sleb

i nicked this off my cuz shauna.
i am pretty happy with it i have to say - although i did have to delete a few boys from the list.

grumpy and forgetful

i realised i forgot to mention a few of the highlights of the wedding+associated dancing in my haze.
1. some suprise & very decent crooning from the groom to his new bride
2. much later, a 'dance-off' a-la American Pie 3 (which included one of my colleagues)
3. a congo to the locomotion
4. group ballad singing
5. a wedding 'cake' made of cheese (i.e. rounds of stilton, wendseydale, some others and then camembert) a bit smelly but very good.

went to a lunchtime seminar yesterday. had absolutely no interest in the subject, but went
a) to appear Conscientious
b) because when the notice went out, we were also informed that a new sandwich company was going to be trialled and could we please supply feedback?

well, of course i could provide feedback! so off i toddled at 12:30 down to the meeting room. anyone who has set foot in this country would know that the english are a bit fanatical about their sandwiches, so it was me me, along with everyone else in the company who decended on two pitiful trays of neat sandwich quarters.

i was very dissapointed as i quickly figured out that they had forgotten about the lowly vegetarian and i managed to grab 3 quarters of the only vegetarian option (egg) in the melee before the talk began. it was lucky i wasnt interested in the topic because i couldnt concentrate on anything other than how pissed off i was about the sandwiches for the next 40 mins.

got back to my desk and, at the risk of appearing greedy, wrote some appropriately scathing feedback.

i am sick of the english today.

travelling with tom

i am writing this through the haze of hungoveredness having been at a weddding last night

rohan and i went to france last week. rohan had wanted to do a coastal route (suprise, suprise) but i (not so) gently reminded him about Bognor and the itinerary shifted inland a bit to travelling through the loire valley (to the coast). however, it turned out that i won that battle but rohan won the war.

rohan for some time has been keen to get a sat nav thingy. it would be fair to say that i have been more than a bit reluctant to go down that route as it were.

1. i like navigating and it gives me something to do when rohan is driving

2. i think gadgets like this are going to dumb down humans so we're incapable of doing simple tasks and not aware when the machines take over (okay, so maybe shouldnt take AI so literally, but still!)

this of course was all ignored and the day before we set off, rohan came home from work with tom...tom (the brand name). i remained suspicious and refused to get introduced before we set off.

anyway, driving with tom is like having a third person in the car ...rohan and i will be having a conversation and then tom will interrupt with 'in 300 yards take the exit' etc. tom seems to become particuarly agitated when i start singing :

the first stand off occured when it seemed we were making too good time on the motorway to Orleans and decided to take the back roads. i couldnt figure out how to add in extra small towns to the route and so i turned tom down (ok, off) and freestyled (with a fairly large scale map).

a few hours (minutes?) later we were hopelessly lost (large scale map, confusing french road signs, 1 way routes, me being nervous with tom in the car) and yes, i turned to tom for help. but would he? no, tom insisted that we were still where he had been turned off - it was as if he wanted to make a fool of me. anyway, the trip took us maybe 5 hours longer that it should have and led to a near relationship meltdown, me apologising to tom and promising not to use and abuse him as i had done previously and my role is now reduced to pointing out obstructions etc (generally, watch out for deer). still, i am going to maintain a healthy suspicion.

there were a few other funny moments, like when rohan had tom switched on in his backpack when we went into a patisserie and it kept instructing from the backpack 'turn left!' , 'when you can, turn around and then turn left!'. ahhh dear.

the loire valley was pretty gorgeous. lots of chateux, a nice river and all the towns we stayed in were full of character, good food, interesting shops etc. and i think our french is improving! we do a very convicing 'bon jour', but we are stuffed when they reply in french.

had a few menu suprises. i ordered a vegetarian 'robe des champs' (or something like that - the only thing vegetarian on the menu) which, according to our phrase book, translated as 'dress from the field'. so i was quite interested to see what it could be - it was a baked potato. i couldnt believe i had ordered a baked potato (an english staple) in france. also managed to order a mince pizza and we had kebabs one night. but we did have a meal on par with rick steins on our last night in a gorgeous limestone cavern of a restaraunt (highlights were the asparagus pannacotta and rhubarb tiramisu for you foodies).

so, we like france. well, what we have seen of it so far and the beemer makes for a quite comfy road tripping vehicle so we will probably take it on our grande tour. although everytime we pass a camper we stare longingly at it.

also, a friend from work got married yesterday. it was a lovely ceremony in the main church in east grinstead and a reception at a manor house nearby. good food, good speeches, plenty of bad dancing.

so today is dedicated to relaxing. it is average weather so thats ok. seems i jinxed the weather with my last post.

Me at the extravagant looking Chambord Chateau

at the heart of the chateau is a double spiral staircases allegedly designed by Leonardo di Vinci.

the alleys of blois (pronounced blwah!)

eating bread and cheese on the banks of the loire

lighting a candle for the heath and happiness of friends and family (thats YOU)

no trip to the loire is complete without a trip to cave that houses the mushroom museum! yum!

and of course, no trip of ours is complete without going to something war-related. this museum was a memorial to the D-day landings and actually alot of the museum is dedicated to peace, but we didnt have time to ge to that bit - just saw the war bits before we had to dash back to calais through fog for our ferry (got it with about 2 minutes to spare).

although you might want to use some if you run into this guy

happy wedding gueststhe church, bride, etc
to the manor born? i wish.


cutting loose on the dance floor

boing

i really like spring. i feel like i never noticed it before - is there even spring in australia? occasionally i think enough pink already, but on the whole the transformation is incredible and uplifting. so has been the weather - day after day of sunny, springy weather (yes, we are still in england) which means not much blogging cos there isnt much to whinge about (jokes).


saw something funny on the train up to london the otherday - someone had 5 pairs of white knickers hung on their line next to five bright white shirts. funny. i came home and told rohan that i saw 7 white knickers and shirts on a line and he said 'no, you would have seen 5' (he's a logical boy, my rohan) and of course - who would be wearing white knickers and shirts on the weekend?

but dont worry- that is not why i am blogging to you today.

no, more exciting than that - rohan and i escaped the curse of Tom Cruise (that is East Grinstead) and caught the train up to london to see a BAND the other day. and ended up seeing not one but three and felt alive for the first time in a while!


the first band was a quirky little orchestra of a band (a flautist, three violins, a cor anglais ((sp?)really, is there a need for double reed instruments to be played in public? - so unattractive) and a lead singer with bells on her fingers and toes (ok, around her ankles)). they were ok.


the second band sidled onto the stage and i wondered 'what do we have here' - a lead singer with the pointiest shoes, the skinniest legs in skin tight jeans that came up to just below his bum, long hair and a black felt hat (didnt really notice the rest of the band - i think the keyboard player was quite cute). he sang like an angel or at least alot like ryan adams. not only that, he sort of shimmied, staggered and skipped around the stage which had me very impressed and had rohan shooting me concerned glances. anyway, i really liked them and if i was 10 years younger they would have had a groupie on their hands.


the third band we saw was angus and julia stone and again, i beg of you, if they are playing near you, see them! so gorgeous and talented. i really liked seeing them in an intimate venue as last time i saw them from the back of the adelaide festival theatre.

it was a good night & muchos gracias to amy for organising it.


a couple photos from the last coupla weeks:



sunday lunch with grandma and grandpa



stunning views from pub

paul, beth and liz hanging out in hamstead heath

i really need to take more photos!

rohan and i are off to road test our beemer in france on friday for a few days in the loire valley. yay.