We are finally in Norfolk. It was a bit of a trek getting, not so much for me and Adam, but for our friend Andrew, who got stranded in Birmingham, when someone vandalised the cables at Nuneaton. He ended up having to travel via Nottingham, but we met up with him there. We ended up in Norfolk two hours late.

Today, we are going to a friend's for a Doctor Who video session, where it won't really be watched - it'll just be lots of chatting and eating of junk food. Tomorrow, we're off to Great Yarmouth for a mooch and market chips - yum! Tuesday is earmarked for a boat trip, which should be cool.

Three days and counting... 

It's my last day at bureau before my holiday, should be a reasonably straightforward day - staff meeting this morning, and hoping that the weather's putting off people from coming this afternoon...

Then two days of washing, ironing and packing. Then off we go! I can't wait!

It's been a while, I know - but bear with me, I've been doing loads of stuff lately...

Stafford: Me and Adam went down to Stafford recently to see a friend of Adam's, Andrew, who he's known since they were both eight. Stafford's a really nice place with lots of history, and Andrew's really knowledgeable about the history of the place, so we spent a very entertaining afternoon going round the local church, with some shopping and drinking coffee thrown in.

In the evening, we had tickets to see "Hamlet" at Stafford Castle. It was an open air performance, and it chucked it down AND blew a gale all the way through. However, this didn't matter as a: We were under cover, b:it all added to the mood, what with "Hamlet" being a tragedy and all. Anyway, it was absolutely brilliant, the guy who played Hamlet, Joseph Milsom (who if any of you watch the "Sarah Jane Adventures" on Children's BBC, is Maria's father - oh and he had a small part in "Casino Royale" as well) was a revelation! We've already said we're going to next year's play, which is "Twelth Night".

C.A.B: As busy as usual! Been lots of variety, (which I like), more experience in completing DLA forms (which I like), and some more triage (which I don't like quite as much, but only because I'm not that experienced in doing it).

Birthday: It was my birthday yesterday - had a really good day, went for a shop in Manchester, spent my birthday money, (and some of Adam's wages  and then Adam took me out for a meal last night. We went to Taybarns up near Marus Bridge - incredibly busy (we had to wait for a table) but worth it when you're there (lots of choice and you can go back as many times as you like!). Reasonably priced too...

Norfolk: Off to Norfolk next Saturday!!! Me, Adam and Andrew will be down there for just under a week. I can't wait! Just hoping that fingers crossed that the weather will be good when we go!

CAB news - my badge has now been altered to say adviser, which feels dead good!  on Friday I had my first proper taste of triage. To explain, triage is a kind of screening used by the CAB to determine whether a client needs to see an adviser or not. Often when a client comes into bureau, it's for something straighforward like information on where to access a service or a particular leaflet. If it's for this kind of thing, then a client doesn't really need to see an adviser. The person doing triage's job is to work out who needs to see an adviser and who doesn't. Now normally, this tends to be done by an experienced adviser, who can work out who does need to see an adviser. However, this was left to me on Friday. Now considering I've never done this before, I don't think I did too badly. It was completely mental - I lost count of how many people I saw!

On top of that, I was also keeping an eye on reception, which meant booking in people who had appointments with specialist caseworkers, making appointments for people, and making sure everyone in the waiting room was happy. I don't envy anyone who has to work on reception, that's for sure!

Well - I did it! All the paperwork has now been completed in my training, and in a few weeks time, I will be officially a Citizen's Advice Bureau Adviser. I'll get a nice big certificate, a badge and my photo I.D will be changed to say "Adviser"!

Other news: my parents-in-law popped in on the way to see Adam's youngest brother yesterday, was really good to see them.

Brilliant news - I had my final assessed interview at the CAB on Friday, which was probably the most nerve racking thing I've had to do since I started. To explain, I've always interviewed on my own during the training process, but this was the first time I've actually had someone sit in with me on an interview, and for some reason, I just found it really stressful. It also didn't help that the case I was dealing with was quite complex. However, I managed it and passed with flying colours!!

All I have to do now is to complete my assessment book with Dave the manager, then they can send off for my certificate and I'll be a fully fledged adviser!

Other good news is that they've upped Adam's hours at work - as from next week, he will be doing 30 hours a week. I know it's only gone up by 2 1/2 hours a week, but vitally, it's brought us into the realms of Working Tax Credit. Did a quick check and should be much better off!

Today should be fun, I'm not normally in bureau on a Wednesday but they're really short staffed, and I offered to come in, so it should be really, REALLY busy...

I'm THIS close to completing my CAB adviser training! I went to see Eileen, my guidance tutor for the last time on Monday. The only thing I have to do now is to have an assessed interview, which if all goes well, would mean that I will get my certificate, and become a fully qualified adviser - can't wait! It's been bloody hard work, but the hard work doesn't stop there - you're learning every day in this job, which is one of the reasons why I love it.

I've started the housing foundation course as well - I don't know if it's something I'll ever fully get to grips with, but the course up to now has made things much clearer in my mind. The thing that really struck me was that how late you could technically leave it to stop an eviction - sometimes as late as half an hour before the actual eviction! As long as you can get down to your local county court and give good reason to stop the eviction, it can be stopped. We're doing about homelessness next week, so that sould be interesting too.

Adam's job's going well - they've kept him on now till the end of may - after that, who knows? (although from what Adam has told me, they're getting more work in, so there's a good possibility that he'll be kept on again).

... as Adam's got a job! He starts on Monday at Bryan House (Wigan, Wrightington and Leigh NHS Trust HQ), on the IT support help desk. It is agency, and it's initially for two weeks - but there's a very strong chance that it will become a rolling contract, so could be for much much longer. It means also that I can now look for part - time work as opposed to full time, as I want to continue my advising at the CAB as well.

Talking of which, CAB is going well - there's an awful lot of courses coming up. Apart from my 2 day course for housing in Manchester, there's course on immigration coming up, and also a course on how to fill in a Disability Living Allowance form (big, long and designed to trip you up at every turn). So, there's plenty to be going on with.

My voice still hasn't come back completely, although I can talk now without it going too wobbly. I've been told it could take a few weeks for it to come back - arrgh!.

Our little Canon camera has come! Unfortunantly, I've not taken any photos with it as yet as over the last two weeks, I've been rather poorly ill. I've had this virus/cold/bug that's been going around, which I can deal with. What is doing my head in is the fact that I've lost my voice. I had to ring bureau on Monday to tell them I wouldn't be in, as the only way I would have been communicating with clients would have been through mime or smoke signals. It's been like this since last Friday, but (fingers, toes and other body parts crossed) it seems to be returning now.

Talking of bureau, there's quite a bit happening at the moment. In a couple of weeks, I'm going on a two day course all about housing. Now there's certain areas which I feel fairly confident with. However, housing isn't one of them. Hopefully, this course will help in getting rid of the sheer confusion I feel when anyone comes in with a housing problem.

I'm also having a go at legacy casework. Legacy cases are when an asylum seeker comes into the country and are given immediate leave to remain. My job will be to make sure that they are claiming any benefits they are entitled to, making sure they are registered with a doctor, dealing with setting up of utilities - basically helping them settle in the UK. It's going to be a challenge, as I've never done anything like this before, but I'm looking forward to it.

The C.A.B training is going well. Yesterday, I completed my Record Of Learning 4 Parts 1 and 2. In about 4 weeks, I have to complete part 3, then there's an assessed interview, and then hopefully I will be a qualified adviser at the end of it! It feels like years since I started, but at last there's light at the end of the tunnel...

I also am getting a new digital camera - well when I say new, it's being passed on to us. My father - in - law has just treated himself to a new DSLR, so we're getting his little compact. It's a Canon, really lovely - has manual controls and Image Stabilisation and other such treats. So when we get that, expect lots more photos on here.