one for the kids....

When we were in Paris, I came across this poster for Shrek the Third - doesn't it sound so much nicer in French!!

sing it dolly parton...!

"workin 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin...."! I have a job!! Most will know this already, but I was delaying the blog announcement, just in case I jinxed myself and it didn't work out. King's College London has been nice enough to give me a go, as a supervisor in their journals section.
Actually I'm working "half nine to half five", at their Chancery Lane library - which is a fabulous old gothic building, and used to be the Public Records office. I'm on the LG floor, and my desk is in a wonderful almost-circular bay window type thing with long skinny rectangluar windows that go to the very high ceiling.
I get out of the tube at Temple station, and everything in the area is to do with the Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion - church (the church I think), taverns, lane ways etc. Totally blows me away every morning. And if that wasn't enough, as I come out of the tube I walk up to the Strand, which becomes Fleet St. So much history, I just love it.
Da Vinci Code meets Monopoly......

the Beatles and liverpool...

Last thursday I decided to take a holiday from my holiday and went to Liverpool for a few days. Things started off brilliantly when I was upgraded to first class on the train, as Virgin were trialling a new lunch service and they wanted guinea pigs. Yay! I left from Euston station and arrived 2 1/2 hours later at Liverpool Lime St station, rested and with a full belly.

I stayed at the YHA, which was a Beatles themed hostel - my room was on the Penny Lane floor. The only bummer (literally) was that their mattresses were about 3 threads thick on slatted bases, not very comfortable on my old and weary carcase!

I walked around Albert Dock, the city centre, and did the Maritime Museum. On friday I had a Beatles day - spent time doing the Beatles Story (kind of like a museum where you walk around with headphones listening to Julia Lennon (John's sister) tell the Beatles story). Then jumped on the Magical Mystery Tour!! It was an old bus that took us around to the childhood homes of each of the boys, as well as Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane (never ask an old lady to take your picture, she barely got me in) and the church where John met Paul for the first time. The guide was amazingly knowledgable, funny and waaay too good looking (wicked combo). We ended the tour at Mathew St and the Cavern Club (which is not the original, but a replica) - and I had a half pint of beer and listened to some old guy sing Beatles songs. Not a bad way to end the day.

And I have to say - the Liverpool accent is my favourite so far!

The trip home was uneventful - no upgrade... :(

the two queens...

Last wednesday 20th I went to see the musical "We Will Rock You", based around music by Queen. The lead guy was amazingly charasmatic. And at the end, during Bohemian Rhapsody, Brian May came out and did a guitar solo! It was absolutely awesome - this is music from my childhood! - and I will definitely go again. It made me want to rush out and buy the Best Of album!
Last tuesday 19th I went to see the Changing of the Guard (you know, for the other Queen). It was slightly over-rated (partly due to the fact that I was standing on the wrong side of the road and couldn't see what was going on in the Palace), but it wonderful none-the-less. I got some good photo's....

the last week or so....

We'll, there hasn't been all that much to tell so I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry!
So what's been happening? Mum and I took a bus trip to Oxford one day last week, and it was lovely. Oxford is sooo beautiful and old. I went to the gift shop at the Bodleian Library (bought a pen that said "silence please"), but didn't go into the actual library. We took a bus out to the little town where she and dad used to live in the 70's, and found that nothing had changed. The town was built in the 1700's or something, so 37 years hadn't made much difference! I saw the outside of one flat - it was only 11 feet wide!
Apart from that, things have been fairly quiet. Mum flew home on sunday night. Since then I've been taking walks down to the High Street and looking at all the wonderful shops, generally enjoying having nothing to do.
Last night I went to my first theatre performance, a play based on a book called "Vernon God Little".
One bad thing - we have cable at home and I'm addicted to old episodes of Friends. Argh!
But I am settling into life in London, I've even overcome my fear of getting lost on the tube. Yay!

beautiful paris....!

Mum, Anna and I have just spent 4 days in beautiful Paris! I thought it was going to be hard-going (cos the French hate everyone but themselves), but we had an amazing time. We took the Eurostar, which went about 180 kmph, and checked into a hotel near the Champse Elysee. We saw the Eiffel Tower (we didn't go up), and ate dinner on the Champse Elysee.

On saturday we took the train to Versailles which was stunning, and I drove us around the huge gardens in a golf cart (sooo much fun!!!!). We took a boat tour on the Seine and walked around the Left Bank, and had fromage and baguettes for afternoon tea. On sunday we went to the Louvre (pic right) - saw the Mona Lisa, French paintings, Egyptian stuff and Napoleon's apartments. The arvo was spent on a bus tour of the city, and lunch on the Trocadero.

We caught lots of metro trains, ate lots of cheese, tried to speak a little French, and generally soaked up the atmosphere.

One interesting thing - marshmallows are called 'guimauves'...!

And the funniest - Anna's alarm went off on the 2nd morning, so I reached over and picked up the hotel phone - "..uullow...?"! "ah, Nina, that was my alarm...." "oh" and I hung up the phone...

oh brother...

Last night Big Brother started in the UK. And it was awful! The host, Davina, was completely unfunny and the 'set' was an outside car park with a round stage stuck in the middle of nowhere. Cars pulled up to deliver each contestant and Davina disappeared so that the person had to walk onto the stage and into the house by themselves.
They were all women, and aged 19 to 61. Apparently a 'good looking' man will go in on friday. The house looks crappy compared to the Qld one. The oven ("cooker") is in the bedroom, the fridge is in the backyard, and the kitchen sink is in the dining room. One lady refers to herself in the third person, and there are young blonde twins that seem to share one brain between them.
Oh, and it's on 22 hours a day... Suffice to say I won't be watching....(ok, maybe just a little!).

mr darcy...

We've had our first celebrity sighting! Anna saw Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) picking up his dry cleaning at the high street in Chiswick where we live. I'm soooo jealous I didn't see him! Maybe I will before the year is out... (Sorry I don't have a picture of him!)
And Elle Macpherson was also apparently sighted along the high street as well...
I'm in good company...