The end of Spotify in Ireland *insert sad face*

So today the dreaded email came:

"We're writing to you in regards to your Spotify account which up until now you've been using free of charge.  While we are really happy that you are enthusiastically using Spotify, we are unfortunately going to have to restrict access to your free account."

It seems as though everyone outside Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, France and the UK has received an email to confirm that their accounts will be effectively suspended.

There are two reasons this annoys me: 1) I am in the south of Ireland, but only about 20 minutes away from the UK border, and 2) I do live in the UK, I'm just staying for a while.

There shouldn't have been an option to change location if this wasn't allowed in the first place, so while I understand why they have to do it, this situation should never have been allowed to occur.

Anyway, I'm going back to England in a few weeks, and my account better come back!

Making the most of having music in my life for as long as it lasts, so current track is Lily Allen - 22.

The best things in life are free...sometimes!

Recently, I have tried to make the most of my break but relaxing a bit. This mostly consists of sitting indoors and looking out of the window at the rain. This is free, but it's no fun!

A few weeks ago, me, my boyfriend, his brother and mother went to play Pitch and Putt and managed to get the whole way round without paying a penny. There was basically a turnstyle with a notice on it saying to leave your money in a box. Well, I am an outstandingly honest citizen, so I would have been stupid enough to leave my money there, only for no one to collect it. The others decided that none of us should pay, and this turned out to be the correct decision, as we played all 18 holes without paying a penny (and there were no drinks machines, so we couldn't even be tempted to put a euro in there!).

On the other hand, holidays are not free unless you win them (and the only thing I ever won was an X-Box code that wouldn't work in the UK!). Holidays are the best thing in life at the moment, I mean they must be, because as me and my boyfriend have noticed, everyone is going on one (except us it seems!).

The alternative to going abroad on holiday is erm...staying indoors and watching the rain, so it looks like I'm going to have to learn to enjoy that!

The one thing that is [mostly] free is my laptop. I have already paid the money for it, and this one actually has a decent battery meaning it costs about half the electricity that my last one did. So I'm finding a lot to keep myself occupied in that way...playing games, Tweeting, blogging, looking for jobs/phone companies, reading the news etc. So at the moment my laptop is one of the best things I own!

Anyone else suggest anything that is free and fun? NB: If anyone says "go for a walk", I will kindly remind you that I am living at the top of a hill and it pours with rain like there's no tomorrow here!

Minor Irritations (possibly part 2!)

I am a very irritable person. In fact sometimes, I am sure my boyfriend finds me almost impossible to live wth, so thanks to him for putting up with it! I get wound up with so many things, and here's just a taster:

• Orange taking 83p out of my account. Why 83p?!
• Brita water filters not being full up when in the fridge
• Curtains remaining closed after waking up
• People who don't stand in one spot at gigs (want to go to toilet/get a drink)
• Oil splashing out of a pan
• Huffing
• People on Facebook who complain all the time (!)
• Towels on the bathroom floow
• When the pot runs out of sugar
• BT
• Post taking too long
• Karaoke versions of songs on Spotify
• New blip.fm video function
• Ungrateful people
  
• Badly parked cars
• Martin of UTV fame (if that's even his name)

Many more...could go on...but running out of thoughts for now. For those of you who wonder why Orange took 83p...join the club!

Moving house is pretty awful!

Moving house is supposed to be one of the most stressful things you can do, and I think I can vouch for that! Ok, so I'm only a student moving out, but the way things work out, I have to put my stuff in storage, before staying in Ireland over the summer, and it's hard work.

There's so much to think about. I have a list as long as two arms, and I'm not even half way there! Silly things that are easy to forget like informing gas/telephone companies, redirecting mail and blogging about it!

I move all my stuff on Saturday, and sleep in an empty house before leaving on the ferry on Sunday. Can't wait for it all to just be done!

Anyway, I had to pack my poor teddy bears away today...they weren't too pleased, and Donkey looked particularly hard done by.


Had a quick break this weekend in London. Stayed with my Mum in Kent, and went to London with my boyfriend to see the sights. It doesn't matter how many times I see them, I love them. Also saw a very strange street act, which involved a person with their head in a flower pot...see for yourself...


Apologies to those of you who will have nightmares after seeing that!

Always Take the Weather With You...

...whether you want to or not!

Why is it that people always want to talk about the weather? I know it's quite important, but it's not as if no one knows about it. If you bump into someone in the street and say: "Isn't the weather bad?", what are they going to say? They're hardly going to reply: "I don't know I haven't noticed", as their umbrella blows inside out!

I worked in a shop in Ireland over the summer, and my goodness do they enjoy revelling in miserable weather! To be fair, it was awful weather pretty much every day, but I didn't expect EVERY customer to talk about how rainy it was.

When I wake up now in the mornings, it's on the radio. Turn on the TV and it's on there too. Go into the shop and whatever cheerful soul serves you will ask you if it's cold out! The answer is always yes. Even Facebook is littered with status updates saying how cold people are!

So why are we so obsessed with weather? I suppose because it affects what we do, how we feel, how we dress. But I think one solution to make ourselves feel a bit less miserable about it is to not talk about it! Wrap up warm, bring a brolly and wear a smile on your face. Whatever the weather, make your topic of conversation how great the economy is in this country...

...oh wait!