And now, the news...

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long week end Posted: Tuesday, May 8 2007 by Catherine

 

Thisweek-end has been reasonably relaxing. Friday I cleaned and tidied for the viewings on Saturday.  Saturday we shopped and then I BAKED!!!!  Vegan cup cakes and Anzac biscuits.

Sunday  we took our baking and drove to Greenwich, 15 miles in an hour and 10 minutes!  Yes people, that was right: madness!  The trip was slightly hair-raising but Anthonydrove.  Then we crammed into Alex and Laura’splace for the 50’s themed party.  I worepearls and Anthony a bowling shirt.

We chattedand snacked and then headed home.  Idrove… I HATE driving in London, it took 40 minutes but it wasnerve racking.

Today isrelaxing and Anthony has studied and I have lazed around.  Tomorrow, work.  Pah!

This weekhas been stressful and relaxing it its own way. Work has finally got to me and I am in the process of drafting myresignation letter and am now openly looking for work.

We have hadpeople viewing the flat with an eye to buy. The thoughts of living at grandma’s came to the front. I hate the factthat strangers are walking through my home and could be making judgements aboutthe way I live.  Grrrrr.

So I feelgreat I have chosen to leave the job and Anthony was very supportive ofthis.  We have to move by the 4^thof July so I won’t be leaving before then. But I am glad I am going, the stress can go.  We have had a stay at home week and thisweek-end is a long week-end with not too much to do.

After the excitementof Whitby I came home to a sombre email fromDavid Syber.  David and Penny own a pairof book shops in Melbourne and for an awfully long time were a centralpart of my life and social circle.  In factI think my Melbourne social circle can be traced back to thatwonderful bookshop on Chapel Street. I met some wonderful people there, including Luke.  Forever known as big Luke because of the two Lukeswho came into the shop.  I knew Luke alsofrom the Fanny O’Dea pub which is also how I know Tracey.  Luke and I got along really well, we weregeeky and loved working with kids, he was a teacher.  He was the first person I had met who had livedon his own.  I spent a number good timesat his place and he at mine.  He evencame to Ballarat for Christmas dinner with my family one year.

We wereclose enough than when he moved to the northern territory I let in the cleaners into hisflat.  He was going to teach in an Aboriginalcommunity in the top end.  It was to givehim new start and most likely would have been for 12 months.  We kept in sporadic contact as he settledinto the tiny community.  He found ittough but we talked and he came down and stayed with Tracey and I one time withTracey, Jack and I.  I have a photo ofhim taken sitting in bed playing the guitar. It was the last time I saw him.

He went to England and I got a crazy email from himand Elizabeth, quite drunk in an internet café and babbling rubbish.  That is where the term little death comesfrom.

We lostcontact from them, I think we drifted apart as he forged a new life in the territory.

The email Igot was that Luke had killed himself.  Ihave not seen him for seven years and we had drifted apart but it was still ashock.  I am disappointed in Luke that hehas left behind his wife and his family and his friends.  There were always people who would havelistened.  I am saddened that he feltthere was no other way.  Tracey andElizabeth and I have called each other with this sad news and talked aboutit.  Hopefully this will keep ourfriendships together and we won’t let them drift apart to that point.

I willalways be grateful to Penny and David for the support they gave to me throughmy hard times and to all the other lost souls who drift through their doors. 

RIP Luke. I hope you are in peace

So I coulddo an entry for each day at Whitby but that would be too hard.  So you have a huge entry to read!

Thursday

We packedmost of the gear last night for a reasonably early start for the morning.  It took forever to pack the car, I think Ihad more clothing for this trip than I had in my initial trip to England. There were five pairs of shoes and enough clothes for two outfits everyday.  So the car held all the gear but itwas an exciting packing experience as the Corsa is not the largest car outthere. We got ourselves and turned on the Satnav and we were off!  Unfortunately the lady with the calm voicedid send us through Putney and Hammersmith and that was a little hair-raising.  It took an hour and half to get out London, and the traffic is insane.

We got outof London and found one of the huge servicecentres they have here in England, I have written about these beforebut they still astound me.  We ate andthen it was my turn to drive.  So thatwas exciting experience, open road driving is very different in England. There is a lot more traffic and the speed limit is 70 miles per hour butif it is not a M or motorway they put crazy stuff on it like roundabouts!  It is insane. The other thing was the beautiful fields; they are green, just sogreen.  Also it seems that Canola or Rapeseedis gaining popularity as a crop.  The fieldsof gold are just amazing, they roll over hills and fenced with hedges and stonefences.  Just wonderful.  Other than that I enjoy ducking in and out ofthe traffic and generally trying out what the new car will do.

We arrivedin Whitby with Anthony at the helm afterdriving over the Yorkshire Moors, quite a desolate landscape.  The cottage that Clive had found for us wasjust amazing! It was huge!  Built in the1890s it had four floors and six bedrooms! There was enough room to sleep ten and there was only there was onlyfive of us.  There were two lounge areasand a great kitchen with a huge table in it. It was very homey with the added bonus of great people to share with,Ellie, Peter and Clive.  Along with myhusband. 

Peter and Iwent shopping for supplies and that is when I realised what we had let  ourselves in for.  We were shopping and in every isle there were Goths.  Generally in pairs, shopping for supplies andvery few people stared, the local were obviously used to it!  We got back to the house and I baked Anzacbiscuits and we generally sat around and mapped out the first night.

We had abonding time by getting dressed and heading down to the Elisnor and finding outthat the incident in the supermarket was not an isolated one.  The Elsinor had a huge sign on the frontsaying “Welcome Goths”  How cool isthat?  The pub was heaving with Goths, itwas full of people that we knew and more we didn’t.  We discovered that people travel from allover England and some internationally for this event.  It was astounding all these people, goth ofevery type from trad to cyber muppets!  Wethen headed off to dinner when we saw a group of full Victoria Goths, completewith the men in top hats and women in crinolines and capes.  It was just wonderful. 

Dinner wasgreat, really posh food, you know the type, small portions and extravagant descriptions.  Now sometimes this type of food disappointsbut not at Sixpence and Moon, it was just yummy.  Those who order fish were very impressed andI was blown away with my tiny but beautifully cooked pork medallions wrapped inbacon with a wonderfully decadent sauce. We then moved back to the pub for more gin and tonics and chatting.  The Elisnor was overly crowed and Ellie and Imoved to Revolutions and found another crowd of people to chat too.  Last drinks were called and we moved onto anafter party at Robin and Ruth’s place, which was very cute and homely.  Here I made the only drinking mistake of theweek-end.  I mixed Cider (which was verynice) with the G&T’s.  The result inthe morning was not pleasant.

We chattedwith the guys until very late and then tottered home through the slightly mistystreets.

Friday

Today becamefeeling very delicate.  I was very hungover and will never mix Gin with anything else again!  So we started slow.  Clive, Anthony and I finally made it out ofthe house about one and headed down to the spa. This is where the official gigs are held and we had to exchange outwrist bands for the tickets I bought weeks ago. Then it was trawling through the large amounts of stalls ofblack!!!  We looked and to be honestnothing really took my fancy but we looked any way.  I did find a woman who made tiaras includingones with little bats and skulls.  I wasnot taken by the skulls but I was by her wonderful wedding tiaras, and sheagreed to make one to order, a pearl one using black pearls and red beads!  It was £60 but Anthony said to spoil myself,so I did.  We also found a black tailcoat for the lad, it fitted wonderfully and was only £15!  We then headed back to house for nappage.

Well thatwas the plan but we stopped for lunch at the nicest café and then gotdistracted by shiney things in the shop opposite.  We walked out with a pearl ring for me and agreat hat for Anthony.  I then found a featherhair piece for my Saturday night out it.

We finallygot home and napped.

We then gotready to head out to the Spa.

Well, forme the dressing up was the exciting bit for me! So I wore my original medieval goth dress with the red sleeves and velvetbody.  I felt wonderful; the dress hadbeen trimmed down to fit my new figure!  Anthonywore his new jacket and new shirt with a wing collar.  He looked so handsome.

The groupof us walked down to the spa looking splendid! We arrived and there were people every where, all beautifullydressed.  The rest of the night was spentmoving from on room to the other, chatting and generally checking out the beautifulpeople.  I could continue to gush but youget the idea.

We went offto Robins and Ruth’s for another after party but not before we went home forgin!  There was not going to be morecider!

Saturday

Again weslept late and when everyone started moving we cooked breakfast with avegetarian flavour.  We then agreed tohave dinner together and then all split for our own activities.  Anthony and I headed to the abbey.  Another ruin from Henry VIII’s dissolution ofthe monasteries.  There were a number ofgroups of Goths wandering around having there photos amongst the atmosphericruins.

We got backto the house and put together a slap up meal of pasta and the most wonderfulcake made by Ellie.  It was completely decadent!

Then it wasdress up time again!  Anthony looked justwonder, so spiffy and handsome.  He worehis top hat, high collar, silver cravat with frog pin and his new jacket!  I wore my new adjusted corset, and skirt andtopped off with long gloves and feathers in my hair.  I have put this on the front page!

We wentback down to the spa and did a very similar thing as to last night but we alsogot our picture taken.  We stumbled outlate into the freezing cold and headed to the house for toast.  I was tired to retired for the night and therest of the band headed off to Fran and CJ’s place to continue partying.  The rest stumbled in when the sun came up.

Sunday

Guesswhat?  We slept in.  Anthony and I spent a few hours in the afternoonaimlessly driving across the moors in the mists.  Taking photos of sheep, fences and generallywith slightly damp country side.

We then gotdressed for the eighties night and headed into town.  We stopped on the way to chat to the crazypeople lining up to get into the night club. We could have joined them but we had other plans.  We went back to the restaurant we had eatenat the first night we were there and had a nice couple moment.  We chatted about a range of stuff and it wasreally pleasant.  We then headed back tothe craziness of the eighties night.  Itwas very, very cheesey and fun.  Verynice and relaxed way to round out what has proved to be a great week-end.

Monday

We got upearlier than we had before this week-end. We packed and reluctantly left behind Whitby. We stopped to take photos of the yellow fields and the moors.  I drove most the way with Anthony doing the scarydriving in London.

We got hometo huge amounts of washing and generally getting ready for work on Tuesday.

The downside was the real estate agent rang to say that there would be a viewing forthe house, tomorrow!  Great, so my nightwas spent tidying and cleaning and generally getting the place spic and spanfor that.

We are offf! Very excited, I have more clothes for three days than I had for the first six months here!

It has been a mad old week.

I have been running around getting ready for Whitby, the huge Goth week-end in Yorkshire I am very excited.

Last Thursday we saw Explosions in the Sky live at the Astoria.  It was an okay gig, a lot of standing and Indie kids, mostly boys with scruffy beards.  It was hot and crowded and the music did not thrill me that much but Anthony enjoyed it.

Work in general has been insanely busy with students madly finishing off their course work.  More that a little crowded in the Library and my stress levels a little high.

Friday I was with Ellie and we went to see the first episode of the IT crowd being filmed.  Being the only gothy Goth in the audience I was pulled out by the warm up fellow, the main reason being they have an over top goth as a reoccurring character on the show.  It was a good night and interesting to watch.  The down side was we were in deepest darkest Buckinghamshire and getting home was a little long winded.

Anthony appeared home very jolly, at about 4 in the morning and woke feeling under the weather.

We cheered him up by going shopping for clothes at Marks and Spencer's on Oxford Street.  I also found a gentleman's outfitter for the collar studs for Anthony's shirt.

Also bought a whole heap of short socks with stripes and stuff to wear under my work trousers.

It was quit late when we finally got back and the landlord popped around and griped about the clutter in the house because he is going to be selling the flat soon.  And to that I say Pah!!

Sunday I rose early and we went shopping for supplies for Whitby, (gin and tonic) and a small supply of food for the wee. Then it was sewing time.  I discovered that the light in the lounge is rubbish as I got the wrong side and right side of the fabric the wrong way around!  I the bright sunlight it become very clear!  But it went well, I had some problems but it seemed to be smoother than it could have been considering I only yelled at the fabric a couple of times and Anthony kept turning on the vacuum!

The last few days have been work and then home to sew.

I have completed Anthony's shirt with two detachable collars and adjust my bustle skirt as it does not look as good as it once did.  There is no bustle now and it has a frill on the bottom.  I wanted to make a petticoat but ran out of time so am using the wedding dress petticoat.

Tomorrow I am off and I am very excited, I won't be posting whilst there but will when I get back!

Work and frustrationlevels are rising, my legs are sore and I have been using the sticks atwork.  I could go on but I have things tothink about because I am not happy there.

In othergood news, Monday night I headed over and we finally got the car.  We know own a 2006 Corsa mad by Vauxhallwhich is Holden here.

Last nightI got a lot of sewing done, I am into the shirt and have discovered I still struggleto sew a straight line but can put a yoke together astounds me.

Today thestudents were back and it seemed everyone had forgotten their passwords.  I contacted books all day.  Andy my corset woman here dropped over myblack dragon corset ready for Whitby. It looks good, will have tried it on later.  Tonight I was going to tackle the sleeves butthings conspired against me and I am kicking myself for not bringing tailor’spaper with me.  But I did adjust myfavourite velvet gowns and they look very cool and not sack like at all.

Tomorrow isan Explosions in the Sky gig and Friday I am going to see the IT crowd filmedwith Ellie.

The weekendis more sewing.

Thisweek-end has been frantic!

Fridaynight was B-Movie, a once a month Goth night that had been forced to movelocation.  It was a huge night and we hada great time, there were lots people to catch up with and chat with.  It was a great cosy venue and I hear themusic is going change a little next time. We had to get the last tube but had a good night.

Saturday wewere woken by the TV fix man, followed quickly by the fridge delivery peopleand then the landlords fix it guy to fix the front step and door.  The positive thing that came of all this waswe had TV, a freezer and front door we don’t have to slam and a bedroom doorthat closes!  We then tried to by a carbut that did not work all that well.

We thenheaded to north London to say good bye to Toby who is going back home to Australia, lucky fellow.

We arrivedand cook sausages, veggie of course, and began socialising.  Toby had left over alcohol to drink so Ihelped with making a large dent in the vodka before catching the last tubehome, again.  This was a hideous tripbecause I fell in one of the walkway tunnels in Kings Cross tube station.  What I slip on is the reason it was so badand reduced me to tears; it was a huge drunken shit.  It was foul, I didn’t get much on me but itwas just hideous.  We then had analtercation with a drunken South African in Wimbledon, bastard.

Sunday wasat home and I began cutting Anthony’s shirt, it took for ever with sore legsfrom the fall.  I am not made to crawlaround on floors any more, sad but so true.

Tomorrowback to work.

We all know that I love Australia and want to settle there when we get the family urge.  But this makes me thinks again.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1896267.htm

 

I can sort of understand the reasoning and I think we don't allow TB suffers into the country but that is because we don't have the freaking disease.  We have HIV, it is simple, stopping immigrants coming in with it is not going to eradicate the disease.  Considering the rampant nature of the disease maybe he would be better to chat with South African Health Minster about the spread of it in the population there.  Humph, if I was in Africa and any of my family were infected then I would be taking them home where the care is great.  It appears to be a rather thoughtless remark from our supreme leader, John Howard but the fact he seems to have his head up his arse is very annoying.  I only ever hear stuff about Australian politics when the Prime Minster makes statements like this one. 

I won't even think of typing what I think about his newest thoughts on Global Warming.  Bloody Hell! 

He certainly does not have my vote this year and for the first time I am publicly saying it in an open forum.  GRrrrrr.

 

In other news, I at work and listening to Triple J streamed over the internet, worth coming into work for.  Although the broad aussie accents are doing my head in.  I am listening to Super request.  Australia, request something for me!

 

So, who is going to B-Movie tonight?

This weekhas been pretty relaxed, the students are on holiday and this means we arriveabout 9 and head home about 3.30.  Justthe other assistant is in and it has been generally getting the weeding sortedinto recycling and books for Africa.  Theother job was covering all the books tucked into the back room waiting to becovered with jackets, paper jacket covering and self adhesive cover.  All fairly mundane but really need to do jobs.  The other assistant did a huge tidy of theback room.  It has been great havinglunches that last an hour and on Thursday it was an hour and half at a Lebaneserestaurant with the IT boys, it was a fun meal with a conversation that wentfrom religion to monogamy to African politics.

Bigweek-end planned and the kids back next week.

An earlishstart with breakfast at 9am served by the jovial Mr Lamb who gave every impressionof being an ex military man.  Englishbreakfast again, with fried bread!  Thefried breads was evil, so evil that I almost asked for seconds.

Leftfeeling very full so we walked around the village and explored the second setof Abbey ruins for the trip.  This is notas much of a ruin as the buildings were rebuilt or knocked down, I got the impressionthat the property was now privately owned. 

Then it wasin the car and off to find the Cerne Giant. Yes, another chalk figure, this one is a giant man with a club.  How do you we know he is a man?  That would be the huge erect penis hehas.  As Anthony calls it, the man withthe giant todger.  He is ratherimpressive and the history around him is sketchy but there seems to a lot fertilitystuff but that is not any surprise.

Then it wasa rather crazy drive to a small prehistoric stone circle called ninestones.  The guide book said lay by thatpossibly was an overstatement.  We foundit and wandered around it.

Then weheaded for the Thomas hardy monument, as recommended by our host in Cerne Abbas.  Not the author but the fellow whom Nelson’sfinals words, “Kiss me, Hardy” were directed at.  The Monument stand on top of a hill overlooking the Dorest coast.  There was aplan for a castle but that was scraped and off we went home.

It was alovely time away and much, much need, tomorrow, relaxing and then work onTuesday.

I think Ihave written about 30 postcards.  Look inyou post boxes people who think they should have one.

Thismorning was a wonderful lie in the huge bed as the sun streamed in the window, asthe house woke up around us.  The linenwas soft and the bed and pillows very comfortable and breakfast was booked for9.30.  It was just lovely.  We showered in the hot shower with greatwater pressure then packed before venturing downstairs.  We were greeted with a plate full of freshfruit!  Anthony was in heaven!  The cooked part of breakfast was the fluffiestomelette with great sharp farmhouse cheddar. Yummy!  Oh and crispy bacon.  The fun bit was the cooked tomato, cherry tomatoesroasted on the vine, a little tricky to eat and there was a bit of explodingtomato at one point.  The people whoowned Hillside B&B were just lovely and if we are in the part of England we will be staying there!

We packedthe car and left it parked and then attempted an assault on the Tor.  At this point I am very thankful for Anthonybuying me the walking sticks, the stick just makes my  walking day longer and I am not too much of await for me kitten. So, the Tor is a point of land that stood in the middle ofthe swamp (now drained and green farmland), it can be seen for miles around.  To make sure it was really seen they built achurch on top but all that stands of the church is its tower.  It was a taxing walk but the view from thetop was just stunning although a touch misty.  There was some sort of hippy Christian new agelining up the charka thing going on in the tower which was a tad annoying sincethe took a little offence to my skull t-shirt.

We thenambled down the hill past all those puffing going up.  Then we explored the Chalice Well, now thereis whole mess of ledged surrounding this spring and frankly I think it is aload of rubbish but I shall cease the cynical diatribe.  So we tasted the water and it tasted a littlelike blood due to the high iron content. The garden was pretty but it was not delightful enough to peak my plantaware husband.

We thenwandered the high street and poked around the shops including the African shopwith bead animals and such like.  It wasreally funny.

Then wewandered around the ground of the abbey, dissolved by Henry VIII.  I have spoken about how creepy I find theseruins, and heart wrenching.  I know therewas corruption but a lot of the monks and nuns did do good work and providedmuch needed services.

We ate in asmall Veggie café and got back into the car to go to Cerne Abbas.  The drive uneventful expect for the prettycountryside. 

Cerne Abbasis a pretty little village in all the right ways, lovely church, Tudor erahomes, thatched cottages, general store and tea house.  Above the tea house was our B&B withlovely blue and white motif.  We settledin and I took a walk around the village whilst Anthony rested.

We thenchoose to do a pub crawl in the village; there were only three so it was not toohard.

The firstwas a really the local pub the barmaid greeted us loudly as the locals watchedthe football.  Then we went to thetourist pub and eat a very pleasant meal, I venison and Anthony pears andStilton.  Then it was the last pub andhalf a pint before heading back to the tea house.

Today hasbeen Neolithic pretty much Prehistoric stuff. Very cool. 

We beganthe day with a full English breakfast and packing the car up.  It was an earliest start as breakfast was at 8 o’clock. We went in search of our first chalk horse of the day; these ones arenot as old as the Uffington one, mostly 200 to 150 years old and not asimpressive the old one. 

Then therewas the Avebury Stone Pagan Circle, we began at one end and walked thesame earth that the people you had built it 6000 years ago.  There is a serene beauty walking around thesestones, the morning sun lit them and there were livestock in the backgroundmaking approiate noises.  We walked theentire circle, not seeing many people as we did and taking many photos.

Then wewent off to find Silbury Hill, a large hill similar age as Avebury Circle. Some bright spark got the idea to build a hill, using cow’s shoulder bladesas shovels and deer antlers as picks. Mad!  From there we went and climbedanother hill and through a farmers field to the West Kennet Long Barrow.  A pre-historic tomb, very neatly built lookslike slate fences.

We thenfound two more chalk horses and got moved on by the local police.

The nextbit of the day was driving across Salisbury plain.  It was a pleasant drive as we wound throughvillages with chocolate box cottages.  Therewere thatched cottages that I thought Milly-Molly-Mandy was going to comerunning out.  Also little lambs,everywhere with wagging tails and some of the black, lots of twins aswell.  The other excitement of the Plainwas the tank crossings, yes tank crossings. The MOD has a huge training ground out there they have tanks but we didn’tsee any tanks.

We thenarrived at the car park of Stonehenge, it was Good Friday and there were people every where, bus loads andcar loads.  We parked in the overflow carparks overflow car park.

We joinedEnglish Heritage and then the crowds.  Stonehenge was faintly … disappointing.  There were huge crowds of tourists and youwere lead around the outside on a path. There was no feel to the place even though the stones werewonderful.  I would prefer to get amongthe stones, touch them and absorb the feeling but I understand the reason youcan not.

We drove toGlastonbury via the long route to avoidtraffic.  We arrived at the HillsideB&B and were very impressed with the swish room we had and the veryfriendly people who owned it.  After arest we wandered around Glastonbury we found a local vegetarian restaurant.  Then we sampled a couple of pubs beforeturning in.

Did I tellyou we pack 29 CD for this trip? Possibly over kill but then again no.

Today was aslow start, Anthony still feeling ill.  Anthonyslept longer than I, the air bed had come down in the middle of the night and Iawoke in pain from the awkward angle.  Igot up leaving Anthony curled up in the bed looking for all the world like asleeping child, with sideburns, very cute.

We let theSat Nav guide us after getting the address for the car park in bath; theinternet is a great thing.  I found the addressand the calm voice lead us without too much trouble.

We wonderedare getting lost but a nice policemen gave us directions to the RomanBath.  We sat in the sun for a bitwatching the crowds before going into the Baths, the more odd member of thecrowd was the ‘Roman’ handing out the flyers. Now I use the term Roman loosely. For the poor man had very little chin and was trying to hid this factand his bad teeth with scraggly facial hair without much success.  The outfit he had to wear did nothing for hisskinny frame, the cape and tunic were made from cheap stretch velvet and hisskirt and armour were vinyl.  He carrieda plastic sword and was crowned with cheap commercial helmet.  And on his feet? Trainers with blacksocks.  Poor lad.

We wentinto the Roman Bath and it was just amazing. The fact the bath remained almost untouched, left to decay.  The plumbing and heating is just amazing,those Romans were pretty impressive lot. The scale is just astounding and theVictorian architecture over the top of the baths is pretty impressive too.

Next stopwas the abbey after a quick bite to eat. The abbey is made of Bath stone and like York Minster verybright and airy. 

We thenwalked a hell of a long way to the other of Bath to the costume museum, unfortunatelythere were only half the displays open but there were lots of stuff includingsome wonderful Victorian era gowns, a stunning blue silk crinoline being myfavourite.

We thenchecked out the Circus and the Royal Crescent. At the Royal Crescent we discover where the locals were,all spread out on the park land in the front the Crescent.

Then it wasputting our life into the Sat Nav hands and head to Avebury.

We arrivedafter a couple recalculations from the Sat Nav as we took the wrong turns.  We found the tiny B&B which is part of defunctPub and the landlady answered the door in her curlers!  Very odd. After settling in we headed in Avebury to see some of the stones andhave dinner in the only Pub in a Pagan stone Circle in the world.  The dinner was very nice and not at all spiritual.

Tomorrowmore of the area, Prehistoric.

Today hasbeen one of horses of many types.

We startedthe morning off with Anthony still coughing and us off to test drive a car at10am.  Of we toddled and took a VauxhallCorsa for a drive.  The bonus of this caris that it is a semi-auto.  It has noclutch pedal but you can put it into manual. So it drove well and we bought it. This makes Anthony and I happy. It is a car I can drive and it sporty enough to offend Anthony’smanhood.  It is way more than what Iwould have spent but Anthony likes his comforts like CD players.  Don’t ask.

The rest ofthe day was getting ready for the trip and going.  We drove to Uffington on the first one ourlist.  It was the Uffington chalkHorse.  We found it thanks to the calmvoice of the Satellite Navigation system. The horse was cut into the chalk between 2500 and 3000 years ago.  It is just a figure of lines but it has movementand grace. They have no idea why it was carved into the hillside but there is athought it could have signed the Horse Tribe lived there.  It is visible from miles around.  We climbed the hills admiring the view andgenerally feel the peace.  The view fromthe horse we could see all of Oxfordshire to the Cotswolds.  We then drove to Bristol to see Ella and eat her Pesche goodfood and drink her gin.

So a Corsa(Spanish for horse) and the Uffington Chalk horse.  Not bad for one day.

Well thepottering has ground to a halt as both Anthony and Mitchell are home ill.  Anthony has a nasty cold and is coughing andshivering but I have convinced him to take advantage of the day off to look atcars, if I made soup for him.  At onestage his shivers were so bad he was fully dressed in three layers under thewinter weight doona and blanket, the heater on full bore and a hat on but stillshivering.  He got better in theafternoon and we trundled off to look at cars, I am not going bore you withdetails, there was a test drive and two used car dealers and promise of testdrive the following morning.  Tonight ispacking for our road trip in the hire car.

Today is day one of a real holiday for a long time!  There is no mad reason like marrying, meetingfamily or rushing home for birthdays, not that they were valid reason but Ineed a break big time.  So today wasgoing what I thought would be a fruitless hunt for cheap fabric that turnedinto a bonus!  I trundled out to Brick Lane in the vain hope there wassomething there.  I was accompanied byNeal and Carhill.  The first place I wentinto was a wholesaler and that took the wind out of my sails.  We walked further and then low there was miracle.  In the form of an Asian (Indian) fabricseller, it was not as cheap as home but cheap enough to make me a happywoman. 

The rest of the day was washing and getting ready for the trip.  Tomorrow is going to be as relaxing potteringaround home.

Thisweek-end has been busy but great fun.

Fridaystarted with meeting Neal and Cahill at work and joining up with Phil from Australia. What followed was an introduction to London crazy internet people style.  We trooped out to Camden and were promptly asked to leavethe Dev.  I think Phil’s fresh off theboat look caused that.  So we drankelsewhere and then trailed around some shops before doing Phil’s head in bygoing into Cyberdog.  A little pale aroundthe gills we found another pub before heading into Soho and introducing Phil toWagamamas.  Phil did not like Saki soNeal and drink his share and Cahills.

Neal and Isaid our goodbyes and headed back out to Wombledon.

In the morningNeal headed back to Camden whilst Anthony and I went shoppingand looking at cars.  We test drove aToyota Yaris and I drove it!  First timein the UK, but the car was a terrible ride.

Saturdaynight was a planned evening of noders and Birthday.  It was Marianas birthday and she wanted to take noders out to Slimelight.  Ella came out to our place and much toAnthony and Neal’s amusement I got Ella all gothed it was great fun and it wasdeemed successful my the lads. 

Then weamused the train carriage on the way to the pub by touching up our make upincluding Anthony’s.  We arrived at thepub to find it almost overflowing with noders; it was one of the best turn outsfor a long time.  Marina and I attackedeveryone not wearing enough make-up, mainly the lads.  Marina even managed to get a wig onHannah, Joe’s girlfriend.  She lookedgreat.

We managedto board all the gothed up geeks on a train and we headed off toSlimelight.  We did a good enough job tobe let in and we did not lose anyone on the tube thanks to Ella counting heads.

Slimelightis still the same, grotty and dirty and it was heaving with people, I don’t thinkI have seen it that busy in a long while. I really don’t like the venue but the company was great and we had agood night.  We all left around three o’clock.

Neal, Ella,Rory, Anthony and I caught a taxi home, £48 living south of the river sucks bigtime.

We atetoast at home although we were not that drunk, removed make-up and headed tobed.

Sundaymorning was a glorious day and we rose feeling fairly mostly okay, Anthony wasa little hung over.  I then processed toproduce one of the best fry ups I have done in a long time if I don’t say somyself.  Pity there was no bacon but theVeggie and Jew had some sort of issue with it, spoil sports.

We sent allthe bodies home and had quiet night in. It was a good week-end.

 

Today isApril 1^st, it is 12 months since Anthony proposed, I feel I shouldwrite more about it but I am sure you lot don’t want to read all that soppystuff.

 

I am holidaysfor the next week!  Brilliant.

My mother sent this link : http://www.glumbert.com/media/graphicartists

I get tired of being the ‘wait for me kitten’.

I seem to find myself trailing behind people, a lot. I get really tired and angry about this. I am very aware I am quite slow at times, the sticks are helping with this but I am still slow. I really don’t think it takes much for people to keep pace with me. It means you can chat to me and take time to see what is going on around you.

Having to watch some one’s back and wait hopefully that they will slow down is just depressing. Striding off then standing waiting for me is even worse, especially if it is done multiple times.

I find the fact I am slow hard enough to bear without others making me feel as if I am more inadequate.

So if you ever walk with me, try to keep pace with the cripple, admire the scenery and take time to smell the roses. Have a little thought for the person beside you who is doing her level best to keep anormal persons stride whilst sometimes in pain and exhausted because the last thing she wants is to slow you down. Don’t make her pled for you to slow down.

This applies to many people besides me. Think about it normal people.