older. I was pretty tired and the cheeseburger hadn't quite settled yet though. Like, I was screaming and giggling with adrenaline - and the view was amazing - but it also made my neck hurt and made me feel kind of sick. I think it would probably have been more fun if I was on with a kid. Maybe next year. Anyway, we and mum wandered through the 'horror maze', then I went on the Big Dipper for old times' sake, and then the Ghost Train because Halloween. Then we were pretty much out of time, so we went out, had a 99 because it's a weird autumn that isn't that cold, and walked down the front looking at the lights. Ending in a brisk jog through Blackpool town centre to get our train. We were going to get a tram, but we couldn't understand them. Anyway, the train home was amazing, because I think it was pretty much the last train out of Blackpool all night, and it was ram-packed with people coming home with their kids. Me and mum managed to get some fold-down seats in one of the doorway compartments, and a truly unbelievable amount of furious women got on at the last minute with buggies, who'd obviously been out with their kids in Blackpool all day and now couldn't get a seat. Then a dude with a teddy bear as big as he was turned up to get on. Like, no room man. No room even for humans. But it all quietened down after Preston. Our second train back from Leeds was full of drunk people in fancy dress singing, and drunk people not in fancy dress just casually swearing all over the place, and naturally a bunch of the singing people got off at our local stop and one quite drunk guy mistook my mum and me for a couple, because I was holding her hand so we wouldn't get swept away by rowdy people. And then we got home, and the clocks went back and we got another hour. Bonus.
My new job is tomorrow and I have to remember to wash my hair tonight. I'm also having a weird mini-period. So that's fun.
I really enjoyed Blackpool yesterday, and I'm glad I went, but I might start missing the money soon enough. I keep thinking "I'll be earning in November", and forgetting that I won't actually be paid until pretty much December, so the only money I've got coming in between now and then is £140 from my last Jobseeker's payment. And the grand from my dad, but that's all going on the computer, so it's really as short as it's long. I'll probably have to borrow some money from my ISA, because there's some stuff I've been planning to get - like new work clothes - that I just don't think I'll have the money for otherwise. It's just a matter of remembering to do it.
But Blackpool was great. We got there for about 11 in the morning, so we figured we'd spend a little time just wandering up the front and along the piers. I knew they were doing Halloween food in Pleasure Beach, so I wanted to wait till we got there to have lunch, but I completely misjudged the distance from the Tower to Blackpool Pleasure Beach (for the first time that day - the second time leading to us nearly missing our train home), so by the time we got there we were both starving - and then we learned the fancy new process of getting in to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. When I was a kid you could just wander in and out at will, you just needed tickets to ride the rides (my dad used to buy strips from scalpers, I think - a couple of A tickets, a few more B tickets, and a bunch of C tickets). But now you have to decide what kind of experience you want before you go in, buy tickets accordingly, and then go through the gates and have them scanned. The queues were long and we had no idea what we were doing, so we ended up just going to the Something Grill right outside the park. I had a delicious bacon and cheese burger, but the food took forever to come, so despite having gotten to Blackpool early, we ended up not actually getting into the park until about 3 o'clock. For one horrible moment we thought mum was going to have to buy a £30 wristband just to get into the park, even though she was actively invested in not going on any rides, but it turned out there was a £6 option for just getting in through the gates.
It's an interesting system though, because after I paid £30 for a wristband, I felt sort of obliged to go on some rides, even though I'd sort of stopped feeling it by that point in the day. So I went on The Big One, after decades of looking at it and thinking 'I wonder what that's like, I would never have the nerve to go on it'. And it was fun, but the kind of fun that's almost on the side of unpleasant, which might mean I'm getting older. I was pretty tired and the cheeseburger hadn't quite settled yet though. Like, I was screaming and giggling with adrenaline - and the view was amazing - but it also made my neck hurt and made me feel kind of sick. I think it would probably have been more fun if I was on with a kid. Maybe next year. Anyway, we and mum wandered through the 'horror maze', then I went on the Big Dipper for old times' sake, and then the Ghost Train because Halloween. Then we were pretty much out of time, so we went out, had a 99 because it's a weird autumn that isn't that cold, and walked down the front looking at the lights. Ending in a brisk jog through Blackpool town centre to get our train. We were going to get a tram, but we couldn't understand them. Anyway, the train home was amazing, because I think it was pretty much the last train out of Blackpool all night, and it was ram-packed with people coming home with their kids. Me and mum managed to get some fold-down seats in one of the doorway compartments, and a truly unbelievable amount of furious women got on at the last minute with buggies, who'd obviously been out with their kids in Blackpool all day and now couldn't get a seat. Then a dude with a teddy bear as big as he was turned up to get on. Like, no room man. No room even for humans. But it all quietened down after Preston. Our second train back from Leeds was full of drunk people in fancy dress singing, and drunk people not in fancy dress just casually swearing all over the place, and naturally a bunch of the singing people got off at our local stop and one quite drunk guy mistook my mum and me for a couple, because I was holding her hand so we wouldn't get swept away by rowdy people. And then we got home, and the clocks went back and we got another hour. Bonus.
My new job is tomorrow and I have to remember to wash my hair tonight. I'm also having a weird mini-period. So that's fun.
