brusha brusha brusha

So far on this holiday Jen has used hand cream in her hair as a rejuvinating leave in conditioner. It looked good the first day, the second day though, it had a fair bit of the "something about Mary's" about it. She came out of the bathroom this morning and said "Well that's done it - I've just brushed my teeth with face moisturiser!"

Gee me Jenny knows how to have a good time.

Meet you at the "Old" Crown

Last year, when I was in England for only a few days I asked Tanya, my lovely, lovely friend to choose a place where all of the old crowd could all meet up and have a drink. She did such a fabulous job that I employed her services again for this trip. She then delegated the all important duty to the lovely Saskia who chose "The 'Old' Crown". I didn't realise, that there was a "New" Crown just a couple of doors down and also another "Crown" around the corner.

Tans & Nick

Saskia & my lovely sister, Jodie

So as people finally arrived at "The 'Old' Crown" they all said "Oh, we just had a drink down the road looking for you!" At least they found us in the end.

When I lived in England, I had (and still have - from afar) a fabulous group of friends. I also had (and still have) wonderful friends who I met through schools that I worked in....... I say 'worked' - but it was more like the place I would go for my social meetings - and there were lots of kids around! I do miss my ladies from work and it was fabuloso to see some of them.

Karen and Vikki

Two of the luffliest ladies there ever lived! A big call, but I stand by it.

Karen & myself

This luffly lady, her husband Chris and the gorgeous Miss Polly made the trek down from Rugby (that's in the middle of the UK for those of you who don't know) just to have a drink and a laugh - what absolute super troupers! And they sent hugs and kisses from other luffly ladies that I worked with up there - Marie and Pat - they were well received!

When I first arrived in London, we were sitting in a pub called "Sully's". It was dark and dingy, full of old blokes and pool playing Millwall supporters. But there was one chap who started it all. He bravely approached two very attractive Australian ladies and asked them to join him in a game of pool. Our friendship blossomed from then on and we have never looked back. This person is of course.......

Matt!

He needs no more words. I love him dearly.

I was chuffed with the turnout - especially as it was on a Monday night. I think you are all the toppest people in the world and the next time I visit - it will be on a weekend - I promise!

(L-R): Linda, Matt, Trish, Karen, Vikki, Tans, Nick, Saskia, Tori, Ray, Jasmine, Paula, Karen, Chris, ME, James, JP and Chris.

Absent: Catherine, Jodie (taking the photo)

After the night subsided and people started peeling off to catch their buses and trains we put our order in for one more round..... however, we had drank them out of Magners! The crazy lot we are said well since it's the last drink of the night - we can't let the evening go without doing at least one HOOHA - this for those not quite in the know is a shot of Jagermeister dropped into a pint of Redbull and downed! Once you have consumed the delicious drink - you shout - "HOOHA!" It was our starter drink of choice back then and seemed only fitting to end this reunion evening on the same note.

In the toilet of this pub, they play an audio tape of Treasure Island. So it was quite nice to take a load off every now and then and take in a chapter. Just lucky there wasn't a cue! And speaking of toilets..... we were kindly asked to leave the establishment just after midnight, when I said my goodbyes and ran home in the style of a marathon walker because there was a good chance that I could have wet my pants - I was all of a sudden busting and didn't want to walk all the way up the stairs again. I did, however triumph over my bladder and made it home in one dry piece.

HOOHA!!!

I'm in London still

Arriving in London had a funny feeling for me, it felt like I'd gone back to the town that I grew up in. Everything was familiar and yet seemed like it came from a distant memory. I caught the train out to near where I used to live to see the girls that I lived with in their new house. All my movements were instinctive - I didn't even have to think about which way I needed to turn or which tube line I needed or which stop I needed to get off at. Walking through London Bridge - I weaved through the crowd like a regular train catcher, as I was riding up the escalaters, I even looked over to see if the Cornish Pasty shop was open and was truely disappointed when it wasn't - it used to be my staple breakfast, eaten on the train.

We stayed at the beautiful Covent Garden Hotel. It was so central that you only had to spin around and you had pretty much seen everything. It was fabulously decorated and very comfy and posh.

This is our wallpaper.

Our first day we met up with the lovely Tanya who had, in her role of London Tour Guide, planned our day to make the most of the sunshine. So we walked up to Regent's Park and wandered around soaking up the warmth. We found the Queen Mother's rose garden and OMG - it's fantastic!

How lovely is my Jenny?

How lovely is Tanya?

Answers to both questions: a lot!

Regent's Park has a canal running along the top of it that goes from Camden to Little Venice - Did you know that? I never knew that it even existed! We walked all the way along the canal and had a fabulous lunch at a pub in Little Venice whilst we rested our very tired and very weary and only a little bit blistered feet.

It didn't stop us on day 2 though from going shopping on Oxford Street and then indulging in a very yummy "high tea" at the Haymarket Hotel. Sandwiches, cakes, scones, mini tartlets, tea, champers..... we rolled out of there very nicely and had just enough strength to make it to a West End Show - Sweet Charity.

Cheers!

It was a very whirlwind trip to London - again. There are definite elements that I miss about living there - mostly the people, Cornish Pasties and oddly enough the trains!

An Italian Columbian in Paris

Our week in Gay Paris had come to an end and our last night was going to be spent basking in the splendid glittering delights that the city had so far delivered. We booked our last tour - the illumination tour (for those of you going to Paris - beware) which was to include being picked up from your hotel, taken on a cruise up the Seine and then shown the sights all lit up after dark - all with comentary by our tour guide.

Here's what we got instead..... pick up at our hotel (check), there was already a quiet English couple in the van, then we pick up another 3 people - an Italian family (couple and young girl), who now live in Columbia and who speak Italian and Spanish..... it's then that we are informed that the tour will be in both English and Italian. Now, I'm not a huge fan of the language combination tour. I always feel that I'm never sure if he's speaking English and then I miss the beginning and end of everything that he says - but this time, it didn't matter because the Italian Columbian overrode the whole tour and spoke non stop in Italian - monolopising the tour guide who had to answer in Italian! So we sat in silence and waited until we understood something. One thing we did understand though is that 10 mintues after they had been picked up - they realised that they had left their phone at the hotel and wanted to go back and get it. Without a word the driver turned around and did just that. You would think perhaps an "I'm sorry" or " mi dispiace" or "Lo Siento" or "je suis desole" - but nothing!, niente!, nada!, aucunement! He, in fact a long with his wife had no idea that there were other people in the van. She talked on her mobile phone then they passed the phone around and all had a conversation with the woman's sister in Rome (I think) - all the while the tour guide is trying to point out monuments and give information.

We finally get to the boat and it's not a sedate cruise run by the tour operaters, but a large ferry that carries about a million people on it at once and when I say people...... I mean tourists and when I say tourists, I mean those tourists that nobody wants to be associated with no matter what country you come from. These are the people that will stand in front of you to get a better view - with no regard to your view! The people who will physically manhandle and elbow you out the way to get in front! The people who have no respect for personal space! Well..... they were all there on this boat. It went for about an hour and the cruise itself was actually lovely - although Jodie and I did have to brave the bitterly cold wind in order to get away from the "tourists" - we left Jen to fend for herself.

Clearly we were all in pretty good moods (sarcasm) after walking all day (very tired), it was very late (for the lights to be on), we'd dealt with the Italian Columbian's and then we were driven around Paris for an hour in what seemed like peak hour traffic even though it was midnight listening to our tour guide explain things in Italian...... we were ready to get out of the bus and get to bed.

Tomorrow we board the Eurostar - always a thrill for an West Australian, where there are no trains to speak of!

A little less conversation a little more action please

You know when you're walking in one direction and you pass people going the other way who are speaking really loudly either on their phones or to their friends and you just catch a portion of the sentence? Well here are some snippets of conversations that we have overheard on our travels........

* Why do I smell loike oim on foire.......? (please read with strong, twangy Australian accent)

* You go into the lounge and look on the left hand side of the TV...........

* It's either in the Ann Summers or the harmony sex shop..........

* Sweetie, sweetie, I just love you to bits......... (please read in strong American accent)

* So I said to him ' That's just not good enough...............'

Where are these people going? What the hell are they talking about?

I feel that this post may be ongoing...............

The Gulls of the Lake

Check out these fish - have you ever seen anything like it? People were throwing bread in to them and they were clambering all over each other to get it! The seagulls of the water!

The French Inquisition

I don't know if you will remember, but one of our earlier posts explained that my sister had tried her hardest to book tickets with her French hotel for a show in London..... anyway - she thought she'd got away with it but today the little man at the reception called us over and and asked why we hadn't replied to his email that said he was having a problem finding this show in Paris...... I pointed the finger directly at Jodie and let her try and explain the situation. She was very apologetic, but felt even more mortified as he explained how many people he had called and how many hours he had spent trying to find this show and this theatre. His voice becoming more and more high pitched and squealy. Luckily he had good humour and let her off.