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Queens of the Stone Age!!!

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Well, I cant believe I forgot to write about it, but on Tuesday night after work Mara, Lis and I headed into the city to see the musical QUEEN – We Will Rock You! I got Lis her ticket as a late birthday present :o)

Well the musical was interesting to say the least! It was written by Ben Elton, the sci-fi writer which explains a bit of why there were weird scenes and costumes and a bizarre story line right from the word go… but the songs were great, and the band was excellent…I thought the dancing was a bit second rate, but otherwise the whole musical was great! The ads for it all said it got a standing ovation every night, and it did Tuesday night as well. We probably could have gotten into the spirit of the musical a bit more if we were not surrounded by Korean?) people who barely spoke English and most likely had very little idea about Queen and their famousness! But ya never know.

Anyway, just remembered I had to write about that! Will update more as soon as I can – currently in NICE as we started the Europe trip today, but the keyboard I am tying on is all wacky with letters not in their usual places, but the configuration changed to Aussie one… so it is like typing blind with no signals and no abbreviations as I cannot find the apostrophe key or anything!

Finally – Europe Here We Come!

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Okay, so we’re getting a little excited about heading off to Europe very early tomorrow morning….. I would be more excited if I could fit everything I wanted into my pack!!! It just seems so damn tiny and I thought I had everything in, until I turned around and on my bed was still pajamas and black jacket and big Europe2007 Guidebook and a hair-dryer and pair of shoes (they have been ditched) but I need to try fit everything else in – well ok maybe the hairdryer can stay behind!?

Well last week, on Saturday Mara and I ventured around Bethnall Green, Whitechapel and then Rotherhithe to see and drop off various items and also to purchase some strap on sandals – which we did. Only thing is they are suede inner sole which means not much rain or walking in water in them.. oops. Uh well, they will suffice! Sunday we journeyed out to Heathrow (takes like an hour!) and then waited and waited for Lis to arrive out of customs (we had a iced chocolate…) and then she arrived, so we headed back home on the long ride – complete with jokes about the stop ‘Cockfosters’ at the end of the Picadilly Line (hahaha)! Sunday evening we headed to Brick Lane for some REAL Indian food, and got hassled the hell out of by the annoying hecklers trying to get us into THEIR restaurants! Lis and I crakced it at one guy who chased us across the bloody street, so anyhow we ended up eating at a really nice place which was quiet out the front and the men weren’t hassling us. It was nice and so not very expensive either! A lot cheaper than the silver-service Indian Mara, Ali and I had at Clapham last week, prior to watching the SImpson’s Movie (Bourne Ultimatum was sold out already).

Monday, Bank HOliday over here, we let Lis sleep in a bit, did some packing and cleaning, then headed to Notting Hill to see some of the huge Notting Hill Carnival! It’s sort of like a mardi-gras full of loud music, trucks with huge speakers followed by hundreds of well-costumed people wearing not much! Bright colours and millions, 2 million to be exact, of spectators. At some points to get thru the crows the only way was to join a conga line!!! Lots of fun. Mind you, gang problems in London meant that about 5 people got stabbed and 2 got shot at the carnival at some point over the two days!!! It’s kinda like being back in Alice ;o)

Monday night we met up with Terry, John, Kattoo and Johnny and the very nicely took us out for dinner. Found a really nice Turkish place and that guy from the Kenny Movie (toilet cleaner…) was there – Mara spotted him, I would have had no idea! Anyway, very nicely Terry and John paid for the whole dinner too, so thanks again to them for that. It was most unexpected, but very nice. They’re back in the States now, so I’ll have someone to drop by and visit on my way home when I journey that way!

So, it was a great long weekend :o)  Tuesday I had a Health & Safety Training day so that I can get my CSCS card, which will allow me to safely be at and work at the London 2012 Games construction site. Should be interesting! I don’t sit my test until the end of October once I’ve returned from Europe, but I think the questions won’t be nearly hard. I got 39/40 first trial one, and 40/40 second trial one! So I’ll definitely be issued with a hard had, boots (go Timberland) and probably also a fluro vest for when I start on-site! hahaha I will attempt to get photographic evidence!

Yesterday I tied up all the loose ends at work, handed over things to Cath, and left hand-over notes for my replacement temp and so after all that was said and done – I took today off work to pack and show Lis around! LUCKY I did too, cuz I have been packing for hours, like 4 hours this morning and still need to figure out a way to shove those extra things in!!!

Will update from EUROPE!

Friday, August 24th, 2007
Hello, well what a hectic rush to the end of this week it has been! I'm not sure why - perhaps because it's a bank holiday (long weekend on Monday) and because it's only SIX DAYS until we head off ... [Continue reading this entry]

Bits and Bobs

Monday, August 20th, 2007
Well, Thursday two weeks ago now, I got my eyes tested at Specsavers and found that the glasses I brought from home (for use during screen based equipment work) are for someone long-sighted, whereas the new tests showed my right ... [Continue reading this entry]

Birmingham

Sunday, August 19th, 2007
Well, Friday night I arrived into Snow Hill Station in Birmingham, jumped into a taxi and headed towards the Cadbury Factory, where Aunty Gill (Dad's cousin) was having her 50th birthday party! Unfortunately the party wasn't inside the actual factory ... [Continue reading this entry]

Trip to Birmingham!

Thursday, August 16th, 2007
TO begin with, let me just say that last week flew by in a hectic rush and this week has been much the same - very little time to play on the internet and update my blog (so not good!). Well, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Looking forward to this holiday!

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007
Okay so just when you think you've caught up on a little bit of life that's passed by, you lost track of time once again! Shows that I'm obviously busy enough over here for the moment hey! Well I left off ... [Continue reading this entry]

Finally up to date-ish!

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
This week outside of work was pretty uneventful from what I can remember! It seemed to fly by! Although on Monday morning at 0900 I had my appointment with the National Insurance Number centre people and all the forms etc ... [Continue reading this entry]

And yet there’s still more!

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007
Okay so Friday I had work like usual, and then Ash and Mara came down and joined Ali and I for a drink at West India Quay (right next to Canary Wharf) so that was pretty good. Before those drinks, ... [Continue reading this entry]