Last night I went out with Marina & Vanora (Dan's sisters) and another couple of friends, Michelle and Suze. Lovely evening; nice dinner in Fellicinis in Leeds (definitely recommend the Chicken & Mushroom Penne, and the Haddock Risotto. Yum). We then went on for a swift glass of Champers in the champagne bar in the Electric Press near Millennium Square.
Unfortunately Harry, Vanora's son, wasn't well, and I wasn't planning on being out all night, so after an early start (dinner at 6) at about 8:15 we decided to head home.
We got into the car and headed off round the dreaded Leeds Loop. I hate it. For those of you who don't know, it's a one-way system round the city centre which manages to confuse me every time I get on it. It's like a massive spinning wheel which flings me off in random directions and I never know where I am. So, off we go round the loop. I missed the 1st opportunity to get to the motorway (even with Vanora's expert guidance) and ended up following it round a bit further. We get to the bottom of Lady Lane, at the lights just before the roundabout with Eastgate (Theatres in front of you) and the car....just.....stopped.
OMG the petrol light was on, but the needle was still on about a quarter, and according to the mileage, I still had over 30 miles in the tank.
There was no doubting though, the car had actually run out of petrol. Sh*t!
After a bit of initial panic, we noticed a side road WITH A PARKING SPACE about 50 yards away, and after waiting for a gap in the traffic (we were on the Leeds Loop remember) with a bit of serious pushing from Vanora managing to maintain her glamorous look in her 6 inch heels, and me sort of scootering along with one leg in and one out, we managed to park it in a proper space. Please note: this actually involved reversing a bit as well; no mean feat.
We then realised that we were just across the road from the police station. Great, we thought, we'll go and ask them for directions to the nearest petrol station. Unfortunately the enquiries office closed at 8pm, but we did spot a couple of 'cycle' officers returning to the station and so we accosted them for info.
They pointed out that Regent street was about the nearest. 10 minutes walk. Eeeek in our heels!
We tried at the taxi rank and were rejected by the taxi driver. Miserable man. So off we trekked. It wasn't so far, but did hurt our feet alot!
I got to the checkout with my little petrol canister, and started digging around for my purse. Where was my purse? Damn, in the panic at the car, I'd actually managed to leave it on the back seat. Thank God Vanora was there. She saved the day with a spare tenner in her purse. I'd been trying to persuade her to get home to poorly Harry in a taxi. OMG, imagine if she'd not been there?
When we got back to the car and had filled the tank from the petrol carrier, we were just about to get back in the car. "Are you ready?" Vanora looked at me over the roof of the car from the passenger side - and promptly disappeared! I raced round to the other side of the car, only to find her, one foot in the footwell, and the other down the very high kerb, collapsed on the pavement, laughing hysterically! The (now very painful) 6'' heels, dodgy parking near a high kerb and a dark street had combined to make her miss her footing when getting into the car. She couldn't move for laughing and I was laughing too much to help her get up!
I'm dreading it if they've caught us on CCTV they'd have put us on "Booze Britain - Leeds"
23 Dec 2008
7 Dec 2008
Ooops!
Well the tree is up - pics to follow - but have had minor incident with it today!
In previous years, we've always lined the tree bucket with some bin liners before putting in the tree and the stones, and then we fill it with water. It just keeps the tree fresh especially when we put it up the 1st week in December, and stops it drying out.
So, this morning I thought, 'better get the water in' and so I got a jug and very carefully poured the water in, making sure I got it into the middle.
Next thing I hear is a shout from Dan...'Li, there's water all over the floor in here' and I went running in to see all the water leaking out across the room. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Several bath towels and tea towels later there was still quite alot of liquid coming out and we started getting concerned for the laminate flooring. So I came up with an idea.....we'd raise up the bucket onto some tupperwear boxes to see how much water was coming out.
With the help of Miles, Dan's lovely friend who had been visiting us, the 3 of us managed to get the bucket raised up off the floor which meant we were able to get some cloths in underneath.
I've been swapping the cloths over every half an hour or so to make sure the floor isn't kept wet for a long piece of time and at 8pm it's just about stopped dripping! I reckon another 24 hours and there'll be no more water to leak out.
Damn! I wish I'd checked the water-tightness of the bin-liners before loading the tree and stones in. Boooooooo!
In previous years, we've always lined the tree bucket with some bin liners before putting in the tree and the stones, and then we fill it with water. It just keeps the tree fresh especially when we put it up the 1st week in December, and stops it drying out.
So, this morning I thought, 'better get the water in' and so I got a jug and very carefully poured the water in, making sure I got it into the middle.
Next thing I hear is a shout from Dan...'Li, there's water all over the floor in here' and I went running in to see all the water leaking out across the room. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
Several bath towels and tea towels later there was still quite alot of liquid coming out and we started getting concerned for the laminate flooring. So I came up with an idea.....we'd raise up the bucket onto some tupperwear boxes to see how much water was coming out.
With the help of Miles, Dan's lovely friend who had been visiting us, the 3 of us managed to get the bucket raised up off the floor which meant we were able to get some cloths in underneath.
I've been swapping the cloths over every half an hour or so to make sure the floor isn't kept wet for a long piece of time and at 8pm it's just about stopped dripping! I reckon another 24 hours and there'll be no more water to leak out.
Damn! I wish I'd checked the water-tightness of the bin-liners before loading the tree and stones in. Boooooooo!
Dan's Lost it
5 Dec 2008
Coincidence #3
I suppose that being called Rossi & having an Italian restaurant in a small village makes it reasonably likely the people would know *us* or at least Mum and Dad if they knew the area at all, and so there have been quite a lot of this type of coincidences in my life. The 'oh you know my mum and dad' type thing. That, coupled with the fact that I travel a lot and talk to most people, so i've always taken them a bit as 'well they happen'.
This next one, however was just completely and utterly madly coincidental. It starts off as not mine but in several coincidental twists, I was coincidenced in at the last minute!
It was a weekend in the summer. Dad's birthday, in fact, and myself and my friend Scotty were up home for the weekend.
Scotty & I had spoken many time about the times when he, as a young child, had been sent on holiday to a parish not too far from Bromborough, as part of an exchange holiday between the parishes. So, given that we were there...and Dad's party arrangements were under control...we headed off in search of this parish.
I just need to point out that it was long enough time ago that we DIDN'T google it beforehand! So actually we had to drive around a bit to find the church. We did find it after asking at a local newsagents!
So, we rocked up at the presbytery, knocked on the door, and when the priest answered, we said "father, we know this is a strange request, but do you know anything about the exchange holiday with St Agnes's parish?"
"Oh" he said "they're about to arrive in an hour"
what?
to cut a very long story short, the parish exchange was still going on, some 20 years later, and the children were due to arrive WITHIN THE HOUR of us going to that parish. How was this possible?
We were invited into the parish hall to wait for the arrival of the bus with the children on it. Quite a few local families were already there, waiting for them. And of course so were the family that had taken in Scotty, all those years ago. It was a lovely reunion!
This family were hosting one of the adults accompanying the group; Scotty's mate Tucker! A childhood friend, who used to come on this trip as well and who now was part of the organising team from St Agnes'. You can imagine his surprise getting off the bus to see Scotty there waiting for him!
The host couple (I can't remember their name) had us back to their house for a cup of tea and a biscuit, whilst Scotty and Tucker went down memory lane and chatted about the good times they'd had on holiday there. It was lovely!
Inevitably the conversation moved on to other subjects, and this is where my conincidencing started. Firstly the gentleman's sister was a nun. Nothing too strange, apart from the fact that I knew her as she was an FCJ sister - and lived at my school!
Next thing that was weird was we were talking about a lucky escape the family had had where a car had crashed through their lounge wall - it had been stolen by joyriders, and they'd missed the turn outside the house and crashed stright through the fence and into their lounge. It was a lucky escape because the family had just got up and walked into the back room.
Whilst we were sympathising with them, & marvelling at their lucky escape, I had a flash of memory. I was sure this story sounded familar to me......so I asked if they knew the person whose car it was....was he an italian....did he own the local restaurant. YES, they said! Some friends of mum and dad's who live in this area, had had their car stolen, and It had been crashed into someone's house by joyriders......It was the same people. How bizarre.
During the conversation (which went on for several hours) there were so many coincidences, that Scotty and I had to stop & write it all down afterwards, and I can't actually remember all the nuances of detail which linked us all together!
Anyway, it was a mega day of them and we were blown away!
This next one, however was just completely and utterly madly coincidental. It starts off as not mine but in several coincidental twists, I was coincidenced in at the last minute!
It was a weekend in the summer. Dad's birthday, in fact, and myself and my friend Scotty were up home for the weekend.
Scotty & I had spoken many time about the times when he, as a young child, had been sent on holiday to a parish not too far from Bromborough, as part of an exchange holiday between the parishes. So, given that we were there...and Dad's party arrangements were under control...we headed off in search of this parish.
I just need to point out that it was long enough time ago that we DIDN'T google it beforehand! So actually we had to drive around a bit to find the church. We did find it after asking at a local newsagents!
So, we rocked up at the presbytery, knocked on the door, and when the priest answered, we said "father, we know this is a strange request, but do you know anything about the exchange holiday with St Agnes's parish?"
"Oh" he said "they're about to arrive in an hour"
what?
to cut a very long story short, the parish exchange was still going on, some 20 years later, and the children were due to arrive WITHIN THE HOUR of us going to that parish. How was this possible?
We were invited into the parish hall to wait for the arrival of the bus with the children on it. Quite a few local families were already there, waiting for them. And of course so were the family that had taken in Scotty, all those years ago. It was a lovely reunion!
This family were hosting one of the adults accompanying the group; Scotty's mate Tucker! A childhood friend, who used to come on this trip as well and who now was part of the organising team from St Agnes'. You can imagine his surprise getting off the bus to see Scotty there waiting for him!
The host couple (I can't remember their name) had us back to their house for a cup of tea and a biscuit, whilst Scotty and Tucker went down memory lane and chatted about the good times they'd had on holiday there. It was lovely!
Inevitably the conversation moved on to other subjects, and this is where my conincidencing started. Firstly the gentleman's sister was a nun. Nothing too strange, apart from the fact that I knew her as she was an FCJ sister - and lived at my school!
Next thing that was weird was we were talking about a lucky escape the family had had where a car had crashed through their lounge wall - it had been stolen by joyriders, and they'd missed the turn outside the house and crashed stright through the fence and into their lounge. It was a lucky escape because the family had just got up and walked into the back room.
Whilst we were sympathising with them, & marvelling at their lucky escape, I had a flash of memory. I was sure this story sounded familar to me......so I asked if they knew the person whose car it was....was he an italian....did he own the local restaurant. YES, they said! Some friends of mum and dad's who live in this area, had had their car stolen, and It had been crashed into someone's house by joyriders......It was the same people. How bizarre.
During the conversation (which went on for several hours) there were so many coincidences, that Scotty and I had to stop & write it all down afterwards, and I can't actually remember all the nuances of detail which linked us all together!
Anyway, it was a mega day of them and we were blown away!
3 Dec 2008
Italy
We're just back from a little trip to Forli to see the Rossi clan. We flew out on Thursday morning with KLM via Amsterdan to Bologna.
Now, it's quite an unusual thing to go and stay with friends instead of family but for quite a few years, this is what we have been doing so as not to put my family out too much. All of them would, of course, turn themselves upside down for us, we know that, but actually it makes us a little bit uncomfortable to do it. Instead we've been staying with Anna, our friend of many years! She originally came to us when she was 19 and I was about 7. Her mum and my Nonna went to the same church, and her mum thought it'd be good for her English to come and stay with an English family! 30 plus years later, she speaks better English than the rest of us and we are all still firm friends!
Anyway, her and her other half, Wainer, have recently bought the flat above hers & knocked the 2 together! It's AMAZING, and, of course, it means there's LOADS of space - double what was there before of course, so that's where we stayed.
Coincidence #2
Well I can't claim this one for my own. It really belongs to our Jane...
A few years ago, when the shop was still open, a couple of Mum's customers came in one day all excited.
''You'll never guess what happened to us on holiday'' they said. Needless to say, Mum asked them to go on...
They were in Madrid, walking along the street smoking, when they were asked for a light by a young Spanish man.
He spoke quite good english and so they chatted for a bit.
''Where are you from?'' he asked
''The Wirral'' they replied.
"I don't know it," he said, "but i do have friends in Bromborough - have you heard of it?"
They were laughing and explained that not only was Bromborough ON the Wirral, but that's where they were from.
"Oh," he said. "in that case do you know my friend Jane? Her family have an Italian restaurant."
Well you can only imagine their response!
Turns out it was Miguel, a friend of Jane's who she'd met when living in Valencia in 1992 and (correct me if i'm wrong Janey) even shared a flat with for a few months.
Totally random. Total coincidence!
25 Nov 2008
Coincidence?
I was thinking about the recent few posts I wrote about nice people and was trying to think of another theme that I can write about. I think there are a couple of things that have happened either to me or to people around me that have been the most amazing coincidences that they're worth writing about. So here goes.....
....it was the winter of 1992-1993 and I was on a skiing holiday with a select group of close friends (actually there were 54 of us, but at the time, we heaved around in a mob!) It was Val Thorens in France, an excellent resort for pre-ski, durant-ski, and apres-ski!!!! There was alot of social activity. It was a great holiday. I may have some pictures which I'll scan for facebook at some point. yeah, just to embarrass you all!
Anyway, back to the story....so I was in the queue for a chair lift, and because it was peak season, the lift operators weren't having any of the 'I want to sit with my friends' lark which normally goes on. No empty seats. They made everyone fill every seat on the lift. So, I ended up on a 3 seater lift with 2 chaps who I didn't know. It was a loooooooong chair lift. 15 or 20 minutes up to the top. So when I realised they were English, we got chatting and exchanged pleasantries.
"Where are you from?" they said
"I'm from Portsmouth, where are you guys from?"
"Wirral"
"Oh really? I live in Portsmouth now but the Wirral is where I grew up"
they smiled (I don't think my accent gives me away as a Wirralian)
"Whereabouts on the Wirral?" I asked.
"Heswall" they replied (** for the non Wirral people reading this, Heswall is a village about 7 or 8 miles from Bromborough)
I explained that I knew people from school who had lived in Heswall coz I'd gone to Upton Convent - but that actually I was from Bromborough.
"Oh we know Brombrorough" they said.
In fact, they went on to tell me that they were solicitors acting for a business in Bromborough, hence why they knew it so well.
Cue the point were I say "Oh my Mum and Dad have a business in Bromborough - it's the Italian restaurant. Do you know it?"
"Do we know it?" they looked at each other and laughed. "We had lunch there 2 days ago!"
"You are kidding?" I said. "It's the one on the precinct. Used to be a SPAR. Right opposite the British Legion?"
"Oh yes, they said, that's definitely the one. Roberto's?"
"Well my Dad is Roberto, and everyone calls it that, but it's actually called Romagna" I said, and they went on to tell me that they were acting on behalf of the shop next door to the restauraunt, which was a sewing shop called 'The Stitchery' during the dispute that all the tennants of the precinct were having with the landlord in relation to the recent rent increases. Mum and Dad were having the same dispute.
It was a major coincidence!
I couldn't wait to tell the crowd! So, that evening I was holding court at the bar. As everyone was coming down ready for dinner, I was telling them all about the fact that I'd shared a chair lift with 2 guys who'd had dinner in our restaurant, 2 days before. Mega coincidence.
As I was telling the story, I noticed a gentleman sitting at the bar. He was listening intently to my story and as I told it a couple of times to different groups of friends, he seemed to get more interested. Eventually, as I filled in the end of the story again, telling the 2 solicitors that the restaurant wasn't called Roberto's, but that was Dad's name....the guy leant forward and shouted across the bar....."Are you Robbie's girl?"
"Pardon?"
"I said, are you Robbie's girl?"
"errrm, well I think I could be described as that....my Dad's name is Roberto"
He looked me up and down and said "Italian, Roberto, Dibbinsdale Hotel. How many Italians called Roberto can there be in Bromborough?"
Turns out that many years before, in the late 60's, when Mum and Dad worked in the Dibbinsdale Hotel, this chap had been a regular resident at the hotel, in fact had virtually lived there Monday to Friday for a couple of years! He'd heard me telling the story to the guys at the bar (several times!), and had put 2 & 2 together, and realised he knew Mum and Dad. It was hilarious.
You should have seen the incredulous looks on the faces of all my friends. I think that they thought I'd bribed this guy to pretend to know me after the story of meeting the solicitors on the ski-lift.
What can I say?
It's not my fault that I'm the centre of the universe, is it? :-)
....it was the winter of 1992-1993 and I was on a skiing holiday with a select group of close friends (actually there were 54 of us, but at the time, we heaved around in a mob!) It was Val Thorens in France, an excellent resort for pre-ski, durant-ski, and apres-ski!!!! There was alot of social activity. It was a great holiday. I may have some pictures which I'll scan for facebook at some point. yeah, just to embarrass you all!
Anyway, back to the story....so I was in the queue for a chair lift, and because it was peak season, the lift operators weren't having any of the 'I want to sit with my friends' lark which normally goes on. No empty seats. They made everyone fill every seat on the lift. So, I ended up on a 3 seater lift with 2 chaps who I didn't know. It was a loooooooong chair lift. 15 or 20 minutes up to the top. So when I realised they were English, we got chatting and exchanged pleasantries.
"Where are you from?" they said
"I'm from Portsmouth, where are you guys from?"
"Wirral"
"Oh really? I live in Portsmouth now but the Wirral is where I grew up"
they smiled (I don't think my accent gives me away as a Wirralian)
"Whereabouts on the Wirral?" I asked.
"Heswall" they replied (** for the non Wirral people reading this, Heswall is a village about 7 or 8 miles from Bromborough)
I explained that I knew people from school who had lived in Heswall coz I'd gone to Upton Convent - but that actually I was from Bromborough.
"Oh we know Brombrorough" they said.
In fact, they went on to tell me that they were solicitors acting for a business in Bromborough, hence why they knew it so well.
Cue the point were I say "Oh my Mum and Dad have a business in Bromborough - it's the Italian restaurant. Do you know it?"
"Do we know it?" they looked at each other and laughed. "We had lunch there 2 days ago!"
"You are kidding?" I said. "It's the one on the precinct. Used to be a SPAR. Right opposite the British Legion?"
"Oh yes, they said, that's definitely the one. Roberto's?"
"Well my Dad is Roberto, and everyone calls it that, but it's actually called Romagna" I said, and they went on to tell me that they were acting on behalf of the shop next door to the restauraunt, which was a sewing shop called 'The Stitchery' during the dispute that all the tennants of the precinct were having with the landlord in relation to the recent rent increases. Mum and Dad were having the same dispute.
It was a major coincidence!
I couldn't wait to tell the crowd! So, that evening I was holding court at the bar. As everyone was coming down ready for dinner, I was telling them all about the fact that I'd shared a chair lift with 2 guys who'd had dinner in our restaurant, 2 days before. Mega coincidence.
As I was telling the story, I noticed a gentleman sitting at the bar. He was listening intently to my story and as I told it a couple of times to different groups of friends, he seemed to get more interested. Eventually, as I filled in the end of the story again, telling the 2 solicitors that the restaurant wasn't called Roberto's, but that was Dad's name....the guy leant forward and shouted across the bar....."Are you Robbie's girl?"
"Pardon?"
"I said, are you Robbie's girl?"
"errrm, well I think I could be described as that....my Dad's name is Roberto"
He looked me up and down and said "Italian, Roberto, Dibbinsdale Hotel. How many Italians called Roberto can there be in Bromborough?"
Turns out that many years before, in the late 60's, when Mum and Dad worked in the Dibbinsdale Hotel, this chap had been a regular resident at the hotel, in fact had virtually lived there Monday to Friday for a couple of years! He'd heard me telling the story to the guys at the bar (several times!), and had put 2 & 2 together, and realised he knew Mum and Dad. It was hilarious.
You should have seen the incredulous looks on the faces of all my friends. I think that they thought I'd bribed this guy to pretend to know me after the story of meeting the solicitors on the ski-lift.
What can I say?
It's not my fault that I'm the centre of the universe, is it? :-)
16 Nov 2008
Mark's 40th Weekend
We're just back from a fabby weekend away with Dan's school chums coz Mark turns 40 this week!
We all went up to Amerdale House Hotel in Arncliffe, a fab hotel/restaurant in the Dales. On Saturday, we went for a wander to a nice pub for lunch (and back)
After our walk - and cleaning up after; it was very muddy, we settled down for dinner in the hotel. Very very good - including the best creme brulee (and monster choccie biccies) we'd ever tasted!
We all went up to Amerdale House Hotel in Arncliffe, a fab hotel/restaurant in the Dales. On Saturday, we went for a wander to a nice pub for lunch (and back)
After our walk - and cleaning up after; it was very muddy, we settled down for dinner in the hotel. Very very good - including the best creme brulee (and monster choccie biccies) we'd ever tasted!
14 Nov 2008
12 Nov 2008
Planning for the weekend!
Last night we had a nice evening (keeping Tuesday special) with Marina and Gemma, to plan the food for the weekend in a few weeks when 9 of us are going to a cottage near Kirby Lonsdale.
I don't know whether it was some form of auto-suggestion, but we'd had chicken pie for tea and so in the ' brainstorming' part of the evening, we managed to suggest at least 5 sorts of pie; chicken pie (obviously), meat pie, veggie pie, spaghetti pie (an Aldridge special) and just general PIE pie! Hmmmm, I wonder what we'll be having on the weekend.....?
Anyway, needless to say, the menu is good, wholesome, comfort food. There are going to be pancakes and pies, chilli and lots of nice wine!!!!! Even a fondue! We're all cooks, so it's not your average team cooking!
I don't know whether it was some form of auto-suggestion, but we'd had chicken pie for tea and so in the ' brainstorming' part of the evening, we managed to suggest at least 5 sorts of pie; chicken pie (obviously), meat pie, veggie pie, spaghetti pie (an Aldridge special) and just general PIE pie! Hmmmm, I wonder what we'll be having on the weekend.....?
Anyway, needless to say, the menu is good, wholesome, comfort food. There are going to be pancakes and pies, chilli and lots of nice wine!!!!! Even a fondue! We're all cooks, so it's not your average team cooking!
10 Nov 2008
All together now...lets remember the 1970s
I heard this song on the telly the other day - it's the barclaycard advert where the guy slides down the extra long water slide. I know this probably makes me dead old, but I do remember liking this one (it came out in 1976, which would make me 7) but it has such a modern feel to it that it doesn't seem like it's 32 years old....or is it just me...?
Anyway, all together now.....
Lyrics | Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow lyrics
PS How cool is this widget with the scrolling lyrics!?????
Anyway, all together now.....
Lyrics | Bellamy Brothers - Let Your Love Flow lyrics
PS How cool is this widget with the scrolling lyrics!?????
Another post in a series of nice people!
Dan posted this a while ago and I posted this one yesterday.....and for some reason another nice person popped into my head as I was driving home from work today.
I was in my little white Metro, with Helen, and we were driving up north to Blackpool from Portsmouth to see a show - the Northern Ballet Company's production of Dracula, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, I was used to driving up to the Wirral to see Mum & Dad and it all worked nicely on a tank of petrol. Unfortunately, Blackpool is a bit further north and so on the M55 I looked down at my petrol gauge to see the light on...and the arrow was already most of the way down to the red. Damn! I said to Helen that we needed to get petrol....quickly!
So we turned off the motorway onto a dual carriageway, and spotted a petrol station on the other side of the road. Great, but, then we had to drive up the carriageway, round the roundabout and down back to the petrol station. It was a good mile!
The inevitable happened, we were driving up this side of the road when the the car ground to a halt. Nightmare.
OH MY GOD, we both start to panic a bit, thinking that he's probably some form of rapist or sex offender. Problem is, we really needed his help. So we go into a huddle and decide to accept his offer of a lift to the petrol station, with Helen in the front of the bus, and me in the back holding the petrol canister, poised ready to hit him over the head with it, just in case he did anything dodgy!
We got to the petrol station and got out with a sigh of relief that neither of us had been killed, but we are polite girls and thanked him profusely for his help.
"What do you mean?" He said. "I'm going to give you a lift back to your car".
We were both pleased and terrified - pleased because at this point we were worried about being late for our show, and terrified because we had to go through the petrol can/head/might attack us journey again.
As we travelled the mile and a half or so back round the dual carriageway to the car, we got chatting to him and turns out he drove the bus for the local handicapped club, his wife had died recently, and he was 'keeping himself busy' doing some good things for the local community.
We got back to the car, and he parked the van at a bit of an angle so as to protect us from the traffic whilst I was filling the car up from the can. He drove out a bit into the dual carriageway to allow us to get back on to the road and he also followed us back to the garage to make sure we got there to fill up properly.
As we waved him off, we felt SOOOOOOO guilty for thinking that he was a sex-offender! What a lovely man. He was just trying to help out two girls stranded on the side of the road. He was a genuinely nice person.
I was in my little white Metro, with Helen, and we were driving up north to Blackpool from Portsmouth to see a show - the Northern Ballet Company's production of Dracula, if I remember correctly.
Anyway, I was used to driving up to the Wirral to see Mum & Dad and it all worked nicely on a tank of petrol. Unfortunately, Blackpool is a bit further north and so on the M55 I looked down at my petrol gauge to see the light on...and the arrow was already most of the way down to the red. Damn! I said to Helen that we needed to get petrol....quickly!
So we turned off the motorway onto a dual carriageway, and spotted a petrol station on the other side of the road. Great, but, then we had to drive up the carriageway, round the roundabout and down back to the petrol station. It was a good mile!
The inevitable happened, we were driving up this side of the road when the the car ground to a halt. Nightmare.
- We were on the wrong side of the road from the petrol station
- It was dark
- It was Friday rush hour,
- and....it was raining.
OH MY GOD, we both start to panic a bit, thinking that he's probably some form of rapist or sex offender. Problem is, we really needed his help. So we go into a huddle and decide to accept his offer of a lift to the petrol station, with Helen in the front of the bus, and me in the back holding the petrol canister, poised ready to hit him over the head with it, just in case he did anything dodgy!
We got to the petrol station and got out with a sigh of relief that neither of us had been killed, but we are polite girls and thanked him profusely for his help.
"What do you mean?" He said. "I'm going to give you a lift back to your car".
We were both pleased and terrified - pleased because at this point we were worried about being late for our show, and terrified because we had to go through the petrol can/head/might attack us journey again.
As we travelled the mile and a half or so back round the dual carriageway to the car, we got chatting to him and turns out he drove the bus for the local handicapped club, his wife had died recently, and he was 'keeping himself busy' doing some good things for the local community.
We got back to the car, and he parked the van at a bit of an angle so as to protect us from the traffic whilst I was filling the car up from the can. He drove out a bit into the dual carriageway to allow us to get back on to the road and he also followed us back to the garage to make sure we got there to fill up properly.
As we waved him off, we felt SOOOOOOO guilty for thinking that he was a sex-offender! What a lovely man. He was just trying to help out two girls stranded on the side of the road. He was a genuinely nice person.
More Nice People - A Christmassy Tale
About a year ago, Dan posted a link to a heartwarming story which reminded us that there are some lovely people out there in the world - even amongst all the trauma.
Ever since, I've been meaning to do a post on a really nice thing that happened to the Rossi family (and me in particular) one Christmas morning.
It was Christmas Day 1986 - I was in the Upper 6th at school - and I'd just completed my set of mock A'Level exams in anticipation of the real ones coming up that summer. I think I failed most of them but that's not relevant to the story!
We'd just got back from Mass and were in the process of preparing for our 'at home' party which we had always had on Christmas morning - half the parish would call round after each of the morning Masses and have a little Chrimbly tipple, some panettone, mince pies, and all the lovely nibbles of the season.
It wasn't time for any of the guests to arrive yet, but the doorbell rang and I ran off to answer it. As I did, a car which looked as though it was waiting until someone opened the door, moved off and drove away down the street. How weird. I thought it was someone hand-delivering a card - but you'd have thought they'd put their head round the door to say hello, seeing as it was Christmas morning!
I looked down and there was a plastic carrier bag on the doorstep. Weirder still! I picked it up and brought it into the dining room. Mum, Dad, Janey and Uncle Jim were there. I told them what had happened and we all started to get a bit nervous. Was it a bomb? Who would leave a bag of stuff, anonymously, on someone's doorstep, on Christmas morning? Curiouser & curiouser, as Alice would say.
Inside the bag were a number of little parcels wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper.
Eventually, we plucked up the courage to open the first one and found a toy, suitable for a little girl, aged about 5 or 6 years old. What was going on? We opened the next one, another toy, again suitable for a tiny child. A children's book, a puzzle, a teddy. This was very strange indeed.
Eventually we got to the bottom of the bag, and opened the last parcel. Inside, beautifully shrouded in coloured tissue paper, was my favourite, and oldest cuddly toy. A little pig, called 'Piggy' (good job I went into the sciences, rather than the arts!) who I'd had since the day I was born.
Piggy is a MUCH LOVED toy, whose hands and feet I chewed on as an infant, and so my Nonna sewed him a little yellow jumper and orange shoes, to keep his stuffing in. He once was pink, and fluffy, but over the years he's gone a bit grey, and bald! You just can see how much he's been hugged!!!!
So, how come he ended up in a bag of toys on our doorstep on Christmas morning?
Well, as mentioned at the top of this blog, It was exam time, and as well as being my oldest toy, he was my lucky mascot during exams and has sat on the exam table with me for every test I've ever taken! Fortunately, Mum made me stick an address lable to his shoe when I took him out of the house.
So.....all we can speculate is that I must have dropped him somewhere, and someone lovely found him, on the bus or in the street, and pictured the little girl who was going to be missing this well loved toy. They must have planned to deliver her a lovely surprise on Christmas morning by returning Piggy and a whole load of other toys, suitable for the owner of this little pig. Little did they know that the little girl was not so little - 18 years old and sitting her A'Levels!
It really made our Christmas Day, we thought it was WONDERFUL. Proper Christmas spirit. And we kept imagining the family who must have been enjoying their Christmas day because they'd done a good deed to a little girl who had lost her favourite toy!
Needless to say the toys which I was given, went to a deserving cause, and Piggy has been kept safe with me, sat on the bed, for the last 22 years!
He's getting on a bit now (a bit like his owner, he he) and Auntie Bo has recently done him a refurb, so he's all bright and shiny again - although he is still a bit grey and balding! It doesn't matter, i'll always love him!
Ever since, I've been meaning to do a post on a really nice thing that happened to the Rossi family (and me in particular) one Christmas morning.
It was Christmas Day 1986 - I was in the Upper 6th at school - and I'd just completed my set of mock A'Level exams in anticipation of the real ones coming up that summer. I think I failed most of them but that's not relevant to the story!
We'd just got back from Mass and were in the process of preparing for our 'at home' party which we had always had on Christmas morning - half the parish would call round after each of the morning Masses and have a little Chrimbly tipple, some panettone, mince pies, and all the lovely nibbles of the season.
It wasn't time for any of the guests to arrive yet, but the doorbell rang and I ran off to answer it. As I did, a car which looked as though it was waiting until someone opened the door, moved off and drove away down the street. How weird. I thought it was someone hand-delivering a card - but you'd have thought they'd put their head round the door to say hello, seeing as it was Christmas morning!
I looked down and there was a plastic carrier bag on the doorstep. Weirder still! I picked it up and brought it into the dining room. Mum, Dad, Janey and Uncle Jim were there. I told them what had happened and we all started to get a bit nervous. Was it a bomb? Who would leave a bag of stuff, anonymously, on someone's doorstep, on Christmas morning? Curiouser & curiouser, as Alice would say.
Inside the bag were a number of little parcels wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper.
Eventually, we plucked up the courage to open the first one and found a toy, suitable for a little girl, aged about 5 or 6 years old. What was going on? We opened the next one, another toy, again suitable for a tiny child. A children's book, a puzzle, a teddy. This was very strange indeed.
Eventually we got to the bottom of the bag, and opened the last parcel. Inside, beautifully shrouded in coloured tissue paper, was my favourite, and oldest cuddly toy. A little pig, called 'Piggy' (good job I went into the sciences, rather than the arts!) who I'd had since the day I was born.
Piggy is a MUCH LOVED toy, whose hands and feet I chewed on as an infant, and so my Nonna sewed him a little yellow jumper and orange shoes, to keep his stuffing in. He once was pink, and fluffy, but over the years he's gone a bit grey, and bald! You just can see how much he's been hugged!!!!
So, how come he ended up in a bag of toys on our doorstep on Christmas morning?
Well, as mentioned at the top of this blog, It was exam time, and as well as being my oldest toy, he was my lucky mascot during exams and has sat on the exam table with me for every test I've ever taken! Fortunately, Mum made me stick an address lable to his shoe when I took him out of the house.
So.....all we can speculate is that I must have dropped him somewhere, and someone lovely found him, on the bus or in the street, and pictured the little girl who was going to be missing this well loved toy. They must have planned to deliver her a lovely surprise on Christmas morning by returning Piggy and a whole load of other toys, suitable for the owner of this little pig. Little did they know that the little girl was not so little - 18 years old and sitting her A'Levels!
It really made our Christmas Day, we thought it was WONDERFUL. Proper Christmas spirit. And we kept imagining the family who must have been enjoying their Christmas day because they'd done a good deed to a little girl who had lost her favourite toy!
Needless to say the toys which I was given, went to a deserving cause, and Piggy has been kept safe with me, sat on the bed, for the last 22 years!
He's getting on a bit now (a bit like his owner, he he) and Auntie Bo has recently done him a refurb, so he's all bright and shiny again - although he is still a bit grey and balding! It doesn't matter, i'll always love him!
9 Nov 2008
A lovely weekend in Bristol
We're just back from a fab weekend in Bristol with Helen and Steve. It's been very relaxing - we drove down on Friday afternoon and apart from a bit of traffic on the M1, we had a clear run. Starting early meant that we got there at 5:45! Brilliant for a Friday night. Needless to say we made the most of it - I think it was well after midnight when we crashed - many bottles of wine later!On Saturday we went for a nice walk into town - it was about 4 miles in the end as we came up to the downs and got a beautiful view of the Clifton suspension bridge. How lovely to be able to walk to this!!!
Anyway, we then ended up sitting in a nice pub (The Albion) for a coffee and a pint (or 2). A hair of the dog for the night before.
We followed on the evening at a nice restaurant in Clifton Village for early dinner - and then grabbed a taxi home for a pleasant evening in front of the 'X-factor' and 'Strictly'!!!
Today (Sunday) we had great plans for going down into the town centre, wandering about and taking in the harbour and surrounding areas....however, the weather had a slightly different idea....proceeding to absolutely chuck it down all morning and making us rather disinclined to leave the house. So we didn't! We've sat around drinking coffee and then had leftovers from Friday's lovely dinner, for lunch!
We left a bit earlier than usual - about 2:45 - in order to try and get home before dark. Didn't quite make it but we were home by 6 and now we're cooking in the warm lounge with the fire turned right up!
7 Nov 2008
Jenny Wren
I was upstairs in Conrad&Michelle's house and I could hear Michelle downstairs 'where are you birdie, where did you go?' I came out on the landing just as she was coming up the stairs. She told me that she'd just seen a bird fly in the front door, along the hallway and up the stairs.
We had a bit of a look round the landing - it must be there somewhere as all the bedroom doors were shut - but we couldn't find it. Michelle opened the office door (at the head of the stairs) and opened the window, so that if the bird saw it, it'd be able to get out.
She walked towards her bedroom and started opening in the door. Just as she did so, the bird flew accross the landing, and into the bedroom! We crept in and were both quite surprised to see a tiny wren in the wardrobe! Fortunately it wasn't distressed at its predicament. No 'presents' left for Michelle to clean up!!!!
We opened the bedroom window and stood back. Within about 10 seconds the wren was sitting on the top of the sash, and in another couple, it had flown out.
Awwww it was so tiny! And cute!
No pics tho - it all happened a bit too fast.
We had a bit of a look round the landing - it must be there somewhere as all the bedroom doors were shut - but we couldn't find it. Michelle opened the office door (at the head of the stairs) and opened the window, so that if the bird saw it, it'd be able to get out.
She walked towards her bedroom and started opening in the door. Just as she did so, the bird flew accross the landing, and into the bedroom! We crept in and were both quite surprised to see a tiny wren in the wardrobe! Fortunately it wasn't distressed at its predicament. No 'presents' left for Michelle to clean up!!!!
We opened the bedroom window and stood back. Within about 10 seconds the wren was sitting on the top of the sash, and in another couple, it had flown out.
Awwww it was so tiny! And cute!
No pics tho - it all happened a bit too fast.
5 Nov 2008
Pics from the Scottish weekend
We had a lovely weekend up in Scotland with Conrad & Michelle as we blogged a couple of times already becauuse I'm feeling quite blogtastic at the moment!!!
In the first post I mentioned about the birdies outside the window and as I've just managed to get the photos of the camera, I thought I'd share the nice one I took of the bird peeking out of the nest.....cute or what? It's actually a sparrow in a house martin's nest - an avian squatter!
Next we went for a little walk up the hill behind C&M's house. You get some lovely views of the house, the valley and the Tay estuary beyond....house is in the red circle in the centre of the pic.
Rest of the pictures are here on Picassa web albums
In the first post I mentioned about the birdies outside the window and as I've just managed to get the photos of the camera, I thought I'd share the nice one I took of the bird peeking out of the nest.....cute or what? It's actually a sparrow in a house martin's nest - an avian squatter!
Next we went for a little walk up the hill behind C&M's house. You get some lovely views of the house, the valley and the Tay estuary beyond....house is in the red circle in the centre of the pic.
Rest of the pictures are here on Picassa web albums
The whole Brussels/Visa/USA debacle
I seem to have blogged this story in dribs and drabs, and in totally random order - mainly because I've not really wanted to think about the trauma of it all in its entirety! So here's a summary of the articles, in an order that makes sense!
Pour the wine, settle down, and prepare for the trip from hell.
It's a wonder I didn't get some stress related illness......!
Pour the wine, settle down, and prepare for the trip from hell.
It's a wonder I didn't get some stress related illness......!
An unexpected night in New York - and finally Raleigh
Not the sort of thing that happens every day. And, I never thought I'd ever find myself there and not actually WANT to be there....! But nevertheless on this trip fraught with trauma, it was the case!
My previous blogging of 'nearly' getting to Raleigh got me as far as JFK airport, and so the story continues with me standing, chocking back the tears, at 11pm, as the Continental Arlines lady told me that they weren't going to be able to get me to Raleigh that evening. I was gutted. My hotel was booked in Raleigh - it was late. 11pm US time which meant that I'd been travelling for 22 hours since Brussels - I was in New York, and I didn't want to be there.
So, first things first, let's get me on a flight to Raleigh tomorrow. I knew there was an 8:05 flight and an 11am one the next morning. But the Continental lady disappointed me yet again. All the direct flights from JFK to Raleigh were fully booked. She could only get me there via Cleveland (Ohio) and that wasn't until 3pm the following afternoon.
Dispair truly set in when I phoned the AmEx travel line people only to find that because of the tornado shutting the whole airport, there were hundreds of people looking for a place to stay. I was too late for a place at an airport hotel. I was too late for a place within 2, 5 or 10 miles from the airport. I ended up getting somewhere in Long Island City....10.5 miles from the airport and virtually in Manhatten.
A I walked into the 'La Quinta Inn' the manager said - "you must be Miss Rossi, you're so lucky, when your agent phoned, we had just received a cancellation or we'd not have had a room to offer you". The staff were lovely and freindly and although the place itself looked a bit shabby, I was relieved to get somewhere. (anywhere) I just wanted to sleep. I'd been travelling for 23 hours by this time.
I got into the room, ready to collapse, and was confronted with this - a BATH next to the bed - complete with frayed carpet around the tiled splash area. Special. I'm sure it must have been theyr idea of a honeymoon suite. I didn't want to think about what it had been used for.
Good job I was so tired - I got into my nightie and laid on the bed with the TV on to watch some of the Olympics and wind down. Sniff, sniff. Hmmm, I thought - travelling doesn't exactly keep you clean and fresh - must get a shower before falling asleep. It was with extreme horror then, that I realised that the nasty BO niffings I smelled, wasn't eminating from my person, but from the BEDSHEETS! Eeeeeeeeeeeeek. Under normal circumstances I'd have been right up to reception, asking for a new room, clean sheets, compensation. I have to confess that I was soooooo tired, I put a scarf over the pillow, spreyed my bed with perfume, and launched into one of the best night's sleep I've had!!!!
I woke up about 9am the next morning and after connecting to the internet and working out where I was exactly, I decided best not to go for a wander to explore the local environs. I holed myself up in the hotel and chatted to the family on MSN/Skype, and watched the Olympics.
At midday I headed back to JFK and had a remarkably uneventful trip to Raleigh via Cleveland - nothing worth mentioning other than the fact that as we were coming in to land at Cleveland, I saw what I thought was the coast, and realised it was in fact Lake Ontario - an amazing vast body of water which is SO BIG, it LOOKS like the sea....
View Larger Map
My previous blogging of 'nearly' getting to Raleigh got me as far as JFK airport, and so the story continues with me standing, chocking back the tears, at 11pm, as the Continental Arlines lady told me that they weren't going to be able to get me to Raleigh that evening. I was gutted. My hotel was booked in Raleigh - it was late. 11pm US time which meant that I'd been travelling for 22 hours since Brussels - I was in New York, and I didn't want to be there.
So, first things first, let's get me on a flight to Raleigh tomorrow. I knew there was an 8:05 flight and an 11am one the next morning. But the Continental lady disappointed me yet again. All the direct flights from JFK to Raleigh were fully booked. She could only get me there via Cleveland (Ohio) and that wasn't until 3pm the following afternoon.
Dispair truly set in when I phoned the AmEx travel line people only to find that because of the tornado shutting the whole airport, there were hundreds of people looking for a place to stay. I was too late for a place at an airport hotel. I was too late for a place within 2, 5 or 10 miles from the airport. I ended up getting somewhere in Long Island City....10.5 miles from the airport and virtually in Manhatten.
A I walked into the 'La Quinta Inn' the manager said - "you must be Miss Rossi, you're so lucky, when your agent phoned, we had just received a cancellation or we'd not have had a room to offer you". The staff were lovely and freindly and although the place itself looked a bit shabby, I was relieved to get somewhere. (anywhere) I just wanted to sleep. I'd been travelling for 23 hours by this time.
I got into the room, ready to collapse, and was confronted with this - a BATH next to the bed - complete with frayed carpet around the tiled splash area. Special. I'm sure it must have been theyr idea of a honeymoon suite. I didn't want to think about what it had been used for.
Good job I was so tired - I got into my nightie and laid on the bed with the TV on to watch some of the Olympics and wind down. Sniff, sniff. Hmmm, I thought - travelling doesn't exactly keep you clean and fresh - must get a shower before falling asleep. It was with extreme horror then, that I realised that the nasty BO niffings I smelled, wasn't eminating from my person, but from the BEDSHEETS! Eeeeeeeeeeeeek. Under normal circumstances I'd have been right up to reception, asking for a new room, clean sheets, compensation. I have to confess that I was soooooo tired, I put a scarf over the pillow, spreyed my bed with perfume, and launched into one of the best night's sleep I've had!!!!
I woke up about 9am the next morning and after connecting to the internet and working out where I was exactly, I decided best not to go for a wander to explore the local environs. I holed myself up in the hotel and chatted to the family on MSN/Skype, and watched the Olympics.
At midday I headed back to JFK and had a remarkably uneventful trip to Raleigh via Cleveland - nothing worth mentioning other than the fact that as we were coming in to land at Cleveland, I saw what I thought was the coast, and realised it was in fact Lake Ontario - an amazing vast body of water which is SO BIG, it LOOKS like the sea....
View Larger Map
4 Nov 2008
Many apologies to the people of Tewkesbury
...and Colin and Chris, for being the pedants they are, and for noticing the incorrect spelling of TEWK_SBURY (missing an 'e').
Sackcloth and ashes will be my wardrobe for the foreseeable future.
Humbly
Liza
Sackcloth and ashes will be my wardrobe for the foreseeable future.
Humbly
Liza
3 Nov 2008
Tewksbury & Vaughn Williams
As we were in the St James church in Chipping Campden, (which gets 4 stars in my 1000 best churches book) Jacq said, "how many stars does it go up to?" I turned the page. Tewksbury Abbey was the next church listed. It had 5 stars! "Five" I said. We looked at each other. "How far away is Tewksbury?" We worked out that it was about 20 miles. Too close to miss, we decide...and off we go!
Well it certainly was worth the journey. An absolutely stunning church (not a cathedral, they were very insistant to point out) in fact 14 of Britain's cathedrals are smaller!
As we wandering round the back of the beautiful church, round the outside of the choir, we heard this beautiful sound....
It sounded so perfect, like a recording, but as we came back round to the front of the choir, we realised that an orchestra was rehearsing for that evening's concert. A Vaughn Williams evening. Very haunting and beautiful music. It totally made the visit to the Church! The acoustics were perfect - and we decided that the sound was better when we were at the back of the choir than in the 'audience'. Fab!
Well it certainly was worth the journey. An absolutely stunning church (not a cathedral, they were very insistant to point out) in fact 14 of Britain's cathedrals are smaller!
As we wandering round the back of the beautiful church, round the outside of the choir, we heard this beautiful sound....
It sounded so perfect, like a recording, but as we came back round to the front of the choir, we realised that an orchestra was rehearsing for that evening's concert. A Vaughn Williams evening. Very haunting and beautiful music. It totally made the visit to the Church! The acoustics were perfect - and we decided that the sound was better when we were at the back of the choir than in the 'audience'. Fab!
Chats, Churches and beautiful strange curly things
I briefly mentioned that Jackie and I spent a lovely weekend in the Cotswolds a few weeks ago, here's a bit more detail.....
So, I'd been at a test conference down in IBM Hursley the 2 days before, and finished work at 12pm. I just got a text from Jacq to say she'd already arrived at the hotel....and so I got on my way....up the A34 and then turn left at Oxford.....towards Chipping Campden.
View Larger Map
As I got into the Cotswolds, it got so pretty, and I slowed down driving to take it all in. Woodstock is GORGEOUS!
Anyway, with a bit of help and directions from Jacq, I arrived without too much trouble in the lovely old pub where we'd decided to stay. The Volunteer Inn. Very nice.
We had a lovely chat & a catch up - can it really have been that long....? Guinness, a fire, and curry were all involved in the evening. Most lovely.
Next day we headed off to the Church - St James - it scores very highly in my 'England's thousand best churches' book. The church is gorgeous.
After the church we went to have a look at the lovely arts & crafts museum - Court barn - virtually next door to the church. It was really interesting. A history.jpg)
of the Arts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds. The most interesting part was the exhibition from a local artist, 
Jenny Ford, who made these lovely curly things out of cloth and wire things she finds in skips! The looked like a cross between flowers (very organic) and pied piper shoes - pointy & curly! Gorgeous. Jenny was there and was incredibly interesting to talk to. She was explaining her techniques (very patient stitching of wires into cloth), and inspirations (medieval clothing), and where she gets her materials from (skips!)
So, I'd been at a test conference down in IBM Hursley the 2 days before, and finished work at 12pm. I just got a text from Jacq to say she'd already arrived at the hotel....and so I got on my way....up the A34 and then turn left at Oxford.....towards Chipping Campden.
View Larger Map
As I got into the Cotswolds, it got so pretty, and I slowed down driving to take it all in. Woodstock is GORGEOUS!
Anyway, with a bit of help and directions from Jacq, I arrived without too much trouble in the lovely old pub where we'd decided to stay. The Volunteer Inn. Very nice.
We had a lovely chat & a catch up - can it really have been that long....? Guinness, a fire, and curry were all involved in the evening. Most lovely.
Next day we headed off to the Church - St James - it scores very highly in my 'England's thousand best churches' book. The church is gorgeous.
After the church we went to have a look at the lovely arts & crafts museum - Court barn - virtually next door to the church. It was really interesting. A history
.jpg)
of the Arts and Crafts movement in the Cotswolds. The most interesting part was the exhibition from a local artist, Jenny Ford, who made these lovely curly things out of cloth and wire things she finds in skips! The looked like a cross between flowers (very organic) and pied piper shoes - pointy & curly! Gorgeous. Jenny was there and was incredibly interesting to talk to. She was explaining her techniques (very patient stitching of wires into cloth), and inspirations (medieval clothing), and where she gets her materials from (skips!)
Last chance to see....
....the chickens :-(It's a sad tale, but the lovely chickens, which are kept in the best chicken run in the world, and which are just around the corner from Conrad & Michelle's house, and about which I have blogged previously, are going. Apparently some sort of disagreement has arisen between the man who keeps them, and the landowners (his landlord).
This weekend was going to be their last. Sob.
They were being picked up early on Saturday morning. There were a few solitary birds left when we went to see them on Saturday lunchtime - barely glimpsed thru the trees in the pic - but even they're destined for the pot.
We are very sad.
2 Nov 2008
More Scottish Activities
After being woken up by the birdy noises yestrerday morning, we went for a wander to the Glendoik Garden Centre, about 2 minutes wander from Conrad & Michelle's. We were looking for "fireplace paraphenalia" - tongs, brush, shovel, poker, coal, peat etc - but nothing doing. It's a lovely place tho, so we did have a nice wander round.
After lunch we decided to go for a bit of a drive....
Ended up being a MEGA one....but really nice! The countryside round here is truly lovely.
We finally foound some fuel at the nearest garage to C&M's house - but no fireplace furniture as yet. That's today's job. After a small surf I've found 2 potential locations....
After lunch we decided to go for a bit of a drive....
Ended up being a MEGA one....but really nice! The countryside round here is truly lovely.
We finally foound some fuel at the nearest garage to C&M's house - but no fireplace furniture as yet. That's today's job. After a small surf I've found 2 potential locations....
1, Melville Street,
Perth,
Perthshire
PH1 5PY
Tel: 01738 624902
- Marble, Stone & Wood
- Marble Sets & Victorian Insert
- Electric & Gas Fires
- All Makes,Traditional & Modern
- Custom Made Mantels
- Bespoke Fireplaces
Inveralmond Place,
Inveralmond Industrial Estate,
Perth,
Perthshire
PH1 3TS
Tel: 01738 633113
- Wood Burning Stoves
- Rayburn Range Cookers
- Fireplaces
- Gas & Oil Fired Stoves
- Chimney & Flue Systems
- Expert Advice & Guidance
1 Nov 2008
Lanzagrotty Part 2
I've finally got round to putting the piccies up onto Picassa, so they're scrolling over in the slideshow for a bit but the permanent link to them is here.Anyway, I think in my previous posting on the subject we'd got as far as taking off - no mean feat given my recent bad luck with flights! Anyway, we landed, and then the trouble started! It turns out that one of the reasons our flight was delayed was that the ATC people were having a problem with the system and therefore instead of being able to let planes take-off at a rate of about 1 a minute (at Gatwick) it was 1 every 7 minutes. You can imagine the delays that were building up - 6 or 7 hours, hence why we were merged with the XL rescue flight. Anyway, eventually that propblem sorted itself out, and therefore a load of delayed flights all took off around the same time (one minute apart!) in the evening. Of course, it being the tourist season, that meant that a load of flights all landed, late, at Arrecife airport, all at the same time. The baggage handlers just couldn't cope. Over an hour waiting for the bags.
Whilst we were walking up and down baggage reclaim, looking for the right carousel with our luggage on it, we could see out into the arrivals hall. There was a stressed-looking lady with 'ROSSI' printed on a card. I did the 'it's me' mime through the glass doors, and she looked relieved to have found us. I assumed it was the taxi we'd pre-booked.
When we got out to the arrivals, we met up with the lady whose name was Paula. She turned out to be not the taxi person but the JamesVillas rep. There was a problem with our villa (Villa Lapa) - roadworks outside the gate, and she was there to offer us a swap. Another nice villa we'd been looking at called LanzaVilla.
Going outside the airport we realised that there was a MASSIVE queue for taxis, yes even the pre-booked ones, due to all the late flights arriving at once, and so, Paula, bless her, crammed us all into her little Yaris, luggage an' all, and saved us over an hour's wait in the queue!
In the end, we decided to take them up on the new villa - in the pictures, the Villa Lapa looked nicer but actually LanzaVilla had a nicer pool and outside area - and the decor inside was just a little bit newer!
The rest of the holiday was quite uneventful - eating, drinking, laughing (alot!) and much relaxation was had.
On the way home, the only thing that hadn't happened in my recent travel traumas, finally occurred; I lost my luggage. It didn't arrive off the carousel at Gatwick. Not as traumatic as losing it on the way out - by this point it was 3am and we didn't care! Dropped Janey off home and we headed back up to Leeds arriving hime a few minutes before 7am, and we crashed out and went to sleep. At 1pm the doorbell rang and it was the luggage (not The Luggage!) delivered by a courrier. So really I never even noticed its absence! Thanks Monarch!
In Scotland
After a bit of a harrowing journey last night (5 hours, eeeeeek) during which we encountered rain, sleet, snow and howling gales, we finally reached Glendoik - Conrad & Michelle's lovely home. It was very welcoming as usual - extra special this time as they have got the fire going in the lounge. Dan and Michelle are pyros so it was great fun!This morning we've woken up to the sparrows scrabbling against the bedroom windows. They have taken over the nests left by the house martins or swallows, from the summer. No idea what they're doing - isn't it a bit late to be having babies? - but anyway, they're as busy as bees, flying in and out of the nest every minute or so.
Also, another strange wildlife creature has appeared in the room....it's the pinker spotted Dan, wearing his Mum's dressing gown. Very scary!!! To be honest I'm surprised he's not wearing a kilt today as he's gone very Scottish on me. Conversation this morning has ranged around the subjects of Grouse, Deer, Birds of Prey, Otters, Lochs, Perthshire Honey and whether there is snow in Aviemore. All in relation to 'what we're going to do today'! Either he's fogotten we're only here for the weekend, or he's thinking of staying!
26 Oct 2008
Home Sweet Home
It's an interesting fact that however far away you move, "home" is always where you grew up; not the house you're paying the mortgage on, not the one your husband/wife/offspring live in. So, this weekend I was at home. An old family friend Terri G, got married to her long term partner, Jeff. It was a FANTASTIC do. Firstly because me, Jane, Sharon & Terri were together for the 1st time in about 15 years. Secondly because an old school friend Catherine H was there. I've not spoken to her since we left school! It was such a lovely reunion.
19 Oct 2008
Gorgeous Cotswolds
This weekend, me n' Jacs went for a lovely weekend in the lovely scenic village of Chipping Campden in the Cotswolds. We stayed in the Volunteer Inn - a cozy pub on the main street - and have spent the weekend visiting churches, drinking wine, chatting, eating lovely food and generally having a nice relaxing time.
3 Oct 2008
Back Home
Haven't blogged this last week as we've been away in Lanzarote in a lovely villa for a week. I don't like updating twitter or my facebook status saying 'having a lovely time away' because that's just asking for trouble I think - so I just tend to go quiet then update the blog and all the online stuff with all the details after the event.
So, here goes.....
Last Monday we decided we'd better get our holiday booked and we looked online at the last minute section of the JamesVillas website - we came up with 'Villa Lapa' in Lanzarote - with flights from Gatwick (because from anywhere else they were too expensive - not sure if it was the XL fiasco or the fuel crisis - but flights from Leeds, Manchester or East Midlands were over £1200!!!)
On Thursday morning, we set off from home at 9am - arriving at the off-airport parking at East Grinstead at about 12:30 - well ahead of our 13:30 schedule. We hit the airport around 13:00 and met Janey at about quarter past and by half 1 we were checked in! Super early - as the flight wasn't until 16:15.
After a nice trip around the duty free, we ended up in the pub having a few swift Guinnesses! A nice start to the holiday. As we approached the time for boarding though, the gate number didn't appear on the board. "Oh no", I thought. Not another episode in the 'Liza's bad travel luck" saga?! In the end the flight was delayed. 1 hour 45 - so we left at 6pm. As it turned out it was actually not bad luck at all. Our fight was merged with an 'XL rescue flight' and so the 60 or so people who were flying to Lanzarote were put on an enormous plane with LOADS of space - we had 3 seats each!
To be continued...
So, here goes.....
Last Monday we decided we'd better get our holiday booked and we looked online at the last minute section of the JamesVillas website - we came up with 'Villa Lapa' in Lanzarote - with flights from Gatwick (because from anywhere else they were too expensive - not sure if it was the XL fiasco or the fuel crisis - but flights from Leeds, Manchester or East Midlands were over £1200!!!)
On Thursday morning, we set off from home at 9am - arriving at the off-airport parking at East Grinstead at about 12:30 - well ahead of our 13:30 schedule. We hit the airport around 13:00 and met Janey at about quarter past and by half 1 we were checked in! Super early - as the flight wasn't until 16:15.
After a nice trip around the duty free, we ended up in the pub having a few swift Guinnesses! A nice start to the holiday. As we approached the time for boarding though, the gate number didn't appear on the board. "Oh no", I thought. Not another episode in the 'Liza's bad travel luck" saga?! In the end the flight was delayed. 1 hour 45 - so we left at 6pm. As it turned out it was actually not bad luck at all. Our fight was merged with an 'XL rescue flight' and so the 60 or so people who were flying to Lanzarote were put on an enormous plane with LOADS of space - we had 3 seats each!
To be continued...
21 Sept 2008
A nice weekend of shopping, drinking and chatting.
Sarah's been up for the weekend, at the end of her 2 weeks in the UK/France and we've spent a very relaxing weekend cooking, eating, drinking, talking, shopping, trying on clothes, doing each other's makeup and generally chilling out. She's just at Manchester airport now waiting for her flight back to Sydney. It'll be quite a while before we get together again. :-(
Have a safe journey honey!
Have a safe journey honey!
16 Sept 2008
A sad bit of soppiness
When I was out in the USA, I felt pretty homesick on the Saturday I should have come home on, and basically holed myself up in the room with room service and a movie. No, not that sort of movie....this movie! It was a nice way to spend the day - channel surfing and trying to catch a bit of UK TV in an attempt to connect to home. I was flicking between the channels, when I came across a Lloyds TSB advert - the 'for the journey' one - with the little pointy faced animated characters and the very high-pitched singing.
I was instantly transported back home - the advert always makes Dan pose and posture and pretend he's singing the very high part - whilst pulling a multitude of funny faces - and, sad though I am, he has me in hysterics every time! I got an instant cheer up! There was only one thing for me to do....I put the song as a ring tone on my phone 'specially to annoy all around me!
It's a lovely tune - called Eliza's Aria is a classical aria from the ballet Wild Swans, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin.
I was instantly transported back home - the advert always makes Dan pose and posture and pretend he's singing the very high part - whilst pulling a multitude of funny faces - and, sad though I am, he has me in hysterics every time! I got an instant cheer up! There was only one thing for me to do....I put the song as a ring tone on my phone 'specially to annoy all around me!
It's a lovely tune - called Eliza's Aria is a classical aria from the ballet Wild Swans, composed by Elena Kats-Chernin.
13 Sept 2008
Stuff we are watching
It's September, which means the new season TV has started over in the States. We try and watch as many of the "Season 1 Episode 1" programs that come out and then we decide whether they're going to keep us interested enough to want to watch the rest of the episodes. We're usually pretty accurate at guessing what'll be the 'next big thing' in the UK - and by the time they buy it for C4 or Channel 5 we'll be 6 or 7 episodes into the series! I like being ahead of the game.
Over the past few years we've spotted some excellent programs - Nip/Tuck, Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees, Bones, The Closer, Dexter - now our firm favourites.
We also watch some rubbish - entertaining rubbish - but it is really 'no brain' stuff - America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Top Design.
So, what are we watching THIS season?
We have a couple of things on the go at the moment....
Over the past few years we've spotted some excellent programs - Nip/Tuck, Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees, Bones, The Closer, Dexter - now our firm favourites.
We also watch some rubbish - entertaining rubbish - but it is really 'no brain' stuff - America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, Top Design.
So, what are we watching THIS season?
We have a couple of things on the go at the moment....
- Fear Itself - this is a series of independently written horror stories - each episode is a story in its own right. Every episode is directed by a different horror director. I think it's fair to say that some of the episodes have been better than others so far, but the good episodes (like episode 1) are really good and pretty scary!
- Flashpoint - it's a Canadian series about a special tactical team that rescues hostages, busts gangs, defuses bombs, and takes on other tough cases - so far seems to be all about hostage situations; the 'Flashpoint' that makes someone snap. It's quite good and has an actor in it (Hugh Dillon) from one of the best things we've seen on TV for a while; 'Durham County' - another Canadian drama which didn't seem to be picked up by the UK or American TV networks. Very violent, spooky, and it messed with your head! We loved it!
- Californication - I know it has been shown on UK TV, but not sure how much it's caught on over here. Just watched Season 2 Episode 1- fantastic!
- True Blood - an HBO series about Vampires
- Raising the Bar - a Law firm series
9 Sept 2008
The saga of the VISA #2
The embassy officials must have been having a nice day - I'd seen them allowing people to leave and then return to their appointments after having been told that they'd forgotten various bits of their visa applications. The nice lady took pity on me. She said, you need a computer and the internet and a printer. You'll need to fill in the document on line and print it out. If you can get back here by 11am, we'll reprocess your application, she said. It was 10:05.
I ran from the embassy and along the road looking for a taxi. My 1st thought was to go back to the hotel & try and persuade the reception to print out the doc for me. Whilst in the cab, I had a better idea - an internet cafe. The taxi driver was a star, he had to ask another driver for directions but within 10 minutes I was sat in a cybercafe filling in the form.
Nothing is ever easy. Of course the keyboard of the computer was set to a different international setting - every time I typed the letter 'A' a 'Q' appeared instead. To type numbers, you needed to press the shift key. It was all totally alien. I kept telling myself to calm down. It had only taken me 10 minutes to get there. I had until 10:45 to finish the form. At 10:40 I printed it out (twice for good measure) and paid for my time and paper. I grabbed a cab and we raced back to the embassy.
At 10:58 I was re-ushered through the security screening and ran to the front of the queue. No doubt I annoyed all the other people there, but by that point I didn't care. My kind official looked up and beckoned me forward. She said, I didn't think we'd see you back in here today!
After that it seemed like only a matter of minutes and my application had been accepted and I was being asked to sit down to await the results of the security check. About an hour later I was called forward to take my fingerprints, and then told to sit and wait again (it's a long process).
Probably 3/4 of an hour later I was called forward for my "interview" - this wasn't a sit down chat accross a desk as I had been expecting - it was a chat at a post office/bank style window in front of all the other people waiting for their interviews. A bit embarrassing for those whose applications were rejected.
Anyway, the guy calls me forward and we have a bit of a chat - he asks why I'm there in Brussels and not London, so I explain the saga and tell him about the nightmare journey to Belgium. He was very nice and chatty. He then asks a few questions - what's the work I'm going to be doing, who my customer is, where I'm going to be working.........and then he said, "so you are going to be travelling back and forth quite a bit?". I told him that this trip was the only one planned and that even that wasn't booked yet as it was all pending the visa approval.
He actually put his hands up and pushed them through his hair in an exagerrated gesture of shock and surprise. I said "you're going to tell me I don't need the visa, aren't you?"
"you're right" he said "unless you're going to be travelling to the US for more than 90 days, or you're going to be paid from the US, you can travel under the business visa waiver programme."
I was gutted. Looks like we'd been badly misinformed. All that trauma and I hadn't needed it in the 1st place.
The embassy were great though - dispite all the posters around the walls saying that "visas would be available to be picked up no sooner than 48 hours after they'd been approved NO EXCEPTIONS" the guy wrote a little note on mine asking it to be fast-tracked - and right enough, I went back to the embassy the next day - Thursday - and there it was..
I was free to book my flight to the USA for the next morning, and continue on my traumatic journey - read the next leg - from Brussels to Raleigh
I ran from the embassy and along the road looking for a taxi. My 1st thought was to go back to the hotel & try and persuade the reception to print out the doc for me. Whilst in the cab, I had a better idea - an internet cafe. The taxi driver was a star, he had to ask another driver for directions but within 10 minutes I was sat in a cybercafe filling in the form.
Nothing is ever easy. Of course the keyboard of the computer was set to a different international setting - every time I typed the letter 'A' a 'Q' appeared instead. To type numbers, you needed to press the shift key. It was all totally alien. I kept telling myself to calm down. It had only taken me 10 minutes to get there. I had until 10:45 to finish the form. At 10:40 I printed it out (twice for good measure) and paid for my time and paper. I grabbed a cab and we raced back to the embassy.
At 10:58 I was re-ushered through the security screening and ran to the front of the queue. No doubt I annoyed all the other people there, but by that point I didn't care. My kind official looked up and beckoned me forward. She said, I didn't think we'd see you back in here today!
After that it seemed like only a matter of minutes and my application had been accepted and I was being asked to sit down to await the results of the security check. About an hour later I was called forward to take my fingerprints, and then told to sit and wait again (it's a long process).
Probably 3/4 of an hour later I was called forward for my "interview" - this wasn't a sit down chat accross a desk as I had been expecting - it was a chat at a post office/bank style window in front of all the other people waiting for their interviews. A bit embarrassing for those whose applications were rejected.
Anyway, the guy calls me forward and we have a bit of a chat - he asks why I'm there in Brussels and not London, so I explain the saga and tell him about the nightmare journey to Belgium. He was very nice and chatty. He then asks a few questions - what's the work I'm going to be doing, who my customer is, where I'm going to be working.........and then he said, "so you are going to be travelling back and forth quite a bit?". I told him that this trip was the only one planned and that even that wasn't booked yet as it was all pending the visa approval.
He actually put his hands up and pushed them through his hair in an exagerrated gesture of shock and surprise. I said "you're going to tell me I don't need the visa, aren't you?"
"you're right" he said "unless you're going to be travelling to the US for more than 90 days, or you're going to be paid from the US, you can travel under the business visa waiver programme."
I was gutted. Looks like we'd been badly misinformed. All that trauma and I hadn't needed it in the 1st place.
The embassy were great though - dispite all the posters around the walls saying that "visas would be available to be picked up no sooner than 48 hours after they'd been approved NO EXCEPTIONS" the guy wrote a little note on mine asking it to be fast-tracked - and right enough, I went back to the embassy the next day - Thursday - and there it was..
I was free to book my flight to the USA for the next morning, and continue on my traumatic journey - read the next leg - from Brussels to Raleigh
The saga of the VISA #1
I've put off writing about the Visa saga because it's all been so traumatic that I've really wanted to forget all about it, however I'll try and spell out the list of events as they unfolded, and I shall try not to use the words "incompetent" or "imbecile"!
Customer says 'ey up*** Liza, we're opening a store in the USA - would you like to go and test it out there for us?'
As I work for a US based company, I check with our immigration department as to whether I need a visa for work. I fill in a couple of forms and they say I do need a visa. I begin the visa application process and am asked to - complete MANY forms, write a 7 year CV, send a copy of my Degree Certificate, and pay several fees.
This process in its own right was not straightforward - the CV was sent back with the comment 'we need to see your job TITLES, not your job ROLES. ????!!!!!! What else is a CV all about if not your job roles? Finally after several to-ings and fro-ings of forms, my visa pack is ready and it is FedEx'd to me from the USA.
I then try to make an appointment at the US Embassy London for my interview. There's a 6 week wait-time for appointments. I need to be there in a fortnight. Ho Hum.
Visa/Immigration people say - it doesn't have to be the LONDON UK Embassy - just ANY US Embassy. I check the website - Belfast, Paris - all of them have over 6 weeks to wait for an appointment. But I find out that the Brussels embassy has the shortest list (in Europe). 2 days.
We figure that to get to Brussels on the plane is the same amount of time as getting to London on the train and so I book an appointment for the following Monday - 11th August.
I set off to Brussels on the Monday morning flight from Leeds Bradford airport.
The ill-fated trip to Brussels ensues - I won't go over old ground as I've already written about it....suffice to say I miss my appointment on Monday and have to reschedule for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning at 9am I'm there in a queue of 6 people outside the embassy. After the security checks I get into the building only to find over 30 people in front of me! Eventually I get to the front of the queue at about 10am. I hand over my visa pack, prepared by the immigration people at work.
Before I set off on my journey, I checked (and double checked) the list of things you need to present for your Visa application.
She rifled through the documents and then said 'Where is your I-156 document?' I checked the cover letter from the IBM Visa team. Yes, it was on the list of documents contained in my pack. I replied that the document must be there as it was on the list prepared by my company. I looked through myself. No, the document wasn't actually there. My heart sank. I'd just travelled for 2 days to get to this appointment, only to be rejected at the last hurdle. I nearly cried.
Read the story of the Visa Part 2
*** Well they are a Yorkshire based company.
Customer says 'ey up*** Liza, we're opening a store in the USA - would you like to go and test it out there for us?'
As I work for a US based company, I check with our immigration department as to whether I need a visa for work. I fill in a couple of forms and they say I do need a visa. I begin the visa application process and am asked to - complete MANY forms, write a 7 year CV, send a copy of my Degree Certificate, and pay several fees.
This process in its own right was not straightforward - the CV was sent back with the comment 'we need to see your job TITLES, not your job ROLES. ????!!!!!! What else is a CV all about if not your job roles? Finally after several to-ings and fro-ings of forms, my visa pack is ready and it is FedEx'd to me from the USA.
I then try to make an appointment at the US Embassy London for my interview. There's a 6 week wait-time for appointments. I need to be there in a fortnight. Ho Hum.
Visa/Immigration people say - it doesn't have to be the LONDON UK Embassy - just ANY US Embassy. I check the website - Belfast, Paris - all of them have over 6 weeks to wait for an appointment. But I find out that the Brussels embassy has the shortest list (in Europe). 2 days.
We figure that to get to Brussels on the plane is the same amount of time as getting to London on the train and so I book an appointment for the following Monday - 11th August.
I set off to Brussels on the Monday morning flight from Leeds Bradford airport.
The ill-fated trip to Brussels ensues - I won't go over old ground as I've already written about it....suffice to say I miss my appointment on Monday and have to reschedule for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning at 9am I'm there in a queue of 6 people outside the embassy. After the security checks I get into the building only to find over 30 people in front of me! Eventually I get to the front of the queue at about 10am. I hand over my visa pack, prepared by the immigration people at work.
Before I set off on my journey, I checked (and double checked) the list of things you need to present for your Visa application.
- 3 copies of the documentation (a list of documents included in my visa pack showed me that all the required documents were included)
- A very particular requirement for a photo - almost, but not entirely completely dissimilar from a standard passport photo
- evidence of the payment of the fee
She rifled through the documents and then said 'Where is your I-156 document?' I checked the cover letter from the IBM Visa team. Yes, it was on the list of documents contained in my pack. I replied that the document must be there as it was on the list prepared by my company. I looked through myself. No, the document wasn't actually there. My heart sank. I'd just travelled for 2 days to get to this appointment, only to be rejected at the last hurdle. I nearly cried.
Read the story of the Visa Part 2
*** Well they are a Yorkshire based company.
6 Sept 2008
I am loving UBIQUITY!
Mozilla (the firefox people) have released a beta version of their new plugin called UBIQUITY. It's a command line interface which joins up the gaps between the various bits of the web which you use every day - email, maps, mail, wikipedia. Tim mentioned it on his blog the other day, and now references to it have started appearing on some of the other blogs I read; LifeHack and here's the Mozilla blurb about it.
This blog isn't about techie things, and I'm sure that most of you reading this aren't really that interested, but this is the way forward. In a year's time, all web applications will interface in this way.
This blog isn't about techie things, and I'm sure that most of you reading this aren't really that interested, but this is the way forward. In a year's time, all web applications will interface in this way.
Menorca
Although we did a really brief post from an internet cafe in Menorca, we've not really written up too much about the holiday itself. Not that there's much to write. It was a really chilled out break. We booked a lovely villa though the James Villas website and set off bright and early to Manchester Airport. By 10am on the 1st day we were at the villa and it was about 85 degrees! We dumped our stuff and headed into the little town looking for a bit of lunch. Although there were quite a few of the 'photo of plates of chips' type restaurants, we found a lovely tapas bar where we started our holiday in style - grilled sardines, veg 'a la plancha', patatas bravas (of course), and some large, cold beers!
The rest of the holiday followed a very regular pattern. Wake up around 9. Breakfast on the patio by the pool - coffee, yoghurt, magdalenas, OJ.
We then would sit and read for a couple of hours before lunch! Lunch was either some nice salad & cold cuts or off out to our fave place again for more tapas.
Afternoons were spent in the pool - my outlook mostly like this -->
- through my toes - from the lilo.
Evening meal would involve Dan doing his manly duties and lighting the BBQ for some super bit of mixed grill.
We didn't actually go anywhere, see anything or do anything other than this! It was so relaxing I completely forgot about work until we were in the taxi going back to the airport! And it was only a week we were away! How cool!!!!
The rest of the pics are here on Picassa if you want a look.
5 Sept 2008
From Bussels to Raleigh - well not quite!
After having got there and done what I needed to do (getting the Visa part 1 and part 2) in Brussels, there remained the small matter of getting to Raleigh.
I called up the IBM travel agent (Amex Travel services) and got myself booked on the next flight out which left at 10 am the following morning; Friday 15th August. There weren't any direct flights to Raleigh, so this one went via NY. I had a 3 hour wait at JFK but that was fine!
Friday
I got up nice and early & was in the taxi at 7:30am - at the airport before 8. Lovely. Got to the check-in for my flight only to find that because the inbound flight from NY had been delayed leaving JFK the night before, OUR flight was going to be delayed 3 hours :-( of course this meant I was going to miss my connecting flight, but they were able to rebook me on to the later flight out of JFK to Raleigh. Unfortunately this was 6 hours later....but at least I was booked on something.
The flight to NY was very pleasant & uneventful - I had 2 seats to myself and landed feeling quite chilled.
I phoned Dan once I got thru customs. He was out on the pop in Batley - at a nice curry house there. I have to admit I was a bit jealous and homesick at that point! I then phoned Mum and Dad to let them know I had finally arrived. As I was chatting to them, I was in a seating area with a big TV. It was showing CNN. My eyes swept over the screen. 'Breaking News' it said. I was intreagued - was there something going on I needed to know about, something I'd missed by being an enforced captive of the airport & airline???? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the line underneath.....
OH NO! It wasn't to be. We sat and watched the storm approach. A thick black cloud descended on the airport. I was sitting in an area where you could charge your phone & laptop and was listening in to the walkie-talkie of the guy sitting next to me. He was airport security. About 7pm the 1st warning came through.....
I wondered what that meant. I realised that quite a few of the people waiting for flights were up and looking out of the windows down to the gates. All the people who wander about on the tarmac - the baggage handlers, the guys with the table tennis bats who direct the planes on and off the stands - the guys who drive the little tow trucks which push the planes back off the gate - the people who man the aeroplane access tunnels - all of them - just literally abandoned their posts and ran inside.
This left a quite amusing sight out there in the pouring rain & hail - planes literally mid-taxi were just left at all angles at the gates. They looked like the pilots had just left them there in a hurry! We could see people on the planes looking back at the terminal - obviously wondering why they'd stopped mid-reverse. It was very funny!
This situation lasted for about 30 minutes - from what I could gather by listening in to the walkie talkie and overhearing the gate staff chatting away - the airport ramp (runway and tarmac areas) closes when there has been lightening within 5 miles of the airport - I guess something to do with the expanse of wide open space. All the people are removed from risk - and the planes just have to sit there until it opens again.
The ramp closed again at 8:30-9pm. By this time our flight was showing an hour's delay. By 10pm they were announcing that our plane was there, ready to depart, but the crew, who had been on an inbound flight from Denver, had been diverted during one of the 2 periods of closure. Oh poo. The flight was cancelled. My 4th cancellation in 5 days. Could it get any worse?
Read about my unexpected night in New York
I called up the IBM travel agent (Amex Travel services) and got myself booked on the next flight out which left at 10 am the following morning; Friday 15th August. There weren't any direct flights to Raleigh, so this one went via NY. I had a 3 hour wait at JFK but that was fine!
Friday
I got up nice and early & was in the taxi at 7:30am - at the airport before 8. Lovely. Got to the check-in for my flight only to find that because the inbound flight from NY had been delayed leaving JFK the night before, OUR flight was going to be delayed 3 hours :-( of course this meant I was going to miss my connecting flight, but they were able to rebook me on to the later flight out of JFK to Raleigh. Unfortunately this was 6 hours later....but at least I was booked on something.
The flight to NY was very pleasant & uneventful - I had 2 seats to myself and landed feeling quite chilled.
I phoned Dan once I got thru customs. He was out on the pop in Batley - at a nice curry house there. I have to admit I was a bit jealous and homesick at that point! I then phoned Mum and Dad to let them know I had finally arrived. As I was chatting to them, I was in a seating area with a big TV. It was showing CNN. My eyes swept over the screen. 'Breaking News' it said. I was intreagued - was there something going on I needed to know about, something I'd missed by being an enforced captive of the airport & airline???? I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the line underneath.....
- Tornado in Manhattan
OH NO! It wasn't to be. We sat and watched the storm approach. A thick black cloud descended on the airport. I was sitting in an area where you could charge your phone & laptop and was listening in to the walkie-talkie of the guy sitting next to me. He was airport security. About 7pm the 1st warning came through.....
All personnel evacuate the ramp - risk of lightening strike
I wondered what that meant. I realised that quite a few of the people waiting for flights were up and looking out of the windows down to the gates. All the people who wander about on the tarmac - the baggage handlers, the guys with the table tennis bats who direct the planes on and off the stands - the guys who drive the little tow trucks which push the planes back off the gate - the people who man the aeroplane access tunnels - all of them - just literally abandoned their posts and ran inside.
This left a quite amusing sight out there in the pouring rain & hail - planes literally mid-taxi were just left at all angles at the gates. They looked like the pilots had just left them there in a hurry! We could see people on the planes looking back at the terminal - obviously wondering why they'd stopped mid-reverse. It was very funny!
This situation lasted for about 30 minutes - from what I could gather by listening in to the walkie talkie and overhearing the gate staff chatting away - the airport ramp (runway and tarmac areas) closes when there has been lightening within 5 miles of the airport - I guess something to do with the expanse of wide open space. All the people are removed from risk - and the planes just have to sit there until it opens again.
The ramp closed again at 8:30-9pm. By this time our flight was showing an hour's delay. By 10pm they were announcing that our plane was there, ready to depart, but the crew, who had been on an inbound flight from Denver, had been diverted during one of the 2 periods of closure. Oh poo. The flight was cancelled. My 4th cancellation in 5 days. Could it get any worse?
Read about my unexpected night in New York
4 Sept 2008
The reason I was there in the 1st place
My recent traumatic travels to Belgium and the US did actually have a purpose - although it was difficult to remember it at the time - when I was trying to get to Brussels - or when I had to spend an unexpected night in New York - I was actually there to help my customer test out a new store that they have opening soon. The store itself will be in New York - on Broadway to be precise, but we were doing our testing at a company called 'SMA Microsystems' in Raleigh, North Carolina.
It's a very nice part of the world. I've been before, to visit my friend Tim, who moved out there many years ago, and who has settled out there and made a very nice life for himself. It was nice to go back and see how things have changed - and stayed the same - in 14 years!
My business trip was with 3 of my customer colleagues who I work with back home in Leeds. They were all out there because of their different technical skills, and their focus on different parts of the system. Our basic remit was to get the store set up (40 tills) and run a week's worth of tests to sim
ulate all the combinations of activity which the NY store will do when it goes live.
The facility we were in consisted of a huge warehouse with benches reaching across the open space in the middle - each bench sat about 6 tills on it - we had 2 store servers and 4 workstations and printers - 2 shoogles - the shoe lookup system, and 2 style advisor kiosks. It was a massive set up. The store is going to be huge!
As you can probably see - it's not exactly a 'lab' environment like we have back here in the UK; raised floors and under floor aircon. It literally was a warehouse.
Needless to say the only thing we could think of once the afternoon started drawing to a close was a cold beer and a shower. In that order.
It's a very nice part of the world. I've been before, to visit my friend Tim, who moved out there many years ago, and who has settled out there and made a very nice life for himself. It was nice to go back and see how things have changed - and stayed the same - in 14 years!
My business trip was with 3 of my customer colleagues who I work with back home in Leeds. They were all out there because of their different technical skills, and their focus on different parts of the system. Our basic remit was to get the store set up (40 tills) and run a week's worth of tests to sim
ulate all the combinations of activity which the NY store will do when it goes live.The facility we were in consisted of a huge warehouse with benches reaching across the open space in the middle - each bench sat about 6 tills on it - we had 2 store servers and 4 workstations and printers - 2 shoogles - the shoe lookup system, and 2 style advisor kiosks. It was a massive set up. The store is going to be huge!
As you can probably see - it's not exactly a 'lab' environment like we have back here in the UK; raised floors and under floor aircon. It literally was a warehouse.
- A big metal box,
- in 90+ degrees of heat,
- and high humidity.
- EEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!
Needless to say the only thing we could think of once the afternoon started drawing to a close was a cold beer and a shower. In that order.
1 Sept 2008
Camping at Barn Farm - Mum's Birthday
I think it's probably true to state that we seem to have found a 'favourite' campsite. Mentioned multiple times so far in this blog (eg here, and here) Barn Farm is the nicest campsite EVER.There's nothing there apart from the loo block, *some* hot showers and the views over the Derbyshire countryside. Oh and the wildlife!
This time, the WHITE peacock (well peahen) had had some white babies - how cute - and there were some very old fashioned looking hens - straight from a children's farmyard story book! Not to mention the swallows (or were they swifts?) difficult to tell as they swooped and dived around the tents about 1foot above ground level. Amazing acrobatics!Anyway, the occasion was Mum's birthday - we'd done the camping thing before, 2 years ago for the birthday celebrations and all enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again! This time the weather wasn't quite as cold as last time - but also not quite as dry! On the Saturday it completely bucketed it down. We solved this problem in several ways.
- Dad went to sleep
- Liza Jane and Mum went off to Chatsworth, and then Bakewell for a wander (and tea and a scone!)
On the up side, we did find out that our new tent will fit 4 chairs inside around a table - and with the impromptu awning that dad rigged up from pieces of string and random bits of tent pole he 'happened to have in the boot of the car' we managed to survive quite well even with the 'weather'.
31 Aug 2008
Bathroom Progress
One of the exciting things that has happened whilst I've been away is that we've started on the work to get our 2 bathrooms refurbished. For those of you who have been here, you'll know that the previous owners seemed to have had a lot to spend on the bathrooms, but not an awful lot of taste to go with it.
The tiles themselves were really good quality, expensive ones, however the colour schemes seem to have dropped out of the Rococo period; the main bathroom has dark brown and pink tiles (with gold embellishments) and then it was accessorised with a red carpet and red shower curtain. Bearing in mind that the bathroom is internal - no windows - and is only about 7 foot square - it's an overwhelming colour scheme!
The ensuite was slightly better in that the tiles were blue and white (and gold) but the dark navy tiles were on the TOP half of the walls, and the paler ones on the bottom making the room really dark. What's going on with that?
The ensuite has been under the hammer 1st. This is the one which was going to cause the most disruption because the layout was such that it made the room feel quite small and claustrophobic. The shower stand was really high off the ground (because the plumbers were too lazy to bury the pipework under the floorboards) and was right behind th
e door, the loo in the far corner and the sink was under the window - so there was nowhere to put a mirror. With a bit of advice from Gordon, we've moved EVERYTHING around.
The shower is now twice the size, and now faces you at the back of the room, and the loo is under the window, and the sink is in the corner on the left. Lots of room for a mirror, light and cabinet.
Best bit of all is the tiles, a very pale blue for the walls, and a bright 'lapis lazuli' blue with sparkley bits in for the floor! It's so bright and shiny!
The room looks about twice as big! It's not quite finished; the floor needs grouting, and the mirror, loo roll holder etc all need to be put up. But as you can see from the pics, it looks lovely and shiny and modern! I love it. Can't wait to get to the main bathroom now!
The tiles themselves were really good quality, expensive ones, however the colour schemes seem to have dropped out of the Rococo period; the main bathroom has dark brown and pink tiles (with gold embellishments) and then it was accessorised with a red carpet and red shower curtain. Bearing in mind that the bathroom is internal - no windows - and is only about 7 foot square - it's an overwhelming colour scheme!
The ensuite was slightly better in that the tiles were blue and white (and gold) but the dark navy tiles were on the TOP half of the walls, and the paler ones on the bottom making the room really dark. What's going on with that?
The ensuite has been under the hammer 1st. This is the one which was going to cause the most disruption because the layout was such that it made the room feel quite small and claustrophobic. The shower stand was really high off the ground (because the plumbers were too lazy to bury the pipework under the floorboards) and was right behind th
e door, the loo in the far corner and the sink was under the window - so there was nowhere to put a mirror. With a bit of advice from Gordon, we've moved EVERYTHING around.The shower is now twice the size, and now faces you at the back of the room, and the loo is under the window, and the sink is in the corner on the left. Lots of room for a mirror, light and cabinet.
Best bit of all is the tiles, a very pale blue for the walls, and a bright 'lapis lazuli' blue with sparkley bits in for the floor! It's so bright and shiny!
The room looks about twice as big! It's not quite finished; the floor needs grouting, and the mirror, loo roll holder etc all need to be put up. But as you can see from the pics, it looks lovely and shiny and modern! I love it. Can't wait to get to the main bathroom now!
30 Aug 2008
Getting to Brussels
My recent trip to the USA started off with a visit to the US Embassy in Brussels. The theory being that it was as easy going to Brussels as to London - or so we thought.
The cab came at 4.45am on Monday morning - got to Leeds Bradford airport at 5:15 ready for the flight at 6:40. Brilliant.
At about 6:20, just as we were all getting ready to board, they announced a delay. The flight was going to be rescheduled, but they weren't going to be able to tell us the new time until 8:40. Damn, this put my 11:15 appointment at the Embassy out of the picture. I called the Embassy and rescheduled the appointment for the next available time - 9:15am Weds.
At 8:40 they said 'next info 9:40' and at 9:40 they announced the flight would leave at 10:10. Wahoooo! At 9:45 they cancelled the flight! CANCELLED!
I've never had a flight cancelled on me before! Fortunately the airline had a flight that afternoon which they transferred us all on to - and we picked up our luggage and I got a cab to work.
3pm I got a cab back to the airport for the 5pm flight. At 4pm the flight was marked up as "delayed" at 5pm it was cancelled, and by 6pm I was back home. 2 flights cancelled in one day. Never!
Apparently the reason for the cancellation was industrial action at Brussels airport, but ever hopeful, I got myself booked on the next morning's flight and set the alarm for 4am again. I was getting a bit tired by this time! I checked the flight before I left home and it was still on time, but I was not too surprised to see as soon as I walked into the airport that the flight had been cancelled. I was so not surprised that I actually had the cab driver wait for me. He took me back home again, and a couple of hours later I went in to work.
During this time Atilla (from work)had been monitoring all the flights which had been coming in and out of Brussels airport and noticed that *some* airlines were landing, and others weren't. He identified that (surprise surprise) Brussels Airways were landing, but BMI wasn't! In a final last ditch attempt to get there, I decided to get the train to Manchester and pick up a Brussels Aiways flight from there.
JP drops me off at the station but by the time I get there, the train is delayed 3 minutes. I look on the board and in fact, all of the trains are delayed - up to an hour. There are signal failures up the line. Could I BE more unlucky? This is most unlike me! Luck normally follows me around! I always get a parking space, a good seat, find exactly what I'm looking for. Not this time tho - I reckon all the bad luck owed to me must have been saved up to be doled out in one fell swoop!
Anyway, the train was a little bit delayed (20 mins) but I did get to the airport for 3pm - with a 4pm flight it was a little bit tight (especially when I realised that the train comes in
to one terminal and I'm flying out of the other) but after a bit of panicing in the terminal bus, I was checked in and having a beer.
In the end, the flight was on time and uneventful - and even with the baggage handler strike at the airport (there were PILES of luggage EVERYWHERE in the arrivals hall) our bags came out in about 5 minutes. Amazing. Much less than you normally have to wait at Manchester - with NO baggage handler strike!!!
The only upside to this traumatic travelling story was arriving at the super trendy boutique hotel in Brussels which was the nearest "IBM approved" hotel to the US embassy. It's called Hotel BLOOM. The rooms were dead trendy (check out the sillhouette mural of things "hanging" on my bedroom wall) , the food was great, the wine even better!
PHEW, I'd got there!
Read the next bit here....The story of the Visa part 1
The cab came at 4.45am on Monday morning - got to Leeds Bradford airport at 5:15 ready for the flight at 6:40. Brilliant.
At about 6:20, just as we were all getting ready to board, they announced a delay. The flight was going to be rescheduled, but they weren't going to be able to tell us the new time until 8:40. Damn, this put my 11:15 appointment at the Embassy out of the picture. I called the Embassy and rescheduled the appointment for the next available time - 9:15am Weds.
At 8:40 they said 'next info 9:40' and at 9:40 they announced the flight would leave at 10:10. Wahoooo! At 9:45 they cancelled the flight! CANCELLED!
I've never had a flight cancelled on me before! Fortunately the airline had a flight that afternoon which they transferred us all on to - and we picked up our luggage and I got a cab to work.
3pm I got a cab back to the airport for the 5pm flight. At 4pm the flight was marked up as "delayed" at 5pm it was cancelled, and by 6pm I was back home. 2 flights cancelled in one day. Never!
Apparently the reason for the cancellation was industrial action at Brussels airport, but ever hopeful, I got myself booked on the next morning's flight and set the alarm for 4am again. I was getting a bit tired by this time! I checked the flight before I left home and it was still on time, but I was not too surprised to see as soon as I walked into the airport that the flight had been cancelled. I was so not surprised that I actually had the cab driver wait for me. He took me back home again, and a couple of hours later I went in to work.
During this time Atilla (from work)had been monitoring all the flights which had been coming in and out of Brussels airport and noticed that *some* airlines were landing, and others weren't. He identified that (surprise surprise) Brussels Airways were landing, but BMI wasn't! In a final last ditch attempt to get there, I decided to get the train to Manchester and pick up a Brussels Aiways flight from there.
JP drops me off at the station but by the time I get there, the train is delayed 3 minutes. I look on the board and in fact, all of the trains are delayed - up to an hour. There are signal failures up the line. Could I BE more unlucky? This is most unlike me! Luck normally follows me around! I always get a parking space, a good seat, find exactly what I'm looking for. Not this time tho - I reckon all the bad luck owed to me must have been saved up to be doled out in one fell swoop!
Anyway, the train was a little bit delayed (20 mins) but I did get to the airport for 3pm - with a 4pm flight it was a little bit tight (especially when I realised that the train comes in
to one terminal and I'm flying out of the other) but after a bit of panicing in the terminal bus, I was checked in and having a beer.In the end, the flight was on time and uneventful - and even with the baggage handler strike at the airport (there were PILES of luggage EVERYWHERE in the arrivals hall) our bags came out in about 5 minutes. Amazing. Much less than you normally have to wait at Manchester - with NO baggage handler strike!!!
The only upside to this traumatic travelling story was arriving at the super trendy boutique hotel in Brussels which was the nearest "IBM approved" hotel to the US embassy. It's called Hotel BLOOM. The rooms were dead trendy (check out the sillhouette mural of things "hanging" on my bedroom wall) , the food was great, the wine even better!
PHEW, I'd got there!
Read the next bit here....The story of the Visa part 1
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