Friday 14 December 2007

My cat Kiddy has found someone to look after him

Many of you would have seen that I was looking for someone to look after my cat Kiddy whilst I'm away. I would like to thank my friend Dean for putting the word out and putting me in contact with the lovely Maureen. Kiddy is now living it up down the Gold Coast with Maureen and her cat Phoenix who is like Kiddy's twin (short black fur, same age, size). Apparently Kiddy is settling in great. A big thank you to Maureen and all the other people to contacted me - it's nice to know there's people out there willing to help.

Friday 7 December 2007

Xmas Parties, Beatles, Oxford, Cotswolds...

Work xmas party – Saturday 1 December 2007

What a great night. Our Christmas party was held at Tynley Hall in the countryside on a huge estate. It was black tie – and everyone dressed up. We all had our own rooms. At the beginning of the night, professional photographers took our photos. Then we had a big sit down dinner, and in between courses, there was these fantastic opera singers (that gave me goosebumps). Then dancing, more drinks etc. And at the end of the night, it turns out the photos that were taken were transposed onto a magazine cover – one for us each of us to keep - fun night!
By the way – my dress cost £15 – so many bargains to be had in Brixton, and I borrowed a pair of Steph’s shoes – hardly spent any money at al. Anyway, have several more Christmas drinks, lunches and dinners to go now – hmm and eek – I guess it’ll have to make up for the fact that I’m spending most of Christmas Day on a plane. Not long til I’m home now – yaaaay!

Beatles Walk – Sunday 25 November 2007

Photos: www.amanda.com.au/uk/beatles/

I’ve been doing a few walks around London through www.londonwalks.com/ – they’re only £6 each and a guide takes you around London and points out various landmarks, past and present. The history is fascinating. And it’s good exercise. Anyway, I did a Beatles walk. The guide who does the tour owns his own Beatles café near Abbey Road, has written his own book about the Beatles and has his own DVD. AND, he’s the world champion Beatles quiz master (or something). Basically, this guy knows A LOT about the Beatles.

We visited several historically important Beatle related places around London. Several recording studios, Saville Row – the building where they last performed together on the rooftop (which is sadly sitting there empty and closed up). Various clubs. And finally the infamous Abbey Road. Abbey Road is actually quite busy – so it’s hard to get a photo of you on it, without annoying motorists. There’s actually a live webcam of Abbey Road from the Abbey Road recording studio (right next to the crossing): www.abbeyroad.co.uk/virtual_visit/webcam/ - you’ll see what I mean about traffic.

Oxford and the Cotswolds – Saturday 24 November 2007

I did a day trip out to the Cotswolds and Oxford with Tracks Travel (very cheap again – only £17). The Cotswolds is gorgeous – we went to this cute village called Bourton on the Water. It has water flowing through the middle of the village. Lots of cute shops. They even had a model village of the village (which also its own model of the model etc). It was very cold! But bearable – however, I did have to buy a second pair of socks to wear – my feet were freezing. We warmed up in a café and had some yummy scones and tea.

Next we were off to Oxford. There is no actual Oxford university. Just lots and lots of colleges that fall under the umbrella name of Oxford university. We did the hop on / hop off bus tour – but if anyone ever visits there – I’d just recommend having a walk around and visit one of the colleges eg – Christ Church is close and huge. Bought a great scarf there (purple of course). One thing about doing site seeing in winter – is that there’s far less tourists – which is great. I’m handling the cold “ok”, so long as it isn’t windy or raining, its tolerable, especially if you’ve got the right clothes. I love my winter coat (and I’m sure it loves me too).

Natural history museum - Sunday 18 November 2007

Loads of the museums here are free to visit. Decided to go check out the Natural History Museum one weekend. Outside, there was a real Christmas tree, an icerink, and Christmas markets. Inside there were loads of different exhibitions. I liked the dinosaur exhibition the best. You could spend days in these museums – good thing they’re free...