Vics and Fraser's Wedding

We left Brighton this morning and drove to the hotel where the wedding was being held - the Newick Park Hotel.

Wow - I always knew Vics would ensure her wedding day was spectacular but it was absolutely amazing. Newick Park Hotel is a small country house hotel and they'd hired the entire place for the day. The back drop was stunning, and it was all helped by having clear blue skies!


Vics (when she finally arrived!) looked beautiful - apparently there were hair traumas which meant she was almost 30 minutes late...


Other than that the day passed without a hitch, although I felt a little bad for them when they sent for a rather long trek to take photographs by the lake! In fact they seemed to have a lot of photos taken of them full stop poor things. Luckily Tully and I managed to catch Vic on one of her very short breaks!


They had arranged for childminders for the evening as the dinig room was quite small so the few children that had the honour of being invited, Tully included, went off to their own party as we went through for dinner. I was a little worried about how she'd feel but we'd talked about it several times in advance and she was so brave! In fact she had a whale of a time: we couldn't get her to leave later and whenever we popped in to check on her she shooed us away as she was having too much fun...

Vics had given me the honour of speaking on her behalf 'best woman' style, and luckily they had the speeches before dinner which meant I was over my nerves and could properly enjoy the food which was delicious.


All in all I had a fabulous weekend!

Off to Vics Wedding

Finally the big weekend has arrived - it's Vics wedding and I have to say I'm very excited. We drove to Brighton today and stayed at the Metropole on the front, which meant we got to go on the beach, as well as have a little wander around Brighton.

I fell in love with the place when I came here (a lot!) whilst working with Southern Water, and I still think it's one of my favourite places in the UK now so it was lovely to wander past some of the places I used to go and have a reminisce!

House Stuff

After initially struggling to come to terms with not being at work I have decided it's actually quite good being a lady of leisure - if only because it means I can arrange to get all the little jobs that have needed doing around the house for the last 4 years done as I have enough time to organise!

I've only been off for 2 weeks so far, but in that time I have:

had quite a major de-clutter

had the landing floorboards replaced

had the weird coving style skirting boards upstairs replaced

had a new tv aerial fitted

had the leaky toilet fixed

had Cloudy fixed (twice!)

and made arrangements for:

new internal doors to be fitted

new landing and stairs carpet to be fitted

new flooring in the bathroom and toilet to be fitted

the side of the bath to be fixed

the steamed up double glazing panes to be replaced

someone from one of the charity shops to come around to collect a load of stuff

someone to paint the toilet and bathroom (how lazy is that!?)

I'm about halfway through my list of house stuff - any chance I'll get it complete before himself decides it's time to say hello to the world?

Pixels is here!

We went to collect our new car today which has been named Pixels.

It's a Nissan Qashqai 2.0 Tekna 2WD, the choosing of which has taken us a very long time (on and off over a series of about 18 months!). We were finally forced into making a decision as my maternity leave approached as it was far too much like hard work managing with just 1 car when I was on maternity leave with Tully.

Choosing the Qashqai ended up being quite an easy decision, choosing the spec was fairly straightforward, but choosing which engine took slightly longer partly because we really struggled to find a 2l petrol version to test drive. After much hunting the dealer in Boston came up trumps during our trip to Mum and Dads a few weeks ago. It was immediately obvious that this was the one for us and as the salesman did us a very good deal we went ahead. Buying in Boston has the added bonus of providing an excuse to have another weekend with my parents which means we get a lovely long lie in!

The naming is a bit of a long story. I wanted to call it Moo (as most people seem to pronounce it Cashcow) but Tully said that was a stupid name and that it should be called Pixels (although I have no idea where she got that from). Tully also has a name for the baby that neither Mark or I are keen on so we did a deal: she names the car and we name the baby. So Pixels it is!

I'm really (really) pleased with it but Tully isn't - apparently it's too red...

Early Maternity Leave

In theory I should be working for another 2 1/2 weeks but my SPD has been getting harder to handle at work and after another visit to the doctor I've been signed off until the end. That was on Monday but I ended up working one of my busiest days in a while yesterday whilst I handed everything I've been working on over to the various people that will be covering my job whilst I'm away.

Today was therefore my first day at home and it's very odd. I'm feeling a bit lost if I'm honest, I suppose because I'm not mentally prepared for finishing so early. And to make things worse I'm just sat here not able to do very much and spotting lots of 'jobs' that need doing around the house and getting increasingly frustrated that I can't do any of them.

I was trying to work out if I took things slowly if I'd be capable of painting the bathroom and toilet earlier. You'll be pleased to know even I decided the task was beyond me but it's all sooo annoying! Poor Mark - I think he may get somewhat nagged over the next few weeks!

Big Bruise

On wednesday morning I slipped getting into the bath and banged my leg on the side of it. I am quite proud of the bruise!

Nesting?

This evening I decided it was absolutely imperative that I completely rearrange the contents of the kitchen. I hadn't realised when I started just how much I'd move otherwise it probably would have warranted a before and after picture! Mark had popped out when I decided to start and I'll not tell you what he said when he got back and saw my efforts given I was meant to be relaxing...

Holiday!

Hooray - I've booked a holiday! Now I know it may be a bit premature but I figured I needed something to look forward to whilst I'm stuck at home with a baby for the next few months!!!!

So next spring we are going back to Northumberland, staying at Village Farm Cottages in Coquet Lodge. As an added bonus we've persuaded Mum and Dad to book Kielder Chalet for the same week so we have some assistance with childcare! How sneaky was that!?

Exciting weekend in Nottingham!

Ok, so not very exciting really but nice all the same. We had decided it would be a nice idea to have a weekend on our own before boy slug arrives in a few weeks but as I'm a bit broken and walk around very much we struggled to decide where to go.

Had I been more mobile I'd have liked to go to Norfolk but in the end we decided on Nottingham as it's not too far from Mum and Dad's, in roughly the right direction for home so Mum and Dad could meet us there on the last day and would have nice restaurants and be ok for a few little potters out and about.

We booked into the Hilton partly because we quite like Hiltons, partly because it's very central, and partly because I thought I could book myself a treatment or two in the spa. Sadly I was thwarted in the latter part of that plan as by the time I phoned up to book in they were already fully booked with hen parties. Ho hum.

We had a fab Chinese Buffet meal on Saturday night, some nice lunches, and some BIG breakfasts!

We'd taken the PlayStation and loads of DVDs so spent quite a lot of time lounging around watching some of our fav films and old tv series, Mark got back into Ratchet and Clank and I read a couple of books. We also went to the cinema (which was luckily incredibly close by - 1 min walk for normal people, a 5 min walk for me!) and saw The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor which was quite entertaining if a bit too fanciful in places and would have been significantly better if Rachel Weisz still played Evelyn.

We also took a few walks around the city, down to the castle area and saw the Robin Hood statue, and past the Theatre Royal for a trip down memory lane as it was where we used to go to the Panto when I was little. We also did some general lazing around with no small children to worry about! Bliss!

Vics' Hen weekend

I was lucky enough to have another night away this weekend - it was Vics' hen weekend! So on Friday afternoon I caaught a train and headed to Oxford. Helen, Vics cousin, had done a sterling job with the organisation and had found these lovely apartments right in the centre of the city for us to stay in. She had also somehow arranged for Sainsbury's to deliver groceries to us just as the first of us arrived.

Friday entailed an evening in whilst everyone turned up from wherever they were coming from. We were meant to be going punting during the day on Saturday but unfortunately the only thing that Helen couldn't pre-arrange - the weather - let us down. Instead we went for an organised boat trip along the river, and then got taxis to the rather aptly named pub we should have punted to for lunch instead.

After lunch it was back to the apartment for a cup of tea and for everyone to get ready for the afternoon's activities. The rest of the day for the fit and able was a burlesque dance class, then party drinking games back at the apartment assisted by a semi-clad butler, a dinner in a private room at the Malmaison and finally going on to a club.

Even without being disabled by my stupid pelvis thing I'd realised that most of this would be much better enjoyed whilst partaking of several alcoholic beverages, so I had decided to leave them all to it and get out of the way, and had booked my return train for same time the burlesque class started. So after laughing at them all in their outfits I said my farewells and headed back to Manchester in time to put Tulster to bed.

I'd wondered if I'd regret my decision once I got there, but I felt like such a burden most of the time as I can't walk about much it was definitely the right thing to do. I'm really looking forward to the wedding now! Hope you had a fab time Vic! X

Ouch

I have been getting increasing levels of discomfort in my pelvis over the last 3 weeks or so, ranging from just being aware I have a pelvis to quite significant pain. It varies from day to day, but today is especially painful so I decided to pop to the doctors. Using the magic of t'interweb I had correctly self diagnosed myself as suffering with SPD, and the lovely doctor is going to refer me to an obstetric physiotherapist.

My main concern is doing my best to make sure it doesn't get any worse, as whilst it's not good at the moment it is at least bearable, and nowhere near as bad as it sounds like it could get in it's severest forms.

Don't hold back, tell it like it is...

On the back of a depressing day at work I say to Tully that I'd like to be 3 again, and that it must be fun being her.

She replies that yes it is fun, but that "you're too big and will just get bigger and bigger and older and older until you go into the ground and are dead..."

Thanks for that Tuls - it that really cheered me up!

Dirty Dancing!

About 2 years ago Lindsey phoned me up to say that she'd heard that there was a West End production of Dirty Dancing, and that she couldn't contemplate going to see if with anyone else if I was up for it! Needless to say I was! But somehow through a mixture of high ticket demand (when we first started looking you had to book about 9 months to a year in advance) and disorganisation on our part we have only just managed to organise ourselves to go - and that was really only brought about by my realisation in February that if we didn't go before around August time it was going to be another 2 years before we'd manage it!

So, the men were called in to look after our respective kids and Lindsey and I had a day off and went to London. Actually I took 2 days off as I travelled to Kenilworth during the day on Friday to spend some time with her and her kids as I hadn't seen Ewan since he was 4 months old in April 2005, and I'd not met George (now 16 months) at all!

On Saturday morning we left Saul in charge and headed to the station to catch an incredibly overcrowded train to Marylebone station. On arrival we went to Covent Garden for lunch and a general meander around soaking up the atmosphere before wandering down the Strand to the theatre for the show.

Well, what can I say. It was FAB!!!! Somewhat cheesy in places, but completely wonderful nonetheless... Lindsey and I had spent much time the evening before boring Saul with wondering how they would have adapted the script, and how they might do various scenes on stage, but I'm pleased to say thanks to a very clever stage design it had been only very slightly changed from the film. It has to be said the audience was approximately 90% female and of a certain age, and the few men that were there looked rather bored throughout (they must have earned themselves serious brownie points for going along!), but all the girls were loving it!

A few words of advice for anyone thinking of going. If you are female get on with it - you won't regret it. If you are male and thinking of taking your other half then don't: pay for her to take a mate as she'll enjoy it loads more without you sat next to her tutting all the way through ;) And finally, not that I'm obsessed, but girls if you have an even vaguely weak bladder go to the loo somewhere before you get to the theatre - the audience ratio means the queues when you get there are huge!

Day out at Crosby

After wussing out of going camping this weekend with Jon and Mand, we decided to go to for a day out at Crosby beach instead as none of us had been to see Antony Gormley's Another Place before.

I have to admit I've seen more picturesque beaches, but I'm not sure it was any the worse for that, and Tully certainly had no complaints. My only criticism is that as I'm somewhat lumbered with a weak bladder at the moment and, at the end we went to anyway, there wasn't a public loo! Eeep!

Night out

A couple of weeks ago when collecting Tully from nursery I was given a note to say one of the other Mums was organising a Mums night out. I decided to sign up as I'm always moaning that I don't get out enough, and that I don't have enough friends! I was a little nervous as I knew that none of the Mum's I've got to know a little were going. Despite being poorly all week Mark convinced me I should still go along tonight and I'm glad I did.

There were 7 of us in the end, and it was nice to put names and children to faces. We just went into Sale, meeting in the Slug and Lettuce and then heading next door to Da Vinci's for a meal. Very enjoyable!

Our Holiday

As per usual Tully has stolen all the thunder when it comes to blogging our holiday to Suffolk. From my perspective it was the most enjoyable holiday we've had since having Tully - both fun and relaxing.

The accommodation was really nice - we had a private patio area that caught the sun all afternoon and evening, the rest of the public grounds including the play area, lake and the animals were beautiful, and the pool was amazing, especially as we never had to share it!

On the Monday morning I had booked some time out and had a massage with a local therapist that the farm had recommended when we booked. Lovely! Another reason it was so relaxing was the fact the cottage had freeview including CBeebies! Now I normally try not to let Tully watch TOO much telly per day, but when she got up we turned the magic of CBeebies on and left her to it giving ourselves lovely lie ins every day! Yey! And I'm not feeling too guilty about it as the rest of every day was really action packed too!

Other highlights for me were seeing where Mark went to school, the trip to Walton-on-the-Naze and going to the Waddington Air Show on the way back home.

Day off!

Today Mark and I decided to have a spontaneous day off work. We had a really lovely day - after dropping Tully at nursery I went back to bed and had a bit more snooze time and then read my book for a while.

Then we went out to lunch at Francs which was really delicious, before trying out the cinema that opened relatively recently in Altrincham for the first time and seeing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

It was a little crazy at times with very bad science which always upsets me (I can't watch most cartoons as the apparent lack of gravity and other bad science drives me insane!) but overall it was quite enjoyable. Jonny has already given it a better review than I could here, and I pretty much agree with everything he says especially the iron fillings and the fridge comments! The only bit I feel I need to add is the annoying sporadic use of magnetism throughout - something theoretically showing magnetic type properties that seems to come and go randomly. Grrr! :)

10 Years!

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of Mark and I getting together. We both kind of forgot about it on the day as since we got married neither of us have done anything to recognise the day. Luckily I have a recurring appointment in my work Outlook Calendar to tell me, so it's lucky I've never got a new job (or at least a job in a new company) otherwise we'd never have known!

Maybe one day we'll go back to Hungary and revisit Budapest, and more specifically Keszthely on Lake Balaton where we got it together after each partaking of a cocktail or 5! :)

Scan

We had the second scan today, and took Tully with us so she could see what it was all about. The baby was in a slightly odd position so they couldn't quite do all the checks they'd normally do but everything they could see was normal.

The one thing they could check was the sex (hurrah - I don't like surprises at all so I'm not sure how I'd have coped if they couldn't tell) and it's a boy! I was very surprised as I was so sure it'd be a girl. I can't see me with a boy somehow but at least Mark will have someone on his side instead of having 3 females nagging him!

Llandudno

We decided on the spur of the moment to go away camping this weekend. I found a campsite about an hour away that could take us that was pretty good - it had everything you'd need in a campsite: flat pitches, a play area, decent toilet blocks (although bizarrely despite having 2 there within spitting distance of each other at one end of a rather large site - surely it would have been sensible to put one at each end!?) but I think we'll try a few more before finalising on a 'local' site we use regularly for such sporadic trips away.

However the good part of the weekend was the trip to Llandudno. I've never been before as I've either stopped along the coast a bit closer to home, gone to Conwy or carried on past into Snowdonia or onto Anglesey. And I have to say it was lovely and far nicer than any of the other places I'd normally go...


The sea front was an impressive Georgian facade, the beach was clean and it had everything you would want from a tradition English seaside resort with none of the tackiness. I was very impressed and will definitely be going back. The only slight down was the lazy donkeys that packed on for the day just slightly too early! ;) Poor Tulster.

I've already started looking for a campsite that is a little bit closer to it...

Quick trip to Florida

I had to 'pop' to Florida this week. I set off on Tuesday morning following the bank holiday, and got home again 3 days later. It was a bit strange as I only got to my hotel at about 10:30pm on Tuesday, so only really had 1 evening away (evenings and nights spent in airports and on planes don't count!)

I've had trips this short before, but always in Philly without the domestic US transfer and it really makes a difference to the length of time it feels like you are away for...

My one evening was quite entertaining though... I joined in with an organised event hosted by Team Cuisine!... We were split into 7 teams with each team preparing 1 dish for the entire group: my team prepared stuffed mushrooms. Other idshes on the menu were stuffed tomatoes, stir fried prawns, chicken kebabs, spinach and goats cheese parcels, endives, and a dessert. It was all really delicious and good fun too.

Magic cleaner!

OK, so I know this is very sad indeed, but I have discovered a magic product.

The sealant around the bath was getting disgustingly mouldy and nothing I tried really seemed to shift it. I randomly decided to Google for some advice a couple of weeks ago and found someone recommending this from Lakeland... So a couple of weekends ago I made a special trip to get some along with some jelly moulds for special Eurovision puddings. I do love Lakeland and find it one of those shops where I always end up buying all kinds of extra things whilst there, but I was mostly well behaved - only 4 unplanned items made it into the basket! ;)

Anyway, back to the magic cleaner. If I'd known how magic it would be I would have braved the embarrassment and shared before and after pictures with you. As it is you'll just have to believe me that the bathroom looks very nearly almost like new and I am very very impressed!

Eurovision

Bah! Russia did not deserve to win!!!! And whilst we certainly didn't deserve to win we really didn't deserve to come last. hope they can find a way to make the voting a bit fairer. Even Malta defected this year and failed to give us any points!

Anyway, this year not only Jonny and Mandy came round, but also Steve and Karen as they had already arranged to come and visit the Hills before any of us realised it was Eurovision weekend. It was lovely to see them as we were out of town the last time they came to visit and we'd not seen them since their wedding in 2005! Whilst I don't begrudge them having a weekend off parenthood it was a shame we didn't get to meet Poppy... It did make me think that it was about time Mark and I had a weekend break though as we've not had any time away together since we went to Philadelphia last July! Mum and Dad beware! :)

As last year we played this drinking game - or rather everyone else did... Mand came up with the idea that I should eat a cocktail sausage every time they had to drink but I politely declined!:) Not as many key changes this year which let us down, but lots of costume changes, fireworks and even females in false beards! Fab!

The general standard was really quite high, and I do think other countries take their entries more seriously than us. As a collective once we collated our collective scores we put in votes for Azerbaijan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, although my top score went to Ukraine, with Iceland and Bosnia in joint second place.

As per usual I provided far too much party food, as well as loads of lasagne, salad and garlic bread (perfect Eurovision fodder as it can be pre-prepared and then just shoved in the oven so you don't miss any of the action!). Overall a very good evening - just a bit of disappointment about the results...

No water!

We woke up this morning to discover we had no water. Initially I thought it was just our road, but when I went to the shop to buy some bottled water so I could brew up I realised it must be more widespread. I still don't know how much of Sale was out but almost everyone in the store had trolleys of almost nothing but water, and the water aisle was looking particularly empty! Luckily just at that moment a man brought a pallet with some more on (although only 6 4 bottles packs) so I grabbed a couple and legged it quick!

It's strange though how removing the water supply just for a few hours (it came back on early afternoon) has such an impact on life! You don't appreciate how much you use it until it's gone! It really made me think about how people survive after various disasters when people lose not just a clean water supply but power too and in some cases their homes and possessions. Not that I thought it'd be a walk in the park before mind, but I was such a wuss today it made me wonder just how I'd cope if something bad really happened! Not well I'm guessing!

Well, the news is out...!

This may surprise a few people but it isn't eating too many pies that is the cause my ever expanding midriff! It has been becoming increasingly difficult to hide so we've been slowly going public with the news that I'm once again pregnant over the last couple of weeks. I have to say it's a bit of a relief as it means I can finally breathe out at work and wear large elasticated trousers too!

I'm a bit over 18 weeks pregnant now, and whilst I don't remember exactly I'm sure I was much smaller when carrying Tully which was the last time I managed to get to this stage. So either this one is HUGE, or more likely my tummy muscles think I'm having a laugh and are on strike refusing to do as much work in holding everything in again...

We finally told Tully last week: needless to say she is very excited about becoming a big sister, and understands a surprisingly mature amount about what is going on now and will happen when the baby comes. Having said that I still think it'll come as a rather large shock to her when it arrives and she discovers she is no longer centre of attention.

We got for the 20 week scan in a couple of weeks (a week late as I have to go to the US the week I should go) so fingers crossed everything is still ok.

Typecast?

Tully: "Let's play a game!"
Me: "Ok..."
Tully: "I can be the beautiful Princess, Daddy can be the handsome Prince, and you can be the evil wicked Witch!"
Me: :S

Holiday dilemma Over!

And we're going to Suffolk! I know, I know, it's not what you were expecting to hear! If I'm honest it's not what I was expecting to hear either! :) But when we got quotes back from the hotels in Austria even though the Euro amount was similar to last year the exchange rate makes the cost stupidly unjustifiably expensive. So we had a UK rethink and Mark suggested Suffolk based on a) him revisiting his past (and possibly school too?), b) near lovely beaches, c) opportunity for a day trip to London...

So we've booked one of the cottages at Gladwins Farm and I'm really quite looking forward to it! As part of the booking confirmation they've sent their brochure and the cottages look even lovelier than on the website, the photos of the playarea shows it's 4 times the size you can see on the web, we (and by that I mean Tully) can help feeding sheep, goats, ducks, chickens etc (which though not advertised on the web I'd guessed by reading the comments), plus they included a price list for the spa treatments (very cheap so I'll book 2!) and for the home / farm cooked frozen meals that are also incredibly reasonable so I can be lazy and avoid cooking even on the days we don't eat out! Fab!

Holiday Dilemma Continued...

So, over 2 months on and we are no nearer having booked a holiday! This is very un-marrows like and I'm starting to get really quite worried. We've also come full circle.

Not long after my last post we ruled out Austria, and did some serious research and contemplation into going to Florida before finally discounting as by the time we'd be able to go with work schedules being as crazy as they are it would be much to hot for us.

Then we thought about Denmark, getting the ferry and doing some touring about. Again we did a lot of serious research but finally discounted this option because of the long drive to Harwich and then long ferry crossing seemed silly when we live so close to Manchester airport. It does look a really lovely place to go for a family holiday though so we may well go one year in the future.

Then, Mark had the idea that we shouldn't have a traditional week's holiday, but have a month of taking Friday and Monday off each week and having a series of long weekends. A good idea but when I thought about it properly I worried I'd be so exhausted with all the packing / unpacking / rushing about etc that it would take away some of the enjoyment so that idea went out the window too.

However, as part of the above plan I found a wonderful looking farm place in Cornwall, and we'd be going there for a week if it wasn't that they were fully booked by the time I got around to phoning up to see if they had any availability. Still - I'm thinking this is a serious option for next year!
So now we are considering Austria again. I've sent off for quotes from 2 hotels. The Hotel Alpenrose I was considering before, and the Sport-hotel Achensee which is another I've always thought sounded good. So we'll see what happens.

Mandy's Birthday Weekend

Jonny and Mand hosted the usual bank holiday festivities to celebrate Mandy's birthday. First off out for a curry on Friday evening. Mark was still in the US (at very short notice) but as we'd already arranged for Alicia to come and look after Tully I thought it seemed silly for me to stay in on my own. I had my usual at the Spice Garden - Chicken Sangrila - which is rather unusual but I love it and I can get it at so few places I figure why not! I only eat here once a year after all.

Then on Saturday a BBQ party in their back garden. Tully and I went round mid afternoon - but Mark decided to stay at home as his flight was late getting him home and he was feeling a bit rough. We had lots of fun once Tully got over her initial shyness. The Goodridges were there when we first arrived so she had 3 playmates, then with perfect timing just as they were leaving the Braithwaites arrived so the play mates were instantly replaced!

Seeing Vics!

This weekend we met up with Vics. Sadly Fraser had plans to meet his best man to get measured for their suits for the wedding so couldn't make it. Still - it meant all the more chance for us to gossip about him! In fact I'm surprised he still has ears left they must have been burning so much!

We'd booked a cottage just the far side of Stratford as it was roughly halfway between us, and it was really quite nice. We had Sands View, which is 1 of 6 cottages in a large barn conversion.


I had a really lovely weekend - other than the huge traffic jam on the journey down that is. It was lovely to see Vics, and whilst I know it's impractical I wish I got to see her more frequently. Still, it's not toooo long now until the wedding of the century, and for some unknown reason Vics has asked if I will give a speech on her behalf - the fool! :)

Forbidden City and Mao's Mausoleum

I uploaded some pictures of my last day in China ages ago, and only just remembered I didn't get round to adding a narrative.

So, my meetings on the last day got cancelled, which meant I got chance to visit the Forbidden City. My taxi driver dropped me at the northern end which I was initially suspect about, but actually provided easiest access. The only thing was it meant I walked through it by always approaching the various Gates and Palaces from the back. Traditionally visitors would enter from the south when granted an audience with the Emperor.

My favourite place was the Imperial Garden, which was by the gate I entered. Very tranquil.


To my untrained eye most of the Palaces, open areas and Gates looked rather similar. So much so I can't be sure which one this is. I think it's the Palace of Heavenly Purity, but is a good example of roughly what the rest of it was like. Honestly, how much of a heathen am I?!


The other area that I particularly liked was what would have been the first area visitors would see (the last I saw) with the Golder River Bridges.


I continued out the south entrance to the Forbidden City and had a wander around Tiananmen Square. It's huge, and rather austere. This view was looking back towards the Southern entrance to the Forbidden City from about 1/3 of the way down.


In the centre of Tiananmen Square, somewhat breaking it up and making it feel rather smaller than it actually is, is Chairman Mao's Mausoleum. For a couple of hours each morning visitors can enter and walk past his embalmed body. I was too late, but I'm not sure I especially like the idea of it anyway!

A rather large wall!

One of the reasons (well, the only reason if I'm honest) that I came a day early was to give me chance to do some sightseeing whilst I was here, as I suspect it'll be a long time before I can justify another trip out here. So today I headed out to see The Great Wall!

Luckily the sun was shining and visibility was really good, but that just meant lots of other people had had the same idea. We started out to Badaling, the closest and therefore most popular section, but the traffic was so awful we had a change of plan and went to Mutianyu instead.

I obviously can't compare but Barry (who had come here a day early too as at one point we thought we had meetings today) had only been to Badaling previously said it was much better here both in terms of wall-ness and busy-ness.

Now I know this sounds daft, as I knew it went along in the mountains, but I'd assumed (until reading up on it a bit) that you'd park up right next to it and get walking. Not so. You first have to trail through a market of about 100 souvenir stalls (with some vendors being really very very pushy!) and then take a cable car up to the top of the mountain. Well, you can choose to walk up but seeing how up-y and down-y the wall was I thought it wise to save my energy for when I got there!

Anyway, we set off in the direction that the top photo above was taken, and it wasn't too bad at first - just a little undulating. But then as you can see, about level with my neck at the far right of the picture, it takes a sharp turn to the left and heads straight uphill, and I'm embarrassed to say I was completely knackered by the time I got to the top! And when I say the top you can only get as far as the tower that is about level with the top of my head!!!! It is interesting to see the difference between 'original' wall and the repaired section that you are allowed to walk along. Liu had insisted we take water, and I'm glad we did. I was also very envious of a family that had arrived not long after us and proceeded to set up a rather yummy looking picnic!

That final stretch was only 454 steps, and really doesn't look very far (this was taken only about 20 steps down). But every step is a different height, and some are wide and some are narrow so you can't get into any kind of rhythm as you walk. Or at least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. We can't have walked any more than 1km from the start (by the tower at the crest of the hill in the distance) but it was enough. Even super fit Barry was quite tired, although I'm sure he'd have carried on walking had he been allowed. Personally I'm quite glad they provided a natural turning back point.

All in all a good day out. Even if it is only a wall! It certainly makes Hadrian's efforts look a bit feeble! It's a pity I've got to work tomorrow, I'm quite enjoying this being a tourist malarkey!

In China!

So I made it! The journey was fairly uneventful, other than nearly landing in Frankfurt then the plane whoosing back up at a steep incline straight after touch down. Given how much I travel it's a little surprising that this is the first time something like that has happened to me. I never did work out what had happened as the announcement afterwards was primarily in German...

When I arrived in Beijing it was raining - which I've been told is very rare. Apparently the last time they had rain was in October so I think I must have brought it with me! It did clear up enough for me to go for a little walk once I'd have a couple of hours sleep: I usually sleep well on planes but I just couldn't get comfy, despite having much more leg room than on the flight I normally take to and from Philly.

The hotel is very near the Olympic stadium so I wandered down to have a look. It's all a bit of a building site at the moment though. It was also incredibly foggy (which I later found out was smog not fog) so visibility was very poor. Apparently you can get a better view if you walk just another 5 minutes around the corner, so if the visibility gets better I may wander round at some point to take some more photos.

I then wandered the other way a bit to see what was there. And was highly amused to discover that just across from the hotel is McDonalds, a KFC and a Pizza Hut all next door to each other! The Starbucks craze hasn't really caught on though - whilst on my journeys so far I've seen numerous of the above chains but only seen 2 Starbucks! :) For all it amuses me in one way I actually find it quite sad too. Oh well, I suppose you can't stop 'progress'...

Off to China!

I am going to China for work, and unusually for work travel have managed to ensure I get a little free time to be a bit of a tourist too! Well, I had to leave first thing on Saturday to get there in time for my meetings so thought I may as well set off a day early!

I'm heading to Beijing first, so will go and visit the Great Wall. I know it's just a wall but it seems rude to go all that way and not go and have a bit of a wander along it. My hotel in Beijing looks rather smart too.

Sadly work agenda has changed and I now have some meetings on Sunday, but I will have some free time on the last day before I leave so should have time to take in the Forbidden City at the end of the week, and as long as my flights aren't delayed (and flying Lufthansa you'd expect them to be efficient!) I should still be back in time to see Tully before she goes to bed next Friday.

I'm also popping to Shanghai for a night or two somewhere in the middle but not exactly sure when yet... The hotel there doesn't look quite as good but it's very near where I need to work so I can't complain.

As work trips go I am looking forward to it more than most! I'm just a bit worried about the cuisine - I've heard such horror stories from most other people that have ventured there and I'm a bit picky when it comes to eating meat at the best of times too! I'll let you know how it goes...

A bit depressed and very hungry...

I'm back in New Orleans again - staying in the same hotel as before (only my room this time is in the other tower but near the top!). Once again I'm really struggling with jet lag, and also suffering from having to stand on the booth all day - my back and feet are killing!

I was undecided whether to go out or not this evening as I was feeling really tired, but thought that a) staying in was a bit antisocial and b) there was a table booked at what is, apparently, the best steak house in town so thought it was worth a try. Sadly they could only fit us in at 7:45 which is a bit late given the time difference and my jet lag.

The restaurant is in the casino just a couple of blocks down from the hotel and unfortunately I got ID'ed to enter the casino area, and whilst I'm normally really organised about taking ID out with me over here I hadn't done so tonight. So, being a bit miffed in general I decided just to go back to my room and have room service after all...

The only problem is that they have a guaranteed 50 minute delivery time, but as the table was late and it was even later by the time I was back in my room it's meant to be here sometime before 9. I'm starving, and feeling a bit fed up in general. Still, in 48 hours I'll be nearly home, or at least half way back across the Atlantic...

Holiday Dilemma

As ever when I've not got a holiday in the offing I am somewhat preoccupied with trying to plan one! I can't help it: it's hereditary - honest!

So, first off to Kinderhotel or not? And if so the same one as last year or try another? This one is a hot favourite from my current investigations. The pros of going back to the Hagleitner include it's cheaper, we know it and the area, it was fab(!), it's easy to get to... But whilst I say all that it just isn't in my nature to revisit somewhere, no matter how good so my current tendency is to try somewhere else. I'll keep you posted if I make a decision any time soon...

Freezer Traumas

I've been putting off the job of de-icing the freezer for several months now, but the ice had got so bad that the door wouldn't shut without care and giving it an extra shove! Sadly yesterday the extra shove part got omitted and by the time I noticed the ice had grown so big that the door wouldn't shut at all.

We've managed to save the majority of the food by eating rather odd combos of food for lunches and teas, and now the freezer is completely ice free! Yey!

Dr Tully

We bought Tully a doctor's set for her birthday, which she got her first real chance to play with this evening. She puts the stethoscope on and gets Mark to play at being poorly.

"Daddy, breathe in. And out. And again. And again. And again"

She shakes her head looking very sombre.

"It's serious" she says solemnly, "I'm going to have to chop you leg off."!!!! Then proceeds to try and his cut it off with the scissors from the kit. I thought it was hilarious. Not sure Mark was as amused as his leg gets hacked at and then has a plaster applied to it.

Happy birthday Tuls! X

Fun day

Today has been a bit good. First off Tully did really really well in her swimming lesson and earned her 5m swim badge. I think I'm more chuffed than her - she is certainly underwhelmed by the whole thing...

This evening Jonny and Mandy came round. It was lovely to see them as it's been ages since we've had a proper get together, especially as Mark and Mand were so poorly on Christmas Day. And I made some delicious food if I say so myself: roasted peppers and halloumi for starters, and a big cheesy fondue with more different things to accompany it as you could possibly imagine! Then for those that felt they could manage it, jelly (a pig shaped practise run for Tully's party tomorrow) raspberries and ice cream! Yum yum yum.

My birthday!

Blimey - I'm feeling old. 33 today - booooo!

Poor car

The idea at Centerparcs is that you drive to your lodge to unload, but then you leave you car in a big carpark and it's a car free zone until it is time to pack up to leave again.

This is the sight that met us as we got back to the car this morning. No note or anything left either. Mean people. Dread to think how much it'll cost to fix, although Tully seems to think I'll be able to fix it with sellotape!

Snowy Journey

As usual I booked to go away for my birthday weekend. Due to lots of reasons I ended up choosing Centerparcs at Whinfell Forest (near Penrith). The day before we set off the weather forecast was worryingly bad for the M6 in Cumbria. This is what it looked like on the day!

Luckily, after some careful driving, we got there safely.

Bit of a catch up!

We've had a rather hectic couple of weeks. So, Saturday 12th Alicia baby sat and we went out for a rather mediocre meal (we left it way too late to arrange and consequently struggled to get in where we wanted to) and then went to see I am Legend. It was ok, nothing more than that. Personally I prefer 28 Days Later which I suppose would be the UK equivalent... Still, it was nice to have an evening out so whilst the entertainment could have been better it was still a nice evening.

Then, the next day on Sunday morning Tully and I dropped Mark off at the airport at 8 in the morning for him to catch his flight to Seattle, where he was going to attend a week long conference. That afternoon Tully and I went to see The Snowman which was really lovely, and Tully sat remarkably well given it was quite long - well extended over the tv adaptation. It was so lovely to see the look of wonder on her face even before anything happened as it was her first theatre trip and she was (mostly) enthralled throughout. Of course it helped that Holly was sat next to her, and she got ice cream at the interval too!

Now then, Mark's flight home was due in at 8ish on the following Saturday morning and I had to go to New Orleans that same day for a sales meeting, with the flight scheduled at 11:25... As it was rather close, and even on the assumption that Mark would be back on time he'd be so jetlagged he'd not want to look after Tully for an entire weekend, we enlisted the help of Mum and Dad. So they came over on Friday, and then dropped me off at the airport on Saturday before setting off with Tully back to their house for a few days. Tully was a little nervous about it as it was the first time she'd gone away on her own, but she was a complete and utter angel (so I'm told, although I'm not sure Mum would tell me even if she was upset / badly behaved!) and I'm so proud of how she copes with some of the situations we throw her into.

So, onto New Orleans. I was staying in the New Orleans Marriott rirght in the centre on Canal Street and just a block down from Bourbon Street. I somehow got lucky and had a room fairly high up in the corner of the right hand tower, which meant it was a) quite big and b) had windows the full lenghth of 2 sides giving a rather good view!

For some reason I really struggled with jet lag (although maybe I was also recovering after being a single parent the week before!) so the first few evenings I went to the various mandatory evening events and then bailed out to bed pretty early. On the last night though I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss so headed along Bourbon Street for a couple of hours. Its really rather odd - I'm sure I'll get slammed for this but the best way to describe it is Blackpool with jazz! Although: Dad, I did go into a bar that I know you would love, and think possibly even Mum could tolerate! :)

Anyway, I'm glad I've been but not sure it's somewhere I would now choose to revisit... Unfortunately I'm back there again in 5 weeks for Pittcon... :(

Magic Sheep!

Jon and Mand brought us this magic sheep back from their holiday in Scotland. Now I know that was a very long time ago, but because it said not suitable for children under 10 we thought it must include some really nasty chemical. The chances of Tully listening to us and not touching were it slim, so we took it into work where it consequently got hidden under all the random piles of stuff on my incredibly untidy desk...

Anyway, yesterday we found it and thought we'd have a go. Here he is at lunchtime when first assembled...


Here is his progress about 2 hours later...


And here he is the next morning! All wooly...


Lots of fun, and it's kept the majority of the office entertained too! Thank you!

Birthday Break

I had grand plans for my birthday this year: I was finally going to go to Rome! I've been wanting to go for years and year and just somehow never quite got round to it. I'd even chosen which hotel we were going to stay in and was just finalising which dates we were both free to go, as well as which days my parents were free to look after Tully...

The more perceptive of you may have spotted the use of the past tense above! Well, Mark now has to go to Seattle the week before my trip to New Orleans. His flight lands just 3 hours before mine leaves. If all was well and good this ought to just about give us enough time to meet at the airport and hand over parental responsibility.

But it is a little close for comfort, and even assuming that there were no flight delays poor jetlagged Mark would be sole parent from 9am Saturday morning and have to survive the entire weekend looking after the monster haivng come stright off a 17 hour journey and an 8 hour time difference. After much cogitating, Mum and Dad have been enlisted to help. Now, I know they'd be more than happy to look after Tully again just a couple of weeks later, but even I think it would be a bit mean of us to go and leave her again so soon afterwards...

So now, do we take Tully to Rome or plan something else? I've had mixed reviews of Rome with small children - a couple of people say it's really not good for someone her age whilst others have taken their little ones and said it was good. Either way, when it came down to it, neither Mark or I have ever fancied the idea of sharing a hotel room with her and have actively avoided it... Where's the fun in having to go back to the room around her bedtime, and sitting in the dark with the tv on quietly waiting for the morning to come when we can have fun again. Very little if you ask me.

So, a bit of a leap here, but we've booked to go to Centerparcs at Whinfell Forest. Still, despite the change in direction of the choice of weekend break I'm quite looking forward to it...

Thank goodness that's over!

That being 2007!

Not one of my better years by a long shot. Still, onwards and upwards into 2008. And I'm optimistic - mainly as it can't be as bad as last year, and whilst I am not one for making New Year Resolutions I am determined that with a New Year I can do my best to put my depressed state of mind from 2007 behind me!

Films

Over Christmas Mark and I have been making the most of our Sky Movies subscription, something we rarely use. Most of the films were ones we've seen before, but a couple were new ones...

Casino Royale: I really enjoyed this first time around when we saw it at the cinema but I'd forgotten just how good it was. Probably my favourite film from the following seletion.





Mean Girls: This was a new one - Mark had bought it for a couple of pounds in a DVD bargain basket a couple of months back, but even so we were putting off watching it! But it's actually really quite good - much much better than I expected it to be! It's almost as good as 10 Things I Hate About You'!
;)

Gladiator: I love this film and it's another that I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. Joaquin Phoenix makes such a good baddie and I especially like how the score compliments the visuals throughout!




Inside Man: We saw this on our very rainy weekend in Belfast, and I've seen it again since on a plane. Still very enjoyable third time through though.





Enemy of the State: We used to watch this quite frequently on DVD, but not seen it for several years now. I always feel bad for Will Smith's character though, but I suppose without that there'd be no film so I can get over it!



Hot Fuzz: This was the other new one, and one I've been meaning to watch ever since it came out on DVD. I always enjoy Simon Pegg's work - Spaced is one of my fav series and Shaun of the Dead is another DVD we break out too often. And I wasn't disappointed - if anything it was better than I expected. The only thing missing was an appearance by Jessica Hynes (Stevenson)...

The Wedding Singer: This is another on our frequently watched DVD list - it has to be said the sound track is really very good. And I love the ending with Billy Idol - class!

Christmas!

Yey! I love Christmas, and it was wonderful to see Tully getting so into it this year too. It's just a shame Markie was so poorly that he missed out on most of the fun.

Jonny made a really delicious dinner - sorry Mum but I have to say it was the tastiest turkey in the world ever! I was very spoiled as he had made me my own personal dish of bread sauce! He also made the famous mile high pie as the veggie option (well, it's famous if you know Jon and Mand anyway!). I'm not sure he did it justice with his picture on his blog so I've added it in large size below! Yummmmmy!

Thanks to Jon, Mand and Sarah for letting us share their Christmas.

Big piece of pig!

The only thing Mark put in a special request for whilst I was making the shopping list was a giant piece of pig! As I'm not all that keen on pork (yuk!) I got this huge piece of gammon instead. Think it meets requirements?

Merry Christmas and all that!

Every year we go to visit Mark's Nan and Grandad on the last Sunday before Christmas, and the visit now symbolises the commencment of the festive period in my head. So, today being that auspicious day, we headed up to Accrington and I can start celebrating! Woo hoo!

Am I ready for christmas? Pretty much - after getting the fear about how busy supermarkets would be this weekend I ended up making a snap decision and went late on Friday evening. I even made a list (!) and so far haven't thought of anything I've forgotten so I'm quite pleased with myself.

The presents are all bought and wrapped with 1 rather important exception! Honestly, you'd think nursery could have given us more warning of the only thing Tully wants in the world for Christmas... But hey ho - it means Mark has something to do to pass his lunchtime tomorrow instead of staying at work - I just hope one of Asda, B&Q or Homebase come up trumps otherwise we'll have 1 sadly disappointed little girl on Christmas morning!

New Bedroom TV

We finally got round to sorting our broadband out the other week (we were still on a really old BT package that was 8 times slower and £5 more expensive than their current offering!), and as part of that we were entitled to free BTVision which we've put in the bedroom. The problem with this is that the current TV in the bedroom is the one I bought as a teenager and it doesn't have a SCART input... So finally, a good excuse to buy a new one! ;)

After much kerfuffling and investigating we decided on a Samsung one - and I'm really pleased with it. The only problem now is that we need a better aerial. Still, that can wait until the New Year!

Woohoo!

The search for giant bug balloons is over!!!! I should have thought to try Wilkos! The only problem now if finding chance to go there without Tully in tow in the next week, especially as she's asked if Father Christmas can bring her a yellow and pink one!!! Is it too decadent to get them delivered?

Oh, and is it just me that's excited by the idea of elephant balloons!?

More Christmas celebrations!

We had our company Christmas do last Saturday at the Radisson SAS at the airport. It was very pleasant: the food actually decent for once, nice location etc. The only problem was that normally we are supplied with rather more booze than was freely flowing this year. And whilst most people are mroe than happy to buy their own the prices were ridiculous! £5.45 for a glass of wine!!!!!!!!! Outrageous! The best thing about it though? We'd persuaded Mum and Dad to come and babysit and booked ourselves a room there so I got a really good and proper lie in! And when I finally managed to drag myself out of bed it was just in time to go downstairs for a full english! Bliss!

Then today I had arranged a lunch / afternoon / evening of celebration for our team. As I was a bit busy with other things (mostly work and small children!) by the time I got round to finding time to phone and book a tables not many places could fit our group in. In the end La Vina on Deansgate said they could take our party. Luckily the food was delicious and the wine very free flowing: well, what do you expect if I was in charge of organising it! The only downside was that Mark was also invited so we had to decide who got to stay on for the evening part and who had to come back to pick Tully up. As it's been a while since Mark had a night out I volunteered to come back so I hope he has fun! Still, I'm not having a bad night - catching up with things in general and watching a girly film - Love Actually to get myself into a festive spirit!

Oops, it's been a while.

Ho hum, once again time has passed me by and whilst I've been good at keeping Tully's blog up to date mine has fallen somewhat by the wayside...

In my defense I have been a tad busy - since I last posted I've been to Lisbon for a conference for a week. It was at the Dom Pedro hotel which was nice enough but not the style of hotel I'd choose to stay in myself. I wore myself out there though - I worked out afterwards I'd done about 5 hours of presentations across 2 days, as well as moderating for day which means being mic'ed up and getting up and down every 30 minutes making announcements, introducing speakers and answering questions so even though not presenting it was pretty tiring. The good thing about this trip was that for once I got a half day free to explore which was nice as I've never been to Lisbon before. It's a nice enough city but there are other places I'd rather visit again before going back...

I've also been up to Edinburgh for a couple of nights - the work part was quite stressy and not only because we went to the wrong place and had to jump in a cab and whizz up to Dundee where the people we were meeting actually were! It was rather amusing looking back but not ideal at the time! But it was lovely to be back in Edinburgh - it's a city I love and I'm determined to go back for pleasure instead of business soon. We stayed in the Radisson SAS on the Royal Mile so in a fab location and wandered up to The Thai Orchid just by the Castle for a very yummy dinner.

Work is somewhat hectic which I mostly love, but sometimes I do find hard to combine with being a Mum... Tully is wonderful in almost every way, but is also at a rather challenging age (or maybe it's just her!) and at times I feel like I've been strugglong to cope.

Still, I've a reasonably quiet run down to Christmas now which is good, and not too much planned over the festive period itself so hopefully I'll be all relaxed and ready to tackle next year! Or is that just wishful thinking on my part? Anyway, enough ramble for now. I'll try and not leave it so long next time as I'll be less likely to waffle on so much!