We've finally made it back to Doha. It's been just under two months but it feels like an eternity!
Our flight from Paris to Dubai was delayed by 40 minutes last night while technicians changed the oil filter on our plane. This made us a little nervous as we had just under an hour to make our connecting flight to Doha. Luckily we caught a tail wind so we landed five minutes before we were supposed to board our connecting flight. Naturally the gate was at the opposite end of the terminal so we made our way up there at speed to find that there was "debris on the runway" resulting in what was to be a 45 minute delay. Once we finally took off the flight went smoothly and we had a great time chatting to the flight attendant who turned out to be a Melbourne girl too.
At the moment I'm sitting in our room at the Four Seasons. It's stunning. We got upgraded to an ocean view room and while there is a big dome blocking a third of the view it is still lovely overlooking the bay and the poolside bar.
Still no news on the flights back to Melbourne. Nick & I are going to head down to the Emirates office when it opens again at 1600 to see if there's anything we can do and also to double check we haven't missed anything important.
The weather is perfect here. It's 22˚C and sunny. A fine change from France. I have a feeling that we're going to melt when we land in Singapore though. It's going to hurt. Still there will be plenty of distractions like Chinese New Year so I'm sure we'll cope. Plus nothing could top the Doha summer.
It's funny being back in Doha. Most people think we're doing a visa run from Dubai. The city has changed ever so slightly. More of it seems to have been built which can only be good for it.
Same same but different.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Last Night In France
It's 01:15 and I really should be tucked up in bed asleep but having had three days of solid sleep care of the Arctic Measles I've found I'm back to my usual insomnia. I like to think it's a sign I'm getting better.
We leave for Qatar tomorrow, some would say to tempt fate in Doha, which I'm sure will be fine. Gene & I are looking forward to catching up with our favourite limo driver while we're there. The whole day spa thing is a little out of the question in light of recent events. A pity because we'd been looking forward to it for most of the trip.
Am feeling much better and made contact with the world again today (ie. started looking for work and called family & friends). That was lovely. It's nice to be back in the world even though the world is currently still a little sore. The paracetamol's looking after that though.
In answer to Nick's comment on my previous post I must admit I didn't feel particularly medieval during the chicken pox although I did spend some brief moments gazing wistfully out the window at the happy people outside before hiding behind the curtains incase they saw me. More fairytale trapped in a tower due to being a disfigured, misunderstood creature than medieval but an interesting description of the experience of chicken pox from your family. I'll have to ask other Nick how he felt about it... He did go sledding though so I doubt it was medieval. Sorry Rami I don't think the story will be illustrated any time soon. You'll have to use your imagination.
So here we are. We've made it to the end of our whirlwind tour of Europe. It's hard to believe that we've been here since Christmas Eve. Time seems to flow differently when you're on holiday. It's been great fun having gone through a variety of countries where we've all spoken the language, not spoken it at all, or had one or two members of the party speak the language. Norweigan was a tough one to pick up. We've come away with only one word takk which means "thank you". Still it was a good experience for us to muddle our way across borders with our phrasebooks and we're looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow we start the journey home navigating our way back through Asia. We're still on the waiting list to get back to Australia so we're making plans to show Nick around Singapore for a few days. This largely revolves around all the great places and foods to eat as well as a tour of the Esplanade. We're theatre geeks at heart, how could we not?
We've already started discussions of the first things that we want to consume upon our eventual return home.
Gene - large Aussie with garlic and chilli
Nick - Boags draught
Me? I just want some vegemite on toast. Some biltong too (although it's South African so not particularly patriotic and I had some in the UK anyway).
Having been away for a few months now I'm expecting the city to be, as they would say in Doha, same same but different. My Dad posted some pictures he'd taken around Melbourne and it was good to see the city sights again. It's not something that I've really taken much notice of until we went away. While we were flying to Paris from Oslo I was reading the inflight magazine and there was an article on Melbourne. The photo accompanying the article was an old photo though. The old Gas & Fuel buildings were still standing opposite Flinders Street Station with St Paul's peeping out from behind them. No Fed Square in sight.
While it will be good to see the city again it really is the people I'm most looking forward to seeing.
Almost home but not quite. No ticket back yet and our house in storage. It's a little odd but strangely liberating.
We leave for Qatar tomorrow, some would say to tempt fate in Doha, which I'm sure will be fine. Gene & I are looking forward to catching up with our favourite limo driver while we're there. The whole day spa thing is a little out of the question in light of recent events. A pity because we'd been looking forward to it for most of the trip.
Am feeling much better and made contact with the world again today (ie. started looking for work and called family & friends). That was lovely. It's nice to be back in the world even though the world is currently still a little sore. The paracetamol's looking after that though.
In answer to Nick's comment on my previous post I must admit I didn't feel particularly medieval during the chicken pox although I did spend some brief moments gazing wistfully out the window at the happy people outside before hiding behind the curtains incase they saw me. More fairytale trapped in a tower due to being a disfigured, misunderstood creature than medieval but an interesting description of the experience of chicken pox from your family. I'll have to ask other Nick how he felt about it... He did go sledding though so I doubt it was medieval. Sorry Rami I don't think the story will be illustrated any time soon. You'll have to use your imagination.
So here we are. We've made it to the end of our whirlwind tour of Europe. It's hard to believe that we've been here since Christmas Eve. Time seems to flow differently when you're on holiday. It's been great fun having gone through a variety of countries where we've all spoken the language, not spoken it at all, or had one or two members of the party speak the language. Norweigan was a tough one to pick up. We've come away with only one word takk which means "thank you". Still it was a good experience for us to muddle our way across borders with our phrasebooks and we're looking forward to doing it again.
Tomorrow we start the journey home navigating our way back through Asia. We're still on the waiting list to get back to Australia so we're making plans to show Nick around Singapore for a few days. This largely revolves around all the great places and foods to eat as well as a tour of the Esplanade. We're theatre geeks at heart, how could we not?
We've already started discussions of the first things that we want to consume upon our eventual return home.
Gene - large Aussie with garlic and chilli
Nick - Boags draught
Me? I just want some vegemite on toast. Some biltong too (although it's South African so not particularly patriotic and I had some in the UK anyway).
Having been away for a few months now I'm expecting the city to be, as they would say in Doha, same same but different. My Dad posted some pictures he'd taken around Melbourne and it was good to see the city sights again. It's not something that I've really taken much notice of until we went away. While we were flying to Paris from Oslo I was reading the inflight magazine and there was an article on Melbourne. The photo accompanying the article was an old photo though. The old Gas & Fuel buildings were still standing opposite Flinders Street Station with St Paul's peeping out from behind them. No Fed Square in sight.
While it will be good to see the city again it really is the people I'm most looking forward to seeing.
Almost home but not quite. No ticket back yet and our house in storage. It's a little odd but strangely liberating.
Monday, February 12, 2007
40 Questions on 2006
1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Worked on the Opening & Closing Ceremonies for both the Melbourne Commonwealth Games & Doha Asian Games, flew internationally by myself, went to several countries I've never been to, played with hexadeck, achieved one of my New Year's resolutions
2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I certainly did! 2006 was indeed a better year. Still working on the juggling though. :)
Here's to a better 2007 (and juggling)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Julian & his wife Kate
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No
5. What countries did you visit?
Japan, Qatar, France and England.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
To think less & do more.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
1st January because Gene & I had rung in the New Year with angry words and I had no idea what the year was going to bring. Thankfully it turned out to be one of the best years I’ve had.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Actively enjoying my month off work in the middle of the year.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not looking after my health.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
First experience with bronchitis (which lead to an intolerance/allergy to penicillin), fractured my shoulder blade, a stupid amount of ear/throat infections. Fruit is your friend. Apparently sleep is too.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets. I agree! Followed closely by my iPod.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Fi and Mark for proving year after year that romance is still alive. Congratulations!
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
No one that I feel a need to speak of.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Pounds Sterling/Euro to US/Aussie Dollar exchange. We're thinking of it all as dollars. It's less painful that way.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Opening Ceremony in Melbourne. I cried. There’s something good about knowing that you’re friends and family are watching the show you’re working on. Plus it’s the first show that both my Dad’s and my name has been in the programme
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Under the Milky Way - The Church
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Happier, thinner, richer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Played my violin, sketched and followed my whims
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stress
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent Christmas in Paris with Lisa and making friends with her friends while eating a vegan Chinese banquet (with Nick & Gene)
21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
As I do every year :)
23. How many one-night stands?
Nada
24. What was your favourite TV program?
Ah television... Didn't see much of it but most of it involved Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who. Oh have just started to watch the Green Wing but we didn’t do that until 2007 so it probably doesn’t count.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Not so much.
26. What was the best book you read?
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel by Susanna Clark. Possibly Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman but I still haven't finished it.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Fabienne Delsol
28. What did you want and get?
A job doing what I love
29. What did you want and not get?
See a show that Matt Lockitt directed (I think I’ll have to add it to my resolutions list)
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I could go with Batman Begins because it was pretty good or Pirates of the Carribean II because Johnny Depp rocks my world, but I think I’m going to go with Confetti because I liked the feel of the movie because it wasn’t too polished. It was fun and just perfect at the time.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was working but my wonderful friends came to visit and have drinks. I was and still am 23.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being able to proficiently juggling three balls.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Comfortable, practical (many useful pockets) and marginally less black than 2005 but only just.
34. What kept you sane?
Biltong, miso soup, Gene & Nick (not necessarily in that order).
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny’s a steady favourite but Clive Owen’s pretty spunky too…
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Tony Abbott almost being able to determine what medications were allowed to be prescribed instead of the AMA.
Out of interest, what happened to question 37?
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I’ve met some amazing people in 2006. Can’t just pick one.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Trust your instincts, have fun and be safe.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Just another day in paradise
as you stumble to your bed
Give anything to silence
those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will learn to be still.
Worked on the Opening & Closing Ceremonies for both the Melbourne Commonwealth Games & Doha Asian Games, flew internationally by myself, went to several countries I've never been to, played with hexadeck, achieved one of my New Year's resolutions
2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
I certainly did! 2006 was indeed a better year. Still working on the juggling though. :)
Here's to a better 2007 (and juggling)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Julian & his wife Kate
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No
5. What countries did you visit?
Japan, Qatar, France and England.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
To think less & do more.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
1st January because Gene & I had rung in the New Year with angry words and I had no idea what the year was going to bring. Thankfully it turned out to be one of the best years I’ve had.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Actively enjoying my month off work in the middle of the year.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not looking after my health.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
First experience with bronchitis (which lead to an intolerance/allergy to penicillin), fractured my shoulder blade, a stupid amount of ear/throat infections. Fruit is your friend. Apparently sleep is too.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Plane tickets. I agree! Followed closely by my iPod.
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Fi and Mark for proving year after year that romance is still alive. Congratulations!
13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
No one that I feel a need to speak of.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Pounds Sterling/Euro to US/Aussie Dollar exchange. We're thinking of it all as dollars. It's less painful that way.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Opening Ceremony in Melbourne. I cried. There’s something good about knowing that you’re friends and family are watching the show you’re working on. Plus it’s the first show that both my Dad’s and my name has been in the programme
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
Under the Milky Way - The Church
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Thinner or fatter? Richer or poorer?
Happier, thinner, richer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Played my violin, sketched and followed my whims
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stress
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent Christmas in Paris with Lisa and making friends with her friends while eating a vegan Chinese banquet (with Nick & Gene)
21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
As I do every year :)
23. How many one-night stands?
Nada
24. What was your favourite TV program?
Ah television... Didn't see much of it but most of it involved Battlestar Galactica and Dr Who. Oh have just started to watch the Green Wing but we didn’t do that until 2007 so it probably doesn’t count.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Not so much.
26. What was the best book you read?
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel by Susanna Clark. Possibly Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman but I still haven't finished it.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Fabienne Delsol
28. What did you want and get?
A job doing what I love
29. What did you want and not get?
See a show that Matt Lockitt directed (I think I’ll have to add it to my resolutions list)
30. What was your favourite film of this year?
I could go with Batman Begins because it was pretty good or Pirates of the Carribean II because Johnny Depp rocks my world, but I think I’m going to go with Confetti because I liked the feel of the movie because it wasn’t too polished. It was fun and just perfect at the time.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was working but my wonderful friends came to visit and have drinks. I was and still am 23.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Being able to proficiently juggling three balls.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
Comfortable, practical (many useful pockets) and marginally less black than 2005 but only just.
34. What kept you sane?
Biltong, miso soup, Gene & Nick (not necessarily in that order).
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Johnny’s a steady favourite but Clive Owen’s pretty spunky too…
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Tony Abbott almost being able to determine what medications were allowed to be prescribed instead of the AMA.
Out of interest, what happened to question 37?
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I’ve met some amazing people in 2006. Can’t just pick one.
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Trust your instincts, have fun and be safe.
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Just another day in paradise
as you stumble to your bed
Give anything to silence
those voices ringing in your head
You thought you could find happiness
just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will learn to be still.
Friday, February 09, 2007
The Arctic Measles That Never Were
A.K.A. WE’RE STILL IN DOHA, TA-NAH!
Once upon a time there were three friends, Tech Boy, the Little One and Ta-Nah! who lived in the city of the Four Season Days. Tech Boy was generally cheerful and enjoyed fixing things with one of his many purpose built matte-black tools. His smaller half, the Little One, spent more time shrouded in papers or when she wasn’t working in yarns of all colours and plys. Ta-Nah! was so called because of his happy disposition, and ability to point out things that should seem obvious but aren’t. (Possibly also because I’m terrible at nicknames and it’s the first thing that sprang to mind from the trip).
The three friends spent much of their time wearing large amounts of black while toiling in the hope of attaining the much prized black “crew” shirt from as many shows as possible. They were folks of simple wishes. The work was often hard with unsociable hours and they didn’t get to see many of their friends outside of this world. It was not without reward though. They often enjoyed the shows that they worked on and even when there was no t-shirt in sight, the pleasure of having a hard earned drink with workmates often made up for any aches and pains from the day.
It was having just returned from one such work trip that had ended in holiday resort Up North that the Little One heard a call from a desert. It was a crackly call but it spoke of unbearably hot days, slightly more bearable nights and a culture like she’d never experienced. It also mentioned a fabulous job and people who she’d enjoyed working with earlier that year and the promise of paperwork. Much paperwork. How could she resist? Maybe there’d even be another t-shirt…
One week after her return to Four Season Days the Little One packed her bags, bid her friends farewell and set off towards the Land That Will Always Be Free.
As the Little One settled into her new temporary home she sent home tales of the heat, the lack of pork products, the need for a license to purchase alcohol and the sole bottle shop in the country as well as the crazy drivers and roads.
Tech Boy was stunned and could not believe that such a place existed.
“What? No pork products?!” he exclaimed, “That’s crazy talk”.
So it was that two weeks later he joined the Little One in the place where the People of the Desert came together and joined hands with the People of the Sea.
Time passed and although the Little One and Tech Boy were enjoying their time, despite the food and drink restrictions, they missed Ta-Nah! greatly. He was part of their family and they felt lost without him.
More time passed before they found out that Ta-Nah! would be joining them in the desert in a matter of weeks. They were most excited. Days and nights were carefully counted and important preparations were made for his imminent arrival.
As a result Ta-Nah! was greeted at the airport by his two friends bearing gifts. One had brought him a stack of papers of varying degrees of usefulness and the other had brought him a case of beer.
After terrifying their friend with tales of road accident statistics, various ways to (by home standards) easily get yourself incarcerated and how easy it seemed to become severely dehydrated, Tech Boy retired to bed for a few hours rest leaving the Little One to look after their friend.
The day ran smoothly overall after the Little One had attempted to get them both run over on the way to lunch. After this, the days and nights started to run into one long day of show preparation.
The weather began to cool down and one by one the beanies and coats started to grudgingly appear despite it being 23˚C. It still seemed cold. There was also the welcome sight of a couple of drops of rain which rapidly became less welcome when it was discovered that the city was not particularly drainy.
As the temperature dropped the tension, stress and excitement grew until it culminated in a spectacular, albeit wet, opening ceremony. There were horses, a city of lights, another horse and a great big flaming cauldron. Just in case all involved weren’t wet enough from the show, it continued to rain through most of the night after the show with the exception of the half hour or so that it hailed. Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were beginning to think they’d seen it all.
The days passed quickly and before they knew it they were well into the closing ceremony. There were campfires to be lit, camels and horses to do as they do, thousands of little genies to get entangled with and a donkey. After the show there were a few more long nights of packing up followed by many nights of celebration before it was suddenly all over.
Friends parted, old and new alike, with promises of keeping in touch or visiting. This was not the case for the three friends in our tale though. They had decided to go on a whirlwind tour of the Continent, the Land of Tea and ultimately the Arctic!
So they did.
They spent Christmas in the City of Love in the Land of Wine & Cheese with an old friend while regaling some new friends with tales of camels and 1200 men with flares.
In the Land of Tea, Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! searched fervently for a decent cup of coffee while the Little One unhelpfully pointed out that this might be a lost cause as she sipped on her cup of tea. They kept searching and eventually found a decent cup of coffee by a museum.
Having achieved their coffee-finding mission the trio made their way back to the Land of Wine & Cheese where Ta-Nah! was twice crowned the King of Revelry.
A last minute decision saw them travel even further South to a city by the Mediterranean Sea where they discovered the long-lost secret to getting Tech Boy to smile in photos. There were human statues aplenty and more historical architecture and gardens than they could fit into the two days that they had and they agreed that they would have to return one day.
It was here in the city by the Mediterranean that the trouble started.
While Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were reclining on a pier by the Mediterranean, Ta-Nah! started to explain how it wasn’t really a sea but a big bay. He continued to explain a little of the Mediterranean’s history and his reasoning behind his statement. The Little One was doubtful that this was a good idea to be insulting the very body of water that they were reclining beside. The three of them made a few more flippant remarks about being dragged into the potentially offended Mediterranean before heading off for a little piece of home at the theatre.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully and the trio thought nothing more of their quips regarding the Mediterranean. They continued their journey to the Arctic through several countries stopping to sample their beers, wines and as much local fare as they could find.
On their journey they walked on the World’s Greatest Stage, visited the Little Mermaid and wandered through red light districts at the wrong time of day. The trip was going well.
Two days before they were set to arrive in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well. Not knowing how else to respond, Tech Boy and the Little one responded with encouraging words (“you’ll be right” and “have some spirulina and some paracetamol it’ll help” respectively).
They were sadly mistaken as when they arrived up in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! had not improved at all. The attractive Arctic doctor confirmed their fears. Ta-Nah! had Arctic Measles. Sadly the attractive Arctic doctor had no solution for Arctic Measles but the good news was that it wasn’t contagious.
Naturally the explanation for Arctic Measles was that the Mediterranean had been cunning in seeking to teach the three travellers a lesson in manners. As all bodies of water are connected in some way She had sent the Arctic Measles to them as a reminder that there was nowhere to run. Naturally.
So the trio continued with the activities as planned. Despite his protestations that he “didn’t do fun”, Ta-Nah! continued to partake in the night-time tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and seeing pretty lights in the sky with Tech Boy and the Little One.
As the days passed Ta-Nah! improved slightly. By the end of the five day Arctic excursion he was well on the mend.
At this point the Little One parted from her travelling companions for a side trip back to the Land of Tea to visit more people and drink more tea. Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! continued on to the Land of Wine & Cheese where they passed the days eating good cheese and drinking varying qualities of wine.
Feeling refreshed after her trip the Little One rejoined her companions and spent the week relaxing with them. Tech Boy and the Little One celebrated their five years together in fine company as the Little Lisa had chosen to join the trio for the weekend.
The Little One was starting to feel rather fatigued. More so than normal and much more than she should as she was sleeping quite a lot during the day. She put this down to her usual stressing about life, the universe and everything and tried to put it out of her mind.
On what was to be their second last day in the Land of Wine & Cheese, the three travellers headed South to the coast to visit the Mediterranean to ensure that everything was good between them and the Sea. The Little One barely made it out of the car.
She had discovered a few little red itchy spots appearing over the last few nights.
By the time they arrived back in the cottage some of these had blossomed into blisters. They still itched but now they hurt too.
This perplexed the three travellers as they looked awfully like the non-contagious Arctic Measles but by the very nature of non-contagious Arctic Measles couldn’t be.
The next day Tech Boy kindly took the Little One to the doctor who cheerfully pronounced that she had chicken pox. Yes it was definitely chicken pox which is unfortunate in an adult. Yes it’s what Ta-Nah! had too, even if the attractive Arctic doctor said otherwise. Bed rest till the end of the week and try not to catch anything else as it could get complicated… and that was that.
Oh and dragons and unicorns and such. (for Nick)
So it’s now the end of the week. The blisters are slowly drying and last night I managed to sleep for more than four hours at a stretch for the first time in a week.
Gene & Nick are in fine health and are looking after themselves to avoid a relapse of chicken pox and have kindly taken over the travel arrangements while nursing me back to life. It’s my first time out of bed in three days and I may be heading back that way soon.
There are two points to the story.
Firstly, don’t insult any body of water. It always ends badly.
Secondly, the three of us will be home late. We’re not sure how late we’ll be yet as we’re on a wait list to get back from Singapore but I’m sure we’ll keep you posted.
For now, thank you for reading, have fun, be safe and we’ll see you soon.
- The Little One.
St Flour, France.
Once upon a time there were three friends, Tech Boy, the Little One and Ta-Nah! who lived in the city of the Four Season Days. Tech Boy was generally cheerful and enjoyed fixing things with one of his many purpose built matte-black tools. His smaller half, the Little One, spent more time shrouded in papers or when she wasn’t working in yarns of all colours and plys. Ta-Nah! was so called because of his happy disposition, and ability to point out things that should seem obvious but aren’t. (Possibly also because I’m terrible at nicknames and it’s the first thing that sprang to mind from the trip).
The three friends spent much of their time wearing large amounts of black while toiling in the hope of attaining the much prized black “crew” shirt from as many shows as possible. They were folks of simple wishes. The work was often hard with unsociable hours and they didn’t get to see many of their friends outside of this world. It was not without reward though. They often enjoyed the shows that they worked on and even when there was no t-shirt in sight, the pleasure of having a hard earned drink with workmates often made up for any aches and pains from the day.
It was having just returned from one such work trip that had ended in holiday resort Up North that the Little One heard a call from a desert. It was a crackly call but it spoke of unbearably hot days, slightly more bearable nights and a culture like she’d never experienced. It also mentioned a fabulous job and people who she’d enjoyed working with earlier that year and the promise of paperwork. Much paperwork. How could she resist? Maybe there’d even be another t-shirt…
One week after her return to Four Season Days the Little One packed her bags, bid her friends farewell and set off towards the Land That Will Always Be Free.
As the Little One settled into her new temporary home she sent home tales of the heat, the lack of pork products, the need for a license to purchase alcohol and the sole bottle shop in the country as well as the crazy drivers and roads.
Tech Boy was stunned and could not believe that such a place existed.
“What? No pork products?!” he exclaimed, “That’s crazy talk”.
So it was that two weeks later he joined the Little One in the place where the People of the Desert came together and joined hands with the People of the Sea.
Time passed and although the Little One and Tech Boy were enjoying their time, despite the food and drink restrictions, they missed Ta-Nah! greatly. He was part of their family and they felt lost without him.
More time passed before they found out that Ta-Nah! would be joining them in the desert in a matter of weeks. They were most excited. Days and nights were carefully counted and important preparations were made for his imminent arrival.
As a result Ta-Nah! was greeted at the airport by his two friends bearing gifts. One had brought him a stack of papers of varying degrees of usefulness and the other had brought him a case of beer.
After terrifying their friend with tales of road accident statistics, various ways to (by home standards) easily get yourself incarcerated and how easy it seemed to become severely dehydrated, Tech Boy retired to bed for a few hours rest leaving the Little One to look after their friend.
The day ran smoothly overall after the Little One had attempted to get them both run over on the way to lunch. After this, the days and nights started to run into one long day of show preparation.
The weather began to cool down and one by one the beanies and coats started to grudgingly appear despite it being 23˚C. It still seemed cold. There was also the welcome sight of a couple of drops of rain which rapidly became less welcome when it was discovered that the city was not particularly drainy.
As the temperature dropped the tension, stress and excitement grew until it culminated in a spectacular, albeit wet, opening ceremony. There were horses, a city of lights, another horse and a great big flaming cauldron. Just in case all involved weren’t wet enough from the show, it continued to rain through most of the night after the show with the exception of the half hour or so that it hailed. Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were beginning to think they’d seen it all.
The days passed quickly and before they knew it they were well into the closing ceremony. There were campfires to be lit, camels and horses to do as they do, thousands of little genies to get entangled with and a donkey. After the show there were a few more long nights of packing up followed by many nights of celebration before it was suddenly all over.
Friends parted, old and new alike, with promises of keeping in touch or visiting. This was not the case for the three friends in our tale though. They had decided to go on a whirlwind tour of the Continent, the Land of Tea and ultimately the Arctic!
So they did.
They spent Christmas in the City of Love in the Land of Wine & Cheese with an old friend while regaling some new friends with tales of camels and 1200 men with flares.
In the Land of Tea, Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! searched fervently for a decent cup of coffee while the Little One unhelpfully pointed out that this might be a lost cause as she sipped on her cup of tea. They kept searching and eventually found a decent cup of coffee by a museum.
Having achieved their coffee-finding mission the trio made their way back to the Land of Wine & Cheese where Ta-Nah! was twice crowned the King of Revelry.
A last minute decision saw them travel even further South to a city by the Mediterranean Sea where they discovered the long-lost secret to getting Tech Boy to smile in photos. There were human statues aplenty and more historical architecture and gardens than they could fit into the two days that they had and they agreed that they would have to return one day.
It was here in the city by the Mediterranean that the trouble started.
While Tech Boy, Ta-Nah! and the Little One were reclining on a pier by the Mediterranean, Ta-Nah! started to explain how it wasn’t really a sea but a big bay. He continued to explain a little of the Mediterranean’s history and his reasoning behind his statement. The Little One was doubtful that this was a good idea to be insulting the very body of water that they were reclining beside. The three of them made a few more flippant remarks about being dragged into the potentially offended Mediterranean before heading off for a little piece of home at the theatre.
The next few weeks passed uneventfully and the trio thought nothing more of their quips regarding the Mediterranean. They continued their journey to the Arctic through several countries stopping to sample their beers, wines and as much local fare as they could find.
On their journey they walked on the World’s Greatest Stage, visited the Little Mermaid and wandered through red light districts at the wrong time of day. The trip was going well.
Two days before they were set to arrive in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! mentioned that he wasn’t feeling well. Not knowing how else to respond, Tech Boy and the Little one responded with encouraging words (“you’ll be right” and “have some spirulina and some paracetamol it’ll help” respectively).
They were sadly mistaken as when they arrived up in the Arctic, Ta-Nah! had not improved at all. The attractive Arctic doctor confirmed their fears. Ta-Nah! had Arctic Measles. Sadly the attractive Arctic doctor had no solution for Arctic Measles but the good news was that it wasn’t contagious.
Naturally the explanation for Arctic Measles was that the Mediterranean had been cunning in seeking to teach the three travellers a lesson in manners. As all bodies of water are connected in some way She had sent the Arctic Measles to them as a reminder that there was nowhere to run. Naturally.
So the trio continued with the activities as planned. Despite his protestations that he “didn’t do fun”, Ta-Nah! continued to partake in the night-time tobogganing, sleigh riding, dog-sledding and seeing pretty lights in the sky with Tech Boy and the Little One.
As the days passed Ta-Nah! improved slightly. By the end of the five day Arctic excursion he was well on the mend.
At this point the Little One parted from her travelling companions for a side trip back to the Land of Tea to visit more people and drink more tea. Tech Boy and Ta-Nah! continued on to the Land of Wine & Cheese where they passed the days eating good cheese and drinking varying qualities of wine.
Feeling refreshed after her trip the Little One rejoined her companions and spent the week relaxing with them. Tech Boy and the Little One celebrated their five years together in fine company as the Little Lisa had chosen to join the trio for the weekend.
The Little One was starting to feel rather fatigued. More so than normal and much more than she should as she was sleeping quite a lot during the day. She put this down to her usual stressing about life, the universe and everything and tried to put it out of her mind.
On what was to be their second last day in the Land of Wine & Cheese, the three travellers headed South to the coast to visit the Mediterranean to ensure that everything was good between them and the Sea. The Little One barely made it out of the car.
She had discovered a few little red itchy spots appearing over the last few nights.
By the time they arrived back in the cottage some of these had blossomed into blisters. They still itched but now they hurt too.
This perplexed the three travellers as they looked awfully like the non-contagious Arctic Measles but by the very nature of non-contagious Arctic Measles couldn’t be.
The next day Tech Boy kindly took the Little One to the doctor who cheerfully pronounced that she had chicken pox. Yes it was definitely chicken pox which is unfortunate in an adult. Yes it’s what Ta-Nah! had too, even if the attractive Arctic doctor said otherwise. Bed rest till the end of the week and try not to catch anything else as it could get complicated… and that was that.
Oh and dragons and unicorns and such. (for Nick)
So it’s now the end of the week. The blisters are slowly drying and last night I managed to sleep for more than four hours at a stretch for the first time in a week.
Gene & Nick are in fine health and are looking after themselves to avoid a relapse of chicken pox and have kindly taken over the travel arrangements while nursing me back to life. It’s my first time out of bed in three days and I may be heading back that way soon.
There are two points to the story.
Firstly, don’t insult any body of water. It always ends badly.
Secondly, the three of us will be home late. We’re not sure how late we’ll be yet as we’re on a wait list to get back from Singapore but I’m sure we’ll keep you posted.
For now, thank you for reading, have fun, be safe and we’ll see you soon.
- The Little One.
St Flour, France.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Adventures in Europe.
Norway can stay. While we've been travelling about we've been jokingly talking about bits of the world that we like and bits we think we could do without. Pretty much everywhere we've been can stay in our re-modelled world.
Norway was stunning. Tromsø was truly breathtaking. In the three nights that we were there we made friends with taxi drivers, Norweigan kids TV stars (and their film crew), went dog sledding, saw the Northern lights, went to the hospital, rode in a one-horse open sleigh (hey!), tobogganed at night, ate many random sausages and sat in what must be the only Irish pub that didn't serve Guiness.
The taxi drivers in Norway were wonderfully friendly. Our first taxi driver told us about the region as he took us to our hotel. Our second taxi driver asked us what had posessed us to come in the middle of Winter to the Arctic (in no uncertain terms) and our last taxi driver taught us some Norweigan on the way to the airport.
We were pretty lucky with the weather for our dogsledding. It snowed a fair bit initially but cleared up enough for us to catch the Northern Lights briefly. I say we were lucky because there were a couple of girls there on a Northern Light safari on the same night as we went sledding and they didn't get to see the Lights. The three of us felt a bit bad about being so heavy and making the poor twelve gorgeous huskies tow us around for 10km but we were advised that they were in training for a 1600km race. We still felt bad. After we thanked the dogs for hauling us about the hills we retired to a traditional-ish tent and had a rather rich reindeer soup. Gene maintains that his had a red nose. It was delicious, much like the chocolate cake at the end.
The horse sleigh ride was slow and fun and our host was friendly and informative. His wife told us folk tales of the relationship between the Vikings and the Northern Lights while we ate a home-cooked lamb stew. Dinner was followed with a fortified home-made wine with home-baked cinnamon cake. It was delicious. We passed the evening talking to the aforementioned film crew and TV personality as they had been filming an episode where the presenter overcomes his fear of horses. They were a great bunch and lots of fun. Then we were joined by a group of six Chinese government officials. My Chinese could do with some work... The Northern Lights were pretty faint that night but the company made up for it.
I should probably explain why we went to the hospital. Nick had what we termed Arctic Measles. The hospital was the only place we could get a doctor to see him so that's the first place we went in went Tromsø. Doctor said he'd be fine and it was just a reaction to a virus not chicken pox. We were happy about that.
After three days of freezing in the Artic we returned to Oslo overnight before flying back to Paris where we would split up for a few days.
Paris was a bit of an adventure considering I was there for less that three hours. When we landed at Charles De Gaulle we ended up in terminal 1 which doesn't have a train station there. On top of that it took us 20 minutes to exit the terminal and about as long to get to the station and buy tickets. By the time we got on the train I was meant to be checking into the Eurostar terminal to get my train to London. We made it to Gare du Nord 20 minutes before my train was meant to depart. I managed to sprint through the station and board the train 10 minutes before departure. Nothing like a run through a French train station to kick start a holiday!
Turns out that Gene & Nick had a similarly exciting day when our Eurail pass got pilfered out of Gene's pocket, they couldn't find the car hire place and it was a 15€ taxi ride from the station and it was snowing too hard for them to drive to St Flour where the cottage was so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. 25th January was a good day.
I arrived in London and headed to the tiny studio apartment that I'd rented for my stay. The apartment is in South Kensington near the Glouster Road station and while being slightly smaller than my bedroom at home was perfectly located for supplies and transport. The only down side was that 2 of the three lines that go to my station are closed for maintenance this weekend.
My first night was unexciting as I crashed out in bed at 8pm. My second day involved walking around the area and discovering that the lovely Italian place that according to Gene and Nick served the only decent coffee in England closed down. That evening I caught up with some of the gang from Doha for drinks and food in an Irish pub was a bit of a labarinth. After eating we walked to Trafalgar Square and then went to another pub before heading off home our separate ways.
Today being my last day I went to the Camden Markets. A goth, punk heaven in terms of clothing it was probably a good thing I hadn't gone there while I was on the hunt for a skirt earlier in the trip. There were a few amazing stalls there but just watching the people was great fun.
I took three trains to try and get to the National Theatre to pick up some things for Nick but it turns out the one day the bookshop is closed is Sunday. So I watched the London Eye for a bit before jumping on a train to head home. Tonight I'm catching up with Joe which I'm really looking forward to and then it's back home to finish packing so that I can make my train for France tomorrow to meet up with Gene and Nick again!
Turns out there's a new Tom Stoppard play on in the West End that I totally missed. I knew I should have dragged myself out on my first night instead of giving in to my fatigue!
Anyhow, it's been great seeing people and seeing more of London. I'm looking forward to a restful week and a half in St Flour now before we start the journey back home.
Norway was stunning. Tromsø was truly breathtaking. In the three nights that we were there we made friends with taxi drivers, Norweigan kids TV stars (and their film crew), went dog sledding, saw the Northern lights, went to the hospital, rode in a one-horse open sleigh (hey!), tobogganed at night, ate many random sausages and sat in what must be the only Irish pub that didn't serve Guiness.
The taxi drivers in Norway were wonderfully friendly. Our first taxi driver told us about the region as he took us to our hotel. Our second taxi driver asked us what had posessed us to come in the middle of Winter to the Arctic (in no uncertain terms) and our last taxi driver taught us some Norweigan on the way to the airport.
We were pretty lucky with the weather for our dogsledding. It snowed a fair bit initially but cleared up enough for us to catch the Northern Lights briefly. I say we were lucky because there were a couple of girls there on a Northern Light safari on the same night as we went sledding and they didn't get to see the Lights. The three of us felt a bit bad about being so heavy and making the poor twelve gorgeous huskies tow us around for 10km but we were advised that they were in training for a 1600km race. We still felt bad. After we thanked the dogs for hauling us about the hills we retired to a traditional-ish tent and had a rather rich reindeer soup. Gene maintains that his had a red nose. It was delicious, much like the chocolate cake at the end.
The horse sleigh ride was slow and fun and our host was friendly and informative. His wife told us folk tales of the relationship between the Vikings and the Northern Lights while we ate a home-cooked lamb stew. Dinner was followed with a fortified home-made wine with home-baked cinnamon cake. It was delicious. We passed the evening talking to the aforementioned film crew and TV personality as they had been filming an episode where the presenter overcomes his fear of horses. They were a great bunch and lots of fun. Then we were joined by a group of six Chinese government officials. My Chinese could do with some work... The Northern Lights were pretty faint that night but the company made up for it.
I should probably explain why we went to the hospital. Nick had what we termed Arctic Measles. The hospital was the only place we could get a doctor to see him so that's the first place we went in went Tromsø. Doctor said he'd be fine and it was just a reaction to a virus not chicken pox. We were happy about that.
After three days of freezing in the Artic we returned to Oslo overnight before flying back to Paris where we would split up for a few days.
Paris was a bit of an adventure considering I was there for less that three hours. When we landed at Charles De Gaulle we ended up in terminal 1 which doesn't have a train station there. On top of that it took us 20 minutes to exit the terminal and about as long to get to the station and buy tickets. By the time we got on the train I was meant to be checking into the Eurostar terminal to get my train to London. We made it to Gare du Nord 20 minutes before my train was meant to depart. I managed to sprint through the station and board the train 10 minutes before departure. Nothing like a run through a French train station to kick start a holiday!
Turns out that Gene & Nick had a similarly exciting day when our Eurail pass got pilfered out of Gene's pocket, they couldn't find the car hire place and it was a 15€ taxi ride from the station and it was snowing too hard for them to drive to St Flour where the cottage was so they had to stay in a hotel overnight. 25th January was a good day.
I arrived in London and headed to the tiny studio apartment that I'd rented for my stay. The apartment is in South Kensington near the Glouster Road station and while being slightly smaller than my bedroom at home was perfectly located for supplies and transport. The only down side was that 2 of the three lines that go to my station are closed for maintenance this weekend.
My first night was unexciting as I crashed out in bed at 8pm. My second day involved walking around the area and discovering that the lovely Italian place that according to Gene and Nick served the only decent coffee in England closed down. That evening I caught up with some of the gang from Doha for drinks and food in an Irish pub was a bit of a labarinth. After eating we walked to Trafalgar Square and then went to another pub before heading off home our separate ways.
Today being my last day I went to the Camden Markets. A goth, punk heaven in terms of clothing it was probably a good thing I hadn't gone there while I was on the hunt for a skirt earlier in the trip. There were a few amazing stalls there but just watching the people was great fun.
I took three trains to try and get to the National Theatre to pick up some things for Nick but it turns out the one day the bookshop is closed is Sunday. So I watched the London Eye for a bit before jumping on a train to head home. Tonight I'm catching up with Joe which I'm really looking forward to and then it's back home to finish packing so that I can make my train for France tomorrow to meet up with Gene and Nick again!
Turns out there's a new Tom Stoppard play on in the West End that I totally missed. I knew I should have dragged myself out on my first night instead of giving in to my fatigue!
Anyhow, it's been great seeing people and seeing more of London. I'm looking forward to a restful week and a half in St Flour now before we start the journey back home.
Monday, January 22, 2007
In a big nutshell...
It feels like ages since I last posted. I'm having blog withdrawls! Sad I know. Anyhow we're still on the move but I thought I should do a quick update... On a side note the European keyboards are driving me crazy so bear with the erratic punctuation.
We're currently in Tromsø, Norway. I've been lead to believe that this is within the Artic. We're most excited! It's only -6 degrees celcius so it's not too crazy yet. Much warmer than we were expecting so we're happy. We're up here to check out the Northen Lights (coinciding with the festival that's about to start up here).
In short since I last posted...
We made it back to London a few times and visited the Museum of Natural History which was not only an impressive museum collection wise but the building was also pretty spectacular. While we were there Gene & Nick found what they believe to be the only decent cup of coffee in England in a little Italian cafe near the museum. The barista was pretty cute too :)
Other exciting things we did in London included taking Gene's cousin Will and his wife Harika to see their first show in the theatre, The Phantom of the Opera. Nick & I were particularly excited as it was our first theatre show that we'd seen as kids too. Gene got us amazing seats in the Royal Circle and it was every bit as cheesy and wonderful as we remembered although they did change some of the lyrics. Some of the acting choices were interesting too but we still enjoyed it.
After Phantom we headed to the pub where I caught up with Dave briefly before we headed back to Guildford.
Some time after all this we headed back over to France. I had finally let my post-show cold get the better of me and spent three of the four days in France in bed. We went to St Brevin des Pins, to stay with Gene's French family, which is a gorgeous little town on the south west coast of France. It has many bakeries and a yarn shop. I could live in a place like that :)
It was interesting having a fever and having to speak in another language. I found that all my dreams were in French which is really hard work when your entire knowledge of French is based on Year 8 French. I found myself waking up exhausted thinking of sentence structures. When my fever broke my dreams were in English again and the first and only word that I thought of was "ameliorate". Appropriate but more complex than necessary.
After St Brevin we made a last minute decision to head to Barcelona. We took an overnight train there and stayed for one night to see Tap Dogs and catch up with Dave again. There's something surreal about sitting in a theatre and listening to Midnight Oil in the middle of Barcelona. We liked it a lot.
We also discovered that making Gene say "Barcelona" makes him smile for photos. Yay!
Barcelona was amazing. We saw Sagrada Famillia (ignore my spelling) which you simply have to do. It's the cathedral designed by Gaudi that they started building about two hundred years ago... they're still going. The postcards say something about 2010 for finishing... Aside from my wallet getting pinched (it's all good folks, cards are cancelled not much cash lost and my passport is with me). It was a fabulous trip.
We had a little time in Paris where we caught up with Lisa again and finally got to see the Eiffel Tower. Queues to go up were too long so we didn't.
We returned briefly to England where we regrouped, jettisoned excess baggage and saw Wicked. Again with the amazing shows... It just blew me away. Love the music and the set and costumes were visually stunning. I just can't say how much I loved the show.
Then we headed off to Brussels for a few hours where we drank good beer, visited the "world's greatest stage" at the Grand Place (which was pretty special), the boys ate mussels and chips while I had sausages and strøemp. Then it was back on a train to Hamburg.
It rained in Hamburg. It rained a lot. We were soaked but we chose to walk all around the city anyway. Pictures of grey Hamburg and a tour of a couple of churches (one was intact the other destroyed in WWII and left as an anti-war memorial) then it was onto another train to Denmark.
We spent two nights in Copenhagen. During the day we walked from the city hall to the Little Mermaid who was indeed little. It was a lovely walk which took us past the palace. Didn't sight Princess Mary although we were willing to converse about drop bears and Boags draft if it happened. Pity the Tivoli Gardens were closed when we were there. They looked pretty special.
After Copenhagen we headed on a train to Oslo where we spent a night and a couple of hours wandering the city enjoying the snow. After a quick photo taking walk to the Palace and National theatre in Oslo we boarded a plane and here we are now!
In a nutshell that's what we've been doing for the last 18 days. Tomorrow night we're going dog sledding and the night after that we're going on a horse sleigh ride to see the Northern Lights. It's been a big trip and we're starting to feel a little worn out but what a holiday!
Keyboard's driving me nuts so I'll finish here.
We're currently in Tromsø, Norway. I've been lead to believe that this is within the Artic. We're most excited! It's only -6 degrees celcius so it's not too crazy yet. Much warmer than we were expecting so we're happy. We're up here to check out the Northen Lights (coinciding with the festival that's about to start up here).
In short since I last posted...
We made it back to London a few times and visited the Museum of Natural History which was not only an impressive museum collection wise but the building was also pretty spectacular. While we were there Gene & Nick found what they believe to be the only decent cup of coffee in England in a little Italian cafe near the museum. The barista was pretty cute too :)
Other exciting things we did in London included taking Gene's cousin Will and his wife Harika to see their first show in the theatre, The Phantom of the Opera. Nick & I were particularly excited as it was our first theatre show that we'd seen as kids too. Gene got us amazing seats in the Royal Circle and it was every bit as cheesy and wonderful as we remembered although they did change some of the lyrics. Some of the acting choices were interesting too but we still enjoyed it.
After Phantom we headed to the pub where I caught up with Dave briefly before we headed back to Guildford.
Some time after all this we headed back over to France. I had finally let my post-show cold get the better of me and spent three of the four days in France in bed. We went to St Brevin des Pins, to stay with Gene's French family, which is a gorgeous little town on the south west coast of France. It has many bakeries and a yarn shop. I could live in a place like that :)
It was interesting having a fever and having to speak in another language. I found that all my dreams were in French which is really hard work when your entire knowledge of French is based on Year 8 French. I found myself waking up exhausted thinking of sentence structures. When my fever broke my dreams were in English again and the first and only word that I thought of was "ameliorate". Appropriate but more complex than necessary.
After St Brevin we made a last minute decision to head to Barcelona. We took an overnight train there and stayed for one night to see Tap Dogs and catch up with Dave again. There's something surreal about sitting in a theatre and listening to Midnight Oil in the middle of Barcelona. We liked it a lot.
We also discovered that making Gene say "Barcelona" makes him smile for photos. Yay!
Barcelona was amazing. We saw Sagrada Famillia (ignore my spelling) which you simply have to do. It's the cathedral designed by Gaudi that they started building about two hundred years ago... they're still going. The postcards say something about 2010 for finishing... Aside from my wallet getting pinched (it's all good folks, cards are cancelled not much cash lost and my passport is with me). It was a fabulous trip.
We had a little time in Paris where we caught up with Lisa again and finally got to see the Eiffel Tower. Queues to go up were too long so we didn't.
We returned briefly to England where we regrouped, jettisoned excess baggage and saw Wicked. Again with the amazing shows... It just blew me away. Love the music and the set and costumes were visually stunning. I just can't say how much I loved the show.
Then we headed off to Brussels for a few hours where we drank good beer, visited the "world's greatest stage" at the Grand Place (which was pretty special), the boys ate mussels and chips while I had sausages and strøemp. Then it was back on a train to Hamburg.
It rained in Hamburg. It rained a lot. We were soaked but we chose to walk all around the city anyway. Pictures of grey Hamburg and a tour of a couple of churches (one was intact the other destroyed in WWII and left as an anti-war memorial) then it was onto another train to Denmark.
We spent two nights in Copenhagen. During the day we walked from the city hall to the Little Mermaid who was indeed little. It was a lovely walk which took us past the palace. Didn't sight Princess Mary although we were willing to converse about drop bears and Boags draft if it happened. Pity the Tivoli Gardens were closed when we were there. They looked pretty special.
After Copenhagen we headed on a train to Oslo where we spent a night and a couple of hours wandering the city enjoying the snow. After a quick photo taking walk to the Palace and National theatre in Oslo we boarded a plane and here we are now!
In a nutshell that's what we've been doing for the last 18 days. Tomorrow night we're going dog sledding and the night after that we're going on a horse sleigh ride to see the Northern Lights. It's been a big trip and we're starting to feel a little worn out but what a holiday!
Keyboard's driving me nuts so I'll finish here.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Another speed post
Apparently I like to post in a hurry at the moment... If my laptop had better battery life I would have more time... 33% left... I should get on with it.
We finally made it up to London yesterday and we spent the first couple of hours marvelling at how close everything was.
Our first stop after Waterloo was to walk to South Bank where we were immediately side-tracked by the National Theatre. Wow. I ended up in the bookshop within about 10 minutes of arriving and 20 minutes later exited the proud owner of Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett and Darkness Illuminated by Robert Butler about the staging of His Dark Materials at the Olivier Theatre through the production process. It sounds like an amazing show. I wish I'd gotten to see it. I must read the books now. They sound pretty amazing too.
After that we explored two exhibitions at the Tate Modern until our brains hurt and we needed some water and a quiet debrief about the art on display.
The evening was passed watching our first show on the West End, Chicago. We'd originally planned to see Spamalot or Wicked but they'd sold out. It was entertaining as expected and an easy way to ease ourselves into theatre again.
I love the greyness of England. I woke up this morning and spent the first 5 hours of my day on the window sill of the flat writing in my journal (almost finished it...) and sketching the upper part of the street with my fountain pen. It was very restful and a wonderful chance for me to just daydream and well, be.
We had lunch with Aunt Jackie at the Guildford Institute which was a quaint little tea room. I had the mushroom lasagne which was delicious. Gene's feeling somewhat under the weather after the big nights out of late and is still a bit feverish. So we've tucked him up in bed.
Tomorrow I'll be catching up with some friends in London which I'm really looking forward to. We might even fit in the British Museum with any luck...
19% battery left so I should go!
We finally made it up to London yesterday and we spent the first couple of hours marvelling at how close everything was.
Our first stop after Waterloo was to walk to South Bank where we were immediately side-tracked by the National Theatre. Wow. I ended up in the bookshop within about 10 minutes of arriving and 20 minutes later exited the proud owner of Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett and Darkness Illuminated by Robert Butler about the staging of His Dark Materials at the Olivier Theatre through the production process. It sounds like an amazing show. I wish I'd gotten to see it. I must read the books now. They sound pretty amazing too.
After that we explored two exhibitions at the Tate Modern until our brains hurt and we needed some water and a quiet debrief about the art on display.
The evening was passed watching our first show on the West End, Chicago. We'd originally planned to see Spamalot or Wicked but they'd sold out. It was entertaining as expected and an easy way to ease ourselves into theatre again.
I love the greyness of England. I woke up this morning and spent the first 5 hours of my day on the window sill of the flat writing in my journal (almost finished it...) and sketching the upper part of the street with my fountain pen. It was very restful and a wonderful chance for me to just daydream and well, be.
We had lunch with Aunt Jackie at the Guildford Institute which was a quaint little tea room. I had the mushroom lasagne which was delicious. Gene's feeling somewhat under the weather after the big nights out of late and is still a bit feverish. So we've tucked him up in bed.
Tomorrow I'll be catching up with some friends in London which I'm really looking forward to. We might even fit in the British Museum with any luck...
19% battery left so I should go!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Hallas 2006, bring on 2007!
Last year was amazing. It was so fantastic that I can barely believe how well it went!
I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the start of 2006 and I'm not online so I can't go back and check but I started the year with two resolutions.
1. 2006 was going to be a better year (than the last 22)
2. Be able to juggle three balls comfortably
I can say that I well and truly achieved resolution one. Resolution two? Well, there's always 2007! I can vaguely juggle three balls... just not very long...
It was a rocky start to 2006 for me as I saw then New Year in through teary eyes but things only improved with each passing day. 2006 saw me travel to Japan & England, two places that I've dreamt of going since I was little. In fact I'm still in England as I type this. I was lucky enough to work on and watch four ceremonies in the space of eight months not to mention the incredible people I've met along the way.
My last day of 2006 was spent visiting Stonehenge with Gene & Nick. Gene's Aunt Jackie kindly drove us there despite the weather forecast for galeforce winds and allowed us to roam about the fields observing the rather ancient stones. My brain is still struggling to comprehend how old everything is over here. I took several photos but was distracted at one point by the rather stunning road that was just over the hill from Stonehenge. I was momentarily transported to my childhood weekends spent driving around regional Victoria hunting good roads for filming (preferably no powerlines). This was an awesome road. I mentioned this to Gene and he pointed out (rightly so) that he was more fascinated by the big rocks in front of us that had been there much longer than the road and that we'd just paid six pounds to see. Did I mention I was struggling with how old things are over here?
Actually, I think my brain is just struggling in general. I can't even remember what I posted last. I'm dying to write something and share how fantastic this trip is but I'm just lost for words. It's a little sad because everytime I manage to find Internet access I totally lose the ability to write anything. Typical!
Anyhow, after Stonehenge we had lunch in a pub and I started to send my first round of New Year well wishes via SMS to some of the folks in Australia. Not sure if all the messages made it though as I did get a couple of error messages but the thought was there! It was really great to hear back from so many people. Sending the messages made me miss home a bit. It made me realise how many people were back in Melbourne who I wouldn't see for quite some time.
After lunch we went back to Aunt Jackie's house where we were kindly allowed to use the Internet and laundry facilities. We all checked our emails and most importantly finances while making sure that we had some clean clothes for the New Year. Multi-tasking is a beautiful thing!
Once we were sorted out Tom drove us back to Guildford with Jamie and we had dinner at Dragon Phoenix. At long last we were able to enjoy the delights of char siew. We've only been searching all of France and most of Aldershot/Guildford for the last two weeks for this BBQ pork dish. It wasn't as good as Dad's cooking but it'll tie us over until mid-Feb! Along with our other Chinese restaurant staples (salt & pepper squid etc) we sampled some of the wine... Great Wall of Peking was less palatable than we thought it would have been but the slightly cheaper muscodet was an improvement.
I headed back to the flat after dinner because I didn't really feel up to a big night. I just want to knock off this stupid cold that I've carried here from Paris. Didn't think a long night of whiskey in a smokey pub was going to help things. Gene & Nick headed back with Jamie & Tom to a pub in Aldershot where they apparently saw the New Year in and made sure of it by celebrating until 8am.
My last couple of hours of 2006 were spent curled up in bed with my journal for some last minute musings before leafing through Fragile Things. The next thing I knew there were fireworks being let off and the cries of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... OI OI OI resounding in the street below. Apparently we're not the only Australians in Guildford... It was a quiet night but just what I needed. The rest of the night was passed in bouts of sleep interjected with listening to my iPod.
I woke up today and had a relaxing morning of stretching, reading, a bit more knitting (I'm making Gene a scarf so he doesn't have to pay thirty pounds for a bought one) and then a trip to the shops to check out the sales. I achieved my mission of finding a skirt. It's amazing how four months in steel caps, high vis vests and hard hats can make you want to wear a skirt and knee high boots. Maybe that's just me.
At about 4pm I got a message from Nick saying that they'd made it home and were wondering where I was so I headed back armed with some wine, cheese and bread to see how they were faring. Nick was well if a little sleep deprived. Gene was a little... fragile. The rest of our night was passed over a game of Scrabble before the lads decided it was bed time.
Right now I'm archiving my files having just sorted through about five years of photos on my computer. My laptop is screaming for more memory at the moment so I'm rather appreciating the hard drive that Dad sent me.
Transfer's almost complete so I should finish here.
We're (finally) heading back up to London tomorrow. If all goes to plan we'll be seeing Wicked tomorrow night. There is talk of seeing the Tate Modern tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
Plenty of photos to be uploaded when I get the chance of Paris and Stonehenge. Will try and ramble less in the next post... maybe that should be part of this year's resolutions list... I'll work on it.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this at the start of 2006 and I'm not online so I can't go back and check but I started the year with two resolutions.
1. 2006 was going to be a better year (than the last 22)
2. Be able to juggle three balls comfortably
I can say that I well and truly achieved resolution one. Resolution two? Well, there's always 2007! I can vaguely juggle three balls... just not very long...
It was a rocky start to 2006 for me as I saw then New Year in through teary eyes but things only improved with each passing day. 2006 saw me travel to Japan & England, two places that I've dreamt of going since I was little. In fact I'm still in England as I type this. I was lucky enough to work on and watch four ceremonies in the space of eight months not to mention the incredible people I've met along the way.
My last day of 2006 was spent visiting Stonehenge with Gene & Nick. Gene's Aunt Jackie kindly drove us there despite the weather forecast for galeforce winds and allowed us to roam about the fields observing the rather ancient stones. My brain is still struggling to comprehend how old everything is over here. I took several photos but was distracted at one point by the rather stunning road that was just over the hill from Stonehenge. I was momentarily transported to my childhood weekends spent driving around regional Victoria hunting good roads for filming (preferably no powerlines). This was an awesome road. I mentioned this to Gene and he pointed out (rightly so) that he was more fascinated by the big rocks in front of us that had been there much longer than the road and that we'd just paid six pounds to see. Did I mention I was struggling with how old things are over here?
Actually, I think my brain is just struggling in general. I can't even remember what I posted last. I'm dying to write something and share how fantastic this trip is but I'm just lost for words. It's a little sad because everytime I manage to find Internet access I totally lose the ability to write anything. Typical!
Anyhow, after Stonehenge we had lunch in a pub and I started to send my first round of New Year well wishes via SMS to some of the folks in Australia. Not sure if all the messages made it though as I did get a couple of error messages but the thought was there! It was really great to hear back from so many people. Sending the messages made me miss home a bit. It made me realise how many people were back in Melbourne who I wouldn't see for quite some time.
After lunch we went back to Aunt Jackie's house where we were kindly allowed to use the Internet and laundry facilities. We all checked our emails and most importantly finances while making sure that we had some clean clothes for the New Year. Multi-tasking is a beautiful thing!
Once we were sorted out Tom drove us back to Guildford with Jamie and we had dinner at Dragon Phoenix. At long last we were able to enjoy the delights of char siew. We've only been searching all of France and most of Aldershot/Guildford for the last two weeks for this BBQ pork dish. It wasn't as good as Dad's cooking but it'll tie us over until mid-Feb! Along with our other Chinese restaurant staples (salt & pepper squid etc) we sampled some of the wine... Great Wall of Peking was less palatable than we thought it would have been but the slightly cheaper muscodet was an improvement.
I headed back to the flat after dinner because I didn't really feel up to a big night. I just want to knock off this stupid cold that I've carried here from Paris. Didn't think a long night of whiskey in a smokey pub was going to help things. Gene & Nick headed back with Jamie & Tom to a pub in Aldershot where they apparently saw the New Year in and made sure of it by celebrating until 8am.
My last couple of hours of 2006 were spent curled up in bed with my journal for some last minute musings before leafing through Fragile Things. The next thing I knew there were fireworks being let off and the cries of Aussie, Aussie, Aussie... OI OI OI resounding in the street below. Apparently we're not the only Australians in Guildford... It was a quiet night but just what I needed. The rest of the night was passed in bouts of sleep interjected with listening to my iPod.
I woke up today and had a relaxing morning of stretching, reading, a bit more knitting (I'm making Gene a scarf so he doesn't have to pay thirty pounds for a bought one) and then a trip to the shops to check out the sales. I achieved my mission of finding a skirt. It's amazing how four months in steel caps, high vis vests and hard hats can make you want to wear a skirt and knee high boots. Maybe that's just me.
At about 4pm I got a message from Nick saying that they'd made it home and were wondering where I was so I headed back armed with some wine, cheese and bread to see how they were faring. Nick was well if a little sleep deprived. Gene was a little... fragile. The rest of our night was passed over a game of Scrabble before the lads decided it was bed time.
Right now I'm archiving my files having just sorted through about five years of photos on my computer. My laptop is screaming for more memory at the moment so I'm rather appreciating the hard drive that Dad sent me.
Transfer's almost complete so I should finish here.
We're (finally) heading back up to London tomorrow. If all goes to plan we'll be seeing Wicked tomorrow night. There is talk of seeing the Tate Modern tomorrow so we'll see how that goes.
Plenty of photos to be uploaded when I get the chance of Paris and Stonehenge. Will try and ramble less in the next post... maybe that should be part of this year's resolutions list... I'll work on it.
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