The Sparks went to Washington...

Our with the old and in with the new

2011-07-14T21:04:00.000+01:00

As the Sparks have been to Washington and been home for a long time now, it seemed appropriate to make a new beginning.

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What time is it? Geesh I need a coffee to wake me up...

2011-03-08T21:42:00.000Z

The coffee capsules that I order for our whizzy machine arrived today. Considering it was free 72 hour delivery and I only ordered them on Sunday afternoon I was very pleased with the great service. I was slightly less pleased that they chose to deliver them at 07:15 this morning though!! I suppose them phoning us to say they were outside was better than taking them to some impossible to find depot in the middle of nowhere (or Kidderminster) and making us come and get them. But still....07:15....CRUELLY EARLY!!

I'm feeling better!

2011-03-01T22:33:00.000Z

YAY! I'm finally feeling almost human...and that is saying a lot considering how I've been feeling the past few days. My shoulder is still hurting - but that is the least of the problems. My blood tests came back clear too, so we're all good. Well, good in that they're normal, but not good in that my spots and spouting facial hair isn't explained away by me having PCOS. I guess I'm just hairy and spotty!! I'll just have to embrace it and turn the epilator to "turbo"!

I was back at the doctors office this morning for that most dreaded of appointments. Nothing about this appointment is good. The preparation we do is stringent. The waiting is stressful. The exam is uncomfortable. There is something quite distrubing about having a woman with a torch peering up your...yes well. It wasn't fun! I hope she appreciated the new lingerie! But maybe the stick on crystal decorations were a bit too much... "Give 'em the ol' vajazzle dazzle...vajazzle dazzle 'em"...!!!

Okay, so I didn't...but vajazzling is apparantly a growing trend. Not sure it'll catch on round here too soon though. If I start finding crystals on the floor of the ladies in work I'll know I've been proved wrong!!

I was wrong about fish pedicures. I remember watching Ugly Betty years ago and thinking "Yeough, that'll never catch on" and now you can go dunk your feet into a tank of fish and have them nibble off the dead skin in the middle of the shopping malls of Glasgow. (Malvern may take a while to catch up!) I was looking at this and thinking "not for me" - I don't think I'd like the sensation of them nibbling my tootsies, and it did cross my mind that it may not be terribly hygenic - but then I am a little bit OCD!! Now I see that health experts have raised the possibility of infections being spread, and yet others point out that its a widely used technique in the Far East - I wonder who is right and how long it'll be before I'm paying a pound a minute to stick my feet in a fish tank! (Have just checked Wikipedia and found out that the first place to offer fish pedicures in the US was Alexandria, VA in 2008! I wonder where? I was totally unaware of that when we lived there!)

Poor me

2011-02-27T17:49:00.001Z

I mentioned my enormous spot on my Twitter postings. It truly was enormous - half of my nose swelled dramatically and it was positively purple on Tuesday! It had, of course, begun to swell on Saturday so I was busy with make-up and when that failed, resorted to standing behind taller people in the wedding photos!

I also picked up a head cold when I was in Scotland. It was messy!! I couldn't be more than 4 inches from a box of tissues for fear of sneezing and...I won't go into details. It is sufficient to say it was messy!!!! I was concerned enough about the nose thing to actually go to the Doctors on Wednesday. It turns out I have the remains of a chest infection (which I didn't know I had), a red, inflamed throat (which I did know I had!) and swollen glands. Oh, and the spot was more of an abscess. I was prescribed antibiotics and booked in for blood tests to try and get to the bottom of my spots which have flared again.

Since starting the antibiotics I have been on the Erythromycin diet! I have never, ever felt so nauseous EVER. I felt pretty bad on Thursday. During Thursday night I couldn't move as moving triggered overwhelming waves of nausea. I couldn't get out of bed on Friday and managed to eat a whole digestive biscuit in 36 hours. The nausea passed (mostly) by Saturday afternoon, but now the little I'm managing to eat is turbo charged. Also, my slightly achy shoulder is now causing pain. JOY! My body has turned against me!!! I am a delight to behold! I tell you - I feel so much more sympathetic for pregnant women now. If that is what morning sickness is like then, phew - hats off to you amazing ladies!!

A wee trip to Scotland

2011-02-27T17:32:00.000Z

Poor Stephen wasn't very well last week. He came down with a cold just a few days before we were due to drive to Scotland, which caused us a little debate about when we should drive up. Fully expecting to abandon the original plan to travel on Thursday afternoon we did no packing, until Stephen announced around noon that we may as well get it over with as there was no guarantee that he'd feel any better on the Friday. We had looked out what clothes we were taking and this was quickly and neatly packed, but we ended up throwing shoes, phone chargers, hair straighteners etc (ie all the odds and sods) into carrier bags. I was like a bag lady taking all my possessions out to the car! Must remember for next time that we do have holdalls for that sort of thing - it would certainly have made dragging the stuff in and out the car at each location much easier!!

The first stop of the Sparks go to Scotland tour was to East Kilbride to see Stephen's family. It was something of a whistlestop tour - compressed by Stephen's need for a 2 hour nap on Friday after taking far too much out of himself going to the driving range. This rather squashed the time available to get round everyone, but we made it!

The second stop was Loch Lomond, via the Romanian Orthodox Church in Glasgow, for Monica and Adrian's wedding. What a fabulous wedding it was! It was the first time at an Orthodox ceremony for most of the people there and I, for one, was quite fascinated by the ceremony and the priests singing the responses. Monica was telling us the next day that the priest was shaking as he doesn't normally have to conduct any part of the ceremony in English. I did have a smile when he welcomed us to the "weeding".

I had to work hard to suppress giggles, thanks to the small children behind us. In a bid to keep 3 young children amused during the ceremony their daddy was very quietly going through a picture book with them.
"Horse" said dad
"Horse" came the reply
"mumble" said dad
"SHITE" came the rather loud response
"Cow" said dad
"SHIIIITE" was the plaintive wail
By this time I was having to dig my nails into my palms to stop the giggles!!

Stephen had already bonded with Kenny (Adrian's brother in law) who was taking the photos and who had even more camera equipment than Stephen. I can only feel sorry for Elaine his wife, if she - like me, gets to carry it about! Stephen was taking loads of photos too, and between them they got a lovely set of photos. Kenny and Elaine were also exceedingly useful in a "follow that car" kind of way when it came from getting from the church onto the M8 to get to Ross Priory!!

The reception was wonderful. It was so good to catch up with all the Strathclyde University folks whom Stephen used to work with. Its too easy to forget that it was 17 years ago we left!! I was shocked to find that Helen's cute little daughter was now 21 years old!! Scottish water must be good for the skin as Helen doesn't look in any way old enough to have a 21 year old! She has barely changed at all.

The band were excellent too. It was ceildh, but now as you'd normally know it! They did all the traditional dances, but mixed in very modern music. So, for example, there would be Iron Maiden during the Virginia Reel (but not in a head-banging way). Very, very clever musicians indeed. (Have just googled The Big Shoogle - check out their My Space page for some music clips.)

To add a little frisson of excitement, Stephen managed to misplace his car keys. Hopefully this will teach him a lesson about putting things down behind him.... When the bridal car arrived at Ross Priory he'd dumped all his keys and camera equipment on a table at the top of the steps to the entrance in order to take photos. Someone helpfully swept everything up and took it inside...but they must have shoved his keys in a sporran or pocket - out of sight, out of mind! Thankfully I had my set of keys so we were okay, and thankfully Adrian got a call in the morning to say they'd turned up, and by a convoluted route we got them back to Stephen's mum so all we had to do was detour back to EK to collect them on our way home on Tuesday.

Our third stop was bonny Edinburgh to see even bonnier baby Leo....and the rest of the family too, of course! Poor Eve was loaded with the cold, so we were a fairly sorry lot coughing and sneezing away! It was funny as I'd had a dream that Leo was talking (in sentences no less!) and he is talking - just not in a language that we understand as yet! He chatters away quite the thing! Chad had taken a video of him chattering and we showed it to him. Leo's face was screwed up intently watching himself, then suddenly he burst into smiles and giggles. He was obviously telling jokes!! This was borne out by the fact that, from the video, we could hear Chad saying "You sure can deliver a punchline little fella". How funny!!

The very happy couple

The wee cutie (and Leo!)

My first twitter follower

2011-02-16T09:16:00.002Z

How funny! I got my first follower on Twitter this morning...and its Michael McIntyre. Yes THE Michael McIntyre - King of Comedy!!!

Obviously he has recognised my genius and wants to read my pearls of wisdom every day....or it could just be an automated reciprocal arrangement because I follow him. But still....Michael McIntyre!!!! My very first twitter follower!!!! How many people can say that???!!!!!

Tweet tweet

2011-02-15T21:48:00.000Z

Just because I can.... I've signed up to Twitter and linked the feed to my blog page - for on the hoof updates! Goodness knows if this will work. Might be a bit advanced for me!!!!

What is it they say? Follow me on Twitter @sparksgoto

:-)

Some photos

2011-02-15T20:43:00.000Z

Contrary to rumours we DO occassionally take photos with people in them!

Our gorgeous and very talented niece Adele singing "Sway" on the stage in George Square in Glasgow

Me with my very gorgous and very snuggly nephew, Leo - aged 1 week

Back by popular demand - okay - actually by demand of Phil...!!!

2011-02-15T20:20:00.000Z

Hey I'm back! From Outer Space.... Well not quite Outer Space, but it may as well have been! I've had a succession of lurgy pretty much back to back since Christmas and its robbed me of my writing mojo. Given a choice between coming home from work, flopping on the sofa and having a snooze or coming home from work and opening the laptop...well the snoozing won hands down every time!! That serves me right for not taking my Beroca and for working in an open plan office where everyone has a cold. We're all throwing our germs into the primordial soup and watching it mutate. I reckon at this rate we'll have brewed bubonic plague by next month!

Its not all been grim though. We had the pleasure of seeing Sir Willard White (amongst others) sing Verdi's Requiem at Malvern Theatres last weekend. It was a superb performance from all. I had goosebumps! The tenor scheduled to sing was taken ill and his spot was taken by an exceedingly brave tenor from the chorus. He did a great job - a little wobbly for the first few bars but he got into his stride very quickly and did a superb job.

It was our second visit to the Theatres last week. No, in fact it was our third! We had gone on Monday in the hope of seeing The Kings Speech only to find it was sold out. We booked up for Thursday instead and toddled along in time for a swift pint beforehand. Stephen was determined to get a drink down his neck before going in, expecting to see a Rom-Com. I was expecting a serious drama. It turns out we were both wrong! I wasn't expecting to be rolling on the floor with laughter for one thing!! I deserves every Oscar that its bound to win. It was one of the best films I've seen in years!

We've also FINALLY finished our photo wall! YAY for us! We started it waaaay back in the summer when I bought 30 frames and mounts and finished it about 2 weeks ago when the final print was hung. We had fun and games along the way!! We had all 30 printed and ready to go just after Christmas. Stephen got the drill out, marked up the wall and drilled the first set of holes. (We have an old house with solid walls so picture hooks just bounce off - which is why hanging anything on the wall is a job Stephen needs 6 months build up to!) I handed him the first picture and KEEEEERASHHHHH. It slid off the screw and hit the floor. The frame burst into 4 pieces and the glass into many more. Great. I had bought exactly the correct number of frames. No spares. And bought from a place that deals in bulk orders.... I breathed deeply and we pressed on. I was busy modifying the frames with picture wire to tether them to the screws in the wall and it was working brilliantly - clever me. The drilling stopped. The drill had run out of charge...which was just as well. I looked and did a double take. Someone (not me!!!) had measured and marked up wrongly, so all of the holes were a little too close together.... I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry!! At least we had time to charge the battery whilst we filled the holes and the polyfilla dried!!

To be honest, DIY is maybe not Stephen's strongest suit. Most of it goes fine, but there is the occasional little screw up, just to keep me amused...

We've turned the dining room into a second sitting room and opened up the wood fire again. It was all going great until he had to rehang a wall light (one of four in the room). All I heard was "Oh %$#&$^&". I was next door and walked into the room jokingly saying "Oh, what's happened. Don't tell me that you've hung it upside..." Yes, he had. It was upside down!!

Then there was the saga of the curtain poles in our bedroom. We were tired, we were niggly, we were rushing to go to the cinema. It was not the best time to be trying to do a spot of DIY. A mild marital was definitely in progress! I was taking great pains to point out to Stephen that the poles came in two parts and were joined by a screw so it was very important that he cut the excess length from the correct ends (ie not the ones with the pilot hole). He was ignoring me, so I was explaining again when he got ratty.

"Why on earth do you think I'll cut it from the wrong end?"

"Why on earth did you hand the wall light upside down? Because you can"

At this point thankfully we both dissolved into giggles. I went downstairs to make dinner and he carried on drilling and sawing. I looked in expectantly a little while later. The pole was up...but...the pole sloped down to the left at a good 20 degree angle!!!! I wasn't sure whether to say something or whether to just put up with self-opening curtains!!! I'm beginning to think we should buy shares in Polyfilla given the quantities we use! And I'm definitely thinking that I won't be letting him install the bathroom!!! Can you imagine?? I'd get in the bath for the first time and plunge through the ceiling into the kitchen below!!

Baby Leo arrives and the cold weather stays

2010-12-07T20:17:00.000Z

The freezing weather continues. We have been okay-ish down here. We had snow last Wednesday, but no more than a few inches, unlike the rest of the country who could measure the snow in feet. It has been bitterly, bone chillingly cold all over the country and we've had freezing fog and very harsh frosts here in Malvern. We've been so lucky! We've got Christmas Card perfect scenes of trees covered in thick frost and Scotland has motorways closed and people forced to sleep in their cars as they've become stuck.

In the middle of all this horrible weather my sister and her hubby have welcomed their new baby. In the middle of a snow storm in Edinburgh and after 3 days in labour in hospital baby Leo arrived. He's a whopping 9lbs and 14oz as he was 2 weeks overdue - we figure he didn't fancy coming out when it was so cold! He looks utterly gorgeous in the photos. We're hoping to see him this weekend along with Stephen's family, but that rather does depend on it not snowing and the motorways being open. Fingers crossed!

Gimme a shot of Sarsaparilla Pardner

2010-11-28T18:05:00.000Z

I had a little "moment" when I walked into the pub last night. For a start the bar had been renamed the "Saloon" and when we walked in the first person I saw was Desperate Dan. Everyone was dressed up as cowboys and saloon girls and we were dressed up as two people who'd been out in the extreme cold!! It was Wild West night at the pub. Who would have thought the village would embrace fancy dress theme nights, but it was packed and we were practically the only people there not dressed up! We obviously missed the memo!!

It's f-f-f-f-freeeeezing

2010-11-28T17:57:00.000Z

Britain is currently in the grip of a Siberian winter and this mini Ice Age is due to continue for another couple of weeks according to the forecasts. I may not have all my digits by then! It was minus 10C (14F) when we got up this morning, and its never got above minus 3C (27F) all day. My feet are frozen! I've now got 2 pairs of socks on and they're still cold - I've practically got them IN the fire and they're only just beginning to warm up.

We had some snow yesterday. We were lucky - it was only a light dusting, like icing sugar on top of a sponge cake. Not the inches of snow that some parts of the country are getting. It was gone by lunchtime which both surprised and pleased me. I feared that it would get walked on and slippy and be with us for weeks due to the extremely cold temperatures, but YAY! I am Bambi when walking on ice and snow so I'm very happy when it doesn't hang around to cause me to bruise my ample butt padding!!

Decorating grinds to a halt

2010-11-24T21:52:00.000Z

Stephen went shopping today for paint, brushes, rollers...everything you'd need to decorate a room. he was eager (well - ish!) to get stuck in. There was a bit of plaster that needed knocking out and replastering and, after phoning umpteen plasterers over the past week without a call back, he decided that it wasn't a big job and he'd just do it himself. After getting handy with a hammer things came to a grinding halt. The brick behind the plaster was soft, so its now time to get the damp-proofing specialists in as that's obviously a bit of a problem. This means that a pretty simple decorating job is now likely to be a major project which will no doubt take weeks....and the sofa is due to be delivered on Monday! Argh! The joys of living in a house which is 180 years old...

Actually, its as well Stephen isn't going to be doing the plastering. Last time he tried plastering it all crumbled and fell off when I began to paint it. It was, errr, rustic...!!!!!

Can you hear the shouting?

2010-11-24T21:37:00.000Z

Stephen is watching the Rangers v Manchester United match and, being a highly excitable Scotsman, is yelling his head off. I'm sure his comments could clearly be heard in Glasgow if you'd like to open the door and have a listen.

It seems Rangers are playing that classic 6-3-1 formation. A formation that Stephen particularly enjoys shouting about...! Its difficult to score with only one man up front. Challenging game! However, its 80 minutes in and its still 0-0 so the six man defence is working. They should probably be thanking Sir Alex as he seemingly forgot to make sure his best defenders were on the coach. And Wayne Rooney is looking like he'd rather be anywhere than Glasgow tonight... There is hope...

Uh-oh.... Penalty to Man U.... Rooney is taking it.....and he scores. Stunned silence from the sofa next to me.

Rangers are now playing their other classic 1-0-9 formation. It looks like a primary school match with everyone running after the ball... A classic performance!

Home refurb is beginning - slowly

2010-11-20T17:16:00.000Z

Having failed to find much time, or enthusiasm, for decorating the house in the 18 months since our return we are finally getting our act together. We have rather a lot of "stuff" in the house. We left a lot of "stuff" here when we went to the US, and we brought a whole house of "stuff" back with us. So we've essentially been climbing over piles of "stuff" for the longest time, having run out of clever places to put it all some time ago.

We took the bull by the horns a couple of weeks ago and gutted the Day Room which was just filled with junk. We also tackled the garage and threw out loads of "stuff". Result! We're still climbing over "stuff" but there is definitely less of it now...

Our first proper decorating project is the dining room, or the music room as it is soon to be. We have a massive dining table that we never actually use and we thought "what a waste of a room". So the table and chairs are going into the newly emptied garage, the open fire will be swept and properly re-instated and a sofa and chair have been purchased today. Working out the room dimensions has been funny. Whereas most people would just get a tape measure and work out what size of sofa would fit that approach is not for us. No. Perish the thought! We have to measure it very carefully and Stephen has to spend every free moment for a week creating a 3D CAD model of the room and proposed furniture...

The sofa comes in a couple of weeks and we still need to decorate and replaster a bit of the wall. I suspect that this will happen only when Stephen has created a team of android tradesmen and written a command programme...!!!!

Crucible exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral

2010-11-20T16:57:00.000Z

After a tip off from a colleague Stephen and I headed down to Gloucester Cathedral a couple of weeks ago to see the sculpture exhibition that was taking place there. Despite Gloucester being only about 30 minutes away we hadn't been there since a visit about 16 years ago when we first moved down and made the mistake of going there as opposed to its near neighbour Cheltenham. Unlike Cheltenham, its not a Regency delight and shopping mecca...

The Cathedral turned out to be worth a visit, and the sculpture exhibition was just amazing. Amongst the many, many pieces on show was an Antony Gormley (the artist who created the Angel of the North and "Stockie") and a Damien Hirst. The only other Hirst piece I've actually seen in the flesh, so to speak, was in New York and it featured a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde. I'm sure it is a masterpiece of creative genius, but it does leave you with the little nagging thought at the back of your brain that given access to a shark and a large tank of formaldehyde "I could do that". I was therefore blown away by the Hirst piece that was on show. It was a remarkable bronze sculpture of the Exquisite Pain of St Bartholomew, showing the saint brandishing a pair of scissors with his skin draped over his arm. It was disturbing, detailed and beautiful.

The Hirst drew much attention

A female figure haunts the Cloisters

I sat for 5 minutes on the cold, damp stone floor trying to get a good shot.
Low light, no tripod and camera shake due to the cold seeping into my bones made it challenging!

The was stunning when the sun came out and shone through the glass and lit up the figure.

A more complete view of the Antony Gormley sculpture

A very interesting fishy!

Sorry...

2010-11-20T16:06:00.000Z

It amazing how time flies when your busy, mildly depressed due to the onset of winter dampness and gloomy dreich days, tired at night and very easily distracted. No posts for nearly a month...oops!

I'm sitting here on Saturday afternoon. Its about 3pm and its dark. Its not raining, but it is damp and very overcast. I really, really dislike this time of year in the UK. The dampness has begun...we've got about 6 months of this to look forward to. Urgh. Give me the frosty, blue-sky days any day!! We had a couple of those at the beginning of the week. It was -3C when I left the house on Monday morning and I had to scrape the car. A task that was made slightly more difficult by the fact that all the car doors had frozen shut and I only had a tiny amount of de-icer...in the trunk of the car which was, you got it, frozen shut. After using a bit of brute force I managed to get one door open so I could climb in and get the car started, blowers going full blast in an attempt to thaw it from the inside out. After 10 minutes of thawing I could finally get the boot open and get to the de-icer, but two doors were still not opening and the windows wouldn't wind down. This last fact gave me a few moments concern, as I did worry about how I was going to get onto site if I couldn't get the window down to swipe my pass...but thankfully after the drive to work everything was working and I didn't have to ram the gates to gain entry!

It was Cake Day in work on Friday, all proceeds going to Children in Need. People brought in cakes and these were sliced and wheeled round by volunteers whilst we formed reasonably orderly queues to buy the treats on offer. I had the most delicious piece of a biscuity, chocolate, peanut butter slice. It was delicious, but oh so rich...I had to drink a lot of water afterwards as I was feeling a teeny bit ick. I passed on later cake rounds and just donated money instead. Imagine my dismay when someone bought me a cupcake. I made a cuppa and squared my shoulders. This cake was not going to beat me. I had an honourable Scottish tradition of sugar consumption to uphold after all! Well, I did it, but I have obviously been living away long enough that my capacity for sugar has diminished! I was practically in a diabetic coma at the end of the afternoon!!! When Stephen phoned to ask what I wanted for dinner I answered "vegetables, fruit, water". That apparently translated into "curry" in Stephen's mind!! His curry was delicious, just not as detoxing as I perhaps needed!! Nor indeed was the wine, or the cider in the pub later... Oh, what the hell - it was Friday, it was needed and I can detox after Christmas.

They've tunneled out...

2010-10-23T11:56:00.000+01:00

It has been a very sad few weeks at work. A lot of my friends (and a whole lot more folks besides) have left the company during a redundancy round. There have been a load of leaving presentations to go to, and tears to stiffle. Upper Lips have been stiffened and shoulders straightened as we adjust to life without our friends and co-workers. (Its never going to be the same....)

I was very involved in putting together Mandy's presentation, and thought she was very brave to give such a long speech thanking everyone - most people manage "Thank you. You were all lovely to work with. Best of luck for the future." before the catch in the throat, or disinterest, kicks in! She did have a post it note with "DON'T CRY" writ large on it...a good reminder!!

Last night we were at one heck of a Leaving Party! Five of the Escapee's (including Mandy and Richard) had organised a giant leaving bash, with bands and buffet and a (free) bar. It was lovely to see so many old familiar faces...and a few folks I had no idea who they were!!

It was very strange to be going to something like that when I had had no involvement with organising it!! All week people have been asking me about organisation, dress code, who's going...and I had to hold my hands up and say "I don't know"!!! I was contemplating asking to be allowed to hold a clipboard on the night - purely for therapy!

Monetary cut backs affect Tooth Fairy budget

2010-10-23T11:40:00.001+01:00

When I was getting ready for work I asked Stephen to check under my pillow to see if there was anything there...but no! Nothing!! I wonder if the Tooth Fairy left the money at the dentists, because that was where the tooth was?? It can surely be the only explanation....

Unless the Tooth Fairy has been hit by severe budget cuts under this weeks Spending Review....I suppose that might be the reason. Maybe the TF budget won't stretch to leaving a Pound for the grown up girlies who are now a bit more gummy than they were.

What's the going rate for the Tooth Fairy?

2010-10-18T20:35:00.001+01:00

I had a weekend of pain and discomfort thanks to my pesky tooth problem. Every now and again since May it would flare up and I'd have to go back to the dentist for another course of antibiotics. Not fun! After lots of niggling pain over the weekend I had a night of unspeakable agony. I got about 3 hours of sleep last night as the pain was excruciating. In an attempt to let Stephen get some sleep (coz I was sobbing and woke him up) I came downstairs about 5:30 to try and work through the pain. It was not a great night!

I phoned the dentist when I got to work and got an appointment for this afternoon. Stephen ran me up there, and it was as well he did.

Adding to the pain of THE tooth was the inconvenient fact that my teeth on the top on the same side have gone a bit sensitive. In an attempt to give me some pain relief, but also make sure that it was THE tooth that was giving me pain my lovely dentist decided to giveme shots along the bottom gum. Now, I've not had to have a filling or anything that required a shot since I was 13 and I remember them being rather painful. I gave Chris my best short-sighted look and reminded him that I was a big chicken when it came to this sort of thing. The sweetie told me to take deep breaths, steady myself and he hid the syringe until I said I was good to go. OMG! The relief was instantaneous! The pain was gone. I cannot describe the relief.

Now came the difficult decision. More antibiotics which controls the symptoms, but doesn't seem to clear the problem or.....EXTRACTION. Foooooooook!! What a choice! But actually not a choice at all....long term pain, or short term pain. Take it out!!

Actually it was fine. I didn't feel a thing. Another set of injections saw to that! I was pretty much numb from the cheeks to the shoulders!! He had the tooth out really quickly, with nothing more than a tug. And considering it was a wisdom tooth and I'd heard horror stories I was very glad it was painless! I was feeling mounting hyseria beforehand. I had a serious fit of the giggles! I think it was at this point that Chris knew he had to get the tooth out really quickly before I went from giggles to meltdown!!

I was sent of with instructions on what to do if I suddenly started spurting blood (thankfully I'm not a bleeder!) and instructions to go have a large glass of wine because I deserve it! Now that's my kind of dentist!!

That didn't go egg-actly to plan!

2010-10-18T19:49:00.000+01:00

As a treat we decided to have a "full English" breakfast on Sunday. The bacon was crisping, the potato scones were absorbing all the fat in a 3 miles radius (that's a Scottish thing!), the baked beans were simmering. All we needed were the eggs. Stephen took control at this point as I "can't cook eggs" apparently. He certainly looked like he knew what he was doing. He poised, egg over the skillet, and cracked it on the side of the pan. It seemed to disintegrate in his hand and ended up with the egg all over the hob and the shell in the pan. Hmmm. Take 2. This time the egg went into the pan, but the yolk burst on impact and he ended up with bits of shell in it. By the time he dug the shell out and flipped it, it wasn't so much over easy as absolutely solid. This of course was my egg. His he managed to cook perfectly!! So, I ended up with a rubbery egg AND the joy of cleaning up the egg which had exploded all over the cooker. I'll stick to cornflakes from now on...!

Its a jungle out there

2010-10-18T19:28:00.000+01:00

I took a couple of days off last week to take advantage of the rather lovely weather and hack back my jungle of a garden. OMG it really needed a hacking too! I filled 10 sacks with weeds and plants which had self-seeded all over the place. Then there was the pruning pile which was pretty big too...many shrub branches were hacked off...and many more need to be hacked off - but that is maybe a job for the Spring. I'm not sure I have any more energy for it at the moment! I was pretty much hanging off the loppers which were stuck halfway through a branch, squeezing together with all my might and thinking "People pay good money to go to the gym to do this exercise" and "I hope Stephen gets home soon, because I can't get these to cut through, or come out the branch again".

In a fit of extreme enthusiasm I also edged the lawn and stripped the turf back. This was proper Charlie Dimmock gardening!! I tell you I was a wreck by the end of Day 1 and barely able to move by the end of Day 2!! It is looking loads better now though - almost like a garden rather than a jungle.

My little garden helper. Everytime I dug somewhere my little robin would appear.

Before... I haven't taken a photo of after yet - too tired!

Bloke

2010-10-10T11:09:00.000+01:00

I had thought that Bloke would never ask to borrow the lawnmower ever again after mowing the cable and having to get it repaired...and I was right - and a little wrong!!

I was right in that he didn't ask! He had the keys to our garage on Wednesday as he was valeting the car. He popped round on Thursday to say that I'd need to check the height setting of the mower before I used it as he'd borrowed it, taken it to Worcester to cut his mother-in-laws lawn, and forgotten to change the settings before putting it back. I was gobsmacked! So...does the fact that he's paid to repair the damage he did to it give him the right to take it without asking when he's been entrusted with our garage key? Obviously, in his mind it does!!

I cut the grass with it just before we headed on holiday...and it tripped the fuse box! When we got it all set up again I discovered that the cable is now shorter than it used to be and is no longer long enough to get to the end of the garden. Grrrrrrr.....

O, Christmas Tree...

2010-10-10T10:58:00.000+01:00

I put a Christmas Tree up on Tuesday. In twenty minutes flat! Then 3 hours later I took it all down again. "But its October" I hear you cry...yes it is. Two of the ladies in our office are leaving the company this week and decided to do a Christmas theme for their leaving party as they would miss the Christmas parties held at the more traditional time of the year. Hence the tree... I was quite impressed with my speed assembly and decorating...but it looked nothing like my usual masterpieces!! I am the Queen of Christmas Tree in work!!

Woa, we're going to Barbados

2010-10-10T10:55:00.000+01:00

Well, actually, we've been to Barbados! We had a wonderful week back at The House being looked after and very pampered. Every holiday should begin with a hug - indeed most of my holidays DO begin with a hug! We got a wonderful huggy welcome from Andrew when we walked out of the taxi and into the courtyard, and we certainly enjoyed our bottle of fizz in the room - its good to be a returning guest!

Our holiday was a week of pure and simple unadulterated relaxation. We needed it! We've both been a bit tired and stressed out recently and when we began to unwind it left us pretty much unable to move or make a decision any more taxing that what to have for dinner! We'd start the job of relaxing for the day by having a champagne breakfast, then toddling off to our sun lounger with a book, soaking up the sunshine and being brought water, cold towels, ice cream, fruit... Oh, relaxing can be a tough old job I can tell you!

We did have a little "liquid sunshine" for a day. We headed out for a little light shopping and lunch in Holetown which is just up the road. I did well on the shopping front! There are lots of little shops decked out like Chattel Houses and they house loads of little speciality shops...quite of a few of which sell jewellery. I got two beaded necklaces (nothing expensive, but very gorgeous) and the most exquisite silver and shell pendant drop which sits beautifully on a silver collar I got in Edinburgh last year.

Aside from a little liquid sunshine the only other evidence of it being hurricane season was the strange wave phenomenon that was going on on the West Coast. Normally they have flat calm turquoise seas with little teeny weeny lapping waves. Not the week we were there!! There were huge rolling breakers of the kind normally found on the East coast, or Waikiki beach! It pretty much washed the beach away. Then on one day we had waves that changed from huge to totally freakin' massive!! They suddenly got a whole lot bigger, swamped the poor folks on the beach and the wash continued up onto the pool deck where I was sitting - which is a good few feet above beach level! The staff sprang into action and quickly moved all the cabanas and loungers off the beach and onto the deck, then began trying to move the beach back off the deck and back onto the beach. That was a bit of a futile task that afternoon!! They managed it the next morning, whilst being supervised by 30 adults sipping champagne and tucking into breakfast....ah, its a hard job doing all this relaxing!!!

Thar she blows

2010-09-13T20:40:00.000+01:00

Stephen...be afraid. Be very afraid.... My stomach is making horrible noises. It sounds like it is speaking Whale, interspersed with intervals of bubbling lava noises. This cannot be good news!

Lawnmower Man

2010-09-13T20:32:00.000+01:00

Bloke has a bit of a lawn mowing obsession. He used to frequently cut my front and back lawns whilst we were at work. I had never asked him to, but I think he thinks he was being neighbourly. (It is sometimes difficult to fathom the thought processes, if indeed there are any.) The problem with the well-intentioned mowing was that he would scalp the lawns and I ended up with bare patches and hack marks where the lawnmower dug in and gouged the soil. In an attempt to repair it I had a lawn treatment company come in, and used that as an excuse to get Stephen to explain to him why he couldn't cut the back lawn any more.

Unfortunately this didn't stop him cutting the front...and now I have turf wars between him and our other neighbour who also cuts it! I think this other neighbour is perhaps trying to stop Bloke marching up and down with the mower outside their sitting room windows 3 times a week, but it doesn't work. It simply means that the front grass gets cut 5 times a week now!! I have a hankering to gravel the front garden to aid my sanity. But I digress....

In a fairly recent development Bloke has taken to borrowing our lawnmower. I guess he knows that his mower chops the ground. However (and we've not really fathomed this out yet), he will often cut my front grass with his crappy mower (because we're at work and there is no access to our mower...maybe??), then borrow ours to cut his front lawn, back lawn and the grass which verges onto the road... This has been increasingly getting on my single remaining nerve - especially as I often can't cut my lawn as he has my mower. But there is an element of anything for a quiet life as it gets him out of our hair quicker when he pops round. However, yesterday may signal the end of the lawnmower borrowing....

We had just returned home from grocery shopping when Bloke appeared. He has the ability to appear from nowhere just as we're getting in or out of the car, so I do wonder if he hides in the bushes and waits for us in a slightly stalkerish way!! I think he has a bit of a man-crush on Stephen and finds me quite terrifying - I know my Mum used me as the "Bad Cop" when she was housesitting for us, so I think he now has a healthy fear of the devil-woman that I can become at the swish of a forked tail...!!!

He waited until I was carrying grocery bags into the house so he could speak to Stephen, and after a minute I could hear the lawnmower being wheeled round to his house, and shortly afterwards the sound of mowing. It went quiet pretty soon afterwards, but I figured that he'd been distracted by something...that would be unusual as he does love to mow, but you also have to balance that with having the attention span of Dory, the forgetful fish from Finding Nemo. Sometimes One Man forgets to mow his Meadow!!

A little while later there was a tap at the kitchen door. I could hear talking, and Stephen came back with a rather grim face. "Bloke has mowed over the lawnmower cable. He's agreed to get it repaired". You may ask how a sensible person manages to mow over the cable... and I would arch my eyebrow, purse my lips, roll my eyes and say "Exactly!". I am only glad that he had enough sense to plug it into an RCD (or at least I think he did!)...God knows what 240 volts would do to his brain cells! They would be clashing about in his skull like balls in a pinball machine. Ding ding ding ding.

The repair has been the cause of some teeth grinding from Stephen, as Bloke phoned to say that his friend was going to cut in new cable and mend it with those little white cable blocks that you use to connect wires together. Erm...NO BLOODY WAY! He didn't mow over some bit of out of the way cable. He mowed over the bit that drags along the ground through the (usually wet) grass!! I am very glad that Stephen obviously still loves me enough not to want me to be electrocuted during the first post-repair mow! He was quite firm on that one!!!! (Obviously he doesn't have enough life insurance on me yet!!) Bloke finally sent a text saying he was going to get the entire cable replaced and a very subdued Bloke dropped the repaired mower back off tonight. I wonder how long it will be before he asks to borrow it again?

Big Game Hunting Pt 2

2010-09-09T21:32:00.000+01:00

More gigantic spiders! I have a metal trash can in the sitting room. I happened to glance in it the other day and saw there was a big spider sitting in the bottom of it. I figured that as it was sheer sided and slippery, I could safely not worry unduly about it getting out.....but, of course, I had to check the next day as you can't be too careful...and found another spider in there! Great - a spider catching and containment device! How wonderful! I could relax and get Stephen to deal with it when he got back. I totally forgot about them for a few days (bad me!) then had a peek....to my horror there were NO spiders in there!! However, there was a spiders leg.... I can only imagine that they either helped each other over the top, but one lost a limb in the process...or they ate one another! Euugh!!!

Watch out for me on You've Been Framed

2010-09-09T21:17:00.000+01:00

Let me set the scene for my embarrassment....we work on a site that has security gates and CCTV. To get in you need to swipe a little card through a little reader which is placed conveniently at car height right beside the gate. Do it right and the gates magically open and you can drive through. Do it wrong and you'll be featuring on the guards Christmas "You've been framed" tape...

Stephen and I normally drive to work together. We work in the same place, the same building in fact!, so it makes sound economic and ecological sense to do so. He normally drives and deals with the gate opening thing whilst I try and work myself into a more agreeable mood prior to speaking to my co-workers. The other day he was off gallivanting somewhere, so I was on my own on doing the gate thing. I lined up behind the car in front and got to the swipe, opened my window, stuck my arm out....and discovered the the man in front obviously had orangutan arms and my little short arms wouldn't reach! I was miles short - a good 4 inches at least. Not only that, but I couldn't open the car door as it was too close to the swipey device/brick plinth. So what do you do?

Firstly you pray that no-one is behind you! (They weren't)
Secondly you push back the seat and remove your seatbelt.
Thirdly you try and hang out the window and kneel on the seat in order to get a bit closer.
Fourthly, as you've successfully swiped and the gates are opening, you try to get your torso back in the car and get the seat to where you can reach the pedals to get through the gate before it shuts again!!

I'm sure I could hear the laughter as I drove past...!

The Great Escape begins...

2010-09-09T20:53:00.000+01:00

Richard has made it out through the tunnel to the outside world. He left work on Friday and we miss him!! (Although we did see him on Saturday and tonight...!)

The gang gather together to say goodbye to Richard

Its not a decent leaving do unless you're face down on the table....

Photees of Embra

2010-09-09T20:17:00.010+01:00

A poster for the lovely and very talented Camille O'Sullivan

Waiting in line to see the aforementioned lovely and talented Camille O'Sullivan!
The bloke from Still Game was right in front of me...If I'd spotted who he was earlier I'd have tried for a sneaky photo!!

Starbucks!!!!!
L-R: Mama, Eve, Moi and Stephen

"Stockie" in his very fetching minidress!

One of the Fringe acts performing on the Royal Mile

Mum, Chad and Eve hanging out at the Pleasance Courtyard.

Pretty whirlie things decorating the courtyard wall.

The smallest venue on the Fringe!

Mmmmmm.....pizzzzzzzza

Edinburgh is built on hills y'know and we started at the bottom of one
...and were very glad to flag down a cab halfway up!!

Buuuuuurp

2010-09-07T22:16:00.000+01:00

I've had a rather unpleasant time over the weekend. Something I ate didn't agree with me. Now, the immediate effects of that were unpleasant, but the after effects of the unpleasantness was just horrible! Imagine a half-full bottle of soda, add a little sulphur (yes, it was that yuk) and shake vigorously....and you have my stomach on Sunday/Monday. It was like a pressurised container...and every now and again one or other of the safely valves would blow....

Well, I say every now and again....actually it was every time I moved! I'd stand up...buuuurp. Sit down....buuurp. Roll over...buuuurp. I felt really sorry for Stephen. It can't have been nice to witness his wife turn into Jim Royle (minus most of the facial hair)....never mind having to listen to the Symphony for Wind..instruments I was composing in my hours in the loo. I'm sure the whole neighbourhood was also enjoying that one as it reverberated round the pipes.... My goodness I could have solved the UK's energy crisis if they'd erected a wind turbine outside.... I hope never to suffer like that again!!

Fun at the Festival

2010-09-07T21:53:00.000+01:00

We scooted on up to Edinburgh for the Bank Holiday weekend. Well, we didn't scoot. We actually flew. Scooting is such hard work for long distances, and especially hard when you have luggage as there really isn't any storage space on a scooter! Although, I think ground-based transportation would have been easier as the flight wasn't without incident...well, not so much the flight itself, more the fact that Stephen managed to mislay his drivers license on the plane after he showed it to board the flight. He didn't realise it was missing until the next day. A phone call to the airline failed to locate it, but at least they confirmed that his other ID would be enough to get him on the flight home.

We had a brilliant time! After a quick catch-up with my family we headed up to the city centre for a pre-dinner cocktail in Gusto where I was made to feel exceedingly short by the gigantic willowy blondes gathered at the bar. When did women get so tall? I barely reached their elbows! It didn't help that I was wearing flats (soooo practical) and they were in towering platform heels (soooo not), but even so....! I was very relieved when I got a bar stool and got to feel more like normal height.

Dinner was fabulous. We got the corner table by the fireplace (as I'd been told to ask for last time we were in) and had a very delicious meal of smoked salmon starter and fillet steak which was to die for. We were seeing a show at 10:30 so after dinner we hit a nearby bar...where once again there were herds of women wandering about like giraffes across the Serengeti. Stephen got a bit macho at one point...yes...you read that right! He got all macho and protective, tapped some bloke on the shoulder, gestured at me and said "Watch your elbows!". I was quite taken aback! I had had to move sharply to avoid getting said elbow in my face, but when you're my height that's not an uncommon experience! I have good peripheral vision and quick reflexes...

Friday nights show was Camille O'Sullivan and what a show it was! She was brilliant! The band was brilliant! The illuminated rabbit was brilliant! The meowing was brilliant...odd..but brilliant! Of the shows I had booked, this one was the one that was a bit of a punt so I was delighted that I'd picked such a winner. We were entranced from the opening song. We had a bit of a celebrity spot on the way in too. As we were standing in line to go into the Assembly Rooms we were directly behind the actor who plays the barman in Still Game. (That will mean nothing to anyone outside Scotland!)

We did some mooching on Saturday morning, then met up with my sister who'd just packed off her summer school students. After hauling her pregnant butt up the hill to the Royal Mile we decided it was far too busy to move, so headed up to the Pleasance Courtyard for a further mooching opportunity and a chance to see the smallest venue on the fringe...a camper van! Making note to tell Audrey & John about possibilities of renting out the Motor Mansion as a luxurious Fringe venue for next year!

Dinner on Saturday en famile was in Pizza Express overlooking the Water of Leith, right on Stockbridge. We got the table in the little glass sticky-out bit so we had a wonderful view and it was like being in our own little restaurant. We couldn't see the Antony "Angel of the North" Gormley statue - a figure standing in the water - but we did see "Stockie" earlier, dressed in a very fetching patterned mini dress. It seems the good people of Stockbridge have been giving him regular makeovers!!

We went to see Jennifer Coolidge aka "Stifflers Mom" on Saturday night. She was very funny, telling very self-deprecating anecdotes about her Hollywood life and talking about her current ambition to "Get the F**k out of the USA". Sadly, her attempts to find a single man in the audience to help with that plan fell short...every man she singled out was gay...

Eve and Chad headed home after the show and we went for a drink in one of the trendy Stockbridge bars with Mum. Its very good that we have family who now live in one of the trendier areas of the city, with so many cool shops and bars to frequent! They also have an excellent chippy which we also made use of that night. I've previously explained my love of chips with saltnsauce - you can take the girl out of Edinburgh, but you can't take Edinburgh out of the girl ! - there is nothing finer after a skinful of wine!

Stephen: Two bags of chips please.
Franco's son: Saltnsauce?
Stephen: One salt and sauce, one salt and vinegar...
Franco's son: Ahhhh...I get it. One Glasgow. One Edinburgh....!

And there we have it. A nation divided...!!!

We had lunch with Dad and Joan on Sunday. Eve's little bundle was complaining about the fact that she was scoffing down an enormous roast dinner and there was no room in there for him!! I got to feel him give a good kick - which freaked me out a bit I have to admit! Although, I'm apparently the only person apart from Chad that he's kicked for, so we've bonded! I just hope he doesn't change his mind when he meets me in person!

I discovered Hendricks gin (Scottish, tastes of cucumber and roses - try it!) that afternoon in the Voodoo Lounge, which I think I may have frequented back in the day when it was just the upstairs bar of the Cafe Royal. I spent a goodly time trying to work out which bits may have looked familiar from 20 years ago...difficult given that I was probably in an alcoholic haze whenever I was in there!!! And in a seamless alcohol-themed segue...I had the most bogging glass of wine it has ever been my misfortune to have on Sunday night. I could try and describe the bouquet, the nose, the colour...but the best description I could hope to give would be MINGING!!! We were waiting for the doors to open for Jimmy Carr and had a quick drink in the venue bar. Very quick as it turned out. Three mouthfuls. Three screwed up faces when I swallowed. Actually four screwed up faces....Stephen wasn't happy that the wine was minging when he'd paid a fortune for it!!

Jimmy Carr was HILARIOUS! OMG, we laughed ourselves silly for nearly two hours! It was only supposed to be a 1h 15 minute show...but there were a lot of pretty drunk Scottish people there who thought they were funny, so "audience participation" took up more time than they had really allowed for!! He also had some woman thrown out for talking - she didn't take the hint the first time he'd had words with her about it so security were called. Please note: never try to outwit a comedian as sharp as he is...you're never going to get the last word!!! It was 2 hours of knicker-wetting hilarity and definitely not for the easily offended - nothing was off-limits!!!

Trout Pout

2010-09-01T19:19:00.000+01:00

I can save myself going to the trouble of having collagen injections in my lips. I can say for sure I do not suit a trout pout! How do I know? Well I've been suffering from an occasional allergic reaction to something for the past few days and on Friday, and again today, I've woken up looking like someone has inserted a golf ball into one of my lips. So attractive....! I am fervently thankful that both lips haven't swollen at once!! It has (so far anyway) been one or the other. The problem is that it takes hours to subside, and I had to go to work today looking like Stephen had given me a thick lip. And what DO you do about lipstick when one of your lips is about 5 times bigger than the other? Stephen suggested just drawing on where my lips would be were they normal size, but in the end I felt I looked ridiculous enough and just went with a slick of nude lip gloss and a hand across my mouth when speaking to people.

It wasn't just my lips that were affected. I also woke up with a raised up rash/spots (it was difficult to tall from where I was looking!) across the back of my leg. I decided that a trip to the Doctors might be in order - just to rule out any nasty contagions. He looked, he said it was an allergy and said that I may never know what it was that was triggering it. How reassuring! I'm sure that in the US I'd have been booked in for blood work to find out! Ah well, shouldn't complain...it is free after all.

The other downside (or maybe not!) is the inability to eat when my lip is swollen. It hampers getting nosh into my mouth and if I do manage to shove some in, the chances of my chewing my enormous lip instead of the food are pretty damn high. I managed a yogurt at lunchtime - the only thing I could shove in that didn't require the added danger of chewing! Consequently, by 5pm I was feeling weak and trembly and had to hit Waitrose in that dangerous "hungry" state. Needless to say, my trolley was full of snacks! I bought a packet of spaghetti and about 10 large bags of chips, pretzels, crisps and peanuts!!!

Big Game Hunting

2010-08-26T23:08:00.000+01:00

The time of the year I hate seems to have arrived - early! Its spider migration time...when they migrate from the cold wet outside into the warm dry inside. Normally its October before the peace is shattered by the patter of many hundreds of legs as they scamper in, but in the past few days there have been loads saying hello. Eugh!

Stephen mumbled something last night which I totally didn't catch. It sounded to me like "blah blah blah blah blah blah ...der". It was the "der" part that make me take notice and press his rewind button. "Oh my God, look at that enormous spider." It took me a second to locate the beastie because it was hiding round a fold in the curtain. This was not a teeny weeny spider. This was a shaved tarantula!!! It was the biggest spider I have seen in the house - ever! Stephen was dispatched to get a glass in order to capture it and release it back into the wild. He came back with a kilner jar as he didn't think a glass would fit over it. He was probably correct!!

The poor thing was probably just taking shelter from the persistent rain and low temperatures. Summer has gone and I'm not sure we can expect it back anytime soon. It has been so cold over the past couple of days we've had to put the heating on. Heating...in August!!!!

Recreational Vehicle

2010-08-22T17:08:00.001+01:00

Audrey and John dropped by yesterday afternoon with their new motor home. Getting it parked outside our house was quite a palaver! They called and said they were across on the main road. I looked out and there was a bus parked up...the bus turned out to be them!

My goodness this thing is HUGE! It is definitely the way to do it! It was very luxurious with a proper bedroom, bathroom and sitting area. It has lots of gadgets including a retractable satellite dish which self-seeks the satellite. I could see Stephen begin to drool at that point!

I wasn't meant to do housework!

2010-08-22T16:49:00.000+01:00

I have to admit something deeply shaming. I have owned my fabulous, wonderful, couldn't live without it, Dyson vacuum for about 6 years. The wand stuck today and I was searching the Internet to see if I could find any hints and tips for unsticking it. I found the manual. I read the manual. I discovered that my vacuum cleaner has a removable, washable filter...that should be cleaned every 6 months. Six months!!! I actually had to go check the vacuum to make sure I'd downloaded the correct manual and see if I could find the magic filter release button.

The button was cunningly disguised as a handle so no wonder I didn't spot it...for 6 years! Once I had found it I felt obliged to open it and wash the blue filter the manual described. Well it wasn't blue, but I took it out and washed it and watched it magically transform from grey to a bright blue colour. Imagine not realising that it had a washable filter. Imagine not washing the filter at the recommended intervals. Imagine leaving it SIX years before washing it!!!! I could have been living in blissful ignorance until the thing packed up altogether. No wonder it wasn't picking up as well as it once did!

I've been a bit of a Domestic Goddess today. It has mercifully been dry today so I was able to get my washing backlog dealt with. It has been raining a lot this weekend, so its been a nightmare to get things dry. A tumble dryer is being purchased ASAP! I've been washing and pegging out all morning. I've even been brave enough to tackle the ironing mountain which had built up in the dining room. It was getting seriously embarrassing. I was expecting Sherpa Tensing to appear from behind a pile, leading an expedition to the summit!

Family...

2010-08-10T21:40:00.000+01:00

Oh dear. Our brilliant idea of getting the family together for dinner on Saturday night didn't go according to plan. Remind me not to leave it to the brothers Spark to organise anything again! It is just as well that none of them work for a brewery....

Wedding photos

2010-08-10T21:39:00.000+01:00

The parents of the happy couple

Him and me

Paul and Kristen

On the swings!

Family: Rab, Andy, Fiona, June and Linda

Jim with his sons - Paul and Jim

Paul and Gordon

June, Jim and Linda

Some CRM details and a harp!

The Bride and Groom

Paul and Kristen and their parents

Kristen and the kilties

Held aloft by her handsome husband and a few willing helpers!

What a Wonderful Wedding

2010-08-10T20:57:00.000+01:00

Why is it, that despite allowing nights of preparation time, I was still packing at the last minute on Wednesday night and didn't find time to dye my hair? My wedding preparations were hampered, and I'm not sure why! I was joking with a friend that I'd be applying fake tan in the car driving to Glasgow as I simply didn't see how I'd manage to fit it in. As it was, Glasgow was as chilly as expected so the fake tan was not an issue. I had to go and buy tights on Friday morning as if I'd gone bare-legged I'd have been a lovely mottled blue colour after 5 minutes outside!

It monsooned with rain when I was getting ready. To say it was torrential was a bit of an understatement! At one point it looked like someone was throwing buckets of water at the windows! Thankfully, by the time we arrived at the venue at about 3:15 it was dry and the sun was even trying to force its way through the clouds and make an appearance.

I have to talk about the venue now. It was the House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park and it was stunning. This was Charles Rennie Macintosh to the max! He and his wife had designed a house for a German magazine competition in 1901. It was disqualified for the minor detail that they were late with their submission (bloody Royal Mail...!), but it did win a special merit prize. During the late 80's Glasgow decided to build it. The architectural and design details are simply beautiful, so I'm exceedingly glad they did!

It was a lovely wedding. As Paul and Kristen are actually married already (they got hitched in Alexandria just before we left) the ceremony was conducted by one of their friends, and they read vows they each had written. I tell you, there was not a dry eye in the house! There was laughter too. They are renowned for being very laid back and doing everything at the last minute which Kristen played on, joking that she had written the vows that morning....actually, it may not have been a joke....but we laughed! It was so lovely to meet Paul and Kristen's friends as well as some members of the family whom I'd never met before, all of whom were funny and charming. We had a hoot!

Stephen wasn't on official photographer duty, but he did have his camera...and his tripod...and set himself up as the "formal shot" photographer. The girl doing the official photos was doing some quite funky stuff, so we figured that someone should take some of the family in their finery...posing for the camera and not with a glass to their lips or mid sentence (as usually happens to me when I'm taken unawares!). This led to a little "camera war" as whatever Stephen did, the girl would appear beside him to take it in a more funky way! Oh, how competitive these photographers can be!!

People's finery was definitely worthy of being captured on camera. The bride and groom looked wonderful, as did the parents (I LOVED Moira's dress) and the rest of us scrubbed up okay too. It was lovely too see so many men in kilts, and I wasn't the only woman with a fascinator perched on her noggin (for once!). I was having something of an outfit crisis though. The little cardigan that I'd bought to wear over the dress just wouldn't sit right, so at the last second I decided to wear the black jacket I'd worn to work the day before. Thank goodness I had a multiple choice of fascinators as the pink one may have looked odd - and someone else was wearing the exact same one!

The Stones

2010-08-01T18:10:00.000+01:00

We saw The Stones last night. Not "The" Stones of course...Malvern doesn't have a stadium venue so couldn't guarantee the lucrative multi-million pound earnings they usually generate. On the plus side, we do have a large number of nursing homes so they could have had a very comfortable stay!!

The Stones were actually rather good. "Mick" certainly had the look of Jagger and all the posing and pouting down to a tee. Squint your eyes and ignore the look of the others and you could have been watching the real thing 30 years ago. They played a really long set and didn't hold back despite there being only 80 people in the auditorium - most of them about the age of the real Stones and not many of them able to get up and boogie! In fact, the audience size was such that at the end of the show "Mick" jumped off the stage and legged it to the foyer to thank everyone personally for coming!

Tippy tappy, clappy, stompy

2010-07-31T17:59:00.000+01:00

We're doing culture once again this weekend. As we didn't have any particular plans for Friday night I took a peek at the Malvern Theatres website and discovered that Strictly Tap Dance Fever was on, and there were loads of tickets available. It maybe wouldn't have been my very first choice for things to see, but as standby tickets are very affordable - why not? We got Row C seats for a tenner! Stephen was not overwhelmed by the thought of watching tap dancing, it had to be said, but he was placated by the offer of going to see The Stones on Saturday.

As it turned out, I think he maybe enjoyed it more than me!! The first half was more traditional Busby Berkeley type of tapping - musical numbers like 42nd Street (sung by a very leggy blonde and a Ben Stiller lookalike). I had to stifle hysterical laughter during "Putting on the Ritz". Damn you Gene Wilder and Young Frankenstein!!

The second half of the show was best. It was more like Stomp and you could tell the cast were enjoying it more. There was a real connection with the audience (all 20 of us). It was a really enjoyable show.

After a bit of running around this morning, we decided to go see Toy Story in 3D. It was good! All the things you expect! I loved Spanish mode!! And very poignant too...just as well I had the dark glasses on so no-one could see the welling up that was going on!!!

The Stones tonight - better get out my dancing shoes!

Bio Hazard

2010-07-27T21:50:00.001+01:00

Hilarious sight of the week....

Walking down the corridor of our office building yesterday I was forced to do a double take at the sight of the gents toilet door blocked off by black and yellow hazard tape. All I can guess is that someones Monday morning coffee had an extreme effect and there was an unfortunate plumber in there in a bio-suit with a plunger...

It made me very happy that my days of working in Operations are behind me. It used to be me they'd all flock to to report that the urinals were blocked (how...?) or that they were suffering "splash back" onto their trousers (yes, really....). I couldn't work out if that was boasting or not! Was it such that they had to stand very, very close, or was it such a hose that they couldn't control it under full flow? It kept us in hysterics for a good few days though. I even poured pints of water down a colleagues throat and asked him to try and recreate the problem... It would seem that splash back problem was mainly due to aim, so we did wonder if painting a target on the porcelain and footprints on the floor would help those unable to work it out for themselves!

A dilemma

2010-07-26T22:09:00.000+01:00

Oh, what to do? What to do?

We're thinking about re-modelling the bathroom, and we went bath shopping on Saturday. It was our first look round and certainly gave us food for thought and a major dilemma...

The bath we currently have is huge. Its not so much a bath as a small lake. I swim lengths in it each morning. Consequently, when I try and recline in it I shoot down the bath at high speed. Not the most relaxing thing in the world! I found out there was a term for the problem on Saturday - submarining. As a regular submariner I was really hoping that there would be a smaller, better bath out there for me. And there is!

I was encouraged to get my shoes off and climb into each tub for a dry-run. And I found it. The perfect bath! It was a slipper bath. I could lie back in it and my feet very nearly touched the end! No more submarining, LOTS more relaxing!! However, thinking ahead for potential re-sale problems if we ever want to move house..if it fits me perfectly (and I am 5ft nothing), then its not going to fit folks of a more regular height very well! They'd have their knees round their ears and that wouldn't be relaxing for them would it?

Oh, what to do? What to do?

The perfect Kerry-sized bath

Shakespeare in the Park

2010-07-25T20:12:00.000+01:00

We had a very lovely evening on Friday - very civilised indeed! We were watching The Tempest whilst sipping champagne and scoffing a very delicious picnic with heavy emphasis on smoked salmon products...yuuum yum! It was performed by an all-male cast, so it was Shakespeare as he would have recognised it. The production tours the country in a van, playing a different stately home every night. It was quite funny to see the cast appear in civvies about 2 minutes after they took their bows and start dismantling the stage.

Thankfully, as it was a small and intimate performance we had no issues getting out of the car park at Eastnor Castle this time! We were on the Terrace beside the castle this time - a rather smaller space than the Deer Park where we saw Jools Holland! It was delightful to sit in the garden (even more delightful when you don't have to weed or mow it!) in prime spot right before the stage. For once we didn't have to fight our way there either! As we were amongst the first to arrive we were instructed to plonk ourselves there - prime spot...which made it slightly embarrassing when I was struggling to keep my eyes open during the first 10 minutes of the performance as they were sure to be able to see! I couldn't help it! I could just feel them begin to droop and it took massive willpower not to have 40 winks!!

Take a letter Mrs Spark

2010-07-17T18:27:00.000+01:00

Thursday was "meet your old boss day" for me. Aside from spending some time with all of the 3 who work at site and I see regularly, I also got to have lunch with Tofty, whom I hadn't seen in the best part of 2 years what with him leaving and me coming back. He hasn't changed a bit and it was wonderful to see him and catch up.

Then mid-afternoon I got a call from Steve suggesting dinner at the Anupam. It was a brilliant suggestion as Stephen and I had just been saying we hadn't been for ages. It was delicious! We had a good laugh and did our bit to cheer up Graham who'd got a speeding ticket that morning and was rather put out. We got outside and sent our partners off to fetch the cars in the pouring rain whilst Steve and I huddled together in the Anupam alley for warmth. I was very glad to have someone 6' 5" to hide behind as it was blowing a blooming gale and there was sideways rain. He literally put his body between me and the weather. What a star!

Family Fun Day

2010-07-17T18:11:00.000+01:00

It was a sleepless night last night. I kept waking up with visions of one of the large framed pieces having fallen over and there being artistic carnage all over the floor.

We were in work for 9am and I was very relieved to see everything intact! I had another few entries to the over 16's photographic competition which was great. There was a really good display. Of course, people had trouble moving past Phil's fantastic poster sized shot of Antelope Canyon, so we had no chance really!! It was stunning, so it's no surprise it won. It's game on for next year!!

Kate won the arts section with her beautiful cross-stitch, but competition was fierce here too. People were blown away with everything that was contributed.

I had one very precious parent who complained there wasn't an under 5's section. After several interactions with him I was left wondering how he had managed to find a woman to procreate with; reminded that genius is close to madness and we have lots of geniuses on site; and wishing I could stick his poster tube where his pole usually goes...

Busy little bee

2010-07-16T20:48:00.000+01:00

What a freaking day!!

On top of having to nail jello to the wall and get all the right approvals and paperwork in place for the Farnborough Airshow which begins next week, and involved checking lists and schedules which are literally changing by the minute, I also had to get everything sorted out for the Family Day Arts & Photographic competition.

The combination of the jello nailing and the competition nearly drove me nuts. There was nearly Sudden Onset Tourettes going on!! I was trying to get a key for a room where I could lock peoples art work, but could I get the estates woman to actually get me it? No, I could not. I was having real problems getting her to understand that some of these pieces were the result of months of painstaking work and were valuable, both in monetary as well as sentimental value, had been entrusted to my care and couldn't be left lying about in case they get damaged. Getting nicked isn't so much of an issue, but damage is possible.

After (only) 4 phone calls, voicemails and messages (I was trying to be reasonable as they were busy too!) I finally got through...and it made me mad! There was a deep very audible sigh as the phone was answered and a weary "hello Kerry". For gods sake, I know you're having a bad day, but aren't we all and if you'd taken 2 minutes to get me the freaking key when I asked for it at 9.30 I wouldn't be phoning....as it was I spent a lot of the day fielding phone calls from people wanting to deliver large paintings, but I don't think I sighed.....

I never got the key for the store room. I eventually (as people wanted to leave for the weekend) had to pack up and go and sit in the room so people could drop off their stuff. Then when I finally got into the room for the exhibition at 5pm I had to begin set up. Thankfully Phil the superstar helped out with rearranging the furniture and even popped back later to make sure I was okay as I had seemed glum. I was glum - that was pretty perceptive for a bloke!!!

Long live the Pob

2010-07-14T20:45:00.000+01:00

We're calling it Lop it all Off Wednesday in the salon. I was the second person on the trot to ask Dave to lop it all off. My long layered hairdo has gone. The Pob is back. And thanks to half an hour last night with a bottle of Chocolate Truffle hair dye the grey is gone too. YAY! Its taken years off me. I can pass for 40 again!

Jools Holland

2010-07-11T12:10:00.002+01:00

We've had a bit of a cultural weekend. We went to see Whistle Down the Wind at the theatre on Friday. It was a really good production and after a shaky first five minutes when I thought "Oh God, what have I done" we really enjoyed it. The only downside is that I'm now singing "No matter what" constantly....

And last night...well, last night was FANTASTIC! We went to see Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. It was a picnic concert at Eastnor Castle and we managed to get a pretty decent spot close to the front. Being England everyone was leaving loads of space in between, but having learned our lessons well at Wolftrap where every square inch of grass had a picnic blanket on it, we squeezed into one of the enormous gaps in a most un-British way.

The support acts were great. Our enjoyment of Kris Buckle was slightly marred by some folks rolling out of the hospitality tent to come chat with their friends behind. I say chat. I mean shriek, scream and yell. I had to actually physically restrain Stephen who was ready to leap up and have a word.

Jools and his Orchestra were awesome! So were his special guests Ruby Turner and Alison Moyet. What amazing voices! And Alison Moyet is looking amazing. She has lost loads of weight and is HOT! We had a great time and boogie-woogied the evening away.

We are destined to spend huge amounts of time in our car at the moment. It took a while to get into the Deer Park, and it took even longer to get out! We could see all the cars inching their way out along the road, like Apaches lining the hills, and decided to have a mini picnic in the car before even thinking about trying to join the queue. When it finally began to move we were funnelled off in a different direction and were able to join a shorter queue of traffic. Unfortunately it took us out a different way and there were a few moments of "where the hell are we and which way do we go". Fortunately Stephen suddenly recognised where we were, announcing "This road takes us to Welland" which I scoffed at as Welland is the other side of the hills from Eastnor...He was right..of course!! I'm glad it all worked out, coz otherwise we could still be sitting in the queue to get home!

The view from our picnic spot

Alison Moyet belting it out

Jools and Alison Moyet

A little Boogie-woogie from Jools

Me!

Stephen with the ass who was spoiling his enjoyment!

Goodwood photos

2010-07-11T12:07:00.002+01:00

I wonder why he was so keen to photograph this car....

The McLaren F1 car on the hill

The very fast moving Mark Gene in the Ferrari.
He zipped by at such speed Stephen didn't think he had captured it at all!

Sir John on his way to the start line

A swarm of Lotus

Enjoying the spectacle

Sir John in his car waiting to go out

The illustrious Scots who have driven this car

Is there a collective noun for a group of cars

JC on the hill

Pushing it back to the pits

Goodwood Festival of Speed

2010-07-11T10:24:00.002+01:00

I won tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed - the first time I think I have won anything! (Quick - buy a lottery ticket!). We travelled down to Southampton the night before as Southampton was the nearest hotel we could get to the FOS. This turned out to be a pain on two counts...it took us 1 1/2 hours to do a 45 minute journey thanks to the incredibly slow moving traffic and because we approached from that direction we ended up in a car park miles from the action. We had to walk round half the golf course to get to the show.

We had a brilliant day! We managed to spend from 9am until 6pm wandering around. My legs and feet were aching by the end of the day. And we still didn't actually get around everything! My mate Emma had tipped me the wink that our former Chairman was driving his car up the hill and it was rumoured that Sir Stirling Moss would also be driving it. It didn't happen the day we were there. Stephen was disappointed that Stirling Moss with two broken ankles was a better bet for driving it than he was!!! Sir John was driving Jim Clark's first Grand Prix car, so there were a collection of Saltires on the side: Jim Clark, Innes Ireland and Sir John. Stephen would really have liked to have been the fourth Scot in the driving seat!

The journey home was a bit of a nightmare. We crossed over the A27 on our way to the slip road and saw that it was at a complete standstill, so we turned around, found a layby and got the map out. KerryNav to the rescue again! We ended up driving cross-country on A roads from Chichester to Newbury. Then (finally) we got to Birdlip (1/2 hour from home) and found the road between there and the M5 was closed, so we had to divert through Cheltenham. It took us 4 hours to get home, sustained by the thought of opening a bottle of champers for Stephen's birthday...only to find there was none in the fridge!! Nor any food, as we'd planned to stop for dinner en-route but were so delayed that it seemed like a good idea to press on.

Catch up

2010-07-06T20:12:00.003+01:00

Geesh! It has been so long since I posted that I'm not sure where to begin...

Well, firstly the tooth/gum thing has gone. No more antibiotics for me for a while. Hopefully. And I finally got to sample the champagne - YAY! I don't drink a lot really, but towards the end of the weeks of medicines I REALLY wanted a glass of wine!! One major downside of the medication (aside from the constant nausea) was the effect it had on my skin and hair. Despite drinking gallons of water a day I seemed to be dehydrated. My normally oily skin is dry and my hair isn't its usual shiny self. I had a facial on Saturday and Zena glooped on a huge layer of intense hydrating cream that absorbs where you need it and sits on top of your skin where you don't. It went. Every single drop was sucked up by my thirsty skin.

The upside of the meds (and the constant nausea) was the weight loss. But even this had its downside.... I was walking back from the canteen last week, phone and purse in one hand and salad box in the other when I felt some slippage from one hip. Two steps later (and only halfway to the building) my knickers dropped and were half way to my knees. Thank God I was wearing trousers!!!!!!! People must have looked at my panic stricken face and rapid shuffling and wondered what the heck was up...little did they know that it was what was coming down that was bothering me!

We've also spent a lot of time watching sport. We had a BBQ for the England game and watched them crash out of the World Cup. Or rather the guys watched the game and the girls listened to the guys shouting abuse at the TV. We also watched the epic 3 DAY tennis match at Wimbledon. We actually only watched the final set...but due to the rule that it can't be decided by a tie-break, the final set went to something like 70 games to 68 games and took 2 days to play!!

We're still watching the World Cup....how many more days??? Please - I cannot take much more shouting at the TV. I really think that we should just have the psychic octopus predict the results and forget about actually playing the games. Its got them all right so far...

I love Apple

2010-06-21T20:34:00.002+01:00

Of course, having played with the iPad extensively and fallen in love with it my resistance to its charms (and Stephen's pleas) was completely worn down. He went out and bought one today. We are now reduced to having timed slots to ensure that we don't argue over it....

Social butterflies...

2010-06-21T20:06:00.003+01:00

Stephen came back from watching the football at Richard's on Friday with a whole load of invitations for the weekend. There was a lot of "My people will speak to your people"...

We went to Steve and Graham's for dinner on Saturday (slow cooked Moroccan lamb - DELICIOUS!) and got to have a serious play with his iPad. What a cool thing it is!! Hours were spent proving that I am pathetically crap at games on this format as well as Wii and PS3! Despite the fact that everyone else was tiddly and I was stone cold sober I still managed to display the reflexes of a sloth and a lack of coordination that should make me afraid of leaving the house for fear of what may happen to me, but does perhaps explain why I'm always covered in bruises! I did gain some revenge for this on-going, multi-platform humiliation though....I introduced them to Bubble Bang, the Worlds most addicitive game. I will play this until my iPod battery goes flat. Once you pop - you can't stop!

I also need to check what fragrance my shower gel is. I could have sworn it was Rose and Geranium, but given Bournville's reaction it was Pedigree Chum!! I obviously tasted good!! He was licking my hands, arms and ankles any chance he got!

We spent Sunday in the garden after a rush round to the grocery store first thing. I was flicking through something I'd recorded when I saw an advert for half price Champagne which caused me to frantically rewind and then grab Stephen and run for the car. We got Taittenger for GBP 16 per bottle. Actually slightly less as you also got a 10% additional discount if you bought 4 bottles... Bargain!! I am looking forward to the night when I'm actually able to drink some of it!!

On Sunday evening we went to Richard & Justine's for Movie Night. We got a Chinese take out and settled down to watch the Star Trek movie on Blu-ray. Or half the Star Trek movie as we'd got the timings a bit wrong and it was getting really late! Stephen is on holiday this week, but I had to go to work and I can't stay up too late on a school night. Not to mention the kids of course, who really were up late on a school night!!!

Hubris

2010-06-19T15:53:00.004+01:00

Oh dearie, dearie me... Despite the pre-tournament confidence, and frequent mentions of 1966, England aren't doing terrifically well in the World Cup.

Before the first game against the USA the whole of England was supremely confident. The papers were full of quotes from Hollywood stars saying things like "I'm looking forward to the USA playing Manchester United", leading to a contempt of the US team (as the whole US nation - including their team - obviously knows nothing about soccer) and a confidence that England would give them a thorough thrashing on the field.

Now, admittedly, soccer is not a particularly mainstream sport in the US, and perhaps the general man in the street doesn't know a huge amount about it having not played since school, but US athletes take their sports really seriously! It doesn't matter if that sport is baseball, football, hockey or soccer they will want to be the very best at it. I think it surprised people that they turned up with the correct number of players and understood the offside rule...

They held England to a deserved draw. They were cruelly robbed of a victory against Slovenia (Stephen made me watch the highlights and we can't see any reason why the goal was chopped off) and are now second in the group.

In contrast, England are third after a disappointing draw against Albania. There could be an upset on the cards! We'll need to do some advanced maths to see what results are needed and who might go through. Roll on Wednesday!!

I have to say that I'm not one of the Scots who supports anyone that plays against England. We've lived down here far too long for that! But perhaps being Scottish (and having quite frankly a rather rubbish national team) you learn to have a little humility and a sense of perspective about the glorious game!

Okay. So England won it once....but that was 44 years ago. Lets take one tournament at a time! Winning the World Cup in 1966 does not automatically give you a free pass to the final. These guys are all tired after a long season and carrying niggling injuries. They are also carrying that heavy burden of expectation - all of England's hopes and dreams of footballing glory are resting on their shoulders....

Corn bread

2010-06-19T15:38:00.003+01:00

Before I had to retire to the sofa last Saturday I had a go at making corn bread for the World Cup BBQ that friends were hosting. As it was England vs USA I said I'd do some good ol' Southern corn bread and chicken wings.

There are many, many recipes for corn bread on the interweb. I should maybe have thought more carefully before picking the one from a UK supermarket, but it got good reviews so I got to work. It obviously got good reviews from people who have never tasted corn bread before!!!! It was disgusting! All the corn bread I've had has been slightly sweet and very delicious. This was way too buttery, and had not the slightest hint of sweetness. It went into the bin and I went back to the internet. This time I picked a recipe from a US website. Luckily for me I had a whole set of measuring cups and enough ingredients to give it a good go. This lot was better, but still not quite up to scratch. (Two attempts at corn bread - is it any wonder I had to go for a lie down?!)

I need a handed down from mother to daughter, generations old, never fails, recipe. Can anyone oblige?

Pain...

2010-06-19T14:48:00.003+01:00

Oh, its been a week and a half I can tell you! Remember I had the gum issue just before tripping off to St Lucia? Well it came back with a vengeance about 2 weeks ago. It began with a dull ache over the weekend and rose to excruciating pain on the Monday.

Now the Monday was not the best of days. Our leadership conference was beginning and we needed last minute alts to the communications approval....and the man who approves them was en-route somewhere in the US with his blackberry switched off. Plus, my counterpart in the US was in doctors appointments but doing her best to get hold of him and keep me informed. We got within 30 minutes of having to pull the extra people off the bus and telling them they couldn't go to the first event. Instant grey hairs all around! Then came the saga of trying to send me the approval... She sent it. I didn't get it. She tried again. Again nothing. This went on until about 8:30pm when someone else managed to send me it. It turns out that their firewall didn't like one of the delegates surnames as it contained the word "cock". How very puritanical! In this day and age that barely is worth raising an eyebrow about! Even the BBC allow their presenters to use it. Top Gear episodes would be a good few minutes shorter in fact!

So after all of this palaver I was tired. I think I sent my last work email about 9:30, took a painkiller and staggered through to the sitting room so say hello to Stephen who was still burning our CD's onto a hard disk. About 10pm I headed for bed as I could barely keep my eyes open, only to find that I couldn't sleep due to the sudden escalation of pain from pretty damn sore to completely excruciating. On the point of tears at about 1am I got up and came downstairs to read my book and wait until I felt I could take another painkiller. I went to bed about 2:30am for a few fitful hours of sleep. Honestly, I can say that this was the worst pain I've ever experienced. I could have undergone root canal work without anaesthetic and not felt more. I can't compare it with childbirth, not having experienced it - but at least they give you gas and air during that!!

Thank goodness I managed to get an appointment with my dentist for that afternoon. He gave me more antibiotics - double strength this time, and again with the warning that alcohol was a bad idea (projectile vomiting etc). OMG! These were horse pills compared to the previous lot! I am not good at taking tablets and getting these over 3 times a day was a struggle. On more than one occasion I choked it back up and ended up with a rapidly dissolving tablet in my hand, which made it harder to swallow as by now it tasted foul. They also knocked me sideways. You push and push to keep going, but on Saturday I couldn't do any more. I felt sick all the time and so tired. I pulled out of the footie BBQ and slept on the sofa for most of Saturday and Sunday. I was so happy to finish the course of antibiotics on Tuesday. I was not so happy that there was still some achiness in my jaw. Back to the dentist...

Its better than it was, but not entirely healed so I'm now on another course of antibiotics. These ones (he warned) can give you an upset tummy. Joy! I explained about the problem swallowing of the tablets and so he's given me medicine! I am now feeling about 5 years old with my bottle of bright yellow medicine. It tastes foul. Of course it does. But a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. Or a square of chocolate. Or a couple of Starbursts....! I woke yesterday with less of a disgusting taste in my mouth...don't get me wrong my tongue is still a yellow shag pile carpet and there is still germ warfare going on in there, but it was less disgusting than it had been!

I've now been off the booze for 2 weeks. I am going to be such a cheap date by the time I finish this course of antibiotics. A mere sniff of alcohol and I'll be frightfully tight!

Oooh! New blog designs....lets look!

2010-06-19T14:43:00.001+01:00

I've gone for a new layout. Do you like it?

Its raining....its pouring....

2010-06-06T17:42:00.002+01:00

There is a very strange weather phenomenon going on in our garden at the moment. It is raining on the border beside the fence and yet, on the patio which is only about 10 ft away it is not! That sure is some highly localised rainfall!

It was certainly raining all over the garden earlier. I was inside when I noticed it had gone exceedingly dark outside. As I had loads of washing outside drying I gave a squeak and rushed outside to get it all gathered in. Not a moment too soon. I had only just got back inside the kitchen door when fat spots of rain began to darken the paving. Only too soon the heavens opened and the thunder and lightning began.

Trip Down Kennedy Lane

2010-06-02T21:24:00.004+01:00

Still on CD's... I've just found a CD of the "Kennedy Experience". This is Nigel Kennedy when he stopped playing Vivaldi and began playing Hendrix. I'd totally forgotten we had that! We actually saw Nigel Kennedy performing it live years ago back in the days when he still lived in Malvern.

He used to play gigs at one of the local pubs. A friend of ours lived nearby and tipped us off when the "He's playing Saturday" rumours would go round. We saw him a couple of times and he was AWESOME, so when we heard that he was playing a proper concert in the local Community Centre we rushed to get tickets. He played two concerts. The first night was classical, the second night was Hendrix.

I don't think there was seating. We certainly didn't sit! Everyone seemed to be hanging about towards the back of the hall. Stephen scanned the room and said "Sod that, we're going to the front". I imagine people were thinking of the possible hearing impairment, and not wanting to stand in front of the banks of amplifiers, but we laughed in the face of tinnitus and went for the full on Kennedy Experience! We were right at the front. I mean RIGHT at the front. Close enough that Nigel Kennedy dripped sweat on us!! Close enough that my ears rang for days afterwards. It was amazing!

Watching an undoubted musical genius play the violin (he even got the Strad out at one point), inspired Stephen the genius guitarist to go "Pah. I could do that. I'm going to learn to play violin. It'll be easy. I play guitar. Its a transferable skill." I can tell you right now that it is most certainly NOT a transferable skill! Not even close! I bought him a violin for Christmas and after a few days of unspeakable cat torturing noises it was put away in its case and never mentioned again!!

Burn 'em baby

2010-06-02T21:05:00.002+01:00

We've decided to load all of our CD's onto an ipod to save a little shelf space...okay, quite a lot of shelf space! Aside from being a long, slow, mind-numbingly boring task it has provided a few surprises.

There are a lot of albums we'd forgotten we had, by a lot of artists we'd forgotten existed! Who knew we had so much obscure 90's music? Kula Shaker anyone?! Or Aleisha's Attic...you must remember them! The Lemonheads were maybe a little less obscure...and who'd have thought that we'd have two Moby CD's. I've found loads of 80's stuff I'd forgotten about too - Japan (David Sylvian was so...hot/beautiful/hot..?), Everything but the Girl, T'Pau, Terence Trent D'Arby... It has to be said that some of my more embarrassing 80's purchases are on vinyl (and I'm talking "Rick Astley embarrassing" here) for which I'm kinda grateful. I'm not sure I want to go back and listen to "Never gonna give you up"!

Its certainly a trip down memory lane! Who knows what we're going to find next!

I fought the rose, and the rose won

2010-06-01T19:36:00.004+01:00

I took Friday off to work in the garden. When I say I took the day off, I of course mean that I dealt with all the work email before setting foot outside. As it turned out, being able to duck inside and check email was a brilliant excuse for having a rest!

My garden had gotten a little overgrown. Shrubs were seriously out of hand. It was time to be brutal! I lopped, I pruned, I dug out shrubs. I even had to climb amongst the branches of my corkscrew hazel in order to lever out a stubborn plant. I had branches sticking in all sorts of places. I couldn't stand up. I seriously began to think that I might not be able to make it out of the clutches of the tree and would be stuck there until Stephen got home from Finland!! I hadn't realised that I had contortionist skills until I was trying to get out... I was twisting round on one leg trying not to stand on any delicate plants, and trying to keep from being smacked in the face by one branch whilst another was deciding it would look better in my jeans than I do!

It was a pretty intensive yoga workout! I started in the Five Pointed Star, went through Eagle, Chair, Goddess Squat, Half Bound Lotus Forward Fold, Warrior, Reverse Warrior and Crescent Moon before finally making it out of the shrubbery. This was an excellent point at which to catch my breath, check emails and pick the bits of leaf, twig and insect out of my hair!

I also picked a fight with a standard rose which had fallen over. This was a fight to the death. It was me or it.... I attacked it with loppers and it attacked me with many, many thorns... I had taken off the branches, just leaving the trunk and began to dig it out. OMG! This thing had rooted to Australia!! I could barely budge it. I had the spade and fork underneath it, but could only move it a couple on inches, no matter how hard I levered or with how much vigour I chopped through the roots. I could practically feel blood vessels bursting with the effort!! I was bleeding from the many scratches on my arms, I was sweating and I had managed to achieve 2 inches of movement. I fought the rose...and the rose fought back! I think I won in the end though...but it took our neighbour to help. Brute force won out in the end!

An unusual gateau topping

2010-06-01T19:18:00.003+01:00

I've just watched a cookery programme and it triggered a holiday memory I forgot to share!

Rendezvous has two restaurants. One is the Trysting Place a la carte and the other is the Terrace which is buffet. Stephen and I were choosing food from the buffet when I ended up behind a young lady holding a dessert plate with a slice of rather delicious gateau on it. Nothing unusual about that you may say....except she was piling vegetables onto the plate as well. Then she got a slice of nicely rare beef wellington. And then...she spooned on horseradish sauce....!!!! Eurgh! Most people would pair cream with a gateau!!

All of that one one teeny little plate....horseradish and gateau and beef wellington and carrots!!!! I suppose it all goes down the same way, but a little separation (separate plates, or even separate courses!) might make it more pleasant!

She did the same the next night too. I began to wonder if this was some new diet fad... Or did she think this was Sizzlers where you are only allowed one pass at the buffet??

Anniversary photo

2010-05-23T22:54:00.001+01:00

Looking very shiny...and happy...on our 20th wedding anniversary.

Happy Anniversary to us...

2010-05-23T22:44:00.002+01:00

Tuesday 18th May was our 20th wedding anniversary. I have now been married half my life... and still loving it!

We had a lovely day - breakfast, pool, lunch, jewellery, sun downers on the deck, cocktails at the bar and dinner in the Trysting Place where they had decorated the table with confetti and put the wedding covers on the seats.

"She's sitting on the throne" said the waiter as he settled me in my seat.
"shnorkhehe...um thank you" I replied as I tried to stifle the giggle.... "Sitting on the Throne" in Scotland means sitting on the loo...

Stunning Saint Loo-shah

2010-05-23T21:47:00.004+01:00

There were armed police on the jetway, scoping out everyone getting on the plane. I thought this was a bit extreme as Stephen hadn't been THAT stroppy.... However, Upper Class looked to be very empty so we guessed that there was someone "special" on the flight. Especially as three burly suited and booted blokes were inserted into the front of the immigration queue in St Lucia, apologising to us as they had to get on the same plane back. Hmmm...wonder who it was who was frolicking in the Caribbean surf this week....

Thankfully our cases made it to St Lucia at the same time as we did, so we do owe a thank you to the woman at check-in who was at least not vindictive...or perhaps there were no flights going anywhere far enough...

It takes over an hour to get to the hotel from the airport. We spent that hour in a taxi being driven by a lunatic. He was digital on the accelerator and the brake, and the steering too. I was feeling pretty sick after 1/2 hour. There were times when I had to shut my eyes and offer a quick prayer to whomever upstairs was listening...these times mostly coincided with us being stuck behind a truck which he decided to overtake from 2 cars behind, on a hill, on a blind bend... After a couple of these manoeuvres I was pretty sure that we were going to die horribly. Remember that, thanks to my tablets and consequent threat of projectile vomiting, I was stone cold sober...no cushion of alcohol to soften the peril assessment!

Rendezvous was wonderful. They've had a major refurbishment and it was kind of like turning up to meet your aunt who normally wears Marks & Spencer and finding her tricked out in Chanel. What makes the place special are the staff - and they all seemed to still be there, including our favorite barman Imran and our St Lucian auntie Angie...and they remembered us! Big hugs from all the staff in fact.

We spent the week just chillin'. Thankfully I only had to be sober the first night, as being on an all-inclusive holiday and not being allowed to have a drinkie would have been terrible! Especially as I could have champagne. I can also recommend: Spiced rum and ginger, passionfruit daiquiris, mango daiquiris and the rendezvous delight (it really was!).

Stephen often toddled off to the man-creche. He'd take a hobie cat out sailing or go take part in the activities like"fish a prize" and archery. I lay on my lounger and read books. Lots of books. Bliss! Man, it was hot though! And humid. Drip water on your shirt at lunchtime and it was still damp come dinner...

Our trip out was to the duty-free mall in the harbour. This was a fun trip! Its full of jewellery shops and when there are no cruise chips in port they are quiet and the staff are bored. Needless to say we went in them all! We had such fun in one shop...the two ladies were so funny and we wandered about from display to display in peals of laughter whilst they bedecked me in diamonds and rubies. Very clever on their part as I did end up with a couple of pieces that were gorgeous and I really liked. Very clever also to send these pieces to their display table at the managers cocktail party the next night to further tempt me! Sadly, they were rather expensive and the exchange rate wasn't great so we didn't buy them... we did have a D'oh moment when we looked in the jewellers window in Worcester on Saturday though...!

The check-in at St Lucia was absolutely great! No hassle. No Pressure. No Problem. And an upgrade to Upper Class - YES! The plane must have been oversold as there were lots of upgrades going on - we're not complaining!! It was a great flight....and a great holiday!

Virgin on disaster

2010-05-23T20:27:00.002+01:00

Dear Sir Richard,

Richard, Richard, Richard...oh dearie me, what went wrong with your usually impeccable check-in procedures? For a start, there was a queue at the Upper Class check in desk at Gatwick. So much of a queue that one person didn't recognise it as being such and tried to walk to the front...as we had patiently waited along with everyone else, and as we were next, we were forced to politely point out that he needed to be standing behind the 20 people behind us, not in front. In hindsight, it might have been best to let him queue-jump...

To clear the waiting line before mutiny broke out, they opened up another couple of desks and off we trotted to check in. Now, I have to say here that usually Upper Class check-in is a total delight and the transaction is completed with utmost professionalism and speed. It is a fantastic perk of holding a gold card that you can use this check-in when travelling in other classes and makes a world of difference to the whole travel experience. However, this time I had to check my watch carefully to make sure it said Friday 14th, rather than 13th!

To begin with (and this should have been a clue) the lady asked Stephen for his travel itinerary. Usually you hand over the gold card and the passports and with a couple of keyboard taps they know exactly who you are and where you are flying to, leaving the way free to make pleasant conversation about other things. I always have the e-ticket, but haven't been asked for it in years! This threw him (it was only 06:30am and pre-coffee after all), but we handed it over. Then there was a very conspicuous checking of us against passport photos which made me feel like I was suspected of some heinous crime. Then came the time to check in the bags....

This is where the farce begins. This is where we realise that our check-in lady had been howked off the economy check-in and not schooled in the finer points of checking in the "important" people (and by important I mean impatient, bullish and demanding...). Checking in the hold baggage went fine. Virgin are very generous with their luggage allowance and we were, after all, only going away for a week. It was when we got to cabin baggage that the arguments began, tempers were frayed and toys were scattered liberally about the floor...

"Can I see your cabin baggage please?"
We dutifully lift it up. I have a shoulder bag and Stephen has a wheelie case with our cameras in it, and a laptop bag (both allowed according to baggage policy).
"Hmmm. I'll need to weigh it Sir"
Stephen dutifully puts the case on the scales.
"Hmmm. That's too heavy Sir. You'll need to check it."
"Its got all my camera equipment in it. I'm not going to check it"
"Well its too heavy. You'll need to check it"
"I'm NOT going to check it. It contains five grands worth of camera equipment"
"Well you're not allowed a bag that heavy"
"I've taken this bag on many flights with you"
"You might be allowed it in Upper Class Sir, but not in Economy"

WHAT?!? She mentioned the E word?? At the Upper Class desk?? Are you kidding me? What a terrible breach of etiquette!! Neither Stephen nor the check-in agent were budging...

"I'm a Gold Card holder. Call your Supervisor"

At this point my heart sank a little as Stephen became "that" man, but I stood back and watched the show...

"Sheila, this gentleman's bag is too heavy and he won't check it in"
"It has my camera equipment in it. I can't check it in"
"How heavy is it?"
"Its 9kgs. He's in Economy so the limit is 6kg" (again with the economy!)
"I've taken this bag on many flights with you and never had a problem. Has there been a change in policy?"
"No Sir"
"Then why am I being asked to check it now?"

By this time Stephen is beginning to steam at the ears. Sheila the supervisor probably had no choice but to back up her staff member against the agitated Scotsman...

"You'll need to split it up Sir. If a 9kg bag was to fall on a baby or toddler, then it would kill it and you'd be responsible."

At this point I did think that whilst this was probably true, surely a 6kg case would have the same effect or had they done laboratory testing to determine the exact baby-squishing weight? Hmmm, nevermind...better concentrate on the discussions.

By this point Stephen was opening the case and pulling all his camera gear out.

"What are you doing Sir?"
"Splitting it up"
"You can only take two items through security."
"You asked me to split it up, so I'm splitting it up"
"You can't take 4 pieces through security. What are you going to do with the case? Check it?"
"No"
"Who's bag is that?" She pointed to his laptop bag...
"Mine" he said. I think we both lasered her "don't push it" looks as she dropped that hot potato pretty quickly!

At this point I stepped in. The show had gone on long enough. Sister Mary-Kerry, UN Peace Envoy stepped in.

"Stephen, give me your camera bag and re-pack the rest. STEPHEN. Give me your camera bag." He handed it over and repacked the other stuff. Happiness all round? Nope...!

"I'm going to weigh the bag and write it on. They have scales at the gate so don't even think about repacking it before you fly".

Now...why, after the UN had brokered a peace deal that was acceptable to both sides, would you choose to lob in another grenade?? I dragged the incredibly irate Dr Spark off before warfare began and both sides dug themselves in for WW3. As it was, I was pretty confident that the baggage we had checked in would be winging its way to Sydney rather than St Lucia!!!

It took a couple of glasses of champagne in the lounge, and the purchase of an upgrade to premium economy to make him stop mutteringand gnashing his teeth....!

No pedi pampering for me

2010-05-12T19:45:00.004+01:00

I was in such a good mood yesterday morning, and it vanished so very quickly...

I had booked a pre-holiday pedicure at the gym in work which is now offering treatments one day a week. I duly turned up 5 minutes before my appointment and gave my name to the beautician, only to be met with a dirty look, a pointed stare at the watch and a bit of attitude.

"Gosh, I'm really sorry. I'm a few minutes early. Is that okay?"
"Your appointment was at 11am, so you're actually late. I've got someone else coming in now, so I can't take you today."

Now, this is me we're talking about. I do not get things like the time wrong. Its all about the details after all. I also have something of the Mr Darcy about me, in that once my good opinion is gone its very difficult to get it back. Needless to say I was not happy! Not with the fact that some dumbwit had put my appointment in the book incorrectly, but by the snotty attitude of someone who was young enough to be my daughter (OMG! Scary thought!). Plus, this was a pre-holiday pedicure. This meant that this was something else I was going to have to do in the precious few nights before heading off, along with deciding what to take, packing, colouring my hair, cleaning the kitchen floor, manicure, removal of all excess hair...well its a long pre-holiday list! The grumpiness descended....

I got an email confirming an appointment for a couple of weeks time and mentioning the "confusion"....so I was compelled to write back attaching the email stating my appointment was at 12, and also to suggest that if someone doesn't turn up she may want to phone them as I would have been able to make the 11am appointment if I'd known she was expecting me.... As I said...I was grumpy!! I may have to cancel the appointment now in case she tries to amputate my toes in revenge...!

Your teeth are fine, but...

2010-05-12T19:30:00.003+01:00

I've been in pain for a couple of weeks. I put this down to clenching my jaw (which I know I do), but a trip to the dentist on Monday revealed an additional factor. I've got an infection and I'm now on antibiotics (the kind where you absolutely cannot even sniff alcohol for fear of projectile vomiting and falling down in a dead faint). What fun...!

In an attempt to be kind to my gums I stopped off at Boots and bought Corsodyl toothpaste and mouthwash. Oh. My. God. It is DISGUSTING! This stuff better be doing good, I tell you... The mouthwash is inoffensive, but the toothpaste....eugh! For a start it is a pinky-orangey colour which is just plain wrong... but add to that the fact that it contains mineral salts, thyme, peppermint, myhrr and other substances and its like brushing your teeth with salty toilet descaler. I nearly threw up the first time I used it! It does actually say on the packet that it may take a few weeks to get used to the distinctive taste.... Weeks? I'm supposed to persevere for weeks?? My gums better appreciate this!!!!

Because I'm worth it...

2010-05-11T22:31:00.002+01:00

As it costs me a bloomin' fortune to get a semi-permanent colour put through my hair and, as you can buy a home dye kit in Boots for six quid, I followed along where other women friends had blazed the trail before me and decided to DIY.

Well, the colour looks good, the grey is gone (except for the bits I couldn't see when I took my glasses off) and thanks to a liberal application of Vaseline to my forehead, my skin is still the same colour it should be (which is more than can be said when I go for a salon visit!). For six pounds and 20 minutes its not a bad result!

Of course, by the time I re-grout the bathroom and buy a new set of towels it might not be so cost-effective....

Getting some zzzzzz's

2010-05-11T22:11:00.003+01:00

I had a wonderful nights totally uninterrupted sleep last night. Which made me realise how little that normally happens! When we got home after our extended holiday I woke up a couple of times and had absolutely no idea where I was.... We had slept in 5 beds in 2 weeks and the 6th bed was obviously a bed too far - even though it was ours!

Stephen also has a really annoying habit...he clings onto the duvet when he rolls over so all the covers end up on the floor and i end up freezing. Its been cold here for the past couple of weeks and I was evidently in no mood to put up with this on our first night back after hols. I apparently sat bolt upright (and I only have a dim recollection of this), grabbed the covers and yelled "Give me the covers you asshole". I guess that told him!!! I was more forgiving the following night when I decided to forgo the verbal abuse and just gave him an elbow in the ribs and heaved the covers back onto the bed.

All of this contributes to my lack of sleep and general morning grumpiness. I felt great this morning, not in the least grumpy and tired. How brilliant! Lets see how long it lasts...

I used to hate to epilate

2010-05-08T19:52:00.003+01:00

With all this talk of Rosslyn Chapel, its appropriate to tell you that Kate has found the Holy Grail...and has shared its existence with me. Its what 50% of this planets population has been seeking since the dawn of time (or at least since the advent of skirts shorter than ankle length). Painless epilation is here!

I too have now bought this miracle of whirring, plucking parts encased in its plastic shell and can confirm (relatively) painless hair removal. I mean, its not entirely pain free, but aside from a squeak when I was de-furring my knees and my hobbit toes it really wasn't bad. Stephen didn't have to come and prise me off the ceiling or anything. It was as close to being okay as is possible to get when you're ripping the hair out by the roots!

The eighty quid I spent on this marvellous miracle was worth every penny!

The Sparks did not go to Edinburgh...

2010-05-08T19:16:00.007+01:00

As a joke, Stephen's mum accused him of being in Scotland last weekend and not visiting her.

I want to categorically state that we definitely were NOT in Edinburgh last weekend. We absolutely did not fly up on Friday and spend the weekend with Eve and Chad. Nor did we have a meal with the family on Saturday. And there is absolutely no way we went to Rosslyn Chapel on Sunday to have a look around and gawp in awe at the Apprentice Pillar (and, no, its nothing to do with Suralan Sugar!).

It was definitely not us who were in Wildfire restaurant, or any of the bars around Charlotte Square and George Street on Friday. (Although there is a funny story about Wildfire. They had to check the booking (which we absolutely didn't make or turn up for) as there was a Spark who had been in for lunch, and had also booked in for Saturday night which threw them when they checked the diary and saw Spark on Friday too. In a "small world" moment, it turns out they were from Birmingham and had taken the train up that morning...which confused the staff further as I had explained our late booking due to flight times! I wonder if they were relations! It would have been funny to walk by and see a Stephen clone having dinner! But as we were nowhere near Edinburgh that was never going to happen...)

I also didn't get to have, for the first time in years, a White Pudding supper with saltnsauce....so I can't comment on its deliciousness and the succulence of the saltnsauce slathered chips. You can take the girl out of Edinburgh....and you absolutely cannot let her back for a quick visit!

I also cannot tell you that it was freezing, as I wasn't anywhere north of Worcester, and so I didn't have to go buy Stephen a Harris Tweed cap, nor did I in any way wind him up by buying him a "Jimmy" hat for a laugh.

Absolutely not us having a laugh and a coffee in Edinburgh

Zits

2010-04-27T22:18:00.001+01:00

Its this country! I am obviously allergic to something in the UK. I've been back 36 hours and I have a spot....

Ma heid

2010-04-27T21:42:00.002+01:00

Our last weekend in Alexandria was one of hangovers and shoes........

We moved out of Rudy and Carol's and into our new digs on Friday as they were heading off for the weekend. After 7 hours in the office we packed it up, locked it up and headed off with our bags and cases in search of yet another bed!

We then took a wander down to King Street with a camera to capture a few quintessential Old Town views. Of course, whilst we were at King St we simply HAD to have a Pops Ice Cream and take it down to the Marina. It was just like the old days....us stuffing our faces with some of the best ice cream ever, and the water glasses man playing away in the background. Ahh...I'm gonna make a sentimental journey....

The sentimental journey continued with a trip to my favourite Old Town shop. Namely the Nine West Outlet store. A weeny shop packed floor to ceiling with SHOES!!!! And not only that - they were buy one pair, get one pair half off. So I did!

Our evening was spent recreating our old Friday night out. O'Connells for drinks, sitting outside on the patio at a Thai restaurant for dinner knocking back cocktails, O'Connells for another drink, then Two Nineteen (the weekend office) for more drinks and listen to the band. We made a startling discovery after being ripped off for $13 a glass of PG. Their sparking wine is the cheapest glass on the menu! It was pleasant drinking and a much more reasonable $7. So I had two....

All this boozing meant that the next morning was a little slow..! We headed to Chadwicks for Eggs Benedict and OJ before heading off to Seven Corners. Stephen went for a wander round the guitar shop and I headed to the shoe warehouse. What heaven this place is. As far as the eye can see are boxes of shoes....enough to make me drool! It really was like letting a kid loose in a candy store! All these shoes, all designer, and all reduced..... I really, really had to restrain myself and only bought four pairs. I had to remind myself that there wasn't a 40ft container to bring them home and I'd have to fit the six pairs I'd bought into a case somehow!!

Talk about doing retail therapy! We also went to Tysons Mall as well as Best Buy and Target. We went to Target because we'd figured by this time we'd need another case! We weren't wrong!!

After a late dinner in the Warehouse (yummy steak and crab cakes), we bumped into Morag and Simon along with a couple of their friends and ended up in O'Connells until about 1am. We were both feeling very sorry for ourselves on Sunday morning that's for sure!!! We headed off to the nearby Starbucks for a life-saving coffee and muffin only to find that it was queued about 20 deep with fun-runners. ARGH! Didn't they understand that I NEEDED COFFEE NOW!!!!

Packing with a hangover isn't too much fun. All that bending over when your head is pounding is not clever! At first I thought the new jumbo bag was overkill, then I realised that actually we were actually going to need every available crumb of space. Ooops....

We met with Morag, Simon and the girls for lunch in Southsides. It was burgers and cokes all round!! We all really needed the fat and the sugar! Feeling a bit more alive, but sad to be departing we headed to Dulles for the flight.

I love Virgin! We got an upgrade to Upper on the flight back. What a difference it makes when you have a fully flat bed and a little duvet and some lovely lady wakes you with an orange juice and breakfast in bed. It really is the only way to travel...shame we can't afford to book it!!

Monday was a hard day for me. Stephen headed into work and I got to work on the laundry. I was fine when I was doing something, but as soon as I sat down I was asleep a couple of seconds later!! I opened one case to find that that it had a note saying it was opened and searched. Now - fair enough - they're keeping us safe and I have no issues with that...but why they hell can't they repack it as opposed to scrumpling everything up into a ball and stuffing it back into the case? Worse than that, they had opened up my two carefully wrapped (suspect) packages and not wrapped them again. One was a carved in the round wooded Colonial Pineapple and the other was two plastic bottles of grape jelly. I'd carefully wrapped these in individual plastic bags, then put both bags inside another plastic bag in case they got crushed and went splat all over the case contents. Only one bottle was still in the double bag configuration. The other was loose in the case. I'd have been livid if that had burst all over my clothes!! Thankfully for my blood pressure an dry cleaning bill, all items made it intact.

Photos

2010-04-22T21:13:00.002+01:00

Photos will be forthcoming. But probably not until we get back to the UK as we've literally not had a minute to look at them, never mind sort them, resize them and post them.

As usual we've taken several thousand, so don't go asking to see the holiday snaps until we've sorted through them - you might regret it!!!

But, as you're probably missing our smiling faces - here we are in our temporary office.

Wednesday & Thursday - Keep Calm and Carry On

2010-04-22T20:46:00.003+01:00

Back into the office. I swear we've barely seen daylight this week! Its an inside office with no windows so we could be anywhere. Stephen has been busy writing bids and I've been getting on with my job as usual. There have been a few frustrations - like having to share the laptop with Stephen, not having the information I have on my HD at home, and working off the BB in between times which is giving me BB thumb, but on the whole its been business as usual. We both spoke with our bosses on Wednesday (we have been in constant email contact). Tom was very cool about the situation. As long as we were okay and able to work he said that a flight in a weeks time would be fine. Stephen's boss was cool, but really wants him back in the UK. We had to explain about the flight situation....basically us stranded folks are being slotted onto any available seats. There are no rescue flights coming to get us home!!

We phoned Virgin again to see if there was any improvement to be had since the air space had opened up and after quite a bit of holding whilst they checked, they were able to give us flights on Sunday. Moving us up 3 days was great news!

I had my weekly conference call this morning. We had to laugh when I was explaining that we had a flight on Sunday, it was basically business as usual, and that we had adopted "Keep Calm and Carry On" as our motto. Sarah chipped in with "I'm not sure Tom's keeping calm. As I was walking into the office this morning he drove alongside me, rolled down the window and yelled over "Kerry's coming home!" ". Ahh...its good to be missed!!

We went for pizza at Faccia Luna with Morag, Simon and the girls on Wednesday night. Its THE best pizza in Old Town. We had our favourite pizza from there - honed after plenty of practice to Pepperoni and Onion. The girls were pretty quiet at first, but it didn't take long for Stephen to wind them up to the usual fever pitch of excitement!! Its a skill. I'm not sure that he didn't miss his vocation...

Zits go bye bye

2010-04-22T14:15:00.003+01:00

In other news... The day after we arrived here my spots cleared up! It was a miracle, a MIRACLE I tells ya!! And despite all the stress of the past week, they've not come back! (I really hope I'm not tempting fate here!)

Zena may no longer have to "turn it up to 11" and electrocute my zits. Boots profits may tumble as I no longer need to buy a myriad of spot treatments. I may no longer have to spend hours at night surfing the web to find more and more outlandish spot-banishment solutions.

Of course, it could be that I'm just allergic to the UK and they'll come back with a vengeance! I think it might be something to do with exposure to sunlight. Is this a good reason to put down on a Green Card application d'ya think?? Reason for application: Your climate makes my zits go away. Hmmmm. It would take an understanding Official to pass that one!!

Tuesday - Into the office

2010-04-21T22:52:00.003+01:00

After arriving at the office, I checked BBC online to find my hopes of a quick getaway dashed. No air space was opening up. At this rate our flight on the 28th would be in jeopardy and we'd be returning to the UK sometime in August. If we didn't just apply for our Green Cards of course!

It certainly made me really despondent. There was a glimmer of hope we might get home sooner, then it was snatched away. It turned out to be a changing situation though and thanks to BA brinkmanship I caught the headline that UK air space was open just as we were leaving the office. Thank you to everyone who sent emails and texts to let me know!

I wrote down the precise instructions on the Nats website for directions to the game. When we were nearing the ballpark I realised that we're doing SatNag down in some respects. The Americans must give fundamentally different instructions than the Brits as the ones on the Nats website were equally as likely to send us wrong as SatNag woman was. When we came back she instructed us to go left, then go left when what we were doing was changing lane. Confusingly she also says Go Left when telling you to turn left. Hmmmmm.

The Nats lost. But its always fun to go to the baseball! The Five Guys burger was great. The banter of the beer sellers was great. The beer was great.

Our hosts were flaked out on the sofa when we got home - waiting for the teenage kids (us) to come home maybe? At least with the opening of the air space they won't be forced to adopt us!!

Spent an hour on hold to Virgin before giving up at midnight.

Monday - QQ UK Inc is in business

2010-04-21T22:36:00.004+01:00

We got into the office and Stephen got to work doing techy things to the laptop in order to get it working on the UK system. We made a couple of calls to our IT dept, and were surprised to learn that we were the only people who had phoned in to request things like making our mailbox size larger etc. Oh well, I guess we were in a lucky position of being able to do what we did.

We were very hopeful at reports that UK airspace might open up that night, or the following morning. I had a quick look at how we could book a ship back to the UK....or a row boat...probably each coz we have a lot of luggage...! We began to get news of others stranded abroad. Paul B, stuck in Sweden with some colleagues, my sister in Spain getting on HMS Albion the following day, Stephen's brother and family in Turkey, Richard and family in Majorca. But my heart really went out to the one guy Stephen knows who was stuck airside in Kuala Lumpur with a young family and no luggage (it was checked in and he couldn't get it back) who was told he was being re-booked for mid-May. Nightmare stories like that made us realise that we were in the best position we could be. We had lodgings, all our stuff, somewhere to work, lots of friends nearby and we knew our way around what is, after all, a lovely area.

We decided to go to the baseball on Tuesday as the Nats were playing. What a freakin' nightmare to book tickets on the website. Every page was timed, and it you were too slow you lost the tickets. The page that needed all the address and credit card info gave you a whole 3 minutes to complete it!!! On my second attempt (he'd already tried twice) I was yelling at Stephen for a local phone number "NOW. NOW. I need it faster than that...Oh. There we are. We've timed out again!" Honestly, that laptop nearly became a frisbee!! Between us it took 5 attempts to book the goddamn tickets.

After dinner Carol took us on a personal tour of the monuments at night time. Again, it was something we had never done - usually because we'd be bolstering the profits of O'Connells!! What a fantastic thing to do! We were running about with Stephens camera and a tripod getting photos. The only slightly nervous moment for me was when we were briskly walking to the White House and I realised that I was carrying a long narrow object that could easily be mistaken for a gun, towards the residence of the US President with several police cars and sharp shooters nearby!!

Sunday - A pain in the ash

2010-04-21T22:17:00.003+01:00

After the adrenalin high of Saturday night, we had the low on Sunday morning. We could barely wake up. Our tiredness wasn't helped by the 4am text message. When will Stephen learn to switch it off at night, and when will people learn that he doesn't!!

We dragged ourselves out of bed and packed, checked out of the hotel, then drove down to Rudy's with all of our stuff. We were refugees with our worldly goods in bags standing on his doorstep. I honestly cannot thank them enough for their kind and generous offer to take us in. There were no hotel rooms to be had in the area. Or at least no affordable ones, and 10 days at $300+ per night was a scary thought...

We then scooted off to meet Rob at his Alexandria office and collect the laptops. This was great. We had a place to work and hopefully something to work on. Things were shaping up!

After that we had to get out to Dulles airport to swap rental cars as it had been significantly cheaper for me to book a new one than to extend the one we already had. I nearly died laughing when I saw what they'd given us. We have a Pimpmobile!!!! Honestly, we drove to the baseball on Tuesday through SE DC (the not so nice bit!) and some brother in the same car pulled alongside, window down and some terrible noise that may have been music blasting out the stereo! I'm just glad we didn't get hit in some mistaken drive-by shooting!! I sooooo wanted to find the Stock, Aitken and Waterman radio station and retaliate for the terrible noise, but then that may have opened up the possibility that we really would have been shot!!

When we were at the airport we took the opportunity to go in and speak to Virgin. The desk was quiet which surprised me - I was expecting a scrum. But I guess they'd let everyone know not to turn up. They were helpful, and also said that people who were informed they were cancelled on Sunday were being booked onto flights in May. That rather put things in perspective!

Saturday - The Sparks are staying in Washington

2010-04-21T21:57:00.002+01:00

Its official. The text message came through from Virgin to say our Sunday flight was cancelled. BUGGER! This is not what we wanted to hear I can tell you! Up until we had hope that the volcanic ash cloud would move and our flight would, well, fly... Now we were there with all the other stranded travellers, trying to rebook flights.

We made an emergency dash to Target for toiletries and a pay as you go phone so we didn't rack up huge charges on cell phones or hotel bills. Then after stopping in at friends for 1/2 hour to activate the phone online, and popping to National Harbour for food, we got back to the hotel and into crisis mode. Stephen began the very looooong process of trying to get thorough to Virgin and I began to assess which clothing needed to be washed to get us through another couple of days. Thankfully I made the "wash all knickers and socks" decision, as when I came back from the guest laundry room he had finally got through (after about 3 hours) and was saying out loud words I didn't want to hear: "So you are telling me that the earliest flight we can get on is Wednesday 28th April?". WHAT!?! I had expected a few days delay and they were telling us that we were going to be stuck here for 10 days. TEN DAYS!!!! That was longer than our holiday had been!

At that point I went into turbo drive! I booked another hire car, emailed Rob to see if there were laptops we could use...everything that was going to get us working and mobile.

We walked along to King St to meet Morag & Simon for dinner. I was sitting in the bar before they arrived thinking "I swear I'm having palpitations, my blood pressure is probably sky high. Calm. Calm...". Adrenaline and PG got me through that night, and we had a great time. We ate TexMex and then singularly failed to get into the Speakeasy bar, despite Stephen's best efforts!

Friday - In the Capital

2010-04-21T19:30:00.002+01:00

We metro'd to DC on Friday and headed to the Capital building. I was quite determined to see inside it as this was yet another thing that we hadn't gotten round to doing whilst we actually lived here!!

We made our way through security and into the visitor centre and Stephen disappeared. I was scanning the hundreds of people to try and spot him when this voice said "At your service" in an Arkansas drawl. I turned round and there was Carol! What a total surprise!

It was funny as Rudy had jokingly said that we'd probably need to join one of her tours in order to see her during our visit. Its always useful having a well informed tour guide as a friend, and she was invaluable to us with the hints on what to see in the Capital. We got onto the next tour a few minutes later and got to see the stunning interior which was amazing.

We met with Morag and the girls for ice cream in Old Town later in the afternoon. Morag and I sat on a bench and chatted whilst Stephen entertained the girls. This mostly involved him being a horse, so picture...Stephen crawling about the grass on all fours with one of the girls on his back, whilst the other encouraged him along my kicking him up the bum and smacking his butt. It was hysterical!!!

In the evening it was back to O'Connells to meet with Carol so she could fill us in on her holiday in Chile during the recent earthquake. We joked about the volcano affecting our flight "You can't argue with Mother Nature" was her sage advice! She certainly had experience of that!

Thursday - What volcano?

2010-04-21T19:05:00.003+01:00

We woke on Thursday to a text from Richard saying he was stuck in Majorca due to a volcanic eruption. A bit of investigation on BBC revealed what he was talking about, as the US news channels weren't really covering it yet.

We headed back into Willamsburg for another wander, then onto Jamestown which is a beautiful place in the Springtime. You can imagine landing there, thinking this is brilliant - temperate climate, water accessible, friendly natives...then getting through Summer (scorching temperatures, high humidity, mosquitoes that try to gnaw your arm off - and it was on a swamp so loads of those!) and Winter with its freeze your bits off cold temperatures!!!

I was most impressed with the statue of Pocahontas. It was a lovely statue. But what impressed me most was where the verdigris was rubbed off....which was only on her hands and arms!! I can guarantee you that if that statue was in the UK she would have shiny boobs!!!

After driving back to Old Town we met Paul and Kristen in O'Connells for drinks then dinner. We were talking about the smoking ban in VA which means that we could sit in O'Connells front bar without suffering from smoke inhalation. A pleasant change indeed!

Wednesday - Colonial Williamsburg

2010-04-21T18:36:00.002+01:00

After grabbing a Starbucks to go (yes, my addiction is back as strong as ever - and its not like its even brilliant coffee!) we headed off down to Colonial Williamsburg for a mini-visit to the "Historic Triangle" of Williamsburg (Colonial town and former capital), Jamestown (where the settlers landed) and Yorktown (where they kicked our butt in battle). The SatNag did her usual sterling job. This time getting us to the wrong place via a very convoluted route! We ended up at the entrance to some gated community as opposed to the hotel, but they were very good about giving us directions and lending us a lump hammer to silence the Nag who was, by this point, screaming ""You have reached your destination. Your destination is on the right. WHY are you turning around? You're HERE! MAKE A U TURN NOW. MAKE A U TURN NOW. MAKE A U TURN NOW. Why are you NOT LISTENING TO ME?"

We had a lovely afternoon walking round the town - both the new part and the historic, recreated part. When we had exhausted both ourselves and the photo opportunities we headed back to the hotel via a local Food Lion supermarket. Locals to Virginia are probably laughing now. Stephen jumped in to buy a bottle of wine so we could sit on the veranda and sip. He said that most of the wine came in demijohns and 2l bottles, but he did manage to buy a bottle of NZ Sauvingon Blanc. Can you guys whats coming? Yes...it was finest vinegar when we opened it! We should have checked the label - it was probably years old and not properly stored. The motto here is "when wine is mostly sold in demijohns...buy beer instead!!!"

I am developing quite a taste for martini's. Not the James Bond shaken not stirred ones, but the flavoured ones are delicious! They did really good ones in the place we had dinner. The food wasn't bad either. I had a delicious fillet steak and garlic mash. I think I misread the menu as I expected the mash to involve potato and garlic, but the potato part pretty much seemed to be missing!!! I was not pleasant to be around later I tell you!!

Tuesday - Into the Inc

2010-04-20T21:15:00.003+01:00

Tuesday was our catch up with our friends in the Inc office day. After bit of light shopping in Pentagon Mall (well...a girl has to do...right?!) we entrusted ourselves to the SatNag and headed off to Ballston. She took us a very roundabout route indeed! When Stephen realised where we ended up he realised that we could have gotten there in half the time...SatNag is definitely upholding the female stereotype of not being able to read maps!!

It was so lovely to see everyone again and catch up with them all. Lunch was delicious too - I hope everyone enjoyed the gigantic bar of Cadbury's I left in the office in exchange!

After a quick trip to Tysons Mall for coffee and shopping (what?! Is a girl not allowed to melt some plastic??) we headed to Target and Best Buy for Old Times Sake. Oh, how I miss Target!! I didn't actually buy much, but I did get a rather cute Jean Paul Gaultier (yes, really!!!!) waistcoat. After that we zipped back to the hotel and did our usual quick change routine before heading down to the lobby to wait for the shuttle. Which turned out to be late. Very late. So late in fact that we had to jump in a taxi, rounding up waifs and strays heading the same way as we went!

We were meeting other friends in our favourite bar and then heading for dinner and a good chin wag. O'Connells profits must be back up to pre-April 09 figures this week! We have never been out of the place!! Sometimes we're in twice in an evening... All the staff remember us, which is lovely. None of them can believe that its been a year since we were last in. Anyway our good standing has proved useful when it comes to getting a table and a drink at the bar when its busy!

It was a shame that Andy & Marie got the meeting place a little wrong! They were in Union St and we were in O'Connells. When we got hungry and in danger of becoming sloshed, we headed to Chadwicks so Stephen could have ribs, thinking they might be there as it was their favourite bar, but no... Sadly it all got too complicated. Ah well, I guess stuff happens...

Monday - Beautiful St Michaels

2010-04-20T17:12:00.003+01:00

Monday was a much warmer day than had been forecast so we took advantage of this for a trip over the Bay Bridge to St Michael's which is a gorgeous sleepy little town with a vast marina. Its famous for its fresh crabs, so with Spark logic...we had pizza! It was damn fine pizza! We sat in the open windows of this little restaurant on the main street and watched the world go by against a backdrop of shady trees and wooden houses with large verandas and rockers on the porch. It was very beautiful. It was also very quiet! I don't think people put their boats in the water until the end on May, so there were only a handful of folks milling about.

We were reminded of why we didn't love our Sat Nav - or Sat Nag as we've renamed her. Aside from constantly trying to route us through the centre of DC as opposed to using the Beltway ("Please make a U turn now" is a constant refrain), she was happily trying to work out a detour because the Bay Bridge had mild traffic congestion. Now, there is a lot of coast and water out that way...our options were basically a 300 mile detour, hope that we'd booked an amphibious vehicle instead of a car, or to sit in the traffic jam...which turned out to be on the other side of the road anyway!!

Sunday 11th - Touring the Monuments

2010-04-19T19:48:00.002+01:00

It was an absolutely glorious day on Sunday. We had breakfast in the diner across the road and it was worth the huge wait for the omlette station. It was buffet and it had every conceivable breakfast option you can imagine.....mmmmmmm....waffles.....

After brekkie we headed up to the National Mall and walked down and around the Monuments: the Washington, the WWII, the reflecting pool and the Lincoln where we joined the throng before heading over to the White House to wave hello to the Obama's.

Stephen got pretty sunburn walking about. I was the sensible one with the sunscreen on - but would he listen? Would he? No!!!

We drove past "our" house on the way to Morag & Simon's. That was a weird experience I can tell you! They've repainted the door and hard pruned the magnolia tree in the front garden. It felt strange not to be parking outside and heading in...

Saturday 10th - awake and loving Old Town

2010-04-19T19:35:00.002+01:00

Thanks to the late night we were able to sleep past 5am, so it was up, and down to Firehooks for a coffee and Morning Glory muffin (which is everyone's favourite!). Then we went for a wander round the Farmers Market and bought a lovely watercolour. They sell so much more than fruit and veggies y'know!!

We headed out to Great Falls just after and it was certainly Great! The water level was way up -probably the highest we'd seen it in the times we'd been before. We wanted a bottle of water, but the folks in front of us at the snack bar line were having problems. For a start they were told it was a $5 minimum purchase (even for cash), and when she asked for an ice lolly and changed her mind she was told it was too late. Surely all the guy serving had to do was put it back in the freezer and give her something else... We decided that this was going to be waaaay too difficult to deal with given our minor jet lag, so we jumped rund to Tysons Mall for a pizza slice and the all-important 1st Starbucks of the trip! YAY Starbucks!!

We met up with our old friends Morag & Simon in the evening. What a great night! You've heard the expression "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"? Well, we decided that for Saturday Old Town was Vegas!! Lets just say we were out until 1:30am, we had delicious cocktails that made us drunk from the feet up and Thai food in a new restaurant. An excellent night!!

Friday 9th April - travel to DC

2010-04-19T19:24:00.002+01:00

Aside from my champagne bath at LHR, the only other little problem traveling out to DC was the 2 1/2 hour flight delay due to some computer at Manchester which supplies flight data crashing. After a couple of hours the pilot appeared looking nervous. It must be policy to send them out to reassure people when there is a significant delay. He got as far as our seats and stopped for a chat. We were laughing and joking. He said that a surefire way to make passengers panic was for him to walk down the plane carrying a spanner and wearing a life vest!!

The flight was uneventful and we arrived into Dulles to find a nice shiny new arrivals hall. And most importantly - no queue!! It used to be that you could be stuck there for hours waiting to get through passport control.

We collected the car, drove to the hotel and then jumped in their shuttle down to Chadwicks and a big juicy, char grilled burger! De-lic-ious!! Then we went to the weekend office to listen to the blues band. We were ripped off on the wine though. $13 quid a glass!! Harumph!

By 11:30pm we were bot gritty eyed after having been up for a looooong time, so we jumped a taxi back to the hotel and were in bed and asleep about 20 seconds later.

A pain in the ash

2010-04-19T18:11:00.003+01:00

We have had a lovely time in Virginia and DC...and now, thanks to the volcanic ash cloud, we're going to have a lovely time for another week or so! A full update of our travels will follow.

*Thanks to Simon for the brilliant title. He's wasted as a genius scientist and should be writing for the Sunday Sport!!

The Sparks go back to Washington

2010-04-09T10:46:00.001+01:00

Here we are, at Heathrow airport, sitting in the Lounge. 2 hours to flight time. YAY!

I'm pretty sure Nigella Lawson is sitting having breakfast behind me - a celebrity spot! Quick phone Heat magazine.

We're sipping champagne...and I'm also wearing some! The server managed to launch both glasses from the tray as she brought it over. All over my skirt, shoes, bag, passports...it was her first day (poor thing), but I'm not totally overwhelmed that I'm going to smell like a lush for the rest of the day! Ho hum....

Easter

2010-04-07T20:43:00.002+01:00

Gotta love a 4 day weekend! I've come out of the Easter weekend relaxed and refreshed - finally! We spent a lot of time doing laundry in preparation for our US trip - Yes - even Stephen got stuck into it! We did an absolute mountain of ironing on Monday. Everest was conquered!!! But you know...it feels good!

It wasn't all work though. We did some fun stuff at the weekend...had friends round for dinner, did a bit of wandering round the shops, drank lots of lattes, went to see the ruins of Hailes Abbey and began to jet wash the patio....

I say began...it didn't have an auspicious start. After searching several shops I finally found and bought wellies, didn't try them on in the shop but should have twigged when I picked them out from beside Spiderman and Barbie wellingtons that they were kids ones! The foot size was okay-ish, but I have fatter calves than your average 10 year old...so I had to customise them to get them on! Then we dragged all the kit out the garage and I began to jetwash whilst Stephen ran inside to watch the Grand Prix (his domestic side does not extend to anything garden related!).

It was fine for the first section, but then I had to move the washer. At this point the hose connector flew off. I got wet. VERY wet. I tried to push it back on, but with the water flowing I had no chance. The next problem was that the outside tap wouldn't turn off... I was yelling on Stephen as I was totally soaked and didn't want to soak the kitchen with my tiny wellington'd feet!! He switched off the tap from the inside and I connected the hose to the washer again. He turned back on the water and...the hose flew off and I got soaked again! I cannot tell you how much under my breath (mostly!) swearing was going on at this point. I looked like I had stepped into a bath fully clothed!!

Well, I guess we're not doing that then

2010-03-30T21:45:00.002+01:00

I thought it would be neat if we could do some of the stuff in DC that we never got round to doing...like getting tickets for the Washington Monument. I've just been online and the next available bookable tour tickets are for 1st June!!!!! That is a whole 2 months away and definitely not in our time frame. I thought that tickets sold out a couple of weeks in advance, but 2 months in advance - wow! I'm blaming Dan Brown for this unprecedented upsurge...

A flying visit to East Kilbride

2010-03-29T21:07:00.002+01:00

We did a bit of a flying visit to see Stephen's mum in East Kilbride this weekend. She's not been feeling too well for the past couple of weeks so Sister Mary-Kerry and Dr Spark did a housecall.

We drove up on Saturday morning and back down again on Sunday afternoon, so we're feeling a little bit knackered today. Especially with the clocks going forward which has really screwed with my body clock. It seems to hit me quite hard. Its like having jet lag without the benefit of actually going anywhere!

His Mum was in hospital when we arrived on Saturday, waiting to hear if she was going to be allowed out. It took about an hour before she got the news and we were able to bust her out. We did a bit of running about getting groceries, magazines and flowers etc and when we got back she was snoozing on the sofa. She slept through that night too (the first time in a while) and it seemed to do her a lot of good as she was quite perky in the morning. Definitely an improvement on how she had been recently.

You know its going to be "a day" when....

2010-03-29T21:06:00.000+01:00

You know its going to be a day when the Chairman's EA calls first thing in the morning...

Em: Morning. How are you?
Me: Great. How are you?
Em: Got your coffee?
Me: Yup. Its in my hand.
Em: Drink it...!!
Me: Smmnwahhh (which was the sound of me snorting with laughter)

Its good that we can laugh in the face of (possible) adversity!! You can't keep us down! We laugh in the face of the BA strike and the potential change to all the meetings lined up.

Photos of Ludlow

2010-03-29T20:52:00.000+01:00

Ludlow has some beautiful buildings

Me! In Ludlow castle

The coffee called! It was warm enough to sit outside - yay!

Taken from the top of the tower

Is Stephen moonlighting??

Lovely Ludlow

2010-03-21T21:16:00.002Z

Its officially the first day of Spring today, and Spring has definitely Sprung! It was a gorgeous day, so after the gardening session we grabbed the cameras, put the roof down on the car and headed off to Ludlow for the afternoon.

There is nothing finer than to be in a car, whooshing through the English countryside with the top down, savouring the lovely freshness of the Spring air. Unfortunately there were times when the air became less fresh and I truly wished that we weren't whooshing along with the top down. In fact I was was wishing we were whooshing along with the top up, the windows sealed tight and the air con on "circulate". You appreciate these things when you pass the fields where the farmers have been out muck spreading! There is nothing quite like the smell of freshly spread poo to make you wish for breathing apparatus! Ah...the smell of the country!!

Ludlow was as picturesque as ever! There was an antique fair and flea market going on in Market Square, so we had a little wander round before walking over the road to the castle. We had a good wander about and took loads of photos. Its an impressive place with plenty of history. Parts of it date back to Norman times, and it became a Royal palace in the 15th Century (it was where Prince Arthur (the elder brother of Henry VIII) died whilst on his honeymoon with Catherine of Aragon), before being abandoned in the late 17th century and falling into disrepair. We had a good wander about, although Stephen was more adventurous than me in climbing all the staircases. Some were better than others, but several hundreds of years of use had worn the stone steps quite badly in some cases and I wasn't too keen on landing at the bottom of them in a heap!!

Sunday opening hours really caught us out today! We headed back to the car at just after 4pm and had planned on calling in at the grocery store we had passed earlier. We were doing the whole "give me the camera, the keys, the bag...no take the camera back I can't carry it all" thing in preparation for Stephen ducking into the store...when we realised that the store wasn't actually open!! D'oh! Of course, we had NO FOOD in the fridge at home!! Thankfully we were able to scrabble together a meal from the freezer, but I think that was the last of the proper food that was in there! Its all ice cream now!!

Ring a ring a Roses

2010-03-21T20:59:00.002Z

I ventured out into the garden this morning for a quick burst of pruning. It was pretty much the first time I'd done anything in the garden since we got back last April! It is definitely time to rediscover my gardening genes, if not my gardening jeans!

I pruned the roses, and not in a delicate way. Mum's not a pruner, preferring to let nature do its thing, so the roses were about 8ft tall in some cases. The stems were pretty thick, so I had to use loppers to hack them back! We'll see how they react to my hard treatment. Some were pretty woody, so may need to be replaced anyway. They were also pretty goddamn thorny! There was a rich chorus of "Oww", "F&%$# hell" and "S&%$ that HURT" when I was working my way round. I was wearing thick gloves so my hands were okay - it was the rest of me that was being viciously assaulted!

Its looking better, but I really need to spend a whole day out there getting it into shape. I need to get my gardening muscles into shape first though!