Mathilde: Thursday, 31st May 2012

(is it May? I think it is. I keep on writing the wrong date on my work...)

So, hey guys. It's nearly half nine and Ash and I had our last ever lesson at Springwood High School (Academy? Not sure!) today. I'm not going to lie, it was so odd! I could see Ash getting a little bit emotional to the side of me....but we won't mention that ;)

Things have been fairly hectic recently, hence a lack of posts from me. I'm not going to waste time writing all about them here, but I am super tired now! It's only really beginning to sink in now that I have my last ever day at Springwood tomorrow. I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad about this; things have been difficult recently but still...I've spent two years here. It's certainly odd, leaving. You'd think I'd be used to it now, right?

Unfortunately, Zeus died the other day, but my mam and I are planning on going fish shopping at the weekend. I'm not really an animal person, but I kind of really miss having Zeus around. He was an awesome fish.

Ash and I dyed my hair today (picture below. or above? do not understand blogger!). I wasn't planning on dip-dyeing my hair until after exams, but I was chatting with my friend Katey and to cut a long story short, she gave me a bunch of free hair dye! Since Ash and I had fifth lesson free, we decided to give them a go.

I'm not quite sure what to write here... I won't be writing for a bit next week, probably - I'm heading back home! 'Home' is up in North Yorkshire - Great Ayton, to be precise. When I was younger, I used to massively resent having to go and stay there (no Internet - shock! Sigh.) but I completely fell head over heels in love with Ayton maybe...three, four years ago? I was born there, but my parents moved down here to Yorkshire when I was really young. After my gap year, I'm planning on heading up to York for Uni. Originally, I wanted to open my own coffee-shop/tea-room in Ayton - just around the corner from the Captain Cook monument, to be precise - but working part-time at Loco has taught me that owning my own business would be kind of impossible...! I'm planning to continue making coffee next year (hey, I get paid to make nice coffees and chat to people, I'm not complaining!), but I was thinking that I might go into teaching after that. Or something.

Anyway, it's quarter to ten now and I am knackered. Just thought I should do an update!

Thanks,
Mathilde

Ash, Saturday, 19th May 2012

Phew day nearly over! Watching Gavin and Stacey now to end the day in style!

So! Was at work from 12-5, woohoo. I really don't enjoy work and I dread it every Friday evening. I don't think it's because of the job, because to be honest I don't think I could have a much better job with any nicer people if I tried, it's just the issue of how much I get paid. I think this post is going to consist of two rants, sorry!

My first is the pay rate for teenagers. I'm still 17 years old, and at my job I earn £4 an hour. I think Mathilde earns even less than me, so I have a lot of sympathy for her.

No what annoys me more than anything, is that I'm expected to do the jobs that no one else wants to do. I mean, a couple of weeks ago I was at work and we were short staffed, so as I was on the till I served someone who needed a box for their item. I radioed one of my colleagues so she could go upstairs and get the box, like I would generally be expected to do if someone else was on the tills. She then told me I'd have to go upstairs and get the box myself. There was another person there (who I really don't like as she does NOTHING) who's at the same status at work as me, who didn't go up and get it. So I had to serve the customers and run up the stairs to get the boxes too. Brilliant. I'll just do everything. The other 2 just stood downstairs doing nothing.

It'd be ok if I was getting paid the same as them, but no. They earn probably at least a tenner more than me a week. Just feel like I'm the skivvy sometimes. But oh well. It's a job I guess.

The second part of the day, I went to one of my friends' dress up parties. Went as Tomb Raider:

But anyway, I'm not going to go into my second rant, 'coz it was a really good party and I'm glad Lucy had a great time :) But anyway! Gonna leave it at that as am watching Gav and Stace and keep getting distracted! See ya!
x

Mathilde: Wednesday, 16th May 2012

this is me actually writing a blog because i kind of disappeared for a bit
OH LOOK I'LL USE PROPER PUNCTUATION

Right. OK. Hi, guys. Yeaaaah. As Ash said, we had the same lessons today (and okay, everyday), but I figured I'd do my blog anyway, give you the lowdown on the past few days. Or whatever.

Um. Well. Um, someone smashed into my car! D: Which wasn't too great. And she broke down yesterday which was a bit :(( But it turned out that the engine just flooded so...yeah, she's okay. Thank God for RAC membership!

I got a bit stressed Monday night because I was just a bit, "OH GOD I'M GOING TO FAIL ENGLISH AND LIFE AND I'M GOING TO HAVE TO WORK AS A BARISTA FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE" ahaha. I can't remember what happened on Monday. I did a lot of work at home. But on Tuesday Ash took me for a 'calm-down-Mathilde' drive. That was cool. We do a lot of driving. Well, Ash does.

Um. I moved into my sister's room because the rising damp was really bad in my room and I was waking up with wet hair when it had been dry the night before. Plus I kind of didn't want to get that bronchitis/pneumonia thing again. (it's a long story).

This is me and my fish, Zeus. He's kind of the coolest fish ever.

All of the rabbits escaped today. Twice. And it's a long story again.

I'm going to head off now because it's been such a long week already! Haha. And I'd rather write a looooong blog when I'm uber-happy than when I'm kind of dead on my feet :)

Night, guys.

-M

Ash, Wednesday, 16th May 2012

Well what a day! As I'm sure we've told you before me and Mathilde both have the same lessons, and fate dealt us the hand of triple Psychology, all in one day. Whoopee.

I think I'm actually quite confident about my exams. I had the Media retake yesterday and I'm pretty sure that went well, it's the Psychology ones I am actually worried about. I never realised how much there is to learn, I swear there wasn't this much last year!

So if you live in the Kings Lynn area, be sure to pick up a Lynn News on Friday, because I'm in it! I don't think I've mentioned before, but I write columns for the Lynn News, this time about passing my driving test (sigh). On the right path for Journalism for sure!

How many of you have applied for accommodation at university? And if you have, how many of you stayed up all night to make sure you were able to stay in the place you wanted? That was something me and Oli did! Was knackered the next day but was well worth it.

I wasn't really impressed with the whole system though if I'm honest. On the home page of the NTU website, they stated 'we can not determine the exact time the system will be going live, but we do know it will be in the morning.' I don't really believe that for one second. Plus, morning could be from midnight till midday, hence why we were up most of the night. I woke up every hour on the hour to check Facebook, as I knew if accommodation opened at any point in the night people were going to post about it on there.

Turned out it came on at 7. I was up at 5:45 (managed to get about four hours sleep) before logging onto my computer to refresh the accommodation page every few minutes. When it got to around half past 6, I was talking to others in the NTU all-nighter world, discussing how angry we'd be if it didn't open at 7! personally, I don't know what I would have done if it didn't. My heart sank a little when I refreshed the page bang on 7 and it wasn't open. Luckily I did it a couple more time after.

I think what made it a lot worse though is it chose that time to ask for my emergency details! I mean, seriously? I bashed my mums name and details out on the keyboard before finally clicking whatever first came up to make sure I got a place. It was lucky I'd actually clicked on the right place to begin with!

But now, I've found who's going to be living near me, and the flood of relief I felt once I had my name booked and put down felt amazing. The people near me are lovely and I'm actually looking forward to going now! At least we're moving forward!

Catch you later!
x

Mathilde And Ashleigh: Saturday, 12th May 2012

Today: I went to work, I was awesome at work, I went to see my sister, I did some awesome driving and I went for a sunset walk.

Um. I'll add to this tomorrow. Um. Yeah.


So yeah Mathilde sort of failed with this post. Using the phrase 'sort of' to soften the 'fail'. At least I learnt something in English!

So if you didn't guess, this is Ashleigh writing now, on Sunday, yikes, sorry! But anyway, I have my Media exam retake on Tuesday and I'm bricking it. That's putting it politely.

It's not as worrying though as sorting out accommodation for Uni, especially when you don't know what time the bookings open and you might miss out on your 'guaranteed' place, as they fill up pretty quick so I've been told.

Referring back to cars (again) but that was a main criticality when booking my place to stay. I needed somewhere with a car park. I think after a couple of months I'll be fine, but for the first few I want to feel I can come home when I want. God I sound lame.

I do envy the people staying in Lynn though (what am I saying?!) No really, I do. I think that's the issue here, everyone looks at University as a place to get wasted and have just fun for a few years. That's not what I'm going there for. If I could do the degree without having to move two hours away, I'd be taking that option.

I'm making myself sound like a bit of a loser, but I don't really want to go in some ways. People have encouraged me that my (clearly amazing) personality will win people over, but as much of an arrogant arse as I am, I'd rather just keep the people I already know thanks.

But there we go. A stream on the inside of my head. There'll be more to come. But for now I have to get on with this bloody revision. Maybe Mathilde will write some more later, I'm not sure.

Thank you for reading!

Mathilde: Friday, 11th May 2012

Hiiii guys :3 It's kind of late but I guess I should do my blog for the day! (Well, okay, I just got a message from Ash reminding me. Sue me.)

I haven't done too much today, other than school, school, school and driving. Driving went well. I think maybe I'm losing brain cells, the better I get at driving Wilma...

I'm seriously struggling at what to say tonight, haha... Oh yeah. My tattoo, Ash mentioned it. I've got a bird-type thing made up of musical symbols. I do know the proper terminology, I'm just knackered tonight haha! But this is it: 

Um. What else? Oh. I finally got my English teacher to call me by the right name! Well, Ash did, really. She's a bit braver than I am.

If you're reading this - please, please, let us know what you want to see here! I don't know about Ash but I'm definitely struggling for things to say. My buddy Hawkins suggested we do debates and/or reviews.
So. Um. Yeah. Let us know if you're onboard with that. Or video diaries or- yeah, get back to us!

This is my song of the day though:

Ash, Thurday, 10th May 2012

I'm not keeping up with this very well! Sorry, my punctuality is pretty awful if I'm honest.

So it's the end of another week. Not been too awful I guess. I am really pretty knackered now though. I think that's what happens when you're at sixth form, it just tires you out incredibly. So glad I get a rest!

Then again, I'm off to Nottingham Trent tomorrow to have a look around the accommodation. My boyfriend Alex is coming to have a look round too, as it's a place he'll often visit within the next three years! Asked my mum if I could drive and she surprised me by saying I need to ask my dad. Was expecting a straight no if I'm honest!

Well Mathilde's posted a picture of her car, I suppose I should too.

My Car!

Isn't it gorgeous! It's such an Ashleigh-car. Well, I think so anyway. It's name is Cliopatra. Smart, right?

Anyway, I don't know if Mathilde posted a picture of her tattoo yet. I reckon she should, it's pretty awesome. I want one, on my left hip, but sadly I'm not 18 yet. When Mathilde got hers though, she
didn't get I.D.'d so there is still hope!

My Soon-To-Be Tattoo!

It was designed by one of my best friends. 

Anyway, I'd better be heading off! Give us a comment and let us know what you want us to write about! Thanks!

Ashleigh <3

Mathilde: Wednesday, 9th May 2012

Hey guys. I just had serious trouble remembering how to actually spell 'Wednesday', so don't expect too much from this post, ok? RE yesterday's post: Ash is working on getting it up to you ASAP but she's currently completely bogged down with work, so be patient!

What's happening/been happening? Well, I got my car. It's beautiful and I've called her Wilma. I wasn't too hot at driving her yesterday but things seemed to be much better today - well, ok, perhaps stalling halfway through a right-turn onto a junction wasn't my finest moment - but yeah, things seem to be going well so far!

I think I use exclamation marks too much...

Oh, Spotify's running/run out again. This is pretty bad :(

I'm not really quite sure what to talk about today, if I'm totally honest! I had Psychology, English and double Media. Psychology was kind of dull. Well, very dull. English was...oh God, don't get me started! OK, it's a blog, I've started.

I'm having serious problems with English here, if I'm totally honest. One of my teachers is a rude, pig-headed misogynist, and the other just seems to be kind of scared of me. I don't think I'm particularly scary, so that's honestly an achievement, but it's fairly- ah, I can't think of the word. You know what I mean. But anyway. I love English. I'm certain that it's what I want to do at University because it's just the one thing that I get - but English lessons are beginning to make me hate the subject so much! I'm a little worried that by the time I finally get to University, I'll be a) behind on things that I should already know b) completely unwilling to give an answer ever again or c) I'll just completely hate the subject. You know how it is.

But yeah, I think that's about all for today. Oh yeah - this is a song that is kind of amazing, you should definitely check it out.

EDIT (10/05/2012): Ash's blog post is now up! I've amended the date + times so it appears chronologically, so just scroll down and you'll find it! Cheers guys.

Ash: Tuesday, 8th May 2012

I'm back! Sorry school work has become unbearable at the minute. I'm one of those people that when I stress about something I try to forget about it then it all comes to a head at the last minute! Not the best way to do things and I know I shouldn't, but it seems to have become a habit of mine!

I see Mathilde has shown you her car, I haven't read the post yet, has she told you how many times she stalled? Not that I can talk, when I first drove my car I didn't stop stalling until... well about two days ago actually! So yeah, not my proudest moment!

Have you ever been really obsessed with a song? I am at the moment. This Woman's Work - Kate Bush. It's all that girl Hope's fault from Britain's Got Talent.

Is anyone actually following that at the minute? It's not as popular as it used to be. I feel for the dancer's because there's such a high standard now and a lot of the acts look the same. Though I think the Twist and Pulse group should have got through, they were brilliant.

I don't think singer's should really go on there though. I think, if you're a singer, there's already a show for that, it's called X Factor. But there we go, just my opinion.

Anyway! I really need to pee! So on that fine note, will write again tomorrow! Bye!

Mathilde: Monday, 7th May 2012

Hey guys! It's what, twenty to nine here and I'm just about to head up to bed - I was just about to go up and I thought to myself, "Oh God, neither of us have done the blog!" so I'm just typing something here. Ash gets control of this tomorrow, so you guys don't get to see my car until Wednesday (probably best, I'm out driiiiiving tomorrow hopefully!) (not that I'm excited or anything) (no really)

What did I do today? No, seriously, what did I actually do today haha. Umm. Well. I did a lot of Psychology work and very nearly had a massive tantrum (ok, I did have a tantrum which consisted of keyboard mashing, mainly. You can see it on my Twitter because apparently I'm in a co-dependant relationship with a social networking site. Makes sense.)

Oh wow, it's really cold in here. But I'm procrastinating.

Umm. I attempted to make iced coffee and got it everywhere absolutely everywhere in the kitchen, which my mum found amusing, luckily. I've had too much coffee today, anyway. That's what Psychology does to you :((

I genuinely can't think of what else I did today :(( I'm kind of a boring person when you think about it, haha! But anyway, I'm going to head to bed now because for some reason, I'm knackered. Night guys!

-Mathilde

Ash: Saturday, 5th May 2012

Well, I've been at work all day, fun. I work in a little ornament/gothic shop. Yes, I have broken things.

I have the upmost respect for people who are studying and still have time to work at a job. Of course, I do it myself so I know it can be difficult. However, I believe it's me being lazy that means my grades aren't exactly, well, as adequate as they could be. Wow, that took a lot to admit.

So, after my long, strenuous, productive, pointless day at work (£4 an hour, I'm rolling in it) I have added another £20 to my petrol fund, and probably spent most of it on the way to Wisbech, considering I got lost 5 times. Yes, my sense of direction is a little lacking compared to my numerous important qualities, such as speaking with a lisp or mentally reminding myself to breathe (I know, I'm a genius! And probably a little arrogant... only a little...)

WHAT IS THE OBSESSION WITH EVERYONE POKING ME?! Sorry. Just, lost it there. It seems to be everyone's main amusement, then again they could just be doing it to avenge Mathilde on the amount of times I make her fly from the chair in class. (There was no way I could write that without  dirty-minded human being getting a laugh from it.)

Anyway, on that fine note, I will leave you all to your Saturday entertainments! Hope you enjoy Britain's Got Talent! I'll (hopefully) be watching it too!

Mathilde: Saturday, 5th May 2012

It's currently twenty to four in the afternoon here and I am totally knackered. I woke up at about four and just thought, whatever, I'll get up now. After six hours of non-stop work, I'm currently regretting that decision. But I'm home!

I'm a coffee-making, obsessively-cleaning shop assistant type thing down in Ely, which is kind of beautiful but so, so cold! I don't know why, but I get freakishly cold so this weather isn't too great, really. Anyway, I went to work and did work-ish things like making brilliant coffee and, well, stuff like that.

Nothing too exciting happened at work; it was really busy and I didn't get much cleaning done, but it was all good. Oh, I had to sell a magazine titled 'BARELY EIGHTEEN' to a lechy, stroky-hand man, which was kind of awkward. I just kind of stood there like 'Is this really happening?!'

I'm going to go and chill out before working on my Psychology essay and doing some revision for the night....I know, it's a wild life. Anyway, yeah, bye guys :)

-Mathilde

PS. OH YEAH GUYS! I'm well getting my car on Tuesday :') It may have a lemur nailed down to the boot cover but WHO CARES :)))

Introduction: Hi Guys!

Hi! We're two sixth-form students down in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as Kings Lynn. We're both studying English Lit./Lang., Psychology and Media Studies and therefore have every single lesson together. No, we haven't killed each other. Yet.

We're going to use this blog to describe our day-to-day lives: Ash will cover one day, and I'll do the next. We'll both do one on Saturdays and then start again on Monday!

This is the story of two girls. One can drive, the other (can't.) is learning! One's ginger, the other is....not. However, we're both fairly entertaining (we like to think so, anyway) and so we thought we'd start this thing up. Here's some more info on the two of us specifically:

Ash
(this is described by Mathilde, by the way). How do I describe Ash? Well, she's the one who can drive. She's very confident, very ginger, kind of cool. Only kind of, we don't want to boost her ego too much. She wants to be a journalist and is therefore aiming to study said subject at Nottingham Trent University next year. She enjoys taking the mick out of me, driving, parking badly/ignoring pedestrian crossings and making media-related things. She's (still) trying to do the washing up, guys!

Mathilde
Well thank you for that... lovely introduction... (This is Ash, by the way.) Well, what to say, she likes owls. I think that's it. No, I joke, she has a lot of... qualities. I mean, I've never seen someone able to make such a convincing terradcatile (sp*) face! She tries to correct me on my brilliant spelling. Most of the time she's wrong... Her typing is awful, she likes gingers, hence our friendship. She only recently learnt registration plates were the same on the back AND front of the car. She hates our English teacher. Well, 'mildly dislikes' in her words. I see pure hatred. He doesn't even know her name. Or when the suffragettes were around... She wants to have her own coffee shop. That is her aim in life. She's buying a Nissan Micra (we talk about cars too much) it's the same age as her. Yeah. That's it. BOOM.

So anyway, that's us, basically, in a nutshell. We'll be back tomorrow!
Ash & Mathilde