VCB 17: A day in the life of Helen

As I mentioned I might yesterday I thought I would give you an average day in my life. I won't put down everything I do. Just some little titbits from my day for you to enjoy. As this is live and will be updated throughout the day I will start with the question of the day for you to answer. By the way if you want to suggest things for me to blog about please look at yesterday's question.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: WHAT IS YOUR WORST DAILY CHORE?
My answer: It isn't daily, more like every other day or so, but it is washing my hair. I absolutely loather doing it because it takes forever to dry and it is stupidly thick and hard to manage. Yuck. Also my shoulder joints have been bad the last few years so I can only manage two-in-one now or else my arms seize up! I hate having greasy hair more though, so its not all bad.

8:10am

I woke up at this time despite both going to bed late and not needing to go to work. I could have slept in till 10am (anything after this and I feel guilty for wasting my day) but no; 8 times out of 10 my body likes me to wake up before 8:20am.

When I woke up I promptly check my emails on my phone. James sends me an email every day which is always waiting for me when I wake up. I think I have strained my eyes trying to read it before I am properly awake though. I always get morning headaches. I also told my friend Mary Kate on Facebook that I dreamt we met David Bowie. It is important to share these things.

Then for half an hour or so me and my cat Millie read 'Welcome to Britain: a celebration of real life'. Now, before you think I am sickenly patriotic you may want to have a look at the pictures below. I first was introduced to The Caravan Gallery (makers of the book) at an art fair here in Felixstowe, my hometown. I instantly fell in love with this quirky look at Britain. It celebrates those things which are typically British and at the same time are really crap.



Welcome to the British sense of humour! Click here to visit the Caravan Gallery website.

9:04am (good to be precise)

I plan my radio show for tonight while still in my pyjamas. As a general rule things I feel less guilty when I do things I should have already got done as long as I do them before I get dressed. I should have planned the radio show in advance and sent the plan to Sarah, who is guest hosting with me. But sometimes time runs away with you.

10:07am

Since my last update I have breakfasted and watch some Jeremy Kyle, which is, for you Americans reading this, our version of Jerry Springer. Now I haven't watched this programme in about 2 years. I really don't understand why people would use a crap television programme as a way to sort out their problems before first trying marriage counselling or even recognising that the relationship they are in is bad and to walk away. But it is very easy to judge from the sofa I guess.

I think the thing that strikes me most though are the outfits people wear. Here are people who have advance warning that they will be broadcast on television and rather than wear something smart and nice they opt for something like a grey tracksuit at the height of fashion in about 1993 with unbrushed hair and a tattoo on their neck.

Another good one you see more of now is the mis-wearing of leggings. I love leggings. They are the reason I can now wear short skirts but I would never wear just leggings without something else covering my thighs. Why not? I have fat splodgy thighs and really, no one wants to see me wobble down the street. Apparently some people do think that everyone wants to see this though and dress accordingly.

Ok my little rant is over. I of course don't judge people by how they dress in terms of how I treat them. Sometimes you just have to get out a little bitch rant though.

11:14am

I am now clean and dressed and ready for the day! It is now work time! And when I say work I mean it is time to do the things that I have commitment to but unfortunately do not receive monetary compensation for. The main thing I am working on is the wedding album of my friends Michelle and Paul (you may remember my blog about the wedding a few weeks ago). I am up to page 56 I think and have done the ceremony, speeches, cake, first dance, bucking bronco (yes, you read it right) and am now onto the dancing pictures which is the last part.

Since it takes a while to upload the pictures I am also working on my show plan at the same time. I have the songs and the discussion topics but I need to do the timings and find some movie trivia. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay. By the way if you don't understand the 'yay' then you are obviously not a regular listener to my show (Wed/Fri 6pm GMT/BST, www.felixstoweradio.co.uk). Half past six is always movie trivia time and always requires a "yaaaaay".

14:47pm

I have now finished planning today's show and, because I can be super-efficient when I want to be, I always did the songs and timings for Wednesday's show too! Next Wednesday's show is my last before I go on holiday for three weeks. I am nervous to leave it but not having to plan will be nice for a while. Plus it will be fun to see what Jon, Bex, Ann and Nigel come up with in my absence!

I have also had lunch and done more work on Michelle's album. Remember those photos I mentioned that were uploading? They took about 2 hours to finish. Darn high quality and average connection speed. But I am now up to the final few pages. I am excited that it is all coming together!

In addition since my last update I heard from my amazingly wonderful best friend Kim who has passed her driving test first time today. I am very happy for her. The picture below is Kim and I in her home town of Brighton when James and I visited a few months ago.



16:52pm

Okay, now I am bored. I am sitting in my 'going out clothes' with straightened hair, eyeliner, dangly earrings and a purple top with black ruffles. This is because I am going out straight after the show. I think I may be ready too early. I am waiting until it is time to go to the radio station. Now I have about 50 minutes but rather than do something with my time I usally sit and worry about being on air. I am hoping James comes online soon. I feel better when I talk to him before I go on air.

00:03am

Ok so we have a bit of a time jump there mostly due to the fact that I was radio-ing and then I went for a meal, as previously mentioned. The show was from 6pm-7pm and it went really well. It was the first time I had done a show with Sarah and, as a behind-the-scenes gal she hasn't been on air much before. I think we worked really well together and could do another show after my holiday easily.

After this I came home and rushed to apply some make-up including bright green Maybelline eyeshadow. I went for green because my top was purple and currently my nails are half purple half green. So it seemed fitting. I rushed around like a mad thing getting my bits together and applying my lipstick until I was beautified enough to go.

Side note - the lipstick I have is awesome. It is actually my mum's (or was I should say) and I think it is Rimmel but it doesn't actually say on the tube. Anyway about a half a year ago I started borrowing it all the time. And there would be a longer gap between when I took it and when I returned it. Eventually my mum just said "you know you can keep that?". So I did. And I love it. IT isn't fancy, just a plain rose coloured lipstick. But I love it.

I got to the meal at about 7:40pm, a bit flustered from the rush. I had bread to start (I was starving and only had a starter because I couldn't bear to wait for my food) and then steak fajita wrap. We were at Chimi Changa's a Mexican themed restaurant (although my boyfriend doesn't like them because the burritos are not proper burritos). Anyway the steak fajita wrap is prewrapped (to minimise mess for follk like me who want it simple) and is very yummy. But having filled up on bread I couldn't manage it all. I ams till so full.

My friends Kim and Ross then turned up from Brighton and joined us for drinks. I love these guys. They absolutely crack me up and we get on so well. Plus Ross gets on really well with James which means if ever Kim and I want to hang the boys will be happy to go and perv over Marvel comics and talk Avengers. Anyway I should end my blog here because after a few beers I am pretty whacked.