Hampton Court Palace 7th May

On the actual bank holiday Jared and I went to Hampton Court Palace with Emma and Clare, another friend from uni and kayaking days who I hadn’t seen for ages. We were talking about going to Blenheim Palace but decided that Hampton Court was easier to get to – you can get the train practically straight there. The other good thing about getting the train is that you can get in for half price, which frees up the money for buying lunch! (Otherwise, I would probably feel obliged to take lunch with me so as not to spend to much money…)

Anyway, it was quite dreary looking day so we thought it would be a good day to spend the majority of inside looking around the palace. Luckily, we could see some of the cool formal gardens from inside and it did clear up enough for us to conquer the maze! Good fun :-)

The best part in my opinion was the kitchens, where they had people dressed up in period costume cooking actual things that they would’ve cooked in those days. Before you went into the kitchen you saw a scale model of what it would have been like and how many people they had to feed. Amazing! The guys cooking the food were obviously only to happy to share some of their knowledge and we probably could’ve stood there all day just listening to them but we kept moving so we could see as much as we could in the day. There was a guy turning a huge joint of meat in front of a fire and Clare had a quick go. She said it was really hot and she just couldn’t stay there any longer! Especially since we’d just come in from the rain and were still wearing our jackets.

Beaconsfield 5th May

On the Saturday of the long weekend I went to Beaconsfield with my friend Emma, her boss Andrew and his seven-year-old son Thomas. I had met him before not long after Emma started working as his PA. She and I, and another friend of mine, were going to see The History Boys and she texted me suggesting that we have a cheap dinner beforehand. Unfortunately, my reply was that I couldn’t even afford a cheap dinner! She must have told Andrew and the next thing I know Anna and I were meeting Andrew and Emma at a really nice jazz bar in Covent Garden. Andrew was quite overwhelming at first but I have got to know him a bit better and am used to it now. That first ‘dinner’ we had a platter of food and two bottles of champagne and it was all very lovely!

Emma and I were keeping in touch quite regularly and when neither of us had any plans for the bank holiday weekend she said that she had been invited to go to Wales with Andrew and Thomas, and he’d asked if I would like to go too. Since I had no other plans I agreed. Emma and I were waiting for Andrew to pick us up and he was well over an hour late, so by the time he actually picked us up he said that there wasn’t much point in going to Wales now, so we went to The Royal Standard of England in Forty Green near Beaconsfield, not that far from London. His friend Cepta and her daughter Annelise joined us for lunch too, and it turned out to be a really lovely day! We had our lunch and then went for a walk around the public footpaths in the country, as it was a nice day.

The pub was very cool too. Lots of history! Apparently it is the oldest free house in England, and it certainly felt like a proper old English pub. There were two cats that live there and one of them at least is very friendly – Thomas and Annelise enjoyed that! If this post seems very formal it’s because I’m in a strange mood… not sure, maybe I’ll change it later.

Anyway, here’s some pics:

Thomas and Annalise playing with the cat














Inside the pub

























Annelise and Emma on our walk

Kew Gardens

On Sunday April 22nd we went to Kew Gardens (the Royal Botanic Gardens) to see the bluebells. Little did we realise what a trek it would be! The bluebell season is quite short and it is one of the special seasons of the year (bluebells are a protected species in the UK) so there is a 'bluebell walk' set up. We headed off on it and then realised it was 5km long, which is a lot when you are expecting a lazy Sunday afternoon in a garden!

The beginning of the walk took us through some big glasshouses with different zones set up inside which was very cool. One of them was about changes in plants through history. Then we found the first sprinkling of bluebells and sat down to wait for our other friends to catch up and join us. Time for a snack and a bit of a nap in the sunshine too :-)

Me, Nick, Steve and Jared













Napping Nick :-)


















Headed on to Queen Charlotte's Cottage which Queen Charlotte used to have picnics in. It was very pretty.

Then we got into bluebell area proper which was pretty special; large glades completely covered in bluebells. It was quite spectacular.














Steve, Nick and Beck strolling along the Syon Vista












The rest of the walk, to be honest, was a bit of a chore. The gardens are lovely but it would be nicer just to find a pretty spot and hang out. Maybe its just that it was a Sunday and I had worked the night before. We gladly stopped at a cafe for lunch and from there it wasn't TOO far back to the gate to go home.
A water lily in the Wet Tropics Zone, also home to the Titan Arum, which 'has the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world.'

Term break

The next thing after Easter was A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Roundhouse theatre in Camden. It was performed only half in English and the other half in a few different Indian languages. Knowing the play well really helped but it was amazing just to watch as well - really physical with dance and acrobatics and music... It's quite hard to explain but I really enjoyed it.

That Saturday we had a house party/barbecue at Queen's Drive for Ruth's leaving party (Jared has moved into her room). It was a really nice day and a fun afternoon/evening. Check out Nick and Tash's blog for some photos (link to the right).

This was all during the two week term break for me from school. I did a few cool jobs with Esprit - one at the Foreign Office, which is right beside number 10!! Security was pretty full-on - I had to take my passport and we weren't allowed to use our mobile phones in there. No radios either, which made the organisation for the dinner quite difficult, because normally the event manager has radio communication with the chef and things like that. So it was a bit disorganised but it all ended up okay in the end.

Thwarted Easter Plans

On Easter Saturday I was supposed to go to a big dance party Tranzmission, at Alexandra Palace. However this was not to be. Jared and I went out for dinner on Friday night and I got food poisoning from my shellfish entree. I spent the night vomiting and the next few days feeling very tired - definitely not enough energy for a big dance party! Never mind.

On Easter Monday I went down to the Isle of Wight for a few days to visit my friends at Little Canada. I had a very nice relaxing time down there and it was good to see everyone.

Paintball and comedy

At the end of March we went and played paintball near Liverpool St station. The areas were all under the arches of old train tracks, so were quite small compared to other paintball apparently but it was very well organised and pretty cool! There were big blow-up things to hide behind in some areas and one area with old office furniture. Unfortunately I sat that one out because my hand got hit in the previous game.

This really hurt, but I got drinks for having the worst injury :-) It was particularly sore because it was a freezing day. It bled for quite a while at the paintball place and you can see it was quite swollen.

That night we went to a comedy club called Jongleurs, which is a chain over here. It was mostly quite good, although the hen's group from Essex (in the audience) got tiring very quickly and actually got asked to leave during half time. They were the butt of a few jokes, especially from the MC, who was brilliant. they all had brilliant orange tans and it turned out that the groom-to-be was the owner of a tanning shop. How ironic!

London Hen's Night

Us girls had a great afternoon and evening out recently for the London version of Tash's hen's night (she's not getting married till November).

We started out at the Absolut Ice Bar where we drank cocktails out of glasses made of ice and had to wear cosy hooded capes.
Beck, Tash and Jenny













There was a bar outside the actual ice one and they had good cocktails so we stayed there for quite a while then picked up Turkish for a late lunch and the restaurant next door.

From there it was black cab to the London Eye at sunset. It was pretty hazy but still magnificent views over the city.
Parliament Buildings and Big Ben













Beck and Tash in front of the London Eye


















Following that we changed into our going out fancy clothes and got another black cab to the Mahiki Bar in Mayfair. Apparently Prince William comes here quite often. It is a really cool Hawaiian themed bar with cocktails in coconuts, pineapples, watermelons and lots more random and exciting things. Quite a few of them are for sharing so are quite big. For the clientèle though, the prices were not too bad.
Tash and Jenny













Ruth and Beck













From there we went to Trailer Happiness on Portobello Road, just in time for closing, so it wasn't for too long. Then home on the night bus.

It was a really lovely London day out with the girls, and we all got to tick off some of the 'things to do', like the London Eye and travelling in a black cab :-)

Photographies de la France

At long last - photos!
The first day - no skiing, just chillin' in the lounge of our lovely chalet.












The madness of the church carpark where all the buses congregate.












Me in the gondola on the way up the mountain on one of the lovely sunny days we had.

















One of the spectacular views we were treated to on the way up on a chairlift.

















Richy, Nick, Andrew, Mark and Beck on the mountain at Chatel.












Lunchtime! One of the many cafes on the mountain. Andrew, Steve and Tash.












Aaaah, the hot tub... And what a view!













Jared and Nick hanging out at Chalet Simplet.













Richy, Jenny and Tash on the chair at Morzine. Ready for a tree run?












On our last day of skiing it was snowy and cold. I didn't last very long but it made for some cool pictures!












Jared and I on our day of departure, in the snow :-)

Ski Chatel!

A good intro... or have a look when you've read a bit more...

(I'm the one with the green jacket and the light blue trousers, skiing)
--------------------------------

Kia ora all.

...Read the following in a dramatic, deep, American accent...

This Spring........Furry Marmotte Productions proudly invites you.... to the premier of acclaimed producer Richy Lawton's latest epic. "Kiwi's Ski Portes du Soleil" follows the trials, tribulations, spills and thrills of 14 New Zealander's in the French/Swiss Alps. Backed by fresh and funky house especially mixed by the Cut-Up-Boys, this 8 minute masterpiece is certain to sweep many of this year's Oscars.

Forget the red carpet, fancy frocks and champagne. On this cold Spring evening, grab yourself a comfy chair, a warm duvet and a mug of hot chocolate. Crank up the volume and roll on up to:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2016419124

Peace.
Rich.
--------------------------------

Needless to say the ski trip to France was fantastic. We had beautiful weather up until the last day when it snowed and gave the keen beans some fresh snow to play in (I tried, but it was too cold). For the rest of us on that last day it was lovely to see what the village looked like when it snowed - magical :-)

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. We flew into Geneva (my first mainland European destination!) and the people from our accommodation in Chatel had organised to have us picked up from the airport and drove us to France. I have to say that on the way I was admiring the rapids in a river that ran beside the road - a future trip perhaps....?

On the trip we got stopped by the local gendarmerie, just a routine stop I think but our Australian driver didn't have his driver's licence or the documentation for the van that was apparently supposed to be there! They said he had to call in later with the correct things and sent us on our way.

We dropped our bags at the chalet and went to explore the town of Chatel (location) where we were staying. (Occasionally throughout the week we all made the mistake of mixing up Chatel and chalet - saying the wrong one, understandable really!)

We went out for dinner the first night and unfortunately something about the meal didn't agree with me and I spent almost the entire night throwing up. I abandoned my bunk-top bed and went upstairs to sleep on the couch so as to not keep disturbing my room-mates. Very unpleasant, and for the next few days I didn't really feel like eating much and therefore had very little energy. Which is not the best for a ski trip. Still, I made it up the hill every day and by the time I was better had figured out where I wanted to explore.

My first day back to full strength was HUGE. A left the chalet at 8.15am and didn't get back till 6.30pm. And it only takes about half an hour to actually get on the slopes! It was a great day. We headed over to Avoriaz, which is actually a town up in the mountains surrounded by ski lifts and a couple of terrain parks. To get to where we wanted to go we skiied through the middle of town! A foreign concept to Kiwi snow bunnies.

The area that we stayed in was part of the Porte du Soleil, an area across the French-Swiss border consisting of 14 different ski resorts. So we could (if we wanted) ski over into Switzerland and back into France! The closest I got was lunch on the border up on a ridge-top. The snow didn't look as good down the Swiss side!

Anyway, headed up the other side of Avoriaz on an express chairlift and skiied a really fun black run a few times. (On the video, you can see Nick skiing down the side of the black run - its a really long clip that the focus keeps coming back to. I took most of the footage, apart from the very end bit which is Richy's camera work.) Once we'd done that it was time to head back because it took about an hour to get back to where we could get the bus back to Chatel - a few lifts up and skiing down...

So as for the skiing, the week was fantastic, but what really made the trip (especially for me in my weak state the first couple days) was the après-ski - soaking in the hot tub at the chalet with a drink, great cheap food out and at 'home', and good company!

The last day we weren't flying out of Geneva till quite late so we ate pancakes at one cafe and sat around for a while, did some souvenir shopping, drank coffee, ate some more at a different restaurant, and took some lovely photos of snow-covered Chatel. It felt like a very long day, especially since the queue to get back into England was terminally slow!! Very very frustrating.

The trip over all was magic.

For another side to the story and some pics have a look at Nick and Tash's blog (link to the right). They're also a bit more up-to-date than me with what we've been up to - and I've been doing mostly the same thing as them lately!

And I'll post some pictures soon - although the video is pretty good for that...

Christmas and New Year's Eve

Finally!

Christmas is best summarised by pictures, so here goes...

The day started for most by having the door opened at Nick and Tash's house by Tash with her musical reindeer earmuffs. Beautiful :-)


Most people were late (I was the first 'guest') and while we were waiting Nick cooked the pancakes for the special Christmas breakfast (and sampled one or two to make sure they were good).


After a huge breakfast of pancakes followed by chocolate covered strawberries provided by Bec we occupied ourselves with some silly games. These included Headbands (where you have a name on your forehead and you have to ask questions to guess who you are), Twister,...


...and Pin the Nose on the Reindeer.


And since we didn't really stop eating and drinking the whole day some people decided to nap before the main Christmas meal.


Then followed the Christmas feast!


For dessert we had creme brulee expertly made by Richy. This is Jenny caramelising the sugar on top of hers.


After dinner came presents!




After the presents people gradually left

I didn't do much in between Christmas and New Year's - I was very lazy!

New Year's Eve we went out for dinner to a very cool restaurant right in town called The Cinnamon Club. The food is like a mix of Indian spices, flavours and techniques but with a European feel - no curries. It was amazing. After dinner we went to the bar downstairs and had cocktails. My choice was a blueberry martini which was SO good.

We then went to Parliament Square (right under Big Ben) to watch the fireworks on the the London Eye. We couldn't actually see the London Eye but we could see the fireworks above the building that was blocking our view and there was a big screen set up that you could watch the fireworks on. And I got a good photo of Big Ben at midnight!...


Watch this space for more updates soon.

Quick London update - skiing this weekend!

• I've moved into my very own room, finally. If you'd like my address send me an email and I will let you know it :-) It's in Dollis Hill (NW10), for those of you that know London...
  
• Still working at the Catholic school in Shadwell, but it's half term this week so I've been doing some waitressing/catering work and and am working at a primary school in Camden tomorrow and Friday. The kids at St Mary and St Michael are getting better with me and I'm figuring out the best way to handle them, which is heartening!
• Today I worked at the EMI music headquarters and when we finished we weren't allowed to leave right away because Jamelia was about to come in. And then Richard Hammond was outside filming Top Gear!
• Heading to France via Switzerland on Sunday for a week of skiing. I'm so excited!
  

More soon, I promise!

Sark - 8th September 2006

My day trip to Sark started with a fairly early boat ride over to the island from Guernsey, which was pretty calm. I'd decided to hire a bicycle on the island so I walked up the hill from the port to the main town area and followed the signposts to the nearest bike hire place. I kept meaning to take a photo of my bike but never did! Oh well.

I started out with one that was kinda like what you would expect an old schoolmistress to ride - it didn't have a basket on the front but it could have and it would have been in character with the bike. I decided it was a bit weird and went back to change it for a mountain bike, but then the first one seemed a lot more comfortable (cushy seat) so I changed it back. The man at the bike shop was SO grumpy. It didn't really seem justified, but whatever.

I decided to ride up to the north of Big Sark (map) first because I wanted to spend more time on Little Sark. It didn't really work out this way but I had a great day all the same! Maybe here I should explain that there are no motorised vehicles allowed on Sark apart from tractors, so all the roads are unsealed. It seems that most locals have bikes and maybe a horse and carriage. There are quite a few hotels on the island and these all operate a horse and carriage service for their guests. As well as having a few bicycle hire places, there are also several people with a horse and carriage in the town above the port that you can hire.

So I biked all the way to the end of the road, which took only about ten minutes, and then walked my bike further along some paths that led right to the northern tip. It was a beautiful sunny day (although quite windy) so I found a seat and sat admiring the view for a while. I also wrote a postcard and read a bit of my book (see the photo below).

Everything was really well signposted so I just decided to do things as I saw them on my way. Next stop was the gardens at La Seigneurie. This is where the governer, or Seigneur, of Sark lives. I'm not sure exactly what his role is now but it is a title that is passed through the generations and the Seigneur used to be, if not still is, the ruler of Sark.

Anyway, I had a wander around the gardens, took some photos, and tried out the maze ;-) It was actually made for kids so I could see over the top of the hedges...

The next stop was the Window in the Rock, which was very pretty and was another good opportunity for playing around with my camera some more. There was also behind it a sheltered sunny area where I sat down and read some more of my book :-)

Time to head back south and across La Coupee, which is very spectacular and photos do not do it justice. As I mentioned earlier, it was quite a windy day so walking across this narrow strip of land could have been quite freaky. You're not allowed to ride bicycles on it; you have to get off and walk them across.

Because it was such a sunny day I wanted to have a swim somewhere, so I headed down to Venus Pool, which was mentioned in the book that partly inspired me to go to Sark in the first place. However, on the way I got distracted at a hotel and ended up having a Sark cream tea with scones and little cucumber sandwiches, and reading some more of my book!

So by the time I finally got to the Venus Pool it was getting a bit late and cold and the pool wasn't there! I found out later that it is exposed at low tide and when I went it was high tide. Should've done more research...

I was still determined to go swimming because after my day of riding around I was hot and dusty! So I went back to La Coupee and walked down the millions of steps (6 million perhaps, apparently only 328) to get to La Grand Greve, a lovely sandy beach. And I went swimming! It was fantastic! But then I had to climb back up the steps and by the time I got to the top I wanted another swim.

But it was time to head back to the port for the boat home, which was much more exciting than the morning's trip! A few people had to go outside for fresh air to calm their stomachs...

So that was my day on Sark. Here's an interesting article I found in case you're interested in more.

Sark photos

Welcome to Sark. The boat comes in right by this tunnel which you have to go through to get up to 'civilisation.'















This spot is right at the northern end of Sark (where I wrote your postcard from Charlotte!) The road ends and you can walk quite a bit further on to get right to the northern tip of the island.











The Window in the Rock, one of Sark's attractions. It's manmade. I stopped here and read my book for while. Cruisy day :-)











A horse and cart crossing La Coupee, the narrow isthmus of land that joins Big Sark with Little Sark. The concrete road was built by German prisoners of war in 1945.















La Grand Greve from up above La Coupee. I went for a swim here!











Venus pool at sunset. At low tide there is a circular pool which is apparently good for swimming in. (I like this photo)