wet

It is really wet in London at the moment. This is the view I get as I walk to the office in the mornings. Utterly depressing, although I have to admit I am guilty of randomly breaking into a huge grin, because I know I am leaving soon, AND, even more exciting I'm going to Thailand next week to go diving and get some real sunshine YES!

For the moment I sit at my computer, feeling guilty because I have not written my blog for a bit, while Mr V watches a bank robber film on TV, and cooks fish pie. I just looked back at my blog and realised that I have recently over-used inverted commas, which is quite annoying to read. I shall try to avoid it in future. I have also realised that I tend to capitalise words that I think are important, and not those that actually warrant it. I'm sure you reading people don't mind. I've never won any medals for my grammar.

I met my friend HC from The Olympic City yesterday. We had some drinks in the pub and made plans to meet up once i'm settled in my new home. I'm really looking forward to it! Tonight I have to pack a suitcase to post to The City By The Sea. ( those caps are deliberate by the way)

Happy New Year!

Brilliant! it's 2008, finally. I have been looking forward to this year, as the last 7 months of last year have been a bit strange and uncertain, what with moving about all over the place, and not really knowing how the future would pan out. OK, so we never really know what the future holds, but it's usually safe to say that you know where you'll be living and and whether you will have a job or not.

Now the place to live and the jobs are pretty sorted, I can get back to the important tasks of having fun and enjoying life in general again. Or at least I would were it not for this stupid Christmas cold that refuses to budge. I think I will stay in bed tomorrow in an effort to kill it once and for all.

I'm quite excited today as i just got my computer back from the shop where they've done it up for me so I can use my shiny new I-pod toy that Mr V bought me for Christmas. The poor thing was seriously out of date and starting to struggle with websites and things because it was so 'old fashioned'

For New years eve we went to 'the village' in Germany, and saw our old friends and sat in our old favourite pub. quite nostalgic, but most heartwarming. The midnight 'diy' fireworks were exciting, in a kind of 'war zone danger' way, and the dash back to blighty with a few hours sleep and a raging hangover was not Ideal, but really glad we went.

Dusseldorf - New Year

Birthday Party

Last night I dragged myself out of the flat to go to SH's birthday party. I've been feeling pretty rubbish and run down recently, so it felt like a huge effort, but I did think it would do me good to get out there and see a few friends and be all sociable.

SO, armed with yummy make-up gift and humourous card I trudged to the station under cover of the biggest umbrella I could find. Mr V met me at Old street station, so I walked through the Broadgate centre, which is one of my favourite 'urban public spaces' because it has lots of little paths and alleys and shops and I recently discovered a gorgeous 'changing colour lights in the floor' installation. Because of the rain it looked super shiny in the dark, so I stopped to take a few snaps. We had some dinner and I finished up with a very creamy Irish coffee in an attempt to give myself a bit of 'energy' for the night. Actually everything went really well, and seeing my old pals from Germany really cheered me up, and accordingly I drank mohitos and got silly.



Today I have a headache, a toothache and am all grumpy again. BAH! nevermind we are flying away for New Years fun tomorrow so that should cheer me up. I think I should pack lots of pain killers for the event.

Just a Trifle

As mentioned in my last post I was having some difficulty procuring custard powder. I promised Mr V that for his birthday I would make him a trifle, his favourite pudding. It is also my favourie pudding, so I was quite happy to have the task. All the ingrients were simple, except the Custard. I was all set to make it from scratch with some help from Delia Smith, but, to my great relief and joy, our friend SJ smuggled some instant birds over from England. Hurrah!

The final debate was what to put on top, I am a great believer in toasted almond slices, but Mr V was adament that it should be hundreds and thousands. The argument raged all week long, all the way through the various stages of the trifle preparation. In the end I conceded, and let him have his way, after all it was his birthday.

On saturday night we had great party, at which, being the hostess, I forgot to take any photos, and drank way to much white wine and soda. Mr V cooked his famous Chilli, presented with a flourish at around 10 pm, only to be devoured by the ravenus hoardes in a matter of minutes. Mr V jr.complained that it was served too late, pah! I say, who cares? I'm just happy that all the trifle was eaten as well. there is nothing worse than left over trifle hogging the fridge.

Festival trip

Our favourite bar manager (and my old boss) VC invited us along to a trance festival. I was slightly apprehensive, as I haven't been to a festival for a long time, but went along to see what would happen. we ended up having a really good time, as did all the others in our 10+ group of people. the 6 hour drive was not too bad, epecially as I managed to get away with only a 2 hour stint. we arrived just before sunset on friday and our tent was alredy pitched for us by friends. cool!

we danced all night under a starry sky and, on saturday relaxed in the sun, while the local fire service hosed down some of the crowd, clearly the dissapointment of a lack of runaway barbeque fires was too much. Some of us were 'eaten alive' by the mosquitoes, luckily I do not suffer from them much, but VC was suffering badly.

By day
Saturday night was the big night, and the visitors numbers grew through the day. we sat drinking chai in the afternoon. At 9.30 the main dance floor started up with a big firewoks display, and live music. It was great, after dark, the lights and decorations made it look as if we were inside a massive marquee, but in fact we were outdoors. really clever. Until it started to rain. It rained all night and we all got wet. At least our tent managed to keep out the rain.


By night
all in all I would say that my fears of it being a strange disaster weekend were unfounded, and a good time was has by all, plus I discovered a fab new drink called becks lemon, it tastes like lemon, but has the effect of beer. brilliant!

Down to business

Well, as I keep telling everyone, I'm starting my own business. So, what exactly is it all about? I have finally made my first 'prototypes', and took the opportunity to show them to a couple of friends, (& potential customers), to get their opinion. Fortunately, they liked them, and with perhaps a few slight adjustments, I could have someting actually saleable on my hands. Brilliant!



Next step is to get sewing and start finding local shops to sell them in.