Tulip Cheeks

Its been a while....

 

My lack of correspondence is un acceptable - my sincerest apologies. My job has taken me away from you all and I now want to make it up to you. But I fear that my lack of time wont allow me to do a good enough job. Im tired, Im grumpy, Im just not funny any more..... I will let you be the judge as I go on.

So here we have a little birthday present I made for a dear friend of ours. Mr TC and I knew about this friends birthday last week... and this week - forgot. Feeling so bad I hunted around the house for inspiration. I had designed a few cheeky templates when I was out of work - dreaming of selling them with kits for people all around the world to cross-stitch their own. Like all my dreams they didnt get beyond the chatter. But here is the first one - nicely packaged in its own fram and neatly patched at the reverse - including a brass rivet for wall hanging opportunities.

I think our friend liked it. I dont think they like vegemite tho.

Bath 2 Body - New range at Target Australia

Look at this fabulous display. It looks good enough to eat - but dont for heavens sake - its for washing and moisturising.

Target really is turning one hell of a corner and its looking like this retailer is really starting to make a name for itself in the design world.

No longer do the buyers of Target merely 'buy off shelf'. No more will they copy from samples. We, the good people of Australia want great design at affordable prices and we dont want to see our purchases down the road at the sister company and much poorer relatives (in my opinion) Kmart or Big W.

Watch out Myer and DJ's - Targets coming!

I spoke too soon...

Yesterday I'd popped out at lunch to have a look at Border's book shop to eye up the competition (I design stationery amongst other things). And I was walking through Melbourne Central (quite fast) when I heard a little voice...

"Excuse me...... excuse me....."

I turned around to see a beautiful tall Japanese lady stood kinda infront of me, but shuffling to my side. I turned to face her again, and she shuffled to my quarter again. I truned again - and she did it again! So I thought - what ever shes gonna say to me/try sell me - Im just gonna say no. The shuffling and the awkward silence was unbearable. Then, she must have seen my unimpressed look and she finally decided to speak -

"Would you be interested in a career in Modeling?

"NO THANKS" I barked - and walked off!! - Only to digest what she had said 10 seconds later when I was ploughing down the road!

By then it was too late to do anything about it - Id have looked a fool. I think she took her time over speaking as she must have got up close and realed - ahhh - I paniced - up close you really arnt model material.

But it was nice to be asked and it helped my posture for the afternoon as my chest was inflated.

TOAST

I just remembered this gorgeous shop TOAST back in Blighty. It was always somewhere I loved to browse, but could never justify spending the cash - back in the day when my wage just wouldnt stretch.

Id like to think - looking at all the beautiful things in their catalogue that I would splash the cash more freely now - and that for a Yorkshire lass is saying something!

The styling of the photography is just beautiful and each catalogue must be like flicking thorugh any stylists dream.

The colours are beautiful and autumnal - just like my ideal palette would be, what with my very English pale skin, dark hair green eyes. Someone said to me the other day "you LOOK English!" I took it as a compliment.

I like photography alot. And ever since I was at art college, in a life drawing class and the teacher help us make our very own view-finder (2 bits of paper, cut and folded to make a rectange) its helped me compose better photos ever since. Some people have said that I take good photos. Id like to take more. I have a lovely little camera which I saved up over 2 birthdays and a Christmas for - a Sony Alpa. I do infact love it.

I dont really understand about lenses, appature and all that kinda stuff, but I think thats a good thing as Im not over complicating things. Point and shoot.

I find when taking photos of people - its always good to be smiling when you are doing it. Even better - a laugh.

Hartlepool's Maritime Experience

Ive just been back to Germany and England with work again. The two shows they send me for are a week apart - luckily for all of us I have friendly faces wanting to see me in England so I used the time to spend some much needed quality time with them.

I arrived into Manchester just in time to surprise my best mates at a party. I casually walked in as if Id never been away - infact - it felt like that in real life. Their faces were a picture and was worth all my illusveness in the 2 weeks before so as not to give the game away. We proceeded to get very merry and twat danced the night away together - which I must say was heaven. I had longed for one of those dance since I had left the last time and I certainly made up for lost time. Sadly Mr TC couldnt join me on this trip, and I did keep appologising for the lack of him being there to which everyone kept saying - "dont appologise" with a look of slight relief. Mr TC always, without fail manages to take things to another level. I dread to think what that level would have been on this night as we were managing quite fine without him. 

On the monday I had open house with TC. I had put my agenda onto an events page on Facebook and hoped that people would come see me when I had scheduled I was "bumming around Bloody Lovelys" - and they did. It was fantastic. Bloody Lovely makes a mean cup of tea and kept them coming all day. We cuddled babies, gave Granny a near heart attack when we didnt tell I was back; and ate our body weight in busicuits. Brilliant.

On the Thursday Bloody Lovely and Mi Papa took the day off to take me anywhere I wanted to go - and guess where I asked for - Hartlepool.

Although I love my new country very much - it just is lacking in a bit of life that Hartlepool so definitely has.

So off we went - to the Marina first where they have spent millions doing it up and making it into a wonderful day out for all the family. I was really impressed. The 18th Century naval seaport was shining like a new pin. It cost 20 quid for me and 2 seniors and we were there a good long time.

The boat itself is the oldest warship afloat in the UK. It has been restored beautifully and made to look and feel like you were steping back in time - dummies asleep in their hammocks, dummies playing cards, plastic rats on lower deck and authentic touches everywhere.

The buildings around the Marina were made to look like back in the day. There was a dress makers, a amunition maker, draftsmans office and so much more - all filled to the brim with tools of the trade.

There was also a museum attached for the Maritime side of things and also Hartlepool town museum, which had things in which are no short of priceless.

Then onto Hartlepool town itself where every 'bit of life' box that i wanted ticking was well and truly ticked.

The people in Hartlepool are so lovely, and like all Northern towns have a piece of my heart. One of my favourite pass-times is to people watch - and Hartlepool is a hive of activity for my admireing eyes.

Firstly I cant believe how skimpy far northerners dress in extreme cold conditions. I saw so many midrifts and scantily clad ladies - some of them should just not be. Lots of very younger Mums compaired to where I grew up - or maybe Im just getting old. We had lunch in Wetherspoons - now you cant get better than that for real life. This lady above has done a great job of looking younger than her years from behind I do believe. From the front - she wasnt as sucessful.

On the way home Mi Papa took Bloody Lovely and I over the Transporter bridge. It connects Hartlepool to the south - without going all the way round the crack or straight down the A19. 

You drive on and the hanging platform slowly moves accross and takes about 90 seconds to get to the other side with either 200 people, 9 cars, or 6 cars and one minibus and costs 1 pound 20 for a car. Well worth the money for 90 seconds - another box ticked.

Back to lovely Ripon for fish and chips from my very favourite Southgate Fisheries. There arnt fish and chips like these anywhere in the world - let alone Australia. Delicious.  Paul - the owner is one in a million and took the challenge of catering for our Wedding - all 120 of us. He must have worked like a trooper to get piping hot fish and chips, in individual retro looking boxes to our venue. YUM YUM!  I bumped into a distant cousin in the chip shop too - fancy that! 

A great day had by all. I even snapped a photo of Mi Papa smiling - to which he will say "it was probably wind".

Boxing Day Test - Schmoxing Day REST!

My God I was bored.

The day started with Breakfast with Ian Botham - me and nine hundred and neinty-nine others. There were 11 of us round our table - while Botham was being interviewed by Dean Jones - I say interview - more of what I'd call a funny story off. Poor Ian fidgited in his chair a bit at the start, but then as Dean tried to compete with his stories - Ian came into his own and won hands down.

There was a bit of an auction, a bit of a raffle - where our favourite place to go for Breakfast Owner (Middle Baths) won a fab prize.

We left there and walked to the MGC. The place was heaving. We all wormed through the crowd and found our seats. Luckily on the back row and near the ladies.

They only sell mid-strength beer at the cricket, so loo breaks are more frequent. That is - if it wasnt so cold I could bear to hold my mid-strength beer.

Why is it every time our mates from Brisbane come visit - the weather is freezing? Melbourne - I defend you at every opportunity - but keep letting me down and I dont know what i'l do. 

To say I was bored is an understatement. Bored and cold. The best bit was the mexican wave and Im not kidding. I glazed over most of the day - it was like when Bloody Lovely and Bob used to watch the 6 o'clock news every tea time - I looked - but I didnt watch.

I left at 4 - on my own, leaving all my friends there. I paused on the steps on the way out to ask myself - was I doing the right thing - would I regret it, would Mr TC be mad? Nope, go, go and be happy, go and get warm.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

 
Christmas eve in Melbourne - what better way to welcome Christmas Day than to pass a Catherdral, go in, get ushered to the front and then belt out 'O little town of Bethlehem'?

Merry Second Christmas in lovely Melbourne Tulip Cheeks! This ones gonna be a hot one too!

Mr TC and I decided not to bother with presents for each other this year - weve had a busy one - trip back to Yorkshire, Dining table, health checks for perminent residency checks and to top it off - one mother of a NYE planned in Sydney.

I kept calm - now I know how I would react......

Sat in the doctors waiting room last week. Id had a blood test the week before - for no reason really, just a check up. Next thing I know, the doctor comes running out into the waiting room and says my name " TC, Ive just got your results, Oh, my God, you are very rare, this is very very interesting, come through, come through". So I hurriedly get swept into her room and sit down - almost slump onto her desk thinking  I knew it, I bloody knew it - I knew I was special and also thinking - shes so much nicer to me this week now that Im 'special!'.

So I calmly listen - thinking 'remember everything TC - youre gonna talk about the moment 'you found out' for the rest of your life'. The doctor went on to say things like " The technical name for what you have is bla bla bla" (that I cant remember as Im not too clever) "I will give you the correct website to look it up when you get home" (Brilliant I thought, I can go home - no hospital). "Now" she says "Has anything strange happened to you this week since you saw me for the blood test?" Well, i said, I have been bitten really badly by mosquitos.  "That could be a link together she said - very excitedly and with that she looks at her computer screen. "TC right?" she says. Yes, I say - quite confidently- like I know, I know, Im brave, I know it.

Then she goes " oh sorry, its not you. Weve had two tall attractive females in this week for blood tests and its the other one, sorry" and with that, she moved on and didnt appologise more than that. 

My blood tests were so normal you couldnt get more normal. I should be over the moon really - but is it wrong to feel quite cheated?!

We had a whale of a time at Moreton Island (QLD)

Can you believe I ACTUALLY took this photo.

We were SOOOOOOOO lucky to whitness the scenes we did.

We caught a friday night flight to Brisbane with our new mates - The Mucky Mallory's. They arnt mucky - it just makes us laugh to call them this. Mal is an actual Yorkshire man and is a friend of our Brisbane friends - who then introduced us and we have been friends ever since - friend stealing! Mals wife - which Im gonna nick name her HCIHGC for reasons known only to us 4 is now a really good friend of mine, and soon after making friends she wowed my work collegues too and has been working there since. We lunch together most days. She keeps me on track.

So the 4 of us flew up to join our other great mates Driff and Seedy - both Yorkshire and proud also. After a great BBQ of lashings of meat and beer onions (delicious way of interesting up onions by adding beer - great at the time, but gives amazing after burps for at least 24 hours).

The next morning we were joined by two REAL Auusies - to go with our entry of HCIHGC. Between the 8 of us we had 2 motor boats and one 4 wheel drive - all three FULL of tents, food and booze for the weekend. Off we set in the boats over to Moreton Island - about an hours journey off the coast of Brisbane. While the car went on the ferry.

We arrived at the island and cruised up and down the coast looking for the perfect area to pitch camp. Getting the things off the boat was interesting as we couldnt alow the boats to touch the bottom - and the waves seemed pick up momentum just when we didnt want them to.

We were soon joined by the girls - who had come with the car. Now and again we could see small dark humps in the distance coming up for air - it was the whales.

After pitching up camp off we went again in the boats. It was amazing. Bit of fishing, bit of swimming, but it wasnt until the next day when we really got up close and personal with the whales.

I mean - it was truly National Geographic worthy - I will never ever forget it. Having the boats made it unbelieveable. As soon as we saw a sign of whales coming accross the sea we ran out to the boats and headed towards where we thought they might be (keeping a very safe and required distance of course). We would then turn off the engines and SIT, quietly, the waves lapping on the side of the boat being the only noise then - WUSH, PUFF, CRASH, SMASH! and then a "OH MY GOD!" by all of us!

There was one point where the two boats were about 20 metres apart - having seen the fins heading towards us from some distance. I dont think anyone dare breathe when the fins were coming right at us - litterally under one boat and up between the two.  

This photo was taken from camp - looking out on this beautiful setting - can you see one of us dropping anchor?

This was Mal and Mr TC actually swimming with dolphins. Mal jumped in first - to which I exclaimed "Your husband is so brave HCIHGC" then in jumped Mr TC - not to be out done. Can you see the two fins in the background?

This is our lunch spot on day 2 - pretty cool huh?

An amazing time had by all. And as this was my first ever real camping experience - I think I coped quite well. We bought a tent from Aldi for $25 - (about 18 pounds) an air bed, mosquito repellant and that sanitising hand cream. The only horrific thing that happened to me was when I went out the back of camp to have a wee (no ammenities) - I was on my way back and thought i had got a leaf stuck on the arch of my (bare) foot. I faised my foot and went to pull the leaf off - it broke off, i went to grab it again, it broke off again. Then the giant penny dropped - it was a human poo. I rapidly scraped my foot along the ground and ran through camp squeeling to the sea. Yuck - people are so grose. You're supposed to dig a hole. Or dont go at all. I didnt.

Sandringham and hugs

Its been a quiet weekend this one. Ive slept and ive slept. Then Mr TC started with the 'Man' flu - so I just had to get out - and huess what - Mr TC came with me!

We fancied going for a little walk or something - its crazy to live by the sea side and never go visit it - so off we went. As if by magic Sandringham had itself a fete on - our first Australian one at that.

Not much differnt to a UK one - people still tripping poeple up, the smells of beautiful food - the music belting out. One thing that was a little different was a stand like this - you wouldnt get this in Yorkshire!

So we are still getting on remarkably well. We have had some freshers arrive from the UK - the sister of our dear friend Hels and her boyfriend have come to live over here and being a nice sister Hels put them in touch with us. Its been nice sharing our findings with new poeple. It puts it into perspective how much we have achieved.  It was hard to keep our findings to facts -as you know - I have a few opinions now. It is so differnt here, and us Brits ARE a different breed! But I aslo think a few mis-conceptions have snuck through -like Australia and Australians are a very laid back - nothing could be further from the truth - I have never been told off, tutted at or had my personal property tapped more in my life. I have never had to work so hard, or cope with so much upset in a work environment. But hey ho - it can only get better. I have so much good stuff to give - I just hope I can sustain it. I certainly dont wanna join'em.

Somewhere over the rainbow....

On my way home tonight I litterally headed to wards the end of the rainbow. Rainbows have only recently facinated me - when I truly started to think about them. They are a bit like dreams - a bit weird how or why they happen - but everyone's cool with it.

This one was quite ironic (pot of gold and all that) as we have just had a bit of good fortune. I got my first ever bonus today. I was well chuffed. Also its tax man visit time - in a good way. Australians HAVE to do their tax at this time of year and because this is my first time - it was lovely. I actually got money back. Then also, Brighton Council are going to pay full compensation for when Mr TC fell off his bike and it was their fault. They now have Blackpool illuminations where once was nothing but an extended footpath into the road to slow down cars which Mr TC went a- flying over. Nothing like threating an interview with the 'Weekly Bayside Magazine' to get things moving!

 

Id really like to invent something that would tell people already asleep, what time their other halves get home from a Cricket Anual general Meeting and creep into the spare room.

Bring back Glow Worms!

You can imagine my joy this morning when I spotted the very same glow worm I used to own - tied to the tow bar of a ute.

This glow worm forged a friendship with my still to this day best friend Riesen. We were on brownie camp and her evil twin was bullying her in the other dorm. She moved into mine and I squeezed my glow worm - who in turn lit up to give a very comforting glow across the bunkbeds as if to say - 'its ok, Im here for you'. Her glow work glowed back in gratitude and relief.

That same brownie trip we got to decorate the next doors scout leaders body with Brown Owls make up (at her request). Alarm bells werent raised until my Gran received a letter from me telling her what id been up to on brownie camp. i think it went something like this....

Dear Gran,

Thanks for the five pounds you gave me for brownie camp. I bought a frizbee.

Having a great time. Today we decorated the scout leaders body with Brown Owls make up. Catherine painted lipstick faces on his knees and I put mascara on his leg hair.

Love TC

P.S. Why do you sing so loud in Church?

Brown owl shoulda been a bit nicer to me had she known that Grans cousin was actually the Chief of Guides for the whole of Great Britain. Yeah, Cous got a call and then Brown owl got a visit.  I didnt stay at Brownies too long after that and turned my attention to May pole dancing instead.

I think with all this nostalgia trend and people looking to their past for comfort during times of recession and hope for the future they should bring Glow worms back. Even the little ones (which I still have one of).

Third one in from the left at the top. And my niece (whos only 3 years my junior) had the one middle bottom. We used to heat them up on the bulb of a lamp and pretend to iron our clothes. Our family love ironing and swear they were washer women in previous lives. nice.

Im off to look on ebay for one.

This was my first car....

It cost £50 and was brought from my Dad's boss's wifes father. I named him William, he was French and also a homosexual. I talked to him with a french lilt, and he responded with a loving purr. Apart from when his clutch pedal fell off and rolled under my seat, and William and I rolled backwards and waited for BOB to come tow us home.

His uniqueness and temprimental-ness was intriguing. He was bronze. I stuck big flower stickers on him (I was art art college - although thats no excuse) I painted the dash rainbow stripes and my sister got me cow fur seat covers for my 17th Birthday. Bob wouldnt let me put the furry steering wheel cover on till I passed my test - I had to FEEL the car.

William and I didnt really venture further than a 25 mile radius. together we managed to run into one pedestrian, slide sideways down a hill towards a lake, lose whole cassettes through the hole under my seat and just have adventures every time we left home. (the pedestrian - she fell on my bonnet, i was crawling non stop from a side road to a main road - there was nothing coming so I kept crawling. Williams out of reach windscreen had got rather dirty and I didn't see a pedestrian halfway across the road. I stopped. She ran off - cant have been than injured i thought.)

Anyway, theres a reason for my first car tales. Williams uniqueness was a challenge for a first car. His indicators were to the left like most cars, but were on like a coke can shape thing, along with all my impliments like lights, horn and wipers. This was the 'hub' so to speak. He had 4 gears which was a miricle if i found them as it was similar to stirring thick soup - the knob would find its home eventually. William was only supposed to go 86mph maximum - it said so in his manual. I got to 86 once and he shook for a week. Have i mentioned he was gold? When the clutch pedal fell off the bolt had snapped off leaving the remainer STUCK in position. Bob tapped into its centre and slowly managed to get it out in one piece - a mean feat, and something Brian from the garage said he would actively shy away from.

William didnt like puddles and would konk out in the slightest puddle. He went through a tricky faze of having to be jump started - handy when you live in a student house in Leeds- on the most crime stricken street in Europe at the time. No f*ckers gonna steal my car.

Bob once said - if you can drive that car - you can drive anything. And thats kinda how I feel about my job at the moment. Nuff said?

 

Zim and Zou

Hey everyone,

Ive been looking after this really cute work experience student at work the last two weeks and hes been sharing with me some really cool websites. This one is especially for old Tigerprint chums (who didnt make it to my picnic).

These French graphic artists are really skilled in the art of paper cutting and make wonderful replicas of game boys, and do the most wonderful typography with paper.

Check them out at Zim and Zou.

Mungo and Maude

 

I stumbled across this gorgeous corduroy cat bed on a great website called Mungo and Maude.

Its now the exciting part of my job where I get to scour the globe for cool things and decide if I can take inspiration and do something wonderfully cool for my company. 

Im just about to email Mr TC with this image to inspire him to allow me to get TWO cats when we do finally get residency to live in this wonderful country (hes a dog person at the moment and he doesn't know it yet, but hes about to convert).

I also love the name Maude and its mine and his affectionate name for each other - along with Dave. (it keeps things interesting for eaves-droppers)

Ive got a little bit of a migraine today as Ive been working extremely hard for the last 5 ish months. Even though we had out little Yorkshire break, I just haven't been able to relax the old back of neck muscles and its starting to take its toll. I just want to climb into a human size one of these cat beds and sleep for at least a week.

The Witchery, Edinburgh, Scotland, The World.

"Hidden in a collection of historic buildings at the gates of Edinburgh castle, James Thomson’s seven theatrical and decadent suites are perfect for those looking to stay in the most indulgent and magical of settings – the perfect antidote to bland hotels. Lavishly decorated and antique-filled, these suites scream romance with a capital R!"

The Witchery  was our indulgence while we were back in the UK. We wanted to go see my Grandparents who live near Glen Eagles, we wanted to spend some quality time with our best mates FT and Maddison of the Baxter variety no less, and we love Edinburgh - SHAZAM - there we have it.

We booked 2 rooms and a table for 4 in the secret Garden restaurant at the very famous Witchery in Edinburgh some months ago. The rooms being - The Inner sanctum and The Library. Luckily, on arrival, we were taken to the Inner Sanctum first as we were able to hand the ownership over to our friends for the night as it was far too scary for us two Tulips to survive one entire nights sleep. This is it above - and you should have SEEN the guest book "dont look in the mirror at 4 in the morning', 'dont be surprised if you wake up to find your once opened suitcase now zipped up'. This also is infact where THEE Michael Douglas proposed to THEE Catherine Zeta Jones. (I know  THE doesnt have two E's but I just wanted to make sure you read it the way It was intended). This was their bathroom!

Ours luckily  had a much warmer feeling and is apparently Kate Moss's room of choice when she visits this great city. 

The door on the left lead to our bathroom...

We walked down the Royal Mile the next day. Hidden amongst the toursity shops was an antique shop which had this little gem in its window. Its a medicine box from the early 1800's. And was used to service a whole farm - the house, and all its staff. It still had all of its original contents - including poison! And was being sold at £4800. I just loved it.

What I missed about Australia

I knew there was a reason why I hadnt done a flip of the coin yet. Ive done what I miss about Yorkshire and it wasnt till I was back there that I could really identify the differences between it, and my lovely Melbourne.

I missed the friendly-ness of Australian people. They are welcoming in a different way. More open about their lives, and much more friendly in shops. I really missed the "hey, hows it going?" question asked by EVERY shop assistant across the whole of Australia.

I missed my new friends, the ones we are at the very begining of our journeys with. The ones with definite potential to be friends for life.

I missed the amazing food. Bloodly lovely proclaimed there must be something wrong with my taste buds as I even found a roast pork sandwich from the infamous 'BOOTHS' bland!

I missed the way Mr TC looks after me in Australia. He just left me for dead in Yorkshire as HE was going to enjoy himself.

I missed coffee of the amazing variety, oh, and the going for breakfast rituals.

I missed feeling comfortable in my clothes (predominantly because I took nothing expecting Id get everything there - to find nothing) but also I think because Australians are much less bothered about the outer shell. I felt a bit more 'judged' in England and eyed up and down more.

A little bit of Yorkshire to warm the heart

Mr TC and I ventured back to Yorkshire together for our first 'proper' holiday. I tentatively use the words 'proper' and 'holiday' as a holiday it was not. Id say more of a mission - and I think our friends and relatives would agree.

Ive never been in the situation of visiting a first home of 28 years as a visitor before. As Mr TC and I went to school together we both have lovely families and all our lovely friends living in a 40 mile radius - and all very good company. The mission began when Mr TC and I sat down to work on a TIME TABLE so we could fit everyone in. IMPOSSIBLE I hear you say. CORRECT!

We did a fair to middling job, although there were definitely others we would have loved to have seen and those we would have liked to have seen even more.

These photographs were taken on our first morning. I woke up at 6.30 to find beautiful sunshine. Off I set across the fields and along the river banks.

It was truly a wonderful feeling, and possibly the only time in the whole trip where I felt envious of living here. I felt free, safe and confident in where I was going for the first time in 14 months. I knew nothing was gonna bite and kill me, that the sun was bright, but it wasnt going to burn me. It just felt brilliant. I even self combusted into tears of joy at one point. (luckily no one was around at that small hour).

 

Through the woods....

 

And then back along the river.

I just thought this was the best headstone Id ever seen (back left). So simple, to the point, no fuss. There arnt any rules really for a headstone - just the obvious.

Good on MOONPIG...

Thats fast work! Current affairs greetings - very clever. Check out their great cards at www.moonpig.com - but then buy my friends at Tigerprint's handy work for Marks and Spencer 

Its a year today since I left my lovely Yorkshire....

and when I asked Mr TC "apart from family and friends - what do you miss about Yorkshire?" his first reply was 'The nookie-ness of it" and I knew exactly what he ment.

I miss the option of running through fields and woods with the knowledge that nothing was gonna kill me through a bite or getting lost and dehydrated.

I miss the niceties that Yorkshire (and probably all shires of GB) pass on "hello love, how are ya?" How ist the diddeling?"  "By Hec, thyst looking well!"  I like small talk and I miss banter of the loveliest kind.

I miss familiar faces and having history with people - Id say this is probably top of the list. I love my past, I love my present, and I dont half miss familiarity.

I miss being able to place people better. By this I mean judging people (which i know I shouldnt do) but I do love imagining peoples houses, what car they drive and what they are thinking, right that very second. I dont feel like I have the authority to do that here, I just CANT imagine what people are?

I miss Christmas ALOT. I just watched christmas day on Albert Square tonight (thats where we are up to) and I felt more Christmassy watching that than I did this Christmas in Australia.

I miss UK car registration plates - they are so chunky and bold.

I miss  'KEEP LEFT UNLESS OVER-TAKING'  I miss that alot.

I miss the very solid and definite plug action the triple pin in the UK has.

Super markets - there just arnt the choices here.

I miss cheapness of antiques oh and magazines - especially 'Look' magazine. Australian journalism is worded different.

UK radio - esp Radio 2. I like the formality of it, I like the routine. Here they do the traffic first, then the weather, then the news. Then, in the same tone of voice, they finish off with an advert.

I miss not having to acknowledge im not from here every day. Today I got introduced as 'This is TC, shes English" I didnt know whether to do a little dance?

I really miss having in depth conversations. Although Our Wendy is pretty good.

I miss taking a price at face value, and not having to convert it into pounds everytime.

I miss the light. The natural light. It somehow makes things not look as good here. For-instance, I have never bought a single thing at Camberwell outside market - explain that! No really, the light is just not the same as the uk.

Theres a few other things, but i wont bore you with them. They whirl round my head quite often and then then float out as soon as they arrived. I am truly happy here and I still maintain - this is where we are ment to be right now. I love Australia and cant wait to do a run-down of what I LOVE ABOUT AUSTRALIA TOMORROW - A YEAR SINCE WE ARRIVED......

My Hong Kong adventures

It was lovely to come back to Hong Kong again. Even though id been here only 6 weeks before, I was only here for 24 hours, this time I would be here a week.

My main priority was helping finish off picking and designing Christmas decorations for this year (yes, afraid so - things do have to happen way in advance of things being in the shops - scary thought!) but part of my trip ended up meeting our new team of designers over in the Hong Kong office - a part of the job I LOVE. Meeting other creative people, chatting about their work and looking at where their skills can be maximised the most in the future. i just LOVE it.

So, in work i had a good time - I got to meet lots of great people, got to know my way around the office a bit better, and outside of work I got chance to explore this facinating city - unlike no other. or should that be A-like no other? Im confused?

My picture above shows I got the famous Star ferry across to Hong Kong island, where as you can see - the staff, like me, have a pon-schon for Sailor suits :

I was over this side of the water to visit 'The Peak' which id heard lots about, but it still remained a mystery what it actually was? It was Sunday, and the streets were heaving with Phillipino people who apparently every sunday congregate on the streets of Hong Kong and had a good catch up with friends and family.

Id been to the Peak before, as an 11 yearold. I couldnt remember a jot. not a jot about it, and even getting there, and getting on the tram, I STILL couldnt remember (it must have been later in the same day that I had the sunstroke and Bloody Lovely damn near choked me to death by holding my hair out of the sink and grabbed my neclace too - IMPOSSIBLE to let her know without physical force.)

The Tram was good. Very steep, infact I stood up to take a picture and some neck muscles came into play I didnt even know I had.

 

As you can see here - it unfortunatly wasnt a very clear night, but my collegue and I did have  an  exceptionally lovely meal at the Deco restaurant.  I feel very fortunate that my job allows me to travel. I feel even more fortunate that I work with some really lovely people. The two go hand in hand to make  what could be a very lonely time; a very nice time. 

 

And just to lower the tone - when talking to Mi Papa  (whom I will now refer to with his righful name of BOB - Brain Of Britian , named by Bloody lovely and myself many years ago, on behalf of him knowing practically everything, and if he doesnt - it aint worth knowing; so he will answer you in a riddle, giving him more air time and leave you even more perplexed than you already might have been) yeah, so Im telling Bob about my adventure and he goes "did you go past the building of a thousand arse-holes?"  I think hes referring to the above.

Such an AMASIAN DAY!

Who'd have thought after setting off to such a bad start... a fall out about where to park, blisters appearing sooner than expected, a change of top; that this day would have turned into something very magical.

One of our bes-test friends of which there are few (you know who you are) has a job which most males would kill for. Hes a race engineer for Formula 1. He gets to play with a full size scaletrixs every day if he wants and some days when he doesnt want. Back in class 6, when I, yes I was better at Maths than he and we were kinda childhood sweethearts who got married on the school field but then divorced soon after because he tripped me up during a rather vicious game of British Bull-dogs and i did a rolly-polly in mid air (much to the whole schools amusement) I am, like I am all my best-friends - very proud of what  has been achieved.  

Enough of the formalities - look how close knowing him got us!

We couldn't believe it. I even slurped the champagne off my arm! And so close to my all time hero - JOHN TRAVOLTA or as Mr TC and I like to call him - Jip. (dont know why?) I have two framed pictures of Jip in my house - one in my bedroom and one in my laundry. They keep me going. 

So, who else did you see I hear you ask - well, we saw THAT many F1 drivers it wasn't funny, Mr TC got a picture with Ms Danni Minogue, a Brian McFadden and oh, a Holly Vallance - who had a fat back. Her backless dress showed off a bit too much flesh in the way her ripples cascaded down her sides. Not a good look Holly - it brought me nicely to a chuckle when I remembered the advert she did in the UK for reverse charges - shame she hadn't seen her R.E.V.E.R.S.E sooner than the rest of us.

So this is where the driver sits. Looked pretty uncomfortable to me. Good job they are tiny. Our friend is the main communication for the driver. He has to make sure the car goes as fast as it can, as safely as possible and get the driver to finish super fast - in a nut shell. He did such a good job for this Melbourne race that his driver finished 2nd. Thats our friends first podium finish since he has taken up this prestigious role and WE were there to see it and share the excitement. And boy, what excitement.

After sitting very comfortably in the paddock area, and being looked after extremely well by the Renault team we watched most of the race on a screen with them, and with 2 laps to go we were ushered with them to run into the pits where we waited with all the engineers to hear the final result. We knew anything could happen and although our friend was in 2nd place when we left the comfort of the paddock, anything could happen. As there was no screen in the vasinity everyone had their heads tilted down and their ears - literally 'pricked' up. Then, without much warning everyone RAN. And we ran, and we didn't know where we were running to. We stopped. There we were....at the edge of the pit lane - no fence, no barrier, and along came Jensen Button on his winning car, closely followed by our guy - Kubica. Then we ran again. I stopped, wanting to get a glimpse of our friends face. I really didnt know where to go, as it felt like - what am I doing here?! Un-be-known to me all this was being watched from above by one of my bosses at my new job. Seeing him the next day he told me he was watching all the engineers running after the cars and then remarked 'THATS TC!" on seeing me trotting down the pit lane in high heels, stopping, looking back and then capturing my thoughts brilliantly by telling me " you looked like you were thinking "shit, where do I go now!!!" haha.

We gave our friend the biggest hug. He looked in shock for the rest of the time we saw him. People were hugging him, shaking his hand - there were high-fives galore. We were, are, always were/are SO proud of our Rennie.

So then the rest is like a dream. Well, it is now anyway. We left after sharing a paper cup of bubbly with him, we gave the passes back to him at the gate and off we floated into the mass of general admission.

 

Honkers

I was lucky enough to visit Hong Kong when I was 11. Bloody Lovely's Sister Awesome Audrey and Uncle Huge lived there training people to fly planes before the take-over. I remember it quite well for only 11 years old - getting sun-stroke and Bloody lovely holding my hair back and not realising she had hold of my necklace and was strangling me causing me to gag even more. Going to the markets and Alleys buying what EVER we wanted - them were the days. Id kinda forgotten (or blocked out) the smells. Some of them THAT bad its put me off Chinese takeaway for the forseable future. I think, if I go back, Im gonna have to find some of that stuff morgue workers put under their noses. As it turns out - I am going back with my new job - on tuesday, but Im sure I'l get to that later.

What a fantastic place - bar the smells. The buzz that is Hong Kong Ive never found anywhere else. A sea of black hair (and some badly dyed blonde which makes an orange shade - why would you?) The drive from the airport to Kowloon is like stepping into the Avatar movie - Islands surrounded by a hazy fog - which I later found out is the pollution, Tall, tall sky rises like shards of glass, or Kriptonite from the 1980's Superman movies and the bustling streets - full of shoppers - with shopping bags - no sign of recession.

My hotel was special. They even turned down my bed, put a little rug to the side and left me a lovely note with the next days weather forecast.

After a quick trip into the office off I went to Sham Shu po - an area north of Kowloon FULL of little shops with my wildest dreams of beads, ribbons, jewels and more. What a fantastic place - if massively stinky.

 

I cant wait to go back here and start the bead/ribbon/button collection for my new work - how much am I gonna hate that! (sarcasm, dont you just love it).

As you all know..

I'm a little globe trotter at the moment. I'm actually at heathrow as I type. I've made it to the lounge after another traumatic security session. I can't STAND the awful people I seem to meet who operate the scanning machines. Do they have to be so rude?  'No I can't take my jacket off right now and put it in there, you told me to take my boots off- give me a sodding chance'. And why do they insist on me taking my cardigan off? I wouldn't mind but it's a long cardigan and underneath are brown leggins, tight brown t-shirt and now my brown socks are revealed.... I look like a turd!

And if that wasn't bad enough- there's a bell-end at the other end insisting that I can't take the trays (x2- full of my possessions) over to the central table for me to cover my modesty at leisure-even though there's a plaque on said table saying 'please return trays'. He looked like an ugly version of John Terry, and was a royal cock. We exchanged words and as I struggled to load up my goods and cart them to the table he told me "I suggest you start with your shoes- its not that hard, and that might me a good place to start?"

"I know how to get dressed thankyou" I said as I shot him 'the look'.

I made sure my shoes were the last thing to go on. And as I walked away he had been watching me the whole time and he let out a hiddeous laugh- like some adolescent teen who was showing off to his sad friends. So, I paused, then turned with venom and said "sorry, did you say something?"
The sad little man looked like he'd done something in his pants that I'd just impersonated only minutes before.

"no", he said. "just having a laugh to myself"

"good" I said, you enjoy yourself" and under my breath I finished it off with "you sad little man".

What a sad individual- the only place he can feel important is at the back end of a conveyer belt.

You'll never believe who I've just seen - the older man off The Full Monty! I believe he was called Gerrard in the show. I can't believe I recognised him. He can definitely leave his hat on.