Surreal weekend

On Friday Dom and I headed for a sleepy village in Wiltshire where a friend and colleague of his had invited us to stay over on our journey to Dom's parents in Somerset. I keep meeting so many fantastic generous and interesting people that ordinarily I would just not cross paths with. But I find myself enjoying their company and really getting on well. Yes they are on another level in terms of wealth and status. But they work bloody hard and are really down to earth. Tim and Marina are so funny too. They have such a great relationship even after 23 years and have so many stories to tell. We are definately visiting them again in January!

Paradise in Wiltshire

Our wonderful generous hosts, Tim and Marina

After enjoying a night in the true countryside we headed for the city of Bristol to catch up with our friends who have recently had a baby. Ester spent half an hour telling me about the pains of her labour and it was all very interesting. Joshua is adorable. He was full of cold but still an angel!

David and Ester with 11 week old Joshua

Dom holding his first baby ever. How sweet is this?!

Surprisingly Dom claims he has never held a baby before yet he is such a natural with Joshua and with my nieces. He will make an excellent father. We headed off to Dom's parents' sleepy village for a nice meal in the local pub followed by a relaxing evening all round. We headed back to Teddington late morning to catch up with Aaron in the pub for a late dinner. It was great to catch up with the cutie. But the weekend had caught up with me and I felt drained. Time for home and bed!

Changing Rooms - but with class!!

From 80's madness to 2005 sophistication.

When I first saw the bedroom of my new home, the first thing I said in my mind was, 'This has got to go"! How can I sleep in this planet of pattern and colour that quite frankly, even a baby would cry over!?

So after a couple of weeks of taking things slowly, bit by bit, in between bouts of illness, the bedroom is finally finished. I am very pleased with it. The colour has opened up the room and it seems bigger. At some point the carpet will be taken up and a new wooden floor laid. I am not that skilled/bothered enough to do this myself so I am sure we will get the professionals in.

Busy and fun weekend

On Saturday, I was very fortunate to have got the opportunity to go to the MPH show to see some of the latest cars and of course the guys from Top Gear and Tiffany from 5th Gear. For all the girls out there who know of Top Gear, I am sure you will be mightily envious when I say I saw Hammy, small but perfectly formed, looking as good as he does on T.V. Jeremy Clarkeson looked as fat and ugly as he does on TV but his wit surpasses any of these flaws!!

Richard Hammond on the big screen (Hammy to all the female fans!)

There was an hour and a half show of pure entertainment and then the opportunity to look around at some fantastic classic cars and also the latest models, which I feel are starting to look too similar to each other. My favourite model kept seeming to be the Ferrari, without me looking at the badge!! Boy, do I have cheap taste!!

I have never got excited over cars before....until I saw this old Ferrari. It is stunning.

After the show, because we were not too far from Knightsbridge, and because in all my 33 years I have never been, Dom took me to Harrods. Wow, what a place. I have never seen so many staff. The food halls were just amazing. I was a little shocked to see that four little florettes of cauliflower cost £3.99 - nicely packaged mind you!!!!

We did the really touristy thing and had ham and dill scones with afternoon earl grey tea at an extortionate price! It was delicious and a fabulous experience. Needless to say, I slipped the little glass pot of jam in my bag ready to have with my home-made scones, once I get round to making them!

Harrods looking spectacular with its Christmas lights.

Coming up to Christmas, it is getting extremely busy and the tube entries are being staggered as there are just too many people. So we walked and caught an over crowded bus to Putney and from there a train to Clapham. We vowed that if we had to wait for half an hour for our train home, we would just stay at Clapham junction and go and eat at Northcote Rd. Luckily for me, because by then I didn't feel like cooking, the train was a long time off and so we went and had a Meze in a lovely little greek/cypriot restaurant. By the time we got home it was past 10pm. It had been a very long day for me especially as I still don't feel 100%....although I do have a sexy, husky voice at times!! I bombed out on the sofa to be carried to bed later on.

The next day we bought some gorgeous coniferous plants and annuals for the front borders. I am looking forward to arranging and planting them, it will really set off the front of the house. After shopping we went to Richmond Park. This is a beautiful large park with deer everywhere. It has a long private road that you can drive on. The speed limit is supposedly 20mph but most people seem to do 30. This was my opportunity to get behind the wheel of the car again. For those that really know me, they will appreciate just how much of a significant step this is for me. And I did it!! I still feel very nervous just thinking about it but it felt good to be in control too. With a little time and more practise, my confidence should grow. It helps that I have a very good, patient passenger that knows his stuff and trusts me to do this.

By the time food shopping was done it was evening, and again I was very tired. Settee and TV followed by bed was my plan for the evening. Well I stuck to it, naturally!!

WALL OF SHAME - YES HELEN, I SAID I WOULD!!

On Monday evening my sister started nodding off in the chair. Now she has this terrible habit of waking up at four in the morning and rather than rolling over and going back to sleep, she gets up and does her house work!! Trouble is, come nine in the evening she is shattered. She suffers regularly from headaches and I wonder if this lack of sleep is part of it? Anyway, I kept waking her saying 'go to bed'.....she kept saying 'yes' but would then nod off again. So I threatened her. If she nodded off again, I would photograph her and I promised it would go on my blog! Well she stayed awake a little longer but couldn't help herself nodding off again....and I couldn't resist this opportunity to shame her. (Looking forward to your comments sister!!!)

What a weekend!!

I went down to my sister's on Hayling Island for the weekend especially to see my niece Emily participate in a musical compilation comprising of singing and various forms of dance routine. We all made an exceptional effort to dress up and daddy made an exceptional effort to down four pints and glasses of wine before the show.....you can tell he went to this last year!!
Anyway, we got to this tiny island theatre where we had 5 minutes to down a cheap and nasty glass of wine before being subjected to, I really don't know what. At that point, I had no idea what to expect. But before the curtain went up my sister said 'don't you dare laugh!'. Well, she just should never have said that!

The first act of kids aged 4 to 7 came on and did this cute routine.....they were all over the place trying to follow the lead of two older girls....but unsuccessfully. Well, I couldn't stop crying for the laughter...and the more my sister pinched me and punched me in the ribs discreetly, the more I had the giggles. Trouble was, it started her off....and Steve and the couple next to me!
It was like there was one row in this small theatre that had the fits! But everyone else was taking it so bloody seriously. I thought I was in for a good night. If I laughed like this all the way through, then it would be better than paying tripple to see a professional comedian! However, 3 hours later, I had nail marks in my leg where my partner was digging in everytime a flat note was hit on the song, Doe a deer.....and I can tell you that was bloody often!! I had gone through 2 packets of starbursts just to while the time away and had become hyper on the sugar as I don't often eat sweets...and there was no way of getting hold of any alcohol to drown my sorrows. Having said all that, my niece was the dogs b*ll**ks! And it was worth going to see it just for her. This also applied to the rest of the theatre attendents. It was only friends and family who had come to see the show.....there is no other way it would have been staged otherwise! To top it off, adults had had the audacity to take part - badly. OH MY GOD!! The only thing we could say about them is that they had balls to get up on stage and show themselves up!! I wonder if they actually think they have talent...now that would be scary?!

On the Sunday, the family went for a lovely brisk walk along the beach, near the sand dunes.
Hayling Island is a beautiful place to grow up and raise kids. It's a close nit community and I would love to go back there one day and settle down, or somewhere like it, near my sister and family. I left when I was a teenager which was appropriate at the time, but now I see somewhere like that appropriate for this time.

For lunch we all took my Nan out and she thoroughly enjoyed it. I will make a point of doing this everytime we come down for the weekend if I can. For the last 2 weeks I have been ill one way or another, a sore throat turned into a nasty head cold which has left me with many sleepless nights due to lack of being able to breathe. I stayed on at my sister's til yesterday just to get some rest. I feel better for it and I pray it is slowly shifting now. In the mean time, I am just taking it easy and staying in the warm, drinking lots of honey and lemon teas, gargling TCP and sleeping. Oh for the good life!

A Big Thank you!

Yesterday, I was spoilt rotten. Thank you everybody for all my cards and presents. They really meant alot especially as I still haven't recieved cards from my parents, Nan and Aunt!! I know they will be so livid with the Royal Mail service!!

At lunch time I met up with the lovely Lisa, Nick and Dom for a really delicious, expensive italian in Canary Wharf. I can't believe how many busniness people do long lunches, eating very rich foods and drinking plenty of wine to wash it down. We had a wonderful Rioja. My meal was fabulous. Baby octopus in a great sauce for starter, followed by a mushroom rissotto. I was so full after I couldn't even bare the thought of eating out again that evening!!

At about 3pm, we went back to the office. Lisa filed her nails for the rest of the day and I chatted to my sister on line!!! When we got home it was 7pm. I rested for half an hour and then we headed for Teddington where we were meeting Liz for dinner. We went to her flat first and there she gave me some beautiful flowers and some Green and Black organic chocolates. (See if I get a look in, considering I live with a chocaholic who loves that brand!!!!).

The french bistro was lovely. It was wonderful to catch up with Liz again. I feel we are going to become close friends which is very handy considering her boyfriend, Elvis (Aaron really - but he does like it!!) is Dom's best friend.

So all in all I have had a great couple of days celebrations. And now I am back to reality for a bit....cleaning the bathroom and putting on washing!!! Still, I was a Princess for a day and was looked after by all and I am very happy and grateful for their kindness. Thank you.

It's me birfday!!!

Well today is my birthday and it is going to involve alot of food! I am going to a posh restaurant, courtesy of Nick, for lunch in Canary Wharf and then in the evening, a french restaurant with Dom and Liz in Teddington. My kinda birthday.

Last night, as my birthday treat I was taken to the Barbican to go and see an amazing Fado singer called Mariza. She was absolutely amazing....so haunting in her voice. We dressed up glamorously for the occassion. (Bit of a bummer though wearing heels on the tube at rush hour!)

The family reunion

Nan, me and baby Hannah, again, 4 weeks old and so beautifully placid!

Round the table; cousins, partners, Aunt and glorious Nan.

On Sunday, virtually the entire family on my Nan's side, came to celebrate her 90th birthday, be it a few days late. By then she was deeply depressed thinking that no one cared about her enough to do anything, but luckily Sunday made up for it.

To be honest, alot of us were dreading it. Our families do not really see each other unless there is a wedding or a funeral and so it feels really wierd to see cousins with children you only remember from when they were babies, who are now young adults! All in all, it was a good afternoon and we think my Nan enjoyed it. When you think about it, the four generations that were there, were all a result of her! Pretty good achievement really.