Goodness gracious me! I was in the Royal Post office just now - and the line was longer than I've seen at most ticketing outlets! - when this woman in the line behind me decided to tell me in no uncertain terms that my backpack was a nuisance to society and should be banned and shame on me for not saying sorry for having one ...Huh???... I may have hit her with it at some stage, or it could have been just the fact that I was 'waving it around' was really annoying her - but I can't have hit her at all hard because I'd have felt it, and she was the one that was standing so close to me that every time I moved she had to avoid it - but until lashing out at me, she had said not a word. I think I said that I'd not realised I had hit her and I apologise - which really took the wind out of her sails. Obviously wanted to be mad at someone and decided that me and my offending backpack were a prime target. Well I never! A real 'What the...?' moment.
Was feeling better today so decided to get out of the house and see a little of London - and it's now hailing - so I have taken shelter in the nearest Internet cafe. I have also discovered to my horror that I can't drink the coffee they serve at most places here - it gives me a right old stomach ache... and I used to drink up to three cafe coffees a day at work back home. Wah! I should not have left the house today I do think.
Never mind. Onwards and outwards... to a craft store if I can find one. I need press-studs. Which they call something else here - Metal clasps or something? Courgettes (Zucchini), Cling Film (Glad Wrap), Aubergines (Egg Plant) and now Metal Clasps. Weird!
Tuesday 29 May 2007
Sunday 27 May 2007
Oi Vay!
I have finally had a little relax time this weekend, enforced by some sort of wicked bug, but nice none the less. And even nicer that I have Richard and Hillary's flat to doss in whilst resting - and I have it to myself too, as they are away on a Whisky Tour of Scotland at the moment. It has been a very hectic few weeks. I still haven't blogged about the Hong Kong part of the trip, nor Helen's Hens Night - which was a lot of fun - and I've missed a lot else. Will eventually catch up when I get some down time, but that is in short supply at the moment, so this isn't going to be an accurate up-to-date kind of blog, but more of an occasional when-I-have-time-for-it blog.
I am still getting to grips with all this new technology - blogs, digital camera, wireless networks and all. For someone who hasn't been able to do a lot of really hands on IT for the last five years, it is a little confronting but also a lot of fun. The only problem is that I'm spending so much time playing, I'm getting further and further behind in blogging and archiving photos and all that gaff... ah well. It's all interesting so I'm happy and too bad if no-one else is!! :)
The weather has also conspired to keep me away from the computer until now - it had been lovely and sunny all last week. I even got a little sunburned on one of my days out! But now it is pouring with rain and has done so since yesterday afternoon. So all-in-all, good weather to stay indoors, recover health, and catch up on sleep.
I will try to do another backwards looking blog in a little while - am still trying to sort out how to publish photos to the web and get them into the blog effectively. The first program I tried called picasa2 - which is assocaited with Google and so would have been good to use as my email address and this blog are both Google based - crashed my computer every time I tried to upload photos to the web. The first time(s) I have ever had the blue screen of death on this laptop, and it is from a trusted company! Grrr... So am now trying Flickr - but I am not sure how to connect from Yahoo to Google... am having fun playing!
So, until then - adios!
I am still getting to grips with all this new technology - blogs, digital camera, wireless networks and all. For someone who hasn't been able to do a lot of really hands on IT for the last five years, it is a little confronting but also a lot of fun. The only problem is that I'm spending so much time playing, I'm getting further and further behind in blogging and archiving photos and all that gaff... ah well. It's all interesting so I'm happy and too bad if no-one else is!! :)
The weather has also conspired to keep me away from the computer until now - it had been lovely and sunny all last week. I even got a little sunburned on one of my days out! But now it is pouring with rain and has done so since yesterday afternoon. So all-in-all, good weather to stay indoors, recover health, and catch up on sleep.
I will try to do another backwards looking blog in a little while - am still trying to sort out how to publish photos to the web and get them into the blog effectively. The first program I tried called picasa2 - which is assocaited with Google and so would have been good to use as my email address and this blog are both Google based - crashed my computer every time I tried to upload photos to the web. The first time(s) I have ever had the blue screen of death on this laptop, and it is from a trusted company! Grrr... So am now trying Flickr - but I am not sure how to connect from Yahoo to Google... am having fun playing!
So, until then - adios!
Thursday 24 May 2007
The Wet Wedding...
On the 19th of May, 2007, Helen Burgess married Johan Krabb. So, my best friend of too many years to count, Miss Helen Burgess, is now Mrs Helen Krabb. I was lucky enough to be invited to be part of the celebrations and it was a lot of fun.
We started the day at Helen and Johan's flat - Pat, Janette and Helen went and got their hair and make-up done whilst Bronwyn and I made lunch and finished making Helen's accessories (a cape and bag). The only snag at that point was the number of pairs of stockings I had to go through before actually successfully putting a pair on - moving house does nothing for the health of your nails and no matter how many times I filed them, they kept creating ladders!!! But Helen was fine and we were all picked up and taken to the gardens which was to be the location for the ceremony in friends' cars.
It was a beautiful ceremony, the bride was radiant and the groom teary, the dress was stunning, the location picturesque... and it rained. It was cold and windy and I froze on the only rainy day out of a week of very fine weather! You'd think coming from Canberra I could have handled a mere 13 degrees C, but my toes turned blue and my hands white. I can't remember the last time I was so cold! However, this did not affect either Helen or Johan, and it really was lovely. They had a friend of the family sing and both Pat and Godrun (Johan's mother) read out poems to the couple. Then Helen and Johan read out their vows to each other, duly witnessed by a celebrant and we ended by singing Annie's song. It was all rather touching and very much them if you know what I mean.
The reception afterwards was just as good. The food was excellent, the speeches were some of the most heart-felt I'd ever heard, and the guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Helen, Kate (an Australian friend of the couple living in Sweden) and I even introduced the Nutbush to our Swedish colleagues. Not sure if that is actually a good thing upon reflection, but we had fun doing it anyway!
It was all lovely and I had a ball.... once I'd thawed out!
We started the day at Helen and Johan's flat - Pat, Janette and Helen went and got their hair and make-up done whilst Bronwyn and I made lunch and finished making Helen's accessories (a cape and bag). The only snag at that point was the number of pairs of stockings I had to go through before actually successfully putting a pair on - moving house does nothing for the health of your nails and no matter how many times I filed them, they kept creating ladders!!! But Helen was fine and we were all picked up and taken to the gardens which was to be the location for the ceremony in friends' cars.
It was a beautiful ceremony, the bride was radiant and the groom teary, the dress was stunning, the location picturesque... and it rained. It was cold and windy and I froze on the only rainy day out of a week of very fine weather! You'd think coming from Canberra I could have handled a mere 13 degrees C, but my toes turned blue and my hands white. I can't remember the last time I was so cold! However, this did not affect either Helen or Johan, and it really was lovely. They had a friend of the family sing and both Pat and Godrun (Johan's mother) read out poems to the couple. Then Helen and Johan read out their vows to each other, duly witnessed by a celebrant and we ended by singing Annie's song. It was all rather touching and very much them if you know what I mean.
The reception afterwards was just as good. The food was excellent, the speeches were some of the most heart-felt I'd ever heard, and the guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Helen, Kate (an Australian friend of the couple living in Sweden) and I even introduced the Nutbush to our Swedish colleagues. Not sure if that is actually a good thing upon reflection, but we had fun doing it anyway!
It was all lovely and I had a ball.... once I'd thawed out!
Hopeless Strikes Again
Well... I think I did warn you all that I was an absolutely hopeless correspondent - anyone who knows me knows this at any rate. So I've not been keeping up with this blog and I'm already 10 days or so into the trip.
But never mind - I am now in London - day three, or rather night three right now. I have spent today in Job-hunting mode as yesterday was all about tourist stuff (also because, due to yesterdays excessive walking, I now have blisters on my blisters!) and I may actually have a job opportunity. I missed out on one due to lack of Internet... and when did getting a job depend entirely on your access to the web??? But the very nice man at the recruitment agency emailed me after our conversation and let me know of another - in Cardiff. That's in Wales for the uninitiated. Could be quite fun. The plan was, that if I fail to get a job before going to Poland with Sally, I would make my way up to Edinburgh and try to get a job there. I would at least get to see some of the country that way. But maybe instead of Scotland, I will see Wales... nothing is happening quite as I expected it to on this trip.
My only activity for today was an orientation session with a company called 1st contact, who are hopefully going to help me set up a bank account - a process which has hairs on it here - and gave me all sorts of useful information and websites to look for jobs and housing on. I was quite happy to have been introduced to the service let me tell you.
But I have loads of stuff I haven't blogged about - so let me end this blog and go backwards and hopefully catch up on the first half of the trip....
But never mind - I am now in London - day three, or rather night three right now. I have spent today in Job-hunting mode as yesterday was all about tourist stuff (also because, due to yesterdays excessive walking, I now have blisters on my blisters!) and I may actually have a job opportunity. I missed out on one due to lack of Internet... and when did getting a job depend entirely on your access to the web??? But the very nice man at the recruitment agency emailed me after our conversation and let me know of another - in Cardiff. That's in Wales for the uninitiated. Could be quite fun. The plan was, that if I fail to get a job before going to Poland with Sally, I would make my way up to Edinburgh and try to get a job there. I would at least get to see some of the country that way. But maybe instead of Scotland, I will see Wales... nothing is happening quite as I expected it to on this trip.
My only activity for today was an orientation session with a company called 1st contact, who are hopefully going to help me set up a bank account - a process which has hairs on it here - and gave me all sorts of useful information and websites to look for jobs and housing on. I was quite happy to have been introduced to the service let me tell you.
But I have loads of stuff I haven't blogged about - so let me end this blog and go backwards and hopefully catch up on the first half of the trip....
Saturday 12 May 2007
Panic Has Set In...
Yipes... I leave tomorrow, it's after 7pm and I havn't finished packing. Strike that - I haven't packed period. I swear I am an organised person, but the number of times that I come to the pointy end of an endevour and everything is a last minute dash...you'd think I couldn't keep track of anything. I think that most of the things on my lists are done - too late now!
Oh I am so very wired right now, I think sleep is going to be impossible. Probably a good thing though - I might finish the pack yet!
I was certainly spoilt rotten by working for the government though - I havn't moved myself in seven years. I had forgotten just how horrid and difficult and Painful moving was. If i'd had any appreciation of the annoyance it would cause me, I probably wouldn' t have done it. My back still hasn't recovered and my overwhealming sense of relief at completing it is paralled by my equal dread now of coming back and unpacking everything... thank goodness it's a year away! My lovely memory should have forgotten it by then.
But I had better go and pack. And panic. Lots of Panic. ....eek!
:)
Oh I am so very wired right now, I think sleep is going to be impossible. Probably a good thing though - I might finish the pack yet!
I was certainly spoilt rotten by working for the government though - I havn't moved myself in seven years. I had forgotten just how horrid and difficult and Painful moving was. If i'd had any appreciation of the annoyance it would cause me, I probably wouldn' t have done it. My back still hasn't recovered and my overwhealming sense of relief at completing it is paralled by my equal dread now of coming back and unpacking everything... thank goodness it's a year away! My lovely memory should have forgotten it by then.
But I had better go and pack. And panic. Lots of Panic. ....eek!
:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)