Monday 29 April 2013

I snore!

I have never, for the last 15 odd years or so, slept with a man/ partner/lover.  I just never spent the night.  Which meant that I got used to sleeping on my big queen bed by myself.  I like stretching across the bed and moving around knowing that I am not disturbing anyone else.

When we did events we shared rooms so I can share space but the last event I did which entailed a sharing of rooms, happened in 2010.  Since then I seemed to have developed the inappropriate habit of snoring.....
Here in London, I sleep in the same bed with my sister, who snores like a man ( yes it's gender specific, men snore worse than women).  I tend to be able to sleep anywhere and can fall asleep with lights and TV on in the background, and her snoring really doesn't bother me.  Her partner, has been sleeping on a camp bed next to her, so that's three of us in the same room.  And he said I snore too!!
Not as loud or as often as my sister, but its there, the snore!

I know that as we get older we develop different habits and I have heard that old women snore........if I didn't realize it before, I sure do now......I am getting old!

I am looking forward to going home to have my bed and room all to myself, and I am certain my sister and her partner are keen to have their space back, but in a way I will miss the warmth of another body in bed with me.......


Saturday 27 April 2013

The vintage and black series





























Portobello road

What does one do on a weekend in London......one goes to the markets......and so does every other fucking tourist, plus their mother, their grandmother, their sister, kids .......you get the drift I hope.
It was more than crowded.
The markets itself are quaint, interesting and full of treasures with buskers and food dotting the narrow streets.  I would have loved to browse through the shops but because of the crowds, I was getting too flustered and bothered. I did however manage to pick up a couple of porcelain milk jugs and a sugar bowl, plus a pie, a handmade burger, and some veg.
The buskers as usual were fabulous and see first picture, they actually had a Drum kit made out of an old suitcase, and they played the blues.
The other pair, see second picture, looked like old men high on something, playing air guitar to a Led Zeppelin soundtrack! They got 50p for their effort.











Tuesday 23 April 2013

Ruins

I love old buildings and ruins and desolate looking abandoned buildings....I don't know why.
Pictures are of The Abbey at Hollywood Palace Edinburgh
Oh and I also like trees with their branches reaching out with no leaves.....
The old black and white Alfred Hitchcock movies were my favorites......












Saturday 20 April 2013

Planes, trains and some sort of automobiles

So we headed out for Scotland yesterday,   We had a 9.30am flight out of Luton airport (I keep singing it, if you remember it, if you are as old and strange as me you would remember the song) and we had to leave the flat at 5.30am to catch the bus on Caledonian road to kings cross, then cross over to St Pancreas Station to catch the train to Luton airport Parkway.  Parkway as the name suggests is the parking lot for Luton Airport and not the airport so we had to get a Shuttle bus from the parkway to the airport
We factored in extra time to catch the buses and trains but somehow we managed to reach each stop to find the bus and train waiting or just pulling into the station, which meant we reached the airport half and hour before the checkin counters opened.
Inverness is quaint, but it is the fastest growing city in Europe (according to the guide) and frankly I could live here! Pictures are of Inverness, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle which is on the Loch.















Tuesday 16 April 2013

Local food and living abroad

The big problem we have when living away from home is the food........all the local deliciously different types of food.
My sister has been living in London for the last 27 years, and although she does go back to Singapore from time to time to visit family and of course indulge in the all the local food,
there are days when you just want to have that little bit of home now......
So we made kaya. Kaya is egg and coconut jam and you spread it on hot buttered toast.
It turned out extremely yummy..... Well done me and my sister!

Sunday 14 April 2013

Covent garden

Had a day out at covent garden today and I love markets so this sprawling complex of markets was heaven to me. Buskers and food with all sorts of interesting people.
I also met a new friend.  When I first got to London, I joined a site called fishing for a friend for the sole purpose to find a friend to travel with.  I am still hopeful in finding someone to go with me to Jerez for the motogp.
 I did meet Bob, a man in his 50's who was looking for a friend to wander around London with and just to have a chat.
So I met Bob today and we wandered around the transport museum and had lunch and talked for a few hours.  It was nice to have adult conversation with a man with no thought of this meeting being a date or that there would be any sexual undertones to the day at all.
The Transport museum to me, being someone who loves the tube and trains, was one of the best museums I have been to so far, and it being in Covent Garden just made it a perfect day out.
Now only if Bob had been tall dark handsome and available...........

Friday 12 April 2013

The tube

If you want to get around London the best option usually is the tube, it's faster you can get connections to every possible area.
Unless you have delays on the train lines...........
I wanted to do the tube stations this morning, do as in take pictures and wander around the older stations. I sat looking at the tube map and chartered my route but the good thing I did was to also to check the delays on the lines (London is good that way, they have a great communication system to tell the public about train delays). I was closest to the Piccadilly line, which this morning was down due to electrical faults and delays, so I decided to take a bus to the closest central line station at Holborn. When I got to Holborn there were announcements in the station telling commuters that the central line was now closed in both directions due to a person having fallen on the tracks at one of the stations. On asking I was told I could walk to Tottenham Court road station to get onto the Northern Line, which is the line I wanted to get to.

I did manage to get to some of the stations that I wanted to see like the Great Portland Street Station, which opened in 1863 and Baker Street stations which were on the first ever tube line built. There is just something magical about trains and stations and the underground in London is one of my favorite places ever.









Wednesday 10 April 2013

History

I love history, love the idea that people lived, breathed, loved and died in the same place I now walk, hundreds of years ago.
I wonder what they were like, how they lived and what they did.  I like the stories of the old kings and queens, the wars and the intrigue.  So this time in London I decided that I would go see the places I missed on my last visits.  I went on one of the London walks tours, to Westminister.
You meet the guide at a selected tube station exit (this time it was exit 4 of Westminister tube station)  and the guide will walk around the selected area, telling stories.  It was enjoyable and informative and I did learn about the buildings and history etc which is what I liked, but because we had to walk around so much and there were so many of us (serves me right doing the tour on a Saturday) I lost focus and missed some of the facts the guide was spouting.
I am planning another walk next week, to listen about the streets and neighborhoods of London, till then here's a picture of Westminister abbey.



Sunday 7 April 2013

If I bent over, would you please kick me

It's been frustrating, it's just not the same loading pictures and creating that story on the ipad as opposed to a laptop/ desktop.

I have used pictures to enhance a story as the visual always creates another perspective.  I have been hindered in my creative process with the limitations of the ipad (always blame the tools....right)
It was supposed to be an all encompassing tool, one that would keep me company and allow me to keep posting stories.  It has allowed me to do that but once you add pictures to the equation, it took on an agonizingly frustrating turn.  I couldn't move the pictures, couldn't make them smaller or add captions...... Even with the downloaded blogger app.  (I could be a dunce and just not know how to use the app but....)

So I did want to kick myself, as I had thought it out very carefully before buying the ipad.  It was between a laptop or an ipad and as the ipad looked so much better, and was lighter I convinced myself that it would work........

I guess I was expecting too much from this little companion, much like expecting the vibrator to completely take over as the man in your life !


Saturday 6 April 2013

It snowed!!

In April, one doesn't really expect snow in the middle of London.
But we had snow, well technically it was snow flurries, but damn it, to me it was snowing. For someone that resides 365 days,  and add on 50 years to that, in a hot humid country, the cold wet snow flurries are a welcome change.  The Londoners are tired of winter and want the cold to end but as for me, I am pleased as punch that I got that little bit of winter.....


Tuesday 2 April 2013

Airports & carriers

There this thing about airports, that one loves, or is that just me. everyone is going somewhere, everyone has a destination.
When we were kids we travelled on Singapore's national carrier as dad worked for them and we got free tickets each year. Once we flew the nest, we stopped taking the national carrier as it is one of the more expensive options to fly.
It's been interesting to see how each carrier differs in service, food, drinks and general all round experience.  I am not being biased when I say our national carrier has been one of my favorites and I do look out for specials and will fly it if the price difference is minimal.  Alas the specials don't appear that often and I end up scouring the Internet for cheap flights.
I am a firm believer of you get what you pay for .......
Which brings me to my latest foray into carrier comparing and this time it's Qatar airways.  Pretty decent service, planes were clean, seats big enough (for me anyway) and service pretty good.  Their flight entertainment was excellent, only for the first leg of the journey though.  I had an hour transit which wasn't that much time to see the airport but it was enough time to run to duty free to pick up booze as I couldn't pick up any alcohol from Singapore as one can't bring in alcohol into Doha, even on transit.  Anyway

When i first checked in, in Singapore, I was given a boarding pass with a colour to indicate where I was going once I got to Doha. Each boarding pass would have a different colour, depending on your final destination, it also would indicate which bus you would take to a designated terminal! I mean seriously, was this kindergarten?  Ok ok so the system, primitive as it was, was still effective.  It made sense dealing with so many travelers from different countries and languages to have color codes.

I was a tad disappointed with the airport but then I only had like 30 minutes to take in my surroundings, but I will have a longer layover on the way back so perhaps Doha Airport may just surprise me yet.......

Monday 1 April 2013

Heathrow to kings cross

So the family were a little anxious about me going off into the wild blue yonder for 6 weeks.
Mum was like,  what are you going to do and are you wandering around alone, be careful.
The brother was like, keep warm, London is cold now, wear gloves, scarfs and don't forget your coat, do you have a good coat......

It didn't annoy me, it made me feel loved, suffocated a bit, but loved!

Even my sister in London, bless her, was anxious how I was going to get to Kingscross, well actually one stop after Kingscross, from Heathrow on my own.
From terminal 4 Heathrow, down to the tube station, get on the train and sit with luggage till Caledonian road station.  It was so easy!
Sis wanted to meet me at Heathrow but her alarm didn't go off (the clocks changed that day, went forward an hour ) but from the beginning I told her I could get to Caledonian station on my own.  And the Gods obliged.

The flight was long but once I was at Heathrow, I was all excited to be the big girl all alone on her adventure.