Some friends of mine, on a spa forum have expressed an interest in getting a hot tub following my expierence of getting one!!
Now its really lovely to lay back in hot bubbles in your garden of an evening, with a glass* of wine....BUT and its a big but, please consider these several points before you spend your hard earned cash on one!!
1: Where will you put your tub?...The best place for any hot tub is in the garden preferably on a good, solid concreate patio area (where I have mine) What must be considered here is the full weight of the hot tub which can be extreamley heavy. I have heard horror stories about people installing a 10k jacuzzi in their bathroom only to have the floor cave in under the weight. You must remember that your tub will weigh about 5 times the amount of your bath or more!! Folks who do install them in bathrooms, will almost certainly have to spend a small fortune on having the floor reinforced with steel!!!
2: Do you have time to maintain your tub once it up and running?...Hot tubs can be VERY time consuming as regards to hygiene and heath and safety!! Bugs like "legionaires" just love to party in your tub!!! Think about it!! Warm and wet is the perfect enviroment for them, so you have to wage a veritble war on the little buggers, so your tub dose not become a cess pit of disease!!
Daily: wipe tub and cover with a clean cloth, use an aquarium brush to clean the tub inside. Run the filter for half an hour to filter out residue. Clean filter in fresh water!! Test the PH of the water with a test strip and if the ph is to high or two low, adjust acordingly with chemicals! Add chlorine or bromine, if the level is too low! (DO NOT USE CHLORINE OR BROMINE TOGETHER)
Every week, clean the filter and every month change the filter compleatley for a new one. Change the water every 3-4 weeks and leave in about 2 inches of original water so you do not have to "shock" your tub with too much chlorine (when you first fill your tub you must shock it with a huge amount of chlorine, to kick start the cleaning process. You only need to do this once though!
3: Costs?....ok so you have laid out thousands for your posh tub...but wait....Have you considered the running costs?
I have only had mine for 3 months and already I have managed to double my electricty bill!!! I have had to cut down to using it once a day, and only turn it on at 4pm to begin heating for the evening! Hut tubs EAT electricty, if your not careful!!! Another consideration is the chemicals you have to buy for your tub and water maintinience. These include: pH plus, pH minus, chlorine (hot tubs EAT chlorine!) and De-foamer. You also must buy water test strips for testing, and learn how to read them properly! Reading test strips incorrectly, and you could turn your tub into an acid bath!!! Another consideration is your water bill! Hot tubs generally hold on average 1,000 to 2,000 ltrs or more and this ammount of water can cost a fortune if you change it too often. With careful water maintaining and a good, regular cleaning routine, and your water can be pristine and crystal clear every time you use it! I change my water about every three weeks, and am happy to say my tub water is perfect!!
4: Safe bathing?....so you have your water to perfection with a good hygiene routine, and you have your first "bubble session" ahhhh luveeeryly!!
Please note!!
Hot tubs can cause DISEASE!!!
Some of the little beasties are "hot tub lung" and "Foliculitus"
Grousome picture below is Foliculitus caused by a badly maintained hot tub/jacuzzi!!
photo from skincare13.wordpress.com
This disease is caused by bugs crawling into the base of you hair folicals and infecting them!!
NOT NICE!!! but the result if you don't clean and maintain your tub properly!!
Needless to say I did about 6 months research into them before buying mine. I figured that if I did something wrong or didn't understand something properly it could cost me a fortune!!! But as I find, there is more to damage to your health than your tub!!
Notes on safe bathing!
*NEVER take anything glass into the tub!!...if this shatters or breaks, shards can get sucked into the filtration system and cause irreparable damage!! use only plastic cups and things suitable for the spa!
NEVER let children under 12 in a tub, unsupervised!!
When at all possible bathe nude!!...I say this because bugs and germs can build up on swimwear and even freshly washed costumes can still have traces of washing powder on them which can effect the water quality, badly!!
NEVER wear make up, skin cream, perfume or any other beauty product when using the tub!! This too can upset the water ballance, and the overall cleanliness of the tub.
NEVER drink to access or take drugs while using the tub!!! Hot bubbly water makes you very sleepy!!! its VERY dangerous!!!
NEVER have anything electrical near the spa such as radios, tv, mp3 etc: Use waterproof electricals ONLY from a reputable supplier!!
NEVER overload your tub with people!! Think of all the unseen germs on everyones bodies and it will take you ages to clean!! Plus this will put extra strain on your spa's pump and it may burn out giving you a heafty cost for repairs. If a tub's instructions say "max 6 persons"...make it max 5, and so on!
NEVER have your tub too hot!! Your spa should have a digital temprechure display and thermostat (mine has). If not, you must use a thermometer and make sure the spa is between 35 - 42 degrees...anything hotter could burn you or you could pass out!! Be Aware!!
Saying all this though, having a tub can benifit your health greatly, if you have blood circulation problams. Hydro thearpy is fantastic and you really feel invigorated when you get out....But for such pleasure, it goes hand in hand that some very hard work must be done too!
However, if all this sounds too much perhaps consider a whirlpool bath? Much smaller and cheeper cousin of the spa with no chemicals and you change the water every time!!
I hope this info has been usefull to potential tub-uzzi-spa owners :) x
I do rather a lot of the worst this and that, but this morning I have decided to do the best current ads on telly!!
Since Christmas rubbish selections, there have been some good ones, I think!
Its a new "Phenix" 6 inch (150mm) Newtonian, reflecting telescope with a focal length of 750 mm which is going to be perfect for my deep space observations, and even Derek is interested in this from a photographic point of view as photography is his main hobby!!
My passion for astronomy began as a child when my dad took me out into the garden at night when I was 4 or 5 years old, with his binoculars to look for the infamous Comet Kohoutek!! From that moment on I was obsessed and saved up for my first telescope when I was 10. This was a tiny 2.5 inch reflector but it was better than binoculars and I got amazing views of the moon and planets, as well as fuzzy looking galaxies in Orion's belt! My bedroom had been packed with astronomy books during this time, and I spent many nights observing and keeping notes in a note book. As I grew up and other elements of my life took hold, I kind of left my love for astronomy on the door-step of my childhood home. Now it appears that I am going to have to dust off those old cob-webbed memories of how to observe, and start a fresh in this exciting hobby!! As a Fellow Craft freemason its my duty to study the 7 arts and sciences of which astronomy is one....When it arrived yesterday the massive box weighed an absolute ton, this is by no means a small telescope and even the scope counter weight weighs in the region of 30lbs!!! It took me about 30 mins to assemble which was fairly easy as it was just like my smaller version only on a much larger scale!! and I didn't miss Coronation Street!, but its taking up a massive space in my dining room!! Any way, I can't wait to try it, but this is realy the wrong time of year to observe. Winter is far better with darker and clearer nights and Derek even suggested we take nightly drives into the country to observe, where there is no light polution. This might be a bit difficult because of the size of the thing. Even taking it off the huge tripod it would only just fit in the boot!!
In other news!!
Because of the gorgeous warm weather at the moment the spa isen't taking as long to heat up in the evenings so now I only put the heater on at 4pm for my night-time bubble session. Last night it was a baking 41 degrees!!! Almost TOO hot!!
Recently I bought a couple of spa acessories: The first being a folding, hanging camping shelves for hanging my flip flops up in...Sirius has a very puppyish habbit of running off with my flip flops when I am in the spa, so this idea is to stop him. Its also a good place to keep my glasses and other bits. Secondly I bought a cast iron book holder so I can read my books while bubbling away in the tub. At the moment I am reading Alison Weir's "Six Wives" AGAIN!! But I really do need to finish Phillipa Gregory's superb "White Queen" also. Oh and I got some tent curtains for the gazebo so its totally private for nude bathing! This is more healthy for the water as it keeps it cleaner!
Ok, need to hop off now and brush up on my astronomy!!
:) x
Several years ago Derek and I found the time to take a 2 day trip to this awesome 5,000 year old monument on Salisbury plain!! It had been a superb but cold and windy day, and as visitors we could only follow the path of the visitors trail which is at quite a distance from the monument itself. It was a day to be long remembered and we took many photos!
Today on the BBC news there was a report from Stonehenge, about the summer solstice event and as the camera man panned away from the reporter to view the site it was indeed a dreadfull sight!!! Tons of rubbish had been left behind by the revelers making this monument look like some kind of landfill!!!
Its an absolute disgrace that English Heritage allows these folks "inside" Stonehenge (where as ordinary visitors must stay on the visitors trail) let alone, use the place as a rubbish tip!!! If any of these so called druids really cared about Stonehenge, they would respect it and take their rubbish with them. They clearly don't care about this wonderful place!! But I suspect that the "real" druids do care about Stonehenge! Its the bad apples at the bottom of the barrel ie: hippys, drop outs, low lifes and no-lifes that have caused this filthy rubbish...English Heritage really need to pull their socks up on this one, and allow only genuine druids into the monument itself, and keep the weirdo's and their rubbish at a distance. This is a neolithic, bronze age monument that should be highly respected, and indeed revered! This is also an ancient burial ground of our English ancestors!! How would the average person feel if someone tipped a load of rubbish on a grave of their family members?? Sorry but its practically the same thing!!! Think of this another way. If this had been an ancient monument or building in, say, Indoniesia, India or Thailand you would be arrested from dropping a ciggie butt let alone tons of litter!! People in these countries respect their ancestors, highly, as well as the things they built, and as such this would never happen...but in England, soft handed folks like English heritage just let these oddballs disrespect our ancient heritage and turn the place into a virtual landfill, while they quietly move in afterwards and perform a clean up. I wonder how many drug needles the cleaners of this site find?
Something MUST be done about this disgusting, filthy behaviour!!! These folks insult our history and piss on the very graves of our ancient ancestors!!!...they should be, at worst deeply ashamed, at best arrested, and given community service picking up litter, to teach them a lesson!!
Sorry...very angry about this...
For once I am going to divert my blog from the usual, science, nature, history or moaning and write about last nights awful England Algeria match at the world cup footy game!!...The lazy, almost drugged up performance of the England players is certainly blog-worthy!!
Yesterday, I had a more or less lazy day, cooked a light lunch for mum and me, but I was preparing for last nights game...as in not watching it!!
Mum left about 4.30pm and I flicked the spa on to warm for 9pm, washed up, and got Dereks tea ready! By 7pm I trekked upstairs to watch Eastenders and the superb Queen Victoria documentary, flopped lazily on the bed with Sirius. Sirius appears to be sick and tired of the football too, as he stayed upstairs with me for most of the night, bringing me his favorite toys and laying on his back for tummy tickles. By 8pm I was hearing very loud *F* expleatives from hubby down stairs, so bad I had to go down to him to see what was wrong. At first I thought our telly had broke!!...Derek was sat in my reclining chair, onto his his second can of bitter, and his face was like thunder!! As I watched the game I realised why...Very lazy players (England) trotting after the Algerians, seemingly not giving a monkeys about where the ball was, let alone getting it into the net. Dereks language was not pretty and he was clearly not enjoying this. For a time I left him too it, and went to check on the temp of my spa, which was a disapointing 35 degrees. It was a cool evening and the spa was strugling to reach a nice hotness, so I put a blanket over the lid as this helps with heating. Eventually Sirius followed me back upstairs but I had been thinking about that awfull game, and curiosity got the better of me and I turned the upstairs tv onto ITV to watch and see if the second half had got any better!!....Errr NO!!! To be honest , here I have seen sunday park 5 a side games played better than England last night. I could hardly believe what I was seeing, let alone contemplating how much the superstar player earn in comparision to the Algerians. Perhaps it was the weight of their pay packets slowing them down, I was thinking! Or perhaps it was the fact that the WAGS had flown out to join them that they had been distracted. However, this was not a team game! This was simply a farce!! England fans were understandably angry as most had forked out an absolute fortune for air tickets and acomodation, as well as the cost of tickets to the game itself. If it was me, I would have felt cheated!
At 10 past 9 I eventually gave up on this pathetic attempt at football, and trotted off downstairs for my spa. It had only reached 37 degrees at this point and not my prefered 39, but I still had 15 minuites bubbling away, sending clouds of steam puffing out of my gazebo! Sirius sat next to the spa looking out at the birds in the garden. At least the hoover type noise my spa makes drowned out Derek and his effing and blinding. I am not a fan of football, but I could hardly blame him...England had indeed played half heartedly, at best!
The England team don't deserve to wear their 3 lions shirts, or their mind boggling pay checks...they have let their fans down too!!
Do they realy deserve even a chance at the world cup? I think not!!
BTW!
Can't wait for the Dr Who finale tonight!! ;)...and I can watch this down stairs too! ;) x
Ok, so we have all heard the waffle about 2012 and the end of the world, but have we ever really, deeply thought about what "might" happen?
Our nearest star, the sun, is asleep at the moment, but just a couple of weeks ago it gave out a loud snore which sent a barrage of solar wind in our direction!! Fortunatly nothing untoward happened and we have been used to these solar hiccups for as long as man has been on earth. But we only need to look at our sister planet, venus, to see what could happen to our home if we had no electro magnetic shield to protect us. Venus is a burning, greenhouse, fireball with a atmosphere that is 90 times more dense than our own! The suns deadly rays constantly fry the surface of venus and because of the dense atmosphere the rays are trapped, hence the greenhouse effect to its extream!! We are protected by our electro magnetic shield, which is generated by the iron core of the earth, but reading various reports and trying my best not to look at the scare-mongering stuff, our shield appears to be shifting and weakening. Now this is worrying as our sun is about to "wake up" from its 11 year slumber, and this time NASA has predicted it is going to wake up VERY p***ed off!!!!...and the worst solar storms for centuries are set to hit our home planet, due to our sun having a major hissy fit!!
Now the thing is, these storms have been hitting us every 11 years since time began, but consider this? Only now do we have super fast communications and technology, power systems, and ultimatly electricity, that will all be susceptible to the sun's waking rage! Consider world wide power outages, and the effects on the economies on this planet? We are in a bad enough state as it is, without our sun making it worse for us. But because of NASA and it recent announcment, things are set to get a lot worse! I remember back in 2003 when we had the last solar storms and there was major blackouts across Canada! It was also a nightmare to watch TV as I remember sky went down, and even when it was working the tv would flicker and cough, and be almost impossible to watch. Derek had asked what had been wrong with the tv. Solar flares, I explained. To my amazement my university educated beloved replied "Dont be daft!!! That can't be effecting our TV!!" ...but I am sorry to say, I was right. In 2012-13 we might be worrying about a bit more than flickering TV pictures! Major power outages could be possible as our sun throws out highly charged bursts of solar flares in our direction. These big flares (they have a fancy name that I can't remember just now) are magnetic and this is what could effect earths electricty supply, by actually melting transformers! Not nice!! Its possible that we could be without electricity for days, but is all this just scare-mongering. To be honest I think some of it is and some of it isent, but the problem comes when sorting fact from fiction, when there are so many differences of opinion by scientists. Personally I believe NASA! in the fact that there storms are due to be the worst for 50 years or more.
So should we worry?
Not really....whatever will be, will be, as the saying goes, and I don't believe we have the power to change the fate of our planet!
I am waiting for the delivery of a new 6 inch reflecting telescope, and I will be looking at the sun's active sun spots, and maybe even posting findings I make on here (if any!) Sun spot activity is a sign that the sun is about to go into a very active phase, so at the very least this might be helpfull in predicting when solar flares are likely to happen. As a side note NEVER look directly at the sun!!!! To view the sun with a telescope you must use white card to reflect the image! I have been doing this since I was a teenager with my old 3 inch telescope, so am well practiced in doing this! and even the image reflected on the card will be bright enough to hurt your eyes so I wear sun glasses to view the card....
Anyway...I hope this has been food for thought!
What will I do to prepare for 2012?
hehehehehehe....going to stock up on tons of candles, methinks! ;)
My nerves were building from last Friday!
Friday night I could hardly sleep!
Saturday afternoon I caught my taxi to my lodge!!
At about tea time I was passed to my fellow craft, the second degree of Freemasonry!!
The ceremony was amazing!
There was non of the teasing I expected from my fellow bretherin, except a joking remark about goats, of which my brother got a very knowing look from me and a grin! I had heard this one before! There are no goats in masonic ceremony!! Its quite laughable really, but this roumer came from non masons trying to make sense of the G.A.O.T.U which actually means "The Great Architect of The Universe"....still I was nervous though. Who wouldn't be? But I entered my lodge with an open heart and mind and when the time came I was asked to leave and prepare by my Right Worshipful Master, and at this point I exited the lodge and changed into the same kind of thing I wore for my initiation. Pyjama like top and pants with velcro fastening, so I could show the various bits of flesh required for the ceremony, like my knee, chest ect. I had to change the top twice though as it was too small, and at this point I was hurrying as I didn't want to keep the bretherin waiting.
What followed was a little like my initiation, but the lodge seemed to be buzzing with spirituality as I took my vows and pledged myself to seek knowledge trough the arts and sciences. When the time came I was clothed in my new apron, now with two blue rosettes to the left and right corner, and as we closed and left the lodge I was congratulated with many kisses and hugs from my fellow brothers!! It was wonderful and I felt like I was on some kind of high, and this feeling continued right into Sunday as I tried my best to let the expiernce sink in!! The only thing that blighted my day was the sodding world cup!! Derek had said he could only pick me up at 7pm, just as our festive board was starting, so I had to leave! Making a short speech of thanks and apologiesing for the fact I had to leave, I made my way out to Derek waiting in the car!! It was heartbreaking to leave but it was either that or I would have to pay £20 for a taxi home!!
Derek and I had made a pact over the world cup!
He would only watch the England matches down stairs and the rest he would watch upstairs, and I am happy with that. But Saturday evening was the England match, and I endured most of it because my hot tub was heating up, and it only reached 38 degrees at 9pm only 20 mins before the match was due to finish. Eventually I switched on the bubble button, before I sank into bubbly hot steamy water, up to my ears, and happily contemplated my "passing". I stayed in the tub for half an hour, sipping port and lemon! Sirius came out to see me, and sat on the grass bit in the gazebo almost as if he was guarding me, or making sure I was ok. Sirius had obviously been upset that he had not seen me all day, as when he did see me he was all over me, licking, whimpering in pleasure with a madly wagging tail. I had missed him too!!
Later I had climbed the stairs, marginally sloshed, and went to bed leaving Derek to his footy, which he watched well into the night....Sunday was very quiet! We had an early morning drive and then lunch and Derek retired to the bedroom to watch 3 footy matches and formula 1. He came down to walk Sirius in the early evening, and the went back to watch more footy highlights. Personally I hate the world cup and football in general...but I am not complaining as Saturday was my day!!! Its just a shame Derek was not there to witness it!!
Later on Sunday I was told by a fellow brother via a masonic forum:
"You were awesome!...by the way you conducted yourself today, you will make an excellent ritualist in due course!! Congrats!"
This comment left me with a huge grin on my face and a heart bursting with joy!! :)
Lists!! I adore lists, and I have probabally even done this one before, but hey, the old age is setting in and I get forgetful...well thats my excuse anyway!!!
Before I start I have omitted to add some of my favorite music from the world of opera and rock-opera, and even my adored "Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds!" Instead I decided to concentrait this list mainly to single tracks or the old 45 rpm singles. Some of them have a very personal significence, some have a meaning attached for me, and others I just love...please pardon the eclectic taste listed below, but if it has a good beat, a good base line and awesome harmonics...well I love it! This is an "all time" list so some tracks are from the early 70's, also I have not included my current favorite track which is...my current favorite track is the Red by Jaylib...you may recognise this from the socialite rubber ducks O2 advert!
Trixivilles all time TOP 100!!! (in reverse order)
100: Thunder in the mountains - Toyah
99: Swords of a thousand men - tenpole Tudor
98: Child in time - Deep Purple
97: keep on loving you - Reo Speedwagon
96: Automatic lover - D Dee Jackson
95: Waterloo - Abba
94: My sweet Lord - George Harrison
93: Land of make belive - Bucks Fizz
92: Cheery Pie - Warrent
91: More than a feeling -
90: Step on - Happy Mondays
89: All together now - The Farm
88: State of Independence - Donna Summer
87: Alright - Pet Shop Boys
86: Prince Charming - Adam and the Antz
85: Metal Guru - T Rex
84: The Whistler - Jethro Tull
83: Big Wheels - ELO
82: Sex Machine - Carter USM
81 Ebaneza Goode - The Shamen
80: Ride a white swan - T REX
79: Fashion - David Bowie
78: Next is the E - Moby
77: Eve of the War - Ben Lierbrand
76: There's more to love - The Communards
75: Mr Blue Sky - ELO
74: Radio Ga Ga - Queen
73: Close to the edit - Art of noise
72: Blue Jeans - Neil Diamond
71: Bad - Micheal Jackson
70: Jurrassic Park - Weird Al Yankovic
69: Confusion - ELO
68: I wanna be free - Toyah
67: Wandering star - Topol (first song I ever remember hearing as a baby!)
66: The tide is high - Blondie
65: Star - Kiki Dee
64: Sit Down - James
63: Ride on time - Black box
62: 21st century man - ELO
61: Another one rides the bus - Weird Al Yankovic
60: I want to break free - Queen
59: Rockin all over the world - Status Quo
58: Road to nowhere - Talking heads
57: Mamma used to say - Juinor
56: Eldorado - ELO
55: 7 Tears - Goombay dance band
54: In the air tonight - Phil Collins
53: Hammer to fall - Queen
52: Mirror man - Human League
51: Syncronicity - The Police
50: Riders in the sky - The Shaddows
49: Sooner or later - Jeff Lynne
48: Never can say goodbye - The Comunards
47: Another brick - Pink Floyd
46: Belive me now - ELO
45: Dr in the Tardis - KLF
44: Big Time - Peter Gabriel
43: Give you devotion - Nomads
42: Photograph - Def Leppard
41: Your Should be dancing - The Bee Gees
40: Fascination - Human Legue
39: Two Hearts - Phil Collins
38: Dont you want - Felix
37: Waves - Blancmange
36: Stargazer - Rainbow
35: Sacrifice - Elton John
34: Native Love - Divine
33: Smoke on the water - Deep Purple
32: I travel - Simple Minds
31: All night long - Rainbow
30: Naked in the rain - Blue Pearl
29: Reputation - Brian Spence
28: Could you be loved - Bob Marley
27: Things can only get better - D-ream
26: Renaissence - M-people
25: History - Micheal Jackson
24: Face of the waters - Moby
23: Pride - U2
22: Comment te duie adure - The Communards
21: Beautiful People - Marlyn Manson
20: Cracklin' Rosie - Niel Diamond
19: In the shadows - Rasmus
18: Redemption Song - Bob Marley
17: I surrender - Rainbow
16: Shine a little love - ELO
15: Tear us apart again - Joy Division
14: Living on the ceiling - Blancmange
13: Take me away - Time Frequency
12: Any road - George Harrison
11:Be with you - Attomic Kitten
10 Video - Jeff Lynne
9: Not gonna get us - Tatu
8: Off-shore - Ciccaine
7: Crazy - Seal
6: Can I play with madness - Iron Maiden
5: Anthem - Moby
4: Inner Smile - Texas
3: The Mummer Dance - Loreena McKennit
2: Twilight - ELO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1...................Is below!!!
Moby and "Hymn!!! this is my dream!!" *taps feet happily*
"Trekking form Jiri??"
The old boy tutted and walked off down the Ghats at Varanasi, mumbling "Too many steps!"
Now it doesn't take much to confuse me but, I was confused at this point as we picked our way to the beautiful Ganesh temple. I was confused because Derek had assured me that the route we were taking was the "old" trekking route and therefore much better than flying into Namsche Bazarre as most trekkers do from Kathmandu. Namsche Bazarre is at a height of about 11,000 feet and trekkers would aclimetize there before going on to Gorok Shep and base camp. Jiri, where we started, was much lower so Derek told me, we would get aclimetized better.
Like a berk...I believed him!!
The bus ride to the small Nepalese town of Jiri was almost 12 hours from our last stop for supplies. These were emergency supplies of chocolate and tinned ham and other packets of trekkers dried food a bit like pot noodles, which when added with boiling water would give you a supposed meal!! I say supposed because they were god-awfull, and indeed made the traditional pot noodle seem like a sunday roast in comparison!! Now at this stage I had never done any "serious" trekking in my life....Derek and I had done "training" treks in Derbyshire and Yorkshire before undertaking this expedition and infact when I had first tried on my fully loaded backpack back home at my pub, I almost toppled over backwards!! I was much more used to hiking and therefore having only a 20 litre day pack. My backpack (the one I am wearing to the right in my banner) was a whacking, great 65 litres and weighed about 20lbs!! just under a quarter of my total body weight at that time. During the trek I was to off-load some of the contence of my pack to Derek as it was just too knackering to lug about..Now let me explain about the trails from Jiri. They are indeed stone steps!! Very steep stone steps, and they are not level or safe and often slippery with mud, slush and snow! By as soon as day too on the trek I was begining to wonder just what I had left myself in for!...Also because our route was transveresing the Himalaya. In other words every day was "climb, decend, climb, decend" and it was totally exhausting! I had read some sound advice about trekking in Nepal about a year before we left and it said "when you look, stop and look. When you trek, Trek! This proved to be true, several times over when I lost my footing. We were in February and a good time to watch the beautiful rhodendrons out in bloom. Derek is a big chap and his legs are far longer than mine so he was leaping about like a mountain goat. I, however, would be transfixed by the awesome scenery, while trying to keep up with him, with my rock scrabbling, slipping and sliding everywhere! It was awful!! and we provided much entertainment for the locals!!
The night before the snow storm...we were lost!!
Derek had, had the map and I the compass but his map reading skills are not the best. We spent the day climbing to a snowy ridge called Lamjhura pass at 10,000 feet and appeared to be going around in circles as when we stopped at some villages for tea, I would ask my usual "Yo ghar unkho nhame keho?" translated means "what is the name of this village?" at 3 seperat villages I had got the same reply "GOYEM!" This was amazingly confusing but we concluded we were, indeed, on the right track and there must be a lower Goyem, middle Goyem and and upper Goyem...all of which were not on our map. Many villages wern't on the map either, but I had read to expect this, so we carried on to the upper of the three, where we were to make camp for the night. There were a couple of bhatti's (tiny cafe's) and a small school. It was a pleasent enough place and I was very relived to be stopping for the night, as our cold fingers worked on erecting our small, mountain tent. With the tent up and sorted we made our way to a bhatti for supper, much rakshi drinking and my journal writing. I remember I had been quite tipsy, when I was accosted by the village school teacher who appeared to be equally drunk. (drinking in Nepal is a national obsession!) with sign language and my crap Nepalese I gathered she wanted to take me to meet her school children!! This was to be the most delightful part of the evening! She led me to her small wooden walled school and quite suddenly I felt like some kind of movie star as I was greeted by 40 or so squeeling, excited kids aged about 7!! I was invited to sit cross legged in front of the school room and groups of children thrust their school books under my nose for me to write some "Engerishhh" in them!! The teacher was delighted!! and with our session ended she took me back to the bhatti and even bought me a "special" Yak butter raksi!! By now I was quite drunk! and our supper of Dhal Baht Takari (a kind of lentil stew and rice) had arrived...To wards the end of our supper, our landlord came rushing over with a red face and very flustered.....
"Snow storm come, Snow storm come!!" he yelled!!
We looked at each other and hastily finished our supper and thanked the landlord as we hurridley left!
The landlord was not joking either!!
When we got out side there was a really nasty blizzard that had suddenly blown up, and we could hardly see our way back to the tent! In the mountains this often happens! It can be quite warm and sunny one second and the next you get a blizzard!!
Somehow we got back to our tent and bungled our selves up for the night. I remember I squeezed myself into my mountain sleeping bag and was even wearing 4 pairs of socks!! But I was still frozen as the blizzard slammed into our tent. Derek had a small bottle of rum and a small flask of boiling water borrowed from the bhatti, and this warmed us as we drifted to sleep, somehow!
"SCHEEEKET!"
This odd sound woke me in the middle of the night, and to my relife the wind seemed to have calmed!!
"SCHEEKET!"
The sound came again, and my newly woke brain began to process this new noise!
It was coming from the tents outer cover, and sounded like razor sharp claws, were scraping down the cover of the tent!!!
The noise came again and much closer to my ear this time. I shook Derek awake and in a paniced voice, stage whispered!
" There is a f*****g YETI out side the tent!!!"
Derek fround at me and was just about to say "don't be bloody stupid" when the noise came again!! He paused and looked to the area of the tent from where the sound had come...slowly and quietly he moved to unzip the tent and have a peak outside!
"be carefull, I hissed!!"
The next thing I heard was his giggling!
"Wha.....!"
"Your yeti is just lumps of snow falling off the outside of the tent!" he said, cheerfully!!
....its amazing what altitude sickness can do to the mind!!
Ok that's all for today folks...but there is more to come!! "oh noooooooooo!" I hear you moan!! "not more travel waffle!" hehehehe, yeah sorry!!
I will wright part two of this very soon!
*lights ciggie and makes tea*
At about 6:30am (local time) an Air India 737-400 crashed, over-shooting the runway at Mangalore in south India!!
Woke to this heart breaking news this morning!
As many of you know by now I have a special love for India and have visited this awesome country about 12 times now...but this horrible news this morning reminded me of the nerve racking landing at Kerela airport just south of Mangalore. As travel expert Simon Calder put it "This was a table top airport" meaning the runway has steep drops either side. In my opinion these runways are simply too short!!! While coming into land at Kerela we began an unusually steep decent and we were flying aboard the same type of aircraft Boeing 737-400. This steep drop was horrible and felt like we were just "falling" out of the sky, rather than the gentle "step" drop you normally get. Both Derek and I had looked at each other nervously and then around the cabin at our fellow passengers (mostly Indian) who appeared to be calm and relaxed...watching local reaction when your traveling is a good indication as to "whats normal"...such as on a mad Indoniesian bus ride. If the locals are relaxed, then this ride is normal!!! In the cabin all was normal, so we supposed this steep drop was normal to, but it was making me feel sick!! To this date I have only ever had air-sickness once, and I have forgotten how many times I have actually flew!! So my sickly feeling was unusual to me! When we landed the force of full reverse thrust slammed us in our seats and just a few seconds later we were at a standstill on the runway!!! Hence it is in my opinion that these runways are simply too short!!! However flying in India is excellently safe, more so than most asian countries!!
Here is an oddity though!
I have never felt safe on either a 737 or an Airbus!!!....and I have no idea why! The only thing I can think of is the amount of really bad clear air turbulence I have felt aboard these jets. One classic example was flying home from Goa...as we bounced about on board the seat belt sign "bonged" as Vicky, here was tucking into a rather gorgeous bottle of coconut liquor, getting rather tiddled in the process. Anyway I didn't need to put my seat belt on as I was already wearing it, as I do on all flights!! Pilots MUST keep their seat belts on at all times so my principle is "if its good enough for the pilots, is good enough for me" ...now, mildly drunk I, inevitably needed the toilet so I un-clipped my seat belt and made my way wobbly up the aisle while clinging on for dear life!!!
"Make it stop!!! Make it stop!!!" a terrified screach came from my right and a woman I had been chatting to while we were in the que for boarding, suddely grabbed my trousers and very nearly tripped me over!! She was in a state of compleat hysterics!!! Crying and squeeling and I was indeed surprized that a flight attendent hadent come over to calm her. Anyway, busting for a wee I took her hand and said gently...
"Its just nasty air. Its called clear air turbulance, so there are air pockets we bounce about on" I smiled at her!!
"Whats clear air turbulance?" she cried "Why is this happening to us??" She was still holding my hand in a death grip!
"Just let me go to the toilet and I will come back very soon!" I told her...she carried on crying and gripping my hand which I gently let go of. Like Arni in Terminator, I told her "I'll be back"
I got to the aircraft loo and wee'd for Britain!!
When I got back she was still crying and mumbling but on seeing me she smiled and reached out for me. I took her hand and knelt down in the aisle next to her seat and calmly explained what this turbulence was. She seemed to calm a little and then she said "Why are you so calm?" I told her I was a bit tiddled, and offered her some of my coconut liquor which she accepted gladly...I half expected a flight attendant to come over and get me back to the safety of my seat, but this never happened. Also I realised I was risking my life being in the cabin with no seat belt on in severe turbulence. People have been killed by clear air turbulence by not wearing their seat belts, as if the aircraft drops suddenly you can smash your head on the roof of the cabin. I was not really thinking about this though. I simply wanted to calm and reassure this poor woman. After about half an hour the turbulence leveled off and the seat belt sign bonged off with sighs of relife around the cabin. By now I was quite angry that a flight attendant had not come over to calm this panicing passenger, and indeed get me back to my seat!! No they were all safely buckled in with their belts!! They must have realised I was doing a good job and did not need to interfere! But its not my job to calm fellow passengers! Cabin crew are trained for it!!!
Anyway this is why I am non too keen to fly on the 737!!
My favorite aircraft is the classic 747-400, where I have always felt very "at home" simply because this jet can climb above most bad turbulence, giving the passengers a very smooth ride!
This crash needs to be investigated VERY carefully!! and evaluations need to be done on the length of this ultra short runways in south India!! 737's are big jets and it appears to me that the captain of this aircraft sadly just ran out of runway...I await the investigations!
My heart goes out to the friends and family's of the poor souls that perished, today. May God rest them all! x
.........its difficult to think what to write at this point!
Except this day, 474 years ago a Queen of England was murdered!
Indeed the first Queen of England to be executed!!
Queen Anne had been so very brave!
On her final day she had her favorite ladies about her and her final Mass had been an emotional one. She also swore her innocence of all her supposed crimes on the Body of Christ!!
Then she bravely waited....and waited...Her jailer Sir William Kingston had been trying desperatly to get a definate hour for the execution, but it had been proved to be difficult as the infamous Hangman of Calais had been delayed on the road to London. Kingston noted that Anne appeared to take "much joy" in death, and she was calm and indeed jolly. This is where the famous comment about the "little neck" came from! Kingston had told Anne that there had been a further delay and Anne has said she was sad it was delayed and "hoped to be dead by noon and past my pain!" Gently, Sir William told her there would be no pain as the swords man of France was an expert, and the blow would be so subtle and swift. To this Anne had laughed and circled her long, delicate fingers around her own neck and said "...and I have a little neck!"
Finally, at 9am she was lead into the the early summer sunshine...and thus unto her death.
Anne had chosen her out-fit carefully! a grey damask over kirtle, and red kirtle. Red was the colour of English religious marters and Anne knew this. This same red colour was chosen by Mary Queen of Scots for her execution 50 years later...Anne also wore her famous silky Raven black hair tied up under a simple cotton coif on her head. She mounted the steps calmly and with much grace, where her weeping ladies removed her ermine fur wrap, and she turned to the crowd and gave her final adress!
"Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the king and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul!"
Her executioner was very taken aback by her "smiling countenence" and he became shaky and weepy as Anne gently forgave him, and gave him his purse of monies for his work that would be shortly carried out. His sword had been hidden under some straw on the scaffold, so Anne could not see it and thus have no fear of where it was coming from. Kneeling upright (as was the custom of French executions) She clasped her hands tight in prayer and whispered the words...
"To Jesu Christ I commend my soul!!" over and over...
"Boy!!!! my sword!!" the executioner said loudly. This was a ruse created so that Anne would have no idea when the final blow would come. There was no "boy". The executioner quietly slid his sword form its hiding place under the straw, and with one swift, expertly placed swing...it was over!
*Notes*
I have no idea where my obsession for Tudor history comes from, but I have had it since I was a child. I had been about 3 when my dad told me of "Good king Hal" throwing chicken bones over his shoulder and it went from there....and belive me!! its is an OBSESSION!! Derek has even mentioned I should apply to Oxford to study for a degree, and I may well do this as it might be the only cure for my addiction to this time in English history! I am planning a book that will prove the innocence of Anne Boleyn, but this will involve years of research and study of carefully structured debates of noted historians, both alive and dead. My aim???...well its a long shot....but I would like to join the campaign to get Anne Boleyn pardoned and re-buried with her daughter, Elizabeth the 1st, in Westminster Abbey. Why??........Good Queen Anne was innocent!! Its as simple as that!!
Inspired reading:
The life and death of Anne Boleyn - Eric Ives
A new life of Englands tragic Queen - Joanne Denny
Henry VIII's obsession: Anne Boleyn - Elizabeth Norton
Anne Boleyn - Nora Lofts
This for me is true for two reasons!
Firstly and personally it was the day I foolishly married a womaniser (1986) whom I divorced two years later on the grounds of his gross adultery!!
450 years earlier it saw the bloody murder of 5 innocent men!!!
Kathrine of Aragon had died early in 1536 and with this even Henry and Anne "celebrated!" this event by wearing yellow silk and dancing...they also had another reason to celebrate...Queen Anne was pregnant again and Henry was eagerly awaiting the birth of the long waited for son. At this stage though their marriage had become strained as Anne had learned of Henry's womanising (I can well sympathise here) and indeed his eye had already been caught by the supposedly pious and devote Jane Seymore, who was everything Anne wasn't! Quiet, submissive, and not much intelligence, of plain appearence and certainly nothing special. Anne herself was indeed feeling threatened by her and was becoming increasingly adgitated. This came to a head when the Queen discovered Jane and Henry in a passionate kiss and this subsequently caused her to misscarrie the much desired son...However the still born boy was so badly deformed it would not have lived, and the Kings suspections were aroused. How could he, the King, possibly have fathered a deformed child??? He was the King and thus, perfect!!! Such vanities gave way to the supposed whisper of witchcraft and so began Thomas Cromwells plot to not only depose Anne but to have her murdered!!
Initially, Cromwell had been a firm supporter and friend of Anne, but due to their differences in foriegn policy and Thomas crawling after the King like a pet puppy, he turned on Anne when Henry had screached "Get rid of her!!" at him in a horrible rage after the sill born child!! It is constantly said that Anne had misscaried of her saviour and the wheels for her downfall were set in motion!! Thomas Cromwell then used Annes own flirty personility against her and five innocent men, favorites of Anne's, were draged into the frame. Sir Henry Norris, Sir William Brereton, Sir Francis Weston, her own brother Viscount Rochford (George Boleyn) and her favorite musician Mark Smeaton. Most of Cromwell plotting centered on court gossip, sniggers and overheard bits of conversation. Like when Anne accused Henry Norris herself of visiting her when he was supposed to be visiting one of her ladies in waiting. Gossip carefully and clumsily super-glued together to form a case against the Queen!!
In the final week of April the first to be arrested was the musician, who was tortured by having his eyeballs squashed with a knotted rope, and then most probabally racked too, where his limbs would have been ripped out of his sockets causing excrusiating pain and ripped the words "I confess to adultery with the Queen!" from his lips...The next arrests came at the May day festivities. The last to be arrested was the Queens own brother George on the accusation of incest!! Anne and George were indeed close but not THAT close!! it has even been suggested by some historians and indeed the Tudors mini series, that George was gay, but there is nothing historical to prove this as he is presented as somthing of a womaniser, but its very possible he could have been bi-sexual. His relationship with his wife Jane, was simply awfull, and it was supposidly her that planted the incest thing in Cromwells mind when the ladies of the chamber were questioned. But none of the dates and places in all the accusations could be proved as the Queens whereabouts did not correspond to them.....
On the 17th of May 1536 all five accused but innocent men submitted their necks to the executioners block...even Mark Smeaton who was a commoner was beheaded. Commeners were hung instead.
Poor, hansome, intelligent, talented men died for no other real reason than politics and Henry's lust for another woman!
It was Thomas Wyatt who wrote the poem "These bloody days have broken my heart" ...Wyatt was also arrested but later released without charge!
Just got back from our usual Sunday morning expedition to Morrisons where I picked up a promising little gem on blu-ray for £8.99!! I say promising as I have just had a brief look at IMDB where this movie has quite promising reviews!! Its called "Splinter" and is directed by Toby Wilkins who I remember did the Grude 3, but I was non too keen on that, still I wont hold that against the guy as the story appears to have a very interesting plot! Its something along the lines of a Dr Who story I wanted to write a couple of years ago but never got round to it....anyway. I am going to give this a whizz tonight at nine by the usual candle light (I cant watch horror unless my candles are lit!!) and I will write a review on the next blog!!
Ok!!..."Amy's Choice" Dr Who......???......errrr.....
To quote my Facebook post "WTF was all that about?"
IMHO this has to be one of the worst who stories since the diabolic "Love and monsters" and that realy is saying somthing! But this is just my opinion! I read what others thought of it on GB and other Who sites and weirdly loads of folks actually like this compleat drivel!....loads of unexplained falling asleep and waking up and not knowing whats going on. Also a pregnant companion is somehow just "wrong" and I almost felt a little embarraced watching it! Enter a potentially interesting character of the Dreamlord (the Valeyard in another incarnation I think) but then the plot zings off all over the place and even inculdes violence on OAP's!!! ...again, just "wrong" and over all, this story just dident work for mel, infact half way through I was back on the internet playing Bejewelled!! Derek watched it and he thought it was a load of rubbish too. He finished watching it, shrugged his shoulders and took Sirius for a walk. "Who" REALY needs something VERY special from the pen of Moffatt to take it out of its current dire mess!! Much more of this rubbish and I will give up watching nuWho forever!! Which is a shame realy as I realy like Matt Smiths Doctor, as he as so much substance in his acting!!
PLEASE! can someone write some realy decent Who stories!!!
*sighs*
Back soon with my review of "Splinter" ;) x
You know I often blog about the weird and wonderful but this one has me stumped....maybe because I actually like the weird and wonderful, or maybe I am just intriegued by the "weirdness" of people, but here goes........
At my last Lodge meeting, myself and a fellow brother (Lady) were chatting as we often do about the paranormal. She is a Wiccan, I am not, but I do have a very deep interest in the wiccan and pagan religions!....For my part, I consider myself to be a moderate christian, but my interest in all things paranormal and indeed, hard fact science has often left me questioning myself. Like a pure and simple hard science "fact" is that human eyes and ears can only see and hear a tiny window in electro-magnetic spectrum, so basically we can't see and hear almost 95% of things going on around us!! and that is without going into the world of ghosts and aliens. Its just a fact! a bit like a dog whistle....dogs can hear it because they have a wider range of hearing, we as humans cannot....ok, dont know where I am coming from??? Neither do I most of the time. But my point is what we hear and see around us is NOT the full picture!!!
A few weeks ago I got some magazines for mum and one "spirit" magazine for myself, and right on the back page was the "Noises from Hell" story. I read it with interest, and did a little research on the internet, and discovered this story was actually an urban hoax...This was the story I releated to my brother at the Lodge, and she said she had never heard of it. It concernes a deep drilling expedition in Siberia which began in the early 70's and by the early 90's they had drilled as far as 10 miles deep. As the story goes, the drill bit started spinning very fast, as they had hit a pocket in the earths crust, and suddenly the heat was registering up to 2,000 degrees!!! They lowered specially cooled microphones into the 10 mile deep hole, to listen to the sizemic movements in the earths crust, and what they *supposed* to have heard was a very creepy noise of human voices, screaming!!!!
Here is a clip of the sounds which lasts just 19 seconds, before the microphone melted in the heat....it is CREEPY!!!
Hope that dident spook you to much!!
Now I have listened to this several times, trying to figure, with an open ear and heart, and it just sounds like the noise in a night club with the music turned off...I remember years ago at Mr Smiths night club! I would stay untill the end and when the music was off and the bouncers moved in, the noise was very close to this. But curiosity made me dig a little deeper, and sound scientists in Singapore have ripped this recording to bits and can come up with no explanation as to what it is, other than that is is human voices and it is genuine!! Next I moved onto the debunking theories....internet folks just love to "debunk" things, in other words, prove something is a hoax. Anyway most of the debunkers say its simply a christian group that came up with this idea to make people belive in Heaven and Hell, and christianity, out of fear!!! But my question here is WHY??? Its such a strange and weird story...did a christian just jump out of bed one morning and say "Hey!!! were going to make a tape of people screaming from under the earth, to make people belive in Hell!!!"....mmmm....to me that dosen't make much sense, and as I dug a little more I found people of other religions debating if this was genuine or not! Hindu, Muslim and Jewish forums mostly, have all, to some degree discussed this story. But to me (a bit like Dr Who) I would like to know if there is a scientific explanation for these sounds? Like I said in my openeing paragraph, we as humans can only see and hear a tiny degree of the spectrum. So considering the medium change of the earth (as sounds are different underwater) the earth would change the frequency of sound waves. Like centuries ago when approaching armies could be heard by "putting your ear to the ground"...Its food for thought, I think. But I am very interested to know where these sounds originated from! As the story of the drilling in Sibiera concludes, hardened scientists refused to work on the site after this episode, and today it is closely guarded by the Russian military!
Right....now I have creeped the pants off you!!....
Some updates!!!
I am so sick and tired of the cold weather I have been poking around the met office site looking for a good weather day...and its TODAY!!! well for here it is anyway! So I have fired the spa up and its currently at 29 degrees. By 1pm it should be up to a gorgeous 38 degrees, and then I shall bask!!
Yesterday I gave it, its first proper clean! as in filter, tub, lid, drained and replaced about 50 litres of water, tested and sorted...it took me most of the morning, but its sparkling now!! In the evenings I have taken to the tub nude, as I think this will help it keep clean as there is no build of muck I might have on a swimming costume...and my gazebo does keep it very private! ;)
...eagerly awaiting tonights "Who", and see you soon!!
Vix x
Its all very nice lazing about in a hot bubbly spa!!!! Drinks and snacks to hand or perhaps a good book.........but belive it or not its bloody hard work!! Not the lazing about thing. No, I am talking about keeping the water quality crystal perfect!!
What I diden't realise when I planned on getting the hot tub was WORK!!! hehehehe....
Because I have 8 very healthy fantail gold fish in a huge 190 gallon tank I do know something of keeping water quality, pristine! But thats easy as the fish filtre and the "good" bactieria do most of the work. A hot tub is certainly a different kettle of fish, so to speak.
Ok...fill up the tub, heat the water and press "bubble" GREAT!!! I was thinking as I read the water quality booklet which came with the four litre bottles of chemicles that came with it. Firstly I have to take a Ph test everytime I use the tub, and if (like yesterday) the test was way out, I soon found myself in plastic apron rubber gloves and faffing about with bottles of deadly chemicles like some kind of befuddled scientist!!!! The water Ph was so low I had created my very own acid bath (who would be my first victim muahhhhh) and I began to panic as I read that is left unchecked this could damage the inner workings of the spa!!! Then I read a novel idea on the internet about using good old fashioned bicarbonate of soda to correct the problam. So....Derek and I races back to Morrisons as it was about to close for Sunday, and we got some, and hey presto!!!! I added it to the tub and my Ph levels began to crawl back to normal!!!.....double, trouble boil and bubble!!!...my cauldron was ready!!
Phew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But dispite this problam there are still things I have to do every day such as the ph test and add 2g's of chlorine granuals each day too!! The spa "eats" chlorine, so you must keep adding it to make sure the water is bug and germ free...I am happy to say mine is!!
But the benifits of having the hot tub have far out weighed the hassles!!!! For a start my muscles are not stiff in the mornings anymore and I have the energy levels of a 17 year old at the moment. Before I got the tub I would spend about an hour shopping in town and would get terrible back ach...on Saturday I spent 4 hours trawling around town for a maxi sundress and had absolutly no back ach what so ever!!! Its amazing!! But best of all I have lost 3 lbs in a week without any kind of diet!!! Just a session in the afternoon and another tub session in the evening. I wish the weight loss thing lasted but I have a feeling my body will get used to the spa and compansate!!
Plays "gallery music from Vision On"
The reason I have not uploaded the holiday pictures yet is simple!! Derek went beserk with his new camera and took over 600 pictures and I am still going through them, choosing the best ones, but its time consuming, though I will get round to it eventually!!
Some piccies!!!
This first one says it all about our boating on the broads!!!
Sirius is saying "Mummy!!!! please don't let daddy drive the boat!!!! we are heading for the reed bank!!!!"
Let the expert (me) take over!!!....yes I did indeed have a tartan shawl over my shoulders as it was cold in the mornings!!
Our boat "Golden wing!" moored at Norwich!!
Our lovely 4 poster bed in the cabin of our boat!!!
Me feeding ducks at Reedham!
Said greedy duck on the roof of our boat!!
Sirius enjoys life on board....and keeps a look out for Pirates!!
"I see no pirates, mum, we are safe!!"
Me having a break from being Captain!!
My spa in test mode ready to rumble............more spa piccies soon!!!
I had no idea what a brilliant, if down right weird adventure I was letting myself in for when I slid this one into the blu-ray player!!
This is Terry Gilliam's dark masterpiece. It's a brilliant film and there are fabulous, fantastic, surrealistic visual effects, gorgeous cinematography, and stunning performances by an amazing cast of consisting of both famous stars and lesser known (but excellent) actors. It's in the vein of the great European surrealistic movies like Fellini's "8 1/2" or "Satyricon". But if you're not open to a mind bending, almost psychedelic fantasy and a plot with strange twists and turns that can be challenging to follow, this won't be for you. The cast is terrific I mean, Tom Waits plays "Mr Nick"aka the Devil, how can you lose??
Christopher Plummer is excellent in the title role, Heath Ledger's last performance is awesome!! Lily Cole, Johnny Depp, Andrew Garfield, Jude Law, Verne Troyer, and Colin Farrell are also very good. The costumes and sets are gorgeous, though often in a dark and grungy way. By the way it also ends up being a story about ethical choices in life and how some people are very misleading. Probably not material for a box office hit, sadly, as this film is probably too unusual for most Americans, or perhaps less open minded folks. Its actually a bit Masonic, which I loved, and had a kind of "Harry Potter" feel to it...however this (like most Dr Who of late) does leave a lot of unanswered questions and plot gaps, which at times is a little confusing but its certainly well worth another watch and several more after that!!! I feel sure that this film must have been made in the 60's because most of it is like a wild LDS trip (not that I had taken LSD in the 60's) but if your looking for a dark fantasy step this way into Dr Parnassus Imaginarium..........
If you dare!!!!!!!!!!
In other news!
Finally got my gazebo up and my spa hot tub going....and I have just seen the weather report and its going to be jizzing it down all weekend!! Typical!! *tuts loudly* I have been reading up on the carefull use of chlorine which you must have in a spa, and I have indeed added some already as it warm us, just the right dosage of course!! I really do hate the smell of chlorine though as it just reminds me of school swimming lessons, so I have bought some spa fragrances of natural Jasmine to see it that will take away the smell of the chlorine...anyway should be in it this evening testing it out, if its hot enough. It heating slowly but surely and at the moment is 22 degrees, and I have set it at 33!!!....how very Masonic of me!! *winks*
OMG!!!!!!!!!! I just love that dancing Dodo advert for 5 alive!!!
Between the horizon and the sky there is a band of golden reeds, nodding their heads in the gentle breeze....the weather is warm but not hot, the sun is shining and the cumulus fluffy clouds slip lazily by!
Sounds like something you would hear on a hypnotists couch, but this really is life on the Norfolk broads!! The days are puncutuated by picturesque windmills and tea cakes at the helm...but it wasen't all fun and golden reeds, belive me!! How can I lie? This is my blog after all so I will just tell it as it was, nothing more, nothing less....so let me take you with us, boating on the broads, where the nights are blisfully peacefull.
Day 1:
In a world where everyone can't seem to slow down, and with a volcano from Iceland pumping a relentless stream of ash at us, we were glad we had booked to go boating on the broads, and not flying off somewhere. Besides, I wont leave Sirius so boating seemed like the perfect solution.
Awake and breakfasted at 6am and preparing to leave at 9am, Derek was in his usual flappy "we are off traveling" mode, which can often put him in a bad mood, which is strange really as he loves travel! I first noticed this *mode* many years ago in Kathmandu where I gave him the nickname of Russle Fidget!! because he was always rustling things in carrier bags and fidgeting with his backpack. Well good old Russ was back with me this morning as he flapped about faffing with this and that...when suddenly I had my very own volcano right here in my living room!!
"My effing camera is knackered!!!" he screeched, followed by tons of expleatives that I can't write here! Not bad really coming from my university educated, mild mannered husband. But yes indeed his posh Cannon digital camera was broke and he had to get on the internet quickly to find another he could buy and pick up on the way. He ordered one from a shop in Bury St Edmunds which is where we stopped to pick it up and pay for it. Bloomin' £500 too!!! Just let him moan at me the next time I buy a peice of Troika!! I will remind him of this fact...Ok on we go....After driving for about 4 hours, stopping for our packed lunch and wee wee stops and drinkies for Sirius, we arrived at Top Craft Cruisers at 3.30pm. On catching my first glimpes of our boat for the week, I was delighted!. She was gorgeous!! A sturdy craft painted in sky blue and white, 30 foot long by 12 feet wide and her name was "Golden Wing"....There was a stern sundeck with chairs and a table, in the cabin decked out with pretty pink curtains was a romantic four poster bed, flat screen TV, and a two seater sofa. Then there was the galley with two stools and breakfast bar, microwave and cooker as well as a stove, kettle and toaster. Toilet and shower and at the bow the wheel house, where unbeknown to me at the time, I was to spend most of the week "driving".
We were greeted by the manager, a large square set chap with a broad smile and sparkly eye's and ruddy cheeks, looking every inch a seaman! We loaded our luggage and the guy began to give us a talk through of the workings of the boat. Sirius was a bit baffled, and was wondering about sniffing apprehensively. I was trying to listen as he explained things but found it difficult as I was keeping an eye out for what Sirius was doing and he was looking more nervous by the second. Suddenly he began to whine, loudly and the next thing he pooed all over the poop deck!!!!!! How embarracing, but my perfectly house trained dog was so nervous he just let go!! We cleaned up and got on with things and then the chap said to Derek "Ready for you lesson in driving then?" ......How sexist!!! I was thinking, so I took Sirius onto the sun deck where I lit a ciggie and tickled Sirius behind the ears. Then the engine started!! Sirius realy paniced and nearly jumped out of his skin!! He was shaking like a leaf and quite clearly terrified. I cuddled him and cojouled him as our boat set off across Oulton broad! We steered this way and that and came back into parking position. Apperently Derek had passed with flying colours and Sirius was calming down, thank goodness. Just before our boatman was to disembark he noticed my masonic ring and I shyly admitted that I am a freemason. He grinned and it turned out he was a fellow brother!! and we briefly chatted about the masonic craft. Well eventually we were on our own and I took the helm to sail out of the harbour as Derek untied the mooring! As we got out into the river I asked Derek if he wanted to take over and he did so I slid out of the seat and let him take the helm.......DISASTER!!!!!!!!! straight away we hit a reed bank to the left (port) and Derek blushing and cursing, got us out with reverse thrust and then continued to sail on zig-zagging from port to starboard all across the river!!! "I though you just had a lesson?" I had huffed at him. Well Derek simply found it impossible to steer a straight course!!! Needless to say I took the helm back, and even more needless to say I was at the helm ALL week after this hitch!!
That evening we moored for the first time at a tiny place called Somerleighton and surprizingly Derek was good at parking (or berthing) our boat. SO that turned out to be the theme for the week. Me at the helm and Derek parking! But our troubles diden't stop there! We found to our horror we couldent get the cooking stuff working. Now we were told we had to run the engine in neutural at 2200 rev's but when we tried this things were still not working so we had to rely on emergency Pot Noodles for supper and copius amounts of port for me!! It had been a trying start..........
Day 2:
After we breakfasted we cast off and sailed back to the mooring at Top Craft to get advice on the galley equipment not working. It took about 2 hours to sail back and to our embarracement the problam turned out to be a simple trip switch. Had he explained this to us? we were both thinking, but to be honest we couldent remember. Off we casts again and I steered out back onto the river with its golden band of nodding reeds. When boating your in left hand drive and must keep to the right to pass other boats. This was quite easy but sometimes I felt our boat drifting over with the wind and I had to correct this often.
The wildlife is amazing!! We saw Heron, great crested greebe, reed warblers, and swans and ducks in abundence. I was happy I had remembered to pack some bread for the birds who were so cheeky some, ducks usually, would jump on deck looking for food. It was funny and Sirius had so much fun birdwatching. By day two Sirius had recovered his nerves and was quite enjoying himself, sat with Derek on the bow as he took loads of photos with his new camera. Derek had even pointed out to me that it was good that I could steer a straight course so well, so he was free to take pictures!! I wasent so sure!! Anyway we sailed on past windmills, both derelict and working and some converted to homes and pulled into moor at Reedham for the night at about mid afternoon. Reeham is a samll but very quaint village with just one shop. Going ashore we had decided to stock up on supplies as we walked Sirius, who was excited to be off the boat. At the top of the hill we found the shop...it was tiny but was one of them places that sold "everything" from tins of beans to the kitchen sink! I bought a small bag of tins and things and it cost £15!!! It was very expensive, but I suppose it was because it was the only shop in town, and catered to the boating trade. Anyway we spent the night at this very peacefull mooring and at last we could have a cooked supper, but I found it a bit of a pain having to run the engine to get things working. Still, we snuggled up to a decent DVD film and I called my mum. As the river lapped qently at our bows, softly rocking our boat which inturn rocked us both to sleep!! Very peacfull!!
Day 3:
On to Norwich!!
This was to be a long day with me at the helm again, and Derek tidying up our boat in a total role reversal. Its quite surprizing realy at just how untidy the boat can get during the day, but Derek, bless him, frequently brought me cups of tea in the wheel house and even more tea cakes!! My middle age spread is getting the better of me, but I was on holiday afterall so the tea cakes were welcome. At lunchtime we stopped at a picturesque pub called "The Ferry House!" and had an excellent lunch, which we were so impressed with, we went back too!! Derek, who does not normaly drink much was chuft to bits to have several pints while giggling "your driving!" at me...dont push it, I was thinking as I sipped my mango J2O... After a break of about an hour and a half we got back under way again and continued the long sail into Norwich city center. It seemed really strange to be on a boat in a city centre, but being in the middle of town meant one thing to me! SHOPPING!!!! not so for Derek though as he wanted to go off and visit the catheadral and castle to take pictures. We agreed to disagree and both went off to do our own thing and agreed to meet back up again in an hour. Derek took Sirius with him. I, in the meantime headed for Debanhams!! Yippeee!! I found a realy cute Welsh dragon bag (Iam half Welsh) a navy blue boating cotton jacket, and two pairs of gorgeous shoes! Eventually I was thrown out of the shop as they were closing as it was 5.25pm. Met up with Derek and Sirius again on a bench benith a large tree and we walked back to our mooring on the river. It was here that I realised just how nosey folks are we had been sat watching a film at sunset and folks were walking past and actually craining their necks to look at us in our boat!! How rude!!! I felt like a goldfish in a bowl!! Hastily I drew all the curtains while leaving the curtain with a veiw onto the river open so I could watch the glistening lights reflected in the water. It was quite lovely realy and dispite being in the city centre we had a very restfull night!!
Day 4:
In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast and got the engine started to set sail for adventure on some of the more backwater, smaller broads where Derek was hoping to get some pictures of the wildlife! We also repaid a return visit to the Ferry House and another excellent meal and a giggling Derek. Because he dose not drink, two pints and he is anybodies!! and he was well making up for it on this holiday. The off the beaten track broads were Bargate and Brockland broads but they were more "narrows" than broads and involved some very carefull navigation on my part. I even let Derek attempt the helm again, but to no avil...he was useless at it and we ended up zig-zagging all over the place again! I happily took the helm off him and carried on steering a proper course.
I wish I could begin to discribe just how very peacefull boating is...most of the time all you can hear is the swishing of the water, the chugging of the engine and the bird song. Sometimes I found myself thinking that I wished Derek was better at the helm so I could just relax on the sun deck with my book, but no, it was not to be. And Derek was leaping all over the boat to get the best shots with his camera.
In the evening and after a long day and aching shoulders from me, we moored VERY carefully at a tiny village called Lodden. I say very carefull as we had to moor between two boats, stern on, but fortunatly there were two chaps on the dock that helped us with directions and the ropes. They were very kind. However, shortly after we moored for the night that we realised we had moored next to a family of chavs!!! HORROR!!!!!!!! Two huge fat women were guzzling wine at the bow, kids, several of, running riot and screaming. Two blokes at the back of their boat guzzling huge ammounts of beer! Oh dear, we were thinking and shut the curtains and turned the TV up to drown out the noise of the kids. At 9pm we decided on pizza for supper and turned the engine on to fire up the grill. Five minuits later there was knock at our window. It was the chav mum from next-door (boat) complaining that the noise of our engine was waking her baby! Cheeky mare!!!! After all the racket the other kids had been making too!!! Unfortunatly there is a clause in the Broads authority rules about engine noise after dark and it turned out to be US that were breaking the rules, dispite the fact the sun had only just set............ needless to say we agreed to move as soon as we woke up and morr to have our breakfast at a quiet spot.........
Day 5:
...and we did just that!!
We cast off just before 8am and goodness I relay hoped we woke the hung-over chavs up as all their curtains on their boat were still drawn!! Naughtitly I put on full power as we sailed out of dock, but I wasent happy about the night before. We sailed on untill about 9am and moored for breakfast as we had planned to do, and it was a beautiflly peacefull spot, I was wishing we had spent the night there and we might have got to have our pizza!! We were both really hungry so breakfast was quite a big one. By mid morning we were making our way back down river and the weather was gorgeous, and much warmer than it had been at the start of the week. Derek sat on the bow with his camera and Sirius appeared to be doing an impression of Leonardo Di Caprio in Titanic!! We have photos which I will post soon, when I have uploaded them. Lunch was fish and chips at a local and we later turned off the main river and headed to Beccles. At Beccles there is a large yacht station and a yacting club so I had to do lots of manouvering to give way to the sail boats. We moored up to get some supplies from Morrisons (we had ran out of toilet paper at this stage) and this time Derek went on his own as I stayed with Sirius on the boat, watching the Weakest link and the news on BBC 1. On our way down to Beccles we had noticed a very secluded mooring in an idillic spot and as we cast off at Beccles after Derek returned with 6 can of Bitter amongst other things, we made our way back up the river hoping this spot would still be free, and wonder of wonders, it was!!! For once we moored with our patio doors facing the river and go beautiful views at sunset. Another delight of this gorgeous place was a family of Canadian geese. Mum, dad and six tiny fluff ball goslings!!! While Derek walked Sirius I was sat at the bow trying to coax the family down to our boat with bread. What a delight!!! This would turn out to be one of the best spots to more we had come across. It was called Aldeby and the mooring was so tiny it would only fit 3 boats maximum!! Shortly after Derek and Sirius got back another boat pulled in but they were very quiet and did not moor too close to use, for which I was greatfull. Uncorking my port I looked out past the patios onto a fantastic, tangerine glow sunset. This is what life is all about, I was thinking later as I drifted to sleep!
Day 6:
.....was not a good day
In fact nothing seemed to go right for us as we missed the lunchtimes at two pubs and I had to go like the clappers to find a parking spot for sundown....and to my compleat horror, Sirius almost went overboard!!!
Having missed lunchtime at one pub we carried on to a pub at St Olaves where we had, had the fish and chips. The tide was very low so the dock was quite high after we moored, and I even doughted I would get off, let alone Sirius!!! Derek, at 6 foot 1 has long legs and high docks are easy for him. I am a foot shorter with shorter legs and Sirius smaller still. Time was getting on and between us we worked out a stratagey to get off our boat at the bow, which was higher than the stern. Derek got off first and gave me his hand to haul me off. When I was off the boat and on land Derek got back on to help Sirius. Sirius on the other hand had idea's of his own and eagerly dived to jump the dock himself. He missed and to my compleate horror I watched as he vanished between the boat and the dock. Screaming and feeling sick I raced forward!!!! Derek was trying to haul him up by his lead and coller and I was reaching down to grab his front paws as he was making swimming doggie paddle movements. I almost went over myself as I reached over for him but I dident care as one movemoent of the river could squash Sirius between the boat and the dock and my baby boy could have died. Tears streaming down my face and screaming at Derek I managed to get his front paws onto dry land and Derek gave him a shove on his bum, and he was on ground. The relife was incredeible but I still felt very sick and thought I would throw up any second.
We got to the pub and I sat on a table bench outside and chain smoked as I cuddled my soggy doggy who actually seemed quite un-fazed by his ordeal. Derek had asked me what I wanted to eat and I just said a sandwich as I still felt sick. Several moments later he came back with his pint and my J20 and said "Its good your not hungry now as they have stopped serving food!!" He said. It was already 3pm and the chances of getting anything to eat were getting smaller and smaller........While I was off at the helm again half an hour later Derek had a tin of Big Soup and he microwaved me a Rustlers burger so lunch today was on the move. Derek had come up to my wheel house and sat down and asked what we should do. I suggested going back to Beccles and shop again for a blow out of a supper. Chinese microwaveable I was thinking and Derek agreed it was the best course. We got back to Beccles at 6pm and Derek rushed to the shop and we were under way again another half hour later and I sailed at full speed to get a place at our planned spot for the nights mooring, and guess what? It was FULL!!! and it was getting darker by now and as there is no boating allowed after dark and we dident have navigation lights I swung the boat about and drove our Golden Wing at full speed back up the river to check any other free moorings!! By 7pm it wasent looking good and Derek was even considering pulling in at a bank and using the mooring pegs we were carrying. I was not happy about this.........
"I am going to head back to Aldeby!" I yelled back to Derek in the cabin.
But secretly in my heart I was praying that there would be some space and we would not have to use the pegs.
So THANK GOD there was just one space free when we got there, as Derek took over the helm to berth us!!
By 8.30 pm we were moored and me, with my port, Derek and Sirius with their beer, all got happily sloshed!
We all deserved it after the day we had, had.
Day 7:
Our last day was a very relaxed laid back one. Thankfully.
It was another trip back to Beccles and the Yacht station only this time I would actually get to see the town which was delightful. However the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was raining but it diden't spoil some shopping for me and a walk for Sirius and Derek. There was even a Stead and Simpson shoes shop open and I got a gorgeous pair of summer snadles. Also at a nearby WH Smiths I also invested in my favorite writer, Philippa Gregory and bought "The White Queen" a story of Elizabeth Woodville! Following all this it was lunchtime and Derek and I headed for the Kings head hotel, and orderd some lunch, it took ages to arrive but when it did it was the yummyiest thing I have ever tasted. Well worth the wait and far better than the spinich and ricotta canaloni I had had at the Ferry.
We headed back to our boat and on board we did the sad task of packing!
Despite some bad things that happened this was one of the best holidays I have ever had!!!
At Tea time we sailed back up to a nice spot near Oulton broad so we wouldn't have far to go in the morning.
The last evening we watched the sunset over the river, and after dark we watched Fauwlty Towers.
The last tea cake had been scoffed too!!
On coming back yesterday we are already planning to return and have chosen a boat on the North broads that is slightly bigger and even has a full size bath....that might come to pass in October......however, I can't wait. I have even bought a jolly roger flag to hoist on the next boat!!
By cool bag I dont mean a "cool bag" ie: Trendy! I mean a cold bag...I have just googled cool bag and how to make one and all I got was how to make an old bag look cool. If that applied to people I would be in luck!! This old bag would love to look cool!! LOL!!!
Anyway I need to keep some salad type stuff cool, and the cooler bag I bought is far to small for all the stuff I need to keep cool, which includes box of salad, chicken sweet chilli dips, samosas, and pakoroas as well as some cheese and pickle, and chocolate moose for afters!! Now building ones own cool bag should not be difficult for me if I just put my physics A'level brain into gear, but this is a little difficult with all the brain cells that have died since I was a teenager!
Rummaging through the garage I came up with the novel idea of using bubble wrap ( I have stopped using ebay for now as my username has been stolen by someone who hasn't the brain to make up their own names) ....Using bubble wrap with tin-foil to insulate it, which I figured would make a pretty good cooler bag. The only problam being is it will make lots of litter and will not be reuseable! Ho Hum!! this is a last minuite thing, however! So I am going to give it ago in the morning!...I will let you know how it works out! ;)
Ok...last nights episode of Dr Who!
Dident quite meet my full expectations and excitement that I was feeling at the start of the story. The begining dident dissapoint and I sensed Moffat was "up to something" as this story began to unfold. There were some unansewerd question too, but I have got used to this a lot since the new who started. Perhaps I am just getting too old to "get it", who knows! The new generation of Daleks looked about as fearsome (as my friend Kate said on FaceBook) as a group of Mini's!!! Noting the colour! I was hoping too that the Daleks would have a more 60's retro feel to them, but they diden't and infact diden't look fearsome at all. The final "big fail" for me came when the Spitfires appeared in space! Oh good grief, what was Steven thinking? This is something Russle Tea Lady would have done. How the heck are we supposed to belive that Spitfires are capable of intersellla flight with absolutly no explanation. I was hoping there would be one, but non was forthcoming. Well not that I could figure anyway. Ok....it was still an enjoyable romp even if much of the story made no sense! and I enjoyed the Doctor battering the Dalek bit and Matt Smith has proved in this story he is a very good match for Tennant! In fact his acting was superb!!!
Anyway...I never new there was an updated "V"
I am just watching it on Syfy channel, and it looks absolutly brilliant. How long has this been out without me noticing? I was a huge fan of the original series, which I have on DVD...but has no idea it had been re-made!
Just an excuse to do another list really! *blushes*
1: Sanur Beach, Bali!.......................Derek and I were supposed to visit Bali on our round the world trip in 95' but we had to cut things short due to a series of disasters most of which have been documented on here, so I wont go back into detail. We finally got round to visiting, however in 98' and this became the first of about 7 trips for me...and why! Its simply paradise!! A golden beach lapped by the sea surrounded by a tropical lagoon! gorgeous food, lovely locals and a fascinating culture!! I know of nowhere in the world that has "everything" in such a small space! The cost of living is low and the beer is cold...what more could I ask for? Sanur is only a small part of Bali and obviously on the coast! The locals belive that the centre of the island is sacred so the more you get inland on Bali, the more you can expierance the local culture, which is bright, vibrant and fascinating! The art centre is a large village called Ubud, which is basically a huge open air art gallery. Derek and I used to go here for breakfast in an art gallery that doubled as a cafe, before going off on days out to explore the holy volcano's and the beautiful countryside of central Bali. Also In Ubud you can find some of the most luxurious 6 star hotels in the world!! We could only afford to spend 3 nights at one at around $700 a night!!! and it was pure, unabulterated Luxury...with a capitol L!!! ...sadly our last visit was in 2002 and as I wont be parted from my baby boy, Sirius, international travel has been knocked on the head...but I have some fantastic memories!
2: Varanasi, north India!!................Varanasi is India's most holy, and to me most beautiful city! Its the place to discover if you want to find the real heart-beat of India! Its a compleat assult on the senses! Colour, sight sound, smell, and a deep spiritual expierence that is compleatly unforgetable! Derek and I have stayed here a couple of times on several trips to India. And the place never ceases to amaze me! There is always something new to discover, if you can ignore the chaps on the burning Ghat trying to get tourists to pay to watch a cremation!! Ugh!! not nice!!...We once took a dawn, rowing boar ride out on to the Ganges to watch the sun rise. and regular readers of my blog will remember it was here that Derek mistakingly drank Canabis in the form of a bhang lassi!! I don't reccomend it!! The only down side of the beautiful city is the lack of booze. It is the most holy city so drink is all but banned. But hey!! who needs a drink when you have a million beautiful temples to explore!! Anyway, for all my waffling about India, it is certainly not a place for the faint hearted, or snob or self centered person! You have to visit with a very open mind, and get expert advice before hand...a year before my first visit I swatted up on what seemed like hundreds of guide books, so in a way I had prepared myself. But Varanasi blew my socks off!! I felt hounered and very privledged to visit this most beautiful city!! Namaste!! :)
3: Kathmandu, Nepal!!...................You wake at dawn to the sound of gentle tinkling bells and flutes! I can't imagin a lovelier wake up call!!! But this is indeed what you wake to in Kathamndu in the Kingdom of Nepal! It nestels surrounded by the Himalaya and on clear days you can see snow capped mountains in the distance, high above the golden roofs of the many Temples in down town Durbah square, which is a favorite haunt of ours! Colourfull prayer flags and wheels are everywhere, compleate with the hustel and bustle of this amazing city that is home to the "Erotic Elephant" temple, and the may festivals that are held there. We were privledged to witness the living Goddess, Kumari Devi on one of our visits, but gain, like India, not for the faint heated! I witnessed the sacrifce of a bullock, and I vomited and cried for ages! It was total horror! But this is a culture all of its own, and aside from this event, is an awesome culture to behold...and a heaven for tea lovers!! During my time as a travel agent I have heard many a client be-moan the fact that they are made to drink tea with hot milk, abroard!! hehehehe...not in Kathmandu! Here fresh tea is served from the mountains with cold milk, and its absolutly gorgeous! The Nepalese are amazing people too, as even when you get on the Everest trek you can still stop for a tea break or a breakfast of omlette in the shaddow of Everest!! As a side note the Nepalese are some of the most heavy drinkers I have met in the world and its usually the women who are the worst. I got accosted by a mother and daughter at 8am and they were absolutly plastered on Raksi which is the local firewater. When its served hot in a glass with Yak butter round the rim its delicious!!! You sip the hot liquor through the creamy butter!! But BEWARE!!! 2 or 3 glasses of this and you will be absolutly plastered!! Belive me!! and I can be a heavy drinker when I want to be! LOL!!
4: Samosir island, Indonesia!!..............This tiny, volcanic island is set in a huge jade green lake and is a haven for weary backpackers sick and tired of hairraising bus rides and hawkers! Saying that though this island has a magical charm about it that I find hard to put into words! It was a place where I played guitar at sunset to some locals and fellow travellers, was adopted by a mum dog and her 3 puppies, local man kicked one of said puppies and Derek beat him up...we left the guest house and I nicked a hippy hat from the guest house shop!! as retribution! Oh heck we had some fun there!!! Every afternoon heavy cumulus clouds would build around the lake, and just when it looked like there would be a storm, all we got was a few drops of rain!! Everything is in walking distance here and the cost of living is low like on Bali. The local culture here is based on ancestor worship which is fascinating!! and if your lucky you may get invited to a festival or performance, from their rich history! However its compleatly relaxing here!!
5: Kho Phang ghan island, Thailand!........ Yes this was where some of the scenes from the movie "The Beach" was set but that was long after Derek and I had our last visit to this paradise!! We stopped hear for a month in a tiny, stillted beach hut on the shore of Try Thong. We were not the only inhabitance on this beach hut though!! One night our hut was invaded by an army of termites, and we were often payed a visit by a huge lizard! On a down note hear, this was the place I first expierenced heat stroke as well as the massive ant bite that still scares my left leg to this day!! However the days were lazy and slow with trips into the tiny village for supplies, walks on the silky soft beach, looking for brightly coloured hermit crabs, and lazing about getting blottoed and playing endless games of Ludo!! The first day we were there the delightful landlady asked me if I liked Thai potato curry! At that point I had not tried it so I just said yes. What I got blew my head off with heat from a huge assortment of powerfull chillies. The next day I asked for egg and chips, and she cooked this better than my own mother so I stuck to that after! heheheh!! We had a trip to the infamous "Full moon" party one night on the other side of the island, and we were not impressed. It was just a load of stoned hippies on a beach with loud music!!! Not fun!! we left just before midnight! Anyway form hear we "island hopped" which was cheep and easy, apart from hitting a realy bad stom on a boat when we were heading to Kho Teo! I noticed that the locals were praying as our boat pitched and yawed...then I noticed there were no life jackets either!!!..I began to pray too!!...when we finally arrived I down a quater of a bottle of whisky to calm my shot nerves!
6: Donegal, Ireland!!..................With its absolutly gorgeous food this is not a place to visit if your on a diet!!!
Dereks, mum was born here so a lot of his family are here too! Needless to say we have made may trips to this superb area of glittering green Ireland!! In fact we were in a gift shop one day and Derek found he had a new cousin!!! "So!! you'r Roseablla's boy!!" the shop keeper said to Derek! They began talking and that was it...we were there for the next 3 hours!! We had many days driving off the beaten track in the countryside, which was gorgeous! stopping at tiny villages for lunch and walking in the hills! We were staying on the side of a small mountian called Tivarhurkey (not sure how its spelt) where Dereks auntie had a tiny white cottage, next to a static caravan (where we stayed) with stunning view onto Donegal bay! Our evenings were spent with much booze and me experimenting on the tiny caravan stove, with local recipies I had picked up! One of which was cabbage and bacon for supper, and soda bread! Ahh the delights!! It was also hear that I notied the severe effects of the smoking ban which happened in Ireland before it happened here! On our first trip the many pubs on the diamond at Donegal centre had been packed with locals having the "craik", music and laughter...when we returned after the ban, all the pubs were all but deserted...its so very sad!
7: Vietnam!! all over!! my taylor-made tour!!............One afternoon it was very quiet at my shop so I sent the girls home early and got stuck into sorting our own tour of Vietnam! Taylor-making is fairly easy...well I would say that being a travel agent....you just have to get all your basics in place and then prepare to spend ages on the phone to book the various parts!! I had, had some bacardi in my back office and cans of coke in my fridge so yes...youve guessed it...I got hopelessly drunk and was at my shop untill gone 7pm. Derek had been furious, and even more furious when he found out our bank account was £7,000 lighter!!! I got home and hid!!
The tour, however coulden't have been more perfect!!
Dispite the copious amounts of bacardi I had consumed I had managed to string together 3 weeks of adventure and relaxation, combined with perfect hotels, a wonderful, local guide, and 8 excellent flights!! How the heck I managed it, will forever remain a mystery to me...but I did!! First off was 2 nights in vibrant Ho Chi Minh city and then onto the paradise beach at Nha Trang, with trips out to the islands and a glass bottom boat trip and tours of the local Temples! Next was the overnight luxury train Victoria express to the Sapa mountain region, for some superb trekking, and a luxuary hotel. We met the local tribes people who were delightful, and the sights and sounds were amazing! For some godforsaken reason I had managed to combine all of the best aspects of a custom made tour with all the full delights of the beautiful country!!! When all said and done, eventually Derek smiled and said it was fantastic!!
8: Zanzibar -Spice island!!.................This was two weeks of totally slobbery on mine and Derek's part!! Two weeks of 5 star luxuary bungalow set in immaculate gardens with a resort and swimming pool on the beech, set on a tropical lagoon, where you could paddle while jewel coloured fish nibble your toes!! A total delight!! This was Breezes beach club resort! I would say this is the perfect honeymoon resort as it is certianly represented as an adult romantic get-away! There was, however, a down side to this two weeks of paradise. On the run up to our holiday I had a slightly aching wisdom tooth, and I dident do to the dentist before hand, so as a result I spent a lot of time in absolut agony, and had to see the resort Doctor, a large jolly lady who could only advise pain killers untill I got home! I ended up popping so many pain killers I collapsed one eveing and was dreadfully ill. Derek on the other hand was not fareing much better as he got sun stroke without knowing he had it. On the first day we had spent on loungers underneath an umbrella made of dried coconut leaves. It was about 100 degrees....Derek is a red head...and there were lots of holes in the handmade umbrella. That night, Derek totaly red, went down into the restraunt on the beach to get a menu for our evening meal. I had stayed at the bar. A few moments later a waitress come rushing over to say Derek had fainted! We rushed him back to our bungalow and I covered him in wet towels to get his temp down. Thankfully it worked and he was ok the next day.
9: Kerela - Lighthouse beach, India..................if you have ever dreamed of having a tropical beach all to yourself, well just go hear to make it come true!! For several times during our holiday there we had that gorgeous, unspoilt beach to ourselves, apart from a local lady, who for a few rupees, would bring us a huge bowl of fresh fruit everyday!! Another paraside to add to my list!! Our hotel was set on rock benith a delightful red and white lighthouse, which every evening would twinkle far out to see, in rythmic pulses of light! There was too beaches seperaterd by a rocky outcove , our was the quieter of the two, but the busier one was packed with locals and tourists alike, as well as fishermen trawling for their evening catch! Its actually a local beauty spot where everyone one comes to watch the glowing evening sunset! One evening we made friends with a family on holiday from Mumbai, and I played with the children!! Such a delight!
10: Souter lighthouse- National Trust!! Sunderland...........I could not go without mentioning my favorite "English" get a way from it all!! Souter lighthouse and our "Keepers Cottage" I have blogged about this inspiring place before so I wont go into much detail here, it further back in my blog if you haven't seen it!! Its a haunted lighthouse!! and the keepers cottage has been furnished by the national trust to resemble what it would have actually been like! I love the bath here!! Its a huge, beautiful white porceline Victorian afair!! and I could spend ages wallowing in it!!
Places I dident like!
1: China!!...the stuff of nightmares!!
2: Costa Rica!!...beautiful eco tour of the rainforests but Kuoni cocked up our booking which ruined our tour!
3: Mumbi, India...smashed my head open slipping on a wet bathroom floor!
4: Sydney!!...caught gastroenteritus and ended up in hospital!
5 All of the travel agents "educationals" I have been on including: Turkey, Skiing in Italy, Majorca and Bali! Educationals are for travel agents to expierence a new country but they are in fact working holidays where you dont get any time to yourself. You have a team leader and MUST do as your told!! you have to share your room in my case on one with a woman who was constantly texting her boyfriend all night. and another ended in violence when a gay man punched me because his boyfriend prefreerd my company to his....the list is endless!! Travel agents on these are mostly self centred, attention seeking weirdo's!!
6: Singapore!!....to clinical and just for shoppers!!
7: Indoniesia!!....mostly for mental bus drivers, who try their best to kill you!!
8: London!!!....for me its lost its "Englishness!"
9: Goa!!!......far too touristy now!!! Full of hippies and wasters...this was once a beautiful place!
10: .....emmmmm....can't think of a ten!!
Sorry, I got really behind on this as I have been busy with other things at the moment!!
As promised....our pop up TV-bed photos!!
View sitting on the bed with the VT off!
Bed with Tv lowered and away in its automatic box in the footboard!
...and last but not least my Troika bed side table lamp! 2 views!
Sorry for the poor quality, but I haden't realised they would be such a small size, so I have now altered the size of my phone images!
This bed is absolutly amazing. Everyone should have one!!
At the touch of a button a 32 inch flat screen HD TV rises elegantly from a box in the foot-board. Our dvd is connected to it, which sits under the bed, but it s bit fiddly to operate so Derek has bought a cable so I can connect my ipod directly to the tv and so I can watch my treasured "Hammer house of horror" series!!! Yipppeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Playing ipod to tv gives you the very same picture quality you get from a dvd, for some reason Derek thought it would be fuzzy. But no...I was very impressed with the results, having watched some classic "who" in the process.
Tonight I will have a huge bubble bath at 8pm, at 9pm I shall watch "Children of the full moon" on the TV bed, with a vintage port, some mediterranean quiche, and cream cheese stuffed peppers!!...and Sirius with his nightly treats course.
Derek will join me at 10.30, and.........
..........that information is not for a public blog! *giggles cheekliy*
After reading much internet information on this I am now seriously considering growing my own Golden Virginia!!!
It all started with an internet hunt as I was trying to find cheep ciggs for sale in the UK, without going down the road of having to import them and risk the wrath of her lovely Majasties Customs and Exciese! As some of you long time readers may know I tried going down this route about 3 years ago, only to have my beloved cigs confiscated by these people and to be informed of the fact by a curt letter threatening me with legal action!!! Now I am a law biding citizen but this whole demonisation of smokers has gone too far, and I simply refuse to pay £6 a pack when most of it goes to our money grabbing government, who brought in the pathetic smoking ban!! Ok...I am not going to go on a rant about the rights and wrongs of smoking (wish everyone was as tolerent as my Derek) but I have figured out I can grow it myself!!! I have been reading a tobacco growers forum and it appears the plant grown very well indeed, but can take ages to mature and dry out ready for smoking. However, I am willing to give it a try, and will join that same forum to ask for help and advice along the way. They are really pretty plants too, and might even be a lovely added addition to my hot tub area in my garden, once they are big enough to go outside!.
*sticks two fingers to Gorden Brown*
I have also been reading on the harmfull addetives in mass produced ciggies but I have known about this for a long time, and its just another incentive for me to grow my own! At least I will know what I am smoking...and its LEGAL!!
I am at a bit of a loss as to what book to take with me on our boating holiday...
emm....??? *thinks*
I have a couple of re-reads in mind, that being "The ghost of flight 401" and "Six wives of Henry VIII" by Antionia Fraser, but I would dearly like to try something new. Recently I have been fascinated by new of the London show "Wicked" and as this is a book I have never read, I would really like to give it a try! Otherwise I fear it will be a re-read as I really have not got the time to mooch around our Waterstones looking for somthing!
Our fitted bedroom was finished yesterday, so today I have a ton of washing to do, and load the new wardrobes with clothes. This in-between my Masonic study, walking Sirius and mentally preparing tomorrows lunch, I expect to be quite busy today. But the thing with which book is still bugging me. At the moment I would dearly love to just sit down and chill with a good book, but time is a wee bit narrow just now. Also I have to take my Masonic black suit into the dry cleaners at Morrisons! Good grief the more I think of it, the more I have to do!
Right must crack on......
If anyone has any suggestion about a book, please let me know! Keeping in mind my love of all things Horror and Tudor history! But I also like fantastical tales that I can really bury myself in! *grinns*
Doctors call for ban on passive exposure to ’second hand children’
By Dungeekin Doctors call for ban on passive exposure to ’second hand children’ thumbnail
Citing the significant health risks, doctors have called for a complete ban on young people in all cars, as well as laws making it illegal for children to be taken to places where members of the public congregate.
The Royal College of Physicians has called for the measures as part of a full review into the health impacts of passive exposure to secondary children on the population at large.
The impacts include noise pollution, increased accident and illness rates, and the increased incidence of frustration, depression and bankruptcy.
An RCP report says that every year unnecessary exposure to children is responsible for over 20,000 minor injuries and some 22,000 cases of hypertension, as well as 200 fiscal heart-attacks and at least 20 cases of rage-related aneurysms.
It claims child-related illnesses in adults account for more than 300,000 visits per year to GPs, and costs the NHS billions of pounds.
Research
Dr Isay Banitall, of the RCP, said, “It is high time that a full, in-depth research project was carried out into the health implications of children in cars and other public places.”
“For example, our initial figures indicate that the presence of two arguing children in the back of your car is a greater threat to concentration and awareness than being twice the legal drink-drive limit and even more distracting than using a mobile phone.”
“The presence of children in a vehicle make the likelihood of serious injury some 43.7% higher than when the occupants of the car are all non-squabbling adults.”
“It is also difficult to quantify the secondary effects of children in other areas - for example, there is some evidence to indicate that the presence of screaming, uncontrolled brats in pub restaurants is directly linked to almost a million cases of hearing loss and indigestion.”
“We would therefore recommend the imposition of a ‘child area’, outside the building and well clear of the entrances, where those who wish to have children can congregate.”
A Department of Health spokesman welcomed the RCP report, and pointed out that the recent Budget went a long way in applying tax increases with the long-term goal of making children completely unacceptable in public.
However, he acknowledged that a blanket ban on children, however desirable, would be neither practically, politically nor fiscally possible.
So what next?
Well I am well on my soap box this morning, after seeing the BBC news, which horrified me more than Wes Craven can......There is now going to be a ban on smoking in cars!!!!
Errrr.....but isen't that a personal space?
Apparently not....The Royal Collage of Doctors has proposed this ban in cars, because of childrens health....I would have thought it better to let the parents decided what is good for their children. Does the government think none of us has a brain anymore? I for one (if I had kids) would never smoke in front of mine or anyone elses kids for that matter, and that would include the car. But apparently this nonsensiecal law is now going to be reinforced in a so called free country. A so called free country with a government who gives £1,000,000 of tax payers money to guard a vile child murderer in prison (Huntley, following his attack)...a government that happily allows a non ending tide of immigrents to overflow this already over populated island. And a government that blindly continues to wage a non-ending war on smokers!!...I would suggest that everybody in the country pack up smoking at once and see if the government likes loosing its tax revenue on fags. Oh and dont get me on the impending budget!!!!!!
What would I do?
For a start I would hang that vile, diseased blob of pus, Huntley! I would pull the rope myself. I would stop all immigration! and I would think its right and proper to let parents decided what is good or bad for their children! and while I am at it I would ban barbeques, as they produce dangerous levels of C02 (much more than ciggie smoke) and promote food poisoning in undercooked meat...Ok so I would make a crap Prime Minister! But I would make a hell of a better job of it than Brown and his cronies! A bunch of looney, liberal lefties who introduce stupid and indeed, un-policable laws, while ignoring the electorate and the rights of the decent people of this country! Its not the Labour party any more. Its the Looney Liberal Lefties party. And the Conservatives are no better either! I am not just having a damn good old moan because I am a smoker and I firmly belive in smokers rights, as my Derek does and he has never touched a ciggie in his life. I am having a jolly good moan because I am sick and tired of stupid laws being passed. Laws which will waste police time and cost money! What about passing some sensible laws? What about our impoverised pensioners? Ladies and gentleman who won a war against evil, to protect our country...why not pass some laws to ensure that pensioners have the right to proper care and live in dignity? There is somthing compleatly bonkers about this government!!
During my travels in China and India and south east Asia, I saw places where old people are treated with proper respect and are revered in their communities, passing on their wealth of knowledge about life to youngsters, which is how it should be. Here in Britian we seems to treat old people with contempt! Why? Because our crackpot government appears to be hell bent on passing silly laws while blatently ignoring the needy folks of Britian! I am not a an MP, but I think I have a fair degree of commen sense and eyes to see whats going on arround me...and if I am honest here, I dont like it!!
*climbs off soap box*
Tea? anyone?
Last night I woke at about 2am and felt like someone was sticking a red hot poker in my upper jaw!!!! I was in agony, but fortunatly we live near a 24 hour Tesco and Derek, bless him, dashed out for some pain killers for me!! ........Its my cannine on my right upper jaw, that has suddenly decided to give me gip. Its not broken or decayed or anything but it is turning a horrid shade of grey so I have concluded these must be somthing inside the tooth that is making it die off!
To date I have had 4 teeth removed, and two of those were wisdom teeth, one of which I kept as a momento as the roots of the tooth came through "deformed" and twisted like some weird alien! Then I had a nasty huge molar root canal, and some cosmetic work done, but recently one of my oldest fillings fell out, and then this thing started with the tooth in my upper jaw. The thing is.......I am actually terrified of dentists, and have to go private, which is expensive, so I don't really have any incentive to visit him, except for agonising pain! When I was 5, I had the terrible expierence that left me with this life long fear of dentists. I was due to have a couple of stubborn baby teeth removed, but when I got in the chair and the dentist put this black mask over my face, I began to panic!! I can still see it now, that black mask moving twards my face like the face-hugger Alien. I squeeked and tried to wriggle free, and then the dentist hit me!!!! Not hard, however, but hit me none-the -less, while shouting "BE STILL CHILD!!!"...in the end he took 5 baby teeth out and I swallowed so much blood under the gas that I was spewing blood, for what seemed like weeks after!....needless to say I have been terrified of dentists ever since! At the moment I am taking Nurofen migraine pain tablets which are quite strong but the tend to make me feel sick if I take too many, so I am being carefull....
In other news, the house is almost sorted, and Hammonds are coming to fit our bedroom suite on Thursday. Today I am baking for the first time since being back, and I am set to give Sirius his first bath at home, today. Well, I put him in the shower realy, and I need to give him a realy good brush before hand. He is not too keen on being brushed so I have to give him a treat to bribe him!
My Ills. Brother just reminded me that our next meeting is tomorrow and I am totally upside down with moving and sorting stuff out, I have had to decline my atendence tomorrow. Goodness knows!! I don't even know where my black suite is!!! Also he told me that my email wasent working properly as he had sent me an email earlier in the week which I dident recieve! Everything is all over the place at the moment, but I am going have to get cracking on my Obligation as my Lodge has request that I ask for my "higher wagers" very soon which will mean my being passed into my second degree, which is that of Fellow Craft. My mentor and very Ills.Bro. wants me to pass to my third degree of Master Mason sometime at the end of the year, and this is realy exciting for me and a further step twards seeking the Light!
I know this wont mean much to "normal" folks but please remember your reading the blog of someone who is "not normal!" I have always had an eseotoric side to my character, and a very questioning mind. Also meeting like minded people at my Lodge is delightful!! We even have a lady airline pilot who I get on with realy well as we share a love of flying AND the esoteric side of life. Its absolutly fascinating!
Right I must try and find time to get my head down and learn from my little book so my brain will be in a fit and proper working order ready for my second degree!
In other news, my home spa/hot tub has been delivered but wont be installed for a month or so yet...still, the weather might be warmer then. Also it turns out that Rainbows International (our moving storage people) has forgot to pack certain things that should have been returned to us! Namely my Ameythest crystal geode which cost abut £300!!!!!!!! Derek is sending them an email to remind them but I think someone has taken a fancy to my huge crystal cave and it magically grew legs!!!!!!! I want this replaced as I study "Crystal healing" and Ameythist is to calm and relax.......How can I relax now the bleedin' thing has been nicked????? Grrrrrrr!!! I have made an offer on a Citrine geode on ebay, but I am not sure it will be excepted!
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, Derek and I have a skip on our drive for the week, so we can throw out old clutter and rubbish we no longer need and the result has been an almost clear garage which I was quite impressed with. However, last night at about 9pm I was surprized to hear Derek shouting loudly and angrily from his new office! At first I thought he was shouting at Sirius, but no....he rushed down stairs and said some old bloke had been rummaging in our skip!!!!!!!!!!! Cheeky b*****d!!!! The chap ran off, but only to return 10 minuits later to continue his rummage. This time Derek raced off in the car and gave chase!!!!! But our skip rummaging guest got away with our unused deep fat fryer!!!!!! I hope it blows up on him!!!.......but seriously, its not a nice thought, to have some strange bloke lurking around your house just as your getting ready for bed!
*shivvers*
Needless to say my Port went down well last night!
love Vix x
Gone are the days off flying to far off shores or treking in the mountains!
But, belive me, this one sounds just as good because Derek and I have never been boating before!! And just this morning Derek booked our boat with Hoeseasons (at my recomendation) and we are going to spend a week sailing around the Norfolk broards!!
Our boat for the week!!
This boat is totally delightful, and even includes a 4 poster bed belive it or not!! It looks very romantic too with a sun deck at the back, and patio! As soon as Derek booked this than I was fiddling around in ebay to buy things like deck shoes and even a doggie life jacket for Sirius! It sounds strange but the choice of proper ladies deck shoes is quite limited, but eventually I found a nice pair of Rockports and bought them! Derek asked me what the heck we need deck shoes for as we dont expect 10 foot waves on the Broards? I said they were for if it rains and the deck gets slippy, which is what deck shoes are for! ...We have been on loads of boats before but not on our own. My favorite was a speed boat ride to Kho Samui in Thailand!! After months of terrible hard work, trekking I finally got to see the glittering cost of this paradise island set in a turquoise jewel sea! I had been listenig to M People "sight for sore eyes" and I can tell you it was very appropriate at that moment!! Well the Norfolk broards may not be that exotic, but at least we will be having a holiday that is both relaxing and something compleatly new to us!!!....My mum, the cheeky mare!!! said I would be just like Mrs Bucket on her boat!!
Now on a totaly different note I am pleased to announce the imminent arrival of a "Home Spa hot tub!" at the Harrison household!! Derek and I decided to take the plunge (if you pardon the pun) on Saturday after doing a ton of internet research on the best makes available. Also I got a large hexagonal gazebo to house it in for privacy. The gazebo arrived today but the spa wont arrive untill tomorrow. Well its a present to ourselves realy, now we have moved back home. I will take lots of piccies when it is fully installed and up and running. Hopefully the weather will be warmer then too! .........However the hard work of moving is far from finished yet. Derek has hired a skip for a few days so we can sort out all the junk we have accumulated in the garage over 10 years, and I am having a clear out of an absolute ton of clothes, the best of which I will sell on ebay but the rest will be skipped. I am ashamed to say that I have had clothes in my wardrobes for years and they still have the label attached!! These will be the ebay-ed ones, and some are designer and cost a fortune, like a Versace cocktail dress I have never worn! I have also junked some of my more crappy ended Dr Who collection, broken stuff and the such-like, which I simply have no room for any more!
Out with the old and in with the new!! ;)
My home has been through some kind of reversed polarity time warp and has been invaded by the card board boxes of Doom!!!! I am fighting them as we speek!! and they appear to be breeding!!
Who ever said moving home gave the same stress levels as greiving was not wrong. Derek and I have had more rows in 2 days than we have had in 10 years!! and its usually about petty things like which box is this or that in! Derek....bless his wolley Brasher socks! Has managed to set up his office perfectly, in all this chaos! Surprize surprize!! It appears that our packing and storage firm has damaged or broken quite a lot of items, including the wooden base of my Japanese futon, so it looks like we will be claiming for rather a lot of damages. Also because the new bedroom has not yet been fitted we had a total nightmare the first night we moved back. The only usable bad we have at the moment is the Queen-size guest bed...picture the scene! Derek, me and Sirius packed like 3 rather bewildered Sardines in a bed that is built for one!!!!!!! I had about 2 hours sleep that night, waking several times with a huge furry animal on my head or his bottom stuck up my nose, and I am not talking about Derek hear! Our next night Derek gallentley gave me the Queen-size and he is sleeping on the double futon mattres in his new office. Sirius can now choose who he sleeps with! and chops and changes, accordingly. Sirius appear to be totally oblivious to all this madness, and is cuft to his huge furry paws to be back over the park playing with his mates, Olly the Huskie, Bristol the bonkers, gay Chocolate Labrador and Maisie a loopy heinz 57!
We have finally decided on the bathroom!!
Work will begin at the end of April, and we will be knocking Dereks old office into the current bathroom to make a huge spa!! We have budgeted to about £15,000 but it should add £20K or so to our home value. If by some slight chance we are under budget, we have decided to go for a conservertory onto out exisiting patio! But I highly dought there will be much cash left...the jacuzzi alone is over £2,000...The design we have chosen is quite Asian with Zen Buddist influence, partly inspired by our travels. The most beautiful bathroom I have ever seen was in Ubud, Bali at a 5* hotel. The en-suit bathroom was actually in an outdoor garden compleate with palmtrees!!! Totaly private ofcouse! But it was absolutly awesome! On that trip I think I spent more time in the bath than I did touring! Well at least I smelled nice! I am sure we have a picture of it some where which I should dig out and post. This hotel was amazing and its pool was a huge affair set into a forest of all things, with wonderful views of the volcano,s! ...well I can't get a forest into my new bathroom but be sure there will be lots of plants like fernes which do well in a humid enviroment!
A picture of our hotel in Ubud! Its called the Chedi but has now changed its name to the Alilla!
Must bugger off now and get to work again!
At least today I get to cook my first meal, as we have been eating fast food for 3 days while we moved and was unable to use the kitchen...I cleared it yesterday! So lunch will be a lovely exotic, sausage mash and beans!!...its all I can be bothered with at the moment!
Will all the hassles of the past months be worth it when we eventually get sorted?
Well, goodness knows....I have a feeling its only just started. At the begining of this venture (home being refurbished) I firmly believed that everything was going to be done together in the space of a couple of months, but this hasen't proved the case. However, all the main work is finished, so I suppose I should be greatfull for that. Our new bedroom wont be compleated for several weeks, and the TV bed is on order! I was hoping the bedroom would be finished before it arrived, but I dont think this will happen now, so when the bed arrives we will have to store it untill the bedroom is fitted, along with the carpet...The bathroom hasent even been started as Derek and I had a difference of opinion over which way to go about it. I think Derek has finally come around to my thinking about knocking out our smallest bedroom to make a huge bathroom, instead of extending it over the garage. My idea was more practical really!! The deciding factor for me was the weight of the jaccuzi spa, which is going to be more than twice the weight of our standard bath. If we extended over the roof of the garage we would have to have the roof reinforced to take the weight, and this would only add to the cost! Lets face it! I dont want to be relaxing in my spa and suddenly fall through the roof!!!!! I have decided on the look I want for the new bathroom and I am aiming for a Balinese style spa. As you know I have spent rather a lot of time on Bali, and their traditional spa's are very beautiful indeed!! This reminds me that I should draw a plan and post it here! I also plan to grow jasmine in small pots set onto the walls...well we shall see.......Derek was worried about loosing the forth bedroom, which he was using as his office. But its realy too small to be used as a bedroom and I feel it would be better to have a huge impressive bathroom instead of a tiny * box* room!!
For the past few days I have been packing up our belongings to make ready for our move on either tuesday or wednesday and its been bloody hard work. We also have to clean our rented home from top to bottom, which included windows so we can get our deposit back. The only thing the landlord has insisted on is a fumegation of all the carpet because we have a dog!!! What a cheek!!! Sirius is the cleanest dog ever!! He also has a weekly bath, and a daily brush!! But we have to do this as its in the contract. Derek has already arranged it for thursday so I hope everything will be ok.
No Sunday roast for today. Derek and I will be too busy!!! There is still lots of things to be shifted back home so lunch will be a very lo-key affair! Anyway, an early night tonight, and also I might not be able to update my blog for a while with the move going on!!
Fun, fun, fun.............NOT!!!!!!
My English is rubbish....my spelling and grammer, worse!!!!!!!
...but I have decided to take up French again as several fellow Brothers at my Lodge are native, French! Indeed, my Order "Le Droit Humain" is French, and was stated there over 100 years ago, so I think its only right I dip my toes back into this delightful language, so I can convers with my brothers, and in the hope of the odd trip to France!
I seem to pick up languages fairly easy, but I dont speak anything "fluent"...at school I picked up French ok but I was not considered good enough to go onto German! Ironically, while on a trip to Germany aged 14, I was almost fluent after a week!!!! Well, bit of an exageration there but I was going into bars with my dad and ordering beer and food in good German. My dad was very impressed!! I would have certainly liked to have go onto learn German properly at school and collage, but I was held back by my old school policy of not being taught German unless your French was proficient!! Silly realy!!
During my time backpacking, I picked several usefull phrases of about 7 different languges. Namely, Nepalese, Tibetian, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, and my favorite Bhasa Indoniesian!! I say this is my favorite as it is a very easy language to learn!! and I spoke it on several subsequent trips to Bali and Java! The Neplaese came in very handy on the Everest trek too, as did Tibetian as Everest is in the Solu Khumbu region which is inhabited by Tibetan Sherpa's!
"Raksi Laygyo!!"
Was my favotire...it means "I am DRUNK!!" in Tibetan
It's great learning a few basics of a language though, when your traveling! Even if its just pleasentries and hello and goodbye. Interacting with the locals is much better too!
So French it is! well for now, anyway!
It will certainly take my mind off the impending move back to our own house in a few days. On that note the decoration is just about compleate and we had the survayers in today from our fitted bedroom company, Hammonds. The house is starting too look excellent and not like a builders atomic explosion!! Thank goodness!!
ta ta!! x
Opps.......forgot to charge my ipod for tonight........*buggers off to charge ipod*
About me!!..........
Barm pot, and Tudor history obsessive! Travel addict who has authored articles for Lonely Planet travel guides, namely Everest Base camp trek, and has written for the Travel Trade Gazette! Dr Who manic weirdo, widely outspoken!! Expert Port artist and perfected in the arts of sprouting crap and making strange observations! Passionate lover of horror movies and science fiction. Freemason and proud of it! Loves all the arts and sciences and all things Masonic! Often has difficulty in making sense due to huge amounts of said Port! Enjoys cooking! Is an active member of PETA and IFAW and campaigner for animal rights. Collector of odd looking Troika pottery. Owned by a huge furry French Sheep dog called Sirius and bonded in matrimony to quiet, non drinking university educated, hippy backpacker and banker, Derek F. Harrison! has no sprogletts! and is now a lounging, lush lady of leisure!!
