Kirstie's job log: 31
Kirstie Nicols
- September 2008.
The story so far... Kirstie has abandoned work in sales in order to start a Masters in Journalism - next week. Home and away  I’ve been back at home a couple of weeks now, and it’s already beginning to feel as though I never left. It’s now normal to eat a meal with real food instead of something that’s just been blasted in a microwave, and to have clean and ironed clothes in my wardrobe. However, with the good comes the bad; and it’s also now normal to be woken at 7 every morning by my mum, who thinks I should be doing something productive instead of lying in bed.
I’ve also lost control of the TV remote; even though there were a lot of us living together at the old house, we usually wanted to watch the same kind of programmes, and there were rarely many arguments. Back at home however, we watch TV based on the idea of first come, first served. Somehow I always manage to lose this, and usually we end up with something like Top Gear repeats (my sister), the Home and Garden channels (my mum), or the Discovery channels (my dad). There’s only a week to go until I leave for uni (for the second time), and as my sister left this weekend for her first year at uni, the house has been a bit manic; full of suitcases, pots and pans, computers, bedding and the odd soft toy. Now she’s left, however, I should have a bit more space to sort my own stuff out. I need to dig out all my old cutlery and cooking equipment from the roof; however, I’m not sure if I want to use utensils that have been sitting in a dusty loft for two years. Round the clock It’s no surprise that I’ve been spending a lot of time out of the house trying to get everything ready for when I go away! This weekend I was camping out as part of a team taking part in a huge fundraising event for Cancer Research. We were all raising money by taking part in a 24-hour relay run (or walk) around a 400-metre track. There were 27 teams in total, and each team had to have at least one member walking (or running) around the track at all times, from midday on the Saturday to midday on the Sunday. There was entertainment going on all through the night; from singing to an orchestra, from a percussion band to a late night DJ. Every team had their own fundraising stall and a lot of people gave up their time for free to come down and support. After completing my first half hour stint walking on the track in the sweltering heat, I had my palm read, got a back massage and nails painted all without losing sight of our tent. Later in the evening, everyone was invited to light a candle and these were spread out all around the track so that they would light the way for everyone who had to walk through the night. After finally getting to sleep at around 2 in the morning in my now freezing cold and slightly damp sleeping bag, I was woken at 4 in order to carry on walking for the next hour. For some reason I had obviously thought volunteering to walk one of the night shifts was a good idea; though I’m sure I couldn’t remember what that reason was! I stayed up with a few of my team to watch the sun come up, as it’s a sight I don’t often try and stay awake for, and then we all headed back to bed. Just as I was dropping off to sleep, the DJ decided to kick things off again with ‘Wake Up it’s a Beautiful Morning’. As out camping area was conveniently located right by the main stage, there wasn’t much chance of getting any sleep so we all got back up again to make breakfast and finish off the last few hours. The whole weekend was an amazing event, and a lot of money was raised for charity. Having only had a couple of hours sleep however, I apologise if this blog is not particularly coherent. As soon as I have finished it I’ll be heading back to my warm, dry, and comfortable bed to try and catch up on some sleep.
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