Handing out my heart(s)

May I just apologise for the horrendous amount of time which has passed since my last blog, Auntie Kate, Granny Bet, my bad.

So, 2010 is well underway.  Hang on, I think I mean 2011.  Wholly molly what is going on with time passing by without anyone letting me know.

So I had a delightful visit from my cousin Jon in January, we hit up our local pub called "The Arc" for some beer wine and chips while he tried to watch his beloved Liverpool get beaten...again.

I managed to tick some more markets off my list - Borough Market was very cool, very old school - smells of everything from mulled wine, fresh bread, cooked meat and garbage wafting through the air.


Columbia road market has been recommended to me as the place to buy flowers for weeks now and I finally made the trip with Nick last weekend and was it worth it...oh yes.

An entire street lined with flower stalls with men yelling at you "too-lillies-fo-fi-paaaun!  git-our-lillies-eree"which translate into "here you can purchase two bunches of lillies for 5 pound each, buy them from me not the twat next to me please"

Best flowers I have bought so far, they have bloomed beautifully and smell incredible!  This photo was taken today, 8 days after I made the purchase.

From flowers and baking, I am not getting old.

I have taken to baking like computer programmer to speed dating.  Slightly awkwardly but with some success.  It has come to the point where my colleagues actually get upset if I don't rock up on Monday morning with some sweet fatty tempting delight so I have strategically  put myself in the position where they will have to think at least twice before firing me.

Yesterday I did something I have never done before, made shortbread.  This was a big moment for me as my grandma Bet is the unrivaled queen of at least four things; knitting, Christmas pudding, table tennis  and shortbread. 

It was a special occasion being that today is Valentines Day (BIG SHOUTOUT to my not so little brother Tom on his 21st birthday, if only you had of got your license on your 18th you would be off those damn P plates today!!) so I thought I would do something fitting and make delicious edible love hearts, some sandwiched together with a layer of rasberry jam and shavings of white chocolate, dusted with icing sugar and some dipped in melted semisweet chocolate.

They went down a treat both at home and at work, Bet I think you would be proud :)

 

Nick and I did something that we would not usually do last week and went to see a live band, Art vs Science.  I only knew a few of their songs but when tickets are 8 quid each what have you really got to lose?  It was heaps of fun, here is a little snippet of one of their better known tunes.

 

On a not so interesting note our house is falling apart.  we noticed that the corner of the room was looking a bit damn and within two weeks this has happened.  The property manager is "onto it" but I think I am one step ahead.

It is my belief that the source of this problem is alive, furry and has teeth.  This morning I awoke to a sound that I have not heard in a long time but stirred a deep memory from my childhood.  The sound of grating, of friction, a gnawing repetitive digging which could only be a cute harmless little mouse doing what it does best with those two overgrown teeth which are so vital to its survival.

From my experience as a mouse owner when I was about 12 years old I do believe that there is a rodent on our roof, either making its house or makings its teeth shiny in the structure, therefore opening up the floodgates to the London rain to seep slowly through the bricks and mortar.

I almost don't want to disturb this little dude, he has been working hard making its home up there.  Nick calls me crazy.  If only he knew.

Macaroons

Ice skating at UK Natural History Museum

Christmas feast!

What has happened since my last blog:

1. Heavy snow in our town of Angel
2. Christmas with JoJo and the Phillips family
3. Visited by Nat
4. New years at Cargo
5. Trip to Paris with Nat
6. Back to work
7. Start chaotic fitness addiction

They are the stand out points anyway.

From the start;

Christmas was white, cold yet very cheerful and full of good food, good company and love.  Not to mention surprisingly some sunshine.  Nick and I went to visit Grandma (Audrey) up in Peterborough for a short Christmas break with a nice layer of snow and a clear blue sky, not that the sun did any help in defrosting the snot that was freezing into icicles on the end of your nose.

Dinner at Anna and Jerry's

Then there was Nat, I had been so looking forward to having one of my girls fly over from home to visit me and it was so good to see her!  We did lots of fun things, went to Smithfields market, Camden Town, Soho, Ice skating, Oxford Street, Regents Street and so much more.  Nat fell in love with the brand Karen Millen which I completely respect and understand, good taste she has.

New Years was one of the best I can remember, with my boy and my Nat and my housemates, new outfits and masks!  We celebrated in style, one to remember!

New Years Eve

And then then there was Paris, what an eventful 5 days that was.  Having no expectations apart from rude Parisians and and buttery pastries I was most pleasently surprised by the stench of urine.

Perhaps pleasantly isn't the correct word, lets go with "rudely offended" instead.

Apart from the smell, the never ending trail of homeless people, refusal to participate in post Christmas sales and snobby Parisians who refuse to speak English, it was an enchanting and wonderful place.









We did alot in the few days we were there;

• Musée du Louvre
• Sacré-Cœur Basilica
• Dali Exhibition
• Champs Elysees 
• Galeries Lafayette
• Eiffel tower
• Notre Dame
• Nat seeing snow

One of the ceilings at the Louvre

Top score for food, wine and bubbles.  Nat took us to this unbelievable patisserie/restaurant called Laduree which had both the most incredibly beautiful interior as it did pastries, chocolates, macaroons and preserves.  I bought 8 Macaroons for 14 Euros.  Go on, call me crazy, but they were delicious.

Statue at the Louvre

 We went to another place called Maille which had so many types of oils, vinegars and condiments that you didn't quite know what to do with yourself.  It was so cool, people were coming up with these big ceramic jars with cork plugs and the lady behind the counter would fill them up with what looked like Dijon mustard out of what I can only describe as "mustard on tap" pump like things.

Stand out moment would be visiting Sacre-Couer.  It is a very old and very beautiful Church in Montmarte.  I am by no means religious but for some reason visiting this place stirred something inside.  It made me want to do nothing more than sit down on a pew, close your eyes and just be.  How stupid do I sound?  It the truth though, I do not lie.

Paris had its moments when it shocked me with its enchanting beauty, when you were least expecting it.  All of a sudden you stop and look at the landscape, the cobblestone street, the sun coming through the clouds, just little things and you think to yourself wholly shit it really is beautiful.  I am not going to lie having a glass of Champagne in your had does help.

After visiting Paris I decided that Nick and I will have to go back, see the countryside.  If the city is that picturesque I can only imagine what the rest of it looks like.

View from Sacre Coeur

Oh and a note, to anyone going to the Louvre, GO TO THE SIDE ENTRANCE!  It is called Porte de Lions entrance, saved us 2 hours of standing in a que.

Notre Dame

Lafayette

Streets of Paris

Notre Dame

Happy Birthday to peas

 

What a couple of weeks it has been.

Milestones:

New tattoo by Lord Montana Blue

Successfully reaching the half way point to 50 year old

Moving into our new house.

Colleague Chris looking pro

So last week was my birthday and what a wonderful day it was.  On December 9^th I woke up to my alarm at  6:30am and despite the dark and the cold Nick leapt out of bed because  apparently he needed to pee and appeared in the door 2 minutes later with a tray stacked with Birthday cards from his family, a mini cake with candles and a present from him, a fabulous black leather wallet that I have been eying off from Mimco! The day was long, first I had to catch a 2 ½ hour train to a place called Farnham to meet a client  which was lovely but the way back was not so.  There are students protesting at the moment because they don’t want to pay more for education they would rather they took money from other budgets such as healthcare to fund their 4 year binge drinking episode so the traffic was a nightmare.

We only got back into town at 3pm starving and frustrated.  Luckily we had a night of celebration to look forward to as it was one of my colleague’s birthdays the day before.

What happens when you combine leftovers

 

Twilight/cleaner lady look

Today we finished moving into our new place of residence in Angel and what a relief it is.

Yesterday I spent the best part of a day with my hand down a toilet trying to clean the filth that the previous tenant had left.  Between us Nick and I have converted the room into somewhere beautiful, practical and cosy to call home.

This was not without help, thank goodness for Nicks mum and her man with a van who very kindly got up at the crack of dawn this morning to drive all the way to Enfield to pick us up, help us with some heavy lifting and moving and supplied a bottle of bubbly to officially declare the house ours, a moving in Poinsettia pot plant and a good old “Home sweet home” sign.

 

Awwee

Our new house mates came home with our very own Christmas tree today which we decorated together, the trees are different here you know?

The branches are much thinner which I can deal with but the thing that bothers me is that there is no smell!  The seconde best thing about having a Christmas tree (first being the presents under it) is the smell of pine when you walk into the room but we are not blessed with such fine things in this country.

Relief...

I got a another fantastic surprise today, a little compilation that my man Nick and my amazing friends back home  have made for me on the golden USB.  It has all kinds of little videos and messages, favourite songs on it and it brought the biggest smile to my face, especially you Akemi you dork!  I miss you guys!  Tia, today we were in a pub and that Animal song came on!  Another flash back to your apartment bathroom getting ready to take on the town J

This week is Nicks birthday, work Christmas party and Saturday night is Nick and my joint celebrations so I am sure there will be plenty more to talk about next time.  Don’t worry mum this time it wont include any more body art.

The flowers that Nick got delivered to my work on my birthday

My Shoes

Today it snowed for the first time and it was wonderful...I felt like a kid at Christmas, way too excited for all the locals who see snow as more of an inconvenience than a thrill.

When I walk to work to the train station and then to work I wear some very warm and unprofessional boots so that my feet can stay warm and happy and to avoid any incidents that may occur due to icy conditions and an unbelievable number of cobble stones that can be found around the London streets.


I took this video to show you what I stepped out into this morning, you will notice an appearance from my wonderful Monet umbrella once again, please excuse the language when I realised that my black work wedges were still in the bedroom and not in my handbag.

Puzzle pieces

You can put a whole pumpkin in the oven!

Second week down and we have officially had progress.

Most exciting news is that we found a house!

It is a double story flat just around the corner from Angel Station, within 5 minutes to Fitness First AND Virgin Active (I think the latter one will become mine), 15 minutes walk to work, what can I say the location could not be better.

What I come home to, Nick is a good boy.

We will be living with an Australian couple who are the same age as Nick and I and they seem really nice.  Both the bedrooms have an ensuite and there is a spare room for visitors!  Another plus is that there is a massive paved back courtyard which will be the venue for many a BBQ in summer.

I just cannot wait to hang up my turkish water colour and buy some bedlinen...not to mention a big fluffy wool high GSM doonah to combat these freezing conditions.



mmm dead skin cells



Move in date will be Dec 10th, the place will need a good once over before we get settled so it is going to be a big weekend.

Wish I had the dyson.

 

As you can see I have been doing alot of baking.  It has become my weekend activity and I am really enjoying it but as you could imagine the consequences, a gym membership could not come soon enough.

 

I have become very good at peeling of a face mask in 1 piece



I got "the hump" (translation = the shits) with Nick when I made the carrot cake.  I spent a good few hours in the kitchen, grating carrots, mixing, sifting, beating....there were no beaters in the house so I had to do everything by hand which was exhausting in itself



I think I was dancing, not pretending to be in pump class



The mixture was too much for the tin and when it was in the oven it over flowed everywhere which meant all my greasing and flouring was of no use and it was well and truely stuck in there.  Nick being a foodie said you go sit down and ill fix it.  So I do, but when I return to the kitchen peeking through my fingers waiting for a vision shredded carrot and walnut covered walls I am presented with Nick, with my cake, spreading icing all over it.



First was the relief that the cake had come out in one piece.  Then the realisation that;

1. he was icing my cake (the best bit of he whole process)
2. he had not added the walnuts to the icing prior to spreading as the recipe stated




A boy can dream


3. he was icing the sides of the cake!



"wow, thanks...honey".  I couldn't hide my disappointment and he straight away understood that I was slightly shaken by the blatant assault on my work of art which I was so looking forward to impressing everyone at work with.



But it still tasted fantastic and I think the icing was so yummy everyone loved that if you got a corner piece you got three whole iced sides.  How can you stay mad at a man who greets you with garlic bread, roasted Mediterranean vegetable and walnut salad  and a glass of New Zealand Sav Blanc after a hard days work.

Last night work friends, Nick and I went out for a few games of pool at a bar called 1920 which has incredibly rude wallpaper and then went to a bug called The Gate to see colleague and friend Chris play a gig with his mate Paul.  Lots of fun, the boys did great and it was all up a great start to the weekend.



Tonight we are going into town where I am going to meet Nicks friends for the first time (I have a face mask on as we speak) and then tomorrow he is working at his friends pub for the day because his friend just had a little baby!

Which leaves me with no choice but to go shopping of course.  I need snow boots.

News flash, just got a call from my girl Tia back home, she and Nat are partying it up at my favourite club CQ, oh the memories! 

 

 

Chop Suey

Blunt Rhianna

Opinion please, how should I get my hair cut next week? Vote above...

Cutie Katie

Short Becks

True Blue Natalie

Whinging Poms

First week of work down and I can finally say "Hello Weekend!"

So far so good everyone at work is incredibly lovely, a genuinely fun and easy going group of people that have minimal interest in the rat race and maximum interest in enjoying their work.  Hit the Jackpot...

Throughout the week I got my first Oyster card which was exciting and I must say is quite a simple theory yet works incredibly well and I cannot fathom how our transport sector back home managed to screw up so much back home.  I wonder how they are going with that...

I did have a rather horrific experience on the weekend when I was shopping for my stealth gear, coming home after a long day of shopping with bags hanging of every arm, leg and ear lobe that I had available and for some reason they decided to shut off one the the major lines that I would have used to get home.  No problems, I will use a different station.  No actually I will not because that particular station is also closed because there was too much congestion (as the idiots shut the line so everyone had to use the same station to get to where they wanted to be, gee couldn't see that coming).

It was twice as bad as this

So I got off at some station perhaps Tottenham Street or something and there were SOOOOO many people at that one platform it was like being in the Spice Bazaar in Turkey, squashed from every angle.  This I could handle but the fact that there were so many people moving in the same direction meant that you could move 1 meter every 30 seconds, it felt like being forced into a gas chamber (no offence intended) and took about 35 minutes to get from one platform to the other.  If you were any more claustrophobic than I am you would have freaked out, you see the tube is quite far underground and from an interiors point of view the feeling of space, light and airiness was not high on their priority list when they built it.  So eventually I got home in a huff and good old Nick had a glass of Vino at the ready and food on the stove which always makes everything better.

Now onto the topic of whinging  poms.   They are stereotyped as being a kind of people who bitch and moan for a substantial percentage of their time on this planet and the obvious contributing factors that I could see are as follows:

Low exposure to sunlight

Go on, sing it.

• At the moment the sun rises and sets about bang on when you start and finish work
• Dense cloud coverage prevents UV rays from reaching anybody
• If the sun is out you are wearing too many layers of clothing to absorb even an iota of Vitamin D

 Low intake of Vitamin B

• Vegemite, and Australian staple is very high in vitamin B which is essential for Energy Production, Healthy Nervous System, Good Digestion and maintaining healthy skin, hair and nails.  The British have an underdeveloped palate and therefore do not enjoy this delicious and versatile spread.

These are valid reasons as to why they are a nation of moaners but I have recently discovered some more factors that I believe are a key part of this epidemic:

Annual Leave

• For some reason here in the UK you cannot accrue annual leave.  If you do not use your annual leave it disappears.  You don't even get paid out for it.

Gyms

• To be a member of a half decent gym over here is will set you back about 80 pounds a month.  That is about $130 dollars when the exchange is good.  Everybody knows exercise is good for the body and mind but it seems a little inaccessible at that price.  At the moment the UK is ranked 3rd on the percentage of Obesity list beaten only by, you guessed it the US and Mexico.  Australia is ranked 6th which is my favourite number but is still a little disturbing.

Banks

• You know Barbara?  She lives here.  She has bread like wild fire and here spawn have taken over.

Let me explain.  So, I had a blond moment and left my debit card at a Tescos (equivalent of safeway/coles).  Rang up the shop, yes they have my card I will pick it up on Monday because its around the corner from work.  I go into the bank today with two objectives;

1. To withdraw cash as I have none and will need some before Monday.
2. To see if I can upgrade my account.  

You see when I first created the account I was jobless so they have be a "cash account" something that is generally suitable to bogans/pikies on welfare who make their money off my hard earned taxes by supplying society with a new generation of uneducated and uncivilized shits that, like their predecessors take more than they could ever give to society.

Now that I have a wonderful job as a secret agent I wish to upgrade my account so that I can withdraw MY money from more places (at the moment it is very restricted) and there are other little perks of course, all for about 7 pound a month.  I can live with that.

but NO!  I cannot upgrade my account, I will need to wait 6 months to see if they decide that I am worthy of paying them money to access my money.  Are you frekin serious?  So I say "well how hard is it for me to cancel this account and go next door to your competitor and open a superior account there?".  They said "Easy, you just need to fill out this form".  Idiots.

So I leave that subject and try my other objective with "well at the moment my priority is to withdraw some cash as you know I do not have my card with me, it is at Tescos and I will be picking it up on Monday".

NO DEAL!  They cannot under any circumstances withdraw cash without my card.  This was after she went through and tried to upgrade my account in front of me without asking for ID or anything.
My options were to either wait until Monday to get my card OR lodge the the card had been lost/stolen then they would be able to manually get cash out for me and it would take 1 week to receive my new card.

Electrons - a sub atomic particle carrying a negative electric charge which has no known components or structure.  Such a simple thing but even an electron knows to take the path of least resistance.

So now I am sitting on the sofa by myself contemplating whether or not to go to all the way to old street to get my bloody bogan cash card.  Nick is watching football with some friends so I have the house to myself and quite fancy the idea of running a bath puttting on my "100 most relaxing classical songs" cd and getting back into the sequel of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Decisions Decisions.