We got home on Saturday afternoon. We were away for a week - did you not notice? Did you miss me as much as I missed you?

We had a great time - more details will have to follow later as I am far too tired to start updating now but I know a couple of people will be waiting to hear news of Nanna so this is just a quickie to keep you going.

Nanna has had her plaster casts taken off her wrists this afternoon, has had more scans over the past couple of days and has been told she is nearly ready to be downgraded to our more local hospital. This is good news, especially for Papa who is driving twice a day to the big hospital in Belfast and that starts to take its toll on on even the youngest of people. It is also better to have her in her own home town - even for her own *head*.

While we were away we had a call from Lesley saying that Nanna had had a very bad night - I think it was Saturday last week. She had had a heart attack and was now smitten with pneumonia and had been wheeked away off to the high dependancy ward. That actually was a good thing - she had one-to-one care there and was put on to a higher dose of antibiotics etc and got much better much quicker there. We were almost sorry when she was well enough to leave that ward a couple of days later.

They now reckon there is a possibility that she had some level of heart attack that made her fall down the stairs in the first place. That kinda fits doesn’t it?

Some of you will remember the events of this time last year - it is a the anniversary of Denis’ death today, although he had his *attack* on the 17th and most of us think of that date as when he actually left us. Nanna seemed aware of the date tonight when we were there but thankfully she didn’t seem as upset about it as we have been fearing for the last few months. Funny old world huh?

In other news: the shed is built and painted and ready for kitting out for TEH CHICKENZ YAY!!! Can you WAIT? OMG I CAN’T!!!!

Tags: Holidays

That's me back then. Did you miss me? Much?

I've been away to Jacqui's for the KT Tunstall concert. Jacqui bought me the tickets as an early birthday present. You haven't forgotten about THAT have you?

The weekend kinda started two years ago when I saw KT Tunstall was coming to Belfast. I immediately went online and ordered three tickets, not having anyone in particular in mind to go with. How disappointed I was when no one I knew was all that interested in going with me. One person actually said "KT Tunstall? Oh no! I hate her!" no beating about the bush there then!

Nearer the time I still hadn't received the tickets and when I went online to check it out - there was no record of me purchasing any tickets, no money had been debited from my credit card and it looked like the whole thing had been a bad dream!

Jacqui remembered all that and when she saw the tickets for KT in Newcastle (and no planned dates for Belfast) she bought them without even asking me first.

I left on Friday night amidst all sorts of flight delays - when we landed we had to wait for the steps to be brought round, then they only brought one set and all the poor people anticipating a rear disembarkation had to turn and wait their turn for the front steps. And wait. And wait. As they also only sent one bus. Which had to take the first load to the arrivals and then come back for the second load.

While waiting, most people turned their phones back on and one woman made a call which started with a very loud "Ho Ho Ho" which had the rest of us giggling away. Finally I made it on to the bus, to be taken 500 yards to beside another just-landed plane. As there was a zebra-crossing the bus driver waited for those passengers to walk past him before moving again. I swear he waited as the last passenger stood up from their seat, made their way down the aisle, trotted down the stairs and sauntered across the zebra-crossing before moving off again. We only had to move a further 20 yards before we were at the arrivals door - it would have been much quicker to have left the bus and walked! I think he was having a laugh.

On Saturday Jacqui and I headed out to The Angel Of The North. A place we have driven past before but I had never visited. Arrgh - the PEOPLE there! There weren't many but the ones who were there insisted on having their family reunion right bang in the middle of my photo opportunity! Didn't they KNOW who I was? We spent a while there taking all sorts of photos, watching most of the posers grin at their partner whilst stretching their arms in true Angel mode, mightily pleased with themselves that they had dreamed up such an original stance!

Saturday evening saw us at Newcastle City Hall for the KT concert. We had each admitted that we weren't all that excited about the concert. There was something missing from the excitement factor - a complete lack of anticipation. Or something. Completely by chance two of Jacqui's hockey friends had booked tickets right next door to ours. Perhaps the thought of meeting them for drinks before hand was throwing me slightly but they cried off at the last minute.

King Creosote was the support band. I had never heard of them before but quite liked them. They were funny, I liked the music but there seemed to be a lack of energy from them. We joked at the size of their drum set - it looked like something a wee lad would get for his 13th birthday. This was in complete contrast to the full size kit KT's band had!

There was something very endearing about KT. I know she says it every night - but she really did seem to genuinely want to be there and want to perform for us. She commented on the lovely weather we had had all day and how she had been out on the town (sorry, toon) and had been recognised by a local band - she really did seem chuffed by that.

The highlights of her chat were when she asked the producer, several times, for updates on the Rugby score and when she encouraged 6 people (three lots of couples) to move seats to empty ones in front of her, right at the front. She assured them that IF the people EVER turned up she would take great pleasure in humiliating them. They never did turn up!

I have listened to her new album a few times, not liking it as much as Eye To The Telescope but there were plenty of familiar songs to listen to on the night so she must have played many from the old album - or I have heard the new album enough for it to have sunk in by now!

In the middle she sacked the band and appeared on her own, with her guitar and played my all time favourite KT song - Throw Me A Rope. I have listened to this song many times but it just did not occur to me that she would sing such a quiet song, without the band, at the concert and it just blew me away. So much so that I blubbed through the last couple of verses.

So throw me a rope to hold me in place
Show me a clock for counting my days down
Cause everything's easier when you're beside me
Come back and find me
Cause I feel alone

She came back on for an encore of two songs - one of which was The Bangles' Walk Like An Egyptian. It was a great song for us and she seemed to really enjoy playing it.

I hadn't bothered to take my camera with me but pocketed Jacqui's compact before leaving the house - just in case. The photos I took were so bad they were good! I love some of the weird effects I got - might not have taken one single clear photo of her - but I got some cool effects!

Last time I was in Newcastle I fell in love with the Baltic Mill and took loads of photos there as well as seeing a couple of exhibitions. We were headed to The Sage this time on Sunday afternoon and I fell in love all over again with the inside of the building. I love a couple of the shots I got there.

We went to the cinema to see The Kingdom starring Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx . It was, perhaps, a little more political than my norm but it was a good action movie and had quite a familiar feel to it for anyone who has watched Alias. Although, I don't recall ever seeing Jennifer quite that scared in Alias.

On Monday afternoon we nipped in to a local pub to have a quick lunch but ended up staying for hours, playing pool! We had a great giggle at some of my fluke shots. I potted many more balls than Jacqui. The only trouble was, not all of them were mine. I really shouldn't have potted that many of HERS and strictly speaking potting the black is a bit of a no-no. We had great food and great fun. After beating her hands down at the Air Hockey last time, it was only fair that I let her find a game she could beat me at. Wasn't it?

Crikey, 5.30am comes early in the morning! We left the house before 6am for my return flight this morning and back at home by breakfast. The pilot was incredibly chatty, explaining that someone hadn't grasped the "rocket science that is *getting to the gate on time*" and why we had to wait for their bags to be off loaded before we could go anywhere, giving weather reports, traffic reports ("I had a good look at the motorway traffic over Belfast") and general traffic advice ("If I were you I would give the motorway a miss and seek an alternative route") and by the time we taxied in to position I was still asleep enough to be thinking "Just drive Fly-Boi and less of the chat."

I don't do *cheery in the mornings*.

So - good weekend all round. Great concert. Great craic. Great photo opportunities. And all thanks to surprise tickets from Jacqui - had she asked me if I wanted to go to KT Tunstall in Newcastle I would have said I would wait until she made it to Belfast. I am so glad she didn't ask. It was one of the best concerts I've been to and much better than anticipated.

Tags: Holidays, Jacqui, Weekend Break, Concert

TA DA . . . I'm back . . . Did you miss me?

After a quick scoot to Manchester Airport to be picked up by Jacqui on Monday morning to Nik's Country, two Apple stores (nope- Stuart WASN'T working in the Arndale one Bah-Humbug-Didn't-He-Know-I-Was-Coming-Just-To-See-Him?), a wander round Manchester's Arndale Shopping Centre, went up in the Wheel (and again and again and again doesn't this thing ever stop?) then Meadowhall near Sheffield, a Wild Goose Chase round Sheffield then a blistering hot day trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the Andy Goldsworthy Exhibitions and finally on to Newcastle for a little night time photography of the bridge and some day time photography of the Baltic Mill and the different exhibitions currently there *draws breath* I am back.

We had a great time, packing in the events in a relaxed pace so that I feel rested and topped up with culture after the many exhibitions we visited. I managed to take quite a few photos with perhaps 30 which I really love. Most of my favourites were taken in Baltic Mill and I would love to go back there again. I need to go back to their book shop - it was absolutely mega and I had to distance myself from the fantastic books I saw because I had hand luggage only and after buying presents for the kids and a new camera bag for myself - I was going to struggle getting my hold all up and over my head in to the over head lockers as it was. Next time though. . .

There is certainly more in that general area of Newcastle / Gateshead to be explored on future visits.

I will most definitely have a separate post about the YSP exhibition. I have quite a few things to say about it - bordering on a rant! So watch out for that later on.

A couple of items worthy of mention. . .

Much to my great delight I am featured in a magazine this month (the September issue) in a beautifully written piece about me and my love of Macs. It's a lovely addition to my scrapbook. Thanks Chris!

Iain did indeed pick up his new car while I was away - I came home in a completely different vehicle to the one which ferried me to the airport. He seems to really like it - the journey from the airport to the house was filled with me being shown all the knobs and switches and the fantastic 50.9 miles per gallon on the trip counter. Once more we have three cars in the drive way - let's hope the old one gets sold before IT rusts away!

On the return flight the guy sitting in front of me had the Threadless t shirt Sally Finds A Stray while I was wearing my Communist Party but I see that they have a hoody in that design now and I really quite fancy that - being red and all . . . Which brings me nicely to the fact that, if you are really quick, you can catch the last couple of days of a $10 sale at Threadless. I am very tempted to go looking at the ones I haven't seen - I haven't been paying an awful lot of interest to the new t shirts this past while - but - where do you stop? I could spend a fortune there if I started looking!

And - the kids go back to school on Monday and I can not wait to get back to work full time again. Plus, Jessica is going in to P4 which means she stays in until the same time as David now - I could actually do an almost full day at work and come home early . . . we'll see how this pans out over the next while.

That's it for now. . . I'll work on the YSP post later.

Tags: Holidays, Photos

I typed all that last entry out and the next time the laptop was turned on certain keys on the keyboard had stopped working. The letter i and k, the comma and the left and right arrows were all dead. It made for very annoying typing so I gave up trying to keep a record of what we were doing.

On Tuesday afternoon we received a phone call from Iain's sister to say their brother was terribly ill and the prognosis wasn't good. He was rushed to hospital and has been unconscious since. After several phone calls back and forward it was decided that there was "nothing to be gained" by us going home so we stayed put for the night, only to have an early morning phone call to say to come home.

The 7 hour journey TO Killarney became a 6 hour journey FROM Killarney.

Iain is away to sit with the family in the relative's room while I hold the fort here. There isn't much more to say until we hear what the doctors say tomorrow.

Tags: Killarney

It took us HOURS to drive here. The AA had it at 5 hours 15 minutes on the directions print out but, even with NO break for lunch, only one very quick stop at some very dirty toilets and an aborted drive in to the McDonald's car park and back out again, it still took us 7 hours to do the trip.

When we stopped at the toilets Jessica started to run round the car several times, with exaggerated leaps and bounds. When we looked at her she explained "I am just stretching my legs." I don't think I have ever actually seen anyone doing it - normally it is a phrase! Strange child!

We found the house with medium difficulty. The instructions from the roundabout were spot on - we just had to find the roundabout first!

The owner was waiting to show us around one of his two houses. We reckon he is German and I think I can see a non-Irish influence around the house. that may be based on the German books in the bookshelves though!

The house is like the Tardis - looks very small on the outside but has a double bedroom and two singles, two bathrooms, sitting room (complete with Sky yay! that'll keep the kids quiet in the mornings), a dining room with the most thread bare rug you ever did see, a utility/ back door/ room and a kitchen with a dining area made up with a pine table and pew type seats. In the corner of the dining room is a spiral staircase which the owner seemed quite excited about. He literally made us go up them to see what was up there in the attic. Another double bedroom in the cutist wee room. I assumed David would claim the upstairs room and even thought both the kids would want to sleep there together but David claimed the double room downstairs and Jessica instantly fell in love with one of the single rooms. It has compartments under the bed which she earmarked for her stuffed toys. That left the trip up and down the spiral staircase for us. Yay - my favourite thing in the world. NOT.

It is all very nice, everything is pine clad - the doors are all pine with glass (weird in the bathroom!) the walls are pine, the ceilings are pine, the kitchen is pine - it is all very piney! Most of the furniture is pine too. It looks like the furniture has been gathered from various relatives over the years as and when they finished with them. Saying that, everything is very comfortable and will be more than ample for the week we are here.

I loved the box of Cherry Bakewells and bunch of flowers in the kitchen and the milk in the fridge and the tea bags and coffee in the cupboard. This all served to make it feel more like home very quickly.

The kids were delighted with the fish pond in the garden. The garden is fairly large and looks like it has been someone's pride and joy up to recently - there is even a wee secret corner with two areas of vegetables growing. I wonder if the owner comes here regularly to tend it all. The pond is very well stocked with fish of all sizes and has an industrial strength net over the top of it to keep the herons out.

As soon as we got unpacked we headed out at 5.30pm for our lunch! We couldn't believe the hoards of people walking - there had been signs for a concert and we had driven past loads of people parking on the road sides and walking. Later we found out that Pink was in concert for one night - Killarneyhas been having a Summerfest and this was one of the main features of it.

We walked around Killarney to let David look for toy shops - once more Nanna and Papa have given them holiday spending money and David in particular is anxious to get rid of it as soon as possible. We have just realised that it was Jess' birthday last week, remember Jessica bought her with Nanna's spending money last year? I lead the family in a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday there - did you join in?

The owner-guy had told us where to find internet access in the town but when I popped my head in to the two establishments neither had wireless access. I am going to have to work out how to link the laptop up with their ethernet connection - yea - I know it can be done but I am never too clever in setting that sort of thing up - usually relying on someone else to do it for me.

I took some photos around the town - the weather was gorgeous and there are a couple of the shots I am really happy with.

This morning Iain woke and creaked his way across the pine floor, opened the pine door and creaked even more down the spiral staircase. I half opened an eye and then went back to sleep. It is now midday and they want to go out now. The kids are all breakfasted, dressed and Sky-ed up for the day. They have chosen where we are going and all it would take is for me to get dressed and pack up the car and go.

I just need to tell you about the toilets. And their Inspection Shelves. Everyone is fascinated with the inspection shelf. It is all very weird and ummm well - weird! Although I have read about them before this is the first time I have ever seen them. You will be very glad to hear that even I can't bring myself to take a photo of them. Yet.

Off to see a Golden Eagle now - more later!

Tags: Killarney, Holidays

Just in case you aren't aware (for it seems that I have only been informing people on a need-to-know basis!) we are off for a few days to Killarney and will be out of touch for a while. It seems that it was more important to Iain to find accommodation which allowed dogs than it was for him to ascertain if there was internet connection, so I am going with a laptop, not knowing if I will be able to connect anywhere. Some people just don't understand priorities huh?

We have been well informed that Killarney is a beautiful part of Ireland and well worth visiting. We realised today that apart from one weekend in Galway many years ago through Iain's work, we have never actually been further south than Dublin! In a mad rush of blood to the head this afternoon I found myself in the local town in one of the two bookshops looking for tourist books for the area we are going to. It took me ages to find IRELAND - who would know they don't group them alphabetically? They don't even seem to group them by continent! In fact, looking at the photo I took it seems someone made the decision to group them by colours - Ireland falling in to the "Pretty Blues' collection.

Not believing the first shop could possibly be giving me the best value for money, I nipped next door to the second shop and found an equally disorganised array of land masses there and that the first shop had not lied to me. Back to the first shop and at the last moment I found one book that had nicer photos and diagrams than the others - joy of joys - when I got to the till there was 25% off the marked price too!

We are now setting forth at the ungodly hour of 8am (so Iain says - muhahahaha) with a guide book in the glove box and I hope to give it to David to read on the five hour journey. He can glean the information we need while I read some of the 14 magazines that I packed. I actually raised an eyebrow at Iain tonight when he laid two AutoCar mags out to pack and said "Are you taking BOTH of those?" Little did he know what will be under MY feet!

Little does he know that I have a laptop bag AND a camera bag still to be packed. Once the clothes, bags, food and dog are in the car there will be no room for the children.

Oh dear. Never mind. Eh?

Speaking of adorable children. You wanna see my beautiful niece? Isn't she the most gorgeous girl ever? And so blonde! We need more blondies in our family!

Ok ok ok - I give up - she is so adorable I WILL have to go and see her - when I get back from all my galavanting I WILL book a ticket. I promise! So long as the invitation is still open!

Now tell me you didn't stare at that wee cutie unable to drag your eyes away!

Catch you later!

Tags: Holidays, Books

Jacqui came to visit for the weekend. It was really just an excuse for her to have a look at my ART! while it was still at the exhibition but we managed to squeeze in a couple of movies too. A chunk of her weekend was lost due to a delay in her flight to us.

On Saturday we went over to the exhibition with Jessica and had the pleasure of the company of one of the guys working there. He wandered round with us and gave us his opinions on many things. Including the ART! We were just looking at one of the framed exhibits when Jessica sneezed and had a nose bleed at the same time. She doesn't have a great track record with art!

We had a great moment in Subway when one of the staff "moved on" a young guy who had saved himself four whole seats for him and "his mate" while we were having to stand to eat.

Last week Iain and I took the kids to see Pirates of The Caribbean with neither of us realising that I was the only one us with any chance of understanding any of it as the kids had never seen the second film and after a little head scratching it was discovered that Iain had never even seen the first one!

Thankfully Jacqui and I had better luck with Oceans Thirteen - I hadn't seen Twelve but it didn't seem to matter much. It was a grand film - probably wont need to see it again soon but it was a good way to sit through a very large bucket of popcorn!

On Sunday Iain packed a picnic and we headed off to walk the dog round a lake. Bailey was cool enough, being able to swim in the water but the rest of us slowly roasted ourselves to a crisp.

After tea we headed up to the airport only to be told there was another huge delay on Jacqui's return flight. A quick chat with the easyJet girl (who was bored out of her skull) got a free transfer to Monday morning rather than Sunday night so we headed back and rented Casino Royale for the three of us to watch when the kids went to bed. Jacqui and I had seen it before but it was a first viewing for Iain and I *think* he enjoyed it. Perhaps it was better on the large screen though.

Today, in work, I had a great shoot with a mother and her ten month old wee man. Some of the photos turned out well, but the best bit was knowing that I had looked after her properly after she had had a terrible shoot with my main competition in the town. i took time to show her some of the photos on the laptop before she left and she genuinely seemed delighted. Hopefully she will spread the word. That gave me a little (work) lift which has been much needed.

Tomorrow is the Feedback / Final Marks / Lunch Out with the Tutors / Last Day of the Whole Course EVER and I am feeling rather emotional about it all. It is hard to think that I wont be seeing these people on a weekly basis from now on and I have to admit to feeling a little lost and "at sea' now, knowing that the tutors wont be there to give me the support that they have been providing over the last couple of years.

It is unlikely that I will get through the lunch without a few tears.

Tags: Jacqui, HND, Films

Last week I went to London, in theory as part of a college field trip but as things turned out I didn't see much of the other students. Or many photographic exhibitions. Everything is starting to become a little hazy as time and other incidents take over so all the sentences I had gathered in my head, ready to blog with, are fading. Here are a *few* pointers as to what happened then.

Monday.

Maaike and I flew to London Stansted with David F (from our course). We all travelled in to London via the Stansted Express with David being so lovely to us by making sure we were ok and taking our heavier bags. We said goodbye to David there and after a few texts and phone calls we met up with brother David for a while.

We walked a long way in THIS direction and then a long way in THAT direction. It was lovely to see him. We have only had one brief day together since his wedding over a year ago and even then his mind was on other things. It is always lovely to see him. I wish we lived closer to each other.

We went to the Mecca of Geeks, the Apple Store on Regent Street so I could jump the queue at the Genius Bar with my poorly PowerBook. This worked well, in as much as we jumped, but there was no satisfaction of any sort as I got a "If you haven't got Apple Care you haven't got a hope!" from the very helpful guy. At least he told me that the part I need is going to be around £500 so I can move forward with plans now rather than hope that the fault I have is going to go away. I can't believe I was in THE Apple Store and didn't buy anything. David was not at all impressed with the splendour of all things Apple.

We headed to one of David's favourite eating joints and had the best chips ever, before joining the throngs in the Tube to make our way to my cousin Chris and his wife Jenny's flat. I have never seen so many people squashed into one capsule as I have at rush hour in London. It was funny to watch the people bend their heads out of the way when the curved doors closed - it was THAT well packed!

We crossed at the lights, watching Chris checking out of the window for us. OMG he is so like his Dad. I know he wont thank me for saying it - but I screamed it in my head the whole time! And suddenly we were there! At the flat. The base for the next few days.

We had coffee and chat with C&J until bed time. I have to say they are lovely people. That sounds so silly now - but I went to bed thinking it and wondering why I have never met them before and why they aren't part of my REAL life just my BLOGGING life.

We had a discussion about the lack of mirrors in their flat . . . Ok - I understand that they prefer not to put up mirrors that might be left behind but next time I call round I fecking want to see my fecking poster on the fecking wall DUDES.



And so to bed.

And so not to sleep.

OMG I HAVE NEVER HEARD SO MUCH TRAFFIC! It was constant. I counted 23 million sirens in the first hour. The last thing Jenny said to me before I left home was "It is V noisy here". I didn't quite believe her. For some reason I persevered with iPod and headphones for the first night. I never sleep well the first night I am away anyway.

Tuesday.

By the time we got up and showered and out of the flat we had missed meeting up with the rest of the group at the first exhibition. We made our way to the second one at the Victoria and Albert but thought it wasn't all that great. The group had decided to leave the museum to go on to a third one but we wanted to do our own thing and quickly realised we were more interested in the V&A and wandered round that for a long time. The big bonus, and something we have never come across before, was the total openness of being able to photograph ANYTHING (except the photographs in the exhibition - which I did anyway. . .! ). We went a bit mad.


The good thing about photographing with Maaike is that she reminds me of the things I already know when I start to blank, thinking I don't know anything. That will be what I remember about the V&A. Her talking me through things.

On the way out of the V&A we saw a queue forming for Kylie exhibition and realised that SHE herself would be there that evening to open the show but we were going to miss her by about an hour or so. Shame. I would have kinda liked to have seen her.

We walked on to the Natural History Museum to have a look at the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition but I had to take a long phone call from Iain about his Dad, his Dad's poorly car and the loan of MY car from the airport car-parking back at home. Several phone calls later I realised that it is quite easy to steal cars from "secure car parking" if you can bluff your way through a few details. Try it and see. If you end up in prison don't blame me.

This made us late for the exhibition and, really, we loved the V&A so much that we decided to cut short our visit and return another day.

Our next stop was the first of two shows that Maaike had booked for us. This one was the one I was really looking forward to, having NOT seen it on a previous occasion: Mamma Mia. I really enjoyed this show. This has got to be one of my favourite evenings ever. The show was perfect, the story line unexpected (I knew it had Abba songs in it and that was about it!) and the whole experience just magical for me. It will never be repeated because next time I will know what is coming but the way the songs were woven in and manipulated to fit the story line just had me in fits of laughter and on two occasions, in tears too. To go to this show again is definitely on my To Do list sometime.

I was really pleased with myself when I recognised one of the actors as a tv actor. It bothered me the whole first half and when I got a chance to check the program during the interval it was the guy I thought it was. Little things like that please the hell outta me!

On the way home we passed by Piccadilly Circus and stood for ages in the biting cold (seemingly there was snow forecast for later in the week) waiting for a particular Coca-Cola image to appear on the signs there but after "just another minute" and "count to 20 and then we will go" eventually I had to concede defeat and head for the heat of the Tube again.

With the benefit of hindsight, as soon as I hit the sheets I inserted ear plugs and hardly heard anything all night. Ear plugs are quite comfy after the first wee while and certainly made a difference to my sleep.

Wednesday.

I had a fairly surreal experience first thing on Wednesday morning. Waking early at 7.50am, busting for the loo, I managed to hold off for a while, not wanting to interrupt Chris and Jenny's morning routine. Finally popping my head out the door I could see the bathroom door was open so decided they must have finished. I nipped down the stairs and still in a sleepy befuddlement walked into the bathroom where there was a lovely, full, steamy bath waiting for me. I stood and blinked at it for a moment deciding whether I should go with my instinct and totally steal it out from the "runner / owner". I didn't get a bath until Sunday afternoon but had been pining for one since then!

Wednesday was our "day-off" from exhibitions. We did a bit more walking up and down streets and a few more Starbucks, then headed for show number two. This one wasn't my choice - it was the one Maaike had been hankering after: Wicked. The story is that of the witches' lives from The Wizard of Oz in the run up to the story we know. I sat for a while watching it, not as engrossed as I had been in the first show and then all of a sudden the whole Wow Factor hit me and I was a fan.

This is a completely different kind of show to Mamma Mia which had very simplistic sets. Those sets are what I have been used to previously so the elaborate sets of Wicked were eye opening. In both shows I was blown away by the way the actors used ALL of the stage and jumped around and of course Wicked had flying monkeys!

To be honest. I never REALLY liked the Wizard of Oz. It was just something we had to watch every year at Christmas and I can't say I have seen it much since I became an adult. Wicked REALLY opens your eyes to the Wizard of Oz and I wouldn't mind seeing the film again sometime soon to fill in the rest of the story.

We had another Starbucks.

We were home again fairly early on Wednesday night and sat and watched an episode of a dvd before toddling off to bed.

Thursday.

All hell broke loose on Thursday. It started with snow and ended with tears. I can't really be bothered going in to it all again, I have told the story enough to sicken myself to my stomach. Basically we missed our flight home due to a combination of bad typing, bad luck and bad timing. Another night in London could have been fun, had we been able to get back to the flat but by the time we knew we had missed the flight we were miles away on the other side of London, with tears in our eyes and lumps in our throats.

We had spent a normal enough day re-visiting the Natural History Museum to see the Wildlife exhibition, gaining entry as students even though we have never been issued with student id. The guy was very kind! The photos were much more up our street and there were some lovely images there.

We even made it back to the V&A to have another look around there and browse in the gift shop.

We made our way back to Liverpool Street Station and then, eventually, after being asked to change trains and platforms sat on the Stansted Express for far too long.

Upon making it to the easyJet desk we found the flight had closed and we were on the wrong side of the departure gate. There was no way they were going to relent so we booked on to another flight the next day from Luton.

We booked into one of the most expensive hotel rooms I have ever been in. Strike that. It WAS the most expensive hotel room I have ever been in by £30. I had a miserable night bogged down by all the guilt and annoyance and more annoyance that a great week away had been spoiled by a few minutes stuck on a train. The hotel was so expensive and we were so annoyed, we didn't even bother looking at the restaurants that were still open, preferring instead to wait til morning for food. Had I realised then that the room had a mini bar, I may have lost all will power and guzzled whatever there was there, before going to sleep!

Friday.

Friday saw us boarding a bus and making our way to Luton. It didn't take all that long; thank goodness for iPods. By the time we had checked in and asked for a window seat (as if) and moaned about the day before to the girl, who then took pity on us and stuck us in Group B for the first time EVER there was time for lunch and another episode of a dvd on the laptop in Starbucks before making our way to the plane.

And so you would think my misery would end there. "That is enough misery for one trip" I hear you crying but no. Noooo. I had Pervy Passenger from Hell sitting beside me on the flight. He started off badly with an opening line of "Well, is this mother and daughter travelling together?" and it rapidly went downhill from there. It wouldn't be so bad, but it isn't the first time I have heard this and it is starting to piss me off. Well, it DID that time anyway. He then went on to hold out his wrist for me to smack it (ew) and wanted to shake pinkies with me when he introduced himself (ew ew). Meanwhile Little Miss ChatterBox In The Window Seat is telling him FAR TOO MUCH INFORMATION like why we were in London and he turns to me and says "Oh, is this photography course a "change of life" thing?" My brain was screaming "Oh just feck off - can't you see I don't want to talk to you?"

He managed to drag some further information out of me like where I live, what my name is, what children I have (other than the 25 year old beside me) in a rapid succession of questions. Each one making me more and more annoyed. I absolutely hate to be questioned like this. Finally he must have taken the hint when he said to me that I was very defensive looking sitting with my arms crossed like that and I turned to him with a raised eyebrow and said "You think?"

More giggles from the window seat.

Afterwards it was pointed out to me that this was the most unfriendly I have ever been to anyone and I think that is possibly correct.

My annoyance was well grounded though as the guy turned out to be the biggest prat of all time with the crew which made me so happy that it wasn't just me being unfriendly.

We made it home. The End.

Here are some Things from my time away.

Weirdest Thing: Only seeing C&J one night even though we were in their house for so long - that was truly weird!

Surprising Thing: How lovely C&J were. That will stay with me for a while.

Geekiest Thing: C&J's Mac Mini TV set up. I want.

Best Advice: Don't drink coffee that your personal coffee taster hasn't tasted yet and beware kitchens with open salt containers.

Sexiest Moment: Showering in front of a window. Go with it. It is sexy, after a while.

Most Expensive Thing: The second hand PowerBook that I bid on eBay and accidentally won. Eeek!

Worst Thing: My SORE feet. Did I tell you I had sore feet?

Best Meal: Got to be the Chicken Burrito we shared on the first day - it was truly gorgeous.

Best Starbucks: The "Surprise Me Vanilla Latte"

Worst Thing: My SORE feet. Did I tell you I had sore feet?

Newest Thing: Mascara.

Most Surreal Thing: That bath. Weren't you listening?

Thing To Put Your Trust In: Maaike reads maps well. Just let her get on with it and don't bother yourself feeling guilty about making her do all the work.

Most Troubling Thing: That I was in the Apple Store TWICE and didn't buy anything. Dammit.

Best Money Spent: The £6 for the left-luggage at Liverpool Street Station.

Worst Thing: My SORE feet. Did I tell you I had sore feet?

Longest Thing: Regent Street. Maybe not the first time, or the second time but by the fifth time it gets very long.

Best Place: The V&A

Best Moment: Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong.

Worst Time: Not the one you would have expected.

Worst Row: Us? Row? T'uh.



Best Time: The Whole Thing.

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After making it to the ferry we had a fairly uneventful journey from St Malo to Poole. There was a young family sitting at the table opposite us with a very young toddler. Iain reckoned they were Spanish. I reckoned they were Polish. . . it was 9pm after a very long day! The wife spoke a little English anyway so our kids had great fun lending their doggies to the baby and she took great delight in stroking them and pretending to bark. They *got off* at Jersey and their seats were not filled so we had the whole table to ourselves. I tried to keep the kids occupied by playing Old Maid and reading comics so Iain could sleep as much as possible.

On the Poole to St Malo crossing Jessica asked for beans and mash for her tea but the girl said "If it isn't on the menu we can't do it. . . " Jessica was devastated. How hard would that have been to organise? On the St Malo to Poole crossing there was a girl with a bit of common sense. We didn't bother asking for the beans - Jessica wanted mash and frankfurter sausage which she had taken a shine to in France. The girl asked "Would you like some extra beans on that?" and when she brought the dish back she had two dollops of mash at the top, a sea of beans and a long sausage arcing the plate. It looked like a face. She was well chuffed with herself and Jessica was delighted. I couldn't stop saying thank you to her - it is lovely when people take a bit of time on things like that. She didn't have to and her colleague certainly hadn't.

We hit Poole really late and once more Natalie decided to take us a really tortuous route towards Wales. I tried to remember village names along the way to look it up later to see how far out she took us out of our way but now I am home it hardly matters now.

There is nothing worse than trying to drive all night with everyone else in the car asleep - in fact it is downright dangerous! Bearing in mind Iain was doing all of the driving I tried to stay awake as much as possible to keep him company. I did quite well. Iain did a little better than me thankfully and apart from an emergency stop on one Welsh road to let a family of ducks cross the road there is little to report on for that journey. The real story was when we arrived at the Holyhead port.






We were something like 3 hours early so settled down for a little bit of a snooze. After being in the same clothes for what seemed like 3 days I managed to do a strip tease and changed most of my clothes in the front seat of the car! On the way out of the toilets at one point I watched two Irish gentlemen, possibly a father and a son, walking back to their car. It was a rather weird thing. I knew they were speaking English. I knew they were Irish. But for the life of me I couldn't make out a word they were saying. They could understand each other though and spoke rapidly and loudly to each other, through the terminal, through the car park and then got into the car in front of ours. One was dressed in trousers and jumper and the other had on a pair of ill-fitting shorts with a shirt on and wearing what looked like horse riding boots. They made a lot of noise on any of the surfaces the men were walking on. It just struck me as strange. For some reason I made a mental note of the car registration number. Something told me it had been stolen. For fear of being branded as politically incorrect, let me just indicate that these people gave me the feeling they were from the travelling community and were "Irish Chavs."

When the cars started rolling on to the ferry it was sudden and without much notice. The car in front had no one in it by then and we had to drive round it. We parked on the ferry and made our way to the lounge. Although we had originally been about fourth to arrive in front of the gates we were in the last ten cars to board the ferry. That means nothing unless you have children you will need to entertain around a table and a husband who will need to put his head down again.

We rushed to the food lounge where we had sat on the first ferry and found a seat easily. We settled down. After 3 minutes a family sat to our right with a very boisterous three year old who ran up and down and then started to bounce on the seats - making us jolt every time he landed. I looked around and saw a whole empty area further up to the right and said to Iain we could move up that way - but he told me the Irish people were just at the other side of that area which I couldn't see from where I was. He reckoned we should move to our left - closer to the food section. Which we did. David lay down. Jessica lay down. Iain sat opposite me reading a magazine and I sat on the extreme left of us all reading my book.

Shortly after I became aware of a granny and a mother sitting down beside us. Tut. There was hardly any room there - why did they want to sit beside ME? Hadn't they ever heard of personal space? Feck off would ye? They sat and it became obvious they were with the two gentlemen I had seen previously as they kept standing on the seat to shout over to Da and Paddy (I jest ye not). There must have been more than one car load of them as they hadn't been in the car in front of us.

I didn't make eye contact with them, thankfully I was engrossed in finishing my book. I did see another female joining them because I made the mistake of glancing up as she walked towards us. She was of my build (fat) with a figure hugging top that allowed her belly to hang out and a mini skirt that allowed her legs to hang out. Both the top and the skirt were white with black polka dots. OMG. Oh. I forgot to mention the white high heels she was wearing.

At final count there were five women and a child in a pushchair all around that table. They were loud. They let the child out and she started to climb over the seat I was on and finally came and fell into my shoulder. No one told her off or tried to get her off me. I was sitting there with her hanging on to my shoulder. What did the women do? They started to fed her her beans from a can (ok I made that bit up - the beans were on a plate) while she steadied herself by gripping my shoulder. It was surreal. FECK OFF.

Finally the child jumped down off the seat and I found out her name. It was "Shaddap." Every time she whined she was slapped and five women said "Shaddap" so it must have been her name. This carried on for some time.

I had to move away when the granny started to change the child's nappy on her knee right next to me. Give her her due, she did say "Sorry love" when she realised I was retching.

Finally the women became tired of trying to get her back into her pushchair so her mother picked her up by the sides of her head and lifted her off her feet and put her in the chair, buckling her in before she could wriggle free again. This was accompanied by another slap to the legs and when the child screamed she was told to shaddap again. Now. I know you will think I am joking. You will think I made that bit up. But I didn't. She was picked up off her feet by her head.

I read the same page about 6 times.

Finally I realised they had more or less all left the area, leaving behind only two of the women as Polka Dot Woman jumped up on the seat again to shout over the railing to say "Da, look after me pop would ye?" and away she flounced as fast as her white high heels would let her.

When it all quietened down I made eye contact with Iain and said the only thing I could think of to diffuse the situation for us.

"I am sooooo blogging this."

It took us about an hour to get through Dublin centre but then the next thing I knew we were going round the Newry Roundabout because umm I may have fallen asleep. Technically.

We came home to a pile of junk mail waist high which we still haven't opened. Perhaps the letter from the ferry company is in there telling us the sailing times have changed . . .

Read about the day we went to Mont St Michel in Brittany, France. See a few of the photos I took. Read More...

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Iain woke up early and trundled off with Jessica to go horse riding. David was supposed to go to the Quad bikes but his throat was too sore. Iain and Jessica came back a while later with bread and milk but not having any saddle sores - the places had been all booked up by the time they got there. Iain had booked both her and David into places for the next day though.

After my shower, I bent over to lift the towel off the floor and pulled something in my back - I was in agony all day. Mega sore. And mega embarrassing every time I had to get in and out of a seat.

In theory we then got ready and left to go to Concarneau - but - it all took some time and I don't think we were leaving until 1.30 or so.

We make good progress on the roads with Natalie the Sat Nav. We have worked out how to say "Save THIS place" when we are somewhere we want to go back to (like the Caravan - always handy to know how to get back to base!). She does take us the best route now we think after our little diversion in Wales at the beginning of the holiday. I can heartily recommend these machines now - don't leave home without one!

Concarneau has a walled older part of the town. We were there years ago with the folks and I am kinda sure we totally missed the centre attraction at least once. We think this is the third time we have been here and it hasn't really changed any. The walled centre is crammed full of old houses and and buildings - all home to shops now. I took the cameras with me this time and got loads of photos on the digital and a couple on the film / slide for next year's HND project.

David got hold of the wee camera (*with* memory card) and the camcorder and was very happy to be taking photos all day. Poor Iain burned. Jessica moaned. Jacqui shopped. And I took more photos, happy in the knowledge that some of them were crackers.







We then went for a wee drive down the coast - ending up at a Buffalo Grill for tea. This was the first establishment where the menu wasn't in English and the waitress (although very pleasant) didn't speak fluent English. We have been very spoiled on site so far. David could hardly eat anything because his throat was so sore. We try not to molly coddle the children too much but threats of "no ice cream" didn't make him eat any more.





When it came to choosing the three scoops of ice cream for us - Iain had vanilla, strawberry and something else pale in colour. I chose Chocolat, Chocolat and Chocolat. OMG! Was that Chocolat the most gorgeous ice cream ever?!!! HUH UH! Mind you - Jacqui's Chocolat Mousse was kinda nice too though - you see a common denominator here somewhere?

We stopped at a church on the way back and took some more photos, ending up coming home quite late again.

While Iain tried to fix Jessica's personal dvd player Jacqui and I looked through our photos. I hate looking through photos that I *think* are great - they are always so disappointing in the end. The ones I took are just not as good as they were in my head at the time. These ones are the best of a bad bunch. I like these ones - but thought they were all as good as these and they just weren't. Tut.

























Let me know what you think of them. . .


You will also be very relieved to hear that Iain found my iPod! I was starting to resign myself to the idea that it had been well and truly lost but he found it after some considerable searching by all of us - in a place Jacqui, David and I had all looked - my camera bag! I was in the throes of wording my insurance claim - I fancy one of those video ones. . . I shouldn't jest just in case!

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