Heya,
Just a quick one to say we've arrived in Dublin (1991 European City of Culture). We've had a very Irish dinner of nachos and buffalo wings at ''The Alamo'', and will head back soon to our hotel - ''George Frederic Handel'' - named after the German composer. All very Irish. ;)
Maybe we'll see some shamrocks on the way home. There's certainly a lot of Guinness about1
Love Nats.
Aug 30, 2004
Aug 29, 2004
Harry Potter!
I forgot in my last post....we saw film crews all around Oxford when we were there on Thursday. Turns out they're shooting lots of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'' there! So exciting. They use the Divinity School at Christ Church (one of the colleges) as the hospital wing in the films. When we were on our way punting there was a group of people gathered outside one of the entrances, and a whole lot of young actors came out! So get this people....I saw....
The kid who plays Seamus!
Yes, my brush with fame. I even took a photo as he got into a van. Didn't see Harry, Ron or Hermione though. Actually I was hoping for Alan Rickman to swagger out but no such luck!
Today has been Saturday and we spent it sleeping in, having a nice lunch, then shopping with Deb in Camden markets. Soooooooo much fun. Bought Bubby a T-Shirt - it even has a brand but I won't say because it won't be a surprise then. But it's NOT Von Dutch - they had rip offs in the market that were almost the same price as the actual brand! Bizarre.
Anyway, we're heading off soon to Twickenham. Hopefully we'll get some washing done before we go tomorrow!
Love to all, and Happy Birthday to Dad, who's birthday I did remember but too late to call home!
Love Nat.
The kid who plays Seamus!
Yes, my brush with fame. I even took a photo as he got into a van. Didn't see Harry, Ron or Hermione though. Actually I was hoping for Alan Rickman to swagger out but no such luck!
Today has been Saturday and we spent it sleeping in, having a nice lunch, then shopping with Deb in Camden markets. Soooooooo much fun. Bought Bubby a T-Shirt - it even has a brand but I won't say because it won't be a surprise then. But it's NOT Von Dutch - they had rip offs in the market that were almost the same price as the actual brand! Bizarre.
Anyway, we're heading off soon to Twickenham. Hopefully we'll get some washing done before we go tomorrow!
Love to all, and Happy Birthday to Dad, who's birthday I did remember but too late to call home!
Love Nat.
Aug 28, 2004
Make mine a £5 haircut, please!
Normally I leave the ''have my hair cut by a weird stranger in a foreign city'' part of the trip to later on. But all that changed walking through Soho in London today and coming across a barber shop offering £5 haircuts for men AND women. Well, why not? So a nice Portugese lady cut my hair quickly and efficiently, and now I have shorter hair. No big difference for Oz people, as it probably will have grown back by October! ;)
Anyway, what have we been up to? I'll go for dot points, and try to be brief!
MONDAY
*Got in at 6am (despite the hour delay leaving Singapore). Uncle Norman picked us up from Heathrow and we drove back to their new house at Twickenham. It's very nice, with a big backyard.
*It was still early even after we showered, so Greg and I took off for a walk. We walked about 5 kms in total...up the Thames to the Richmond Bridge, back through Richmond town and into Twickenham. We met Norman and Tessa at a pub called ''Pope's Grotto'' (named after Alexander Pope, the short and odd poet).
*After lunch we grabbed the cameras and headed to Hampton Court, convieniently located 4 miles down the road! It was built by Cardinal Wolsey in the 1500s, then seized by Henry VIII, when Wolsey couldn't get the big guy a divorce so he could legally bonk Anne Boleyn. It was significantly altered by William III and Mary II in the late 1690s, and the last monarch to live there a lot was George II in the mid 1700s. It's fascinating, and we had some great costumed guides. My favourites were the paintings in Henry's Long Gallery - most notobly the one depicting the family line, and the one of the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold', which is where Henry met the King of France for basically a big wrestling, eating and drinking celebration.
*We went through the Garden Maze, then headed for home. Greg and I were fairly jetlagged still so were in bed by 9pm.
TUESDAY
*Up early to head in to London. Got a £5.40 all-day off-peak travelcard, which was a cheaper fare than expected. We got to Waterloo, then walked past the London Eye, across the Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament and into Westminster Abbey. As always, it big and imposing with large amounts of columns and memorials, and tombs to dead kings and queens. We paid special attention to the memorial to Isaac Newton, as it was mentioned in ''The Da Vinci Code''. Of course, there were no exciting art history adventures for us (except the joy of sculpture)!
*We walked back along Whitehall and had lunch opposite Trafalgar Square. We walked back after to visit the Banqueting House at Whitehall, the last bit left of that palace after a fire in 1698. It was built by Inigo Jones for James I and the ceilings were painted by Reubens for Charles I. It's pretty amazing, and only £4 to see.
*We wandered through St James' Park, saw Buck Palace, through Green Park, then up Piccadilly, through the Circus and Leicester Square. We decided to go see ''The Complete History of America (abridged)'' by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. The same people who do all Shakespeare's plays in 97 minutes. It was gaggy as hell, but a fairly good laugh. We got two for one tickets, so it was OK value.
*We got back out to Twickenham by about midnight and were soon fast asleep!
WEDNESDAY
*Poor Greg. He ate a dodgy chicken sandwich leaving Waterloo Tuesday night and felt horribly crook this morning. He had to go back to bed for a while, but recovered enough so we could make our way into London around midday. We came to Camden to meet up with Deb and Tom, with whom we'll be staying with for a few days. We had lunch and spent the afternoon chatting.
*We took ourselves off in the evening to Tower Hill station to meet for a ''Jack the Ripper'' walk. It was really interesting but WOW! are people morbid. About 100 people showed up for the walk - they divided us into two groups each with our own guide. Obviously it's their bread and butter. It's funny that a mysterious serial killer gets people so keen. What was really funny was then people looked uneasy when they mentioned the WAY some of the women were killed and mutilated. You're like ''What did you expect? It's about Jack the Ripper! He wasn't called the Ripper for nothing people!'' It was funny.
*So a fairly slow and relaxing day. Lovely! We ended up playing poker with Tom and Deb, who, it turns out, are masters with expensive poker clay chips. Greg and I lost a pound each!
THURSDAY
*We woke up to the smell of a full English breakfast - Tom had kindly cooked us brekky before we headed off to Oxford with Deb.
*The train ride was bizarre - it was quite full, and we were talking about what we were going to see. Deb mentioned Shelley, and the man sitting next to Greg interrupted us and said he was a great-great-great nephew by marriage or something to Shelley! Bizarre. Then it turned out his daughter's an actor in London and knows several people Deborah does! So really it's only two degrees of separation in London too! Brisbanites take heart!
*Got to Oxford early afternoon. It's lovely - old, and all about academics and Inspector Morse. ;) Seriously, a lot of murders happened there when you think about those books. It's like the English version of Mt Thomas, where Blue Heelers is set! ;)
*Deb showed us around her college, Harris Manchester, which only has 90 students!!! The whole uni, with 39 colleges, only has around 11 000 undergraduates. UQ at St Lucia has about 20 000! It's so small, and therefore, supremely exclusive. We learned that if you're expelled from Oxford, the term is ''sent down''. It means you're being sent from the haven of intellectualism that is Oxford back to the real, grimy world!
*We looked into Magdalen College, which, FYI, is pronounced ''Maudlin''. It's one of many things in Oxford designed to trick you into revealing yourself if you're NOT a student.
*We had tea and cakes at the Randolph Hotel - very posh and featured in Inspector Morse several times.
*Then we went PUNTING! Greg took on the challenge of punting - and well done too. He didn't fall in (phew!) and became very adept at steering the punt through the river. Deb read poetry so it was a very proper English afternoon!
*We had pub food at the Kings Arms, where Shakespeare is believed to have visited. Then we went back to the Turf pub, which goes back over 400 years. Thomas Hardy stood up and recited Latin in the Turf to prove he was worthy of being accepted to Oxford.
*The train back was so slow - we didn'tget home until 1am!
FRIDAY
*Got up earlier to head our for another walk. We did ''Hidden London'', led by a lovely old lady named June. It basically was just a tour of lesser-known churches by Sir Christopher Wren! Dad will be pleased though - one smaller church called St Michael's is the home of the Mission to Seafarers, so I grabbed a brochure! We also saw St Bride's Church - its spire looks like a wedding cake. With good reason too, as the guy who first started baking wedding cakes was trying to imitate Wren's spire!
*We decided one tour wasn't enough, so head to Embankment station and met up for the ''Eccentric London'' tour. This one was fantastic. The guide knew HEAPS, and I learned so much quirky stuff. One example of many: In the 1600s, the streets around the Duke of Buckingham's house on the Strand were all named after him - Buckingham street, Villiers Street (his surname) etc. Well, there was one alley leftover which was renamed ''Of'' alley, after Duke OF Buckingham! They've changed it now to York Place, but the sign still says 'formerly Of Alley'! Very cool.
*That walk ended in Soho, after taking in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and many other famous Monopoly-board type places. Greg and I strolled up and down streets which consisted of fabulous food and alcohol shops, and lots of gay bars and sex shops, Soho being the 'alternative' part of town! We had some dodgy Chinese for dinner, then I had my haircut, then we decided to come home, after being out walking all day!
That's about all for now - we've been relaxing at Deb and Tom's watching a video of a magician who's very popular over here called Derryn Brown. He uses psychological techniques to trick people. It's quite neat, but Greg is cynical!
Will write more soon no doubt. Tomorrow we'll check out the markets here in Camden and see what else we can cram in, before heading back to Twickenham then Ireland on Sunday. It shall be good fun!
Love Nats.
PS. Thanks to the people who've posted!
Anyway, what have we been up to? I'll go for dot points, and try to be brief!
MONDAY
*Got in at 6am (despite the hour delay leaving Singapore). Uncle Norman picked us up from Heathrow and we drove back to their new house at Twickenham. It's very nice, with a big backyard.
*It was still early even after we showered, so Greg and I took off for a walk. We walked about 5 kms in total...up the Thames to the Richmond Bridge, back through Richmond town and into Twickenham. We met Norman and Tessa at a pub called ''Pope's Grotto'' (named after Alexander Pope, the short and odd poet).
*After lunch we grabbed the cameras and headed to Hampton Court, convieniently located 4 miles down the road! It was built by Cardinal Wolsey in the 1500s, then seized by Henry VIII, when Wolsey couldn't get the big guy a divorce so he could legally bonk Anne Boleyn. It was significantly altered by William III and Mary II in the late 1690s, and the last monarch to live there a lot was George II in the mid 1700s. It's fascinating, and we had some great costumed guides. My favourites were the paintings in Henry's Long Gallery - most notobly the one depicting the family line, and the one of the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold', which is where Henry met the King of France for basically a big wrestling, eating and drinking celebration.
*We went through the Garden Maze, then headed for home. Greg and I were fairly jetlagged still so were in bed by 9pm.
TUESDAY
*Up early to head in to London. Got a £5.40 all-day off-peak travelcard, which was a cheaper fare than expected. We got to Waterloo, then walked past the London Eye, across the Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament and into Westminster Abbey. As always, it big and imposing with large amounts of columns and memorials, and tombs to dead kings and queens. We paid special attention to the memorial to Isaac Newton, as it was mentioned in ''The Da Vinci Code''. Of course, there were no exciting art history adventures for us (except the joy of sculpture)!
*We walked back along Whitehall and had lunch opposite Trafalgar Square. We walked back after to visit the Banqueting House at Whitehall, the last bit left of that palace after a fire in 1698. It was built by Inigo Jones for James I and the ceilings were painted by Reubens for Charles I. It's pretty amazing, and only £4 to see.
*We wandered through St James' Park, saw Buck Palace, through Green Park, then up Piccadilly, through the Circus and Leicester Square. We decided to go see ''The Complete History of America (abridged)'' by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. The same people who do all Shakespeare's plays in 97 minutes. It was gaggy as hell, but a fairly good laugh. We got two for one tickets, so it was OK value.
*We got back out to Twickenham by about midnight and were soon fast asleep!
WEDNESDAY
*Poor Greg. He ate a dodgy chicken sandwich leaving Waterloo Tuesday night and felt horribly crook this morning. He had to go back to bed for a while, but recovered enough so we could make our way into London around midday. We came to Camden to meet up with Deb and Tom, with whom we'll be staying with for a few days. We had lunch and spent the afternoon chatting.
*We took ourselves off in the evening to Tower Hill station to meet for a ''Jack the Ripper'' walk. It was really interesting but WOW! are people morbid. About 100 people showed up for the walk - they divided us into two groups each with our own guide. Obviously it's their bread and butter. It's funny that a mysterious serial killer gets people so keen. What was really funny was then people looked uneasy when they mentioned the WAY some of the women were killed and mutilated. You're like ''What did you expect? It's about Jack the Ripper! He wasn't called the Ripper for nothing people!'' It was funny.
*So a fairly slow and relaxing day. Lovely! We ended up playing poker with Tom and Deb, who, it turns out, are masters with expensive poker clay chips. Greg and I lost a pound each!
THURSDAY
*We woke up to the smell of a full English breakfast - Tom had kindly cooked us brekky before we headed off to Oxford with Deb.
*The train ride was bizarre - it was quite full, and we were talking about what we were going to see. Deb mentioned Shelley, and the man sitting next to Greg interrupted us and said he was a great-great-great nephew by marriage or something to Shelley! Bizarre. Then it turned out his daughter's an actor in London and knows several people Deborah does! So really it's only two degrees of separation in London too! Brisbanites take heart!
*Got to Oxford early afternoon. It's lovely - old, and all about academics and Inspector Morse. ;) Seriously, a lot of murders happened there when you think about those books. It's like the English version of Mt Thomas, where Blue Heelers is set! ;)
*Deb showed us around her college, Harris Manchester, which only has 90 students!!! The whole uni, with 39 colleges, only has around 11 000 undergraduates. UQ at St Lucia has about 20 000! It's so small, and therefore, supremely exclusive. We learned that if you're expelled from Oxford, the term is ''sent down''. It means you're being sent from the haven of intellectualism that is Oxford back to the real, grimy world!
*We looked into Magdalen College, which, FYI, is pronounced ''Maudlin''. It's one of many things in Oxford designed to trick you into revealing yourself if you're NOT a student.
*We had tea and cakes at the Randolph Hotel - very posh and featured in Inspector Morse several times.
*Then we went PUNTING! Greg took on the challenge of punting - and well done too. He didn't fall in (phew!) and became very adept at steering the punt through the river. Deb read poetry so it was a very proper English afternoon!
*We had pub food at the Kings Arms, where Shakespeare is believed to have visited. Then we went back to the Turf pub, which goes back over 400 years. Thomas Hardy stood up and recited Latin in the Turf to prove he was worthy of being accepted to Oxford.
*The train back was so slow - we didn'tget home until 1am!
FRIDAY
*Got up earlier to head our for another walk. We did ''Hidden London'', led by a lovely old lady named June. It basically was just a tour of lesser-known churches by Sir Christopher Wren! Dad will be pleased though - one smaller church called St Michael's is the home of the Mission to Seafarers, so I grabbed a brochure! We also saw St Bride's Church - its spire looks like a wedding cake. With good reason too, as the guy who first started baking wedding cakes was trying to imitate Wren's spire!
*We decided one tour wasn't enough, so head to Embankment station and met up for the ''Eccentric London'' tour. This one was fantastic. The guide knew HEAPS, and I learned so much quirky stuff. One example of many: In the 1600s, the streets around the Duke of Buckingham's house on the Strand were all named after him - Buckingham street, Villiers Street (his surname) etc. Well, there was one alley leftover which was renamed ''Of'' alley, after Duke OF Buckingham! They've changed it now to York Place, but the sign still says 'formerly Of Alley'! Very cool.
*That walk ended in Soho, after taking in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, and many other famous Monopoly-board type places. Greg and I strolled up and down streets which consisted of fabulous food and alcohol shops, and lots of gay bars and sex shops, Soho being the 'alternative' part of town! We had some dodgy Chinese for dinner, then I had my haircut, then we decided to come home, after being out walking all day!
That's about all for now - we've been relaxing at Deb and Tom's watching a video of a magician who's very popular over here called Derryn Brown. He uses psychological techniques to trick people. It's quite neat, but Greg is cynical!
Will write more soon no doubt. Tomorrow we'll check out the markets here in Camden and see what else we can cram in, before heading back to Twickenham then Ireland on Sunday. It shall be good fun!
Love Nats.
PS. Thanks to the people who've posted!
Aug 26, 2004
Damn computers!
Aww crap!!!
I just wrote a HUGE post about what we've been up to, but the computer spacked it, and I lost it all! Gawd dammit!! I hate it when that happens. All that literary genius...gone. Sigh.
Oh well, I'll try to rewrite later. Otherwise, know we are safe, and mainly well (except Greg ate a dodgy chicken sandwich and felt crook most of today), and have seen lots. And lots! We're staying in Camden Town now, after staying with Norman and Tessa in Twickenham two nights. Tomorrow we're going to Oxford. Tonight, we're off on a Jack the Ripper walk!!!
Love to all, Nat.
I just wrote a HUGE post about what we've been up to, but the computer spacked it, and I lost it all! Gawd dammit!! I hate it when that happens. All that literary genius...gone. Sigh.
Oh well, I'll try to rewrite later. Otherwise, know we are safe, and mainly well (except Greg ate a dodgy chicken sandwich and felt crook most of today), and have seen lots. And lots! We're staying in Camden Town now, after staying with Norman and Tessa in Twickenham two nights. Tomorrow we're going to Oxford. Tonight, we're off on a Jack the Ripper walk!!!
Love to all, Nat.
Aug 23, 2004
Singapore!
No real reason to write - but Singapore Airport has free internet access so, you know, why not abuse the system!
Have got the first 8 hours out of the way - and despite screaming, play-fighting kids in front, behind and to the side of us, it was OK. The lemongrass chicken was nice.
(See, told you there's nothing to write about yet!)
Catch you later, Nat.
P.S. GO THE BRISBANE LIONS!!!!! Smashing St Kilda 130-85. Fabulous. Now I don't have to come all the way back to the Gabba to kick their heads in. ;) Go you good things!
Have got the first 8 hours out of the way - and despite screaming, play-fighting kids in front, behind and to the side of us, it was OK. The lemongrass chicken was nice.
(See, told you there's nothing to write about yet!)
Catch you later, Nat.
P.S. GO THE BRISBANE LIONS!!!!! Smashing St Kilda 130-85. Fabulous. Now I don't have to come all the way back to the Gabba to kick their heads in. ;) Go you good things!
Aug 22, 2004
Ugh.
I was going to have a big rant about work, the atmosphere of which has been getting me down lately.
But then Ash and Lutzy on the weekend morning show began a competition to find 'Brisbane's Sexiest Newsreader'. It's mainly for TV, but they did give me a mention. I believe Lutsy even used the term 'hot'. So I've got to be grateful for the small things. ;)
Anyway, we're off tomorrow! Quite frankly, I can't leave this country too soon.
Cheers, Nat.
But then Ash and Lutzy on the weekend morning show began a competition to find 'Brisbane's Sexiest Newsreader'. It's mainly for TV, but they did give me a mention. I believe Lutsy even used the term 'hot'. So I've got to be grateful for the small things. ;)
Anyway, we're off tomorrow! Quite frankly, I can't leave this country too soon.
Cheers, Nat.
Aug 17, 2004
Less than a week to go!
....and still so much to do!
We head off on Sunday. To state the obvious for a while - it's very exciting.
I have been buying stuff to take - new jeans, new bras ( strap those babies in, baby!), travel shampoo etc. Greg is using the very successful male method of preparing for an overseas trip - he's bought new socks. Two pairs, in fact. Apart from that, it's business as usual. Wouldn't want to get too excited.
What else has been happening? I've been making lots of earrings. I got really into it a few months back, faded out a bit, but the keenness has returned. I've bought more exy beads, but some of the designs I've come up with are really nice, if I do say so myself. When I come back I think I should look into a little market stall, or maybe a website business. There's all the legality involved in that which could be a big problem for me. I'm not that great with specifics, especially when they involve legalities, accounts, tax file numbers etc. Still, it would be nice to put MEOW designs on the map.
We had a great night at Trivia last night. Actually, we didn't do that well overall, but I managed to answer the $150 jackpot question. For those of you interested:
Q: In which film did Evil Kinevil play himself?
A: "Viva Kinevil!"
I know that otherwise useless piece of trivia because I remember Tony Martin talking about it on the radio many, many moons ago. Why I remembered - don't ask me. But hey, it was worth the brain space in the end! The group very nicely settled to let me have $100, and they took $50 for drinks next week. So I used most of that money to pay for some much needed waxing today!!! Ah, I am hairless. It's a great feeling. ;)
The Theatresports final was on tonight too. It's good to see the gang getting the numbers in - especially since they have to pay for the venue now, which sucks. In terms of playing, I really enjoyed my team (Go the Botox Posse - Dave, Liam and Louise) but I really want to improve my own skills. I want to do my own shows so I can explore other areas of improv. Short games common at TS can only go so far I think - for me, anyway.
The only other thing is I've been watching Simon Schama again. Lots. It's a guilty pleasure not many understand. But it's getting me more and more keen on the trip - so I'll have something to crap on about when we videotape our visits to the sights!
And thanks to Carol for being the first poster who left their name!
Cheers, Natalie.
We head off on Sunday. To state the obvious for a while - it's very exciting.
I have been buying stuff to take - new jeans, new bras ( strap those babies in, baby!), travel shampoo etc. Greg is using the very successful male method of preparing for an overseas trip - he's bought new socks. Two pairs, in fact. Apart from that, it's business as usual. Wouldn't want to get too excited.
What else has been happening? I've been making lots of earrings. I got really into it a few months back, faded out a bit, but the keenness has returned. I've bought more exy beads, but some of the designs I've come up with are really nice, if I do say so myself. When I come back I think I should look into a little market stall, or maybe a website business. There's all the legality involved in that which could be a big problem for me. I'm not that great with specifics, especially when they involve legalities, accounts, tax file numbers etc. Still, it would be nice to put MEOW designs on the map.
We had a great night at Trivia last night. Actually, we didn't do that well overall, but I managed to answer the $150 jackpot question. For those of you interested:
Q: In which film did Evil Kinevil play himself?
A: "Viva Kinevil!"
I know that otherwise useless piece of trivia because I remember Tony Martin talking about it on the radio many, many moons ago. Why I remembered - don't ask me. But hey, it was worth the brain space in the end! The group very nicely settled to let me have $100, and they took $50 for drinks next week. So I used most of that money to pay for some much needed waxing today!!! Ah, I am hairless. It's a great feeling. ;)
The Theatresports final was on tonight too. It's good to see the gang getting the numbers in - especially since they have to pay for the venue now, which sucks. In terms of playing, I really enjoyed my team (Go the Botox Posse - Dave, Liam and Louise) but I really want to improve my own skills. I want to do my own shows so I can explore other areas of improv. Short games common at TS can only go so far I think - for me, anyway.
The only other thing is I've been watching Simon Schama again. Lots. It's a guilty pleasure not many understand. But it's getting me more and more keen on the trip - so I'll have something to crap on about when we videotape our visits to the sights!
And thanks to Carol for being the first poster who left their name!
Cheers, Natalie.
Aug 9, 2004
Photo Mark II
OK, so as soon as I wrote about the photo thing not working, I managed to get it working. Gosh darn it, I'm a genius. That just proves whining CAN get you places. ;)
So everyone enjoy my photo! See my in all my pasty-faced, frizzy-haired glory! Well, don't actually, because I'm yet to have any readers at all. So really, no one knows I exist! Spooky!!!
Nat.
P.S. I actually did the photo post AFTER the Cats and Cars one. But due to wackiness with setting the time for each post, it looks like it was earlier. I imagine that might happen a bit. Some will be in local Brisbane time, or local UK time for that matter (when I go OS), and some will be standard American. It's suck an adventure!!
P.P.S. I saw TISM last night at the Arena. It was very cool, except a creepy old guy kept rubbing my butt (can't say if it was an accident), and the fact Greg and my ears are still ringing!
So everyone enjoy my photo! See my in all my pasty-faced, frizzy-haired glory! Well, don't actually, because I'm yet to have any readers at all. So really, no one knows I exist! Spooky!!!
Nat.
P.S. I actually did the photo post AFTER the Cats and Cars one. But due to wackiness with setting the time for each post, it looks like it was earlier. I imagine that might happen a bit. Some will be in local Brisbane time, or local UK time for that matter (when I go OS), and some will be standard American. It's suck an adventure!!
P.P.S. I saw TISM last night at the Arena. It was very cool, except a creepy old guy kept rubbing my butt (can't say if it was an accident), and the fact Greg and my ears are still ringing!
Aug 8, 2004
Cats and Cars
Hey all. It's been a rollercoaster of a week, that I can tell you.
The worst news was the death of my beloved cat Sleepy. Well, technically she was my brother's cat (her sister Mollie is my cat and still going strong), but the whole family loved her. She was more like a dog than a cat, and her big eyes always had this permanently surprised expression. She was dopey, but big and fat and cuddly.
Sleepy was 16 years old (in human years), so she had had a good life. But I still wasn't prepared for her death. Her decline was really sudden - it started when we got back from a holiday in the Snowy Mountains and got her out of the cattery. She hadn't eaten much and had lost a heap of weight. Over the next three weeks she just lost more weight, and parts of her personality, and finally began having renal failure. It was awful. The vet believes she had cancer, because her red blood cell count was too high. She was put down on Monday 2 August. I wish I could have been with her - I was at work at the time and didn't know. She's not suffering now, but I still expect to see her popping up at the top of the stairs, or hanging around your feet at the kitchen table eyeing off your bacon.
Love you Sleepy. Thanks for all the happiness you gave me through my formative years. :)
I've been working breakfast this week, which means 4am starts. It also means slacking off from the treadmill and eating badly. But it was worse when my car started making strange high-pitched whining sounds. Turns out the brakes are buggered. So began discussions of whether to fix brakes, which would cost at least $500, and pay rego ($300 for six months), or to go out and trade Astra for another car.
To cut a long story short, I've gone with the second option. Eeeek! This coming Monday I take delivery of a brand new Toyota Corolla Levin. You can see it here. It's a sterling silver colour - I was tempted to get black but you have to wash it ALL the time, and everyone knows how slack I am with keeping things clean.
It cost more than I originally wanted to spend, but I did get a good deal from my brother's car dealer friend (thanks Sean!) and it will be cheaper in ongoing costs (servicing, parts etc). The resale value on Corollas is also fairly high, so that's good. I looked at other cars - Honda Jazz, Mazda 3, Subaru Impreza and another Astra, but this one came up trumps in terms of value for money.
When I figure out how I might post photos on this site, I'll try to put one up of the new Clumsy Mobile!
The worst news was the death of my beloved cat Sleepy. Well, technically she was my brother's cat (her sister Mollie is my cat and still going strong), but the whole family loved her. She was more like a dog than a cat, and her big eyes always had this permanently surprised expression. She was dopey, but big and fat and cuddly.
Sleepy was 16 years old (in human years), so she had had a good life. But I still wasn't prepared for her death. Her decline was really sudden - it started when we got back from a holiday in the Snowy Mountains and got her out of the cattery. She hadn't eaten much and had lost a heap of weight. Over the next three weeks she just lost more weight, and parts of her personality, and finally began having renal failure. It was awful. The vet believes she had cancer, because her red blood cell count was too high. She was put down on Monday 2 August. I wish I could have been with her - I was at work at the time and didn't know. She's not suffering now, but I still expect to see her popping up at the top of the stairs, or hanging around your feet at the kitchen table eyeing off your bacon.
Love you Sleepy. Thanks for all the happiness you gave me through my formative years. :)
I've been working breakfast this week, which means 4am starts. It also means slacking off from the treadmill and eating badly. But it was worse when my car started making strange high-pitched whining sounds. Turns out the brakes are buggered. So began discussions of whether to fix brakes, which would cost at least $500, and pay rego ($300 for six months), or to go out and trade Astra for another car.
To cut a long story short, I've gone with the second option. Eeeek! This coming Monday I take delivery of a brand new Toyota Corolla Levin. You can see it here. It's a sterling silver colour - I was tempted to get black but you have to wash it ALL the time, and everyone knows how slack I am with keeping things clean.
It cost more than I originally wanted to spend, but I did get a good deal from my brother's car dealer friend (thanks Sean!) and it will be cheaper in ongoing costs (servicing, parts etc). The resale value on Corollas is also fairly high, so that's good. I looked at other cars - Honda Jazz, Mazda 3, Subaru Impreza and another Astra, but this one came up trumps in terms of value for money.
When I figure out how I might post photos on this site, I'll try to put one up of the new Clumsy Mobile!
Aug 7, 2004
Photo
This is me!
Ok, so I'm trying to work out how to put a picture of me on the front page near the start of my profile. It works kind of, for example when you click on profile, but it's yet to change on the front page. It's very confusing for a techno-fear chick like myself. I've also changed that profile but it doesn't seem to be working. The instructions say re-click "Republish Your Blog" but I can't find that button! Oh well. We'll see how things go!
Aug 2, 2004
3CCD'd up and ready to roll!
I'm SO excited. Today I spent a fairly consequential amount of money on a video camera! Eeee, heee! Cackle. It's terrifying to think of the money seeping away from my beloved accounts but hey, upstairs there's a tiny little camera relying on me to bring it to life and help it achieve the purpose it was created for - namely, filming drunk people singing karaoke and dogs biting men in the crotch. In this way, I hope to recoup the cost by winning Australia's Funniest Home Videos. ;)
Its main purpose is for the upcoming trip, which I am calling "Jaunt 04" at the moment. The name could change. But the camera will hopefully be a great asset, in terms of filming Simon Schama impersonations around Stonehenge, etc.
It's a digital 3CCD Panasonic. Quite basic but lovely. I got it for a good price, and I can claim the dreaded GST back when we go through Customs. Yay!
I'm off to go have a tinker. With the camera that is - oooh er guv'na! Nat.
P.S. I also found how to edit posts. Which means I can go back and correct incorrect spelling! Huzzah!
Its main purpose is for the upcoming trip, which I am calling "Jaunt 04" at the moment. The name could change. But the camera will hopefully be a great asset, in terms of filming Simon Schama impersonations around Stonehenge, etc.
It's a digital 3CCD Panasonic. Quite basic but lovely. I got it for a good price, and I can claim the dreaded GST back when we go through Customs. Yay!
I'm off to go have a tinker. With the camera that is - oooh er guv'na! Nat.
P.S. I also found how to edit posts. Which means I can go back and correct incorrect spelling! Huzzah!
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