Martin and Lucy

Photo time!

2009-10-10T12:04:00.003+01:00

Here's a few photos of our lovely little girl. There's a few more on my Facebook profile too, these are just the highlights.

If you didn't already know, we're heading back to New Zealand very shortly. I finish up work in three weeks then we're off to France for a month of wine and cheese. Oh yeah. Then back to NZ early in December for a second summer.

New addition!

2009-06-20T17:42:00.003+01:00

Our brand new daughter arrived at 2:27am on Thursday 18 June 2009. She weighed in at a nice 6lb 7oz or 2.92kg. Kingston Hospital did a sterling job and we actually had the whole ward to ourselves while she was in labour.

We've named her Hassanah Maree Ryan, Zanah for short. Hassanah means first born daughter and Zanah means resembling a white lily or the three graces.

There are some photos over at www.martinandlucy.com.

She's settled into the family very well and keeps Lucy up a lot with feeding, but is very well behaved and sleeps 90% of the time she's not feeding.

Spring is in the Air

2009-05-17T14:47:00.001+01:00

Spring is well and truly here. Today the winds and rains arrived to get rid of any Wintry remains. Hopefully, the real Summery stuff will soon be upon us.

Martin and I have been feeling busier and busier lately. Maybe it's because we know that in about four weeks time, we won't have the time we have now to do whatever we want, whenever we want. Having said that, it's a Sunday afternoon and Martin is snoozing on the couch and I'm surfing the internet. Not so busy today obviously.

We began a NCT (Nation Childhood Trust) antenatal class three weeks ago. The class has eight couples and a really good presenter. She knows her stuff. As a result, we are feeling a lot more confident about having our baby over here in Kingston Hospital in the NHS system. We will have a doula with us which is going to be wonderful. (http://www.doula.org.uk/content/duk/about/default.asp) The group is encouraged to 'bond'. The boys went out last week and it's the ladies turn this week.

Last Saturday we went into London, to Southbank, and met my cousins for lunch. Following this Martin and I went on a mission to find him a new top at Covent Garden. Then, exhausted from the crowds and walking and dodging, we decided to battle the tourists and catch a tube from Leicester Square station to Waterloo. Whilst looking for the correct gate, a London newbie walked right across my path and proceeded to park her little blue wheeled suitcase directly in front of my feet. Of course, I didn't see this until I was flying over it! I landed miraculously on my left side, flat out. Martin, full of concern, quickly helped me to my feet as I brushed off the queries of random strangers. We ducked around a corner where I promptly burst into tears! It was such a shock.
Tip for those of you traveling to London: If wheeling a suitcase, bring it in close when you stop! Very simple.
Anyway, the baby was fine and kicking away. On Sunday morning we decided to go to the hospital to have it monitored though as I was a bit concerned and worried. Turns out that a Sunday is the day the baby likes to have a bit of a sleep in. Go figure, as that is my earliest day of the week due to getting up for Church and racing for a bus.

As is predictable at this point in a pregnancy, I am consumed with thoughts about the baby and being ready and all else. We can't wait for the arrival! We are very fortunate to have several friends, new and old over here who have had babies in the last year.

My mother is coming over for a month at the end of June. We'll also have a cousin staying for a few days. Then at the end of the year (almost) Martin's parents are coming to stay too. More arrivals we are very much looking forward to.

My writing is going well (www.lucyryan.com). I am currently matching a manuscript up with the right publishers. Then I'm going to cross my fingers and send it out there! Who knows!
I belong to a writer's group which meets every third Friday of the month. It's a great place for contacts and knowledge about the industry and also for feedback on stories as we all take turns to read something out. That's a bit scary! Good practice though. Incidentally, Jacqueline Wilson (children's author) lives nearby and is the president of this group. She doesn't come to the meetings though! Maybe I could write her a letter...

Martin is curled up on the one seater and I can just see myself placing little baby Ryan in his arms to nap with him. Ohhh, cute.

We have many travel plans but they are all for later as you can well imagine--so that's about it for now.

Catchup

2009-03-14T10:50:00.003Z

Been a while since the last update and things are chugging along nicely. Lucy's looking good and pregnant now - three months and three days to go. Everything in that department's being running as smoothly as can be hoped for.

I've started my new job with HSBC, and been there five weeks now. The work is interesting enough. The politics keep me on my toes. It's good to be working with a team again - working in TM1 can be solitary work sometimes.

Had a great weekend away a couple of weeks ago to Stuttgart to see our friends Chris and Pris. Climbed a hill to see a castle, went to a beer garden and the Porsche museum. We were very lucky with the weather.

Christmas was in Wales with Margaret and Daniel Craig, their families, my cousin and a few other orphans. Was good times.

Baby bump

2008-12-16T17:12:00.000Z

For those of you who didn't get the email or see the update on Facebook, we have some happy news to share - Lucy is pregnant with baby number one. We're ecstatic and can't wait to meet the new edition! Sadly with the human gestation period (ewww clinical!) being what it is, we have to wait till June 17 to meet him or her.

Movenpick Rendevouz

2008-11-25T18:41:00.006Z

Today we were looking forward to heading to the beautiful hotel across the river and seeing everyone, including the bride and groom!

It was pretty early, so we decided to check out the markets across the road before we left. They were fascinating and I enjoyed them much more than the Cairo markets. Not every seller chased after you, so that was nice. Also, there was a lot of Egyptian people doing their shopping in the non touristy end. Fresh carcasses were being delivered and chopped up in unrefrigerated stalls which dozens of shrouded women were crowding around to haggle for. Again, fascinating.

Martin was enticed into a shoe store and happily bought some sandals to suit the climate. It took a lot of haggling and removing of the wool that was trying to be pulled over his eyes to get the right price. But he was happy with the purchase.
Having exhausted ourselves, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our luggage, checked out and tried to locate the free shuttle to the Movenpick hotel. It took awhile but we found it and became really excited about the next few nights accommodation at this fine resort.

We met the others coincidentally in the foyer, as we were all early for check in and there was a slight hitch in the room arrangements. Kahanita was sorting it all out though. There were now seventeen of us I think. Everyone was very excited.

After checking in or storing luggage if rooms weren't ready, we headed to the pool. It was delicious! It was refreshingly cool and so nice to swim in. Those of us brave enough spent a decent amount of time in it. We had just eaten pizza at the pool bar too, so I was happy.

That night we all journeyed across the waters and entered a floating hotel for dinner. We didn't have much time as we were heading to Philae temple for the sound and light show. The meal was pretty average with cold chips and funny tasting fish for me. I helped myself to Uncle Paul's margarita pizza. Actually, to be fair, most others enjoyed their meals. I was just being extra paranoid obviously.

The boat trip to Philae temple was nice. It was so dark. We haggled our boat of course and a couple and a single American guy got in on it as they were having real trouble convincing someone to give them a fair price to the island. They were totally getting scammed, so we sympathetically let them in our boat.

The show was cool. A little cheesy but cool. The lights really showed off the temple ruins. They had the story in English with voices and legends being told etc. There was a bit of Christian bashing as could be expected I suppose when looking at ancient Egyptian history. We left via the same boat and piled onto our private bus back to the Movenpick shuttle boat. We headed up to the top floor for drinks where everyone else was hanging out. The views were fantastic and panoramic. The non-alcoholic cocktails were absolutely delicious. Yum, yum!

Alone in Cairo

2008-11-25T18:11:00.003Z

Everyone else was catching a morning plane to Aswan. Martin and I had booked separately and weren't flying down until later that night. We missed breakfast with everyone. Martin made a filled roll just quietly but was spotted by a waitress who basically told him it was a great idea. Funny. We checked out and stowed our luggage for the day. Then we caught another dodgy cab up to the Citadel on the hill.

To get there, we went past the slum areas. It was a real eye opener for me. The piles of rubbish with people scavenging, the undernourished work animals and carts stacked high with I don't know what. It was really sad. We arrived at the citadel to find dozens of school groups waiting for their dodgy bus rides home. They all called 'hello, hello!' and 'how are you?' It was kind of cheeky and cute. They seemed to run wild.

The citadel was another un tourist friendly attraction, but still rather interesting. We had to tip a guard to let us over a rope to a lookout of the city. Honestly, everyone wants a piece of you in Cairo, or a piece of your wallet that is. Then we went wandering into the museum up there. It was where Mohammad Ali had his offices and home. No labels and an old man in an oversized guide jacket followed us into the courtyard insisting on telling us what was around the run down place. Then of course we had to tip him. Apparantly we didn't tip him enough. We went inside and it wasn't that interesting unfortunately. Mostly cos we didn't really know what we were looking at. On the way out the guard from the lookout was waiting for us as we had failed to tip him earlier. Gees Louise.

The mosque was pretty cool. It was designed beautifully and the highlight of the Citadel visit. We left after eating our packed lunch on a grassy patch. I think Cairo could do well if they put a bit more into their attractions. Though, they should probably take care of their people first I think.

We jumped in another cab and were returned wearily to our hotel. We had a few hours to kill so got a coffee and soda on the roof terrace. It was hilarious. There was cigarette ash in my glass and floating on top of Martin's cappuccino. Gross and funny. It just highlighted how much smoking is a part of the culture here. They smoke everywhere and anywhere. Then we went and chilled on some couches and waited for an appropriate time to enter the bar. Following this, we had dinner at the restaurant and then headed to the airport for our flight to Aswan. I should mention that on the way in our dodgy cab we were dinged into by another car. Our cabby got out, shrugged his shoulders and continued on his way. Crazy. All the cars have dings in them unsurprisingly.

Arriving in Aswan with a bit more experience, we were able to haggle our own taxi cab into the city. We were dropped right outside our hotel. It was really late by this time. The hotel was directly opposite the Movenpick which we were booked into the following night with the family. So that was handy. Pretty crazy hotel the Isis. It was outdoors with the rooms opening onto paths winding around the river banks. Pretty cool and very basic.

First Day in Cairo

2008-11-25T17:53:00.004Z

Breakfast was a wonderful spread in the hotel. We greeted Bernadette, Kahanita's family, Bijarn, Rebecca and Andrew who were already into it. The guys had the brainwave of making rolls to wrap up and take for lunch, much to the embarassment of the rest of us! Though we regretted it later! I took some pita pockets and apricot jam.

We were almost ripped off by the hotel porter by paying a ridiculous amount for hotel found cabs. But all of us were seasoned travellers and we decided to split into groups of four and find local cabs instead. It was very cheap: Twenty to thirty Egyptian pounds each. The cab drivers were even madder and crazier and dodgier than the one from the night before! I just can't get over it. We had all arranged to rendevouzs at a well known 'cafe' in the big markets called Fishawe cafe or something similar. We arrived first through the traffic and it took awhile for the others to catch up. Tea was ordered and a Shisha pipe with apple tobacco was happily smoked by the men. Martin and I with Rebecca and Bernie decided to explore the markets themselves. Lots of beautiful scarves and ornaments and galabayas (spelling) etc that were thrust into our paths. Quite emotionally draining by the end of our exploring. Bernadette proved herself to be the best haggler I'd ever seen. She got some good bargains. Martin and I felt ripped off more than once unfortunately!

After much touting in our faces, and after Nick (Kahanita's brother) bought many pairs of sunglasses and all sorts of other things, we found some more cabs and were dropped off at the Egyptian museum. With the promise of seeing ancient relics etc we were quite looking forward to it. However, the labelling of displays was uninspiring and only occasionally in English. I know, I know, don't be such a tourist-but it is a huge tourist attraction and was so poorly put together. The artefacts we could work out were interesting though, and we were fascinated by Tutenkahman's tomb relics and the old chariots that had been discovered buried beneath the dirt. Our interest waned quickly though and we soon left to walk home along the Nile via the Hilton. Everyone was shattered. We all retired to our rooms and watched movies, (Cocktail and Rushmore) reappearing in time for dinner with the whole group of thirteen in the hotel restuarant. It was a lovely buffet with the best mashed potato and lemon sea bass ever. Oh yeah.

2008-11-25T17:41:00.005Z

Egypt! The time had finally arrived to carefully pack wedding outfits and summer clothing into our twenty dollar Warehouse suitcases and board a plane to Cairo. I couldn't wait to see my cuzzies and I was very curious to see if Egypt superseded my expectations. which admittedly were a bit low.

We arrived after a long five hour flight with no onboard entertainment and a dry chicken breast dinner to a bustling Cairo airport. The heat hit us straight away even though it was nine o'clock at night! We stood in line for passport check, then realised by the number of English type people being turned away, that we were supposed to get a visa first from a poorly labelled counter. So we paid twenty american dollars, no questions asked for an entry visa. Weird.
When we'd collected our suitcases (few moments of panic as mine took FOREVER), we discovered we'd left the carefully chosen bottle of nice champagne on the plane. Stink. So we decided to try and track it down. This was unsuccessful and added an hour to our trip. Never mind. As we were heading towards the exit, we were greeted by an official 'greeter' and taken upstairs to a funny little office to book a car to our hotel in Cairo. It seemed like a scam, but wasn't and I'm glad we did it. Another guy in a nice suit led us outside and waved aside many cab drivers insisting on driving us. Then another guy got his car and picked us up. It was strange. Anyway, this was my first driving experience in Cairo and WOAH! I thought Turkey and Rome were mad. But they have nothing on Cairo.

It was a long and scarily exciting drive to The Shepheard hotel by the Nile. Drivers follow no lanes. They crowd into tiny gaps on the road in traffic. They toot their horns every two seconds to warn cars in front that they're coming past them on the inside or the outside or the backside! They flash their lights to say 'move out of the way' and the flashed cars usually do! It was madness! But so fun! I should mention the lack of seatbelts. They seemed to have been cut out completely. Dodgy.

Regardless, we arrived safely at the hotel then found Aunty Frances' room to say hello and tell her we'd arrived. I was very late so we went straight to bed.

2008-11-25T17:16:00.004Z

We headed back to Budapest and it was a long drive. Martin and I had booked a hostel ahead of time but without much real consideration. What a mistake. We dropped Mike off at his posh hotel where his colleague was staying then Martin and I headed off in search of parking. It was a really busy, dirty feeling city with heaps of graffiti everywhere. Our first impressions weren't that great! We found our hostel and rang a poorly labelled buzzer for the 'reception desk'. We were buzzed up and into an old building that had spiral stairs, with private apartments opening onto circular floors. We were feeling a little hesitant but went inside the hostel anyway. The hip young guy looked at us as though we were in the wrong place, but put aside his facials and welcomed us warmly.

It was such a hostel. The kind you can put up with if you've never stayed anywhere nice and are traveling on a shoestring. We were given sheets (3/4 size) and pillow cases for our single beds then taken down to the lower floor for our private room. It was awful. The walls were stained, the matresses were springy and lumpy. It was roasting hot (in contradiction to previous places we'd stayed in) and we had to open the window to breathe. The sheets didn't cover the whole mattress (ew) so Martin went and got some more. It was so gross. The communal bathroom was the final straw with hair strewn through the shower and the toilet filthy. Yuck. Not quite what we were accustomed too as a married couple approaching their thirties I must snobbily say. Anyway, we had paid for two nights, but decided to find somewhere else for the second night and just make do.

The receptionist guy was really helpful with maps and stuff. He recommended an absolutely delicious place for dinner, again the food! Oh yeah. We'd 'settled' in and spent the day walking around the city but were both a bit travel weary I think. So the nice meal was fantastic. After a very very bad nights sleep (due to drunken german girl sobbing hysterically next door whilst her friend tried to calm her for a few hours in the early morning) we were pleased to pack up and find our nice hotel on the other side of the river in Buda. It was luxury in comparison.

We went in search for hot pools and arrived at our destination after walking for miles (was only supposed to take half an hour) but it was up hill and cold etc. Moan, moan Lucy! Anyway, we found the pools and again, looked forward to nice warm waters etc. The signposting in the place was shocking though. Nobody (proven by us explaining to confused English people what we'd learnt) knew where to get changed or the lockers and where the pools were. It was very strange. We were now very frustrated and a bit fed up. But we found the pool which was cold!!!!! Then there was a hot pool crowded at the end of course that was for both sexes. We soon realised that the real pools were in the segregated sections of the complex. So Martin and I departed ways and promised to meet back in half an hour. I wove my way through massage tables and cubicles till I found two nice hot pools full of women. Some were naked. It was weird as not all were naked. I stayed for about five minutes but was bored on my own so got out and got dressed.

Martin and I then walked up into the castle district and got a great view of Buda and Pest. The castle district was pretty cool. It was all cobble stoned and lit softly etc. But it was absolutely freezing! For some reason we found it hard to find somewhere to eat. I can't remember if we were being cheap, or if I was feeling sick. Probably both.

Before we left though we had a glass of wine in a teeny tiny little pub where the patrons were sitting outside with blankets but we scored a table inside next to two Germans who were very chatty and loved talking to Martin about NZ etc.
After our plesantries we went down into the Labyrinth. It was a series of underground tunnels designed to, well, let people move in secret underground the castle I guess! It was really cool and a definite highlight of the trip for me. We were given a gas lantern and left to our own devices. There was again a lack of signage so we basically just explored this pitch black tunnel system with carved figures and random puddles of water. It was quite spooky. Especially when our lamp ran out of gas! Pitch black! Luckily Martin had his phone which provided a beam of cellular light to catch us up to a tour group with their torches. We managed to spook ourselves quite nicely and happily left the tunnel system in search for food. It's probably worth mentioning that we came across a reception or something being prepared in an open area of the tunnels that held a fountain in the middle. Very cool place for a wedding!

We didn't find food to satisfy wallet and tummy, so jumped on a random bus and was led by a very friendly Hungarian to the tram track that would lead us to our hotel. We couldn't work out the ticketing system so guiltily had a freebie on the bus and the tram. Then we had to walk down a very spooky, shady avenue that had us breathing a sigh of relief when our hotel came into view. We ate our last Hungarian meal at the hotel. In case you can't tell from my tone, we didn't think much of Budapest and probably wouldn't recommend it really. Sorry!

2008-11-25T17:07:00.004Z

I have to go a bit backwards and finish off our trip to Slovenia etc.
We visited one of the many natural hot lakes. It was a bit of a drive from where we were staying but the promise of a nice hot pool (think Rotorua) was tempting. We eventually found the place and it was huge! I giant lake with all these senior people and tourists (no kids) floating in the water serenely with rubber rings and noodles. Realising the water was quite deep we back tracked and bought a ring each from a stall cleverly placed by the car park. It was very confusing buying tickets and working out the locker system. But quite efficient. So we excitedly headed towards one of the many entrances into the pool which promised healing and therapeutic properties. The water was way over our heads so we were pleased to have our rubber rings. However, the temperature was more than a little disapointing, proving to be only tepid leaning toward luke warm. Needless to say, we didn't stay the three hours we thought we would. Plus it was weird. A fun travel experience though!

Even this far on, it's the food that stands out in my mind! Funny that. The second night we had in Keszthely (hurrah! I found the fridge magnet with the name on it), we found another empty but cosy restaurant to dine in. I had roast duck on red cabbage etc. It came out on the dinner plate as a WHOLE roast duck sitting on red cabbage. Tell it how it is. It was delicious and I ate the whole thing bone dry. Almost.

Flat and Job

2008-10-24T16:36:00.003+01:00

We've managed to secure a new flat from 1 November. It's just around the corner from our current flat and we have four suitcases and a tv to move (well we did when we moved in, surely we haven't accumulated much more. Surely), so the move should be sweet.

It's a mirror image of the place that we're staying in, except there's a lot more carpet, which should be nice for the winter. It's a bit grandma-ish, so I'm looking to butch it up with a few motorcycle pictures.

We have to move out of the current one because the landlords are moving back from Brazil. They're around about our age and stage, so it'll be good to have some neighbours that we vaguely know.

My fixed term contract has also been turned into an ongoing rolling contract, which is good news.

Went to see Tropical Thunder last night. Was pretty funny. Tom Cruise had the best roll.

KrK to K..t..s..y. 1st October 2008

2008-10-16T17:56:00.002+01:00

The plan today was to drive to an island called 'Krk. I drove today which was a nice change. The viaduct to the island was pretty cool. It was all feeling a bit industrail though. We came to the 'main' town which lacked a bit of anything. So we had lunch then pushed on to Zagreb.

In Zagreb we felt rather uninspired. We went into an internet cafe to search for accommodation but couldn't find anywhere! Another 'pro' for booking ahead! We sat at an outdoor smokey bar and I had a green tea with honey and lemon.

Feeling a bit muh, we then decided to drive the extra three hours to K..t..s..y, a night earlier than intended. So it was another day with heaps of driving. We arrived at 7pm.. I began to like the idea of prebooking a place more and more, as we wandered from penzion to penzion. Eventually we found a grand looking place called 'Muzeum Penzion'. A sweet little old lady answered the door looking rather surprised to see us. The room was huge for three people and decorated with an antique/aunty type feel. (Felt a bit like Aunty Cecilia's place). There were little yappy dogs and birds in cages in the entrance hall. It was really a B and B without the second B.

We went off for dinner. DIVINE! In case you can't tell, I'm loving the Eastern European fare so far. This little place was empty of any other guests and the Maitre'D was really welcoming. I had a beautiful rich Goulasch for starters. Oh yeah. The boys had deer something a rather. It was all very very good. Then, the Maitre'D brought us complimentary house shots. Mine was a lemony type thing for the ladies and the boys threw back Ouzo or something similar, we never knew. That's not dodgy at all! They were left spluttering and cringing much to the delight of our host. The shots could've warmed an eskimo in a snowstorm. It was great fun. I should mention we finished it all off with a cheese strudel which was surprisingly sweet and delicious. YUM!!!!!!

Porec Day

2008-10-16T17:46:00.001+01:00

I was woken early by foreigners calling all sorts out to each other on the stairs. Bah.
We headed into the town centre again after breakfast courtesy of Martin's early morning walk to the supermarket.
Porec is a lovely town with cobbled streets and upmarket stores all mingled in with t-shirt and souvenir shops. Mike purchased a lovely new watch, very professional and styly. We also bought a small piece of art from a local artist--so he claimed. Not much else to report really. A bit of a lazy day. I had an absolutely yummy salad whilst the boys drank beer. Then I bought some sunnies from an elderly lady who was so lovely. She taught me 'hello' and 'thank you' in Croatian and applauded my pronunciation. I could've bought her whole store!

We returned to the hotel and drank more beer. We optimistically put our togs on and headed to the water's edge. It was pretty. But we chickened out. The wind was a bit chilly and the water was icy cold! I was very disappointed but felt like I was still thawing out from canyonning or something.

We went for dinner across the road in a smokey restaurant (what's new). It was okay, the food, but very salty. Too much. After we'd eaten, at about the same time as the rest of the customers, everyone at every table (seriously) lit up a cigarette. I couldn't handle the smoke any longer so we passed on dessert and went home.

Awesome God

2008-10-16T17:37:00.001+01:00

We took a random road right up into the country behind our Penzion this morning, mostly to satisfy our curiosity. For it seemed that our penzion was down a long driveway but then there was a sign pointing to a township, so of course we had to explore. It was so pituresque. We drove through beautiful farmland and countryside surrounded in the distance by majestic mountains. After we wove our way through the country, we headed back to the town and drove around Lake Bled. The road was very curly and narrow. It all felt very quaint and postcardish.

We then began our journey to Croatia. I had previously held concerns about travelling to this part of Europe, but I no longer had any worries. It's funny how preconceptions can be totally wrong.
As our trip was a 'take it as it comes' kind of trip, we turned off into a town called Postjna. It was boasting a giant grotto and we couldn't resist. Especially as Mike vaguely recalled a friend of his mentioning massive caves in Slovenia. We arrived at the grotto park. It was so tourist. Heaps of stalls selling expensive memorabilia, American style food bars and outdoor cafes etc. We had a slice of luke warm pizza then lined up for the cave tour.
We were seated on a mini train. It was a steady 8 degrees celsius and some tourists had donned Lord of the Rings Elvin cloaks to keep warm--for an extra cost of course. I pulled up my hoodie and sat back for who knows what.
Wow. We journeyed faster than I thought possible through a two kilometre tunnel into the heart of this massive, massive cave--the biggest of ten thousand caves in Slovenia incidentally. It is one of the most beautiful and awesome (as in awesome God) places I've visited. I would put it right up there with the Grand Canyon. The lighting was so well done and so minimal that we felt like we were in a whole new world like a fairy kingdom or something equally bizarre. The stalagmites and stalactites were so beautiful. Then when the guide tells us that they grow one centimetre every one hundred years (aprox) it's unbelievable to imagine how old this cave is. My favourite stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) were those which were on a slant so looked like big wafers or poppadoms. Very, very cool. We eventually left the cave just in time as it was starting to feel too cold and I was sick of being cold!!! We unfortunately were unable to view the famous 'Human Fish' as they were building a new enclosure for it.

We side swiped the Italian border, so popped into Treiste (naturally) for a real Italian coffee and a hot chocolate. They didn't have soy milk, but I forgave them because it tasted delicious! Eventually, after not too many turn arounds, but many stops for toilets, views and playgrounds (who would travel with boys) we arrived in Porec in Croatia. We hunted down a half decent place to stay right on the beach. Then we headed into the cobbled town centre for a look and a meal. We ended up at a blatantly tourist Grille with outdoor seating. Well, I had the most DELICIOUS steak EVER. So tender and melt in your mouth. Yum, yum, yum. Martin had a fish platter with two whole fish, prawns, mussels and yummy calamari. It came luke warm though so not as stunning as it could have otherwise been.

We struggled once more to find a bar because it is approaching the winter season and places are closed early I think. Anyway, we sat and had a Hoegaarden at a very empty (we were the only patrons) but groovy little place on the edge of town. Then the bartender called us a taxi and we headed home. Another great day!

Flying down hills and hunting strudel.

2008-10-07T18:14:00.008+01:00

We awoke reasonably warm and enjoyed a breakfast at our Penzion. You know the European brekkie--meat, bread, cheese--very nice I think. We were in Bled and decided to go exploring a bit. Bled is famous for its fairytale castle and big beautiful lake. The lake incidentally freezes over in winter. That would be awesome! However we were there between seasons, so it was a bit chilly and the lake was not able to be swum in even by us swimming kiwis. We missioned up to the castle instead, stopping for a coffee and herbal tea on the way.

We were definitely in a tourist hotspot. Buses and buses of European origin tourists climbed up the cobbled path before us. We had prior to the cobbles, traipsed through the bush and up the hill of course. My knee was okay, but definitely not happy about its retwisting the day before. The castle itself gave us beautiful views of the region, but that was about all there was to see. Muh--(sorry, apart from the beautiful cathedral on an island in middle of the lake etc).

We could see from up there, an awesome looking toboggan track on the opposite side of the lake. It was a long metallic snake twisting and winding its way down the hill. Of course, that was where we were destined to go next.

I've been on the luge in Rotorua many, many times. I love it and was very much doubting whether this Lake Bled Luge would even compare. Well, how wrong was I!
It was the scariest 'toboggan/luge' ride I have ever been on. The toboggan was on a rail, that even though I knew it wasn't going to come flying off, there is always that possibility right? Probably not in this case. However, I heeded the warnings to brake when the signs suggested. It was so fast. The corners were quite sharp really and I could feel my body resisting the urge to fly out of the vehicle. We were seat belted in incidentally, so no fear should have been present. So exhilarating! There were dips and long speedy bits. Whew. We had three goes each. By the third, both of the boys had decided that we should all go down with NO BRAKES. Well, not wanting to be shown up by the boys whom I had already matched in the canyoning, I agreed. First I was to film them hooning down. I seriously doubted whether they'd go brakeless. They sure went fast though! Then it was my turn. I could not do it! I braked. I braked less than the previous turns but I just couldn't do it! Rats. The boys saw that I was braking too and I think a wee glimmer left their eyes. I wasn't in the club anymore. They were both bragging that they'd flown down the rails. Never mind. What a blast! Totally recommend this particular tourist trap. Totally worth the trapping.

Once we were safely back in the car, we realised we'd pretty much 'done Bled'. So of course, we decided to pop off to Austria for lunch. The boys assured me it was only about thirty minutes drive away, so I reluctantly agreed. You have to understand, we had spent a long time in the car so far.
We reached a new tunnel that was still under construction. It took us from Hrusica on the Slovenian side through to Rosenbach in Austria. Not however, before we'd sat in a queue on the Solvene side waiting for the traffic coming through the nine kilometre tunnel toward us. You see, we had not realised, but the construction had the tunnel operating only one of it's lanes. Sigh. We eventually broke through and were starving.

We drove to the nearest little town we could find nameed 'St. Jakob'. Martin was entertaining the idea of apple strudel and I didn't really care at this stage. Do you think we could find anything to eat at all in this place? We went into a pub/cafe type place. They sold 'toast' and big roll things. So maybe I did care and none of us were inspired. So we traipsed up and down the streets but it really was quite dead. We decided, that like the folk of old, we'd suffice on a flagon of beer for lunch (sorry, I'm in the middle of reading 'The Two Towers'). We entered a typically smoky sports bar and holding our breath quickly ordered a half pint of Hoegaarden beer each. Hastily we exited with our 'lunch' and sat on the roadside in a random little Austrian town drinking beer. Passersby seemed slightly intrigued. Whether it was because we were openly drinking outside, or that we were outside at all, I'll never know. Martin managed to smash his beer glass and his beer (or was it Mike's?) so he had to hold his breath a second time and enter the smoke pit again. Gross, gross, gross. It was the worst smoky joint yet.

Feeling a little warmed but disappointed, I drove us back to Slovenia. Knowing that if we caught a red light at the tunnel we'd be waiting for a good fifteen/twenty minutes I drove rather rapidly toward the lights. We could see travellers coming out, which meant that the light was soon going to turn green. Of course, when I was about a hundred metres shy of the light, it turned orange. I stepped on it. Then it turned red, and under the encouragement of the boys we whizzed through. Tut tut. Maybe I redeemed myself slightly? It was spooky though. There were no cars to be seen, and I started getting paranoid that a row of traffic would come rushing toward me. So I drove faster. Finally we burst through the other side on the tail end of the traffic.

We had made a dinner booking at a very popular Lake Bled restaurant called 'Mayer'. Oh yum, oh yum. I had fresh trout on spinach and melt in your mouth spuds for an entree. The boys had a delicious soup each. Mike and I had a typical Slovene venison stew/goulash with dumplings and polenta cakes. Martin had...I can't remember! After the days unsucessful efforts, Martin was delighted to see that apple strudel was on the dessert specials board. Of course we ate that with great enthusiasm and savoured every bite. Oh yum, oh yum.

NB: Though I shared in Martin's dessert after it arrived looking so delicious, it was the first time in our four years together that Martin--and not Lucy, wanted dessert. I was too full! Can you believe it? I'm still in shock.

Nightlife in Bled

2008-10-06T15:38:00.004+01:00

We drove via Italy (of course!) and stopped for a coffee. Then on arrival in Bled in the late afternoon, we accidentally found our Penzion. It was toasty and warm with a fire burning and just my kind of place. Our booking hadn't gone through, but luckily the host was able to accommodate us.

We went out to town catching a ride with our host as he was going to pick up his daughter whose car had broken down.

It was a Saturday night and the recommended restaurants were booked. We ended up having DELICIOUS pizza at a local place called 'Gallus'. Then on the Maitre D's suggestion, we went to the road below and pulled up a few stools at the town's only night club/bar it would seem.
The music was classic Barney's style, bur the dancing atmosphere was severely lacking. However, that didn't stop Martin who was happily tipsy by this stage. Mike ordered two pitchers of interestingly coloured cocktails with giant straws and we were away laughing.
Mike got chatting with an English tour group who weren't allowed to go canyoning because of insurance?!?!? A good reason to go it alone.
We waited ages for a taxi and never caught a glimpse, so I went into another quieter bar and asked the bartender to call us one. Eventually we were home. A good day.

Canyoning

2008-10-06T14:55:00.006+01:00

In the morning, the sun was shining but the air was crisp. I refused a shower with the reasoning that it was too cold for one. The boys were keen on canyoning so we booked in. Our host was surprised by this request, I assume because of the chill factor involved.

I was naive to what canyoning involved, which is a good thing as otherwise I may not have agreed to go!
We were met by Mika, a locally born and bred young twenty something guy in the town of Bovac. We'd had a hasty baguette each and it failed to warm me up. I felt the cold was going to be around for a while.

Mika drove us to the base in a very quaint village just next to the town. He told us they were still doing some rebuilding after the earthquake from four years earlier. There was indeed a lot of construction taking place.

On arrival to the canyon, we donned our very attractive rafting wetsuits, wetsuit jackets and shoes. Then we traipsed about thirty minutes uphill to the start of the canyon. By now we were all puffing and sweating. The thought of plunging into icy cold water was actually starting to sound appealing. We added another wetsuit, a balaclava type wetsuit thing, gloves and a 'diaper' to protect the wetsuits from tearing then finally a helmet. I'd never felt so gorgeous!!! not.
After a few instructions, we began. I should mention that we signed no forms or anything about safety etc. At this point, I was aware that some jumping off rock faces up to twelve metres was involved, so I was feeling a little nervous excitement.

It was so fun! The first few 'slides' were quite small. We went backwards down a couple too. Then things got serious. Seriously scary! Some waterfalls did not lend themselves to sliding, so these ones we jumped! I had not felt so challenged on so many levels in so long. So.
The pools we jumped into were not so deep at times and we had to land properly. Needless to say, the first shallow-ish pool I managed to twist my knee painfully under me. Doh. The cold water probably helped it calm down a bit.

Mika was very confident and a very good guide whom I instantly trusted. Hence, I found myself climbing massive rock faces and throwing myself into the icy water below without stopping to think about it. We scrambled up a ten metre high rock and amazingly, I jumped after Martin with no hesitation. No time for that. Very, very scary. Maybe you heard my screams in Wellington...?

We continued down the canyon, slowly starting to get cold. Mika told us we had two beautiful waterfalls left. The two biggest.
He wasn't wrong.
The first was a massive plunge into a cave covered pool. I hurt my heel on the way down. Not so fun.
Then we clamboured across a very scenic part of the stream and under a crumbling old stone bridge. We arrived at the BIG ONE. What I found especially scary about this twelve metre drop, was that you could peer over the top and the 'slide' was visible for about two metres, then it disappeared. Mika informed us that after that two metres, we'd feel like we were freefalling, but weren't. We had to keep our arms etc tucked in tight and 'strong'.

Mike was first. He disappeared very quickly. My turn. I couldn't think about it, or I'd talk myself out of it like the girl before us. I swung my legs over, swallowed my nausea, tucked all my bits in and let Mika push me down.
Of course I screamed rather loudly. It was not the smoothest ride I'd ever had. In fact, I definitely whacked my head on something before entering the water.
BUT the pure satisfaction and a tiny bit of pride at keeping up with the boys was totally worth the battering. Plus, it was soo exhilarating!

With the canyoning officially over, we stripped off our chilled wetsuits and warmed up in the van as we were driven back to base.

We stockpiled some popcorn and burger ring type junk food--and some crunchy apples, and began our drive to Lake Bled.

On the way to Slovenia...

2008-10-06T14:26:00.005+01:00

We awoke at five in the morning at Mike's house, after an extremely unrestful and many times interrupted sleep. Thankfully we were being taxied to the airport, so we were able to switch off on the journey.
We were surprised at how busy the airport was so early in the morning. Our flight to Hungary was fully booked. Security took a bit longer, so I had no time to buy the compulsory holiday read or have a final soy hot chocolate. It was a first in first served flight in terms of seats. We boarded last and were sat in the emergency exit seats. Heaps of leg room! Hurrah! Wonder if it will work on the way home...

I really had no expectations for this trip. Martin and Mike were the engineers behind it and I was just along for the ride. After receiving our rental car --a rather unattractive blue, old lady type thing -- we made for Slovenia. We stopped to feed ourselves at the first pull off we found. I was disappointed in myself, as to be honest, all I really felt like was...wait for it...KFC! Blech. What's going on? The Hungarian buffet was very unusual and foreign looking and I wasn't quite ready for that yet. Anyway, we ended up not eating anything except strange tasting chippie type things until dinner in Croatia! Yes, you read correctly. We (Martin and Mike) decided that we were driving so close to the border, we may as well cross over into Croatia and have dinner. Of course I ended up with a pork steak! The menu said 'steak', and apparantly pork is a staple here. I had of course assumed it would be a beef steak. The boys chose pasta dishes, which seemed to consist of a whole packet of spaghetti each and lots of garlic and cream! Far too rich. We hardly made a dent in our meals, but were quickly full.
Unsurprisingly, people still smoke in restaurants, adding to the Eastern European feel I guess. I quickly came to despise eating inside with smokers puffing away next to us. Yuck.

We had a long drive ahead still, as we were not yet halfway. I left the boys to the navigation. Needless to say, we ended up being detoured ridiculously and made several calls ahead to the camp ground. They upgraded us to a private room as we'd now be so late. As it turned out, when we finally found the place after twelve hours in the car and two unscheduled motorway detours, the rest of the camp was up around a bombfire singing and drinking.

On the way to this camp, we had climbed a very windy and hairpinned mountain road up to fifteen hundred metres with light snow fall pattering on the windscreen. We eventually drove down into the valley. The car's brake pads were straining and starting to smell a bit dodgy. We were all feeling the cold and trhe bungalow unfortunately did not relieve us of this. Wishing we'd brought thermals instead of shorts, Martin and I shared a single bed and therefore two duvets and a scratchy blanket for warmth. I had cold ears and a cold nose all night.

Bureaucracy part two

2008-09-22T20:54:00.001+01:00

I returned to the bank today to try for the second time to get my name on our 'joint' account and also to get my own Debit card. This time, even though I didn't want to on principle, I had phoned the council and had a good laugh with the very understanding Indian woman on the other end of the line about the ridiculousness of the situation. She obviously had encountered such things herself here. So, she happily agreed to send me a new form with just Mrs L Ryan on it. Therefore I was fully armed. I encountered the same bank worker as before ( the manager no less) and he remembered me. He was about to get into it, and I rudely said, 'don't get me started'. So he stopped. Then all was photocopied and he proudly stated that he'd managed to get it done this time, as (unspoken) I had followed the rules on his step by step guide. I actually felt a bit bad for him, having to deal with me. We parted on jovial terms with the assurance that my new card should arrive in just a couple of weeks! A couple of weeks. I love London.

Tiki Touring London

2008-09-22T20:46:00.001+01:00

Just yesterday, I packed my little sister Cecelia nervously into a taxi for Heathrow airport. Naturally I would have escorted her there myself being the big sister/protective type. However it was four in the morning and that was just pushing it. We had a great week together. I was reminded of the pure exhaustion that comes with being a tourist in a big city. Especially when you don't quite live in it. We caught the train into Waterloo everyday, celebrating when we managed to time it right and jump on the express. Booing when we didn't and had to stop eleven times before our destination.

So in a typical first time London experience, one would probably head to places like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square to climb on lions, Harrods, a West End show, Hyde park, pubs, etc. So that's what we did. Harrods was a pleasant fluke. I'd forgotten all about its existence until we took the wrong exit from the subway and found ourselves on the right road. Also we were STARVING in the kiwi sense and almost didn't go in. But we did and wow! The deli section (which was all that we saw!) was amazing and surprisingly cheap. We spent ages cruising the counters trying to pick the perfect picnic lunch - savoury stuffed pancakes with gourmet salads. Then, on leaving to find Hyde park and eat, we discovered the chocolate counters. Oh dear. We both bought (again, for a very reasonable price) some very chocolaty treats that would not normally be seen before twenty hundred hours. Needless to say, with the addition of a hot latte for Cecelia we were pretty content in the park, even though it was freezing cold. We had been walking around the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace prior to Harrods, so had lots to plan (such as what we were going to furnish our own palaces with when purchased). There we had seen the ball room set for a State dinner. The utter extravagance of it all! Double wow! If only I'd been there before planning our wedding! Stunning!

The Lion King featured on Thursday night, and I recommend it for an evening out. Especially if you have children who have seen the movie. The puppetry and colours were wonderful. They had a lot more African music in it than the movie and it was fantastic.
We had dinners with relatives and even fitted in some boogiing on Friday night at On Anon, a typical London night spot. Though, sadly, the bar tender was very new and had no clue how to make a margarita. I had to return it once and didn't have the heart to do so a second time. It drank like three or four very big shots of Tequila and Cointreau. Ech.

Cecelia managed to bring the sun with her and we had it for most of the week, including the weekend. Yay! That is a must if you visit London. Bring the sun. Now that she has gone, it's all turned murky and cold. Blech.

On the non tourist side of life, I have been playing guitar at our chosen Catholic church with a few flautists, pianist and a couple of guitarists. Though, the other guitarists haven't shown up for the last two Sundays and I've been the only one, playing foreign songs with no practice. Hilarious. Totally anti-6Pence training. I'm wondering if I can instigate a few things...anyway it's good to be playing again.
We are off to Slovenia on Friday with Martin's old friend Mullet. I am very excited as you can imagine. We will be hiring a car and driving all around the place. Yes! We made the car decision when investigating a bus trip from the airport to our first destination. It was going to take all day and involved about sixty stops. I don't think so. We should probably look into some road rules that apply in Slovenia before we go!

I found myself making a teaching resource of sorts today. I had thought I'd left that all behind for a wee bit. But the entertainment organiser at Age Concern (where I've been doing some computer tutoring) wanted a Bingo Domino game made up. So I offered and spent a few hours making it on publisher. All those little dots. Reminded me of how long one spends outside of work hours getting stuff ready for teaching lessons. Gees.

that's enough rabbiting on from me for now. The nights are getting darker earlier and the days are getting colder. Maybe we'll have to look at somewhere sunny and warm for the next few months...though it would be good to get another winter out of my Wellington made Coat. Hmmm, decisions decisions.

Beauracracy and Hastings

2008-08-27T18:29:00.002+01:00

Since Martin and I have been here, we've been trying to sort out all the little things that make life easier. Such as, gettting me an EFTPOS card so I can access our money without having to ask Martin for cash each day! Until now, we haven't had proof of address, so we've had to wait. So, finally, armed with all the documents I needed, this is what happened:
(in an email to Martin)

So I just went into the bank.. I handed the girl behind the information desk my form and told her what it was. 'That's fine,' she said, with the air of dismissing me.
'um...don't you need my id and proof of address?' I hinted helpfully.
'Oh, um, let's have a look'. She wasn't looking on the right page, so she walkie talkied one of the people in the offices. I then waited for ten minutes before being let into a small cubicle. I handed over my forms, feeling very prepared and efficient. He went away to photocopy them. About five minutes later, he returned with a problem. My name on the proof of address is different to my passport. So unless I can show proof of address with Lucille instead of Lucy, there's nothing he can do, sorry.
'Are you serious?' I ask him incredulously.
'Yes,' he says with hands in prayer position, preparing for an outburst from me I guess. He wasn't disappointed.
'Surely we can get around this somehow?'
'No, there's nothing I can do,' he says with a tight smile. Ech.
'Well, I have no proof of address with my full name on it, because I never ever ever use it on anything except passports.' Silence. 'Oh well, I guess that's no bank card for me then for the next year.' I huffily say. He STILL made no move to think of a solution. And then...
'If you ring the council they could change your name, the silly thing is if it just said Mrs L Ryan that would be okay,' he offers.
'Yes, but you know the councils here, that would take forever,' I reply getting a dig about british stuff. 'What about my driver's license?' that might have Lucy on it...
'Is it British?'
'No' I say knowing what was coming.
'We only accept British licenses,' he says, of course. 'Plus we'd still need something to match your passport.
I pack up my bags and mumble a polite thanks, because that's how I was brought up.
Aaaaaaaaghghhghghghg!

So I will continue to get a daily allowance from the husband. Kind of funny when you think about it.

Over the long weekend, we packed our bikes onto a train and high tailed it to the sunny coast of Hastings, South of London. We optimistically packed our togs like good little Kiwis. Well, needless to say, the weather was predictably windy and wet, but we didn't mind in the end. We managed to get some fresh sea air, picnicing on the pebbly beach and nearly being blown off our bicycles riding along the seafront.

The area is known as 1066 country. It is absolutely steeped in history, as a lot of England is. We pushed our bikes (well, I did) up to visit the first Norman castle built on English soil by William the Conquerer. We watched an old but almost 3D doco on the battle of 1066. It was quite entertaining. Martin then indulged me by agreeing to visit Smuggler's Cove. This attraction is exactly as it sounds. It outlines the history of smuggling and taxes etc. That doesn't sound terribly interesting, but picture walking deep down into narrow caves, with dim lighting and holographic smugglers beaming out information and warnings. Also, lots of hands on game type things, and mechanical smugglers telling tales etc. Of course it is for children, so I was delighted.

The Old Town in Hastings is very quaint. Cobbled paths and windy tracks around the hills. The shops and pubs have that historical feel, so we mostly enjoyed riding or strolling about. I also discovered a new tequila cocktail at a two for one place on Saturday. That is always good fun!

On Monday, we decided we'd seen enough of Hastings having climbed two small mountains and exhausting our feet. So we caught the train back to where we came from, stopping off in Battle on the way. More rain, but we cycled on up to Battle Abbey, which was a fantastic tour of where the Battle of Hastings actually happened. That King Harold...what's 'e like? Big beautiful old Monastary, ruins and again, thick with history. After a rather informative trip around, we exited for a Ploughman's Platter at the pub with very sticky tables and questionable cleanliness. We quickly hightailed it across the road for 'tea and scones' yum (with thick clotted cream and jam) what a treat! Then it was home again home again jiggidy jig.

Just in case it wasn't obvious, our togs never left our bags.

Martin's other blog

2008-08-21T20:33:00.002+01:00

I'm starting another blog for my vast array of uneducated opinions. Will be about half political, half other stuff like marketing, rugby and other stuff that interests me.

So please add http://confessionsofanexlabourvoter.blogspot.com/ to your RSS reader. And feel free to comment when you think I'm wrong.

A weekend in this weather

2008-08-18T17:35:00.001+01:00

It is supposed to be summer, and I'm sure that everyone has heard from people they know over here how disappointing the weather has been. In fact, today, the news reported massive floods in Ireland ( I know, we're not in Ireland, but you know). Martin and I are determined to have a summer however. As you've read in earlier blogs, we are both the proud owners of a set of second hand bikes. I have been scooting down to the supermarket daily on mine, and until this week, Martin has been biking to work. Though it is about twenty minutes too far, so he's canned that idea.
On Saturday, we bustled down to the train station with our pride and joys. We were off to Margaret and Daniel's in Guildford to catch the All Blacks playing South Africa on their telly. Instead of them picking us up, we thought we'd cycle. The trains here are very open to bikes being on board. They even have special stands and parking spaces for them on the carriages. So that was fun. We arrived a bit breathless, as we'd sped there in time for kick off. It was well worth it too. What a fantastic game we played! Wahoo!
On Sunday Martin and I headed to a new church in Tolworth. This was made possible by our new found modes of transport. We cycled to mass, downhill in eight minutes. Though we did ride right by it, therefore circling around for awhile before I asked a cute little lady and her dog where the Catholic church was. I was a little concerned she might shun me, being Sunday morning and Church of England being the national religion etc. But she pointed us back where we came and we locked up our bikes and entered another traditional English church. We found ourselves sitting in the creche. What I mean is, that over here, all of the parents with young children seem to have established places they sit together in the church. I guess it gives you a more understanding group of people if your child starts blasting out in the homily. We had a cute little blondie in front of us and a couple of twin boys nearby that provided light entertainment. We had seen these boys walking with their Bob the Builder hats on. I knew they'd be heading to mass. Very cute. Of course, Martin and I score the mass unofficially on things such as, atmosphere, music, priest's homily etc to decide if we'll settle. We decided it was a great family place to be. The music group had good potential, needing a bit of volume. So I thought I'd volunteer to join them. They seemed pleased and now I have an excuse to buy a guitar! Wahoo! Martin might be roped in at some point too.
After mass we packed up the homemade pizza from the night before and saddled our bikes again. We rode to Kingston-Upon-Thames (twot twot) and found a grassy spot to picnic amongst the fishermen. The fishermen are groups of men or teenage boys with doting girlfriends attached, who have pitched a tent for the day, cracked open a couple or more beers and set their fishing rods up on electronic stands. These stands appeared to beep and make all sorts of noises, depending on the needs of the rod. I thought this hilarious to be honest. 'Bait me! Check me! I've caught one!' All they then had to do was respond and crack another beer -- it seemed.
Because the weather was a bit dodgy (as it is) we decided to go to a matinee movie. We saw Kung Fu panda. If someone could please explain to me why the panda's father was goose, that would be great. I waited the whole movie to hear that the panda was adopted or something, but it never came up. Never. We just had to accept it. Interesting. All in all, a good movie with some decent laughs. A bit of an easy ending. And that's all I'll say about that.
Home again, home again jiggidy jig. We found a musical instrument and stuff store on the way home but it was closed. I'll have to go back and splore this week sometime. What a shame. So that's what you do in London when the weather is temperamental. A picnic on plastic bags and a movie. Can't go wrong really. Yay for bikes.

A day in the life of...

2008-08-12T19:24:00.001+01:00

Today, I have been very clever. I set up the internet from scratch, all by myself. Yes indeedy. I can hear a lot of you saying, 'big deal'. But when two boxes of wrapped wires and screws and spanners and little wrapped packages and tick sheets arrive at your door, it is a big deal. Anyway, it's just like following a recipe. Which I have been doing a lot of lately too. At this very moment I can smell two lamb shanks in a red wine saucy thing cooking in the oven with fresh rosemary and thyme and a bay leaf. Such extravagance you must understand. I have two Jamie Oliver books from the library. Over the weekend, we treated our friends Meg and Dan to a yummy Spanish Roast chicken. Mmmmm. This is what you can do when you're not working. Think about what you're going to make for dinner. Anyway, moving on.
I am working actually. It has not yet paid me at all, but it will I'm sure. I just finished my final tutorial for 'Writing Stories for Children' which I began over a year ago. I sent away the last assignment today. I feel pretty good. I've been doing lots of writing too, so hopefully something will come of that in the not too distant future.
I had my first encounter with a British plumber today. Our sink was blocked and the front loading washing machine (never ever will I actually own a front loader) was playing up too because it's all connected. Of course it is. So my new sheets were screaming out to be rescued, but the door wouldn't open. The dishes were smelly and piled up on the bench from Sunday evening (a rare occurance in our house) and it was all very grim. So the buzzer rang after a three hour wait to hear back from the landlords (agents) and there he was.
'Plumber?' he says.
'Hi, I was expecting a phone call' I said (I'm still in my pyjama pants because who wants to wear tight jeans when they don't have too?)
'I never know what's going on' he grimly replies. He comes in, a man in his fifties, graying hair and a nice belly. I introduce myself and try to brighten up the atmosphere for him.
'All right, where's the problem then,' he asks. So I lead him up to the kitchen and he checks it all out. Making appropriate exclamations for my benefit (he admitted he was trying to make it sound more exciting for me). I made him a coffee, sympathised with his tasks and left him too it. We had a good chat actually, a very nice man. I mentioned my own father was a plumber of course. He left on good terms, apologising for rejecting the last piece of my very delicious brownie, which I didn't mind because it meant I could have it with my cup of green tea later. Yummy. And this is a day in the life of a 'house wife' with no children. I know, I know, it all sounds very indulgent...and it is. Work is on the horizon for me. Hopefully I'll have some part time something soon.