Don't be surprised...

It's the sign of a true scrapbooker! Point a camera at them and what do they do.... pull out their camera and take your photo in a flash!

2 + 1 blackbirds in a pie...

Oh what a wonderful pie... ! I hear you say 'it's a pie worth sharing' and that's exactly what happened. Me & Ginger sat in the sun and managed to get to the bottom of this yummy chicken, ham and leek pie with scrummy cauliflower cheese, without too much trouble

Love-hate relationship...

That's what I have with those little suckers called mussels...! I was in Highcliffe today, Pebble Beach restaurant, which serves the most amazing fish dishes. The place overlooks the isle of wight and it's a brilliant place to go for a business lunch. I ordered a seafood pancake which was delicious and included salmon, white fish, scallops, large king prawns and those little suckers all covered in sauce and gruyere cheese. Not wanting to be embarrassed in front of the clients, and as part of my 'eat something different' challenge, I ate some... but I'm still not sure why... !

It's just like a sneeze...!

Atishoo....! And you've lost 3 days! Okay, I didn't lose them because I know exactly what I've been doing... mmm, let me think.. working? Yes, that's it... working my little socks off. Kent on Monday, Bristol on Tuesday and again today, with very little else sandwiched in-between. I did find out how to retrieve my voice mail messages at work today. I asked IT not to put voice mail on my phone because I'm not always there. But I discovered that they had... and the very officious lady said you have 1... hundred and 47 new messages! It was even more funny when I listened to the first one, because you have to do it in that order, it's only from August 04! There are the 'can you give me a call' messages and the 'umph!' messages and with the click, or many clicks, of the '3' button on my phone, I've managed to almost delete all of them. Took me a while of course, and now I imagine I'll need a new '3' button because I've worn the old one out...! Hey ho... just off for yummy food and meet up with the gorgeous Ginger! X

Best way to spend a Sunday..!

Lazy Sunday lunches... what a treat to have a glass of Kia Royale, fresh prawns with garlic mayonnaise, Roast Pork and a selection of homemade ice-creams.. yum! All this and sitting outside in the beautiful sunshine, fantastic! Me & Ginger have been crafting... again! Ginger arrived late last night so we crafted until 2:45am then up again around 8am for a lazy Sunday breakie and more crafting.
I'm not sure who messed up my desk? It's a highly creative mess and the little Miss Innocent look doesn't wash with me!

happy feet... x

Oh it's just like summertime! I have treated myself to a pair of flip flops. I haven't had a pair for years but Liz said which ones to choose and okay, I haven't mastered the art of driving them yet, but I hope I will. From bobby blue boots (that I'd have to say I have a love/hate relationship with), to pretty, jeweled flip flops in a flash, all with the help of my flexible friend. My pretty feet have walked those streets of London and discovered that they are not paved with gold. In fact, there are plenty of ways to spend your gold in London and I've succumbed to some of them. But, it was definately time to come home today and as expected, the trains were fashionably late with a half hour delay leaving Paddington. But it didn't matter because I was chilling out, reading my book, having a cup of tea and a muffin bought whilst standing beside the next prime minister! How cool is that?! David rocks!
You know when you have one of those moments when you recognise someone but are not quite sure why? Out of context then even DC looked like a normal guy waiting for a train. He walked right past me at Paddington station and you know, he's a lot slimmer and fitter than I imagined him to be. That's widescreen tv for you! Thankfully, I didn't embarrass myself by telling him, though it did cross my mind! It's hard for my friends to believe (yes, admit it!) but sometimes I do have the wearwithall to keep my mouth firmly shut! He doesn't look all of his 42 years either, but if he's going to tuck into Milly's cookies he's going to have to watch his waistline! Not something most politicians seem to worry about! There were a few other commuters with cameras at the ready when they realised who it was, but I was the closest and the first and didn't miss the opportunity to stand beside him and buy my blueberry muffin! Another first - thanx DC! x

Hot stuff!

It's baking down here so I have my pretty little feet up and having a rest. Today we've stormed the Tower of London and escaped by boat to Westminster armed with a small goat's cheese salad and a piece of coffee and walnut cake! Even the ravens couldn't stop us making off with those crown jewels under our arms. Okay, I'm not starrng in the next Mission Impossible Heist to steal the queens jewels. With only one attempt in the past goodness knows how many years, I think her royal highness has nothing to fear. The crowns are very splendid and the moving walkway that you stand on to view them gives you just enough time to take in the diamond encrusted, solid gold, ermine fur trimmed 'hat' that they are. For no other purpose than to be adorned because there's not enough fur to keep your head warm and the weight of all that gold and jewels has to be uncomfortable! As Liz said, it seems strange that in this day and age, the royals 'wear' them on occasions. But it's all about tradition and wealth. Stick a party hat out of a cracker on their heads and they wouldn't look quite so splendid would they?

Of course the Tower isn't just about the jewels. HIghlights include the armour worn by Henry VIII and his horse of course! All the various towers which we scaled and decended following in the footsteps of all those famous souls who have trod that way before. Some for the last time, it appears. Traitors Gate is bricked up and mostly under water with the high tide in the middle of the day. It's less than 400 years since the great fire of 1666. How different life is now!

From the Tower we took the boat down to Westminster. It was great to be out in the sun with a bit of a breeze. The sights were splendido... so after all that we've come back for a rest and a nap! x

A BIG adventure

I'm listening to the workmen outside the window and now there's a train wizzing past.. it's ain't like life in the country down here! I'm down in the BIG city and wondering how people get used to this noisy life - or, perhaps they become accustomed to it and filter it out? I'm sleeping on the sofa (thanx IKEA) at Liz's and it's the start of another day in the BIG city. I came down on the train yesterday from Kemble. I got the train with about 1 minute to spare! A couple of hours later and I'm here in the apartment and it feels like summer has arrived. The sun is out and it's very warm, oh how I wish I'd packed a dress and sandels! We took ourselves off to Covent Garden and sat outside on the terrace of Chez Gerard, which used to be one of my favourite places in Bristol until they closed it down. Had a glass of chilled Kia and sea bass with green beans, prawns and spinach - yum! Next we went down to the Thames and just walked and walked. The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, BlackFriars Bridge, St. Pauls, OXO Tower.. all icons that mean you are in no doubt where you are - well, that's what Liz says anyway!

I have this theory that as there's a big, fat river flowing through most capital cities and those cities are all populated by people in search of their fortune. They are all cosmopolitan in choices of restaurants, people, entertainment so the only thing that sets each one apart from another is the view, the landmarks and often the temperature. London, particularly the Thames, is like no other city if you're in sight of one of it's famous landmarks. If you're not then you could be in Paris, Budapest, NYC because the mix is similar for all big cities.

This big city of London has one of the most well known modern art galleries in the World, Tate Modern. I've not visited before and I was impressed by the scale and style of the inside of what used to be a electricity station - the turbine room with all the big equipment is on view on the ground floor. I always believe galleries are only memorable by the pieces in them. If I can't remember them then I'm not into them. Liz laughs at my 'arty' approach to things. In fact, I'm now 'a media type' according to Liz! Memorable moments in the Tate Modern were the Mondrain, a Picasso, Miro, Monet and something entitled '30 pieces of silver'.

The entire room was devoted to this one piece of art/sculpture. The artist, Cornelia Parker had taken over 1000 pieces of silver from junk shops and boot sales including spoons, cutlery, candlesticks, cigarette cases, teapots, a flute, laid them out on a road and flattened them by getting someone to run over them with a steam roller! She them grouped them into 30 circular arrangements and suspended each item on a wire from the ceiling so they hang about 10cm from the floor. We both thought it was a clever, humorous idea that made us smile. We were too late to get tickets to one of the galleries so we'll be going back!

We then legged it over to Leicester Square for a quick milk shake in Ed's before going to see 27 dresses at the cinema. We almost had the screening to ourselves, just 2 other girls in there. Not a brilliant film really, very slushy and not a particularly strong storyline. But hey ho, it was reasonably entertaining. Oh how my feet were aching by the time we got back to the apartment just around 10pm!

Let's see how they fare today on our trip to the Tower! X

Horses for courses... !

Yeah... what a fun packed day. And that's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek comment considering the day I've had. It started at 8:30am when I went to get petrol, milk, cash and decided to have a relaxing coffee and croissant in Hobbs. Oh thank you guardian angel..., I'm not sure why you chose today... but I'm there minding my own business when who should walk in but Steve and his gf. The look on his face was a classic. It's a good job he can't read my mind... enough said! Reality has a habit of biting you in the bum when you least expect it but you know what... when it does, you just have to get on with it. The best bit about today was that I was spending it with the lovely Tash, Steve's daughter going to Badminton Horse Trails. What a great day we've had. It's such a great way to spend a day, wandering around the grounds of a beautiful estate, people watching, chatting and gossiping, having plenty of fresh air, shopping for wine! ooops, and watching the horses, nearly forgot that bit! We sat beside the course on a Waitrose plastic carrier with two cups of coffee and the most enormous hot pork baguettes. JOY! And we decided that 'home' as in Badminton house, whilst being very expensive to carpet and heat, was where we'd both like to live! Got the helicopter down there too, we just need to find the good looking, generous, millionaire to go with it now. One each, of course! I'd have to say that the whole event was brilliantly organised and we loved it. Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Indian. So, after watching a bit of tv we took ourselves off to the Passage to India where we've put the world to rights! Fab day! X