After my last post, I stuck to my plan and read this book in the space of a week. I actually found it surprisingly easy because, as the book is made up of diary entries, it means you can get through a lot of pages quite quickly because they are quite spaced out. It also means that you can stop reading at any point and carry on later, which for me is a major plus point!

I'll be honest though, I didn't really love this book as much as I'd hoped. That's not to say I didn't like it - I did - but I think my mind had been pre-blown by the television series which, in my opinion, is in no way similar to the book, sorry! (If I hadn't watched the television series first, I would probably be a lot more positive!) 

The story follows the main character, Rae, short for Rachel, as she battles through everyday life as an overweight teenager, who has not long left a psychiatric hospital. Set in 1989, this real-life diary of a woman now in her late 30s, features the love interests, music interests and inner most thoughts that any young girl would have. 

Rae refers to all of her friends in code names, such as Haddok, Battered Sausage and Fig. Although these names were eventually easy to differentiate between, I found that I could not work out who is supposed to be Archie, Finn or Chop. Main characters such as Tix, Danny-two-hats and even the counsellor are not mentioned in the book! Very confusing for someone like me who has seen the program.

I found the book to be very comical and witty and I could definitely relate to parts of her story. It just goes to show that no matter what decade you grow up in, some things just don't change!

I would say that if you have not seen the tv series, or are at least prepared to read this book with an open mind, then I'm sure you will enjoy it :-)

Yesterday, however, was not so great! I'd driven my boyfriend to the local golf centre to look at some new clubs. On our way home though, my car decided it had had enough, and broke down. After restarting the car, luckily I managed to roll into a Burger King car park, which unbeknownst to me was to be our home for the next 7 hours! (Seriously, there's only so much i-spy you can play!)

I phoned the AA and told them I was 99% sure a coil had gone - a relatively quick and cheap repair! Long story short, the AA sent another company to come and look at my car due to the 'high demand', and even though the cost of the part should have only been around £20-£30, they decided to charge £110 for the part alone. I refused and told them I wanted a tow home. They then told me a truck would be along in "10-15 minutes". To my surprise a truck did indeed arrive, but the driver was not there to tow me home. Instead he said "I've got a coil for you". After explaining that I did not ask for the coil due to the extortionate price, he was very rude and angry, telling me "I've come here to sell you something, it's not my job to take you home". He then drove away.... Like I said, RUDENESS!!!

A few hours later we were finally saved by a proper AA lorry. When I told him what had happened, he was furious and logged an official complaint on my behalf. He said that the company should never have quoted me such a high price, and managed to get an official AA mechanic out to me the next morning. We eventually got home in the early hours of the morning, and after a quick text message to my boss, who agreed to let me come into work a bit later than usual, I went to sleep.

On the bright side, I got my first ride in a lorry :-)