Transportation to the US! March 6, 2009
Posted by mandymullet in at home.Tags: freight, freight forwarders, furniture, move, sideboard, transport, transport company
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Well I’m back again with something to write about in my blog and its been less than a month since my last addition! Whey hey, that must call for a celebration!
Ok, no big deal. I thought it might be of interest to someone that I had to send a rather large and not inexpensive piece of furniture to my cousin who lives in the United States and what a palaver that was! Anyone would think that in this day and age, when just about everything that moves is computerised, filed and locked down so that mistakes cannot be made. Well, I was wrong to think that in this particular case, at least.
The item of furniture is a very old sideboard that belonged to my great grandparents (yes, it is very old) and was valued at around twelve thousand pounds, so it needed special insurance and all sorts of paperwork to get it from A to B.
All credit to the transport company that handled the move, as they knew their stuff and got it there eventually, but even though they had plenty of experience with this sort of thing, they still ran up against an absolute minefield of problems that needed to be overcome in order to transport the piece of furniture to where it had to be.
The details are a little beyond my comprehension, as I often feel exasperated at the red tape and petty bureaucracy that goes along with anything that ought really to be simple and straight forward.
But after dealing with freight forwarders insurance, documentation like a bill of lading, certificate of origin, export license and a ream of other incomprehensible forms, all was finally completed and the transport company were able to pick up the sideboard from my parents’ house and send it on its merry way.
We heard that it arrived safely and is now proudly displayed in my cousin’s living room to the envy of their neighbours! Nothing like a little ray of sunshine poking through the clouds to brighten up anyone’s day!
See you again soon
I Need to Lose Weight! February 17, 2009
Posted by mandymullet in lifestyle.Tags: cake, diet, does my bum look big in this, exercise, jogging, lose weight, weight loss tips
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Does my bum look big in this? It’s a household joke but I wasn’t laughing when my sister put on one of her “I’m you” faces and mimicked me looking at myself in the mirror the other day. Cheeky cow!
Unfortunately, she wasn’t all that far off the mark with her painfully caustic remark as I appear to have gained a few pounds since I last took any real notice. Which was before Christmas!
Blast! Now I’ll have to cut back on a few things and get out a bit more and do some of that exercise thing that people talk about. Oh well, it could be worse and I could be very overweight, which I’m not. In fact, I’m not really much overweight at all, just a few measly pounds…
So who has got some timely and, most importantly, easy to follow and even easier to action weight loss tips for someone who isn’t much more than she should be when balancing precariously on the scales…? I know, I know: Cut out that afternoon slice of what Mr Kipling does exceedingly well and replace it with a stick of celery then go for a 10 mile jog and you’ll be back in shape in a jiffy! If only it were that simple. Actually, I found this site in my travels and I liked the slant on the whole slimming thing in this particular post here: rapid weight loss tips. When you read it, you’ll understand why I liked it!
I like my slice of Cherry Bakewell with a nice cup of tea in the afternoon and I certainly do not like to run through the streets of this polluted city and breathe in great lung-fulls of the copious plumes of carbon monoxide spewed from car, van and truck exhausts. I don’t know what’s worse, a few pounds of excess chunkiness (which actually a lot of blokes prefer as long as they’re in the right places) or seared lungs and cancer from all that sweet benzine in the air.
So it would appear that I’ve talked (or more accurately written) myself into a decision based entirely on the flawless logic that if I try to lose weight I will get cancer. Which means I can continue to enjoy my tea and cake, I don’t have to go within three feet of a track suit and I can remind myself that all the blokes are staring at my bum because they like it the size that it is!
Now that’s logic! See you again…
Is it Art? October 28, 2008
Posted by mandymullet in art.Tags: abstract art, art, art exhibition, art gallery, classical art, exhibiting, exibit, fine art, modern art
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Well, no more griping about The English Summer, as the nights are now getting longer and colder and its nice to sit around an open fire and read or… I know, write something in this blog on my laptop!
As there is nothing in particular to spur me on, I thought I’d just pick a topic at random and briefly write about it – that of the subject of art. Not just any old art, by the way as that would seem to be a little unfair for all the really great stuff that is out there, such as the fine art and classical masterpieces that enthrall, amaze and impress us all. Or even some of the sometimes way-out but still interesting and recognisable exhibits of abstract art that graces many an art gallery’s walls and often fills our world with shape and colour.
No, I’m only really going to poke an accusing finger at that strange excuse for art that turns up in galleries around the world and seems to attract the most publicity from the television stations.
Yes, that which most ordinary people shake their heads in disbelief at.
Unmade beds and piles of bricks, rubbish scattered across floors, light that go on and lights that go off… You know what I’m talking about. So the question that is on most people’s minds is “Is it art?”
Well, I don’t know about you, but I know what my own two eyes are telling me when I look at some of the entries for the Turner prize each year and the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes” springs immediately to mind. Are the people who claim that it is genuine art really in this world?
Or are they aliens from the planet Zod who have infiltrated the ranks of the gullible. Have they convinced them that a pile of dog crap is an art form? Have they created an aura of authenticity around a piece of cheese that a bloody rat has gnawed? I have to emulate the words of the infamous Victor Meldrew here and proclaim that “I do not believe it!”
Honestly, what is going on in the minds of these nut cases? Are they really so gullible as to be taken in by this garbage (literally, in some cases it would seem) and to even have the audacity to pay good money for it? I’m not talking a few quid either. Some of this landfill fodder goes for unspeakable sums.
Or maybe I and 99% of the real people in the populace have got it all wrong. Maybe we’re the ignorant grass chewing peasants that can’t see the true beauty in a dog turd. Or the graceful juxtaposition created in a bag of shopping and a ripped open dustbin liner with the putrid remnants of last week’s Sunday roast spilling out. Yes, that’s it! We’re the stupid ones for even daring to question the sanity of the art set who regularly come in their pants at the sight of an unmade bed!
How far can this tirade of sarcasm go before it starts to convince people that this blog post itself is actually an incredible new form or art that is worth at least a million quid of anyone’s money? That’s right, get in the queue as the bidding has already begun… now what am I bid so far?
A button and a rubber tap washer?
Worth every penny!
The English Summer August 13, 2008
Posted by mandymullet in England.Tags: autumn, clouds, rain, spring, summer, thunder, thunderstorm, weather, wind, winter
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In my initial post Mandy Mullet at Home, I gave you all an idea about who I am and where I hail from. Well, now its time to start writing a load of personal gibberish that some may find interesting or not, whichever is the case. This blog is really meant as an outlet of my thoughts, frustrations, annoyances, joys… good times and bad times all mingled in together to create a kaleidoscope of mental images, ideas and outpourings.
What is this post about?
Well, in England, people are often said to speak incessantly about the weather. So I’m going to be a good English girl and do exactly that. Not what the met office tells us and rather annoyingly gets right most of the time, because when they forecast rain (which is most of the time) its not very nice to be almost constantly reminded of the abundance of precipitation that our small island has graciously bestowed upon it.
Yes, you have probably already guessed. Its summer and I don’t think anyone has noticed again. For another year running. I think the intellectual classes should seriously consider removing the word “summer” from the English dictionary as they often do with words that have fallen into disuse! We have no problems with winter, spring or autumn. We get our fair share of those seasons, but summer seems to arrive in a maelstrom of tempest briefly interspersed with a brief glimmer of that yellow round thing that allegedly exists in the sky, oh yes, the sun I believe its called!
We English are really made to suffer!
We work all week in our offices and look out of the window at the sun shining here and there, plan our barbecues for the weekend and inevitably end up having to order takeaway pizza and all sit around indoors while the thunder, lightning and torrential rain saves us the bother of watering our gardens!
There is a bank holiday weekend looming in a couple of weeks time. We all know what that means! Don’t bother planning anything outdoors! Definitely don’t plan to drive in the direction of any of our coastlines because everyone else will be turning our motorways into car parks. Might as well just wait and see what happens.
If by some miracle the sun decides to shine, I think the best place to be is out in the countryside sitting in an olde worlde pub garden with a refreshing drink and some good friends! At least if the sunshine is short-lived, we can all dive inside and get plastered with the perfect excuse that the rain prevented any of us from coming home!
Ok, that’s all for now. Anyone reading this who lives in a warmer, sunnier climate will probably have absolutely no idea what it’s like here. Really.
Which is probably why most of the rest of the world thinks we’re off our trolleys!
Mandy Mullet at Home July 19, 2008
Posted by mandymullet in at home.Tags: at home, mandy mullet, mandy mullet at home, opinion, views, who is mandy mullet
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Welcome to Mandy Mullet, my brand new blog that’s all about… ME lol! I haven’t actually planned anything for this but I wanted to have something to jot down my thoughts, give a little bit away about myself (but not too much!) and generally vent my opinions and views on what I see going on around me.
So let’s get started with a who is Mandy Mullet?
My name is of course Mandy Mullet and I was born on 27th January 1978, which makes me an Aquarius and the ripe old age of 30! I live in London, England in a small flat (apartment) to the north of the city in a place called Enfield. That’s as close as you’re getting to where I live! Enfield is a big place, so the likelihood of you bumping into me on the street is pretty low.
I’m not giving anything too personal away, so I’ll leave you guessing as to whether I’m single or not. Well, a girl has to have secrets!
I work as a personal assistant to an accountancy firm but I won’t say where or who as they probably wouldn’t want me to divulge that information. In the evenings and at weekends, I like to spend some time on my laptop, but not too much time as there are other things that take up my spare hours too.
I’m very much into keeping fit and I eat healthily and don’t smoke.
I’m very aware of what goes on around me and don’t like to see things like unfairness, injustice or abuse of power an any form. Here in England, we seem to have given up our total freedom of speech and bend over backwards to help everyone else but ourselves. That is an injustice, so it rankles me.
I hate to see racial abuse happening anywhere, but I understand that there are differences between people and sometimes things get said that aren’t really meant in a nasty way, but other zealots get involved and blow things up way out of proportion. That’s unfairness, so it rankles me too.
I believe that we can all live together in peace if we really want to, but the reality is that there are certain factions around the world as well as here in England that don’t want peace and probably never will. I feel pity for these people because they seem to have had their choices made for them by others that have power over them. That is abuse of power and it also rankles me.
So there you are. A bit about me a coconut shell (its bigger than a normal nutshell!)
I want to write about things that make me happy, not things that rankle me, so I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises!
