A permanent record

If anyone wants a free ipod...

2007-04-25T14:46:00.000+01:00

If anyone wants to help me get a free ipod (total con, I know, but worth a try!) then go to:

http://ipods.freepay.com/?r=37977742

ta! Lxx

Crikey, facebook really does take over your life...

2007-04-23T15:37:00.000+01:00

I am blaming my lack of blogging entirely on facebook (www.facebook.com) which has taken over my methods of contacting people, writing notes, quizzes etc... I apologise!

So today is the first day of my final term at University (probably EVER - that's a scary concept!); it is also my official birthday! (like the Queen y'know... I'm having a Warwick birthday since my real one was during the Easter holidays and everyone was at home) I'm having a fancy dress party on campus tonight with the theme of characters from films - pictures to follow hopefully!

Other than that I'm in the murky depths of essay-writing (assessed essays for 3 of my modules...eek!) and also attempting some revision. My exams run from the 22nd of May to the 2nd of June, after which I'm finished for the summer!! Very exciting (most people's exams don't even start until I've finished mine!) - I'm so looking forward to being able to read whatever I like!!

I've applied for a job at C venues to work at the Edinburgh Fringe festival over the summer - having been there with a show last year I'd love to go again (but can't really afford it unless I have a job!) so hopefully I'll be able to work AND see some shows! After that my plans are currently a little hazy... more updates to come!

The only extra-curricular project I'm currently involved in (after the madness of last term when I was working on three shows simultaneously...) is 'Bat Boy' the musical - a dark comedy about...well, the clue is in the title. It's great fun, and runs just after I've handed in my essays but before my exams (from the 16th - 19th May) which is perfect! I'm choreographing, which isn't too strenuous, either, and the cast and team are all great! (Luvvies, sweeties, dahlings) - Check out www.batboy-musical.com :)

Please excuse a lack of future blogging while I revise and get through the end of my final term and decide what to do with my life...hehe! I promise I'll blog more regularly after that. Honest.

Love, Lxx

I am rubbish at blogging...

2006-12-23T11:15:00.000Z

I know, I've been useless! I'm at home for the xmas holidays, and have been since the 10th of December, but as I'm working at the theatre to earn myself some money instead of relaxing, I've been quite busy! What with all the parties, and catching up with all my friends who are here, and fitting in some uni work in-between I just haven't found the time!

People have been complaining about not being able to find my email address, so just to make sure everyone can get hold of it, it's l.j.buddle@warwick.ac.uk - and if, for some reason, that doesn't work, try kettlechild@hotmail.com.

Once Christmas is over I'll hopefully be able to write a big update - should be fun, though, I get christmas eve off for once as it's a Sunday (yay!) so I'm going to the St Pauls carol service in the afternoon, then to visit Nanny, and then to the Smiths' annual drinks - then the usual trip to Oxford on Christmas day to spend it with mum's side of the family :)

Season's greetings to all and I hope everyone has a fantastic festive season!
Lots of love,
L xx

Upgrade and Quiz about me...

2006-11-24T22:57:00.000Z

OK, so I know my blogging has been completely non-existent, but that's nothing new these days! In a good way, of course - I've been really busy but really busy having fun and getting involved in lots of things, so life is good :)
My blog has been 'upgraded' apparently, although I don't think it looks any different, so if anyone notices anything unusual or not working, do let me know...
I stole this quiz 'meme' thing from Pete's blog, so I hope he doesn't mind, I thought it was quite good fun (and means I don't have to try to list everything I've been up to since I last posted - I'll need some time to think about that!!)

ONLY TWO WORDS! You can only use two words to answer each question.

1. Explain what ended your last relationship?
indecisiveness, cowardice

2. When was the last time you bathed?
yesterday, probably

3. What were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.?
sleeping soundly

4. What were you doing 15 minutes ago?
checking emails

5. Are you any good at math?
not very!

6. Your prom night?
non-existent

7. Do you have any famous ancestors?
Buddleia botanist

8. Have you had to take a loan out for school?
big one!

9. Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile?
no myspace

10. Last thing received in the mail?
CD (Amazon!)

11. How many different beverages have you had today?
squash, tea

12. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machines?
sometimes, badly

13. Who did you lose your CONCERT virginity to?
5ive (coooool...)

14. Do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?
of course

15. What's the most painful dental procedure you've had?
probably braces

16. What is out your back door?
bins, garden

17. Any plans for Friday night?
tonight - nothing!

18. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair?
no way

19. Have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns?
nope - British

20. Have you ever been to a planetarium?
not yet

21. Do you re-use towels after you shower?
usually yes

22. Some things you are excited about?
Copacabana, Christmas

23. What is your favorite flavor of JELLO?
raspberry (yum)

24. Describe your keychain(s)?
fairly average

25. Where do you keep your change?
my purse

26. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group of people?
rehearsals? stewarding?

27. What kind of winter coat do you own?
warm, black

28. What was the weather like on your graduation day?
haven't graduated...

29. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed?
closed (security...)

That's all for now, but I promise a more informative post soon...
Lxx

Guilty...

2006-10-20T12:55:00.000+01:00

I'm feeling very guilty about not having blogged for so long (as dad subtly reminded me by sending me a text message that just said "Blog more!" - text messages about blogs, there's some sort of technology discussion to be had there...) so I thought as I have no lectures at all on Fridays (jammy, I know!) I'd do a quick update.

Well, I'm all moved in and settled in my grogeous flat in Leamington, which really is everything I'd hoped it would be, and so homey and comfortable. It really doesn't feel like a student flat, which makes coming home from campus so much more pleasant :) My flatmates are SO lovely! I hadn't met either Laura (known as LT) or Lynn (known as Linith) before I moved in, but they were so friendly and so much fun that we got on straight away, and we've had lots of fun outings together already, like the school disco at the union that we all went to (with other friends) for Laura's birthday last weekend!
(Lynn and Me)
Also for Laura's birthday, we decided to buy some pet goldfish, so we know have one each in a tank in the living room! It's almost a real house!

My course this year is amazing - I'm doing modules in Modernism+Postmodernism (English and French comparative literature), Modern Sexualities (French), Modern French Language, and Shakespeare and other dramatists of his time (English). The Shakespeare one is right up my street, since we're looking at the plays as performance texts rather than just works of literature - we've been to see two plays at the RSC in Stratford upon Avon already this term, and been to a full-day conference about The Tempest at the Courtyard Theatre too, with lectures and then a workshop with actors and the assistant director from the RSC production! Lots of fun, and really interesting too. I'm keeping on top of my work and writing up all my lecture notes neatly, which is pretty impressive considering how much extra-curricular stuff I'm doing...

I've been stewarding at the Arts Centre lots - I'm now a head steward, which means I get to be in charge of the team of stewards for either the Theatre or the Hall, and organise what they're doing, as well as being in charge of any programmes/money etc and generally running front of house for whichever event I'm working. I'm really enjoying it, so apart from helping them out before they took on all the new stewards for this year, I've been working as much as possible because it's fun! I also got to see the National Theatre tour of Alan Bennet's The History Boys when it came here, and Shared Experience's Orestes - plus I met Jimmy Carr when he was doing a comedy gig in the Butterworth Hall, and got a signed programme for Tom!!
I've also got into lots of dancing (hip-hop, lyrical, tap and body conditioning [which is like an hour in the gym, but for dancers - exhausting!]) and Musical Theatre - I'm going to be in the chorus of Chicago this weekend (a weekend show - rehearsed and performed in 48 hours!) and I've got a part in this year's theatre show Copacbana as a Copa Girl! All very exciting - I'll make sure I put details of Copa up nearer the time so you can all come and see it, but it will be at the end of January.

Apart from that, I'm getting over a bad cold (fresher's flu, even though I'm not a fresher - not really fair!) and enjoying hanging out with my old friends and getting to know new ones - there are some really lovely people in the Music Theatre society, and some of the new stewards are fun to know, too - I've even been practising my French on the Erasmus students! Some of my friends from my year abroad have got in touch recently, too, which is so so nice - particularly Miguel, who lives in Puerto Rico so I never get to speak to him, but he phoned me when he was in Portugal for the week to chat! He's getting on really well, moving to Colorado soon to do a massage therapy course and then hoping to come to Europe.

Right, time for me to do some work now! Hope all are well, and speak to you soon,
love Lxx

2 days to go...

2006-09-15T09:40:00.000+01:00

There are 2 days until i'll be back in Leamington! Unfortunately, as well as being an exciting realisation, this means I have also realised I haven't packed. I may well be out tomorrow, and I leave around midday on Sunday, so it's panic time!

I haven't packed anything yet because I've been out seeing even more lovely London people; As I mentioned before, I went to Catherine's house to visit her kittens, which was extremely exciting because a) she appears to live in Hogwarts (Well, Bancroft school but it's not far off - all red brick and creeping ivy and wizardy-looking little gardens and courtyards) and b) the kittens are soooo cute! They are both black and white, in sort of splodges, and are brother and sister called Mungo and Maggie (the names of the Notts County Magpies, I believe...). Mungo is very curious and playful, and quite friendly, although not very bright. Maggie, on the other hand, is the brains of the outfit, and got the looks too, but she's a bit shy of strangers. We had lots of fun playing with them, and having a good chat about all sorts of things. I also went to the bank on Tuesday, to extend my overdraft (which should get extended automatically on a student account but never has been) and had to hang around for about an hour! The woman I was talking to went to sort it out and just disappeared! Grrr...they did sort it out in the end though, so I was able to pay my rent and deposit for the flat in Leamington, and I've got a set of keys through the post! Yay!

On Wednesday night Elly came over to Amy's house next door and we had a pizza/ice-cream/donuts/maltesers evening, and watched Finding Nemo because neither of them had seen it! I felt this had to be rectified as soon as possible. Amy and I then walked Elly back to the tube station and it poured with rain, so we got a bit wet!! There have been some amazing storms here the past few evenings - lots of really bright lightning and rumbling thunder, quite spectacular! Not the best idea to go outside in one, though :-S

Yesterday I went into town to meet up with Heather to sort out all the receipts from Edinburgh (Heather was the producer of the show I worked on, so she's in charge of the money) and have coffee and a general chat. We also popped in to the Palace to see dad, and he showed us around the set of Spamalot as it is now - I've seen it a couple of times since I've been back, and it's nearly finished now, so it was exciting to see how it will look for the show. There are two enormous castle turrets instead of a pros. arch, which give a strange sort of perspective to the whole stage, because the tops are so much wider than the bottoms! Sort of reverse perspective, as it were. They were programming some lights while we were there, which looked very exciting, and then we walked around backstage to have a look at all the bits of set, it's really really clever! I won't give away any secrets, though - you'll all have to go and see it instead! It opens on the 30th, I hope I can get down to see it.
Chris (Peake) and Rob also came to have coffee with us later on, as Heather had to give Chris a form for their flat, so it was nice to be able to see them before I go back to the madness of uni!

So now I have lots to do today - there's the washing, ironing and packing of clothes that needs to start now, and I have to buy a double duvet for my new bed (from somewhere...!), then I also have to make sure Ella is picking up some stuff of Tom's that she's taking down when she goes to visit him tomorrow, and I have to make sure I've worked out what to take with me on Sunday and what mum's going to bring up next weekend in the car... plus because she's not here this weekend I have to leave her a list of what she's bringing, and a shopping list for tesco's! (Aren't mums great?! :-D )

Right, looking at that I'd better get on with it! Bye for now...
L xx

Books, Films, Gigs and Shows

2006-09-11T20:07:00.000+01:00

I've had a fairly quiet week since I last wrote anything, although the things I have been doing have been very enjoyable! :-)

First of all I ordered lots of books on Amazon for my Shakespeare module this coming year (we have to have specific editions, because we can take them in to one of our exams, so that everyone has the same text), so I've had lots of exciting new things to read!
On Thursday Steph and I decided not to sit in the house for yet another evening, so we went to the cinema - the only thing we even vaguely fancied seeing was 'Snakes on a Plane'! It was, as I predicted, awful, but very enjoyable! So bad, that it was good, although a bit gory in places!
Friday was Tom's band (Three Second Delay - www.threesecondelay.co.uk )'s first ever proper gig at the Loaded Dog pub on Leytonstone High Rd - they were amazing! Really well rehearsed, and they had lots of support too. Lots of fun, and Elly, Steph, Amy and David all came along too so it was nice to hang out with them.

On Saturday I had arranged to go and see the matinee of Avenue Q (yes, again!) with my friend Catherine, but unfortunately she had to cancel, so at the last minute I invited Pete down to come with me, and he came! We had a really nice day wandering around London, we had coffee with Heather, and the show was amazing, despite it being the second time that I'd seen it!
I had a very lazy Sunday, watching tv with Tom and Ella in the morning, and then mum and dad packed up the car and took Tom off to uni for the first time! It was a bit sad, but he seems to be having loads of fun already, so that's good. I was home alone, so I just had a very relaxing day doing nothing! Today I went to Angel and had coffee with Alex, which was very nice as we didn't get to see each other much in Edinburgh since we were both so busy, and tomorrow morning I am going to Catherine's house to meet her kittens! I'm very excited :)

This week should be quite a sociable one, so I'll write more soon,
love L xx

Home again, home again

2006-09-05T17:34:00.000+01:00

I have returned from Edinburgh! I am now back in London, and being very lazy indeed at home :)
I've actually had quite a busy time since I got back - socially, at least! On Thursday I went for dinner with Jerzy, who I haven't seen in a long time, so that was very nice - we went to Bella Italia and drank lots of nice wine and liqueur coffees. On Friday I went into town and kept Catherine company at work - she's covering the stage door at the Palace for a few hours each day - which was fab, and we're hopefully going to go and see a show together next weekend; then in the evening I went next door to see Amy and had chinese for supper with her and the rest of the Smith clan :)

The weekend was equally full of engagements - on Saturday night I went over to Elly's house (her student house, which I haven't been to until now) in Finchley for dinner with her, Amy and Haben, plus Elly's housemates Jade and Abby. We did a lot of reminiscing about college days (as usual when we meet up!) which was really nice, and we had some very nice Ben and Jerry's ice-cream... in fact, we ate 2 tubs between the 6 of us! :-s We rounded off the evening by watching the now infamous video made by Duncan at Elly's 2002-3 New Year's Eve fancy dress party...hysterical! (Some great quotes from Mark, in particular, such as "Elly! Elly - if I was drunk, and I was swimming, I would drown.")
On Sunday I went to a garden party with mum and dad at Simon and Judith's house in Buckinghamshire - family friends a-plenty, and lots of people mum and dad hadn't seen for years, which was lovely. I also got chatting to our friend Roger Martin about a charity he's on the board of trustees for, called East Side, which is an arts and education charity which works with children of all ages in London, with the aim of helping young people experience the arts and kind of fill in the gaps between the National Curriculum and the arts. They try to encourage further learning and skills through the projects, too, it's all really interesting - have a look at their website www.eastside.org.uk - Roger was talking about the type of people they employ and I'd really love to get involved after my degree, especially as they've started expanding their projects to France!

Since Sunday, however, I've done very little indeed! A bit of ironing for mum, a bit of tidying my room, bits and pieces... Today mum's cousin (well, mum's cousin's daughter!) Stephanie arrived from Canada - she's staying with us while she sorts out somewhere to live as she's doing a postgraduate acting course at LAMDA this year. I also went to the post office and the bank and to tescos, where I accidentally bought a very nice pair of green combat trousers and the compulsory weekly dose of trash that is Heat magazine!

I'm going up to my new palace of a flat in Leamington (double bed...wireless internet...dishwasher...!) on the 17th, I hope, so that I can settle in and sort everything out before uni starts on the 2nd of October... until then, I'm bumming around in London! I'm trying to read some books and things for my course, though, which is productive, and as I said helping mum with the ironing!
On the Antony front, he and I are talking, and it seems we can be friendly, which is very good. I'll see him when I go up to Leamington and pick up the rest of my stuff from his and hywel's house, which he's kindly storing for me! It's still a bit strange not being together, but I suppose after 2 and a half years it's bound to be a bit odd! My lovely friends are looking after me, though, and I think his are doing the same for him :)

More soon - gros bisous,
L xx

Apologies...

2006-08-25T00:59:00.000+01:00

It's been an awfully long time since I blogged! This won't be a long post, either - just a quick summing up.
I'm in Edinburgh, working on Putting It Together, and working very hard, too! It's great fun, though, more fun than I ever imagined, and the people and atmosphere are so nice :) I literally haven't had a moment to spare between abusing my bank account and my liver, though, so blogging has been pretty low on my list of priorities! The show is going really well and we've had some amazing reviews - check out http://www.broadwaybaby.com/edinburgh/fringe/reviews/puttingittogether1 and http://www.edfringe.com/shows/detail.php?action=shows&id=PUTT

The sad news is that I am now a single lady - Antony and I are going our separate ways. It's very sad and upsetting, but I hope that ultimately it's for the best, for both of us.

The show up here runs until monday, and I'll be going back to London on Wednesday - I shall want lots of company and fun, so anyone who's in London, expect a phone call soon!
I'll write a longer update as soon as I have time...
Lxx

Grrrr...want my debit card!

2006-08-01T12:32:00.000+01:00

Hmm. My new debit card still hasn't arrived - but I suppose it was only ordered on Thursday, and five working days in bank-speak from Thursday is Wednesday, therefore I expect it tomorrow. If it doesn't arrive tomorrow I shall get very cross and upset and phone them and shout at them. So there.

I really have nothing to report - I have been sorting out all the stuff that was pulled out of my room last weekend, and throwing most of it away; which, although boring, was quite productive and pleasing.

Today I am doing not much (not having enough cash to go out for any length of time or shopping) before heading in to the Noel Coward theatre, where a friend of Dad's is going to give me a backstage tour of Avenue Q!!! *bounces up and down in excitement* (Chris and Dan are green with jealousy :p )
L xx

Trains suck...

2006-07-30T00:22:00.000+01:00

So Chris tried to go home this evening, from London to Leamington. Sounds like a fairly easy journey by train - apparently not this weekend. He has since come back here... here follows his rant about what happened;

Lia tells me her Gran reads this, so I'm not allowed to swear. Therefore, I have decided to substitute expletives with the names of seventies, eighties and nineties rock and pop divas. Long and boring story short, I asked t'internet how to get home and it told me to go from Paddington>Reading>Leamington. Simple enough, however the Cyndi Laupering connecting train to Reading was late and so I missed the last Bonnie Tyler train to Birmingham. Cue me returning to east London on a night when only about 5 tube lines were working. About £30 all told - to get a numb arse and bored Alison Moyet-less - might as well have gone to see one of the more West-End shows. The railways are a big steaming heap of Donna Summer.

Poor Chris isn't very happy - a picture will illustrate this:

Apart from that, the week has been both fantastic and rubbish; My purse went missing on Sunday night somewhere between the pub and getting home, so Monday and Tuesday were spent sorting out replacing my debit card (after changing my address so they had my current one rather than my old Leamington one...), reporting the purse and all its contents lost to the police, etc. Grrr. This is my angry/upset/grumpy old woman/in need of senekot face:

However, Most of the rest of the week has been GREAT because we have seen the following shows (with comments in brackets):

Sunday in the Park with George - Wyndhams Theatre (AMAZING - we cried like little gay boys with skinned knees - if you see one show in your whole life, see this!!!)
Guys and Dolls - Piccadilly Theatre (fun and a nice trip down memory lane since Chris, Dan and I were all in it two years ago)
Chèlinot - Union Theatre (the world premiere of Dan and Mike's new musical - very very good)
Avenue Q - Noel Coward Theatre (Chris and Dan only since I saw it in June - we're all obsessed with it anyway - it's awesome!)
The Producers - Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (Fabulous fun, extremely silly, and with the wonderful Reese Shearsmith as Bloom - he's great!!)

So much in fun in one week, we nearly exploded! Plus during the day we've been seeing friends for lunches, and watching rubbish TV channels such as Price Drop TV (and pretending to be presenters on it!) and drinking copious amounts of wine in the evenings, which sometimes result in antics such as these:

It's all been very silly and good fun :)
L xx (and Chris xx)

A late-night quickie

2006-07-24T01:33:00.000+01:00

[ <-- Chris standing on a step at Tesco.]

Hello all, just a bit of an update from London (it's still a bit hot for sleeping and I'm not quite tired enough yet!)

Well, I'm sitting in bed; my bed, not the bed in the spare room or Tom's bed (which I was in last night) but my bed - mum and dad having impressively cleared out my room while I was out today! It was still full of stuff from when the kitchen was done and I was away in France, and I think me coming down and filling the spare room with guests was a good excuse to finally clear it all out. Most of it is sitting in the hallway waiting for me to either decide where to put it or throw it away, but it's a good start! Sneaker is sitting with me, desperately trying to climb into my lap (but that wouldn't be practical as the laptop is already in it) and licking my arm... strange cat!

I travelled down to London yesterday with Dan and Chris - we had a couple of false starts due to unforseen weather conditions, though! The thunderstorm was so heavy and storm-y that we ended up sitting at the guys' house drinking tea for an hour until it calmed down enough to drive in! So that was interesting. Dan thought it might be an omen about Chèlinot, but I'm sure it's not...
We then had lots of fun singing at the top of our lungs to various musicals songs all the way down the motorway :-) (I can hear Owen's voice in my head saying "Bloody Thesps"... but it was fun!) We settled in nicely, and had a very nice evening drinking wine, eating mum's excellent chilli and watching camp, so-rubbish-it's-brilliant television.

Today, after a quick trip to Tesco, Dan had to go into the theatre to say hi to everyone and help out with the get-in, etc, so Chris and I went into town with him and dropped him off before heading to the Tate Modern to have a look at some crazy sculptures and pictures. It was very interesting - I usually claim to dislike modern art but when I go to a modern art museum I always find things I really like - my favourite piece was by an artist who's deaf who had collected lots of bits of paper, on which people had written their half of a conversation when they didn't know how to sign. The things that were written, being out of context, often seemed really odd, and it was just fascinating seeing all the different styles of handwriting, and trying to work out what on earth the conversations were about from the scraps that were there!
After the Tate (and having a little drink and a sit-down) Chris and I went back past the theatre to tell Dan we were going somewhere else, and went to Leicester Square for a quick look at the Wyndhams and the Noel Coward theatres (where Sunday in the Park with George and Avenue Q are playing, respectively) then on to the Montagu Pike bar on Charing Cross road for a few drinks and some food, before we came home and watched Top Gear and some highlights of an old video of Sweeney Todd that I have! (Can you tell we're all musicals Geeks, in varying degrees?!!)

Antony seems to have had a very productive day without me - he's put up shelves, bought a chair, tarted up his CV, done a load of washing; all sorts! I'll have to go away more often...! It's a bit strange him not being here - I haven't spent any time away from him really for a few months, now; but in a way it's also quite refreshing, and I'm always sociable and busy here so it's going quickly :)
Right, definitely bedtime, more soon - probably on the shows we've been to see! If anyone's in London and wants to see a decent fringe new musical, come and see Chèlinot at the Union Theatre (Southwark) - it opens on Wednesday! (Shameless plug!)
Lxx

Summary... (Summery? Geddit?)

2006-07-19T09:39:00.000+01:00

Crikey, it's hot! Apparently today the weather might get so hot it breaks some records...wow! I'm going swimming.
Anyway, I'll stop talking about the weather like any average British person, and start off by apologising for a huge lack of blogs recently - my only excuse is that I've been a busy busy bee!

The most exciting news is that I'm going to Edinburgh festival! I had 'applied' to Heather to be a 'production assistant' (ie Stage manager, marketing assistant, props, lighting op, steward, general dogsbody!) for a production of Putting it Together (a review of Sondheim songs) some time ago, and she rang me up on the day before I started working for Antony to ask if I still wanted to do it. So I went to see a preview run of the show that evening (which was very good, particularly as not everyone was off book and it's not quite at performance stage yet!) and am currently in the process of organising stuff and trying to find props. I'm going up on the 8th of August and coming back on the 30th - all very exciting!

In other news, I had a very successful week working for Antony - I did lots of computer inputting and filing, both for him and for some of his colleagues when I finished all the things he needed doing! I'm too efficient, apparently :p
Last week I worked at the Arts Centre all day every day for the graduation ceremonies, which although tiring and hard work was also great fun, and I saw so many people I know graduating! It did make me a bit sad, since they'll all be out in the big wide world now, but there are still plenty of my friends around next year, so it'll be ok! The evenings are always the best part of Graduations week - we went out for curry, had a stewards' picnic and went dancing in the union! The picture is all the stewards who came to the picnic (plus our manager Elena!)

This week I'm relaxing and doing some reading (and, as I said, going swimming today!) and preparing to go to London for around a week, starting on Saturday when Dan and Chris are giving me a lift. They're coming to stay at my house for a few days - Dan wrote the book for a new musical that's premier-ing in London (called Chèlinot) so he's going down to be around for the opening and schmooze, and hopefully we'll all go and see some other shows while we're there :) I particularly want to see Sunday in the Park with George, as Chris showed me a DVD of the Mandy Patinkin/Bernadette Peters cast on Saturday (I went round for dinner, drinks and musical-watching!) and I really enjoyed it!

Right, I'm off to tidy up and get ready to go out. Hope to see some of you when I'm in London :-)
L xxx

Quiz for the purposes of procrastination...

2006-06-29T11:23:00.000+01:00

How many keys are on your keychain?
One - for the front door of our house.

What curse word do you use the most?
I don't really swear very much...

Do you own an iPod?
Yes indeed, one of the coloured ipod minis (green, of course) but its battery's getting temperamental these days.

What time is your alarm clock set for?
7:55am, currently. Yuck!

How many suitcases do you own?
Hmm, not sure - I think technically all the suitcases I use belong to my parents!

Do you wear flip–flops even when it's cold outside?
No, I get cold easily so exposed feet isn't usually an appealing option!

Where do you buy your groceries from?
Tesco - occasionally Costcutter for convenience's sake.

Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
I would rather be in the picture - I'm vain!

What was the last movie you watched?
Austin Powers - The Spy Who Shagged Me, although I was too tired to watch it all the way through.

Do any of your friends have children?
Yes - a girl I knew at college, and Antony's colleague, Kate.

If you won the lottery, what's the first thing you would buy?
A big beautiful flat in London.

Has anyone ever called you lazy?
Not to my face...!

Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster?
No. I've never needed any help falling asleep, but if I coul take something to help me wake up in the mornings, I would!

What CD is currently in your CD player?
Nothing - I don't have a CD player.

Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
Strange question... chocolate, I think. Yum.

Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Nope.

When was the last time someone hit on you?
Probably when I was in a club in Paris - I got chatted up by about 4 different sleazy guys! Ew.

What did you have for dinner?
Chicken Kiev (with ham and cheese filling), oven chips and mixed vegetables.

Do you wear hoodies often?
Yes, but I only have one with me - my Honk hoodie.

Can you whistle?
Yep, dad taught me when I was quite young.

Have you ever participated in a protest?
An anti-war protest at college, but I think that's about it.

Who was the last person to call you?
Pete, he was asking for directions when he was walking to my house yesterday.

What is your favorite ride at an amusement park?
Usually a big rollercoaster, I hate ghost trains and pirate ships though!

Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
Probably - hopefully not in a nasty way, but it happens to most people so it doesn't really bother me.

What area code are you in right now?
CV4

Did you watch cartoons as a child?
Yes - I loved Postman Pat particularly.

How big is your local mall?
The shopping centre in Coventry is pretty big - 3 floors I think (?).

How many siblings do you have?
One brother, Tom, who is 19 (hi Tom!)

Are you shy around the opposite sex?
No, a lot of my friends are guys.

What is your biggest regret?
It doesn't matter - you can't change the past, you just have to learn from it.

When was the last time you laughed so hard your sides hurt?
Yesterday - Hywel was tickling me.

What movie do you know every line to?
Ooh, there are lots - Shakespeare in Love, Finding Nemo, Dirty Dancing...

Do you own any band t–shirts?
I have an Aqualung one and an Athlete one somewhere, both from gigs I went to in London.

When was your last plane ride?
April, coming back from Tenerife.

How many chairs are at your dining room table?
Four

Do you read for fun?
Yep :) I'm currently enjoying Tony Robinson's Worst Jobs in History.

Can you speak any languages other than English?
I speak French pretty confidently, and I can do basic Spanish.

Do you do your own dishes?
Sometimes - sometimes I do other people's instead :p

What color is your bedroom painted?
Pecan, with a 'Delicious' (chocolate-coloured) accent wall and horizontal stripe around the room. Very 'changing rooms'!

Have you ever cried in public?
Probably

Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
Laptop - a gorgeous iBook 12" apple macintosh. It's pretty.

Which do you make, wishes or plans?
Plans - I have a plan for everything.

Are you always trying to learn new things?
Always!

Do you shower on a daily basis?
It depends, usually on whether my hair is behaving itself. On average it's probably every other day.

Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
No way - I don't want any holes or markings other than the hole in each ear I have for earrings.

Do you believe that the guy should pay on the first date?
Yes - I'm old-fashioned like that!

Can you skip rocks?
Nope, I'm rubbish.

Have you ever been to Jamaica?
No - I got invited by one of said sleazy guys in Paris club who was from there, but I don't think I'll be taking him up on it anytime soon!!

What to snack on at the movie theaters?
Anything and everything - popcorn, sweets, crisps, fizzy drinks - and lots of them!

Who was your favorite teacher?
I would say Charles Bond but he I was never in his class - so Angela Levis :)

Have you ever dated someone out of your race?
If race means skin colour then yes.

What is the weather like?
It's nice and sunny today, with a few clouds around, and it's a bit humid.

Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
I don't think so - I don't find them attractive.

Do you have an online journal?
I have a blog - this is it!

What was your favorite class in high school?
French

Do you enjoy traveling via airplanes?
Absolutely - I love it!

What personality trait is a must–have in your preferred gender?
Understanding

Have you ever been attracted to someone physically unattractive?
I suppose so - but if I was attracted to them, then they can't have been that unattractive!

When was the last time you slept on the floor?
I can't remember - what kind of student am I?!

What is your favorite alcoholic drink?
Vodka and tonic, or a rosé wine.

Does your closest Starbucks have a drive–thru?
N

Do you like your living arrangement?
Yes - I'll like it even more when I have my little desk-space downstairs (from Saturday! Yay!)

What is your mother's hometown?
Swansea and/or Cardiff

How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
To function? probably only 4 or 5, but ideally I'll get 6 and a half - that's perfect.

Do you eat breakfast daily?
Yes, but what I eat varies

What was the last thing to scare you?
An email

Are your days full and fast–paced?
Not this week, but they will be

Did you ever get in trouble for talking in class?
No - I was very well-behaved in school

What is your favorite fruit?
Nectarines

Do you pay attention to calories on the back of packages?
No - sometimes I look at the fat or salt content, though

How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
22, not for a while though.

Are you picky about spelling and grammar?
More than anyone I know!

Do you believe in life on other planets?
I think scientifically it's quite likely - there are plenty of other stars with planets - but it's probably far away and nothing like what we imagine; I would guess there are plants and animals.

Have you ever been to Six Flags?
No.

Who was the last person to piss you off?
Someone asking pointless questions and getting in my way at the Arts Festival

Do you believe that God has a gender?
I doubt it - humans impose gender on things because it makes it easier to talk about them (the French have gender for inanimate objects, doesn't mean a chair is female!)

What was the last thing you ate?
An apricot yoghurt.

Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex?
Opposite, usually.

What did you dress up as for your first Halloween?
I can't remember - I was usually either a witch or a ghost or a cat.

How did your parents pick your name?
Mum had worked with an actress called Lia (Williams) and liked the name.

Do you like mustard?
Not at all.

What do you tell yourself when times get hard?
'Everything is ok in the end. If it's not ok, then it's not the end.' Blind optimism works every time!

Would you ever sky dive?
No way! Too scary and dangerous.

Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back?
On my side, curled up.

What character from a movie most reminds you of yourself?
I don't know... sorry, that's a boring answer, but I can't think of anyone!

Have you ever bid for something on ebay?
Indeed - only 2 days ago I bought a photo printer and a necklace stand :)

What do you think of Angelina Jolie being pregnant?
I think it was inevitable, given that she and Brad Pitt both wanted children.

Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Very much.

Would you consider yourself to be fashionable?
In a high-street sort of way, I suppose, yeah.

Do you own a digital camera?
Yep. I must use it more often.

If someone you had no interest in dating expressed interest in dating you, how would you feel?
Flattered.

What celebrities have you been compared to?
None that I'm aware of - suggestions anyone?

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?
I'm not really a Star Wars fan - can I say Ewan McGregor? :p

Does it annoy you when someone says they'll call but never do?
Yes - I'll have planned for them to call! (see answer about plans earlier...)

What books, if any, have made you cry?
Lots and lots

Do you think you're attractive?
I must be to at least one person, otherwise he wouldn't still be my boyfriend!

What are you allergic to?
Nothing I'm aware of

Are you a jealous person?
Yes - I try not to be though!

What's your opinion on sex without emotional commitment?
Not very sensible.

Do you ever feel guilty after eating meat?
No, it's the natural food-chain order of things

If you were born the opposite sex, what would your name have been?
I don't know! I'd like it to be Harry or Thomas, I suppose.

Temp temp temp...

2006-06-27T13:16:00.000+01:00

I have another temping job! From Friday, for a week and a day (and possibly a bit more after graduation week) I will be working for...Antony! Now, this may sound like a bad idea, but it's not, I promise - I'll be working for him and some other people, and I won't feel bad about bothering him if I need to ask questions, I have already met many of the people he works with, and I know the layout of the office. Plus he can get me out of bed in the mornings! What could be better?! Marvellous.

In other news, I have finally managed to cancel my 3 contract (despite them trying to sell me another one and then trying to get me onto pay as you go instead!) and it will stop functioning in a month's time (not ideal, but good enough I suppose). All I have to do now is cancel my direct debit once the bill for this month has been paid. Hurrah!

Congratulations are due to the very lovely Mark Leach (education officer-elect at Kent Students' Union and general awesome dude - www.marksed.com) who got a 2:1 for his degree!! :-D Well done Mark!

Today I am mostly doing... not much! I'm going to read a french paper I bought last week and then probably do some reading (for next year's courses). Ah, the student life...!
L xx

WSAF BBQ Photo

2006-06-26T13:29:00.000+01:00

Just some of the enormous WSAF 2006 team - I won't try to name everyone! They're all great, anyway :-)

WSAF fun + end of term weirdness...

2006-06-26T13:10:00.000+01:00

Apologies in advance - this is going to be a long, rambling entry!

So after the crazy weather, during the week that followed it that is, I was helping prepare for WSAF - Warwick Student Arts Festival. This mostly involved painting things - I managed to get a nice stripe of sunburn across my lower back from kneeling on the floor painting the WSAF logo on some gazebos! It was all good fun, though, and we made some banners to go on the piazza, too.

The arts festival kicked off on the Sunday, and ran through til Thursday, when it finished with a huge outdoor Gala concert (with fireworks!) for which I was a Head Steward - I got a radio and everything! :-) During the week I was a Volunteer which meant I was doing jobs as diverse as weighting down the aforementioned banners (so they didn't flap around too much in the high winds we had all week), gaffa-taping down cables, putting up banners, moving chairs, running up to the office and back, stewarding events in the arts centre and outside, handing out programmes, and even flashing the lights on the piazza stage in time with the music! I was constantly busy and exhausted at the end of every day but absolutely in my element - if I could do it for a living, I would! There were also some really good events - my personal favourites included the ceilidh (dancing and folk music - great fun!), 'Replica X' (a collaboration between a rock band and Symphony Orchestra), 'Songs for a New World' (a musical) and, of course, the HUGE gala concert, featuring loads of music ensembles.
www.wsaf.org.uk - have a look at some of the pictures!!

On Friday I went to the WSAF barbeque to celebrate the end of the week - and it suddenly dawned on me as I was about to leave that it's the end of the year and a lot of my friends are graduating, and leaving! :-( Luckily I'm stewarding for the graduation ceremonies, so I'll get to see them graduate, but it still feels very odd - some of the people whose company I most enjoy and who have been here ever since I started uni won't be around any more. Of course it happened to some extent last year, too, but as I was in France I didn't feel the absence of people so keenly as I think I will this year (and some people haven't left the area at all - naming no names Chris Allen :p )

To sum up, the last week of term was fantastic and everything feels a bit weird now that it's over. I guess after graduations I'll have to get me another job...
L xx

Two entries in one day?!

2006-06-12T15:56:00.000+01:00

Just to say, having been woken up at 6am and 8am this morning by the thunder and lightning, it is now raining the biggest raindrops I have EVER seen!!!!

*edit* 16.22 - Now it's HAILING... and it's 25 degrees C!!! What is going on??!

Oxford, photos + procrastination

2006-06-12T09:57:00.000+01:00

Hi all,
I'm avoiding doing an essay so I thought I'd finally update you on Oxford and put up the pictures I took on my phone! :) I arrived on Thursday evening, and after being met at the station by Amy and her boyfriend Chris, we went to a Chinese supermarket to buy some supper ingredients, and had a drink in a local pub. Chris is still revising for his exams, so Amy and I had dinner in her halls, then went for a stroll around the college (Magdalen), which is extremely pretty:-
They even have a deer park!
Rachel (Amosu) also came to see us (who we went to sixth-form college with) which was really nice as I haven't seen her in a long time! She's finished her finals, and is going to Jamaica for an internship over the summer. In the morning, after breakfast and general getting ready and lounging around, we loaded up with sun cream and went for another walk, this time through Magdalen and out to University Parks. On the way we saw some ducklings! We think they were the ones Amy had seen with her family a couple of weeks previously, and they have grown up quite a lot - they were looking quite fluffy and grey.

In University Parks we sat in the sun and waited for David (Amy's brother) to arrive - he came up for the day, which was nice. When he turned up we went into Oxford and had lunch in a little Italian place, and then went to the famous G&D's Ice-cream cafe for dessert - yum! G&D's is an Oxford staple for students, as it's open until midnight every night, and they have different flavours every day, some of which are by popular demand through their suggestions box! The Green Apple flavour was very good. After that we went to the castle, where there's a large grassy mound that you can climb up and see the view from, so we did:

It was very hot by this time, and we were quite tired, so we went to Krispy Kremes to buy some donuts and to Sainsbury's for other picnic supplies - Amy's friend Katie was finishing her finals later in the afternoon, and there was a picnic on the lawn planned for the celebrations. Then we went back to Amy's room for a bit. While we were there, Amy got a phone call from her friend Sasha, who was making pasta salad for the picnic, saying she'd scalded herself!! We hot-footed it over to her room, (excuse the pun!) where we found her with her hand and foot in cold running water. Amy and David cleared up the kitchen and finished the pasta salad (she'd spilt boiling water on herself while removing the pasta from the hob) and I kept her company in the bathroom. David then fetched the big bag of ice we'd bought at Sainsbury's and we poured it into the bath and forced Sasha to keep her hand and foot in it for as long as we could. Then we transferred the icy water into a bucket (waste-paper bin) and a saucepan, so as to allow her to be more mobile:
Then we rushed back to get ready for the picnic, and Sasha joined us just in time to meet Katie from her final exam. Katie is the one in the pink apron, on the right:
We had a very enjoyable picnic, with lots of fizz and many delicious things to eat. This is Amy:

This is Chris:
This is David: (Sasha in the background)

And these are half the donuts (the other half were plain iced and didn't look as pretty, so I didn't take a picture of them):
After the picnic, we went to a little bar for cocktails, and, after David went home, we all went back to Amy's and collapsed:
Poor Sasha had to go to Accident and Emergency to get her burns seen to, and they couldn't dress them but gave her some painkillers and advice. The next day, Amy and I went out shopping and to see some more of Oxford:
And Amy tried on a hat in Debenhams:
After that we met up with Katie and Sasha, who were waiting outside exam schools for some more people who were finishing their finals. The general tradition at Oxford when you finish your exams is that all your friends come and meet you with balloons, confetti, glitter, flowers etc, and if you're unlucky they also cover you with flour, eggs, beans, ketchup, and anything else sticky or messy they can find! There seemed to be a lot of people finishing that day, so there was a big crowd:
Then we had lunch in another Italian place near the castle, had another G&D's ice-cream (Mint aero flavour this time) and sat under a Willow in a meadow (how picturesque!)

Then I had to pack my things and come back to Coventry.
Friday felt like a long day - I worked at the Arts Centre twice (once on Funny Bones, a kid's show, and once on a film called Mad Hot Ballroom, which was really sweet) and didn't get home til 9pm. On Saturday Antony and I went into Coventry to do a bit of shopping and enjoy the sun, and in the evening we went to Skool Dayz at the Student's Union - school uniforms and cheesy music galore! We went with Julia and Kel, (Hywel was supposed to come but he hasn't been well so he didn't feel up to it) and it was lots of fun - I saw loads of people there who I haven't seen for ages, which was really nice, and we danced a lot :)

Yesterday I had quite a productive day - tidied our room, did lots of ironing, did the washing up, etc. - I even did some reading for part of my course next year! We played monopoly with Hywel and Kel after supper; Antony and Hywel bought the Coventry edition, which is fun because it has the University of Warwick on it, and various other exciting Coventry landmarks!

In other news, I got an email from the Arts Centre asking me to be a head steward! This means I get to be in charge of ordinary stewards for some shifts, have more responsibility in general and get paid more money! I start in September, as there are hardly any shifts for me to 'shadow' and learn on between now and then. How exciting!

Right, must get on with productive things and stop procrastinating. Bye for now!
L xx

Work, Avenue Q and Oxford

2006-06-05T10:02:00.000+01:00

Hello all!
I'm sorry I haven't written anything of any substance for ages - I've been busy! Last week I was temping for Hywel at the International Office, doing some telephone work and collating biographies for a conference programme (simple enough, and well paid!), which meant I was working in the same office as Antony for a few days! I tried not to distract him too much :p I also did quite a bit of Stewarding at the Arts Centre, including Cheek By Jowl's production of 'Twelfth Night' (in Russian, but I'm not sure why) which was amazingly good - at least, once I started watching it rather than trying to read the surtitles!

This weekend I went down to London to see a show I've been waiting to see for AGES - Avenue Q!! For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a sort of musical for people who don't like musicals - based on real life, but with some puppets... it's hard to describe! It's very un-PC, very rude and extremely funny! [ http://www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk ] I went with Antony and Tom, both of whom enjoyed it just as much as I did, and I bought lots of merchandise as souvenirs - a t-shirt and some badges and a mug :)

As an aside, my dad tells me my nan has finally worked out (just about) how to use the internet, and has a link to my blog on her computer, so hello nanny!

Tomorrow I am going to visit Amy in Oxford as she's finished her exams, and we can go punting and drink pimm's and do exciting Oxford-type things, and I'm coming back up to Coventry on Thursday, so I'll let you all know how it goes!
L xx

Post-Kel's-exams sillyness

2006-05-24T17:27:00.000+01:00

Kel (Hywel's girlfriend, for those of you who don't know her) finished her exams and, therefore, her degree yesterday, so she and some other friends came round to our house after the celebrations. I came home from work and had a fun time playing mariokart and chatting, until Matt decided it would be fun to pick everyone up and turn them upside down just before he left... here are the pictures (as requested by Kel and Lu!)

Info for dad...

2006-05-22T13:05:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of phone info, dad - it's a Motorola PEBL (I know I said I didn't like Motorolas but this one isn't bad to use, actually) and it's on Flext 30. Anything else you need to know?!
Lxx

The Phone Saga

2006-05-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

So on Friday, having discovered my 3 contract runs out in June, I decided I would order the phone I have been lusting after for a while now, on a new contract with a different phone company - I've had so many problems with 3 that it was time for a change. Plus, it gives me a month to make sure everyone has my new number, programme my numbers in, etc etc. No problem, ordered the phone online, they sent me an email saying it was all ok and would arrive on Saturday before 1pm. Great!
So Friday night I went out with Antony and some of his colleagues for a meal at Frankie & Benny's, which was really nice - I'd met Kate before, obviously, but I'd only met Linda and Stuart very briefly to say hi at lunch once, and I'd never met Charlotte, so I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, but I really enjoyed myself! Lots of fun, and very pleasant company :)

Then on Saturday morning I waited until 1pm for my phone, and it didn't arrive. So, no problem, I thought - I'll phone T-mobile and find out whether I should wait or whether it's coming on Monday instead. So, after the usual "press 1 for blablabla" for a while and holding, I got through to a woman. I explained what had happened and she said ok, she would put me through to the relevant department. Ok, fine. So I held, and held...eventually spoke to a guy, who had no information from the previous operator, so I had to explain my situation to him, too. He looked it up on 'the system', and after a long pause told me the information from Royal Mail said it had been delivered to my address and signed for.
"Well, no it hasn't" I said. He said what may have happened is that, although they're not supposed to, Royal Mail may have delivered it to a neighbour if they couldn't get an answer at my address. "But I've been here waiting for it all morning" I said. "Oh, I wasn't blaming you, I understand that" he said (he was a nice man, i felt sorry for him), "but it's probably worth checking with your neighbours. We won't be able to find out who signed for it until Monday or Tuesday when it comes through on the electronic system". Ok, I thought, fine, I'll phone on Monday. I thought technology was supposed to make this sort of thing quicker, not take 2-3 days to find out what's going on...

So my lovely new phone had potentially been stolen (either by Royal Mail or someone else) and was being used! Argh! However, after all that, the doorbell rang at ten to 9 this morning, and my phone arrived. ?!?!?!?! How stupid. AND I signed for it on a piece of paper, the old-fashioned way, not on an electronic thingy. Bizarre...

Apart from waiting around for my phone, I didn't do much over the weekend. I laughed at Eurovision, played the Sims, made Cottage Pie for supper yesterday, and generally relaxed after the trauma of no-new-phone! I will have a new number to give to everyone, but my old one doesn't run out for a bit so you'll all get it in due course (when I've worked out how to use the phone!!)
Lxx

Promised pictures...

2006-05-18T10:07:00.000+01:00

I realised I've been promising to put photos up for a while, so here is a selection:
Me and Antony on the Eiffel Tower
This is a view of the Atlas Mountains in Tunisia:

This is Tom and Kieron playing/singing at the open mic night at The Spice of Life pub:
My last day at work in Paris: L-R Dina, me, Catherine (teacher), Miguel (behind), Fabienne (teacher, in red), another teacher whose name escapes me, Jean-Michel (teacher), Veronique (teacher) and Gillian.
At the pub on my birthday: Miguel, Dina's friend whose name I didn't catch, Gillian, Anna's boyfriend, Anna, Paz and Elena.
Sally and Neil: (also at pub on my birthday)

Following a complaint

2006-05-18T09:53:00.000+01:00

I have had a complaint that I am neglecting my blog, so I shall attempt to rectify the situation by writing a new post, although there really isn't much to tell!
After a thoroughly un-productive day on Tuesday, I decided to do something with my Wednesday, so I got up early with Antony and went onto campus to go swimming. I did 20 lengths, which was OK since I haven't swum for a while (I used to do 30). I then walked to Tesco's to get some things for the evening - I made a stir-fry for supper, and Antony's colleague Kate (hi Kate!) came round with her baby, Jacob, for tea, so I made muffins in the afternoon.
Although I cheated with the actual baking bit (I got a kit so all I had to do was add water and an egg, pretty foolproof), I did something inventive with them once they were baked and had cooled. I cut the tops out (as though I was making fairy cakes) and filled the gaps with raspberries and whipped cream (whipped by hand, I might add!). This was very successful, and the raspberries seemed to go well with the caramel fudge muffins and the cream. Yummy!
Jacob was a bit grumpy - hungry, mostly - but still gorgeous! Hywel, Antony and I said we could be amused for hours just watching him! He's about 10 weeks old I think Kate said, so still quite tiny; imagine how fascinating he'll be when he's older!
Today I are be mostly doin' - not a lot. I'm working at the Arts Centre this evening, so during the day I'll carry on looking for (other) jobs, do my washing up from last night, put some laundry on...etc etc, all those sorts of exciting things one does during the day with Daytime TV on in the background... I'll probably do some reading and note-taking too, actually, I'm in the mood for some studying. How nice to have enough time to choose when to study according to my mood - I'm sure next year I'll be wishing I was this unoccupied!!
Lxx

Footnote

2006-05-16T12:39:00.000+01:00

I saw this as a footnote to a poster on campus yesterday, advertising (I think) Raffles coffee shop in the humanities building; There were two pictures of different foods (sandwiches and the like), and, at the bottom of the poster:

*Illustrations are for pictorial use only.

?????

Lxx

I know, I'm rubbish...

2006-05-15T23:23:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry I haven't written anything for so long and you've all given up on me (!) but I've finally got round to writing a little catch-up, as Antony is checking his emails and I can't play the Sims on his computer!
So - I've been doing all sorts of things since last time I wrote - once I'd recovered from my horrid cold (which got worse before it got better, I had a fever and everything!) I spent an afternoon in London with Tim, went to see 'The Musical of Musicals, The Musical!' twice, and then went on holiday with Antony to Tunisia for a week! This is a photo of us on our camel ride in the Sahara --->
We also went to El Djem to see a Roman colosseum, to Matmata to see the troglodite caves and the scenery on which they filmed Star Wars, to the Atlas Mountains to see the natural springs and on a horse-and-carriage ride through a desert oasis! When we weren't trekking round the country we were in our lovely hotel, swimming, sunbathing and enjoying the yummy food :)

Since we got back, I've packed up my stuff in London and moved to Coventry, into Antony and Hywel's house in Earlsdon, so that I can take advantage of campus and work at the Arts Centre. I've been helping Antony decorate his (our!) room this week, painting and tidying, which was good fun, and I stewarded at the Arts Centre on Friday for comedian Dylan Moran, which was excellent :D He's a very funny guy and I'm a big fan of his, so I felt very lucky to be able to see his show for free!

I'll write some more soon when I'm in a more eloquent mood - right now i'm tired so it's bedtime!
L xx

Poorly Lia...

2006-04-12T10:36:00.000+01:00

After a lovely anniversary on Sunday with Antony (champagne on the London Eye - picture on left!) I've come up to Coventry to spend a bit more time with him until tomorrow, but have had a horrible, horrible cold since last night so am feeling a bit sorry for myself :( Was supposed to have lunch with Jerzy on campus today, but didn't want to give said cold to him as he has a big gig at the weekend, so instead am installed on the sofa in Antony's living room with tv, lots of water, tissues, blanket and internet! May have gone a bit stir-crazy by this afternoon, but for the moment it's not too bad. Hopefully I'll be ok to go home tomorrow, after which it will be Easter and I plan to have dinner with Mark (Saturday), see Tim Connor (who I haven't seen since January) and see the Musical of Musicals the Musical (!) - possibly with aforementioned Tim if he's up for it and hasn't seen it already (which is fairly likely!!) Oh, and eat lots of chocolate to celebrate Easter :)

I'm back, and this time it's permanent...

2006-04-06T10:35:00.000+01:00

(written Wed 5th April, late night)

I have returned from France! The closures/strikes/lack of time I suffered during my last few days in Paris (plus of course the distraction of my birthday!) meant that I was unable to write much, and since I have been back I have been both trying to enjoy some relaxing time to myself and organise my life, so blog updates have taken rather a back seat, I'm afraid! However, I now feel I have organised myself sufficiently for the time being and can gather my thoughts in blog form :)

So, the end of my time in Paris was very busy but also very enjoyable. The day of the strike I didn't go out during the day (Julia typically forgot it was happening and got stuck in a train station for 2 hours!) so got some tidying etc done in my room, then in the evening I had dinner with Miguel and Anne-Marie (one of the English teachers at Antony-val de Bievre) at her house, which was delicious and very good for my French as we hardly spoke English all evening!
My birthday was a really good day - both weather-wise (hurrah!) and enjoyment-wise! I went shopping with Julia and bought a summer dress and some perfume I'd wanted for ages, before going home to shower and change. In the late afternoon I met Miguel in Paris for a coffee before going to meet Antony, who came over from London with extra suitcases for helping me to move out, at Gare du Nord. He got me some really lovely presents for my birthday - some photos of us that I particularly like in frames, a DVD, a '21' glass with a drunken bear on it, a very clever pen whose ink can be rubbed out, and a silver locket with photos of him and of us inside! :) In the evening we went to the Frog&Rosbif pub in the Marais, and I think around 21 people came for drinks in the end (not including Antony) so it was a big group and I really enjoyed just watching everyone chatting and being in each other's company! It was a nice mix of IUFM assistants and people I know from Warwick, too, although the two groups didn't really merge other than to say hello. I got more presents - a cool candle from Julia and a fab make-up/vanity case from Lessy, who knew I needed one!

Antony came along with me to work the next day and helped me run my quiz qbout the UK, then after the classes had finished the other assistants and we had a celebration with the teachers for the end of our contract! We drank pink champagne from plastic cups, and followed it up with a meal at an Indian restaurant. It was sad, as we knew we wouldn't get to work with the teachers again, nor would we be able to see each other for much longer - Paz will be in Chile from the end of April, Miguel will be in Puerto Rico, Dina is already back in Canada, and the other assistants in their respective countries covers most of the corners of the globe! Hence meeting up in future is unlikely at best...
I moved out (with Antony's invaluable help) on the 31st, having squeezed everything into bags the night before, and since I had to move out on the morning, we installed the bags in a locker at Gare du Nord and went into Paris for the day. After lunch we walked down to the Marais and spent a very pleasant few hours in a Starbucks cafe with Miguel, before going to wander around the shops in the area. Eventually we had tea and sandwiches in a 'salon de the' before leaving Miguel and going back to the station to get the bags out and get the Eurostar. We eventually arrived back in rainy london, and got back to my house around midnight.

My birthday presents were worth the wait! An apple green, leather Radley handbag and a Silver fountain pen from mum and dad, and a gorgeous silver necklace with freshwater pearls in the pendant from Tom and Ella! Then the following day I got a really pretty pair of earrings from the Smiths, and a beautiful silk-covered notebook and a posh pen from Amy, so overall I did really well!! We spent Saturday doing absolutely nothing, apart from watching TV, which was really lovely!!
We went out for lunch for my birthday celebration on Sunday to a Vietnamese restaurant in Wanstead, and ate far too much! Antony had to go back up to Coventry in the evening :( but he's coming back on Friday for the weekend, so it's not for too long that we're apart this time.
This week I have been making a list of things that need doing and working through it slowly, starting with tidying and organising, and moving on to studying and practical things like re-heeling shoes and posting letters. I have also managed to include rather a lot of shopping - I have a new case for my laptop, a new pair of trainers, a book, a bikini for going to Tunisia, and a computer programme to learn how to touch type! (I decided it would look good on my CV and be useful, and since I have quite a lot of free time it would be a good opportunity to learn)
Tonight I went to the pub with Amy, Amy's boyfriend Chris, David and Elly, which was nice since I haven't seen Elly for ages and I haven't met Chris before. On Friday I must try and meet up with my friend Catherine while she's in London (during term time she's at uni in Cambridge so I haven't seen her for a while) and then as I said Antony's coming down for the weekend - it's Amy and Lucy's birthday on Saturday, then on Sunday it's our (mine and Antony's) two-year anniversary! Crazy...but we're still really happy so it's lovely too :) I will write about it all afterwards so as not to spoil the surprise for him ;)

Apologies again for the mammoth entry, recent lack of blogging and general not-having-much-interesting-to-say, but I promise I shall blog more regularly from now on, now that I am home and with constant internet access!
L xx

Sorry I was moany...!

2006-03-27T12:45:00.000+01:00

Apologies for sounding so whingey the last time I blogged - was just having a bad couple of days! I think it was being forced to get up at 6.15am two days in a row when I'm not used to it! Anyway, I'm feeling much better now so I can update properly.

Antony arrived for the weekend on the Friday (before my last post, so just over a week ago) and I picked him up at the airport with fresh croissants and pain au chocolat :) Yum. Once he'd got settled, in the afternoon we went for a wander around the marais and I showed him all the cool shops and cafés, and we had a quick look around BHV (enormous department store not unlike selfridges) before going to dinner at Chartier, where I had been for Lessy's birthday a couple of weeks back. The waiter we had was so nice, although he kept calling us 'les enfants'!
On Saturday (the weather was gorgeous for the whole weekend, we were really lucky) we went to look at the Arc de Triomphe and took pictures (Antony had never been under it so we went to see the eternal flame and all the names etc.) - although we didn't climb up to the top as we were going to do the Eiffel Tower later on. After lunch we walked down across the river and through the Champ de Mars to the Eiffel Tower, where we queued for a while before climbing the stairs to the first floor. I don't recommend it!!! The air was cold despite the sun, so it made my lungs hurt as well as my legs! (I'm such a wimp.) The view, however, was worth it, and we took some lovely pictures which eventually I'll get round to putting up here...!
In the late afternoon we took a bus through Paris to Hotel de Ville and met up with Miguel and Dina for coffee, then I had an amazing italian ice cream before we headed home! Sunday was just spent sorting out some of my stuff (Antony had brought a spare bag so that I could pack a load of stuff and he could take it back to the UK for me in advance of moving out...it will mean less stuff to carry on Friday hopefully!) and travelling to the airport. Was sad to see him go, but he'll be back on Wednesday!

Monday I worked at St Germain, although I had very few students so it was quiet, and did some supermarket shopping on the way home. Tuesday I was working a full day at Antony-val with the PE2 option students - most of which was spent looking up nursery rhymes, songs and tongue twisters for them to use on the computers! Miguel and I then went to AquaGym after work, which was good fun but quite tiring! To cheer ourselves up after that (as it was rainy and miserable) we went to a Starbucks cafe in town and had chai tea lattes (my new favourite alternative to coffee) and cake :) Wednesday was another full day in Antony-val and when I wrote my fed up post - it was still rainy, still grey, and I was still tired! We spent all of Weds recording story books onto a computer and then writing the files to CDs for the students to use in their classes, which was quite good fun but tiring, too. I had to read 'The Enormous Turnip' and 'The Queen's Knickers' and 'The gingerbread man', among other children's classics! I then went home and had a nap, after which I felt a bit better...

That lasted until Thursday afternoon, when I went to St Germain to discover I hadn't been put on the timetable, and therefore I had no classroom and the students didn't know they had a lesson! Grrr. I went into town to cheer myself up with shopping, instead, and bought some nice tops and a pair of sunglasses in H&M :D On Friday I did two loads of washing so now my washing basket is all but empty - hopefully this will make packing easier at the end of the week as most things I can just take out of my wardrobe and put into bags!

On Saturday I spent the day relaxing, before going out in the evening, first to Miguel's for supper (burgers and 'fries' as he and his american housemates insisted on calling them!) then to a bar in Bastille with Miguel, Elena and Paz, from where we later went on to a club down the road called Wax. Lots of dancing, lots of fun! I got home at 7.30am (I know, dirty stopout!) having been to the boulangerie on the way for fresh croissants for breakfast! I therefore spent most of Sunday sleeping :)

Which brings me (at last) back up to today - I'm at St Germain, but no students turned up for my first lesson so I'm taking advantage of the free time to use the computer room. It's the last time I have to work here, and it looks like I'm going to have a relaxed last week, as work at Antony-val tomorrow has been cancelled due to a general strike (including trains which would make it almost impossible to get there in the first place), so I only have to work on Thursday afternoon! I am looking forward to Wednesday (my birthdayyyy!!) as Julia and I are going to go out for a wander during the day, then in the evening I'm collecting Antony from Gare du Nord, we're dumping the bags at my place and then heading straight back out to go to the Frog and Rosbif Pub to meet my friends! :D

It will be very strange to move out on Friday - I have already sold my fridge and my mobile phone (I only put up the posters yesterday and people rang me this morning! Crazy) and will start taking things down and packing things up tonight and tomorrow... Antony is bringing the big suitcase from home so hopefully we'll fit everything in!!
More ASAP - maybe from London! Have a good week...
Lxx

I need to blog, but...

2006-03-22T15:37:00.000Z

I know I should update my blog with the past week's happenings (had a gorgeous weekend with Antony, lots of sunshine, despite the fact that he made me WALK up the Eiffel Tower!) but I've been working lots and I'm tired and grumpy and not in the mood. Plus it's been grey and raining since Monday, Antony must have taken the sun home with him. I will put pictures on a CD, get myself in a better mood and maybe write something tomorrow at work (4th day this week - who said being an assistant was a doss?!) or if not then on Mon/Tues.
I really want a bath, but there aren't any at the residence... :( I think I need to go home and sleep for a long time!!
A whingey, fed-up Lxx

Busy, busy, busy...

2006-03-16T13:57:00.000Z

Apologies for not having blogged for a while! Despite all my intentions I've been busy and not able to get on the net for a bit - as you may have seen in the news, students in France are striking over a policy to do with young people's work contracts that the government wants to implement, and as such they have occupied the buildings on campus at Nanterre, and the university President has now closed the campus to users until further notice! Hence I haven't been able to use the computer room there, and whenever I've been at work I've been too busy!

So, what have I been up to? Lots of teaching, en gros. Last week I worked Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri (full days Tues and Fri at Antony) and covered various topics, although on the Friday most of what I did was reading children's story books into a microphone...! (The second-years are doing a project involving planning lessons for Primary school kids on the theme of a children's book, and they wanted recordings in an English voice.) During the week I also went to a party for women's day in our kitchen in halls - only girls attending, lots of Erasmus students, large amounts of pasta and LOTS of tiramisu! (Guess which nationality the girls organising it were...!) On thursday I went and had tea at Lessy's apartment as the striking students had given her a forced day off, so we watched French tv, played on the internet and had risotto.

On Friday I went straight from work to Gare Montparnasse and sat and had coffee with Miguel (see previous entry!) before getting my train to Poitiers to stay with Malc and Elaine for the weekend. It was very nice to be spoilt for nearly 3 days! I ate well, slept well, watched some English tv (yay!), went to see Cognac which is very pretty, went out for dinner and went to visit Jill and Steve and Sophie for coffee (hence of course much playing with the cats and dogs!) :)

This week I haven't been so busy - only 2 days of work, and yesterday I slept in late then went shopping; I also got my eurostar tickets for Antony and I to come back to London on the 31st! Hurrah - only 120 euros for the two of us, which I thought was very reasonable, although the train is at 9.13pm... We'll dump the bags at Gare du Nord and go and have dinner before we get the train, I reckon. Saw Julia for the first time in ages on Monday - she's been back in Germany on a training thing for her work, I believe - which was nice, and on Tuesday the weather was so gorgeous that Miguel and I went into Paris and sat in Starbucks for nearly 2 hours watching the world go by in the sunshine :) We had a wander around the Marais, too, which has such a nice atmosphere.

Today I have been at the IUFM doing some work - printing articles for a pack for the students so that (hopefully) they'll practice for their exam after I've finished. Am going to go soon - I've been invited to Neil's for dinner tonight, then tomorrow Antony's coming for the weekend so I'm going to collect him at the airport at 9am. We're going to do all the classic touristy things, so I'll take lots of pictures!

A bientot (j'éspère...!)
L xx

Hello from Gare Montparnasse!

2006-03-10T17:26:00.000Z

Hello!

I know I haven't blogged in a while, and unfortunately I don't have time to now either as I'm whizzing off for the weekend, but discovered free wifi in a cafe at the station so though I'd post a quick hello world and I promise I'll write something proper soon!

I've been really busy this week - 4 days of work, 2 loads of washing, 1 party, 1 tea with Lessy and now 1 weekend away! Will explain all soon...

In the meantime, here's a picture of the inside of the Theatre Musical in paris (if I can work out how to do it!)

L xx

Lazy Saturdays and Cultural Sundays...

2006-03-06T18:46:00.000Z

Having said 'lazy' about my Saturday, I'm not sure that's the correct term, as I managed to achieve quite a lot - I stayed in all day, but I did washing and drying, cleaning and tidying, organising and washing up, throwing away unnecessary things and planning all my lessons for this week! Oh and filling in forms, and generally being organdised. It was really nice not to have to go out in the cold and wet and I sorted out everything I needed to sort out so that I could go out and enjoy my Sunday.

I went to meet up with Sara on Sunday morning, as she was in Pairs for a few days to see a concert today (Monday) - she was with her friend Amy from uni, and Amy's friends Barty and Vicky. We went to the Centre Pompidou (as it was the first Sunday of the month all the museums were free) and saw a couple of exhibitions - one by an artist called Hans Bellmer who seemed obsessed with a sort of life-sized doll, taking it apart and putting it back together and all sorts of strange things - quite disturbing; the other was lots of different artists, but it was done by theme, and had lots of famous artists' work (like Warhol, Dali, etc.) After the museum we had lunch in a café before I had to run off to meet Miguel.

We went to see 'In dem winden im nichts' by the Ballet de Zurich, which was amazing! The choreography was a really interesting combination of sharp angles and fluid movements, with lots of canon and recurring motifs which made it very interesting to watch, and it was all set to 3 of Bach's cello suites, beautifully played live. Fabulous! Afterwards we had a coffee in a bar called Amnésia in the marais (very funky with lots of orange lighting and Elvis playing in the background), wandered around for a bit taking in the Parisian atmosphere, then had another hot drink and cake before heading home. Miguel also agreed to give me a yoga lesson on Wednesday - should be interesting!

Today I was working at St Germain, and as usual no students turned up until the 3rd hour - I took some of Mme Boissonnet's students to work with though, so it was ok. I went for tea with Dashnee (the other english assistant at St Germain) after work, keeping our tradition of going to McDonalds on a Monday evening! I also went to the supermarket and bought a new set of sheets for my bed (need to wash my other ones and won't have time to do it all in one day, plus my new ones are blue to match my room) and bought my train tickets to go and visit Malc+Elaine at the weekend. Tomorrow I'm working from 8.30am til 4.30pm at Antony-val... wish me luck!

Lxx

An eventful few days...

2006-03-03T18:33:00.000Z

Hello! I know I haven't blogged for a bit but, for once, I've been busy out and about and haven't had chance to get on the net!

Sunday in Lyon was very pleasant, but also very cold, so we did the Roman amphitheatres and Basilique as quickly as possible without missing anything, then headed back to the warm aparment armed with eggs and bread for lunch. We spent the afternoon playing with the computers, transferring music, photos etc (amazing how much faffing around on a computer you can find to do when you're idle, although I think my dad is more of an expert at that than I am :p !!) and we went out to the very lovely Italian restaurant in the evening. Unfortunately my spaghetti corbonara didn't quit agree with me, and my body decided to get rid of it at 5 in the morning! Yuck. But anyway, I was ok by morning.

The other interesting (and slightly stressful) thing that happened on Sunday was that Heather phoned me to let me know that Honk! had been accepted for the National Student Drama Festival in Scarborough! Very exciting, as it was one of I think 10 shows out of around 96 that got picked. After a big 'virtual' meeting on msn late that night, it emerged that there were various issues to overcome, not least of which was money, and finding out who could do it. Anyway, after a few days and a lot of hard work by the team back at uni (who are all brilliant and I'm sorry I wasn't there to help with the stress) it transpired that we really didn't have enough of the original cast to do it, and we decided that if it wasn't going to be the same show and it wasn't going to be of the same standard then we couldn't put it back together in such a short time, for everybody's sakes. A difficult decision, but nonetheless I am very proud of everyone and pleased that we got in in the first place!!

On monday I travelled back to Paris and went to the cinema in the evening to see Brokeback mountain, which I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it - although be warned, it's sad :( Lessy invited me out for coffee at a place called Wash Bar on Tuesday, a clever concept where you buy a drink and you can then use the washing machines for free (like a launderette but much cooler) but when we got there we discovered it no longer existed! Rubbish! We went for lunch at the Sorbonne restaurant instead, though, which was cool, and spent the afternoon chilling out at Lessy's apartment and deciding spontaneously to make pancakes! Mmmm...pancakes...

Wednesday I went shopping (to buy Lessy a birthday present, but also to buy things for me) and bought lots of nice things in H&M, then went out for Lessy's birthday in the evening which was lovely - Abby was over from England, and Dan and Sam and Des were there, all of whom I haven't seen for ages. We went to a really rustic-y restaurant in Montmartre called Chartier, which according to Abby's dad is where all the coachmen used to go for dinner after they had dropped the aristocrats off at the chateaux for their parties etc! Very down-to-earth, and very good value for money! We went on to a bar for a drink, afterwards, too. Yesterday I went to visit Miguel and we bought tickets to go to see a ballet on Sunday at the Théatre Musicale in Chatelet - there's a German ballet company performing to some of Bach's cello suites, so it should be really good! Plus the lady was really nice as she sold us cheap tickets but encouraged us to move when we got there as there are bound to be free seats with a better view :) In the afternoon I went to see Lessy and Abby and we watched Scrubs and My Name is Earl - v relaxing and nice. Oh, and we played with facebook quite a lot - it's annoyingly addictive...

Today I have done nothing productive at all, except pick up my recorded delivery letter which was from Antony - he sent me a cute card, a framed picture of us at the Music Centre Ball (yay! it's reeeeally nice) and a CD of pictures that he's taken at Skool Days etc. Thanks gorgeous! I have nothing exciting planned for tomorrow - washing and planning some lessons for next week I think will be necessary - then after the ballet on Sunday it's pretty much work work work... until I go to Malc and Elaine's next weekend (for which I really must book train tickets...) This evening I am going to eat soup, look at Antony's pictures, watch a film of some description and sleeeeeeeeep - I'm tired, think I might be coming down with another cold (bleugh).

A bientôt, L xx

Bonjour from Lyon

2006-02-25T21:37:00.000Z

Well, what a nice weekend I'm having!
On Thursday I met Lessy for lunch and she invited me to her birthday meal out next week (Weds - her real birthday is the 29th of Feb but since there isn't one this year she's celebrating it on the 1st of March instead) which will be very nice :) I then had a nice relaxing drink in a cafe and watched the world go by in Paris for a bit. In the afternoon I went and bought my train tickets for Lyon and did some washing in my sink! It also snowed a bit, which was exciting for a few seconds! My cold had, thank goodness, cleared up a lot, so I didn't need to bring industrial-sized packs of tissues with me to Lyon...

where I arrived yesterday afternoon! I caught the TGV from Gare de Lyon and it only took a magical 2 hours to get here! Sara met me at the station, and it's so nice to see her (although once you've spent a month in a tiny tiny caravan with someone over a rainy summer in Brittany, if you haven't driven each other insane you must be pretty good friends! :) ) After dropping my rucksack and extraneous items off at her apartment - which is quite big for two people, with nice wooden floors, despite the odd wallpaper - we went for a wander around the local parts of Lyon. It's very pretty, and feels very small even though it's a big city as it seems to be built in sections; you walk through a square, up a street or two then you come to another square; and plenty of interesting statues. After an hour or so we were tired, so we came back to the apartment, made dinner, and watched some DVDs with a bottle of wine.

Today we did a lot of walking, and I did a lot of postcard-buying! We started off in Croix Rousse, from which we took pictures of the view and then walked through the market; it was very french, with plenty of smelly cheeses, olives, chickens roasting, fruit and veg - there was even a honey man! But he didn't have any bees :( (don't worry if that seems a little cryptic, my family will get it) We then wandered down a lot of slopes and steps until we got to the Opera and Hotel de Ville (in a square adorned with more interesting statues - photos to follow when I'm back in Paris) where we took more photos, of the amazing fountain also, and had lunch. Sara has some amusing pictures of me attempting to eat my steak and fries sandwich, as it tended to fall apart when you tried to pick it up! Yum, though. We then had a look in various shops (and I bought some postcards), after which we crossed the river into Vieux Lyon, most of which was built around the 16th century, I believe. Very pretty, with lots of windy cobblestoned streets and tiny shops, although clearly the touristy part of the city. I bought some more postcards (to decorate my walls with!) and we had a hot chocolate in a little cafe, before deciding that was quite enough walking for one day and heading back!

Sara has gone to a concert this evening - she'd booked her ticket ages ago, otherwise I would have gone too, KT Tunstall! Lucky thing - but I'm quite happy here with internet and 12 episodes of series 2 of Lost to get through before I go back!! Tomorrow we are going to go and see the Roman amphitheatre, remains and museum (if it's open), then have a relaxed afternoon before heading out again for dinner at Sara's favourite Italian restaurant. I'm going back on Monday morning, then I'm not sure what I'll be doing with myself next week as I have no work until the 6th of March! However, I think I will do plenty of lesson plans, work for uni, etc; and being out and about taking pictures here has encouraged me even further to do the same in Paris, so weather permitting I'll do that too.

A plus, as they say in Paris... (it means see you in a bit!)
L xx

Oh, and a funny joke...

2006-02-22T17:51:00.000Z

On Saturday night at Miguel's I ended up telling all the cheesy jokes I knew to Victor (including the old old one about the chicken saying 'book' and the frog saying 'reddit' which none of them had heard before) and he, in turn, knew a surprising number, of which this is one:

Q. How do you know if you're a hick?
A. Someone shouts 'Hoedown!' and your girlfriend drops to the floor.

Probably funniest if you're American, but it made me laugh a lot...

xx

Back in France

2006-02-22T16:40:00.000Z

Apologies for the lack of postings of late - getting to a computer with the net for long enough has been surprisingly tricky since I came back to France! Also apologies to Kel, who tried to comment - I think it should be working now!

I got back to my little room in Nanterre late on Thursday night, so spent Friday organising, unpacking, going to the supermarket, etc. etc. On saturday I invited myself over to Miguel's place (him being the only person I knew to be still in Paris!) and he subsequently invited me to a Mexican dinner party they were having - Mexican meaning basically Fajitas and Tequila! I finally got to meet his flatmates: Melanie (from the States) and her boyfriend Victor who is known as a pseudo-roommate since he is there every weekend, and Sam (female) who is French. I also met various friends-and-relations of said housemates, and the next-door neighbours (two young women, one French one Aussie). Bonus of the evening - the French girl from next door looked shocked when I told her I was an English assistant, asked me where I came from, and exclaimed that she would have thought I was French if I hadn't told her because my accent was so good! (cue Lia grinning and feeling smug) I left around 11 in order to get the metro and train home, just after Victor and Sam's boyfriend had downed half each of the tequila 'worm' (which looked something like a small white caterpillar or one of the bugs from those reality TV jungle programmes...) in a shot! Made me feel quite queasy...

Sunday my cold got worse (yes, I know, poor me, but I can't seem to get rid of it) so I did very little other than some work on an essay for uni, and watching DVDs :) very relaxing and theraputic, doing nothing! In fact, since then my principle achievements have been reading lots, finishing my essay and finishing the cross-stitch bookmark I got for Christmas! (Of Winnie the Pooh, and it is now serving its purpose marking my page in Wicked) Yesterday I went on a shopping trip, mainly to buy a new rucksack as my old one is falling apart and rather grubby, which I did, but I also bought the DVD of Elizabeth (I remembered that some of the costumes I came across doing my work experience at Angels the Costumiers when I was 15 were in that film, although when I watched it I didn't spot them) and a very nice stripy black and white jumper.
I need the rucksack as I am planning to go and visit my friend Sara in Lyon this weekend - we lived in a tiny caravan together for month during my Vacation Residence in 2004, and she's studying down there this year. Since I have very little to do with myself otherwise, I thought I'd go on a jaunt! Julia (who came back from Germany on Monday, bringing with her a present of Winnie the Pooh sweets to add to my growing collection of confectionary) may also be coming, as she has some friends there, so maybe we can get the train and see some sights together. If not, Sara has promised to be my unofficial tour guide!

Today I wanted to go into Paris for a bit, but oversleeping plus very cold weather (the weather forecast on the screens at the train station yesterday said it would snow, but it hasn't yet) put me off; I did, however manage to make it to Nanterre to go to the library. I ran into Elena on my way back, which was nice as I didn't know she was back from her holidays, and I'm going to have tea with her tomorrow evening and show her my photos from the ball etc. I'm also going out to lunch with Lessy at her uni (bargainous food from the student canteen a bonus) so I will do my bit of sightseeing tomorrow afternoon if it's not too horribly cold, and maybe buy my train tickets too.

My dad now has a blog, if anyone's interested - krissbuddle.blogspot.com !
He sent me an email yesterday telling me about the press launch of Spamalot at the Palace (it opens in October) with pictures - very exciting!

Anyway, I've run out of interesting things to talk about - for those who are interested my fridge is still freezing anything which is more than 50% water (including grated carrot, fruit juice and soup) but my heating isn't currently on, so at least my room isn't sweltering at the moment!
More soon, hopefully with news of Lyon and maybe even some pictures (gasp!)
L xx

Adverts

2006-02-16T10:23:00.000Z

Since being back in the UK, I have revelled in being able to watch television. Before I went to France, I hadn't realised how much I 'watch' TV (watch in inverted commas because more often than not it's just on in the background while I do other things) but being there without one is surprisingly dull! Even if I did have a TV, I'm told French TV is disappointingly average - apart from the universal charm of programmes such as The Simpsons and Friends, they have none of the high-quality daytime entertainment or prime-time dramas that British TV does so well. I have, therefore, learnt to appreciate the 'watchability' of British TV; bearable even when "there's nothing on".

Adverts in particular seem to get more innovative and clever every day, and I thought a couple of them deserved a mention (not because they are particularly clever in this case, but because I think they're really cute!) The first is an advert for Velvet toilet paper, which has a baby in a suit as the director of the company (the face being computer edited to appear to talk) and he is SO cute! "The wheels on the bus go hmm...hmm...hmm......"
The other advert I love is an advert for Whiskas cat food (I suppose the adverts must also be effective since I remember the products they're trying to push!) - Fred the Bedhead. One camera angle all the way through, and simply shots of a big, fluffy ginger cat sleeping on the bed in various positions, while the VO (done by a young boy) says things like "This is Fred. Fred sleeps on my bed." It ends with a Whiskas logo, and the slogan 'Be Happy." - so simple, but so effective if you love cats :)

Ramble over, I have to get on with packing today - trying to condense my stuff into a suitcase and a laptop bag is going to be interesting...

Retail therapy...

2006-02-15T21:40:00.000Z

I have moved my blog to a (hopefully) more permanent position in life, as I haven't been able to log in to my university blog and since I'll eventually leave there anyway, this seemed like a sensible solution! I can't decide whether to fill in the gap since I last wrote (on my Warwick blog) first, or to start with today.

Since today is freshest in my mind, I think I'll go with that! Retail therapy was the order of today; therapy for having a horrible cold, and for missing Antony I suppose. Plus I needed new trainers.

Converse All Stars - £34.99
Wicked (the novel) - £12.99
Unrepeatable DVD (Eddie Izzard) - £9.99 (bargainous)
Buying a pair of size 10 jeans for the first time EVER - priceless!

Yes, my new jeans are a size 10 when I have always been a size 12; a very good feeling indeed! Not because I've been desperately trying to lose weight or anything like, I've never had a big problem with the way I look, but having lost weight by being in France and eating differently I feel generally healthy and nice :) Retail therapy certainly works - buying lots of things just for me, just because I wanted to was a lot of fun! I also went to the Palace to say hello while I was in town, it was really good to see everyone (it's always nice to go back somewhere when you've been away - everyone is surprised and pleased to see you and gives you big hugs) although I managed to clash with the end of the show so I felt a bit in the way in the end.

This evening I have been relaxing and nursing my cold; phoned Antony, had a nice meal with mum of pasta (followed by ice-cream bars - more on which theme later) and have showed off my purchases to both her and Tom, who got home a few minutes ago. None of which seems very interesting now that I've written it down, but I'm sure I'll appreciate it at some future point!

Now, what do I need to catch up on from my other blog? The whole of my time in the UK since my holidays started, in fact. Well, I'd better start at the beginning, then, I suppose. (Note to self - don't worry too much about writing day by day and try to summarise general things! Reading back later it will flow better...)
I came back to London first, on the 4th of Feb, and went out to lunch with some family friends on the Sunday. I used to go to dancing classes with the girl whose mother's house it was (where we were having lunch) and we were subjected to an embarassing video of us in a show when we were 7 or 8 (roughly) after lunch! I came out of it quite well, I think, as I looked like I knew what I was doing, and didn't stare out into the audience trying to spot my parents! (unlike several of the other girls) However, I did have a rather strange habit of sucking in my cheeks, presumably on the assumption that it made my face look thinner... (Irritatingly, when I mentioned this habit to one of my friends and my boyfriend, they said I still do it! Damn...)

On the following Tuesday I went up to stay with Antony (and, therefore, Hywel) for the week, both to spend the time with Antony and to go to the Music Centre annual ball on Saturday. I had a really lovely week - Hywel had a bad case of flu from Wednesday to Friday, so at least I had some company during the day while Antony was at work, even if he did complain about feeling rotten all the time! No, it was fun - we watched daytime TV and discussed news stories and drank lots of tea :) I finally met Kel, Hywel's new girlfriend, who is really lovely - I'm surprised I've never met her before since she's a Music Centre girly, but then she did say she never really got into the crowd until this year, so I suppose it makes sense. Anyway, we had fajitas one night, and Antony and I had a film night with popcorn and chocolates, and on the Friday we had curry, played Mariokart, drank red wine, and they taught me to play poker! And yes, I beat them both hollow :) Actually, that Friday was also a shopping day; Antony had taken the day off work, and we went to Leamington to buy things for the ball (his bow tie, for one) and the aforementioned Mariokart!

The ball was really lovely - I wore my new green ball dress, and had my hair very curly (which took me 2 hours to do!) and it was so nice to see all the people I haven't seen since the end of last year. Much wine was drunk, much merriment was had, and I danced as much as I could (although it was VERY hot, so that wasn't really as much as I had hoped to.) Highlights included: our impromptu conga-style march to Is this the way to Amarillo, being asked by at least 3 different people I had never met where my dress was from because it was so beautiful, and sneakily getting in both the MTW and Symphony Orchestra group photos! I sat on a table with some really nice people, including Hywel in his Welsh Kilt! Can't wait for next year's!

Unfortunately on Sunday I realised I had definitely caught a bad cold, possibly from Hywel, (I don't blame him though!) so have been feeling sorry for myself and religiously taking paracetamol every four hours ever since! I have used up more than half a loo roll with blowing my nose (on average every 4 minutes), and my head still feels like it's full of custard (or other such glutinous substance.) Yesterday evening - after receiving a gorgeous rose and box of chocolates (oh yes, chocolate, must remember to go back to that in a second) for Valentine's day from Antony :D - I went to see ETT's production of Hamlet (the company mum works for, and I went by myself, as no-one was able to come with me!), which was excellent. I didn't know the play intimately beforehand, but I knew it enough to really enjoy it, and some of the acting was really superb - notably Ed Stoppard in the title role, who is so charismatic it's untrue, and manages to say lines that have become so cliché without any hint of self-awareness ('To be, or not to be' and 'Alas, poor Yorick' for example.) Thoroughly riveting and very sad! 8 deaths in one play does seem rather a lot... (Just count them!)

Ah yes, the ice-cream/chocolate point. I seem to have more chocolate and sugar than I can comfortably eat at the moment - not that I'm complaining, mind you, I'm just concerned that I'll eat nothing else! - Antony bought me a bar of Galaxy and a box of milk chocolates while I was there (for the film night and just because he went shopping, respectively) and I got some Lindor chocolates free from a shop in Leamington; then yesterday I got another box of chocolates from Antony for Valentine's day (again Lindor, yum) and then today I got two small Galaxy bars free in Borders! I'll explode! Oh, AND when I spoke to dad earlier (he wanted me to set the video up for him because he forgot) he said he was buying me a selection of exciting sweets to take back to Paris from a crazy shop he'd found... I really will go boom. Boom!

Right, that's all for now (mammoth blog entry) - I'm going to attempt to keep this up to date from now on, and hopefully anyone who followed my Warwick blog will follow this one instead once I manage to get my password reset and post a link here! Au revoir... xx