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Wednesday 29 June 2005
I haven't updated this for three weeks! That's dreadful! I must have been
busy...
Since 8 June things have taken a good turn - I got my visa (yay!) and last week got my passport back too. Now I have
to start booking some holidays - before summer runs out!
My sister Kimberley arrived on 8 June and she has kept me entertained (and protected, see below) since then. We went
to Toast NZ on the Saturday 11 June, which was a great day out. It was a lovely day and we set ourselves up on some blankets
and spent the afternoon sampling "our daddy's" wine, which was very nice indeed! On the Sunday I went to Stonehenge with Laura
and Jen, which is another thing ticked off my list of things to do. I thought it was very interesting and just amazing to
see a piece of ancient history before your eyes. The tour we went on included Salisbury as well, which was a nice little town.
On the Monday K and I went to Derren Brown's show and left thoroughly astounded at his skills. I just love what he
does! Later that week we both joined Laura to celebrate her birthday at a very flash Notting Hill establishment.
In keeping with the family visits, my swiss host parents arrived last Thursday
for a long weekend and I quickly tried to brush up my French so as to not embarrass myself too much! I hope I did alright
as host - we went to Brick Lane, a West End show (We Will Rock You, which is really good, I'd seen it before), a Thames boat
cruise to Greenwich and the Observatory, a canal boat trip from Camden Lock and two meals in Chinatown, which my swiss family
seem to crave! It was great to see them and I didn't stumble too often over my tongue. I even managed to explain to my father
Jacques, a dentist, about my trip to the dentist the week before - I'd gone to get the first stage of the £600 treatment for
the tooth damaged in my accident in January, a root canal, and the dentist's instrument broke off in my tooth! After half
an hour of trying to get it out, the dentist couldn't, so I am now, and forever, walking about with about 2cm of dental file
in my tooth!
Kimberley and I farewelled the Schneiders last Sunday and then last week
I had a chambers garden party and Bianca's birthday drinks to keep me entertained. Kimberley and I have been out on a couple
of weekend nights for drinks in the local area. I hope it's nothing to do with me, but Kimberley has decided that she doesn't
want to stay in London and is planning to head off soon to backpack around eastern Europe. I would've liked her to stay longer,
but then she has served her main purpose ;-) - protecting me (most of you will know what I mean!).
My lovely flatmate moved out a couple of weeks early, which was of course
very helpful, as my parents arrived on Saturday! We have all been living together as one big happy family, for the first time
in about eight years! K and I picked them up from Waterloo on Saturday. They too were subjected to a meal on Brick Lane that
night and then on Sunday we wandered along the South Bank in the glorious sun, stopping in at the original Clink - we couldn't
walk past given that Kimberley's a prison officer! I took Monday off work and we did the bus tour of London, which after a
dodgy start ended up being really interesting.
The family's headed off at the crack of dawn this morning to visit Kimberley's
host family in Denmark. They'll be back next Wednesday and I can't say I'm not looking to a week all alone in my flat! I have
found a new flatmate to move in after mum and dad leave, and I am hopeful that he won't end up as a psycho-flatmate-from-hell!
Tuesday 12 July 2005
It's been an odd couple of weeks. In terms of media events, I can't imagine
a busier week, or one where the tone of the news changed more dramatically. Just over a week ago I was berating myself for
entirely missing the Live8 concert and not even watching it on the telly. What would I tell my kids when they ask, I thought.
But I wore my "Make Poverty History" wrist band with pride and felt hopeful that the G8 would listen to the world. A few days
later, on Wednesday 6 July, London won the Olympics 2012 bid. I'm as much a Londoner as any other Londoner now, and I felt
elated to hear the exciting news. I couldn't help but shed a tear of happiness as the BBC showed extended coverage of people's
reaction to us winning.
And then just 24 hours later I watched another BBC extended coverage bulletin,
this time of the terroist attacks in London. What a horrible day. I got into work, a few minutes earlier than usual, to be
greeted with news that two trains had collided near Liverpool Street station, the station I get my train from. But as the
day wore on, we very gradually heard what had actually happened. It was a bizarre rollercoaster of reactions, from excitement
of "something big" happening while you watched, to confusion at conflicting reports, to disbelief of what was becoming apparent.
I couldn't believe it would be a terroist attack as surely they would have done it "bigger and better" that just four little
bombs. By the time we left work at 2:30pm to get home, they had confirmed two dead, and naively I walked home thinking that
was all, only to get home and find the death toll up to 33 (now 52). A horrid day.
My family and I left London on Friday morning to go to Devon, where we had
a dinner reservation at The New Angel in Dartmouth. Little did we know quite how long it would take us to travel to 200miles...
It took over two hours just to get out of London and even once out, the traffic was thick and it ended up taking us nearly
eight hours to get there (with just one stop of under an hour)!! Ridiculous! Luckily our booking was for 9pm and so we made
it for the delicious meal.
Dartmouth is a lovely little town on the Dart River and Saturday was a gorgeous sunny day,
so we just wandered around the town. We walked to the castle at the river mouth and took a boat tour up the river. Sunday
we took the day to get back to London, stopping at an English vineyard for a tasting, of course!
Last night we went to Mamma Mia and tonight we have tickets for The Lion
King, which we were meant to go to last Thursday but it was cancelled. Mum and Dad leave tomorrow and my new flatmate Craig
will move in.
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Thursday 21 July 2005
Since my parents and sister left last Wednesday, I've been catching up on my drinking, so it seems! Out with
Ben on Thursday, out with new flattie Craig on Friday, out at Hat Club with Eram on Saturday... Then a couple of days off...then
out for a couple of drinks on Tuesday, and to the cinema last night. Might have the night off tonight, then probably work
drinks tomorrow before an early start on Saturday to head off to New Forest for our camping and cycling weekend!
Work is going well, the weather over the weekend was just fantastic and I'm looking forward to the rest of summer
being just as good!
Monday 25 July 2005
Had a great weekend in the New Forest. It was another Nicol Tours adventure, being entirely arranged by Justine
for our pleasure. We headed down to Brockehurst on Saturday morning, picked up our hired bikes and cycled to our camping ground,
with backpacks, tents and sleeping bads dangling off our bodies and handlebars. There were 11 of us in all, which must have
made quite a sight!
After setting up camp we headed off, minus the luggage thank goodness, for a leisurely cycle through the forest.
I'd heard that there were wild ponies in New Forest, but I hadn't realised they really are everywhere - we even saw one that
must have dodged the cattle stops and was standing on the footpath in the main street!
It was a lovely afternoon, not too hot and we had a great time. I just felt ecstatic to be out in the fresh
air, back to nature, breathing in the forest smells (and those made by the ponies and cows!). And of course we made plenty
of compulsory beer stops!
I was taking the camping seriously and all I'd taken to "dress up" for the evening was a different top, so it
didn't take long after we got back to camp to get ready to go back to the pub! Luckily one of the crowd, Dec, had his car,
so he shuttled us into town, which we thought might be a better option than trying to ride home after a few beers!
As we climbed into bed just before midnight, we heard the first dreaded signs of a pitter-patter of rain on
the tents. And it just got heavier and heavier and heavier... And it didn't stop all night! Jen and I were sharing her flatmate's
tent - which cost him £15. Needless to say we got a little wet! Luckily it wasn't cold though and after waking at one point
to find drips pooling on my sleeping bag, I just covered it with a newspaper and went back to sleep!
It was still teeming with rain at 10am, so there seemed little choice but to pack up and dismiss our plans for
another day of sunny cycling. Instead we tucked into a full english breakfast at a local tearoom and took an earlier train
home. It was such a shame as I was looking forward to another lovely day cycling, but we had a fun weekend anyway, and this
way I got to come home early and start Harry Potter!
Thursday 4 August 2005
I seem to be keeping busy again; let’s see… last week I went on a date (but had to break the poor
boy’s heart soon after – just wasn’t gonna happen!), went to the cinema with Eram, and then headed off on
Friday for a long weekend in Switzerland (Click here for the photos etc).
I got back late on Monday night and have busy ever since. Work seems to be cranking up a notch and I’ve
been busy with hearings and interesting legal bits and pieces. On Tuesday Tanya, Jennifer and I went to "Guys and Dolls" in
the West End – and starring Ewan McGregor (that was the highlight of course and even warranted splashing out 50p for
binoculars to see that face up close!)
Last night I caught up with Susannah over Dim Sum at my new local restaurant and then today Kimberley has arrived
back in town for a few days (to Rochelle B’s B&B…) We’ll go out for a drink tonight and then I have
a busy weekend planned too. All good!
Tuesday 16 August
I went to Manchester this weekend to see Kat and Andy. It was their joint
birthday party on Saturday night and, despite the torrential rain in the afternoon, the BBQ did eventually get lit and we
had a fabulous night, with loads of wine flowing. It was a great weekend, so
relaxing and so nice to catch up again with Kat and Andy, who are moving into their new house today!
Last week I caught up with Tanya for dinner and a travel-planning session. We
are going to Naples for a week in October! I am really looking forward to that
already! Earlier that week I also had Eram around for tea, to enter in our speeddating
matches… Ah yes, we went speeddating last Tuesday. It was a fun night,
with some surprises for us both. I will let you know if anything comes out of
it…
We had to farewell Laura last week, and did that in style, with dinner last Monday and drinks in Piccadilly Circus
well into Saturday night. It is so sad to say goodbye to Laura, who’s gone
back to Perth, but we’re looking forward to her coming back for a summer holiday next year!
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