a Spice-y night...

For a show that sold out in 37 seconds, I reckon we were extremely lucky (?) to get tickets to see the Spice Girls!! I know, the Spice Girls are not cool (I know, I know) - but I figured they'd be a bit of fun. For £66 a ticket, they'd want to be packed full of fun!

The concert was last night (sun) and they were awesome! They certainly didn't get this popular by being crap. They started out with Spice Up Your Life, and everyone was on their feet (which is perilous at the O2, cos it's so steep), and did all the faves like Stop, 2 Become 1, Who Do You Think You Are etc etc, and encored with Wannabe. Each did a solo - except Posh who did a solo catwalk (righto). Actually, Posh was continually cheered throughout the show, every time she sang. They absolutely love her here, it's bizarre.

They sang 23 songs, with a live band, and had at least 10 amazing outfit changes. I think they sang live (they certainly sounded a tidge off-key at times) - but it was all great fun. I found it slightly horrifying that I knew most of the words to their songs - they must have entered my head by ozmosis, cos I certainly don't own any of their CD's. Really!

Weather update : absolutely *bleeeeping* freezing. Weather forecasters predict a 6 to 1 chance it will snow on christmas day (I have no idea if they're good odds or not!).

On that note, I want to wish everyone a warm, safe! and very very merry christmas. Have a sunbake for me....

'ich bin ein Berliner'...

JFK said this in his famous 1963 speech, just after the wall went up, in support of West Berlin - and the US (jokingly?) translated it as 'I am a donut'. (silly Americans).

As you might have guessed - I went to Berlin on the weekend!! Anna, Mike and I got up long before the crack of dawn (sunrise is almost 8am these days), took a train to Gatwick, and flew out by 8.30am. Mike joked that Anna was the only person in London to get through airport security with 3 bags (the limit is 1!) - that she was carrying 2 under her eyes!

Someone at the back of the plane had the misfortune to become ill during the flight, so the pilot hot-footed it and we shaved half an hour off a 1.5 hour flight, an ambulance waiting on the tarmac.

I found Berlin to be bleak and modern, but also extremely festive. They had little wooden huts lining the streets as temporary christmas markets. The first thing we did was find lunch, which happened to be half a meter of bratwurst in a bun - seriously! Followed by a taste of garlic mushrooms, a donut to share - and a glass of hot gluwein (mulled wine).

That night we headed down Kurfurstendamm, which is a major shopping street, and it was lit up with millions of beautiful fairy lights. We went back to the markets for dinner where I ate hirtenbrot, which is a thick semi-circle of bread, filled with meat and gravy. De-licious!

Sunday we took a free walking tour, and visited heaps of sights - the Brandenburger gates, Checkpoint Charlie, saw the remaining 100m of the Berlin wall, and stood above Hitlers bunker. We also walked through an amazing memorial to the 6,000,000 Jewish people that were killed. Goosebumps...

We had monday there as well, so Anna went shopping and Mike and I took a tourist bus around the city. It took us 7 hours to get home, door to door, which is alot of mucking about for a weekend away. We even had to run for the last tube as it was pulling into the station. Thankfully I had tuesday off to recover.

drunk and orderly on a hen's weekend...

9 ladies arrived at our place on friday night, ready for a weekend of partying! We donned our matching red t-shirts and packed the mini bus with loads of food and 5 cases of wine and champagne - and with me at the helm, aided by Dana and a sat nav - we headed south to Brighton. 42 seconds into the drive we came face to face with an oncoming truck in a narrow London street - and I was the one who had to reverse out of the way. Loads of fun with a bus full of ladies in the back screaming about parked cars and near scrapes. I was a bundle of mess before we even got out of Chiswick.

We only got lost once (ok, twice), thanks to a sat nav that was slower than me running, and we missed a turn-off off the M25 and ended up going 20 miles out of our way. The ladies in the back were well into the champers by then so no one noticed. Although they were awfully suspicious when they kept asking how much longer and Dana kept saying 50 minutes... The house we rented was amazing - huge projector tv, PS3's in every room, a kitchen with every conceivable appliance and the bedrooms were arty - we had a wall of pistol-toting Elvis's. Ah huh!!

Saturday we had an excellent bacon and egg fry-up for breaky, and then 6 of us leapt into the mini bus and went clay pigeon shooting (the hen's idea!). Our teacher was called Foff, and is one of the top 15 shooters in the UK (and also a fireman!). He was awesome. We had 30 rounds each to shoot. The first 10 shots were at a 'rabbit' (a round clay piece that shot out and rolled along the ground) and we fired at that. Foff told me about kick back - but on my first shot he stood behind me, and I actually banged into him! If he hadn't been there I'm sure I would have landed on my backside. After that I knew what to expect. He double loaded (2 bullets) for my last shot, and said if I didn't get it, fire again. So out comes the 'rabbit', I shoot and miss, and apparently I lowered the gun to my waist and fired again! The gun was getting heavy! Foff thought it was hilarious, like I was John Wayne and shooting from the hip!

I missed all in that first 10, but Anna shot 3 - all with her eye's completely closed! She used The Force, obviously. The next 20 clay's were fired into the air, traditional clay pigeon style. I shot down 5 of them!!! All on my own, and with no help from Foff (except verbal - 'shoot up and slightly ahead'). Pics of me, Anna, and Dana with a smoking gun.

Meanwhile, dinner was cooked for us at the house, and champagne was flowing like Niagara Falls. About 9pm the traditional hens night 'entertainment' turned up in a sailor suit, and was quite dreadful - Khanh was an unwilling, but good sport.

Soon after we jumped into taxi's and hit a club in town called Kulture. All a bit scary for an old girl like me. But I hit the dance floor - and with a glass of magic champagne that never ran out, I was out there busting moves with the best of them. I had a fabulous time, got very drunk (but not disorderly!) and once home I secretly stumbled up stairs and fell into bed, with Anna making me drink water. A great sister!

I felt rather delicate on sunday, and luckily some some of us got to sit around the house watching MTV on the projector tv, while the others went to watch Khanh's future husband fight (taekwondo type).

Coming home was quicker - and much quieter! Someone joked on friday that the mini bus looked like an ambulance - and with all the hangovers on sunday, it almost certainly was...

last of the quiet one's...

This was my last quiet weekend for a while - which is good, cos they're sort-of boring!

I went to Covent Garden to get my hair cut - to the same place I went last time. It's run by some lovely Chinese guys, who take your coat and are soo polite, and again I had the unusual experience of two guys blow drying my hair at the same time! At one stage one of them asked if he could put some Chinese Spray in my hair - I said sure, why not - not knowing what it was! (I still don't know, in case you're wondering...).

I met Anna in Oxford St afterwards, and it was so cold that I went into Dorothy Perkins (Sussans-type store) and didn't come out til I'd bought a hat. It's a lovely beige crocheted tea cosy of a hat, and it looks very ridiculous but I love it!

We went to Regent St and Carnaby St - as you do - and from Carnaby St we came across the old department store, Liberty. Their fabrics Paula are so so lovely! Mmm, haberdashery....! I took some pics of the inside of the store, it's a Tudor style building and all wooden and creaky and delightful. [The outside pic was taken on the Monopoly Challenge - they're not crazy English people in t-shirts on a freezing day...].

Sunday was spent at home, as we hosted the second book club event. We'd all read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, so happily chatted about drugs for a while before talk turned other things. (Anna and Mike got engaged last weekend, while away in Cornwall - yay!!). We were going to watch Johnny Depp's magnificent performance in the movie, but didn't get around to it - for reasons previously mentioned!

This weekend I'm driving a mini bus full of chicks down to Brighton for a hen's weekend (not Anna's!!..). Weekend after that we're off to Berlin. Then it's the Spice Girls concert, and then Sharon and Karl arrive. I'm so excited!

punkers and beefeaters...

I thought I would head out on saturday to the famous Camden markets. I'm in serious need of a knee length coat, and proper boots - so I rugged up against the cold and headed an hour north. It was not what I was expecting - the first thing I saw coming out of the tube was a punker with the tallest, shapeliest mohawk I've ever seen, wearing a kilt. Hmm. And all the shops and stalls were selling everything studded, spiked and buckled - not exactly my style! I think I was the only person wearing pink... I got further into the markets and it didn't get much better - it graduated into goth, then hippy. Interesting, but the only thing I spent money on was a chocolate donut (I hardly ever see donuts here!!)

The only thing of note about sunday, is that I didn't leave the house - at all - which has to be the first day I've stayed home since I got here.

I'd organised an annual leave day on monday, and so I hit the Tower of London. I'm not a hugely up on English history, but I had a walk around and then took a tour run by a beefeater. It was awesome - he talked about Anne Boleyn, and other deaths at the Tower (including two young princes), and lots of other historical stuff that I was blown away by at the time, but have since forgotten. Memory like a...something...

The armoury was awesome, heaps of old wooden guns and suits of armour, and the crown jewels were absolutely beautiful - my favourite was Queen Victoria's small diamond crown, made I think in 1870. Very sparkly!

no rest for the wicked...

Gosh, what a busy life I lead. I had a daggy saturday - so much so that I forgot to go and watch the Lord Mayor's fireworks on the Thames. I realised at 6 o'clock (it had been dark for 2 hours already), and they'd gone off at 5. Memory like a sieve...

On sunday I jumped on the tube and went to the Natural History Museum, which is an absolutely beautiful building. Photo attached of the main foyer/entrance, dinosaur included! There was heaps to see, and I happily wandered for a few hours. [Note : gift shop sucked].

On the way home I went shopping on Oxford St (again!), and took some pics of the christmas lights. The photo's didn't come out that well, but you get the gist...

Monday was Anna's birthday, so we went out for 'a Japanese' - as some say here. Awesome food, although I stopped short of trying fried oysters. yeek.

Tuesday was my evening shift at work (I'm back on the circulation desk one night a week!), and on wednesday we went out for dinner with brother-in-law-Sacha who was over here visiting. We went to the Design Museum cafe, which was right beside the Thames just down from the magnificent Tower Bridge. We had to walk over the bridge to get to the cafe, and I had a 'London moment'. Something you've always seen in books, and there you are walking on it...

Weather update : 1 degree this morning. I'm told this isn't cold.

something about Leicester...

Guido, I laughed so much reading your comment about the dodgy brothers setting off fireworks in Leicester! There must be something about Leicester, cos I took this photo of the Shonki Brothers when I was there a few weeks ago..... Would you buy a house from these fella's?

Maybe it's a candidate for Rove's What the...? !

the weekend that was...

I didn't have what you'd call an exciting weekend, but I wasn't bored. Friday night was spent with a bucket of KFC - it's been so long since I had their chicken that I'm sure my heart was pumping around pure oil and 11 secret herbs and spices.
On saturday Anna and I went to the Victoria & Albert museum, which is art and design based. There was an exhibition on called The Golden Age of Couture (with Dior dresses etc), but for £9 we decided not to go in. We looked at some of the free stuff, but spent most of our time in the gift shop!
I had my first proper night out on saturday - Anna's workmate had a birthday at a pub in the city, so we did the London thing and caught the tube. After a few hours out, luckily we both got sore feet and headed home early-ish. Apparently the tube gets pretty yicky around midnight when everyone is smashed and tries to catch the last tube home. Eeuw.
I'd seen a huge Tesco's supermarket in my travels recently, so on sunday I went to find it. It was huge and I needed a therapeutic aisle wander. It wasn't meant to be - I ended up with trolley rage...
One thing that frustrates me about many Londoners is that they are utterly self absorbed. They don't care if they're standing in the middle of the aisle reading a soup label. Or stand within a bees toe of you on the tube and breathe all over you. Or cut you off on the footpath when they have a whole one to walk on.
But I digress. The supermarket was so packed and I got so mad that I started bumping/nudging/banging people's trolleys out of the way. And that wasn't fun - so I bought my things and scarpered.
And monday was bonfire night (Guy Fawkes day). You can buy fireworks here - so all night the neighbours we setting them off popping and whizzing around at all angles.
Weather update : it was 3 degrees this morning.

halloween...

I went to my very first halloween party on saturday night, and as a household we dressed up as the Addams family! We all looked suitably hideous - I was Wednesday, Anna went as Morticia, Mike as Uncle Fester, and Scott (our other housemate) as Gomez. I can't believe I'm putting this picture on the blog, because it's so terrible, but that's halloween I guess... Anna couldn't stop laughing at my plaits.

What I didn't realise, was that halloween isn't always about scary things, it's also just about dressing up. The friends who hosted it are Canadian - she went as Queen Victoria, and he was a wizard. It was a really fun night - Mitch had downloaded a halloween song mix onto his iPod (including the Addams Family theme - "they're creepy and they're kooky..."), and Ann had made all sorts of amazing food, and cupcakes with little icing spiders on them.

Mike carved some awesome pumpkins, I'll attach a picture of my favourite (yes Mike, you've made it into the blog twice now!).

The streets are so narrow here that if you meet a car coming the other way, someone has to back up - you should have seen the looks on people's faces with us in their headlights! We laughed so much as they backed up!!

I had worked on saturday (a 6 day week!), so on sunday I needed to do something relaxing. I went to Harrods for a wander! I didn't get far - I spent 2 hours just walking around the food hall, their gift area (everything under the sun with Harrods written on it), and their christmas department. I saw part of the Egyptian Hall, and the Dodi and Diana shrine. I could have spent millions, luckily I only spent 20 quid...

ceremony of the keys...

An hour after getting home from Blackpool we went back into the city to the Tower of London - after dark - after closing! We went to see the Ceremony of the Keys, which is a nightly tradition of locking up the Tower, and basically therefore the Crown Jewels.

We had a Beefeater (Yeomen Warder!) talk us through why they still do it (tradition and the Jewels). Basically a beefeater locks two sets of gates, and is then escorted through the grounds by guards - who also carries his lantern. He is halted by another guard who asks them to state their business, they says they have the keys - who's keys - Queen Elizabeths keys, and they are allowed to pass.

It was all rather theatrical, with lots of stomping boots on the cobblestones, but mind blowing to watch something that has been done every night without fail (even through the Blitz) since the 14th century....

The pics are the White Tower inside the castle (we weren't allowed to take pics of the ceremony), and the outside of the castle.

illuminating Blackpool...

7 of us caught a train to the seaside town of Blackpool on friday night. We chose Blackpool for many reasons, but the main reason (apart from my birthday) was to see the famous Illuminations - where the 4 mile Promenade is lit up at night with millions of lights. So Lorn, when your parents used to say the house was lit up like the Illuminations - you must have had every available light on! We arrived just before midnight and the sight was amazing. I was like a kid oohing and aahing.

If you ever go to Blackpool, stay at the Bracondale B&B. I can't recommend it enough... On saturday after a delicious full English breakfast, we went down to Pleasure Beach which is like a huge amusement park. They had 4 massive roller coasters - none of which I was game enough to go on - but apparently the view from The Big One was awesome.

We walked a mile or two in the arvo, marvelling at the amount of gambling places. I got some pics of the illumination lights, they were just as pretty during the day, as at night. Dinner was another fancy affair - at a restaurant we found out later was one of the first to appear on Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmare's show a few years ago.

On sunday we took a tram (double decker!) down to the shops, where we split up - and my 16 chins and I went to a Dr Who museum!! It had original props, sets, costumes and creatures from the 60's to the current series - even a machine you could talk into to sound like a Darlek! Exterminate! Mike almost bought me a life sized cardboard cut out of David Tennant, cos he wanted to see me take it home on the tube..!! (I would have done it!!!)

a year older...

or, "A Day in the Life of a Birthday Girl in London".
Yep, I'm officially a year older. I had a lovely day, tainted only by having to go to work!
I got up at the crack of dawn - ok, it was 7am - to open some pressies posted to me, and discovered that Anna and Mike were making me pancakes with maple syrup on top for breakfast! After which I was forced to open more presents (I've been truly spoilt).
The walk to the tube was a lovely and fresh 6 degrees, with lots of autumn leaves falling. Work was ok, it's pretty full on at the moment - but as I left the house Mike told me not to work too hard - and you don't have to tell me twice! Claire who I work with got lots of people to sign a birthday card (many of who don't know me very well!) - which was lovely.
I arrived home to the amazing smell of freshly cooked cake - and told I wasn't allowed near the kitchen. Mike had made, and decorated, me a cake!! I was sung happy birthday to - and we headed out the door for gourmet burgers for dinner.
It was a wonderful day, topped off with calls, cards, emails and amazing presents....

the Leicester marathon...

Before you think to yourself "cor, what's this rubbish - Nina's doing exercise??" - no, it wasn't me!! A group of us took the train to Leicester on sunday to support a friend, Damien (of monopoly challenge fame), who was running his first marathon. All 26 miles (42kms) of it. Blimey, all that running!

Essentially we were his cheer squad and all wore matching t-shirts, so that if we stood in a row it would spell Go Damo! They were hand painted, and awesome! We arrived at about 10.30, and immediately went and had breakfast. So while Damo had been slogging it out for 2 hours, Team Damo tucked into pancakes and full English breakfasts!

About half an hour before he was due to cross the line, we headed for the finish line and waited eagerly in formation. We cheered all the other runners (some looking pleased, others looking perplexed at what they thought was 'godam' spelt on our shirts). Right on time Damo appeared on the hill - red t-shirt, blue shorts - and he apparently heard our cheering from 300m away! Later he said it was the cheering that got him over the line - after running for more than 4 hours all he wanted to do was stop and lay down. He did really well - I simply can't imagine running that far, I don't even run for the bus.

The photo's are of us after the race....

We didn't see much of Leicester - we missed seeing the Space Centre (yes they have one!), the cathedral, and markets. And we didn't eat any of their famous Red Leicester cheese.

It had been a really good week - we went and saw the stage production of Chicago on tuesday, with Kelly Osbourne in it. She can sing, suprisingly, but acting isn't her strong suit. We had gone out for Indian beforehand, which was amazing - the naan bread was at least 50cm long!

dinner with a view...almost...

I spent most of last week suffering through some sort of lergy, masquerading as a cold, except that I had eye waters and puffy eyes for 5 days - on alternate eyes each day. I spent all wednesday and friday arvo at home, not enjoying the misery one bit! I looked as though I'd been taking boxing lessons.
But I was very happy the puffiness had gone by saturday, as a bunch of us had made plans to go to dinner at the Oxo Tower, on the Thames. Yes, the same Oxo that makes stock cubes! A&M had friends staying from Adelaide, and thought we'd go there for Kate's birthday. We all jumped in a taxi, which was excellent, as I'm usually in the tube underground and never see anything. We drove past Harrods and Big Ben, all lit up, which were lovely sights!
When Anna booked the table she laid the charm on, saying that we were from Australia, and it was for a birthday, blah blah, and could we have a window table? We took the lift up the Tower and arrived at the most amazing view! St Paul's at night, Blackfriars bridge, and the London Eye and Westminster behind us.... And were most disappointed when we were shown to our table in the middle of the room with no view... Bummer... But we enjoyed a very expensive, very delicious dinner, and later stood on the balcony freezing our bits off to enjoy some of that view.
Can you believe that I forgot my camera?? Me either... I must have been in a lergy-haze still. So no pictures unfortunately...
One interesting thing about the Oxo Tower - apparently the Queen banned advertising along the Thames (in the late 1800's?), and Oxo got around this by making the word 'Oxo' patterned in bricks. Somehow they got away with it!
On sunday I joined a book club! Friends of Anna's pulled the group together, and our first book was Khaled Hosseini's 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'. Since Amazon took 3 weeks to deliver it, I didn't have it finished in time - but it is an awesome, awesome book. (Is about 3 generations of Afghani women). I highly recommend it. Next book we're reading is 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' - just for something a little fun and trippy!

puck-ing awesome...!!

During the week I snapped up a spare ticket to see an American ice hockey game. Yeeaah! It was at the O2 arena - where we saw Prince - and the game was part of their official season. The Anaheim Ducks (in white) v L.A. Kings (in purple).

It was awesome!! They skate so gracefully, and it's a very fast-paced game. I was expecting heaps of aggression, and bodies being slammed into the side walls - which there was - but it wasn't as violent as I expected. A couple of fights broke out but were quickly broken up by the ref's. Damn! A hockey stick got snapped in two, and 2 pucks went flying into the crowd. The goalies kneel on the ice for alot of the game, and do awkward things with their legs to block potential goals (it made me feel queasy watching them)!

The Kings slaughtered the Ducks, 4 to 1.

But Geelong beat Port by a much larger margin, so I hear! Go Cats!!

a clock, a cartoon and the weather...

I saw this cartoon in today's London Lite, a free evening newspaper (like Melbourne's mx). It made me laugh!! I thought I'd capture the weather too - lookin' pretty miserable.....for like the next 6 months....

And this is the Faberge clock I bought at Buckingham Palace on the weekend - it sits about 10cm high. It makes me smile too!

a royal day out...

On saturday I attended Buckingham Palace! Not at the Queen's invitation, mind - I think I paid an entry fee that would keep her corgi's fed for a year...

The ticket gave me entry to the Queen's Gallery, the Royal Mews, and 19 State Rooms. The gallery was first and it had an exhibition of Italian art. I didn't spend long there (art isn't really my thing) - but it was interesting to see. The mews were amazing, they had 5 carriages on show - one being the Australian coach. Sorry Sharon, I would have taken a better picture of the explanation if I had realised it was also about Queen Margrethe of Denmark!! On display was one of the Queen's 5 Rolls Royces - it has a taller roof (so it's easier to get in and out of), and none of them have number plates, they're just known as RR no.1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Getting into the State rooms was like going through Heathrow security and took forever - but it was well worth it! The state rooms are where all the public functions are held - and 'oppulent' would be the best way to describe them. The rooms are colour-themed - crimson, pale blue, green, white etc. The Grand Hall and Grand staircase were spectacular, and the State Dinning room was incredible. They don't use tablecloths and the long table is set very elaborately - knives and forks are set to precise measurements using a ruler! The menu is always in French (a tradition for fine dining), and the Queen checks everything!

I didn't get to see inside the Queen's apartments - shame, cos I wanted to see what a real queen sized bed looks like..! I wasn't able to take photo's in the State rooms unfortunately..

But, I am a complete sucker for gift shops, and found myself purchasing the Official Guide, and a small domed pink Faberge clock (couldn't help myself...).

the south of France...

On saturday Anna and I flew to Perpignan in the south of France - which is about 35kms from the Spanish border and near the Mediterranean Sea. I know - sounds awful! We went because Dad and his two brothers were having a reunion. Each brother lives in a different country - Australia, England and Canada, and they hadn't seen each other since the early '90's.

Dad and Bella met us at the airport, and Anna and I hired a car (a Ford Focus C-Max, diesel, turbo, Ghia for those interested!). It was a lovely car except the steering wheel was on the wrong side! I drove, following Dad, and had a completely freaky drive to pick up the keys to our apartment - wrong side of the road, clutch with the left foot, change gears with the right hand, and I side swiped a parked bicycle. Ooops...!

We picked up the keys (getting lost along the way - won't be the only time this weekend), drove to Laroque des Alberes (top and bottom left pics) where the apartment was, then a short 2km drive up the Pyreneese to where the three brothers were staying. We had a lovely night catching up with everyone, over a bbq, champagne and incredible views.

On sunday we took a trip into Spain, to a town called Santa Margarida which is along the Costa Brava. We passed a curious sight along the way - ladies by the side of the road in skimpy clothing, sitting on plastic deck chairs. Turns out they were for hire (the ladies, not the deck chairs) - the usual customers being rich Russian men. The weather was perfect, so we ate lunch and went for a walk along the beach. That night we went out for a fantastic dinner at a restaurant in Laroque recommended in the Michelin Guide. It didn't have a Michelin Star, but was absolutely delicious none the less. We had four courses including foie gras (well, I had a slight nibble..), white fish, roast duck with white peaches, and some sort of brownie with figs for dessert. Oh, and we had our own sommelier (wine waiter) - with four different wines, one for each course. Noice.

On monday we went on a day trip to Colliere on the French coast. Beautiful pebble beach. On the way home we went to Carrefour - like a French Kmart. Bought some shoes... That night we had another bbq, and watched an awesome rain, hail and lightening storm from the balcony. Amazingly I captured a picture of lightening..

Tuesday we had a long breakfast with the brothers (as we had done each morning), of baguettes and brie, and said goodbye at lunchtime. We flew out of Perpignan in high winds, but once up was smooth sailing. Having landed safely we jumped on a bus to London - and missed being in an horrific accident by about 30 seconds. Scary stuff... I had a fabulous weekend, and tomorrow it's back to work.

the blog about nothing...

Seinfeld was ostensibly a "show about nothing" - just like this blog entry! After a hideous week when the tube was on strike for three days (although I did take tuesday off..), and work has suddenly gone mad - I needed to do nothing on the weekend. Which I did very successfully!! I slept in, dagged around, went for a stroll down to the High St, went to Boots - twice - and went for a walk around neighbouring Ravenscourt Park on sunday arvo.
Next weekend Anna and I are heading to the South of France (well someone has to do it), so that should make up for this blog about nothing...
This entry was brought to you by the Scruffle-upagus, the letter N, and the number 12 (the amount, in pence, that I found on my walk yesterday)!

the people's princess...

On sunday I thought I would go to Kensington Palace and have a look at the tributes left for Princess Diana. It was 10 years ago that I came to England for the first time - arriving a week after her death - and was amazed then at the amount of flowers left at Buckingham Palace.

There weren't a huge amount of flowers and tributes left this time, but I walked the length of the fence where people had attached pictures, poems and written messages. It was very emotional (I found myself dabbing away spots of moisture from my eyes...) - the messages were so heartfelt.

I felt a bit weird taking photo's, but here are a few. The golden dandelion was an art installation, in memory of Diana.

After that I needed a good walk around Hyde Park to dry off the eye-leakages, and ended up at the perfect place to make me feel better - Oxford St for shopping. I went to buy PJ's, and came away with a bag full of stuff. Sigh...