Where was I?

How slack am I???

So much has been going on it's impossible to get a clear enough head to sit here and write. Pity 'cos there's so much to write about when that happens!

Lucy was over last week. She arrived the day after I finished my 3 month job so I was a wreck to say the least. I hadn't slept very well the night before - my usual post-job energy burst when I sit and think of all the things I must do now that I have X days free. But of course I spend X days recovering from sleeplessness etc, and then find myself with one day to do everything that would normally take several days...

C'est la vie. Lucy arrived and we both inserted match sticks to enable our eyes to stay open. I had booked us a table at the Ivy restaurant but our table was for 9.30pm. Not a good time for either - me having just not slept enough and Lucy being on a 5 hours ahead time slot.

Dinner was divine but unfortunatly no stars to be spotted this time. Just lots of Americans being very loud and a couple sitting quietly near us who we named Ms Sparkley and Mr Animal Print. Both looking a little oogley at each other and having quiet conversation while their outfits screamed LOOK AT ME!!! Very cute.

I ate lobster - sorry lobster. But it was very delicious and I'd eat him again given the chance. At the end we couldn't manage a desert each so we shared a Sticky Date Pudding. And even though I was known as the Sticky Date Pudding Queen in Mapua, I have to admit this walked all over even my best attempt. Truly divine and perfect in texture, taste and presentation. I'll be going back if just for another Sticky Date Pudding.

We got home and Lucy was asleep before her head hit the pillow - mum's new 'bought-to-match-my-sleeping-on-air-pillow'. And I sat up until 4 am thinking I ought to be going to bed, but not having the urge to sleep. Then finally I hit my lovely pillow with a heavy head only to be up again in 4 hours.

Lucy left at 5am'ish the following morning so I went back to bed and slept until 2pm. When I woke I wanted to do something a little excting and perhaps a little different...

The World's Stupidest Deaths...

I was in a charity shop the other day and this book (titled above) caught my eye and I had to waste 50p and a space in my bag to carry it home. It has turned out to be a very entertaining book.

My favourite story has to be the one about the dwarf and the hippo...

"In July 1999, during an exhibition in Northern Thailand, an Austrian dwarf and circus acrobat was killed when he bounced from a trampoline into the yawning jaws of a hippopotamus and was swallowed. Not realising that a terrible accident had occurred the 7000 strong crowd continued to applaud, unaware of the fact that the panicked crew and paramedics were not part of the act."

This yawning hippo just happens to be one I photographed in Thailand in December last year. I can't help but wonder if he had a dwarf in his tummy in 1999... He looks very very happy about something!

Although it would not have been much of a meal!!

Hunters and the mayor of London...

Lucy was over from Armenia this week so on my day off we booked dinner at Langans in Mayfair, a place recommended to me by my current client.

It was wonderful. The food exquisite, the service attentive but not overly so, the atmosphere warm and lively... And of course we were dining with the Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London - well, ok he was at the next table! When a waiter delivered a dessert to a young man at another table nearby and started singing Happy Birthday, Ken sang along too. After the hip hip hoorays Ken jumped up and shook the bewildered lads hand. All very amusing.

Not quite so interesting as the drama going on outside in one of those modern timed toilets that was positioned on the corner opposite. Firstly a rapid response car turned up (a paramedic) and then a police car, then an fire engine and lastly a van of the company that looks after the loo's. Then while I was watching the birthday boy blush with extreme embarrassment, the whole drama ended and when I looked back only the toilet company men were left.

So I am left wondering... Did someone have an unfortunate event within the loo and then get stuck? Or was it just a paramedic who needed the loo and didn't have the right change?

But the highlight of the evening was the bottle of Hunters wine we had with dinner. I was so excited to see a Hunters Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list - there was no hesitation in my choice - sorry Lucy if you thought you'd have liked something else!

A fun night out indeed.

I am sailing.....

If you see me floating by, could you please throw me a rope and haul me in. It means someone has lifted the anchor on the UK and we're now drifting aimlessly with the currents.


Britain has just experienced the wettest June on record and some parts are still under water over a week after the worst of the rain.

I'm keen to see some sunshine... Today the forecast was for rain, hail, thunder and lightening, sunny spells and wind. Just add some snow and we will have about all the weather throws at this country! Yesterday we had all of the above, today just rain and wind in my neighbourhood!

Roll on summer - which will apparently be on the 12th July for just one day according the weather 'experts' in the UK. I remember this last year - it was supposed to be August 12th - but it never happened. Instead we had a heatwave of several weeks that got more and more difficult to live in.

Oh I do love the weather here - never a dull moment!! - A wet one maybe...

Living in London

As you are probably aware, London has had another terrorist event. Car bombs, undetonated - thank goodness!

It set me to thinking about the risks of living in a city that is at the top of the list for these sort of crimes. I love London and I wouldn't want to move just because of a possibility of danger. Anywhere I live will have an element of risk... buses, trains, planes, industrial plant, murderers, branches falling from trees, etc. So why leave the place I love for fear of something that may happen.

I do believe there will be more successful attacks on London. But I figure that if I live as safely as I have control over, and be vigilant, then I whatever will be, will be.

I love London and am willing to take the risk to enjoy the lifestyle that I currently enjoy.

Phoning the police

I just got a text from the babies mother warning of reporters potentially banging on the door so I went down to talk to the nanny and on the way I spotted Miss 4.5yrs on the phone in her parents bedroom.

I wondered who she could be talking to as I'm sure she doesn't know any numbers... I asked her who she was talking to and she said 'the police'. OK, so she doesn't know any other numbers except the police - so it now appears.

So I took the phone from her and said 'hello?'
And the voice at the end says 'hello'.
I say 'Is this really the police?'
She says 'yes'
I said 'oh'
I said 'I'm so sorry, we're going to have to have a serious chat'
She says 'yes, she asked me to put Master 3.5yrs in jail'
I said 'oh...'

Once off the phone, Miss 4.5yrs tells me that Master 3.5yrs was being mean and chasing her so she wanted him in jail. We had a little chat about wasting police time and hopefully that will be the end of it all.

But, in the middle of all this is the reporters...
Why? Because my clients are connected to the lad who just won the British Apprentice TV show this week. His mothers house is currently surrounded and we're just lucky to have the occasional door bell.

Oh the excitement...

The hill from hell

I've been on a mission to get into shape and I was going to hire an exercycle because I'm in this job (in one place) for 12 weeks. I thought it would be a good chance to get some regular exercise as this is the one thing I find difficult in my job. Some days I don't even manage to get outdoors let alone take a good walk.

But, I discovered the need for a device to exercise on may not be necessary after I arrived here and discovered the hill I have to walk up to get to the house... I thought to myself I could save a few pennies and get fit!

So instead, as often as possible - still not every day but certainly most - I put the boys into their pram and go for a walk. It does not need to be a long walk as right on my doorstep is the hill from hell. It's short but steep and boy do I know when I've walked it!

I go down and do any shopping or chores that need doing then take a deep breath and walk up the hill, I then turn around and walk down again. Then another bracing breath and up again. So far it's only twice, but I think I may be ready for another run this week. I have to say it must look quite 'interesting' watching me. While people huff and puff up the hill, I overtake them pushing a huge double pram with 2 babies on board. I then turn at the top and do it all over again! I do huff and puff myself, but I'm lucky in that at the top of the hill I can hide in my front yard and do my breath catching in private!

The other day, I went on a small marathon walk with the babies and walked a few miles (who knows how many!??). To get home I walked through Primrose Hill which is a lovely park set on a hill, as you may have guessed. Before I got there I thought I would head home via the 'home' hill thinking I wouldn't have had enough of a work out by then. How wrong could I be! Primrose Hill lives up to it's name and the hill I walked up was much longer but as steep in places as the 'home' hill. I was in a major sweat by time I got to the top but the view over London was wonderful.

I went home the easy way instead.