neen's travels

the return...

2008-09-20T14:19:00.004+10:00

I've been very neglectful and not wrapped up my blog, which I've been meaning to do for weeks. I think I've had blog-writers block!
I've been back for 2 months now, and life is finally settling down. It wasn't easy to return (I thought it would be) and I've had a wee dose of the post holiday blues. At the start I felt like a stranger in a familiar place - and I really missed my London life, but was happy to be home.
But I'm settled now. A place to live, a new challenging job - even a new couch! It's been fantastic to see everyone again; to rediscover the joy and freedom of my car; and I have a new suburb to get to know (although, I did live only 4 streets away when I was first born so I've kind-of come full circle).
Day to day life has taken over and London is almost a distant memory - but everytime I catch a glimpse of it on TV I feel an intense yearning and happiness. I've seen that! I've been there! I wasn't there long enough for life to become dreary, although the 7th month of winter pushed that boundary a little! It was an unbelievable time - meeting amazing people, of sightseeing, discovery, freedom, my first new job in 13 years, and spending time with my sister, who I hadn't even lived in the same state as for the last 17 years.
Anna was awesome, and I wouldn't have done it without her. It was her suggestion that I consider London, and she made it so easy for me. I had a blast. And Mike as well (I was a good scooter apprentice, wasn't I!?). I miss you guys!
Was it worth it?? Absolutely!! Even though it was hard to leave Melbourne, and even harder to leave London. For most of it, it was the Chinese Golden year of the Pig - which is my year - and it sure was! Things couldn't have turned out better, had I tried to plan it to the millisecond.
Thank you for tuning in to the blog (especially those who checked it daily!), I'm truly amazed that so many enjoyed it. I guess if it had been totally crap it would have fizzled out after the first few entries. There was so much to wite about...
What a year...

eyes like hot coals...

2008-07-02T00:02:00.002+10:00

I am 2/3 of the way home!
Leaving London was very hard - and poor Anna who came to see me off at the airport. There were lots of tears when I left, and I tried to look dainty dabbing away with a tissue. I got through security doing little hiccupy sniffs. Blimey.
The A380 aeroplane was absolutely amazing. I was on the lower deck (not upstairs, bummer!), and we left half an hour late. Luckily we had a pilot with a hot foot, cos he shaved an hour off the trip. I so wanted to hug him for that!!
The plane was so big that it cruised through turbulence with a slight buoyancy rather than a judder, and to me that was worth every penny!! I didn't sleep at all, partly due to the row of babies in front of me (and there I was thinking I had an awesome seat at the front), so my eyes were like hot coals by the time I got to Singapore.
I'd booked a room at the transit hotel and immediately slept like a log for 8 hours. A long shower and crappy american shows on tv made it even more excellent.
My flight to Adelaide leaves in 2 hours, better get some duty free shopping in before then....!

the last hurrah...

2008-06-30T03:45:00.009+10:00

I've just had my last weekend in London... :( I can't believe I've been here for over a year - in some ways it has gone so quickly...

Saturday was a brilliant day! It was the sunniest and warmest day of the year, and 15 friends came over for a BBQ. We sat outside in our little backyard and chatted and ate and drank the day away. We sat there for almost 11 hours! I had the best day. The die-hards that were still here at 11pm, are in this photo.

L-R (back) Dirk, Benno, Scott, Shirl, Mike (front) Niamh, me, Anna, Khanh, Chris.

It wasn't goodbye, but an optimistic 'see you soon'..... I will miss everyone.

Sunday, today, was spent packing and we're now about to go to the pub. On my first night here 14 months ago, we went to the Swan - so it's only fitting that I end this way.

Tomorrow I fly home, on a massive A380 aeroplane. The plane is a double-decker and takes 800 passengers, so I sincerely hope we get off the ground. I have a 15 hour stay in Singapore, and arrive into Adelaide on wednesday morning. I'm inexplicably sad but excited.....!!

free lunch, from the tardis, beneath the gerkin...

2008-06-27T01:22:00.011+10:00

Sounds like I've had a wild weekend on something illegal from Amsterdam! But no, this is essentially a long-winded story about Anna and I having lunch today....

Where to start? It seems that the streets of London are paved in silver and bronze and the occasional gold. Since arriving here, I've been finding money. A fair amount of money. At first I didn't pick it up - but I kept seeing it so I decided I would see how much I could gather. Just like a little magpie, searching for shiny things... For the first few months I put it in my purse and spent it.

For christmas, my housemate Scott gave me a Tardis money box!! It's the most amazing thing - you have to open the doors to put the money in and as you open them the Dr talks to you (usually a line from the series). Mmm, David Tennant..! [2 minute daydream]. Where was I? Oh yes, and as you close the doors a blue light on top flashes and the Tardis makes it's disappearing noise. It's ace!!

So from christmas I began putting my findings in the Tardis. I emptied it last week and gave the coins to Anna to deposit via the coin counting machine at her bank. As you can see from the receipts I found 15 pounds and 35 pence! That's like $35! (There was so much to count that the machine broke down in the middle of it all).

I wondered what I could do with these winnings, and decided I would take Anna out for lunch. I met her today (thurs) beneath the famous Gerkin, otherwise known as the Credit Suisse building (also amusingly, overheard it called the Aubergine by an american tourist), and we ate from a fancy cafe whilst admiring the view above us. We were going to try one of the cafe's massive meringues, but we were too full to contemplate them! Of course I had to do a self-portrait, sorry abut the unflattering view of my chins...

So, a free lunch courtesy of Londoners who don't care to pick up their 1 & 2p's - from the Tardis - sitting beneath the Gerkin. Nowhere else but London.....

a very london sunday...

2008-06-24T07:27:00.010+10:00

I made plans on sunday to meet two friends for a farewell lunch, Nikki and Fiona. We met beneath Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, and this was a great start to a very touristy day!

We went to the National Portrait Gallery restaurant for lunch, which had unbelievable views back over Trafalgar Square, ol' Nelson, and down Whitehall with Big Ben and Westminster in the distance. We had an extremely delicious 3 course lunch, with wine, which ended with raspberry cheesecake and coffee.

We jumped on a big red bus and went down The Strand to a place called Somerset House, which is essentially an art gallery - and in their huge outdoor courtyard they'd set up London's Largest Livingroom, complete with oversized furniture. We sat with our legs dangling and ate ice cream (yep, after all that lunch!).

To burn that off we walked over Waterloo Bridge (pic left) and down to the London Eye, where we went for a spin. It was my 4th flight, and I'm not tired of it yet!

As we ate cinnamon donuts, we walked back over the Thames on Westminster Bridge and bought tickets for a short boat trip up to Tower Hill. It turned out to be a comedy of errors for the two guys driving the boat, and I wasn't too happy being on water again - especially after we crashed head-on into Blackfriars pier (they left a chunk of boat behind!).

But, it did have it's up-side (apart from me getting to land, having not drowned) - as we got off at Tower Hill they began opening the Tower Bridge, which I'd never seen before! (pic right)

It was a totally excellent day, great weather, great company - and I want to bring London home with me....

cambridge and duxford...

2008-06-24T06:52:00.008+10:00

On saturday I took a train to Cambridge, with the purpose of going to a place just south of there called Duxford - where there is an Imperial War Museum. Our grandfather flew Lancaster bombers in WWII, and I wanted to stand beneath one and get a feel for what it would have been like. You weren't allowed inside most of the planes, and it crossed my mind to try batting my eyelashes to see if someone would let me in the Lancaster (I didn't, I should have)...

The Lancaster was huge, and I couldn't imagine piloting one. From what I remember (hopefully correctly) grandpa didn't pilot any of the famous dam buster planes, but was part of a secret squadron (101 Squadron) and survived all his flights - which statistically was against the odds. So seeing the plane in it's metalic flesh, made it even more amazing to me.

I got to walk through a Concorde, and walked around heaps of other amazing planes - an F-111, Mustang, a Blackbird, and watched people taking joy flights around the air-field in a Tiger Moth.

It's so funny that I'm terrified of flying, and yet with my genes I should at least be comfortable with it!

I had a bit of spare time after Duxford, so went into Cambridge. I'd stayed there 10 years ago so had pretty much 'done' it, but walked around the city area loving how old everything was. The pic to the right is Kings College (not affiliated with King's College London where I worked).

I wish I'd been more prepared (like gone with a map), cos I wanted to find the river and see some people punting - but alas, I ran out of time and didn't find it...

a little toot of the ol' trumpet...

2008-06-24T06:18:00.004+10:00

I knew last week was coming, and then all of a sudden it was there - my last week of work! Relatively speaking it's a quiet time of year for subscriptions, so I was all up-to-date - and training the girl who was taking over from me was foremost on the agenda...
And then it was friday. For once I didn't have a mad panic finishing things off, and at 4pm we downed tools and laid out some cakes for a little farewell party.
Geez, being in the spotlight - I'm so not good with that! And to make matters worse Claire made a speech about how lovely it was to have worked with me (aw..) and left me to say something in return, and like a complete goose I froze and didn't know what to say! So to divert attention off myself I offered to open the gifts they'd bought me, but that wasn't much better cos they were all watching, and my hands were shaking! What a nincompoop.
I got lots of hugs goodbye, and they said some really nice things about me in my farewell cards (yes, I got two!), which I read on the tube going home. I'm going to miss some genuinely lovely people.
I'm just glad I survived the year - admirably I think - and now I'm officially unemployed for the next 3 weeks! I need a holiday...

deer, and king lear...

2008-06-17T02:26:00.011+10:00

It doesn't happen often, but this humble blogger is almost speechless. I had such an amazing weekend.

I made plans on saturday with a friend to go down to Richmond, to take a wander through the town, along the Thames and through Richmond Park. I kind of thought the Park might be the size of the Treasury Gardens, but no - times that by about 200! We looked at the map at the front gate and thought we'd take a look at a couple of the old homesteads, a few lakes and ponds (and the amusingly named Spankers Hill), but got to the first place via a massive hill with awesome views and had to rest and stop for lunch! After that we kind of got a bit lost - cos the place was so bloody huge! - and walked a million miles through amazing parklands, foresty bits with lakes and swans, and eventually had to ask for directions on how to get out. Back the way we'd come, of course...

But I'm so glad we got lost, because we came across a traffic stoppingly beautiful herd of deer! The pictures don't do them justice. They had fuzzy little antlers and cute swishy tails...

I walked my little legs off that day, down to ankle stumps, but it was well worth it.

And I was so looking forward to sunday! A while ago I organised tickets to see King Lear at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. A bunch of us went, we had lunch beforehand, and headed to the Globe at 1pm. I wasn't sure how I'd go listening to Shakespeare, and the play was 3 hours long sitting on hard wooden benches (ok, I cheated, I hired a cushion for £1). But I can't tell you how amazing it was - sitting in the open roofed round theatre, with perfect seats facing the stage, and views of the audience on every level up around us, and 'penny stinkers' crammed onto the floor below (well, that's what they would have been called in the 1600's!). It was a magical atmosphere.

The play had the best Shakespeare actors, and the whole thing just gave me goose-bumps. I loved it. 3 hours flew by and then we were all being deafened by the applause. If you come to London, you simply must do this.

Afterwards we stayed at the Globe and had a bottle of wine or two, by chance sitting along-side some of the actors - then headed home.

Blimey, I wasn't speechless after all...!

And to show our broad range of cultural interests, Anna and I watched 4 episodes of Underbelly as well...

58 weekends down, only 2 to go........

a pink, sparkly princess party...

2008-06-10T03:37:00.009+10:00

Anna and I took a bus to Leeds on saturday, to spend time with my uncle John, Helena, and my two little cousins Felix and Hetty. The first of the goodbye's....
We arrived mid afternoon and spent the entire time chatting, and for dinner we had the most delicious roast with yorkshire puddings. Yuuuum!
Hetty had a birthday party on sunday, so from 10am the house was filled with tiny 4 year olds running around dressed in fairy and princess dresses! So cute! It was a sunny day so they played outside before having games. They still play the same games I played as a kid - pass the parcel, and musical statues! The only difference these days is the food - there's a distinct lack of little hot dogs and party pies, parents like to see healthy things like carrot sticks and fruit. Where's the fun, sugar-rush and sickness in that...?
After all the princesses went home, John set up a paddling pool and a slip'n'slide that ran off a slide in the backyard, and we watched Felix and Hetty pour dishwashing liquid down the slide and fly off the end. Very entertaining!
I left Leeds feeling sad that I wouldn't see my little cousins until they were probably much older, but that's what happens when you live on the other side of the world...

book club at a garden nursery...

2008-06-03T08:32:00.006+10:00

Sunday was book club day, and since Anna and I were hosting it we thought we'd go out rather than have it at our place (our loungeroom is small and uninspiring).

We'd had recommendations from 2 people to go to a place called the Petersham Nursery, down the Thames in Richmond. The restaurant there is chef'd by an aussie lady called Skye Gyngell, and the nursery itself was said to be really lovely.

It didn't disappoint! It was very pretty, with lots of little elephant statues everywhere, other Indian things, and heaps of colourful flowers. There were heaps of glasshouses - a few of which had rustic tables and chairs where you could sit with a pot of tea and a slice of Skye's cake.

We gossip'd for ages and thought we'd better talk about the book, which was Brave New World. Quite a hard book to discuss in public, especially when the girls had so many thoughts on relationships, promiscuity, drugs, psychology and society. We were getting funny glances. We gave up after a while and wandered around the plants instead!

a couple of jousting sticks...

2008-06-03T08:12:00.011+10:00

This weekend I thought I'd do something quintessentially English. Go to a castle, and watch some jousting!

We had a family day out, with Anna and Mike (hi Mike!), Scott and Mirka. We got up early on saturday, jumped on a coach, and headed 1.5 hours south east to Leeds Castle in Kent (it isn't in Leeds, confusingly!).

The Castle is set on a lake, and has lovely huge gardens with lots of ducks and swans. The last lady to live there in the 1920's had black swans imported from Australia. The inside of the castle was a strange mix of very old and art deco, as it was 'modernised' in the 20's. I would have been happy to live there! The castle was used by people like Henry VIII as a stop over to France.

We had an excellent lunch, supplemented with Pimms and lemonade! There was a display of medieval comedic antics - and jousting, which was fast-paced and colourful!

We also saw a Birds of Prey display, with a huge owl/hawk thing (can't remember what they guy said) which had a massive wing span. The guy got the bird to do a low fly over the tops of kids heads. The two little kids at the front are so cute - heads down, bums up!

dancing the pachanga...

2008-06-03T07:51:00.008+10:00

Last thursday was the long awaited night at the theatre to see Dirty Dancing! 5 of us went so we made a night of it and went out for dinner beforehand to a chain pub called the Walkabout. It's Australian themed and serves stuff like kangaroo burgers and VB, and a drink called a snake bite. Not sure whats in that, something red, but it's so popular with anitpodeans that it's known as a snakey. I didn't have either a snakey, or a VB (yik).
Dirty Dancing itself was fantastic, but one of those things where it could never be as good as the movie. I had very high expectations - it used to be my favourit-est movie (yeah ok, it still is!) and I used to know all the lines, so the stage production was going to have to be a masterpiece to be better. It was almost line for line to the movie, and the dance routines were what made it. All the classic songs were done, and thankfully no-one sang She's Like the Wind - only Patrick Swayze can sing that.
I came away having really enjoyed it, and wishing I could dance like that..!

the BL, as the locals call it...

2008-05-28T06:52:00.009+10:00

Having visited London twice before, and lived here for a year, I finally got around to (doing my duty) and visit the British Library!! The locals refer to it as 'the BL'.

I didn't do my research very well [irony noted], and when I rocked up to the information desk for a map, I was amazed to discover the treasures on display.

I peered at Shakespeare's notebooks, the Magna Carta, the Gutenburg Bible, some of Jane Austen's letters, Leonardo da Vinci's workbooks, original Beatles lyrics, the Beowulf book/poem thingo and classical music scores (from someone famous I can't remember, sorry mum!)

There was also an excellent exhibition - about the Ramayana, which is essentially an Indian love story. (Prince Rama marries Sita, Sita gets kidnapped, Rama enlists the help of Hanuman the monkey to find her, which he does). It's a very long story, and on display were about 120 small traditional Indian paintings telling the story. It was really lovely (I still want to go back to India).

After that I needed tea and cake, and on the way to the cafe I came across the Kings Library. It was a collection of really old volumes, donated by King George III - and it's housed in an amazing tall glassed tower in the middle of the library. This is what I looked at while I sipped my tea (pic right).

The rest of the weekend was relaxing - we had another bank holiday on monday, so we went to Khanh's for lunch and she cooked us the most delicious laksa.

Things are starting to slow down now, in some ways, with only 5 weeks to go. I'm working 4 day weeks to use up my annual leave (someone has to do it!), but there's still lots of sight seeing to do and I've got lots of grouse things planned. Stay tuned...

captain cook's land legs...

2008-05-21T03:12:00.010+10:00

The no.1 thing on my must-do list, was to visit a place called Whitby (up on the north east coast of England). Everyone had recommended it - Dracula was filmed there, and Captain Cook sailed from there. It’s a town that sits high up on cliffs facing the ocean, and is divided in half by the Esk River. I took a train on saturday morning and arrived four hours later.
I found my B&B, then went for a walk into town. This is the view from my street (pic left). It’s a town famous for sailing, fish’n’chips, Bram Stoker, and an 800 year old abbey. On Sunday I fortified myself with a full English breaky (sausage, egg, bacon, tomato and mushrooms!), and set out for a full day of sightseeing.
It was a bit chilly up there, but I took a walk along the beach – and came across these colourful beach huts (not as nice as our Brighton ones!), and seagulls enjoying the tide out. I walked across the bridge to the other (older) half of the town with cobbled streets, and went to Grape St where there was a Captain Cook Museum in the house where he was apprenticed when he was young. The museum was good, but it reminded me of being at school (I went to primary school in Sydney which meant I learnt about Captain Cook and Botany Bay – not about Ned Kelly!). But it was amazing to stand where Captain Cook's land legs had stood, 300 years ago.
After lunch I walked up 199 steps to an old abbey built in 1200-something, and I think was where Dracula was filmed. Twice a year Goths from all over England come to Whitby to celebrate Dracula and all things, well, gothic.
It was a very picturesque weekend away. I had considered following in Captain Cooks sea legs and taking a boat home (I really don't want to fly!), but after my Norway experience, flying will be too easy....

precious sunshine...

2008-05-15T03:50:00.011+10:00

We've had a whole week of sunny 24 degree weather. It's been perfect! It'll be cooler by this weekend apparently, but at least my pasty scone-like skin has seen sunlight... Last summer I was amazed that men ran around everywhere in shorts and no top, but having spent a winter here I understand that sunlight is so precious and you have to absorb as much as you can, whenever you can (I do draw the line at topless).

I went on another guided walk on saturday, around Westminster. It was great to hear about the houses of parliament, Guy Fawkes, William Wallace, and to see things like the entrance to air-raid shelters underneath parliamentarians homes! (pics right) Afterwards some friends and I went to a pub across the road from Downing St for a beer, and ended up eating McDonalds in Trafalgar Square for lunch.

Sunday was another day spent in the glorious sun. I went for a huge walk around Chiswick and along the Thames, and we stumbled across Hogarth House (which is mentioned in Virginia Woolf's 'Mrs Dalloway'??) and where I got to walk on their lovely soft grass in bare feet. We ended up sipping summery cocktails on the High St, after which I stumbled home and spoke Swahili to Anna for a while... Great way to spend a sunday!

a stroll around little venice...

2008-05-06T01:46:00.009+10:00

I love Venice, but no I haven't flown to Italy for the weekend...

It's a long weekend here (we have two in May), and the weather has been fabulous. I think I'm almost thawed out!

Anna and I went on a walking tour on sunday - like a real one with a guide - to a part of London dubbed Little Venice. It's a posh area where lots of famous people live, and Regents Canal runs through the middle. It's very beautiful, and people live on the canal in very narrow boats. They can travel all over England on these canals (even to the supermarket, apparently!).

The guide walked us around for 2 hours, giving lots of tid-bits of information. In the top right photo you can see lots of pineapples outside the houses - this was a show of wealth 150 years ago. Back then a real pineapple had to be imported from the tropics and cost £10, equivalent to £35,000 now, so you were incredibly wealthy if you could serve your friends pineapple at afternoon tea.

During our stroll we spied 10 little ducklings! They all seemed so intent on their paddle, except for one, who's eyes are wandering to the left!

beef cheeks...

2008-05-01T01:08:00.008+10:00

It's been an excellently busy week. Carolyn White came to stay with me, and we got up to all sorts of sight seeing activites. Spread over 5 days, we went to see the Tutankhamen Exhibition, caught a big red bus to Oxford St, walked (both our) little legs off to get to the Globe Theatre (which happened to be closed that arvo!), went to the Portrait Gallery, the theatre, did the Chiswick High St, braved the Brick Lane markets and had Carribean for lunch, and went to the V&A Museum (pic of Caro, left). Phew!

But the piece de resistance was on sunday night - we went to Gordon Ramsay's pub in Chiswick, the Devonshire. It was lovely. I was expecting to be sworn at, but thankfully the great man wasn't in. The pub had a menu of traditional British food, so I had the pork sausages and mash, with a side of cauliflower and stilton. Mmm. I did see another curious item on the menu - beef cheeks... I didn't care what end they were from, I wasn't going to eat them!! Mike ordered them and said they were delicious.

Photo to the right is a street near the Devonshire - everything is in blossom.

Weather update : we had 22 on the weekend, I was so excited. Finally the cold seems to be lifting...!

the London marathon...

2008-04-19T23:38:00.007+10:00

It's taken me a week to recover, but here's the news on the London Marathon (and of course, it doesn't need saying that it wasn't me that ran!).

It was held last sunday - starting at Greenwich, going through Canary Wharf, across Tower Bridge, along the Embankment, past the Eye, St James Park, Buckingham Palace and down The Mall to the finish. 26 miles, 42 kms.

Our friend Damo was running (most runners had to raise money for a charity to be able to enter, Damo had to raise £1600!) - and again we were proudly part of Team Damo - this time with proper printed tshirts! The London marathon was waaaay more crowded than Leicester (by about a million), and there were 25,000 more runners.

Team Damo met at the 9 mile mark, and we waited for him to run past. He'd been running for well over an hour, and we were the ones starting to feel woozy, searching through the fast moving sea of jumbled sweaty faces, looking out for him. Tania was the first to squeal, and Damo pulled over to see 5 women wearing his name on their tshirts, jumping up and down and cheering. He didn't look at all puffed - he high-fived his fiance, and took off.

We battled the crowds and the tube to the 16 mile mark, but we must have missed him. So we took a tram to the 22 mile mark and managed to see him there. He looked positively radiant (not at all shagged) . Unfortunately for him - and the other runners! - it started to hail when he had 2 miles to go - and he made it over the finish line in 4hrs, 23mins. If it were me I'd still be running....or dead.

He had benefits of running for a charity - namely a 40 min massage at the end, and by the time we caught up with him at a pub near their place he looked tired but immensely happy. I was just plain knackered, and was only part of the cheer squad!

Pic of us at the pub, with the green sign overhead pointing to the runner!

the (very) unofficial UKSG report...

2008-04-12T03:40:00.006+10:00

I said I was only joking about a report, but here it is - with no depth or seriousness!!

The 11am train to Torquay apprently went via Turkey, it seemed to take forever. It also had the Best of British - a guy who was so drunk he could barely lift his 600ml beer can, and another guy who had a jacket over his lap, hand underneath, (doing what, I didn't want to contemplate).

Torquay was ok - if it's part of the so-called English Riviera it has alot to answer for! The murky brown sandy beach was only about 40m long. Can't imagine summer, you'd be like sunbaking sardines. Torquay was also very hilly (unexpected), and their seagulls are the size of small dogs.

UKSG was 2 1/2 days of speakers on various topics, and 4 extra sessions of your own interest. Topics ranged from relevent and interesting (digitising collections; 3 views on usage stats for online journals [impact, behaviour, abuse] - strangely interesting) - to ephemeral and pompous. The consensus was that many speakers aimed their talks at publishers rather than librarians, which was disappointing.

There was also a trade exhibition area so I went around and met suppliers (collecting free pens!). Dinner on monday had a theme of Around the World, and afterwards there was a quiz of the same theme. I'm relieved to say that I was able to help our team answer most of the Australian questions correctly - and in fact we came 2nd out of 37 teams!

Although - trust me! - at dinner I managed to offend a major supplier. Catrin and I sat between Cambridge Uni Press and Ex Libris. No problem there, except that I introduced myself to a guy from Ex Libris and he said 'ah yes, King's uses Aleph', to which I replied 'unfortunately'. He sniffed and turned away muttering 'surely not'... [Ex Libris produces Aleph, a library management system, and it's truly awful]. Catrin thought it was hilarious. Whoops....

Tuesday's dinner had a theme of Mostly Red - I went Mostly Black with a Tinge of Red. Red bangles and red nail polish - which made me feel as though I should be standing on a street corner!

The conference ended after wednesday lunch, and overall it was an excellent experience. I do have to write a real report but it won't include my thoughts on seagulls and red nail polish!

more magical snow...

2008-04-06T17:37:00.006+10:00

We've had relatively warm weather all week - between 12 and 17 - and I woke on sunday to the most awesome snow fall! This weather is crazy. So, more pictures from the front and back of our place...

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually wishing it hadn't snowed today. I'm heading off in a few hours to sunny Torquay, down on the south west coast. For those in the know, I'm off to UKSG! (that's the terribly exciting sounding conference for the UK Serials Group!). I am actually quite excited about going, lots of suppliers to meet who I've been talking to over the year, and I've never been to Torquay so the conference will get in the way a bit of sightseeing.

But, apparently transport tends to slow down - or shut down - when it snows, so I hope I get there.

I'm also going to miss book club today - the book is One Hundred Years of Solitude. It was hard going, as it was written as a metaphor for the growth of Columbia and South America, and all the characters of the 5 generations are basically called the same names!

Next weeks blog will come attached with a report from UKSG - nah, just kidding!

guitar hero...

2008-04-01T03:51:00.006+11:00

Nah, I haven't had another celebrity sighting. We were invited out on saturday night - to a party to play board games! Despite the low key image that conjures up - it was far from it! There were heaps of people, food and loud music.

While I was playing my first ever game of Boggle (and sucking at it), there was an extremely rowdy game of Uno on the next table. Khanh tried to get everyone to play Pictionary, but after the first roll someone lost the dice and the game had to be abandoned (it was later found in the kitchen in a bowl filled with beer on ice!).

But the best game of all was on the Wii. Mike and Anna have one where you can bowl or play golf - but this one was Guitar Hero and you play a Wii guitar to rockin tunes (and score points etc). It was absolutely awesome fun!!! After a few go's I really had the hang of it and was rocking out to Gunners, Heart, Pat Benatar, Alice Cooper and Santana (I thought you might be amused by that last one, Dad!).

Damo took the attached picture, calling me a rock goddess. If only....! Real guitars don't make any sense to me....

We stumbled home at 3am, which due to daylight saving was really 4am - so that fits the rock goddess lifestyle!

a happy easter...

2008-03-25T06:22:00.011+11:00

Having frozen various body parts off recently, I was completely bonkas to plan any outdoor activities this easter. But with a must-do list and an ever decreasing number of weekends, I couldn't let it go to waste.

Anna and Mike had hired a car, so on friday we all piled in and went on an outing - to Ikea! It's a day out in itself... And it was so liberating being in a car - we even resisted swedish meatballs so we could go through the McDonald's drive thru!

On saturday I went into the city, kind of across the road from Downing St - to one of the Royal Palaces, Banqueting House. It was where King Charles I was hung in the 1600's. It wasn't terribly exciting, just 2 long rooms (for banquets!) with very little in them. Although the ceiling paintings by Rubens were pretty amazing. From there I took the tube to London Bridge where I hoped to look inside City Hall (awesome spiral staircase and excellent views of London apparently), but it was closed. It was there that I took this pic of Tower Bridge, and it snowed for 52 seconds, 20 minutes later...

On sunday I went to Kew Gardens, hoping it would snow alot more, but it didn't it was just cold and windy (it only got to 3 that day). Many of the spring flowers were out and I tried to enjoy them but I spent most of the time in the 3 atriums just to keep warm. I got homesick in the Australasian section looking at wattle (my favourit-est plant), and I saw an amazing plant that was bright purple in the centre which graded out to green, and a small white magnolia tree. Kew Palace is also in the Gardens, so I went inside for a look. It was quite amazing - they'd left some of the walls exposed so you could see how it was built, (also) in the1600's.

On monday we met some friends at our local pub, The Swan, and had a great afternoon eating sausages and mash, drinking wine and chatting.

Oh, and the easter bunny had noticed I'd moved, cos he found me...

humungous snow flakes...

2008-03-24T21:24:00.006+11:00

Spring has definately sprung - backwards! I was sure I couldn't possibly feel any colder, but this last week has been hideous. There is only one possible up-side...

During the week the BBC predicted heavy snow over easter. Yeah yeah, I've heard that before and nothing's happened. Still, I was very excited by this prospect - I've been willing it to snow for months!

My 'willing' finally paid off! I saw my first snow fall - for all of 52 seconds - while I was in the city on saturday. Snow flakes floating over the Thames. I was so excited!

It tried to snow a bit more that day, but I woke on sunday to real snow. Big flat floaty snow flakes - at least the size of a 10c piece. I pulled on tracky pants and a jacket over my PJ's and my trusty ugg boots, grabbed my camera and ran outside.

It was absolutely magical....

The photo's don't do it justice - but the pic to the left is our street view from the front door, and the other is out the bathroom window.

It snowed for about an hour but it all melted when it hit the ground, so no pictures of everything covered in white.

I'm just so happy I got to see it...

football hooligans...

2008-03-17T08:38:00.009+11:00

Somehow we managed to get hard-to-come-by tickets to the football (soccer) - Fulham v Everton. Sunday was a completely miserable day, but we put on our cold weather gear, did some warm up exercises, and headed out.

I was completely psyched - and had humorous visions of me ripping out seats, starting fights, and yelling abuse at the ref (nah, I can't imagine it either...)

It was at Fulham, so not too far from where we live, and arrived in time to have - of all things - a South Australian Vilies pie! And a few sips of beer...

We had good seats, sheltered from the drizzly rain, and sat amongst a lively bunch of Englishmen. One guy 2 rows in front constantly yelled stuff out - "caaaarm'on ref!" "c'mon lads!" "Lescott, you're rubbish!". So I spent 90 mins being amused by him, and generally enjoying the game. Fulham won, 1-0. I gather it was very important for them to win (something about them being relegated if they didn't).

By the end of the game I was so cold my legs were about to snap clean off, so we legged it half way home to warm up, and to avoid packed public transport. That, and a coffee from Starbucks, did the trick.

Football - must-do list - tick!!

"a respirator job"...

2008-03-12T05:35:00.004+11:00

When I hired a DVD a few years ago, the guy behind the counter approved of the choice, and said I'd find the movie so funny it was a 'respirator job'.
My saturday night had a similar effect! We were invited out to a friends place in Surrey (we had to catch an overland train!) - and they were a couple called Kylie and Benno (Aussies, of course, going by their names!). They cooked us dinner and there were numerous bottles of good wine - it helps that Scott works for Fosters! Kylie and Benno were absolutely hilarious, and by the end of the night my sides and my cheeks were hurting from laughing so much, and I was begging them to stop. I haven't felt like that for ages....
The laughter was resurrected on monday morning - although this time in disbelief - a guy on my tube had obviously fallen deeply asleep, and was snoring the loudest snore I've ever heard - all the way into the city (about 40 mins!). Everytime someone got on you could see them look puzzled, then start to look around, then they'd look incredulous not knowing whether to laugh or be disgusted. This guy also had a tight beanie on, with his mobile stuffed inside it, poking out the bottom next to his ear.
This country cracks me up....!

spring has sprung, sort of...

2008-03-04T04:26:00.008+11:00

Well it had for the first 2 days, the weather was warm and the sun was out - but now it's gone chilly and wintry again. In fact the BBC says we should expect sleet today. Highly unlikely, there's no precipitation in sight...

Everything is in bloom - our mange tout (snow peas to us!) is flowering - and daffodils, apple blossom and another tree I don't know the name of are flowering everywhere. It's really beautiful!
I've been taking pictures out our 2nd storey bathroom window, since I moved here, to record the changes in the different seasons - and I took these two yesterday. Oh, and the tree I don't know the name of is the big flowering one in the middle. You can just make out our patch of daffodils behind the red flowering tree.

Anyhoo, I had a quiet weekend - went to yum cha on saturday (ate some decidedly weird stuff), and Anna and I went shopping on Oxford St on sunday. It was all heaps of fun until public transport and traffic angered us. Luckily we had a dozen 'specially chosen Krispy Kreme donuts to keep us company!

I realised this weekend that I have exactly 16 weekends left in the UK - so I'm hastily drawing up a must-do list!

Time goes so fast when you're having heaps of fun...!!

"the sea was angry that day"...

2008-02-24T22:18:00.007+11:00

Before we departed Bergen, the Captain came over the PA and said the weather had turned, and we were going to have a rough ride home. Noooooo! Once again I questioned my sanity, and this time decided I was actually mental (but I only had myself to blame).
The first 6 hours were ok as we went down the coast, and were protected by the small islands off the Norwegian coast. But after that it was night, and we were out in the ocean.
I've never been so scared in my life! The ship (bits of metal stuck together with a few rivets) was tossed every which way. One minute we're pitched forward and downward crashing into waves, and the next we're hurled upwards and left high and dry before being slammed down onto the next wave. The ship was doing enourmous belly-whackers, which caused hideous groaning sounds and for the whole ship to wobble like jelly. I lay in bed with the doona over my head, shaking like a leaf for the first 4 hours. I was utterly convinced we would need to be rescued - out of tiny life boats, in the dark, from freezing waters with huge swells. I'd packed my luggage, with my passport zipped into my ski jacket, so if my body was washed up on a shore somewhere I could be identified. Sounds dramatic, I know. This lasted for at least 20 hours and somehow I managed to get some broken sleep. It was a completely terrifying experience. I tried to find the humourous side, and all I could come up with was a Seinfeld episode where George tells Jerry a story that begins with "the sea was angry that day, my friend". Yes, yes it was.
On the up side, amazingly I didn't feel the least bit queasy and wasn't sea sick (so I've maintained my 25 year non-spew run. Phew!!)
Because of the weather we were late arriving at the British coast, and by then Newcastle was experiencing gale force 10 winds and no traffic was allowed to enter the Tyne River. So we circled out at sea for over 5 hours waiting for the winds to calm. Was I ever going to get off this feckin boat? Thankfully it was relatively calm where we were, and because of the delay we were given a free buffet dinner.
We finally docked at 9pm - 6 hours late - and I'd missed my train (all trains) back to London. While I was bobbing about at sea off Newcastle, I was able to text Anna and she organised me a hotel room for the night. I finally got home on saturday afternoon, a day late.
All in all it wasn't the most relaxing holiday (I'm not into extreme sailing!) and I'll be very happy to go back to work on monday!!

across the sea to Norway...

2008-02-24T21:53:00.009+11:00

After an excellent day of sightseeing and shopping, I took a bus out to the North Shields ferry terminal and boarded a huge cruise ship, bound for Bergen, Norway. The m.s. Queen of Scandinavia! I had a sea view cabin on deck 5 which was larger than I expected. We left at 6.30pm, with a brass band celebrating our departure over the PA. Hilarious! The Captain assured us we had smooth sailing ahead, so I breathed a huge sigh of relief and was lulled asleep by 9. Although, there were moments when we hit a few small waves, and I questioned the sanity of my choice of holiday - was I mental? - I'm terrified of open expanses of deep water, and therefore none too fond of boats. But the distance on the map made it look so easy - it was only a 4cm trip!!

I explored the ship the next morning - well, the one cafe and an airport-style duty free shop. After that, there was...erm...nothing! There was a bar, restaurants and a casino, but I wasn't going to do those on my own. Thank goodness for my cabin, my iPod and my book (I'm currently reading a biography of Mme de Pompadour, thanks to a Dr Who episode!)

It was strangely exhausting doing nothing, but I had to stay awake til 11pm when we arrived in Bergen, as everyone had to disembark and go through immigration.

We were in Bergen overnight until 10.30am - so I had a few hours to look around in the morning. Unfortunately the weather was atrocious, cold, windy, raining and foggy - and my poor umbrella coped the brunt of my swearing. Bergen has an area on the waterfront called Bryggen (pics right), and it's shops and housing are World Heritage Listed. Quite spectacular, even in the rain. I walked around for about 2 hours, and made it back to the boat in time - although utterly soaked.

a bit of Sydney in Newcastle...

2008-02-24T21:26:00.007+11:00

Newcastle, UK, that is. People had told me how beautiful Newcastle was, and it didn't disappoint. I got there just before sunset, in time for a wander. There are 7 bridges that cross the Tyne River (that Newcastle sits alongside), all built at different times - but I was very surprised to see one that looked like the Sydney Harbour Bridge!! The picture to the left is my first glimpse (it could have been Sydney!). In the sunset pic, you can make out another 3 bridges beyond it. They also had an amazing suspension bridge (Millennium Bridge) that's winched up when ships pass.

The city centre was enlightening. There was a Grey St, with a statue of Earl Grey - as in the tea, I assume. They had excellent shopping, a huge mall almost the size of Chadstone. Better than London - there's one mall in all of London and the locals don't like it. All that artificial light and air!

[As an aside, Westfield are building a mall near us in Shephards Bush, and everytime I go past I think of Southland!]

an imminent adventure...

2008-02-18T20:51:00.002+11:00

A short blog. I didn't do much this weekend, again the tube was out in our area. Although we did trek into Covent Garden on saturday night for a friends birthday drinks, and Anna and I went to book club yesterday. The book was Shantaram (amazing), but I think we gossip'd more than we talked about the book...
I am about to leave on a very exciting (but cold) adventure! I have the week off, and this morning I'm taking a train to Newcastle, which is at the very top of England near Scotland, and from there I'm sailing on a boat to Bergen in southern Norway!! Hopefully it won't be a row boat... I'm very excited, and I hope I don't spend most of my time in my cabin feeling sea sick!
Strangely enough it's going to get to a top of -2 in Newcastle, and will be 6 in Bergen.
So, a better blog is forthcoming...

tuesday morning, and a celebrity sighting...

2008-02-13T06:20:00.001+11:00

I had a very low key weekend - the tube was out at our station due to engineering works, so it was a good excuse to stay local. I checked out the Chiswick Public Library (no pun intended!), and went to Khanh's for brunch on sunday.

Today, tuesday, I went to King's Waterloo campus to attend a course (how to be a real supervisor), and I was early enough that I could take my time and walk along the Embankment and take some pics. This was my view of the Thames this morning...both St Paul's and Westminster a little fogged out....

In one of life's amazing little quirks, I sat next to a girl at the course who used to work at Melb Uni! So we had a good old natter about home, and being away.

At midday I headed back to towards work (in slow motion, as the blessed sun was out!), and just as I was about to take the stairs up to cross Waterloo Bridge, I walked past Jeremy Irons!!! A real celebrity! He had a hat low over his eyes, and a (yiky) 'tash - and I only noticed him because a young girl, obviously embarrassed, was having a feisty tug-of-war with her mother saying "muuuum....no don't"! I think her mum wanted to accost poor Jeremy - but I didn't stick around to see who won!

half a weekend...

2008-02-05T06:45:00.001+11:00

I had to work on saturday, and it surely sucked. At least it's only one saturday a term, and the benefits are ace. The worst thing was, I woke on thursday thinking thank goodness it was friday, only to have that brief happiness crushed by not only one more working day, but two!

So. Saturday was out for doing anything exciting - but on sunday Anna and I met friends for a late brunch (mmm, pancakes with fresh berries) (I ate fruit!!) - and afterwards we went to social event no.2 which was drinks for a friends birthday at a whole foods market. Quite an odd choice of venue, but there was lots of unwholesome drinking. The party ended up at our place, but no pics to post of anyone getting untidy.

I did however, run around the King's College library on saturday before opening, and take some pictures. The Round Reading room is (quite?) famous - and is mentioned in the Da Vinci Code (where they go to do some research). Our office runs off that clinically green corridor ; there is an amazing old chapel ; and that's the outside of the library. Not a bad place to come to work every day...

Weather update : still absolutely freezing and has been for 3 months or more now. It's about 3 or 4 degrees in the mornings. I got all excited last week cos they predicted snow, but it didn't ever fall in London.... Sigh. We now have an extra hour and a half of daylight - sun up at 7.30, and dark by 5pm. And that's an improvement!

australia day in london...

2008-01-28T04:15:00.000+11:00

I've just spent my first Australia Day away from home - it was enough to make me rather homesick!!

But I had a good day. In the morning I took the bus to Hyde Park and walked down to Kensington Palace where Princess Diana lived for a while. (Thanks Sharon, I got in for free, no probs!). Downstairs there were a few rooms showing projected footage of Princess Di throughout her life, and upstairs were (relatively) modern apartments and the older 18th century Kings and Queens rooms.

From there I walked back the way I came, stopping to play with the cute, fluffy and friendly squirrels along the way (they miss you Sharon).

Across from Hyde Park runs Queensway, and I walked down there to the Prince Alfred pub where I was meeting fellow Aussie friends for a few drinks. It was very noisy with loud music playing, but we stayed for 6 hours yelling at each other.

I left my camera on the table for anyone to use - and this is the result!!

[Top left, a fairly quiet start to the arvo, Damo, Ingrid & I ; then below, Anna, Elisa, Ingrid and I. Top right, Mike & Anna, Steve & Elisa ; bottom, Scott doing a Tim Tam slam with Guinness! A waste of hard-to-come-by Tim Tams if you ask me!!!]

the keeper of the library...

2008-01-22T04:35:00.001+11:00

Ah, sleeping in... That's what saturday's are for. Nothing else exciting occurred - I went to the supermarket and watched a movie on tv in the arvo.

Sunday though, I packed my trusty camera and took the tube to Temple. The Temple Church and associated Inner and Middle Temple law chambers were having an Open Day. The weather was a balmy 14 degrees, great for wandering!

I took a peek inside the Royal Courts of Justice (pic left - where the Diana case is currently being heard - I have to fight my way through a million photographers on my way to work every morning, slightly ironic). It was amazing - a massive open foyer with a mosaic'd floor, and the court rooms were done in ornate dark wood, showing their beauty from the 1800's - but with every conceivable computer appliance fitted.

I rushed out of there to go on a guided tour of the Inner and Middle chambers, which turned out to be interesting but boring at the same time, so I snuck off to go to another talk - in the unbeliveable Temple Church (bottom left). This talk was supposed to be about the Da Vinci Code, but he seemed to be rambling and making no sense, so I left that too.

I did however seek out the Inner Temple library, and the very interesting Middle Temple Library (pic right). Trust me to be the only person there taking pictures of old books. The libraries are mostly for barristers etc, so are essentially law libraries - but the Middle Temple library has a few extras, like two old earth globes made in the 1600's, that don't have Australia on them as we hadn't been discovered yet! They don't have a librarian as such there, they have the wonderful mystery-shrouded title of Keeper of the Library!

one ring to rule them all...

2008-01-15T08:41:00.000+11:00

On friday, Sharon had a birthday, so I took the afternoon off and we met at Harrods. It's the most amazing store, but completely confusing - even the map! Eventually we found what we were looking for - the scones and cream. I had mine with a pot of tea called 'afternoon blend' - it was entirely appropriate.
That night we went to Covent Garden, to the Drury Lane theatre, and saw the stage production of Lord of the Rings. Some might think that's a little nerdy, I'm cool with that, and the play was nothing short of absolutely amazing. I wish I'd been able to take photo's of the stage as the sides and top were covered in a layer of branches. The stage itself was circular, and revolved, and was also segmented so depending on the scene they could raise sections and create a bridge or a valley, or the firey hole at Mordor where Frodo drops the ring. At one point the scary Orcs came into the audience and were sneaking up on people - you could hear screams and then laughter all over the theatre. It was 3 bum numbing hours, but I hardly noticed.
(The one piece of theatre I must see before I go, is Dirty Dancing. Yeah, now you're really cringing!!)

the king and eye...

2008-01-15T07:26:00.000+11:00

It's a real bummer, but I've had to go back to work. Sigh. And while Sharon and Karl were out sight-seeing and having fun. It wasn't fair....!

But on the saturday before last, we headed out to Westminster Abbey. It's quite amazing architecturally - and heaps of famous people are buried there. I saw the grave of Mary Queen of Scots (that's the one I can remember!), and I walked over the graves of Charles Darwin, Chaucer, and Dickens. Freaky to think they were beneath. We also saw the chair used for all coronations since the 1300's (a wooden chair 700 years old!).

That night we went to the Tower of London after dark, feeling the chilly breeze off the Thames, to watch the Ceremony of the Keys - the nightly locking of the Tower. For me it was just as amazing the second time - I could watch it every night.

On tuesday I took the day off, and we went out to the O2 arena, this time to see something a few thousand years older than the coronation chair. We had tickets to see the Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharohs exhibition (hence the refence to the King!). I've been walking around London thinking things are old, but Tutankhamen was 3000 BC and the exhibition had things on show from his family, plus artifacts from his tomb. (I've walked past his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, but didn't go in). There were so many beautiful things - including a folding wooden chair (we haven't thought of anything new), storage drawers, and one golden layer of his coffin. He was only 19 when he died, and they still don't know what killed him.

Afterwards, we caught the tube back into the city and got to take that flight on the London Eye! It was still overcast, but no rain or fog to spoil things. It's the 3rd time I've been up, and it never ceases to scare the crap out of me. But it's an amazing way to see the city. Pic on the left was taken not long after we took off, and on the right was coming down.

P.S. I have to credit Sharon with this blog title - I wish I'd thought of it myself!!

new years eve on ice...

2008-01-03T09:25:00.000+11:00

Goodness me, has the year ended already?? 2007 was the Chinese Golden Year of the Pig - which is my sign. No wonder I had such a good year!

New years eve was spent chasing friendly squirrels in the gardens outside Kensington Palace, with a walk through Hyde Park, and small wander along the Oxford St shops. Just after dark we headed back to Hyde Park, as Sharon, Karl and I were going ice skating!! They have a Winter Wonderland there, with a German christmas market and a huge ferris wheel.

At 6.30 we donned our skates and tentatively took to the ice. There were too many wall huggers, so I took to the ice unsupported straight away. A lap in, and Sharon and Karl were doing the same. We tottered around for a few laps but got the hang of it quickly.

Amazingly, none of us ended up with wet arses, although we didn't get the chance to get up to olympic speeds, nor was I trying out pirouettes or figure 8's! It was quite packed, which didn't help - we were always dodging flailing arms and mad skittering feet of people trying to avoid falling (hilarious to watch, but not when I might have been taken out by them!). Bodies thudding on the ice was not a nice sound.

We couldn't take camera's onto the rink, so no photo's of us in our skates, but I did get one of the rink afterwards. It was much lighter than the photo appears, and they had classical music playing while we skated.

We headed home, getting gourmet burgers along the way, and at 11.45 turned over the telly to watch the count down to midnight. I almost missed it, but Karl managed to pop the champagne right on midnight, and we toasted to 2008.

Or as I heard someone say - two thousand and great.

Happy new year - and I hope yours is great!!

Edinburgh and back to London...

2008-01-03T08:31:00.000+11:00

Sharon and Karl came to Leeds the day after boxing day, and we leapt into a hire car and headed further north to Edinburgh. John had told us to head sort-of via the east coast, through the (apparently) beautiful countryside called the Scottish Borders. But the silly sat nav that I hired took us via Manchester and the west coast. We were on the major freeway before we realised, and couldn't turn back...such a bummer.

But we made it to Edinburgh just after dark and picked up our keys to an apartment on the famous Royal Mile (pic right). It was accessed by a covered lane with an overhanging sign for the Jolly Judge pub, and we took a winding old stone staircase to the third floor. The apartment was nice - old wooden floors and all that.

The next day we headed to the amazing Edinburgh Castle (just up the road from where we were staying), high up on the hill in the old town - overlooking the 'new' town down below. We spent that afternoon shopping and wandering. In fact we spent the next morning happily exploring again, before heading back to London on the train.

We set out into London on sunday, where we got out of the tube at Westminster again, but this time walking along the other side of the Thames, underneath the Eye - pausing to spend an hour or two at a Star Wars exhibition! It had props and models from all 6 films - I had my photo taken next to R2-D2 (he made me feel tall!).

Afterwards we walked right along the Embankment to Shakespeare's Globe theatre where we took a tour - and it was one of the best tours I've taken. The guide effectively described the types of people that would attend a play, with penny stinkers standing on the floor - a penny to get in, and stinkers cos they would never have bathed or changed their clothes, and ate garlic to keep the plague away - imagine it! The cost of seats increased depending on the view and height. It's the 3rd Globe to be built, the first (in the 1600's) had it's thatched roof catch fire when a cannon went off as part of a play. The current Globe has the first thatched roof to be 'built' in hundreds of years - and has sprinklers!

It's currently getting colder, but still not enough to snow.....

an un-white christmas...

2008-01-03T07:40:00.000+11:00

I arrived in Leeds on christmas eve, to stay with my uncle John, Helena and my two gorgeous little cousins Felix and Hetty. Not long after arriving, we headed out to an amazing church built in 1154 (!) to listen to a crib service (for kids - where the story of Jesus is told, and soft-toy Joseph, Mary, wise men and animals are added to create the scene. Baby Jesus is added on christmas day, of course).

On christmas day I was awoken, not by Santa, but to the wonderful sounds of little-ies - "I got Disney knickers!" (Hetty, 3) - "A chemistry set! Just what I've always wanted!" (Felix, 5). It was lovely! We spent a good while watching them open presents under the tree, and some time after 11 hit the road to have lunch with Helena's family in Sheffield.

We arrived home some hours later stuffed full of turkey, bread sauce, veggies and pudding in time to light a fire in the sitting room (John finds it funny that I say 'lounge room'!), and to put the telly on to watch the Dr Who christmas special (with Kylie Minogue). I'm not giving anything away, but it was absolutely excellent!! - as expected. Mmm, David Tennant...

On boxing day Helena packed a picnic lunch, and we headed out for a 5 mile walk at a place called Bolton Abbey. It too was built in 1100-something, but is partly falling down which gave it a wonderful medieval feel. We started out at a cafe enjoying coffee and biscuits, and I saw the start of a hunt, Beagles and all! (although I gather hunting is illegal, so it wasn't a real hunt, it was just for show). We walked around the abbey for a while, had lunch (I'm a Bovril convert, it's sort of like Vegemite), then set out on our 5 mile walk. Felix and Hetty ran all over the place, up and down and all around, and I was the one who was the most buggered by the 5th mile...!

Unfortunately it didn't snow over christmas, but it was a lovely time none the less.

new arrivals...

2008-01-03T06:43:00.000+11:00

'Twas the thursday before christmas, when all of London was stirring....and I headed out to Heathrow to meet Sharon and Karl at the arrivals gate! They'd done what most seasoned travellers don't do, and that's fly straight through from Australia. I waited anxiously, hoping they were still able to stand upright, when they came bounding through the silver doors, full of energy! I was in awe, and amazed!

I got them back to Chiswick via the glorious London tube, and that night we went to the local pub, the Swan. Not surprisingly they crashed not long after forks were downed.

On saturday we headed out to Hampton Court Palace, where Henry VIII lived. It was amazing, and we spent all day there. Sunday was the foggiest day I've ever seen (and it didn't lift all day!), so the proposed flight on the London Eye had to be postponed, and we walked our legs off seeing Big Ben, Westminster, Downing St, Trafalgar Sq, St James Park and Buckingham Palace instead. Oh and then we hit the London Dungeons and had the crap scared out of us.

Monday was christmas eve, so the 3 of us headed north to the country (me to Leeds), and departed from Kings Cross. For the Harry Potter fans, here's me at Platform 9 3/4!

a Spice-y night...

2007-12-18T04:46:00.000+11:00

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'...

2007-12-13T07:37:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-12-04T06:31:00.001+11:00

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...

2007-11-28T05:20:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-11-20T04:28:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-11-16T04:27:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-11-09T08:53:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-11-06T22:44:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-10-30T21:00:00.000+11:00

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...

2007-10-25T04:23:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-10-24T02:41:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-10-19T16:51:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-10-17T03:35:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-10-10T02:33:00.000+10:00

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...!!

2007-10-02T03:53:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-09-27T08:16:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-09-23T01:32:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-09-20T01:36:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-09-11T02:31:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-09-04T21:12:00.001+10:00

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...

my Canterbury tale...

2007-08-27T20:22:00.000+10:00

Today, monday, is a 'late summer bank holiday' in the UK. Which was just as well, cos I was beginning to think I was in need of a holiday....!!
My long weekend started brilliantly on friday night, at the Swan, having a few Fosters + lime with Anna and Mike, and Mike's workmates. Mitch and Ann are Canadian, and Mitch is a journalist - who before London, was posted to Israel. Shirl is a vibrant S African lady who has lived everywhere. Each tell the most amazing stories.
Last weekend I took out a map of England, shut my eyes, and poked the map. My finger landed on Canterbury... So on saturday I jumped on a bus. All week people were saying how lovely Canterbury was - and I agree - there was just not that much to do there. The Romans settled there heaps of years ago (I read the plaques, but can never remember the important details!), and they built a massive wall around the city, part of which still remains - and eventually someone built a huge cathedral. So I did the cathedral on saturday arvo, and it was very impressive - so many lead-light windows (sorry, not sure of the plural of lead-light - lead-lighted?!).
After walking around all afternoon I had sore feet (I blame my desk job), so went and saw a movie - the Bourne Ultimatum - it cost £8.50!
I spent the night at the Canterbury YHA, and as part of the package they kindly threw in for free - banging doors, a snoring old lady, a saggy mattress and coo-ing pidgeons at an ungodly hour. I was over it, I tell you...
Sunday I walked the Roman wall, had a delicious chai latte from Starbucks (I'm addicted) brewed up in an old tudor style 16th Century building, wandered the shops and went to a Roman museum which had the remains of an old house, with ducted heating!, and beautiful mosaic'd floor. I jumped back on the bus to London, and today am enjoying my late summer (what summer?) bank holiday at home...

a roof top spa in Bath...

2007-08-19T22:42:00.001+10:00

On the spur of the moment Anna, Khanh and I took a train to Bath on saturday (spur of the moment meaning, decided during the week!). It was going to be lovely summer weather, with a top of 14 - so we left the house with our winter coats in one hand, and bathers in the other...

We had decided to go to a place called Thermae Spa and buy a 2 hour spa pass. It was so lovely - they had 2 pools, one of which was outdoors on a roof top! From there you had gorgeous views of Bath and beyond. So while it was cold and raining, we were swimming in the warm waters watching the steam rise, overlooking Bath. Unfortunately it wasn't the famous 'waters' we were swimming in, it was chlorinated.

After two hours of that we'd had enough (and wrinkly fingers!), and needed some lunch. We went to a restaurant at the Roman baths called the Pump Room - which Jane Austen mentions in some of her novels I think. It was delicious, and a beautiful room - I'll attach a pic. (See mum, we're eating our greens). At one point I had an earwig bite me on the ankle - which is not as romantic as it sounds.

After lunch we walked around the town centre and went up to the famous Royal Crescent, were we realised we were about to miss our train home, so had to hot-foot it back to the station.

The trip home was interesting, if only for the lady in the seats across from us who took out a pocket knife to smooth off the rough edges of her post card. Rightyo...

the monopoly challenge...

2007-08-15T05:10:00.000+10:00

Yep, the name of the game was to visit every place on the Monopoly board! On sunday I met with a few friends, (Damo & Ingrid, Khanh, and Tania) and it took us almost 8 hours...

We had mapped out the route (see pic of Damo's excellent organisation!), and began with the most geographically 'outer' property, which also happened to be the 1st on the board - Old Kent Rd! From there we went to what was closer on the map, not in board order.

We took pictures at every place, often standing in the middle of the road to get the street sign. Whitechapel was the scariest part of town, Vine St was the shortest at 40m (and had nothing in it!), and Mayfair was predictably old and beautiful. Although, I had a picture taken there popping out of a phone box that someone had mistaken for a toilet, and was filled with post cards of scantily clad ladies saying 'call me'.... and all the while trying not to breathe, and smile!

Traditionally the monopoly challenge is to visit a pub at every place and drink a half pint of beer - I'm glad I didn't do that cos I would have been comatose by the 5th stop...!

Did we cheat? - I'm ashamed to admit we did. By mid arvo we were flagging and couldn't be bothered walking to Park Lane - so took a picture of the Park Lane Hilton (which wasn't on park Lane strangely!), instead.

It was an awesome day - 8 hours, 26 places, 3 food stops, 16 trains and buses, miles of walking, and a whole lot of London I hadn't seen before. We finished up at the Sherlock Holmes pub off Northumberland Ave - I had a lemonade (and a headache) and stumbled home.

There's actually a new British Monopoly out, with new places - no more Mayfair! - and the Banker uses an atm swipe machine and players have credit-type cards - no more paper money. That's not real monopoly, where's the fun in that!!

the artist formerly known as...

2007-08-04T21:50:00.000+10:00

On friday 3rd August we made our way out to the O2 arena in Greenwich to see Prince in concert. We were so excited, as he'd received rave reviews for his first concert. Unfortunately for us our excitement was short lived - he must have had a bad tube ride in from the Dorchester, cos he sucked.

The O2 complex is amazing, there's a ring of indoor eateries around the stadium bit, with trees and fairy lights and paved brickwork. The stadium itself is huge, and the top section is incredibly steep (they have a disclaimer on their web site saying that if you're afraid of heights don't buy tickets in the top half). As luck would have it, we were in the very last row, and so high up that Prince was a spec in the distance, and I felt woozy from vertigo for the first half an hour (probably also partly due to lack of air at that altitude). Two people were helped down by medico's during the night.

The crowd went nuts when he came out, and had the place absolutely rocking with his first song, Cream. From there though, he went all self-indulgent with some obscure songs and long guitar solo's, and at one point he disappeared for about 5 minutes and I thought he must have gone to join the queue at Pizza Express. His band made up for it though, they were awesome (even a girl drummer in a gold spangly glo-mesh dress!).

The reviews said his first concert was hit after hit, with a Beatles song thrown in - we must have lucked out on the second concert with mediocre hits, and a Gnarles Barkley song thrown in....(although that was awesome). He did sing Purple Rain, Kiss, and Lets Go Crazy, but didn't do Diamonds & Pearls, 1999, or Raspberry Beret etc etc.

Ah well, we got a free CD at the door as we left, and avoided the crowded tube by taking a Thames cruiser boat back into the city - London is beautiful at night!

one for daina and viv....

2007-08-01T05:15:00.000+10:00

This one's for Daina, cos you've been asking for pictures of my bay window at work. Although, I've since been told it's actually a 'turret'. How medieval almost! So here's a picture of my desk (and the windows I first thought were longer) - I love sitting there.

And there's a picture for Viv - Temple tube station! I took that photo tonight on my way home. [I bought a dinky camera so I could carry it with me all the time].

And so, I thought I'd also take a picture of Turnham Green tube station, where I catch the tube every day. It was a sunny evening, we had our warmest day this year - 23!

hair 'do' and toes 'do'.....

2007-08-01T04:51:00.000+10:00

I got paid for the first time on friday (yippee!!) so I dusted off my so far unused UK debit card and spent up a storm. I tried to feel guilty afterwards....

On friday night I took Anna and Mike out for dinner to our local, The Swan, and we cheers'd earning the pound with a bottle of NZ white wine. Saturday I went to Covent Garden and got a groovy short-for-me hair cut - so groovy that I had two guys blow drying my hair at the same time! I'll attach an infamous Nina-self-portrait (very difficult to take one from behind!)... Then I walked to Oxford St and spent £200... It was soo much fun!

On sunday we had brunch at the Brasserie on the High St, then Anna and I had pedicures. I thought of attaching a picture, but I'm quite sure you don't want to see my weirdo toes! I had them painted bright pink, but unfortunately I stubbed my toe later at home, and scraped my £31 pedicure. Major bummer....

harry potter and the bbc prom...

2007-07-26T06:06:00.000+10:00

I just had the best weekend... I considered lining up at midnight on friday to buy a copy of the new Harry Potter book, but managed to wait and buy my copy from Sainsbury's for £8.87 on saturday morning. That afternoon Anna and I were invited to a private screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, hosted by a friends law firm - and we went for yum cha beforehand.
On sunday I dagged around at home (had the house to myself!!) then in the evening I got spruced up and went to Royal Albert Hall to listen to a BBC Prom! RAH was absolutely beautiful - it's a circular building with loads of red velvet. Sunday's Prom was entitled "Vexations and Devotions/Beethoven". The first part, Vexations, was absolutely terrible - it was composed by an Australian, had the Gondwana childrens choir, and was a 'jab' at call centers, pre-recorded voice overs included. Eeeh? I hear you saying - yeah, it was extremely weird and stressful to listen to, and I was completely vexed by the end of it... The second part, Beethoven's something-or-other, was wonderful and made the experience utterly worthwhile.
And then the weekend was over.....sigh.....

hyde park...

2007-07-18T03:48:00.000+10:00

On sunday I chanced the threat of thunderstorms, and took the bus to Hyde Park. It's huge! It took me over 2 hours to walk half of it, and there was so much I didn't see.
But what I did see was really diverse - parts of it was wild and woolly and unkempt, and other bits were so beautiful, full of gardens of flowers. The people were also a motely bunch - I captured a happy snap of Willie Nelson (not really!) lazing with his lady on a bench near the Serpentine lake - I took a million pictures of ducks before I was game enough to take their photo without them knowing!
I went to Speakers Corner - all 4 people on their soap boxes were debating religion with their respective crowds. I didn't go to Kensington Palace, that's for another day...

suspect packages....

2007-07-09T05:54:00.000+10:00

The last week or so has been a little scary - both Anna and I have experienced 'suspect packages' and 'security alerts' while on the tube. It's ok, we're alive and well and had a good weekend!...but....
About 10 days ago I had just got on the train in the morning and an announcement was made that the train was not stopping at Hammersmith and Barons Court, due to a security alert. The stations had been evacuated of peak hour travellers. We slowly coasted through them as though it were a sunday trip... Thank goodness the place didn't decide to blow up at that moment. And, just as we were through that, another announcement was made saying a further two stations had been closed. Nothing is ever boring here.
And on friday night Anna was coming home on the tube, iPod stuck in her ears, when she noticed that her carriage had emptied and someone was yelling at her to get off the train. There was a suspect package in her actual carriage!! Turned out to be nothing (as did my experience), but it really ruins your moment.
All has been good since - we saw Die Hard 4.0 on the weekend (excellent escapism!), and Anna and I went shopping this afternoon and drank wine with a friend in the summer sun.
Some things in London are bliss....

one for the kids....

2007-06-30T07:58:00.000+10:00

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...!

2007-06-30T07:38:00.000+10:00

"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...

2007-06-24T21:02:00.000+10:00

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...

2007-06-24T20:32:00.000+10:00

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....

2007-06-15T05:59:00.000+10:00

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....!

2007-06-06T01:27:00.002+10:00

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...

2007-06-01T05:30:00.001+10:00

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...

2007-06-01T05:21:00.000+10:00

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...

quaint, infuriating and innovative...

2007-05-30T03:04:00.000+10:00

I opened a bank account here last week - and received a cheque book. How quaint!!
Everywhere you go in London, there is traffic. I took a Big Bus Tour last week and most of it was spent sitting in *bleeping!*traffic. And when driving into Ambleside, and the M6 motorway, and... Most infuriating!!
We've discovered a fantastic store called Argos. You go into the store where they have rows of catalogues (like Butterick patterns in Lincraft) - you choose your item (jewellery, furniture, clothes, anything!), write down the catalogue number, pay for it at the next counter, then wait for them to bring it from out the back. How innovative!!

leeds and the lakes district...

2007-05-30T02:16:00.000+10:00

On thursday 23rd we took the train north to Leeds to spend a few days with my uncle. The trip cost £5 which was a special deal on the net - it would normally cost anywhere up to £150 ($400-odd)! My uncle has a gorgeous stone house built in the 1840's, and lives in Headingly - we could hear the cricket cheers from his backyard! My lovely cousin Felix, who is 5 and frighteningly smart - told me "Did you know? If a helicopter didn't have a cheese grater, you'd have shredded tweet"! (which I think infer's to the air intake having a cover over it, so it doesn't suck in birds!)

We did some touristy things - mum and I caught the bus into the city for a look around, and later went with my uncle and his family to an estate called Harewood house (pic left), which belonged to the Lascelles family who made their money from slavery. The next morning we went to another old estate called York Gate which had absolutely beautiful gardens.

Anna and Mike picked us up on saturday morning from Leeds, and we drove to Ambleside in the Lakes District. We'd booked a hideously expensive 4 star hotel - and it was wonderful! I had a massive king sized bed to star-fish in, soft as a cloud. I was here 10 years ago and stayed in the youth hostel next door...quite a difference! We took a boat trip on the main lake and nearly froze our respective bits off. Had dinner in another old english pub - nearly ordered ham steak (which they call gammon here), but passed it up for steak (cheap at 12 pounds!).

It took us 5 hours to drive back to London, and because it was a Bank Holiday the trip took a little longer - the M6 motorway became a car park at times. But I've had a great week away! Time to get a job I 'spose....

dr who, grey's and sainsbury's

2007-05-22T01:09:00.000+10:00

A few things of note....(maybe)
I was utterly convinced that the IGA in Balnarring was THE best supermarket in the world, but Sainsbury's has pipped it. I sadly judge a place by how good its supermarket is, and I'm going to love buying groceries here! I bought the best choc chip cookies for 29 pence!
I saw an episode of Dr Who on the weekend (they must be mid season 3 already) - and I am extremely sorry to say that the new chick just doesn't cut it. I LOVE BILLIE..!
I am happy however, that Greys Anatomy is behind Aust. - they've only just shown the end of series 2. Yippee!
TV and food....gotta love 'em.

tube, red bus, river cruise...and ferris wheel!

2007-05-22T00:28:00.000+10:00

We've done a little bit of tourist-ing! We caught the tube to Westminster on saturday and came above ground right at the bottom of Big Ben. We crossed over the Thames and took a 'flight' on the London Eye - it's rather impressive! Mechanically it's awesome and so are the views. Afterwards we walked from there, via Downing St (no sign of Tone's and Cher), to Trafalgar Sq. It was supposed to be covered in grass for that weekend only, but they musn't have laid the seeds in time cos it was still concrete..!
On sunday we took a Thames cruise to Greenwich, and Anna and I slogged it up the hill to the Observatory where I had my pic taken with a foot over each side of the meridian line. We missed watching the rise and fall of the red ball which denotes GMT midday exactly - by 1 minute.
We also missed, by 12 hours, the Cutty Sark being set on fire... I didn't get to see it cos it was surrounded by huge walls and inaccessible to the public - I can't believe we were there the afternoon before.
We've been to 3 excellent English pubs so far - the Swan, Wetherspoons, and the Coach and Horse.
I'll have to do some serious things soon, like open up a bank account and get a job. But one thing at a time!

from half way around the world...

2007-05-16T21:36:00.000+10:00

I've made it! I am safely ensconsed at my sister's house in London (yikes, now also my house I guess!).
Although I wasn't sure we'd make it. Mum and I had a rather stressful trip to KL airport last night. We left the hotel 15 minutes early, but got stuck in the most amazing traffic jam I've ever seen! The highway was 8 lanes wide, and bumper to bumper (now I know the true meaning of that). I thought it was funny and took some photo's of the lanes of red tail lights, until I realised it went on for km's and we were going nowhere fast...
It took us an hour to go about 3km's - of a 70km trip. I was virtually hysterical by this stage (poor mum), and was having visions of us getting to the airport about 14 hours too late. But, the traffic eventually miraculously opened up, and the driver went like a bat out of hell for the next 67km's! The poor mini van he was driving - he had the engine absolutely screaming - fully red-lined. I quite feared for my life, especially when he took corners.
But, we made it in time and the driver was sooo pleased with himself. Mum asked him how fast he was going, and he virtually squeaked with excitement when he said "about 130". So, we even had time for a little duty free shopping....
After a 12 and a half hour flight - which was only half full, with no-one sitting next to us, very little turbulence, but just extremely long - I have arrived in London. I've had very little sleep so I'm kind of swaying in front of the computer. Further adventures to follow, I'm sure!

the second leg...

2007-05-14T23:35:00.000+10:00

...being Adelaide to Kuala Lumper. We had a smooth flight, the plane was only a third full - and I think we stood longer in line at the Adel checkin counter, than we spent on the plane. The 7 hour flight seemed to drag, but I got to (half) watch 3 movies (The Queen, Happy Feet, and Eragon) which helped pass the time.
My suitcase came to 23kg's and trying to lug it around KL in 28 degree humid heat late at night wasn't my idea of fun. But we finally got to the hotel - and it's beautiful. The name means palace in Malaysian.
We ate breakfast overlooking a gorgeous garden, then hit the shopping area, Bintang. We got brave and took the monorail which scared the crap out of me cos it tips as it goes round corners. But for 40 cents a trip it was better than walking in the heat! This afternoon we tried to go to the KL Tower (4th tallest in the world), but it's surrounded by an actual rainforest and we couldn't figure out how to get in!
So we gave up on that idea and had a nourishing beer instead. As we sat there, clouds rolled in and we got stranded in a spectacular rain, and lightning thunderstorm! It absolutely pelted down for an hour. We had to make a run for it, back to the hotel.
The rain stopped and tonight we took a taxi to the Chinatown markets where they sold fake watches, shoes, handbags and t-shirts by the bizillion. I bought two watches and a Burberry purse.
Tomorrow evening, tues, is the flight to London, not looking forward to the 13 hour stuck-in-an-aeroplane thing....

the first leg ...

2007-05-11T19:39:00.000+10:00

Departing Melb didn't go as smoothly as planned (but then, when do things ever?). Carpet cleaners didn't turn up cos they thought I was booked in for monday, so after some jumping up and down (Viv, you'd be proud of me!) they got someone to come as an emergency. So I was late leaving and more than a little stressed!
The drive to Nhill was good, the car was stacked to the gunnels. The countryside was amazingly, beautifully green - as opposed to the burnt landscape it was in Dec. I drove half of the trip in the dark and got a bit sad looking at the saucepan (stars!) knowing it would be a year before I'd see it again. Goodness knows what stars they have in the northern hemisphere....
Nhill was excitement plus (as expected!). I watched cable tv, an ace show called Miami Ink (about people who get tattoo's, of what and why). The night ended with 10 hours sleep!
I arrived in Adelaide safe and sound, and preparations (ie packing!) start tomorrow for the second leg, Adelaide to KL....

published !

2007-04-19T21:32:00.000+10:00

On saturday 14th April 2007, to my immense surprise and delight, a photo I'd taken in Egypt was published in the Travel Section of The Age newspaper! I had submitted it soooo long ago that I'd given up hope it would be printed, and had therefore missed seeing it on the day of publication! I discovered it had been printed by the phone call telling me I'd won a prize...

The photo is attached, and the byline was "the place to catch battered fish".

tap tap...

2007-04-08T09:56:00.000+10:00

...testing....one, two.....testing.....one, two...te-you....tap tap!

Having never done anything as technical as this before, I'm hoping I can 'work' this blog - to record my travels and general goings-on, while I'm away and living in sunny England.!