ipod

I get the ipod thing now. You make playlists, plug into them, speak to no-one, nobody speaks to you. Is Fine. Whatever. I don't care.
Bloody Hell is lonely here sometimes.

ow ow ow

Monday Blues & tattoos

Officially Monday is the day I clean the apartment. Today, not so much. I have been procrastinating for about 4 hours now.
Yesterday was the most glorious London summer's day. I had to take a walk seeing there were no buses due to a London marathon. It all ended at the 02 so there was much jubilation and balloons and bands playing in the street, it was lovely. Then I took the DLR train to tower gate, got the 100 bus (jeez, I am getting good at this!) and found my way to the Tobacco Dock to meet up with Lovely Niece Sam and The Gorgeous Son to attend the London Tattoo Convention. It was the most facinating outing I have had for years. There were tattoo artists from all over the world...thousands of tattoo'd folk, outrageous outfits! I so nearly got a tattoo, but the £60 minimum charge put me off a bit. Also, I didn't really see anything I fancied. There was no stall that said 'naff little flowers' It was all 'Harcore Tokyo', Realms of Pain' , and 'What the Fuck kind of a tattoo is that??' (well, not really that last one!) Next year I will be prepared and take my naff little flower design with me.

Spur

There is one Spur in the UK, at the O2 near us. So far I have not been, seeing as I never liked the Spur in SA anyway. I took The Gorgeous Son there today to celebrate the getting of a job. It was OK. We had a Castle, a glass of wine, a chicken burger chips onion rings et al, a rump steak (small) (6 oz) and salad and it cost £30.
The steak was very nice btw. And good service.

sunshine

and the sun continues to shine.... I have now had 6 months of good weather here. All is good. Gorgeous Son has now got a job, Dr Lauren is in 3rd year and carries around a needle in case any of us annoys her and then she threatens to take our blood... The Hubby is doing great in Dublin.
I am going to Argentina....and then when I get back I am sooooooooo getting a job. Am getting a bit fed up with being the maid. I HAD MY OWN BUSINESS FOR 9 YEARS YOU KNOW.
If I do get a place on ther 4th plinth I am going to iron. It's what I do best at the moment.
We went to the plinth today, but the poor people on it did not reckon with eid. So they were totally ignored in a wonderful thousand people fold eid celebration. Or should that be thousandfold people?
It was hectic.

Friend

Still no friends, but I have actually spoken to a person, 3 times now. In London terms that may be a friend.
She lives near me, in the village. I saw her on the bus, and we got off at the same stop. She said she was going to be kicked out of the flat because she has a cat and they didn't want her to have a cat anymore and would I sign a petition?
I said I would look at her rental agreement and advise. Did not go down so well.
Anyway I did see her again in Asda. She is hard to miss. Her hair is a shade of red not available in nature.
We did chat again a bit. I don't know her name, but she is the closest thing I have come to a friend so far.
Lordy Lordy

Weather

The weather here is amazing. It is actually hot. I was waiting for the Library to open yesterday , (they have the most odd hours, and do they not klap you with fines, so far I have paid £7.40 in fines, I am thinking it is cheaper to buy books)
The librarian man said it is because I bring my books back late. Well, yes duh! But they are closed on a Wednesday, which was the day my books were due back and they STILL charged me 20p per book. They are fucking ruthless.
Anyway, the point was, I had to wait because the library is closed between 1 and 2 on a Thursday, and seeing as I didn't want to have to pay even more fines, I went across the road to wait for them to open. I sat in the sun, and had a lime and soda (eventually, I had to get it myself, I waited 10 minutes for them to come and serve me, does not happen so much here.)
But, there was a table upwind of me where all 6 of them were smoking. Oh it was FABULOUS!

Spanish

I am looking forward to my visit to Buenos Aires. I am trying to learn some Spanish before I go, but for some reason it will not stick in my head. I have downloaded on my new fabulous itouch, a Spanish lesson programme. I mutter away on the tube and the bus and the walks, I play it overnight to myself, but I keep lapsing into German. I have until the 20th October, so I may get better.
Jeez, this itouch is fabulous! I have podcasts, audiobooks, reading books, games, (tap tap Revenge is very good) I love it!
I also have a new phone, and a teeny tiny laptop to take to Argentina. The Hubby told me to sort out the laptop and synchronise stuff and I have no idea what to do. I am going to ask Darling Simon to help me.

MOTHER

MOTHER went to visit Brussels on the Eurostar. She said she had been through longer tunnels in Africa. I pointed out to her that she had not done it at 200k's per hour.
Sometimes I wonder...

District 9

What a fantastic movie, I was blown away. Fabulous social commentry, so funny, fabulous analogy...scary, yukky...it has it all, and the best part is that there is SO going to be a District 9.2.
On the way back , on the escalator on the trip up on the Jubilee, we met up with a young boytjie from Welkom.
Shame, he said, ag kak, i miss my car.
Actually it is not a good thing to say 'shame ' here
The Hubby said 'shame 'when he saw the next door neighbour's baby. We may never see them again.

ipod

I have an ipod, and a new phone, and a teeny tiny lap top. The teeny tiny laptop is so that I can take it with me on my trip to Buenos Aires. I am soooooo excited, leave the 20th October.
The ipod is so cool. I am very happy to at last have my own. Have had it 2 days and am already getting on family nerves with the humming.

soccer

Lordy, they are soccer befok here... or football as they say.
So I thought best I get a team. I chose Aston Villa. The Hubby is a Liverpool fan. Since I chose Aston Villa they have done really well and beat Liverpool. The Hubby will no longer discuss football with me. I have not yet ever actually watched a match, but I think we will do well. I like the outfits and the fact that the club started to play soccer because they were bored with cricket...I can relate to that

MOTHER

Does not walk. Nothing like even 500 mm.

SA Friend Karen

What an absolute pleasure for me to have Karen here. She brought me Bertrams Brandy (they don't do Brandy here) She brought me Pecks's Anchovette, and pressies from friends. I forgot that I had such a problem with the 500 miles walk when I first got here . So I made poor Karen walk the 500 miles to which I have now become accustomed. She did really well. We had a fab time.

busy me

Not been so good with the blog, normal service will resume shortly. I had a fabulous visit from SA Friend Karen (more to follow) the Gorgeous Son arrived and now we have the visit from MOTHER.
I have been very busy with MOTHER. She leaves Saturday.

Wedding

I can't believe I have never posted a wedding pic of Dr Lauren and Darling Simon. But actually this blog is about me.
So not so much news about The Hubby, or the Gorgeous Son, or Sweet Steven, Daughter Greta or Grandchildren C & J. There are lots of fabulous people in my life that I don't always write about. Moira Shoes, Sue Vanity Fair, Famous Brother, JD Charna, Cousin Michael, Birthday Buddy Christine, Partner Ann, I could go on forever. Do you think I will ever make friends here? Not so much. I am trying. I smiled at the red haired girl. She looked at me as though I was a lunatic. Lulu, the Chinese dog, will still not come anywhere near me. Darryl, the person who cleans our hallway , was not impressed when I pointed out there were cobwebs he was missing. The rental agents hate me, which is just fine because I hate them more.
The only person who is my friend is the really odd , very drunk, lunatic, handsome weird person who lives at number 75. He thinks I am fabulous. Oh and Smoking Councellor Kerry.
Lordy Lordy

SA Friend Karen

SA Friend Karen is coming to visit! I am so excited. Poor Karen will be the recipient of the 7 hundred million words I have accumulated since I have been here with very few people to talk to.
Oh we are going to do such fabulous things...I can't wait to show off my (limited) amazing knowledge of London.
Poor Lovely Nice Sam has been kicked out to go and live with Dr Lauren for the duration ....luckily just before Dr Lauren goes back to Uni , so she is safe from being operated on.
By the way, how odd is that? Here they say Uni, we say Varsity.

Pleasuances Park

A little hidden gem...graves from 1800 to 1900, lots of soldiers from Trafalgar.Sadly a bit neglected.
A very odd cafe, everything they serve has pistachio nuts in it. Everything, Coffee, ice cream, potatoes, sandwiches... They also have a whole range of old fashioned wooden toys for the children. I have not misspelt the name of the park. Charming though, lots of people with dogs and kids. Greenwich is a pleasant and surprising place.Oh ! And so exciting...on the 1st October Antiques Roadshow will be here in the Painted hall. How cool is that? I wish I had a potentially valuable Antique to take...Oh..I have The Hubby. Hee hee

day out in Greenwich

It is crazy here at the moment. The Jubilee line is closed for the weekend. And, amazingly, so is the DLR . (Docklands Light Railway)
So it is IMPOSSIBLE for us to go anywhere as there are so many replacement buses that the roads are gridlocked. We had a wonderful day, however, walked into Greenwich, and back home again, enjoying everything along the way. Just look at this car!!

Reading group

A Reading Group is so very very very not like a SA book club.
First of all it is in the library. Which is fine. The toilet is lovely, it smells like jeyes fluid. A librarian has to take you there. You cannot go on your own.
There was wine, admittedly, but there were 10 of us and there were 2 bottles of wine. Plastic mugs, Herbal tea and water. I think I drank most of the wine. Me and the 80 year old lady who seemed very sweet.
One packet (already opened) of Pringles, and a Tupperware container of roasted peanuts.
A tray of mixed assorted chocolate biscuits stuff ( you know I hate that chocolate shit)
Anyway, what happens at Reading group, is we all read the same book and then discuss it. To death. People make notes. This is very very different to Book club where we all gossip, get drunk. laugh and laugh, sing Karioke, and choose books at midnight, drive over Amanda's Lavender /and or/ crash into Ronels house....
BUT..I must say, it is very very good to have all these people with their opinions on the same book. Much much more structured than our book club. Margie would approve. Amanda would hate it. Not so much fun though, but perhaps I can corrupt them. At the very least I can improve the snacks.
Next month 's book is Barack Obama.
Everyone in Reading group is a lot older than me. This is fine. Angela is my best friend in the world and she is older than me. These are not quite potential Angela's though. BUT...who knows...maybe they are........... Having plaits that are grey and hang down to your waist does not make you a bad person. Odd, but not bad. Oh Angela please please come and visit me...i miss you so much!

The one mad person who doesn't read but still comes to the meeting and is really fat and takes up 2 chairs....ok.. fine. There has always got to be a mad person. Although we never had one in book club. Unless it was me and nobody told me.
The meeting starts off like a Vicar Of Dibley Meeting, which is fine, I am learning a lot about Greenwich.
Oh bloody hell please tell me this is not the replacement for my book club.
Ok this is actually so not funny

Be Afraid

Dr Lauren needs to practise.
Taking blood
Catheters
Suturing

The Hubby and Darling Simon are not so keen, but Lovely Niece Sam and I are up for it.
Need to do the suturing in an unobtrusive place. Because I am not sure the first few times will be so neat. I am thinking scalp, toes, palm? Any suggestions? Any volunteers?

Home again

It's always nice to come home. Get me! London is 'Home' now! Nice to be back with Lovely Niece Sam , and Dr Lauren And Darling Simon. I made Wagamama's noodles for us all for supper...I am getting so good at it!
Lovely Niece Sam and I went to movies tonight to see The Time Travellers Wife. We have both read the book but we still cried. And ate about 10kg's of popcorn .
So now we have seen all the trailers I have a list of movies I want to see.
Julia and Julia
Creation
Adam
District 9
Moon

Didn't see all these trailers actually, but still...
Dorian Grey
The Robert Downey Junior one about the Juilliard guy

With our free ticket, it still cost £23 (including popcorn and water)
For a movie??? Jeez.

poor pigeon

This mime guy was great...he earned a lot of money while the poor bird was trying to figure out what was going on! I stayed and watched for 15 minutes to make sure it wasn't a pet pigeon. It wasn't.

Jameson

The Hubby went to Guinness, I went to Jameson.

Do's and Dont's

Food....hmm , not so much, although you can get a pretty good seafood chowder.
Transport..not bad, but not as good as London.
Signage..don't even go there. It's a fecking miracle I found anything.
Drinks...kak expensive. Most pubs have a SA wine as their house wine.
Cigarettes...this is crazy! For the first 3 days I thought they didn't actually sell cigarettes in Dublin. (yes, I know, but I still look)
They do! But they are not allowed to display them. At all. Under any circumstances. So in the shops they have hidden shelves, and you have to ask for cigarettes..worse than buying porn. I know all this because of the chatty folk on the Luas. Was just asking, Dr Lauren, in case you were thinking otherwise.
The recession has hit Dublin hard and in some places it is like a ghost town...empty buildings...closed up shops.
Beggars again, same as in Paris and Brussels...gypsies.
It is lovely though. The Hubby was working so I did the tourist thing on my own. Would have been much more fun with The Hubby.

Hop on Hop off bus

The best way to see a city if you don't have too much time, is to spend at least a day on the hop on hop off bus. This cost €15, which is not bad, and you can identify the places you want to go and visit .
I spent a whole day on the bus, hopping on and off ..it was great. All the bus guys are funny, most of them sing, and everyone has a good time.

Ah Begorrah

The Irish accent is so charming. After 2 days I was thinking in an Irish accent. In Dublin there is a really dof large sewing needle spike thing in the centre of town. If nothing else, it's useful for orientating yourself. I found myself thinking..'ah where is that fecking spike at, at all?'
The Hubby and I spoke in Irish quite a bit.
My best thing of all...there was a large leprechaun on the street ( not a real one) He had removed his head and was sitting on the pavement. A young lad walked by and said...in tones of horror
"Will ye put that heid back on ye fecking excuse for a leprechuan...have ye no shame!" I laughed all the way down the street.

Friendly Dublin

I didn't realise how I have got used to the Londoners over the past months. Scared the shit out of me when The Dublin Folk smiled... and actually SPOKE! Apologised if they bumped into me. Asked me if I needed help when I was standing on the street like a tit with an open map in my hands.
Waiters made conversation. Shop people asked how I was . It was amazing. I got a free ride on a bus because I didn't have change. Going back to the hotel on the Luas (tram system) the whole carriage engaged me in a conversation. I couldn't read my book. We all waved goodbye to the lady whose daughter was getting married on Friday, and wished her good weather.
There was a child on the DART (overland train) who was at least 5 years old. She had a dummy in her mouth, and an ipod in her ears. I so wish I could have taken a photo. But, ever polite, I didn't , just caught the eye of other passengers and we did silent 'tut tut isn't that terrible' faces.
Would never never happen in London. Still and all...I would rather live in London

Dublin's Fair City

Dublin is so very European, so different from London. I know Dublin is in Europe and has the € , but still, I was surprised.
I think the green post box is making a statement..something like " no, we are not fecking part of the UK..look at our postboxes...they are green!"