It's a quiet one this weekend

Hello there,

After my quiet day on Thursday it was back to work Friday. And what a Friday it was..... You know when you get one of those days that you just can't concentrate, or seem to 'get into' the day....

Well I was having one of those. I'd replied to e-mails, finished a couple of things I was working on and it was only 11:45am.... Although Kieran was all bouncy and bubbly about work. I just don't know where he get his enthusiasim from!. So, what next? I was in a funny mood and decided to send round an e-mail to the usual suspects and see if they are interested in going to the cruddy bar at 12:30pm for lunchtime beverage.....

And so I set off down to the Cruddy bar to meet up with Steve, Kate & Tim! A few Staropramen's later, I pop into a sandwich bar and head back to the office.

It's going to be a long afternoon.....

Nope, I still can't get into the day. I finish my lunch, reply to another few e-mails and find a message from Steve.

Time to head back down to the Cruddy.

I meet up with Steve and Dan, Tim & Glen also turn up. After a while and whilst the majority of the group head off home there's just me and Glen left, and we are hungry! Off to Spicy World ; http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/3933.html, it is for poppadoms and Balti!

I hadn't been to Spicy World for a long time, but I guess I used to go there quite often. Now how do I know this? Becuase when Glen and I were sitting down to our meal, one of the waiters came over to take our order and recognised me - asking how I was, and how come he hadn't seen me in a long time! Jings, I think I've been working in London for a rather long time.....

The meal was lovely, we departed and went our seperate ways - I jumped onto the No 38 bus, then the No. 73 and off home!

Today
I was determined to have a quiet one this weekend. I slept till 10am as I had ordered my messages on-line from Sainsburys to be delivered between 10-11am. Although they didn't turn up till 11:15 - but hey, no problem as I got a £10 off voucher on my next delivery! So, armed with some fresh bread and fruit, I put a washing on and sit down with my laptop and spend the next 5hrs sorting out my library on my ipod. I did tell you that this was going to be a quiet weekend!

Felicity has headed out tonight on a 'date' in Oldstreet, and she's got another one lined up tomorrow! Lucky girl ;-)

So, it's a quite night of watching Angel; http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/angel/, and trying out my French wine (Chateau Simon, 2003 (an excellent year for Bordeaux), from the Sauternes & Barsac region that I bought from Taste of London; http://www.tasteoflondon.co.uk/.

And that's that I guess!

And my plans for tomorrow? Nothing much - sort out some paperwork, shower, maybe go to the movies..... well see where tomorrow takes me!

:-)

It's Rock and Roll man.....

Hello!

Well, since my last blog I did eventually meet up with Jim & Joe in the CroBar. Even though I was on time, the boys were late - boys will be boys! Those guys are never on time, so I made sure that I was prepared with the Evening Standard to read whilst I waited for the guys to turn up.

They eventually turned up 30mins late! Mind you Tim didn't turn up until nearer 7pm, but that didn't stop us ordering the beers in!

A few beers later, (and I am amazed that the guys actually stayed in that pub - I thought they'd be running to the hills!), and we are getting a bit peckish! Tim, wanders off home, Jim, Joe & I wander up to Nusa Dua for a fantastic meal washed down with a couple bottles of wine. We leave the restuarant, and nip across the road to the Nellie Dean for a quick drink.

By this stage, I am feeling a wee bit tierd and decide to head home, much to the protest of Jim & Joe who want to keep on drinking! The guys head up to 'The Couch'; http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/36/3615/Couch/Soho, for 'one for the road' and we depart! I jump on the No.73 bus on Oxford Street and head straight home.

Wednesday

I wake up feeling a wee bit 'delicate', but nothing major. I wander into work, do a days work with meetings, writing, re-drafting etc, the usual stuff.

But wait, I decide to have some fun... I decide to start e-mailing Kieran (my boss) telling him that he's supposed to be taking Anna & I out for cocktails! Oh he get's sooo flustered! It's fun!

I win, and we all head up to Soho to the Revolution Bar ; http://www.revolution-bars.co.uk/bars.php?bar_id=149, for vodka cocktails. But before we got there, Kieran wanted to go into Foyles ; http://www.foyles.co.uk/foyles/index.asp, and look for a couple of books on Crete since he was going there on holiday.

Now, most people when going somewhere abroad on holiday would normally buy a travel book?? That's what you and probably would have done.... Where as Kieran is a little bit different. He buys ancient history books on Crete...... we were dragged up to the Ancient History floor - I can honestly say that I have never ever, ever been to the Ancient History floor. And now I know why.

Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring!

I was fastly loosing the will to live until Anna spotted 'Roman Sex'. God, those Romans where a filthy pervy bunch! After we escape, we resume our quest for Kieran to buy us several cocktails! Cameron arrives just in time for Kieran to get the drinks in - perfect timing!

Several Cocktails later...... Kieran's girlfriend Vicky turns up and we have a couple of more drinks, before Vicky & Kieran shoot off and Cameron, Anna & I finish off our drinks. It's 10:30pm and there's time for another drink! I take Cameron & Anna to the 'CroBar', where I'd been the night before with Jim, Joe & Tim.

Unknown to them, this bar doesn't shut till 3am ;-)

Oh, I'm such a bad influence......

3 drinks later, it's after midnight and Anna seems to be flagging.... looks like she won't be lasting the night! We say our goodbyes and head off in our seperate directions off home.

I jump on the 73 and head home, get to the house and fall asleep.

Thursday

Waking up is always such hard work.......

It was a quieter day in the office today, nothin much happened today except that I was tierd. I wonder why???? It got to 5pm and I'd just had enough - home James!

Jumping on the 24 bus, then the 73 bus I get home in 1hr, and wait for Felicity to turn up as we'd arranged to go to La Barca and treat ourselves to pizza, and Waynes World, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105793/, a most excellent movie dude.

Party time.

Excellent.

Schwiiing!

And that ladies and gentlemen is me all up to speed!

See you later.

Pre Bernie warm-up

Hullo,

Yes, well yesterday was the 'Pre-Bernie' warm-up before we all head down to Brighton on Friday for WABII (Weekend at Bernie's, 2nd year running) . For those of you who don't know Bernie, his real name is actually Richard, and we went down to his house in Brighton last year for a weekend of beers, sunburn, puggy machines and more importantly, DODGEMS!!!!

WABII fantastically coincides with Dorian's wedding, which we have been invited to the evening reception at the Grand Hotel; http://www.grandbrighton.co.uk .

Now, getting back to the 'Pre-Bernie' warm-up. This consisted of me, Kate, Cameron, Tim G, Tim K, Glen and of course the grand masonic master, the Bernard,

all meeting up down in Namco ( www.namcostation.co.uk/), for Ten Pin Bowling (the Bernard won overall by scoring a turkey on his last shot!), Pool (I think this was really between Kate & Tim G), Dance-off, Camel Derby and most importantly, DODGEMS.

Now, Dodgems consists of 'Getting Bernie'. The objective is to get Bernie at all costs. We have devised serveral methods of 'getting Bernie'; i.e

• the Pincer movement
• Hammer and Sickle
• the Sledge Hammer

All of the above methods have a proven track record of either giving the Bernard severe whiplash, or by disabling his Dodgem car. Think of the film 'The Running Man' and you'll get the picture. We were thinking of not letting Bernie actually get into a car, and he'd have to wear the 'Running Man' suite whilst we try and 'Get Bernie'

Last nights missions was hilariously funny, in fact it was so funny that I fell out of my dodgem car in an hysterical fit of laughter and ended up bruising my back! The Bernard left soon after that as he was having a day doing the "Bernard stomp" around some hills somewhere..... and Tim G headed off as well as he was knackered from an all day meeting!

Glen, Tim, Cameron and I headed to Pizza Express for some food, then it was off home via the No. 341 bus and 476 bus.....

Today

I got into work at the ungodly hour of 9am. I just don't do mornings......

Meetings, meetings, meetings, but at least I got to nip out at lunchtime with Anna to head down to the Old Monk; http://www.fancyapint.com/main_site/thepubs/pub2704.html to meet up with Tim, Kate & Graham to pick up my ticket for the cricket at the Oval ; http://www.surreycricket.com/on the 17th August. England vs Pakistan.

A few Budvars later, it's back to the office for more meetings, meetings, meetings..... I head off home on a slightly different route, No. 24 bus, then the No. 38, then No. 73.

I wander across the road to the neighbours to pick up my wine delivery. FINALLY!, cart it home and just chill out watching telly, then sleep!

Cheerio for now.

Where the hell are those thunder storms?

So,

What did I get up to yesterday?

After the still heat of the night, it was the usual routine in the morning, radio, shower, commute into work with one exception....... the news said that we were going to experience thunderstorms yesterday afternoon/evening!

Hoorah! Yipee! Fantastic! Just what I want, a few good heavy thunderstorms to clear the air, get rid of the humidty, get back to a 'normal heat'. Armed with this knowledge it made the commute into work a little more bearable. So, I set about getting stuff done at work eagerly waiting for the ominus darkening of the sky above and the first glorious thunderclap, to which I was going to run out of the office into St James park and bask in the beautiful cold, heavy rain......

And I wait. And wait. And wait........ the only loud noise I heard that afternoon was our fire alarm going off and we all had to evacuate the building. Standing around in St James park in the baking heat like a spare bunch of lemons I join the boys in the cafe in the park; http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/press/current/press_release_64.cfm . I did ask them to get me a nice, cold lager but they got me an Chegworth Apple & Rhubarb juice; http://www.chegworthvalley.com/ making sure that I stick to the 'no alcohol on a weekday rule'. How nice of them.......

We wander back to the office, it's still hot and I swear that it's even hotter inside. How can a building get hotter when there are no people in it??? I'm beginning to think that perhaps this heatwave is a government conspiracy. I'm really pissed of now and very cranky with the heat.

A shining ray of light appears in my day when Anna suggests that instead of going to the gym - now relax, I have not nor have I ever gone to a gym, Anna's the bizzare health freak here, not me! - that we should do cocktails instead! Excellent idea! I decide swap Friday for Thursday on the alcohol ban and everything is now kosha.

We hop on the No. 24 bus and head straight to the Revolution Bar ; http://www.revolution-bars.co.uk/bars.php?bar_id=149 only to find that it's shut for a 'private party'! In all the times I've been there this is a first for me! So we then wander down Wardour St and head to the Intrepid Fox http://ultimatepubguide.com/pubs/info.phtml?pub_id=39 to re live our Rock/Goth days. Easy, swap cocktails for 'Rock'.

Or so I thought...... How was I to know that in the midst of this un-bearable heat and humidty so thick you can almost put a knife through it that there was a power cut in Soho. No power in the pub = no cold beer or draught beer. I settle for a warm bottle of bud, sitting in what has to be the hottest pub in London. It's so hot that there is more 'condensation/sweat' on me than there is on the bottle of beer! Cameron comes and joins us and we make a fast exit to another bar that does have power and air conditioning and more importantly, cocktails!!!!!

Several cocktails later, and another trip to 'rock' Garlic & Shots pub; http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/42/4277/Garlic_and_Shots/Soho . Cameron still had his tie on from work and was asked to remove his tie as 'It isn't that sort of pub mate'. More warm beer was consumed before we headed to another bar for more cocktails - this time I had 'An un-comfortable screw' cocktail, and since it was Cameron's round, he had to go up to the bar and ask the barman for an uncomfortable screw.......

;-)

I am evil at times.

After that, we decided that we actually needed some nutrition that wasn't alcohol based and wandered up onto Dean Street to go to one of my favourite eating places Nusa Dua; http://www.nusadua.co.uk/ for a fab meal washed down with a couple of bottles of white wine.

We depart our seperate ways, I jump onto the No. 73 bus and head home for another hot, sticky restless night. I did hope that perhaps there would be some thunderstorms overnight, but when I awoke this morning..... well, you know the story by now.

:-(

sticky, sweaty and yucky

That about sums up how I feel.

I woke up this morning feeling like that. I step in the cold shower, getting rid of the previous night's sweat & humidity and begin to feel semi-human again. Although, I know that I'm actually kidding myself here because as soon as I step out the shower, I'll feel sticky, sweaty and yucky again.

No, perhaps this time it will be different. Perhaps this time, I'll step out the shower feeling refreshed and that feeling will stay for at least 10 minutes. I slowly step out the shower, holding my breath. Could this be the day the heat finally subsides and I'll feel refreshed? Isn't that what a shower is suppose to do?

I reach for the towel, put it round me, open the bathroom door, so far so good. I walk up the stairs and and head to the bedroom.

Damm, I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. By the time I've got back to the bedroom I can already feel the suppressive sultry heat clinging to my body. It's hot. It's darn hot. And I haven't even started the commute into work yet.

The 'natural' air conditioning in work was on top form today - I'm beginning to think that this is perhaps indeed hell. I try to find any excuse to be away from my desk, as I have the sheer mis-fortune to have a desk with a window that opens into the open area that is in effect a greenhouse. One can mistake this for Dante's 6 level of hell (Lower Hell: Violence & Fraud) - The City of Dis

"Before you are fields full of distress and torment terrible. Burning tombs are littered about the landscape. Inside these flaming sepulchers suffer the heretics, failing to believe in God and the afterlife, who make themselves audible by doleful sighs. You will join the wicked that lie here, and will be offered no respite. The three infernal Furies stained with blood, with limbs of women and hair of serpents, dwell in this circle of Hell."

What I wouldn't give to be in at least Dante's 3rd level of hell (Upper Hell: the Incontinent) - at least it's nice and cool there!

"In the third circle, you find yourself amidst eternal rain, maledict, cold, and heavy. The gluttons are punished here, lying in the filthy mixture of shadows and of putrid water. Because you consumed in excess, you meet your fate beneath the cold, dirty rain, amidst the other souls that there lay unhappily in the stinking mud. Cerebus, a canine monster cruel and uncouth with his three heads and red eyes, dwells in this level. He growls and tears at the damned with his teeth and claws."

Mind you given those descriptions - they could be describing any workplace! If you are interested, you can actually take Dante's inferno test. http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv

I did, and found that I'm such a bad, bad person I would be ending up in Dante's 7th level of hell:

"Guarded by the Minotaur, who snarls in fury, and encircled within the river Phlegethon, filled with boiling blood, is the Seventh Level of Hell. The violent, the assasins, the tyrants, and the war-mongers lament their pitiless mischiefs in the river, while centaurs armed with bows and arrows shoot those who try to escape their punishment. The stench here is overpowering. This level is also home to the wood of the suicides- stunted and gnarled trees with twisting branches and poisoned fruit. At the time of final judgement, their bodies will hang from their branches. In those branches the Harpies, foul birdlike creatures with human faces, make their nests. Beyond the wood is scorching sand where those who committed violence against God and nature are showered with flakes of fire that rain down against their naked bodies. Blasphemers and sodomites writhe in pain, their tongues more loosed to lamentation, and out of their eyes gushes forth their woe. Usurers, who followed neither nature nor art, also share company in the Seventh Level."

Hmmm, that's nice to know.... and here's me thinking that I'm not really that bad a person.... obviously Dante disagrees.

Just walking from my desk to the printer and back I can feel the muggy sweat trickling down my back. It's going to be a long, long day today.

As mentioned before I try to spend as little time as possible at my desk, I have wee meetings down in the canteen as that's the only place in the building that the air conditioning actually works! Struggling with the rest of the day, I get an e-mail from Kate asking about beer.

It's hot, I'm tempted, and the walk alone from work to the Cruddy bar is enough to work up a raging thirst in this heat. It's time to down tools and take the long walk - okay I'm using a bit of artistic license here... but you get the picture! - to the Cruddy bar. I then proceed to have;

• 1x pint of grapefruit juice and lemonade.
• 1x sparkling water with one slice of lime
• 1x sparkling water with two slices of lime
• 1x sparkling water with three slices of lime
• 1x fresh orange juice with lemonade

I know what you are thinking. What's with the lime? Well, I can't have the same drink more than twice can I? That would be sad....... okay, I'm trying to sound convincing here, but as I type this I realise that actually perhaps I should just stop digging this hole. When you are in a hole, just stop digging!

Meanwhile, Kate had a lager and 4 x dry white wines - I could only sit and watch and remember what that was once like! ;-)

After which, we departed our seperate ways. I was lucky enough to catch a no. 24 bus straight up to Tottenham Court Road, switch to a no. 10 bus going to Euston, before jumping on the 476 bus to take me the last part of my journey home.

Here was me thinking, 'Wow', no waiting for buses, I'll be home in a jiffy. I should have learnt by now, not to have such thoughts, I only end up jinxing myself! As soon as the 476 left Euston station and turned back onto Euston road - complete gridlock.

How many times, can they bloody dig up Kings Cross??? Grrrrr.

Several minutes i.e. 15 mins stuck on Euston Road, later the bus finally moved and I was speeding home for the rest of my journey.

Back to my lovely, hot, sticky, humid flat. Back to yet another night of trying to keep cool, with all the windows open, sleeping on top of the covers falling asleep to the radio......

Comedy in the heat

Och, it's not long after midnight and my room is swealtering.

It was another un-remarkable day in the office today, same old same old 'natural' air conditioning. Hmmmm..... that's why I was on my 5th bottle of water and still sweating like I've just spent 5hrs moshing away to rock and metal.

One of ray of light though, Sunil suggested that we head down to Canary Wharf (yes the place with all the big buildings) otherwise known as 'Torchwood Towers' - although I couldn't quite see any Daleks or Cybermen.......

Glen and I headed down to a pub on the Wharf to meet Cameron, and yes I was still sticking to no beer on a week day, with me on the grapefruit and lemonade with Glen enjoying a nice cold Kronenberg. Cameron turned up later , and I had another sparking water.

After which, we strolled up to Canada Sq for the Open Air Comedy Night, meeting up with Sunil and his wife Sabina.
http://www.mycanarywharf.com/whatson/calendar.html "Stand-up comedian, singer, songwriter and winner of the Time Out Comedy Award, Richard Morton will be your master of ceremonies for this special edition of the Canary Wharf Comedy Club. Outdoors for the first time, expect the same top-notch laughs that sell-out Cabot Hall. Featuring Terry Alderton, Michael McIntyre, Adam Bloom, and the brilliant Adam Hills. "

When we finally found Sunil & Sabina - as you can tell by the photo, loads of people sitting on a square of grass, kinda difficult to spot people! We sat down, had a picnic of cheese, dips, breads etc. Very tasty as there was a Waitrose across the road to beef up our supplies! And well, this can be classed as a 'special event' so I had a couple of cans of Pimms and lemonade.

I must say for a free event, it was bloody good. Lots of laughs, and even the Australian comedian was funny....

After spending most of Sunday sitting on my arse on the grass in Greenwich, my back didn't take to kindly to sitting on the hard grass again for another three hours - so inbetween sets I had a nice lie down staring up at the fluffy little clouds (if only there were some!) and at the big tall buildings.

So, here I am, back home courtesty of TfL's bus service, in bed, in the heat, listening to Planet Rock on my DAB Radio.

Time for sleep I think!

Where did it go?

Yet another hot day.

Worked lated in the office, left about 6:30ish to go catch the No. 24 bus up to Warren St Tube station where I was meeting Tim for a quick drink before home.

Spent nearly 15mins waiting on a bloody 24 bus. I got to the bus stop (which is right outside work by cutting through HMRC onto Parliment St) , and saw that the LED sign was saying 15 mins for a no. 24 bus. Surely that can't be right? It's still rush hour, and after checking the timetable there should have been a bus every 8-10mins.

There is a massive crowd at the bus stop - I just resign myself to the fact that on this blistering hot day, I will crammed like a sardine into a portable oven till Warren Street. And yes, the bus was packed.

Finally got to Warren Street, peeled myself off of the seat and grabbed a paper to read whilst I waited for Tim. And waited. And waited. I didn't realise that the Victoria line had been suspended between Walthamstow & Seven Sisters because of a person underneath the train, causing severe delays to the rest of the line.

Really. If you are wanting to end your life, do you have to do it at rush hour on one of the main tubes lines? How inconsiderate to your fellow travelers who, unlike the person under the train have decided to keep on living and go on with their daily lives. There's inconvenience, and then there's inconvenience.

Anyway, I digress. Finally met up, and I made the mistake (a glaring 'school boy error'), of choosing a pub that had the cricket on.

Result?

Not a lot of conversation as Tim's transfixed by the TV - I'm sitting there with my grapefruit and lemonade swealtering in the non-air conditioned pub.

Headed home after that, jumping on the No.10 bus to Euston, then onto the 73, and I actually managed to find a seat! Kinda got hungry on the journey home and was debating with myself to either a shish kebab, chinese or a pizza from La Barca.

I'd settled on the pizza as I'd never got round to getting one on last Saturday. By this time it's nearly 9pm, I'm hot, tierd, thirsty - got home, opened the door to find that it wasn't any cooler, infact it was hotter inside the house than outside! So, after munching away, drinking juice, watching some telly, downloading e-mail etc etc I decide to go to sleep.

All through-out the evening, I'm keeping an ear out for this suicidal mozzie that enjoyed nearly a pint of my blood the evening before. This time I'm armed with newspaper and fly/wasp spray. Just let the little bastard come near me and it's dead.

I'm starting to doze off, but am still keeping an ear out for this damm mozzie. Next thing I know, it's morning. I check over for any new bites - but seem to be mozzie bite clear!

Where the hell did it go?

Perhaps it found a tastier victim? Not that I'm complaining!

War is declared

Fine.

Great.

I was awoken last night in the swealtering heat, semi concious by a high pitch noise. No it wasn't the crazy wifie from across the road, nor was it that idiot boy on a scooter running up and down the streets - I think from now on he shall be christend 'Scooter Twat'.

I thought I was dreaming, thought nothing of it, turned over and fell back into a restless slumber................I awoke this morning (slowly), as most mornings to the radio with the lovely Alice Cooper and his own brand of humour, as I lent back in bed I realised my upper right arm was sore. What the hell was wrong with me?

On closer inspection I discovered that I'd been bitten. Not only on my arm, but also twice on my hip.

It wasn't a dream last night. That high pitched noise? A blimin Mosquito!! I've now got three huge itchy lumps! I don't react well to mozzy bites. War is declared.

That mozzy had better have enjoyed it's last meal last night, cause when I find it, it's gonna be splatted so hard my blood will be pernamently embedded into the wall of the flat, and no amount of cleaning will shift it!

I am on the war path. It's bad enough having to put up the heat, the pollution, the over crowding, TfL - but mozzies? I will obliterate every single last mozzy I find. It is a dead mozzy, it just doesn't know it yet.

Back from Greenwich, it's 1:30am....

Hullo out there.

It's now 01:45am, I've not long got back from Greenwich from the Stella Artois Film Festival and had forgotten that I'd left my laptop on, busy downloading some stuff (it's nowhere near finished, and at this rate it's still gonna take another 2 days to download! - I know, geek), so I thought I'd do a quick update to the blog before I go to bed and fall asleep listening to one of my favourite DAB stations "Planet Rock" http://www.planetrock.com/.

Bring it on! Waking up to Alice Cooper in the mornings - what more could a girl want?

Anyway, I digress..... this isn't meant to be a long blog - need to sleep at some point before the delights of work tomorrow, or is that work in 9hrs time?..

So, what can I tell you about the festival? Well, it didn't start off to well as when we got there, we find out we couldn't bring any booze into the sectioned off bit of the park - Grrrrr, so we had an 'beginners' picnic in the park polishing off our Bucksfizz and two bottles of Red Wine with some munchies to hand. But once that was done, we headed into the main part.

80's extravaganza man! Fantastic music - I felt like I was transported back to my childhood back in the Greenfield Community Centre after schoo,l playing uni hoc and running around on my roller boots to Madonna.

Plus we were also treated to the National Symphony Orchestra playing film scores from movies from that decade - everyone was jumping up to 'Ghost Busters'! Then we had the pleasure of 'guilty pleasures' , http://www.guiltypleasures.co.uk - one of the most funny wee act's I've seen in a long while.

Basically it was three scantly clad blokes (who should have covered up a wee bit more!) - doing some fantastic dance routines to 80's music. Absoultly brilliant. Teresa and I went down to the front stage and danced along, plus they also let out these huuuuuuuuge balloons which were ping ponging throught the crowd, with everyone scrambling to punch the balloons!

Afterwards Teresa and I headed back up to our patch of grass to sit down and watch 'Ferris Bueller's Day off' on the big screen. http://www.slightly-bonkers.net/dayoff/ What a classic 80's movie! Sitting in the park, wine, picnic, half naked men and movie. What a perfect Sunday.

Now for the hard part. The movie finished around the back of 11pm. By the time we got down to the DLR stop it was absoultely hoaching. Now bear with me here - you would think that, hello, wait a minute, a couple of thousand people all leaving the park at the same time - perhaps, maybe, perhaps that TfL & the organisers would have had the foresight to perhaps lay on extra transport, or run the tubes a little bit later?

Nooooooo. Stupid girl. What was I thinking? Let's make over 2000 people find new and exciting way's home from Greenwich at 11:30pm on a Sunday night.

All the DLR's were going to Poplar. Does anybody even live there? Nothing was going to Bank as the last Westbound/North bound tubes had all left Canary Wharf by the time we got there. Luckily, living in Stokey with no tube, there is an excellent bus network. So off we jumped off at Canary Wharf, popped onto the 277 bus up to Essex Road, then onto the 73 for 5 more stops to get home.

And that is where I leave you ladies and gentlemen. Home, Bed, Sleep!

Till next time amigos

-S

It's sooooo hot - part II

Well, after the Wheel barrow race getting up was a bit of a problem! Not to worry, James was on hand to help Nishi up from the ground after all that excersion.

But there was more to come! There was the joys of the Three Legged race with Nishi and James being tied together and being forced to run a long, long distance - again - it's the taking part that counts. Not the winning! Which is just as well, cause at this rate with zero wins so far........ hehehe

And finally, the sack race. By this point James was close to collapsing - he should have known better than to get one over on Nishi!

Again, winning isn't everything!

After all of that excersion, a well deserved drink or three was required to replenish lost fluids after sitting in the sun all day long drinking Pimms and yelling at the teams taking part.

Eventually caught the train back to Waterloo, and headed to a tapas bar (yeah! Finally got my tapas!!!) in Waterloo called Meson Don Felipe; http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/6325.html as usual ordered way to much, but it was soooooo delicious!

Got home late, and I could swear that it was actually getting hotter! I kept my window open and tried to get some sleep but it was just way too hot and humid. Spent the night tossing and turning in by bed, throwing all the covers off, trying to keep cool - but to no avail. Thunder and lighting in the small hours of the morning, but it never really did anything and the heat and humidty just keep on building......

Today
Woke up yet again feeling all hot and sticky from the heat. Am having a quite day to day, putting the washing on, sorting out my Ipod, updating my Blog. If I'm feeling up for it, I may treat myself to a Pizza from my favourite pizza place 'La Barca' later on.

I know, I know, it's the weekend, why am I being boring and staying in the house? Because;
1. It's too damm hot. I can't be bothered going out.
2. I'm knackered from this week's activities!
3. Tomorrow I'm going to the Stella Artois Film Festival http://www.studioartois.co.uk/main.html in Greenwich with Teresa & Felicity. So I'm resting today and charging up my batteries for tomorrow.
4. It's too damm hot!

Cheerio of now!

-S

It's sooooo hot - part I

Hello out there.

Yes it's hot. It's very hot. Even a cold shower, doesn't work because as soon as you step out of the shower you start sweating almost instantly. I just don't think that I am designed to deal with the heat - damm celtic genes.

So, what have I been up to since my last post on Tuesday? It's been a busy few days, so here we go.

Wednesday
The hottest day of the year, and where was I? Stuck in the office with 'natural air-conditioning'. i.e. open a window. Unfortunately for me, the only window I have faces onto the break-out area which happens to be a swealtering sun trap that saps your very will to live.

Let's just say, that once it hit 4pm, it got to the point where I could stand it no longer. Solution? Go to the pub and sit in the shade in a beer garden (okay it's a concrete back yard, but around Victoria it's the only decent 'beer' garden that can be found!) http://www.londontaxitour.com/london-taxi-tour-eating-and-drinking-pubs-the-colonies.htm

I met up with Kate & Andy down there and enjoyed not 1, not 2, but 3 grapefruit and lemonades (yes, the no beer on a weekday rule still applies), followed by a bitter lemon. Of course, Kate and Andy are still revelling in this and sit their with their glasses of wine with big grins on their faces......

I ended up heading up to Charlotte Street with the intention of finding a tapas bar as I was in a tapas mood, via Sound Control which is the large Virgin Megastore on Tottenham Court Road to have a bash about on their electronic drums - okay, I'm not a big fan of 'synth' drums, but I have to say I was kind of impressed - although I didn't think much of the hi-hats & snare - maybe it was to do with the set up? But over all - not as bad as I thought it would be.

So after that little diversion, it was onward bounds to Charlotte Street to find some tapas.

My god. How hoaching was Charlotte Street? ?http://www.londontown.com/LondonStreets/charlotte_street_ecb.html

We found the tapas place but it was fully booked! Hmmm... so what next? Tim favoured going back down to Charlotte Street - but I was thinking no way! It's all packed. So, off we went just wandering up the road, stumbling onto Whitfield street where we found this tiny wee Brazlian/Spanaish Bar called 'Bar Andalucia'. http://www.salsapower.com/cities/uk_london.htm

Woohoo tapas at last! Well, no. Their kitchen was shut that night, but it was a funky wee bar that has regular salsa lessons if anyone is interested in going. At this point hunger was kicking in, and with no tapas in sight, what to do? Easy really, if stuck in this situation you can always count on finding an indian restaraunt to hand.

So, we settled on an Indian instead of tapas. Finding the 'Agra' resturant which just so happens to be one of the oldest tandoori house in London! http://www.london-eating.co.uk/537.htm We sat outside, as at 10pm it was still swealtering! We had a good meal of, poppadoms, onion baji, chicken livers, prawn dopiaza, some other prawn dish, rice, paratha and again, washed down with a bottle of sparkling water - still that no beer on a weekday rule!

After that, it was close to midnight and time to go home! Fully stuffed and knackered.

Thursday
It's still hot. It's still so bloody hot. Back in the office, lethargic with the heat, stuggling to get anywork done. Sitting with a lovely collection of empty water bottles on my desk thinking that perhaps at some point I should put them into the recycling.......

In an effort to try and focus on work - give myself a goal to look forward to I decide to head down to the South Bank afterwork and wander on down to the National Theatre and see what free event they have on. I quite fancy sitting outside with a cool drink and taking on some culture!

Or so I thought..... I head down to the South Bank with Vicki from work, grab a seat and an orange juice to watch on of the most bizarre performance art I have ever seen. http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=19103

It was weird. Very weird. And involved a caravan, a tarzan outfit and a palm tree. Enough said. James, turned up just at the very end of the performance - typical! We all wandered along the South Bank, popping into Gabriels Wharf, which was hoaching as everyone else had the same idea of being on the South Bank on a hot Summer's evening!

Vicky left us at that point, and James and I continued wandering along the South Bank. Of course, with it being hot we found the nearest watering hole. Now, this is where it get's interesting.

We head up to the bar, I ask James to get me an orange juice - but it doesn't quite work out that way, as he's pissing himself laughing and refuses to go up to the bar and order a juice! So, that order then turns into a Leffe Blonde. Now, going by the logic that I was going to have a beer on Friday at the DfT Sports day (as Friday is technically the weekend.... and sports day being a special event.....), we eventually decide that as it's Thursday night, and Friday is only a few hours away it's really nearly the weekend.....

Of course, that leads into another Leffe, and another and another. We then leave to walk further along the South Bank and find that we need to find another toliet stop! Of course, we find the Founder's Arms; http://www.riverthames.co.uk/eatandrink/pub/bankside.htm
to pop into for a quick one and use their facilities.

Walking onwards towards London Bridge, we find another watering hole The Anchor Inn; http://britannia.com/travel/london/cockney/anchor.html which we of course have to stop and use the facilities and polish off 2 bottles of cold white wine whilst sitting outside admiring the view of the Thames & St Paul's catherdral.

Stumble home and fall into a drunken restless slumber in the sweaty, humid heat.

Friday
Well.

What can I say?

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Head hurts. Mouth is dry. It's 8:30am and I'm already drenched in sweat from the heat.

All sticky and hurty.... Can of coke, nurophen, 4head stick (brilliant wee thing that also helps headaches http://www.mypharmacy.co.uk/medicines/medicines/f/4head/4head.htm ), open windows further, lie back in bed and die slowly.

Texted Dorian & Joanne at work to say, that I was just going to head straight to Sports Day at Chiswick ( http://www.cssc-london.co.uk/chiswick/index.htm). As I lie in bed waiting for the painkillers to kick in I turn on the telly and the joys of ITV3 in the morning! Quicny, LA Law, Quantum Leap - Student paradise! Armed with bad TV and painkillers I begin to feel slightly more human!

I jump into the shower (cold) and begin to feel sensation returning back to various parts of the body. So, armed with another dose of nurophen, a bottle of Sprite I walk up to the bus stop and wait for the 73 to take me down to Kings Cross. And I wait. And wait...... For those of you who don't know about my daily trials and tribulations with the No. 73, i direct you to my favourite blog http://73omnibus.blogspot.com/ - I just don't have the energy to go into this all over again, when this bloke does it so well!

After finally getting to Vauxhall and meeting up with Nishi & Kate, we head down to Barnes Bridge in a fantastic air conditioned train! And why can't they have air conditioning on buses?? Again, soooo not going there. Read the 73 blog!

So, what can I say about sports day? It was fantastic. Not that I actually participated in any of the events (going by my injury rate at previous events I thought it best to just observe this one). I watched my old work collegues from DfT in the football and softball and of course did the ritual heckling. This had to be one of the funiest Sports days I had been to in a long time.

James eventually turned up, hungover like hell and blaming me for his delicate state! Me? Little old innocent me? As I recalled, it was him that started the whole thing off.

Watching Nishi in the Egg & Spoon race, James & Andrew in the Egg and Spoon race. Don't worry, I don't think any records were broken at this event....

To be fair, Nishi hadn't actually entered into the Egg & Spoon race, un-beknown to her, James had been increadibly evil and entered Nishi into the three legged race and wheelbarrow race. Nishi got her own back by entering James into the Sack race

Which left, the following events to observe:

• Welly Wanging
• 3-legged race
• Wheel Barrow
• Sack race

Now, afterwatching the Egg & Spoon and having cleared the tears of laughter away from my eyes I was waiting with baited anticipation to the next events.

Welly Wanging was just hilarious, especially with Andrew's attemp at throwing the welly flying way off course, sending the spectators running for their lives! He will never live that one down.

The Wheel barrow race was just magnificant to watch. My sides are still sore from all the laughing. Nishi and James didn't win that race either.

Day 2 of no beer

Well,

it's hot, it's sweaty on the bus, on the tube, in work, walking down to the pub. Uhm.... did I say pub? Yes I did, go down to the pub, to meet up with Kate and Nishi and sat there with a sparkling water!

So, it was a fairly usual day at work although it was half empty as the majority of them are at the Treasury Sports day. I've avoided that one, but will be going to the DfT/DCLG sports day on Friday.

I met up with Felicity later and we went to 56 on Newington Green for a lovely wee meal, washed down with a couple of bottles of sparkling water, l before wandering back down the road fully stuffed!

It's time to go to bed, and try and get some sleep inbetween sweating like hell in this unforgiven heat, and listening to some nutter going up and down the street outside on his god damm scooter.

Grrrrr

Day 1

So,

1st day back at work after nearly three weeks off of work. Oh joy of joys. It's over 30 degrees, traveling on the tube & bus is just sooooooooo yuk. I'd went out the night before with a couple of mates for some beers up on Church Street..... hmmm, a few beers in the Old Lion, then onwards to a restuarant for some much needed food which was washed down with a couple of bottles of wine, before moving onto the Auld Shillelagh - a fantastic wee irish pub that doesn't half pour a decent pint of guinness

Result? = hangover

Just what you need on one of the hottest days of the year and you've got to spend the next hour on the over crowded bus and tube! So, with emergency supplies of nurophen & water off I went.
I log onto my PC at work to find that I've only got 159 e-mails to go through before yet another week of meetings. *sigh*

Some how in all of this I make the irrational decision that perhaps now being 30 and have spent the last 10 years living it up big Student style with the beers - that maybe I should calm it down! So, I've come to the decision that beer should only be consumed at the weekend... Friday/Saturday/Sunday - which leaves Monday to Thursday as beer free days, of course with beer being permitted on special occasions.

Plus in a vain attempt to at least try to be a bit healthier I'm also thinking that I should also cut out fizzy drinks - does sparkling water count?

Interesting experiment I dare say. Let's see how it goes.

After finishing work today, I met up with Kate down in the cruddy bar in the soaring heat. Kate's got a nice cold pint of lager sitting there, with the condensation running down the side of the pint glass, the little lager bubbles floating to the top of the pint with it's smooth creamy head..... well my friends, that was tough. I walked up to the bar and ordered a nice cold fresh orange with lemonade.
What was even tougher was sitting down with the juice next to Kate as she was pissing herself laughing! So there's the proof. And no, there was no vodka or gin in the juice - this was pure un-adultarated alcohol free liquid.

So, here's to hopefully a slightly healthier me... although after finally getting off the bus, wilting in the heat and dying from starvation from the crummy beef and mustard sandwich that I had 8hrs before, I treated myself to a nice Chicken Shish kebab with garlic mayo - well it's grilled chicken, and its got salad - healthy right? and it was washed down with a bottle of water - not a fizzy drink - that's gotta be healthy!!

Cheerio for now!

-S

In Recovery - part II

After saying goodbye to the guys as they headed back down South to the big smoke, I was staying up in Dundee for a wee while longer.

As there was my friend Susan's 30th birthday and her boyfriends Alan's 50th birthday celebrations to be had. Much beerage happened over that week with parties, pubs, clubs and meals. Hanging out and catching up with friends - it was nice to just chill out, being back home in Dundee and not have the hassel of the daily commute between work and home in London!


Another reason for staying in Dundee for another week was my wee Brother's Graduation from Abertay University with a Degree in Web Design & Technology. We are all proud of William 'Kzooie' Baskerville getting his degree! That's him now finished with University for now, and after he's had his wee holiday in the Algarve with Mum and Dad it's time to enter that big bad place called 'Working Life'!

After all of that, I headed back down South to London with Richard & Kirsty who were going to stay over at my house for 4 days to see London. I was still lucky enough to be on annual leave so I could act as Richard & Kirsty's 'unoffical' tour guide during their stay. Yes we did some touristy stuff, caught the boat to Greenwich, did the London Eye, Imperial War Museum, shopping on Oxford Street and Harrods - I also took them round Angel, HM Treasury, Stoke Newington - it was a very jam packed 4 days! And very knackering especially for Richard & Kirsty who aren't used to the typical London Commute! Here's a photo of them on their 1st day of sightseeing, falling asleep on the boat back to Westminster.

So, here's my finally got up to speed with everything that has been happening over the last few weeks. Now you may be confused as to why this post is entitled 'In Recovery'. It's very simple really, I'm knackered!!!!

Richard & Kirsty went back up to Dundee on Friday afternoon, I was out for beers Friday night as Jonathan, an old work collegue was back over from New Zealand = hangover Saturday Morning. Yesterday I went up to Camden to celebrate my flatmate Felicity's half birthday (it's her birthday on the 1st of January, and none of us are around at that time as we've all buggered off to our respective family homes, so we celebrate Felicity's half birthday in July!). Again much beerage happened last night! Thus the resulting hangover today.

I still haven't even unpacked my suitcase from when I got back from Dundee on Monday! I've got a huge pile of snail & e-mail to go through, I really need to do a washing otherwise turning up to work tomorrow will be rather interesting.......

There just aren't enough hours in the day, week, month.....

In Recovery - part I

Och ma heid!

It's been a hectic few weeks for me. I've been to Wimbledon, which was fantastic - although god knows what they treat their grass with as my hay fever was killing me whenever I sat near the courtside. I had the pleasure of sitting on 'Henman Hill', watching him being knocked out by the tennis legend Federar.

But all and all, it was a brilliant day out, even though 3hr wait in the queue was a bit tedious. And of course, when at Wimbledon you certainly have to sample the Pimms and strawberries and cream. It would be rude not to!

After a day at Wimbledon, I then travelled up to Dundee with Tim, Nishi & Andy for the 12th Dundee Blues Festival weekend. For those of you who don't know what this, check out www.dundeebluesbonanza.co.uk - it's a completely free blues music festival with over 100 acts across all the city centre pubs in Dundee. A fantastic time was had by all, even if Engurland did end up getting kicked out of the World Cup and Tim & Andy nearly got killed for supporting England in the Westie.

We saw some fantastic acts;

• Little Jimmy Reed http://www.liljimmyreed.com/
• Sam Payne http://www.sampayne.co.uk/
• Gerry Jablonski http://www.gerryjablonski.com

to name but a few..... the quality of music was just magnificant, and very varied with acts coming from all over the world.

When we weren't busy taking in the blues, there was also the oppertunity to take the guys on a bit of sight seeing around Scotland and Dundee, courtesy of my Dad driving us around Scotland! We went to Killin, the Trossachs, Loch Katrine - I think Nishi wanted to buy a castle or two along the way, but alas I just don't think that we earn enough! What was amusing, was Nishi, Andy and Tim's reaction to the 'lack' of traffic up in Scotland - these guys are way too used to London life!

Baskers World is created...

Well, it's a start