Mad English girl Down Under

So last night I stopped off to Aldi to get some picnic food (more about this later) Struggle yet again with the trolley coin as I have done all the other times I go to Aldi (which fyi is one of 3 as you know supermarkets here in Canberra, Sigh.  Do miss Sainsbury, any how) So after struggling with the trolley coin (they don't have baskets here presumably so you buy more or don't pinch them? I managed to get the trolley with the worse wheels ever and just ever so slightly bumping into some poor person walking past (I had no control over this thing) I manage to get inside. Within seconds of me looking at all the rice cakes (remember the tuna episode ...... it was a bit like that but this time I just opted for barbecue flavour and not one of each) I hear a "miss, miss, miss" I turn around and there is a very small oriental man standing there beaming at me, I felt like a celebrity and thought yup, he's read my blog, he recognises me. In my head I'm mentally th...

G'day.  It's been a while I know. Due to working FULL TIME (have I mentioned that before?) I now have no time to shop, no time for coffee with the lovelies and worse no time to blog. Sob and sigh.  Any how... During my working weeks I have been been building A LOT. ...I am now a master and am pretty very awesome. I still hide in the wardrobes (see attached picture) this was taken this morning while I fitted the trouser pull out hanger to it.  After taking said photo I realised I was being watch by another co-worker so in true Maddi style I just shrugged and said "I'm British" he looked as confused as me trying to find my way around the store. (Getting lost is a daily thing for me). Sigh 😕😣  As you know this is my favourite phrase and excuses me for pretty much every thing (well in my head it does) A few blunders I either said or done over the last few weeks are... During the weekly store huddle (yes we have a weekly huddle, we also have a daily huddle... p...

Evening all. 6pm here and thought I'd spend the next hour writing to you. Sean is in the office / spare room doing spin on his road bike with trusty mac advising him what to do. I went to spin class this morning at 6 am and got shouted at what to do. Which I have to say did get easy then I didn't go for a week because of being in Sydney with work and now I feel like I'm back to square one. Hey ho. So my week last week was erm. ... OK.  The first 2 days I did nothing but pillow fluff which actually after 8 hours of doing I was glad by the 3rd day to be in the wardrobe part. I've found the answer to all the questions asked by customers is simply say "just follow the path and you'll see/get it" works a treat. Sean was not impressed when I told him this. But what does he know. The 4th day I was more prepared and took initiative and shut all the wardrobe doors that were open, even the ones customers had just opened and were looking in. This did actually ...

Hi everyone. I have just had a very amusing experience happen and only felt it right I should share with you lot. So, Sean came back last night (he's been in Sydney for 3 days) and we have a vodka & coke to start the weekend off with. This morning I have to follow him in our car to drop the hire car off. So we're pootling along and suddenly the cars all start to slow down. The police are ahead and they are waving EVERY single car to the side. I start to panic, I had 2 last night but any one that knows Sean, knows he pours his shots like they are going out of fashion. I'm watching Sean and thinking crap we're both for the high jump. He pulls up and then within seconds he's driving off. I'm now shaking and have gone all hot with fear. So... I drive up to the policeman that's waving me to pull up (very slowly I might add, oh and quite typically my hair is frantic as I didn't bother doing it this morning and I have my Willy Wonka sunglasses o...

Like the title says here's a few other moments when talking to my darling husband I've had to say oops more than once. The first being when I was offered the job with IKEA I asked him if he knew they were going to offer it, his reply was 'yes of course I knew' He then went on to tell me that my area manager (AM ) had laughingly said this..... AM -'We're going to offer Maddi the job but we're just not sure on her taste of men' When Sean told me this, my reply after gasping was 'but how do they know I love Tom Hardy, I didn't mention him at all in my interview, that's really weird' I went on to say. Sean now looking not as happy at the start of our conversation simply said 'he meant me Mad, not Tom Hardy' Oops Second oops. We have an IKEA social media app that only the exclusive can join. So I joined to see what all the hype was about and it asked me if I wanted to follow anyone in IKEA. So I sat and thought about this for ...

G'day all.  Down to business... did I tell you that when I applied to IKEA I only wanted part time hours? Assumed in my interview I was getting part time as I mentioned it plenty of times... and when I started the first week the HR manager who I know anyway asked with a puzzled face "Didn't you just want part time hours" "YES" I probably said a bit too loud and desperate, She then informed me that my beloved deputy may have had a part in me getting full time hours. GRRRRRR.  Anyway I'm there full time and its not quite the pillow fluffing I expected it to be.  No more to say on that.  I failed to tell you in the last email about the guy at Costco...and that the last time I went there I very nearly accidentally (of course) ran him over. Now this guy by his own admission is not a small chap and also is COVERED in high visibility  attire because of working in the fuel court and presumably so he doesn't get run over on a daily basis....

Morning,  How are we all? Its very windy here and very chilly. I know this because I'm sat in my freezer! I'm sat here with my cappuccino (with milk) and a glass of Berroca (on account of not wanting to get crook again) makes an interesting breakfast don't you think?  Last weekend for those that haven't seen or heard we saw Koala's, I was just a little excited and boy they are super cute looking. The lady at the reserve said we were really lucky to see one out eating as they normally sleep for 19 hours a day. They are beautiful animals. The day after Sean and I drove to the beach and just by chance when we looking out to sea I spotted 4 dolphin fins, I was that excited and jumping up and down that much I gave myself a headache.  We very nearly got cut of by the sea but luckily we didn't. Sean said we'd be OK and we could've climbed the cliff .... my response was "not in my pretty converse shoes, NO way" so we had to run back across the ...