What do you want to do?

A while back I posted on Facebook to watch this space. Yes, it has been a number of months and I wondered whether or not I would share the entire story with you, involving devil's advocate taxi drivers and cursed yoga sessions. I've opted for not sharing and just cutting to the chase. 

Back in April I attended a work event at The Star which featured a motivational speaker named Sebastian Terry who started a movement called "100 Things".

"What started as one man’s journey to find purpose in life has grown into a global movement of people chasing their dreams and helping others do the same."

As I listened to Sebastian talk about the death of a friend sparking the question "what would he have done if he knew it was coming?" I knew I wanted to get on-board. Even more-so when he spoke of the community element of helping one another tick things off. For every one person that says they want to do xyz he has 10 people saying they'd like to help people do xyz.

I decided I wanted to create my own community of family and friends writing lists and helping each other tick things off. Even better, helping each other tick things off which also benefit worthy causes and the greater community.

It's a simple idea. What do you want to do? Ok, at first it sounds hard, but once you write one thing, another comes to mind and before you know it your list is well under way.

My own list is not quite halfway there and so far I've ticked off three things. But it's no fun alone and I have things on my list which can’t be done on my own. Additionally, I want to help people tick things off their list! So let’s get listing and ticking!

Want to get involved? Here's how…

1. Visit www.100things.com.au
2. Create an account via Facebook or email (although Yahoo! doesn't seem to work)
3. Start creating your list. Need inspiration? Take a look at Sebastian's list
4. Check out my list and add me as a friend
5. Join Tanni's 100things Community

Home Sweet Home?

There is no doubt that beginning and ending an extended stay abroad is an emotional roller-coaster. Leaving your home country for an unknown life on the other side of the world is filled with excitement, anticipation & nerves, on top of a stack of life admin. But it’s all built on a foundation of adventure. Returning however, is not built on that same foundation; repatriation is almost more daunting than originally leaving. Anyone who sets off on such an adventure knows deep down that eventually this comes at a cost. All of a sudden you have two lives, two homes, and two lots of friends. And there will come a time when you have to make a long term commitment to either one or the other.

Knowing all along that I had a limited time, “what next?” was always on my mind. I constantly wondered whether I should/wanted to ask about sponsorship. I did know that whatever I chose to do following my two years would be a long term decision. I wasn't going to pursue extending for just another year. It was probably a good thing I had an expiry date which couldn't be extended easily, because it forced me to make a decision I didn't particularly want to make.    

For many wonderful reasons, Australia was my long term decision. So when two years were up, it was time to go. I wasn't ready. I had a happy little London life that I didn't want to change. I knew coming back was going to be hard and I was in denial for a while. I put off making arrangements and my London friends were about as interested in talking about it as I was. The best way I can explain it that initially, you expect to get back and feel like you’re home. But you don’t. You feel weird, foreign, out of place and homesick for the place you left. It’s a total reverse culture shock.

People expect you to be excited. Some think it should feel the same as returning from a holiday. And you feel bad for not showing a huge amount of enthusiasm straight up. For the first week I couldn't answer people's questions about how I feel without tears welling up. It got me wondering why I haven’t really heard past travellers talk about their own repatriation blues. Was it that they felt like it might hurt the people they've returned to by talking about how much they miss their old life on the other side of the world? Or maybe they just knew that unless you've done it, you don’t get it.

When my brother returned from Fiji after six months, all he wanted to do was sit on the floor to eat his dinner. This got me thinking… the more different the two places, the harder it probably is to settle back in. One of my biggest struggles so far is that I can’t get by without a car. I got used to solely relying on an excellent and extensive public transport network. 

It’s early days for me so I'm still searching for a way to talk about and look back on my London life without feeling the pangs of homesickness and whether I made the right choice. So far this is my best advice:

•  Don’t idolise either place because both have their flaws. It’s easy to remember the best of the place where you are not and the worst of the place where you are
• If you are planning to return, keep in good contact with the people you are close to back home as you will feel less like a stranger when you do go back
• Keep yourself busy with enjoyable activities and explore your new/old home like any other new arrival
• Try not to shut out or avoid hearing about what is happening in the place you left. Look at your pictures, talk about your time away and keep in contact with the people you became close to
•  Do your best to start establishing your new lifestyle as soon as you can. I am job-hunting at the moment and don't have a permanent home yet but as I'm sure that time will come I keep myself busy with fitness, catching up on two years of life with people, helping out family and friends where I can and staying up to date with my industry and professional knowledge   
• And if you are struggling, talk about it, don’t bottle it up

As a good friend of mine says, "is what it is", and my my father brought me up to live by the motto "it's not what happens to you, it's what you do about it". So I keep this in mind as I enter this new chapter and am grateful for and excited about the opportunity to really start afresh in my own city.

Maybe you’re thinking of setting off on an adventure of your own; maybe you have done and chose to stay, or like me returned to your motherland; maybe you are reaching the end of your adventure and preparing to repatriate; or maybe you are mid-adventure and have no idea what you want to do. What I have noticed in people who have spent extended time abroad, there are two common denominators – 1) the person that returns is very different from the person that left (usually for the better), and 2) regardless of how it has or might eventuate, there is rarely regret in the initial decision to go. I would say it was the best decision I ever made.

If you have repatriated, I’d love to hear your ways of coping … 

12 little things I won't miss about life in the UK

Just like I mentioned in my last post, part of the adventure of living on the other side of the world is adjusting to little everyday differences from home. When I was compiling my list of little loves and little loathes, it was much easier to think of the things I would miss over the things I wouldn't. Nevertheless, no place is perfect and there are some things about my UK life that I won't be sad to see the back of...

1. Dog poo & spit – If you ask me what I saw in London over the last two years, don’t be surprised if I say “not a lot, just footpaths really”. Because there are two filthy habits (i.e. spitting and not cleaning up after your dog) that cause me to constantly stare at the ground as I make my way through a minefield of gollies & poop.

2. News coverage – You know in Australia when you watch the news, you get news, sport and weather together. Over here, the news reports are usually limited to a few domestic stories, and there is often no sport report at all (especially on breakfast TV)! Obviously weather gets a big focus because it’s a bit of an obsession in Britain. But as a sport lover, I've found I have to seek out sport news, fixtures, results and details myself. E.g. The Ashes are on at the moment and unless you’re interested, you could easily avoid hearing about it.

3. British milk and beef – I used to love milk in Oz. I could easily drink a big glass on its own. But I find full cream here is thicker and creamier than Aussie whole milk, and semi-skimmed is too watery and not as nice. British beef (unless you go to a good restaurant) is just plain rubbish! Beef mince is awful and there’s basically no such thing as a beef sausage. The number one food I want when I get home is a beef sausage from our local butcher.

4. 6^th vs 6^th – Sixth [siksth] The ordinal number for six; one of six parts. Why is this even an issue? Because people don’t pronounce it properly! The correct phonetic spelling of 6th is siksth. That means you say six and then add th on the end, so six-th. There should be an S sound in the middle of the word.  It’s not sick-th!

5. Cool drinks – Sure the UK is not the warmest of places, but when I buy a cold drink, I still want it to be cold. Nothing worse than a coolish coke. They should be cold enough to produce condensation. Drink fridges have no doors on them so cold drinks are only ever cool at best, especially unsatisfying on the odd occasion when it’s actually warm.

6. Good weather hype – When a lovely day becomes headline news and the main topic of conversation I realise how much I took sunshine and Sydney weather for granted. While it’s nice to get excited about great weather, I won’t miss that mentality; I’d rather just have nice weather more often.

7. Phone reception – As soon as you enter many buildings you can say goodbye to phone reception! I'm pretty sure this isn't just my service provider because no one in our office gets a good signal.

8. Monthly pay – In Australia, fortnightly pay is the standard, whereas monthly pay is the norm over here. In my case it was the last Friday of the month. So first of all you have to be pretty good at budgeting to stretch your money evenly over 4 weeks. But then every few months, the pay period would be 5 weeks! Those were tough months.

9. A few things in my flat – I love my little homely flat I've shared with Kaitlin and Chloe, but there are a few things that annoy all of us, like the shower and the kitchen bench-tops and the fact that our plates don’t fit in our (now kaput) microwave.

10. Sunshine hours in winter – During the winter the sun rises at about 8:30am and sets at 4pm. This means that unless I went outside at lunch I could go through a working week having barely seen daylight!

11. Hard water – You often hear people talking about London water being quite hard. My hair hasn't coped well. It’s seemed really difficult to get clean and used to be super soft and dead straight. Now it’s not as soft and kinda frizzy if I don’t blow dry or straighten it.

12. The doorbell at work – My office was part of two buildings - #14 & #15. Reception is at #15 where all visitors need to register, except ours because we had a doorbell (with our logo on it). The following would happen numerous times every day... Doorbell rings. Get up to answer the door. Either no one is there (because AFTER they ring the bell, they read the sign that says go to #15) OR someone is there (who didn't read the sign at all) and asks for so&so from xyz! Staff at #14 know to tell their visitors to go to #15 so it used to really infuriate me, probably more than I should have let it to be honest.

They’re all quite trivial really, and none of them make me want to pack up and leave. However, I am packing up and leaving… in 3 days! Seems weird to end my UK blog on this note. But I'm sure you can tell from all my other stories that I'm not leaving on a low. Coming here was the best decision I ever made. And I think this blog will continue as the next chapter begins. My only regret is calling it Tania in the UK. Stay tuned for more stories. I might even catch up on a few of the adventures I haven't yet written down.

Until then... xoxo

12 little things I will miss about life in the UK

Life over the last 2 years has of course been an adventure, which is now sadly coming to an end. Part of the adventure is loving and loathing the small differences between everyday life in two different places. When we go away for a short or long period of time it's sometimes surprising how much those little things seem to matter. The following list contains the small, everyday things I will miss most about my life in the UK.

1. Football at the right time of day – I get back to Australia on the first day of the 13/14 English Premier League. And so begins life as a fan of a sport I can only watch live when I should be sleeping. Sadly, no more afternoons down at Stamford Bridge or The Famous Three Kings in West Kensington. I’ll have to settle with the highlights show down at the pub on a Monday night with Dad and the occasional middle of the night live stream.

2. Queen's Club Gardens garden – The last year I've been living in a residential square with a communal garden in the middle. When summer finally arrived, there was no better place to be than the residents’ garden – quiet, private, picturesque, speculating about the lives of the fellow residents, and best of all only one minute away from a clean bathroom and fully stocked fridge.

3. Off Licenses - Sometimes I just want one cider, or my house decides to share a hard earned bottle of wine in the evening… no problem, just a short walk down to the local corner store. And it's cheap! Can’t do that in Australia.

4. Oyster Cards – How great is it having a little card that you can top up any time and then swipe at any train station or on any bus. No paper tickets, just swipe and go. Can’t believe Sydney still doesn't have one of these.

5. The lack of creepy crawlies – It's no secret I'm terrified of spiders. There have been two small incidences with large (by UK standards) arachnids, but nothing like a lost huntsman in your car. I went to Derby recently and met my friend Amy’s five year old nephew Archie, who had no interest in going to Australia "because they have dangerous spiders there". Fair call mate, fair call. 

6. Different style night venues – I love the variety of nights out you can have in London…. feeling like partying to those songs that everyone secretly loves? Try Guilty Pleasures at KOKO or Club de Fromage. If you’re interested in intense trancy music, then Fabric is brilliant. And there are a load of traditional English pubs, intimate wine bars and trendy cocktails bars to suit all tastes. So basically, what I need is an investor to help me open up the ultimate venue in Sydney which changes theme and style each night.

7. Free lunch – If there are approximately 4 weeks in a month, 5 working days per week, and you spend £5 per day on lunch, that’s £100 per month… just for lunch! So imagine my delight at finding out that I could have free lunch every day down at one of our hotel’s staff canteens! The food was hit and miss (especially for gluten free requirements) but I can’t complain, it’s free lunch innit.

8. Sunshine hours in summer – At the longest point in summer the daylight hours go from about 4:30am until approximately 10:30pm! So many hours of sunshine to enjoy (when it’s not hiding behind clouds). The only downside is the feeling of dread when you're having a big night and are not home before it starts to show for a new day. I find that kinda depressing.

9. 4Music – I suffer from a little known condition called Musical Dementia. I basically have an inability to recall what a song sounds like from its title, who the artist is or what songs an artists does. Over the last 2 years I have been working very diligently to combat thisand a lot of it is thanks to 4Music! I usually have it on all weekend while I'm home and Sunday mornings are always great for a cracking countdown… such as the top ballads of the 90’s, top girl hits of the 00’s, 50 songs we all secretly love… etc. 

10. Exposure to accents – Having studied languages, accents are a big fascination of mine. The fact that Liverpool and Manchester are just 30 miles apart and have distinctly different accents astounds me. The Essex accent is hilarious and Welsh is quite musical. It took me quite a while but I think I can now correctly identify most of the unique accents across Britain. 

11. Using multiple cards to pay in a restaurant – You know in Australia, when you go out for dinner with friends and there’s always that dreaded part at the end where everyone needs the right amount of cash, or all but one pay cash and then one person puts the lot on their card? Not the case here. Going out for dinner with five friends and all of you need to pay with card? No problem! Six separate transactions at the table, each person paying their required amount! Incredible. 

12. Perfect queues – For someone who likes procedure & organisation, and shudders at crowds, a good queue restores all of my stress levels back to normal. And don't the Brits know how to queue! So polite and fair. When the Prince George was born, I wanted to go down to the Palace to get a look at the announcement. The only thing stopping me was the people crush I had seen on the news the night it was put on display. By the next morning when I arrived, there were two perfect lines, moving steadily and efficiently. I was so relieved! 

As I begin to pack my things, say goodbyes and close accounts, there will be many young Aussies preparing to embark on the same exciting adventure I began two years ago. Each experience will be different but I hope they can all have a positive experience of fun, adventure, learning, growing and finding their own little things they love... and hate. My list of things I won't miss coming up next...

Great (no, make that Awesome) Britain

One of the most common questions I come across when meeting new people, particularly British people is "Why would you leave Australia to live here?!". Loads of reasons, take a seat...

The Royal Family – There’s something magical about living in a country with a royal family. I work opposite Buckingham Palace Gardens and I must admit I sometimes have a moment… “Her Maj could be just on the other side of this wall!” With a wedding, diamond jubilee and now royal baby on the way, popularity has shot through the roof over the last couple of years. Also, I wonder what they think of the parody @Queen_UK and @Charles_HRH on Twitter. I personally think they’re hilarious!

Tea – In Australia, tea was never really on my radar. I’d have maybe 1 a week at best. My, how the tables have turned! In England you drink tea. You just do. There's even a tea council which promotes brewing the perfect cup. Great Britain consumes 165 million cups of tea per day. That’s an average of 2.6 cups per person. I consume less than average (about 2 per day) but when a tea craving hits me, it's a really hard one to shake. Lucky a cup is never too far away. 

The Countryside – Last year I took a road trip with my parents up north through the Cotswolds and Lake District. Yes, it rains a lot in the UK, but look at what you end up with! The only way I can describe it, and the line I often resort to when one of my senses are overwhelmed is that it quite simply made my eyes happy. Stunning rolling hills, beautifully tendered gardens and quaint villages with friendly locals.

Travel – London is the perfect base for European travel. And one of the major reasons for my relocation. I can go overseas for the weekend! In 18 months I have visited 14 European countries! Germany is my favourite for a number of reasons but I think my trip up to the top of Norway will be pretty hard to beat. I will be honest, I have hit a bit of a wall on the travel front in terms of exploring on my own. There are a few adventures planned for 2013 although they are based more on the company more than the place.

Comedy – There’s quite a significant difference between British and American humour. I am definitely more of a fan of British comedy. They’re a bloody funny race. Often sarcastic and delivered with a deadpan tone which seems to lack emotion. No subject is taboo when it comes to cracking a joke, although in general conversation, political correctness is vital. On TV, we can go back through the decades and consistently find hits from Fawlty Towers through to The Vicar of Dibley and Gavin & Stacey. And the comedy panel show market is surely flooded by now. There seems to be a new one every week! I quite enjoy QI, 8 out of 10 cats, Would I lie to you? and Room 101; while there is also no shortage of new fictional comedies such as Miranda, The Inbetweeners and Derek.  

  

Theatre – I have already posted a West End review so I won't go into detail, but I have loved theatre since a young age and I love that in London especially it’s a thriving industry with very high standards. There are new shows coming all the time and you can often get a ticket to see a good show live for the same price as a cinema ticket.

Football – Anyone that knows me, not even that well, probably knows I'm a football fan. I'm talking about real football, as in soccer. Games sell out, not only at the top of the Premier League, but also in the numerous divisions below. You don't see this in any code in Australia. One thing I have slightly struggled with is that culturally it’s predominantly a guy’s thing. I have actually not met a British girl who follows a team. Not going to let that stop me though. 

Music – Britain has always been a good producer of music. Quality artists have continued to come out of the UK since the days of Paul McCartney and crew. I can’t deny it, One Direction does make my ears a little happy. And music talent shows are hard to resist as well. I've always seemed to have musical dementia though. Putting artists’ names to song titles is basically impossible for me, and I'm well known for discovering a band 2 years after everyone else #coldplay. I'm definitely getting better at this and my iTunes library has seen a huge increase in British content since arriving in the UK. If I had to name a top 3 they’d be Ed Sheeran, Paloma Faith and Coldplay.  

Winter accessories – I have always been a summer girl and I am often hit with the appropriately named SAD (seasonal affective disorder). This winter (well it's officially Spring now) I couldn't be more ready for the cold weather to pass. In fact, the last few weeks I feel like a dementor has been following me around. But at least I have a huge selection of colourful, inexpensive and stylish hats, gloves, scarves and ear muffs to keep me warm. I should have bought shares in Accessorize, which is my 2nd favourite store ever (after Bath & Body Works in the US).

Transport – If you’re British, your jaw may be on the floor at this point. But sometimes you don’t realise how good or bad you have it until you experience an alternative. I'm going to be in for a big shock when I am eventually back in Sydney, because at the moment I find it most inconvenient when I have to wait 5 minutes for the next tube - “FIVE MINUTES?! Outrageous!” The bus and tube networks are so extensive, getting anywhere is really not too much of a hassle. Of course until the weekend rolls around when track work can basically cancel your plans. 

NHS - Again, probably going to come as a shock to Brits, but you do have it pretty good. It doesn't cost anything to go to the doctor, have tests and even an operation! I must admit there is a lot of room for improvement on the administration front but the care I have received has been amazing which I'm really grateful for as I have spent a lot of time with doctors and nurses over this last year.

As I've always said, I write my blog as a bit of a creative and mental outlet. I'm not too concerned with readership figures. This time, it's been good for me to sit back and appreciate my life and the many positive things about my adventures and love affair with this country. So, well done Britain, on being Great! No, make that Awesome! 

My London

Some say London is one of the loneliest places on earth. And yet one of the most famous quotes about London, by Samuel Johnson in 1777 reads "Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.".

Can these concepts coexist? Does this quote only apply to Samuel Johnson, a man who hated to spend time alone? When I am feeling tired of London, am I feeling tired of life? Living in London is sometimes the best thing in the world and sometimes it just plain sucks. London is different things to different people, so I thought I’d write about my London.

One thing is for sure, it’s ever-changing. In 18 months I have lived in 3 places and had 17 housemates. Friends have come and friends have gone.

When I came here, obviously I had very few friends and I didn’t intend on seeking out Australians as potential pals. But somehow that’s just what seems to happen. The friends I have made have mostly been in my situation, looking for friends, so it makes sense that a lot of them happen to be Australian. You also find yourself instantly drawn towards people who you have even the smallest connection with. “Hey, we have the same friend back home, wanna be friends?”

I often have people tell me that they’re loving keeping up with my adventures and they’re living their lives vicariously through me. Naturally this is a very flattering thing to hear. But it’s funny how what we choose to communicate on Facebook can actually give people a distorted view about our lives. It’s very likely that most people think that my experience has been a breeze, life is always great, I’m always travelling and having the best time. Sometimes I think this makes people wonder whether I even miss home and the people there, and so why bother keeping in touch if she’s obviously living the dream and not caring about home. That’s possibly a harsh call but nevertheless a thought I have had from time to time. Truth is, sometimes it’s REALLY hard and I hate it and I want nothing more than to be home. And just like at home, I get stuck in traffic jams, get sick, have bad days at work, get sick of the weather and have to pay bills. Sometimes I go a whole weekend without seeing or speaking to anyone, and in more recent times being sick has been the norm.

When did I stop feeling like a tourist and become a Londoner? Which mindset do I prefer? I don’t know the answer to either question. Maybe you’re a Londonder when you start referring to tube lines by their name rather than their colour. Maybe it’s the point where you really start to get to know bus routes or you could recall exactly how to get from A to B without looking at a tube map. It could possibly be when you start to avoid tourist trap areas like Piccadilly Circus. From the very start though, I have tried to retain some of that tourist mindset, so that I am always making the most of however long I have here.

I love so many things about living in London - the travel opportunities on my doorstep, shopping, working, sightseeing, theatre, football, and the friends that I have made here. So what is London missing that could possibly make me bored with life? Quite simply, people. The right people. Sometimes I just want my Mum, or a specific friend for a specific circumstance. And unless they all move here, then I will go through periods of being ‘bored with life’.

So what is London? I’m pretty sure that it’s impossible that one phrase can sum up London for every person. To sum it up for me, it’s ever-challenging, ever-changing, ever-exciting, sometimes lonely and sometimes the friendliest of places. And I love it.

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Apple. Blackberry. Friend? Foe? Or just plain fruit?

What’s the first thing that springs to mind when I say apple, blackberry and orange. Surely it’s ‘mmm fruit salad’. Right? No? If you thought ‘two brands of smartphone and a mobile service provider’ then we need to talk.

I want to have a little chat about an alarming global pandemic. Global is probably the wrong term. Let’s call it a first world pandemic. Phone addiction. I saw a satirical piece recently, with a picture and quote saying “Tonight, my friends are all coming over to play on their phones.” I couldn’t even find the humour in it because it’s true. We’re too busy staring at the little screen we hold in our hands to have decent actual human interaction. We’ve basically created a 2^nd life. There’s our physical life and our digital life. And our digital lives seem to be taking over. No word of a lie, it really scares me. I sit around and worry about how this will all eventuate.   

There is even an official phobia relating back to our phones. Nomophobia (No-Mobile-phobia) is the fear of being out of mobile contact, causing symptoms of anxiety, panic, nausea and sweating. I’m not kidding. Admittedly, if I leave my phone at home I do feel a little naked and disconnected, and when I can’t immediately locate it in my handbag there is a slight panic. But I’m astonished that nomophobia actually exists. On the other hand I’m not surprised in the slightest.  

Every now and then I snap and try and pull in the reins on Tania Digital Myles by removing all the waste of time apps off my phone. I just did this a few days ago. Solitaire...gone. Face-in-hole…gone. Facebook…gone. After the initial shock, it’s amazing how liberating it actually feels. Instantly, you start to take more notice and interest in your non-digital surroundings.

Even after deleting a stack of apps, I still have 24 (on top of the official ones I can’t delete). But they’re mostly informational or productivity based, like JourneyPro and 1Password. There are a few dubious ones I have left, including Twitter. But I guess it’s about knowing what’s hindering the quality time with the real world that I feel like I was missing.

One day I might backtrack and reload all my apps. But for now, I’m enjoying the space my iPhone and I needed. 

Senza glutine?

August long weekend. Everyone was away. I pretty much spent that entire weekend deciding on a holiday. For some resason I was stuck for an idea. Having worked in the travel industry all my professional life it was an unnerving feeling to be completely unsure about where to go and what to do. I trawled through the internet, trying desperately to find some inspiration. #holidays for solo travellers (not like that, dirty! ALT + <--), #europe holidays females, #october europe holidays. I knew I had a week to take, and it was going to be on my own. Do I do my own thing or book a group tour? I literally got to the "Confirm booking" button on various holidays over the course of that weekend, only to have a last second "hmmm, is this the right choice?" feeling. In the end I went with a 7 night group tour of the Italian Lakes.

I'm not going to name the company I travelled with because as I work in the travel industry, I feel like I will be able to be most truthful and open about my experience by keeping the brand anonymous.

I had a transfer at 4:15am to Gatwick Airport. Luckily the pick-up was just up the road. As I walked through my complex I passed a couple coming home after a big night. I can’t lie; I did envy them, on their way to a nice warm bed. I suppose one lacks a little perspective at 4am. The transfer was long and cold. I tried to fall back asleep but my brain was too busy pondering the fact that the boy band market in the UK is already flooded and wondering if teenage girls actually have their ears open when it comes to voting for this year’s X Factor contestants.

When I arrived at Milan Malpensa Airport I was met by Dimitri, who would be our Tour leader for the week. My room wasn’t ready yet so I left my luggage and went for a walk. It was a Sunday and not a lot was going on so I just wandered up and down one little strip of shops and restaurants for a bit. Back at the hotel later my roomie arrived and funnily enough from Kenthurst. She was a couple of years older and we knew a bunch of the same people. What a small world hey! Certainly broke the ice and gave us lots to talk about. I was glad Ruth was on the tour. When we went to meet the group later that evening it became apparent we were going to be spending the week with retirees. Not that it was a problem to be honest, they were a nice bunch of people. Most of them anyway…

There was a group of 4 couples from New York who I enjoyed listening to, purely so I could practice my New York accent later on my own. John and Sharrie from New Jersey. I really liked these 2, Sharrie especially, had a few really lovely chats with her. Then there was Jack and Beryl from Durham and 2 couples from Manchester who had not met previously and I have a feeling probably continued their new found friendship post-tour. Cute. Even more cute were Guy (pronounced ghee) and his wife, a French-Canadian couple who spent the entire trip giggling with one another. He reminded me a lot of the man on the front cover of a book from my childhood, There’s a Lion up my Nose. Google it. I decided against telling Guy about this.

I’d say about a 3^rd of the passengers were Australian, all (except for one) of which were women. One couple from Perth and the rest travelling solo (aside from a mother, daughter, aunty trio). I guess it’s just because I’m not around the Australian accent a lot but I was sure everyone spoke just like Steve Irwin. A few character highlights though were Shaaaarrrleeeeene from the Centraaaaaaal Cooooaaast and Jan from Noosa. Sharlene was really lovely, a high school teacher who travels about twice a year. She was actually a very smart lady but the pace of her speech gave a different impression. She’d always come out with simple comments or just something funny in general. I actually really enjoyed spending time with her. Jan was not so much the same story. Unfortunately she put most people off-side. Very loud, bossy and outspoken. She also had this dreadful cough and would sneeze extra loud at dinner so everyone would go “ooohhh wow”. I know this because I heard her sneeze normally many other times when she wasn’t around a load of people. And she would leave her rubbish (including used tissues) on the seat in the coach every day. Rude. She often took wine to her room on her own. One night someone saw her swimming in the hotel pool late at night. It was about 15 degrees and the pool was dirty as it was off-season and cold. She also wasn’t eating pizza or pasta because she didn’t want to eat food she could get at home! Jan decided to leave a couple of days early because she was “over it”, although she was headed to Napoli on her own which I can’t imagine being less stressful than on a tour where everything is sorted.  

We had an incident on the coach one day. Some people didn’t follow the seat rotation instructions, which upset others. I didn’t care where I sat. My seat was taken so I moved, but I ended up in 3 different seats because I was then in someone else’s seat. It got very tense and I wanted to shout “People! I’m the youngest person on this coach and I’m behaving the least childish!” Dimitri was very annoyed about it and gave specific instructions for the next big drive. Jan misunderstood his instructions and ended up telling off some people who were doing nothing wrong. It seemed that the Americans were not following the rules and the Australians were getting upset. I was really embarrassed for my country. It was ridiculous.

I haven’t actually talked much about Italy itself have I. Food has become somewhat of a challenge since I went gluten free. It was possibly a good thing I can’t eat pizza and pasta because I’d have come back a couple of stone heavier! Fortunately Italy is one of the most aware countries when it comes to coeliac disease. Gluten free products are sometimes stocked in pharmacies, all children are tested and anyone with the condition gets 2 paid days off work per month to source their food. I went to Italy with possibly a higher expectation than I should have had in this regard. Although it was generally a pretty good experience. The places which had had prior knowledge were very accommodating, other places weren’t so much. I went to a restaurant in Bellagio and said “senza glutine?” as I did everywhere and they went and checked to come back and ask me if some gluten free raviolli was ok. YES YES YES! One of the men on our tour asked me if I was making up some special dietary requirement so that I’d get something better than everyone else. “Dude, we’re in Italy! Why the hell would I do that?!”. I had gelato a few times of course. I generally get 2 scoops and mix chocolate with another flavour. First time I had orange and chocolate (as jaffa ice cream is my favourite). But it was more of an orange sherbert flavour, really nice. Then I tried a traditional chocolate and mint, although it was more of a peppermint and a bit too strong for gelato. My absolute favourite (possibly that I’ve ever had) was mandarin and chocolate. Literally tasted like a mandarin. It was delicious!  

One thing that I think people forget when they travel is that you’re not going to the same place you’re from so it’s going to be different. Embrace it. Don’t expect them to change for you. I always try and speak as much of the local language as possible. Ok, I have studied languages and really enjoy this element of travel more than most people. However, it is also the polite thing to do. I think English speakers often take the fact they speak English for granted and expect that wherever they go, regardless of the native language, the people will also speak English. I had the unfortunate experience on the train home after this holiday to get stuck in a conversation with the Vice President of the Industrial Court of Trinidad & Tobago who was visiting London for a few days. It was unfortunate because he reeked of booze, kept hitting on me and then made one of the most ignorant comments I ever heard. He had also been to Italy but didn’t like it because they wouldn’t accept USD or Pounds, and they didn’t want to speak English. I actually told him they shouldn’t have to.

I really loved exploring the magical Italian Lakes region. On the 1^st day the weather was proper awful. We visited a town called Sirmione, which I had been told by a colleague was lovely. It was very pretty, regardless of the torrential rain. Luckily the rest of the week was dry and often sunny. I imagine Sirmione was almost as nice as my favourite place, a town (also on Lake Garda) called Malcesine. I climbed to the top of the castle which had the most magnificent views. Jan from Noosa likened it to Noosa. Now, I’ve never been to Noosa, but I can be almost certain that Malcesine is nothing at all like Noosa. The other highlight of the tour for me was Villa Carlotta, a villa on Lake Como with amazing gardens. I also saw George Clooney’s and Richard Branson’s villas on Lake Como. Isola Bella was a small Island on Lake Maggiore with a gorgeous palace and gardens, owned and still resided by (at times) the Borromeo family. Other places visited (about which I have nothing interesting to say and am only writing it for my own recollection) include Riva del Garda, Verona, Bellagio, Isola Madre, Isola Pescatori and Stresa.

My only issue with the tour I was on was our tour leader. Everything else was great. Some people complained about the location of the hotels and other such things. But you get what you pay for and this wasn’t an overly expensive tour. Other passengers had travelled with this company before and had the complete opposite experience when it came to tour leaders. I guess it was just an individual issue so it hasn't put me off. It was his last tour before going into the off-season and therefore 5 months of holiday. He was well and truly over it and already in holiday mode. There were no maps for us, he provided us with minimal information and he really just didn’t give a damn. He was also obsessed with women, a bit sleazy. One evening he was trying to get me and Ruth to go out clubbing and told us we were boring when we said no. The first thing I thought of was Brit Lapthorne. Most Aussies have probably heard that name. She was an Aussie girl, travelling on her own in Croatia, went out clubbing and was never seen alive again. I'm not saying that it’s the only reason I didn't go and that that’s what would have happened to me if I had. But I’d like to think I'm a cautious traveller so I'm definitely not going "out-out" in a foreign country with someone I don’t know, particularly like, or trust. He was always going on about his tips too (which I know a lot of people didn't give a lot in) and on the tour sheet on the last evening he listed a couple of details and then wrote “end of my service!!!” to try and reiterate that the planning he had done for our transfers for the next day were out of the kindness of his heart. Pfffff!

I don’t really have an in summary statement to close off this post. It was a great week, I took lots of nice photos, met some great people and saw magnificent countryside. Highly recommended. 

Social Media: Facebook Part 2

As you would have seen by part 1, I get pretty passionate about the way people should and shouldn't use Facebook. Here we go with part 2, continuing with more do’s and don’ts (ok, don’ts).

Work – People need to be more wary about commenting about their job/employer. I never post comments about my job, unless I have something positive to say. First of all, if it’s that bad, do something about it. But most of all, you are putting information out there that may get you into a lot of trouble so be careful. As well as this, you just never know who might stumble across photos of what you got up to on Saturday night… again, be careful!

Facebook fishing – Yep, it’s a term, and it refers to writing a mysterious or ’woe is me’ status alluding to the fact you may share if someone comments with ‘what’s up hun?’. I can categorically guarantee you that I will never take the bait. “OMG I’m so excited about the news I just heard!”, “Why do people have to be so horrible?”, “ :( ”…. I get just as fired up when I see people fall prey with the likes of “are you ok?”, “what happened?!” and “call me”. I was discussing this recently with a friend and she reminded me of another type of Facebook fishing, fishing for compliments. She is Facebook friends with an old school mate who posted a photo of a letter one of her students gave her saying how amazing she was. I also had a friend who posted an album of her new breasts! And of course the comments followed “OMG you look amazing”. Have we developed a heightened sense of self-worth? Alternatively, is it making us more insecure when we don’t get the notifications we wanted?  

Game requests – I'm not going to lie, I do feel a little special when I see that little red icon notifying me that someone has connected in some way. Unfortunately, sometimes that little red icon means that *name wants to send me a goat from Farmville or is inviting me to play Bubble Safari! I don’t care about your virtual farm, café or similar. Play your game and keep me out of it!

Responding to status with a completely unrelated comment – You've just written something profound, entertaining, controversial and someone comments “hey hun, looking forward to seeing you on Saturday?”. Imagine if that conversation happened in person “what do you think about global warming?” “Saturday is going to be well awesome!”. Sorry, what just happened there?  

Play-by-play – Facebook shouldn't interrupt life as it happens. Tell me about it later, put your phone away so you can experience the moment thoroughly and enjoy it! What you chose for entrée, main and dessert as you chose it isn't necessary. Also, how do you think your companions feel? You obviously think it’s quality time worth telling about, so why disrespect the people you’re sharing it with by giving your attention to the possibility of that little red icon? Is the icon more important than the activity? Or maybe it’s not quality time, you've just become addicted to your online life and have let it take priority over your real one.

Stop boring everybody! - So you've got nothing interesting to say, you're bored, you're doing something we all regularly do (e.g. heading to bed, going for a shower, “hi ho hi ho, it’s off to work I go”). If you’re bored, why bore the rest of us? This particular one really concerns me because it indicates the addiction thing again.

Right, final topic. The one which fires me up the most. The, without a doubt most irritating thing on Facebook, in my opinion...

Too much information! And it’s one demographic who seems to be the worst offenders. Mothers of babies or young children. You might ponder that I'm just bitter that I'm not part of this demographic. Not true. I love babies and children, how couldn't I with the 2 nephews and 3 nieces I have? What I do have a problem with is the content that is being shared. I'm probably biased but my sister proves that it’s possible to have children and an interesting Facebook page that doesn't push the boundaries of appropriateness. I kid you not the following have appeared on my news feed:
• Photos of yourself in your underwear, displaying your growing tummy
• “Peppermint tea! Who’d have thought it would interfere with my milk supply!”
• “*Name, I know sleeping with my nipple in your mouth must be nice, but it’s not working for me”
• “How cute is boobing *name” including photographic evidence
• “Tired… kid had 21 boobs last night”
• “*Name has woken up with a dry nappy 4 nights in a row and asked me tonight if he can not wear one… I’ll be getting him up for wees before I head to bed…” – this actually continued on a further few sentences
• “What an explosion! Poop up to *name’s arms! Fun!”
• Photographic evidence of a nappy changing accident on a pair of trousers
• “So proud! *Name did his first wee on the big toilet… “ – continued with an essay of exactly what happened
• Photos of a newborn fresh into the world with all the grossness still all over it
And finally…
• “Got sprayed with amniotic fluid” – INCLUDING PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE! I KID YOU NOT!

Just because a young person is involved, it doesn't make it acceptable to share the above, or anything similar! One day I'm going to snap and photograph myself in the bathroom, post it and write “Look, I'm on the loo! Aren't I cute?!” I don’t think my targets would get it. I think this blog has bought me some time before I do eventually snap and stick up for the rest of us Facebook etiquette abiding citizens. To be honest, it’s more than likely I’ll just hide you. My ‘people you've hidden’ list is actually predominantly over-sharing mothers.
Seems we have a problem with filters. I had surgery recently to remove a little benign thing and definitely lost a little dignity. I couldn't tell you how many people have seen me with my shirt off! IN A CLINIC! The key is dropping your dignity off at the door and picking it back up when you leave. Yes, it is possible.

As one of my colleagues says, if you wouldn't say or show it to my face, then think again if it’s actually worth it and more importantly appropriate.

Well, this has been a good therapy session for me. Thanks for lending a listening ear (or eye). I don’t think this is going to make much of a difference though. I really think it’s going to be up to that celebrity team I mentioned in part 1. If anything, I've probably pointed out things you hadn't noticed that will now annoy you. Whoops! :)

Social Media: Facebook Part 1

This blog (ok, rant) has been a long time coming. Just ask Jackie Blue, Jenny Ransley or Haylo Watts. I often write comments that are probably a little too rude or controversial for actual Facebook in the form of a text message to them, accompanied by a screen shot of the offending Facebooker’s post. And my thoughts are so chunky I’ve had to split my guide (ok, rant) into two parts! In this world where digital socialising is just part of every-day life, I feel like we need more than unwritten vague ideas about how to behave. There needs to be an official ‘Rules of Facebook etiquette' book. And it should be policed! Happy to volunteer for that role. It should be written and published by a collection of people representing a range of demographics; people who will give it the most exposure. I’m going to suggest an epic team including Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, One Direction, Megan Fox and Barrack Obama. Actually I should probably throw Mitt Romney into that mix to get all of America on-side. In the meantime I’m going to get started. Apologies if you find you are one of the offenders in my rant. Actually, let’s be honest, I’m not sorry at all.

The MOST IMPORTANT RULE for Facebook is, it’s not supposed to replace actual human interaction! It’s a way to share life experiences, it’s not life itself! When your Facebook life is more active than your actual life, it’s time to sit back and reassess. So go and get a life! Literally! Then tell me about it.    

Tagging – I don’t like being tagged in photos I’m not in. Tag me in a comment if you want to bring my attention to it but not the photo itself. This is just me being anal and correct but the ‘photos of me’ folder is called that for a reason. I’d rather keep it that way. I will untag myself. This does open up the little can of worms that is children. I can understand why some people may want to be tagged in photos of their children. I think in this case, it’s up to the individual. Obviously, not something I have to think about at this point in time.

Weather – “rain rain go away, come again another day”, “spring has sprung”, “hello summer” … Not only are these comments unoriginal and boring, but everyone else knows what Mother Nature is up to! Funnily enough, we’re in it too! Weird huh?!

Politics – Personally, I don’t think social networking sites are the best forum for political discussions. In fact, there are few social settings where I find it an appropriate topic of conversation. If you are going to get into debates though, please be respectful. Likewise, extreme religious views should be reserved for less public domains. After Bin Laden's death, I was disgusted by the comments that appeared on my news feed by people who officially fall under the same "religious" banner as me. But then I guess if your views are extreme, where you communicate them is probably not your priority.    

Grammar - Having studied languages, I’m really anal about getting it right. Not that I am error-free. I definitely make mistakes, usually typos. But it’s not typos I’m referring to. I could write a whole post about grammar alone but I think possibly Andy (my brother who has also studied linguistics) would be the only person to be fascinated by every word and use of punctuation. Instead, I’m going to highlight the three most common errors:

• Changing your status mid-sentence from 3rd to 1st person. First of all, Facebook dropped the ‘is’ after your name years ago so there should be no more 3rd person speak at all. If you must do it, please please please keep it in 3rd person. There’s nothing more annoying than reading “*name is enjoying the lasagna my mum cooked for me”. Technically, that post means Facebook’s mum cooked Facebook a lasagna and *name is enjoying watching Facebook eat said lasagna. Ok, there are definitely more annoying things, but it does annoy me more than is probably necessary. 
• Then vs than. Completely different words. Poor ol’ ‘than’ tends to be the victim, ‘then’ too often being an incorrect choice. Are you comparing one thing to another? It’s thAn! It’s so much hotter today thAn yesterday. Actually don’t write that, remember what I said about the weather? 
• Your vs you're. You hope my well is what?! I don’t get why so many get it wrong. You’re is a shortened version of YOU ARE; your refers to something belonging to the person you’re (you are) speaking to. 

Lovey-dovey business – Right, you’ve got a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband… happy for you. But please, leave the ‘get me a bucket’ stuff private. Your "baby" did not just graduate and sorry to tell you, nobody else wants to see you write love messages on each other’s wall. I especially hate it when people write messages to their ‘schnookums’ saying something that they would obviously have said in person, but put it on Facebook so that everyone else can see them saying it. e.g. "happy anniversary to my gorgeous baby *name… you are the love of my life and ...". Get a room! And don't post from it!

That’s literally only half of what I have to say… I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did letting it all out. I feel so much better now. I’d love to hear any thoughts about your Facebook experiences. What you love; what you hate etc. Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!

Social Media: Twitter

Right, the next three blogposts are going to branch off the travels and UK life. I've been thinking about this for a while so I'm writing about my thoughts on Social Media, mainly Facebook and Twitter. Basically it's going to be a massive rant about the things that absolutely drive me bonkers when it comes to online networking.

TWITTER
Turns out I do have a lot to say about Twitter. I was going to tack it onto the end of my Facebook rant but then it seemed that I had more to let out than I realised. I haven’t been tweeting for very long so I'm no expert. Twitter confuses most first time users. First and most important rule – it’s not supposed to be a replacement for Facebook. Facebook is about connecting and staying in touch with friends. Twitter is a globally open commentary of what’s going on in the/your world.
News breaks first on Twitter. Literally. If you hear a rumour of breaking news, chances are, a lot of people are already tweeting about it. I once saw a massive queue in South Kensington. It stretched around a few blocks! I was on a bus and couldn't ask anyone so I searched South Kensington on Twitter. Unsurprisingly, French nationalists lining up to vote at the embassy were tweeting.
All of my tweets will generally be to someone or contain a hashtag i.e. a way for people to search for tweets that have a common topic, to begin a conversation (e.g. #thingsthatconfuseme), or relate to an on trend topic (e.g. the Closing Ceremony). If I follow you on Twitter and we’re friends on FB I’ll unfollow if you use them the same way. Actually the best example of using Twitter like Facebook is, I'm sorry to say, one of my favourite musicians. She has sometimes even done what should never have been made possible and linked the two so the same thing appears on each.
Yes, I follow celebrities. I don’t do it to see what perfume I should be wearing (not that I wear it, it makes me sneeze, bad example). They’re people I think either have something interesting to say; I want to keep track of in terms of what they’re doing in their career e.g. gigs, albums etc. or they're simply entertaining. The people I follow generally fall into one of the following categories:

• Comedians – Example: @adamhillscomedy - "Thanks to all who came to the recording of Mess Around tonight. It was the most fun pilot I've ever had #sentencethatsoundsweirdoutofcontext"  
• Musicians – Example: @coldplay - "You can now pre-order the upcoming #ColdplayLive2012 concert film / live album from Amazon at http://smarturl.it/coldplaylive2012 … A"
• Friends - Example: @HayloWatts - "@LiberalAus I would love to see positive news about the positive reasons to vote Liberal rather than Labor bashing - thank you!! :)"
• Travel industry & colleagues: @red_carnation - "It's Skabenga's birthday soon at the @OysterBox. As with all luxury cats he's having a party! #PresentsExpected"
• Pure entertainment: A few parody royals, an anti-joke-cat and the Big Ben who just tweets BONG. One of my favourites has still got to be @Charles_HRH - "Greek Prime Minister on the phone. Wants to know if one can "lend him a tenner". #sodoff"

So, that's about all I have to say about Twitter. Stay tuned for the next two posts... Facebook!

The West End

The West End is one of my favourite things about London so I thought it might be nice to do a bit of a review of the plays/musicals/shows I've been to see.

Potted Potter: A parody, condensing all seven Harry Potter books into 70 minutes. Ok, it was good and funny, although a little on the children's entertainment side for me. 6.5/10

Thriller: A concert to celebrate the undisputed King of Pop, Michael Jackson. It was good, not brilliant but definitely enjoyable. There was a little black boy about 3 years old sitting on his dad's knee and absolutely loving it! He was busting out some amazing moves and I found myself watching him as much as the show. 7/10

Much ado about nothing: Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero. I saw this at the Shakespeare Globe with Ally and her mum Carmel. We had done a tour of the Globe and then decided to stay and watch a show that afternoon. It cost us just £5 to be 'standlings' (patrons who stand around the stage. A really good atmosphere, funny, good acting, my first Shakespeare play. Also featured the butler from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. 8/10

Million Dollar Quartet: One night with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Got a free ticket from work and took Ally. Absolutely brilliant! My Dad isn't a huge theatre goer and this was 'the one' for him. Unfortunately the season was over when he was here. The music was fantastic, the actors amazing, a really great story. 9.5/10

Wicked: The untold story of the Witches of Oz. Another freebie from work and this time I took Tracey Mayo. I have seen Wicked before in Sydney and enjoyed it there. I had forgotten a lot of the story so it was almost like watching for the first time again. It was fabulous. Elphaba was phenomenal. I have actually never heard an audience reaction at the end quite like this one, so much so that I nearly cried. 8.5/10

The Nutcracker: A two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. My first ever ballet! It was quite good, the lead ballerina fell smack on her face throughout the performance and did it so gracefully it almost looked intentional. There was one ballerina who was quite out of time. 7.5/10

The Mousetrap: This murder mystery play, written by Agatha Christie is the world's longest running show of any kind. I saw this with Jackie and Jenny. We all really enjoyed it, trying to figure out whodunit. At interval I was clueless. During act two I had theories going mental throughout my brain. My heart was even racing at one point. 8/10

The 39 Steps: Originally a novel, it follows Richard Hannay, an all-action hero with a stiff upper lip and a miraculous knack for getting himself out of sticky situations. I booked this as a last minute thing on a Friday afternoon for that evening as I didn't have any plans. It was a bargain £12.50 and totally worth it. Really funny, great acting, good story. 8/10

Les Miserables: An 1862 French novel by Victor Hugo, following ex-convict Jean Valjean trying to escape his past during the French revolution. Les Mis is without question my favourite musical and was before I saw it this time. I went with Ally & Matt who had not seen it, nor knew anything about it so it was great. As expected, I absolutely loved it. My only complaint was that young Cosette was quite awful. 9.5/10

Cirque du Soleil "Totem": A fascinating journey into the evolution of mankind. I saw this at Royal Albert Hall with Jackie, Jenny, Ally & Matt. It was brilliant & mesmerising. Often thinking "they're surely not going to... wow" My mouth wa's hanging open for a good portion of the show. 9.5/10

One Man two Guvnors: a play by Richard Bean, and is an English adaptation of Servant of Two Masters (Italian: Arlecchino servitore di due padroni). I saw this play with Charlie and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was originally played by James Cordon, however he had taken the show to New York and there was a new lead man. This didn't detract from the play whatsoever. It was laugh out loud funny. 9/10

Jersey Boys: a documentary-style musical, based on one of the most successful 1960s rock 'n roll groups, Frankie Valli and the The Four Seasons. I saw this with Heather & Gary when they were visiting. Lots of familiar songs & fun. 7.5/10

All New People: All New People is a 2011 play by Zach Braff set on Long Beach Island and centres on Charlie, a 35-year-old from Braff's home state of New Jersey. Zach Braff is from the popular American sitcom Scrubs. I think the story was a little weak, the acting standard, and just a bit average all round. 5/10

What the Butler saw: revolves around a Dr. Prentice, a psychiatrist attempting to seduce his attractive prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay. Absolute bargain for £12! Mum, Dad, Ann and I all loved. It was hilarious, fast-paced & inappropriate. 8.5/10

Complete World of Sports: This play by The Reduced Shakespeare Company's condenses "every" sport into a 90 minute play. To be completely honest, I found this play un-funny, try-hard and plain annoying. The humour is just gags really and just a bit too simple. Sad to say a big West End disappointment. 3/10

*I just remembered something else about the Complete World of Sports play. There was a part in the play where one of the guys collapses. The whole place goes dead silent and enough time passes for everyone to think OMG something's really wrong here. But no, it was actually part of the play. It really freaked me out, didn't fit into the light-hearted comedy element that the play was meant to be so I'm deducting another half mark. Also, I think I also didn't enjoy it because the style of humour was very American ie. gags and one-liners. I personally prefer British humour and found the jokes really predictable and not clever. So I'm deducting another half mark just coz I realised I was too generous. 2/10

Matilda: (March 2013) It's been a while since I saw a show. I've been wanting to see Matilda for AGES as I had heard it was brilliant. At the 2012 Olivier Awards (The UK equivalent of the Tony's in the US, as in the theatre awards) Matilda, a story originally written by Roald Dahl took home seven awards including Best New Musical, Best Actor and Best Actress (or in this case Actresses, as the role of Matilda is shared by four girls). The music and lyrics were written by Tim Minchin which I think given his style, is the perfect marriage of style and talent to the works of Dahl like Johnny Depp is to Tim Burton. The show appeals to all ages and there were lots of younger patrons, who absolutely loved it. Matilda, played by Sophia Kiely on the night was fantastic and I just about cried when she came out to take a bow. 8.5/10

The Book of Mormon: (August 2013) One final visit to the West End before heading back to Australia. Talk about going out with a bang! I went and saw The Book of Mormon. Ended up having to settle for a Wednesday matinee due to it's continued popularity and minimal ticket availability since it opened. However as a lady of leisure (for now), a Wednesday matinee is just a convenient as a Friday night. The Book of Mormon was written by the producers of South Park and their style is evident throughout. So, if you're the kind that finds South Park offensive then I would advise against seeing this show. If not then DEFINITELY GO AND SEE IT! I thought it was absolutely hilarious and have seen nothing else like it in theatre. It follows the story of two young Mormons who go on a conversion mission to a small village in Uganda. It takes the piss right out of the Mormon church and I think the church itself has made the right decision to go with the 'any publicity is good publicity' approach instead of fighting against the huge success the show has seen. For the fourth time over the last two years I am awarding a score of 9.5/10.

So it's a four way tie for 1st place, going to Les Miserables, Million Dollar Quartet, Cirque du Soleil "Totem" and The Book of Mormon. 

The rest of March

A few football games - throughout the rest of March I watched Chelsea play Birmingham (FA CUP rematch after drawing); Napoli (Champions League - watched at Ally & Matt's, squealed and jumped as we made it through to the next round. I had decided not to go and it ended up being one of the club's most exciting games ever, d'oh); Man City (a league match which we lost, watched at the pub with Ally, Matt & Brendan who was in town); Spurs (boring match, 1-1 draw, went to the game with Charlie); Benfica (1st game of the quarters, I actually can't remember if I watched it, no idea). Oh, I also went to Three Kings pub with my housemate Cat to cheer on Wales in the 6 nations rugby, pretty fun coz the pub was full of Welsh people.
Theatre etc. - Shame (movie) - pretty confronting and depressing, good acting but not sure I liked it; Michael McIntyre - Work in Progress show with Carina at The Leicester Square Theatre, a show where he tested out his new stuff for his upcoming tour... so funny!; One Man Two Guv'nor's - a show on the West End which I saw with Charlie, so funny, highly recommended; All New People - a play with Zach Braff (guy from Scrubs), written by him. Good acting although the story was a little weak I thought; 39 Steps - last minute decision on a Friday evening as I had no plans and tickets were only £12.50. So worth it, very funny; Project X - absolutely ridiculous!
What else I got up to - Went for a walk around St. James's Park one Saturday afternoon which was lovely, found a few of the Fabergé eggs; Kew Gardens - went there with Tim on a sunny day, very pretty place; Went out to East London for Tim's birthday; Staff Appreciation Party - held at the London Hilton Hotel, we all got dolled up and had a great night; Team night - we all went out as we had Adré from our South Africa office in town.
Hmmm... I guess I got up to a lot of stuff in March...

Liverpoo-el

Friday 2nd - Sunday 4th April: ROAD TRIP! After work I met up with Ally & Matt for our road trip up to Liverpool. I'm so blown away by the diversity in accents across such a small geographical area (as in the UK). The Scouse accent is so unique. A Scouser would actually say they are from "Liver-poo-el". Officially, someone from Liverpool is a Liverpudlian, however they are also known as Scousers. Why are they called Scousers? The word "scouse" is a shortened form of "lobscouse", a word for a meat stew commonly eaten by sailors in the 19th century and people who ate "scouse" became known as "scousers".
We had a pretty uneventful drive up and were all so tired that we just went to bed when we arrived. I woke up the next morning to a text message from Mum saying that baby Rose Charlotte Myles had been born! Aunty again, my 3rd niece! So chuffed! The weather was pretty miserable but I had a nice big smile on my face. We headed into town and spent a bit of time around the Merseyside docks where I went to the Beatles museum and Ally & Matt went to the Poverty Museum. There was a lot of really loud music and commotion nearby and I later discovered that X-Factor auditions were being held that day in Liverpool. Explained the craziness in the city centre. Although I think the general appearance of the locals would not have changed much from any other regular weekend. Among the fashion trends in Liverpool, the girls are known to (and I did see all of this) - go out with rollers in their hair, wear 6 pairs of false eyelashes stacked on top of each other, lather fake tan on as if they're auditioning for the role of an Oompa Loompa, and create what is now known as a 'scousebrow'... google it. I actually found all of this rather sad, the fact that women in this area (and many other areas in the UK, such as Essex) feel that they need to become so incredibly fake to look good. And the saddest part is they look like absolute clowns! I saw some girls as young as 10 dressed this way and it really upset me.
Not surprisingly, the kind of main reason for the trip was for football... Matt and I were going to see Liverpool vs Arsenal. The Liverpool fans really need anger management treatment! I don't mind Liverpool so it was pretty spine tingling being at Anfield while the fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone". Arsenal ended up winning, although it was nice to see captain Stevie G come out with the Carling Cup, won the week before. Back in the city centre we met up with Ally again and for dinner we treated ourselves to a feast at Jamie's Italian, a chain of Italian restaurants opened by Jamie Oliver. Amazing! Absolutely loved it! Worth the hour wait for the table. It was so fresh and had such a nice raw style.
On Sunday we headed back to London via Chester, which is a pretty little medieval town. We also stopped at Warwick Castle. It was good, although we were really underdressed for the weather as it was freezing and raining. My favourite part of Warwick Castle was the peacock garden.

Legends from the past

Saturday 25th February - There was a Legends signing at Stamford Bridge so I went along and met a couple of players from Dad's era, John Hollins and John Dempsey. I also met a player from the 50's named Frank Blunstone. They were very interested in my story about following in my Dad's footsteps, both in terms of living in London and following CFC. Since it was such a nice day, I met Ally and Matt and Natalie and we went to Hyde Park for a picnic with a little anti-pasto platter... thus beginning my downfall of obsession with all things anti-pasto. It was only 12 degrees but it felt so lovely! Later that evening I met up with a friend John as I'd purchsed some tickets to the football for him.

Sunday 26th February - Carling Cup Final! Liverpool vs Cardiff City. I'm not sure what I did in the morning but I headed to The Famous Three Kings in West Kensington to wactch the match with Ally, Matt & Tim. It was very exciting, especially being a Liverpool FC loyal pub, and especially when they won in a penalty shootout. Following the game I headed to the Tottenham Court Road area where I had dinner with Carina and Amy at a nice little Japanese restaurant.

Monday 27th February - I worked from home and too be honest didn't find it that productive as I was having a lot of technical difficulties.

Tuesday 28th February - One of my "must do" days arrived! I was off to see Les Miserables, my favourite musical, with Ally & Matt. It was brilliant! I did have a couple of points... 1. Young Cosette was absolutely diabolical; 2. In Castle on a Cloud she completely skipped an entire verse; 3. There was a Spanish family talking all the way through the show whuch, I might add, happened during the Lion King in New York! But otherwise I loved it!

Wednesday 29th February - The day when it's appropriate for women to propose to men... WHO SAYS?! Quite frankly I think it's one of the stupidest traditions I've ever heard of. Ladies, if he's not asking, he's not ready, not interested, or has something planned! Don't ruin a man's ultilmate chance at romance! I think it makes women look desperate and it's embarrassing for a man to be proposed to, takes a little of their dignity away. Anyway, that's my little rant about it. It was all over the radio and I got so frustrated with it! For dinner I met up with Tina, Pedro and Graham (3 of my previous houemates). We had Spanish tapas in Leicester Square, it was really nice!

Thursday 30th - Funny I should get to today today (it's now 28th April)... I went bowling with Charlie, who has now seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth. Not sure what happened there.